Speaker 1: Episode four eighty six, the Top Benefits of Frugal Living.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a life here your hosts,
Speaker 2: Jen and Jill.
Speaker 3: M.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and who better to talk about
Speaker 1: the benefits of frugal living than the Frugal Friends Podcast.
Speaker 4: You know, we got a list of all those Bennies.
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Speaker 1: Interested in frugal living and are questioning whether you want
Speaker 1: to identify as frugal, then we're here to give you
Speaker 1: the bennies. Talk about why this is the lifestyle that
Speaker 1: we love and that we think you will love as well.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, Mega survey and if even if you think we've
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Speaker 1: the last question of the mega survey is episode ideas.
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Speaker 1: us know if you are really interested in transforming your
Speaker 1: lifestyle into a frugal lifestyle. Here are a couple episodes
Speaker 1: to cube after this one Episode three thirty seven how
Speaker 1: to Adopt a Frugal mindset and episode three ten Frugal
Speaker 1: Living Tips from the Great Depression. Two very good ones.
Speaker 1: You can search for those in your podcast player, how
Speaker 1: to Adopt a frugal mindset and Frugal Living Tips from
Speaker 1: the Great Depression. Just add frugal Friends at the end
Speaker 1: and the episode will pop up, even if the episode
Speaker 1: number does not.
Speaker 3: So we're going to go through just this one article
Speaker 3: that comes from this ever Green Home, and it's titled
Speaker 3: why frugality is actually more fun than just spending whatever
Speaker 3: you want? And there happen to be ten things, so
Speaker 3: we are just going to list off all ten of them,
Speaker 3: although I will say we'll have our own spin to
Speaker 3: add to some of these as we go through it.
Speaker 1: Yes, so let's start out. The first one is finding
Speaker 1: joy in creative problem solving. So this is something we
Speaker 1: talk a lot about on the show, is creativity. And
Speaker 1: it's because when we look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs,
Speaker 1: these are our human needs. These are the things that
Speaker 1: motivate us to do anything and to make a lot
Speaker 1: of purchases. These are the needs that motivate us to
Speaker 1: make purchases. And at the very top, the highest need,
Speaker 1: the one that gets forgotten about the most, is self actualization.
Speaker 1: And that isn't just some transcendent like I'm finding purpose
Speaker 1: and I'm meditating all the time. Self actualization is the
Speaker 1: feeling of being an individual that you are living a
Speaker 1: uniquely authentic individual life. And part of that is creativity, spontaneity,
Speaker 1: and purpose. So creativity is a higher need, and so
Speaker 1: we don't give ourselves a lot of options or opportunities
Speaker 1: to be creative. And when we desire that, we think
Speaker 1: we have to buy like craft supplies to be creative
Speaker 1: or innovative. And some of that can actually come from
Speaker 1: solving problems. So instead of just heading straight to Amazon
Speaker 1: to solve a problem, you can start by asking, how
Speaker 1: can I solve this problem with what I have? Can
Speaker 1: I solve this problem without spending at all? Like getting
Speaker 1: it for free? So buy nothing, groups, you know, free resources,
Speaker 1: all of that. How can I solve this problem without
Speaker 1: spending much? So secondhand, Facebook, Marketplace, Craigslist, what have you.
Speaker 1: And then after you go through those filters, it will
Speaker 1: be a barrier. It's not the most convenient, but it's
Speaker 1: not inconvenient to just look at those options first to
Speaker 1: get creative with how you're going to solve the problem.
Speaker 1: If none of those works, the problem still exists, then
Speaker 1: we can go to the store to Amazon stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But when we have a frugal mindset and we are
Speaker 1: looking to steward our resource as well, then we get
Speaker 1: to solve problems creatively, and that's meeting a higher need.
Speaker 1: And when we get creative, that results in the less
Speaker 1: impulse spending to meet that.
Speaker 3: The second reason listed here is that you get to
Speaker 3: experience the thrill of the hunt. And this is the
Speaker 3: one I'm going to kind of reframe for us a bit,
Speaker 3: because the thrill of the hunt is one of the
Speaker 3: top five reasons that we give for why we impulse spend.
Speaker 3: That we are searching for the best deal, the clearance item,
Speaker 3: the hidden treasure, and so we do acknowledge that that
Speaker 3: is fun. But I want to call this second one
Speaker 3: more like exercising creativity part two, where if we are
Speaker 3: decreasing our overall level of consumption, our level of I'm
Speaker 3: just going to immediately buy to solve a problem, but
Speaker 3: instead we create some space or friction between us and
Speaker 3: a purchase, which is a lot of what can happen
Speaker 3: in living a frugal lifestyle. Then we can exercise more
Speaker 3: degrees of patience and not just doing the thing, making
Speaker 3: the purchase, putting it on the credit card, But we
Speaker 3: are causing ourselves to need to wait, which will then
Speaker 3: spark some of that creative problem solving of what could
Speaker 3: I do instead? What is the need that I'm experiencing?
Speaker 3: And so I think there's a lot of just resilience
Speaker 3: and quality characteristics that are built up in ourselves when
Speaker 3: we reduce our level of consumption. But also not to
Speaker 3: discount that it will require at times research degrees of hunting,
Speaker 3: and there is a thrill to waiting, searching for researching
Speaker 3: and feeling really confident in the in the purchasing decisions
Speaker 3: that we make. Yes, there is a high. I'm not
Speaker 3: going to deny that. I'm not going to encourage people
Speaker 3: to chase that high, to chase that hunt, but just
Speaker 3: know that it is a part of a frugal lifestyle
Speaker 3: that can happen. But we don't want it to turn
Speaker 3: into like a hobby, a spending habit that we're just
Speaker 3: like always hunting at the thrift storeyard sale like I
Speaker 3: used to do before I lived in a motor home
Speaker 3: and couldn't bring a bunch of stuff back into my house.
Speaker 3: So more so looking at it from the perspective of
Speaker 3: what is waiting build in me? What resilience problem solving patients?
Speaker 3: Am I learning through this process? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think hunting is another of those self actualization we
Speaker 1: are It creates self sufficiency and it also breeds self
Speaker 1: confidence and self esteem because you're like I am smart
Speaker 1: enough to find these deals and gather them. And that's
Speaker 1: another one of those higher needs is self confidence and
Speaker 1: self esteem. So I think it hits two of those,
Speaker 1: which is why we love it so much. So the
Speaker 1: next one is connect more deeply with your values, and
Speaker 1: it's essentially the topic of our book book, Buy What
Speaker 1: You Love Without Going Broke? Is how do I identify
Speaker 1: what I value in the first place? And we use
Speaker 1: Maslow's hierarchy of needs as kind of a baseline and
Speaker 1: realize that our biggest higher values on that hierarchy that
Speaker 1: we are searching for our family, friends, faith, and fulfilling work,
Speaker 1: and they transcend a lot of those top higher needs.
Speaker 1: And when we can know those values, we can put
Speaker 1: those at the focus of why we're spending money versus
Speaker 1: chasing stuff that is marketed to us as fulfilling that needs.
Speaker 1: So I love that they start this section off with
Speaker 1: in a culture that equates spending with success. Frugality helps
Speaker 1: you step back and ask what really matters to me,
Speaker 1: so that we can choose our higher needs over wants,
Speaker 1: and then it's easier to prioritize quality over quantity and stuff,
Speaker 1: and you will naturally find that your life aligns more
Speaker 1: closely with these things. We're all going to say our
Speaker 1: highest priorities, but when we look at our transaction inventory,
Speaker 1: our inventory doesn't necessarily say that they are our highest priority.
Speaker 4: Number four.
Speaker 3: One of my favorites of the benefit of a frugal
Speaker 3: lifestyle is that it allows us space to rediscover simple
Speaker 3: pleasures that when we are less accustomed to just buying
Speaker 3: and consuming, we give ourselves space to recognize that some
Speaker 3: of the best things in life truly are free or
Speaker 3: at least super affordable. They give examples of a homemade
Speaker 3: dinner shared with loved ones, a quiet walk in nature,
Speaker 3: a night spent stargazing. For me, I've really enjoyed daily
Speaker 3: simple luxuries, is what I've been calling them. Anything from
Speaker 3: just plating my food at lunch, making that my food
Speaker 3: on my plate look esthetically pleasing, to making myself a
Speaker 3: nice cup of tea or doing some really RESTful exercises
Speaker 3: or stretches, Like I'm realizing that the things that I
Speaker 3: need that kind of keep me going and maintaining are
Speaker 3: the little things that I can engage in in routine,
Speaker 3: small bursts, tiny practices throughout the day.
Speaker 4: That these are the things.
Speaker 3: I mean, Yes, it's fun to go to an awesome
Speaker 3: concert and a crazy vacation, but life is lived in
Speaker 3: the day to day and sometimes just the mundane. But
Speaker 3: if we can find simple pleasures in the day to
Speaker 3: day and mundane, then we're not so much looking for
Speaker 3: the extravagant, luxurious vacation. We can still take them, but
Speaker 3: it's not like our whole lives are wrapped around that.
Speaker 3: Our lives are wrapped around what's happening in my life
Speaker 3: in the present moments, day to day.
Speaker 4: Definitely.
Speaker 1: The next one is feel the freedom of financial security.
Speaker 1: And so often frugal living has been positioned as something
Speaker 1: you either do out of necessity because you don't make
Speaker 1: a lot, or something very well off people do so
Speaker 1: they can save so much of their money and retire early.
Speaker 1: But we have always tried to argue that frugality doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily pin you into either of those extremes, But it
Speaker 1: really is a feeling of freedom and liberation because every
Speaker 1: dollar that you don't spend, every dollar you don't give
Speaker 1: to Jeff Bezos, you get to do what you want
Speaker 1: to do with it, what you and again align it
Speaker 1: with your values. So whether that is you want to
Speaker 1: spend more time with your family and friends, so maybe
Speaker 1: that means you want to do your workload, you want
Speaker 1: to go down working twenty hours a week instead of forty. Well,
Speaker 1: the more you invest, the more that money can grow
Speaker 1: for you and you can live off the dividends, and
Speaker 1: the fewer things you buy, the lower your budget needs
Speaker 1: to be, the lower your income needs to be every month.
Speaker 1: And so it just gives you so much flexibility to
Speaker 1: choose what you want to do or to react better
Speaker 1: in in a higher place of power when things happen
Speaker 1: to you that you can't control. And honestly, that's what's
Speaker 1: going to be happening. More often than not, we know
Speaker 1: things we can't control are going to happen to us.
Speaker 1: So how can I put myself in a position of
Speaker 1: control to control as much as I can and retain
Speaker 1: as much power as possible.
Speaker 3: These are things that can kind of seem impossible, especially
Speaker 3: if we're in more of the middle income earning category,
Speaker 3: where how would I possibly experience financial security? It can
Speaker 3: be one of the reasons that people turn to a
Speaker 3: podcast like ours, But it has been amazing to hear
Speaker 3: all of the stories, I mean a lot of them,
Speaker 3: just through the bills of the bill of the week,
Speaker 3: callers talking about small changes that they've made. I would
Speaker 3: say probably about fifty percent of our callers if I
Speaker 3: were just like, choose a number off the dome or
Speaker 3: something about I negotiated this bill, I changed this, I
Speaker 3: dropped this subscription, and it allowed me to put twenty
Speaker 3: fifty one hundred bucks more to xyz goal and now
Speaker 3: I have an emergency fund and because of that, I
Speaker 3: was able to pay for the car that just broke down.
Speaker 4: Or just the.
Speaker 3: Realities that yep, there's a lot outside of our control,
Speaker 3: but also small changes towards progress can can become cumulative.
Speaker 1: People will rag on frugality, being like, don't worry about
Speaker 1: the six dollars latte, worry about making ten thousand dollars
Speaker 1: extra a year, right, But that's easier said in a
Speaker 1: personal finance blog or book than it is done in reality.
Speaker 1: And when we pursue, pursue, pursue, and we don't get
Speaker 1: that extra ten thousand dollars, it is possible, and you
Speaker 1: should continue to pursue it till you get it. But
Speaker 1: the more you pursue it and do not get what
Speaker 1: you pursue, the less motivated you are to pursue it.
Speaker 1: So in tandem, we also need to be doing small
Speaker 1: things that boost our self esteem, that boost our self confidence,
Speaker 1: that make us feel like we're doing something, and these
Speaker 1: are the small things. Frugal living encompasses the small thing.
Speaker 3: It's so true because while we also are saying, yeah,
Speaker 3: it doesn't necessarily need to be about cutting out the coffee,
Speaker 3: like let's make some wise housing, transportation and over arching
Speaker 3: food decisions. But some of that that mindset and theory
Speaker 3: can lead you to just not looking at your spending
Speaker 3: behaviors at all. You know what, instead of worrying about
Speaker 3: this habit that you have, just try and earn so
Speaker 3: much more money. And really we're not solving some of
Speaker 3: the core issues. So yeah, as always we take both
Speaker 3: and approach The next one on here talks about one
Speaker 3: of the benefits being strengthening relationships through shared goals I
Speaker 3: would absolutely agree because Frugal Friends.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is in existence because of this.
Speaker 3: But even on aware micro scale, this has happened. So
Speaker 3: we're part of a book club, you and I Jen,
Speaker 3: and we of course the ladies in this book club
Speaker 3: know what we do, and it has led to us
Speaker 3: talking about our financial goals and just more money minded things,
Speaker 3: which then causes them to feel more comfortable to talk
Speaker 3: about these things. And we now pick books based off
Speaker 3: of what's available at our local library. I mean, it's
Speaker 3: such a small example, but I think we feel, at
Speaker 3: least I feel really seen in this that it's a
Speaker 3: small shared goal that all of us want. None of us,
Speaker 3: every single month want to be dropping ten to thirty
Speaker 3: dollars on the book that most likely we won't keep
Speaker 3: on our shelves, but instead make use of a local resource,
Speaker 3: and everybody's on board for it, and it just creates
Speaker 3: such a fun camaraderie, you know, not just because we're
Speaker 3: rallied around the library, although that might be your dream company,
Speaker 3: the library, but these small, these small things that really
Speaker 3: make us feel like a sense of belonging when we're
Speaker 3: able to talk about the goals that we have and
Speaker 3: we're able to problem solve together and let one another
Speaker 3: know about the resources available to us. We just can
Speaker 3: go so much further together.
Speaker 1: Yes, Next is you learn to appreciate what you have,
Speaker 1: which is very is a very strong good skill to have.
Speaker 1: So when you're focused shifts from what you don't have
Speaker 1: to what you have, you just naturally buy less, right,
Speaker 1: but then you also have this you know, added benefit
Speaker 1: of looking to appreciate it. So this appreciation fosters contentment,
Speaker 1: which is a whole chapter in our book by what
Speaker 1: you love without going broke, contentment without complacency, and so
Speaker 1: you are feeling more abundant when you gosh, there's just
Speaker 1: so much to be said mentally for when we are
Speaker 1: looking at our things and we put social media, you know,
Speaker 1: behind us, and we just really focus on looking at
Speaker 1: what we have and being appreciative of it, like writing
Speaker 1: it down, like I'm so thankful for this couch, I'm
Speaker 1: so thankful for this instant pot, for this stove, and
Speaker 1: like really appreciate what you have and what it can do.
Speaker 1: Really looking to get creative with how can I make
Speaker 1: this last longer? How can I have this for longer?
Speaker 1: How can I use more of the features of what
Speaker 1: I have, so I can feel like I'm getting something
Speaker 1: new by using what I have, and then you learn
Speaker 1: to appreciate it more and it's just it's a snowball.
Speaker 1: And then you buy less and you just are happier.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a beautiful cycle.
Speaker 3: Gratitude leads to contentment, leads to more gratitude leads to
Speaker 3: the more contentment. Like sometimes we can find ourselves in
Speaker 3: non beneficial cycles and patterns, this one is a beneficial one,
Speaker 3: and we can just start with gratitude and it will
Speaker 3: build upon it and.
Speaker 1: It goes into every other area of your life. When
Speaker 1: you start with your stuff, then it goes to your family,
Speaker 1: and then it goes to the people around you, the
Speaker 1: people at work, and you become a nicer human being
Speaker 1: all around.
Speaker 3: I found some great definitions, or the definitions for these
Speaker 3: things are great. When it comes to gratitude, the definition
Speaker 3: is to be thankful for benefits received, which I think
Speaker 3: is so interesting. It's not talking about the things you
Speaker 3: hope for, the things you think will happen. There's a
Speaker 3: place for that, but gratitude is literally talking about present
Speaker 3: moment and maybe even past experiences. What up to this
Speaker 3: point have you received that there is to be grateful for,
Speaker 3: which can then lead to, as we've said, contentment, And
Speaker 3: the definition of contentment is to be satisfied with your stuff, status,
Speaker 3: and situation, which we know money touches all of those things.
Speaker 3: So if we can leverage gratitude to lead to contentment,
Speaker 3: we will find less need to spend on stuff, our status,
Speaker 3: improving our situation. We will be more creative and identifying.
Speaker 3: How can I be more satisfied with each of these
Speaker 3: three categories? The next one is that being frugal can
Speaker 3: help us discover our inner d Y Guru.
Speaker 4: There's a spectrum here.
Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely, some of us.
Speaker 3: More than others, for sure, But frugality and DIY projects
Speaker 3: can go hand in hand, and you have heard it
Speaker 3: from us over the years. With Jen's goal of learning
Speaker 3: how to repair clothing, I in the past have refinished furniture.
Speaker 3: Both of us have tried our hands at gardening to
Speaker 3: varying degrees, maybe even fixing, doing small repairs in your home.
Speaker 3: That's another one we hear often from our listeners is
Speaker 3: I decided to try to fix my toilet, my fridge,
Speaker 3: my leaky faucet, fill in the blank, myself before calling someone,
Speaker 3: Not that we're opposed to hiring it out, but could
Speaker 3: it be a simple fix. Could it be a YouTube
Speaker 3: fifteen minute video that I watch and I learned something new,
Speaker 3: and I'm able to do this myself and I don't
Speaker 3: have to hemorrhage two hundred and fifty dollars that just
Speaker 3: didn't need to be hemorrhaged unless your priority is to
Speaker 3: save yourself so time, and you're fine paying for that.
Speaker 3: So again, there is a charac but it is a
Speaker 3: beautiful thing to learn how to care for the things
Speaker 3: that we already have to learn more about maintenance too.
Speaker 3: We've done a lot of episodes on maintaining our appliances
Speaker 3: and prolonging the life of the things that we own,
Speaker 3: which is also degrees of DIY.
Speaker 1: And then we've got enjoy the charm of minimalism. So
Speaker 1: this is less stuff means less stress, and so minimalism
Speaker 1: I would say, I'm back and forth on it. I
Speaker 1: think minimalism, as we traditionally know it can be a
Speaker 1: little bit extreme and it can create judgment, right if
Speaker 1: you're not the perfect minimalist, like I posted a real
Speaker 1: once on like my minimalist home, and I think it
Speaker 1: was pretty minimalist. But somebody was like, oh, she's got
Speaker 1: all those chatchkeys in that china hutch. She's minimalist, even
Speaker 1: though that's the only place in my house that I
Speaker 1: have chatch keys. That was my chatch key hutch. So
Speaker 1: for me, that's minimalist. And to think that to be
Speaker 1: a minimalist you can't have any chatch keys is insane.
Speaker 1: You could have even if you're a collector of something,
Speaker 1: say you're collector of trolls, which I saw of recent
Speaker 1: reel of and this woman has like thousands of troll dolls. WHOA,
Speaker 1: But I didn't see any other collections of any other things,
Speaker 1: any other chratch keys. Just a full basement of troll dolls,
Speaker 1: and you know, good desire and good yeah. And she
Speaker 1: also said in the real I am ageless, and I said,
Speaker 1: yes you are, but so yeah, minimalism. I'm more minimal ish.
Speaker 1: But I think we really put that in an extreme So,
Speaker 1: but it is charming, Like I will agree, I love
Speaker 1: the word charming. So frugality does naturally encourage a bend
Speaker 1: towards minimalism by prompting you to buy less than you
Speaker 1: naturally own less. And I think this is a harsh
Speaker 1: truth of decluttering. So much of decluttering is a marketing
Speaker 1: like it's I don't know if it's marketing, but so
Speaker 1: much of it promotes organizing, which is just telling you
Speaker 1: to buy more stuff to organize with.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: So I would say, if you like, decluttering is pointless
Speaker 1: if you don't first get at the root of why
Speaker 1: you're consuming. Right, we can all agree on that. So
Speaker 1: minimalism is just a mindset that will help you consume
Speaker 1: less and maybe giving give you an extra reason to
Speaker 1: consume less. It plays on simplification, So there's just a
Speaker 1: lot of good stuff around it as long as you
Speaker 1: separate it from that extreme view of minimalism, or that
Speaker 1: minimalism has like a set guideline of anything that it
Speaker 1: should look like anything.
Speaker 4: That's the thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I haven't totally departed from that word. I just
Speaker 3: think that it can be so flexible in what it
Speaker 3: looks like for people, and that primarily we're advocating for
Speaker 3: just less clutter and more simple spaces and schedules. The
Speaker 3: final benefit of frugality, which we've kind of alluded to
Speaker 3: already but also one of our faves, is that it
Speaker 3: can connect us to like minded community so we can
Speaker 3: find people who share our goals, and that can include
Speaker 3: joining a buy nothing group or swapping tips with friends,
Speaker 3: or following frugal living podcasts or blogs, or reading the books,
Speaker 3: and these communities can be super supportive and inspiring. It's
Speaker 3: one of the reasons that we want a listener segment
Speaker 3: as part of this podcast from the very beginning that
Speaker 3: we recognize we don't have the corner on frugality. We
Speaker 3: want to hear from you all, learn from you all.
Speaker 3: It's why we have our Frugal Friends community on Facebook,
Speaker 3: It's why we invite you to engage with us on Instagram,
Speaker 3: and yeah, a lot of these are digital ways of connecting,
Speaker 3: but we experience a lot of support and motivation through this,
Speaker 3: and it can also be the launching point to including
Speaker 3: people just in your community, to be able to listen
Speaker 3: to a podcast together and chat about it, or read
Speaker 3: a book together and discuss or do more frugal, low
Speaker 3: cost activities, just to be able to share with your
Speaker 3: friends your low consumption journey and inspire one another. There's
Speaker 3: so much benefit to community, especially when we can learn
Speaker 3: to leverage it towards growth and the things that we
Speaker 3: want to be accomplishing. We can just learn so much
Speaker 3: more together. Yes, you know, speaking of learning, where I
Speaker 3: do think we get some learning and just some fun tidbits.
Speaker 1: And a true benefit of frugality is having one of
Speaker 1: these to call in every week.
Speaker 3: Oh, the bill of the week.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 2: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 2: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 2: that bill anymore. Duck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 2: is the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hi, this is Marie from Alberta, Canada. My favorite bill
Speaker 5: of the week was when my sons were nine.
Speaker 4: And ten years old.
Speaker 5: We had been teaching them how to budget since they
Speaker 5: were very little, and they would want and they wanted
Speaker 5: to buy something. We would put money away and we'd
Speaker 5: make a chart. This is how much money you have left,
Speaker 5: this is where you are, and then when they finally
Speaker 5: got to the mount that they needed, we'd go to
Speaker 5: the store and we'd buy it. Then they wanted to
Speaker 5: learn about a credit card, so we said, okay, let's go.
Speaker 5: We went to the store. We said, when you let's
Speaker 5: pick out something. They picked it out, so I said,
Speaker 5: you don't have to pay now, but when the bill
Speaker 5: comes in, you have to pay it.
Speaker 4: Well, they were very happy.
Speaker 5: So we went home and then a month later the
Speaker 5: bill came and I said, okay, boys, it's time to
Speaker 5: pay the bill. And they looked at me and said,
Speaker 5: but Mom, we finished our video game. Why do we
Speaker 5: have to pay that bill? And I said, that's the
Speaker 5: lesson of a credit card. It doesn't matter whether you
Speaker 5: are still using the item or not. You put it
Speaker 5: on the card and you have to pay it. That
Speaker 5: was the best lesson they learned, because they have been
Speaker 5: great with credit cards ever since. Thank you for all
Speaker 5: you do.
Speaker 4: I love your podcast. Bye bye.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, Murrie, what a great lesson.
Speaker 4: I love this.
Speaker 3: I actually one have chills right now because we were
Speaker 3: just talking about how this community teaches us things and
Speaker 3: we learn and we're supported and encouraged and yeah, I'm learning.
Speaker 4: A good approach.
Speaker 1: What a good Yeah, so much better than just teaching
Speaker 1: kids credit cards are bad, because that's what my parents
Speaker 1: taught me. And guess what I did as soon as
Speaker 1: I turned eighteen. The second I turned eighteen, I went
Speaker 1: out and got a credit card and immediately maxed it
Speaker 1: out because I thought I was smarter than my parents.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And I'm hearing from her too that it's
Speaker 3: not just about don't ever have a credit card, but like,
Speaker 3: here's the realities of it, and for some of us, yeah,
Speaker 3: that does work. I recognize that. Okay, I didn't pay
Speaker 3: for it then, but now I'm going to pay for
Speaker 3: it now. You really drove home that lesson. Super Well
Speaker 3: well done, Murrie, Thanks for sharing about your boys. If
Speaker 3: you have a bill that you want to submit, if
Speaker 3: it has to do with financial education and literacy, or
Speaker 3: bills that you did pay a little later, bills you
Speaker 3: paid right on time, bills you don't mind paying. You
Speaker 3: know what we want, frugal friendspodcast, dot com, slash bill,
Speaker 3: leave it for us and now it's time for hyping up.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 1: What's the most rewarding part of living frugally for you?
Speaker 1: So getting for me, it's getting to do the work
Speaker 1: that we do. We do not make a ton of
Speaker 1: money because we don't sell coaching. We don't sell like
Speaker 1: high ticket courses or memberships. Like most of the digital
Speaker 1: creators that are doing this full time, they live well,
Speaker 1: know all of them they live off of brand deals
Speaker 1: that sell you products and high priced digital things you know,
Speaker 1: like so, and none of these are bad, right, they're great,
Speaker 1: But we want to We wanted to bring you a
Speaker 1: book buy what you love without going broke, and so
Speaker 1: we wanted to really focus on getting that into the
Speaker 1: world and promoting it. And advertisements do support this show,
Speaker 1: so we appreciate your grace in listening to them or
Speaker 1: at least, you know, skipping through them and not sending
Speaker 1: us angry emails. So, but we don't make a ton
Speaker 1: of money through it. But because we live frugally, we
Speaker 1: can do this show and make our measley salary. And
Speaker 1: my husband was able to quit his really demanding, exhausting,
Speaker 1: emotionally and physically exhausting job to take a twenty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars pay cut and work at a job he really
Speaker 1: enjoys and has a very good schedule. And both of
Speaker 1: those were able to happen at the same time because
Speaker 1: we were living on you know, one salary to begin with.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'll say something different, but I would
Speaker 3: agree with what you're describing and same, and it should
Speaker 3: have been One of the top ten reasons is just
Speaker 3: the more flexible life.
Speaker 1: Well, if that financial freedom, that flexibility is the real
Speaker 1: it's yeah, that flexibility to save as much as you
Speaker 1: want or do the work you want, yea, you know, all.
Speaker 3: That learning to live off of less without it being deprivation,
Speaker 3: and utilizing the seasons when there is maybe a little
Speaker 3: bit more to stash away not just spend it all,
Speaker 3: can allow some of that flexibility to say, you know what, actually,
Speaker 3: I'm going to choose a pay cut and that's actually
Speaker 3: going to be really great for my well being and
Speaker 3: maybe it's not for forever, but and we've heard so
Speaker 3: many of our listeners say that too, Like, it's not
Speaker 3: just always about earning more. Sometimes it's the permission to
Speaker 3: earn less if that's gonna be best for you at
Speaker 3: this time, and yet still living a full life and
Speaker 3: you know, not actually sacrificing too much in the process.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So, while while I would say same, I'll choose something different.
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 3: Less consumption leads to less overwhelmed, certainly for me, but
Speaker 3: specifically as it relates to doing this podcast. I think
Speaker 3: I've said recently how I'll bemoan the fact that many
Speaker 3: times people who don't necessarily listen to the podcast, but
Speaker 3: know I have a podcast about frugal living, will assume
Speaker 3: what that means and how that can become laborious for me.
Speaker 3: Of No, it's not about couponing or getting shirts for
Speaker 3: the lowest possible price meanwhile exploiting other people's labor.
Speaker 4: It's not about that.
Speaker 3: The pop positive side of it is that, yeah, people
Speaker 3: know that I'm going to be kind of mindful of
Speaker 3: my resources, and those who know me well are super
Speaker 3: accepting and supportive of that. Where I do feel a
Speaker 3: true freedom and license to not partake in some of
Speaker 3: the typical things that people partake in, and thankfully because.
Speaker 4: Of the field that I'm in, people don't give me.
Speaker 3: Too crazy of looks for that, although I can deal
Speaker 3: with that. But that's the flip side of it that
Speaker 3: I feel absolute licensed to just say no, I'm actually
Speaker 3: not going to get a second car, and I'm not
Speaker 3: going to go out to a restaurant five days a week,
Speaker 3: and I'm not going to continue to just buy things
Speaker 3: on the internet and have a package at my door
Speaker 3: every day, and I'm not going to be easily influenced
Speaker 3: by Instagram ads, and I'm going to curate the things
Speaker 3: that I'm rolling through and I think over time it
Speaker 3: has accumulated to just less overwhelm with that permission too,
Speaker 3: that I can live life differently. I don't have to
Speaker 3: say yes to all of the things that other people
Speaker 3: are saying yes to. I get to say yes to
Speaker 3: the things that I decide, and I just feel so
Speaker 3: much less chaos inside me.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, so, thank you so much for listening. And I
Speaker 1: hope this is really if you're already feeling like a
Speaker 1: frugal person, I hope this has helped just to solidify
Speaker 1: you if you're trying to find the appeal in frugality.
Speaker 1: I hope this has inspired you to take on this
Speaker 1: identity to live this lifestyle, because it's not until you
Speaker 1: truly like internalize it will you start to see it
Speaker 1: on the outside, i e. In impulse, spending less and
Speaker 1: just having just like wanting not wanting less, but wanting different.
Speaker 1: And so we hope that if you want to learn more,
Speaker 1: you'll check out our book By What you Love Without
Speaker 1: Going Broke. It will help you a lot in taking
Speaker 1: action in becoming more frugal and aligning your spending with
Speaker 1: your values. And we have loved reading your kind reviews
Speaker 1: of the book. Like this one from Patricia. It's five stars.
Speaker 1: She says, gentle and encouraging. I really can't say enough
Speaker 1: good things about this book. It's such a gentle and
Speaker 1: encouraging take on the psychology of why we spend money
Speaker 1: and how our decisions surrounding money are either helpful or
Speaker 1: not helpful. In reference to her personal goals, this is
Speaker 1: the financial book I wish I had read at the
Speaker 1: beginning of my journey with debt payoff and financial education.
Speaker 1: It has still come to me at a time when
Speaker 1: I needed a refresh recourse on why being intentional with
Speaker 1: my money matters. Both Jen and Jill from the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast knocked this one out of the park a
Speaker 1: fantastic read. I highly recommend, Oh Trisha, this is so kind.
Speaker 1: Thank you, such authentic words. I love reading the ways
Speaker 1: that it's landing with other people. If you all listening
Speaker 1: have purchased the book and you haven't left us a review.
Speaker 4: Yet, please do so. It really helps us.
Speaker 3: And if you've not gotten the book by what you
Speaker 3: loovebook dot com, it's gonna give you even more motivation
Speaker 3: and tips on how to live and embrace this frugal lifestyle.
Speaker 1: Yes see you next time.
Speaker 4: Bye.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. All Right, so
Speaker 1: this doesn't have to be the topic of our entire
Speaker 1: after show. But I have not been able to stop
Speaker 1: itching my nose. So if you've heard in the audio
Speaker 1: like a weird sound, probably me itching my nose. I
Speaker 1: just want to like reference that. I don't know why.
Speaker 1: It usually only happens when I drink wine. And I
Speaker 1: promise you I have not had wine right this morning.
Speaker 1: Okay it is, I believe you, twelve twenty in the
Speaker 1: afternoon and I have not had any wine today.
Speaker 3: It also happened to you when you drank hazelnut coffee
Speaker 3: that I had at my house.
Speaker 4: Oh do you remember that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I have not had any hazel nuts.
Speaker 3: Oh but you did get coffee out today. I see
Speaker 3: it take up takeout mug on your desk.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I've had that coffee. Man, it's my favorite
Speaker 1: one from Carr.
Speaker 4: It's away from me.
Speaker 1: But I usually get a medium and I got a
Speaker 1: small today. Maybe that's the problem.
Speaker 3: Yes, you're allergic to I'm allergic to a smaller size.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I need to just get the big one.
Speaker 4: That's it. That's it.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's that I took one of those cup bowl
Speaker 1: yeah things, and maybe that has like cat hair or
Speaker 1: something on it. Maybe it hasn't been washed and somebody
Speaker 1: with a cat held it. That could also be the culprit.
Speaker 1: I think that's the probably the most likely scenario.
Speaker 3: In case you're still here and you're confused, we have
Speaker 3: a new podcast studio. Yes, out of both of our homes,
Speaker 3: we rent an office space at a coworking facility facility
Speaker 3: that's on so intense coworking building, and they've got a
Speaker 3: shared kitchen with these like cozys, like sewed fabric things
Speaker 3: for a cozy, yeah, for a bowl, but for a bowl,
Speaker 3: which is awesome.
Speaker 1: You put a bolder and the sides are kind of
Speaker 1: stitched up so the potholder does not lie flat, but
Speaker 1: the corners are shaped.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you can kind of hold something like a bowl,
Speaker 3: a warm bowl in your hands, and that's why it
Speaker 3: might have mystery cat hair because it's a shared sp Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna wash my hands after this and hopefully
Speaker 1: that will solve the problem. But let's talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about our mega survey.
Speaker 4: So if you.
Speaker 1: Are new here, every February, we do a mega survey,
Speaker 1: and by mega we mean ten questions. They are Nine
Speaker 1: of them are multiple choice, one of them is short answer. Essentially,
Speaker 1: if you have an episode.
Speaker 3: Idea mega because we want a mega amount of you
Speaker 3: listeners to respond to it. Yes, it would really help us.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing. We get a lot of people, not
Speaker 3: even a lot, and maybe that's part of the problem.
Speaker 3: We get a handful of people dming us on Instagram
Speaker 3: about podcast episode ideas, and while I'll pull from that
Speaker 3: and add it to our sheet of podcasting ideas, they're
Speaker 3: all one off and so I can't totally tell if
Speaker 3: is this something that is super niche that this one
Speaker 3: individual want or would this appeal to the masses, because
Speaker 3: the podcast is going out to the masses, right, not
Speaker 3: the individual person. And so something like this survey helps
Speaker 3: us to know what are the majority of people want
Speaker 3: to hear more of, because we do have to tailor
Speaker 3: things to the crowd of people rather than just the individual.
Speaker 3: But collectively, we do believe there's probably a lot of
Speaker 3: similarities between you all. We just have to capture what
Speaker 3: that is. And because I also don't want to assume
Speaker 3: that my experience is everybody's experiences just for Jen and
Speaker 3: I to pull topics out of thin air thinking this
Speaker 3: would help me. We're still just the individual. We've got
Speaker 3: to make sure that our ideas are also going to
Speaker 3: fit your needs and keep you coming back for more.
Speaker 1: And so if you're still with us, this is not
Speaker 1: something we're talking about in the front letter or at
Speaker 1: the top of the episode, but we are going to
Speaker 1: be doing more YouTube this year, so you'll be able
Speaker 1: to see our faces.
Speaker 4: Out of the bag. That's why you're itching.
Speaker 1: But we're not because I'm nervous. It's not just so
Speaker 1: you can see our faces, right, That's not why we're
Speaker 1: doing YouTube. But we want to create a YouTube series
Speaker 1: that will live in the RSS feed eventually, but it's
Speaker 1: going to be YouTube first. That is truly good for YouTube.
Speaker 1: It's good visually. And so one of those ideas.
Speaker 4: Is you're telling you're telling at all?
Speaker 1: Well, if you're still here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, away, yeah, it being reality yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: So we want to do something similar to Remeet and
Speaker 1: Caleb Hammer, where they are doing financial coaching with people,
Speaker 1: but our spin on it is spending just looking at
Speaker 1: the way people spend money and helping people really think
Speaker 1: about what is the root cause of my spending? Is
Speaker 1: this overspending? Am I not spending enough here? And really
Speaker 1: helping people get a hold of their spending, reframe what
Speaker 1: they think they need to be spending on, or reframe
Speaker 1: what they don't think. There are just so much there's
Speaker 1: so much convolution when we think about our spending, and
Speaker 1: as experts in spending, psychology and social work, we want
Speaker 1: to help people navigate that. We want to take what
Speaker 1: the book starts, and we want to help people progress
Speaker 1: after that and take really like real world you know,
Speaker 1: examples in action, and so that is something we're hoping
Speaker 1: to do. If there's something you really like when you
Speaker 1: see YouTube videos about finance, please let us know in
Speaker 1: the mega survey.
Speaker 4: For goolfriendspodcast dot com slash Mega survey.
Speaker 1: If there's something you don't like besides being mean, we're
Speaker 1: not going to be mean. I know that you guys
Speaker 1: don't like. We don't like people being mean to other
Speaker 1: people in these things, even for shock value, even for views,
Speaker 1: We're not going to be mean. So you don't have
Speaker 1: to put that. But if there's something you don't like
Speaker 1: that these other creators do, let us know so that
Speaker 1: we can steer away from it because we want to
Speaker 1: differentiate ourselves and we want a tailor for you guys,
Speaker 1: and it be something you guys want to watch on YouTube,
Speaker 1: something you would stream and cast on your TV to watch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so let us know in the mega survey, and we
Speaker 1: know the real ones. Only the real ones are still here,
Speaker 1: and so you are who we want to hear from
Speaker 1: the YouTube guidance.
Speaker 3: It's so true, how fitting to be talking about this
Speaker 3: post this episode, because I think it really is a
Speaker 3: expanded community engagement that we want to do in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five of hearing more from listeners. And actually that
Speaker 3: is some feedback that we've gotten over the years is
Speaker 3: more I mean some of it has talked about debt
Speaker 3: free stories, but like more real listeners, more of the community.
Speaker 3: And we really feel like this is going to be
Speaker 3: the way to capture that, to allow us a different
Speaker 3: set of people that we can see ourselves in and
Speaker 3: glean some things, have our own takeaways as we explore
Speaker 3: other people's stories.
Speaker 4: Oh, I couldn't be more thrilled and excited.
Speaker 1: We're very, very excited about the direction. And yeah, we're
Speaker 1: gonna do some videos that are just Jill and I too,
Speaker 1: and they're going to be chill like the show, you know.
Speaker 1: So we're going to try to bring you several different options,
Speaker 1: but we would love to hear what you're interested, what
Speaker 1: you like on YouTube, What are you already watching, Who
Speaker 1: are you already watching? Let us know all the details
Speaker 1: so that we can watch them too, we can get inspired,
Speaker 1: and we can just create really helpful guidance.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so what you should be hearing is that there's
Speaker 3: no better time to have your voice heard and bear
Speaker 3: influence on the trajectory of the show because we are
Speaker 3: moving and shaking up something. So let us know what
Speaker 3: you want, what you don't want. Frugal friendspodcast dot com,
Speaker 3: slash mega survey.
Speaker 1: And follow us on YouTube if you haven't already Frugal Friends.
Speaker 2: Bye,