Speaker 1: Episode two ninety six, Grocery saving Strategies that will cut
Speaker 1: your bill in half with Gina Zachariah. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity,
Speaker 1: rice and liver rich your life. Here your host Jen
Speaker 1: and Jill mmmmmm, Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My
Speaker 1: name is Jen, my name is Jill. And today, in
Speaker 1: preparation for my impending doom evacuation order of a child,
Speaker 1: we are bringing birth Confusing a replay of our Future
Speaker 1: of Frugal Summit. If you were around with us in
Speaker 1: two thousand and one, we host our first live summit,
Speaker 1: and last year we host another one. But this is
Speaker 1: from our twenty twenty one summit, and it's from our
Speaker 1: good friend Gina, who if you have spent a millisecond
Speaker 1: on TikTok you will know her as Saving Whiz. She
Speaker 1: is a fantastic person and so full of so many
Speaker 1: grocery saving tips, so many when we need them, we
Speaker 1: always need them, We need them repeated, we need new ones,
Speaker 1: we always need them. Yes, Jeema's got them, and so we.
Speaker 1: This was one of our most popular sessions from the summit,
Speaker 1: and so we're sharing it with you today because my
Speaker 1: time is limited and every episode I get before I
Speaker 1: give birth is precious, and this is a precious episode.
Speaker 1: I think it's yeah, packed with a lot of goody
Speaker 1: goodness that we all need. But first, this episode is
Speaker 1: brought to you by the drive Through. Have you ever
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Speaker 1: an infant car seat somehow turns the tides and asleep
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Speaker 1: a place to go when you get them in the car,
Speaker 1: drive the drive through and nobody will judge you for
Speaker 1: the multiple drive through transactions that are seen in your
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Speaker 1: creating boundaries to say no to things that you don't
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Speaker 1: all right, So, our grocery saving food episodes are some
Speaker 1: of our favorites because we really do feel like food, housing, transportation,
Speaker 1: food are three like big ones, but you don't make
Speaker 1: housing and transportation decisions that often. They're more like yeah,
Speaker 1: hopefully those are very few and far between. They do
Speaker 1: give you a lot of bang for your buck though. Groceries,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, are every week. Food is every day,
Speaker 1: and so that is why we spend so much time
Speaker 1: talking about it because that is really a low barrier
Speaker 1: way to really transform your expenses. As we love to
Speaker 1: eat and we love food, I mean I am eating.
Speaker 1: Oh isn't it sad when you think you're going Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you thought and it's all gone, okay, Well, that's
Speaker 1: how much We love food, so we have a ton
Speaker 1: of episodes on eating healthy, saving on groceries, you know, etc. Etc.
Speaker 1: A few of our grocery specific episodes are episode two fourteen,
Speaker 1: how to Save money on Groceries, Very plain, very Simple,
Speaker 1: and Episode seventy Grocery store Sales Cycles to know about.
Speaker 1: Those ones go in tandem. So this one is a
Speaker 1: really good one. Like I said, if you have spent
Speaker 1: a millisecond on money saving TikTok, you know Gina. She
Speaker 1: is saving whiz and she's passionate about helping people find
Speaker 1: their sweet spot in spending and saving by being more frugal.
Speaker 1: And she is truly of values based advocate and it's
Speaker 1: her mission to teach others how to maximize life while
Speaker 1: saving money. She has appeared on numerous talk shows, personal
Speaker 1: finance publications. She's been in the game for a long time, y'all,
Speaker 1: and she's just a great person. Love her. Let's get
Speaker 1: her tips, let's collect them all. They're so good. Gina,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming onto the Future of
Speaker 1: Frugal Summit. We're so happy to have you here. I'm
Speaker 1: so happy to be here. Food is one of my
Speaker 1: favorite topics, and it's also one of the favorite topics
Speaker 1: of our listeners, and I think those who are engaging
Speaker 1: in the summit. I mean, we have to eat food
Speaker 1: every day, so I'm really thrilled to be talking about
Speaker 1: this topic with you and have enjoyed looking through your
Speaker 1: blog and some of the content you've already put out.
Speaker 1: I noticed on your website you've got a whole category
Speaker 1: just for food, and that's so fun for me to
Speaker 1: click on. So thank you for all your work in
Speaker 1: this space, and we're so delighted to hear more on
Speaker 1: what you have to say about this. Yeah, it's definitely
Speaker 1: one of my passions. I feel that we often neglect
Speaker 1: the food category when we're thinking about budgeting, and it's
Speaker 1: such a major piece of our lives, so that's why
Speaker 1: I talk about it so much. Yeah, and I found
Speaker 1: you on TikTok. I mean I knew of you before,
Speaker 1: but then I got on TikTok and then saw that
Speaker 1: you have quite the following. Everyone following you for food stuff.
Speaker 1: So for those of our listeners and watchers who aren't
Speaker 1: on TikTok, tell us a little bit about you and
Speaker 1: what you do. Sure, I'm a personal finance educator, so
Speaker 1: I have a blog, a podcast, and basically what I
Speaker 1: do is I teach women how to manage their money
Speaker 1: so they can live with less, not as far as
Speaker 1: the type of things that they have, but they can
Speaker 1: live on less money and still have a fully fulfilled life.
Speaker 1: And I think that that's really important because a lot
Speaker 1: of times we look to constantly try to make more money,
Speaker 1: find ways of making more money, but we don't look
Speaker 1: at how we can actually use the resource that we
Speaker 1: get now and stretch it so that it makes sense
Speaker 1: for our lives and be able to enjoy our lives
Speaker 1: thoroughly and not feel like we're strapped with cash. So
Speaker 1: that's what I do. I try to empower women in
Speaker 1: learning more about money so that they can really manage
Speaker 1: it the way that serves their lives better. That's excellent.
Speaker 1: In all of these categories, it sounds like you're not
Speaker 1: just food, although we're talking about food today, right, there's
Speaker 1: so many different categories that you explore with people that
Speaker 1: really equips because we're whole people, We're not just one aspect.
Speaker 1: And so I think it's phenomenal to have these platforms
Speaker 1: and your voice to be able to help guide in
Speaker 1: that process. And it sounds like at any level of entry, right,
Speaker 1: regardless of budget or LOCATIONED be able to identify what's
Speaker 1: going to work for me, right right. It's so personal
Speaker 1: and it comes down to your preferences and what you
Speaker 1: see your life like and what you want it to be.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I love that we can tailor it to
Speaker 1: our needs and it's not just some cookie cutter approach. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we love, love love fat. So I wanted right off
Speaker 1: the bat, I'm really burning to know the answer to
Speaker 1: this question. Not because I love bashing things, but um,
Speaker 1: I really want to know it. But maybe maybe are
Speaker 1: there any savings hacks that you like see over and
Speaker 1: over that you think are like grossly overrated? This is
Speaker 1: going to be a really unpopular opinion. That's why Jen
Speaker 1: liked asking those questions. Well, for me, it's really couponning
Speaker 1: because I feel like it's such a hindrance for someone
Speaker 1: who's starting out who thinks that the only way they
Speaker 1: can really save on groceries is if they sit for
Speaker 1: endless hours clipping coupons, or that they have to get
Speaker 1: online coupons to save money, and there's so many other
Speaker 1: ways of saving money in your grocery bill that has
Speaker 1: nothing to do with couponning, so I feel like it's
Speaker 1: a little overrated. Yes, you can save money with couponning,
Speaker 1: but there are absolute ways that you can do it
Speaker 1: without ever having to clip a coupon. I don't think
Speaker 1: i've clipped a coupon in several years, whereas when I
Speaker 1: first started, I felt like that was almost like a requirement,
Speaker 1: And now I don't feel that way because there's so
Speaker 1: many other ways that you can save massive amounts without
Speaker 1: having to clip one single coupon. It feels antiquated too.
Speaker 1: And I believe that couponing probably did help maybe our parents'
Speaker 1: generation when it came to food, But the way that
Speaker 1: we're shopping is is a lot different in so many ways,
Speaker 1: and it's not as necessary not to mention. Yeah, just
Speaker 1: like the environmental impact on all that paper that's circulating,
Speaker 1: and then the amount of time and energy and attention
Speaker 1: that it takes out of our day actually sit down
Speaker 1: and look at Okay, well what coupons do I need
Speaker 1: and get the scissors out. It just all You're right,
Speaker 1: it feels overwhelming. That's a barrier to me, for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know it, but yeah, I'm in the same boat
Speaker 1: I feel like rebate apps are the new cuponding. Those
Speaker 1: also like take too much time for me. I see
Speaker 1: them all over the place and like I just can't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I totally hear you. I totally hear you. And there's
Speaker 1: also this notion that when you coupon, everyone thinks automatically
Speaker 1: to the extreme couponners, so they think that they have
Speaker 1: to like stock up on everything they have a coupon for,
Speaker 1: and it's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, don't stock up
Speaker 1: on things you wouldn't normally buy anyway, because then you're
Speaker 1: not saving anything. You're saving twenty five sense on something
Speaker 1: you think you're saving, but you've actually spent seven dollars
Speaker 1: on something you wouldn't have purchased anyway. So it's this
Speaker 1: idea that couponning has to be you know, I have
Speaker 1: to get the sale otherwise I'm missing out somehow. And
Speaker 1: you've had to allocate an entire room of your house
Speaker 1: for twenty large laundry to turgin bottles and canned guns
Speaker 1: and all this stuff, like the what's required to really
Speaker 1: coupon is not for me. Yeah, I do love the
Speaker 1: cuponers who will stock up all that, like, enjoy it
Speaker 1: and then they will just donate like their whole haul,
Speaker 1: Like they can spend fifty dollars on all of this stuff,
Speaker 1: like a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff, and then
Speaker 1: they donate it. I love seeing those people. I am
Speaker 1: not one of those people, so not for me, I
Speaker 1: hear you. I'm the same way. I love I love
Speaker 1: watching them donate so many things. But yeah, I'm definitely
Speaker 1: not one of those people either. So then, Gina, if
Speaker 1: it's not coupon NG, if we don't have to become
Speaker 1: an extreme couponor what are some of your favorite tips
Speaker 1: on ways people can significantly save on their grocery bill.
Speaker 1: The first thing, I think it's setting up a routine
Speaker 1: of checking what you have on hand and paying attention
Speaker 1: to what really is on sale so you get weekly ads.
Speaker 1: And if you don't get weekly ads, there are ways
Speaker 1: that you can get your local weekly ads online. But
Speaker 1: the idea is to look around what you have that's
Speaker 1: available to you at home and what you can combine
Speaker 1: with sale items to create a menu that's budget friendly
Speaker 1: without requiring you to go get special ingredients. So I
Speaker 1: always tell my students, the first thing you want to
Speaker 1: do is look at your weekly ads before you started
Speaker 1: to create your menu. Then look at what you have
Speaker 1: on hand, and then the third step is writing out
Speaker 1: your shopping list, and then step number four is creating
Speaker 1: your menu. Because a lot of times people think, Okay,
Speaker 1: I want to save money, so I want to create
Speaker 1: a menu first. Well, if you create a menu first
Speaker 1: subjecting yourself to the prices of those ingredients that are
Speaker 1: now and they might not be on sale, so it's
Speaker 1: much easier for you to create a menu around what
Speaker 1: you have on hand and what you're planning on purchasing.
Speaker 1: So much work at the forefront, which is always what
Speaker 1: is said, right like, we've got to be planful if
Speaker 1: we want to save money. But yeah, there's no way
Speaker 1: around it. I think of these are excellent steps and
Speaker 1: it does, yes, if we want to significantly reduce the
Speaker 1: cost of our grocery bill, it's not just going to happen.
Speaker 1: I can't just hope for it. There does require some
Speaker 1: intentionality ahead of time. But that's such a good tip
Speaker 1: because I think I'll often do it the way that
Speaker 1: you just said not to do it. What do I
Speaker 1: feel like I want this week and then try and
Speaker 1: figure out ways to get that frugally, which works sometimes,
Speaker 1: but you're right, I am then at the mercy of
Speaker 1: whatever the cost of those items are that week. It
Speaker 1: does still see started that I can't get out of
Speaker 1: that work that work ahead of time. Yeah, no, it
Speaker 1: totally does save a lot of money to do it
Speaker 1: either way, whether you plan a menu or not, if
Speaker 1: you do the menu first or the shopping list first.
Speaker 1: But I think it really optimizes what's on sale when
Speaker 1: you choose your shopping list first. Here's the thing, though,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really take a ton of time. You're talking
Speaker 1: about maybe five ten minutes. I mean, I sit with
Speaker 1: my weekly ad and I usually go on live on
Speaker 1: TikTok when I'm doing this, so they can see how
Speaker 1: I think and my process of how I compare prices.
Speaker 1: But I also have a grocery price list template where
Speaker 1: I've allowed them to put in their grocery prices so
Speaker 1: they know what really is considered a sale, because sometimes
Speaker 1: you see things on sale and they're not really a sale.
Speaker 1: So they know their prices, and then it becomes like
Speaker 1: a five to ten minute process every week once just
Speaker 1: five to ten minutes, so it really doesn't take a
Speaker 1: lot of time. At the very beginning, it does because
Speaker 1: you're still kind of getting used to the idea and
Speaker 1: how it works. But it starts to become easier and easier,
Speaker 1: and it really doesn't take a lot of time later on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think it does save some time when you're trying.
Speaker 1: If you're just starting with a meal plan and you
Speaker 1: have all of these options, it can take a long time.
Speaker 1: But if you're starting with the sales, it really narrows down.
Speaker 1: So if like asparagus is on sale, then I know
Speaker 1: exactly like to google asparagus recipes, and so it saves
Speaker 1: even more time if you let that guide you. That's
Speaker 1: so true, and it sounds like too geno. With what
Speaker 1: you're describing, we can decrease the amount of time that
Speaker 1: it takes, not only because with practice, but I would
Speaker 1: imagine also just recycling some of the recipes that we've
Speaker 1: seen work. And so in time, it's almost like the
Speaker 1: first year of teaching. Though I'm not a teacher, but
Speaker 1: I've heard the first year of teaching is a lot
Speaker 1: of leg work. But then after that you've got your curriculum.
Speaker 1: Kind of that concept that once you've done this for
Speaker 1: a little bit, you can pull out and recycle and
Speaker 1: use old things that you've have worked in the past.
Speaker 1: You don't have to constantly reinvent. I love that it
Speaker 1: starts to be a rotation. You're absolutely right. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: then there's also grace for you in the you know,
Speaker 1: first year or so, when it's hard, Like you know
Speaker 1: that it's going to be hard when you start doing it.
Speaker 1: It's you're brand new to it. It's going to take
Speaker 1: a little extra time. But knowing that you are actually
Speaker 1: creating a skill, and once you master that skill, then
Speaker 1: that saves you so much money for the rest of
Speaker 1: your life, and it saves you so much time. But
Speaker 1: and we've got people like Gina to motivate us, and
Speaker 1: I feel stuck. Just go on TikTok. I'm not on
Speaker 1: TikTok yet, but Gina, you might motivate me to get
Speaker 1: on there. Watch I tried. So the other day I
Speaker 1: set a timer. Well, the timer was already set, and
Speaker 1: you have this TikTok where you set a timer and
Speaker 1: you clean your kitchen and you only do the amount
Speaker 1: that's in the timer. And I had like eleven minutes
Speaker 1: left on something I was baking, and I was like,
Speaker 1: and the dishes were there and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's see what I can get done in eleven minutes.
Speaker 1: And it got me to do all of my dishes,
Speaker 1: is it? So? Yeah, you inspired me on that you
Speaker 1: were able to finish all your dishes in eleven minutes. Well,
Speaker 1: I had. It was just the big pots. The rest
Speaker 1: were in the dishwasher, so it was stuff I didn't
Speaker 1: want them to dishwasher. But yeah, I finished. Well, I
Speaker 1: mean it took me a smidgeon of extra time, but
Speaker 1: the bank had to cool, so I just you know,
Speaker 1: it was perfect. Anyways, I love about my dish washing.
Speaker 1: So for these changes that we're making to sustainably reduce
Speaker 1: our grocery bill, do you have any rules or tricks
Speaker 1: that help like solidify these new habits. Yeah. So the
Speaker 1: first thing that I do, like I said, is the
Speaker 1: checking of the ads. My biggest rule is that I
Speaker 1: allow every person in my family to choose one of
Speaker 1: their favorite meals or one of the meals that they
Speaker 1: really want to have that week. And I know that
Speaker 1: sounds more like I'm choosing my meal plan, but what
Speaker 1: I do is I say, okay, this is what we
Speaker 1: have on hand, so you can choose from these things.
Speaker 1: So you have the freedom to choose, but within these limits.
Speaker 1: Because I know what I'm purchasing in the grocery store,
Speaker 1: I know what I'll have on hand, and so each
Speaker 1: person gets to choose that recipe that they want. That way,
Speaker 1: every person in the family during that week will have
Speaker 1: something they're looking forward to, and it makes it easier
Speaker 1: for us not to waste food. I think that's really
Speaker 1: important because sometimes we cook and cook and cook, and
Speaker 1: we have the best of intentions to eat leftovers, and
Speaker 1: if you don't have a system for actually using those
Speaker 1: leftovers or repurposing them, a lot of times they end
Speaker 1: up in the trash, and then not only have you
Speaker 1: wasted money, but you've wasted a valuable resource of food
Speaker 1: that we all should be really grateful for. Right So,
Speaker 1: for me, it's making sure that my family is actually
Speaker 1: going to enjoy the meals that I'm going to make.
Speaker 1: That if I am making something, I have the intention
Speaker 1: that if there's going to be leftovers that I know
Speaker 1: I'm going to repurpose them or when I'm going to
Speaker 1: serve them next because they will be served, they're not
Speaker 1: going in the trash. So it's this idea that stalking
Speaker 1: up is okay, as long as you're paying attention to
Speaker 1: preserving the food and you're not going to end up
Speaker 1: wasting it, or if you cook too much, you're not
Speaker 1: going to end up wasting it. So there's another thing
Speaker 1: that I do sometimes too, where I will double batch
Speaker 1: something like a roast, and then I'll shred it and
Speaker 1: I'll put it in a zip blog freezer bag and
Speaker 1: I'll put it in my freezer for another time. I've
Speaker 1: saved on being able to get the roast on a
Speaker 1: really massive sale and now I'm not wasting it because
Speaker 1: it's ready for me when I need it. And I
Speaker 1: think that's really important. Just establishing systems where you're almost
Speaker 1: like constantly being mindful and planning ahead with everything that
Speaker 1: you're making now, I think that's really really crucial. I
Speaker 1: really like that tip. I don't know that I've heard
Speaker 1: this from other people, at least on our podcast as
Speaker 1: it relates to food. Of having each family member take
Speaker 1: ownership really is what you're describing and responsibility, which is
Speaker 1: both contributing to the community, but also, as you're saying,
Speaker 1: it gives everybody in the family something to look forward to.
Speaker 1: So there's some buy in with what's for dinner, and
Speaker 1: not one person is bearing all the weight of what's
Speaker 1: for dinner, What's for dinner? Mom, dad, what's for dinner?
Speaker 1: It's well, what do you want this week? And it
Speaker 1: can take some of the burden off of you and
Speaker 1: create a bit more of a shared experience, responsibility, ownership,
Speaker 1: making sure there's less food waste. My goodness, it ticks
Speaker 1: off so many pieces here For me in my household,
Speaker 1: it's just me and my husband. But I really like
Speaker 1: that idea, especially for larger families. It's excellent. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: we do have so many people with larger families and
Speaker 1: we don't get a lot of insight because we don't
Speaker 1: have like older kids or Jill doesn't have kids. So
Speaker 1: that's great. Yeah, it makes a big difference because that's
Speaker 1: one of the things that I can't stand. I you know,
Speaker 1: I talk about food a lot, but I'm not really
Speaker 1: like a kitchen person at all. I'm not someone who
Speaker 1: actually enjoys cooking a lot. So for me, it's like,
Speaker 1: I have to think about these five meals and that
Speaker 1: drives me crazy sometimes because I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: what to make a lot of the times. So I
Speaker 1: started to create this because they would say what's for dinner?
Speaker 1: I'm like, what do you want for dinner? Like you
Speaker 1: tell me? So then we started to create this routine.
Speaker 1: And so it's been a few years now and ever
Speaker 1: since my kids were little. My kids are now nineteen
Speaker 1: and fourteen, But when they were little, like I'm talking
Speaker 1: about like four or five, I'd start asking and they
Speaker 1: would get so excited because they got to be part
Speaker 1: of the whole like planning stage. So yeah, it definitely
Speaker 1: really at any age, I think they might just say
Speaker 1: peanut butter and jelly, but hey, why not ye diner?
Speaker 1: That's easy, give some ownership, which is just like great parenting.
Speaker 1: And then also it saves you a little more time
Speaker 1: in the meal planning because that's fewer meals you have
Speaker 1: to think about exactly. But also, Gina, thank you for
Speaker 1: sharing how you don't feel like a guru in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: I think they call them chefs? Is that what they
Speaker 1: call them gurus in the kitchen? I think that that
Speaker 1: makes it so attainable and accessible for those of us
Speaker 1: who feel similarly, I would imagine the majority of people
Speaker 1: would say that. Of course, you've got some people who
Speaker 1: love to cook, or even some who love to cook,
Speaker 1: but only when they have the time to do it,
Speaker 1: and that's usually few and far between. So to be
Speaker 1: able to say, yeah, I write about it, I talk
Speaker 1: about it, I have to TikTok about it. But it's
Speaker 1: not like this is my favorite thing, but it has
Speaker 1: to be done, and here's a way that we can
Speaker 1: do it in an attainable way. I think it just
Speaker 1: creates freedom that we don't have to be in love
Speaker 1: with this process, but there is a way to do
Speaker 1: it in an enjoyable way where we get good food,
Speaker 1: good nutrition, which if I can also just plug again, Gina,
Speaker 1: You've got some awesome recipes for like vegan and keto
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, regardless of
Speaker 1: our food nutritional journey, we can make this happen if
Speaker 1: we can introduce some creativity to it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Do
Speaker 1: you have any, Gina, go to recipes for when you're
Speaker 1: just not feeling like cooking, which it sounds like happens
Speaker 1: sometimes for you. Yeah, yeah, no, I do my favorite things.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm not a kitchen girl, So my
Speaker 1: favorite things are to find ways of spending the least
Speaker 1: amount of time in your kitchen so you get the
Speaker 1: most bang for your buck, right, And my favorite thing
Speaker 1: to do is to take a Saturday where I have
Speaker 1: like maybe two hours of time. You don't really need
Speaker 1: a lot of time, but I'll cook like two or
Speaker 1: three meals during that time and usually they'll have almost
Speaker 1: the same basis. So I love my favorites are stews
Speaker 1: because they're very low maintenance. You put everything in, you
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about it, and it just kind
Speaker 1: of like simmers and gets delicious, and you can do
Speaker 1: other things, like I'll put a timer on my kitchen
Speaker 1: or on my phone in my kitchen or on my phone,
Speaker 1: and it's like set it and forget it. It's almost
Speaker 1: like the slow cooker, except that I don't know it
Speaker 1: just it thickens more and it becomes much more like
Speaker 1: married together. So stews are my number one, and then
Speaker 1: number two are cast role dishes. I think they're super underrated.
Speaker 1: Back in the day, our parents used to make cast
Speaker 1: roll and family style dishes all the time, and I
Speaker 1: think we've kind of steered away from that, and I'm
Speaker 1: trying to bring people back in because the fact that
Speaker 1: you can stretch out your proteins, which are the most
Speaker 1: expensive component of your grocery list. The fact that you
Speaker 1: can stretch them that way and be able to feed
Speaker 1: your family really well on a pound of meat is
Speaker 1: so vital to your grocery bill savings, right M. I
Speaker 1: think it's the word association. Yes, we talked about this
Speaker 1: on one of our podcasts. Like cast roles. I don't
Speaker 1: know why I have such an aversion, and I think
Speaker 1: it's mostly the word. But if you were to feed
Speaker 1: me a cast role, they're usually pretty good. Usually they've
Speaker 1: got some cheese in it, and then you have some
Speaker 1: tasty meat. I think our generation has moved to calling
Speaker 1: it like sheet pan dinners or one pot met them
Speaker 1: as bass in front of Jill because I just are good.
Speaker 1: I love that word. I'm gonna have a bake. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do a pan. Cast Roles sound very old age
Speaker 1: and not not very appetizing. You're absolutely right. Let's call
Speaker 1: them bakes, we call them. Bring it back the future,
Speaker 1: unrugal is going back in time, which is so many
Speaker 1: things right. Fashion upon the past, technology rolls upon the past.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's be real. Clubhouse is a regression and technology. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we love it. Yeah, So conference call and let's like
Speaker 1: make it right okay. Yeah, so let's bring bad cast
Speaker 1: rolls and let's call it a clubhouse bake. Sure that
Speaker 1: specifically that clubhouse bakes to talk later on today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do it. Let's put it down. Yeah, yeah, sound delicious. Well,
Speaker 1: we know what's you know? I do. I love a
Speaker 1: good bake. It is very easy. So now that we
Speaker 1: know what the future of cooking is going to involve
Speaker 1: the bakes, we're asking all of our speakers this. We'd
Speaker 1: love to know. Gina, Like, what do you hope the
Speaker 1: future of grocery shopping includes for people? I'm My hope
Speaker 1: is that people feel empowered by just making small, tiny
Speaker 1: changes that will really impact their grocery bill. So it's
Speaker 1: not about trying and I always talk about this, it's
Speaker 1: not about the huge steps that you take. It's really
Speaker 1: those small steps, the ones that you discount, the ones
Speaker 1: that you think, oh, that was a pun, the ones
Speaker 1: that you think are like, you know, twenty five cents
Speaker 1: here and fifty cents there's not going to make a
Speaker 1: big difference. But at the end of the week, it
Speaker 1: makes a twenty dollars difference. At the end of the month,
Speaker 1: it makes one hundred or one hundred and twenty dollars difference,
Speaker 1: all of those little tiny steps. So I'm really hoping
Speaker 1: that people take away the idea that there is so
Speaker 1: much power in just making small steps to really hone
Speaker 1: in your grocery budget so that it makes more sense
Speaker 1: for your family you're still feeding them very high quality meals,
Speaker 1: but for your wallet, you're able to get some of
Speaker 1: that money back that you can then use for debt
Speaker 1: or to save money or whatever it is that you
Speaker 1: need in your life. And it always starts with these
Speaker 1: little things that we think are not going to make
Speaker 1: a big impact. So great. That's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: I love this question because I do think it's so
Speaker 1: full of hope and motivation and encouragement. I think in
Speaker 1: what you just shared there's a bigger picture message of
Speaker 1: you don't have to do this whole thing perfectly. It
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be a complete one eighty turn in
Speaker 1: your finances or in your habits. But what's a one
Speaker 1: percent change you can make, Not to say that you're
Speaker 1: going to end there. Usually those one percent changes get
Speaker 1: built upon because it creates greater sustainability. You see what
Speaker 1: happens as a result of it, and it does propel
Speaker 1: you towards more, but not to begin there. We can
Speaker 1: begin at these small changes. I love that encouragement. Thank
Speaker 1: you for That's right. It's time for the best minute
Speaker 1: of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and
Speaker 1: his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage,
Speaker 1: maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. That's bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clint,
Speaker 1: this is the bill of the week. And moving away
Speaker 1: from encouragement to just silly, Gina, do you have a
Speaker 1: bill of the week for us? Well, I initially thought
Speaker 1: it was something different than it is, So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: save it. I'm gonna say that the bill of the
Speaker 1: week is that I can pay only one hundred dollars
Speaker 1: per week on groceries. And I live in La California,
Speaker 1: highest cost of one of the highest cost of living areas, right,
Speaker 1: And so the fact that I can do that with
Speaker 1: a family of four, I just want. And this isn't
Speaker 1: to boast. This is really to encourage and inspire someone
Speaker 1: else who may think that it's not possible. I'm here
Speaker 1: to tell you it is totally possible, and it's it's
Speaker 1: gonna fluctuate for every family depending on their needs in
Speaker 1: their dietary restrictions. But if you can bring down your
Speaker 1: grocery bill even just a little, it'll make a big difference, right,
Speaker 1: So I wanted to share that with you because a
Speaker 1: lot of people are like, well, what do you spend
Speaker 1: on your groceries? Well, I spend one hundred dollars per month,
Speaker 1: per week, and sometimes I can get it even lower.
Speaker 1: And that is usually like, yes, I did it, and
Speaker 1: I'm still feeding it five times a week at least
Speaker 1: some kind of meat dish. Yeah. And it's not like
Speaker 1: you're just eating at home twice a week and you're
Speaker 1: spending one hundred dollars on groceries. No, you're eating at
Speaker 1: home with meat five nights. Yeah. Yeah, so you're doing it.
Speaker 1: Wow in La, well done, How inspiring and thank you.
Speaker 1: And even though that's your weekly grocery budget, still the
Speaker 1: encouragement from you to say, just make some small, minor
Speaker 1: changes and pay attention to what that produces in the progress,
Speaker 1: that's so encouraging. Thanks so much, Gina. Yeah. Happy. Where
Speaker 1: can people learn more about you and how you get
Speaker 1: your grocery bills so low? Well they can find me
Speaker 1: on TikTok because I'm always there. It feels like I
Speaker 1: live there and it's just Saving Whiz Gina. And then
Speaker 1: I also have, of course a blog called Saving Whiz.
Speaker 1: They can find me also on Gina Zakaria dot com.
Speaker 1: All of those platforms will have resources for them and
Speaker 1: waits for them to start now, and you know it'll
Speaker 1: at least give them some encouragement to make small changes,
Speaker 1: because I think that's really important. But also they can
Speaker 1: message me so on Instagram. I'm not really on there,
Speaker 1: but I only go on there for my dms because
Speaker 1: people DM me all the time asking me questions, and
Speaker 1: I live for that because if I can help someone
Speaker 1: one on one, I'm all for it. So they can
Speaker 1: DM me on Instagram, it's just saving Whiz and I
Speaker 1: would I'll respond, I'll help them out. So amazing. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much for what you bring to the table, the
Speaker 1: way that you're empowering women and bringing so much encouragement
Speaker 1: and support and awesome tips along in the process, and
Speaker 1: thanks for sharing that with us at our Future of
Speaker 1: Frugal Summer Summit. Thanks Gina, thank you. It's my absolute pleasure. Yes,
Speaker 1: and you'll be able You'll to see all of those
Speaker 1: links that Gina just mentioned on this page and enjoy
Speaker 1: the rest of the summit. M that is as good
Speaker 1: the second time around as it was the first, which
Speaker 1: you can't always say about leftovers unless Gina's making them.
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of times leftovers are even better,
Speaker 1: like they've had more time to kind of marinate if
Speaker 1: you're doing That's what this was. But truly, this hadn't
Speaker 1: played on the podcast before, only for those of you
Speaker 1: who are at the summit. So we're so glad that
Speaker 1: we can share Gina with the wider audience of you all.
Speaker 1: Hope you have something that you can walk away with.
Speaker 1: And if you do want more from Gina, since it
Speaker 1: has been a couple of years, she's got new stuff,
Speaker 1: more stuff. Super Savers. Gina has a private saving community
Speaker 1: called super Savers, and there's an entire section dedicated to
Speaker 1: grocery savings to provide additional support and resources for anyone
Speaker 1: trying to save more money. So you can check that
Speaker 1: out at saving wiz dot com slash supersavers community. And
Speaker 1: thank you all for listening. It has been a blast.
Speaker 1: Many of you know we have a membership for our
Speaker 1: listeners who are paying off Debt where we do monthly
Speaker 1: money challenges because we love gamifying stuff and making it fun.
Speaker 1: And there's accountability groups because we love community and we
Speaker 1: want to congratulate one of our community members for a
Speaker 1: big win. This comes from Joscelyn, who shared we started
Speaker 1: using Amazon on Subscribe and Save about seven years ago
Speaker 1: when we got our dog to save on dog food.
Speaker 1: It's taken me that long to realize that the save
Speaker 1: part is a lie. Sure, we saved initially since I
Speaker 1: typically subscribe to cleaning supplies like tide Pods, hands Up,
Speaker 1: toilet bow Cleaner, and also Contact Solution and random other
Speaker 1: stuff that would get added to meet the five item
Speaker 1: requirement too ohnlock max savings. But then I just realized, well,
Speaker 1: I now have more cleaning supplies than I actually need,
Speaker 1: and the dog food is actually just five percent off,
Speaker 1: not fifteen percent off. Maybe I just need to get
Speaker 1: dog food at chewey dot com and you can get
Speaker 1: much better deals on tide Pods with the target Circle
Speaker 1: app since there seemed to always be manufacture coupons in there.
Speaker 1: I know it sounds like I'm wrapping all these brands,
Speaker 1: but I'm not. I'm just reading Joscelyn's when for that,
Speaker 1: she does have like a question mark from there, She's like,
Speaker 1: maybe I need to go a Chewy dot com. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't have a dog. We're not sponsored
Speaker 1: by Chewey or or Get or Amazon subscribe and save.
Speaker 1: But I'm so pleased for you, Jocelyn, and learning that
Speaker 1: you you don't need that that subscription. You don't need
Speaker 1: to be subscribing to all these things that keep showing
Speaker 1: up at your door. You don't need, Like, that's not
Speaker 1: the thing to automate. The thing to automate is your
Speaker 1: savings investing. We don't need to be automating hands soap
Speaker 1: to us. Why we say automate your savings because then
Speaker 1: it gets done. When you automate your buying, it gets done. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So there are some things to not automate. There are
Speaker 1: some things to do manually. And yeah, that's awesome, Jocelyn. Congrats,
Speaker 1: thank you all for listening again. And if this membership
Speaker 1: sounds like something you need, like you have a realization
Speaker 1: to make, maybe now that there you don't be taking
Speaker 1: seven years you don't know, you have a realization you
Speaker 1: might not know until you join. Yeah, and there's courses
Speaker 1: and interviews and challenges and games and fun and friends
Speaker 1: and Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash club. Check it out.
Speaker 1: Just take a look see if it's something You can
Speaker 1: be on the website scrolling through what the club's all
Speaker 1: about before you join. Yeah, so just check it out.
Speaker 1: Dip your feet in the water. We're not going to
Speaker 1: force you. We don't force anything on anybody except for
Speaker 1: the bill of a week. We're never changing back. No bye. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni Jennam. Remembering also
Speaker 1: back to the midnight bowling that we referenced on a
Speaker 1: previous podcast episode. Was that to ninety back like six
Speaker 1: six episodes? Yeah, when we went midnight bowling. It's all
Speaker 1: we can talk about because it's like the most fun thing,
Speaker 1: that the most, it's most I've been out months. It's
Speaker 1: the most I will be out in months, the latest
Speaker 1: we've been out. Yeah, I felt so weird having plans
Speaker 1: after nine pms. Same Anyhow, What I'm also remembering about
Speaker 1: our conversation then is how that band, that girl band,
Speaker 1: Dream Dream Dream. Yeah, I said I wanted to if
Speaker 1: I'm going to start my own then it would beat
Speaker 1: Dreams with a Z, but I really want to be
Speaker 1: in Dream. Yeah, and we just kind of realized time
Speaker 1: is on our side in some regard. If we wanted
Speaker 1: to start a girl band, we totally could, and we
Speaker 1: kind of do, because it's like, what all of our
Speaker 1: outtakes and cloopers are is us singing. And we were
Speaker 1: just singing a Taylor Swift song to check our mics,
Speaker 1: which is what reminded me of Dream and all of
Speaker 1: the alternatives like that. We could name it Dreams Unrealized, Dream,
Speaker 1: Dream Deferred, oh Mares, which is just a cover band
Speaker 1: of Dreams songs and Evanescence songs, and that's it. Yeah, Yes,
Speaker 1: that was the good one. I think. Then I think
Speaker 1: I bowled a strike right after that idea. You yeah,
Speaker 1: you bulled your best frames thinking about our cover band.
Speaker 1: It's what I want next, yes, And then even though
Speaker 1: neither of us can sing on tune. Yeah. So they
Speaker 1: did break up in two thousand and three, but I
Speaker 1: feel like, oh, they tried to make a comeback in
Speaker 1: two thousand and fifteen and didn't work. I don't think,
Speaker 1: you know, Yeah, they tried to be their own cover
Speaker 1: band of like their own songs, and it didn't work.
Speaker 1: Um a year later they disbanded again. But man, how
Speaker 1: to be like a person in a old like early
Speaker 1: two thousand, like a heavy hit or at the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they probably did not have great contracts, no, because
Speaker 1: they were like thirteen album agencies. What are they called
Speaker 1: record labels? Oh, bad Boys records is what they were
Speaker 1: signed to. Which does stink. It stinks for the artists
Speaker 1: because like they really did it, and they did it hard,
Speaker 1: and they did it well for a short amount of
Speaker 1: time and they probably made zero to little money off
Speaker 1: of it. Yeah. Uh, here's to here's to making good
Speaker 1: decisions when you're signing contracts though, Yeah, do do your
Speaker 1: due diligence, do the negotiating. You don't think that you're
Speaker 1: entitled to negotiate for it anyway. Yeah, it's you don't
Speaker 1: know what you don't know, just ask for stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when I are a lawyer, hire a lawyer because they
Speaker 1: actually do know what they're asking for. Others. Look how
Speaker 1: we turned our dreams of being a dream cover band
Speaker 1: into a tip stop it unlimited chips in the Torba.
Speaker 1: If there's any musicians, hire a lawyer, look over the contract,
Speaker 1: will make sure moneys in your pocket and worst case
Speaker 1: scenario B Taylor Swift and just redo all of your music.
Speaker 1: I can, yeah, but still ask for chips.