Speaker 1: Episode five hundred, a new era for Frugal Friends.
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
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Wooo, Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and that intro ain't gonna change,
Speaker 1: but a lot of other things are about to change
Speaker 1: for Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 3: Buck up, babies, because it's five hundred episodes.
Speaker 4: It's seven years that.
Speaker 3: We've been coming at you, and we've got a lot
Speaker 3: to update you on. But first, this episode is brought
Speaker 3: to you by new shiny, Bright, Hopeful, promising Alluring on Marred.
Speaker 4: We love new.
Speaker 3: Things, especially so when it's not things at all, but ideas,
Speaker 3: action steps, encouragement and friendship. Like our new Weekly Money
Speaker 3: Move Every Monday, we're posting to our new Instagram account.
Speaker 3: Follow us at Weekly Money Move about one small step
Speaker 3: you can take that week to improve your finances. So
Speaker 3: we're also letting you know about the Weekly Money Move
Speaker 3: in the friend letter, so absolutely get that at frugalfriendspodcast
Speaker 3: dot com and we talk about it in our Sunday Reset,
Speaker 3: which is on YouTube Frugal Friends podcasts on YouTube, but
Speaker 3: get the Weekly Money Move. Follow at Weekly Money Move
Speaker 3: on Instagram. Get all the things.
Speaker 1: It's very funny. The first one came out yesterday and
Speaker 1: you were not going to want to miss these videos.
Speaker 1: We didn't cheap out on them at all. They are good.
Speaker 3: We started just recording them like we were gonna teach something,
Speaker 3: and then we realize we can't do that because it's
Speaker 3: not If it's not for fun.
Speaker 4: No, if it's not fun. If it's not fun, it's
Speaker 4: not for your price.
Speaker 1: And that's not going to change. I think we're only
Speaker 1: going to emphasize that moving forward. But every year we
Speaker 1: like to do an anniversary episode or like a milestone episode.
Speaker 1: So last year we did episode four hundred, our sixth
Speaker 1: anniversary special, and it was you and me and Eric
Speaker 1: and Travis going through our one star reviews.
Speaker 4: Oh that was fun, so fun.
Speaker 1: So definitely head back and listen to that. But we
Speaker 1: are excited this year now with the publishing of Buy
Speaker 1: What You Love Without Going Broke. We've been so invested
Speaker 1: in that for so long, and now that it's out
Speaker 1: into the world, we can start thinking about new things
Speaker 1: and we're just very excited to reveal all the things
Speaker 1: we've been working on behind the scenes so that you
Speaker 1: have a clear idea of our path forward and you
Speaker 1: can get on board or you can go elsewhere. We're
Speaker 1: so we know that when change comes, some people are
Speaker 1: going to be excited about it and some people are
Speaker 1: here for a reason, and if you don't, and if
Speaker 1: you deviate from that, then they're going to find another
Speaker 1: place to get the reason they came. And that's totally fine.
Speaker 1: But I think based on the Mega Survey, which we
Speaker 1: are going to go through those results and kind of
Speaker 1: like say why we're making these changes based on the
Speaker 1: results of the Mega Survey, that's how we are tailoring
Speaker 1: this new era for frugal friends.
Speaker 3: Because we need to stay titillated over here ourselves. You know,
Speaker 3: oh wow, we need to be motivated to keep doing
Speaker 3: what we're doing. And you know, seven years happens and
Speaker 3: you want you want something fresh. Okay, we're still studying
Speaker 3: to get for Oh yeah, it's.
Speaker 1: Mom and mom are staying together for the kids. Don't worry.
Speaker 3: We just need to spice things up a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I think you'll see it's not just our need
Speaker 1: to spice things up but it's our identification of where
Speaker 1: the market is moving and wanting to stay on the
Speaker 1: pulse of it and wanting to progress with it and
Speaker 1: not stay stuck in what we started seven years ago.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, let's first go over what all we've got
Speaker 3: going on so that you can know where to find
Speaker 3: us and what you're going to get on that platform.
Speaker 3: So this year, back in March, we started the Sunday Reset,
Speaker 3: So that is videos of us in our studio that
Speaker 3: exists on YouTube. They're about thirty minute video YouTube episodes
Speaker 3: where Jenna and I go over the weekly money move
Speaker 3: that we put out that Monday, and then we talk
Speaker 3: about what we made that past week. So we're talking
Speaker 3: about recipes food that you can cook like the recipes
Speaker 3: we've already made so we know they're good, or we're
Speaker 3: going to tell you the different ways to make substitutions
Speaker 3: to make it even tastier. And then we go through
Speaker 3: a listener question, so that's something that you all can submit.
Speaker 3: There's a form that you can submit questions on the
Speaker 3: YouTube video itself, so that's a great place to subscribe
Speaker 3: to us, especially if you just want a little extra
Speaker 3: of us, if you want to see our faces as
Speaker 3: we talk, because we are pretty expressive. I realized in
Speaker 3: watching it, Yeah, how much when we're recording podcasts is
Speaker 3: communicated through our hands or our faces. We do ye
Speaker 3: and you get to see that. We've gotten such good
Speaker 3: feedback from it so far, people commenting that it's like
Speaker 3: their new favorite thing to do on Sunday nights.
Speaker 4: So that's super fun.
Speaker 3: And like I already said, we've got a new Instagram
Speaker 3: account at weekly Money Move, where that's all we've got
Speaker 3: listed is just on Monday, there'll be a new video
Speaker 3: posted of what the money move is for that week
Speaker 3: and giving you a little bit deeper of an explanation
Speaker 3: on how to make that money move for the week.
Speaker 3: And that's going to be the same money move that
Speaker 3: we talk about and in that Sunday reset the day.
Speaker 1: Before, the day before it's the the money move will
Speaker 1: come out Monday, and so the following Sunday, six days later,
Speaker 1: we'll be talking about what we did for the money move,
Speaker 1: because theoretically we'll have had six days to complete it,
Speaker 1: though we will be doing this a little earlier because
Speaker 1: we are recording it.
Speaker 3: And that money move will also come out in the
Speaker 3: friend letter that that same Monday, so it'll go live.
Speaker 3: The video will go live on Instagram. The quick little
Speaker 3: understanding of how the money Move works, how to do it.
Speaker 3: Then we write about it in the Friend Letter on Monday.
Speaker 3: So also make sure that you're getting that Frugal friendspodcast
Speaker 3: dot com. You can subscribe to the friend Letter that's free.
Speaker 3: You're still getting that to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Speaker 3: Monday is going to be the money Move. Wednesday is
Speaker 3: how to save money and Friday is you're a little
Speaker 3: bit more like money psychology.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're super excited about the Weekly Money Move and
Speaker 1: the reason we started a new Instagram account for it
Speaker 1: is we're also going to be collaborating with our Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast Instagram account, so you will see it there.
Speaker 1: But we wanted to have one place to organize all
Speaker 1: fifty two money moves so that they wouldn't all get lost.
Speaker 1: So if somebody comes in in week sixteen, they don't
Speaker 1: have to go through all the podcast stuff to find
Speaker 1: weeks one through fifteen. It's in the Weekly Money Move
Speaker 1: Instagram account. So that's why we put it there. But
Speaker 1: we're really excited about that because so many of you
Speaker 1: want to you're not just worried about saving money. How
Speaker 1: do I save money? It's how do I invest? How
Speaker 1: do I organize my financial goals? How do I do
Speaker 1: all of these? There's so much to manage with money, right,
Speaker 1: but we believe it can be broken down. If you
Speaker 1: just do one thing a week, then you're going to
Speaker 1: be able to manage your money. Fine, you're going to
Speaker 1: be great if you just do one thing a week
Speaker 1: or batch it and you do, you know, four weeks
Speaker 1: in one week, and then you're only doing once a
Speaker 1: month or whatever. So that is why we are super
Speaker 1: excited for the Weekly Money Move. If you have seen
Speaker 1: Weekly Home Check on Instagram, it's going to be very
Speaker 1: similar to that, but maybe a little bit more unhinged
Speaker 1: because you know us in that we're really trying to
Speaker 1: teach you to do something. So this one we put
Speaker 1: out yesterday was emergency fund, so we're you know, a
Speaker 1: quick how do you decide how much to have in
Speaker 1: your emergence? See fun Because sure we've got to start saving,
Speaker 1: but where do we start, how do we progress? And
Speaker 1: how do we know three six, nine, five hundred one thousand.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of what we're talking about in that
Speaker 1: short social media video, and then also we have it
Speaker 1: in text in the Monday front letter. And then let's
Speaker 1: move on to our new podcast format.
Speaker 4: Oh, I love this one.
Speaker 1: So we are staying true to all things Frugal Friends,
Speaker 1: but I think we're getting truer. When you come to
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends, you want to learn more about frugal living,
Speaker 1: and so much of that is about saving money on
Speaker 1: particular things. We've spent the last two years really diving
Speaker 1: into values based spending and spending psychology, and we are
Speaker 1: definitely not leaving that, but we want to dive back
Speaker 1: into a lot of the how to save money on
Speaker 1: X I think especially in this season that we are in,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it's I don't think we're leaving
Speaker 1: the season anytime soon. Things are getting more expensive, budgets
Speaker 1: are getting tighter, and I think there's a real need
Speaker 1: that we revisit some of the old ways of saving
Speaker 1: money on and we dispel whether those old ways are
Speaker 1: still applicable or not. And so we are going to
Speaker 1: be diving into all these ways. We touched on it
Speaker 1: in our last episode, which is essentially how to Save
Speaker 1: money on Groceries, and we found so many new ways
Speaker 1: to save on groceries, and a lot of that was
Speaker 1: through AI. So for the past seven years we have
Speaker 1: been using Google to kind of lead us in our
Speaker 1: search our research for episode topics. From the very first day,
Speaker 1: our format has been very consistent. We're googling our top
Speaker 1: and then we're finding articles online and we're telling you
Speaker 1: what in this is accurate, what is fluff, and what
Speaker 1: we just downright don't agree with because so much of
Speaker 1: writing seven years ago was to appease an algorithm more
Speaker 1: than it was to help people. Now we're seeing that
Speaker 1: when we are searching for topics, we are not getting
Speaker 1: anywhere near the quality of article we used to. We
Speaker 1: are getting a lot of Reddit posts, Kora posts, we're
Speaker 1: getting AI like explanations or you know, also found on
Speaker 1: the web sort of things. And it's the quality of
Speaker 1: posts on the first page has just gone way way down.
Speaker 1: But it's not gone down with AI and and I honestly,
Speaker 1: I think the reason it's transition to that is because
Speaker 1: of all the money and staffing going to AI building.
Speaker 1: And so instead of being mad about it, we're going
Speaker 1: to go. We're going to go in the way that
Speaker 1: technology is going and look Okay, how can I make
Speaker 1: AI work better for me than Google even did? And
Speaker 1: so we are eliminating headlines, We're eliminating articles. We're no
Speaker 1: longer going to be going through those, and instead we
Speaker 1: are going to be creating outlines based on our own experience,
Speaker 1: our own research, and using AI to answer and guide us.
Speaker 1: We're also going to be teaching you how to use
Speaker 1: AI like chat, GPT or claude. We're going to be
Speaker 1: teaching you how to craft prompts that help you save money.
Speaker 3: It's so exciting. I think it'll be just so stinking helpful.
Speaker 1: It has the articles or not the artists. The episodes
Speaker 1: that I have crafted outlines for so far have been
Speaker 1: extra dreamly.
Speaker 3: I've learned good like who would have thought I'd still
Speaker 3: be learning out of say And.
Speaker 1: I'm learning And it's the thing is that So our
Speaker 1: biggest criticism of Google articles was that they weren't looking
Speaker 1: for new things. They were looking to regurgitate what was
Speaker 1: already out there. They would always use the first Google
Speaker 1: search result. They would recreate that and just add more text.
Speaker 1: It would be the same thing, but a thousand words longer.
Speaker 1: So that's always been our criticism of Google and with AI,
Speaker 1: AI is scouring the whole web.
Speaker 4: I don't have time.
Speaker 1: To do that, and neither do you, which is why
Speaker 1: we were only going on the first page. And so
Speaker 1: it scours it and it finds things that are actually new.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh so great.
Speaker 3: And you know what else is going to be so
Speaker 3: so great and I think actually helpful is our other
Speaker 3: YouTube series called The Spending Intervention. This premieres on YouTube
Speaker 3: on April sixteenth, So if you're listening to this episode
Speaker 3: the day it comes out, you just have a week
Speaker 3: and a day to wait for our very first Spending Intervention.
Speaker 4: This is again Jen.
Speaker 3: And I in studio on video with a guest, but
Speaker 3: not just any kind of guest, a listener guest, someone
Speaker 3: like you, a real person spending real money in real ways,
Speaker 3: and we're able to talk to them about how they're
Speaker 3: spending money, being able to look at what's going well,
Speaker 3: what's not going well, what are their goals, what do
Speaker 3: they want to improve as it relates specifically to their spending,
Speaker 3: Because if you remember, a lot of what we're talking
Speaker 3: about on our podcast and especially in the book is
Speaker 3: teaching the skill of spending money that many of us
Speaker 3: have not actually learned how to spend, and we've been
Speaker 3: sold this binary of you're either a spender or a saver,
Speaker 3: when in reality, we all do spend money and we
Speaker 3: all should be saving money. But how do we spend
Speaker 3: our money? Well, how do we spend our money guilt
Speaker 3: free and knowing that none of us has arrived there?
Speaker 3: But how do we bring in more voices, more experiences
Speaker 3: than just Jen and I. We will talk about how
Speaker 3: we spend money, but you're only getting the two of us,
Speaker 3: So bringing in you all, if you're in the same
Speaker 3: pen area, I mean, this is definitely an opportunity for.
Speaker 1: An email because we want to talk to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So these are about hour long episodes with a
Speaker 3: real person where we are going through their ninety day
Speaker 3: transaction inventory, talking to them about how much money they
Speaker 3: spent in different categories, how to rein in their spending,
Speaker 3: and maybe some categories where they're spending impulsively or they
Speaker 3: don't even know how much money they're spending. So that's
Speaker 3: another reason to subscribe to Frugal Friends podcast on YouTube
Speaker 3: is so that you can watch our spending intervention as
Speaker 3: well as the Sunday Reset series.
Speaker 4: But oh, I.
Speaker 3: Can't even tell you how thrilled I am. We have
Speaker 3: a couple of these recorded already, so we know that
Speaker 3: they are fun and that they're just good content. Who
Speaker 3: doesn't want to watch somebody else tell the rest of
Speaker 3: the world about what they spent on the last ninety
Speaker 3: days lawyers.
Speaker 1: Everyone's a vayar.
Speaker 3: But I think too we can find ourselves in these
Speaker 3: various people and their stories and no, yeah, I do
Speaker 3: spend on that, or yeah, I've always wondered about that
Speaker 3: type of transaction. How could I shift it? So you
Speaker 3: can kind of get even more real time digging in
Speaker 3: the weeds. Just thoughts from the frugal friends on these
Speaker 3: various types of spending and ways to improve but also
Speaker 3: be encouraged in different areas. If you do find yourself like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: I do really well in that category, or I'm doing
Speaker 3: that same thing that they're talking about recommending.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, if you loved our book by What you
Speaker 1: Love Without Going Broke, and you are attracted to the
Speaker 1: values based spending spending psychology content that we have done
Speaker 1: for the past two years, this is the series for you.
Speaker 1: It takes the concepts that we are talking about and
Speaker 1: applies them to real world experiences. So we're going to
Speaker 1: be doing less expert guests and more real world listeners.
Speaker 1: And the expert guests we do have on are not
Speaker 1: necessarily going to be from the money space. They're going
Speaker 1: to be kind of like Kevin who is talking about
Speaker 1: e bikes. We want to learn how to save money
Speaker 1: in a certain category transportation. What do we think is
Speaker 1: the next you know, big thing or radical middle and
Speaker 1: transportation e bikes. So we found a special you know,
Speaker 1: an expert in e bikes, or we're going to have
Speaker 1: an episode coming up how to renovate your kitchen on
Speaker 1: a budget, how to save money on your kitchen renovation.
Speaker 1: And so we found a DIY kitchen renovation expert and
Speaker 1: we're talking to her about, you know, what to do
Speaker 1: and what not to do when you're painting cabinets, where
Speaker 1: to skimp, where not to skimp. So that's the type
Speaker 1: of expert you'll be able to expect, and that's typically
Speaker 1: what we've done in the past. But that, like Bears
Speaker 1: repeating that that in particular won't change. We'll just be
Speaker 1: doing fewer guests and they'll be predominantly like that. So
Speaker 1: and you'll also in another thing that's changing in the
Speaker 1: podcast is that we're going to bring the video version
Speaker 1: of the podcast starting in May, so we're kind of
Speaker 1: soft launching all of these things. But starting in May,
Speaker 1: if you're subscribed to the YouTube, you'll also be able
Speaker 1: to see the videos of these episodes on YouTube, so
Speaker 1: that'll be great. And we're going to format these episodes
Speaker 1: kind of based on what you wanted to hear based
Speaker 1: on the Mega survey. So let's get into our megasurvey results.
Speaker 3: If you all are subscribed to the friend letter, then
Speaker 3: you remember there were a few weeks where we were
Speaker 3: really pushing this survey to all of you, our faithful listeners,
Speaker 3: to hear what do you have to say about what
Speaker 3: we're doing, what you want to see in the future.
Speaker 3: Who are you right? It's been seven years of this podcast.
Speaker 3: We believe we've gained a lot of new people. We've
Speaker 3: probably lost some people who no longer need this type
Speaker 3: of content. We believe that we believe that listeners will
Speaker 3: probably stay with us for about a year or two
Speaker 3: and then be able to kind of graduate into other
Speaker 3: types of content that's going to serve them maybe in
Speaker 3: a different life season. And so we wanted to see
Speaker 3: who are our listeners now today, and how can we
Speaker 3: best serve the majority of you who are listening. So
Speaker 3: we want to share the results with you so that
Speaker 3: you can also get an idea of where we're going
Speaker 3: with our podcast this year and all of our other
Speaker 3: efforts and kind of know what to expect from us
Speaker 3: to recognize, yeah, kind of where we're going to fall
Speaker 3: on the types of content that we're putting out.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So one of the questions we asked is, in regards
Speaker 1: to your money, what are you most interested in learning
Speaker 1: about in twenty twenty five? And the choice that was
Speaker 1: and these were multiple choice could you could choose as
Speaker 1: many as you wanted on the list, And the one
Speaker 1: that was chosen most was buying quality over quantity. And
Speaker 1: that's something in twenty twenty four we really emphasized we
Speaker 1: wanted we've always wanted to get away from how can
Speaker 1: I get whatever I want for the cheapest price possible
Speaker 1: and not inspect why I want it? Right, So we've
Speaker 1: we've always wanted to get away from that and be like,
Speaker 1: how can once I am confident that I want to
Speaker 1: make a purchase, how can I buy the quality version
Speaker 1: instead of the cheapest version. So that's how we're going
Speaker 1: to tailor these how to save money on X episodes.
Speaker 1: We are not you know, in our kitchen renovation episode
Speaker 1: that we did, nowhere in there did we say cover
Speaker 1: your your countertops with like paint, paint or what it
Speaker 1: was that paper, the sticky paper that some people do, right,
Speaker 1: So never do we offer cheap options like that. There
Speaker 1: are options other than quarts if you don't care about quartz, right,
Speaker 1: So we're offering more content on how to save money
Speaker 1: on quality versus quantity.
Speaker 3: The next thing that you are all interested in learning
Speaker 3: more about is retirement planning. So you're definitely going to
Speaker 3: be hearing more about investing for retirement here on the podcast,
Speaker 3: but also in the Sunday Reset series. And so another
Speaker 3: thing I want to mention about the Sunday Reset that
Speaker 3: we're doing on YouTube every Sunday, as the name would suggest,
Speaker 3: is that if there's a topic that we do want
Speaker 3: to cover but don't we don't have forty five minutes
Speaker 3: to cover it, like we don't need that amount of time,
Speaker 3: then that would be something that we talk about in
Speaker 3: the Sunday Reset where we're giving maybe ten to fifteen
Speaker 3: minutes to a topic, like you know, something maybe ancillary
Speaker 3: or niche about maybe retirement or investing for retirement. So
Speaker 3: keep that in mind that if you've ever asked us
Speaker 3: a question or you gave us an idea for the podcast,
Speaker 3: we might end up using that in the Sunday Reset.
Speaker 3: So that's a reason to kind of watch both because
Speaker 3: it's not going to be the same content. We're going
Speaker 3: to be talking about different things in the Sunday Reset
Speaker 3: than we talk about here on the podcast, and usually
Speaker 3: some of those more niche down themes that only take
Speaker 3: about ten to fifteen minutes for us to cover.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we'll try to title the videos based on
Speaker 1: the listener question too, so you can know what you're
Speaker 1: getting at because you know the money move will be
Speaker 1: the Monday prior, you know the meal plan will be food.
Speaker 1: So the variable there would be the listener question. And
Speaker 1: so that's for the most part where we're going to
Speaker 1: try how we're going to try to title and thumbnail
Speaker 1: the Sunday resets.
Speaker 3: The next question on here was, or the next question
Speaker 3: that we asked in the Mega survey was what is
Speaker 3: your annual household income?
Speaker 4: So I know that this was.
Speaker 3: A little bit of a vulnerable question, but it was
Speaker 3: taken anonymously, and we learned through this mega survey where
Speaker 3: close to five hundred of you responded that fifty five
Speaker 3: percent of you have a household income of over one
Speaker 3: hundred thousand dollars annually, so a little more than half
Speaker 3: are earning six figures for the household. Seventy percent of
Speaker 3: you earn over seventy five thousand dollars annually, so you
Speaker 3: will be hearing content that caters to households bringing in
Speaker 3: around that amount seventy five to one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 4: Now we want to say.
Speaker 3: Still stick around if you earn less than that, because
Speaker 3: again like our formatting, our new formatting suggests we want
Speaker 3: to go through how to get things for free, how
Speaker 3: to get them low cost, how to get a deal,
Speaker 3: and how to spend guilt free. So our content will
Speaker 3: still be applicable at kind of any level. But we
Speaker 3: do want you to know that we are now operating
Speaker 3: under the assumption and really have been like that. The
Speaker 3: majority of our listeners do have a degree of margin
Speaker 3: their finances, whether or not it always feels like that.
Speaker 3: We do have some additional money, but we need to
Speaker 3: learn how to allocate it the most efficiently in the
Speaker 3: best way possible, and maybe ways to find even more
Speaker 3: margin or surplus in our monthly money.
Speaker 1: Now you glossed over it, but you highlighted the like
Speaker 1: a big deal. Something that's kind of changing about how
Speaker 1: we craft the podcast episode and how we are making
Speaker 1: each episode accessible to every income level. But we're going
Speaker 1: instead of through headlines, we're going through filters. And we've
Speaker 1: mentioned it before, but I'll just like expound on them
Speaker 1: a bit. Is that our filters are free, low cost
Speaker 1: deal guilt free. So that free would be how can
Speaker 1: I get this for free? And so we're going to
Speaker 1: be exploring ways how do I get food for free,
Speaker 1: like genuinely free, So one hundred percent discount low costs
Speaker 1: would be over fifty percent. So that's generally going to
Speaker 1: be the second hand or the like we talked about
Speaker 1: flash food in last episode, so that is fifty percent
Speaker 1: off fresh groceries because they're almost expired. Deal would be
Speaker 1: less than fifty percent off, So it's these rebate apps, coupons,
Speaker 1: ways to just save like twenty to thirty percent on something,
Speaker 1: and then guilt free is the option where how can
Speaker 1: I spend on this at full cost and not feel
Speaker 1: guilty about it because it's based on my values. And
Speaker 1: that's another issue that we've seen a lot of our
Speaker 1: listeners have is that they've optimized and now they've identified
Speaker 1: their values because they've read bioe Love without Going Broke,
Speaker 1: and they still feel guilty for spending on their values
Speaker 1: because they've been conditioned to optimize and get the lowest
Speaker 1: price on everything. So that's why every episode is going
Speaker 1: to be accessible to every income level, because we're going
Speaker 1: to go through each of those filters. I think it's
Speaker 1: important for everyone to be acquainted which with each of
Speaker 1: those filters on every topic.
Speaker 3: The next question was how do you have kids at home?
Speaker 3: And fifty four percent of you do not have kids
Speaker 3: at home, So again a little more than half no children.
Speaker 3: And that could be because you're an empty nester, it
Speaker 3: could be because you are choosing to not have kids,
Speaker 3: and you know, maybe you've got a spouse or you're single,
Speaker 3: no kids, So there's a variety of reasons that somebody
Speaker 3: that you all might find yourself in that scenario. But
Speaker 3: it is sounding like it's kind of half and half
Speaker 3: between who has children who does not have children. So
Speaker 3: we are going to be doing some episodes tailor towards
Speaker 3: those who do have children at home, but not a
Speaker 3: ton of it, and also episodes like like the one
Speaker 3: we did with Jay Zigmont on you know, finances when
Speaker 3: you're child free on what do finances look like when
Speaker 3: we don't have kids at home? So being able to
Speaker 3: look at both since it sounds like we are really
Speaker 3: kind of split down the middle there on like what
Speaker 3: that life season is like, what our circumstances are like.
Speaker 3: So you're not going to get a ton of content
Speaker 3: about having kids.
Speaker 1: We did have a lot of requests for that, so
Speaker 1: we will do some and your hosts are fifty to fifty.
Speaker 1: I have right like I have two kids and Jill
Speaker 1: does it. So everything we're going to talk about is
Speaker 1: going to be applicable whether you have kids or not.
Speaker 1: But we will keep our kids specific content to maybe
Speaker 1: a couple episodes a year on the podcast, and then
Speaker 1: maybe if you have specific questions, submit them as a
Speaker 1: listener question for the Sunday Reset because that's where we're
Speaker 1: going to keep it. And if you're really in a
Speaker 1: stage of life where you really need more like honed
Speaker 1: in family with kids content, marriage, kids and Money by
Speaker 1: Andy Hill, Good Friend of ours great podcast also on YouTube.
Speaker 1: Then that's going to be a great podcast for you
Speaker 1: to add to your lineup.
Speaker 3: And then the last question that we want to highlight
Speaker 3: is what do you enjoy spending money on without guilt?
Speaker 3: And you all said, my landslide these top three categories experiences, travel, family,
Speaker 3: and honestly that's probably all one category. I want to
Speaker 3: have fun with my family in my hometown and abroad.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So we.
Speaker 3: Want to do episodes on how to save money on
Speaker 3: these things, being able to say spend money on family,
Speaker 3: spend money on travel, spend money on experiences without guilt.
Speaker 3: And we also are going to be prioritizing working with
Speaker 3: brands like this who kind of operate in this space
Speaker 3: of experiences, of travel, of opportunities with family, so that
Speaker 3: you all have access to discounts that those brands may
Speaker 3: be offering. So you'll probably hear a little bit more
Speaker 3: around those categories.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we are going to be trying to work
Speaker 1: with fewer brands this year, so we're going to balance.
Speaker 1: In order for us to do this full time, we
Speaker 1: have to make money, right, and we want to be
Speaker 1: able to offer this to you for free. So we
Speaker 1: have relied on advertising dollars to do that, and we
Speaker 1: would like to be more intentional about the brands that
Speaker 1: we work with so that we can do more with
Speaker 1: fewer brands and again offer more discounts for you. So
Speaker 1: we're going to do everything we can to do that
Speaker 1: and to offer set what might be a drop in
Speaker 1: income from advertising. We are going to be offering some
Speaker 1: products that we think our listeners will benefit from and
Speaker 1: are also missing from the market. Not all missing from
Speaker 1: the market, but I think we are uniquely positioned to offer.
Speaker 1: So one of those we already offer is our monthly
Speaker 1: Money membership. You can get Oh, I forget, I totally
Speaker 1: forget the link to that, but it's a monthly So
Speaker 1: one of the biggest factors to people not following through
Speaker 1: with their financial goals is the intrinsic motivation is not there.
Speaker 1: External motivators will only last for so long, but we
Speaker 1: need internal motivators and one of those strong internal motivators
Speaker 1: is gamification. So what we've done is we've created monthly
Speaker 1: challenges that correlate to money that drive that intrinsic motivation.
Speaker 1: They help you save money. These challenges are designed to
Speaker 1: help you save four thousand dollars in one year, and
Speaker 1: you'll get a new one every month. And that is
Speaker 1: you'll also get access to past challenges too, so if
Speaker 1: the current challenge is not when you want to do,
Speaker 1: you'll have access to others possibly. So we've got that.
Speaker 4: Do you have the link to that?
Speaker 3: I don't know it yet, but we are gonna we
Speaker 3: are going to link it in the website. If you've
Speaker 3: used at a Frugal Friends podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: And you go to the top bar memberships right or
Speaker 1: monthly challenges or something, it's right there. Uh. And then
Speaker 1: we also will be doing spreadsheets. So you know, Jill
Speaker 1: has been a budget spreadsheet girl forever and so we're
Speaker 1: going to be selling not just her budget spreadsheet, but
Speaker 1: a really robust and mobile optimize spreadsheet. A lot of
Speaker 1: the Google sheet and Excel spreadsheets. They're beautiful on desktop,
Speaker 1: but they're not as beautiful on your phone. And so
Speaker 1: we are in the process. By the time this comes out, No,
Speaker 1: not yet, we're in the process, and later this month
Speaker 1: our budget spreadsheet will be available. It'll have about it'll
Speaker 1: have a sheet for every month, but it'll also have
Speaker 1: like an annual progress dashboard and a bill tracker and
Speaker 1: a savings tracker sheet so you'll be able to do
Speaker 1: this and it will all be optimized for mobile, so
Speaker 1: that you can go into your May budget and the
Speaker 1: first thing you're going to see is this list for
Speaker 1: your transactions, and then you just scroll over to the
Speaker 1: side to a bit and then you'll start to see
Speaker 1: the graphs and the progress. But we want to make
Speaker 1: it as easy for you to stay on top of
Speaker 1: your budget on a spreadsheet. Make it as easy as possible.
Speaker 1: And we always recommend if you're in your first year
Speaker 1: of getting your finances together, getting you know, becoming frugal
Speaker 1: as we like to say. I don't know if we've
Speaker 1: ever said that before, but if you're in your first
Speaker 1: year of this journey, manually in putting your transactions is necessary,
Speaker 1: if not consistently sporadically throughout the year. And then once
Speaker 1: you've spent a year in it, then you can go
Speaker 1: to a an app like Monarch or you know, any
Speaker 1: of the other one's wine ab stuff like that.
Speaker 3: Do you know what we're not getting rid of though
Speaker 3: in our formatting, like what's not changing whatsoever?
Speaker 1: And it will It is probably the foundation of our
Speaker 1: whole business.
Speaker 4: Pretty much all of you love it.
Speaker 3: We've only gotten like two complaints about it, so it's
Speaker 3: staying and it's the villa of the week.
Speaker 5: That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 5: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 5: is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 5: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 5: that bill anymore. Buck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 5: is the.
Speaker 4: Bill of the week.
Speaker 6: Hi, jenn and Jill, this is Billy out your bill
Speaker 6: of the week. I'm calling you today to tell you
Speaker 6: that I loved your book By What You Love Without
Speaker 6: Going Broke. Jackie Cummins, Costky, my co host, and I
Speaker 6: have catching up to five. Are so excited to talk
Speaker 6: to you tomorrow on our show and tell everyone our
Speaker 6: world what they can do to be frugal with value spending.
Speaker 6: So see you tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Bill.
Speaker 4: Oh, I am Dad, I'm shuck, I'm Shagan. Ever happened before?
Speaker 4: A ground break breaking?
Speaker 1: What a what a a fresh start start this new
Speaker 1: era with a goal that we've had for seven years,
Speaker 1: finally coming to fruition. I feel like I've been at
Speaker 1: this standstill, like holding on and I can finally let
Speaker 1: go and be free.
Speaker 3: This is a breakthrough for us because we have been
Speaker 3: asking for if your name is Bill call Us and
Speaker 3: some of you have delivered in part because you've called
Speaker 3: in and shared a bill about a person named Bill.
Speaker 4: That you know on behalf of Bill. That that's great.
Speaker 4: We do love those.
Speaker 3: We love people named Bill, but never in the history
Speaker 3: of Frugal Friends podcast have we had a person themselves
Speaker 3: named Bill call Us and Bill, you did it Bill
Speaker 3: from Catching up to five. So they're a great podcast.
Speaker 3: Feel free to give them a listen. We were interviewed
Speaker 3: with them. We interviewed with them recently.
Speaker 1: That show's already out, it's been out out.
Speaker 5: Bill.
Speaker 3: Thank you for sharing yourself with us, not even sharing
Speaker 3: your bill our mil You just shared some of your person.
Speaker 1: She's broken. I think you broke her, Bill.
Speaker 3: I'm literally what a better way to celebrate five hundred
Speaker 3: episodes and seven hundred we have the release and the
Speaker 3: blessing that we needed to move forward in our new
Speaker 3: era and still highly favored. Oh okay, how where do
Speaker 3: we go from here? Okay, here's where we go from here.
Speaker 3: We keep going and you know, if you want to
Speaker 3: submit a Bill of the week, if your name is.
Speaker 4: Bill, and you just want to keep a good thing going.
Speaker 4: Call us. If you know a Bill, call us, if
Speaker 4: you paid off a Bill, call us. If you've got
Speaker 4: Bill's call us.
Speaker 3: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill, leave it for us,
Speaker 3: and now it's time for.
Speaker 1: What are you most excited about in this new era?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: Jen, Okay, you said something like this at the beginning,
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna I'm gonna rephrase it for myself. People
Speaker 3: were asking me what it felt like to have our
Speaker 3: book published, like it's out into the world, now, how
Speaker 3: do you feel? And I've been saying I thought it
Speaker 3: was gonna be anticlimactic, but it was actually the most
Speaker 3: climactic thing ever. It was a very exciting few days.
Speaker 3: And what also surprised me is how much of an
Speaker 3: actual release. I felt like the book was physically released
Speaker 3: into the world, So that happened, and I felt maybe
Speaker 3: more of a metaphorical release, but it almost felt physiological,
Speaker 3: like it did feel like this weight lifted. I've loved
Speaker 3: the book process. I love the book that we wrote.
Speaker 3: I truly believe it is and will help people. But
Speaker 3: it's also been so top of mind, so all consuming
Speaker 3: for the past two years that now that it's out there,
Speaker 3: there's no more to really do with it other than
Speaker 3: to keep telling people about how great it is.
Speaker 4: Going broke. That's it.
Speaker 3: And it truly felt like freedom to pursue other things,
Speaker 3: not that this wasn't a good thing to pursue. I'm
Speaker 3: so glad we pursued it. It's out Keep keep doing it.
Speaker 3: By by that thing, please by what.
Speaker 4: You love book.
Speaker 3: But I truly felt and the word I've been using
Speaker 3: this year maybe it's my word invigorated, Like it truly
Speaker 3: felt like this book was released way is lifted all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, these new ideas poured in. What did
Speaker 3: help us is we got an office. So we are
Speaker 3: not working out of either one of our homes anymore.
Speaker 3: We have a studio in an office space. Jen and
Speaker 3: I are spending believe it or not, even more time
Speaker 3: together so where we would typically record in person, but
Speaker 3: any other work that we did for the podcast we
Speaker 3: did separately.
Speaker 4: Now we are side by.
Speaker 3: Side day in and day out, sharing ideas like encouraging
Speaker 3: one another, making such fun content like just laughing. We
Speaker 3: are that we did choose an office. That's kind of
Speaker 3: like back in the corner of the building because we're like.
Speaker 4: We are going to be loud.
Speaker 1: We are.
Speaker 3: They wanted to put us outside of the nap room
Speaker 3: and the meditation room in this office building, and we
Speaker 3: were like.
Speaker 1: Oh ma'am, they don't go like, we can't.
Speaker 4: Go there because we do loud.
Speaker 1: Now we are across from the podcasting room. It will
Speaker 1: never use it because this is our podcast.
Speaker 4: Built our own studio.
Speaker 3: Yeah, which again you can see our studio if you
Speaker 3: subscribe to our channel on YouTube. So for me, I
Speaker 3: think I'm most excited about how invigorated I feel about
Speaker 3: things and just the hum. I know we've been using
Speaker 3: the excitement so much, so I'm going to switch to
Speaker 3: the word hum. Of all the different things that we're launching,
Speaker 3: but yet it doesn't feel like too much. Each thing
Speaker 3: feels like it blends and marries with the other. But
Speaker 3: the core of it for me is content that is
Speaker 3: helpful like that has been such a huge driver for me,
Speaker 3: even as I've been creating videos on our Instagram, which also,
Speaker 3: by the way, we're putting a lot more time and
Speaker 3: energy into the Frugal Friends Podcast Instagram account, so feel
Speaker 3: free to follow us there for even more just videos
Speaker 3: on how We're making frugality fun, been editing videos and
Speaker 3: just like this like energy will come over me where
Speaker 3: I'm like, I just love doing this because I know
Speaker 3: that this is gonna help somebody or like inspire them
Speaker 3: or hopefully be invigorating to somebody else. And it's just
Speaker 3: been so great. So I'm I'm excited about all of it.
Speaker 3: But I'm excited about helpful content.
Speaker 1: Yes, it is exciting for me to see you be
Speaker 1: so yeah.
Speaker 3: Honestly, the marketing of the book really took me out.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna lie. That was my least.
Speaker 3: Favorite part of the book process.
Speaker 4: I did not enjoy it.
Speaker 3: I knew it wasn't gonna last long, so I hung
Speaker 3: in there like that little cat poster. But now it's
Speaker 3: a new dawn. Yeah, and new energy is flowing through
Speaker 3: this I know.
Speaker 1: I am also excited to to just create because we're
Speaker 1: we're passionate about so many things regarding frugality, and so
Speaker 1: I'm excited to get back into diving into the.
Speaker 4: Other parts of it too.
Speaker 1: So me too. My thing that I put though is
Speaker 1: the spending interventions. So there is again our our gripe
Speaker 1: with Google for the last decade has been that the
Speaker 1: first page is always the same content, just from different websites,
Speaker 1: and it's always the same websites too, right, So it
Speaker 1: is so undifferentiated, so replicatable, and I really feel the
Speaker 1: spending interventions. My favorite thing about them is they're not replicatable.
Speaker 1: You will get something new every single time because we
Speaker 1: are talking to new people and if it's good, we
Speaker 1: don't know if it's good. We really need you to
Speaker 1: get up in those comments and tell us what's good
Speaker 1: and what you would like to see different. If we
Speaker 1: miss something, tell us. We really want to make them
Speaker 1: as helpful as possible. Right, once we make it really good,
Speaker 1: some other creator can't just go in and replicate what
Speaker 1: we did. That is so exciting to me. AI can't
Speaker 1: go in and spit out what I just published because
Speaker 1: it's video and it's super original. And I love using
Speaker 1: AI to speed up and aid in saving money and
Speaker 1: doing tasks that would take me a while. I love
Speaker 1: AI for that, and I really think it's the future
Speaker 1: of search engine. But as a creator, I want to
Speaker 1: create something that AI cannot replace me as and that
Speaker 1: I truly believe is it's video, and specifically video like
Speaker 1: this where we're not speaking to the same expert that
Speaker 1: ten other people have added on their show. But we're
Speaker 1: speaking to like people who this may be the only
Speaker 1: podcast they ever do in their life.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can't just spit out somebody else's spending behaviors.
Speaker 3: We are all nuanced, and so we want to show
Speaker 3: you all of the nuanced through the Spending Intervention.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh shorted.
Speaker 3: So again, that first one comes out on April fifteenth, sixteenth, sixteenth, Wednesday,
Speaker 3: April sixteenth. Yeah, they will come out every other week
Speaker 3: on Wednesday, So subscribe so that you know when the
Speaker 3: next one is available so you can binge that.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening, and eventually we will
Speaker 1: have the audio from these YouTube videos in the RSS feed,
Speaker 1: but we are definitely investing in video first for the
Speaker 1: reasons I just said. So that's yeah, we want you.
Speaker 1: We want you to go there, and we would love
Speaker 1: to get a rating and review from you on Spotify
Speaker 1: on Amazon for the book. It truly helps us expand,
Speaker 1: kind of like this one for the book from Hey
Speaker 1: this is the personal finance and mindset book of the year. Disclaimer,
Speaker 1: I do work for Frugal Friends, so I was able
Speaker 1: to read the portions of this book prior to release,
Speaker 1: but I did sit down like everyone else and read
Speaker 1: the book in its entirety upon release date. Jen and
Speaker 1: Jill have the popular podcast Frugal Friends, and that has
Speaker 1: seen countless episodes, dozens of interviews, and growth over the
Speaker 1: last few years. If you're looking for a step by
Speaker 1: stuff plan to pay off debt, this in the book.
Speaker 1: But what this book is about is community spending and
Speaker 1: saving in accordance with your values and looking at the
Speaker 1: whole person and big picture so we can form good
Speaker 1: money habits for the rest of our lives, not just
Speaker 1: for the short term. Kim, now that I read and
Speaker 1: I know that it's Kim, not just Ka. Thank you.
Speaker 1: We so appreciate that.
Speaker 4: Really appreciate it. Kim.
Speaker 3: Thank you all for listening. If you enjoyed the book,
Speaker 3: please leave a rating and review for the book. If
Speaker 3: you enjoyed the show, leave a rating and review for
Speaker 3: the show. It just helps us keep staying invigorated.
Speaker 1: Yes, oh, we're so excited for this new season. We'll
Speaker 1: see you there.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 4: Frugal Friends is produced.
Speaker 1: By Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 4: Okay, we got a meeting. We gotta go. No no,
Speaker 4: no show.
Speaker 3: In the after show, sorry folks, but subscribe you'll get
Speaker 3: more from us there.
Speaker 4: Go to YouTube, follow us on Instagram,