Speaker 1: Episode Onetree how Lydiason paid off thirty six thousand dollars
Speaker 1: on one income. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where
Speaker 1: you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity rights, and liver
Speaker 1: with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my
Speaker 1: name is Jill. And this is the second time we're
Speaker 1: recording this intro because I forgot to hit record last time.
Speaker 1: But if you're hearing this, I remember to hit record
Speaker 1: and it's refined now it's the refined intro outro. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're not getting any of this amateur stuff. You are
Speaker 1: getting real professional podcasting, and we are excited to share
Speaker 1: with you a legitimate professional Lydia Sen she how as
Speaker 1: a wildly successful YouTube channel podcast and you guys are
Speaker 1: big fans of her. I know this because when I
Speaker 1: asked who do you want to hear in the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends community on Facebook, it was unanimous that you wanted
Speaker 1: to hear Lydia's story, and so we reached out and
Speaker 1: for some reason she agreed to come on. She said, yes,
Speaker 1: it's one of the best yes is we've gotten, so
Speaker 1: you already know her. You're just gonna know her more
Speaker 1: with with the Frugal Friends. So before we get into
Speaker 1: our interview with her, let's give a shout out to
Speaker 1: our sponsors. So this first one is near and dear
Speaker 1: to me. It's Financial Freedom fast Track. So this is
Speaker 1: my new signature course. If you want to stop yo
Speaker 1: yo dieting with your money and pay off more debt
Speaker 1: consistently in then today is your last day to join
Speaker 1: Financial Freedom fast Track. I designed this course specifically four
Speaker 1: people on multi year debt payoff journeys with strategies I
Speaker 1: don't hear anyone else talking about. We hear a lot
Speaker 1: about build your emergency fund, payoff debt, move on, but
Speaker 1: like there's a lot during the payoff debt time that
Speaker 1: nobody's covering. And that's what is in this course. So
Speaker 1: you're gonna get weekly coaching calls, you're going to get
Speaker 1: three modules, twelve lessons, and off Facebook accountability group. So
Speaker 1: if you are ready to commit to debt freedom this year,
Speaker 1: then head to Modern frugality dot com slash and roll
Speaker 1: and learn more and sign up today. Today's the last day.
Speaker 1: Doors close at midnight. So excited about this, so much
Speaker 1: of you jen and modern frugality and all your expertise.
Speaker 1: I love talking about it, and Travis is sick of it,
Speaker 1: and so to someone I do. Yeah, this is for me.
Speaker 1: Also brought to you by leftovers. They're calling to us
Speaker 1: from the fridge, begging us not to crowd them with
Speaker 1: another food item that renders them even more obsolete, unseen
Speaker 1: and forgotten in the back. They also want to remind
Speaker 1: us that they can be repurposed into a soup, salad
Speaker 1: or casserole. We know, we know, casse roles are the worst,
Speaker 1: but for our sponsor today, it's better than nothing leftovers.
Speaker 1: Using them up is the kind and frugal way. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but I love me a cast role. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's a maybe the young like growing up in church girl,
Speaker 1: but I love I love me a casse role. You know.
Speaker 1: I think I ultimately do like casse roles, just there's
Speaker 1: some association with the word that I can't get on board.
Speaker 1: I was trying to look up a recipe the other day,
Speaker 1: and ultimately I was trying to look for a casserole recipe,
Speaker 1: but I could not bring myself to type in the
Speaker 1: word casserole into the search engine. So I was like
Speaker 1: one pot meal sheet, panned dinner, a recipe, everything in
Speaker 1: one container meal recipe, just like I cannot type the dinner. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's called a microwave meal. I've heard them called bakes, bakes,
Speaker 1: veggie bake, chicken, bake, egg bake, Yes, anything, casserole, it's
Speaker 1: the same thing. Let's not be fooled. But three sticks
Speaker 1: of butter in a nine I'm one years old. I'm
Speaker 1: too young to make a What does that say about me?
Speaker 1: I am literally six months older than you. They're too
Speaker 1: young to make a casserole. You can make a bake, Definitely,
Speaker 1: make bakes, make one pot meals, make bakes. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: let's get into this interview with Lydia Son. She is
Speaker 1: the creator of Frugal Debt Free, and she makes a
Speaker 1: lot of great recipes on her blog and YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: Maybe she can tell us more about the bake debate
Speaker 1: cast role debate, and I'm sure she's got even more
Speaker 1: valid content for us, so I'm excited to hear from her. Lydia,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. How are you? I'm good,
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. We're very thrilled to have
Speaker 1: you on the show. Thanks for agreeing. I know Jen
Speaker 1: posted in her email to you the picture of the
Speaker 1: poll and our Frugal Friends Facebook group that everybody unanimously
Speaker 1: wants you on the show. So I'm glad it worked
Speaker 1: and I'm glad we can deliver to our listeners. So
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. I am excited. Yeah, okay, So
Speaker 1: for the two people that don't know who you are,
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about yourself. I'm Lydiason. I
Speaker 1: talk about frugal and simple living. We have four kids,
Speaker 1: we live on a little egg far and for the
Speaker 1: past few years I have been making YouTube videos about
Speaker 1: how not only we got out of debt, but how
Speaker 1: we still maintain simplicity within our life and in our budget. Awesome. So,
Speaker 1: like you have chickens, We have chickens, so many chickens.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, how many because my in laws have
Speaker 1: a farm too, and they have lots of chickens. Too
Speaker 1: many hens in the henhouse. Too many hens. My in
Speaker 1: laws have about a hundred. Oh yeah, no, that's more legit,
Speaker 1: multiple henhouses. No, we just had the one, just the
Speaker 1: one henhouse. I picked up a chicken the other day
Speaker 1: when I was there, and then I and then it
Speaker 1: freaked out and I dropped it and it ran away.
Speaker 1: And so I'm like, I left my child like in
Speaker 1: the farm and ran after this chicken. I was like,
Speaker 1: what what's in me that I've decided the chicken is
Speaker 1: more important than my child? You chase food, That's what
Speaker 1: it is. There, you go. I went on a chicken run,
Speaker 1: and I did catch the chicken and got her back
Speaker 1: into the henhouse. So that is my recent chicken story.
Speaker 1: So we're taking a hard left from financial talk today
Speaker 1: to talk about chickens. Sorry about that. Anytime I can
Speaker 1: interject chickens into the conversation, I will, fun fact absolutely
Speaker 1: as you should. It's interesting and probably of a frugal
Speaker 1: there's there's got to be frugality in there too. Yes,
Speaker 1: all those eggs, I mean, if you buy them from
Speaker 1: the farm, they're uber expensive. But if you raise them
Speaker 1: then and you get chickens and eggs exactly, all right.
Speaker 1: So you paid off thirty six dollars of debt and
Speaker 1: you had it was just it was you and you
Speaker 1: only had one child at the time. Right by the
Speaker 1: time we had finished paying it off, my second son
Speaker 1: was born. So I was either pregnant or had a
Speaker 1: newborn the entire time. Oh my gosh, and one income.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. So like, what was your debt from and
Speaker 1: what what was that aha moment that led you to
Speaker 1: say enough is enough. Sorry, I was tending to a
Speaker 1: child just snuck in here. I'm so sorry about that.
Speaker 1: So we had student loan debt, some credit cards, and
Speaker 1: then I was in a wreck during my pregnancy, and
Speaker 1: so we had some medical debt as a result of that.
Speaker 1: And that rock was kind of our aha moment because
Speaker 1: before that we were in such a bad financial place.
Speaker 1: We ended up going through a short sale. We it
Speaker 1: was just a mess. So by the time the dust
Speaker 1: settled from that, it was pretty six thousand dollars total.
Speaker 1: And that aha moment was I had been in this
Speaker 1: horrible wreck. I was twenty four weeks pregnant and I
Speaker 1: couldn't take time off of work to heal. And I
Speaker 1: was having to go to work walking with a cane like,
Speaker 1: trying to manage my pain the best I could. And
Speaker 1: I was like, this sucks. I mean, I can't even
Speaker 1: afford to take time off of work to heal from
Speaker 1: something that has been both physically and emotionally traumatizing. I
Speaker 1: have put myself in this corner where I have like
Speaker 1: zero options and I don't ever I don't ever want
Speaker 1: to feel that way, and I don't ever want anyone
Speaker 1: else to feel that way. And so that was just like,
Speaker 1: we've got to dig in the dirt and get ourselves
Speaker 1: out of this mess. Wow, it sounds like such a
Speaker 1: feeling of being trapped, which I don't think any one
Speaker 1: of us likes that feeling. But to recognize there's not
Speaker 1: really a way out for me right now because of
Speaker 1: this debt, and I have to to do these things,
Speaker 1: even if it's not best for me. I have to
Speaker 1: go to work. It's interesting that people as AHA moments
Speaker 1: are always a little bit different, but but some version
Speaker 1: of the weightiness of it hits and then it propels
Speaker 1: towards well, what do I do differently so I never
Speaker 1: find myself in this position again exactly. I've always said
Speaker 1: that being in debt feels like a backpack full of bricks,
Speaker 1: but you can't take it off. I would agree with that.
Speaker 1: That's what it felt like for me, And it was
Speaker 1: it was heavy, it was it felt like a physical weight,
Speaker 1: even though it was only mental, and it was there's
Speaker 1: so much anxiety I like to ask this question to
Speaker 1: people who pay off debt, but like, did you feel
Speaker 1: like you were in a good financial place to start
Speaker 1: paying off debt when you started? Oh no, No, it
Speaker 1: was really like, Okay, how are we going to do this?
Speaker 1: Because I felt there's this secret first step that no
Speaker 1: one talks about, and that is getting current on your bills,
Speaker 1: because so often not only are we in debt, but
Speaker 1: we're living paycheck to paycheck and we're behind. And so
Speaker 1: that's like that secret first step no one talks about,
Speaker 1: is just getting to the point where you can't like
Speaker 1: pop up and take a breath before you can keep swimming. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just look at what's right in front of you to
Speaker 1: do and start there. That's great. Yeah, I don't think
Speaker 1: I've ever heard anybody describe that. Just where do I
Speaker 1: go from here? What's the first thing to do? What
Speaker 1: else would you say, Lydia in this journey and as
Speaker 1: you reflect on where you were, how you decided to
Speaker 1: start your debt free journey, and then through that process,
Speaker 1: what would you say? We're the high impact things that
Speaker 1: you did to pay down that debt. One thing we
Speaker 1: did and I want to acknowledge that this is not
Speaker 1: feasible for most people, but we moved to a place
Speaker 1: where the cost of living was lower. So, while I
Speaker 1: was pregnant, my husband's are in looking for jobs and
Speaker 1: he got one. It was a better opportunity for him,
Speaker 1: but it was also in ironically the place where I
Speaker 1: grew up, which I did not want to ever come
Speaker 1: back to. But like God has a sense of humor, right,
Speaker 1: so he ended up getting a job down here. We
Speaker 1: left Atlanta, but it was the cost of living down
Speaker 1: here was so much less expensive. But then we also
Speaker 1: moved into the cheapest place we could find, which I
Speaker 1: don't always recommend doing, but for us it was the
Speaker 1: best option because we were we were desperate to just
Speaker 1: get this over with, and so I recognized that those
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily things that everyone can do. But if you
Speaker 1: do find yourself in a situation where you do have
Speaker 1: the ability to move, I think someone called it geo
Speaker 1: hacking to a less expensive area, highly recommend you take
Speaker 1: that opportunity. Yeah, I mean, if you're a renter without kids,
Speaker 1: especially like you have, you have a world of opportunities.
Speaker 1: And I emphasize this study all the time, But like
Speaker 1: if you were staying in a job for more than
Speaker 1: three to five years, then you're not going to get
Speaker 1: the raises. You're gonna get less income over time than
Speaker 1: somebody that job hops to better job opportunities. So really, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was an interview, not an interview of study published
Speaker 1: in Forbes. So there's just not enough raises to go
Speaker 1: around in inter company raises. So most of the time
Speaker 1: to get that five to ten percent jump that you
Speaker 1: want to have every three to five years, it means
Speaker 1: looking for a different job, moving jobs, moving locations even
Speaker 1: And I love that you said this Lydia, because I
Speaker 1: think while it's not maybe attainable for everybody, it's still
Speaker 1: worth stating. It's something that that I've talked about as well.
Speaker 1: It's one of the reasons Eric and I move from
Speaker 1: very expensive area in Pennsylvania to St. Pete, Florida, because
Speaker 1: the cost of living is so much less and we
Speaker 1: our dollar can go further. We can get actually for
Speaker 1: us a very beautiful home for a fraction of what
Speaker 1: we would have bought a town house for up north.
Speaker 1: So I think that this is an incredible hack that
Speaker 1: is worth considering. And I think oftentimes we're looking for
Speaker 1: the smaller things like well, what if I cut out
Speaker 1: coffee and what if I didn't, you know, go out
Speaker 1: to eat so much, And those things are good. But
Speaker 1: if you're really looking to make a big dent, this
Speaker 1: is the kind of stuff and the kind of creativity
Speaker 1: and problem solving that might be worth considering. I think
Speaker 1: it's worth talking about. I don't hear many people saying,
Speaker 1: have you considered moving someplace else? Not even long term,
Speaker 1: maybe even for a year or two to save money.
Speaker 1: So that's that's amazing well done. And I know that
Speaker 1: it's not something. You know, moving is expensive in and
Speaker 1: of itself, and so it's not some thing that everyone
Speaker 1: can do just pack up and leave. But yes, if
Speaker 1: you have the opportunity present itself, by all means, please
Speaker 1: take it too. Yeah, it's funny that you said you
Speaker 1: didn't want to move back home, because I actually remember
Speaker 1: I told my mom. I was like, I will never
Speaker 1: move back to St. Pete, Like I just flat out
Speaker 1: told her. And then several years later found myself back
Speaker 1: in St. Pete and now we own a home here.
Speaker 1: We had a six week old baby. We came down
Speaker 1: here for the job interview. We stayed with my parents
Speaker 1: and I was just casually having a conversation with my
Speaker 1: mom and she started cackling and I said what and
Speaker 1: she said, just not only are you moving back to Alabama,
Speaker 1: but you're moving here, and I just can't get over it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is fun for you, isn't it? So so g
Speaker 1: O hacking And I love that word. I'm going to
Speaker 1: steal that now. Anything else that you found in your
Speaker 1: journey really helped in debt payoff for you and your family.
Speaker 1: When I say that we lived a life of extreme frugality,
Speaker 1: I don't think people quite understand. We did not do anything.
Speaker 1: We did not go anywhere, and I don't This is
Speaker 1: not a method that I recommend because you will burn out.
Speaker 1: But I knew, like, if we do this and we
Speaker 1: stay the course, it's going to be over soon. And
Speaker 1: so we didn't. We didn't go out to eat, we
Speaker 1: didn't get coffee, we didn't we didn't do anything. We
Speaker 1: went meatless a couple of days a week. I tried
Speaker 1: to clock diaper. It was horrible. Again, don't recommend we
Speaker 1: were those people Like is that show Extreme Cheap Skates
Speaker 1: still on? Yes? Well I don't know if it is,
Speaker 1: but I'm familiar. Yeah, I think we could have been
Speaker 1: good contenders to be on that show. But again, like,
Speaker 1: do not recommend living the way we lived. But I knew, like, okay,
Speaker 1: if we stick it out, and I joke we didn't
Speaker 1: leave our house so much. We ended up with a
Speaker 1: second baby. That's expensive exactly, but like when you have
Speaker 1: a one year old, you're not leaving your house much anyways,
Speaker 1: so it's not like you were doing anything like super
Speaker 1: out of the ordinary. And we live in the middle
Speaker 1: of nowhere. There's nowhere to go the consequences of staying home. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens through COVID too. Another baby boomer generation.
Speaker 1: My Facebook is on like explosion with baby announcements right now,
Speaker 1: and I was like, well, I know what you were
Speaker 1: doing during quarantine, so my gosh, that's funny some of
Speaker 1: them have already been born. Was your husband on board
Speaker 1: with extreme frugality? Okay, So this whole like let's get
Speaker 1: out of debt thing was his idea. I brought the
Speaker 1: breaking point, But months before that had happened, he kept
Speaker 1: saying like, oh, you should read this book, or you
Speaker 1: should listen to this radio show, or we should combine
Speaker 1: our king accounts. And I was like, do you want
Speaker 1: to stay married because none of that sounds like fun
Speaker 1: and so, but I'm one of those like if a
Speaker 1: little is good, a lot must be better. And so
Speaker 1: when it came to like getting on a budget and
Speaker 1: living frugally, I was all in to the point where
Speaker 1: he kind of wanted to loosen the reins a little
Speaker 1: bit step back, like nope, yes, yes, flip the switch.
Speaker 1: There's no stopping her now. You signed me up for this.
Speaker 1: I love it. It's all or nothing, That's that's me.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm all on or all off. I mean, he
Speaker 1: was the one that got me started in the process,
Speaker 1: and then I just took it and ran with it,
Speaker 1: which is kind of a analogy for our marriage, and
Speaker 1: now he lives with the consequences later. Yes, So what
Speaker 1: was the hardest thing like or change or experience during
Speaker 1: those two years. I feel like there was so much adjustment.
Speaker 1: There was so much happening, both insider debt payoff and
Speaker 1: outside that it's kind of hard to pinpoint what the
Speaker 1: hardest part was. So I don't really know, although I
Speaker 1: am and again, this is not something that you can
Speaker 1: do when you have kids. But I was one of
Speaker 1: those people who on the weekends I like to go
Speaker 1: places and see things and do things, and so there
Speaker 1: was none of that, So that was hard, but also
Speaker 1: just the transition from living in a city to the
Speaker 1: middle of nowhere, having a baby, then getting out of budget,
Speaker 1: like it was all a lot to rapp our heads around.
Speaker 1: At the same time, you're describing so much transition, and
Speaker 1: when we walk through any sort of transition, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of stress associated with that, so not to mention
Speaker 1: then when you tack on the financial stressors that you
Speaker 1: all had, it sounds like the whole season was pretty difficult.
Speaker 1: How how did you and maybe you didn't because I'm
Speaker 1: hearing you say this isn't necessarily recommended, but how did
Speaker 1: you care for yourself or find enjoyment in the midst
Speaker 1: of those two years? Well, that's when I started making videos,
Speaker 1: And so the videos I made were about how to
Speaker 1: cook cheap but somewhat help females for your family. And
Speaker 1: so at the time I called it five for five.
Speaker 1: That doesn't exist anymore, but the whole concept was like
Speaker 1: I could feed a family for you know, five dollars
Speaker 1: for this. How did I place that, like five dollars
Speaker 1: for a family of four and five dollars of person.
Speaker 1: I don't remember anywhere. It was a long time ago.
Speaker 1: That's when I got into the creative. I was bored
Speaker 1: and I needed something to do with my time. And
Speaker 1: my baby was cute, but he, you know, couldn't talk,
Speaker 1: so there was no conversation happening on that right, And
Speaker 1: so I set up a camera and I started making
Speaker 1: videos and I grew that into me doing it for
Speaker 1: other company is and so for me, that outlet of
Speaker 1: I need to find some way to fill my time
Speaker 1: that doesn't cost me anything became a business. M H.
Speaker 1: I always say, my favorite way to save money is
Speaker 1: to spend time making it. It is such a big
Speaker 1: money saver. That's how I started my blog is that
Speaker 1: we were a year into our debt payoff. I couldn't
Speaker 1: do anything. I was feeling like super hopeless and like,
Speaker 1: how am I going to do this for another year?
Speaker 1: And so then I just started writing and like, helping
Speaker 1: people was super encouraging and motivating for me, and it
Speaker 1: gave me something to do. So I didn't even like
Speaker 1: remember that my friends were going out on Saturday night
Speaker 1: because I was at home writing and you know, doing
Speaker 1: this hobby that yeah has become my full time business.
Speaker 1: It's occurring to me as both of you are are
Speaker 1: describing this, that there's almost a principle in here where
Speaker 1: we feel overwhelmed or trapped, or circumstances feel really difficult
Speaker 1: or isolating, and kind of looking outside of yourself for
Speaker 1: how can I feel purposeful? What can I be setting
Speaker 1: my hands to what can fill my time and helping
Speaker 1: others but also making money doing it. Kind of pulling
Speaker 1: up outside of your immediate circumstances to what else is
Speaker 1: around you. How can you share what you're learning with
Speaker 1: other people? And how important that is I think in
Speaker 1: this journey too, and amazing that it propelled you Lydia
Speaker 1: in that direction, and obviously how important it is for
Speaker 1: other people to see, oh it can be done, and
Speaker 1: and even opportunities for people to spend time engaging in
Speaker 1: your content when other people might just be finding themselves
Speaker 1: at home or taking care of babies or wondering how
Speaker 1: they're going to pay the next bill. I think it's
Speaker 1: great to create opportunities for larger connection outside of our circumstances.
Speaker 1: I think that community play is a big part in
Speaker 1: getting out of debt. When you find people who are
Speaker 1: in it with you and you feel less alone, and
Speaker 1: being able to connect with people is plays its own
Speaker 1: very super important role because there's so much shame around
Speaker 1: money and debt and we don't talk about these things.
Speaker 1: And I feel like when we open up that conversation,
Speaker 1: we know that we're not alone, but we're also reminding
Speaker 1: someone else that they're not alone. Yes, Amen, somebody should
Speaker 1: start a podcast bringing frugal people together. I don't know
Speaker 1: why that doesn't exist, Lydia. As you look back on
Speaker 1: these two years of debt payoff, is there anything that
Speaker 1: you would have done differently, like realizing what it has
Speaker 1: a what it's afforded you, and the accomplishment. But even
Speaker 1: in the midst of that, would there be anything that
Speaker 1: you would have changed about the way you went about
Speaker 1: the debt payoff process. I think that I maybe would
Speaker 1: have given myself a little bit more time and not
Speaker 1: felt like it has to be done now and if
Speaker 1: it's not done within this time frame, then I'm a failure.
Speaker 1: Then I failed at it. I just I really, I'm
Speaker 1: a rules person and I like structure and I don't
Speaker 1: like it when rules are broken, and so therefore I
Speaker 1: placed very stringent rules on myself, and I think that
Speaker 1: if I could go back, I would have been like, calm, now,
Speaker 1: you're fine, it's gonna be okay, take a deep breath.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Yes it is. It is often a
Speaker 1: race to the bottom, like to see how little you
Speaker 1: can spend, how much you can throw it debt, and
Speaker 1: then by the end you feel like you have a
Speaker 1: hangover because you've been going so fast for so long
Speaker 1: you don't your head is spinning. And then you keep
Speaker 1: going and try to reach financial independence. So it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there is so much to be said for having having
Speaker 1: a breath, taking a breath right, And I don't feel
Speaker 1: we did that because we got out of debt and
Speaker 1: I was like, boom, what's the next step. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: start college funds? Okay, now what Okay, it's a down payment,
Speaker 1: let's buy a house. And there wasn't like for years,
Speaker 1: there wasn't any break, and then you do reach that
Speaker 1: point where you've reached your goals, and then I don't know,
Speaker 1: for me, I had trouble finding motivation after that point.
Speaker 1: The burnout was real. How do you think you could
Speaker 1: have done that? Because I don't think that you're alone
Speaker 1: in this feeling of wanting to do something excellent and
Speaker 1: putting this pressure on yourself to get it done now.
Speaker 1: And if you don't your your failure, how do you
Speaker 1: think you could have created some margin for yourself knowing
Speaker 1: who you are. I think now looking back, I listened
Speaker 1: to the wrong voices. A lot of the messaging was
Speaker 1: shame filled. I feel like the words that we use
Speaker 1: to describe our debt and the words that we're listening
Speaker 1: to where where we're seeking motivation, we need to be
Speaker 1: very careful. And I'm trying to be very careful in
Speaker 1: what I say right now because I don't want to
Speaker 1: like point fingers in anybody. But there's just a fine
Speaker 1: line between motivation and shame, I think when it comes
Speaker 1: to who we listen to and who we follow. That's
Speaker 1: so insightful Lydia, thank you for saying that. I think
Speaker 1: that is a very tangible piece that I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people can grasp onto and pay attention to.
Speaker 1: It might be a little bit motivating, it might put
Speaker 1: fire under us, but is it the right kind and
Speaker 1: is it actually propelling us towards our goals or things
Speaker 1: that others are telling us we should be doing. How
Speaker 1: is it impacting us emotionally and relationally. Yeah, that there
Speaker 1: is permission. I love. I still remember and this is
Speaker 1: way back in the archives our interview with Alison Baggerley
Speaker 1: describing it like a road trip where sometimes as you
Speaker 1: pull off to the side of the road and you
Speaker 1: fill up your gas tank or you explore the terrain
Speaker 1: or I think that that illustration really does help and
Speaker 1: to find permission inside of ourselves and listen to voices
Speaker 1: that also affirm permission. That this doesn't have to happen
Speaker 1: now immediately a sap. Yeah, and you can still put
Speaker 1: a focus on it. It can still be your primary focus,
Speaker 1: but you don't have to kill yourself or your psyche
Speaker 1: in the process of trying to accomplish it. I think
Speaker 1: the power of having just one thing. I mean, I
Speaker 1: love the book The One Thing by Gary Keller, So
Speaker 1: I always say, like, focus on one thing at a time.
Speaker 1: But I think it's more sustainable too, because then you
Speaker 1: can take your foot off the gas sometimes and because
Speaker 1: you know where you're going back, because you know which
Speaker 1: goal you're going back to and which step is next
Speaker 1: on the goal, it doesn't take as much time I'm
Speaker 1: to regain momentum and it's a more sustainable form of
Speaker 1: motivation for sure. Exactly do you know else is sustainable
Speaker 1: and motivating? Oh my gosh, I do. It's my favorite
Speaker 1: road trip stop the that's right, it's time for the
Speaker 1: best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was
Speaker 1: born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off
Speaker 1: your mortgage, maybe your car died, and you're happy to
Speaker 1: not have to pay that bill anymore. That's built buffalo bills,
Speaker 1: Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week LYDIA.
Speaker 1: Every week we invite our listeners or our guests to
Speaker 1: share with us their favorite recent bill. And I know
Speaker 1: you have a juicy one for us. Yes, mine does
Speaker 1: not make me look like the most responsible or on
Speaker 1: top of it person. Are Our garbage bill is paid quarterly,
Speaker 1: and I can never seem to remember whether or not
Speaker 1: we've paid it, like every single time. I have to
Speaker 1: go in and look at our bank account. And they
Speaker 1: also will just send out past do notices, like they
Speaker 1: send you a bill and then a week later you
Speaker 1: get a past do notice, And so they're all the
Speaker 1: time having clerical issues and you have to call and
Speaker 1: get it corrected. Well, we had a storm blow through
Speaker 1: and we needed some debris picked up by the garbage collection,
Speaker 1: and you have to call and make an appointment if
Speaker 1: they're going to pick up bulky trash. I called and
Speaker 1: they called me back and they said, Miss, then we
Speaker 1: would love to get you on the books, but you
Speaker 1: have not paid your bill in two quarters, had not
Speaker 1: paid aid my garbage bill in six months. They were
Speaker 1: picking up my garbage every week. I do not know
Speaker 1: what happens. I do not know what happened. And I, oh,
Speaker 1: my gosh, I was so embarrassed, and she's like, don't worry, miss,
Speaker 1: and we know you're a good customer. You've always paid
Speaker 1: your bill. It's fine, you're not the only person who
Speaker 1: did this, but we're kind of needed to take care
Speaker 1: of it right away. There is like a fifty dollar
Speaker 1: fee for both both bills that you missed, but it's okay.
Speaker 1: And so like two hundred dollars later, I finally get
Speaker 1: my garbage bill paid. And so now I have like
Speaker 1: a Google alert that alerts me the day before the
Speaker 1: bill actually comes to pay my garbage bill because they
Speaker 1: won't let you pay it all. Yeah, it's it's yes,
Speaker 1: it's horrible and out of principle, like I will not
Speaker 1: pay it through their system that charted you a whole
Speaker 1: three extra dollars, which now I'm like, you couldn't paid
Speaker 1: the three dollars and saved yourself so much in fees,
Speaker 1: A big dumb girl. So that's my story. But I know, well,
Speaker 1: I don't think that you're dumb, so I appreciate the transparency.
Speaker 1: I might not be it online for a three dollar fee,
Speaker 1: if we're being honest, but it's twelve dollars a year total,
Speaker 1: like I could for the fee, I could have saved
Speaker 1: myself a hundred dollars, and like, please, like I just
Speaker 1: still looking back on it, can't believe I did that.
Speaker 1: The biggest thing is I can't believe there are still
Speaker 1: places that will not allow you to auto pay like
Speaker 1: I have to. We just refinanced our mortgage and I
Speaker 1: have to request to be able to automatically transfer at
Speaker 1: the same bank from the checking to the mortgage. Like
Speaker 1: I can't just set that up online. I gotta send
Speaker 1: an email, And then I got to check back in
Speaker 1: internal emails and see if they responded, And I was like,
Speaker 1: why is this hard? Why won't you just take my money?
Speaker 1: I know well and see where we live, my excuse
Speaker 1: is like, oh, it's such a small area and it's
Speaker 1: very horrible and they probably don't have the infrastructure. But yeah,
Speaker 1: if I can pay my other bills just by like
Speaker 1: texting in a code, you should be able to. You know,
Speaker 1: come on, I appreciate that vulnerable bill, the bill that
Speaker 1: didn't get paid. That's a that's a new one for us. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh man, if you're listening and you've got a bill
Speaker 1: that you forgot about, a bill that costs you more
Speaker 1: bills or any other kind of bill, bills on bills,
Speaker 1: stacks on stacks, leave us your bill at Frual Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash bill. Will listen to it, will
Speaker 1: comment on it, will share it all the things we'll
Speaker 1: share in your your sadness, or support whatever you need.
Speaker 1: I wish that I had a more inspiring, uplifting story.
Speaker 1: That's the reason I chose that was to tell people
Speaker 1: like you can still be with it and on a
Speaker 1: budget and saving money and living your best debt free
Speaker 1: life and still make mistakes and it's okay. Yes, but
Speaker 1: I do still feel like an idiot sometimes when I
Speaker 1: think about, like I laughed, like I kept that past
Speaker 1: due notice that I swore I had already paid. I
Speaker 1: kept it on the refrigerator. It's still there, just as
Speaker 1: a little reminder. Don't get cocky. Oh my gosh, it
Speaker 1: happens to the best of us. I think I shared
Speaker 1: this on the podcast a while ago. But when I
Speaker 1: was laid off from my job, I had to transfer
Speaker 1: my four oh en k to an IRA and I
Speaker 1: was a month It was a month before I gave birth,
Speaker 1: and so I set up the rollover to my IRA.
Speaker 1: I got all that taken care of, and then I
Speaker 1: gave birth and I forgot about it. And then I
Speaker 1: checked back a year later, and I forgot to invest
Speaker 1: the rollover into in next funds and it just sat
Speaker 1: there in the brokerage account for a year. And I
Speaker 1: tell people to do that, and multiple articles I've written
Speaker 1: as a finance writer, I have told people to do
Speaker 1: that and to check and there I there. I sat
Speaker 1: in front of my Vanguard account looking at my nineteen
Speaker 1: thousand dollars just sitting there. We're growing at one percent.
Speaker 1: You know I did that. When I opened my wrath IRA,
Speaker 1: I thought you just opened it and your only I
Speaker 1: didn't know. I didn't know initially that you had to
Speaker 1: invest the money I thought that was it was all
Speaker 1: one thing, and I think it was. I was on
Speaker 1: TikTok and someone was doing a little TikTok video about
Speaker 1: why your IRA wasn't growing, and I'm like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: me again. You need to do that. Yeah. I made
Speaker 1: a video about it on YouTube and somebody in the
Speaker 1: comments like, oh no, I did that, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I saved you, girl. That was that was my mission
Speaker 1: to help one more person. Why isn't Vanguard and other
Speaker 1: places helping people with that, Like, why aren't they called
Speaker 1: swing them up and saying hey, they send like eight
Speaker 1: thousand email alerts about everything else. They could send you
Speaker 1: a little onlind dirt to invest your money. Here's a
Speaker 1: Christmas list. This is like what I don't I don't
Speaker 1: need you Christmas shopping for me? Did you telling me
Speaker 1: what to do with my money? Yes? Anyhow that brings
Speaker 1: us to we just like to yell, Dia, Yeah, it's okay.
Speaker 1: I'm used to it. I have four children. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: This is not a peaceful experience for you. Oh, this
Speaker 1: is wonderful. First of all, this is wonderful. Second, there
Speaker 1: are no more peaceful experience. Every one's house it's cool,
Speaker 1: it's fine, We're good. You are. You're just like foreshadowing
Speaker 1: like everything that's about like going to be my life,
Speaker 1: hopefully not with four children, but like eventually with more children.
Speaker 1: And I just I see myself in a few years
Speaker 1: and I'm like, well, cool, it looks good. I mean,
Speaker 1: it looks good. It looks good on you, Lydia. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean thank you. Your skin still looks great. But
Speaker 1: thank you. It's the forty two dollars I've spent on
Speaker 1: rock rent and all thank you money well spent. Girl.
Speaker 1: I mean to go. We're not using the video, but
Speaker 1: I see you, I see you. Thank you. Anyways, lightning round,
Speaker 1: we're going to go through. We're each going to share
Speaker 1: one thing financial freedom has afforded us that may not
Speaker 1: have been possible or may not have been a blessing
Speaker 1: had we still been in debt. So real life examples
Speaker 1: and Lydia as our guest. Please you can go first. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: one thing. I'm married to a giver and I have
Speaker 1: been able to I shouldn't say I have, but we
Speaker 1: have been able to allow him free reign when it
Speaker 1: comes to seeing us a suation that he wants to
Speaker 1: give to and being able to give without worrying how
Speaker 1: we're going to cover our expenses. And that's just a
Speaker 1: blessing to watch someone else light up when they get
Speaker 1: the opportunity to give. It's so cool to watch your
Speaker 1: like the person you love most like be happy or
Speaker 1: like be fulfilled, Like that's cool. Yeah, we just did
Speaker 1: an episode recently on intentional generosity and that this is
Speaker 1: something that financial freedom affords. Is then to be able
Speaker 1: to look outward beyond ourselves and our circumstances. Because we've
Speaker 1: created freedom in our own lives. Doesn't mean that we're
Speaker 1: all super wealthy, just that we're not weighed down and
Speaker 1: bogged down by some of these responsibilities to these financial burdens.
Speaker 1: That feels like a ton of bricks on us. And yeah,
Speaker 1: what that allows us to do and give to others,
Speaker 1: that's amazing Lydia, good for you and your husband and
Speaker 1: that's awesome. Well, thank you. He's the better person. Yeah
Speaker 1: I feel that way too. I I like, will even
Speaker 1: say it to my husband. You're just better than me.
Speaker 1: I don't know what does that say about me, because Jill,
Speaker 1: you are a much better person than I am. So
Speaker 1: where do we rank? So Okay, Well, anyways, mine also
Speaker 1: has to do with my husband, Travis, so in he's
Speaker 1: an aircraft mechanic, so obviously in the airlines were hit
Speaker 1: really hard. Fortunately for us, he works at Allegiance, which
Speaker 1: is domestic, so he I mean, they didn't lose any
Speaker 1: international revenue because that's not what their business is built on.
Speaker 1: So nobody lost their jobs. But everyone was given the
Speaker 1: option to take voluntary time off at half pay, and
Speaker 1: so Travis was able to take three months at half
Speaker 1: pay and we didn't even have to think about it
Speaker 1: because all of our expenses are covered by my income,
Speaker 1: i mean my self employed like variable income, So that
Speaker 1: was just that was a huge blessing. Like it was
Speaker 1: voluntary obviously, and so not everybody had that luxury. But
Speaker 1: I mean, we have a toddler and Travis lli spending
Speaker 1: time with him, and so he got to spend extra
Speaker 1: time with him in this really special time and it
Speaker 1: was a big blessing, one that we would not have
Speaker 1: been able to afford if we still had debt payments. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what that pivots for you guys that most people would
Speaker 1: see that as just an awful thing that happened in
Speaker 1: but for you all because of the financial freedom. It's
Speaker 1: a blessing. It afforded more family time. It's so amazing.
Speaker 1: Nobody really took the voluntary time off. I mean it
Speaker 1: was some guys that are kind of close to retirement
Speaker 1: and have high salaries, they took the time off, but
Speaker 1: he was the only one, like at his level that
Speaker 1: did it. I remember him describing how people were just
Speaker 1: looking at him funny, like, what what is your situation
Speaker 1: that you're choosing to do this? What is happening? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's unusual, right to be able to realize that doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be the reality for me. Recent example of
Speaker 1: what financial well, financial freedom. I'm not incredibly right, I'm
Speaker 1: not retired, but being debt free has afforded me as
Speaker 1: one certainly buying our house. What do we buy it?
Speaker 1: August bought a house. But so many people have been
Speaker 1: wanting to come visit us in Florida, and it has
Speaker 1: allowed us to host a lot of people. Even in
Speaker 1: the last month, we've had someone here every single day.
Speaker 1: We just came off of a week of hosting four
Speaker 1: people in our home, and that would have really been
Speaker 1: very overwhelming to me if I was still paying off debt.
Speaker 1: Just financially, and I like to provide for people, you know,
Speaker 1: but I'm thinking what is the electric and water bill
Speaker 1: going to be? And you know, all this food and
Speaker 1: we've got a propane fire pit and just all these
Speaker 1: things that we want to give to people that I
Speaker 1: don't need to be stressed about because we are not
Speaker 1: in debt anymore and we're able to set that money
Speaker 1: aside to host people. So that has been so enjoyable
Speaker 1: to give to people in that way. A little resort
Speaker 1: experience in St. Pete. Yeah, I mean your place is
Speaker 1: like a resort. I love going over there. I love
Speaker 1: having you come on down to Lydia. Okay, sure, I'm
Speaker 1: not that that far away from you, so that's true. Yeah,
Speaker 1: quick little road trip. Yeah, drive down. We're here. She
Speaker 1: has a guest room, I have an office. Jill is
Speaker 1: more generous one of us, and she's talking about housing
Speaker 1: people and hosting them, and I'm just like shrinking back.
Speaker 1: We we hosted people when they gave us money. We
Speaker 1: did airbnb for several years, but now we have a
Speaker 1: child and can't keep the house clean anymore. But if
Speaker 1: you if you give me money, I'll host you. I'll
Speaker 1: be a great host. Money if you pay me money talks. Lydia,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for coming on and hanging out with us.
Speaker 1: I feel like you are a kindred, frugal friend, a
Speaker 1: kindred spirit. And where can people find more of you
Speaker 1: if they are feeling the same. Well, thank you for
Speaker 1: having me. This has been fun. Y'all are amazing. I
Speaker 1: am on YouTube, I'm Lydia sin over there, and then
Speaker 1: have a blog Brugal Debt Free Life dot com, and
Speaker 1: then I'm on Instagram Lydia Sin so any of those places.
Speaker 1: If you want real, honest to goodness life like debt
Speaker 1: Free Life, that's Lydia. Thank you. Yeah, You're You're real,
Speaker 1: You're authentic, and I love it. I love that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: people connect with real, transparent stories. I'm not secure enough
Speaker 1: to be on video that much, so I love watching
Speaker 1: your stories. Oh, thank you. First of all, you're gorgeous,
Speaker 1: but I don't care anymore. That is my dream goals.
Speaker 1: I mean, but you do have flawless skins, so like
Speaker 1: you're covered. I don't know what has happened to me,
Speaker 1: but I have lost all sense of shame and really
Speaker 1: probably dignity. It's gone that far. I think if you
Speaker 1: change enough diapers. I think you lose dignity. I have
Speaker 1: changed so many diapers in public and people look at
Speaker 1: me weird, and I'm like, like, get behind me, Satan,
Speaker 1: like I'm doing what I'm doing me And so I
Speaker 1: think it's slowly after where you're at. I'm probably sure
Speaker 1: that has something to do with it, because I'm starting
Speaker 1: I'm starting to lose it. My mom today had to
Speaker 1: have a talk to me about She was like, Lydia,
Speaker 1: I think it's great how honest you are, But a
Speaker 1: filter isn't always a bad thing, particularly in something as
Speaker 1: public as YouTube. Oh yeah, you're probably right. That's amazing.
Speaker 1: That's the Southern for you. Right, Well, it's not always
Speaker 1: appropriate to tell people everything you're thinking. I remember I
Speaker 1: got that lesson from the pastor's wife. I hope that
Speaker 1: you guys loved that interview as much as we did.
Speaker 1: I really feel like Lydia could be our third frugal friend.
Speaker 1: I really think so too. Do you think do you
Speaker 1: think she would do that? Can we invite her? She
Speaker 1: could come on every week for free and hang out
Speaker 1: with us, so we could pay her and laughs? Yes,
Speaker 1: I think they say laughter is medicine, So I think
Speaker 1: we'd essentially be providing her with like some health insurance.
Speaker 1: We could charge her actual we're giving her medicine. Okay,
Speaker 1: don't listen to that, don't don't flag it. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure she, uh, she would not give up what she's
Speaker 1: doing now for that kind of payment. M M. I
Speaker 1: guess not maybe an exposure. What we're really saying is
Speaker 1: we enjoyed it. I'm so glad you all did too. Yes,
Speaker 1: and we hope that you enjoyed it too, and thank
Speaker 1: you for listening. We hope that you keep listening long
Speaker 1: after January. I know that you are on fire this
Speaker 1: month with your financial goals, and I hope that we
Speaker 1: can help you maintain that momentum long after January is done.
Speaker 1: And so if you learn something, if you enjoyed it,
Speaker 1: if it's helped you on your journey, we would love
Speaker 1: for you to leave a kind review. We love your
Speaker 1: reviews on iTunes and Stitcher, kind of like this one,
Speaker 1: which maybe is my second favorite review ever, behind the
Speaker 1: one that said we are the Taco Bell of podcasts.
Speaker 1: But this one's called men Listen to. It's from Transman
Speaker 1: oh one, and it just happens to be five stars.
Speaker 1: He says started listening to this podcast about a month ago.
Speaker 1: Great informational topics with some fun keep up the awesome podcast.
Speaker 1: You too amazing. It's a good reminder that men listen
Speaker 1: to Yeah, one one percent of our listening audience. It's
Speaker 1: not just females over here. You represent the one person
Speaker 1: I love to hear from you. Oh, but I mean
Speaker 1: I think we're great. So it's nice to hear that
Speaker 1: other people to do. It's nice to hear that he's
Speaker 1: the third man that listens to the podcast, behind Eric
Speaker 1: and Travis. It's also Transman, Eric, Travis, and Transman. Yes,
Speaker 1: we've got We've got a few others. We've got maybe
Speaker 1: like five male listeners. If you are a dude and
Speaker 1: you listen to the show, I want you to raise
Speaker 1: your hand in the reviews. Hey yeah, come out of
Speaker 1: the woodworks. Don't be shy. Yes. We also want to
Speaker 1: thank our friends who share these episodes on social media.
Speaker 1: So when you share the latest episode and tag us
Speaker 1: on Facebook or Instagram, we're adding you to our monthly drawing.
Speaker 1: For every five tags and reviews we get each month,
Speaker 1: we give away one copy of the Frugal Friends workbooks.
Speaker 1: So many resources for you all in the New year.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends Workbook is one of them, and you can
Speaker 1: win it by tagging us and leaving review Yeah, so
Speaker 1: keep leaving us those reviews on iTunes or Stitcher and
Speaker 1: sending the screenshot to Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail dot com,
Speaker 1: and don't forget to tag us on social at Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends Podcast, See you next week. Frugal Friends is produced,
Speaker 1: edited and mixed by Eric Syria. What were you going
Speaker 1: to ask mid January? You started to say, did you
Speaker 1: have a mid January question for everybody? You know what?
Speaker 1: I read that by January twelve, most people have given
Speaker 1: up on their New Year's resolutions. Um, and so this
Speaker 1: goes live January and I just want to know where
Speaker 1: people are at. I don't know, I've given it up
Speaker 1: on New Year's and you know what, I don't even
Speaker 1: make it to the twelve. I'll tell you what. I
Speaker 1: don't even make it to the dwell. I mean, what's one?
Speaker 1: And I'm just glad to have stepped into that. That's
Speaker 1: been it so accomplished blessings and pants today and I'm
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, that's as good as it's coming. Good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got I got a good fun today, Like, normally
Speaker 1: this is not round, um, but I put some bobby
Speaker 1: pins in it to make it presentable. Oh that's next
Speaker 1: level to pull out the bobby pins. I put on
Speaker 1: some lipstick today. It's worn off by now because of
Speaker 1: the coffee that happened earlier. You know what to we're
Speaker 1: crushing it, clearly are crushing in January. I feel like
Speaker 1: the bar needs to be a little bit lowered. Let's
Speaker 1: stick because like, lose your quarantine fifteen in the New Year,
Speaker 1: New Year, knew you lose your quarantine fift I'm gonna
Speaker 1: actually explode, Like my body will explode. Maybe you need
Speaker 1: to insert your other uh suggestion of like who what
Speaker 1: voices you're listening to? The you go So I'm not
Speaker 1: worried about me. I'm secure in my extra stretchy stretch pants,
Speaker 1: but I'm worried like the voices for other people, like
Speaker 1: you don't need to do need that, you don't need
Speaker 1: to listen to that. Yeah, whatever you want, but that
Speaker 1: you don't need that pressure. Yeah, that's why they make
Speaker 1: stretchy pants, like and there are so much more comfortable
Speaker 1: than genes. Like, let's be honest, I've been telling so yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a counselor in my day job, and
Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how many times they keep repeating
Speaker 1: this phrase. Safety and stability is a fine aim and
Speaker 1: and for some I've even needed to say this is
Speaker 1: the excellent aim because it doesn't sound like good enough,
Speaker 1: like no, just stability, just aim there. You don't have
Speaker 1: to be thriving right now. This does not have to
Speaker 1: be your best life now. Just what can you do
Speaker 1: to ease the bumps and the turmoil? That's good? Yes,
Speaker 1: maybe your year starts in June or August, I don't know,
Speaker 1: just like sleep until they just get by. Just what's
Speaker 1: what's that meme about? I'm going to need a trial
Speaker 1: period before I subscribe to That's how I feel like
Speaker 1: we gonna started. We're gonna start in February, middle of
Speaker 1: februwhere see how it goes. I don't know. We might
Speaker 1: need a ninety day trial because started out good for
Speaker 1: the first sixty so we need an extended trial period
Speaker 1: before we do anything else like that idea Okay, extended
Speaker 1: trial period done