Speaker 1: They can also, the following special program Wonder Woman and
Speaker 1: the Incredible Hulk will not be presented this evening. That's it.
Speaker 1: We're not doing an episode. I know you've been waiting
Speaker 1: for the listener special. I know it's an important episode.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll give it a try, but it's Christmas.
Speaker 1: I don't know what we can do differently to get
Speaker 1: people to listen. Trust me. Our only hope now is
Speaker 1: to parody a train wreck. But how are we going
Speaker 1: to find what it compares to the train wreck? Great idea,
Speaker 1: we'll have people listening to this episode, No problem, stand by.
Speaker 1: Let's give him a show they can't help but play
Speaker 1: on Christmas Morning. The Frugal Friends Holiday Special starring Jen
Speaker 1: Smith as Jen, Jillian Sirianni as Jill, and Derrick Sirianni
Speaker 1: as the Voice of Eric, with special guest stars Kathy Mackenzie, Patty, Colleen,
Speaker 1: Catherine and Natalie. It's a listener call an episode on
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends Holiday Special. I don't know why I'm
Speaker 1: talking this way. Welcome to the Frugal Friends Podcast, where
Speaker 1: you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liberaltual life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill, Welcome to episode one
Speaker 1: forty of the Frugal Friends podcast. This is the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends Holiday Special. Dude, I hope all our fellow nerds
Speaker 1: appreciate that as much as I did. I am Jen,
Speaker 1: I'm Jill. I know nothing about Star Wars except for
Speaker 1: like Chewbacca. Yes, and thank you so much to copyright
Speaker 1: law that allows us to parody famous works without explicit
Speaker 1: permission from the copyright holder. Please don't come after us, Disney.
Speaker 1: We love you, and as a Florida resident with the Toddler,
Speaker 1: I'll give you a lot of my money every year. Anyways,
Speaker 1: I love the the underhanded. Don't come after me, please, God.
Speaker 1: Today is a special day because it's well Christmas. But
Speaker 1: also not even that. That's not even the reason. That's
Speaker 1: not even it. Today we're sharing some of your best
Speaker 1: frugal tips. We get to hear all of your amazing
Speaker 1: voices on the show today. So listen for yourself if
Speaker 1: you've called in, Listen for your friends if you did
Speaker 1: not call in. But first, our sponsors. Yes, today we
Speaker 1: have one sponsor on the show, and it is not
Speaker 1: suing us because we don't want to be sued. I'm
Speaker 1: talking to you Disney, just a quick sponsor. Okay, what's
Speaker 1: very Christmas. It's not going to be a long episode
Speaker 1: because it's Christmas and we're all doing other things. But
Speaker 1: this is one you can play for your fan, so
Speaker 1: we're here for it. Something for everybody, all right. Our
Speaker 1: first frugal tip is from Kathie. Let's hear what she
Speaker 1: has to say. Hi, Jen and Jill, this is your
Speaker 1: frugal friend Kathy in Virginia. My tip isn't exactly earth
Speaker 1: shattering because you talk about this on the show all
Speaker 1: the time, but I just wanted to say to anyone
Speaker 1: who has not yet tried shopping for groceries at Aldi,
Speaker 1: you really want to do it. I finally made the switch,
Speaker 1: and I have three teenage boys at home and with
Speaker 1: COVID their home all the time now and we've have
Speaker 1: saved over a hundred dollars a week by switching to Aldi,
Speaker 1: so and the course of the year, that's pretty big savings.
Speaker 1: Keep up the great work. I really enjoy the show.
Speaker 1: But bye virg Yes, and we can't say it enough.
Speaker 1: We've tried to be sponsored by all the didn't happen. Literally,
Speaker 1: we did try. Jill wrote out this beautiful proposal she
Speaker 1: got help from like somebody that does this for a living,
Speaker 1: and no response. They're just like, we already know our
Speaker 1: people love us. But I think especially around the holidays.
Speaker 1: I mean all year round, you're talking about amazing savings,
Speaker 1: but something that I've noticed is that they do have
Speaker 1: special things that they might not have year round around
Speaker 1: the holidays, which is amazing. Particularly I love the cheeseboard,
Speaker 1: like making cheeseboards and charcouterie and Aldi has. Really this
Speaker 1: sounds like a sponsor. It's not. I'm literally just affirming
Speaker 1: what Kathy is saying. Yes, we buy like cheese and
Speaker 1: nuts and that's like a fun in home date night
Speaker 1: for us. Or when you have people over five dollar
Speaker 1: like neat thing I must say meat pouch, but that
Speaker 1: doesn't sound great. It's a charcouonterie and sometimes I will
Speaker 1: just eat that pouch. No, but it's more than just
Speaker 1: the Aldi Wine Advent calendar. I love so many things
Speaker 1: at all the and gosh, I think my child has
Speaker 1: lived off of their pouches this year. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: we're talking best frugal tips, and when you're saving a
Speaker 1: hundred dollars a week on groceries. That is the number
Speaker 1: one area that we're all looking to cut year round
Speaker 1: is food and groceries. So that is amazing. And it
Speaker 1: doesn't sound like you've cut back entirely, Kathy on buying
Speaker 1: food because you've got a bunch of teenage boys. It's
Speaker 1: just that the food is less expensive. I know you
Speaker 1: can't with teenagers. And there are still people out there
Speaker 1: who are Aldi averse. It's scary to them the quarter
Speaker 1: that goes in the cart. But bring a friend, you'll
Speaker 1: be fine. Yes, if you can bring a friend here Aldi.
Speaker 1: It's actually through COVID. They're not doing the quarter in
Speaker 1: the cart because it's not as sanitary. So a lot
Speaker 1: of times mine is doing quarter in the car already.
Speaker 1: Oh maybe up in p A they weren't. They were
Speaker 1: wiping the car. It's down for you. Oh yeah, for
Speaker 1: a while they weren't. They're making you do the quarter
Speaker 1: now though, and they're like, wipe your own cart. It's
Speaker 1: back to all these standards. If you get your own corner.
Speaker 1: They do offer a lot of wipes, yeah, and quarters,
Speaker 1: and they'll let you keep your car when they're putting
Speaker 1: the food into the car and check out. So they
Speaker 1: have taken a lot of safety precautions and steps this year,
Speaker 1: so it really sounds like we're experts on this. I
Speaker 1: mean we've been trapping it all the for a while,
Speaker 1: so kind of our Thanks Kathy, we affirm your tip.
Speaker 1: That's a great one, alright. This next tip is from McKenzie. Hey,
Speaker 1: foogol friends. Okay, this one is tried and true. But
Speaker 1: anything in your house that is disposable, start using things
Speaker 1: that are not disposable. For example, a set of paper towels.
Speaker 1: You can use rags instead of paper napkin, cloth napkins
Speaker 1: instead of tampons. You can use a Diva cup instead
Speaker 1: of disposable diapers, you can use cloth diapers. And maybe
Speaker 1: you aren't able to make these swaps one, but a
Speaker 1: little bit here and there really does add up. And
Speaker 1: it might just shave off twenty dollars from my monthly budget,
Speaker 1: but that twenty adds up to thousands of dollars over
Speaker 1: the years. Okay, be frugal. Ah, thank you mackenzie. I
Speaker 1: feel strongly about that because I'm finally made the switch
Speaker 1: to cloth napkins this year. I've been to your house
Speaker 1: after wanting to do it for a while. I can
Speaker 1: affirm it. There's no disposable napkins or paper towels to
Speaker 1: be had. So if we'll go to a fast food
Speaker 1: place and they'll put napkins in our bag, we don't
Speaker 1: throw those out, we say, then they go underneath the
Speaker 1: cloth ones for when we do need a disposable one.
Speaker 1: Now I know where to find your disposed bone napkins.
Speaker 1: That is where you find. Yeah, it's it's so smart.
Speaker 1: And I know that we've talked about this in a
Speaker 1: variety of ways too, that it's not only cost effective,
Speaker 1: but it is also environmentally friendly and sustainable, which is
Speaker 1: always lovely when we compare multiple positive things together with
Speaker 1: money savings and sustainability. So this reusable instead of disposable,
Speaker 1: I completely concur In some ways it might increase some
Speaker 1: time and effort and energy, but sometimes that's not even
Speaker 1: the case and it's just money saving. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: do like that she emphasized, you don't have to make
Speaker 1: the changes a percent. So while I advocate for sustainability,
Speaker 1: like I'm not perfect, I use regular diavers like that's me,
Speaker 1: That's who I am. But I'll try and do it
Speaker 1: in things that don't involve pooh, like all the rags
Speaker 1: and the cloth napkins and trying to to reuse glass
Speaker 1: jars and stuff. I draw the line somewhere. I just
Speaker 1: online at poop and some people don't and that's totally okay,
Speaker 1: Like more power to them. So yeah, you don't have
Speaker 1: to make the changes, just maybe famed for like one
Speaker 1: per quarter or one every six months. And oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: after five years you've made ten changes, like ten sustainable
Speaker 1: changes that will last you the rest of your life.
Speaker 1: It is amazing to me how many things can be
Speaker 1: switched to something reusable. And Mackenzie, you just gave us
Speaker 1: a great list and the list doesn't end there. And
Speaker 1: I like how you started out with look around at
Speaker 1: what is disposable that can kind of help us to
Speaker 1: reframe and reorient to something that's not. One of the
Speaker 1: things that we do is water bottles, reusable water bottles.
Speaker 1: We have a ton of guests in but I still
Speaker 1: refuse to get a whole case of water bottles. I
Speaker 1: just have a bunch of reusable water containers that I
Speaker 1: got on the clearance section, and when people come to visit,
Speaker 1: they have their water bottle when they're here. So that's
Speaker 1: my one small thing that I'm doing. Yeah, I know
Speaker 1: you can like look in your trash and see what's disposable.
Speaker 1: So for us, it's like produce bags and stuff. So
Speaker 1: bringing my own plastic bag or reusable produce bag to
Speaker 1: put produce there, or meats at the grocery store. And gosh,
Speaker 1: if you shop aldi, you're already bringing your own reusable
Speaker 1: bags for your groceries. But yeah, just look around and say,
Speaker 1: this is one swap I'm gonna make first quarter or
Speaker 1: first half, just try one thing that's great, love it alright.
Speaker 1: Our next tip is from Patty. Hi, Jenna, Jill. This
Speaker 1: is Patty up in Alberta, Canada. My favorite beginner tip
Speaker 1: for saving money. I'm not sure where I heard it,
Speaker 1: but it's if you want to save money on shopping,
Speaker 1: don't go shopping. It cracks me up, but you can't
Speaker 1: do it on groceries or necessities. However, I definitely slashed
Speaker 1: my clothing budget by not using shopping as entertainment. Thanks
Speaker 1: by give me in to a straight Patty. You know,
Speaker 1: Patty and Alberta, Canada. You're just cut into the chase
Speaker 1: right here, and it's laughable. But I do think your
Speaker 1: correlation to shopping as entertainment is a pitfall many of
Speaker 1: us find ourselves in and just saying I'm good with
Speaker 1: what I have, I'm not going to go shopping. The
Speaker 1: best way to save money is to not spend it.
Speaker 1: So this is one of the low hanging fruits of
Speaker 1: that if I don't need something, or even if I
Speaker 1: can do with what I have, let me try to
Speaker 1: just not even go out and put myself in the
Speaker 1: position where I might purchase. And this is where that
Speaker 1: we compare this with a no spend challenge. I like
Speaker 1: how you mentioned, yes, we need to get groceries and
Speaker 1: the essentials, but otherwise let's not even put ourselves in
Speaker 1: the arena to be spending money unnecessarily. Yeah. I talk
Speaker 1: to people all the time who for some reason, I mean,
Speaker 1: you get bored and there's TJ Max and you think
Speaker 1: I could just walk around and then they're like, I
Speaker 1: think I can do that, and then I end up
Speaker 1: with a cart full of stuff. Uh So we kind
Speaker 1: of when we start to live this frugal lifestyle, we
Speaker 1: kind of start to trick ourselves into thinking I can
Speaker 1: control myself. But those bad habits can still come out,
Speaker 1: and the best way to save yourself from shopping is
Speaker 1: to just not put yourself in a place where shopping
Speaker 1: is possible. Said, we might have gotten some self control,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean we can always go in yeah
Speaker 1: and keep all of our money in our pockets. Yeah,
Speaker 1: don't put that added pressure on yourself. Your self control
Speaker 1: is finite. So if you are feeling depleted, then why
Speaker 1: would you put yourself in that situation? Now, that was
Speaker 1: a great one, Patty, thank you. Our next one is
Speaker 1: from Colleen Hi Jenn Hi jel. So my name is Colleen.
Speaker 1: I'm from England, big for obviously. My number one fregal
Speaker 1: tip is to always be prepared. Always check your back
Speaker 1: before you leave, Always make a list, and it will
Speaker 1: prevent all those little purchases from when you walk out
Speaker 1: without your bottle of water, or you forgot your stamps,
Speaker 1: or you forgot to take swimming costume on holiday, or
Speaker 1: use sunscream because yeah, I've bought a twenty pound bottle
Speaker 1: of sun scream from an airport before. So yeah, that's
Speaker 1: my number one frugal tip. Thanks for you doing, guys,
Speaker 1: thank you buying. Oh my gosh. Yes, it's such an
Speaker 1: underrated frugal tip because so much of the things that
Speaker 1: make frugality not cheap just involves planning, just putting it
Speaker 1: on a piece of paper and remembering things. Oh, I
Speaker 1: cannot affirm this enough and I'm so glad calling that
Speaker 1: you put this into words and the way that this
Speaker 1: can be a frugal tip. There have been times where
Speaker 1: I'm out and about and I'm thirsty. I'm going to
Speaker 1: buy a bottle of water. Granted that's not that expensive,
Speaker 1: but if I do that constantly, I'm not saving myself
Speaker 1: any money there So bringing bottles of water, having bags
Speaker 1: in the car. Personally, I keep sunscreen in the car.
Speaker 1: I keep sunscreen in a bag. In the house, I
Speaker 1: keep sunscreen out on the bag patio. I even I
Speaker 1: take this so far. I have and I probably mentioned
Speaker 1: this in a previous episode. I have gift wrapping supplies
Speaker 1: in my car. I have scissors and string and tape
Speaker 1: and tissue paper and bags and wrapping paper. Because it
Speaker 1: kills me if I'm going somewhere and I last minute
Speaker 1: decide or I don't know how it happens, I just
Speaker 1: feel like I find myself in a situation where like
Speaker 1: I'm giving a gift, but I don't want to buy
Speaker 1: the paper When I know I've got the paper, so
Speaker 1: I just always keep stuff in my car. You don't
Speaker 1: know how many times having scissors in my car has
Speaker 1: come in handy. Like I'll be on my way somewhere
Speaker 1: and I want to just bring somebody some flowers, so
Speaker 1: I'll pick up some flowers. But I'm like, I don't
Speaker 1: want to have to buy the vase and all this
Speaker 1: and that, and so like I'll sometimes I have extra
Speaker 1: jars in my car from like cleaned out cans of pasta,
Speaker 1: and then the scissors in my car, so I can
Speaker 1: make my own floral arrangement. Problems when you are too generous,
Speaker 1: when you are too nice, these are the types of
Speaker 1: problems you have. But there's still areas where I don't
Speaker 1: want to spend money on these things that are going
Speaker 1: to cost me every single time when I already have
Speaker 1: it on hand. So anyhow, I affirm, make the list,
Speaker 1: check it twice, see how I wove in Christmas there,
Speaker 1: and be prepared to go out and have all the
Speaker 1: things that you need, because those last minute silly expenses,
Speaker 1: well they're annoying and they also can set us back
Speaker 1: in the long run. My being prepared is with food
Speaker 1: for my toddler. Just every time I leave the house,
Speaker 1: make sure I have a pouch and one of those
Speaker 1: little teething crackers. I can avoid meltdowns and avoid stopping
Speaker 1: fast food places to just get a four pack of nuggets.
Speaker 1: So having a kid has really taught me even more
Speaker 1: so to just be prepared and save yourself the trouble later.
Speaker 1: I always think of that Adam Sandler song, pretty recent
Speaker 1: one where it's like phone, wallet, keys, phone, while keys,
Speaker 1: and he just says that over and over. So now
Speaker 1: whenever I leave the house, I sing that song. But
Speaker 1: then also at the end, by the end of it,
Speaker 1: he's singing like twenty things in a row that, So
Speaker 1: my song has gotten longer over the years as well. Phone, well, keiths, pouch,
Speaker 1: cookie jack, water, so many things, yeah, so many things.
Speaker 1: Just have like a survival pack in your car and
Speaker 1: by the door, and a gift survival pack if you
Speaker 1: are super generous like Jill. I'm not that generous, but
Speaker 1: it is probably an odd thing, but it has helped me.
Speaker 1: I've been able to give frugally absolutely and beautifully, because
Speaker 1: just because it's frugal doesn't mean it's not beautiful. Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, Our next tip is from Catherine. Hey frugal friends,
Speaker 1: This is Katherine from Arkansas. My frugal tip and it's
Speaker 1: not as much frugal but more just minimalist lifestyle tip
Speaker 1: is something that Jen and Jill I think kind of
Speaker 1: mentioned on an episode and I took it and ran
Speaker 1: with it. I have gotten really into watching videos on
Speaker 1: YouTube that are of people going through things and purging
Speaker 1: and or you know, getting her things decluttering. I found
Speaker 1: a channel in particularly that I really love and you
Speaker 1: should go check her out. Her name is Natalie Bennett,
Speaker 1: and she is just a normal mom who has three kids,
Speaker 1: and she does a series on her channel where she
Speaker 1: goes through every room in the house and d clutters
Speaker 1: and is so inspirational. Every time I watched one of
Speaker 1: her videos, I go in cluding something out at my
Speaker 1: house too, because it makes me realize that there's so
Speaker 1: much I have and so much that my kids have
Speaker 1: and my husband has that we don't need. And every
Speaker 1: time I watch and every time I declutter something, I
Speaker 1: get a huge bag of stuff I can take to donations.
Speaker 1: There's been several things I've been able to sell on Facebook,
Speaker 1: Marketplace or through a local consignment store too. And so
Speaker 1: I've been able to get, you know, a little bit
Speaker 1: money back for some of that stuff that we really
Speaker 1: didn't need to own in the first place. So go
Speaker 1: check Natalie been it out and go declutter your house.
Speaker 1: See you, Thank you so much Catherine for that one.
Speaker 1: It really is when your home is decluttered, your mind
Speaker 1: is also decluttered, and there's like a psychological connection. And
Speaker 1: when your mind is at peace and not stressed out
Speaker 1: by like surrounding physical clutter, you can make better decisions
Speaker 1: because your mind is more at rest more often, and
Speaker 1: better decisions translate to better spending decisions as well. So
Speaker 1: there's so many parallels with frugality that decluttering brain. And
Speaker 1: I like your tip of finding others to watch and
Speaker 1: follow and the motivation that that provides not only the
Speaker 1: soothing aspect of it of watching somebody else to clutter
Speaker 1: and seeing how nice it looks afterwards, but it also
Speaker 1: motivates us to see, well, I wonder what I have
Speaker 1: And then even in that process that only are you
Speaker 1: cleaning out your house and making it more functional and
Speaker 1: usable and less mind clutter, it also creates opportunity for
Speaker 1: us to give to other people who might need some
Speaker 1: of the things that we're not using. Ian makes some
Speaker 1: money on things that we're not using that we can sell.
Speaker 1: So this is another one where I think a lot
Speaker 1: of really great things merge together, and it is frugal,
Speaker 1: and it also saves us money and it helps to
Speaker 1: give us peace of mind, and a lot of things
Speaker 1: converge with this one. So I like this tip. Katherine,
Speaker 1: thanks Yes. And Catherine actually had another tip. She gives
Speaker 1: a bonus tip for us, and she gave it as
Speaker 1: a bill of the week a while ago. But she
Speaker 1: and her husband used to balance transfer credit card to
Speaker 1: pay off their debt, and they actually had a loan
Speaker 1: officer at their local bank tell them, hey, instead of
Speaker 1: getting a personal on to pay this off, why don't
Speaker 1: use a ballot transfer credit card because it's small enough
Speaker 1: to pay off in the zero percent interest time. So
Speaker 1: if you are committed and this is something that you're
Speaker 1: like on the journey to paying off debt, and you've
Speaker 1: already started getting your spending under control and all of that,
Speaker 1: I'm definitely not something I would do like just starting
Speaker 1: out when you haven't dove into this yet. If you're
Speaker 1: at the place where you're like, Okay, I'm getting this,
Speaker 1: We're on a roll then definitely something to try. It
Speaker 1: could be a hack, and I like that. Katherine says
Speaker 1: it's not for everybody, but for her and her spouse
Speaker 1: it worked and it also gave a time frame. They
Speaker 1: had twenty one months to pay that off and so
Speaker 1: that was almost a goal for them to reach and
Speaker 1: they didn't. Yes, I love that alright. And our next
Speaker 1: tip is from Natalie. Hi, Jen and Jill. This is
Speaker 1: Natalie and and from Nova Scotia, Canada. I just listened
Speaker 1: to your podcast um about money hacks, and I was
Speaker 1: actually calling because in Canada, we also have a website
Speaker 1: that you can go online and look and see if
Speaker 1: there's money left in your name or anyone else in
Speaker 1: your family's name. And eight years ago, I was tending
Speaker 1: with my youngest daughter and I was up overnight breastfeeting.
Speaker 1: So I found out about this and I started going
Speaker 1: everyone in my family and I actually found forty dollars
Speaker 1: in the name of my grand mother, who has long
Speaker 1: since passed, and we have tried to get the money.
Speaker 1: My dad has also passed, so his last remaining brother
Speaker 1: and he was supposed to do with and he's less
Speaker 1: than motivated for some odd reason. But what's nice is
Speaker 1: that whenever he does it, or in the future, whenever
Speaker 1: he passes, all that money will go to me, my sister,
Speaker 1: and my two cousins. So I like to think that,
Speaker 1: even though he won't do it now, that ten dollars
Speaker 1: will be ready for us at some point in our
Speaker 1: life when we need it. Love the podcast to saay
Speaker 1: to share and yeah, thanks so much. That's awesome to
Speaker 1: know that that's in Canada too. Yeah, Natalie, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: And if you wouldn't have taken the time to do
Speaker 1: a simple Google search, it's possible nobody would have known
Speaker 1: about this and the money would have just sat there.
Speaker 1: Who knows what they end up doing with it long term,
Speaker 1: but I know that's amazing. And it's also really great
Speaker 1: to hear of your patients in this process that you
Speaker 1: know it's there, but you're not greedy for it right now,
Speaker 1: recognizing that there's an aspect of patients here to say,
Speaker 1: you know what, whenever we do get that money, it
Speaker 1: will be at the right time and we'll be able
Speaker 1: to utilize it for what we need at that point.
Speaker 1: So that's so great to hear. And congratulations, that's awesome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for those of you that don't know. Natalie is referring
Speaker 1: to our episode with Lisa Rowan where we talk about
Speaker 1: her book Money Hacks, and that was probably the most
Speaker 1: popular tip from the episode. And I will say it
Speaker 1: was our most downloaded episode of so that one was
Speaker 1: number one, and that was everyone's favorite. Well, it was
Speaker 1: everyone's favorite because we also have had a lot of
Speaker 1: people reach out to us saying, oh, I actually looked
Speaker 1: up my name or family members names and found that
Speaker 1: there's money. It's not always forty dollars that people find, right,
Speaker 1: but yeah, a good amount of people do realize, whether
Speaker 1: it's from previous rentals and unreimbursed security deposits or who
Speaker 1: knows money left and will certainly is sometimes how others
Speaker 1: find money, but it is a good tip. You never
Speaker 1: know for sure. Do you know what else? Is a
Speaker 1: really great hack and always everybody's favorite part of the episode.
Speaker 1: It's my most listened to episode part of the week.
Speaker 1: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 1: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 1: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 1: car done and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 1: that bill anymore. That bill, Bill Bill Clinton. This is
Speaker 1: the bill of the week, alright, y'all. So it's a
Speaker 1: special episode and we just featured out y'all. So instead
Speaker 1: of bringing another one of you on, you greedy people,
Speaker 1: we're actually going to do our own bill of the week,
Speaker 1: and Sweet Jill is going to present it for us.
Speaker 1: Sweet Jill, I don't think I've ever been described that way,
Speaker 1: but I'll take it. I describe you that way to everyone. Oh,
Speaker 1: thank you. You do not know me. I don't really
Speaker 1: know you. You just seem nice. That's awesome. Our bill
Speaker 1: of the week, this is a shared Bill of the
Speaker 1: week because it's Christmas and we're doing something fun and
Speaker 1: we're just switching it all up. The bill. We paid
Speaker 1: to purchase the balloons for the celebration of one million downloads.
Speaker 1: In case you haven't been watching I don't know, I
Speaker 1: guess basically on our website or on Instagram, Facebook, Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast has reached one million downloads. Actually we have
Speaker 1: surpassed it at this point, which is so exciting. Thanks
Speaker 1: to you all, and Jen and I celebrated and took
Speaker 1: some pictures together, purchased a one end an m helium
Speaker 1: balloon gold helium balloon. Feel free to check it out
Speaker 1: on our Instagram page Fogal Friends Podcast. Anyhow, that was awesome.
Speaker 1: We had fun pop confetti in my house and I'm
Speaker 1: still finding it everywhere, but that's all right because it
Speaker 1: was fun. But I do still have the balloons. Gents like,
Speaker 1: do you have the balloon in the background? This was
Speaker 1: like weeks ago, and turns out I do. It looks
Speaker 1: a little sad and sorry. I just see this gold
Speaker 1: corner just like peeping out of the side of her video.
Speaker 1: I was like, isn't that the balloon? This is well,
Speaker 1: here you go. You're seeing frugality at its finest. It's
Speaker 1: just ingrained in May. So I had these balloons. Jen
Speaker 1: just left them at my house after we had our
Speaker 1: whole party, along with all the confetti. Thanks Jen. And
Speaker 1: then I had two guests come in to stay with
Speaker 1: me for a week and I usually like to, you know,
Speaker 1: make the bed and leave some flowers on the night table, nightstand,
Speaker 1: whatever you call it. And I had these balloons and
Speaker 1: I realized, oh, I can repurpose this. So I had
Speaker 1: one in an m and it was actually my boss
Speaker 1: who was coming in to stay with me. So I
Speaker 1: wrote like number one, boss, you're the best and put
Speaker 1: it in her room. And then the other woman who
Speaker 1: was coming to stay. Her last name is Mangam, so
Speaker 1: I was able to use the M for her last name,
Speaker 1: and then just wrote all kinds of stupid stuff on it,
Speaker 1: like magnificent, manga mother m is for manga, mature moral,
Speaker 1: all this stuff and put that in her room. And
Speaker 1: it was just fun and they felt special. And I
Speaker 1: reused the horrid balloons. That was my long bill of
Speaker 1: the week. This is why we have people call in
Speaker 1: because we can't handle it. Yeah. I mean that's a
Speaker 1: great story, and I'm sure she really appreciated it, said
Speaker 1: she thought it was humorous at least good. Well, if
Speaker 1: you have a bill of the week where you're reusing
Speaker 1: balloons or whatever whatever you are reusing, then please let
Speaker 1: us know about it. Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash
Speaker 1: bill and leave us your bills with Z do what
Speaker 1: And now it's time for the ening room. Okay, So
Speaker 1: we were going to do one thing and then I think,
Speaker 1: actually we should go and go through our top episodes
Speaker 1: for the year. What do you think, Jill, top episodes
Speaker 1: of You know, there's not many good things about but
Speaker 1: I am curious what stood out to people this year,
Speaker 1: what did they want to listen to? Well, so this
Speaker 1: past year, I'll give you our top five right here.
Speaker 1: So this one actually, so I said Money Hacks was
Speaker 1: our top downloaded one, but this one just surpassed it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's our personal finance basics. That was actually a
Speaker 1: rerun of a popular episode and apparently I still loved
Speaker 1: it because even the rerun was our most downloaded episode
Speaker 1: of this year. Yeah, and then second was the money
Speaker 1: Hacks episode with Lisa Rowan. Coming in at number three
Speaker 1: was actually another rerun. It's how a no spend Month
Speaker 1: can help your finances and yeah, that was again one
Speaker 1: of our most downloaded episodes in our first year, and
Speaker 1: still even the rerun coming in at number four is
Speaker 1: how to make Budgeting Work for You with Rachel Cruz.
Speaker 1: And then number five, Why you Need a Budget with
Speaker 1: Jesse meek Um of Why Nap. Yeah, so those are
Speaker 1: our top ones. We switched hosting this year, so those
Speaker 1: are the ones from Audio Boom, and I just didn't
Speaker 1: take the time to combine them. So I will tell
Speaker 1: you our top ones that we're around the same download
Speaker 1: count on simple cast too. So we sawt episode nine
Speaker 1: D two, which was reducing food waste with debt kicking Mom.
Speaker 1: And then we had Frugal Self Care that was episode
Speaker 1: ninety three, and let's see we have episode seven how
Speaker 1: to Transition from Spender too savor. That one was a
Speaker 1: super popular episode. I hope you guys are writing these down.
Speaker 1: It's Christmas, so like, I know you're not driving, and
Speaker 1: I've got them in the show notes too, if in
Speaker 1: case you're not perfect perfect, And yeah, those are our
Speaker 1: most downloaded episodes. It's a nice combination of interviews and
Speaker 1: non interviews, so it's neat to see both styles of
Speaker 1: our podcast people are tuning into and finding benefit from.
Speaker 1: But my personal favorites are interviews. So that's nice to
Speaker 1: see that our Frugal Friends community is really enjoying other voices,
Speaker 1: and I think that is It's one of the things
Speaker 1: that is our water mark is that we bring in
Speaker 1: community members to talk and share because no one of
Speaker 1: us is an expert on all things frugal. Yes, definitely.
Speaker 1: How many episodes was that did I put down? Was
Speaker 1: that enough? Was that ten? I don't think that was ten? Eight? Okay,
Speaker 1: I need two more? Okay, So We also have tips
Speaker 1: for creating a capsule wardrobe you'll love for years. That
Speaker 1: was another replay, but y'all love capsule wardrobes and minimalism.
Speaker 1: And then the last one on our top ten is
Speaker 1: how to cut back on emotional spending with Leslie Taine.
Speaker 1: Who I liked that one. That was another one, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I liked her. It was one of those episodes where
Speaker 1: you go in just think, oh, this is just give
Speaker 1: me another interview, and then you leave and you're like, whoa.
Speaker 1: It was much more than I thought. We got a
Speaker 1: lot more from that one than I anticipated going in.
Speaker 1: So thanks Leslie for reaching out and coming on. So
Speaker 1: those are top ten amazing. Looking forward to be in
Speaker 1: with all of you guys and bringing in the new
Speaker 1: here and just continuing to talk about frugality because we
Speaker 1: can't get enough. Clearly, even when we have reruns, we
Speaker 1: can't get enough. I know. Thank you guys so much
Speaker 1: for listening. If you want to give us a gift
Speaker 1: this year, then leave us a review on iTunes or Stitcher,
Speaker 1: or if you've already, grab the person next to you
Speaker 1: with the iPhone and write a review for us on
Speaker 1: their phone. And I think that's probably against the terms
Speaker 1: of service, but it's the best gift that you can
Speaker 1: give us this holiday season, kind of you know, like
Speaker 1: Jellies and Bellies did for us. She gave us the
Speaker 1: gift of five stars, hopefully on her own iTunes account.
Speaker 1: But she said, Jen and Jill, the hosts, make frugality fun.
Speaker 1: I've been listening to this podcast for almost a year
Speaker 1: now and I love it. Listening to this podcast helped
Speaker 1: me address my spend thrift issues and adopt frugality and
Speaker 1: budgeting as a whole way of living. Although there are
Speaker 1: a few things discussed in the podcast which are not
Speaker 1: applicable directly to Indian listeners, there are some gems in
Speaker 1: each episode which are applicable to everyone around the globe,
Speaker 1: irrespective of the country. Happy listening, Jellies and Bellies. We
Speaker 1: appreciate your listening for a whole year. You've been with
Speaker 1: us for so long now, Yes, you've heard all of
Speaker 1: those episodes that we just mentioned, Yes, exactly. We also
Speaker 1: want to thank our friends who share these episodes on
Speaker 1: social media. So when you share the latest episode and
Speaker 1: tag us on Facebook or Instagram, we're adding you to
Speaker 1: our monthly drawing for every five tags and reviews we
Speaker 1: get each month, we're giving away a copy of the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends work Bug. This is a great way to
Speaker 1: start out the new year, not only with friends and
Speaker 1: community working through the workbook together, but also just helping
Speaker 1: us get on track with our finances. So you can
Speaker 1: certainly purchase it yourself, and you can also enter to
Speaker 1: win it. It's my little hug as you should so
Speaker 1: keep leaving us reviews on iTunes throughs to your please.
Speaker 1: They help people find the show. Um, and know that
Speaker 1: it's legit. It's not just two girls sitting in a
Speaker 1: closet just chatting about their lives. Though it is. We
Speaker 1: just won't tell them that, um and email those reviews
Speaker 1: to Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail dot com. Make sure
Speaker 1: you take a screenshot before you hit submit, and don't
Speaker 1: forget to tag us on social at Frugal Friends Podcast.
Speaker 1: See you next week. Merry Christmas, My New Year SMAs
Speaker 1: Herugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Serria.
Speaker 1: That should be next year we have where we actually
Speaker 1: finally can sing our songs. No, because that's pretty much
Speaker 1: what we do in every episode anyhow, so we should
Speaker 1: just let ourselves finally do a song and dance. I
Speaker 1: don't like to think of myself as a podcaster. I
Speaker 1: like to say I'm a professional hummer. Um, I'm not
Speaker 1: a singer by any means, but I am a professional hummer.
Speaker 1: And you can dance, girl, I've seen it. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: But when I say I'm a professional dancer, people get
Speaker 1: the wrong idea. So I don't. Yeah, Jill, I propose
Speaker 1: that we do this like on the show. But then
Speaker 1: we got a better idea. So I wanted to know
Speaker 1: if money was no object, what would you get me
Speaker 1: for Christmas? Yes, well it'll say a lot about like
Speaker 1: what we think about each other, like what we would
Speaker 1: get each other if money was no object. Oh, there's
Speaker 1: so many things. And this is hailing back to our
Speaker 1: interview with Chris Hogan, where we asked the question if
Speaker 1: I were a rich girl and money were no object,
Speaker 1: what would we buy? And combined, Jen and I did
Speaker 1: not spend more than five dollars if money was But
Speaker 1: because it's for somebody else, right, well, we'll definitely spend more.
Speaker 1: I went down. I would get you an entire shipment
Speaker 1: of wine, and I would send you on a cruise.
Speaker 1: My actually, i'd come with you. That would be yes,
Speaker 1: that'd be yeah, we would take an Alaskan cruise like
Speaker 1: we've been talking about, smuggle in all of the wine. Yes,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that to sound like a dream. I
Speaker 1: what are you getting me? I would get you. I
Speaker 1: don't know what are you Let's start theoretically first, let's
Speaker 1: not I would get you custom tricked out boat upholstery,
Speaker 1: like we would. I mean, short of covering that thing
Speaker 1: in gold, it would just be the comfiest, most luxurious
Speaker 1: place to hang out. When I see your style, because
Speaker 1: that would benefit you too. Apparently we just want to
Speaker 1: like do fun things together out on the water. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's the reality. You want to be on a boat.
Speaker 1: We should do a podcast on the boat. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: we could write off the whole thing. We podcast out
Speaker 1: every day, right off the whole boat. No, and for context, Eric,
Speaker 1: this is a whole other thing I was trying to
Speaker 1: avoid talking about on the podcast. But here we are.
Speaker 1: It's Christmas. Eric found a boat on Facebook marketplace for
Speaker 1: very inexpensive that did require a good deal of work
Speaker 1: and still does. But it works and we're able to
Speaker 1: get out on Tampa Bay, which is fun and hashtag
Speaker 1: no regrets. But I will say anytime I do feel
Speaker 1: the pinch of our finances, that is the scapegoat if
Speaker 1: we would have bought this boat. And Eric's just like
Speaker 1: we're getting rid of the boat. If you're just gonna
Speaker 1: keep coming back to it every single time, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: get rid of the boat then. So you know, it's
Speaker 1: a love a relationship. I know you love it when
Speaker 1: you're on it. You hate it when you don't see
Speaker 1: a thousand million dollars in your bank account exactly. But Mary, Christmas,
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas, thank you for your theoretical gift. I love it.
Speaker 1: Thank you,