Speaker 1: Episode one O two Financial tips for when money is tight.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity rights, and live with your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill M m M. Welcome
Speaker 1: to another episode of the Frugal Friends podcast. My name
Speaker 1: is Jen, my name's Jill, and we are responding to
Speaker 1: a lot of the stuff that happened in the month
Speaker 1: of March, and we think that this is going to
Speaker 1: be a really important episode for the next couple of months. Yeah. Probably, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know it is for me for sure. As independent
Speaker 1: contractors and freelancers, we are sitting with you in financial uncertainty. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We don't have salaries to fall back on. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: work in some industries that can be considered volatile. So um,
Speaker 1: we are looking for this advice as much as we
Speaker 1: are giving it. Yeah, money is tight. I think on
Speaker 1: this financial journey it will continue to ebb and flow like.
Speaker 1: There is no guarantee of this kind of onward and
Speaker 1: upward trajectory. Things change. There are losses of jobs, there
Speaker 1: are dips in the economy. There are pandemics, although that
Speaker 1: seems to happen just about every hundred years. The pandemic
Speaker 1: is not something that you normally would need to prepare for,
Speaker 1: but there are natural disasters there. There's all kinds of
Speaker 1: things that co warrant either an individual financial crisis, a
Speaker 1: local and national or global financial crisis, and I think
Speaker 1: it's just it's important to know how to respond, but
Speaker 1: also how to prepare that. I think what this experience
Speaker 1: is highlighting for me is that when this all kind
Speaker 1: of comes to a close in some respect, that how
Speaker 1: do I prepare for something similar in the future. Um.
Speaker 1: I'm seeing some areas that I would have like to
Speaker 1: have been better prepared. I also see some areas where
Speaker 1: I'm super grateful that Holy smokes, I'm so glad. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no one saw this coming and yet like we're we
Speaker 1: are okay. So yeah, wherever we're at in this process,
Speaker 1: I think it's important to know how do we respond
Speaker 1: in the immediate and then how do we prepare for
Speaker 1: the future. Yeah, so let's get into it. But first,
Speaker 1: our sponsors also brought to you by tight squeeze, that
Speaker 1: feeling when you can barely make ends meet and you
Speaker 1: are ringing out that dollar for all it's worth. Sometimes
Speaker 1: our financial situation can feel like a tight squeeze, But
Speaker 1: our sponsor wants to remind us that this term can
Speaker 1: also refer to the best, most warmest hug from our
Speaker 1: loved one. So when you're looking at your budget wondering
Speaker 1: how you're going to pay your bills, don't think of
Speaker 1: it like a snake coiling around you, causing anxiety and panic.
Speaker 1: Think of it like a warm hug coming from your
Speaker 1: finances tight squeeze when feeling constricted is a good thing. Oh,
Speaker 1: you give people the worst mental pictures. What are you
Speaker 1: trying to do? I gave a different perspective with the
Speaker 1: tight squere. My budget is hug like from that aunt
Speaker 1: that you don't really know or don't really enjoy, from
Speaker 1: the easter or nephew, not that you have a favorite, right,
Speaker 1: they're all great, okay, from all of your nieces and nephews.
Speaker 1: Just a tight squeeze, a tight hug, but like virtual
Speaker 1: or imaginary, because like, don't touch people right now, All right,
Speaker 1: let's get into our first article, and this one's from
Speaker 1: investi Pedia. It's hen Ways to prepare for a personal
Speaker 1: financial crisis. So this one is written specifically for personal
Speaker 1: financial crises, but you can translate it to any financial crisis,
Speaker 1: and we're not going to go through all ten. We're
Speaker 1: going to go through our top faves. Yeah. So my
Speaker 1: first favorite one, and you heard us say this a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago, maximize your liquid savings and that means
Speaker 1: boost your emergency fund in whatever way possible. So you're
Speaker 1: checking savings things that are accessible. So if you are
Speaker 1: having a tough time making ends meet, that means maybe
Speaker 1: not paying off extra debt, not investing past the match
Speaker 1: at your work, or maybe not investing at all. Right now,
Speaker 1: this isn't blanket advice for everyone. You have to do
Speaker 1: what is right for your family only in the amount
Speaker 1: of as emergency fund you anticipate you'll need um, which
Speaker 1: is you know, normally three to six months. Yeah. The
Speaker 1: next is to make a budget. So this is right.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have this just about in every single one
Speaker 1: of our episodes. Uh. And so if you haven't done
Speaker 1: this yet, make a budget. Tired of hearing it? Wad
Speaker 1: This is this is the tight squeeze you need so
Speaker 1: you know how much you have coming in and going out.
Speaker 1: Like it sounds so simple, but it is that simple.
Speaker 1: We need to know what we're bringing in and where
Speaker 1: it's going and and this specifically as it relates to
Speaker 1: personal financial crises, it can help us know and identify
Speaker 1: how much we should have in our emergency fund. So
Speaker 1: where we're saying to have an emergency fund of three
Speaker 1: to six months, you're only gonna know what you need
Speaker 1: for three to six months based on looking at a
Speaker 1: budget and knowing what are your bills, what are your expenses,
Speaker 1: what kind of money do you have coming in? Um
Speaker 1: and and and to take advantage of the time that
Speaker 1: you have currently if you have it, to be able
Speaker 1: to look at the budget and then build up that
Speaker 1: emergency fund. And how do you know whether you three
Speaker 1: or six months or four or five a few things.
Speaker 1: Job volatility is going to play a big factor. Um So,
Speaker 1: do you work in an industry that could be impacted
Speaker 1: so like travel or I mean, we had Airbnb guests
Speaker 1: that canceled several weeks in a row, and if we
Speaker 1: were relying on that income, we would have lost it
Speaker 1: as because Airbnb refunded of travel, so we didn't even
Speaker 1: get short term like stuff. So if you're working in
Speaker 1: an industry that is already volatile without a financial crisis,
Speaker 1: if you are a freelancer, contractor hourly employee, then you
Speaker 1: need to be on the higher side. If you work
Speaker 1: in an industry that is stable UM one that is
Speaker 1: like booms more in times of financial crises UM usually
Speaker 1: like government in school. Those are those are typically pretty stable,
Speaker 1: though government shutdowns can impact that UM, but those you
Speaker 1: can be on the lower side. Those are just a
Speaker 1: few examples. I do think that our recent experience with
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen has shown us that even if you are
Speaker 1: in a stable environment, personal financial crises can happen on
Speaker 1: a global scale where we would typically where typically financial
Speaker 1: recommendations have gone to. Al right, take a look at
Speaker 1: whether or not your industry is volatile. Well, we just
Speaker 1: saw everything gets impacted and there is a global health
Speaker 1: crisis or where there might be natural disasters. So still
Speaker 1: probably being on the lower end could be fine. We
Speaker 1: don't typically see these things last for longer than three months.
Speaker 1: But then to play catch up, we don't know what
Speaker 1: then the lingering impact is. So it could be worth
Speaker 1: considering being on the more generous side of this regardless
Speaker 1: of where you are, because we can't just count on
Speaker 1: looking at whether or not our individual work environments are
Speaker 1: vital or not right for sure, but if your income
Speaker 1: is not high enough to get to six months peasically,
Speaker 1: then I mean, you know, don't panic, um, but yeah, say,
Speaker 1: like make your budget in a way that low takes
Speaker 1: out all of your you know, non essential spending, and
Speaker 1: that way, you know, a certain amount that would have
Speaker 1: maybe only lasted you three months. You can see after
Speaker 1: making a budget that oh, this actually lasts me for
Speaker 1: five months. And not to linger on this for too long.
Speaker 1: But I would even say, practice right, we could say
Speaker 1: bare minimum of my budget is this much. Usually I
Speaker 1: spend this much, but if in a crisis, this is
Speaker 1: what I would do. Okay, have we practiced that? Do
Speaker 1: we know that we're capable of bringing our budget down
Speaker 1: to the bare minimum. It could be worth engaging in
Speaker 1: some no spend challenges to even stretch that muscle in
Speaker 1: the event that there's a personal financial crisis to know
Speaker 1: can I actually do this so I have the will
Speaker 1: power to live at my bare minimum? Yeah? Definitely. Another
Speaker 1: thing on here is to prepare to minimize your monthly bills.
Speaker 1: So taking a look at your recurring expenses and calling
Speaker 1: people to see how you can lower your rates, and
Speaker 1: even if you can't get discounts, calling to see how
Speaker 1: you can lower, you know, increase your deductible to get
Speaker 1: a lower monthly payment, anything that can lower your bills
Speaker 1: right now, so that you can stay current. I think
Speaker 1: it's most important during something like this to just focus
Speaker 1: on staying current. It doesn't have to be the best
Speaker 1: overall financial decision, but if you can stay current, then
Speaker 1: you can bounce back quicker after and then go back
Speaker 1: to UM. You're more like aggressive financial ways. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: also liked number five on here, which talks about taking
Speaker 1: stock of your non cash assets and maximizing their value.
Speaker 1: So this was an interesting take on just basically getting
Speaker 1: creative with finances. And this would probably be when you
Speaker 1: are in the midst of a personal financial crisis to
Speaker 1: take a look at you know, if you have a
Speaker 1: credit card. I know a lot of people don't, and
Speaker 1: that's that's the wise decision for you. If you happen
Speaker 1: to have one, and maybe it's offering points, some sort
Speaker 1: of even potentially cash value or or gift card value
Speaker 1: for those points, it could be worth considering cashing in
Speaker 1: those points to buy groceries online or your Amazon purchases UM,
Speaker 1: rather than stacking them up for a vacation. It could
Speaker 1: be worth utilizing those you can free up as much
Speaker 1: of your other cash for the essentials. I know that
Speaker 1: can hurt, like that can be really painful, but the
Speaker 1: unique times so you might take a painful hit in
Speaker 1: some places. It's yeah, it's just kind of what happens
Speaker 1: when money is tight. Yeah, we talk about peripheral impact
Speaker 1: again when when with COVID nineteen, it's the peripheral impact
Speaker 1: of finances. But then within with a personal financial crisis,
Speaker 1: the peripheral impact can be loss and disappointment of even
Speaker 1: fun things like we were going to use those points
Speaker 1: to go on vacation and it looks like now we've
Speaker 1: got to use it to buy groceries. Yeah, like that's
Speaker 1: a real thing. And we can get into a bit
Speaker 1: more just the emotional aspect of walking through financial crisis
Speaker 1: and how to maintain in the midst of that. But yeah,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be some loss and some peripheral impact as
Speaker 1: a result of this, and it is okay to grieve that. Yes,
Speaker 1: you don't have to be happy about it, yes, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and groceries, right, And we've talked about this in
Speaker 1: a lot of different episodes to what do you have
Speaker 1: on hand? Can you clear out your freezer. Can you
Speaker 1: use up your canned goods? Can you minimize the number
Speaker 1: of ingredients that you need in different recipes and make
Speaker 1: that stretch as much as possible. Food is a big
Speaker 1: area of spending for us. It's necessary, but in difficult circumstances,
Speaker 1: can we decrease the amount that we would normally spend
Speaker 1: definitely food and utilities. Maybe we're heading into warmer months where,
Speaker 1: at least in Florida, electricity costs really get higher. One
Speaker 1: of your options is going to a fixed painn plan
Speaker 1: where it evens out your payments all year long, so
Speaker 1: instead of seeing higher rates in the summer, you kind
Speaker 1: of see you see one payment all year long, so
Speaker 1: even your lower months are a little higher. So that's
Speaker 1: an option for for meeting your electricity and probably even
Speaker 1: utility costs in some areas. Yeah. Um, the last thing
Speaker 1: on here that I liked, um was keep up with
Speaker 1: routine maintenance. Um. There are we have routine maintenance for
Speaker 1: our bodies, for our automobiles, for our homes. We cannot
Speaker 1: forget those in a time of financial crisis. Even though
Speaker 1: things are tough, we still have to keep up with
Speaker 1: these routine maintenance responsibilities because if we don't that they
Speaker 1: will be more costly in the future. So if this
Speaker 1: is something you need to dip into your emergency fund for,
Speaker 1: it will be money well spend. Um, try not to.
Speaker 1: That's why we say make a budget cut your expense
Speaker 1: is but um, definitely routine maintenance is something to stick with.
Speaker 1: Still important. Yeah, The last one I hear for me
Speaker 1: that stuck out is number eight, which is look for
Speaker 1: ways to earn extra cash. Once we've looked at cutting spending,
Speaker 1: we've decreased our bills as much as possible, then it's
Speaker 1: time to say, and then how can I bring in
Speaker 1: more money? Again? I am not glossing over the first step.
Speaker 1: I think that's the most important and produces the most
Speaker 1: long lasting impact to our finances. But where there is
Speaker 1: personal financial crisis and a lack of finances to meet
Speaker 1: even basic needs, what are some ways that we can
Speaker 1: be bringing in extra money? So whether that is selling
Speaker 1: things in your home, what you know, having a garage
Speaker 1: sail or yard sale, or selling things on Facebook marketplace,
Speaker 1: or it's babysitting. Right even going back to our teenage
Speaker 1: days of just some ways to get some money. Um,
Speaker 1: just a little bit of extra cash cleaning for people
Speaker 1: different side hustles We've got We've got an episode on
Speaker 1: side hustle, so feel free to check that out. I
Speaker 1: also think in depending on the circumstances of a personal
Speaker 1: financial crisis, if you are not able to get out
Speaker 1: and about as much um or that the crisis has
Speaker 1: to do with, Yeah, a natural disaster like what we
Speaker 1: just saw with the coronavirus and and people are limiting
Speaker 1: their exposure to the outdoors and other people, it could
Speaker 1: also be worth considering how to build up other skills,
Speaker 1: taking advantage of the time to do the things that
Speaker 1: you've been wanting to do for so long. Whether that
Speaker 1: is learning how to sew and being able to mend
Speaker 1: things for people for for a cost, or learning how
Speaker 1: to video edit and get getting some online jobs for that,
Speaker 1: or you name it, it could be worthwhile considering building
Speaker 1: up these skills that in the long run could help
Speaker 1: you or an extra cash. Do you want to take
Speaker 1: an online course like it could mean a small investment
Speaker 1: now because you know that the financial crisis is not
Speaker 1: going to last for forever, but yet you want to
Speaker 1: set yourself up for a better financial position in the future. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it could be worth just investing in yourself and skill sets. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you have an education or book stipend through your employer,
Speaker 1: now is the time to use it and take those courses,
Speaker 1: get those certifications, and become more promotable UM and more
Speaker 1: eligible for raises and better jobs. This is a great
Speaker 1: time to do that. Our next article is one we
Speaker 1: feel very strongly about and it's from very well mind,
Speaker 1: and it's called dealing with the stress of a financial crisis.
Speaker 1: That stress is real. Yea cash rules everything around me.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but yeah, because of that,
Speaker 1: it has a significant impact on anxiety levels, um, depression symptoms,
Speaker 1: you name it, like panic attacks, anything. You need money
Speaker 1: to live and if the money goes away, it affects
Speaker 1: every other aspect of life, including relationships and emotional well being. Right,
Speaker 1: So it is so important to take care of yourself
Speaker 1: during something like this. So we really want to to
Speaker 1: go over this and pick this one apart fully. So
Speaker 1: the first one is to the first thing they highlight
Speaker 1: is to remain calm. So I'm sure not panic, I
Speaker 1: mean not panic. I am sure that you have heard
Speaker 1: this if you follow anybody really in the financial space.
Speaker 1: I've just seen everyone I know posting things to like
Speaker 1: calm down, Like let's just like take a step back,
Speaker 1: you're being crazy, calm down. That never works, But like
Speaker 1: it's important to understand, like when we feel threatened, our
Speaker 1: fight or flight response takes over. That's natural. That is
Speaker 1: our body stress response. That's good. But it also it
Speaker 1: increases our heart rate, of increase our stress hormones. It
Speaker 1: just does like weird things to our body if left
Speaker 1: unchecked for too long. And so I think it's important
Speaker 1: to intentionally remind ourselves to stay calm and like not
Speaker 1: just remind ourselves, but do a few different things to
Speaker 1: do that. So breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, that's PMR
Speaker 1: something that's been getting more and more attraction as a
Speaker 1: stress reliever. I really like journaling. I like to do
Speaker 1: it when I have a lot of anxiety and something
Speaker 1: on my mind. I write it out and then I
Speaker 1: can actually go back to it, like years down the
Speaker 1: road when I have another time of stress and anxiety
Speaker 1: and I could see what happened back then, how I
Speaker 1: evolved and how I came out of it, and how
Speaker 1: I was provided for and stuff. So I really like
Speaker 1: journaling for that aspect. And certainly none of these things
Speaker 1: are going to fix the situation. We're not saying, oh,
Speaker 1: deep breathing and then everything will be fine. No, we
Speaker 1: recognize that it's deeper than that. However, even even though
Speaker 1: these things come across as so simple and silly, they
Speaker 1: do have profound impacts on our bodies and the way
Speaker 1: that we manage stress. And so the important thing to
Speaker 1: recognize with anxiety is it's not something to fully be ignored.
Speaker 1: Anxiety tells us that there's something wrong. Where it can
Speaker 1: go awry is when it's not connected to anything and
Speaker 1: it's just this constant feeling of anxiety, like you set
Speaker 1: the fight flight freeze mode, and if we're constantly living
Speaker 1: in that state, it can have profound damaging impacts on
Speaker 1: our bodies in the long term. And so these are
Speaker 1: proven ways to help reduce the impact of being in
Speaker 1: that fight flight freeze mode so that our bodies don't
Speaker 1: experience those long term damaging effects. And the goal isn't
Speaker 1: to forget about what's going on. It's to calm your
Speaker 1: mind enough so that you can make rational decisions. You
Speaker 1: can use your thinking, logical brain. Anxiety hijacks your logical brain,
Speaker 1: and so being able to calm yourself to the point
Speaker 1: of tapping into um, yeah you're thinking brain. That helps. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's real science behind it. Science. Okay, So the
Speaker 1: next thing is to learn how to reframe the situation,
Speaker 1: and basically what that means is gaining a different perspective.
Speaker 1: And so it's important, I think, to recognize what are
Speaker 1: what is this financial crisis linked to, in order to
Speaker 1: find a helpful refrain for yourself. So sometimes we may
Speaker 1: feel as the or in a financial crisis because of
Speaker 1: a personal failure. That's a really tough one where Okay,
Speaker 1: I made a mistake and I am reaping the really
Speaker 1: unfortunate consequences of this, and it can bring a lot
Speaker 1: of shame attached to it. That's a tough emotional thing
Speaker 1: to push through. But if we can recognize that others
Speaker 1: have been there, we all make mistakes, and it is
Speaker 1: possible to move through this and make wise choices in
Speaker 1: the future. We're far better off with grasping and holding
Speaker 1: onto those thoughts than wallowing in the shame and guilt
Speaker 1: of I'm in this position because of it, because of
Speaker 1: me sitting in that place. Setting up tent there will
Speaker 1: do us no good. For moving forward. So it's okay
Speaker 1: to recognize this is why I'm here, But what is
Speaker 1: the narrative that keeps going in my head? And how
Speaker 1: can I reframe app Another thing would be, okay, maybe
Speaker 1: we're stuck on the impact on our family, like how
Speaker 1: am I going to get out of this? This is
Speaker 1: you know, how am I going to care for my
Speaker 1: kids or my my aging parent or you name it?
Speaker 1: And again to remind yourself of people have gotten through
Speaker 1: this and and certainly make a plan will get there,
Speaker 1: But make a plan, come up with steps that can
Speaker 1: be taken, but again being careful to not set up
Speaker 1: tent in this place that's doing us no help in
Speaker 1: moving forward. And then just where there's uncertainty, like I
Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen next, Okay, well, what
Speaker 1: can I set my hands to What is a helpful
Speaker 1: narrative in my mind? I think pushing through the difficulty
Speaker 1: and identifying where there are kindnesses. I don't know, if
Speaker 1: you've listened to this podcast at all, you've heard me
Speaker 1: use that phrase before. It just really resonates with me
Speaker 1: of looking for the kindnesses. We absolutely can get caught
Speaker 1: up in looking at all of the bad and all
Speaker 1: of the negative. But again that doesn't help us in
Speaker 1: moving forward. It's okay to look at it, acknowledge it
Speaker 1: with honesty that this is where we're at, but also
Speaker 1: where are the little pieces of kindnesses that I can
Speaker 1: invest my emotional time and energy into that if if
Speaker 1: the most of my time and energy is going to
Speaker 1: I'm a failure. We're never going to get out of this.
Speaker 1: Who knows when this is going to end. This is
Speaker 1: never going to end. Yeah, we're gonna live out of
Speaker 1: that place, and we're going to reflect what it is
Speaker 1: that we're telling us about that situation versus yea, I
Speaker 1: made some poor decisions or yes, this is a really
Speaker 1: crappy thing that is happening to me that I had
Speaker 1: no control over. But here is where I do have
Speaker 1: voice and choice in the situation. Here's where I see
Speaker 1: some little pieces of kindnesses that can that I am
Speaker 1: grateful for, and I can move into those air is
Speaker 1: and invest my time and energy there. Good word. The
Speaker 1: last thing on here is to ask for help. Ask
Speaker 1: for help. I'll say again, ask for help. It's very
Speaker 1: it's hard. It's hard. I personally am the person that
Speaker 1: says I need to be able to handle every situation
Speaker 1: at every time on my own, or that says something
Speaker 1: poor about my character. Our identity can be wrapped up.
Speaker 1: It is like I do this thing on my own
Speaker 1: and that's why I'm a boss lady like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So that completely rails against that. But we are a community.
Speaker 1: We were built for community. And if you are having
Speaker 1: a hard time with something, then there is no shame
Speaker 1: and no guilt, and it says nothing about you that
Speaker 1: you're asking for help except that you to get better
Speaker 1: and you know your limits as a person. Um. Knowing
Speaker 1: your limits as a person is a very underrated quality. Yeah,
Speaker 1: knowing your capacity, knowing where you stop and start. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the first people that you would ask is friends
Speaker 1: and family. So the people that love you don't want
Speaker 1: to see you suffer alone. Um. And so that could
Speaker 1: mean say like calling up a friend or family member
Speaker 1: and saying like this is where I'm at, Like I
Speaker 1: need work, or I need groceries or I need something. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And this is why we even titled two years ago
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast. And I think we realized not that
Speaker 1: we were the first to realize this, but in this
Speaker 1: journey and in doing something that is against the grain.
Speaker 1: It were requires community and friendship. It requires fun and
Speaker 1: laughter and understanding and shared tips and collective wisdom to
Speaker 1: be able to move through the ebbs and flows of
Speaker 1: life and finances. And so yes, please permission to be
Speaker 1: able to reach out to friends, family, community. If you
Speaker 1: don't have that, please take advantage of our Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: Facebook community group or in addition to what you have.
Speaker 1: I think that we can gain a lot from one
Speaker 1: another as we interact and share our tips or even
Speaker 1: be willing to say, yeah, everyone, I'm really struggling. We've
Speaker 1: had some people do that within our group, and it's
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing to see people share and then to
Speaker 1: have others say yeah, me too, I'm there, which helps
Speaker 1: us know few I'm not alone. But then you've got
Speaker 1: people who aren't in that situation able to encourage and say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was there and here are some things that helped me. Uh.
Speaker 1: Beautiful thing when when we are able to engage with
Speaker 1: community and share just what we're going through. Definitely, and
Speaker 1: definitely this is we are whole people. It's not just
Speaker 1: one thing that's going to bring alleviation to the stress
Speaker 1: and overwhelmed that we feel. Yes, friends, and family are fantastic. Yes,
Speaker 1: breathing exercises are fantastic, but where we feel as though
Speaker 1: these things are falling short and we need a bit more.
Speaker 1: There is also no shame in asking for help from
Speaker 1: mental health professionals, going to your doctor, seeing a counselor
Speaker 1: or therapist. I would actually recommend that people do this
Speaker 1: at least once in their life, regardless of what kind
Speaker 1: of season that they're in, and bringing in kind of
Speaker 1: a holistic approach, particularly in time of suffering and pain
Speaker 1: financial crisis. Uh and certainly so so a few markers
Speaker 1: if this is you. A few things consider with seeking
Speaker 1: mental health professionals is if you are going through an
Speaker 1: overwhelming sense of hopelessness, if there are long lasting loss
Speaker 1: of interest and activities that you usually enjoy, or general
Speaker 1: feelings that yeah, I probably should get some help, right,
Speaker 1: Sometimes that just goes in your mind, Yeah I probably
Speaker 1: should see a counselor Yeah, if those words are coming
Speaker 1: out of your mouth or they're running through your head
Speaker 1: often this is definitely something to consider. And certainly patterns
Speaker 1: where you start to see patterns of it's becoming difficult
Speaker 1: to part engage in regular activities or the things that
Speaker 1: usually bring you joy. Are not bringing you joy anymore,
Speaker 1: You're struggling to find hope. These are the indicators that
Speaker 1: additional help could be useful to you. So if you're
Speaker 1: seeing that in yourself, please reach out. And if you
Speaker 1: don't have enough money in your regular budget, use your
Speaker 1: emergency fund. This is a fine use of your emergency fund.
Speaker 1: Keep being you mentally stable and happier and able to
Speaker 1: do more mentally is is the reason your emergency fund
Speaker 1: is around, like to support you in challenging times that
Speaker 1: are not long lasting, but there for so uncertain crisis.
Speaker 1: And I would say that, um, I've already seen friends
Speaker 1: and family who have had an uptick in their um
Speaker 1: anxiety or depressive symptoms. And so if you are feeling
Speaker 1: that as a result of any financial crisis, then then
Speaker 1: go yeah. And I'll also say check with your employer.
Speaker 1: A lot of employers will offer what's called e a P,
Speaker 1: which is an employee assistance program so that their benefits
Speaker 1: where sometimes your first three appointments are fully paid for
Speaker 1: just through an e a P program. And you could
Speaker 1: also talk to a therapist and say, look, I am
Speaker 1: in a financial crisis, which is why I'm coming to you,
Speaker 1: but I also need as much help as possible and
Speaker 1: as few sessions as possible, not to put the pressure on,
Speaker 1: but it is possible that you could experience some level
Speaker 1: of relief or tools within three to six sessions, then
Speaker 1: maybe a more long term approach. So even letting your
Speaker 1: therapists know that, like you're looking for three to six
Speaker 1: sessions just to kind of contain some of the symptoms
Speaker 1: that you're experiencing, that can be really helpful and you
Speaker 1: might be able to gain some some really good things
Speaker 1: in a short amount of I think so. Also, we
Speaker 1: have a coupon for online counseling. I think it's it's
Speaker 1: a hundred dollars off I think maybe your first two
Speaker 1: or three UM sessions on talk space. So we'll have
Speaker 1: that up at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash talk space, uh,
Speaker 1: and that the actual terms will be up there when
Speaker 1: you check it. But yeah, it's a hundred dollars off
Speaker 1: and you don't have to leave the house. So if
Speaker 1: you are self quarantined, then you are good. Perfect. Another
Speaker 1: thing that you might need to ask for help with
Speaker 1: UM is your actual finances UM, so seeking a financial
Speaker 1: advisor if you are feeling stress about your four oh
Speaker 1: one k or your retirement. Before you make any decisions,
Speaker 1: seek some professional help you. It's really a necessity in
Speaker 1: a time like this. Don't touch anything until you talk
Speaker 1: to a professional. Yeah. You know what else is important
Speaker 1: to do during times like these to ask for the
Speaker 1: bill of the wee. 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 Bufalo bills,
Speaker 1: Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week. Okay,
Speaker 1: So we didn't have enough recordings, so I called my
Speaker 1: friend Jessica and asked her to leave us a bill
Speaker 1: of the week. So I have her on speaker phone
Speaker 1: right now and she's just gonna say her bill into
Speaker 1: this microphone. Thanks Jessica, Thanks Jessica, take it away. Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: my name is Jessica. Yet, like Jen said, I'm also
Speaker 1: some St. Peter for which he is and um, I
Speaker 1: found out that we have a famous bill here in St. Petersburg. Um,
Speaker 1: he's the William, but that's still counts. His name was
Speaker 1: John William and he is the co founder of our city,
Speaker 1: Saint Pete Um. He is also who the Williams Park
Speaker 1: is named after, which was our city's first part um.
Speaker 1: And then I also found out that there's a famous
Speaker 1: architect who you guessed it is also William Harvard, another Bill,
Speaker 1: who designed the Grandstand pavilion that's in the middle of
Speaker 1: the park. Um. He also built the St. Petersburg Pier,
Speaker 1: the inverted pyramid that's no longer there, and the Central
Speaker 1: Library on Myth Avenue that I know Jen was visited
Speaker 1: and that I grew up flame to as a kid.
Speaker 1: So we have these great Bills who were so impactful
Speaker 1: in our city and so they're my favorite. Awesome, Thanks Jessica.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hang up on you. Goodbye, Thank you Bye.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hang up on you. That's all we need.
Speaker 1: We got what we needed. Oh, that's apparently the name
Speaker 1: Bill was just the most common the name well back
Speaker 1: then in the St. Pete's such a cool city, can
Speaker 1: you expect anything different. I'm so excited about it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we can't get enough bills. Yeah, clearly we have to
Speaker 1: call Jessica. We're also ahead of recordings, so we've used
Speaker 1: our backlog, and so that all that said, we need
Speaker 1: your bills, so we're in in dire needs. So call
Speaker 1: us with your bills. Gosh, it's been like a year
Speaker 1: and a half since we had to do this, so yeah,
Speaker 1: leave it at Frugal Friends podcast dot com. Slash bill
Speaker 1: and leave us a voicemail. And if for some reason
Speaker 1: you've done that and you haven't heard your bill and
Speaker 1: you did it more than two months ago, do it
Speaker 1: again because that means we did not get it. That
Speaker 1: means we got lost. Yeah in the abyss, Yeah we don't.
Speaker 1: We don't just not to choose bills. We do them all,
Speaker 1: We play them all. Yeah, all the bills have been aired,
Speaker 1: all the bills. Well, that brings us to our lightening round.
Speaker 1: Today's lightning Round is brought to you by Yeah. You know,
Speaker 1: we're talking about what we are doing personally to prepare because,
Speaker 1: like we said before, we are freelancers and we are
Speaker 1: self employed, so this is impacting us. We don't know
Speaker 1: how it's going to impact us, but we feel like
Speaker 1: we have to keep working. So there's little to no
Speaker 1: fun in it because you still have to figure out
Speaker 1: how to get money. Yeah, yeah, but we're gonna have
Speaker 1: fun right now? Jen? What are you doing? Um? So
Speaker 1: the first thing I'm doing is I've made a longer
Speaker 1: and simpler meal plan. Oh interesting, Yeah, so I've kind
Speaker 1: of I'm taking a pause from like i have this
Speaker 1: like meal like recipe book that I'm doing and I'm
Speaker 1: just doing those over and over and those are kind
Speaker 1: of simple, but I'm going even simpler like staples, so
Speaker 1: the beans and rice, the pasta. But I'm still trying
Speaker 1: to do it healthily, so frozen veggies, um, things that
Speaker 1: are a little more sustainable but less expensive. What do
Speaker 1: you mean by longer meal plans? So instead of purchasing
Speaker 1: for a week, I'm going to start purchasing for two weeks,
Speaker 1: but repeating the meal plan for the second week. So
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm buying the same thing, but I can
Speaker 1: buy a book version of it save a little more.
Speaker 1: And then that makes it so nice because then you're
Speaker 1: done for two weeks and it's just going to be
Speaker 1: repeat You've already done the next to tuesdays, but maybe
Speaker 1: switching up some veggies or something, doing something to make
Speaker 1: them unique. You gotta keep some spies, keep some playing,
Speaker 1: do a little jig like this, all right? Yeah, nobody,
Speaker 1: nobody in the podcast can see us right now. But
Speaker 1: if you're watching on YouTube, you know it's getting to
Speaker 1: be a party over here, all right, So what are
Speaker 1: you doing? I'm not panicking, That's what I'm doing. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna keep calm and carry on. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: keep dancing. Actually, dancing is good for me. This feels therapeutic.
Speaker 1: I should have stopped. We showed us that, but I'm like,
Speaker 1: she keeps going, so I keep going. Okay. So also
Speaker 1: I'm cooking at home more so kind of similar to
Speaker 1: what you described. I don't I don't really think about
Speaker 1: what I'm going to do as much as you do.
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit more like I get the staples
Speaker 1: and then I kind of know what to do, but
Speaker 1: I don't want to like block myself in. Like Sary
Speaker 1: Day is kind of like what's it gonna be? Who knows?
Speaker 1: Maybe something, maybe some chicken and squash, maybe from potatoes
Speaker 1: maybe ye. So cooking more at home has Yeah, it
Speaker 1: saves me more money and I go out less and
Speaker 1: they spend less. Tip tip is where where it gets me? Yeah?
Speaker 1: For sure. Another thing I'm doing is taking on extra work.
Speaker 1: You are so there has been a little uptick in
Speaker 1: work with everything that's going on in financial media, So
Speaker 1: I've taken on more work because I don't know what
Speaker 1: next month is going to be like. I don't know
Speaker 1: what the month after that is going to be like.
Speaker 1: So I'm not putting myself in like dire straits and
Speaker 1: working all day. But I do know I have I
Speaker 1: have my limits and what I'll take and where I'm full.
Speaker 1: But I'm going a little bit beyond that right now,
Speaker 1: just a little. I think it's it's wise again not
Speaker 1: to completely stress or max yourself out. But yeah, if
Speaker 1: there's the potential to do well right now, that's amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if there's the potential to do some overtime or take
Speaker 1: on something extra, or do a side hustle UM that
Speaker 1: you more than you normally would, I think now might
Speaker 1: be the time. I am also reevaluating my budget, so
Speaker 1: really looking at where can I fully pare down. Where
Speaker 1: do I feel as though maybe I'm spending a little
Speaker 1: bit more than I need to. Um. If you listen
Speaker 1: to episode one hundred, you know that Eric and I
Speaker 1: paid off our debt what what? So that is amazing
Speaker 1: and I am so grateful. I know that that is
Speaker 1: not everyone's story right now. We're all at different points
Speaker 1: in our financial journey. But I am very grateful at
Speaker 1: the timeline of that of where that landed. We didn't
Speaker 1: know what we were heading into come March, and Eric
Speaker 1: and I paid off our debt in February, So that
Speaker 1: has been a kindness in the midst of what's going
Speaker 1: on financially for us and for a lot of people worldwide. Um.
Speaker 1: But even still, as much as that has freed up
Speaker 1: some money, I'm I'm evaluating even further that where I've
Speaker 1: had a miscellaneous budget or food or entertainment budget where
Speaker 1: I can kind of like pull back even more to
Speaker 1: really make sure and we're okay. But I think, with
Speaker 1: not knowing exactly how long any given personal financial crisis
Speaker 1: is going to last, that how do I make this
Speaker 1: stretch as much as possible so that I'm not in
Speaker 1: a really dire situation. So for me right now, it's
Speaker 1: not the time for extra luxuries. I am rethinking, you know,
Speaker 1: where I might typically say, Okay, this thing's wearing out,
Speaker 1: I need to look to replace X y Z, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of saying, no, let's make it last a little
Speaker 1: bit longer. Or find ways to do without. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and we would love to know what you are doing
Speaker 1: to stay calm, prepare, preserve, what have you. So hang
Speaker 1: out with us in our Frugal Friends community on Facebook
Speaker 1: and uh, start a threat there so people can share encouragement.
Speaker 1: We're not there to share. You know. You know that
Speaker 1: we bought all the toilet paper in our sitting and
Speaker 1: it's not something to be proud of, no, So but yeah,
Speaker 1: hang out with us there, Um, be with us in
Speaker 1: community and uh yeah, and we'll we'll make each other
Speaker 1: feel better. It'll be good. So thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening. And we we really do, um take our
Speaker 1: roles in in this really seriously. We think that frugality
Speaker 1: is going to become even more important than it already was.
Speaker 1: And so we are going to be here like we
Speaker 1: said we were. We're sticking around. We're not going anywhere. Um.
Speaker 1: We don't make a ton of money on this and honestly, uh,
Speaker 1: it's really hard to find sponsors for the show right now. Um,
Speaker 1: so we're not making anything off of this right now.
Speaker 1: I still doing it though, Yeah, and and so we
Speaker 1: really do value you and appreciate you and thank you
Speaker 1: for listening and leaving reviews, and those help actually help
Speaker 1: sponsors know that we're a show that is legit and
Speaker 1: listened to. Um So like this one that says unexpectedly
Speaker 1: loving it and it's from Sherry Lee's I think, but
Speaker 1: it says the first time I tuned in about a
Speaker 1: year ago, I thought this was going to be too
Speaker 1: hippy dippy ladies telling me to pee and a repurposed
Speaker 1: coffee can to save money. Lo and behold, these ladies
Speaker 1: are now my favorite driving buddies. Their sense of humor
Speaker 1: is right on par with my own. They dissect financial
Speaker 1: information in a fun way, have awesome guests, and have
Speaker 1: real people perspective on money and life. I just listened
Speaker 1: to the latest podcast and Alma drove off the road
Speaker 1: laughing at Jen needing a life size Barbie friend. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much, frugal friends. You know I could come
Speaker 1: in handy when your kids quarantine. I'm just saying, maybe
Speaker 1: if you're have an only child, you'd get our life
Speaker 1: size barbie right now. Maybe maybe we shouldn't get to
Speaker 1: the point of recommending peeing in repurposed coffee cants. That's
Speaker 1: not a bad idea. I don't know. I don't know
Speaker 1: the purpose of that. I can't really foresee why that
Speaker 1: would be necessary. You know, I was listening to the
Speaker 1: s Town podcast and that guy pete in a sink
Speaker 1: because you can flush it out with one cup of
Speaker 1: water versus the you know, two or three gallons from
Speaker 1: the toilet. I get it. I'm not saying do it.
Speaker 1: You can Anywhere're gonna move on. I caught myself and
Speaker 1: you're welcome. So we also want to thank our friends
Speaker 1: who share these episodes on social media. So when you
Speaker 1: share the latest episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram,
Speaker 1: we're going to add you to our monthly drawing. And
Speaker 1: so for every five tags that we get, so again
Speaker 1: it's the latest episode, you have to tag us in
Speaker 1: uh and for every review that's submitted, we pick one
Speaker 1: winner out of every five, and we give away ten
Speaker 1: dollar Amazon gift cards monthly. So yeah, those could come
Speaker 1: in handing. Those could. So keep leaving us reviews on
Speaker 1: iTunes and sending the screenshots to Frugal Friends Podcast at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com, and don't forget to tag us on
Speaker 1: Instagram or Facebook at Frugal Friends Podcast when you share
Speaker 1: the episode in your feed or your stories. Pet see
Speaker 1: you next week. Stay safe out there. Frugal Friends is produced,
Speaker 1: edited and mixed by Eric Syrian. Yeah. Can I just
Speaker 1: like talk about the sponsor thing. Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1: So that is what I mean. That's what I mean.
Speaker 1: That's one of my responsibilities in the show. And like
Speaker 1: sponsors that have previously sponsored other podcasts are just not
Speaker 1: sponsoring right now podcasts right now. And it's not because
Speaker 1: we're not doing well. We are doing better than those
Speaker 1: other podcasts. We are. We have a more engaged listener
Speaker 1: ship what yeah, better than most what we're in the
Speaker 1: top podcast what I keep that's because of our listeners.
Speaker 1: It's because of our frugal friends. So like we really
Speaker 1: can't say anything thank you other than thank you. But
Speaker 1: businesses are not sponsoring podcasts because they cannot directly correlate
Speaker 1: that their ad dollars on podcasts are generating revenue. Because
Speaker 1: it's hard because we'll say, you know, like do this
Speaker 1: at Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash this or you
Speaker 1: could just google it. That's what I do. That's what
Speaker 1: I do. You can't remember, like most people are visual
Speaker 1: that you're more or like tactile. If there's an opportunity
Speaker 1: to actually click a button, but when you're just hearing it, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not as likely. So I think it's change. I
Speaker 1: think podcasting is still growing, and I think marketing needs
Speaker 1: to catch up with that. So if you're a marketing person,
Speaker 1: get on our level. But otherwise, um, should we just
Speaker 1: like mow lawns or something. Maybe that's what people are
Speaker 1: doing right outside the window, But yeah, I mean, and
Speaker 1: we are not. So the reason sponsorships are important to
Speaker 1: us is because we would rather ask companies for money
Speaker 1: than ask our listeners for money. By we do plan on,
Speaker 1: you know, selling some merchandise and items in the future,
Speaker 1: but they're going to be They're going to be because
Speaker 1: they're going to be dope like not because we need
Speaker 1: that money going to buy our own merchandise for double
Speaker 1: So that's what we want to do for that. We
Speaker 1: don't want to rely on that for income. Um, and
Speaker 1: we don't want to open a Patreon where they say
Speaker 1: where we say, like, hey, give us five bucks a
Speaker 1: month so you can get an extra episode. Because I'm
Speaker 1: gonna recommend to my frugal friends like don't pay for
Speaker 1: that stuff, like get it when it's free. So how
Speaker 1: am I going to do that we're asking the people
Speaker 1: with money with marketing budgets for their money to keep
Speaker 1: this show going, to make it worth our time. So
Speaker 1: that's why sponsorships are important to us. And we think
Speaker 1: there are a great use of of people's money that
Speaker 1: have a marketing budget where we have been able to
Speaker 1: track it. I think we have seen some great um
Speaker 1: listeners utilize what we talk about. So okay, so maybe
Speaker 1: here's a way that our listeners can help. If you've
Speaker 1: listened this long, if you have ever used something that
Speaker 1: we have recommended, then go you email us or posted
Speaker 1: on social and we'll take a screenshot or something say
Speaker 1: I heard about it on the Frugal Friends podcast. And
Speaker 1: and so that's something that we can give to businesses
Speaker 1: when we approach them for sponsorship. And again it's not
Speaker 1: as if we're throwing anything at the wall, like we
Speaker 1: want sponsors who we believe have good services or products
Speaker 1: that we ourselves. That's another thing that we actually think
Speaker 1: save people money because I mean, like protein Powders have
Speaker 1: approached us to sponsor the podcast or stockings or something
Speaker 1: that's fine, Like those things are worthwhile if that's what
Speaker 1: you're into. So they're not gonna tell my frugal friends
Speaker 1: to do that. Yeah, there are businesses that want to
Speaker 1: sponsor podcasts, but there's not a lot of businesses that
Speaker 1: we think are really relevant and useful, and so that's
Speaker 1: why we're picky. And uh, maybe I'm just too picky.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's when I was single for so long. All
Speaker 1: good thing because you found your man, I know, right,
Speaker 1: And that's the same with the sponsors. On the right sponsors. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you'll be patient, you'll be patient officient to see