Speaker 1: Episode one two, Raising Babies Frugally with Chelsea Brennan. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, rights, and liver with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill m Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, my name is Jill, And today
Speaker 1: we are talking to almost Mama's brand new Mama's friends
Speaker 1: who are friends with Mama's friends who are friends? How
Speaker 1: many times removed are they? There are friends because they're
Speaker 1: listening and they're friends with mama Our friends who are
Speaker 1: friends with Mama's. I got you. If you're listening to this,
Speaker 1: I will consider you a friend. Yeah, if you're listening
Speaker 1: to this, you will. You will gain thing out of it,
Speaker 1: regardless of how many babies have been born from your womb.
Speaker 1: So true, so wise. So we've got Chelsea Brennan on.
Speaker 1: She is the creator of Smart Money Mamas. So because
Speaker 1: only fifty of the Frugal Friends actually have a child
Speaker 1: and we've only had one for a year, we thought
Speaker 1: it would be good to bring an expert on and
Speaker 1: we did have a great conversation with her, so we're
Speaker 1: excited to share it. Yeah, I think you'll enjoy it,
Speaker 1: but first our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you
Speaker 1: by the Frugal Friends Workbook Woo Woo. So, whether you're
Speaker 1: new to budgeting or trying to reach a big financial
Speaker 1: goal and needs something to motivate you, you will enjoy
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends Workbook. It's a digital work book with
Speaker 1: six weeklong challenges that will help you save money, simplify
Speaker 1: your life, improve money conversations, and more. It's over sixty
Speaker 1: pages and can be complete on your own, but it's
Speaker 1: created to be gone through in pairs or small groups.
Speaker 1: That's why every purchase comes with two downloads so you
Speaker 1: can share or split the cost. So head to Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com slash Workbook to learn more and
Speaker 1: use the code taco bell all one word to get
Speaker 1: ten dollars off the regular price. So good. Also brought
Speaker 1: to you by cute aggression. That feeling you get when
Speaker 1: you see literally anything that is tiny and overwhelmingly adorable
Speaker 1: that you grit your teeth, clench your muscles, and say
Speaker 1: weird things that you would never actually do but somehow
Speaker 1: feels right to say. Cute aggression. You either understand it
Speaker 1: completely or are entirely concerned by it. There is no
Speaker 1: in between. When I first found out about your cute aggression,
Speaker 1: I was, uh, entirely concerned by it. Most people are.
Speaker 1: Most people just stare at me gritting my teeth at
Speaker 1: like a little baby and thinking, dear Lord, what is
Speaker 1: she about to do? But in reality I am gritting
Speaker 1: my teeth. All of my aggression goes to my own
Speaker 1: jaw and then and then I very gently, like um,
Speaker 1: touch the baby's head, or like um, that's it. That's all.
Speaker 1: That's all you do when I come over to your house.
Speaker 1: Like my running joke is, let's wake Hi up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: every single time, we've never poken him up from sleep.
Speaker 1: That's always like a non negotiable, never happens, but I'm
Speaker 1: always vying for it. Now, before we get into this
Speaker 1: subject more, let's get into our interview with Chelsea Brennan.
Speaker 1: She's a former hedge fund in uster and founder of
Speaker 1: Smart Money Mama's as well as a creator of the
Speaker 1: Mama's Talk Money Summit, which is a huge free summit
Speaker 1: in October with over thirty financial experts speaking literally to
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of moms. And it's free. So we're
Speaker 1: excited to have her on the show today sharing her
Speaker 1: frugal tips for new parents, um, and also how you
Speaker 1: can frugally support new moms in your life. So let's
Speaker 1: get into it it. Welcome Chelsea. How are you. I'm
Speaker 1: doing well? Thanks to what for having me. So glad
Speaker 1: to have you. We are excited to have you because
Speaker 1: I have a one year old. Jill doesn't have any kids,
Speaker 1: but a lot of our listeners are just where I'm
Speaker 1: at or starting to think about having kids, or even
Speaker 1: one of the girls in our Frugal Friends community on
Speaker 1: Facebook was like, I'm getting anxious. I don't even have kids,
Speaker 1: but my friends are starting to have kids, and I
Speaker 1: don't know how to support them, Like so so many
Speaker 1: different places you could be here. Yeah, it's a huge
Speaker 1: change when you have kids or when your friends start
Speaker 1: having kids even and then you're wondering what you're gonna
Speaker 1: do and how do you support them, and it's it's
Speaker 1: a lot. It's a big change. Yes, Yeah, we are
Speaker 1: excited for these questions that we've got for you. And
Speaker 1: then just um sharing some more like resources at the end.
Speaker 1: So let's get into it, um, So, what are some
Speaker 1: of the cost new moms think they might need to
Speaker 1: spend money on but really aren't necessary. This is kind
Speaker 1: of like the Golden questions. So let's get it out
Speaker 1: of the way. So many things. We actually just had
Speaker 1: a conversation on the Smart Money Mom's Instagram page of
Speaker 1: like what do you wish you didn't buy? And all
Speaker 1: the answers from all the moms, which we had dozens
Speaker 1: and dozens with which were like basically everything. And so
Speaker 1: there's this whole industry around like the things you need
Speaker 1: to keep your kids, say, right, like there's even this
Speaker 1: bassinet they have now that's like senses when your kid
Speaker 1: is waking up and then like rocks them back to sleep,
Speaker 1: and it's like a two thousand dollar like bassonet. Right,
Speaker 1: you don't need these things even if your kid likes them.
Speaker 1: They use them for two months, three months, and then
Speaker 1: it's no longer a need. And so one of the
Speaker 1: things that comes up a lot, interestingly is in nursery.
Speaker 1: And so if you go on pinterest, right, there's like
Speaker 1: a million like nursery designs and what style do you
Speaker 1: want and what's all the stuff? A lot of parents
Speaker 1: never really use that room, right, And so at the
Speaker 1: beginning your kid's going to be sleeping in a bassinet
Speaker 1: next to your bed or even you know, in your bed,
Speaker 1: which I know is debatable. You won't get too far
Speaker 1: into that, but like a lot of people end up
Speaker 1: keeping their kid in their room for quite a while,
Speaker 1: and then when they're ready to transition to them into
Speaker 1: their own bedroom, a quieter space with less stuff actually
Speaker 1: can make sleep easier for your child and they might
Speaker 1: not be in there as much. So a lot of
Speaker 1: people choose to not set up the nursery until after
Speaker 1: their kid has arrived, and then they know what they
Speaker 1: need in that space, and they can also do a
Speaker 1: lot of hand me downs, right for cribs, um for books,
Speaker 1: for toys, for all that kind of stuff. The rest
Speaker 1: of it, the toys, all the crap that goes with parenting,
Speaker 1: your kids don't care about. And so this is the
Speaker 1: most frustrating thing is that you do your baby shower,
Speaker 1: you buy all this stuff, you read, all these educational toys,
Speaker 1: and your kid just wants to play with like a
Speaker 1: wooden spoon and the box and none of this stuff, right,
Speaker 1: they don't care and it clutters up your house. And
Speaker 1: so we were as such talking to a friend recently
Speaker 1: who's expecting who Mom wants her to add more stuff
Speaker 1: to her registry, and I was like, I went through
Speaker 1: the same thing with my mom. She was like, there's
Speaker 1: more people coming to your baby shower. You need to
Speaker 1: add more things to your list. And so I did,
Speaker 1: and then I sent her pictures. Two years later when
Speaker 1: we were moving house and I was selling things that
Speaker 1: had never come out the package, like they've just been
Speaker 1: sitting in the basement. It was like, and I felt
Speaker 1: bad because people want to support you and they want
Speaker 1: to give you things, but you don't need a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff, and so the basics that you do need
Speaker 1: right or like a place for your baby to sleep,
Speaker 1: diapers and wipes. Cloth diapers are a great option. We
Speaker 1: can talk about that too. People think it's way more
Speaker 1: intensive than it actually is. Cloth diapers have gotten a
Speaker 1: lot easier. Um, a way to feed them. If you're
Speaker 1: gonna breastfeed, you might need a breast pump. Um, if
Speaker 1: you're gonna formula feed, you're gonna need bottles and the
Speaker 1: rest of it. And then some clothes. And like when
Speaker 1: we talk about clothes, it depends on where you live
Speaker 1: a little bit. But they need like five or six
Speaker 1: outfits that you can wash, and a bunch of onesies
Speaker 1: and sleepers and the rest of its extraneous, like they're
Speaker 1: not going to wear them more than one or two
Speaker 1: times before you grow out of them anyway. And so
Speaker 1: that's really the basic list. And then there's some things
Speaker 1: that are you know, helpful if you have the space
Speaker 1: for them, things like, um, a nose free to did
Speaker 1: you use one of those? Gin? I did? Yes, I
Speaker 1: use things free? It was what what pause explains? Because
Speaker 1: that just really want us to explain this. You don't,
Speaker 1: but but we will. I will. I love I loved it.
Speaker 1: So it's a tube that you stick up your child's
Speaker 1: no like just up right there, stuck on the straw
Speaker 1: and you suck on it. Yeah, and it gets the
Speaker 1: snot out. So it is helpful. So that's a staple
Speaker 1: like that that means to happen enough that that's like yeah,
Speaker 1: because it's just more like powerful than just using the
Speaker 1: little sucker. Um, they can't give you the ball sucker. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's happening to your child's nose that you need to
Speaker 1: do this so you're sick, they have a cold, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's you don't use it all the time. You only
Speaker 1: use it when they have a cold, but on the
Speaker 1: occasion every time after yeah, and the tastes they do
Speaker 1: have a cold, it is essential. Well I know what
Speaker 1: I'm getting all my friends. Yes, exactly, it's fantastic, And
Speaker 1: it's not that what's another thing that's like not that expensive,
Speaker 1: but it's it's nice to have, um a tub, like
Speaker 1: if you're gonna do the safety tub thing. We actually
Speaker 1: like almost never used ours our kids. I like held
Speaker 1: them in the shower was easier for us until they
Speaker 1: got big enough to be in the tub. But those
Speaker 1: are some like little things. But the essentials are a
Speaker 1: really short list, so the rest of it don't get
Speaker 1: worried about, like all the things that people say you
Speaker 1: need yeah for the baby registry. So my solution to
Speaker 1: my mom wanting me to have this long registry was
Speaker 1: that I did register for a lot of things that
Speaker 1: were affordable but not even necessarily that I needed, and
Speaker 1: then went straight back after the baby shower and returned
Speaker 1: all of them and bought the hundred dollar monitor that
Speaker 1: I wanted because no one was going to spend oh gosh,
Speaker 1: maybe it was like a hundred and fifty bucks. It
Speaker 1: was this nice video monitor. No one was going to
Speaker 1: buy me that, so I just registered for all these things.
Speaker 1: I did the same with my bridle shower. I just
Speaker 1: registered for all these things that we're just affordable, and
Speaker 1: then returned a big portion of them to get what
Speaker 1: I really wanted. So this is off script, but I
Speaker 1: imagine both of you could help with this. I would
Speaker 1: think that a big component to people feeling like they
Speaker 1: need to spend a lot of money and buy like
Speaker 1: all the things, is that innate thing that starts to
Speaker 1: happen what do they call it, like nesting or like
Speaker 1: wanting to provide your child the best and wanting it
Speaker 1: to be a safe environment. So like that I could
Speaker 1: see being a big reason to get sucked into spending
Speaker 1: a ton of money. Like people are playing on that,
Speaker 1: and really marketers are targeting moms just like that female
Speaker 1: mothers is like who I mean, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: big market. So any thoughts that you guys, and either
Speaker 1: one of you, Again, I know this is off sc
Speaker 1: but I would imagine that would be a big reason
Speaker 1: to spend a ton of money. Like how do you
Speaker 1: combat that thought of Like, but if I buy this,
Speaker 1: then I'm providing safety and security to my child, which
Speaker 1: is important. Yeah, I mean that's a huge component. I
Speaker 1: think when you're expecting, especially your first baby, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of fear. There's a lot of I don't want
Speaker 1: to screw this up. I don't know what I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to do, And you're right, marketers play on that. There's
Speaker 1: the there's two sides of that. One is safety, and
Speaker 1: that is huge. There are now like monitors that they
Speaker 1: sell that like, well, attach to your baby's foot and
Speaker 1: like track their like heartbeat and sleep patterns, which anything
Speaker 1: you want to cause like postpartum anxiety is like watching
Speaker 1: your kids like temperature and heart rate overnight, right, Like
Speaker 1: these are not things that we necessarily need, but marketers
Speaker 1: play on you need to watch them all the time,
Speaker 1: that you need to be super careful. And even car
Speaker 1: seats are an interesting one too that I've talked to
Speaker 1: car seat experts before about like you know, there's the
Speaker 1: hundred dollar car seat and then there's the nine car seat,
Speaker 1: and they all have to pass the same car seat tests.
Speaker 1: It's just that we have like they add these features
Speaker 1: to like, well, your kid won't be really safe unless
Speaker 1: you put them in the sis or whatever, and they
Speaker 1: do play on that, And I think it's remembering that
Speaker 1: what are what are the actual risks here? What are
Speaker 1: and what things have we survived for thousands of years
Speaker 1: doing like without um and what what do we feel
Speaker 1: actually safe about? And I think asking that question of
Speaker 1: like is this something that's going to cause me more anxiety,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to all the monitoring stuff that's
Speaker 1: come off out the last several years. The second side
Speaker 1: that's come up more and more, even at the infancy
Speaker 1: stage is our focus on educational development. And this makes
Speaker 1: my head hurt, like like that like if your kid
Speaker 1: can't read by the time they're three years old, like
Speaker 1: they're behind, and that they need these certain toys to
Speaker 1: develop their eyes and like we've gotten really really focused
Speaker 1: on like if you don't provide your kids with these
Speaker 1: educational researchers from the beginning, they will never catch up.
Speaker 1: And the reality is that's not how educational development works there,
Speaker 1: and that like there's a lot of stuff of kids
Speaker 1: just natural exploration, just looking at the things around them
Speaker 1: is all they really need, UM, and that all these
Speaker 1: toys are extraneous, and there's actually some evidence that pushing
Speaker 1: education too early and obviously infancy is way too early,
Speaker 1: but I'm even talking like to three years old can
Speaker 1: delay long term development because kids start to resent that
Speaker 1: work and their brains aren't ready for it, and then
Speaker 1: they feel like they're not intelligent, and so they don't
Speaker 1: want to learn later in life, and so all of
Speaker 1: these things, these educational toys. Remember that, like their natural
Speaker 1: curiosity and ingenuity is going to benefit them long term.
Speaker 1: So if they have fewer toys, they actually are more
Speaker 1: likely to interact with them and play with them longer
Speaker 1: than if they have a thousand of them. Um, And
Speaker 1: so yeah, the marketers definitely play on that. I think
Speaker 1: it's getting clear on what do you really want, what's
Speaker 1: going to make your house make the most sense. I
Speaker 1: think clutter is something that also adds to stress and anxiety, right,
Speaker 1: and and budget and so do what fits for your family.
Speaker 1: And if you need things over time, you can always
Speaker 1: get them, but trying to buy it all during the
Speaker 1: nesting period is is tough. And for the nesting period,
Speaker 1: I don't know what your experience was jen but like
Speaker 1: simply decluttering and cleaning can get that nesting energy out
Speaker 1: to it doesn't need to be buying stuff and painting
Speaker 1: new rooms, like you can really be like, Okay, we're
Speaker 1: gonna make the house safe by just making it be
Speaker 1: more organized. Yeah, we we did that. So we only
Speaker 1: got kind of what was given to us um from
Speaker 1: our buy nothing group or from um like different mom
Speaker 1: groups on Facebook. So we just started out with that
Speaker 1: and then he for the first six months really was
Speaker 1: only interested in in us and playing with us, and
Speaker 1: it wasn't really interested in toys. And I'm not sure
Speaker 1: if that's like the way all babies are, but he
Speaker 1: didn't really start playing with toys until he was like
Speaker 1: nine six to nine months old. So we had all
Speaker 1: these toys for half a year that never even rattle, uh,
Speaker 1: that you know, weren't really played with. So as we
Speaker 1: identified kind of things that he started to do with
Speaker 1: the toys, then we're like, oh, this toy actually might
Speaker 1: be better for what he's trying to do. So then
Speaker 1: we went out and we looked for it. And so
Speaker 1: that way we make sure we only have kind of
Speaker 1: what he's interested in at the moment, which is like
Speaker 1: toy cars and blocks, So that's what we have out
Speaker 1: and then other things that maybe we get for Christmas
Speaker 1: or birthdays still in packaging, waiting for him to be
Speaker 1: interested in them and not cluttering our house, because cluttering
Speaker 1: adds to already the stress that you have as a
Speaker 1: new parent, um, and then all of the other things
Speaker 1: going on in your life. So we try to as
Speaker 1: as best as possible keep his stuff to one little
Speaker 1: corner of the living room that we can clean up
Speaker 1: every night. And yeah, like it does. It's it's spews
Speaker 1: or own the house. It's like, yeah, you can't avoid it, um,
Speaker 1: But if you know that it's like a manageable like, oh,
Speaker 1: I can push everything to the corner at the end
Speaker 1: of the night, then it's a little bit more bearable.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think cleaning um and decluttering big like
Speaker 1: resolvers for nesting syndrome, way better than shopping. And with
Speaker 1: the toys, by the way, this is not necessarily the
Speaker 1: most frugal thing, but we love um. We have a
Speaker 1: love every subscription for a second child. And so I
Speaker 1: don't know if you're familiar, but they are a monastory
Speaker 1: toy company. They only do like wooden toys, like really
Speaker 1: good tactile development and so it's a monthly subscription box.
Speaker 1: And then as the kids get older, So my son
Speaker 1: is two and a half. He only gets with them
Speaker 1: every three months. Now. They will send you note cards
Speaker 1: like what they're developmentally learning about. So what you were saying,
Speaker 1: Jen about how your son didn't start really playing with
Speaker 1: things to six to nine months, Well, kids aren't really
Speaker 1: reaching and grabbing until that age. And so they'll send
Speaker 1: you a box with a couple of toys that match
Speaker 1: where their current development skills are and that match with
Speaker 1: you know, they're not light up, they're not plastic, they're
Speaker 1: not like and those have been really really good, and
Speaker 1: the boys play with them consistently, and they give you
Speaker 1: tools to continue to like let them have play based
Speaker 1: learning throughout their their toddler development, which has been really great.
Speaker 1: And those started like thirty six dollars a month, and
Speaker 1: those are really the only kind of toys that we buy. Um,
Speaker 1: we just set that up and and we have parents
Speaker 1: that will buy months of those boxes, which is great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you can pass them on like you can
Speaker 1: you know, if you have a friend who's like three
Speaker 1: months behind you with their kid, they can you know,
Speaker 1: buy it from you for like half price, recoup some costs.
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't have to take it all on
Speaker 1: your own. If that's something that you want to do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they and they play with the toys even when
Speaker 1: they're past that. It's not like it's only useful for
Speaker 1: that month of time. They still play with all the
Speaker 1: old stuff, and there's ways to like increase the lessons,
Speaker 1: but it's just mostly, especially in the early on, it's
Speaker 1: very tactile um um stuff. So that's always a good
Speaker 1: option too if you're looking for ongoing, you know, development,
Speaker 1: stuff that doesn't cause a lot of clutter. This is
Speaker 1: such great news. I mean, I don't have kids. We
Speaker 1: said that already, but it's so One of the things
Speaker 1: that's overwhelming to me as an observer of parenting is
Speaker 1: how much stuff people have. I'm like, this is a
Speaker 1: tiny little thing. And I specifically remember I cannot get
Speaker 1: this image out of my brain. Eric and I were
Speaker 1: flying somewhere and there was this couple. They had literally
Speaker 1: one infant, and it took both of them to carry
Speaker 1: like bags. There was a diaper bag and a car
Speaker 1: seat bag, and a stroller bag and a food bag
Speaker 1: and I don't I couldn't even tell you. There were
Speaker 1: just so many bags and both of them were struggling
Speaker 1: and this was a big dude too, and he had
Speaker 1: like five bags slung over in this massive struggle, and
Speaker 1: I'm just like, holy smokes. Some mean good for them
Speaker 1: that they're getting on this plane and they're they're going somewhere,
Speaker 1: but this looks incredibly overwhelming probably anywhere, the amount of
Speaker 1: things that they had to take, and so many people
Speaker 1: were coming in and helping them, but they both just
Speaker 1: looked so overwhelmed, like just piled up with stuff for
Speaker 1: like probably all ten pounds worth of a human. I'm like,
Speaker 1: how much do they need? I don't know if I'm
Speaker 1: ever going to do this. That's totally a first time
Speaker 1: parent versus second time. The amount of stuff we would
Speaker 1: bring to take Henry anywhere, and the stuff that we
Speaker 1: bring for George is like night and day. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you got some food and a toy. Exactly, how do
Speaker 1: we adopt that for first five parents? Well? Anyhow, that's
Speaker 1: this is to me such great freedom, I think, just
Speaker 1: to tell people it's you don't need that much. For
Speaker 1: those who have been there before, you don't need that much.
Speaker 1: Just have the baby and then discover what you need. However,
Speaker 1: there is a flip side to this, and I'm curious
Speaker 1: to pick your brain on this chelsea of costs that
Speaker 1: new parents might not think about but are legitimately important. Like,
Speaker 1: are there any pieces that you discovered? Yeah, you know what,
Speaker 1: I don't even think about that, but but this would
Speaker 1: be this would have been important for us to have
Speaker 1: invested in. Yeah. So I'll go from the most serious
Speaker 1: to kind of a couple other options. The first thing
Speaker 1: that I tell all the new moms in our community
Speaker 1: is life insurance and an estate plan. Like, it's so
Speaker 1: hard to be excited and expecting new life and your
Speaker 1: new baby and then be like, well, I have to
Speaker 1: plan for what if I not um, which is, you know,
Speaker 1: not the most uplifting thing, but it's incredibly, incredibly important.
Speaker 1: This is the best time to do it. Um, you're young,
Speaker 1: if you're relatively healthy, if your pregnancy is non complicated,
Speaker 1: you can get life insurance while you're pregnant. You can
Speaker 1: do it quickly and easily. That way, your family is covered.
Speaker 1: You and your spouse should make sure you have life
Speaker 1: insurance outside of work. And this is another thing that
Speaker 1: people sometimes in our community will come on the well,
Speaker 1: my my work offers life insurance. I don't need other
Speaker 1: life insurance. And the problem with that is one they
Speaker 1: likely don't offer enough life insurance. Like the average company
Speaker 1: sponsored plan is like half your salary to maybe two
Speaker 1: times your salary. The average parent needs somewhere between six
Speaker 1: and ten times their salary as life insurance. And when
Speaker 1: you think about it, um housing is is one of
Speaker 1: the big reasons for that. Right. So, if you and
Speaker 1: your spouse about at home and you want your spouse
Speaker 1: to be able to stay there if something happened to you,
Speaker 1: and your kids to stay there if something happened to you,
Speaker 1: If you don't have enough life insurance to pay off
Speaker 1: the mortgage or pay off a huge chunk of the mortgage,
Speaker 1: you're then solo. Spouse has to reapply to be able
Speaker 1: to hold the mortgage on their own. And if they
Speaker 1: can't do that, if you had dual incomes, they will
Speaker 1: have to move out of the house. They will um
Speaker 1: they won't be able to be ap proofd for a mortgage,
Speaker 1: and so paying off mortgage is part of that paying
Speaker 1: off other debt is part of that number, and then
Speaker 1: paying for childcare replacing lost income, all those things come
Speaker 1: into life insurance, right, and so making sure you have
Speaker 1: good term life insurance is the first step. The second
Speaker 1: step is a state planning, and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of young families think like state plans are for people
Speaker 1: who have a ton of money and like I don't
Speaker 1: have to worry about that, which isn't the case at all, right,
Speaker 1: and especially for parents, you need an estate plan to
Speaker 1: name guardians for your kids. And if you have life
Speaker 1: insurance and a child, then you need a way that
Speaker 1: that money is going to be allocated if you and
Speaker 1: especially if you and your partner aren't around um and
Speaker 1: so this doesn't have to be super complicated if you
Speaker 1: don't have a ton of assets. If mostly you're looking
Speaker 1: at you know, life insurance and your house and guardianship
Speaker 1: for your kids, you can go get a state plan online.
Speaker 1: I Trust and Will is my favorite online resource, and
Speaker 1: it's like sixty for a will, I think is where
Speaker 1: it starts at. And you can do it all online.
Speaker 1: They will mail it to you. You You do have to
Speaker 1: go get it notarized in most states, but it's not
Speaker 1: as heavy as a process as you think. So those
Speaker 1: are the two expenses i'd really make sure you cover
Speaker 1: early on. And the hard thing to think about is that,
Speaker 1: like pregnancy has complications and you want to make sure
Speaker 1: you're covered before you have your kid in case something happens,
Speaker 1: or if you have some issue that you then can't
Speaker 1: go back to work, um or some disability that comes
Speaker 1: through having your baby that then you can't get life
Speaker 1: insurance in the future. Like that, you want to do
Speaker 1: this now so that you're protective. So that's the first
Speaker 1: major expense. Yeah, what a great gift if you were
Speaker 1: to I say, I'm going to backtrack what I just said,
Speaker 1: but like a great, great gift to give somebody, like
Speaker 1: a will from trust and will it's so affordable. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's sketchy that you're gifting somebody a will, but it's
Speaker 1: it shows that you really legitimately care. I know. I
Speaker 1: was just thinking, like a be great to move the
Speaker 1: needle a bit where I think so many parents don't
Speaker 1: want to collect a ton of toys, but everybody in
Speaker 1: their life doesn't know what else to do, so they're
Speaker 1: just giving tons of toys and clothes that end up
Speaker 1: not being used to be able to create. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: take away the stigma from just asking for money, or
Speaker 1: helping with a life insurance plan or helping with an
Speaker 1: estate plan. Those are the things that would be amazing gifts, yeah,
Speaker 1: and life insurance. You can go back and listen to
Speaker 1: our insurance episode. But life insurance is really affordable now
Speaker 1: for like a twenty year term policy, we pay less
Speaker 1: than twenty dollars a month and um ours just through
Speaker 1: Haven Life, but there's also Ladder and Bestow and it's
Speaker 1: completely online. They will literally come to your house to
Speaker 1: do the health check, so you don't even have to
Speaker 1: go anywhere um Or at least that's how it was
Speaker 1: for us. And UH actually doesn't require your health exam
Speaker 1: at all through their policy and then policy Genius, which
Speaker 1: is more of a price comparison tool, so they'll pull
Speaker 1: up a bunch of different life insurance policies. Um. They
Speaker 1: now have a policy that is only if you qualify,
Speaker 1: you have to be healthy, and like I'm going to
Speaker 1: give the disclaimer, I give every time answer honestly about
Speaker 1: your health background. If you don't, they do not have
Speaker 1: to honor the policy, and so make sure you're being honest,
Speaker 1: not trying to get the lowest rate possible. But if
Speaker 1: you qualify, if your healthy individual um for them, the
Speaker 1: only health exam is a phone based once so you're
Speaker 1: gonna have like a fifteen minute call just to go
Speaker 1: through your medical history and then you'll be approved and
Speaker 1: so you might not even have to see a doctor
Speaker 1: if you're healthy. Yeah, and it's definitely be honest because
Speaker 1: even if you're paying, they have two years to where
Speaker 1: they can like revoke and cancel your policy and you
Speaker 1: like lose that money, So be honest and they can't revoke.
Speaker 1: How they revoke is more if you've lied then if
Speaker 1: you develop addition, want to people to get nervous, if
Speaker 1: you develop some ailment or illness or whatever, they can't
Speaker 1: revoke for that reason. It's more if that they pull
Speaker 1: your medical records or something comes up that you have
Speaker 1: been dishonest about how you got underwritten, then they can
Speaker 1: overturn it. Good. Good note, And we talked about gifts,
Speaker 1: so we have um. Our most popular product at Smartmney
Speaker 1: Momas is our Family Emergency Binder, which is meant to
Speaker 1: kind of fill the gap right between a life insurance
Speaker 1: plan and estate plan, because those things don't tell your
Speaker 1: spouse how to pay the bills right or like how
Speaker 1: to get into the past code of your phone and
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff and some also emotional stuff
Speaker 1: we have in there too. So recently I was talking
Speaker 1: to Lauren, who's on my team at Smartmoey Moms, and
Speaker 1: she's like my last three friends that I got invited
Speaker 1: to their baby shower. I sent them a family emergency pint.
Speaker 1: It's been great and we actually have a lot of
Speaker 1: people give them to their parents for similar reasons. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: we have to get rid of the stigma that talking
Speaker 1: about proper financial planning, talk talking about death and disability
Speaker 1: and all the kind of things needs to be more
Speaker 1: open so that it makes the process if some of
Speaker 1: these things happen less painful, Yes, exactly, And we will
Speaker 1: will definitely link to Chelsea's Um emergency binder in the
Speaker 1: show notes so that you guys can grab it if
Speaker 1: you want. It sounds great. The other things, so I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, I was gonna go from the most
Speaker 1: extreme to the less extreme. The other costs that I
Speaker 1: would think about are are more around kind of a
Speaker 1: baby emergency fund is what I call it. And you
Speaker 1: don't know what costs are going to call up for
Speaker 1: your kids, right And so for us with Henry Um,
Speaker 1: we ended up having to do a ton of lactation
Speaker 1: consultant visits with him, and then he still wasn't able
Speaker 1: to breastfeed, so we went I mean, we spent a
Speaker 1: ton of money doing these private lactation consultant visits, and
Speaker 1: then we took him to an ear nose and throat
Speaker 1: to see if there was a reason he couldn't watch properly,
Speaker 1: and all those things cost money, and then afterwards we
Speaker 1: had to buy formula, which wasn't currently in our budget, right,
Speaker 1: So this came up in that way with George. We
Speaker 1: had already planned for that. But some of the other
Speaker 1: things that I like to have that emergency fund for
Speaker 1: for new parents is maybe planning for a week that
Speaker 1: you get home, that you have meals delivered right, or
Speaker 1: that you have a night nurse come in one night
Speaker 1: a week for the first couple of weeks to give
Speaker 1: you a break, especially if you have a spouse that
Speaker 1: you know it works a lot or works at night
Speaker 1: and can't help um some things to kind of those
Speaker 1: aren't you know, it's not the most frugal way to
Speaker 1: do things, but if it can maintain your sanity, I
Speaker 1: think that that is a really hard time for everybody,
Speaker 1: and if you don't have family nearby, making sure you
Speaker 1: have a little bit of extra support in those weeks
Speaker 1: that you have the money to do it if you
Speaker 1: need it is a huge relief. Yeah, or I mean
Speaker 1: flying in a parent so they can watch. My mom
Speaker 1: is thankfully local, but she spent the first week with us,
Speaker 1: and we would, you know, on every other night, we
Speaker 1: would put him in the guest room with her, um,
Speaker 1: so that we could like recoup. Yeah. Um, thank you
Speaker 1: for saying this. And I just wanna I want to
Speaker 1: highlight this because I think moms in general need to
Speaker 1: hear this. So I am a therapist and I counsel
Speaker 1: a lot of moms and really find that that transition
Speaker 1: is quite difficult on a lot of women. Um. And
Speaker 1: a lot of my counseling just has to do with
Speaker 1: helping people find permission to be kind to themselves. Um.
Speaker 1: There's this idea that we have to do it all
Speaker 1: and we've got to be okay doing it all, and
Speaker 1: everybody else is doing it all. And I think being
Speaker 1: able to hear you both say ask for help, spend
Speaker 1: some money to be able to get yourself a break,
Speaker 1: you will be a better mom for it. I cannot
Speaker 1: tell you how many exhausted, overwhelmed, tired, burden moms I
Speaker 1: see on a regular basis, and my work with them is, hey,
Speaker 1: how can you get a weekend away? How can you
Speaker 1: get some sleep. I'm not going to counsel you about
Speaker 1: anything else until you get rest. Ultimately, you need rest.
Speaker 1: You need to sleep. You're not going to be good
Speaker 1: for anybody else, So like find ways to do That's
Speaker 1: like I don't want to ask, I don't want to
Speaker 1: burn somebody else. I don't want to pay the money,
Speaker 1: Like this is so important. I know that we say, okay,
Speaker 1: this is not maybe the most frugal it is if
Speaker 1: we're spending money wisely and we're budgeting for it. So yeah,
Speaker 1: don't get all the expensive toys and like the monitor
Speaker 1: that tells you like whether or not your baby is awake,
Speaker 1: but get somebody to come help you so that you
Speaker 1: can go take a nap, so that you can have
Speaker 1: some food and not have to worry about dinner every
Speaker 1: single night. Like I cannot highlight that enough. And if
Speaker 1: it helps for our listeners to hear permission to do that,
Speaker 1: it's necessary. Yeah, And a fantastic gift for a new
Speaker 1: mom is just to set up like a meal train
Speaker 1: with like five of your friends and you know, for
Speaker 1: five nights, everyone just brings one meal. It is It
Speaker 1: is a fantastic gift and costs you know, almost nothing,
Speaker 1: and you just make a double batch of what you
Speaker 1: were making for dinner anyways, and it's great and also
Speaker 1: not not necessarily coming in to the house. And like
Speaker 1: sometimes you people don't want guests, then it's like you're overwhelmed.
Speaker 1: You're trying to figure out how to breasfeed, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna breastfeed, like all this stuff is really overwhelming. And
Speaker 1: so I had a really good friend um with Henry
Speaker 1: that would like drop something on the doorstep and she's like,
Speaker 1: I left food on the doorstep, Like if you want
Speaker 1: to have coffee tomorrow, let me know, but like I'm
Speaker 1: out of your space. Or would come over and be
Speaker 1: like all right, I'm gonna fold the laundry in the
Speaker 1: laundry room, like if you need me, I'm over here,
Speaker 1: and that was like just enough presence. I think sometimes
Speaker 1: people come over and they're like I want to hold
Speaker 1: the baby for you, and you're like, I don't need
Speaker 1: you to hold the baby. What I need you to
Speaker 1: do is like do all this other stuff exactly, And
Speaker 1: I yes, that is something that my sister taught me to.
Speaker 1: She's like, no, I don't want you to hold my baby,
Speaker 1: so I can go do other work. Like I want
Speaker 1: to hold my baby, you can clean the toilet. Obviously
Speaker 1: that takes like a different level of friendship, but that
Speaker 1: has changed my perspective, Like if I'm going to come
Speaker 1: over to somebody's house, I'm not going to ask for that.
Speaker 1: I'm going to say what needs to be cleaned? And yeah,
Speaker 1: usually it's gonna take ten to fifteen minutes. And what
Speaker 1: a blessing that is for a new mom. Or dropping
Speaker 1: the laundry off at a washing fold service and picking
Speaker 1: it up like something like that. And another thing is
Speaker 1: I know, um a lot of people try and do
Speaker 1: these things in the first few weeks. UM, And yes
Speaker 1: that is the most stressful. But for me, it was
Speaker 1: kind of like after three weeks when everybody was gone
Speaker 1: and it was still just it was still stressful, but
Speaker 1: like I'd lost all the you know, initial people trying
Speaker 1: to help. UM. So take into consideration, you don't have
Speaker 1: to be there right when mom gets home from the
Speaker 1: hospital that you know, wait that you know you can
Speaker 1: wait you know, three, three or four weeks and she
Speaker 1: will still need and value your health just this much.
Speaker 1: Totally totally agree. And the one thing, Joe with the
Speaker 1: you mentioned your therapist, um, I want to mention for
Speaker 1: moms who need to hear it. One thing I wasn't
Speaker 1: aware of is that postpartum can start any time in
Speaker 1: the first year, and so with my first I didn't
Speaker 1: develop postpart impression and anxiety until he was six months
Speaker 1: old and so I was back at work. I did
Speaker 1: my first two months back at work, no problem, everything
Speaker 1: was fine, and then it hit and I did not
Speaker 1: identify it as postpartum at all because I was like, well,
Speaker 1: he's it's he's six months old, Like what could this
Speaker 1: possibly be? And so I didn't get treatment at all
Speaker 1: with him until actually after the birth of my second.
Speaker 1: So I struggled with it for almost two years and
Speaker 1: then had somebody be like, actually, this could just still
Speaker 1: be postpartum um, so watch for that and more. It's
Speaker 1: hard to put the onus on the mom to recognize
Speaker 1: when something is wrong like that, because it's but like
Speaker 1: educating your spouse UM talking asking you your o B
Speaker 1: if she can he or she can explain to your
Speaker 1: partner UM what this looks like and what to watch
Speaker 1: out for. Pediatricians can be a huge help too, and
Speaker 1: like educating your partner in reminding you what's normal and
Speaker 1: what's not um but just watch out for it. In
Speaker 1: that whole first year. Yeah, our pediatrician actually had me
Speaker 1: fill out a form every time we came in asking
Speaker 1: about my mental health, which I thought was really cool.
Speaker 1: So like for the whole first year. Yeah, because I
Speaker 1: saw her way more than I saw my o B.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so i'f I mean pediatricians are UM able
Speaker 1: to identify and help with that, so don't be afraid
Speaker 1: to ask, well said, which I think just continues to
Speaker 1: highlight that the care for you as a mom is
Speaker 1: so important that like good diet, being able to get sleep,
Speaker 1: still engaging with other human adults, human adults like these
Speaker 1: are all important things. Um, it looks different, it will
Speaker 1: absolutely look different in this massive transition, but yes, care
Speaker 1: for yourself to mm hmm. Yeah, a budget in for
Speaker 1: self care is the moral of that story. If even
Speaker 1: good local moms group. I think it's hard at the
Speaker 1: time of COVID because no one's really going near each other,
Speaker 1: but in general, finding a local moms even a local
Speaker 1: mom zoom call or something that you can have some
Speaker 1: people and maybe they don't become your closest friends forever.
Speaker 1: Maybe they will, but like it's just other people who
Speaker 1: are going through the same thing can be really really helpful. Yeah, definitely, um, Chelsea.
Speaker 1: So for so for the physical things we do need, Um,
Speaker 1: what are some ways that you kind of saved money
Speaker 1: on that stuff? Yeah, there's a lot of good ways
Speaker 1: to save money here. I think the first one you
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier is a local buy nothing group, UM, where
Speaker 1: people are passing things on talking to friends about hand
Speaker 1: me downs. I think the crazy thing about baby stuff
Speaker 1: is that you don't use it for very long and
Speaker 1: then it's still in perfectly good condition most of the time.
Speaker 1: So asking for hand me downs and even offering and
Speaker 1: saying like, you know, maybe your friend had a first
Speaker 1: baby they're thinking about a second one, and saying like,
Speaker 1: I will give it back to you when when we're
Speaker 1: done with it. Having some agreements around that, UM. Sharing
Speaker 1: costs can work as well. Off. You know, if you're
Speaker 1: expecting a baby and your friend is having is earlier
Speaker 1: in their pregnancy and you can pass it, you can
Speaker 1: buy it together and pass it down as well. There's
Speaker 1: things to do that, but there's a lot of places
Speaker 1: to where you can really get things for free, whether
Speaker 1: it's buy nothing groups or hand me downs. The second one,
Speaker 1: UM is thrift shops. There's lots of rift shops that
Speaker 1: are just for baby stuff and so Once Upon a
Speaker 1: Child is a really popular chain that's in most areas
Speaker 1: of the country UM and that's where you can get
Speaker 1: things generally use the quality has been checked. It works
Speaker 1: good clothes and things like that for much cheaper than
Speaker 1: you could do at regular price. I have been loving
Speaker 1: UM kids consignment events like these pop up events UM So.
Speaker 1: The one near me is called Realna, but there are
Speaker 1: a lot of different ones. So it's like just between
Speaker 1: friends kids closet connection, you know, we fill in the
Speaker 1: blank because there's a lot that start with we something,
Speaker 1: So just looking for like kids consignment event in your
Speaker 1: city can pop up and usually there's one in the
Speaker 1: spring and the fall, and typically they will have an
Speaker 1: early shopping time for expecting mothers and you can bring
Speaker 1: one person uh and then consigners and you can consign
Speaker 1: stuff too and make some money. I usually do it
Speaker 1: just to make enough to reimburse whatever I will spend
Speaker 1: at the event. So I have I've been loving those
Speaker 1: like since I was pregnant. Yeah, that's great. Those are awesome.
Speaker 1: What about Chelsea medical costs like for delivery and baby
Speaker 1: well checks and that kind of thing, which should new
Speaker 1: moms pregnant moms be preparing themselves for. Yeah, so for
Speaker 1: well checks, for baby well checks, most of those are
Speaker 1: at least a certain number of them are covered by
Speaker 1: insurance through a c A and so you don't necessarily
Speaker 1: have to worry about that maternal well checks during pregnant
Speaker 1: a that depends on your health insurance plan. I think
Speaker 1: this is a really good place to call your insurance
Speaker 1: provider and ask what is going to have to be
Speaker 1: what are we gonna have to earn the deductible for,
Speaker 1: and what what are we not Some of those things
Speaker 1: are covered and some aren't, um to kind of get
Speaker 1: a sense. And then for hospital stay costs, those can
Speaker 1: be really high. Right in the US, we have some
Speaker 1: healthcare problems, and so on average you're talking to six
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. It can be more if you have a
Speaker 1: c section or you have a longer stay in the hospital,
Speaker 1: and that you do typically have to pay your deductible
Speaker 1: for first, if you don't have a p PO then
Speaker 1: you have a deductible, you have to pay that off first,
Speaker 1: and so understanding what you're deductible is another place to
Speaker 1: ask good questions. UM. And then if you're pregnant and
Speaker 1: having a baby the next calendar year, keep in mind
Speaker 1: that you're gonna have to do your deductible twice and
Speaker 1: so planning and budgeting for that if you're if you're
Speaker 1: lapping over now, if you want to reduce delivery costs,
Speaker 1: if that's something that like you're gonna have to pay
Speaker 1: your DEDUCTI and you're willing to consider other options, Birthing
Speaker 1: centers tend to be cheaper. You can usually anywhere between
Speaker 1: three thousand dollars to do and that includes in a
Speaker 1: birthing center, you're usually including um prenatal visits, and postpartum
Speaker 1: care in that as well. UM. Same with if you
Speaker 1: wanted to hire a midwife that may work in a
Speaker 1: hospital or in a birthing center UM or will even
Speaker 1: come to your home. Those are some ways that you
Speaker 1: can lower delivery costs if you're having a non complicated
Speaker 1: pregnancy and birth rate. UM. But yeah, you're talking for
Speaker 1: delivery in the thousands of dollars and you just want
Speaker 1: to make sure you're asking good questions. Now, part of
Speaker 1: the problem when you call the hospital and say, what
Speaker 1: are your delivery average delivery costs is that they're going
Speaker 1: to be real kg with you because they don't know
Speaker 1: because if you come in, well, first of all, the
Speaker 1: doctors don't know, they don't have an answer, and they're
Speaker 1: specifically kept from knowing those numbers that they don't determine
Speaker 1: people's care based on cost, which I understand what makes
Speaker 1: it really hard as a patient it um but what
Speaker 1: but what the problem is if you come in and
Speaker 1: have a completely uncomplicated vaginal birth and you leave in
Speaker 1: two days, your price is radically different. Then if you
Speaker 1: have a long complicated birth that ends up in an
Speaker 1: emergency C section and you spend two weeks in the hospital, right,
Speaker 1: and so they don't want to give you a number
Speaker 1: and then be radically off. They can usually give you
Speaker 1: a range. You can ask specific questions like, Okay, what
Speaker 1: is an uncomplicated birth on average cost? What is a
Speaker 1: cesarean on average cost? Just so that you kind of
Speaker 1: know and understanding that if you have standard health insurance,
Speaker 1: you're only gonna have to go up to your deductible
Speaker 1: and so if you can't get good answers, at least
Speaker 1: plan to pay your full deductible and if you don't
Speaker 1: have to, then you can cover that another. Sorry, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna stop because I'm rambling. I was gonna Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was gonna share my experience. So so that is common.
Speaker 1: But that's where choosing your o B or your mad
Speaker 1: wife is really important, because the one that I chose
Speaker 1: had a set standard price UM for everything, even if
Speaker 1: it overlapped calendar years UM, and it was just based
Speaker 1: on what insurance you have. So selecting a UM an
Speaker 1: office and I almost went with a birth center because
Speaker 1: I'm healthy first pregnancy UM, but then decided to go
Speaker 1: with an OBI just just because, and then ended up
Speaker 1: having uh Kai was breached and so I had a
Speaker 1: planned c section, but the c section was the same
Speaker 1: price as if I delivered naturally. So personally, I kind
Speaker 1: of felt like I was getting a deal, like I
Speaker 1: was getting more for my money. But also I had
Speaker 1: to actually switch insurance providers like a month before I
Speaker 1: gave birth. And yeah, so I found out that my
Speaker 1: husband's my husband's plan offered was a lower cost at
Speaker 1: my oh B than my insurance plan that I was on,
Speaker 1: So when we switched to him, I actually got money back.
Speaker 1: So it's worth asking, like, once you choose an O
Speaker 1: B asking Okay, so between this plan and this plan,
Speaker 1: what's the cost if this was my insurance? And what
Speaker 1: would be the cost if this was my insurance, And
Speaker 1: so maybe you might want to switch early on in
Speaker 1: the process and like not a month before you get
Speaker 1: birth UM, and then also again a week after you
Speaker 1: give birth. It was just two thousand nineteen was a year.
Speaker 1: So yeah, uh, those are questions to ask in the
Speaker 1: process of choosing UM your care. Yeah, and I think
Speaker 1: there's also a good place to really talk to your
Speaker 1: insurance provider of what options they have. And so a
Speaker 1: lot of plans will offer covering a breast pump, or
Speaker 1: they'll cover a birthing class, or they'll reimburse part of
Speaker 1: a birthing class. UM. There's usually a lot of different
Speaker 1: things that they'll do that are small perks, and you
Speaker 1: want to know what they are going into it so
Speaker 1: that you can take full advantage of those and you're
Speaker 1: not buying something and then trying to get reimbursed after
Speaker 1: the fact when there was a process you should have
Speaker 1: gone through in the first place. Absolutely, Yeah, And we
Speaker 1: paid for a a birthing class. We actually chose a
Speaker 1: higher cost one that was kind of more like holistic
Speaker 1: versus the one they offered at the hospital. Uh. And
Speaker 1: I would pay that money again and again because it
Speaker 1: was just a great class. And we actually met some
Speaker 1: people who, you know, their babies were going to be
Speaker 1: the same age as Kai, and so they became our friends.
Speaker 1: And ironically enough, we all ended up having c sections anyway,
Speaker 1: so you know whatever, But um, I would pay that
Speaker 1: money again and again just because that experience was so positive,
Speaker 1: so great. Well, you know what else is positive? And
Speaker 1: then again see the bill of the week. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That build buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week, Chelsea. Every week we invite our guest
Speaker 1: or one of our listeners to share with us their
Speaker 1: bill of the week. Do you have one for us? Yes?
Speaker 1: So my bill of the week was I recently paid
Speaker 1: the will for my new sit to stand desk which
Speaker 1: I'm at right now, and so I purchased it, but
Speaker 1: it was back ordered, and so they sent me once
Speaker 1: it was available that I could pay pay for the desk.
Speaker 1: I paid for it and arrived. It's my favorite thing
Speaker 1: in the world. So it's from Uplift Desk. It's crazy,
Speaker 1: stupid expensive desk, but I'm happy to pay for it
Speaker 1: because it's like automatically raises from from sit to stand.
Speaker 1: I have a balance board that goes with it, which
Speaker 1: for someone like me that fidgets like crazy, is been
Speaker 1: the most productive, amazing thing. So we paid that last week.
Speaker 1: It arrived over the weekend and we got it set
Speaker 1: up and that is my bill of the week. But
Speaker 1: I I don't feel like that would be something I
Speaker 1: could use. I'm always having trouble closing my stand ring
Speaker 1: on my on my Apple Watch because I just work
Speaker 1: and I like, we'll sit for five hours straight. I
Speaker 1: love these bills that people could Yeah, because others will
Speaker 1: call into Chelsea with these things that they have purchased
Speaker 1: that aren't necessarily inexpensive, but they love it. This has
Speaker 1: been an intentional purchase and I think that's so great too.
Speaker 1: Although I am a little bit worried for when my
Speaker 1: husband edits this episode because he has been um drooling
Speaker 1: over some desks, some standing desk, and he's like, could
Speaker 1: be so great if it's automatic. And then I looked
Speaker 1: at the price and I'm like, oh my gosh. You know,
Speaker 1: I was looking at the price. So the desk was like,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, the desk was like eight hundred fifty
Speaker 1: dollars with the balance board and everything, which is expensive
Speaker 1: for desk. But then I went on pottery Barn just
Speaker 1: because I was like, what do people pay for like
Speaker 1: when they go to the one of these starts, and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, like these are like
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars. That's what I thought you were going
Speaker 1: to say, the price of a peloton. So it was
Speaker 1: totally worth the price for me, especially cause I'm I'm
Speaker 1: like you gen, I'm like, I'm working all the time.
Speaker 1: I'm sitting way too often. It's horrible for my back, um,
Speaker 1: and so it's been good. I recently just upgraded my
Speaker 1: desk chair to a chair that we found on the
Speaker 1: side of the road that has padding, but it's like
Speaker 1: ripping on the bottom. So I have a receiving blanket
Speaker 1: over the rips so they don't bother my butt. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm like upgrading as I go, as I grow, as
Speaker 1: I grow. Well, if you want to submit your bill
Speaker 1: of the week to us, whether it is your sit
Speaker 1: to stand desk, or anything else that you purchase that
Speaker 1: you're super excited about, or anything related to a bill,
Speaker 1: you know the drill, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash bill, leave us your bill. I evenmed there, look
Speaker 1: at me, I like some poetry happening over get on TikTok.
Speaker 1: I have aged out of that system. Yeah, I tried it.
Speaker 1: I didn't even upload anything, and now it's time for around.
Speaker 1: That was a good motion, Jen. I'm sorry that our
Speaker 1: listeners can't see that, and more recording because the video.
Speaker 1: Yeah not because Jen mikes wearing her workout clothes too
Speaker 1: much when we record, but they're still I don't you
Speaker 1: make it sound like I'm wearing like you can't see
Speaker 1: my workout clothes. This is because you can see my shoulders.
Speaker 1: Were not allowed to post the video anymore. I don't know.
Speaker 1: All right, So today's Lightning Round. We are talking about
Speaker 1: some ways that friends can support their friends who are
Speaker 1: new moms. We kind of sprinkled this in UM, but
Speaker 1: we're going a little more targeted because I feel like
Speaker 1: are a lot of people in the Frugal Friends community
Speaker 1: have echoed this like desire to want to support their
Speaker 1: new mom friends UM and then also learn a little
Speaker 1: bit about what they're going to need, you know whatever. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So Chelsea as our guest of honor, will you start. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: one of the ways that you can support your new
Speaker 1: mom friends is, like we said, offering some household help,
Speaker 1: whether that's you know, coupons for you to come over
Speaker 1: and do the laundry or drop a washing fold service.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite gifts from new moms is actually
Speaker 1: a gift certificate for a house cleaning and so Amazon
Speaker 1: Prime like, lets you do this with Amazon Prime Home
Speaker 1: now that you can pick your friends address and send
Speaker 1: house cleaning service. And so that's my favorite thing to do.
Speaker 1: But really just any way to help the mom and
Speaker 1: maybe even like some gifts for the mom. So like
Speaker 1: I do, I like to send a care package of
Speaker 1: like water bottles, because food and water, some snacks and
Speaker 1: a nice candle or something that's really for their self
Speaker 1: care and is not a gift for the baby, because
Speaker 1: sometimes you become a new mom, and then people forget
Speaker 1: that you are a person. They just wanted to attention
Speaker 1: to your baby. So yes, oh my gosh, um wow, Jill,
Speaker 1: Jill took my original one. So Jill, you go now,
Speaker 1: while I continue to think absolutely so for me, I
Speaker 1: send this is just something I do already, hopefully it's enjoyed.
Speaker 1: I will send food deliveries from local restaurants, like I'll
Speaker 1: ask people what do they want? Or I'll send them
Speaker 1: a gift card to like grub Hub or door dash
Speaker 1: or something so they don't have to go out of
Speaker 1: the house and can get food that they actually really want,
Speaker 1: because well you all know, I have a hard time,
Speaker 1: hard enough time cooking for myself, much less cooking for
Speaker 1: somebody else. And then like aligning that on a day
Speaker 1: when I can drop it off at somebody's house, like, no,
Speaker 1: it's it's too much, So I just send them. I
Speaker 1: send them food, like what do you want? Here? You
Speaker 1: go and get it delivered to their house and I
Speaker 1: pay the tip and all that um. Because I also
Speaker 1: think new moms have got to be tired of all
Speaker 1: that homemade lasagna that does get dropped off at their door.
Speaker 1: And I also think people are dropping off like a lot,
Speaker 1: like it's just a ton of carbs and maybe some
Speaker 1: unhealthy food, and so I try to think like, okay,
Speaker 1: what what would be some fresh fruit produce? Um yeah,
Speaker 1: like you said, Chelsea, some things for the mom. Maybe
Speaker 1: even some things for the other kids if there if
Speaker 1: there's other children in the home and they were talking
Speaker 1: new moms, but um yeah, if it's a second or
Speaker 1: third baby, sometimes that can be appreciated to And I
Speaker 1: try to do it all like inexpensively. I'm not like
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not like spending all my money on people,
Speaker 1: but I think it can help. So even like getting
Speaker 1: reduced gift cards through I know we've talked about on
Speaker 1: our podcast jen Raise dot com and we've got a code.
Speaker 1: I think it's Frugal Friends dot com slat for Girl
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com slash rays. Um. Yeah, so yeah,
Speaker 1: you can even purchase some of these things for your
Speaker 1: friends in some inexpensive ways, or give people those gift
Speaker 1: cards that you got discounted. Yes, uh so yeah, those
Speaker 1: were the two options that I was thinking of. The
Speaker 1: cleaning and well, the lot lot dree would have been
Speaker 1: my thing that I would have said, like either doing
Speaker 1: it for them, or if you don't want to see
Speaker 1: their unmentionables, just sending it to a wash and fold place.
Speaker 1: It's very inexpensive per pound. Um, so doing that because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of laundry that goes like with a
Speaker 1: new baby. Um, and specifically doing it not just in
Speaker 1: the first month, but like in the second month. I
Speaker 1: think it was the second and third month that I
Speaker 1: started to have like true mental breakdowns. So that would
Speaker 1: have been do you very nice? Do you gen have
Speaker 1: any tips for people, like just if they want to
Speaker 1: give a tangible gift, like what was super helpful to you?
Speaker 1: Like what's a good go to gift? It depends. So
Speaker 1: I'm I'm super practical, so like diapers were everything for me. Um. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And but as far as like a I a good
Speaker 1: gift that I received, A really good one was a
Speaker 1: book that was customized with his name in it. Um.
Speaker 1: So that was really great because he's not super into
Speaker 1: books right now, but when we start reading, to be
Speaker 1: able to like read that book with his name in
Speaker 1: it will be super nice. And um So my friend
Speaker 1: Jessica like had that book made um from a website,
Speaker 1: but um, my friend Andy from Marriage Kids and Money
Speaker 1: actually found this series, this book that had Kai's name
Speaker 1: in it. It wasn't like he didn't have it made.
Speaker 1: It just had Kai's name in it. Uh, And he
Speaker 1: sent that to us, which was really great. Um, it's
Speaker 1: fin litt Kids. So it's a book about like financial
Speaker 1: literacy four kids. It was I'm obsessed. So yeah, like
Speaker 1: a book with his name. But yeah, for for the
Speaker 1: mom Oh my gosh, wine, it was really fun. Wine.
Speaker 1: There you go. I won't lie. Yeah, I only breast
Speaker 1: bed for six months because I couldn't. I couldn't keep
Speaker 1: timing my wine drinking. You couldn't stay away from your bottle. Well,
Speaker 1: this has been fun. We should probably end now for sure.
Speaker 1: Tell us about what you have going on at Smart
Speaker 1: Money Mama's and Mama's Talk Money. Yeah. So at Smart
Speaker 1: Money Mama's we're actually gonna be rolling out a new
Speaker 1: product at the end of August binning of September called
Speaker 1: the New Mama Money Plan, where we're really going to
Speaker 1: walk people through like what do you have to do
Speaker 1: to financially prepare for a baby, how do you plan
Speaker 1: for their first year, how do you get the right
Speaker 1: life insurance? All those kind of things. Um, and then
Speaker 1: my favorite part of that work book. It will be
Speaker 1: a workbook and then a training video that goes with it.
Speaker 1: My favorite part of is actually thinking about what you
Speaker 1: want your work career to look like post baby, and
Speaker 1: how to prepare for maternity leave if you're going to
Speaker 1: go back to work, or how to think about being
Speaker 1: a stay at home mom and your budget if not. Um. So,
Speaker 1: we're really excited about that coming out in a few weeks.
Speaker 1: And then Mama's Talk Money, which is our annual online conference,
Speaker 1: happens October twelve through the sixteenth this year. We're really excited.
Speaker 1: The line up of speakers is phenomenal and we can't
Speaker 1: wait for that. So that's a free event if anyone
Speaker 1: wants to come attend in October. Yes, um and so
Speaker 1: we will have those links in our show notes. But
Speaker 1: um you can also visit Frugal Friends Podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash New Mama and we will have that m our
Speaker 1: affiliate link for that workbook and master class, and then
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends Podcast dot com slash Mama's for the summit.
Speaker 1: How are you spelling Mama's m A m A say
Speaker 1: just it's a good question. Thank you, thank you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a good question. M A M A S nice
Speaker 1: because I M O M M A just just to
Speaker 1: let you know. Wow, Okay, it's not how we spell it.
Speaker 1: You have a child that speaks in in two syllable words. Um,
Speaker 1: I complicate it with more letters than I need. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, Chelsea, thank you so much for coming on
Speaker 1: and uh we look forward to uh seeing you around
Speaker 1: and checking out what you have on your website. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much for having me. This is fun, so good. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm not a parent, and I still feel like I
Speaker 1: gained so much from that conversation. Yeah, I feel like
Speaker 1: we had a lot of ways that friends and moms
Speaker 1: can support new moms and then giving great because I
Speaker 1: think that's a big there's a big lack of grace
Speaker 1: in new moms, like to themselves. So I need permission.
Speaker 1: We all need permission, and I hope that this can
Speaker 1: give you something like you don't need really anything except
Speaker 1: for to love your child and to keep them safe
Speaker 1: and alive and a few thousand dollars to give birth
Speaker 1: to them for sure, But even that's debatable because they'll
Speaker 1: deliver your baby just when it's coming it, they'll deliver
Speaker 1: it and then they'll charge you, so thanks so much
Speaker 1: for listening. We want to thank you for your kind
Speaker 1: reviews on iTunes and Stitcher, like this one. Money Conversations
Speaker 1: you wish you had with your friends. Jen and Jill
Speaker 1: are the friends you wish you had in real life
Speaker 1: to talk money with it. Tune in every Friday to
Speaker 1: hang out with these ladies. They have a fresh perspective
Speaker 1: on personal finance content, but know how to keep it real.
Speaker 1: I also love that Jen and I are both social works.
Speaker 1: She met Jill. That's not me. There are not a
Speaker 1: lot of others in our field willing to talk about finances.
Speaker 1: Love from Toronto, Canada, Megan M. Thanks so much, Megan,
Speaker 1: I love being social workers together. From afar Ah. That's
Speaker 1: so good talking about finances. We also want to thank
Speaker 1: our friends who share these episodes on social media. So
Speaker 1: when you share the latest episode and tag us on
Speaker 1: 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 workbook,
Speaker 1: which you've been listening. If you've been listening, that that
Speaker 1: actually means like two copies, because one copy comes with
Speaker 1: two downloads. So you're welcome deals. So keep leaving us
Speaker 1: reviews on iTunes and Stitcher and sending those screenshots to
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends Podcasts at gmail dot com, and don't forget
Speaker 1: to tag us on social We'll see it from the
Speaker 1: social media site. See you next week byse. Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Seria. So today's
Speaker 1: my birthday. Happy birthday, Thank you. That is what I wanted.
Speaker 1: That is like the only reason to tell somebody that
Speaker 1: it's your birthday is like for them to be like, oh,
Speaker 1: my weird happy birthday. You're amazing and beautiful and you're
Speaker 1: finally you're joining me at thirty one. Such a weird number. Right,
Speaker 1: it's a I got a vacuum for my thirty one day.
Speaker 1: I do need a vacuum, but that's not what I want. Um,
Speaker 1: I got a house, and I feel like that's gonna
Speaker 1: be like my birthday present, Christmas present for like the
Speaker 1: next five years. Every time Eric buys something for the house,
Speaker 1: it's going to be like, here you go, happy birthday,
Speaker 1: Like oh, we screened in the porch, Happy birthday. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'll look thenestly because I do want those things. So
Speaker 1: I'll take it. If he's putting an effort and like
Speaker 1: building me things and making my house more beautiful, I'm
Speaker 1: on board. However, you and I were looking at these
Speaker 1: like house slippers the other day, which is it's such
Speaker 1: like a luxury that I probably don't need. But these
Speaker 1: foloors are so hard. I'm a custom luxury house slippers
Speaker 1: are just short. I'm accustomed to walking on like hardwood
Speaker 1: floors or carpet, but down here, man, you guys just
Speaker 1: basically have concrete cement floors, and it's taking a toll
Speaker 1: on my feet and my body slippers down here in Florida,
Speaker 1: and I found these really cool leather slippers. Well, we
Speaker 1: don't know. That's where I take it too far, but
Speaker 1: maybe I'll get them for myself for my birthday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can always get something like what was this charge,
Speaker 1: and we'll be like something for the house. You know,
Speaker 1: new house costs, renovations, Am I right? L