Speaker 1: Episode to fifty three, Sinking funds explained. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace
Speaker 1: simplicity rights, and live with your life. Here your host
Speaker 1: Jen and Jill m m m m. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and today we are talking about sinking funds. And because
Speaker 1: nobody really talks about these, you know, they're just like,
Speaker 1: have a sinking fund for things, and then everyone's like,
Speaker 1: like how many, like how much? Like for what? And
Speaker 1: uh so we're going to dive into some of that
Speaker 1: so that you when somebody says sinking fund, you're like,
Speaker 1: I've got this and this, it's got this much. This
Speaker 1: is how much I contribute. And I feel very confident
Speaker 1: about my sinking funds. M that's a total pivot to
Speaker 1: one eighties in one podcast episode. I will also be
Speaker 1: honest to you. I did not know what a sinking
Speaker 1: fund is for a very long time. I have known
Speaker 1: now for over a god at least. So glad you
Speaker 1: didn't say I didn't know what sinking fund was until today. No,
Speaker 1: no, no no, no, that's that's not the case. But when
Speaker 1: we first kind of started out doing this podcast episode
Speaker 1: and I was introduced all these people in the personal
Speaker 1: finance world and people were talking about this I I
Speaker 1: didn't know what it was. It wasn't hard to understand
Speaker 1: what it was, but it was a term I had
Speaker 1: never heard before. And it was to the point where
Speaker 1: I even felt like too embarrassed to ask you, Jen,
Speaker 1: because I knew it was one of those things like
Speaker 1: the Internet is probably going to be able to tell
Speaker 1: me what this is. And still, of course took me
Speaker 1: forever to finally like research it. Not that it takes
Speaker 1: much researching, but even for those of you who aren't
Speaker 1: certain what a sinking fund is, it'll be it'll be
Speaker 1: a three sixty for you on the episode to not
Speaker 1: only learn what it is, but then begin implementing. But
Speaker 1: that's probably not you. That was probably just me. I
Speaker 1: was very every Yeah, it doesn't matter where you're at,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get something from today's episode, and it's gonna
Speaker 1: be fun and not boring. But first, this sinking Funds
Speaker 1: episode is brought to you by Debt Freedom. How convenient.
Speaker 1: So if you know us, you know we believe Debt's neutral.
Speaker 1: It's not it's not the it's what you do with
Speaker 1: debt that grows or limits your finances. It's not the
Speaker 1: debt itself. So we also know from personal experience that
Speaker 1: getting rid of debt is freaking awesome. And after a
Speaker 1: survey of you guys, we've found that about sixty of
Speaker 1: you are trying to do just that. But actually this
Speaker 1: sponsor isn't for that sixty percent of you directly. This
Speaker 1: is actually for our listeners who have paid off debt
Speaker 1: because we want to feature and celebrate you in an
Speaker 1: upcoming series called Debt Payoff Stories. So hopefully you're listening
Speaker 1: to this because you've paid off debt and you want
Speaker 1: to get your sinking funds in order. That was the
Speaker 1: point of starting with this one. I could be wrong.
Speaker 1: This could be people that are like, I'm not even
Speaker 1: at my debt yet, I just have no money. I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry if that's you, But we want to inspire
Speaker 1: you with the stories of people who have paid off debt,
Speaker 1: and that's who we're calling out to. So we want
Speaker 1: to share your your story for a special project that
Speaker 1: we are doing. So if you've reached your debt payoff, well,
Speaker 1: even if it's not a hundred percent of your debt
Speaker 1: We're okay with that. We are much more flexible than
Speaker 1: other debt payoff celebration series. Much more flexible. Uh So
Speaker 1: head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash stories for
Speaker 1: more info and to fill out a short pre screen survey.
Speaker 1: This is not a big commitment from you. We really
Speaker 1: just wanna a share your story so it inspires other
Speaker 1: people and be celebrate you in whatever your debt payoff
Speaker 1: goal is, even if it's not aligned with other people's
Speaker 1: definition of how you should celebrate debt payoffs. So frugirl
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com slash stories to share your interest
Speaker 1: with us very celebrating you, very excited about this. Also,
Speaker 1: if you are into sinking funds and debt payoff and
Speaker 1: all of that mostly saving um, we have some other
Speaker 1: episodes for you to queue up after this one. So
Speaker 1: we've got episode to save Smarter not Harder UM how
Speaker 1: to stick with your financial plan, and that is about
Speaker 1: how to really be efficient in lowering your expenses so
Speaker 1: that you have more of a margin to build a savings.
Speaker 1: So if you're really struggling with just say anything at all,
Speaker 1: then that's definitely one for you episode. And then also
Speaker 1: episode two forte UM about divesting, and that's sustainable banking.
Speaker 1: That could be really interesting to you if you're wondering
Speaker 1: where should I keep my sinking fund. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: about this. I don't know what it is about. Ever
Speaker 1: since I understood what they were, I'm like, I am
Speaker 1: all in on that, and it gives me the permission
Speaker 1: to spend. Really, it's this spending plan. It feels gamified
Speaker 1: to me, especially when sometimes you get to add more
Speaker 1: to it, and then when the time comes to spend
Speaker 1: on that thing, it's like, yeah, I already got it.
Speaker 1: I already got the coupon for that. It's called my
Speaker 1: sinking fund. Lovely and so so. Also, in addition to
Speaker 1: me semi convincing you, we've got this article from Forbes
Speaker 1: which gives some reasons to start a sinking fund in
Speaker 1: case you're still on the fence about this and my
Speaker 1: my excitement isn't motivating you. And of course it also
Speaker 1: explains what it is that a sinking fund is a
Speaker 1: bit different from savings, which are normally your longer term goals.
Speaker 1: A sinking fund is is it like a smaller savings
Speaker 1: account for a specific reason. And I really like how
Speaker 1: they separate this out that there's a whole lot of
Speaker 1: freedom here. How large you're sinking fund is, how often
Speaker 1: you make a contribution to it, how much you contribute
Speaker 1: to it. All of this is up to you. There's freedom,
Speaker 1: there's flexibility, you decide. But there are two rules of
Speaker 1: thumb that Forbes outlines the Forbes article outlines. Is One,
Speaker 1: you intentionally save, so it's not this haphazard or it's
Speaker 1: an intentional thing. You are saving for something. And number two,
Speaker 1: you don't use that fund for something else. So whatever
Speaker 1: it is that you've just idd that sinking fund is for,
Speaker 1: it is for that specific purpose, kind of like how
Speaker 1: an emergency fund is for emergencies, not the haircut you
Speaker 1: know you're going to need every six months. It's not
Speaker 1: an emergency. You saw that coming. So just because you
Speaker 1: forgot you scheduled it six months ago, it doesn't make
Speaker 1: an emergency. Yeah, So similarly with the sinking fund. And
Speaker 1: what I also love about sinking funds is that you
Speaker 1: can have a lot of them. There can be many
Speaker 1: multiple sinking funds for many different reasons. We'll get into
Speaker 1: more giving examples to inspire you further, but I love
Speaker 1: these two foundational rules intentional and specific and I love that.
Speaker 1: One of the rules isn't you have to have a
Speaker 1: sinking fund for everything that you have to know everything
Speaker 1: you're going to need a sinking fund for. That is
Speaker 1: really what separates a sinking fund from an emergency fund.
Speaker 1: So like for a car, you know that you can anticipate.
Speaker 1: We we love to think, oh, I'm going to keep
Speaker 1: my car forever. I'm just gonna keep it forever, or
Speaker 1: I'm going to keep it for ten years. But we
Speaker 1: have to look at the average length of time people
Speaker 1: keep their cars. Should you get into an accident or something,
Speaker 1: you need to be prepared with some kind of extra
Speaker 1: down payment to put onto a car. If your car
Speaker 1: isn't going to have that much value at a later
Speaker 1: you know, the longer you hold it, it is a
Speaker 1: depreciating value. So look at it and you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I have this car, it's four years old. I can
Speaker 1: anticipate that I may have it six more years. And
Speaker 1: so within six years I need to have saved up
Speaker 1: enough to put a hefty amount down, even if it's
Speaker 1: not the total. And if if you've looked at the
Speaker 1: price of cars lately, don't don't do it again. And
Speaker 1: if you haven't, don't or do because you're gonna need
Speaker 1: to know how much to put in your thinking fund. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so so you're gonna need You can't just rely on
Speaker 1: just trading in your car like everything is going to
Speaker 1: be perfect, like it's going to be an even split
Speaker 1: for down payment and all that. You need to prepare
Speaker 1: for stuff like that and and that. Stuff you can anticipate.
Speaker 1: It's not like an emergency you can't you shouldn't be.
Speaker 1: The emergencies that you should not anticipate are are kind
Speaker 1: of are fear based almost, so we don't want to
Speaker 1: walk around in fear that we're going to lose our job.
Speaker 1: We want to live around in the confidence that this
Speaker 1: is a job we're going to keep, they're gonna be
Speaker 1: able to grow in, or that we're going to be
Speaker 1: able to um use it as stepping stone to get
Speaker 1: somewhere else. You don't want to live in fear of
Speaker 1: losing your job. That's why we use an emergency fund
Speaker 1: to compensate you for lost income for the average amount
Speaker 1: of time people in your field are typically out of work.
Speaker 1: That's when an emergency fund is for. Uh, you don't
Speaker 1: want to anticipate you'll get into a car accident, that
Speaker 1: you'll get rear ended, and that you'll need a lot
Speaker 1: of money upfront for a car immediately. Um, that's what
Speaker 1: emergency fund is for. But best case scenario, you don't
Speaker 1: get in an accident, or you get an accident in
Speaker 1: six years, you're you're prepared, you don't need to use
Speaker 1: that emergency fund. So this is really what differentiates the
Speaker 1: emergency fund from the sinking fund. We plan for as
Speaker 1: many expenses as we can. We don't need to plan
Speaker 1: for individual expenses. We can. We can create broad categories
Speaker 1: for them. But if you look at around your house,
Speaker 1: then you're going to see things that need a sinking
Speaker 1: fund guaranteed. So yeah, we can go through these these
Speaker 1: six six reasons additional reasons just to get our wheels
Speaker 1: turning and motivate us to do this. Jen kick us off. Yes,
Speaker 1: So the first reason, besides the basis, I guess I
Speaker 1: did cover some reasons, but I really wanted to emphasize
Speaker 1: the difference between an emergency fund and a sinking fund.
Speaker 1: UM is that you can't avoid interest. UM. And so
Speaker 1: a lot of people argue that I will just use
Speaker 1: my credit card or I will take I will have um,
Speaker 1: a home equity line of credit, and I will use
Speaker 1: those things as my emergency fund. That way I don't
Speaker 1: have to save or I can invest more, YadA YadA.
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, like I mean, yeah, you can absolutely do that,
Speaker 1: but you need to be at a place where your
Speaker 1: savings rate is high enough to pay those things off quickly,
Speaker 1: or you'll get yourself into a cycle of debt that
Speaker 1: you won't be able to escape from for a long time.
Speaker 1: So you should not rely on anything interest based. Two
Speaker 1: put towards anything that does not gain equity, that does
Speaker 1: not appreciate. UM. That's kind of like a rule of
Speaker 1: thumb most financial advisors will tell you is that you
Speaker 1: don't use, you don't pay interest for anything that can't
Speaker 1: gain you more appreciation or equity than the interest costs you.
Speaker 1: And emergencies are not are not equitable. They will not
Speaker 1: I mean, they will not do that for you. So
Speaker 1: you should not. It is not responsible to rely on
Speaker 1: interest based cards and loans to cover them for for
Speaker 1: for things that you can anticipate. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's always like medical things. And this is really the
Speaker 1: only like caveat when you're when you're at a place
Speaker 1: where you have an emergency fund and it dwindles and
Speaker 1: you still have nothing, then that's where these things come in.
Speaker 1: They're not inherently evil, but there are so many things
Speaker 1: that you can see coming that should have yeah, that
Speaker 1: you should have sinking fund for so you don't put
Speaker 1: them on finances. Yeah, it's these shorter term things in general,
Speaker 1: the things that are going to be upcoming in the
Speaker 1: next one to five years that we can foresee and
Speaker 1: we have a sinking fund for it, and we can
Speaker 1: pay cash for it, and we don't have to rely
Speaker 1: on high interest debt to cover that. The second reason
Speaker 1: for sinking funds is that it allows our emergency fund
Speaker 1: to remain intact. I know we've already talked a lot
Speaker 1: about that, but when we are able to have these
Speaker 1: other smaller savings accounts for specific purposes, it means that
Speaker 1: we don't need to touch our emergency fund for those things.
Speaker 1: For instance, a lot of times we might dip into
Speaker 1: the emergency fund for certain car repairs, but reality is
Speaker 1: things like new tires. I can see that coming. I
Speaker 1: can know that probably bly in the next two to
Speaker 1: two to five years, I'm going to need new tires,
Speaker 1: and that's quite an expense. I can have a separate
Speaker 1: sinking fund for something like that that keeps my grimy
Speaker 1: little pause off of the emergency fund, so that that
Speaker 1: emergency fund can remain intact for the true emergencies, the
Speaker 1: actual things that I really truly did not see coming,
Speaker 1: nor did I fully want to be planning for or anticipating,
Speaker 1: because it's it's an actual emergency. It's I like her,
Speaker 1: you know, the Hurricane Ian that came through recently, Like
Speaker 1: there were some unanticipated costs of needing to evacuate our
Speaker 1: home and stay in a hotel and loss of food.
Speaker 1: That's an emergency fund worthy thing, like a natural disaster
Speaker 1: came through, and yeah, we were able to dip into
Speaker 1: that a bit and hopefully reimburse that fund. But that's
Speaker 1: what the emergency fund is for, not these maintenance items.
Speaker 1: As we grow in our finances, of course, there's stepping stones.
Speaker 1: There could be times where Okay, great, I do have
Speaker 1: the money, I don't have to you put this on
Speaker 1: a credit card. But then the next stepping stone is
Speaker 1: what are the things that we know are coming. We
Speaker 1: can anticipate and we can keep a separate account beyond
Speaker 1: the emergency fund for that yeah, and it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be multiple accounts either. I know some people want
Speaker 1: to have a separate high yield savings account for each
Speaker 1: of their sinking funds. That's not me. I have one
Speaker 1: high yield savings account and that carries all of my
Speaker 1: sinking funds, and I have a separate one for my
Speaker 1: emergency fund. So I just have three accounts. And so
Speaker 1: I have an emergency fund, sinking funds, and the regular
Speaker 1: checking where everything comes out of. And that's it. That's
Speaker 1: very simple for me. If you want more, you can
Speaker 1: definitely have more. UH. Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash
Speaker 1: c i T is currently the high yeld savings account
Speaker 1: that we are recommending right now has the highest ap
Speaker 1: Y of any of the accounts, with a few hoops
Speaker 1: to jump through to get it. But yeah, you don't
Speaker 1: have to have a lot. So uh. The next one
Speaker 1: is you can pay off debt at the same time.
Speaker 1: And so this is when you're working on a limited income.
Speaker 1: This is super difficult UM and this may require some
Speaker 1: UM reprioritization in particular areas, depending on what you've identified.
Speaker 1: So when you're thinking about sinking funds, I say, look
Speaker 1: around your house. So if you're a homeowner, you should
Speaker 1: be looking at your home appliances, looking at the date
Speaker 1: of purchase, googling when how long that unit last typically last,
Speaker 1: or how units in long units in general like that last.
Speaker 1: Say you have a water heater that's third two years old,
Speaker 1: like we did with ours, was thirty maybe know it
Speaker 1: was twenty seven years old years old when we moved
Speaker 1: into our house, and we know that those things last
Speaker 1: for thirty years. So we got um the price for
Speaker 1: when we wanted and how much it would cost to install,
Speaker 1: and so we spent two years saving for that in
Speaker 1: our sinking fund account. And it did last a little
Speaker 1: longer than that we were and we were okay, and
Speaker 1: then we ended up getting the thing that we wanted.
Speaker 1: We wanted a tankless water heater, and we ended up
Speaker 1: getting a brand new one on Facebook Marketplace. It was
Speaker 1: even less then we had originally thought, because we weren't
Speaker 1: because we had the money, and we we knew a
Speaker 1: timeline for how long it would last. So when we
Speaker 1: were about there, while it was still going, we were
Speaker 1: able to check on Facebook Marketplace for several months months
Speaker 1: before this thing just popped up and Travis found us.
Speaker 1: So we weren't. It wasn't an emergency because we were
Speaker 1: just looking. So by the time that it did go,
Speaker 1: we just installed the new, the brand new tankless water
Speaker 1: heater that we already had several months later actually because
Speaker 1: it started the leak. And uh and yeah, So when
Speaker 1: you're preparing for things like this in a sinking fund,
Speaker 1: it turns what could be an emergency into a inconvenience.
Speaker 1: If that just like something you know that another chore
Speaker 1: on your list. But so go around your house, look
Speaker 1: at the things that are going to need to be replaced.
Speaker 1: Is it your computer, your phone, your car, your water heater,
Speaker 1: your stove, whatever. It doesn't even have to be like
Speaker 1: a necessary thing. And it's just like I want a
Speaker 1: new stove. My stoves got five you know, got ten
Speaker 1: years on it left. But this isn't the hype of stove.
Speaker 1: I want then start saving for it in a sinking fund,
Speaker 1: and you can do that at mounts small enough. If
Speaker 1: you're planning early. That doesn't make it seem like it
Speaker 1: is a goal competing with a debt payoff goal. That's
Speaker 1: the that's the main point I wanted to make in this.
Speaker 1: If you start early, you're just transferring small amounts over
Speaker 1: and so it's not a goal, it's a habit, and
Speaker 1: it's not competing with the bigger goal of debt payoff. Now,
Speaker 1: if something is like this is gonna go, this is
Speaker 1: already on the brink of going, it's gonna go in
Speaker 1: like the next four months, then we pause the main goal.
Speaker 1: We refocus to a new goal of saving to replace
Speaker 1: that item. Once we've saved, we go back to the
Speaker 1: original goal. So that's kind of how you can balance
Speaker 1: your sinking fund goals in your debt payoff goals, so
Speaker 1: they're not competing against each other. Yeah. Connected to this
Speaker 1: idea and your story, Jen about the water heater, number
Speaker 1: four is advocating that it can help us avoid impulse purchases.
Speaker 1: And I would even add over spending on an item
Speaker 1: when we have a sinking fund for it, because it
Speaker 1: provides a natural boundary line and parameter for how much
Speaker 1: we spend. So they give the example of you know,
Speaker 1: if if we know we're going to be purchasing a
Speaker 1: car and we have a sinking fund for it, then
Speaker 1: that sinking fund kind of dictates which car we purchase
Speaker 1: because that's the amount that we have set aside for it.
Speaker 1: Versus if we don't have that sinking fund, sometimes we
Speaker 1: could just go into a dealership and just willy nilly
Speaker 1: choose whatever after the first test drive and then experience
Speaker 1: buyers remorse because we never really had any boundary lines
Speaker 1: helping us to identify what's realistic, what's affordable, what what
Speaker 1: can I be purchasing? And so, you know, a car
Speaker 1: is a massive example, but I would say even down
Speaker 1: to new furniture. You know, it's the difference between having
Speaker 1: money set aside. I've got six dollars for a new
Speaker 1: cow coach versus I just want a new couch, so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go out and I dropped twelve thousand dollars oopsie.
Speaker 1: So these limitations can really help us too in avoiding
Speaker 1: some of that overspending or impulse buys when we've got
Speaker 1: the amount we can spend, and really that allows us
Speaker 1: to spend more freely and with permission, because here's the
Speaker 1: money I already have designated for this thing. And one
Speaker 1: thing I like about having one sinking fund account for
Speaker 1: everything is that say I'm saving for a couch. I
Speaker 1: know the couch I want, I've planned for it, and
Speaker 1: I'm saving for it, and I see it at a
Speaker 1: price I've never seen it at before, or I see
Speaker 1: it on at the exact couch I want on Facebook
Speaker 1: market Place, I'll never see this amount again. But I
Speaker 1: don't have that much saved yet. I can just take
Speaker 1: from another sinking fund essentially to take advantage of that deal,
Speaker 1: which is not an whole spoy, it's something I've had planned,
Speaker 1: and take advantage of that deal, and then just compensate
Speaker 1: with continuing to like you know, quote unquote save for
Speaker 1: the couch into the sinking fund. Even though I've already
Speaker 1: bought the couch, I'm still saving for the couch up
Speaker 1: until that amount that I've purchased it for, So that
Speaker 1: can be a perk two versus like if I just
Speaker 1: had If I'm trying to find a thousand dollar couch
Speaker 1: and I have a sinking fund and I only have
Speaker 1: six d in it, but I see it for seven hundred,
Speaker 1: then you know what I'm gonna have to do with that?
Speaker 1: How do I finagle that? But if I already have
Speaker 1: other sinking funds in the account, I can just I
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about it. I can take advantage
Speaker 1: of the deal on the thing that I've planned to
Speaker 1: get and and not really worry about it. It's breaking
Speaker 1: rule number two, Jen, but I'll allow it. That's not
Speaker 1: taking from your emergency fund well, but the sinking fund
Speaker 1: being the specific But yes, that's that is a nice
Speaker 1: approach though, the flexibility of just having a sinking fund
Speaker 1: and here's the very things I want to use that
Speaker 1: sinking fund for. I do think it's a great alternative
Speaker 1: approach because it solves for the price the difficulty of prioritizing.
Speaker 1: That's the thing that always stands out to me is
Speaker 1: when I start to think about all the things I
Speaker 1: could or should be saving for, it's quite overwhelming, and
Speaker 1: sometimes it can lead to a lack of gratitude for
Speaker 1: like what I do have and just feel like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I'm never gonna have enough, because whether you
Speaker 1: look at your home or your car, or the wants
Speaker 1: or desires that you have for the future, like, there
Speaker 1: are endless possibilities of the things that we could be
Speaker 1: saving for. So prioritizing can be like the next difficult
Speaker 1: barrier in this process of a sinking fund. But your approach, Jen,
Speaker 1: kind of solves for that to say, here's the sinking fund,
Speaker 1: here's the three to five things currently on that list,
Speaker 1: but that can shift so that we don't have to
Speaker 1: really lose sleep at night over. How do I decide
Speaker 1: what these sinking funds are being allocated to? Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I at first it comes down to figuring out what
Speaker 1: you value and saying no to some things that you
Speaker 1: could save for that other people are saving for it
Speaker 1: that are perfectly fine to save for, but you're saying
Speaker 1: no too, so that you can save for other things.
Speaker 1: So you have to know that first before you start
Speaker 1: you're sinking funds. So the next reason it's really important
Speaker 1: to have a sinking funds is if you earn a
Speaker 1: variable income. And so this is this is the only
Speaker 1: way that I would have if I I do have
Speaker 1: a variable income, so maybe I should have this fourth account.
Speaker 1: But so sometimes if you have a variable income, especially
Speaker 1: if you are commission based and you make most of
Speaker 1: your commission in one season versus the other three, then
Speaker 1: you should start a just an income sinking fund where
Speaker 1: you're kind of totaling up everything you made over the
Speaker 1: last year and dividing that by twelve so you have
Speaker 1: a stable income to plan from, and then when you
Speaker 1: make your big income, you're not spending lavishly in those
Speaker 1: few months, you're putting it in the sinking fund anything
Speaker 1: that's over and above the average, and then every month
Speaker 1: you're supplementing your income from this separate sinking fund. So
Speaker 1: this is a really important way to stabilize your budgeting. Uh,
Speaker 1: if that's something you're having a problem with from an
Speaker 1: extremely variable income, love that idea. And lastly, reason for
Speaker 1: sinking funds is because we can't predict the future, we
Speaker 1: can be plan full and that's what sinking funds and
Speaker 1: emergency funds are advocating for. But even as this article
Speaker 1: points out, we might be saving for something, but we
Speaker 1: don't know. Okay, I could think two years from now,
Speaker 1: I'm going to need new tires, but maybe something happens
Speaker 1: where a tire gets destroyed like it did for me
Speaker 1: and the parking lot of jury duty, and suddenly we
Speaker 1: need new tires before we thought that we did. And
Speaker 1: so having some money already set aside is going to
Speaker 1: be really helpful for Yes, we can't predict the future,
Speaker 1: but these help us to be planful and intentional and
Speaker 1: just better prepared for when these things arise. Oh it
Speaker 1: feels so good. I would say that's probably a good
Speaker 1: portion I don't know what percentage, but a good portion
Speaker 1: of our bill of the weak segments that we get
Speaker 1: in our people who are just so excited about some
Speaker 1: of these unforeseen bills because they did indeed plan for them.
Speaker 1: It's such a good feeling because of the permission that
Speaker 1: it gives us to spend that money, because it's we
Speaker 1: have it, and it's set aside for that reason. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: So our next article is four steps to starting a
Speaker 1: sinking fund, and we're gonna dive also a little bit
Speaker 1: into more types of sinking funds that you could start.
Speaker 1: But I really liked that this article started with what
Speaker 1: should you use sinking funds for? And this list that
Speaker 1: they give an example. Is there anything on the list,
Speaker 1: Jill that like you didn't think about. One of the
Speaker 1: ones that stands out to me is preparing for a
Speaker 1: planned medical or dental procedure. I'm sure like many of
Speaker 1: our listeners, I don't have dental insurance like other things
Speaker 1: are covered. I don't know why we've decided as a
Speaker 1: nation our eyes and our teeth don't matter, but they
Speaker 1: feel really crucial to me, and we all know that
Speaker 1: when when we got a toothage or it's it's an
Speaker 1: emergency and it needs to get figured out a SAP.
Speaker 1: That is weird to me. So planning for having a
Speaker 1: sinking fund for those things that aren't covered by our
Speaker 1: medical insurance, but we definitely know we need like I
Speaker 1: care and dental care. Holy smokes, and that's not what
Speaker 1: this podcast is about. But get me all tizzy over here.
Speaker 1: I like that idea having a sinking fund for that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so they've got the standard ones on here, like sinking
Speaker 1: funds for Christmas, for the planned medical or dental procedures. Um,
Speaker 1: a family reunion or vacation. We didn't talk about that,
Speaker 1: but that's a very common sinking fund is for vacation,
Speaker 1: and it should be UM. Buying a new car, taking
Speaker 1: on a new home renovation. I've said it before and
Speaker 1: I'll said it again. Home renovations are not investments. They
Speaker 1: are quality of life improvements. So they should be safe
Speaker 1: for except in my case. Okay, you are creating an
Speaker 1: income producing section of your house. That's true. But also
Speaker 1: you saw my kitchen. This is an upgrade and it
Speaker 1: will help them the sale of the house. The kitchen
Speaker 1: was a dumpster fire, right, We'll all upgrades. Okay, all
Speaker 1: upgrades are benefit in the sale of the house, but
Speaker 1: then you dump that money right back into a different
Speaker 1: form of living. So that just that's circular for for
Speaker 1: cost of living. So it's not something you should be
Speaker 1: taking out a loan for, is what I'm saying, is
Speaker 1: taking out a loan for home improvements for things that
Speaker 1: won't make you money. Should you create a second part
Speaker 1: of your house that it generates income, sure, then that
Speaker 1: could that could make its money back. But typically home
Speaker 1: renovations that are quality of life improving and yes they
Speaker 1: improve the house value, those should be saved for in
Speaker 1: a sinking fund. Covering annual twition costs for private school
Speaker 1: or daycare, um renewing yearly memberships or subscriptions like Costco
Speaker 1: or Amazon Prime. I would push back on that, that's
Speaker 1: that's just a part of the budget, right, that's a
Speaker 1: twenty bucks or less. So don't don't waste your time
Speaker 1: planning for property or income tax payments. That can often
Speaker 1: be something that's more than your miscellaneous fun back to
Speaker 1: school shopping, new living room in bedroom furniture, or major
Speaker 1: appliance upgrades, routine car repair costs, and then the unexpected
Speaker 1: expenses like medical emergencies and forgotten insurance premiums. I don't
Speaker 1: know how many insurance premiums you have that you could
Speaker 1: have forgotten ones, unless it's like I have his few
Speaker 1: necessary insurance premiums as possible. Okay, well let's go through.
Speaker 1: Let's go through the steps. Uh. The first step is
Speaker 1: to determine your timeline and input. I mean I would
Speaker 1: I would actually argue before that, decide what the funds
Speaker 1: are for, unless you're doing a gen approach and you're
Speaker 1: just you're throwing it all into a bucket and walking
Speaker 1: away and moving on with your life, which is fine too.
Speaker 1: You know, some people just like to wing it, Jill. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're like, you're proactively winging it. And I love that
Speaker 1: about you're proactively winging it. So I would say one
Speaker 1: A is to have some idea of the sinking funds
Speaker 1: that you want, what are you going to be putting
Speaker 1: these things towards, and whether or not you have it
Speaker 1: actually separated out or it's just one fund. That's fine
Speaker 1: to decide that, and then one B determine your timeline
Speaker 1: and how much you're gonna put into it. So let's
Speaker 1: say you've got a kid and you're already starting to
Speaker 1: see their teeth are a little funky, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: want to put some braces on that mouth. All right?
Speaker 1: How much time do you have until you're gonna do
Speaker 1: braces for your child? Is it five years? Is it
Speaker 1: ten years? Those are some of the things that are
Speaker 1: going to help determine the timeline or are we saving
Speaker 1: for the holidays? Usually that's just an annual thing. So
Speaker 1: you've got the one year, or maybe you haven't started
Speaker 1: until right now, You've got two months. It comes the
Speaker 1: same day every year, Christmas. It's the same day, sure
Speaker 1: every year. Sure, but we just didn't think about it
Speaker 1: until right now. And then how much do you want
Speaker 1: ultimately save for that thing? Sometimes then you can just
Speaker 1: divide it by the month. Okay, that means I need
Speaker 1: to put this munch aside every month. You you decide
Speaker 1: the timeline, you decide the input. But that is going
Speaker 1: to help you determine how you're approaching this sinking fund.
Speaker 1: For me, for a Christmas sinking fund, I decided I
Speaker 1: wanted to have three fifty for me. That's a good price.
Speaker 1: I can whatever whatever it's going to end up covering
Speaker 1: around the holidays. I wanted three fifty and that fund.
Speaker 1: So depending on the timeline that I started it, I
Speaker 1: could have put it anywhere from yeah, fifty bucks here,
Speaker 1: ten bucks there, until eventually December comes and I got
Speaker 1: three fifty sitting in that account. Yes, so yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: figure out. Look, just look around your home. Just go
Speaker 1: around and walk around, walk around and walk around and
Speaker 1: skip around, walk around the inside and the outside. And
Speaker 1: that may also determine how soon you need a vacation UM,
Speaker 1: depending on how many toys you see on the floor.
Speaker 1: But and then figure out what you want to say
Speaker 1: for prioritize it, because you you should not say for
Speaker 1: everything at once. Here here me now if you need
Speaker 1: if you have three things that need to be replaced,
Speaker 1: don't say from all at once, sayer and back to back,
Speaker 1: and should one go out before the the other one?
Speaker 1: So if number two goes out before number one, then
Speaker 1: you can just use the stuff you save for number
Speaker 1: one and then save for number one. Again, it's very flexible.
Speaker 1: It's your money. But prioritize complete one thing before you
Speaker 1: go to the next, and figure out a time timeline
Speaker 1: for that. And many of the UM savings accounts actually
Speaker 1: you can have one savings account, but with different quote
Speaker 1: unquote buckets that you can say, Okay, I have five
Speaker 1: thousand in this account, but you know fifteen hundred of
Speaker 1: it is for this, fifteen hundred of it is for this,
Speaker 1: YadA YadA. I keep a spreadsheet for that so that
Speaker 1: you don't lose track, or you can keep a spreadsheet
Speaker 1: if you're not winging it. So next is decide what
Speaker 1: type of account will work best. We've already said that
Speaker 1: high yield savings accounts those are the best. Those are
Speaker 1: what when you want to work with. Because we even
Speaker 1: say keep your emergency fund in a high yeld savings account.
Speaker 1: This is an even shorter term than a high yield
Speaker 1: savings account um and you still don't know when you're
Speaker 1: gonna need it typically, So keep it in something that's
Speaker 1: high yield that doesn't charge fees if you're not actively
Speaker 1: putting money into it, because you won't. You don't always
Speaker 1: have to put money into your sinking fun all the time.
Speaker 1: If you've saved for hopefully you'll get to a point
Speaker 1: where you've saved for the things you need to save for,
Speaker 1: and that money is just sitting there and you don't
Speaker 1: want to be charged a fee for it to sit there.
Speaker 1: And most of the online high yield savings accounts nowadays
Speaker 1: do not have fees for stuff like that. They have
Speaker 1: you know, two fifty dollar minimum to put in, but
Speaker 1: no minimum minimum to hold after that, or you know,
Speaker 1: you don't have to set up direct deposit to it
Speaker 1: or anything, so make sure you're checking that again. Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com slash c i T meets all
Speaker 1: those qualifications has a really good a p Y above two,
Speaker 1: so that is what we think works best. And you
Speaker 1: typically will get a debit card with the account as well, UM,
Speaker 1: so that you'll never have to wait that one to
Speaker 1: three days to transfer it to your regular account. And
Speaker 1: number three on here is to organize a tracking system. UM. So,
Speaker 1: like we've mentioned, maybe you're working with a savings account
Speaker 1: that allows you to kind of allocate buckets within that
Speaker 1: one account, or you need a separate spreadsheet. That's kind
Speaker 1: of how I approach it is having a spreadsheet where
Speaker 1: maybe all the money is just in one account, but
Speaker 1: I'm keeping track of but how much of that money
Speaker 1: is for this fund, how much of it is for
Speaker 1: that fund, And so that's where I kind of track
Speaker 1: as I put money in what's being allocated to what
Speaker 1: thing that I'm saving for. But some sort of system
Speaker 1: is going to be helpful so that you make sure
Speaker 1: you're not accidentally spending money on something that you didn't
Speaker 1: you didn't mean to that the money is actually being
Speaker 1: allocated for something else. So having some sort of way
Speaker 1: to keep track is important. Yeah, and then the last
Speaker 1: is to just get started. Saving for sinking fund is
Speaker 1: a habit, not a goal. Again, a lot of the
Speaker 1: times were like, how do I allan's all of these goals,
Speaker 1: like saving for this, saving for that, This is not
Speaker 1: a goal. A sinking fund is not a goal. It's
Speaker 1: a habit and you save into it every month along
Speaker 1: with your bigger goal. So whatever your bigger goal at
Speaker 1: the time is, whether it's saving a full emergency fund,
Speaker 1: whether it's paying off debt, this is something that is
Speaker 1: a a habit and sometimes it will transcend into a
Speaker 1: goal if it's a short term you know, like your
Speaker 1: friends getting married in a whirlwind marriage and they want
Speaker 1: you to be there in Italy and you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'll say for it. I'm gonna pause this and say
Speaker 1: for this. Sometimes you get stuff like that, but ultimately,
Speaker 1: regularly saving is a habit. It's just something you do.
Speaker 1: You gotta go, you gotta do it, you gotta start,
Speaker 1: start somewhere, and you'll just get even better and better
Speaker 1: at it has become muscle memory. Yeah, you know what's
Speaker 1: muscle memory that I have started and can never stop. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's the best kind of habit. So I just do it.
Speaker 1: The bill. That's right, it's time for the best minute
Speaker 1: of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and
Speaker 1: his name is Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage.
Speaker 1: Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. To Bill Buffalo Bills, Bill Clint,
Speaker 1: this is the bill of the week. Hey, Jen and Jill,
Speaker 1: This is Ashley. I'm from Columbus, Ohio, and my son
Speaker 1: and I are very excited to give you a bill
Speaker 1: of the week because we listened to your show all
Speaker 1: the time. He is seven, by the way. But our
Speaker 1: bill of the week is a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: our kitchen fawcett busted off in our home, so we
Speaker 1: were unable to use it without water just being everywhere,
Speaker 1: and I was able to through the help of YouTube
Speaker 1: and my dad coaching me over the phone. Go out
Speaker 1: and get my own kitchen sink faucet, replace it, and
Speaker 1: add shut off valves that were not already in place,
Speaker 1: so if there's ever an emergency again, we at least
Speaker 1: have shut off valves that we did not have prior
Speaker 1: to this. So I saved myself a plumber bill by
Speaker 1: doing this and it was absolutely fantastic. And also my
Speaker 1: seven year old name is William, so there's a second bill.
Speaker 1: I love you guys. You guys are great. You're my heroes.
Speaker 1: Keep doing what you do. You give me so much inspiration.
Speaker 1: Thanks by Ashley. Actually, how did you save the best
Speaker 1: part for last? How was that? Like? Oh side note,
Speaker 1: by the way, this is the very thing that the
Speaker 1: Bill of the Week theme song calls for, and we
Speaker 1: have not gotten it until this very moment. I mean
Speaker 1: my sidebar is I'm very proud of you for doing
Speaker 1: your own plumbing work and saving yourself on that bill.
Speaker 1: But also, seven year old William, we are here for
Speaker 1: you than to us. You are the bill of the week,
Speaker 1: if not the bill of the month, year, decade, millennium.
Speaker 1: This is amazing. Thanks for telling your mom to call
Speaker 1: in and tell us about her amazing plumbing d I
Speaker 1: y problem solving skills and just for being you. Yes, congrats. Actually,
Speaker 1: what a great feeling to try and do something on
Speaker 1: your own shout out to your dad and to YouTube,
Speaker 1: and then actually being able to do it, like you
Speaker 1: know when you're when something's outside of your capabilities and
Speaker 1: you're like, yeah, let a professional do this versus just
Speaker 1: you know, screwing it all up. But like it's hey,
Speaker 1: that's something that's actually doable. You figured out how to
Speaker 1: do it. You've got creative, you got scrappy, you did it,
Speaker 1: and I'm so proud of you, Ashley. And it's just
Speaker 1: serendipitous that your son's name is William. Hey, William, shout out.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy to have you guys. Wow, frugal friends.
Speaker 1: It's gonna take me a long time to come down
Speaker 1: from this high. Yeah. I always think all these this
Speaker 1: bill of the week can't get topped, and I think
Speaker 1: we've truly now arrived. I am not certain, but hey,
Speaker 1: give it a try. If you want to submit your
Speaker 1: bill of the week, if you have an actual son
Speaker 1: named William who listens to our podcast, if you are
Speaker 1: Bill Curtis, oh my gosh, okay, that'll be I don't
Speaker 1: know this might top it for me, William. You can
Speaker 1: try visit for bol Friends Podcast dot com slash bill.
Speaker 1: Leave us your bill, but truly we'll listen to any bill.
Speaker 1: I get excited about all of them. I'm just really
Speaker 1: really stoked on this one, but I'll be I'll be
Speaker 1: by the time you submit your bill. I'll be stoked
Speaker 1: on your message too. So do it for Bold Friends
Speaker 1: Podcast dot com, slash bill. And now it's time for
Speaker 1: the world. That was a new way. Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: That was good from Goldie. What kind of things do
Speaker 1: you have sinking funds for? Jill, I'll let you go.
Speaker 1: I got I got him ever since I learned what
Speaker 1: a sinking fund was and a new favorite fan girl,
Speaker 1: and I'm here for it. Sinking You're seen. So, as
Speaker 1: you mentioned, Jen, my sinking funds are connected to my
Speaker 1: core values. So if we're thinking about prioritizing, that's another
Speaker 1: way to kind of consider this. Of course, you've just
Speaker 1: got the necessity is like new tires on my car
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily a core value, although you know, if safety
Speaker 1: is really important, that's good too. But my sinking funds
Speaker 1: are connected to a lot of my core values. So
Speaker 1: I've got uh, sinking fund for Christmas, because, like you said,
Speaker 1: Jen's Christmas is on the same day every year, so
Speaker 1: we should see it coming. But mind you, this is
Speaker 1: actually the first year that I created a sinking fund
Speaker 1: for Christmas, so I'm finally a full grown frugal adult
Speaker 1: who's planning for the impending holiday, so proud of that.
Speaker 1: And I also have a sinking fund for travel. I
Speaker 1: will say that I don't actually have a goal for
Speaker 1: how much money goes into travel. I just have the
Speaker 1: regularity an amount that I add to the travel. So
Speaker 1: then when I finally do get to the point of,
Speaker 1: oh I want to book a trip, it kind of
Speaker 1: helps me to determine, oh, well, I've got this much
Speaker 1: set aside for travel. So I don't have an end
Speaker 1: goal of what amount is going to go into that account,
Speaker 1: more so just I just keep adding to it and
Speaker 1: then pulling from it, adding to it and pulling from it.
Speaker 1: We also have a sinking fund for Eric's music equipment.
Speaker 1: That is a core value of his really important. It's
Speaker 1: an important aspect of his personhood and what he likes
Speaker 1: to engage in. So having letting him have his letting
Speaker 1: him him having his own account for that where he
Speaker 1: knows I can pull money from this and I don't
Speaker 1: feel stressed about you've been how much on a new drumhead.
Speaker 1: He's got the money for it and that set aside,
Speaker 1: so that that's just a helpful thing for our marriage.
Speaker 1: And then we've got a sinking fund for our renovations
Speaker 1: because we're deep into that. Again. That helps us to
Speaker 1: set our budgets for how much we can spend on
Speaker 1: cabinetry and countertops. We've got this renovations fund, and then
Speaker 1: I have a Generosity fund, so money just goes into
Speaker 1: this other sinking fund that I know, as a need arises,
Speaker 1: I can pull from that and give to whatever it
Speaker 1: is that might be in front of me. M hm.
Speaker 1: Those my sinking funds, Christmas, travel, music, Reno, Generosity beautiful.
Speaker 1: What about you, John? Uh? Well, I got h sinking fund.
Speaker 1: I've got one sinking fund for kind of everything. Um,
Speaker 1: we have money saved for our renovation. So that's pretty
Speaker 1: much all in there, and we are it's pretty much
Speaker 1: all that's in there right now because that encompasses like
Speaker 1: everything in our house getting replaced, like we don't have
Speaker 1: to have several like for the water heater and the
Speaker 1: oven in the fridge and it's like it's all in there,
Speaker 1: it all needs to be replaced. It's all under renovation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all from like the eighties and it's going to
Speaker 1: go soon. And then we are hoping to get a
Speaker 1: new car next year because the car I have is
Speaker 1: definitely a lemon. Unfortunately it's I wouldn't want to change
Speaker 1: my car, but it's it's unsafe to drive and Hyundai
Speaker 1: doesn't care. So that's been frustrating to deal with for
Speaker 1: the past three years. And and it's just kind of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I give up, I'm tired. And so so, yeah, that
Speaker 1: a couple of thousand for that, but most of that
Speaker 1: because that car is paid off, so all of it
Speaker 1: can go towards um just transferring into another used car.
Speaker 1: But so we just got a couple of grand for that,
Speaker 1: and I think I think that's it. I mean, I
Speaker 1: do have a baby sinking fund. I'm miss saving some
Speaker 1: for a baby. So m hm, surprise is this is
Speaker 1: an announcement? Is it happening in this episode? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love how you watching you announce this pregnancy is
Speaker 1: like one of my new faves because it's very minimal
Speaker 1: build up. It carries so much excitement we don't even discuss,
Speaker 1: like when are you going to announce it to our
Speaker 1: podcast community? And apparently it's right now and it's baked
Speaker 1: into side notes sinking fund. Oh my gosh, you're so
Speaker 1: funny and I'm so excited for you. Well, our next
Speaker 1: episode is about health insurance and I was thinking about
Speaker 1: doing it then, but then I just like, the time
Speaker 1: never came. But I am saving for the hospital bills
Speaker 1: that will arise from this pregnancy ordeal. Um, when it's
Speaker 1: your second, it's an ordeal. Apparently, Yeah, when it's your second,
Speaker 1: it's an ordeal. So so yeah, I think that's the
Speaker 1: biggest that's that is the only thing we are actively
Speaker 1: saving for. Everything else is in the bag. And um,
Speaker 1: so I still got a couple more months for that.
Speaker 1: Jen's having a baby. It's gonna be her second child.
Speaker 1: What do you do? Everyone's gonna want to know March.
Speaker 1: So we will have um, you will hear me on
Speaker 1: the show. We're gonna batch a lot of them before
Speaker 1: I leave, and then we're gonna have some guest co
Speaker 1: hosts that you have heard before, so stay tuned for that.
Speaker 1: Jill holding it down with no kids, and some guest
Speaker 1: co hosts. Mm hmmm, so yeah, but it'll be mostly
Speaker 1: me up until just a few weeks of guest co hosts.
Speaker 1: But um, but yeah, that's what's going on. You all
Speaker 1: are so excited and want to one a more intimate
Speaker 1: look on Jen's pregnancy journey. Should probably join our patreon,
Speaker 1: which we're about talk about. Thank you everyone for listening,
Speaker 1: and many of you know we have a private club
Speaker 1: for listeners trying to pay off debt, but we also
Speaker 1: have a patreon for frugal friends who just want to
Speaker 1: support the show and get some free goodies and some
Speaker 1: side piece inside that includes a bonus episode where you
Speaker 1: can definitely ask me questions about my pregnancy. For sure,
Speaker 1: you can ask questions about any I'm going to ask
Speaker 1: Jen my one of my favorite things. I probably shouldn't
Speaker 1: admit this this platform, but here we are. We're here.
Speaker 1: I love watching pregnant women dance, like when they're real
Speaker 1: big and pregnant and then they dance to club songs.
Speaker 1: It's one of my favorite things. So my request to
Speaker 1: you that you're just finding out now, is I'm going
Speaker 1: to have you dance to something. Oh, it'll probably yummy.
Speaker 1: By Justin Bieber. I'm gonna wait till you're like seven
Speaker 1: or eight months pregnant, and then I'm gonna play it
Speaker 1: and I'm going to videotape it. So we wanted shout out.
Speaker 1: Won't play anywhere except for the page, Robaly anywhere except
Speaker 1: for the Patreon, and we want to shout out our
Speaker 1: newest patrons on Patreon from September. We got Janine T. Chapin,
Speaker 1: C Felicia be Stamantha H. Actually are Deborah M, Elizabeth C,
Speaker 1: Alicia M, Jennifer E, Elena E, Donna F, Alison H,
Speaker 1: Rachel Pee, Jennifer J, Christie L, Chris A actually Cindy A,
Speaker 1: Kristin W, Kelly K, Savannah DNA Yo, me h, if
Speaker 1: you want your name on this list, I'm join so
Speaker 1: good ye yeah, so glad to have all of you
Speaker 1: with us. Uh and we love each and every one
Speaker 1: of you, and yeah we're over there. Do one bonus
Speaker 1: episode a month. We get to We asked the Lightning
Speaker 1: Round question every Tuesday and Friday, so people chime in.
Speaker 1: If you have an answer to the Lightning Round, you
Speaker 1: get to answer it in the Patreon and hear other
Speaker 1: people's answer and yeah, and we send uh free bumper
Speaker 1: stickers to so check it out. Frugal Friends podcast dot com, Slash, Patreon,
Speaker 1: see what we've got going on, and see you next
Speaker 1: time on this pod. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric
Speaker 1: Sirian Jill. I don't know if I'm going to dance
Speaker 1: for you. Yeah you are, Yeah you are, because you
Speaker 1: just said you're going to do it for the Patreon,
Speaker 1: so well it's ill. I'm not going to do it
Speaker 1: for you for the Patreon pats, yeah, and I'll just
Speaker 1: be here for it. I don't like to be used.
Speaker 1: Here's turning a mindset shift on that one. It's not used,
Speaker 1: it's being a public servant. Okay, let's transition away from
Speaker 1: my body and talk about Halloween, which is this weekend.
Speaker 1: And on our episode of Favorite Like Fall Things, Um,
Speaker 1: I said I wanted to do like a family costume
Speaker 1: of Pop Patrol. But I'm not a big Halloween person.
Speaker 1: I mean, I love Halloween, I'm not a big costume person.
Speaker 1: I love attending. I hate scary things, but I love
Speaker 1: I love fun Halloween stuff. So not scary kids. I
Speaker 1: feel like you get into the cute stuff of this. Okay,
Speaker 1: So that's where I'm at, and uh so, but I
Speaker 1: hate costumes. I hate single wear items. And so instead
Speaker 1: of getting kaya costume, I bought him a sweatshirt that
Speaker 1: has the face of his favorite pot Patrol and we
Speaker 1: actually shout out to one of our listeners. She's sent
Speaker 1: me a picture of her kids dressed up as the
Speaker 1: pop Patrol and one of them was Zuma, and she
Speaker 1: had to like make it herself. Zooma is the most
Speaker 1: underrated pop Patrol, but he is my son's favorite, and um,
Speaker 1: but I just don't have the creativity or the desire
Speaker 1: to create a costume that because it's because you're pregnant,
Speaker 1: and also that sucks. Oh no, that's just me, just me.
Speaker 1: I just don't like costumes. Um, I don't like costumes.
Speaker 1: But I got him the sweatshirt and he has been
Speaker 1: so excited about it, and so he's gonna be Zuma
Speaker 1: but essentially just wearing a sweatshirt and he's so excited
Speaker 1: for it. And I got him this bucket, like a
Speaker 1: jack O lantern bucket, and for two weeks, this kid
Speaker 1: has been all over it, like taking it everywhere, like
Speaker 1: he's never had this attachment to a stuffed animal before
Speaker 1: or any kind of toy. But he is obsessed with
Speaker 1: this jack o lantern bucket, and I think this is
Speaker 1: just gonna be the best Halloween for him ever. And
Speaker 1: I'm going to wear a red tank top and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be Marshal I love it. Are you gonna come
Speaker 1: to my house? Am I supposed to have candy for you? No?
Speaker 1: I've made a list of all of the well twelve
Speaker 1: trunk or treats over two weeks that are in the
Speaker 1: area where we can get free candy that legit. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Pro tip, check out Facebook events, just search trunk or
Speaker 1: treat and look at all the ones in your area
Speaker 1: and just use them to supplement the neighborhood. Because there's
Speaker 1: not a lot of stuff going on on Monday, but
Speaker 1: like tonight, there's so much going on. Saturday night is
Speaker 1: more for the adults. So there wasn't a lot of
Speaker 1: kids stuff going on Saturday night, but Sunday, yeah, but
Speaker 1: tonight it's all about the kids. There's like, we're going
Speaker 1: to six events. We're going trigger treating at six places tonight,
Speaker 1: so then tomorrow I'll be over at your house swiping
Speaker 1: some of that candy, eating candy. Yeah, all right, there's
Speaker 1: a pro tip, pro parenting tip for you, all the
Speaker 1: free candy, our favorite f word, our second favorite word,
Speaker 1: kay bye,