Speaker 1: Episode two ninety five, What to do if you have
Speaker 1: more debt than you make in a year. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, rice, and liver rich your life. Here are
Speaker 1: your host Jen and Jill. Mmmmmm, Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and today we're talking about a very light topic, just
Speaker 1: a we've got a fun one for you today, like
Speaker 1: whipped cream and strawberries. It's light, you are it enjoyable.
Speaker 1: It is what to do when you have more debt
Speaker 1: than you make any year, which is obviously the opposite
Speaker 1: of a light topic, and we both know what that's like.
Speaker 1: So we're going to walk you through practical steps to take,
Speaker 1: things to think, and then some truths that will combat
Speaker 1: the lies that your head might be telling you. I
Speaker 1: love that. Yes, this is such an I love the
Speaker 1: theme of this, like even just the title of the episode,
Speaker 1: because I feel as though this was so overwhelming to
Speaker 1: me at the time when my debt was more than
Speaker 1: what I made in a year, and I didn't make
Speaker 1: a lot of money, so it was like this additional
Speaker 1: layer of overwhelm and stress. So we want to see you,
Speaker 1: We want to help you. You can do this. This
Speaker 1: episodes for you. Yes, and speaking of overwhelm, this episode
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Speaker 1: you just make that up? Scope creep like style creep
Speaker 1: scope creep. No, that's a thing I did not make that.
Speaker 1: I've never heard it before. Yeah, Scope of Project, Yeah creeping,
Speaker 1: I know what you mean. Yeah, Wow, I learned something
Speaker 1: new every day, Thanks for listening. I only record until
Speaker 1: I learned something. We are contractually obligated to make these
Speaker 1: go forty five minutes, so let's keep going. Okay, if
Speaker 1: you want to queue up a few additional episodes to
Speaker 1: play after this one if you haven't had enough, if
Speaker 1: you haven't been gobsmacked by your debt enough. Also, didn't
Speaker 1: make up that word. I know, I just haven't heard
Speaker 1: that one in a long time. So we've got episode
Speaker 1: two seventy six, which debt should you pay off first?
Speaker 1: And then episode two sixty eight why paying off debt
Speaker 1: is important and attainable. So those are two really really
Speaker 1: good ones to queue up for after this one. None
Speaker 1: of our episodes should leave you feeling sad. They should
Speaker 1: all leave you feeling hopeful. That's the goal. So yeah,
Speaker 1: those are a few ones to play next. Perfect. Well,
Speaker 1: let's get into these articles. The first one comes from
Speaker 1: CNBC and it's titled how to Stop Obsessing over your
Speaker 1: debt According to Next and again, I love the normalization
Speaker 1: in here. I think we don't realize how much other
Speaker 1: people are thinking about finances. I know, certainly for those
Speaker 1: in debt it can become all consuming. And so this
Speaker 1: was just helpful to see some of the statistics of
Speaker 1: what most other Americans are experiencing as it relates to
Speaker 1: their finances and hopefully help you feel validated in that
Speaker 1: but then not leave you there find ways to not
Speaker 1: feel as though you're obsessing. But they reference a study
Speaker 1: at twenty nineteen study that came from the ascent Just
Speaker 1: Meets Your Criteriagen. One thousand and seven people were just
Speaker 1: the minimum pled in this research study, and they found
Speaker 1: that when it comes to how often people are mulling
Speaker 1: over their bills, looking at it, thinking about it, I
Speaker 1: don't know, doing stuff with it, twenty eight percent said
Speaker 1: they think about the money they owe every single day,
Speaker 1: followed by twenty percent who think about their debt almost
Speaker 1: every day and another twenty percent who do so several
Speaker 1: times a week. That's a lot of mental and emotional
Speaker 1: space that this is taking up. And I mean finances
Speaker 1: are a part of our daily lives. Like we think
Speaker 1: about food every day, we probably think about some aspect
Speaker 1: of relationships every day. It would make sense that something
Speaker 1: related to finances would cross our minds. But I think
Speaker 1: they're pointing to specifically the bills, the debt, and then
Speaker 1: the stress and overwhelm, and it's not it didn't go
Speaker 1: so far as to say like how long, how much
Speaker 1: of the day this takes up, But if you've got
Speaker 1: debt on top of just normal financial decisions that you're making,
Speaker 1: then it's probably taking quite an emotional toll and you're
Speaker 1: not alone in that, which, yeah, I think all of
Speaker 1: that is super helpful to recognize. And so they're going
Speaker 1: into ways now to how do we alleviate some of
Speaker 1: this stress and overwhelming the amount of times the frequency
Speaker 1: throughout the day that we're thinking about this, And the
Speaker 1: first tip that they give is to realize that debt
Speaker 1: is often a part of life. And I don't know
Speaker 1: that i've ever read this in an article before, this
Speaker 1: kind of permission to say debt will be there. It's
Speaker 1: not to say, oh, well, then just don't worry about
Speaker 1: it and collect more debt. Like I think we're all
Speaker 1: on a very similar page of we don't want this.
Speaker 1: But I think sometimes when we have this really shameful
Speaker 1: attitude about it, or we feel really guilty about the
Speaker 1: debt that we've taken on, we can cause more overwhelm
Speaker 1: and strain to our mental and emotional health than what's necessary.
Speaker 1: And so kind of taking this more neutral approach, this
Speaker 1: more kind of radical middle acceptance of debt is just
Speaker 1: a part of life. Like for most of us, we
Speaker 1: ought to take out student loans. For most of us,
Speaker 1: we gotta go with a mortgage when we're buying a house. Like,
Speaker 1: there are these debts that are just a part of life,
Speaker 1: and today's landscape with buying vehicles taking out a car
Speaker 1: payment is becoming more and more normalized. So I also
Speaker 1: really think this is a helpful concept, even related to
Speaker 1: bigger part like all of life. I think there's this
Speaker 1: myth about self sufficiency and like extreme independence. I think
Speaker 1: that really there is kind of a a longside, like
Speaker 1: we can't be completely self sufficient in any aspect of life.
Speaker 1: We always need help and support and some level of dependence.
Speaker 1: There can be a healthy dependence, but I think that
Speaker 1: there's a little bit of a myth of being completely independent,
Speaker 1: meaning you need no one and nothing, And so I
Speaker 1: think kind of putting debt under that category of sometimes
Speaker 1: the support of a lender helping hand is necessary, and man,
Speaker 1: that takes a lot of shame out of it. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sick of the narrative that debt is the enemy,
Speaker 1: that like we believe debt is neutral. There is no
Speaker 1: good or bad debt, and there is debt that limits
Speaker 1: your financial opportunity, and there is debt that can aid
Speaker 1: in financial opportunity, and the same debt can be either
Speaker 1: of those, so you can use it. You can use
Speaker 1: debt alone to purchase a house or a car that
Speaker 1: is very helpful to gaining wealth and security and financial freedom.
Speaker 1: You can take out a loan for a house or
Speaker 1: a car that is very detrimental to reaching financial freedom
Speaker 1: or building wealth. So there is no good or bad debt.
Speaker 1: So I'm sick this narrative that debt is the enemy.
Speaker 1: Debt is a part of life, and I think once
Speaker 1: we realize that, then you don't have to live in
Speaker 1: the extremes of oh I live completely debt free, or
Speaker 1: oh I can't live completely debt free, So I might
Speaker 1: as well just take out debt for everything and take
Speaker 1: out as much of it as I want when you
Speaker 1: are when you are done living in those extremes, then
Speaker 1: you can think critically about the role that debt plays
Speaker 1: in your life. So well said yes, And then you've
Speaker 1: got this picture of Susie Orman right underneath, where she's
Speaker 1: like pointing and she's like throw away You're financial to
Speaker 1: do list man takes Yeah, Susie, hope your new book
Speaker 1: goes well. All right? Number two is consider how much
Speaker 1: debt you actually have. And so again on this this
Speaker 1: continuation of the idea there is no good or bad debt.
Speaker 1: Debt is neutral. Debt is a tool. I mean, a
Speaker 1: hammer is a tool. It's great when you're hammering in
Speaker 1: a nail. It's horrible when you're like hammering your thumb
Speaker 1: because you missed the nail. So it's the same tool renovations.
Speaker 1: The hammer is not evil because you hit your thumb
Speaker 1: with it. So you need to consider how much debt
Speaker 1: a you actually have and be what you actually need.
Speaker 1: So I spent a lot of time feeling shame and
Speaker 1: guilt when I had debt because I was under this
Speaker 1: narrative that debt is the enemy, and I let debt
Speaker 1: into my life. I opened the door for the enemy essentially,
Speaker 1: So that gave me like a lot of guilt and
Speaker 1: shame when I was paying off debt. But I think
Speaker 1: if I could have reframed, if I had the perspective
Speaker 1: that I have now, I could have really thought more
Speaker 1: critically about it and said, Okay, how much how much
Speaker 1: debt do I have? Which of these debts are limiting
Speaker 1: me in my financial growth, and so what needs to
Speaker 1: be taken care of and I would have made the
Speaker 1: same decision that I made to pay off all of
Speaker 1: our student loans to pay off our car. I would
Speaker 1: have made the same decision. I don't regret paying off
Speaker 1: all of those, but I would have felt a lot
Speaker 1: less miserable about myself as a person because of having
Speaker 1: that debt. So I would say the article is saying,
Speaker 1: it's not that you shouldn't be concerned about carrying debt,
Speaker 1: but just like concerned about how much you have. I
Speaker 1: think it's really just a call to look at what
Speaker 1: you could do without the debt. Think about your values,
Speaker 1: think about your deeper why, think about your family and
Speaker 1: your friends, all the things you could be doing without
Speaker 1: the debt, and let that be the guide for why
Speaker 1: you pay it off. Not because the debt itself is
Speaker 1: the enemy. Yes, the deeper reason, and often we can
Speaker 1: connect to that deeper reason more than something that could
Speaker 1: feel arbitrary, just this number on a screen or a
Speaker 1: piece of paper. Number three I really love, which is
Speaker 1: ask yourself whether you're making progress, If you're doing everything
Speaker 1: reasonably possible given your circumstances to becoming debt free, then
Speaker 1: this could be some level of permission to not continually
Speaker 1: obsess over money. If you are throwing any additional bonuses
Speaker 1: or unexpected income towards debt repayment, If you are cutting
Speaker 1: back in one specific area of life or going out
Speaker 1: to eat or entertainment in order to put more money
Speaker 1: towards debt, even if it's small, or you just have
Speaker 1: a plan of some sort, this could give the freedom
Speaker 1: that's necessary to be able to let yourself rest in
Speaker 1: the fact that you're making progress, which can definitely limit
Speaker 1: the amount that we are thinking about it, the amount
Speaker 1: of space. Not to say we're not going to have
Speaker 1: thoughts about it, but if we know, no, I'm doing
Speaker 1: something towards this, it doesn't mean that I'm experiencing debt
Speaker 1: freedom immediately, but progress is happening. That can have a
Speaker 1: profound impact on the level of obsession that we experience.
Speaker 1: And they give examples of a mortgage payment. Obviously we
Speaker 1: could apply this to any other type of debt payment,
Speaker 1: but they reference that if your mortgage payment is twelve
Speaker 1: hundred dollars a month and you just add an additional
Speaker 1: one hundred per month to the payment, make sure it
Speaker 1: goes to the principle, then you would be making an
Speaker 1: extra payment on your house essentially by the end of
Speaker 1: the year, and just that one hundred dollars extra per
Speaker 1: month could shave off four years of payments and thousands
Speaker 1: of interest over the lifetime of that loan, which is massive,
Speaker 1: Like months a month that probably wouldn't feel like a
Speaker 1: whole lot extra coming out of your bank account, but
Speaker 1: you are doing more than just the bare minimum, which
Speaker 1: we can rest in that we're not always going to
Speaker 1: be able to do everything. And I love that's why
Speaker 1: they say within your means and with what's reasonable. Having
Speaker 1: that plan in place, knowing that you're making progress can
Speaker 1: really cause some of that piece to enter in and
Speaker 1: way less obsession, absolutely, And so the fourth and final
Speaker 1: one of how to limit this obsession and overwhelm with
Speaker 1: a big, big number on your debt is consider the
Speaker 1: why behind your debt. And so we think about the
Speaker 1: why behind why we want to pay off debt. That
Speaker 1: is something we talk about a lot, but in that
Speaker 1: we often forget the why behind our debt and that
Speaker 1: can cause us to feel really bad about it, a
Speaker 1: lot of guilt about it. This was something that I experienced,
Speaker 1: like very very critically. I mean, I felt so dumb
Speaker 1: and my debt was just student loans, Like and I
Speaker 1: had four thousand on a car that I paid off
Speaker 1: very quickly. The bulk of it was student loans, and
Speaker 1: I felt so dumb for taking out these loans. And
Speaker 1: when I looked back and thought about why why did
Speaker 1: I take out student loans? It wasn't like I was
Speaker 1: impulse buying a degree. I was doing something that I
Speaker 1: was studying, something that I wanted to do that I
Speaker 1: don't regret studying or doing that led me to where
Speaker 1: I am in my life right now, And all the
Speaker 1: great things that I have right now are by some
Speaker 1: degree a direct result of getting that degree, and so
Speaker 1: nothing in me regrets taking out that money and getting
Speaker 1: that degree. Yeah. I love this question because this is
Speaker 1: another one that's not talked about. I wish I had
Speaker 1: this article during my debt free journey. There's so much
Speaker 1: that I just had to kind of come up with
Speaker 1: on my own of how to muddle through. This probably
Speaker 1: did exist, I just I don't know. I wasn't looking
Speaker 1: for it. But this question of putting meaning to the debt,
Speaker 1: not just meaning to the future financial goals, can really
Speaker 1: help us to feel again the removal of shame. I
Speaker 1: think so much of the obsession with the debt can
Speaker 1: be very integrating connected with whether or not we feel
Speaker 1: guilt or shame over it, and we just want that gone,
Speaker 1: like we want the guilt and shame gone. But we
Speaker 1: can get rid of the guilt and shame far before
Speaker 1: the debt is actually paid off, as we begin to
Speaker 1: implement some of these mindset shifts. And yeah, I think two,
Speaker 1: we can choose whether or not we value that. I
Speaker 1: think oftentimes I knew the why for the debt, and
Speaker 1: I was upset at the why, Like I got upset
Speaker 1: with myself for going to college, like that was a
Speaker 1: waste of money, and now I'm still not making more
Speaker 1: than what I owe back in debt. But that was
Speaker 1: a mindset choice, Like I chose to not value my education,
Speaker 1: so I even needed to back up from there. I'm
Speaker 1: speaking to my past self to have valued that, because
Speaker 1: maybe I didn't feel the value of my education in
Speaker 1: that moment, but fifteen years later I am. Fifteen years later,
Speaker 1: I'm very glad that I got my bachelor's and then
Speaker 1: my master's, and there was a reason and a benefit
Speaker 1: to that debt. I just, yeah, I think valuing it
Speaker 1: and attaching a level of meaning to it that's going
Speaker 1: to be helpful rather than a hindrance. Yeah. And if
Speaker 1: that's not your story, maybe you actually don't love your degree,
Speaker 1: or maybe your debt is more consumer. I would still
Speaker 1: challenge you to think about the seasons and the events
Speaker 1: in your life that were a direct result of those
Speaker 1: experiences that we're provided by this quote unquote debt. Yep,
Speaker 1: they're still learning. That's happening even if you're in debt
Speaker 1: because you just wanted to go on all of the vacations.
Speaker 1: Value those memories, find ways to attach meaning to that
Speaker 1: and then learn from it. How do I want to
Speaker 1: now spend my vacations in the future that aren't going
Speaker 1: to feel so overwhelming or all consuming? Yeah? Oh beautiful.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad these articles are being written. Yes, Okay,
Speaker 1: so this next article comes from Oh the Motley Fool,
Speaker 1: and it's talking about five tips to lower your debt
Speaker 1: to income ratio. If anyone has applied for a loan
Speaker 1: mortgage trying to buy a car, this suddenly becomes very important. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the first article was more of like, okay, what
Speaker 1: do we do with the psychological ramifications of having more
Speaker 1: debt than we earn any year. And this one is
Speaker 1: more of the practical aspects of Okay, what happens to
Speaker 1: me financially if I have a really high debt to
Speaker 1: income ratio. So we're gonna go over these tips just
Speaker 1: to give a little practical info. Yes, kick us off, Jen,
Speaker 1: all right, So the first one, if you have a
Speaker 1: high debt to income ratio, and let me just first
Speaker 1: let's figure out how to calculate our debt to income ratio,
Speaker 1: which I was also called a DTI, which is actually
Speaker 1: very important when getting a mortgage, but can be in
Speaker 1: other ways just in life. So let's say you earn
Speaker 1: six thousand dollars a month before taxes. That's what we're
Speaker 1: going to use in the DTI is the gross income,
Speaker 1: so that's six thousand per month. And then you calculate
Speaker 1: all of your monthly debts, so that's mortgage or rent.
Speaker 1: They will include rent in their auto loan, credit cards,
Speaker 1: personal loans, HOA, fees, alimony, child support, all of that,
Speaker 1: and say that adds up to twenty five hundred. So
Speaker 1: to calculate your DTI, you divide twenty five hundred by
Speaker 1: six thousand, so debt divided by income gross income and
Speaker 1: then multiply by one hundred. So twenty five hundred divided
Speaker 1: by six thousand is point four one six times one hundred.
Speaker 1: That's forty one point six percent. So the ideal debt
Speaker 1: to income is let's see, I think it's about thirty
Speaker 1: thirty six percent is the accept quote unquote acceptable ratio.
Speaker 1: Anything higher and lenders begin to worry. If you're at
Speaker 1: a fifty percent DTI, you will not be able to
Speaker 1: get a mortgage unless you have some creative financing strategy.
Speaker 1: So you've got to stay below fifty, which, for in
Speaker 1: our example, if you earn six thousand before taxes and
Speaker 1: your debts are three thousand, so just five hundred dollars more,
Speaker 1: then you've really very limited is to what you can
Speaker 1: do if you're trying to buy a house. So we
Speaker 1: are trying to stay below thirty six percent debt to
Speaker 1: income ratio. So if you find yourself, I would say
Speaker 1: anywhere above thirty percent, it should be your goal to
Speaker 1: kind of really work on this, especially if you're trying
Speaker 1: to buy a house, and the first way you would
Speaker 1: do that is to pay down high balances. And I
Speaker 1: would say, look, I'm just paid down balances honestly, because
Speaker 1: they're not differentiating between type of debt. This is not
Speaker 1: like your credit score where they're taking into consideration types
Speaker 1: of debt. They are simply looking just at balances. Pay
Speaker 1: down any balance, and so then you will get closer
Speaker 1: to that thirty six or below percent DTI. It's going
Speaker 1: You're going to reduce it with every balance you pay down. Right,
Speaker 1: I appreciate this perspective because if your amount of debt
Speaker 1: is more than what you earn in a year, then
Speaker 1: we're not going to get it gone super quickly. And
Speaker 1: so this is more of that reduction model aimed at
Speaker 1: eventually becoming debt free. But for many of us, we're
Speaker 1: going to carry a mortgage for a good part of
Speaker 1: our working lives, and so what is the important thing
Speaker 1: to focus on. This would be kind of one of
Speaker 1: those first steps, like when we talk about the financial
Speaker 1: picture as a whole, and creating an emergency fund is
Speaker 1: one of the first steps. Similarly, when it comes to
Speaker 1: our debt, looking at our debt to income ratio and
Speaker 1: lowering that is going to be one of the first steps.
Speaker 1: And combine with that, number two is lower your interest
Speaker 1: on debt. We talk about this a ton. Some of
Speaker 1: the ways that you can do that, I mean, first
Speaker 1: of all, would be to look at paying down first
Speaker 1: your highest interest debts. That will cause you to not
Speaker 1: have to pay as much of that interest. It's a
Speaker 1: good place to start. It means you're also getting rid
Speaker 1: of debt. They also reference I had not thought of
Speaker 1: this before, but to call your lender and ask for
Speaker 1: a reduction in the interest rate. If you've been working
Speaker 1: with that particular financial institution for a while, and if
Speaker 1: you've been paying regularly and on time, they may want
Speaker 1: to keep you enough as a customer to lower that
Speaker 1: rate because they know you could transfer that loan elsewhere.
Speaker 1: So those are a couple. I mean again, first of all,
Speaker 1: just paying off your highest interest debts, calling around and
Speaker 1: asking it for lower rates would be a really great idea. Again,
Speaker 1: to lower that debt to income ratio. Yeah, it does
Speaker 1: say consider getting a personal loan or a credit card
Speaker 1: to lower these, but I think the main reason you
Speaker 1: would focus on lowering your DTI is to get a house,
Speaker 1: and they don't want to see you opening anything new
Speaker 1: in the last six months, So I wouldn't agree with
Speaker 1: that advice, but I would say normally we're neutral on
Speaker 1: debt avalanche versus debt snowball to pay off debt, I
Speaker 1: would say, if your goal is to get a house
Speaker 1: pretty soon, to go more with the debt avalanche because
Speaker 1: you're gonna be able to lower your debt balance a
Speaker 1: little quicker doesn't give you the psychological thrill that the
Speaker 1: snowball will. But we're looking to make a decision that
Speaker 1: will be largely based on math, and so this would
Speaker 1: be the time to use a math tool to get
Speaker 1: that down lower. So this would be a place where
Speaker 1: we would favor the avalanche over the snowball. Third is
Speaker 1: to put credit cards on ice, and so they are
Speaker 1: a florid play. They are literally saying. Some people have
Speaker 1: found that freezing their credit cards in a literal block
Speaker 1: of eye provides them with the time they need to
Speaker 1: talk themselves out of unnecessary purchases. So you can do that,
Speaker 1: but I think, especially now that most of our credit
Speaker 1: cards are saved on our computer, this becomes less advantageous,
Speaker 1: and I think just locking them so you can go
Speaker 1: into Chase, Bank of America, whatever and lock the card.
Speaker 1: It shouldn't impede any recurring payments that come out, but
Speaker 1: any like new payments. Anything's like that, but double check
Speaker 1: with your bank. So this is a very good strategy
Speaker 1: if you need some extra barriers to stop going into debt. Yes,
Speaker 1: the next tip for lowering your debt to income ratio
Speaker 1: is to implement a twenty four hour rule. And I
Speaker 1: will argue that this is a great one for all
Speaker 1: of us. This is just a little frugal principle of
Speaker 1: being patient, giving ourselves margin and space in between wanting
Speaker 1: to purchase something and actually purchasing that item. But particularly
Speaker 1: when we are in debt payoff mode, not spending additional
Speaker 1: money that we don't need to spend is going to
Speaker 1: be really helpful. It's going to free up a lot
Speaker 1: of those finances to be able to put as much
Speaker 1: money towards the debt as possible. And so with the
Speaker 1: twenty four hour rule, it's if you want to purchase anything,
Speaker 1: and I would add anything that's outside of what you
Speaker 1: have to buy. You know, your food, your bills, your
Speaker 1: housing and transportation, things that you have planned for to
Speaker 1: spend on, things above and beyond that. This is really
Speaker 1: interrupting impulse spending. It's just one of those things that
Speaker 1: we can implement a rule for ourselves to wait the
Speaker 1: twenty four hours allow ourselves time to think through do
Speaker 1: I actually want to purchase that thing that I just
Speaker 1: saw in the store. Is it actually going to solve
Speaker 1: a problem and improve my life? Is it a necessary thing?
Speaker 1: Or would it be more advantageous for me to put
Speaker 1: whatever money I was just about to spend on that
Speaker 1: item towards my debt or again, for those who are
Speaker 1: even debt free, towards any other financial goal. They give
Speaker 1: the example of like being out shopping with a friend
Speaker 1: and seeing a really lovely buffet table that would fit
Speaker 1: perfectly in your dining room, and it's already been discounted
Speaker 1: several times. That is where it would get me like, oh,
Speaker 1: and it's on sale and it's calling my name and
Speaker 1: it's perfect, and they're like things have been on sale
Speaker 1: a lot. It doesn't mean that you have to buy them,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't mean that you have to buy it
Speaker 1: right away. You can give it twenty four hours, consider it,
Speaker 1: and if you've given it twenty four hours and you
Speaker 1: still think that's a great thing. Great. Most of the time, though,
Speaker 1: when we create space in between something that feels like
Speaker 1: it's drawing us in and calling our name, when we're
Speaker 1: no longer right in front of that giving ourselves that time,
Speaker 1: most likely we're not going to end up buying it,
Speaker 1: and we can make better decisions with our money. It's
Speaker 1: really this kind of training ground for that. Yes, So
Speaker 1: there is a free Chrome extension that I love for this,
Speaker 1: and it's called Icebox. It's Byfinder dot com and you
Speaker 1: can just go in and google icebox Byfinder dot com
Speaker 1: and you'll get the page straight to the Google Chrome extension.
Speaker 1: I don't think it has any other extensions for any
Speaker 1: other browsers, but if you use Chrome, it's so wonderful.
Speaker 1: It replaces buy now buttons on popular e commerce stores
Speaker 1: with a put it on ice button, and you get
Speaker 1: to decide how long that cool off period. So they
Speaker 1: call it how long the cool off period is, and
Speaker 1: so you could say twenty four hours. I want it
Speaker 1: to go into my ice box for twenty four hours
Speaker 1: before I'm able to purchase it. So you put it
Speaker 1: on ice and then the countdown starts, it goes into
Speaker 1: your ice box, and then twenty four hours later that
Speaker 1: button changes back to an ad to cart, but its
Speaker 1: love putting stuff on ice, putting your credit cards and
Speaker 1: your freezer, putting purchases fictitional ice box on the computer.
Speaker 1: So yes, after that cooling period you can decide if
Speaker 1: you still want it or you can discard it. And
Speaker 1: I think it's wonderful. You can of course turn it off.
Speaker 1: It's not going to limit you, you know, if you
Speaker 1: do need something in an emergency, but most things are not.
Speaker 1: The nice thing about putting spending on ice is that
Speaker 1: then we can put our debt on fire. There's an
Speaker 1: equal and opposite reaction. That's That's a good one, Jill.
Speaker 1: Thanks cool. What's the next one? All right? The next
Speaker 1: on this article is to take on a side hustle
Speaker 1: you can enjoy. I like that second bit, yeah, right,
Speaker 1: that you enjoy? Yes, So there we all work hard, right,
Speaker 1: Like nobody's over here trying to scam the system. No
Speaker 1: matter how many people try and say millennials are not
Speaker 1: working and trying to scam the system. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I am trying to retire you have you, I try
Speaker 1: and save you in these episodes and then you go
Speaker 1: straight off and you're like, I would like to incriminate
Speaker 1: myself more. Anyways, I really do believe that everybody listening
Speaker 1: to the show and beyond. We really are trying to
Speaker 1: make the most of the limited life we've been given.
Speaker 1: And so while yes, I think we do, some of
Speaker 1: us are in a position to do more work than others.
Speaker 1: Like if you are single, if you have no kids,
Speaker 1: you are in a unique time in your life to
Speaker 1: be able to do more than those of us who
Speaker 1: have multiple children, who are kicking us in the organs
Speaker 1: inside of our bodies. There's just one in there. There's one.
Speaker 1: She's got one outside of her that maybe sometimes kicks here.
Speaker 1: I don't know, no, Okay, thankfully he's not a kicker.
Speaker 1: But so, yeah, you are in a unique season of life.
Speaker 1: And even if maybe you do have kids and you
Speaker 1: maybe find some time, you don't want to spend that
Speaker 1: time miserable. So let's look for side hustles we can
Speaker 1: enjoy that are actually profitable. So I'm not talking about
Speaker 1: like crow sharing hats in Florida and selling them at
Speaker 1: the farmer's market, although the Malli fool is talking about that.
Speaker 1: Not gonna lie, Yeah, I'm not for that. I don't
Speaker 1: like crafts as a side hustle personally personal. There's might
Speaker 1: love it and go for it, Okay, so you might, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you might love it, but it's probably not going to
Speaker 1: be lucrative enough, and it's going to turn your hobby
Speaker 1: into a stress pot. So let's just think about things
Speaker 1: that will make us money and we can enjoy them.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's not our greatest passion, but we enjoy them.
Speaker 1: And so we've been doing a side hustle series where
Speaker 1: we are highlighting a lot of different side hustles that
Speaker 1: are inexpensive or free to start, that do make money,
Speaker 1: that have a high potential for growing into actual full businesses,
Speaker 1: but can be done as side hustles and are enjoyable.
Speaker 1: So definitely check out our side hustle series for that.
Speaker 1: But do find something that maybe is not your passion
Speaker 1: but is not miserable. And that's my definition of enjoy
Speaker 1: it's it's not miserable, but it's okay. Right Wow, Well,
Speaker 1: I mean I've got something that is definitely not miserable
Speaker 1: and is more than okay, and I super enjoy it.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, if I could get paid for just this,
Speaker 1: it would beat the dream. But it's not super profitable.
Speaker 1: The bill of the week, that's right, it's time for
Speaker 1: the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby
Speaker 1: was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid
Speaker 1: off your mortgage, maybe your car died, and you're happy
Speaker 1: to have to pay that bill anymore. That bill Buffalo
Speaker 1: bill bill Clan, this is the bill of the week. Hi,
Speaker 1: Jin and Jill. My name's Amanda. I'm from the Dallas
Speaker 1: Sport Worth area, and i want to tell you about
Speaker 1: a bill that I think is really fabulous. We started
Speaker 1: getting these bills in twenty twenty one. So in the
Speaker 1: summer of twenty twenty one, we had to switch utility
Speaker 1: companies and my husband said that he had a brilliant
Speaker 1: idea that was going to save us a lot of money.
Speaker 1: And I was really excited because I love saving a
Speaker 1: lot of money. And he said, we're going to switch
Speaker 1: to an energy plan that allows for us to use
Speaker 1: energy during the night for free. So that's from eight
Speaker 1: pm to six am, and he said, we're going to
Speaker 1: do a lot of stuff that requires energy during that time,
Speaker 1: so we're going to charge our electric vehicle, we're going
Speaker 1: to do our laundry, we're going to run the dishwasher,
Speaker 1: and we're only going to run the air conditioner now night.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like it might be torture, especially in
Speaker 1: the Dallas Fort Worth area. But we cool our entire
Speaker 1: house down to about sixty five degrees at night, and
Speaker 1: then we just try really hard to keep the doors
Speaker 1: closed for the most part if we're going to be home.
Speaker 1: And we have taken our monthly electric bill down from
Speaker 1: an average of one hundred and twelve dollars a month
Speaker 1: to sixty dollars a month just by using us some
Speaker 1: of our heating elements that draw a lout of electricity
Speaker 1: and our AC only at night. Wow, so many, so
Speaker 1: many lawyers to this. I love seeing like the nighttime
Speaker 1: like usage thing. I didn't realize you could get it
Speaker 1: for free at night. That's crazy. Also, yes, the idea
Speaker 1: of not running the AC in Dallas scares me. Your
Speaker 1: electric company did not see you comment, They didn't come
Speaker 1: in hidden anticipate Amanda over here not using her a
Speaker 1: seed during the day. But oh my gosh, cutting it
Speaker 1: by what is that fifty bucks a month? I'm shocked
Speaker 1: actually at your electric bill even pre like doing all
Speaker 1: of these changes. Yeah, sixty eight dollars for an electric
Speaker 1: bill is insane. That's so low. Is fantastic, so well
Speaker 1: done and usually well done for your husband who when
Speaker 1: my husband comes to me and says something like that,
Speaker 1: I have a great idea for a way we can
Speaker 1: save money. It's usually an immediate no from me. You
Speaker 1: just know, like some sort of radical idea of our
Speaker 1: groceries from the dubster, every single one of them, uh
Speaker 1: huh No. But yours actually had an idea and you
Speaker 1: got on board and it worked out. So congrats, Amanda,
Speaker 1: well done. If you all listening, have some story about
Speaker 1: not using your utilities even when you really really are
Speaker 1: quite hot. Night laundry, you're doing night laundry, you're doing
Speaker 1: you're doing night dish. If you're doing night laundry, give
Speaker 1: us a call, like on the nightline. It's the same line,
Speaker 1: just the same line, but you can call it night line.
Speaker 1: Oh you know the drill for O Friends podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: slash bill. Leave us your nighttime or daytime bill. And
Speaker 1: now it's time for run pew all Right, today's lightning
Speaker 1: round question. How did you overcome the overwhelm of having
Speaker 1: more debt than you earn in a year? Jill, I
Speaker 1: overcame it by being all I mean, honestly, that is
Speaker 1: the ultimate overcome and it does feel really amazing. But
Speaker 1: many of you know that I had about third No, okay,
Speaker 1: there was thirty six thousand of student loan debt. It
Speaker 1: was about fifty six thousand dollars of debt that took
Speaker 1: us seven years to pay off. So that was a
Speaker 1: decent amount of time. And it had to do with
Speaker 1: not making that much income in a year, even household income,
Speaker 1: and so it really was doing this thing for the
Speaker 1: long haul, which took a lot of intentionality in taking
Speaker 1: hold of my thoughts not letting them run wild. There
Speaker 1: is a concept within mental health therapy of compartmentalizing various things,
Speaker 1: various things that might be stressful or anxiety producing or overwhelming,
Speaker 1: and giving ourselves space to think about it, but then
Speaker 1: also identifying when, okay, that's enough time and space that
Speaker 1: I've given my thoughts too. And I'm going to even
Speaker 1: imagine visualize putting that topic in a box and putting
Speaker 1: it on the bookshelf. It's still there. I can revisit
Speaker 1: it whenever I want. I can take it out, look
Speaker 1: at it, open up the box, but then it's going
Speaker 1: to go back on the shelf. It's not going to
Speaker 1: remain open. All the contents of it sprawled everywhere, impacting
Speaker 1: and taking up space in other aspects of my life.
Speaker 1: I think that was really helpful, and we did talk
Speaker 1: about this in the articles, but it was really helpful
Speaker 1: for me to know that I had a plan having
Speaker 1: looked at it, knowing what the debt is, how am
Speaker 1: I going to attack it, How long do I think
Speaker 1: that's going to take. How much money can I put
Speaker 1: towards it? Monthly committing to myself that if I do
Speaker 1: earn extra income, I'm going to put this much more
Speaker 1: percentage towards it. And so there was active effort happening.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about quite a bit. But I think
Speaker 1: over those seven years I did get better and better
Speaker 1: at taking hold of those thoughts and when they would
Speaker 1: be intrusive, reminding myself, I have a plan for that,
Speaker 1: and the plan is going pretty decent. This will be
Speaker 1: gone eventually. Okay, thoughts in a box on a shelf,
Speaker 1: I'm moving on. That's great. All that how about for you? Jen?
Speaker 1: For me, it was it was really having the partnership
Speaker 1: of my husband. And I know that we don't want
Speaker 1: to say that a lot because we don't want to
Speaker 1: isolate our single listeners. But I think there are a
Speaker 1: lot of different tools you can use as a single person.
Speaker 1: But I think if you are married or partnered, you
Speaker 1: almost have no excuse. If you have a partner on board,
Speaker 1: like there's just no excuse. Like the teamwork aspect of
Speaker 1: this is invaluable. You should take advantage of it. It
Speaker 1: goes both ways. I think sometimes you've got the not
Speaker 1: getting on board, and that's a challenge of you know,
Speaker 1: the couples. But when you are both on board, then
Speaker 1: it's a benefit to be able to work together. And
Speaker 1: I wasn't on board, and Travis really helped me get
Speaker 1: on board. And one of the reasons I wasn't on
Speaker 1: board was because of how big the debt was. I
Speaker 1: put I put it off for years and years because
Speaker 1: I had fifty thousand dollars of debt and I was
Speaker 1: making probably about forty grand a year, and so I
Speaker 1: just put it off. And then and I said, when
Speaker 1: I get a second income, you know, then I'll pay
Speaker 1: it off. And then I was about to get that,
Speaker 1: and I was like, no, actually, I want to live
Speaker 1: life now, like I've just been quote unquote broke for
Speaker 1: so long, and so I wasn't going to do it.
Speaker 1: Scope creep not lifestyle creep. Scope create good try. So
Speaker 1: I was that I was the partner that didn't want
Speaker 1: to get on board, and it was it really took
Speaker 1: Travis reminding me of the things that were going to
Speaker 1: be possible if I did get on board, making it
Speaker 1: about me and the things I wanted to do and accomplish,
Speaker 1: and how much easier it would be if we just
Speaker 1: did this one thing, how much easier everything else I
Speaker 1: wanted would be. So he really made it about me,
Speaker 1: and I love me, So that really got me on board.
Speaker 1: And so tip tip for anyone married to someone who
Speaker 1: loves themselves thinking about them So it was that that
Speaker 1: really helped. It was that support and encouragement and knowing
Speaker 1: I would have somebody on my team when things got hard,
Speaker 1: and that I did, he followed through and was always there.
Speaker 1: That was really what helped me overcome the overwhelm of
Speaker 1: seeing that number TeamWorks makes the dream work. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: what I have to say about that. Thanks everyone for
Speaker 1: listening and being on our team. You're making this a
Speaker 1: dream and many of you know that we have even
Speaker 1: more opportunities for being on a team and dreaming and
Speaker 1: being members and BFFs. And I don't know all the
Speaker 1: things our listeners are paying. A lot of our listeners
Speaker 1: are paying off debt, and we've got this community where
Speaker 1: we do monthly money challenges, offer accountability groups. You hear
Speaker 1: that as teamwork, someone else who's in your corner, someone
Speaker 1: to be a support. If you don't have a spouse
Speaker 1: that's on board, or you don't have a spouse or
Speaker 1: a partner, then this is definitely a huge help. But
Speaker 1: I mean, we've got people from a variety of backgrounds
Speaker 1: and experiences in the group, so feel free to check
Speaker 1: it out. But we want to focus on one of
Speaker 1: our members right now who just experienced a big win.
Speaker 1: This comes from Ali, who recently shared so glad for
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends. I am on a lot of medical payment plans.
Speaker 1: Seems like it never ends. I paid one of them
Speaker 1: off last month by submitting the final two payments and
Speaker 1: marked off on this month's budget that it was already paid.
Speaker 1: Thanks to the podcast, I've been tracking my expenses and
Speaker 1: I'm so glad. Today I noticed that I was charged
Speaker 1: again because the payment plan hadn't actually stopped auto drafting.
Speaker 1: Oh that's so annoying that happens. In the past, I
Speaker 1: probably would have just seen the charge and figured I
Speaker 1: owed it. Ali, congratulations, you're on top of it. That's
Speaker 1: that like being aware of your finances, having a plan.
Speaker 1: It's not chaotic. And now that's money back in your
Speaker 1: pocket for someone else's mistake. But now you can put
Speaker 1: that money towards your other bills, which is amazing. Well done.
Speaker 1: Thank you all again for listening. If this membership sounds
Speaker 1: like something you really want to be a part of,
Speaker 1: where we have all kinds of courses, interviews, challenges, and
Speaker 1: so much more. It is fun, because if it's not fun,
Speaker 1: it's not Frugal Friends. Visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: slash club. Check it out, see you next time. Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Oh yeah, tell me
Speaker 1: about it. Yeah, I'm just thinking about debt. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, we just did a whole episode
Speaker 1: on it. Yeah, it's interesting, the debt to income ratio,
Speaker 1: like figuring that out, reminding myself that I don't want
Speaker 1: to take on more debt, but sometimes I do want
Speaker 1: to pool. I shouldn't go into debt for a pool. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, if you are at a certain place where
Speaker 1: you have no other debt, I guess and that really
Speaker 1: increases the wealth of your life. And then I guess,
Speaker 1: go for it. Probably I'm not going to go for you.
Speaker 1: I know you. I know you are not in that place.
Speaker 1: You know me too well. Yeah that I probably just
Speaker 1: wouldn't even be able to let myself do it. But
Speaker 1: it'd be so nice to swim in the water. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's why you get friends with pools or a drive
Speaker 1: to the beach, or you drive to the beach. It's
Speaker 1: better to have a friend with a pool because the
Speaker 1: parking is free. Oh, I look at you. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: a pool girl. You're always thinking I'm a poolgirl. The
Speaker 1: refrigerator is right there, the parking is free. You're not
Speaker 1: going to get sand in your car. Ah. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: Floridians who have been here, like, who know, Floridians are poolgirls.
Speaker 1: We we just are. All you Northerners can come down here.
Speaker 1: You can be beach people. We're poolgirls, and yet neither
Speaker 1: one of us have a pool. Yeah, but again, pool
Speaker 1: maintenance is difficult. You find a friend with a pool,
Speaker 1: we won't be each other's friends with a pool. Never
Speaker 1: find someone else. There are so many things you still
Speaker 1: have to learn about living in Florida. No, I'm all ears.
Speaker 1: Teach me