Speaker 1: Episode three nineteen, Tips to Stop Shopping on Amazon.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver life. Here your hosts,
Speaker 2: Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and we are doing a listener
Speaker 1: request but also kind of a personal interest piece on
Speaker 1: how do we lessen our reliance on the big A
Speaker 1: Jeffbezos dot com Amazon?
Speaker 3: How do we do it? I don't know. Don't you
Speaker 3: should ever say the Big A again?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: Oh sorry, but it is.
Speaker 1: It's that towing that line between how do we shop responsibly,
Speaker 1: be conscious consumers and then still not sacrifice a lot
Speaker 1: of the convenience that Amazon has provided for us. It's
Speaker 1: I don't believe to be evil, but it is something
Speaker 1: we don't want to become reliant on just mindlessly. So
Speaker 1: let's check reset and be intentional with our purchases on Amazon.
Speaker 1: And that's what this episode is here for.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I'm here for it too. Thank you, We
Speaker 3: all thanks.
Speaker 1: Something else we're here for is the sponsor. This episode
Speaker 1: is brought to you by the Friend Letter. So we
Speaker 1: are always looking for the best ways to help you
Speaker 1: save money and spend better. If you follow me jen
Speaker 1: or the Frugal Friends Instagram, you know, we have been
Speaker 1: teasing something that we are really excited about and we've
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Speaker 1: also a mind hack or life hack that will help
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Speaker 3: the tips, I mean, the podcast is great, but this email, man, like,
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Speaker 1: A week, like when your friend texts you like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I got this freebee here, you have to
Speaker 1: stop by here and get it.
Speaker 3: That is what this.
Speaker 1: That's what the friend letter is. It's a text in
Speaker 1: email form. So we're going back before there were text
Speaker 1: messages where there were just emails from friends telling you
Speaker 1: about how you can have free fun like every week
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Speaker 1: save money or control your spending.
Speaker 3: It is like that, and all of this is going
Speaker 3: to help you stop shopping at the Big A or
Speaker 3: other online reading tailors. But if you also want a
Speaker 3: their tips on this area of spending and how to
Speaker 3: reduce or spend better. We've got episode two seventy nine,
Speaker 3: which is Tips to avoid impulse spending. That one gets
Speaker 3: all of us. It gets the best of us. You
Speaker 3: all are the best, but I know we out here
Speaker 3: impulse spending every once in a while, so that one's
Speaker 3: going to help us understand a little bit more about
Speaker 3: why we do it and how to stop doing it.
Speaker 3: And we've also got episode two fifteen, which is Creativity
Speaker 3: over Consumerism with Miranda Anderson. That was one of my
Speaker 3: personal fhaves as an interview. I thought she had a
Speaker 3: really cool creative perspective on how we engage with products
Speaker 3: and even ways to reduce reuse, recycle. So check that
Speaker 3: one out, but also stay with us right now as
Speaker 3: we talk about yes, tips to stop shopping on the
Speaker 3: big retailers, mainly Amazon.
Speaker 1: You're going to tell me not to call it the
Speaker 1: Big A. But you're then all you're going to think
Speaker 1: in in love with it, all of it. That's the
Speaker 1: only thing you're going to call it from now on
Speaker 1: the Big A. So in our headlines today, we're going
Speaker 1: to first talk about cutting back shopping on Amazon, and
Speaker 1: then our second one is going to be alternatives. And
Speaker 1: this is not going so Amazon sells a million and
Speaker 1: one products. That's not like a number I read. I
Speaker 1: just made that up, but probably more so, it's not
Speaker 1: going to cover or solve every problem that we have
Speaker 1: with turning to Amazon. This is just something to spark
Speaker 1: your imagination to start getting creative with choosing, just checking
Speaker 1: out other options before immediately running to Amazon. That's kind
Speaker 1: of our when we give maybe options for solutions, the
Speaker 1: mindset is always try it out. Go there first, go
Speaker 1: to the better option for your wallet, better option for
Speaker 1: the environment, whatever, and see if it works for you
Speaker 1: and if it doesn't, like within a couple hours, days, weeks,
Speaker 1: whatever timeframe you have. Then you go to the mainstream
Speaker 1: big box sort of solution. We're not here to like
Speaker 1: villainize those they serve a legitimate purpose. So these articles
Speaker 1: are kind of to help you get creative first.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I appreciate what you're describing, Jen, because I
Speaker 3: think that there's multiple reasons that people would come to
Speaker 3: this desire of wanting to reduce their shopping, their online shopping,
Speaker 3: or particularly with the big retailers like Amazon, because of
Speaker 3: one impulse spending. So that's something because the Internet is
Speaker 3: accessible nearly everywhere, and so the ability to just one
Speaker 3: click buy is quite tempting and could lead to a
Speaker 3: lot of unnecessary things and possessions on our door step.
Speaker 3: But then also for these other reasons of sustainability, and
Speaker 3: even if you've got a desire to buy local or
Speaker 3: to reduce reuse, recycle, certainly these big box stores can
Speaker 3: be the antithesis of that. So wherever you find yourself
Speaker 3: as your reason for cutting back, hopefully there's a tip here.
Speaker 3: But I think some tips address one reason more than another.
Speaker 3: So wherever you find yourself, let's talk about it. But
Speaker 3: this first article comes from go and talks about six
Speaker 3: ways to cut back your online shopping at Amazon and
Speaker 3: other retailers. They give some kind of staggering numbers at
Speaker 3: the beginning of how much online shopping Americans do. It
Speaker 3: was about one point zero three trillion dollars in online
Speaker 3: shopping in twenty twenty two. So we're doing it. We
Speaker 3: out here, we're doing it. So the first tip on
Speaker 3: here is to really if we want to cut back,
Speaker 3: we want to know where we're starting, and that is
Speaker 3: by assessing how much you're spending. So I think sometimes
Speaker 3: we can imagine we've got a big problem with something,
Speaker 3: but then maybe come to find out, oh, but I'm
Speaker 3: not actually chopping here all that often, or it is
Speaker 3: a big problem, or maybe even bigger than you thought.
Speaker 3: But at least get your bearings, lay the foundation for
Speaker 3: what is it that I'm spending here? Into what degree
Speaker 3: do I want to cut back? Because if it's all
Speaker 3: just arbitrary, we're not actually going to see the fruits
Speaker 3: of our labor or know how to go about this.
Speaker 3: So take a look at your transactions. We would recommend
Speaker 3: over the last ninety days, how much online shopping are
Speaker 3: you doing and how much of it is at these
Speaker 3: kind of big retailers. How much have you spent on Amazon?
Speaker 3: Let's get there first, it's going to be your first step.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and knowing that this article says that Amazon members
Speaker 1: spend between fifty one and one hundred dollars a month
Speaker 1: on Amazon, and twenty three percent of Prime members spend
Speaker 1: more than one hundred dollars a month on the site.
Speaker 1: So that's in addition to the yearly one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty nine dollars it costs to be a Prime member.
Speaker 1: So sometimes like you are paying for a lot of
Speaker 1: things when you're paying for a Prime membership. It's not
Speaker 1: just the free shipping, but knowing that it does it
Speaker 1: can lead to increased spending just because of I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe a sunk cost. Like I'm already paying for Prime,
Speaker 1: I might as well buy more from Amazon sort of mindset. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So the second tip on here is to leave it
Speaker 1: in the cart. And this is one that I use
Speaker 1: because I do not have Amazon Prime. Well, actually say that,
Speaker 1: I'm actually accidentally on a thirty day free trial of
Speaker 1: Amazon Prime right now, accidentally, So I had to buy
Speaker 1: something for bathroom renovation and I needed it here in
Speaker 1: a day, So Amazon was offering me a free trial,
Speaker 1: and I took it because I really needed that thing fast,
Speaker 1: and they'll offer me free trials of Prime like it
Speaker 1: seems like once a year. But so, yeah, I'm on
Speaker 1: Prime right now, but I've never paid for it, So
Speaker 1: I use this leave it in the cart until I
Speaker 1: get to twenty five dollars in my cart method all
Speaker 1: the time, just for that. But they're saying also, it
Speaker 1: gives you like a forty eight hour rule, so that
Speaker 1: you can, if you want something, put it in the cart,
Speaker 1: wait a couple days, come back, and if you still
Speaker 1: want it, then maybe then you can get it. I
Speaker 1: would say there's definitely some heartwork to be done in
Speaker 1: those forty eight hours, because sometimes I think I've done
Speaker 1: this and I can come back and be.
Speaker 3: Like, oh, yeah, I waited forty eight hours.
Speaker 1: I can reward myself with this thing that I didn't
Speaker 1: buy immediately.
Speaker 3: We don't want to do that, and I can buy
Speaker 3: something else to treat myself to get to the twenty
Speaker 3: five dollars. Yeah, so don't do that to yourself.
Speaker 1: But yes, leaving it in the cart, giving yourself that
Speaker 1: forty eight hours can be a useful tool to block
Speaker 1: impulse spending.
Speaker 3: And on the same train of impulse spending, this next
Speaker 3: tip is talking about how we can block shopping sites.
Speaker 3: I imagine this means you could just block any site
Speaker 3: that you would want to block. But for example, if
Speaker 3: you use Firefox to browse the web, you could use
Speaker 3: something called leech block. If you use Chrome, you can
Speaker 3: use an extension called stay Focused. I'm sure there's others
Speaker 3: out there as well, but you can tell them specific
Speaker 3: sites that you don't want to be able to have
Speaker 3: access to. So it's just another barrier to keep you
Speaker 3: from going on some of these sites that you know
Speaker 3: you may be more prone to spend money that you
Speaker 3: don't actually want to spend. And these are really training
Speaker 3: tools to hopefully get us to the point where we
Speaker 3: don't need kind of like this parent over us telling us, no,
Speaker 3: don't do that, but to just interrupt that initial trigger
Speaker 3: where we just find ourselves on these sites and we're scrolling.
Speaker 3: It interrupts that, and so this could be a really
Speaker 3: great tool. If you're in a debt payoff plan and
Speaker 3: you're really going hard at that and you really want
Speaker 3: to kind of eliminate all of these temptations, this could
Speaker 3: be something good, not necessarily something I would recommend long term.
Speaker 3: I think these are great tools for a short amount
Speaker 3: of time when we are having a specific goal. But
Speaker 3: I don't think we always need or want to have
Speaker 3: our hands tied behind our backs. But to understand our
Speaker 3: impulsiveness us more, to understand our spending habits more and
Speaker 3: eventually get to that point where we don't need an
Speaker 3: external resource keeping us from it. But this could be
Speaker 3: a really great beginning step to keep us from these
Speaker 3: sites we know we are most prone to spend at.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because if you want to buy something, you're going
Speaker 1: to turn the extension off. It's not difficult to do.
Speaker 1: So these aren't fail safes. They're more like if you
Speaker 1: are prone to kind of just like mindless scrolling or
Speaker 1: just habitual heading to Amazon, then this can be something
Speaker 1: that kind of like stops you. It's a pattern interrupt almost,
Speaker 1: that's all it is. But obviously, if you're destined and
Speaker 1: determined to buy something on a site, this isn't going
Speaker 1: to stop you. So yeah, for sure a short term
Speaker 1: kind of pattern interrupt tool. Next is to delete saved
Speaker 1: pain info. Again, not a fail safe, but just a
Speaker 1: pattern interrupt. It's it's kind of like, if you want
Speaker 1: it bad enough, will you get out of your chair
Speaker 1: and go get your card. For a lot of us
Speaker 1: who keep our cards on our phone, it's not as
Speaker 1: good of a pattern interrupt because these extensions for Chrome
Speaker 1: and Firefox, you can also get them on your as
Speaker 1: an app on your phone as well. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: what they're all called, but you can look for kind
Speaker 1: of stay focused type APICs like apps for your phone.
Speaker 1: But yeah, this is just a pattern interrupt. I would
Speaker 1: recommend the shopping blockers apps in sites probably more than this.
Speaker 3: And another kind of pattern interrupt is unsubscribed from retailer emails.
Speaker 3: You've heard us say this in the past. Really it's
Speaker 3: kind of declutter. What are these retail sites that you
Speaker 3: just don't need to be receiving emails from anymore, or
Speaker 3: what are the ones that are really tempting to be
Speaker 3: And I know there are some who will even send
Speaker 3: text messages when you maybe made a purchase and then
Speaker 3: ended up signing up and giving your phone numbers. So
Speaker 3: not only are they in our emails now, a lot
Speaker 3: of them are in our text messages, which is even
Speaker 3: more at the forefront for those of us who are
Speaker 3: kind of glued to our phones and so clearing all
Speaker 3: of that clutter, literally hitting that unsubscribed button to keep
Speaker 3: those emails from finding their way into your inbox so
Speaker 3: that you're not it's not this top of mind thing
Speaker 3: constantly as you go through your email. And instead, because
Speaker 3: we always know, we have to replace habits with other things,
Speaker 3: replace those emails with the friend letter podcast dot com
Speaker 3: slash friend letter yes, and unsubscribe from the other emails
Speaker 3: and only get the good, the good, juicy goods.
Speaker 1: M and I love unrolled dot me.
Speaker 3: Unroll me that rolls.
Speaker 1: Up all of your subscriptions, like the ones that you
Speaker 1: do want to keep, can roll those up into one
Speaker 1: daily email so that you only see them if you
Speaker 1: open that email. It's not just like you're heading in
Speaker 1: your email and you just inevitably see them by accident.
Speaker 1: So unroll me and the friend letter make your inbox.
Speaker 3: A safe space.
Speaker 1: Make it a safe space. And then the last one
Speaker 1: on this one, do some cleaning. One way to stop
Speaker 1: the urge to add to what you have is to
Speaker 1: go through what you already own. I loved this because
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have thought of that, but it does make
Speaker 1: so much sense. And we say it all the time,
Speaker 1: decluttering like you own what you need, You own it,
Speaker 1: You already own it, and so you can stop the
Speaker 1: urge to add to it if you go through what
Speaker 1: you own, not even doing decluttering if you don't want to,
Speaker 1: just going through it and maybe like organizing. So if
Speaker 1: there's a storage closet or a junk drawer or something
Speaker 1: and you're tempted to kind of go shopping on Amazon
Speaker 1: impulse spending, put the phone down, put the laptop down,
Speaker 1: and go to one of your drawers like you're If
Speaker 1: you have a hot sauce drawer like me, and just
Speaker 1: declutter it, organize it, clean your little hot sauce bottles
Speaker 1: and uh and yeah.
Speaker 3: Do that instead.
Speaker 1: You'll cut down on the clutter in your home. And
Speaker 1: you can be reminded of other things you've purchased that
Speaker 1: you haven't used and say, I am no different now
Speaker 1: than I was the day I bought this.
Speaker 3: So what's is a perspective. If your hands need something
Speaker 3: to do, fold the laundry, don't if you're play politition.
Speaker 3: I love folding the laundry while I'm watatching TV because
Speaker 3: it is a chore you can do sitting down. Not
Speaker 3: many chores give you such a benefit. Folding the launchers
Speaker 3: is true. That is a sit down, watch TV chore. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I would rather fold laundry than do dishes, so I'll
Speaker 1: give you that one. Yeah.
Speaker 3: But if you just want to be on your phone
Speaker 3: and you don't want to be shopping, play solitaire, or
Speaker 3: clean up your pictures, go through your pictures. I'm just
Speaker 3: gonna say that, delete all your green shots that you
Speaker 3: took for some reason, which they actually put those in
Speaker 3: a separate folder from all your other pictures.
Speaker 1: So you can literally just go to the screen shop
Speaker 1: shoulder and just start deleting things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no where You're gonna have to tell me that later.
Speaker 3: This is good. I'm getting tips, folder getting tised.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, we're learning. Let's continue learning with our
Speaker 1: second article from green Citizen on the twenty best online
Speaker 1: thrift stores find the best secondhand deals online. So instead
Speaker 1: of giving you another big box alternative like Walmart, Target,
Speaker 1: which again not evil, definitely serve a purpose. I shop
Speaker 1: online it I have shopped online at all of those places.
Speaker 1: I get all of my groceries online Walmart. But we
Speaker 1: want to introduce you to some online second hand stores
Speaker 1: that you may have forgotten or may not be acquainted
Speaker 1: with that you could check out first before heading straight
Speaker 1: to Amazon. What did you think of these options? We're
Speaker 1: not gonna go through all twenty no, no, yeah, but
Speaker 1: what do you think?
Speaker 3: Jill so great article. I'd recommend you go online to
Speaker 3: this article to learn what all of them are because
Speaker 3: there's there were so many that I did not know of.
Speaker 3: But most of them are clothing sites, so just be
Speaker 3: aware of that. We will highlight the ones that aren't
Speaker 3: because I know that those can be harder to find.
Speaker 3: Lots of people out here selling clothing, which is great
Speaker 3: because we love buying clothing. We will love buying used,
Speaker 3: pre owned, gently gently worn clothing, so that's great. And
Speaker 3: the first one that stood out to me I did
Speaker 3: not know about is called Beyond Retro. It is a
Speaker 3: UK based online thrift store, but they specialize in everything
Speaker 3: retro vintage clothing, so that represents the sixties all the
Speaker 3: way up to the nineties, which is great for all
Speaker 3: of us because we all love nostalgia and all of
Speaker 3: those decades are back. Really, I mean, you can dress sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties,
Speaker 3: and early two thousands and you are in which is
Speaker 3: you know, it's a great day to be alive. And
Speaker 3: if there's a particular decade that you really align with,
Speaker 3: you like wearing clothing from that time period, or you
Speaker 3: like clothing that looks like it's from that time period,
Speaker 3: you can actually get it and it be thrifted. It'd
Speaker 3: be kind of regiving it, giving it new life. So
Speaker 3: I like this one. I also like that they have
Speaker 3: a fourteen day return window. That's what always concerns me
Speaker 3: about through stores or consignment shops that can feel many
Speaker 3: do have policies that once you buy it, that's it.
Speaker 3: So I like that policy, especially when purchasing online, because
Speaker 3: we can never be quite sure is it going to
Speaker 3: work for me? Is it going to fit? So I
Speaker 3: thought that was a really nice return window if you
Speaker 3: don't end up liking it when it comes to your door.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of international options on here, so
Speaker 1: if you're Europe based or Canada based, this article has
Speaker 1: a lot for you as well. My first so it's
Speaker 1: a lot of clothing on here, so I'm going to
Speaker 1: pick as my first one shop Goodwill dot Com because
Speaker 1: they have obviously it's Goodwill, they have things other than clothing,
Speaker 1: so it's Goodwill like what you are familiar with. So
Speaker 1: I'm seeing jewelry, musical instruments, shoes, all kinds of things
Speaker 1: you can get collectibles, art, electronics, school things, games, and clothing.
Speaker 1: So if you are looking for something that is you
Speaker 1: would be happy to get at Goodwill, but you can't
Speaker 1: make a run to Goodwill. I would stop here first. Well,
Speaker 1: i'd stop your second. My next one is actually going
Speaker 1: to be my first pick, but.
Speaker 3: Jill, yes, my next pick is Patagonia Worn where. I
Speaker 3: like this for multiple reasons. I do really like Patagonia.
Speaker 3: The only Patagonia I own is from the thrift store
Speaker 3: or hand me down from a friend. But I like
Speaker 3: the brand, and I like their efforts towards sustainability. Their
Speaker 3: products are really good and long lasting. But I also
Speaker 3: really like this one because I find that I will
Speaker 3: spend more on some of these staple pieces of clothing
Speaker 3: or before a trip. So Patagonia is outdoor gear, So
Speaker 3: this is where you're going to find your hiking, your
Speaker 3: cold weather attire, and that is often where I find
Speaker 3: I will spend the most. Usually I'm okay with that,
Speaker 3: but if I can reduce the cost and still get
Speaker 3: a level of quality. That's fantastic. And so even if
Speaker 3: you're from a warmer climate state and you're going on
Speaker 3: a trip and you need good hiking boots or a
Speaker 3: new winter coat or your first winter coat ever. I
Speaker 3: love this idea of thrifting it but still getting a
Speaker 3: really quality product. And so Patagonia Worn whar is gently worn,
Speaker 3: even refurbished specifically Patagonia brand products, and so it is
Speaker 3: run by Patagonia themselves. People will send back their old things,
Speaker 3: Patagonia will refurbish them and sell them at a steep discount.
Speaker 3: So if there is a particular outdoors the attire that
Speaker 3: you are in need of, love this option first and
Speaker 3: you can find some really great stuff. They also have
Speaker 3: a program where you can send in your old if
Speaker 3: you happen to already own Patagonia stuff and you kind
Speaker 3: of want to exchange it, you can send in Patagonia stuff,
Speaker 3: get credits to be able to spend at their store,
Speaker 3: or you can just shop Patagonia Warnwear and get the
Speaker 3: things that you need that have been gently used at
Speaker 3: a discount. So love this one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of quality brands do this, and we
Speaker 1: always promote quality over quantity. If if you're spending more
Speaker 1: to buy something quality, you will spend less in the
Speaker 1: long term, but that high priced type can be a
Speaker 1: deterrent for a lot of people. So if there is
Speaker 1: something that you want, searching for something like Patagonia, Wormwaar
Speaker 1: or refurbished fill in the blank brand, you can usually
Speaker 1: find the brands like it's going to typically be a
Speaker 1: separate website than their main website because they don't really
Speaker 1: want to push their refurbished stuff as much. You may
Speaker 1: be able to find it at the bottom of a
Speaker 1: website in the foot or something, but search for the
Speaker 1: brand like Yetti. YETI does this with their coolers. You
Speaker 1: can get refurbished YETI coolers, all kinds of things, And
Speaker 1: it's that good in between of if you don't want
Speaker 1: to get it thrifted or used, but you also want
Speaker 1: to save a little bit of money off of brand new.
Speaker 1: This is that really good middle point. So I would
Speaker 1: say just kind of if you're thinking of a good
Speaker 1: quality brand, search that brand with maybe refurbished, and see
Speaker 1: if you can find that company's program like this one.
Speaker 1: The next one for me is not actually on the list.
Speaker 1: I am adding it to the list because I think
Speaker 1: it should be here, but it's eBay. You can get
Speaker 1: new and use stuff on eBay, and it is typically
Speaker 1: less expensive than Amazon and is just as reliable. eBay
Speaker 1: has been around for so long, and I always have
Speaker 1: good experiences. We have sold on eBay, purchased on eBay,
Speaker 1: and I try to stick to used items on eBay,
Speaker 1: but I've definitely gotten new things on there too. But
Speaker 1: I will always check eBay first. If there's something I
Speaker 1: know I want, I'll serve it. I'll find it on
Speaker 1: eBay first. If it's not exactly what I want, then
Speaker 1: I will go to Amazon. But more often than not,
Speaker 1: eBay will will have it, and you just have to
Speaker 1: double check to make sure that the shipping charge does
Speaker 1: not make it more expensive than Amazon. That's kind of
Speaker 1: the most common problem I have is that I'll see
Speaker 1: that it's cheaper on eBay, but with shipping it's a
Speaker 1: little it's the same price or whatever, so and then
Speaker 1: I just check the return policy.
Speaker 3: So yeah, but I.
Speaker 1: Always, I mean always have a really good experience buying
Speaker 1: on eBay.
Speaker 3: Yeah, You've done really well with eBay. It has inspired me,
Speaker 3: not to the point of action, but it is in
Speaker 3: my mind more now to think, oh, well, I wonder
Speaker 3: if I could sell this on eBay or yeah, purchase
Speaker 3: on eBay. I know Eric has in the past. Well,
Speaker 3: people think about it, use it for like auto parts
Speaker 3: and boat like those types of things where it's not glamorous,
Speaker 3: it's not something sexy that you're looking for, but yet
Speaker 3: to buy it new is so expensive that there are
Speaker 3: people parting out appliances, parts of owners that eBay is
Speaker 3: really excellent for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and people think of getting scammed on eBay, But
Speaker 1: I have never been scammed on eBay knock on wood.
Speaker 1: But I was recently scammed on Amazon. I purchased Yeah,
Speaker 1: Big A was the main the Big A?
Speaker 3: Did you dirty?
Speaker 1: I mean it wasn't the Big A. It was a sub.
Speaker 1: Like eighty percent of retailers on Amazon are not Amazon.
Speaker 1: They're small you know, business owners right and or bots.
Speaker 1: And so this was a bot that that posted something
Speaker 1: that was tagged on a main listing.
Speaker 3: So it was for a.
Speaker 1: Baby carrier that had like thirty thousand reviews And I
Speaker 1: didn't really care about the color, so I just picked
Speaker 1: the least expensive one and it ended up being from
Speaker 1: this seller that was not real. So it said that
Speaker 1: it had shipped the baby carrier to me and that
Speaker 1: I should have received it, but I never did so,
Speaker 1: and I kept emailing with them being like, please resend it,
Speaker 1: please resend it.
Speaker 3: It's not here.
Speaker 1: And looked at their reviews finally and had like three
Speaker 1: reviews and they were all one star saying they did
Speaker 1: the same thing. So Amazon gave me my money back
Speaker 1: as a credit, which I did, you know, use to
Speaker 1: buy a baby carrier, the same one from an act
Speaker 1: from actually like a shipped by Amazon, so that I
Speaker 1: mean it's on Amazon too. So eBay and sellers on
Speaker 1: eBay have been around a lot longer and so it's
Speaker 1: much easier to identify good sellers on eBay than it
Speaker 1: is to identify bad sellers on Amazon.
Speaker 3: Nothing safe, but that's that's a benefit though of this
Speaker 3: big online store, is that they will make it right.
Speaker 1: Then.
Speaker 3: Yes, sometimes you run into these smaller things, smaller shops,
Speaker 3: and it doesn't go well and there's no guarantee, so
Speaker 3: that's the there's trade offs. Yep, mm hmm, Okay. The
Speaker 3: last one I'm going to choose on here is another
Speaker 3: one I've not heard of before, but sounds interesting. They
Speaker 3: hooked me in the description. It's called Omnia it is,
Speaker 3: as this article describes a Brooklyn, New York based boutique,
Speaker 3: an online thrift store that has made a name for
Speaker 3: itself by hand picking modern romantic clothing specifically chosen for
Speaker 3: metropolitan women. Now I'm not entirely sure what a metropolitan
Speaker 3: woman is, but it intrigues me. And so they.
Speaker 1: Like a shirt that says metropolitan woman.
Speaker 3: Doesn't matter to stop that. Yeah, they us is to jumpsuits, jewelry, shoes, belts.
Speaker 3: They've got sales where you can find things for under
Speaker 3: fifty dollars, and then it sounds like they even will
Speaker 3: partition things out per category, maybe for the year. If
Speaker 3: you're trying to find something for a specific holiday to wear,
Speaker 3: there you go. There's also a ton of options on
Speaker 3: this list that I didn't highlight because it doesn't appeal
Speaker 3: to me. But if you are a person who loves
Speaker 3: luxury brands or name brands I don't know, like Prata
Speaker 3: is that one. There's tons of online retailers selling gently
Speaker 3: used luxury brand bags and clothing, so most of the
Speaker 3: ones on this list are that. So if that interests you,
Speaker 3: check out this article, which is linked in our show notes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we are not really like luxury brand people,
Speaker 1: but we are quality brand people.
Speaker 3: And sometimes they're not the same thing.
Speaker 1: And no they are not. So I will give my
Speaker 1: last one is Poshmark. I love so Poshmark is kind
Speaker 1: of like eBay for fashion, but you can also find
Speaker 1: some other things there. I have when searching for types
Speaker 1: of like particular items, I will see that the item
Speaker 1: because it's so particular, is posted both in Poshmark and eBay,
Speaker 1: same seller, less expensive on eBay, so like even with
Speaker 1: shipping and everything, just because they know their market on Poshmark. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but that's not always the case. So I love Poshmark
Speaker 1: again because it's like user generated, it's not big box.
Speaker 1: You're usually like I feel like you're helping other people.
Speaker 1: It's like other you know, girlies doing a closet clean
Speaker 1: out and they want to make a few bucks, they
Speaker 1: want to declutter, and you are helping them with that. Obviously,
Speaker 1: don't buy something just to like help somebody you don't know.
Speaker 5: In this case, it may not be this because sometimes
Speaker 5: they're just girlies out here flipping stuff that they found
Speaker 5: at a thread store and writing a job off of it,
Speaker 5: which is.
Speaker 3: Totally fine but awesome. Yes, it's not just them bit
Speaker 3: cluttering right, right.
Speaker 1: This is you're going for something specific, and yeah, I
Speaker 1: love Poshmark for that. It's going to be less expensive
Speaker 1: than like your thread ups or swap dot Com. But yeah,
Speaker 1: you can find those quality You can find the luxury too,
Speaker 1: those obviously are on there. But you're going to be
Speaker 1: able to find more of the quality brands that are
Speaker 1: not necessarily luxury on Poshmarks. So again, if you're looking,
Speaker 1: you know, like for a black dress for a date night,
Speaker 1: before you go straight to Amazon, try one of these
Speaker 1: other places real quick. Look at what they have spent
Speaker 1: ten minutes checking out alternatives before you go straight to
Speaker 1: the big A.
Speaker 3: And you know what's a big B that is really
Speaker 3: unspecific but free. The bill of the week.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 2: is Williams.
Speaker 3: Maybe you've paid off your.
Speaker 2: Mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to not
Speaker 2: have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 3: That bill Buffalo bills, bill claim.
Speaker 2: This is the bill of the week.
Speaker 4: Hi John and Jail. My name is Elena. I live
Speaker 4: in Virginia, and my bill of the week actually covers
Speaker 4: next couple of decades to I closed on my first house.
Speaker 4: I moved to the States almost seven years ago, and
Speaker 4: four and a half years in I got divorced and
Speaker 4: walked out with tactically nothing. And here I am two
Speaker 4: and a half years later, buying my first home. And
Speaker 4: I'm so excited about that. Also, today's February twenty second.
Speaker 4: February twenty first, I turned twenty nine, and I think
Speaker 4: it's the best gift I could possibly give myself for
Speaker 4: the last year of my twenties.
Speaker 3: All Right, thank you and Jill.
Speaker 4: Thank you for your podcast and the energy you give
Speaker 4: us your listeners every day. And I'm looking forward to
Speaker 4: here the next episode. Thank you, bye bye.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Allen, I thank you. I am so
Speaker 1: proud of you girl, just two and a half years
Speaker 1: to go through that, and to be at your owning
Speaker 1: your own home, and to just still be in your
Speaker 1: twenties doing all of this.
Speaker 3: Girl, Thank you, what big moves, how exciting You went
Speaker 3: through quite a big experience and transition and loss and
Speaker 3: overwhelm and then turned your situation around. I'm sure that
Speaker 3: wasn't easy easily accomplished. I'm sure it took lots of
Speaker 3: hard work. But what a feat to be closing on
Speaker 3: your own house, to know that you accomplished this on
Speaker 3: your own and you did it before turning thirty. I mean,
Speaker 3: who knows what's going to come in your thirties. Probably
Speaker 3: good things, that's what we're hoping for you. Thanks for
Speaker 3: sharing this amazing bill. We're celebrating with you. If you
Speaker 3: all listening have accomplished some really incredible things even in
Speaker 3: the midst of some diffent occulty and suffering. Or if
Speaker 3: you just are a person named Bill, we gotta have
Speaker 3: a bill.
Speaker 1: If your name is Bill, we'll jump you to the
Speaker 1: front of the list like you see you obviously now
Speaker 1: know we are always six months behind on these bills.
Speaker 1: We play every single one of them. If your name
Speaker 1: is Bill, specifically Bill Curtis, we will.
Speaker 3: Jump you to the front of Bill and I the
Speaker 3: Science Guy either Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill.
Speaker 3: Leave us a bill, a big B. That's what we're
Speaker 3: looking for, A big B. And now it's time for
Speaker 3: the big L or everything's big today, it's huge.
Speaker 1: I regret my decisions I don't made this morning.
Speaker 3: It has turned into it's donner. I love it.
Speaker 1: Okay, So most recent Amazon purchase, because just because we're
Speaker 1: trying to buy less on Amazon doesn't mean we don't
Speaker 1: shop on it. And again I did accidentally, I forgot
Speaker 1: to say the accident on that. I just said that
Speaker 1: I signed up for it. So the thing was is
Speaker 1: that I didn't actually need the thing. Travis told me
Speaker 1: I needed it, so I bought it, and then ten
Speaker 1: seconds later, as soon as I made the purchase, He's like,
Speaker 1: just kidding, that's the wrong thing, and so I canceled it,
Speaker 1: and now I still have the Amazon Prime.
Speaker 3: Okay, well, so just don't forget to cancel that before
Speaker 3: it starts charging you.
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, all right, Jill, what's your most recent Amazon purchase?
Speaker 3: A children's book? You know me, nobody is surprised. No
Speaker 3: one's surprised. For a friend's baby shower, we were giving books,
Speaker 3: like some of our favorite books, in lieu of a card,
Speaker 3: which is great for me because I don't like cards.
Speaker 3: I think they're pointless. I mean, i'll write you a note,
Speaker 3: but it's not going to be on a three dollars
Speaker 3: and forty nine cent card. I think that's ludicrous. I
Speaker 3: think it's the biggest cards. I just think it's cards. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so instead of doing that, which is all just going
Speaker 3: to get thrown away and all of them are just
Speaker 3: going to say congratulations, a you're going to be great parents,
Speaker 3: can't wait to watch you. Instead of that, it's children's
Speaker 3: book and then we write a little note to the
Speaker 3: child and that's that. So it was an out of
Speaker 3: state baby shower. So Amazon was convenient in that situation
Speaker 3: to be able to send the book to the location
Speaker 3: where the baby shower is going to happen because I
Speaker 3: had limited packing space to buy it from a bookstore
Speaker 3: and bring it with me. So that was the reason
Speaker 3: for going that route. But I don't shop on Amazon
Speaker 3: Munch to be honest, Eric does, but I don't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I definitely loved having Amazon for I like baby Registry.
Speaker 1: It was very convenient for that reason.
Speaker 3: And yeah's and it is convenient in renovations. Like you've
Speaker 3: already mentioned, I think sometimes Amazon will have things that
Speaker 3: you can't even find at a Lowser home depot or
Speaker 3: the option that's for lighting and faucets and different things
Speaker 3: that you just can't find, especially depending on your location.
Speaker 3: Not all of us have lighting outlets and plumbing outlets
Speaker 3: within a ten mile radius, and so having these options
Speaker 3: available is really nice, usually at a pretty inexpensive price.
Speaker 1: So yes, agreed. You Remember at my baby shower, I
Speaker 1: don't remember who it was you or someone else, was like,
Speaker 1: should I should I write down what everybody's given you,
Speaker 1: so like you can write thank you cards, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I am about to have a child and I'm not
Speaker 1: going to have time to write thank you cards.
Speaker 3: I loved that you said a boundary that was excellent
Speaker 3: and everyone accepted it. I mean, who cares whether or
Speaker 3: not they accepted it, but you spoke it out to
Speaker 3: the entire crowd and set your boundary, and I loved that.
Speaker 1: That's not what I said to the entire crowd. What
Speaker 1: I said was I love you all, and I appreciate
Speaker 1: you just coming and I'm so blessed by your gifts,
Speaker 1: and that's my thank you to you. That's what I said,
Speaker 1: something to that extent, and we essentially insinuating.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, someone didn't writing it down. Someone didn't need
Speaker 3: to write it down so that they weren't present in
Speaker 3: the moment, being able to enjoy conversation. You weren't pressured
Speaker 3: with writing notes, and people weren't filled with anxiety waiting
Speaker 3: for your note to come in the mail. They all
Speaker 3: then knew.
Speaker 1: Filled with anxiety, throwing it away, recycling it exactly because
Speaker 1: I that's what I do with cards is if I
Speaker 1: can recycle it, I recycle it. If I can't, I
Speaker 1: just throw it away.
Speaker 3: Yeah. There are very.
Speaker 1: Few cards that I keep, and they are from Travis's
Speaker 1: grandparents who are one hundred years old.
Speaker 3: But to our mother's chagrin, we do not pay.
Speaker 1: But yes, yeah, my mom, Okay, we'll tell you. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about this later the last So I'm not going
Speaker 1: to use this plumbing apparatus that I had to cancel
Speaker 1: ten seconds after I purchased, and that's not going to
Speaker 1: be mine. My most recent actual Amazon purchase was a
Speaker 1: dining bench. So we had our table that we got
Speaker 1: on Facebook marketplace that Travis loves and I tolerate, and
Speaker 1: we have four chairs, and we wanted to get a
Speaker 1: bench so that we'd have more seating because we're always
Speaker 1: pulling the office chair in whenever we have, you know,
Speaker 1: more than just four people. So finally got a dining
Speaker 1: bench essentially a dining bench because little butts can sit,
Speaker 1: you can sit more than two on it because they're children.
Speaker 3: Not little little a's until they're little a's.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, and so that's for them and then
Speaker 1: the adults can have the chairs. So yes, that was
Speaker 1: my last Amazon purchase. Wow, and I'm happy with it.
Speaker 3: Well done. We're on the lookout for a dining bench too,
Speaker 3: but hoping to find it at a thrift store her
Speaker 3: on Facebook Marketplace. We're holding out. It's been six months
Speaker 3: we've been looking for a dining table, like just just
Speaker 3: a table just to eat that we don't have that.
Speaker 3: We sit on our couch and stools to sit at
Speaker 3: our island. We don't have any of that. We either
Speaker 3: stand or we sit on the couch.
Speaker 5: But you know.
Speaker 1: What's what I wanted to go Facebook Marketplace because typically
Speaker 1: I get all my furniture there because it is just
Speaker 1: leaps and bounds better than anything you can buy online nowadays.
Speaker 1: And I just couldn't. But this bench was a very sturdy,
Speaker 1: solid wood bench. It's just unfinished so I can stain
Speaker 1: at the same color as the table. Nice and it
Speaker 1: just happened to be on Amazon. I wasn't even looking
Speaker 1: for it on Amazon, but this is where it happened
Speaker 1: to be.
Speaker 3: That's cool. Well, thanks everyone for listening. We hope you
Speaker 3: found some tips here to either interrupt your impulse spending
Speaker 3: or find alternative ways to get what you need. We
Speaker 3: really what we enjoy is reading all of your kinder views.
Speaker 3: We especially liked this one. This one comes from Merley Melsey,
Speaker 3: which is fun to say and it says love you guys.
Speaker 3: You've made topics I thought I could never understand accessible.
Speaker 3: You've made frugality, personal finance, and investing feel attainable. I
Speaker 3: enjoy you too so much. I love the banter and
Speaker 3: the thoughtfully given information. I can't say enough good things
Speaker 3: about this podcast. You have completely inspired me to take
Speaker 3: control of my finances dot dot dot dot dot and
Speaker 3: Jill's possessed voice saying learning around is a highlight for
Speaker 3: every episode. You got it twice in this episode. Thanks
Speaker 3: to early Melsie. Thank you for clearly pouring out so
Speaker 3: much love and care into this podcast. WHOA, that was
Speaker 3: a lot to read. My heart is so full. Thank
Speaker 3: you for that coming.
Speaker 1: My heart exploded and you have literally made Jill's five years.
Speaker 3: Thanks five years. We'll be running off of that.
Speaker 1: You wish you will be Oh my gosh, the possessed voice.
Speaker 3: That's this that's how you. That's it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is a highlight of your day and it's
Speaker 1: it's a toleration of mine.
Speaker 3: So I'm just kidding.
Speaker 5: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1: So thank you for listening, Merley Melsey, and thanks all
Speaker 1: of you for listening, And whether you leave a review
Speaker 1: or not, we hope that you feel like you can
Speaker 1: understand and access more of the stuff that has seemingly
Speaker 1: been gate kept, especially from women and the middle class.
Speaker 1: So if you did enjoy this show, if you do
Speaker 1: enjoy Jill's possessed voice, we would love for you to
Speaker 1: take a minute and leave a rating and review. It
Speaker 1: helps potential new listeners know what our show is all about.
Speaker 1: And if they don't like Possession, then they're probably not
Speaker 1: gonna like the Lightning Round and we don't want them
Speaker 1: to waste their time with us. If we're not their thing,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: About exorcism, then if they're.
Speaker 1: Not into Metropolitan women, then we don't you know, yea
Speaker 1: getting rid of the big a. Yeah, So it helps
Speaker 1: help other people know what they're getting into.
Speaker 3: Be a help, yes, or just sign up for the
Speaker 3: friend letters. See you next time.
Speaker 1: Gorugle Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3: Okay, did you want to say more about your mom?
Speaker 3: This is the same space.
Speaker 1: Okay, what were we What were we talking about?
Speaker 3: When I brought that up. I said, much to our
Speaker 3: mother's chagrin, that we don't keep cards.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, here it is so and you were there
Speaker 1: at my baby shower. You hosted my baby shower, so
Speaker 1: you know this story. But my mom had Kai pick
Speaker 1: out a card for me for my baby shower, and
Speaker 1: she just let him pick up any cards he wanted.
Speaker 1: So I didn't know this. And I am opening cards
Speaker 1: and maybe this is a good time to get a
Speaker 1: greeting card in this story. I will tell the story forever.
Speaker 1: But I'm opening you know, happy baby shower, yay baby,
Speaker 1: Oh so cute. And then I come to I opened
Speaker 1: this one and says sorry for your loss.
Speaker 4: I'm like what.
Speaker 1: I don't know where I was for this part, or
Speaker 1: maybe it wasn't sorry for your loss, but it was
Speaker 1: like no, it was like a goodbye card.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: It had a cute puppy on it and it said
Speaker 1: like we'll miss you, that's what it was. I was like,
Speaker 1: they would they would not put a cute puppy on
Speaker 1: a sorry for your lost card. So there was a
Speaker 1: cute puppy and it was like we will miss you,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, what where am I going? And I
Speaker 1: open it up and Kai has written his name in
Speaker 1: it and it says something, you know, like oh, We're
Speaker 1: really gonna miss you with something like that, and I'm.
Speaker 3: Like, what where?
Speaker 1: Why is my son saying goodbye to me? I'm reading
Speaker 1: this card in front of everyone and I'm so confused,
Speaker 1: but I'm it was when it finally clicked and my
Speaker 1: mom was like, oh, yeah, he he would not get
Speaker 1: a baby shower card for you. This was the card
Speaker 1: he was going to get for you. So maybe that
Speaker 1: if you're forced to get a card for somebody, if
Speaker 1: they're going to read it in front of people, like
Speaker 1: a bridle shower or a baby shower, that's the time
Speaker 1: to get a card that just says something completely random
Speaker 1: and throws them completely off.
Speaker 3: Because that was funny. That was our show. That was good.
Speaker 3: That was a good mom story. Mm hmmm, yes, good
Speaker 3: mom grandmom's story. I will also get if I do,
Speaker 3: because I do like writing no to people, and I
Speaker 3: will give thank you cards for various reasons. But thrift
Speaker 3: stores have cards and sometimes the best cards like the
Speaker 3: most random insane images on them. There are some of
Speaker 3: these vintage cards are like what is happening here? And
Speaker 3: you can not only send a thank you, but you
Speaker 3: can send some humor with it too, because who really cares? Again,
Speaker 3: it's going to end up in the bin, recycling bin,
Speaker 3: trash ban, some sort of bin. And if you can
Speaker 3: send something that is reused, inexpensive and brings joy from
Speaker 3: a thrift store, I love it.
Speaker 1: Yes, even if that card has somebody else's name in it,
Speaker 1: like love Love Mom or love Miriam card a used
Speaker 1: card where you just like cross out their name and
Speaker 1: put yours.
Speaker 3: Actually, oh, oh my gosh, that you're saying this. My
Speaker 3: grandmother used to do that. She would send me the
Speaker 3: same birthday card year over year. This was like when
Speaker 3: we lived close by to one another, and she would
Speaker 3: take back the card knowing that this is just gonna
Speaker 3: get thrown away otherwise, so she would take it back
Speaker 3: and keep writing the date in the upper left hand
Speaker 3: corner that she would send it to me. There's one
Speaker 3: birthday card that I got like four years in a row.
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, gosh, did I call her Gimba? Yeah,
Speaker 3: Gimba and you were up in the great depression. You
Speaker 3: know this is just a holder for the five dollars
Speaker 3: you're going to give me. So yes, I applauded it.
Speaker 3: I knew just what to do. She never lit the
Speaker 3: envelope so that she could reuse the envelope, put the
Speaker 3: card in there, and then I knew to give it
Speaker 3: right back to her and she'd write the date on
Speaker 3: it again, so I know that I got that card, like,
Speaker 3: oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: God bless Gimba, God bless Gimba.
Speaker 3: I love her. She is like savage and she's ready.
Speaker 1: Let's yeah, let's normalize no cards or reusing cards that.
Speaker 3: Other people have used, just to card from them, and
Speaker 3: God on to it for next year. I love that idea. Yes, okay,
Speaker 3: well so yeah