Speaker 1: Episode one sixty six, How to add Luxury to a
Speaker 1: frugal lifestyle. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll
Speaker 1: learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rice and liver with
Speaker 1: your life. Here your host Jen and Jill Mmm, welcome
Speaker 1: to this episode of the Frugal Friends podcast. My name
Speaker 1: is Jen, my name is Jill, And today we are
Speaker 1: doing another listener request about adding luxury. Because luxury and
Speaker 1: frugal typically are two words you do not put next
Speaker 1: to each other. But I like it because I love it.
Speaker 1: I like luxury, like the sound of it. I just
Speaker 1: don't want to pay I love luxury. Yeah, so there
Speaker 1: are ways to incorporate luxury into a frugal lifestyle, and
Speaker 1: we are going to talk about some of those ways,
Speaker 1: and they're pretty creative. I like this list that we found.
Speaker 1: I'm excited. But first, our sponsors, and this is probably
Speaker 1: the best sponsor we've ever had. Get ready for it.
Speaker 1: I've never been more excited for a sponsor in my
Speaker 1: entire life. Literally, stop what you're doing. Today's episode is
Speaker 1: brought to you by the future of Frugal Summit, pe
Speaker 1: Pe Pew. We are insanely excited to announce that registration
Speaker 1: is now open for our first ever Frugal Living Summit
Speaker 1: we and we believe it's the first of its kind,
Speaker 1: and the theme of this year is the future of
Speaker 1: frugal So we believe a frugal lifestyle is a solution
Speaker 1: to so many of the problems we face today and
Speaker 1: we'll face in the future, from overspending and overwhelm all
Speaker 1: the way up to climate change. And so we are
Speaker 1: bringing together twenty expert speakers we announced them last week
Speaker 1: over four days for this absolutely free virtual summit to
Speaker 1: help us and help our community make changes in our
Speaker 1: lives that promote choosing frugality enthusiastically and not just as
Speaker 1: a means to an end. So what I need you
Speaker 1: to do is I need you to pause this episode
Speaker 1: and go to Frugal Living Summit dot com to grab
Speaker 1: your spot. You're going to get a free goodie bag,
Speaker 1: you can join the pop up Facebook group where we
Speaker 1: will be giving over a thousand dollars in prizes. You
Speaker 1: that right, uh huh, And you'll also get an exclusive
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends listener discount on the all access pass because
Speaker 1: our speakers don't start promoting until they and so that
Speaker 1: discount will pop up once you register and ends June
Speaker 1: eleven pm probably specific standard time. But this all access
Speaker 1: passes not just all twenty interviews, but we've also collected
Speaker 1: thirteen products. Over half of our speakers gave products for
Speaker 1: this all Access passed from budgeting templates at Snowball, calculator,
Speaker 1: network trackers, budgeting and money management courses, like all kinds
Speaker 1: of things. So that's the goodie bag. That's the digital
Speaker 1: goodie bag right now. That is the all access pass.
Speaker 1: But all of our speakers also donated freebees that will
Speaker 1: be in the goodie bag, so you'll get free trials
Speaker 1: of things, welcome bonuses for apps and stuff, and then
Speaker 1: also guides and checklists and all kinds of things from
Speaker 1: our speakers that is in the goodie bag. But they've
Speaker 1: also given like courses and stuff that are available for
Speaker 1: purchase in one bundle, and so that discount is only
Speaker 1: available this weekend for Frugal Friends listeners. So again that's
Speaker 1: Frugal Living Summit dot Com pass. The episode we will
Speaker 1: wait New, New New, also brought to you by Fancy.
Speaker 1: It's a mindset, not a collection. That was it. That's it.
Speaker 1: That was all you had written down that's I'm so fancy.
Speaker 1: There's only I can't. I can't keep saying keep saying it. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's soon. Yeah, because you know I'm so pitch perfect. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know. All right, So I assume that you have
Speaker 1: signed up for the Frugal Living Summit already, So today
Speaker 1: we are going to talk about luxury and the Frugal lifestyle. Um.
Speaker 1: There is one episode I recommend queuing up to listen
Speaker 1: to after this, and that's episode one four, Identifying and
Speaker 1: Reversing Lifestyle Creep. Because there is a difference between natural
Speaker 1: lifestyle creep and living in intentional frugal lifestyle while inte
Speaker 1: a chily adding luxury. So those are two different things,
Speaker 1: so we want to identify them and make sure that
Speaker 1: our pursuit or intentional pursuit of luxury isn't just lifestyle
Speaker 1: creeper lifestyle inflation. Yes, thanks for balancing that, Jen, hold
Speaker 1: that tension. Yes. So let's get into our headlines. And
Speaker 1: this first one is a really, really good one. It's
Speaker 1: from Stephanie O'Connell dot com and she has got a
Speaker 1: really comprehensive list of fifty five ways to upgrade your
Speaker 1: lifestyle on a budget and Stephanie is actually someone I know.
Speaker 1: She knows luxuries to lives in New York City. She
Speaker 1: chooses to live in New York City because she loves
Speaker 1: it and it's one of her intentional spending decisions, and
Speaker 1: so she has a lot of good ideas for how
Speaker 1: to be luxurious on a quote unquote budget. Yes, so
Speaker 1: what do you think of this articulture? I mean, it's
Speaker 1: so lengthy and I love pretty much all of the
Speaker 1: tips on here, so it's definitely worth checking out because
Speaker 1: we don't have time to go through like all fifty
Speaker 1: five of these tips, but I like how she breaks
Speaker 1: it down into categories. So we will touch on all
Speaker 1: the different categories and then you can dig deeper if
Speaker 1: you're curious. So the first category of how to get
Speaker 1: at luxury experience without maybe the luxury price tag that
Speaker 1: we would typically associate to it is within travel. Yes,
Speaker 1: what was your favorite within this section? Gen? I loved
Speaker 1: the first one and we have specifically done this. It's
Speaker 1: live large in cheap places, so you want a luxury vacation,
Speaker 1: but find a country where your dollar can stretch, and
Speaker 1: so we did that when we went to Bali. It
Speaker 1: costs us money to get over there, and now we
Speaker 1: would use credit card rewards. We didn't then, but that
Speaker 1: would have. I mean that was our biggest expense when
Speaker 1: we got over there. Everything was super affordable. It was great,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, that was something we live large in
Speaker 1: a cheap place. Yeah, I love all the tips on here,
Speaker 1: so I will direct you here. But I really like
Speaker 1: the suggestion of going off season. If you have a
Speaker 1: place that you really want to go but it is
Speaker 1: typically super expensive to get there, consider going maybe in
Speaker 1: the colder months, especially because if it's if it's a
Speaker 1: country that's a customer cold, there's usually really great activities.
Speaker 1: My husband's cousin actually lives in Alaska, and I know
Speaker 1: a peak travel time is July, but she actually says,
Speaker 1: come in the winter, like we are built for cold
Speaker 1: here and you're going to be able to see the
Speaker 1: northern lights and explore glaciers and do all of these things.
Speaker 1: And so that's on our radar, and it's much more
Speaker 1: affordable to go at a different time, whether it's Alaska
Speaker 1: another place. Even off season doesn't even necessarily mean that
Speaker 1: you're skimping on good weather. Sometimes it just means it's
Speaker 1: not summertime anymore. So kids are back in school and
Speaker 1: it's not peak travel season for everybody, so consider going
Speaker 1: outside of your holiday weekends and summers if possible. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can save potentially up to fifty on travel costs
Speaker 1: when you're going to the destination in their quote unquote
Speaker 1: off season. And this can be true for travel rewards
Speaker 1: cards like using points to So we're going to try
Speaker 1: and go back to Mexico in December, but if we
Speaker 1: tried to go this summer, it would be like ten
Speaker 1: thousand more points per night. And so just by waiting
Speaker 1: to go to December, the weather is actually better because
Speaker 1: hurricane season is June through November, so we're you know,
Speaker 1: almost guaranteed, you know, knock on wood, fingers crossed, there
Speaker 1: won't be any hurricanes. Versus can't guarantee that late summer
Speaker 1: and fall, so it's still beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: and we're actually saving points. And so that's another credit
Speaker 1: card perks or another thing on this list, and honestly
Speaker 1: that allows us to travel how I mean, we we've
Speaker 1: flat coach, but we travel to nice hotels and nice
Speaker 1: cities because our credit card perks. Yeah. The next section
Speaker 1: is beauty. So we're just taking a hard left turn
Speaker 1: here from travel and getting some luxurious experiences. Uh inexpensively
Speaker 1: for travel. But now we're gonna talk about beauty because
Speaker 1: that's like the next category on here, one of the
Speaker 1: ones that I liked on here. So simple but by
Speaker 1: top shelf now polish, So getting nails done is so expensive.
Speaker 1: It's not really really something that that I do hardly. Ever,
Speaker 1: I'll do it myself and that does give me a
Speaker 1: luxury experience and look for not the price, but I
Speaker 1: will also I will second this having the nicer polishes
Speaker 1: do last longer. And I recently just got a really
Speaker 1: great base coat. I like googled how to make your
Speaker 1: manicure last longer, and I got the bassecoat that they recommended,
Speaker 1: So I don't know, it was maybe like eight dollars,
Speaker 1: so definitely not You're not the cheapest thing on the planet.
Speaker 1: But my manicure, my at home manicure last like a
Speaker 1: week now, so yeah, that's luxury. Yeah. I've been really
Speaker 1: wanting to try like an at home dip manicure, I know,
Speaker 1: merely from Easy Budget. She posts on Instagram about it
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I want to try that. She's also
Speaker 1: one of our speakers at the summit, So yeah, but
Speaker 1: I really would. I would spend more there to have
Speaker 1: something it lasted, But most of the times I just
Speaker 1: go naked. Nails my favorite one in this section because
Speaker 1: I'm not like a big beauty person because you just
Speaker 1: woke up like this. Yeah, I guess maybe I'm not
Speaker 1: a big beauty person because I takes me so much
Speaker 1: time and effort that I just can't be passionate about it.
Speaker 1: But get student massages. So I've actually done this before.
Speaker 1: We have a massage school right by our house and
Speaker 1: they consistently need people for their students to practice on.
Speaker 1: So look up massage schools in your area and find
Speaker 1: online when they have their student clinic sessions. I guess
Speaker 1: I love this one. I just sent Eric to do
Speaker 1: this like last month because he kept complaining about how
Speaker 1: about his shoulders hurt, and I'm like, well, I'm not
Speaker 1: rubbing him. No, sometimes I will. He's nice to me,
Speaker 1: I'll be nice to him. But I did this and
Speaker 1: it was like thirty bucks for eighty minutes, and you're
Speaker 1: not allowed to tip because their students practicing, So you
Speaker 1: pay just a fraction of the cost for the experience
Speaker 1: of getting a massage. Yeah, absolutely, So then we go
Speaker 1: down to fashion, and I really like become an expert thrifter,
Speaker 1: but instead of maybe like not just sticking to thrift stores,
Speaker 1: but also checking your threat up and your posh mark
Speaker 1: and your eBay, Like nobody thinks about eBay for fashion,
Speaker 1: but it's there, and like all of those, so knowing
Speaker 1: what you want, like the really nice quality stuff and
Speaker 1: looking for it at cheaper places, like if the stuff
Speaker 1: is made to last, then it shouldn't have this notion
Speaker 1: where some people have like I don't buy a secondhand
Speaker 1: because I want the close to last longer, which is
Speaker 1: accurate if you are used to buying old navy. But
Speaker 1: if you are buying really good quality stuff, it's made
Speaker 1: to last and you can afford to buy its second hand.
Speaker 1: And then that paired with the other tip that I
Speaker 1: love on this one is try a capsule wardrobe or
Speaker 1: just have a capsule wardrobe. You don't just need to
Speaker 1: try it out, just do it. It's that concept of
Speaker 1: those pieces of clothing that you wear that make you
Speaker 1: feel so amazing. You just love that dress, that card again,
Speaker 1: that those that pair of jeans. What if that was
Speaker 1: just your wardrobe? What if your favorite pieces that you
Speaker 1: felt great in, that felt luxurious was your wardrobe. I
Speaker 1: get this all so I would consider myself to have
Speaker 1: a capsule wardrobe. I know the definition is different for everybody,
Speaker 1: so it's not like, oh, I've counted it all out.
Speaker 1: It's like five things. That's not entirely true, but it's
Speaker 1: very minimal. And people always think that I'm dressed up
Speaker 1: all the time, like you're always so dressed up, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is just my clothes. It's all that
Speaker 1: I have. I mean, I have clothes I can work
Speaker 1: in because mind you, I'm also doing renovations on the weekend.
Speaker 1: But it does it. It makes me feel like luxurious
Speaker 1: and fancy and just put together on the regular even
Speaker 1: though I work remotely. So I am all about this
Speaker 1: capsule wardrobe thing, which is also all about quality over quantity.
Speaker 1: So finding the really great pieces, maybe spending a little
Speaker 1: bit more, but they're gonna last longer you love them.
Speaker 1: It's all you wear, and even better if you can
Speaker 1: thrift those awesome pieces and they last long. M Yes,
Speaker 1: my other favorite on this one is to buy fake diamonds,
Speaker 1: so specifically Moissonnite. She She mentions, I didn't think I
Speaker 1: was a diamond girl like I do. I love my
Speaker 1: engagement ring, but it's always super dirty, so it doesn't
Speaker 1: like look like a diamond anymore. But I got a
Speaker 1: pair of moistonite earrings from my mom for Christmas, and
Speaker 1: I am obsessed with them. They are so shiny and
Speaker 1: pretty and I'm so into it. I'm like, I would
Speaker 1: like more shiny jewelry. I want more of it? Yeah? Please? Yes? So, um,
Speaker 1: I have really been eyeing, like, I don't know when
Speaker 1: I would ever wear this, but like a you know,
Speaker 1: fake diamond tennis bracelet seems so classy. I have no
Speaker 1: reason or I ever go anywhere to like wear something
Speaker 1: like that. But but yeah, so fancy but so fake
Speaker 1: but still so pretty. Yes, yes, and who cares? Because also,
Speaker 1: diamonds aren't actually a rare thing. We've just made it
Speaker 1: rare so we can be the ones who shift the
Speaker 1: tide in like, whether it's fake or not quote unquote fake,
Speaker 1: is it pretty great? Will it last long? Awesome? Um?
Speaker 1: Let's do it. Yeah, diamonds are not a girl's best friend.
Speaker 1: Friends are a girl's best Frugal friends are even better.
Speaker 1: The next category. We're just we're just beebopping all over
Speaker 1: the place with this luxury conversation, but home, how to
Speaker 1: make home feel luxurious? There's so many things that I
Speaker 1: love on this list, it is going to be kind
Speaker 1: of hard for me to pick one, but I'm gonna
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do the one that sticks out to me
Speaker 1: at the start, which is take amazing showers, which I
Speaker 1: will add to this, don't waste water so you can
Speaker 1: still enjoy your shower and not be in the shower
Speaker 1: for hours. But I like their recommendation for upgrading your
Speaker 1: shower head. Eric and I have done this at like
Speaker 1: every single place we've states. We've got the shower head
Speaker 1: that's like both. I mean, we already have amazing water pressure,
Speaker 1: so it just makes it so nice. We've got the
Speaker 1: handheld and then like the rain shower above you. And yes,
Speaker 1: it feels likeluxury every single morning at home, or like
Speaker 1: every three days with spur Real. But you you upgrade
Speaker 1: small things to be high quality, like even your door knobs,
Speaker 1: you switch them out, and it's such a small thing
Speaker 1: and it makes a big difference. It makes the home
Speaker 1: feel very put together. The shower head thing, I cannot
Speaker 1: even even just replacing your shower head with one that
Speaker 1: you can pull off right, not just the nozzle thing,
Speaker 1: but the kind that can become handheld even if you
Speaker 1: don't have double shower head, making it the handheld one.
Speaker 1: And that's as easy as unscrewing your old thing and
Speaker 1: screwing in a new thing, and it gives you luxury. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I like this one because I've always wanted to do
Speaker 1: it but I never have. And it's by original art,
Speaker 1: so not getting a picture of Amsterdam from Ikeia, but
Speaker 1: like an original piece of art from a newly established
Speaker 1: or merging artists, So not only will you have something unique,
Speaker 1: but it might be worth a lot one day. And
Speaker 1: I'm quoting her on that, but honestly, I just think
Speaker 1: like supporting local artists is really fun, especially up and
Speaker 1: coming ones. Or you can make your own, like abstract art.
Speaker 1: I've been seeing that a lot online that seems really cool, yeah,
Speaker 1: or getting really neat art at thrift stores or yard sales.
Speaker 1: I have found some really great stuff. Actually. The picture
Speaker 1: that's behind me in like every single Summit video you'll
Speaker 1: see when you sign up for the summit, the Lioness
Speaker 1: and her cub. That little drawing is from a thrift
Speaker 1: store and I love it. I love it too. I
Speaker 1: have been watching it in every single recording, but I
Speaker 1: mean ever because we watched. I mean, we see each
Speaker 1: other when we're recording these episodes, and I'm I like,
Speaker 1: specifically look for it, Like the other day we recorded
Speaker 1: and you did not have it behind you, and I
Speaker 1: felt like like our episode was missing that lioness energy.
Speaker 1: It defines this room. Actually that same artist I was
Speaker 1: able to get. There's a koala and a little koala
Speaker 1: bear and a duck and a duckling. So it's like
Speaker 1: this collection of mother animals and their little babies and
Speaker 1: it's all the same style. I really love it. So
Speaker 1: it's like this room has that theme in it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I have two canvases with plants on them or like
Speaker 1: leaves really in my living room, and those yeah they're great.
Speaker 1: They're from Goodwill. They're the only plants that can really
Speaker 1: keep alive. And because they are pictures of plants, so good,
Speaker 1: so trendy. So I also like to create a home
Speaker 1: bar on this. I love. Of course you do. I
Speaker 1: glast Yeah, you actually do have a home bar. I don't,
Speaker 1: but I would love one. I just you know, with
Speaker 1: a toddler. They're not the best, but yeah, you gotta
Speaker 1: keep it high up out of reach. We're behind a
Speaker 1: locked cabinet. Okay. The next one is groceries. Oh man,
Speaker 1: we've got so many episodes on this, so we won't
Speaker 1: spend long here. But man, they've got some great ideas
Speaker 1: for again, specifically luxury. So we're not just talking about
Speaker 1: saving on things, but when you want a luxury experience,
Speaker 1: and there's so many good things here. How to pick
Speaker 1: grow your own fresh herbs. That talk about luxury experience
Speaker 1: when it comes to home cooked meals if you are able. Certainly,
Speaker 1: dry herbs are a great replacement. It helps us get
Speaker 1: by when we're just being frugal. But if you can
Speaker 1: actually use the fresh time, the fresh rosemary, the fresh basil,
Speaker 1: that is luxury in your mouth. So grow your own,
Speaker 1: put it in your food. Thank me later. Yes, I
Speaker 1: like only drink the best cheap wine, so like looking
Speaker 1: up with the best wine under ten today. I actually
Speaker 1: ordered a ten dollar bottle of rose from Walmart. You
Speaker 1: ordered it well my grocery pick up. Yeah, but I'm
Speaker 1: typically only doing the three dollar winking out um, so
Speaker 1: ten dollars was very It felt very fancy for me,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited to try it. Something I've learned with
Speaker 1: bottles of wine, and they can't do it every time.
Speaker 1: But looking at the points, if there is a point rating,
Speaker 1: like usually anything above ninety points, I've not been disappointed
Speaker 1: a lot of times. If they do have a rating,
Speaker 1: they'll advertise it on their own label like points. I
Speaker 1: don't know, it's some you can correct me and my
Speaker 1: friend our Frugal Friends community group on Facebook, but it's yeah,
Speaker 1: it's basically like wine. Connoisseurs give ratings to wine and
Speaker 1: anything above ninety points has not been disappointing, and you
Speaker 1: can find those bottles for yeah, maybe around ten dollars absolutely.
Speaker 1: Next category entertainment and dating. So we are not familiar
Speaker 1: with dating. I wasn't familiar with dating while I was dating,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, I was familiar with frozen beans. So
Speaker 1: watching a movie someone's basement, Yeah, take away the basement
Speaker 1: for me and just add somebody else's living room. That's right,
Speaker 1: there's no basement here. So we'll just think entertainment and
Speaker 1: friends because we do have friends, So I like the
Speaker 1: first one indulged in free luxury experiences. So you can
Speaker 1: look for free and discounted nights like at like events
Speaker 1: in your city. So in this case, it makes sense
Speaker 1: to get on mailing lists. So if there's a museum
Speaker 1: or an opera or a theater or something luxurious in
Speaker 1: your city, be on their mailing list because then your
Speaker 1: first to know if they have any free events or
Speaker 1: discounted events or even giveaways of tickets and stuff. So
Speaker 1: definitely join those mailing lists if you're interested in anything. Yes,
Speaker 1: I love those free events. So many really great ideas
Speaker 1: on here too, like the fanciest happy hours, that kind
Speaker 1: of our favorites. It allows us to go to really
Speaker 1: nice restaurants for a for action of the cost if
Speaker 1: you can get there between like four and seven, where
Speaker 1: you can kind of try out some of a really
Speaker 1: great restaurant's menu for not at all what they would
Speaker 1: typically charge. We've got one of our favorites in this
Speaker 1: area and we still can't go there on the RAG,
Speaker 1: but it is that luxury experience every now and again, yeah,
Speaker 1: for far less expensive. Another one on this one, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have quite a few on this category. Visit open
Speaker 1: houses in nice parts of town. The nice houses, you
Speaker 1: have to dress a little nice, so they know that
Speaker 1: you're not joking. Where all of your diamond rings. They
Speaker 1: won't know they're not really all your yeah, all your
Speaker 1: moisture night tennis bracelets. But yeah, and they will usually
Speaker 1: have a snack. Uh huh. And it's just so cool
Speaker 1: to like look at the views and look at the
Speaker 1: fixtures and like knowing it's totally out of your price range.
Speaker 1: I say, you know, it's totally out of my price range. Um,
Speaker 1: I will never you know, put in an offer, but
Speaker 1: like it's cool to like pretend I'm living in the
Speaker 1: lap of luxury. Yeah, exactly, just like the next one.
Speaker 1: Hang out. No hotel lobbies, I do. I like hotel
Speaker 1: lobbies and sometimes their bars are really good. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean that's true. That's true. And they might think you're
Speaker 1: checking in and offer you like a free glass of champagne. Maybe,
Speaker 1: I don't know, probably not. Do you have anything else
Speaker 1: on this list? I like the picnic I'm always like
Speaker 1: a I don't go on many, but I like the
Speaker 1: idea of them, like pack bree and some baguettes and
Speaker 1: put it in a basket and just go to the park. Yeah,
Speaker 1: go to all. Do you get the fanciest Charcuterie because
Speaker 1: you know you can afford it there, and like, yeah,
Speaker 1: go to the park or this last one, and I'm
Speaker 1: just offended that it wasn't your favorite, Jill, watch a
Speaker 1: sunset at the beach. Oh, you're right, hate because I
Speaker 1: didn't want to put it in there because I didn't
Speaker 1: want to make people feel excluded who don't live near
Speaker 1: the beach. It's kind of unfair that you and I
Speaker 1: live six minutes from the beach. But yes, that is
Speaker 1: the date that Jen and I met on was beach
Speaker 1: at sunset, so beautiful. It's a great luxurious thing to do,
Speaker 1: better than frozen pizza in the basement with Eric. That's
Speaker 1: neither of us were on We were on dates, though,
Speaker 1: we were again just hanging out with friends. So that's yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know what dating is anymore. Anyways,
Speaker 1: let's move on to our next one. Highly recommended this article.
Speaker 1: I don't always like fully recommend checking out our goals
Speaker 1: after we've you know, debriefed them, but this one does
Speaker 1: have a lot more good ones we didn't get to.
Speaker 1: So this next one is from financial Samurai, and I
Speaker 1: don't always agree with everything he said, as I feel
Speaker 1: he's a little out of touch, But this is one
Speaker 1: of those articles. It's like things that are worth spending
Speaker 1: more money on for a better lifestyle, And I did
Speaker 1: agree with some of these the things. When I was
Speaker 1: doing research for these articles, I found a lot of
Speaker 1: lists that were very subjective. It was like, one are
Speaker 1: the things that you should spend money on, like for quality,
Speaker 1: one are the things that pay for themselves and stuff.
Speaker 1: And it was all things that were very subjective to
Speaker 1: the writer. So this was kind of the most neutral
Speaker 1: article I can find. What did you think about a Jill? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't say that I agree with everything on it,
Speaker 1: but I think it's worth looking through and deciding for
Speaker 1: you as an individual, for me as an individual, what
Speaker 1: resonates with me, and really helping to find that permission
Speaker 1: of yes, this is valuable. It's okay to spend more
Speaker 1: for something that's going to have long term benefit return
Speaker 1: on investment, will potentially save money in the long run,
Speaker 1: because a lot of times we think, like, just get
Speaker 1: the least expensive thing, but in the long run it
Speaker 1: ends up costing a lot of money because we've had
Speaker 1: to buy multiple of them, and they've broken regularly, and
Speaker 1: we've had to fix them you name it. So yeah,
Speaker 1: overall I like it, but I think that ultimately the
Speaker 1: goal of this is just to help us to think
Speaker 1: through where for me personally can I spend more Where
Speaker 1: do I feel the permission for myself because of the
Speaker 1: reasons that I mentioned. Absolutely, And that's where we come
Speaker 1: back into this values based spending. You have to determine
Speaker 1: what your core values are so that you know what
Speaker 1: you can feel confident about spending more money on versus
Speaker 1: what are the things that you can totally eliminate. Some
Speaker 1: of the things that stood out to me on here,
Speaker 1: which is like penetrating for me personally, is medical relate
Speaker 1: it like it is worth taking care of ourselves. That
Speaker 1: that is something that goes to the wayside. I don't
Speaker 1: know why I have this mental block for medical things
Speaker 1: not being valuable to me, but I do want to
Speaker 1: care for myself and I want to end up with
Speaker 1: massive medical bills because I wasn't doing routine maintenance on myself.
Speaker 1: They list out vision and dental care being common ones
Speaker 1: for people, which of course that's the case because they're
Speaker 1: commonly not in medical insurance plans. Go figure, that's a
Speaker 1: whole other topic, but it's important to get contacts, glasses,
Speaker 1: you name it, whatever it is that you need to
Speaker 1: care for your eyes because seeing is really important. It's
Speaker 1: important to I like how they even mentioned with the
Speaker 1: dental care, it's not even just about going to your
Speaker 1: routine cleanings, but making sure your home maintenance clean your
Speaker 1: home maintenance, your regular daily maintenance of yourself is top notch.
Speaker 1: So not just the manual toothbrush, but considering that um
Speaker 1: electric toothbrush that actually helps to clean your teeth better.
Speaker 1: In between each session at the dentist, I will give
Speaker 1: two tips for dental and vision. I have been able
Speaker 1: to get my vision and my teeth. Check your mystery shopping,
Speaker 1: so you can go to Presto Map. Just google it
Speaker 1: like Presto Map mystery shop and you can look in
Speaker 1: your area to see if there are any vision or
Speaker 1: dental mystery shops and you can get some free checkouts.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Thanks. So my favorite and what probably sold
Speaker 1: me on the article was the first one on here
Speaker 1: is mattress. And you spend so much of your time sleeping,
Speaker 1: or at least you should that it is very important
Speaker 1: to get a good mattress. And that doesn't mean you
Speaker 1: have to spend a lot. There are so many companies
Speaker 1: now that are online and they're selling really affordable mattresses.
Speaker 1: We it's a great time to be alive and be sleeping.
Speaker 1: So yeah, we got ours actually from somebody who buys
Speaker 1: those mattresses from the companies after somebody returns them from
Speaker 1: within their hundred day trial. So we bought one of
Speaker 1: those from a guy in a warehouse. So you don't
Speaker 1: have to be like us, but you can get you know,
Speaker 1: a cheaper mattress, but make sure it's good. I will
Speaker 1: affirm this, Eric and I have been on a mattress saga.
Speaker 1: I think it finally ended when we when we moved
Speaker 1: here to Florida and bought ourselves a mattress. But I
Speaker 1: will say we solved our mattress problem for a time
Speaker 1: when we got a really good mattress topper. So this
Speaker 1: could be an alternative for somebody who is not in
Speaker 1: the market to splurge on a mattress. But you know,
Speaker 1: the mattress you have isn't great consider invest so I'm
Speaker 1: not just talking about like a mattress pad, but an
Speaker 1: actual mattress topper can add some of the support and
Speaker 1: comfort that you might be looking for at a for
Speaker 1: action of the cost asolutely. That's my tip. We all
Speaker 1: have our little additions to these articles. Yes, so another
Speaker 1: one on here is prime property. So going back to
Speaker 1: our episode with Mindy and Scott with tips for home buyers,
Speaker 1: like like, location is important when you are buying a property,
Speaker 1: and so it may cost you a little extra to
Speaker 1: get If your intention is to to buy a home
Speaker 1: that you will eventually sell, and you have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to get something in a little bit more prime location
Speaker 1: that might appreciate faster, then that could be definitely worth
Speaker 1: the money. Because location is for sure the most important
Speaker 1: part of a buying equation. It is worth splurging on.
Speaker 1: Like if you're on a main road, if you got
Speaker 1: a really good deal, that also means you're probably gonna
Speaker 1: have to sell it for a really good deal. So
Speaker 1: maybe that maybe you're fine with that, but also keep
Speaker 1: that in mind. Yeah, I think it's more it's important
Speaker 1: to look at the appreciation rates for different areas. So
Speaker 1: if you're looking between a place that has eight percent
Speaker 1: appreciation rate versus ten or twelve, but the ten twelve
Speaker 1: obviously is a little more expensive than like, you may
Speaker 1: still make out on top if you go with that
Speaker 1: more expensive location, if you're planning to sell another thing
Speaker 1: that can be worth splurging on, you know me home appliances.
Speaker 1: I I'm such a spokesperson for this because home appliances
Speaker 1: you use them all of the time. So yes, I
Speaker 1: am talking about practically anything when it comes to home appliances,
Speaker 1: whether it's like fridges or washer dryers, dishwashers, ovens, even
Speaker 1: your smaller things blenders, you know, I love my blender.
Speaker 1: Cut Stone on food waste, love making my smoothies. Everyone's
Speaker 1: so tired of hearing about this, But you will save
Speaker 1: more in the long run. And these things that you're
Speaker 1: using constantly, if you do your research, you might spend
Speaker 1: a little bit extra, but in the long run, you
Speaker 1: save because you're not constantly replacing your smaller home appliances,
Speaker 1: are constantly fixing your larger home appliances. Now this is
Speaker 1: a general rule. I know there's lemons out there, but
Speaker 1: this is definitely something to keep in mind with your things.
Speaker 1: With motors, your things, you have to plug into an outlet.
Speaker 1: Just yeah, do your due diligence and keep in mind
Speaker 1: that it also costs money to keep replacing things, but
Speaker 1: you've got a great deal on your refrigerator and that's
Speaker 1: an awesome fridge. Oh yes, So that's another tip is
Speaker 1: to look into your like scratch in dent appliances. So
Speaker 1: if you've got like a Sears hardware scratch in dent,
Speaker 1: it's all cosmetic. All of these clients is still work,
Speaker 1: but they're very high end. So we got like a
Speaker 1: five thousand dollar fridge like for seventy eight percent off
Speaker 1: just because it had some dings on it. So we're
Speaker 1: stoked about that. Yeah. Absolutely, So there definitely is a way,
Speaker 1: like you can get the best of the best with
Speaker 1: like a little scratched or dent and then just put
Speaker 1: your meal plan, which has then helped me to be
Speaker 1: a plan. It's just this whole frugal cycle. Um, my
Speaker 1: last one on this list, and I think you will
Speaker 1: appreciate this. Jill is wellness, but specifically I would say
Speaker 1: therapy and counseling face. We put that on the back burner,
Speaker 1: like first thing we put on the back burner when
Speaker 1: we're trying to save money, But it can change your
Speaker 1: entire life. It can change how you feel about your life,
Speaker 1: Like you could be in the same position and by
Speaker 1: talking out something with a counselor or a therapist, feel
Speaker 1: completely different about your situation and the only thing you've
Speaker 1: changed is your perspective because they gave you some tools
Speaker 1: for reframing. Like and that I'm not saying that will
Speaker 1: happen with everyone, but like, that's something that that can do.
Speaker 1: So if if you feel like you may benefit from it,
Speaker 1: then I believe it's it's something that it's priceless. Oh goodness,
Speaker 1: because that affects were whole people. So every area of
Speaker 1: our life affects every other area, but particularly when we're
Speaker 1: dealing with mental health concerns, emotional health concerns, that really
Speaker 1: can have quite a weighty impact on all the rest
Speaker 1: of the way that we journey through life and how
Speaker 1: we feel about things, how we approach things, how we're
Speaker 1: interacting with people. So yeah, you really can't put a
Speaker 1: price tag on that. If you're not feeling well mentally
Speaker 1: or emotionally, that is worth paying for help and support
Speaker 1: and encouragement. And yeah, let's end on that one. I mean,
Speaker 1: these other ones are decent, but sure, and you know
Speaker 1: what else is the best that we always highlight thello
Speaker 1: we that's right, it's time for the best minute of
Speaker 1: your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his
Speaker 1: name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgains. Maybe
Speaker 1: your car died and you're happy to not have to
Speaker 1: pay that bill anymore. Stuck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clint,
Speaker 1: this is the Bills of the week. Hey Dan and Jill,
Speaker 1: this is Nigan calling from South Florida and my Bill
Speaker 1: of the week is none other than Bill Murray. UM.
Speaker 1: Thanks to your advice for joining local Facebook groups, I
Speaker 1: found out that Bill Murray was doing a special presentation
Speaker 1: of his America's program for teachers in my county for free. UM.
Speaker 1: So I was able to go. And as a child
Speaker 1: of the eighties, that was fantastic to see Bill Murray live,
Speaker 1: singing and telling stories and reading poetry for free. UM.
Speaker 1: A frugal COVID safe evening out. Thanks to your advice.
Speaker 1: Love the podcast, keep it up. I share it with
Speaker 1: everyone I can. Love you guys, have a great day.
Speaker 1: By Bell Murray. Oh my gosh, that makes my heart
Speaker 1: so happy. First is that you chose Bill Murray. And like,
Speaker 1: I don't know why Bill Murray has never been like
Speaker 1: a Bill of the Week before, but like it's a
Speaker 1: long time coming. I think there was a time when
Speaker 1: we had hoped that maybe Bill Murray himself would be
Speaker 1: our bill of the week. But this is that as
Speaker 1: I have best, so this is for sure second best.
Speaker 1: And the fact that like we changed your life, like
Speaker 1: I allowed by giving you that experience. Oh it's so good.
Speaker 1: Thanks for calling in ensuring your bill of the week.
Speaker 1: Who is a person We love the creative ones and
Speaker 1: for the act the frugal activity you got to engage
Speaker 1: in and how much you loved it. All right, our
Speaker 1: second one, Hijn and Jill. This is Olivia from Denver, Colorado,
Speaker 1: and just wanted to say I love your show. And
Speaker 1: my bill of the week is actually two full old.
Speaker 1: So the first bill of the week is that I
Speaker 1: was able in August to buy my first UM town
Speaker 1: house by myself here in Denver as a single woman,
Speaker 1: which I was very proud about. And so the first
Speaker 1: bill would be that I get to pay my mortgage
Speaker 1: every single month and that feels like such a blessing,
Speaker 1: um like an opportunity to build wealth. So I'm very
Speaker 1: excited about that. And then the second bill is that
Speaker 1: with this house UM comes a lot of home improvement
Speaker 1: projects as you both well know, and I was thinking
Speaker 1: about decorating my bathroom or renovating my bathroom, i should say,
Speaker 1: and was wondering how I could do that in the
Speaker 1: most frugal way possible. So of course I have a
Speaker 1: tub and tiles surround. That's from the nineteen seventies when
Speaker 1: this house was built. It is all of green, and
Speaker 1: I was thinking to myself, how do I get this
Speaker 1: to not be all as green? Well started googling and
Speaker 1: found the option of tub reglazing, so ended up deciding
Speaker 1: to go with a tub reglazing service. It was going
Speaker 1: to be eleven and I was able to negotiate them
Speaker 1: down to nine. So that is my second bill of
Speaker 1: the week. That's awesome. Oh my gosh. I was really
Speaker 1: scared that you were going to say, like you, you
Speaker 1: painted it, because we got painted tubs and they did
Speaker 1: not last. But a reglazing, yes, that's awesome. And negotiating
Speaker 1: a reblazing price, that's amazing. And owning a town from
Speaker 1: home by yourself finding that that wealth and equity love it.
Speaker 1: Well done, great bill. These were definitely some great bills.
Speaker 1: So many good bills all in in place. If you've
Speaker 1: got a good bill, Um, you want to share it
Speaker 1: with us, visit for girl Friends podcast dot com. Slash
Speaker 1: Bill tell us about your bill. We're so looking forward
Speaker 1: to hearing it. And now it's time for m not that.
Speaker 1: So today we are talking personally about how we add
Speaker 1: luxury to our lives without spending lavishly. So I love luxury.
Speaker 1: I'm a spender. I mean, I'm frugal, but like I
Speaker 1: love quality things, you know, I just love it. So
Speaker 1: my thing is travel rewards points. It allows me to
Speaker 1: like stay in places and travel to places I was
Speaker 1: never able to as a kid, and do it for
Speaker 1: really inexpensively. So, like we are planning to go back
Speaker 1: to our favorite all inclusive resort in Mexico and pay
Speaker 1: you know, very little to get over there, nothing to
Speaker 1: stay there, obviously nothing while we're there because the resorts
Speaker 1: are inclusive. I've been able to stay at the park
Speaker 1: Hyat and I got to taste what an espresso is.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, Jill an espresso makers. Those are where that yes,
Speaker 1: And we're about to go to Maine and we're going
Speaker 1: to be staying right downtown, right on the water for free.
Speaker 1: Like so these are just really rich experiences that I
Speaker 1: get to have and I don't have to save or
Speaker 1: like you know, spend a lot of money to experience them.
Speaker 1: I cannot hi like what you're saying enough, I don't
Speaker 1: want to repeat you, but similar for me, it's how
Speaker 1: I get to experience some really great things. I mean,
Speaker 1: even with the credit card that we have, we get
Speaker 1: to utilize some of the lounges in airports because of
Speaker 1: our rewards credit card, and so yeah, that feels very
Speaker 1: luxurious also for me. Okay, So the thing about luxury,
Speaker 1: since you asked, it's special, right, So not just I
Speaker 1: mean some of these things, yes, I'll do every day,
Speaker 1: but there's an element of not just constantly getting everything
Speaker 1: that you want. And that's part of the frugal mentality,
Speaker 1: is like living with intention, identifying your values and saving
Speaker 1: for that and investing in that. But then for me,
Speaker 1: luxury a lot of times is defined by simple pleasures
Speaker 1: and rituals that just feel really special and set apart
Speaker 1: for me. So I do have a lot of these
Speaker 1: things in my life. It's funny to like talk through
Speaker 1: this episode because yeah, this is really important to me,
Speaker 1: just these special things that are simple. So some of
Speaker 1: those things include when I can not all the time,
Speaker 1: but sometimes I'll get some fresh flowers, either from the
Speaker 1: grocery store the local farmers market. Usually it's around when
Speaker 1: I have guests in town, and that's like my little
Speaker 1: special excuse to like get fresh flowers and have them
Speaker 1: in my house. I love putting some fresh squeezed lemon
Speaker 1: in my water in the afternoon. I really enjoy drinking
Speaker 1: our own pour over coffee. We are a little bit
Speaker 1: of coffee snobs, but that's just because our very best
Speaker 1: friends are like coffee roasters and it's their fault. But
Speaker 1: drinking coffee on my porch in the morning and listening
Speaker 1: to the birds. Also, my grandmother taught me this one lipstick.
Speaker 1: She is on Polish, lived through the Depression, her parents
Speaker 1: immigrated here to the United States, and she's a very
Speaker 1: simple woman. But she always wore lipstick, always had lipstick
Speaker 1: in her purse. And I think she kind of taught
Speaker 1: me this little trick, just this little beauty hack that
Speaker 1: can make you feel, i don't know, luxurious and beautiful.
Speaker 1: So I love lipstick. I will often have all kinds
Speaker 1: of colors actually, just like too because I'm minimalist two
Speaker 1: and I limit myself having hand lotion in my purse
Speaker 1: that smells good. And also for me, gift giving feels
Speaker 1: like luxurious, something that is extra and it's special. And
Speaker 1: so having some of these hacks like keeping gift wrapping
Speaker 1: in my car so that I can deliver gifts to
Speaker 1: people when the mood strikes, and these are the simple
Speaker 1: things for me that are a part of my everyday
Speaker 1: ritual and routine and just feel so special. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: didn't talk about generosity, but that is truly like can
Speaker 1: make you feel luxurious. You don't think about it, but like, yeah,
Speaker 1: when I'm giving not just an automated gift to a
Speaker 1: church organization, but actually giving a gift card or giving
Speaker 1: a gift to someone not on their birthday, not because
Speaker 1: it's expected, but just because they're in need or you
Speaker 1: want to like, that's that's luxurious. Yeah, it's extra, it's special,
Speaker 1: it's above and beyond, it's luxury. Yeah. So I love
Speaker 1: that you included that, and I love all of your
Speaker 1: little luxurious things. So we would love to hear what
Speaker 1: your little luxuries are in our Facebook groups. So Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends Podcast dot com slash group to join and thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening and leaving your kind of views.
Speaker 1: We feel luxurious reading all of your reviews, So like
Speaker 1: this one from Teaching over the Rainbow forty one. It's
Speaker 1: titled chatting with Friends just happens to be five stars
Speaker 1: quality information delivered in simple, digestible chunks, perfect for anyone
Speaker 1: with a frugal mindset in finance, consumerism, and environmental sustainability.
Speaker 1: These ladies bring it full circle. Jen's finance background and
Speaker 1: Jill's mental health background make this the perfect blend of
Speaker 1: actionable steps you can take to bring frugality into your life.
Speaker 1: Jen and Jill are relatable in a way that feels
Speaker 1: like my friends are chatting on our car pool to
Speaker 1: work in our paid off use car, drinking coffee we
Speaker 1: brought from home coffee it is. It's still coffee. All
Speaker 1: mine is instant coffee and it is a paid off
Speaker 1: used card. You know. Sames, Sames, what a beautiful We
Speaker 1: also want to thank our friends who share these episodes
Speaker 1: on social media. So when you share the latest episode
Speaker 1: and tag us on Facebook or Instagram, we're adding you
Speaker 1: to our monthly drawing. Here's what the monthly drawing is.
Speaker 1: For every five tags and reviews we get each month,
Speaker 1: we give away a copy of the Frugal Friends workbook
Speaker 1: one in five Chances. So keep leaving us reviews on
Speaker 1: iTunes or stitcher, sending the screenshot to Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com, and don't forget to tag us
Speaker 1: on social. See you next week. Be Fancy, Frugal Fancy.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian. I love being fancy,
Speaker 1: and I love how fancy the summit is going to be. Oh,
Speaker 1: and the summit makes me feel fancy. Just saying that
Speaker 1: word makes me feel fancy, Like we're having a summit,
Speaker 1: like we're climbing to the top. If you have a
Speaker 1: wallet that's short five hundred dollars, then you're definitely going
Speaker 1: to want to attend this summit. Because one of our sponsors,
Speaker 1: Cube Money, is hosting a five hundred dollar cash giveaway.
Speaker 1: I can't even believe the reality of this. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars that's no small thing. I mean, I
Speaker 1: would do whatever just to try to win ten dollars.
Speaker 1: I mean not whatever. I do have standards and boundaries,
Speaker 1: but like, I would do a lot of people to
Speaker 1: win ten dollars. I can't even imagine what people are
Speaker 1: going to do. I can exciting want to see a
Speaker 1: penny on the ground, So we're saying you might win
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars cash money us D. We are giving
Speaker 1: away books. We are giving away three memberships to our
Speaker 1: new exclusive member community, our Accountability community, and those are
Speaker 1: going to be some coveted spots. So we are giving
Speaker 1: away a lot of things in addition to amazing amazing
Speaker 1: like experience and wisdom. It was an honor and a
Speaker 1: privilege to just chat with some of these people that
Speaker 1: we have coming on. So I'm so excited to share it.
Speaker 1: Me too. Can't wait, Jen Love to be on this
Speaker 1: luxurious journey with you. Yes, you bring luxury to my life.
Speaker 1: Frugal Living Summit dot com by y'all