Speaker 1: Episode Tips for Living on an extremely low income. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, and live with your life. Here your host
Speaker 1: Jen and Jill. M m m m m m m
Speaker 1: m m m m m m m m m mmmm.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are talking about
Speaker 1: living on a low income. So a lot of the
Speaker 1: tips we give are accessible and useful and a low income,
Speaker 1: but not always. Sometimes when you have an income problem,
Speaker 1: you need to live and process in a different way
Speaker 1: just to get through the season you're in. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: when we ask what do our listeners want to hear
Speaker 1: more on, this one does come up of Okay, we
Speaker 1: we've heard about frugality, and we've heard about how to
Speaker 1: make the most of your money, but what happens when
Speaker 1: you're on an extremely low income. We've got a couple
Speaker 1: of things to say to that that you'll hear throughout
Speaker 1: this episode. But also I just want to highlight, at
Speaker 1: least for me personally, I have been there. So this
Speaker 1: episode I think is pretty near and dear to my
Speaker 1: heart because I have felt the pinch of a very
Speaker 1: low income, and I'll share more about that throughout this episode.
Speaker 1: So I know that there is empathy for you in
Speaker 1: this place and hopefully some very tangible tips and also
Speaker 1: some encouragement and motivation for you. Yeah, neither of us
Speaker 1: come from a lot of money, and so both of
Speaker 1: us going out on our own started out with very
Speaker 1: low incomes and so well, I've personally never been on
Speaker 1: government assistance. Still, being on a low income is something
Speaker 1: that's near and dear to our heart because we understand
Speaker 1: that it doesn't come with the same possibilities and accessibility
Speaker 1: as having enough to dos. So we want to empower
Speaker 1: you and encourage you in ways that you can live
Speaker 1: now and make it through now and get stronger now,
Speaker 1: and also improve where you're at, you know, not just
Speaker 1: cut your grocery budget and stuff like that. So we
Speaker 1: want to give you some really relevant tips that are
Speaker 1: going to be really relevant for you in particular. But
Speaker 1: first got to give love to our sponsors, The Frugal
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Speaker 1: guidance on topics ranging from decluttering and increasing your income
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Speaker 1: gone through in pairs or small groups. That's why every
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Speaker 1: Frugal Friends Podcast dot com slash Workbook. You get the
Speaker 1: last day to get that, so do it today. If
Speaker 1: you're listening on January, Yes, and today's episodes also brought
Speaker 1: to you by New Year's resolutions. Remember those the goal
Speaker 1: you made a month ago to do this or stop that.
Speaker 1: Studies show that people give up on their resolutions by
Speaker 1: the end of January, but your resolutions want you to
Speaker 1: know that you don't need a new year or even
Speaker 1: a new month to recommit. You can get back on
Speaker 1: track today and when something else comes up forgive yourself,
Speaker 1: recommit again, and get better as you go. New Year's resolutions.
Speaker 1: Don't be making the same one next year because you've
Speaker 1: already accomplished it. So clever New Year's Resolutions, Thank you,
Speaker 1: Thank you for sponsoring. Before we get into the articles,
Speaker 1: we have an interview with Sarah Wilson, better known as
Speaker 1: budget Girl on YouTube budget girl dot com and that's
Speaker 1: episode seventy four, and she was able to pay off
Speaker 1: thirty three thousand dollars of debt on a twenty dollar salary.
Speaker 1: So if you are living in that arena, I think
Speaker 1: you will get a lot out of Sarah's interview. That's
Speaker 1: one of our most popular interviews, so definitely put that
Speaker 1: on your listen next in your playlist, But we want
Speaker 1: to kind of do a non interview type episode that
Speaker 1: is kind of packed with tips too. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: she's a great person to follow. It's a great episode
Speaker 1: to look into. And I'm excited about this first article
Speaker 1: that we're also going to be talking about together Jen,
Speaker 1: because this is a woman that we also interviewed, maybe
Speaker 1: not specifically on living on a low income, I think
Speaker 1: maybe more going the perspective of raising young children on
Speaker 1: a one income salary, so still very relevant content, so
Speaker 1: check her out. But this next article comes from Caroline Vencil.
Speaker 1: Caroline and her family of five left on a seventeen
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year. They were family of four at
Speaker 1: that time, but now they are a family of six
Speaker 1: and they still only live on one income. But for
Speaker 1: a very long time, Caroline was a teen mom and
Speaker 1: they lived on her husband seventeen thousand dollar a year income,
Speaker 1: which I think, Jill, that was, I mean similar to
Speaker 1: your income at one point. Yeah, I got Eric's permission,
Speaker 1: Eric's husband to share. I asked him just before this episode.
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, we're talking about living all the low income.
Speaker 1: Can I share this? And He's like, yeah, totally, but
Speaker 1: thanks for asking. And this is pretty recent for us
Speaker 1: to In two thousand eighteen, our take home pay was
Speaker 1: eighteen thousand dollars. So when I say I can commiserate
Speaker 1: with the pinch and the difficulty, like, I mean it,
Speaker 1: and thankfully we had a place to live and we
Speaker 1: had food and we were provided for and it was
Speaker 1: not easy and it required creativity and all of the things.
Speaker 1: But when we say like, yeah, we get it, we've
Speaker 1: been there, Like we're not saying we get it. We've
Speaker 1: been there, like we've made fifties sixty grand a year,
Speaker 1: like eighteen thousand dollars in two thousand eighteen take home pay.
Speaker 1: So oh, I can relate to a lot of the
Speaker 1: things that Caroline mentioned in this article, and I think
Speaker 1: yeah can also comment on some of the things that
Speaker 1: worked for us. We did not, thankfully stay in that place.
Speaker 1: So fast forward to and we are bringing in a
Speaker 1: lot more money than that, and a lot of that
Speaker 1: took intentionality and took a lot of different efforts on
Speaker 1: our parts to not stay in that place. So that's
Speaker 1: another piece that I think we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: on this episode today of are there ways to not
Speaker 1: stay in this place? We understand some of the different
Speaker 1: dynamics that would lead us to be in a place
Speaker 1: where we are living below the poverty level, but also
Speaker 1: shifting mindset, finding opportunities, honing in skill set to not
Speaker 1: continue to find ourselves in this place year after year.
Speaker 1: And again, that looks different for everybody. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that you have to aim at being a millionaire
Speaker 1: or even making six figures, but living below the poverty
Speaker 1: line is not a place that we want to set
Speaker 1: up exactly. But Caroline goes into detail about the things
Speaker 1: that she and her family did while they were living
Speaker 1: on seventeen thousand a year to make it through those
Speaker 1: multiple years that they had to do that. So the
Speaker 1: first thing that she goes over is they had to
Speaker 1: prioritize and so this one is really really important. What
Speaker 1: needs to happen. Do you need a new car or
Speaker 1: is the one you have doing just fine? You just
Speaker 1: like a new car or even smaller? Do you need
Speaker 1: the full price brand name products or can you go
Speaker 1: for the generic or maybe even make it yourself? So
Speaker 1: there are a lot of things, or even I would
Speaker 1: go and step further and be like, do you really
Speaker 1: need the products that you are buying? Or can you
Speaker 1: skip a week, skip a month, or do without get
Speaker 1: creative and skip it. Caroline says, we learned pretty quick
Speaker 1: that if we want to displurge, we need to plan
Speaker 1: ahead for it. So but if splurging meant that our
Speaker 1: grocery budget would take a hit, we would opt for
Speaker 1: a night of frozen pizza and Netflix. So I think
Speaker 1: that's it's really important to point out that you don't
Speaker 1: have to be living on rice and beans, beans and Rice, Like,
Speaker 1: you can have little treasures, but A you have to
Speaker 1: plan ahead for them and budget for them, and be
Speaker 1: they have to be proportionate to the income you have
Speaker 1: coming in. You know, a night at Carrabas may not
Speaker 1: be in your best interests in this season of your life.
Speaker 1: And it's different for everyone. The things that people tend
Speaker 1: to get tripped up on are different for everyone. So
Speaker 1: you just have to be aware of, Okay, what are
Speaker 1: the things that I like that I'm over spending on
Speaker 1: and how can I still incorporate them into my life
Speaker 1: but do them for cheaper, less expensive? Yeah? And the
Speaker 1: next one, I think it connects with the prioritizing aspect,
Speaker 1: and that is live below your means. Okay, So I
Speaker 1: just I need to pause here because I know that that,
Speaker 1: like even inside me, it gives me this like cringe
Speaker 1: defense mechanism, like pops up of like what are you
Speaker 1: talking about? Live well my means? If I'm making eighteen
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year, twenty thousand dollars a year, Like, no,
Speaker 1: this is not possible, and so yes, I want to
Speaker 1: acknowledge that. So depending on where you find yourself on
Speaker 1: an extremely low income, what that means for you in
Speaker 1: the area that you're living. But I still want to
Speaker 1: highlight this concept of not approaching it from what all
Speaker 1: can I buy? But where can I cut? And recognizing
Speaker 1: that sometimes okay, so I'll speak for myself. When in
Speaker 1: this place of being very tight financially, whether it was
Speaker 1: making eighteen thousand in a year or maybe thirty thousand
Speaker 1: in a year doesn't matter at all, felt pretty tight
Speaker 1: to us. I had this idea on the back of
Speaker 1: my head, like this is so difficult, this feels like
Speaker 1: such a pinch, like I deserve something here for all
Speaker 1: my hard work, for like how much I've sacrificed for
Speaker 1: how little I actually get to have in life. And
Speaker 1: that would mean that sometimes I would blow my budget
Speaker 1: on certain things. And this is I know that a
Speaker 1: lot of financial people will talk about cutting coffee and
Speaker 1: everyone's like, that's not gonna make you rich, and it's like, no,
Speaker 1: it's not. But for when we're living on extremely low incomes,
Speaker 1: that can quickly derail a budget if we are thinking
Speaker 1: that we're just going to treat ourselves in this way
Speaker 1: or that way, or it might lead us to a
Speaker 1: mindset of making payments, and so we might get a
Speaker 1: nicer car than what we can actually afford because we're
Speaker 1: just making payments, and so recognizing where our mindset is
Speaker 1: at and shifting to a mindset of how can I
Speaker 1: approach this as if I'm going to spend less than
Speaker 1: what I'm bringing in, and even if you can afford,
Speaker 1: even if you do get a little bit extra money
Speaker 1: that you weren't anticipating in instead of maybe going out
Speaker 1: for a nice dinner, that might mean how do I
Speaker 1: put this aside for savings or how do I pay
Speaker 1: off a bill? Again, it's not easy. It's not a
Speaker 1: place that we want to live for a really long time.
Speaker 1: But I think approaching it in this way and also
Speaker 1: approaching it in a way of how do I not
Speaker 1: stay here can help us make those sacrifices along the way.
Speaker 1: If this isn't forever, and that's another thing we want
Speaker 1: to emphasize that it shouldn't. Your mindset shouldn't be I'm
Speaker 1: going to live on a low income forever. Even if
Speaker 1: you are in a job or position that is historically
Speaker 1: low paying, that doesn't mean that you have to be
Speaker 1: living on a low income forever. Jill is in a
Speaker 1: profession that is historically low paying social work rights going
Speaker 1: to call it out. I'm a social worker, yeah, and
Speaker 1: still prioritized increasing her income. And so this is a
Speaker 1: big mindset asp to this too. You are living on
Speaker 1: a low income right now, but you are not a
Speaker 1: low income person. This is separate from you. And so
Speaker 1: this is a season that you are in in life.
Speaker 1: And I think even when you start to separate yourself
Speaker 1: from that mindset, it becomes easier to actually live below
Speaker 1: your means because you're you're living below your incomes means,
Speaker 1: not necessarily living below your means like it's like it's forever.
Speaker 1: Because when you think it's forever, and when you see
Speaker 1: no way out, that's when you start to overspend on three, four, six,
Speaker 1: eight dollar purchases because you need something to hold you over,
Speaker 1: something to reward yourself, because you see no way out
Speaker 1: of this low income trap. But when you start to
Speaker 1: separate yourself from this and start to put your attention
Speaker 1: and focus on getting out of that and just seeing
Speaker 1: this as the season that it is, you can say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I can give up all this stuff for however long
Speaker 1: it takes, because I won't be here forever. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And so we're gonna be weaving in some of these
Speaker 1: mindset shifts along with tangible tips. The next one on
Speaker 1: this list is a more tangible tip of what do
Speaker 1: we do when we are in those places of low
Speaker 1: income and maybe it's going to be a few years
Speaker 1: before we do even see a way out shop only
Speaker 1: discount nearly. Make this a rule across the board for yourself.
Speaker 1: So if you need clothing, you need some furnishings, you
Speaker 1: need you name it secondhand, so Goodwill, go to Facebook marketplace.
Speaker 1: Of course, we are only talking necessities like my shoes
Speaker 1: are completely worn out. I need a new pair of
Speaker 1: shoes Goodwill. And again these are tips for extremely low
Speaker 1: income earners. Remember this is this is who we're talking
Speaker 1: to right now. That these are the spots that you
Speaker 1: need to be going to to find a discount grocery store.
Speaker 1: And if you don't have one in your area, look
Speaker 1: for by nothing groups. Look for farmers markets for swaps
Speaker 1: like what do they call those where you can like
Speaker 1: work at a farm and also take home some of
Speaker 1: the produce. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you. Find a
Speaker 1: co op. Find a way to cut cut cut your
Speaker 1: grocery bill. If you've not found in if you've not
Speaker 1: done all the yet. Yes, all the is your best friend,
Speaker 1: and so are by nothing groups, discount grocers, and of
Speaker 1: course scratch indent places. So you know this is definitely
Speaker 1: getting into some more like if you own your home
Speaker 1: and appliance breaks, holy smokes, scratch indent. If you actually
Speaker 1: need to replace something or build up skill sets problem
Speaker 1: solving YouTube d I Y fix it yourself is also
Speaker 1: your best friend. Look into fixing that thing first, or
Speaker 1: figuring out how to go without, or check your buy
Speaker 1: nothing group for the thing that you need before you
Speaker 1: jump to purchasing or replacing. I would say, wash your
Speaker 1: clothes by hand before you move to how do I
Speaker 1: buy this new washing machine? When we are living bare bones,
Speaker 1: our mentality needs to be bare bones at that point,
Speaker 1: with the focus on how do I not stay here?
Speaker 1: Tell them about your your scratching dent appliance. Oh yes,
Speaker 1: so Eric and I just moved into a home. We
Speaker 1: were able to purchase a home this past year and
Speaker 1: the fridge needed replacing, and so we went to Sears
Speaker 1: outlet has scratch in dent, So let's look for one
Speaker 1: in your area. This if you're in need of this,
Speaker 1: But there's a big old den on the front door
Speaker 1: of this fridge, and so we got like a sixty
Speaker 1: to seventy discount off of what this refrigerator would normally be.
Speaker 1: And so I just so we bought it because there's
Speaker 1: nothing else wrong with it other than cosmetics. And I
Speaker 1: just got a magnet chalkboard for the front of it.
Speaker 1: And now it also forces me to meal plan, so
Speaker 1: you don't even notice the death anymore. I put up
Speaker 1: this black magnet a meal plan, so it's like a
Speaker 1: win win win across the board because now I'm more
Speaker 1: plan full with what we're going to eat, which also
Speaker 1: helps me to save money. And I got a really
Speaker 1: dope appliance for super inexpensive. I love that story, and
Speaker 1: I love your refrigerator. And one more thing on shopping
Speaker 1: discounting secondhand, thrift stores are not just for clothes. You
Speaker 1: can get almost anything from a thrift store, and thrift
Speaker 1: stores aren't your only way to get secondhand stuff. I
Speaker 1: love shopping eBay. We got so so much stuff, and
Speaker 1: I almost love eBay more than thrift stores because it
Speaker 1: takes a long time for me to search in a
Speaker 1: thrift store. I don't love shopping, so I don't love
Speaker 1: searching for things in thrift store. But if there's something
Speaker 1: I know I need and then I can instantly go
Speaker 1: on eBay and search for its secondhand and it comes
Speaker 1: up and I get it. Like we did this recently.
Speaker 1: We bought a sleep sack for when Kai was an
Speaker 1: infant um to help him sleep through the night, and
Speaker 1: it was forty dollars new. It was thirty dollars at
Speaker 1: our baby consignment shops founded on eBay for twenty So
Speaker 1: I love eBay for that. When you need to buy
Speaker 1: something that is hard to find at a thrift store,
Speaker 1: still look for secondhand first, because literally there's almost nothing
Speaker 1: that we buy firsthand now. And I want to point out,
Speaker 1: like Jill and I still do these things because these
Speaker 1: are habits we cultivated when we didn't make a lot
Speaker 1: of money. So if you adopt these habits now, later
Speaker 1: on you can pick and choose what you want to
Speaker 1: take with you and it's going to free up so
Speaker 1: much of your income later on. And connected with this again,
Speaker 1: I want to highlight that if you're living on an
Speaker 1: extremely low income, purchasing items is not something you should
Speaker 1: be doing, all right, And this this ties in with
Speaker 1: the next tip, which is rethinking necessities. When you're living
Speaker 1: on a low income, you are really focused on the
Speaker 1: basics transportation to your job so that you can make money,
Speaker 1: food shelter bills. That's it. And if that sounds tough, yeah,
Speaker 1: it is, and it is a reason and a motivator
Speaker 1: to be creative and look for ways to not stay
Speaker 1: at an extremely low income. But while you're there, you
Speaker 1: need to be rethinking necessities. So this means even down
Speaker 1: to paper towels, Do I really need to buy paper towels?
Speaker 1: Or can I be using rags? Can I be making
Speaker 1: use of reusable items? Do I really need to be
Speaker 1: buying detergent for a month? Caroline gives us an example
Speaker 1: fifteen dollars for detergent for a month versus twelve dollars
Speaker 1: to make your own for the whole year, and she
Speaker 1: has a link to how to do that, how to
Speaker 1: make your own detergent. So this is the type of
Speaker 1: mentality that we need to be taking on of. How
Speaker 1: can we reuse, how can we d I y, how
Speaker 1: can we make our own and how can we make
Speaker 1: spending and buying things outside of transportation food shelter bills
Speaker 1: very very minimal? Yeah, And this like might sound like,
Speaker 1: uh no, I don't make a lot, but at least
Speaker 1: I make something. I'm not destitute. I need to have
Speaker 1: like some luxuries. But if your focus is on bettering
Speaker 1: your life, bettering your financial situation, which I assume it
Speaker 1: is because you're listening to this podcast, your interest did
Speaker 1: in it, you're interested in doing better, then these are
Speaker 1: things that you're only going to be doing for a
Speaker 1: little time, like a short amount of time, maybe a
Speaker 1: few years. And that seems like a long time while
Speaker 1: you're going through it. I understand two years seems like
Speaker 1: four ever when you're in it, but in the grand
Speaker 1: scheme of things, it's not that long. So if you
Speaker 1: are and it can be, it can be really ego
Speaker 1: deflating when you don't have enough money and you're living
Speaker 1: like trying to, you know, wash your clothes without a
Speaker 1: washing machine like that sounds deflating. But if you separate
Speaker 1: yourself from the situation and from what you are doing
Speaker 1: and realize you're not doing it because you have to,
Speaker 1: you're doing it because you're better in your situation. This
Speaker 1: is what you have to do right now to do that,
Speaker 1: then it becomes mentally a little easier. Yeah, It doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that you can't have any joy or fun in
Speaker 1: the midst of this either. It's as if I can't
Speaker 1: spend any money, so I just need to be downtrodden.
Speaker 1: There are plenty of free things that you can enjoy
Speaker 1: and so go on walks, find beauty in your surroundings,
Speaker 1: get together with friends in a way that doesn't cause
Speaker 1: you to have to spend money. There are still things
Speaker 1: that you can do. It just really needs to be
Speaker 1: with the mindset that this this needs to not cost financially,
Speaker 1: it needs not cost me anything absolutely. And then I
Speaker 1: like that she says, hand me downs will be your
Speaker 1: way to upgrade. We do this if I like with
Speaker 1: my office chair, I was sitting at a dining table
Speaker 1: chair uh, and then found a chair actually found it
Speaker 1: on the side of the road in front of my
Speaker 1: friend's house, so I knew where the chair came from
Speaker 1: and upgraded that way, and then upgraded to a little
Speaker 1: better chair found on Facebook marketplace. So like, the first
Speaker 1: upgrade was free, but I did pay for the second one,
Speaker 1: so it's yeah, upgrades don't necessarily have to be new. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this was my life saver. It was amazing, gen Like,
Speaker 1: how many how many really cool things Eric and I
Speaker 1: had even in our times of living financially below the
Speaker 1: poverty line, because we would get hand me downs, pick
Speaker 1: up things on the side of the road, find free
Speaker 1: stuff you name it, or fix something up that somebody
Speaker 1: didn't have any use for anymore and just had some
Speaker 1: really cool stuff. And I gotta say I had a
Speaker 1: rule for myself, like we did not buy anything even
Speaker 1: if I needed new I mean, I didn't never really
Speaker 1: need new clothes, but you know, I would never buy
Speaker 1: new clothes. I wasn't doing those things, but I would
Speaker 1: somehow still get new things because friends were cleaning out
Speaker 1: their closets and they always knew to like ask me
Speaker 1: if if I wanted to dig through it, because I
Speaker 1: always did so shout out to Chelsea. I saw much
Speaker 1: of my wardrobe was given to me from my friend Chelsea,
Speaker 1: and that was fun too. And yeah, a great way
Speaker 1: to be able to make use of other people's things
Speaker 1: that they might be getting rid of. And Caroline talks
Speaker 1: about paying people for their old stuff. That's great if
Speaker 1: you can afford it, but if people just know that, Hey,
Speaker 1: before I take something to the thrift store, like maybe
Speaker 1: I'll check with so and so and see if they
Speaker 1: want it, Like, go for it. Let your friends know that, Hey,
Speaker 1: let's let me know before you're getting rid of your
Speaker 1: clothes or you're such and such, like I'd be interested
Speaker 1: to pick through it. If that's not too ego deflating
Speaker 1: for you. That was something that was super helpful for
Speaker 1: Eric and I. Yeah. But if you are in the
Speaker 1: mindset you're a frugal person, not a charity case, like
Speaker 1: you can be like, hey, guys, I love the free stuff,
Speaker 1: let me know what you're getting rid of, instead of
Speaker 1: like I really need this, and that's more deflating. But
Speaker 1: you're listening to the show. You're a frugal person, you
Speaker 1: love free stuff, so your friends know it. Yes, live
Speaker 1: in this. Did you have anything else, Jill? Because we
Speaker 1: have to there's so many good things in this article,
Speaker 1: but we do have to move on to the next one.
Speaker 1: I just like the tip of just make your own everything.
Speaker 1: I think that's a really good way to shift some
Speaker 1: things in a tangible tip when you're living on a
Speaker 1: really low income of what can I make? Can I
Speaker 1: make my own snacks? Can I make my own bread?
Speaker 1: Can I make my own laundry? Detergent? Do I have
Speaker 1: to have like soap, body wash, shampoo bar, soap conditioned,
Speaker 1: or like or can I just have like one thing
Speaker 1: for all of that? So just really really paring down
Speaker 1: on the essentials and even cutting bills. Find out where
Speaker 1: you can cut your bills. And then beyond that, Okay,
Speaker 1: the things that I do need, can I make it myself?
Speaker 1: These are the places that are really going to hone
Speaker 1: in our budgets. And then the last thing that I'm
Speaker 1: going to say is her very last paragraph, is except
Speaker 1: that this is where you are. So this was the
Speaker 1: biggest factor for them. They had to stop trying to
Speaker 1: live well, I'll just read it. We had to stop
Speaker 1: trying to live above our means and just accept that
Speaker 1: we didn't have the money to spend like other people did.
Speaker 1: By accepting this, we were finally able to stop working
Speaker 1: against ourselves and reach our goal. And she says, if
Speaker 1: you're constantly looking for the next, bigger, better thing, life
Speaker 1: is going to be hard. The sooner that you accepted
Speaker 1: this as your life, the better. Once you're content right
Speaker 1: where you are, you can actually start to enjoy this
Speaker 1: life that you live. So and that doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: she stayed where she was she makes a lot more
Speaker 1: money now, but this is where they lived for several
Speaker 1: years with children, and but they were even able to
Speaker 1: buy a house on this income, So they live in
Speaker 1: a low cost of living area. But it is totally
Speaker 1: in your capabilities to live here and to progress from here,
Speaker 1: and I would encourage anyone interested in taking a deeper
Speaker 1: dive check out this article. She also talks about some
Speaker 1: of the things she wished she had done on a
Speaker 1: low income that were available to her, but she didn't
Speaker 1: even know about it. So if you are in this
Speaker 1: place and you're kind of like, what other options do
Speaker 1: I have? What walls gonna be pushing on? She talks
Speaker 1: about different side hustles that she wished she would have
Speaker 1: gotten into, certain d i y things she wished she
Speaker 1: would have done to cut costs, particularly as a mom
Speaker 1: on a low income. So definitely check her out. Yes,
Speaker 1: So our next article is a little transition from how
Speaker 1: to live on the low income and it's too how
Speaker 1: to pay off debt on a low income. And so
Speaker 1: that is going to it's gonna look so different for everyone.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that paying off debt should be
Speaker 1: your ultimate goal if you're on a low income, but
Speaker 1: it's certainly not collecting debt that but sometimes you're at
Speaker 1: a place where paying off debt is right. You just
Speaker 1: need to get current. Like our recent conversation with Lydia Sen,
Speaker 1: she was talking about the baby stuff nobody talks about,
Speaker 1: is like getting current, and sometimes that takes some time,
Speaker 1: so that maybe where you're at, but as you work
Speaker 1: on getting better than maybe paying off debt is your goal.
Speaker 1: So this one is from wy nab Or you need
Speaker 1: a budget dot com and it's going through somebody's budget
Speaker 1: who wants to pay offs twi dollars of debt with
Speaker 1: a thirty five thousand dollars per year income. So you
Speaker 1: can see big difference where Caroline was making and this
Speaker 1: couple is making thirty five. So what did you think, Jill?
Speaker 1: I like this article because it gives you real time
Speaker 1: examples of where is the money going, what is the plan,
Speaker 1: and not that this is going to look like everybody's
Speaker 1: situation by any means, but it does give us some
Speaker 1: ideas of how we can go about tackling this because
Speaker 1: and the reason we're including this in this particular episode
Speaker 1: is because this is a reason for a lot of
Speaker 1: people to not pay off debt. I don't make enough money,
Speaker 1: and so we're kind of pushing back on that a
Speaker 1: little bit to say, well, maybe you can't pay off
Speaker 1: six figures of debt in five months while you make
Speaker 1: a thirty five tho dollar a year salary. But what
Speaker 1: can be done and what creative ways can we be
Speaker 1: looking at this? So I like the real time example
Speaker 1: of here's how much money they bring in. This is
Speaker 1: where the money goes. This is the plan for how
Speaker 1: they're going to do this. One of the things that
Speaker 1: stood out to me and just looking at their budget
Speaker 1: is where they really cut back extremely However, and the
Speaker 1: article does highlight this, it is for a time. This
Speaker 1: is not for forever. This is for a season to
Speaker 1: be able to get out of debt quickly. So they
Speaker 1: made some drastic life changes from extremely limiting entertainment, if
Speaker 1: not having nearly zero and entertainment, I mean they are
Speaker 1: paying for like Netflix and Hulu on this example budget,
Speaker 1: but there's no gifts, there's no presence, there's no vacation,
Speaker 1: there's no birthday parties like and that is extreme and
Speaker 1: that seems like Bob Humbug type stuff. However, they continue
Speaker 1: to highlight it's for an eighteen month period. They're not
Speaker 1: going to forever and always not do Christmas presents, Birthday presents,
Speaker 1: no vacation. It is for this time so that they
Speaker 1: don't have to stay in this rut of making a
Speaker 1: low income and having the burden of debt, so cutting
Speaker 1: back really extremely for a season. Yeah, this article was
Speaker 1: super convicting to me because I had a thirty five
Speaker 1: thousand dollar income before I met Travis, and I had
Speaker 1: fifty dollars of debt, and I thought I will be
Speaker 1: in debt forever. There's no way I can get out
Speaker 1: of this. Thirty five thousand is too low. And to
Speaker 1: see a budget that has this couple paying it off
Speaker 1: in eighteen months, and realizing I could have done it
Speaker 1: in three years, like I could have done it in
Speaker 1: three years, and I just didn't know. When I say that,
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, there are how many other people are
Speaker 1: out there making thirty five thousand dollars and in the
Speaker 1: same place I was, And if you're really like gung
Speaker 1: ho about it, you could be done in three years,
Speaker 1: not forever. And part of that was like I didn't
Speaker 1: want to waste the rest of my twenties paying off
Speaker 1: a debt, but then I was like three years from then,
Speaker 1: I would have still been in my twenties. So it's
Speaker 1: just it's crazy. Your mind will say you can't do this,
Speaker 1: like this is impossible, it's too big, but the numbers
Speaker 1: say it's possible if you follow the numbers. A magno
Speaker 1: must steak. This is bare bones. It does. There's like
Speaker 1: there's little things that are laughable on this budget, like
Speaker 1: why spend You know they have both Netflix and Hulu,
Speaker 1: but yet they're cutting out like so many other things,
Speaker 1: Like they've only got ten dollars for medical expenses, and
Speaker 1: so I'd be like, well, cut out at least one
Speaker 1: of those TV subscriptions. And then it's also funny they
Speaker 1: have his and her spending. His spending is a bit
Speaker 1: more than her spending, So I don't know about this one.
Speaker 1: Are their names Jenny and Aaron, But um, yeah, a
Speaker 1: good example of kind of all right, where can we
Speaker 1: put this money? Certainly their mortgage is very low, their
Speaker 1: water and electric bill are very low, so certainly this
Speaker 1: is dependent on what your particular expenses are, how much
Speaker 1: money you're bringing in. But to show you ultimately, my
Speaker 1: takeaway on this is this is bare bones. We've got
Speaker 1: to go so bare bones, and we've got to get
Speaker 1: really creative on how to cut to be this bare bones.
Speaker 1: And I think it goes back to Caroline's article of
Speaker 1: they're probably d I y ing a lot. They've really
Speaker 1: cut their grocery budget. They're definitely eating at home a lot.
Speaker 1: They're not going out, they're not doing any of the
Speaker 1: extras um. They're not spending money on gifts or presents
Speaker 1: or even any version of luxury items for themselves, including
Speaker 1: just a small coffee. It's not happening in this budget. Yeah,
Speaker 1: some of the things that we can get into the
Speaker 1: nitty gritty on this, so like they have to fifty
Speaker 1: paychecks per month, health insurance and retirement contributions are withheld
Speaker 1: so they don't appear in the budget, as well as
Speaker 1: some four oh one K loan payments are also withheld.
Speaker 1: Something that I found really interesting in the budget is
Speaker 1: that this couple is giving to charity every month in
Speaker 1: like significantly, they're given three hundred dollars a month you
Speaker 1: in tithing and other charitable donations. And so this is
Speaker 1: something that they have prioritized. Like you can see everything else,
Speaker 1: there's no like no birthdays, no anniversary, no date nights,
Speaker 1: no like gifts, no nothing, and then but three to charity.
Speaker 1: So there is even room in this budget for wiggle
Speaker 1: room if that's not something you're going to do as much.
Speaker 1: So it's not like they're maxing out their budget on
Speaker 1: just their bills, like there is there is room in
Speaker 1: this budget. Something else that did stand out to me
Speaker 1: is that they are setting aside money monthly to kind
Speaker 1: of go into a pot for different spending. So the
Speaker 1: one thing is weekend fun. So they are putting ten
Speaker 1: dollars a month aside for weekend fund. So that certainly
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that they're having weekend fun every weekend. That
Speaker 1: means maybe once a quarter they've got forty to fifty
Speaker 1: bucks to spend on a weekend, or you do small
Speaker 1: things you're in there, but that there is still small
Speaker 1: amounts of money that they are setting aside that they
Speaker 1: can pull from that would be minor luxuries, minor rewards
Speaker 1: in this process. So I think that is something worth considering,
Speaker 1: even setting aside a few bucks here and there that
Speaker 1: you can utilize for those times when you really do
Speaker 1: need just a little bit of a pick me up.
Speaker 1: For all of the work and sacrifice that you're putting in. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I think it's essential while you're paying off debt. I
Speaker 1: recommend that people create milestones within their debt payoff and
Speaker 1: have it be a milestone you can reach at least
Speaker 1: every other month to every three to four months, and
Speaker 1: you're saving every month, and then when you hit those milestones,
Speaker 1: you get a reward that's proportionate to the milestone that
Speaker 1: you're hitting, and you take it from that fund. So
Speaker 1: then again you're planning for it and advance. It's also
Speaker 1: something that you're working towards. You know it's on the horizon,
Speaker 1: and so you work towards it to get to it,
Speaker 1: maybe a little faster because you really want whatever that
Speaker 1: reward is. So it's essential to be doing something like that.
Speaker 1: But when you plan for it, it it stops being one
Speaker 1: of those things that, oh my god, I'm so bored,
Speaker 1: I haven't done something in so long. Let me spend
Speaker 1: forty dollars to do this, and then you bust your budget,
Speaker 1: you feel guilty, and it starts being something like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I can't wait to do that. It's forty dollars,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to do it, and then you do
Speaker 1: what you feel good about it, and you spend the
Speaker 1: money and you feel good about it. Yeah. I also
Speaker 1: like with this example of paying down debt on a
Speaker 1: low income is the process then that they lay out,
Speaker 1: so not just the budget that they're going to be
Speaker 1: working off of, but a plan of action. And so
Speaker 1: they first describe how they're going to pay off to
Speaker 1: credit cards with savings, followed by using a little bit
Speaker 1: of the extra savings to pay down a final credit card,
Speaker 1: moving into focusing on the fourth credit card with the
Speaker 1: payments that they're going to make monthly, which moves into
Speaker 1: using a work bonus to pay off the credit cards,
Speaker 1: then work bonus and snowballing your monthly payments to pay
Speaker 1: down the car loan. Like it's actionable steps going in
Speaker 1: consecutive order of one another. So they've even said, like,
Speaker 1: here's what we're gonna do from now until the end
Speaker 1: of the year. Here's what we're gonna do the first
Speaker 1: three months of the new year, here's what we're going
Speaker 1: to do through the summer. And it's kind of laid
Speaker 1: out in this way, which I think is a really
Speaker 1: great plan of action. In this person's example, they're apparently
Speaker 1: getting a three thousand dollar bonus. So I know that
Speaker 1: that's not everybody's reality, that's what they're able to work with.
Speaker 1: But again, all of our situations are different, and what
Speaker 1: works for one is not going to work for another. However,
Speaker 1: we utilize all these examples to say, what is your
Speaker 1: story and where can you utilize creativity? Where might you
Speaker 1: have something that other people don't have that you can
Speaker 1: use to your advantage to get out of debt, or
Speaker 1: to reach a savings goal, or to increase your income.
Speaker 1: You know, I know for me, I often use the
Speaker 1: example of living in really non traditional housing that we
Speaker 1: house sat for a little bit. We lived in a trailer.
Speaker 1: I know that that cannot be everybody's circumstances, but I'm
Speaker 1: going to keep highlighting it in case it works for somebody.
Speaker 1: But also to recognize there is wiggle room for creativity here.
Speaker 1: There are ways that we can say, well, is there
Speaker 1: a non traditional path that I can take that will
Speaker 1: help me get out of this very difficult circumstance. So anyhow,
Speaker 1: all that to say, it is good to have a plan,
Speaker 1: and it is good to kind of put it in
Speaker 1: consecutive order of once this is done, what comes next,
Speaker 1: what's our plan for how we're going to get there?
Speaker 1: And then, as you mentioned, Jen, celebrate, you know, after
Speaker 1: you've done and accomplish each one of these steps. Do
Speaker 1: something small. Doesn't even have to cost you anything. You
Speaker 1: can do something for free, but give yourself these little
Speaker 1: rewards as you accomplish each one of these steps along
Speaker 1: the way. Absolutely, and then the last thing I want
Speaker 1: to point out about the strategy is that it emphasizes
Speaker 1: putting the focus on one thing at a time. When
Speaker 1: you are trying to dig out of a big hole
Speaker 1: with a little shovel, that hole can feel overwhelming. All
Speaker 1: you see is the big number and you say, I
Speaker 1: can't do this. And so what the key is is
Speaker 1: to focus on one thing at a time, one financial
Speaker 1: goal at a time, one milestone at a time, and
Speaker 1: just work towards that one milestone and ignore the bigger
Speaker 1: number and say, Okay, I may not get to it,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna get to this one, okay. And then
Speaker 1: maybe after I do that, I take a break for
Speaker 1: a month or something, and then I get right back
Speaker 1: on track and I worked to the next milestone to
Speaker 1: the point where I'm not taking any more breaks anymore.
Speaker 1: I'm just keeping going and going and going. But focusing
Speaker 1: on one thing at a time is a powerful psychological
Speaker 1: tool to make big breakthroughs. So that's the last thing
Speaker 1: I liked about this. But you know what else is
Speaker 1: a big breakthrough and something I like to move on
Speaker 1: to the bill of the week. That's right, it's time
Speaker 1: for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a
Speaker 1: baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you
Speaker 1: paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're
Speaker 1: happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's
Speaker 1: bills Boofalo bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of
Speaker 1: the week. Hey footbol friends, my name is Ellie. Here
Speaker 1: is real. Well, I actually got a promotion at my job,
Speaker 1: and my husband and I decided that we were going
Speaker 1: to celebrate later that night. We were getting ready and
Speaker 1: I randomly found twenty one dollar bills just laying next
Speaker 1: to my bed. It was a little random, just because
Speaker 1: we haven't used US currency in the past about two years,
Speaker 1: but that's okay, I'll take it. That ended up going
Speaker 1: towards our day night, so we didn't have to dip
Speaker 1: into our date night fund, which was totally amazing and
Speaker 1: made me extra happy that day. Anyways, you ladies, keep
Speaker 1: up the good work. Thanks. Oh my gosh, what a
Speaker 1: gift from the universe. That's amazing. I love finding money
Speaker 1: that wasn't expected. But how great. There's so many layers
Speaker 1: in this one. That you were about to go celebrate
Speaker 1: a promotion, congratate, like that's what we hope for on
Speaker 1: this frugal journey. But then even that you're celebration didn't
Speaker 1: really have to cost you anything because of this nice
Speaker 1: gift of US dollar bill currency that you found. What
Speaker 1: a way to just enjoy a night together and celebrating
Speaker 1: growth in your life. Congratulations, stoked for everything in your
Speaker 1: life right now. And yeah, we hope one brings you
Speaker 1: more promotions and more date nights and more random money.
Speaker 1: I wish that for everyone, listener, everybody random money. Yes,
Speaker 1: you get you get the money. You get the money,
Speaker 1: not for me, though, you'll find the money. You'll find
Speaker 1: the money. Well, if you find a money, please visit
Speaker 1: us at Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill and
Speaker 1: tell us about it. Yes, we want to hear it.
Speaker 1: We want to hear about the money you found, the
Speaker 1: money you spend, the money you saved, all of it,
Speaker 1: especially the money you saved, and yes, and the money
Speaker 1: you spend if it's on paying down your debt. Trip.
Speaker 1: Now it's time for lighting round, which turns into a
Speaker 1: song somehow always, So, Jill, you came up with Did
Speaker 1: you come up with this lightning round? No? I did?
Speaker 1: I forgot yourself. Well I forgot. I didn't ride the
Speaker 1: last lightning round till the last minute, and I didn't
Speaker 1: remember writing this one. I wrote these outlines last week.
Speaker 1: So that's where my head is at. But it's a
Speaker 1: good one. I'll bring on myself. You're sharing the key
Speaker 1: to bringing yourself out of the low income trap. So
Speaker 1: as two people who have lived on relatively low incomes, like,
Speaker 1: I won't lie like thirty five dollars isn't super low,
Speaker 1: you know, but it's not average. So um, it felt
Speaker 1: so even though it wasn't as low now that I
Speaker 1: know more people who have actually lived on low incomes.
Speaker 1: When I was living in it, it felt low, and
Speaker 1: compared to my parents and my parents friends, it was low.
Speaker 1: So low isn't always a number. Low income isn't always
Speaker 1: a number. It's a state of mind. A lot of
Speaker 1: the times it can be relative and sometimes we can
Speaker 1: look back and think, man, that that was really low
Speaker 1: compared to where I am now, or oh wow, I
Speaker 1: could have actually done more with that because it wasn't
Speaker 1: as low as I thought. Which leads me to my tip,
Speaker 1: which is mindset shift, where I think in getting out
Speaker 1: of this low income trap, I think this is a
Speaker 1: big component. It might not feel as tangible as we
Speaker 1: wanted to feel, and I talked about this in a
Speaker 1: previous episode two. I think like mindset shifts we need
Speaker 1: to make that I would often tell myself, like my
Speaker 1: internal narrative was I'm never going to make a lot
Speaker 1: of money. I'm a social worker, my husband works for himself,
Speaker 1: our income is irregular, and we are always going to
Speaker 1: be quote unquote poor. Granted, I have always recognized and
Speaker 1: hope that I continue to recognize that we have amazing
Speaker 1: family and friends, that we've not experienced homelessness, although some
Speaker 1: people might have considered me living in a vehicle to
Speaker 1: be that yeah perspective, But this thought that I'm never
Speaker 1: going to make a lot of money that was keeping
Speaker 1: me stuck. It meant that then I wasn't working towards
Speaker 1: anything beyond that because I was just like, I'm just poor,
Speaker 1: and sometimes I viewed myself as a charity case, like well, yeah,
Speaker 1: people should give me free stuff, or if somebody gives
Speaker 1: us dinner, thank you, like I need that. And I did, granted,
Speaker 1: but it kind of kept me in this place. And
Speaker 1: when I started to make the shift and started to realize, oh,
Speaker 1: this isn't a place that I need to up my tent,
Speaker 1: that I need to live out of, that really shifted
Speaker 1: some things for me that yes, I'm still a social worker.
Speaker 1: I'm still living in the field. I didn't switch to
Speaker 1: being a lawyer suddenly. But I am making more money,
Speaker 1: and it is possible for me to make more money,
Speaker 1: whether it is I mean even maintaining my social work
Speaker 1: job but maybe doing some side hustles of things that
Speaker 1: I enjoy, or looking to cut expenses in ways that
Speaker 1: I didn't think was possible, you name it. Mindset shift
Speaker 1: has been a huge one for me that it doesn't
Speaker 1: have to stay in this place and it doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that I have to change what I do or what
Speaker 1: I love to make more money, because I know that's
Speaker 1: a big thing too for people in low income careers
Speaker 1: like social work or teaching or any kind of human
Speaker 1: service profession. It's like I make a low income but
Speaker 1: I love what I do, or you know, you're not
Speaker 1: gonna be able to pull me away from these kids
Speaker 1: or this population. I get it. But it doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that you need to be devalued in your financial earnings.
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that you have to stay there and
Speaker 1: that is like the banner over you for the rest
Speaker 1: of your life. You can stay in the work that
Speaker 1: you're doing and find creative ways, whether it is inside
Speaker 1: hustles or whether it is equipping yourself further so that
Speaker 1: your income potential growth. Absolutely. Amen. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: can't say much more than that. But again, I think
Speaker 1: my answer is also mindset shifts. When I think of
Speaker 1: the biggest things that I have done to specifically earn
Speaker 1: more income when I was willing myself into it by
Speaker 1: trying to use just physical force, like my time and
Speaker 1: my body like most of you probably know. Like I
Speaker 1: tried that for two months when we were starting to
Speaker 1: pay off debt, and I worked myself into shingles, Like
Speaker 1: I got shingles at the ripe age of twenty six
Speaker 1: from overworking. So it didn't work out for me. Just
Speaker 1: to like but sheer brute strength to increase my income.
Speaker 1: But when I started to familiarize myself with other people
Speaker 1: that we're making more money than me, then I started
Speaker 1: to see like, oh this person has and then then
Speaker 1: I then I got to meet these people, and I
Speaker 1: was like, these people are not more special than I am.
Speaker 1: They are not more educated, they are not more talented.
Speaker 1: They don't work longer, they don't work harder, but they
Speaker 1: have found a way to make more by simply getting
Speaker 1: creative and believing a they are worth more and that
Speaker 1: there is more to be made even in their selected profession.
Speaker 1: For for me, I was making thirty five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year and I was an acupuncturist, and that's not
Speaker 1: a lucrative job. And I took a lot of investment
Speaker 1: in yourself. I mean, that's the equivalent of a master's
Speaker 1: degree that you have to do that I did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got a master's degree, and that was the debt
Speaker 1: I paid off. And I, like a lot of other
Speaker 1: people that I'm sure it, got master's degrees for fields
Speaker 1: that did not give them the pay increase they thought
Speaker 1: they were going to get. And so I did that.
Speaker 1: But then I realized, like I had hit the cap
Speaker 1: for what I was going to make with acupuncture, and
Speaker 1: so it was a super difficult decision, but I decided
Speaker 1: to leave the industry to pursue a career in writing
Speaker 1: that I saw could be much more lucrative. So it
Speaker 1: provided a small income jump initially, but I knew the
Speaker 1: room for income. The ceiling was a lot higher, and
Speaker 1: in some cases for some people, no ceiling. But that
Speaker 1: was a really hard decision, and so now I'm so
Speaker 1: I very much advocate for people not staying in the
Speaker 1: jobs that they are in that if you want to
Speaker 1: raise your income and you don't want to work aside hustle,
Speaker 1: then look for another job in the same field, whatever,
Speaker 1: maybe a different city, maybe the same city that pays more,
Speaker 1: because raises are hard to come by. I was getting
Speaker 1: a three percent raise every year my at the clinic.
Speaker 1: My boss was amazing and consistent with that, but three
Speaker 1: percent every year was only going to keep up with inflation,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to I was at the point where
Speaker 1: I was like, I know people are doing this, and
Speaker 1: I know I can do it, and I'm I feel
Speaker 1: like I've hit the ceiling. And that was me, Like
Speaker 1: it was really hard to leave something that I loved,
Speaker 1: but I was able to find something I loved even more.
Speaker 1: And honestly, when I quit, I didn't know. I wasn't
Speaker 1: confident that I was gonna like writing full time. I
Speaker 1: knew I liked writing UM on the side when I
Speaker 1: was like, I could hate this, I could start doing
Speaker 1: full time and hate it. But I needed to take
Speaker 1: that risk and just see so that I wasn't wondering
Speaker 1: what if well, and I want to highlight for you too,
Speaker 1: because yeah, it's kind of different sides of a similar
Speaker 1: coin that you did leave your career, but that didn't
Speaker 1: mean that you left it just to make money. You
Speaker 1: left it for also something that you enjoy and that
Speaker 1: helps people that you are encouraging others in their finances,
Speaker 1: showing people what's possible, giving tools, equipping others. So while
Speaker 1: I say you don't have to leave your field if
Speaker 1: you love it to make more money, it is also
Speaker 1: possible that maybe you're a multifaceted person and you have
Speaker 1: more than one interest and you can pursue something else
Speaker 1: that might be a bit more lucrative for you. And yes,
Speaker 1: I will acknowledge this can take time. You know, I
Speaker 1: talked about how I made eighteen that we both my
Speaker 1: husband and I, so this is jointly. We made eighteen
Speaker 1: thousand dollars take home in two thousand eighteen, and that
Speaker 1: was partly the sacrifice in the investment that we made
Speaker 1: so that I could equip myself. So this is not
Speaker 1: going to be like snap your fingers and jump to
Speaker 1: stage fifteen. There are going to be steps that we
Speaker 1: have to take in sacrifices we make along the way.
Speaker 1: But consider your options are and consider shifting your mindset
Speaker 1: to think outside of the box that I don't have
Speaker 1: to stay in this place, or if I do want
Speaker 1: to stay in the field I'm in and I'm only
Speaker 1: getting incremental salary increases, maybe consider moving to a different
Speaker 1: location or practice or business doing a similar thing. But
Speaker 1: you're more likely to increase your pay exponentially switching companies
Speaker 1: than staying with the same one and just taking the
Speaker 1: standard pay increase every year. So there's lots of different
Speaker 1: things to consider there, but ultimately thinking outside the box, creativity,
Speaker 1: equipping yourself, considering location change, considering field change, all of
Speaker 1: these things can help us when we're on low incomes.
Speaker 1: And two more things I want to say. The first
Speaker 1: is if you keep hearing suggestions over and over and
Speaker 1: over again about how to lower your expenses and increase
Speaker 1: your income, and to every suggestion you say, I can't
Speaker 1: do that, I can't do that, I'm not willing to
Speaker 1: do that. And to the point where you're saying I
Speaker 1: just can't get any useful information out of anybody, then
Speaker 1: you have to start to re examine, like is it
Speaker 1: the people giving you the recommendations or is it your
Speaker 1: unwillingness to change for a season? Um, So that's like
Speaker 1: a hard realization. Yeah, you have to be willing to
Speaker 1: do things that you don't want to do for a
Speaker 1: period of time in order to better your life. And
Speaker 1: then because there is no magic, like, there's no magic
Speaker 1: any one of us can give to any person who's
Speaker 1: making eighteen thousand dollars a year, it doesn't exist, it
Speaker 1: doesn't other event and saying what needs to happen to
Speaker 1: move forward from this place? Yeah, And then one last
Speaker 1: thing on my story. So I think when I recommend
Speaker 1: people switch their jobs, they're like, oh, but the job,
Speaker 1: you know, market is so volatile, what if I lose
Speaker 1: that job? Like I'm in a really safe job right now,
Speaker 1: I will say from experience, Yeah, it's possible you lose
Speaker 1: your job. I got fired from writing job a year
Speaker 1: after I took it, and which forced me into you
Speaker 1: got you got laid off. They had a mass layoff.
Speaker 1: I was one of forty five people laid off. M
Speaker 1: I don't know what you do so bad as a
Speaker 1: writer that you would get fired, but um at a
Speaker 1: personal finance website. But yeah, and I lost it. And
Speaker 1: I took the skills that I had gotten from that
Speaker 1: job and implemented them immediately to start working for myself.
Speaker 1: So like, there are very few reasons why anything is
Speaker 1: a bad idea, Like any of these recommendations, Yes, there's
Speaker 1: could always be a downside to doing one, but there's
Speaker 1: always an upset. I may have never gone full time
Speaker 1: into my business had I not been laid off. I
Speaker 1: mean I always wanted to, but I may not have
Speaker 1: had the courage too. And I'm not saying like everybody
Speaker 1: has to be self employed. That is not the path
Speaker 1: for everyone. But there are jobs out there. They do
Speaker 1: hey more, they are not finite, they are they are
Speaker 1: out there and more and more. You know. One of
Speaker 1: the silver linings of this pandemic is how many companies
Speaker 1: have moved to online remote work, so that whole avenue
Speaker 1: I think is opening up more and more where people
Speaker 1: might be able to switch jobs more easily because spots
Speaker 1: that maybe aren't super local to you are starting to
Speaker 1: open up. Yeah opportunities. Yeah. Well, thank you for listening
Speaker 1: to our very passion filled episode and we hope that
Speaker 1: this helps you and you can improve your status in
Speaker 1: thank you for listening. Thank you for your kind reviews
Speaker 1: like this one from Katie Mom. It happens to be
Speaker 1: five stars, she says, came across the Today and love it.
Speaker 1: You both are so my tribe Capsule Wardrobe and Fruit Galley.
Speaker 1: You had me at minimalism and saving more excited to
Speaker 1: listen to more podcasts you Yes, you are our trial.
Speaker 1: Thanks Katie Mom. We love all the things that you
Speaker 1: listed and we're excited to keep pumping out content on
Speaker 1: these topics. We also want to thank our friends who
Speaker 1: share these episodes on social media, So when you share
Speaker 1: the latest episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram,
Speaker 1: we're adding you to our monthly drawing. For every five
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Speaker 1: a copy of the Frugal Friends Workbook, So keep leaving
Speaker 1: us reviews on iTunes or Stitcher and sending the screenshot
Speaker 1: to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com, and don't
Speaker 1: forget to tag us on social when you share. See
Speaker 1: You Next Week by Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Mhmm, yeah.
Speaker 1: I would also be interested to hear anybody in our
Speaker 1: Furgal Friends community group on Facebook share what has kind
Speaker 1: of helped them, you know, anybody else in our community
Speaker 1: who has gone from a low income to making a
Speaker 1: bit more or cuts that they made. I think that
Speaker 1: it's helpful for us to hear from other people, know
Speaker 1: that others have been there but also found a way
Speaker 1: out of a low income trap. And I think it's
Speaker 1: motivating to people who find themselves in that place. Especially
Speaker 1: for someone like me who thought I was always going
Speaker 1: to be there, it would have been helpful for me
Speaker 1: to hear some of these stories of hope. Really, that's
Speaker 1: what we need when we're in those places of just
Speaker 1: not having much, because it feels so trapping and suffocating,
Speaker 1: like I will never get out of this, because it
Speaker 1: feels like I've been here for forever. But then messages
Speaker 1: of hope are so encouraging and necessary. I would also
Speaker 1: love to hear declarations from people who are on a
Speaker 1: low income or think they were on a low income
Speaker 1: and like seeing them like declare like this isn't me.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna like I'm going to earn more. I don't
Speaker 1: know whatever. You want to declare whatever you learned, and
Speaker 1: you feel like I need to just declare this somewhere.
Speaker 1: I need to put it on the internet for people
Speaker 1: who will understand it and I'm making a change, Like
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends community is the place through you. Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: dot are, Frugal Friends podcast, dot com, slash group. We
Speaker 1: are there for this. We are here for this, and
Speaker 1: we want to hear all of the hope and declarations. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if there's a mindset shift that you think it's going
Speaker 1: to be necessary for you, that would be great. Put
Speaker 1: it out there into the world, into the internet, and
Speaker 1: we'll support you. Let us support you with gifts g
Speaker 1: I F Yeah, those kinds of gifts. Noise