Speaker 1: Episode three twenty five, step by step guide to values
Speaker 1: based spending.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live your life. Here your hosts,
Speaker 2: Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we have a special
Speaker 1: episode for you. We are doing things a little differently.
Speaker 1: We are not including any articles curveball. This is going
Speaker 1: to be a soul like a step by step guide
Speaker 1: that we are creating, and we're excited about it and
Speaker 1: we hope it goes over.
Speaker 3: Whether it's a little rice, whether or not you want
Speaker 3: original thought. It's what you're getting, not curated commentary. Yes,
Speaker 3: we are how it goes.
Speaker 1: Traditionally we will we will curate articles and comment on
Speaker 1: them with original thought. But this is one hundred percent
Speaker 1: original thought, so.
Speaker 3: Kind of with all the influences that we've had over
Speaker 3: the last thirty four years of life.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, so First, this episode is brought to you
Speaker 1: by Books. Books. You don't need to spend thousands of
Speaker 1: dollars on courses and coaching programs to learn how to
Speaker 1: improve your life and finances. All the wisdom you seek
Speaker 1: can be found for thirty dollars or less. In books.
Speaker 1: We love books. We know you do. That's why we've
Speaker 1: always had a Frugal Friend's book Club. In some iteration.
Speaker 1: Our first piece of merch was a bookmark, one of
Speaker 1: our only pieces of merch a bookmark. So it's with
Speaker 1: earth shattering excitement that we can announce.
Speaker 3: We're writing that book.
Speaker 1: It's been a lifelong dream of mine Jen to traditionally
Speaker 1: publish a book, and the fact that I get to
Speaker 1: do it with one of my best friends, and we're
Speaker 1: writing about a topic that we think is going to
Speaker 1: change so many lives. It's going to take away so
Speaker 1: much guilt and shame when it comes to spending money, budgeting, saving.
Speaker 1: This is more of a dream than I could have
Speaker 1: ever imagined. So books, we love them, and we hope
Speaker 1: you'll love our book.
Speaker 3: We're hyping you up for something that you won't actually
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Speaker 3: twenty five. But we can't contain ourselves. And if you
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Speaker 1: Absolutely, So that is one of the reasons we're doing
Speaker 1: this special episode. We'll do a couple special episodes throughout
Speaker 1: the rest of the year to gauge interest in the
Speaker 1: content that we are putting into the book. We've I mean,
Speaker 1: we've written a sixty page proposal that is how our book,
Speaker 1: our book got bought, so we know that it's it's interesting.
Speaker 1: We already know that values based spending is the thing
Speaker 1: you love most about what we talk about, and so
Speaker 1: we've kind of created a book about that, and we're
Speaker 1: just gonna we're kind of throw out ideas to you
Speaker 1: in these episodes, kind of summing up things we talk
Speaker 1: about in all of our episodes, but kind of dedicating
Speaker 1: whole episodes to them. And so we would love, love,
Speaker 1: love if you were hearing this episode anytime in the
Speaker 1: next year and you have some feedback about, oh, when
Speaker 1: you said this it was yes, absolute yes, or when
Speaker 1: you said this I kind of felt this too, or
Speaker 1: any feedback that you have that can help us really
Speaker 1: dig into what's going on in your head as you
Speaker 1: listen to us talk about this stuff or any experiences
Speaker 1: that you feel like relate. Please email us let us know.
Speaker 1: You can email me directly Jen at frugalfriendspodcast dot com
Speaker 1: and let us know. We want to hear your feedback
Speaker 1: because this book is for you, and it is for
Speaker 1: the people in your life. It's for It's a love
Speaker 1: letter to all of you. And that's literally what we
Speaker 1: said in the book proposal. It's a love letter to you.
Speaker 3: And I think that's what's sold it.
Speaker 1: I hope, so, I hope, so so please we would
Speaker 1: love your your feedback in whatever way so that we
Speaker 1: could just make this book as helpful and great and
Speaker 1: relevant as possible.
Speaker 3: Love that. So let's talk about this. Yeah, I'll use
Speaker 3: based spending is going to be all throughout this book,
Speaker 3: and so we want to give just a really foundational
Speaker 3: episode on it, explain what it is, how you can
Speaker 3: get at it. We've spent a lot of time saying, oh,
Speaker 3: there's no quick twelve step process that you can do
Speaker 3: over the weekend and click into values based spending. That said,
Speaker 3: there are some steps that we can take and we
Speaker 3: want to give you that blueprint and format in this
Speaker 3: and so there's no articles unfortunately about this. Someday there'll
Speaker 3: be a book about it. But this is going to
Speaker 3: be Jen and I telling you.
Speaker 1: I want to sell article in the way that we
Speaker 1: want to see them written. And when when you don't
Speaker 1: have that, then you propose a book. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: and so this is we feel like we have said
Speaker 1: this so often, but we don't actually have an episode
Speaker 1: fully dedicated to we have how do you find your values?
Speaker 1: And what is values based budgeting? And so this is
Speaker 1: our bread and butter episode for values based spending?
Speaker 3: So get us started, Jen, what is values based spending?
Speaker 1: So values based spending is spending in alignment with the
Speaker 1: things that matter most to you and not spending on
Speaker 1: the things that you don't care about as much. So
Speaker 1: there's this great quote by David Allen, who's the creator
Speaker 1: of the Getting Things Done productivity system, and he said
Speaker 1: you can do anything, but not everything. And it's the
Speaker 1: same with spending. You can value anything. Nobody can tell
Speaker 1: you what is good to spend on and what is
Speaker 1: bad to spend on. There is a lot of judgment
Speaker 1: out there from people who will judge you for spending
Speaker 1: on one thing or another. And unfortunately in the frugal community.
Speaker 1: We tend to be the most judgmental about what people
Speaker 1: spend on, but we're trying to break that stigma. Spending
Speaker 1: is not the enemy. Spending is neutral, and there is
Speaker 1: nobody that can tell you what's right to spend on.
Speaker 1: You can value spending on anything, but not everything. You
Speaker 1: do not value everything because when everything is important, it
Speaker 1: diminishes the importance of the things that truly matter. And
Speaker 1: often we have found that those things aren't things you
Speaker 1: can spend on. Those are things money can't buy, like time, freedom,
Speaker 1: and the preservation natural resources, and you know all of
Speaker 1: these other things that yes require money, but are actually
Speaker 1: peripheral to money. Yeah, so that's values based spending.
Speaker 3: I think out the gate too, I want to dispel
Speaker 3: a little bit of maybe even how I thought about
Speaker 3: values based spending when we first kind of phrased it
Speaker 3: this way and came upon this idea throughout the evolution
Speaker 3: of our own frugal journey. And I think it can
Speaker 3: give this impression that every single dollar we spend is
Speaker 3: only on the things that are just fun or or
Speaker 3: the things that maybe it's only discretionary spending, but this
Speaker 3: can also include fixed expenses certainly it's going to play
Speaker 3: into We're going to see it show up more and
Speaker 3: more when we are making decisions with our discretionary income
Speaker 3: of should I make this impulse purchase or not, Should
Speaker 3: I go on this vacation or not, should I do
Speaker 3: something different? But it does also play into our fixed expenses,
Speaker 3: our living, our transportation. Now we might not be making
Speaker 3: daily decisions about how they align with our values, but
Speaker 3: at some point in time it will behoove us to
Speaker 3: look at that and consider, how does living in this area,
Speaker 3: or in this particular house, or in this school zone
Speaker 3: align with my values? How does having two or three
Speaker 3: vehicles align with my values? How does having this particular vehicle.
Speaker 3: All of these things kind of come into play. It
Speaker 3: makes me think about Marie Condo's whole thing about minimizing
Speaker 3: and how she received pushback on only keeping things that
Speaker 3: spark joy. It's like, well, yeah, sometimes I just need
Speaker 3: a rubber scraper for when I'm cooking, and so, yeah,
Speaker 3: you might not be able to exactly say why there
Speaker 3: is joy in a rubber scraper, but you can connect
Speaker 3: it to the fact that maybe you enjoy cooking nutritious
Speaker 3: meals for your family, and so having a good quality
Speaker 3: rubber scraper is what brings you joy. I think very
Speaker 3: similarly when we're talking about values based spending, it might
Speaker 3: not be that, oh, I value this particular vehicle, but
Speaker 3: I value safety, or I value going to and from
Speaker 3: this location that I've chosen to live in because I
Speaker 3: love it. To my work, there's always something that I
Speaker 3: think we can get at the deeper level, but it
Speaker 3: will certainly bear impact on our day in, day out
Speaker 3: choices on what we spend on and bring a greater
Speaker 3: level of awareness to our spending, which increases our understanding
Speaker 3: of self and decreases guilt and shame that can often
Speaker 3: coincide our finances. Some other things that I've also noticed
Speaker 3: with values based spending is that sometimes it will mean
Speaker 3: finding permission to spend. As we understand ourselves more, we
Speaker 3: feel more confident in our spending. Then we don't have
Speaker 3: that kind of icky feeling of loyally shouldn't be spending this?
Speaker 3: Or why am I doing this? Or this feels impulsive?
Speaker 3: But whatever push it aside, that diminishes and ultimately can
Speaker 3: really merely go away when we've really aligned our spending
Speaker 3: with our values. What it also means is sometimes cutting
Speaker 3: back when we've given ourselves permission to say yes to
Speaker 3: the things that we know deep down we value, it's
Speaker 3: going to be such an easy no, not for the
Speaker 3: sake of deprivation, but it can mean getting really good
Speaker 3: at cutting back on the things we don't value, which
Speaker 3: is also a part of this process learning what that is.
Speaker 3: Sometimes we might think we value something and then we
Speaker 3: enter into this journey and discover, oh, I actually don't
Speaker 3: care about that at all, So that's an easy no
Speaker 3: for me. What I've also realized is that sometimes values
Speaker 3: based spending means that you're finding you don't need to
Speaker 3: spend at all, even on the things that you value,
Speaker 3: which could create this space for contentment and less and
Speaker 3: learning what is enough. I know we will often talk
Speaker 3: about increasing our income decreasing expenses, and that can certainly
Speaker 3: be a part of this, but it's very possible that
Speaker 3: as we're on this journey, we get to the point
Speaker 3: where we discover I don't actually have to earn more
Speaker 3: than this amount, because I've discovered a life that I love,
Speaker 3: leading I'm able to spend on the things that I enjoy,
Speaker 3: and this is enough, and it gives me more space,
Speaker 3: more freedom, more time to enjoy the things that I'm
Speaker 3: realizing I love and it's not costing me anything.
Speaker 1: When we started thinking about the book, we actually started
Speaker 1: with this concept of what is enough, because if you
Speaker 1: don't decide what enough is, nothing will ever be enough.
Speaker 1: And it can sometimes be a double edged sword that
Speaker 1: you want to strive for more. You don't want to
Speaker 1: be complacent, but you don't want to be so not
Speaker 1: ambitious but lose so much sight of the bigger picture
Speaker 1: that you lose sight of what enough is for you,
Speaker 1: and that can change throughout the seasons. And values based
Speaker 1: spending really gives you the opportunity to define what is
Speaker 1: enough and again can change throughout your life, throughout your
Speaker 1: season without that right, without that baseline to say, oh,
Speaker 1: this is what will get me to all those things
Speaker 1: that I really truly want, plus you know extra for
Speaker 1: spending on fun things, impulse things, what have you. Once
Speaker 1: you can get there, you have a lot more freedom
Speaker 1: and you can actually strive in ways that maybe you
Speaker 1: didn't know that you could before. When you have a goal,
Speaker 1: you can always strive for more. So I love that
Speaker 1: about values based spending, something that we have really refined
Speaker 1: in our view of values based spending over the years
Speaker 1: is what is a value? What is a core value?
Speaker 1: What is a thing you value spending money on? And
Speaker 1: at first we really focused on actual core values, so achievement, community, beauty, generosity,
Speaker 1: stuff like that. And while those are great things to
Speaker 1: know about yourself, like what are my core values? How
Speaker 1: do I want to show up in the places that
Speaker 1: I care about? And how can I show up best?
Speaker 1: If one of my core values and who I know
Speaker 1: to be is somebody who loves community, then it's much
Speaker 1: easier for me to make life today decisions that affect
Speaker 1: my finances, Like I don't want to be a digital
Speaker 1: nomad because I want to be rooted somewhere with a
Speaker 1: community versus meeting new people all the time. That is
Speaker 1: a life decision, but obviously affects finances in our day
Speaker 1: to day In spending, there's not so much need for that.
Speaker 1: Core values are for big financial expenses, where I think
Speaker 1: in the day to day you just need to know
Speaker 1: kind of what you value spending on in general, Like
Speaker 1: I will I don't eat at sit down restaurants very
Speaker 1: often because I don't value that, but I know I
Speaker 1: hate dishes, so I'll get takeout and I'll never turn
Speaker 1: down getting a latte because I love them. I love
Speaker 1: not having to make my own. So it's stuff like
Speaker 1: that that is, there's no core value in me that
Speaker 1: would lead to why I love buying lattes out and
Speaker 1: don't love sit down restaurants. But there are two values,
Speaker 1: both important to know but different.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so when we think about why is values
Speaker 3: based spending important? I think we've been able to define
Speaker 3: what it is. But why is this something that we
Speaker 3: are saying is almost this water mark that or umbrella
Speaker 3: that we can take into the rest of life. And
Speaker 3: a big part of it is because spending is a skill.
Speaker 3: We are I think expected to enter the world in
Speaker 3: adulthood and know how to spend, and yet most of
Speaker 3: us have never actually been taught how to spend well.
Speaker 3: Even with having Frugal Friends podcast five years in, people
Speaker 3: still expect us just to talk about how to save,
Speaker 3: how to cut, how to live with less, how to deprive.
Speaker 3: And I'm not saying that there's none of that. We
Speaker 3: do talk about those things, but not to the exclusion
Speaker 3: of spending. Even the most frugal, cutting, even borderline cheap
Speaker 3: person needs to spend money. And if we're not good
Speaker 3: at it, then all of the cutting is hardly going
Speaker 3: to do much for our financial trajectory, and so learning
Speaker 3: how to spend well, spend wisely, spend with intention, good
Speaker 3: stewarding spending, we are going to be better off for it,
Speaker 3: not just in our financial life, but all of the
Speaker 3: rest of our personhood. And values based spending is one
Speaker 3: of those tools overarching mindsets that we can pick up
Speaker 3: and help us to understand our spending rhythms and patterns,
Speaker 3: what it means about us, and how we can spend
Speaker 3: better in a way that's going to ultimately benefit us.
Speaker 3: That's the whole goal here is integration of financial self
Speaker 3: with the rest of who we are. Our physical, emotional, relational,
Speaker 3: mental selves is connected to our financial self, and we
Speaker 3: feel as though this value use based spending piece is
Speaker 3: one of those missing puzzle pieces to bringing about that alignment,
Speaker 3: that connection, that understanding of our whole person How do
Speaker 3: we move through the world make good spending decisions that
Speaker 3: are related to all other aspects of our.
Speaker 1: Being m Yeah, values based spending creates the freedom to spend.
Speaker 1: We all consume. Consuming is part of life. You consume food,
Speaker 1: you consume space. In this world, and you consume products
Speaker 1: via money. It takes money to consume things, and that's healthy.
Speaker 1: As we grow in life and we consume more and more,
Speaker 1: and again that's healthy. But where we miss the mark
Speaker 1: is we want to be able to do it well.
Speaker 1: We don't want to be afraid of it, and we
Speaker 1: also don't want to over indulge in it. So there's
Speaker 1: this radical middle in the center, and people very much
Speaker 1: think like spending well means spending all your money. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I spend real well. I have zero dollars in my
Speaker 1: bank account by the next paycheck. I got no problem spending.
Speaker 1: But spending well doesn't mean going broke. Spending well means
Speaker 1: that you are spending on the things you care about
Speaker 1: and have margin to be able to afford the things
Speaker 1: you care about later in life too. Because we don't
Speaker 1: want to be working our entire lives. Even if we
Speaker 1: do want to be working in some capacity, you probably
Speaker 1: don't want to be doing what you're doing now for
Speaker 1: the rest of your life. You will transform and maybe
Speaker 1: you won't, but we want to set you up to
Speaker 1: be able to have the freedom to choose what you
Speaker 1: want when you want to choose it. So I love
Speaker 1: that about it, and it helps us better understand and ourselves,
Speaker 1: which is a benefit to all aspects of our personhood,
Speaker 1: not just our finances. When you can there are so
Speaker 1: many times where I used to make a budget and
Speaker 1: I would put lattes on it. I would say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna twenty dollars for coffee this month, and I
Speaker 1: would be scared to spend it like I had budgeted
Speaker 1: for it, and I still felt like some guilt for
Speaker 1: spending in the budget, and then I would hate that
Speaker 1: feeling and I would just throw the budget away all
Speaker 1: together because I didn't want to make myself feel guilty.
Speaker 1: Other people can make me feel that, but I'm not
Speaker 1: going to make myself feel that. And so when you
Speaker 1: can understand, like, oh, this is good for me to
Speaker 1: spend on just because somebody else is telling me not
Speaker 1: to spend on it, I don't have to listen to
Speaker 1: them because it's probably not what they value, but it's
Speaker 1: what I value. And now that I understand that about me,
Speaker 1: I can say no to other things and I can
Speaker 1: spend on what I love without guilt.
Speaker 3: And not only helping us understand ourselves better, it also
Speaker 3: helps us relate to others understand others around us better.
Speaker 3: When we can reframe our understanding of finances from this
Speaker 3: values based perspective, it gives us new meaningful, rich language
Speaker 3: to put to conversations around finances where we can recognize
Speaker 3: the deeper meaning often associated with money. For me, coming
Speaker 3: from the mental health field and having provided therapy and
Speaker 3: counseling sessions to individuals and couples, one of the things
Speaker 3: that I realized throughout that season in engaging with people
Speaker 3: at this level was very often the conflicts that they
Speaker 3: would come to me with wanting to be able to
Speaker 3: process it out or receive tools to do better with
Speaker 3: their relationships experience more health and connection and intimacy with
Speaker 3: one another. Didn't necessarily be the very problem they were
Speaker 3: coming with. It had to do with values. It had
Speaker 3: to do with spending of capacities. So we don't just
Speaker 3: spend money, we spend relational capacity, emotional capacity, mental capacity,
Speaker 3: and so you know, let's say there was a couple
Speaker 3: who came to me with not appreciating how one another
Speaker 3: chooses to spend their time. He's always out doing whatever
Speaker 3: he wants to do, fixing up whatever, and she's always
Speaker 3: out with friends and you know, we're not connecting in
Speaker 3: the ways that I think we should be connecting. It's
Speaker 3: not necessarily about him doing what he's doing outside her
Speaker 3: doing what she's doing with her friends. It's what's at
Speaker 3: the core of this, what's the value here? And so
Speaker 3: the same thing with money can often happen where I
Speaker 3: don't like how my partner is spending on this, and
Speaker 3: they don't like how I'm spending on XYZ, and we
Speaker 3: can experience this massive barrier in moving forward and gaining
Speaker 3: headway in resolving this conflict, coming to some sort of
Speaker 3: mutual agreement if we're not having conversations at the deeper
Speaker 3: level and being curious with one another of what is
Speaker 3: this connected to though? What is it that draws you
Speaker 3: to spend in this way, whether it's money or time,
Speaker 3: What is this providing to you? What is the meaning
Speaker 3: that's attached to that? Often when we pull it away
Speaker 3: from the actual thing itself, you spent on this, and
Speaker 3: look at but what did this give to you? How
Speaker 3: does this connect to who you are? Your personality? The
Speaker 3: things that you enjoy. Gives us so much more insight
Speaker 3: into ourselves in one another and really gives such a
Speaker 3: beautiful playground for conversation then of I didn't know that
Speaker 3: about you, or oh yeah, that does actually make sense
Speaker 3: with what I do know about you, And then there's
Speaker 3: negotiation that can come into place where there's understanding and
Speaker 3: mutual agreement and space given to one another. So this
Speaker 3: values based framework helps us again not only know ourselves,
Speaker 3: but one another and can create such beautiful space for
Speaker 3: conversation where now there's room for one another and not
Speaker 3: just rigid sets of rules that lack understanding and continue
Speaker 3: to throw us into this pattern of conflict and relating
Speaker 3: that is not benefiting us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that is in a nutshell value space spending
Speaker 1: and why we value no pun intended. It's so much.
Speaker 1: So let's get into kind of the framework for how
Speaker 1: do you practice values based spending. This is something we
Speaker 1: have gone back and forth on and kind of refine
Speaker 1: over the last threeish years that we have been really
Speaker 1: interested in this, and we think we've gotten it to
Speaker 1: kind of a really good simple overview. Obviously not extensive,
Speaker 1: but if you're wanting to adopt it, it's going to
Speaker 1: be a really great start. Values based spending is not
Speaker 1: something that you can like fully master because as we
Speaker 1: grow and change. Our values grow and change, so you
Speaker 1: think you've got it and then it.
Speaker 3: Changes, and then you have a second baby, right, so
Speaker 3: then we have to reevaluate ourselves.
Speaker 1: Like achievement was something that was really important to me
Speaker 1: before I had kids, and now that I've had my
Speaker 1: second I am really reevaluating what I value out of life.
Speaker 1: And so you will always be reevaluating. But if you
Speaker 1: can go back to these four ish steps, then you
Speaker 1: can can really again start to kind of rehone, refine
Speaker 1: what you're doing with your spending and really get a
Speaker 1: grasp on it and feel good about what you're spending
Speaker 1: money on. How many people can say, like I feel
Speaker 1: really good about what I spend money on, Like I
Speaker 1: spend money on what I love. I can say no
Speaker 1: to the things that I don't and I have money
Speaker 1: left over. I'm saving investing so that I can spend
Speaker 1: better and well in my future.
Speaker 3: Yeah that can be you. Yeah, let's make it us.
Speaker 3: So first things first, you're going to need to figure
Speaker 3: out what you're spending on. This is going to be
Speaker 3: the first step for getting better with spending, saving our finances,
Speaker 3: feeling more confident. You need to figure out where is
Speaker 3: your money currently going. We recommend going back and looking
Speaker 3: at your ninety day spending history. This is going to
Speaker 3: include your discretionary spending as well as your bills. We
Speaker 3: can't pretend like they're not a thing or a part
Speaker 3: of this financial picture. So go back through all of
Speaker 3: your whether you put your expenses on credit cards or
Speaker 3: debit cards, or it comes out automatically, gather it all up.
Speaker 3: You can do this digitally, but if you love printing
Speaker 3: things out, feel free to do that too. And look
Speaker 3: back over the last three months. And the reason we
Speaker 3: say three months ninety days is because month to month
Speaker 3: things change. Each month typically brings a new, often unexpected expense.
Speaker 3: Each month doesn't look the same as the previous months.
Speaker 3: We've got various birthday parties or weddings, or bills, unexpected
Speaker 3: or irregular types of bills that happen, and so that
Speaker 3: ninety days is going to help get us a more
Speaker 3: clear picture of where does our money go most of
Speaker 3: the time. And so once you've got that actual physical
Speaker 3: list of where your money has gone, we're going to
Speaker 3: want to look at this with a little bit more
Speaker 3: of a curious lens, not critical of ourselves, not judgmental,
Speaker 3: just putting on our curious George hat to ask ourselves
Speaker 3: some questions about these transactions. We can look at it
Speaker 3: almost like a fun financial journal, where we are considering
Speaker 3: what triggered this spend? Did it give me the result
Speaker 3: that I wanted? What was going on for me? We
Speaker 3: can even dig a little deeper of what was the environment?
Speaker 3: Do I remember what I was feeling emotionally? What happened
Speaker 3: for me relationally that day? What is going on for
Speaker 3: my entire personhood as each of these expenses happen. You
Speaker 3: may not be able to answer all of those questions
Speaker 3: in grave detail, but as much as you can, we
Speaker 3: really want to take a deeper dive as we are
Speaker 3: practicing curiosity with ourselves. This is an exercise in learning
Speaker 3: more about who we are, which will ultimately lead to
Speaker 3: understanding our values. But it's going to have to start
Speaker 3: here first of really looking at what do I choose
Speaker 3: with my finances?
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is going to take a while to do.
Speaker 1: It's not something you're going to be able to go
Speaker 1: sit down in an hour print off your ninety day
Speaker 1: spending history and then next to each transaction, what triggered
Speaker 1: it and did I get the result? I want like,
Speaker 1: did it make me? Did it fulfill me? Did it
Speaker 1: make me happy? You know all these things. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna be able to do it in an hour, so
Speaker 1: don't be scared to like move on and keep growing
Speaker 1: before you finish this. But make it a priority to
Speaker 1: finish because it will give you the solid foundation you
Speaker 1: need to make change. But don't procrass. I call it
Speaker 1: procrass to spending, but it's procrass doating on anything. We
Speaker 1: think we need to like master the first step before
Speaker 1: we can move on to all the like steps that
Speaker 1: follow it. I stop doing that and good enough is okay?
Speaker 1: You can get through it, get some under your belt,
Speaker 1: and keep moving on. While you continue working on this
Speaker 1: first step. It may take you like a week or two,
Speaker 1: depending on your schedule, but it is really important to
Speaker 1: before you change what you're spending on, you need to
Speaker 1: get a baseline of what you're already spending on, because
Speaker 1: when you make a budget, you want to make a
Speaker 1: perfect budget. You know, you want your numbers to say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: like this is how much I should be spent quote
Speaker 1: unquote should be spending on groceries, when in reality, maybe
Speaker 1: you're spending twice that and it's unreasonable to think that
Speaker 1: you can cut your grocery bill in half in one month.
Speaker 1: You got to know where you're at so that you
Speaker 1: can start moving towards where you want or you can
Speaker 1: even decide if where you think you should be is
Speaker 1: actually where you want to be, you can consider other options,
Speaker 1: but first you need to figure out where you are
Speaker 1: so that the second step you can choose what you value.
Speaker 1: So once you make that list of transactions and you
Speaker 1: make a note for each one, and this is again
Speaker 1: with bills too, honestly, like if you are paying a
Speaker 1: mortgage that is huge and you have housing bills and
Speaker 1: appliance replacements and all of these things that come with
Speaker 1: home ownership when you really want to be traveling and
Speaker 1: doing these things that don't align with home ownership, you
Speaker 1: need to question if that mortgage is giving you the
Speaker 1: result you want in life. So don't just do it
Speaker 1: with discretionary do this with your bills too, figuring out, okay,
Speaker 1: what triggered this spend, so like, what was I doing,
Speaker 1: what was I feeling? Stuff like that, and did it
Speaker 1: give me the result I want? Didn't really fulfill what
Speaker 1: I had desired. Once you do that for all of
Speaker 1: your purchases. Then you can choose from that list, like
Speaker 1: what are the things that did give me the result
Speaker 1: I want? So and they can be different, so like,
Speaker 1: for example, lattes. One latte could be giving you time
Speaker 1: with a friend, which is something you really value, while
Speaker 1: another latte could just have been a habit purchase. Like you,
Speaker 1: whenever you go visit your mom, you pick up a
Speaker 1: latte along the way. You don't know why, you don't
Speaker 1: need it, just it just it's a habit. Stuff like
Speaker 1: that can be the same purchase, but for different reasons,
Speaker 1: and that's why it's important that we make a note
Speaker 1: of like what triggered the expenses. You can get an
Speaker 1: idea of like, Okay, maybe next time when I go
Speaker 1: see my mom, I just don't pick up a latte.
Speaker 1: But when a friend asked me to coffee, I say
Speaker 1: yes without hesitation. Again, lattes aren't the enemy. The purchase
Speaker 1: is not the enemy. The knowing why you're doing it
Speaker 1: is the goal. So that's the next step. So, and
Speaker 1: you can decide today on a few things that you value.
Speaker 1: You won't have an extensive list, You don't have to
Speaker 1: have the perfect list of your values, but you can
Speaker 1: decide today like lattes with friends. That's a no brainer
Speaker 1: for me. I'm always going to say yes to that
Speaker 1: and feel confident.
Speaker 3: About that, which I think is why this is so
Speaker 3: fluid and so difficult to really nail down as far
Speaker 3: as here's exactly how you do values based spending, because
Speaker 3: it is different for all of us, and week to week,
Speaker 3: month and month year to year, it may be different
Speaker 3: for us as well. It's not to the exclusion of
Speaker 3: what's incoming. We're not just spending and not and ignoring
Speaker 3: what we're making and bringing in and what is actually affordable.
Speaker 3: But we're recognizing, yeah, that one the purchase of the
Speaker 3: same thing one day could be in total alignment with
Speaker 3: our values and another day may not be. And so
Speaker 3: there's again so much of this is rooted in just
Speaker 3: our understanding of self. So then from there you're going
Speaker 3: to move into asking a very similar question, only the opposite.
Speaker 3: Decide what you don't value, What transactions as you look
Speaker 3: over that ninety day list you didn't enjoy, didn't give
Speaker 3: you what you wanted, weren't actually in alignment with now
Speaker 3: what you have decided in your step two you do value.
Speaker 3: So some examples of this could be as you look
Speaker 3: back over these expenses, where might have you felt pressured
Speaker 3: to buy or contribute what might have been an impulse
Speaker 3: by and maybe just the act of purchasing itself provided
Speaker 3: you something in the moment, but the thing is nowhere
Speaker 3: to be found and you kind of want to return it,
Speaker 3: Go ahead and return it. Or the purchase was influenced
Speaker 3: by some unattainable standard, something you saw on social media.
Speaker 3: You're being sold and told this is the next step,
Speaker 3: even down to what you said already jen of mortgage,
Speaker 3: some of us could be in home owning situations just
Speaker 3: because we've been sold this narrative that that's the next
Speaker 3: step in adulthood. But truly, for you, you would rather
Speaker 3: low maintenance, free up time and money for these other things,
Speaker 3: time with your family, travel, the ability to be flexible,
Speaker 3: you name it. That's totally a fine adult decision. That
Speaker 3: doesn't mean that you are some young adult live in
Speaker 3: some frivolous life. There are plenty of older why individuals
Speaker 3: who have chosen renting as a lifelong living lodging solution,
Speaker 3: and it is wisdom for them so feel the freedom
Speaker 3: even on these larger things that we can challenge these ideas,
Speaker 3: and we can decide I actually don't value owning a home.
Speaker 3: I actually don't value having two cars. I actually don't
Speaker 3: value spending half my Saturday mowing my lawn every weekend.
Speaker 3: And that's a decision that might take a little bit
Speaker 3: longer than deciding, yeah, I'm okay spent like buying lattes
Speaker 3: every week. But I think every single one of these
Speaker 3: purchases we can look at with this lens of is
Speaker 3: there anything here that I don't value? Isn't giving me
Speaker 3: what I want? Isn't creating the space for the things
Speaker 3: that truly do matter for me? That might become an
Speaker 3: easier and easier know for me.
Speaker 1: And the more you do this, the more you can
Speaker 1: get creative with how you say yes and how you
Speaker 1: say no. So, to use the example of home ownership again,
Speaker 1: maybe if if you find that you don't want to
Speaker 1: be a homeowner anymore, that doesn't automatically mean you have
Speaker 1: to sell your house. You could potentially rent it out
Speaker 1: and go rent somewhere else, or be wherever you truly
Speaker 1: want to be and be a renter. And there are
Speaker 1: all these options. When you start getting curious about what
Speaker 1: you've assumed is set in stone. When you take that
Speaker 1: off the table, you can start to ask questions and
Speaker 1: you can start to investigate. Because a no doesn't automatically
Speaker 1: mean a yes, and a yes doesn't automatically mean a no.
Speaker 1: There are areas in the middle, and it's just taking
Speaker 1: the time to question if something is an absolute or
Speaker 1: if something's negotiable. So the next step, and I would
Speaker 1: say the same as when you choose what you value,
Speaker 1: when you decide what you don't value, decide that day
Speaker 1: on a few things you'll never spend on again, things
Speaker 1: that are easy nos. Write them down. Like for me,
Speaker 1: when I realized I love to go out and get
Speaker 1: a cocktail with friends at happy hour, but I actually
Speaker 1: don't like beer that much. Like I can drink it,
Speaker 1: but it's it's usually just a thing that I get
Speaker 1: when there's nothing else available. I decided that day, like,
Speaker 1: I don't buy beer anymore. Like that is an easy
Speaker 1: no for me. So it's like some simple things like that.
Speaker 1: Decide a few of them, write them down, never spend
Speaker 1: on them again. And then once you've done that, step
Speaker 1: four is to put barriers up to prevent disaligned spending.
Speaker 1: So it is a lot easier to once you figured
Speaker 1: out what you value to keep spending on that. It
Speaker 1: is not as easy when you decide what you don't
Speaker 1: value to stop spending on that stuff. Sheer willpower can
Speaker 1: get you started, but it isn't enough to learn and
Speaker 1: master a skill. Any athlete will tell you that. Any
Speaker 1: person who's adopted a habit will tell you that.
Speaker 3: So you need to.
Speaker 1: Get acquainted with this mindset of curiosity and start to
Speaker 1: learn physical and mental shortcuts that will help you say
Speaker 1: no when saying no is hard. And this is a
Speaker 1: lifelong journey of learning learning these different quote unquote life hacks,
Speaker 1: but they are just smart mental shortcuts, physical shortcuts or
Speaker 1: barriers that will help you in this journey. Because I'm
Speaker 1: sure anybody who has made a budget and not stuck
Speaker 1: to it has questioned, like, why am I not sticking
Speaker 1: to this? I want to do this. The math is mathing,
Speaker 1: but I can't. I can't connect. And that's where this
Speaker 1: comes in is because math isn't enough to make you
Speaker 1: follow through the thought that this is where I should
Speaker 1: be when I'm in my thirties financially, or this is
Speaker 1: where I should be. I should be able to do
Speaker 1: this that's not going to get you through. Learning the
Speaker 1: ways to refine your actions is what's going to get
Speaker 1: you through. It's not deprivation, it's refining. This skill of
Speaker 1: spending is what is going to get you through.
Speaker 3: And sprinkled throughout this and going forward is all of
Speaker 3: these other tools and tips and hacks and resources that
Speaker 3: we've talked about. Sprinkled throughout here is a spending plan
Speaker 3: or budget if you're still at school and you don't
Speaker 3: mind that B word, and thinking about out investing for
Speaker 3: retirement and savings goals and giving goals and spending goals,
Speaker 3: and how you spend your time, and how we incorporate
Speaker 3: new and better habits, and how we aim at well
Speaker 3: being in all aspects of our personhood. All throughout here
Speaker 3: is then these tools that we pick up at different
Speaker 3: points in time, different stages of life, that will fit us,
Speaker 3: that will suit our needs for that time, for that season,
Speaker 3: for the goal that we're identifying, and this is ongoing.
Speaker 3: If there were to be a step five in all
Speaker 3: of this, it would be refining, honing, revisiting, because, as
Speaker 3: we've said many times, this does change and shift life circumstances, seasons,
Speaker 3: living situations shift and we are allowed to steal gens phrase,
Speaker 3: we're allowed to throw them a plot twist. We're allowed
Speaker 3: to change our minds. We are allowed to move in
Speaker 3: a different direction and decide this is now in more
Speaker 3: alignment with what is important to me at this stage
Speaker 3: of life, and so it is going to be important
Speaker 3: to not just set it and forget it, but to
Speaker 3: be an active participant in the life that we're living.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't that be amazing? And then to feel so good
Speaker 3: and confident and free in the decisions that we're making
Speaker 3: because we know it so well. Now we've done the work,
Speaker 3: we know what we value, and we are constantly revisiting
Speaker 3: that idea and wondering, Okay, I did this thing, this
Speaker 3: used to bring value to me a year ago? Is
Speaker 3: it still? If yes, great, keep going? If no, what
Speaker 3: changes can I be implementing? And what's going to happen
Speaker 3: here is decreased guilt and shame across the board and
Speaker 3: a deeper increased understanding of ourself which will again not
Speaker 3: only benefit us in our financial life, but every aspect
Speaker 3: of our life. I think what we have found, and
Speaker 3: what many of the people in our community are indicating
Speaker 3: their finding, is that as they're improving one aspect of life,
Speaker 3: we are noticing benefit to other aspects of life. It's
Speaker 3: a really amazing peripheral impact of well being that really
Speaker 3: can happen in any part of our personhood. Right we
Speaker 3: start exercising, and then we notice that our focus on
Speaker 3: nutritional goals is getting better, or our relational capacities are improving,
Speaker 3: or we're focusing on our financial health and we're paying
Speaker 3: down debt. And we're also noticing that our impulse spending
Speaker 3: is getting under control, and we are spending more quality
Speaker 3: time with the people that matter. And now we're interested
Speaker 3: in what else can I be incorporating that's going to
Speaker 3: be good for me, because I feel like I'm on
Speaker 3: a role here. And of course the opposite happens too,
Speaker 3: Right when we are experiencing not so great in beneficial
Speaker 3: habits for our ourselves, it almost wraps all the other
Speaker 3: aspects of our personhood and brings it down with it.
Speaker 3: But it works in the opposite direction too, So leveraging
Speaker 3: this to our benefit getting better in one area and
Speaker 3: then just reaping the benefits of it improving quality of
Speaker 3: life in these other areas.
Speaker 1: It's so fun and the majority of the book is
Speaker 1: spent in This fourth step is these barriers and these
Speaker 1: sub skills that help you practice value spased spending. It'll
Speaker 1: take you a few weeks to do steps one through
Speaker 1: three to do the ninety day spending history. Decide what
Speaker 1: you value, decide what you don't, and then we get
Speaker 1: into this practice of practicing. And this is where we
Speaker 1: get lost, because practicing is really practice over and over
Speaker 1: and over, but we get so discouraged. When I have
Speaker 1: learned about values based spending, I know what I value,
Speaker 1: I know what I don't value, and for some reason,
Speaker 1: I keep falling back into these impulse spending binges even
Speaker 1: though I know the stuff is stuff I don't value,
Speaker 1: so you give up on it. And that's what we're
Speaker 1: trying to prevent. And so throughout the book there are
Speaker 1: nine principles that are really going to be the foundation
Speaker 1: of the practice of values based spending. When you know
Speaker 1: these principles, even if you just know a couple of them,
Speaker 1: it makes practicing it so much easier. But we're giving
Speaker 1: you all nine so that you can really master the
Speaker 1: skill throughout your lifetime and put up these barriers, or
Speaker 1: just make it's simpler, make it easier to say the
Speaker 1: yes or say the no.
Speaker 3: We're giving you nine so you can be the ten
Speaker 3: the dime piece the dimes ten out of ten. And
Speaker 3: you know what else is practice. It's just practice, but
Speaker 3: that we don't get lost in it, and it's brings
Speaker 3: us back and it's encouraging. It is aligned with our values.
Speaker 3: It's a bill of the week.
Speaker 4: That's right. It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 4: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 4: is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your
Speaker 4: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 4: that bill anymore. That bills, Buffalo bills, bill clon.
Speaker 2: This the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hi, Jenn and Jel. This is Emily calling with my
Speaker 5: bill of the week. And this one is for all
Speaker 5: of the pet parents out there. And my tip is
Speaker 5: to buy those routine prescriptions for our furry friends through Chewy.
Speaker 5: I was previously buying my dog's flee in tick medication
Speaker 5: from the vet and at twenty six dollars a dose,
Speaker 5: I was looking at three hundred and thirty dollars each year.
Speaker 5: I found out that the doses are cheaper through Chewy
Speaker 5: and by buying those in bulk and taking advantage of
Speaker 5: a one time discount, I was able to bring the
Speaker 5: bill down to one hundred and eighty six dollars and
Speaker 5: that is a one hundred and forty five dollars savings annually.
Speaker 5: So if you have not found out that you can
Speaker 5: buy your prescriptions through Chewy, I would highly recommend giving
Speaker 5: it a shot. I love the podcast and thanks for
Speaker 5: all you doo, thank you.
Speaker 3: Yay Emily. This is so exciting. We love it when
Speaker 3: people find a way to cut expenses while still caring
Speaker 3: for the things that you value. So this is amazing
Speaker 3: well done that you are getting all of your preventative
Speaker 3: medicines for your furry friends and saving one hundred forty
Speaker 3: five dollars annually. It sounds like you're still getting the
Speaker 3: exact same medications that you needed, just at a discounted rate,
Speaker 3: which is hopefully freeing up money for other things that
Speaker 3: you enjoy.
Speaker 1: That'd be fun and Chewy. This one's free, but the
Speaker 1: next one's going to cost you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you have a bill you want to share
Speaker 3: about something you value spending on but you found it
Speaker 3: at a discounted rate, or you've got a furry friend
Speaker 3: named Bill. Oh man, I'd love for like a little
Speaker 3: hampster or a little goldfish named Bill. That's hilarious. Visit
Speaker 3: Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash Bill, leave us your Bill.
Speaker 3: And now it's time for the Lightning Round is gonna
Speaker 3: be in the book. And yeah, don't you Mariam really
Speaker 3: thinking that we need the book to be one of
Speaker 3: those kid push button books for the sound effects. Just
Speaker 3: for this, there's one button. It's the Lightning Round and
Speaker 3: whenever you need it or want it, you've got these
Speaker 3: sound effects right in your face.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how about we put a Lightning Round like sound
Speaker 1: effect button on our website so if people want to
Speaker 1: read it in tandem like they can, or we'll do
Speaker 1: it on the audiobook.
Speaker 3: There'll be a QR code right below the Lightning Round
Speaker 3: every single We can't your code.
Speaker 1: If you want it, though, let us know and we'll
Speaker 1: pass it on to the publisher. Really warming right on
Speaker 1: the mopitballin' again. Please let us know what you want,
Speaker 1: what you need, and maybe it's sound effects. Yes, the
Speaker 1: audiobook's going to be fun for sure. So in this
Speaker 1: edition of The Lightning Round, we're going to give personal
Speaker 1: examples of values based spending. Actually, the Lightning round in
Speaker 1: the book, we're wanting it to be your vulnerability, So
Speaker 1: we want you to get vulnerable with yourself. So it's
Speaker 1: going to be questions that help you get vulnerable, because
Speaker 1: we always say the Lightning round is like our vulnerability segment,
Speaker 1: So we want you to get vulnerable with you or
Speaker 1: your book club, whoerever you're reading. So, Jill, what are
Speaker 1: your personal examples of values based spending?
Speaker 3: I know, well, you know if you've listened for a time.
Speaker 3: My values at this stage of life are connection. Community
Speaker 3: that's kind of all one, beauty, and generosity. There's so
Speaker 3: much for me that connects to that. Sometimes it means
Speaker 3: spending on those things and sometimes it doesn't. I can
Speaker 3: get a lot of those things for free, which is excellent.
Speaker 3: But related to the community and beauty piece is travel
Speaker 3: for me, so I really enjoy seeing new places, exploring, adventuring.
Speaker 3: It usually does include seeing some beautiful places. It often
Speaker 3: includes hikes, being out in nature wherever it is that
Speaker 3: I'm going to, And so I will spend on travel,
Speaker 3: which does cost a lot. It costs more than staying home,
Speaker 3: but it makes it easy to say no in other
Speaker 3: areas to create room in our spending plan for travel.
Speaker 3: And I'm not traveling as much as I used to,
Speaker 3: but it's still important to me to make space for
Speaker 3: those new experiences. I love international travel. So one of
Speaker 3: the things that we've done in our lives, Eric and
Speaker 3: I is go down to having one vehicle. We are
Speaker 3: in part able to do that because we both work
Speaker 3: from home, but we have chosen for the last three
Speaker 3: plus years, maybe even going on four years, to just
Speaker 3: have one vehicle that frees a lot of money up
Speaker 3: in our finances, to be able to throw some extra
Speaker 3: money towards a sinking fund of travel for us. We're
Speaker 3: also in a season of renovating our house. We are
Speaker 3: nearly at the tail end of it, which is so fun,
Speaker 3: and this in some ways aligns with I value for beauty.
Speaker 3: I want the space that I live in to feel
Speaker 3: comfortable and beautiful and clean, and so I only know
Speaker 3: that it's clean if I am able to rip out
Speaker 3: all of the dry wall and bug proof it and
Speaker 3: insulate it and then re dry wallet and paint it
Speaker 3: and cock it and would fill it myself. It's extreme,
Speaker 3: but we've created space and our budget for it, and
Speaker 3: I don't know what's going to happen once renovations are
Speaker 3: over and it frees up some of our money. But
Speaker 3: for the time being, we have said a lot of
Speaker 3: nose to going out to eat, which we love going
Speaker 3: out to eat in part because we love being around
Speaker 3: friends and that's a fun thing to do with friends.
Speaker 3: But we have said no to going out yes to
Speaker 3: friends coming over or going over to friends' houses. So
Speaker 3: we're not giving up connection with people. But for this season,
Speaker 3: we are eating most of our meals at home home
Speaker 3: so that we can say yes to creating a home
Speaker 3: that we feel is beautiful, and again we will refine
Speaker 3: in home. We're going to come into a new season
Speaker 3: where we're not doing renovations, where maybe going out to
Speaker 3: eat will become a more regular part of our rhythm.
Speaker 3: But these are the values based choices we are making currently.
Speaker 1: What about you, Jen, So for me, I talk about
Speaker 1: lattes and I'm walking stereotype. But yeah, I really, I
Speaker 1: mean I don't go out to eat a lot. It's
Speaker 1: not something that I am not a foodie. I really
Speaker 1: just hate dish. It like doing dishes, So I will
Speaker 1: get takeout when I'm just like tired and don't want
Speaker 1: to do dishes. I'd much rather do that than do
Speaker 1: a sit down restaurant. Sometimes I will, but honestly, I'm
Speaker 1: happy with the olive Garden because like, when you're there,
Speaker 1: your family.
Speaker 3: You could get you know, on board with an olive garden, right.
Speaker 1: You know, breath, You're welcome.
Speaker 3: All yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So I do like kind of meet that need
Speaker 1: through getting a latte or an iced coffee and just
Speaker 1: like kind of walking around places just enjoying being alone.
Speaker 1: I think when you have two kids and a husband
Speaker 1: that you enjoy spending time with those pockets of time
Speaker 1: where you can be alone. And I really value my
Speaker 1: alone time. They are rare, and so sometimes I will
Speaker 1: enjoy my aloneness by getting a coffee and being in there.
Speaker 1: And so I just like just being somewhere that is
Speaker 1: not with other people. So that is a value for me.
Speaker 1: But I also like community is one of my highest
Speaker 1: values too, and so that's a a reason I don't
Speaker 1: meet people very well. I am awkward, I don't mean
Speaker 1: at meeting people, and so I need my lifelong friends.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I come across as cold to people who
Speaker 1: do not know me, because I just knew people are
Speaker 1: weird to me. And I wish that I was better
Speaker 1: at it. I work towards getting better at I don't
Speaker 1: let that be an excuse, but it is to have
Speaker 1: a meet and greet.
Speaker 3: With our book just so people can experience it.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I hope this podcast will like people will know
Speaker 1: me and then just you know, meet me and be like, oh,
Speaker 1: I know you stink at this, so hi, I'm so
Speaker 1: it's and I would love that. So so yeah, that
Speaker 1: kind of comes into the play with like lattes. It's
Speaker 1: not like I'm not even a coffee snob honestly, Like
Speaker 1: I'm good with Starbucks.
Speaker 3: And you've gotten so deep into the weeds on values
Speaker 3: based spending that you can somehow connect latte purchases with
Speaker 3: being awkward upon meeting people. That is a true knowledge.
Speaker 1: I'm so deep.
Speaker 3: Wow, so deep might be too deep. I'm too vulnerable, I.
Speaker 1: Agree, I probably agree. And then fitness, so like I
Speaker 1: grew up with like really bad body dysmorphia and had
Speaker 1: a really like negative sense of self when it came
Speaker 1: to my appearance, and it's something that I still struggle with.
Speaker 1: Diet culture dies hard, and so I will pay money
Speaker 1: for gym membership, group training. Fitness programs to.
Speaker 5: Not.
Speaker 1: I mean, I have overcome the body dysmorphia to an extent,
Speaker 1: but I love feeling strong. I love feeling good about
Speaker 1: my body and kind of kicking that childhood like shame
Speaker 1: about not being skinny, just like punching it in the face,
Speaker 1: and so like now I was always as a child,
Speaker 1: I've I'm and it as an adult. I am horrible
Speaker 1: at sports. Anything with a ball I am horrible at
Speaker 1: and do not enjoy, including frisbee that is around. I'm like,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter, it's a flat ball, and and so I
Speaker 1: don't do that and I've never been good at it
Speaker 1: growing up. So so I'm not, you know, quote unquote athletic.
Speaker 1: But in my adulthood, I have run half marathons. I
Speaker 1: have done CrossFit, like I've done all these things, and
Speaker 1: I feel so good about it, Like I feel it's
Speaker 1: something I'm bad at that I can make very small
Speaker 1: strides at and feel like they're big strides. And because
Speaker 1: of the feeling that that gives me, that is definitely
Speaker 1: a value and something I will say yes too pretty
Speaker 1: much without thinking. I do put some thought into it,
Speaker 1: because that stuff can get expensive.
Speaker 3: I'm so proud of you thank you. Wow, you'd be
Speaker 3: up in the gym just working on your fitness. I'm
Speaker 3: your witness. Ooo. Thanks for listening. We love reading your
Speaker 3: kind reviews. It's one of our favorite pastimes and present times,
Speaker 3: and we especially loved this one. This is from Off
Speaker 3: Duty Dalek. This podcast lives in my subconscious as the title,
Speaker 3: I love the Frugal Friends podcast. It's helpful and educational
Speaker 3: and really enjoyable. I actually apply a lot of the
Speaker 3: advice in my everyday life, and I feel better about
Speaker 3: my money and how I spend it. I got life
Speaker 3: insurance because of this podcast. Thank you guys. Well done.
Speaker 3: Side note, I have listened to so many episodes since
Speaker 3: discovering the podcast a few weeks ago that every time
Speaker 3: someone in conversation pauses for dramatic effect, my brain goes
Speaker 3: ten stars. WHOA, this was a good review. I feel seen.
Speaker 3: I feel like we are friends. I don't think Jen
Speaker 3: would be awkward upon meeting you, Off Duty Dalek, because
Speaker 3: this is Jill.
Speaker 1: It's doalk and all of the nerds.
Speaker 3: How do you know.
Speaker 1: Is this doctor who reference? Oh yeah, is.
Speaker 3: It Star Wars?
Speaker 1: It's doctor whill O. Yeah, it's fine, it's fine. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Gen nerds and non nerds. We've got you covered.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. Uh, and we're going to need
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Speaker 1: don't like girls laughing, if they think it sounds like
Speaker 1: vapid giggling, we don't want we don't want them here.
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Speaker 3: See you next time.
Speaker 1: Google Friends is produced by Eric.
Speaker 3: Sirianni Jen I can't get over Frisbee is a flat ball,
Speaker 3: the lie good I am vapid giggling over here because
Speaker 3: I also liked You're woven in high class word and also, Jen,
Speaker 3: we are not great influences on each other. Oh gosh,
Speaker 3: but I do enjoy it. Actually, we are pretty good
Speaker 3: influences on each other.
Speaker 1: You make me want to be more generous and and
Speaker 1: nicer to people, I think. I so I signed up
Speaker 1: to bring that family a meal and their meal train
Speaker 1: that I didn't know because I was like, Jill would
Speaker 1: do this, and you are doing it. I knew you would.
Speaker 3: I knew, well, yeah, but you also do you have
Speaker 3: you know, you've got two kids and one is very
Speaker 3: a very recent child, very new human, so it would
Speaker 3: make sense if this is not.
Speaker 1: I didn't do anything big. I just got some frozen
Speaker 1: ravioli and a bottle of Marinera. Had some love that
Speaker 1: put some ground beef in it, you know. I love
Speaker 1: wasn't hard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well done.
Speaker 1: You make you influenced me positively. It's probably me influencing no.
Speaker 3: Negative, No, what I mean. No, You've influenced me very positively,
Speaker 3: and it's very obvious in the length of this podcast,
Speaker 3: in a book and my financial life getting better. I'm
Speaker 3: just thinking about last night, how we went to a
Speaker 3: game night friends together and we sat next to each other,
Speaker 3: and I've been thinking about it this morning. I'm like,
Speaker 3: I really made a point to be like Gens on
Speaker 3: my team because I knew we'd win, and we did.
Speaker 3: One or both of us won.
Speaker 1: We were so good.
Speaker 3: But I do wonder how it felt for the rest
Speaker 3: of the people there who haven't owned a business together
Speaker 3: for five years and aren't whispering curse words to one
Speaker 3: another and trying to sabotage the other team with our
Speaker 3: own vapid giggling. I'm just wondering how the experience was
Speaker 3: for other people.
Speaker 1: And see the fact that you thought about that means
Speaker 1: you are such a better person than I, and you
Speaker 1: influenced me positively to think about I was the one
Speaker 1: sharing the majority of the curse words, so I don't
Speaker 1: think you're the better one.
Speaker 3: You have a cleaner mouth than me.
Speaker 1: To each our own