Speaker 1: Episode four thirty eight, What to budget for this Fall.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a life here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
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: all the things to budget for this fall so that
Speaker 1: you don't miss a thing, cause you.
Speaker 3: Don't want to miss a thing.
Speaker 1: Wow, brought to you by millennials.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but first, it's actually brought to you by phone
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Speaker 3: And we also think the more friends you have to
Speaker 3: call on the better, which is why we're pumped about
Speaker 3: this virtual Get Organized Summit happening the week of September ninth.
Speaker 3: It's like phoning all of your friends at once to
Speaker 3: get all the tips on simplifying organizing creating better routines
Speaker 3: and overall just decreasing the things that can cause the
Speaker 3: most stress. Talk about the best way to enter the fall,
Speaker 3: and all of it in really sustainable ways that last.
Speaker 3: So there's over one hundred speakers, including Jen and I
Speaker 3: we have a talk at this virtual event, and others
Speaker 3: who are also talking about organizing home spaces, well being
Speaker 3: practices in which we can aim at sustainable long term
Speaker 3: well being, managing day to day tasks well. So, if
Speaker 3: you want to attend this virtual conference again, it's happening
Speaker 3: the week of September ninth, you can do that for
Speaker 3: free by using our specific link which is at Frugal
Speaker 3: Friends podcast dot com slash go hq that's g o hq.
Speaker 3: That will allow you to attend the conference for free.
Speaker 1: Yes, all right, so let's talk about uh this come
Speaker 1: and fall, because here we are summer's over and we
Speaker 1: are talking about budgeting. I am trying to paste in
Speaker 1: the the other episodes to listen to on basing, like
Speaker 1: a million different things, oh gosh. But if you are
Speaker 1: really interested in other episodes we have about specifically fall,
Speaker 1: Episode two forty is our frugal Living Tips for Fall.
Speaker 1: So we're talking about a few ways to maximize the season.
Speaker 1: Uh this is our episode I guess on how to
Speaker 1: minimize the season. Uh so episode two forty. That one
Speaker 1: came out two years ago, so it's definitely time for
Speaker 1: another fall specific episode.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we're taking an approach of both kind of
Speaker 3: what to budget for but also what to be reviewing
Speaker 3: for the fall with your finances, because we think this
Speaker 3: is a really good time to look at how do
Speaker 3: we want to end Q four to use financial lingo,
Speaker 3: but really we've got a few more months left in
Speaker 3: the year, and before we hit that, look back over
Speaker 3: the whole year and what do I think about and
Speaker 3: what do I want a resolution for? We can really
Speaker 3: set ourselves up for feeling good about the new year
Speaker 3: with some of this these final attention pieces. So the
Speaker 3: article that we're going to go through, it's just one
Speaker 3: article because we've been liking to really focus in. We've
Speaker 3: simplified our structure.
Speaker 1: And this is great because it's from my friend Michelle
Speaker 1: Schroder Gardner over at Making Sense of Sense and it's
Speaker 1: your fall financial checklist, seventeen things to do now.
Speaker 3: So we're not going to go through all seventeen, but
Speaker 3: in some ways We're kind of going to touch on
Speaker 3: all of them because some of them can be paired together,
Speaker 3: but the first one I want to highlight is the
Speaker 3: first one, and this has a little bit more to
Speaker 3: do with kind of thinking ahead what's coming up this year,
Speaker 3: but is related financially, and that's health insurance. So for
Speaker 3: those of us using the health insurance marketplace, enrollment opens
Speaker 3: November first and it runs through December fifteenth. For medical
Speaker 3: insurance coverage that will begin in January, So this is
Speaker 3: something to start preparing for now, to be researching the
Speaker 3: type of coverage that you're going to need in the
Speaker 3: new year. Be thinking about what your medical needs are,
Speaker 3: how much we're medical expenses this past year for you,
Speaker 3: what type of coverage would be best, How much will
Speaker 3: that cost you monthly? In what ways do you need
Speaker 3: to maybe rearrange your spending or begin preparing to be
Speaker 3: able to afford whatever you know your new monthly premium
Speaker 3: might be. If you want more information on this topic specifically,
Speaker 3: we did do an episode two fifty four Open Enrollment
Speaker 3: Explained with Eileen Doherty. That was a while ago.
Speaker 1: It was in twenty two, but it's.
Speaker 3: Still still really great stuff in there. So if open
Speaker 3: enrollment kind of confuses you, you want a little bit more,
Speaker 3: queue up episode two fifty four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's definitely still relevant. It has aged well,
Speaker 1: So definitely check that out because it's it's good to
Speaker 1: know if you're gonna if you're gonna want it. You
Speaker 1: should also check out our HSA versus FSA episode that
Speaker 1: we just recently did, episode four twenty eight. We literally
Speaker 1: just did that one in July. That those two episodes
Speaker 1: will really help you figure out, Okay, what do I
Speaker 1: am I in a good place with my health insurance?
Speaker 1: Like do I have the plan that I want or
Speaker 1: should I consider a different plan with maybe an HSA
Speaker 1: FSA neither, So those are two good episodes to queue up.
Speaker 1: Number two is to make a plan to max out
Speaker 1: retirement investments. So this is definitely an ideal one I
Speaker 1: would say if you can. So, I was actually just
Speaker 1: talking with my sister in law about her retirement and
Speaker 1: we are not certified financial planners, so we do not
Speaker 1: give investment advice, but we do give saving advice. Uh,
Speaker 1: and so traditionally, I think fifteen percent is a really
Speaker 1: good number to shoot for. If you're not saving fifteen
Speaker 1: percent into your retirement savings. You don't have to start
Speaker 1: out at fifteen percent right away. Definitely, just get whatever
Speaker 1: match your employer is offering, if they offer one. For
Speaker 1: my sister in law, she was doing seven percent because
Speaker 1: it was kind of half for the first three and
Speaker 1: a half percent, and it's a confusing thing, but she
Speaker 1: had to do seven percent in order to get three
Speaker 1: and a half percent match. So that's where she was at.
Speaker 1: We bumped her up to ten and I said, in
Speaker 1: a few months, if you don't notice a difference, going
Speaker 1: up to fifteen would really be good. And that's because
Speaker 1: she already had some retirement savings. I would say, if
Speaker 1: you're in your twenties or and you don't, you're not
Speaker 1: starting with anything. Fifteen percent is fine. If you're in
Speaker 1: your thirties and you already have some savings, fifteen percent
Speaker 1: is fine. If you're in your thirties or forties and
Speaker 1: you don't have a lot, then I would say try
Speaker 1: twenty so again working up to it. For most people,
Speaker 1: that's not going to be maxing out. So and we
Speaker 1: we say start now because you have an until tax
Speaker 1: day of next year for your IRA to quote unquote
Speaker 1: max that out. So you could potentially max out your
Speaker 1: IRA for this year if you start now, and if
Speaker 1: you really want to get aggressive, I think seven thousand
Speaker 1: is the limit this year. Otherwise, doing your four oh
Speaker 1: one K is totally fine if you don't have enough
Speaker 1: to do both, but so maxing out would be great
Speaker 1: if you have the funds. But I would say at
Speaker 1: least getting to fifteen percent, like making it a goal
Speaker 1: this fall to get your savings up to fifteen or
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen percent is great.
Speaker 3: Number three on this list is a little bit more practical,
Speaker 3: but definitely something we all need to be paying attention
Speaker 3: to as we enter into some of the colder months,
Speaker 3: and that is prepping our home. So we're not quite
Speaker 3: into winter, but temps are going to be dropping everywhere,
Speaker 3: and doing some of this maintenance on the house can
Speaker 3: not only prolong the life of your home, but also
Speaker 3: help to reduce energy costs that you may have as
Speaker 3: you need to start using the heat. So some of
Speaker 3: these things can include cleaning your gutters, making sure that
Speaker 3: you have proper drainage happening on your roof is going
Speaker 3: to help prolong the life of the roof, and we
Speaker 3: all know how important roofs are right, it's not.
Speaker 1: Literally, five years makes a huge difference. If you can
Speaker 1: prolong the life of your roof for five years, that's
Speaker 1: not nothing.
Speaker 3: Change your filters on your heating systems. Maybe you're a
Speaker 3: regular person who sets reminders for yourself, but if you're not,
Speaker 3: let this podcast episode be your reminder that those filters
Speaker 3: do need to be changed. And you this to me
Speaker 3: changing your filters. Sorry, this is a little bit of
Speaker 3: a side tangent, but it feels to me like the
Speaker 3: reminder of when you put money into your wroth ira,
Speaker 3: make sure that you actually allocate and invest those funds right,
Speaker 3: Like you know how we need to keep reminding people
Speaker 3: of that because yours truly also made that mistake.
Speaker 1: Oh, yours truly has made this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, changing the filter on your heating and cooling system
Speaker 3: feels like that, like everyone kind of knows it, but
Speaker 3: no one really actually does it, and then they run
Speaker 3: into issues like I think my sister just had this
Speaker 3: recently where their AC wasn't working and they called somebody
Speaker 3: in and it was just that their filter was dirty. Yea,
Speaker 3: So before you waste money, just do these simple things
Speaker 3: that we all can do. Insulate your windows that had
Speaker 3: that's such a game changer. Eric and I used to
Speaker 3: do that when we lived in the North and it
Speaker 3: really did save us, i'd say pretty significantly on our
Speaker 3: heating costs. To be insulating our windows, consider a programmable
Speaker 3: thermostat so that you can kind of change up how
Speaker 3: hot or cold it is in your space from morning tonight.
Speaker 3: That can reduce our energy costs, reverse your sailing fans
Speaker 3: even just look up a checklist of how do I
Speaker 3: prepare my home for the warmer months? And this isn't
Speaker 3: just for homeowners, this is for renters as well, because
Speaker 3: you're still paying for your energy usage.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a one day thing. So we put
Speaker 1: the most important things on the list for one day
Speaker 1: this month, and then we do them and then they're done.
Speaker 1: And on your air conditioning filter you write change me
Speaker 1: on this date. So that way, every time you open
Speaker 1: it up and you're like, I don't know, is it
Speaker 1: time to change it? You know, you know as soon
Speaker 1: as you look if it's time to change.
Speaker 3: It or not. Yeah. Well, and similar to your vehicle too, right,
Speaker 3: so if you're not even as concerned about your home,
Speaker 3: if you have a car, this would be a good
Speaker 3: time to consider getting it prepped, especially if you live
Speaker 3: in the north. There's some things that you want to
Speaker 3: consider with your tires and maintenance of your car to
Speaker 3: be prepped and ready. So there could be a cost
Speaker 3: associated with some of these things, but some of this
Speaker 3: is just prep to save money for the fall.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean. And so with the car thing, getting
Speaker 1: regular car washes, putting car washes in your budget if
Speaker 1: you're not going to do it yourself, because getting the
Speaker 1: ice off the undercarriage of yours, right, it will prolong
Speaker 1: the life of your car so long so that you
Speaker 1: can have your car longer, so you're not spending as
Speaker 1: much money on replacement car insurance, YadA, YadA. And it's
Speaker 1: just budgeting in those monthly or however frequently cleanings of
Speaker 1: your car to get that salt off exactly. So next
Speaker 1: is the holiday season, so Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Well, so
Speaker 1: you'll want to make decisions about what you will buy,
Speaker 1: and this is very important, decisions about what you will
Speaker 1: not buy. Both of these lists are important, and so
Speaker 1: often we make the first list without making the second.
Speaker 1: And it's one of those if you don't stand for something,
Speaker 1: you'll fall for anything sort of things. So you have
Speaker 1: to make a I won't stand for this list or
Speaker 1: I stand for this no list, or you will fall
Speaker 1: to buying things you had not budgeted for. And that's
Speaker 1: just the truth of it. Like we're all gonna spend
Speaker 1: money on Halloween, and honestly, we're gonna spend money we
Speaker 1: hadn't planned on all these holidays that actually are valuable
Speaker 1: and important to us because we're not going to remember
Speaker 1: everything right. But so that's why this do not buy
Speaker 1: list is so important. You have to think about, Okay,
Speaker 1: what did I spend money on last year that did
Speaker 1: not get me what I want, that got me things
Speaker 1: that actually got me things I didn't want, and what
Speaker 1: am I not going to buy this year? So that
Speaker 1: way you know, and look at your statements from last
Speaker 1: year too, how much did you spend on Halloween, Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: and Christmas.
Speaker 3: I feel like a lot of times we'll talk, Okay,
Speaker 3: Christmas is coming and that's like the only thing you
Speaker 3: need to budget for. But the Fall is one of
Speaker 3: the bigger spendee just seasons. I feel like, especially for
Speaker 3: people who who really love the esthetic of fall, we
Speaker 3: can get sucked into all of the decor and the
Speaker 3: fun activities and whatnot. And I think that's where that
Speaker 3: list of what am I going to choose to not
Speaker 3: spend on? What does quality over quantity look like for me?
Speaker 3: If I really value decorating for the faller, there are
Speaker 3: ways that I can do that and not just buy
Speaker 3: a bunch of junk that actually I don't even know
Speaker 3: where I'm going to store it and I probably won't
Speaker 3: even use it next year. So not just the Halloween
Speaker 3: costumes or the gifts and the food, which you do
Speaker 3: have to think about, but also the decor that kind
Speaker 3: of happens around this time of year, and whether or
Speaker 3: not it's truly valuable to you, what it adds, the
Speaker 3: benefit that it brings, and are there alternative ways of
Speaker 3: engaging in that in a not so like over consuming way.
Speaker 1: And when you start early, if you can inventory maybe
Speaker 1: the decor you have, or or the old Halloween costumes
Speaker 1: you have, you can sell those things on Facebook marketplace
Speaker 1: ahead of the seasons. You're more likely to sell them,
Speaker 1: recoup some money, and you know, do some decluttering. Because yes,
Speaker 1: people love to buy decor. We know, you know under
Speaker 1: consumption core in our heads is still viral, and so
Speaker 1: people want to buy it secondhand and you can offer
Speaker 1: it secondhand, either locally on Facebook, marketplace or the small
Speaker 1: stuff like costumes it's easy to ship. You can sell
Speaker 1: it on eBay or Poshmark. People will be looking there too,
Speaker 1: So consider that. That's why it's only the beginning of September.
Speaker 1: But this is when we do this stuff now, so
Speaker 1: that we can we can prepare and again make the
Speaker 1: do not buy list for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. And I
Speaker 1: would say, Jill, you forgot one important holiday is pumpkin season.
Speaker 3: Well, that's the whole fall.
Speaker 1: So pumpkin You know how many pumpkins buy slattes do
Speaker 1: I get per day? And what pumpkin things that Trader
Speaker 1: Joe's will I not buy this year because they weren't
Speaker 1: actually good?
Speaker 3: Well, and I think all of the activities too that
Speaker 3: go along with like yeah, it's just buying pumpkins, drinking
Speaker 3: pumpkin stuff, going to the pumpkin patch. I think we
Speaker 3: get out of summer and we think, okay, all of that,
Speaker 3: like spendy activity entertaining the kids is over and we
Speaker 3: forget that, like nussir, the fall comes and we want
Speaker 3: to do all of the fall things. So in his
Speaker 3: mommy's either either budget for it or consider what what
Speaker 3: else you can do, what free activities are coming up.
Speaker 3: Just be my full of the of who you are
Speaker 3: in the fall and what you're gonna want.
Speaker 1: Summer gen may not be the same as fall gen exactly,
Speaker 1: and I know that they're not because I much prefer
Speaker 1: fall gen to summer gen.
Speaker 3: Routine has returned, But we also need to be aware
Speaker 3: of our spending, all right. The second part of the
Speaker 3: article now kind of looks at some of these more intangibles,
Speaker 3: I would say, of an overall financial check in and
Speaker 3: some of the things that we can be doing to
Speaker 3: kind of check in on this last part of the year.
Speaker 3: How can we end well, what should we be considering
Speaker 3: with our finances? How can we leverage these last few
Speaker 3: months as best as possible set us up for the
Speaker 3: new year.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, so the first thing for me is building
Speaker 1: an emergency binder for you and your family. And this
Speaker 1: is it's a one time thing that you can just
Speaker 1: update every fall, like when your children start school, because
Speaker 1: maybe they're starting a new school or that's kind of
Speaker 1: when biggest changes happen, right, is when school starts. So
Speaker 1: updating your emergency binder and what this has in it.
Speaker 1: It has financial information such as health insurance, financial accounts, beneficiaries, passwords,
Speaker 1: user names, where to find certain documents.
Speaker 3: So don't keep it in a Google doc. Don't make
Speaker 3: your passwords. Yeah yeah, yeah, two factor authentications.
Speaker 1: This is probably going to be on paper. That's why
Speaker 1: it should be like updated once a year. So if
Speaker 1: you have a family, have a children, this is definitely
Speaker 1: useful mandatory, But if you're single, because someone will have
Speaker 1: to handle your affairs if something happens to you and
Speaker 1: that you know you don't you just assume you're not
Speaker 1: going to care, like if you die whatever. But like
Speaker 1: the worst thing is that if you don't die and
Speaker 1: you're just comatose and you still and you're.
Speaker 3: Gonna worse if you don't die, chet.
Speaker 1: The worst thing is that you're not going to die
Speaker 1: and people like mess up your stuff because you were
Speaker 1: incapacitated for you didn't have.
Speaker 3: Like a will, you mean like or not a will
Speaker 3: like this.
Speaker 1: Emergence, so we're not even talking about that yet. Just
Speaker 1: an emergency binder with all this important stuff and you
Speaker 1: can look up They sell the templates on Etsy, But honestly,
Speaker 1: I think you could just create a Google doc or
Speaker 1: a Google sheet honestly, or get a free template somewhere
Speaker 1: and print it out and make your little binder and
Speaker 1: then update it once a year in the fall.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So a lot of what we're advocating for here
Speaker 3: and the article is having a money meeting or a
Speaker 3: money party that's more fun with yourself, or if you
Speaker 3: share finances with a partner, being able to have this
Speaker 3: overall financial check in together, and some of the tangibles
Speaker 3: that can be a part of this, not that it
Speaker 3: all has to happen in one sitting, but kind of
Speaker 3: making a plan to do these different things between now
Speaker 3: and the end of the year could be helpful, like
Speaker 3: checking your credit score. So you can get free credit
Speaker 3: reports and check your score, but even just the free
Speaker 3: credit reports can tell you if they're what's being reported,
Speaker 3: check for any errors on it, and adjust that. That's
Speaker 3: just going to be a helpful thing in case you
Speaker 3: and especially if you are planning on buying a house
Speaker 3: or a vehicle or any other type of thing where
Speaker 3: you might need you want to get a new credit
Speaker 3: card in the new year, Having the best possible credit
Speaker 3: score is going to get you the best possible interest rate,
Speaker 3: the best possible deal the best possible bonus points on
Speaker 3: a credit card, so ensuring that you're checking in on
Speaker 3: that regularly, and this is a great time to do that.
Speaker 3: It's also a really good time to check in on
Speaker 3: your car insurance. I know many people pay for their
Speaker 3: car insurance just every six months, so we're not looking
Speaker 3: at it that regularly, but this would be a good
Speaker 3: time to do a check in on that as well.
Speaker 3: What are we paying? Are there things that we can
Speaker 3: be doing to lower our rates, like even doing an
Speaker 3: online driving school for many insurance companies can reduce the
Speaker 3: cost if you're willing to put one of those trackers
Speaker 3: in your car that shows that you're being a good driver,
Speaker 3: just negotiate price, compare all of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this would be the like again, one day,
Speaker 1: we have one day to get our house ready for winter,
Speaker 1: and we have another day where we're making an inventory
Speaker 1: and updating all of this stuff with your partner or
Speaker 1: just yourself. And if you have young kids, you're putting
Speaker 1: them with grandparents or babysitter so that you can do
Speaker 1: this really both be in it at the same time,
Speaker 1: and so then you can make this checklist of things
Speaker 1: to do financially that you can do at a later date.
Speaker 1: We're not trying to do everything all in one day.
Speaker 1: We're just trying to do a couple hours, get on
Speaker 1: the same page once a year, and then we move on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're reviewing subscriptions. Are we still good with what
Speaker 3: we're automatically paying for regularly? And I love this one.
Speaker 3: I don't think was on this article from other reading
Speaker 3: that I was doing preparing for this, Preparing to ask
Speaker 3: for a raise with your year end review. Many employers
Speaker 3: will do a year end review with their employees, and
Speaker 3: if you know that this is coming up, now is
Speaker 3: a good time to be prepping yourself to make that ask.
Speaker 3: Some of that could include ensuring that you're on track
Speaker 3: with kind of the tasks and deliverables that are a
Speaker 3: part of your role description, so that when you ask
Speaker 3: for this raise it doesn't come as a surprise. You've
Speaker 3: got the receipts for the work that you've done, and
Speaker 3: you can start to prep your language and your reasoning
Speaker 3: behind what it is that you're asking for and feel
Speaker 3: really confident about the words that you're going to use
Speaker 3: at that year end review and just go into a
Speaker 3: new year with more money in your pocket.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if they refuse to give you even a
Speaker 1: three percent raise or anything, refuse to show you options
Speaker 1: for advancement, then you can go into the new year
Speaker 1: thinking about a YouTube job.
Speaker 3: Yes, that can be informative as well.
Speaker 1: Speaking of jobs, another thing you should budget for for
Speaker 1: the fall is your paid time off. So if you
Speaker 1: are in a job where it is use it or
Speaker 1: lose it and it renews at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: I know, sometimes it can renew over the summer, and
Speaker 1: sometimes it's you know, after the holidays. You should budget
Speaker 1: that time off and use one hundred percent of it
Speaker 1: because we're in the fall, I get wanting to save them.
Speaker 1: If it's you know, winter, spring, summer, you don't know
Speaker 1: what's happening. But this is a baby. This is the
Speaker 1: last three months of the year, last four months of
Speaker 1: the year. So budget time to use it so that
Speaker 1: you don't lose it. And you don't want to be
Speaker 1: taking it at the end because everybody's going to be
Speaker 1: fighting for it. Like you know your job, you know
Speaker 1: when it's likely to get approved, so so take them.
Speaker 3: Take those days, take those weekend, those long weekends. Yes,
Speaker 3: prep your home for the colder months. Do your financial check,
Speaker 3: in just stack the whole thing. I think this is
Speaker 3: also a good time to consider what you want your
Speaker 3: giving to be a lot of times we do become
Speaker 3: a lot more giving around the giving season, and I
Speaker 3: think sometimes we can impulse give, which that's the best
Speaker 3: type of impulse spending in my opinion, but it still
Speaker 3: could be to our detriment. And we want to think
Speaker 3: through what do I want to give this year, whether
Speaker 3: in gifts or monetary amounts to organizations or just people
Speaker 3: in my community who might have an ask or a need.
Speaker 3: So this is still something we need to be factoring
Speaker 3: into our budgets.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And also on that same line as donating warm
Speaker 1: clothing that you haven't worn in a while. So now
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the warm seat of the cold season,
Speaker 1: getting all that stuff in and don't hold on to
Speaker 1: it because you quote unquote think you will wear it
Speaker 1: or you want to wear it. Donate that warm stuff
Speaker 1: before it gets really cold so that it can actually
Speaker 1: be used this season. If you didn't wear it last year,
Speaker 1: go forth and donate that to somebody who will use
Speaker 1: it this season. And two more like fall specific things,
Speaker 1: if you received an extension on your tax return, sure
Speaker 1: you completed and file it.
Speaker 3: You have.
Speaker 1: Until October. I think it's fifteenth or sixteen. You have
Speaker 1: till mid October, So let's get that done by the
Speaker 1: end of the month. And then if you have a
Speaker 1: flexible spending account, it might be a good idea to
Speaker 1: stop funding that if you have funds in it that
Speaker 1: you may not use, and just figure out ways to
Speaker 1: use that so you're not scrambling at the last minute.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not using up the money that's in that account.
Speaker 3: Do you know what. We don't have trouble using up though, Oh.
Speaker 1: My gosh, we'll be using it literally until the last
Speaker 1: episode of the year. But there's plenty to go around.
Speaker 3: The vill of the week.
Speaker 4: Week, that's right, it's time for the best minute of
Speaker 4: your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his
Speaker 4: name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe
Speaker 4: your car died and you're happy to not have to
Speaker 4: pay that bill anymore. Tost bills, Buffalo bills, bill claim.
Speaker 4: This is the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hi, Jen and Jill, this is Risky calling from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Speaker 5: My bill of the week is that I just spent
Speaker 5: one hundred and sixteen dollars to register for the Milwaukee
Speaker 5: Lakefront Half Marathon, which is coming up in October, and
Speaker 5: I'm really excited about this. Plus it's the last bill
Speaker 5: that I'm paying before I start my no spend month.
Speaker 5: I have some financial goals that I'm trying to accomplish,
Speaker 5: and I think of no spend months will get me
Speaker 5: on my way. So thanks for all the inspiration.
Speaker 3: Have a great day.
Speaker 1: Bye Rissy, my girl, my fellow half marathon or I
Speaker 1: am proud of you. Well done. I would just also
Speaker 1: like to stay Disney. Half marathons are much more expensive
Speaker 1: than that, So for any non runners who are like
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty dollars to run thirteen point one
Speaker 1: miles because that's how many miles I have marathon is
Speaker 1: just know that Rissy, you got a steal. That's a
Speaker 1: good price. So good for you, girl, And I hope
Speaker 1: your no spend month went well and you haven't I
Speaker 1: guess you haven't done your half marathon yet, so best
Speaker 1: of luck on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hope that goes well. I will most likely
Speaker 3: never pay to run, but I respect those who choose
Speaker 3: to spend on this value box. It me like Jen.
Speaker 3: Yes this is all for Jen, but I did enjoy
Speaker 3: this one, Rissy, especially your preparation for a no spend month.
Speaker 3: I think that that's another really great idea for the fall.
Speaker 3: If you're finding that, ooh, I've got a lot of
Speaker 3: competing goals between maxing out my retirement investing and ending
Speaker 3: the season well and giving and holidays and activities, and
Speaker 3: I don't know where it's all going to come from.
Speaker 3: Doing a no spend challenge, whether it's a week, two weeks,
Speaker 3: a month, can really set you up to be able
Speaker 3: to end well. So that's just a good tip, Rissy.
Speaker 3: Thanks for you.
Speaker 1: Bill.
Speaker 3: If you all are listening and you have a bill
Speaker 3: that is running related, you don't mind paying the bill.
Speaker 3: It's about not paying bills anymore because you're doing a
Speaker 3: no spend month, or your name is Bill and you're
Speaker 3: just excited for the fall. Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash Bill,
Speaker 3: we can't wait for it, and now it's time for round.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 1: What's typically your largest single expense each fall that you
Speaker 1: have to budget for? And we don't change up a
Speaker 1: lot of our spending in the fall. I am not
Speaker 1: a halloween girly like. I love spooky season, but I
Speaker 1: hate dressing up in costumes. I hate costumes. I am
Speaker 1: such a curmudgeon when it comes to costumes. They don't
Speaker 1: do it. I love that people do it. I'm not
Speaker 1: against it, but like me, the idea of dressing up
Speaker 1: in a costume hate.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving I will do a couple sides, and Christmas I do.
Speaker 1: I do bare minimum. Last year I bought Last year,
Speaker 1: I bought fabric on sale on clearance so that I
Speaker 1: could wrap gifts and reuse the fabric this year to
Speaker 1: wrap gifts again and just use the same fabric.
Speaker 3: That's a good idea of the fabric.
Speaker 1: I went like the day before Christmas Eve and like.
Speaker 3: And hopefully like all your sizing of what you've cut
Speaker 3: previously will fit.
Speaker 1: I got a couple one yard and a couple two
Speaker 1: yards so that I could like have variety.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but also I don't give. I give like two
Speaker 1: gifts to each old.
Speaker 3: Gifts don't always need to be wrapped either, Gifts can
Speaker 3: just be given. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So that so I'm not like a big holiday spender.
Speaker 1: So daycare is my single largest expense every season everything,
Speaker 1: and I pay it badly. Wow, it is a it
Speaker 1: is a great gift to drop my eighteen month old
Speaker 1: off in the mornings, and you know, shout outs to
Speaker 1: all those parents on the weekends pulling two twenty four
Speaker 1: hour shifts. Blessings to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that sounds like a bill you don't know you
Speaker 3: don't mind paying, which is great.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 3: For me, it's not necessarily a singular expense, but more
Speaker 3: an expense category. My food spending absolutely increases for multiple reasons.
Speaker 3: Usually in the fall winter we are hosting more so
Speaker 3: I've got more people in my house. And then around
Speaker 3: the holidays, that's my treat. Like I'm not huge on
Speaker 3: just giving people junk for the sake of giving people stuff,
Speaker 3: but I am about eating and enjoying good food and
Speaker 3: giving good food to other people. And for me, that
Speaker 3: is how I budget for the holidays. But it is
Speaker 3: something I have to kind of prepare for and adjust
Speaker 3: every year to know I'm going to spend a lot
Speaker 3: of money on food.
Speaker 1: Okay, you know what you can get me for Christmas?
Speaker 1: And I won't be ready for it until Christmas, but
Speaker 1: you won't have to spend money on it. Okay, A
Speaker 1: sour dough starter. Oh, I won't be ready to prepare
Speaker 1: me for that. A starter it's this is right now
Speaker 1: we're recording.
Speaker 3: No, you didn't prepare me just now for telling me
Speaker 3: that it was so shocking.
Speaker 1: Sorry, we were recording this in July.
Speaker 3: So thrilling. You'll be ready. I'll be ready in January
Speaker 3: to take us Take a.
Speaker 1: Starter publishes January seventh, Okay, and we'll have to do
Speaker 1: a few book tour stops. But I'm sure that Travis
Speaker 1: can maintain the starter in my absence for one month,
Speaker 1: so or maybe you should delay my gift until after
Speaker 1: the book tour. Okay, till Eric's so thrilling, give me
Speaker 1: it for Eric's person.
Speaker 3: Okay, sounds good, perfect.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for listening. We love reading
Speaker 1: your kind reviews, and we especially love this one from
Speaker 1: d Squared nine twenty four. They say, so much fun
Speaker 1: changing my mindset one episode at a time. Finishing up
Speaker 1: listening to episode three sixty nine, and the amount of
Speaker 1: giggles has started my morning off so positive and lighthearted.
Speaker 1: Finally somebody that likes our giggling. I heard about your
Speaker 1: podcast from best Lied Plans, and it's been the recommendation
Speaker 1: I didn't know that I needed on a financial journey
Speaker 1: and excited to try to be more creative with solutions
Speaker 1: instead of buying things I don't need. Appreciate you so much,
Speaker 1: Thank you D squared Because we love giggling.
Speaker 3: I don't love that word.
Speaker 1: I know we don't giggle.
Speaker 3: The word giggle just sounds so vapid, and I feel
Speaker 3: like we have a good time and we're funny adults.
Speaker 3: We're not our silly little girls.
Speaker 1: Are educated and insightful and adult full throttle.
Speaker 3: I'm really trying not to giggle right now, I'm not.
Speaker 1: So thank you for listening and listening to our laughs.
Speaker 3: If you also are enjoying listening, we would love it
Speaker 3: if you would leave us a review. First of all,
Speaker 3: we are loving that you're here and listening, so thank you,
Speaker 3: But also know that reviews really do help us. I
Speaker 3: mean that one helped a ton for people to know
Speaker 3: that there is going to be laughter and gig exactly.
Speaker 3: They can know what they're getting themselves into. It also
Speaker 3: helps us to be able to get onto other podcasts.
Speaker 3: It helps to establish us as a legit podcasts. All
Speaker 3: of you in our community who are leaving these reviews,
Speaker 3: it's awesome. If you haven't done it yet, please do
Speaker 3: so wherever you're listening. You can also support us by
Speaker 3: getting our book pre ordering it. Pre Ordering it is
Speaker 3: what helps us the most. Please don't wait till January
Speaker 3: if you are planning on reading the book by what
Speaker 3: you loovebook dot com. We're just we're so grateful to
Speaker 3: be here and we want to keep being here, and
Speaker 3: those are the ways that you can ensure that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and just to let you know, episode three sixty
Speaker 1: nine was how to afford more of what money Can't buy.
Speaker 3: So apparently that was the one they liked.
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, no. How to beat three sixty nine was
Speaker 1: how to be content without being complacent.
Speaker 3: Oh, I liked that episode. We were laughing a lot. Interesting. Yeah,
Speaker 3: best laid plans? Were you on that show? No, I
Speaker 3: don't remember.
Speaker 1: We'll figure it out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's cool. I love it when people find us
Speaker 3: from other pacasts.
Speaker 2: We love do it.
Speaker 3: And I love introducing people to their podcast. I mean
Speaker 3: all of our guests, if they have a podcast, it
Speaker 3: is one that we'd be like, yes, go go listen
Speaker 3: to them.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, thank you so much and we'll see you
Speaker 1: next time.
Speaker 3: Bye.
Speaker 1: Google Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. All Right, Chill
Speaker 1: So Rissy's Bill of the week made me kind of
Speaker 1: think about something. I I'm a half marathon.
Speaker 3: You know gurly, you're loving the word gurly lately?
Speaker 1: Where we are the thing? Somebody got mad at somebody
Speaker 1: on social media for referring to a woman as a girl,
Speaker 1: but they were it was another girl, like, you know,
Speaker 1: calling her a girl, and she got mad. She's like,
Speaker 1: they're women, and.
Speaker 3: I like, how I'm mad about the word giggle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And then I kind of just I had to
Speaker 1: respond with she's calling her a girl. G u r
Speaker 1: L not a girl. G I r L very different.
Speaker 1: I just like. And then I deleted Instagram off my phone.
Speaker 3: You just like insert yourself into situations.
Speaker 1: And I don't like because I gotta get out. So
Speaker 1: but I was thinking, if our book, if our book
Speaker 1: makes a best seller list, I'll run a full marathon.
Speaker 3: The things you just decide on the spot. It would
Speaker 3: be so. You know how people say, oh to be
Speaker 3: swim around in your brain. I don't know. It's a
Speaker 3: weird one. I don't think I can handle it like
Speaker 3: I can hardly. I can hardly handle my experience of
Speaker 3: your brain on the outside of you. I could not
Speaker 3: imagine what it's like to be in there. It's wild unruled.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing, I don't know if it would.
Speaker 1: I'm always trying to come up with incentives for people
Speaker 1: to pre order the book right by what you love
Speaker 1: without going broke, pre ordered it by what you loovebook
Speaker 1: dot Com, And I don't know if it would be
Speaker 1: a good incentive.
Speaker 3: But I think it's just something you want to do
Speaker 3: and you want other people to like have to make
Speaker 3: you do it, and you need the motivation for it,
Speaker 3: so you need them to buy the book. So you
Speaker 3: have to run a full marathon.
Speaker 1: I want to run a full marathon, but I can't
Speaker 1: run it unless we make.
Speaker 3: A best seller unless you tell me that I have to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, until we make a best seller list, I can't
Speaker 1: run the full marathon of my dreams, which just now,
Speaker 1: right now became my dream.
Speaker 3: That's so funny, because if we make a bestseller list,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go on vacation. Like, to me, that's what
Speaker 3: I'll do. You're like, oh, if we do, if we
Speaker 3: accomplish this big thing, I'm gonna punish myself. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: do one of the most awful things that's gonna ruin
Speaker 3: my whole weekend. And the following two weeks, and you
Speaker 3: guys have to make me do it. And I'm like, uh,
Speaker 3: I'd love to make a bestseller list and then like
Speaker 3: I'll go to Cancun.
Speaker 1: I mean, I want to do that too, but I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to bake a bestseller list and go
Speaker 1: out and run a marathon the next weekend. It wouldn't
Speaker 1: be like till a year later, I think.
Speaker 3: Because I know you have to just you'd have to
Speaker 3: learn that you were on a bestseller list and then
Speaker 3: train for the marathon. Yes, is there a marathon you'd
Speaker 3: want to do?
Speaker 1: Disney World?
Speaker 3: Oh, okay, what's their marathon? What are they call it?
Speaker 1: In January? It's called the Disney World Marathon.
Speaker 3: Oh. Because usually they're like the dopey, the Donkey, the princess,
Speaker 3: you're not wrong, the line and dine. Yeah, this one
Speaker 3: they're just like, we lost, we're tired, we don't have
Speaker 3: any more creativity in us.
Speaker 1: This was before they had creativity.
Speaker 3: Oh, speaking of Disney, I wonder if you know this.
Speaker 3: I don't know how this is how Disney are you?
Speaker 3: I've been going to trivia on Tuesdays. You know this,
Speaker 3: I've rediscovered myself in my year of less, less travel
Speaker 3: less hosting. You've heard me talk about how I'm doing
Speaker 3: just like more local things. Part of that is a
Speaker 3: book club that you and I are part of together.
Speaker 3: Part of it is going to trivia on Tuesdays. And
Speaker 3: there was this one question. It was what was the
Speaker 3: first Disney on Ice? I guess, like theme or like
Speaker 3: what was like attraction, central character, central character? There you
Speaker 3: go cha, yeah, yeah, the first Disney on Ice? Uh?
Speaker 1: Was it a princess?
Speaker 3: I'm not You don't get to do that at trivia.
Speaker 3: You don't get to ask more questions.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I Beauty and the Beast on Ice.
Speaker 3: Right, wouldn't that have been great? Mickey Mouse Fantasia. Oh
Speaker 3: that makes sense, right, It like totally makes sense, But
Speaker 3: my mind never would have. I was like sender Relach
Speaker 3: because the castle is based on her.
Speaker 1: And the Beast on Ice when I was a kid,
Speaker 1: And one.
Speaker 3: Of the guys at the table went to Little Mermaid
Speaker 3: on Ice when he was a kid, and he's one
Speaker 3: of the oldest amongst us, so we were like, go
Speaker 3: with his answer.
Speaker 1: Little Mermaid came out nineteen eighty nine, the old was born.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the year we were born. Wow, I don't know what.
Speaker 1: Your Beauty and the Beast came out though.
Speaker 3: Maybe before I want to say, like ninety three, but
Speaker 3: that might have been Lying King the Golden Age of
Speaker 3: and then they just stopped making them. They're like, here,
Speaker 3: we did enough, We're tired. Now we're just gonna call
Speaker 3: the marathon the marathon.
Speaker 1: It's older than that.
Speaker 3: We're just gonna stick with the movies we made in
Speaker 3: the nineties.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the the ninety three ninety four was
Speaker 1: the first marathon weekend, so oh wow, yeah, see there
Speaker 1: are some things I do know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you could do a whole Disney Disney trivia. I
Speaker 3: bet they do that somewhere. What trivia do you think
Speaker 3: you would be best at? If you could choose a category?
Speaker 1: How many minutes do we have left?
Speaker 3: I know we honestly, this is called filibustering. For all
Speaker 3: of you who are still here, we are contractually obligated
Speaker 3: for a forty five minute episode, and my clock says,
Speaker 3: are only at forty two minutes. We're gonna be here
Speaker 3: with you just spitballing for a while.
Speaker 1: Huh Okay, what do I think I could get? Possibly
Speaker 1: a TV show like Game of Thrones. But no, then
Speaker 1: you've got too much book lore and I didn't read
Speaker 1: the books.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't think now, like I'm not a Disney adult
Speaker 1: enough to get Disney trivia.
Speaker 3: What would yours be? I'm kind of just asking it
Speaker 3: out loud, honestly. Eric always says the office, So in
Speaker 3: some ways I feel like, yeah, maybe me too, Like
Speaker 3: I have seen a lot of the office, but not.
Speaker 3: I think there'd be a lot of people who know
Speaker 3: even more than me, that's the thing. But as far
Speaker 3: as what I might feel like the most confident in, yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't know. Deep dives on many subjects.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wouldn't say Star Wars because that fandom is
Speaker 1: much deeper than me. Definitely not the office. I was in,
Speaker 1: Big office, Girly. I don't know, Like, I don't know
Speaker 1: enough about any one thing. I know a lot about,
Speaker 1: you know, I know a little about a lot of things.
Speaker 3: Cleaning. If I could do trivia on cleaning, I don't
Speaker 3: know what what types of questions they'd ask, but I
Speaker 3: think I probably could get it.
Speaker 1: Possibly, digital marketing.
Speaker 3: Yes, how to sell a book.
Speaker 1: Digital marketing might could be something that I could be
Speaker 1: very successful at which I'll tell you, the most successful
Speaker 1: digital marketers do not sell courses on digital marketing. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you that right now. Is that on purpose or
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just they're too good at marketing their
Speaker 1: actual business and so they're doing their business. They're not
Speaker 1: selling courses on affiliate marketing and digital marketing and email
Speaker 1: marketing and all that stuff.
Speaker 3: So wow, look good learning something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, except for the ones, maybe the ones that have
Speaker 1: been in it for like twenty plus years. That's because
Speaker 1: they get they did it so well with their first business,
Speaker 1: they're bored and they want to do something new that
Speaker 1: Those are the ones. Those are the highlights, those are
Speaker 1: the real ogs. Those are the real real So if
Speaker 1: you're just finding out about somebody that you've never heard
Speaker 1: of that talks about digital.
Speaker 3: Marketing, maybe don't trust them. Nope, mm hmm, but trust
Speaker 3: us by what you learn without Going Broke.
Speaker 1: Don't buy a digital marketing course for me, No, but
Speaker 1: buy the book, Yeah you love without Going Broke?
Speaker 3: By what you love book, I can do a.
Speaker 1: Trivia on values based spending, possibly retirement accounts and personal finance.
Speaker 3: Yeah, everything you've written about. Yeah, you'd think that I
Speaker 3: would say social work. But I really only retain the
Speaker 3: knowledge that I need for what I'm currently doing, what.
Speaker 1: All specialists do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true, but that's why.
Speaker 1: Yeah I don't have I couldn't do a parenting trivia
Speaker 1: for sure, wouldn't win that.
Speaker 3: But it is what you're currently doing.
Speaker 1: So yep, that's what I'm currently doing.
Speaker 3: So good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think anything else. Yeah, how many minutes
Speaker 1: do we have left? Are we done yet?
Speaker 3: We're getting closer? Just want to be absolutely sure. Wow, Okay,
Speaker 3: now we're gonna go have lunch. Did you pack a
Speaker 3: lunch today?
Speaker 1: I forgot my lunch. I had lunch prepped and I
Speaker 1: forgot it at home because it's just it's too many
Speaker 1: things to bring.
Speaker 3: Do we believe her? Listener?
Speaker 1: You know what I was going to bring? Is that
Speaker 1: fried rice you gave me?
Speaker 3: Oh heck yeah, it still would have been a lunch
Speaker 3: prepared by me. Yay, I love that. All right, we'll
Speaker 3: see what we can scrounge op for you.
Speaker 1: Thanks,