Speaker 1: Episode forty five, Negotiating and Haggling tips for getting lower prices.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity, rice and liver with your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill. Oh yeah, haggle that
Speaker 1: thing down. Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast. I'm Jen, I'm Jill, and we are super
Speaker 1: excited to be giving you some actionable tips for getting
Speaker 1: lower prices on the things you've got to spend on,
Speaker 1: you know, like bills and stuff. Who doesn't like getting
Speaker 1: lower prices? Yeah, and even stuff you don't need, like
Speaker 1: their story things. Everything is negotiable, but I am going
Speaker 1: to share a story with you later. Have a time
Speaker 1: thing we're not negotiable. So before before we get to
Speaker 1: that story, let's hear a word from our sponsors. Let's
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Speaker 1: check a classified ad. These aren't your grandma's Classified were
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Speaker 1: You want it, you can find someone selling it. Classified ads.
Speaker 1: Check them before you head to the store. Wow, you
Speaker 1: got you got real punk rock in the middle there.
Speaker 1: I was about to start headbanging. Yeah. Classified as is
Speaker 1: asked for a rebrand, and so I just felt like
Speaker 1: I should portray that in the tone of my voice.
Speaker 1: So there you go. Classified ads. Check it before you
Speaker 1: buy it. Check it before you buy it. Something rened
Speaker 1: with check there. Anyways, let me first tell you about
Speaker 1: my story that in a time where things were not negotiable.
Speaker 1: So I was working at the Gap and somebody was
Speaker 1: buying a whole bunch of baby clothes and they really
Speaker 1: wanted a discount on them. But it was the Gap,
Speaker 1: and I said, oh, you can open a credit card
Speaker 1: and get this discount, but we don't have any other
Speaker 1: discounts going on right now, because it's like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: the one weekend of the year there's no sale, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't know. He just lucked out. There wasn't
Speaker 1: any sales going on, and he did not take that
Speaker 1: for an answer, and he was against credit cards. He
Speaker 1: was not going to get a credit card, but he
Speaker 1: was convinced that he could get the credit card discount
Speaker 1: without signing up for one, and so he asked for
Speaker 1: my manager, who was also adamant that this is the
Speaker 1: gap and we are small, we are tiny cogs in
Speaker 1: this wheel, and we cannot give you this discount without
Speaker 1: actually putting in a gap credit card to get it.
Speaker 1: And ultimately what he did was give me twenty minutes
Speaker 1: of pain and fury and left without getting a discount.
Speaker 1: And it was like an older guy and he was
Speaker 1: probably buying. He was with a younger woman who I
Speaker 1: think was his daughter, who was probably just he's buying
Speaker 1: the clothes for his grandkids. And I later realized from
Speaker 1: the verbiage that he used that he had been through
Speaker 1: Financial Peace University. Oh no, no, so that one came
Speaker 1: out wrong when that one went to the Financial Peace
Speaker 1: University factory, That one came out wrong. So, oh not
Speaker 1: everything is negotiable with cash and you cannot always get
Speaker 1: the same credit card account. Wish that you could have
Speaker 1: given him a discount or did his fury make you
Speaker 1: want to stand your ground even harder? Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: less fury and more condescension and uh so no, I
Speaker 1: did not want to give him a discount at all.
Speaker 1: So he was just he was very condescending, like I had,
Speaker 1: like I was keeping something from him and I had
Speaker 1: no power, which I didn't have any power. But he
Speaker 1: should have been okay with He should not have fought
Speaker 1: as long as hard as he did. My dad tried
Speaker 1: to I might have said this in another episode I
Speaker 1: can't remember, but my dad tried to negotiate for my
Speaker 1: prom dress back in high school at Sacks Fifth Avenue.
Speaker 1: We were at Sachs Fifth Avenue. I fell in love
Speaker 1: with this dress and and he's like, I'm going to
Speaker 1: negotiate it. Everything's nego shall you know that's saying that
Speaker 1: we just said here at the top of the show,
Speaker 1: everything's negotiable. Oh my word. I was so embarrassed. I
Speaker 1: thought I was going to cry. I literally went to
Speaker 1: a different floor. It's like that, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: be here to watch his really embarrassed. I bet in
Speaker 1: my story did he get a lower price. I think
Speaker 1: that they pulled the credit card deal on him. If
Speaker 1: you sign up for a credit card, then you get
Speaker 1: money off, and he didn't have anything against credit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I think I think he did do that. Either way,
Speaker 1: I got the dress. I was spoiled. All that to
Speaker 1: say is that some things you can't negotiate um. But
Speaker 1: on the other hand, here are twelve things you should
Speaker 1: always negotiate on, and some of them are not the
Speaker 1: general ones that you would think of. And this is
Speaker 1: an article from credit dot com. And what were your
Speaker 1: faves on this one? Jill Cars definitely expect like dealerships.
Speaker 1: If you go to a dealership, they are going to
Speaker 1: expect you to haggle, and especially if you're buying a
Speaker 1: used car from somebody privately, that number is just arbitrary.
Speaker 1: They just attached a value that they think is I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe they looked up Kelly Blue Book. But still you
Speaker 1: can you can explore that car and say, look, it
Speaker 1: needs this, it's going to need that whatever, talk them down.
Speaker 1: I think cars you should never pay sticker price. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was That was not exciting. Everybody knows that. Sorry,
Speaker 1: it wasn't exciting, but I just okay, here's my favorite
Speaker 1: of here's okay, not my favorite, um because my favorite
Speaker 1: is not exciting either. But the most interesting one to
Speaker 1: me on this list is mortgage rates. And so maybe
Speaker 1: this isn't interesting to other people who might know this,
Speaker 1: but we didn't know that the rates were negotiable when
Speaker 1: we got our house. We were not putting a lot
Speaker 1: down because we were buying kind of rushed in an
Speaker 1: emergency while we were paying off that and we didn't
Speaker 1: have a large down payment, so we were kind of
Speaker 1: just rushed through it, and we didn't know that we
Speaker 1: couldn't negotiate a lower rate with the same bank. So
Speaker 1: I was really interested to see that and Hopefully other
Speaker 1: people buying houses will know that that's a negotiable thing,
Speaker 1: especially because like, interest rates are kind of high. Right now,
Speaker 1: can you go back now and negotiate? I don't know
Speaker 1: if I can. I could probably negotiate a refinance rate.
Speaker 1: If I refinance, it can't hurt to ask, right, That's
Speaker 1: going to be the moral of this episode. Just ask,
Speaker 1: just ask I Okay, So now if we're going interesting, jen,
Speaker 1: I liked the rent one they mentioned to try to
Speaker 1: negotiate on your rent. Okay, so be careful on this one. UM,
Speaker 1: I don't know you can ask, But if you if
Speaker 1: you live in a high demand area where your landlord
Speaker 1: is not going to have a hard time finding someone
Speaker 1: to replace you, than like, be careful, but you can
Speaker 1: still negotiate. You can negotiate with um large complexes because
Speaker 1: it is a lot of work for them to find
Speaker 1: new tenants, that's moving you out, getting the space prepped,
Speaker 1: and finding new people to move in. Don't just accept
Speaker 1: next year's higher rate. Go back to them and negotiate.
Speaker 1: I would also say that this is true for maybe
Speaker 1: smaller complexes or maybe just one unit rentals um, where
Speaker 1: the landlord relationship might be a little bit more personable
Speaker 1: to talk through negotiating a lower rate but also possibly bartering,
Speaker 1: so using not just money to negotiate, but talking through.
Speaker 1: You know, if there's some lawn maintenance that typically they
Speaker 1: hire a company to do, would they trust you to
Speaker 1: do it and knock some money off of your rent.
Speaker 1: So we've done that with pretty much every situation we've
Speaker 1: been in, uh, and it's worked. And and sometimes you
Speaker 1: ask and they'll say, no, we're happy with this company
Speaker 1: that we use or the way that we do things. Fine,
Speaker 1: but at least you've asked, Yeah, we negotiated for them
Speaker 1: to include the water and utilities in our last rental.
Speaker 1: And I would think that if you are so, every
Speaker 1: year they try and raise the rent on you, like
Speaker 1: if you're staying. But I think this is an instance
Speaker 1: where if you do your market research and see comparable
Speaker 1: places in the area, that you can say, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: going to move over here to this place. It's comparable
Speaker 1: and I'll only be playing this much. But if you
Speaker 1: want to keep me, let me pay this much. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Doing the research is key on that one too, to
Speaker 1: know even what you should be paying or to show
Speaker 1: that you could be paying this at like you said,
Speaker 1: a comparable place, you can use that as leverage. Another
Speaker 1: one I liked that I thought was interesting was the
Speaker 1: credit card costs. And so I've heard of people doing
Speaker 1: this with annual fees. They'll actually either go into the
Speaker 1: bank or call and say, Hey, I'm going to cancel
Speaker 1: this card because it has an annual fee and I
Speaker 1: don't want to pay it this year. I mean, I'd
Speaker 1: love to keep the card if it didn't have an
Speaker 1: annual fee this year. And sometimes they will waive it.
Speaker 1: Other times they will just cancel you, but be willing
Speaker 1: to follow through on that threat if you've had it
Speaker 1: for a while. You can negotiate, like your interest rates down. Obviously,
Speaker 1: if you're using credit cards, you shouldn't need lower interest
Speaker 1: rates because you're never paying interest. And you can also
Speaker 1: get higher credit limits, but you also shouldn't need those
Speaker 1: if you're paying it off every month. Also furniture, so
Speaker 1: I've done this one as well. You can negotiate on
Speaker 1: furniture prices. One if you are buying in bulk, if
Speaker 1: you're getting a bunch of things. Furniture and appliance is
Speaker 1: really like if you're getting a washer and a dryer,
Speaker 1: bundle that stuff get a lower price. If you're getting
Speaker 1: a sectional and a hutch, lower that price. But also
Speaker 1: if you're paying cash, you can usually get a lower rate. Um,
Speaker 1: that happened to us. We were able to get something
Speaker 1: like seven or eight percent off of a couch that
Speaker 1: we bought at one point, which ended up being I
Speaker 1: don't know, somewhere between like fifty and a hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: So that was fantastic. It was some money, and then
Speaker 1: we went out to dinner. Yeah, this is one of
Speaker 1: those places where cash really does talk, and you can
Speaker 1: probably get the discount without getting a credit card d
Speaker 1: percent don't have to sign up for that credit card. Yes,
Speaker 1: So I'd have to say my favorite one on the list,
Speaker 1: while also not interesting, uh, is insurance rates. Because this
Speaker 1: is so true for our auto insurance. Literally once a year,
Speaker 1: like near the end of our contract, we will negotiate
Speaker 1: and we will always get a lower rate. We'll do
Speaker 1: anything for a lower insurance rate, and they'll always let
Speaker 1: us do something. Oh that's fantastic. Yeah, it doesn't work
Speaker 1: if you've had like an accident in the past year
Speaker 1: or speeding ticket or something. But um, if you've got
Speaker 1: a good driving record, you can always get a lower rate.
Speaker 1: What do you say you do that about once a year? Yes,
Speaker 1: we'll do it. Um. So our policy renews every March,
Speaker 1: so coming up here real soon, we will make that call.
Speaker 1: Travis will make that call, that's his job, and uh
Speaker 1: and see what we can do to lower it. Um.
Speaker 1: But we'll also if so, we pay every six months.
Speaker 1: If they try and like increase our rate at the
Speaker 1: six month mark, we'll just call then okay. And usually
Speaker 1: they don't try and increase it to building cycles in
Speaker 1: a row. Sometimes you never know. So do you put
Speaker 1: that on your calendar? Call to get lower insurance rates? Um,
Speaker 1: We don't put it on the calendar. But how do
Speaker 1: you keep track of that? Sometimes we don't. Sometimes it
Speaker 1: just lapses and we call and we're like, hey, we're
Speaker 1: not in a rush, tell me what you got for me? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. Okay. Again, not a super interesting one, and
Speaker 1: we talked about it in our medical bills episode. But
Speaker 1: medical bills, you can negotiate on this. I think it's
Speaker 1: one that a lot of people are not aware of,
Speaker 1: but one you can call and say, hey, I don't
Speaker 1: want to pay that for that shot you gave me.
Speaker 1: Get that thing lowered, you don't have to pay the
Speaker 1: full amount. Yeah, and you don't have to let it
Speaker 1: go to collections either. They really want to work with
Speaker 1: you before it gets to even in house collections. So
Speaker 1: I am going through a lot of billing pain with
Speaker 1: with pregnancy stuff and um, it's very cut and dry.
Speaker 1: But there have been things that I have refused, like
Speaker 1: superfluous charges, so that's also a possibility. Always ask questions.
Speaker 1: Whatever they're doing to you, ask and never be afraid
Speaker 1: to refuse because your doctor will tell you very quickly
Speaker 1: if if you should not refuse it. But hopefully I
Speaker 1: have a really good doctor and when I refused something,
Speaker 1: she's pretty chill. If I don't need it, yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't have to let them poke you and prod
Speaker 1: you with every and they've got in their office. They
Speaker 1: will charge you for it. They'll remember that they gave
Speaker 1: you a tum's and they'll charge you. Bring your own
Speaker 1: band aids, don't yo band aids. Yeah, don't take your
Speaker 1: own hundred vite dollar band aid from the hospital. Bring
Speaker 1: your own, seriously. M And then my favorite, this is
Speaker 1: an obvious one, but use stuff definitely. Again, it's an
Speaker 1: arbitrary number that they're like my pots and pans, they're
Speaker 1: worth a d fifty dollars. No they're not, they're worth
Speaker 1: here you go, yes, just like that. I think I
Speaker 1: was reading in one of the other articles that they're
Speaker 1: saying like money is all arbitrary. It's all like coming
Speaker 1: from a position of power and just letting the person
Speaker 1: know who thinks their stuff is worth so much money
Speaker 1: because they have the sunk cost in it, telling them
Speaker 1: what it's really worth exactly, and Okay, if they're not
Speaker 1: willing to budge on that, then walk away find something else.
Speaker 1: You don't have to rise to meet them if it's
Speaker 1: not what you want to pay for it. But it's
Speaker 1: always negotiable, and most people are putting up a higher
Speaker 1: number than what they're actually hoping to get knowing I mean,
Speaker 1: I think on Facebook Marketplace, it's one of the quick
Speaker 1: buttons that you can press, you know, is this item negotiable?
Speaker 1: So it's it's part of the game. Yeah, And the
Speaker 1: answer to that is always yes. So don't even ask
Speaker 1: that question. Just come in with the number would you take?
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah. Now we're talking. Yeah, So honorable mention
Speaker 1: on this list homes and home and yard work contracts.
Speaker 1: Those you have to be careful with. You want to
Speaker 1: offer too little because you get what you pay for.
Speaker 1: You get what you pay for. I do like the
Speaker 1: suggestion of getting multiple quotes. That's doing your research to
Speaker 1: find out what is this worth because you could think
Speaker 1: that price is so high, but in reality, no, you
Speaker 1: just haven't done work on your house in fifty years.
Speaker 1: That's how much it costs now, Yeah, and how much
Speaker 1: you need done. Definitely get a couple of quotes, but
Speaker 1: be careful of somebody who's undercutting it. Like if you've
Speaker 1: got three quotes that are saying five grand and one
Speaker 1: quote that's saying one one grand, Like, no, careful, that's
Speaker 1: a big red flag on the quote, Like they should
Speaker 1: put down like what that five grand includes, and the
Speaker 1: same person needs to put down with that one grand includes.
Speaker 1: So you make sure you're getting timely work and thorough work,
Speaker 1: and in our age of reviews, you should be able
Speaker 1: to find a good person. But yeah, recognize that a
Speaker 1: super low rate might not get you the quality you're
Speaker 1: looking for. On the yes and rounding out our list
Speaker 1: are the cable bill and collections accounts. I just wrote
Speaker 1: a lot of articles about dealing with debt collectors and
Speaker 1: negotiating debt. So hit me up in the Facebook group
Speaker 1: if you need info on that. I will not bore
Speaker 1: you with an episode on it. Though. All that to
Speaker 1: say it is negotiable. Just ask it is and you
Speaker 1: can do it yourself. You don't need to hire a company. Um.
Speaker 1: The On that same note, our next article is from
Speaker 1: risk Ology and it is the five step negotiation process
Speaker 1: I use to lower my monthly bills by and by iye,
Speaker 1: it means this guy Tyler, the author of the article. Yes, Jill,
Speaker 1: what do you think? I thought it was good, especially
Speaker 1: number one, which starts off with speak friendly and assertively.
Speaker 1: So this is where I go wrong. I can come
Speaker 1: in guns blazing. I am not the most kind person
Speaker 1: on the phone. I I learned that usually people who
Speaker 1: pitch fits get their way. In fact, that's not true.
Speaker 1: Um nope, people actually like to work with you and
Speaker 1: you're kind. So I'm working on that. But it is
Speaker 1: like sunken embedded deep down into me to just you know,
Speaker 1: I'm on the phone. I'm not right in front of them.
Speaker 1: I'm on the phone. I can say and do what
Speaker 1: I want to say and do. But it's real awful.
Speaker 1: Eric said to yell at me about He's like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, chill, Like you are talking to a real person,
Speaker 1: that's a real human being. You need to be nicer.
Speaker 1: There's been a time even where I've called somebody back
Speaker 1: and apologized that was embarrassing. I was like, all right, Eric,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Watch this. Anyhow, Eric, my husband, he gets
Speaker 1: amazing deals constantly. He even has people just give him
Speaker 1: deals without him even asking because he's so kind. He's
Speaker 1: just like he ends up being friends. I think he's
Speaker 1: ended up legitimately being friends with people, probably like our
Speaker 1: internet company. He's he's friends on his book with them,
Speaker 1: so they're just like chatting. And I'm thinking, like he
Speaker 1: was on the phone with with our internet provider, now
Speaker 1: he must be on the phone with his Mom's like,
Speaker 1: same person the whole time. He's just super nice to him.
Speaker 1: But anyhow, he is the one that I put on
Speaker 1: the phone to negotiate now because I play hardball too
Speaker 1: hard and he's nice and he gets his way way
Speaker 1: more often than I do. Same story here. That's why
Speaker 1: Travis is in charge of the phone calls because I
Speaker 1: am not the nicest. I've never yelled at anybody. But
Speaker 1: I am I don't go in there with a kind
Speaker 1: tell because I know what I'm going in there. I
Speaker 1: can be super condescending to It's really bad. So there
Speaker 1: is nothing bad about passing this torch on. Even if
Speaker 1: your partner is not frugal, If they are nicer, winning
Speaker 1: at this could make them a little more frugal. Or
Speaker 1: you could practice being friendly and kind. It's a good
Speaker 1: thing to know how to do on the phone. But
Speaker 1: if you're like us and you can't do that, like
Speaker 1: the host of the Frugal Friends podcast, then pass it off.
Speaker 1: But the assertively part, that's that's a tough combination, is
Speaker 1: being friendly but not a pushover, and that's that is
Speaker 1: probably a good practice for all of us to have
Speaker 1: because that speaks boundaries. They'm gonna be kind to you,
Speaker 1: but I have limits, not limits, meaning then I'm just gonna, like,
Speaker 1: you know, be super rude, but I'm not going to
Speaker 1: back down. This is what I love the quote. It says,
Speaker 1: compare the person you're talking to on the other end
Speaker 1: of the line um to a toddler having a meltdown
Speaker 1: in a store, and says, I know you're very upset
Speaker 1: because you can't have the dinosaur toy. I still love you. Also,
Speaker 1: you still can't have it. And think of that tone
Speaker 1: when you're talking to your customer service rep. I still
Speaker 1: love you, I still can't take that price. Just how
Speaker 1: a patient mother would handle a tantrum and toddler, except
Speaker 1: not with condescending tone either. I know I learned so
Speaker 1: much from that gap guy what to do? It was
Speaker 1: like a Berenstein Bears episode. Yes, yeah, all right, and
Speaker 1: number two it's asked for more than you want, then
Speaker 1: slowly back down. This is always the hard part because
Speaker 1: how far do you go to back down from? Jill?
Speaker 1: What's your rule of thumb? Asking just above what I want?
Speaker 1: So if i want my bill to be fifty dollars
Speaker 1: instead of eighty dollars, then I'm going to ask for
Speaker 1: it to be like thirty dollars. I don't know something
Speaker 1: like that, but like just when I figure out what
Speaker 1: I want first, then figure out what would be more
Speaker 1: than that that I can back down from. Yeah, or
Speaker 1: if it's a thing, then I'll usually try and get
Speaker 1: off and I'll usually start depending on how lower high
Speaker 1: the price is at thirty to asking thirty to forty
Speaker 1: percent lower than asking, and it could work out phenomenally
Speaker 1: where you get your first ask yep, but usually doesn't
Speaker 1: usually doesn't, but couldn't hurt. Yeah, I didn't understand that
Speaker 1: one at first, but but I get it because that
Speaker 1: and create a dynamic where the other person feels more
Speaker 1: comfortable backing down on things if they see you do it.
Speaker 1: So it's almost this mind game, you know, manipulation, just
Speaker 1: you know, standard manipulation technique in its purest form, to
Speaker 1: show them that, yeah, this is a solution we're trying.
Speaker 1: You know, this is a problem we're trying to solve together.
Speaker 1: How can we both come to a solution? I want this,
Speaker 1: you want that I gave in? What are you going
Speaker 1: to give in? And it really creates this nice given take.
Speaker 1: Our third one is only negotiate with someone who has
Speaker 1: the power to do so, unlike me at the gap,
Speaker 1: he was wasted his time on you. Yeah. Uh. But
Speaker 1: and and still when you call whoever you're calling, whether
Speaker 1: it's medical bills, debt, like phone internet, the first person
Speaker 1: you talk to may not be the person that has
Speaker 1: the power to give you discount. And so some ways
Speaker 1: to get at that right person could be, you know,
Speaker 1: asking for their manager whether or not they can do that,
Speaker 1: then hanging up, trying to call back later, or threatening
Speaker 1: to cancel your service. So that's a big one. That's
Speaker 1: a big one because then once they hear those those words,
Speaker 1: then they're going to put you into the correct channel
Speaker 1: to either they can then talk to you about it,
Speaker 1: or they put you off to the to the right
Speaker 1: person who would talk to you about that. You know, internally,
Speaker 1: um because are my brother in law worked for a
Speaker 1: cable company and they call that department um customer retention,
Speaker 1: not like cancelation or customer service, but like customer retention
Speaker 1: because their job is to you know, get you to
Speaker 1: not leave, and so they do have the power to
Speaker 1: give you the disc So yeah, asking to cancel your
Speaker 1: service will is a very quick way to get in
Speaker 1: touch with the person that has power. And if you
Speaker 1: are pretty sure that you do want to cancel service,
Speaker 1: then yeah, just say that right off the bat. If
Speaker 1: you are actually ready to follow through on that threat,
Speaker 1: just call and say yeah, I'm ready, I'm ready to
Speaker 1: do this, and they might come back with a crazy
Speaker 1: good deal or they don't, and you you jump providers
Speaker 1: and go to the one that is offering a deal
Speaker 1: at the time. Yeah, we had that happen with our
Speaker 1: internet because we got a second provider in the area.
Speaker 1: Sometimes people aren't lucky they only have one to choose from,
Speaker 1: and but we when we got a second one, we
Speaker 1: got their rate and presented it to the to the
Speaker 1: company we had and they lowered it beneath that. So
Speaker 1: we called the other company and said, um, because we'd
Speaker 1: actually called them initially to see what we could legitimately
Speaker 1: get and uh set up everything. So we called back
Speaker 1: to cancel the set up and they're like, no, we'll
Speaker 1: go even lower than that. Oh wow, this sounds like
Speaker 1: an afternoon I know, it was a time, and so
Speaker 1: we ended up going with them, and so we called
Speaker 1: back our current like our provider, and they were like, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: we literally cannot go lower than that. And they'll still
Speaker 1: call call sometimes since we were previous customers, to see
Speaker 1: if they can get us lower rates. And we're just like,
Speaker 1: this is what we're paying for this much service. Can
Speaker 1: you beat it? And they're like no, and I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: have a nice day. Yeah, nice. You know, if you're that,
Speaker 1: that's another thing you can do. It's one of the
Speaker 1: things on it right If you're if you're participating this
Speaker 1: no spend challenge thing, then you could absolutely do that
Speaker 1: with some of your your spare time. Even if you're
Speaker 1: not doing a no spend challenge whatever, you got some
Speaker 1: free time, what are you gonna do? Just call up
Speaker 1: providers see if they can be your price. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: so good. So along those lines, another tip that they
Speaker 1: give here number four is to always have a backup.
Speaker 1: So if you are in the process of negotiating, but
Speaker 1: you can't get a lower price, as in they're not
Speaker 1: going to lower your rate, then think of other things
Speaker 1: that you could negotiate with maybe try for could you
Speaker 1: get better service at the same rate that you're paying,
Speaker 1: So they may not lower your bill, but could they
Speaker 1: up the antie on what they are providing to you?
Speaker 1: And that could be a really great thing because then
Speaker 1: you can get you can get more for the same amount,
Speaker 1: which is essentially getting more for us. Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: really good idea. Um. And then you can also see
Speaker 1: like what other things they could maybe throw in or
Speaker 1: going down a tier if you're comfortable with that. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't always assume you have to negotiate with cash.
Speaker 1: You can always negotiate benefits, and that is in stuff
Speaker 1: and we're okay. And if you're at a pawn shop
Speaker 1: or through store and they won't go lower on something,
Speaker 1: I've at pawn shops taken small things and be like okay,
Speaker 1: I'll pay this, but I want this thrown into and
Speaker 1: they've done it. So yeah, you can always negotiate with
Speaker 1: more stuff. Oh my word. I do that at yard
Speaker 1: sales all the time. If they won't go lower on
Speaker 1: a price on two things, and I just like point
Speaker 1: to something else. I mean, I don't just bring home
Speaker 1: junk just to bring junk, but if there was something
Speaker 1: else that I had my eye on, then I'm like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: then would you throw in this? And without fail every
Speaker 1: time they're like, oh yeah, sure, because they do they
Speaker 1: want of stuff. They just want to know that they're
Speaker 1: making their money. So that's exactly. And then the last one,
Speaker 1: this one, I don't really feel like it's a step.
Speaker 1: It's more just a tip along the way. But whatever,
Speaker 1: we'll give it to them. Number five it's knowing when
Speaker 1: to stop. So part of this equation is Okay, if
Speaker 1: you're not getting anywhere for whatever reason, they cannot lower
Speaker 1: the cost all right, then back away. Either stay at
Speaker 1: the rate that you're at or find another provider. But man,
Speaker 1: don't make this go on for forever. And also recognize
Speaker 1: that when you recognize when you are arguing or negotiating
Speaker 1: about the same thing right like relatively, you're in the
Speaker 1: same ballpark. Don't get caught up in the details of
Speaker 1: a couple of cents or a couple of dollars dollars.
Speaker 1: Just agree on something. Don't let this process drag out.
Speaker 1: This is supposed to be a quick process. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: your time is money too, So you don't want to
Speaker 1: be there all day, because these phone calls to these
Speaker 1: companies can take like some time. So just be aware
Speaker 1: of what yours is worth. M m m Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: feeling something. Yeah, I know my time is worth. Oh,
Speaker 1: I know what. I know what's good to do with
Speaker 1: my time? It's time for the bill of the week.
Speaker 1: That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 1: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 1: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 1: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 1: that bill anymore. Duck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 1: is the bill of the week. All right, girls, this
Speaker 1: is Hannah Randall and another bill Ben and I love
Speaker 1: Ben is my husband is The Billy pin In is
Speaker 1: what we call it. The William penn In is a
Speaker 1: venue in our area that we are preferred vendors at
Speaker 1: because we DJ on the side for extra money. So
Speaker 1: we love Billy pann in Um for being on the
Speaker 1: awesome venue that we are preferred vendors at, and that
Speaker 1: means we get so many more weddings to DJ because
Speaker 1: they recommend us, so we can't thank them enough. So
Speaker 1: they're an awesome bill. So there you go. Love you
Speaker 1: guys by Hannah. That is fantastic. That is a side
Speaker 1: hussle and a bill I'll wrote upon Hannah Randall. That's
Speaker 1: the third bill of the week. I think that you
Speaker 1: win the prize. There is no prize but us talking
Speaker 1: about it. Yeah. That wow. What a big supporter our
Speaker 1: bills of the week. You keep coming up with them.
Speaker 1: I think we should send people your way to come
Speaker 1: up with bills of the week and then they can
Speaker 1: call into because you're creative juices. Man, they just don't stop. Yeah. Also,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite things is that that you, Hannah Randall,
Speaker 1: are a DJ She's actually a good friend of mine
Speaker 1: and I get to her dance at some of these
Speaker 1: parties and weddings, and it's my favorite thing, especially when
Speaker 1: she's pregnant. She's been pregnant so many times and every
Speaker 1: single time she she gets out on that dance floor
Speaker 1: with her big round belly and does all these like
Speaker 1: group dances. It is one of my favorite things to
Speaker 1: watch pregnant women in general, but especially Hannah Randall dancing pregnant.
Speaker 1: If we could get a video, Hannah, if we could
Speaker 1: get a video, I will put it in my show notes.
Speaker 1: If if the wobble came on, that's what she does. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't care how pregnant I am, I will wobble.
Speaker 1: It's amazing to watch her wobble and she's pregnant. Hannah.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try, and I'm gonna wobble for you sometime
Speaker 1: before I give birth, and it's gonna I'm gonna dedicate
Speaker 1: it to you. Oh, there you go. That's your prize, Hannah.
Speaker 1: You can enjoy somebody else pregnant doing it. Yes, if
Speaker 1: you have a Bill of the week that you would
Speaker 1: like to send us in exchange for me wobbling on
Speaker 1: your behalf while pregnant. Visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash bill and uh and who knows, maybe a video
Speaker 1: of me wobbling will pop up in the Facebook group,
Speaker 1: which is also at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash group.
Speaker 1: Do it. We have so much fun there. It's pretty
Speaker 1: much my whole Facebook news feed. Now. There's so much
Speaker 1: activity happening there that nothing else shows up, which is
Speaker 1: fantastic for me because a lot of people are super
Speaker 1: annoying on Facebook, but not our Facebook group. No, they
Speaker 1: are great. And that's who's our lightning round today? Yes,
Speaker 1: I love that I got your buy in for the
Speaker 1: lightning Ground. I'm committed now. Thanks. So we're doing here.
Speaker 1: I'm here. So we asked our frugal community or Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends Facebook community to give your input on how you
Speaker 1: guys negotiate, and so we got some great advice from Heather.
Speaker 1: She says to do your research, do your industry research
Speaker 1: to back up your ask, which is always good. We
Speaker 1: know this as frugal people. We got to do our
Speaker 1: research so that you can go in knowledgeable and know
Speaker 1: what comparable prices, to know what you could or should
Speaker 1: be paying, and then to actually be able to like
Speaker 1: stick to your threats and say no, I'm actually gonna
Speaker 1: leave because I know I could get a better price
Speaker 1: over here. Yeah, that's what real estate agents do with
Speaker 1: comps when you know they're we're making deals on houses.
Speaker 1: So it's just like the same thing for other things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and pay for as much as you can upfront. This
Speaker 1: is another tip from Heather, paying for and kind of
Speaker 1: up front. It might be more money up front, but
Speaker 1: typically it can save you in the long run. She
Speaker 1: gives the example of her Jim where she paid upfront
Speaker 1: and it's a bit more than what she might have
Speaker 1: been able to pay monthly, but as a whole, she
Speaker 1: pays less sense and it motivates you to go because
Speaker 1: sunk cost. Hopefully it motivates you. I don't know, I
Speaker 1: don't know you. We don't know you. We'd like to
Speaker 1: call in, Chris says, call the frugal friends to do
Speaker 1: it for you. And we do not endorse that method, Chris. Nope, Chris,
Speaker 1: that was a bad tip. It's a real bad tip.
Speaker 1: You're still welcome in our community. But that's why we
Speaker 1: went on Chris's podcast, Popcorn Finance and talked about how
Speaker 1: to negotiate and buy stuff on Craigslist, and he can
Speaker 1: talk about many things with us, but now not doing
Speaker 1: those phone calls for you, Chris. Sorry. Uh. John recommends
Speaker 1: the book Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, So
Speaker 1: if you want to get real deep into this negotiating
Speaker 1: and haggling thing, then take John's recommendation and pick up
Speaker 1: that book Never Split the Difference. Yeah, I've heard of
Speaker 1: Chris Voss before. He is like the negotiating like negotiation master,
Speaker 1: and he didn't have any articles that were relevant for
Speaker 1: the show today, which is a shame. But he teaches
Speaker 1: like masterminds and um like big events on just like
Speaker 1: negotiating stuff. So if you don't want to pay for
Speaker 1: one of those, but you want to learn negotiation, I
Speaker 1: bet his book Never Split the Difference is probably a
Speaker 1: good read. And finally, Joscelyn says, cash money's unless you're
Speaker 1: shopping at the gap. That's it. That's the tip, just cash.
Speaker 1: Cash money's. Yes, it's so true. I mean, obviously you
Speaker 1: know it at thrift stores and stuff, but sometimes it's
Speaker 1: the like power of cash is lost because everyone's trying
Speaker 1: to go cashless, but pawn shops still still cash Moneys
Speaker 1: gets you better deal. And I would add to this,
Speaker 1: don't go into stores breaking things. But if you do
Speaker 1: find something that is broken, in particularly if it's the
Speaker 1: last of its kind, you can usually get off of
Speaker 1: that item if it is broken in some way. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm also not advocating you buy things that are trash
Speaker 1: just because you got off. If it's fixable, if it's
Speaker 1: oh it's missing a screw, well yeah, if it's brand new,
Speaker 1: you should buy it should not be broken, but it's
Speaker 1: easily fixable to get your discount, but get your screw.
Speaker 1: Fix that thing yourself. You just negotiate it. Yep, there
Speaker 1: you go. There you have it. There, you have it.
Speaker 1: Negotiate and if you have more tips, you can let
Speaker 1: us know. Uh Frugal Friends community on Facebook or Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com, slash group check it out. Fun time. Also,
Speaker 1: it is March, which means are heading in the spring,
Speaker 1: which is fantastic because it's been a old winner. And
Speaker 1: you know what happens in every new month we read
Speaker 1: a book. We have a new book club, and then
Speaker 1: we talked about it. New month, new book, what what
Speaker 1: this month? We're reading Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's wonderful. It has flowers on the front. But men
Speaker 1: should not feel like they cannot read it. But it
Speaker 1: just feels a good spring book to start with. So
Speaker 1: if you want a free copy, because everybody else at
Speaker 1: the library also thought this was a good book to
Speaker 1: ring in spring with, you can get one from us,
Speaker 1: And all you have to do to enter the giveaway
Speaker 1: is leave us a review on iTunes or Stitcher. Screenshot
Speaker 1: the review before you hit send, and then it hit send,
Speaker 1: and send that screenshot to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com and we will select winners at the end
Speaker 1: of every month. We give away one copy for every
Speaker 1: five reviews, and you can choose to either get a
Speaker 1: kindle version or paperback, whatever you choose. Minimalists choose kindle
Speaker 1: all the time. Not to say, if you have chosen
Speaker 1: paperback in the past, you are not a minimalist. I
Speaker 1: don't want to tell, all right, And if you want
Speaker 1: an example of a helpful review, it always looks like
Speaker 1: five stars. Every single one of those stars is yellow.
Speaker 1: Don't leave one uncolored, okay, because that doesn't do our
Speaker 1: brains any good. It doesn't feel right, doesn't look right.
Speaker 1: So all five of those stars need to be yellow,
Speaker 1: and then you would write something. You'd write something very
Speaker 1: similar to this, like the Great Doug, Great Haze Do
Speaker 1: Great who says Amazing show to listen. Just did a
Speaker 1: quick binge of all the episodes over the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks and was greatly surprised by the content. It
Speaker 1: ties in with other financial podcasts with a different perspective.
Speaker 1: Great Up the Great Episodes. I think that they meant
Speaker 1: keep up the Great episodes, but I'm gonna I'm loving
Speaker 1: the Great Up the Great episodes, and I also love
Speaker 1: the quick binge. I don't know that that's possible. You
Speaker 1: can one and a half our voices. Oh that's true. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I know people who do that because we talk
Speaker 1: a lot. Well, that's just a tip of people who
Speaker 1: listen to a lot of podcasts because it can get
Speaker 1: a lot of content. We talk more for more laughs,
Speaker 1: and there you go. That's why we have so much
Speaker 1: to say. Though it's not I mean, it's about laughs,
Speaker 1: it's about content. It's about batter friendship. That's what we're
Speaker 1: all about. And if you're about that, then come hang
Speaker 1: out with us next week. The week after every week
Speaker 1: we will be here, and I might take a week
Speaker 1: off if I'm in labor on a Friday, who knows.
Speaker 1: But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Speaker 1: Until then, enjoy your weekend, enjoy your week, and be
Speaker 1: frugal and prosper. Bye. I'm waving goodbye. You can't see it,
Speaker 1: but picture it both hands. It's a two hand goodbye.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Serria Jen.
Speaker 1: If you go into labor on a Friday, can you live?
Speaker 1: Can you do? Whatever you say after that is the
Speaker 1: answer is no. No. It just would feel so right though,
Speaker 1: that if you gave birth to your baby on a
Speaker 1: Friday that has Frugal Friends written all over it, I
Speaker 1: would gladly give birth to it on a Friday and
Speaker 1: post about it after Your child is a hymn, not
Speaker 1: an it, but him. Also, I kind of feel like
Speaker 1: all of us frugal friends should win a prize you
Speaker 1: give birth on a Friday. A bookmark? Okay, deal, because
Speaker 1: I have them. I'll send out the bookmarks to anyone
Speaker 1: who gives you their address. M hm oh yes, deal.
Speaker 1: And then with a handprint or like a footprint or
Speaker 1: a butt print of your baby no, no no, just
Speaker 1: a just a bookmark, but it would have to be
Speaker 1: some sort of ode, dear baby, maybe a little piece
Speaker 1: of his hair. Okay, bye, done, we're done. I'm ending
Speaker 1: this recording.