Speaker 1: Episode one oh four Husbands Tell All. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights,
Speaker 1: and live with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name's Jill. And happy two year anniversary, Jill. What
Speaker 1: did you get for me? Got you? I didn't? I
Speaker 1: got you a place in my backyard. I'll take it.
Speaker 1: I did take it already, had already happened. Happy two years.
Speaker 1: Happy two years we've done to Who would have thought
Speaker 1: we would make it two years? That's longer than most
Speaker 1: marriages for sure. God just throwing out stats. Okay, today's
Speaker 1: episodes super special. So if you were hoping to learn
Speaker 1: something about personal finance and frugality today not today, well
Speaker 1: you there. It's don't expect it, under promise, over deliver, Jill.
Speaker 1: You're getting nothing. You're getting nothing except the truth behind
Speaker 1: how Travis and Eric really feel about how they're portrayed
Speaker 1: about frugality, about our relationships like they're telling all. And
Speaker 1: if you're curious, what kind of booze we landed? Checking
Speaker 1: out on YouTube and you have straight tense, straight dime
Speaker 1: pieces attract dime pieces. We all so true. But first
Speaker 1: let's get into our sponsors, also brought to you by
Speaker 1: the better half. In any whole, there's always a better half.
Speaker 1: This is true about sandwiches, bananas, shirts, and marriages. Today
Speaker 1: you will meet our better halves, and then you'll know
Speaker 1: the right way to eat a banana. Gosh, I don't know, No,
Speaker 1: you're my better half. I was just writing this and
Speaker 1: I don't know. My brain is fried. And then I
Speaker 1: wrote that, and I was like, that's good, that's good.
Speaker 1: What's your favorite part of a banana? The top of
Speaker 1: the bottom? Which path is better at the banana? The
Speaker 1: top or the bottom? I don't understand what you're asking. Okay,
Speaker 1: any of my frugal friends do let me know? All right, well,
Speaker 1: let's not let's not waste any time except for the
Speaker 1: whole hour that we're going to waste talking to your husbands.
Speaker 1: Is about right, He's gonna be good. It's pretty cloud.
Speaker 1: We should clap three to one. All right, here we
Speaker 1: are here. We are welcome boys to the Frugal Friends podcast,
Speaker 1: where you'll learn to save money and live a richer life. Well,
Speaker 1: we're super excited to have our men with us for
Speaker 1: this special two year anniversary Frugal Friends Special. We've been
Speaker 1: doing this for two years, so obviously our husbands are supportive,
Speaker 1: and this is the number one most requested episode of
Speaker 1: all time. So here we are, three people requested, and
Speaker 1: we are answering the questions you asked us in our
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends community on Facebook. So let's not waste any
Speaker 1: more time and we will get right into it. Perfect.
Speaker 1: So Stacy wants to know our love stories and how
Speaker 1: we met. So Travis and Jen go first. Okay, So Travis,
Speaker 1: why don't you tell from your perspective? Yeah? Um, Well
Speaker 1: it started off. I met Jen at my place. Well,
Speaker 1: it was where I was staying with a friend outside
Speaker 1: your window. Yeah, with a boom box. It was like
Speaker 1: the starting line video. No, um, but yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: I got home late from work and we had a
Speaker 1: My roommates had a movie marathon at my place and
Speaker 1: Jen showed up and I went to go get a
Speaker 1: drink water before going to bed, and we had some conversation. Okay,
Speaker 1: you intercepted his his thirst, he intercepted my first. I
Speaker 1: was on my third class of wine, so I was
Speaker 1: feeling good. I was feeling fine and normally I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have talked to a guy. But ever ever, that night,
Speaker 1: huh and yeah, she had enough a movie. Do you remember?
Speaker 1: It was The Grand Budapest. Have you guys watched it
Speaker 1: again since then? I don't think so tonight tonight? How
Speaker 1: about you guys? Go ahead? Go ahead. We met at
Speaker 1: Jill's best friend's wedding where Jill was the maid of
Speaker 1: honor and I wasn't necessarily supposed to be there, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't exactly invited. Yeah, So like this was on
Speaker 1: like what a Friday, Saturday was Friday? I think the
Speaker 1: wedding was a weekend. It was Saturday. Yeah, And so
Speaker 1: that Sunday before the groom was like you should crash
Speaker 1: my wedding. That'd be so fun, and I was like
Speaker 1: I probably won't. And then Wednesday night I got a
Speaker 1: text from my friend who's playing in the wedding and
Speaker 1: he was like, you have to come. Uh, they're not
Speaker 1: going to have a sound like a sound engineer during
Speaker 1: the ceremony, right the ceremony. Yeah, And so I was
Speaker 1: playing in the ceremony, so we didn't think about that.
Speaker 1: You had to both do the sound and play. And
Speaker 1: he's like, so I need help. Yeah, So I showed
Speaker 1: up and Jill got me water and I drank it
Speaker 1: water Man, the hydration. Yeah. And then I asked you
Speaker 1: dance and we went on a date two days later
Speaker 1: and we got married a year later. Yeah, he asked
Speaker 1: me to dance. The song was at Last by Edda
Speaker 1: James perfect. Yeah, right on last. My love has come along.
Speaker 1: Apparently that song is kind of overplayed. So we have
Speaker 1: our moment a lot. You always leave out, you always
Speaker 1: leave out the part that I did a rap, which
Speaker 1: is what really drew you into me. Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: believe what you want to do. I went for if
Speaker 1: you say it enough, he starts to believe you. Yes.
Speaker 1: And then how we met was that I knew Eric
Speaker 1: I had well, I didn't know him. I met him
Speaker 1: once in San Diego, sometimes very long a time ago.
Speaker 1: And then we became Facebook friends, because that's what you
Speaker 1: do after we meet somebody one time Facebook friends. And
Speaker 1: then you guys were coming through St. Petersburg and your
Speaker 1: motor home and Eric was like, do I have any
Speaker 1: friends in the area that I want to hang out?
Speaker 1: And nobody responded a random post on Facebook an algorithm
Speaker 1: people to see it. Yeah, for some reason, I've never
Speaker 1: we're seeing I don't think after I friended you on Facebook,
Speaker 1: I ever saw anything from you ever again, and if
Speaker 1: you if you did, it was wasn't relevant. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: we didn't really know each other. So I see this
Speaker 1: one thing and I'm like, well, my friends and I
Speaker 1: are going to watch the sunset at this beach bar
Speaker 1: if you guys want to come, And which is so
Speaker 1: unlike me because I don't talk to people like I
Speaker 1: don't know if you got this vibe from me, but
Speaker 1: I definitely don't invite people to hang out for no reason.
Speaker 1: And so I did it and they came for some reason.
Speaker 1: That was the other weird part is that we showed
Speaker 1: up and we like showed up to St. Petersburg, like
Speaker 1: parked the r V and took we had like a
Speaker 1: little scooter. We're using it on the back of the
Speaker 1: camper and like for Jill to say yes to this
Speaker 1: was like kind of crazy too, because it was like
Speaker 1: park twenty minutes, like get everything figured out, get the
Speaker 1: scooter off the r V, and like cruise to meet
Speaker 1: you guys. And I remember we're pushing back a little
Speaker 1: bit and you're like there were plenty of times, and
Speaker 1: I's like, is this what we want to do on
Speaker 1: our vacation, like go hang out with strangers? Like this
Speaker 1: is weird. This is They're going to think this is weird,
Speaker 1: this is weird. Why are we doing this? But we
Speaker 1: did girl that that was a question like what do
Speaker 1: you mean you remember one time? Like what what did
Speaker 1: you do during that one time? Special time? Especially it's
Speaker 1: a secret that Jen and I will oh my god,
Speaker 1: And the answer, the real answer is I don't remember.
Speaker 1: I don't remember it. Yeah, I don't know. We get
Speaker 1: it off right. You guys were in your debt payoff journey.
Speaker 1: We were doing crazy things to get at a frugal,
Speaker 1: minimalist lifestyle and to pay off debt. So we bonded.
Speaker 1: We were legitimate friends, which I think is always so
Speaker 1: funny when people write that on our hum like views
Speaker 1: sor differ things, where they're like, oh, where are they
Speaker 1: seem like real friends? Well yeah we are. We are.
Speaker 1: We're not like putting on a front where nobody where.
Speaker 1: We called it frugal friends, but like strangers and we're
Speaker 1: like trying to make this thing work like business partners.
Speaker 1: We ended up hanging out every day. We ended up
Speaker 1: staying an extra two or three days, and we hung
Speaker 1: out every single day of that and we were so
Speaker 1: sad when you left that we went and visited you
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania twice. We've come down who knows how long.
Speaker 1: Now we've been living in your backyard for six weeks
Speaker 1: post to six weeks, were hired of each other, and
Speaker 1: we're sitting here doing a podcast together. So that is
Speaker 1: our lives, all right, let's get into these questions. So well,
Speaker 1: that was one of the questions there. It is we met?
Speaker 1: How we all met? Number two? Uh mona asks? Do
Speaker 1: you feel accurately represented on the podcast? Asked Eric and Travis.
Speaker 1: I feel represented. Well, I know everything Jen. She's pretty
Speaker 1: uh detail oriented, and she's compliments me a lot. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm represented. Well, yeah, is it the compliments?
Speaker 1: Is that what it does? Yeah? It shout out to Travis,
Speaker 1: happy birthday. It's still your birthday right by forgetting birthday month?
Speaker 1: How about you? I do I I don't always feel
Speaker 1: I don't like if you listen to the podcast and
Speaker 1: everything you heard about me on the podcast, I don't
Speaker 1: think that means you know much about me. But I
Speaker 1: don't feel like I'm misrepresented. I remember a couple of
Speaker 1: times being like, I should edit this out. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: do like to influence the time. You usually don't even
Speaker 1: have time, and you're still adding in lightning noises. That's
Speaker 1: laugh when I back, so, Mora, all the stories you
Speaker 1: want me to talk about you more? Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that's what I think you You could talk about me
Speaker 1: like a lot more so that people really get to
Speaker 1: know that. Glad we got that feedback. Thanks Mona, good question.
Speaker 1: All right, Next is from Jocelyn. We want to hear
Speaker 1: all about Eric's cars and traps. Is amazing hair. What
Speaker 1: is there to say? I'm him? Look at it? Look
Speaker 1: at this. Let's talk about the hair. It was much longer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was much longer until I gave birth. But it
Speaker 1: is gorgeous hair when it's and the beard. Like the
Speaker 1: beard better? Actually, yeah, nobody, nobody really likes it. Though
Speaker 1: I like it, I can't. I like it when it's trimmed. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's refocus the podcast. It's a bed podcast. I think
Speaker 1: what Jocelyn's asking about the cars is probably the vibe
Speaker 1: the episode where I talked about wanting to go down
Speaker 1: to one car if you don't want to go down
Speaker 1: to one car. I think that it sounds glamorous to
Speaker 1: go down to one car, but in reality, what that
Speaker 1: would mean is I stay home all the time and
Speaker 1: I take one uber and it costs seventy dollars because
Speaker 1: we live in the middle of nowhere and now I'm
Speaker 1: just alone often. I definitely don't get out much these days.
Speaker 1: And if I didn't have a guard get out, even
Speaker 1: the one time a week I use it, I would
Speaker 1: not get out. I'd just be home. Yeah, it's okay,
Speaker 1: we'll get there. Yeah, we don't. We don't need to
Speaker 1: hash it all out. Yeah. She also wants to know
Speaker 1: who sings the Bill of the Week song, which is
Speaker 1: also you. It is me. We hear more about that one.
Speaker 1: What do you want to talk about? Tell us about
Speaker 1: when you made the Bill of the song um so
Speaker 1: and the intro song, like oh yeah, yeah, you did
Speaker 1: our soundtrack of it and our sound design, you edit
Speaker 1: and all of it. It's weird listening back and remembering
Speaker 1: that I was completely alone in my studio at like
Speaker 1: ten o'clock at night, and like my studio wasn't completely
Speaker 1: sound proof, and so like people lived in the house
Speaker 1: kind of close by, and and it's awkward to remember that.
Speaker 1: I was like yelling things like this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week by myself Buffalo. Yeah it sounds exciting,
Speaker 1: but it was just me, by myself alone, trying to
Speaker 1: make this stupid thing work, which is so eerie when
Speaker 1: you scream and then it's dead silence. You're not I'm like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: the couch now I don't know. And we have you
Speaker 1: to actually thank for the bill of the week segment
Speaker 1: in like general, you came up, you know what, we
Speaker 1: were brainstorm and we were throwing things against you came
Speaker 1: up with the podcast. You came up with the bill
Speaker 1: of the We do really this one to think for
Speaker 1: friends podcast. I appreciate where you go. I'm starting to
Speaker 1: talk about complimenting you, like gen compliments Travis. Okay, So
Speaker 1: Leslie asks, how do you balance what you and your
Speaker 1: spouse think is important to spend money on? Don't don't don't.
Speaker 1: Jen pretty much just tells you what to spend money on.
Speaker 1: So not really that's not true, but I mean after
Speaker 1: paying off our day, it it's a I think it's
Speaker 1: a lot more we're a lot more lenient on what
Speaker 1: we can spend and but um, it's all. It all
Speaker 1: comes down to, like communication and just like, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: going to buy this? Is it? Is it art with you?
Speaker 1: And then it's not. Well, yeah, it's interesting. I think
Speaker 1: I've also seen the reverse of that for you guys
Speaker 1: to be talking about of how do you balance what
Speaker 1: to make money on? Like in some ways like can
Speaker 1: I sell this? How much should I sell this for?
Speaker 1: Should I take on more work if I'm able to?
Speaker 1: Like I think it in some ways can flip for
Speaker 1: you both, which is interesting. In these six weeks of
Speaker 1: being neighbors without borders, we are very Yeah, I am
Speaker 1: kind of obsessed with making money and that's something that
Speaker 1: I work through, like emotionally, mentally, Yeah, I know, ye
Speaker 1: things left and right. Yeah, I was trying to sell
Speaker 1: things you get top dollar to yesterday. I did sell
Speaker 1: them that. We sold her couch, We sold like tons
Speaker 1: of things since you guys been here, are coming for
Speaker 1: the very chairs we're sitting on soon, So let's keep
Speaker 1: it going. What do you think, Eric, how do we
Speaker 1: balance this? I should have been thinking about that while um,
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, we we do. I think the same
Speaker 1: thing we both communicate on, like you don't buy anything.
Speaker 1: So this is literally a one sided conversation, like Jill
Speaker 1: literally doesn't buy anything. I want to buy so many things.
Speaker 1: I'm supportive of it, though, Like it's not that I'm
Speaker 1: okay with spending money, it's just I don't know what
Speaker 1: to buy, which in some ways, yeah, that's a nice thing,
Speaker 1: but in other ways it speaks to some of the
Speaker 1: lack of hobbies and skill set that I have. Like
Speaker 1: you can always spend money on music equipment, and I'm
Speaker 1: supportive of that because you do dope things, whereas I'm
Speaker 1: just like, I don't know. I got a fifty dollar
Speaker 1: gift card at Christmas from an employer and I to Amazon, right,
Speaker 1: who wouldn't want that? And I still have not spend
Speaker 1: it yet because I literally don't know. I'm fine spending it,
Speaker 1: but I'm just like, what do I need erasers for
Speaker 1: my pencils? There's not many hobbies that go along with that.
Speaker 1: Brain do they call that? So? I can nit? I
Speaker 1: can crochet, but I have all the supplies that I
Speaker 1: need for that. Yeah, And yeah, you don't spend any money,
Speaker 1: that's yeah, it is. It's a negotiation. Given moment, I
Speaker 1: could go and spend ten dollars and just like still
Speaker 1: have things that I want, I never will because I'm
Speaker 1: also I've just got a cheap But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I yeah, I think it's really I don't know if
Speaker 1: that answers the question, but communication, like we just decide
Speaker 1: as we go. It's not like a there's a question again,
Speaker 1: how do you balance what you and your spouse I
Speaker 1: think is important to spend money on. Oh well, I
Speaker 1: mean if we're talking to like the other person, like
Speaker 1: whatever is important to them. If something's important to you
Speaker 1: and it was a couple of thousand dollars, I would
Speaker 1: want to figure out how to buy it because I
Speaker 1: trust that you're not just going to buy something flippant,
Speaker 1: like something that you like you really want to really need.
Speaker 1: And I think that goes both ways. I just have
Speaker 1: a ton of reasons to purchase things that have a
Speaker 1: lot of hobbies. But that's interesting. I do think it
Speaker 1: starts at like believing the best in your spouse and
Speaker 1: that that's a really important foundational thing that's not present
Speaker 1: in a lot of relationships. But I think it starts
Speaker 1: at believing the best, so then we know that when
Speaker 1: we come to each other with like when we finally
Speaker 1: come to the point of I think I want to
Speaker 1: spend money on this, then yeah, if it's if you're
Speaker 1: saying that's important to you and you think that that
Speaker 1: would be a wise decision, I want to support it.
Speaker 1: Yeah m hm. You just you never actually know what
Speaker 1: I end up getting because you don't even understand. I
Speaker 1: don't I don't even understand why I need inputs and
Speaker 1: plug ins and phantom power and you're using real terms.
Speaker 1: I don't know what I said. They need phantom power
Speaker 1: for the thing on this mic and somehow tons of Mike's.
Speaker 1: We've got over twenty microphones and yeah we can have sixteen.
Speaker 1: We're not done apparently. Okay. Patricia wants to know what's
Speaker 1: the craziest thing you've done in the name of frugality.
Speaker 1: M hm, um, I don't know. I mean for me,
Speaker 1: like I've been cheap my whole life, So you know,
Speaker 1: then is this an intervention for me and you? I
Speaker 1: think that's what it is you who want us to Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've done quite a few things like dumpster diving and um,
Speaker 1: I don't know, what do you think everything you pick
Speaker 1: up free stuff on the side of everywhere not everywhere,
Speaker 1: because like you brought in um peanut butter and cans
Speaker 1: of black beans from the alley. Yeah. Yeah, and then
Speaker 1: but did you eat it? Jen? The peanut butter is
Speaker 1: actually in our cupboard? Have I eating it? Gen peanut butter? No?
Speaker 1: You haven't. That's amazing. I think the biggest thing there
Speaker 1: is that it probably doesn't strike you as anything crazy,
Speaker 1: like dumpster diving is why wouldn't you some person's trashes
Speaker 1: and others giving things out of the landfill. I no
Speaker 1: longer think these things are very crazy. Yeah, I can't
Speaker 1: even think of anything. So I'm broken. I've been broken.
Speaker 1: Oh man, well, here we go podcast out of that one.
Speaker 1: What about you? What was the question that's the craziest
Speaker 1: thing you've done in the name of frugality? Oh gosh,
Speaker 1: I do I do things all the time? I don't know.
Speaker 1: Make the Bill of the Week song? Yeah, yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: do our own soundtracks that. Um. Yeah. I mean most
Speaker 1: of my life is trying to figure out how to
Speaker 1: do things for for cheaper or for more inexpensive. But yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think most of it has to do with Craigslist transactions. Yeah, Facebook, Mark.
Speaker 1: I think my mind goes to like the tentacle of
Speaker 1: what you've done in the name of frugality. Okay, Craigslist transactions,
Speaker 1: but you've actually maintained friendships through some of your Craigslist
Speaker 1: transactions are like while you're doing something, you get into
Speaker 1: a conversation about something else, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: together you're you're fixing an engine. Like it, it has
Speaker 1: led to I think some community that's unexpected. But beyond that,
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess more obvious or normal to us,
Speaker 1: but a little more unusual is like the way that
Speaker 1: you got your vibe. Oh yeah, yeah, I've done a
Speaker 1: lot of like trading work for goods, trading services for goods, economical,
Speaker 1: So let's clarify what services you traded for goods. I
Speaker 1: did some flooring work and some tile work for our
Speaker 1: good friends, and they gave me a pony a vibe Yeah,
Speaker 1: Kevin and Chelsea. Yeah, I still drive that car and
Speaker 1: I love it. Yeah, that was that was one of
Speaker 1: the best, the best moves work for a car like
Speaker 1: it worked out so good. I've I've barely put any
Speaker 1: money into that car. We're still friends with them, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and it was your idea to live in
Speaker 1: a camper, so I'm going along with it, and I
Speaker 1: love it, but that's yours. And the reason we did
Speaker 1: that was Jill want to go back to school for
Speaker 1: a master's degree, and I said, how can we make
Speaker 1: that happen? Shoved me in a real living space three
Speaker 1: weeks later. Right, she doesn't like to buy cheap things,
Speaker 1: or she doesn't like to buy things all the time.
Speaker 1: She just wants to buy degrees. That's what's happened to
Speaker 1: So it sounds like I buy a lot of things,
Speaker 1: but they're all under like a few True, I have
Speaker 1: spent the most money. It was it was your day paper,
Speaker 1: two pieces of paper. Don't tell them that maybe someday
Speaker 1: there'll be another piece of paper. Yeah, we don't talk
Speaker 1: about that. We're put that on a shelf. Okay, Next,
Speaker 1: Virginia wants to know what was the most challenging part
Speaker 1: of becoming frugal or along the frugal journey. Mhm, challenging? Um,
Speaker 1: I think for me, like I said earlier, like I've
Speaker 1: always been like cheaper frugal in a sense where I
Speaker 1: tried to get the most out of everything. And um,
Speaker 1: but I think the if I can change the question, like,
Speaker 1: I think the most challenging thing was trying to be
Speaker 1: trying to be my cheap self coming into marriage with you,
Speaker 1: and like you you're more frugal and you're like, but
Speaker 1: I was like that extreme like which works when you're
Speaker 1: saying the floor ram and every day you did sleep
Speaker 1: on a Futon ship are at one point in some
Speaker 1: Ladies trailer before we met, that was a Suton chairs
Speaker 1: but it's I've never actually seen it before until um
Speaker 1: at that time in my life. And so I and
Speaker 1: I value comforts and little luxuries and I'm willing more
Speaker 1: than willing to pay for things that make my life easier. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that that blending together. Traveling together was probably the most
Speaker 1: difficult for us. That was maybe the most challenging part
Speaker 1: because I want a journey everything that's free and I
Speaker 1: don't want to pay for anything. Yeah, you don't want
Speaker 1: to pay for anything, and I like, that's when I
Speaker 1: want to spend the most money is while we're traveling.
Speaker 1: It's not like I don't spend a lot of money
Speaker 1: day to day, but when I'm traveling, I really want
Speaker 1: to experience different places. And so that's what we just
Speaker 1: had to figure out, Like did you all inclusive resorts
Speaker 1: and cruises, because then we're traveling but we don't have
Speaker 1: to pull out our wallet as much. Just like a
Speaker 1: psychological thing. You learned that honeymoon was wrong? Was rough back?
Speaker 1: What about you? What's been challenging on this frugal journey
Speaker 1: my entire life dramatic? Yeah, I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: when I started. I don't know when I started. It
Speaker 1: hasn't ended. I've just I've just been going for it
Speaker 1: this whole time. So it's challenging. It's maybe I don't
Speaker 1: even know how to answer that, because it's not challenging
Speaker 1: because it's just who I am. I think I don't
Speaker 1: know how. I don't have to like remember back to
Speaker 1: a time where I wasn't my mom's frugal, I started
Speaker 1: my dad's frugal. Like, Yeah, I don't. I don't know, honestly. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Probably probably the spending of money, learning what to do
Speaker 1: when there is some resource of how to steward that well,
Speaker 1: right when you can just buy anything, when I can
Speaker 1: literally go out and buy anything like that. Adriana, has
Speaker 1: your idea of style changed since being frugal? Uh? I
Speaker 1: mean I would say yes because I would I know
Speaker 1: when I was younger, like middle school, like I'd want
Speaker 1: to buy stuff from the mall because I would want
Speaker 1: to go. But I think after like after high school
Speaker 1: or during high school, like my mom would take us
Speaker 1: to their stores, and it somehow clicked in my head
Speaker 1: where like it makes sense to buy things second in
Speaker 1: hand because like you can buy a way cheaper sometimes
Speaker 1: good quality stuff and and you're like you're not you're
Speaker 1: not buying new, so you're you're keeping like you're not,
Speaker 1: I guess building more waste, keeping things out in landfill.
Speaker 1: Yeah so I Um, but style, I always looked good. No,
Speaker 1: that was real, Like he's always been a good dresser. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I always liked buying clothes. Um, but I like since
Speaker 1: high school, I've never bought, like I'm not never, but
Speaker 1: I like barely buy new. I always buy a second hand.
Speaker 1: What about what you wore on your wedding day? That was?
Speaker 1: That was my suit that I When I was working
Speaker 1: in Virginia, I worked for Jay Crew and I there
Speaker 1: you get a discount um like Allotman card where you
Speaker 1: get like off cards and then once a month I
Speaker 1: think it is, or once every other month, they have
Speaker 1: like a where they have samples and stuff where they
Speaker 1: put on this put on the wreck for um, for
Speaker 1: just employees, and it's like off, so I use it. Uh,
Speaker 1: I bought like a five suit for like Bucks. What
Speaker 1: about for you? Eric? Ha's your idea of story change
Speaker 1: since becoming frugal? Oh yeah, if we can change out
Speaker 1: the word frugality for minimalism, then yeah a big time.
Speaker 1: Like I used to just buy clothes that I liked,
Speaker 1: and now I buy clothes that actually matched that I
Speaker 1: actually go together. Um, you know, like if you have
Speaker 1: a like I was at I think it was J
Speaker 1: Crew somebody owes a sponsorship money and I had a
Speaker 1: green pair of pants that I went up to the
Speaker 1: register with and I was like, yeah, those are those
Speaker 1: are cool? You know they're green, right And I was
Speaker 1: like yeah, because well so on color blind, that's probably
Speaker 1: good good information to now. Uh and yeah, and those
Speaker 1: pants are really cool and I liked them, but they
Speaker 1: weren't going to go with at least fifty of my
Speaker 1: wardrobe and at that point it doesn't make any sense
Speaker 1: to own them because I only have a few pair
Speaker 1: of pants. So yeah, yeah, just simplifying and and um yeah,
Speaker 1: like what's the word, uh capsule thinking more? And I
Speaker 1: don't do that, but like thinking more in that it
Speaker 1: practically is you've really pared down your wardrobe, even within
Speaker 1: the last year. More and more I'm seeing you really
Speaker 1: narrow in on the things that you like, getting pieces
Speaker 1: that all match, no matter what, you can grab whatever
Speaker 1: from your closet for the most part. Yeah, you're still
Speaker 1: Chinese space that I give you for your clothes. Well yeah,
Speaker 1: m hmmm, mini. While okay, so two more two more
Speaker 1: quick ones. UM Jay asks what financial goals do you
Speaker 1: have for yourselves? Let's see, I guess, um, mainly retirement, UM,
Speaker 1: focusing on you know Kay's um future, UM, because we
Speaker 1: have a house, we we have those things, UM, and
Speaker 1: we paid off for debt. So I mean just I
Speaker 1: guess those two things. Not really any specific goals besides
Speaker 1: like maybe cruises and stuff were I think we're still
Speaker 1: recovering from paying off our debt. Is weird as that is, um,
Speaker 1: But we went really hard for two years UM, and
Speaker 1: at one point I had shingles because of the stress.
Speaker 1: And so it's been almost it's been two and a
Speaker 1: half years now. So we're focusing on putting as much
Speaker 1: towards retirement as possible. But other than that, like we
Speaker 1: are enjoying all of the extra money. We're not trying
Speaker 1: to pay off our house early or you know, max
Speaker 1: out like Kai's nine. I don't know if you can
Speaker 1: max it out, but I don't even know what it is.
Speaker 1: So yeah, like we're enjoying it, having some freedom, and
Speaker 1: you guys are just living extravagant it. Come about my
Speaker 1: portion in the back. Yeah, we'll post a picture of
Speaker 1: this set up. You'll see. The reality I have to
Speaker 1: personal is I've been selling off a ton of music
Speaker 1: equipment to kind of like it's stuff that I've had
Speaker 1: for years, and it's really nice stuff, but it's not
Speaker 1: really what I want. And I've kept it because I
Speaker 1: know it's really nice, and you know, it's just like
Speaker 1: why why go through the hassle? But recently I decided
Speaker 1: to just kind of like get rid of everything that's
Speaker 1: not exactly what I want and that will be more
Speaker 1: more than enough money. When I saw that, and then
Speaker 1: actually by the things that I want. Um, so that's
Speaker 1: like I have meant multiple drum sets, I'm gonna sell
Speaker 1: all of them and get one that I actually want.
Speaker 1: Which has been funny because as you've posted these things online,
Speaker 1: friends have actually reached out to you, being like Eric
Speaker 1: is everything okay, Like you see that you're selling all
Speaker 1: of your music equipment, Like, are you doing all right?
Speaker 1: If you know Eric, he has always played music, Like
Speaker 1: as long as I've known him, he's had some sort
Speaker 1: of recording studio, and so to see him just like
Speaker 1: posting music equipment after music women, what's happening with you?
Speaker 1: And Jill literally read are you good? I saw you
Speaker 1: posted a bunch of guitars on Facebook? I was like,
Speaker 1: maybe not. It's just like really pouring down and simplifying
Speaker 1: that your recording process can be more simplified. And yeah,
Speaker 1: and at the end of the day, I don't have
Speaker 1: a space that's mine, Like we're renting places and I
Speaker 1: get tired of moving everything. And if I don't use
Speaker 1: it in the time that I have a new space
Speaker 1: and we're moving to another space, like I'm probably not
Speaker 1: gonna use it like get rid of it. Um. So yeah,
Speaker 1: just kind of quality over quantity with that. But then
Speaker 1: long more long term like our our goal as a couple,
Speaker 1: I would say, is to buy a house. So and
Speaker 1: that honestly has paired down my wanting to spend on
Speaker 1: other things. Yeah, I like to have my own space
Speaker 1: for my stuff, living living my best journey. This is
Speaker 1: this is Jill's ultimate dream coming true. I've always felt
Speaker 1: like it's me kind of just trying to hold in
Speaker 1: the flood gates of all the money you could possibly
Speaker 1: spend a music equipment. Not that you're frivolous, but again
Speaker 1: going back to our conversation earlier, I don't understand the
Speaker 1: words that come out of your mouth that you want
Speaker 1: to buy some I'm just like, I don't know what
Speaker 1: you need that, and like you need more fretimes, you
Speaker 1: need fantom power, like you need this, you need that
Speaker 1: you need obviously, I don't think And then you can
Speaker 1: tell me it's five thousand dollars and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I just gotta hold it all in. I
Speaker 1: gotta read it all in. So it's been interesting to
Speaker 1: like have a shared mutual goal and see what that's
Speaker 1: producing in our relationship. Well. One final question is from
Speaker 1: Caroline and she asks just a riveting, thought provoking question
Speaker 1: something I struggle. Um, how do you guys handle the
Speaker 1: fame of your wives? You know, take your time turn
Speaker 1: to some things that you oh gosh, it's just you know,
Speaker 1: I created them. What did Frankenstein do with his robot monsters.
Speaker 1: It wasn't Frankenstein was the doctor. It was Dr Frankenstein. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Dr Frankenstein. Sorry, guys, gonna monster or it was Frankenstein
Speaker 1: probably German, right, But what was the name of the monster.
Speaker 1: I don't know if the monster. I think it was
Speaker 1: the monster. Yeah. It was just like, somebody's going to
Speaker 1: have to tell us the real story about this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: please in the comments. Well, you know what we don't
Speaker 1: have to figure out. I didn't answer. I'm sorry. I
Speaker 1: want to know how he deals with the frame of
Speaker 1: his doing. That's true. Um, Actually, I like I am
Speaker 1: super proud of Jen so, like I know, like she's
Speaker 1: super famous in the and the frugal friends in the
Speaker 1: in the podcast, but like like at work and all
Speaker 1: my friends, I always tell everyone, like, hey, my wife,
Speaker 1: she's an author, she's a she has hosts her own
Speaker 1: podcast and all these things, and like it makes me
Speaker 1: feel good about my life because my wife is famous.
Speaker 1: She's crazy at the gates, Travis because of your like
Speaker 1: literally the work playing mechanics that that analogy work. Okay, now, yes,
Speaker 1: we can do another analogy the words the thing that
Speaker 1: works every time. That's right. It's time for the best
Speaker 1: minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born
Speaker 1: and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage,
Speaker 1: maybe your car died and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. That's bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton.
Speaker 1: This is the bill of the week. So you know
Speaker 1: what the bill of the week is. We don't have
Speaker 1: to explain it to you. But if you're listening the
Speaker 1: first time and somehow you made it to this part
Speaker 1: of the podcast, we ask our guests to share their
Speaker 1: favorite bill with us, and we'd like both of you
Speaker 1: to share your favorite bill. So little it be boys,
Speaker 1: it's fun. Well, my favorite bill, it's more like a
Speaker 1: bill of a lifetime, I guess because it's my grandfather.
Speaker 1: His name is Bill Smith, and he's just like they've
Speaker 1: my grandfather and my grandma like took care of me
Speaker 1: and my sister when we were younger, um, when my
Speaker 1: parents got divorced and um, so they were kind of
Speaker 1: in our lives all the time. So um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: my grandfather has done so many awesome things. He's in
Speaker 1: the Korean War. My grandma actually wrote a biography on him. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, I love him and got sentimental. That's amazing.
Speaker 1: It's just gonna be the bill of the week, the bill.
Speaker 1: That's that's incredible. That My mine is my great grand
Speaker 1: mine is Bill Waterson, who is the writer of Calvin Hobbs,
Speaker 1: the creator writer, and he is the best. And if
Speaker 1: I didn't have colvinant Hobbs, I wouldn't know how to read.
Speaker 1: Problemly incentive to read. Yeah, yeah, great, there you go
Speaker 1: for all your parents trying to teach your kids to
Speaker 1: read like short, short blurbs, like it's not this like
Speaker 1: big page. Yeah. I loved it. I still love reading comic. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We have a whole volume set in No Way, Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh. Yeah. One of our AIRPNB guests gave it
Speaker 1: to us. WHOA, My parents were getting rid of of
Speaker 1: those books recently and I was like, wow, I'll just
Speaker 1: you know, use them online or find them online. They
Speaker 1: don't they're not online really, They're actually like pretty hard
Speaker 1: to come by. Yeah, so I kind of wish they
Speaker 1: kept them. But yeah, well, if you all want to
Speaker 1: leave us a bill, or it's sentimental and super kind,
Speaker 1: or if it's how you learn to read this now
Speaker 1: related to a bill, we want to hear it, So
Speaker 1: leave us your bill at Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash bill. There's an option right there to leave us
Speaker 1: a message, and we'd love to hear it. Yes, all right,
Speaker 1: let's wrap this thing up. It's the Lightning Round, all right.
Speaker 1: For today's Lightning Round, we are asking the guys what
Speaker 1: their best frugal tips are. Jeez on the spot. Now
Speaker 1: you looked at this ahead of time. Get that far. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I learned how to read because of governor don't read
Speaker 1: that well, I give up. What do you think tips? Um? Well,
Speaker 1: one frugal tip for married couples, I would say, uh, well,
Speaker 1: something that like has really been um A huge part
Speaker 1: of our frugality is to find someone like equal to
Speaker 1: your mindset of like frugality, or someone that's willing to
Speaker 1: um kind of change her mind or too, you know,
Speaker 1: to be as frugal. Meet in the middle. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: is a dating tip. Oh, it's something that like I
Speaker 1: found that like, if Jen wasn't frugal or she if
Speaker 1: she wasn't like Downdy peanut butter from the Alley, it
Speaker 1: would be really rough on our relationship because it just
Speaker 1: wouldn't work. Yeah rough, maybe she would Yeah, like if
Speaker 1: someone spending and the other ones, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: say definitely, like in our that payoff journey, it would
Speaker 1: have never worked. But I wasn't for it in the beginning.
Speaker 1: You had to get me on board. I did, but
Speaker 1: you were super easy to get on board, which is
Speaker 1: kind of amazing. Travis created you are the Frankenstein who
Speaker 1: because that's like your life now, that's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: Did he get you on board? So it was when
Speaker 1: we were engaged and we were talking about our debt
Speaker 1: and he said, as soon as we get married, I
Speaker 1: want to pay off our debt. And I said, no,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to go yeah exactly. I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't want to live my twenties under a rock like
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't want to waste the best years
Speaker 1: of my life paying off debt. And well I didn't
Speaker 1: know what my thirties would be like, I didn't know
Speaker 1: that number. Yeah, he just made me. He made me
Speaker 1: more um forward thinking. I had this mindset, which a
Speaker 1: lot of people in the middle class do, is um
Speaker 1: to like live for today, make do for you know
Speaker 1: today the next year. But really I didn't have the
Speaker 1: capacity to think that I could have a better life
Speaker 1: than what my parents had, UM, and he inspired me
Speaker 1: to say what I wanted out loud and to believe
Speaker 1: that I could get there was I'm thirsty and some water.
Speaker 1: That's when you heard though, alright, that same question, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's frugal, Like well, like what what are some ways
Speaker 1: you get at frugality? I research until my eyes hurt,
Speaker 1: like everything, Like I never buy anything for unless unless
Speaker 1: I just unless I've done the research and I know
Speaker 1: that it's never going to be cheaper than it is,
Speaker 1: like I'm going to get it cheaper like I and
Speaker 1: I Yeah, and that's that's like compromising if it's new
Speaker 1: or not. That's UM spending just hours on Facebook, Marketplace
Speaker 1: and Craigson's, which I do enjoy doing. It's not like
Speaker 1: this thing where I'm like dreading it like I I
Speaker 1: enjoy like watching I mean, for lack of a better terms,
Speaker 1: the market on things that makes me so smarter than
Speaker 1: I am. But yeah, just kind of watching like when
Speaker 1: we buy our mote or camper and or when we
Speaker 1: bought our camper and our motor home. I had been
Speaker 1: watching them for a long time to see what they
Speaker 1: sell for, and then when the right deal popped up um.
Speaker 1: And so another thing would be patients, you know, just
Speaker 1: being seeing what you want but not needing it right
Speaker 1: away and kind of taking your time towards it. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean I don't think there's any good
Speaker 1: way to do it other than just spending the time
Speaker 1: and like figuring out how much things. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it seems normal to you, But I do think it's
Speaker 1: a skill that need, that needs to be honed in
Speaker 1: and that most people don't do. It's like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: looked up a couple of different products that seems to
Speaker 1: be the best one. Boom, I'm buying it. Whereas you
Speaker 1: take it to the next level and we reap the
Speaker 1: benefits of it. But I think people see some of
Speaker 1: the choices or decisions that we've made and it's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to do that without realizing, Like to get
Speaker 1: a two hundred dollar washer dryer combo LG. I mean
Speaker 1: for two hundred dollars, we waited a year and a half. Well,
Speaker 1: you were constantly looking and checking to see if anything
Speaker 1: was posted on Facebook, Marketplace and Craigslist and so like,
Speaker 1: it takes dedication to get the really good deals and
Speaker 1: also to know what you're looking for I think that's
Speaker 1: the biggest thing we don't have time him for in
Speaker 1: this episode. But like, I think you've you've honed in
Speaker 1: some skills on even how to look for what's what's
Speaker 1: actually a good deal, what's not? How do you spot
Speaker 1: a fake or a fraud? Like, Yeah, I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot more to be said, but you learn that
Speaker 1: in research and patients. Yeah. I even call Eric whenever
Speaker 1: I'm looking at buying a vehicle. A lot of people
Speaker 1: call Eric something. Yeah what do you think when I mean,
Speaker 1: because even if he's not currently looking for that thing,
Speaker 1: he has looked for that can rattle off like look
Speaker 1: for this, got to check that, and yeah, so he's
Speaker 1: on this phone a lot. But yet we reaped the benefits. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I kind of also just have to always be doing
Speaker 1: something too, Like people like just just rest though, just
Speaker 1: sit and rest. Like when I do that, I hate it.
Speaker 1: So why would I do that? This is my rest research.
Speaker 1: That's the moral of the story. Let me be me.
Speaker 1: That's it that this episode. I hope you all got
Speaker 1: what you wanted from our husband's Yeah, if you're the
Speaker 1: last time, if you have more questions that were answered,
Speaker 1: Eric and Travis are both in our frugal friends community,
Speaker 1: so stop buying. Ask them and maybe they'll answer you.
Speaker 1: Maybe where it's highlighted in black. I don't know what
Speaker 1: that tag Travis. Travis clearly knows how to respond to
Speaker 1: you will respond on the internet that it. But thank
Speaker 1: you so much. If you are still listening to this episode,
Speaker 1: you made it you There's no real prize for you. Nope,
Speaker 1: but you did get to hear all about Travis and
Speaker 1: Air and you go about them. You get to hear
Speaker 1: their podcast debut, which I think was even more special,
Speaker 1: and their YouTube debuts. I mean, really, what if they
Speaker 1: become more famous than us? Whatever, we can't go there happening.
Speaker 1: So thanks again for listening, and definitely thank you for
Speaker 1: your kind reviews as well. Keep leaving them on iTunes
Speaker 1: and Stitcher. Reviews kind of like this one from vir
Speaker 1: six am. It says very relatable, it's five stars, and
Speaker 1: she says, I'm so glad I found this podcast. It's
Speaker 1: very relatable and very real usable information. Thank you. She
Speaker 1: left that before this episode came out, for sure. Um
Speaker 1: so this is for our our friends, like the people
Speaker 1: in the community that are curious about our husband. It
Speaker 1: was our most requested episode today. So there we are.
Speaker 1: We gave the people what they wanted. Uh. So we
Speaker 1: we want to say thank you to our friends who
Speaker 1: share these episodes on social media. So when you share
Speaker 1: the latest episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram,
Speaker 1: that automatically enters you into our drawing for a ten
Speaker 1: dollar Amazon card. And normally we say you have to
Speaker 1: share the current week's episode, but like you don't share
Speaker 1: this week, you can share any can share any episode
Speaker 1: you want. It's it's our too year animals we want.
Speaker 1: We are the bosses, so uh definitely uh screenshot those
Speaker 1: reviews when you leave them and send them to Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast at gmail dot com. Tag us at Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast when you share on Facebook or Instagram and
Speaker 1: let us see it. We want to know. Bye, see
Speaker 1: you next week. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed
Speaker 1: by Eric Sirian. I'll be the DJ. Oh no, um,
Speaker 1: how has it been for you guys? Us living in
Speaker 1: the backyard with that crazy music flares that I have
Speaker 1: loved it? I think I was telling you yesterday, like
Speaker 1: we are built for community, and the fact that you
Speaker 1: live so close but not in our house. That's that
Speaker 1: we've been thriving, and I love how we like shared
Speaker 1: dinners every night. Yes. Yeah. My mom asked like, so
Speaker 1: you are you guys getting together? And I was like,
Speaker 1: most nights, I feel kind of nights we get together
Speaker 1: think complete. If I don't see yeah, I'm like, when
Speaker 1: you guys don't come over, I'm like, do they hate us? Um?
Speaker 1: And so that's how I feel. It's kind of like,
Speaker 1: I really we've become neighbors without borders, neighbors without borders.
Speaker 1: We just you know, we come up to each other's
Speaker 1: doors and sometimes we talk. I mean, Kai is my
Speaker 1: best friends. Yeah, you have to hang out. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: and Kai have become best friends. We speak the same
Speaker 1: language and talks back. Yeah. Yeah, that's the only time.
Speaker 1: The only consistent thing you can get out of Kai
Speaker 1: is no matter what mood, is it if I go dad,
Speaker 1: He's like he has a real conservation happening here. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I've loved it too. Just yeah, it doesn't It's gone
Speaker 1: by super fast. Also, the sharing of the meals, having
Speaker 1: instant friends, more work on the podcast, it's been that's
Speaker 1: been great. Oh yeah, help help on know the house projects.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, this couch in our living room and
Speaker 1: not be here without you. It always wasn't here with couch.
Speaker 1: I know I got I helped him get it out
Speaker 1: of the truck, and I was like, I'm not helping
Speaker 1: you get it out of here. I can't believe that
Speaker 1: you did. That's that just goes to show how strong
Speaker 1: you are, you know, CrossFit as a person, Yes, CrossFit CrossFit,
Speaker 1: that's that's just that's not even a compliment to you.
Speaker 1: That's a compliment to CrossFit. Crossfits should be sponsoring. Say nice,
Speaker 1: what's your gym called? They can sponsor if you say
Speaker 1: the name, they have to sponsor. I'm pretty sure CrossFit Skyway, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they now they're legally obligated to give us before we
Speaker 1: tell them. Or just pretty CrossFit. Yeah, it's been fun,
Speaker 1: it has, but now we're done.