Speaker 1: Episode had a transition from spender to saver. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends Podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity rights, and liver with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill Do. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, this is Jill, and we are
Speaker 1: super excited to not just be coming at you via podcast,
Speaker 1: but also on our new web show on YouTube. And
Speaker 1: if you have not subscribe to Frugal Friends podcast on YouTube,
Speaker 1: check it out. You'll be able to see our faces
Speaker 1: and tell which one of us is which this is me.
Speaker 1: And the only reason we're coming to you from YouTube
Speaker 1: on this episode is because we lost the audio to
Speaker 1: last week's episode, which was supposed to be this episode.
Speaker 1: So we're talking all about how to transition from um
Speaker 1: chronic spender to chronic saver and we're gonna hopefully the
Speaker 1: audio will make it from this episode, will actually make
Speaker 1: it out. This is the episode of the universe doesn't
Speaker 1: want you to hear we're coming back with a comeback
Speaker 1: because it's audio and video. So it's like you want
Speaker 1: to steal our audio. Well, we're gonna do audio and video. Amen.
Speaker 1: So first, our sponsors and then we'll get into this
Speaker 1: really good content, also brought to you by restraint. When
Speaker 1: your mind is telling you know, but your body is
Speaker 1: telling you yes, practice restraint. When you pass that perfect
Speaker 1: little bowl with all the right colors and contours in
Speaker 1: the aisle of your favorite store, and your body fills
Speaker 1: with excitement, starting from your belly, radiating your fingertips, and
Speaker 1: somehow causing your jaw to quench out of acuteness, and
Speaker 1: your mind interrupts with a what are you even gonna
Speaker 1: do with that bowl? Listen to the voice of reason.
Speaker 1: You don't need that bowl. Don't spend the money were drained,
Speaker 1: deadening all the fields to save some money. Oh you
Speaker 1: love tiny bowl? I do. I don't know what it
Speaker 1: is about you. I'm always drawn to them. And and
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do with one singular bowl? I
Speaker 1: don't know one tiny bowl? Who knows? Anyways, So we
Speaker 1: had so much great stuff for you in this episode
Speaker 1: that there's no way in heck that we were skipping it.
Speaker 1: So the universe did not want you to hear it,
Speaker 1: but we're going to make it happen. Yes, So our
Speaker 1: first article on how to transition to Saber from Spender
Speaker 1: is from J. D Roth over Get Rich Slowly dot
Speaker 1: org and he goes through the ways he went from
Speaker 1: spender to saber and I thought this was a cool
Speaker 1: to start with. Instead of like a list on how
Speaker 1: to do it um, his is a lot of his
Speaker 1: story on how he did it, which is always relatable
Speaker 1: when you hear what has actually worked for somebody else
Speaker 1: and then figuring out how to tweak it for yourself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and a lot of it came from going through getting
Speaker 1: out of debt. He paid off his debt, built his
Speaker 1: savings and is now living in this place where he
Speaker 1: could spend money if he wanted to. But he spent
Speaker 1: all of this time like changing his money mindset that
Speaker 1: he is now a saver and and these are kind
Speaker 1: of the biggest things that have helped him. So the
Speaker 1: first is opening a high yield savings account, so he
Speaker 1: opened one UM online. A lot of online accounts are
Speaker 1: great for this, Uh, they offer way more interest than
Speaker 1: brick and mortar banks so and and they are just
Speaker 1: as safe. The only thing they don't have is like
Speaker 1: cash deposits, but so opening an account at a separate
Speaker 1: place from where you regularly bank and regularly transferring money
Speaker 1: over to it. So just like you can do that,
Speaker 1: there's also apps that do have auto safe features, like
Speaker 1: in power um where they will transfer small amounts that
Speaker 1: you don't know, but that's not really going to that'll
Speaker 1: build your savings, but it's not going to build a habit.
Speaker 1: So doing this that is, I mean, you're doing it automatically,
Speaker 1: but I would argue that maybe doing it in addition
Speaker 1: to doing it regularly automatically, you also do it manually. UM.
Speaker 1: I believe you should automate everything just because it forces
Speaker 1: you to save, But if you're really trying to build
Speaker 1: a habit, you really want to do it for yourself,
Speaker 1: you can't rely on automation. Well, and you can always
Speaker 1: do automation and then build a habit of putting an
Speaker 1: extra Yes, you know, even if it's really on the amount,
Speaker 1: you're still practicing and growing that muscle. Yeah. So the
Speaker 1: next thing that this article lists is to set a
Speaker 1: medium term savings goal. They really like this one so
Speaker 1: and from obviously short term different from long term medium terms,
Speaker 1: so they're describing that time frame from about eighteen months
Speaker 1: to five years and setting goals like saving up for
Speaker 1: a big trip, vacation, saving up for a car, something
Speaker 1: that would take about that time frame eighteen months to
Speaker 1: five years to save for. And what this does is
Speaker 1: it gets us excited about saving because sometimes long term
Speaker 1: goals can feel so far in the future and so
Speaker 1: unattainable that we don't have the motivation to do it.
Speaker 1: And short term is short term that's not going to
Speaker 1: get you very far. But a medium term goal where
Speaker 1: you're working towards this thing but it's not taking you forever,
Speaker 1: and then you achieve that, it's just the excitement, a
Speaker 1: motivation continues to build upon itself. So I love this
Speaker 1: idea specifically for like we're talking about transitioning from spender
Speaker 1: to savor, this is a really good place to start. Yeah.
Speaker 1: For me, I think the eighteen month is a really
Speaker 1: good sweet spot because the six month is more short
Speaker 1: term for me, and then five years does seem long term. Um, well, retirement,
Speaker 1: that's really what is long term, but for me it
Speaker 1: still feels like a long ways away. But I think
Speaker 1: eighteen months is a sweet spot. If you can have
Speaker 1: like an eighteen month goals just in succession, you can
Speaker 1: really do a lot of think like good things with
Speaker 1: your money, yeah, or set your long term savings goals
Speaker 1: in medium term increments by by the next by eighteen
Speaker 1: months from now. I want to have saved three to
Speaker 1: five dollars for retirement. And then when you get to
Speaker 1: the eighteen month mark, move it over. I mean you can.
Speaker 1: You can gamify this thing, Yeah, you can. It's really sweet.
Speaker 1: The next is when you receive a windfall, such as
Speaker 1: your upcoming tax refund, don't think about how to spend it,
Speaker 1: think about how to save it. Uh, windfalls, we usually
Speaker 1: think of that as fun money. And if you're receiving
Speaker 1: a large windfall like an inheritance, some of that should
Speaker 1: be used as fun money. But something like a tax
Speaker 1: refund that's only a couple grand you can use maybe
Speaker 1: like fifty dollars to you know, take your family out
Speaker 1: on a nice fun day and spend it on an experience.
Speaker 1: But don't let that be the first thing you think about.
Speaker 1: Think about how you want to save it to get
Speaker 1: like closer to your goal, and then once you fund that,
Speaker 1: then use the leftover two take a fun day with
Speaker 1: your family. Yeah. And the next one is to avoid
Speaker 1: situations that would cause you to spend this you know
Speaker 1: hails back to our sponsor. Restrained It starts by just
Speaker 1: not putting yourself in situations where you know you're going
Speaker 1: to buy all of the tiny bowls or whatever it is. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: if you're trying to save money and you've got other
Speaker 1: things that you do want to be spending your money on,
Speaker 1: and you know that you're going to spend all your
Speaker 1: money on photography equipment or biking gear or you name it,
Speaker 1: don't go to those places or don't visit those sites.
Speaker 1: That's another thing, right, we talked about not putting yourself
Speaker 1: in these situations. Okay, it's relatively easy to just not
Speaker 1: stop in a store, but to not search certain things
Speaker 1: on your phone that are readily available, that's and that's
Speaker 1: a whole other animal. And that's where we can put
Speaker 1: up barriers for ourselves of you know, whether that's like
Speaker 1: it takes some extra steps to get to your browser
Speaker 1: or to get to certain apps on your phone, um
Speaker 1: or just saying no, just practicing or train and not
Speaker 1: doing those things. And we'll we'll talk about in our
Speaker 1: upcoming episode on motivation, how your environment is so much
Speaker 1: more important to staying motivated to something than quote unquote
Speaker 1: motivation is. Um. So, yeah, just form your environment to
Speaker 1: support saving. Yeah, it's a double edged sword because sometimes
Speaker 1: even being online can be tempting for us to purchase things.
Speaker 1: But by the same token, you can use online platforms
Speaker 1: to help you where being in person might be more tempting,
Speaker 1: like for those Target people who just cannot get out
Speaker 1: of Target for less than fifty dollars. Yeah, maybe you're
Speaker 1: better off going online for your groceries or your one
Speaker 1: item that you need than going in store because then
Speaker 1: you can just specifically say I need diapers and I
Speaker 1: need milk, and that's it. I'm not doing the one
Speaker 1: dollar aisle which ends up being five million dollars by
Speaker 1: the time you get to the cash or sister. How
Speaker 1: how does it get there? How did that happen? Where
Speaker 1: did all those zeros come from? How did my diapers
Speaker 1: cost two? I mean that's diapers can cost you hundred dollars,
Speaker 1: that's a real but how that's a real question to
Speaker 1: how did one box of diapers two big diapers? Big diapers?
Speaker 1: His next one is he started considering alternatives to buy
Speaker 1: new stuff, which we're so into this. So instead of
Speaker 1: going out assuming that you need to replace something or
Speaker 1: assuming you need to buy something new to create more
Speaker 1: convenience in your life. Take the time to look around
Speaker 1: your house, see if you can fix what you broke,
Speaker 1: or if you can use something else you already have
Speaker 1: to to make do. Um. And then next is to
Speaker 1: buy you. So he goes to goodwill. Um, I love
Speaker 1: Facebook Marketplace or eBay. I really love eBay. Um, so
Speaker 1: go online or go to a thrift store. Um, see
Speaker 1: if you can get it used. eBay has so many
Speaker 1: crazy niche items that you're going to spend days at
Speaker 1: a thrift store looking for or weeks on Facebook Marketplace
Speaker 1: looking for and eBay's got them for like a quarter
Speaker 1: of the price they are new. Um, so just take it.
Speaker 1: Doesn't take that long if you're using the right methods
Speaker 1: to just see, Like if there's any alternative to buying new, yeah,
Speaker 1: and watch yourself right. Sometimes we get excited when something
Speaker 1: gets broken because it's like, oh, I get to go
Speaker 1: out and buy a new thing. Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: do you really need it? Can you do without it? Second?
Speaker 1: Can you fix it? Maybe you do want a new
Speaker 1: one of those things, but can it be fixed and
Speaker 1: can it last a little bit longer? Or can you
Speaker 1: replace it used? Rather than going to the store and
Speaker 1: buying news. So just putting these again, some of these
Speaker 1: routines in place of switching the mindset of something breaks,
Speaker 1: I go out and buy a new thing, thinking through
Speaker 1: what are my alternatives here? Those are going to be
Speaker 1: the little things that move us from spending a lot
Speaker 1: to being able to save a lot. And and one
Speaker 1: thing I will say to finish up this thought is
Speaker 1: that we're not saying by lesser quality by buying used,
Speaker 1: you can often find something of better quality that will
Speaker 1: last longer. By buying used on on eBay or Facebook marketplace,
Speaker 1: then you would buying new because you want to you
Speaker 1: don't have the money saved, and you want to buy
Speaker 1: it cheap. At the same price point, you can often
Speaker 1: get something better and more quality. It does require a
Speaker 1: bit more research and time investment in that it's worth playoff, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is worth. It's worth the time. So the last
Speaker 1: thing on this article is don't spend your time looking
Speaker 1: for ways to spend your money. And this is a
Speaker 1: really important point that he's making because we often think
Speaker 1: that to save money means we're not doing anything or
Speaker 1: we're not having fun, Like the alternative to spending is
Speaker 1: just sitting at home twiddling your thumbs like, oh, I'm saving,
Speaker 1: but I'm not doing anything, and that is complete falsehood.
Speaker 1: So rather than thinking, okay, if I'm not spending money,
Speaker 1: then I'm board look for ways to save your money
Speaker 1: or to do things that are free. I mean he
Speaker 1: starts off by talking about just investment ways to save
Speaker 1: and get the maximum amount out of that. So of course,
Speaker 1: you know, roth I ra A s you could have
Speaker 1: absolutely get into stock market investing, investing all kinds of
Speaker 1: different things. But then beyond that is what can I
Speaker 1: be doing with my time that doesn't cost money? You
Speaker 1: can still have loads of fun and entertainment and time
Speaker 1: with friends and rest and relaxation without spending money. I
Speaker 1: mean literally reference any previous podcast that we've done. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about that, but look in your area for what
Speaker 1: can I be doing rather than just sitting around and
Speaker 1: kind of get this idea out of our heads that
Speaker 1: to save money means that we're boring and we sit
Speaker 1: on our couch all day. Yeah. So, uh, we love
Speaker 1: j d story and the things that he did, and
Speaker 1: so our next article is is more of like a detox,
Speaker 1: like how can you detox your habits? Two build up
Speaker 1: a fresh habit of saving and I found this really
Speaker 1: great article. Who is it written by? I wrote it.
Speaker 1: It's on my website, Are very own Jen Smith. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I write for a living, so one of
Speaker 1: these days I was going to put in my own.
Speaker 1: But it's on Modern Frugality dot com and it's how
Speaker 1: to use a no spend month to improve your finances.
Speaker 1: And I really love the idea of using no spend challenges,
Speaker 1: not just for the amount of money that you'll save
Speaker 1: in a month of not spending on non essentials, but
Speaker 1: for what they do for you mentally. They are a
Speaker 1: reset for your habitual ending, your impulse spending, and all
Speaker 1: of the mindless spending that we do. And it can
Speaker 1: and you can replace that with habits that are more
Speaker 1: geared towards saving. So that's why I love no spend challenges.
Speaker 1: It's why I wrote the book The No Spend Challenge
Speaker 1: Guide UM on Amazon, and it's it's why I love them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you you are an expert on this topic,
Speaker 1: so yes, glad we're using your article. Yeah. So, so
Speaker 1: what is a no spend challenge other than what I
Speaker 1: just said. It's just a and write this down. Don't
Speaker 1: write it down if you're driving, but committed to memory.
Speaker 1: A no spend challenge is a commitment to not spend
Speaker 1: money on certain things for a predetermined length of time.
Speaker 1: That's all it is. It is not more complicated than that.
Speaker 1: You decide what you're not spending money on, and you
Speaker 1: decide the length of time. Do not fall rules that
Speaker 1: are predetermined by somebody else, because that takes away your
Speaker 1: ownership and your authority from the challenge. And there are
Speaker 1: some things you can spend money on that you don't
Speaker 1: struggle with, while there are other things you spend money
Speaker 1: on that our real struggle for you. And so the
Speaker 1: idea is just to find out what those things are
Speaker 1: and and you do that by committing and deciding those
Speaker 1: are step one, step two. So that's all it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So just to get into a bit more about how
Speaker 1: to do this, you you need to decide what you
Speaker 1: are going to spend on and what you are not
Speaker 1: going to spend on. And just like Jen said, it
Speaker 1: depends on you. You get to decide this. Which I
Speaker 1: love this that there's so much freedom. Which listen to
Speaker 1: any of our episodes and you'll hear us talk about
Speaker 1: the freedom that there is so obviously you need to
Speaker 1: pay your bills and necessary expenses to live and to eat.
Speaker 1: But beyond that, what are you gonna what are you
Speaker 1: going to be able to spend on? What are you
Speaker 1: going to cut? I like what you say here in
Speaker 1: your article, Jen, just saying talking about there's no need
Speaker 1: to cancel subscriptions or gym memberships if you use them
Speaker 1: and if you would plan to just start them back
Speaker 1: up again once the challenge is over. So feel free
Speaker 1: to keep those things, but take a look at it.
Speaker 1: If you've got a magazine subscription that just gets thrown
Speaker 1: in the trash day two, yeah, cancel those. The point
Speaker 1: is to determine, really, it helps us see where our
Speaker 1: values are, to pare down and and and learn. Am
Speaker 1: I actually spending money on things that don't really matter
Speaker 1: to me? I'm just doing it out of muscle memory.
Speaker 1: It really doesn't add value to my life. So there's
Speaker 1: these peripheral perks of a no spend challenge that help
Speaker 1: us them to like detail are spending like what you're saying. Um, So,
Speaker 1: the true lessons and a no spend challenge come from
Speaker 1: the everyday spending situations, the saying no to the I
Speaker 1: want it now, mentality. Uh, and the lie of it's
Speaker 1: such a good deal. I think that that's such a
Speaker 1: big one too. Between like being frugal and being cheap
Speaker 1: is like it was cheap or it was on sale,
Speaker 1: so I bought it. Well, you still bought it, you
Speaker 1: still spend the money. So this is what a no
Speaker 1: spend challenge will do, is it will cut those things
Speaker 1: out at the base and and help you to really
Speaker 1: identify what do I need to be spending on and
Speaker 1: am I spending money on things that aren't actually important
Speaker 1: to me? Those will be the results of a no
Speaker 1: spend challenge. Yes, I love that. So how do you
Speaker 1: do a no spend challenge? Well, first you have to prepare.
Speaker 1: So just like you don't want to start paying off
Speaker 1: debt without a starter emergency fund, you don't want to
Speaker 1: start a no spend challenge without the essentials that will
Speaker 1: ensure your success. So first you want to get your necessities. Um,
Speaker 1: so those essential items and products. Go through what you
Speaker 1: use every day and see if you're going to need
Speaker 1: to replace anything in the next month, and just uh
Speaker 1: get it replace it now. Uh, this is a big one.
Speaker 1: You're gonna want to tell friends and family, So not
Speaker 1: just to say like, hey, I'm doing this no spend
Speaker 1: challenge because I'm so awesome, but you are. That's not
Speaker 1: what you're telling them because you don't want them to
Speaker 1: invite you to uh bars or restaurants or invite you
Speaker 1: to spend money on something. And when they do, inevitably
Speaker 1: throughout the month, you can remind them, hey, I'm doing
Speaker 1: this challenge, but let's think of something else that we
Speaker 1: can do. Or let's think of something else I can
Speaker 1: bring to the potluck, something I already have from my pantry,
Speaker 1: or you know, come over to my house and I'll
Speaker 1: open up my space to you and give you water. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's not about saying no to people. It's about
Speaker 1: saying but, like, no, but let's do this offering up
Speaker 1: an alternative idea. Getting creative is really what a no
Speaker 1: spend challenge is going to teach you how to get
Speaker 1: creative because we're so used to solving all of our
Speaker 1: problems with money by buying something, and this offers you
Speaker 1: a month to pause and think, how can I solve
Speaker 1: my problem creatively? How can I think for myself? And
Speaker 1: so that is that's a big part. And then you
Speaker 1: can also take to Instagram and find other people doing
Speaker 1: no spend challenges. There's even been a group coming from
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends community on Facebook where they're doing a
Speaker 1: no and low spend So we have our own like off,
Speaker 1: we didn't create it, it's just an offset group from
Speaker 1: our group. So there are plenty of places like even
Speaker 1: if you know nobody's supportive in your real life, you
Speaker 1: can find virtual friends that you can commiserate with and
Speaker 1: make fun make light of all of your situations. Oh man,
Speaker 1: when you're doing it with other people that just help, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it does. And then lastly, make a visual representation of
Speaker 1: your why. I have found that it is really hard
Speaker 1: for me, and I'll be honest, it is impossible for
Speaker 1: me to do a no spend challenge just for the
Speaker 1: challenge of it. I have to have a very important
Speaker 1: why if I am going to actually succeed with one,
Speaker 1: because I mean, the reason I started doing this is
Speaker 1: because I'm not good at them. I don't just do
Speaker 1: these for fun. I don't. I rarely do them anymore,
Speaker 1: like never, so, but when I did, I definitely didn't
Speaker 1: do them for funzies. I had really important and significant
Speaker 1: why and and I would dare to say, like, most
Speaker 1: people are not going to get through this unless they
Speaker 1: have a really significant why so make a visual representation
Speaker 1: of it. Put it is the background of your phone,
Speaker 1: um on the background of your desktop, anywhere you see
Speaker 1: things that you can make a purchase and put in
Speaker 1: your car and just be really intentional about it. Which
Speaker 1: is why this is so strongly linked to number two,
Speaker 1: which is determine a time frame. And that's I can't
Speaker 1: I can nearly almost not say this strong enough that
Speaker 1: this is not a lifestyle. You are not forever and
Speaker 1: always not spending. Certainly it could be a lifestyle that
Speaker 1: you regularly do a no spend challenge, but we are
Speaker 1: not saying that there's longevity in hardly ever spending any
Speaker 1: kind of money. This is a very specific thing for
Speaker 1: a very specific time, for a very specific reason, whether
Speaker 1: that's to identify your priorities in spending, to say, for
Speaker 1: a certain goal to pare down. I mean, name it,
Speaker 1: just like Jen said, find out what your y is
Speaker 1: for doing it, but put a time frame on it. Now,
Speaker 1: there's freedom in this. You can do a day, a weekend,
Speaker 1: a week, a month, a couple of months, a year,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, though put a time frame on it
Speaker 1: and determine how long and what are the boundaries and
Speaker 1: the rules within that. Certainly, I love the idea of
Speaker 1: days or a weekend or a week specifically for starters.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's a fantastic place to start.
Speaker 1: Start small, figure out how this is working for you.
Speaker 1: You know, we just recently talked on a previous podcast
Speaker 1: about doing days scattered throughout the month. Our episode with
Speaker 1: Kate from that Debt Free Life, she did fifteen days
Speaker 1: a month and at the end of the year she
Speaker 1: had essentially done a six month no spend challenge. But
Speaker 1: it's just sprinkled, which is amazing, and that can feel
Speaker 1: a whole lot more attainable. So whatever it is, put
Speaker 1: a time frame on it so that you know when
Speaker 1: it's when it's done. Of course, don't use that time
Speaker 1: frame as an excuse to starve yourself and then just
Speaker 1: spend like crazy the next day, because that will inevitably
Speaker 1: more than save it. So yeah, time frame is super
Speaker 1: important to this process. And I have UM on my
Speaker 1: website a seven day no spend challenge where I will
Speaker 1: email you every day for seven days UM and go
Speaker 1: through every email will have something that might come up
Speaker 1: and how you can combat it, and you can find
Speaker 1: that modern frugality dot com, slash, no spend kit K
Speaker 1: I T and uh and yeah. So you can start
Speaker 1: with seven days and see how that works for you.
Speaker 1: And so next is decide what you're going to spend on.
Speaker 1: Just like I said at first, it is important for
Speaker 1: you to figure out what you are going to spend
Speaker 1: on as much as what you're not going to spend on.
Speaker 1: So you can choose to not spend on particular items.
Speaker 1: So if there is something specifically tripping you up, like
Speaker 1: trips to Starbucks every day, or those Boston cream donuts
Speaker 1: at Duncan Donuts, um anything Chipotle at night after work, uh,
Speaker 1: you can just choose that or a few items. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: no spending on impulse. So if it's not planned, if
Speaker 1: it's not written down, then it doesn't get spent on.
Speaker 1: So if you know you want to go to a
Speaker 1: coffee shop with a friend on a Saturday, and you
Speaker 1: know that's going to happen, you schedule it in and
Speaker 1: that's something you can spend on. So not spending on impulse.
Speaker 1: Then there's we get really really deep, and so only
Speaker 1: spending on groceries and gas no other purchases, You pay
Speaker 1: for your bills and then like like non perishables and
Speaker 1: gas and nothing else um or zero spending. Maybe you
Speaker 1: prepay your bills and you put all your cash and
Speaker 1: cards away. UM. I would probably only do this on
Speaker 1: the days you don't have bills do, or if you
Speaker 1: can change when your bills are do. That's probably not
Speaker 1: attainable for most people, but it can happen if you're
Speaker 1: super super overselves about it. And some people will do
Speaker 1: zero spend for a week when they know I've got
Speaker 1: enough in my fridge already, fridge and pantry for food,
Speaker 1: and we can do this thing for a whole week
Speaker 1: where we're not Some people have gone a little crazy
Speaker 1: with it and are able to do a full month,
Speaker 1: like they've got enough in their pantry, freezer, fridge to
Speaker 1: have food. I don't think it's it's that we have
Speaker 1: these pantries and we just buy we buy two of
Speaker 1: something because it's bogo, and we only use one, and
Speaker 1: so the leftover just keeps they keep piling up in
Speaker 1: the pantry, and then we have these full pantries that
Speaker 1: we don't know what to do with. So it's really
Speaker 1: a great way to um to incorporate to to clear
Speaker 1: out your pantry and declarter your pantry when you're doing
Speaker 1: a no spend challenge, and it's going to help you
Speaker 1: understand your spending. We mentioned that already there's there's a
Speaker 1: whole lot of benefits to this of helping us in
Speaker 1: habit formation, reducing stress, decision fatigue. Holy smokes, it's already
Speaker 1: decided for you. You just take a month off of
Speaker 1: deciding should I buy this or not because the answers
Speaker 1: are already know. So there you Nope, take a break, Nope,
Speaker 1: practice restraint, and then lastly, just figure out how you're
Speaker 1: going to fill your time, right so we can't just
Speaker 1: pull something away that's meaningful to us or has been
Speaker 1: typically how we spend our time and replace it with
Speaker 1: nothing that's not going to be sustainable. Figure out what
Speaker 1: you're gonna do and instead of going out spending the money,
Speaker 1: whether that's on food or shopping or whatever. And some
Speaker 1: ideas excellent ideas jen have friends over, invite people over,
Speaker 1: do a bit more hosting, and that's where you can
Speaker 1: have a pot luck, invite other people to bring food,
Speaker 1: utilize food that you already have on hand, have a pantry, party.
Speaker 1: I love this idea where you it's like a gamified
Speaker 1: pot luck. It's telling everybody, what do you have on hand?
Speaker 1: Bring that thing over, and who knows what we're going
Speaker 1: to have, but it'll be in eclectic combination of food,
Speaker 1: which I think is kind of fun. And then you
Speaker 1: just yeah, just have a bunch of randos like foods,
Speaker 1: not people, I mean people too, I don't know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to do, have a pantry party with randos,
Speaker 1: says Jen. She wrote the article So I'm not going
Speaker 1: to take that from um exercise, start forming these other
Speaker 1: healthy habits that aren't free. Yes, it can be free.
Speaker 1: You don't have to have a crazy expensive gym membership, YouTube,
Speaker 1: have a movie night. This is another thing that you
Speaker 1: can do with friends. You can do it by yourself.
Speaker 1: Whatever you want to do. Uh, figure out a way
Speaker 1: that a no spend challenge can work for you. But also,
Speaker 1: once you're done, reflect. I think this is a big
Speaker 1: piece to doing this of what did you learn in
Speaker 1: the process, What did you notice about your spending habits?
Speaker 1: What was the most difficult part of it? That's very
Speaker 1: telling about who we are and are there areas that
Speaker 1: you realize Actually it's not that important for me to
Speaker 1: spend money in that area. I found out how a
Speaker 1: lot of fun doing X Y Z instead. So don't
Speaker 1: just do it and then move on. Do it and
Speaker 1: reflect and then implement changes as a result of what
Speaker 1: you've learned. And then you know what else is reflected
Speaker 1: on as a result of what I've learned. Oh, yes,
Speaker 1: is it the 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 Bills of the week. Hi, Jenn and Jail.
Speaker 1: This is Leslie from Saskatchewan calling um. Your show is awesome.
Speaker 1: Not to tell you that first off, but I'm just
Speaker 1: calling in with my bill of the week. I made
Speaker 1: my very last debt payment on my favorite bill, which
Speaker 1: was dept to treat my cat for cancer. So he
Speaker 1: got cancer from a vaccine and it's taken me two
Speaker 1: years to pay off his surgery bill and his radiation treatments.
Speaker 1: And he's faster past to that expectation. He's two years
Speaker 1: almost counter free, so that is by far my favorite
Speaker 1: bill of the week. Thanks yourtual by Leslie End Leslie's cat,
Speaker 1: Leslie's cat, both of you. Yeah, that's amazing. It feels
Speaker 1: so good to pay off debts. Congratulations. I'm sure that
Speaker 1: wasn't easy, especially the reason for the debt is not good.
Speaker 1: But you you just called us with all the good
Speaker 1: news though your cats. You paid off the debt. So
Speaker 1: so glad to be on this side of that journey.
Speaker 1: Well done, Leslie. Yes, if you have a pet related bill,
Speaker 1: because we have a lot of pet related duds, yes,
Speaker 1: and we love them, every single one of them. We
Speaker 1: never get tired of him. Please visit Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot com slash bill uh to leave us a voicemail
Speaker 1: or a speak pipe message and we will play your
Speaker 1: bill on the air and we will celebrate with you.
Speaker 1: That's what we're here to do. That's why we do this,
Speaker 1: is to celebrate. Yes, that's it, um, And that's why
Speaker 1: we're doing video now so you can actually we see
Speaker 1: us like fist pumping in the air of the reason
Speaker 1: we are doing this because we always are like going
Speaker 1: like that, but nobody can see how excited we are no,
Speaker 1: we just tell you and you have to believe us.
Speaker 1: Which who does that? Right, Well, now it's time for
Speaker 1: the round, I whispered. It's that's one person. The reason
Speaker 1: we started doing YouTube so you can see Jill do
Speaker 1: the lightning round intro. That's I've noticed that I've gone
Speaker 1: more lighthearted with it since since we've been in the
Speaker 1: same room. Really well, because now you're happy because you're
Speaker 1: in Florida. Before you were in Pennsylvania and aggression, so people, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's much happier. Now what are we going to do
Speaker 1: for our lightning round? Jen our We're gonna have to
Speaker 1: relive these. Remember we already went through these once before.
Speaker 1: But our spending fails and saving winds edition that's both. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, my last spending flub. And I feel like
Speaker 1: I've talked about this like ten million times, and it
Speaker 1: is this purchase that will haunt me. I was in Target,
Speaker 1: of course, and I was in the stationary paper office
Speaker 1: supplies stile, you understand me, and I saw a planner
Speaker 1: and I love planners, and I looked at it and
Speaker 1: it was so cool, and I was like, I have
Speaker 1: two planners, I don't need a third one. And so
Speaker 1: of course, I did what anyone would do, and I
Speaker 1: put it in my cart anyway, and I bought it,
Speaker 1: and I give me a hard time about my tiny bowls.
Speaker 1: And I got it home and I started writing in
Speaker 1: an I realize I'm writing the same dang thing that
Speaker 1: I've written. It's like you had both your planners out
Speaker 1: and you're like, transcribe anyone. I'm so dumb, what am
Speaker 1: I doing? And so now this planner, like I've already
Speaker 1: written in it, so I can't return it. This planner
Speaker 1: sits on my counter as a constant reminder that I
Speaker 1: am not perfect? Is that why you're keeping? No, it's
Speaker 1: not why I'm keeping. It's because I can't return it,
Speaker 1: and everybody can't throw it out. I can't throw it
Speaker 1: out because personal reasons beautiful, right. And then everybody I asked,
Speaker 1: I'm like, do you want to plan or do you
Speaker 1: want a planner? And they're like, no, I don't use
Speaker 1: paper planners. Yeah, I use the paper planner too. Do
Speaker 1: you want to plan? No? I have one, alright, And
Speaker 1: that's what everyone, everybody keeps saying. And so this is
Speaker 1: this planner will haunt me for the rest. Well, at
Speaker 1: least that was like a ten dollar spending flub. You
Speaker 1: want to hear my spending fail, I'm gonna call it
Speaker 1: a fail, not a flub. Holy smoke. You could see
Speaker 1: in my outline I literally wrote next to spending fail, uh,
Speaker 1: January dot dot dot because January was my spending fail.
Speaker 1: And and here it is, y'all, because you're admitting you're
Speaker 1: not you're not perfect, and so I'm gonna be vulnerable
Speaker 1: to and tell you all that I'm not perfect. So
Speaker 1: we killed it. We crushed it actually in December, as
Speaker 1: we normally do, because we're like we're we think that
Speaker 1: unplanned gifts are ridiculous, like why just spend to spend,
Speaker 1: and you know, we tell people that we're gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna do experiences, We're going to do time together. Eric
Speaker 1: and I did not get gifts for each other, like
Speaker 1: we we did the holidays, man frugal. But in January
Speaker 1: comes and it's like this problem with with the potential
Speaker 1: problem with a no spend challenges, like all right, we
Speaker 1: deprived ourselves, let the dogs loose. And and here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Eric's birthday is in January. It's January. It's actually exactly
Speaker 1: one month after Christmas. So then it's like, well, I
Speaker 1: didn't get him anything for Christmas, and now it's his
Speaker 1: birthday and let's do that. And also food, and let's
Speaker 1: have fun with that because it's the dead of winter
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania and what is their fun to do but
Speaker 1: go eat out. And then I wanted to have a
Speaker 1: party for him, but then I wanted nobody to have
Speaker 1: to bring anything, so I provided all of the food.
Speaker 1: And I'm so glad that I did, Like, I'm thrilled
Speaker 1: for that. But anyhow, this is getting along. At the
Speaker 1: end of the day, I spent so much more money.
Speaker 1: Oh and then we had issues with our car and
Speaker 1: we had to get all of the expenses, which that's
Speaker 1: why you have an emergency fund, like, so that's not
Speaker 1: our fault. But at the end of the day, we
Speaker 1: definitely spent more in January than we brought in. Thankfully
Speaker 1: we had the money because we have an emergency fund.
Speaker 1: But keep me accountable next January, Like, Jill, you probably
Speaker 1: crushed it in December, but January is coming. Practice restraint, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: My gosh, I'll give your husband gifts for Christmas or
Speaker 1: skip it off, save it for your birthday. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I take it back, Eric, You're the best.
Speaker 1: Sorry Eric. All right, Well, okay, moving saving wins wins,
Speaker 1: let's talk about wins. Okay, So my latest win was
Speaker 1: opening a five nine for kai Yeah. So I had
Speaker 1: a really good January money wise, like bringing an income,
Speaker 1: so okay, but January is always the best month of
Speaker 1: the year for personal finance, so like, let's not get
Speaker 1: it twisted. In July, nobody cares about budgeting, and then
Speaker 1: I will make zero dollars. No, we're going to make
Speaker 1: them care. Yeah, we try, but it's Christmas and July.
Speaker 1: Let's do finances in August. Okay? Is that how that works?
Speaker 1: When I keep going? Anyways, I had a really good
Speaker 1: month in January. So I started a five twenty nine
Speaker 1: for kai uh, and we talked about plans in episode
Speaker 1: fifty six, and we had college Backer on and I
Speaker 1: actually started one with college Backer because I really loved
Speaker 1: their interface when we were doing the interview with Abby
Speaker 1: so and you can go to Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com slash college Backer and they actually matched. Um, they
Speaker 1: gave me twenty five dollars um for funding. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you use that link, you actually like college Backer.
Speaker 1: Will give you money towards the account that you opened,
Speaker 1: so for girl Friends podcast dot com slash college backer
Speaker 1: or we've got the link in our show notes. And
Speaker 1: so that was I was super excited because I could
Speaker 1: I put a thousand dollars in there, and I could,
Speaker 1: and I set up a recurring investment. And I'm very
Speaker 1: looks like you might go to college maybe, but if
Speaker 1: he doesn't go to college, that's fine. I'll just transfer
Speaker 1: it to another child or grandchild or someone or yourself.
Speaker 1: Get your second master's. Girl. Man, no, I almost sudden expletive, girl,
Speaker 1: don't don't make me. Don't make me. Okay, here's my savings.
Speaker 1: When I actually invested in a Vanguard were off, I
Speaker 1: ra a, yeah, I know that's for anyone who knows me.
Speaker 1: You know that's a big step. But I also did it.
Speaker 1: This is no lie, This is no lie. This is embarrassing.
Speaker 1: I did it because I got a twenty dollar Amazon
Speaker 1: gift card for linking that account to personal capital. Like
Speaker 1: that's why I did it. I'm super glad that I
Speaker 1: did it. And it's like I should have motivation beyond
Speaker 1: a twenty dollar Amazon gift card to do it, but whatever,
Speaker 1: and this is still happening. This is available to you all.
Speaker 1: Go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash p cap,
Speaker 1: I mean, set up your account right, set up an
Speaker 1: investment account with over a thousand dollars in it, at
Speaker 1: least a thousand dollars, and then go to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash p cap link your accounts and
Speaker 1: you'll get a twenty dollar Amazon gift cards. So, if
Speaker 1: you're similar to me and like you're only going to
Speaker 1: make wise choices for yourself as someone's like dangling a
Speaker 1: Karen in front of you, here you go. But I
Speaker 1: love the personal Capital does that because it's motivates, It
Speaker 1: incentivizes people getting started because now you have that rath
Speaker 1: ire a, so you could very easily set up a
Speaker 1: recurring investment and now I'm putting money towards it. So
Speaker 1: so thank you Personal Capital. I loved you before, but
Speaker 1: I love you more now. Frugal Friends dot com slash
Speaker 1: pc a p get your own. And that is that.
Speaker 1: That's the last episode. That's the last episode. That's what
Speaker 1: the universe didn't want you to hear, but you heard it,
Speaker 1: you did, and we're so glad. We're so glad. To
Speaker 1: have been able to record it a second time and
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening the first time. We
Speaker 1: want to thank you for all of your listens and
Speaker 1: your kind reviews on iTunes and Stitcher. We love them,
Speaker 1: just like this one. It's from Bluebird and Thorn, Just
Speaker 1: what I needed to hear. It's five stars. I've been
Speaker 1: searching for a podcast, book, audio book, YouTube video along
Speaker 1: the lines of this podcast, and it's ticked every box
Speaker 1: that I was looking for. Excited to listen to more episodes.
Speaker 1: Finding Peace without breaking the budget is so down to
Speaker 1: earth and reminds you to take a step back and
Speaker 1: focus on the here and now. Loved the gratitude board
Speaker 1: for the partner. I'll try something like this myself heart
Speaker 1: I emoji, which is referencing a recent podcast that we
Speaker 1: did where we talked about you writing down gratitude pieces
Speaker 1: about Travis. Yeah, something that I'm thankful for for my
Speaker 1: husband every day, which can totally shift relate. Not that
Speaker 1: you need to shift in your relationship, it can. It
Speaker 1: can shift a struggling relationship, but it can also build
Speaker 1: upon better and better. And we actually did a whole
Speaker 1: episode on gratitude and contentment and you'll be hearing that
Speaker 1: in the next few weeks. So excited for that. So
Speaker 1: we also want to thank our friends who share these
Speaker 1: episodes on social media, and so if you share the
Speaker 1: latest episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram, we
Speaker 1: will add you to our monthly drawing. For every five
Speaker 1: tags and reviews we get each month, we're giving away
Speaker 1: a ten dollar Amazon gift card. There's so many ways
Speaker 1: to make like already in this episode, we've talked about
Speaker 1: how to get a twenty dollar Amazon gift card, how
Speaker 1: to get a ten dollar Amazon gift card, how do
Speaker 1: get twenty one your kid for your kid? Yeah, you
Speaker 1: almost made you. You're welcome. Yeah, and you have two
Speaker 1: days to get in on Februaries. So tag away, share away,
Speaker 1: and and keep leaving us those reviews on iTunes or
Speaker 1: Stitcher if you haven't. UM. They really help people figure
Speaker 1: out what our podcast is about, know what they're getting into,
Speaker 1: because we don't want people listening if they're not into
Speaker 1: what we're offering. UM. So if you have left a review,
Speaker 1: please screenshot at and send it to Frugal Friends Podcast
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com UM so we can enter you
Speaker 1: in that monthly drawing. And don't forget to tag us
Speaker 1: on social See You Next Week by Frugal Friends is produced,
Speaker 1: edited and mixed by Eric Seria. All right, what is this?
Speaker 1: What's this move called? Getting ready for our next interview?
Speaker 1: Getting ready? Amazing? Um? Okay, last time we talked about
Speaker 1: how you were going to be coming here, but you're
Speaker 1: here now, Yes, the last So when we recorded the
Speaker 1: episode that got erased from Humanity, my audio got erased.
Speaker 1: Her audio got lost and then found and my audio
Speaker 1: was always there but it was blank. Yeah, it was weird.
Speaker 1: We both had difficulty with it. Mine mine was in
Speaker 1: the trash. It had gone to the trash. Eric found
Speaker 1: it in my trash on my computer and then like
Speaker 1: revived it. So yeah, there was something in the water
Speaker 1: and that episode. But we recorded it the day before
Speaker 1: Eric and I got in our car and pulled our
Speaker 1: house down here. So in hindsight, maybe we should have
Speaker 1: just waited until you got down here to do it.
Speaker 1: What Maybe that's what it was. And that's yeah, because
Speaker 1: the people on YouTube really need to see this one.
Speaker 1: They really need to see it. The people need to
Speaker 1: see it. Oh alright, well, all right, onto the next thing. Goodbye,