Speaker 1: Episode three sixteen, how to save on your phone plan.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Brugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life. Here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today
Speaker 1: we are doing an episode that was a listener request
Speaker 1: about how to save money on your cell phone, which
Speaker 1: for most people is just your phone at this point.
Speaker 4: So it does make me laugh filling out paperwork or
Speaker 4: even in putting new contacts into my phone. It wants
Speaker 4: to first put home phone, and then work phone, and
Speaker 4: then office phone, and then cell phone.
Speaker 1: We all know we're just on our cell phones. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you might have a work cell phone. There are a
Speaker 1: few professions I think that require you to have a
Speaker 1: home phone, but that's they're very rare. So we're talking
Speaker 1: about personal cell phone plans, and we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about why are they so expensive, why do they keep
Speaker 1: going up fees?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 3: Why? You know.
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 3: And why?
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then how and then then a little bit
Speaker 4: on how.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: But first, this episode is brought to you by pagers.
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Speaker 3: Call me Saving Connected you want to reach me? Yes? Pagers?
Speaker 4: Do you remember pagers? Jen, Are you old enough to
Speaker 4: have still? I have been around and older than you,
Speaker 4: so you know, but we still live differently. You never
Speaker 4: know your parents have paid your dad how a pager?
Speaker 3: Yes? It was, uh yeah, I remember it.
Speaker 1: We never we never got into it like some families did,
Speaker 1: like where you could page numbers to spell out words
Speaker 1: and really get messages across through the pager. It was
Speaker 1: very much just if my mom needed my dad for something,
Speaker 1: she paged him. I don't know how it worked, but
Speaker 1: I just remember that happened.
Speaker 3: So high tech.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think the return to low tech is
Speaker 1: a welcomed Everything popular comes back around, and some things
Speaker 1: like midrifts and chokers I'm sad about, but things like low.
Speaker 4: Tech they do come very cool to me. Isn't the
Speaker 4: Apple Watch like a form of a pager?
Speaker 3: Really? I don't think so. Just always there, always be.
Speaker 3: So what were your pagers like?
Speaker 4: I mean, not like an Apple Watch the new and improved,
Speaker 4: but it's like right there on your body be paid.
Speaker 1: Yes, So your phone bill is something that you pay
Speaker 1: every month, hopefully, and so it's one of those monthly
Speaker 1: bills that we sometimes will view as fixed expenses. If
Speaker 1: you are familiar with the budgeting lingo, that category for
Speaker 1: like your housing and your bills is sometimes called fixed
Speaker 1: fixed expenses. And we don't think that any expense is fixed.
Speaker 1: There is literally no expense that you cannot lower if
Speaker 1: you get creative, and there is no expense that cannot
Speaker 1: go higher if you're not paying attention. So this is
Speaker 1: really focusing on phone plans, how to make how to
Speaker 1: help you lower it, how to make sure it doesn't
Speaker 1: go up.
Speaker 3: Or if it does, what to do. But there are
Speaker 3: other bills.
Speaker 1: That you can lower and watch out for too. So
Speaker 1: we've got episode two sixty five I had to save
Speaker 1: money on monthly bills. That's our most recent one. Or
Speaker 1: you can go all the way back in the archives
Speaker 1: to episode forty five. I'm loving like inserting these really
Speaker 1: old archive episodes.
Speaker 3: Yeah you are, I'm nurus.
Speaker 1: Well Goldie does it and I'm and sometimes I'd be like, oh,
Speaker 1: should I take this out because this is so long ago?
Speaker 3: But no, there, I mean, there's they live on.
Speaker 1: But episode forty five is negotiating tips for lowering bills, prices,
Speaker 1: and rates, so really good episodes that work in tandem
Speaker 1: on overall bills. This one is really digging into the
Speaker 1: phone plan because the phone plan is one of the
Speaker 1: easiest plans to negotiate. I think this and Internet are
Speaker 1: where you can use these skills to the best of
Speaker 1: your ability and really see movement on your monthly bill.
Speaker 1: So us bring us into our first of three articles.
Speaker 1: We're really going to go through three.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well because the first two are pretty short. But
Speaker 4: I think whenever we're talking about prices of anything, bills included,
Speaker 4: it's good to know what is the landscape. And this
Speaker 4: is the landscape of twenty twenty three. And yes we've
Speaker 4: seen we've come a long way since page or so
Speaker 4: it could change. This may not be when you want
Speaker 4: to revisit in ten years, but who knows? And what
Speaker 4: are most people paying? And why are cell phone bills
Speaker 4: where they're at? And then we're going to get into
Speaker 4: how to lower it. But this first article comes from
Speaker 4: whistle Out and it's asking that very question, how much
Speaker 4: are Americans spending on their phone plans? And they give
Speaker 4: some helpful statistics so we can kind of first see
Speaker 4: where do we kind of measure up because oftentimes we
Speaker 4: can think we're paying so much money and then come
Speaker 4: to realize, no, it's the average, or it's below average,
Speaker 4: or yes I am paying a lot, so okay, what
Speaker 4: can I do to lower it? And they first begin
Speaker 4: citing that the average US cell phone bill is estimated
Speaker 4: to be about one hundred and fourteen dollars a month.
Speaker 4: Is this surprising to you, Jen, No, yes.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, we are on a family plan, so this
Speaker 1: kind that kind of like lowers our monthly bill, so
Speaker 1: we're not paying that. And this is per line correct,
Speaker 1: Like I'm reading down here and I'm not seeing that.
Speaker 1: It says it's a multi line, so this is one
Speaker 1: hundred dollars per line, but it also says no single
Speaker 1: line plan in America costs more than one hundred dollars
Speaker 1: a month, So I'm feeling like this might It says
Speaker 1: sixty two percent of Americans are paying over one hundred
Speaker 1: dollars a month for their plan, So I feel like
Speaker 1: this might be like a two line. I'm not one
Speaker 1: hundred percent sure, but you're definitely not going to be
Speaker 1: paying more than one hundred dollars a month for single
Speaker 1: line plan according to this article.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then they talk about how that is split up.
Speaker 4: So about seventy nine percent of those who they surveyed
Speaker 4: have unlimited talk and text. That probably is going to
Speaker 4: be your highest tier how much you're paying. Then you've
Speaker 4: got seventy two percent have unlimited data, and sixty percent
Speaker 4: have a mobile hotspot included in their plans.
Speaker 3: Actually that might be the highest here.
Speaker 4: And only thirty percent of respondents are paying for a
Speaker 4: single line, which helps to explain why about sixty two
Speaker 4: percent are paying over one hundred dollars a month for
Speaker 4: their plan. And then that's what you reference. No single
Speaker 4: line plan in America costs more than one hundred dollars
Speaker 4: a month.
Speaker 1: So tbd on how many lines are on that one
Speaker 1: hundred and fourteen dollars a month plan. But if you
Speaker 1: are so like we are about around two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty dollars a month, but there's five people on our plan,
Speaker 1: So like, I don't know if this survey really gives
Speaker 1: accurate data if it's going to compare my plan to
Speaker 1: somebody else that has two lines on their plan. So
Speaker 1: take that with a grain of salt. But if you're
Speaker 1: a single line is close to one hundred dollars, then
Speaker 1: there is definitely room for lowering it. Or if your
Speaker 1: two line plan is close to two hundred, then you
Speaker 1: have a lot of wiggle room to make moves on that.
Speaker 4: And they are increasing. I think if you are feeling
Speaker 4: the pinch and wondering why is this so high? They
Speaker 4: have risen and This article also cites data from the
Speaker 4: Bureau of Labor Statistics that phone rates have increased steadily
Speaker 4: between twenty thirteen and twenty twenty, with an average year
Speaker 4: over year increase of four point seven percent. So, yeah,
Speaker 4: plan costs are now around one hundred fourteen in a
Speaker 4: month or that equals three hundred and seventy one dollars
Speaker 4: a year. Definitely a monthly cost to be considering when
Speaker 4: you think about negotiating and lowering.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you come to the right place.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so I think, I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: it's one of the articles that we'll talk about fees,
Speaker 1: but actually the price of the plan is lowering. It's
Speaker 1: the price of the fees that is increasing. And that
Speaker 1: is why every year plans get so much more expensive.
Speaker 1: And so we'll talk about that a little bit later,
Speaker 1: but it is because of this trend.
Speaker 3: You can be sure.
Speaker 1: This isn't one of those things where like if you
Speaker 1: get in at a certain time, you lock in a
Speaker 1: rate and then you're like that, you know, they value
Speaker 1: your loyalty and so they'll keep you at the same rate.
Speaker 1: That's not a cell phone company every year on your
Speaker 1: when your contract runs out. They want to change your
Speaker 1: They want you to pay more, whether you are on
Speaker 1: a special especially after that first year obviously, but even
Speaker 1: far after that they want as soon as the contract's done,
Speaker 1: they want you to pay more. So that's why it's
Speaker 1: really good to have a list of at least your
Speaker 1: internet and phone, but anything that has a contract date
Speaker 1: like a one year or a two year, and just
Speaker 1: write down the month that that contract expires, so that
Speaker 1: you know you can go like a month beforehand to
Speaker 1: start looking around to see what else is out there.
Speaker 1: I put it in my phone, so I'll put it
Speaker 1: in there, but sometimes I can miss it. So really
Speaker 1: to have something maybe written down and on your fridge
Speaker 1: so that you know when those contract expirations coming up
Speaker 1: really valuable.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 4: So still to get a bit of the landscape of
Speaker 4: what is causing cell phone bills to be where they're at.
Speaker 4: The second article comes from money Lion and is titled
Speaker 4: why is my cell phone bill so high?
Speaker 3: Again? Asking that question.
Speaker 4: A lot of people are asking that question, and they
Speaker 4: go through some helpful reasons. None of these necessarily are
Speaker 4: going to give us tips we'll get there, but again,
Speaker 4: so we can kind of understand what's happening. Sometimes that
Speaker 4: in and of itself can give us the tools we
Speaker 4: need to make some shifts and changes. So a couple
Speaker 4: of the main reasons that our cell phone bills increase.
Speaker 4: The first one that they list off is taxes. So
Speaker 4: when taxes rise in the federal government or at the
Speaker 4: state level and raises phone taxes, our service providers are
Speaker 4: passing that buck onto us as consumers and increasing the
Speaker 4: rate of our cell phone bill.
Speaker 3: So as you say.
Speaker 4: Texas increase, you can anticipate to also see your cell
Speaker 4: phone bill increase, and probably all of your other bills too,
Speaker 4: because isn't that fun.
Speaker 1: Similarly, with fees and surcharges, like I said, that's another
Speaker 1: way that they're getting you to pay more because they
Speaker 1: are not going to eat those. They're not going to
Speaker 1: eat those for you. But something that money Lion talks
Speaker 1: about is actually scams that these major carriers can run.
Speaker 1: So there has been in the past, and this was
Speaker 1: much more prevalent with like landlines and when you would pay.
Speaker 3: For things over the phone.
Speaker 1: But you can see things pop up on your bill
Speaker 1: that are these phantom surcharges or just random like different
Speaker 1: fees and you're paying for things over the phone, so
Speaker 1: you've got extra stuff on there, so you don't know
Speaker 1: what you did, what you didn't do, and they're usually
Speaker 1: like one to three dollars things, but they add up,
Speaker 1: and that is illegal. So that's called cramming. And as
Speaker 1: recently as twenty nineteen, companies were allowing third parties to
Speaker 1: do this, so and there's definitely legislation in place to
Speaker 1: limit that, but I don't think it happens as often anymore,
Speaker 1: especially since now we're pretty like fee simple when it
Speaker 1: comes to phones. But it is still smart to be
Speaker 1: checking your statements. Maybe go in there a few times
Speaker 1: a year and just look at past statements and see
Speaker 1: make sure you know every single fee and surcharge that's
Speaker 1: on it. You can look it up Google. The Internet
Speaker 1: will tell you if that is a normal fear surcharge
Speaker 1: or if it's some cramming going on. So always it's
Speaker 1: probably not happening, but every once in a while go
Speaker 1: in there and check.
Speaker 3: Yeah, don't want that.
Speaker 4: The only kind of cramming I want is when I
Speaker 4: choose to cram for my tests. I was wondering where
Speaker 4: you finally I'm not in college anymore. Yeah, but that's
Speaker 4: the kind of cramming I did, or cramming all my
Speaker 4: money into the bank.
Speaker 3: I'll do that, Okay.
Speaker 4: The next reason that we can experience high cell phone
Speaker 4: bills are overages. And many of us can be thinking no, no, no,
Speaker 4: that doesn't apply to me because I got the unlimited plan.
Speaker 4: Well think twice cutie, because sometimes these cell phone companies
Speaker 4: are sneaky, sneaky, and even though they advertise unlimited data plans,
Speaker 4: they still have limits at a certain point. Some companies,
Speaker 4: not all, will cap your data and charge you extra
Speaker 4: for using more. Others will maybe reduce what they are
Speaker 4: providing to you. So maybe even if you are used
Speaker 4: to four G or five G, they may reduce you
Speaker 4: to three G and like once you hit a certain point,
Speaker 4: and so that might be why you're experiencing maybe slower
Speaker 4: data rates and not being able to get on the
Speaker 4: internet as quickly.
Speaker 3: That kind of a thing.
Speaker 4: So they just recommend reading your terms carefully before signing
Speaker 4: a plan. I mean, for me, personally, I'd rather have
Speaker 4: a reduction than an increase of price. But still, if
Speaker 4: you're advertising unlimited, I'm going to want that to mean unlimited.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is definitely something you have to check if
Speaker 1: you are on an mbno like Mint or Tang that
Speaker 1: you are watching your data, you're staying on Wi Fi
Speaker 1: because this will ruin all the savings that those companies
Speaker 1: can provide you. We'll talk about that in the next article.
Speaker 1: But then the last one promotion period ended. We know that,
Speaker 1: like I just said, when contracts end, especially after your
Speaker 1: initial promotion period, they're going to increase your monthly rate.
Speaker 1: But it's still worth trying to get them to keep
Speaker 1: you at the same promotional rate, or to lower it
Speaker 1: less than what they were, or to increase it less
Speaker 1: than what they're trying to And this next part, this
Speaker 1: is what I was trying to find. I was like,
Speaker 1: it's in one of these articles, why are taxes and
Speaker 1: fees so high on cell phones? So it says despite
Speaker 1: the average service bill dropping thirty percent, that's crazy. The
Speaker 1: average service bill has dropped thirty percent since two thousand
Speaker 1: and eight. Cell phone bills have gone up and this
Speaker 1: is due to a fifty percent increase in taxes. Are
Speaker 1: cell phone taxes. So while twenty five percent of the
Speaker 1: average customers bill our taxes, the highest paying states and
Speaker 1: post taxes up to thirty five percent. So where you
Speaker 1: Live also impacts how much you pay for cell phone usage,
Speaker 1: which I did not know until this article, And it
Speaker 1: lists all of the years from twenty fifteen to twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one of what the fees are and what the
Speaker 1: taxes are. So they've got, for instance, twenty fifteen, at
Speaker 1: the fees were six point four to six, the taxes
Speaker 1: were seven point five seven. This is average, So we
Speaker 1: got eleven point five in fees, and we go down
Speaker 1: to twenty twenty one, then we've got our fees jumped
Speaker 1: from six point four to six and twenty fifteen to
Speaker 1: eleven point eight in twenty twenty one, and taxes only
Speaker 1: went up a little bit to seven point seventy eight.
Speaker 1: But that leads to the total being thirteen point sixteen.
Speaker 1: So fees, man fees.
Speaker 4: Well, no, that total would be more. I think these
Speaker 4: are three categories, are they. You've got the state in
Speaker 4: local taxes tatas as okay is thirteen point six. Then
Speaker 4: you've got federal taxes and fees at eleven point eight,
Speaker 4: general use sales and tex Now I'm kind of feeling
Speaker 4: bad for these cell phone providers, like where.
Speaker 3: Where are they getting their money from?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 4: My gosh, as the taxes, pinch what they can then
Speaker 4: turn around and provide to consumers.
Speaker 1: I'm just realizing you read that wrong. It's worse, it's worse.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's three different categories of taxes and fees that
Speaker 4: cell phone providers can be paying to and they are
Speaker 4: all increasing.
Speaker 1: Hike.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, so fee that we know, right, fees now
Speaker 4: that we feel empowered with knowledge, Yeah.
Speaker 1: You can't really do anything to negotiate down the fees
Speaker 1: that those companies pay, right, the taxes and fees. So
Speaker 1: all you have control over is your service charges. That's
Speaker 1: what you have control over negotiating. So know that you're
Speaker 1: not going to you know, you're probably not gonna be
Speaker 1: paying five dollars a month for cell phone service unless
Speaker 1: you want like three g and you really want to
Speaker 1: be at the bottom.
Speaker 3: Of the barrel.
Speaker 1: But there are a lot of things you can do
Speaker 1: to get your cell phone built down.
Speaker 3: Yes, so let's talk about that.
Speaker 4: This article comes from Kiplinger, you know the one, and
Speaker 4: it goes through ten ways to save on your cell
Speaker 4: phone plan. Jen and I are each going to go
Speaker 4: through our favorite three, but feel free to check it
Speaker 4: out if you want even more than the six that
Speaker 4: we pick. And what'd you think, Jen?
Speaker 3: These are good?
Speaker 1: There are So when we're looking at saving money on
Speaker 1: our bills, yes, it is definitely something we want to do.
Speaker 1: If you can save ten dollars a month on even
Speaker 1: ten dollars a month on a bill that's one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty dollars a year, that compounds. You know, if
Speaker 1: you're doing something good in the grand scheme of things,
Speaker 1: ten dollars a month is not as impactful as if
Speaker 1: you're you're getting maybe a car that has a couple
Speaker 1: more years on it and you're paying a couple grand
Speaker 1: less for a car, or you are getting a house
Speaker 1: that has a couple hundred square feet less than another
Speaker 1: and you're saving on a house. Those decisions will save
Speaker 1: you exponentially more than what you can negotiate down on
Speaker 1: a cell phone bill. So like, let's get it into perspective. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's thank you, But these things the bigger your family
Speaker 1: is a specially the more that these you know, they're important,
Speaker 1: but they're not the most important. So keep it in
Speaker 1: perspective when we're talking about all the ways to save
Speaker 1: that you don't have to stress out and do all
Speaker 1: of them. Try them, see how it works. Make the effort,
Speaker 1: and if it doesn't get you what you want, there's
Speaker 1: no love loss.
Speaker 3: You tried.
Speaker 1: You're going to make better spending decisions that are going
Speaker 1: to save you thousands a year versus the hundreds of
Speaker 1: per year that you not following through with.
Speaker 3: This will save you.
Speaker 1: So I but yes, I love all of these. You
Speaker 1: could do all of these, but don't stress yourself out
Speaker 1: over all of them.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: The first one that I am picking off of this
Speaker 4: is join or add to a family plan. A lot
Speaker 4: of us are probably familiar with this, but I think
Speaker 4: this is probably one of the best tips for when
Speaker 4: you want all the bells and whistles, you want the
Speaker 4: unlimited talk, you want the all of it, unlimited, all
Speaker 4: of it. Then with this one, usually the more people
Speaker 4: that you add to the plan, the price per line decreases.
Speaker 4: So they use an example of let's say you have
Speaker 4: four lines with like an AT and T plan that's unlimited,
Speaker 4: and usually it's kind of an extra. It's forty dollars
Speaker 4: per line compared to paying seventy dollars a line if
Speaker 4: you were to just be a singular person on that plan.
Speaker 4: So that's a significant reduction in cost. And so they're
Speaker 4: talking about either hopping in on someone else's family plan
Speaker 4: or if you have your own, seeing if some if
Speaker 4: more people would want to join yours. Let's say you
Speaker 4: and your spouse are already on a family plan. Well,
Speaker 4: do your parents want to join? Does your sister want
Speaker 4: to join?
Speaker 3: Your brother? You trust him to pay you monthly?
Speaker 4: Of course you want people who are going to pay
Speaker 4: you monthly, but this can definitely help reduce the price
Speaker 4: for everybody.
Speaker 1: Yes, so this is what we do, jel, I think
Speaker 1: this is this what you do?
Speaker 3: Yep, yeah, it is.
Speaker 1: So we are actually not on the same family plan,
Speaker 1: which is shocking, but so we have a plan. We
Speaker 1: don't trust each other that much to pay monthly. So
Speaker 1: there are five people on our plans. So me and Travis,
Speaker 1: my mom, and then actually Jared and Lori Beth are
Speaker 1: shout out to our friends, Jared and Lorii Beth, this
Speaker 1: is our family because you don't have to show proof
Speaker 1: of blood familiar relations to be on a family plan.
Speaker 1: It's shocking.
Speaker 4: And when we went to the store to sign up
Speaker 4: for the family plan, we are on it with friends
Speaker 4: as well, and they were fully aware of that reality
Speaker 4: and totally fine with us.
Speaker 1: So and they just want their money, right, So yeah,
Speaker 1: this is and it keeps the cost low. These are
Speaker 1: people that we have known for a decade and will
Speaker 1: continue to look they're not close enough to where they
Speaker 1: feel fine not paying, but they're close enough to where
Speaker 1: they do. Like I mean, Lori Beth pays me venmos
Speaker 1: me every month like without fail. So she's a responsible person.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, choose your family wisely. This is your
Speaker 1: chosen family, and we all know how much better those
Speaker 1: are than real family.
Speaker 3: Right, at least pay you you.
Speaker 1: Have a family plan with your chosen family. The next
Speaker 1: is switch to a new carrier. So much like job hopping,
Speaker 1: which has seen better days for increasing your income, would
Speaker 1: definitely probably have to do an updated income episode.
Speaker 3: Of talking about that.
Speaker 1: But hopping from carrier to carrier can save you money.
Speaker 1: So this article says a family of four can save
Speaker 1: close to nine hundred and thirty dollars a year on
Speaker 1: average by switching wireless carriers. So this means you're getting
Speaker 1: those those new customer promotions when they come up. Those
Speaker 1: are also things you can leverage with your current company.
Speaker 1: We have had it to where our cell phone company
Speaker 1: is very good about trying to get us close to
Speaker 1: promotions so that they so that we won't leave our
Speaker 1: internet provider. On the other hand, they don't do it.
Speaker 1: They don't play. So we have hopped back and forth
Speaker 1: internet providers. So like every other year we switch. It
Speaker 1: seems like, so, yeah, so you have to kind of
Speaker 1: and I'm sure this is location dependent too, so just
Speaker 1: be aware that sometimes they will and sometimes they won't.
Speaker 1: Travis has spent up to six hours on the phone,
Speaker 1: So that's a little much for me.
Speaker 3: When I dedicate it, he's do it.
Speaker 1: When I say, try these things, but don't stress out
Speaker 1: over them, I'm saying you don't have to spend six
Speaker 1: hours on the phone to do this, you know, so
Speaker 1: be reasonable. He his was out of it was a
Speaker 1: pride thing at that point. I think we I think
Speaker 1: he went.
Speaker 3: Into our three sunk call.
Speaker 4: Huh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was beyond money at that point. But yeah,
Speaker 1: but don't let it happen to you.
Speaker 3: Beyond this is like character moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: The next one on here for me is consider a
Speaker 4: small provider. So a small provider could include companies such
Speaker 4: as mobile virtual network operators. That's the first and last
Speaker 4: time you're going to hear me say all of that.
Speaker 4: MVNOs for short, they offer the coverage from major networks
Speaker 4: of major carriers, but they often have lower price plans.
Speaker 4: So these are your min mobile, your Tello taying visible,
Speaker 4: and this is what Jen was referencing earlier, where you
Speaker 4: really want to be aware of and careful with your
Speaker 4: data usage. So the reason that they're able to offer
Speaker 4: you such a low rate usually about fifteen dollars a month,
Speaker 4: which is pretty insane, but a lot of that has
Speaker 4: to do with then getting your data from the internet.
Speaker 4: So when you're considering like joining the internet, so you
Speaker 4: go to a coffee shop, you get on the internet,
Speaker 4: you're not using data, that's where you're going to see
Speaker 4: a major increase of price. Or when you're at home,
Speaker 4: you join the Wi Fi at your home. So you
Speaker 4: really have to consider your lifestyle and how you use
Speaker 4: your cell phone in whether or not this is going
Speaker 4: to be a good option for you. But if you
Speaker 4: work from home, you pay for internet separately or from
Speaker 4: an office, and you're really not you're not roaming about
Speaker 4: the city just scrolling on the Internet, then this really
Speaker 4: could be a really great option, especially for your single
Speaker 4: folks who don't have family that you trust to pay
Speaker 4: you monthly for their cell phone bills, or.
Speaker 1: The family you've chosen are already using MVNO's and these
Speaker 1: are great. I mean so historically people are skeptical about
Speaker 1: going to these companies because they've had less coverage. So
Speaker 1: like you know, when all the carrier, the main carriers
Speaker 1: were on four G, these guys were still on three G,
Speaker 1: so that has really shifted to where you so, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're not on five G yet. The four G is
Speaker 1: still working great and some I think you can probably
Speaker 1: get on five G. It's really about the amount of
Speaker 1: usage now, so they want to charge you for going
Speaker 1: over that three four five gigs of data and I
Speaker 1: think on either Ting or Mind you'll pay forty five
Speaker 1: dollars a month for unlimited I believe, so still could
Speaker 1: be close, like could be less than what you would
Speaker 1: pay at a bigger carrier. But this is where you're
Speaker 1: going to start to see those caps. When too many
Speaker 1: people are using the five G, they're going to bump
Speaker 1: you down. So still has some of that stigma around it,
Speaker 1: but the coverage is definitely better than it was. So
Speaker 1: if you're worried about coverage when using one of these
Speaker 1: small providers know that they're now all owned by the
Speaker 1: big companies. Mint is now owned by T Mobile. I
Speaker 1: think Visible is Verizon. Ting uses Verizon, So they're all
Speaker 1: owned by a bigger network and they use those the networks.
Speaker 1: They all use those networks, so you can trust that
Speaker 1: the network is good.
Speaker 3: These they used to.
Speaker 1: Rent the networks from the bigger carriers, and now the
Speaker 1: bigger carriers are just buying these Envy i os. So
Speaker 1: really it's the service is going to be comparable. You
Speaker 1: just have to watch about dott A usage. Next for
Speaker 1: me is it's going to be ask your carrier for
Speaker 1: a better deal. I feel like we've been talking about
Speaker 1: this only because the next one is go paperless, and.
Speaker 3: Which it could save you.
Speaker 4: It could save you if I saved at least on
Speaker 4: my Internet bill by going paperless.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's great, So yeah, always go paperless just because
Speaker 1: it's better, less clutter, better for the environment. Might save
Speaker 1: you a couple dollars, but asking your carrier for a
Speaker 1: better deal will save you much more. So again, don't
Speaker 1: no need to sit on the phone for six hours.
Speaker 1: So I think what it's not just service that you
Speaker 1: can negotiate, but also like you're the cost of your phone.
Speaker 1: And that's what Travis was in that six hour call,
Speaker 1: trying to negotiate. So a lot of times they will
Speaker 1: force you into getting a new phone when you don't
Speaker 1: need one. I know several times my provider texted me
Speaker 1: and said, oh, with these ultra urgent looking messages literally
Speaker 1: saying if you don't get a new phone by in
Speaker 1: two days, you won't be able to make calls anymore,
Speaker 1: like scary text messages. And I'm like, no, this is incorrect,
Speaker 1: and so I just didn't get a new phone, and look,
Speaker 1: still making phone calls.
Speaker 3: Still fine.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I remember you talking about that and it
Speaker 4: sounded so wrong and I was so excited for that update.
Speaker 3: Well here's the update. Yeah, yeah, they didn't win. No,
Speaker 3: so they will. They'll do things like that.
Speaker 1: So don't just be negotiating or talking to your carry
Speaker 1: about your service. Talk to them about your phone as well.
Speaker 1: Unless you've got a phone that's like ten years old,
Speaker 1: you should be able to use your phone on your plan.
Speaker 1: They really shouldn't force you to upgrade or do anything,
Speaker 1: because you can threaten to go to you can find
Speaker 1: another plan. You can always find another carrier that will
Speaker 1: take your phone. So if a company is trying to
Speaker 1: make you pay twelve hundred dollars for a new phone,
Speaker 1: negotiate it.
Speaker 3: Negotiate it.
Speaker 1: And this was happening to us, and Travis was like, well,
Speaker 1: you're either gonna let us keep our phones or you're
Speaker 1: going to pay for new phones for us if you
Speaker 1: want to keep us as customers. And one person accidentally
Speaker 1: said okay, and and that was what led us to that.
Speaker 1: And you know what he won. Travis won. Travis got us.
Speaker 4: And if you need help and you're shooting your cell
Speaker 4: phone bill for friends podcast dot com slash Travis, that.
Speaker 3: Link needs nowhere. That's not a real link.
Speaker 4: But he is a real person who just gets it
Speaker 4: done when it comes to self.
Speaker 3: Bones asks for a better deal on your phone too.
Speaker 4: Yes, well that's a really great point, and I will
Speaker 4: tie that into my final tip on here as well,
Speaker 4: which is skip the insurance plan. But I'm gonna do
Speaker 4: a little bit of a rabbit trail around this because
Speaker 4: so often our cell phone bills are high because we
Speaker 4: are also wrapping in the purchase of our cell phone
Speaker 4: or the usage of our cell phone, like we're paying
Speaker 4: almost rent or we're paying the mortgage on buying new
Speaker 4: cell phones, and they're tying it into your cell phone bill,
Speaker 4: and so I think that's a whole other piece to
Speaker 4: be considering is do you have to be getting a
Speaker 4: new cell phone every time they're trying to tell you
Speaker 4: get a new cell phone, And the answer is no,
Speaker 4: update your cell phone, take care of your cell phone,
Speaker 4: and don't get a new one every single time. They're like,
Speaker 4: come on, you can trade it in, you're still gonna
Speaker 4: end up paying more than you have to. Or you
Speaker 4: can buy used refurbished phones and add them into the plant.
Speaker 4: You do not have to buy a cell phone from
Speaker 4: the network who you're purchasing your plan from. They'll try
Speaker 4: and tell you have to, but you don't. It might
Speaker 4: depend on what kind of phone you get and the
Speaker 4: type of whatever technology in it. But keep that in
Speaker 4: mind and go the frugal route with that phone, keep
Speaker 4: the old one, keep it good. But then when you
Speaker 4: are purchasing a cell phone plan, a lot of times
Speaker 4: they will want to add on insurance. And this is
Speaker 4: especially if you are renting the phone or buying the
Speaker 4: phone through them. Keep in mind that many of the
Speaker 4: credit cards out there, if you are a credit card
Speaker 4: carrier will offer that coverage that same type of loss
Speaker 4: damage stolen smartphone insurance coverage through your credit card as
Speaker 4: a benefit of that credit card. So definitely don't be
Speaker 4: double paying for insurances. You know, if you are accident prone,
Speaker 4: it might be something that you want to consider.
Speaker 3: But if your.
Speaker 4: Credit card already covers that, you could be saving about
Speaker 4: ten dollars a month on your cell phone plan by
Speaker 4: not having an insurance plan also through the cell phone provider.
Speaker 1: And I will add I will add to that unrelated
Speaker 1: but similar storage on your phone if you don't have to.
Speaker 1: If you can clear your phone, declutter all the pictures
Speaker 1: and the videos and stuff, you don't have to pay
Speaker 1: for extra storage from you know, Apple or Google or whatever.
Speaker 1: So that's another cost that you can eliminate. The last
Speaker 1: one on here isn't really on here. I'm going to
Speaker 1: piggyback off of this one that says buy a budget
Speaker 1: five G phone. So with tech, we normally in our
Speaker 1: lives as frugal people, we want to buy used. We
Speaker 1: want to buy quality, but quality that is maybe older,
Speaker 1: so that we can save some money on it and
Speaker 1: not not at the sacrifice of longevity. That's always our
Speaker 1: goal when we're making purchases. Tech is unique in that though,
Speaker 1: because every phone get there's something more that they add
Speaker 1: to it.
Speaker 3: And we've seen that.
Speaker 1: Apple has actually been like slowing down older phones, and
Speaker 1: so if you were to buy a good quality, older phone,
Speaker 1: it's not going to be the same as if you
Speaker 1: bought an older, good quality piece of clothing or car.
Speaker 1: So this article is saying buy a budget five G
Speaker 1: phone because their argument is the difference between a three
Speaker 1: hundred phone and one thousand dollars phone today is much narrower.
Speaker 3: This is true.
Speaker 1: So if you're one of the people that's like, I
Speaker 1: don't care about my phone, absolutely do this. So you
Speaker 1: can do just one maybe like one edition back or
Speaker 1: one version back, so you can get a phone five
Speaker 1: G phones for two forty four hundred or I've phoned
Speaker 1: Mini's six hundred. Something you can also commit to doing
Speaker 1: is keeping a record of how long you're or committing
Speaker 1: to your phone for a certain period of time, so
Speaker 1: like from three to five years. So my phone is
Speaker 1: currently three years old, and I will be perfectly happy
Speaker 1: keeping it for another two years before I get another one.
Speaker 1: Just even if you're going to get so I got
Speaker 1: the newest phone that was available, but I got the
Speaker 1: smaller version because I have small hands, big small ears,
Speaker 1: I got small hands, so I saved a little bit there,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't I didn't do that to save money.
Speaker 1: I got the newest phone when I was available to me,
Speaker 1: but I'm committing to keep it for five years, So
Speaker 1: you may if you want to update your phone more frequently,
Speaker 1: you can start like a version back maybe and and
Speaker 1: keep it for three years. Or if you want to
Speaker 1: keep your if you know you want to keep your
Speaker 1: phone for five years, you can buy the newest, but
Speaker 1: just keep a record of how much that phone is
Speaker 1: going to cost you year over year and month to month.
Speaker 1: So if it's a twelve hundred dollars phone and you
Speaker 1: want to keep it for five years, you'll be paying
Speaker 1: on it for two years or paying in full, however
Speaker 1: you choose to do it. It's typically not any cheaper
Speaker 1: to pay for it upfront than it is to pay
Speaker 1: month over month, unless you are not buying it from
Speaker 1: the carrier, which again you don't have to do. You
Speaker 1: can buy from somewhere else, so that can be cheaper,
Speaker 1: but just figure out how much it's going to cost
Speaker 1: you year to year, month over month, so that you
Speaker 1: can make that commitment of how long you're going to
Speaker 1: hold onto that phone for it to be reasonable for
Speaker 1: you and your budget. So phones cost pretty much the same,
Speaker 1: like an iPhone costs the same whether you're making fifty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year or one hundred and fifty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a year. But that decision to buy that phone
Speaker 1: hits different depending on what your monthly budget is. So
Speaker 1: break it down and look at it, not just the
Speaker 1: two years it's going to take you to pay for it,
Speaker 1: but really or if you're paying up front, still, look
Speaker 1: at how much that's costing you to own it for
Speaker 1: three to five years and hold on to phones for
Speaker 1: at least three years. That's another that's a way to
Speaker 1: save without compromise it having the latest technology.
Speaker 3: If that's important to you.
Speaker 4: Do you know what we've held onto for more than
Speaker 4: five years and we've got no intentions of letting it go.
Speaker 4: Absolutely and thanks to cell phones, we've got.
Speaker 3: The bill of the week.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 2: is Williams.
Speaker 3: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died
Speaker 3: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 2: That bills Buffalo bills, Bill Clion, this is the bill
Speaker 2: of the week.
Speaker 5: Hi, Jen and Jill. I love your podcast. It's so motivational.
Speaker 5: Our bill of the week is canceling the subscriptions we
Speaker 5: didn't need anymore, so we canceled three and this will
Speaker 5: save us sixty dollars a month. We're so excited, and
Speaker 5: keep doing what you guys do. I love listening to
Speaker 5: your podcast.
Speaker 3: Thank you him.
Speaker 1: This is what we're talking about. Sixty dollars a month
Speaker 1: just for canceling subscriptions you don't use anymore. Nobody here
Speaker 1: is talking about giving up lattes. We're talking about the
Speaker 1: subscription factor. Giving up subscriptions two things.
Speaker 4: Doing up the stuff you don't use. Is that even
Speaker 4: considered giving up?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 3: Can you even call it that?
Speaker 1: That's my offloading, dogloading, That's what it is. That's the
Speaker 1: subscription factor.
Speaker 4: Tamn the stuff you don't need back into the pockets
Speaker 4: of those who tried to. I don't know the job,
Speaker 4: Kim Jopkid, this is the main thing. Yes, May this
Speaker 4: be the motivator and the sign that the rest of
Speaker 4: you all need today to look back at all the
Speaker 4: subscriptions you have and forgot about offload and and.
Speaker 1: Try can't even subscriptions you do use. Try to cancel
Speaker 1: those and see if the screen before your cancelation is
Speaker 1: not a special offer. I dare you to do some
Speaker 1: Do one of those today, Do that and then leave
Speaker 1: us the bill. Leave us a bill saying you did it,
Speaker 1: and how much you're saving for like even three months.
Speaker 3: It's yeah, do it even three months?
Speaker 4: Wow, if you're out there doing it, if you're offloading
Speaker 4: or onloading, I don't know what that would be.
Speaker 3: And it has to do with a bill. We're here
Speaker 3: for it.
Speaker 4: Submit your bill at Virugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill.
Speaker 4: We've us that bill, and now it's time.
Speaker 1: For so this week's lightning round. This episode's lightning Round,
Speaker 1: we've kind of mostly covered it, but it's our personal
Speaker 1: experiences with how do you keep your phone bill under control?
Speaker 1: And so maybe we switched this from phone bill to
Speaker 1: phone usage because.
Speaker 3: I know, right.
Speaker 1: It is, oh my gosh, because even this and this
Speaker 1: is the this is the way the MVNO's get you,
Speaker 1: and they know because we are addicted to our phones
Speaker 1: and even when you're not on Wi Fi, when you're
Speaker 1: in the car, like at a stoplight, using the phone
Speaker 1: for something, using that data. That data is leaking and
Speaker 1: it adds up. So I think our behaviors with our phone,
Speaker 1: if we can start to pay attention to those behaviors,
Speaker 1: that can lead into some phone savings.
Speaker 3: So good time. Yeah all right, Well then you go first.
Speaker 4: If you've got all these ideas about what we can
Speaker 4: talk about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well okay, so I can have ideas, it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean I do them. My being on my phone is
Speaker 1: the bane of Travis's existence.
Speaker 3: I am.
Speaker 1: Right right, it is really. I am so bad at
Speaker 1: it's embarrassed.
Speaker 3: Do you see it as bad? Yeah? No, I do.
Speaker 1: I have had to take frequent like breaks from social
Speaker 1: media because I can't control my Like I will go
Speaker 1: literally all the every day, multiple times a day, to
Speaker 1: pull up my phone to look something up and then
Speaker 1: just forget why I'm there and go to Instagram and
Speaker 1: it's sickening to me. It's sickening.
Speaker 3: So you don't gross me out, thank you. So it is.
Speaker 1: It is this weird balance of having to have a
Speaker 1: presence on social media as a media company and not
Speaker 1: getting sucked into it. That is a.
Speaker 3: Really hard line to walk.
Speaker 1: But in the car, so some tips that I'm trying
Speaker 1: to implement is like hiding my phone in the car,
Speaker 1: so putting it in the glove compartment or the middle
Speaker 1: console or the.
Speaker 3: Wait for like when you're driving, not to be scrolling.
Speaker 3: Is that the thing?
Speaker 1: Yeah, like not to be you know, like texting or
Speaker 1: scrolling at the stoplights, to like not leak data. So
Speaker 1: just to make sure that when you're using your phone
Speaker 1: it's on Wi Fi. So keeping that away when I'm
Speaker 1: in places like the doctor's office instead of going on
Speaker 1: my phone. Drinking water, like having my water bottle and
Speaker 1: like being intentionally drinking water. It's like the only because
Speaker 1: I'm not going to strike up a conversation with somebody.
Speaker 3: If you're an.
Speaker 1: Extrovert, try it, it's not me. So I'm going to
Speaker 1: stay hydrated. And those are probably the two biggest ones.
Speaker 1: It's I'm not this is not a good topic for me.
Speaker 1: If we're going to be super vulnera well.
Speaker 3: Like I love it. You chose it, You chose it,
Speaker 3: you walked. I didn't did. I'm embarrassing Jen for me?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4: Even so here we are and You've given me this information,
Speaker 4: and now now this is what I'm going to do
Speaker 4: with it. So the two things you've just identified, right,
Speaker 4: So you're saying how you're addicted and it's hard for
Speaker 4: you to stop, and you do the doom scroll thing.
Speaker 4: But then the way that you're trying to control it
Speaker 4: is when you're in the car or at a doctor's appointment,
Speaker 4: and I kind of feel like you are there the
Speaker 4: least amount of any other place, Like I don't feel
Speaker 4: like the problem is most likely in the car at
Speaker 4: the doctor.
Speaker 3: It's not.
Speaker 1: But I'm trying to like make money safe and related.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to help other people through my anxiety.
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to treat.
Speaker 4: Because you're thinking you don't have Wi Fi in the
Speaker 4: car or at the doctor's office, and that's how you can.
Speaker 4: I mean, first of all, yet, no one should be
Speaker 4: scrolling while driving. Absolute That's just that's a no no.
Speaker 4: And when I see it happening and I'm on the road,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna give you a thumbs down. But they won't
Speaker 4: see because that's what I do now, just people won't
Speaker 4: know how to respond to a thumbs down.
Speaker 1: The problem is being at the stop light and then
Speaker 1: it turns the green and you don't notice, and you
Speaker 1: get hot debt when I say you won't meet.
Speaker 4: And that's and that's when you're getting a thumbs down
Speaker 4: from this frugal friend over here. So okay, we're gonna
Speaker 4: have to revisit this one. We're gonna have to write you.
Speaker 4: Can you do your lightning around? How do I keep
Speaker 4: my phone usage under control? So thankfully, I don't feel
Speaker 4: that addicted to my phone. I really like to forget
Speaker 4: about out it and garden, but.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 4: I like the scroll. The scroll's fun, but I limit it.
Speaker 4: And here's your vulnerability, everybody. I limit my scrolling to
Speaker 4: the bathroom.
Speaker 3: Everyone does it.
Speaker 1: You send me Instagram reels every day.
Speaker 3: Because I go to the back every day.
Speaker 4: You can bet your sweet little face that you are
Speaker 4: getting a real from me during some toilet time.
Speaker 3: And that's it. I don't really use my phone.
Speaker 4: I mean I'm looking up recipes or yes, I'm googling,
Speaker 4: and like a fact I'm interested in learning, I'm not.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And maybe that's that's how I limit myself, Like
Speaker 4: I'm not going to sit here and scroll and stuff.
Speaker 3: When I have other things to do. So I'm breastfeeding
Speaker 3: a baby, Like, there's that's.
Speaker 1: A common that you breastfeeding and you're scrolling your phone
Speaker 1: like I don't have hands really to like if I am,
Speaker 1: you know in there.
Speaker 4: Well, so that's a tip. Okay, breastfeed, breastfeed a baby.
Speaker 1: Have a baby, take a nap on you, and have
Speaker 1: your phone on the other side of the room because
Speaker 1: you are not getting access to that phone for at
Speaker 1: least twenty minutes. There you go at least twenty minutes
Speaker 1: and maybe an hour if your baby sleeps, we'll see.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for listening to our vulnerability.
Speaker 3: Many of you know that we have a.
Speaker 1: Membership for our listeners who are just as vulnerable or
Speaker 1: trying to be more vulnerable and pay off debt, and
Speaker 1: we do monthly money challenges to help. We have accountability groups,
Speaker 1: and we want to congratulate one of our members for
Speaker 1: a big win. This is from Joscelyn, our girl, Joscelyn Hey.
Speaker 1: She says Amazon Impulse spending improvement. I've been buckling down
Speaker 1: in my Amazon purchases for the last month, only made
Speaker 1: three purchases. I won't tell you how much and how
Speaker 1: often I used to spend on Amazon, but this is
Speaker 1: leaps and bounds better. I feel like I'm making more
Speaker 1: deliberate and intentional purchases when praise hands emoji.
Speaker 4: Yay, congratulations Joslyn. This is so exciting of home improvement.
Speaker 1: If you are looking for community while you make financial
Speaker 1: changes in your life and habit changes for a better
Speaker 1: financial future, then check out the Frugal Friends Club. It
Speaker 1: is at Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash club. We've got
Speaker 1: at free interviews, courses, challenges, all kinds of things.
Speaker 3: We'll see you there, see you there, and see you
Speaker 3: next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni Jen.
Speaker 4: I think I need to clarify my lightning ground, because
Speaker 4: the thing is, it's not necessarily that I have better
Speaker 4: impulse control. I think it's that I don't understand the
Speaker 4: Internet as much as other people do. For instance, I
Speaker 4: just learned like a few weeks ago that on the
Speaker 4: reels on Instagram you can read comments, and yeah, everybody
Speaker 4: else who might be hearing this is like, yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 4: I didn't know that. I thought, okay, it's just a
Speaker 4: real You can press that one button to read more
Speaker 4: of what The caption says, but past the caption where
Speaker 4: I typically am used to seeing comments listed and leave
Speaker 4: the caption, it's not there. And Eric would always be
Speaker 4: talking about how I'm reading the comments section, reading the
Speaker 4: comments section.
Speaker 3: Where is that?
Speaker 4: He's like, oh, my word, that's the only reason I
Speaker 4: watched these videos. I live for the comments section. I'm like,
Speaker 4: I have no idea what you're talking about. He had
Speaker 4: to show me. I just learned this a couple weeks
Speaker 4: ago about the comments section on Instagram reels. I thought
Speaker 4: that in that section of the platform you couldn't access
Speaker 4: or couldn't make comments, couldn't see other people's comments.
Speaker 3: Just learned it. See, I I wish, you know, I
Speaker 3: don't know how to use it. I wish.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I definitely want to be It's such I am.
Speaker 1: I hate myself with social media because I want don't. Well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing is that to an extent, it's so helpful,
Speaker 1: Like the good stuff is really good, and the entertaining,
Speaker 1: the entertaining stuff is sometimes it's just a it sucks
Speaker 1: you in, and the algorithm figures out what sucks you
Speaker 1: in and it shows you more and it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's me, Hi, I'm the problem. It's me like, but
Speaker 1: also it's the algorithm. And I don't want to put
Speaker 1: all the blame on the algorithm, but I'm I'm I struggle.
Speaker 1: I struggle. I get real lost in it.
Speaker 3: Here's what you do. You trick the algorithm. You that
Speaker 3: like I did.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 4: I also thought recently that, oh, because Eric and other
Speaker 4: people will be talking about ads on Instagram and how
Speaker 4: the ads are getting them, and I'm like, I don't
Speaker 4: think I get ads.
Speaker 3: I don't think I have that.
Speaker 4: I feel as though maybe Instagram's algorithm just recognizes.
Speaker 3: I don't bite, I'm not buying, and.
Speaker 4: They've stopped putting their marketing dollars towards showing me ads.
Speaker 4: So then the next time I went to scroll, I'm like,
Speaker 4: all right, I'm going to keep an eye out for
Speaker 4: ads because I don't think I'm seeing them, only to.
Speaker 3: Find out that I am getting ads.
Speaker 4: It's just nothing I'm interested in because I send videos
Speaker 4: that are not.
Speaker 3: About things that I'm interesting. Complicated.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So so some context, I this is please don't
Speaker 1: give us a one star for this, but this is
Speaker 1: really like inside of this is our relationship. Outside of
Speaker 1: the podcast. I was talking about like one day I
Speaker 1: might get a dog, and Jill was like, don't do it,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I don't want to do it,
Speaker 1: but I feel like I'm gonna be forced into it
Speaker 1: because I have children, And so she starts sending me
Speaker 1: every day real dogs doing disgusting things, and I was like, Jill,
Speaker 1: I don't need to be convinced to not get a dog,
Speaker 1: like and sods are for like, yeah, it is.
Speaker 4: It was so the ad the ad when that I
Speaker 4: was went back in to try and figure out what
Speaker 4: are what are the ads I'm receiving? It was like
Speaker 4: for dog food, and that's why it's not registering because
Speaker 4: I don't have a dog.
Speaker 3: I don't need dog food.
Speaker 4: Now, to clarify, I do really like dogs, and I
Speaker 4: support anybody who wants to have a dog. It's just
Speaker 4: that I know and I grew up having a dog
Speaker 4: and it was a great experience. But I know for you, Jen,
Speaker 4: I know that pet ownership would be an additional responsibility.
Speaker 1: But if some women don't want to have children, some
Speaker 1: women don't want to have a dog.
Speaker 4: And I've talked to so many people who think my
Speaker 4: kids will take care of the dog, and they won't.
Speaker 4: And so I'm like eyes wide open. If you get
Speaker 4: a dog, you need to know your children are not
Speaker 4: going to care for the dog. It's going to be you. Hi,
Speaker 4: it's you. You're the one caring for the dog. And
Speaker 4: I mean I want you to feel fully prepared, like
Speaker 4: if you are signing up for like all the like
Speaker 4: slow motion drool have and just wants your eyes to.
Speaker 3: Be slow motion ruel. It is fun.
Speaker 4: And now, yes, I do have like a lot of
Speaker 4: dog videos coming up.
Speaker 1: Well you better not send me any more hot dog
Speaker 1: reels because then you're gonna get hoteads and you really
Speaker 1: like hot dogs.
Speaker 4: And that's totally fine. I will buy hot dogs either way.
Speaker 4: And I know what brand I want. It's the one
Speaker 4: where it's just whatever's on the floor of the rendering plant.
Speaker 3: I love rendering plants. Crammed. There you go. It's not
Speaker 3: our sponsor, but it is now