Speaker 1: Episode to seventy nine is episode one fifty six, Tips
Speaker 1: to Avoid Impulse Spending. Welcome to the Brugal Friends podcast,
Speaker 1: where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and
Speaker 1: liberal with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm m m m m m m m m.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are closing out
Speaker 1: the first month of the year with an episode that
Speaker 1: everybody has loved. Everybody that has listened to it has
Speaker 1: loved it. It has aged well like fine wine, not
Speaker 1: like nineties movies or anything from early It is Tips
Speaker 1: to avoid impulse spending. And it's a new year. We
Speaker 1: hope is going well for you so far. But we
Speaker 1: know old habits die hard. Impulse spending it it's even
Speaker 1: the best of us. So here's another reminder about ways
Speaker 1: to interrupt this habit pattern cycle, whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it. Yeah, because we don't think that there are
Speaker 1: that any certain person is quote unquote a spender. We
Speaker 1: all spend money, We are all spenders, and we all
Speaker 1: impulse by for different reasons on different things. This is
Speaker 1: an episode truly for everyone, whether you consider yourself to
Speaker 1: spend on many things or to spend on a few things,
Speaker 1: talking about the causes of impulse buying, tips to avoid
Speaker 1: impulse purchases. So this is really great. There are some
Speaker 1: a lot of other spending episodes that we've done. Obviously.
Speaker 1: Two of our most recent ones has been have been
Speaker 1: to sixty, which is another replay, which is how to
Speaker 1: cut back on emotional spending with Leslie Taine. Another really
Speaker 1: good one, because emotions are one of those things that
Speaker 1: can insight impulse buying, negative and positive emotions. And then
Speaker 1: episode how to Identify and Improve spending habits because at
Speaker 1: its core, impulse buying typically comes from some kind of habit,
Speaker 1: and when we can identify the trigger of that habit,
Speaker 1: we can greatly decrease our impulse buying. So episode two sixty,
Speaker 1: episode one very good episodes to queue up after this,
Speaker 1: but also this one. So stick with this and then
Speaker 1: and then pict with us. Yeah, go into your player
Speaker 1: and find those and just hit play next and then
Speaker 1: play at the end those buttons. But first, this episode
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Speaker 1: You know what's also here? This episode about impulse spending.
Speaker 1: Let's get into it before I fall asleep. I'm excited
Speaker 1: to hear your thoughts on our first quote unquote article.
Speaker 1: It's actually an infographic, and so if you visit our
Speaker 1: show notes, you will be able to see the infographic.
Speaker 1: But I thought that this had a lot of really
Speaker 1: great data and we wanted to share this view. So
Speaker 1: Jill already shared some of your thoughts before we start recording.
Speaker 1: But let me know what you think of this. I
Speaker 1: don't want to bash it before we talk about some
Speaker 1: of the good stuff of it. Well, let's talk about
Speaker 1: the good stuff. It's called the Psychology of Consumer Spending,
Speaker 1: and it is it's a lot of statistics, but it's
Speaker 1: from Illinois Lending, Yes, So it gives us just a
Speaker 1: basic snapshot of some of the compulsive shopping statistics, what
Speaker 1: we typically purchase when we compulsively shop, how much we
Speaker 1: spend in credit cards versus cash spending, reasons for compulsive shopping,
Speaker 1: Like the infographic states the psychology behind it, some of
Speaker 1: the mental reasons behind it, which always comes first. Our
Speaker 1: thoughts and feelings always come before an action, so we
Speaker 1: have to make those connections when we're looking at behaviors.
Speaker 1: So I think it helps highlight those pieces. One of
Speaker 1: the things that struck me just because it is at
Speaker 1: the top of this infographic and it gets thrown around
Speaker 1: a lot. So I want to make sure that that
Speaker 1: we look at this. It does talk about It states
Speaker 1: that shopping addiction affects about five pc of the population.
Speaker 1: I just want to state here we can throw around
Speaker 1: the word addiction and not really know what we're talking
Speaker 1: about here. Shopping addiction is not actually a diagnosable behavioral concern.
Speaker 1: While compulsive shopping can certainly lead to some negative things
Speaker 1: and have some adverse consequences, it's not actually in the
Speaker 1: d s M. We can't actually diagnose a shopping addiction.
Speaker 1: So I don't know where they're getting that percentage. It's
Speaker 1: not a diagnosable thing. It's not actually an addiction. Certainly
Speaker 1: it can lead to some really maladaptive, difficult things and
Speaker 1: people's vives, but I just want to state that at
Speaker 1: the forefront. Yeah, but I mean, it does have some
Speaker 1: usable stats that can really put compulsive shopping into perspective,
Speaker 1: because that is a thing. We do tend to overuse
Speaker 1: the word addiction on some things, but it doesn't negate
Speaker 1: the fact that shopping frequently, especially when unplanned, does have
Speaker 1: negative effects. So the first stat that it states on
Speaker 1: here's over people who shop today make occasional impulse purchases
Speaker 1: that they didn't tend to buy initially. So I would really,
Speaker 1: I would really argue that a hundred percent of people
Speaker 1: who shop makes some kind of occasional impulse by It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter who you are. It's easy to do, especially
Speaker 1: when you see something that yeah, oh this might fit
Speaker 1: a need. It wasn't necessarily on my list, but might
Speaker 1: as well get it, or something inexpensive. I mean maybe
Speaker 1: not every trip, but even as an intentional shopper and
Speaker 1: a frugal person, sometimes throwing in a pack of gum
Speaker 1: I didn't plan on buying. Absolutely you love gum. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I would also argue with this stat we really said
Speaker 1: we weren't going to bash it before we highlighted the
Speaker 1: good things, but here we are. It says women may comprise,
Speaker 1: may comprise. I love that ambiguity and statistics up to
Speaker 1: of compulsive shoppers, and I believe that statistically women do
Speaker 1: make more purchases, do make more home purchases than men.
Speaker 1: That's data backed. But I do argue the fact that
Speaker 1: of compulsive shoppers are women because I know a lot
Speaker 1: of men just because they're buying different things, are still
Speaker 1: buying things that are unplanned. Well, the compulsive part isn't
Speaker 1: gender specific any right, be compulsive and impulsive. So alright,
Speaker 1: let's just move past that first section. Okay, we're I
Speaker 1: will point out this is a stat I do believe
Speaker 1: among compulsive shoppers, fifty eight percent have large debts. But
Speaker 1: that's a lot of people. Like, even if you're not
Speaker 1: a compulsive shopper, you can still have a large amount
Speaker 1: of student loan debt or maybe medical debt or something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the common purchases. So I liked this section as well
Speaker 1: as the reasons for impulse purchasing. But the most common
Speaker 1: purchases that we will make when we're shopping compulsively is clothing,
Speaker 1: household items, shoes, jewelry, and items on sale. The Big Five,
Speaker 1: the Big Five, and all of these relative luxuries. Right, jewelry, shoes,
Speaker 1: household items, clothing. We're not talking food. We're not compulsively
Speaker 1: shopping for food sometimes though, I'm like throwing ice cream
Speaker 1: in my cart that I don't need. But these are
Speaker 1: the items that and I think it's helpful to know. Okay,
Speaker 1: these are the Big five or even dig deeper to
Speaker 1: say which one is the one you typically go to.
Speaker 1: For me, it's definitely clothing. So if I'm out and
Speaker 1: about and I'm not actually planning on going for clothing,
Speaker 1: I won't even go up and down those aisles. Already
Speaker 1: talking about how to avoid compulsive impulsive shopping. But and
Speaker 1: items on sale, definitely, you can always find me on
Speaker 1: the clearance section. But that's such a fallacy that you're
Speaker 1: actually saving money when you're buying clearance items. You might
Speaker 1: be buying discounted items, but you're still spending money. So
Speaker 1: if you didn't need those items, it's not a good
Speaker 1: deal and it often leads to compulsive purchases because oh man,
Speaker 1: I've never seen this price on this type of item before.
Speaker 1: I better just buy it, but I don't actually have
Speaker 1: a use for it. So beware shoppers absolutely. I mean
Speaker 1: we talked about this and back in our holiday Um
Speaker 1: and Pulse shopping episode, is that retailers will mark up
Speaker 1: things so that they can put them on sale, because
Speaker 1: a sale is a marketing technique. It's not to help you,
Speaker 1: it is marketing. Because again, items on sale is one
Speaker 1: of the big five, and that's I mean, definitely for me.
Speaker 1: I know that I liked this credit card versus cash
Speaker 1: spending section, and so I am a die hard credit
Speaker 1: card user. I don't use cash because it's inconvenient for me,
Speaker 1: and I have practice frugality long enough to where I
Speaker 1: can use a credit card with confidence. I love the
Speaker 1: cash envelope method when you're first starting out and you
Speaker 1: really need to see what you're spending and how you're
Speaker 1: spending it. I love that. But it does say that
Speaker 1: twenty two dollars is the average cash transaction while a
Speaker 1: hundred and twelve is the average non cash transaction, which
Speaker 1: was super The difference there is is wide, and I
Speaker 1: can see why, Like, if I'm purchasing something very expensive,
Speaker 1: I'm obviously not going to pay in you know, cash bills.
Speaker 1: Like I'm buying a car on Craigslist, I might use
Speaker 1: a check. I don't know if that's what they mean
Speaker 1: by like non cash, but it definitely is big. So
Speaker 1: that's like important to note. If you're trying to reduce
Speaker 1: your impulse spending or reduce your spending in general, a
Speaker 1: cash diet could be a really great way to kick
Speaker 1: start that. Yeah, you're not going to be likely to
Speaker 1: spend more than two dollars on a transaction. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: shocking also how few people actually pay off their credit
Speaker 1: cards each month. This statistics states cent so less than
Speaker 1: half of people will pay off their credit cards each month.
Speaker 1: I imagine within our frugal friends community that percentage would
Speaker 1: be much higher just because of our intentionality and looking
Speaker 1: at these things. But even for that reason, recognizing we
Speaker 1: may be less likely to pay off a credit card,
Speaker 1: so cash can really help us to tighten and rain
Speaker 1: this in and be more in tune with what we're purchasing,
Speaker 1: why we're purchasing. Yeah, do we want to be spending
Speaker 1: money on this thing. It's really common to have revolving
Speaker 1: credit card debt, even like if you're not struggling financially,
Speaker 1: Like I know so many people tell me. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have a couple of granding credit card debt, And
Speaker 1: I'm like, you have a you have like a six
Speaker 1: figure job, you have like all you have these things.
Speaker 1: Why can't you just pay off this credit card debt
Speaker 1: really quick in like a month or two and then
Speaker 1: and then keep it paid off. I guess it's one
Speaker 1: of those things. I guess I view them on the outside,
Speaker 1: it looks like they're doing well, but I don't know
Speaker 1: what's happening on the like inside. But it is one
Speaker 1: of those things where it's like credit card debt is
Speaker 1: notorious for being like the one thing that all financial
Speaker 1: professionals agree on, Like some people love debt and some
Speaker 1: people hate it, but everybody hates credit card debt, so
Speaker 1: one thing we can all agree on. So like, it's
Speaker 1: the first kind of debt that should be going. Credit
Speaker 1: card debt, the yeah fire, the unif it is really
Speaker 1: brings us all together. Well. This next section gets into
Speaker 1: some reasons for compulsive shopping, and I'm going to tread
Speaker 1: lightly carefully and gently here because it is getting more
Speaker 1: into some deeper emotional roots and does require some some
Speaker 1: soul searching, some looking at what is the why behind
Speaker 1: some of the compulsive shopping tendencies that I may have,
Speaker 1: especially if this is a very common thing. And please
Speaker 1: be kind to yourself if you see that this is happening.
Speaker 1: We don't mention these things because just to leave ourselves there,
Speaker 1: but to assess, to highlight what's happening, and then to
Speaker 1: identify steps forward. We're not going to be able to
Speaker 1: change behaviors if we're also not looking at the thoughts
Speaker 1: and feelings that lead to those behaviors. So some of
Speaker 1: the things that this states and and all affirm that
Speaker 1: these can be present, they're not. Not all of them
Speaker 1: are true. Not all of them have to be present.
Speaker 1: And this is not an exhaustive list, but certainly feelings
Speaker 1: of loneliness or depression or feeling out of control could
Speaker 1: lead somebody to go to the store and want to cope.
Speaker 1: It can be a coping mechanism. The first bullet point
Speaker 1: that they put on here is a pretty intensive one
Speaker 1: and emotionally deprived childhood. They just kick it off with
Speaker 1: something pretty intense. Uh And and that can be true.
Speaker 1: It's not true every time. But where we are lacking something,
Speaker 1: where we're feeling a void, we will seek to fill
Speaker 1: that void, sometimes with beneficial things, sometimes with non beneficial things.
Speaker 1: Compulsive shopping can be one of those. An inability to
Speaker 1: tolerate negative feelings or not wanting to look at some
Speaker 1: of the negative feelings is the way that, you know,
Speaker 1: let me just go purchase something I like the high
Speaker 1: that I get from it. I want to feel good.
Speaker 1: This will make me feel good. Sometimes there can be
Speaker 1: comorbidity between compulsive shopping and using that as a coping mechanism,
Speaker 1: and hoarding. So when we talk about frugality and minimalism
Speaker 1: going hand in hand, certainly compulsive shopping and hoarding can
Speaker 1: go hand in hand. Um. Again, all of those are
Speaker 1: rooted in some some emotional and mental health concerns as well.
Speaker 1: A desire to seek excitement, a need for approval, lack
Speaker 1: of impulse control, a desire to have control. Any of
Speaker 1: these things can lead to making purchases that I did
Speaker 1: not intend to make. Don't just take our word for it.
Speaker 1: Do your own research on this, consider your own patterns
Speaker 1: and the ways that you cope, and not just removing
Speaker 1: this right, not just taking these tips and no longer
Speaker 1: compulsive shopping, but placing it with something still caring for yourself.
Speaker 1: These are some deep rooted things, and so definitely looking
Speaker 1: for ways to care for yourself in that place that
Speaker 1: is beneficial for you. Yeah, they definitely put in some
Speaker 1: deep ones on here, but it is good too when
Speaker 1: you are shopping to kind of take a look at, Okay,
Speaker 1: what is my mental state right now? I was looking
Speaker 1: on Instagram to see like where I saw this, but
Speaker 1: there was a post that was like try to like
Speaker 1: it was an acronym, but try to figure out like
Speaker 1: am I angry? Am I hungry? Am I like sad?
Speaker 1: Or try to take a checklist of essentially checklist of
Speaker 1: kind of your emotions in your mental state, like when
Speaker 1: you're shopping, and that can kind of help you point
Speaker 1: back to some of the reasons that might be for
Speaker 1: your compulsive shopping, because there's going to be yes, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a feeling, and then there's going to you're
Speaker 1: gonna track that back to okay, like why am I
Speaker 1: feeling that? What is the this is the result of
Speaker 1: what in my life? And then if you keep doing that,
Speaker 1: eventually you'll notice a pattern and then you can get
Speaker 1: to the root cause. But we don't get there until
Speaker 1: we take a pause and try to figure it out.
Speaker 1: And so the first step isn't being perfect in and
Speaker 1: not shopping or not impulse shopping. The first step is
Speaker 1: to figure out, okay, why, So let's not fight our psychology.
Speaker 1: Let's try and work with it so that we can
Speaker 1: solve this problem. M Speaking of solving the problem, let's
Speaker 1: get into some tips on how to do this. Absolutely
Speaker 1: so this next article comes from develop Good Habits dot
Speaker 1: com what a place to be on the Internet. Yes,
Speaker 1: and they give us nine tips to curb this spending,
Speaker 1: to stop our impulse buying, interrupt that pattern. And the
Speaker 1: first one I love. It talks about having a not
Speaker 1: a thirty day any day, a dirty day, like a
Speaker 1: thirty day wait list. So if there is something that
Speaker 1: you want, be patient with it, start a list, write
Speaker 1: it down, and if you still want it thirty days
Speaker 1: from now, great, get it. Budget for it. But this
Speaker 1: just helps to slow us down and not purchase immediately
Speaker 1: something that we may not actually want. It's just feeding
Speaker 1: another need that we have. Finder dot Com has an
Speaker 1: extension called ice box, and I know it works for
Speaker 1: Chrome and Firefox, it might work for Safari, but it
Speaker 1: essentially replaces the buy now button at major sites with
Speaker 1: the put it on ice button, And so you put
Speaker 1: it on ice and then you decide the cool off time, um,
Speaker 1: thirty days, two weeks, whatever, and after that cool off time,
Speaker 1: the button will turn back into a buy now button.
Speaker 1: So obviously you can turn it off and there's ways
Speaker 1: around it, but it is just like a little barrier
Speaker 1: if you want to practice. Some patients, I think the
Speaker 1: only one that we really have trouble with is the
Speaker 1: grocery store, because obviously you have to eat. But I
Speaker 1: think with the rise of online grocery shopping that has
Speaker 1: really become easier. So we can stay out of the
Speaker 1: all de isisle of shame as nothing in that aisle
Speaker 1: is on my list, but I'll never right and it's
Speaker 1: here for a limited time. But just like, don't expect more, like,
Speaker 1: don't expect so much of yourself, Like not because you're
Speaker 1: not capable, but just because your brain has a finite
Speaker 1: amount of will power and once you exhaust it, you
Speaker 1: can't expect like anything else from That's like how I
Speaker 1: find myself after my kid goes to bed, like I've
Speaker 1: done so good all day and then I'm like, Travis,
Speaker 1: please leave and go get me some ice cream or
Speaker 1: tear Mossie from Publix was the latest one. But like
Speaker 1: just avoid it. I mean, just look at yourself like
Speaker 1: you're you know, it's like I can't do this, so
Speaker 1: I just I can't even touch it. I will say
Speaker 1: ordering groceries online has helped with food impulse purchasing, because
Speaker 1: I'm not passing all these other things up and down
Speaker 1: the aisle. I've got a very specific list. I just
Speaker 1: searched that list and put it in my card, So yes,
Speaker 1: that is a great tip for that one. Number three
Speaker 1: on the list is to find free ways to reward yourself.
Speaker 1: So sometimes the compulsive impulsive shopping is a result of
Speaker 1: I deserve this, I had a really hard day, or
Speaker 1: I need to celebrate and let me just go out
Speaker 1: and spend money. And it's not about the actual thing,
Speaker 1: it's about the experience of it. But then by the
Speaker 1: end of the that you've spent money. So it's still
Speaker 1: important to reward ourselves to celebrate, but to find free
Speaker 1: ways of doing that. I know for me, just being
Speaker 1: outside is a reward, especially now that I live in
Speaker 1: Florida and the sun shines here constantly. Going to the
Speaker 1: beach as a reward, going near water as a reward, anything, right,
Speaker 1: brainstorm yourself what is life giving to you, and do
Speaker 1: those things before you seek to spend money as a celebration.
Speaker 1: Six is always have a list and plan for your purchases.
Speaker 1: This saves me a lot. I'm kind of flighty in
Speaker 1: the sense that I tend to get distracted easily. I'll
Speaker 1: do one thing and then I'll remember have to do
Speaker 1: another and then I'll go do that, and then I'll
Speaker 1: do some answers. I kind of have a hard time
Speaker 1: finishing things, even though like finishing is kind of like
Speaker 1: my fulfillment, So I have to have a list. If
Speaker 1: I have a list and I haven't things written down
Speaker 1: and a plan, then I feel like i've Then I
Speaker 1: can actually get things accomplished. And it's the same thing
Speaker 1: with impulsive spending. If you have a list, then you
Speaker 1: can stick to it, and you can feel once you've
Speaker 1: accomplished your list, you no longer need to put anything
Speaker 1: into your cart because you have accomplished the task at hand.
Speaker 1: You can feel proud of yourself. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if this works for everyone, but it definitely does for me.
Speaker 1: Once I've completed my list, I'm like, yes, let's get
Speaker 1: out of here. But planning and listing is so helpful
Speaker 1: when trying to control your spending. Yeah and yeah having
Speaker 1: a use for it ultimately. So it also keeps you
Speaker 1: from bringing things into your home that you don't actually
Speaker 1: have a plan for, don't need, won't use. I like
Speaker 1: number five on here too, which is to be mindful
Speaker 1: of your reaction to impulse spending, So keep in track
Speaker 1: of what has happened in the past when I've made
Speaker 1: an impulse purchase, what happened just before, what happened during,
Speaker 1: what happened after inside of me, my emotions, my thoughts,
Speaker 1: even some of my visceral reactions, and are those feelings
Speaker 1: worth the purchase. One of my good friends, shout out to, Sharon,
Speaker 1: has been keeping an emotional journal along with tracking her spending,
Speaker 1: and I think we talked about this in the interview
Speaker 1: with Leslie Tayne as well, kind of taking that tracking
Speaker 1: of spending to the next level where you mark down
Speaker 1: maybe even when you want to purchase something, what just
Speaker 1: happened in your circumstances, What are you feeling around that,
Speaker 1: What is it leading you to want to purchase? And
Speaker 1: even just slowing yourself down in that way can help
Speaker 1: interrupt the pattern. But it can also help us to
Speaker 1: identify where patterns exist, like, oh, when I'm feeling angry,
Speaker 1: that's when I typically go to shop for this thing online,
Speaker 1: or when I'm feeling really down or sad or my
Speaker 1: day didn't go well. And just beginning to be more
Speaker 1: aware of ourselves, more mindful of what's happening in our
Speaker 1: experiences can help us to identify again more beneficial ways
Speaker 1: to respond to those emotions. So I know that that's
Speaker 1: next level, but it can be really helpful. I just
Speaker 1: love that idea of pairing the finances and the emotional
Speaker 1: and mental health together because they do go hand in hand.
Speaker 1: We just often don't always want to look at those things.
Speaker 1: But track your spending and your emotions side by side.
Speaker 1: Try it out, let us know how it goes. I
Speaker 1: fully believe that it's about working with your psychology and
Speaker 1: not working against it. So instead of off all purchases
Speaker 1: and just restricting yourself to living under a rock, let's
Speaker 1: look at Okay, what are what are my quote unquote
Speaker 1: issues Like what are my raw you know, the things
Speaker 1: that keep me from succeeding? How can I either overcome
Speaker 1: them or work with them until they're overcome? And then
Speaker 1: also what are the things that light me up? And
Speaker 1: how can I indulge those in a freeway Like There's
Speaker 1: just there's so much to be said for finding out
Speaker 1: like what's underneath the surface and working with that, because that,
Speaker 1: in the end is sustainable. If you're trying to work
Speaker 1: against it, this lifestyle of frugal lifestyle will not be sustainable.
Speaker 1: Do you know what lights me up every week, every
Speaker 1: every week, the other of the week. That's right, it's
Speaker 1: time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe
Speaker 1: a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe
Speaker 1: you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and
Speaker 1: you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That's bills upflow bills, Bill, Clint, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Okay, so my bill of the week
Speaker 1: is going to be pet supplies and like all their food,
Speaker 1: all the groomy everything, And that's because I really love
Speaker 1: my petsteering, so even though they can be pricing, it
Speaker 1: is well worth it. Yes, I love that. I mean
Speaker 1: I don't have any pets, but I know people love
Speaker 1: their pets. It sounds like you take such good care
Speaker 1: of your pet, and we love these bills where people
Speaker 1: are values based spending. It's not about constantly cheaping out
Speaker 1: in every category of life, but saving where we can
Speaker 1: to be able to spend where we want to. So
Speaker 1: that's so sweet. Thanks for calling in your bill about
Speaker 1: your pet supplies because you love your pets so much
Speaker 1: so you can buy all those cool toys and make
Speaker 1: all the cute videos that we see on social media.
Speaker 1: I want to see them from me, So in light
Speaker 1: of doing to those of the week, here is our
Speaker 1: next one. Hi, Jane and Jail. This is from me
Speaker 1: from Gainsville, Florida. My bill of the week is that
Speaker 1: earlier this month, I posted on the fruital Friends Facebook
Speaker 1: page about my laundry room drivewall in middles expensive repairs
Speaker 1: and comparing estimately coats between hiring a contractor versus a
Speaker 1: handy man. Well, thanks to the helpful replies to my post,
Speaker 1: I ended up hiring no one and doing the repairs myself.
Speaker 1: That alone take me about two thousand hundred dollars, and
Speaker 1: I learned more about home repair. And because I had
Speaker 1: two thousand dollar budget to start with, from I checked
Speaker 1: my homeowners Insurance had given me for repairs, I was
Speaker 1: able to hire help to cover additional things on my
Speaker 1: improvement list such as floor installation, water here installation, window repair,
Speaker 1: and my air conditioning annual maintenance UM. So all of
Speaker 1: that UM I was still able to come on their budgets.
Speaker 1: Now my savings is about seven hundred and fifty dollars
Speaker 1: money that I'll pay back to my savings for unexpected
Speaker 1: expenses in the previous months, and that is my bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Thank you for all that you guys.
Speaker 1: To look forward to learning more from you guys every Friday. Goodbye.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I love that and that is from
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends community. Oh my god. How amazing to
Speaker 1: not be fearful of all these daunting repairs, but to
Speaker 1: figure out how to do it yourself. That definitely takes
Speaker 1: great and probably I'm solving and just a frugal mentality.
Speaker 1: So well done on all of these renovations that you
Speaker 1: did yourself, and then saving money, and then the money
Speaker 1: that you save you put back into your savings. So
Speaker 1: many amazing things happening here. Thanks for sharing that bill. Yes,
Speaker 1: if you want to submit your bill of the week,
Speaker 1: visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. Leave us
Speaker 1: your bill. If it's about spending money on things that
Speaker 1: you love to spend money on, or saving money on
Speaker 1: things that you could just do yourself, let us know.
Speaker 1: We love to hear them all. And now it's time
Speaker 1: for round. So we are going to talk about our
Speaker 1: latest impulse buys because I am convinced a hundred percent
Speaker 1: of people make impulse purchases because a hundred percent of
Speaker 1: people are not perfect, and we will be the first
Speaker 1: admitted because Jen loves to emit our failures. I love it, vulnerabilities,
Speaker 1: I love it. So that's why I'm gonna go first.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm gonna go first. So at first, I
Speaker 1: was thinking I did impulse by a bag of veggie
Speaker 1: straws because they were on sale. That was my first thought.
Speaker 1: So that is a thing that I recently did. But
Speaker 1: it was like, I'm not gonna that's that's going to
Speaker 1: be like a slap in the face to Jels. So
Speaker 1: because you know how bad mine's. Mine was a trip
Speaker 1: to St. Augustine. We planned it kind of last minute
Speaker 1: and it was just kind of like a getaway because
Speaker 1: I missed traveling and it wasn't in the budget. We
Speaker 1: could have put it in the budget, I guess, but
Speaker 1: I really were. We were just like everybody's free that weekend,
Speaker 1: we can go booked without. I mean, we went with
Speaker 1: you on them Florida trip, and so I guess that
Speaker 1: kind of also makes it in both purchase for me too. Well.
Speaker 1: We did have money set aside for vacations that we
Speaker 1: did not, so that was our last impulse pend alright,
Speaker 1: Jen here's mine. Oh, Eric and I just bought a house.
Speaker 1: Those of you have been listening for a while, you
Speaker 1: know this. It's we are first time home buyers. Were
Speaker 1: fixing things up. We've been focusing on the outdoors mostly.
Speaker 1: You've probably heard that Eric is on Facebook market Place
Speaker 1: constantly and he often finds really great deals, including that
Speaker 1: he wanted to at one point purchase an indoor water feature,
Speaker 1: which I immediately vetoed. It did lead to a little
Speaker 1: bit attention. Talked about that in a previous episode, so
Speaker 1: sometimes I have control. However, when it came to this one,
Speaker 1: he found a spiral staircase like that you could put
Speaker 1: outside and it all would spiral staircase outdoors beautiful on
Speaker 1: Facebook Marketplace used. I totally co signed for that one.
Speaker 1: Didn't plan on having a spiral staircase. Don't actually have
Speaker 1: a solid use for it except that it's stunning and
Speaker 1: I love spiral staircases. And we nearly have a flat roof,
Speaker 1: so we put it outside, put it up against our
Speaker 1: flat roof. We just go on the roof. People come
Speaker 1: over there, like where does that go? Or like the roof,
Speaker 1: like what's up there? Nothing? You could just get up
Speaker 1: on the roof, the roof, what's up there? The roof.
Speaker 1: You can kind of see good sunsets from there. But
Speaker 1: it's really just about spiral staircases. I love it, I
Speaker 1: mean really, I'm pleased for it. No looking back, but
Speaker 1: at one hundred percent was an impulse by. We do
Speaker 1: not need a spiral staircase. It does look stunning, but
Speaker 1: didn't plan for it at all. I bet you could
Speaker 1: see amazing sun rises from the roof, and no one's
Speaker 1: up that early. Well one day, no one in the
Speaker 1: right mind. I'll test it one day. Oh how about
Speaker 1: those impulse buys we made? I mean, hey, looking back
Speaker 1: on that, no regrets. No, I still look back fondly
Speaker 1: on that trip to St. Augustine that we took. That
Speaker 1: was very fun. And I mean impulse purchases are not bad.
Speaker 1: It's budgeting and having the margin to be able to
Speaker 1: make impulse purchases that align with your values. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: really are only not great for us when they're really
Speaker 1: interrupting our long term goals or we don't have the
Speaker 1: money for them. That spiral staircase, though, that has been
Speaker 1: a fan phase. You have used that very free quently,
Speaker 1: so internally judgmental when you bought that, I I'm glad.
Speaker 1: I don't know coming out yeah right, I was like
Speaker 1: what And usually it's Travis who's judgmental about people buying things,
Speaker 1: and I have to talk him down and being like,
Speaker 1: it's what they value and if it's not, it's not
Speaker 1: our place to judge. And I had to talk myself
Speaker 1: down and be like, it's not my place to judge
Speaker 1: of person putting a spiral staircase up to their roof.
Speaker 1: It's fine, but now it's one of the best features
Speaker 1: of the house, at least the backyard. Yeah no, it's okay.
Speaker 1: Your whole backyard is amazing, and the spiral staircase just fits.
Speaker 1: And I just had a place to go. It just
Speaker 1: it just had a place to go, did you. I'll
Speaker 1: ask that question later. All right, well, let's I mean,
Speaker 1: let's wrap this up. Okay, thank you all for listening.
Speaker 1: We hope you took something away from this, and it's
Speaker 1: not just that sometimes you never regret your impulse purchases.
Speaker 1: Hopefully there was more more takeaways than that. We love,
Speaker 1: love love reading your kind reviews. The kind ones are
Speaker 1: our favorites, and we especially loved this one that we
Speaker 1: want to share from Lindsay titled Informative and Fun. Jen
Speaker 1: and Jill are a couple of my favorite humans, Lindsay,
Speaker 1: this podcast has provided immense value to my financial life.
Speaker 1: These ladies are inspiring and empowering. They rock at explaining
Speaker 1: different topics in a way that is understandable and fun.
Speaker 1: Thanks for being my favorite podcast, Lindsay, Lindsay, my favorite person,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite hum house. I'm offended. Well, it's
Speaker 1: something nice about me. Okay, stop judging my spiral star days.
Speaker 1: Deal deal. I deserved that. I deserved that, Thank you, Lindsay.
Speaker 1: I am so delighted to hear that today. And sometimes
Speaker 1: we do love uh to shake our heads at angry
Speaker 1: one star reviews, but we love and Brighton's our day
Speaker 1: to read your your kind reviews. So thank you, Lindsay.
Speaker 1: Thanks everyone for listening. If you enjoyed this show, please
Speaker 1: take a minute to leave a rating and review. It
Speaker 1: really truly helps other potential new listeners. Your fellow frugal
Speaker 1: friends know what our show is all about, know what
Speaker 1: it's not all about, so that they can find a
Speaker 1: good fit for them. And we have less one star
Speaker 1: reviews because of your five star reviews. Maybe a host
Speaker 1: who buys a spiral staircase for their backyard isn't the
Speaker 1: best fit for them, you know? Or somebody who just
Speaker 1: like picks Been, takes a nap in the middle of
Speaker 1: the day. That might be right, And we want people
Speaker 1: to know who we are because we're not for everyone,
Speaker 1: but maybe we are for those people. You know. If
Speaker 1: you've got a spiral staircase in the backyard and you're
Speaker 1: listening to this one, you start a nap, then come
Speaker 1: on let okay bye. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric
Speaker 1: Syrian Jen. Since we don't ever truly learn or get perfect,
Speaker 1: do you have a even we learn? Since we don't
Speaker 1: ever truly like get perfect? I see where I saw
Speaker 1: where you were going? Um? Do you have a more
Speaker 1: recent impulse purchase example? Just to keep it fresh and relevant? Um,
Speaker 1: I have been doing so much shopping on Amazon recently
Speaker 1: for Christmas and the rental and like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I haven't started. I have not started shopping like doing
Speaker 1: baby shopping stuff. Um, but it's just a matter of time.
Speaker 1: I guess I can tell you about an impulse by
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about making. It's not a get on it.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Okay, Oh, my gosh, maybe you are perfect.
Speaker 1: Hold up, hold up, hold up, all right, let me
Speaker 1: just look, let me just look. Um. Oh yes, okay,
Speaker 1: here we go Black Friday because honestly, we're not recording.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're not too far away from Black Friday
Speaker 1: when we're warning this, so this makes sense. So Travis
Speaker 1: and I went to Best Buy to get to t
Speaker 1: VS for the rental, and while we were we were
Speaker 1: there with our friends Dave and Whitney, who are big
Speaker 1: fans of Black Friday. Like I did not realize this.
Speaker 1: You always learned something new about your friends, and it's
Speaker 1: always like so delightful to just learn their quirks. And
Speaker 1: we're at best Buy with them and they are getting
Speaker 1: this blink video doorbell and like cameras for outside, and
Speaker 1: they have planned for this, they have been looking for this.
Speaker 1: And I saw it and I was like, oh, my gosh,
Speaker 1: we don't have a doorbell, Like, we just don't have
Speaker 1: a doorbell. This house is a million years old. There
Speaker 1: are no outside lights, there's no dead bolt, there's no doorbell, like,
Speaker 1: come break into my house. And like, we really enjoyed
Speaker 1: our ring doorbell at our old house. So I thought
Speaker 1: about it for a few hours and later that day
Speaker 1: I did by the doorbell. I thought about it for
Speaker 1: a few hours though, yeah it yeah, it wasn't it
Speaker 1: wasn't completely planned. There was a little bit of peer
Speaker 1: pressure there. That's a good example. Yes, I also bought
Speaker 1: a cappuccino from Phrase today in my effort to that
Speaker 1: Phrase down. No, they're not going down. I just I
Speaker 1: see so many things in St. Pete, so many like
Speaker 1: classic St. Pete places just getting pushed out by landlords,
Speaker 1: like doubling the rent and these bougie coffee and restaurants
Speaker 1: coming in, and I don't want that to happen to
Speaker 1: Phrase because I love Phrase, and so I'm on a
Speaker 1: mission to save Phrase single handedly. It's proactive and preventative,
Speaker 1: like Phrase is not giving no indication that they're struggling. No,
Speaker 1: absolutely not. There's always a line it's so good. But
Speaker 1: I will buy once a week my my small cappuccino
Speaker 1: and my sausage roll, and that'll be my justice for
Speaker 1: all like takeout and restaurant dining is that I just
Speaker 1: gotta keep them from going out of business. That everybody's
Speaker 1: nobody's reason living every day as if every restaurant in
Speaker 1: store that was about to go the real, the real
Speaker 1: real are committed in Okay, We're three years out and
Speaker 1: I'm still committed to saving phrase. Okay, how about you,
Speaker 1: jel oh gosh, u you are you committed? Committed? I
Speaker 1: don't know. I think my most recent impulse purchase was
Speaker 1: on some Christmas lights. Uh and again at time of recording,
Speaker 1: that's relevant, it's not. It's not been that far away.
Speaker 1: I saved you from buying Christmas lights. Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: I totally forgot our trip to Sam's Club. Jen literally
Speaker 1: made this plant. I asked her what what does she
Speaker 1: hope and planned to buy at Sam's Club? And she
Speaker 1: literally said, I am going to let Sam's Club tell
Speaker 1: me what to buy. It was very ti frugal friends,
Speaker 1: but I did support her like I was the rider
Speaker 1: guy in that situation, and we really egged each other on.
Speaker 1: We really did go all out. Okay, in context, what
Speaker 1: I meant by that was, I'm going to compare prices
Speaker 1: to buying at Walmart and if the price is better
Speaker 1: for the generic brand, because I'm not going to just
Speaker 1: buy name brand because it's bulk and it's available. I'm gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, a member's market. It if it's good, then
Speaker 1: I'm going to buy it. And I'm not just gonna
Speaker 1: buy it because it's bulk. I'm gonna buy it because,
Speaker 1: like you know, I do. I will use twelve cans
Speaker 1: of dice tomatoes. You did some great research and that
Speaker 1: and it helped all of us. I did. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: then I also bought some wood for reserve bourbon cherries,
Speaker 1: so that happened. Yep. Yeah. Not perfect. None of us are, no,
Speaker 1: and sometimes we encourage one another's in perfection. And that's
Speaker 1: what makes for just a good friend. And that's why
Speaker 1: you never see us on Instagram, because that's what we
Speaker 1: are doing in real life. I will post that to Instagram.
Speaker 1: I did take photos. I was like, oh, is this
Speaker 1: good content? And then I got super Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I didn't take video. I just took pictures
Speaker 1: posted to a story. It'll be a story, too into.
Speaker 1: I was too into the canned tomatoes to know. I
Speaker 1: think I have a picture of you in the canned
Speaker 1: tomatoes section. Oh yeah, it's gonna go in a story.
Speaker 1: Here we go. I'm doing it. I can't wait. Okay, bye,