Speaker 1: Episode four sixty three Holiday Anti Hall ten things We're
Speaker 1: not buying this season.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a life here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are talking about
Speaker 1: things we're not buying. We're giving you permission to not
Speaker 1: buy and giving you permission to make your own list
Speaker 1: of things that you're not going to buy this season,
Speaker 1: because it is a list everyone should have.
Speaker 3: We've got so many lists going on this year, so
Speaker 3: many lists we need to check twice. This one, this
Speaker 3: one's a good one.
Speaker 1: For every shopping list you have for the holidays, you
Speaker 1: should have an equal not buy list. Anti hallless Anti.
Speaker 1: I love the time, Yes, so you can be confident
Speaker 1: in the things that you are buying because you are
Speaker 1: certain in the things you are not.
Speaker 3: I think it really does help us to focus on
Speaker 3: not for the whole time, but to really know what
Speaker 3: am I not going to spend money on?
Speaker 4: It.
Speaker 3: It does make me feel a lot more confident about
Speaker 3: the things that I am going to spend on. So
Speaker 3: this is just really good practice for values based spending.
Speaker 3: What you Know is what our book is all about.
Speaker 3: By what you Love Without Going Broke, By What you
Speaker 3: Love book dot com.
Speaker 1: You're jumping the gun because this episode is brought to
Speaker 1: you by the word. The one thing that you should
Speaker 1: be adding to your hall list is by what you
Speaker 1: Love Without Going Broke. It is our book that helps
Speaker 1: you define what you value and love and offers the
Speaker 1: solutions and tips to say no to what you don't,
Speaker 1: so it helps you make that no byless. It also
Speaker 1: helps you stick to it and be freed of the
Speaker 1: guilt and shame that comes after the holidays when you've
Speaker 1: bought things that you don't actually care about. So if
Speaker 1: you want to free yourself from that, go ahead and
Speaker 1: pre order it at buy what you Love book dot
Speaker 1: com and you'll get access to our December and January
Speaker 1: live classes that are exclusive only for pre orders. In December,
Speaker 1: December twenty ninth, we are making a full year meal plan.
Speaker 1: We are helping you walking you through making that three
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five day meal plan, and then in
Speaker 1: January we are going to walk you through making a
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five spending plan. So these are going to
Speaker 1: be fantastic live classes that we're going to walk you
Speaker 1: through all the steps to do this. So buy what
Speaker 1: you love book dot Com pres.
Speaker 3: Even their best for the end of the year and
Speaker 3: the new year. I'm you're excited about those lives. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you can tell we're excited about this. We're getting so
Speaker 3: close to the book being published that I know we're
Speaker 3: just so thrilled that you can hold it in your hands.
Speaker 3: But now we're going to talk about things you're not
Speaker 3: going to be spending on, what we're not spending on.
Speaker 3: But we did ask you all in the friend letter,
Speaker 3: because we put a poll at the end of all
Speaker 3: of our friend letters. If you're not receiving that Frugal
Speaker 3: Friends podcast dot com just Forrugal Friends Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 3: dot com, it'll pop up. So we asked you what's
Speaker 3: the easiest thing to say no to spending money on
Speaker 3: around the holidays, And by a landslide, you all said
Speaker 3: decorations fifty four not you all. Fifty four percent of
Speaker 3: you said decorations, that's the easiest thing to say no on.
Speaker 3: But second was travel. So it sounds like a lot
Speaker 3: of you find it easy to stay put for the holidays,
Speaker 3: which is good. Travel can be very expensive and airlines
Speaker 3: especially hike up prices around the holidays. So if you're
Speaker 3: able to stay put and not travel, that is definitely
Speaker 3: a safer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what everybody was saying. Travels too expensive around
Speaker 1: the holidays, and you know, pets are more expensive to
Speaker 1: board around the holidays.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it could be really stressful too, flights get
Speaker 3: canceled just so many more people are traveling. The other
Speaker 3: things that we listed that not many of you be
Speaker 3: not many of you responded to was extra food and activities.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to take that to mean we do
Speaker 3: like spending on extra food and activities. Yeah, which Jen
Speaker 3: and I will share on a little bit ourselves.
Speaker 1: We've done. We do a Black Friday episode every year.
Speaker 1: It's our annual kind of anti consumption not anti consumption,
Speaker 1: but like alternative consumption inspiration episode. Uh so we've you know,
Speaker 1: under consumption, under consumption Core, so you can you can
Speaker 1: check out those, and then also our other holiday episodes
Speaker 1: like four fifty six How to have a Frugal Holiday Season,
Speaker 1: and then way back in the archives to one eighty
Speaker 1: four Tips to prepare for holiday sales early. So all
Speaker 1: of that is great, it's Black Friday. Our biggest tip
Speaker 1: is get the deals that you have been waiting for
Speaker 1: and planning for, and do not let the holiday sales
Speaker 1: season sweep you up so that you sneak in a
Speaker 1: few impulse buys just because they're a good deal. Do
Speaker 1: not do that.
Speaker 3: So we're primarily going to talk about Jen and I
Speaker 3: are just going to volley back and forth on the
Speaker 3: things that we're not buying this holiday season. But in
Speaker 3: preparation for this episode, I did find an interesting article
Speaker 3: titled how much do Americans really spend on Christmas? And
Speaker 3: what is everyone buying? Comes from Wharton Women and there
Speaker 3: were some really fun statistics in here. Now this was
Speaker 3: written into twenty twenty two, so it's not the most
Speaker 3: time day up to date, thank you, as maybe we
Speaker 3: would want, but we can still see the trends happening.
Speaker 3: So they talked about how in twenty twenty one, US
Speaker 3: holiday shopping generated eight hundred and eighty six point seven
Speaker 3: billion dollars in sales, which is a fourteen percent increase
Speaker 3: from the previous year, and how the average American had
Speaker 3: planned to spend eight hundred twenty six dollars in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty two, specifically on gifts, food, and decorations. Of that
Speaker 3: eight hundred something dollars, five hundred dollars of it was
Speaker 3: spent on gifts for family, with the most popular being toys, clothing,
Speaker 3: gift cards. And it also listed how one surprising area
Speaker 3: of spending is on pet presence, saying that the average
Speaker 3: American pet receives around fifty dollars in gifts. And this
Speaker 3: is the clincher. This really made me chuckle out loud.
Speaker 3: So thirty four percent of Americans will purchase gifts for
Speaker 3: their dogs. Well, twenty two percent purchase gifts for their cats.
Speaker 3: So that's interesting dogs just dog owners want to give
Speaker 3: gifts to their pets more than cat owners do. Meanwhile,
Speaker 3: only nineteen percent of Americans purchase gifts for their in laws.
Speaker 3: Wah wah wow. So we are buying more gifts for
Speaker 3: our pets than we are for our in laws. Isn't
Speaker 3: that something?
Speaker 1: Yeah? So what I thought was interesting, So I did
Speaker 1: some I looked for some updated statistics, and what I
Speaker 1: look to see is is the amount of spending going
Speaker 1: up with the rate of inflation or is it outpacing inflation?
Speaker 3: Which we had talked about in a recent episode as well.
Speaker 3: But it is very interesting.
Speaker 1: So, and we have said this before and it still
Speaker 1: rings true. In twenty twenty three, which is last year,
Speaker 1: the rate of inflation in the US was three point
Speaker 1: four percent, right, So we're looking is consumption increasing or
Speaker 1: is it just prices are increasing? And holiday spending increased
Speaker 1: at three point eight percent, So consumption is increasing at
Speaker 1: a faster rate than the prices. So we are buying more.
Speaker 1: And so that's what we really want to look at.
Speaker 1: We want to be able. Yes, we're going to spend money,
Speaker 1: but we don't want to consume for the sake of consumption.
Speaker 1: And so that's why we want to normalize these no
Speaker 1: buy lists and just make sure that we are getting
Speaker 1: everything that we want and not what the retailers want
Speaker 1: us to want.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not for the sake of deprivation, but for the
Speaker 3: sake of really identifying where is my money going to
Speaker 3: be best spent because I don't have to buy all
Speaker 3: of the things.
Speaker 1: All right, Jill, kick us off. What's the first thing
Speaker 1: that you are not not buying this holiday season and
Speaker 1: what are you doing instead?
Speaker 3: Well, I'm not buying wrapping paper. And that's in part
Speaker 3: because of another thing I'm not buying, which is gifts.
Speaker 1: However, boiler.
Speaker 3: There probably will be some gifts that I give that
Speaker 3: are DIY or low cost or just as I as
Speaker 3: the mood strikes. But I have plenty of wrapping paper already,
Speaker 3: so that's part of it. Not all of it is
Speaker 3: holiday themed wrapping paper. Do I care? Does the recipient care? No?
Speaker 3: But also with different you know, packages that might be
Speaker 3: coming in the mail, just related to everyday expenses that
Speaker 3: we get delivered. There's usually brown paper that can be utilized,
Speaker 3: or bags from takeout over the over the past year
Speaker 3: that I still do keep because they're just brown usable
Speaker 3: paper bags. So these are the things that I use
Speaker 3: to wrap my gifts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do not use themed wrapping paper. That's my solution.
Speaker 1: I have one where don't.
Speaker 3: Even buy themed wrapping paper, by the kind that you
Speaker 3: can use all year round.
Speaker 1: I don't need to have a Christmas paper, a birthday paper,
Speaker 1: a baby shower paper, and whatever else, a wedding paper, right,
Speaker 1: I have one neutral roll of wrapping paper and that's
Speaker 1: what gets used for everything. I love that, yeah, whether
Speaker 1: it's Christmas or not. And it also cuts down on clutter.
Speaker 1: I don't have to use one of those wrapping paper
Speaker 1: roll you know, plastic containers, or figure out where I'm
Speaker 1: going to keep all my rolls of wrapping paper. I
Speaker 1: have one. It is in my closet and I pull
Speaker 1: it out when I need it. And honestly, mostly I
Speaker 1: will reuse bags. Yeah, like, anytime I get a gift,
Speaker 1: I have a whole container. Are you really a millennial
Speaker 1: if you don't have a container full of gift bags
Speaker 1: and use used gift bags and used tissue paper? Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's most that I will use that mostly for
Speaker 1: birthdays and stuff because those are usually kid themed, but
Speaker 1: for adult things. Yeah, I have this one wrapping paper.
Speaker 3: I love it. What else is on your list?
Speaker 1: So the first thing on my list is an advent calendar?
Speaker 1: There are advent calendars have gone why a glow up?
Speaker 1: So it used to just being like a little toy
Speaker 1: or a chocolate and now you can.
Speaker 3: Get books, meats and cheeses.
Speaker 1: Meats and cheeses, beer, wine, whiskey, every coffee like there
Speaker 1: is an advent. I got a hot Sauce Advent calendar
Speaker 1: one year did and I actually loved it, you know,
Speaker 1: I I loved buying that, but I'm not going to
Speaker 1: buy it again because I literally kept that all of
Speaker 1: those little hot sauce bottles the full year. It took
Speaker 1: me forever to get through them. So I'm just not
Speaker 1: gonna do it. If I want to celebrate the Advent,
Speaker 1: if I want to celebrate the twenty five days leading
Speaker 1: up to Christmas, there are a lot of Princibles that
Speaker 1: you can download for free and really have the same experience.
Speaker 1: But for printer ink, I mean, if your dig's doing
Speaker 1: the black and ink and you know, not really fancy printing,
Speaker 1: does come out to less expensive and less clutter than
Speaker 1: all of these Advent calendars. Because if you want wine,
Speaker 1: buy a bottle of wine, you know, like you're not
Speaker 1: going to have you should not have two glasses of
Speaker 1: wine every night for twenty five days in a row, right.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not going to tell someone how exactly
Speaker 3: to live their lives.
Speaker 1: I just I think that's what I think, and maybe
Speaker 1: it's not what you make.
Speaker 3: Decision you're going to make is not just buy.
Speaker 1: The bottle of wine, buy a couple of bottles of wine.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Uh so the next thing I'm not purchasing is decor.
Speaker 3: This has been such a shift for me over the years,
Speaker 3: because I do love this season, and I have definitely
Speaker 3: equated really getting into the spirit as purchasing all of
Speaker 3: the decor getting new things to update. And I think
Speaker 3: I've realized over the years, as I've kind of had
Speaker 3: to have less living in a vehicle or moving or
Speaker 3: living in someone else's home house sitting, that it just
Speaker 3: didn't make sense for me to have bins and bins
Speaker 3: and bins of things, and that it is still just
Speaker 3: as special the few things that I have really curated
Speaker 3: from thrift stores and yard sales and family members, Like
Speaker 3: I now have the things that I love and I
Speaker 3: put up that all fit into one plastic bin, and
Speaker 3: I really love them. Yeah, they're familiar to me, They're
Speaker 3: not necessarily new and exciting. But I've realized I don't
Speaker 3: need that. I do have decre it helps me feel
Speaker 3: like we're celebrating, but I don't need to buy anything new.
Speaker 3: So it's been interesting. I've kind of dropped that I
Speaker 3: used to really love going up and down the aisles
Speaker 3: when they put out all of the Christmas stuff, but
Speaker 3: now I'm like, I don't need to look at that.
Speaker 3: I got stuff at home, and that has taken time,
Speaker 3: but it's been interesting to watch that shift just in myself.
Speaker 3: There are times that I get tempted for like, oh,
Speaker 3: look at that beautiful holiday wreath, and then I'm like,
Speaker 3: what is that going to do for me? I don't
Speaker 3: even leave my house. I'm not going to see the
Speaker 3: wreath on my door ever, and it's gonna cost me
Speaker 3: eighty dollars because reaths are expensive. I don't need that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I take the same approach with decor, just keeping it simple.
Speaker 1: I got a new tree last year. So last year
Speaker 1: I set up my old reusable tree and it was
Speaker 1: just tilting like like a Charlie Brown Christas.
Speaker 3: It was like very adorable. Actually, I kind of loved
Speaker 3: how dilapidated it.
Speaker 1: Was well and that we are the frugal friend. Yeah right,
Speaker 1: And that was my only like, but we were in
Speaker 1: the middle of a renovation and I was like, this
Speaker 1: is appropriate for the setting. But after Christmas, I took
Speaker 1: advantage of the sales to get a tree half off.
Speaker 1: So I really went in and I got a very
Speaker 1: good quality, large tree for our new renovated space first
Speaker 1: Christmas in the you know, with the renovation done, and
Speaker 1: I got it for half off, and so that's really
Speaker 1: where I'm leaning into instead of buying a lot of
Speaker 1: different decor I just bought a very quality, reusable tree.
Speaker 1: If you keep them. It's debatable, like how long to
Speaker 1: keep it? At least five years in order to offset
Speaker 1: the kind of the impact, the carbon impact versus getting
Speaker 1: a disposable, not a disposable like a real tree. Some
Speaker 1: people say ten, so five to ten years, and I
Speaker 1: definitely have the other one for over five years. So
Speaker 1: this is going to be the first year we are
Speaker 1: using the new tree. And I just got some extra
Speaker 1: lights also on sale because it's a bigger tree, and
Speaker 1: that's gonna be my decoration, Like it's just going to
Speaker 1: be that tree, and I love it lovely. So my
Speaker 1: next one. I don't know if this is going to
Speaker 1: be controversial, but I am not spending any money on
Speaker 1: ELF on a shelf. I don't own one. And it's
Speaker 1: not just the cost of the ELF because you could
Speaker 1: get those for free. It is actually the cost of
Speaker 1: everything that the ELF does throughout its tenure, Like it
Speaker 1: is the cost of time when you are because the
Speaker 1: are you familiar with ELF on a shelf?
Speaker 3: Yes, I am, I actually have one. Yeah, it's just
Speaker 3: very funny because you don't have kids. But my mother
Speaker 3: in law got me a tropical themed elf on a shelf,
Speaker 3: which is really cute.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, don't get that for people. Yeah, it's the
Speaker 1: like making snow angels in flower and then you have
Speaker 1: to set that up and then you also have to
Speaker 1: clean that up, and then the cost of flower is negligible,
Speaker 1: but it's it's the time cost. Yeah, and then you're
Speaker 1: also searching the internet for ideas because you want to
Speaker 1: do different things every year, so it's a mental cost,
Speaker 1: it's really And then it's this weird thing. This elf
Speaker 1: is watching you and it's also being naughty, but you
Speaker 1: can't be naughty because it's watching you. It's a spy,
Speaker 1: you're right, and we don't do the ELF's boss that guy.
Speaker 1: We don't do that in our house. So it just
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing. We are listing off the things we
Speaker 3: are not buying. But please know this is not a
Speaker 3: personal attack for those of you who these are on
Speaker 3: your buy list. We're just helping to give you ideas
Speaker 3: for you have permission to put other things on your
Speaker 3: no by list because you may make different decisions. Elf
Speaker 3: on a shelf. For some people, the energy expended is
Speaker 3: what's fun, and you don't have to purchase all this
Speaker 3: extra stuff to be able to look at.
Speaker 1: This one though, This elf on a shelf went on
Speaker 1: a quote unquote shopping spree and these are custom little
Speaker 1: Amazon packages, say elphas on and he is covered in packages.
Speaker 1: Oh my, I just And there's one where it took
Speaker 1: a picture next to sleeping child, like the elf is
Speaker 1: watching you sleep. There are so many wrong elf spaghetti
Speaker 1: like it's funny in the movie. But then you just
Speaker 1: waste all of that candy and pasta there, there's.
Speaker 3: So much it just it just you. You can't you
Speaker 3: don't want to engage. I get it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's I'm not engaging in that cost.
Speaker 3: Yeah. The next thing for me is gifts. I'm doing
Speaker 3: it again, friends, I loved last year. Last year was
Speaker 3: my quiet grinch Christmas, and it might not be as
Speaker 3: quiet this year, but it still might be a little
Speaker 3: grinchy without without gifts. That doesn't mean that I don't
Speaker 3: love and care for people and will plan to show
Speaker 3: value to them, maybe even write encouraging notes and cards
Speaker 3: to people. But I don't need the pressure of just
Speaker 3: buying for the sake of buying. I do love to
Speaker 3: give gifts that feel thoughtful and what the person's gonna want.
Speaker 3: So if I come upon that, then I'll do it.
Speaker 3: But I'm not just gonna make a list and try
Speaker 3: and pull ideas out of thin air for what I
Speaker 3: could possibly spend twenty dollars on for this person. And
Speaker 3: I also realized so last year when we did our
Speaker 3: Quiet Grinch Christmas, Eric and I did say that we
Speaker 3: would get gifts for each other. So it was kind
Speaker 3: of like we blocked out the rest of the world
Speaker 3: and then we're like, okay, but for you, I like,
Speaker 3: but you I like. Here's the thing. We both returned
Speaker 3: every single gift we got for each other.
Speaker 1: That's it's so so you return them because of the products.
Speaker 1: Travis and I are horrible gift givers to each other.
Speaker 1: Just we don't like the things that each other gives. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so that's why we don't get don't do each other.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I get gifts for me, he gets gifts for himself.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't like. I don't need that. So I
Speaker 3: would much rather just enjoy good food, have some relaxing times,
Speaker 3: maybe do activities. So I'm already jumping the gun on
Speaker 3: what I will spend on. But y'all know me, we're
Speaker 3: just not doing gifts except for their I may make
Speaker 3: the caveat of for adults. It's very possible, depending on
Speaker 3: where we find ourselves for Christmas, that i'd give gifts
Speaker 3: to kids. And I know you and I do that differently.
Speaker 3: There's been times where you're like, kids aren't getting the gifts.
Speaker 3: They get enough stuff. I'm getting gifts for the adults,
Speaker 3: and I respect that, But for me, I usually choose,
Speaker 3: if I'm not doing gifts, I'll at least do it
Speaker 3: for the for the children. For the children.
Speaker 1: But the children, yeah, now I will only so I
Speaker 1: will get my own children gifts. I'm talking about other
Speaker 1: people's children. I'm not buying them gifts.
Speaker 3: I got nieces and nephews. You know I need them.
Speaker 1: You don't have children, so those are basically your children.
Speaker 3: They are my children.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so we'll do a few gifts for Kai,
Speaker 1: maybe one for Atlas because he's not even two yet,
Speaker 1: but we're and maybe we'll go in on a gift
Speaker 1: for my in laws and my mom, and that's it.
Speaker 1: Nobody else, nobody else get gifts and that's and they
Speaker 1: have to be okay with that, and they usually are.
Speaker 1: Now I'm nobody has ever complained him face uh and
Speaker 1: they still talk to us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, pleasantly, well done. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So my next one is holiday themed products like cups
Speaker 1: and toys. So any of the regular toys or things
Speaker 1: that we might get anyways, but holiday themed, which means
Speaker 1: they're kind of only relevant for a day because you're
Speaker 1: getting them on Christmas and the next day Christmas is over,
Speaker 1: so they are relevant for one day and even within
Speaker 1: the season. Like Starbucks has the free holiday cups yesterday.
Speaker 1: If you order a drink, why would I get a
Speaker 1: holiday cup. It's only relevant to use for a month
Speaker 1: for the next six weeks, Like, and then what do
Speaker 1: I do with it? I put it on a shelf.
Speaker 1: I already have a cup. I'm fine. Yeah, So, whether
Speaker 1: it is free or like a collector's edition or whatever, No,
Speaker 1: we don't do anything that has a lifespan, just like
Speaker 1: wrapping paper. It's got it's not evergreen, which is not
Speaker 1: a great term to use when we're talking about the holidays,
Speaker 1: but evergreen means it's usable throughout the year, whatever season.
Speaker 1: Then it's just not worth it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. The next thing for me is what I will
Speaker 3: term gimmicky activities. And this is really my own opinion
Speaker 3: on an activity. There's not really any exact metric for this,
Speaker 3: but I will give an example. So the pier near
Speaker 3: us will usually have some sort of booth set up
Speaker 3: that's like a Christmas themed put put golf something and
Speaker 3: it's literally like fifteen feet long by ten feet wide,
Speaker 3: and they're charging twenty bucks to be able to walk
Speaker 3: through and do like three put put holes and then
Speaker 3: you can feel like you did something.
Speaker 1: Or outdoor ice skating in Florida. It's not real ice
Speaker 1: and it is so hard to skate on. I was
Speaker 1: a competitive figure skater and I would never set foot
Speaker 1: on an outdoor rink in Florida.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So these things that you can just very easily
Speaker 3: tell or money grabs. Yeah, I'm just not gonna do it. No,
Speaker 3: not here for it, not if it not if it
Speaker 3: feels gimmicky or the I want it to feel magical.
Speaker 1: They're probably not going to do it this year, But
Speaker 1: in past years I've done the enchant you walk through
Speaker 1: Christmas lights. It's fifty bucks, which I.
Speaker 3: Have been interested in. I've been curious about it. It
Speaker 3: seems like a very immersive experience, but yeah, the cost
Speaker 3: was prohibitive to me. And then they because they the
Speaker 3: year that they did it for the very first time
Speaker 3: was when I was interested, Like, what's this going to
Speaker 3: be about? I'm so glad I waited because all of
Speaker 3: the reviews on it were this place was packed. We
Speaker 3: couldn't do any of the activities it. You were waiting
Speaker 3: in line for everything. I'm like, yeah, after if the
Speaker 3: people paid fifty bucks for that per person, Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1: So the next one and I am already seeing I
Speaker 1: have been seeing ads for this for weeks on social
Speaker 1: media and it just angers me. Holiday pajamas. I live
Speaker 1: holiday themed pajamas and I've been seeing the social media
Speaker 1: post It's like, run to Old Navy, you need these,
Speaker 1: These are a great deal. I was like, these pajamas
Speaker 1: are relevant for six weeks and if I am going
Speaker 1: to it most times will wear the pajamas. If we
Speaker 1: get holiday pajamas, not because we bought them, they're they're
Speaker 1: being worn't after the holiday. So why every holiday pajama
Speaker 1: set that we've ever gotten, we've been given and we
Speaker 1: try like it's just weird to wear them outside of
Speaker 1: the holidays, even though, like out of spite, I want to,
Speaker 1: But I'm just gonna buy matching sets because I do
Speaker 1: think Christmas morning matching jammys are cute, like I do
Speaker 1: have a heart. But we're gonna make sure they're ever green. Yes,
Speaker 1: now they're ever There are jammis that can be tor
Speaker 1: yeah for the next year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I support that.
Speaker 1: But you do not need to run to Old Navy
Speaker 1: to take advantage of this six dollar pajama set.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Why is it six dollars?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: Like right, let's ask ourselves.
Speaker 1: Why is it so cheap?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Because the itches come for free. It makes you
Speaker 3: it makes you itchy my last one. And similar to
Speaker 3: what you were saying, I'm not buying special outfits. So like,
Speaker 3: we've got a holiday party coming up, I gotta get
Speaker 3: a I gotta get a dress. I've got to have
Speaker 3: a themed whatever I got close in my closet. They
Speaker 3: worked for me last year, yep, it'll work for me
Speaker 3: again this year.
Speaker 1: All the I'm also seeing social media posts like holiday
Speaker 1: outfit haul and buying new outfits for holiday parties. No,
Speaker 1: don't need a new holiday party outfit. Nobody remembers what
Speaker 1: you wore to last year's holiday party, unless you truly
Speaker 1: made a scene, in which case I'm sure you have
Speaker 1: a second outfit. Just wear something you already have, that
Speaker 1: you've accumulated.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing. You could choose something different from me, though,
Speaker 3: Like I'm just saying what I'm not buying. But if
Speaker 3: someone is like, I do need a new dress, and
Speaker 3: this is a great time to get one, and I've
Speaker 3: got plenty of places to wear it, wear it throughout the.
Speaker 1: Year, you probably don't need a new dress. You want
Speaker 1: a new dress. If you've been wanting a new dress
Speaker 1: for a while and you've been waiting and there's a
Speaker 1: sale on the one that you've really wanted and you're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to wear it the whole year, then
Speaker 1: this is your moment. This is your moment to get it.
Speaker 1: But let's be real with ourselves. You don't need a
Speaker 1: new outfit for holiday parties.
Speaker 3: We don't have to feel the pressure for it really
Speaker 3: is what it is. I think we can just feel peaceful.
Speaker 1: You can just want something yeah, yeah, and get it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. But sometimes the stress of feeling like you have
Speaker 3: to get something is more anxiety producing.
Speaker 1: Yeah's I feel I forgot to mention the adult holiday pajamas,
Speaker 1: the onesies like Onesie holiday pajamas. You put those on
Speaker 1: for a picture and that's it. Who is sleeping in those?
Speaker 1: Those are hot?
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it's not practical. I get up at the
Speaker 3: night to go to the back. Welcome to your thirties.
Speaker 3: So we're not doing that.
Speaker 1: And it's this sounds like a very curmudgeony episode, and
Speaker 1: maybe we are. They are, But like to your dirties,
Speaker 1: there are things that we do love and we just
Speaker 1: are defining what we don't like. I obviously I love
Speaker 1: the Chris. I spent one hundred and fifty dollars on
Speaker 1: a Christmas tree, on a very nice Christmas tree, and
Speaker 1: that thing was three hundred dollars originally. And some people
Speaker 1: would look at me and like, you spent one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars on a Christmas tree. That's so dumb.
Speaker 1: It didn't even have lights on it. I bought more
Speaker 1: lights in addition to it.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, So yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, Like I spent money on that because that is
Speaker 1: my one Chris. I love Christmas trees. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: if you have a Christmas tree in your window, I'm
Speaker 1: looking through your window into your high means it gonna
Speaker 1: be me looking into your house. Like I just love
Speaker 1: Christmas trees and I love Christmas lights. I love driving
Speaker 1: around the neighborhood. My kids hate me. Kid and husband
Speaker 1: hate me because I'm always trying to take the long
Speaker 1: way home through the neighborhoods to look at the lights.
Speaker 3: Not gonna do Elf on a shelf, but I will
Speaker 3: spend my time driving through neighborhoods.
Speaker 1: Spending money on gas. I know I am investing to
Speaker 1: peep into your home. And snacks. I love a snacks too,
Speaker 1: not themed snacks, but like parties with snacks, and I'll
Speaker 1: pay extra for the pre made nice like snack from
Speaker 1: Costco or Sam's Club because I love it.
Speaker 3: Okay, well, you're getting ahead of yourself. Tell us the
Speaker 3: last thing you won't buy.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry I said it. A
Speaker 1: gingerbread house kit. I gingerbread house kits always come out
Speaker 1: looking the worst, are they not? Always the worst? Because
Speaker 1: we're not good at construction right, and then the materials
Speaker 1: are poor, poor adhesives.
Speaker 3: They don't taste actually eating them. You don't unless gingerbread
Speaker 3: houses are your thing and you've got your grandmother's recipe
Speaker 3: and it's what you do and you eat it because
Speaker 3: it tastes so yummy. That's have at it. But yeahs
Speaker 3: are I know a few people who like it's their thing,
Speaker 3: it's it's a tradition, and then they actually eat them
Speaker 3: and they taste good. But most of us out here, yeah,
Speaker 3: grabbing the kits off the shell.
Speaker 1: Hit on the shelves. Yeah, unless you're working at the
Speaker 1: Grand Floridian Disney World and you're you know, have you
Speaker 1: seen the gingerbread house there? No, it's a gingerbread empire essentially,
Speaker 1: it's very famous. If you are in Disney World around
Speaker 1: the holidays, you can go to the Grand Floridian. You
Speaker 1: don't even have to pay for the parks, you just
Speaker 1: you can go. It's open to the public and they
Speaker 1: just have this massive, almost life size gingerbread house inside
Speaker 1: the Grand Fluoridi. It's very cool. That sounds but that's it. Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I did jump the gun. I'm so sorry, Jill. What
Speaker 1: are you buying?
Speaker 3: I will most likely buy plane tickets. We will probably
Speaker 3: go somewhere this Christmas. Uh so it will be expensive,
Speaker 3: but I do put money aside for the holidays throughout
Speaker 3: the year and then I can decide how we want
Speaker 3: to spend that. So this year it will most likely
Speaker 3: be on plane tickets. It will absolutely be on nice
Speaker 3: food to share. That's that's an evergreen thing for me
Speaker 3: at the holidays. I really love getting some of the
Speaker 3: nicer meats and cheeses and spreads and accoutrement and just
Speaker 3: if we want to order out. This is the time.
Speaker 3: This is when we do it. We really we really
Speaker 3: shine December and January really shining. I will also spend
Speaker 3: on like a fun or memorable event, not too many.
Speaker 3: Usually every year it'll be one or two that we
Speaker 3: decide we want to do and maybe it's just a
Speaker 3: concert if a band we like is in town, or
Speaker 3: maybe we even like drive a little bit to see
Speaker 3: a fun concert. That's what I'll spend on around this time.
Speaker 3: Anything else you would add to the list that you
Speaker 3: will buy? I, besides the gas to go run around
Speaker 3: and peep in your homes.
Speaker 1: I do love to buy a like a peppermint mocha
Speaker 1: or a hot cocoa and a paper cup. I am
Speaker 1: moving away from Starbucks. What what you're talking about? It?
Speaker 3: Later? Yeah?
Speaker 1: But oh wow, but yeah.
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 1: I do love to feel the warm cup in my
Speaker 1: hands and be walking around a beautiful place because we
Speaker 1: don't have snow, right, so Christmas lights are kind of
Speaker 1: our snow and.
Speaker 3: Gotta find joy somewhere, and I love it.
Speaker 1: I love light. Yeah, and I think that's kind of
Speaker 1: my biggest I do not carol, I do not sing.
Speaker 1: I do not do art or anything like craft, diy
Speaker 1: ornaments or any of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of even one wondering if I will do
Speaker 1: ornaments on our tree.
Speaker 3: Oh, I just it's just decorated with the light. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm undecided. So I do love the and I haven't
Speaker 3: ever done this, but the orange dehydrated oranges, I think
Speaker 3: they look so pretty. They do.
Speaker 1: But I love multi colored lights, so I'm a multi
Speaker 1: colored light girl and a white light girl, right, so
Speaker 1: we're different girls. So I think it would beautiful on
Speaker 1: your tree. Also, your tree is smaller, so you could
Speaker 1: actually handle that many oranges.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, so it's a thin, thin one.
Speaker 1: Maybe you'll be buying an orange.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe.
Speaker 1: You know what you won't be buying.
Speaker 3: I never have to pay for this.
Speaker 1: But it's always about it's always on the to have list,
Speaker 1: on the priority list, 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 William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 2: car died, and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 2: that bill anymore. Stuff bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton.
Speaker 3: This is the bill of the week.
Speaker 1: Hello Jen and Joe.
Speaker 5: My name's Nissa and I live in Cusbe, Oregon, on
Speaker 5: the coast. My bill of the week is insurance related.
Speaker 3: Waw whah.
Speaker 5: I was perusing my peace stub a few weeks ago
Speaker 5: and I saw that I was paying a lot for
Speaker 5: life insurance through my work, and I said, no, that's
Speaker 5: not very fun. So I went outside my work bubble
Speaker 5: of the recommended and standard insurance and I got independent
Speaker 5: life insurance that is way, way, way cheaper, something on
Speaker 5: the order of twenty five percent of the original cost.
Speaker 5: So I am very happy that I went through my
Speaker 5: past ub and evaluated my payments that were coming out
Speaker 5: of my paycheck every two weeks. So I totally recommend
Speaker 5: anyone to do this.
Speaker 4: Just check it out, see what you've got going on,
Speaker 4: you know, make sure that you're putting the right amount
Speaker 4: into retirement count getting your right amount for insurance, and yeah,
Speaker 4: it was totally worth it.
Speaker 5: I love you guys, thanks so much for your podcast.
Speaker 5: Bye bye Ooh.
Speaker 1: This is something we should definitely talk about. You've hit
Speaker 1: on something very important because life insurance at work that
Speaker 1: is considered usually like a group coverage and it does not.
Speaker 1: It's very restrictive, does not cover a lot, maybe one
Speaker 1: year of your salary, whereas term life insurance from a
Speaker 1: third party not only less expensive but covers a wide
Speaker 1: breath more things.
Speaker 3: Talked about that both.
Speaker 1: That is so bringing this up you if you are
Speaker 1: paying for life insurance at work, you should be very
Speaker 1: critical of what it is you are paying for and
Speaker 1: if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
Speaker 1: I don't they all sound very bad in my experience
Speaker 1: that they're all very easy nos going with something like
Speaker 1: like Ladder or Ethos. You can go to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash Ladder. Jill has Ladder, I have Ethos.
Speaker 1: They are term life insurance policies that are much less expensive.
Speaker 3: And actually Eric has Ethos, like I got a better
Speaker 3: rate for him through Ethos than Ladder. But yeah, we
Speaker 3: have both.
Speaker 1: But Ethos doesn't pay us Ladder does if you get.
Speaker 3: A check, Yeah, Ladder, Ladder. I don't know what it was,
Speaker 3: but yeah, ladder was better for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah so Frigle Friends podcast dot com slash Ladder. So
Speaker 1: one of the things I will say I like about
Speaker 1: ladder is that the reason it's called ladder is that
Speaker 1: you can't increase your life insurance payout and you'll obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, pay more monthly, but you don't have to
Speaker 1: start over with the term. So you stay on that
Speaker 1: twenty year term and just pay a little bit extra
Speaker 1: per month to be at a higher place. That's very
Speaker 1: it's very flexible. So it gets you started. If maybe
Speaker 1: you don't think you can afford life insurance, it could
Speaker 1: have a really low barriered entry. But also you should
Speaker 1: be comparing life insurance companies because you don't know who's
Speaker 1: going to offer you the best deal.
Speaker 3: Man. What a great bill, Lisa, And reminder and tip
Speaker 3: to all the rest of us, just take a look
Speaker 3: at your past ub see where that initial money is
Speaker 3: getting pulled out and where is it going to. And
Speaker 3: I'm okay with it.
Speaker 1: That you are getting all the benefits that you should
Speaker 1: be getting, Like if you've signed up to contribute to
Speaker 1: a four O one K are you getting you know,
Speaker 1: are you getting the match is? Are they pulling the
Speaker 1: full however much you've allocated?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Wow, Okay, what I like that little interruption to
Speaker 3: the rest of this episode. If you all are listening,
Speaker 3: you have a bill that you want to submit, if
Speaker 3: it has to do with a really great tip that
Speaker 3: you have a way that you ended up saving money,
Speaker 3: or anything else super vague and bill related. You know us,
Speaker 3: We love it all Frugal friendspodcast, dot com, slash bill.
Speaker 3: We can't wait for it, and now it's time for
Speaker 3: me around me all right?
Speaker 1: What are you most looking forward to this holiday?
Speaker 2: Jill m M.
Speaker 3: I think the quiet pace last year went so well
Speaker 3: that I'm really excited to capitalize on that and really
Speaker 3: enjoy the things that make me feel nostalgic and really
Speaker 3: just comforted in this season. Really are the free things,
Speaker 3: like you said, looking at the looking at light displays,
Speaker 3: walking around the neighborhood, watching fun nostalgic movies, getting some
Speaker 3: special food, baking, cooking, getting together with friends, just the
Speaker 3: like really simple things. I think I'm really recognizing that
Speaker 3: the simple luxuries of life are really so fun for
Speaker 3: me like I just love daily enjoyable things. I also
Speaker 3: love the big things, right, I love the big vacations
Speaker 3: you get to take, but they only have and every
Speaker 3: so often, and we do get to decide and engage
Speaker 3: in small little luxuries daily and they usually don't have
Speaker 3: to cost anything. Yes, what about you, jen.
Speaker 1: Doing things with my kids? Last year was the first
Speaker 1: year Kai kind of got fully into Christmas, so just
Speaker 1: finding some like things to do with him. He loves
Speaker 1: Christmas music. We were listening to Christmas music through February
Speaker 1: and just kind of seeing his face light up and
Speaker 1: enjoy this special season. And of course peeping in y'all's
Speaker 1: homes road tree and seeing your Christmas lights and nobody
Speaker 1: else is as excited in my family about that as me.
Speaker 3: So are you bringing your binoculars for that?
Speaker 1: But well, I won't need to if your tree isn't
Speaker 1: a good viewing.
Speaker 3: Spot, don't make me have to bring my binocua.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. It's not on my list of
Speaker 1: things to buy, so please don't make me.
Speaker 3: Thanks everyone for listening. We just love hanging out with you,
Speaker 3: and we also love reading your kind reviews like this
Speaker 3: one from Snickler four Phenomenal Friends. Five stars love this podcast.
Speaker 3: It is like listening to two non judgmental friends talk
Speaker 3: about frugality and all things money. I work at three
Speaker 3: am from home. In this podcast keeps me awake in
Speaker 3: the early mornings when the rest of the world is
Speaker 3: asleep and makes me feel less alone. Thank you for
Speaker 3: all that you both do. Snickler oh four. I love
Speaker 3: the idea that we're hanging out with you in the
Speaker 3: early morning when everything is so calm and quiet, and
Speaker 3: then you got us yelling at you. I'm so thrilled
Speaker 3: get to hang Thanks for that. Yeah, kind words.
Speaker 1: If you feel similarly, then please we would love if
Speaker 1: you would leave a rating and review on Spotify or
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts and let people know what they are in
Speaker 1: for when listening to the show, that we are big
Speaker 1: curmudgeons and that we are sad sad people.
Speaker 3: I mean, we'll definitely get some interesting listeners if that's
Speaker 3: the review that you're telling people what to expect. But
Speaker 3: I'm here for it. Let's experiment as long as a
Speaker 3: five stars See you next time.
Speaker 1: Google Friends is produced by Eric sirianni.
Speaker 3: Okay Jen tell Me about this disenchantment and with Starbucks.
Speaker 3: This is some hot, fresh off the press news.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is so apparently. Okay, I lived in Orlando
Speaker 1: for five.
Speaker 3: Years, and we're going way back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this was back in I left Orlando in twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: and there was a coffee shop there that I loved,
Speaker 1: and I saw that after I left, they expanded and
Speaker 1: one of their busiest locations was forced to close, and
Speaker 1: apparently they were making way the landlord was making way
Speaker 1: for a Starbucks. And I can never I can neither
Speaker 1: confirm nor deny the accuracy of this because I am
Speaker 1: no longer in Orlando and or talking to a lot
Speaker 1: of people involved. But I it just didn't sit right
Speaker 1: with me. I'm like, I've known this. Starbucks ruins local
Speaker 1: coffee shop economies. You know, it's nothing new. But part
Speaker 1: of my like justification was, well, if y'all made exactly
Speaker 1: what I like the same way every time I would
Speaker 1: drink your coffee, and obviously that's like the wrong mentality
Speaker 1: to have, and so that.
Speaker 3: You know you're spending seven dollars, let's be real, right,
Speaker 3: drink you do you want to like.
Speaker 1: It absolutely, And that was a justification, and so I
Speaker 1: think my I'm just at a point where I I
Speaker 1: don't want to support that anymore. I'm just kind of done.
Speaker 3: Whoa cold turkey do you think?
Speaker 1: Or yeah, I probably I still have some money left
Speaker 1: on my like Starbucks gift card and probably like a
Speaker 1: free drink, so it won't be cold turkey, But like
Speaker 1: once that money's gone, I'm just going.
Speaker 3: To delete the app. Where do you think you'll go?
Speaker 1: That's a great question. I love the blend, so I
Speaker 1: could go there, but I think like most of it
Speaker 1: will just probably be drinking coffee at home, which is
Speaker 1: what I already do, you know nine times out of ten. Anyway,
Speaker 1: it'll just be something new I have to navigate.
Speaker 3: Yeah, wow, Yeah, a new journey, new year. Knew you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But I'm not that hard to please anymore. Like
Speaker 1: I can be happy with just a plain cappuccino and
Speaker 1: a raw sugar, you know. So I had to look
Speaker 1: at that too and be like, I only get the
Speaker 1: fancy drinks because they're available, but honestly, most of the time,
Speaker 1: I'm just happy with something very plain.
Speaker 3: Do you think that this is going to be a
Speaker 3: foreshadowing for letting go of Target too?
Speaker 1: If I have to go, I don't like to go
Speaker 1: into places. But if I have to go into a
Speaker 1: place I like Target, there's no comparable mom and pop competitor.
Speaker 3: Yeah wow, I mean these were the things that really
Speaker 3: set you and I apart and made us different people.
Speaker 3: And now you're saying no more Starbucks and I don't
Speaker 3: even go into Target that often. What's happening? You were
Speaker 3: the Starbucks Target girly and I was okay, Well that
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know what I do.
Speaker 1: That's my badgerate.
Speaker 3: I don't do those things.
Speaker 1: I went to Target a lot, like when I was postpartum,
Speaker 1: just to walk around and like feel the vibe. And
Speaker 1: same with Starbucks, honestly. So yeah, I am evolving, devolving.
Speaker 1: I used to not go to Starbucks and Target a lot.
Speaker 1: So maybe I'm just like reverting back to a simpler
Speaker 1: time in my life.
Speaker 3: We're just all under consuming. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's I feel better about it. Yeah, I want to.
Speaker 1: I want I'm always on a journey closer to buying
Speaker 1: as much secondhand as.
Speaker 3: Possible, So not secondhand coffee I.
Speaker 1: Can't, right, but local, local, and secondhand. And so that
Speaker 1: I'm just evolving on my journey finding my radical middle.
Speaker 3: Wow. Wow Wow, Yeah, this is big news, folks, I know.
Speaker 3: And if you want other things from us by what
Speaker 3: you love, book dot com.
Speaker 1: By what you love, please buy that brand new. Please
Speaker 1: buy it new. I don't care where you buy it from.
Speaker 3: We are used. We are the U things that you're
Speaker 3: buying from, And.
Speaker 1: Buy the book new. Support me being used.
Speaker 3: Oh well,