Speaker 1: Hey guys, we wanted to come on and do a
Speaker 1: super short bonus episode to give you our thoughts and
Speaker 1: suggestions for what's going on in this time right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on with public health concern that
Speaker 1: is really impacting everybody worldwide. And we want to be
Speaker 1: clear that we're not doctors, policymakers, financial planners, or have
Speaker 1: any credentials that would make us comfortable telling you what
Speaker 1: to buy, not to buy, how long to do it for.
Speaker 1: But we still want to be an encouragement for you
Speaker 1: all right now. Yeah, there's a lot of uncertainty right now,
Speaker 1: and depending on where you live, you may feel that
Speaker 1: burden really heavily or not see it at all. We
Speaker 1: are with our frugal friends in Italy right now. UM,
Speaker 1: we see the suffering and everything that's going on, and
Speaker 1: we're hoping in the United States and North America in
Speaker 1: general that we can avoid that. Um. But to our
Speaker 1: friends in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, UM, our hearts
Speaker 1: are with you and we feel the pain that you're
Speaker 1: going through right now. So we're going to be releasing
Speaker 1: an episode in the next few weeks on how to
Speaker 1: respond financially when your income is disrupted by something like this.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, we wanted to give you, uh
Speaker 1: this short episode with three things you can do right
Speaker 1: now to prepare for anything that's to come. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: so while there is a lot of health concern with
Speaker 1: coronavirus right now, we also recognize some of the peripheral
Speaker 1: impact that this is having with closures and people being
Speaker 1: out of work, and particularly those who are on hourly
Speaker 1: wages or who are independent contractors or small business owners.
Speaker 1: A lot of the concern and panic around this this
Speaker 1: issue right now is finances, and so that's what we
Speaker 1: are mainly going to be focusing on with this bonus episode,
Speaker 1: is what can we be considering both now and in
Speaker 1: the future with our finances during these uncertain times. So
Speaker 1: with that said, our first tip is to beef up
Speaker 1: your emergency fund. Uh. So we know that some of
Speaker 1: this is kind of as we go building up an
Speaker 1: emergency fund that that you may or may not have
Speaker 1: a super beefy one right now. So push pause on
Speaker 1: making extra payments towards debt right now. This is okay
Speaker 1: for the things that we're facing right now. You can
Speaker 1: give yourself permission if you don't have three to six
Speaker 1: months saved to not be putting extra strainer stress on
Speaker 1: yourself to pay down debt. If you're paying off a
Speaker 1: federal student loan, you know that interest is not accruing
Speaker 1: on it right now, so it seems like a great
Speaker 1: time to be paying extra. But you may need more
Speaker 1: than a thousand dollars if that's all that you have
Speaker 1: in your emergency fund or whatever your starter emergency fund is.
Speaker 1: So if you don't have three to six months of
Speaker 1: expenses saved, then I know that there is permission in
Speaker 1: this financial journey to press the pause button on that
Speaker 1: and and get at putting aside a little bit more
Speaker 1: money because we don't know how long this is going
Speaker 1: to last for and paying bills and purchasing food is
Speaker 1: priority for sure. And if you do have three to
Speaker 1: six months, there's no evidence that that leads me to
Speaker 1: think that you would need more. UM. So if you
Speaker 1: feel like you want more, do it. If not, wait
Speaker 1: it out and see your job volatility is going to
Speaker 1: have play a big role UM in that decision for you.
Speaker 1: So uh. The second one is to simplify your spending,
Speaker 1: so not to just lower it, but to simplify it. Um.
Speaker 1: This is a great time to try and no spend challenge,
Speaker 1: especially if you're trying to increase your emergency fund and
Speaker 1: you can't do that with extra income. Uh, than simplifying
Speaker 1: your spending can allow you to transfer more to that fund. Um.
Speaker 1: Things are closed, events are cancels, you're stuck inside. There's
Speaker 1: never been an easier time to try and do a
Speaker 1: no spend challenge. Um. Also, there's a lot going on,
Speaker 1: a lot to think about. Our brains can't manage everything
Speaker 1: all at once, so things like spending go on autopilot,
Speaker 1: and when you pair that with fear and anxiety, we
Speaker 1: can make some really bad spending decisions. So start setting
Speaker 1: rules for yourself, uh to simplify your spending. So that
Speaker 1: includes like a simplified meal plan, a list of essentials
Speaker 1: you need to spend on, non essentials you really care about.
Speaker 1: Is ain't a time to be given up coffee. You
Speaker 1: don't need to be battling your caffeine eddiction and whatever
Speaker 1: is going on out there. Uh, and then not essentials
Speaker 1: you're committing to cut out. I do want to spend
Speaker 1: a little bit of time on this one because I
Speaker 1: think this goes back to some of the foundational principles
Speaker 1: of frugality where we say there is greater exponential benefit
Speaker 1: of cutting spending versus increasing wages. So before we start
Speaker 1: to dip into emergency fund or savings, let's look at
Speaker 1: what are spending is, because you have greater benefit by
Speaker 1: cutting out spending in the long run, then saying well,
Speaker 1: how do I just keep finding money to meet the spending?
Speaker 1: Like where my spending is currently, Let's recognize that we
Speaker 1: are in unusual times right now right nobody knows exactly
Speaker 1: how long this is going to last for although I
Speaker 1: will say it will end. This is not forever. We
Speaker 1: we know that these things do not last for forever,
Speaker 1: but we we don't know exactly how long it could
Speaker 1: be another two months of us kind of being in
Speaker 1: this type of situation where there's limited work or um
Speaker 1: limited interaction with other people. So let's look at because
Speaker 1: because this is not status quo, because we're not going
Speaker 1: about life as usual, where can we really pull back
Speaker 1: on spending that we don't have to be getting right?
Speaker 1: This could be a time where we're just sitting at
Speaker 1: home and we might want to go on autopilot like
Speaker 1: you said, to be purchasing random things on the internet.
Speaker 1: Let's press the pause button on that and focus on
Speaker 1: the essentials. Let's pull back on the unnecessary subscriptions. Consider
Speaker 1: pulling out of a gym membership if you're not going
Speaker 1: to be going there anyhow, are there exercises that you
Speaker 1: can be doing at home? And this is I'm just
Speaker 1: throwing ideas out there. I'm not saying everybody needs to
Speaker 1: be taking each one of these steps that I'm saying,
Speaker 1: but consider what you're spending is and where you can
Speaker 1: simplify it. I won't spend a lot of time on this,
Speaker 1: but I do want to talk specifically to the hourly workers,
Speaker 1: to the independ contractors. I think these are the people
Speaker 1: who are going to feel it the most intensely. And
Speaker 1: there is some deep concern, and I'm hearing from people
Speaker 1: like I'm scared just for financial situation, like my job
Speaker 1: is cutting me for the unforeseeable future, and and I'm
Speaker 1: already living paycheck to paycheck. Okay, for you all, we
Speaker 1: then we need to we need to buckle down a
Speaker 1: bit more and look at how bare bones can we get.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to be alarmist. I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to like again this will end. But I also want
Speaker 1: to recognize the unique position that you're in, and so
Speaker 1: this this could mean, all right, I might even start
Speaker 1: to look at my portion sizes when it comes to food.
Speaker 1: Do I typically eat too much? Do I have to
Speaker 1: cook everything and feel like I need to have like
Speaker 1: two sides with every meat? And this and that, Like
Speaker 1: this could mean for a time, we are doing pasta,
Speaker 1: for a time, we are doing some beans and rice,
Speaker 1: We're doing leftovers, We're clearing out the freezer. It could
Speaker 1: get to that point and and consider that there's no
Speaker 1: shame in that. Also, and I know we'll get to
Speaker 1: this with tip number three, but if you are a
Speaker 1: person in need, there are people in the community around
Speaker 1: willing to help, So there is no shame in reaching
Speaker 1: out to family, friends, churches. If there is need that
Speaker 1: you have where you're not making your bills, you're not
Speaker 1: you don't have money for food, Please know that there
Speaker 1: are people in your community who want to help. And
Speaker 1: this could even be an opportunity for us on our
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends community Facebook group to to talk about what
Speaker 1: are we doing. Let's continue to share our ideas on
Speaker 1: how we are combating this. What could seem like a
Speaker 1: financial crisis for some um and and ways that we
Speaker 1: can kind of come together. What are the resources out
Speaker 1: there so that this doesn't have to put us in
Speaker 1: a completely dire situation come a few months from Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're not telling you to starve yourself. We're saying get creative.
Speaker 1: This is the time where you put your fear and
Speaker 1: anxiety in a little box for a minute and then think, okay,
Speaker 1: that aside, if that wasn't a factor, how could I
Speaker 1: get creative in how I'm spending? And we, I mean we,
Speaker 1: we are sitting with you in that fear and anxiety.
Speaker 1: We are both freelancers and independent contractors, and so we
Speaker 1: are with you, and we are thinking about these things
Speaker 1: as much as we are giving advice on them. Certainly,
Speaker 1: do not starve yourselves. We are just talking about where
Speaker 1: to cut spending. And again, for those who are in
Speaker 1: very difficult financial circumstances, I'm not talking to like people
Speaker 1: who who have still got their salaries coming in and
Speaker 1: all of that, Like where where we might need to
Speaker 1: take a little bit closer of a magnifying glass, like
Speaker 1: you know, for the people who are already saying I'm
Speaker 1: already living frugal I'm already living paycheck to paycheck now
Speaker 1: I'm being cut. Now what creative? Let's get creative and
Speaker 1: let's reach out for help. Definitely, do not starve yourselves.
Speaker 1: Please reach out for help. Yeah, and that leads into
Speaker 1: our next one. Yes, it's that to be the helpers
Speaker 1: if you can be. I know that we really want
Speaker 1: to focus on protecting ourselves, protecting our families, but I
Speaker 1: think that we can still be wise and make healthy
Speaker 1: and smart decisions and still be on the lookout for
Speaker 1: how can I help people that need it? Do? I
Speaker 1: have friends that are hourly workers, freelancers like contractors, and
Speaker 1: reach out to them say hey, has your work been
Speaker 1: affected by this? What do you need? And you can
Speaker 1: make drop offs to their house without touching them, you know,
Speaker 1: or even seeing them. So think about how you can
Speaker 1: be the helper in this situation. And this helps us
Speaker 1: to come up out of this place of fear, anxiety, panic,
Speaker 1: to be able to identify what we can set our
Speaker 1: hands to, who we can be helping, what we have
Speaker 1: to share. Um it can provide tremendous benefit to us
Speaker 1: as well as those that we are helping. So this
Speaker 1: isn't just about like hunker down in your home. Certainly,
Speaker 1: I'm not advising to go out um and yeah, do
Speaker 1: anything against what is being recommended by the CDC and
Speaker 1: and within your county and public officials what they're saying
Speaker 1: to do. But there are ways to move towards the
Speaker 1: need of others while also caring for yourself. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: we would never say go against anything the CDC is recommending.
Speaker 1: We think that the precautions that are being taken right
Speaker 1: now are wise. They're they're inconvenient, and they are going
Speaker 1: to be financially Devin stating for some people. But I
Speaker 1: think our lives are more important than our money, and
Speaker 1: we've always said that, and we will bounce back. We
Speaker 1: will come out of this if we are trying to
Speaker 1: be wise, uh and and we'll bounce back quicker if
Speaker 1: we make the right decisions. So whatever is coming in
Speaker 1: the next weeks, months, years, we're going to be here,
Speaker 1: and we are going to bring as much comic relief
Speaker 1: to this messed up situation as we can. Um. But
Speaker 1: we also take our roles in it really serious. People
Speaker 1: are about to need a lot more frugality in their lives,
Speaker 1: So don't just tell them about the podcast. Be the
Speaker 1: example show the people around you that this isn't the
Speaker 1: end of the world and you can still live a
Speaker 1: full life with spending less. Yeah, thanks so much for listening. Everybody.
Speaker 1: We really genuinely hope that um yeah, this this situation
Speaker 1: doesn't leave you in in some I our situations. But
Speaker 1: we are also here to help and be an encouragement
Speaker 1: and we encourage you to also reach out to one another.
Speaker 1: And thank goodness for the Internet and having an online
Speaker 1: platform that we can be giving tips and staying connected
Speaker 1: without being present with each other, we can still social
Speaker 1: distance and and so talk. Yeah, so thank you again
Speaker 1: for listening and we will see you Friday. Bye.