Speaker 1: Episode three oh nine, Money Made Easy.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here your hosts Jen
Speaker 2: and Jill.
Speaker 1: Mmmm. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 3: My name is Jill and my name is Alison.
Speaker 1: Hey O, it's a special one. You caught it. Jen's
Speaker 1: not here. She's on maternity leave and that makes this
Speaker 1: a very special episode for many reasons. Sorry, I mean
Speaker 1: I miss Jen. It's special because Jen is caring for
Speaker 1: a baby, and that's special. And then it's also special
Speaker 1: because goodness, Alison, we have had such history. Allison was
Speaker 1: the stand in co host the first time Jen had
Speaker 1: a baby because she like to do this like regularly.
Speaker 1: But it was about four years ago that she stood
Speaker 1: in as a co host and she's back again. Old
Speaker 1: hat So Alison Baggerly. In case you don't know her well,
Speaker 1: she's a standing co host for us, always in forever.
Speaker 1: But also she is the brains behind Inspired Budget. If
Speaker 1: you don't already, you need to follow her on Instagram.
Speaker 1: She's also got a podcast called Inspired Budget. She literally
Speaker 1: wrote a book called Money Made Easy. It's the inspiration
Speaker 1: for the title of this episode. So she is bringing
Speaker 1: all of the knowledge to us, but also in the
Speaker 1: very specific form of co host, which is different from
Speaker 1: being a guest on the podcast. I would say it's
Speaker 1: a little bit more special. So we're still going to
Speaker 1: go through the articles. One of them is from Alison
Speaker 1: herself through her blog, because goodness, you are all over
Speaker 1: the internet doing so much stuff talking about budgeting, talking
Speaker 1: about making money easier, and this book that you've got,
Speaker 1: which is amazing. We'll hear more about that, but we're
Speaker 1: going to just be learning more about how to approach
Speaker 1: finances in a little bit easier of a way, less stressful,
Speaker 1: full of confidence, and I'm so glad that you're here
Speaker 1: with me. Alison. Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 4: I'm like honored you guys wanted me to come back
Speaker 4: after the first co hosting session because you know, you
Speaker 4: committed to me for three full episodes.
Speaker 3: That's like a you asked me out on three dates at.
Speaker 1: First, once just off the bat, over zealous.
Speaker 4: Yes, you were just like, I know this is going
Speaker 4: to work. We're going to go on three dates. And
Speaker 4: I was like, heck, yes, we're going to do this.
Speaker 4: So thank you for having me on.
Speaker 3: I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1: Yay. That's how actually Eric and I got together was
Speaker 1: he asked me on an over zealous first date. So
Speaker 1: it works, you know it works. Yeah, I mean he's
Speaker 1: committed from the jump.
Speaker 4: Put your intentions out there and you stand by them.
Speaker 4: I like that about you, Jill.
Speaker 1: But first tell us who's sponsoring this show, Allison.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4: Today's sponsor is something I love so much, and it
Speaker 4: is Da Da Da ADHD medicine. So I was diagnosed
Speaker 4: with ADHD as an adult. And when I tell you
Speaker 4: that this medicine has brought so much focus and energy
Speaker 4: and amazingness to my life, I mean I attribute it
Speaker 4: to me helping write a book, an entire book. So
Speaker 4: I love my ADHD medicine. I stand by it. It
Speaker 4: just helps me focus and honestly, like, I don't know
Speaker 4: why I didn't have this sooner. Sometimes I think I
Speaker 4: can conquer the world when I have my medicine. And
Speaker 4: I decided to start by writing my book. I wrote
Speaker 4: my book and with the help of my ADHD medicine.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's amazing. Where can people get this book? Because
Speaker 1: I know it's brand new, right, it's like hot off
Speaker 1: the press.
Speaker 3: It is it's hot off the press. It's called Money
Speaker 3: Made Easy.
Speaker 4: You can get it at Barnes and Nobles in stock
Speaker 4: at most Barnes and Nobles. It's in some Canadian bookstores,
Speaker 4: the main Canadian bookstore.
Speaker 3: I can't remember the name of it.
Speaker 4: I think it's Ingram, I want to say, I can't remember,
Speaker 4: and then you can get it on Amazon easily.
Speaker 3: But it's called Money Made Easy. Is super wonderful.
Speaker 4: What I love about it is I personally think that
Speaker 4: number one, let's be real here, a lot of money
Speaker 4: books are boring. I mean a lot of nonfiction books
Speaker 4: are boring, right. However, inside of every chapter of my book,
Speaker 4: it's wrapped up in stories. So I try to make
Speaker 4: it a little bit more enjoyable for you to read
Speaker 4: about money. And it's less of like this step by
Speaker 4: step guide.
Speaker 3: And more of a choose your own adventure book.
Speaker 4: And what I mean by that is my money's different
Speaker 4: from your money, Jill, which is different from Gen's money,
Speaker 4: which is different from whoever is listening right now, your money.
Speaker 4: And so what works for me might not work for you.
Speaker 4: And that doesn't make me wrong or you wrong.
Speaker 3: It just means we're different.
Speaker 4: And so instead of telling you cookie cutter ways to deal.
Speaker 3: With your money, because it probably won't work.
Speaker 4: I just share with you different tools in different ways
Speaker 4: to budget, pay off debts, save money, change your relationship
Speaker 4: with money, and then you can choose what works for you.
Speaker 1: I love that. And we're going to actually get to
Speaker 1: go a little bit behind the scenes in this episode
Speaker 1: and gather tips even before you buy the book. But
Speaker 1: hopefully it'll just make you more interested in getting this book.
Speaker 1: If this topic is of interest to you and you're
Speaker 1: liking what you hear, feel free to queue up after
Speaker 1: this episode two forty eight, Simple Money, Rich Life. That
Speaker 1: was an interview with Bob and Linda Lodeck. Super great.
Speaker 1: We love our interviews and other people's perspectives and so
Speaker 1: just another opportunity to learn how you can simplify your
Speaker 1: personal finances. Then we've also got episode two ninety two,
Speaker 1: The Science of Simplicity and Your Money, and that is
Speaker 1: that's looking more into the behavioral sciences behind the decisions
Speaker 1: that we make with money, really decisions across the board.
Speaker 1: So those are two great ones, but let's talk this
Speaker 1: one and we're going to get into our articles. This
Speaker 1: first one is titled finding Your catalyst to change your
Speaker 1: money for good. And this comes from our one and only,
Speaker 1: Allison Baggerley on the Inspired Budget blog, which is also
Speaker 1: linked to your podcast. You've got a whole brand going
Speaker 1: on which is really awesome, and it looks like this
Speaker 1: article is going through really the first chapter of your book,
Speaker 1: so we're kind of being able to get a behind
Speaker 1: the scenes sneak peek at your book, but then also
Speaker 1: able to begin taking some steps and learning how do
Speaker 1: we make money easier for us, but through the specific
Speaker 1: lens of a catalyst. So I mean you're the expert
Speaker 1: on this. So what were your thoughts on this article? Allison?
Speaker 1: What do you want to say about it?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 4: I think it's an amazing article and contribution to society.
Speaker 4: This article actually also a podcast, so you can go
Speaker 4: listen to Inspire Budget Podcasts episode ninety six. But in
Speaker 4: this article, I really share about how a catalyst for
Speaker 4: change is where you need to start when it comes
Speaker 4: to your money. I know, for me personally, just having
Speaker 4: my mom sit down and say, like, Allison, you need
Speaker 4: to be better with your money.
Speaker 3: When I was a young.
Speaker 4: Adult, I was like, okay, Mom whatever, And it wasn't
Speaker 4: until I was in a spot where I hit rock
Speaker 4: bottom and my husband hit rock bottom that we were
Speaker 4: willing to find a change that worked for us and
Speaker 4: stick with it and see consistency with our money. So
Speaker 4: for our family, that was whenever we realized we wouldn't
Speaker 4: be able to afford daycare payments, when we became unexpectedly pregnant,
Speaker 4: it was very much a we're standing at this fork
Speaker 4: in the road.
Speaker 3: Something needs to change. Which way are we going to go?
Speaker 4: Are we going to do the responsible thing and make
Speaker 4: some sacrifices and really look at our behalhaviors with money
Speaker 4: and make changes. Are we going to keep doing what
Speaker 4: we're doing and just hope it works out. So we
Speaker 4: were at this fork in the road, and I think
Speaker 4: that so often people find themselves at these forks in
Speaker 4: the road. Now it might not be as dramatic and
Speaker 4: as our experience, where it's like, Okay, you either make
Speaker 4: the money or you don't have daycare for your baby.
Speaker 4: You can't take your baby to school with you whenever
Speaker 4: you're a teacher, Like I used to joke that I
Speaker 4: would like stick them in a filing cabinet. I was like,
Speaker 4: I'm just gonna put them in this filing cabinet.
Speaker 3: No one, I'll know, we don't have to pay for daycare.
Speaker 4: But I think that so often, even in some of
Speaker 4: our small instances in life, that we are faced with
Speaker 4: this choice, and your catalyst for changing your money doesn't
Speaker 4: have to be this big, grand thing that happens to you.
Speaker 4: It can be something small. It can be a dream
Speaker 4: you have for your future. It can be a person
Speaker 4: in your life, be the fact that you are annoyed
Speaker 4: that when you go to the grocery store you have
Speaker 4: to pull up your checking account your bank app and
Speaker 4: look and see how much money you have because you
Speaker 4: want to make sure you have enough money in your
Speaker 4: checking account.
Speaker 3: Before you swipe your debit card.
Speaker 4: That small, seemingly annoying thing can be enough reason to
Speaker 4: change your relationship and how you manage your money.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate the story, even the personal story that
Speaker 1: you give here about if you use the word two
Speaker 1: broke teachers struggling to get by, then you find out
Speaker 1: you're pregnant. And I think these types of stories, as
Speaker 1: you've described our throughout your book, help us to connect
Speaker 1: and realize, well, what is that for me? But also
Speaker 1: giving permission to say it doesn't always look like this.
Speaker 1: It doesn't always look like rock bottom. Sometimes it's the
Speaker 1: daily life annoyances. But I also appreciate that's high end
Speaker 1: because when we talk about okay, money made easy, simplifying
Speaker 1: our money, feeling more confident in it, it feeling like
Speaker 1: an easy task for us, how do we get there?
Speaker 1: And I appreciate that your perspective is starting at a catalyst.
Speaker 1: Part of the way that we make money easy is
Speaker 1: figuring out, well, what is our motivator for engaging in this,
Speaker 1: and then how are we going to get there? So
Speaker 1: this is almost like step one, and I think this
Speaker 1: is probably how most people would describe a why, identifying
Speaker 1: your why. There's something I really love about the word
Speaker 1: catalyst though, that is I think unique to what you've
Speaker 1: identified here and the way that you describe it in
Speaker 1: this article. Breaking free of the shoulds requires a motivator
Speaker 1: that you call a catalyst. So a catalyst just essentially
Speaker 1: a motivator and really like a launching point, the thing
Speaker 1: that you can springboard off of, and the way that
Speaker 1: you also go into or the article says your reason
Speaker 1: for changing the way you spend and manage your money,
Speaker 1: it's the reason that you will sacrifice potentially for a
Speaker 1: period of time, so that you can live an abundance
Speaker 1: for the rest of your life. Sometimes it requires that.
Speaker 1: Sometimes as we identify our catalyst, it is going to
Speaker 1: mean than saying no to other things, not for the
Speaker 1: sake of deprivation, but for the sake of whatever our
Speaker 1: catalyst is, whatever our motivator is. And I've seen personally
Speaker 1: that can shift throughout life. I think that I experienced
Speaker 1: a catalyst in my debt payoff journey, and more recently,
Speaker 1: I'm experiencing different catalysts for different financial goals that I have,
Speaker 1: and so I think sometimes it can shift and change,
Speaker 1: and maybe we've got maybe multiple catalysts, like here's my
Speaker 1: catalyst for this goal, and here's my catalyst for that goal.
Speaker 1: I don't want to that's making it kind of complicated.
Speaker 1: All I look at one at a time.
Speaker 4: But that would overwhelm me, like being like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 4: I have to have all of these reasons that would
Speaker 4: overwhelm well me, but works for you. That's great. But
Speaker 4: I love You're exactly right. I love what you said
Speaker 4: about how your catalyst can change, and I think that's
Speaker 4: so true. I remember I was I was in Mexico
Speaker 4: with Jen and our friend Caroline, who we'll get to
Speaker 4: talk to here here from in a couple couple episodes,
Speaker 4: and we had this We're at this all inclusive resort drinking.
Speaker 3: You know, this is before Gen is pregnant.
Speaker 4: We're in this adults only pool and drinking and we're
Speaker 4: having these like very deep conversations about how in life
Speaker 4: it's okay to pivot, it's okay to change, it's okay to,
Speaker 4: as Jen says, throw a plot twist.
Speaker 3: And I think the same is.
Speaker 4: True when it comes to our catalyst and our reason
Speaker 4: behind it. The reason why I might have done that
Speaker 4: back then and made money choices back then and be
Speaker 4: willing to sacrifice then is totally different than now, and
Speaker 4: that's okay.
Speaker 3: I welcome that change.
Speaker 4: As I grow and change as a person, my views,
Speaker 4: my desires, my once, my dreams, my goals, and what
Speaker 4: I'm willing to work on will also change. And I
Speaker 4: think it's so beautiful because it just shows how money
Speaker 4: is so personal and we can't just like put it
Speaker 4: in this little box and say this is exactly what
Speaker 4: you need to do and this is exactly what will
Speaker 4: work for you.
Speaker 3: Because it's not true.
Speaker 1: I also like how the article goes on to talk
Speaker 1: about how your catalyst must be something that's at the forefront,
Speaker 1: not necessarily something that you are constantly thinking about and
Speaker 1: ruminating on and contributing to your anxiety, but something present
Speaker 1: and that is stronger than the frustrations that you will
Speaker 1: face along the way. So I think there's even some
Speaker 1: tips in that and identifying what is my catalyst, what
Speaker 1: is going to help make this easier? How am I
Speaker 1: going to stick to the plan? What is something that
Speaker 1: is at the forefront, what is something that's ever present,
Speaker 1: and what is something that's going to be stronger than
Speaker 1: the frustration's face? And I know we've kind of alluded
Speaker 1: to or touched on a bit. What's some of those
Speaker 1: can be? You've said rock bottom. You've also listed in
Speaker 1: the article that your catalyst could be the little annoyances
Speaker 1: throughout the day, your sleepless nights, your ever present desire
Speaker 1: for a vacation that just seems looming and unattainable but
Speaker 1: you want it so badly, or your desire for financial literacy. Like,
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be this massive story that culminates
Speaker 1: in someone's rock bottom. It could be these other things
Speaker 1: as long as we're making sure that whatever it is
Speaker 1: that we've identified is, as you've said, stronger than the
Speaker 1: frustrations that we're going to face on a daily basis
Speaker 1: in our efforts to simplify our money become more confident exactly.
Speaker 4: And I think it's important to note that those frustrations
Speaker 4: that you're going to face are going to change over time.
Speaker 4: So for example, when we were paying off debt and
Speaker 4: our catalyst was finding more money and our budget to
Speaker 4: send to debt so we could eventually keep all of
Speaker 4: the money we made. I remember my frustrations during the
Speaker 4: summer was seeing everyone take these beach vacations. I live
Speaker 4: in Texas and everyone goes to Florida, they go to
Speaker 4: Destin actually thirty a area, and I remember just thinking.
Speaker 3: Like, I want that.
Speaker 4: I want that, And my frustration was that I felt
Speaker 4: like I couldn't have that to the level that I
Speaker 4: wanted it, And I had to remind myself, Okay, like
Speaker 4: that doesn't mean you're never going to have it. But
Speaker 4: then guess what, come October that was no longer a
Speaker 4: frustration for me. My frustrations became something else. So your
Speaker 4: frustrations can change. But as long as you go back
Speaker 4: to your catalyst, it can allow you to at least
Speaker 4: pause and question right. And that's the goal. The goal
Speaker 4: isn't to be perfect. The goal is to pause and say, Okay,
Speaker 4: if I make this choice with my money, is that
Speaker 4: going to help me get closer to this goal? And
Speaker 4: the answer it can either be yes or no, and
Speaker 4: sometimes we still go ahead with it, and that's okay.
Speaker 3: It's not about being perfect.
Speaker 4: But when you have that thing to go back to
Speaker 4: and to think about, that's where I think the magic is.
Speaker 4: It's the willingness to pause and ponder.
Speaker 1: And then the article wraps up with an action point
Speaker 1: which we can all do. You could pause this podcast
Speaker 1: now and do it or do it at the end
Speaker 1: whenever you want, but to take ten minutes to journal
Speaker 1: or write down. If the word journal scares you, it
Speaker 1: makes you start to sweat. Just diary, writ down? No, Tay,
Speaker 1: I had a diary, Can I tell it?
Speaker 3: Really?
Speaker 4: Randozing, I had a diary in sixth grade and I
Speaker 4: felt weird.
Speaker 3: I was like past the dear diary stage.
Speaker 4: Of my life, but I felt weird being like dear diary,
Speaker 4: and I felt like I had to write a letter
Speaker 4: of someone.
Speaker 3: So I named my diary Jenny, and I was like,
Speaker 3: dear Jenny.
Speaker 4: And I yes, And I wrote to an imaginary person
Speaker 4: that was my diary.
Speaker 3: I'd have told anyone this except for my mom.
Speaker 1: Thanks for in trusting us. I'm going to make my
Speaker 1: dear Jenny well, dear Jenny. So take some time to
Speaker 1: write to Jenny yes, about what your catalyst could be.
Speaker 1: So some of the prompts in this to kind of
Speaker 1: get closer to understanding yourself in this way include what
Speaker 1: hopes do you have for your future? What can managing
Speaker 1: your money better do for your life? What is worth
Speaker 1: the temporary sacrifice? And changing your relationship with money? Those
Speaker 1: are just some questions. If, as you've listened to this
Speaker 1: first part of the podcast, you kind of have other ideas,
Speaker 1: go for it, but these are some of the really
Speaker 1: helpful questions that are going to help you really narrow
Speaker 1: down and focus in on what is my catalyst. And
Speaker 1: that's going to be a really great launching point for
Speaker 1: simplifying money, which gets us to this next article which
Speaker 1: I found really interesting. This one comes It's actually on
Speaker 1: linked In and it's titled personal finance is Simple, We
Speaker 1: make it complicated.
Speaker 4: I have all the thoughts about this article. I read
Speaker 4: this article and I was like, Okay, mister CFA guy
Speaker 4: I don't know his name is. I'm not even going
Speaker 4: to try to speak say his name because I will
Speaker 4: butcher it.
Speaker 3: But it says one idiot.
Speaker 1: It's his.
Speaker 3: It's how he describes himself.
Speaker 4: It's one of his like it's true, like things like
Speaker 4: he's the CEO of this and a financial literacy campaigner.
Speaker 4: And it also says one idiot. So that's interesting. But
Speaker 4: I really enjoy this article.
Speaker 3: Because I agree personal finance is simple.
Speaker 4: We make it complicated, and I think it's a collective
Speaker 4: we of the world and everything pulling at our attention,
Speaker 4: and all the different people telling us what we need
Speaker 4: to do, and everyone telling us what we need to buy,
Speaker 4: people telling us what we need to have prepared for
Speaker 4: when we die, and then all the options along with it.
Speaker 4: It's like when you go into the grocery store and
Speaker 4: you try to pick out a type of peanut butter
Speaker 4: and there's just like ninety different peanut butters.
Speaker 3: Life then it used to be that way.
Speaker 4: There was one type of peanut butter when you went
Speaker 4: into the grocery store, and.
Speaker 3: Back before we were before we were alive.
Speaker 4: And I think that we as a society make it complicated,
Speaker 4: and then we as ourselves can make it complicated too.
Speaker 3: So I love this.
Speaker 1: Why do we do that? I know? Sometimes I think
Speaker 1: it's job creation, Like make it complicated so that someone
Speaker 1: can be an expert and they can mystify it and
Speaker 1: take your money. That's my pessimistic feel.
Speaker 4: Well, I I'm more of a silver lining, half glass
Speaker 4: full kind of girl myself. I think that while we
Speaker 4: make it complicated because we think it needs to be
Speaker 4: complicated because money is so important.
Speaker 3: We know that money is important.
Speaker 4: It is it seeps into every aspect of our life
Speaker 4: for the of time. I mean, even thinking like I
Speaker 4: think about like, oh my gosh, what if I'm ninety
Speaker 4: years old and I'm in a nursing home and it's
Speaker 4: costing my kids ten thousand dollars a month? How do
Speaker 4: I make sure I don't run out of money? Like
Speaker 4: the fact that I that is a concern of mine
Speaker 4: and that I'm worried about that I'm doing that to myself.
Speaker 4: I make it complicated because I see it as important.
Speaker 4: And when we see something as important, sometimes we think
Speaker 4: it has to be complicated.
Speaker 3: Because it is important.
Speaker 1: But that's not that's for interesting theory. Yeah, we complicate
Speaker 1: things when they're important. I like that. So this article
Speaker 1: is primarily written around a piece of advice given what
Speaker 1: did they say like a while ago from a person
Speaker 1: named Scott Adams from the Dilbert cartoon Yes series, many
Speaker 1: years back. And it's just a simple one page financial plan.
Speaker 1: And yeah there is something too. I see a one
Speaker 1: page financial plan and I want to discount it for
Speaker 1: some reason, like, oh, well, it can be that simple.
Speaker 1: But then as I read through it, I don't see
Speaker 1: many holes to be poked. Certainly there are addendums that
Speaker 1: could be written to any one of these, and there
Speaker 1: are steps, and each step could take a long time,
Speaker 1: but it can be all written down in one page.
Speaker 1: And so I'll just go through and describe it and
Speaker 1: then we can kind of say a little bit more
Speaker 1: about it. But the one page financial plan is and
Speaker 1: it's titled Everything you Need to Know about Personal Investing.
Speaker 1: Make a will, pay off your credit card balance, get
Speaker 1: term life insurance if you have a family to support.
Speaker 1: Fund your four oh one K to the max, Fund
Speaker 1: your IRA to the max. Buy a house if you
Speaker 1: want to live in a house and can afford it.
Speaker 1: That's six months expenses. I do too, put six months
Speaker 1: expenses in a money market account, take whatever money is
Speaker 1: left over and invest seventy percent in a stock index
Speaker 1: fund thirty percent and a bond fund through any discount
Speaker 1: brokerage company, and never touch it until retirement. If any
Speaker 1: of this confuses you, or you have something special going
Speaker 1: on retirement, college planning, tax issue, hire a fee based
Speaker 1: financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio.
Speaker 1: That's it. That's the entire one page financial plan. And
Speaker 1: of course there are entire books that could be written
Speaker 1: on any one of these bullet points. So it's not
Speaker 1: to say that each of them aren't don't have things
Speaker 1: to do as a part of them, but what a summary.
Speaker 1: And it's also occurring to me, what an original TikTok
Speaker 1: almost like this is what we love. We love the
Speaker 1: bite size, like how do we get all this information
Speaker 1: into a six second video? Or like something that is
Speaker 1: super simple. We do love to simplify it, and then
Speaker 1: we also love to over complicate. I don't know, we're
Speaker 1: complicated creatures in some regard, but we can make complicated
Speaker 1: things more attainable and I think every one of these
Speaker 1: is is great. Certainly, there are circumstances where this wouldn't
Speaker 1: make sense. I mean, for me personally, I don't have
Speaker 1: one a four oh one K through the place that
Speaker 1: I work, So you know, I've got to look into
Speaker 1: and educate myself on one of the workarounds for that.
Speaker 1: Of course, you may not want to buy a house.
Speaker 1: For certain people, more than six months of living expenses
Speaker 1: would be good. But if we're looking for give me
Speaker 1: something bite size, what can I do here? It is?
Speaker 1: And I think this is simple.
Speaker 4: It is simple, but we make it so complicated. And
Speaker 4: you know why, I'm looking at this list right now,
Speaker 4: and I feel like a lot of people immediately and
Speaker 4: tell me if this is me being pessimistic, because I'm
Speaker 4: not usually pessimistic, I wonder I feel like a lot
Speaker 4: of people would look at this and they would say, well,
Speaker 4: that's great, but that doesn't apply to me. Because and
Speaker 4: we're always finding reasons why we stand out from this list.
Speaker 4: This not because you did, because I don't have a
Speaker 4: four to oh one K offered right, And so it's
Speaker 4: sometimes I feel like we discount everything on the list
Speaker 4: because because it it doesn't apply to us in one aspect,
Speaker 4: and sometimes I think that we discount this and we
Speaker 4: make excuses because because it's hard to work on our part,
Speaker 4: because it takes time and attention. And I can totally
Speaker 4: relate this to like my personal health journey right now
Speaker 4: and like trying to work out and get better and
Speaker 4: just in more shape, to where like I can run
Speaker 4: outside and play soccer with my kids and not feel
Speaker 4: like I have to stop.
Speaker 3: And it's like I.
Speaker 4: Only need one hour in the day to be very
Speaker 4: intentional about exercise, but I can find you all the
Speaker 4: reasons why I can't do it.
Speaker 3: And I feel like sometimes that's what we do with
Speaker 3: our money too.
Speaker 4: I don't usually actually like to relate money to like
Speaker 4: dieting or working out, but that was a very seamless
Speaker 4: analogy there.
Speaker 1: Sometimes there's overlap in those worlds, and we're whole people.
Speaker 1: So the issues and barriers that we face when it
Speaker 1: comes to our personal finance is our most likely very
Speaker 1: similar issues and barriers that we're facing in other aspects
Speaker 1: of our personhood physical, emotional, mental, and so I think
Speaker 1: it is worth moving through. I think growth in any
Speaker 1: one area or aspect of our life means growth in
Speaker 1: the entire thing. If we are able to learn how
Speaker 1: to get on a regular exercise routine, we are more
Speaker 1: likely going to be able to get on a budget
Speaker 1: because there are some similar brain pathways at work in
Speaker 1: being able to do that. And so I think that's
Speaker 1: another way of being able to talk about making our
Speaker 1: money easy is recognizing the intersection of all aspects of
Speaker 1: our personhood that just growth in any area of our
Speaker 1: lives is going to mean growth for the whole and
Speaker 1: it's going to help us financially, not to mention in
Speaker 1: other areas as well.
Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Mean I personally I think it's a great tie in.
Speaker 1: But then so so to move through the article, I
Speaker 1: think there. It then goes on because the author adds
Speaker 1: more to this one pager that was initially put out
Speaker 1: by this Scott Adams, and so they review the components
Speaker 1: of financial planning, and we'll go through each of them,
Speaker 1: but I'll just highlight the main categories that when it
Speaker 1: comes to financial planning, so we're not necessarily just talking
Speaker 1: about day to day managing personal expenses. We're talking about
Speaker 1: the whole thing of how do we manage our personal finances,
Speaker 1: not just how do we budget while that's a part
Speaker 1: of this, right, It's an aspect of it. Right. So
Speaker 1: we're talking about protection, savings, and growth primarily that everything
Speaker 1: we do with our financial planning falls under one of
Speaker 1: those three categories. And then there's some additional kind of
Speaker 1: outliers that are maybe good to have or good to do,
Speaker 1: So we'll go through them. If you want to kick
Speaker 1: us off with protection, what falls under that category when
Speaker 1: we're looking at protection, savings growth? What's protection?
Speaker 4: We have life insurance, health insurance, home and motor insurance.
Speaker 4: So basically we're just hoping that life doesn't just take
Speaker 4: advantage of us. Things happen and we are left up
Speaker 4: a creek without a paddle.
Speaker 3: How about that?
Speaker 1: Look at you all the creativity that we need to
Speaker 1: implement when explictives are taken away. I love, Yes, there
Speaker 1: we go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So, I mean, I definitely think that these are
Speaker 3: things that I think most people know that they're supposed
Speaker 3: to do and.
Speaker 4: Are actually pretty In terms of delegating them or actually
Speaker 4: going through the process can be very simple.
Speaker 3: Obviously.
Speaker 4: Health insurance usually you have someone at your HR at
Speaker 4: your job, if you're working a traditional nine to five
Speaker 4: offers health insurance. They're going to sit down and be like, Okay,
Speaker 4: we have these three days, guys, let's get you signed up.
Speaker 4: And so it's kind of like someone holding your hand
Speaker 4: through that home insurance same thing. If you're buying a house,
Speaker 4: you don't have a choice. You can't buy that house
Speaker 4: without home insurance policy. And then car insurance same thing.
Speaker 4: It's illegal to not have car insurance. Life insurance, though,
Speaker 4: I think, can be easily overlooked unless you have like
Speaker 4: a guide, someone telling you. And then it gets complicated
Speaker 4: when you go to a salesperson and they try to
Speaker 4: sell you something that might not be best for you,
Speaker 4: like before, like in that original list he talks about
Speaker 4: getting term life insurance and then he says, you want
Speaker 4: whole life insurance policy.
Speaker 3: It's worse, like don't get it.
Speaker 1: But there is humor throughout the art.
Speaker 3: There is there is humor.
Speaker 4: I think that we complicate it whenever we're trying to
Speaker 4: decipher what of the life insurance policies which one is
Speaker 4: best for our family, and other people complicate it for
Speaker 4: us when they try to sell us different things.
Speaker 3: Would you agree with that?
Speaker 1: Absolutely? And I would recommend term life insurance. Do your
Speaker 1: own due diligence on that. And also I want to
Speaker 1: add to this protection category and insurances. If you're renting,
Speaker 1: I would really encourage renters insurance because your landlord will
Speaker 1: only cover damage done to their property, not yours. That
Speaker 1: is not covered. And so especially if you've got items
Speaker 1: of high value that if they were lost in a fire,
Speaker 1: you would be devastated. Get those things covered. And renter's
Speaker 1: insurance is usually quite affordable, I want to say, less
Speaker 1: than one hundred dollars a month. So shop around, but
Speaker 1: I'm going to highly highly recommend that. I think it
Speaker 1: should be thinking, Oh, I'm renting, like it's all going
Speaker 1: to be covered. It's not. And I've seen way too
Speaker 1: many people think that they were covered and not be
Speaker 1: and really be up that creek with no path. Al.
Speaker 4: Yes, So there's a woman in my neighborhood and she's
Speaker 4: renting a house here. She's a family of five kids,
Speaker 4: and they had a water pipe burst in the middle
Speaker 4: of the night and they're upstairs, flooded the downstairs area
Speaker 4: and they had to leave their house for two weeks
Speaker 4: while the owner renovated the home. Well, they where were
Speaker 4: they going to go? Their renters insurance paid for a
Speaker 4: hotel and so they actually had two hotel rooms with
Speaker 4: like a suite because of the size of their family.
Speaker 4: They paid for that and they gave them a daily
Speaker 4: stipend for food, so that there alone, it covers the
Speaker 4: cost of that in it. It also replaced some of
Speaker 4: the items in their home that was lost. But it's like,
Speaker 4: we always think it's not gonna happen to us, but
Speaker 4: it will, and.
Speaker 1: Don't I think that exactly?
Speaker 4: I wish, I personally wish that Renter's insurance was a requirement,
Speaker 4: just like home insurance as a requirement.
Speaker 3: I wish Renter's insurance.
Speaker 4: And then I just I'm going to throw this one
Speaker 4: in there because of where I live in the Houston area,
Speaker 4: we also have flood insurance personally, just because we are
Speaker 4: in an area. Our house did not flood during Hurricane Harvey,
Speaker 4: but literally three fourths of a mile down the road
Speaker 4: it did. And even though we're not ever supposed to flood,
Speaker 4: I'm like, I don't want it's to me, It's not
Speaker 4: worth the risk. So we actually pay like six hundred
Speaker 4: dollars a year in flood insurance, and obviously for homes
Speaker 4: that might be in a flood area, it's required as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so this is the time to actually consider worst
Speaker 1: case scenario and what are you going to wish that
Speaker 1: you had in those circumstances. It's also a protection against
Speaker 1: some unnecessary anxiety that you can sleep at night knowing, well,
Speaker 1: you know what I did this step of protection. So
Speaker 1: then it moves into another component of financial planning, which
Speaker 1: is savings, and they outline both emergency savings and short
Speaker 1: term goal savings. We've talked about this ad nauseum through
Speaker 1: other podcasts episodes, but is good to be repeated here.
Speaker 1: And this is different from investing, which we'll get into
Speaker 1: in the next component of financial planning. But savings is
Speaker 1: literally the money that you have set aside that is
Speaker 1: easily accessible to you for those items emergency and short
Speaker 1: term goals. You've heard the advice to have six months
Speaker 1: worth of living expenses saved in an emergency fund. That's
Speaker 1: a great, that's great. Of course, some people will choose
Speaker 1: the route of three months, depending on their circumstances and
Speaker 1: their confidence and being able to get a job in
Speaker 1: the event of a job loss. And then you've got
Speaker 1: more recommendations. Primarily we just talked about this with or
Speaker 1: is it coming up? I forget. I don't want to
Speaker 1: give away other episodes, but for single people, it can
Speaker 1: be recommended, yes, to have a more beefy emergency fund,
Speaker 1: maybe something more along the lines of nine to twelve
Speaker 1: months worth of living expenses saved. So whatever you're going
Speaker 1: to feel most comfortable with. Obviously it spans the gamut
Speaker 1: of three to twelve months, but find yourself somewhere in there.
Speaker 1: Grow your emergency fund, and then you've got your short
Speaker 1: term goals, which we've also called sinking funds. So that
Speaker 1: can be a fund for home maintenance. That could be
Speaker 1: a fund for vacation. That could be a fund for
Speaker 1: giving or holidays, or you name it. Whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Are your things that you want to be in spending
Speaker 1: on the things that you value. Those are your short
Speaker 1: term goals. That's where you're going to put it into,
Speaker 1: hopefully a high yield savings account that you can then
Speaker 1: easily withdraw from. So that's the savings category.
Speaker 4: Yes, And can I throw in another short term goal
Speaker 4: that I recently started and I really love, please. So
Speaker 4: we have a really large backyard and I've always wanted
Speaker 4: a pool. My husband's been very against pools, very much against.
Speaker 1: It, and I am for it. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4: So he like what this was When I first started
Speaker 4: my business, I was like, I want a pool. He
Speaker 4: was like, Okay, when you're making this much money a year,
Speaker 4: we'll get a pool. Like almost like, oh, that's never
Speaker 4: going to happen. And like within two years I hit
Speaker 4: it and I was like, okay, are we getting a pool?
Speaker 3: And he was like, well no, I didn't know that
Speaker 3: was possible, Like I didn't think this was possible for
Speaker 3: your business. And I was like, oh yeah, now we're backtracking.
Speaker 4: So anyway, fast forward, We've moved into this home now
Speaker 4: we have a nice, beautiful backyard, and I still want
Speaker 4: a pool.
Speaker 3: My husband does not. We are conflicted. We've had people
Speaker 3: come out.
Speaker 4: We've had three different people come out to give us
Speaker 4: quotes and drop plans for a pool, but we just
Speaker 4: can't pull the trigger. And the reason why is because
Speaker 4: it we would have to take out a loan for it.
Speaker 4: We would and putting in a pool right now these
Speaker 4: days is like over one hundred thousand dollars. And so
Speaker 4: he says, I don't want you to sign up for
Speaker 4: that responsibility in your life, like you already are the
Speaker 4: breadwinner and the family I don't want you having that
Speaker 4: extra added pressure. So I said, fine, what if I
Speaker 4: save up for it in cash? Like what if I
Speaker 4: save one hundred thousand dollars in cash? And he was
Speaker 4: like great. But I didn't like the idea of just
Speaker 4: like putting it in a pool fund because I don't
Speaker 4: know if I want that yet, Like I'm not sold myself.
Speaker 4: So I have a Things I Want fund. It's just
Speaker 4: a savings fund that I can put money into.
Speaker 3: Usually it's like.
Speaker 4: If I get a bonus from my work, I will
Speaker 4: put it in there and I don't have to make
Speaker 4: a decision about what I'm going to spend that money on.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: It's not meant to cover emergencies. It's not meant to
Speaker 4: cover Christmas.
Speaker 3: It is meant to.
Speaker 4: Be used for any future goals that I haven't even
Speaker 4: been inspired.
Speaker 3: To have yet, or a pool whichever comes first.
Speaker 1: I love that, not locking yourself in. Yeah, and that's
Speaker 1: that's simplifying too, sometimes giving yourself just freedom open handed
Speaker 1: with some of these goals. But yeah, that's the savings category.
Speaker 4: Yes, And then we have growth, which I love this one,
Speaker 4: and that includes retirement planning, which we know is hey
Speaker 4: so important, but can be incredibly stressful, children, children's education,
Speaker 4: house purchase, so if you want to save up for
Speaker 4: a down payment on.
Speaker 3: A home, and then other goal based planning.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so I love that this is under the
Speaker 1: growth category because I know it might just be semantics,
Speaker 1: but we often hear people talking about saving for retirement,
Speaker 1: and I think we're trying to do some work to
Speaker 1: tease that apart, because while I understand what people are saying,
Speaker 1: you really want to be investing for retirement, You want
Speaker 1: to be saving for your short term goals and your
Speaker 1: emergency fund, because that primarily is talking about savings, meaning
Speaker 1: you're just taking the money, putting it aside. It may
Speaker 1: or may not grow by percentage is it's not investing it,
Speaker 1: you're wanting it easily accessible, but retirement investing, and so
Speaker 1: that's why they're putting it under this growth category of
Speaker 1: financial planning. And so the growth meaning that you are
Speaker 1: hopefully putting it into accounts that are going to earn
Speaker 1: interest on your money. So that is your four oh
Speaker 1: one K, your WROTH, four oh three B, other investment options. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the retirement investing and then growth. It's interesting to me, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that they put kids education under the growth maybe because
Speaker 1: your kids are growing, but of course if you're doing
Speaker 1: a five twenty nine.
Speaker 3: You're investing that money. So yeah, I would. I would
Speaker 3: definitely say that, but like and I, yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Don't know if I would put children's education in our growth. Personally,
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: You're investing in your kids to earn money, and I'm
Speaker 1: for you and your old age.
Speaker 3: I'm going to invest in you emotionally, so you'll take
Speaker 3: you'll want to take.
Speaker 1: Care of me. I always make a joke because Eric
Speaker 1: and I don't have any children, but my sister has
Speaker 1: four kids, and so I'm always joking that I'm going
Speaker 1: to identify one of them who seems like particularly interested in,
Speaker 1: you know, being with me until the very end. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna especially invest in this one because I think
Speaker 1: they might. I tell my sister, I'm like, can I
Speaker 1: just take one of your children in my old age
Speaker 1: to be the response to my God, I love that, Well,
Speaker 1: you've got four of them, can just wake me exactly?
Speaker 4: Well, even if you have your own children, don't guarantee
Speaker 4: they're going to do that. I asked my kids. No,
Speaker 4: I done that with my own kids. I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 4: which of you is going to take care of me?
Speaker 4: And I even asked Evan, my oldest. I was like,
Speaker 4: are you going to take care of me when I'm older?
Speaker 4: And he was like, no, James can do it. And
Speaker 4: I asked James and James was like, no, Evan can
Speaker 4: do it. And I'm like, one of you have got
Speaker 4: a step up, guys, maybe not now, but in the future,
Speaker 4: like you've got to step up.
Speaker 3: I need a leader here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's where we can help the kids out
Speaker 1: by having that retirement investing happening where you are planning
Speaker 1: for growth so that you're not putting a financial burden
Speaker 1: on your children, but hopefully they're going to be there
Speaker 1: to help make decisions as needed and make and advocate
Speaker 1: for you medically if that's needed. That would be the hope,
Speaker 1: I suppose, exactly. And then the article goes on to
Speaker 1: some other kind of good to have good to dos
Speaker 1: as it relates to financial planning, so certainly paying off
Speaker 1: credit card debt and other high interest loan debt. I
Speaker 1: love that they specify that, because it's not as if
Speaker 1: we can't carry any degree of debt. I know we've
Speaker 1: talked about this in other podcast episodes. Sometimes we can
Speaker 1: use it to our advantage, but it's that high interest
Speaker 1: debt particularly that we want to be really hap at
Speaker 1: and getting that gone as soon as possible so that
Speaker 1: we're not held back from these other goals. So that's
Speaker 1: going to be your credit cards and your other high
Speaker 1: interest debt, and that's really anything above six or seven
Speaker 1: percent interest rates. They also advise to make a will, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and I think even even for people who aren't married
Speaker 1: or don't have kids, I think this is really important.
Speaker 1: And I would put you know, medical decision making under
Speaker 1: this as well, So not even just a will for
Speaker 1: what happens to my stuff if I pass, but also
Speaker 1: what happens to me if I am in a coma,
Speaker 1: or I am in a situation where you know, medical
Speaker 1: decisions for me need to be made. Rather than the
Speaker 1: hospitals or some other person deciding who's going to make
Speaker 1: those decisions, you identifying who's going to make those decisions.
Speaker 1: If anything, I would argue this is almost more important
Speaker 1: for our single friends out there. Oftentimes you know, the
Speaker 1: spouse is the kind of go to or the child
Speaker 1: is the go to in that, but but name them,
Speaker 1: put it on paper, get it notarized, and then keeping
Speaker 1: family up to date. So certainly if you are married
Speaker 1: or you know you are single, and you've got people
Speaker 1: who are going to be your your your people, our attorney.
Speaker 1: Yeah right, it's I say, your people, keep them up
Speaker 1: to date, keep them involved, make sure that they know,
Speaker 1: and review it annually. This is one of those things
Speaker 1: that we don't have to be looking at regularly, especially
Speaker 1: when we're talking about these big overarching pieces of protections, savings, growth.
Speaker 1: A lot of this can be automated, but we should
Speaker 1: review it annually because things change, plot twists get thrown in,
Speaker 1: and we want to make sure that it's still relevant exactly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, things change. I have a I have not
Speaker 4: done this, but it's on my to do list and
Speaker 4: I need to just do it. I need to give
Speaker 4: myself a deadline. I want to create like a Google
Speaker 4: doc and give it to my mom and share it
Speaker 4: with my mom, and that gives her all of the
Speaker 4: passwords for everything, and even for our safe and where
Speaker 4: the will is located and all the things. Because if
Speaker 4: something God forbid were to happen to Matt and I,
Speaker 4: I want it to be as easy as possible for
Speaker 4: her to deal with all the mess you can't have
Speaker 4: to deal with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, almost like money made easy? Yeah, exactly making it easy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's interesting though, like sometimes sometimes there's a learning curve,
Speaker 1: sometimes there's work that needs to happen. It's not as
Speaker 1: if the entire process is easy, but the making it easy.
Speaker 1: We can do things that might require effort, that might
Speaker 1: require some investment of learning and gaining resources and tools
Speaker 1: so that it becomes easy with the process of making
Speaker 1: it easy. Exact For that reason too, I love the
Speaker 1: title of your book.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Do you know what else we make easy? It's not
Speaker 1: a plot twist because you always see it coming the week.
Speaker 6: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 6: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 6: is Williams. Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 6: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 6: that bill anymore. Fust bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 6: is the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hey y'all, this is Victoria from North Carolina. Last year,
Speaker 5: at Christmas time, I was so excited to buy my
Speaker 5: daughter one of the expensive lifelike baby dolls, and it
Speaker 5: was a bill that I'd loved paying for over the year,
Speaker 5: that bill has become very expensive as my daughter and
Speaker 5: I have enjoyed shopping for little baby things for her
Speaker 5: baby doll. This year we have given away the baby doll,
Speaker 5: and I am thankful to no longer have that bill
Speaker 5: that grew so large. But here's the best part. She
Speaker 5: named him William. Can't get better bill's than that. Thanks
Speaker 5: for you, guys, doo.
Speaker 1: Wow, Victoria. That felt like a wild ride, like a
Speaker 1: thirty second wild ride for small Thanks for calling in.
Speaker 1: But also okay, it was a bill that you were
Speaker 1: really excited about that you didn't mind paying. You were
Speaker 1: able to give a good gift to your daughter, but
Speaker 1: then that turned into needing to buy more things. Then
Speaker 1: it was like a bill you wish you didn't have.
Speaker 1: But then it was a.
Speaker 7: Bill named Bill, and then it was a bill you
Speaker 7: gave away. This is complicated, but you made it easy
Speaker 7: by getting rid of it.
Speaker 1: Oh well done.
Speaker 4: I feel like this is a really good lie lesson
Speaker 4: to your daughter on how parenting is.
Speaker 3: Like it's expensive.
Speaker 4: It does it like you have to care for it
Speaker 4: and you have to continue to put money in it,
Speaker 4: or like a pet, it's like whenever you have like
Speaker 4: I remember the first time I got a cat.
Speaker 3: My mom was I was in college min and was like,
Speaker 3: you know, this costs money. I'm like, it's fine.
Speaker 4: If I had had this experience at the baby doll,
Speaker 4: maybe I wouldn't have gotten that cat right away, because
Speaker 4: it's a lot of responsibility. This baby doll was a
Speaker 4: lot of responsibility.
Speaker 1: It's such a good lesson. I think that oftentimes we
Speaker 1: will only think about the upfront cost or investment of something,
Speaker 1: forgetting about what we're gonna want with that thing, then
Speaker 1: the maintenance costs, or just the desires that we have
Speaker 1: alongside it. I mean, it's an interesting thing to look at, Okay,
Speaker 1: the baby doll, but now now we want a carriage
Speaker 1: for it, and we want cute clothes, and we want
Speaker 1: all the miniature things, and when we want to set
Speaker 1: up a little room for it, and it just kind
Speaker 1: of becomes this whole mom stir William, this big bill
Speaker 1: named Bill, and man, you just cut ties with William,
Speaker 1: and I like that. It's it's a William you gave away.
Speaker 1: Well done. If you all listening happen to have a
Speaker 1: baby doll named William that you had to give away
Speaker 1: because it costs you too many bills, or you are
Speaker 1: a person named Bill, or you've just got some other
Speaker 1: tie into Bill. You know, we like to keep it vague.
Speaker 1: Visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill, leave us
Speaker 1: your bill, and now it's time for.
Speaker 3: Question.
Speaker 1: Have we added this.
Speaker 4: Aggressive that I like, I'm like excited but scared all simultaneously,
Speaker 4: you are in.
Speaker 1: The exact right place.
Speaker 3: It in the round.
Speaker 1: It's just the same as the rest of the podcast,
Speaker 1: just as we're coming to a close soon and there's
Speaker 1: more yelling because we've eased you into it now. Okay, great.
Speaker 1: So this question comes from Goldie, our amazing podcast manager,
Speaker 1: who asks us what was the best decision you made
Speaker 1: for simplifying your finances. Allison, you go first because you
Speaker 1: are our honored co host, so for my very special
Speaker 1: co hosts.
Speaker 4: So for our family, it was definitely our weekly budget meetings,
Speaker 4: which if I'm being honest or it's not every week,
Speaker 4: maybe every other week. But for us having a family,
Speaker 4: running a household together, having kids that were taking to
Speaker 4: theater and music lessons and soccer and all the places,
Speaker 4: it's really hard to get on the same page because
Speaker 4: you feel like you're just like sometimes two ships crossing
Speaker 4: in the night, or by the end of the night
Speaker 4: when you put the kids to bed and you come
Speaker 4: down and you just want to watch the newest episode
Speaker 4: of ted Lasso, which we did last night. So our
Speaker 4: weekly budget meetings allow us to kind of just like
Speaker 4: one and done, talk about money. Are we on track?
Speaker 4: Are there any changes we need to make? Let's pay
Speaker 4: off the credit cards in full and just get on
Speaker 4: the same page. That way, the rest of the week
Speaker 4: we can just be parents and partners.
Speaker 1: I like that, like getting a to do thing out
Speaker 1: of the way so that it's not interrupting your other
Speaker 1: connection exactly. That's cool. How long have you done these
Speaker 1: weekly budget meetings for?
Speaker 3: So we started them.
Speaker 4: It was actually my husband's idea, and I was like,
Speaker 4: that's ridiculous, which it's not, so he has good ideas.
Speaker 4: But we started them probably in twenty eighteen, and it's
Speaker 4: every Sunday. Sometimes we do them at dinner in front
Speaker 4: of the kids. Sometimes we don't, but we talk about
Speaker 4: all of that, but we also talk about just some
Speaker 4: other life things like, Okay, do you have any late
Speaker 4: night meetings this week? What are we cooking for dinner?
Speaker 4: A lot of times, like I'll make the meal plan,
Speaker 4: or he'll make the meal plan, and then things like, Okay,
Speaker 4: what are the kids have going on? We're in a
Speaker 4: very busy season just of the year and of our
Speaker 4: life with children, so we have different choir concerts and
Speaker 4: music recitals and a cub Scout graduation and all the things.
Speaker 4: So it allows us to get on the same page
Speaker 4: for the whole week.
Speaker 3: With our money and our life.
Speaker 4: That way, during the week we can just enjoy each
Speaker 4: other's presence and we don't have any of that like
Speaker 4: you said you were gonna pay off the credit card
Speaker 4: bell and or you said you were gonna pick him
Speaker 4: up from this, Like, no, we have all of that done,
Speaker 4: so that.
Speaker 3: Way we can just enjoy our life during the week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting because it sounds like a lot. It sounds.
Speaker 1: I'm sure anyone listening is like you do that every week,
Speaker 1: But that almost simplifies it because then there's not as
Speaker 1: much to do if you're looking at it that often.
Speaker 1: That's neat and it includes other things.
Speaker 3: Too, Yeah, like the mental energy.
Speaker 4: I'm not having to sit here and thinking like oh
Speaker 4: my gosh, when I get home or when Matt gets
Speaker 4: so many to talk to them about this or this,
Speaker 4: because I'm not living day by day anymore, which can
Speaker 4: be really stressful when your days are chaotic. I'm living
Speaker 4: week by week, so I have a plan for the
Speaker 4: week that my partner is on board with with our
Speaker 4: money and our life, so that way the rest of
Speaker 4: the week, I just need to take action and implement
Speaker 4: what we talked about.
Speaker 1: If that makes sense, yes, wow, mine is not quite
Speaker 1: as cool, but it's simple and it's automation. It amazes
Speaker 1: me still that so many people do not have certain
Speaker 1: things automated, and it just makes life so much easier
Speaker 1: that I have to set something up once, but then
Speaker 1: after that, like savings is automated, investing is automated, A
Speaker 1: lot of my bill pay is automated. Like it's just
Speaker 1: so simple. Then all I have to worry about is
Speaker 1: my discretionary spending.
Speaker 3: It's awesome, great.
Speaker 1: Do you have making sure that all of that is
Speaker 1: below My means.
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 4: But do you have all of that come out at
Speaker 4: a certain time? So I yeah, Like, for instance, like
Speaker 4: do you have it come out right after pay day?
Speaker 1: So both my husband and I get paid by weekly,
Speaker 1: but on each other's off weeks, so once a week
Speaker 1: we are receiving someone's paycheck. Okay, so I have oscillated
Speaker 1: my bills, like there are some that come out at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the month and some halfway through the month,
Speaker 1: so that can kind of volley between our two.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 4: And you can just anyone who's listening, You can ask
Speaker 4: for your pay your due date to be changed. So
Speaker 4: if it makes more sense for you to pay a
Speaker 4: bill at the beginning of the month, just ask for
Speaker 4: them to change your due date and typically they will.
Speaker 1: But that's very similar to bills I've broken. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: to buy monthly, like car payment, I make buy monthly,
Speaker 1: which allows me to add a little bit more to it.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that's I don't know, just all the different
Speaker 1: hacks you can do with automation.
Speaker 3: And then you don't have to think about it. Your
Speaker 3: mental energy is not bent on it.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, yeah, exactly, until like a bank account changes
Speaker 1: and you got to go back and remember, okay, what
Speaker 1: all comes out of that bank account?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, or your credit card gets stolen and your
Speaker 4: number gets stolen. Yes, which can I tell a really
Speaker 4: funny story about this?
Speaker 1: We love funny story.
Speaker 4: Okay, So I have a business and I have two
Speaker 4: business credit cards. I have one that I use primarily
Speaker 4: and I have.
Speaker 3: One that's just kind of like a backup. Just don't
Speaker 3: use it very often.
Speaker 4: Well, I also have a bookkeeper, and my bookkeeper there
Speaker 4: was like an Amazon purchase and she was like, what
Speaker 4: is this Amazon purchase?
Speaker 3: I have to categorize it.
Speaker 4: And I was like, I didn't make that Amazon purchase
Speaker 4: and she's like, well, it's here for this much money.
Speaker 4: We have to figure out what it is. And I'm like,
Speaker 4: oh my gosh, I think my credit card has been stolen,
Speaker 4: my business credit card. And I'm like, oh, do I
Speaker 4: really want to deal with this. I go through all
Speaker 4: of my Amazon orders. I'm like, did I buy something
Speaker 4: personal on accident with the wrong card. I cannot find
Speaker 4: this order, so I tell them I can't find it.
Speaker 4: But I think I'm just gonna ignore it because it
Speaker 4: wasn't that much money, and I know it's going to
Speaker 4: be such a hassle to switch everything over to.
Speaker 3: A new card, and I didn't want.
Speaker 4: I would rather pay the twenty five dollars of have
Speaker 4: it compromise, which is so awful.
Speaker 3: So she was like, Allison, no, you need to switch
Speaker 3: your card.
Speaker 4: I was like fine, cancel my card, report it as fraud,
Speaker 4: all of the things. And then I get an email
Speaker 4: I reported fraud on buying my own book.
Speaker 3: I bought a.
Speaker 4: Commy of my book on Amazon, and then I was like, oh, fraud.
Speaker 4: So Amazon is like, okay, we're canceling your order for
Speaker 4: money made easy because you reported it as fraud.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, I went through us to.
Speaker 1: My own but not only was it your own purchase,
Speaker 1: it was on your own book. Oh man, al that's too.
Speaker 4: Good, really embarrassing, and so yep, I had to I
Speaker 4: already canceled my card.
Speaker 3: I had the new one in.
Speaker 4: I had to sit down and go through my bank
Speaker 4: statement and change because everything comes out on my credit
Speaker 4: card with my business change all of the auto pays.
Speaker 4: So that way I didn't it miss something all because
Speaker 4: I marked my own.
Speaker 3: Book as a fraudulent purchase.
Speaker 1: So that's a great story.
Speaker 3: I have my own worst enemy.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your vulnerability there, guys, the vulnerability lightning round
Speaker 1: there we go. Oh, well, thanks everyone so much for listening.
Speaker 1: We hope that this was hopeful to you and figuring
Speaker 1: out how to simplify your money a bit, and of
Speaker 1: course definitely get Allison's book if you want more tangible
Speaker 1: tips on how you can simplify that make your money easy.
Speaker 1: Any of you also know we have a membership for
Speaker 1: our listeners who are paying off debt, where we do
Speaker 1: monthly money challenges and we offer accountability groups, which we
Speaker 1: know is so important in this personal finance journey finding
Speaker 1: other buds along the way. So we want to congratulate
Speaker 1: one of our members for a big win. This one
Speaker 1: comes from Jacqueline M who shared I decided to do
Speaker 1: another thirty day no spend this month. Whoa Jacqueline. Last month,
Speaker 1: I kept a list of what I wanted to buy
Speaker 1: when the no spend was over, and by the end
Speaker 1: of the month, there was only one thing I still wanted.
Speaker 1: It was very sobering. This month feels much easier to navigate.
Speaker 1: I feel quote unquote unhooked from the constant, relentless buying treadmill.
Speaker 1: Sometimes that's what we need. Jacqueline like that, it's like
Speaker 1: something to interrupt that pattern, shake it up, throw them
Speaker 1: a plot twist, and then realize that, oh wow, that
Speaker 1: I just needed a I needed an interrupter. I needed
Speaker 1: a disruptor to kind of show me that I don't
Speaker 1: actually care about these things. Yes, holy smokes, that's so cool.
Speaker 1: Well done.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's like a dtalks.
Speaker 4: You had a money detox and then you're able to
Speaker 4: introduce back in the spending that is valuable to you.
Speaker 4: I feel like so many people we should just do that,
Speaker 4: like once a month every year. I need to just
Speaker 4: schedule a money detox. I'm gonna choose it on the
Speaker 4: shortest month, February.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, congratulations, good one.
Speaker 4: Congratulations Jacqueline. That's amazing and I can't wait to hear.
Speaker 4: I hope I get to hear how month two of
Speaker 4: your thirty day no spend month goes.
Speaker 1: Yes, if you want to check in on Jacqueline, or
Speaker 1: just check in on the membership where we have all
Speaker 1: kinds of courses, interviews, challenges, just all kinds of amazing
Speaker 1: people like Jacqueline, head to Frugal friendspodcast dot com, slash
Speaker 1: club check it out, and after you do that.
Speaker 3: We will see you for another episode next time. I
Speaker 3: get to come back by Yeah, I get.
Speaker 1: To yay, we got more from Allison. See ya. Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Oh my, Allison, I
Speaker 1: don't even I'm still reeling from your story.
Speaker 3: I know, isn't it.
Speaker 1: It's funny because I have a similar story where I
Speaker 1: made like a an order on Walmart online and it
Speaker 1: was on a credit card that was connected to Eric's
Speaker 1: phone number, and the credit card company flagged it. They're like,
Speaker 1: this is weird. This probably wasn't you. And Eric looked
Speaker 1: at it and he thought, yeah, that's weird. Probably wasn't me.
Speaker 1: Didn't even think to ask me, just I am not
Speaker 1: a spender. That's the thing about me, is like I
Speaker 1: don't really need detoxes because I'm always just a little
Speaker 1: bit like I don't need that. Nah, I can. I
Speaker 1: can get by with what I have. It's actually kind
Speaker 1: of bad sometimes anyhow. He was like, no, certainly, I
Speaker 1: don't even need to check with Jill, like she just
Speaker 1: doesn't ever spend money, So like, I'm just gonna say
Speaker 1: it was fraudulent. Well, yeah, no it wasn't. I actually
Speaker 1: did go on Walmart dot com. But it's not as
Speaker 1: amazing as your story of like purchasing your own product.
Speaker 3: Yes, and then embarrassing. Then I had to go back
Speaker 3: to my bookkeepers and they were like.
Speaker 4: Oh, did you figure out like like where the scam
Speaker 4: was like, oh, and.
Speaker 3: Not even that.
Speaker 1: Are you ready?
Speaker 4: So then I'm I'm talking to Chase on the phone
Speaker 4: whenever I was originally telling them like, yeah, this is fraud,
Speaker 4: and they were like, okay, well we can see it
Speaker 4: comes from this Amazon account.
Speaker 3: Is this your Amazon account?
Speaker 4: I was like yes, and they're like, well, you're gonna
Speaker 4: need to change your Amazon password. So then I go
Speaker 4: to Matt, I'm like, we have to change our Amazon password.
Speaker 4: We have to be aware because someone might be in
Speaker 4: Amazon buying things like books that would buy my books.
Speaker 4: And so then like literally days later, that's like, this
Speaker 4: was literally your purchase your book.
Speaker 3: I had pre ordered it.
Speaker 4: So anyone who pre orders said the like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 4: I felt so stupid.
Speaker 1: Well that is a good tip because I have noticed
Speaker 1: that specifically with Amazon, when you buy things from different
Speaker 1: parts of Amazon, sometimes it doesn't show up like your
Speaker 1: your actual physical tangible orders will show up differently than
Speaker 1: digital orders, you know, like podcasts or books or your
Speaker 1: annual membership fee or whatever that is. And that usually
Speaker 1: does trip me up where I'll get this charge and
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, what is that. I don't see it
Speaker 1: in my orders. Oh, it's in the digital orders, or
Speaker 1: it's in this section of Amazon, so it is worth
Speaker 1: checking all of those things before canceling. But well, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, this is the irony of yeah.
Speaker 3: And you know what, I didn't even buy it again.
Speaker 3: I was like, whatever, my publisher sent me some copies.
Speaker 3: I don't even need to buy another.
Speaker 4: I'll I'll just let that one be a loss.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4: Well, you know it's just that that is how you
Speaker 4: know that no one has it all together. Like people
Speaker 4: don't have it all together. They only show you what
Speaker 4: they want you to see.
Speaker 3: And I wanted everyone to see my mess up. Mmm
Speaker 3: yeah beautiful, Yeah, so shoop perfect