Speaker 1: Episode one oh five, how to make ends meet without
Speaker 1: getting a side hustle. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast,
Speaker 1: where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and
Speaker 1: liver with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill m.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name's Jill, and today we are doing another special
Speaker 1: episode about how to get your finances together in this
Speaker 1: really weird financial time right now. We altered some of
Speaker 1: our schedule to fit this in, and yeah, it's so necessary.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're still wondering how long is this going
Speaker 1: to last? And what do we need to be thinking
Speaker 1: about and considering and taking care of our budgets and
Speaker 1: and even I know one of the things you wanted
Speaker 1: to talk about is just not not getting a side
Speaker 1: hustle on top of this. I know so many times
Speaker 1: we talk about, oh, add more to your plate, and
Speaker 1: sometimes it's just all you can do to figure out
Speaker 1: what you currently have going on. So and it's still
Speaker 1: a lot of people are out of work, and a
Speaker 1: lot of the work people did on the side, or
Speaker 1: I know, at least for me, like as a freelancer,
Speaker 1: a lot of the work that I could have been
Speaker 1: doing is on hold right now, and so that limits
Speaker 1: a lot of people's options. So this is a simple
Speaker 1: episode about how to make ends meet um and the
Speaker 1: number one answer is not going to be make more money,
Speaker 1: because that is the number one answer on a lot.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you can. But then beyond that we'll
Speaker 1: talk about and then even what you need to think
Speaker 1: about it to recover once this does come, once the
Speaker 1: dust settles a bit more, Now, what do we need
Speaker 1: to be setting our sights on because it's gonna look
Speaker 1: a lot different than than before. Yeah, and then we'll
Speaker 1: talk a little about the stimulus check as well. Awesome, First,
Speaker 1: our sponsors. Our episode is also brought to you by
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Speaker 1: launched in January and we took ninety people through it. Um.
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Speaker 1: helps you save five hundred extra dollars over the course
Speaker 1: of five weeks. And people really had a lot of
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Speaker 1: through right now. UM. So it's less than fifty bucks
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Speaker 1: let's talk about making ends meet without getting a side hustle.
Speaker 1: The first article that we're going to go through has
Speaker 1: a lot to do with mindset. It's from Don't Waste
Speaker 1: Your Money dot Com and it's five tips for getting
Speaker 1: back on your feet after a financial disaster. And this
Speaker 1: article is kind of talking about any financial disaster, but
Speaker 1: I think that it's super relevant right now. Yeah, agreed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the authors coming from the perspective of a personal financial crisis, uh,
Speaker 1: wrapped up in relational issues and all kinds of other
Speaker 1: things which we know that they are intertwined. And so
Speaker 1: this is even right now, what we're going through is
Speaker 1: probably bringing up all other kinds of layers relationally. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna go through the five tips. The first
Speaker 1: on is to know what you own and know what
Speaker 1: you owe, So essentially saying, let's get a handle on
Speaker 1: what we're even looking at. We can't make ends meet,
Speaker 1: we can't solve any problems if we don't even know
Speaker 1: what the problem is. And so certainly this is a
Speaker 1: time to refocus on what you own, what you and
Speaker 1: what you owe on what you own? Uh. And and
Speaker 1: this might sound really simple, but there are a lot
Speaker 1: of people and if this is you, you're not alone
Speaker 1: who kind of go on autopilot with buying things using
Speaker 1: credit cards, UM, loaning, going on payments to even buy
Speaker 1: furniture like that. It's it's common practice. And I think
Speaker 1: as long as we've got money coming in, we just
Speaker 1: kind of keep going. But it's times like this when
Speaker 1: who knows where our finances are going to go to say,
Speaker 1: all right, what are we looking at? What do we
Speaker 1: owe on different things? What do we own? Um? To
Speaker 1: really figure out what it is that you're working with, UM,
Speaker 1: how much debt you're potentially in, UM, what it is
Speaker 1: that you're spending money on, and go from there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it could be on the other side of the
Speaker 1: spectrum too. You could be really worried and anxious about it,
Speaker 1: and you just kind of list everything out, look at
Speaker 1: what your bills are, look at what your debts are,
Speaker 1: and you might see that it might just take a
Speaker 1: little bit of tweaking of the budget and you're okay,
Speaker 1: but get over that fear of actually listing everything out
Speaker 1: because it may not be as bad as you think
Speaker 1: it is, and if it is, then it's never going
Speaker 1: to get worse than it is right now. You can
Speaker 1: only go up from here as soon as you start. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that is the starting point. It can be scarier. It
Speaker 1: might not be scary. Yeah, it's usually scary. The second
Speaker 1: thing is to drain the emotion from your decisions. I
Speaker 1: know that for me, I've been super anxious um the
Speaker 1: past several weeks, and I'm not a typical I'm not
Speaker 1: typically anxious, So I can only imagine what other people
Speaker 1: are going through that emotion, that that anxiety, the fear.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that we've seen it impact a lot of
Speaker 1: people spending decisions hashtag toilet paper. So try to separate
Speaker 1: the emotion from your decision. Stop impulsive spending. Uh really,
Speaker 1: look at what you need and why you need it.
Speaker 1: Stop it with the treat yourself spending. Like, I know,
Speaker 1: being at home is difficult, you know, not working is difficult.
Speaker 1: But the more we try and make ourselves feel better
Speaker 1: with online purchases or drive through purchases, the deeper we
Speaker 1: get into this cycle, and it's creating habits that might
Speaker 1: persist once all of this is over, So just make
Speaker 1: sure you identify those and cut them off. Let's be
Speaker 1: let's try and be really practical about the spending we
Speaker 1: do right now. Yeah, and the worst we feel about
Speaker 1: it afterwards too. It's like temporary relief, but then long
Speaker 1: term it just kind of keeps perpetuating the problem. Yeah. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1: So the third one on this list is to take
Speaker 1: clear eye and bold action. And this is just speaking
Speaker 1: to It might take um a big swift move towards
Speaker 1: um drastic changes in your budget and the way that
Speaker 1: you approach finances. This may not be the time where
Speaker 1: just cutting out your morning Lante is going to do it.
Speaker 1: This might mean some some really difficult breaking of habits,
Speaker 1: but also setting of new habits, being okay with going
Speaker 1: without on certain things or even luxuries. Um, And I
Speaker 1: think just the time to to hunker down and and
Speaker 1: find the motivation to take very clear and as it says,
Speaker 1: bold actions in the direction of making your your money
Speaker 1: work when it when everything is so chaotic or there's
Speaker 1: not a lot of money. Yeah. So that means like
Speaker 1: saying no to family that might be asking for money
Speaker 1: or making other decisions that other people may not agree
Speaker 1: with or might be out of your character, But are
Speaker 1: you moving in the right direction for you? At this point,
Speaker 1: You're turning over a new leaf and you are beginning
Speaker 1: to just make the decisions that are right for you.
Speaker 1: And I think something that goes along with that too,
Speaker 1: is like, don't play the victim. Like there are a
Speaker 1: lot of things that are happening to you, but they
Speaker 1: are the same things that are happening to millions of
Speaker 1: other people around the world, and we are all sad
Speaker 1: for each other, but I don't think any of us
Speaker 1: are direct victims in this, And so just separating yourself
Speaker 1: from that too, and saying like, I am in control
Speaker 1: of where I go from here. I am in control
Speaker 1: of what I do now. Things are not happening to me.
Speaker 1: I am reacting and acting in the midst of things happening. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The fourth is to build a support team. You can't
Speaker 1: do this on your own. And I know I'm a
Speaker 1: proud person, I'm strong, independent woman, and I'd like to
Speaker 1: believe I can do it on my own, but there
Speaker 1: are many reasons that I can and I have to
Speaker 1: rely on other people, not just financially but emotionally. Too.
Speaker 1: Um So. I mean that's meaning if you are suffering
Speaker 1: from anxiety and depression, like you're seeing somebody virtually or
Speaker 1: in person to get help with that. You are surrounding
Speaker 1: yourself with good family and friends um via like Zoom
Speaker 1: Happy Hours or or whatever like digital card games. Establish
Speaker 1: your community and reach out to them, even if that's
Speaker 1: out of your character. I understand it's out of my character.
Speaker 1: But you need people to support you in this, and
Speaker 1: you need the right people. You don't need people that
Speaker 1: are gonna tell you you're a victim and make you
Speaker 1: feel bad about things you spend or make you feel
Speaker 1: good about spending money you shouldn't like, choose healthy people
Speaker 1: to be on your team. Yeah, this time really exposes
Speaker 1: our vulnerabilities. So much has been stripped away, whether that's
Speaker 1: job loss or you have the ability to be social.
Speaker 1: So much has been taken and I think it's important
Speaker 1: to find ways to be able to regain some of
Speaker 1: that control, but also learn ways to protect that vulnerability,
Speaker 1: which can be surrounding yourself with trustworthy people. That the
Speaker 1: more and more you isolate, even when it's so easy
Speaker 1: to do that right now, just the greater and greater
Speaker 1: the impact of the distressing things are going to have.
Speaker 1: So yeah, finding finding people who are going to help you.
Speaker 1: And last on this list is they say rely on
Speaker 1: the best expert on your finances, which is you. And
Speaker 1: this is an interesting one because we are not all
Speaker 1: financial planners or experts on finances. However, we are the
Speaker 1: experts with our own finances, or at least the ones
Speaker 1: who are able to make the decisions that are going
Speaker 1: to be best for us. Certainly, this would mean research,
Speaker 1: this would mean consultation with people who are experts, but
Speaker 1: ultimately this relies on us. No one else is going
Speaker 1: to do this for us. No one else is going
Speaker 1: to dig us up out of the rut, make our
Speaker 1: budgets work, make the ends meet. That's on us. And
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we can fall back into this traps
Speaker 1: and we were what you were saying about being the
Speaker 1: victim of I can't do that. I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: good with numbers. I don't know, I can't I can't
Speaker 1: do it. I don't calculate, or I'm not a nerd. Well,
Speaker 1: if you can add and subtract, you can do your budget,
Speaker 1: you can figure out your finances, and you can fill
Speaker 1: in the rest with additional resources and research. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think at the end of the day, you've got to
Speaker 1: make the moves in this and you've got to take
Speaker 1: control rather than playing the victim to whatever you think
Speaker 1: is happening to you with your finances. You are the
Speaker 1: CEO of your life. And if you kind of view
Speaker 1: it in that way, like CEOs don't know everything about
Speaker 1: everybody and everything going on at their company. They delegate
Speaker 1: the things they're not good at, but they still take
Speaker 1: on the hard tasks that their employees can't do. You
Speaker 1: are the CEO of your life. So the things you
Speaker 1: can't do, there are apps and software programs that can
Speaker 1: help you, but you ultimately have to make the hard
Speaker 1: decisions for your life for your company. That comes down
Speaker 1: to you. Nobody's going to do it for you. So
Speaker 1: just keep telling yourself, like I am the CEO. I
Speaker 1: am the CEO, Like I am the most important person
Speaker 1: in this company of me, and like I'm going to
Speaker 1: delegate what I can't do, and I'm going to make
Speaker 1: the hard decisions when I have to because that's my job.
Speaker 1: That's an adulting, adult thing. I know this is what
Speaker 1: scares people about being an adult. But there's friends and
Speaker 1: community and support to help you through that. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: so our next article is from Mulana Mulanomy. I can't
Speaker 1: say that word like it's a two words put together.
Speaker 1: It's moolah and economy put together. So think of that.
Speaker 1: And that's the name of this blog dot com. It's
Speaker 1: not an economy of cows money money, and it is
Speaker 1: ten tips for surviving on a limited budget. Yes, and
Speaker 1: we're not going to go through all ten, but um
Speaker 1: definitely gonna share a phaves. Yeah. So I liked number
Speaker 1: one on here, which is fine, tune your budget. You're
Speaker 1: gonna hear me say it again and again, just ceo
Speaker 1: you have. That's nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants
Speaker 1: that to be the first one on the list if
Speaker 1: you've not done your budget, and you should probably just
Speaker 1: turn this podcast off real quick and go do that
Speaker 1: and then come back on. So I think sometimes we
Speaker 1: can think, all right, there's no wiggle room. I've got
Speaker 1: my budget pretty well hammered out, or I don't have
Speaker 1: a budget, yeah, in which case I already spoke to you.
Speaker 1: But I would say, look again, especially in times of
Speaker 1: financial crisis, we can think, yeah, no, it's some bare
Speaker 1: bones look again, Look again, Ashta, look again. Yeah, guaranteed,
Speaker 1: if you are not looking at your budget often there
Speaker 1: is wiggle room. There is something that can be cut,
Speaker 1: that can be trimmed, that can be eliminated, that can
Speaker 1: be combined, whatever you want to do. There's there is
Speaker 1: wiggle room in there called gen She'll find it for you.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't have to be long term like this budget.
Speaker 1: The budget is fluid. You do not set it and
Speaker 1: forget it. You revisit it often. And so if you
Speaker 1: are cutting a lot out right now, that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you're going to be cutting a lot out forever. This
Speaker 1: is a unique time and you're going to have a
Speaker 1: unique budget for this time. You can slice and dice
Speaker 1: something for the time being that will eventually come back
Speaker 1: into place. So yeah, that's disappointing, but it's not it's
Speaker 1: not a loss for forever. Yeah, definitely. Um And then
Speaker 1: number two stick with the basics. So again, this is
Speaker 1: a really unique time and so we don't have to
Speaker 1: be creating these normal meal plans. We don't have to
Speaker 1: have a normal time with kids, Like it's okay, your
Speaker 1: kids are sitting in front of like nanny TV. And
Speaker 1: that's how I was raised just fine. But like they
Speaker 1: don't have to be doing crafts. They don't have to
Speaker 1: be going like two parks as we've already been seeing,
Speaker 1: like you just can't so And it's the same with
Speaker 1: your finances, beans and rice Italian Mexican, like just having
Speaker 1: these staple things you do every week, something that's predictable,
Speaker 1: so that you don't have to think very hard, because
Speaker 1: chances are your thinking really hard about a lot of
Speaker 1: other things, and that's giving you decision fatigue. So when
Speaker 1: we go into decision fatigue, will make the really easy
Speaker 1: decisions and then the difficult decisions suffer because our brains
Speaker 1: are expended. And that's when we can't carry out our
Speaker 1: CEO duties of making good decisions for our company. I'm
Speaker 1: running with this, We're not getting away from it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so you have to make as few decisions as possible.
Speaker 1: So set up simple systems and bring things back to
Speaker 1: the basics. This is not a time to become iron chef,
Speaker 1: though I'm sure you many of you have tried. I'm
Speaker 1: in quarantine. I'm going to make lavish meals. That's you
Speaker 1: probably already feel, so like, don't feel guilty, It's fine.
Speaker 1: You were set up to fail from the beginning. I
Speaker 1: like what you're getting as far as freeing up emotional
Speaker 1: and mental resource and recognizing that we need that to
Speaker 1: be able to pay attention to our finances and make money.
Speaker 1: If if we kind of expend all of that in
Speaker 1: some of these peripheral areas, it really can rob from
Speaker 1: the more essential priority things. Yeah, okay, I also liked
Speaker 1: number four on here, which is downsize your life so
Speaker 1: you may not even realize how much stuff you have.
Speaker 1: I know I didn't. I mean, Eric and I live
Speaker 1: in a hundred seventies square feet and we've moved just
Speaker 1: about every year of our marriage, which is coming up
Speaker 1: on eight years, so that's those are fun percentages. But
Speaker 1: every single time we move, of course, it kind of
Speaker 1: leads to this purge of stuff, and we live small
Speaker 1: and we still comment on how much we've collected. So
Speaker 1: I know we're not alone and that like guaranteed, we
Speaker 1: all have a ton of stuff, and this could be
Speaker 1: a time to look at not only what do I
Speaker 1: have that I could sell to be able to make
Speaker 1: some money to beef up my emergency fund, but also
Speaker 1: what do I have that again is taking up mental
Speaker 1: and emotional space that I could get rid of to
Speaker 1: just free myself up a little bit. But also what
Speaker 1: can I get rid of that I'm not spending time,
Speaker 1: energy and money to maintain. I think sometimes we we
Speaker 1: run into obstacles and we still try to figure out
Speaker 1: ways to make status quo work. All Right, I got
Speaker 1: obstacles coming at me, But how do I make sure
Speaker 1: we are still operating up here? And this time? Any
Speaker 1: financial crisis or uncertainty requires a change of perspective to
Speaker 1: bring it down a couple of matches and say, no,
Speaker 1: we're not status quo. It's not life as usual. We've
Speaker 1: got to make perspective changes. We've got to make some
Speaker 1: hard shifts in the way that we're living, in the
Speaker 1: way that we're spending. Not just how do I keep up?
Speaker 1: How do I keep going with where I'm living when
Speaker 1: my finances aren't there? Okay? Then shift It might even
Speaker 1: mean moving. I don't want to be dramatic, but for
Speaker 1: some people it could mean do I have too large
Speaker 1: of a house that it's just stressing me out? Do
Speaker 1: I have too many vehicles? Is my car payment just
Speaker 1: way too much money? And if I didn't have it,
Speaker 1: then I wouldn't have to be worried about making ends meet.
Speaker 1: So again, you're going to have to make the decisions
Speaker 1: that are right for you and right for your family.
Speaker 1: But I do think that these types of times call
Speaker 1: for thinking outside the box and changing our perspective and
Speaker 1: simplifying your space translates into simpler spending. When you are
Speaker 1: surrounded by clutter, it clutters your mind, and in reality,
Speaker 1: it does clutter your mind and it impacts your decision making.
Speaker 1: And with a simpler space, a simpler schedule, a simpler
Speaker 1: meal plan, you have more room to make better decisions.
Speaker 1: So I mean and all spending really is. Staying in
Speaker 1: budget is just about deciding to do the right thing
Speaker 1: when you open your wallet, deciding to open it or
Speaker 1: to not open it. Yeah, that's what it comes down to.
Speaker 1: So just do everything in your power to set your
Speaker 1: surroundings up to make those better decisions. Yeah. The next
Speaker 1: one that I liked was don't utilize credit This would
Speaker 1: be a really easy time to apply for credit card,
Speaker 1: just in case when they're hunting you down they want
Speaker 1: you to. Yeah, and I love credit card. It's for
Speaker 1: travel hacking purposes, so you will never hear me speak
Speaker 1: bad about a travel rewards credit card, but I don't
Speaker 1: have one because I need it. I don't have it
Speaker 1: just in case I have it, I paid off every month,
Speaker 1: and I would do the same thing with a debit card.
Speaker 1: So don't get one right now, because you are only
Speaker 1: setting yourself up for future financial turmoil, for future debt.
Speaker 1: You'll only be doing yourself a service to avoid using
Speaker 1: credit right now, like you said, Jen, because of the
Speaker 1: further financial impact that that will have down the road.
Speaker 1: To be surviving off of it right now, it is
Speaker 1: far better to make some drastic changes in your spending
Speaker 1: than to go into further debt. Okay. Number six on
Speaker 1: here is shop outside the box. So this is talking
Speaker 1: about when you are spending, how can you cut so
Speaker 1: going to farmers markets if you have them nearby, or
Speaker 1: even like roadside stands, dollar stores, thrift stores for essentials
Speaker 1: if they're open, I mean, or just not spending. Ultimately, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think one of the biggest things right now for
Speaker 1: spending since a lot of things are at the time
Speaker 1: of this recording closed, I'm not sure how it will
Speaker 1: be when this comes out, but eBay and Facebook marketplace,
Speaker 1: those will never shut down. So I mean just use
Speaker 1: your best judgment when ordering. But and we always say this,
Speaker 1: if you need something, think used first, choose secondhand first.
Speaker 1: Just check to see if it's available secondhand before you
Speaker 1: go buy it new, and you don't have to wait
Speaker 1: forever to find its second hand. Just check and do
Speaker 1: your due diligence before you automatically by new, and look
Speaker 1: around the house see what you already have that you
Speaker 1: can reuse. Last on the list that we're going to
Speaker 1: go over is number ten. Plan for the big picture.
Speaker 1: A real problem we have in the middle class is
Speaker 1: that we are focused on the here and now, and
Speaker 1: we make decisions for a month out, a few months out,
Speaker 1: if that if we are lucky, maybe a year out
Speaker 1: if we're if we think we're smart. But other people,
Speaker 1: people that have wealth plan for the big picture. And
Speaker 1: it's not even necessarily because they have enough money to
Speaker 1: plan for the big picture. They were raised probably I
Speaker 1: don't know, or acquired this knowledge to think of the
Speaker 1: long term implications of their current choices. So whenever you
Speaker 1: are making a choice, a decision to spend or not
Speaker 1: to spend, think about the ramifications it will have long term.
Speaker 1: And that I mean that is different for everyone. So like,
Speaker 1: I'm not even gonna give any examples. Um, but you know,
Speaker 1: for you what your purchase is are going to look
Speaker 1: like long term. You know what it's going to look
Speaker 1: like if you decide to move or give up your
Speaker 1: car or whatever. And I would say most of the time,
Speaker 1: those long term implications, if you're giving something up and
Speaker 1: spending less, are going to be inherently positive. Start to
Speaker 1: change your mindset to be one of thinking about the
Speaker 1: big picture, not just the result the immediate result of
Speaker 1: your spending. Yeah. And again that's taking some of the
Speaker 1: emotions out of what I want right now, what I
Speaker 1: think will give me instant gratification versus the long term. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know what else is long term? That I mean
Speaker 1: so part of my big picture, but also instant gratification.
Speaker 1: The bill of the week, that's right, it's time for
Speaker 1: the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby
Speaker 1: was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid
Speaker 1: off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy
Speaker 1: to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's bills,
Speaker 1: Buffalo bills, Bill Clint, this is the bill of the week,
Speaker 1: Hiden and Joe. I am calling to tell you about
Speaker 1: my favorite still, which is the monthly bill I pay
Speaker 1: to the Financial Jam. The Financial Jim is a place
Speaker 1: where anybody at any level of finance or income experience
Speaker 1: can go get professional help with their money. And now
Speaker 1: more than ever, I am so so thankful to have
Speaker 1: my financial trainer, Sarah, helping me through this crazy, crazy
Speaker 1: time of postal insulation and Elizabeth's madness. Um So I
Speaker 1: have never been more thankful to be a member of
Speaker 1: the Financial Jam. I pay the still every single month,
Speaker 1: but it is the best bill I pay. And I
Speaker 1: really think that everybody could gain some some help from
Speaker 1: a professional financial trainer. Yeah. I have heard of the
Speaker 1: financial gym. Real good. Yeah, it's amazing, So highly recommend
Speaker 1: if you are looking for a financial trainer, you can
Speaker 1: search the financial Gym. I mean, I have used those
Speaker 1: metaphors of stretching muscles, exercising muscles. Yes, thank you, thank
Speaker 1: financial to do that. Yeah. And if you have a trainer,
Speaker 1: whether it's financial or I don't know, maybe it's personal,
Speaker 1: in your fitness or in your life. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Some bill witnessing your fitness, Yes, witness the fitness. Send
Speaker 1: it to us at Frugal Friends podcast dot com. Slash bill.
Speaker 1: We want to hear all about it, which our spirits
Speaker 1: in this and we will share it on this podcast. Well,
Speaker 1: now it's time for the learning world. Yeah, Okay, there's
Speaker 1: a baby sleeping here, so we can't because this is
Speaker 1: our last time recording in the same room together. Now
Speaker 1: sadness all right, So for the Lightning round, we're going
Speaker 1: to go over how to spend your stimulus check. Uh
Speaker 1: sorry to our international listeners. This is directed towards our
Speaker 1: US listeners. But how to spend that stimulus check if
Speaker 1: you're getting one, yeah, if it's not already spent. Right,
Speaker 1: And so I did a YouTube video on my channel
Speaker 1: Modern Frugality about the steps to go to the order
Speaker 1: of operations. So, whether you are overwhelmed because you have
Speaker 1: so many things that you need to pay that won't
Speaker 1: cover it, or you're in an okay place and you're
Speaker 1: just looking for how to optimize the or more that
Speaker 1: you're getting, walk through these steps. And we're just going
Speaker 1: to go through like a few of them today in
Speaker 1: the Lightning round. Because it's quick, it's lightning, it's lightning.
Speaker 1: The lightning round usually isn't that quick, but we're saying it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have to say it. So start with your four
Speaker 1: walls is in what are your needs and your basic needs?
Speaker 1: So we're talking food, housing utilities. Are you having difficulty
Speaker 1: covering those? Then certainly that's what this should go to. Jill,
Speaker 1: I wrote down a fourth one and totally skipped over
Speaker 1: it because that's not a real thing. So traditionally the
Speaker 1: four walls have been uh, food, housing, utilities, and clothing.
Speaker 1: But like I do not believe clothing is one of
Speaker 1: those necessities. Netflix is the fourth necessity, and I if
Speaker 1: you believe me, can you please agree with me in
Speaker 1: the YouTube comments of this, I'm going to tell people
Speaker 1: to spend their stimulus on Netflix. Make sure that you're
Speaker 1: covering the four ethics and morals to adhere too. Well,
Speaker 1: if you don't think I have then ethics, you have
Speaker 1: your own ethics and let me know and I have mine. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, So your three walls if you live in
Speaker 1: a triangle house, I don't know. I live in a
Speaker 1: campers kind of too, and then like and then like
Speaker 1: a curve that comes up and around and cocoons us
Speaker 1: from front to back again. Okay. Once, So if you
Speaker 1: don't have any income coming in and you've exhausted all
Speaker 1: of your aid options, then use it on your four walls.
Speaker 1: If you have some coming in, whether from a salary
Speaker 1: or half salary or whatever, then use it for your
Speaker 1: emergency fund. You should be able to be your own stimulus,
Speaker 1: so you should have at least five hundred dollars up
Speaker 1: to six months of bare bones expenses, so maybe fifteen
Speaker 1: th I don't know what that looks like for you,
Speaker 1: but you need to have some money set aside, separate
Speaker 1: bank account that you do not carry the debit card for,
Speaker 1: and you do not easily access for online chopping, and
Speaker 1: don't save the password in the Google there, it's there
Speaker 1: in case you need it. Nice. Yeah. The next is
Speaker 1: high interest debt. So if you've got UH debt to
Speaker 1: be paid that is collecting a lot of interest, then
Speaker 1: that's a good priority. Over six percent is something that
Speaker 1: I would consider high interest personal loans, credit cards, and
Speaker 1: certainly right now I know that student loan debt is
Speaker 1: like the interest rate is zero right now, right, But
Speaker 1: that won't last forever, so so use your discernment on
Speaker 1: that one um that is not covered in this lightning round.
Speaker 1: But our final one is if you have an emergency
Speaker 1: fund if you are debt free and you solve money
Speaker 1: coming in, I would encourage you to give your stimulus
Speaker 1: check away, to give it away because there are people
Speaker 1: who really needed more than they didn't get it. And
Speaker 1: you can be the person that impacts people to the
Speaker 1: extent they need to be given to. So, um, there
Speaker 1: are three ways that we are giving our check. We're
Speaker 1: giving a third of it to our neighbors, so people
Speaker 1: directly to people in the local community. Just don't know
Speaker 1: who those people are, but you'll find yeah, yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: find them. Um. Second is to local charities, so charities
Speaker 1: that directly help people in our community. And then the
Speaker 1: third is local businesses, so divving those up and trying
Speaker 1: to put it back into our community. Yeah, that one
Speaker 1: I can get on board with. And and again, if
Speaker 1: if you're having trouble making your own ends meet, then yes,
Speaker 1: this is for you. If you're not, then please give
Speaker 1: it away. Consider being generous. It's money you were not
Speaker 1: anticipating having. It's certainly not for or vacations for the
Speaker 1: coolest clothing right now. Like, I mean, that's that's my
Speaker 1: personal opinion. You can fight me on it, but I
Speaker 1: just I think this is to help people sustain right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's a stimulus check, like stimulate your community with it,
Speaker 1: so if you can. But yeah, so that's that's what
Speaker 1: we have. So if you got a lot out of
Speaker 1: this episode, if it taught you things that you needed
Speaker 1: to hear, the five Weeks to course pretty much goes
Speaker 1: through all of this and just goes deeper and tells
Speaker 1: you how to do it. So how to control impulse spending,
Speaker 1: how to transform your habitual spending, how to simplify things
Speaker 1: to effectively simplify your spending. It's five modules, five coaching calls,
Speaker 1: and we we do deep dives. So check it out.
Speaker 1: Five Weeks to five dot com enrollment opens today and
Speaker 1: closes April, and I would love to answer any questions
Speaker 1: you have about it. Just email me or message me
Speaker 1: on Instagram and yeah, we'll talk about it nice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you guys so much for listening. And we want
Speaker 1: to also thank you for your kind reviews that you're
Speaker 1: leaving us on iTunes and Stitcher, and we want to
Speaker 1: read one of them as an example. This one says
Speaker 1: thanks for the inspiration. It's five stars. They say love
Speaker 1: listening to y'all as I pay off my debt appreciated
Speaker 1: the different guests A A P zero zero zero nine.
Speaker 1: That's the name, not the part of the video. That's
Speaker 1: the name. Thank you, Thank you double a pot nine yikes.
Speaker 1: So we also want to thank those of you who
Speaker 1: have been sharing the episodes on Facebook and Instagram. That
Speaker 1: helps get the word out and uh lets people know
Speaker 1: who's listening and why they should listen and what we
Speaker 1: have to offer. So we are still doing our draw
Speaker 1: ring for ten dollar Amazon gift cards. For every five
Speaker 1: social tags or reviews that we get, we are giving
Speaker 1: away ten dollars tagging the latest episode, so it's not
Speaker 1: just oh, frugal Friends, here's a shout out is the
Speaker 1: latest episode, and also keep leaving us reviews on iTunes
Speaker 1: or Stitcher and you can still send the screenshot to
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com. That will also
Speaker 1: enter you to win the ten dot Amazon gift card.
Speaker 1: So thanks guys. Stay safe, stay home if that's still
Speaker 1: a thing, as anticipate it will be, So be wise
Speaker 1: with your money, be kind to yourself. Frugal Friends is produced,
Speaker 1: edited and mixed by Eric Siria. Can we talk about
Speaker 1: that bug that has been harassing you this whole episode.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you could see it in a
Speaker 1: YouTube video. Yeah, maybe they have there. You know, you
Speaker 1: might have seen it more than I did. There were
Speaker 1: a couple of times that I saw it fly by.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm just going to ignore this thing. Well
Speaker 1: every time, I'm lucky at you and nested in my hair.
Speaker 1: Probably at this point, Yeah, it's been all around you.
Speaker 1: I have a nice aura. I'm when to name it, Neil.
Speaker 1: That's an inside joke referencing an older gentleman who took
Speaker 1: a liking in me, Yes, a keen liking to you.
Speaker 1: Have you ever an old Scottish man? If you've ever
Speaker 1: walked somewhere with Jill and then a man says the
Speaker 1: pretty one and it doesn't look at you, then you
Speaker 1: know how I feel. We've already gone over this. This
Speaker 1: is attention that you don't want, Like we all know
Speaker 1: you're a dime piece, but we all want all the
Speaker 1: attention always from Neil, Not this time now, Nope, well nope,