Speaker 1: Episode two seven Cokebo, the Japanese art of mindful budgeting.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liberal life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill m okay, yeah now you can sing.
Speaker 1: Jill so much so excited for this episode. I'm Jen,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. I'm Jill, and we
Speaker 1: are bringing you an episode today that proves there is
Speaker 1: literally nothing new under the sun. Like if anybody says
Speaker 1: they've come up with a revolutionary idea, they literally just
Speaker 1: haven't done enough research to figure out that somebody a
Speaker 1: hundred years ago came up with the same idea or
Speaker 1: either lying to you and trying to package it in
Speaker 1: a that you're going to buy it, or they're just
Speaker 1: ignorant and they don't know and it's been done before.
Speaker 1: And so we were ignorant and we didn't realize the
Speaker 1: Japanese had basically said everything that we're saying a hundred
Speaker 1: years ago. Specifically a Japanese journalist, the first female journalists
Speaker 1: in Japan, and we are very excited to dive into
Speaker 1: what she has named kibo, which is the Japanese art
Speaker 1: of mindful budgeting. Yes, I had not heard of it before,
Speaker 1: but it is getting a resurgence lately. It's like one
Speaker 1: of those more in vogue things. But mind you, it
Speaker 1: was in vogue a hundred years ago and worked for
Speaker 1: people then, and it's gonna work for us now. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: But first, this episode is brought to you by pen
Speaker 1: and paper, remember us, they say, No, not the notes
Speaker 1: app on your phone, or that knockoff iPad that's only
Speaker 1: used to replicate pen and paper but costs a thousand
Speaker 1: dollars for some reason with a monthly subscription plan. The
Speaker 1: actual pen and paper that you can get like for
Speaker 1: free at any event or in your mailbox. They want
Speaker 1: you to know to not be afraid of a relationship
Speaker 1: with them with your pen and paper. Yes, it's more
Speaker 1: intimate that tapping a screen, but that's what relationships are about, intimacy, vulnerability, longevity.
Speaker 1: This is a long term commitment, like when you write
Speaker 1: something down, lose it, and find it three months later,
Speaker 1: and you physically hold it in your hand m hm.
Speaker 1: Pen and paper for those who want something special. So
Speaker 1: it's a long term relationship because you write it down,
Speaker 1: you lose it, you forget where it is, and then
Speaker 1: you rEFInd it and and it's just they're always and always.
Speaker 1: You think you threw it away, and it's still there.
Speaker 1: It's still like in your junk drawer or you're like
Speaker 1: pile of papers, like it's always there. My favorite is
Speaker 1: when I find someone else's shopping list, like on the
Speaker 1: ground at the grocery store in the parking lot, and
Speaker 1: I feel I have uncovered some secret treasure, like I
Speaker 1: was never meant to read this. This is someone's actual handwriting.
Speaker 1: Oh what were they buying? Why were they getting those
Speaker 1: two things together? Yeah? I mean that takes long term
Speaker 1: relationship to a whole new level, right, someone's intimate writings
Speaker 1: on their pen and paper. Yeah, and pen and paper
Speaker 1: are integral to coke bo and you will find that
Speaker 1: out as we go through these articles. If you are
Speaker 1: on your budgeting journey and you're like, nothing is working,
Speaker 1: I don't understand. Help me. Uh. Then we have a
Speaker 1: few other episodes that you can queue up to listen
Speaker 1: to after this one. So the first is episode two two,
Speaker 1: Stop strict budgeting and start living in the Radical Middle uh.
Speaker 1: And then the other is episode one seventies seven. What
Speaker 1: is values based budgeting and how do you practice it.
Speaker 1: And that's really at the heart of coke Bo, I
Speaker 1: think is values based spending and values based budgeting, and
Speaker 1: I think this is just a very elegant way of
Speaker 1: getting to it. Yes, I'm really excited to talk about
Speaker 1: this kind of in an older way but still very relevant.
Speaker 1: And we know what that means. It's timeless and it works,
Speaker 1: and there's many principles and tenants and here that we
Speaker 1: can take and certainly make it work for us. But
Speaker 1: I love it when these older ways, these kind of
Speaker 1: ancient pathways resurface, because I think there's something really rich
Speaker 1: in the method for it to have that degree of longevity. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so let's dive into our first article, which really explains
Speaker 1: the philosophies and the questions behind kibo, because it is
Speaker 1: it's mindful budgeting. It's like what we say, I mean
Speaker 1: all the it's it's basically like everything we've said, just
Speaker 1: like repackaged in a different way. And and so I'll
Speaker 1: just let it speak for itself. Um. But it's from
Speaker 1: Shonda Land. It's called the Art of cookee Bo. This
Speaker 1: Japanese budgeting system could change your financial life. And so
Speaker 1: this is your first time hearing about cookee bo Jill.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on this article specifically. It's fantastic.
Speaker 1: I mean, certainly, I'm really excited about this method, but
Speaker 1: the article I think is really helpful. It's quite a
Speaker 1: long article, so we're not gonna obviously read off the
Speaker 1: whole thing to you all are picking out the highlights
Speaker 1: from it. But I do think that the introduction they
Speaker 1: give and the background is really insightful. So just a
Speaker 1: few things before we get into kind of the questions
Speaker 1: and the categories and that kind of a thing. As
Speaker 1: you mentioned, Jen, they highlight that this was a form
Speaker 1: of budgeting that was developed in nineteen oh for by
Speaker 1: a female journalist, I hope I don't get her name wrong,
Speaker 1: Honey motco you can check me on that. But and
Speaker 1: then they go on to talk about how budgets are
Speaker 1: can feel like diets for our wallet, and I think
Speaker 1: this is always the same conversation that we come back
Speaker 1: to when budgeting gets difficult or when we experience pushback
Speaker 1: on a budget. Is when it's this concept of it
Speaker 1: feels like a diet. They're not fun. They mean a
Speaker 1: lot of restriction and denial and and results are somewhere
Speaker 1: far off in the future, it's I can't get it now.
Speaker 1: And then I love what they say here where they
Speaker 1: say and budgets can make people super cranky. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's you, if your your experience or the
Speaker 1: experience you have with a partner UM, but sometimes if
Speaker 1: if we approach a budget like a diet, that's why
Speaker 1: it can be really difficult. And so I think this
Speaker 1: system of budgeting presents a different mindset at different approach,
Speaker 1: which is what we talk about all the time. So
Speaker 1: I'm so thrilled to see this be supported with UM
Speaker 1: an older way of going about this. And so I
Speaker 1: also like how they describe cokebo being really elegant and
Speaker 1: straightforward and it impairs mindfulness practices to the process of
Speaker 1: spending and intern budgeting, but making a big focus on
Speaker 1: the spending and an awareness of the behaviors rather than
Speaker 1: the restrictions and the denial and the parts that make
Speaker 1: us cranky. Yeah. I was reading somewhere actually where this
Speaker 1: is more of a philosophy like shifting our perspective on
Speaker 1: how do I save more or how do I save?
Speaker 1: In a shift of this perspective to you, how do
Speaker 1: I spend, which is literally all we're trying to do
Speaker 1: is to shift your mind away from how do I save,
Speaker 1: which is obviously going to take you down a path
Speaker 1: of restriction and unsustainable methods, because there are a million
Speaker 1: things ways to save. There are over two hundred in
Speaker 1: our free e book called Modern Frugal Living. You can
Speaker 1: get it at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash ebook
Speaker 1: for yeah, I think so. There are so many ways
Speaker 1: to save it can get overwhelming, and it's how we
Speaker 1: quote unquote fail or fall off the wagon or you know, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: But when you shift your mindset to how to spend,
Speaker 1: how how do I spend, then you can get intentional
Speaker 1: about every every dollar you spend and you can feel
Speaker 1: good about it, and then you naturally save more because
Speaker 1: you are deciding to not spend money on things you
Speaker 1: don't care about and you are spending confidently on the
Speaker 1: things you do. And it doesn't always work out the
Speaker 1: first month, because frankly, you don't always know what you
Speaker 1: care about the first month, you think you care about
Speaker 1: every thing um And as time goes on, you get
Speaker 1: better at learning who you are and what you want
Speaker 1: and what you care about. What you don't care about,
Speaker 1: so that it is a sustainable way to live life
Speaker 1: and results in more saving. And so that's what I
Speaker 1: really love about. What's at the heart of this quote
Speaker 1: unquote like budgeting method so uh cokibo it translates to
Speaker 1: household family ledger. So I love that terminology too. I
Speaker 1: feel like you could use ledger instead of budget and
Speaker 1: get the same result without as much of the mental
Speaker 1: muck that budget kind of like puts forward. But like again,
Speaker 1: it was created by um a female journalist in Japan
Speaker 1: Four Housewives, and she was really like a um an
Speaker 1: advocate for Japanese housewives to conscious that they're spending and
Speaker 1: start saving for their families and to be in charge
Speaker 1: of the family finances. And I'm just like yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: And she she founded a magazine for housewives UM and
Speaker 1: this was just like one of the things she put
Speaker 1: in there as like a simple way for women to
Speaker 1: manage their household finances. I love it. I love all
Speaker 1: of those words combine household family alleger. I mean, first
Speaker 1: of all, we all know what alleger is, but it's
Speaker 1: not a common word within our English language. And yeah,
Speaker 1: it does kind of come without all of the preconceived
Speaker 1: notions to it. It's just a thing. It's alleger versus
Speaker 1: all the all the preconceived ideas that comes with the
Speaker 1: word budgeting, and then pairing both household and family, that
Speaker 1: it's what's needed and necessary for the house, but that
Speaker 1: there's a collective unit engaged in this as well. It's
Speaker 1: so beautiful. I'm really vibe and on a lot of
Speaker 1: what's being talked about here. Yeah, we are feeling strong vibes.
Speaker 1: And one of the reasons that seeing a resurgence is
Speaker 1: is because of all the technology that has become available
Speaker 1: in the financial sector, which is awesome, like technical fintech um.
Speaker 1: Financial technology has made investing so much easier, It's made
Speaker 1: making money, earning a living like on the internet, so
Speaker 1: much easier. It's it's done all these amazing things. But
Speaker 1: it's also allowed marketers and businesses to market to you
Speaker 1: and have you spend money without all the friction of
Speaker 1: buying in store or partying with your cash or seeing
Speaker 1: what is like without balancing your checkbook like your grandma
Speaker 1: used to do. You know. So there. While technology has
Speaker 1: has blessed us in so many ways, it's also taken
Speaker 1: a lot of the relationship away from how we spend money.
Speaker 1: And goal of cookee Bo is to reconnect you to
Speaker 1: your relationship with spending. And so spending is a lot
Speaker 1: of what we're going to be talking about with the
Speaker 1: cookee Bo method. So yeah, let's let's get into how
Speaker 1: to execute it. So, since the process does predate smartphones
Speaker 1: and computers, it does rely on that good old fashioned
Speaker 1: pen and paper. The sponsor of today's episode the figure.
Speaker 1: And so one of the first steps with cookee Bo,
Speaker 1: much like any mindfulness work, is becoming aware, increasing our
Speaker 1: awareness and as it relates to our household, family ledger,
Speaker 1: or our finances, it's what's actually happening. We need to
Speaker 1: raise our awareness there as part of this first step.
Speaker 1: So that's going to mean keeping detailed track of your
Speaker 1: spending for a set period of time. And so there's
Speaker 1: some questions that can go along with this tracking spending
Speaker 1: and income that kind of gets at the heart of
Speaker 1: the cokebo practice, and it centers around these four questions,
Speaker 1: how much money do I have or earn, how much
Speaker 1: money do I want to save, how much am I spending?
Speaker 1: And where can I improve? And oh my goodness, that
Speaker 1: that just doesn't summarize all the questions that we need
Speaker 1: to ask and make it sound so approachable and attainable.
Speaker 1: And I particularly appreciate that last question of where can
Speaker 1: I improve? I think any time we are mindful or
Speaker 1: do some time of reflection and processing, that needs to
Speaker 1: be one of the questions. Certainly what am I doing well?
Speaker 1: We often don't ask that question either, but also where
Speaker 1: can I improve? Where is their growth that I want
Speaker 1: to see? And that's going to help inform the next steps. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so once you answer these four questions, and these are
Speaker 1: four questions that you're going to be journaling about at
Speaker 1: least once a month. I would say probably with every paycheck.
Speaker 1: So if you're paid weekly, maybe asking these questions weekly.
Speaker 1: If you're paid twice a month, answering them twice a month,
Speaker 1: but at least once a month answering these questions um
Speaker 1: and then track your spending for a month. So instead
Speaker 1: of making your ideal budget, the perfect budget that you'd
Speaker 1: love to stick to, the first step is is in
Speaker 1: coke bo is just like put the mindfulness into practice.
Speaker 1: Just become aware of the transactions. So track your transactions
Speaker 1: for a month on pen and paper. So I would
Speaker 1: just say, find one of those journals that's hiding in
Speaker 1: your bookcase or your closet that you thought you'd use
Speaker 1: and haven't used, um, and just use that and kind
Speaker 1: of make a make your own columns. So there are
Speaker 1: a ton of cookee bo journals, but you don't need
Speaker 1: to buy something new for this. You can just say, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is the date, this is what I bought, this
Speaker 1: is how much it was is and then you can
Speaker 1: start to categorize. So there are four categories in kakipo um.
Speaker 1: The first is general, the second is leisure, third is culture,
Speaker 1: and fourth is unexpected. So general this would be household
Speaker 1: expenditures like housing, food, transportation. It's the things that you
Speaker 1: sometimes neglect writing down as your transactions because you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm not impulse spending on gas. You know, I'm not
Speaker 1: impulse spending on the internet. But it's still is required
Speaker 1: to write it down and put it in the transactions
Speaker 1: because you still want to be mindful about it. Because
Speaker 1: the more you write something down, like maybe you're not
Speaker 1: impulse spending on gas, but the more you write it down,
Speaker 1: the more you realize you're spending on it, and you're
Speaker 1: you start to give your spell yourself space to see. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm doing this out of necessity, but how can
Speaker 1: I get creative with this expense? Maybe there's something I
Speaker 1: can do to get a little creative here. So you
Speaker 1: still want to write these things down. Uh, So the
Speaker 1: next is leisure. Um, so all the things like Netflix, shopping, general, merchandise, gifts,
Speaker 1: all of these things, and sometimes so you'll see these
Speaker 1: four expenses or these four categories kind of different throughout
Speaker 1: from person to person. Some people say that general is
Speaker 1: um essential or necessary necessities, where leisure is like non essential.
Speaker 1: I personally like the general and the leisure, but I
Speaker 1: also like necess like essential and non essential, because then
Speaker 1: you can when as you start to get your values
Speaker 1: in order and find out what you really love, then
Speaker 1: you can say something that might be leisure can become
Speaker 1: like essential, can can kind of get bumped up, So
Speaker 1: it's up to you. Then we've got culture, which is
Speaker 1: thing is that enrich your life. So, um, a subscription
Speaker 1: to a newspaper, magazine, or a professional organization. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: a haircut. They're also they say, considered non essentials, but
Speaker 1: just a little bit more. I don't know. Culture, you
Speaker 1: get to decide what's culture for you. Uh, and then
Speaker 1: fourth is unexpected, So this is stuff that comes up
Speaker 1: unexpected that we all need to pay for it. Those
Speaker 1: things that you that happened and you're like, oh, I
Speaker 1: bust my budget. I suck at budgeting. No, they're just
Speaker 1: unexpected costs and I love that this method specifically accounts
Speaker 1: for them. So when you're starting out, you track your transactions,
Speaker 1: you say what it is, how much it was, and
Speaker 1: then what category it falls in? Yeah, and then from there,
Speaker 1: once you've done those the work of those steps, it's
Speaker 1: then setting your goals. Once you have increased your awareness,
Speaker 1: you've divided you're spending into different categories, then allowing to
Speaker 1: help inform what do you want to see for your
Speaker 1: money over the course of the next month, the next
Speaker 1: few months, the next year, a few years. What do
Speaker 1: you want to achieve with your money? What's your timeline
Speaker 1: for achieving those goals? What big and small goals do
Speaker 1: you have? So setting those things for each of the
Speaker 1: categories general, leisure, culture, unexpected, and so sure that then
Speaker 1: would become like a quote unquote budget or how you
Speaker 1: would approach your household family ledger with what you want
Speaker 1: to see your spending look like. So again it is
Speaker 1: that shift from what am I spending on versus what
Speaker 1: am I saving on? Although both will be happening, saving
Speaker 1: will be happening in certain categories as well as spending,
Speaker 1: and then continuing to track your spending and assess how
Speaker 1: you're doing, how does it align with your goals, with
Speaker 1: your values, with what you said you wanted to do?
Speaker 1: And then I like how the article moves into these
Speaker 1: questions that we can ask before we spend. So a
Speaker 1: lot of this can be helpful, particularly in avoiding impulse spending,
Speaker 1: but just in general, before we spend, asking do I
Speaker 1: actually need this? Will it be useful? And does it
Speaker 1: get me excited? Do I have space for this? Will
Speaker 1: it have a place to live in my home or
Speaker 1: in my life? Do I do I actually have room
Speaker 1: for it? Based on my current financial situation? Can I
Speaker 1: actually afford this? How do I feel about buying this?
Speaker 1: So that's a true mindfulness practice, getting in touch with
Speaker 1: your thoughts and emotions. What is it stirring in you,
Speaker 1: even this early inside your body? What are you noticing
Speaker 1: is happening for you when you think about purchasing this?
Speaker 1: A lot of times for me. I've talked about this
Speaker 1: in previous episodes. If I get kind of like sweaty
Speaker 1: or my heart's racing before purchasing something, that's usually an
Speaker 1: indicator for me that I'm probably not comfortable doing it
Speaker 1: right at that moment. Maybe I need to think about
Speaker 1: it more, or it is an impulse purchase, So just
Speaker 1: paying attention to what's happening inside you. And then finally,
Speaker 1: another question we can ask is what is my general
Speaker 1: emotional state today? So kind of even more broad, where
Speaker 1: am I at checking in with myself emotionally? Is this
Speaker 1: maybe a coping mechanism? Do I want to give myself
Speaker 1: more of a space or a pause before I engage
Speaker 1: in this purchase? So really great check in questions, and
Speaker 1: that circling back to pen and paper could even be
Speaker 1: something we carry around with us, although that could be
Speaker 1: typed into your phone as well. Kind of my my
Speaker 1: checklist of questions I asked myself before purchasing. So when
Speaker 1: you're out and about pulling out those questions and kind
Speaker 1: of running through the list or asking yourself whatever questions
Speaker 1: feel most relevant to help inform that decision, so you
Speaker 1: make sure that you are making a good a good
Speaker 1: choice for yourself. Yeah, I love these questions because something
Speaker 1: we've always said is is you can know your values
Speaker 1: and what you really want in life, and that helps
Speaker 1: you with baking bigger financial decision. But when it comes
Speaker 1: down to you and target, those big goals are not
Speaker 1: going to necessarily be enough to motivate you to not
Speaker 1: choose instant gratification. But pausing will and pausing and asking
Speaker 1: these questions just adds another layer to the boundaries, to
Speaker 1: the walls between you and an impulse purchase. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I read another version of the first one, which do
Speaker 1: I actually need this? Someone was like can I live
Speaker 1: without this? Which I also thought was a good reframe
Speaker 1: of it, um, And then just being like do I
Speaker 1: have space for it? Can I afford this? Thinking about
Speaker 1: not just the current financial situation, but like also the
Speaker 1: goals as well, like can I afford this and still
Speaker 1: be on track to my goals? Um? And then just
Speaker 1: taking like we we say this a lot is being
Speaker 1: aware of your emotional state and what you did beforehand,
Speaker 1: what happened beforehand, Like are you here? Are you shopping
Speaker 1: to celebrate something and that's why you're wanting to buy this?
Speaker 1: Are you here to avoid some kind of emotion that
Speaker 1: you should be dealing with. So these are amazing questions
Speaker 1: and I feel like there should be like a phone
Speaker 1: background with these questions on it, and I may make one.
Speaker 1: I don't want to make any promises, but I kind
Speaker 1: of want to make one because this is definitely worth it.
Speaker 1: Or like an audio gram where you just play it
Speaker 1: back to yourself. Do you have space for this? We're
Speaker 1: gonna put it. Do you need it? Do you want it?
Speaker 1: How you feeling? What happened in your life today? And
Speaker 1: you can pick do you Jill will do one and
Speaker 1: I will do one, and you can pick who's you want?
Speaker 1: Who do you want? Questioning your purchase decisions, Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1: They also say waiting on purchasing something for twenty four
Speaker 1: hours is just like an additional recommendation. But I mean,
Speaker 1: we love that patience is a virtue always always. That's
Speaker 1: kind of like the general like way to do It's
Speaker 1: very simple, and that's something else that I love about it.
Speaker 1: It's just so simple. It's the four questions, categorize you're
Speaker 1: spending into four categories, and then in practice, which very
Speaker 1: few budgeting methods actually have, I would say no other
Speaker 1: budgeting method has actual implementation, so in addition to the
Speaker 1: structure of the ledger, then there's implementation guidelines for following
Speaker 1: the plan. And I feel very affirmed in this because
Speaker 1: I am class, I'm pen and paper. I still do
Speaker 1: write all my transactions down. I just I love it,
Speaker 1: and I think that some of it is for this reason.
Speaker 1: It While that could sound like a lot of work
Speaker 1: to some people, to me, it feels simple, just pen
Speaker 1: and paper, aware of what I'm doing, informing my decisions upcoming,
Speaker 1: aligning it with my goals. It feels so cathartic to me.
Speaker 1: I realized that's not going to be everybody's situation, and
Speaker 1: they may not write down every transaction every single month,
Speaker 1: But for me, this is essentially what I have been
Speaker 1: doing already. So I'm glad to have a term for it.
Speaker 1: I know, I feel the same way like I. We've
Speaker 1: been talking about this stuff for years and to actually
Speaker 1: have a name for it, and this just really simple,
Speaker 1: like beautiful. We have We've said the word elegant several
Speaker 1: times in this episode, but I really feel that's. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love it. It's so simple, it's so elegant, and
Speaker 1: I'm already obsessed so, but let's move on to our
Speaker 1: next article. It's from Refinery twenty nine and it's learn
Speaker 1: about cokebo, the Japanese art of saving money. So a
Speaker 1: lot of the same things highlighted in this article as
Speaker 1: the previous one, but this takes a specific look at
Speaker 1: what are the things we need to know about COOKEEPO
Speaker 1: in order to engage with it. So, yes, it does
Speaker 1: sound simple, sitting down at the start of each month
Speaker 1: and making a plan for how we're going to spend
Speaker 1: and having categories and awareness of our goals. It's so
Speaker 1: beautiful and what else do we need to know? And so,
Speaker 1: first off the bat is this shifting of focus. Jen,
Speaker 1: and you and I have already mentioned this, but just
Speaker 1: to highlight it one more time, it really is looking
Speaker 1: a lot at the spending aspect of our finances rather
Speaker 1: than the saving. Again, both will happen, but clearly we're
Speaker 1: looking a lot more at our spending decisions, the things
Speaker 1: that we're acquiring, where our money is going, and oftentimes
Speaker 1: that can feel more approachable than when we're just talking about, say, eaving.
Speaker 1: If we're using the words saving and we can't and
Speaker 1: we can't have and we need to restrict then it
Speaker 1: can feel like a chore versus becoming more what we
Speaker 1: can do, what we can have, what we can afford,
Speaker 1: How are we going to do that? I like how
Speaker 1: this article frames this that it becomes a much more
Speaker 1: inviting prospect, and it does feel that way of we're
Speaker 1: all spending money, so here's a method to become more
Speaker 1: engaged in that and align it more with your values
Speaker 1: and goals. Yeah. I think in frugality sometimes we're tricked
Speaker 1: into thinking that spending is bad and it's how can
Speaker 1: I spend less? How can I buy less? Which is yes,
Speaker 1: we invite that, especially when you are spending on a
Speaker 1: lot of different things that maybe you don't love. But
Speaker 1: I think what we want to reframe frugality to be
Speaker 1: is the emphasism how do I spend better? Spending is great,
Speaker 1: spending is neutral, So how do I just improve my
Speaker 1: spending instead of shaming yourself for spending on a plethora
Speaker 1: of different things that actually are neutral. They're not bad
Speaker 1: to spend on, even if somebody's trying to tell you
Speaker 1: that you shouldn't be spending money on them. The things
Speaker 1: itself are not bad, and so let's lift the shame
Speaker 1: off of what we're spending on and focus on how
Speaker 1: do we spend better. I can't be nodding harder right now.
Speaker 1: We are not recording video on this one. But I'm
Speaker 1: giving myself whiplash for how hard I'm nodding and everything
Speaker 1: you're saying. And it's a nodding yes, not a no,
Speaker 1: thank you, not shaking my head. I'm nodding it. Um.
Speaker 1: So the next is and I think all these are
Speaker 1: like mindset shifts. So if you make these mindset shifts,
Speaker 1: you'll have a much better time implementing kokebo um. So
Speaker 1: the second shift is that writing things down will help.
Speaker 1: So keeping cokebo was all about recording your spending. But
Speaker 1: when we do it we just plug numbers in on
Speaker 1: a spreadsheet, or we sign up for Mint and they
Speaker 1: just automatically plug transactions in. It takes away the core
Speaker 1: reason to record your transactions. Putting pen to paper is
Speaker 1: a fundamental part of this practice, and it's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons when people are like, what's your favorite budgeting app?
Speaker 1: And I still don't have one, because it just depends
Speaker 1: on where you're at on the journey. When you are
Speaker 1: very early in the journey, and I would say, everyone
Speaker 1: can benefit from this at some point, whether you you're
Speaker 1: just starting out or you've been doing it for a while,
Speaker 1: Like recording your transactions manually is essential to fit two,
Speaker 1: to discover and learn about your relationship. When with money
Speaker 1: it's essential. And so typically I would just recommend an
Speaker 1: app where you could um do things manually, or a
Speaker 1: budget spreadsheet where you could input things newly. But I
Speaker 1: love this concept of actual like physical pen to paper,
Speaker 1: because it forces you, like to slow down, like we're
Speaker 1: all so busy and so to go to the grocery
Speaker 1: store and have to pause like before you put the
Speaker 1: groceries in the car and write down the transaction and
Speaker 1: the amount and the category like I. And it's so
Speaker 1: it's not inconvenient, but it's not the most convenient, like
Speaker 1: it's not going it's not going out of the way
Speaker 1: to like seven different grocery stores to get the lowest
Speaker 1: price on everything. But it's also not just swiping your
Speaker 1: card and being totally disconnected from the bill like it's
Speaker 1: that it's that radical middle. Yes, the next thing that
Speaker 1: is worth noting about this method is that we're going
Speaker 1: to need to be honest about our musts and our wants.
Speaker 1: I like how the article describes that the Keybold method
Speaker 1: is about decluttering your finance is and we've described the
Speaker 1: simplicity and the elegance of that. So this definitely goes
Speaker 1: hand in hand with yes, decluttering our finances. And if
Speaker 1: if you followed all the other steps, then you know
Speaker 1: how much money is coming in, how much money is
Speaker 1: going out, and so now it's time to figure out
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do with the rest, assuming that
Speaker 1: there is a little bit of margin left over from
Speaker 1: the the essentials, where do I want that money to go?
Speaker 1: What are what are my muss what are my wants?
Speaker 1: And particularly in the category of wants, how do I
Speaker 1: make sure that the money is going to the most
Speaker 1: important of my wants and not frivolously getting spent who
Speaker 1: knows where and being left at the end of the
Speaker 1: month kind of disappointed in what we see. And so
Speaker 1: of course then it's going to inform what shifts need
Speaker 1: to be made so that the spending really can align
Speaker 1: with my true wants. Yeah, and I think this is
Speaker 1: are those questions, the monthly or bi monthly questions really
Speaker 1: come into play, because that question on how can I
Speaker 1: improve it tells you more. It allows you to think
Speaker 1: more about, Okay, what are the things that I value
Speaker 1: that maybe non essentials for somebody else but are essential
Speaker 1: for me, And what are my actual non essentials? Because
Speaker 1: you can want anything, but you probably don't want everything.
Speaker 1: That's very unlikely. Marketing definitely tells us we should want everything.
Speaker 1: But if you look at it over the course of
Speaker 1: months and years, and even the things you wanted like
Speaker 1: a year or two or three ago can and should
Speaker 1: be different than what you want now. And so it
Speaker 1: also gives you the time to reflect on, Okay, are
Speaker 1: the things that were like essential to me then deal
Speaker 1: essential to me now? The fourth is going to kind
Speaker 1: of hurt some of our hearts. It's gonna be uncomfortable
Speaker 1: for some of us. But it's that cash is better
Speaker 1: than card. And psychologically cash is better than card. Yes,
Speaker 1: for travel reward points and cash back cards love. But
Speaker 1: and I say this to people again, if you're very
Speaker 1: new to the journey, if you are just starting out,
Speaker 1: cash is almost essential. Like to just do at least
Speaker 1: a month, two months, three months with cash will really
Speaker 1: make a big difference in the speed to which you
Speaker 1: kind of get in control of your relationship with money.
Speaker 1: It will really speed it up after the first few months.
Speaker 1: I would say, once you've built a habit of mindfulness
Speaker 1: with your money, you can go back to card. It
Speaker 1: is a very for me, inconvenient way to live. I
Speaker 1: know a lot of others agree, so I do prefer card,
Speaker 1: but it is so easy swipe your card and you
Speaker 1: have no clue how much you just spent on your card.
Speaker 1: So yeah, tying that pen and paper recording with the
Speaker 1: cash really like going off the deep and intense method
Speaker 1: to like be a catalyst to getting your relationship with
Speaker 1: money kind of solidified. See now. For me, I agree
Speaker 1: and disagree. I think, on the one hand, it is
Speaker 1: a good practice and like you're saying, Jen, especially when
Speaker 1: just starting out. For me, I feel as though cash
Speaker 1: is not traceable, So oftentimes when I spend cash on it,
Speaker 1: it feels like I'm hardly spending because it's not going
Speaker 1: to show up in a paper statement. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to see it later. Like I am very aware of
Speaker 1: what I spent on the card because there's a record,
Speaker 1: there's a paper trail more than just my receipt, And
Speaker 1: I'll often spend cash when I wanted to feel like,
Speaker 1: oh this doesn't even count. There's no record, it's not traceable.
Speaker 1: So that and maybe that's just like a poor mindset
Speaker 1: I've adopted, but that's how it feels for me, like
Speaker 1: I'm using cash when like I don't even have to
Speaker 1: think about that purchase. Yeah, it is the first time
Speaker 1: I've heard somebody say that, but I'm sure you can't
Speaker 1: be alone. And I'm not going to judge anybody for
Speaker 1: not going to cash because I couldn't. I wouldn't, And
Speaker 1: I think with the recording, like with the pen and
Speaker 1: paper recording, it does add that mindfulness. So I think
Speaker 1: maybe you wouldn't, like wouldn't need to stay in cash
Speaker 1: as long as somebody who was using an app to
Speaker 1: track their budget it. So I really think it does
Speaker 1: add that relationship to the spending that a like a
Speaker 1: fintech app would not. So I'm not going to anyone
Speaker 1: for not doing the cash envelopes. Thanks. I appreciate you
Speaker 1: with holding your judgment from me. But the final thing
Speaker 1: on here to be aware of Number five is that
Speaker 1: you should finish the month by reflecting on your progress.
Speaker 1: And I so appreciate how this is coming full circle
Speaker 1: and it is congruent with mindfulness practices with the simplicity
Speaker 1: of it, but also the connectivity of it that we're
Speaker 1: not just setting goals and tracking our spending, we're also
Speaker 1: looking back and reflecting because oftentimes that's where the true
Speaker 1: understanding learning shifts happen is when we give ourselves space
Speaker 1: to reflect. So once we've set the month and we've
Speaker 1: done the month, this is crucial to then pause and
Speaker 1: reflect how did that go? What went well? What do
Speaker 1: I want to see go differently? Before we set what
Speaker 1: the next month is going to be, we've got to
Speaker 1: give ourselves that space and time to look back and
Speaker 1: learn from what just happened. Yeah, you know what else
Speaker 1: we can use to learn what has happened, look back
Speaker 1: and reflect before we move forward. We really should create
Speaker 1: a compilation of the bill the week. That's right, it's
Speaker 1: time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe
Speaker 1: a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe
Speaker 1: you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and
Speaker 1: you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: Build buffalo bills bill CLI. This is the bill of
Speaker 1: the week. Hien and jail. My name is m and
Speaker 1: I'm calling from Quebec. Canada, and I wanted to submit
Speaker 1: my deal of the week. So my bill is my
Speaker 1: new heating and air conditioning device that has been installed
Speaker 1: last week. I've been working from home for the last
Speaker 1: two years and it was getting really hot in the summer,
Speaker 1: so I was looking forward for this home improvement, also
Speaker 1: knowing that it will be increasing the value of my house.
Speaker 1: The total bill was seven thousand dollars, so it was
Speaker 1: quite high, but after getting some information, I knew that
Speaker 1: I was a little bit eligible for different grants, so
Speaker 1: I will be getting back a little bit more than
Speaker 1: three thousand dollars on grants from the government, and I
Speaker 1: will also be saving about twenty dollars per month on
Speaker 1: my heating bill during the winter, so the system will
Speaker 1: be paid by itself quite quickly, and the value that
Speaker 1: it hads to my house, if I ever decide to so,
Speaker 1: it will be way more than what I paid for.
Speaker 1: So I'm really happy with that. Thank you, and I'm
Speaker 1: a nice day. Bye bye, amazing m Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for calling in from Quebec and sharing this amazing bill.
Speaker 1: It's so practical and that is such a massive household
Speaker 1: upgrade that can often be one of those things like, Oh,
Speaker 1: it's so much money to spend on something that you
Speaker 1: don't totally notice. Although heating and cooling is really essential,
Speaker 1: but it's not something we typically want to drop that
Speaker 1: amount of money on. But it sounds like you are
Speaker 1: planned ful and and we're able to spend the money
Speaker 1: but then also put in the time, energy and effort
Speaker 1: to do the research and apply for these grants. Getting
Speaker 1: money back is saving you for on this massive home upgrade.
Speaker 1: And then like you're saying, what it's to save you monthly?
Speaker 1: What the value add that it is to your home?
Speaker 1: What an amazing bill. I'm so happy for you that
Speaker 1: this is installed and working in your house. You're getting
Speaker 1: to enjoy it, and you just feel really good about
Speaker 1: this purchase you've made. Well done, Yeah, good job. I
Speaker 1: think it teaches everyone always check for rebates and grants
Speaker 1: um from your city and state before you make big
Speaker 1: home improvements, because there's always something like in Penelis you
Speaker 1: can get a free toilet for your house, Like everyone
Speaker 1: gets a free toilet, Like there's a very minimum standard
Speaker 1: you need to meet to get a free toilet, so
Speaker 1: like there's it's always worth looking for those grants, making
Speaker 1: us sounds so weird. We're just getting out toilets down here,
Speaker 1: We're out toilet foreveryone. We all get united about it, right.
Speaker 1: So yeah, if you want to submit your bill of
Speaker 1: the week, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash ill
Speaker 1: to leave us a bill. Maybe you've got a free toilet.
Speaker 1: We'd love to hear about it. And now it's time
Speaker 1: for you're round. So we are talking about spending intentionally, um,
Speaker 1: shifting our focus to how can I spend better? So
Speaker 1: we want to know. Inquiring minds want to know how
Speaker 1: do you feel about your intentionality towards your spending in
Speaker 1: this season? Because it is seasonal. Once you achieve intentional spending,
Speaker 1: it's not like you're there forever. It's definitely seasonal. And
Speaker 1: so let's be honest and transparent and vulnerable about our seasons. Jill,
Speaker 1: I's gonna say, so, do you want to go first?
Speaker 1: If you want to be honest? All right, So I
Speaker 1: am feeling really great. Actually, you caught me in a
Speaker 1: good season, and you know, I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1: There's times when I am not crushing it, but right
Speaker 1: now it feels really great. And and I'll tell you
Speaker 1: why I have been doing a ton of cooking at
Speaker 1: home and making meal plans, and it has been going
Speaker 1: so well. Now. Part of that is because we are
Speaker 1: on a four week stretch where we have no travel
Speaker 1: plans and no guests. That has not happened in the
Speaker 1: last two years at least, where we haven't had guests
Speaker 1: or travel plans for that amount of time. So part
Speaker 1: of it is my ability to really get into a
Speaker 1: rhythm and be at home and cook for us. And
Speaker 1: so that is one of the discretionary categories, discretionary spending
Speaker 1: categories that can get out of hand for us. So
Speaker 1: me being on top of it has Yeah, it's been intentional,
Speaker 1: and it has also really saved us a lot of
Speaker 1: money over these last few weeks, which has allowed us
Speaker 1: to then put some some additional money towards the renovations
Speaker 1: that pipe. The way, you might be able to hear
Speaker 1: in the background if you hear any power tools, it's happening. No,
Speaker 1: it's fine, renovations are happening. Have you been listening to
Speaker 1: this for a long time. You can celebrate with me.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to hinder that progress because I need
Speaker 1: I need that kitchen in some real ways. So I'm
Speaker 1: feeling like really really great about it. I continue to
Speaker 1: not only do I keep a pen and paper account
Speaker 1: of all of my transactions, I also back in June,
Speaker 1: I made a new spreadsheet that I am so stoked about.
Speaker 1: It's a more complicated spreadsheet, but it gets my finances
Speaker 1: to a more detailed measure that is really cool for
Speaker 1: me and has a few more categories of sinking funds.
Speaker 1: That has been helpful for me because I'm realizing I've
Speaker 1: got a couple of things that I want to be
Speaker 1: saving for that I just wasn't doing when I didn't
Speaker 1: have it allocated to different sinking funds. So I've done
Speaker 1: a couple of these, like minor shifts recently that have
Speaker 1: really brought my budget my finances together in in a
Speaker 1: nice way. And I appreciate what you're saying there. Gen
Speaker 1: of for this season, I don't think I'm going to
Speaker 1: need to have such a tight hold on the money
Speaker 1: in and out in you know, a year from now.
Speaker 1: But because we're going so hard at renovations and cash
Speaker 1: flowing them, I'm trying to be really mindful, really intentional
Speaker 1: in some of these different areas. And these are the
Speaker 1: things that have helped so right now, I feel great.
Speaker 1: I feel on top of the world with it. What
Speaker 1: about you, Well, I wanted you to go first because
Speaker 1: mine is a bit of the opposite. So and it's
Speaker 1: not so like it's I've been intentional. So it hasn't
Speaker 1: been like negative spending, but it has been increased spending.
Speaker 1: So it has been this like interesting dichotomy. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's the right word. But we are recording
Speaker 1: this at the end of summer, and so I have
Speaker 1: allowed myself this summer kind of to be freer with
Speaker 1: my time. This is a slower season in the personal
Speaker 1: finance world. Nobody not as many people care about their
Speaker 1: money over the summer after summer vacation. Yeah. So, so
Speaker 1: it's been light and I've been allowing myself to rest,
Speaker 1: and allowing myself to rest has meant um going out
Speaker 1: with friends a little bit more. So I have been
Speaker 1: spending more. And also July was the first month that
Speaker 1: we paid a mortgage on the new house, so now
Speaker 1: we have two mortgages instead of one, and we still
Speaker 1: have not We've only rented out one of the two
Speaker 1: rental you know areas. So this month will involve a
Speaker 1: tightening just because a we need to focus on renovating
Speaker 1: the rental half of our house, and uh be because
Speaker 1: we have we have saved and so that money is
Speaker 1: not coming The money for that mortgage is not coming
Speaker 1: out of our month to month it's coming out of
Speaker 1: our savings. But it's still something that I want to
Speaker 1: be mindful of. And we're entering back into our quote
Speaker 1: unquote busier season, and so I will allow myself to
Speaker 1: say no more to going out and finding alternatives for
Speaker 1: things that, you know, activities that I would normally spend
Speaker 1: money on, and kind of suggesting alternative activities. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I did give my myself space to rest and spend
Speaker 1: over the summer, and now heading into fall being a
Speaker 1: lot more aware, and so I think I'm going to
Speaker 1: be trying this cokibo for the fall. I have not
Speaker 1: personally like tried it, and just learning about it for
Speaker 1: this episode has made me like think, Okay, I actually
Speaker 1: really need this, because even though I am frugal and
Speaker 1: I care about my money, some seasons just get you
Speaker 1: out of your groove. Maybe not even a bad way,
Speaker 1: but they just get you out of your groove and
Speaker 1: it's time to reset and rethink heading into the next season,
Speaker 1: like what is essential for me, what is not essential, etcetera, etcetera. Well,
Speaker 1: I think in all of it, what I am hearing
Speaker 1: you say is there there are degrees of intentionality. Maybe
Speaker 1: you're the rain. How tightly the rains are on your
Speaker 1: spending might have shifted, but you have given yourself that
Speaker 1: space intentionally to spend this summer. So it doesn't sound
Speaker 1: like it's lacking intentionality. It just might be lacking the
Speaker 1: amount of boundaries that you are going to be putting
Speaker 1: around it in the fall because of the different goals.
Speaker 1: So yeah, each season requires different boundaries and maybe a
Speaker 1: tighter grip or a looser grip on our finances. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I did. I went out to branch with friends two
Speaker 1: days in a row, and after the second one, I
Speaker 1: turned to my friend I was like, we can't do
Speaker 1: this every day. I love that story. I was like, great,
Speaker 1: You're like two days in a row. It was great
Speaker 1: and fun, but I was like, we gotta get this together.
Speaker 1: I gotta get it together. Oh I love it so much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So well, yeah, there it is there. Just thanks so
Speaker 1: much for listening, guys. Yeah, so a lot of you
Speaker 1: already know. We have a private community where we do
Speaker 1: monthly money challenges. We have accountability groups where people are
Speaker 1: able to connect with others and chat even more about
Speaker 1: these kind of financial topics, and we want to congratulate
Speaker 1: one of our members for a big win. Wendy. This
Speaker 1: really resonated with me. Wendy shared bought some chicken. Yeah
Speaker 1: you did, Wendy, She said, I was catching up on
Speaker 1: the latest episode about saving money on groceries and I
Speaker 1: was inspired to stop at Walmart and get a rotisserie chicken.
Speaker 1: Cost me seven dollars. They had shredded chicken packaged already,
Speaker 1: so I picked up that too, cost me a bit more,
Speaker 1: but got me quick chicken salad sandwich. Thanks Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Heck yeah, Wendy. I don't know if you meant for
Speaker 1: this to be like a win or a celebratory share,
Speaker 1: but I am counting it as a win, and I'm
Speaker 1: celebrating with you for the chicken and the way that
Speaker 1: you save money with that rotisserie chicken and the shredded
Speaker 1: chicken and then turning that into another meal of a
Speaker 1: chicken salad sandwich. Just crushing it, Wendy. Amen, congrats, Wendy,
Speaker 1: you are crushing it with your ways you're saving money.
Speaker 1: So I mean, amen on chicken, give me some roseistrie chicken.
Speaker 1: I actually bought pre made chicken salad, so I want
Speaker 1: to step further in being lazy and just didn't. I
Speaker 1: was like, I could have bought the shredded chicken. I
Speaker 1: was like, Mmm, I don't think I have time this
Speaker 1: week to even make chicken salad. I'm just gonna buy
Speaker 1: the chicken salad. But either way, it's going to keep
Speaker 1: me from eating out. Whenever I eat it, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be cheaper than that's still less expensive, still less expensive. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks everyone for listening. If you want to check out
Speaker 1: our monthly challenge community, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com slash club. See what challenge we have coming up next,
Speaker 1: See what chicken we're eating, See what what we're celebrating,
Speaker 1: all the things. Yeah, get into the Chicken channel and
Speaker 1: just share your chicken with us. We'll see you next time. Bye.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Yes, So what
Speaker 1: I have been doing lately is grocery shopping every other week.
Speaker 1: I have so hit a stride that I can go
Speaker 1: to the grocery store and make that last for two
Speaker 1: whole weeks. Good for you with your two person household
Speaker 1: from partting you, thank you. Hey, we all have different barriers.
Speaker 1: That one was a big one for me, so feeling like,
Speaker 1: oh man, and I know this isn't going to be
Speaker 1: forever and always, but for right now, it feels like
Speaker 1: an accomplishment. What do what do you? Runners? Call it
Speaker 1: a personal personal record for the best p b PR. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's feeling that way for me becoming a masticated woman. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I ate food that I made it home last night
Speaker 1: and then eight leftovers for lunch today. I love that.
Speaker 1: What are you doing for dinner tonight? I don't know
Speaker 1: you're coming over so um, not for dinner but later.
Speaker 1: So it's got to be something that like can be quick.
Speaker 1: I mean you can come over for dinner, that's fine,
Speaker 1: you can, we can bring food. There's only two of you,
Speaker 1: so yeah, I don't I have a meal plan and
Speaker 1: I just don't remember what's on it. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: enjoy dinner, end up eating, goodbye bye,