Speaker 1: Should you try a no spend challenge.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver a your life. Here
Speaker 2: your hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Frugal Friends. My name is Jen, my name
Speaker 1: is Jill, and today we are re airing episode two
Speaker 1: eighty six. This is back from February and twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: So if you were not with us, then you did
Speaker 1: not get to this episode. That was a fan favorite
Speaker 1: and we want to make sure that you hear all
Speaker 1: the best of us.
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Speaker 1: The fact that this planner does math. The spreadsheet is
Speaker 1: important because I heard it at the dog park this morning.
Speaker 1: Five out of four people are bad at math. Let
Speaker 1: that sink in. She is processing it for their eyes.
Speaker 3: That there was dog park, there was five out of four.
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Speaker 1: percent off and that's straightforward. Yeah. So today we are
Speaker 1: talking about what you can use, the information you can
Speaker 1: use to vet whether a no spend challenge would be
Speaker 1: right for you in this season of your life, whether
Speaker 1: it will help you or not. For most people, we
Speaker 1: think it's going to be really beneficial for a lot
Speaker 1: of seasons in life. Sometimes it's not. Though for me
Speaker 1: right now, I'm in a really hard season and I
Speaker 1: should not add something on top of it. This morning
Speaker 1: on the radio, people were talking about seventy five hard.
Speaker 1: Do you know that chill? Yeah, and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh gosh, maybe Travis and I should do that. It
Speaker 1: would bring us closer to it, right you look at you.
Speaker 1: That's exactly as soon as I said that, in my head,
Speaker 1: I too was like, oh, Chen, stop it.
Speaker 3: Oh you are living three hundred and sixty five hard
Speaker 3: right now?
Speaker 1: I am, And I right. So like, sometimes we think
Speaker 1: we are living in something hard, that something else hard
Speaker 1: will be the solution to our problems, and sometimes it's not. Okay.
Speaker 1: So like, if you're thinking about doing a no spend challenge,
Speaker 1: this is a good episode for you. For most people,
Speaker 1: I really do believe thirty days of no discretionary spending
Speaker 1: is going to be really healthy and really good. But
Speaker 1: for some people it's not. And this is a really
Speaker 1: good It was a favorite episode from two years ago.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because it can be fun. That's the thing too,
Speaker 3: And we'll talk about ways to make it.
Speaker 1: A challenge forces you to get creative in ways you
Speaker 1: wouldn't have and creativity produces beautiful things in your life.
Speaker 3: So absolutely all right, Like you did it though. So
Speaker 3: our first article comes from I love this or Rinky
Speaker 3: do finance, And that's how I'm going to choose to
Speaker 3: say it. Rink and do finance.
Speaker 1: Tells me the logo is a is an elephant.
Speaker 3: It's so cute. It's a very cute logo, and it's
Speaker 3: all about the benefits and dangers of the no spend challenge.
Speaker 3: I think they take a great, measured, tempered approach where
Speaker 3: they're looking at just the pros and cons. So we're
Speaker 3: just gonna highlight all of the different pros and cons
Speaker 3: of a no spend challenge. Of course, we're assuming that
Speaker 3: you understand what a no spend challenge is that for
Speaker 3: a period of pre selected, predetermined time, you are deciding
Speaker 3: to not spend, typically on specific categories. Of course, you
Speaker 3: still need to spend on food, water, shelter, transportation, healthcare utilities,
Speaker 3: but generally you're deciding other categories and maybe all other
Speaker 3: categories that you're not going to spend on. But it
Speaker 3: can be relatively loosey goosey. But that's a quick little
Speaker 3: overview of what even a no spend challenge is. We're
Speaker 3: not going through how to do one, We're going through
Speaker 3: whether or not you should do on pros and cons.
Speaker 3: So let's first talk about the benefits of a no
Speaker 3: spend challenge. Jen back to you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the first benefit of a no spend challenge
Speaker 1: is that it will help you achieve your goal faster.
Speaker 1: If you're just looking at numbers, Yes, it does that.
Speaker 1: So this example is a little extreme for me. It says,
Speaker 1: let's say you plan on taking a vacation in five months.
Speaker 1: If the no spend challenge saves you one hundred dollars
Speaker 1: every weekend, you'll be two thousand dollars closer to your goal.
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone should stop spending money on the
Speaker 1: weekends for five months. That has never been my aim.
Speaker 1: But yes, mathematically, if you were to not spend money
Speaker 1: one hundred dollars every weekend, then yes, you would save
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars for whatever goal you have.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a reasonable thing to see. How can I
Speaker 3: propel my savings goal for? But what I do like
Speaker 3: that they've highlighted here is that there's a specific goal
Speaker 3: in mind. It's not always in forever, and it's not arbitrary.
Speaker 3: It's I have a certain amount in mind. I know
Speaker 3: that if I save this amount and can cut in
Speaker 3: other areas, then I will have X amount of money
Speaker 3: for this specified goal, which I do think is aimed
Speaker 3: at a good reason to do a no spend challenge.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: The next benefit is that it does help us to
Speaker 3: exercise self control. And so when it comes to spending
Speaker 3: in ways that we don't want to spend, a lot
Speaker 3: of times it's tied to impulsivity, making financial decisions purchases
Speaker 3: that we're not necessarily planned for, and so doing a
Speaker 3: challenge like this can help us to rein in and
Speaker 3: exercise that muscle, to learn a bit more of what
Speaker 3: it feels like to say no to ourselves, which isn't
Speaker 3: always the most comfortable, but when practiced, when we exercise
Speaker 3: that muscle, it can become easier and easier, especially when
Speaker 3: we realize the benefits, because it's not just about deprivation,
Speaker 3: it's about saying no, experiencing self control for a specific.
Speaker 1: Reason, And that kind of lends to the next one
Speaker 1: that gets into really the core reasons why I love
Speaker 1: no spend challenges is that it can help you identify
Speaker 1: hidden impulsivity issues or like I like to say, spending triggers.
Speaker 1: So when you stop spending money altogether, and this is
Speaker 1: a this comes down to decision fatigue. Right, So when
Speaker 1: we make a lot of decisions in a day, our
Speaker 1: decisions get progressively worse and worse throughout the day, and
Speaker 1: that's called decision fatigue. When you take the decision off
Speaker 1: the table and the decision is always no, then you
Speaker 1: become a lot Your head becomes a lot clearer and
Speaker 1: able to identify spending triggers. So things that you wouldn't
Speaker 1: have even thought of crossed your mind when you're making
Speaker 1: all kinds of decisions and you're just trying to get
Speaker 1: through the day become glaringly obvious when you give yourself
Speaker 1: pause and the space to identify them. So that is
Speaker 1: really what I love about no spend challenges, and I
Speaker 1: think you can accomplish that in a short amount of time.
Speaker 1: I don't think it takes a long time to start
Speaker 1: to identify those issues. If it does, no spend challenge
Speaker 1: probably isn't for you. It's you're probably already spending in
Speaker 1: alignment with your values, and you are in tune and
Speaker 1: mindful to all your expenses, and that's fantastic. This isn't
Speaker 1: for you. But if you are spending money and busting
Speaker 1: your budget and you're like I don't know my budget
Speaker 1: says I should be able to do this, yet I'm
Speaker 1: never able to. This is a great way to pause
Speaker 1: without actually pausing your life and identify some of those
Speaker 1: things that you can work on to improve the way
Speaker 1: you stick to your budget.
Speaker 3: I agree. I do think this is one of the core,
Speaker 3: most core reasons and pros to do a no spend
Speaker 3: challenge to really get to the foundation of what's going
Speaker 3: on for me, because it absolutely will highlight when we've
Speaker 3: already said I'm going to say no to this to
Speaker 3: most of these things. What surfaces it kind of is
Speaker 3: that that crucible that like shaking ground, the sifting ground,
Speaker 3: to show Okay, here's where the true thing is that
Speaker 3: I need to tackle, because ultimately it's not just the
Speaker 3: spending behavior, it's what it's tied to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you can save a lot of money doing
Speaker 1: a no spend month, but that saving ends at the
Speaker 1: end of the month, and when you're focusing on identifying
Speaker 1: those spending triggers, those are savings that carry on for months,
Speaker 1: years beyond, and those savings compound more than the four
Speaker 1: hundred dollars you might save on one month of a
Speaker 1: no spend challenge.
Speaker 3: This last benefit that they list is one of my
Speaker 3: faves in that it can help discover ways to have
Speaker 3: fun without spending money, and that I think also helps
Speaker 3: us to exercise this kind of creative muscle for us,
Speaker 3: this problem solving muscle of it. Again, it's not just
Speaker 3: about deprivation. It's about creativity and filling in the gaps
Speaker 3: in other ways, identifying alternatives so that maybe it's not
Speaker 3: just about this ultimate savings goal, but reorienting some behaviors
Speaker 3: and habits all together that we can take with us
Speaker 3: beyond the no spend challenge. And this is one of them.
Speaker 3: When we're talking about exercising muscles of self control, I
Speaker 3: think that's what this one is too. How can I
Speaker 3: be creative with the way that I spend my time
Speaker 3: my resources? What happens when something is taken away? Really interesting?
Speaker 3: This is reminding me. I was just chatting with my
Speaker 3: husband Eric and another friend, both of whom are musicians,
Speaker 3: and they I was more so listening in to this conversation,
Speaker 3: but they were commenting on how better their creativity and
Speaker 3: their creation of music is when they've got limitations. This
Speaker 3: friend was also describing this in a video production project
Speaker 3: that they were doing as well, Like they put these
Speaker 3: certain limitations on themselves that you would think, oh, you're
Speaker 3: not going to be able to do as well or
Speaker 3: you're not going to be able to have the best
Speaker 3: product if you don't have all of the things. But
Speaker 3: they were commenting on the phenomenon that when they took
Speaker 3: away all of the expensive equipment or had a time
Speaker 3: limitation or different just whatever kind of limitation you want
Speaker 3: to input here, it helped them be more creative to see, well,
Speaker 3: what can I do within the confines of this where
Speaker 3: they almost like those are some of their favorite projects,
Speaker 3: where ah, I didn't have the best of the best equipment,
Speaker 3: or I didn't have all of the mics I would
Speaker 3: have preferred, or I didn't have the camera that I wanted,
Speaker 3: or all the time in the world, and those constraints
Speaker 3: made me more creative in the process. And I think
Speaker 3: there's some correlation to what we're talking about here that
Speaker 3: when we put constraints on ourselves sometimes that can create
Speaker 3: space for the play, the creativity, the discovering new things
Speaker 3: or skill sets. I think it's worth implementing for everyone
Speaker 3: at some point in life, whether it's a no spend
Speaker 3: challenge or other types of constraints to discover more about ourselves.
Speaker 3: It's a worthwhile exercise.
Speaker 1: Yes, that is my favorite. That is my second favorite
Speaker 1: thing about no spend challenge is that forced creativity because
Speaker 1: when we are so used to solving all our problems
Speaker 1: by spending money, not only do we wonder where all
Speaker 1: of our money has gone, but we lose the satisfaction
Speaker 1: and the like, yeah, self satisfaction that comes with being
Speaker 1: creative and thinking critically and figuring things out, which is
Speaker 1: not even like great for our self worth, but it's
Speaker 1: actually great for our brain health function as well.
Speaker 3: I think it also helps us to get started on
Speaker 3: something that we want to get started on. Oftentimes our
Speaker 3: barrier to entry is I don't have all of the
Speaker 3: tools and resources in order. But this can give freedom
Speaker 3: of you don't have to just begin. Like one of
Speaker 3: the things I want to do soon is get back
Speaker 3: into painting and drawing. But I'm like, oh, I don't
Speaker 3: have all the paints. But like hearing this conversation of
Speaker 3: Eric and this friend, it's like, oh no, I actually
Speaker 3: love the challenge of start with what you have and
Speaker 3: see what comes of it. So yeah, it's just getting
Speaker 3: me excited. You can see where I land on this.
Speaker 1: You know, Bob Ross only painted with I think like
Speaker 1: eleven colors, eight colors.
Speaker 3: Yeah, are you like googling this right now?
Speaker 1: Yes? I knew this. I was like, it's got to
Speaker 1: be like nine or eleven eight colors because somebody got us.
Speaker 1: Somebody got kai this like Bob Ross color book and
Speaker 1: when he was an infant. So I know all the
Speaker 1: color colors now because they're in the book. But think
Speaker 1: of Bob Ross and the empire of painting that he did.
Speaker 1: He used eight colors, eight and.
Speaker 3: They had a try weird even if you don't have
Speaker 3: all of the resources. Yeah, back to our sponsor, right, Let's.
Speaker 1: Talk about the dangers of the No Spend Challenge, which
Speaker 1: we haven't covered a ton of. But whenever I see
Speaker 1: somebody talk negatively about a no Spend challenge, I just
Speaker 1: want to clap back, like because I because I have
Speaker 1: something to say. And and then I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I'm a podcast. I know exactly where I
Speaker 1: can say it. So here are the dangers of the
Speaker 1: No Spend Challenge, and uh, the first is that they
Speaker 1: focused too intently on small picture. So it says during
Speaker 1: the No Spend Challenge, people tend to focus on eliminating
Speaker 1: relatively small short term expenses like coffee, dining out, snacks, streaming,
Speaker 1: and so, to paraphrase Ramitt Seti's famous ad at a
Speaker 1: dast on adage adage, thank you, these are three dollar problems.
Speaker 1: And we one hundred percent agree we would much rather
Speaker 1: focus on three thousand dollar problems and thirty thousand dollar problems,
Speaker 1: which is why we love the long term focus of
Speaker 1: a no spend challenge and focusing it more on how
Speaker 1: can I spend better long term because that's gonna save
Speaker 1: you three thousand dollars in a year, whereas focusing just
Speaker 1: in the month or week that you're doing it, that
Speaker 1: that gets you thinking in solving three dollar problems. So
Speaker 1: that is an actual danger of the nosepench challenge, but
Speaker 1: I think it's a danger in frugality in general that
Speaker 1: if you are trying to become frugal and you're trying
Speaker 1: to listen to the Frugal Friends podcast to find out
Speaker 1: how I can save money on coffee, dining out and snacks,
Speaker 1: We're gonna give it to you. We actually have, we
Speaker 1: have a full episode on how to save money on coffee.
Speaker 1: It's not that we're not gonna not like we're not
Speaker 1: going to give it to you. But that is one
Speaker 1: episode in two hundred and eighty six, because that's a
Speaker 1: three dollars problem.
Speaker 3: Girl, You are want to lapping back.
Speaker 1: While we have probably got fifty episodes on how to
Speaker 1: save money on food in general, and we've got ten,
Speaker 1: maybe twenty episodes how to save money on housing and transportation,
Speaker 1: we've got a lot more episodes on how to how
Speaker 1: to mindfully spend. Those are the big decisions.
Speaker 3: I think it's worth identifying the potential pitfalls because I
Speaker 3: think it can help us lay a good foundation for
Speaker 3: entering into a no spend challenge. Well like this, They're
Speaker 3: not wrong about identifying this as a pitfall. And it
Speaker 3: comes back to motivation. What are you doing this for?
Speaker 3: What is the end goal. If it's just to not
Speaker 3: buy a Lotte, then we might be missing the mark.
Speaker 3: If it's to identify some of our behaviors and root
Speaker 3: causes and reorient some of our cycles and patterns, then great,
Speaker 3: we're on the right track. And those small things, those
Speaker 3: three dollar things, will absolutely bear weight on the thirty
Speaker 3: thousand dollar things, because if we're not doing well with
Speaker 3: the smaller things, We're definitely not going to do well
Speaker 3: with the bigger things.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 3: The next potential danger is, as they identify, establishing a
Speaker 3: false sense of security. I have mixed opinions on this.
Speaker 1: I don't know, tell me all your opinions.
Speaker 3: I just don't know how much of a potential pitfall
Speaker 3: this actually is. So what they're saying here is that
Speaker 3: if you're putting in a ton of effort towards not
Speaker 3: spending on something, that can lead people to believe, oh,
Speaker 3: because I'm putting in a lot of effort, then numbers
Speaker 3: will work themselves out and it doesn't work that way.
Speaker 3: And I would agree, but I'm not sure how many
Speaker 3: people are actually thinking that way, like, oh, just because
Speaker 3: I'm working at not spending this is and maybe maybe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's a very it's almost an elitist
Speaker 1: view of the problem. It's saying like, if you're not
Speaker 1: doing it honestly. It's saying like, if you have an
Speaker 1: income problem and you're just doing a no spend challenge
Speaker 1: to focus on your expenses, then you're doing it wrong
Speaker 1: because what else is there? Like yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: would also say doing something is better than nothing, and
Speaker 1: the lowest barrier to entry. Thing that you can do
Speaker 1: to get good with money is to decrease your outgo. Like, yes,
Speaker 1: you might have an income problem, and I don't even
Speaker 1: like to say that it's an income problem. You may
Speaker 1: more opportunities will open up to you with more income.
Speaker 1: You can't deny that. So we always want to be
Speaker 1: working towards that if it's in alignment with our values.
Speaker 1: But that takes time. It takes no time to decide,
Speaker 1: like I'm going to do a no spend challenge next
Speaker 1: month and try to get better control of my expenses. Like,
Speaker 1: so it's easier.
Speaker 3: I guess this is just like an easy enough pitfall
Speaker 3: to be aware of and keep a pulse on because
Speaker 3: they give the example, you know what if you cut
Speaker 3: a ton of your discretionary spending for a month, you
Speaker 3: say five hundred dollars, but what you actually needed was
Speaker 3: an additional one thousand dollars that month, And so yeah,
Speaker 3: they're saying you'd be better off focusing on your income.
Speaker 3: My pushback to this one would be, if we're doing
Speaker 3: a no spend challenge, chances are you're the person who's
Speaker 3: looking at the money. You kind of know what you
Speaker 3: need to be bringing in like no spend challenge isn't
Speaker 3: typically where people start, like this is kind of step two, three,
Speaker 3: four five in the financial journey. So I don't know
Speaker 3: how much of a pitfall this is for the common person,
Speaker 3: but it is worth being aware that even though a
Speaker 3: lot of effort may be put into a no spend challenge,
Speaker 3: it doesn't mean that it's going to solve our financial issues.
Speaker 3: And I would agree with that. I just don't think
Speaker 3: that this is the most important pitfall to highlight. I
Speaker 3: don't think that this is what most people are going
Speaker 3: to run into.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I would actually I would absolutely agree rephrasing
Speaker 1: it like that, and I would, I mean, and I
Speaker 1: would say, the no spend challenge gives you space to
Speaker 1: be able to think more clearly and creatively about Okay,
Speaker 1: so maybe I do need an extra thousand dollars a month,
Speaker 1: maybe I do need to earn more. Well, now I'm
Speaker 1: not you know, automatically going out to happy hour or
Speaker 1: going out shopping when I'm bored. I can start to
Speaker 1: think of ways to increase my income. I can start
Speaker 1: to think of ways at work that I have saved
Speaker 1: the company money or brought more in that may warrant
Speaker 1: a promotion or a race for me, So it also
Speaker 1: gives you that space to think about this.
Speaker 3: I think this is more a pitfall of a scarcity mindset,
Speaker 3: just like our constant mindset of like I just don't
Speaker 3: ever do anything with my money. It's not even connected
Speaker 3: to a no spend child. Why am I not doing
Speaker 3: better with my finances? Like, I think that's more of
Speaker 3: a mindset thing that requires some of these tools and
Speaker 3: resources to dig into. Why is that the case? Why
Speaker 3: do I feel like I'm putting in so much effort
Speaker 3: and not seeing any results? And what are the big
Speaker 3: things that need to shift? Yeah, if anything, and no
Speaker 3: Spend Challenge could highlight this reality.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely when you think, oh, yeah I can, I
Speaker 1: can definitely do a no spend year, which I hear
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, around January, everyone's starting their
Speaker 1: no spend year and they realize very quickly, probably by
Speaker 1: the time that they're listening to this episode, that it's
Speaker 1: not possible. So there's a good amount of time to
Speaker 1: think about how to compensate. But yeah, I mean it's yeah,
Speaker 1: probably not one I would think of, but sure it
Speaker 1: gave us the chance to talk about it. The next
Speaker 1: one is actually a pitfall. It is a justifiable should
Speaker 1: be on this list is binge spending. And it's exactly
Speaker 1: like when we've been like when we diet, it's you're
Speaker 1: trying to go too hard, too fast, too restrictive, so
Speaker 1: you fail and then you binge eat and you feel
Speaker 1: guilty and shame, and next month you start the cycle
Speaker 1: all over again. That is a real reality that can
Speaker 1: happen with no spend challenges, is that you try to
Speaker 1: go too hard, too fast, not prepared, fall off the wagon,
Speaker 1: and then just compensate by binge spending and then start
Speaker 1: the whole thing all over again next month.
Speaker 3: I could see binge spending happening even on both sides
Speaker 3: of a no spend challenge, like being aware that a
Speaker 3: no spend challenge is coming up and wanting to give
Speaker 3: yourself that ability and freedom. So okay, I'm not going
Speaker 3: to be able to do this for a while, So
Speaker 3: what do I need and want and what might hold
Speaker 3: me over? And then afterwards, oh, I did so well,
Speaker 3: I got to reward myself and that's just not going
Speaker 3: to give any benefit to a no spend challenge. So
Speaker 3: here you go. If you know that this might be
Speaker 3: in your realm of behaviors. If you think that you
Speaker 3: might fall victim to binge spending, this would probably, in
Speaker 3: my estimation, be one of the number one reasons that
Speaker 3: no spend challenge might not be for you. If you
Speaker 3: think that binge spending is going to be too much
Speaker 3: of a temptation or too much of a reality for you,
Speaker 3: it's too much of the pendulum swing, this would probably
Speaker 3: be the number one reason that a no spend challenge
Speaker 3: is not going to actually serve you.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, And if you've found this to be true
Speaker 1: for you, but you still really want to try one,
Speaker 1: I would say, don't go all discretionary spending. Don't do
Speaker 1: all your spending, but just pick one expense that you
Speaker 1: are making a lot that you want to make less,
Speaker 1: or one location of spending. Think about your spending triggers,
Speaker 1: and just choose one thing. So maybe it's coffee, maybe
Speaker 1: it's target, maybe it's I'm you know, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to get food at Chipotle on the way home from
Speaker 1: the grocery store. Pick one thing and do go with
Speaker 1: that instead of all of it, because I think you'll
Speaker 1: still find that you have space to contemplate. But you
Speaker 1: are not feeling the pressure and the burden to be perfect,
Speaker 1: because especially like with like I mean, they mentioned like
Speaker 1: eating disorders, and I don't think it's that extreme. Every
Speaker 1: all of us can be subject to binge spending, but
Speaker 1: especially if you have something, If you have ADHD and
Speaker 1: you know that you are not capable of doing some things,
Speaker 1: then don't don't try to do those things when you
Speaker 1: are under stress or know that you're not in a
Speaker 1: season to do that, or stay within the boundaries you
Speaker 1: know you already know work for you. Okay, don't try
Speaker 1: and go against things if you've already kind of figured
Speaker 1: out something that works for you. Just play within those rules.
Speaker 1: You can adapt. It's your no spend challenge if you
Speaker 1: want to do it, but again it also for that reason,
Speaker 1: may not be for you.
Speaker 3: The next one that's really connected to this is that
Speaker 3: a no spend challenge could simply just defer discretionary expenses.
Speaker 3: I think this is one and the same as almost
Speaker 3: binge spending. That it's not as if you're not spending
Speaker 3: and saving money, you're just not spending it right now,
Speaker 3: you're spending it later on. So yep, that could be
Speaker 3: another pitfall of a no spend challenge is that you're
Speaker 3: still going to spend the money, just maybe not today.
Speaker 3: That's not going to do you any good either.
Speaker 1: But I also don't think it's it's horrible like to
Speaker 1: create a list of wants and to actually force yourself
Speaker 1: to have time before you impulse by them, which.
Speaker 3: Is connected to the next one.
Speaker 1: There you go, Jen, Yeah, shaming yourself for reasonable wants,
Speaker 1: Like I feel like you could. It's not bad to
Speaker 1: like make that, like add those things to your Amazon
Speaker 1: cart and just keep them there till the end of
Speaker 1: your challenge, because hopefully half of them you're not gonna
Speaker 1: want anymore. But the other half may have been reasonable wants,
Speaker 1: they may be in alignment with your values. So it's
Speaker 1: not We're not here to shame you, not even for
Speaker 1: reasonable wants, just your wants, your unique wants, Like they
Speaker 1: don't have to make sense to other people. They can
Speaker 1: just be things you want and love and you don't
Speaker 1: have to justify them to anybody.
Speaker 3: And on the flip side of that, delay and gratification
Speaker 3: is a helpful thing. I mean, we don't have to
Speaker 3: do it always in forever, all the time with everything,
Speaker 3: But deferring isn't a bad thing in and of itself.
Speaker 3: At least there are days where you're not spending. You're
Speaker 3: not going to get those days back, and like always
Speaker 3: backtrack on each of those days and spend the money
Speaker 3: you thought you were going to spend. And it can
Speaker 3: help to build those habits of putting something in the
Speaker 3: cart and letting it sit there. Just It might be
Speaker 3: simply deferring it to another day and the money gets spent,
Speaker 3: but it could also be that you've given yourself time
Speaker 3: to think and sit on it, and that's helped to
Speaker 3: bring more clarity on whether or not you actually want
Speaker 3: that thing. So I think there's two sides to that
Speaker 3: deferment coin, and it's not all a danger or a pitfall. Yeah,
Speaker 3: well that leads us, since we're already down this rabbit
Speaker 3: trail of potential pitfalls, let's just dive right in now
Speaker 3: to the deep end. We are ready with an article
Speaker 3: that's just going to point out.
Speaker 1: I have my hands ready to clap back why and
Speaker 1: no spend challenge just doesn't work.
Speaker 3: They're not even talking about the pros of it. They
Speaker 3: are only talking about the cons. They want to convince
Speaker 3: you not to do one. And we're going to talk
Speaker 3: about it, and apparently Jen's gonna clap back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm ready. H And so I think it's really
Speaker 1: healthy to look at the reasons why a lot of
Speaker 1: people do no spend challenges, and they are val it's
Speaker 1: valid reasons why they won't work if these are your
Speaker 1: motives or if you say, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm going
Speaker 1: to look at my spending triggers and think long term.
Speaker 1: But really, because if you've ever been on a diet,
Speaker 1: you've probably experiend them. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna get healthy.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be good for me long term, but really,
Speaker 1: I just want to be skinny for bikini season. See,
Speaker 1: it always comes to backfire for you. And it is
Speaker 1: the same with no spend challenges. We got to do
Speaker 1: them for the right reasons, and here are some of
Speaker 1: the wrong reasons in this article. So that's what we're
Speaker 1: here for.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So they really only have two arguments against no spend challenges,
Speaker 3: but these are common arguments, so it is worth looking
Speaker 3: at so that we know all of the different sides
Speaker 3: and angles of this thing.
Speaker 1: Yes, So the first one is that it's not sustainable,
Speaker 1: and that's true. Honestly, that is so true. I see
Speaker 1: people doing year long, two year long no spend challenges,
Speaker 1: and that makes a great story. If you're trying to
Speaker 1: write a book or an article or get some media attention,
Speaker 1: you will definitely be able to do that by not
Speaker 1: spending money for two years. That is something that you
Speaker 1: can do. But there is a law of diminishing returns
Speaker 1: with no spend challenges where it transitions from helpful to
Speaker 1: almost like holds you back to an extent. So, and
Speaker 1: this isn't the case, Like you learn what you can
Speaker 1: about yourself and you're spending and then you have to
Speaker 1: implement it. Then you have to go out and go
Speaker 1: back to spending and possibly mess up, possibly make a mistake,
Speaker 1: And mistakes will happen, and we have to be strong
Speaker 1: enough and resilient enough to take those into consideration, learn
Speaker 1: from them, and implement what we've learned. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: if you're doing a no spend challenge that's lasting a
Speaker 1: whole year, you can very much put that off and
Speaker 1: just live in the comfort of saying no. That's more
Speaker 1: hurtful than helpful.
Speaker 3: I feel like we're practicing for debate club, Like we're
Speaker 3: on a debate team and we're like, what does the
Speaker 3: other side say about this and what we.
Speaker 1: Love debating people that aren't available to.
Speaker 3: Take exactly what's favor to give a closing argument, but
Speaker 3: they do have their article and we are responding to
Speaker 3: their article. One of the things too, that I would
Speaker 3: add to this about no spend challenges they're referencing as
Speaker 3: far as the not being sustainable piece fasting and how
Speaker 3: not sustainable fasting is, and that it would be better
Speaker 3: to have a lifestyle change and rather than kind of
Speaker 3: deprive yourself and then binge. My pushback on this is,
Speaker 3: certainly none of these things that are extreme in nature
Speaker 3: are meant to be for the long term, but that
Speaker 3: doesn't mean that there's never a time and place for it.
Speaker 3: People have to fast before surgery. Yeah, it's not sustainable.
Speaker 3: You're not going to do that all of the time,
Speaker 3: but it's necessary to then get the help that your
Speaker 3: body needs in the following day. People fast for religious reasons.
Speaker 3: It's not sustainable, but it can be a really amazing
Speaker 3: spiritual practice that benefits some people. So they're like, and
Speaker 3: I am not a fan of extremism either. It's why
Speaker 3: we've you know, termed our financial approach the radical middle
Speaker 3: because we often go to the different extremes. But that
Speaker 3: doesn't mean that the extremes don't have something to teach us,
Speaker 3: or that we should never ever visit the extremes. Sometimes
Speaker 3: experiencing something in full force helps us to find the
Speaker 3: radical middle. I think we often don't know the radical
Speaker 3: middle until we have an understanding of what's this side
Speaker 3: of the pendulum, what's this side of the the other
Speaker 3: side of it, what's the spectrum of it, and where
Speaker 3: is my radical middle? I would say the point of
Speaker 3: a nose bench challenge is to identify what is sustainable
Speaker 3: for you. It's that same concept of fasting for a surgery. Right,
Speaker 3: It's not going to happen all the time. But if
Speaker 3: we're identifying, oh, there's a problem with my spending, but
Speaker 3: I don't totally know what it is, sometimes we need
Speaker 3: to really rein it in and pull it back. Or
Speaker 3: if we want to talk about you know, when we're
Speaker 3: sick and we just stay at home. That is not
Speaker 3: the goal for the rest of life, to only ever
Speaker 3: stay at home, but it's necessary because there's an issue
Speaker 3: in our body. Okay, so if there's an issue in
Speaker 3: our finances, what might be a necessary approach that I'm
Speaker 3: not going to implement forever and always, but really reins
Speaker 3: it in, pulls it back, and gives space for greater understanding, clarity, diagnosis,
Speaker 3: and next steps.
Speaker 1: That kind of snaps for you. Thank you, I'm snapping
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 3: The final argument that they make for why a no
Speaker 3: spend challenge doesn't work is that it doesn't bring about
Speaker 3: meaningful change. I think we've said enough on this topic
Speaker 3: in the reality that it depends on what your approach
Speaker 3: is going to be. Yeah, certainly, if you're just doing
Speaker 3: it for a week or a month and then you
Speaker 3: go right back to your behaviors and you enter it
Speaker 3: into it mindlessly and you didn't have a real goal
Speaker 3: in mind, it's not going to produce meaningful change. But
Speaker 3: if you approach an O spend challenge with a goal
Speaker 3: of maybe just identifying what prompts me to spend, what
Speaker 3: barriers am I going to run into if I try
Speaker 3: and tell myself, no, what happens when I try and
Speaker 3: practice creativity or find free activities? Then great, Like, it
Speaker 3: really depends on what your motivation is going into it.
Speaker 3: And again, if you're just identifying that this isn't for me,
Speaker 3: I can identify my patterns and make shifts in my
Speaker 3: lifestyle without this, then that's great, go for it, but
Speaker 3: we're definitely going to have some pushback on saying this
Speaker 3: is never gonna bring any benefit. It absolutely can bring benefit,
Speaker 3: and the goal is not to remain in this place
Speaker 3: always and forever. It serves a specific purpose for a specific.
Speaker 1: Time, Yes, I mean that's it.
Speaker 3: You know what else serves a specific purpose for a
Speaker 3: specific time.
Speaker 1: It's I mean it's specific. But like almost every time,
Speaker 1: the bill of the.
Speaker 4: Week, that's right, it's time for the best minute of
Speaker 4: your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams.
Speaker 2: Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died
Speaker 2: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 4: Duck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 4: of the week.
Speaker 5: Hi Jen, Hi Chill. This is Katie. I am a
Speaker 5: fellow money nerd who loves learning more and more about money,
Speaker 5: and I got into your podcast last year when I
Speaker 5: adopted a senior dog and wanted to make good use
Speaker 5: of my time out and about. So it's only fitting
Speaker 5: that my bill of the week is for bet treatment
Speaker 5: for my little old lady dog. It's related to her
Speaker 5: being attacked by the neighbor's dog six weeks ago. First off,
Speaker 5: she wasn't too badly hurt and is totally fine now. Second,
Speaker 5: the visit to the doggy er and two follow ups
Speaker 5: came to thirteen hundred and twenty bucks and my pet
Speaker 5: insurance carrier did not hesitate to pay out the eighty
Speaker 5: percent she has covered for. And Third, about ten days
Speaker 5: before getting notice of the payout, the attacking dog's owner
Speaker 5: gave me two hundred dollars toward the bill, knowing it
Speaker 5: was going to be at least that night. Much he
Speaker 5: knew a head insurance. It's so rare that things go
Speaker 5: the way they should when it comes to a bill
Speaker 5: you're not really responsible for. And I just wanted to
Speaker 5: share my appreciation for both the good neighbor and the
Speaker 5: good pet insurance for doing the right thing. Thanks guys, Katie.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, another one for pet insurance. I would
Speaker 1: have to say of the bills of the week, we've
Speaker 1: received more pet insurance thankfulness than any other bill.
Speaker 3: I also appreciate how you are choosing to highlight a
Speaker 3: financial situation going well. I think you're so right. Oftentimes
Speaker 3: bills we are not technically responsible for, we still sometimes
Speaker 3: find ourselves responsible for. But you may become a really
Speaker 3: great proactive decisions, namely the pet insurance to not be
Speaker 3: in a really tough, difficult financials position right now with
Speaker 3: your pup. And I'm so grateful with you, and yeah,
Speaker 3: gratitude for the neighbor for taking ownership of his pets choices.
Speaker 3: Glad to hear your your dog is better and fully
Speaker 3: recovered and that this bill did not become an overwhelming
Speaker 3: insurmountable bill. So much to celebrate with you, Katie. If
Speaker 3: you all listening, happen to have some great pet insurance
Speaker 3: that follows through and pays your bills, or neighbors who
Speaker 3: pay some bills, or if you are a person named Bill,
Speaker 3: visit through the Friends podcast on slash Bill. Leave us
Speaker 3: your bill. We're ready for it, and now it's time for.
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, dope anyway, Today's lightning Round question from our
Speaker 1: suite manager Goldie.
Speaker 3: Well, Goldie, you're the best.
Speaker 1: I love her, love you. She does listen to every
Speaker 1: episode because it's your job. What do your no spend
Speaker 1: week slash month generally look like? And I just I'm
Speaker 1: so glad that she asks this question because I get
Speaker 1: to say I haven't done a no spend week or
Speaker 1: month since the last month we were paying off debt,
Speaker 1: so that is I think July of twenty seventeen. So
Speaker 1: they don't look like anything. And that's because we slow
Speaker 1: down on like we don't have like, well, we raised
Speaker 1: our income enough to where we could say we can
Speaker 1: afford our short term financial goals without having to do
Speaker 1: a no spa bend challenge. And because we're just like
Speaker 1: in tuned with our values and wants and communicate. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so like a no spend challenge for me, co host
Speaker 1: of The Frugal Friends, author of the No Spend Challenge Guide,
Speaker 1: No spend challenges aren't for me right now?
Speaker 3: WHOA, This is the hottest take, Tony I have ever
Speaker 3: been a part of.
Speaker 1: I'm just so glad to share that.
Speaker 3: Like well, I think it still is a support of
Speaker 3: the no spend challenges because it highlights the fact that
Speaker 3: it's a tool, a tool that can be picked up
Speaker 3: and put down given the level of skill or job
Speaker 3: that is currently being required. The tool does work and
Speaker 3: can point to some solutions when necessary, but there are
Speaker 3: times that we don't need that tool anymore. Golly, I
Speaker 3: can't wait till my renovation's over and I don't need
Speaker 3: some of those tools anymore.
Speaker 1: The goal is always to not need the tool anymore.
Speaker 1: That's the goal with any tool, is to use it
Speaker 1: so that you no longer need it. And when you
Speaker 1: know what you do. Yeah, So when you no longer
Speaker 1: need it, you don't hold on to it, You find
Speaker 1: a different tool because you have a new project.
Speaker 3: Or you share your tool with your neighbors. Oh, I
Speaker 3: love this illustration in metaphor. That's happening for me. I
Speaker 3: can't say that I've ever needed to fully engage in
Speaker 3: a no spend challenge. That doesn't mean that I don't
Speaker 3: do it in my own way, which we are also
Speaker 3: advocating for. Figure out what works for you. I am
Speaker 3: not much of a spender, so really reining that in
Speaker 3: and identifying my reasons for spending has never been much
Speaker 3: of a specific issue for me. That said, I will
Speaker 3: use the tool of a no spend concept to help
Speaker 3: me towards a certain goal in specific areas. So I
Speaker 3: typically pick up the tool of a no spend challenge
Speaker 3: to focus in on food honestly, and that will have
Speaker 3: to do with identifying a specific amount of money that
Speaker 3: I want to spend so that I can put it
Speaker 3: towards right now renovations. So recently, it's been a lot
Speaker 3: of challenging myself to cook at home for like a
Speaker 3: week to two weeks at a time, giving space for
Speaker 3: eating out, but challenging myself to a specific budget and
Speaker 3: meal plan. It has gotten me so good at cooking
Speaker 3: at home, repurposing food, reducing food waste. I'm so grateful
Speaker 3: for the way that I've set up the challenge to
Speaker 3: hone in a skill set for me. It has challenged
Speaker 3: me in helpful ways. It has helped me free up
Speaker 3: some cash to put towards the renovation. But it's not
Speaker 3: a deprivation of everything for me, and it does include
Speaker 3: factoring in money for going out and enjoying a nice meal,
Speaker 3: not binging, not you know, completely deferring just to spend
Speaker 3: all of the money all over again. It's a part
Speaker 3: of the plan, and I think that's that's another thing
Speaker 3: we need to recognize with the No Spend challenge is
Speaker 3: what is your plan to celebrate the accomplishment of it.
Speaker 3: Factor that money in when you're planning for the no
Speaker 3: spend challenge.
Speaker 1: Absolutely so a quote that Goldie picked out when she
Speaker 1: re listened to this episode is when we're so used
Speaker 1: to solving all our problems by spending money, not only
Speaker 1: do we wonder where all our money has gone, but
Speaker 1: we also lose the self satisfaction that comes with being creative,
Speaker 1: critical thinkers and figuring things out.
Speaker 3: Wow, we're smart, we are so wise.
Speaker 1: But it's so true. And I hope this episode helped
Speaker 1: you you figure out really what a no spend challenge
Speaker 1: is if it's going to help you. I think our
Speaker 1: spending has become so convoluted by so much marketing, so
Speaker 1: much advertising, that it can be hard to figure out
Speaker 1: what you truly love to spend money on. And I mean,
Speaker 1: we wrote a whole book that you can read while
Speaker 1: you're doing your no spend challenge, Buy what you Love
Speaker 1: without going broke. It will be a big help. You
Speaker 1: can get it at buy what you lovebook dot com.
Speaker 3: You're not going beend doing that before your no spend
Speaker 3: challenge and then have it as a resource.
Speaker 1: And if you're on your no spend challenge, you can
Speaker 1: get it from the library on that page on that website.
Speaker 1: We even have instruction on how to request it at
Speaker 1: your library. If your library doesn't carry it.
Speaker 3: There's freeways to get the audiobook version too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you love us and would love to support us,
Speaker 1: you can buy the book, but you don't have to.
Speaker 1: We rather you get the information inside of.
Speaker 3: It at all. We're so selfless.
Speaker 1: Wow. Anyway, thank you so much for listening. We've loved
Speaker 1: reading your reviews about the book. Honestly, like that has
Speaker 1: been a great payment. We prefer money, but we've also
Speaker 1: loved reading your reviews. This one's from Jennifer Garner.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 3: Thanks Jennifer. I guess there could be more than one
Speaker 3: Jennifer Garner out there, but I only know one right Personally, I.
Speaker 1: Don't want to get it twisted. It's probably not the
Speaker 1: Jennifer Garner that you know, but she does give it
Speaker 1: five stars and says has a huge As a huge
Speaker 1: frugal friends fan and longtime listener, I bought the book
Speaker 1: to support the podcast. I promise I didn't read this before.
Speaker 1: I said said all that. I read the book as
Speaker 1: obligation to my purchase. I enjoyed the book from the
Speaker 1: bottom of my heart. So much knowledge was gained, so
Speaker 1: much entertainment was received. Thanks ladies for the whole book,
Speaker 1: and that one line that said I can be wealthy,
Speaker 1: I will use it every day.
Speaker 6: I remember saying that, oh oh, I hadn't be wealthy,
Speaker 6: and then there's no end quote that we did say
Speaker 6: that I can be wealthy, but if I am.
Speaker 1: Wealthy, I will use that wealth every day. I just
Speaker 1: don't think I've said that.
Speaker 3: And that's why punctuation was so important. We were probably
Speaker 3: the ones who did not copy and paste the punctuation.
Speaker 3: Jenifer Garner, beautiful Garnery, you can be wealthy. I mean
Speaker 3: you already are.
Speaker 6: Probably you might already be, And that's why she's saying
Speaker 6: it every day.
Speaker 1: We are on one right now.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you all so much for being here. If
Speaker 3: you're liking this podcast, please leave our show a rating
Speaker 3: and review. If you've read the book, please leave us
Speaker 3: a review of the book. You can do that on
Speaker 3: Amazon or from wherever you purchase the book. And if
Speaker 3: you're not subscribed to our YouTube channel, don't sleep on that. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we've got some good stuff different from what we're putting
Speaker 3: out on the podcast that we think will be really helpful,
Speaker 3: especially for those of you who do decide you're going
Speaker 3: to do a no spend challenge. We've got some great
Speaker 3: helpful tips, especially I'm gonna recommend our spending intervention series.
Speaker 3: Just go go, go to YouTube, subscribe to Frugal Friends,
Speaker 3: and then just like tool around a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, even if you're not a YouTube watcher, subscribing helps
Speaker 1: us a lot, because every time somebody from our audience
Speaker 1: subscribes to our show on YouTube, YouTube will push it
Speaker 1: out to two people who don't have never heard of
Speaker 1: the show. So it is truly helpful, and maybe we
Speaker 1: can get more Jennifer Garner's listening to the show and being.
Speaker 3: Wealthy telling us how wealthy they are.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let us know in the comments on any YouTube
Speaker 1: video if you're Jennifer Garner and how wealthy you are,
Speaker 1: and if you use it every day or maybe you
Speaker 1: don't me use it once a week.
Speaker 3: Let us know. See you later.
Speaker 1: Grugle Friends is produced by Eric Siriani.
Speaker 3: I already told you this story, but I feel like
Speaker 3: our friends need to know. This past weekend, we had
Speaker 3: a sick raccoon in our yard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody does need to hear the story.
Speaker 3: And Eric was out mowing the lawn and then was
Speaker 3: so close to this raccoon and then realize, oh, that's
Speaker 3: a raccoon, and then all the neighbors start coming round
Speaker 3: paying attention to what's going on because it's broad daylight.
Speaker 3: This raccoon's just on the ground next to our oak tree,
Speaker 3: awake but lethargic, not aggressive, and they're like, we should
Speaker 3: probably do something with this, like like trap it and
Speaker 3: take it somewhere. It was a Sunday, so there wasn't
Speaker 3: anybody who could come out to our home. But thankfully
Speaker 3: our one neighbor had a crate, an empty crate that
Speaker 3: we could use. So I put on my big rubber
Speaker 3: boots and got a bunch of rubb like big plastic
Speaker 3: lids that you would put on plastic bins, and we
Speaker 3: just kind of like corralled the raccoon from the tree
Speaker 3: into the crate. And thankfully it wasn't it was still maintained,
Speaker 3: its non aggression. None of us got bit put it
Speaker 3: into a crate, and then I'm like, okay, well now
Speaker 3: what They're like, yeah, you can't release it back into
Speaker 3: the wild. They thought that it had distemper. I'd never
Speaker 3: heard of that before.
Speaker 1: I had a temper. I have a bad temper.
Speaker 3: Got it from a raccoon.
Speaker 1: So you do not want to release Temper the wild.
Speaker 1: Multiple sources recommended, Yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Could make other people sick too, So I called probably
Speaker 3: like fifteen different places trying to figure out where the
Speaker 3: heck to take this thing. One of the voicemails led
Speaker 3: me to, hey, you know, they're like, we're all filled
Speaker 3: up with raccoons. We can't take any more.
Speaker 1: Fuck out too many raccoons.
Speaker 3: But they were like, go to and actually I probably
Speaker 3: shouldn't say it out loud because they're so particular about
Speaker 3: their website, but maybe I should. I'm going to here
Speaker 3: we are, we're at the after show. So they're like,
Speaker 3: go to Raccoon Rescue nine one one, and this is
Speaker 3: a national resource hotline for on Facebook. So they're like,
Speaker 3: look up the group on Facebook, Raccoon Rescue nine one one.
Speaker 3: Give them your information. They'll be able to help you.
Speaker 3: So I'm like, all right, I'm at my wits end.
Speaker 1: You join this raccoon rescue.
Speaker 3: I joined Raccoon Rescue nine one one, and I had
Speaker 3: to fill out like what was going on with me
Speaker 3: and my raccoon, and I was accepted to the group instantaneously,
Speaker 3: even though it had to be approved by admin and immediately,
Speaker 3: one of the admin tagged me in a post. They
Speaker 3: were like, Jolly and Sirihani, contact this woman for Penelas County.
Speaker 3: Contact this one for Hernando County. Keep us surprised. What's
Speaker 3: going on? I'm like, I literally surprised. Applied to this
Speaker 3: less than three minutes ago and they're already rallying. The
Speaker 3: subculture of raccoon Rescue is insane in a good way,
Speaker 3: in the best way, in the most helpful way, but
Speaker 3: it is a subculture. And then I was scrolling a
Speaker 3: little bit further down and I saw one of the
Speaker 3: admin was like, we generally try and be nice and
Speaker 3: kind in here, but I'm going to break that rule
Speaker 3: for this one. Anyone else who just invites their friends
Speaker 3: to this group is getting kicked out of here, because
Speaker 3: this is for real raccoon emergencies and raccoon babies, and
Speaker 3: we can't be having just friends joining wanting to see
Speaker 3: cute pics of raccoon babies. This is real work we're
Speaker 3: doing in here, and we only want people who have
Speaker 3: emergencies like this is not I hope I meet the qualifications. Anyways,
Speaker 3: I end up texting the person that Raccoon Rescue nine one.
Speaker 3: One tells me to text and they respond again immediately
Speaker 3: within two minutes, I get a text back because I
Speaker 3: had listed out everything and what's a dead end, And
Speaker 3: so I was saying that this one veterinary group said
Speaker 3: that they wouldn't take them, and her first response to
Speaker 3: me was, they're lying. They must just be tired because
Speaker 3: it's Sunday and they don't want to work. But I
Speaker 3: take distemper raccoons to them all the time. And then
Speaker 3: she's like, I'm at my donor's graduation. I can't help
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my god.
Speaker 3: Wow, and yet you are texting me back within minutes
Speaker 3: of my initial message. Again, I stand by Raccoon Rescue.
Speaker 3: Soap culture is popping off. These people are a tribe
Speaker 3: and they are ready to rumble.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: Anyways, ended up.
Speaker 1: Long.
Speaker 3: It's just it's all such a long story. But we
Speaker 3: finally did find a place to take it to. She
Speaker 3: was right that one place was lying and we were
Speaker 3: able to take it there, and we did so. Eric
Speaker 3: and I non pet owners, driving this sick raccoon in
Speaker 3: a crate in the back of our car. Never would
Speaker 3: have thought that this is where I would just be
Speaker 3: spending my Sunday evening. But twist, one of the best
Speaker 3: twists ever. We get there, we have to wait for
Speaker 3: them to take the raccoon out of the crate because
Speaker 3: we need to get the crate back to our neighbor.
Speaker 3: And meanwhile they have snack cart. They wheel over snack
Speaker 3: cart to us with all the good snacks, high protein snacks,
Speaker 3: nut snacks, goldfish snacks, pirate booty snacks, also chapstick or.
Speaker 1: Np bot expected when you told me that lights slip
Speaker 1: them on the snack cart Sanded raccoons rescue.
Speaker 3: Well, no, no, this was a veterinary like an emergency
Speaker 3: twenty four to seven, but clinic.
Speaker 1: So they were lying that they couldn't take the raccoon.
Speaker 1: But then they were like snacks.
Speaker 3: Snacks, and I was like, okay, yeah, bottles of water,
Speaker 3: cot tea. It was wow. It was a luxurious experience
Speaker 3: that I'm like, am I am I raccoon rescue? Now?
Speaker 3: Is this what I do on Sundays? Because snacks, I'll
Speaker 3: keep going getting some distemper raccoons. Clearly I can handle
Speaker 3: it because you and I have had a podcast for
Speaker 3: over seven years. Yeah, distempered home scare me away. I
Speaker 3: got rubber made lids. Yeah, I can corral you into something.
Speaker 1: You have corralled me many times and I've given you
Speaker 1: snacks for it. Well, well, got it all worked out,
Speaker 1: same