Speaker 1: Episode one thirty three Tips for avoiding holiday impulse buying.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 1: save money, embrace simplicity rights, and live rich your life.
Speaker 1: Here your host Jen and Jill. Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jail,
Speaker 1: and it's November, so that means everything from here on
Speaker 1: out is associated to the holidays. Christmas song inserted here, Yes,
Speaker 1: fifteen seconds. I don't know. I don't know if Eric
Speaker 1: will actually do that, but we do have one episode
Speaker 1: of Alpo Holidays. This is it. This is all you're
Speaker 1: going to get from us, minus our Christmas special kind
Speaker 1: of like the Star Wars Christmas Special and that we're
Speaker 1: doing on Christmas, because Christmas is on a Friday. Just
Speaker 1: get ready for that. You have to join the girl
Speaker 1: Friends community on Facebook if you want to be part
Speaker 1: of that. But today we are talking about holiday impulse buying.
Speaker 1: That's just it's a thing and we need to be
Speaker 1: aware of it and we need to not do it.
Speaker 1: If we're gonna come out with any semblance of like
Speaker 1: self respect come January one, thank you, Yes. Absolutely. A
Speaker 1: study from glass Box and Google reported that of consumers
Speaker 1: plan to spend less this holiday season, and plans are great,
Speaker 1: but like, how do we follow through with the plan?
Speaker 1: And I also like to point out that if want
Speaker 1: to spend less, that means plan to spend as much
Speaker 1: or more than they did in two thousand nineteen, which
Speaker 1: I don't know how that's possible this year, but yeah, right,
Speaker 1: I feel like every year everyone thinks I'm not going
Speaker 1: to spend as much this year, right, And I want
Speaker 1: to person who's like, no, I'm going to outspend last
Speaker 1: year in the middle of a pandemic and better. So
Speaker 1: that is what we're talking about today. But first our sponsors.
Speaker 1: It's the debt Free Christmas Planner. You don't have to
Speaker 1: sing it, but I just did because I'm so excited
Speaker 1: about it. Every year you have the best intentions about
Speaker 1: controlling your holiday spending, and every year you forget something.
Speaker 1: I forget something I'm going to speak for. That's why
Speaker 1: Jen made this free you heard it, free Christmas Planner
Speaker 1: to help you record every cost and stay on budget
Speaker 1: this holiday season. This planner will help you keep track
Speaker 1: of your spending on family traditions, recipes, dinners and parties,
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Speaker 1: Then use the planning chart to make sure you're on
Speaker 1: track to saving the right amount next year. If this
Speaker 1: sounds like something you need, head to Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot com slash holiday to get your free plan. Yes,
Speaker 1: you're welcome. This is amazing. Yes, because I always just
Speaker 1: think about gifts and I forget about the family traditions,
Speaker 1: the recipes, the dinners, I mean food. It all costs money.
Speaker 1: You forget. I spend so much more money on food
Speaker 1: every year, and I get I feel blindsided by it
Speaker 1: every night. It's like, when did this start costing money?
Speaker 1: I don't know, it must have been this year. Speaking
Speaker 1: of this episode is also brought to you by looking
Speaker 1: for a year that won't bring you widespread panic and
Speaker 1: global chaos. Try the holidays signal the end of the year,
Speaker 1: and they actually feel like a year unto themselves, so
Speaker 1: that means is just around the corner. We hope that
Speaker 1: statement brings you joy. We can't make any promises, but
Speaker 1: it's probably going to be better than maybe maybe maybe
Speaker 1: premising anything. Stay tuned. So, like we said, this is
Speaker 1: our one holiday episode for we didn't even do in
Speaker 1: last year. Our last holiday episodes if you want to
Speaker 1: check them out. We had episode thirty three, which is
Speaker 1: tips for keeping the Holidays frugal, and then episode thirty four,
Speaker 1: the one right after it is like last minute frugal
Speaker 1: gift ideas, and then now we're all the way at
Speaker 1: one thirty three, So a hundred episodes later, we're doing another.
Speaker 1: But it's so that we don't mean to be grinches.
Speaker 1: We just want to bring you relevant content that's not
Speaker 1: always recycled, right, And we feel like this is the
Speaker 1: year to talk about impulse spending around the holidays, because
Speaker 1: you've been deprived for the last nine months and you
Speaker 1: may want to go out and treat yourself and that's
Speaker 1: totally okay, but plan it and put it in your
Speaker 1: budget and don't fall prey to these big box stores
Speaker 1: or even these small business this is is that are playing
Speaker 1: to impulse shopping marketing m HM. So that that's yeah,
Speaker 1: before we get into the headlines, I'm curious just to
Speaker 1: even quickly have a conversation about what impulse spending even is, Like,
Speaker 1: how would you define it jen an unplanned purchase, so
Speaker 1: something unless you are unless you have a budget for
Speaker 1: you and you can budget for impulse spending that's totally okay,
Speaker 1: but it has to be planned money so that it
Speaker 1: would be anything, any purchase that's outside of your budget,
Speaker 1: which especially at the holidays, we can fall victim too
Speaker 1: because it's just I don't know, I just bought. I
Speaker 1: just gotta buy gifts, and there's that pressure, and so
Speaker 1: we can without premeditating or planning for it impulsively by it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and just I mean, like I said earlier, the plan
Speaker 1: is great. It's great to have a plan. You should
Speaker 1: have a budget for the holidays, but sticking to it
Speaker 1: is typically the larger issue. UM. And one way that
Speaker 1: I mean stores prey on this impulse shopping um and
Speaker 1: they plan their marketing around it. So our first article
Speaker 1: today is actually not a consumer facing article. It's a
Speaker 1: business facing article, and so it's called how to reach
Speaker 1: a holiday impulse buyer during COVID nineteen. So this article
Speaker 1: is not meant for you to read, UM, and so
Speaker 1: we're going to read it to you because this this
Speaker 1: is the way the businesses that you're walking into or
Speaker 1: scrolling online are thinking, and this is how they're working.
Speaker 1: And so in order to be aware and to combat it,
Speaker 1: you should know that. So that you can be aware.
Speaker 1: It's so tricky, and I'm so excited to look at
Speaker 1: this article because it can help us be prepared for
Speaker 1: some of these different schemes that are out there that
Speaker 1: would cause you to fall into that impulse spending trap.
Speaker 1: Even if you're purchasing online. We're not just talking about
Speaker 1: going out to stores. And actually a lot of these
Speaker 1: things are traps that exist online to get you to
Speaker 1: impulse spend. So what's that saying about, like keep your
Speaker 1: friends close and your enemies closer. This says this is
Speaker 1: that idea to get into the mind of your enemy
Speaker 1: who wants you to spend all your money. That's why
Speaker 1: we do a podcast together, Jill opening. Halloween's over, but
Speaker 1: we're here for the holidays. This joyful, joyful spirit. Uh So,
Speaker 1: I wanted to start by saying, so on here. This
Speaker 1: is a widely like spread statistic, but it says the
Speaker 1: average American consumer spends about five thousand, four hundred dollars
Speaker 1: on impulse purchases per year um. And that was according
Speaker 1: to eighteen survey. For me and our audience, I feel
Speaker 1: like that's going to be that's a little high, but
Speaker 1: it should still kind of be startling that that's almost
Speaker 1: your IRA contributions for a year, like you can six
Speaker 1: thousand dollars will max out your IRA in a year um.
Speaker 1: And that's almost like what we're spending on impulse purchases. Yeikes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: year round maybe not just at the holidays, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: year round. Yeah. So if we can get this part
Speaker 1: of our spending under control, you will find money that
Speaker 1: you didn't know you had in order to put that
Speaker 1: towards UH savings that will grow instead of depreciate. So yeah,
Speaker 1: so this first article comes from Square and yeah, it's
Speaker 1: how to reach a holiday impulse buyer during COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1: So let's let's get into the mind here. You didn't, Jill,
Speaker 1: you didn't know this was business facing when you read it.
Speaker 1: I just put it on the out yea. When I first,
Speaker 1: I was like, At first, I was like, these aren't tips.
Speaker 1: These are this is how businesses trying to get us
Speaker 1: to spend money. Does Jen know this? And then I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah Jen knows this. But before I look into the
Speaker 1: actual tips that are given to businesses. Something worth noting
Speaker 1: that this article points out is that impulse shoppers, they say,
Speaker 1: are often millennials, the elder millennials, which is you and
Speaker 1: I Jen. Yeah, elder millennial. We've got all this knowledge,
Speaker 1: but apparently we are quite susceptible people between the ages
Speaker 1: of thirty seven, and that comes from a credit card
Speaker 1: dot com pole that we are. We're the talgutable to
Speaker 1: be very spontaneous online purchasers. We are the target. We
Speaker 1: are the ones who are online. We are the ones
Speaker 1: in careers and with children like that's the demographic thirty
Speaker 1: seven is the people with young children who want to
Speaker 1: be spoiling them. Well, they don't want to spoil them,
Speaker 1: but they do speak. Yeah, we can't resist a sale.
Speaker 1: We're apparently quick to make purchase decisions. So you know what,
Speaker 1: let's armor up you guys. Let's be the elders that
Speaker 1: we are in our millennial group, and let's be let's
Speaker 1: be knowledgeable about this. One of the tips that they
Speaker 1: are giving to these businesses is to gamify the shopping experience.
Speaker 1: This would mean incorporating a game or a quiz a
Speaker 1: determined the amount of discount or promotion that someone might receive.
Speaker 1: It might include like sending a wheel or like even
Speaker 1: e scratch offs to like de determine if you get
Speaker 1: ten off U pop up with a game or something
Speaker 1: like that that even happens online. So yeah, you're this
Speaker 1: is happening to you even in the privacy of your
Speaker 1: own home. So let's be aware of this that if
Speaker 1: someone's trying to like pull you into some online game
Speaker 1: while you're trying to shop, recognize what they're trying to do.
Speaker 1: They're trying to get you to spend your money, not
Speaker 1: necessarily actually provide you with great deals. They want to
Speaker 1: take advantage of the impulsive nature that we can have
Speaker 1: at times. Yeah, I feel like so I feel like
Speaker 1: I can even see this on social media, um with
Speaker 1: giveaways or sweepstakes, anything that makes they want to build
Speaker 1: interaction because once you interact with them once, this is
Speaker 1: a low hanging fruit. This is a low barrier to entry.
Speaker 1: Once you interact with them once by tapping your screen
Speaker 1: or clicking your mouth, it makes it easier for you
Speaker 1: to interact with them again, and they will and the
Speaker 1: interactions will get quote unquote kind of more difficult. So
Speaker 1: signing up for the email list, making a purchase, making
Speaker 1: another purchase, and so this is just getting you comfortable.
Speaker 1: Anything that gets you comfortable with clicking on their website
Speaker 1: or walking into their store. That that's what they're trying
Speaker 1: to do, is to get you comfortable with their brand. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And being aware of this tactic. Uh and and maybe
Speaker 1: even gamifying it for yourself to try to spot as
Speaker 1: many marketing ploys as you can in the process can
Speaker 1: help make you just more savvy as you do your
Speaker 1: online or in person shopping. Yeah, turn it on them,
Speaker 1: make your own game like that a little and I
Speaker 1: spent how few buttons can I click? Yes. The other
Speaker 1: thing that they do is they give deals. So, um,
Speaker 1: this is kind of one of those things where when
Speaker 1: you think of frugality and you think of a frugal consumer,
Speaker 1: it's it's the person that gets a deal, and that
Speaker 1: is typically how frugal people have been thought of. Um,
Speaker 1: but this is a place where you have to play
Speaker 1: offensive and defensive. So you can be looking for the deals,
Speaker 1: but you also have to know when a deal is
Speaker 1: a marketing ploy to get you to make an impulse purchase.
Speaker 1: Higher up here, it said of people in the survey
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier said their impulse purchase involved taking advantage
Speaker 1: of a deal or discount. Eighty five and nearly half
Speaker 1: of all holidays, consumers say they can't resist it. Um,
Speaker 1: So this is our effort to get you playing defense
Speaker 1: with the deals. So like they'll do this with like
Speaker 1: promoting a sense of urgency in the deal. So you
Speaker 1: have two hours to get this deal. This deal ends today.
Speaker 1: This is a weekend discount m because people procrastinate, and
Speaker 1: so if there is a sense of urgency in the deal,
Speaker 1: you're more likely to impulse by And creating scarcity is
Speaker 1: another marketing ploy of there's only two more left, there's
Speaker 1: probably not only two more left to just you know,
Speaker 1: thrown that out there. There's definitely more than two. And
Speaker 1: and it's a way to get you to just spend
Speaker 1: without thinking, even if it's not something that you want.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing. I think that's what you're describing, Jen.
Speaker 1: It's one thing if all year long you have said
Speaker 1: i want to get a kitchen aid mixer, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to wait for the deal. I'm going to wait
Speaker 1: for the coop and I'm going to wait for it
Speaker 1: to go on sale, you actually know that is less
Speaker 1: ex pensive than what I've been keeping my eye on
Speaker 1: all year. That's different from just I don't need a
Speaker 1: kitchen a mixer. But this just popped up about my
Speaker 1: screen and they say that it's ten percent off, So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it. Two very different scenarios, same probably
Speaker 1: same product, two different scenarios. Absolutely, so you have to
Speaker 1: do some planning on deals you want. I take advantage
Speaker 1: of Black Friday. I am planning the things that I want,
Speaker 1: you know, for up to six months in order to
Speaker 1: make sure a that I really want them, um and
Speaker 1: be that I will get the best deal. Um. So
Speaker 1: it's not bad to take advantage of holiday deals, but
Speaker 1: it is bad to just buy deals for the sake
Speaker 1: of getting a deal. Um and I Also in this article,
Speaker 1: it says nearly half of consumers are spending more time
Speaker 1: on social media UM during the COVID nineteen pandemic. And
Speaker 1: so you're going to see a lot more advertising on
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram Instagram especially UM. So be wary of
Speaker 1: of any advertising, whether it's sponsored posts or um like
Speaker 1: sponsored like ads from influencers. You follow another tip on
Speaker 1: here too, peep businesses selling things is to emphasize self care,
Speaker 1: so businesses, especially now so. There was a slick Deal
Speaker 1: survey that found on impulse buyer behavior and it found
Speaker 1: that nearly seventy two percent we're buying something impulsively during
Speaker 1: the pandemic because they were saying it positively impacted their mood.
Speaker 1: So businesses will be trying to market to you to
Speaker 1: care for yourself during these trying times. They are taking
Speaker 1: advantage of this situation when people might be feeling a
Speaker 1: bit more down, a bit more distressed, a bit more overwhelmed,
Speaker 1: and if there is something that appears to maybe alleviate
Speaker 1: some of that stress or a way to kind of
Speaker 1: treat myself because things are so difficult, they are praying
Speaker 1: on that. So be aware of this UM and and
Speaker 1: my advice, our advice, the Frugal Friends advice is not
Speaker 1: to not care for yourself, but do it in ways
Speaker 1: that actually provide you with prolonged relief and that are free.
Speaker 1: Self care does not cost money. It can, but it
Speaker 1: doesn't need to. Uh and you can reference our self
Speaker 1: care episode for some ideas on that one. But definitely
Speaker 1: be aware of the ways in which companies are are
Speaker 1: praying on this desire to kind of feel better, especially
Speaker 1: right now. Absolutely yes. And then the last one on
Speaker 1: this article that we'll talk about is um to go
Speaker 1: beyond seasons, greetings. So these these businesses, these brands, once
Speaker 1: they have converted quote unquote a holiday impulse shoppers, So
Speaker 1: once you've spent money with them, it is more cost
Speaker 1: effective for them to get you to spend more money
Speaker 1: with them than it is to go find a new
Speaker 1: customer to spend money, So they will continue to pursue
Speaker 1: you to buy more things from them, and that usually
Speaker 1: begins with the transaction confirmation email UM where they'll say like, hey, congratulations,
Speaker 1: orders on its way like uh, and then this one
Speaker 1: is saying like you can add something like say it's
Speaker 1: a good choice or say your thoughtful gifts are on
Speaker 1: the way. So trying to bolster buyers who may have
Speaker 1: second thoughts a to um not make a return and
Speaker 1: be to know, like and trust your brand so they
Speaker 1: feel more comfortable to make more clicks on your website.
Speaker 1: So I know that once you buy something from somewhere,
Speaker 1: you're going to see more of it in your inbox,
Speaker 1: on your Facebook, your Instagram, because it is more cost
Speaker 1: effective for that business to keep you as a customer.
Speaker 1: That is their primary goal UM than to look for
Speaker 1: more cold like buyers, which is another downside to this
Speaker 1: online shopping when you shop in person, you don't have
Speaker 1: to give your emails. Sometimes they'll try to get you
Speaker 1: to give them to them to sign up for those
Speaker 1: rewards points, YadA, YadA. But usually when you buy online
Speaker 1: you have to give an email because it's associated with
Speaker 1: payment and receipt and all of that. But and that's okay,
Speaker 1: but be aware of this and maybe have a junk
Speaker 1: email that some of these things can go to that's
Speaker 1: not constantly in your inbox tempting you to keep purchasing.
Speaker 1: M Yeah, So that is all for this article. Uh,
Speaker 1: And then now we have the second article. It's for
Speaker 1: money ning and it's tent tips for avoiding impulsive spending
Speaker 1: during the holidays. And these I just thought all ten
Speaker 1: of them are very practical, um and strategic that you
Speaker 1: can put in your pocket use if you need to,
Speaker 1: and it will help you just kind of take Now
Speaker 1: that you're aware of what's happening and the marketing tactics
Speaker 1: that these stores are using, now you can take these
Speaker 1: two kind of just um, you know, play your defense
Speaker 1: a little harder. Mm hmmm. So we will go through
Speaker 1: all ten because I think that they're worth it. The
Speaker 1: first one is to understand why you buy. This is
Speaker 1: a great way to be able to avoid impulsive holiday spending,
Speaker 1: but it does take some introspection because it's not the
Speaker 1: same for all of us as to the reason that
Speaker 1: we are impulsively buying. But they do give a few examples.
Speaker 1: It might be, oh, this doll that looks like your
Speaker 1: favorite doll as a child, or a popcorn tin that
Speaker 1: has your favorite sports team logo on it, or a
Speaker 1: massive l C D TV that's bigger than what you
Speaker 1: have or bigger than what your friend has. You name
Speaker 1: it right. There's either competition or nostalgia or I mean,
Speaker 1: for me, the desire to be the best aunt ever
Speaker 1: just saying, or just clearance. I am I can be
Speaker 1: a sucker for clearance. I see those yellow signs and
Speaker 1: I'm just like a moth to the flame. So with
Speaker 1: this it is a matter of knowing why you're buying.
Speaker 1: But then for me, this is my own therapy tip
Speaker 1: coming at you or something like a theme that I
Speaker 1: often talk about with my clients is protecting our vulnerabilities,
Speaker 1: to know where you're vulnerable. Like for me, it is
Speaker 1: clearance and a desire to really give good gifts and
Speaker 1: be seen as somebody who gives good gifts, and that's
Speaker 1: why I will just buy anything that makes me feel
Speaker 1: like that's going to be the the end result. And
Speaker 1: so because I know that about myself, I can protect
Speaker 1: those things by telling myself ahead of time and not
Speaker 1: going to the clear in section. The clear and section
Speaker 1: isn't gonna have anything for me today. Um or planned
Speaker 1: to go to the clear and section because they usually
Speaker 1: have X y Z, which is exactly what I'm looking for. So,
Speaker 1: protecting your vulnerabilities so that you're not exploited in those areas.
Speaker 1: And I know that it sounds quite dramatic, but vulnerability
Speaker 1: without protection leads to exploitation. So that's my like my
Speaker 1: in depth like clinical therapy for you. But I do
Speaker 1: think it helps us. It's it's a it's a similar concept.
Speaker 1: Protect your vulnerabilities. It's okay to have them, just know them,
Speaker 1: put some protections in place around them, and you won't
Speaker 1: be exploited financially us I I just went to school.
Speaker 1: I think on that man, that was so good. Number two,
Speaker 1: don't shop hungry. But that's another thing, right like that
Speaker 1: makes us vulnerable if we're hungry. It says that even
Speaker 1: if your blood sugar is slightly before below normal. Your
Speaker 1: judgment may be impaired, you may be cranky, emotional, and
Speaker 1: more impulsive. And I feel like this writer knows me. Um,
Speaker 1: So eat a balance meal before leaving the house. Uh,
Speaker 1: and eat what you have at home, and then carry
Speaker 1: water and healthy snacks on all of your shopping trips.
Speaker 1: It's so small, but it does make a difference. Like
Speaker 1: when I am cranky from being hungry, I'll just buy
Speaker 1: whatever or I won't buy anything at all, and it
Speaker 1: makes for It's just makes things harder. Not only that,
Speaker 1: not only is it just just throw whatever in the cart.
Speaker 1: And then you've got all this stimulus around you of
Speaker 1: other shoppers, which heightens our stress levels, which makes it
Speaker 1: even more difficult to make rational decisions. And then we
Speaker 1: might impulse on the food because now we're hungry, we're
Speaker 1: gonna get that pretzel, and then we're gonna go get
Speaker 1: that fast food and then we're gonna go like it
Speaker 1: just it's this like vortex that will suck us into
Speaker 1: spending money that we don't actually want to be spending. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The next tip on here is to shop alone. This
Speaker 1: of course depends on who you are, and they do
Speaker 1: make that caveat that the pendulum could swing in either direction.
Speaker 1: So know who you are. If it is more difficult
Speaker 1: for you to not impulse by let's say, if you've
Speaker 1: got all of your children with you who are like mommy, mommy, daddy, daddy,
Speaker 1: I want, I want, then go alone. Figure out a
Speaker 1: way for you to be by yourself while shopping. Conversely,
Speaker 1: if you recognize I'm actually really susceptible to purchasing a
Speaker 1: ton of things, then bring an accountability person with you.
Speaker 1: Of here's the amount that I want to spend, here's
Speaker 1: in general what I want to spend it on, and
Speaker 1: go together so that somebody else can help keep tabs on.
Speaker 1: Sure you want to spend that you just told me
Speaker 1: five minutes ago you didn't, So recognize who you are
Speaker 1: and shop accordingly. Yeah, that's so great. You could if
Speaker 1: you go with your accountability partner, give each other your
Speaker 1: lists and shop for each other. That way you're not
Speaker 1: impulsively buying, and then come back together and then all right,
Speaker 1: maybe I don't know, like kind of a way to
Speaker 1: game of fu, yeah, kind of. Or you might spend
Speaker 1: more because you're justifying it because you're buying for somebody else.
Speaker 1: I feel like I would spend last but I don't
Speaker 1: know it's true. I'm not you're actually spending the money
Speaker 1: on it. You're just like picking the things out for them.
Speaker 1: Fourth is to use a prepaid credit card. Um. So
Speaker 1: this one is for people who are especially prone to overspending,
Speaker 1: like all through the year. Um. I think if you
Speaker 1: just want to protect yourself over the holidays, I would
Speaker 1: recommend using a gift card. So getting a gift card
Speaker 1: from Target or Walmarder wherever you're shopping, with the amount
Speaker 1: you want to spend. In that way, you only spend
Speaker 1: what's on there, even a discounted gift card. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I mean leave your other cards at home, leave your
Speaker 1: cash at home, and only take your driver's license and
Speaker 1: your gift card or your prepaid card. And then when
Speaker 1: the card's empty, you're done shopping. That's it came over.
Speaker 1: The next tip is to shop online. So this is
Speaker 1: of course with the caveat of all of the other
Speaker 1: things that we mentioned in the first article to keep
Speaker 1: all of those online tricky trick sers in mind, but
Speaker 1: it can help with the weeding out the distraction of
Speaker 1: other things like when you go in person to a store,
Speaker 1: you're seeing a plethora of other things on the shelves,
Speaker 1: and you might purchase something that you didn't previously intend
Speaker 1: to purchase just because it's right in front of you.
Speaker 1: Whereas there's not as much opportunity for that when you're online.
Speaker 1: Uh there's you're not seeing shelves of unrelated things, right.
Speaker 1: That's why I do all of I try to do
Speaker 1: all of my grocery shopping online. I go to all
Speaker 1: the maybe like once a month now, ideally just to
Speaker 1: get those pouches, those little fruit pouches. Yeah, I I'm
Speaker 1: constantly forgetting that I can just do a pickup of
Speaker 1: my groceries. And I do think that that would help
Speaker 1: me a ton in meal planning and in my own
Speaker 1: impulse food purchases throughout the year, not just Christmas time.
Speaker 1: And they sent Walmart does not mark up crisis like
Speaker 1: insta cart. So just a recommendation Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com slash Walmart ten dollars off your first pickup order
Speaker 1: m okay number six, walk around the store with your
Speaker 1: items for a while before purchasing and see if the
Speaker 1: urge to buy passes. Um So this can be a
Speaker 1: good one. So maybe you can walk around or maybe
Speaker 1: sit on your phone for a little bit and just
Speaker 1: see give yourself some time out. Um I. I sometimes
Speaker 1: will say, like do a little kind of mini meditation,
Speaker 1: so you're just kind of like, don't look weird, but
Speaker 1: you're just like standing there and maybe you close your
Speaker 1: eyes and kind of like recite something I don't know, uh,
Speaker 1: say a prayer for more money, and then look back
Speaker 1: at your cart and see if everything in there is
Speaker 1: what you still want to be in there. I love
Speaker 1: this tip. It's one of my best tricks. And sometimes
Speaker 1: I'll just throw things in the cart before I've gone
Speaker 1: around to the rest of the store if it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this could be the thing that I want, but I'm
Speaker 1: going to check out some other sections and see if
Speaker 1: I can find something better or less expensive. And it
Speaker 1: usually works that either I find an alternative that is
Speaker 1: better or I realize, you know what, No, I don't
Speaker 1: need to do this. I can just live without it
Speaker 1: or give a different type of gift. Um. So I
Speaker 1: love this tip. It allows us to kind of manipulate
Speaker 1: it in our minds a little bit and determine whether
Speaker 1: or not we actually want it. Yeah, if you do
Speaker 1: that pause right, not so well, it's in the cart now,
Speaker 1: so you gotta gotta go, gotta get out of here,
Speaker 1: and you buy it. Yeah. Uh. This next one is
Speaker 1: also a favorite of mine. Translate the price of the
Speaker 1: item two hours worked. Is this a good one? It's
Speaker 1: such a tangible way to determine if it's actually worth
Speaker 1: your hard earned cash. So something could seem like, oh great,
Speaker 1: like fifty dollars, it's such a good deal on this thing,
Speaker 1: but how many how many hours of work does that
Speaker 1: represent to you? And if you actually were to translate,
Speaker 1: I I worked these hours. Here's what I did in
Speaker 1: those hours to acquire this thing? Is it worth it?
Speaker 1: This has been really helpful for me to kind of
Speaker 1: like cost benefit analysis various things and realize that I
Speaker 1: do place various value systems on things like to me,
Speaker 1: fifty dollars to go out for a night on a
Speaker 1: date on food isn't actually that much money, But then
Speaker 1: to go buy a shirt for fifty dollars feels like
Speaker 1: an insane amount of money to spend, And I'm like, why,
Speaker 1: it's that's one meal that I just blew fifty dollars
Speaker 1: that I can't get back, and yet I'll never and
Speaker 1: fifty dollars on a shirt like and this kind of
Speaker 1: concept of how many hours did you have to work
Speaker 1: to get that thing can help to level the playing
Speaker 1: field on all of it, absolutely, And I have been
Speaker 1: thinking about this concept since our interview with Jesse meek
Speaker 1: Um from Why Nab about how you work so hard
Speaker 1: for this money and then afterwards you're just going to like, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, throw it away on like stuff you haven't
Speaker 1: planned on their stuff that's like fleeting, yeah, just so
Speaker 1: that underneath the Christmas tree it can look full. I've
Speaker 1: like I've started to realize that year after year because
Speaker 1: I used to have this thing like I just wanted
Speaker 1: to look like there's so many wrapped presents and then
Speaker 1: they're all unwrapped, and like, I don't feel that great
Speaker 1: about myself with what I gave to people, Like I
Speaker 1: need to keep this in mind because just how it
Speaker 1: looks wrapped is not actually a value I will actually
Speaker 1: want to give of like a good gift, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to not break my bank. I want to be
Speaker 1: kind to others while also being kind to myself, and
Speaker 1: so I'm just embracing this more and more year after
Speaker 1: year of I don't I don't need to just spend money.
Speaker 1: I'd rather be thoughtful or spend time with people. So
Speaker 1: that's just another thing to keep in mind of. Think
Speaker 1: back to like Christmas afternoon, what were the things you
Speaker 1: were telling yourself that you're going to do differently. I'm
Speaker 1: never going to wrap this many presents again as you're
Speaker 1: cleaning up all the wrapping paper. Um. The next one
Speaker 1: is to freeze your credit cards for the month of December.
Speaker 1: So the article says to actually literally dunk them in
Speaker 1: water and freeze them in the freezer. You can also
Speaker 1: just go on to your credit card website. UM. This
Speaker 1: is very easy with Chase. I'm not sure how easy
Speaker 1: it is with other card providers, but you can put
Speaker 1: them on you can lock them so they're not able
Speaker 1: to be used. You would literally have to relog in
Speaker 1: and unlock it to use it. But if you very
Speaker 1: much struggle with that impulse desire, um, then absolutely freeze
Speaker 1: it in a cup of water for the month. It
Speaker 1: doesn't actually do anything to the account. It just makes
Speaker 1: it harder to right. It does nothing. You've got it now. Well, okay,
Speaker 1: so speaking of thought, um, there's also a free chrome
Speaker 1: and I think it might be Firefox extension to UM
Speaker 1: it's called ice box, and you can UM download it,
Speaker 1: and then every buy button on very popular websites turns
Speaker 1: into put it on ice and so it makes it
Speaker 1: impossible to buy it, well, not impossible, It puts that
Speaker 1: barrier to buy it for the number of days that
Speaker 1: you specify, so fourteen, thirty, whatever, And so after those
Speaker 1: days are up, then that button turns back into a
Speaker 1: buy now button, so that you can make sure, yeah,
Speaker 1: that your impulses are not um, they're not impulses. These
Speaker 1: are some hardcore ways of protecting ourselves if needed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that that built in way of pause, because that's ultimately
Speaker 1: the antidote impulse is pause and whatever it takes to
Speaker 1: get you to pause is helpful. So consider all of
Speaker 1: these things. And related to that idea is this next
Speaker 1: tip of lower your daily spending limit just on your
Speaker 1: checking account. Even if you have a debit card, you
Speaker 1: can go into your bank account and lower your daily
Speaker 1: spending limits so that when you're done, you're done, and
Speaker 1: you won't be able to spend that money because you've
Speaker 1: you've set that limit already. So just more checks and balances,
Speaker 1: more pauses for us, so that we don't go over
Speaker 1: the spending limit that we want to. Yeah, and this
Speaker 1: last one very important. Uh, don't feel you need to
Speaker 1: buy a gift for everyone. You know. The mailman is
Speaker 1: truly not going to shred your junk mail um or
Speaker 1: think you hate him because you don't leave him a
Speaker 1: gift in the mailbox this year. If you can't get
Speaker 1: a gift for everyone, Yeah, but you can send one
Speaker 1: to us the frugal friends. Just send it to St.
Speaker 1: Petersburg will find it. The Frugal Friends St. Petersburg, Florida,
Speaker 1: Thank you. You don't have to get us a gift.
Speaker 1: You can if you want to, I guess, But you
Speaker 1: don't need to buy a gift for everyone you know,
Speaker 1: like that coworker. Even so, here's the hard one. Even
Speaker 1: somebody that gets you a gift, that doesn't mean you
Speaker 1: have to get them another gift you have you don't
Speaker 1: have to. Yeah, that's that's what gifting is about. You're
Speaker 1: not You're doing it not expecting to receive anything in
Speaker 1: the future. It does feel a little uncomfortable, honestly, but
Speaker 1: you can do a well written thank you note. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: really sweet gum in there, and you've kind of given
Speaker 1: them a gift back. That's what you can send Jill
Speaker 1: for Christmas is gum. I love them, so yeah, you
Speaker 1: can write a very sweet Christmas card. There are ways
Speaker 1: around it to show that you're thinking about them that
Speaker 1: do not cost money. And so if you really want
Speaker 1: to get somebody something and it's outside of your budget,
Speaker 1: think of free ways to do that, but don't stress
Speaker 1: yourself out about it. You can just say no to
Speaker 1: getting them. You can put that boundary up. Mm hmm. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Speaking of good gifts and gifts that keep on giving
Speaker 1: and when I'm never going to say no to the
Speaker 1: that's right. It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 1: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 1: is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 1: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 1: that bill anymore. That Bill Buffalo, Bill, Bill Clint, This
Speaker 1: is the bill of the week. Hi, this is Becky.
Speaker 1: My bill of the week is Bill Shakespeare. My husband
Speaker 1: and I have been doing a Shakespeare for Kids program
Speaker 1: at our local library for the past eighteen years. We
Speaker 1: had to switch to a virtual program this year, which
Speaker 1: was a lot of work, but we're actually reaching more
Speaker 1: kids than we would have with our in person program.
Speaker 1: Speaking of libraries, I think that they are a great
Speaker 1: frugal friend. They feed my reading addiction. There's no way
Speaker 1: I could afford my book habit, and they off for
Speaker 1: so many free cultural programs for families. I love your podcast.
Speaker 1: You give so many great doable ideas and I'm always
Speaker 1: smiling and laughing out loud while listening. Thank you, Betty. Yes,
Speaker 1: I love that Bill Shakespeare Bill share. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: wouldn't think about that, and I'm always like William Shakespeare.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he's a Bill. He's just a regular run
Speaker 1: of the mill Bill just did Bill who just created
Speaker 1: tons of literary masterpieces. And Becky, you sound amazing and
Speaker 1: so cool being involved in your library and calling us.
Speaker 1: Thanks for being our friend. Thank you for listening to Becky,
Speaker 1: and thank you for en reaching the lives of children
Speaker 1: with literature that is amazing and giving giving parents something
Speaker 1: to do with their children, which is so difficult sometimes.
Speaker 1: So I truly appreciate you. And I can't wait to
Speaker 1: take Kai to meet Billie Shakespeare in books one day.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Take them to the libraries if someone else
Speaker 1: can watch him for a little bit. That's actually it.
Speaker 1: If you want to submit your William Bill of the week,
Speaker 1: visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill um and
Speaker 1: leave us a bill. Now it's time for lining round,
Speaker 1: so we are going to share with you are real
Speaker 1: life holiday shopping plans so that you can keep us accountable.
Speaker 1: So we can keep each other accountable, but also you
Speaker 1: because we are not completely protected from impulse purchases. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm still human, I make them. Yeah. Uh So this
Speaker 1: is one of the perks of moving away from where
Speaker 1: I'm from. Like I, if I go back home for
Speaker 1: the holidays, I can't carry much with me. So there
Speaker 1: you go. There's like one tick on the pros for
Speaker 1: moving away is it's more difficult to give gifts, So
Speaker 1: there for you, just don't Yeah, thanks, I will still
Speaker 1: give gifts, and so for me, I've already begun and
Speaker 1: I am. I will say. I love Christmas. It's my
Speaker 1: favorite holiday. So I think about it year round and
Speaker 1: I alert others to about like how far away Christmas is,
Speaker 1: and it's usually just something like Christmas is going to
Speaker 1: be so soon, and it doesn't matter what time of
Speaker 1: year it is. I'll be like mid June, and I'm
Speaker 1: like you you won't even believe how close Christmas is.
Speaker 1: It's like right around the corner. Uh and and it's
Speaker 1: usually right because it sneaks up on us. Anyhow, I
Speaker 1: do because I think about it so often, I'm able
Speaker 1: to kind of create a list of what do I
Speaker 1: want to give this year? So I do have a
Speaker 1: list of some thoughtful but inexpensive ideas for family. I
Speaker 1: can't say it because I do think some of my
Speaker 1: family members listen to this podcast. Just know that it's
Speaker 1: inexpensive and it's yeah, just a personal, thoughtful thing. Um.
Speaker 1: And then other than that, when it comes to friends
Speaker 1: or people local, I usually just look around my house
Speaker 1: for what do I have. This could include what are
Speaker 1: things that I'm looking to get rid of that aren't
Speaker 1: super worn out or overly used, and I'll give them.
Speaker 1: I'll give them away. People like you don't care you're
Speaker 1: getting me something from my house. Yeah, I'm gonna love it.
Speaker 1: You won't even know that it's from my house. Um,
Speaker 1: you might anyhow, Or for me it's plants, and that
Speaker 1: that's no secret. You just you just can know that
Speaker 1: if you're local to me, it's probably going to be
Speaker 1: a plant because I can propagate my plants. So if
Speaker 1: you don't know what that means, look it up. And
Speaker 1: if you've got plants in your yard or plants in
Speaker 1: your house, learn how to propagate them starting now and
Speaker 1: you'll have some good gifts for Christmas. Also, terracotta pots
Speaker 1: are super inexpensive. Yes, we have a lot of those.
Speaker 1: If you need any. Thank you, yes for all those
Speaker 1: plants you got at the plants last weekend. Give me
Speaker 1: your terracotta pot. I'll put a plant in it, give
Speaker 1: it back to you. Um So, for me, I may
Speaker 1: indulge in Black Friday. Black Friday is my favorite holiday.
Speaker 1: Um But I love to shot. I love to look
Speaker 1: through all of the ads. Um I so I love.
Speaker 1: I used to not love holidays, but after I got married,
Speaker 1: uh and I married into a large family. It's taken
Speaker 1: me like five six years, but I have because I've
Speaker 1: warmed up to holidays now. Uh So, but I used
Speaker 1: to always love looking through Black Friday ads on Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: morning while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. So that yeah,
Speaker 1: that's like my personal ritual every year. Uh and sometimes
Speaker 1: it includes cinnamon roles. But um so, I may indulge
Speaker 1: in Black Friday because that's me. Um, Kai is getting
Speaker 1: gifts from his birthday. I love this. I love this
Speaker 1: so much, say so much more about this. So some
Speaker 1: people got Kai gifts. I did not ask people to
Speaker 1: get Kai gifts on his birthday. But we had a
Speaker 1: small birthday party and people just brought gifts. That's not me, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't do that. I don't bring gifts to birthday parties. Uh.
Speaker 1: And that may be rude, but that's just not what
Speaker 1: I'm not a good gift giver. I'm not good at
Speaker 1: it and I don't do it. So people brought gifts
Speaker 1: and I was not expecting it. Some of them brought
Speaker 1: gifts for one and a half two year olds for
Speaker 1: a baby that was turning one. So they are in
Speaker 1: my closet waiting for Christmas and they will get rewrapped
Speaker 1: and given um and then everyone else is getting gift cards.
Speaker 1: I actually do want to be generous with gift cards
Speaker 1: this year. And um yeah, I actually need some accountability
Speaker 1: for being generous this holiday season. UM. Heads up, we
Speaker 1: do have In our next few episodes. The Friday before
Speaker 1: Black Friday is going to be on technology. UM kind
Speaker 1: of elaborating going through tech deals for Black Friday. But
Speaker 1: also our Black Friday episode is on generosity and so
Speaker 1: ways to be more generous to other people, and so
Speaker 1: I think that's really going to be a um an
Speaker 1: episode for me. I'm outlined. Yeah, I'm outlining for myself
Speaker 1: because I need it. That's amazing. I'm excited to talk
Speaker 1: about that with you. Yeah, you too. So and also
Speaker 1: you guys, don't forget to visit Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com slash Holiday to get that free debt free holiday
Speaker 1: planner that we were talking about. UM so you can
Speaker 1: keep track of your Thanksgiving and Christmas expenses and keep
Speaker 1: them on budget. Thank you all so much for listening.
Speaker 1: We want to thank you for your kind of views
Speaker 1: on iTunes and Stitcher like this one. It comes from
Speaker 1: twin mom Boys eleven. Well there's so much even in
Speaker 1: that name. You sound amazing, but anyhow it's titled great Podcast.
Speaker 1: It happens to be five stars. This podcast is exactly
Speaker 1: what I need to help on my financial journey. You
Speaker 1: provide friendly, useful content. Love it. Thank you. Wow, Twin
Speaker 1: Mom Boys eleven, You're welcome. I'm so glad to help
Speaker 1: you and we hope that you're eleven year old twin boys,
Speaker 1: uh get some of their birthday gifts for Christmas, or
Speaker 1: maybe she has a twin mom. Yeah, definitely the way
Speaker 1: you're taking how it is, but it's just so many ways.
Speaker 1: We also want to thank our friends who share these
Speaker 1: episodes on social media, so, uh, you know, for every
Speaker 1: five tags and reviews we get every month, we give
Speaker 1: away a copy of the Frugal Friends Workbook. Um, so
Speaker 1: share our latest episode on Facebook or Instagram and make
Speaker 1: sure you tag frugal at Frugal Friends podcast, and of
Speaker 1: course keep leaving us reviews on iTunes or Stitcher and
Speaker 1: sending us a screenshot of those reviews to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: Podcasts at gmail dot com. When we receive that email
Speaker 1: of your screenshot at review, we enter you into that
Speaker 1: drawing for the Frugal Friends Workbook. So tag us on
Speaker 1: social leave us reviews and email them to us. All
Speaker 1: of it. We'll get you into that drawing. Yes, and
Speaker 1: we will see you next week. Bye. Frugal Friends is produced,
Speaker 1: edited and mixed by Eric Serria. What are you doing
Speaker 1: for Christmas this year? I don't know. Typically are schedule
Speaker 1: goes Travis's Dad's family, Christmas Eve, my Mom, Christmas Morning
Speaker 1: Travis's mom's family Christmas afternoon. But Travis has to work
Speaker 1: Christmas night, so sure, how we'll do it this year.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be Santa. He is Santa. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: Travis is Santa. He has to work through the night.
Speaker 1: Santa works Christmas Eve night. Jill, well, but into like
Speaker 1: it's mostly Christmas Day that he's working. If it's like
Speaker 1: through the evening, Yeah, but Travis doesn't work Christmas Eve night.
Speaker 1: He works Christmas night. Oh dang it. He's the Grinch.
Speaker 1: Travis is the Grinch. He's going around taking all the
Speaker 1: gifts from everybody. Yeah, he's a burglar, I mean grinch. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so he will be working through the night on that,
Speaker 1: which means that he has to sleep Christmas Day. Ah,
Speaker 1: he won't. Really, it's his since it's a Friday, that's
Speaker 1: his kind of Monday. So he'll be available on Christmas morning.
Speaker 1: So I'll just have to sleep Christmas afternoon. We'll see.
Speaker 1: But we have a lot a lot of Christmas festivity
Speaker 1: in the In the past ten years, after my dad died,
Speaker 1: we would do nothing for Christmas and so it kind
Speaker 1: of just became like a um But and then I
Speaker 1: got married and obviously having a million family members is
Speaker 1: overwhelming for an only child. Never celebrate Christmas, and I
Speaker 1: have been slowly like easing into it where now I
Speaker 1: don't dread the holidays anymore. Wow. Yeah, I'm really glad
Speaker 1: for the growth you've experienced. Thank you to you. I
Speaker 1: still have my Thanksgiving morning, like I sit by myself
Speaker 1: and I watched the parade, and I eat my cinnamon
Speaker 1: roll and I look through my ads. So to me,
Speaker 1: that is it's not even about getting a deal, like
Speaker 1: sometimes I don't even shop. It's just about doing it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I've done that since I was maybe thirteen. Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, that's so key. Little Jen eating the cinnamon roll,
Speaker 1: doing our good Friday shopping, my good friend Black driving. Different,
Speaker 1: very different,