Speaker 1: Episode to how to save money on monthly bills. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, rice, and live with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill m M. Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill.
Speaker 1: And last week we talked about winter and some winterization
Speaker 1: which will help you on your monthly bill this winter.
Speaker 1: But today we're talking about all bills. All bills you
Speaker 1: pay monthly or maybe you should just be saving four monthly.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do some practical tips for saving bills. Bills,
Speaker 1: bills them. What a fun episode talking about bills. You
Speaker 1: know we're going to have bills of the week, well
Speaker 1: just one probably, but yeah, we'll definitely have a lot
Speaker 1: of bills of the month guaranteed. But first, this episode
Speaker 1: is brought to you by the pods on Love is Blind,
Speaker 1: arguably the best part of the show, don't at me.
Speaker 1: The pods are designed for complete isolation and introverts dream
Speaker 1: isolation not only makes for saucy reality drama, but it's
Speaker 1: good for your money too. Putting your savings in different
Speaker 1: pods keeps it isolated from your other dollars and from you,
Speaker 1: so it can't judge you for how you look or
Speaker 1: don't look on a certain day. Are your dollars co
Speaker 1: mingling well, As we've seen on Love is Blind, that
Speaker 1: may not be the best solution for them. They may
Speaker 1: need to be isolated to find love, I e. The
Speaker 1: plans you have for it because you get to decide
Speaker 1: what they love, which is fun. Sometimes wish others would
Speaker 1: do that for us. Put your say things in their
Speaker 1: own pod and earned three point to a p y
Speaker 1: at our current favorite high yeld savings account. C I
Speaker 1: t Let Your Money find Love in its own pod
Speaker 1: at Frugal Friends podcast dot com. Slash c I T
Speaker 1: also Lauren and Cameron Forever. I am here for that
Speaker 1: entire thing. I just wanted to hear so much more
Speaker 1: about a love letter for odds and money and how
Speaker 1: you're going to tie it all into a high old
Speaker 1: savings account. Jen, that was everything. This is why they
Speaker 1: pay me the big books, right and I put in
Speaker 1: my high yield savings accounts so that they can find love.
Speaker 1: I'm seeing that now. Yes, such Love is Blind Lander.
Speaker 1: I know Season three is trash just because he getting trash.
Speaker 1: I'll just keep from the first ten minutes of the
Speaker 1: past season. Yeah, and it took me like five episodes
Speaker 1: to finally be like, you were right j and you
Speaker 1: were right along. Yeah, thank you. It's I have a
Speaker 1: quick intuition about people, especially trash people anyway. We don't
Speaker 1: say that about anybody just the right the way the
Speaker 1: producers they are not. They are humans of value that
Speaker 1: are portrayed as trash people. It's characters, their characters anyways.
Speaker 1: So if you are ready to get rid of your
Speaker 1: trash bills, uh, then let's give you some more episodes
Speaker 1: to queue up for after this. So we we don't
Speaker 1: love to talk about scrimping and scraping off the top
Speaker 1: on monthly bills, and you will see that by some
Speaker 1: of our last episodes on it. Well we talk about
Speaker 1: it kind of sporadically throughout other topics. But I've got
Speaker 1: episode forty five negotiating tips for lowering bills, prices, rates,
Speaker 1: et cetera. And then episode five, which is how to
Speaker 1: save money on bills, which this is kind of episode
Speaker 1: five's follow up. It took us two hundred sixty episodes
Speaker 1: to get back around. We got there. I'm not certain
Speaker 1: how often we want to recommend things in our archive
Speaker 1: between episodes one to ten, like, I have no idea,
Speaker 1: that's when I feel like listen to behavior. Do you
Speaker 1: think that's probably when we were on our best behavior. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we didn't know, we really knew each other. We just
Speaker 1: like you're turned to talk, okay, my my ouy where
Speaker 1: we didn't have such savage feelings about marcro waves and
Speaker 1: freezers and we so Yeah, Jill had to take a
Speaker 1: two hour nap after that episode, and I had to
Speaker 1: finish watching Love Is Blind. We really wore ourselves out.
Speaker 1: If you did not listen to the freezer meal episode,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's spicy seral episode. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was a two hour nap, but I did taken
Speaker 1: that it was a two hour Did he really well?
Speaker 1: Then he might know better than I do. Wow, I
Speaker 1: was exhausted. Okay, I really don't even I don't nap.
Speaker 1: I never nap. You're dumb to lower my bills this
Speaker 1: time around. This one won't take it out of me.
Speaker 1: There's no there's no hot takes here. Yeah, we agree
Speaker 1: wholeheartedly on much of this because it's really standard. We
Speaker 1: may not give you anything you don't already know. We
Speaker 1: may do that, we may challenge you to try some
Speaker 1: things that you knew but didn't think we're applicable for you,
Speaker 1: and that's honestly always our goal. So let's get into
Speaker 1: this first article. It's from nerd Wallet. It's how to
Speaker 1: lower your bills thirty eight way is to say, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna go through all thirty eight yeah, buckle up. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: we are absolutely not. You do not need to do
Speaker 1: thirty eight things to save money on your bills. It's fine,
Speaker 1: but I do like knowing that there's this many options,
Speaker 1: and really I found this to be a really great
Speaker 1: article because it broke it down into all these different
Speaker 1: categories housing and utilities, and transportation and food, and then
Speaker 1: with eating each of those categories, they gave a drop
Speaker 1: down menu which is just really fun and interactive. So
Speaker 1: whether you want to save in the housing section, you're
Speaker 1: interested in saving on your mortgage or rent, or your
Speaker 1: homeowners insurance, they've got tips on each of those categories,
Speaker 1: and similarly with all the other ones, dropped down venues
Speaker 1: for the different things you might want to be saving on.
Speaker 1: So if we don't cover in this first topic, things
Speaker 1: that you wanted to know more about check out the article. Definitely,
Speaker 1: so what's your what's your first tip? So for me
Speaker 1: and with what we talk about a lot within this podcast,
Speaker 1: I am most interested in looking at the categories that
Speaker 1: where I can have the biggest bang for my buck
Speaker 1: or the biggest amount of savings or cutting or slicing
Speaker 1: and dicing because I love knives and scissors and so
Speaker 1: housing is is for most of us, our biggest expense.
Speaker 1: So rather than looking at some of the tiny little
Speaker 1: things we spend on, let's look at the bigger things.
Speaker 1: Housing is typically a monthly cost. Uh, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to look at rent. I know both you and I John,
Speaker 1: we have mortgages, but I remember that rent life and
Speaker 1: I do feel like there can be a lot more
Speaker 1: wiggle room in what we pay for rent than maybe
Speaker 1: once we're already locked into a mortgage. And so a
Speaker 1: couple of different options here. If you are renting, of course,
Speaker 1: if your rent is too high and you're feeling like
Speaker 1: I'm going to get the most opportunity to save and
Speaker 1: cut this bill if I just downsize, then this might
Speaker 1: be your sign to potentially start looking. Is your apartment,
Speaker 1: your condo, your house that you're renting, is it more
Speaker 1: than what you need? And could you really see an
Speaker 1: awesome shift in your finances if you were to go
Speaker 1: for a smaller place. Can you get by with a
Speaker 1: one bedroom instead of a two bedroom? Can you get
Speaker 1: by with a smaller condo instead of a house? Like
Speaker 1: considering what is your current living space and could you move?
Speaker 1: I know that's a big transition, but worth considering, and
Speaker 1: then from there considering in what ways could you be
Speaker 1: bringing more money in? So that could include a roommate,
Speaker 1: bringing someone else into the home. This isn't an option
Speaker 1: for everybody, but for some people they might have chosen
Speaker 1: to live alone. But you know what, if you were
Speaker 1: to bring on a roommate or two, it's going to
Speaker 1: cut your rent for a time. And then from there
Speaker 1: just considering negotiating. So if you don't want to roommate,
Speaker 1: you don't want to move, but you do want to
Speaker 1: continue exploring ways to reduce your rent costs. I have
Speaker 1: personally experienced this. I have heard plenty of friends. I've
Speaker 1: seen it happen, being able to talk with your landlord
Speaker 1: about either maintaining a rate for a longer amount of time,
Speaker 1: so almost being kind to yourself in the future of well,
Speaker 1: maybe I just want to make sure that this is
Speaker 1: the rate that I pay for the next two years.
Speaker 1: So landlords might consider lacking in a rate if you
Speaker 1: agree to a longer lease, because that just confirms for them,
Speaker 1: I will be making this money for X amount of
Speaker 1: more years rather than the turnover that's going to be
Speaker 1: required if you move out. So negotiating for a longer lease,
Speaker 1: or asking if there's repairs or maintenance around the apartment
Speaker 1: or the house that you're renting that you could take
Speaker 1: on in exchange for less rent, whether that's mowing the
Speaker 1: lawn or shoveling your own snow, or handling the repairs
Speaker 1: as they come up, or doing little upgrades to the property.
Speaker 1: You name it. You could get as creative as you want.
Speaker 1: The worst that can happen as they say no, But
Speaker 1: I have seen this go in the favor of the
Speaker 1: tenants so often. Yeah, definitely. So I will talk about
Speaker 1: mortgages for those of you who have a mortgage, and
Speaker 1: just because you have one doesn't mean you can't lower it.
Speaker 1: It is more inconvenient the deeper you are in to
Speaker 1: a house. But just because it's more inconvenient does not
Speaker 1: mean it is not an option. So I'll go I'll
Speaker 1: start with like the easiest one I'll give you. Just
Speaker 1: start you with an easiest one, and it's to drop
Speaker 1: private mortgage insurance. And so I am not against having
Speaker 1: a mortgage. I'm not here trying to be mortgage free.
Speaker 1: That is for some people, it is not for me.
Speaker 1: But I have p m I. We have two houses,
Speaker 1: and I have p m I on one of them,
Speaker 1: and once we're done with renovations and getting the immediate
Speaker 1: stuff done, then one of our next schools is going
Speaker 1: to be to get to of the value and hopefully
Speaker 1: the value will have gone up by them so it
Speaker 1: will be even easier so that we can get that
Speaker 1: hundred nineteen dollars a month in p m I off
Speaker 1: of our loan. So I am not sure how p
Speaker 1: m I s range. Um it's usually between um like
Speaker 1: a point five eight percent to one six percent of
Speaker 1: the original loans value. That's not coming off the top
Speaker 1: of my head. I'm reading that. So it it just
Speaker 1: depends if that is worth it to you to say
Speaker 1: for me it's worth it too. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: sacrifice my renovations. I'm not going to sacrifice my investing.
Speaker 1: But once those things are out of the way and
Speaker 1: I get to prioritize a new goal, that will be
Speaker 1: a top priority to get to that so that we
Speaker 1: can reclaim that over a hundred bucks a month. So
Speaker 1: that is definitely a way if you don't plan to
Speaker 1: be mortgage free, but you do want to save some
Speaker 1: money on your mortgage, great way. That's a great way
Speaker 1: to save potentially thousand dollars a year. Alternatively, you could
Speaker 1: also try to refinance. If you are at a place
Speaker 1: where your current value of your home is about you know,
Speaker 1: you have between the current value and your loan about
Speaker 1: of equity, it might be a good idea to finance.
Speaker 1: It's not the best time to refinance, but I mean
Speaker 1: that time is over, so you really have to look
Speaker 1: at what your rate is, what rate you got, what
Speaker 1: rates are available. It may be worth just because I
Speaker 1: think you have to be at at this point for
Speaker 1: most lenders over to get the p M I if
Speaker 1: you're just taking it off and then sometimes they will
Speaker 1: charge you about five dollars to come out and do
Speaker 1: an inspection of the property if you want to do
Speaker 1: it before that, So figure out what your lender has
Speaker 1: if free financing is not for you, but getting that
Speaker 1: p M I office is probably the best if you
Speaker 1: don't want to leave your home downsize, do the more
Speaker 1: inconvenient things. This is literally the least that you can
Speaker 1: do to save that. I'm going to jump to transportation
Speaker 1: now because that's another stake heavy hitter is the cost
Speaker 1: of transportation and for those of us who own cars
Speaker 1: or make payments on cars, that's a massive monthly bill.
Speaker 1: And so if you happen to have a car payment,
Speaker 1: a couple of things that could be worth considering again refinancing,
Speaker 1: that's going to have to be something that you look at,
Speaker 1: what what rates are. It still might not be the
Speaker 1: best time, but it's very possible that you were given
Speaker 1: a very high interest rate. They they cars generally run
Speaker 1: much higher than the interest rates that are offered on homes,
Speaker 1: and especially for younger drivers or I don't know what
Speaker 1: they're doing in these dealerships, but sometimes you're walking out
Speaker 1: of that door after that sale with a very high
Speaker 1: interest rate that if you go to refinance it it
Speaker 1: still could even right now, you could possibly get a
Speaker 1: lower interest rate. So that's that is worth looking into.
Speaker 1: You'd save a lot on your monthly payment in that regard,
Speaker 1: But then other things that I would say are worth considering,
Speaker 1: similar to the rent and housing. Do you need all
Speaker 1: the car that you have, whether you have multiple cars,
Speaker 1: do you need all of the multiple cars that you have?
Speaker 1: Or if you just have one car? Is it too
Speaker 1: much car? Is it too big of a car? Is
Speaker 1: it too luxurious of a car? Is it too much
Speaker 1: of a gas guzzler of a car? And is it
Speaker 1: worth considering a pivot? If your monthly bills you're finding
Speaker 1: are just higher than you need them to be, So
Speaker 1: that could include sell considering selling your car and getting
Speaker 1: a different car that might be just more congruent to
Speaker 1: your lifestyle, may not cost as much in gas. That's
Speaker 1: going to be something that you have to price out.
Speaker 1: Is it worth it? Can I get from my car
Speaker 1: what I would need to get? What car could I
Speaker 1: replace it with? Is that going to be financially advantageous?
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we can elevate the cost of mileage
Speaker 1: above what it actually really is, like are you really
Speaker 1: going to save by selling and repurchasing in the cost
Speaker 1: of gas mileage? But for some people that answer is yes,
Speaker 1: or they happen to have made a decision about purchasing
Speaker 1: a luxury vehicle a few years ago, and like everything
Speaker 1: was bright, sunny and enjoyable, and then the last few
Speaker 1: years happened and we're like, you know what, maybe my
Speaker 1: priorities have shifted, so that's okay if we just want
Speaker 1: to go back to maybe a more budget car than
Speaker 1: than a luxury car. So a lot of different ways
Speaker 1: of slicing this. I know I've talked in the past
Speaker 1: about having hoped to go down to one car. Eric
Speaker 1: and I used to have two cars, and now for
Speaker 1: the past two years we have been able to live
Speaker 1: off of one car, largely due to the fact that
Speaker 1: life shifted so much and we're primarily working from home.
Speaker 1: So maybe that's you. Maybe you had two cars in
Speaker 1: your family because that was what was needed. But has
Speaker 1: life so shifted are you primarily at home now? Do
Speaker 1: you still need two cars? So these are the things
Speaker 1: worth evaluating when it comes to these big, massive expenses
Speaker 1: and bills. Maybe you can go down to one car,
Speaker 1: maybe no cars. Maybe you move to a city and
Speaker 1: you changed how much you pay in rent and now
Speaker 1: you don't need a car. Let's not get crazy. Maybe
Speaker 1: you just like to live in a vehicle. Oh who
Speaker 1: has done that? All right, I'm gonna bring it back
Speaker 1: around for those of us with two cars. Who cars? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that isn't and that's that's a very high barrier
Speaker 1: to entry. Tip. Yes, it's going to save you a
Speaker 1: crap ton of money if you listen to it, and
Speaker 1: you don't even have to do it like long term.
Speaker 1: You can say we're gonna be a one car family
Speaker 1: for six months or whatever while we're doing this one thing.
Speaker 1: No choice you make to lower your bills has to
Speaker 1: be permanent. You just have to decide what goal you
Speaker 1: have and how long you are willing, what you're willing
Speaker 1: to sacrifice, and how long you're willing to sacrifice it
Speaker 1: two reach the goal because it's much easier to sacrifice
Speaker 1: things like bills then things you actually care about, like
Speaker 1: time with friends and time with family and doing fun stuff.
Speaker 1: So these are the things that we focus on. It's
Speaker 1: the boring things. So if you are not ready to
Speaker 1: give up your cars, then auto insurances where you need
Speaker 1: to focus on. That is your next biggest expense with
Speaker 1: transportation is your auto insurance. And so there are several
Speaker 1: ways that you can lower it and it doesn't even
Speaker 1: have to be like unsafe. You can still choose the
Speaker 1: coverage that feels good to you, but look at increasing
Speaker 1: your deductible or reducing your coverage based on how old
Speaker 1: your car is. If you haven't negotiated or looked at
Speaker 1: your auto insurance in the past twelve months, it's time
Speaker 1: to again. We look at it every twelve months. We
Speaker 1: are calling around for rates from different auto insurers because
Speaker 1: it's not like utility companies where you only get one
Speaker 1: or two choices. You have a lot of choices with
Speaker 1: auto insurance companies, so calling two or three, seeing what
Speaker 1: rates you can get, comparing them to what you have,
Speaker 1: calling the person you have and and saying this is
Speaker 1: what I can get elsewhere can you beat it? And
Speaker 1: then also looking at making sure whatever coverage you're comparing
Speaker 1: is the right amount for you. So they say full
Speaker 1: coverage may not be necessary for an older car. We
Speaker 1: have found it to be a great blessing on even
Speaker 1: are I mean we have all of our cars are
Speaker 1: paid off, and we have full coverage on both of them,
Speaker 1: and that's just what makes us feel safe. If your
Speaker 1: car is uber old and you don't need to have
Speaker 1: full coverage, then and that makes you feel fine, do
Speaker 1: you you can you know, you can increase your deductibles
Speaker 1: as well. So there are a lot of options. Those
Speaker 1: um things that a lot of insurers will put in
Speaker 1: your car now to you know, get discounts for safe driving.
Speaker 1: They work, they will take if you're safe driver, they work.
Speaker 1: They will lower your insurance. So if you've done your
Speaker 1: due diligence with your negotiating, with making sure you have
Speaker 1: the right plan, add on one of those things, and
Speaker 1: this is where you're going to see your savings. All right,
Speaker 1: I'm going to take another hard left turn here and
Speaker 1: talk about streaming services. So we've moved from the heavy
Speaker 1: hitters and now we're just now we're just into the
Speaker 1: regular babies can had up though they can add up.
Speaker 1: So streaming services falls under the category of memberships. There's
Speaker 1: all sorts of memberships, gym memberships, magazines, newspapers. But I'm
Speaker 1: looking at this club. What I know we're all doing,
Speaker 1: and that's our streaming services. So first of all, we're
Speaker 1: gonna want to look at how many streaming services are
Speaker 1: you paying for and utilizing, because oftentimes it's more than
Speaker 1: we think. We have signed up for that free plan
Speaker 1: to watch that one show and then we forgot about
Speaker 1: it and we are just paying for paramount hullo peek, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, there's so many right, and I'm speaking
Speaker 1: from experience or you know, those I talked to, those
Speaker 1: I talked to share theirs with me. So first of all,
Speaker 1: tally them all up, look at what are you paying
Speaker 1: for and limit it. You really don't need all of
Speaker 1: those one or two. Pare it down. Figure out what
Speaker 1: are you most watching. It's probably Love is Blind as
Speaker 1: much as you hate it, and and just just just
Speaker 1: paying for that one. I know. So for Eric and
Speaker 1: I it is I think currently we're down to just
Speaker 1: paying for Amazon Prime and Netflix, and that makes sense
Speaker 1: for us for right now. There there have been times though,
Speaker 1: where we paired it all the way down to just
Speaker 1: Amazon Prime. It made sense for us in all the
Speaker 1: deliveries that we need to get because we've been perpetually
Speaker 1: in renovation mode. So Amazon Prime does that double duty
Speaker 1: of free delivery all these other perks plus the streaming service.
Speaker 1: So consider it, and I challenge you narrow it down
Speaker 1: to one or two streaming services, and beyond that look
Speaker 1: into family plans. I'm not advocating for going against the
Speaker 1: policies and procedures of a streaming service. But I am
Speaker 1: advocating for when they are offering it as a family plan.
Speaker 1: Who's to say whose family. If they're saying this is
Speaker 1: how many accounts or TVs whatever you can watch this on,
Speaker 1: then pay for it with friends if they're offering a
Speaker 1: family plan, take advantage of that. This can go for
Speaker 1: things like music streaming as well. We had a family
Speaker 1: plan for Spotify with friends for years and so that
Speaker 1: added up to us only needing to pay two to
Speaker 1: three dollars a month to be able to have Spotify.
Speaker 1: If some of these other streaming services offer it, great.
Speaker 1: I know that I'm dipping into another category here, but
Speaker 1: we do that with our cell phone plan as well.
Speaker 1: We're on a family cell phone plan with friends, and
Speaker 1: that reduces our cell phone bill monthly significantly. We are
Speaker 1: also on a family cellphone playing with other people. You
Speaker 1: know what friends is, friends? Our family. You choose, So
Speaker 1: don't let anybody tell you who your family are. It's
Speaker 1: a family plan. Yeah, it's a family plan. And yes
Speaker 1: we do that with streaming services. And we will not
Speaker 1: go against terms of service, but we will ride those
Speaker 1: terms to the end of their services and get as
Speaker 1: much out of it as we want. So and honestly,
Speaker 1: you don't need more than two streaming services at a time.
Speaker 1: And here's here's how you can do it. Every six months,
Speaker 1: just put one, so start one in December and one
Speaker 1: in July. That way you've got so you've got your
Speaker 1: Netflix and your Disney up until July, and then Disney
Speaker 1: cancels and you pick up Hulu, and you've got Hulu
Speaker 1: and Netflix till December, and then you drop one and
Speaker 1: you've got Hulu and Disney again. You know, so you
Speaker 1: are still you still have choices, but you don't need
Speaker 1: all of them at the same time. You don't. It's
Speaker 1: okay if someone's like, oh my gosh, did you see
Speaker 1: the latest episode of Love Is Black? And and you're like, stop, no,
Speaker 1: I'm getting Netflix again in three months, and I will
Speaker 1: binge it then because I so. Disney Plus is the
Speaker 1: one streaming service we pay for. We have, we have one,
Speaker 1: and we are on a family plan with Netflix for that,
Speaker 1: but we'll pay for Disney Plus forever and we are
Speaker 1: on a family plan for that that we give to
Speaker 1: the other person. So like that's how that's our trade.
Speaker 1: We don't have any like Amazon or Hula or anything
Speaker 1: because I'm just fine with Netflix and Disney. And it
Speaker 1: has been torture to watch and door every week because
Speaker 1: I'm like, I just want to binge this, I need
Speaker 1: the next episode. This is torture. Why am I doing
Speaker 1: this to myself? So you know what binging is better?
Speaker 1: Don't keep up with the hype. Don't. Yeah, binging is
Speaker 1: better and uh and you can do that when you're
Speaker 1: not paying for all the service, says at the same time. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's my soapbox on binging. Thank you, j We needed that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: My last one is jim memberships. And I am going
Speaker 1: to repeat this over and over and over. You should
Speaker 1: do what's right for you in health and fitness, not
Speaker 1: what has helped somebody else lose a bunch of weight. Honestly.
Speaker 1: That is people keep gym memberships for this idea gym
Speaker 1: memberships that they don't use. If you're using your gym membership, great,
Speaker 1: I pay over hundred dollars a month for my gym
Speaker 1: membership every month because I use it four I go
Speaker 1: four times a week every week. I use it and
Speaker 1: even at pregnant, even a twenty two weeks pregnant, still
Speaker 1: going four times a week. But if you're not using
Speaker 1: your gym membership, it's okay to cancel it. It does
Speaker 1: not make you a weird person, doesn't make you a
Speaker 1: different person. You are the person you are, whether you
Speaker 1: have a gym member ship or not. It is better
Speaker 1: for you to find something that you enjoy than to
Speaker 1: pay for something that is a definition of you who
Speaker 1: you are, not find something for you. And so once
Speaker 1: you find that, no matter what the cost, whether it's
Speaker 1: ten dollars a month or a hundred dollars a month,
Speaker 1: then you can look at how do we get those
Speaker 1: costs down? What are creative ways that we can fulfill
Speaker 1: the value uh and maybe not pay as much for it.
Speaker 1: So maybe that means volunteering at the gym for for something,
Speaker 1: whether it's watching members kids or cleaning or checking into
Speaker 1: people at de friendize something. How can we get the
Speaker 1: cost down? Or maybe it means you're just like Jim Hopping,
Speaker 1: you're taking like free trials when you can, or paying
Speaker 1: month to month instead of an annual because you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: this one. See in the summer's really light for me,
Speaker 1: I can go to the gym in the summer, but
Speaker 1: I really can't go the rest of the year. Fine,
Speaker 1: pay for three months in the summer. Don't get any
Speaker 1: annual plan. Do what's right for you, not what you
Speaker 1: think should be right for you. When Eric and I
Speaker 1: canceled our gym membership years ago, we put that money
Speaker 1: that we were paying to the gym directly towards a nonprofit.
Speaker 1: So it made me feel better about canceling the gym membership.
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, I never go so, but I feel
Speaker 1: bad about canceling it. But if I cancel it and
Speaker 1: give this money to a non profit, then I've had
Speaker 1: a decision I can feel really good about. There you go, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's great, they'll use They'll use the money better than
Speaker 1: me paying some jim that I never go to. And
Speaker 1: then I found my girl Pam on YouTube and I've
Speaker 1: never looked back. So sometimes you can find a free
Speaker 1: option that you love. Her YouTube channel is not my
Speaker 1: girl Pam, That's what I call her. You do call
Speaker 1: her that. But in case anybody wants to also have
Speaker 1: a girl named Pam teaching them to work out, where
Speaker 1: should they go? Oh, it's Pamela reef Um. She's beautiful
Speaker 1: and unattainable. But she doesn't. She doesn't give platitudes to you.
Speaker 1: She hardly talks to you. She just shows you the movements,
Speaker 1: gives you a thirty second countdowns, she wears you out
Speaker 1: in fifteen minutes, and she's just amazing that when people
Speaker 1: to her while she's working out, I thrive on it.
Speaker 1: Also thrive on talking to people encouraging people while they
Speaker 1: work out, which is why do you cross fit? It
Speaker 1: feels sending to me. Honestly, I realized why I don't
Speaker 1: like it because it feels like, oh, we're doing the
Speaker 1: same exercise, but you have enough breath in your lungs
Speaker 1: to say, good job, keep up the good work. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't need that from me you. It feels like
Speaker 1: now you're looking down on me, that you've got the energy,
Speaker 1: and I'm the one who needs the encouragement. Now, I
Speaker 1: don't need that kind of plata condescending. In our defense,
Speaker 1: it's usually when it's like a partner workout and one
Speaker 1: person works in the other partner rests, and it's the
Speaker 1: partner who's resting encouraging the one that's working. I'll accept it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So when I'm working out, I don't typically encourage people,
Speaker 1: but if I finished before them, I am going to
Speaker 1: mock them. All Right, let's get into this next one
Speaker 1: from CNBC, you know the one. This one's telling us
Speaker 1: five simple steps how to lower your monthly bills, and
Speaker 1: they go so far as to claim twenty percent. And
Speaker 1: this is this is a pretty remarkable title. Here you go,
Speaker 1: how to lower your monthly bills twenty and build your
Speaker 1: wealth in minutes. This is promising a lot good bait, clickbait,
Speaker 1: and we clicked on it, and we're here for it.
Speaker 1: We're here for the steps though we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about essentially negotiating your monthly bills. We won't promise you
Speaker 1: the clickbait result. But the five steps are valid and
Speaker 1: that's why we're here sharing them with you. But um
Speaker 1: results may vary, results may vary. We maybe that's why
Speaker 1: we don't have too many people clicking on us, because
Speaker 1: we're just like, here you go. It may or may
Speaker 1: not work, results, no promises, but we have lived with
Speaker 1: that and our people love it. So the people who
Speaker 1: stay with us, it's you you listening to this right now.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about you. Thanks for being too. I just
Speaker 1: want to so here's the five steps. Here's what you're
Speaker 1: gonna do with all those other bills that maybe we
Speaker 1: haven't covered, or the bills we have covered that you
Speaker 1: can't get rid of. You can't go anywhere else, but
Speaker 1: you can lower it or yeah, potentially switch. What you're
Speaker 1: gonna want to do is step one. Do your research.
Speaker 1: So depending on what that is, let's say it's internet,
Speaker 1: shop around for prices and see what other competitors are
Speaker 1: offering in the area for the same type of service
Speaker 1: that you're getting. So that could be internet searches, that
Speaker 1: could be actual phone calls, but actually know what are
Speaker 1: the various rates that are out there. Have done your
Speaker 1: research and know about that absolutely. Then step two and
Speaker 1: then step two, which seems redne okay, call between the
Speaker 1: hours of nine am and five pm. There you go,
Speaker 1: in case you didn't know that those are normal working hours. Yes,
Speaker 1: people do work after hours and on the weekends, but
Speaker 1: A that's when everyone else is calling, and B you
Speaker 1: can get your highest step managers, uh and your most
Speaker 1: important managers from nine to five. So the that's really
Speaker 1: is on your lunch break is the smartest time to
Speaker 1: do stuff like this. Yeah, it seems like a silly tip,
Speaker 1: but I can affirm it. I think I have had
Speaker 1: the best luck when not that. Oftentimes you can call
Speaker 1: at other hours, but you might not get through to
Speaker 1: the right person or the hold and wait times are
Speaker 1: significantly longer. So it's worth considering when are you able
Speaker 1: to do this in a nine to five Monday through Friday.
Speaker 1: This could be something that you add to your list
Speaker 1: on a random day off. So yeah, lunch break like
Speaker 1: you're saying, or just one lunch break a month. You
Speaker 1: schedule one lunch break a month to do this and
Speaker 1: there you go. You just write it in first Wednesday
Speaker 1: of the month, I negotiate a bill. There you yeah,
Speaker 1: uh and here here's here's something Stept three. This is good.
Speaker 1: Jump right in. Say you're canceling your service. So even
Speaker 1: just telling the automated system that you are canceling will
Speaker 1: immediately take you to the retention or loyalty department, where
Speaker 1: you're going to have the best opportunities to negotiate. Those
Speaker 1: people in that department their job is to retain you,
Speaker 1: so they are the ones who have all of the
Speaker 1: resources and ability to offer you the best possible deal.
Speaker 1: So even if you're not necessarily intending on canceling. If
Speaker 1: you find yourself getting to the end of that call
Speaker 1: and you're actually like, no, no, no no, I don't want
Speaker 1: to cancel, then fine, then you could just hang up.
Speaker 1: But usually you are going to get some sort of deal,
Speaker 1: whether it's a month for free or a lower rate
Speaker 1: or something. That's what their job is. So start there
Speaker 1: pretending that you're canceling, and maybe you are actually canceling,
Speaker 1: it might not pretend. That's why you do your research
Speaker 1: first to see what else is out there, because nine
Speaker 1: times out of ten you're going to find a new
Speaker 1: customer deal that's better than what you're receiving where you
Speaker 1: already are. So it is in your best interests to
Speaker 1: take a deal like that, and you can call to
Speaker 1: when you call to cancel to get that deal if
Speaker 1: you you know, best case scenario, your current company gives
Speaker 1: you the deal, the same deal and you don't have
Speaker 1: to cancel, otherwise you will be paying less as a
Speaker 1: result of that call regardless, So that is that's definitely
Speaker 1: a money tip and one of the things that they say,
Speaker 1: and this is where the research is going to come
Speaker 1: in handy and knowing what you're asking for is really important.
Speaker 1: At this step because what the what the people on
Speaker 1: the other end are most likely going to try and
Speaker 1: do first is get you into a higher tier of service,
Speaker 1: either at the same rate that you're paying currently or
Speaker 1: for even a little bit extra money, Like they'll try
Speaker 1: and bait and switch you with, Oh, I'm so sorry
Speaker 1: that you are wanting to leave. Can I offer you
Speaker 1: this higher level of intern net speed? And maybe that
Speaker 1: is what you wanted, and that's fine, But if what
Speaker 1: you are actually looking to do is lower your bill
Speaker 1: for the current service you're getting, make that clear to them.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for offering that. But what I'm
Speaker 1: actually looking to do is maintain the service that I'm
Speaker 1: getting for a lesser rate. What can you do for me?
Speaker 1: Or can you match this amount of money? Is what
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to say, yeah, and just be fir
Speaker 1: a minute, because you have the power. They run on
Speaker 1: your money, so you have the power in this Yes.
Speaker 1: And another money tip is to always be friendly. You
Speaker 1: definitely convert more people by being friendly than you do
Speaker 1: by being angry. Uh. People want to help you when
Speaker 1: you are nice to them because they're probably dealing especially
Speaker 1: in the loyalty and retention department, they are dealing with
Speaker 1: angry people who are canceling because they are angry. So
Speaker 1: when you are friendly, when you are nice, jovial, you
Speaker 1: are going to catch more flies with honey. They're not flies,
Speaker 1: but you know what I mean. It's just nice to
Speaker 1: be nice, be nice to people, and they will like
Speaker 1: respond in kind. It took me a while to learn
Speaker 1: this one because I definitely default to anger and is surprised.
Speaker 1: Anger the highway, and it is true oftentimes that does
Speaker 1: me better. Although there's also the saying about the squeaky
Speaker 1: wheel getting the grease. There have many times when my
Speaker 1: elevated frustration has actually been what the doctor ordered. If
Speaker 1: you are frustrated, you can be frustrated, like if there
Speaker 1: is something wrong with your service. You can be frustrated
Speaker 1: and still be kind. You can be firm and be kind.
Speaker 1: You can These things are not mutually exclusive. You don't
Speaker 1: have to be a pushover to be kind. You know
Speaker 1: that they are running a business. You know they don't
Speaker 1: care about you as a human being. They care about
Speaker 1: your money, and you can just operate from that mindset.
Speaker 1: It sounds so callous, but Jillan I had a conversation
Speaker 1: yesterday about how these companies don't care about us. They
Speaker 1: care about what we as podcasters can offer them, and
Speaker 1: you can and that doesn't have to offend you. You
Speaker 1: can use that to your advantage if you understand that
Speaker 1: and still be kind, and everybody can get off the
Speaker 1: call with a win win solution. Yeah. Lastly, number five,
Speaker 1: the fifth step here is to be skeptical, not tough
Speaker 1: like either. Yeah, and so they're they're saying, you know
Speaker 1: you might hear on the other end of this call,
Speaker 1: there's nothing more I can do for you. There's nothing
Speaker 1: more I can do for you. And so either ask well,
Speaker 1: can I speak to your supervisor or let them let
Speaker 1: you off the phone and call back again someone who
Speaker 1: are guaranteed to talk to somebody else, like there's no
Speaker 1: way you're talking to the same person, and see if
Speaker 1: you get a different answer on the thing that you're
Speaker 1: looking for, what you're trying to negotiate. They also make
Speaker 1: the recommendation here to even once you do get what
Speaker 1: you were hoping to get on the call, to call
Speaker 1: back and make sure that that's actually what's in the system. Yes,
Speaker 1: a good tip. Rather than waiting the whole month and
Speaker 1: waiting for that bill to see did Cindy do what
Speaker 1: Cindy said she was going to do, but call back
Speaker 1: and make sure is this what's in your system? Is
Speaker 1: this the rate that I'm at? So that does take
Speaker 1: a little bit extra time, but that will be peace
Speaker 1: of mind for you. One thing I'll add to the
Speaker 1: this list. A practice that I do is when I
Speaker 1: when I make these calls, do the negotiations and pushing
Speaker 1: back on a bill that is wrong. You name, it
Speaker 1: is to take notes the date the person that you
Speaker 1: talked to write down their name. Not only is that
Speaker 1: helpful in the step four of being kind to people,
Speaker 1: being able to actually like use their name and even
Speaker 1: leave them a good review if they gave you good service,
Speaker 1: but also in the event that it doesn't go as
Speaker 1: planned or it turns out that they didn't put that
Speaker 1: thing into the system, you now have a record of well,
Speaker 1: on November two, I spoke with so and so. They
Speaker 1: informed me of such and such. Me having a running list,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't have to be like cluttered papers everywhere.
Speaker 1: You could keep it in a digital file on your
Speaker 1: computer until you're sure that the thing has been resolved.
Speaker 1: But it has come in handy for me so many
Speaker 1: times to have this kind of running bullet list of
Speaker 1: who I talked to, what they said, what the date was,
Speaker 1: and really helps to solidify if I ever need to
Speaker 1: kind of go back and argue, for lack of a
Speaker 1: better word, for the thing that I've negotiated for, or
Speaker 1: to prove out something that a mistake or an error
Speaker 1: that has happened. You can also try um. You can
Speaker 1: record the conversation as long as you ask. You have
Speaker 1: to record yourself asking is it okay if I record
Speaker 1: this for reference later and if they say yes, which
Speaker 1: they've already asked you and you have agreed to have
Speaker 1: the call recorded, so it should be fine. But you
Speaker 1: can you can record it if you are not in
Speaker 1: a place to like take paper notes or something. I'll
Speaker 1: have it record on my computer because I'll already be
Speaker 1: there with my account up and then just have the
Speaker 1: call on speaker and then I'll just pause it when
Speaker 1: it's on hold, so that way I don't get the However,
Speaker 1: many minutes of hold are on the recording as well,
Speaker 1: but but that's something and that's something you can always
Speaker 1: like send to people all um via email should you
Speaker 1: ever need to. Audio files are typically easier like to
Speaker 1: send them videos, so that is is also something. But
Speaker 1: that is a great tip. Do double check to make
Speaker 1: sure everything you talked about is showing up before they
Speaker 1: run the bill, because it is very often that they're
Speaker 1: they have the best intentions, but they're not going to
Speaker 1: really follow through with what they've said. Uh, So you
Speaker 1: want to have proof that they said it and uh
Speaker 1: if you can't have them change it right in front
Speaker 1: of your eyes on the account, then having that that
Speaker 1: conversation recorded is helpful. You know what else gets recorded
Speaker 1: every single time. It's always helpful, always helpful. The bill
Speaker 1: of the week. That's right, it's time for the best
Speaker 1: minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born
Speaker 1: and his name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage,
Speaker 1: maybe your card died and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore. That's bill bills, bill clean.
Speaker 1: This is the bill of the week. Hi, jan gentle,
Speaker 1: my name is Caroline. I'm calling from London today and
Speaker 1: I have just, like literally just this moment, paid my
Speaker 1: bill of the week, which is also my bill of
Speaker 1: the year. It's my tuition fees for my second and
Speaker 1: final year of my master's which is retraining me to
Speaker 1: be a ridited dietitian, which is a career I'm very
Speaker 1: very excited to be able to pursue. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: really wanted to share it with you because being able
Speaker 1: to take two years out of work and pay for
Speaker 1: UNI and do this without going into debt or anything
Speaker 1: like that was really only an option because I've been
Speaker 1: listening to your podcast for years and I've implemented lots
Speaker 1: of the great tips you've said about intentional spending, meal planning,
Speaker 1: investing inside hustling, and yeah, for everyone in the community,
Speaker 1: I wanted to I don't know, it's like a reminder
Speaker 1: for everyone that all these little choices you make on
Speaker 1: a day to day basis, they mean that we have
Speaker 1: the opportunity to make these really big, life changing choices
Speaker 1: that otherwise wouldn't have been available. And yeah, and the
Speaker 1: other reason it's my bill of the week is because
Speaker 1: I can pay upfront in cash. I actually get a
Speaker 1: five percent discounts That saved me five and twenty five
Speaker 1: thousand pounds that I would have otherwise had to pay
Speaker 1: on top of interest if I'd had alone. So thank
Speaker 1: you again for all the tips and for making a
Speaker 1: finance podcast my favorite podcast. I don't know how you
Speaker 1: did that, but you know you make me laugh. Okay,
Speaker 1: thank you for everything. Bye, I am not lying. I
Speaker 1: am holding back to yours right now, we'd probably start recording.
Speaker 1: Our reactions are silent reactions to these. Ja. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I am. I am floored. I am so a happy
Speaker 1: for you, be proud of you, see honored, like to
Speaker 1: just be like a small part of the story for you,
Speaker 1: like there. Oh my goodness, I can't that last bit
Speaker 1: that you said. I got goose bumps too. Of just
Speaker 1: the small day to day decisions, not that all of
Speaker 1: them are small in effort or impact, but the consistency
Speaker 1: of what you've implemented and then what that makes available
Speaker 1: in life. I mean, it sounds like you've done so
Speaker 1: much that has now made cash flowing your Master's possible
Speaker 1: because you cash flowed it getting the extra benefit of
Speaker 1: a five percent discount. Caroline. I'm I'm just I'm beyond
Speaker 1: thrilled for you. My heart is so encouraged and strengthened
Speaker 1: by what you've shared. And man, if this just isn't
Speaker 1: the ultimate reason for continuing on and doing a podcast,
Speaker 1: I don't know why it is. This is so art
Speaker 1: warning Oh yeah, I I am. And and you get
Speaker 1: to do something you love that you are so excited
Speaker 1: about too, like that's the ultimate. You've made these small decisions,
Speaker 1: which you're right, Jill like, are not. They are small
Speaker 1: in scope, but they are not small in effort, and
Speaker 1: you've chosen to make them so that you can have
Speaker 1: this bigger reward of being able to do something you
Speaker 1: love full time for however long you want to do it.
Speaker 1: And that is amazing. That is everything. So way to go, Caroline,
Speaker 1: You've just you've made our day. Thank you, Caroline from London.
Speaker 1: Best wishes and blessings to you in this new endeavor
Speaker 1: and career and may continue to be just financial, really
Speaker 1: advantageous and a really fulfilling life pursuit. How exciting. If
Speaker 1: you listening, If you all are listening, and you've had
Speaker 1: opportunity to dry your tears of heart warmth, and who
Speaker 1: are motivated now you're motivated to call in your bill
Speaker 1: if it has to do with cash flowing, your master's degree,
Speaker 1: being able to get a discount because of it, or
Speaker 1: just any other bill that is related to the dude
Speaker 1: name monthly bills or not woman named bill. Yes, visit
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill, leave us your bill.
Speaker 1: Everyone seems to be topping the next one. Not that
Speaker 1: it's a competition, but we're not stopping because it is
Speaker 1: getting good over here and now it's time for learning
Speaker 1: real own pew pew. All right, so today you need
Speaker 1: to cut all your monthly subscriptions except one. What stays?
Speaker 1: Don't don't done? What is the scenario in which I
Speaker 1: am being told they all must go? It's a good question.
Speaker 1: That's a good question. Um, I didn't and I didn't
Speaker 1: view like an apocalypse type scenario. This one. I thought practically,
Speaker 1: This one, I thought practically on bills are in a
Speaker 1: place where it's not my tear miss sue answer, it's
Speaker 1: my bread answer. Yeah, well then your answer confuses me. Okay,
Speaker 1: well okay, so then I'll give my answer. First, minds
Speaker 1: the Internet because I figured if I want to watch something,
Speaker 1: I can watch, Well, it's not you know, the Internet,
Speaker 1: it's the FiOS, it's the Verizon, it's the Frontier FiOS.
Speaker 1: But you make your living off the internet, Like, that's
Speaker 1: not that's a necessary bill or you like you're quitting
Speaker 1: your job. If you've got to, you've got to get
Speaker 1: rid of all your subscriptions. I have to get rid
Speaker 1: of all of my subscriptions. I can't afford. My thing was, yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess, And my thing was is that I could
Speaker 1: watch YouTube. I don't need a streaming service because I
Speaker 1: pretty much exclusively watches YouTube and I'm pretty big into
Speaker 1: Disney Floggers, so we could do without streaming services unless
Speaker 1: there's a new star Wars or Marvel series on Disney Plus,
Speaker 1: so that may be my next one. Okay, okay, So
Speaker 1: the Internet stays okay because you can do everything on
Speaker 1: the Internet. But but if we're saying internet is a
Speaker 1: standard day, yeah, yeah, okay, because you could always go
Speaker 1: to Starbucks and use their internet, so maybe you don't
Speaker 1: need it at home, So I would say, I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess. I think in that case, I'd probably choose
Speaker 1: my gym membership because I do that a lot, and
Speaker 1: I could just have somebody like tell me what happened
Speaker 1: in the Mandalorian. You know, it wouldn't be as fun,
Speaker 1: but nobody can tell me about the workout, and I
Speaker 1: burned calories, so Jim, okay, I'm I'm choosing Netflix. I
Speaker 1: think at the end of the day, I've tried all
Speaker 1: the other streaming services. I don't really have any other
Speaker 1: monthly subscriptions other than streaming services. So for me, it's
Speaker 1: which streaming service are you going to keep? And as
Speaker 1: much as they make me angry, sometimes I keep coming back.
Speaker 1: They usually have the things that I want to watch
Speaker 1: over all the rest of the services. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that reveals my age. My preferences. Mine is Disney Plus,
Speaker 1: so that reveals that your mom. Uh No, Kai does
Speaker 1: not watch Disney Plus. I don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 1: Kai watches YouTube. It means you're missing your watch Disney Plus. No,
Speaker 1: we we watched they have Okay, we're nerds. I think
Speaker 1: it reveals that we're nerds. No, we eat Marvel. Yeah, anyway,
Speaker 1: point proven. Okay, thank you guys so much for listening.
Speaker 1: We said we weren't going to have hot takes, but
Speaker 1: I don't know, Jen and I might be the map
Speaker 1: after this. But you also know we have a private
Speaker 1: community where we do monthly money challenges, just more things
Speaker 1: to keep it lively and fun, and we also offer
Speaker 1: accountability groups over there in that membership. And we want
Speaker 1: to congratulate one of our members for a big win.
Speaker 1: This comes from Sadie. Marie says the radical middle. I
Speaker 1: love the thoughtful and balanced conversations on this podcast. Is
Speaker 1: rare to find people who can acknowledge that life is complicated.
Speaker 1: There is no one size fits all approach to finances,
Speaker 1: and ultimately the right choice for most of us will
Speaker 1: be somewhere in the middle. The fact that these ladies
Speaker 1: are also funny and entertaining is the icing on the cake.
Speaker 1: Oh well, thanks, Sadie. This is really really kind of you,
Speaker 1: just mostly an encouragement and your own win. But I
Speaker 1: set you up for failure on this when this is
Speaker 1: actually a review from podcasts and not not a from
Speaker 1: our member. But it's fine. Thank you, Sadie, and maybe
Speaker 1: you'll become a Maybe the Frugal Friends Club will be
Speaker 1: the one subscription that you don't want to give up
Speaker 1: because it's full of helpful things for people paying off debt.
Speaker 1: And I'm here to be the icing on the cake.
Speaker 1: I love that. Mm hmm. Thanks everyone for listening and
Speaker 1: leaving those reviews and being part of our membership and
Speaker 1: just just listening again. All of this helps us so
Speaker 1: so much. We appreciate you. Frugal Friends is produced by
Speaker 1: Eric Syrian, what bill will you next negotiate? So Travis
Speaker 1: actually negotiates the bills. That's his job, and I don't
Speaker 1: know which one's up next. That's not my it's not
Speaker 1: my area, not your domain. What about you? Um, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be my car payment. So we were silly little
Speaker 1: munchkins when we bought our car. I don't know what
Speaker 1: do you think I'm gonna say? Did you get a
Speaker 1: variable rate loan? No? No? No? Oh god, Okay, we
Speaker 1: just like, okay, tell me no, we paid. We opted
Speaker 1: to do the like extra warranty because at the time
Speaker 1: now we come from a background of having only ever
Speaker 1: bought used cars for cash paid in full. This was
Speaker 1: the very first time against all of the things that
Speaker 1: felt true in our hearts and core values. But we
Speaker 1: all know what happened through the pandemic and in the
Speaker 1: car buying experience, and because we only have one car
Speaker 1: and needed to be super reliable YadA, YadA, YadA, bought
Speaker 1: a new car well certified pre owned, and needed to
Speaker 1: take a loan paymentounts that we could still keep cash
Speaker 1: on hand to keep going with our innovations. Okay, there
Speaker 1: you have it. Judging that in that process we got
Speaker 1: talked into buying like an extra bit of warranty. And
Speaker 1: part of the reason that we did that in that
Speaker 1: moment of being the silly munchkins that we were, was
Speaker 1: this is the nicest thing we've ever owned. And it
Speaker 1: felt very scary to us driving this like nearly brand
Speaker 1: new car off the lot and something going wrong with
Speaker 1: it and already having paid a lot for it and
Speaker 1: being liable for all of this money to pay, And
Speaker 1: now that we are two years into owning this car,
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, no, we feel better about like not
Speaker 1: having all those extra bills and whistles tacked onto that
Speaker 1: car payment, and we are going to It won't even
Speaker 1: be a negotiation. It'll just be me calling and saying,
Speaker 1: take this off my bill, and I just need to
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah, I mean, it happens, happens to the
Speaker 1: best of us. Got my first car to dealership. I
Speaker 1: also did that. So you don't know, like I don't
Speaker 1: understand all of it either. You know, it's like, well,
Speaker 1: what's this and what's that? And they're not the best
Speaker 1: people to explain those things to you, and and it's
Speaker 1: two of us trying to make the decision. It's not
Speaker 1: just me. I usually just say no to everything. It's
Speaker 1: my default. No and anger. But not that I'm blaming
Speaker 1: my husband. We both made the decision, but it just
Speaker 1: it was just a lot, Jen. And now I'm going
Speaker 1: to go and I'm going to tell them no, good good,
Speaker 1: and and now you will lower your transportation bill. Fantastic. Yeah,