Speaker 1: Episode two ninety four, Frugal Living Tips for Spring. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, rice and liver rich your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill mm Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, my name is Jill. And by
Speaker 1: the time you listen to this, I will for sure
Speaker 1: have given birth for sure. Yeah yeah, like they won't
Speaker 1: let you go this long, they will not know. So
Speaker 1: a something to celebrate, yes, but b let's also celebrate spring.
Speaker 1: Spring is in the yang everywhere. Lookover, yes, all, I
Speaker 1: can sing. So we are going to talk about a
Speaker 1: few frugal living tips that are unique to spring, but
Speaker 1: also a few tips for spring. Cleaning your finances. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I did know this. You already hearing it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: hearing it back again? Sounds really exciting. I'm reinvigorating for it.
Speaker 1: But first, just around the riverbend, Pocahonnas herself wanted to
Speaker 1: throw a little sponsorship our way in the form of encouragement.
Speaker 1: Spring is just around the riverbend, as we've been saying,
Speaker 1: and so is hope, flowers, butterflies, sunshine, and good feelings
Speaker 1: all the things that come with spring, but for whatever
Speaker 1: might be around your riverbend, it's always a good idea
Speaker 1: to be storing up some cash in a high savings
Speaker 1: account like the one at c T currently offering four
Speaker 1: point zero five percent apy do it for yourself, Do
Speaker 1: it to yourself, frul friends podcast dot com, slash c
Speaker 1: i T, store up some money, earned some of that
Speaker 1: interest back on it, and be ready for whatever it's
Speaker 1: just around the rubbbend. Because April showers do bring mayflowers,
Speaker 1: so you'll want a rainy day fund. Yeah, for the
Speaker 1: days that it's raining and the days that it's flowering,
Speaker 1: and then you can use the money for whatever you want.
Speaker 1: Look at us, and that's all folds. Thanks for listening. No, no,
Speaker 1: we are in the seas. We're trying to do a
Speaker 1: frugal living tips for every season because every season does
Speaker 1: have its own unique ways that you can save money,
Speaker 1: and it's it's own unique ways that it costs you more.
Speaker 1: So we want you to embrace the season you're in
Speaker 1: by taking advantage of the savings, but also not guilting
Speaker 1: yourself when you're spending more in a place where less
Speaker 1: season you're maybe spending less. So This is our one
Speaker 1: for spring, and we don't have any other spring episodes,
Speaker 1: but we do have some other tip episodes like two
Speaker 1: tens Tips to Live zero waste Frugally, our episode one
Speaker 1: seventy eight simple Living but make it frugal. We just
Speaker 1: did another simple Living episode. So yeah, these are things
Speaker 1: that are great to embrace in the springtime. But we
Speaker 1: are going to get into some articles, specifically faux spring
Speaker 1: in So this first one comes from the House and
Speaker 1: Homestead and it gives twelve frugal living tips for spring.
Speaker 1: They're all great, they're worth visiting this article find it
Speaker 1: in our show notes, but we're just going to pick
Speaker 1: three each. I'm gonna kick it off like almost halfway
Speaker 1: through the article with number five, which is fine free
Speaker 1: plants and garden materials. Wherever you live. Spring is the
Speaker 1: time when we're thinking about what to do with our yards,
Speaker 1: how to make them look nice. I mean, even in Florida,
Speaker 1: there's a resurgence of more abundance of foliage and flowers
Speaker 1: and pollen pollen everywhere. Keep that in mind, folks, that's
Speaker 1: coming for us too. But I think a lot of
Speaker 1: times this is when we want to plant our gardens,
Speaker 1: especially those who live in the north. You're in full
Speaker 1: swing right now thinking about what you want to plant
Speaker 1: and cultivate, and a lot of times that newness can
Speaker 1: bring a desire to purchase if you're anything like me,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to the garden. It's oh yeah,
Speaker 1: flowers and you didn't even intend to, but the flowers
Speaker 1: look so nice outside of lows and home depot or
Speaker 1: Walmart or the grocery store or wherever the heck you are,
Speaker 1: and I want my place to look pretty. But there
Speaker 1: is so many opportunities to get free plants and garden materials,
Speaker 1: not just your flowers and your veggie starters or seeds,
Speaker 1: but also your trimmers and your gloves, and your shovels
Speaker 1: and your rakes and everything that you need for the
Speaker 1: garden you can offer and find free if not used.
Speaker 1: So this is your alert and reminder and encouragement to
Speaker 1: be checking out your local buy nothing groups, searching Facebook, Marketplace,
Speaker 1: talking with your friends in the area and look for
Speaker 1: the things you want and need for free first. And
Speaker 1: also consider contentment too, because it's also possible that you
Speaker 1: have on your property, like everything that you need, you
Speaker 1: don't have to buy all of those flowersider contentment. That's
Speaker 1: the best tip, especially for those of us that have
Speaker 1: a black thumb and are not getting flowers, as if
Speaker 1: we did in three months, they would just be the
Speaker 1: weeds that we're pulling up to plant the flowers in
Speaker 1: the spring. Contentment. It's okay if you do want them,
Speaker 1: just to know that there's plenty of people. This is
Speaker 1: also a great time. I know this article saying free stuff,
Speaker 1: so check that first, but this is also a time
Speaker 1: your local nurseries or universities that have like an agricultural
Speaker 1: department or like plant clubs are doing plant swaps or
Speaker 1: like low entry fees for like very inexpensive plants. So
Speaker 1: there are a lot of opportunities to find what you
Speaker 1: want far less expensive than like if you just were
Speaker 1: to impulse purchase at the grocery store. Definitely look on
Speaker 1: Facebook for plant swaps because they will always have some
Speaker 1: free things. You may not have enough of a green
Speaker 1: thumb to provide anything to swap for free, but they
Speaker 1: usually will just have like a stuff they're getting rid
Speaker 1: of pile as well. And just my additional tip on
Speaker 1: here too, consider propagating your own stuff when you've got
Speaker 1: that urge to go buy new, look around your property
Speaker 1: and see what could be clipped and propagated. So much
Speaker 1: of what we have already at our disposal, we can
Speaker 1: create more from just by clipping what's already there and
Speaker 1: letting it grow some roots. But don't consider what your
Speaker 1: neighbors have available to propagate unless you ask them. Ask them, Hey,
Speaker 1: ask them. Though. There's been so many times when I've
Speaker 1: just been walking the neighborhood and happened to meet a
Speaker 1: neighbor outside and comment on some like a plant of
Speaker 1: theirs that I think is beautiful, and they're like, take
Speaker 1: a cutting, like it happened, Especially people who are really
Speaker 1: proud of their gardens or are gardeners themselves. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying necessarily the people who are like paying for every
Speaker 1: aspect of their landscaping, they're a little bit more like territorial.
Speaker 1: But those who are gardeners love to share. There is
Speaker 1: an abundance mentality amongst gardeners. Love you all, I see you,
Speaker 1: Shout out to you, shout out to you. So I'm
Speaker 1: going to go back to the first one, and it's
Speaker 1: spring clean with d I Y cleaners. So one of
Speaker 1: the ways that we can save money in spring is
Speaker 1: by making sure all of our appliances, the things in
Speaker 1: our home, doing the annual checks to make sure they
Speaker 1: are clean and running properly. Because there are so many
Speaker 1: times where things will break down that is due to maintenance.
Speaker 1: And so if we take the time in spring to
Speaker 1: make sure we're doing annual maintenance, annual cleaning of appliances
Speaker 1: of different places in our homes so that we don't
Speaker 1: have to pay to repair, replace whatever, then this can
Speaker 1: saves a lot of money. Yeah, and you don't have
Speaker 1: to be like a frantic cleaner of you know, you
Speaker 1: don't even have to do it yourself if you don't
Speaker 1: want to. If you pay for like one cleaning a year,
Speaker 1: one deep cleaning a year, that is going to save
Speaker 1: you more money than having to replace all your appliances
Speaker 1: more frequently. It's amazing how far a couple of different
Speaker 1: types of rags and sponges, vinegar, baking soda, and lemon
Speaker 1: can go. Like you mostly do not need much more
Speaker 1: than that to be able to clean your house very well.
Speaker 1: I've got to say I was tempted in our renovation
Speaker 1: process to get a whole new glass cooked up. The
Speaker 1: one that came with the house is good. It's a
Speaker 1: glass cooked up. It actually matches the other appliances that
Speaker 1: we have, but it was so dirty from the previous tenants.
Speaker 1: But I just googled, how can you clean this without
Speaker 1: purchasing additional products. I was open to that, right because
Speaker 1: that's gonna be far less expensive than purchasing a whole
Speaker 1: new glass cook top. And you know, you're like, I'm
Speaker 1: already getting news and you might as well just throw
Speaker 1: in the new appliance. But I was amazed. Vinegar, baking soda,
Speaker 1: let it soak, and a razor that was safe for
Speaker 1: the cooked up, and it is brand new. Gen. I
Speaker 1: watched you, and I watched Yeah, you were for it.
Speaker 1: I save myself six hundred dollars by not needing to
Speaker 1: buy a brand new glass cook top. Maybe more, who
Speaker 1: knows they maybe they're like eight hundred dollars, but yes.
Speaker 1: And spring cleaning is a lot of times when we
Speaker 1: are deep cleaning, so keep that in mind. It can
Speaker 1: also help us be really pleased with the things that
Speaker 1: we own when we give it a facelift, when we
Speaker 1: really do a deep clean on it, we can be
Speaker 1: reminded of how great our stuff is, and it can
Speaker 1: remove that desire to purchase. Yeah, so you can google
Speaker 1: like a spring cleaning deep cleaning checklist and just go
Speaker 1: down the list over the three months of spring. This
Speaker 1: isn't a day, you know, one day thing, but just
Speaker 1: make it your goal over three months to get all
Speaker 1: these taken care of and then not worry about it.
Speaker 1: The other nine number six on here is to review
Speaker 1: your goals. And I love this tip just as part
Speaker 1: of it. I think this is a really good quarterly
Speaker 1: practice to be reviewing whatever goals is that you've set
Speaker 1: for yourself. And this doesn't necessarily mean you have to
Speaker 1: be the traditional New Year's resolution person, but chances are
Speaker 1: you've got something you have your site set on, whether
Speaker 1: it's debt freedom or specific savings goal, or you want
Speaker 1: to take a really memorable vacation this year, whatever it is,
Speaker 1: taking the time to look at how am I doing
Speaker 1: towards this goal? What does it look like so far?
Speaker 1: Are there any course adjustments that need to happen? Is
Speaker 1: there here we go, gen one thing that I can
Speaker 1: be doing that would help me further towards this goal?
Speaker 1: Or is this no longer a realistic goal? We many
Speaker 1: of us, we don't want to find ourselves at the
Speaker 1: end of the year having never re looked at this.
Speaker 1: But it's often not that we have to be looking
Speaker 1: at our goals on a daily basis, but at least
Speaker 1: quarterly revisiting, reassessing, course adjusting. I think this is a
Speaker 1: great time to do that. Yes, absolutely, And I mean
Speaker 1: it's always your Everybody makes goals they don't mean. In January,
Speaker 1: every everyone says things they don't mean. It's funny, everything's
Speaker 1: kind of weird. You just spend a ton of money,
Speaker 1: You spend way more time with some of the people
Speaker 1: you would not spend time with throughout the rest of
Speaker 1: the year. And and it's cold, and you don't know
Speaker 1: what's happening next, right, So this is your permission to revisit.
Speaker 1: You're a different personnel, different likes. Back to hopefully more
Speaker 1: more typical routine. Yes, okay, so I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: head back again to number two. Okay, which is purge.
Speaker 1: So I love a good purge, not like bodily but
Speaker 1: but environmentally. So I love having just a home that's decluttered.
Speaker 1: It feels fresh, don't have as much stuff to clean.
Speaker 1: You do practice this pretty regularly. I can always tell
Speaker 1: when I've come over to your house. I'm like Jen,
Speaker 1: just had a spurt of energy, which have been few
Speaker 1: and far between the last six months. But yes, I'm
Speaker 1: always keeping like I'm always moving things to the purge pile.
Speaker 1: So this is just a really great season to go
Speaker 1: do a deep dive, do a deep again. Not a
Speaker 1: one day, but like over three months, just looking at Okay, today,
Speaker 1: I'm going to do this drawer, and then in a
Speaker 1: few days I'm going to do this drawer or this
Speaker 1: shelf on the bookshelf, and just kind of slowly make
Speaker 1: your way through the house in the season of spring.
Speaker 1: I love that too. For the purpose of habit building
Speaker 1: and creating new patterns and ways of living, it can
Speaker 1: become much more established in our regular routines and rituals.
Speaker 1: If we take our time throughout spring to be doing this.
Speaker 1: We feel like we need to get all done in
Speaker 1: one day or one weekend, and then nothing really sticks versus.
Speaker 1: This is kind of my focus, and I'm going to
Speaker 1: work on this slowly. It can meet multiple purposes. All right,
Speaker 1: I am still pulling us ahead in this article. I'm
Speaker 1: now jumping back whiplash number nine. Get outside. We all
Speaker 1: don't need too much of a reminder on this one.
Speaker 1: We all know it's a great time to be enjoying
Speaker 1: the great outdoors pretty much wherever you live. This is
Speaker 1: just the weather's great and you can see and find
Speaker 1: so much beauty. But one of the reasons I wanted
Speaker 1: to highlight this is I think you can find even
Speaker 1: new places within your area, or at least new to you.
Speaker 1: Like exploring your own neighborhood and community can also serve
Speaker 1: that dual purpose of free activities, things that you can
Speaker 1: do that are new and exciting right in your backyard.
Speaker 1: I've been learning a whole lot more about our area
Speaker 1: just on social media. I know there's like that back
Speaker 1: and forth, Like purging social media is great, but also
Speaker 1: utilizing social media as a tool and resource at times
Speaker 1: can be really wonderful too, So whether that's looking for
Speaker 1: the free events and activities in your area on Facebook,
Speaker 1: but I've also been finding that there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people posting about parks and recreational activities, things to explore
Speaker 1: that are free within social media as well. So that
Speaker 1: could even be like an Instagram search of your area,
Speaker 1: and people are posting about the unique places that they're finding.
Speaker 1: The different parks and lakes, and depending on where you're living,
Speaker 1: like trails and mountain ranges, Like I'm discovering more about
Speaker 1: this area just from other people posting where they're going,
Speaker 1: so there can be a more active search that happens there,
Speaker 1: even almost being like a tourist in your own area
Speaker 1: and googling like best walking trails, best parks, best playgrounds.
Speaker 1: Chances are you might find something or a place that
Speaker 1: you've never been just because it's out of your typical
Speaker 1: routine or where your friends meet up. But give another
Speaker 1: place a try and it will feel like a new
Speaker 1: experience that you don't have to spend any money on. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: this is one that I am making a goal for
Speaker 1: this spring to get outside before the baby comes and
Speaker 1: then after he comes, to spend more time with Kai,
Speaker 1: to still be somewhat active, get some of that sunshine. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so beneficial because when after you have a baby,
Speaker 1: your hormones are just insane, and so to get a
Speaker 1: little like, get some endorphins, going, get some vitamin D.
Speaker 1: I really want to make it a priority, and you
Speaker 1: can hold me accountable. I'm here for that. I'll reach
Speaker 1: you outside perfect meeting me outside mabe outside. Okay, So
Speaker 1: my last one for this is number eight, use less electricity.
Speaker 1: And I feel like every season has its own electricity
Speaker 1: problems and benefits or benefits and drawbacks. So I think winter,
Speaker 1: for sure, for most places, is the time we're using
Speaker 1: the most electricity. So you just got to give yourself grace.
Speaker 1: Here in Florida it's summer, but in spring and fall
Speaker 1: we really have the opportunity to really lower our electricity bills.
Speaker 1: So make it a priority to go days without using
Speaker 1: your heating or cooling, to turn the lights off, use
Speaker 1: a candle or especially after daylight savings time. Air dryer clothes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: air dry the clothes when we're not in a rainy season.
Speaker 1: So do be intentional. You don't have to do everything.
Speaker 1: You shouldn't do everything. Be intentional and doing a few
Speaker 1: things that are going to really lower your electric bill. Yes,
Speaker 1: I love that one. Now we're going to switch gears
Speaker 1: to spring cleaning our finances. This article comes from Morgan
Speaker 1: Stanley and gives five ways to spring clean our finances.
Speaker 1: We're just going to go through one through three on
Speaker 1: this one, but I love this concept of cleaning up
Speaker 1: every aspect. I know we've talked about digital decluttering and
Speaker 1: space and schedule, and of course we're a personal finance podcast,
Speaker 1: so but the concept of decluttering finances and cleaning them
Speaker 1: up and making them fresh and new and approachable and
Speaker 1: not scary is helpful for all of us. And regardless
Speaker 1: of where we're at, even if we're not ones who
Speaker 1: or if we are people who budget regularly, there's still
Speaker 1: something to clean up. I would consider myself very organized,
Speaker 1: but still some things can get a little bit tangled
Speaker 1: and I need a little detangling. Always. Nobody is perfect,
Speaker 1: So this is a really good time to be intentional
Speaker 1: with spring cleaning. And I love that they used the
Speaker 1: spring cleaning like verbs. Yeah, so number one is to
Speaker 1: clean up your accounts. So if you have a lot
Speaker 1: of different accounts, then it could be time to consolidate
Speaker 1: some of them. And I'm not talking about like debt consolidation.
Speaker 1: I'm just talking about, like, if you have a bunch
Speaker 1: of different bank accounts or a bunch of different cards,
Speaker 1: that we are closing some accounts, that we are making
Speaker 1: sure everything we have is manageable and doesn't feel overwhelming.
Speaker 1: That if you're able to get a you know, a
Speaker 1: small debt paid off and just get that out of
Speaker 1: your life. That we're making that a priority. So just
Speaker 1: cleaning up your accounts, so if you have any four
Speaker 1: one ks that need to be rolled over, any of
Speaker 1: that stuff, getting access to any HSA's stuff like that,
Speaker 1: that we're just making sure we have a handle and
Speaker 1: a grasp on all of our financial accounts, so that
Speaker 1: way you're not going through the year like God I wanted.
Speaker 1: There's so many of them, I don't even know where
Speaker 1: to find them. I need to do this, I need
Speaker 1: to roll this over, I need to get this password
Speaker 1: or something. Just take care of all of it in
Speaker 1: spring so you don't have to stress the rest of
Speaker 1: the year. It still could be something to look at quarterly.
Speaker 1: I think similar with goals, is a great practice to
Speaker 1: just look even you know, it's a great time to
Speaker 1: consider negotiating bills, taking a look at what can be minimized.
Speaker 1: But yeah, especially right now in the spring, I love
Speaker 1: this Idea. Number two is to declutter your debt. So
Speaker 1: if you are not yet debt free, taking a look
Speaker 1: at your various debts and putting them. We recommend an
Speaker 1: order of interest rates, and that can be a really
Speaker 1: great way of decluttering debt. It will not happen all
Speaker 1: at once, but step by step, focusing on each of
Speaker 1: the smaller steps that will help get you to the
Speaker 1: bigger goals. But this will really help in simplifying our lives,
Speaker 1: taking away some of that stress and anxiety about money,
Speaker 1: feeling like we have a handle on things. I know
Speaker 1: this article talks about debt consolidation. We talked about that
Speaker 1: in a previous episode. I don't know if you want
Speaker 1: to mention what you said there again, Jen, but that
Speaker 1: it could be a worthwhile thing to consider if the
Speaker 1: weight of seeing various debts in a lot of different
Speaker 1: places and you're having a hard time keeping track of
Speaker 1: all of them, it can be a helpful simplification tool.
Speaker 1: Not necessarily something to be approached as far as saving money,
Speaker 1: it most likely won't, but we would more so recommend
Speaker 1: the snowball method when it comes to debt payoff. But
Speaker 1: either way, there is a simplification a decluttering, a spring
Speaker 1: cleaning aspect. If we can look at our debts, identify
Speaker 1: where they are, and have a plan for how they're
Speaker 1: going to get paid off will make us feel so
Speaker 1: much better. Just having that plan in place. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: love debt snowball, but we also love debt avalanche. It's
Speaker 1: really up to you whichever one you decide, but those
Speaker 1: are really good, two good methods for paying off debt
Speaker 1: instead of just trying to do it willy nilly. My
Speaker 1: debt consolidation picture picture this in your mind is that
Speaker 1: you have two packet drawers and you dump one packet
Speaker 1: drawer into the other packet drawer packets of contackets of
Speaker 1: hot sauce from Taco bell jo oh right, obviously, yeah dah.
Speaker 1: And then you pour one packet drawer into the other
Speaker 1: and you throw one mild sauce away. That is debt consolidation.
Speaker 1: It looks like you've cleaned up, but you've really just
Speaker 1: moved debt around. Sure, and you've maybe saved a little
Speaker 1: bit of a one packet, one mild sauce packet of money,
Speaker 1: but really you've just made more work for yourself because
Speaker 1: you had to take the drawer out of its hint
Speaker 1: or just scoop the packets out. You just really made
Speaker 1: just equal work for yourself instead of if you've just
Speaker 1: gone through the packets and thrown away all the mild sauces.
Speaker 1: I like the mild sauce. I like the hot well,
Speaker 1: so then you could give me the mild sauce each
Speaker 1: your way through the hot and let someone else have
Speaker 1: the medium. Yeah, I think we're losing sight of fire
Speaker 1: the debt well, but that is really the picture of
Speaker 1: debt consolidation is just go through and use a debt
Speaker 1: snowball or a debt avalanche. We're focus on the habits
Speaker 1: to reduce your expenses and increase your income, versus pretending
Speaker 1: you did something by consolidating it. Yeah. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think that there could be an emotional toll and mental
Speaker 1: toll at play there that it could be worth considering.
Speaker 1: But the reality is, I think consolidating is going to
Speaker 1: take way longer than it does to like dump one
Speaker 1: drawer into another drawer, because that sounds kind of nice
Speaker 1: to me. Yeah, if you have not if it's going
Speaker 1: to take up a ton of energy, I might as
Speaker 1: well put that energy towards paying. If you have something
Speaker 1: neurologically where seeing all your debts very much has an
Speaker 1: effect on how you are functioning, then sure, use a
Speaker 1: nonprofit credit counselor to consolidate. But but most people should
Speaker 1: just put in the work. So that leads us to
Speaker 1: our next the next two are really putting in the work.
Speaker 1: Number three is toss out some paper. I like how
Speaker 1: it says some in parenthes. He's like, it knows, I
Speaker 1: just want to throw out all the paper your birth certificator.
Speaker 1: So se have thrown away important things. I have not
Speaker 1: yet thrown away. I'm a marriage license, but I have
Speaker 1: thrown away so some very important things. So do the
Speaker 1: hard work of going through the papers, not just dumping
Speaker 1: them all in the trash, so that you can have
Speaker 1: access to important documents when you need them, and not
Speaker 1: put off registering your child for school till the last
Speaker 1: minute because you don't know where your papers are for him. Yes, yes, oh,
Speaker 1: similar to how I've got a rule for myself that
Speaker 1: all my Christmas things need to fit into one plastic bin.
Speaker 1: All of the papers I keep need to fit into
Speaker 1: one filing cabinet drawer. So if that drawer is getting full,
Speaker 1: then that's just a time to go through it and declutter.
Speaker 1: And I got to say it really helps me. Granted
Speaker 1: I don't have children, so like, hats off to all
Speaker 1: of you guys who've gotten multiple plate spinning at one time.
Speaker 1: But the lass paper I keep on hand, the more
Speaker 1: likely I am to address the important paperwork as it
Speaker 1: comes through, because it's not just like, oh, I've already
Speaker 1: got a pile, so just throw it on the pile.
Speaker 1: Now that I have decluttered, we're in maintenance mode. So
Speaker 1: something comes through the door than two to three days
Speaker 1: and we deal with it and we throw it out,
Speaker 1: and we can take pictures of the things that we
Speaker 1: think we might need someday, but we don't think it's
Speaker 1: worth keeping the paper absolutely all right. Number four, Organize
Speaker 1: your income and expenses. This is just kind of a
Speaker 1: fancy way of saying budget, but we love it when
Speaker 1: we can, like Ninja our way around the B word.
Speaker 1: And this is just taking a look at what's incoming,
Speaker 1: what's outgoing, taking inventory of our income and expenses, considering
Speaker 1: if there's any wasteful spending that's happening. Is their course
Speaker 1: correction to making smarter financial decisions that we can be implementing.
Speaker 1: Just getting a clear picture organizing, right, Like, we love organizing.
Speaker 1: Most of us love seeing organized off, whether it's on
Speaker 1: social media or we're watching Tidying Up or the Organization
Speaker 1: Women Friendship Duo on Netflix. Organized. I mean I don't
Speaker 1: hot take. I did not like the Home Edit. I
Speaker 1: think I've said that before. I hate that show. Well,
Speaker 1: there's something that it does for me, for sure, but
Speaker 1: I think at the same time it's also just like
Speaker 1: a way to keep all of your junk. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just getting a fancier drawer, sure, the packets. Sure,
Speaker 1: But either way, seeing seeing what you do think is
Speaker 1: valuable and is worth keeping around, organized and just like
Speaker 1: looking nice and meat. It can help us feel more confident,
Speaker 1: at ease, exhale, know what we're going to do next,
Speaker 1: not feel super overwhelmed or chaotic or uncertain, which when
Speaker 1: we feel that way, we're definitely not making our best
Speaker 1: financial decisions. So if we can make it feel less chaotic,
Speaker 1: more organized, we feel like we've got a good hand
Speaker 1: on it, a very clear picture. The better off we're
Speaker 1: going to be, the wiser, more intentional decisions we are
Speaker 1: going to make. So organize and that's that's it. That's
Speaker 1: number four. Yeah, I mean, so that's really I mean
Speaker 1: they do it's Morgan Stanley. So they're like planned for taxes,
Speaker 1: so your tax loss harvesting and your tax payerborable evexments
Speaker 1: and if you do that, cool, But most people don't
Speaker 1: need to do that. But most people do need to
Speaker 1: say their tax returns, So do that. Yes, definitely do that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: keep all your tax documents for seven years, and that's
Speaker 1: paperwork to keep. Yeah, but you know what else you'll
Speaker 1: want to keep. You won't want to throw it away,
Speaker 1: and you really paperless. It's paperless, and you don't have
Speaker 1: to throw it away. You can. You can hoard these,
Speaker 1: collect them all. The bill of the week. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That's bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clint, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Hey, for frugal friends. The cis Blanca
Speaker 1: in Seattle, and I'm calling with my bill of the week,
Speaker 1: which is my internet bill. We had been paying around
Speaker 1: one hundred dollars a month for one gig of broadband
Speaker 1: with a local company. They threatened to increase our rate,
Speaker 1: and I called and negotiated with them a few months
Speaker 1: ago when they gave us a promotional offer. Then that
Speaker 1: promotional offer expired and I had been receiving a flyer
Speaker 1: in the mail from Google Fiber. Google Fiber is offering
Speaker 1: the same amount of gigs and they don't even charge
Speaker 1: for the equipment rental, unlike my local provider. The only
Speaker 1: catch is that it costs seven hundred and fifty dollars
Speaker 1: up front, which comes out to about sixty three dollars
Speaker 1: a month, which is a huge savings for us. And fortunately,
Speaker 1: spending seven hundred and fifty dollars in one go is
Speaker 1: not a problem because my husband and I have a
Speaker 1: fully funded emergency fund. So we have a technician coming
Speaker 1: today to switch our cable and pardon me, our internet,
Speaker 1: and yeah, we're super excited, so thanks so much. Bite
Speaker 1: m blanca. Yes, girl, throw it in their faces, just
Speaker 1: let that money fly in their faces and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: I don't have to pay you a monthly bill because
Speaker 1: I got the money to pay up front and safe.
Speaker 1: Jen's feeling salty right now, she's about to give birth
Speaker 1: to minutes, just all all all over the place. But yes, also, Blanca,
Speaker 1: I am here for you, here for this bill. There's
Speaker 1: there's stacks on stacks of bills right here about negotiating
Speaker 1: your bills and receiving that promotional or like that, yeah,
Speaker 1: that that promotion, then when it expired, paying it tension
Speaker 1: to what comes through the mailbox. Sometimes there are some
Speaker 1: really great promotions that you can be taking advantage of
Speaker 1: then being able to pay all upfront because of your
Speaker 1: fully funded emergency Fundly, there's just so much in here
Speaker 1: that you're doing fantastically. That also, so much of this
Speaker 1: is autopilot. Once you make that one phone call, that
Speaker 1: one email, and then you've set that one bill that
Speaker 1: now you're set up for a good long while of
Speaker 1: having less expensive internet. This is just so exciting, and
Speaker 1: I am celebrating with you, yes virtually on internet if
Speaker 1: you are listening and you have something to celebrate with us.
Speaker 1: And it is even remotely related to some version of
Speaker 1: a bill, you know, the drill through a friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot com slash Bill, leave us your bill or just
Speaker 1: be Bill and talk about anything. But you want literally
Speaker 1: be you. And now it's time for undoo cool true.
Speaker 1: All right, so today's lightning around. How are you going
Speaker 1: to spring clean your finances this season? You go first
Speaker 1: this time, Jill Um, So I have to go through
Speaker 1: my papers. They are turning into that pile on top
Speaker 1: of the file cabinet. Yeah, and so that is first
Speaker 1: on my list. When I stop working, I am going
Speaker 1: to get to those papers. Right. That's all breast reading, Jill.
Speaker 1: There's not much you can do with a newborn, that's
Speaker 1: I know. But that's like the mental capacity though, Like
Speaker 1: I feel as though you don't have to put the
Speaker 1: pressure on yourself. I don't think it's a lot of
Speaker 1: mental stuff to say, like keep throw, keep throw, all right.
Speaker 1: I already know, yeah, what needs to stay and what
Speaker 1: needs to go. I just need to put it away.
Speaker 1: Time to do it, and right now trying to get
Speaker 1: all these episodes recorded that I cannot record an episode
Speaker 1: with a newport, I can throw stuff away with one. Okay,
Speaker 1: that is my goal, how about you? I really like
Speaker 1: the quarterly reviewing of goals. So this is something I mean, Granted,
Speaker 1: I'm in my finances bi weekly, but I am looking
Speaker 1: at my financial picture from a broader perspective than just
Speaker 1: my bi weekly budget this spring, looking at what bills
Speaker 1: I can negotiate. So it's on my radar to shop around,
Speaker 1: specifically for car insurance. I think I'm paying way too
Speaker 1: much for car insurance. I know it is more expensive
Speaker 1: here in Florida than what we were used to from
Speaker 1: where we move from. But I still like just in
Speaker 1: that we pay every six months, but this newest six
Speaker 1: month quote is one hundred dollars more than the previous
Speaker 1: six months that we had paid for So like every
Speaker 1: six months, they're just like astronomically increasing the amount and
Speaker 1: I'm just not here for it. Yea, yeah, so that's
Speaker 1: going to happen, and really just looking at it. If
Speaker 1: there's any other bills that I can negotiate, is a
Speaker 1: part of that kind of quarterly overview of my finances. Nice,
Speaker 1: that'd be great, Well, it'll be great, would be so great.
Speaker 1: I hope you all. I hope this has inspired you
Speaker 1: all to spring clean aspect of your finances again, not
Speaker 1: all at once, not all in one day. Just figure
Speaker 1: out what your biggest priority is and make that a
Speaker 1: goal for the next three months and do something that
Speaker 1: will save you money that is unique to spring maintaining appliances,
Speaker 1: getting that all out of the way, and then not
Speaker 1: having to worry about it the rest of the year.
Speaker 1: So whatever you choose, thank you for listening, and if
Speaker 1: you want more, helps in support in slaying your expenses
Speaker 1: and growing your income. Paying off debt. Then we do
Speaker 1: have a membership where we do monthly money challenges, we
Speaker 1: offer accountability groups, we got monthly meal plans, and we
Speaker 1: want to congratulate one of our members for a big win.
Speaker 1: This is from Corey. She says, I am feeling great
Speaker 1: about my progress. I'm continuing to track my purchases, which
Speaker 1: has made me think twice about any impulse purchases because
Speaker 1: they don't want to track it, so it's not made.
Speaker 1: One of my other goals was not going out to
Speaker 1: eat without someone else community value. I asked a friend
Speaker 1: last minute to go out to eat with me and
Speaker 1: they were not able to go, and poor planning led
Speaker 1: to me eating Alan and spending money. But I'm no
Speaker 1: longer beating myself up about it because I know what
Speaker 1: caused it and I can work on it in the
Speaker 1: future important of planning ahead. I'm very happy with my
Speaker 1: results and continued learning experiences. Corey. I love the implementation
Speaker 1: here of aligning values with spending being able to name it.
Speaker 1: I think that identification and putting words to it and
Speaker 1: then putting it into practice is so so valuable that
Speaker 1: I just I love what you've shared here because I
Speaker 1: think it provides a great learning opportunity for the rest
Speaker 1: of us listening, in watching, and reading in whatever it
Speaker 1: is that we're doing. So congrat scory. Yeah, so thank
Speaker 1: you for listening. If you want to check out our
Speaker 1: membership where we have all kinds of courses at free interviews, challenges,
Speaker 1: and more, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash
Speaker 1: club to check it out. See you next Time. Friends
Speaker 1: is produced by Eric sirianni Oh, Jen, I bet you'll
Speaker 1: be glad to kind of like spring clean your your
Speaker 1: own womb, like your physical space giving birth spring. I
Speaker 1: am so excited declutter my womb. You have no idea.
Speaker 1: It is so cluttered in here. I am seeing you
Speaker 1: friends who are listening. We are in person, and Jen
Speaker 1: like anytime I'm talking just like cleans back from the
Speaker 1: microphone and is like pushing the baby around and I'm
Speaker 1: probably pushing back like there's a full on fight happening
Speaker 1: with like the newborn in her belly. I love the infant,
Speaker 1: the baby, the child in her belly not newborn yet.
Speaker 1: I'm just like it was it was quite to like
Speaker 1: say sorry, no, I love I loved it. At the
Speaker 1: same time, I'm like, what is happening, so much movement
Speaker 1: and motion, pushing on the stomach. But then but then
Speaker 1: she'd get back on the mic as if nothing is
Speaker 1: happening over in her chair, like you'd have no idea,
Speaker 1: who knows, though the microphone's may be really good. And
Speaker 1: if you hear like a lot of activity, that's what's happening.
Speaker 1: There's just like some negotiation of space happening with her child.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, Yeah, there's a lot, Like there's a lot
Speaker 1: of movement happening, um, which you know, I'll take the
Speaker 1: movement over no movement. But it's just it's a lot
Speaker 1: and yeah, we are kind of fighting against each other, yeah,
Speaker 1: for space in my body. And so begins the mother
Speaker 1: son relationship. No you won't, yes I will. No, you
Speaker 1: you better not. No, Okay, Still I give up. And
Speaker 1: that's that's parenting. It's okay. So we are contractually obligated
Speaker 1: to keep this thing going till forty five minutes, So
Speaker 1: we have five minutes to talk about this really important topic.
Speaker 1: This is actually really slicious and on point that Marie
Speaker 1: Condo has quote unquote kind of given up on tidying
Speaker 1: after having three kids. And I think this is a
Speaker 1: perfect time to talk about this being spring talking about
Speaker 1: decluttering and really we should we I mean should have
Speaker 1: been part of the main episode. I do love this.
Speaker 1: That what a great fine gen. The Washington posted an
Speaker 1: article on how Marie Condo's life is messier now and
Speaker 1: she's fine with it, and yes it's a little bit
Speaker 1: salicious and click baity, although it sounds like Marie Condo
Speaker 1: herself did give quotes for this article. And I think
Speaker 1: it just is so on point with any time we
Speaker 1: make something the end all be all, like this will
Speaker 1: be the one key secret to everything, and we see
Speaker 1: this happen so many times for these thought leaders, these authors,
Speaker 1: these people who have really poured a lot into a
Speaker 1: concept that is helpful, but also then the recognition and
Speaker 1: growth and space for new experiences to say, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: not entirely false, like we're not saying throw the whole
Speaker 1: thing out, but it's not the only thing, which I
Speaker 1: think even us we've made a pivot to, like not
Speaker 1: even a strong pivot, but recognizing we need space to
Speaker 1: grow and morph that like you and I were focused
Speaker 1: on debt freedom for so long, but then once that happens,
Speaker 1: there's more to life and new experiences to life, which
Speaker 1: is why you hear us so much more in the
Speaker 1: past few years talking about freedom, flexibility, creating what's going
Speaker 1: to work for you. And we're hearing a lot of
Speaker 1: this in this article from Marie Condo, recognizing that like
Speaker 1: just tidying, just having an instagram worthy tidy space, is
Speaker 1: not the only thing that's going to lead to joy. Like, yes,
Speaker 1: there's going to be certain practices and rituals and routines
Speaker 1: that are helpful for her, but she's more interested in
Speaker 1: how she's spending her time and less focused on everything
Speaker 1: being in its exact right place. It's not the only
Speaker 1: thing that's going to lead to joy, which I think
Speaker 1: is a really helpful thing to keep in mind when
Speaker 1: we talk about spring cleaning, when we talk about tidying. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when we try to focus on the rigid rules more
Speaker 1: than the act of why we're doing it, I think
Speaker 1: is when we can fall off. And I love Marie
Speaker 1: Condo's books. I love her philosophy of sparking joy. Did
Speaker 1: I look at all of my things and ask if
Speaker 1: they spark joy before I kept or got rid of them?
Speaker 1: Absolutely not No, But I do love like her philosophy.
Speaker 1: Is it says is based partly on the Japanese belief
Speaker 1: of Shintoism, which tiding is only part of the practice.
Speaker 1: She says, the ultimate goal is to spark joy every
Speaker 1: day and lead a joyful life, and that's what she
Speaker 1: says she's focusing on more now is the joy in life,
Speaker 1: not the joy of things, which I think should have
Speaker 1: been the priority number one the whole time. But I'm
Speaker 1: glad Marie's gotten there. Yeah, I'm really glad. We all
Speaker 1: morph and shift, and I think that there needs to
Speaker 1: be space for people like Marie Condo again, these thought
Speaker 1: leaders who have given us a really incredible gift and
Speaker 1: a platform and a foundation of which to launch from
Speaker 1: and find our own freedoms. And she's no different. She's
Speaker 1: also human who's fine her own freedoms and space to
Speaker 1: recognize what's going to make sense for her right now
Speaker 1: in this season. And she's now on this path of
Speaker 1: encouraging others to create their own rhythm, their own routines
Speaker 1: based on what brings them joy, and even giving like
Speaker 1: templates for how to do that, like coming up with
Speaker 1: a joy routine she calls it sticking with it for
Speaker 1: ten days, seeing whether daily habit changes are increasing your
Speaker 1: well being, are helpful. So ultimately, I think what I'm
Speaker 1: loving in this is it's not a complete departure. Like
Speaker 1: at first when you talked about this article, Jen, I
Speaker 1: was like, oh no, she's saying throughout her whole book
Speaker 1: like that would be devastaying. But to just give more
Speaker 1: space for it might not look this way for every
Speaker 1: single person and in every season, And that's okay. I'm
Speaker 1: on my own journey in that. Like I am very like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm very type A in certain ways, certain ways I'm not.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I confuse myself, but I really like to have
Speaker 1: a clean space. So like the spring cleaning episode is
Speaker 1: like I love it, but at the same time, it
Speaker 1: only lasts for so long. I was just having this
Speaker 1: conversation with a couple of friends, recognizing that even if
Speaker 1: the ceiling blades are clean and the baseboard's clean, and
Speaker 1: the air ducts are clean and the filters are changed
Speaker 1: and like every single thing is exactly how you want
Speaker 1: it to be, that will last for twenty four hours,
Speaker 1: if not less than that, Like, none of it's going
Speaker 1: to stay that way. So if we are working at
Speaker 1: this harried pace to like keep it into perfection, like
Speaker 1: as if no one lives there, like will we'll never
Speaker 1: be happy like that will never lead to contentment because
Speaker 1: it will never be how we want it. So then
Speaker 1: what needs to adjust as ourselves, like our own expectations
Speaker 1: and rhythms, and just finding what can we peaceably live
Speaker 1: with and where do we need to give lenience and
Speaker 1: flexibility to ourselves? Yes, we will leave you with this
Speaker 1: quote from the article that is Marie Condo's encouragement to
Speaker 1: everyone reading her latest book that comes out at a time.
Speaker 1: I assume she encourages everyone to create their own rhythm,
Speaker 1: their own routines based on what makes them happy, and
Speaker 1: she offers more than one hundred and twenty five serene
Speaker 1: photographic examples to inspire you. But her assignment for you
Speaker 1: come up with a doable joy routine and stick with
Speaker 1: it for ten days and see whether the daily habit
Speaker 1: changes are making you feel better. So that's I think
Speaker 1: that's a nice like, come up with a joy routine
Speaker 1: and practice it for ten days, see how it makes
Speaker 1: you feel. There you go, just another thing to add
Speaker 1: your plate. Do we do it? We do the five minutes?
Speaker 1: Oh we did? Yes? All right, Sea