Speaker 1: Episode three sixty five, Rich Friend Secrets with your rich
Speaker 1: bff Vivan two.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a life here your hosts,
Speaker 2: Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and we are super excited to
Speaker 1: have our rich bff Vivan two. She has a new
Speaker 1: book coming out and we're wealth is something we love
Speaker 1: to talk about but hate to hear about, right. We
Speaker 1: love talking about how to get our money right, but
Speaker 1: we don't always love defining ourselves as wealthy or rich,
Speaker 1: which I think even somebody's always more richer than you, right,
Speaker 1: and you're like, I'm not there, so I'm not rich.
Speaker 1: And today we are really going to be debunking that
Speaker 1: mindset and hopefully we'll instill you with the social responsibility
Speaker 1: to define yourself as that. And Vivian's going to be
Speaker 1: giving you some tips on how to do that, how
Speaker 1: to accomplish that. And it was a really good, really
Speaker 1: good interview.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's such a connectable person. Is that a word.
Speaker 3: She's easy to connect with, laid back and really helpful perspective,
Speaker 3: especially her story of how she kind of came into
Speaker 3: the space that she's in now so excited to share it.
Speaker 1: Yes, but first, this episode is brought to you by
Speaker 1: No Spend January. Yep, that's right. It's not brought to
Speaker 1: you by Christmas, even though Christmas is so close and
Speaker 1: my son is out of school today because Christmas is
Speaker 1: so close, and why a Friday. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: be just two weeks, but we got two weeks and
Speaker 1: an extra day and it's throwing me off. But anyways,
Speaker 1: let's move past Christmas, all right. If Christmas is a
Speaker 1: little much for you right now, let's start thinking about January.
Speaker 1: In January, we are doing a no spend challenge. All
Speaker 1: the frugal friends are doing it and including Jill and I,
Speaker 1: and so we're going to be documenting our journeys. Jill
Speaker 1: is going to be documenting it in the friend letter.
Speaker 1: I am going to be over on Instagram at TikTok
Speaker 1: and we are going to walk you through no Spend January.
Speaker 1: We're talking about how we're preparing for it, what we
Speaker 1: do when the days and the times come up where
Speaker 1: it is hard to actually say no, what we're doing
Speaker 1: afterwards with the money we've spent, how we're budgeting all
Speaker 1: of these things. We want to hold your hand and
Speaker 1: walk you through it. So if you would like to
Speaker 1: do no spend January with us, sign up for the
Speaker 1: friend letter. All of our friend letters in January will
Speaker 1: be kind of centered around the concepts that will help
Speaker 1: you succeed with a no spend month. Follow Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast on Instagram and Modern Frugality on TikTok and or Instagram.
Speaker 1: I'll be doing the same videos on all the platforms,
Speaker 1: So follow along, and let's identify our spending habits that
Speaker 1: may have gotten at a whack over the holiday season,
Speaker 1: so we can connect with them and reevaluate if these
Speaker 1: are habits that serve us or their habits that we
Speaker 1: want to lay down and replace with something healthy.
Speaker 3: This challenge is what we need in the timing that
Speaker 3: we need it. You can join other community members and
Speaker 3: the knowledge that you're not alone in this. You can
Speaker 3: even right back to us in the emails, so it's
Speaker 3: really great.
Speaker 1: Yes, Frugal Friends podcast dot com. We're got to same
Speaker 1: brain wavelength to we are. So this is this is
Speaker 1: not a topic we talk about a lot because we
Speaker 1: don't consider ourselves a get rich net worth investing show.
Speaker 1: But a thread that runs through all of our episodes
Speaker 1: is we are not frugal for frugal's sake. We do
Speaker 1: not save money for the sake of saving money. Our
Speaker 1: accomplishment with money is not defined by how much money
Speaker 1: we saved on a shirt or if we bought something secondhand.
Speaker 1: We do these things to have a greater impact on
Speaker 1: the world. And yes, some of that impact is sustainability time,
Speaker 1: but a part of that impact is money. Sometimes the
Speaker 1: greatest impact you can have in non monetary areas is
Speaker 1: through accumulating wealth. Because the money is there, either you
Speaker 1: have it or it's going to someone else. Right, they're
Speaker 1: even printing more of it, so like we have a
Speaker 1: responsibility to acquire it and do good with it. So
Speaker 1: Vivian is on a global mission to make the financial
Speaker 1: industry less mail, pale, and stale, and she is speaking
Speaker 1: right to you. She's a former Wall Street trader turned
Speaker 1: expert educator, public speaker. She is so relatable and she
Speaker 1: is a genuinely great person. There are so many people,
Speaker 1: There are a lot of great people on the Internet,
Speaker 1: and Vivian is definitely one of the best. And she
Speaker 1: is known as your rich BFF. She is our rich BFF.
Speaker 1: We hope that by the end of this interview she's
Speaker 1: yours as well, and that you go get her book.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let's get into the interview.
Speaker 1: Vivian, Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. We are so
Speaker 1: excited to have you here. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: having me.
Speaker 3: Yes, welcome, Welcome. I love interviews, They're my favorite, and
Speaker 3: you're just a powerhouse, so I'm just glad to be here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jill loved Jill spends a lot of time on TikTok.
Speaker 1: She is extremely invested there and so she's she knows
Speaker 1: exactly everything that you've ever put out. But for people
Speaker 1: who are not like for people who are not like Jill,
Speaker 1: can you just tell us how, like a bit about
Speaker 1: how you came to be your rich BAAF, because I
Speaker 1: think that's a fun story.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So I started my career on Wall Street. I was
Speaker 4: a trader and that was just like the traditional path
Speaker 4: that I thought I was going to take. And after
Speaker 4: I ended up leaving Wall Street and going to the
Speaker 4: media and tech world because I wanted to wear sweatpants
Speaker 4: and make more money. My new friends were all basically
Speaker 4: like hey, can you help me rebalance my four O
Speaker 4: one K Which health insurance plan did you pick? Should
Speaker 4: I be buying our company stock options? And I got
Speaker 4: so many of the same questions. I thought, Hey, like,
Speaker 4: why don't I just put these videos for my coworkers,
Speaker 4: not for everyone, for my coworkers online. And I did
Speaker 4: that January first of twenty twenty one. And let me say,
Speaker 4: this was back when TikTok was still tiktoking. It was
Speaker 4: premium TikTok is TikTok like without ads basically, And.
Speaker 3: The very first.
Speaker 4: Video ended up hitting and by the end of the
Speaker 4: week that video ended up getting I want to say,
Speaker 4: like three million views and I had one hundred thousand followers,
Speaker 4: and I was terrified. I had no idea where I
Speaker 4: was going to take this. I was, you know, completely lost.
Speaker 4: There were no people in my life who were doing
Speaker 4: this for a living or even doing it as a hobby.
Speaker 4: So I just had to kind of figure it out
Speaker 4: as I went, and I was building the plane as
Speaker 4: I was flying it.
Speaker 3: That is a terrifying thing to happen, Like you put
Speaker 3: out one thing and say now I have to have
Speaker 3: a whole strategy and a path was.
Speaker 1: Famous for that, Like there were so many people, Like
Speaker 1: first video was just going off and I remember your video.
Speaker 1: That video in particular was on like that front page
Speaker 1: of TikTok forever when when TikTok for you page was
Speaker 1: actually a page and it was just it was just there,
Speaker 1: like and it was so good. It was so helpful. Uh,
Speaker 1: and like you just and you built the plane better
Speaker 1: than anybody, like any other plane while it was flying,
Speaker 1: like you just you went off and like every single
Speaker 1: thing was just like helpful and I loved, Like I
Speaker 1: love it, and still like everything is helpful. It's like
Speaker 1: not pushing the next affiliate that's gonna make you the
Speaker 1: most money. I'm obsessed, like use this crypto bank, use
Speaker 1: this crypto app, kill me. Yeah, I love it. I
Speaker 1: love it. And so yeah, you're like you're one of
Speaker 1: the good ones. And so I'm excited to talk about
Speaker 1: your book and to kind of talk about, like expound
Speaker 1: a little bit on like rich friend secrets. So what
Speaker 1: are some of So what are some of the preconceived
Speaker 1: notions about rich people that you're kind of like made
Speaker 1: your mission to debunk or like make accessible. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think first and foremost is that rich people are
Speaker 4: somehow like morally superior.
Speaker 1: To the rest of us.
Speaker 4: In fact, typically quite the opposite. I would say, like,
Speaker 4: you know, I think when we think about rich people,
Speaker 4: our society generally places them on a pedestal. They're better, faster, stronger, whatever.
Speaker 4: But in reality, they've just figured out the rules of
Speaker 4: the game and have built up a strategy when the
Speaker 4: rest of us didn't even know there was a rule
Speaker 4: book to be reading. So they're not better than you.
Speaker 4: I love to say that rich people are lazy, but
Speaker 4: lazy in a smart way, in that, you know, instead
Speaker 4: of you know, using their bodies or their minds and
Speaker 4: labor for money, they have realized that their money is
Speaker 4: a better money making tool than themselves, so they're able
Speaker 4: to make money in a more passive way. And I
Speaker 4: also say that, like, you know, there's nothing wrong with
Speaker 4: being entitled. We've all seen the horrific videos of like,
Speaker 4: some rich Karen at the front of the McDonald's line
Speaker 4: yelling at some poor eighteen year old kid who's working
Speaker 4: this part time job, and like is not the reason
Speaker 4: why her order's messed up. But in a tiny portion,
Speaker 4: entitlement is okay, and when used correctly, it just means
Speaker 4: you know your value. Don't go yell at some poor
Speaker 4: eighteen year old, but you are allowed to be entitled
Speaker 4: because your business has value. Go negotiate that late fee
Speaker 4: on your credit card, Go negotiate your Wi Fi bill,
Speaker 4: Make sure that you are paying as little as humanly
Speaker 4: possible for your favorite streaming service. Like there are so
Speaker 4: many ways that you can negotiate, and most people just
Speaker 4: don't because they think that rich people pay full sticker
Speaker 4: price because they can afford it. No, rich people are
Speaker 4: the cheapest people I have ever met in my entire life.
Speaker 4: They will negotiate and negotiate and negotiate until there is
Speaker 4: nothing left to be negotiated.
Speaker 3: That is something that I have seen and with a
Speaker 3: lot of the people who I know. Of course, there
Speaker 3: are various types of people in all categories of society.
Speaker 3: But when it comes to a lot of the wealthier
Speaker 3: people that I know, this can be true. It can
Speaker 3: be a little irksome to me at times, like why
Speaker 3: have being so stingy? But I think that there is
Speaker 3: some of that mentality that is what led them to
Speaker 3: some of these places, depending on how they came upon wealth,
Speaker 3: whether it's generational or sound within their lifetime, lots of
Speaker 3: caveats to be made, but yeah, I think the practices
Speaker 3: that we put in place now are what's going to
Speaker 3: set us up for the possibilities of more and more wealth.
Speaker 3: You're mentioning a couple of these things, but I'm curious
Speaker 3: back to your I wanted to make more money in
Speaker 3: my sweatpants instead. So for other people, that's really resonating with,
Speaker 3: like they kind of want the lazy version of wealth
Speaker 3: building and aiming at Hey, how can I what is
Speaker 3: that rule book? What would you say for the regular
Speaker 3: people listening who don't have trust funds and yet would
Speaker 3: like a little bit more money.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, listen, I don't have a trust fund.
Speaker 4: My family did not grow up like that. We don't
Speaker 4: have money like that. I hope my kids do. I
Speaker 4: hope I can give them that because I didn't have
Speaker 4: that growing up.
Speaker 1: But for everyone.
Speaker 4: Who is listening who is like, man, I just want
Speaker 4: to kick up my feet. I want to relax, don't
Speaker 4: I do not dream of labor. You've probably heard that
Speaker 4: since you're all over TikTok. Well, you know what, let's
Speaker 4: think about where we're getting our money right now. If
Speaker 4: you're an individual and you work. Your source of income
Speaker 4: is through your work.
Speaker 1: You labor.
Speaker 4: A lot of us are w two employees. Some people
Speaker 4: are ten ninety nine. You're a freelancer. Whatever you do something,
Speaker 4: you get money.
Speaker 1: Great.
Speaker 4: The problem with that, though, is as soon as you
Speaker 4: stop doing that thing, you stop getting paid, and you
Speaker 4: need to find as many things and new streams of
Speaker 4: income where even when you stop doing the thing, you
Speaker 4: can keep getting paid. So the easiest one, and I
Speaker 4: say this as a joke, is the only way you
Speaker 4: can be a two income household as a single person,
Speaker 4: and very easily is through investing. Because if you are
Speaker 4: able to take some of that money that you earn
Speaker 4: by doing that thing and then put it into an
Speaker 4: investing account, whether that be a retirement account, an educational
Speaker 4: account like a five two nine for your future kiddo,
Speaker 4: into just even a traditional brokerage account, you then invest
Speaker 4: those funds into index funds that track the broader market,
Speaker 4: the total market, maybe have a couple ETFs that focus
Speaker 4: on sectors you're passionate about. If you're super lazy and
Speaker 4: just want to kind of set it and forget it,
Speaker 4: you can consider a target date retirement fund. That money
Speaker 4: is going to make you money while you chill, while
Speaker 4: you sleep, and it works twenty four to seven. It
Speaker 4: doesn't need a lunch break, it doesn't need to go
Speaker 4: to the bathroom, It doesn't need to go see their
Speaker 4: doctor get their teeth checked by their dentist. That money
Speaker 4: is working around the clock like a hamster wheel. While
Speaker 4: you can continue to do some of that labor, continue
Speaker 4: have that money coming in, put a little bit of
Speaker 4: that money into that investing, and over time, the amount
Speaker 4: of money you earn from doing that thing will become
Speaker 4: a smaller and smaller portion of the money coming in,
Speaker 4: and the money you earn from your money working will
Speaker 4: be a larger and larger portion of the money coming in.
Speaker 4: And what you want is for that pie chart to
Speaker 4: start out with a large section being money from labor
Speaker 4: and a small section being money from investing, and then
Speaker 4: over time those two essentially switch, so you can work, work,
Speaker 4: work less, and chill more and still have enough money
Speaker 4: coming in to support your lifestyle. Let you do fun
Speaker 4: stuff and continue to buy groceries and have a roof
Speaker 4: over your head.
Speaker 3: I think this is one of the reasons that we
Speaker 3: hear so many people advocating for beginning to invest young
Speaker 3: that if you are kind of one of those normal,
Speaker 3: typical people who doesn't feel like you have a lot,
Speaker 3: then time is on your side to start early. And
Speaker 3: I think we're seeing a lot more, at least than
Speaker 3: from our generation, starting to understand and learn these things,
Speaker 3: probably thanks to people like you, Vivian, letting people know
Speaker 3: on TikTok how to do this thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love the way you put it in that
Speaker 1: like pie Shart, like starting, yes, starting out laboring, but
Speaker 1: we don't want that to be forever because everyone thinks
Speaker 1: that they're going to retire at sixty five seventy, and
Speaker 1: the average retirement age is between sixty and sixty five,
Speaker 1: so like you're not going to get those You're likely
Speaker 1: not going to get those last five years you think
Speaker 1: you're going to get working, So to start as early
Speaker 1: as possible, start five years earlier than you think you
Speaker 1: should with investing, then you kind of protect those last
Speaker 1: five years. Like in the middle, Yes, everyone's working, everyone's investing,
Speaker 1: Like everyone's going to have pretty similar middles, But it's
Speaker 1: what you do and the beginning and the end that
Speaker 1: like makes a big difference. And if you can just
Speaker 1: start a little earlier, then you had planned on. Then
Speaker 1: you'll set yourself up for being able to chill much
Speaker 1: much sooner. Even if early retirement is not the goal.
Speaker 1: You can you can see that a lot sooner. Are
Speaker 1: there any other Oh yeah.
Speaker 4: Oh no, I was just going to add on, like,
Speaker 4: you know, listen, the best day to start investing was
Speaker 4: yesterday and the second best day is today. But I
Speaker 4: don't want people to feel like they have all this
Speaker 4: time and they can wait till Tomorrow's tomorrow tomorrow, because
Speaker 4: let's just look at the math. You can actually look
Speaker 4: this study up on Google if you aren't currently driving
Speaker 4: or whatever. If you invest a certain amount in your twenties,
Speaker 4: they compared this with investing double in your thirties if
Speaker 4: you hadn't started in your twenties, and the people who
Speaker 4: had invested less money overall but started earlier ended up
Speaker 4: retiring with more money. And I think that just really
Speaker 4: speaks to you. It's not about the money, it's about
Speaker 4: the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And we say the best way to save money
Speaker 1: on retirement is starting early. You save so much money
Speaker 1: if you just start earlier than you think you need to.
Speaker 1: It's the best way to save money and the only
Speaker 1: reason to focus on frugality as like a useful many
Speaker 1: sort of system in the eighty twenty rule is because
Speaker 1: it allows you to save more to invest. We don't
Speaker 1: save for the sake of hoarding or buying more, exactly,
Speaker 1: we save more so that we have more of our
Speaker 1: income that were wisely choosing to labor over we have
Speaker 1: more to invest exactly. So looking back, was there a
Speaker 1: particular person or mentor who played a key role in
Speaker 1: your success or like imparting these like rich people secrets
Speaker 1: into your life? And how how can other people like
Speaker 1: find people like that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, without a doubt, I would be completely lost without
Speaker 4: this person. When I started my job on Wall Street
Speaker 4: and I showed up day one, it was like thirty
Speaker 4: forty old white guys, like no surprise, And the only
Speaker 4: other person who wasn't a man and wasn't white was
Speaker 4: another Asian woman. She was, you know, quite senior in
Speaker 4: her career. She was still very young. But for the
Speaker 4: first time I saw someone who looked like me and
Speaker 4: was basically a confirmation that someone who looked like me
Speaker 4: and came from a background like I did deserved to
Speaker 4: be in that room. And she, I mean I wanted
Speaker 4: to be her so badly. And she was the one
Speaker 4: who asked me, are you contributing to your four O
Speaker 4: one K? And I was like, my what, didn't know
Speaker 4: what that was. She would be the person who was like, oh,
Speaker 4: are you using like the company catalog to save on hotels?
Speaker 4: I was like the what, didn't know what that was?
Speaker 4: She would even buy me lunch every single day because
Speaker 4: I just did not have the money. And she truly
Speaker 4: was the big sister I'd never had, and I felt
Speaker 4: I feel so so grateful to her. I mean I
Speaker 4: even dedicated my book to her. She changed my life
Speaker 4: because for the first time, she showed me that people
Speaker 4: like me deserve to be wealthy. And at first it
Speaker 4: was super shallow, right she would walk into work with
Speaker 4: a new Chanel bag every day, click clack in on
Speaker 4: the marble floors with her Gucci stilettos, and that to me,
Speaker 4: I was like, that's pinnacle wealth, that's peak, Like I
Speaker 4: need to have these things. But over time it became
Speaker 4: she gets to go on vacation and not worry about
Speaker 4: the price. She gets to send her mom money and
Speaker 4: not worry about the amount because she's just happy to
Speaker 4: pay for that surgery. It's not a problem. She takes
Speaker 4: care of people, and over time, the things that I
Speaker 4: saw her doing that made me want to be like
Speaker 4: her changed, but she was always the blueprint for me.
Speaker 3: That's cool to hear those different layers that yeah, she
Speaker 3: had the nice shoes and handbag, but that it also
Speaker 3: went deeper for her and that you were able to
Speaker 3: see those beautiful aspects inside of her as you endeavored
Speaker 3: to get to know her more. And yeah, kind of
Speaker 3: become the best version of yourself. It sounds like she
Speaker 3: was kind of there when you began your job. Are
Speaker 3: there any tips that you would have for people who
Speaker 3: who are looking for that person that looks like them,
Speaker 3: feels like a representation of them helps them feel as
Speaker 3: though they have a seat at the table. Where are
Speaker 3: people finding these types of voices?
Speaker 4: Yeah, finding a mentor is more of an art than
Speaker 4: a science. There's no perfect way to find a mentor.
Speaker 4: But I highly recommend looking at your education. So if
Speaker 4: you are currently in college, is that professor going to
Speaker 4: be that your mentor? Is that person from career resource
Speaker 4: is going to be your mentor? Is it maybe just
Speaker 4: an adjunct that you really really, you know admire my
Speaker 4: mentor in college? Was the professor who was my thesis advisor.
Speaker 4: I was just calling this dude on his cell phone
Speaker 4: all the time, being like, hey, professor Harris, like do
Speaker 4: you have a second, Like can we go grab coffee?
Speaker 4: And there will be mentors throughout your life whatever you do.
Speaker 4: When it comes to actually the workforce. One of the
Speaker 4: easy things you can do is join affinity groups. So
Speaker 4: in certain places, this looks like an AAPI group or
Speaker 4: a women's group, or a BIPOD group or an LGBTQ group.
Speaker 4: That's a really easy way to find a mentor that
Speaker 4: you identify with pretty much from jump right, because all
Speaker 4: of the people who belonged to that organization probably identify
Speaker 4: that way or identify as an ally. I was given
Speaker 4: another mentor at work through the women's group, and she
Speaker 4: was great. Anytime I had a complaint, anytime I needed
Speaker 4: to vent, I.
Speaker 1: Would call her.
Speaker 3: I was like, can I get a coffee?
Speaker 4: As you can see I was drinking a lot of
Speaker 4: coffee at the time. And you know, this is also
Speaker 4: something that you can get from local community resources groups.
Speaker 4: If you are religious, anything from your temple, your church,
Speaker 4: you know, your mosque, your synagogue, whatever, go there find
Speaker 4: someone that you really really, you know, admire someone who
Speaker 4: is where you want to be. And frankly, these days,
Speaker 4: with the rise of the internet, you can literally just
Speaker 4: slide into people's LinkedIn dms, make a compelling enough case,
Speaker 4: ask them, you know, ask to buy them a coffee.
Speaker 4: And oftentimes I would say that most people who are
Speaker 4: in positions of power or positions of prestige, they didn't
Speaker 4: get there on their own. They had a helping hand,
Speaker 4: they had someone giving them a leg up, they had
Speaker 4: someone mentoring them. So when people receive those messages, more
Speaker 4: often than not, they're pretty receptive. It's quite warm. My
Speaker 4: fiance will complain about it. He'll be like, oh, my gosh,
Speaker 4: this is the third person for my company who's asked
Speaker 4: me for a coffee chat this week. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: are you going to go? And he was like, well,
Speaker 4: of course I'm going to go. And I'm like, okay,
Speaker 4: So then don't complain about it. But I think it's
Speaker 4: just really rewarding to see someone that needs your help
Speaker 4: get it and then feel like you contributed to their success.
Speaker 4: So I would say people are really willing to give back.
Speaker 4: Use your digital sources, your local community sources, and any
Speaker 4: sort of affinity groups you might be in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I so like two things about that. I know,
Speaker 1: Like it all sounds good and it makes sense right,
Speaker 1: like become wealthy so that you can pay for your
Speaker 1: parents like needs and just reach out to somebody like
Speaker 1: to be a mentor. But like inside, I know a
Speaker 1: lot of people myself included, like have had barriers to that,
Speaker 1: Like we think as frugal people because we don't quote
Speaker 1: unquote need the gucci, the bag and shoes, that we
Speaker 1: shouldn't become wealthy, or that we are a burden if
Speaker 1: we reach out to people, or that we're mooching, or
Speaker 1: that we are taking advantage of the system if we
Speaker 1: reach out and use networks. And it's been like it
Speaker 1: started to like transform in my mind like ages ago.
Speaker 1: But when it really clicked was when we interviewed Mandy
Speaker 1: Woodriff Sandos from Brown Ambition where we were talking about
Speaker 1: how do you get these jobs that like pay really well,
Speaker 1: and it's people do not go through the front door.
Speaker 1: People always go through the side door. Always. It's always
Speaker 1: through the side door. And I have found, like the
Speaker 1: longer that I've been in business, the most success that
Speaker 1: we have had with everything we've done has always been
Speaker 1: going through the side door. It's always who you know.
Speaker 1: And that's not a negative thing. It's it's work. It's
Speaker 1: work in a different way, right, Like, so you can
Speaker 1: work and just like pedal the bike going through the
Speaker 1: front door, or you can work to make connections to
Speaker 1: get through the side door. Both are work, but which
Speaker 1: which one are you going to see the most benefit from?
Speaker 3: Yep?
Speaker 1: And so like I love, like, yes, everything makes so
Speaker 1: much sense, but it is still so hard for that
Speaker 1: to be, like when you're in this like middle lower
Speaker 1: middle class income bracket to think that way.
Speaker 4: You know, I think the thing that you said that
Speaker 4: really really spoke to me and was like, so I
Speaker 4: just think it's like so messed up for people to
Speaker 4: think is like I don't deserve this money. And that's
Speaker 4: crazy to me because I want everyone listening to just
Speaker 4: like not if you're driving, but like close your eyes
Speaker 4: for a second and think about why you want that money.
Speaker 4: It's not because you want to buy a golden toilet
Speaker 4: or a birkin bag or go drive a lime green bugotti.
Speaker 4: You want that money to help your dad with his
Speaker 4: cataract surgery. You want that money to help make sure
Speaker 4: that your kid doesn't have a mountain of student debt
Speaker 4: after they exit college. You want that money so that
Speaker 4: you can remodel your home so that it's wheelchair accessible
Speaker 4: for your mom who may have just had a medical concern.
Speaker 4: You want that money so that you can build a
Speaker 4: home that your family can live comfortably and safely in
Speaker 4: and feel love and safe. When we think of wealth
Speaker 4: and money, largely we think of what has been to
Speaker 4: pickted on our TV screens, on movie screens. This is
Speaker 4: the Jordan Belfort throwing cash off of a yacht. That's
Speaker 4: not what actual wealth is. Actual wealth is just optionality.
Speaker 4: It's freedom of choice. It is being able to take
Speaker 4: an uber at ten thirty at night instead of having
Speaker 4: to take the subway as a young woman.
Speaker 1: That is not.
Speaker 4: You know something that's like such a luxury to me.
Speaker 4: That's a safety concern, and because I have money, I
Speaker 4: am able to make that choice. It is the difference
Speaker 4: between you know, me feeling like I'm going to be
Speaker 4: absolutely crushed with work because I have to do this
Speaker 4: and go grocery shopping, or just getting Instacart delivered. Convenience
Speaker 4: is something you are allowed to have in your life.
Speaker 4: You work so hard to be able to have these things.
Speaker 4: So it's crazy to me that people don't feel like
Speaker 4: they deserve the money. When I ask, is if not you,
Speaker 4: then who? Because if you are a woman, if you're
Speaker 4: a person of color, if you're part of the LGBTQ community,
Speaker 4: if you're an immigrant, if you grew up low income,
Speaker 4: you know what happens when you get money.
Speaker 1: Nothing bad.
Speaker 4: We've all seen what happened to Mackenzie Bezos. Okay, she
Speaker 4: just gets She's just trying to light the stuff on fire,
Speaker 4: give it away to every charity under the sun. When
Speaker 4: these communities get this money, it doesn't stay hoarded. It's
Speaker 4: reinvested back into women owned businesses, black owned businesses, you know,
Speaker 4: LGBTQ owned businesses. It's then also reinvested, not just form
Speaker 4: through the form of physical cash or you know whatever,
Speaker 4: but like knowledge you then share with your book club,
Speaker 4: you then share with you know, your running club. You
Speaker 4: share with all of these people who are around you
Speaker 4: and are you know, likely identify similarly to you, because
Speaker 4: naturally we make friends with people who have close proximity
Speaker 4: to us, both physically geographically, but also you know, in
Speaker 4: terms of socioeconomic status.
Speaker 1: You're able to.
Speaker 4: Help lift other people up. So if not you, then who.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, as people who know how to spend
Speaker 1: money and how to spend wisely and know that the
Speaker 1: most important things cannot be bought with money. That's right,
Speaker 1: that we have a social responsibility.
Speaker 3: To be wealthy, correct, Yeah, I'm hearing that redefinition of
Speaker 3: what it means to be wealthy and what we can
Speaker 3: do with our wealth. I think for me, one of
Speaker 3: the barriers has been that I didn't grow up with
Speaker 3: much money, and so I almost attached I definitely attached this.
Speaker 3: It's bad. Most of the people that I saw who
Speaker 3: had it were not the type of people that I
Speaker 3: wanted to be like or be around, and so I
Speaker 3: think it has also required of me a shift in
Speaker 3: viewing money is neutral and just because I didn't have
Speaker 3: it doesn't mean that I have to villainize it. I
Speaker 3: am able to have it, learn how to manage and
Speaker 3: steward it well and be generous with it, you know,
Speaker 3: once it gets to that point too, which is exciting.
Speaker 3: And so if this is sounding you know, good to
Speaker 3: some of our listeners of okay, yeah, switching up the
Speaker 3: mindset that we can be the type of wealthy people
Speaker 3: that we want to be. I'm curious if you've got,
Speaker 3: as our final question and this this segment, if you've
Speaker 3: got any kind of tips your like rich af hacks
Speaker 3: that you love your followers love. Curious which your kind
Speaker 3: of top top few are.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think one of the biggest topics that people love,
Speaker 4: love love is they say, and I don't agree with this,
Speaker 4: It's a little late for me, but I want to
Speaker 4: make sure you know, Junior is one thousand per set
Speaker 4: up to one thousand percent set up to be a
Speaker 4: rich person.
Speaker 1: How do I do that?
Speaker 4: And I always have you know, three tips that I'm like,
Speaker 4: this is wow, creme de la creme. If you do this,
Speaker 4: your kid will basically be starting on third base first
Speaker 4: and foremost. As soon as you adopt a kid, have
Speaker 4: a kid, whatever, pop them as an authorized user on
Speaker 4: your credit card. You make sure you pay your monthly
Speaker 4: balance in full and on time. By the time your
Speaker 4: kid is eighteen and actually ready to go take out
Speaker 4: a loan, whether that be for a car that they
Speaker 4: need to drive to college or they need to get
Speaker 4: an apartment on campus, they are going to have a
Speaker 4: near perfect credit score and make It'll just make sure
Speaker 4: that they're not having to pay extra fees. They're going
Speaker 4: to get the best rates, they're going to get the
Speaker 4: best terms, and you're going to set your kid up
Speaker 4: for success. Two, if there is any way for your
Speaker 4: child to have earned income. This includes babysitting money, lawnmowing money,
Speaker 4: snow plowing money, anything that allows them to have a
Speaker 4: paper trail of money coming in. Open up a custodial
Speaker 4: RAWTHI ray for them and take those earnings and put
Speaker 4: them into that account and then invest that. Essentially, what
Speaker 4: happens is that money is going to be able to
Speaker 4: grow through their lifetime and they are going to have
Speaker 4: an early start for their retirement and through that custodial
Speaker 4: roth ira. When they are at retirement age and ready
Speaker 4: to start taking that money out, it is one hundred
Speaker 4: percent tax free, baby, and we all love a legal taxipole.
Speaker 4: And then, last, but definitely not least, know that education.
Speaker 4: You can't see me, but I just rolled my eyes.
Speaker 4: Education is so unbelievably expensive for so many people these days,
Speaker 4: and unfortunately, like whether or not you go to a
Speaker 4: traditional four year college and get a bachelor's degree, you
Speaker 4: probably need some form of higher education to get a job.
Speaker 1: So whether that be.
Speaker 4: Trade school, culinary school, beauty school, you know, any sort
Speaker 4: of apprenticeship things like that. You're going to need to
Speaker 4: go to some sort of higher education, and if you want,
Speaker 4: you can do something called opening up a five two
Speaker 4: nine account right now now in your state. Unfortunately, no
Speaker 4: federal tax benefits, but there are tax benefits and in
Speaker 4: the majority of states. So you essentially start putting money
Speaker 4: into that account now and tag yourself as the beneficiary.
Speaker 4: Then once you know you're putting money in, it's being invested.
Speaker 4: Once your kid's born or adopted, you then assign that
Speaker 4: account to them instead.
Speaker 1: You just switch it over.
Speaker 4: It's just a little paperwork, no problem. This allows you
Speaker 4: to save essentially on a tax advantaged basis for their education.
Speaker 4: You can take out ten thousand dollars a year to
Speaker 4: pay for private schooling up to like K through twelve,
Speaker 4: and then there's an unlimited withdrawal for higher education such
Speaker 4: as college, trade school, things that I talked about before,
Speaker 4: And it's just a great way to optimize your taxes
Speaker 4: but also be investing for Kido's future.
Speaker 1: Yes, I all of those are great. And then for
Speaker 1: the states that don't have an advantage like Florida doesn't
Speaker 1: have any tax benefits for choosing a floor to prepaid.
Speaker 1: I my five point twenty nine is in Ohio because
Speaker 1: it has one of the better choices for index funds,
Speaker 1: So that is just another benefit. And yeah, we chose
Speaker 1: to just put a lump sum in when Kyle was
Speaker 1: born and we don't even invest monthly in it. We
Speaker 1: just this is how much we would put in over
Speaker 1: ten years, and we just put that in and we're
Speaker 1: letting it, letting it ride.
Speaker 3: So kiddo, I love hiddo.
Speaker 1: He is so lucky. But yeah, like all of those
Speaker 1: And I would say, like also because we get it
Speaker 1: all the time too, Like it's too late for me,
Speaker 1: But how do I teach my kids about money? And like,
Speaker 1: the first way to teach your kid about money, the
Speaker 1: first way to set them up for success is to
Speaker 1: believe that it's not too late for you. They are
Speaker 1: only going to learn, like you can save all this
Speaker 1: money for them, right, But if you don't teach them
Speaker 1: how to spend money and how to earn money, then
Speaker 1: they're not going to spend the money wisely. So it
Speaker 1: does start with you right now, Like is it too
Speaker 1: late for you to like become a multi millionaire. Maybe
Speaker 1: I don't know. It could be it's not too late
Speaker 1: to change your habits moving forward, and that is that
Speaker 1: is impacting children more than like just trying showing them
Speaker 1: a YouTube video about how like compound interest works, though
Speaker 1: it is quite effective. But yeah, like changing habits and
Speaker 1: talking openly about money, I think that's another rich person's
Speaker 1: secret that that we don't get, is that they talk
Speaker 1: about money like they love talking about money, and they
Speaker 1: and they love being generous. So yeah, do you know
Speaker 1: what else is for you right now is not a
Speaker 1: secret by any.
Speaker 3: Means super generous.
Speaker 5: The bill of the week, that's right, it's time for
Speaker 5: the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby
Speaker 5: was born and his name is Williams.
Speaker 2: Maybe you've paid off your mortgage.
Speaker 1: Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have
Speaker 1: to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 5: Tough bills, Buffalo bills, bill claim. This is the bill
Speaker 5: of the week.
Speaker 1: Yes, I know, we said, we yell at your direction.
Speaker 5: I like that.
Speaker 1: Every week we invite our listeners and or our guests
Speaker 1: to share with us their bill for the week, and
Speaker 1: we would love to hear yours.
Speaker 4: Can I tell you I was racking my brain for
Speaker 4: my bill of the week, and because we're doing the section,
Speaker 4: I literally just remembered I have a bill from my ophthalmologists,
Speaker 4: not optometrist. So I went to my optometrist to like
Speaker 4: get my just like annual check up, to get my
Speaker 4: contacts prescription renewed so I could get my full year
Speaker 4: of contacts. And she called me with a little bit
Speaker 4: of an alarming news and she was like, hey, like, no, biggie,
Speaker 4: but it appears that your you know, optic nerve is
Speaker 4: a little thicky thick, which like can be a concern
Speaker 4: if you have family history of glaucoma. And I'm like, oh, shoot,
Speaker 4: my aunt has glaucoma. So I went to the ophthalmologist.
Speaker 4: All of these words are impossible to say. They did
Speaker 4: this like random test where I was like looking at
Speaker 4: lights and you know, clicking buttons while I was looking
Speaker 4: at them. They took a bunch of photos of my eyeball,
Speaker 4: and the opthalmologist basically came back and was like, nah,
Speaker 4: you're good. Like your your nerve is just like your
Speaker 4: nerve could be in like above a Sparks video. But
Speaker 4: it's fine, And now I have the bill for that
Speaker 4: that I need to pay. It's like roughly two hundred
Speaker 4: something dollars. I'm gonna go ask for an itemized bill
Speaker 4: so I can see what all the money's for, just
Speaker 4: to make sure there are no inaccuracies. But then I'm
Speaker 4: gonna go pay it.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Vivian, the same thing happened to me.
Speaker 1: I was, yes, okay, so I was getting I have
Speaker 1: been wanting lasick for ten years. And so when we
Speaker 1: got our book advance money, I was very responsible and
Speaker 1: I took it and I got Lasick, and I went,
Speaker 1: you had to do all these tests before so you
Speaker 1: could determine if you were eligible for it, And that's
Speaker 1: what they said. They were like, your optic nerve is
Speaker 1: a little thick, but your pressure is fine, but you
Speaker 1: might want to just tape an eye on it if
Speaker 1: you have a family history of glock com And I
Speaker 1: was like, my grandmother had, so literally yes, in September,
Speaker 1: same exact thing happened to me. And they're just like,
Speaker 1: just even though you're gonna have twenty twenty vision, keep
Speaker 1: going to the optometrists to keep it in your eye
Speaker 1: on it. It is like a scam, But okay, right,
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, I'll just I'll wear my blue
Speaker 1: light blocking glasses and hope for the best.
Speaker 4: Can I tell you I got special contacts that block
Speaker 4: blue light because they sold me on them, because I
Speaker 4: was like, oh well I can't. I mean my thick
Speaker 4: nerve I must protect. So I went and spent extra
Speaker 4: money on these stupid like slightly yellow contacts.
Speaker 1: Yes, I got on Amazon blue light blocking glasses after that, Lasic, Yep,
Speaker 1: it's all a scam amazing, everyone's got Bubba sparks.
Speaker 3: I'm so glad that you both are okay for now.
Speaker 3: For now, if you all listening have been to an optometrist, ophthalmologist, guynecologist,
Speaker 3: you don't mind paying for these things because it's preventative.
Speaker 3: It gives you the knowledge you need. Or your name
Speaker 3: is Bill and you've not been to the gynecologists lately.
Speaker 3: Brugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill leave us your bill.
Speaker 3: We so excited for it, and now it's time for you.
Speaker 1: Know, I recently discovered that we do have sound effects
Speaker 1: on our recording platform, but we've just been doing our
Speaker 1: own sound effects so well for the last five and
Speaker 1: a half years, Like why would we mess it up?
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we've just been honing our skills and I
Speaker 1: don't even want to hear what their pewpew sounds like
Speaker 1: pretty good at mine. All right, now it's time for
Speaker 1: the vulnerability round, where we're going to like get really
Speaker 1: up close, obnoxiously personal, and everyone's going to answer this,
Speaker 1: what did your gynecologists say? I'm just kidding. What is
Speaker 1: your personal definition of rich? Like ream wealthy? Like you've
Speaker 1: hit it?
Speaker 3: What is it? Vivian?
Speaker 1: You may go first.
Speaker 4: I feel like my definition of rich is pretty simple,
Speaker 4: Like I feel like I have hit it. It's just
Speaker 4: having the money to be able to make decisions that
Speaker 4: serve me and leave any situations that don't. So if
Speaker 4: I have a toxic boss, I'm out of there. If
Speaker 4: I have a toxic partner, I'm out of there.
Speaker 1: Not mine.
Speaker 4: Mine's great, I'm engaged. But you know, just having the
Speaker 4: money to live my life exactly how I want to
Speaker 4: live it, without making compromises due to money.
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
Speaker 3: Yes, what about you, Jed?
Speaker 1: Similar I think I want to be able to make
Speaker 1: choices that I want to make when I want to
Speaker 1: make them. I mean, I think we've spent enough time
Speaker 1: doing the hard work of really setting ourselves up for success,
Speaker 1: and which is why, like now, I would not say
Speaker 1: that we are rich by any means right now, not
Speaker 1: because we're scared of it, but just because, like our
Speaker 1: priorities in life are different than they were or will be.
Speaker 1: I think having young children has forced me to really
Speaker 1: pause on the labor side of making money, which will
Speaker 1: inevitably slow down the money making money. But we did
Speaker 1: that hard work. We frontloaded it, like maxing out, for
Speaker 1: one case, iras taxable brokerages, well, not maxing those up,
Speaker 1: but like we did the hard work up front so
Speaker 1: that we could set ourselves up right now to be
Speaker 1: able to coast a little bit just for these years
Speaker 1: while we're paying for daycare, and then rampant back up
Speaker 1: in the future.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think for me it's it's enough. I think
Speaker 3: when you can identify what is enough and find a
Speaker 3: contentment in that, like that to me feels rich, and
Speaker 3: I think it does include You mentioned this a lot, Vivian.
Speaker 3: Just the ability to cover medical expenses. Oh me rolling
Speaker 3: my eyes over here on that one too. Just the
Speaker 3: cost of education, the cost of medical care. I think
Speaker 3: it's so disproportionate, it's disconcerting. It's disappointing.
Speaker 4: Nobody chooses to get sick, nobody chooses to get a
Speaker 4: kidney stone. I just think it's kind of messed up
Speaker 4: that the number one reason for bankruptcy in the US
Speaker 4: is medical bankruptcy.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Sorry, did you pick to get cancer? Because I don't
Speaker 4: think anybody opts in for that one. Yeah, And I
Speaker 4: think that's really messed up because medical care should be
Speaker 4: a human right.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we're not there yet, but I mean if
Speaker 3: I felt like, Okay, I don't have to worry about
Speaker 3: medical bills, that would feel really rich to me. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Definitely, we've tempered our standards in our thirties. But I
Speaker 1: think that I hope what the main takeaway from from
Speaker 1: today is like, at least for our listeners, because you know,
Speaker 1: we're like a frugality podcast. I hope that frugality is
Speaker 1: not the end game, and we never say it is.
Speaker 1: Being frugal for frugal's sake is not something to be
Speaker 1: proud of. What we should be pursuing and most proud
Speaker 1: of is what we are able, the impact we're able
Speaker 1: to make with our money on our family, on our community,
Speaker 1: and in order to have impact, a greater impact. You
Speaker 1: need a greater amount of wealth, and it's not only
Speaker 1: something you should not be ashamed of, but that you
Speaker 1: should feel a responsibility toward. Yea and I, Vivian am
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to read your book. If it's anything
Speaker 1: like the content you've been putting out like for the
Speaker 1: last four years, it's it's going to be just full
Speaker 1: of helpful tips and strategies to help people get to
Speaker 1: that place where they feel confident in calling themselves rich
Speaker 1: and how to get there. So thank you so much
Speaker 1: for hanging out with us. Where can people get the
Speaker 1: book and get more from you?
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me. Your book copies
Speaker 4: should be in the mail on the way already, question.
Speaker 1: Mark, I hope so okay, I'll see.
Speaker 4: But you can find my book at rich af dot me. Yes,
Speaker 4: I made the website a manifestation because I think we
Speaker 4: could all use a little bit of a pep talk
Speaker 4: in our lives. So Richief dot me for the book,
Speaker 4: and then you can find me across social media as
Speaker 4: your rich BFF.
Speaker 3: Amazing. Thanks again, Vivian, of course, thank you guys so
Speaker 3: much for having me. That was fun. I really love
Speaker 3: her perspective on how we can reframe our view of
Speaker 3: wealth and the reasons behind why it doesn't have to
Speaker 3: be this thing that we repel. Instead, we can embrace
Speaker 3: it in a way that makes sense to us, to
Speaker 3: be used in a way that is valuable to us.
Speaker 3: I think it's kind of that next step or adjacent
Speaker 3: step to the values based spending that we talk about,
Speaker 3: that you're spending doesn't have to look like everybody else,
Speaker 3: and neither does your wealth building or the things that
Speaker 3: you choose to do with any levels of acquired wealth.
Speaker 3: I think it's really beautiful and I think resonated with
Speaker 3: me of Yeah, that's the reason I want money is
Speaker 3: to be able to care for myself and those around me.
Speaker 3: I think that's that's the most benefit that the tool
Speaker 3: and resource of money can be. And I think she
Speaker 3: highlighted that well, and.
Speaker 1: I love that you pointed out that finding you're enough
Speaker 1: was really important to an aspect of becoming rich or
Speaker 1: becoming wealthy. When you find you're enough, it's not that
Speaker 1: you found your enough of accumulation of money. It's that
Speaker 1: you found you're enough for spending and that you can
Speaker 1: continue to earn and build wealth beyond that and that
Speaker 1: the rest of it is stuff that you get to
Speaker 1: do good things with. I think sometimes we're afraid of
Speaker 1: this like hedonic treadmill, where we just can keep working
Speaker 1: towards the next thing and the next thing, and we
Speaker 1: think that's going to make us happy, and we as
Speaker 1: frugal people, want to reject that. We're like, we're not
Speaker 1: running the treadmill. We just want to be content with
Speaker 1: what we have and save money so that we can
Speaker 1: afford things. Kind of where we're at. But I hope
Speaker 1: that this maybe inspired some people to go above and
Speaker 1: beyond that, to know that just because you are earning
Speaker 1: more doesn't mean that you are climbing some corporate ladder
Speaker 1: or you're becoming unrelatable because you have earned more money.
Speaker 1: That that really comes from within. When you define your enough,
Speaker 1: you know what you value, and you're spending money on it,
Speaker 1: then yeah, sure your lifestyle can inflate a little. You've
Speaker 1: earned that you are worthy of that, But there's also
Speaker 1: so many other good things that you can do for
Speaker 1: your immediate family, your extended family, your friends. Like I
Speaker 1: love going to FINNCN the Financial Media Conference, because there
Speaker 1: are people who have been going there a long time
Speaker 1: who've made a lot of money on the internet and
Speaker 1: it's literally just their week to like kind of give
Speaker 1: back to the community that helped them, that made them.
Speaker 1: And uh, I always get so many free drinks and
Speaker 1: dinners from people because of that free dinners good dinner, right,
Speaker 1: And you can be that person. It doesn't have to
Speaker 1: mean like all of your money is going to charity.
Speaker 1: You can be that person giving back to the industry
Speaker 1: or the organization or the people who have been with
Speaker 1: you like Drake. Like you can be like Drake given
Speaker 1: back to your people, So be like Drake.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening everyone. One of the things that we
Speaker 3: really love is reading your reviews when they're really kind,
Speaker 3: and we especially liked this one from pay Pals that
Speaker 3: is titled fun Podcasts for Frugal Folks. Thank you Jen
Speaker 3: and Jill for taking the guests work out of frugal living.
Speaker 3: This podcast is both fun and jam packed full of
Speaker 3: helpful tips to get you started and keep you motivated
Speaker 3: on your frugal journey. Living paycheck to paycheck and saying
Speaker 3: no to friends is no fun, but these hosts remind
Speaker 3: me that there is fun to be had wall living frugally.
Speaker 1: Thanks Kate, Yes, thank you k Pals. Yeah, living paycheck
Speaker 1: to paycheck is no fun. But you don't have to
Speaker 1: deprive yourself. You just have to choose your sacrifices. And
Speaker 1: I think when you start. I got the question the
Speaker 1: other day, like, how do you keep your focus on
Speaker 1: these mid term and long term goals when the shirt
Speaker 1: short term satisfaction, the instant gratification is always right there,
Speaker 1: And I said, it's it's hard. That's a hard question, right.
Speaker 1: You have to have this intrinsic motivation that the value
Speaker 1: like what you want more than instant gratification. What brings
Speaker 1: you joy from saving and saying no to things you
Speaker 1: don't value is the ability to take care of your
Speaker 1: friends and family, the ability to invest in the places
Speaker 1: that you love. Like when that brings you more joy
Speaker 1: than accumulating stuff or eating out all the time, that's
Speaker 1: that's when you do it. So it does. It takes
Speaker 1: work in figuring out what those things are, but like
Speaker 1: that's how you it's not when it becomes not just
Speaker 1: like having your eye on a mid or long term goal,
Speaker 1: but it actually brings you joy to say no to
Speaker 1: something because you know you can say yes to something
Speaker 1: else that's that's when it slaps.
Speaker 3: That's when it collaps, flat claps and sleighs.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, so, thank you for listening. If you enjoyed
Speaker 1: this show, please take a minute to leave a rating
Speaker 1: and review. It helps potential new listeners know what our
Speaker 1: show is all about. And if you already have done that,
Speaker 1: please subscribe to the friend letter and join us for
Speaker 1: no Spend January, it is not a no spend month
Speaker 1: for no spending money's sake. It's a strategy that helps
Speaker 1: you learn a lot about your spending in a short
Speaker 1: amount of time so that you can make in that
Speaker 1: you can make significant changes fast.
Speaker 3: Forrualfriendspodcast dot com. See you next time. Hi E.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3: Jen. I have guests coming always. I can just have
Speaker 3: a button and say guests are coming. And this particular
Speaker 3: round of washing bedding since the last guest included washing
Speaker 3: the top quilt, the comforter, I guess I hadn't done
Speaker 3: it before, or maybe I did it differently the last.
Speaker 1: Wait, all of your guests, you haven't washed well?
Speaker 3: The comforter was a relatively new like since we've finished
Speaker 3: the bedroom, so we've probably.
Speaker 1: That top that's where everyone wipes their nose in the
Speaker 1: middle of the night.
Speaker 3: No, hopefully they do that on their sheet. Nope, not you.
Speaker 3: Oh man, I've probably had five guests. Now. I don't
Speaker 3: wash the top quilt every time.
Speaker 2: Do you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we haven't Airbnb, but you'll wash the
Speaker 3: top quilt every time.
Speaker 1: Yes. Wow, Well that's where people wipe their nose.
Speaker 3: No. I fold the top sheet down over the quilt
Speaker 3: so they know this is this is where you wipe
Speaker 3: your nose.
Speaker 1: So if it's personally for me, no, my room, I
Speaker 1: don't wash it every single time when it's other people,
Speaker 1: when it's our Airbnb, yes, because that's where people wipe
Speaker 1: their nose.
Speaker 3: No, I don't. I don't wash the top blankets every time.
Speaker 1: Sot I guest listen to the show.
Speaker 3: That's so far, because yeah, I would consider myself like
Speaker 3: very clean, and that feels like I would not consider
Speaker 3: myself clean. Only needs to happen like occasionally. Anyhow, it
Speaker 3: felt like, all right, now's the time I'm gonna wash it.
Speaker 3: Behold hark. Unfortunately I put it into the dryer and
Speaker 3: it like shrunk and stuck together and pulled up, pooled together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know, like the stuffing inside, Yeah.
Speaker 3: The stuffing inside in only some parts like congealed together
Speaker 3: and then it kind of then like shrunk parts of
Speaker 3: the whole blanket. I'm very bummed about this. I know
Speaker 3: you need an actual comforter. Yeah, this was a quilts
Speaker 3: and you know what, that's what I'm going to have
Speaker 3: to get now, something that can be washed regularly. I mean,
Speaker 3: this was such a nice kind of lightweight but yet
Speaker 3: comfy fluffy. I loved it. It did fit in my
Speaker 3: washing machine, but then got ruined in my dryer. I'm
Speaker 3: a little bit salty about this because it is not
Speaker 3: what I want to spend money on. I'm a little
Speaker 3: bit bummed that I washed it. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 3: after talking to you, this is necessary. Yeah, And there
Speaker 3: isn't a world where it's like, all right, well then
Speaker 3: wash it and then lay it out to dry. That's
Speaker 3: a life I can't live. I can't have to factor
Speaker 3: in air drying time with this. You'll die but up
Speaker 3: my whole house.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 3: So just be I gotta buy something that's gonna last
Speaker 3: me longer, that can withstand washes. But I'm bumped. This
Speaker 3: is one of those like spending things that I don't
Speaker 3: want to spend on, and I kind of sorry, thank you.
Speaker 1: People also sit down on the comforter naked.
Speaker 3: No, jen, no, no, what you do? This is not
Speaker 3: people live.
Speaker 1: And then maybe it's me because I'm not the cleanest.
Speaker 1: You do that she you pull you do when you
Speaker 1: make the bed is made and you just you pull
Speaker 1: it back.
Speaker 3: I'm telling you, I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: Everybody else just sits down. Everybody else robes.
Speaker 3: So if they need to sit naked, they should robes,
Speaker 3: and then if not, then it should happen on the sheet.
Speaker 3: This is gross.
Speaker 1: And here you know what you need to did you
Speaker 1: have you taught your guests how to be guests at
Speaker 1: your house?
Speaker 3: I just kind of assumed that there was a code
Speaker 3: of conduct that everyone understood. Oh yeah, yeah, okay, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna get something that I can wash regularly, and that's
Speaker 3: what's going to happen. But here's a PSA for everybody.
Speaker 3: I don't think that hotels will wash their their top
Speaker 3: comforter regularly, although there are a lot of hotels who
Speaker 3: are more doing like the duvet covers. Now, have you
Speaker 3: ever watched Hotel Impossible? Maybe it's a little bit more
Speaker 3: like your budget hotels. That's it's one of the reasons
Speaker 3: not to sit, especially at a hotel or an airbnb.
Speaker 3: They might be like me, thinking, you don't have to
Speaker 3: wash that top that top bedding, so I'm just accustomed
Speaker 3: to you just you pull it back, you use the sheets.
Speaker 3: The sheets have been washed.