Speaker 1: Episode four twenty nine, how Caitlyn paid off sixty two
Speaker 1: thousand dollars without increasing her income.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life. Here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my
Speaker 1: name is Jill, and today we are sharing Kate's story.
Speaker 1: She and her husband paid off sixty two thousand dollars
Speaker 1: of debt in ten months, which included student loans, a
Speaker 1: vehicle loan, a credit card debt. And she has some
Speaker 1: insight on how to use how they use their savings
Speaker 1: to help with their debt payoff, and a follow up
Speaker 1: story with an inheritance. So this episode is really going
Speaker 1: to look at how do we use money that we
Speaker 1: like lump sums or windfalls or savings, how do we
Speaker 1: decide whether we're going to use that to pay off debt?
Speaker 1: And we're hearing from somebody who did navigate those choices.
Speaker 3: Because it's a debt free summer. Babe.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm so sorry, hold on three two one debt
Speaker 1: free summer.
Speaker 3: Sorry, and all these stories and this one, as you
Speaker 3: already said, Jen, yes, we get to talk about some
Speaker 3: of these nuances to debt freedom, but also just hear
Speaker 3: some of the specifics because there still was a portion
Speaker 3: of their debt that they paid off not using some
Speaker 3: of these lump sums as well. So you can kind
Speaker 3: of find yourself anywhere within the mix. But once we
Speaker 3: hear from Kate and her story, that'll be our little
Speaker 3: conversation afterwards, So stay tuned after her explanation of how
Speaker 3: her and her husband became debt free.
Speaker 1: But first, this episode is brought to you by August. Again,
Speaker 1: it's late in the summer. That's not when we're in this.
Speaker 1: It's not even late in the summer. But I'm still tired.
Speaker 1: And if you have children, you probably feel the same way.
Speaker 1: Or if you have dogs, you probably feel the same way.
Speaker 1: Like their coats are so thick and they need to
Speaker 1: go outside like all the like every day.
Speaker 3: Right, I don't have a dog.
Speaker 1: I don't have children, but I'm trying to relate to
Speaker 1: people that might not have children. Jill, like you, but
Speaker 1: you don't have I don't have these dogs either, so
Speaker 1: you should be fine.
Speaker 3: Kate has a dog, yeah, and so that it's probably
Speaker 3: what made you think of this.
Speaker 1: Anyways, this episode is brought to you by August. It's
Speaker 1: back to school season. You are almost in the clear
Speaker 1: sending those kids back to school. But in addition to
Speaker 1: algebra and literature that your children would be learning, why
Speaker 1: don't you add something else on their plate? No, not sports,
Speaker 1: something additional teaching them about money, and a great way
Speaker 1: to start that is not going to feel overwhelming is
Speaker 1: teaching them how to spend money. And an important aspect
Speaker 1: of spending money is not spending every single penny. So
Speaker 1: opening up a high old savings account for your child
Speaker 1: at CIT, opening out like your name and putting money
Speaker 1: in there can help them start to witness what small
Speaker 1: amounts of interests can look like. With savings. It can
Speaker 1: help them have a place out of sight, out of
Speaker 1: mind to keep their money so they don't spend one
Speaker 1: hundred percent of it.
Speaker 4: Having a high.
Speaker 1: Old savings account for your kids is just a really
Speaker 1: good start for teaching them about saving and spending. So
Speaker 1: you can head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash
Speaker 1: CIT and I'm not one hundred percent on the age restrictions,
Speaker 1: but personally I would just open up one in my
Speaker 1: name and manage it for my child, So that's what
Speaker 1: I would do, But it's.
Speaker 3: Up to you.
Speaker 1: Frugal friends, Pat do com slash cit teach your kid
Speaker 1: about money and maybe odd.
Speaker 3: To be ever in your favor. I love my high
Speaker 3: old savings account. I think it's so great, such a
Speaker 3: great way to put money aside.
Speaker 1: Yes, So if you loved debt Free Summer, We've got
Speaker 1: so many for you. We've been playing them every Friday
Speaker 1: this past summer. All of them have a different uniqueness
Speaker 1: to them, so we want you to be able to
Speaker 1: see yourself in at least one of our debt free
Speaker 1: stories this summer. So we encourage you to listen to
Speaker 1: all of them, and we hope you find you we
Speaker 1: really connect to at least one. But Kate's in particular,
Speaker 1: her husband working full time in school, they've got their
Speaker 1: fur babies, and so they were just talking about paying
Speaker 1: off part of their debt with their savings part through
Speaker 1: hard work, and then also talking about paying off their
Speaker 1: mortgage with an inheritance. So navigating all these decisions on
Speaker 1: how do we use our money, how do we use
Speaker 1: our time wisely with earning more money to pay off debt,
Speaker 1: and navigating those questions is a major part of her story.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's get into it. And we're so excited to
Speaker 3: have a very special Frual Friends listener and guest and
Speaker 3: story coming from Kate. Kate.
Speaker 5: Welcome, Yes, welcome.
Speaker 6: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 4: So, Kate, tell us a little bit about you, your family,
Speaker 4: where you're located.
Speaker 5: Who are you?
Speaker 6: Okay, So my family is myself and my husband, Randy,
Speaker 6: and we've been married for five years. We live in Ontario, Canada,
Speaker 6: and you can't see it there, but there is snow.
Speaker 6: And we have two dogs and we live in kind
Speaker 6: of a mid size city located between two major cities
Speaker 6: between Ontario, between Ottawa and Toronto.
Speaker 5: Nice. And what are the dogs' names?
Speaker 6: The dogs names are Buddy and Pippin and Pippanus skulking
Speaker 6: in the hallway outside this room. So hopefully she's good.
Speaker 6: Oh that's awesome.
Speaker 4: So tell us a little bit about the debt. How
Speaker 4: much did you have?
Speaker 5: What was it?
Speaker 6: Okay, So we paid off sixty two thousand dollars in debt,
Speaker 6: forty two thousand of that with student loans. My husband
Speaker 6: is a PhD student and a full time working data scientist.
Speaker 6: So student loans from his undergraduate, masters and doctoral studies,
Speaker 6: as well as a thirteen thousand dollars vehicle loan on
Speaker 6: our jeep and a seven thousand dollars credit card debt
Speaker 6: for a total of sixty two thousand.
Speaker 5: Got it. So how long did that take you to
Speaker 5: pay off?
Speaker 6: We paid it off in ten months?
Speaker 3: Nice?
Speaker 4: And so did you use any lumpsum, savings or inheritance
Speaker 4: or sell anything to help you pay off that sixty
Speaker 4: two thousand?
Speaker 6: We did have savings that we used to pay towards it.
Speaker 6: We had about thirty thousand dollars in savings, so we
Speaker 6: had a thirty two thousand dollars remaining debt after that
Speaker 6: initial bulk payoff. And there is kind of a chapter
Speaker 6: two to our story that involves an inheritance that I
Speaker 6: can tell you about.
Speaker 5: After Oh okay, we like a part two.
Speaker 3: So can we talk about the catalyst point for you
Speaker 3: or the kind of aha moment pivot point when you realized, oh,
Speaker 3: this is the amount of debt that we have and.
Speaker 5: We're going to start paying it off starting now. What
Speaker 5: was that moment like for you?
Speaker 6: You know, it wasn't a specific like crisis or emergency
Speaker 6: or event that kickstarted it. It was actually another podcast
Speaker 6: that I listened to and talked about how the two
Speaker 6: hosts of that podcast had done the Dave Ramsey Plan
Speaker 6: and I had never heard of it, so I said, well,
Speaker 6: I kind of had just a nagging, ongoing ceiling of
Speaker 6: debt and financial disorganization. I said, well, if it worked
Speaker 6: for them, I guess I could google it. And that
Speaker 6: kind of got me into personal finance. I had no interest.
Speaker 6: I probably hadn't version to personal finance before getting into
Speaker 6: the personal finance podcast world and finding you guys.
Speaker 3: Oh nice, Can you shout out that podcast that you're referencing?
Speaker 6: Yeah, homemaker Chic, shout out to Shane.
Speaker 5: And homemaker sheek. Nice. Thanks for shouting that out.
Speaker 4: Okay, So did you get the feeling that you were
Speaker 4: that you were pursuing when you started on your debt payoff?
Speaker 4: Is what you feel now? What you thought that you
Speaker 4: would get when you started this journey.
Speaker 6: I don't think I had an idea of what it
Speaker 6: would feel like. Initially. I went in just completely with
Speaker 6: a lack of knowledge, and I just thought, well, maybe
Speaker 6: we live in a crazy stressful world. Everyone does. Maybe
Speaker 6: and not having debt in our life will alleviate some
Speaker 6: of the general stress, and it absolutely has it lived
Speaker 6: up to that expectation, and it's it's kind of given
Speaker 6: me a new hobby and a new thing to think about,
Speaker 6: which is it's interesting, and now I enjoy thinking about it,
Speaker 6: and instead of a point of stress, it's a point
Speaker 6: of almost gamification and interest and strategy, which I enjoy.
Speaker 3: That's awesome, really cool to hear the way that you
Speaker 3: pivoted and kind of had a mindset shift of the
Speaker 3: way that you're looking at this and approaching it.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Super empowering, definitely, and thank you for saying it's empowering.
Speaker 6: I agree that learning about this is empowering and finding
Speaker 6: the right vehicles for learning is great.
Speaker 4: Cool. Okay, so you have any other debt besides the
Speaker 4: debt you paid off?
Speaker 6: Well, when we finished paying off the total the sixty
Speaker 6: two thousand, we did have a remaining mortgage, and about
Speaker 6: two weeks after this is the chapter two. About two
Speaker 6: weeks after we finished paying off our debt, my grandmother
Speaker 6: passed away and I learned that we would inherit some
Speaker 6: money as a result, and we use that money to
Speaker 6: finish paying off our mortgage. So now we're completely debt free.
Speaker 3: Wow, I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother. It
Speaker 3: sounds like you were able to honor her by using
Speaker 3: some of that money to experience more freedom.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Which was that mortgage that you paid off?
Speaker 6: It was about one hundred and sixty five thousand dollars
Speaker 6: Canadian Okay.
Speaker 4: Do you think you would have made the decision to
Speaker 4: use that inheritance to pay off your mortgage if you
Speaker 4: hadn't gone through this original debt free journey?
Speaker 6: No, I don't think so. I think I would have
Speaker 6: taken probably whatever my parents' advice would have been about
Speaker 6: what to do with the money, or parked it in
Speaker 6: a high yield savings account and done. I don't think
Speaker 6: I would have done anything destructive with it, but I
Speaker 6: don't think I would have done anything as meaningful with
Speaker 6: it either.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Definitely seeing a bigger benefit and paying off your mortgage
Speaker 3: than just keeping it savings.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Now that your debt free, how does it feel? Yeah?
Speaker 4: One hundred percent debt free, just performer debt one hundred
Speaker 4: percent that free, mostly surreal.
Speaker 6: We've only had one first of the month where the
Speaker 6: mortgage payment didn't leave our account, and it was it
Speaker 6: was nice, but I think with a few more of
Speaker 6: them will really feel the impact of that money that
Speaker 6: would be going out is now going into our our
Speaker 6: retirement savings account, which is very exciting.
Speaker 5: So can we talk about income?
Speaker 3: What was the total household income when you started paying
Speaker 3: off your debt.
Speaker 5: Versus when you finished? What did that look like?
Speaker 6: Okay, this, I did the exchange trade on So it's
Speaker 6: one hundred and forty four thousand Canadian dollars between two
Speaker 6: income earners. My husband's a data scientist and I am
Speaker 6: a registered nurse, and that works out two one hundred
Speaker 6: and seven thousand US dollars at the current time of
Speaker 6: exchange in late November twenty twenty two.
Speaker 4: Wow. Okay, you did math.
Speaker 5: Thank you? I did Yeah, impressive paper.
Speaker 3: Okay, So now that you've got all debt out of
Speaker 3: the way, including.
Speaker 5: Your mortgage, this is so amazing to hear. What is
Speaker 5: your next financial goal? Where you go from here?
Speaker 6: And our next financial goal is really building towards retirement.
Speaker 6: We're hoping to retire earlier than average, but not like
Speaker 6: a not a scorched earth fire, retire at age thirty
Speaker 6: seven in all Tuesday's style and enjoying some home improvements.
Speaker 6: And eventually enjoying some travel. I'm not I'm not a traveler.
Speaker 6: My husband's travel much more extensively, so he's hoping to
Speaker 6: show me some of the.
Speaker 5: World scorged earth.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yay, I'm so excited for you. All right. So
Speaker 4: somebody wants to be where you are right now. They
Speaker 4: want to have these dreams of traveling and just living
Speaker 4: with peace. What would you say to somebody who wants this,
Speaker 4: who's where you were a year ago before you started
Speaker 4: this debt payoff journey.
Speaker 6: I would say to them, it is okay not to
Speaker 6: be knowledgeable. It is okay not to feel like I
Speaker 6: don't know anything about personal finance. It scares me, it
Speaker 6: makes me feel vaguely nauseated. It's okay to feel that way,
Speaker 6: because there are a lot of ways to learn about
Speaker 6: personal finance. And it's not all it's not all textbooks.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of really you know, dynamic people on
Speaker 6: the Internet and in the world, like you and Jill
Speaker 6: and Save Ramsey, who you can learn from. And you
Speaker 6: can find someone who will resonate with you personally and
Speaker 6: who will give you a teaching style that doesn't doesn't
Speaker 6: make you feel more stressed it'll that will be empowering.
Speaker 6: Can I can I read my list?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 6: Absolutely, Yes, excellent, I think if you are married. For us,
Speaker 6: doing complete completely joint banking was extremely helpful. We made
Speaker 6: that change right at the beginning of our debt payoff experience,
Speaker 6: and for me, I felt like having more extrinsic accountability
Speaker 6: to my spouse in terms of our money would be
Speaker 6: a lot easier, And in terms of logistics and organization
Speaker 6: and budgeting and transactions, it is so much simpler. If
Speaker 6: you're running a household together, to run a bank account
Speaker 6: together is so much easier. And what else, small amounts
Speaker 6: of fun money budgets are great, especially if you're a spender.
Speaker 6: Even having like one hundred dollars a month just to
Speaker 6: spend the way you want to spend it without guilt
Speaker 6: was really important for me, even during debt payoff. By
Speaker 6: modest house, it's okay not to have a twenty four
Speaker 6: hundred square foot four bedroom, beige painted McMansion. It's okay
Speaker 6: to live in a little house.
Speaker 3: Yes, I couldn't agree more tiny house living or enjoyment.
Speaker 4: Of life average moderate like not like mcmahonsoney lifestyle.
Speaker 5: Yes, just the permission that you're giving. Totally agree.
Speaker 4: Yes, may I.
Speaker 6: Add the last one from my husband?
Speaker 4: Like, yes, absolutely?
Speaker 6: I asked him, I said, Randy, I'm doing this podcast interview.
Speaker 6: What can I say? And he said, if you like
Speaker 6: to drink craft beer, drink your beer at home.
Speaker 3: Yes, Randy, and thanks for sharing your tip, Kate from
Speaker 3: your husband. That's a great tip. You don't have to
Speaker 3: be out to enjoy beer. You can enjoy beer at
Speaker 3: home and still drink it. Like, yeah, still have that
Speaker 3: play money, still do the things that you enjoy, do
Speaker 3: it in a more frugal way.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you don't have to give up the good stuff.
Speaker 4: You just get creative and how you get it, how
Speaker 4: you can see it. I love that.
Speaker 6: Definitely because it's it is expensive. It is expensive to
Speaker 6: drink beer in this country.
Speaker 3: Enjoy your craft beer at home. It's expensive here too,
Speaker 3: so expensive.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's like eight or nine dollars a pint at
Speaker 6: a restaurant to go out for a beer in Canada.
Speaker 3: Pizza, wings, beer, it's all become I no luxury item.
Speaker 4: You can't have the beer without the pizza and the wings.
Speaker 4: You can't. You literally are not allowed to.
Speaker 5: Order it, but you should do it at home. With friends. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's us, all right.
Speaker 4: So we have come to the point in the episode
Speaker 4: where we want to invite you, Kate, to celebrate this
Speaker 4: huge accomplish, the mint that you have made paying off
Speaker 4: sixty two thousand dollars of debt, we've got student loan,
Speaker 4: car loan credit card in nine months, and then being
Speaker 4: able to use the inheritance that your grandmother gifted you
Speaker 4: for something really wise and something that would take a
Speaker 4: mental energy burden off of you and really stewart it well.
Speaker 4: So we want you to celebrate that huge accomplishment in
Speaker 4: whatever way you want. So it is your time. How
Speaker 4: would you like to celebrate with us today?
Speaker 6: I think I just want to celebrate by like passing
Speaker 6: on the good word that anyone else can do this,
Speaker 6: and you don't have to be a dual income full
Speaker 6: time both working full time family, and just it's okay
Speaker 6: to be a pet owner, and it's okay to have hobbies,
Speaker 6: and it's okay not to know a ton. I just
Speaker 6: want to be encouraging and to pass along the encouragement
Speaker 6: that I don't think I had from peers. And it's
Speaker 6: okay to talk about your money with your friends too.
Speaker 6: You can make friends who are interested in money. It's
Speaker 6: all right, it doesn't need to be pushed under the rug.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, I love that your celebration is to encourage
Speaker 3: others and pass it forward and say the things to
Speaker 3: others that you didn't hear yourself, and such permission giving
Speaker 3: and freedom giving.
Speaker 4: What a beautiful way to sell. Yes, thank you so
Speaker 4: much for that. Thank you for sharing your story. Your
Speaker 4: words of wisdom I know will be inspiring to people.
Speaker 4: Uh and yeah, whether you know they're in school, or
Speaker 4: you're a nurse or whatever, you have dogs.
Speaker 5: You live in Canada or beer super expensed.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know that people will find your story inspiring,
Speaker 4: and so I'm just so glad we were able to
Speaker 4: share it and celebrate you.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much.
Speaker 6: I mostly impressed that this interview was all debt free
Speaker 6: and totally pet free as well, because I thought the
Speaker 6: dogs would.
Speaker 3: Have made.
Speaker 4: Becoming pet free during an interview is maybe just as
Speaker 4: hard as becoming debt free.
Speaker 5: I don't think that Kate became pet free during the interview.
Speaker 4: I already did.
Speaker 3: She didn't become pet free, just cutting the intergrate dogs
Speaker 3: that she loved, and they are.
Speaker 5: Still here and worth it. She's debt free, not bad free.
Speaker 6: And you don't have free to be debt free, you
Speaker 6: can you can still have a dog.
Speaker 5: Oh, Kate, that was so great.
Speaker 3: I'm so glad to have talked with you and and.
Speaker 5: Share this story. Just the way that she encouraged. She
Speaker 5: was so beautiful.
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed talking to Kate, and I like that.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we feel like people who have used like lump
Speaker 1: sums to pay off debt they kind of get a
Speaker 1: bad rap because they're like, you're not fixing any of
Speaker 1: the habits that created it. But they used habits obviously
Speaker 1: to save that thirty thousand first, right, So it wasn't
Speaker 1: a habit problem. It was more of a question how
Speaker 1: do we navigate how much of our savings to use,
Speaker 1: and then how do we navigate the debt pay from there?
Speaker 3: That was such a tricky thing to figure out when
Speaker 3: I remember, even for my own personal debt payoff journey,
Speaker 3: was what money should I still be keeping in the
Speaker 3: bank and what amount is okay to be throwing at this?
Speaker 3: And then anytime, you know, we would come across a
Speaker 3: little bit of a chunk of change, what do we
Speaker 3: do with that? And I don't know that people talk
Speaker 3: about this a ton. We did do that windfall episode,
Speaker 3: but that was what five years plus in like, we
Speaker 3: hadn't ever talked about that before.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah uh.
Speaker 3: And and this isn't even necessarily a windfall, but specifically
Speaker 3: that that savings piece of well, we had already worked
Speaker 3: to stash this amount of money away and then they
Speaker 3: chose to throw that towards debt debt payoff. Personally, where
Speaker 3: I have come to with this is still making sure
Speaker 3: that I'm maintaining an emergency fund and then an anything
Speaker 3: above and beyond that can get thrown towards different things.
Speaker 3: So of course I did not have the emergency fund
Speaker 3: during my debt payoff that I currently do now, but
Speaker 3: it was important to me that I had my medical
Speaker 3: deductible and my at least one month of expenses set aside.
Speaker 3: And then I felt like anything kind of above and
Speaker 3: beyond that could be thrown to debt payoff. It felt
Speaker 3: a little silly, and I do feel or it felt uncomfortable,
Speaker 3: I should say it that way, and I think that
Speaker 3: there are some voices out there who are like, no,
Speaker 3: your money is not your money if you have debt,
Speaker 3: and so you shouldn't be going on vacations, and you
Speaker 3: shouldn't be having stacks of money that money belongs to
Speaker 3: like whoever. You're in debt too, and that's where it
Speaker 3: should be going. And I would take a much more
Speaker 3: radical middle approach on that of still do some vacations,
Speaker 3: maybe not luxurious ones, but still take breaks along the way,
Speaker 3: and still keep some money in savings and put And
Speaker 3: I don't think we asked her that specifically, like did
Speaker 3: they still have anything set aside? Obviously they did what
Speaker 3: felt comfortable for them and they became debt free in
Speaker 3: the process. But I would still advise that, yeah, you
Speaker 3: can use your savings for this, but make sure that
Speaker 3: you're considering all the risks with that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so, it's a matter of your comfort level.
Speaker 1: I would definitely say do not do less than one
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, like that's kind of bare minimum, keeping that
Speaker 1: buffer there. Uh, but I think two thousand dollars is
Speaker 1: even better. And if you do, if you wanted to
Speaker 1: go up to your healthcare, you know your deductible that is,
Speaker 1: you know, that's also reasonable. So those are kind of
Speaker 1: the numbers. It also depends on the interest rate of
Speaker 1: your debt, Like if the debt you're trying to pay off.
Speaker 1: If that interest rate is really low, then you can
Speaker 1: afford to have more in savings, more cushion in savings.
Speaker 1: If you're trying to pay off debt that is really high,
Speaker 1: like credit card, personal loan, that stuff, then it behooves
Speaker 1: you to have a little less than maybe you're comfortable
Speaker 1: with staying closer to that, you know, fifteen hundred, two thousand,
Speaker 1: you know, mark or even just even the thousand.
Speaker 3: Do you remember what your threshold was during debt payoff,
Speaker 3: like what you wanted to keep in the bank and
Speaker 3: then what you were comfortable then throwing towards debt.
Speaker 1: We always, I think it was about maybe two thousand
Speaker 1: is where we sat. We were always more than a thousand.
Speaker 1: But we were also always using a credit card as
Speaker 1: well to get points, so we kept we just kept
Speaker 1: track of it, and we always made sure we had
Speaker 1: like a good buffer, and then the credit card payment
Speaker 1: would come out and we'd kind of go back down
Speaker 1: to maybe one or two thousand, but we'd quickly go up,
Speaker 1: so that was kind of like our safety net. We've
Speaker 1: always been responsible with credit cards, so that's why we've
Speaker 1: used them. Not everybody can do that, but that's what
Speaker 1: felt safe for us. It's because we were paying We
Speaker 1: were putting so much towards debt every month that that
Speaker 1: like if something really really bad had happened, like we
Speaker 1: were about to get we were going to get kicked
Speaker 1: out of our apartment, So not because we did anything,
Speaker 1: but because the landlord wanted to turn it into an airbnb,
Speaker 1: and so we had only a couple of weeks to
Speaker 1: find someplace else to live, and we ended up choosing
Speaker 1: to buy. So we needed a down payment really quick.
Speaker 1: So then we were able to just do a minimum
Speaker 1: payment on that credit card for one month and then
Speaker 1: have that money in the bank for a down payment.
Speaker 1: So unique situations like that, we don't plan for them,
Speaker 1: but that's what made us feel safe, and while we
Speaker 1: were paying off debt, and that is definitely not the
Speaker 1: case now we have a very good sized emergency fund.
Speaker 3: Yeah, which I do think ties into a bit of
Speaker 3: what Kate was talking about here in not getting any
Speaker 3: additional side hustles, not increasing income, paying off debt, but
Speaker 3: kind of mostly just making different spending decisions, which is
Speaker 3: a lot of what we're talking about just in the
Speaker 3: podcast in general, that you don't necessarily have to earn
Speaker 3: more if you don't want to, or you don't have
Speaker 3: to take a pay decrease if you don't want to.
Speaker 3: But there can be flexibility and just the decisions we
Speaker 3: make how we spend that can afford us some of
Speaker 3: these other pieces. So her describing a little bit more
Speaker 3: modest of a lifestyle, at least through the debt payoff journey,
Speaker 3: utilizing some of what they already had, adjusting spending habits,
Speaker 3: but really not adjusting many other big things in their
Speaker 3: life in order to pay down all of that debt
Speaker 3: in a matter of ten months, which I think is
Speaker 3: also really amazing. I mean, that's why we love all
Speaker 3: the stories, right, like we've had in our debt free summer,
Speaker 3: people talking about all the crazy side hustles they're doing,
Speaker 3: or you know, how they leveraged resources and that kind
Speaker 3: of a thing. But there's also a journey where you
Speaker 3: just make some different spending decisions and that doesn't mean
Speaker 3: that maybe it might take a little bit longer as
Speaker 3: a result, but it is still possible. So I also
Speaker 3: love that part of their story.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really like having the decision to navigate how
Speaker 1: much of our savings do we use because this is
Speaker 1: actually a question that comes up a lot, like I
Speaker 1: have the money to pay off my debt, should I
Speaker 1: just pay it all off? Or should I keep saving?
Speaker 1: And so that's really that's going to be a unique
Speaker 1: answer for you. And I also liked talking about her
Speaker 1: the windfall, the inheritance she received, and then you navigate
Speaker 1: how am I going to use this to benefit me
Speaker 1: most financially because an inheritance is a little different from
Speaker 1: savings because you also want to use some of that
Speaker 1: inheritance just to do good, like to do to bring
Speaker 1: yourself joy. And I think in Kate's experience specifically, like
Speaker 1: she the person who left that to her wanted her
Speaker 1: to use that not just to benefit her financially, but
Speaker 1: also like to benefit the life right now, you know,
Speaker 1: to So how do we save and spend wisely money
Speaker 1: that we receive, either as inheritance, insurance, payout, tax refund
Speaker 1: navigating how to do that? And some people will say,
Speaker 1: like use ten percent of it for fun and then
Speaker 1: to kind of like decide the rest whether you'll pay
Speaker 1: off debt or save it or invest it. I think
Speaker 1: using your income to invest if you have like the
Speaker 1: putting some into an Ira Cait lives in Canada, so
Speaker 1: a little different. But and then freeing up enough of
Speaker 1: your like using that as spending money so you can
Speaker 1: put more of your income towards your four one K
Speaker 1: or your four or three B or whatever at least
Speaker 1: for one year is a really great idea, and we
Speaker 1: talk all about this in the windfall episode. I'll have
Speaker 1: to look up when we publish that. But and then
Speaker 1: also thinking about sinking funds, thinking about future savings, which
Speaker 1: can also be fun stuff, So like, what do we
Speaker 1: want to take a family vacation, a dream family vacation.
Speaker 1: Maybe we're not using all of this money to get there,
Speaker 1: but maybe we are using it for half so that
Speaker 1: we can double what we are originally going to spend
Speaker 1: on a family vacation and take an even better one.
Speaker 1: So things like that, and then also saving four repairs
Speaker 1: like to car and how so thinking about all of that.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of decisions that come in with a
Speaker 1: inheritance or windfall, and it dwindles it down so quickly.
Speaker 1: It's kind of depressing, but they're important decisions to make,
Speaker 1: and you also have to include some fun in there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So that was episode three point thirty one, what
Speaker 3: to do with a windfall or unexpected money. And I
Speaker 3: think this all also ties into everything we've been talking
Speaker 3: about on this podcast for six plus years, is really
Speaker 3: having a good grasp of what do we value, what
Speaker 3: are our goals, where are we heading, what makes sense
Speaker 3: for us, so that when something like this happens, we
Speaker 3: kind of have an idea. It's okay if you don't
Speaker 3: know that right now, but it would be good to
Speaker 3: know that even if you're not expecting any sort of
Speaker 3: windfall or you're expecting a large sum of money, it's
Speaker 3: still good to know where you're heading so that when
Speaker 3: so that you can just be heading there with the
Speaker 3: resources you already have. But if or when these things happen,
Speaker 3: you then immediately know what to do with them, and
Speaker 3: you're not scrambling or maybe just frivolously or mindlessly spending
Speaker 3: that money in a way that doesn't actually benefit you
Speaker 3: long term, but it is helpful. I think in that
Speaker 3: windfall episode, like you said, we talked about some of
Speaker 3: these parameters that are good of here's some percentages you
Speaker 3: can consider, but there's still a whole lot of decisions
Speaker 3: you have to make that are very individualized. To you.
Speaker 3: For Kate, it made sense for her to pay off
Speaker 3: their mortgage. That's what felt good to her. Other people
Speaker 3: might choose that maybe they'll throw a chunk of money
Speaker 3: towards the mortgage, but otherwise they'd rather invest it for retirement,
Speaker 3: or they'd rather maybe it's it's also going to depend
Speaker 3: on how much it is right like it might if
Speaker 3: it's a tax refund, that's maybe enough for a sinking fund,
Speaker 3: or to throw a chunk of it towards a debt
Speaker 3: payoff and make a dent in it. But you're really
Speaker 3: going to have to take a lot of factors into consideration.
Speaker 3: But I think doing the work now and continuing of
Speaker 3: self reflection, identifying what matters to you, your values, already
Speaker 3: working towards some of these goals is ultimately what's going
Speaker 3: to be most helpful and knowing what's going to be
Speaker 3: the best, most wise decision for you.
Speaker 1: If this does happen, yeah, something else that will be
Speaker 1: helpful long term and always comes as a gift, and
Speaker 1: I truly believe the givers want us to use it enjoyably.
Speaker 7: The bill of the week, that's right, it's time for
Speaker 7: the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 2: Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams.
Speaker 7: Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died,
Speaker 7: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 7: Dust bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the.
Speaker 3: Bill of the week.
Speaker 8: Hi, frugal friends, This is Cindy, and I wanted to
Speaker 8: share my bill of the week, which is my student
Speaker 8: loan payment that I make every month and it has
Speaker 8: a low, low interest rate of two percent. And I
Speaker 8: wanted to share because when I was figuring out how
Speaker 8: to finance a master's program at a private university two
Speaker 8: and a half years ago, I wanted to be resourceful,
Speaker 8: and someone referred me to a nonprofit organization called Peo
Speaker 8: International that grants based on academic achievement and financial need,
Speaker 8: as well as extracurricular leadership loans specifically for girls who
Speaker 8: are interested in pursuing a college degree or a graduate degree.
Speaker 8: And I was able to secure one two and a
Speaker 8: half years ago, and now that I've graduated, that has
Speaker 8: really made a difference in how I pay off my education.
Speaker 8: So I'm always very happy to pay that bill, and
Speaker 8: I wanted to share.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that is amazing and seriously there is
Speaker 1: always a way to pursue grants and scholarships and.
Speaker 4: Help with education.
Speaker 1: I just hope that more and more people feel empowered
Speaker 1: to do that. It felt really helpless when I was,
Speaker 1: like back in the day before college got so expensive. Man,
Speaker 1: But there is hope.
Speaker 3: There is hope. I wish that I would have known
Speaker 3: more about these types of programs when I was going.
Speaker 3: And I hope that information is becoming more more accessible
Speaker 3: to young people or even people considering, you know, pursuing
Speaker 3: master's education or beyond that there is opportunity beforehand we
Speaker 3: can be proactive rather than just reactive with how much
Speaker 3: we are spending on our higher education. And I'm so
Speaker 3: glad that you did that, Cindy, and that this is
Speaker 3: a bill that you don't mind paying, because it's really
Speaker 3: shifting the trajectory, as you're saying, of what life looks like,
Speaker 3: how debt payoff looks for you. And well done, and congratulations.
Speaker 3: It sounds like a great program and the fact that
Speaker 3: you are eligible for it speaks a lot to who
Speaker 3: you are as a person. So celebrating with you. If
Speaker 3: you all listening have a bill that you want to submit,
Speaker 3: if it is about the way that you are going
Speaker 3: about debt, payoff scholarships you received, tips and tricks you have,
Speaker 3: or just something super silatious related to bills fruofrindspodcast dot com,
Speaker 3: slash bill, leave one for us, and now it's time
Speaker 3: for bad.
Speaker 1: Around all right. So for this lightning round, how did
Speaker 1: you handle the temptation to spend money on non essentials
Speaker 1: while paying off debt?
Speaker 3: Ah? Not well?
Speaker 1: So that was how I found no spend challenges. That
Speaker 1: is how I used the temptation, and I think when
Speaker 1: I was paying off debt, I used the spending on
Speaker 1: non essentials is bad, hard stop, you know, like that
Speaker 1: was my mindset. And so when I did end up
Speaker 1: spending on things that mattered to me that didn't make
Speaker 1: me feel good like it like it should, it made
Speaker 1: me feel bad. It made me feel guilty, and so
Speaker 1: I was at odds with myself, which is why we've
Speaker 1: written an entire book on how to feel good about
Speaker 1: spending on things you value and how to say no
Speaker 1: to the things that you don't which is available for
Speaker 1: pre orders, Which is available for pre order and more
Speaker 1: announcements of a pre order party coming soon. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's why we wrote a whole book on it
Speaker 1: is because of my negative experience doing that, and so
Speaker 1: I came up with the No Spend Challenge as a
Speaker 1: way to challenge myself to be better at not spending.
Speaker 1: And what it did for me was it really taught
Speaker 1: me about the things that I valued and taught me
Speaker 1: that I don't value everything equally. There are some things
Speaker 1: that I value more than others, and even within those categories,
Speaker 1: the root reason of why I buy them is different
Speaker 1: from day today, or time of day to time of day.
Speaker 1: So and I full still fully love no spend challenges.
Speaker 1: They are in our book. You know, it's not the
Speaker 1: whole it's not the No Spend Challenge Guide that I
Speaker 1: wrote in twenty seventeen, that's the full book, but there
Speaker 1: is a chapter diving into them and how to use
Speaker 1: them to figure out what you value spending on. And
Speaker 1: I still love them.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, Essentially, this question does lead us to where
Speaker 3: we've come to with values based spending. That yes, there
Speaker 3: was a time when I felt bad and guilty about
Speaker 3: whatever was deemed non essential, which can absolutely butt into
Speaker 3: impulse spending. But I do think through the podcast, through
Speaker 3: these conversations and research that we've done over the years
Speaker 3: and now this book that we've written, I view it differently.
Speaker 3: That's it is, okay, It's not totally a matter of
Speaker 3: how do I just deprive myself and keep myself from
Speaker 3: doing certain things with my money? More so, how do
Speaker 3: I make space for the things that really matter to me?
Speaker 3: Where can I give myself permission to spend and where
Speaker 3: can I get what I need without spending that money.
Speaker 3: But all that said, if I were to put myself,
Speaker 3: you know, back into the place of I was in
Speaker 3: my debt payoff and still learning some of these things,
Speaker 3: I did, though, even then give myself permission to spend
Speaker 3: on certain things. And that's where like a spending plan
Speaker 3: comes into play. Because not all of our money can
Speaker 3: go towards step payoff. It asked to go toward bills
Speaker 3: and a roof over her head and food. So we
Speaker 3: are still spending money. It's just figuring out exactly how
Speaker 3: to allocate that. For me, there was always room in
Speaker 3: the budget for gum. That's not a high expense item,
Speaker 3: but it is non essential. It is high value item
Speaker 3: for to have gum. But it was one of those
Speaker 3: things where I'm like, this is not something I'm going
Speaker 3: to choose to cut out for the sake of putting
Speaker 3: a few more dollars towards debt. So I think certain
Speaker 3: makeup items, gum an occasional trip, and I've talked about
Speaker 3: how Eric and I set aside money for trips on
Speaker 3: other debt Free Summer episodes, So go back, and if
Speaker 3: you want more on that, I'm not going to say
Speaker 3: it again, But there were certain things that just still
Speaker 3: were allowed. Knowing that, okay, this might mean that fifty
Speaker 3: dollars can't get that could have gone towards debt is
Speaker 3: not going to go towards debt. It's going to go
Speaker 3: towards living. And that's just how it went. And then
Speaker 3: otherwise just not going to certain places that I knew
Speaker 3: might cause me to spend more money like I do
Speaker 3: like going to the store. I like browsing. I like
Speaker 3: allowing my whims to decide what's gonna happen with my
Speaker 3: with my money from the browsers. Sometimes I'm safari, I'm
Speaker 3: just down here looking.
Speaker 1: I'm what I am.
Speaker 3: But sometimes if I didn't actually need something, it's all right,
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna go to the store because I know
Speaker 3: I'm a I'm a browser I'm gonna mind.
Speaker 1: What is happening.
Speaker 3: It's done, Okay, Thanks everyone for listening, thanks for being here,
Speaker 3: thanks for leaving us. Reviews like this one from Kai
Speaker 3: Browse says not just about frugality five stars. I love podcasts, minimalism,
Speaker 3: the Journey to being completely debt free, and a good
Speaker 3: sense of humor. These two are rocking my favorite things. Yes, podcasts, minimalism,
Speaker 3: Journey to being dead free.
Speaker 5: All three of them.
Speaker 3: Humor check check check, and humor at four yeah, quadruple threat.
Speaker 1: I'll I only have three of them, so I'll let
Speaker 1: you pick which three.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for I You know, I love
Speaker 3: a lengthy review that's super specific, and I also love
Speaker 3: a short review like this one that is also still
Speaker 3: specific but succinct to the point. So kind minimalism.
Speaker 1: This is a minimalist review, yep, and I'm here for it.
Speaker 3: And what you also did in this review is you
Speaker 3: let other people know what they can expect out of
Speaker 3: our podcast, which does help people find us, which does
Speaker 3: help our podcast, which will help us sell books, which
Speaker 3: we are trying to do.
Speaker 1: You will literally in the next episode you will be
Speaker 1: hearing more about the pre sale of our books and
Speaker 1: then you will get so tired of hearing about it.
Speaker 3: Oh stick around, yes, please stick around. Please do leave
Speaker 3: us a rating and review it helps us.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, and we will see you next time, see ya.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 3: Okay, Jill, I do have a bone to pick with you, oh.
Speaker 1: With me in particular, specifically.
Speaker 3: Yeap, all right. Every time we go to have a
Speaker 3: special treat a little bethy, you don't cheers me. You
Speaker 3: immediately grab that drink and start solar bin. And I'm
Speaker 3: over here just looking at you the little puppy dog eyes,
Speaker 3: with my drink in hand, waiting to commemorate the moment,
Speaker 3: to have a ritual, to connect, to experience connection, and
Speaker 3: you're you're here for the drink.
Speaker 1: I'm thirsty.
Speaker 3: Your value is the drink, the special tree, special tree,
Speaker 3: And it doesn't matter whether or not I also have
Speaker 3: the special tree in my hand, like consistently.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, I didn't know this was a thing. Well,
Speaker 1: you've never brought it up to me.
Speaker 3: I brought it up when we were in Cancun. I
Speaker 3: was like, okay, cheers cheers me, cheers me. You never
Speaker 3: cheers me, And then the message never said you'd be like,
Speaker 3: oh oh, you'd like almost spit spit it back into
Speaker 3: the drink. So like, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: What is that? I think that says something about me
Speaker 1: as a person, and hopefully not that I'm an alcoholic.
Speaker 1: But I don't know.
Speaker 3: I uh, I think you're an only child.
Speaker 1: Yeah I.
Speaker 4: Am.
Speaker 3: I think food got put in front of you and
Speaker 3: it never meant that anything else needed to happen other
Speaker 3: than like you engaging with it, and that makes sense.
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna try and train you to treat me differently.
Speaker 1: I now that I know how important the cheers is
Speaker 1: to you, I will do better. I will do and
Speaker 1: I just didn't know the impact that it had. You
Speaker 1: know what, I'm so used to drinking alone.
Speaker 3: Now that's gonna raise around back.
Speaker 1: There's just nobody to cheers. And when I say alone,
Speaker 1: I mean Travis doesn't drink.
Speaker 3: So so he's there. You're not by yourself.
Speaker 1: I'm not by myself. My children aren't gonna cheers me.
Speaker 1: Uh so what am I?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 1: What am I doing?
Speaker 3: I'm I'm just I gave I cheers with coffee. I cheer.
Speaker 3: I'm that's a little fun. I cheer your children because
Speaker 3: it's so fun. It's such a to me, that's a
Speaker 3: simple luxury.
Speaker 1: Okay, in the day, here's the thing. When this comes out,
Speaker 1: this will have already happened. But when we have the
Speaker 1: opening ceremonies party for the Olympics, Okay, it's not a
Speaker 1: drinking game, it's a cheers in game, and it would
Speaker 1: literally I don't care if you drink or what you're drinking,
Speaker 1: but when the thing comes on on the list, then you.
Speaker 3: Cheer and there's you whether or not you take a drink, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's up to you.
Speaker 1: But the I just thought it was it would make
Speaker 1: the party last longer if we do the cheers game
Speaker 1: to learn from your mistakes. So they're like when the US.
Speaker 3: You'll be like making up for all, like all the
Speaker 3: previous years by doing cheers multiple times in a night.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's what I'm saying. And then there we have
Speaker 1: specific cheers like when USA like team floats down the Seine.
Speaker 1: Then we're chanting you as a US A.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 1: And I have some other ones written.
Speaker 3: There's other ideas, but I can't think of them.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about having one when Kelly Clarkson says
Speaker 1: or does something awkward, but that might happen too free much,
Speaker 1: so I'm thinking about taking that one out.
Speaker 3: You've got a lot of builds up to this party.
Speaker 3: I'm very excited for it.
Speaker 1: I know, I hope more than four people come.
Speaker 3: So that's how I can't guarantee that. I can only
Speaker 3: guarantee too. Eric and I will be there.
Speaker 1: And you know what, then you'll get all my cheers.
Speaker 1: You'll get one hundred percent of them. Yay if it's
Speaker 1: just you guys.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Yeah wow, thanks for taking this constructive feedback.
Speaker 3: I'll do better. Thank you.