Speaker 1: Episode two ninety seven is episode one five, Tips for
Speaker 1: Living on an Extremely Tight Budget. Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rice,
Speaker 1: and liver rich your life. Here are your host Jen
Speaker 1: and Jill MM. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My
Speaker 1: name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we
Speaker 1: are bringing you a rerun from one of our most
Speaker 1: popular episodes, Tips for Living on an Extremely Tight Budget,
Speaker 1: which I would say would be on an extremely tight income,
Speaker 1: but those things are sometimes interchangeable in colloquial conversation. It's
Speaker 1: amazing how many people really wanted an episode like this,
Speaker 1: and truly it was something that I would have wanted
Speaker 1: too when I was experiencing feeling really really pinched financially.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad that it's been well listened to, well loved.
Speaker 1: Happy to bring it back out of the archives again
Speaker 1: for you all, and I hope it's helpful. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: and definitely we don't advocate if you are able to
Speaker 1: spend money. We don't advocate for extreme deprivation and race
Speaker 1: to the bottom spending. This is really an episode for
Speaker 1: living on if you have to spend time living on
Speaker 1: one income or you're trying to pay off debt and
Speaker 1: you don't have a really large income, and that's that
Speaker 1: is debatable to like what is large, what is low?
Speaker 1: It can be different for everyone depending on where you live,
Speaker 1: how many people are in your family, YadA YadA, so
Speaker 1: or even like how big your expenses are if you're
Speaker 1: living with a chronic illness. There are so many factors.
Speaker 1: But if you interpret what your income is to be
Speaker 1: quote unquote tight or low, then I think you'll find
Speaker 1: some good principles in this episode. It may not be
Speaker 1: exactly what you're looking for, you know, like eating rice
Speaker 1: and beans and stuff, but we think it's very helpful
Speaker 1: and you'll hear us talk throughout. But one of the
Speaker 1: main things we also want to highlight is that this
Speaker 1: is not a place to hopefully set up camp. If
Speaker 1: you continue listening to the Frugal Friends podcast, we're going
Speaker 1: to be your cheerleaders to find ways of increasing earning potential.
Speaker 1: Of course, ways of cutting bills, but sometimes we can
Speaker 1: get to a point where there just is not enough
Speaker 1: money to pay for the things that just we need
Speaker 1: the necessities, and when that's happening, that's not a place
Speaker 1: we want to live long term and we want to
Speaker 1: be helpful in identifying some alternatives that doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be a long term lifestyle. But first, this episode is
Speaker 1: brought to you by emergencies. They happen several times a year,
Speaker 1: yet we are still shocked and bummed every time they happened. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: most emergencies are minor, but some are big, and thankfully
Speaker 1: you don't have to be shocked and bummed by those
Speaker 1: big emergencies if you have the right insurances. So don't
Speaker 1: worry if you're missing them. They're so important that states
Speaker 1: often require them. But you do have options when ensuring
Speaker 1: yourself against emergencies, and you should be comparing those options
Speaker 1: about once a year. So we like policy Genius for that.
Speaker 1: It's an insurance marketplace, not an insurance company. So if
Speaker 1: it's time for you to compare rates on home or
Speaker 1: auto insurance, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash PG
Speaker 1: to compare rates in the insurance marketplace. Over in policy
Speaker 1: Genie is to see if you're getting the best rate,
Speaker 1: and you will support the show at no extra cost
Speaker 1: to you. Love it. I just I am doing that.
Speaker 1: I've started the process with policy genius this week because
Speaker 1: my car insurance is through the roof and I'm not
Speaker 1: having it once a year. It's always going once a
Speaker 1: year to check your important often required insurances to see
Speaker 1: if you're getting the best right. So all right, if
Speaker 1: you are feeling stressed about your income, your budget and
Speaker 1: you want more encouragement, inspiration, practical tips. We have almost
Speaker 1: three hundred episodes at this point, but some of the
Speaker 1: ones that are going to be most beneficial for you.
Speaker 1: A few of the interviews we think that will be
Speaker 1: most inspiring and helpful to you. Our episode one seventy
Speaker 1: nine paying off thirty three thousand dollars of debt by
Speaker 1: living on half of your income with El Martinez, and
Speaker 1: then episode one fifty five is a replay of our
Speaker 1: interview with j Girl Sarah Wilson and how she paid
Speaker 1: off thirty eight thousand dollars of debt on an extremely
Speaker 1: low income. That one was so popular we reaired it
Speaker 1: in episode one fifty five, So that's one I would
Speaker 1: definitely definitely check out. She is very inspiring and we
Speaker 1: love her a lot over here. Sarah Wilson's just a
Speaker 1: good one to follow too. If this is your life, circumstance.
Speaker 1: You know, we're not the only ones with things to
Speaker 1: say or tips and resources, so check those people out
Speaker 1: as well. But let's just get into this episode. This
Speaker 1: next article comes from Caroline Vencil. Caroline and her family
Speaker 1: of five lift on a seventeen thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 1: They were a family of four at that time, but
Speaker 1: now they are a family of six and they still
Speaker 1: only live on one income. But for a very long time,
Speaker 1: Caroline was a teen mom and they lived on her
Speaker 1: husband's seventeen thousand dollars a year income, which I think, Jill,
Speaker 1: that was, I mean, similar to your income at one point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got Eric's permission, Eric's husband to share. I asked
Speaker 1: him just before this episode. I'm like, hey, we're talking
Speaker 1: about living all the low income. Can I share this?
Speaker 1: And He's like, yeah, totally, but thanks for asking. And
Speaker 1: this is pretty recent for us too. In two thousand eighteen,
Speaker 1: our take home pay was eighteen thousand dollars. So when
Speaker 1: I say I can commiserate with the pinch and the difficulty,
Speaker 1: like I mean it. And thankfully we had a place
Speaker 1: to live and we had food and we were provided
Speaker 1: for and it was not easy and it required creativity
Speaker 1: and all of the things. But when we say like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we get it, we've been there, like we're not saying
Speaker 1: we get it, we've been there, like we've made fifty
Speaker 1: sixty grand a year, like eighteen thousand dollars in two
Speaker 1: eighteen take home pay. So I can relate to a
Speaker 1: lot of the things that Caroline mentions in this article,
Speaker 1: and I think yeah can also comment on some of
Speaker 1: the things that worked for us. We did not thankfully
Speaker 1: stay in that place. So fast forward to twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one and we are bringing in a lot more money
Speaker 1: than that, and a lot of that took intentionality and
Speaker 1: took a lot of different efforts on our parts to
Speaker 1: not stay in that place. So that's another piece that
Speaker 1: I think we're going to talk about on this episode
Speaker 1: today of are there ways to not stay in this place?
Speaker 1: We understand some of the different dynamics that would lead
Speaker 1: us to be in a place where we are living
Speaker 1: below the poverty level, but also shifting mindset, finding opportunities,
Speaker 1: honing in skill set to not continue to find ourselves
Speaker 1: in this place year after year. And again, that looks
Speaker 1: different for everybody. And I'm not saying that you have
Speaker 1: to aim at being a millionaire or even making six figures,
Speaker 1: but living below the poverty line is not a place
Speaker 1: that we want to set up. Yeah, exactly. But Caroline
Speaker 1: goes into detail about the things that she and her
Speaker 1: family did while they were living on seventeen thousand a
Speaker 1: year to make it through those multiple years that they
Speaker 1: had to do that. So the first thing that she
Speaker 1: goes over is they had to prioritize, and so this
Speaker 1: one is really really important. What needs to happen? Do
Speaker 1: you need a new car or is the one you
Speaker 1: have doing just fine? You just like a new car?
Speaker 1: Or even smaller? Do you need the full price brand
Speaker 1: name products or can you go for the generic or
Speaker 1: maybe even make it yourself. So there are a lot
Speaker 1: of things. Or even I would go and step further
Speaker 1: and be like, do you really need the products that
Speaker 1: you are buying? Or can you skip a week, skip
Speaker 1: a month, or do without get creative and skip it.
Speaker 1: Caroline says, we learned pretty quickly that if we want
Speaker 1: to splurge, we need to plan ahead for it. So
Speaker 1: but if splurging meant that our grocery budget would take
Speaker 1: a hit, we would opt for a night of frozen
Speaker 1: pizza and Netflix. So I think that's it's really important
Speaker 1: to point out that you don't have to be living
Speaker 1: on rice and beans, beans and rice. Like. You can
Speaker 1: have little treasures, but a you have to plan ahead
Speaker 1: for them and budget for them, and be they have
Speaker 1: to be proportionate to the income you have coming in.
Speaker 1: You know, a night at Carrabas may not be in
Speaker 1: your best interests in this season of your life. And
Speaker 1: it's different for everyone. The things that people tend to
Speaker 1: get tripped up on are different for everyone. So you
Speaker 1: just have to be aware of Okay, what are the
Speaker 1: things that I like that I'm overspending on and how
Speaker 1: can I still incorporate them into my life but do
Speaker 1: them for cheaper, less expensive? Yeah, and the next one,
Speaker 1: I think it connects with the prioritizing aspect, and that
Speaker 1: is live below your means. Okay, So I just I
Speaker 1: need to pause here because I know that that, like
Speaker 1: even inside me, it gives me this like cringe defense mechanism,
Speaker 1: like pops up of like what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Live well my means? If I'm making eighteen thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year, twenty thousand dollars a year, Like no, this
Speaker 1: is not possible, and so yes, I want to acknowledge that,
Speaker 1: so depending on where you find yourself on an extremely
Speaker 1: low income, what that means for you in the area
Speaker 1: that you're living. But I still want to highlight this
Speaker 1: concept of not approaching it from what all can I buy?
Speaker 1: But where can I cut? And recognizing that sometimes okay,
Speaker 1: so I'll speak for myself. When in this place of
Speaker 1: being very tight financially, whether it was making eighteen thousand
Speaker 1: in a year or maybe thirty thousand in a year
Speaker 1: doesn't matter at all, felt pretty tight to us. I
Speaker 1: had this idea on the back of my head like this,
Speaker 1: this is so difficult, This feels like such a pinch,
Speaker 1: like I deserve something here for all my hard work,
Speaker 1: for like how much I've sacrificed for how little I
Speaker 1: actually get to have in life. And that would mean
Speaker 1: that sometimes I would blow my budget on certain things.
Speaker 1: And this is I know that a lot of financial
Speaker 1: people will talk about cutting coffee and everyone's like, that's
Speaker 1: not going to make you rich, and it's like, no,
Speaker 1: it's not. But for when we're living on extremely low incomes,
Speaker 1: that can quickly derail a budget. If we are thinking
Speaker 1: that we're just going to treat ourselves in this way
Speaker 1: or that way, or it might lead us to a
Speaker 1: mindset of making payments, and so we might get a
Speaker 1: nicer car than what we can actually afford because we're
Speaker 1: just making payments, and so recognizing where our mindset is
Speaker 1: at and shifting to a mindset of how can I
Speaker 1: approach this as if I'm going to spend less than
Speaker 1: what I'm bringing in, and even if you can afford,
Speaker 1: even if you do get a little bit extra money
Speaker 1: that you weren't antic a painting instead of maybe going
Speaker 1: out for a nice dinner, that might mean how do
Speaker 1: I put this aside for savings or how do I
Speaker 1: pay off a bill? Again, it's not easy. It's not
Speaker 1: a place that we want to live for a really
Speaker 1: long time. But I think approaching it in this way
Speaker 1: and also approaching it in a way of how do
Speaker 1: I not stay here can help us make those sacrifices
Speaker 1: along the way. If this isn't forever, and that's another
Speaker 1: thing we want to emphasize that it shouldn't. Your mindset
Speaker 1: shouldn't be I'm going to live on a low income forever,
Speaker 1: even if you are in a job or a position
Speaker 1: that is historically low paying. That doesn't mean that you
Speaker 1: have to be living on a low income forever. Jill
Speaker 1: is in a profession that is historically low paying, social work, right,
Speaker 1: it's going to call it out. I'm a social worker, yeah,
Speaker 1: and still prioritized increasing her income. And so this is
Speaker 1: a big mindset aspect to this too. You are living
Speaker 1: on a low income right now, but you are not
Speaker 1: a low income person. This is separate from you. And
Speaker 1: so this is a season that you are in in life.
Speaker 1: And I think even when you start to separate yourself
Speaker 1: from that mindset, it becomes easier to actually live below
Speaker 1: your means because you're you're living below your income's means,
Speaker 1: not necessarily living below your means like it's like it's forever.
Speaker 1: Because when you think it's forever, and when you see
Speaker 1: no way out, that's when you start to overspend on three, four, six,
Speaker 1: eight dollar purchases because you need something to hold you over,
Speaker 1: something to reward yourself, because you see no way out
Speaker 1: of this low income trap. But when you start to
Speaker 1: separate yourself from this and start to put your attention
Speaker 1: and focus on getting out of that and just seeing
Speaker 1: this as the season that it is, you can say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I give up all this stuff for however long it takes,
Speaker 1: because I won't be here forever. Yeah, yeah, exactly, And
Speaker 1: so we're going to be weaving in some of these
Speaker 1: mindset shifts along with tangible tips. The next one on
Speaker 1: this list is a more tangible tip of what do
Speaker 1: we do when we are in those places of low
Speaker 1: income and maybe it's going to be a few years
Speaker 1: before we do even see a way out shop only
Speaker 1: discount nearly. Make this a rule across the board for yourself.
Speaker 1: So if you need clothing, you need some furnishings, you need,
Speaker 1: you name it secondhand, so Goodwill, go to Facebook marketplace.
Speaker 1: Of course, we are only talking necessities like my shoes
Speaker 1: are completely worn out. I need new pair of shoes Goodwill.
Speaker 1: And again these are tips for extremely low income earners.
Speaker 1: Remember this, this is who we're talking to right now.
Speaker 1: That these are the spots that you need to be
Speaker 1: going to find a discount grocery store, and if you
Speaker 1: don't have one in your area, look for buy nothing groups,
Speaker 1: look for farmers markets, look for swaps like what do
Speaker 1: they call those where you can like work at a
Speaker 1: farm and also take home some of the produce. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you, find a co op, find a way to
Speaker 1: cut cut, cut your grocery bill if you've not found in,
Speaker 1: if you've not done all the yet. Yes, all the
Speaker 1: is your best friend, and so are by nothing groups,
Speaker 1: discount grocers. Yeah, and of course scratch indent places. So
Speaker 1: you know this is definitely getting into some more like
Speaker 1: if you own your home and appliance breaks, holy smokes,
Speaker 1: scratch indent. If you actually need to replace something or
Speaker 1: build up skill sets problem solving YouTube DIY fix it
Speaker 1: yourself is also your best friend. Look into fixing that
Speaker 1: thing first, or figuring out how to go without, or
Speaker 1: you're buy nothing group for the thing that you need
Speaker 1: before you jump to purchasing or replacing. I would say,
Speaker 1: wash your clothes by hand before you move to how
Speaker 1: do I buy this new washing machine? When we are
Speaker 1: living bare bones, our mentality needs to be bare bones
Speaker 1: absolutely at that point with the focus on how do
Speaker 1: I not stay here? Tell them about your your scratching
Speaker 1: dent appliance. Oh yes, So Eric and I just moved
Speaker 1: into a home. We were able to purchase a home
Speaker 1: this past year and the fridge needed replacing, and so
Speaker 1: we went to Sears outlet has scratch in dent, so
Speaker 1: let's look for one in your area if if you're
Speaker 1: in need of this. But there's a big old dent
Speaker 1: on the front door of this fridge. And so we
Speaker 1: got like a sixty to seventy percent discount off of
Speaker 1: what this refrigerator would normally be. And so I just
Speaker 1: so we bought it because there's nothing else wrong with
Speaker 1: it other than cosmetics. And I just got a magnet
Speaker 1: chalkboard for the front of it. And now it also
Speaker 1: forces me to meal plan, so you don't even notice
Speaker 1: the dens anymore. I put up this black magnet. I'm
Speaker 1: meal plan, so it's like a win win win across
Speaker 1: the board because now I'm more planful with what we're
Speaker 1: going to eat, which also helps me to save money.
Speaker 1: And I got a really dope applyance for super Inexpensive.
Speaker 1: I love that story, and I love your refrigerator. And
Speaker 1: one more thing on shopping discount and secondhand thrift stores
Speaker 1: are not just for clothes. You can get almost anything
Speaker 1: from a thrift store, and thrift stores aren't your only
Speaker 1: way to get secondhand stuff. I love shopping eBay. We
Speaker 1: got so much stuff and I almost love eBay more
Speaker 1: than thrift stores because it takes a long time for
Speaker 1: me to search in a thrift store. I don't love shopping,
Speaker 1: so I don't love searching for things in thrift stores.
Speaker 1: But if there's something I know I need and then
Speaker 1: I can instantly go on eBay and search for it
Speaker 1: secondhand and it comes up and I get it. Like
Speaker 1: we did this recently. We bought a sleep sack for
Speaker 1: when Kai was an infant to help him sleep through
Speaker 1: the night, and it was forty dollars new. It was
Speaker 1: thirty dollars at our baby consignment shops, found it on
Speaker 1: eBay for twenty So I love eBay for that. When
Speaker 1: you need to buy something that is hard to find
Speaker 1: at a thrift store, still look for secondhand first because
Speaker 1: literally there's almost nothing that we buy firsthand now. And
Speaker 1: I want to point out, like Jill and I still
Speaker 1: do these things because these are habits we cultivated when
Speaker 1: we didn't make a lot of money. So if you
Speaker 1: adopt these habits now, later on you can pick and
Speaker 1: choose what you want to take with you and it's
Speaker 1: going to free up so much of your income later on.
Speaker 1: Connected with this, again, I want to highlight that if
Speaker 1: you're living on an extremely low income, purchasing items is
Speaker 1: not something you should be doing, all right. So true,
Speaker 1: and this ties in with the next tip, which is
Speaker 1: rethinking necessities. When you're living on a low income, you
Speaker 1: are really focused on the basics. Transportation to your job
Speaker 1: so that you can make money, food, shelter bills. That's it.
Speaker 1: And if that sounds tough, yeah it is, and it
Speaker 1: is a reason and a motivator to be creative and
Speaker 1: look for ways to not stay at an extremely low income.
Speaker 1: But while you're there, you need to be rethinking necessities.
Speaker 1: So this means even down to paper towels. Do I
Speaker 1: really need to buy paper towels? Or can I be
Speaker 1: using rags? Can I be making use of reuse sable items?
Speaker 1: Do I really need to be buying detergent for a month?
Speaker 1: Caroline gives us an example fifteen dollars for detergent for
Speaker 1: a month versus twelve dollars to make your own for
Speaker 1: the whole year, and she has a link to how
Speaker 1: to do that, how to make your own detergent. So
Speaker 1: this is the type of mentality that we need to
Speaker 1: be taking on of. How can we reuse, how can
Speaker 1: we dy how can we make our own and how
Speaker 1: can we make spending and buying things outside of transportation, food,
Speaker 1: shelter bills very very minimal. Yeah, and this like might
Speaker 1: sound like, No, I don't make a lot, but at
Speaker 1: least I make something. I'm not destitute. I need to
Speaker 1: have like some luxuries. But if your focus is on
Speaker 1: bettering your life, bettering your financial situation, which I assume
Speaker 1: it is because you're listening to this podcast, you're interested
Speaker 1: in it, you're interested in doing better, then these are
Speaker 1: things that you're only going to be doing for a
Speaker 1: little time, like a short amount of time, maybe a
Speaker 1: few years. And that seems like a long time while
Speaker 1: you're going through it. I understand two years seems like
Speaker 1: four ever when you're in it, But in the grand
Speaker 1: scheme of things, it's not that long. So if you
Speaker 1: are and it can be, it can be really ego
Speaker 1: deflating when you don't have enough money and you're living
Speaker 1: like trying to, you know, wash your clothes without a
Speaker 1: washing machine, like that sounds deflating. But if you separate
Speaker 1: yourself from the situation and from what you are doing
Speaker 1: and realize you're not doing it because you have to,
Speaker 1: you're doing it because you're better in your situation. This
Speaker 1: is what you have to do right now. To do that,
Speaker 1: then it becomes mentally a little easier. Yeah, it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that you can't have any joy or far in
Speaker 1: the midst of this either. It's not as if I
Speaker 1: can't spend any money, so I just need to be downtrodden.
Speaker 1: There are plenty of free things that you can enjoy
Speaker 1: and so go on walks, find beauty in your surroundings,
Speaker 1: get together with friends in a way that doesn't cause
Speaker 1: you to have to spend money. There are still things
Speaker 1: that you can do. It just really needs to be
Speaker 1: with the mindset that this needs to not cost financially.
Speaker 1: It needs not cost me anything absolutely, And then I
Speaker 1: like that she says hand me downs will be your
Speaker 1: way to upgrade. Yes, we do this if I like
Speaker 1: with my office chair, I was sitting at a dining
Speaker 1: table chair and then found a chair, actually found it
Speaker 1: on the side of the road in front of my
Speaker 1: friend's house, so I knew where the chair came from
Speaker 1: and upgraded that way, and then upgraded to a little
Speaker 1: better chair found on Facebook marketplace. So like, the first
Speaker 1: upgrade was free, but I did pay for the second one,
Speaker 1: so it's yeah, upgrades don't necessarily have to be new. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this was my life saver. It was amazing, gen like,
Speaker 1: how many, how many really cool things Eric and I
Speaker 1: had even in our times of living financially below the
Speaker 1: poverty line, because we would get hand me downs, pick
Speaker 1: up things on the side of the road, find free
Speaker 1: stuff you name it, or fix something up that somebody
Speaker 1: didn't have any use for anymore and just had some
Speaker 1: really cool stuff. And I gotta say I had a
Speaker 1: rule for myself, like we did not buy anything even
Speaker 1: if I needed new I mean I didn't never really
Speaker 1: need new clothes, but you know, I would never buy
Speaker 1: new clothes. I wasn't doing those things, but I would
Speaker 1: somehow still get new things because friends were cleaning out
Speaker 1: their closets and they always knew to like, ask me
Speaker 1: if I wanted to dig through it, because I always
Speaker 1: did so shout out to Chelsea. I so much of
Speaker 1: my wardrobe was given to me from my friend Chelsea.
Speaker 1: And that was fun too, And yeah, a great way
Speaker 1: to be able to make use of other people's things
Speaker 1: that they might be getting rid of. And Caroline talks
Speaker 1: about paying people for their old stuff that's great if
Speaker 1: you can afford it. But if people just know that, hey,
Speaker 1: before I take something to a thrift store, like maybe
Speaker 1: I'll check with so and so and see if they
Speaker 1: want it, Like, go for it. Let your friends know that, Hey,
Speaker 1: let me know before you're getting rid of your clothes
Speaker 1: or you're such and such, like I'd be interested to
Speaker 1: pick through it. If that's not too ego deflating for you.
Speaker 1: That was something that was super helpful for Eric and I. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but if you are in the mindset you're a frugal
Speaker 1: person not a charity case, like you can be like, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: I love the free stuff, let me know what you're
Speaker 1: getting rid of, instead of like, oh I really need this,
Speaker 1: and that's more deflating. But you're listening to the show.
Speaker 1: You're a frugal person, you love free stuff, so friend
Speaker 1: know it. Yes, live in this. Did you have anything else, Jill,
Speaker 1: because we have to there's so many good things in
Speaker 1: this article, but we do have to move on to
Speaker 1: the next one. I just like the tip of just
Speaker 1: make your own everything. I think that's a really good
Speaker 1: way to shift some things in a tangible tip when
Speaker 1: you're living on a really low income. Of what can
Speaker 1: I make? Can I make my own snacks? Can I
Speaker 1: make my own bread? Can I make my own laundry detergent?
Speaker 1: Do I have to have like soap, body wash, shampoo bar,
Speaker 1: soap condition or like or can I just have like
Speaker 1: a one thing for all of that? So just really
Speaker 1: really paring down on the essentials and even cutting bills.
Speaker 1: Find out where you can cut your bills. And then
Speaker 1: beyond that, Okay, the things that I do need, can
Speaker 1: I make it myself? These are the places that are
Speaker 1: really going to hone in our budgets. Yeah, And then
Speaker 1: last thing that I'm going to say is her very
Speaker 1: last paragraph, is accept that this is where you are.
Speaker 1: So this was the biggest factor for them. They had
Speaker 1: to stop trying to live well, I'll just read it.
Speaker 1: We had to stop trying to live above our means
Speaker 1: and just accept that we didn't have the money to
Speaker 1: spend like other people did. By accepting this, we were
Speaker 1: finally able to stop working against ourselves and reach our goal.
Speaker 1: And she says, if you're constantly looking for the next, bigger,
Speaker 1: better thing, life is going to be hard. The sooner
Speaker 1: that you accept this as your life, the better. Once
Speaker 1: you're content right where you are, you can actually start
Speaker 1: to enjoy this life that you live. So and that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that she stayed where she was. She makes
Speaker 1: a lot more money now, but this is where they
Speaker 1: lived for several years with children. But they were even
Speaker 1: able to buy a house on this income, so they
Speaker 1: live in a low cost of living area. But it
Speaker 1: is totally in your capabilities to live here and to
Speaker 1: progress here, and I would encourage anyone interested in taking
Speaker 1: a deeper dive check out this article. She also talks
Speaker 1: about some of the things she wished she had done
Speaker 1: on a low income that were available to her, but
Speaker 1: she didn't even know about it. So if you are
Speaker 1: in this place and you're kind of like, what other
Speaker 1: options do I have? What wall's going to be pushing on?
Speaker 1: She talks about different side hustles that she wish she
Speaker 1: would have gotten into, certain dy things she wished she
Speaker 1: would have done to cut costs, particularly as a mom
Speaker 1: on a low income. So definitely check her out. Yes,
Speaker 1: So our next article is a little transition from how
Speaker 1: to live on the low income, and it's to how
Speaker 1: to pay off debt on a low income. And so
Speaker 1: that is gonna level, it's gonna look so different for everyone.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that paying off debt should be
Speaker 1: your ultimate goal if you're on a low income, but
Speaker 1: it's certainly not electing debt absolutely that. But sometimes you're
Speaker 1: at a place where paying off debt is right, you
Speaker 1: just need to get current. Like our recent conversation with
Speaker 1: Lydia Sen, she was talking about the baby step nobody
Speaker 1: talks about is like getting current, and sometimes that takes
Speaker 1: some time. So that may be where you're at, but
Speaker 1: as you work on getting better than maybe paying off
Speaker 1: debt is your goal. So this one is from nab
Speaker 1: or you need a Budget dot com and it's going
Speaker 1: through somebody's budget who wants to payoffs twenty six thousand
Speaker 1: dollars of debt with a thirty five thousand dollars per
Speaker 1: year income. So you can see big difference where Caroline
Speaker 1: was making seventeen and this couple is making thirty five.
Speaker 1: So what did you think, Jill? I like this article
Speaker 1: because it gives you real time examples of where is
Speaker 1: the money going, what is the plan, and not that
Speaker 1: this is going to look like everybody's situation by any means,
Speaker 1: but it does give us some ideas of how we
Speaker 1: can go about tech going this because and the reason
Speaker 1: we're including this in this particular episode is because this
Speaker 1: is a reason for a lot of people to not
Speaker 1: pay off debt of I don't make enough money, And
Speaker 1: so we're kind of pushing back on that a little
Speaker 1: bit to say, well, maybe you can't pay off six
Speaker 1: figures of debt in five months while you make a
Speaker 1: thirty five thousand dollars a year salary, But what can
Speaker 1: be done? In what creative ways can we be looking
Speaker 1: at this? So I like the real time example of
Speaker 1: here's how much money they bring in. This is where
Speaker 1: the money goes. This is the plan for how they're
Speaker 1: going to do this. One of the things that stood
Speaker 1: out to me and just looking at their budget is
Speaker 1: where they really cut back extremely However, and the article
Speaker 1: does highlight this, it is for a time. This is
Speaker 1: not forever. This is for a season to be able
Speaker 1: to get out of debt quickly. So they made some
Speaker 1: drastic life changes from extremely limiting entertainment, if not having
Speaker 1: nearly zero and entertainment I mean they are paying for
Speaker 1: like Netflix and Hulu on this example budget, but there's
Speaker 1: no gifts, there's no presence, there's no vacation, there's no
Speaker 1: birthday parties like and that is extreme and that seems
Speaker 1: like Bob Humbug type stuff. However, they continue to highlight
Speaker 1: it's for an eighteen month period. They're not going to
Speaker 1: forever and always not do Christmas presents, birthday presents, no vacation.
Speaker 1: It is for this time so that they don't have
Speaker 1: to stay in this rut of making a low income
Speaker 1: and having the burden of debt, so cutting back really
Speaker 1: extremely for a season. Yeah, this article was super convicting
Speaker 1: to me because I had a thirty five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: income before I met Travis, and I had fifty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars of debt, and I thought I will be in
Speaker 1: debt for ever. There's no way I can get out
Speaker 1: of this. Thirty five thousand is too low. And to
Speaker 1: see a budget that has this couple paying it off
Speaker 1: in eighteen months and realizing I could have done it
Speaker 1: in three years, like I could have done it in
Speaker 1: three years, and I just didn't know. When I say that,
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, there are how many other people are
Speaker 1: out there making thirty five thousand dollars and in the
Speaker 1: same place I was, And if you're really like gung
Speaker 1: ho about it. You could be done in three years,
Speaker 1: not forever. And part of that was like I didn't
Speaker 1: want to waste the rest of my twenties paying off
Speaker 1: a debt. But then I was like, three years from then,
Speaker 1: I would have still been in my twenties. So it's
Speaker 1: just it's crazy. Your mind will say you can't do this,
Speaker 1: like this is impossible, it's too big, but the numbers
Speaker 1: say it's possible if you follow the numbers. A mag
Speaker 1: no mistake. This is bare bones. It does it's small.
Speaker 1: There's like there's little things that are laughable on this budget,
Speaker 1: like why spend You know they have both Netflix and Hulu,
Speaker 1: but yet they're cutting out like so many other things,
Speaker 1: Like they've only got ten dollars for medical expenses, and
Speaker 1: so I'd be like, well, cut out at least one
Speaker 1: of those TV subscriptions. And then it's also funny they
Speaker 1: have his and her spending. His spending is a bit
Speaker 1: more than her spending. So I don't know about this.
Speaker 1: One of their names, Jenny and Aaron, But yeah, a
Speaker 1: good example of kind of all right, where can we
Speaker 1: put this money? Certainly their mortgage is very low, their
Speaker 1: water and electric bill are very low. So certainly this
Speaker 1: is dependent on what your particular expenses are, how much
Speaker 1: money you're bringing in. But to show you ultimately, my
Speaker 1: takeaway on this is this is bare bones. We've got
Speaker 1: to go so bare bones and we've got to get
Speaker 1: really creative on how to cut to be this bare bones.
Speaker 1: And I think it goes back to Caroline's article of
Speaker 1: they're probably dying a lot. They've really cut their grocery budget.
Speaker 1: They're definitely eating at home a lot. They are not
Speaker 1: going out, They're not doing any of the extras. They're
Speaker 1: not spending money on gifts or presents or even any
Speaker 1: version of luxury items for themselves, including just a small coffee.
Speaker 1: It's not happening in this budget. Yeah, some of the
Speaker 1: things that we can get into the nitty gritty on this,
Speaker 1: so like they have two thirteen fifty paychecks per month,
Speaker 1: health insurance and retirement contributions are withheld so they don't
Speaker 1: appear in the budget, as well as some four oh
Speaker 1: one K loan payments are also withheld. Something that I
Speaker 1: found really interesting in the budget is that this couple
Speaker 1: is giving to charity every month in like significantly they're
Speaker 1: giving three hundred dollars a month too in tithing and
Speaker 1: other charitable donations. So this is something that they have prioritized.
Speaker 1: Like you can see everything else, there's no like, no birthdays,
Speaker 1: no anniversary, no date nights, no like gifts, no nothing,
Speaker 1: and then but three hundred dollars to charity. So there
Speaker 1: is even room in this budget for wiggle room if
Speaker 1: that's not something you're going to do as much. So
Speaker 1: it's not like they're maxing out their budget on just
Speaker 1: their bills, like there is room in this budget. Something
Speaker 1: else that did stand out to me is that they
Speaker 1: are setting aside money monthly to kind of go into
Speaker 1: a pot for different spending. So the one thing is
Speaker 1: weekend fun. So they are putting ten dollars a month
Speaker 1: aside for weekend fun. So that certainly doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: they're having weekend fun every weekend. That means maybe once
Speaker 1: a quarter they've got forty to fifty bucks to spend
Speaker 1: on a weekend, or you do all things here and there,
Speaker 1: but that there is still small amounts of money that
Speaker 1: they are setting aside that they can pull from that
Speaker 1: would be minor luxuries, minor rewards in this process. So
Speaker 1: I think that is something worth considering, even setting aside
Speaker 1: a few bucks here and there that you can utilize
Speaker 1: for those times when you really do need just a
Speaker 1: little bit of a pick me up for all of
Speaker 1: the work and sacrifice that you're putting in. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I think it's essential while you're paying off debt. I
Speaker 1: recommend that people create milestones within their debt payoff and
Speaker 1: have it be a milestone you can reach at least
Speaker 1: every other month to every three to four months, and
Speaker 1: you're saving every month, and then when you hit those milestones,
Speaker 1: you get a reward that's proportionate to the milestone that
Speaker 1: you're hitting, and you take it from that fun So
Speaker 1: then again you're planning for it advance. It's also something
Speaker 1: that you're working towards. You know it's on the horizon,
Speaker 1: and so you work towards it to get to it,
Speaker 1: maybe a little faster because you really want whatever that
Speaker 1: reward is. So it's essential to be doing something like that.
Speaker 1: But when you plan for it, it stops being one
Speaker 1: of those things that, oh my god, i'm so bored,
Speaker 1: I haven't done something in so long. Let me spend
Speaker 1: forty dollars to do this, and then you bust your
Speaker 1: budget and you feel guilty, and it starts being something like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I can't wait to do it. It's
Speaker 1: forty dollars, I can't wait to do it. And then
Speaker 1: you do it and you feel good about it, and
Speaker 1: you spend the money and you feel good about it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I also like with this example of paying down debt
Speaker 1: on a low income is the process then that they
Speaker 1: lay out, so not just the budget that they're going
Speaker 1: to be working off of, but a plan of action.
Speaker 1: And so they first describe how they're going to pay
Speaker 1: off two credit cards with savings, followed by using a
Speaker 1: little bit of the extra savings to pay down a
Speaker 1: final credit card, moving into focusing on the fourth credit
Speaker 1: card with the payments that they're going to make monthly,
Speaker 1: which moves into using a work bonus to pay off
Speaker 1: the credit cards, then work bonus and snowballing your monthly
Speaker 1: payments to pay down the car loan, like gets actionable
Speaker 1: steps going in consecutive order of one another. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: they've even said like, here's what we're going to do
Speaker 1: from now until the end of the year. Here's what
Speaker 1: we're going to do the first three months of the
Speaker 1: new year. Here's what we're going to do through the summer,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of laid out in this way, which
Speaker 1: I think is a really great plan of action. In
Speaker 1: this person's example, they're apparently getting a three thousand dollar bonus,
Speaker 1: So I know that that's not everybody's reality, that's what
Speaker 1: they're able to work with. But again, all of our
Speaker 1: situations are different, and what works for one is not
Speaker 1: going to work for another. However, we utilize all these
Speaker 1: examples to say, what is your story and where can
Speaker 1: you utilize creativity? Where might you have something that other
Speaker 1: people don't have that you can use to your advantage
Speaker 1: to get out of debt, or to reach a savings goal,
Speaker 1: or to increase your income. You know, I know for me,
Speaker 1: I often use the example of living in really non
Speaker 1: traditional housing that we house sat for a little bit.
Speaker 1: We lived in a trailer. I know that that cannot
Speaker 1: be everybody's circumstances, but I'm going to keep highlighting it
Speaker 1: in case it works for somebody. But also to recognize
Speaker 1: there is wiggle room for creativity here. There are ways
Speaker 1: that we can say, well, is there a non traditional
Speaker 1: path that I can take that will help me get
Speaker 1: out of this very difficult circumstance. So anyhow, all that
Speaker 1: to say, it is good to have a plan, and
Speaker 1: it is good to kind of put it in consecutive
Speaker 1: order of once this is done, what comes next, what's
Speaker 1: our plan for how we're going to get there? And then,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, Jen, celebrate you after you've done and
Speaker 1: accomplish each one of these steps. Do something small. Doesn't
Speaker 1: even have to cost you anything. You can do something
Speaker 1: for free, but give yourself these little rewards as you
Speaker 1: accomplish each one of these steps along the way. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and then the last thing I want to point out
Speaker 1: about the strategy is that it emphasizes putting the focus
Speaker 1: on one thing at a time. When you are trying
Speaker 1: to dig out of a big hole with a little shovel,
Speaker 1: that hole can feel overwhelming. All you see is the
Speaker 1: big number and you say, I can't do this. And
Speaker 1: so what the key is is to focus on one
Speaker 1: thing at a time, one financial goal at a time,
Speaker 1: one milestone at a time, and just work towards that
Speaker 1: one milestone and ignore the bigger number and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I may not get to it, but I'm going to
Speaker 1: get to this one, okay. And then maybe after I
Speaker 1: do that, I take a break for a month or something,
Speaker 1: and then I get right back on track, and I
Speaker 1: worked to the next milestone to the point where I'm
Speaker 1: not taking any more breaks anymore. I'm just keeping going
Speaker 1: and going and going. But focusing on one thing at
Speaker 1: a time is a powerful psychological tool to make big breakthroughs.
Speaker 1: So that's the last thing I liked about this. But
Speaker 1: you know what else is a big breakthrough and something
Speaker 1: I like to move on to the bill of the week.
Speaker 1: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 1: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 1: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 1: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 1: that bill anymore. Duck build Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 1: is the bill of the week. Hey footbol friends, my
Speaker 1: name is Ellie here in Israel. Well, I actually got
Speaker 1: a promotion at my job, and my husband and I
Speaker 1: decided that we were going to celebrate later that night.
Speaker 1: We were getting ready and I randomly found twenty one
Speaker 1: dollar bills just laying next to my bed. It was
Speaker 1: a little random, just because we haven't used US currency
Speaker 1: in the past about two years. But that's okay. I'll
Speaker 1: take it. That ended up going towards our day night,
Speaker 1: so we didn't have to dip into our date night fund,
Speaker 1: which was totally amazing and made me extra happy that day. Anyways,
Speaker 1: you ladies, keep up the good work. Thanks. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: what a gift from the universe. That's amazing. I love
Speaker 1: finding money. Yeah that wasn't expected, but how great. There's
Speaker 1: so many layers in this one. That you were about
Speaker 1: to go celebrate a promotion, congratate like shuns. That's what
Speaker 1: we hope for on this frugal journey. But then even that,
Speaker 1: your celebration didn't really have to cost you anything because
Speaker 1: of this nice gift of US dollar bill currency that
Speaker 1: you found. What a way to just enjoy a night
Speaker 1: together and celebrating growth in your life. Congratulations, stoked for
Speaker 1: everything in your life right now. And yeah, we hope
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one brings you more promotions and more date
Speaker 1: nights and more random money. I wish that for everyone listening.
Speaker 1: For everybody, random money, Yes, you'll get you'll get the money.
Speaker 1: You get a money, not for me, though, you'll find
Speaker 1: a money. You'll find a money. Well, if you find
Speaker 1: a money, please visit us at Frugal Friends podcast dot
Speaker 1: com slash bill and tell us about it. Yes, we
Speaker 1: want to hear it. We want to hear about the
Speaker 1: money you found, the money you spent, the money you saved,
Speaker 1: all of it. Yeah, especially the money you saved. And yes, yes,
Speaker 1: the money you spent if it's on paying on your debt. True.
Speaker 1: Now it's time for the lighting round, which turns into
Speaker 1: a song somehow always so Jill, you came up with
Speaker 1: Did you come up with this lightning round? No, you
Speaker 1: know I did, and I forgot out of yourself. Well,
Speaker 1: I forgot. I didn't write the last lightning round till
Speaker 1: the last minutes. I didn't remember writing this one. I
Speaker 1: wrote these outlines last week. So that's where my head
Speaker 1: is at. But it's a good one. I'll bring on myself.
Speaker 1: We're sharing the key to bringing yourself out of the
Speaker 1: low income trap. So as two people who have lived
Speaker 1: on relatively low incomes, like I won't lie like thirty
Speaker 1: five thousand dollars isn't super low, you know, but it's
Speaker 1: not average. So it felt so even though it wasn't
Speaker 1: as low. Now that I know more people who have
Speaker 1: actually lived on low incomes. When I was living in it,
Speaker 1: it felt low, and compared to my parents and my
Speaker 1: parents friends, it was low. So low isn't always a number.
Speaker 1: Low income isn't always a number. It's a state of mind.
Speaker 1: A lot of the times. Yeah, it can be relative,
Speaker 1: and sometimes we can look back and think, man, that
Speaker 1: was really low compared to where I am now, or
Speaker 1: oh wow, I could have actually done more with that
Speaker 1: because it wasn't as low as I thought, Which leads
Speaker 1: me to my tip, which is mindset shift, where I
Speaker 1: think in getting out of this low income trap, I
Speaker 1: think this is a big component. It might not feel
Speaker 1: as tangible as we want it to feel, and I
Speaker 1: talked about this in a previous episode two. I think
Speaker 1: like mindset shifts, we need to make that. I would
Speaker 1: often tell myself, like my internal narrative was, I'm never
Speaker 1: going to make a lot of money. I'm a social
Speaker 1: work my husband works for himself. Our income is irregular,
Speaker 1: and we are always going to be quote unquote poor. Granted,
Speaker 1: I have always recognized and hope that I continue to
Speaker 1: recognize that we have amazing family and friends, that we've
Speaker 1: not experienced homelessness. Although some people might have considered me
Speaker 1: living in a vehicle to be that yeah, perspective, but
Speaker 1: this thought that I'm never going to make a lot
Speaker 1: of money that was keeping me stuck. It meant that
Speaker 1: then I wasn't working towards anything beyond that because I
Speaker 1: was just like, I'm just poor, and sometimes I viewed
Speaker 1: myself as a charity case, like well, yeah, people should
Speaker 1: give me free stuff, or if somebody gives us dinner,
Speaker 1: thank you, like I need that. And I did, granted,
Speaker 1: but it kind of kept me in this place. And
Speaker 1: when I started to make the shift and started to realize, oh,
Speaker 1: this isn't a place that I need to set up
Speaker 1: my tent that I need to live out of, that
Speaker 1: really shifted some things for me that yes, I'm still
Speaker 1: a social worker. I'm still living in the field. I
Speaker 1: didn't switch to being a lawyer suddenly. But I am
Speaker 1: making more money and it is possible for me to
Speaker 1: make more money, whether it is I mean even maintaining
Speaker 1: my social work job, but maybe doing some side hustles
Speaker 1: of things that I enjoy, or looking to cut expenses
Speaker 1: in ways that I didn't think was possible, you name it.
Speaker 1: Mindset shift has been a huge one for me that
Speaker 1: I doesn't have to stay in this place. And it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that I have to change what I do
Speaker 1: or what I love to make more money, because I
Speaker 1: know that's a big thing too for people in low
Speaker 1: income careers like social work or teaching or any kind
Speaker 1: of human service profession. It's like, I make a low income,
Speaker 1: but I love what I do, or you know, you're
Speaker 1: not going to be able to pull me away from
Speaker 1: these kids or this population. Get it. But that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that you need to be devalued in your financial earnings.
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that you have to stay there and
Speaker 1: that is like the banner over you for the rest
Speaker 1: of your life. You can stay in the work that
Speaker 1: you're doing and find creative ways, whether it is inside
Speaker 1: hustles or whether it is equipping yourself further so that
Speaker 1: your income potential grows. Absolutely. Amen. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: can't say much more than that. But again, I think
Speaker 1: my answer is also mindset shifts. When I think of
Speaker 1: the biggest things that I have done to specifically earn
Speaker 1: more income, when I was willing myself into it by
Speaker 1: trying to use just physical force like my time and
Speaker 1: my body like most of you probably know, Like I
Speaker 1: tried that for two months when we're starting to pay
Speaker 1: off debt. And I worked myself into shingles, Like I
Speaker 1: got shingles at the ripe age of twenty six from overworking.
Speaker 1: So it didn't work out for me just to like
Speaker 1: but sheer brute strength to increase my income. But when
Speaker 1: I started to familiarize myself with other people that were
Speaker 1: making more money than me, then I started to see like, oh,
Speaker 1: this person has And then I got to meet these
Speaker 1: people and I was like, these people are not more
Speaker 1: special than I am. They are not more educated, they
Speaker 1: are not more talented. They don't work longer, they don't
Speaker 1: work harder, but they have found a way to make
Speaker 1: more by simply getting creative and believing a they are
Speaker 1: worth more and that there is more to be made
Speaker 1: even in their selected profession. For me, I was making
Speaker 1: thirty five thousand dollars a year and I was an
Speaker 1: acupuncturist and that's not a lucrative job. And I took
Speaker 1: a lot of investment in yourself. I mean, that's the
Speaker 1: equivalent of a master's degree that you have to do
Speaker 1: that I did. Yeah, I got a master's degree, and
Speaker 1: that was the debt I paid off. And I like
Speaker 1: a lot of other people that I'm sure it got
Speaker 1: master's degrees for fields that did not give them the
Speaker 1: pay increase they thought they were going to get. And
Speaker 1: so I did that. But then I realized like I
Speaker 1: had hit the cap for what I was going to
Speaker 1: make with acupuncture, and so it was a super difficult decision,
Speaker 1: but I decided to leave the industry to pursue a
Speaker 1: career in writing that I saw could be much more lucrative.
Speaker 1: So it provided a small income jump initially, but I
Speaker 1: knew the room for income the ceiling was a lot higher,
Speaker 1: and in some cases for some people no ceiling. But
Speaker 1: that was a really hard decision, and so now I'm
Speaker 1: very much advocate for people not staying in the jobs
Speaker 1: that they are in. That if you want to raise
Speaker 1: your income and you don't want to work a side hustle,
Speaker 1: then look for another job in the same field, whatever,
Speaker 1: maybe a different city, maybe the same city that pays more,
Speaker 1: because raises are hard to come by. I was getting
Speaker 1: a three percent raise every year at the clinic. My
Speaker 1: boss was amazing and consistent with that, but three percent
Speaker 1: every year was only going to keep up with inflation,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to I was at the point where
Speaker 1: I was like, I know people are doing this, and
Speaker 1: I know I can do it, and I'm I feel
Speaker 1: like I've hit the ceiling. And that was me, Like
Speaker 1: it was really hard to leave something that I loved,
Speaker 1: but I was able to find something I loved even more.
Speaker 1: And honestly, when I quit, I didn't know. I wasn't
Speaker 1: confident that I was going to like writing full time.
Speaker 1: I knew I liked writing on the side when I
Speaker 1: was like, I could hate this, I could start doing
Speaker 1: it full time and hate it. Yeah, but I needed
Speaker 1: to take that risk and just see so that I
Speaker 1: wasn't wondering what if. Well, and I want to highlight
Speaker 1: for you too, because yeah, it's kind of different sides
Speaker 1: of a similar coin. That you did leave your career,
Speaker 1: but that didn't mean that you left it just to
Speaker 1: make money. You left it for also something that you
Speaker 1: enjoy and that helps people that you are encouraging others
Speaker 1: in their finances, showing people what's possible, giving tools, equipping others.
Speaker 1: So while I say you don't have to leave your
Speaker 1: field if you love it to make more money, it
Speaker 1: is also possible that maybe you're a multifaceted person and
Speaker 1: you have more than one interest and you can pursue
Speaker 1: something else that might be a bit more lucrative for you.
Speaker 1: And yes, I will acknowledge this can take time. You know,
Speaker 1: I talked about how I made eighteen both my husband
Speaker 1: and I, so this jointly we made eighteen thousand dollars
Speaker 1: take home in twenty eighteen, and that was partly the
Speaker 1: sacrifice in the investment that we made so that I
Speaker 1: could equip myself. So this is not going to be
Speaker 1: like snap your fingers and jump to stage fifteen. There
Speaker 1: are going to be steps that we have to take
Speaker 1: in sacrifices we make along the way. But consider what
Speaker 1: your options are and consider shifting your mindset to think
Speaker 1: outside of the box that I don't have to stay
Speaker 1: in this place, or if I do want to stay
Speaker 1: in the field I'm in and I'm only getting incremental
Speaker 1: salary increases, maybe consider moving to a different location or
Speaker 1: practice or business doing a similar thing. But you're more
Speaker 1: likely to increase your pay exponentially switching companies than staying
Speaker 1: with the same one and just taking the standard pay
Speaker 1: increase every year. So there's lots of different things to
Speaker 1: consider there, But ultimately, thinking outside the box, creativity, equipping yourself,
Speaker 1: considering location change, considering field change. Yeah, all of these
Speaker 1: things can help us when we're on low incomes. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And two more things I want to say. The first
Speaker 1: is if you keep hearing suggestions over and over and
Speaker 1: over again about how to lower your expenses and increase
Speaker 1: your income, and to every suggestion you say, I can't
Speaker 1: do that, can't do that, I'm not willing to do that.
Speaker 1: And to the point where you saying I just can't
Speaker 1: get any useful information out of anybody, then you have
Speaker 1: to start to re examine, like is it the people
Speaker 1: giving you the recommendations or is it your unwillingness to
Speaker 1: change for a season. So that's like a hard, real thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you have to be willing to do things that you
Speaker 1: don't want to do for a period of time in
Speaker 1: order to better your life. And then because there is
Speaker 1: no magic, Like, there's no magic any one of us
Speaker 1: can give to any person who's making eighteen thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year, it doesn't exist. It doesn't other than and
Speaker 1: saying what needs to happen to move forward from this place? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And then one last thing on my story, So I
Speaker 1: think when I recommend people switch their jobs. They're like, oh,
Speaker 1: but the job, you know, market is so volatile, what
Speaker 1: if I lose that job? Like I'm in a really
Speaker 1: safe job right now, I will say from experience, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's possible. You lose your job. Fired from that writing
Speaker 1: job a year after I took it, and which forced
Speaker 1: me into you got laid off. They had a mass layoff.
Speaker 1: I was one of forty five people laid off. I
Speaker 1: don't know what you would do so bad as a
Speaker 1: writer that you would get fired but at a personal
Speaker 1: finance website. But yeah, and I lost it. And I
Speaker 1: took the skills that I had gotten from that job
Speaker 1: and implemented them immediately to start working for myself. So like,
Speaker 1: there are very few reasons why anything is a bad idea,
Speaker 1: Like any of these recommendations, Yes, there's could always be
Speaker 1: a downside to doing one, but there's always an upset.
Speaker 1: I may have never gone full time into my business
Speaker 1: had I not been laid off. I mean I've always
Speaker 1: wanted to, but I may not have had the courage too.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying like everybody has to be self employed.
Speaker 1: That is not the path for everyone, but there are
Speaker 1: jobs out there. They do pay more. They are not finite.
Speaker 1: They are they are out there and more and more.
Speaker 1: You know. One of the silver linings of this pandemic
Speaker 1: is how many companies have moved to online remote work,
Speaker 1: so that whole avenue I think is opening up more
Speaker 1: and more where people might be able to switch jobs
Speaker 1: more easily because spots that maybe aren't super local to
Speaker 1: you are starting to open up. Yeah, yeah, opportunities there.
Speaker 1: It was well, we hope, we hope you found that helpful,
Speaker 1: as many of our listeners did two years ago when
Speaker 1: it played. So thank you, Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: listening to it. Yeah, if you are, if this is
Speaker 1: helpful and you're thinking I want more, are there additional
Speaker 1: ways to plug in and really find the community that's
Speaker 1: going to help keep me on track with some of
Speaker 1: the things that we just talked about in this episode.
Speaker 1: We do have a membership for our listeners, many of
Speaker 1: whom are in their own debt payoff journey, but lots
Speaker 1: of different financial goals happening amongst our membership than the
Speaker 1: people in there. We will do monthly money challenges, we
Speaker 1: offer accountability groups, So that's that community piece that's very
Speaker 1: focused and specific on some of the various financial goals
Speaker 1: that are happening, and we want to congratulate one of
Speaker 1: our members for a big win. This is an example
Speaker 1: of some of the stuff that's happening in the membership.
Speaker 1: This came from Corey K and says next steps are
Speaker 1: approaching with a couple of emojis. Just scheduled my last
Speaker 1: auto manual payment for one of my student loans. It
Speaker 1: doesn't seem real. My next goal is when I get
Speaker 1: my tax returns back to pay off the other loan,
Speaker 1: and all I have left is my largest federal loan.
Speaker 1: The extra one hundred a week I was paying toward
Speaker 1: this loan will go into high old savings account. Aren't
Speaker 1: my emergency fund for three months of income to cover
Speaker 1: my responsibilities. This will take about a year or so.
Speaker 1: Well done, Corey, just licensing ncing some goals here. I
Speaker 1: love it. We do talk about high yield savings accounts.
Speaker 1: They're an awesome resource. Check out c I T It's
Speaker 1: the one that we're loving right now, Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot com, slash c and also check out the membership.
Speaker 1: If this sounds like you know you want to be
Speaker 1: one of these people experiencing these wins. Lots of stuff happening. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you don't have people in your life that are
Speaker 1: supporting you, there are people on the internet around to
Speaker 1: support you, and we are just conduits bringing them together.
Speaker 1: They are there for each other, not necessarily us. So
Speaker 1: it's a it's a beautiful group of people. So yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely join us in their Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash club and We'll see you next time by Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. I guess we're at
Speaker 1: a loss for words for for this after show. We
Speaker 1: just spent a like a good hard forty five seconds
Speaker 1: staring at each other. I love that. That's what I think,
Speaker 1: that's what we needed, was to staring in each other's eyes.
Speaker 1: And I've reflect on just income I've just been rewarded
Speaker 1: with forty five seconds of uninterrupted eye contact from you
Speaker 1: and I uninterrupted computer eye contact. Does that count? Yeah?
Speaker 1: That does? That's that's really great. Well staring at you
Speaker 1: with the new mics. Eric said that we received feedback
Speaker 1: from our editor Christian that maybe we should stay more
Speaker 1: hydrated while we record because we have a lot of
Speaker 1: mouth sounds. I'm so sorry Christian for Yeah, so here
Speaker 1: I am water bottle and coffee. It's probably the coffee's
Speaker 1: working against the water. Double fisting. Yeah yeah, we uh.
Speaker 1: We often get asked about the logistics of podcasting, and
Speaker 1: I'm very excited for our fifth anniversary episode. We're going
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about podcasting, but we know
Speaker 1: nothing about audio. We are the worst, and I think
Speaker 1: mouth sounds are so gross. So I I feel for
Speaker 1: these audio editors who are listening to the smacking and
Speaker 1: the gulps, I mean microphones pick up which you wouldn't
Speaker 1: actually hear sitting next to somebody, all the like mouth sounds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: mouth sounds so okay, mouth sounds. If you didn't notice
Speaker 1: mouth sounds throughout the episode, you have Christian to thank
Speaker 1: for that. Thank you Christian for dealing with all of
Speaker 1: the mouth sounds. I hope that they're not like nails
Speaker 1: on a chalkboard for you. Christian listens to our mouth
Speaker 1: sounds so you don't have to. And today we're Today's
Speaker 1: for Christian. Today we're celebrating Christian. Yeah, and the one
Speaker 1: he's taking for the team. Thank you, Christian, Thank you