Speaker 1: Episode one listener Debt Payoff Stories. Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity,
Speaker 1: and live with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and it is our Black Friday
Speaker 1: slash Buy Nothing Day listener special. Boop. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you were around last year, but we did a
Speaker 1: Christmas special and that was We're not so we're not
Speaker 1: doing a Christmas special this year. We're doing a buy
Speaker 1: Nothing Day special, but I think you should go back
Speaker 1: and listen to it, at least the intro. Please. If
Speaker 1: you're if you're a Star Wars fan, you'll get it.
Speaker 1: If you're not, you won't get it, but she'll probably
Speaker 1: still be amused. Yeah, Christmas special, okay, just it's the
Speaker 1: episode that was closest to Christmas last year. Today is
Speaker 1: a little different. We're not re enacting any cool scenes,
Speaker 1: but we are bringing you the debt payoff stories of
Speaker 1: three of our listeners. And these were the three bravest
Speaker 1: people that were willing to record themselves and send it
Speaker 1: in to the podcast. Amazing. It's yeah, it's so interesting.
Speaker 1: We hear that feedback all the time. We want to
Speaker 1: hear from listeners. We want to hear from them. We
Speaker 1: give the opportunity, and there's three brave folks who rose
Speaker 1: to the top in their defense. So we only talked
Speaker 1: about it in social media and in our Facebook group
Speaker 1: and in our club BFF, so we didn't really talk
Speaker 1: about it on the show. But we do give everyone
Speaker 1: an opportunity with Bill of the Week, and that's much easier.
Speaker 1: So but this one, I think we are going to
Speaker 1: listen to some um debt free stories that you guys love,
Speaker 1: and if you want to, we'll give you the episodes
Speaker 1: for some other debt free stories that you can listen
Speaker 1: to as well. But first our sponsors. This episode is
Speaker 1: brought to you by Continuing Education. Paying off debt is
Speaker 1: a marathon, not a sprint, and any runner will tell
Speaker 1: you that training is a prerequisite to finishing a marathon.
Speaker 1: Typically unless you're that girl who got what silver or
Speaker 1: bronze in the Olympics this past year for her marathon.
Speaker 1: But whatever, we are not her. We want to help
Speaker 1: you finish your financial marathon with this weekly dose of
Speaker 1: encouragement from the show but also educational resources in our
Speaker 1: new digital shop. So we've got a ton of affordable workbooks, challenges,
Speaker 1: printables and all that that launches today to keep you
Speaker 1: motivated and growing on your journey to financial freedom. We
Speaker 1: will be adding more every month, but as this kickoff
Speaker 1: launch buy Nothing Day special, we want to give you
Speaker 1: through the end of the month a code for a
Speaker 1: fifty dollar credit to the store, and you just need
Speaker 1: to use code fifty freedom. That's five zero freedom. If
Speaker 1: you get our emails, you'll see the code in your
Speaker 1: inbox and you can find the shop at Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash shop. So that should allow you
Speaker 1: to get one or two things for free, so you
Speaker 1: still are buying nothing. Oh yes, getting something for nothing
Speaker 1: still a great value. Also brought to you by Cheese. Yep,
Speaker 1: it has nothing to do with today's episode topic, theme,
Speaker 1: or really anything else we're gonna talk about today. Cheese
Speaker 1: just really wanted to sponsor us, and we had to
Speaker 1: fit them in somewhere. Cheese, the desperate but tasty sponsor
Speaker 1: Cheese man. Okay, I mean it was it was tough,
Speaker 1: tore a. Where are we going to put Oh, everyone
Speaker 1: loves it. Everybody has nothing to do with this episode.
Speaker 1: But you know, you know what, now here's the tie in.
Speaker 1: Everybody loves cheese and everybody loves debt payoff stories. They
Speaker 1: are the two most requested things. Like always, like I request,
Speaker 1: we get debt payoff story requests all the time, and
Speaker 1: I'm always requesting cheese. So that's the tie in. That's great.
Speaker 1: And now cheese is going to have to pay us
Speaker 1: more because we did tie it into the episode. So cheese,
Speaker 1: pass in cheese. That's fine. Pair it with wine even better.
Speaker 1: Oh heah. I'm still waiting for them to sponsor the show,
Speaker 1: specifically the Audi Wine Advent calendar, another thing we talked
Speaker 1: I am, I am, but more obsessed. I really want
Speaker 1: the sparkling wine one that leads up to the New
Speaker 1: Year's That's the one I really want. Anyways, let's talk
Speaker 1: about debt freedom. So we have a lot of episodes
Speaker 1: featuring guests who've paid off debt, so you can cue
Speaker 1: these ones up. Get your phone ready. So episode one
Speaker 1: seventy nine, we talked to our friend El Martinez. Her
Speaker 1: and her husband paid off thirty three thousand dollars of
Speaker 1: debt by switching to living on just one income and
Speaker 1: banking the second for their debt. So if you are
Speaker 1: a dual income household and want to learn that, key up.
Speaker 1: Episode one nine um Episode one fifty five is how
Speaker 1: budget Girl Sarah Wilson paid off thirty eight thousand dollars
Speaker 1: of debt on a low income. And Sarah was living
Speaker 1: on her own very low income and was able to
Speaker 1: pay off thirty thousand dollars and I think three years.
Speaker 1: Her story is amazing. She is amazing. She has an
Speaker 1: amazed saying YouTube channel uh, and so she's living in
Speaker 1: financial freedom right now because as a result of paying
Speaker 1: off her debt. And so if you are single and
Speaker 1: or low income, episode one is a great one for you.
Speaker 1: And then we have episode one forty three how Lydia
Speaker 1: Sen paid off thirty six thou dollars of debt on
Speaker 1: one income. So she was a stay at home mom
Speaker 1: who also side hustle has four kids I think three
Speaker 1: to four, and they were able to pay off their
Speaker 1: debt um with just her husband working. So if you
Speaker 1: have family and kids and you want to hear more
Speaker 1: of that, side Lydia is also just hilarious, Like if
Speaker 1: you should for sure follow her on Instagram and TikTok
Speaker 1: because it will be a delight in your life. So
Speaker 1: that's episode one. So we kind of try to run
Speaker 1: the gamut on the stories that we tell on the show,
Speaker 1: and we didn't do a lot this year because we
Speaker 1: felt like we were really really got it down in
Speaker 1: but we will double the number of debt payoff stories
Speaker 1: we feature on the show next year, So get ready
Speaker 1: for Yeah two is going to be another year full
Speaker 1: of really interesting debt payoff stories. So if you have
Speaker 1: a unique situation that you'd like to hear a perspective,
Speaker 1: a debt payoff perspective from somebody in a unique situation,
Speaker 1: I mean, we covered a lot of them in two,
Speaker 1: like high cost of Living, we had a nurse come
Speaker 1: on and talk about healthcare and debt payoff like we
Speaker 1: had so many But if you still have listened to
Speaker 1: all of them and haven't found somebody that you can
Speaker 1: really resonate with, let us know in an email. Send
Speaker 1: us an email and we'll try and find somebody who
Speaker 1: sounds like you, looks like you, you know whatever, so
Speaker 1: that you can see more people, um more relatable people
Speaker 1: paying off debt And maybe even this episode will help
Speaker 1: with that. As we listen to some of you and
Speaker 1: get inspired by your stories and how you did it
Speaker 1: in this little snapshot. We love what we loved at
Speaker 1: payoff stories. They're so inspirational and to hear it from
Speaker 1: a variety of perspectives and circumstances can really help us
Speaker 1: to see, Oh, no matter where I find myself, this
Speaker 1: is an aim. May not may not look the same,
Speaker 1: may not take the same amount of time with somebody else,
Speaker 1: but we can do it. You can do it. You
Speaker 1: can do it, yes, and we so we want to
Speaker 1: give you all that you need to keep you going
Speaker 1: on that journey. So let's listen in on our very
Speaker 1: first listener debt Payoff story. Here we go. Hi, I'm
Speaker 1: Tiffany Little from Heiser, Kentucky and April of two thousands,
Speaker 1: not telling I really started the DIBt free journey. We
Speaker 1: had trotted a few times and things just always seem
Speaker 1: to happen and pop up, and we would, you know,
Speaker 1: change our minds and just go back to our old ways.
Speaker 1: But so far, since two thousand nineteen, we have stuck
Speaker 1: with this and we are very near to the end
Speaker 1: of the road. So in this time we've paid off
Speaker 1: about fifty five thousand dollars in consumer debt, credit cards,
Speaker 1: all along student long things like that. Actually, next month
Speaker 1: I will be making my final payment on my van,
Speaker 1: and so we will be free of consumer debt and
Speaker 1: only all on our mortgage. This has been a process
Speaker 1: of about two and a half years, and in that
Speaker 1: two and a half years, we've had a combined in come,
Speaker 1: starting out with about seventy nine thousand dollars and through
Speaker 1: some raises and rank changes in our jobs we are educators,
Speaker 1: and so we're now at ninety nine thousand dollars. The
Speaker 1: turning point for me in really cracking down and sticking
Speaker 1: with this goal of being debt free was in a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago when our retirement system that we had,
Speaker 1: you know, we wanted to be teachers because there was
Speaker 1: just a great retirement plan and you're well taken care of.
Speaker 1: You have this insurance available, and you have these payments
Speaker 1: that you're you're going to be drawing your your retirement
Speaker 1: checks until basically you die. They take care of you.
Speaker 1: And so a couple of years ago, the system is broken.
Speaker 1: Is still broken, but our governor, in an attempt to
Speaker 1: fix it, tried to enact some bills which would turn
Speaker 1: that great comfortable retirement plan into a four old one
Speaker 1: K that you know eventually could run out. And so
Speaker 1: at that time I took that my future into my
Speaker 1: own hands and decided, I want to become debt free
Speaker 1: so that I can really invest in UM, my own
Speaker 1: retirement plan, and basically have myself set up well so
Speaker 1: that I will never have to worry about running out
Speaker 1: of money whenever I reached that point in my life.
Speaker 1: So far in the present, you know, the opportunities that
Speaker 1: have are a reason from paying off our debt is
Speaker 1: basically just that we're not living paycheck to paycheck anymore.
Speaker 1: When we first started this journey, we were living paycheck
Speaker 1: to paycheck with maybe you know, a couple hundred dollars
Speaker 1: at the end of the month leftover. Probably not really,
Speaker 1: We're gonna probably spend that too. But now whenever I
Speaker 1: go to UM, you know, we get paid, I go
Speaker 1: in and I pay my bills, and I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the end of all of the bills and I'm like, wait,
Speaker 1: how do we have this much money? Because I'm so
Speaker 1: used to having to write out my entire paycheck to
Speaker 1: pay off debt, and now that's not the case. So
Speaker 1: for anyone who is thinking about joining the journey, or
Speaker 1: if you're on the journey now, just remember that there's
Speaker 1: always gonna be bumps in the road. Things are going
Speaker 1: to happen. You're gonna have setbacks, You're gonna have these
Speaker 1: times where you feel like you're going in reverse in
Speaker 1: your accruing at extra day. But if you just stue
Speaker 1: the course, eventually you will get to the end of
Speaker 1: the road and it is so very worth it. Wow,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for sharing that with us, Tiffany.
Speaker 1: That is a lot of money. Fifty dollars in consumer debt. Tiffany,
Speaker 1: well done, and thank you for being brave to share
Speaker 1: this with our audience. And man, what an accomplishment. Next
Speaker 1: month we're celebrating with you. Potentially by the time this
Speaker 1: is airing, you are probably consumer debt free. Well done
Speaker 1: now with only your mortgage to go amazing. I also
Speaker 1: love to see how you've increased your combined income. It
Speaker 1: sounds like as educators, so probably both of you working
Speaker 1: in relatively earning jobs and yet still doing amazing stuff
Speaker 1: with your money. How incredible to hear. I know so
Speaker 1: many of our listeners are going to resonate with this.
Speaker 1: I loved also the The inspiration behind the debt payoff
Speaker 1: was the retirement. I think it's so important that we
Speaker 1: don't rely on other people to fund our retirement, even
Speaker 1: if you do have a guaranteed pension, which is great,
Speaker 1: I am absolutely not against those. But two additionally, protect
Speaker 1: yourself with some like roth ira A or ira A
Speaker 1: just as a backup, because when somebody else controls your retirement,
Speaker 1: then you are at their mercy. Even if they don't
Speaker 1: take it away altogether, but take it away partially. It
Speaker 1: it warps your entire plan for your future. And four
Speaker 1: one case are great, but when you're relying on something
Speaker 1: you know that's supposed to be guaranteed for so long
Speaker 1: and then they place it with a four oh one K,
Speaker 1: then you are ten steps behind because you could have
Speaker 1: been saving for that and and you no longer you
Speaker 1: don't have that and what you were planning anymore. And
Speaker 1: so I think it's really important for educators, firefighters, police, military,
Speaker 1: regardless of what is supposed to be guaranteed to you
Speaker 1: have something additional, even if it's just a little bit
Speaker 1: on the back burner, so that you can have time
Speaker 1: in the market to be just just in case. I
Speaker 1: also appreciate Tiffany, how you've described what it has afforded you,
Speaker 1: kind of being able to look back and reflect upon
Speaker 1: the step payoff journey, not just for the destination, but
Speaker 1: what you've learned along the way, and that now you
Speaker 1: don't need to worry about living paycheck to paycheck, That
Speaker 1: there are these habits cultivated that is allowing you to
Speaker 1: live in just greater amounts of freedom. And then this
Speaker 1: final message so beautiful, to expect setbacks that they will happen,
Speaker 1: and stay the course. I think that is such an
Speaker 1: important message for all of us because it does take time.
Speaker 1: For most people, it takes years at least to be
Speaker 1: able to move from this point of recognition to making
Speaker 1: changes to actually achieving debt freedom. And so in that process,
Speaker 1: life happens, circumstances change. Expect it. Don't allow that to
Speaker 1: knock you off the wagon for the rest of eternity.
Speaker 1: It's okay, it happens to all of us. Stay the course,
Speaker 1: get back on. Thanks so much, Tiffany, I'm sure you've
Speaker 1: encouraged so many. Yeah, and one last thing I'll say
Speaker 1: is that raising your income, your annual income from seventy
Speaker 1: nine thousand, tod is no easy feat and but people
Speaker 1: think it's impossible, especially as educators. I know many teachers
Speaker 1: who have come to me and said, well, they can't
Speaker 1: pay me more so I and I, you know, technically
Speaker 1: losing money every year because the raises aren't enough to
Speaker 1: keep up with inflation. So I get that. But there
Speaker 1: are other education adjacent ways to make money too, So
Speaker 1: you can still use your giftings, and you can use
Speaker 1: your time wisely to be increasing your income, even if
Speaker 1: it's just for a season, or maybe you're just putting
Speaker 1: in some time to create something that's maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit now, but it will work up to being you know,
Speaker 1: a more passive income or higher income stream later. So
Speaker 1: just being intentional with putting in the time and effort
Speaker 1: that it takes to increasing your income. I love how
Speaker 1: debt payoff alerts people to the problem of their income
Speaker 1: and really gets them on the path to working and
Speaker 1: taking small steps to increasing income that they wouldn't have
Speaker 1: otherwise if they weren't trying to pay off debt like
Speaker 1: I like. I look at my mom for example, She's
Speaker 1: never had a reason to try and increase her income,
Speaker 1: so she her wages have been stagnant for years, if
Speaker 1: not decades. So it is really important to be intentional
Speaker 1: and to just change the mindset from you know, the
Speaker 1: government controls my wage. Two, I control how much I
Speaker 1: make beautiful. Yeah, and that's incredible dollars. You both increased
Speaker 1: your income in a couple of years. It's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So congratulations, Tiffany. We are so proud of you, and
Speaker 1: I know that all of the rest of our frugal
Speaker 1: friends are really proud of you. So if you see
Speaker 1: Tiffany in the Frugal Friends community on Facebook, give her
Speaker 1: a shout out one of the brave ones. Yes, let's
Speaker 1: get into our second debt payoff story. Yeah, hey, Jenn
Speaker 1: and Jill, It's Jocelyn from Delaware. So my debt payoff story.
Speaker 1: I paid off over thirteen thousand in credit card debt
Speaker 1: and over ninety thousand in student loans. I started taking
Speaker 1: this payoff journey seriously around the end of twenty twelve,
Speaker 1: so from November twelve until August it took about ten
Speaker 1: months to pay off thirteen K and then once that happened,
Speaker 1: it took me from September thirteen until February twenty twenty
Speaker 1: about six and a half years. I think that's six
Speaker 1: and a half to pay off thousand. The debt was
Speaker 1: mostly from graduate school, so I had about eighty thousand
Speaker 1: taken out to get my clinical master's degree in prosthetics
Speaker 1: and orthotics and about fifteen thousand from my undergraduate degree. Um.
Speaker 1: Of course, instead of going straight into work after grad school,
Speaker 1: I ended up racing as a professional triathlete for three years,
Speaker 1: which was back when student loan interest rates were very,
Speaker 1: very low, so that was around two thousand eight two
Speaker 1: thousand nine UM. So that's how I ended up racking
Speaker 1: up the credit card debt was from professional triathlon, and
Speaker 1: that's also how I didn't quite make a dent on
Speaker 1: my student loans. I was able to, I think, defer
Speaker 1: them um and then just pay the minimum on another one.
Speaker 1: So being an approach triathlete does not pay very much
Speaker 1: at all. It was also during that the Great Recession,
Speaker 1: so around twenty the prize money, purses and the sponsorships
Speaker 1: were really drying up, so of course I eventually ran
Speaker 1: out of money racing racing around the world, and I
Speaker 1: went back to work as a procetus orthogis. With that job,
Speaker 1: my earning started at around fifty thousand, and then eventually
Speaker 1: over six figures. As I gained more experience, I was
Speaker 1: willing to move for new job opportunities. But most importantly,
Speaker 1: I learned to negotiate my salary to ask for what
Speaker 1: I deserved. So some things that really worked for me
Speaker 1: were deliberately moving to a lower cost of living area
Speaker 1: Delaware rather than staying in Washington, d C. Or moving
Speaker 1: back home to the San Francisco Bay area. I got
Speaker 1: better at negotiating harder for a higher salary and actually
Speaker 1: had my boss be willing to work out a deal
Speaker 1: where he helped pay off some of my student loans.
Speaker 1: I signed a five year contract to get a ten
Speaker 1: thousand payment each year on my work anniversary that went
Speaker 1: towards my student loans exclusively UM. I was blogging about
Speaker 1: my debt payoff UM even though I kept it anonymous,
Speaker 1: and I was one of the o G listeners when
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast was new. I remember the first episodes.
Speaker 1: I've called in a Bill of the Week a few
Speaker 1: times and fairly active on the Facebook group. And I
Speaker 1: also invited Jenn and Jill to my No More Student
Speaker 1: Loans party last year that I do on Leap Day.
Speaker 1: They couldn't make it, but they gave me a shout
Speaker 1: out on the Leap Dave podcast, so I actually consider
Speaker 1: that way more awesome than going on Dave Ramsey's podcast
Speaker 1: and doing the debt free screen because it was so
Speaker 1: much cooler having been a huge fan of Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: So the best opportunity for me that's happened since paying
Speaker 1: off debt is the birth of our first child. We've
Speaker 1: been trying for a couple of years. But coincidentally, that
Speaker 1: day of my no More student loans party was also
Speaker 1: the day of my last period, so my entire pregnancy
Speaker 1: and the life of our kid has been completely debt free.
Speaker 1: I mean there than our mortgage, the house payments, um.
Speaker 1: So this has really allowed us not to worry so
Speaker 1: much about finances during my maternity leave. I didn't actually
Speaker 1: have to work full time during my pregnancy, which was
Speaker 1: you know, mostly during COVID anyway, and then when coming
Speaker 1: back from maternity leave just this past March. Um advice
Speaker 1: for others paying off debt it is absolutely possible, so
Speaker 1: know you're worth, follow your budget. Also, be flexible and
Speaker 1: willing to take new job opportunities that might require moving.
Speaker 1: Evaluate if you can move to an area with a
Speaker 1: lower cost of living. That was a game changer for us.
Speaker 1: And always always always know your worth and negotiate your salary.
Speaker 1: Ask for more than what you think you should be getting,
Speaker 1: because you usually deserve more than what they're gonna offer
Speaker 1: you anyway. Thank you so much, Jen and Jill for
Speaker 1: creating this podcas Pest and this community. Love you guys.
Speaker 1: Wow Jocelyn, Yes, it's been a pleasure too, from the
Speaker 1: very first episodes, seeing you in the Facebook group, seeing
Speaker 1: you pay off your debt, seeing you like give birth
Speaker 1: to your child, like I've I feel like we're part
Speaker 1: of your family. I really do. You're another frugal Joscelyn.
Speaker 1: You are an o G And what a compliment that
Speaker 1: this is way better for you than doing the debt
Speaker 1: free scream. I wanted to. I want it to be
Speaker 1: I want to do something like this more frequently. So
Speaker 1: that is just affirming what I want to do. So
Speaker 1: thank you for affirming me. There's so many golden nuggets
Speaker 1: and what you've just shared, so Jenn and I are
Speaker 1: just going to go through it and highlight this awesomeness
Speaker 1: that you just shared with us, And thank you for
Speaker 1: calling it in you are so active all your bills
Speaker 1: of the week and how you engage in the Facebook
Speaker 1: group to now sharing this story so amazing. So for starters,
Speaker 1: holy smokes. That's a lot of student loans. And I
Speaker 1: think that there's probably a lot of people out there
Speaker 1: who are going to resonate with this, even just for
Speaker 1: undergrad student loans. It sounds like for you there was
Speaker 1: you know, postgraduate school wrapped up in this a while back.
Speaker 1: But so many people listening, I know that's the average
Speaker 1: is getting up into the six figures as far as
Speaker 1: student loans go. And then even your story to say
Speaker 1: that once you graduated, instead of getting right into your career,
Speaker 1: you chose to kind of pursue something that you're really
Speaker 1: good at, something that you're passionate about, to be a triathlete,
Speaker 1: Holy smokes, Jocelyn. But then to rack up that this
Speaker 1: morning swimming not for me, Oh my goodness, swimming, biking,
Speaker 1: running and all of it back to back. Wow, we're
Speaker 1: standing And I was actually I was corrected because I
Speaker 1: was calling them bicyclists and my friend was like cyclists
Speaker 1: and I was like, dang it, I'm so not cool.
Speaker 1: Dang it. Anyways, I just had to. I respect your
Speaker 1: triathleteism so much, Jocelyn, it's so cool. But then it's
Speaker 1: very that makes sense that you know how you were
Speaker 1: living then at the time to in order to support
Speaker 1: yourself and your expenses, having some credit card debt, so
Speaker 1: all of this is just it's so realistic, it's so relatable.
Speaker 1: But then to see how you got on track and
Speaker 1: you were able to start with that consumer debt, which
Speaker 1: is probably where most people should start. Usually consumer debt
Speaker 1: has the higher interest rates and being able to knock
Speaker 1: that out in about a year from two thousand twelve
Speaker 1: to two thousand thirteen, and then taking the six and
Speaker 1: a half years to pay off that k in the
Speaker 1: student loans, which again a very realistic timeframe, and that's
Speaker 1: how it can take years to do this, especially when
Speaker 1: you're inching towards that six figure mark. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: seven and a half years is no joke. But hey, like, honestly,
Speaker 1: can you remember the last like five years of your life?
Speaker 1: Like if you look, if you look back five years ago,
Speaker 1: so ten years ago, and so the part of your
Speaker 1: life five to ten years ago, like that five years,
Speaker 1: it's like, what did you do? Can you remember how
Speaker 1: like how it was like, eventually, that's what that series
Speaker 1: of time is going to look like to you, Like
Speaker 1: I promise you. So it took us two years to
Speaker 1: pay off our debt, and it felt so long while
Speaker 1: we were doing it, and hindsight it feels like nothing,
Speaker 1: like our child is over two years old now, Like
Speaker 1: it's so crazy how it can be such an intimidating
Speaker 1: time frame when you're starting out, and then in hindsight
Speaker 1: it's very reasonable. But and it's seven half and a
Speaker 1: half years is still a long time. But Jocelyn, you've
Speaker 1: got like so much more than seven and a half
Speaker 1: years left on your life. It's just the yeah, the
Speaker 1: part the ratio it is to the rest of your
Speaker 1: life is so nominal. Well, and now let's get into
Speaker 1: this next part of earnings. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: sharing those figures. I know that's super vulnerable. A lot
Speaker 1: of times we can assume, all right, this person has
Speaker 1: their master's degree or beyond, so they must be making
Speaker 1: a ton of money. It's no problem for them to
Speaker 1: pay this off. You shared that you started out at
Speaker 1: a fifty K salary that is very mid range, and
Speaker 1: it's you know, you increase the six figures, which well done.
Speaker 1: But I love the tips that you give that it
Speaker 1: is possible for anyone to increase income with some of
Speaker 1: these tips of building experience. Right, we can't just walk
Speaker 1: into some employer's office and say here's what I demand.
Speaker 1: We have to work towards that build up the skill
Speaker 1: set and the education and the experience. But then recognizing
Speaker 1: our own value and negotiating. This is such a good
Speaker 1: word to put into practice, and you did it, not
Speaker 1: just on negotiating your earnings, but negotiating to have your
Speaker 1: employer help pay off student loans. Brilliant. I think that's
Speaker 1: a phenomenal tip for anybody listening in on all. Right,
Speaker 1: if your employer can't increase your salary this year, where
Speaker 1: else can there be room for negotiation? Being willing to
Speaker 1: live in a low cost area it can also help
Speaker 1: extremely and phenomenally with that payoff. So amazing nuggets here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I you know how I feel about income. There's just
Speaker 1: we have such a limiting mindset when it comes to
Speaker 1: how much we can earn. And Jocelyn, you did not
Speaker 1: get to six figures on accident. You worked for it.
Speaker 1: You and you didn't hustle like hustle culture, you know,
Speaker 1: like working seventy hours eighty hours a week. You negotiated,
Speaker 1: you got creative. You weren't afraid to ask, and that's
Speaker 1: half the battle is getting creative and asking. And I
Speaker 1: love that you said, no, you're worth, but you didn't
Speaker 1: say ask for your worth because I hate the phrase
Speaker 1: like ask for what you're worth, because I am a
Speaker 1: hundred percent sure that there are so many people out
Speaker 1: there that don't know like what they are worth, and
Speaker 1: so they are worth so much more than what they
Speaker 1: think they are. So don't ever ask for your worth.
Speaker 1: Just ask for what you want, ask for more than
Speaker 1: you think you're worth, because I assure you you are
Speaker 1: worth more than what you think you are. Um, but
Speaker 1: we have this, you know, this sense of humility that
Speaker 1: keeps us asking for less. And I do it too,
Speaker 1: like I have to be honest. Like for one of
Speaker 1: our advertisers, they sent me the wrong person's email thread
Speaker 1: they sent they responded to me when they should have
Speaker 1: responded to somebody else, and I was able to see
Speaker 1: what this person was getting on their deal versus ours.
Speaker 1: And this person has I'm not sure what their background is,
Speaker 1: but they asked for God quadruple what we asked for,
Speaker 1: and they got it and they got it, and I
Speaker 1: just didn't know because I didn't value myself. I didn't
Speaker 1: know what to ask for, you know, I just didn't know.
Speaker 1: And so now I know. So it's little by little
Speaker 1: asking and getting testing, continuously testing the limits because you
Speaker 1: do not know what you are capable of getting if
Speaker 1: you don't ask, if you don't go big, you miss
Speaker 1: all the shots you don't take. Absolutely, and then this
Speaker 1: final and beautiful celebratory piece that the best thing since
Speaker 1: your debt payoff is having a child and entering into
Speaker 1: parenthood debt free without the worry and concern of extra
Speaker 1: financial stress and burden. And and the story about finding
Speaker 1: out learning that you're pregnant on the day of your
Speaker 1: celebration amazing. I did not know that piece, So all
Speaker 1: of us is so incredible, and we're celebrating with you, Jocelyn.
Speaker 1: I know it's been a while since you have been
Speaker 1: debt free, but it is still fresh again and worth
Speaker 1: celebrating this massive accomplishment and continuing to celebrate what it
Speaker 1: has afforded you, and now being able to turn around
Speaker 1: and encourage others and saying it's possible. Know you're worth,
Speaker 1: do some of the hard things, and know that it's possible.
Speaker 1: I agree with Jocelyn A men. All right, So we
Speaker 1: got one more debt payoff story from a listener. Let's
Speaker 1: get into it. My name is Brittany. I live in Asheville,
Speaker 1: North Carolina. I paid off sixty dollars in debt and
Speaker 1: just under five years I was making between twenty five
Speaker 1: and thirty five thousand dollars a year. During those that time,
Speaker 1: I was waiting tables. I moved to Korea to teach
Speaker 1: English for a year, and when I came back, I
Speaker 1: was I opened my own business, which is what I'm
Speaker 1: still doing now. Majority of my debt we student loans.
Speaker 1: A little bit of it was card debt. The biggest
Speaker 1: turning point for me was when I looked at how
Speaker 1: much I owed after years of making minimum payments and
Speaker 1: realized I didn't make a dent in the over world debt.
Speaker 1: The biggest opportunity I think that it has opened up
Speaker 1: for me is being able to pay extra on the mortgage.
Speaker 1: My current plan is to have the house paid off
Speaker 1: by the time I'm forty, which will be fifteen years early.
Speaker 1: On the mortgage basically for anybody on their debt free journey.
Speaker 1: My only advice is keep going and celebrate the little
Speaker 1: winds every time you get further in your payoff. If
Speaker 1: you pay off one small loan, you know, treat yourself
Speaker 1: to something. You have to celebrate the little things and
Speaker 1: make a system that works for you. It doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be all Dave Ramsey or all Susie Ormond. Pick
Speaker 1: out little things from everyone and make it work for you.
Speaker 1: That's my biggest piece of advice. Thank you, Wow, Brittany.
Speaker 1: That that is that is the dream that that so
Speaker 1: many people listening to our show have. They're making a
Speaker 1: lower income. You sit here making twenty five to thirty
Speaker 1: five k per year waiting tables, and you paid off
Speaker 1: sixty five thousand dollars. And that's the place where people
Speaker 1: are coming from. It doesn't even matter if it's like
Speaker 1: you know that little and that much, but they're they're
Speaker 1: coming from a place where their debt is double what
Speaker 1: they make in a year, or more than what they
Speaker 1: make in a year, and it's it's overwhelming. And you
Speaker 1: dug in and you did it. So congratulations, Brittany. I agree, Brittany,
Speaker 1: this is incredibly inspiring. I know so often this is
Speaker 1: one of the biggest barriers for people in debt payoff.
Speaker 1: Of well, that sounds all fine and good for people
Speaker 1: who make six figures, but I make very little money.
Speaker 1: There's no possible way and just throw the hands in
Speaker 1: the air and move on living paycheck to paycheck. But
Speaker 1: you found a different route for yourself, and I really
Speaker 1: hope that folks listening can take this to heart for
Speaker 1: wherever you find yourself, that even when making to thirty
Speaker 1: five thousand dollars a year and your debt payoff would
Speaker 1: mean more than double what you make in one year,
Speaker 1: it's still possible. It's going to take a long time,
Speaker 1: and it's going to take hard word, and it most
Speaker 1: likely will include trying to find ways to earn more,
Speaker 1: but it still is possible. And I love how you
Speaker 1: described what the prompt was for you to actually look
Speaker 1: at what you owe, the dent that you've made in
Speaker 1: it so far? Right, What did I used to owe?
Speaker 1: What do I owe? Now? Oh goodness, I've been making
Speaker 1: these payments and it's not decreasing the amount that I owed.
Speaker 1: I think so many of us that that is the case.
Speaker 1: Maybe we choose to not even look at it, but
Speaker 1: if we do, that could be an incredible motivator of Okay,
Speaker 1: how do we actually kick this thing into high gear
Speaker 1: so that the money I am still paying actually makes
Speaker 1: a dent in this thing and someday I can find
Speaker 1: myself debt free and then beyond that, just what it's
Speaker 1: afforded you now being able to make extra payments to
Speaker 1: your mortgage and this new goal of paying off your
Speaker 1: house fifteen years early. That's gonna be incredible. And I
Speaker 1: love that shift that does happen. That the debt payoff
Speaker 1: story doesn't just end there. It doesn't have to just
Speaker 1: end there. There's so much that we learn along the
Speaker 1: way that affords more and more for us in the future.
Speaker 1: So well done, Brittany. An amazing advice to keep going
Speaker 1: and to celebrate the little winds. I can't highlight that enough.
Speaker 1: We're not going to be able to keep doing this
Speaker 1: if we're not rewarding ourselves in small ways allowing ourselves
Speaker 1: to see the progress. Congratulate ourselves for the progress that
Speaker 1: we've made. Incredible, incredible advice, Brittany, and well done. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sometimes we can get so done on ourselves for just
Speaker 1: the fact that we got ourselves into this quote unquote
Speaker 1: mess that it's hard to celebrate the winds when you're
Speaker 1: getting out of it. But I just want to push
Speaker 1: back on that and say, if that is what you're feeling, like,
Speaker 1: that's a lie. Your accomplishments to get out of debt
Speaker 1: and to improve your life deserve to be celebrated. So
Speaker 1: please do celebrate your winds, even if they seem small
Speaker 1: to you, still celebrate them. You don't have to obviously
Speaker 1: spend money to celebrate them, but I but I want
Speaker 1: you to look back at the entirety of your journey
Speaker 1: every so often so that you can see, uh, the
Speaker 1: progress that you've made financially, mentally, physically, um with your relationships.
Speaker 1: There are so many things. This is definitely a holistic
Speaker 1: it's it's paying off debt, but the changes are holistic.
Speaker 1: The changes are to everything, so you know, reward yourself,
Speaker 1: celebrate that accomplishment that you are changing the entirety of
Speaker 1: your life by doing this one small thing and focusing
Speaker 1: on it. And I also loved how you said, Brittany,
Speaker 1: that you can take what works for you, take you.
Speaker 1: No person is infallible, so no person's advice, including ours,
Speaker 1: should a be taken at face value or be be
Speaker 1: taken in entirety. You should always look for the good
Speaker 1: and what somebody is saying and how it works for you,
Speaker 1: and leave what doesn't work for you. Just how there
Speaker 1: are very controversial financial gurus, they still have some good
Speaker 1: things to say. So I think we can, you know,
Speaker 1: accept what is good works for us and put back
Speaker 1: what does not, And so we hope you do the
Speaker 1: same thing with this show. Um, so thank you so much, Brittany.
Speaker 1: Take the meat, spit out the bones, and sometimes spit
Speaker 1: out the fat if you're not into fat, so yeah,
Speaker 1: or just eat the whole vegetable. For sure. That's really
Speaker 1: my favorite thing to do. But besides that, my other
Speaker 1: favorite thing to do every week. None of it has
Speaker 1: to be thrown out, not a bit the bill. That's
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 Williams. 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 bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 1: is the bills of the week. I done, and Joe,
Speaker 1: this is Brittany Anderson, and I just want to say
Speaker 1: I am loving the show. I'm inventing all the episodes
Speaker 1: while I walk fields at work. I get the Scout
Speaker 1: corn for a living. But I wanted to share my
Speaker 1: bill of the week. Uh. Recently our oven went out
Speaker 1: on our gas range and I bake a lot, so
Speaker 1: it was a big deal and we're talking about getting
Speaker 1: a new oven. And I just came across your repair
Speaker 1: and Maintenance episode and thought, hey, let's look into this
Speaker 1: a little further. And we watched some YouTube videos and
Speaker 1: found a common thing that goes out on um gas
Speaker 1: ovens is the ignitor at the bottom. So my husband
Speaker 1: bought a thirty dollar part, watched some YouTube videos, and
Speaker 1: replaced it. So instead of spending thousands of dollars on
Speaker 1: a new range, we spent thirty bucks. And my oven
Speaker 1: is back up and working. So keep up the good
Speaker 1: work and have a great day. Thanks bye. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm jumping out literally is oh my gosh, we just
Speaker 1: saved you thousands of dollars. I'm going that's so awesome
Speaker 1: that you just you got creative, like you didn't jump
Speaker 1: to like spending money to solve the problem. You thought you.
Speaker 1: You just had this trigger that was like embedded in
Speaker 1: the frugal mentality to be like, Okay, before I go
Speaker 1: out and buy another range, let me just see if
Speaker 1: there's something I can do. And there was. They're not.
Speaker 1: There isn't always something you can do, but in this
Speaker 1: case there was, and it saved you a ton of money,
Speaker 1: and it saved probably saved a range from just sitting
Speaker 1: in a junkyard somewhere being stripped for parts. So there's
Speaker 1: so many good things here, Brittany. You've made my week,
Speaker 1: possibly my year. Just I I'm so excited for you
Speaker 1: and well done that you didn't just take this as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to blow a bunch of money and buy
Speaker 1: a new new Range, which if it was broken forever,
Speaker 1: sure that might be necessary, but to problem solve and
Speaker 1: get your hands dirty and fix it and not spend
Speaker 1: months thirty dollar apart over a couple thousand all our
Speaker 1: new range. Wow, Britain. Love it so glad to be
Speaker 1: a part of you, this journey with you, Love this
Speaker 1: journey for you. If you've got a bill that you
Speaker 1: think is going to make us just jaw dropped in
Speaker 1: celebratory amazement, visit or leave it for us at Bogle
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com, slash bill, you can visit it.
Speaker 1: You can leave it for friends podcast. Shook. Yeah, she
Speaker 1: is visibly shook. I can't even here. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: I love problem solving and fixing and then it saved
Speaker 1: you money. Who that's her language? Could job burday. And
Speaker 1: now it's time for thend jazzed like inside my mind,
Speaker 1: oh wow, we should be recording this, but we are not.
Speaker 1: So today's lightning round is we are going to share
Speaker 1: what we are most thankful about, thankful for about our
Speaker 1: debt payoff journeys. So you've heard our debt payoff stories
Speaker 1: in in other episodes, or at least parts of it.
Speaker 1: But I think it being the day after Thanksgiving, I
Speaker 1: think gratitude should last five days a year and not
Speaker 1: just one day. And so let's continue this uh spirit
Speaker 1: of of gratitude because even in the hard things, there
Speaker 1: are things to be thankful for. And I think so
Speaker 1: much more like we can say, you know, in hard
Speaker 1: things that weren't our fault and we're like ultimately difficult
Speaker 1: and sad, there are still things that you can be
Speaker 1: thankful for in that and it's hard to find that.
Speaker 1: So when we take something like paying off debt, which
Speaker 1: we know will have a positive outcome, and we are
Speaker 1: self imposing some of this challenge, this hardship for something better,
Speaker 1: for something and pentional, I think it's it's easier to
Speaker 1: see what you can be thankful for. And I think
Speaker 1: if we train ourselves in doing more gratitude identification through
Speaker 1: stuff like this, then when you know other bad things
Speaker 1: happen that we can't control, then we're more open to
Speaker 1: seeing like how the changes can be more life giving
Speaker 1: or how we can find gratitude in those more difficult seasons.
Speaker 1: Gratitude is so important. It does carry us through. It
Speaker 1: helps us to see the good, the life giving, the beautiful,
Speaker 1: even in the midst of difficulty. So yeah, yeah, this
Speaker 1: isn't it. Gratitude is an important part of the debt
Speaker 1: payoff process and then even ongoing from there. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: important part of the like a frugal lifestyle, because when
Speaker 1: you are thankful for what you have, and you are
Speaker 1: thankful for what you have been through and what you
Speaker 1: are going through, then you don't idolize or envy what
Speaker 1: other people have and what other people are you know,
Speaker 1: look like they are not going through So it really is.
Speaker 1: It's an integral part of the frugal lifestyle for sure.
Speaker 1: What about for you, Jen? What seeing as pieces of
Speaker 1: gratitude since your debt payoff? So obviously it changed the
Speaker 1: trajectory of my life. I was an acupuncturist and now
Speaker 1: I host a personal finance podcast, and it is allowing
Speaker 1: me to do the most life giving work, like watching
Speaker 1: people lay down the idol of consumerism and pick up
Speaker 1: the freedom of living in their true north. Is the
Speaker 1: only thing I want to do with my life. And
Speaker 1: I didn't know that before, and now, like I get
Speaker 1: choked up thinking about it, like how much I want
Speaker 1: to do that and how often I want to help
Speaker 1: people do that? So that hold on, we should should
Speaker 1: have videotaped the Yeah, it really is like so deep, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't expect that. Okay, well anyways, and then you
Speaker 1: are doing that, and I think our community absolutely resonates
Speaker 1: with that, like that they are saying, this is what
Speaker 1: we're doing for people, right like Brittany, we helped her
Speaker 1: not spend money on a arrange and and get that
Speaker 1: fixed and so so much more that yeah, you are
Speaker 1: doing it, You've done it. For yourself and you've been
Speaker 1: able to turn around and help others do that and
Speaker 1: how meaningful and purposeful. Yeah, and I think this is
Speaker 1: this show has been the most significant source of that.
Speaker 1: There's not been. I mean, I've written books and those
Speaker 1: have been great, and and people have emailed me how
Speaker 1: they've they've changed their life, but like nothing in comparison
Speaker 1: to what we get from this show. And literally would
Speaker 1: not be able to do it without you, Jail, so
Speaker 1: take part in everything that I'm saying about, like the mission.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and then it also just led me down
Speaker 1: a path of self discovery and intentional living, Like there
Speaker 1: were so many things about my life that I thought
Speaker 1: were not that were necessary. And people can say this
Speaker 1: in their twenties, but sometimes they don't realize it until
Speaker 1: maybe their forties or fifties, that so much of what
Speaker 1: they thought was important was not. And so I was,
Speaker 1: you know, through this journey, able to realize it in
Speaker 1: my twenties and able to then say, Okay, if I
Speaker 1: don't care about this, then what do I care about?
Speaker 1: What is my life goal and my purpose? And it
Speaker 1: led me into that journey. So I am all of
Speaker 1: the blocking the friends on Facebook and all of the
Speaker 1: not getting to do the things that I wanted or
Speaker 1: thought I should be able to do, and really like
Speaker 1: not doing things that I did deserve. You know, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't believe in that thing is like, if you
Speaker 1: can't afford it, you don't deserve it. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of things that a lot of people deserve that
Speaker 1: they can't afford. But the choosing not to do it,
Speaker 1: it was all worth it. Thankful. That's me. How about you, Jeel, Well,
Speaker 1: you know, similar to you Jen. The things that I'm
Speaker 1: grateful for about the debt payoff journey and what it
Speaker 1: has afforded me, it's not materialistic. It is the intangibles.
Speaker 1: It's what it has created within my life and perspective,
Speaker 1: beliefs and behavior that I'm ultimately grateful for. It's these
Speaker 1: more deep rooted you use the term true north, and
Speaker 1: that's really resonating with me. You know this, this whole
Speaker 1: process has allowed the important things to come to the surface.
Speaker 1: It has been a bit of a refining process for
Speaker 1: me that I'm not sure I would have arrived at
Speaker 1: without the debt payoff journey and the journey of frugality
Speaker 1: and asking ourselves and one another the hard questions and
Speaker 1: so my my biggest There's so much to be grateful
Speaker 1: for with this, but I think some of my biggest
Speaker 1: gratitude pieces is how the debt payoff journey for me
Speaker 1: has taught me simplicity and contentment. Throughout the way that
Speaker 1: I approached the debt payoff journey was in tinier living
Speaker 1: in non traditional living environments, which forced me into a
Speaker 1: more simple lifestyle which wasn't without its pain points, but
Speaker 1: has long term produced in me just simplicity across the
Speaker 1: board and deeper levels of contentment that I cherish and
Speaker 1: I have to work actively to maintain those pieces in
Speaker 1: me as I'm no longer in those exact situations Gens.
Speaker 1: But my goodness, I don't know if I would have
Speaker 1: arrived here without that process and journey and and then
Speaker 1: beyond that community, I mean, holy smokes, Jen, I mean
Speaker 1: hopefully I don't get choked up here, But friendship with you,
Speaker 1: I think that the debt payoff journey frugality has brought
Speaker 1: things into my life that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Like
Speaker 1: people comment all the time, you guys are actually friends,
Speaker 1: like yes, and I think deeper friends because of this,
Speaker 1: we would not talk weekly daily were most often we
Speaker 1: talked daily if it weren't for the community that we've built,
Speaker 1: what it has produced inside of us. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: going on like a monologue now, Yeah, there's so much
Speaker 1: gratitude here, but I think I would highlight it's not materialistic.
Speaker 1: It has just brought about a deeper awareness of the
Speaker 1: things that truly matter and have helped me to focus
Speaker 1: in on my values and to get at that more
Speaker 1: and more and invite others into that journey. So it's
Speaker 1: and this episode is like case in point of highlighting
Speaker 1: the voices of those in our community and how even
Speaker 1: this podcast has been a small part of those individuals
Speaker 1: journeys and my goodness, if that's not something to celebrate. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I there's just so much to be thankful for, Like
Speaker 1: I cannot list everything. I'm so thankful for you, Jill.
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful for the show and the people around
Speaker 1: it who listen. We have tens of thousands of people
Speaker 1: who have listened to this show, and it baffles my
Speaker 1: mind then that is possible, and so we're so thankful
Speaker 1: for you. Without you, we would not have a show
Speaker 1: like without you listening, right, now we wouldn't we wouldn't
Speaker 1: still be doing this. Jill and I would just hang out.
Speaker 1: We wouldn't do we have a friendship as deep of
Speaker 1: a friendship. Yeah, I mean it would it was Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I just yeah, you are the reason we
Speaker 1: were we are able to do this. Like you may
Speaker 1: think you're just like a number, but like every number
Speaker 1: helps us get advertisers that support the show and help
Speaker 1: us turn down less life giving projects to do more
Speaker 1: of this for you. And so it's a it's a
Speaker 1: cycle that um god, I'm internally grateful for Thank you.
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving m hm, So thank you for leaving your reviews,
Speaker 1: listening everything you do. We hope that this has brought
Speaker 1: you some encouragement and inspiration if you're working to pay
Speaker 1: off debt, and just reiterating that to paying off debt
Speaker 1: is not necessarily a numbers goal. It's not something you
Speaker 1: do to come out on top mathematically. It's something you
Speaker 1: do to put yourself on a solid foundation to to
Speaker 1: live out your dreams, you know. And it has a
Speaker 1: financial component, and and it is this challenge that we
Speaker 1: can undertake that which by doing so, gets us closer
Speaker 1: to who we want to be. And how we want
Speaker 1: to live, and so there's so much wrapped up in
Speaker 1: this journey that when people tell you it's not the
Speaker 1: best mathematical solution for you know, growing wealth, I mean, um,
Speaker 1: they might, they're not wrong, But if your goal is
Speaker 1: to live a full life over growing an arbitrary amount
Speaker 1: of net worth, then then we really feel like this
Speaker 1: is an integral part to that journey. And so so
Speaker 1: we thank you for listening, um, and we thank you
Speaker 1: for your kind reviews like this one from Best Be
Speaker 1: You and it just happens to be five stars as
Speaker 1: inspirational podcast. Jen and Jill have inspired me to take
Speaker 1: charge of my finances. I love all the frugal real
Speaker 1: life tips along with the community they've built to encourage
Speaker 1: and support all of our winds and fails. That just
Speaker 1: reiterates like everything we've been saying, so thank you. I
Speaker 1: think that's Allison, So thank you Allison. Wow. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: such a common theme as the community component to this.
Speaker 1: It's it's cool, so grateful for you all. We also
Speaker 1: want to thank all of you are friends who share
Speaker 1: these episodes on social media. So when you share the
Speaker 1: latest episode on Instagram, we're adding you two our monthly
Speaker 1: drawing for every five tags and reviews we get each month,
Speaker 1: we're giving away fifty dollars for you to spend in
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends shop. We're so excited about this shop.
Speaker 1: So many goodies and digital products, and they're all aimed
Speaker 1: at helping you on this very journey, whether you're still
Speaker 1: in debt payoff or you're beyond debt payoff and kind
Speaker 1: of considering, where are your priorities, what you want to
Speaker 1: be working on now, check out the shop and let
Speaker 1: us just continue to be a support to you and
Speaker 1: build community around you. Absolutely so, keep leaving us reviews
Speaker 1: where ever you listen to podcasts and sending us the
Speaker 1: screenshot to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com, and
Speaker 1: don't forget to tag us on social See you next week.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian Jen. This feels
Speaker 1: like such a sacred episode to me, like you really
Speaker 1: got vulnerable in that lightning round. I know my goal
Speaker 1: is always to try and get you vulnerable and then
Speaker 1: turn around and backfires on me. We're always vulnerable, which
Speaker 1: just tears don't often happen, but I think it's an
Speaker 1: indicative of how deep this goes for you in this
Speaker 1: specific area, and I resonate with you. I Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it has brought up for me. Even just hearing
Speaker 1: you describes much gratitude and reflection on what this has
Speaker 1: provided to all of us. Yeah. I don't take for
Speaker 1: granted that I get to do what I love, and
Speaker 1: over seventy of people like statistically do not do what
Speaker 1: they love. Uh, And so I think financial freedom allows
Speaker 1: you the opportunity to be in the thirty percent. And
Speaker 1: so I I love my business and the flexibility it
Speaker 1: offers me, and I want that for other people too.
Speaker 1: We can cultivate and you know, up that number to forty.
Speaker 1: I truly believe that. Yeah. Yeah, people just need to
Speaker 1: know that it's possible and receive the support around them
Speaker 1: to do it. Yeah. Absolutely thankful, thankful for you, and
Speaker 1: thankful for all of this. So grateful for you and
Speaker 1: for our frugal friends. So beautiful, what a lovely episode. Yes,