Speaker 1: Episode four forty six, How to Vote with your Dollar
Speaker 1: with gg Gimja.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a life here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are talking with
Speaker 1: our friend Gigi. I actually met her. I mentored her
Speaker 1: for a session last year. She was not even a
Speaker 1: beginning podcaster, but she was growing as a podcaster and
Speaker 1: I listened to her show, which is now called Progressive Pockets,
Speaker 1: and I was just floored. I wanted everyone to hear
Speaker 1: her show. She's so knowledgeable about the ethics of behind money,
Speaker 1: and I just I'm so excited to share her with
Speaker 1: you guys today.
Speaker 3: She's a gem. This is the first time I got
Speaker 3: to meet her. I know you've had background with her,
Speaker 3: but I really enjoyed talking with her and hearing her
Speaker 3: just kind but actionable perspective. I think some really good
Speaker 3: tips for anyone at any stage of the process and
Speaker 3: figuring out where's the best place to be spending our money.
Speaker 3: So I'm excited for this one. But first, this episode
Speaker 3: is brought to you by making me happy. It's pretty
Speaker 3: easy to do either by handing me a hot dog.
Speaker 4: Or pre ordering our book.
Speaker 3: And if you don't live close enough to me to
Speaker 3: throw me a dog, then pre ordering the book is
Speaker 3: the only other logical solution. It's a great investment for
Speaker 3: you and a friend if you want to give it
Speaker 3: as a gift. We believe we've shared some super valuable
Speaker 3: ideas and action steps that will help you spend better
Speaker 3: and feel really confident about your money for the rest
Speaker 3: of your life. Because we're talking about principles that you
Speaker 3: can apply at any stage and season of life.
Speaker 4: So just do it. Make my day. Pre order the
Speaker 4: book by what youolovebook dot com. Make me happy. Yay?
Speaker 1: All right, So today we're talking with Gigi Gimja. She's
Speaker 1: the host of the Progressive Pockets podcast, and we wanted
Speaker 1: this episode at the beginning of October, at the beginning
Speaker 1: of what is to be a very tense season in America,
Speaker 1: to really like ground us with some foundational truths. When
Speaker 1: a lot of things feel out of your control, we
Speaker 1: want you to know that there are still some things
Speaker 1: that are in your control every single day. So we
Speaker 1: want this episode to be encouraging not to feel overwhelming,
Speaker 1: like there's one more thing that you have to do,
Speaker 1: but to really say, like, there's a lot of things
Speaker 1: going on right now that I don't have control over,
Speaker 1: but I can do this one thing that I know
Speaker 1: will be a step in the right direction, even if
Speaker 1: it feels like other things are not going in the
Speaker 1: direction that I may want them. So that is our
Speaker 1: heart with this episode, and there's no better person to
Speaker 1: talk about it with than Gigi She taught. Her podcast
Speaker 1: is about social impact and personal finance. It explores how
Speaker 1: everyday people can make the most of their financial choices
Speaker 1: such as spending, donating, banking, and investing, to align with
Speaker 1: their values and contribute to building a better world. And
Speaker 1: it's not just through buying that we can contribute to
Speaker 1: the or we can contribute to the progress or the
Speaker 1: regress of what we want to see in the world.
Speaker 1: We can also do it through banking, investing, and donating.
Speaker 1: So you can pick all of them one of them.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of freedom in this episode. We hope
Speaker 1: you feel that.
Speaker 4: Let's talk to gg.
Speaker 1: GG Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. I am so
Speaker 1: excited to have you with us today.
Speaker 5: Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 3: We talk so much on this podcast lately about values
Speaker 3: based spending, and we've kind of taken it from this
Speaker 3: perspective of our personal values, our family values, but I'm
Speaker 3: really looking forward to hearing your perspective on how we
Speaker 3: can bring that out to a more macro level of
Speaker 3: our community values and our values as just a human
Speaker 3: being and the things that the causes that we're passionate about.
Speaker 4: So thank you for coming to talk to us about
Speaker 4: these things.
Speaker 5: Are you kidding? This is my favorite thing to talk about.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. Okay, So let's like
Speaker 1: lay some groundwork when we say voting with your dollar,
Speaker 1: how can we use that as like what does it mean?
Speaker 1: And how can we think of it as like a
Speaker 1: as something that is like positive and foundational versus something
Speaker 1: that is maybe like scary or entertainable.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so using your money in a way that lines
Speaker 5: up with your values and your beliefs, that's exactly what
Speaker 5: voting with your dollar means. And I do remember your episodes.
Speaker 5: I'm a listener of rer Gal Friends. I remember those
Speaker 5: episodes where you talked about values based spending. I loved it.
Speaker 5: You talked about starting with an understanding of what it's
Speaker 5: important to you. I've heard you both talk about family, friends,
Speaker 5: fulfilling work, faith as being core values, and I can
Speaker 5: certainly relate to those. So what I'm educating people on
Speaker 5: with progressive pockets is that we also have community values,
Speaker 5: things that we care about. I have loved ones in California.
Speaker 5: They're really worried about the environment because they're looking at
Speaker 5: the wildfires, and they're looking at the droughts, and they're
Speaker 5: also concerned about homelessness. I have loved ones in Florida,
Speaker 5: where you guys are, and especially those who are in Miami.
Speaker 5: They're really worried about the climate in another way, and
Speaker 5: it's even starting to affect what neighborhoods in Miami they're
Speaker 5: thinking about moving to, So they're also worried about the environment.
Speaker 5: I have friends, a really good friend from Indiana, and
Speaker 5: the thing we were just recently talking about, for her,
Speaker 5: what keeps her up at night is animal welfare. So
Speaker 5: for me, I'll bring it to myself. One of my
Speaker 5: values that I think a lot about is the well
Speaker 5: being of women and girls. So we all have community values,
Speaker 5: certain things that we want for society, and those are
Speaker 5: sometimes shaped by our lived experiences or the things that
Speaker 5: we learn as we're growing up. And we all have
Speaker 5: ways that we use our money. So let's take a
Speaker 5: minute to think about all the different ways we use money. Definitely,
Speaker 5: we spend it right, we give some of it away,
Speaker 5: We donate our money. We save some of it for
Speaker 5: a rainy day, or maybe for some big goals that
Speaker 5: we have in the future. If we can, we say,
Speaker 5: we invest some of it so we can someday retire.
Speaker 5: And so when you think about this, all of the
Speaker 5: ways that money is flowing in and flowing out of
Speaker 5: our wallets, we start to see that we're leaving a
Speaker 5: mark on the world. Where we decide to shop has power.
Speaker 5: Where we decide to donate our money has power. Where
Speaker 5: where we bank, where we invest, where we donate. All
Speaker 5: of these things have power. And what I love talking
Speaker 5: about this stuff is it takes back some of that power.
Speaker 5: I think you'll agree with me when I say that
Speaker 5: billionaires shouldn't be the ones who get to shape our world.
Speaker 5: We have our wallets too, and you and I your listeners.
Speaker 5: We know more about what our community needs than some
Speaker 5: billionaire does. So when I talk about voting with our dollars.
Speaker 5: That's really what it's about. It's saying, here's what's important
Speaker 5: to my community. You know, maybe there's a shortage of
Speaker 5: affordable housing, or our neighborhoods are going to be at risk,
Speaker 5: saying here's what's important to my community. We have a
Speaker 5: shortage of affordable housing, or our neighborhoods are going to
Speaker 5: be at risk of rising sea levels, or the women
Speaker 5: and children in my community aren't safe. So when I
Speaker 5: think about where I shop, where I donate, where I invest,
Speaker 5: where I bank, I'm going to be looking for opportunities
Speaker 5: here and there where I can flex my wallet in
Speaker 5: line with the type of world I want to build.
Speaker 3: This is really lovely. I just want to take a
Speaker 3: moment to comment. I just love listening to you talk
Speaker 3: to you. I don't love it when people comment on
Speaker 3: our voices when it comes to our podcast, because usually
Speaker 3: it's negat feedback, but this is positive feedback. I'm just
Speaker 3: really enjoying listening need talk, and then what you're saying
Speaker 3: is so inspiring. I would just want to listen to
Speaker 3: some speech of yours, but here we are, we're having
Speaker 3: a conversation. So I'm going to ask you questions. I
Speaker 3: love what you're describing here. Of all the ways that
Speaker 3: we spend money, they are decisions that we're making, whether
Speaker 3: or not we realize it, and we can be utilizing
Speaker 3: our money in a way that allows us to feed
Speaker 3: into and choose more of the things that are important
Speaker 3: to us. I also recognize for myself when I hear
Speaker 3: some of these things, recognizing that a lot of times
Speaker 3: knowledge leads to responsibility. It's like, Okay, how can I
Speaker 3: know all that there is to know about the back
Speaker 3: end of companies and where the money is going? And
Speaker 3: how much can I really be responsible for knowing and choosing?
Speaker 3: And so with that, for your kind of average, I'm
Speaker 3: going to put myself in that category.
Speaker 1: What would you.
Speaker 3: Say are some of the more simpler ways of figuring
Speaker 3: out which where are the companies and the investment opportunities
Speaker 3: that align with our community values?
Speaker 5: Oh? Absolutely, so shopping locally I want to start there.
Speaker 5: Shopping locally is an easy way to achieve a lot
Speaker 5: of those things at once. So we're supporting a local
Speaker 5: business which creates a healthy local neighborhood and local economy.
Speaker 5: We are probably then buying food that's locally grown and
Speaker 5: in season and so that's healthier for our bodies, and
Speaker 5: we're building relationships with a local shopkeeper and their staff,
Speaker 5: so that is healthier for our community. And shopping locally
Speaker 5: can also be more environmentally friendly because we're not shipping
Speaker 5: things all over the country and the world. So shopping
Speaker 5: locally can be an easy way to achieve a lot
Speaker 5: of those values that someone might have in mind. It
Speaker 5: can be really fun to do this when you're shopping
Speaker 5: for a gift. And the reason I say that is because,
Speaker 5: in addition to achieving all of those things that we
Speaker 5: talked about, you know, healthier for our bodies and our
Speaker 5: communities and the environment, now there's this extra thing of
Speaker 5: you have introduced a loved one to a local business,
Speaker 5: and that kind of multiplies the effect. But sometimes shopping
Speaker 5: locally isn't an option, right, Let's be real about that.
Speaker 5: Maybe they don't have what you need, or you just
Speaker 5: don't have the capacity to shop locally right now, you
Speaker 5: are caring for aging parents or little kids, you're working
Speaker 5: seventy hours a week for whatever reason, some times you
Speaker 5: just can't shop locally, and that's definitely okay.
Speaker 1: In that case.
Speaker 5: I like to look at the labels when I'm shopping.
Speaker 5: For example, you might see a label it has like
Speaker 5: a B with a circle around it. Maybe you've seen
Speaker 5: that before. Yeah, so that's the label for something called
Speaker 5: a B corporation. It's it sounds intimidating, but it's not.
Speaker 5: What it is. A B corp corporation is a company
Speaker 5: that has legally promised that they're not just going to
Speaker 5: try to make money and make profits. They are also
Speaker 5: legally binding themselves to caring about a healthy planet and people.
Speaker 5: So this is a really bold step for a company
Speaker 5: to go through to make this commitment. So I do
Speaker 5: look at the labels for that if you do have time,
Speaker 5: you know, if you do have time, I'm very realistic
Speaker 5: about this. There are score cards online that you can
Speaker 5: look at to show how well a company does on
Speaker 5: certain things. So, for example, maybe you're concerned about, like
Speaker 5: you don't want to buy products that where the company
Speaker 5: used exploitative prison labor. There are score cards online where
Speaker 5: you can really quickly look up to see which companies
Speaker 5: are doing that, or companies that are exploiting black communities,
Speaker 5: or you can find I've even seen websites where if
Speaker 5: you're ready to buy a new car, you can kind
Speaker 5: of look at how green the various options are, or
Speaker 5: even you know, the other day I saw a website
Speaker 5: for real estate listings. If you're in the market to
Speaker 5: buy a new home and you want to look at
Speaker 5: a more sustainable home that's for sale. You know, in
Speaker 5: the past, you kind of just had to build a
Speaker 5: new home yourself. But nowadays there's so many different things.
Speaker 5: And then the last thing, I'll suggest, this is kind
Speaker 5: of old school. So this is where the geriatric millennial
Speaker 5: in me comes out. Okay, so it's old school, but
Speaker 5: I like to pick up the phone and get in
Speaker 5: touch with a friend to kind of ask their opinions.
Speaker 5: We all have that friend who does all the research, right,
Speaker 5: I know, if I'm going to buy I mean it's
Speaker 5: a separate example, but if I'm going to buy a laptop,
Speaker 5: I know which friend to call that has done all
Speaker 5: the research and definitely made a spreadsheet and can in
Speaker 5: five minutes help me make a decision. And I mean,
Speaker 5: I'm happy to be that friend for people too. I love,
Speaker 5: you know, reading about this stuff, talking to experts researching it.
Speaker 5: So I'm happy to be your friend and you can,
Speaker 5: you know, definitely send questions to me. Anytime as all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the friend thing was actually the first thing that
Speaker 1: I thought of, because I so, I, like you said,
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of time to purchase products locally,
Speaker 1: but I will purchase services locally. So I'll try to
Speaker 1: avoid franchises and chains and maybe places where I don't
Speaker 1: think they will pay their people as much. They're the
Speaker 1: easiest things to find. I try to avoid the easiest
Speaker 1: things to find by like asking friends on Facebook and
Speaker 1: texting friend like group chats to see like their recommendations
Speaker 1: for people that are maybe harder to find, but like
Speaker 1: in business for themselves, so like having worked for a
Speaker 1: local business, a local service business like those are just
Speaker 1: as important to support versus like the big you know,
Speaker 1: big service like franchises. So it's not just products, it's
Speaker 1: also services. And that's how I do it. Is just
Speaker 1: like friends. And I had a friend who I was
Speaker 1: thinking about getting my car detailed because I was looking
Speaker 1: at it and the milk stains are everywhere, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't think I have the mental capacity
Speaker 1: to clean this. Uh, And then instantly she's posting on
Speaker 1: Facebook a couple hours later about how she just got
Speaker 1: her card detailed because her dog vomited in it, and
Speaker 1: the guy did a great job and he said he's
Speaker 1: slow like business wise, and I was like, oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: this is it? So like also being the person who
Speaker 1: is sharing like people in your community, maybe you can't
Speaker 1: purchase a service from them or a product from them,
Speaker 1: but sharing is as a helpful way to help others
Speaker 1: figure out how to keep money as locally as possible.
Speaker 5: One hundred percent, I am picking up what you're putting down. Yes. Amen.
Speaker 1: So for someone with a tight budget, how can we
Speaker 1: make conscious purchasing choices? Because for a lot like it's
Speaker 1: very easy to think that being able to you know,
Speaker 1: quote unquote quote with your dollar or being able to
Speaker 1: make better purchasing options is for uh, it's a privilege,
Speaker 1: right And to an extent that's true. It costs more
Speaker 1: money to buy products from certified B corp companies, So
Speaker 1: how do we, as people of limited means, how can
Speaker 1: we venture into that or do the most with what
Speaker 1: little we have?
Speaker 5: Yeah, And you know, it's it's funny because it's something
Speaker 5: that you've talked about before on your show. I've heard,
Speaker 5: you know, other guests talk about the funny thing about
Speaker 5: being frugal is that it's often the better environmental choice too,
Speaker 5: and it's so funny how that is. You know. So
Speaker 5: I've found that when I'm buying things, I try to
Speaker 5: buy them used if I can. If I need to
Speaker 5: buy something new, then buying something that's more durable, that's
Speaker 5: higher quality so that I don't have to replace it
Speaker 5: as often. And it's funny that that's more frugal, but
Speaker 5: it's also more environmentally sustainable too. And then beyond shopping,
Speaker 5: there are other ways we can use our money to
Speaker 5: build up our communities without spending a dollar. So let's
Speaker 5: say you're saving for something that's important to you. Maybe
Speaker 5: that's why you're on this type budget. Is you're saving
Speaker 5: for your first emergency fund that can take. That can
Speaker 5: be an amazing feeling.
Speaker 4: To achieve that.
Speaker 5: I remember when, after years of really focusing on it,
Speaker 5: I was able to create my own emergency fund. And
Speaker 5: you know, I did the math how many months of
Speaker 5: living expenses I needed, and it removed a lot of
Speaker 5: stress from my life. You know, if your card needs
Speaker 5: a repair, if you lose your job, if you have
Speaker 5: a medical like a dental emergency. I mean, I'm not
Speaker 5: a doctor, but I'm willing to bet that. You know,
Speaker 5: having an emergency account can change your life. You know,
Speaker 5: you could probably lower your blood pressure and probably get
Speaker 5: better sleep. But here's what I wanted to say about
Speaker 5: that is not only are you improving your life, but
Speaker 5: you could improve somebody else's life too. And that comes
Speaker 5: in when you're thinking about where you stash that money,
Speaker 5: or maybe in your case, you're saving up for your
Speaker 5: first home and and saving up your down payment or something.
Speaker 5: But it's very powerful where we decide to put that money.
Speaker 5: You can put that cash in a big bank, you
Speaker 5: definitely can. And there are some banks that are doing
Speaker 5: good things with our money. They are funding affordable housing
Speaker 5: in our communities. They're making loans to small businesses and
Speaker 5: people that typically don't get the funding. But it's a
Speaker 5: good idea to check and just know what your bank
Speaker 5: is doing. There's a website that I use called mightydeposits
Speaker 5: dot com and I like it because you can kind
Speaker 5: of get like a scorecard on your bank. Because what
Speaker 5: some banks are doing with our cash, I mean, it's
Speaker 5: not just sitting there. Some banks are funding politicians or
Speaker 5: organizations that might not match up with your values. And
Speaker 5: some banks are not fair lenders. You know, they discriminate
Speaker 5: against certain communities when it comes to giving mortgages or
Speaker 5: small business loans. And so what you can do is
Speaker 5: you can think about where am I banking? And if
Speaker 5: you're not ready to move all your money over, maybe
Speaker 5: it's the cash that you don't really touch on a
Speaker 5: regular basis, like your emergency cash savings or your down
Speaker 5: payment on that first home. Because there are some banks
Speaker 5: that you can also choose. Let's say you want to
Speaker 5: get away from the big banks, you're ready for that step.
Speaker 5: There are nonprofit banks that exist. There are community banks.
Speaker 5: They're incredible. Your money is just as safe as it
Speaker 5: is with a big bank. It's still FDIC. It ensured
Speaker 5: you are not going to lose your money. But they
Speaker 5: are nonprofits and so what they're doing with your money,
Speaker 5: their responsibility is to protect your money and to make
Speaker 5: it accessible to low income communities for example. It's amazing.
Speaker 5: So if you're looking for one of those, all you
Speaker 5: have to do is look online and you're going to
Speaker 5: look up something called a CDFI and that stands for
Speaker 5: a Community development financial institution. So even without spending a
Speaker 5: single dollar, you can still be flexing some power with
Speaker 5: your cash.
Speaker 1: Yes, I think this is the most underrated way to
Speaker 1: make a big difference. And we even change when we
Speaker 1: refinanced our mortgage, made sure we refinanced with our credit
Speaker 1: union that we knew was doing good stuff in the
Speaker 1: community because we over fifteen years will pay them a
Speaker 1: lot of interest. And who's going to get that interest
Speaker 1: payment our community or a big bank. And so yes,
Speaker 1: I think this is and I'd not spend any extra money.
Speaker 1: And actually our credit union had a lower interest rate
Speaker 1: than some of the other banks that we looked at,
Speaker 1: So like, this is such a powerful way to make
Speaker 1: sure money is your money is doing good things.
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, or you know, I mean I have to
Speaker 5: think that a lot of other listeners like me, you know,
Speaker 5: listeners of your show, have side hustles or small businesses,
Speaker 5: or you know, maybe they have some extra way that
Speaker 5: they earn cash on the side. You know, that could
Speaker 5: be a time when you're setting up your bank account
Speaker 5: for that new side hustle where you go, you know
Speaker 5: what I'm going to go with a like a credit union,
Speaker 5: a community bank of some kind of nonprofit bank, and
Speaker 5: that way you're kind of setting up your side hustle,
Speaker 5: your small business with the values that kind of match
Speaker 5: who you are as a person. There's something I don't know,
Speaker 5: something really cool about that.
Speaker 3: You've given such tangible steps like resources, places we can go,
Speaker 3: items to be looking up and then I love to
Speaker 3: gig how You've mentioned the various ways that we are
Speaker 3: engaging with our money, from giving to spending, to saving
Speaker 3: to investing.
Speaker 4: Even amongst those, I'm.
Speaker 3: Curious if you have thoughts on where would be the
Speaker 3: best place to start if someone was to put their
Speaker 3: first foot in front of the other. Is there one
Speaker 3: category that you think it like the barrier to entry
Speaker 3: is lower there for beginning to explore kind of using
Speaker 3: our money towards our values.
Speaker 5: Hmmm, that's such a great question. I think probably the
Speaker 5: first thing I would advise is not to get I
Speaker 5: know there's a new way of saying this, but again,
Speaker 5: as an elder millennial, you know, decision paralysis. I think
Speaker 5: it's the main thing to not get overwhelmed with the
Speaker 5: research that you end up not making any changes at all.
Speaker 5: Sometimes we can fall down the rabbit hole and never
Speaker 5: get out of it. You know, we have a pretty
Speaker 5: good idea. I'll use myself as an example. So giving
Speaker 5: was something that we did as a family sporadically here
Speaker 5: and there wasn't super organized, we didn't have like an
Speaker 5: annual goal of how much we were going to give.
Speaker 5: And at some time, at some point a few years ago,
Speaker 5: we decided now we actually want to make a goal.
Speaker 5: And that has been very, very satisfying feeling, because I
Speaker 5: think that having a looser grip on our money has
Speaker 5: honestly made us have more of an abundancy mindset. And
Speaker 5: it's almost like we're proving to ourselves by helping other
Speaker 5: people that if we someday need help, we will receive it. So,
Speaker 5: you know, the next step for me was my investments,
Speaker 5: and I absolutely had decision paralysis. So I'm not a
Speaker 5: complicated investor. I'm not one of those you know, daily
Speaker 5: reading the newspaper making investment decisions based on that. I
Speaker 5: am not that person, and also that's proven not to
Speaker 5: be the best strategy anyway. So I just buy index funds,
Speaker 5: your regular old index funds. And I had it in
Speaker 5: my heart that I wanted to kind of clean up
Speaker 5: my investments in terms of matching my values. So I
Speaker 5: wanted more like socially responsible investments, and I found one
Speaker 5: that was a good option. But then I made the
Speaker 5: mistake of holding out in case I found something better.
Speaker 5: You already know what happened. A month past, I had
Speaker 5: not invested the money. I was looking for something better.
Speaker 5: Six months past, a year past, another year past, and
Speaker 5: finally I just had this realization of what am I doing.
Speaker 5: This is not getting a tattoo. It's not a permanent decision.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: I can choose something that's good enough for now, and
Speaker 5: then I can change my mind and if I find
Speaker 5: something better, I can move that money anytime. I think
Speaker 5: that getting overwhelmed with trying to find something better can
Speaker 5: be the biggest mistake. So it kind of depends on
Speaker 5: where you are. For me, that's how I started, And
Speaker 5: then I think next for me was probably thinking about
Speaker 5: probably my banking and that was scary because I don't know,
Speaker 5: I just kind of thought, what a logistical.
Speaker 1: Pain it is.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but that's why I like the idea of starting
Speaker 5: with like something that you're saving for, like our emergency
Speaker 5: cash savings. We don't touch that all the time, Thank goodness.
Speaker 5: That means we're not having emergencies. I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 5: And then also with you know, like side hustles, like
Speaker 5: that that has been like an easier place for me
Speaker 5: to start, that's not as logistically overwhelming.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so helpful, And I'm sure our listeners can
Speaker 3: relate to this a ton I can relate to it.
Speaker 3: At least I'll speak for me in the start. Start
Speaker 3: with whatever feels the most low hanging fruit in it,
Speaker 3: and do what we can to avoid feeling to overwhelm
Speaker 3: by it to the point where yeah, we're paralyzed and
Speaker 3: we don't do anything. Small things in the right direction,
Speaker 3: even if it's not perfection, can still be super meaningful.
Speaker 3: So receiving that message speaking of small things in the
Speaker 3: right direction though, and that kind of permanent. But you're
Speaker 3: never gonna want to take it back.
Speaker 6: The Bill of the week, that's right, It's time for
Speaker 6: the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 2: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you paid off your mortgage, Maybe.
Speaker 2: Your car died and you're happy to not have to
Speaker 2: pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 6: Duck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill
Speaker 6: of the week.
Speaker 4: Gigi.
Speaker 1: We may not have prepared you for the yelling, but
Speaker 1: I know you knew it was coming, and we want
Speaker 1: to ask you like we ask all of our guests
Speaker 1: and our listeners, what is your bill of the week?
Speaker 5: Oh man? Okay, I just got back from visiting my parents,
Speaker 5: and I need to start by telling you that we
Speaker 5: are a frugal family. Okay. By the time I was
Speaker 5: twelve years old, I could teach someone the basics of
Speaker 5: comparison shopping and frugality at the grocery store. I remember
Speaker 5: saving to buy a backpack when I was in high school,
Speaker 5: and then taking such good care of it that I
Speaker 5: used it into my thirties. I started working. Yeah, I
Speaker 5: started working when I was around fourteen, at a lot
Speaker 5: of jobs in high school. My parents were able to
Speaker 5: pay all of our household bills, so I had the
Speaker 5: choice of being able to save that money that I made,
Speaker 5: and I did, and I was able to save enough
Speaker 5: cash to buy barely what you could call a car
Speaker 5: and the textbooks for my first semester of college. So
Speaker 5: I'm trying to paint the picture here so you understand
Speaker 5: how funny this is what happened a few days ago
Speaker 5: this weekend. So I was getting my parents and they're
Speaker 5: driving me to the airport, and my dad takes an
Speaker 5: exit before the airport. He pulls into this ATM to
Speaker 5: get cash, and I'm like, okay, Boomer, like, who still
Speaker 5: uses cash?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 5: And he hands it over to my mom. She doesn't
Speaker 5: put it in her wallet. She's holding these twenty dollars bills. Okay.
Speaker 5: And then we pull into the airport. We get into
Speaker 5: the drop off lane and we're hugging and kissing goodbye.
Speaker 5: I'm crying because even though it's been twenty five years
Speaker 5: since I left home, I still cry every time I
Speaker 5: say bye to my parents. We're very close, and my
Speaker 5: mom hands me the twenty dollars bills and I'm like,
Speaker 5: what is this? And she says, your dad and I
Speaker 5: discussed it last night. We want you to take this cash.
Speaker 5: And I'm confused.
Speaker 4: What is this for?
Speaker 5: She says, I know we raised you to be frugal,
Speaker 5: but we want you to have fun too. Now, I
Speaker 5: want to be very clear in saying I'm frugal. I
Speaker 5: am not deprived. I spend on the things that I value.
Speaker 5: So I'm going back and forth with them. We're in
Speaker 5: the drop off lane. The traffic control lady with the
Speaker 5: fluorescent vest is trying to get us to like move
Speaker 5: so other passengers can get dropped off. I'm trying to
Speaker 5: put the money back in my mom's wallet. She will
Speaker 5: not take it. And so finally, you know, I'm getting embarrassed,
Speaker 5: and so I say, fine, thank you mom and dad,
Speaker 5: And I guess they can still read me pretty well
Speaker 5: because my mom looks into my eyes and she says,
Speaker 5: I can tell you're thinking about doing something responsible with this.
Speaker 5: I want you to do something frivolous with your friends.
Speaker 6: Oh my.
Speaker 5: And my dad, in one of those ways that only
Speaker 5: a day can really guilt. Tribute says, if you want
Speaker 5: to make us happy, you'll go and have fun with
Speaker 5: your friends with this money. So that's my bill of
Speaker 5: the week. I have some twenty dollars bills I have
Speaker 5: to spend frivolously with my friends.
Speaker 1: Really yes, parforming?
Speaker 5: Yeah, like I know, what are you now taking suggestions?
Speaker 5: I mean, one of my group chats right now, my
Speaker 5: girlfriends are talking about a new Fenti mascara, which apparently
Speaker 5: is like fifteen dollars a pop. So I'm like, okay,
Speaker 5: everybody can get a mascara. I think I'll have some
Speaker 5: twenty dollars bills after that, so I'm very open to suggestions.
Speaker 1: Wow, frivolous I don't know, a petty maybe goes to
Speaker 1: and this shows how this shows how frugal I am.
Speaker 3: I've recently begun really honing in the definition of for
Speaker 3: just to be resourceful, and I've noticed for me in particular,
Speaker 3: I want to squeeze as much out of my money.
Speaker 3: Even if I were charged with fun and frivolity like
Speaker 3: you were, it would still be how much fun blowing
Speaker 3: the decisions can I make with this How.
Speaker 1: Many bad decisions can I make with this money? As
Speaker 1: many as possible?
Speaker 5: One hundred percent. I mean, half of me wants to
Speaker 5: walk down the street with my friends and just hand
Speaker 5: out twenty dollars bills because how fun. I actually think
Speaker 5: that would be a memory we would have forever. It
Speaker 5: would be so fun. And then maybe for the other
Speaker 5: half we go to like I don't know, sweet Grain
Speaker 5: and get some lunch. I mean that, actually do I
Speaker 5: even have enough for that? Nowadays it's like twenty dollars
Speaker 5: a person to have lunch.
Speaker 3: So one of you can eat through watch this is amazing. Gee, gee,
Speaker 3: my heart is warmed. Your parents sound like the salt
Speaker 3: of the earth, and I love I love the part
Speaker 3: about your father and I talked about this last night,
Speaker 3: Like it was a discussion that we're going to stop
Speaker 3: at the ATM and pull out cash and how much cash?
Speaker 3: And how are we going to tell her that she
Speaker 3: has to spend it on having fun. Like the whole thing,
Speaker 3: the whole scene is adorable story. It's a great bill.
Speaker 3: If any of you all listening have a bill that
Speaker 3: you want to submit, if it's about your heart warming
Speaker 3: boomer parents, or about still using cash, or what you
Speaker 3: would do with a twenty dollar bill, or what you
Speaker 3: have done with a twenty dollars bill, or what you
Speaker 3: like to do as a person named Bill.
Speaker 1: Don't admit to anything illegal on my podcast. Don't. I'm
Speaker 1: going to say that, don't admit to anything illegal here.
Speaker 4: You can't protect you won't air it.
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't promise from friends.
Speaker 3: Podcast dot com, slash Bill leave it for us, and
Speaker 3: now it's time for.
Speaker 1: All right today. I love it so cry love it? Okay,
Speaker 1: all right? What is one way that you like your favorite?
Speaker 1: Way you align your spending with what matters to you
Speaker 1: your favorite.
Speaker 5: You know it's not exactly spending, but I guess it's
Speaker 5: still a money thing. I like to try to talk
Speaker 5: to other women about money, even though it's taboo, especially
Speaker 5: younger women. I'll I like to push myself to open
Speaker 5: up and talk about you know, how I think about
Speaker 5: financial security as a woman, or I've been in situations
Speaker 5: where I knew that a woman was being underpaid and
Speaker 5: so I had information about that. So I try to
Speaker 5: push myself out of my comfort zone to really talk
Speaker 5: about this taboo subject. So you know, it's not exactly spending,
Speaker 5: but it is a money thing that I try to do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, advocacy that is super important.
Speaker 3: Then that's the like knowledge, parity and responsibility piece.
Speaker 4: But you're doing it.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to There will never be enough people, especially women,
Speaker 1: talking about money. I mean, we all got to get
Speaker 1: coffee and talk about what we're buying, what we're making,
Speaker 1: what we're investing in, to just demystify it.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 1: It's people are scared to talk about money because they're
Speaker 1: not experts. And if we just like put a kebash
Speaker 1: on that idea and you don't have to be an expert,
Speaker 1: you just share, share what you've learned. That's how Jill
Speaker 1: and I started this podcast. Share what we've.
Speaker 5: Learned, don't Yeah, absolutely got the credad meals. But but see,
Speaker 5: and by the way, there are a lot of dudes
Speaker 5: talking about money on many podcasts do not know what
Speaker 5: they're talking about. So that's why it's important if there's
Speaker 5: shows like yours where Okay, maybe you're not the world
Speaker 5: expert on money, but you're an expert on your money
Speaker 5: and decisions you've made, and you're open and willing to
Speaker 5: share that with others. I think that's so important.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, I love that for me, Jen.
Speaker 1: So I already shared how we So we bank at
Speaker 1: a credit union, our mortgages at a credit well, one
Speaker 1: of our mortgages is at a credit union, and so
Speaker 1: that's probably my favorite way. But I will also say
Speaker 1: that my favorite, like my stick it to the man
Speaker 1: favorite way, is every time I say no to buying
Speaker 1: something because in my head, I'm like, I am telling
Speaker 1: that that company that the way they are doing things,
Speaker 1: this fast fashion, fast product turnover, cheap crap sort of
Speaker 1: system does not jive with me, and I will not
Speaker 1: play into it. I am not a pond in your game.
Speaker 1: I am not going to fund your yacht.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, I'm gonna stand up exactly.
Speaker 1: So just not buying, not everything I buy a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff. But I love it that every time I
Speaker 1: say no, I feel good.
Speaker 3: I have flip of mindset too, Like with a no,
Speaker 3: you're saying I'm not contributing to your yacht. That's that's
Speaker 3: fun for those of us who are spicy and feisty
Speaker 3: but have trouble in pulse purchases, like yeah, there's your
Speaker 3: there's your mantra, that's great.
Speaker 1: Every time I don't every time I don't subscribe to
Speaker 1: Amazon Prime, I say, I'm not funding your spaceship. So
Speaker 1: that's also when people are like, why don't you have Prime,
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't need any more spaceships in
Speaker 1: my life.
Speaker 5: Oh man. I felt that in my spirit.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, sorry, she'll go no.
Speaker 4: It's so good. I don't have anything quite as fun
Speaker 4: as that.
Speaker 3: But one of the things I feel, I guess i'll
Speaker 3: use this word a little proud of, is my husband
Speaker 3: and I just have one one vehicle.
Speaker 4: And that decision, I.
Speaker 3: Feel helps in many ways the community, the environment, but
Speaker 3: also our wallets, and so it also saves us a
Speaker 3: ton of money to only have one vehicle. It's rarely
Speaker 3: a sacrifice, thankfully, because we both work from home, but
Speaker 3: it does free up some money for other things that
Speaker 3: we find important. And one of the things I've been realizing,
Speaker 3: because I do still keep a transaction inventory essentially as
Speaker 3: I go through our money every month, it is really
Speaker 3: valuable to me to give gifts to people and to
Speaker 3: be as generous as I can be with my money.
Speaker 3: And I think connecting those dots that some of these
Speaker 3: larger decisions I've made on housing and transportation is what
Speaker 3: allows for some of that generosity, which I'm so glad
Speaker 3: you brought up, Gigi. It's a topic we don't cover
Speaker 3: all that often. We've done a few episodes on it,
Speaker 3: but I think is really important, especially for those of
Speaker 3: us who even feel as though we're on a tight
Speaker 3: budget or we want to be frugal, but kind of
Speaker 3: the ways in which we can still be generous where
Speaker 3: there are opportunities to give back, whether in time or
Speaker 3: money or other resources. So those are the things that
Speaker 3: feel like most life giving to me are the choices
Speaker 3: I can can make that create margin for giving to
Speaker 3: other people with whatever resource I do have. So there
Speaker 3: we all have, gg So you've been a wonderful guest,
Speaker 3: and I know we all want more from you.
Speaker 4: So tell us where we can find you.
Speaker 5: Okay. You can hear from me every week on my podcast.
Speaker 5: It's called Progressive Pockets. You won't be surprised to find
Speaker 5: out that the website is progressivepockets dot com. And I
Speaker 5: guess I joined Twitter right at the exact moment that
Speaker 5: so many people were leaving, but I am there by
Speaker 5: Twitter account is Progressive Pockets if you remove all the vowels.
Speaker 5: And I really enjoyed talking with you both today. Thank
Speaker 5: you for inviting me.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot more empowered right now. I
Speaker 1: knew a lot of this, but it is easy to
Speaker 1: lose perspective when there's so much going on.
Speaker 3: I think these are the reminders that we need to
Speaker 3: just do a check in. It's not necessarily something that
Speaker 3: has to be top of mind every single day, every minute,
Speaker 3: but keeping a pulse on Okay, is my money going
Speaker 3: towards the things that I say are valuable both to
Speaker 3: me and my family, as well as the things that
Speaker 3: I find valuable for my community, the causes that I
Speaker 3: want to be supporting. It's just a really good check in.
Speaker 3: And I think anytime someone can take us back to
Speaker 3: the basics like she did of here's all the ways
Speaker 3: we utilize our money, and at each one of these
Speaker 3: building blocks, there's decisions we can make that are really
Speaker 3: can be really beneficial and aligned with where we want
Speaker 3: our money to be going. I just and as you know,
Speaker 3: I just enjoyed listening to her. So that was a
Speaker 3: fun one for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so much flexibility, so much pick one thing
Speaker 1: and just start there and then move on to the
Speaker 1: next thing. Let's not get overwhelmed with all there is
Speaker 1: to do. Let's start in the lowest barriers to entry
Speaker 1: and then move on from there. But thank you so
Speaker 1: much for listening. We are so thankful for you, and
Speaker 1: we love reading your kind reviews. Especially loved this one
Speaker 1: from Ellen Sator It happened to be five stars. It's
Speaker 1: called my weekly addiction. She says, Jen and Jill never
Speaker 1: fail to inspire me to dig a little deeper and
Speaker 1: do a little more for my wallet. With this help,
Speaker 1: I've watched my savings grow, my food waste diminish. I
Speaker 1: love the variety of topics and different ways I can
Speaker 1: think about aligning my spending with my values. Forgal friends
Speaker 1: compliments my efforts and keeps me motivated. I love to
Speaker 1: listen to them while working on my side hustle bonus
Speaker 1: points for never being stuck and always making me feel
Speaker 1: connected about life and spending.
Speaker 3: Thank you whoa, Ellen, those are some really great words.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much being so spensific about the things
Speaker 3: that you enjoy and letting us get a little bit
Speaker 3: of a glimpse of the specific ways this podcast has
Speaker 3: helped you. It's really cool to see that what we're
Speaker 3: talking about is actually helping you have more margin in
Speaker 3: your finances and diminish food waste.
Speaker 4: That is great.
Speaker 3: I love the variety of topics we cover too. That's
Speaker 3: very fun for me.
Speaker 4: It isn't stuffy, You're right, Ellen.
Speaker 5: Wow.
Speaker 4: Thanks so much everyone for listening.
Speaker 3: Thank you all for your kind of reviews, and if
Speaker 3: you've not left us a review yet, please do so.
Speaker 3: Wherever you are listening to this, it really helps us
Speaker 3: a ton and it's another way you can make me happy.
Speaker 1: Hey, Yes, we'll see you next time. Gorugle Friends is
Speaker 1: produced by Eric Sirianni.
Speaker 4: Okay, Jen, we have to we have to tell our friends.
Speaker 1: Oh, there's so many things. There's so many things. What
Speaker 1: do we have to tell them?
Speaker 3: Okay, So you and I, as you know, hung out.
Speaker 3: Last night we went to a when I have books, Yes, yeah,
Speaker 3: we went to a book signing of our friend who
Speaker 3: lives here in Saint Pete near Us, who just put
Speaker 3: out her book.
Speaker 4: Twelve Trips in twelve Months.
Speaker 3: And we got to get a glimpse of our futures
Speaker 3: in about three to four months where we will be
Speaker 3: doing book signings. Please come, by the way, please come
Speaker 3: to those. Yeah, and oh it was so fun. And
Speaker 3: we bought a book on the company card, as we do.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 3: And when we were in line to purchase this book,
Speaker 3: Jen saw a sticker. It was some sort of turtle
Speaker 3: theme with a pun, some sort of turtle pun.
Speaker 1: It was a turtle and it said shell. No, yes, right,
Speaker 1: it was so good. I love turtles. This is not
Speaker 1: a thing I share very widely, but I love turtles
Speaker 1: not just because of that meme with the little boy.
Speaker 1: I loved them way before and that was just annoying
Speaker 1: for me. But I actually do love turtles.
Speaker 3: Yes, And this was a very cute, very punny little
Speaker 3: sticker and Jen so adorably grabs it season immediately falls
Speaker 3: in love, turns to me and says, can we get
Speaker 3: this too? Because I have now taken over the business finances,
Speaker 3: so I let people know whether or not they can
Speaker 3: have asking permission, and my immediate reaction is like, yes,
Speaker 3: of course, it's a sticker. Literally, at this same exact time,
Speaker 3: our eyes go to the stickers price, and we both
Speaker 3: remark at the same time, oh not for four dollars.
Speaker 1: Literally what we said at the same time, oh not
Speaker 1: for four dollars.
Speaker 3: We refuse, even when we're using the company card to
Speaker 3: purchase the thing. Both of us have no value for
Speaker 3: getting the sticker at a whopping four dollars.
Speaker 4: Shell, No, it wasn't worth it.
Speaker 1: Shell no, Shell no. And I don't know what price
Speaker 1: I would have paid for it anymore, like I don't
Speaker 1: know what I thought.
Speaker 3: A dollar fifty honestly, that's yeah, I would have paid.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would have paid.
Speaker 3: That, maybe even to twenty five, but four dollars.
Speaker 1: But just I would have packed the fifty for sure.
Speaker 3: There were so many things that culminated to just make
Speaker 3: this a hilarious moment where we both were on board
Speaker 3: with getting it we knew would be on the company cart,
Speaker 3: and our eyes went to the price of it at
Speaker 3: the same exact time, and we both had the same
Speaker 3: exact reaction.
Speaker 4: And we didn't. We did not buy the sticker. We
Speaker 4: bought the book.
Speaker 3: We did not buy the sticker. Could afford it? Yes,
Speaker 3: did we value it? Shall No, wasn't it wasn't worth
Speaker 3: it us?
Speaker 4: And then we laugh about it.
Speaker 1: We laughed very loudly, and I think we made some
Speaker 1: people uncomfortable.
Speaker 3: Probably we didn't know what to do with us in
Speaker 3: a bookstore at night.
Speaker 4: Yeah that's true.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well but that was Yeah, that was a moment
Speaker 1: that I won't forget, shall know.
Speaker 3: Yes, the frugal friends out in the wild, literally living out,
Speaker 3: practicing what we preach and really becoming one one person.
Speaker 3: Slowly but surely we we the same, We the same