Speaker 1: Episode ninety, how to save money on transportation costs. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity rights, and live with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill getting around and around town. Go
Speaker 1: Please say welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name
Speaker 1: is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are
Speaker 1: talking about how to save money on transportation. This is
Speaker 1: a request we get a lot for this episode topic,
Speaker 1: and we did an episode on transportation as it relates
Speaker 1: to cars and car maintenance. That's episode ten. So if
Speaker 1: you're just trying to save money on getting your car around,
Speaker 1: head back into the archives and listen to that one.
Speaker 1: It's true cost to own a car, Ways to save
Speaker 1: on maintenance, how much car you can afford, stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Today we're talking we're going to talk about cars. We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about other things too, So before we get
Speaker 1: into that, how are you doing today, Jail? Oh? Wow,
Speaker 1: you're throwing the curveball, do you? I do? You thought
Speaker 1: I was going to throw to sponsors, but I was.
Speaker 1: I'm doing that. I'm feeling good. The sun shining, Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at your face, which is also like the sun.
Speaker 1: How are you. I'm so good, I'm I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to get into this episode. So now let's get into
Speaker 1: our responsors. Do it also brought to you by consolidating,
Speaker 1: whittling down anything and everything and to manageable, manageable tasks,
Speaker 1: bite sized pieces. Want to eat your veggies but you
Speaker 1: hate how they taste, Consolidate it in a juice. I
Speaker 1: want to go a lot of places, but don't want
Speaker 1: to waste gas. Consolidate it in one trip. Consolid eating,
Speaker 1: just mash it together. It's better that way. M I
Speaker 1: feel like you it's not juice, but like a smoothie,
Speaker 1: you should put the veggies in a smoothie because then
Speaker 1: you're taking out all the fiber. That's what I meant.
Speaker 1: It's something you drink, So it's a juice to me
Speaker 1: for sure. Anyways, blended, blended, consolidated in your blender. Yes,
Speaker 1: come packed it fantastic, fantastic. So we are going to
Speaker 1: talk about saving money on transportation. Car payments are a
Speaker 1: huge burden on a lot of people. I think car
Speaker 1: dealerships make it sound like you can afford cars regardless
Speaker 1: of how much they cost, which doesn't seem ethical. But
Speaker 1: that's neither here nor They're neither here nor there whether
Speaker 1: this is an ethical, moral issue or not, right, So
Speaker 1: we're exploring that at and we are just talking about
Speaker 1: different ways that you can combat the culture that says
Speaker 1: you need a car to drive and if there are
Speaker 1: two adults in a home, you need two cars, maybe more,
Speaker 1: who knows. So yeah, we're gonna talk talk about alternatives.
Speaker 1: And our first article is UM from Families for Financial
Speaker 1: Freedom dot com and it is thirty Frugal Friends, Love
Speaker 1: all the f's and that one all the fs and
Speaker 1: it's thirty five ways to slash your transportation costs. What
Speaker 1: did you think about this one, Jill? I like the
Speaker 1: categories that they break it down into of how to
Speaker 1: save on transportation costs one saving when buying a car,
Speaker 1: to saving on commuting and travel, three saving on maintenance
Speaker 1: and repairs, and four saving on auto insurance. So within
Speaker 1: these four category it gives some tips. So I liked
Speaker 1: that wherever you find yourself needing to kind of reduce
Speaker 1: some spending, they've got some tips for you. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: the first one is we'll talk about save money on
Speaker 1: the costs of buying a car UM and I'm feeling
Speaker 1: this one particularly personally. So I bought a car. I
Speaker 1: paid cash for a Hunday Tucson Um in February of
Speaker 1: last year, so almost a year ago. And I was
Speaker 1: set that I needed. I was bringing a child into
Speaker 1: the world, and so I needed a nearly new compact
Speaker 1: SUV and that is what my mind said that I needed.
Speaker 1: And I put down eighteen thousand dollars after dealer fees
Speaker 1: on this beautiful Hyundai Tucson Um. But I'm finding now
Speaker 1: that I didn't need to spend that much money to
Speaker 1: like trans port my child. I I was definitely in
Speaker 1: this pregnancy place of like wanting the safest, newest thing,
Speaker 1: and it's and I mean, I'm not perfect. I can
Speaker 1: get like anybody else and just make these purchases that
Speaker 1: I look back on and say, why did I spend
Speaker 1: so much money when I could have I could have
Speaker 1: spent half. I could have spent half that, so I
Speaker 1: would have been more comfortable sticking around twelve and not
Speaker 1: getting as many features as I did. So Number one
Speaker 1: is by a smaller or otherwise more economical car, so
Speaker 1: that that when I'm feeling personally right, yeah, I wrote
Speaker 1: that one down too. I think that's in the future
Speaker 1: for Eric and I, of we have a we have
Speaker 1: a mid sized suv right now, mostly because we need
Speaker 1: it to haul our home around, so we can't not
Speaker 1: have a vehicle can pull the weight of our home.
Speaker 1: But as far as another car goes, if we need
Speaker 1: another car, which that's going to come up in this conversation,
Speaker 1: would be a smaller one. We don't need to have
Speaker 1: this massive thing going down the road at seven miles
Speaker 1: a gallon. So that's fuel efficiency I think is becoming
Speaker 1: more and more important to me, especially as Yeah, if
Speaker 1: you drive a lot, if you live in the middle
Speaker 1: of nowhere and you drive a ton, that's a really
Speaker 1: important consideration. Yeah, I guess. I guess mine is actually
Speaker 1: more of number two, which is by less expensive car
Speaker 1: to save money, but they both. Yeah, yours is definitely
Speaker 1: more the economical side, but it's practical for you right now.
Speaker 1: And different cars are appropriate in different seasons too, So
Speaker 1: I can see myself very soon in the future buying
Speaker 1: a minivan. And I wanted to avoid buying a minivan,
Speaker 1: and that is how I got this Tucson. And now
Speaker 1: I'm thinking I should have just done it. I had
Speaker 1: too much pride, and it costs me more money, and
Speaker 1: that is and I live with that now. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think the rest of these tips within this
Speaker 1: category are kind of pointing to the same thing, but
Speaker 1: I'll focus on number three, which is commit today to
Speaker 1: never have a car loan again. And so we recognize
Speaker 1: this is easier said than done. This is a foreign
Speaker 1: concept for a lot of people of why not just
Speaker 1: pay the two fifty two six dollars a months depending
Speaker 1: on where you land with your car, then shelling out
Speaker 1: a whole ton of money. And the reason is because
Speaker 1: over time you lose money on that thing of paying interest,
Speaker 1: not just owning it, not not having that to be
Speaker 1: able to sell you You're losing money on that transaction.
Speaker 1: So where you are able to save up and start
Speaker 1: economical of maybe you're able to buy a two thousand
Speaker 1: dollar car, beat that thing into the ground. It owes
Speaker 1: you nothing, you only spend two thousand dollars on it,
Speaker 1: uh sell it for parts, and then bootstrap your way
Speaker 1: up to that vehicle that you want that's ideal for
Speaker 1: your family. There's a lot of other ways to to
Speaker 1: look at this and encourage you to read this article.
Speaker 1: Go back to episode ten. We're not going to linger
Speaker 1: on this idea for long, but just know that not
Speaker 1: having a car payment is one of the biggest things
Speaker 1: you can do in saving money. Here best the best
Speaker 1: way to save money on car expenses is to not
Speaker 1: have a car payment. So so we'll enter into the
Speaker 1: next section, which is save money on commuting and travel.
Speaker 1: So this next one is to drive less to save
Speaker 1: money on gas and the mileage, increasing your mileage which
Speaker 1: decreases your resale value. There are just multiple reasons to
Speaker 1: be conservative with how often you're driving. Yeah, and this
Speaker 1: would mean if we were to make this more tangible
Speaker 1: consolidating back to our sponsor um. But okay, you need
Speaker 1: to go to the grocery store. Don't just run out
Speaker 1: to the grocery store randomly. Consider when else are you
Speaker 1: going to be out and about and passing a store,
Speaker 1: And can you buffer in some time? Can you utilize
Speaker 1: the groceries that are in your pantry currently so that
Speaker 1: you can wait a day until you can stop by
Speaker 1: the store on your way home from work or on
Speaker 1: your way out to that event or activity. It also
Speaker 1: might mean shopping online a little bit more of what
Speaker 1: can you yet deliver to your house? That is going
Speaker 1: to save you some of these random trips out to
Speaker 1: the store. And I know we'll get into it at
Speaker 1: another point, but do you have a store within walking
Speaker 1: distance or biking distance and can that be a solution
Speaker 1: for some of these random errands that you need to run. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sometimes we take for granite the value that walking like
Speaker 1: has um if you are able to do it. Getting
Speaker 1: outside when the weather is better, maybe not like today
Speaker 1: or tomorrow, but when the weather is nice to actually
Speaker 1: like be outside in the sun, pause from working for
Speaker 1: twenty minutes and and take that time to soak up
Speaker 1: that vitamin D. Is is really essential and can also
Speaker 1: save you money on transportation. M And this is connected
Speaker 1: to looking at so many other areas. And again we're
Speaker 1: always going to start with tracking first of all, where
Speaker 1: are you going? Do you need to be going to
Speaker 1: those places? I mean the idea just came to me now,
Speaker 1: although it's very specific, but you know, we don't have
Speaker 1: a gym member ship anymore. So it's caused us to
Speaker 1: be more creative in how we exercise. But it's also
Speaker 1: saved on our driving. We're not going out a couple
Speaker 1: evenings a week to get to the gym. Instead. You know,
Speaker 1: Eric's bike riding and I plan to start running. They accountable.
Speaker 1: Are there other things that you can be doing? You know,
Speaker 1: we live twenty minutes away from the nearest gym, so
Speaker 1: that's extra expense not just the gym membership, but the
Speaker 1: driving there that we can so easily just forget about
Speaker 1: our gas bill. But that's that's something to consider. How
Speaker 1: can we reduce that? Yeah, so there's an example. But yeah, no,
Speaker 1: that's I mean, that's great. Another big example, UM would
Speaker 1: be commuting to work. If you can minimize that. I
Speaker 1: know you're thinking, like, I have to go to work,
Speaker 1: that's the one thing I can't cut down on. UM,
Speaker 1: but that one's the biggest. So we're all about like
Speaker 1: shaving off a few of big things and then you
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about so many of the small things.
Speaker 1: So ask your ask your boss or supervisor if you're
Speaker 1: able to tele commute one or two days a week. UM,
Speaker 1: if you are looking for ways to like propose that.
Speaker 1: The four hour work week by Tim Ferris uh lays
Speaker 1: out step by step how you can approach that and
Speaker 1: and start to work remote. So and that's a big,
Speaker 1: big money saver. That's a good idea. Yeah, maybe your
Speaker 1: job can't fully become a remote job, but could it
Speaker 1: be one to three days a week that you work
Speaker 1: from home. I know a lot of people who have
Speaker 1: made this happen. If you just start to think outside
Speaker 1: the box. Sometimes we can get in this rut of thinking, no,
Speaker 1: this is how it is. No one would be open
Speaker 1: to it looking any different, but you might be surprised.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, it's two thousand twenty guys. A lot of
Speaker 1: people work remote and it increases, and you can there's
Speaker 1: so many benefits increases productivity, it increases employee happiness, and
Speaker 1: so there are so many valid reasons you can give
Speaker 1: to your employer, especially if you're commuting like forty five
Speaker 1: minutes to an hour for something that you could be
Speaker 1: doing remote one or two days a week. Maybe you
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about trying to bike to the
Speaker 1: grocery store or something because you're shaving so much off
Speaker 1: of that. Yeah, and not to linger on this topic
Speaker 1: for too long, but I just made the decision to
Speaker 1: move to all telehealth mental health counseling, and I didn't
Speaker 1: think that my supervisor was going to go for it,
Speaker 1: but when I brought it up. She was open to
Speaker 1: the idea, really excited about having another platform for clients
Speaker 1: to be able to receive help and support. And not
Speaker 1: only that, not only is it potentially opening up our
Speaker 1: client base, it also allows for her to bring in
Speaker 1: another therapist into the office, So it's actually creating opportunity
Speaker 1: for more revenue for the office. Where I thought she's
Speaker 1: not going to go for this, I'm just gonna like quit,
Speaker 1: I'm going to leave this practice. Turns out no, there's
Speaker 1: so many options here and actually greater opportunity for the
Speaker 1: for the company. So anyhow, it's worth the conversation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if for some reason you can't do that, maybe
Speaker 1: you look for another job where that's a possibility UM,
Speaker 1: or maybe you start to create your own business UM
Speaker 1: outside of that, so you can create your own sources
Speaker 1: of revenue and you don't need that job anymore. There
Speaker 1: are options you don't have to have, UM. You don't
Speaker 1: have to be driving hours a day for work. UM.
Speaker 1: There's definitely a lot more opportunity now than there's ever been,
Speaker 1: so be creative and of course consider car pooling if
Speaker 1: you know even one of your friends who works in
Speaker 1: a similar area, or you want to get on a
Speaker 1: ride sharing app where you kind of switch back and
Speaker 1: forth between who drive. Certainly you're going to give up
Speaker 1: some level of flexibility, but it could be a fantastic
Speaker 1: way to cut costs in this very expensive area. Transportation
Speaker 1: is one of the pillars of the biggest areas that
Speaker 1: we spend money, so could make a big difference. So
Speaker 1: another option is to use public transportation. So that is
Speaker 1: of course going to save you a significant amount of money.
Speaker 1: It's going to obviously eliminate a car and payment, but
Speaker 1: it's also going to eliminate auto insurance and gas and
Speaker 1: maintenance and all the other things that come your friends
Speaker 1: asking you to give him a ride to the airport, like,
Speaker 1: it's going to eliminate all that. But there is the
Speaker 1: unfortunate reality that public transportation is pretty inconvenient. You have
Speaker 1: to watch the bus stop, you have to wait, you
Speaker 1: have to make sure you're there on time. Um, so
Speaker 1: they're inconveniences on the surface, but they're actually I think
Speaker 1: they're beneficial in the long run. I can't say this
Speaker 1: because I've never used public transportation as a my primary
Speaker 1: mode of transportation, but it allows you to create a
Speaker 1: more disciplined schedule and it frees up a lot of
Speaker 1: your transportation money that you can be more free in
Speaker 1: getting ubers and lifts, which is the next part on
Speaker 1: the list. So we are very conservative with our ubers
Speaker 1: and lifts because we have cars, but you can, if
Speaker 1: you like, drastically cut down on your car expenses. You
Speaker 1: can take more ubers and lifts, and that's I mean.
Speaker 1: And then you don't have to pay for any parking
Speaker 1: when you get there or whatever, which that could even
Speaker 1: open up. You know, as we explore all the pros
Speaker 1: and cons of this, what kind of productivity you might
Speaker 1: be able to have because you're not the one dry
Speaker 1: iving So on these public transportation rides or through ubers
Speaker 1: and lifts, are you able to work on your side hustle,
Speaker 1: or get some work for your day job done. It
Speaker 1: could some of the pros that we may not typically
Speaker 1: think of could outweigh the cons of waiting, sitting and
Speaker 1: all of that. And I love what you said about it.
Speaker 1: Could create more structure, could really help with boundaries within
Speaker 1: work of No, I have to leave at five because
Speaker 1: I have to catch the five fifteen, So yeah, I
Speaker 1: like that. Yeah, so and hopefully like your schedule is
Speaker 1: conducive to that kind of structure. You want to make
Speaker 1: sure that that's like doable for you. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say challenge yourself if you if you're willing to,
Speaker 1: if you're near UM, if you have a good public
Speaker 1: transportation system, a monthly pass for public transportation is very affordable,
Speaker 1: and give yourself a month. See how it goes. Challenge
Speaker 1: yourself to a month of public transportation and see how
Speaker 1: it fits in your lifestyle, and see if you can
Speaker 1: challenge yourself to maybe a year without a car, um
Speaker 1: and see what that does. Nothing we say here has
Speaker 1: to be a permanent lifestyle. It can all be fluid.
Speaker 1: You hear that, Eric, He will hear it. He will
Speaker 1: be editing it. Yeah, he will. I'm talking to him
Speaker 1: in his ears as he edits. So that is number nineteen.
Speaker 1: If you really want to save money, try one vehicle. Listen,
Speaker 1: we are practically a one vehicle family. We just have
Speaker 1: a second vehicle sitting in the driveway that is not
Speaker 1: being driven because it needs some repairs on it and
Speaker 1: it's dangerous to drive. And then he's like, I don't
Speaker 1: know if I want to put the money into it.
Speaker 1: It's not that expensive. But he's like, or do we
Speaker 1: just want to get a new car? But I'm like,
Speaker 1: or have we not driven that car in three months?
Speaker 1: And we're fine. This is getting a little bit personal now,
Speaker 1: but honestly, consider it, and it's all personal. Consider it.
Speaker 1: Consider one vehicle. Do you have to? Certainly, again, it's
Speaker 1: sacrifice and it's only for a certain season of time,
Speaker 1: but that could really slash some costs. Yeah, that's another
Speaker 1: pride thing in my mind. Like we could be a
Speaker 1: one car family because Travis works at night, I work
Speaker 1: from home during the day, and we always have a
Speaker 1: car sitting in front of our house and we we
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, there's no reason we should have two cars.
Speaker 1: And then based on the savings of that, would it
Speaker 1: make sense for the one to two times every other
Speaker 1: week that one person needs to get out of the house,
Speaker 1: can they Can they get an uber or lead public transportation?
Speaker 1: And it's fine to spend the money on that because
Speaker 1: of what you're saving on maintenance, repairs, insurance. Yeah, yeah, man,
Speaker 1: it's so true. Can you help me convince him? Is
Speaker 1: this also a how to talk to your spouse? Start
Speaker 1: a podcast, make your husband edit the podcast that you're
Speaker 1: constantly in his ear about this thing. I wish I
Speaker 1: could help you, but I'm like, and Travis doesn't want
Speaker 1: to go down to one car, but I look at it,
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, we could really do this. But Travis
Speaker 1: loves cars and he always wants to get a different car,
Speaker 1: like they're really cheap, but he's always looking for something
Speaker 1: else to get. And I'm like, one car until it
Speaker 1: gives out on me, and uh, unless I'm pregnant, and
Speaker 1: then it's like even this shiny thing unless I'm pregnant. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you've had one child. You talk about it like pregnancy
Speaker 1: is a common occurrence for you, unless this is an announcement. Know,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, I'm thinking so rationally right now, Jill, you
Speaker 1: know I'm not breaking um, so good point. Um. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's uh, definitely something to consider, and again doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be permanent. It can be fluid. So if you're trying,
Speaker 1: if you're in a season where you're really focusing on
Speaker 1: your finances, then you can make sacrifices for those goals
Speaker 1: and then once you've achieved them, you make other goals
Speaker 1: and those don't involve only having one car, So there
Speaker 1: you go. So then when it comes to saving money
Speaker 1: on maintenance and repairs. I mean, first of all, just
Speaker 1: prevention is always going to help. So doing the regular
Speaker 1: maintenance of oil changes and tire rotation and the simple
Speaker 1: things that are inexpensive that will help your vehicle have
Speaker 1: long Janet, don't beat cheap. Spend the money to get
Speaker 1: quality work done on your car, like not your neighbors friends,
Speaker 1: brother in law who can quote unquote like fix your transmission.
Speaker 1: Like I'm not on the big stuff now, but certainly
Speaker 1: your neighbor's brother in law's brother twice to remove is
Speaker 1: going to change your oil. Let him have at it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean we found so Travis can change oil, but
Speaker 1: he's found it costs just as much to do it himself,
Speaker 1: and it would be to go get it done because
Speaker 1: you have to you know, dispose of it somewhere and
Speaker 1: you have to get the you know, all the oil
Speaker 1: and train stuff. So it's the oil in itself just
Speaker 1: is not that cheap. But when you're individual, like when
Speaker 1: you're buying small batches of oil, it's more expensive than
Speaker 1: these places behind the big batches of it. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: don't don't be cheap, and don't use the dealer for
Speaker 1: car repairs. So que sometimes they offer really good deals,
Speaker 1: but generally, if you're not getting a really good deal, uh,
Speaker 1: don't don't go. Don't let them fool you into saying
Speaker 1: that you need to go to the dealer. Because you don't,
Speaker 1: you are free to go wherever you want. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: shop around for mechanics. Be wary. There are some excellent
Speaker 1: mechanics out there, but there are also some mechanics who
Speaker 1: are gonna lie straight to your face about what needs
Speaker 1: to be done, especially if you look vulnerable. So protect
Speaker 1: those vulnerabilities by asking around for reputable mechanics. Certainly, you
Speaker 1: can pretty much trust reviews if they if they've got
Speaker 1: excellent reviews with a lot of information about their fairness
Speaker 1: and ability to diagnose. That's such a big thing. You
Speaker 1: could have an expensive mechanic, but if he doesn't know
Speaker 1: how to diagnose your vehicle, you're going to spend a
Speaker 1: ton of money just on his time trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what in the world is even going wrong with it.
Speaker 1: So that might be an area to consider, possibly even
Speaker 1: paying a bit more for someone who's very good at
Speaker 1: problem solving and diagnosing, but might be a little bit
Speaker 1: more money versus someone who's just gonna like throw darts
Speaker 1: at the wall until something sticks. But each one of
Speaker 1: those things is only a little bit of money. So
Speaker 1: ask around, asks, ask friends, look at reviews, and find
Speaker 1: somebody that you trust. Yeah, because you also want to
Speaker 1: go fast, because your time is money too. You don't
Speaker 1: want your car to be in the at the mechanics
Speaker 1: for two weeks, which is a common occurrence. You want
Speaker 1: somebody that can get the job fast, get you your
Speaker 1: car back, and you can get over this as quickly
Speaker 1: as possible. Sometimes that involved most of the time, it
Speaker 1: involves spending a little more money, um, but it is
Speaker 1: worth the limited stress and inconvenience. M M. Yeah. We
Speaker 1: will move on to saving money on auto insurance. UM.
Speaker 1: So being loyal to an auto insurance company save you money.
Speaker 1: We have been with Progressive for um our entire marriage,
Speaker 1: so over four years, and we tend to get them
Speaker 1: to take some money off UM every six months. We
Speaker 1: we pay in six months increments and somehow Travis convinces
Speaker 1: them to lower our policy every time. We good for him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and there are his language We need a script. I
Speaker 1: don't know, he's just a nice guy, um. But there
Speaker 1: are scripts online to specifically negotiate auto insurance. I think
Speaker 1: one time we used their UM the thing that you
Speaker 1: plug into your car that tracks your driving, and we
Speaker 1: got the good driver discounts from there. And yeah, other
Speaker 1: times it's just like yeah, different things here and there UM.
Speaker 1: And we also have paid for cars UM, but we
Speaker 1: still do full coverage. So it's cheaper because our cars
Speaker 1: are paid for, we don't have a loan out on them.
Speaker 1: But we do pay a little bit more for full
Speaker 1: coverage because our cars are I mean, my car is
Speaker 1: a little more expensive and I want to have full
Speaker 1: coverage on that just in case he doesn't really need
Speaker 1: it on his, but we have it anyway. We we
Speaker 1: feel better about it, and we're willing to pay for
Speaker 1: that feeling sure. And that being said, also continue to
Speaker 1: shop car insurance so and and the one doesn't exclude
Speaker 1: the other. You can be loyal while still shopping. So
Speaker 1: shopping maybe just so you can know what prices are
Speaker 1: out there and use that as negotiation leverage in staying
Speaker 1: loyal and keeping your car insureance bill low. But that's
Speaker 1: also to say, don't think that just because you've got
Speaker 1: a great deal six years ago that you need to
Speaker 1: stick with that company if they're not continuing to give
Speaker 1: you a good deal in your car insurance and you're
Speaker 1: finding better rates elsewhere, then switch right. This isn't This
Speaker 1: isn't your family dog that you need to stay loyal too.
Speaker 1: Is your auto insurance and trying to save money, so
Speaker 1: keep shopping yes UM. And also also something people don't
Speaker 1: think about very often, this goes for auto insurance, motorcycle insurance,
Speaker 1: insurance of any type of for any moving vehicles. To
Speaker 1: maintain good credit UM, and that will also help you
Speaker 1: save money because they will run a credit check and
Speaker 1: to see if you pay reliably, and if you have
Speaker 1: a history of paying reliably, they will lower You can
Speaker 1: ask for a lower rate UM, and they tend to
Speaker 1: give it because they want more reliable customers. They don't
Speaker 1: just more customers. They want people that are going to
Speaker 1: stick around, pay every six months instead of monthly UM.
Speaker 1: They just want people they know are going to stick around.
Speaker 1: And if you can be that person, they're fine taking
Speaker 1: a little bit off of your bill. Mm hmmm. Number
Speaker 1: thirty three. I like this one. I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: have kids, much less teenagers, but if you do have teenagers,
Speaker 1: stop paying insurance premiums for your kids. Consider having them
Speaker 1: pay for their own auto insurance. This could be a
Speaker 1: fantastic lesson. It could feel like, oh, I don't want
Speaker 1: to put that burden on my child, but in the
Speaker 1: long run, to help them understand bills and responsibility and
Speaker 1: personal finance, you could be giving them a gift in
Speaker 1: this process while you are also saving money on your
Speaker 1: own bills. And they will dent get in a car
Speaker 1: accident like a hundred percent of the time, they will
Speaker 1: get in at least one, and then they will see
Speaker 1: firsthand their insurance premium rise, and that will greatly reduce
Speaker 1: the number of second accidents that your teenager will get in.
Speaker 1: There you go, there's so many reasons. It's a ripple
Speaker 1: effect in positive ways. Yes, okay, well there's more tips
Speaker 1: on here, but feel free to check out the article yourself.
Speaker 1: We're going to move on. Yes, So our second article
Speaker 1: is from dough Roller and it's another car one. Because
Speaker 1: there's only so many things you can say about try
Speaker 1: public transportation, use more lifts, like to work. Um. There's
Speaker 1: only so many times you can say that. Um. But
Speaker 1: you know most people are still going to use a car,
Speaker 1: So don't do it if you don't have to be
Speaker 1: creative as much as you can. Um. But then if
Speaker 1: you do need to get a car, here are six
Speaker 1: reasons to pay cash for a car. So we are
Speaker 1: ardent supporters of paying cash for cars. We do not
Speaker 1: use car loans. Um. We really do practice what we preach,
Speaker 1: and so sometimes that means using alternative forms of transportation
Speaker 1: until you can get to the point where you can
Speaker 1: pay cash for a car. So yeah, so here are
Speaker 1: six reasons to do it and how to pay cash
Speaker 1: for the car. So what are the reasons? Why should
Speaker 1: why should we do this? So if you're asking, so
Speaker 1: why should you pay cash for a car? So you
Speaker 1: will spend less by paying cash. So when I bought
Speaker 1: my car last year, I spent more money than I
Speaker 1: should have. UM, But I could have I would have
Speaker 1: absolutely spent double that if I was just doing alone,
Speaker 1: if I hadn't been financially aware, I could have easily
Speaker 1: bought like a thirty five thousand dollar car because I was,
Speaker 1: you know, not thinking rationally, and and just send the
Speaker 1: payments on it. And we would have more than been
Speaker 1: able to afford that because we're debt free. But it
Speaker 1: was because don't ever ask a dealer what you can
Speaker 1: afford don't ever, don't you know what you can? You
Speaker 1: know that, know that before you get there, and you
Speaker 1: know that by what cash you have in your statements
Speaker 1: account for the car. That's the easiest way to know that,
Speaker 1: pretty simple. Back to the the dais right, right. So I
Speaker 1: did a lot of research on how to pay cash
Speaker 1: for a car. I wrote a blog post about it afterwards,
Speaker 1: and people made it sound like you could get way
Speaker 1: more discounts than you really could by paying cash, and
Speaker 1: I will debunk that myth, saying that you will get
Speaker 1: about the same discounts as somebody hanging out alone. Like people,
Speaker 1: the salesperson gets the same, not the same commission. I
Speaker 1: can't say that, but they want you to take out
Speaker 1: alone because they get more money. But they really don't
Speaker 1: care whether you pay cash or finance because they're getting
Speaker 1: a very similar commission. So if you go in there
Speaker 1: knowing what you want um and what your budget is,
Speaker 1: then you'll get about five dollars off of a car.
Speaker 1: And that's whether you finance or pay cash. I didn't
Speaker 1: get any extra discount for paying in cash. They didn't
Speaker 1: even care. He didn't bat an eye when I said
Speaker 1: it was paying cash. He was just like okay whatever, So, yeah,
Speaker 1: I will I didn't experience, and I went in there
Speaker 1: very informed, and I do not I do not play
Speaker 1: the victim or the no you don't. I am a
Speaker 1: shark or the baby on the hip. Yeah. And if
Speaker 1: I want money off, I ask for it. I'm not shy. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: because they're going to get their money regardless. They might
Speaker 1: get a little bit more if you get a you know,
Speaker 1: more vehicle or you finance. But yeah, so still pay
Speaker 1: in cash. It's it's possible that that cash would would
Speaker 1: look nice to somebody, they say, particularly on a used car,
Speaker 1: But you should just do it for yourself. Yeah. If
Speaker 1: it's a maybe a smaller dealership, I think maybe you
Speaker 1: can get a higher percentage off. But even if you're
Speaker 1: getting that's still about five bucks, whether it's you know,
Speaker 1: even if it's a less expensive vehicle. Um, yeah, but
Speaker 1: you will avoid paying interest, right because you're not paying
Speaker 1: car payments. If you pay cash, you pay for the
Speaker 1: value of that vehicle right up front. So that is
Speaker 1: an immense savings in the long run and a reason
Speaker 1: to pay for your car in cash. Yeah, And so
Speaker 1: they give the example if you borrow thirty two thousand
Speaker 1: for five years. At six you'll have a payment of
Speaker 1: eighteen dollars a month, and that means you'll pay a
Speaker 1: total of five over five thousand dollars in interest over
Speaker 1: the life of the loan. Yeah, and five years is
Speaker 1: like a conservative like five years thousand dollars a year
Speaker 1: that you're that you're that's just going out the window
Speaker 1: because you want mind it on five car. Just light
Speaker 1: a thousand dollars on fire. And that's what interest is
Speaker 1: for a car. It's a depreciating asset, right, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: then you can't even turn around and sell that vehicle
Speaker 1: for what you just bought it from. You light it
Speaker 1: on fire. Yeah. So yeah, Also, paying cash requires financial discipline, right,
Speaker 1: Like it's it would be easier to just go pay
Speaker 1: that car payment and not think about what it's doing
Speaker 1: or the fact that you're literally, like Jen says, lighting
Speaker 1: it on fire, but this is the bank and just
Speaker 1: light it on fire. This is a good practice. It's
Speaker 1: a good muscle to uh stretch and become disciplined in
Speaker 1: to be able to pay cash. It's not easy, but
Speaker 1: when you develop this muscle more, it will spill over
Speaker 1: into other areas of life. It will have again that
Speaker 1: positive ripple effect that will only benefit you in other areas.
Speaker 1: And my goodness, think of how proud of yourself you
Speaker 1: will be, for sure. And I saved up that money
Speaker 1: and I bought that vehicle, and I own it and
Speaker 1: I can do what I want with it, and I'm
Speaker 1: not lighting money on fire. Yeah, I still feel really
Speaker 1: proud about my purchase, as I don't. I regret it
Speaker 1: a little bit, but like I know what state I
Speaker 1: was when I bought it, so like I've got grace
Speaker 1: for myself, and I am proud that I was able
Speaker 1: to do that from where I came still paid cash.
Speaker 1: I got more than you wanted, but but I had
Speaker 1: the cash to do it, so it was fine. And
Speaker 1: but I came from fifty dollars of debt just on
Speaker 1: my own, being single, two getting married and funding a wedding,
Speaker 1: buying a house, paying off all of our combined debt
Speaker 1: to the point where I can buy a car in cash.
Speaker 1: And then the next month I got laid off, y'all,
Speaker 1: Like I bought this car, and then I got laid
Speaker 1: off the next month and lost my weeks pregnant. And
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't bad NYE, because I paid for
Speaker 1: my car in cash, so as you didn't have this
Speaker 1: massive car loan payment that you had to make. That's great,
Speaker 1: so so do it. It may people say like it's
Speaker 1: such a low interest rate, YadA, YadA, YadA YadA, But
Speaker 1: there are psychological effects in the choices you will make.
Speaker 1: If you start from a place of I will pay cash, um,
Speaker 1: that will save you so much money in the long run,
Speaker 1: versus if you're starting from the psychological place of I
Speaker 1: will get a loan for this car. Those are two
Speaker 1: different headspaces. One will get you a car, it'll probably
Speaker 1: be reasonable monthly payment, it will be fine, used, whatever,
Speaker 1: And the other one will save you more money hands down,
Speaker 1: which forces you to make an assessment of what is
Speaker 1: most important to you. This is number five on the
Speaker 1: list that paying cash for a car because you feel it,
Speaker 1: because you've saved up for it, because it's a big
Speaker 1: chunk of change to hand over all at once, helps
Speaker 1: you identify, well, how important is this car to me?
Speaker 1: What kind of car do I actually need versus what
Speaker 1: I want? And is that more important compared to other
Speaker 1: goals such as maybe getting out of debt, whatever kind
Speaker 1: of debt it is saving for retirement, paying for kids college,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. It can help you really identify what
Speaker 1: is the best decision for us with this car when
Speaker 1: it's actually costing you something right out the gate. Yeah, So,
Speaker 1: how how do you pay cash for a car? Especially
Speaker 1: if you're in a place where you've bought too much
Speaker 1: car and you are trying and you're listening this trying
Speaker 1: to reduce your transportation car and maybe maybe you're even
Speaker 1: underwater in your car, meaning that you owe more than
Speaker 1: your car is worth. The first place is to get
Speaker 1: real about what you can afford. So you may need
Speaker 1: to take into consideration those alternative transportation methods we talked
Speaker 1: about earlier, and you may need to sell your car
Speaker 1: and get enough money and maybe take out a small
Speaker 1: personal loan for the difference and be what be a
Speaker 1: one car family for a little bit until you save
Speaker 1: up some money. You may need to do that public
Speaker 1: transportation until you have the money to pay for a
Speaker 1: car in cash. So these are the areas where you
Speaker 1: can use those alternative transportation methods to your advantage. That's
Speaker 1: kind of how you know that you need you need
Speaker 1: to use one is if you're in a place like that,
Speaker 1: Because the the best the best way to save on
Speaker 1: a car, like a transportation cost. If you're underwater, you
Speaker 1: have too much car, get rid of the car, just
Speaker 1: get it of it. So and maybe you don't use
Speaker 1: public transportation, but maybe you have to get like a
Speaker 1: really cheap sedan and take out a loan for that one.
Speaker 1: But don't try to finagle your way around the elephant
Speaker 1: in the room, Like take the elephant out. Yeah, let
Speaker 1: the elephant be free freethe acknowledging that it's there to
Speaker 1: somebody else who's going to take out a loan for
Speaker 1: for your car. Like, but if you don't, you shouldn't
Speaker 1: have a loan for your car. I like this idea too,
Speaker 1: of selling your existing car to buy a cheap one.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, right, if this is a way to
Speaker 1: bootstrap your way back up to where you actually want
Speaker 1: to be, consider selling the vehicle you already have. Look
Speaker 1: at what you have and what kind of financial power
Speaker 1: that might be able to give you. So, if you've
Speaker 1: got a car that is worth thousand dollars, sell that
Speaker 1: thing and go buy yourself a five thousand dollar vehicle cash. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's so true, And it's it's unfortunate that sometimes you
Speaker 1: will have to take out a small loan if you're
Speaker 1: underwater and you need to pay back the rest of it.
Speaker 1: But it's way better than wasting more time like making
Speaker 1: payments to a car that's depreciating and it's taking up
Speaker 1: too much of your budget. So meditate. Meditate on that
Speaker 1: when you're thinking about it. So nuts and bolts of
Speaker 1: paying for a car in cash, because I really wish
Speaker 1: I had this information. When I went in to do that,
Speaker 1: I brought in several debit cards and a credit card.
Speaker 1: I had the cash in the bank, but really I
Speaker 1: didn't know. I thought I was just going to be
Speaker 1: able to put some of it on a credit card
Speaker 1: and the rest of my debit card, and I didn't
Speaker 1: realize that I needed to call my bank and raise
Speaker 1: the limit on my card. And even when I raised
Speaker 1: my limit, um, it still wasn't enough to cover the car.
Speaker 1: I put like two grand of it on a credit
Speaker 1: card so that I could get some get a bonus.
Speaker 1: It was a new credit card and I wanted to
Speaker 1: get the welcome bonus, so I did that really quickly,
Speaker 1: and then I had to actually wait until the next
Speaker 1: day to do the rest of the transaction because I
Speaker 1: had hit my daily limit for my debit card. So
Speaker 1: if I could go back, what I would have done
Speaker 1: is I would have done the same thing with a
Speaker 1: credit card. I would have taken out a new one
Speaker 1: with a welcome bonus. And this is assuming that you're
Speaker 1: this is a huge this is like a big purchase
Speaker 1: for you, and maybe your debt free at this point,
Speaker 1: and assuming that credit cards is something that you are
Speaker 1: able to use wisely, and and that's a part of
Speaker 1: your friend right and if it's not, you can still
Speaker 1: pay cash and not need to go the credit card route.
Speaker 1: And was no extra um like three added for paying
Speaker 1: with a credit card UM, So that was another reason
Speaker 1: I used one. If there had been a three percent added,
Speaker 1: I would not have used a credit card at that dealership,
Speaker 1: but I just took it to my advantage um to
Speaker 1: use that. And then I would have brought to debit
Speaker 1: cards from two different main accounts, because we have multiple
Speaker 1: bank accounts. So I would have brought the one that
Speaker 1: I had used for my that I had stored my
Speaker 1: my sinking fund for the car um, and then I
Speaker 1: would have brought my regular checking account one and just
Speaker 1: transferred money over there the next day, so that would
Speaker 1: have cut down a lot of my frustration about like
Speaker 1: how am I going to take this car home? Um? So?
Speaker 1: And then there are there are other ways you can
Speaker 1: do it, like wire transfers and stuff, but those costs
Speaker 1: a little bit of money. This was completely fee free
Speaker 1: for me, So that's a That was another important distinction.
Speaker 1: And I actually asked the guy. I was like, what
Speaker 1: if I had financed this car and just paid it
Speaker 1: off in a week or so, Like, what would that
Speaker 1: have cost me? Because the first month or so you're
Speaker 1: not charged in any interest. So I was like, what
Speaker 1: would that have cost me extra? Um? And he's like
Speaker 1: hundred bucks. So in the end, if I had to
Speaker 1: finance it and just pay it off the next week, um,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't have been that expensive. But again I saved
Speaker 1: a hundred bucks. If for some reason, you're the fees
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, banks are charging you a hundred bucks
Speaker 1: to pay in cash, I don't know how that would be,
Speaker 1: how that would be possible, But if something like that happened,
Speaker 1: rest assured you could just finance it and pay it
Speaker 1: off with before the first interest payment hits UM and
Speaker 1: should just be able to give you a money order
Speaker 1: if you want to go that right. Sometimes people charge.
Speaker 1: Sometimes banks charged for money orders though your own banks, Yeah,
Speaker 1: some of them do. Yeah, it's they charged for everything,
Speaker 1: so you shouldn't run into that problem. But that is
Speaker 1: um what he told me. So those speaking of something
Speaker 1: with no problems, oh, that would that would be something
Speaker 1: we've got down. It's the bill of the week. That's right.
Speaker 1: It's time for the best minute of your entire week.
Speaker 1: Maybe a baby was born and his name is William.
Speaker 1: Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died,
Speaker 1: and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: Uff build buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. Hey, frugal friends, this is Jasmine and
Speaker 1: I'm calling with my bill of the week. My bill
Speaker 1: of the week is a seven and ninety dollar bill
Speaker 1: from the Jeep dealership because a part in my husband's
Speaker 1: car broke down and we have to get it replaced.
Speaker 1: But the reason it's my bill of the week is
Speaker 1: because we have that money saved. We were able to
Speaker 1: beef up our emergency fund just a little bit over
Speaker 1: the past couple of weeks, and so now we are
Speaker 1: prepared to pay that bill. We don't have to put
Speaker 1: it on a credit card. We don't have to stress
Speaker 1: about it or worry about it, and it feels wonderful.
Speaker 1: Thanks for all you do and for all your frugality.
Speaker 1: Have a great day. You guys know that we do
Speaker 1: not listen to these before we plan them. It's so crazy, Jasmine,
Speaker 1: you are on our wavelength. Oh my gosh, you are
Speaker 1: everything so funny paying cash for your car repair bills
Speaker 1: in your bank account because you have an emergency fund,
Speaker 1: because you have prepared for this. You're not caught off
Speaker 1: guard by these unverst seen charges. You are ready for it. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's so exciting. Well done. I love that. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: As soon as she said Jeep, I was like, no,
Speaker 1: come on, what are the odds? Well done, Jasmine, I
Speaker 1: mean that bill sucks to have, Like I'm sorry, is
Speaker 1: nothing to sneeze, but well done for having it. An
Speaker 1: emergency fund, that's what it's for, so it can take
Speaker 1: the sting away from a really big bill, a really
Speaker 1: big expense. That's why you have them. If you are
Speaker 1: reading our minds, then please leave us a bill at
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill and uh let
Speaker 1: us give us a perfect bill for our next episode. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just anticipate with the episode is going to be about,
Speaker 1: and leave us a bill on that. Yeah, and we
Speaker 1: will not listen to it until the second we we
Speaker 1: play it while we're recording, and then we will have
Speaker 1: the same reaction. Oh, it's amazing, that's awesome. Alright, it's
Speaker 1: time for Jill's favorite part of the week. It's time
Speaker 1: for the thing. Alright, guys. So I have mentioned a
Speaker 1: little bit about my car and that story. I had
Speaker 1: not bought this car when we recorded the first episode.
Speaker 1: Um about transportation, So getting a lot more of my
Speaker 1: story here, um. But our Lightning Round is just how
Speaker 1: we get around? Get around? Too many more stanzas of that,
Speaker 1: because it sounds so much like the original song. I
Speaker 1: don't know the origin the song. Isn't that the Beach Boys?
Speaker 1: I get around again? Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, stop, I'm
Speaker 1: not authorized. We're gonna have to pay money for that. Okay.
Speaker 1: So how how we get around? How I get around?
Speaker 1: So I have my two thousand, sixteen Hunday to Son.
Speaker 1: It's a limited It's got like those leather seats and everything,
Speaker 1: and I bought it. So I bought it in the
Speaker 1: mindset of I need a safe card to get around.
Speaker 1: But it was a killer deal. So it was definitely
Speaker 1: worth mid twenties. And it was listed for sixteen. And
Speaker 1: it was definitely a fluke because when we went in there,
Speaker 1: it was listed for eighteen by the time we got there,
Speaker 1: and I was like, no, no, I took a screenshot
Speaker 1: and this is what it was listened for. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm a shark. And uh so then I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to take this home today, but only if
Speaker 1: you give it to me for this price. And thus
Speaker 1: he gave it to me for that price. But then
Speaker 1: after dealer fees and everything, it was eighteen. But um,
Speaker 1: but it would have been twenty if you hadn't have
Speaker 1: been such a shark, for sure, for sure. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that was another reason why I jumped on
Speaker 1: it so quickly, is because it was such a good deal,
Speaker 1: and I plan on whenever I sell it, to take
Speaker 1: the money and to just get a minivan. With that
Speaker 1: amount of money, I'm not gonna put any more towards it,
Speaker 1: So that's that's the plan. And then Travis Um paid
Speaker 1: cash for he currently who knows by the time this airs,
Speaker 1: um he currently has a Toyota Tundra. I don't even
Speaker 1: know what the year is, but he paid about five
Speaker 1: grand for it, so it's not super new and uh,
Speaker 1: and he loves so one of the reasons we have
Speaker 1: two cars is just because he loves buying cars. If
Speaker 1: we were a one car family, Lord knows what our
Speaker 1: car would be because he's all about like trucks and things. Um.
Speaker 1: So Kai, you're sitting in the mid the truck today,
Speaker 1: he was strapping and we got some ratchet straps. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And he also has a motorcycle UM, which he does
Speaker 1: not have insurance for. But all of our vehicles are
Speaker 1: paid for in cash. I think the motorcycle cost about
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars when he got it. But Travis also
Speaker 1: he embraces alternative transportation UM a lot better than I do.
Speaker 1: If he's going to the store for something, he will
Speaker 1: ride his bicycle there or he will walk. I went
Speaker 1: to the hospital last April because I had a seizure
Speaker 1: while I was pregnant, and he got a ride to
Speaker 1: the hospital in the middle of the night, actually from
Speaker 1: our Airbnb guest at the time. And when he was
Speaker 1: leaving the hospital to go get the car, he actually ran.
Speaker 1: He went for a run from the hospital to our home,
Speaker 1: which is several miles away, instead of like getting an
Speaker 1: uber or something. He just used it as an opportunity
Speaker 1: to exercise. UM. So so yeah, he really embraces um
Speaker 1: alternative transportation and uses it as a way to experience
Speaker 1: the world, to exercise, to to all of these things.
Speaker 1: So he just used transportation differently. UM and I really
Speaker 1: admire that about him. So sweet. Will he listened to this?
Speaker 1: He will? Good? Hi, Travis. So I get around in
Speaker 1: a vehicle. We live in the middle of nowhere, so
Speaker 1: unfortunately there are no buses, trains, or other kinds of
Speaker 1: automobiles coming out to where we live. That's okay, so
Speaker 1: we have to have cars if we want to go anywhere.
Speaker 1: And we have a Toyota four Runner, which we love.
Speaker 1: Are found it through Facebook marketplace, so we bought it privately.
Speaker 1: It's used. We paid fifty six hundred dollars for it,
Speaker 1: which is unheard of for Toyota four Runners because they
Speaker 1: are the best vehicles out there. Uh. And we've just
Speaker 1: been thrilled with it. We've got it because it's what
Speaker 1: we can pull our home around with. Um. But it's
Speaker 1: also just really nice to be able to have a
Speaker 1: vehicle that does well in the snow, since we do
Speaker 1: get snow. You've heard me say this before. I live
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania, and with my job sometimes I can't just
Speaker 1: have a snow day. So we love that, love that
Speaker 1: we got it used, love that we paid cash for it,
Speaker 1: We got a great deal on it, and it has
Speaker 1: done us very well. And I've mentioned this before. I
Speaker 1: believe in episode ten we've bought all of our vehicles cash,
Speaker 1: privately used. We've not even bought used vehicles from dealerships.
Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with that. I get that everybody is
Speaker 1: at their own level of comfort. However, when we do this,
Speaker 1: we will test drive them to our mechanic, so we
Speaker 1: will take it before we even buy it during the
Speaker 1: test drive, uh and have them check it out for
Speaker 1: us first and give us the yea or nay on it.
Speaker 1: So that really helps increase our level of comfort in
Speaker 1: purchasing the vehicle. It helps that Eric has a lot
Speaker 1: of knowledge on vehicles and how much things costs, and
Speaker 1: can do some repairs himself. And then we've got a
Speaker 1: Pontiac vibe that we actually got through a trade. Some
Speaker 1: very great friends of us of ours, Kevin and Chelsea
Speaker 1: when my husband he did their backsplash and kitchen floor,
Speaker 1: and in return for the labor costs, they gave us
Speaker 1: their car. So that, yeah, that was a nice trade.
Speaker 1: So that I mean, while I talked about wanting to
Speaker 1: go down to one vehicle, this vehicle literally owes us nothing.
Speaker 1: We've had it for about five years. The repairs on it,
Speaker 1: how have been so minimal. It's been a fantastic vehicle.
Speaker 1: I mean right now it needs some minor repairs again,
Speaker 1: like we're talking eighty dollars. But yeah, so those are
Speaker 1: our two vehicles. We own them. That feels great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we have. Yeah, We've bought several vehicles for Travis from
Speaker 1: Facebook marketplace, including his motorcycle, and then the rest have
Speaker 1: been from dealers. Both of our cars right now are
Speaker 1: from dealer's mind was from a Hyundai dealer and his
Speaker 1: was from like a smaller um private dealer which actually
Speaker 1: went out of business shortly after. So but the car
Speaker 1: is fine. So yeah, either way can be can be good.
Speaker 1: I definitely would prefer private and then just kind of
Speaker 1: like scheduling an appointment with a mechanic at the same
Speaker 1: time as your schedule to do a test drive that way,
Speaker 1: you can go real quick and and see him. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it just happened that I, you know, betrayed my better
Speaker 1: judgment and went to a dealer and we and we
Speaker 1: know how that turned out. So that that is her
Speaker 1: episode on transportation. I hope that you've got some alternative
Speaker 1: ideas with I mean, we just know that most of
Speaker 1: our listeners are driving cars, and so we want to
Speaker 1: give everybody something they can get from from this episode.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's what we've that's what we've always done,
Speaker 1: but we're also doing some new things. So we have
Speaker 1: retired our book club r I P book Club, but
Speaker 1: we are still giving things away because we just can't stop.
Speaker 1: We can't stop. Um. We we want to thank you
Speaker 1: all for your kind reviews that you've left on iTunes
Speaker 1: and stitchers um to enter our giveaways, like this one
Speaker 1: from Hannah Brookie just Happens to Me by Stars and
Speaker 1: she says, I'm currently on my debt free journey and
Speaker 1: is to have helped me tremendously. I just started listening
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago, but the amount of information and
Speaker 1: wisdom they provide is incredible. Thank you both for being
Speaker 1: so awesome and informational thank you how kind. We also
Speaker 1: want to thank our friends who are out there sharing
Speaker 1: this podcast with their friends because it just makes our
Speaker 1: community even bigger. So as a thank you, you are
Speaker 1: able to enter to win our new monthly giveaway. It's
Speaker 1: not a book anymore, so share this episode on Facebook
Speaker 1: or social media and tag us. That's the thing. You
Speaker 1: have to tag us, and we will pick one winner
Speaker 1: for every five tags we get at the end of
Speaker 1: the month. Yes, so instead of books, we're giving away
Speaker 1: ten dollar Amazon gift cards. So you can still spend
Speaker 1: it on a book if you want. You can spend
Speaker 1: it on spark plugs. You can spend it on toothbrushes whatever,
Speaker 1: whatever you need, spark plugs or toothbrushes. Yes, so you
Speaker 1: can either enter by tagging like sharing this episode and
Speaker 1: tagging us wherever you spend time on social media. Um,
Speaker 1: but you can also still leave us a review on
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Speaker 1: your will. Yeah. Yeah, you can share and tag every
Speaker 1: episode you'll just be entered more times. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: once per month, but I mean every single month you
Speaker 1: can enter. Yeah, right, do it, thank you. But I mean,
Speaker 1: nothing's keeping you from sharing all of our episodes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe we'll see how it goes. Maybe we
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Speaker 1: how it goes. All right, Well, see you next week.
Speaker 1: That's it. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by
Speaker 1: Eric Syria. All right, so you think I can convince
Speaker 1: Eric to I mean, like I said, that vehicle owes
Speaker 1: us nothing, but we wouldn't have to make the um
Speaker 1: you know, have insurance on it, Like these little repairs.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that he could want to spend a
Speaker 1: couple hundred dollars on? Be like, hey, if we sell
Speaker 1: the car, then you can do this, right, Oh, there's
Speaker 1: always something he wants to spend money on. He would
Speaker 1: probably have to do the minor repairs to even be
Speaker 1: able to sell it. But then at that point then
Speaker 1: it's like, well it's working, then he can have it
Speaker 1: if he wants to go places. Mm hmm. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm just really trying to hold off on
Speaker 1: buying a new vehicle. I know that's like on his
Speaker 1: radar as the next thing, not new. We've never bought new,
Speaker 1: but new. And I'm just like, I can't help you
Speaker 1: because I can't stop Travis from getting new vehicles every
Speaker 1: few months. I can't. I can't. I can't stop him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he's like, but I don't want to be
Speaker 1: stuck here because he doesn't commute. He works remotely, so
Speaker 1: and then some days I work remotely. But then if
Speaker 1: I'm out that he can't go anywhere. But then I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: but would it be less expensive to just uber somewhere?
Speaker 1: So test it out while you guys are down here exactly.
Speaker 1: We've already practically been testing it out. He never drives it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I should, like put should I should figure out a
Speaker 1: way to kind of see like when he like he
Speaker 1: I think he thinks he uses it more often than
Speaker 1: he does. Like I should put like a date on
Speaker 1: the in the vehicle or something, and like a seal
Speaker 1: like in some way to test, like when the seal
Speaker 1: of the door gets broken. Like, but now that you're
Speaker 1: percent telecommuting to like, it's going to be different exactly exactly. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: that there's the days that I travel, but I would
Speaker 1: be more apt to just like get an uber to
Speaker 1: the airport so that he's not without a vehicle for
Speaker 1: like the entire time I'm traveling. Yeah, I really think
Speaker 1: it's doable. Yeah, Okay, we're gonna say I'll keep you updated. Okay.
Speaker 1: I love that I'm whispering like as if this is
Speaker 1: gonna as if he's not going to hear this, let
Speaker 1: me know, let me okay, yeah, try and trick him
Speaker 1: into it. It's not happening.