Speaker 1: Episode three oh six Frugal Friends Summer book Club four
Speaker 1: Personal Finance Reads.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live your life. Here your hosts,
Speaker 2: 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 bringing you
Speaker 1: four books to pack in your suitcase or into your
Speaker 1: kindle or into your library audiobook app.
Speaker 3: Ooh, so many options for the summer Wow summer. So
Speaker 3: if you like to read, here's your books. You don't
Speaker 3: like to read, you're probably not listening to this episode.
Speaker 1: But maybe you'll get an audiobook audiobooks for like the
Speaker 1: podcasts of the book industry and I love them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they're so available. So many books are into
Speaker 3: audio books now, which is great.
Speaker 1: And again we'll be using our patented technology for choosing
Speaker 1: book club.
Speaker 3: Books, so you know the one.
Speaker 1: Sit back, relax and let us fill your ears with
Speaker 1: some soothing book recommendations.
Speaker 3: But first, this episode is brought to you by Frugal Girl.
Speaker 3: Summer this year, it's all about last year's swimsuit, attending
Speaker 3: potlucks and free events, and not worrying about the latest
Speaker 3: fads and diets, because who has time for that. It's
Speaker 3: a frugal Girl summer where we don't worry about being
Speaker 3: hot as long as we have ice cubes and the
Speaker 3: cooler we got from the thrift store in cold water
Speaker 3: and our reusable spray bottles to cool us down. Speaking
Speaker 3: of being cool, life insurance is cool. And if you
Speaker 3: need some assurance that your family, friends and loved ones
Speaker 3: can keep enjoying their summers long after you're gone, then
Speaker 3: check out Ladder and their affordable life insurance plans at
Speaker 3: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash ladder. They actually do
Speaker 3: have really affordable life insurance. They do.
Speaker 1: I actually they don't pay us to say this, we do.
Speaker 1: You do support the show at no extra cost to
Speaker 1: you if you sign up through our link, but genuinely they.
Speaker 3: Have plans starting at five dollars a month, which is
Speaker 3: supports that frugal frugal Girl summer.
Speaker 1: All aim this year is all about last year's swimsuit.
Speaker 1: That's probably my favorite. I get you, yeah, that got
Speaker 1: me all right. So if you love books, if you
Speaker 1: are on Books to Graham, if you are on book Talk,
Speaker 1: then this is just another one in our Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: book Club series. So we've also got episode to sixty
Speaker 1: seven that was our New Year book club. Two thirty
Speaker 1: five was our Fall book club, and we do read
Speaker 1: some of these in our Frugal Friends Club, our private membership.
Speaker 1: You can check that out at Frugal friendspodcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash club. I know that Brittany hosts once a month
Speaker 1: or every other month some book club meetings using these books.
Speaker 1: So if these, if we go through these and the
Speaker 1: sound interesting to you, then check out the club and
Speaker 1: read it with some other Frugal Friends listeners.
Speaker 3: That always enriches the reading of something or the listening
Speaker 3: of something when you can chat with other people about it,
Speaker 3: gain their perspectives. It usually can solidify some of the
Speaker 3: takeaways for us when we've had opportunity to engage in
Speaker 3: it in a variety of ways.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, So, without further ado, let's get into our four
Speaker 1: books for the summer.
Speaker 3: Yes, m s and what is this tried and true
Speaker 3: tested scientific methods four books.
Speaker 1: I forgot to mention our scientific method So our four books,
Speaker 1: this is the method that we used to choose them.
Speaker 1: Something old or than five years, something new or than
Speaker 1: one year something borrowed from our listeners, a recommendation we
Speaker 1: got from our listeners, and something with a blue cover,
Speaker 1: And that's that's how we choose them.
Speaker 3: It's how we have done all of the rest of
Speaker 3: our Frugal Friends book club episodes. And it's also how
Speaker 3: people ensure they're going to have a long marriage, beginning
Speaker 3: on their wedding day with what they wear.
Speaker 1: So clearly tried and true. Tried and true, yeah, we
Speaker 1: see no fault. So this first one is something old,
Speaker 1: older than five years, and it is The Soul of
Speaker 1: Money by Lynn Twist. The full title is The Soul
Speaker 1: of Money, Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life. And
Speaker 1: I have personally read half of this book and at
Speaker 1: the half I read was pretty good. I will be anescensing.
Speaker 1: I did not finish it, but I did like it.
Speaker 1: So the synopsis of this one is that this, they say,
Speaker 1: this liberating book shows us that examining our attitudes towards money,
Speaker 1: earning it, spending it, giving it away offers surprising insight
Speaker 1: into our lives. So through personal stories and practical advice,
Speaker 1: Lin Twists asks us to discover our relationship with money,
Speaker 1: understand how we use it, and by assessing our core
Speaker 1: human values, align our relationship with it to our desired goals,
Speaker 1: and doing so we can transform our lives. And that
Speaker 1: sounds suspiciously similar to what we're doing here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we think that's a good idea. Yes, I
Speaker 3: like starting here too. Not that we're not recommending these
Speaker 3: books in any particular order, but I am glad that
Speaker 3: this is the first one we're recommending, this something older
Speaker 3: than five years, because so often we can't shift or
Speaker 3: change behaviors until we understand some of the deeper roots
Speaker 3: of what is what's our own personal blueprint for how
Speaker 3: we make money decisions? What have we learned from our
Speaker 3: childhood years, what do we believe about money? Like we
Speaker 3: have a relationship with money that impacts our life, and
Speaker 3: so we're not actually going to be able to see
Speaker 3: real changes in the areas that we want to see
Speaker 3: them unless we've dug a little deeper, so I think,
Speaker 3: and I also love that there's so many books on finances,
Speaker 3: but from so many different perspectives, and they can come
Speaker 3: together as this chorus of really helpful, useful table tips.
Speaker 3: So if this is not something you've ever explored before,
Speaker 3: and maybe because it's scarier maybe because you just don't
Speaker 3: know where to start. Then start here, start with a
Speaker 3: book about how to identify the relationship that you have
Speaker 3: with money, and then go from there on actually looking
Speaker 3: at changing some of your behavior patterns and actually implementing
Speaker 3: some of the other tips that might be talked about
Speaker 3: in other books.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love there's this top review on the book
Speaker 1: on Amazon, and it kind of breaks down the goal
Speaker 1: of the book. So it combines this analytical it's what
Speaker 1: we call like the math. It brings the math brain
Speaker 1: along with the like the feeling and emotional brain, and
Speaker 1: it brings those two together on this topic. And this
Speaker 1: is a really this person uses a lot of big words,
Speaker 1: but I think I think we'll stick to using like
Speaker 1: the the math brain and the emotional brain, and it
Speaker 1: brings the two together. And where some people with more
Speaker 1: of the proclivity to focus on the math can find
Speaker 1: it almost beneath them to focus on the emotional, bringing
Speaker 1: that person to understanding and valuing the emotional and then
Speaker 1: on the other part, the emotional feeling based brain to
Speaker 1: come into line with the math. So if you have
Speaker 1: a spouse or a partner or someone in your life
Speaker 1: that may not understand where you're coming at with your
Speaker 1: relationship with money. This could be a good read to
Speaker 1: kind of combine the two. I won't say their brains
Speaker 1: are personality types because we all have both, but at
Speaker 1: least relationships with money, because our relationship with money is
Speaker 1: typically dominant by one or the other.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Again, I think it's worthwhile to go through books
Speaker 3: like this with others, like you've mentioned John, with a
Speaker 3: spouse or with a friend. I think when we're digging deeper,
Speaker 3: it can really especially help to be able to talk
Speaker 3: it through. So I love the idea of a book
Speaker 3: club specifically around a book like this that has some
Speaker 3: of those deeper soul searching exploitations.
Speaker 1: And this does make me want to finish the book.
Speaker 1: I liked it enough in the first half. Gewards like
Speaker 1: one of those where it's like I'm not learning anything new,
Speaker 1: I agree with everything. I'm kind of bored. So if
Speaker 1: you've been doing this, if you've been hosting a frugality
Speaker 1: podcast for five years, maybe you won't finish it either.
Speaker 3: But sometimes when thoughts or ideas are affirmed, it can
Speaker 3: help us feel solidified in our value system and belief system.
Speaker 3: It's still important to get outside of that and hear
Speaker 3: what others are saying. Not just be an echo chamber,
Speaker 3: but it can be helpful to remind ourselves of why
Speaker 3: we're choosing a certain direction, why we're living a certain way,
Speaker 3: and gain another person's perspective on it.
Speaker 1: And Brene Brown even wrote a I noticed that an affirmation.
Speaker 1: What are these things called recommend She wrote an affirmation? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we did that too. Brene thinks it's a life changing read.
Speaker 1: With warmth, honesty and storytelling, Lynn turns everything we think
Speaker 1: we know about money upside down. It's the book we
Speaker 1: all need right now.
Speaker 3: Amazing. All right, the next book something new er than
Speaker 3: one year. So this one came out real recently. It's
Speaker 3: called Catching Up to Crypto, Your Guide to Bitcoin and
Speaker 3: the New Digital Economy by Ben Armstrong and Vulnerability Round.
Speaker 3: We're not even there yet. I've not read this, neither
Speaker 3: of them. This is a This is an aspiral item
Speaker 3: on the book list, like we would want to explore
Speaker 3: this as well. I'll give the synopsis, then we can talk,
Speaker 3: and then I'll tell you about why I add it. Okay,
Speaker 3: So the synopsis is in Catching Up to Crypto, Your
Speaker 3: Guide to Bitcoin and the New Digital economy. Celebrated crypto
Speaker 3: and bitcoin expert Ben Armstrong delivers an exciting and fresh
Speaker 3: new exploration of bitcoin and digital currencies. He explains what
Speaker 3: bitcoin is, how it works, and how and why we're
Speaker 3: all transitioning to a digital economy as we speak. He
Speaker 3: discusses the deficiencies of traditional flat currency, how it's commonly manipulated,
Speaker 3: and how we can all benefit from the adoption of
Speaker 3: new digital assets. I also there it gave even below
Speaker 3: the synopsis, like when you choose to read more about
Speaker 3: the book. I like how they continue to describe it,
Speaker 3: that it is the hands on and comprehensive introduction into
Speaker 3: crypto that investors, enthusiasts, the crypto curious, and finance professionals
Speaker 3: have been waiting for. I think I would qualify myself
Speaker 3: under the crypto curious. I'm not so sure that this
Speaker 3: is something that I feel confident in, or desirous of,
Speaker 3: or in any way moving towards wanting to invest in crypto. However,
Speaker 3: I will say that I think I used to write
Speaker 3: it off, thinking this is going to go away, like, oh,
Speaker 3: we don't really have to worry about that. It's not
Speaker 3: tried and tested and probably not the best use of
Speaker 3: my time, money, energy. I'm going to stick with the
Speaker 3: tried and true, which is still true for me. But
Speaker 3: as there is more conversation about cryptocurrencies and it is
Speaker 3: not going away, I think I would want to intersect
Speaker 3: with this book from a learning perspective. Just I think
Speaker 3: anytime something is around for a while, I want to
Speaker 3: know a little bit about it. I think it can
Speaker 3: be okay to push it to a the side for
Speaker 3: a bit, but then when it starts to become more
Speaker 3: mainstream conversation, I don't want to be living under a
Speaker 3: rock or completely ignorant what it all is, and to
Speaker 3: be able to speak somewhat confidently about it, to be
Speaker 3: able to make my own decisions on what do I
Speaker 3: want to do with my money? Does this seem like
Speaker 3: a wise decision for me? And I'm not going to
Speaker 3: be able to do that if I don't know anything
Speaker 3: about it. So for me, that would be the reason
Speaker 3: for intersecting with this book. But Jen, why did you
Speaker 3: pick it? So?
Speaker 1: I think that the technology behind cryptocurrency is something that
Speaker 1: people should start understanding because I think that is what's
Speaker 1: going to be important in finance moving forward. People often
Speaker 1: are recommending that you have the and this is just
Speaker 1: a general recommendation. This is this was far before cryptocurrency
Speaker 1: came into whatever, but whatever, the percentage of a currency
Speaker 1: is moving through like the marketplace is about the percentage
Speaker 1: that you should have of it in your portfolio. So
Speaker 1: that's a more sophisticated portfolio strategy. And bitcoin cryptocurrency is
Speaker 1: making up about one percent of the currency moving through
Speaker 1: the marketplace. So if your partner has cryptocurrency, if it's
Speaker 1: just one percent of your you know, total net worth,
Speaker 1: that's totally fine. That's great. So it's not so much
Speaker 1: of a you know, we're going to start doing crypto
Speaker 1: episodes and be crypto fans. Neither of us personally like
Speaker 1: owns cryptocurrency that we know of.
Speaker 3: I've not told you I've got a second life. Oh no,
Speaker 3: it's social work and crypto.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean we're in all market like all equity
Speaker 1: funds and you know, in Vanguard, so they could have
Speaker 1: crypto in them. So I don't want to say we
Speaker 1: don't have any cryptocurrency. But I think more important than
Speaker 1: crypto bros. Is understanding like the blockchain technology and understanding
Speaker 1: like what that means for the regulation of money because
Speaker 1: I think we as consumers, we don't pay a lot
Speaker 1: of attention to the economy that doesn't apply to us
Speaker 1: in the current season. But when we look back in hindsight,
Speaker 1: there are definitely times where you're like, I wish I
Speaker 1: had known about that earlier. It would have saved me
Speaker 1: some pain or heartache.
Speaker 3: When the irs is interested in your bitcoin, then maybe
Speaker 3: it's time to learn more.
Speaker 1: So I liked this one. I'm not fully like familiar
Speaker 1: with the author, but I did do some background research,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to find a crypto book that was
Speaker 1: not written by like somebody who is very adamant that
Speaker 1: crypto is everything, right, yeah, so, and I felt like
Speaker 1: this person did that, and I felt like a lot
Speaker 1: of the reviews on the book also said that it
Speaker 1: wasn't like a pushy crypto is everything, Crypto is the
Speaker 1: whole future kind of book, but that it was a brief,
Speaker 1: like overview, like talk to me like I'm a kindergartener
Speaker 1: sort of explainer.
Speaker 3: That was my impression too, as I read through the
Speaker 3: synopsis and even looked through some of the reviews. Is
Speaker 3: it's a really helpful resource for just learning. You don't
Speaker 3: have to pick up this book with the intention of
Speaker 3: now I'm getting into crypto. It could be I want
Speaker 3: to know more about this topic, and this could give
Speaker 3: a really high level overview of it. And yeah, if
Speaker 3: you feel more equipped with knowledge.
Speaker 1: Or even you don't have to pick it up looking
Speaker 1: to agree with everything the author says, because he does
Speaker 1: have some of his own opinions, and you don't personally
Speaker 1: have to agree. I think being educated. If you're kind
Speaker 1: of looking for something, if you've read the Save Money,
Speaker 1: Earn Money, Side Hustle Seven Steps to Financial Freedom books
Speaker 1: and you're looking for a personal finance book that's a
Speaker 1: little different, That's why we added this one. It's a
Speaker 1: little different. I think it'll give you some good introduction
Speaker 1: into cryptocurrency, decentralization, trustless commerce, and cryptographic consensus.
Speaker 3: WHOA, that sounds right, I see.
Speaker 1: Yes, so, uh yeah, it might be a fun read. Next,
Speaker 1: something borrowed from our listeners. And it didn't really have
Speaker 1: to be borrowed because I would have recommended this one
Speaker 1: myself ourselves, but we're glad to have borrowed it from you.
Speaker 1: It's Clever Girl Finance. The Side Hustle Guide. Build a
Speaker 1: successful side hustle and increase your income by Bola Sokunbie
Speaker 1: and we've had Bola on the show. She is fantastic.
Speaker 1: She has four books out, yeah she is.
Speaker 3: She's just crying.
Speaker 1: Many books, yes, three are in the Clever Girl Finance series,
Speaker 1: which is her website, and then one her most recent
Speaker 1: is just kind of like an almost biographical kind of
Speaker 1: about her prospering, like her come up, her glow up.
Speaker 1: So she is fantastic. But you guys are always asking
Speaker 1: us about side hustles for our I don't know if
Speaker 1: I told you this. Still for our fifth anniversary episode,
Speaker 1: we asked our listeners on Instagram for like personal questions
Speaker 1: about us or the podcast because we thought that would
Speaker 1: be fun to like give behind the scenes. And some
Speaker 1: of the questions were too personal, were great, and we
Speaker 1: used like we used most of the great ones. Some
Speaker 1: of them were too personal, and then others were like,
Speaker 1: what's the best side hustle that's worth them, like worth
Speaker 1: the time? And I was like, that's not half of
Speaker 1: you don't care about us.
Speaker 3: It's just fine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So if you want to know what side hustles
Speaker 1: are worth the time, we definitely have a ton of
Speaker 1: side hustle episodes. We have a whole Frugal Side Hustle
Speaker 1: series where we bring someone on every other month.
Speaker 3: Interviewing people about their side hustle.
Speaker 1: But this is a supplemental book that really will tell
Speaker 1: you the side hustles, how to grow a side hustle
Speaker 1: to be worth your time, how to choose a side
Speaker 1: hustle Bolas She is an expert on this and side
Speaker 1: hustles can be they're a debated topic nowadays. The fact
Speaker 1: that some people have to use side hustles just to
Speaker 1: make ends meet isn't always preferable. We would always like
Speaker 1: it to just be supplement for reaching a financial goal faster,
Speaker 1: always a means to an end. But if you are
Speaker 1: in the period of life where you want to use
Speaker 1: a side hustle, this book will definitely tell you how
Speaker 1: to achieve finance prosperity by leveraging a side hustle to
Speaker 1: increase your income and build wealth. And I think side
Speaker 1: hustles are also great for if you're in a job
Speaker 1: that you're not sure you want to be in long term,
Speaker 1: not that you hate your job and definitely don't want
Speaker 1: to be there, but if you think I might want
Speaker 1: to work for myself, like I think I might want
Speaker 1: to do my own thing much smarter to start a
Speaker 1: side hustle and find that out while you're still being
Speaker 1: paid by someone, then to quit your job, go into
Speaker 1: debt and realize I hate being my own boss because
Speaker 1: it happens so frequently.
Speaker 3: Yeah, side hustles have been a huge help for me,
Speaker 3: but like you're saying, hopefully not where we have to
Speaker 3: set up camp long term, but can also be a
Speaker 3: great way to determine maybe something that can become your
Speaker 3: main hustle. I think that's that for me was a
Speaker 3: big reason for starting all my various side hustles, was
Speaker 3: hoping that it would eclipse the other thing and become
Speaker 3: what I could do but not take up a ton
Speaker 3: of space for me while working maybe a full time job.
Speaker 3: But Bula is an expert on this topic, and yeah,
Speaker 3: talks eloquently about it and writes about it. So if
Speaker 3: this is something you're considering or you're already in it,
Speaker 3: there's so many tips for you to get from her.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and definitely go back and check our Frugal
Speaker 1: side Hustle series because we choose those side hustles based
Speaker 1: on are they low cost to start and is there
Speaker 1: potential for this to become a full time like, not
Speaker 1: that it has to be, but there's potential for it
Speaker 1: to be part time and or full time. So we're
Speaker 1: pretty picky in the side hustles that we showcase. So
Speaker 1: that'll be a great supplement if you read this book
Speaker 1: to give you some ideas on how to execute the
Speaker 1: information in it.
Speaker 3: And last, but not least, something blue or should I
Speaker 3: say something with a blue cover?
Speaker 1: And I'll put a caveat to this. The actual background
Speaker 1: cover is white, but everything on top of it is blue.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it counts when I look at it, I would say, like,
Speaker 3: blue is what stands out to me? Yes, But what
Speaker 3: would we have done if it wasn't blue, because we're
Speaker 3: still going to recommend this.
Speaker 1: We would have moved away somewhere else. It would go
Speaker 1: somewhere crypto.
Speaker 3: So true crypto. And it is Money Made Easy, How
Speaker 3: to Budget, pay off debt, and save money by Alison Baggerly.
Speaker 3: And I'm just going to jump to the reason why
Speaker 3: we picked it, and that is because of Alison, but
Speaker 3: also because this is an incredible book. You know how
Speaker 3: big of fans of Alison Baggerly we are? And can
Speaker 3: I here we go? Here's the synopsis. In Money Made Easy,
Speaker 3: How to Budget, pay off debt, and Save money, renowned blogger, podcaster, speaker,
Speaker 3: and founder of Inspired Budget, Alison Baggerly delivers a powerful
Speaker 3: and effective blueprint to saving, budgeting, and investing your way
Speaker 3: to a brighter financial future. You'll discover saving income, business
Speaker 3: and debt reduction tips as you identify your quote unquote
Speaker 3: money pattern and break bad habits. And this just sounds
Speaker 3: completely right up our alley too, So if you just
Speaker 3: want a handbook, I love how she used the word
Speaker 3: blueprint to describe what this book is about as a
Speaker 3: supplement to this podcast, to your own kind of financial
Speaker 3: planning and personal finance. This kind of encompasses all of
Speaker 3: the things, and it says it in its subtitle right budgeting,
Speaker 3: paying off debt, saving money. And something Alison is known
Speaker 3: for is blending her own teaching background with personal finance.
Speaker 3: She's phenomenal at both, and so she has created so
Speaker 3: many templates which are included with the book, so giving
Speaker 3: really tangible tips to take away with you and something
Speaker 3: that you can read and begin implementing right away, which
Speaker 3: I love, Like Yeah, I love the thinking deeper certainly
Speaker 3: and identifying my relationship with money and doing all the
Speaker 3: emotional mental hard work. But oh my do I also
Speaker 3: just love someone who gives me a template and tells
Speaker 3: me what should I do next and how can I
Speaker 3: tailor that to my personal situation. And so Alison just
Speaker 3: kind of gives everything that we need all in one place.
Speaker 3: So highly recommend this one. Alison's great. Can I tell them?
Speaker 3: Can I tell them? Or is that a secret you
Speaker 3: can tell them?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I also think Allison's great because she's gonna be my
Speaker 3: stand in co host when Jen's out on maternity leave,
Speaker 3: which happened the last time Jen gave birth, So it's
Speaker 3: like old hat for us. But you'll hear more from
Speaker 3: Alison on the show in just a few weeks. She'll
Speaker 3: be a stand in co host, and I'm sure we'll
Speaker 3: be talking more about her book a bit. Yeah. I'm
Speaker 3: excited about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I've been like on the other side of the
Speaker 1: screen for gosh over a year as Alison has written
Speaker 1: this book and has really put hours and hours of effort.
Speaker 1: Many people will not know this because I did not
Speaker 1: know this until last year, that eighty percent of books
Speaker 1: are ghost written. So eighty percent of the books that
Speaker 1: you read, especially by people with big names, are ghost written,
Speaker 1: meaning they are not written by the person whose name
Speaker 1: is on the cover and wrote her book. It is
Speaker 1: in her voice, it is all her. So if you
Speaker 1: love her on Instagram, you will love this book. And
Speaker 1: we try to include just a basic personal finance book
Speaker 1: with every book Club. I think last time it was
Speaker 1: Ramit Setti's book, I Will Teach You to Be Rich.
Speaker 1: So this time around, this season, it is Money Made Easy.
Speaker 1: And I am very excited for you all to read
Speaker 1: this book, especially if you're looking for something that's just general, basic,
Speaker 1: if maybe you're new to the show and you don't
Speaker 1: want to dive into crypto right now, if you're like
Speaker 1: not ready to dive into like turning a side hustle
Speaker 1: into a wealth building, wealth generating vehicle, if you're looking
Speaker 1: for something that's a little broader than that, then this
Speaker 1: is the book on the list for you.
Speaker 3: And I love the final sentence, Money Made Easy takes
Speaker 3: the mystery and jargon out of personal finance and offers
Speaker 3: you the guidance you need to transform transform your money
Speaker 3: once and for all. And that's just what I want
Speaker 3: to see in the personal finance space is taking the
Speaker 3: mystery and jargon out of it so that it can
Speaker 3: be approachable and we can feel confident in the decisions
Speaker 3: that we're making in Alison is a friendly face and
Speaker 3: voice in this space to be able to do that
Speaker 3: break it down in a really understandable, digestible way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she has so much empathy for people from
Speaker 1: all income backgrounds. And she was her and her husband
Speaker 1: were both teachers when they paid off over one hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars of a debt, so they know what it's
Speaker 1: like to not be making six figures and try and
Speaker 1: pay off six figures of debt. So she has a
Speaker 1: lot of empathy and that makes the book really relatable.
Speaker 1: It's got checklists, templates, stuff for you know, balancing your
Speaker 1: your credit card debt and getting through that. So yeah,
Speaker 1: and she's just she's not like a super extreme frugal
Speaker 1: person who is like, give up everything to pay off
Speaker 1: your debt. She likes to spend money when we are together,
Speaker 1: she is the one that wants to spend the money,
Speaker 1: but I I will follow. She knows how to have
Speaker 1: a good time, and I will follow and I will
Speaker 1: have that good time with her.
Speaker 3: But she does give good advice.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, She gives it out of experience, like she gives
Speaker 1: it out of knowing what it's like to be a
Speaker 1: teacher paying off debt, who also loves Target and Starbucks.
Speaker 3: And I cannot get on board with no two things.
Speaker 3: So love Alison, but there.
Speaker 1: Might be a little ten she'll cannot get on board
Speaker 1: with teachers, no Target and Starbucks.
Speaker 3: For the rapper, I realize I have an unpopular opinion.
Speaker 1: Yes, but spoiler alert, And you should ask Alison about
Speaker 1: this when she comes on. Is about her her current
Speaker 1: feelings about Target's clothing. Now, oh yeah.
Speaker 3: I love a hot take.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she'll have a hot take for you. All right,
Speaker 1: So let's just recap these books before we go on.
Speaker 1: We've got four of them for you. Let's count it down.
Speaker 1: One The Soul of Money by Linn Twist. If you
Speaker 1: are looking for kind of more in the psychology range,
Speaker 1: more in the mental emotional, that sort of thing relationship
Speaker 1: with money, this is going to be the book for you.
Speaker 1: This summer two. Catching Up to Crypto by Ben Armstrong.
Speaker 1: If you are kind of tired of all the other
Speaker 1: personal finance books out there but you want to learn more,
Speaker 1: this is going to be the book for you. This
Speaker 1: Summer three Clever Girl Finance The Side Hustle Guide by
Speaker 1: Bulasa Kunbi. If you want to start a side hustle
Speaker 1: this summer, but you don't want to just do Instacart
Speaker 1: or Uber Eats or something like that. You want it
Speaker 1: to be worth your time and potentially allow you to
Speaker 1: leave your current career, but not necessarily. This is a
Speaker 1: book for you this summer four Money Made Easy by
Speaker 1: Alison Baggerley. If you are looking for a broad overview
Speaker 1: of personal finance, something you can sink your teeth into
Speaker 1: and really hold onto as your money patterns your stuff
Speaker 1: like that and more and more stuff, this is the
Speaker 1: book for you. It's a Frugal Summer Girl Summer Girls.
Speaker 1: You keep all these books on Amazon on Amazon Library.
Speaker 1: Some of them will be definitely the Linn Twist one. Right, So,
Speaker 1: Frugal Girl Summer.
Speaker 3: You know what else is a part that I want
Speaker 3: to be a part of my frugal Girl summer That
Speaker 3: should be every week, but it's also a part of
Speaker 3: my winter, spring, summer and.
Speaker 1: Fall, Winter, spring, summer and fall.
Speaker 3: That's all you can sing the bill of the week.
Speaker 4: That's right. It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 4: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 4: is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 4: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 4: that bill anymore. That billalow bills bill claim. This is
Speaker 4: the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hi, Jen and Jill. Thought I would hop in here
Speaker 5: for the bill of the week. Since I've started listening
Speaker 5: to you guys, I've made a ton of really great
Speaker 5: changes in my financial life and have really been building
Speaker 5: financial health, which is super exciting. So I think you,
Speaker 5: thank you, thank you. I wanted to share as well
Speaker 5: that I have been negotiating a little bit and working
Speaker 5: on adjusting bills that I thought I wasn't able to
Speaker 5: adjust before. So one example of that is recently I
Speaker 5: had a subscription for service that I realized I didn't
Speaker 5: need any more, and I meant to cancel it before
Speaker 5: it renewed the following month because it was a monthly
Speaker 5: bill and I forgot so instead of kind of wallowing
Speaker 5: that and letting it be, I actually reached out to
Speaker 5: the company explained that I just meant to cancel it,
Speaker 5: I won't be using it for the month that I
Speaker 5: had just paid for, and asked if there was anything
Speaker 5: they could do. But then like thirty seconds that you're
Speaker 5: refunded it to me, I never would have thought to
Speaker 5: do that before listening to you guys, never would have
Speaker 5: had that confidence or thought that anyone would help that way.
Speaker 1: So thank you, thank you, Akasha. I'm so glad that
Speaker 1: you were able to have a the confidence and B
Speaker 1: you don't know what you don't know and so you
Speaker 1: know it now and you tried it.
Speaker 3: Well. That's the thing how knowledge can give us confidence.
Speaker 3: Knowing and learning and hearing from others their stories of
Speaker 3: what worked and what didn't can help us feel more
Speaker 3: confident to do things like this. And I also just
Speaker 3: want to comment on your phrase building financial health. I
Speaker 3: just love that terminology, and I'm so glad that you
Speaker 3: were in this entire journey. And this is just one
Speaker 3: aspect and one example of how you're working towards financial
Speaker 3: health and feeling more confident. And what a great tip
Speaker 3: because I think so often this can happen for people,
Speaker 3: is they forget about a subscription, or they accidentally pay
Speaker 3: for something, or they purchase something on a whim and
Speaker 3: then realize I don't actually want that anymore. But it
Speaker 3: just seems easier to let it go than to get
Speaker 3: that money back, that hard earned money back. And yes,
Speaker 3: this is often the case, Like we accidentally pay for
Speaker 3: a subscription, we don't plan on using it. We can call,
Speaker 3: we can ask. The worst thing a company will typically
Speaker 3: do is give you like a pro rated amount back.
Speaker 3: I've never had it where they say no, we can't
Speaker 3: refund you anything. So it's worth calling, it's worth asking,
Speaker 3: And I'm so thrilled to hear the confidence that you
Speaker 3: experience inside yourself to do it. That's my biggest takeaway
Speaker 3: from your bill. Well, if you all listening, have a
Speaker 3: bill that you want to submit, if it has anything
Speaker 3: to do with building your confidence or bill ding your
Speaker 3: financial wealth health. WHOA, I never put that together that
Speaker 3: like play on words.
Speaker 1: Building financial health, mental wealth.
Speaker 3: Just if you are bilding something or you are a bill,
Speaker 3: just Bill, be a bill, leave us the Bill. Frugal
Speaker 3: Friends podcast dot com slash Bill. We are so excited
Speaker 3: for it.
Speaker 1: If you know Bill Curtis.
Speaker 3: And now it's time for round.
Speaker 1: I am so pregnant.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is like the last episode we're recording before
Speaker 3: Jen gives birth to a baby.
Speaker 1: So here we are.
Speaker 3: This is vulnerability and its finess. All right, Jen, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna ask you the question you answer first. Are there
Speaker 3: questions you ask yourself after finishing a book to reflect
Speaker 3: or better understand, slash absorb what you read.
Speaker 1: I asked myself a lot of questions while I'm.
Speaker 3: Reading The Boom Say more so.
Speaker 1: The last nonfiction book I read was from our last
Speaker 1: book club, is The Lazy Genius. I can't so I
Speaker 1: think we put the Lazy Genius kitchen on it. But
Speaker 1: I just read The Lazy Genius way. I have not
Speaker 1: made it to kitchen yet, so I really She prompted
Speaker 1: a lot of questions throughout the book, and I think
Speaker 1: nonfiction books do that. So by the end of it,
Speaker 1: I've kind of I'm kind of like thinking, Okay, what's
Speaker 1: my what's my one takeaway? Because I don't want to
Speaker 1: have ten takeaways from a book. I just want to
Speaker 1: have one so that I actually start acting on it.
Speaker 1: So that would be with nonfiction. With fiction, I will
Speaker 1: also ask myself questions throughout the book, but for different reasons,
Speaker 1: like why is this happening? What the author trying to do? Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it's not about me. It's like what is going on?
Speaker 1: What is the point of this because there's always like
Speaker 1: some kind of foreshadowing that's in there, and you don't
Speaker 1: realize it's foreshadowing or like forward casting or whatever the
Speaker 1: term is until something has already happened and you're like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, that's why that happened. So I'm always
Speaker 1: asking myself like is this important? I just tried, and
Speaker 1: I tried. I did not get through the first I
Speaker 1: got maybe through the first chapter of the Colleen Hoover
Speaker 1: book It Ends with Us, which is this like big
Speaker 1: New York Times bestseller. I got through the first chapter
Speaker 1: and I'm like, what is the point of this book
Speaker 1: if this is the first chapter?
Speaker 3: And so are you gonna get us cancelled with this question?
Speaker 1: No, No, I don't think so. I just didn't get it,
Speaker 1: Like it didn't pull me in. And I'm not usually
Speaker 1: one to quit after one chapter. If I'm it's like
Speaker 1: a sitcom, like if the first episode, if the pilot
Speaker 1: isn't the best, I'll give this second episode a chance. Sure,
Speaker 1: I got into the second chapter of this book and
Speaker 1: I was like, it hasn't gotten better, and maybe I'm
Speaker 1: just a little outside my genre. There's been some death,
Speaker 1: but no murder, and that's the thing that but I
Speaker 1: don't always need murder. So, yeah, I'm sorry. Tell me
Speaker 1: if I'm missing something. I won't be able to say right, no,
Speaker 1: not you, Jill, but you listening. Tell me if I
Speaker 1: if I've missed something, if I should go on when
Speaker 1: it gets good, or if maybe I should try it book.
Speaker 3: Do you read a lot of fiction?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I listen to audiobooks. I'm an audiobook girl.
Speaker 3: Yeah we know this. Yes, I listen to a lot
Speaker 3: of fiction.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So I'm always trying new things. I forget I think, well,
Speaker 1: I'm not like twenty books a year. I'm like maybe
Speaker 1: six books a year is where I'm at.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so like one book every other month?
Speaker 3: Good for you? So is that blended in? Okay, this
Speaker 3: is my question. The first question was Goldie's question, and
Speaker 3: she's great, and now here's mine. Do you blend fiction
Speaker 3: and nonfiction at the same time? Do you go every
Speaker 3: other every other complete a book, keep going? How do
Speaker 3: you work it? What's your strategy?
Speaker 1: I know I don't do two books at a time.
Speaker 1: I can't. I do not love books that much to
Speaker 1: where I'm like, I've got three books going at a time.
Speaker 1: I'm more of a like complete one, move on to
Speaker 1: the next kind of girl, and I think I do.
Speaker 1: I don't do it on purpose where I go every other,
Speaker 1: but I will interchange them like every other, but maybe not,
Speaker 1: you know, religiously.
Speaker 3: How do you decide I deserve fiction now? I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's mostly just like I got a recommendation off of
Speaker 1: like books to gram.
Speaker 3: Because to me, fiction does feel like a luxury, like
Speaker 3: I have to earn that, and I never have. I've
Speaker 3: never earned fiction. I can't tell you. I think the
Speaker 3: last time I read a fiction book I was in
Speaker 3: middle school. There's just so many other things to read
Speaker 3: and learn before I can let myself engage in something
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 1: I don't know. So the reason I'm not like doing
Speaker 1: fiction books all the time is because I'm listening to
Speaker 1: podcast series too, so I interchanged them. I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: always listening to something. It's just not always a book.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's a podcast series. So when I gave up
Speaker 1: on the Colleen Hoover book, I started what is it
Speaker 1: from Tenderfoot? It is undetermined? So this is a murder
Speaker 1: mystery series.
Speaker 3: I just do love those just started that, not just
Speaker 3: death murder too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I do so. And then before that I
Speaker 1: listened to one on a potential cult leader. I think
Speaker 1: we might have talked. We talked about this on our
Speaker 1: fifth anniversary special, the guy who I think Rommy or
Speaker 1: Roomy or something who was maybe a cult leader, but
Speaker 1: it's debatable, right. I love those, the ones that are
Speaker 1: ambiguously So. Yeah, it was my turn to do an
Speaker 1: audio book between podcasts, but I just couldn't. I couldn't
Speaker 1: get into it. Yeah wow, So yeah, Jill, So.
Speaker 3: The original question, are there questions you ask yourself after
Speaker 3: finishing a book to reflect or better understand what you
Speaker 3: just read? And I would agree with what you've said, Jen,
Speaker 3: I will ask myself what is my one takeaway from
Speaker 3: this book? Because I don't want to walk away with
Speaker 3: many things, but I also don't want to walk away
Speaker 3: with nothing, So what is going to stay embedded with me?
Speaker 3: But I will also ask myself if someone were to
Speaker 3: ask me to give a synopsis of this book, what
Speaker 3: would I say? I think that's another kind of go
Speaker 3: to internal question. I asked myself, like, how would how
Speaker 3: would I define the book? What would I say about it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: That's how you know, that's a test of really knowing
Speaker 1: something is can you distill it down into like a
Speaker 1: one sentence synopsis. It's a really good test.
Speaker 3: Usually it's like three sentences.
Speaker 5: For me.
Speaker 3: Wow, Yeah, I'm not great at tests. I'm better at papers. Good.
Speaker 3: That's why I went into social wordia.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for listening. We hope
Speaker 1: that you are inspired to add a book to your
Speaker 1: summer reading list, hopefully nonfiction, but maybe fiction as well.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to give the Colleen Hoover book a try.
Speaker 1: Who knows, but many of you know. We have a
Speaker 1: membership for our listeners who are paying off debt, where
Speaker 1: we do monthly money challenges, offer accountability groups, and we
Speaker 1: even go through these books inside the membership, not all
Speaker 1: of them, but our members will kind of vote on
Speaker 1: which ones they want to read, and then those are
Speaker 1: the ones they'll read together. So we want to congratulate
Speaker 1: one of our members for a big win. This comes
Speaker 1: from Jocelyn. She says, freaking pets, can't live with them,
Speaker 1: can't live without them. I was paying thirty to thirty
Speaker 1: eight dollars a month for pet insurance the last five
Speaker 1: years and didn't need it until last year for massive
Speaker 1: dental cleaning and seven Teeth extracted, my premium jumped up
Speaker 1: to seventy two dollars monthly. I just called to renegotiate
Speaker 1: it a couple weeks ago and got it back down
Speaker 1: to a round forty but limited the coverage. Considered canceling
Speaker 1: it all together, but was pretty sure something crazy would
Speaker 1: happen once I canceled it.
Speaker 3: Jocelyn, what done again with the negotiating? You don't know
Speaker 3: unless you ask, And sometimes these companies just make decisions
Speaker 3: hoping you're not paying attention, But not our frugal friends,
Speaker 3: listeners and club members. You all are paying attention. And
Speaker 3: good for you for keeping it because clearly it's needed.
Speaker 3: And anyone who I've talked to who has been able
Speaker 3: to secure pet insurance has really loved it because those
Speaker 3: circumstances arise and if you don't have it, you are
Speaker 3: paying out of pocket. So so glad you got it
Speaker 3: back down to a reasonable monthly amount and that you
Speaker 3: were able to take advantage of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, great job, So thank you for listening. If you
Speaker 1: want to check out our membership where we have tons
Speaker 1: of members just calling in to quote unquote negotiate. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's just asking questions and explaining it doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be this board room kind of back and forth thing
Speaker 1: that sometimes people think it is. So if you want
Speaker 1: to learn how to do that, then check out Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast dot com slash club. We've got courses, interviews, challenges,
Speaker 1: and more and we would love to see you in there.
Speaker 3: See you next time.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Siriani.
Speaker 3: I also did this recently too. Are you still recording? Yeah,
Speaker 3: I can talk about it. I pre paid, okay, I
Speaker 3: got a service done, and then they were offering this
Speaker 3: package deal where you could pre pay for future services.
Speaker 1: So cryptic and.
Speaker 3: Go on and then, but it was they were only
Speaker 3: offering the deal there if you were to purchase it
Speaker 3: right then and there. Of course, you couldn't get that
Speaker 3: same deal if you were to decide later on and
Speaker 3: think about it. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. And usually I'm
Speaker 3: very good at being like no, thank you, but with
Speaker 3: this particular service, I was like, that might be really helpful,
Speaker 3: and this sounds like a good deal. Your face, I'm
Speaker 3: not going to look at you while I tell this story,
Speaker 3: so I wish I did. I will in the blank
Speaker 3: let your mind run wild, and then I discovered that
Speaker 3: I did not like the results of this service after
Speaker 3: having got I paid for it one time, then pre
Speaker 3: paid for the package that was to come that I
Speaker 3: could take advantage of. But then I realized that the
Speaker 3: one service I did get, I did not like the
Speaker 3: results of it. But oh no, I've already prepaid and
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie. There was a part of me
Speaker 3: that just thought, I don't feel like going back to
Speaker 3: this person and asking for my money back. I might
Speaker 3: just let it sit, or maybe I will go back
Speaker 3: to them and get the services, even though I'm not
Speaker 3: super pleased with it, because I already paid all this
Speaker 3: money and it's a person who's running a small business,
Speaker 3: and I don't want to ask for my money back
Speaker 3: from this small business owner. But then I realized I
Speaker 3: have legitimate reason to ask for this back. I was
Speaker 3: not pleased with the service that I got. I'm not
Speaker 3: asking for a ref on what I've already taken advantage of,
Speaker 3: but I don't want to utilize what I've already prepaid for.
Speaker 3: So I sent an email, ended up even talking with
Speaker 3: the person on the phone. Because they're a small business owner,
Speaker 3: they wanted to know if they could have improved anything
Speaker 3: or if there's any way to keep me And it
Speaker 3: ended up being a super kind conversation. But they did
Speaker 3: refund my money, and now I feel so relieved and
Speaker 3: lessons continuously learned even after five years of this podcast.
Speaker 3: Even if it was something that, Okay, I will probably
Speaker 3: pay for this service again in the future, not from them.
Speaker 3: So it was a decent idea to get a prepaid
Speaker 3: package at a discounted rate. But what I didn't consider
Speaker 3: in that moment was let me see how I like
Speaker 3: the service that I've received, Because there's you know, to
Speaker 3: give time, whether you're talking a haircut or nails or whatever,
Speaker 3: any other type of service that you might get, give
Speaker 3: it time to think it is okay. It is not
Speaker 3: worth the little bit of extra money you might save
Speaker 3: to put space in between a big decision like that
Speaker 3: prepaying for a package in the moment where there's the
Speaker 3: sense of urgency. So note to self, even if it's
Speaker 3: something that I think I'm going to engage in, to
Speaker 3: give it time to see. But do I like what
Speaker 3: I've already received.
Speaker 1: And then it's still going to be worth what you're
Speaker 1: paying for it, even if you pay a little more
Speaker 1: for it.
Speaker 3: That's so true