March 18, 2022 • 51 mins
Sometimes spending money is a whole lot easier than saving money! Spending money often gives us what we want in the moment, but it can derail us from our financial goals or debt payoff plans. Today we're talking about strategies to move from spending to saving so that we can get the most out of budgets!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Episode two oh four is episode how to make the
transition from spender to saver her. Welcome to the Frugal
Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights,
and liver with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill.
(00:24):
M mmmmm, Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name
is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are
re airing one of our most popular episodes from from
Not Real. It's like it was point two is what
(00:45):
this episode is from before really hit. Yeah, we were
we were blissfully in a blissful days. Yeah, we're re
airing it a because it's popular and b because we
want to remember the good old days, because are the
good old days and we want you to experience what
(01:07):
we were like back then. So hopefully you can find
yourself in this episode as well and take some tangible
tips away. Absolutely, but first our sponsors. This episode is
brought to you by none other than February of The
Final Frontier, The Last Hurrah. Today's episode literally came out
(01:30):
on February, and while many things published in that month
have not aged well, this one has because I literally
went back and I was like, oh, let's just make sure,
everything's okay. Something else that has aged well our Modern
Frugal Living e book. We published this e book with
over two dred ways to save money in February of
(01:55):
two and I think it's going to hold up as
well as this replay. So if you want to grab
your free copy, head to Frugal Friends Podcast dot com
slash e book Again. That's Frugal Friends Podcast dot com
slash e book. Nice transition, Jen, thank you. Also brought
to you by the Glow Up, the phenomenon that has
(02:18):
swept the globe is sponsoring this very show. We all
know those kids we went to school with that appeared
very normal, blending in, just getting their homework done, and
then bam, they're in their twenties and unattainably attractive. It's
the glow Up here to say, if it's happened to you, congrats,
(02:39):
If not, try it on your finances. The glow Up
going from good to grade since two thousand eight. M wow,
are you talking about yourself in this one? Well? I
wasn't until two thousand eight. Rhymed with great and I
did graduate in two thousand eights, so you know, take
take with that what you will, all right, although I
(03:01):
do think I peaked in high school. Absolutely not. No,
you have not hit your peak yet, Jill. You are
still climbing girl. I would rather I'd rather see the
glow up in my finances, though, all sacrifice appearance for
a financial glow up that happened. That happens when you
get to your thirties. It's like my body and my
(03:24):
health are deteriorating rapidly. So I just want more money,
and we are here to help you get that. Because
we're not health podcast. We are a money podcast. And
so if this is a topic that is specifically of
interest to you, here are a few other episodes you
should queue up to listen to after. So the first
(03:47):
is episode one ninety and that's how to prepare for
a no spend challenge, because we do talk about no
spend challenges in this episode, episode five going from overspender
to Millionaire with Wally Miller. That one was a really
good interview. And then one how to identify and improve
spending habits. That's another really good one to play. After
(04:10):
so many options, well, just keep be engaged for the
rest of your afternoon or whatever time you're listening to this.
Enjoy so our first article on how to transition to
saber from spender is from J. D Roth over Get
(04:31):
Rich Slowly dot org and he goes through the ways
he went from spender to saber, and I thought this
was a cool to start with. Instead of like a
list on how to do it um, his is a
lot of his story on how he did it, which
is always relatable when you hear what has actually worked
(04:53):
for somebody else and then figuring out how to tweak
it for yourself. Yeah, and a lot of it came
from going ru getting out of debt. He paid off
his debt, built his savings and is now living in
this place where he could spend money if he wanted to.
But he spent all of this time like changing his
money mindset that he is now a saver and and
(05:16):
these are kind of the biggest things that have helped him.
So the first is opening a high yield savings account,
so he opened one UM online. A lot of online
accounts are great for this. Uh they offer way more
interest than brick and mortar banks so and and they
are just as safe. The only thing they don't have
(05:37):
is like cash deposits. But uh, so, opening an account
at a separate place from where you regularly bank and
regularly transferring money over to it. So just like you
can do that, there's also apps that do have auto
safe features, like in power um where they will try
(06:00):
for small amounts that you don't know, but that's not
really going to that'll build your savings, but it's not
going to build a habit. So doing this that is,
I mean, you're doing it automatically, but I would argue
that maybe doing it in addition to doing it regularly automatically,
(06:20):
you also do it manually. UM. I believe you should
automate everything just because it forces you to save, but
if you're really trying to build a habit, you really
want to do it for yourself, you can't rely on automation. Well,
and you can always do automation and then build a
habit of putting an extra Yes, you know, even if
(06:40):
it's really on the amount, you're still practicing and growing
that muscle. Yeah. So the next thing that this article
lists is to set a medium term savings goal. They
really like this one so different from obviously short term,
different from long term medium terms. So they're describing that
time frame from about eighteen months to five years and
(07:02):
setting goals like saving up for a big trip, vacation,
saving up for a car, something that would take about
that time frame eighteen months to five years to save
four And what this does is it gets us excited
about saving because sometimes long term goals can feel so
far in the future and so unattainable that we don't
(07:22):
have the motivation to do it. And short term is
short term that's not going to get you very far.
But a medium term goal where you're working towards this
thing but it's not taking you forever, and then you
achieve that, it's just the excitement, a motivation continues to
build upon itself. So I love this idea specifically for
like we're talking about transitioning from spender to savor, this
(07:47):
is a really good place to start. Yeah, for me,
I think the eighteen month is a really good sweet
spot because the six month is more short term for me,
and then five years does seem long term. Um, well, retirement,
that's really what long term, but for me it still
feels like a long ways away. But I think eighteen
(08:07):
months is a sweet spot. If you can have eighteen
month goals just in succession, you can really do a
lot of think like good things with your money. Yeah,
or set your long term savings goals in medium term
increments by the next by eighteen months from now, I
want to have saved three to five tho dollars for retirement.
(08:31):
And then when you get to the eighteen month mark,
move it over. I mean you can. You can gamify
this thing, Yeah, you can, It's really sweet. The next
is when you receive a windfall, such as your upcoming
tax refund, don't think about how to spend it, think
about how to save it. Uh. Windfalls we usually think
of them as fun money. And if you're receiving a
(08:55):
large windfall like an inheritance, some of that should be
used as fun money. But something like a tax refund
that's only a couple grand you can use maybe like
fifty dollars to you know, take your family out on
a nice fun day and spend it on an experience.
But don't let that be the first thing you think about.
Think about how you want to save it to get
(09:18):
like closer to your goal, and then once you fund that,
then use the leftover two take a fun day with
your family. Yeah. And the next one is to avoid
situations that would cause you to spend this you know,
hails back to our sponsor restrained. It starts by just
(09:41):
not putting yourself in situations where you know you're going
to buy all of the tiny bowls or whatever it is. Right, Like,
if you're trying to save money and you've got other
things that you do want to be spending your money on,
and you know that you're going to spend all your
money on photography equipment or biking year or you name it,
(10:01):
don't go to those places or don't visit those sites.
That's another thing, right, we talked about not putting yourself
in these situations. Okay, it's relatively easy to just not
stop in a store, but to not search certain things
on your phone that are readily available, that's and that's
a whole other animal. And that's where we can put
(10:22):
up barriers for ourselves of you know, whether that's like
it takes some extra steps to get to your browser
or to get to certain apps on your phone, um
or just saying no, just practicing or train and not
doing those things. And we'll we'll talk about in our
upcoming episode on motivation, how your environment is so much
(10:43):
more important to staying motivated to something than quote unquote
motivation is um so, yeah, just form your environment to
support saving. Yeah, it's a double edged sword because sometimes
even being online can be tempting for to purchase things.
But by the same token, you can use online platforms
(11:04):
to help you where being in person might be more tempting,
like for those target people who just cannot get out
of target for less than fifty dollars. Yeah, maybe you're
better off going online for your groceries or your one
item that you need than going in store, because then
you can just specifically say I need diapers and I
(11:25):
need milk, and that's it. I'm not doing the one
dollar aisle, which ends up being five million dollars by
the time you get to the cash or chaster. How
how does it get there? How did that happen? Where
did all those zeros come from? How did my diapers
cost two? I mean that's diapers can cost you hundred dollars,
that's a real but how that's a real question to
(11:47):
how did one box of diapers? Big diapers? Big diapers?
His next one is he started considering alternatives to buy
new stuff, which we're so into this. So instead of
going out assuming that you need to replace something, or
assuming you need to buy something new to create more
(12:09):
convenience in your life, take the time to look around
your house see if you can fix what you broke
or if you can use something else you already have
to to make do. Um and then next is to
buy you. So he goes to goodwill. Um, I love
Facebook Marketplace or eBay. I really love eBay. Um, so
(12:34):
go online or go to a thrift store. Um, see
if you can get it used. eBay has so many
crazy niche items that you're gonna spend days at a
thrift store looking for or weeks on Facebook Marketplace looking
for and eBay's got them for like a quarter of
the price they are new. Um, so just take it.
(12:56):
Doesn't take that long if you're using the right methods
to see, like if there's any alternative to buying new Yeah,
and watch yourself right. Sometimes we get excited when something
gets broken because it's like, oh, I get to go
out and buy a new thing. Well, first of all,
do you really need it? Can you do without it? Second?
(13:18):
Can you fix it? Maybe you do want a new
one of those things, but can it be fixed? And
can it last a little bit longer? Or can you
replace it used rather than going to the store and
buying news. So just putting these again, some of these
routines in place of switching the mindset of something breaks,
I go out and buy a new thing, thinking through
(13:40):
what are my alternatives here? Those are going to be
the little things that move us from spending a lot
to being able to save a lot. And and one
thing I will say to finish up this thought is
that we're not saying by lesser quality by buying used,
you can often find something of better quality that will
last longer. By buying used on on eBay or Facebook marketplace,
(14:04):
then you would buying new because you want to you
don't have the money saved, and you want to buy
it cheap. At the same price point, you can often
get something better and more quality. It does require a
bit more research and time investment in that miss worth
payoff can Yeah, it is worth. It's worth the time.
So the last thing on this article is don't spend
(14:25):
your time looking for ways to spend your money. And
this is a really important point that he's making because
we often think that to save money means we're not
doing anything or we're not having fun. Like the alternative
to spending is just sitting at home twiddling your thumbs like, oh,
I'm saving, but I'm not doing anything, and that is
(14:46):
complete falsehood. So rather than thinking, Okay, if I'm not
spending money, then I'm board look for ways to save
your money or to do things that are free. I
mean he starts off by talking about out just investment
ways to save and get the maximum amount out of that.
So of course, you know, Roth I ra s you
(15:08):
could have absolutely get into stock market investing, investing all
kinds of different things. But then beyond that is what
can I be doing with my time that doesn't cost money?
You can still have loads of fun and entertainment and
time with friends and rest and relaxation without spending money.
(15:30):
I mean literally reference any previous podcast that we've done.
We'll talk about that, but look in your area for
what can I be doing rather than just sitting around
and kind of get this idea out of our heads
that to save money means that we're boring and we
sit on our couch all day. Yeah. So uh, we
(15:53):
love j d story and the things that he did,
and so our next article is is more of like
a detox, like how can you detox your habits two
build up a fresh habit of saving. And I found
this really great article. Who is it written by? I
(16:16):
wrote it. It's on my website, are very own Jen Smith. Yeah,
I mean I write for a living, so one of
these days I was going to put in my own.
But it's on Modern Frugality dot com and it's how
to use a no spend month to improve your finances.
And I really love the idea of using no spend challenges,
(16:39):
not just for the amount of money that you'll save
in a month of not spending on non essentials, but
for what they do for you mentally. They are a
reset for your habitual spending, your impulse spending, and all
of the mindless spending that we do, and it hand
(17:00):
and you can replace that with habits that are more
geared towards saving. So that's why I love no spend challenges.
It's why I wrote the book The No Spend Challenge
Guide UM on Amazon, and it's it's why I love them. Yeah,
I mean you you are an expert on this topic,
so yes, glad we're using your article. Yeah. So, so
(17:22):
what is a no spend challenge other than what I
just said. It's just a and write this down. Don't
write it down if you're driving, but committed to memory.
A no spend challenge is a commitment to not spend
money on certain things for a predetermined length of time.
That's all it is. It is not more complicated than that.
(17:45):
You decide what you're not spending money on, and you
decide the length of time. Do not follow rules that
are predetermined by somebody else, because that takes away your
ownership and your authority from the challenge. And there are
some things you can spend money on that you don't
(18:06):
struggle with, while there are other things you spend money
on that our real struggle for you. And so the
idea is just to find out what those things are
and and you do that by committing and deciding those
are step one, step two. So that's all it is. Yeah,
(18:27):
So just to get into a bit more about how
to do this, you you need to decide what you
are going to spend on and what you are not
going to spend on. And just like Jen said, it
depends on you. You get to decide this, which I
love this that there's so much freedom which listen to
any of our episodes and you'll hear us talk about
(18:48):
the freedom that there is. So obviously you need to
pay your bills and necessary expenses to live and to eat.
But beyond that, are you gonna what are you going
to be able to spend on? What are you going
to cut? I like what you say here in your article, Jen,
just saying talking about there's no need to cancel subscriptions
(19:10):
or gym memberships if you use them and if you
would plan to just start them back up again once
the challenge is over. So feel free to keep those things,
but take a look at it. If you've got a
magazine subscription that just gets thrown in the trash day two, yeah,
cancel those. The point is to determine. Really, it helps
(19:32):
us see where our values are, to pare down and
and and learn. Am I actually spending money on things
that don't really matter to me? I'm just doing it
out of muscle memory. It really doesn't add value to
my life. So there's these peripheral perks of a no
spend challenge that help us that to like detox are
(19:53):
spending Like what you're saying, Um, So the true lessons
and a no spend challenge come from the everyday spending
sit situations, the saying no to the I want it
now mentality. Uh, and the lie of it's such a
good deal. I think that that's such a big one too.
Between like being frugal and being cheap is like it
was cheap or it was on sale, so I bought it. Well,
(20:15):
you still bought it, you still spend the money. So
this is what a no spend challenge will do, is
it will cut those things out at the base and
and help you to really identify what do I need
to be spending on and am I spending money on
things that aren't actually important to me? Those will be
the results of a no spend challenge. Yes, I love that.
(20:38):
So how do you do a no spend challenge? Well,
first you have to prepare. So just like you don't
want to start paying off debt without a starter emergency fund,
you don't want to start a no spend challenge without
the essentials that will ensure your success. So first you
want to get your necessities. Um, so those essential items
and products. Go through what you use every day and
(21:01):
see if you're going to need to replace anything in
the next month, and just uh get it replace it now. Uh.
This is a big one. You're gonna want to tell
friends and family. So not just to say like, hey,
I'm doing this no spend challenge because I'm so awesome
but you are. That's not what you're telling them because
(21:22):
you don't want them to invite you to uh bars
or restaurants or invite you to spend money on something.
And when they do, inevitably throughout the month, you can
remind them, hey, I'm doing this challenge, but let's think
of something else that we can do. Or let's think
of something else I can bring to the potluck, something
(21:42):
I already have from my pantry, or you know, come
over to my house and I'll open up my space
to you and give you water. Yeah. So it's not
about saying no to people. It's about saying but, like no,
but to do this offering up an alternative idea. Getting
(22:03):
creative is really what a no spend challenge is going
to teach you how to get creative because we're so
used to solving all of our problems with money by
buying something, and this offers you a month to pause
and think, how can I solve my problem creatively? How
can I think for myself? And so that is that's
(22:25):
a big part. And then you can also take to
Instagram and find other people doing no spend challenges. There's
even been a group coming from the Frugal Friends community
on Facebook where they're doing a no and low spend
So we have our own like off, we didn't create it,
it's just an offset group from our group. So there
(22:47):
are plenty of places like even if you know nobody's
supportive in your real life, you can find virtual friends
that you can commiserate with and make fun, make light
of all of your situations. Man, when you're doing it
with other people, that just help. Yeah, it does. And
then lastly, make a visual representation of your why. I
(23:10):
have found that it is really hard for me, and
I'll be honest, it is impossible for me to do
a no spend challenge just for the challenge of it.
I have to have a very important why if I
am going to actually succeed with one, because I mean,
the reason I started doing this is because I'm not
(23:31):
good at them. I don't just do these for fun,
I don't. I rarely do them anymore, like never, so,
but when I did, I definitely didn't do them for funzies.
I had a really important and significant why. And and
I would dare to say, like most people are not
going to get through this unless they have a really
(23:53):
significant why. So make a visual representation of it. Put
it as the background of your phone, on the background
of your desktop, anywhere you see things that you can
make a purchase and put in your car, and just
be really intentional about it. Which is why this is
so strongly linked to number two, which is determine a
(24:14):
time frame. And that's I can't I can nearly almost
not say this strong enough that this is not a lifestyle.
You are not forever and always not spending. Certainly, it
could be a lifestyle that you regularly do a no
spend challenge, but we are not saying that there's longevity
(24:36):
in hardly ever spending any kind of money. This is
a very specific thing for a very specific time, for
a very specific reason, whether that's to identify your priorities
in spending, to say, for a certain goal to pare down.
I mean, you name it, just like Jen said, find
out what your y is for doing it, but put
(24:56):
a time frame on it. Now, there's freedom in this.
You can do a day, a weekend, a week, a month,
a couple of months, a year. Whatever it is, though,
put a time frame on it and determine how long
and what are the boundaries and the rules within that.
Certainly I love the idea of days or a weekend
(25:18):
or a week specifically for starters. I mean, I think
it's a fantastic place to start. Start small, figure out
how this is working for you. You know, we just
recently talked on a previous podcast about doing days scattered
throughout the month. Our episode with Kate from that Debt
Free Life, she did fifteen days a month and at
(25:39):
the end of the year she had essentially done a
six month no spend challenge. But it's just sprinkled, which
is amazing, and that can feel a whole lot more attainable. So,
whatever it is, put a time frame on it so
that you know when it's when it's done. Of course,
don't use that time frame as an excuse to starve
yourself and then just spend like crazy the next day,
(26:00):
because that will inevitably more than save it. So yeah,
time frame is super important to this process. And I
have um on my website a seven day no spend
challenge where I will email you every day for seven
days UM and go through every email will have something
(26:22):
that might come up and how you can combat it,
and you can find that modern frugality dot com, slash,
no spend kit K I T and uh and yeah.
So you can start with seven days and see how
that works for you. And so next is decide what
you're going to spend on. Just like I said at first,
(26:43):
it is important for you to figure out what you
are going to spend on as much as what you're
not going to spend on. So you can choose to
not spend on particular items. So if there is something
specifically tripping you up, like trips to Starbucks every day,
or those Boston cream donuts at Duncan Donuts, um anything
(27:08):
Chipotle at night after work, uh, you can just choose
that or a few items. Otherwise, no spending on impulse.
So if it's not planned, if it's not written down,
then it doesn't get spent on. So if you know
you want to go to a coffee shop with a
friend on a Saturday, and you know that's going to happen,
(27:29):
you schedule it in and that's something you can spend on.
So not spending on impulse. Then there's we get really
really deep and so only spending on groceries and gas,
no other purchases. You pay for your bills and then
like like non perishables and gas and nothing else um
(27:52):
or zero spending. Maybe you prepay your bills and you
put all your cash and cards away. UM. I would
probably only do this on the days you don't have
bills do or if you can change when your bills
are do. That's probably not attainable for most people, but
it can happen if you're super super oversolves about it.
(28:14):
And some people will do zero spend for a week
when they know I've got enough in my fridge already,
fridge and pantry for food, and we can do this
thing for a whole week where we're not Some people
have gone a little crazy with it and are able
to do a full month, like they've got enough in
their pantry, freezer, fridge to have food. I don't think
(28:37):
it's it's we have these pantries and we just buy
we buy two of something because it's bogo, and we
only use one, and so the leftover just keeps they
keep piling up in the pantry, and then we have
these full pantries that we don't know what to do
with So it's really a great way to um to
(28:59):
incorporate to to clear out your pantry and declaring your
pantry when you're doing a no spend challenge, and it's
going to help you understand your spending. We mentioned that already.
There's there's a whole lot of benefits to this of
helping us in habit formation, reducing stress, decision fatigue, Holy
(29:21):
smokes already decided for you. You just take a month
off of deciding should I buy this or not because
the answers are already no, nope, take a break, nope,
practice restraint, and then lastly, just figure out how you're
going to fill your time right so we can't just
pull something away that's meaningful to us or has been
(29:43):
typically how we spend our time and replace it with
nothing that's not going to be sustainable. Figure out what
you're going to do instead of going out spending the money,
whether that's on food or shopping or whatever. And some
ideas excellent ideas jin have friends over, invite people over,
do a bit more hosting, and that's where you can
(30:04):
have a pot luck, invite other people to bring food,
utilize food that you already have on hand, have a
pantry party. I love this idea where you it's like
a gamified pot luck. It's telling everybody, what do you
have on hand? Bring that thing over, and who knows
what we're going to have, but it'll be in eclectic
(30:24):
combination of food, which I think is kind of fun.
And then you just get yeah, just have a bunch
of randos like foods, not people. I mean people don't know. Yeah,
whatever you want to do, have a pantry party with randos,
says Jen. She wrote the article so I'm not going
to take that from um exercise, start forming these other
(30:48):
healthy habits that aren't free. Yes, it can be free.
You don't have to have a crazy expensive gym membership,
YouTube have a movie night. This is another thing that
you can do with friends. You can do it by yourself.
Whatever you want to do. Uh, figure out a way
that a no spend challenge can work for you. But also,
once you're done, reflect I think this is a big
(31:11):
piece to doing this of what did you learn in
the process, What did you notice about your spending habits?
What was the most difficult part of it? That's very
telling about who we are and are there areas that
you realize actually it's not that important for me to
spend money in that area. I found out how a
lot of fun doing X Y Z instead. So don't
(31:31):
just do it and then move on. Do it and
reflect and then implement changes as a result of what
you've learned. And then you know what else is it
reflected on as a result of what I've learned? Oh? Yes,
is it the the that's right, It's time for the
(32:02):
best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was
born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off
your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy to
not have to pay that bill anymore. That's built buffalo bills,
Bill Clinton, this is the Bills of the week. Hi,
Jenn and Jail. This is Leslie from Saskatchewan calling um.
(32:24):
Your show is awesome. Not to tell you that first off,
but I'm just calling in with my bill of the week.
I made my very last debt payment on my favorite bill,
which was dept to treat my cat for cancer. So
he got cancer from a vaccine and it's taken me
two years to pay off his surgery bill and his
radiation treatments, and he's faster pass to that expectation. He's
(32:47):
two years almost Caunter free, so that is by far
my favorite bill of the week. Thanks your show by
Leslie End Leslie's Cat, Leslie's cat, both of you. Yeah,
Oh that's amazing. It feels so good to pay off debt. Congratulations.
I'm sure that wasn't easy, especially the reason for the
(33:08):
debt is not good. But you you just called us
with all the good news. Though your cat's going well,
you paid off the debt, so so glad to be
on this side of that journey. Well done, Leslie. Yes,
if you have a pet related bill, because we have
a lot of pet related duds, yes, and we love them,
every single one of them. We never get tired of him.
(33:30):
Please visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill uh
to leave us a voicemail or a speak pipe message
and we will play your bill on the air and
we will celebrate with you. That's what we're here to do.
That's why we do this is to celebrate. Yes, that's it, um,
And that's why we're doing video now so you can
(33:51):
actually see us like fist pumping in the air. The
reason we are doing this because we always are going
like that, but nobody can see how excited we are. No,
we just tell you and you have to believe us,
which who does that, right? Nobody? Well, now it's time
(34:12):
for the Lightning Round. I whispered. It's that's one percent
the reason we started doing YouTube so you can see
Jill do the Lightning Round intro that I've noticed that
I've gone more lighthearted with it since since we've been
in the same room. Really well, because now you're happy
(34:34):
because you're in Florida. Before you were in Pennsylvania and
your magsion so people, Yeah, it's much happier. Now, what
are we going to do for our lightning round? Jen
our We're gonna have to relive these Remember we already
went through these once before. But our spending fails and
(34:57):
Saving Winds twenty twenty edition, that's both. Yeah, all right,
my last spending flub. And I feel like I've talked
about this like ten million times, and it is this
purchase that will haunt me. I was in Target, of course,
(35:19):
and I was in the stationary paper office supplies stile,
you understand me, and I saw a planner and I
love planners, and I looked at it and it was
so cool, and I was like I have two planners.
I don't need a third one. And so of course
(35:40):
I did what anyone would do, and I put it
in my cart anyway, and I bought it, and I
got me a hard time about my tiny bowls. And
I got it home and I started writing in it,
and I realized, I'm writing the same dang thing that
I've written. It's like you had both of your planners
out and you're like transcribing to anyone. I'm so dumb,
(36:03):
what am I doing? And so now this planner, like
I've already written in it, so I can't return it.
This planner sits on my counter as a constant reminder
that I am not perfect? Is that why you're keeping? No,
it's not why I'm keeping. It's because I can't return it,
and everybody, I can't throw it out either. I can't
throw it out because personal reasons beautiful, right. And then
(36:26):
everybody I asked, I'm like, do you want to plan
or do you want a planner? And they're like, no,
I don't use paper planners. Yeah, I use a paper
planner too. Do you want to us? No? I have one, alright,
And that's what everyone, everybody keeps saying and so this
is this planner will haunt me for the rest. Well,
(36:48):
at least that was like a ten dollar spending flub.
You want to hear my spending fail, I'm going to
call it a fail, not a flub. Holy smokes. You
could see in my outline I literally wrote next to
spending fail, uh, January dot dot dot because January was
(37:11):
my spending fail. And and here it is, y'all because
you're admitting you're not You're not perfect, and so I'm
gonna be vulnerable to and tell you all that I'm
not perfect. So we killed it. We crushed it actually
in December, as we normally do because we're like we're
(37:31):
we think that unplanned gifts are ridiculous, like why just
spend to spend, and you know, we tell people that
we're gonna we're gonna do experiences, we're going to do
time together. Eric and I did not get gifts for
each other like we we did the holidays, man frugal.
But then January comes and it's like this problem with
(37:55):
with the potential problem with a no spend challenges, like
all right, we deprived ourselves, let a dog and and
here's the thing. Eric's birthday is in January. It's January's
actually exactly one month after Christmas. So then it's like, well,
I didn't get him anything for Christmas, and now it's
his birthday, and let's do that. And also food, and
(38:19):
let's have fun with that because it's the dead of
winter in Pennsylvania, and what is their fun to do
but go eat out. And then I wanted to have
a party for him, but then I wanted nobody to
have to bring anything, so I provided all of the food.
And I'm so glad that I did, Like I'm thrilled
for that. But anyhow, this is getting along. At the
end of the day, I spent so much more money.
(38:42):
Oh and then we had issues with our car and
we had to get all of the expenses, which that's
why you have an emergency fund, like so that's not
our fault. But at the end of the day, we
definitely spent more in January than we brought in. Thankfully
we had the money because we have an emergency fund.
But I keep accountable next January. Like Jill, you probably
crushed it in December, but January is coming. Practice restraint, Yeah, exactly.
(39:08):
My gosh, I give your husband gifts for Christmas or worth,
skip it all, save it for your birthday. Oh my gosh,
I'm sorry. I take it back the best. Sorry Eric.
All right, well, okay, moving saving wins wins, let's talk
(39:28):
about wins. Okay. So my latest win was opening a
five for kai. Yeah. So I had a really good
January money wise, like bringing an income so okay, but
January is always the best month of the year for
personal finance. So like, let's not get it twisted. In July,
(39:51):
nobody cares about budgeting and I will make zero dollars. No,
we're going to make them care. Yeah, we try, but
it's Christmas. Send July. Let's do finances in August. Okay,
if that's how that works whenever I keep going. Anyways,
I had a really good month in January. So I
started a five twenty nine for Kai uh, and we
(40:13):
talked about nine plans in episode fifty six, and we
had college Backer on and I actually started one with
college Backer because I really loved their interface when we
were doing the interview with Abby so and you can
go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash college Backer
and they actually matched. Um. They gave me twenty five
(40:36):
dollars um for funding. Yeah. Yeah, if you use that
link you actually like, college Backer will give you money
towards the account that you opened. So for girl Friends
podcast dot com slash college Backer or we've got the
link in our show notes. And so that was I
was super excited because I could I put a thousand
dollars in there, and I could, and I set up
(40:57):
a recurring uh invest meant and I'm very looks like
you might go to college maybe, but if he doesn't
go to college, that's fine. I'll just transfer it to
another child or grandchild or someone or yourself. Get your
second master's. Girl. Man, no, I almost sudden expletive, girl,
(41:20):
don't make don't don't make me. Okay, here's my savings.
When I actually invested in a Vanguard rof, I ra a. Yeah.
I know that's for anyone who knows me. You know
that's a big step. But I also did it. This
is no lie, This is no lie. This is embarrassing.
(41:42):
I did it because I got a twenty dollar Amazon
gift card for linking that account to personal capital. Like
that's why I did it. I'm super glad that I
did it, and it's like I should have motivation beyond
a twenty dollar Amazon gift card to do it. But whatever,
and this is still happening. This is a available to
you all. Go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash
(42:03):
p cap, I mean, set up your account right, set
up an investment account with over a thousand dollars in it,
at least a thousand dollars, and then go to Frugal
Friends podcast dot com slash pcap link your accounts and
you'll get a twenty dollar Amazon gift cards. So if
you're similar to me and like you're only going to
make wise choices for yourself as someone's like dangling a
(42:23):
Karen in front of you, here you go. Yeah. But
I love the personal Capital does that because it's motivates
and incentivizes people getting started because now you have that
rath eyre a. So you had very easily set up
a recurring investment and now I'm putting money towards it.
So so thank you Personal Capital. I loved you before,
(42:45):
but I love you more now. Frugal Friends dot com
slash pc a p get your own. And that is that.
That's the last episode. That's the last episode. That's what
the universe didn't want you to hear, but you heard it,
you did, and we're so glad. We're so glad to
have been able to record it a second time, and
(43:07):
thank you so much for listening the first time. We
want to thank you for all of your listens and
your kind reviews on iTunes and Stitcher. We love them,
just like this one. It's from Bluebird and Thorn, just
what I needed to hear. It's five stars. I've been
searching for a podcast, book, audio book, YouTube video along
(43:30):
the lines of this podcast, and it's ticked every box
that I was looking for. Excited to listen to more episodes.
Finding Peace without breaking the budget is so down to
earth and reminds you to take a step back and
focus on the here and now. Loved the gratitude board
for the partner. I'll try something like this myself heart
(43:51):
eyes emoji, which is referencing a recent podcast that we
did where we talked about you writing down gratitude piece
is about Travis. Yeah, something that I'm thankful for for
my husband every day, which can totally shift relate. Not
that you need to shift in your relationship, it can.
It can shift a struggling relationship, but it can also
(44:14):
build upon better and better, and we actually did a
whole episode on gratitude and contentment and you'll be hearing
that in the next few weeks. Well, we hope you
enjoyed this replay, but we also wanted to give you
a little update because we realized this is a perfect
opportunity in replace to follow up. Mm hmm. I mean,
(44:38):
we all know what happened after February, so you can
fill in all of those blanks. But we were interested
to follow up on just our lightning round of our
fails and winds. And it's so funny because like January,
my January sending fail is always this. I know what
(45:02):
it was then, I know what it is now. Oh food,
it's always that's not just January. Yeah, but like coming
off the holidays, I don't know food foods and you
were so you you felt dramatic about it, and like
looking at it in perspective between like then and now,
(45:23):
it seems like such a So it seems like nothing.
It is nothing from how much we door dashed in.
I just embraced it. It's no longer a fail. It's
how I helped to support my community. Yeah, so my
I have not bought a superfluous planner. Since then, I
(45:47):
am glad to say I have only purchased the planner
I use from July to June. That's it. That's awesome
and probably too because it's really difficult to find a
planner that can capture like a whole decade within one year,
you know, like right, and that planner not the planner
(46:08):
that I flubbed on. No, I didn't use it, just
like I knew I wouldn't, and I did use the
planner I was already using, So that is great. Yeah, Well,
the win I'm excited about because Okay, so I had
opened Vanguard roth Ira. I had just opened it, and
(46:29):
the motivation was the twenty dollar at the sign gift
cards so you know, which you can still get now
from Personal Capital for Girlfriends podcast dot com slash PCP.
But for a while you didn't have anything invested in it. Yep, No,
that's true. I made the mistake that everyone said you make,
and I knew I'm probably making that mistake, but I
(46:53):
didn't know how to rectify it. So I came over
to your house tail between my legs, and I have
upped my contribution monthly to that account and it keeps going.
It's on automatic withdrawal and we save in for retirement
A men and yeah, so I yeah, I opened that
(47:15):
five nine and I was putting I was doing monthly,
and then I was like, forget this. I'm just gonna
put five grand in it and forget it because that time,
instead of stretching out the five grand over several years,
I just put it in there in one lump sum
and that will get me a little edge versus doing monthly.
And that's something I could do. So it worked for me.
(47:38):
But anything is good even if you can't do a
lump sum, but if you do get like a bonus
or something, doing something like that with a bonus is
really really good. Or your retirement account if you don't
have kids. But you can also still get uh matching
bonus from it's called Backer now not college Backer anymore,
(47:58):
but Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash backer open account there.
If your state does not offer tax incentives for doing
a five twenty nine in your own state, well that
was fun. I'm glad to see us still consistent in
our fails and our winds, but hopefully our winds will
win out long term. Yeah, thank you, so much for
(48:20):
listening and leaving kind reviews on Apple podcasts like this
one from Cake Bread three. Cake and Bread and the
number three are all things that I like and it
just happens to be five starts called Jen and Jill
want you to succeed. Not only for Jen and Jill
do Jen and Jill provide meaningful content in their podcasts.
(48:40):
They have many free resources for their listeners to be
successful with personal finances. There's a Facebook community so that
listeners help each other with frugal tips and finances, and
it's delivered in a lighthearted manner. This podcast is entertaining
an educational highly recommend Okay Bread, Thank you, Kate Bread.
(49:02):
It's great. It sounds like you've got great taste in
food and podcasts. We also want to thank our friends
who share these episodes on social media, So when you
share the latest episode on Instagram, we're adding you to
our monthly drawing. For every five tags and reviews we
get each month, we're giving away fifty dollars for you
(49:23):
to spend in the Frugal Friends Shop, Yes, Frugal Friends
Dot shop on the Internet. So keep leaving us reviews
wherever you listen to podcasts. And sending the screenshot to
reviews at Frugal Friends podcast dot com. Don't forget to
tag us on social See you next week. Frugal Friends
(49:43):
is produced by Eric Sirianni Jill. Yes, are you a
person who wears green on St. Patrick's Day? No, but
I might start. I don't know, because I'm in my
(50:08):
thirties now and traditions are more meaningful. I have to
tell you. Every St. Patrick's Day that comes up, I
realize I don't own anything green. Oh that's right, you
don't buy green? I don't, And it's not like it's
not on purpose. I would love to find something green
(50:30):
to put in my wardrobe, but I just can't. And
like I've even looked on threat up and filtered out
just for green. I've looked for just green in the
thrift store, Like I make an effort because, like in
preparation for St. Patty's one. Sure, but I also like
(50:50):
the color green. I like it. Yeah, I think you'd
look good and green. Hopefully it's not like a decision
based on not thinking you'd look good in it. No,
I'm trying, Jill, I'm really trying, all right. I'll be
on the lookout too, because I feel like olive green
(51:10):
or green or lime green. Yeah, any kind of would
look good on you. My house is lime green. My
house is green like sharp trous it's like a like
a I don't know what sharp truth means. It's what
your house is. Okay, that like combo between yellow and green? Yes,
(51:34):
trus Oh wow, I'll learn something new about green. I do.
That's the glow up. You get more words in your vocab,
thank you. Um. But yeah, no, I'm not somebody who
wears green on St. Patrick Day because I just don't
own any green's mostly by that mostly black. We're going
(51:55):
to change that, yeah,
Episode two oh four is episode how to make the
transition from spender to saver her. Welcome to the Frugal
Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights,
and liver with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill.
(00:24):
M mmmmm, Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name
is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are
re airing one of our most popular episodes from from
Not Real. It's like it was point two is what
(00:45):
this episode is from before really hit. Yeah, we were
we were blissfully in a blissful days. Yeah, we're re
airing it a because it's popular and b because we
want to remember the good old days, because are the
good old days and we want you to experience what
(01:07):
we were like back then. So hopefully you can find
yourself in this episode as well and take some tangible
tips away. Absolutely, but first our sponsors. This episode is
brought to you by none other than February of The
Final Frontier, The Last Hurrah. Today's episode literally came out
(01:30):
on February, and while many things published in that month
have not aged well, this one has because I literally
went back and I was like, oh, let's just make sure,
everything's okay. Something else that has aged well our Modern
Frugal Living e book. We published this e book with
over two dred ways to save money in February of
(01:55):
two and I think it's going to hold up as
well as this replay. So if you want to grab
your free copy, head to Frugal Friends Podcast dot com
slash e book Again. That's Frugal Friends Podcast dot com
slash e book. Nice transition, Jen, thank you. Also brought
to you by the Glow Up, the phenomenon that has
(02:18):
swept the globe is sponsoring this very show. We all
know those kids we went to school with that appeared
very normal, blending in, just getting their homework done, and
then bam, they're in their twenties and unattainably attractive. It's
the glow Up here to say, if it's happened to you, congrats,
(02:39):
If not, try it on your finances. The glow Up
going from good to grade since two thousand eight. M wow,
are you talking about yourself in this one? Well? I
wasn't until two thousand eight. Rhymed with great and I
did graduate in two thousand eights, so you know, take
take with that what you will, all right, although I
(03:01):
do think I peaked in high school. Absolutely not. No,
you have not hit your peak yet, Jill. You are
still climbing girl. I would rather I'd rather see the
glow up in my finances, though, all sacrifice appearance for
a financial glow up that happened. That happens when you
get to your thirties. It's like my body and my
(03:24):
health are deteriorating rapidly. So I just want more money,
and we are here to help you get that. Because
we're not health podcast. We are a money podcast. And
so if this is a topic that is specifically of
interest to you, here are a few other episodes you
should queue up to listen to after. So the first
(03:47):
is episode one ninety and that's how to prepare for
a no spend challenge, because we do talk about no
spend challenges in this episode, episode five going from overspender
to Millionaire with Wally Miller. That one was a really
good interview. And then one how to identify and improve
spending habits. That's another really good one to play. After
(04:10):
so many options, well, just keep be engaged for the
rest of your afternoon or whatever time you're listening to this.
Enjoy so our first article on how to transition to
saber from spender is from J. D Roth over Get
(04:31):
Rich Slowly dot org and he goes through the ways
he went from spender to saber, and I thought this
was a cool to start with. Instead of like a
list on how to do it um, his is a
lot of his story on how he did it, which
is always relatable when you hear what has actually worked
(04:53):
for somebody else and then figuring out how to tweak
it for yourself. Yeah, and a lot of it came
from going ru getting out of debt. He paid off
his debt, built his savings and is now living in
this place where he could spend money if he wanted to.
But he spent all of this time like changing his
money mindset that he is now a saver and and
(05:16):
these are kind of the biggest things that have helped him.
So the first is opening a high yield savings account,
so he opened one UM online. A lot of online
accounts are great for this. Uh they offer way more
interest than brick and mortar banks so and and they
are just as safe. The only thing they don't have
(05:37):
is like cash deposits. But uh, so, opening an account
at a separate place from where you regularly bank and
regularly transferring money over to it. So just like you
can do that, there's also apps that do have auto
safe features, like in power um where they will try
(06:00):
for small amounts that you don't know, but that's not
really going to that'll build your savings, but it's not
going to build a habit. So doing this that is,
I mean, you're doing it automatically, but I would argue
that maybe doing it in addition to doing it regularly automatically,
(06:20):
you also do it manually. UM. I believe you should
automate everything just because it forces you to save, but
if you're really trying to build a habit, you really
want to do it for yourself, you can't rely on automation. Well,
and you can always do automation and then build a
habit of putting an extra Yes, you know, even if
(06:40):
it's really on the amount, you're still practicing and growing
that muscle. Yeah. So the next thing that this article
lists is to set a medium term savings goal. They
really like this one so different from obviously short term,
different from long term medium terms. So they're describing that
time frame from about eighteen months to five years and
(07:02):
setting goals like saving up for a big trip, vacation,
saving up for a car, something that would take about
that time frame eighteen months to five years to save
four And what this does is it gets us excited
about saving because sometimes long term goals can feel so
far in the future and so unattainable that we don't
(07:22):
have the motivation to do it. And short term is
short term that's not going to get you very far.
But a medium term goal where you're working towards this
thing but it's not taking you forever, and then you
achieve that, it's just the excitement, a motivation continues to
build upon itself. So I love this idea specifically for
like we're talking about transitioning from spender to savor, this
(07:47):
is a really good place to start. Yeah, for me,
I think the eighteen month is a really good sweet
spot because the six month is more short term for me,
and then five years does seem long term. Um, well, retirement,
that's really what long term, but for me it still
feels like a long ways away. But I think eighteen
(08:07):
months is a sweet spot. If you can have eighteen
month goals just in succession, you can really do a
lot of think like good things with your money. Yeah,
or set your long term savings goals in medium term
increments by the next by eighteen months from now, I
want to have saved three to five tho dollars for retirement.
(08:31):
And then when you get to the eighteen month mark,
move it over. I mean you can. You can gamify
this thing, Yeah, you can, It's really sweet. The next
is when you receive a windfall, such as your upcoming
tax refund, don't think about how to spend it, think
about how to save it. Uh. Windfalls we usually think
of them as fun money. And if you're receiving a
(08:55):
large windfall like an inheritance, some of that should be
used as fun money. But something like a tax refund
that's only a couple grand you can use maybe like
fifty dollars to you know, take your family out on
a nice fun day and spend it on an experience.
But don't let that be the first thing you think about.
Think about how you want to save it to get
(09:18):
like closer to your goal, and then once you fund that,
then use the leftover two take a fun day with
your family. Yeah. And the next one is to avoid
situations that would cause you to spend this you know,
hails back to our sponsor restrained. It starts by just
(09:41):
not putting yourself in situations where you know you're going
to buy all of the tiny bowls or whatever it is. Right, Like,
if you're trying to save money and you've got other
things that you do want to be spending your money on,
and you know that you're going to spend all your
money on photography equipment or biking year or you name it,
(10:01):
don't go to those places or don't visit those sites.
That's another thing, right, we talked about not putting yourself
in these situations. Okay, it's relatively easy to just not
stop in a store, but to not search certain things
on your phone that are readily available, that's and that's
a whole other animal. And that's where we can put
(10:22):
up barriers for ourselves of you know, whether that's like
it takes some extra steps to get to your browser
or to get to certain apps on your phone, um
or just saying no, just practicing or train and not
doing those things. And we'll we'll talk about in our
upcoming episode on motivation, how your environment is so much
(10:43):
more important to staying motivated to something than quote unquote
motivation is um so, yeah, just form your environment to
support saving. Yeah, it's a double edged sword because sometimes
even being online can be tempting for to purchase things.
But by the same token, you can use online platforms
(11:04):
to help you where being in person might be more tempting,
like for those target people who just cannot get out
of target for less than fifty dollars. Yeah, maybe you're
better off going online for your groceries or your one
item that you need than going in store, because then
you can just specifically say I need diapers and I
(11:25):
need milk, and that's it. I'm not doing the one
dollar aisle, which ends up being five million dollars by
the time you get to the cash or chaster. How
how does it get there? How did that happen? Where
did all those zeros come from? How did my diapers
cost two? I mean that's diapers can cost you hundred dollars,
that's a real but how that's a real question to
(11:47):
how did one box of diapers? Big diapers? Big diapers?
His next one is he started considering alternatives to buy
new stuff, which we're so into this. So instead of
going out assuming that you need to replace something, or
assuming you need to buy something new to create more
(12:09):
convenience in your life, take the time to look around
your house see if you can fix what you broke
or if you can use something else you already have
to to make do. Um and then next is to
buy you. So he goes to goodwill. Um, I love
Facebook Marketplace or eBay. I really love eBay. Um, so
(12:34):
go online or go to a thrift store. Um, see
if you can get it used. eBay has so many
crazy niche items that you're gonna spend days at a
thrift store looking for or weeks on Facebook Marketplace looking
for and eBay's got them for like a quarter of
the price they are new. Um, so just take it.
(12:56):
Doesn't take that long if you're using the right methods
to see, like if there's any alternative to buying new Yeah,
and watch yourself right. Sometimes we get excited when something
gets broken because it's like, oh, I get to go
out and buy a new thing. Well, first of all,
do you really need it? Can you do without it? Second?
(13:18):
Can you fix it? Maybe you do want a new
one of those things, but can it be fixed? And
can it last a little bit longer? Or can you
replace it used rather than going to the store and
buying news. So just putting these again, some of these
routines in place of switching the mindset of something breaks,
I go out and buy a new thing, thinking through
(13:40):
what are my alternatives here? Those are going to be
the little things that move us from spending a lot
to being able to save a lot. And and one
thing I will say to finish up this thought is
that we're not saying by lesser quality by buying used,
you can often find something of better quality that will
last longer. By buying used on on eBay or Facebook marketplace,
(14:04):
then you would buying new because you want to you
don't have the money saved, and you want to buy
it cheap. At the same price point, you can often
get something better and more quality. It does require a
bit more research and time investment in that miss worth
payoff can Yeah, it is worth. It's worth the time.
So the last thing on this article is don't spend
(14:25):
your time looking for ways to spend your money. And
this is a really important point that he's making because
we often think that to save money means we're not
doing anything or we're not having fun. Like the alternative
to spending is just sitting at home twiddling your thumbs like, oh,
I'm saving, but I'm not doing anything, and that is
(14:46):
complete falsehood. So rather than thinking, Okay, if I'm not
spending money, then I'm board look for ways to save
your money or to do things that are free. I
mean he starts off by talking about out just investment
ways to save and get the maximum amount out of that.
So of course, you know, Roth I ra s you
(15:08):
could have absolutely get into stock market investing, investing all
kinds of different things. But then beyond that is what
can I be doing with my time that doesn't cost money?
You can still have loads of fun and entertainment and
time with friends and rest and relaxation without spending money.
(15:30):
I mean literally reference any previous podcast that we've done.
We'll talk about that, but look in your area for
what can I be doing rather than just sitting around
and kind of get this idea out of our heads
that to save money means that we're boring and we
sit on our couch all day. Yeah. So uh, we
(15:53):
love j d story and the things that he did,
and so our next article is is more of like
a detox, like how can you detox your habits two
build up a fresh habit of saving. And I found
this really great article. Who is it written by? I
(16:16):
wrote it. It's on my website, are very own Jen Smith. Yeah,
I mean I write for a living, so one of
these days I was going to put in my own.
But it's on Modern Frugality dot com and it's how
to use a no spend month to improve your finances.
And I really love the idea of using no spend challenges,
(16:39):
not just for the amount of money that you'll save
in a month of not spending on non essentials, but
for what they do for you mentally. They are a
reset for your habitual spending, your impulse spending, and all
of the mindless spending that we do, and it hand
(17:00):
and you can replace that with habits that are more
geared towards saving. So that's why I love no spend challenges.
It's why I wrote the book The No Spend Challenge
Guide UM on Amazon, and it's it's why I love them. Yeah,
I mean you you are an expert on this topic,
so yes, glad we're using your article. Yeah. So, so
(17:22):
what is a no spend challenge other than what I
just said. It's just a and write this down. Don't
write it down if you're driving, but committed to memory.
A no spend challenge is a commitment to not spend
money on certain things for a predetermined length of time.
That's all it is. It is not more complicated than that.
(17:45):
You decide what you're not spending money on, and you
decide the length of time. Do not follow rules that
are predetermined by somebody else, because that takes away your
ownership and your authority from the challenge. And there are
some things you can spend money on that you don't
(18:06):
struggle with, while there are other things you spend money
on that our real struggle for you. And so the
idea is just to find out what those things are
and and you do that by committing and deciding those
are step one, step two. So that's all it is. Yeah,
(18:27):
So just to get into a bit more about how
to do this, you you need to decide what you
are going to spend on and what you are not
going to spend on. And just like Jen said, it
depends on you. You get to decide this, which I
love this that there's so much freedom which listen to
any of our episodes and you'll hear us talk about
(18:48):
the freedom that there is. So obviously you need to
pay your bills and necessary expenses to live and to eat.
But beyond that, are you gonna what are you going
to be able to spend on? What are you going
to cut? I like what you say here in your article, Jen,
just saying talking about there's no need to cancel subscriptions
(19:10):
or gym memberships if you use them and if you
would plan to just start them back up again once
the challenge is over. So feel free to keep those things,
but take a look at it. If you've got a
magazine subscription that just gets thrown in the trash day two, yeah,
cancel those. The point is to determine. Really, it helps
(19:32):
us see where our values are, to pare down and
and and learn. Am I actually spending money on things
that don't really matter to me? I'm just doing it
out of muscle memory. It really doesn't add value to
my life. So there's these peripheral perks of a no
spend challenge that help us that to like detox are
(19:53):
spending Like what you're saying, Um, So the true lessons
and a no spend challenge come from the everyday spending
sit situations, the saying no to the I want it
now mentality. Uh, and the lie of it's such a
good deal. I think that that's such a big one too.
Between like being frugal and being cheap is like it
was cheap or it was on sale, so I bought it. Well,
(20:15):
you still bought it, you still spend the money. So
this is what a no spend challenge will do, is
it will cut those things out at the base and
and help you to really identify what do I need
to be spending on and am I spending money on
things that aren't actually important to me? Those will be
the results of a no spend challenge. Yes, I love that.
(20:38):
So how do you do a no spend challenge? Well,
first you have to prepare. So just like you don't
want to start paying off debt without a starter emergency fund,
you don't want to start a no spend challenge without
the essentials that will ensure your success. So first you
want to get your necessities. Um, so those essential items
and products. Go through what you use every day and
(21:01):
see if you're going to need to replace anything in
the next month, and just uh get it replace it now. Uh.
This is a big one. You're gonna want to tell
friends and family. So not just to say like, hey,
I'm doing this no spend challenge because I'm so awesome
but you are. That's not what you're telling them because
(21:22):
you don't want them to invite you to uh bars
or restaurants or invite you to spend money on something.
And when they do, inevitably throughout the month, you can
remind them, hey, I'm doing this challenge, but let's think
of something else that we can do. Or let's think
of something else I can bring to the potluck, something
(21:42):
I already have from my pantry, or you know, come
over to my house and I'll open up my space
to you and give you water. Yeah. So it's not
about saying no to people. It's about saying but, like no,
but to do this offering up an alternative idea. Getting
(22:03):
creative is really what a no spend challenge is going
to teach you how to get creative because we're so
used to solving all of our problems with money by
buying something, and this offers you a month to pause
and think, how can I solve my problem creatively? How
can I think for myself? And so that is that's
(22:25):
a big part. And then you can also take to
Instagram and find other people doing no spend challenges. There's
even been a group coming from the Frugal Friends community
on Facebook where they're doing a no and low spend
So we have our own like off, we didn't create it,
it's just an offset group from our group. So there
(22:47):
are plenty of places like even if you know nobody's
supportive in your real life, you can find virtual friends
that you can commiserate with and make fun, make light
of all of your situations. Man, when you're doing it
with other people, that just help. Yeah, it does. And
then lastly, make a visual representation of your why. I
(23:10):
have found that it is really hard for me, and
I'll be honest, it is impossible for me to do
a no spend challenge just for the challenge of it.
I have to have a very important why if I
am going to actually succeed with one, because I mean,
the reason I started doing this is because I'm not
(23:31):
good at them. I don't just do these for fun,
I don't. I rarely do them anymore, like never, so,
but when I did, I definitely didn't do them for funzies.
I had a really important and significant why. And and
I would dare to say, like most people are not
going to get through this unless they have a really
(23:53):
significant why. So make a visual representation of it. Put
it as the background of your phone, on the background
of your desktop, anywhere you see things that you can
make a purchase and put in your car, and just
be really intentional about it. Which is why this is
so strongly linked to number two, which is determine a
(24:14):
time frame. And that's I can't I can nearly almost
not say this strong enough that this is not a lifestyle.
You are not forever and always not spending. Certainly, it
could be a lifestyle that you regularly do a no
spend challenge, but we are not saying that there's longevity
(24:36):
in hardly ever spending any kind of money. This is
a very specific thing for a very specific time, for
a very specific reason, whether that's to identify your priorities
in spending, to say, for a certain goal to pare down.
I mean, you name it, just like Jen said, find
out what your y is for doing it, but put
(24:56):
a time frame on it. Now, there's freedom in this.
You can do a day, a weekend, a week, a month,
a couple of months, a year. Whatever it is, though,
put a time frame on it and determine how long
and what are the boundaries and the rules within that.
Certainly I love the idea of days or a weekend
(25:18):
or a week specifically for starters. I mean, I think
it's a fantastic place to start. Start small, figure out
how this is working for you. You know, we just
recently talked on a previous podcast about doing days scattered
throughout the month. Our episode with Kate from that Debt
Free Life, she did fifteen days a month and at
(25:39):
the end of the year she had essentially done a
six month no spend challenge. But it's just sprinkled, which
is amazing, and that can feel a whole lot more attainable. So,
whatever it is, put a time frame on it so
that you know when it's when it's done. Of course,
don't use that time frame as an excuse to starve
yourself and then just spend like crazy the next day,
(26:00):
because that will inevitably more than save it. So yeah,
time frame is super important to this process. And I
have um on my website a seven day no spend
challenge where I will email you every day for seven
days UM and go through every email will have something
(26:22):
that might come up and how you can combat it,
and you can find that modern frugality dot com, slash,
no spend kit K I T and uh and yeah.
So you can start with seven days and see how
that works for you. And so next is decide what
you're going to spend on. Just like I said at first,
(26:43):
it is important for you to figure out what you
are going to spend on as much as what you're
not going to spend on. So you can choose to
not spend on particular items. So if there is something
specifically tripping you up, like trips to Starbucks every day,
or those Boston cream donuts at Duncan Donuts, um anything
(27:08):
Chipotle at night after work, uh, you can just choose
that or a few items. Otherwise, no spending on impulse.
So if it's not planned, if it's not written down,
then it doesn't get spent on. So if you know
you want to go to a coffee shop with a
friend on a Saturday, and you know that's going to happen,
(27:29):
you schedule it in and that's something you can spend on.
So not spending on impulse. Then there's we get really
really deep and so only spending on groceries and gas,
no other purchases. You pay for your bills and then
like like non perishables and gas and nothing else um
(27:52):
or zero spending. Maybe you prepay your bills and you
put all your cash and cards away. UM. I would
probably only do this on the days you don't have
bills do or if you can change when your bills
are do. That's probably not attainable for most people, but
it can happen if you're super super oversolves about it.
(28:14):
And some people will do zero spend for a week
when they know I've got enough in my fridge already,
fridge and pantry for food, and we can do this
thing for a whole week where we're not Some people
have gone a little crazy with it and are able
to do a full month, like they've got enough in
their pantry, freezer, fridge to have food. I don't think
(28:37):
it's it's we have these pantries and we just buy
we buy two of something because it's bogo, and we
only use one, and so the leftover just keeps they
keep piling up in the pantry, and then we have
these full pantries that we don't know what to do
with So it's really a great way to um to
(28:59):
incorporate to to clear out your pantry and declaring your
pantry when you're doing a no spend challenge, and it's
going to help you understand your spending. We mentioned that already.
There's there's a whole lot of benefits to this of
helping us in habit formation, reducing stress, decision fatigue, Holy
(29:21):
smokes already decided for you. You just take a month
off of deciding should I buy this or not because
the answers are already no, nope, take a break, nope,
practice restraint, and then lastly, just figure out how you're
going to fill your time right so we can't just
pull something away that's meaningful to us or has been
(29:43):
typically how we spend our time and replace it with
nothing that's not going to be sustainable. Figure out what
you're going to do instead of going out spending the money,
whether that's on food or shopping or whatever. And some
ideas excellent ideas jin have friends over, invite people over,
do a bit more hosting, and that's where you can
(30:04):
have a pot luck, invite other people to bring food,
utilize food that you already have on hand, have a
pantry party. I love this idea where you it's like
a gamified pot luck. It's telling everybody, what do you
have on hand? Bring that thing over, and who knows
what we're going to have, but it'll be in eclectic
(30:24):
combination of food, which I think is kind of fun.
And then you just get yeah, just have a bunch
of randos like foods, not people. I mean people don't know. Yeah,
whatever you want to do, have a pantry party with randos,
says Jen. She wrote the article so I'm not going
to take that from um exercise, start forming these other
(30:48):
healthy habits that aren't free. Yes, it can be free.
You don't have to have a crazy expensive gym membership,
YouTube have a movie night. This is another thing that
you can do with friends. You can do it by yourself.
Whatever you want to do. Uh, figure out a way
that a no spend challenge can work for you. But also,
once you're done, reflect I think this is a big
(31:11):
piece to doing this of what did you learn in
the process, What did you notice about your spending habits?
What was the most difficult part of it? That's very
telling about who we are and are there areas that
you realize actually it's not that important for me to
spend money in that area. I found out how a
lot of fun doing X Y Z instead. So don't
(31:31):
just do it and then move on. Do it and
reflect and then implement changes as a result of what
you've learned. And then you know what else is it
reflected on as a result of what I've learned? Oh? Yes,
is it the the that's right, It's time for the
(32:02):
best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was
born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off
your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy to
not have to pay that bill anymore. That's built buffalo bills,
Bill Clinton, this is the Bills of the week. Hi,
Jenn and Jail. This is Leslie from Saskatchewan calling um.
(32:24):
Your show is awesome. Not to tell you that first off,
but I'm just calling in with my bill of the week.
I made my very last debt payment on my favorite bill,
which was dept to treat my cat for cancer. So
he got cancer from a vaccine and it's taken me
two years to pay off his surgery bill and his
radiation treatments, and he's faster pass to that expectation. He's
(32:47):
two years almost Caunter free, so that is by far
my favorite bill of the week. Thanks your show by
Leslie End Leslie's Cat, Leslie's cat, both of you. Yeah,
Oh that's amazing. It feels so good to pay off debt. Congratulations.
I'm sure that wasn't easy, especially the reason for the
(33:08):
debt is not good. But you you just called us
with all the good news. Though your cat's going well,
you paid off the debt, so so glad to be
on this side of that journey. Well done, Leslie. Yes,
if you have a pet related bill, because we have
a lot of pet related duds, yes, and we love them,
every single one of them. We never get tired of him.
(33:30):
Please visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill uh
to leave us a voicemail or a speak pipe message
and we will play your bill on the air and
we will celebrate with you. That's what we're here to do.
That's why we do this is to celebrate. Yes, that's it, um,
And that's why we're doing video now so you can
(33:51):
actually see us like fist pumping in the air. The
reason we are doing this because we always are going
like that, but nobody can see how excited we are. No,
we just tell you and you have to believe us,
which who does that, right? Nobody? Well, now it's time
(34:12):
for the Lightning Round. I whispered. It's that's one percent
the reason we started doing YouTube so you can see
Jill do the Lightning Round intro that I've noticed that
I've gone more lighthearted with it since since we've been
in the same room. Really well, because now you're happy
(34:34):
because you're in Florida. Before you were in Pennsylvania and
your magsion so people, Yeah, it's much happier. Now, what
are we going to do for our lightning round? Jen
our We're gonna have to relive these Remember we already
went through these once before. But our spending fails and
(34:57):
Saving Winds twenty twenty edition, that's both. Yeah, all right,
my last spending flub. And I feel like I've talked
about this like ten million times, and it is this
purchase that will haunt me. I was in Target, of course,
(35:19):
and I was in the stationary paper office supplies stile,
you understand me, and I saw a planner and I
love planners, and I looked at it and it was
so cool, and I was like I have two planners.
I don't need a third one. And so of course
(35:40):
I did what anyone would do, and I put it
in my cart anyway, and I bought it, and I
got me a hard time about my tiny bowls. And
I got it home and I started writing in it,
and I realized, I'm writing the same dang thing that
I've written. It's like you had both of your planners
out and you're like transcribing to anyone. I'm so dumb,
(36:03):
what am I doing? And so now this planner, like
I've already written in it, so I can't return it.
This planner sits on my counter as a constant reminder
that I am not perfect? Is that why you're keeping? No,
it's not why I'm keeping. It's because I can't return it,
and everybody, I can't throw it out either. I can't
throw it out because personal reasons beautiful, right. And then
(36:26):
everybody I asked, I'm like, do you want to plan
or do you want a planner? And they're like, no,
I don't use paper planners. Yeah, I use a paper
planner too. Do you want to us? No? I have one, alright,
And that's what everyone, everybody keeps saying and so this
is this planner will haunt me for the rest. Well,
(36:48):
at least that was like a ten dollar spending flub.
You want to hear my spending fail, I'm going to
call it a fail, not a flub. Holy smokes. You
could see in my outline I literally wrote next to
spending fail, uh, January dot dot dot because January was
(37:11):
my spending fail. And and here it is, y'all because
you're admitting you're not You're not perfect, and so I'm
gonna be vulnerable to and tell you all that I'm
not perfect. So we killed it. We crushed it actually
in December, as we normally do because we're like we're
(37:31):
we think that unplanned gifts are ridiculous, like why just
spend to spend, and you know, we tell people that
we're gonna we're gonna do experiences, we're going to do
time together. Eric and I did not get gifts for
each other like we we did the holidays, man frugal.
But then January comes and it's like this problem with
(37:55):
with the potential problem with a no spend challenges, like
all right, we deprived ourselves, let a dog and and
here's the thing. Eric's birthday is in January. It's January's
actually exactly one month after Christmas. So then it's like, well,
I didn't get him anything for Christmas, and now it's
his birthday, and let's do that. And also food, and
(38:19):
let's have fun with that because it's the dead of
winter in Pennsylvania, and what is their fun to do
but go eat out. And then I wanted to have
a party for him, but then I wanted nobody to
have to bring anything, so I provided all of the food.
And I'm so glad that I did, Like I'm thrilled
for that. But anyhow, this is getting along. At the
end of the day, I spent so much more money.
(38:42):
Oh and then we had issues with our car and
we had to get all of the expenses, which that's
why you have an emergency fund, like so that's not
our fault. But at the end of the day, we
definitely spent more in January than we brought in. Thankfully
we had the money because we have an emergency fund.
But I keep accountable next January. Like Jill, you probably
crushed it in December, but January is coming. Practice restraint, Yeah, exactly.
(39:08):
My gosh, I give your husband gifts for Christmas or worth,
skip it all, save it for your birthday. Oh my gosh,
I'm sorry. I take it back the best. Sorry Eric.
All right, well, okay, moving saving wins wins, let's talk
(39:28):
about wins. Okay. So my latest win was opening a
five for kai. Yeah. So I had a really good
January money wise, like bringing an income so okay, but
January is always the best month of the year for
personal finance. So like, let's not get it twisted. In July,
(39:51):
nobody cares about budgeting and I will make zero dollars. No,
we're going to make them care. Yeah, we try, but
it's Christmas. Send July. Let's do finances in August. Okay,
if that's how that works whenever I keep going. Anyways,
I had a really good month in January. So I
started a five twenty nine for Kai uh, and we
(40:13):
talked about nine plans in episode fifty six, and we
had college Backer on and I actually started one with
college Backer because I really loved their interface when we
were doing the interview with Abby so and you can
go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash college Backer
and they actually matched. Um. They gave me twenty five
(40:36):
dollars um for funding. Yeah. Yeah, if you use that
link you actually like, college Backer will give you money
towards the account that you opened. So for girl Friends
podcast dot com slash college Backer or we've got the
link in our show notes. And so that was I
was super excited because I could I put a thousand
dollars in there, and I could, and I set up
(40:57):
a recurring uh invest meant and I'm very looks like
you might go to college maybe, but if he doesn't
go to college, that's fine. I'll just transfer it to
another child or grandchild or someone or yourself. Get your
second master's. Girl. Man, no, I almost sudden expletive, girl,
(41:20):
don't make don't don't make me. Okay, here's my savings.
When I actually invested in a Vanguard rof, I ra a. Yeah.
I know that's for anyone who knows me. You know
that's a big step. But I also did it. This
is no lie, This is no lie. This is embarrassing.
(41:42):
I did it because I got a twenty dollar Amazon
gift card for linking that account to personal capital. Like
that's why I did it. I'm super glad that I
did it, and it's like I should have motivation beyond
a twenty dollar Amazon gift card to do it. But whatever,
and this is still happening. This is a available to
you all. Go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash
(42:03):
p cap, I mean, set up your account right, set
up an investment account with over a thousand dollars in it,
at least a thousand dollars, and then go to Frugal
Friends podcast dot com slash pcap link your accounts and
you'll get a twenty dollar Amazon gift cards. So if
you're similar to me and like you're only going to
make wise choices for yourself as someone's like dangling a
(42:23):
Karen in front of you, here you go. Yeah. But
I love the personal Capital does that because it's motivates
and incentivizes people getting started because now you have that
rath eyre a. So you had very easily set up
a recurring investment and now I'm putting money towards it.
So so thank you Personal Capital. I loved you before,
(42:45):
but I love you more now. Frugal Friends dot com
slash pc a p get your own. And that is that.
That's the last episode. That's the last episode. That's what
the universe didn't want you to hear, but you heard it,
you did, and we're so glad. We're so glad to
have been able to record it a second time, and
(43:07):
thank you so much for listening the first time. We
want to thank you for all of your listens and
your kind reviews on iTunes and Stitcher. We love them,
just like this one. It's from Bluebird and Thorn, just
what I needed to hear. It's five stars. I've been
searching for a podcast, book, audio book, YouTube video along
(43:30):
the lines of this podcast, and it's ticked every box
that I was looking for. Excited to listen to more episodes.
Finding Peace without breaking the budget is so down to
earth and reminds you to take a step back and
focus on the here and now. Loved the gratitude board
for the partner. I'll try something like this myself heart
(43:51):
eyes emoji, which is referencing a recent podcast that we
did where we talked about you writing down gratitude piece
is about Travis. Yeah, something that I'm thankful for for
my husband every day, which can totally shift relate. Not
that you need to shift in your relationship, it can.
It can shift a struggling relationship, but it can also
(44:14):
build upon better and better, and we actually did a
whole episode on gratitude and contentment and you'll be hearing
that in the next few weeks. Well, we hope you
enjoyed this replay, but we also wanted to give you
a little update because we realized this is a perfect
opportunity in replace to follow up. Mm hmm. I mean,
(44:38):
we all know what happened after February, so you can
fill in all of those blanks. But we were interested
to follow up on just our lightning round of our
fails and winds. And it's so funny because like January,
my January sending fail is always this. I know what
(45:02):
it was then, I know what it is now. Oh food,
it's always that's not just January. Yeah, but like coming
off the holidays, I don't know food foods and you
were so you you felt dramatic about it, and like
looking at it in perspective between like then and now,
(45:23):
it seems like such a So it seems like nothing.
It is nothing from how much we door dashed in.
I just embraced it. It's no longer a fail. It's
how I helped to support my community. Yeah, so my
I have not bought a superfluous planner. Since then, I
(45:47):
am glad to say I have only purchased the planner
I use from July to June. That's it. That's awesome
and probably too because it's really difficult to find a
planner that can capture like a whole decade within one year,
you know, like right, and that planner not the planner
(46:08):
that I flubbed on. No, I didn't use it, just
like I knew I wouldn't, and I did use the
planner I was already using, So that is great. Yeah, Well,
the win I'm excited about because Okay, so I had
opened Vanguard roth Ira. I had just opened it, and
(46:29):
the motivation was the twenty dollar at the sign gift
cards so you know, which you can still get now
from Personal Capital for Girlfriends podcast dot com slash PCP.
But for a while you didn't have anything invested in it. Yep, No,
that's true. I made the mistake that everyone said you make,
and I knew I'm probably making that mistake, but I
(46:53):
didn't know how to rectify it. So I came over
to your house tail between my legs, and I have
upped my contribution monthly to that account and it keeps going.
It's on automatic withdrawal and we save in for retirement
A men and yeah, so I yeah, I opened that
(47:15):
five nine and I was putting I was doing monthly,
and then I was like, forget this. I'm just gonna
put five grand in it and forget it because that time,
instead of stretching out the five grand over several years,
I just put it in there in one lump sum
and that will get me a little edge versus doing monthly.
And that's something I could do. So it worked for me.
(47:38):
But anything is good even if you can't do a
lump sum, but if you do get like a bonus
or something, doing something like that with a bonus is
really really good. Or your retirement account if you don't
have kids. But you can also still get uh matching
bonus from it's called Backer now not college Backer anymore,
(47:58):
but Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash backer open account there.
If your state does not offer tax incentives for doing
a five twenty nine in your own state, well that
was fun. I'm glad to see us still consistent in
our fails and our winds, but hopefully our winds will
win out long term. Yeah, thank you, so much for
(48:20):
listening and leaving kind reviews on Apple podcasts like this
one from Cake Bread three. Cake and Bread and the
number three are all things that I like and it
just happens to be five starts called Jen and Jill
want you to succeed. Not only for Jen and Jill
do Jen and Jill provide meaningful content in their podcasts.
(48:40):
They have many free resources for their listeners to be
successful with personal finances. There's a Facebook community so that
listeners help each other with frugal tips and finances, and
it's delivered in a lighthearted manner. This podcast is entertaining
an educational highly recommend Okay Bread, Thank you, Kate Bread.
(49:02):
It's great. It sounds like you've got great taste in
food and podcasts. We also want to thank our friends
who share these episodes on social media, So when you
share the latest episode on Instagram, we're adding you to
our monthly drawing. For every five tags and reviews we
get each month, we're giving away fifty dollars for you
(49:23):
to spend in the Frugal Friends Shop, Yes, Frugal Friends
Dot shop on the Internet. So keep leaving us reviews
wherever you listen to podcasts. And sending the screenshot to
reviews at Frugal Friends podcast dot com. Don't forget to
tag us on social See you next week. Frugal Friends
(49:43):
is produced by Eric Sirianni Jill. Yes, are you a
person who wears green on St. Patrick's Day? No, but
I might start. I don't know, because I'm in my
(50:08):
thirties now and traditions are more meaningful. I have to
tell you. Every St. Patrick's Day that comes up, I
realize I don't own anything green. Oh that's right, you
don't buy green? I don't, And it's not like it's
not on purpose. I would love to find something green
(50:30):
to put in my wardrobe, but I just can't. And
like I've even looked on threat up and filtered out
just for green. I've looked for just green in the
thrift store, Like I make an effort because, like in
preparation for St. Patty's one. Sure, but I also like
(50:50):
the color green. I like it. Yeah, I think you'd
look good and green. Hopefully it's not like a decision
based on not thinking you'd look good in it. No,
I'm trying, Jill, I'm really trying, all right. I'll be
on the lookout too, because I feel like olive green
(51:10):
or green or lime green. Yeah, any kind of would
look good on you. My house is lime green. My
house is green like sharp trous it's like a like
a I don't know what sharp truth means. It's what
your house is. Okay, that like combo between yellow and green? Yes,
(51:34):
trus Oh wow, I'll learn something new about green. I do.
That's the glow up. You get more words in your vocab,
thank you. Um. But yeah, no, I'm not somebody who
wears green on St. Patrick Day because I just don't
own any green's mostly by that mostly black. We're going
(51:55):
to change that, yeah,
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