0:02

Welcome to Money Matters , the podcast

0:04

that focuses on how to use the money you have

0:07

, make the money you need and save

0:09

the money you want . Now here

0:11

is your host .

0:12

Ms Kim Chapman , welcome

0:14

to a new edition of Money Matters . I am your host

0:16

, kim Chapman . Today we have a special

0:18

treat for you as we dive into the realm of high

0:22

impact purchases and explore the art

0:24

of saving big bucks without compromising

0:26

on quality and satisfaction

0:28

. Joining me today are two

0:31

incredibly savvy minds

0:33

in the realm of personal finance and frugality

0:36

Jen and Jill , the dynamic

0:38

duo behind the Frugal Friends podcast

0:40

. They have a passion for helping people make

0:43

the most of their money , just like me

0:45

. Where sisters from another Mr , I imagine

0:47

, these two experts bring

0:49

a unique blend of humor , practical

0:52

tips and insightful discussions to

0:54

the world of frugal living . Welcome

0:56

, ladies , and thank you so much for joining me today

0:58

. Thank you for having us . Thanks

1:00

, Kimberly , so so

1:03

tell us who is Jen

1:05

and Jill . How did this dynamic duo

1:07

come to be formed ?

1:09

We are the co-hosts of the Frugal Friends

1:11

podcast and we became

1:14

friends about seven years ago when

1:16

we were both in our debt payoff journeys

1:18

. I was living in an RV

1:20

at the time to save on living expenses

1:23

and pay down student loan debt and

1:25

Jen was blogging about her own

1:27

debt payoff journey . And

1:30

shortly after meeting we

1:33

became quick friends and one

1:35

year later started the podcast because we saw

1:37

just some gaps in the

1:40

space to be able to talk about

1:42

some of these topics that might

1:44

not typically come up amongst friends

1:46

, and a lot of gate kept

1:49

financial information with a lot of acronyms

1:51

we don't understand . We wanted to make personal

1:53

finance more accessible for

1:55

the common person and fun

1:58

, because usually there's not a lot of fun involved

2:00

when you're talking about finances , but we don't

2:02

think that needs to be the case .

2:04

I know everybody wants to learn about it , but it

2:06

just doesn't come with a lot of bling-bling

2:09

. So what can our listeners learn

2:11

from listening to this podcast ?

2:14

So we really emphasize

2:16

, instead of being

2:18

cheap , being frugal , and

2:20

so what that means is being a good steward of your

2:23

resources . So a lot of

2:25

times , people will equate frugality

2:27

with this race to the bottom

2:29

in spending Spending as little as

2:31

possible , getting as many deals

2:33

as possible without actually

2:36

thinking do I need the deal , or

2:38

is this very

2:40

little spending affecting somebody

2:43

outside of me ? Am I getting poorer quality

2:45

because of the little amount that I'm spending

2:47

? So what we want to help people

2:49

do is not to look

2:52

at the price tag , to not be obsessed

2:54

with prices , but be

2:56

obsessed with intentionality

2:58

and conscious consumption and finding

3:01

what you truly value , so you can

3:03

spend full price without

3:05

guilt , on the things you love and

3:07

say strong and easy

3:10

no's to the things

3:12

that you don't love .

3:14

So what are some common misconceptions

3:16

about being frugal and what type

3:18

of impact has it had

3:20

on each of your lives in terms of looking

3:23

at this new way of living ?

3:26

I think frugal has often been associated

3:28

with cheap , getting

3:31

the lowest price possible

3:33

, pinching the penny , and

3:36

really what we are trying

3:38

to do is redefine frugality

3:40

to mean being good stewards

3:42

of all of our resources , this approach

3:45

that considers our whole personhood

3:47

, how we are managing our resources

3:50

emotionally , physically

3:52

, relationally and financially

3:55

, and so in that way , it's not a means

3:57

to an end , but a

3:59

journey that we can all be

4:02

on , regardless of our level of income

4:05

, to be making really

4:07

wise , informed decisions

4:09

that we can feel good about when it comes

4:11

to our spending .

4:13

Yeah , for me in my life

4:15

. I grew up in this

4:17

middle class home

4:20

where we didn't have a lot but we didn't have debt

4:22

, but money just wasn't talked

4:24

about . And so I really thought that buying

4:27

the medium drink

4:29

or the grande latte at Starbucks instead of the

4:32

venti and buying generic at the grocery store

4:34

, those were the things that made me frugal

4:37

and , on this journey of almost six

4:39

years of doing the podcast , really

4:42

have embraced this , coming

4:44

out of the scarcity mindset that so many

4:47

of us have , who

4:49

were raised in the 90s and early 2000s

4:52

, of really looking at value

4:54

, not just value based

4:56

on what somebody is telling

4:58

me to value or the value price

5:01

that they're telling me something

5:03

costs , but trying to

5:05

take the pause and figure

5:08

out what do I truly

5:10

value and what does my budget say

5:12

I can afford to pay in

5:14

value for the things that I value . So

5:17

that's , I mean , everybody

5:19

deals with a scarcity mindset and we're trying

5:21

to make frugality a

5:23

way that you can free yourself from

5:25

it without yo-yoing

5:28

to the other side of just spending

5:30

without , without

5:32

you know , like you don't have consequence because

5:35

of growing up with a scarcity

5:38

or without a lot .

5:40

I totally agree . I think I remember hearing a

5:42

quote , some points that you ladies

5:44

were making , saying you know , not thinking of a budget

5:46

as punishment for something

5:48

that you did wrong in the past , which

5:51

I thought you know . I think that is the true

5:53

mindset . Sometimes we think that a budget is

5:55

punishment and , in order to fix

5:57

that , that we have to be cheap , we have to

5:59

buy the lowest things , we have to really change

6:01

our habits , but , while

6:04

you know , punishing ourselves in the meantime

6:06

. But today we want to focus on high

6:08

impact purchases . That is an explanation

6:10

of what a high impact purchase is .

6:15

So we really live by the 80-20

6:17

rule , that

6:19

20% of your actions are

6:21

going to result in 80% of

6:24

your outcomes , and

6:26

it's not a hard and fast rule , it's more of a rule

6:28

of thumb . But you can see it . When

6:30

you look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and

6:33

their data on American

6:35

average expenditures , you

6:38

can see that the

6:40

top 80% of

6:42

Americans' budgets really come

6:44

from about 20% of the categories

6:47

, and so we found that that is

6:49

housing , transportation

6:51

and food , and so

6:53

these are the three topics that we

6:55

really focus on , because if you make a few

6:58

smart decisions in

7:00

these categories , then

7:02

everything else you

7:04

can afford to make not

7:07

as great decisions on , or you can afford

7:09

to not pay attention to them as

7:11

much . I think we in

7:13

frugality focus we

7:15

see so much focus in this . You

7:18

know they're useful

7:20

, right , there's useful many in

7:22

saving $3 or $4

7:24

here , saving 50 cents there on

7:26

this 80% of categories

7:28

. But

7:30

when we shift the narrative to

7:33

be focusing on these high-impact

7:35

categories housing , transportation

7:37

and food we really do

7:39

free up a lot of our mental energy

7:41

, because our mental energy is finite

7:43

, daily , right , and so we want to take

7:46

care of our brains so they make the best

7:48

decisions possible , and

7:50

really , that starts by being efficient

7:52

with the financial decisions

7:55

we make .

7:57

So what kind of factors should consumers

7:59

consider before even making a high-impact

8:02

purchase ? Because , you're right , those are some pretty big

8:04

ones . I mean housing , transportation

8:06

and I mean food . Food really

8:08

defines us . I know , when I do budgeting and

8:10

financial counseling , you know

8:12

I put those in bold letters

8:15

because those are the ones that usually

8:17

define our spending habits . Over spending

8:19

thousands of dollars eating out , are

8:22

we being really , really frugal ? So you

8:24

know what are those common mistakes ?

8:27

Yeah , I think it's going to be important to

8:30

have an awareness of what

8:32

we are bringing in monthly . What

8:34

does our income look like ? We can't

8:36

know how much we're able to

8:38

spend without knowing how much we

8:41

are making . So it is going to

8:43

start there , but it's

8:45

going to involve then working

8:47

within that amount of money

8:50

. For some it means , oh

8:52

, I do need to earn more

8:54

in order to even afford

8:56

some of these basics . But when

8:58

it comes to food , transportation

9:01

and housing , really

9:04

working within what we

9:06

are able to manage financially

9:09

Just to speak about food , because that

9:11

is a decision that we make daily

9:13

, if not potentially hourly

9:16

or minute to minute . For some of us who really love

9:18

food , it's important to

9:20

identify kind of what

9:22

are some of my triggers

9:24

, my spending areas that I

9:27

tend to maybe spend above and

9:29

beyond what I would like to be

9:31

spending and I don't feel great about it . For

9:33

me , I love going out to a good

9:35

restaurant . That's enjoyable

9:37

to me , but that's going to cost you money because you're not

9:39

just paying a higher price for the food but you're

9:41

also paying tip , which we do advocate

9:44

that if you're going out , do pay tip . You're

9:47

being cheap if you're cutting corners on

9:49

your servers . So

9:52

I love going out to eat , but

9:54

I can know that I can't afford

9:56

to go out to eat every single day

9:58

. I don't want to afford it . I don't want

10:00

that impact on my savings

10:03

and investing plan . So I'm

10:05

going to put the time and energy into

10:08

meal planning , meal

10:10

prepping actually making

10:12

the food that I have . Meal planned and meal

10:14

prep so making sure that I'm creating those

10:16

plans around something that's realistic to

10:19

my schedule , the time and energy that

10:21

I have for that week and eating at home

10:23

more , so that I can save some

10:25

of that money in my food spending

10:28

plan to be able to afford some

10:30

of the nights out at good

10:32

restaurants and also be

10:34

able to save and invest for my

10:36

retirement .

10:39

And , of course , I know over the years it's

10:41

been a lot of your experiences , just like

10:43

myself , in terms of shaping what we

10:45

think what , and you know the lessons

10:47

that we learn . So can you share a personal

10:50

experience or an example where you learned

10:52

a valuable lesson about high

10:54

impact purchases ?

10:56

Yeah . So last

10:58

year our family decided

11:01

to upgrade to a minivan because we

11:03

were having another kid and

11:05

we , you know , we thought , hey

11:07

, it's time , it's a good time . So

11:10

we went in

11:12

and said we are going

11:14

to buy three

11:16

to five years old , because that's where

11:19

a lot of the first three years is where

11:21

a lot of depreciation happens . We don't want to buy

11:23

a beater because we want something safe

11:25

for our family , for our children , that we can

11:27

, you know , drive for a long time , not

11:30

into the ground , but we

11:32

want to be able to drive it for a while . So that three

11:34

to five year , used

11:36

like space , was really

11:38

where we wanted to stay . And then

11:41

we kind of looked in there like what are the best

11:43

, highest rated minivans in

11:46

those particular years ? And so we went to

11:48

carcomplaintscom and kind of

11:50

took an inventory of which minivans

11:53

were the best , and that's where we started , and

11:55

so that those are good tips , just in general

11:57

, to take with you . But when

12:00

we got to the dealership is when things

12:03

, things could have gone awry . Your

12:05

best made plans always

12:07

fall awry when you get to the dealership . Right , of course

12:09

, right . So we had

12:11

too many vans that we wanted to compare . One was the one

12:14

I really wanted . They were

12:16

both the same price but for different reasons . So

12:19

one had the luxury features a few more miles . That's

12:21

the one I really wanted . Other

12:24

, lower miles , not as many features

12:26

. So when we get to the one that I really

12:28

want , we test drive it and we spend

12:30

hours in there negotiating and I had

12:32

already test driven the other one , just because I wanted

12:34

to say I was make a decision based

12:37

on facts , not emotions and

12:39

so . But you know , I really wanted

12:41

that nice , the nice minivan

12:43

. But we spent hours

12:46

in that dealership negotiating and

12:48

what we found was that this particular

12:50

dealership was adding on a lot of

12:52

fees , so much so that

12:55

these too many vans that were advertised

12:57

at the same price online this

13:00

one that I wanted became $4,000

13:02

more , even after negotiating

13:05

off on the actual price

13:07

of the car . They just wanted

13:09

to give me less for my trade in and had

13:11

a lot of fees that they wouldn't negotiate off

13:13

. So I

13:16

had to make a decision Do I spend

13:19

$4,000 more for

13:22

adaptive cruise control or

13:25

do I go to the other dealership

13:27

and forgo

13:30

the hours I spent negotiating

13:33

that sunk cost that I felt

13:35

like I was taking this guy's time

13:37

, like I felt so bad , like , if

13:40

I leave , like what do I do ? And

13:43

so finally we decided that

13:45

if I wanted to add the

13:47

feature to my car

13:49

, it would be less than $4,000

13:52

to add it and I wouldn't

13:54

pay $4,000 for that single feature

13:56

and I probably wouldn't use

13:59

all the other features . So

14:01

we left that . We left the sunk

14:04

cost that we had already invested in

14:06

all that negotiation and all that time

14:08

. We left it , drove

14:10

straight to the other dealership and

14:12

got that other minivan and saved $4,000

14:15

with that one decision

14:18

. And that's what we're talking about with

14:20

high impact spending

14:22

decisions . This one decision

14:24

saved me $4,000 . I

14:27

could never , probably in my life , make that

14:29

many decisions to save on lattes

14:31

. Right , I would have to make hundreds

14:35

, hundreds and hundreds of decisions

14:37

versus just making this one decision . It's

14:40

almost like girl math . Now I can buy $4,000

14:42

worth of lattes and they're basically free because I

14:45

made the right decision one time .

14:47

A great way to look at it . $4,000

14:49

worth of lattes , but you're absolutely

14:52

right in terms of doing that homework

14:54

and being able to look at apples and

14:57

oranges and really , really making a good decision

14:59

. So what about you , jill ?

15:02

Yeah , I think some of it really . I love Jen's

15:04

example here because it's creating

15:07

that pause before

15:09

making that massive decision

15:11

For us when it comes to housing

15:13

, so a category we haven't yet covered

15:15

for us

15:18

. My husband and I bought our

15:20

home three and a half years ago

15:22

and we were

15:24

approved for

15:26

a certain amount of money and

15:29

of course , you're going to get shown

15:31

all of these other houses that

15:33

are maybe pushing the envelope

15:35

on what you could be approved and even our lender said

15:37

but if you found something

15:40

for $25,000 , $50,000

15:42

more , we could probably fudge it

15:44

and make it work for you guys . That

15:47

is tempting . We bought in Tampa

15:49

Bay , florida . There's a lot of homes here

15:52

with pools . I'd love to have a pool , that'd

15:54

be nice but at the end of the day

15:56

, when you compare , it seems

15:58

like not a big deal . It's all going to get

16:00

wrapped up into the mortgage if you spend

16:02

$25,000 , $50,000 more

16:05

on the price of the home . But

16:07

then to actually do the math on

16:09

that , at the time , thankfully we got a really

16:11

good interest rate on our

16:14

house , but you look at

16:16

adding $50,000 more

16:18

to your home and the interest

16:20

on top of that over the course

16:23

of whether you're taking a 15

16:25

, 30-year mortgage out on it is

16:27

going to equal tens of

16:30

thousands of dollars extra . So

16:32

again back to Jen's point us

16:34

choosing middle of the road

16:36

. We , I think , bought a home for $20,000

16:39

less than what we were approved , now

16:42

saving ourselves quote , unquote

16:44

girl math at least

16:46

$100,000 over the course

16:48

of this housing loan . What

16:51

other one singular decision can

16:53

you make that is going to save you

16:55

that amount of money ? Now , we're not impulse purchasing

16:57

homes every day , we're not making home buying

16:59

decisions every day , but all the more

17:01

important to be doing the

17:03

math , creating the pauses , looking

17:06

at the realities of it , certainly

17:08

taking your emotions into consideration

17:10

. But now if we wanted a pool

17:13

, we could spend $30,000 to $40,000

17:16

to install a pool here , rather

17:18

than spending the $100,000

17:20

more , in the grand scheme of things , to

17:22

get a pool that's already installed , probably

17:25

won't ever get a pool installed here . I'm going

17:27

to live in contentment , but

17:29

highlighting the importance of looking

17:32

at what could this one decision

17:34

save me ? How can 20%

17:36

of my input give

17:38

me 80% of my output

17:40

and the savings that can come along with

17:43

that and all the other decisions

17:45

that aren't going to mean as much for me , because

17:47

I've saved so much on this one big decision

17:50

?

17:51

So , when it comes to high impact purchases , are

17:53

there certain times of the year that are more

17:57

favorable than others ? Because I'm thinking here

17:59

you're talking about the pool . I imagine turning

18:02

away the idea of getting that pool

18:04

would be a little bit easier in the winter , versus

18:06

if it's the summer and you

18:08

can just see the pretty blue water as you're touring

18:11

the house and you can just see you and your kids

18:13

sitting by the pool side . It makes

18:15

it a little bit more tempting . So are

18:17

there certain times of the year that are better than

18:20

others ? I used to always have my own

18:22

little theory that buying my car at

18:24

the end of the year because the dealership wants to really

18:26

make those deals , to make their

18:28

bottom line looks good . It worked

18:30

out for me , but maybe that was just a coincidence

18:33

.

18:34

No , you're absolutely right . So

18:36

these good times

18:38

of year quote unquote to buy things

18:40

, they do offer some savings . The

18:42

savings over time are negligible

18:44

versus

18:47

the amount of the home you purchase

18:49

or the amount of the car you purchase for

18:51

sure , but they do give you a little edge

18:53

. So yes , for a car purchase

18:56

, end of the year or end

18:58

of the month does give you a little bit

19:00

more negotiating room on

19:02

the price of the car . So

19:05

they definitely have more incentive

19:07

that last weekend of the month or last day of

19:09

the month to give

19:12

you a little bit more . And

19:14

for a house , anytime that you really wouldn't

19:16

want to be moving is a really good time

19:18

. It can get you a little

19:20

bit more leverage in your negotiation

19:22

. So right around the holidays , in

19:25

the dead of winter , if you're living

19:27

up north , stuff like that the

19:29

times that people don't want to move are

19:32

typically times where the

19:34

buying season is slower and

19:36

you're going to see a large uptick

19:39

in buyers over the summer months

19:41

. So that's usually not a great

19:44

, not the best time . But again , it's

19:46

the price of the car and the price

19:48

of the home where you're getting the biggest

19:51

bang for your buck . These

19:54

times of year just give you a small

19:56

edge and it's the same for food . Like

19:58

, ultimately , meal

20:00

planning , not buying what you don't

20:02

need , not wasting things you

20:04

do buy . Those

20:06

are going to be the biggest ways to save

20:09

money on food , but when you're shopping

20:11

produce seasonally , you

20:13

do get that little edge on your purchase

20:15

.

20:17

And , I imagine , still the store when you're hungry . So

20:20

, in terms of impulse purchases hopefully

20:22

nobody's impulse purchasing a home

20:24

, but of course sometimes cars and definitely

20:26

food that can happen

20:28

what are some strategies , what are some daily

20:31

things that we can do to be mindful to

20:33

avoid making those impulse

20:35

purchases ?

20:37

We all do it . We all make

20:39

impulse purchases and we all make emotional

20:41

spending decisions , and that's not entirely

20:44

wrong . I think it's important to consider

20:46

our whole personhood when

20:48

it comes to finances . We can know something

20:51

in our minds , but then our behaviors

20:53

can be wildly different because of

20:56

a variety of factors our upbringing

20:58

, our relationship with money , the type

21:00

of day we had , who we might be in a fight

21:02

with all these things . So

21:04

it's definitely going to start with understanding

21:07

yourself and where

21:09

you are most likely to impulse

21:11

buy . We love to encourage people

21:14

to look back over their 90-day

21:16

transaction . So that's pulling

21:18

up your credit card statements , your bank

21:21

statements , and literally

21:23

reviewing the last three months

21:25

and seeing what am I spending

21:27

on the most and what

21:29

of these purchases did I not plan

21:32

to be spending on ? Is it food

21:35

? Is it takeout ? Is it coffee

21:37

? Is it clothing ? Is it late

21:39

night Amazon purchases ? So

21:41

getting a good handle on what

21:43

the types of purchases are is going

21:46

to be helpful , and then identifying what

21:48

are going to be the strategies that work

21:50

for me . So identifying what

21:52

are the triggers , what came before

21:54

that purchase , Was it I

21:57

wanted to celebrate ? Was it emotions

21:59

that are deemed positive and beneficial

22:02

? Was it . I was having a hard day

22:04

. Is it just I'm bored ? Or

22:06

I'm up at night and I can't sleep , or

22:08

I was previously scrolling social

22:11

media and I was feeling bad about myself

22:13

and I thought if I bought all this stuff

22:15

online I'd feel better . What

22:17

type of coping mechanism is

22:19

this impulse purchase serving for

22:21

you , and are there ways that

22:23

we can replace that need

22:26

with something that's going to be more beneficial for

22:28

our wallet ? So we never want to just straight

22:31

deprivation this thing and just

22:33

say no and that's it

22:35

. It's not going to work in the long run . We have

22:37

to identify new patterns

22:40

of relating , new habits that

22:42

are actually meeting the need

22:44

, because oftentimes we're impulse

22:46

buying because of something and

22:48

we need to honor and value that . So

22:51

if the impulse purchase is happening because I'm

22:53

bored , is there something else that I can

22:55

do that's going to provide

22:58

me some stimulation but isn't going to cost

23:00

me money ? Can I go for a walk

23:02

? Can I get fresh air ? Can I call up a friend

23:04

? Can I work on my hobby

23:06

? Can I do the project that I've been putting off for

23:09

a while ? Do you name it ? Replacing

23:11

that behavior with something else is going to

23:13

be vital to actually seeing a

23:15

shift in this habit of impulse

23:18

purchases and from there just identifying

23:20

what do I actually value , so

23:23

that then we can free up some of

23:25

that money to spend on the things that are actually

23:27

important to us and not find ourselves just

23:29

willy-nilly spending on things

23:31

that we don't actually value or care about

23:33

.

23:35

And I have to ask , of course , because it's a

23:37

high impact purchase . We always

23:39

fraud and scam every corner

23:42

of the earth , everywhere we look . So , when

23:44

we think of high impact purchases , are

23:46

there any specific red flags

23:48

that you would want our

23:51

listeners to know , in terms of getting ready

23:53

to buy a car from getting ready to buy a house , even

23:55

if I'm looking for that sensational deal for groceries

23:57

that is a red flag that says

23:59

, hey , this kind of the old

24:01

adage , if it sounds too good to be true , it

24:04

is . Are there any things that you

24:06

see more and more , especially in

24:08

this particular area where there may

24:10

be scam , or things that our listeners should

24:12

be aware of ?

24:15

Yeah , anytime somebody asks

24:17

you to use , you know , theoretically

24:19

, the side entrance or the back door

24:21

, that can

24:24

be a red flag . So whenever

24:26

we are giving money

24:28

to something , always

24:30

want to use the front door . Now , when

24:33

it comes to jobs , we always say

24:35

, you know , use the side door , always use

24:37

a connection or something when

24:40

it's to earn money . But to

24:42

save money , we always want

24:45

to use the front door , because people

24:47

are always trying to take your money

24:49

under the guise of hey

24:51

, everybody else is doing this

24:53

, but I can get you this better deal over here

24:55

. If you know , you come around to the back , so

24:59

always use the front door . So

25:01

a lot of text

25:03

message scammers that has been

25:06

a real , that was a really big thing in 2023

25:08

, people getting text messages saying your

25:10

package wasn't delivered or some

25:13

, yeah , whatever . And

25:16

so when you get something like that or

25:18

an email or something going

25:20

straight to the

25:23

website of USPS

25:25

or FedEx or something like that , when

25:29

you have a , you know

25:31

you want to buy a car , maybe on Facebook

25:34

marketplace or something , be

25:36

sure , if you can't

25:38

get it from a dealer

25:40

, you go take that car to

25:42

a mechanic , you know , and

25:44

make sure that it's on the

25:46

up enough before any money is changed

25:49

and then just doing

25:51

things the right way , the boring

25:54

way . There are very

25:56

few things under the sun that are new or

25:58

unique right in finance

26:00

and , but there's always

26:02

something going viral that seems new

26:04

and unique , and so always question

26:06

the reality and go

26:10

through the front door to save

26:12

money is your best bet to avoid

26:14

scams .

26:16

Absolutely Sounds like some good sound advice

26:18

. And before we wrap up , of course , we've talked

26:20

a lot about high impact purchases , but

26:22

you ladies have so much more information to

26:25

share . Tell us a little bit about some of the

26:27

other topics that our listeners can

26:29

find on your podcast .

26:33

We love to talk about values based spending

26:35

, how to spend well . How spending

26:37

is a skill that many of us were

26:40

not taught , and so looking

26:42

at impulse purchases , the way that

26:44

our emotions , relationships

26:46

, impact our spending decisions , changing

26:48

up those habits and routines

26:51

in beneficial ways is

26:53

a very common topic for us . We

26:55

also touch on minimalism and

26:57

simple living and eco sustainability

27:00

how to make the best decisions on

27:02

some of these purchases . Food

27:04

is a huge topic . If you want

27:06

help on food we got all of it on

27:08

meal prep , meal planning . Really

27:11

, if it touches finances , we're

27:13

going to talk about it . Investing for

27:15

retirement saving strategies

27:18

, all of it .

27:20

And it's not just a podcast . So if it's somebody

27:23

that , hey , I'm not a podcaster , but I want this

27:25

information , you have a newsletter . So

27:27

here's an opportunity . Tell us where we can

27:29

find the podcast . Tell us a little bit

27:31

about the newsletter as well .

27:34

Yeah , so we release a newsletter

27:36

three times a week . It's completely free . It's called

27:38

the friend letter and we

27:40

go into free food promos

27:43

, savings hacks , deep

27:46

dives into products so that you are

27:48

an informed consumer who

27:50

can buy based on quality and

27:52

durability and value

27:55

versus brand or price

27:57

, because we know paying

27:59

a little bit more upfront saves money over

28:01

the long run in most things , but that doesn't

28:03

mean you have to buy the most expensive

28:05

thing when you make a purchase . So

28:08

we really educate readers on that . And

28:11

then we're also writing a book that's due out

28:13

in January 2025 on values based spending

28:15

. So on Fridays we

28:17

share a little bit of what we're writing

28:19

and pondering based on that . So

28:21

that's available at frugalfriendspodcastcom

28:24

and the podcast is available

28:26

wherever you're listening to this podcast , just

28:29

search for frugal friends . And if you're looking

28:31

for a good episode , to start with , episode

28:33

378 , the psychological

28:36

reasons why we impulse buy is a

28:38

really good one . We go through

28:40

several of the reasons people

28:42

impulse by , with some helpful

28:44

strategies that you can use to combat

28:47

that type of impulse purchase .

28:50

Sounds like a whole nother podcast that we'll have to

28:52

do . Well , I definitely want to

28:54

extend my sincere gratitude

28:56

to both you ladies , jen and Jill , for sharing

28:58

your expertise . This was some really , really

29:00

good information . I mean , especially this

29:02

is the time of the year where sometimes

29:05

people getting those refund checks and they want

29:07

to make those high impact purchases , so

29:09

I think the timing is just great . So

29:11

, again , thank you so much for sharing your information

29:13

and I'll definitely have to have both of you back

29:16

again .

29:17

I love that . Thanks , Kimberly . Yeah

29:19

, thanks so much .