Episode four thirty one, Denise job hopped her way to increase income and pay off nineteen thousand dollars of debt.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live a life here your hosts Jen and Jill.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and we are at the end of.
Our debt Free summer.
That doesn't mean that summer has to end for you, but it is ending for our summer of debt payoff stories that we are sharing with you every Friday on the podcast, which means we will be returning to our regularly scheduled guest interviews, which we are sad to see Debt Free Summer leave, but we are happy to get some guests back in the virtual studio.
And it doesn't mean that Debt Freedom needs to end, or its celebration is over, or that you can't go back into the archives and look up these stories again.
Yes, absolutely, but first, this episode is brought to you by by What you Love Without Going Broke. Our book is officially available for pre order at buywolovebook dot com. To celebrate this we are throwing a virtual launch party on August twentieth at seven pm Eastern Standard. We will be revealing all of our pre order gifts. We've already kind of mentioned them on social and on the podcast, but we will be showing them all. Jill will be
hosting a game for us to play. Everyone who attends will get a free gift, and this is important, everyone who pre orders the book before or during the party will get an extra a free gift in addition to the other pre order gifts we're giving away. This is going to be so fun. We were so excited to share this literally mountaintop moment with you guys.
Everyone is welcome.
There is no extra sign up required to attend the virtual party, but you have to be signed up for the frind Letter because that's where we'll be sending out the zoom link and we will send it out several times to make sure you have it. So we've disabled the click to confirm emails. So if you've tried to sign up for the front Letter and when we're unable to before, try it now. Head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com sign up for the friend Letter and if you are already on it head to buy What you
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I'm especially excited because I just learned that I will be hosting a game for all.
The thing any of you do not know about Jill is that Jill has actually hosted online party, like corporate online parties, and she is very good at it. So while I may have set the day and time the party is, I.
Guess she knows how to do it. And you know what, how how isn't that so fitting? Because it is the day before my birthday and so we're going to be giving you all gifts. I'm going to be hosting your party.
I'm going to be leaving all the party, but they're invited.
Jill, Well, it feels like a party for them because we're giving them gifts.
So true, and it's going to be it's a It's a really good gift. It's a fall meal plan, so you won't have to worry about any meals this fall. We've incorporated all in season produce and holidays, so you're really gonna want That's free to everyone who attends whether you pre order or not, but we really hope that you pre order and get the extra special extra gift.
Jen's favorite thing is to tell me that I'm doing things as she announces it to you all, so that I can't back out of it. I think this is like the second or third episode in the row that I'm like learning about certain things as they're happening. And you know what, I consent after the fact. Yes, so this is.
A joke because I said that I didn't have time for consent and now a good joke.
It's not a good joke.
And now she won't stop saying the word consent, just so you know that I am why she's saying that. Yeah, but anyways, let's talk about debt freedom because while buy what you love without going broke will help you, if debt freedom is one of your goals, today's episode is
about Denise. And if you have missed any of our other debt free stories, we have so many in the archives, but this summer we really wanted to get back to our roots and share a lot of debt free stories from listeners like you, so head back our last nine. Every other episode has been one of these, but Denise I love we saved. I can't say we save the best for last, because they're all the best. But I
loved chatting with Denise. She paid off nineteen thousand dollars of debt in four years, so a very reasonable debt payoff. I think we're so used to hearing these very extreme debt payoffs, and so I love talking to Denise. And she just adopted a bunch of frugal habits. Tractor spending, job hopping was a big part of her story. So I loved Denise.
Let's get to it, Yes, and we are so excited to be bringing you another amazing episode which represents an awesome story from one of our fellow listeners. Denise, thank you so much for joining us. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself.
Yeah, So I'm Denise Bard. I currently live in Orange County, California, sunny southern California, and I started my debt free journey right when I came back from New Zealand.
I call it my quarter life crisis time.
And I remember I had two thousand dollars to my name when I moved back home, and I knew I wanted to in marketing because I didn't start off in marketing. Actually, so in that process I did get a job that I wanted, but I ended up being in debt. I had to get a car like that was about fifteen thousand dollars after all was said and done, and then I also had to get you know, things for living expenses, and I had a student loan I was slowly paying off.
So that's where you know I was.
And then I ran into like your information, your modern frugality blog mister Monny Mustache, if like the standard bloggers of the time, and it really inspired me to change
my mindset. So that's kind of where I started. And I actually paid off all of my debt and actually helped my partner with his debt of thirteen thousand dollars too, actually by well everything said and done twenty twenty, but my own debt was about twenty nineteen, so it took about four years I think of like serious commitment to get that going.
Yeah, and living in coast to basic California, which is not an inexpensive place to live.
Yeah, with the food, especially if you love food, it does get pricey and really hard to stick to your meal planning for sure.
Certainly, So let's talk about this debt. What was your debt specifically made up of.
Yeah, so my debt at the time was made up of, you know, getting my furnishings for my apartment.
That was minimal.
I didn't include it initially just because at the time it was very easy to transfer some savings I had, but car payment my student loan. When I initially took it out, it was I think almost ten thousand dollars, but at the time I was slowly paying it off. So just trying to focus on those things and then just living I think in California as well. When I first moved back, I brought myself into debt too, just going out with runs. But then I realized one day I was at my job that I didn't want to do.
That cycle anymore.
So that's kind of that, and just planning for vacations and expenses too.
Yeah, tell me about that moment when you realized you wanted your debt gone. Was that like a slow build or was that like a memorable moment where you're like, I need this nineteen thousand dollars of debt gone.
Yeah, So I think for me the real kicker, I remember this was when I was at my job that I thought I really wanted to be in, and I was sitting at like we had like this cool gym. It was one of the nice perks about that job at the time, and I was reading an article about I think it was mister Munny Mustache in particular at that moment, and just seeing his life and him being able to do whatever he wanted, and it really inspired me to say, like, you know, I want to live that life, especially too.
I think that damn particular.
I remember talking with my boss and hearing that we weren't getting really high raises. I didn't advocate for myself initially, so I realized I was on the lower end of the spectrum payment wise, and even though I was performing, walunching knowledge that there wasn't going to be a pay increase where I could see myself living comfortably and you know, having this debt looming over me and if I continued what I wanted to do, That's really what happened.
Yeah, it can be eye opening when we get the job that we always thought we wanted and then we realized it might not be all that it's cracked up to be. But it sounds like you noticed that pretty early on. Is that accurate?
Yeah?
That like it took Yeah, for me, it took a little bit of time too, I think, or a denial, I want to say, right, because I was like, oh, like it'll all work out. But yeah, I think that moment when I and see that article, and I did have that conversation with my boss, I was like, I can't you keep living like this.
I have something has to change.
Okay, so what did change? What did you start doing first to start tackling this debt?
Yeah, So for me, I did the old handy dandy spreadsheets and simultaneously I would actually write every day like how much I was actually spending. So I started on the Excel spreadsheets. I feel like a lot of people do. I'm like, this is what I think I'm spending. And then I did the exercise of getting just a typical journal book and what I would do is I would write every day like what I would spend.
And in the beginning, I really was trying.
Not to spend because I just didn't want to write anything that I was doing. So I feel like the first two weeks were like, oh, this is like the perfect scenario.
But as I continued to do the exercise.
I realized I was spending on things that I could have easily not you know, I think going out with friends at happy hours and getting that extra cocktail and realistically one would be more than enough because you could still carry on conversations. I started noticing a pattern. I would go out and if I was sad, I would go shopping. And that's why I always found myself like it, you know, not making any money and feeling.
Like I was broke. So that that's what helped me, I think, start this whole thing.
Yes, we love manually tracking our spending and expenses. It can illuminate so much for us, and a lot of times it can show us that we can still meet our values and do the things that we want to do just by making some shifts. Did you find that for yourself, did you have to kind of implement any creativity where you were still able to have fun and do some of the things that you enjoyed, but maybe rein in your budget a little bit.
Yeah.
So for me, I think my thing was inviting friends over for dinner because I did see like a pattern of me, like I liked going out with my friends and I wouldn't go to Disneyland because I knew, like, you know, while I could get a season passed, I knew they were going to be costs associated with that too, like going to the you know, parking, going out with your friends again. You know that it was an endless cycle. So what I used to do was propose to my friends, like, hey,
do you guys want to come over for dinner? You know we could do I'll do like the main dish, but if you guys want to bring alcohol.
You can.
And I would call them like my quarterly like dinners. And it was kind of a fun game, I think, to keep me motivated on this track to pay off my debt.
Yes, I loved doing pot lucks and having friends over when we were paying off debt, Like a three dollars ald bottle of wine and some girlfriends was everything.
Yeah, so let's talk about income. What were you making when you began this dep payoff? What what then were you making throughout the journey? It sounds like it was four years. Did you experience an increase in your income? What did all that look like?
Yeah?
So when I started, I took a job that paid seventeen fifty an hour and I didn't research like the market really really advocate for myself because I thought I was so new to the industry itself, and when I was on this journey, I was hourly, so there was a couple hours of overtime that helped a little bit with those But then I did get promotion, which was only I think about like forty seven thousand at the time,
but then I moved a couple jobs. I made the mistake though, of not really being selected about the increase. For me at the time was more about do I want to be in this industry? Do I find that fulfillment? So I actually ended up leaving the job after I got a promotion, and that was at forty seven thousand salary. So I was there for about two years at that advertising job and at the job next job I took was at forty five thousand salary, but there were some
opportunities for overtime, so my hours just kept flunctuating. But by the time everything was said and done, it was a month before I got a new job offer that was fifty eight thousand. So it was a lot of for me constantly looking at the budgets because it wasn't like a set no salary where it's like I knew everyone that was going to get this amount of money.
Okay, So I'm interested because it's so nerve racking to change jobs and especially to change industries, to change careers. But job hopping is definitely one of the best ways to increase your income. It's definitely more guaranteed than a raise or promotion at your current place of employment. But it can be very nerve racking to do even once, and you did it several times. How was that experience for you?
Yeah, So for me, the first time I transitioned out to get that job that was at forty five, was actually from a referral of a friend, so I was confident, like I could do the job. I took it because it was focused on pharmaceuticals, and the advertising job I had was only focused on e commerce and like TV in particular, so I was kind of niched and I wanted to expand my horizons.
So what I did was I took that job, I learned a lot, and then for the.
Next job, I negotiated about to fifty eight thousand, so that was you know, I thought better than that income, and there I really networked with a lot of my colleagues, and that's where I really learned the power and importance some negotiation advocating for yourself to increase your salary.
That's amazing, and that's a skill set that you might not have learned or engaged with unless you were focused on increasing your income paying down debt.
Right, Yeah, for sure.
And then with each increase I did get any bonuses I got, because there was some times where we get company bonuses. I think the most I got was like five hundred dollars at one but I would never spend it. I would put it either towards that debt or I put it into like a thousand dollars emergency fund.
Cool and any side hustles while you were paying off debt.
Yeah, for me, I actually was trying to for side hustle stuff. I did try to do a side business of making like dog bandanas and those kinds of things, but it was just this the one job at the time.
Cool. So you do a side hustle, now, correct, I do?
Yeah, I do a virtual assisting.
Was that something that you discovered while doing this? Like the debt free journey kind of led you into.
That, so it was kind of a two part thing. I think, like the pandemic, just having that extra time helped. But I was also avidly looking for side hustles and I found this one actually just networking with a friend being a virtual assistant, And right now I'm still doing that and I'm trying to like save that money for you know, future expenses.
Cool.
So you brought your income up to fifty eight thousand without any set of hustles. Did you sell anything or get any like inheritances or lump sums while you're doing this to that helped you pay off the debt?
For me, it was, oh, tax refunds, I think, you know, just working with that, I think I got like a couple of thousan dollars. But for me, what I did was I did that snowball method of you know, paying off first like the student loan, and then just applying that payment. And then what I would do is I would just find other things I could cut out that you know, didn't really need to be spent. So just that money changed mindset and I think really helped me pay that stuff off in the time I did.
That's so great And it sounds like during the pandemic you were also able to help your partner pay off his debt. Can you tell us a little bit about that.
Yeah, so my at the time, you know, my husband was in the military before and then he started going to school about like twenty nineteen, and luckily he's been fortunate to get you know, assistance like GI bills, but there were there was a period of time where we had to wait because he was in summer, so they don't get paid at that time. So I helped him with six thousand dollars for living expenses and then you
know that we're still dating. And then when we got married, you know, I wanted just to be open about finances more and you know, there I discovered an opportunity to help him pay off like credit card debt, so it was like seven thousand dollars he had. But had I not built those habits like you were talking about, like saving and you know, paying yourself first, I wouldn't have been able to do that, especially during the pandemic where I felt like, you know, job security kind of felt
a little ensure and uncertain at the time. So it was a very I think fortunate experience for me being able to learn about minimalism and you know, just money, mindset and finances.
Has your decision to move towards debt freedom inspired him? Has he made any changes in some of his habits as well, just seeing what you're doing?
Yeah?
For him, actually it is we've gotten really good about just eating a lot of the food we buy, because before we first started dating, I was guilty of it. Two you know, we'd have so many leftovers and things that are just you know, you would waste. And being on this journey for me, I remember in the beginning, I would kind of not nag him, but say like, hey, like I can't, you know, have to eat these leftovers.
I can't just leave them in the fridge. And the other day he kind of made a comment saying like, wow, look at us, like we've eaten all of our leftovers before the holidays.
That was a big improvement.
Oh that's so great. So now that you guys have this new mindset, this financial foundation to build off of, your husband can go to school without worrying about credit card debt. What is that freeing you guys up for to pursue financially now?
Yeah, so for both of us, he does want to go to PA school afterwards, so the gbills do cover his undergrad which is great. So it's giving me the time to plan for those things if he really wants to continue doing that and or you know, I feel like the standard American dream right is just saving for like a down payment for us to live together in California, and then my future goals are to invest, like in
some real estate properties and focus on creative projects. I want to take some time to like focus on those endeavors and I just have fun.
I think, yay, that's so exciting. So as you're reflecting on this journey, what would you say to someone who was in the same position that you were in five six years ago, or even advice to yourself any words of wisdom that you would share to someone just at the cusper endeavoring upon debt payoff?
Yeah.
For me, I think is really know your worth and remember like you can do anything You've set your mind to. Myself ten years ago I think is way different from now. And I think everybody needs to know that you are valuable. You know, you may have bad days, but if you sent your mind to it, dedicate and have those habits, you could really go far in life.
Yes, absolutely, and knowing you're worth outside of any job, but also knowing that what you deserve for the experience you bring, I think is also an amazing lesson. How is your money mindset shifted?
Yeah?
For me, I feel like it's a wave because I used to be on the very extreme side of things like, oh, I can't afford that. I'm not gonna do that, but then I'll be I would buy like really cheaply made clothes and you know, those kinds of things that wouldn't last.
And then I went through this phase of extreme scarcity mindset, I think, which wasn't very healthy either, where I would do challenges where looking back, I was like, oh, you know, I probably could have went to that party and it wouldn't have been a big deal.
I didn't go out as much.
So now I'm trying to find that perfect balance, I think, being able to say it's okay that you know, you could have that hundred dollars to spend on something you want. So right now, I think I'm still kind of on that journey.
Honestly.
Huh, yes, that is a lifelong journey. I am definitely still on that one.
Same oh Man, Denise, we have come to the part of the episode where we just see you and your accomplishment nineteen thousand dollars, nineteen thousand and seventy nine dollars and twenty cents living in Costa Mesa, California, making by the end of it, fifty eight thousand dollars a year, but didn't start there. You have done it and now it's time to celebrate in whatever way you want to celebrate, celebrate however you want. Denise.
Thanks.
I think mine's just a big I'm like, oh, like release of things, like typical sports athlete pos where you're just like, I'm so happy this is over.
We're free.
I'm like tumbling into the end zone thank you and standing up saying we did it. You did it, and we're just here to celebrate.
Denise, thank you so much for sharing your story with us, sharing your wisdom with us, and I know we both know it's going to help so many people on this journey. So thank you so much for being with us.
Thank you so much. Jenna, it's great talking to you today.
Every time we replay one of these interviews, I just get encouraged again because hearing everybody celebrate something that they worked so hard for. I think we don't take enough time to celebrate ourselves at least I don't I am, but I know I'm not alone. Like when I accomplish something, I already have the next goal in my mind, and I can't stop and celebrate before I'm already working on
that next accomplishment. And so this has really been just an opportunity for us to like call our community in and say, let's pause for a second, let's reflect on our story, remember the highs and the lows, because I think the further we get from our story, we can really see either all highs or all lows, you know,
like it's a lot harder to see in perspective. So pausing before we move on looking at our story and then celebrating it, I think has just been a gift, a gift for our community and then also like a gift for us to be part of that story.
I think this debt free summer and what we did on YouTube definitely allowed what these nine people to be able to share their stories. But I think hearing what you're describing is prompting me to think, how cool would it be to just share stories amongst friends and be able to mark that celebratory I think we a lot of times associate spending more money with celebrating, but I think this is a really important way of celebrating because it's motivational to other people. There's a reason we love
hearing these debt free stories. It's because it's it's inspiring. It can help me to keep going or give me new insight on what I could be shifting or changing about what I'm doing. And so I think this type of thing. I'm glad that we have this platform to do it here, but it doesn't have to stop here. We can be sharing these little accomplishments or tips or becoming debt free or paying off one particular debt with people along the way, and those types of conversation are
what spurs on more learning and knowledge. Like that's how you and I met is because we felt comfortable talking about our finances. We wanted to create that space for other people. But we're not the only ones who can do that. This can happen even off the podcast as well and still have similar effects. So I am I'm glad for this story being our final one, and also yeah, so inspired and like, keep going, keep sharing your stories.
Yeah, I think I mean, I think everyone should throw a debt payoff party. Even if you haven't paid off one hundred percent of your debt, if you pay off one debt that was really weighing on you, and you feel freedom and an accomplishment from paying off that debt, you don't have to wait until you are one hundred percent debt free to celebrate, and I think inviting our
friends and our family into that celebration. It can feel awkward, like I don't know about you, Jill, but like I feel, and I even talk about this for a living and people know I do this for a living, and I can still feel awkward celebrating my financial wins because it's
not because everybody else is complaining about their finances. And even it doesn't have to be like maybe you're not you know, a millionaire or rich yet and you feel like, oh, I have to get to this certain level before I celebrate.
No celebrate now celebrate in the interim. Celebrate after smaller milestones in appropriate ways, because it can invite others in to saying like, oh my gosh, like I'm struggling, but here's somebody right next to me who did a thing and is now celebrating it, Like now I can I feel permission or I feel some kind of like drive to to do that.
And speaking of the takeaways that we can learn from one another, one of the things that stands out to me about Denise's story is how she leveraged job hopping, like strategically switching jobs as an effective way to increase income and was then able to negotiate higher salaries gain new skills. I love that particular attention to the personal growth aspect that sometimes when we make these shifts and changes, they are an investment in ourselves and we get to
experience more beyond just an increased dollar amount. Like sometimes that can feel a little icky, like I'm just moving around just to get more money. But there can also be positions that we find ourselves in that more align with our skill set, our values, the things that we enjoy doing, or the things that we want to learn to get better at, and that can align with how
we make money too. So I love all of the different hacks of being able to decrease our expenses or decrease spending to throw more money towards debt and increasing income. I think we need both in tandem. But yeah, not forgetting about the possibilities of there could be something else out there, not just for more pay, but also for investment in myself and gaining new skills.
Yeah, I think a key thing in here from Denise is networking and learning from colleagues to get more career growth, to get more job opportunities. I know when we have Mandy Woodruff Santo, if you go back in the archives on that episode, she really emphasized going in through the side door to find new job opportunities. So using connections
when you're going through the front door. And I've heard this so much from people, whether it's people looking for full time or people freelancers going through the front door with everybody else, it's very hard to get a seat at the table. But if your goal becomes networking and making connections and building relationships, then over time that will lead to opportunities like oh, I know somebody at this company, let me see if I can talk to them, or
asking hey, do you have any opportunities? This is what I'm good at. Keep me in mind, like using those side doors is how we get a foot in the door and then gives you more leverage to ask for more, even more than if you'd gone through the front door. Because you already have somebody on the inside that knows you align with the culture and they want you there and that's a sure thing for them.
And that's not to say, let's use our relationships right to make these connections so that we can get XYZ. I think it's a little bit more of a call to This is one of the reasons we invest in community to begin with. It's the reason to get out and commit to that weekly volunteer role, or participate in that book club, or just do the thing that you enjoy doing meet people around you, because things come out of that. Sometimes it's jobs, sometimes it's new skills. Sometimes
it's a supportive friend. Like, no matter what, we all benefit from each other and there can be reciprocity in that. And as we're doing this, as we're going along and doing the things that we want to be doing and engaging more and more, this can be one of those benefits of finding new work, finding opportunities you didn't know exist. None of it that's going to happen because we're just sitting in our home all day.
Yeah, it's it's the value of relationships because if you want somebody on the inside to vouch for you. You got to give them a reason to vouch for you, and that means being a good person, being a good friend, like being a good colleague. You don't have to be best friends with these people, but if there's you know, if you can be a friend or just like an acquaintance,
then then sometimes that's good enough. You don't want to be the slimy, you know, person that's always looking to get something from somebody that's not going to bode well for you.
I also another thing I wanted to highlight about Denise's story was how she had her own debt payoff but then also supported her partner and their debt payoff and really looking at the positive of that, seeing how it strengthened their relationship and provided this platform to have a
shared financial vision together. And I you know, you and I have both talked about this too with our debt payoff story of experiencing this unitedness in it, because it really is it's a goal, and it takes work and effort and intentionality, and it's not always smooth, it's not without some tension at times. But when you're focused on this shared goal, I think it really can help to build some of those important things in a partnership that can help you across all types of phases of life,
but certainly finances. And if this is one of the first things you do together financially, then what more can come from that You can keep building on that shared financial vision, which I think is a really beautiful way of looking at this, rather than the alternative of I got to pay off their debt too, or this thing's the worst, but oh, this is an opportunity for us to get on the same page and really work towards something together.
Yeah, you know what else is an opportunity for us to get on the same page every episode and work together.
The bill of the week.
That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Duck Bill, Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week.
Hi, jillan Jen, my name is John and my bill of the week is my son's college tuition. So I'm probably one of your older listeners. I'm so grateful that our family's in a position to pay for his college from our savings, rather than having him start out his adult life burdened with student loan debt. But my absolute favorite Bill of all time is my foster dad, Bill Young. He and his wife Barb brought me into their family
and give me a normal, peaceful life. They paid for my college way back when, and they've contributed to my son's college savings every year on his birthday. So what a blessing. Thank you so much for sharing your frugal tips, tricks and laughter. Love the show.
Thank you, Wow Ale a double Biller Bill so lovely. First Bill Young and Barb Young. Bill and Barb, thank you for being angels and bringing Don into your home. Anybody foster parents listening to this like, thank you for what you do. It is become harder than ever to bring children into your home, but more necessary than ever. And you are a treasure, and you are in a difficult season and you are a treasure. So know that you are appreciated. And then Don to be able to
support your in his education. Congratulations.
Yeah, what an amazing feeling and experience. And that's one of the things that can be possible when we reach debt freedom is then the ability to help keep others out of debt and pay for some of these larger expenses. I'm so thrilled to hear that this was possible for you, Dawn and for your son. Thanks for choosing to share this and celebrate this with us. If you all are listening and have a bill that you want to submit, if it's a double bill, if it's a single bill,
it's bill you don't mind paying. You just call us, call us up and celebrate some sort of bill related thing. Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. We can't wait for it. And now it's time for the Lightning Round, all right.
One of the takeaways is advocating for yourself. So today's lightning Round question is how do you practice self advocacy in your personal finances? And this is okay, this is a vulnerable.
One for me. You love vulnerability.
I feel when I have maybe overpaid for something or I don't I don't know. Sometimes I don't feel like I have earned or I am worth getting money back that's rightfully mine. And that is a self like, uh deprecating thought, that's like a self attacking thought. I don't know, but yeah, so like I have to practice advocating for myself by reaching out to companies and requesting the discounts that I am entitled to, requesting refunds that I am entitled to. And sometimes it's because I just get busy
and other things get in my moment. But sometimes most of the times I let that slide down on my to do list because I am afraid to advocate for myself.
Do you have a recent example.
The jumper I'm wearing right now.
Uh huh, it's beautiful.
It's coming I've watched it like four times and it's coming apart. And I just got it at the end of April, so I've had it for less than three months. So I need to advocate for myself and reach out to the company and being like, I need you to send me a new one because this is unacceptable.
Is it? Like? Is it a sustainable brand where you.
And it was and I paid full price for it, and so this is something that I need.
To advocate for myself for. How will you do that.
By sending an email to the company.
And asking just for a replacement you think I have? Replacement would be fine, like hoping that their next product would not lose threads.
Yes, yeah, and if it does, then I will mend it because that's and that's it. Never buy from them.
Begin. That's a hard thing to do too, because not only does it kind of require you to believe something about yourself, it also requires you to have the time.
This is so true, double truth.
Yeah, to like have the confidence to kind of go out on a limb and hold various companies and businesses to the guarantees that they're saying they're going to provide. I think a lot of times they're relying on people just choosing not to But yeah, I think similar to how negotiation takes a degree of like self confidence and knowledge,
so does something like this. Yeah, okay, well keep us posted because you just set it out out If you're going to make me play a game on our part, I mean, you don't have to twist my arm hard with that. I knew you would love it. I do. Wow. For me when it comes to self advocacy in my finances in particular, I would say I'm getting better at communicating what I can and can't do with friends and family.
I think a decade ago, maybe even sooner than that, it's been difficult for me to say no to something, or speak up if a whole group is planning on doing something that I don't feel comfortable spending the money on, or it would not be the wisest thing for me to spend on, And so I would say In more recent years, I've I've gotten better, and truly I think having this podcast helps with that, like in a cheeky way, but a lot of times you are like, oh, what
the frugal friends say about that? Like, well, you know, she's a frugal friend.
So she Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes it stinks.
And I'll take the good with the vat I suppose. So if I can leverage it in certain ways to my benefit, then I'll do that, and then I'll take it on the chin the rest of the ton we can, Yeah, so I you know, some examples include like going on a group trip or doing a party together, or or
even out to dinner. I think I'm better able to say, oh, you know, this week, I've got you know, X amount of money to spend on going out, or we plan to be going out a ton, so if we could just like keep it to ordering pizza this time, or or we'll just eat before we come. Things like that I've gotten better and better at doing and less and less concerned with like what somebody might think about me for pretending like money doesn't matter. Oh, here's another good example.
We got it menus that don't put prices on it. Usually that's very high end places, but even your like run of the mill restaurant typically will not put prices on drinks. And I've kind of just not done a whole lot of like getting drinks out. If I'm gonna have a drink, better to make it at home. But that bothers me, like why every other part of your menu has a price? You just think we're all flushed with cash, Like we're not going to care how much you put on the bill for the drink, but we
do care about the rest of the menu. So that's something I've grown in confidence too. And it is a little uncomfortable. But if I'm, you know, interested in one of their cocktails and there's no pricing on it, I'm gonna ask.
Yeah.
And there have been times that the waitress has had to the weight staff has had to go back and be like, I don't know, I'm going to check, and rather than be like, oh, don't worry about it, just order and I'm like, all right, yeah, go yeah, yeah, not like go out of your way and come back, like take your time, but like I'm not just gonna order something without knowledge. Yeah.
They do that because the price will depend on what type of liquor, like the shelf of liquor that you use, So they don't put the price so they can choose for.
You if you let them. Wow.
Yeah, that is actually one of the reasons.
So they also oftentimes won't put it on beer, and they're not adding to I don't know what's here.
I can't I can't tell you there. But yeah, that's that's frustrating.
Yeah, so I advocate ye myself. I actually do always ask on that.
I was like, get me the price, get me the prices of your your levels of whiskey, and that's how you find out by asking. Yeah, then you just add like two or three dollars to whatever that price is and you get your cocktail.
And hopefully at some point these restaurants will just put their pricing on the menu. Maybe one day if we ask enough, if enough of us frugal friends are out here or asking for pricing.
Maybe, but we have I'm dying for you to read this rating and review.
I'm dying.
Yeah.
Okay, so this is the part where we thank you all for listening, and we also thank people who leave us reviews like this one.
And I read it beforehand. I'm sorry. I usually don't, but it was long and it's one of the best things I've ever Oh are you.
Letting me read it? Yeah? Oh, thank you. This is from Megalogue, literally my best friends, and no it's not sad. This is the title of the review. Yes. I always thought I was frugal with little to no wiggle room in my spending and habits. Even while listening to this podcast on and off for several years, I would hear Jenn and Jill's advice without heeding it. I loved what they were saying, but pretty much figured it was none
of my business. Boy, was I wrong. At some point my frugal friend's journey went from tips and tricks to a complete mind and lifestyle shift. Jen and Jill are so real and realistic in goals and strategies. They emphasize your health and happiness as a whole human being. They reframe spending in personal finance as tools to live your values. Jen and Jill will become your best friends and the only people you care to hear from on financial matters
or any matters. I have goosebumps. I now look forward to new episodes, re listen to old ones, and learn something new every single time. If you're a woman with an income, a mom, a partner, a foodie, a di wire, a cruise enthusiast, a hot sog lover, or none of the above, you will love this podcast as I do, no extra charge for the joy of watching the hosts become more and more unhinged, only better with age. Thank you, ladies for everything. Please never stop. I'm not crying. You're crying.
I go. I'm ah megalog, I have goose bums.
Do you want to write our next book withh my gosh?
Do you want to write a review for her book? Because your writing is I am is bringing tears?
I am obsessed with I mean, none of my best friends have ever said anything like this about me, nobody, none, none of my self proclaimed best friends have ever spoken about me as you have, Megaloge.
You had to remind me to like include you in the acknowledgments of the book.
Can can we be honest? I did, and I wrote about her and my acknowledgments, and she did. She wrote every person she's met in the last six months up in this page, not one single mention of Jen Smith.
Well there is my name. By the way, buy what you Love book dot com if you want to read the announcement.
You want to buy a copy and you can just she did add something about me, but.
Yeah, I just it's we wrote the book together, so it wasn't totally on my radar. You acknowledge you now listening out of my mouth.
If you enjoyed this show, please take a minute to leave a rating and review. Maybe acknowledge me as Jill likes doesn't believe that I exist. It helps potential new listeners know what our show is all.
About and by whatulovebook dot com See you next time.
Google Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Okay, we're in a mid year check in. Half of the year is done. So wow, I know, I know half of twenty twenty four is done. Don't come at me. It's I mean, I didn't do it.
You were just.
Happening for I was, and I'm telling you what has happened. So let's take an inventory. How do you feel about the first half of your year, and where do you want to uh, you know, how do you.
Want to make in thirty seconds or less? Because you got to go. You gotta pick up your kid.
I do.
I you know, this year's been surprising. I this year was my year of practicing contentment, like doing doing last.
You had another name for it off the podcast, but we'll use that.
On record. Yeah, but practicing contentment, not traveling as much, not doing any renovations, even though there are things I want to get done. There are things we should be doing that should be but it'd be good, but not putting money towards that, and just enjoying local stuff and living a quiet life. And in many ways we have
done that. I think you have. Yeah, we have. We have not done any further renovations or like renovations that cost money, Like we've made fixes around the house, but all with our hands and things we already had on hand. And yeah, just minor, minor travel. And you know what, I feel content like it has become more natural than I thought that it would be. I thought it'd be really a big struggle, and it kind of was at first. But I think I'm discovering things that I'm really enjoying
locally like we've been doing a lot. I'm going to weekly trivia nights. We together are part of a book club. We've been Eric and I have been going to comedy club nights. We've I've been cooking at home more like I'm actually in my contentment era. I love it.
So do you want more of that over the second half of the year or.
I'm done with being content I want more?
Yeah.
No, it'll be some of the same, but there will be travel. We are going to go on a big trip. Good.
I have felt it's been definitely better than last year. I mean last year I had a baby, so that year doesn't count, so it's it's been better. We technically wrote the entire book in the first half of the year, technically because we decided in December that it was going to be different than what we had We hadn't pitched yeah, and we were very lucky that our editor was okay with that, so we rewrote the book. We hadn't We
had a whole year to work on it. We didn't really start until November, but we got a couple months in and then decided to do something different. So man if we didn't read a whole book in the first half of the year because that included all the edits and stuff. So that was a lifelong dream of mine.
That I got to do.
And so just kind of the first half of the year has been holding the tension between like seeing come to fruition these things I've wanted my entire life, or at least my entire adult life, including like like having our second child be healthy and our kids be happy, and seeing the you know, almost end to the renovation. But the first half of the year also included the
height of living in that renovation, and that was so hard. Yeah, we kind of we hit the end of book writing and the end of the most destructive parts of renovation at the end of April, both like, yeah, Simon, really you stacked the chaos. The chaos was so stacked. So it was really hard and beautiful. First half this year was very hard and very beautiful.
What do you anticipate second half?
I think it's gonna be one of those like scrappy, scrappy six months. Like we are not big influencers, we're not big media personalities. We've not been on TV. Like there's nothing like our publisher does not. I don't think expects much from us, but we expect much from ourselves. And I believe that this message that we are talking about, that so few other people are talking about, that this
message needs to be heard more now than ever. It is this message's time, and I want this book to be so successful because it is time for this message. Like you can see brumblings of it on TikTok. You can see it starting like it is time, and so I have so much drive inside of me to do whatever I can to get this message into as many hands as possible. And that's what the next six months is really going to be about.
To me. Yeah, I have not planned much for the next six months other than book. This book needs to do well because I think this is what tells the other publishers and others that this is what we want. These are the types of messages that we want. Book.
I mean publishers want books from celebrities and influencers more because they know it'll sell to people. This book's truly got picked up for its message and how important it is, and so we want to honor that. So we hope that you'll pre order it if you're still listening.
I know we've been here. If you're still here, you are true true, you are real real, and you probably already did pre order. But what you dot com? We love you, We make a lot of