Episode four seventeen, how Kelly used social media to stay motivated and pay out forty six thousand dollars of debt.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life. Here your hosts Jen and Jill.
Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and it is debt Free summer. We are here with another debt free story of one of you guys are listeners who has paid off debt and we interviewed her back in late twenty twenty two early twenty twenty three, and we put all these debt free stories on YouTube and we are replaying them on the podcas cast to expand on those interviews and give some updates and just some more insight into debt payoff in general.
We love a good debt payoff story, and especially when it comes from somebody within our community. This was such a fun series that we did so again. You can check it out on YouTube as well if you want to see what our jankie Frugal Friends background looked like at the time. But also stick with us here because, like Jen said, we give an update on how Kelly is doing currently and that's super fun.
Yes, But first, this episode is brought to you by sahah. It is the first day of summer officially, and you know what that means. It's time to start saving for Christmas time. It's time to start saving for the holidays now, Okay, So don't wait. Don't wait till October or November. It's too late. It's too late. Then start now. Open a separate high yield savings account from what you already have.
Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash c c i T is the one we're liking right now, Open that high old savings account and just start putting one hundred dollars a month in it, Okay, and then you should have more than enough to afford the things that matter most to you about the holidays. It's not about affording everything, It's about being able to afford the things that matter most to you without guilt, without stress. So, Frugal friendspodcast dot com, slash c it, open high heeld savings account
and start saving for Christmas. That's what summer's all about.
Well done.
A lot of us do need this reminder. It's a great reminder. Yeah, and CI is just always a good reminder, just good.
It's it's just good to remind you that they're, you know, over four percent apy on their high Heeld savings account. It's fantastic. So if you love these debt free stories, we've got a couple already in that we've just recently done. We've got episode four fifteen, how Catherine paid back twenty seven thousand dollars in student loans. We have our friend Megan, and we have all summer, all the rest of summer. We've got ten of these, you know, to share with you,
but we are specifically I specifically specifically. I particularly love Kelly's story. She paid off forty six thousand dollars of student loan debt in twenty months, and she a key element to staying motivated was her use of social media, and that kind of played a part social media. Instagram was kind of coming more of a part of the
debt free community. What right at the end of my debt payoff journey, So I was able to do a countdown on my Instagram when we went debt free, and then we went live on Facebook when we made that last payment. So this was a special one for me to hear, because it is a really good way to stay motivated and to celebrate wins. And so much of social media is negative, but I think we can use it as a tool as a powerful tool in our benefit, and we can use other people's examples on how to model that.
Yeah, you even have used social media to help really keep you on track and give others motivation for a no spend challenge this past January. So it has been a tool you, specifically Jen have used, and I think we've encouraged other people on the Frugal Friends journey that, especially when you can't find people in your own network, finding people online or even doing some of these things yourself, just to keep your own self accountable to what you said you're going to accomplish, it can be.
A really useful tool.
It's one of those things that can get us to spend, but we can also leverage it to help us along our financial journeys, kind of just depending on how we approach it. So she really leveraged it. Well, I'm excited for you all to hear how it went for her. And we've got another inspiring story for you. This one comes from Kelly, who's going to share with us what her debt free journey entailed. Kelly, thanks for being here with us.
Thanks for having me. This is really exciting. I think we can't share our story enough and it has inspires somebody else.
I'm all for it.
Yeah, So tell us a little bit about you, Kelly.
Yeah.
So my name is Kelly Shostrom and currently live in Portland, Oregon. We moved here about a year ago from the Minneapolis area in Minnesota, and so a little bit of a change. But I am a project manager by day and personal finance nerd by night. I got started on this journey after realizing one day that I had a ton of student loan debt and I was totally emotionally overwhelmed and done with it.
And so.
I've just been kind of doing this personal finance story, which I think a lot of obviously the people here relate to. But I was just I found that I was just somebody that likes to go hiking, and I like to go out in restaurants, and I want to go on vacation, and I wanted to figure out a way to make that more embedded into my life naturally without having to listen to these white buttoned up people that have opinions on what you should and shouldn't do
with your money. And so yeah, newlywed, I guess mother of a dog and a cat and so just you know, living my best life that I can in my thirties here.
That's great, Thanks for the introduction. You mentioned that there was a time when you realized the amount of debt that you had. Was that an actual moment that you can remember? Do you think it was more gradual? What was your experience?
So I always knew I had student loan debt, right I It didn't even really phase me taking out the loans in college.
It was just a fact of life.
When I was done with college, I was just making the payments, and of course I would complain about them every chance that I got, and I would just feel and talk about how poor and broke I always felt, because these monthly payments were just kind of like taking up a lot of my income. Looking back, it was also a lot of other problems. But I do remember the moment where I had that I'm done moment, and
so it was this gradual storyline. But I remember I was listening to just a podcast and it probably was Dave Ramsey or somebody, a coworker I think, recommended it and I and I remember just being at work and thinking, Okay, I'm just going to log into my student loan accounts and see how much student loan dead I had. I didn't think it was like a problem at that point.
I had been paying them off for eight years, and I was like, I got to be pretty darn close to paying these things off, right, And so when I logged in and I had paid maybe ten grand in the last eight years, that's when I had my breaking moment of like, this cannot be what my life is.
Because I spent so many years thinking I was doing a great job and making progress, and I know so many people that were deferring their loans and so many people that were paying less than their minimums, and I was doing like, quote unquote all the right things, and so I really thought I was ahead of the curve. And then when I logged in, I was I was kind of panic attack moment of everything that.
I've been doing has been kind of doing nothing.
I feel that in a real way.
Yeah, so how much student loan debt were you specifically looking at?
So when I logged into my computer, it was forty six five and fourteen dollars and ninety one cents. I recommend to you write that exact number down because because you will want to know what that number was, because so many people will ask you, like, how much did you pay off? And the sad part is is I don't even know how much student loan debt I had,
and I don't think that that's that uncommon. I am guessing I had around sixty or maybe give or take five grand I have not a clue, but I know that after making eight years of payments, I am looking at how much was applied to principle that there was not that much damage that I did in those eight years.
Oh yes, okay, so what is the first thing that you did after you saw that number?
So I became like super like ocd about like, okay, I need the charts, I need to write everything down.
I need to figure out a plan.
I need to figure out how much extra I can pay per month. And I didn't have a budget. I didn't track my spending like all the things that we talk about all the time, right, And so it was getting to the point of how do I know how much that extra that I can afford? And so at that point I was also waitressing on top of my full time job. I was thinking, Okay, I can work
an extra two shifts a month. Two shifts a month isn't bad when you're in your low to mid twenties and you have no responsibilities, right, And I was like, let's say, worst case scenario, make one hundred dollars a shift.
I'll make it.
I'll pay an extra two hundred dollars a month. And that was just kind of where my loungic came from. I was I didn't look at where is my wistful spending going. Where are all the opportunities where I don't even have to work anymore.
I can just kind of refine as I go.
And I quickly figured out that two hundred dollars extra
a month was was pretty easy. I actually, the one thing that I did that I think was a game changer for me is I posted on Instagram how much debt I had, and I said in the post, and I love going back to that post, like scrolling the millions of photos, and I wrote this long story about like why I was posting this, how much debt I had, and that like I was making a commitment to myself to pay it off right, And at that point I didn't realize there were people that were watching my story.
And so every month I would say I paid off an extra hundred dollars, I paid off an extra fifty dollars, like whatever it was. But then as the traction, as you get stay motivated and get really excited about, oh my god, I'm actually seeing progress, then I was able to get up to like over a thousand dollars a month extra that I was paying towards my debt.
That's so powerful, that power of community and giving other people permission by sharing your own vulnerability, like in you know, with discretion, but like being willing to share things that other people won't, give others permission to do hard things, and then also in turn supports you doing the hard things, which that's so beautiful.
Absolutely, And I didn't intend for anybody to engage. The only people on my Instagram were my friends from college and high school and that kind of stuff. But I would like go to dinner with a friend, and I think, like, no shame on my friends. I think in the beginning it was kind of this like not like a It wasn't a joke, but it was about like, oh, Kelly, do you make any progress? Like people thinking that it
wasn't going to be this big thing. And then I think when I paid off all of my debt in such a short amount of time, people kind of had this jaw dropping moment and they were like, oh, wait a minute, like she actually was doing something big and it's actually something that and I think it started to make people think like, well, crap, if she did it, what am I? What should I be doing in my life?
And so I think it started off on this like conversational piece that people would say, oh, how are you doing, like you know whatever, and then it became oh crap, like big things are actually happening, and she made it look fairly easy, and so then I started getting people asking me like, well, what did you do?
I mean, this is pretty funny.
It sounds like you've got some friends that were inspired by what happened. And I think that's that is another aspect to the communal piece of this. When you draw others in or you put yourself out there, it can draw their attention to their own circumstances and think through, well, is there are there any parts of this that.
I want to be implementing.
Yeah, I think it. It's just like anything. And I compared a lot to like compound interests, which is a really easy one in this finance game. But like there's no better time to start than like today, Like you can't wish you started by I wish I would have started when I was twenty two, like I could. I could be hung on that thing forever. Right. The fact that I started when I was like twenty nine or thirty whatever it was, did a lot of damage, Like that was eight years of me just throwing money out
the window. And I could have had compound interests. I could have changed my life sooner. I could have got rid of a lot more stress. I could have bought a home sooner, like all these compounding things. But in reality, we can't undo the past, And so what can you do today? And that the answer is just start today, So whatever your first step is.
For me, it was.
Just logging into my student loan accounts and to figure out how much debt am I even talking about here? Is this as big of a crisis as I as I think it is? And I didn't think it was, which was really sad because it was I was really proud of myself, and I had no reason to be. But then you're you might log in. I work with so many people where you log in and you're like, it's actually not as bad as I thought. I've just
been hiding from this scenario. And so the first thing you do is just take your first step, whatever that is.
Yes, yes, So let's get into the nitty gritty. Was there, I know you, forty six thousand dollars and change of student loans? Was there any other debt? What was the initial plan for paying off? How long did it take in reality? What did that all look like?
Yeah? So the forty six thousand was truly student loan debt, but I am not I also had other debt. Like so before I started my student loan journey. I think probably, if looking back, what spawned some of this is I paid off my car probably that year or the year before. It was a used car, wasn't I think I owed like eight thousand dollars total, So it wasn't a huge deal, but that probably started thinking of me thinking about, Okay,
if I paid off my car, what's next? Which I'm sure I did not pay any extra in my car. Let's be very frank people that there was nothing also
extraordinary that happened there. And then I also in college, because we're all really great at money, right, I studied abroad, put it all my credit cards came home, and then my dad was like, okay, girl, and so he helped me learn the world of get a personal loan, pay off the credit cards, and just make this personal loan payment to pay off that debt, so that debt was
also gone. So I'm saying this just to say that, yes, my success story is student loans, but there was other debts that came and lessons that came along the way. But when I first started paying my student loans off, and I remember I was just paying like an extra hundred or I was like figuring out, I'll pay whatever extra I have to. I thought I was on probably like a five to seven year trajectory. I wasn't on
this huge thing. I worked for a nonprofit and so I was kind of playing the ten year game, right. But what they don't tell you is there's all these little mini rules of like when you refinance and that can mess things up. Or if you didn't file PaperWorks, sometimes you can't retroactive, like go back and do that paperwork. And so there was just a lot of like it's answer butts, and so I think that was my moment of Okay, I'm not going to wait for the government
to pay off my student loans. I'm just going to do it in like the next five years if I can. And it just happened to be a lot more quick than that. It was twenty months. It was like bam, I know, and it's it wasn't hard. People like all That's what I like preach every single day. All I had to do was figure out where the heck my money was going, and I I just like redirected it. And so you figure out what is important in your life. I still traveled for weddings, I still went to happy hour.
I just didn't like obsessively go to happy hour. I didn't spend three hundred dollars a happy hour. I spent like one hundred. So whatever the things are in your life.
And I was.
Lucky that I was younger, so I was able to hustle and work more. But I was a single income person. I wasn't making six figures during any of that. It's really possible. You just have to like take it into your own hands and do it because you can't wait for other people to do it for you.
Oh, so inspiring and so realistic. Like it's it's not always super clean. There's different debts that come along the way. It takes time, but for you it took shorter, which is awesome. Were there any lumps, some payments or lumps some amounts of money that you got. Did you sell anything to kind of throw even more money at the debt? How did you make it be that those twenty months months?
No? Nothing.
I probably got like a two hundred dollars tax credit that I put towards it. I don't know, but there was nothing. There was nothing like worth mentioning that happened. It was it was the grind. It was keeping my head down, and eventually I got to the point where I was like, my extra student loan payment is non negotiable. So that was the first payment that I made for the month, and so I didn't let myself like get
have life get in the way. I didn't let myself over indulge in certain areas and then use the remaining on my student loans. It was my student loans for number one and then when it got really good at it. I made multiple student loans on payments a month because it was an app. It was easy on my phone, and if I had an extra hundred bucks come through or I just made an extra hundred dollar payment, then I would add it up at the end of the month. And it adds up to a lot more than what you think.
It is awesome. And what was your income, Like did it increase over that twenty months at all?
So I was probably making between seventy around seventy five thousand dollars maybe give or take. Because I was a waitressing So I mean, who knows how much you really make when you're waiting, right, And so I just say it was for sure under six figures. I wasn't even close to six figures. And the income didn't really change.
I went from working four shifts a night, like four shifts on the nights and weekends waitressing, still working a day job because I had to support my lifestyle right to working four shifts because I was paying off my student loan debt. And I didn't really say no to
a lot of things. I really just like got very clear about what is important to me and clothing and like that sort of thing has never been important to me, So it was really easy to like cut out the random trips to target where you spend money and you don't even know what you bought. I just got really intentional and I had a very clear goal. And twenty months is no time. Our pandemic has been lasting much longer than twenty months, right.
WHOA so true?
Mind blown pandemic is longer than the amount of time it took you to pay off your debt. I mean, congratulations, but also there's like some sad pieces in there too. So for you now being debt free, what has life looked like?
Now?
What have you now been able to carry with you into debt freedom at this point?
Yeah?
So I became debt free in like April twenty twenty, so like day one of the pandemic, And so it was easy for me to quit my waitressing job because the waitressing jobs are also gone. But I quit day one, and I had been waitressing since I was like fifteen, like in high school, and so it felt really good
just to live off of my daytime job. And I know a lot of people think they can't work extra jobs and so they're only working that daytime and there's a lot of people that also can't work those extra jobs, and so it was just I was just happy to get rid of that because it wasn't an extra job. Because of my passion. I also went to grad school. I got my MBA. I paid for that entirely in cash,
and so I didn't even stress about the loan. I just knew how much I had to save per month, and that was my little sinking fund to make my semester payments. We paid off another vehicle. We obviously have like a six month emergency fund, which is upwards of many thousands of dollars as people that are on that journey no, which we've had to pull out luckily but then refunded again. We're saving for a kitchener model, so we have, however much saved up for that so far.
So it's just allowed me to pay for things in cash. And whether you're a cash person or not, when I say pay for things in cash, I mean put it on my credit card, get the rewards, pay off my credit card statement. It's not necessarily me pulling money out
of my mattress, but it's that flexibility. It's going to a restaurant and getting the appetizer and the dessert and getting four margaritas and you don't care that they're fifteen dollars apiece, And it's all of that stuff that I'm like, this is what's worth it, and knowing that we're maxing out our contributions and it's just less stress. Like money isn't even a thought. And at some times I think maybe it should be more of one, maybe what am I missing? But the day to day filling out my
gas tank isn't even like a question. It's not a do I wait until it's half full or do I wait until it's empty? But then it's going to cost me more money. Like all of those conversations and thoughts that go through my brain are just out the window.
Yes, that is financial freedom. You can go out to eat with us. We will do sound like a boss with you, for sure.
Absolutely, And like I was the person and my friends made fun of me constantly. That was in the Target or HIV wherever you're going, the checkout line at the cash I had my checkbook register, like the physical checkbook register, and people I'm like, not that old. Nobody else had them, but I had one because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't overdrafting and I wanted to know exactly what my balance was. Like that was my way of reckon siling my account. And that's like now I just
have a budgeting app that does the thing. In the background. Of course, Derek and I have like our weekly meetings and our budgets and beers quarterly chats, but like it's just less. You know, all the stats around how many decisions that a person has to make a day, it's like half of those are gone now, which is really great.
That's amazing. Budgets and beers. There's a tip right there. Yes, so all right, it's advice and encouragement time. What would you say to somebody who's in your shoes five years ago, just kind of beginning to consider debt payoff?
This is like my soapbox moment.
This is the thing that I always when I talk to friends family that are like, how did you do it? And they think They're like they put me on this like thing, and I'm like, this was hard work, Like nothing, I didn't I accomplished this because I made some really hard choices that not a lot of people want to
dive into. So what I would tell people is get started today, obviously, but dive deep, deep, end, dive into how much debt you have and how much income you have to actually change that right, and so figure out exactly where all your money is going. Track your expenses. And when I say track your expenses, and when I say budget, people, I'm not talking about how much is
your mortgage, your cell phone bill, your electricity. I'm talking about all the tangible things that fluctuate every single month. The restaurants, the alcohol, the groceries, the things that eat up your paychecks. So figure out where all of your money is going and actually make a plan to pay it off. You don't have to pay it off in twenty months like I did. You don't have to pay
it off in three years. Some people are struggling with a lot of debt, but there are free tools out there to figure out exactly when you can become debt free. And you're the only person that's making excuses for yourself not to get there. And this is just something that I struggle with so much, because even people that are waiting for the student loan forgiveness from the presidential administration right now, it's going back and forth and back and forth.
And all of these people that were like, look, we are getting debt relief. First of all, it's only ten grand, and a lot of people have a lot more than ten grand with the suder mon debt. Second of all, don't let these big external powers have control of your life, Like why are you letting them dictate whether you're going to stress about money every day or not. It is
the one thing that really gets me going. And I just wish that every single person that even thought about money as like a I'm either not good at it, I'm living paycheck at paycheck. This stresses me out too much, I'm losing sleep, I don't really know where it goes. Or the last one that I love is I make too much money to be this broke. And I was
that person when I was single and waitressing. If any of those things cross your mind, just like do something about it, Like I hate complaining about things that we can actually change ourselves. And I guarantee you it's going to be so much easier than what you think it is.
But you just have to get started.
Oh yes, Kelly snaps to that, snaps to that. All right, we have come to the time in the program where it is your time to.
Celebrate forty six five hundred and fourteen dollars and ninety one cents paid off.
Paid off in twenty months. How would you like to celebrate with us today? The platform is yours. I'm Debt bringing.
Your debt fray.
How amazing, Oh, Kelly, thanks for sharing this incredible story with us and inspiring others and encouraging others and just giving some really fantastic tips.
I just love Kelly's outlook on life, her outlook on her debt payoff. She is so fun and so practical, Like, yeah, we just had a really good time interviewing her.
Yeah, I think I definitely commiserated or it resonated with me. How she tracked her expenses and created a budget. Those were some of the really practical things that were helpful for me. I enjoy looking at details. Not everybody does. But again, you got to find what works for you
in your own journey and story. But her tracking of expenses and creating that budget was really crucial for her and understanding where her money was going, and it helped to inform her making of a plan to even be able to pay off this debt in the twenty months that she paid it often, so.
Yeah, and something about like her thing about making hard choices and prioritizing debt repayment does lead to faster progress, And I know sometimes that's all we hear, and we try to combat that with the with the other side saying like, embrace your season, spend in alignment with your values and how those values kind of uniquely the opportunities that come up uniquely in each seas and to find
some kind of balance. But like for us, we did make a lot of hard choices, and we did we got, just like Kelly, got a lot of side hustles and really made our debt payoff our number one priority, maybe
to a fault to achieve that faster progress. But there's a difference between going all in and and doing something in a way that afterwards leaves you feeling hungover because you did it so hard and prioritizing it as your number one goal and saying no to other goals and other good opportunities because you've prioritized this one goal, but still allowing yourself to live life. So that's the radical middle. If you really want to pay off debt, you you
don't have to deprive yourself from everything. But you have to be comfortable making hard choices and sacrifices if you want it to be, if you want it to be as number one of your as a goal as you say it is. So I really loved think like rethinking about that and hearing this a second time around.
Yeah.
So she shared an update with us recently and said I had a baby and we took out a heelock to help renovate our kitchen. I mean, the mindset that debt isn't bad in a new kitchen with a brand new baby was non negotiable in our eyes. You should have seen the other one besides that we have no consumer debt and we're just enjoying life. This is a
really fun update. And I gotta imagine Kelly didn't necessarily say this and her update, but having became debt free feels like it would create a sense of freedom in entering into that next chapter of having a kid, Like I'm so pleased Kelly that you were able to grow your family with some of that debt freedom, but then also be able to have this kind of newfound view of debt as being neutral. We talk about this in our book, that debt is neutral. Yes, it can be
really great to live without debt. It can create a lot of freedom. But sometimes we can leverage loans to help us get the things that we need now, rather than putting off vital pieces for the future when they're no longer relevant or yeah, thinking that we're going to have the money for it. And I can understand that sometimes home renovations, depending on how dilapidated it is, like our kitchen, absolutely are needed too. Like the cabinets were
falling off the wall, it was a hazard. So I can understand that sometimes we can view these things as just luxuries to put Depending on what it is, it can be worth taking out a mindful amount of money to make your home safe.
Yeah, And it's all it's all about a combination of need and want, right, Like you can absolutely function in a kitchen from the eighties like we were doing, but we didn't want to. And kitchen sell houses so it increases the value of our home, so we didn't have to,
so we didn't. So there's always this balance, like we we try to justify these decisions in our head by like, oh, I can't I can't you know, function in this, like I have to do this, But like there's also power in saying like I don't want to, and I have been financially responsible enough to not have to, So there's celebration in that and knowing that it's not going to put you under and that you are financially responsible enough still, like you've proven you are and you have been that
you can go into that with confidence and not guilt.
Yeah, both of us since becoming debt free have taken on new debts.
Yes, we have.
I became debt free everything. My living situation, which was an RV was paid off, cars paid off, student loans paid off, and then we bought a house, and then we took out a car loan because it's what the season demanded because our break lines went out three times while we were driving. Like, they're just are things that, Yeah, sometimes we can go in and out of seasons of
a crew, like taking on loans. But I think the key there is eyes wide open with it, knowing what you're stepping into and having it be a very informed decision.
Yeah, definitely.
You know what else is an informed decision that we've made since day one?
This one is truly one that we have to do and we also want to do 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 William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died, and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Duck bills, but flow bills.
Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week.
Hi, Jen and Jill.
Unfortunately I am back with another Bill of the week.
My name is Riley.
I realized that I've never actually introduced myself, but I am the head of school at a Montossori preschool and last week I decided to get fish for the children's house classroom, which is ages three to six years old. And so I went to the store and I bought twelve little glowfish and the plants and the decor and all the things and set up this tank and.
The kids were so excited.
And the next day we came into an absolute fish massacre. The plants in the tank had killed every single fish, speared their bodies, slice the fins.
It was horrible. There were just bodies everywhere, and.
All the kids saw.
So I went back to the pet store told them what happened.
They did give me a refund for the fish and the plants, and we're going to try again with new fish and new plants that hopefully will not kill them. So, you know, the kids learned about the cycle of life, and.
You know, just wish us luck on this next attempt with new fish. Okay, well, I hope you guys have a better week than my fish did.
Bye, Riley, I am dead.
I am, but we're dying over here together.
The bodies.
I can't keep it together.
He really painted a good picture, and I'm I'm living there with you. You think it's unfortunate that you're calling us back, but we think we are so fortunate just to be hearing from you.
Five year old, like what would happen if you walked in on it? And I'm thinking about his reaction, Oh my gosh, I am unwell, I'm not carry on.
I'm not so certain that they learned about the cycle of life as much as they learned about like the risks and dangers of life. There wasn't really a cycle. It was just like a beginning and an end that didn't have to be. But I'm assuming your bill is that you're refunded bill.
Yeah, I hope that's it.
I hope that that fish store gives you new things just for free.
Now because because of the emotional national toll, you can sue for the emotional expense that has happened to you and all the preschoolers.
Wow, doing the most for those.
How I am gonna this is gonna be one I remember they are like, we always get asked the most memorable bills of the week, and this is by far going to be one of those bills that I remember.
Oh man, if you all are listening and you've got any anything, anywhere close to this story, we would gladly welcome it.
Who cares?
How this show like that? Right there?
Who even cares? Impossible?
For Friends podcast dot com, slash bill, leave us your bill. We can't wait for it. And now it's time for.
Round all right. How do you use social media to stay motivated to your goals?
Oh?
Just goals?
Yeah, I I it says financial goals, but I would say, like, there's all kinds of goals you can have that social media can hurt but also help you with. So how do you use social media to stay motivated? For me? I follow, I follow some fitness accounts, doc lists, fitness, I think r doc Liss fit doctor Alyssa. She has
been I've followed her for so long. She's a runner and a strength trainer, and she her PhD is in women's like health because so many there's so many like studies on like health related to men but not for women. And so I love following her because she just debunks all these fitfluencers that are like, stop doing cardio and stop doing this trendy thing, just walk on an incline for fifteen minutes. Like she just debunks all that and she's like, like, move in a way that makes your
body feel good, do both cardio and strings. So she's just like inspiring to me.
That's cool.
And then for food, I'll also follow because I have goals to cook at home more always. It's always my goal forever in my life. My goal will always be cook at home more because it is always a struggle. And so I will follow food accounts and save recipes to help me meal plan and just quick quick things that I can ingredients I can keep on hand, like emergency meals when I don't feel like cooking, when I meal planned, or I forgot to meal planned for a
day something like that. So I think that those two are my biggest ways that I do that. But when I was doing the no it's been challenge, I obviously posted on social media every day and that was a really great way to stay accountable. And now my goal is to post on social media every third day. Yeah, that is my goal. And so I think I'm also following social media accounts to help me with my social media goal.
Yes, oh that's so true.
So many made a statement recently that was a little bit challenging about not just being a consumer of content but also a creator of content. And everybody's going to decide what works for them when it comes to the whole social media thing. But I am one hundred percent a consumer of Instagram and I am a one hundred percent non creator on Instagram.
And I think so much of what I loved about Kelly's story is that she was vulnerable and she created content not to become an influencer, which is what everyone thinks creating content and social media should be. If I can't be an influencer, why would I even post content at this point? No, it is so much more effective to create content to keep yourself motivated than it is to consume it.
Yeah, and I think also the outside of yourself piece that you could connect with somebody and help them in some way rather than just taking also giving. I liked that perspective. It was helpful, especially for those of us who.
Yeah, needed to do it more.
There's such blurry lines too, like being vulnerable on social media does not mean you're vulnerable with every part of your life. It doesn't mean you're showing pictures of your kids or your partner or like all of the stuff you're going through. Like if you're trying to reach a goal and just being vulnerable putting your successes and your failures on social media as a way to keep yourself accountable as a way of keeping a journal of your journey. When you look at it that way, it becomes a
much safer space. And again, like I love this quote from now I'm blanking on her name Nicole Jones Burke. Now I share my scars, not my scabs. I don't know, maybe she wasn't even the one that said it, But I share what I have healed from, not when I am healing like what I'm currently. Yeah, so that's a
really good picture that I've taken through. But even within your journey, you don't have to share the hardest parts that you're still processing to be able to share things that you know you have learned and things that were struggles that you made it through and celebrate that. So there's so the lines are so blurry on how to use social media as a tool. But you get to make the rules. Yeah, you get to decide what to post do not let an algorithm or influencers kind of guide you in that.
Yeah. The accounts that I like to follow, similar to you food accounts. They are really helpful in getting me creative about what I want to try and make, finding new recipes, learning new techniques, getting me excited about making a meal plan. If I feel like I'm in a rut, I'll just go to my favorite food accounts and scroll through what they've gotten. So many of them also have
it clumped together in different types of grouping. So if there's specific types of things that I'm looking to add to my meal plan, whether it's a breakfast or a dinner, or salad or you name it, flatbread, they usually have it categorized in ways like that to be able to find what you're looking for. I also follow local accounts, which helps me to find things that I want to do, free events I want to go to, places I want
to check out, So that's been really cool. There's a handful of local accounts for both Saint Pete and Tampa and just Florida in general to be able to think about staycations, which is an episode that we did recently on how to just stay local and have some new adventures and experiences but at a more cost effective rate. So that's helping me stick to that goal getting excited about what can I check out? Yes, Anyways, everyone, thanks
for listening. We really appreciate you being here for as long as you all have been here, and we also love when you take the time to give us a review. It really really helps us, helps other people find us. Like this one from Mike Job. It says super show about saving five stars. The host Jen and Jill talk about their methods of saving money. They offer super helpful
information in a non boring way. I tend to be a dummy with money and just go nuts, but I'm trying to change now that I'm an adult, and I think this show will help out for sure.
Amazing Mike. Thanks Mike, I'm glad.
I mean, you're one of our you know, small but loyal male fan base. I mean, I assume I have never met a woman named Mike. But I'm so sorry if my ignorance is showing. Uh, so, thank you. We are always trying to be as accessible to as many people as possible, So thank you for your kind words. Mike.
Yes, again, thanks for being here. We'll see you next time.
Bye. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Okay, So this morning I told you this, But this morning I was carrying my eighteen cups in from the gym and I get to my door and I hear a soft buzz and I look down and there is a bee on my Stanley cup, the Stanley cup that I did not buy but I got as a gift and I use because I like it. It has a handle and when you carry eighteen cups, a handle is nice. But there was a bee on the Stanley and so instantly
we drop Stanley. He falls to the ground onto the brick and he has some scarring from the fall. But you know what, I am embracing this like unesthetic scar.
Are you sharing much vulnerability? I Think'sley.
I think he's healed. One thing. I will say, is that normally when I drop cups and they didn't in this space like on the bottom, they usually start jiggling when I put them down, and Stanley is is remaining pretty stable. So maybe that's like a win for Stanley. Still not worth fifty dollars by any means, But Stanley did, you know, didn't have a lot of time to brace
for impact, but did survive the fall. But I am embracing an unesthetic life now and so kind of this I just feel is right for me to have this cup with like scratches, that is has a slight tilt. But who doesn't, you know, like we all do. And I feel like now I feel better about care. You threw it on purpose almost, I mean I threw it on purpose because there was a b on it. But I didn't throw it. I just dropped it. I was just like all of the other things that I was
holding are like very durable plastic. That's the one thing that was like expensive and kind of scratchable.
But you're going for a really worn in, lived in, worn out lived in look, not.
Worn out, but lived in, Yeah, worn in, lived in. That's the space I want to be on social media. I want my words to permeate into the phone and give me that algorithm.
We'll all be watching with baited breath to see what happens every third day.
We'll see