Financial Tips When Money Is Tight

be a really important episode for the next couple of months. Yeah. Probably, Yeah, I know it is for me for sure. As independent contractors and freelancers, we are sitting with you in financial uncertainty. Yeah. We don't have salaries to fall back on. Yeah, we work in some industries that can be considered volatile. So um, we are looking for this advice as much as we are giving it. Yeah, money is tight. I think on this financial journey it will continue to ebb and flow like.

There is no guarantee of this kind of onward and upward trajectory. Things change. There are losses of jobs, there are dips in the economy. There are pandemics, although that seems to happen just about every hundred years. The pandemic is not something that you normally would need to prepare for,

but there are natural disasters there. There's all kinds of things that co warrant either an individual financial crisis, a local and national or global financial crisis, and I think it's just it's important to know how to respond, but also how to prepare that. I think what this experience is highlighting for me is that when this all kind of comes to a close in some respect, that how do I prepare for something similar in the future. Um. I'm seeing some areas that I would have like to

have been better prepared. I also see some areas where I'm super grateful that Holy smokes, I'm so glad. Yeah, no one saw this coming and yet like we're we are okay. So yeah, wherever we're at in this process, I think it's important to know how do we respond in the immediate and then how do we prepare for the future. Yeah, so let's get into it. But first, our sponsors also brought to you by tight squeeze, that feeling when you can barely make ends meet and you

are ringing out that dollar for all it's worth. Sometimes our financial situation can feel like a tight squeeze, But our sponsor wants to remind us that this term can also refer to the best, most warmest hug from our loved one. So when you're looking at your budget wondering how you're going to pay your bills, don't think of it like a snake coiling around you, causing anxiety and panic. Think of it like a warm hug coming from your

finances tight squeeze when feeling constricted is a good thing. Oh, you give people the worst mental pictures. What are you trying to do? I gave a different perspective with the tight squere. My budget is hug like from that aunt that you don't really know or don't really enjoy, from the easter or nephew, not that you have a favorite, right, they're all great, okay, from all of your nieces and nephews.

Just a tight squeeze, a tight hug, but like virtual or imaginary, because like, don't touch people right now, All right, let's get into our first article, and this one's from investi Pedia. It's hen Ways to prepare for a personal financial crisis. So this one is written specifically for personal financial crises, but you can translate it to any financial crisis, and we're not going to go through all ten. We're

going to go through our top faves. Yeah. So my first favorite one, and you heard us say this a few weeks ago, maximize your liquid savings and that means boost your emergency fund in whatever way possible. So you're checking savings things that are accessible. So if you are having a tough time making ends meet, that means maybe not paying off extra debt, not investing past the match at your work, or maybe not investing at all. Right now,

this isn't blanket advice for everyone. You have to do what is right for your family only in the amount of as emergency fund you anticipate you'll need um, which is you know, normally three to six months. Yeah. The next is to make a budget. So this is right. You're gonna have this just about in every single one of our episodes. Uh. And so if you haven't done

this yet, make a budget. Tired of hearing it? Wad This is this is the tight squeeze you need so you know how much you have coming in and going out. Like it sounds so simple, but it is that simple. We need to know what we're bringing in and where it's going and and this specifically as it relates to personal financial crises, it can help us know and identify

how much we should have in our emergency fund. So where we're saying to have an emergency fund of three to six months, you're only gonna know what you need for three to six months based on looking at a budget and knowing what are your bills, what are your expenses, what kind of money do you have coming in? Um and and and to take advantage of the time that you have currently if you have it, to be able to look at the budget and then build up that

emergency fund. And how do you know whether you three or six months or four or five a few things. Job volatility is going to play a big factor. Um So, do you work in an industry that could be impacted so like travel or I mean, we had Airbnb guests that canceled several weeks in a row, and if we were relying on that income, we would have lost it as because Airbnb refunded of travel, so we didn't even

get short term like stuff. So if you're working in an industry that is already volatile without a financial crisis, if you are a freelancer, contractor hourly employee, then you need to be on the higher side. If you work in an industry that is stable UM one that is like booms more in times of financial crises UM usually like government in school. Those are those are typically pretty stable, though government shutdowns can impact that UM, but those you can be on the lower side. Those are just a

few examples. I do think that our recent experience with COVID nineteen has shown us that even if you are in a stable environment, personal financial crises can happen on a global scale where we would typically where typically financial recommendations have gone to. Al right, take a look at whether or not your industry is volatile. Well, we just saw everything gets impacted and there is a global health crisis or where there might be natural disasters. So still

probably being on the lower end could be fine. We don't typically see these things last for longer than three months. But then to play catch up, we don't know what

then the lingering impact is. So it could be worth considering being on the more generous side of this regardless of where you are, because we can't just count on looking at whether or not our individual work environments are vital or not right for sure, but if your income is not high enough to get to six months peasically, then I mean, you know, don't panic, um, but yeah, say, like make your budget in a way that low takes out all of your you know, non essential spending, and

that way, you know, a certain amount that would have maybe only lasted you three months. You can see after making a budget that oh, this actually lasts me for five months. And not to linger on this for too long. But I would even say, practice right, we could say bare minimum of my budget is this much. Usually I spend this much, but if in a crisis, this is what I would do. Okay, have we practiced that? Do we know that we're capable of bringing our budget down

to the bare minimum. It could be worth engaging in some no spend challenges to even stretch that muscle in the event that there's a personal financial crisis to know can I actually do this so I have the will power to live at my bare minimum? Yeah? Definitely. Another thing on here is to prepare to minimize your monthly bills.

So taking a look at your recurring expenses and calling people to see how you can lower your rates, and even if you can't get discounts, calling to see how you can lower, you know, increase your deductible to get a lower monthly payment, anything that can lower your bills right now, so that you can stay current. I think it's most important during something like this to just focus

on staying current. It doesn't have to be the best overall financial decision, but if you can stay current, then you can bounce back quicker after and then go back to UM. You're more like aggressive financial ways. Yeah. I also liked number five on here, which talks about taking stock of your non cash assets and maximizing their value. So this was an interesting take on just basically getting

creative with finances. And this would probably be when you are in the midst of a personal financial crisis to take a look at you know, if you have a credit card. I know a lot of people don't, and that's that's the wise decision for you. If you happen to have one, and maybe it's offering points, some sort of even potentially cash value or or gift card value for those points, it could be worth considering cashing in those points to buy groceries online or your Amazon purchases UM,

rather than stacking them up for a vacation. It could be worth utilizing those you can free up as much of your other cash for the essentials. I know that can hurt, like that can be really painful, but the unique times so you might take a painful hit in some places. It's yeah, it's just kind of what happens when money is tight. Yeah, we talk about peripheral impact again when when with COVID nineteen, it's the peripheral impact

of finances. But then within with a personal financial crisis, the peripheral impact can be loss and disappointment of even fun things like we were going to use those points to go on vacation and it looks like now we've got to use it to buy groceries. Yeah, like that's a real thing. And we can get into a bit more just the emotional aspect of walking through financial crisis and how to maintain in the midst of that. But yeah, there's gonna be some loss and some peripheral impact as

a result of this, and it is okay to grieve that. Yes, you don't have to be happy about it, yes, Yeah, and and groceries, right, And we've talked about this in a lot of different episodes to what do you have on hand? Can you clear out your freezer. Can you use up your canned goods? Can you minimize the number of ingredients that you need in different recipes and make that stretch as much as possible. Food is a big

area of spending for us. It's necessary, but in difficult circumstances, can we decrease the amount that we would normally spend definitely food and utilities. Maybe we're heading into warmer months where, at least in Florida, electricity costs really get higher. One of your options is going to a fixed painn plan where it evens out your payments all year long, so instead of seeing higher rates in the summer, you kind of see you see one payment all year long, so

even your lower months are a little higher. So that's an option for for meeting your electricity and probably even utility costs in some areas. Yeah. Um, the last thing on here that I liked, um was keep up with routine maintenance. Um. There are we have routine maintenance for our bodies, for our automobiles, for our homes. We cannot

forget those in a time of financial crisis. Even though things are tough, we still have to keep up with these routine maintenance responsibilities because if we don't that they will be more costly in the future. So if this is something you need to dip into your emergency fund for, it will be money well spend. Um, try not to. That's why we say make a budget cut your expense is but um, definitely routine maintenance is something to stick with.

Still important. Yeah, The last one I hear for me that stuck out is number eight, which is look for ways to earn extra cash. Once we've looked at cutting spending, we've decreased our bills as much as possible, then it's time to say, and then how can I bring in more money? Again? I am not glossing over the first step. I think that's the most important and produces the most

long lasting impact to our finances. But where there is personal financial crisis and a lack of finances to meet even basic needs, what are some ways that we can be bringing in extra money? So whether that is selling things in your home, what you know, having a garage sail or yard sale, or selling things on Facebook marketplace, or it's babysitting. Right even going back to our teenage

days of just some ways to get some money. Um, just a little bit of extra cash cleaning for people different side hustles We've got We've got an episode on

side hustle, so feel free to check that out. I also think in depending on the circumstances of a personal financial crisis, if you are not able to get out and about as much um or that the crisis has to do with, Yeah, a natural disaster like what we just saw with the coronavirus and and people are limiting their exposure to the outdoors and other people, it could also be worth considering how to build up other skills, taking advantage of the time to do the things that

you've been wanting to do for so long. Whether that is learning how to sew and being able to mend things for people for for a cost, or learning how to video edit and get getting some online jobs for that, or you name it, it could be worthwhile considering building up these skills that in the long run could help

you or an extra cash. Do you want to take an online course like it could mean a small investment now because you know that the financial crisis is not going to last for forever, but yet you want to set yourself up for a better financial position in the future. Yeah,

it could be worth just investing in yourself and skill sets. Yeah, if you have an education or book stipend through your employer, now is the time to use it and take those courses, get those certifications, and become more promotable UM and more eligible for raises and better jobs. This is a great time to do that. Our next article is one we feel very strongly about and it's from very well mind, and it's called dealing with the stress of a financial crisis.

That stress is real. Yea cash rules everything around me. I don't know about you, but yeah, because of that, it has a significant impact on anxiety levels, um, depression symptoms, you name it, like panic attacks, anything. You need money to live and if the money goes away, it affects every other aspect of life, including relationships and emotional well being. Right, So it is so important to take care of yourself during something like this. So we really want to to

go over this and pick this one apart fully. So the first one is to the first thing they highlight is to remain calm. So I'm sure not panic, I mean not panic. I am sure that you have heard this if you follow anybody really in the financial space. I've just seen everyone I know posting things to like calm down, Like let's just like take a step back, you're being crazy, calm down. That never works, But like it's important to understand, like when we feel threatened, our

fight or flight response takes over. That's natural. That is our body stress response. That's good. But it also it increases our heart rate, of increase our stress hormones. It just does like weird things to our body if left unchecked for too long. And so I think it's important to intentionally remind ourselves to stay calm and like not just remind ourselves, but do a few different things to

do that. So breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, that's PMR something that's been getting more and more attraction as a stress reliever. I really like journaling. I like to do it when I have a lot of anxiety and something on my mind. I write it out and then I can actually go back to it, like years down the road when I have another time of stress and anxiety and I could see what happened back then, how I evolved and how I came out of it, and how

I was provided for and stuff. So I really like journaling for that aspect. And certainly none of these things are going to fix the situation. We're not saying, oh, deep breathing and then everything will be fine. No, we recognize that it's deeper than that. However, even even though these things come across as so simple and silly, they do have profound impacts on our bodies and the way

that we manage stress. And so the important thing to recognize with anxiety is it's not something to fully be ignored. Anxiety tells us that there's something wrong. Where it can go awry is when it's not connected to anything and it's just this constant feeling of anxiety, like you set the fight flight freeze mode, and if we're constantly living in that state, it can have profound damaging impacts on

our bodies in the long term. And so these are proven ways to help reduce the impact of being in that fight flight freeze mode so that our bodies don't experience those long term damaging effects. And the goal isn't to forget about what's going on. It's to calm your mind enough so that you can make rational decisions. You can use your thinking, logical brain. Anxiety hijacks your logical brain, and so being able to calm yourself to the point

of tapping into um, yeah you're thinking brain. That helps. Yeah, there's there's real science behind it. Science. Okay, So the next thing is to learn how to reframe the situation, and basically what that means is gaining a different perspective. And so it's important, I think, to recognize what are what is this financial crisis linked to, in order to find a helpful refrain for yourself. So sometimes we may feel as the or in a financial crisis because of

a personal failure. That's a really tough one where Okay, I made a mistake and I am reaping the really unfortunate consequences of this, and it can bring a lot of shame attached to it. That's a tough emotional thing to push through. But if we can recognize that others have been there, we all make mistakes, and it is possible to move through this and make wise choices in

the future. We're far better off with grasping and holding onto those thoughts than wallowing in the shame and guilt of I'm in this position because of it, because of me sitting in that place. Setting up tent there will do us no good. For moving forward. So it's okay to recognize this is why I'm here, But what is the narrative that keeps going in my head? And how can I reframe app Another thing would be, okay, maybe we're stuck on the impact on our family, like how

am I going to get out of this? This is you know, how am I going to care for my kids or my my aging parent or you name it? And again to remind yourself of people have gotten through this and and certainly make a plan will get there, But make a plan, come up with steps that can be taken, but again being careful to not set up tent in this place that's doing us no help in

moving forward. And then just where there's uncertainty, like I don't know what's going to happen next, Okay, well, what can I set my hands to What is a helpful narrative in my mind? I think pushing through the difficulty and identifying where there are kindnesses. I don't know, if you've listened to this podcast at all, you've heard me use that phrase before. It just really resonates with me of looking for the kindnesses. We absolutely can get caught up in looking at all of the bad and all

of the negative. But again that doesn't help us in moving forward. It's okay to look at it, acknowledge it with honesty that this is where we're at, but also where are the little pieces of kindnesses that I can invest my emotional time and energy into that if if the most of my time and energy is going to I'm a failure. We're never going to get out of this. Who knows when this is going to end. This is

never going to end. Yeah, we're gonna live out of that place, and we're going to reflect what it is that we're telling us about that situation versus yea, I made some poor decisions or yes, this is a really crappy thing that is happening to me that I had no control over. But here is where I do have voice and choice in the situation. Here's where I see some little pieces of kindnesses that can that I am grateful for, and I can move into those air is

and invest my time and energy there. Good word. The last thing on here is to ask for help. Ask for help. I'll say again, ask for help. It's very it's hard. It's hard. I personally am the person that says I need to be able to handle every situation at every time on my own, or that says something poor about my character. Our identity can be wrapped up. It is like I do this thing on my own and that's why I'm a boss lady like that. Yeah, So that completely rails against that. But we are a community.

We were built for community. And if you are having a hard time with something, then there is no shame and no guilt, and it says nothing about you that you're asking for help except that you to get better and you know your limits as a person. Um. Knowing your limits as a person is a very underrated quality. Yeah, knowing your capacity, knowing where you stop and start. Yeah. Yeah. So the first people that you would ask is friends and family. So the people that love you don't want

to see you suffer alone. Um. And so that could mean say like calling up a friend or family member and saying like this is where I'm at, Like I need work, or I need groceries or I need something. Yeah. And this is why we even titled two years ago Frugal Friends podcast. And I think we realized not that we were the first to realize this, but in this journey and in doing something that is against the grain.

It were requires community and friendship. It requires fun and laughter and understanding and shared tips and collective wisdom to be able to move through the ebbs and flows of life and finances. And so yes, please permission to be able to reach out to friends, family, community. If you don't have that, please take advantage of our Frugal Friends Facebook community group or in addition to what you have. I think that we can gain a lot from one another as we interact and share our tips or even

be willing to say, yeah, everyone, I'm really struggling. We've had some people do that within our group, and it's a beautiful thing to see people share and then to have others say yeah, me too, I'm there, which helps us know few I'm not alone. But then you've got people who aren't in that situation able to encourage and say, yeah, I was there and here are some things that helped me. Uh. Beautiful thing when when we are able to engage with

community and share just what we're going through. Definitely, and definitely this is we are whole people. It's not just one thing that's going to bring alleviation to the stress and overwhelmed that we feel. Yes, friends, and family are fantastic. Yes, breathing exercises are fantastic, but where we feel as though these things are falling short and we need a bit more. There is also no shame in asking for help from mental health professionals, going to your doctor, seeing a counselor

or therapist. I would actually recommend that people do this at least once in their life, regardless of what kind of season that they're in, and bringing in kind of a holistic approach, particularly in time of suffering and pain financial crisis. Uh and certainly so so a few markers

if this is you. A few things consider with seeking mental health professionals is if you are going through an overwhelming sense of hopelessness, if there are long lasting loss of interest and activities that you usually enjoy, or general feelings that yeah, I probably should get some help, right, Sometimes that just goes in your mind, Yeah I probably should see a counselor Yeah, if those words are coming out of your mouth or they're running through your head

often this is definitely something to consider. And certainly patterns where you start to see patterns of it's becoming difficult to part engage in regular activities or the things that usually bring you joy. Are not bringing you joy anymore, You're struggling to find hope. These are the indicators that additional help could be useful to you. So if you're seeing that in yourself, please reach out. And if you don't have enough money in your regular budget, use your

emergency fund. This is a fine use of your emergency fund. Keep being you mentally stable and happier and able to do more mentally is is the reason your emergency fund is around, like to support you in challenging times that are not long lasting, but there for so uncertain crisis. And I would say that, um, I've already seen friends and family who have had an uptick in their um anxiety or depressive symptoms. And so if you are feeling that as a result of any financial crisis, then then

go yeah. And I'll also say check with your employer. A lot of employers will offer what's called e a P, which is an employee assistance program so that their benefits where sometimes your first three appointments are fully paid for

just through an e a P program. And you could also talk to a therapist and say, look, I am in a financial crisis, which is why I'm coming to you, but I also need as much help as possible and as few sessions as possible, not to put the pressure on, but it is possible that you could experience some level of relief or tools within three to six sessions, then

maybe a more long term approach. So even letting your therapists know that, like you're looking for three to six sessions just to kind of contain some of the symptoms that you're experiencing, that can be really helpful and you might be able to gain some some really good things in a short amount of I think so. Also, we have a coupon for online counseling. I think it's it's a hundred dollars off I think maybe your first two

or three UM sessions on talk space. So we'll have that up at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash talk space, uh, and that the actual terms will be up there when you check it. But yeah, it's a hundred dollars off and you don't have to leave the house. So if you are self quarantined, then you are good. Perfect. Another thing that you might need to ask for help with UM is your actual finances UM, so seeking a financial advisor if you are feeling stress about your four oh

one k or your retirement. Before you make any decisions, seek some professional help you. It's really a necessity in a time like this. Don't touch anything until you talk to a professional. Yeah. You know what else is important to do during times like these to ask for the bill of the wee. 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. That's built Bufalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week. Okay, So we didn't have enough recordings, so I called my friend Jessica and asked her to leave us a bill of the week. So I have her on speaker phone right now and she's just gonna say her bill into this microphone. Thanks Jessica, Thanks Jessica, take it away. Hey, guys, my name is Jessica. Yet, like Jen said, I'm also some St. Peter for which he is and um, I

found out that we have a famous bill here in St. Petersburg. Um, he's the William, but that's still counts. His name was John William and he is the co founder of our city, Saint Pete Um. He is also who the Williams Park is named after, which was our city's first part um. And then I also found out that there's a famous architect who you guessed it is also William Harvard, another Bill, who designed the Grandstand pavilion that's in the middle of

the park. Um. He also built the St. Petersburg Pier, the inverted pyramid that's no longer there, and the Central Library on Myth Avenue that I know Jen was visited and that I grew up flame to as a kid. So we have these great Bills who were so impactful in our city and so they're my favorite. Awesome, Thanks Jessica. I'm gonna hang up on you. Goodbye, Thank you Bye. I'm gonna hang up on you. That's all we need.

We got what we needed. Oh, that's apparently the name Bill was just the most common the name well back then in the St. Pete's such a cool city, can you expect anything different. I'm so excited about it. Yeah, we can't get enough bills. Yeah, clearly we have to call Jessica. We're also ahead of recordings, so we've used our backlog, and so that all that said, we need your bills, so we're in in dire needs. So call

us with your bills. Gosh, it's been like a year and a half since we had to do this, so yeah, leave it at Frugal Friends podcast dot com. Slash bill and leave us a voicemail. And if for some reason you've done that and you haven't heard your bill and you did it more than two months ago, do it again because that means we did not get it. That means we got lost. Yeah in the abyss, Yeah we don't. We don't just not to choose bills. We do them all, We play them all. Yeah, all the bills have been aired,

all the bills. Well, that brings us to our lightening round. Today's lightning Round is brought to you by Yeah. You know, we're talking about what we are doing personally to prepare because, like we said before, we are freelancers and we are self employed, so this is impacting us. We don't know how it's going to impact us, but we feel like we have to keep working. So there's little to no fun in it because you still have to figure out how to get money. Yeah, yeah, but we're gonna have

fun right now? Jen? What are you doing? Um? So the first thing I'm doing is I've made a longer and simpler meal plan. Oh interesting, Yeah, so I've kind of I'm taking a pause from like i have this like meal like recipe book that I'm doing and I'm just doing those over and over and those are kind of simple, but I'm going even simpler like staples, so the beans and rice, the pasta. But I'm still trying to do it healthily, so frozen veggies, um, things that

are a little more sustainable but less expensive. What do you mean by longer meal plans? So instead of purchasing for a week, I'm going to start purchasing for two weeks, but repeating the meal plan for the second week. So I'm just I'm buying the same thing, but I can buy a book version of it save a little more.

And then that makes it so nice because then you're done for two weeks and it's just going to be repeat You've already done the next to tuesdays, but maybe switching up some veggies or something, doing something to make them unique. You gotta keep some spies, keep some playing, do a little jig like this, all right? Yeah, nobody, nobody in the podcast can see us right now. But if you're watching on YouTube, you know it's getting to be a party over here, all right, So what are

you doing? I'm not panicking, That's what I'm doing. I'm just gonna keep calm and carry on. I'm just gonna keep dancing. Actually, dancing is good for me. This feels therapeutic. I should have stopped. We showed us that, but I'm like, she keeps going, so I keep going. Okay. So also I'm cooking at home more so kind of similar to what you described. I don't I don't really think about what I'm going to do as much as you do.

I'm a little bit more like I get the staples and then I kind of know what to do, but I don't want to like block myself in. Like Sary Day is kind of like what's it gonna be? Who knows? Maybe something, maybe some chicken and squash, maybe from potatoes maybe ye. So cooking more at home has Yeah, it saves me more money and I go out less and they spend less. Tip tip is where where it gets me? Yeah? For sure. Another thing I'm doing is taking on extra work.

You are so there has been a little uptick in work with everything that's going on in financial media, So I've taken on more work because I don't know what next month is going to be like. I don't know what the month after that is going to be like. So I'm not putting myself in like dire straits and working all day. But I do know I have I have my limits and what I'll take and where I'm full. But I'm going a little bit beyond that right now, just a little. I think it's it's wise again not

to completely stress or max yourself out. But yeah, if there's the potential to do well right now, that's amazing. Yeah, if there's the potential to do some overtime or take on something extra, or do a side hustle UM that you more than you normally would, I think now might be the time. I am also reevaluating my budget, so really looking at where can I fully pare down. Where do I feel as though maybe I'm spending a little

bit more than I need to. Um. If you listen to episode one hundred, you know that Eric and I paid off our debt what what? So that is amazing and I am so grateful. I know that that is not everyone's story right now. We're all at different points in our financial journey. But I am very grateful at the timeline of that of where that landed. We didn't know what we were heading into come March, and Eric and I paid off our debt in February, So that has been a kindness in the midst of what's going

on financially for us and for a lot of people worldwide. Um. But even still, as much as that has freed up some money, I'm I'm evaluating even further that where I've had a miscellaneous budget or food or entertainment budget where I can kind of like pull back even more to really make sure and we're okay. But I think, with not knowing exactly how long any given personal financial crisis is going to last, that how do I make this stretch as much as possible so that I'm not in

a really dire situation. So for me right now, it's not the time for extra luxuries. I am rethinking, you know, where I might typically say, Okay, this thing's wearing out, I need to look to replace X y Z, I'm kind of saying, no, let's make it last a little bit longer. Or find ways to do without. So yeah, yeah, and we would love to know what you are doing

to stay calm, prepare, preserve, what have you. So hang out with us in our Frugal Friends community on Facebook and uh, start a threat there so people can share encouragement. We're not there to share. You know. You know that we bought all the toilet paper in our sitting and it's not something to be proud of, no, So but yeah, hang out with us there, Um, be with us in community and uh yeah, and we'll we'll make each other feel better. It'll be good. So thank you so much

for listening. And we we really do, um take our roles in in this really seriously. We think that frugality is going to become even more important than it already was. And so we are going to be here like we said we were. We're sticking around. We're not going anywhere. Um. We don't make a ton of money on this and honestly, uh, it's really hard to find sponsors for the show right now. Um, so we're not making anything off of this right now.

I still doing it though, Yeah, and and so we really do value you and appreciate you and thank you for listening and leaving reviews, and those help actually help sponsors know that we're a show that is legit and listened to. Um So like this one that says unexpectedly loving it and it's from Sherry Lee's I think, but it says the first time I tuned in about a year ago, I thought this was going to be too hippy dippy ladies telling me to pee and a repurposed

coffee can to save money. Lo and behold, these ladies are now my favorite driving buddies. Their sense of humor is right on par with my own. They dissect financial information in a fun way, have awesome guests, and have real people perspective on money and life. I just listened to the latest podcast and Alma drove off the road laughing at Jen needing a life size Barbie friend. Thank you so much, frugal friends. You know I could come

in handy when your kids quarantine. I'm just saying, maybe if you're have an only child, you'd get our life size barbie right now. Maybe maybe we shouldn't get to the point of recommending peeing in repurposed coffee cants. That's not a bad idea. I don't know. I don't know the purpose of that. I can't really foresee why that

would be necessary. You know, I was listening to the s Town podcast and that guy pete in a sink because you can flush it out with one cup of water versus the you know, two or three gallons from the toilet. I get it. I'm not saying do it. You can Anywhere're gonna move on. I caught myself and you're welcome. So we also want to thank our friends who share these episodes on social media. So when you share the latest episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram,

we're going to add you to our monthly drawing. And so for every five tags that we get, so again it's the latest episode, you have to tag us in uh and for every review that's submitted, we pick one winner out of every five, and we give away ten dollar Amazon gift cards monthly. So yeah, those could come

in handing. Those could. So keep leaving us reviews on iTunes and sending the screenshots to Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail dot com, and don't forget to tag us on Instagram or Facebook at Frugal Friends Podcast when you share the episode in your feed or your stories. Pet see you next week. Stay safe out there. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syrian. Yeah. Can I just like talk about the sponsor thing. Yeah, let's do it. So that is what I mean. That's what I mean.

That's one of my responsibilities in the show. And like sponsors that have previously sponsored other podcasts are just not sponsoring right now podcasts right now. And it's not because we're not doing well. We are doing better than those other podcasts. We are. We have a more engaged listener ship what yeah, better than most what we're in the top podcast what I keep that's because of our listeners. It's because of our frugal friends. So like we really

can't say anything thank you other than thank you. But businesses are not sponsoring podcasts because they cannot directly correlate that their ad dollars on podcasts are generating revenue. Because it's hard because we'll say, you know, like do this at Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash this or you could just google it. That's what I do. That's what I do. You can't remember, like most people are visual

that you're more or like tactile. If there's an opportunity to actually click a button, but when you're just hearing it, yeah, it's not as likely. So I think it's change. I think podcasting is still growing, and I think marketing needs to catch up with that. So if you're a marketing person, get on our level. But otherwise, um, should we just like mow lawns or something. Maybe that's what people are doing right outside the window, But yeah, I mean, and

we are not. So the reason sponsorships are important to us is because we would rather ask companies for money than ask our listeners for money. By we do plan on, you know, selling some merchandise and items in the future, but they're going to be They're going to be because they're going to be dope like not because we need that money going to buy our own merchandise for double So that's what we want to do for that. We

don't want to rely on that for income. Um, and we don't want to open a Patreon where they say where we say, like, hey, give us five bucks a month so you can get an extra episode. Because I'm gonna recommend to my frugal friends like don't pay for that stuff, like get it when it's free. So how am I going to do that we're asking the people with money with marketing budgets for their money to keep this show going, to make it worth our time. So

that's why sponsorships are important to us. And we think there are a great use of of people's money that have a marketing budget where we have been able to track it. I think we have seen some great um listeners utilize what we talk about. So okay, so maybe here's a way that our listeners can help. If you've listened this long, if you have ever used something that we have recommended, then go you email us or posted on social and we'll take a screenshot or something say

I heard about it on the Frugal Friends podcast. And and so that's something that we can give to businesses when we approach them for sponsorship. And again it's not as if we're throwing anything at the wall, like we want sponsors who we believe have good services or products

that we ourselves. That's another thing that we actually think save people money because I mean, like protein Powders have approached us to sponsor the podcast or stockings or something that's fine, Like those things are worthwhile if that's what you're into. So they're not gonna tell my frugal friends to do that. Yeah, there are businesses that want to sponsor podcasts, but there's not a lot of businesses that we think are really relevant and useful, and so that's

why we're picky. And uh, maybe I'm just too picky. Maybe that's when I was single for so long. All good thing because you found your man, I know, right, And that's the same with the sponsors. On the right sponsors. Yeah, yeah, you'll be patient, you'll be patient officient to see