How to Budget without Deprivation

So many people feel deprived with a budget and we're just trying to flip that script. Yes, so this will be a little unique from our values based budgeting episode. That is a great way, and we will talk about values core values, but we will talk mostly about just you'll you'll understand when we get into these articles. There's some really good articles today. But first, our sponsors our

seven day No Spend Challenge workbook. You are about to be spending more money than usual around the holidays, so why not prepare with a no spend week. We've created a free mini workbook that will help you plan, execute, and reflect on your no spend challenge so that after seven days you know what you need to work on moving forward and you have an action plan to do so. So if that sounds like something you need, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash free to get yours again.

It's free. Yes. Today's episode also brought to you by Coffee. I jen I'm a basic B and you better believe that. As a basic B I love to work out of coffee shops that play basic B music and I get my basic b ice latte lightly swedened with vanilla. This experience brings me joy and I can name many things I do not spend money on so that I can spend more money on coffee. Does that make me basic? Maybe? But you know what, it does not make me living

somebody else's subpart expectations for how I should live my life. Coffee, get your law taboo. Oh this is This is called the amount of times do you say basic being? Throughout this sponsor I tried to say it as many times as possible gratuitously. I'm not sure if Coffee sponsored this or if Basic bas sponsored that's but hey, I support you in the ways that make you basic and the ways that make you unique. I think they have the same parent company, so similar, different llc s, maybe coffee

partners a lot with basic bes. So it's fine, Yeah, so true, so true. All right, well you get the picture. There should be no reason that you, I mean, you should have a budget that makes you feel deprived, because

it is not a sustainable way to budget. We've said it over and over and over, and mainly that's because we so often, especially when we're getting started with budgeting, try to make a budget that aligns with somebody else's vision for what our life should be like, or somebody that has done this before and has made it work, and we try to do what they did and recreate it. But you are nobody's second best. You are the only you, and you deserve a budget that helps you reach your

financial goals and live your best life. And so we believe that's possible. Yeah, budgets do not have to be restrictive. They do not have to feel like deprivation. I think a lot of times where people feel restricted or deprived has more to do with actual spending and earning than it does with the tool of a budget. Maybe the budget is just highlighting a pain point, which even still it's a useful tool because then it can help us identify what areas we can work on so that ultimately

we don't feel deprived. Absolutely, So let's get into this first article from life Skills that Matter dot com, and it is how to create a budget without depriving yourself. Very straightforward. I think we could have written this article. I think if I was going to write it, I couldn't have written it better. Can I tell you? I actually looked as I was reading through it, I'm like, wait, did Jen right this? Like I loved to see that the author was and if it was like a publication

that you've contributed to. Oh, hey, this is our article today. Look it's me. I wrote it. It's happened. I do that sometimes, yes, but I did not do it on this one. And it is such a great article. So so tell us what you thought of it, Jen, this article that you could have written. Right. So he goes through the two there are two different methods of budgeting, and so the first one, and he started off budgets are like diets. People go on them with the best

of intentions, but rarely stick to them. Yes, we are so often yo yo diet with money, but people view budgets as temporary financial punishments. Like that's such an important phrase, and it's so true. We do we view them as temporary, like I won't have to be on a budget forever if I just do it to get out of my funk. Financial We only look at the numbers and how they

relate to our our income and outflow. We don't think about as a budget as a way to incorporate more life giving things and then punishments, like we are living on a budget because we made financial mistakes in the past and now we're trying to get out of them. And so that's I mean. Budgets are not temporary. They are a long term They are not just financial. They make sure that you can live a whole life because

we are whole people. And they're not punishments. They avoid the real punishments, which can be bankruptcy, can be like shame of living in debt. Like they're the things that the tools that we use to avoid those real punishments. It's like the most misunderstood thing within the finance world. We all know about them, but yet we've got such the skewed perspective on it. And he even mentions in this beginning portion about just nickel and diming yourself to

save money. And I think we're going to get into that when he talks about the different methods of what is the cheap method. But we can often think we have to nickel and dime and scrimp in every single category, and that's what a budget means, and that's just simply not true. Yeah, the cheap method, and then he goes over the frugal method. And so if you've been listening to us for any amount of time, you know what

we think is cheap. It's the nickel and diming. It's the time wasted clipping fifty cent cuponds, chasing sales at stores, YadA YadA. So that is kind of the cheap method is going with those those things, cutting out things that are really low ticket and not thinking so much about larger ticket items. So like a lot of people think they're you know, my my mortgage is just my mortgage and it's a fixed expense. But what if you have like a eight thousand square foot home, because you know

that's what you that's extreme. But what if you have like a big home and you realize is like several years after buying it, like I actually want to live tiny or I don't use all my home I could live in twelve hundred square feet. Like you can get rid of a mortgage, you are not tied to that forever. So it's examining these fixed expenses to and seeing what we can get rid of. And that is the frugal method. It prioritizes your spending according to your needs and wants.

So instead of across the board minimal cuts like nickel and diming, you're spending reductions are based on your passions, interests, basic needs, and overall life priorities. And I guess you can all imagine that we would prefer the frugal method. And the writer of this article also gives that disclaimer that they utilize the frugal method base and it's one of their core values is frugality, So they're just speaking

our language across the board. But they do give us some pointers in how we all can go about this frugal method of budgeting, and I really like it. There's certainly so many ways that we can approach budgeting. Ultimately, I love the emphasis on mindset here, but I think this is a really attainable, simple process that we could go through, so I think it's worth describing this so First, they say, make a list of all your recurring fixed monthly expenses. These are expenses that are say, the same

or approximately the same every month throughout the year. So this would include your rent or your mortgage, a car payment, whether you have student loans, cable bills, phone bills, subscriptions, memberships, utilities, insurances, you name it, all of your fixed monthly expenses. To write them all down. It is really important to get this on paper to have a clear snapshot of what are the expenses that I pay monthly that are relatively fixed. Now that's not to say that they can't be changed,

but they don't fluctuate a ton every month. It's about x amount of money per month to engage in this thing, absolutely, and so number two is to identify which ones you can cut immediately from that list. So, unless you're already a fairly frugal person, there are always one or two monthly expenses you can cut right away. And so these are expenses that are doing absolutely nothing to help you

achieve your goals and are easy to live without. So this is where it comes in, like having your three three to four core values and having your financial goals and making sure that everything on the list of expenses that you have aligns with them. And yes, insurances and utilities can align with your core values because I mean, like for us, community is a big core value and I love having people over to my house. It's a frugal way to hang out with people versus going to restaurant.

But I need utilities in order to do that, and the utilities are cheaper than living at a restaurant. So yes, you can every single expense tie back to your core values or your financial goals hopefully both yes. And number three is negotiate a reduction for each one of the remaining expenses. So we're still just looking at those fixed expenses, the ones that are the same every single month. Negotiate. First of all, I love this word. I think we

don't use it enough. You've heard me talk about this before. But also I think this article highlights some really important things. So they say, first, negotiate with yourself. Ask yourself to come up with at least three different ways that you could reduce each expense, no matter how dramatic they may seem. That doesn't mean that you have to implement on all three things, or even any of the things that you list. Out.

But it is a good exercise to engage in that thinking cre activity, creatively problem solving, considering with yourself, where could I reduce some of these quote unquote fixed things, these things that I thought I have to pay every month. I need to be engaging in this expense. We'd be surprised when we allow ourselves to think outside the box, but also engage with ourselves and what could I do

here just to save some money? Again, the purpose for that is to free up money to be able to spend on the things that we value, not just for the purpose of cutting expenses, but to put our money towards the things that are most valuable to us and sometimes are fixed expenses, aren't that so once you've negotiated with yourself right, this could include I'm just thinking an

example of subscriptions. If it's a fixed monthly expense, but you realize, actually that subscription doesn't give me that much. Here's an alternative that is less money or no money. Do that. Consider that and secondly, negotiate with companies to ask for lower cost alternatives or threatened to switch to a competitor. I know, Jen, you've got a ton of resources out there on negotiation. And it's something that I

think we've even had a podcast episode about. This is a surprising technique that I think a lot of us. It takes some courage. We don't often practice of negotiating for a lower internet rate or phone rate, you name it. There's plenty of room for negotiation on some of these things that we think this is the amount that I

have to pay. So love number three negotiation with yourself and with these companies, and that could make an incredible difference with just those fixed expenses, so that when we get to some of those more variable expenses, we've got more wiggle room. Absolutely. Yeah, we're actually doing a negotiation challenge in Club BFFO. So we love negotiating. I actually wanted to touch on the first one, negotiating with yourself, no matter how dramatic, ways to reduce your EXPENSI no

matter how dramatic. And so I was listening to Hello Habits by Fumio Sasaki and he gave a story about how Pana Sonic once tried to lower its I think energy consumption by ten and they were just having a horrible time figuring out what to do. And so the CEO was like okay, we're actually going to cut it fifty.

And it was taking it like to the extreme that had everybody coming up with creative ideas and what was just like, okay, how can we skim off the top, like implemented changes that were structural and really like deep into the company, changed a lot of practices and so sometimes you need to get extreme to land somewhere in

the middle. So if you're if you're spending is somewhere where you don't want to it, or spending in one categories where you don't want it, then it's already more on the extreme side on the side you don't want it. So coming up with solutions that are extreme to the other end can land you somewhere in the middle. It's why we love no spend challenges because they allow you kind of to do that. Oh chat, what a good example that really landed and is resonating well with me. Amazing?

All right, don I got my takeaway? Cool, Okay, Well, let's let's cut off episode. All right. So number four is to make a list of all your irregularly monthly expenses, so discretionary, irregularly I think it was a type out. Yeah, discretionary expenses. So if you have other regular monthly expenses then aren't fixed like groceries, eating out, video games, which is a thing people spend money on video games and watching people play video games. Yeah, and here's the thing.

If you love video games like I don't, I've never played a video game in my life besides Tetris and Solitaire, and so I don't get the appeal. But there are some people who love it. And so just because some financial guru doesn't play video games and tells you to cut them out, it doesn't mean they're right. Like maybe you don't buy basic B Latte's and you play video games like you, Yeah, it is okay, I just don't.

I don't understand it. Yeah, there comes a point where you have to stop listening to the gurus and start being intuitive with what works for you. Yeah, video games, electronics, close, gas for your car, all that stuff. So calculate your average spending over six months for each expense that's the recommendation, and put those average monthly expenses into a list from largest to smallest, and then again negotiate with yourself and look for senses that can be reduced or eliminated, and

again aligning with your values. This list that they're having you create. I think it's an awesome practice, but it will also be quite telling of where probably your highest values and priorities are. That doesn't mean that it has to be continuously the thing that you spend the most on. We can still honor our values and priorities without spending all of our money there. But it is worth looking at all. Right, it looks like there is a ton of money being spent on take out or eating out.

What does that tell me about myself? Is the scenario that I want to cut? Or do I really like doing this? Does it really serve my values? And maybe I'm going to focus a bit more on negotiating with myself in the other categories. So there is this ebb and flow process. It's not just this hard and fast we have to cut every free category. For the sake of cutting every category. It is to free up money to put towards some of the things that are most enjoyable,

most valuable for you. Okay, last, but not least number five, which goes into what I'm talking about here. Choose three guilt free expenses and then look for ways to reduce the rest. So identify some of the some of the things. They're saying three, that's a great number. However, many one to three, four's fine. That you really want to be able to spend. It aligns with things that are life

giving to you, that are valuable for you. You want to be able to spend on them and not have a cringe factor to it of oh I shouldn't have done that, right, guilt free, shame free. It's budgeted for, its planned for. You've cut in other ways so that you can put money here. That's the idea. So it doesn't just have to be I only spend money on food. It can be that you know the groceries. It can be that you find things that are really enjoyable for you and put that into your budget. So spend on

your priorities, reduced spending on everything else. Yeah, and I like he says, I'm not recommending having an unlimited budget for each of these expenses, but don't feel guilty about spending on money on them either. That's so important to understand and really take to heart. Like there, you're going to have a different budget depending on what your income is. And I like to say, and maybe this isn't true anymore, but like I always like to say, like your income

is the lowest it's ever going to be. If you're working and intentional about increasing your income, then you will make more money and you will be able to have more money for the things that you value. And so maybe your coffee budget is twenty dollars a month you wish it was thirty, then go out and there and start a side hustle, or negotiate for a raise, or find a better paying job. So these things can give you the motivation you need to take those intentional actions.

But if we don't have a budget that we are intentionally creating to align with our life, we're never gonna We're not gonna have a reason to like do the actions to to make more money, like because we all say we want more money, but having more money typically isn't enough of a motivation too to do the hard

work that it entails. The final thing I want to highlight with this article is the statement about any cuts that you make tear spending need to be rooted in your purpose and goals so that you have a clear motivation for making those cuts. So again, as we talk about having budgets that don't feel like deprivation, like soul crushing punishment. This is how we're going to do it.

Making sure that whatever decrease in spending we do, whatever negotiation we do with ourselves or with others, is rooted in an ultimate purpose and goal of what we want to see with our money. Having that motivation for those cuts, that why behind those cuts. Having spending connected with our values, that's what's going to create so much freedom within you. Utilizing a budget and will help shift that mindset into there's actually a tool that's useful, not something that's restricting me.

Good word. I wish I could copy and paste this article and put it everywhere. It's like, I love it so much. Have it be a car wrap on your vehicle. Yeah, just everybody has to walk around and read it. And after reading my car you will make a budget. Frugal Friends manifesto, Yes, you will make a budget. Al right. So let's go into our next article from Whole Family Living, and it is five ways to stick to your budget

without feeling deprived. So and the first one we're talking about how to create a budget or cut things out to make a budget that supports not being deprived. And so here we're talking about how to stick to that budget without feeling deprived. What do you think of this one? Chill, it's good. I don't think that there's a ton of really new earth shattering information, but I think it is going to help us to again to just realign our mindset in a place that's useful and being able to

engage in a budget. That that's so much. We talk about mindset so much. That is where it starts. Behaviors are not going to shift until mindset shifts. I do, however, like some of the reasoning that they give for why we should be considering a budget. I think a lot of times when when we're kind of lacking that understanding or willpower, it's good to see here's here's an argument for it, here's all the pros for it, and they list out it can help us focus on our families

or our individual goals and priorities. A budget helps us to be able to plan for the future. We're not gonna be able to plan. We're not gonna be able to think about the future if we don't know what our finances and spending is looking like. It helps us to track our income and expenses. Knowing where everything goes budgets avoid being sideswiped by unexpected emergencies. We can be more prepared and proactive. They help us to avoid accumulating

debt or adding to it. That's a thing. They help us to enjoy experiences together without paying for them after the fact. It's not like swipe the credit card and we'll see what it looks like next week when I look at the checking account. Budgets also can help us get discounts or better rates by being able to pay in full when we're on top of our finances and we can actually cash flow things that can lead to

better rates. That's so true. I experienced that when Eric and I only once in our marriage so far have we purchased a couch brand new. Otherwise it's been my Facebook marketplace and stuff. But I was so surprised when we found a couch that we liked and I told the guy, was like, hey, I got cash, what can you do for me? And they actually gave us like a ten percent discount for having cash, And I was shocked that it worked. But yes, it's true, it was amazing.

Works great at paunch shops, always get the cash discounted punch shop. I love how The author says that budgeting is a mindset, and you have to have the right mindset to to stick with your budget because it's not something that is inherently meant to deprive you or meant to make you miss out on things. But if you have that perspective that's not sustainable, you're not going to

be able to stick to a budget. But she says, actually, your budget will be a tool that allows, or as I prefer to say, empowers you to have more and do more, which is is hard to hear, Like if you're in a situation where you're living on a really tight budget, but you can't just think of the here and now, because even if it's hard today, even if it's hard right now, you will reap the benefits ten twenty years in the future, and you will be so glad you budgeted in the hard days when the good

days are easier. And so maybe these these do more and have more aren't always month to month or having more values driven purchases aren't always happening in the immediate, but they do happen eventually. Yeah, all of these things don't just come to us when we have more. We start to develop the habits and the understanding of these things. Yeah, even in the times, like you're saying, Jen, it's so good. Okay. So they list out five ways to stick to your budget,

so we'll just go through them. The first one is to develop a smart budget. Many of you are familiar with the smart acronym. What I like about what they're highlighting here is that budgets should add clarity to your financial situation, not make it confusing or chaotic. So if you're confused the budgeting situation that your two thing probably isn't the best one. If you're confused and you don't have a budget, then hopefully a budget will help you

with that. And so they're saying that it could be useful to look at this technique of having a budget that is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time limited, and being able to apply this way of approaching goals to a budget can be really useful and help to empower us, help us with our mindset around budgets. So making sure that each category is specific, we put a real number amount,

that that our progress within our budget is measurable. Is there a way to track it, which, yes, there is income and expenses. There you go is it attainable. This is very important when it comes to budgets. Sometimes we can sit down and have all sorts of lofty goals, but then that is where it can feel restrictive. It's not sustainable or attainable long term, so being realistic will So that's three and four attainable and realistic about these

numbers that you put in place. I know, for me, I consistently in my fantasy budget spend far less money on food than I actually do. But I had to come to this place of being realistic with that budget and say, okay, well what can I cut but not absolutely slice this thing. I want to make steady progress towards decreasing this because a thousand dollars is way too much to be spending on food every month. But acting like I can spend just three hundred dollars in a

month is not realistic. Going from a thousand so and then time limited, which budgets naturally do that. Whether you want to budget every two weeks if that's how often you get paid, or monthly, and then revisit it. This isn't a static document that never shifts and changes that we never revisit. I would recommend especially when just beginning to be pretty short in the time that you budget.

Like again, if you get paid bi weekly, make your budget bi weekly, and go from there until you really get a handle on what is my spending look like and what do I need to be accounting for. Yeah, I think one of the biggest things that makes budgeting complicated or complex is budgeting based on income you have not yet received. That can be really really confusing and make you really anxious if there's a bill coming up that's really close to when you get paid, so it

can cause undo stress. So I think budgeting based on what you made last paycheck or what you made last month can relieve a lot of stress and make this smart budget technique a lot easier. And so yeah, definitely when you're starting out, make those shorter budgets weeklong budgets, two weeklong budgets, etcetera. But yeah, there's like you can definitely save up the amount of money that you got paid in the last pay period or the last month, and then use that buffer and and budget off of that.

Like if it's November, now use what you made in October and budget off of that for November, because you're not make any more money in October if it is November, so you know exactly what you have to work with. The money's already there. It doesn't matter when a bill is due, all of that stuff. So I think that can take a lot of confusion out of budgeting. It does take a little bit of front end work to build up money in your account to do that, but

once you've got it, your golden exactly. So number two, go on a spending freeze. We just talked about going extreme to land in the middle, and that is what we're talking about here. So every little thing we spend money does add up. And while we are not promoting a lifestyle of nickeling and diming, when you do a no spend challenge or spending freeze for a period of time, you you start to realize all the little things you're spending money on. It's much more powerful than just tracking

your expenses because you're putting a stop. You're putting like a a barrier between you and your spending habits. So you're disrupting that queue so that the habit loop can no longer function mindlessly. You have to be intentional about purchases, and then sometimes you may still choose to make that purchase and then you have to, you know, focus on

other things. But when you do something extreme, oftentimes at the end, if you're paying attention to what you're learning and you're intentional about that, then at the end you can land yourself in the middle for the long term. And so I think that's a great strategy when you're getting started, or if when you just need to shake things up, if you're feeling stagnant, trying a no spend challenge is a great way to kind of regains momentum

and excitement, and it gamifies this process too. It can be fun to call it a challenge and to see, yeah, your fortitude in this area and then learn more about yourself. So we love those, you know, we love a challenge, And you can even get our free seven day knows by and challenge Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash free. Oh yeah, you know, you know our sponsor. So the third thing that they list on here of helping budgets

not feel so restrictive is to find an accountability partner. Oh, things are so much more enjoyable with friends and buddies who have our best interests in mind. So when we're working on a budget or other goals. It truly does help to have a partner, someone who is on the same page as you, or who is just willing to help you stick to what you say you want to

stick to and how they'll do that right. It's helpful if we can give the specifics of here's where I need support and encouragement and assistance, here's the ways you can provide that to me, and really come up with a plan together of how that person can help you. And if there's any reciprocity present thereof are they also interested then you supporting them and encouraging them in a certain direction. I know frugal friends is that for me? Jen you are that for me in so many ways.

But also having even this larger community is so important

on this journey. But specifically when we run against challenges that feel insurmountable to us, if we're really struggling with a budget, if they really feel super restrictive to us, invite another trusted That's an important key component when we talk about accountability and vulnerability and being known by another person, letting someone else into our struggles that they're trusted and again that there's some boundaries in the ways in which

support and that accountability is going to look. But this will make the journey so much more enjoyable, so much more actually attainable and realistic when you bring some else, someone else along for the journey. I would say that this could certainly be a spouse or partner, but it can also be a friend, depending on what the changes or goal that you have it. It doesn't have to

be someone that you're living with. It could certainly be someone outside of your household, A good trusted friend absolutely. I mean Club BFF is kind of our solution to that problem. If you don't have anybody near you, you can join our online community and find that doors are not open right now, but we are going to open them at the end of December, so definitely start thinking about that. If you start looking for people local, that's always the best obviously, But if you don't have that,

then check out Club BFF. Win doors reopen. And the fourth one is maybe my favorite. I don't know, make it fun. I do love a no spend challenge, but I love fun more. I guess it's not for goal friends if it's not fun, right, So the author I may be an odd ball, but I actually enjoyed by get some people do. I'm not one of those people. So she uses spreadsheet. I know, Jill and I both

use Google sheets. That's our budgeting method. Hashtag free, hashtag free. Um. But she says, try to do something fun while you're budgeting. Instead of sitting at the kitchen table with your pen and paper, staring at the refrigerator, go outside to a nice scenic spot, work on your budget, play music. I would say, maybe, like, have a drink, eat any nice meal, whatever, things like that, dessert. Yeah, make budgeting fun for me.

That's I guess not enough. Actually do just enjoy sitting in front of my computer and vegging out with a spreadsheet. It's just the budgeting that is kind of like a I'm neutral about the feeling I have about budgeting right because it's not just about setting aside the time and drinking tea and sitting in the park making a spreadsheet. It's about the implementation. We can make a budget and not stick to it. So much of what we're talking about is what comes next or the actions that flow

out of that. But the budget can inform the actions and if all around we've we've made it fun, We've made it enjoyable, attainable, approachable. We've connected it to our values and priorities, the implementation will come a lot more easily and naturally. Yeah, just make your budget fun. How about we do that? Yeah, the whole process instead of the made right. Instead of them making the budget a

fun event, make the actual budget of fun budget implementation thing. Yeah, like, what what do you get to spend money on this month? And how have you made room for that? Oh? That's so fun? All right? Number five on here is use an accordion file. Okay, spoiler alert. They're just talking about cash envelope system. How cash envelope system can help us stick to our budget. I do love a good accord the in file. I love organization. Who doesn't love a

good accordion file? They are fun. Whenever I see them, I always think that I need to purchase one, but I never really have like a reason to buy it. They just they're back in style. Like at Target, you can buy like fancy trendy accordion files. So y'all out there here, And oh she's weird with the accordion file thing. Targets already on it. So I was not the first one to love the accordion file. All these basic bes are out here with accordion falue, all of them are.

I actually don't have an accordion file because I have a full like file cabinet. I have too many files for that. But if I was a single lady with maybe just ten forms of paperwork or something, I'd have an accordion file. Well, this is what they're saying. I don't know if I can fully get on board with this making it super fun or less restrict if it's

essentially I mean, we kind of got off the rails here. Yeah, it might be a method that could help you if just budgeting is not going that well for you, to help see where are you spending money, to stop spending money when the money runs out. It's a cash envelope system, right, So the ideas you've got one slot for groceries and other slot for transportation. When the money runs out of those categories, you're done. You can't go anywhere, you can't

eat anymore. In essence, there's plenty out there on cash envelope systems. We're not going to get super into it. It's not for everybody. It's not for me. I can't carry around that much cash, and actually for me, I feel more freedom to spend when I do have cash because I'm like there's no trail, Like I spend this cash and it's not going to show up in my bank account. So like I'm I'm able to just like it doesn't exist. Yeah, go wild. So it doesn't. It

doesn't work for me. If it works for you, that's amazing. If it gives your reason and to buy an accordion file and that's fun for you. Great, Really have a solution for not losing all of your cash. If you're a person who often loses your keys, don't do this. Okay, here's a better solution, and thank you technology for giving

us solutions to all of our problems. So Cube Money, who is a partner of the show, They do a digital envelope system or a digital accordion file system, whichever you prefer, but you can have it's actually you put your money in a bank. Cube is a banking app and you can distribute it into different cubes which are different areas of your accordion file and then you can spend out of that. So it is the envelope system without having to carry around cash. So if you are

paying off debt. Ten times out of ten I recommend using Cube so you can get more frugal friends, podcast, dot com, slash qu and find out more about them. But ten times out of ten, it is a long time coming that this solution has, you know, we've been waiting for. But yeah, so this is highly recommend if you need parameters like that to stick to your budget. Great solution for the accordion file that's coming back, And there's a lot of things that are coming back, like

the mullet. And I'm wondering now about the Fannie pack and if maybe we should come up with like a Fannie pack budgeting system. I feel like you could put an Accordion small accordion into the Fannie pack. It's almost a perfect fit, and then your Fannie it's just too perfect. And so this might be the only reason I wouldn't recommend Cube is that if you really want to have a Fannie pack accordion file budget, which they're on the same level, the cute Cube money and the Accordian file

for any pack. And then if you want to have like extra security, you just put your shirt over the Fannie pack so no one knows that you've got a Fannie pack full of money to stick to your budget. You're just out here having fun, keeping your money safe under your shirt, inside your Fannie pack, inside the Agordian file. Wow, oh my gosh. Or you can just wear it across your chest like all of the gen z TikTokers, and nobody's going to think you have money in there anyway,

because they think you're a child. So there are so many ways. I mean, really, these solutions are limitless. They have limits, and that's why they're great. Maybe, And then that's why we use digital solutions when the trending styles don't really give us what we want. But if you're interested in being trendy, I mean, don't sleep on this Accordian file Fanning pack. Yeah, that's just fun and that that will help and not feel like deprivation for sure.

You know what else is not limitless? What is limitless? It has a limit. And maybe that's why the bill though, we 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've paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Duck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week. So we're gonna do two bills this week, because why not, We're just

gonna We're just gonna hang out with them. So here is our first bill. My bill of the league is my little credit card. I just finished pay off my balance in at all zero dollars. I feel great. That's awesome. Say no to loves credit cards. Yeah yet that paid? Well done? What a good feeling. We are celebrating with you for that bill that you no longer have anymore. All right, And here is our second bill, my free cool friends. It's Kate Tear from the UK. My bill

of the week is my moving bill. So we have bought a house this year, and what with all of the cost of moving, like solicitus fees and you know, listening the house on the market and you know, the estate agent fees and everything, it all topped up to about six thousand pounds. And at the start of the year I started using wine Up and it's completely revolutionized

my jetting. I sat down and actually tried to understand their full rules and really kind of invested some time into it and actually follow their four rules and the embrace your true expenses rule has completely revolutionized my budgets. So using these four rules, we have been able to cash flow our moving expenses. So that's really exciting and I'm really proud of myself. I'm really proud of my husband. Great work on the podcast. It's amazing and you're hilarious,

so keep up. Oh my gosh, case that is awesome. K from the UK. Why an amazing We don't listen to these bills ahead of times, so so fitting with what we're chatting about today, and really thrilled with you that Why NAB has worked for you has really helped you not be surprised by the moving expenses which can really be shocking. I mean six thousand pounds above and beyond the purchase of the home and everything that you need to be able to move and yet to to be able to cash flow that as a result of

looking at your budget and preparing for it. Well well done. Hope you're enjoying your new place and beginning to settle in a bit. And thanks for your words of encouragement. Glad you find us funny. We laugh at ourselves, so it's good to know other people are laughing too. Whether it's with us or at us. We're here for it all. Yes, thank you so much, Kate. That was so great. So if you have a great bill, like you paid off a credit card, or you cash flowed your moving costs

or anything, then please visit our website www. Dot Frugal friends dot com slash bill to leave us your bill of the week. And now it's time for the lightning Lightning round. Give it to us, Jen, what are we doing for this lightning room? We're talking about cool things that we budget for. That was Jill really thought it was going to be more in depth than this. I'm always a little bit more complicated in the way that

I get my thoughts out. But today we're just going to be talking about our version of non deprived budgets and what they included, I guess maybe now, and what they included while we were paying off debt. Let's talk about that, oh curveball, all right, you want me to go if you have something? Yeah, yeah, sure, okay. When I was paying off debt, real talk friends, my frugal friends, I was living on a very low income with Eric.

Both of us are living on a very low income living life for sure, but did not have a lot of discretionary income. Once are very minimal expenses were paid, but yet gum was important to me. You've heard me talk about this before. There's there was always a few quarters, pennies, nickels and dimes lying around for me to get that pack of gum. That was that was always on the budget and currently still food related, still still things I'm putting in my mouth at this point that is cool

and fun for me to spend money on. Which is food, well, I mean gum is obviously, and then food. So you've heard me talk about this already, even in this episode where okay, a thousand dollars a month is pretty steep to spend on. So we've gotten it down to like you all might cringe at this, but hey, there's freedom for me, and it's guilt free, shame free. We're at about eight hundred dollars a month that I budget for food now, to be fair, that is groceries, take out, restaurants, everything,

food eight hundred dollars a month. Because it's it's just for Eric and I. We realized one of the most important aspects of discretionary spending. We value eating good food, we value going out with other people. We value having fun at home, nights of feasting, so that's I really will cut in so many other areas so that we can have food that we enjoy and go out guilt free. We we feel similarly. I think that's probably around our budget,

we're a little lower than that. Well, we can't go out as often because we have a toddler, so our our food budgets a little less than that, but it might be higher if we were not young parents. So yeah, I love that. I'm full on board for me. So when I was paying off debt, I think you all might be surprised to know that I made it a point to include coffee in my budget. Please don't judge me. I mean, judge me if you will. It's just something

that was like a huge sticking point for me. And part of it, Travis doesn't drink coffee, so this is still something that we talk about as being something He doesn't really understand why I spend money there because he didn't get it. So it's just like always top of mind. But it's small things like that, and it has dressed. There are seasons where I enjoy it and their seasons where I don't get take out coffee at all, Like it just depends. I like working out of coffee shops.

I wrote my entire first book at a coffee shop. I anticipate writing the second edition next week, adding to it probably every day at a coffee shop is probably what I will do. So that was something that was important to me while we were paying off debt and something that I really prioritized. I love how you push against that because so many people are going to say, cut coffee, look at how much you spend a year

in this category. But you're saying, there's room to be able to purchase the thing that you enjoy if you look at all these other line items in your budget. Well, I'm all about the cappuccino, cappuccino, cappuccino factor. I'm all about the cappuccino factor. Remind us what that is jen

for those who haven't listened to previous episodes. So the cappuccino factor is just going to the coffee shop, but instead of getting the five dollar latte, you get the four dollar cappuccino, and then you could go essentially over five times. You get a free cappuccino, right, because you save a dollar every time, so you can go and get more coffee. It's essentially the same thing, just different

ratios of espresso to steamed milk. So yeah, and you save the calories on the steamed milk, right, So there's so many benefits. And this works especially well in the cold season because I prefer an ice plate and that's a jip, you know, you don't get a nice cappuccino. But yeah, so try the cappuccino factor and get all the coffee you want. Boo. So that was me paying off debt, and then we like found ways to get around eating out. Is that we would do mystery shopping.

I think mystery shop. Yeah, that's like so underrated, so we really wouldn't spend money there. But now I would say take out take out. We don't do sit down restaurants very often, maybe every other month, once a quarter maybe, but we do take out several times a week, and I schedule it in a budget it in and I

love my takeout. It's always a pretty affordable takeout too. Yeah, you're usually getting from taco places, and takeout is more affordable than going to a restaurant because you're just paying for the food, you're not necessarily paying for weight service, but both both have its value and its place. Yeah, somebody did leave us one star review because one of my tips to save money is don't go to sit down restaurant, get take out because then you don't have

to tip the server. And someone was like, and they thought that we were saying don't tip the server, and that's not what we're saying. You should definitely tip your server. The core idea is get take out, then you don't have a server. Yeah, we love the reviews that actually are inaccurate, but we can do nothing about them where they just completely misunderstood us but gave us a one

star because of their miss understanding. Well, anyhow, we're gonna thank you all for your kind reviews on iTunes and Stitcher, like this one that comes from Mrs Wids. They say, rethink what frugal means in a modern world. It is five stars. Sounds like you've listened to us. Wow. I love this podcast because the difference between frugal and cheap

is so well done here. It's so good to hear just normal, lovely people talking about frugal living, so I don't feel so much like a crazy coup on clipper. I also find plenty of good podcasts that are done by people with really annoying voices, but these people are nice to listen to as well as super informative. Mrs Wids, you've made mow weak. This is a very kind and informed review. It's okay if people don't like us, you know, it's just accurately review us. Well, No, send us an email,

tell me face to face, don't leave it on. It's not okay if you don't like me. I'm not okay with it. Jill can speak for herself, but I can't emotionally handle it. But Mrs Weeds, this is so kind. Thank you so much for for your kind words. They encourage us and hopefully they help other people in finding a podcast that works for them. Right. We know that we are not going to be the fit for every single person, but really glad that this is useful to you.

There's room for more podcasts about frugality, especially from female voices. 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 Instagram at Frugal Friends Podcast, we are going to enter you into our monthly drawing for every five tags and reviews we get each month. We are giving away one of our challenge workbooks this month.

It is our Values Based Budget Binders, over a hundred pages of values based budgeting, spending, earning, et cetera, with some really great templates. So keep leaving us those reviews on iTunes or Stitcher, Send us a screenshot of that review that you left to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com. That will enter you into that drawing as

well as tagging us on social media. Both ways enter you into winning that values based budget bunder Absolutely We'll see you next week by Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Syrian