How to Make Budgeting Work For You w/ Rachel Cruze

Cruise with us on today's show. Yeah, you know, you know her, You know who she is, right like, we don't need to introduce her now she's on our show. Yeah. So Dave Ramsey's daughter money saving guru in her own right, and she's hanging out with us for a little it to talk about how to make budgeting work for you, regardless of your personality or spending type. Yeah, all types of tips. Were excited to get into it, but first

our sponsors. Sponsors also brought to you by taking one for the team when you experience something awful so that others don't have to, or you learn a new lesson the painfully hard way so that others can pick it up easily. Kind of like taking a soccer ball into the face at recess, taking one for the team. It's not pleasant, but the rest of us are so grateful. Yes, amen, So I always got soccer balls to the face at recess. I never did because I never played at me, neither

me neither. I was always on the sidelines or hanging out by the slide, and still these ball would be hitting me in the face. So sad, it was not pleasant. I had my fair share of taking one for the team. And now we can watch other people take one for the team with their budgets, and then we can just learn from them. Beautiful. Isn't that nice? Beautiful? That's the nice thing about having a podcast and hearing other people's stories. Yes, I don't. I don't feel so alone when I get

hit in the face. Well, enough about that that, let's get to Rachel. Yes, so, best selling author Rachel Cruz from Ramsey Solutions is here with us, So let's get into that interview. Hey, Rachel, thanks so much for coming on the show. Yes, absolutely, thanks for having me. We're glad to have you on, even in this quarantine life. We actually scheduled this before quarantine was a thing, so we're in a different world. We are. We are, so we're super glad that, yeah, that you could still make

it and be with us today. So we wanted to just pick your brain about how people could budget better, you know, because everyone is so different, and so I feel like even though we use this word budget as a blanket term, I feel like we can still they're still tips to budget better for your individual lifestyle. So that's kind of what we're going to talk about today. So how can somebody we'll just kick it off, somebody that like bust their budget every month? How can someone

like that safeguard themselves to stop spending out of control? Yeah? Absolutely, Well, budget really is it's your it's your your guard rail if you will. And so what you're gonna have to do is make your budget realistic. So if you really are busting it every single month, either have two problems. One you just don't have the self discipline to say no to yourself, so we can talk about that, or

number two year, which is not realistic. And when it's not realistic and you think, okay, I'm gonna just spend two of you know, on food at the grocery store every month, well that's probably realistic if you're a family of five or a family of two. I mean, like right, foods expensive, and so you just need to know, Okay, if you just set this expectation that that's what you're gonna spend, but you know you're gonna bust it every month.

You have to change the numbers and you have to say, okay, I'm gonna up that category and then to lower some others because you do have to have it balanced out. You wanted to equal zero, where every dollar coming in as assigned to a category. And so we're again making a bound of realistic. But if it's just you just wanting stuff and saying, yeah, I'm I'm gonna go into Target, and I don't care what I spend. I just want to because I deserve it and I like spending money,

and that's it. Well, that's when you get into a heart issue, a little bit of a discontentment issue, a

little bit of a maturity issue. I mean, because there's a point that we all have to put our big girl pants on, is what I like to say, and we have to realize, okay, in order to in with money, you have to be in control, which means part of that is saying no to yourself, and so start small if you're not used to it, and grow that habit, because that's gonna put self discipline in place, because if you let your money control you for your entire life,

you're gonna wake up probably broke one day. M M. I love how you describe this as a guard rail and with it going along with that illustration. Guard rails aren't right up on the edge of the road. They do have a little bit of room to them, and I think that's part of it, as being able to anticipate what other things might be coming into play each month and don't have it so tight or stringent or

or no wiggle room in it. Yes, that's why I always recommend having a miscellaneous category in your budget so when those things do come up, because they will, right, I mean, life is going to happen. Things are going

to come up. So when they do and you have it plans for them, either throw it there in the miscellaneous category, or maybe you adjust your budget throughout the month and you say, okay, well we're you know, we're spending less on restaurants right now, so we're gonna lower that up something else because we know we're gonna spend money and this other category. But it is fluid and it does need to go with your life and that's

the key. But people that are getting out of debts or they're building up an emergency fund, there will be more of a sacrificial budget. If you will, you will be cutting your lifestyle in order to make that traction to get those gains in your life. Where once you're past that, you can be a little bit more flexible with your budget. But again it needs to reflect reality because you will be really really discouraged if you keep

busting it every single month because the numbers aren't realistic. Yeah. I like the idea of doing the like budgeting more frequently, so doing like either per paycheck or every other week stuff like that, because I feel like you you need a lot of practice with a budget to like get get traction with it, and so if you just do it more often, you can get that more practice in

less time. Yeah, and I recommend I recommend doing doing it before the month begin so doing a month long budgets, but then checking in on it, so you need to be looking at it almost daily to say, okay, here's my transactions. Here, we're at and keep a pulse on it. You can't just do it and walk away for thirty days, because that's you know, that's gonna really mess you up

and you're gonna have no clue where you are. So part of it is it being That's why I even love budgeting apps on your phone, that it's just with you all the time and you can adjust as you go. And I think that's that's really the key to it, is to know that this is a this is for your life, and so you get to create it. No one's having to tell you what numbers are, what dollar

amounts need to be in each category. It's up to you, Like you get to make that decision because it's about what you value, what you want to spend your money on. I like what you're describing about self discipline because I think that that is what it comes down to for a lot of us, and the way that this does intersect with our whole person. Budgeting isn't just about finances.

It's mental, emotional, relational, all of these pieces, and that sometimes it causes us to look at that part of ourselves and how content are we and are we doing this to kind of fill a different kind of void that requires another kind of solution to it. Yes, that's something I feel like for sure a lot of people can fall into, especially when you know Americans specifically, I feel like we are so heightened to believe, Okay, well

this thing is gonna make me happy. And so if that's your motivation of why you're spending money, it's because you think it's going to fulfill you, like you're saying, man, you're gonna be a rat and a wheel for the rest of your life because stuff, well, I think it's great and I think it's fun. I want you to have some great stuff. I just don't want your nice stuff to have you and it has you and your contentment, your identity, who you are, your happiness is all dictated

by the stuff that you own. Because that stuff it will never it will never fulfill you. And I think that's a really important point. Just to know what's your motivation.

Ask yourself why. I even ask myself if I'm buying something, Okay, if no one else saw it, what I still want it, Like if no one saw these pairs of shows, one saw me drive this car, Like whatever it is, whatever we purchase, you know, making sure that it really is for me or for my family, and that's it, because when you start with the motivation of other people as well,

that can get you into spending, going down to spending. Yeah, yeah, and I think we can rationalize that, Oh, no, one's going to see this instant pot but like social media, you know you're going to throw it in the background with some like meal prep to brag about how good you're doing on your diet. But like just to try and take social media out of the equation, like, yeah, would you have this if you weren't able to post

it on social Yes? Exactly right, Good word, Rachel. We've got other listeners, I'm sure who are on the opposite end of the spectrum, and we'd love to pick your brain. What about for the person who is hoarding their money and that might be keeping them from reaching financial goals, what kind of budgeting tips would you give to them? Yeah, well, yeah, I think that there's there's an element that we you

have to spend money right there. There is an element that you have to spend it in order to survive in today's economy, and so you're going to be forced to spend it to spend it, and so you have to be able to say, Okay, here's where it's going and still be being diligent. But the three basic things you can do with money is give it, save it, and spend it. And you want to do all three.

You kind of want to build all three money muscles, if you will, because if you just give everything away, that sounds noble, but it's really irresponsible if you have a family to feed, you know, bills to pay, unless obviously something, you know, God calls you to do something extreme. I'm not saying I'm not putting him in a box by any means, but you know that that's one thing you have to realize. Okay, yeah, you do have to take care of your household. If you save everything, and

you hoard everything, you're probably not a natural giver. Then that means you probably really do kind of see money more in a closed fist mentality, and you're not having any fun, You're not enjoying the fruits of your labor. You are, you're hoarding it probably for a you know, for a sense of security, and where some of that is very responsible, getting that emergency fund, saving for the future.

When you're just hoarding it over and over and over and you have money in the bank to spend, and you're just refusing to because out of probably a lot of fear of thinking, well, I don't want to go back maybe to a place that you were, maybe you hit a really hard time financially and you just think, man, I just want to have all this money. And again having an emergency fund very wise, that's what we teach, but that money is not going to solve that internal fear.

Eventually that still will be there, and so you kind of have to dig deeper into that. And then again on the same on the spending spectrum, Yeah, you can't spend everything you make or you're gonna be broke, like you're not gonna have anything. So really it's balance and you have to learn to do all three. And we naturally kind of way either towards a natural spender or a natural saver. And I'm more of a natural spender.

I can spend it. I enjoy it. Even my husband we're making a big purchase we saved up for and he was like, we got the total just two days ago and he was like, oh, he was like, man, are you sure you think this is good? I'm like yes. I was like, it's like let's just do it like I could do it so much easier, much more of

the of the saver. And it's a bit of that hoarding mentality, but you're they're doing it out of a safety and as I, let's end them, and so you kind of just you really have to find the balance of all three things, giving, saving, and spending. I love the simplicity of it, and I think you're you're dead on and saying that we've got to find the balance with it. I mean, there's there's a way that can seem good. It can sound so noble as you say to be saving or to be giving, but without the

other two, it falls flat. It doesn't actually get you to your financial goals. Yeah, I totally relate to that because that was kind of my issue and something I still to this day struggle with is that scarcity mentality. I'm afraid that the money I have will always be there, so I'm afraid to spend it on things even if

I need it. And it kept me for a while from paying off my debt, Like I would save the little bit of money I did have and not pay off my debt because I wanted to like have that money, like just in case, but totally not understanding all of the interests my student loans were building up. So it was this like mindset that I have and I still work on getting over to this day. Yeah it is. And again I think knowing your natural tendencies is is

really good. But I think anything on the extreme side, on again either side of the spectrum and starts to be unhealthy. And so I'm not saying yeah for the listener to change who you are because you're being a natural saver is a good thing. Like that, there is strength in that. And so you know, knowing kind of that balance, kind of going out you know more to that, to that middle ground is really really healthy. But we

all will have our natural bents. So when somebody is budgeting and getting started maybe with the cash envelope system or or the clip system, how can that make Because I know that's a really good way to like start to get into your budget is to just you know, carry cash and then once you spend it, it's gone and you can't bust your budget that way. But like

what if somebody isn't comfortable carrying cash all the time. Yeah, I mean I think you can either leave some envelopes at home and if you're running to the grocery store, you just grab that one. I think you can kind of finagle it. And really this is for people, really, I think when you're starting budgeting, it's just a great tactic. I think it's a good principle. When you physically have cash in your hands and you have to like go of it in order to gain something else, something happens

in your mind. I mean, your your entire purchase looks different versus just swiping a card, even a debit card, and taking that with you and taking home which you just bought. There's something there that that changes, that shifts, and so in order to give up something, I think

it's a good mental process to go through. And and so yeah, I think if you're uncomfortable carrying a lot of cash, maybe you just carry a little bit at a time, knowing that, okay, this will cover this purchase and I'm gonna go out and make and just planning a little bit more ahead. But studies have shown when you spend with cash, you do spend less. And you

it's kind of your accountability partner right there. You're like, wow, this is keeping me accountable that I cannot overspend and when it's gone, it's gone, and all those visual extremes because we're such in a digital world now, is really good to go to, at least when you first start budgeting, to really adopt that for a few months and and see how that works for you, which helps to also

build intentionality into how you spend that. Yeah, you will have to have some forethought in carrying cash and where are you going to go and leaving certain envelopes at home, but it does cause you to be more in tune with your spending habits, with where you're going to be going, with what you're going to be spending, So all around, I think it's a good exercise to do. Yeah, it helps definitely. The spontaneous purchases probably go down for Yeah, yeah, definitely, Rachel,

what about for someone? What suggestions do you have for someone after they break their budget? Right? We don't always do this perfectly, and sometimes it doesn't line up the way that we think, either by getting an unexpected bill or we've made a mistake when we went into Target and came out with twelve things instead of the one thing that we went into. What do we do after that? How do we pick ourselves back up. Yeah, I think you you have to give yourself chrice and no, life

is going to happen. It's not when it's gonna happen. It's going to happen. Things are gonna come up that you totally forgot about, or just spontaneous things like we were just invited. I don't know if I should say it's over quarantine, but it's true to a friend's house because their little daughters is turning four and she invited

two families over. If we were like, sure, we'll come, and it's a birthday and I kind of, you know, we want to get her a little gift, but we didn't budget for birthdays this month because we just figured that's not happening. So yeah, so figuring out, hey, it's so where do I where do we put that purchase? Even down to those those small purchases, things are going to happen. They're going to come up, And so I think the big key here is to realize it still

has to equal zero. Everything has to balance out because I will never encourage you to spend more than what you make or than what you have. So if you did go to Target and buy twelve things and you really don't have the money and you would to step for it, I'd probably tell you you need to go right back in the store and return it five minutes later. Yes,

exactly exactly, and so so yeah, i'd say that. But on the tactical level, again, if one, you know, bill came up, they're like, wow, you're gonna have to lower other categories. Or if it's an unexpectability you have to pay, and you have that thousand dollar emergency fund or an emergency fund in place, dip into that if you have to. If it's a large bill that you have to go and pay, you can dip into your emergency fund for that and then refund that obviously and get it back up.

But again, I think working within that monthly budget is really key of just balancing it and knowing things are going to happen. So maybe you have to lower the clothing envelope or the clothing category because something else came up, and that's what it is, and there's a level of sacrifice. But but I promise, like it sounds so like strict, but it really does give you this freedom of control.

Like I mean, you could go through your whole life just spending spending and having no clue where your money's going, and that's ultimately not going to let you win in the long term. And so what you're doing is you're kind of going through the growing pains of learning it. Because once you start budgeting, once you get out of debt, once you get that emergency fund in place, you start

to have more wiggle room. You actually do start to have margin to say, Okay, you know, we can add a little bit here and there, and it does completely busted. But especially those that are are sacrificing to get out of debt, it is a tough time to really really be strict and buckle down. But it's for a short period of time. You know, you're not going to live like that forever. Eventually you get to live like no

one else and give like no one else is our hope. Yeah. Yeah, it's a great example of putting your big girl pants on again. Of there's not permission to say, oops, I spent too much. I guess I just went over this month. No, oops, you spent too much. Now how you're gonna fix it? And now you maybe can't go out to dinner this week, or we can't do the entertainment we thought we were going to do or whatever the case is. It's it's not as if I get to go over and and

now I have permission for that. That's this is part of maturing. Yeah, and I love how you refer to it as control, because really it does seem restrictive, but you are in control of the restriction. And studies have shown that people who have a strong locust control have can weather storms easier, they can bounce back from failures easier. Over the trajectory of their life, they will make more

and be more financially secure. And so even though this restriction is feels really bad in the moment, you are strengthening your internal locus of control so that you can succeed more in the future. And that's really what the budget and saying no to yourself and like you know, change, returning your you know, eleven items to target is like really doing. It's putting you in controls, yes, And on

the flip side, it makes spending money enjoyable. So you do have you know, a clothing budget, or you do have a budget to go to target, then you get to spend freely. You don't get to say, okay, all bets are off. I can spend whatever I want. But that money you do have to spend, you spend it without guilt, without shame, without questioning. It's already plans for us. You can actually and joy it, enjoy those purchases so much more knowing that you've planned for them, and man

that that's the satisfaction as the spender. That's what I love about it. Sales that are going on in every store that I love. I'm getting emails constantly and I'm like, Okay, I say no to night out of ten, but maybe I do want a cute new shirt from Jay Crewe or whatever. Well, I have money in my clothing budget. If the sale is good, if I have the money for it, sure I'll order it. That's great, and I

can do it and enjoy it and it's fine. It doesn't completely take me out, and so that's that's the good part of it, is that you can spend without stress and without questioning. Speaking of fun, freedom, satisfaction and stress free things. I think that's time for 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. That's built buff Bill, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week, all right, Rachel. Every week we invite our listeners and guests to share with us their favorite bill, and so we asked you ahead of time if you had one for us, and you do, would you share it with us? Yes, we're actually just talking about this place, but are all of our favorites Target? Yeah? Yeah. I went and I had to get some baby stuff. I had to pick up a couple of groceries that

I needed. I don't want to go to grocery store. I had a couple of things and in my head, I was okay, I kind of tattily up things in my head when I'm doing this, and I'm like, okay, that's probably gonna crost us. And I went and somehow I just did the math wrong and it was so lower than I was expecting, and I was like, this is the best Target experience of my life. So that

was it was a highlight for sure. I love the one time in your life where you go into Target and you're like surprised by howllo, the bill that's legit happen doesn't happen very often. That speaks to a lifetime of building contentment and sticking to a budget that you get to spend less than you thought you would at Target. That's amazing math and not doing math right in my head. Yeah, or not conquering second grade mathematics either way, Thank you math. Oh,

thanks so much Rachel for sharing that bill. If you all listening want to submit your bill of the week, whether it's a lower bill from Target than you anticipated, or a bill that you paid off or your friend named Bill, please submit it to us at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill will listen to it, m hm, and we'll we'll laugh with you. And now it's same for delightening Pip. You that was Rachel. You're you're getting

real acquainted with the podcast right now. You didn't know how many sound effects there were down the volume as we make our noises. So for today's Lightning Round, we are going to all share our most recent budgeting flop and how we recovered from it. So these aren't like old time like happened a few years ago, like these are recent, so we're not surprise surprise, Yes we will, we'll let you start. Okay, mine was one food went way over the grocery budget in April, thank you Quarantine.

And because I was like, I'm going to cook at home more and we would save so much money by cooking at home. Well, some of the recipes I decided to make call for the randomness, random little things. But yet you know it's just add it up, added up instead of just my staples that I go to that I kind of know what's gonna be happening. Yeah, I

went off. I went off the rails. And by the time that happened, I realized I had a whole other grocery shopping week to come, and I had already gone over, and I thought, wow, that is that is something Quarantine. You just ate my entire um. So yeah, we we cut out. Honestly, we still had had a babysitting line item in our budget, but we haven't been going anywhere. So we took kids babysitting money that usually pay a babysitter and put it in our food category. Kids Christie's

not coming over this week. We got herbs has got to eat. We got smoked sea salt. That's it. Six dollars from some random little container. I thought, what did I do this? What did I do? Yeah, you gotta have some enjoyment in quarantine. And usually that's food, I know, snack snacks, snack. Kids. Man, they just eat everything all the time. And I'm like, wow, so that's it for sure. Yeah, I'm I have a one year old, he just turned one, and like he's starting to eat regular food, and well

he does. That's all he eats now. And it's like, man, I thought I had enough dinner for me, but now I have to share it with you, Like it's thrown off my food budget. All right, so mine, I'm gonna get real raw here. So in April, I was fifty shades of anxious. All of the social media and the news was just making me anxious so like and that's not normally me, so like for our people that deal with that all the time, Like I really I'm feeling

for you. But I was reading about layoffs in all of these industries and came across like our local newspaper and how they had to lay off more people. And all of my friends at my former job were all journalists, and so I just like felt really intensely for them. And so I was like oh my gosh, like I need to I need to support local journalism and to buy a I need to buy a subscription to the newspaper.

And like, I don't read the newspaper. And so without even like thinking or looking at the budget or anything, I just like dropped seventy seven dollars on on a newspaper subscription. And I telled Travis and he was like, you don't read the newspaper. But I was just I was crying, and I was like, so sad about layoffs. And so so what we did is I got the

refund and we are giving that. We've already started to give that money and more to actual people instead of just one company, but like people who are affected by layoffs, like across different businesses. So I'm not wasting my money on something I'll never use, but it's still going to support the reason that initially I had spent it, so and it's doing it a better job of it. I was with you when that happened. That was a on opportunity to see how you and Travis navigated that together.

Oh my gosh, you were He was not thrilled, but you guys got through it. Yeah, No, he was right right, so it's not thrilled. So for me, similar to you, Rachel, it's food. It's always, always, always food. I am a bit food motivated, but yet simultaneously it's so overwhelming for me to have to think about food all the time.

And I realized, especially right now with what's going on with COVID and quarantine, that the pendulum swings for me that sometimes I do fantastic and we don't spend a dime eating out, and I'm really good about meal planning and prepping and all of that, and then I'll get to the next pay period and I'll be like, all right, I did so well. I'm so done with cooking, and now all we're doing is ordering out. And that happened.

The pendulum swung, and I thought that I could reward myself with just going out all the time, and that blew our food budget. Thankfully, we're not going or doing anything else, so we could borrow from our gas budget when we have for gas, because that has cost us a total of thirty dollars each month. So that's great. And I'm aiming at the radical middle at this point, realizing that I need both, so not swinging so far to the right or to the left, but doing some

meals at home, some take out. But what I also realize is helpful for me is to do a combination. So, for instance, I might pick up a couple of chicken tenders from Chick fil A and add it to my own salad, so I feel like I've gotten out, because that's part of it for me, is feeling like a bit of a reward and something that I didn't have to make myself, but yet that only cost me like five dollars, and I can add it to my own salads or sandwiches, and that feels easier to me. So

that's my radical middle with food budget it. I love that, and I did the same when we cooked all of April beginning of May. I was like, we're going out every night heading for a Chick fil A. We're heading for you, so get ready. All the lines are so so long a Chick fil A these days, but they go through them, it's like so fast, it's insane. Clients, they got it, they got it. Yes, yes, Oh my gosh. Well, Rachel, thanks so much for hanging out with us today. It's

been super cool. We didn't get to meet you when we were in Nashville and back in October, you know, because you were like having a baby or something, but super glad to hang out with you. Now, what do you have going on? Where can people find you? And well they know where they can find you, but like, what do you have going on for people? Yeah, well we always have the very teal Cruise show going with podcasts and the video versions. You can check that out

on YouTube and Facebook and wherever you listen to podcasts. Yeah, we're kind of just doing lots of content around this COVID stuff. So if you need help you can do. We're given away actually a fourteen day free trial of

Financial Peace University, which is our nine lesson course. So you can go to day Ramsey dot com slash hope and sign up for there just binge watch some videos if you need help and guidance on what to do with your money, how to get out of debt, how to budget like we've been talking about, and then everything from gosh, insurance to real estate, I mean, anything you need to know when it comes to personal finance, we have it for you. So make sure to check that

out as well. Yeah, I checked it out recently, and yeah, you can get a lot in just fourteen days, So definitely highly recommend that Dave Ramsey dot com slash hope so cool awesome by having me on. I so appreciate it. Yes, yeah, thanks all right and recording well, I'm not going to end the recording, but awesome, perfect rapp Thank you guys so much. I appreciate it. Yeah, of course, we appreciate you taking the time and and hopefully at least I

will get to see you maybe in Orlando and August. Good, so yes, I know if it all continues on hopefully hopefully hopefully awesome, awesome, awesome, thank let us know if there's anything on our hands that we can help you guys with. Perfect for sure. Thanks, enjoy the rest of your day. That was awesome. I'm so glad that we could get Rachel on the show and uh have a really good conversation with her. A treat and an honor.

So we're very glad and pleased to share this with you all and excited to hear your feedback and what your takeaways were from this interview. Yeah, and whatever side of the pendulum you swing on with personal finance, Like, all of Rachel's tips were super factual and can help anybody with their budgets, So don't assume budgets are not for you. But a plan is so essential for meeting any goal or even realizing goals that you may not

have known you had. But as you start to plan and budget more, your mind starts to open up to the possibilities in your finances and it can create goals for you. So we really hope that you will take these tips to heart and make budgets that work for you and that are sustainable for you. Yeah. I love

this simplicity. I think it's always a good reminder of Okay, if I feel like I'm stuck in the weeds or the woods somewhere, I can come back to the basics of give, save, spend, look at this like a guardrail, be realistic, plan ahead like that. It's it's so helpful to kind of realign back to the middle, back to these foundational pieces and then go from there. M M exactly. So thanks for listening, and uh, we want to thank you for also sharing the podcast for reviewing it like

this awesome review. It's from Fancy Care Again, which I as a former figure skater kind of especially appreciate that name. And she says financial literacy made easy. It happens to be five stars. She says, I've been looking for resources to become more financially literate as a woman in my late twenties and have found this is a fantastic resource for getting started and feeling empowered. They tackle a lot of different topics and everything feels especially relevant and important

in the era of COVID. So yeah, that's trudful. I think that we've been hoping that that's the case. I mean, first of all, putting out some relevant content right now as we all are walking through this. But I think frugality in general is just a needed topic right now for all of us, because even if we are able to hold down jobs right now, it highlights the fact that whoa, anything could happen, and I need to get serious about my budget and my spending and my savings

and my debt payoff and my financial goals. So really pleased to be offering relevant content. Definitely some fun. We are friends, and there will be fun and banter sprinkled in frugal fun, fantastic, fabulous friends and alliteration. And definitely we also want to thank all of you are friends

who are sharing these episodes. So whether you're tagging us on Facebook or Instagram, when you share the latest episode, we are going to thank you by entering you into our drawing for every five tags and reviews, so this is going into the review pot two we get each month. We're going to be giving away a ten dollar Amazon gift cards, so it's one for every five, so your odds are pretty good. And we do give these out, yeah, we do. We literally do. People have gotten Amazon gift

cards in their inbox from us. Yeah, we just do them like way after we record, so like it's hard to talk about them in every show, so keep leaving us. Those reviews on iTunes are Stitcher and sending them, sending a screenshot to Frugal Friends Podcasts at gmail dot com, and don't forget to tag us at Frugal Friends podcast on Social perfect. Thanks everybody, do your next week do. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syrian. Oh um, how's your dinosaur so good? If you're on

the YouTube, you'll be able to see my dinosaur. If we share video, I think we might just do voices, but there is a dinosaur that Jen wanted to share with everybody. If Facebook community group. We can show a picture of you and your dinosaur, which is actually Kai's first birthday gift. Yeah, it's not my dinosaur, which I guess makes it a little better. But kauys, he's tapping the mic. Um got he got a dinosaur for his first birthday from his godmother, and and it's still in

my office, as are all of his gifts. Because that's the foregal thing to do, is give him a gift at a time in a way that a one year old can enjoy gifts exactly. And it's not just because I'm too lazy to put them away or anything. Um, I'm doing it intentionally. We're not giving it, you know, one at a time. It's a parenting technique. It has nothing to do with the organization. Nope. Um, so just me and Dinah over here, sitting with our floor full

of gifts, looking cute, feeling cute, feeling cute. Might delete later, No, we won't delete this. Bye bye,