Paying Off $33K of Debt While Living on Half of Your Income w/ Elle Martinez

It is we we love debt payoff stories and not only is a debt pay it's like a double whammy, like a boom boom debt payoff story and tips of how to live on less. So two things we know. One really packs a punch and els fantastic, so really excited to introduce her to you all. Yeah, and today's show it does focus on dual income households mostly for the strategy, but we talk a lot about how you can use it as a single person as well if you don't have a second full time income to help you.

So regardless, you guys love a good death half story. A lot of tips in here, and it can be helpful for anybody who has relationships with people in general, people are in your life. Absolutely, yeah, there's there's something for everybody here. But first, our sponsors the seven Day

No Spend Challenge. We love challenges, you know us. So if you feel like you spent a little bit too much this summer, on back to school season or anything else and you want to step back and reset your spending habits, we have created a free that's right, free mini workbook that will help you to do that through

a seven day no spend challenge. So the workbook helps you to plan, execute, and reflect on the challenge so that after seven days you know what you need to work on and you have an action plan to do so. So if this sounds like something you need, you want, you have to have again it's free, go to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash free get yours do it change your life? Change your life. Today's episode is also

brought to you by social media. Podcasts are very fun, but if we had a dollar for every time somebody mixes up, we'd be able to buy Jill a second vite a mix So what I even do with it? So it's thrilling. We are posting more regularly on Instagram, so but you can see your faces, but also sharing tips from these episodes, so that when you here's something and you think, oh, that's a that's a good tip, and then you go do stuff and you forget it,

don't worry. Follow us on Instagram. We are going to be reminding you of those things, and then we're also going to tell you kind of where to find the lovely people who write the articles we talked about and

all of this stuff. So if you are on Instagram and you want to see some reinforcement from these episodes in the form of short bids and infographics and just visual stuff that you can't really get on a podcast, follow us at Frugal Friends podcast on Instagram, and you know the occasional selfie of all the frozen pizza Jenn and I eat. Yeah, probably probably a lot of that too, if you're into it, even if you're not in it. So today, like we said, we're talking with El Martinez.

She is a couple's money expert. She hosted the Couple of Money show for many years and now hosts the Simplify and Enjoy podcasts, which is very much aligned with all the stuff we talk about. On Frugal Friends and so we we just talked about simple living last week. She talks a lot about that. So she is also a longtime friend and great human being. So we are excited to share her greatness with you. So, without further ado, here's L Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. L. We

are super stoked to have you on. Oh, I'm thrilled to be here, especially talking about my favorite subject, getting people on their debt free journey. Getting on the journey, being on the journey, rapping up the journey, starting a new journey. It's all good. I mean, there's so many things. I don't know if you guys feel this way, but I feel like if you could do that, if you could you know, take care of that high interest, didn't get that out of the way. There's so many opportunity

movie set open up. It's like a load off your shoulders. Yeah, and there's ways so many ways to do it too. Like we we talked about getting on the journey and you know, being on the journey, but staying on and like making the habit changes on that journey that lasts far beyond paying off debt. We don't typically focus as much on those, and so I feel like your story really offers habits that can be used long after paying

off debt too. Yeah, absolutely, because I feel like you have to appreciate the season of life you're in, whether that's what's going on with your family, but also personally with your financial goals. You know, there's times when you're gonna have to put the pedal to the metal and

knock out that high interest it. But then when we're talking about low interest student loans, then there's a little more wiggle room how aggressive depending on what your holistic goals are do you want to be with those doubts? So so much freedom and permission in it. I love it, and we all, Jen and I our listeners are suckers for just a good debt free story, so we are

so looking forward to getting into that. But then we also love all of the tips and other ways people approach finances just to help us look at it from all aspects and facets. So for so many reasons, we are just thrilled to have you today. And I'm wondering if we can just start with the nitty gritty, the who, what, why? When? How of your debt? What was it? How much? And what was the catalyst for you for deciding I'm going

to get out of debt? All right? So I'll let you know, just straight off the bat, I had the trifecta of debt. I had the credit cards, I had the car loan and the student loan. And the catalyst was a conversation with my then fiance now husband when we got engaged. Now I realized how awkward wars was. That we got engaged. We were in college, so we're both the typical broke college kids. I mean, we knew all the happy hour specials, the fifty cent tacos, the

half all drinks everywhere, and we did that. So we thought, this is going to be an easy conversation. And we had talked to friends who were happily married, you know, years ahead of us, and they kept saying, have you talked about the money? And I thought, all right, we'll do that. So we set a date like did you know, thinking this was going to be a quick thing, and we discovered very quickly how different we approached our finances

and what was going on with our debts. So on my side, like I mentioned, I had those three types of debts all together, was over thirty thou dollars. I think it was like thirty three in the end, thirty three tho dollars. And my husband had one day. It was one semesters of student loans and he was going to pay it off after the six month grace period, so he was completely on a cash system, like no credit cards. Even to this day, he doesn't have a

credit card to his name. That's just you know, different, right for him. Yeah, I mean, and it was not that we're old, but I mean it was different than we stayed in Stay and we really had the supporter of for family, which we're grateful for. That helps lower some of the expenses. Scholarships and we hustled like crazy for scholarships. But even on my side, I had about twenty thousand was the actual student loans. So that was

the catalyst was we need to get this done. And so I immediately set a goal to pay off at least the credit cards by the time we got married, so that was less than a year. I had to get that knocked out. I felt like maybe it's a competitive side of me. I was like, oh no, no, I don't want to be that person. I'm going to get this knocked out and that's how you know, I started discovering personal finance blogs and at that time there were only like single guys that were talking about it,

which you know, it's great to get those tips. But then I started journaling and and that kind of you know run way me into being a personal finance author and writer. Amazing was was your fiance at the time, I mean husband? Now? Was he a motivating factor for you when you kind of realized, oh, he's not bringing as much debt to the table as I am, like that competitive side. Is that what you're saying, Yeah, it was. It was interesting because again it's two people coming together

and we had different financial situations. So I was raised by a single mom and she wasn't heavy into debt, but it was you know at times where she would put something on the credit card, pay it back at a certain point, but it was if you could afford, you're okay. And he came from a family where they had a family business and so they were more conservative because they had employees that you know, we're relying on them,

and so it was a different mindset. But I will say on my side, I was doing a little bit of everything. So yes, I had debt, but I also started investing one of my first jobs while in college. They offered that opportunity and I took it, and yes it was small, but it was something that I was contributing towards. And I was at that time earning more

money than him. He had an internship and then eventually got a job right out of college, but I was working part time at a doctor's office, making decent money, but more than him. So we just came from two different financial backgrounds and situations. But yeah, that competitive side. I was like, no, no, no, no, I got I gotta, I gotta change this. And it's funny, you know, I have a podcast. I didn't realize until years later when

I interviewed him about it because he was so calm. Well, we did that talk and he was like, I didn't know you had that debt, and I was like, what am I getting myself into? But he he said he appreciated that I was open about it and it wasn't like it was gambling debt or you know, something that was a red flag. It was mostly student loans. But that was an eye opener for him as well. That's so similar to our story because I had more debt than my We waited till we were engaged to have

the talk. And I don't know if my then fiance now has been knew how much debt I had, but I had about I had over fifty between student loans and a car, and he was bringing in like just twenty four and he was like committed he was going to pay it off as soon as the grace period, like was that he was going to pay it off. And I was like, mmm, I don't know. I think I want to live my life. Um, but yeah, I mean very quickly obvious Slee. I changed my story. But yeah,

that was super super similar story. Yeah. Same, I had all the student loans. Yeah you did too. Yes, oh boy, where we start a club? Yes, but now look at us. You know it's awesome. It's great on this side, Yes it is. It stands out to me just the transition period and how that allowed for room for reflection if we let it. I think sometimes we can blow past some of those milestones and I don't really want to look at that. It's not necessary, like where this is

a high point in my life. I don't want to talk about how hum things. But allowing some of those milestones, transition, pivotal points to be that reflective time to look at is there anything that I want to shift? Are we both good with this? How do we readjust and realign?

So there's definitely a peace in there that I think we can all take with us of how can we look at these things, at these different markers throughout life and allow them to make room for growth and change and a little bit of competition maybe yeah, especially you know, my situation was my fiance. But if friends, you know I in your circle of friends, you can have these conversations and it is eye opening because we approach money

so differently and how we look at debts. I have friends that are definitely where my husband was years ago, where it's like I don't even mess with that, it's just too much trouble, and others who are in the same boat as myself. So, you know, having these conversations about how we feel about money and how we handle about money, I know feels awkward at first, but it's been eye opening. And you know, I have conversations with

my friends. Probably I'm a little more engaged since this is what I do, but you know, we always appreciate bouncing ideas off of each other too. Yeah, and it gives people permission to be different with their money, because some people want to be different, but they think, oh, this is the way everyone is. It's impossible to be different.

But when we have those conversations with our friends and maybe family, but definitely friends, and for sure, if you're dating somebody seriously, maybe have the conversation before you get engaged. But we give we give people permission to be different, to be who they want to become if that's something they've been waiting for. So it's not just beneficial for us, it can be beneficial for the other people as well, especially with paying off your debt. There's so many different

ways you can approach it. And I know there's the you know not mention the names the gazelle intense, and I feel like there's a time and a season for that. But sometimes depending on you know, what are your career goals, what's going on with the family, and what type of debt you're dealing with, you might choose a different route. Yeah, you don't have to be intense like intense animals the whole time or at all last for long. I just learned recently lions sleep about twenty hours a day as

much as slots sleep. But they're productive and the productive in hours, but they sleep as much as slots. This blew my mind. I'm a changed woman now. She really is. She really does. So speaking of being productive in the four hours a day that you are awake, if that is you so like for you, L what made the most significant impact when it came to paying off your dad? I mean, there's so many different things in our situation, you know, with the credit card. The next one was

taking care of the car loan. I had gotten a bad car loan. So I will tell you this. I got a car loan because I felt like I deserved it. I worked hard. I was doing school, full time, working, you know, volunteer, you're taking care of my grandma. I was like, I need a reliable car. The interest rate was ridiculous, double digits, and I needed a co signer, which was like the sign you should not get the

car low. So to give you an idea of why I felt like this dept was definitely had to go a S A P. We talked about it and for us, we decided that we were going to shift how we approached our finances. And we were gonna live off of one income and then use the second one towards our goals. And there were two reasons for that. One was the debt itself, but then two through again, what's the real

life situation you're going through. I had gotten a great paying internship, which is rare, but I didn't know when it was gonna end, if it was going to continue beyond the semester. Thankfully it did. So we wanted to make sure could we cover our expenses if that internship ended at the end of the semester or you know, maybe the next one. And I have to say, looking back, that was the biggest change that we made that made a huge difference. It forced us to get creative with

our expenses, like where are we going to live? We actually found this adorable. I say adorable. Now our friends are like, this had no amenities, But get this. We were in Norfolk, Virginia. We were across the street from the Chesapeake Bay. It was a one bedroom. Yeah, a little shabby, but we literally could walk to the beach,

just cross the street and be at the beach. And that's really what we needed and wanted, you know, we wanted that low key vibe, and it kept our expenses low instead of being maybe closer to downtown where they had a ton of restaurants. Again, could be a ton of temptations, So you gotta look at the situation from your perspective. That was a huge help. But even if you're not married, I would say again, looking at the income streams, you could have a nine to five that

you keep all are necessary and essential expenses. But if you pursue side hustles like I did at the time at various times off and on, that could be dedicated towards your financial goals, whether you know it's paying off debt or saving up for something that you really really want. Yeah. I appreciate the ways that the strategy can be shifted to accommodate for people in different situations. And that's just

it's creativity. It's looking at where is their money coming in, where's their room to make more, How can we decrease expenses, and how can we really strategize where that money is going. Yeah, I mean that's we used a similar um. I don't think we even set out right like, oh, we're going to live on one income and use the other to path debt. That's kind of just how it happened, but it served us so well, especially when we bought our house,

because we were still in this mindset. So while we both who start like income to you know, qualify, we only used the one income to decide how much we wanted to spend. So we are still in this living on one income mindset. And it's how like, even after paying off debt, I was able, like when I lost my job, I was able to just not get another and to just do like freelance writing full time and to be able to like build that up into another

full time income. And like how we don't worry about paying for daycare now because all of our expenses are on one income. So I could, you know, use use mine to pay for daycare if I wanted to, But it's we still live on one income. And so it's just gives you so many possibilities so far after paying off debt. And I love that it's not just reserved.

It's obviously easier when you have like a full time second income, but you can use it in a you know, a one person household and just on a smaller scale with a side hustle. It's definitely a cool like challenge every month to see, Okay, how much can I put towards my debt. I'm only going to put what I can make my side hustle and doesn't motivate you like a you know that competitive side to see if you can do more, like how to alter your income to get yours? Yeah, like and I there's a lot of

similarities between your and my story. But yeah, having a purpose for your money and especially like side hustles. I love that because it was felt great. One of the side hustles I did was again I try to balance not just making money but enjoying it. Was working at a local AMPI theater so I could go and you know, listen to the concert in the music and I worked with the food department and it was great because the manager would let us come in a little bit early

sound check. You know, so your favorite bands, as long as you weren't being a creeper, you knowing a little too long. That's the rule, creeper, It's so far in life. Just don't be a creeper. You'll have so many wins that way. So, you know, it was a way for me to instead of paying money for a concert ticket, I got to see a little bit behind the scenes and earn some extra cash on the side, so you know,

being creative with side hustles as well. And then at the end of the night, I had an extra you know, a hundred dollars or whatever with tips that's going towards you know, my goal knocking out that car Loan. It felt like a double win. M hmm. We're both really inspired. I think about with this and well, I think to something that I want to highlight with what you're saying is it sounds like a shift from what you did

for your nine to five job. It was something that is enjoyable but also brings in money, and what a great comba, what a win win. Those are the types of scenarios that, man, if we can get them with a side hustle, fantastic because then it's not going to feel like we're working ourselves to the bone. If we get to exercise a different aspect of our personhood, get to engage with new people, or get to see free concerts and be a part of people's after work life,

but yet being paid. So I love all of the thinking outside of the box things that you're describing, and and some of the transitions that you that you made in the midst of your transition into marriage. And I'm curious what you would describe as some of the biggest impact ones. And you talked about your housing situation. I'm curious if there's any others and what was most helpful to you in this step payoff journey. I would have to say definitely kind of gamifying it and focusing on

the big ones. You know, you hear like watch the lot. Who cares about the lot? The latte is not killing you, it's the bigger expenses. How can you optimize again finding that balance of what you enjoy while you know, keeping those expenses reasonable. So my husband and I are foodies. We enjoy good food, and yes, we still go out. Actually, during the pandemic, we spent more eating out because we

wanted to support local businesses. And you're not grateful, Yeah, we're grateful to be in that position, right, We're grateful to be now in a position where we can maybe you know, spend more still within reason. But then we found ways to improve our cooking skills at home because when we eat out, we go all allow apps to

deserve we want the experience. But then there were times we realized, you know what, we're going out, we're really not getting much out of this, So maybe we need to cut out certain types of like going out to lunch at those fast food places. It's not really giving us the joy or you know, the winds. We feel like having friends over and my husband um smokes ribs or he smokes duck or you know, poured whatever, having them over and we're having like ten people over and

we're doing different styles. Hey, we just saw this, you know, on online. It's like this Mediterranean herby kind of smoke flavor. We're gonna throw that on there, like upping our cooking skills to the point, like we want to be foodies, but we want to be frugal foodies, so not sacker. So I'm not gonna tell anybody like, Okay, just eat bread and butter and you'll be fine, or you know, cut it to the bone. I'm saying, find the joys, like the things you enjoy spending and is there a

way to be smarter about it? So we eat less meat, but we eat better cuts of meat. So Rebby's when they're on sale, we grab them. So we have friends over there getting ribby versus and you know when we first started with the sirloin steakes or the fajita states and so forth. So looking at your three biggest expenses housing, food, and transportation and then making sure that we're we're spending a lines with our values. I mean, it sounds kind of cliche, but I think that's made the biggest impact.

And for every family it's going to be different. So that's why I don't tell people this is what you need to cut out, this is what you need. It's more like, here's what worked for us, and why how does that translate to you? But it does help to hear you describe. Listen, we enjoy food. We enjoy going out, but that doesn't mean we enjoy all food and all going out. Sometimes it is better to eat at home and have friends over. My goodness, ell, are you my

kind of frugal friend rugal food? I love it. If you lived right down the road smoking ribs, I'm there. We make few friends there, and we also homebrew from time to time. We've homebrew time to time. Some beer. We love Kraft beer. That's sure what the scene is where you guys are at, but it's a big thing in Raleigh. So that's what we love to do. And for one of my friend's wedding gifts years ago, I actually didn't need, which is a honey wine and it sounds like it'd be super sweet, but it's like a

dry white wine wine. And I gave that as one of her wedding gifts. It was custom blend. That sounds great, just like it's thing, that's the thing. It wants to get married again. I know, end me your your anniversary date because I need I need about like six months to get it right, so perfect. If you want a beer, it's it's a month. So let me know. I love that,

and I love I love that you're you. You touched on values based spending and how you discovered what a hundred percent values based spending not just like this kind of fits with my values. Like you noticed, Yes, we are foodies and so we love going out to eat,

but maybe going out to lunch that fits. It's maybe like fifty pcent fits and fulfills it fift So we can get rid of that so that we can have more experiences that truly a hundred percent fulfill the value and that saves money, and I think that's something people often get caught up with in values based spending. They're like, well, if I'm spending them of values, I'm gonna be overspending every month. But you don't value as much stuff as

you think you do. So it's really like worth it to do the hard task of figuring out, okay and dissecting your expenses, Like what in this is really fulfilling one of my core values, one of my greatest pleasures, And what about it is not? And how can I get everything I want in this expense and not any of the things that I don't care as much about? Yeah,

And that kind of reminds me. That's one of the things I love about money challenges is that you experiment because you're not going to know until you test certain things out, like do I miss this or is this something I can't live without? Like the no spend challenge is really helpful because then you realize, well, I really like the social part of eating out, um, so maybe I can have friends over and I love good food. You know, it could be sushi, it could be brasili,

you know, Brazilian barbecue, whatever you like. And so experimenting with different challenges and not all of them are going to work, or you might do a challenge for two weeks and you're like, yeah, I realize this is way too important to for me to give up. But then you get a value out of that because then you know this is where I do want to redirect my money, and you can use that as motivation, like once I'm deat free, Look how much money can go towards us. Absolutely,

it can build a skill for you. You've like you said, you gained more cooking skills for others. That might happen in another area as you get creative, but you still honor your values. So so watch good stuff in this thank you. We love we love challenges. We're borderline obsessed. So um L, all right, let's get real in this

last question. If you could go back and change anything about your debt payoff journey, what would it be, If anything, I feel like I felt I had to go to the bone, like cut my expenses to the bone, and that's what I did with the credit cards, Like I did my side hustles and I cut my expenses. I

also had the wedding. You know, we're contributing towards the wedding, but you've got to consider like the journey should be as good as the destination or that what you're going for, and understand that if you want something sustainable, it's better to have that that buffer within you. Don't you don't want to burn out either. You know you're working too much. You don't want to mentally be sick and tired of cutting your expenses that you just quit and then you

go overboard. You want to find a pace that matches you and it is be comfortable. It's going to shift like in certain season of life. Oh yeah, I can go hard on you know, working as much as I want to. But now that I have two kids, I'm looking for opportunities like within my business, what can I expand services. I'm not looking to you know, leave the house and spend time commuting and so forth, ignoring the pandemic. Uh,

you know, situation. This is what's important to me, which is at the end of the day, you know, beyond the numbers, beyond paying off the debts, it's building a habit so that your life revolves around the people in projects that you love, because it's about the time, not about the money. So many quotable quotes. The journey should be just as good as the destination, find the page

that works for you. Absolutely. Yeah, because we're talking about your debt payoff story that was it sounds as though pre children and resolutely that's going to shift if if you're still in the midst of debt payoff wall having kids, or you're starting it with kids, it looks different. Yeah, you're gonna make different choices. Um, and we we appreciate that, like we love that. We're at a point, you know, the motivation to payoff debt is I can build a

business from home. You know, my husband is a software interrogewer. He actually likes working with an office. I know, like in the Internet people are like, oh no, you can need to be an avoid the nine to five. He loves it because he just wants to program. He doesn't want to be, you know, managing and wearing the different hats you do as an entrepreneur. But he gets to

work from home doing that. So you know, you get this leverage, you get these options, and then you can put the pieces in place however you want, you for your family or you know, if it's just you just you know, your life mm hmm. You know what else puts all the pieces into place. Every single week, every single week. It is the building block of my life, at the cornerstone that 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. That's bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week. L Every week we invite a listener or our guest of honor to share with us there bill, and we would love to hear yours. Okay, okay. So this kind of connects to what we've been talking about, like the

options that open up after you pay off debt. I checked this month, and you know with our bills are electric bills. They'll tell you compared to last year, how much it was, and it was lowered dramatically. So let me tell you the story. Uh. I know, Jen, you're in Florida, but you understand you Okay, you under you. Guys understand like hot like air conditioning here is necessary, Like it is going to be past a hundred with

the heat indecks. So every summer we have an older house, it just would be you know, and I did all the tricks, you know, insulated everything, and the bell would be so high. Well, living off that one income and then with the pandemic, stay at home and then the tax benefits, we went ahead and replace like half the windows in our house. Like it's a sixty year old house. I mean it's really cute. I love it, a little minut mid century style, but like those windows just were

falling apart. Our bill went down like seventy five compared to last year in one month just with that. So it's it's great like having the habit of paying off debt morphed into having a habit of saving. And so when there's opportunities that come up, whether it's you know, tax credit or just the fact that you're saving. There was a deal with window. And of course you also know how to like do research. That's one of the skills when you do, you know, deet payoff your research

and you call and you get estimates. I'm really happy with this. And it's better from the environment too. M such a good long term thing. Just insulation and no matter which way you look at it, for for bugs not getting into your home, for cooling, for heating, because I imagine there are some months where you would use some heat. So yeah, just for so many reasons, it's not great to your home. Now that is going to

bring more value to it. Yeah, and seventy five might not seem like a lot, but if you think about about six months of the year, the winter in the summer, that is just the dollars of savings which we might use for vacation or you decide I'm going to bruise something different, like you have so many options that fancy. Yeah,

that's so funny. We also got new windows um last year, and yeah, we did the Travis did all of the calling all of the window companies in the county and every and brought all of them over at different times and literally they would always ask without fail, and I was actually super surprised and impressed and took notes. He would they would ask what did the last person quote you? And he would say and they would quote under literally

every single time. And I was like, just keep having them over, come on, like we could do this funny thirty times. Yeah, so we and we went to this with the second lowest, so not the lowest, but the second lowest because because you got to ask around because sometimes the person that's the lowest doesn't understand, like there's certain things that may be different about your house. Like we have an older house, so there's certain the materials

are different. You know, we had wood windows which were beautiful, but they were rotting on the outside. We discovered, you know, so getting someone who's knowledgeable. Yeah, but like that is a fantastic tip if you have your own house, just call at minimum three. Every always amazes me. It always like how different it could be. When we finished our

basement to become an office space. I'm talking about there's a difference of eight thousand for the estimates or from the first from the very first quote we got got it down to almost half of that. Yeah, take the time, it's worth it. And that was a I mean, that's a that's a tip everyone can use. That's a tip and a bill. I promise you that will save more than the latte. Absolutely absolutely. And but here here's the second tip of the week, and Jill is to thank

for this one. I ordered a cappuccino yesterday, which is cheaper than a latte. So I'm calling this financial freedom and financial intelligence is going to now in my mind be referred to as the cappuccino factor, a little bit less than the it's just a little bit less. You got a brand that you put it on a T shirt. David Back would be totally fine with that. I think is a little bit less milk. But it's basically a latte.

It's a hot cup of milk. Yeah. Uh So, if you want to submit your bill of the week, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. Whether it is your cappuccino factor or your latte factor, we want to hear about it. And now it's time for learning right And I love doing this with guests. It's the best. So you always it always starts out like you know, relatively professional, and then we just end by yelling at you and it's it's all good. Well mean, I feel

like I'm with friends, you know. By the end of it, like I get you start doing, you develop into weird. We found a good pay goes and the journey was as good as the destination, I hope. Yes. So for today's round robin lightning round, we are each going to go around and say kind of one income increasing thing that we did to pay off debt. Maybe it was the most impactful. Maybe it was had you know, most money,

or maybe it was the most fun. But yeah, an idea that somebody else who's paying off debt now might want to think about trying. So l we always um allow our guests to go first. Thank you. I feel special. So kind of what I mentioned with the amphi theater, Like sometimes seasonal jobs, especially in the summer spring. Look if not an amphitheater your city, Like, what social activities do they have downtowns? They have a lot of festivals

here and Raleigh. What organization parks and wreck that you can do as a side hustle that kind of allows you to enjoy what makes your community special and at the same time get paid. I feel like working with the Amphitheater, I got tips and it was fantastic. If you're looking for really good paying one and they do it not just every ten years. Is the census like you just happened, but yeah in between, yeah, in between we did that too. Again, like side hustles for purpose.

When we bought our first house, we had to buy the fridge and a couple of other items, and I was like, Nope, I'm gonna hustle this. How can't wait? I was like, hustle. I know, I'm like removing in January, I'm gonna earn it, And it was like the fall, and it gave me motivation. So I think being creative and looking for seasonal work where you can kind of blast at it, enjoy it, and then you're done can be a huge one. I love that idea. People don't

think about seasonal work a lot, but it's great. They just don't want to get a side job because it's so consistent, but seasonal is amazing, and it often pays more because it's not sustainable, so not as many people want the seasonal jobs. Yeah, yeah, I mean sometimes some of them were paying like twenty an hour, you know, back in the day, whereas if you get like a retail job, it was, you know, eight an hour. So boom,

big ones goes towards your goals. It's a double double one for me, Jill well ill of the high impact things. You know, me, I am a little bit obsessed with lions and lionesses and to learn that they sleep most of the time is really freeing to be but then really high impact four hours and so for me, I don't have a ton of like here's the little tips that I did because I really was like, where's the

big expenses? And housing was that, especially in the area that we used to live in the Northeast, and so we did a lot of different things for housing. I know, our long time listeners have heard this before, and nothing's changed for me. You're going to keep hearing the same thing over and over again. But we house sat, so

we didn't actually pay for our living expenses. We house that in a cabin for people who needed to go away for two years for work to Ireland, but they didn't want to sell their house and they also didn't want to rent it out because they wanted to be able to come home on their vacation, so that we just paid the electric bill there. We also lived in a tiny home, so that saved us a ton of money.

I got my master's degree, so that increased my earning potential, while we also cash floated because of the low housing expenses. We lived with my grandmother for a time now that was to care for her, but it did have the peripheral impact on our finances of not needing to pay to live somewhere because we were caring for her while we were living there. So those high impact things, you know, sleep twenty hours, worked for four was actually just sitting at a at a house. You were house sitting. That

was a cool house. Oh the cabin You've got to see most of the houses we've lived in, but yeah, it was a log cabin in the woods. I mean it was stunning. It was awesome. That was nice. So for us, some of these, I think our most impactful ones actually happened after we finished paying off debts, So I would think I would say Airbnb our guest room,

airbnbing our guest room. It was the easiest money that we made, and it was fun to have strangers in our house and like get to see people from all over and they were just a different type of people. Somebody who's willing to sleep in a house with other people. They're just there to get the cheapest room. They're not there to hang out at the house. But there are also fun people that are down to travel in whatever way they can. So they were all really cool people.

And we were able to make quite a bit of money that we use it to pay for my car. We put on my car in cash, and I started a T shirt business that we used to pay for an r V that was supposed to be another income producing project that did not work. Not everything works, um, and that's okay learning experiences, but I would say the Airbnb, if you can do it, if you live in an area that's air b and viable, then definitely that's what the company was designed for, as to share your home

with other people. And so I really would love to see more people like bringing that feel back to Airbnb and making money because of it. Yeah, I gotta get my husband on that. Um, he's like, I don't know, Like we have a bait like it's a it's a nine square foot basement and has its own entrance with the car poord in its own you know, bathroom and set up. Just gotta finish up some things. But you remind me, like we love doing Airbnb's. We went to

Asheville this summer. It was like the perfect Airbnb spot. It was a mom, single mom with the little girl and she had this like basement apartment. She's an interior designer, so I'm not I'm not gonna lie, Like I was taking pictures and notes how does she how does she partition this? Like it really flowed well and it was within two minutes of some fantastic take food places downtown Asheville.

And it was a great deal. I mean it wasn't the cheapest, but it was had everything we need, plus laundry. And when you have kids, that's a consideration in a yard, you know. That's another reason when you have kids on vacation, they need a place to run, so you can actually they lay down and rest, and you when you stay with somebody who's a local, you have a live in guide to tell you what to do there. There's just so many positives. The money is just one of them. Well,

thank you so much, Elford. Like hanging out with us and sharing your wisdom. Where can people get more from you in your awesome voice on your podcast? Well, thank you. I started off with a couple of money, so if you're looking specifically for marriage and money tips, that is a couple of money dot com. But then also about enjoying the journey to financial freedom and the destination Simplify and Enjoy, which is also the podcast I have now. I think all of our listeners wh would really enjoy

Simplify and Enjoy. It's very similar themes to Frugal Friends. Yea, and yeah you did note her her voice, your voice on simplify and enjoy I mean even now too. But it's just a really nice listen to. Oh thank you, don't don't laugh. I started it, like I mentioned, I just had a baby and so I've read record during her naptime. And so then that became a thing. And my friends who discovered when I published my book, I I kind of dissouded myself and they're like, you sound

really calm. You're not like that. I'm like, I am calm. I have my compliments, they're just all on my podcast and I can't get out. Yeah, and now it's like that vibe and I feel like when I tried to be excited and I tried that last year with video and I can't do it. It's just not it's oh my gosh, and yes, what is what is your book? And where can people find your book? Oh? It's jump start your marriage and your money and you can find it all. Aren't a noble Amazon um Indie bound? I

believe as well. And it's basically four weeks to kind of reset your relationship and your finances so that both of you are happy with where you're going with your money. Awesome and we will have links to all of those in the show notes. Again, thanks so much for hanging out with us, L, and we'll see you later. This is a blas thank you. Oh that was so good. I mean, I hope I wasn't. Well, I was. It's okay, I was fan girling hard. I think, just on all

of her knowledge. It's so interesting you fan girled on this one harder than I did. It's like a fair girl about the conversation. I think I'm not necessarily like, oh, I've followed you for a long time and I'm fan girling. It's like, oh, I like what you're saying right now, and I can't not get stoked about it and say how I want to put this on a bumper sticker. So lovely. Yeah, and L has this like, if you're

in the A s MR. You want to listen to her podcast because she has a soothing voice and you'll like what she's saying to Yeah. It's something that a lot of female podcasters get ragged on for is their voices. We have personal experience with that. But L does have a nice and soothing voice. So don't leave her a bad review for that reason. Actually, don't leave any podcast or a bad review for that reason, comment on their content. Okay,

thanks so much for listening everything. You hope that you enjoyed listening to l in her Tips as much as we do. We love sharing interviews with you all, and we also really enjoy and appreciate you listeners and all of you who have left us kind reviews on iTunes and Stitcher like this one. It's listed from Eliza Bravely Love Love Love is the title with five stars attached

to that. I love Jen and Jill and I'm so happy to be able to hang out with them every week, dance to their theme song, and get both inspiration and super tangible actionable tips. They help me stay on the frugal path. Yay, this is such a such a kind review, and I love the visual of us dancing together because that is actually what we do, even though you can't

always see us. However, this interview we did video record and it is up on YouTube, so feel free to check that out and you can definitely see us dancing and fun with Yes, we will be putting our interviews on YouTube now as well as our regular episodes, but you won't be able to see those in a we're really trying to show you our faces more and we want to connect with you. We like to see your faces and our Frugal Friends community on Facebook, and so

we want you to see ours as well. So thank you to everyone who tunes, in, leads, reviews, and also shares these episodes on social media. So when you come follow us at Frugal Friends Podcasts on Instagram, share the latest episode in your stories or in a post and tag us and we'll enter you into our monthly drawing. For every five tags and reviews we get, we give away a copy of the Frugal Friends Workbook and it is a great little workbook with six different weeklong challenges.

And actually next month is the last month we are giving this particular workbook away, So if you wanted to try it out, please submit a review or tag us on social So keep leaving us reviews on iTunes or Stitcher, send us the screenshot to our email Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com. Also tag us on social All of these are the ways that will enter you to

win this prize of our workbook. Yeah, say hi to us on on Instagram, let us know you're there, that we are not alone and we will see you there and you will hear us next week. Bye. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirian Jen. Yes, would you consider yourself to still have a side hustle? Do you have side hustle? Um? My main hustle is so all encompassing that my side hustle is probably raising my child because that takes a lot of hustle. Yes, and hopefully you

see high returns on that investment. Actually, no, I do have a side hustle, and now my side hustle's freelance writing. Again, it was my main hustle and now Frugal Friends is my main hustle. But I still like to pick up a few freelance projects every month because I'm a nerd and I like to research and write about obscure financial

products and um things like that. It probably that's what. Yeah, it keeps my mind limber, keeps me in touch with things outside of just frugality and spending psychology and all of that. Like this is my passion, this is what I love to do. But I also like to stay in touch because some people, some people have questions that

are outside of like the realm of saving money. Um. For us and especially in terms of investing, insurance stuff like that, And I'm not a licensed professional in either of those, but I do write about them extensively and have for years. So I like to stand top of that. Isn't that I mean, well, seemingly the goal to bring more focus into our lives and not have to fill

every hour of our time with making money. However, I think for some diversifying what we're involved in and what we can bring income from might always be the case, Like it's always good to have multiple streams of income, like as much passive income as possible, though, and I do have I have, I have passive income as well, so that I don't. I guess it could be considered a side hustle, but I don't hustle for it because I already hustled, big girl, So I don't hustle anymore

for it. Yes, you catch me sleeping hours a day because I worked twenty hours a day. Then, so now I can sleep twenty hours a day. Oh yeah, talk about moving up the food chain. Chill, do you have a side hustle? Oh yeah, this is my side hustle. This is your side hustle. Okay, yeah, and then we're working on our next side, hustle. We're not quite there yet, but Airbnb is what we have our sights on. We still have to build out for Airbnb. Oh, he's always

been on board. He just our timelines have been different of when we're going to make this reality. But as I show him the money or the lack thereof, he gets on board. More show me the money, show me the empty bank. I love it. There you go. We we I don't know that we'll ever just where our well and maybe as our energy levels decrease, but both Eric and I just have well. We like being involved in a lot of things diversify those income streams.