Personal Finance Basics

And every seventh episode we replay one of our most popular episodes that's at least a year old, and because we've spent so much time the past few weeks working on something special for you, today is one of those episodes. So in this episode, we're going to share our minimalist approach to personal finance. It's not comprehensive by any means, but if you're just starting out, these are the things to focus on before you get distracted by everything else

in a personal finance ecosystem. We like it enough that we think that this is a good one to come back to, especially for those who have never gone back into our archives and you loved it, so it's one of our most downloaded episodes. But first our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by the Frugal Friends work Book. Today is the day, folks, This is the day you have been waiting for. The Frugal Friends Workbook is officially available. Yes, this is the thing that we have been working on

instead of recording this week's episode. UM. The Frugal Friends Workbook is a digital download with six week long challenges that will help you improve you're spending, declared your life, become a better negotiator, have more money conversations, all all kinds of things, and the workbook can be completed on your own, but it's created to be gone through in pairs or small groups. So that is the way the

Frugal Friends Workbook was designed. UM. And so don't worry if you don't have a partner or a small group that you want to go through this workbook with, because if you purchase the workbook during launch week from this Friday to next Friday, you will actually get access to a six week Facebook group where you can find others who have purchased the workbook and form your own groups, and Jill and I will also be available in the group to answer questions and guide you. It's gonna be

really fun. But you have to purchase by August to get that bonus, and the workbook is normally thirty four, but this week only it is twenty four dollars, So head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash workbook and join the fun with us. It's going to be a great six weeks. I'm so excited about this. Um. That's really beautiful. I'm so proud of it. Yeah, that's pretty um also brought to you by being kind. Just I feel like no further explanation is needed. We we just

thought we could all use a reminder. Being kind takes minimal effort but provides great rewards. Yes, I agree. This is to myself and this is also to others. We are just high stress, uh, and we've lacked a lot of interaction with other people that in some ways these things have gone off the radar because we've been interacting online with people, and we know that when we're online we feel like we can say and do things we wouldn't normally do in person. So it's like developing these

avatars of ourselves that are just not kind. So just just be kind. We can all be kind. Yes, Yeah, it's it's been a it's been a rough few months on the internet, and we want to see more. I want to see a kinder world. And we're part of that we're Yeah, we're doing more too to be intentional and to be more outspoken and being kind. So thanks, and without further ado, here is episode forty two Personal Finance Basics. Hello, guys, welcome to another Frugal Friends Friday.

I'm Jen, this is Jail. We're excited for another episode with you. Guys. We are known for talking about all things frugality, saving money. That's our thing. That's why you listen to us. You knew that. And we don't feel the need to be all things to all people. And I was looking on podcasts on Apple and Stitcher, and I was looking around and I did see one glaring omission from these podcasts episodes, and it was just good,

solid episode on Personal Finance one oh one. Everybody wants to go into investing basics and all these kind of like what they call one oh one but really is two oh one. And so we really wanted to bring it home today and talk about what you need to understand and care about to thrive financially, because frugality isn't

the only thing. And if this doesn't mean we're going to start talking about like more retirement and all that stuff, if we did, you know, we'd cover in a fruit way, but we really want to go through the basics for anybody that might be stumbling upon this podcast and and really just want to know the foundations of what they need to care about. And then if you know the foundations, then you can go off and get your extended education elsewhere.

So that's what we're doing today. Are you excited, Jill? I love building blocks, you know, the building blocks of personal finance, the building blocks at nursery schools that you can build and then push them down, just all versions. So of course I'm excited. I knew you would be. So let's get into our sponsors first and then we'll

dive into these articles. And our first sponsor is modern frugality dot com and that is my blogging website, and I've got a ton of free and low cost printables, resources and e books uh to help you with frugality, specifically, so reducing your spending, minimizing your stuff, organizing meal planning, all that stuff, and so whatever you're looking for in saving money in frugality, I've probably got a little bit to offer, just a little, not a lot, but a little.

So if you head over to modern frugality dot com or shop dot Modern frugality dot com. You're going to get fifty percent off any purchase with the code Frugal Friends nineteen and that never expires. And I am constantly adding new planners and then also just free printable, so even if you don't buy anything, you still get a lot of freebees over there. So head over check it out. Fantastic. I love off And this episode is also brought to you by refusing to reward bad behavior. It's an age

old parenting technique, but it also applies in many other circumstances. Take, for instance, the area where I live. We have nothing around. We've got no mountains, no legs, no oceans, no sweet parks, and every other building in our kind of downtown quote unquote area is like abandoned, and yet the property taxes are astronomic cool. What's the girl to do? I am going to refuse to reward bad behavior by not buying or renting in this area. Instead, I'm going to live

in an RV. That'll get them. This can also be done at work, at home, when you're out with friends. If someone misbehaves, don't give in, try it out. Refusing to reward bad behavior it works on kids and adults. Oh man, um hey, I feel like we should have reviewed the sponsor before we started the episode. I'm on a tangent these days, like I am so done with the area that we live in, but this is like I do want to be here. It just it's way

too expensive. You should see how expensive it is for what you get your your property taxes are super bad. So I get it. Until they learn their lesson, I'm not exactly and moving on. What a good sponsor, Yeah, what a great one. So we have two articles for you today and they more or less sady the same thing, but they word it differently. So I still thought it was a good idea to showcase both because one's wording

might resonate with you more than the other. Uh So, our first one today is from the Balance dot com and it is financial planning basics Personal Finance one oh one. And so sometimes some people hear the word financial planning, they get really anxious. And yes, there's definitely a reason for you to feel anxious about that, because sometimes financial planning can be associated with financial planners who are sometimes

not the most honest an upstanding people. That yeah, because there are a lot of really good ones, and we'll talk about how to find one of those later, but it's yeah, so there's definitely a reason to be weary when you hear financial planning, but all it really is it is the concepts of personal finance, which a financial planner is supposed to go over with you, but sometimes they have other motives, so learn it yourself first, and that way you can discern whether somebody is trying to

sell you something or really trying to help you. And so that's another reason it's important to learn these basics so that you can vet people and whatever financial wisdom they're trying to give you. And this is always the frugal way, right finding out for ourselves problem solving, learning, digging deeper, not just handing over our wallet for someone else to figure here it out. So we should all

be familiar with this process for sure. And there are five different basics on this article, and the first one is of course budgeting. We need to understand the concept of budgeting. We just had a budgeting episode recently that everybody loves, so you definitely check that out if you want to learn more about that. Um, Jill, what do you feel about budgeting? I think it's great, and I liked what they said here about creating a detailed and

written budget. It sounds so simple and obvious, but I do think sometimes we can think that we have our budget in our heads, like, no, I'm good, I know I know about how much I can spend. But reality is that your mind isn't accurately tracking how much you're spending. You could think you only spent two dollars, but you actually spent five. You could think you have fifteen dollars to spend, you actually have seven fifty to spend. So

it's just really good practice. It's best practice to actually have it written down, don't just think you know it in your head and then go about willie nilly with your credit card. Yeah. I love that this was number one, because so many people will just jump straight to number two or three without getting number one, and I'm definitely guilty of that. I've tried to learn and master other

parts of personal finance while ignoring a budget. But there's a reason that it's the first thing on this list, and you'll see it's it's pretty much the first thing on the necklace too. But using a budget to plan your spending is so much more effective than just using an app to track it. So really understanding how you budget and what kind of budgets are out there and and all of that stuff, that is definitely goal number one.

It'll connect you more with your money and to know what you want to do with it when you have a bit more ownership of it. Yeah, And so once you have mastered that, you don't really need to master it, you just need to like start doing it, because no one's mastered it, Like honest, nobody's really mastered the budget. We move on to number two, which is cutting expenses, and that's where we come in. That's so good at that we know all about this, Yes, so I also

love that. UM. And in full disclosure on this particular list, it's not get a side hustle and try and boost your income so that you're spending in your budget meets your income. Um, it's no try to stop spending as much like really look at your expenses and try and cut them, figure out where you can let go. And so many of our episodes talk about this as well, how to cut bills and lots of other things, So definitely check those out. But this is another foundational peace

as far as financial planning basics. Go. Learning how to do this and sticking to it is really vital in longevity for your financial success. Yeah. And I was recently on a podcast where they asked me like essentially why I was frugal or why I chanted to be frugal, and and it's because, like I have decided, I don't

want to try and out earn my spending. I would rather work less, have more freedom in my schedule and be more flexible and not have to worry about out earning all of my mindless spending and the short thrills that impulse buying has versus like all of the boredom that comes from like sitting at a job that you

don't like. The reality is that even if you do start earning more money, then you will rise to meet that Usually if you don't have a budget, if you're not actively trying to cut expenses, then you will feel that inside yourself of oh, well, now I can afford to do this and this and this. So where it was typically lots of stupid target purchases, now it's really

expensive restaurants and this and that. So I think that it's a good practice regardless of how much money you earn, because it can still get out of hand in any bracket in which you land. Yeah, definitely. The third one is getting out of debt. And these are all super boring so far. They are not sexy. Really, I got excited about it. Oh you did? I did, Like, yeah, get out of debt, see you later debt. Yes, there are all kinds of sexy ways you can pay off debt,

like the debt avalanche or the debt snowball. Like it sounds dangerous but I know, but it's really just getting rid of the problem that you accumulated before you had a budget and you cut your spending. So first you're setting the foundation of Okay, now I want to change and I want to do well with personal finance. So I'm gonna set the foundation of budgeting and cutting my expenses. And then only after you've done that you set yourself

up for success. Will you have the knowledge and the sources to do number three, which is get out of debt M And this is a really easy one for people to jump to first. I I would say that I jumped to this one first when I was paying off debt. How how do you feel, Jill? Definitely, because it's the most glaring, it's the most weighty that you just, at least for me, I wanted it gone, so I

didn't necessarily think through well, oh, budgeting, I mean cutting expenses. Yeah, it's kind of an obvious one if you want to get out of debt quickly. But my focus was getting out of debt, not necessarily on these other pieces that are going to last me beyond being out of debt. Even once you're out of debt, you're still gonna need to know how to budget and cut expenses. So yeah, they go hand in hand, but I don't think that one is necessarily better than the other. But I like

the process. This is laying out of get good at a budget when when you when you try to put get out of debt first, you get really discouraged by how slowly it goes, and then trying to master these other things can be really difficult because you're focusing on them out of order. Mm hmm. I like to say it's not sexy, but it's solid, like these are this

is the order that things should go in. We have a lot of guests on our show who have paid off debt, and they will all say that their budget was essential and they will all have ways, very unique ways that they cut their expenses to free up money to pay off debt. It doesn't have to take forever. It's not like you have to be budgeting for a year and then cutting expenses for a year before you are able to get out of debt. It will happen simultaneously.

But those things are necessary tools in the toolbox for this goal of being debt free, right because side and side hustles are nice to help you become debt free, but they're usually very low paying and you have to put a lot of hours in and if you're trying to do something that's more passive, then that takes a build up period. So even while you're paying off debt, that's probably not making you as much money as it will when you are debt free, which has been my

personal experience. So again, that's why the first two are so important, and they come before the third and then number four, which I love, is saving for retirement. And a lot of people will ask how much should I be saving for retirement, what's the minimum, YadA, YadA, YadA YadA, Where should I be saving, what kind of accounts should I have? And we do have an episode called Investing for Frugal Folks, which specifically says how to best if

you are more the frugal type. But point blank, you don't have to get really complicated and saving for retirement. Retirement is not about picking stocks. Picking stocks is for people that like that sort of thing. Um, saving for retirement is very simple and should be very set it and forget it. Mm hmm. Yeah. I think that's a great tip, gen because I think people can there's barriers to saving for retirement if it starts to feel complicated,

like paying off debt. Okay, yeah, that's a goal that I can accomplish, might take a while, might might be a lot of work, might be a little overwhelming. But the saving root for retirement piece feels a little bit like, uh, trying to find your way through weeds, probably because of what people can make it seem to be that you need to know all this stuff about investing, but really it can be as simple as putting away twenty bucks out of your paycheck every two weeks and start there.

I'm not saying that that's going to set you up incredibly, but it is a start. It is thing like don't don't not do that thing just because it's it seems too complicated. Yeah, don't settle for that, but you can start with it. So some of the basics that you should know about saving for retirement are your your four oh one K or four oh three B and your IRA are probably your most common and important savings vehicles.

So most people have a four oh one K or four three B through their work and most of the time it will have a match. So we say go get that match and then go with an IRA because

you can more easily pick what's in there. And one of the hard things about like choosing your own retirement account is that, like when you're paying off debt, you have one, maybe a two or three creditors, you don't have to choose between thousands of index funds and dozens of companies on like where to pay off debt, but that you do essentially when you invest companies like Vanguard and Schwab and Fidelity, really good companies, and then just going with a really low cost index fund so that

you don't pay so many fees and you don't need to pay somebody to get those you can access them yourself. So just putting those putting low cost index funds in your retirement accounts. I like Total Stock Market because it gives you a little bit of everything. But if you really want to know more about investing and saving for retirement, I recommend the Simple Path to Wealth by Jail Collins. It is a great book. And then also check out the interview we did with Jim Wong on investing for

frugal folks. But so, yeah, not a lot you need to know. Everything I said could sound complicated if you have no clue what I'm saying. I don't understand the words that are coming out your mouth. Yeah, but that's really it. Like having two accounts with like two index funds each in them, make me the same funds that you have in one that are in the other. If you're if you know, if your employer offers the same ones that you want to pick outside, and that's and

that's it. And there's there's a lot of other things we can go into with like pensions and chocal security that are very individualized, but for the general population, Yeah, we're talking basics of financial planning. So this is something that you would need to be thinking about in this process. So I know that it exists. If you're still in debt, focus on getting out of debt, but know that saving

for retirement is part of this plan. Correct. And then the last part that a lot of people tend to look over, uh is insurance, and being properly insured is the safety net. You have to make sure these first four things that you've done are not going to come crashing in your face because they can ruin like all of your financial plans. So being properly insured with life insurance, disability insurance, homeowners insurance or renters insurance, and then whatever

other insurance makes you feel safe. But those are the big three. Yeah. I was surprised to see insurance on this list because I kind of thought that it was a given, like you have to have homeowners and insurance and different things like that. I would not have previously thought of this as a financial basic, but yeah, some people don't have to have homeowners insurance. And actually I will add health insurance to this because it's no longer required.

But so, yeah, life, health, disability, and homeowners protect all of your big investments, meaning yourself, your loved ones, your house. Yeah, Eric is a big investment, So better he leaves, then I better cash in at least, right, I know and UM. I have found when shopping for life insurance that currently Haven Life UM has the lowest rates and I am they do not sponsor or affiliate with me UM, I just have Haven Life Insurance. Uh. And they're backed by

Mass Mutual, so they are who I currently recommend. Nice. Yeah, a little plug for them, I know, a free plug, but they want a sponsor. Come on in. That's fantastic. I think it's a good overview the five basics on that one. I liked this next next article, This one spoke to me a bit more. It does. It does speak a little more, so we will we'll fly through this a little faster since we went so deep into

the other one. But this one's from the Simple Dollar and it's everything you really needed to know about personal finance on the back of five business cards, which was fun. Yeah, and uh, he has little drawings. You should definitely check out the article because he does draw them on the back of his so fun. It helps me for those of you who don't like to read and you're a little bit more visual, you've got pictures. Yes, So his number one tip for personal finance, uh, the Bay six

is spend less than you earn and groundbreaking. He's got a little picture which with stacks of money that says how much you make and then how much you spend is a little smaller, and then at the bottom is the gap. And the goal is to make that gap as big as you can, so meaning that you spend far less than what you make, so that you've got a big amount of money that you can throw at these other things that you want to throw it at, whether it be paying down debt or saving for retirement

or I don't know, putting it into insurance plans. If that's the thing for sure, Yeah, and uh so, yes, spend less than you earn. What a concept and if it's if we all got it, we'd all be okay, right. It sounds so simple, But this is the reason why we have so many finding chill difficulties is that we don't do this. And I understand that for some this isn't possible. You're not making enough to just live even

a simple life. And so we'll talk about that a bit more about how you can make more money, because that's no place to live. But if if you bring in sixty k a year, don't live off of sixty k a year, don't make all of your bills sixt k. Live off of thirty k. Yeah, and if that seems impossible, live off fifty k one year, and then go forty k the next, and then try thirty k the next year, and maybe you go up to forty five. I don't know.

Who just doesn't like a challenge. And so the next one he puts on here, number two is earn more. And I love that he included this um even though I love that the first one didn't, because it is a good reminder that sometimes we'll just go through life and we will settle for one to three percent raises, and that's our quote unquote earning more. But people who are really success successful long term don't rely on raises.

They do these things. And he lists six things um ways to increase your income, and I loved It's like start aside business, add more income streams. Yeah, and then some really creative one and I don't know if creative is the right word, but non traditional things under how you can earn more? So yeah, I get, you know, increase your education that might put you into a different

earning bracket. More streams of income a k A side hustles, but also he lists here moving towards your passions, which I found interesting, and I think what he's saying here is linking that with you are going to be more motivated to put in more effort to do things maybe well or better than you might do something that you don't care that much about, and so you're earning potential might increase just because you're doing something that you like.

So I liked that. But also not burning bridges, which is fantastic, because yes, that can be a reason that we are able to earn more or move into different fields, or or stay in our field but move to different businesses or organizations. Because we haven't burned bridges. We've networked and we've kept in touch, and we haven't been a jerk. In fact, maybe we've been kind even could you imagine, yet still not rewarding bad behavior. No, Yeah, I loved.

I loved his last two were essentially networking, because yeah, that's the way most people get new jobs and your promotions and for opportunities is from people they know. So so as fun as those videos are online of people walking out of their jobs and like lighting the place on fire, don't do that. It's so short excited to think that you're never going to see those people again, You'll never need a reference from them, You're never gonna

need to work again in your life or whatever. Like, it's so emotionally driven and it's fun to circulate the internet, but in reality, that's not a good way to live your life. You're you're not gonna earn more money. If you're storming out of McDonald's and lighting the place on fire as you leave, you know you're probably gonna get sued and and lose all your money at that point. Yeah, all right. And number three, while I think it's out of order and it should have been number two, I'm

not going to complain. Is live frugal? Oh yeah, we like that one. Yes, And he gives five different tips um things to remember basically when you think of frugality. Uh, and I like these ones obviously. It's maximize every dollar. Habits of all kinds are dangerous. So don't let yourself get in any habits like that you haven't tried to implement. Don't let your body just like create habits for you. I do chew gum. That is a habit of mine. I can't kick it. Yeah, I just tell myself. It's

less than cigarettes. So you don't chew gum while we do the podcast. I don't know where you get to not chew it. I drink water though, yeah. Uh. And then don't make yourself miserable. We're also all about that. And don't forget the big picture. Yes, that alright, keeping the goals in mind, the why, that's basically the why. I wrote a post recently about budgeting and I had a line in it that said, budgeting without a goal is basically making a spreadsheet that tells you to have

less fun. And both of my editors emailed me later and they're they're like, this line is gold. That is gold. Yes, I knew we'd do big things together, big things. Yeah, And so know your why, know your goal, don't forget it, don't lose the tree in the forest. So what makes this whole thing fun? Mm hmm. Number four is manage your money, and that includes paying off the debt, building

an emergency fund, doing the retirement, saving for college, investing. Yes, and and he goes into a little more depth on the order you should do all this in the order you should pay off debt, all this stuff. So if you are interested in that definitely head over to the article. He's a really good drawer, I mean before it being on the back of a business card. I really like looking at the stacks of money. It's please it's good

at drawing. Stacks of money is real. And we will have these articles linked in our show notes in case you want to look at these stacks of money and get inspired. But this last card has a mountain on it and it says control your own destiny in all caps with three exclamation marks, And I love this one is probably my favorite out of everything because it's what's really important, right, Like, why are we doing this personal finance thing if not to have control of our destinies. Yeah,

that's destiny. Sounds a little bit too extreme for me, but maybe future. Yeah that I get to decide what that is. And I like how he's listing here that it's not about being rich, and we say that this whole time, that this is not the goal is just like, get be frugal so you can get rich. It's a certain lifestyle that we are saying, even if you are super rich, still live below that and decide what you

want to do with your money. It's a all about freedom, which I I, of course, will always be preaching that one that it's it's how you want your finances to look, your family life to look, your giving potential to look. You get to use these tools that we are talking about to figure out what it's going to be in your own life. It's not one path that everybody's got to get on and it's got to look a certain way.

It's it's freedom, baby, mm hmm. Yeah. And all of these things are about giving you the options to do what you want. You don't have to do all the things that that maybe traditionally you've been told you have to do. You can kind of make your own way if you have the financial means to get there. And financial means doesn't mean you have to make six figures. It means you just need to figure out what financial situation you have to be in to afford whatever your

destiny or your future or your passion looks like. M hm m hmm. And it's not going to look the same. My future is not the same as yours. Jen. I hate to break it to you. I wish that our futures led us together and we could be together forever. With the way it's going up here, in the north with the crazy taxes and the cold weather. You never know. I know this has been a week for you to but you know what would make this week better? What the bill 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 bill, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week. So here I am. This is Jill. I realized just the other day. I should have had this realization a much long, much longer time ago. That's not a saying whatever we're going with it.

I am a bill sort of week. So my nickname growing up, given to me by my grandmother is Jilly Willy And if you really were to like like the full the full on one is silly Jilly Willie from Philly. They thought they were so creative. I hated it any time that they would call me that, I hated it. But then it ended up just getting shortened to my grandmother calling me Willie, which you know, no one else called me that. Please don't or say that in public.

But yeah, My nickname is Willie and that is a form of Bill, right, yeah, or Bill will Willie would be short for William, which then Bill comes out of William. It's a stretch, okay, but like track with me, here, I me sitting in front of you and the bill. You're listening to a bill bill all the week. Congratulations. It took some mental gymnastics to get there, but I think it counts, y'all. This is what happens when our Bill of the week tank is empty. So is this

a cautionary I thought it was fantastic. If you want to stop Jill from calling herself Willie, then you need to head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill and give us anything that's similar or hopefully better than that Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. You can record it right on your desktop or leave us a voicemail please all right, Oh yeah, I'll concede. Yes, please do I do. I love you, Jill, and thanks Jim. I'm glad for your support and your smiles, despite despite

my being silly and sitting here in Philly. I know you're you're going a little delirious in there. I did a lot of painting today and I think the fumes are getting to me. Yeah, yeah, I'll go with that. Yeah. So there's nothing more really that we have, so we wanted to just leave you with some final thoughts. And it is a hotly debated topic in personal finance, and it is when I struggled with coming out the gate.

And I will give you my opinion on it, and Jill will give you hers, and it'll be called the lightning Round, the Lightning Round, and we'll actually talk about really slowly. But the question is, and we will also post this in our Facebook community group, the Frugal Friends community. Should you spend less or make more? That's what it comes down to. And I wonder, can you or should you out earn your spending or should you cut it to the core? Where have you landed on this? So

I thought about this in that recent podcast interview. I did, and I realized that paying off debt is what inspired me to be more frugal, but it is not the reason I became frugal or desired it. It was kind of like a means to an end, Like I knew I had to do it, but I didn't want to. So right out the gate, I tried to get more side hustles, Like I didn't even look for ways I

could cut my spending, negotiate my bills, whatever. No, I went to the internet and I looked for side hustles because I really wanted to out earn my spending, because I didn't think my spending was crazy, So why would I try and cut my spending? And then I took on all these side hustles and I got shingles two months in. Yeah, two months in, I got shingles, a pain I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. That is when I realized that I don't want to out earn

my spending. I would rather spend nothing then go through the stress of working to get all these things or working to pay off debt. And I would rather live very frugally and minimally and have freedom from freedom from earning, freedom from the pressure to earn, freedom from stuff, freedom from all that instead of trying to you know, have one of these income reports on my blog that says

I made six figures. So are you landing more so on the spend less side of this argument, I am, Yeah, It's doesn't mean I'm not trying to earn more I'm definitely always trying to earn more, but I am never prioritizing it over living my life calmly, stress free, enjoying it all that stuff. That stuff always takes priority, and I will cut expenses before I stress myself out to earn more. Well, I mean, who can argue with that? I mean, when you knew what our what our answers

were going to be. But yeah, because I don't know what what more to say. Although I do think for me, I'm a both and kind of person rather than an either or so I like both for me. Of course, there is a cap to that. And if you were to say which is better which to put more time and energy and effort into pursueing, Yeah, you you'd put

me into a corner of saying spend less. I do think that there's just a lot greater benefits self realization, uh determination, discipline that comes alongside of spending less versus just making more and making more, like you said, can bring on a lot of stress unnecessarily. That being said, I also think though, that we go in and out

of seasons of this. At least that's been my experience of There are times when I am more focused on spending less in times when I am focused on making more, and it really depends on what my current circumstances are doing um and what I am able to take on. But then I might step out of that, like right now, Yeah, I'm I'm going pretty hard at making more two get at some of these financial goals, but I'm still maintaining spending less. It just as kind of I think my

focus shifts a little bit sometimes to different categories. Yeah, so I think our answer is both. It is both. If you backed me into a corner, i'd say focus on spending less, but I do. I think seasons can go in and out. And if you can do both at the same time, my goodness hats off to you. Yeah, you'll be better for it. Those are and I mean and essentially that is the basics of personal finance. Spend

less than what you earn and increase the gap. And if you can just get the things that we've talked about in this episode, you don't really need much more unless you find yourself nerding out about it, and then you can go way, way further. But if you don't find yourself geeking out about it, then you don't have to stress yourself that there's this whole world that you

don't know about because you don't necessarily need to. There's just some basics, some core foundational principles and products that you need, and and after that, it's all kind of icing on the cake. I like icing on the cake. Anything to Adgile. I would add some chocolate sauce to that, or ice cream. Oh, ice cream for sure. I don't know what the ice cream would be. It would be the entrepreneurship is the ice cream. I just picked a flavor. Yeah, it's very vanilla at this point, it's too So that's

that's it for our episode today. Um, it's February now and we are switching up books for book club we're meeting. We're reading Meet the Frugal Woods by Elizabeth Willard Thames. So excited about this one. It is fantastic. And we are still doing our thing where we're given a pre copy to anyone who leaves us a review. I mean,

we do a drawing. It's not everybody, but you can be entered to win the free book of this Meet the Frugal Woods by leaving us a review on iTunes or Stitcher or ever you listen to this podcast and then screenshot that review and send it to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com so we can verify that you did it, and then we'll select the winners at the end of the month and get you your free book. Yes, and if you want to know an example of a really great review, we read one here every week and

this week's is from pippin Pop. Yes, it says, what a great show, so nice to learn new tips and tricks and consider things previously not considered. Budgeting is hard. Thanks for making it fun. Every Friday, fantastic short sweep at point five stars. That person might win a book. Who knows. Yeah, we just hit a hundred reviews, so that's an exciting milestone for us. It is years in there. Thank you so much, guys, and our thank you is giving you free books. So keep going with it, go

go go. Oh. Well, that was fun and fund to relive, to relive what a good ride. And thanks so much for listening. We want to thank you all for your kind of views on iTunes and Stitcher. We won't like this one. We want to read you an example happens to be five stars. It comes from Low Cost, Low Waist and the title is the funny financial friends I

wish I had. Listening to Jen and Jill are like hanging out with the financially savvy friends I wish I had As a woman, I really appreciate the female point of views wrapped around money, financial literacy, and for reality they provide. They're also funny as can I say that, funny as h e double hockey sticks, and I wish they were my actual friends. I always love listening to this show and always learn something new, even for topics

that I consider myself pretty knowledgeable. And thank you ladies. You make frugality fun, fun question front front front reality fun front l O L. Marian, thanks so much. Thanks Marian. That's awesome. We love hearing that. And I have used the word front before. Frugal fun. That's a thing I think it is. Well, yeah, I agree. We'll just keep developing all these words, these new worlds the saurus. So we also want to thank our friends who shared these

episodes on social media. So when you share the latest episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram, we're going to add you to our monthly drawing and we're doing thing news starting this month. So for every five tags and reviews we get each month, we are going to give away a copy of the Frugal Friends workbook, So

we're going to be giving away copies indefinitely. Yeah, so for every five tags and reviews, we will be entering that drawing and even if you don't win one will also be sending out discount codes, so well you you will get something. People. Yeah, there's there's no there's no losing when there's front happening. So keep leaving those reviews on iTunes or Switcher and sending a screenshot of them

to Frugal Friends podcasts at gmail dot com. Also tag the latest episodes on social media both ways, enter you into the drawing, yes, and we will see you next week. Bye. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syria. We've got so many ideas of what we need to put onto mugs and t shirts and all kind of like front. So here's the thing, Jill. I tried to start doing that, but print full isn't allowing new products

to be uploaded onto shirts. They'll do mugs and stuff, um, so we could do that, but I really tried to make the frugal shirt in the Friends font um and I tried to upload it, but I couldn't put it on a shirt because they're not doing Yeah yeah, well they ever are? They just like we're done. Ye No, they will know it's just because of all their behind because of COVID. Okay, well I still want that friendship bracelet. We will have to figure that out. That's a little harder.

That's a when we're in person in Florida thing. We'll have to make them our cells. We'll find a pattern and then everyone can just make their own friendship bracelet and it will literally just be strings like tied together, something you could make in like five minutes because ain't nobody got time. They'll be recycled material that we make. Yes, you have to use materials you already have in your house. I don't like cords like those that bag of cords

and chargers that you have. You don't know where they go to. That that's a good idea to make a friendship bracelet of whatever's in your junk drawer. That can't be safe the scene it is recycled though, Yeah alright, bye bye