Tips For Avoiding Holiday Impulse Buying

fifteen seconds. I don't know. I don't know if Eric will actually do that, but we do have one episode of Alpo Holidays. This is it. This is all you're going to get from us, minus our Christmas special kind of like the Star Wars Christmas Special and that we're doing on Christmas, because Christmas is on a Friday. Just get ready for that. You have to join the girl Friends community on Facebook if you want to be part of that. But today we are talking about holiday impulse buying.

That's just it's a thing and we need to be aware of it and we need to not do it. If we're gonna come out with any semblance of like self respect come January one, thank you, Yes. Absolutely. A study from glass Box and Google reported that of consumers plan to spend less this holiday season, and plans are great, but like, how do we follow through with the plan?

And I also like to point out that if want to spend less, that means plan to spend as much or more than they did in two thousand nineteen, which I don't know how that's possible this year, but yeah, right, I feel like every year everyone thinks I'm not going to spend as much this year, right, And I want to person who's like, no, I'm going to outspend last year in the middle of a pandemic and better. So that is what we're talking about today. But first our sponsors.

It's the debt Free Christmas Planner. You don't have to sing it, but I just did because I'm so excited about it. Every year you have the best intentions about controlling your holiday spending, and every year you forget something. I forget something I'm going to speak for. That's why Jen made this free you heard it, free Christmas Planner to help you record every cost and stay on budget

this holiday season. This planner will help you keep track of your spending on family traditions, recipes, dinners and parties, gifts and more to make sure you don't miss anything. Then use the planning chart to make sure you're on track to saving the right amount next year. If this sounds like something you need, head to Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash holiday to get your free plan. Yes,

you're welcome. This is amazing. Yes, because I always just think about gifts and I forget about the family traditions, the recipes, the dinners, I mean food. It all costs money. You forget. I spend so much more money on food every year, and I get I feel blindsided by it every night. It's like, when did this start costing money? I don't know, it must have been this year. Speaking of this episode is also brought to you by looking for a year that won't bring you widespread panic and

global chaos. Try the holidays signal the end of the year, and they actually feel like a year unto themselves, so that means is just around the corner. We hope that statement brings you joy. We can't make any promises, but it's probably going to be better than maybe maybe maybe premising anything. Stay tuned. So, like we said, this is our one holiday episode for we didn't even do in last year. Our last holiday episodes if you want to

check them out. We had episode thirty three, which is tips for keeping the Holidays frugal, and then episode thirty four, the one right after it is like last minute frugal gift ideas, and then now we're all the way at one thirty three, So a hundred episodes later, we're doing another. But it's so that we don't mean to be grinches.

We just want to bring you relevant content that's not always recycled, right, And we feel like this is the year to talk about impulse spending around the holidays, because you've been deprived for the last nine months and you may want to go out and treat yourself and that's totally okay, but plan it and put it in your budget and don't fall prey to these big box stores or even these small business this is is that are playing

to impulse shopping marketing m HM. So that that's yeah, before we get into the headlines, I'm curious just to even quickly have a conversation about what impulse spending even is, Like, how would you define it jen an unplanned purchase, so something unless you are unless you have a budget for you and you can budget for impulse spending that's totally okay, but it has to be planned money so that it would be anything, any purchase that's outside of your budget,

which especially at the holidays, we can fall victim too because it's just I don't know, I just bought. I just gotta buy gifts, and there's that pressure, and so we can without premeditating or planning for it impulsively by it. Yeah, and just I mean, like I said earlier, the plan is great. It's great to have a plan. You should have a budget for the holidays, but sticking to it is typically the larger issue. UM. And one way that I mean stores prey on this impulse shopping um and

they plan their marketing around it. So our first article today is actually not a consumer facing article. It's a business facing article, and so it's called how to reach a holiday impulse buyer during COVID nineteen. So this article is not meant for you to read, UM, and so we're going to read it to you because this this is the way the businesses that you're walking into or scrolling online are thinking, and this is how they're working. And so in order to be aware and to combat it,

you should know that. So that you can be aware. It's so tricky, and I'm so excited to look at this article because it can help us be prepared for some of these different schemes that are out there that would cause you to fall into that impulse spending trap. Even if you're purchasing online. We're not just talking about going out to stores. And actually a lot of these things are traps that exist online to get you to impulse spend. So what's that saying about, like keep your

friends close and your enemies closer. This says this is that idea to get into the mind of your enemy who wants you to spend all your money. That's why we do a podcast together, Jill opening. Halloween's over, but we're here for the holidays. This joyful, joyful spirit. Uh So, I wanted to start by saying, so on here. This is a widely like spread statistic, but it says the average American consumer spends about five thousand, four hundred dollars

on impulse purchases per year um. And that was according to eighteen survey. For me and our audience, I feel like that's going to be that's a little high, but it should still kind of be startling that that's almost your IRA contributions for a year, like you can six thousand dollars will max out your IRA in a year um. And that's almost like what we're spending on impulse purchases. Yeikes. Yeah, year round maybe not just at the holidays, no, no, no,

year round. Yeah. So if we can get this part of our spending under control, you will find money that you didn't know you had in order to put that towards UH savings that will grow instead of depreciate. So yeah, so this first article comes from Square and yeah, it's how to reach a holiday impulse buyer during COVID nineteen. So let's let's get into the mind here. You didn't, Jill, you didn't know this was business facing when you read it.

I just put it on the out yea. When I first, I was like, At first, I was like, these aren't tips. These are this is how businesses trying to get us to spend money. Does Jen know this? And then I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah Jen knows this. But before I look into the actual tips that are given to businesses. Something worth noting that this article points out is that impulse shoppers, they say, are often millennials, the elder millennials, which is you and

I Jen. Yeah, elder millennial. We've got all this knowledge, but apparently we are quite susceptible people between the ages of thirty seven, and that comes from a credit card dot com pole that we are. We're the talgutable to be very spontaneous online purchasers. We are the target. We are the ones who are online. We are the ones in careers and with children like that's the demographic thirty seven is the people with young children who want to

be spoiling them. Well, they don't want to spoil them, but they do speak. Yeah, we can't resist a sale. We're apparently quick to make purchase decisions. So you know what, let's armor up you guys. Let's be the elders that we are in our millennial group, and let's be let's be knowledgeable about this. One of the tips that they are giving to these businesses is to gamify the shopping experience.

This would mean incorporating a game or a quiz a determined the amount of discount or promotion that someone might receive. It might include like sending a wheel or like even e scratch offs to like de determine if you get ten off U pop up with a game or something like that that even happens online. So yeah, you're this is happening to you even in the privacy of your

own home. So let's be aware of this that if someone's trying to like pull you into some online game while you're trying to shop, recognize what they're trying to do. They're trying to get you to spend your money, not necessarily actually provide you with great deals. They want to take advantage of the impulsive nature that we can have

at times. Yeah, I feel like so I feel like I can even see this on social media, um with giveaways or sweepstakes, anything that makes they want to build interaction because once you interact with them once, this is a low hanging fruit. This is a low barrier to entry. Once you interact with them once by tapping your screen or clicking your mouth, it makes it easier for you to interact with them again, and they will and the

interactions will get quote unquote kind of more difficult. So signing up for the email list, making a purchase, making another purchase, and so this is just getting you comfortable. Anything that gets you comfortable with clicking on their website or walking into their store. That that's what they're trying to do, is to get you comfortable with their brand. Yeah.

And being aware of this tactic. Uh and and maybe even gamifying it for yourself to try to spot as many marketing ploys as you can in the process can help make you just more savvy as you do your online or in person shopping. Yeah, turn it on them, make your own game like that a little and I spent how few buttons can I click? Yes. The other

thing that they do is they give deals. So, um, this is kind of one of those things where when you think of frugality and you think of a frugal consumer, it's it's the person that gets a deal, and that is typically how frugal people have been thought of. Um, but this is a place where you have to play offensive and defensive. So you can be looking for the deals, but you also have to know when a deal is a marketing ploy to get you to make an impulse purchase.

Higher up here, it said of people in the survey I mentioned earlier said their impulse purchase involved taking advantage of a deal or discount. Eighty five and nearly half of all holidays, consumers say they can't resist it. Um, So this is our effort to get you playing defense with the deals. So like they'll do this with like promoting a sense of urgency in the deal. So you have two hours to get this deal. This deal ends today.

This is a weekend discount m because people procrastinate, and so if there is a sense of urgency in the deal, you're more likely to impulse by And creating scarcity is another marketing ploy of there's only two more left, there's probably not only two more left to just you know, thrown that out there. There's definitely more than two. And and it's a way to get you to just spend without thinking, even if it's not something that you want.

And that's the thing. I think that's what you're describing, Jen. It's one thing if all year long you have said i want to get a kitchen aid mixer, and I'm going to wait for the deal. I'm going to wait for the coop and I'm going to wait for it to go on sale, you actually know that is less ex pensive than what I've been keeping my eye on all year. That's different from just I don't need a kitchen a mixer. But this just popped up about my screen and they say that it's ten percent off, So

I'm gonna do it. Two very different scenarios, same probably same product, two different scenarios. Absolutely, so you have to do some planning on deals you want. I take advantage of Black Friday. I am planning the things that I want, you know, for up to six months in order to make sure a that I really want them, um and be that I will get the best deal. Um. So it's not bad to take advantage of holiday deals, but it is bad to just buy deals for the sake

of getting a deal. Um and I Also in this article, it says nearly half of consumers are spending more time on social media UM during the COVID nineteen pandemic. And so you're going to see a lot more advertising on Facebook and Instagram Instagram especially UM. So be wary of of any advertising, whether it's sponsored posts or um like sponsored like ads from influencers. You follow another tip on here too, peep businesses selling things is to emphasize self care,

so businesses, especially now so. There was a slick Deal survey that found on impulse buyer behavior and it found that nearly seventy two percent we're buying something impulsively during the pandemic because they were saying it positively impacted their mood. So businesses will be trying to market to you to

care for yourself during these trying times. They are taking advantage of this situation when people might be feeling a bit more down, a bit more distressed, a bit more overwhelmed, and if there is something that appears to maybe alleviate some of that stress or a way to kind of treat myself because things are so difficult, they are praying

on that. So be aware of this UM and and my advice, our advice, the Frugal Friends advice is not to not care for yourself, but do it in ways that actually provide you with prolonged relief and that are free. Self care does not cost money. It can, but it doesn't need to. Uh and you can reference our self care episode for some ideas on that one. But definitely be aware of the ways in which companies are are praying on this desire to kind of feel better, especially

right now. Absolutely yes. And then the last one on this article that we'll talk about is um to go

beyond seasons, greetings. So these these businesses, these brands, once they have converted quote unquote a holiday impulse shoppers, So once you've spent money with them, it is more cost effective for them to get you to spend more money with them than it is to go find a new customer to spend money, So they will continue to pursue you to buy more things from them, and that usually begins with the transaction confirmation email UM where they'll say like, hey, congratulations,

orders on its way like uh, and then this one is saying like you can add something like say it's a good choice or say your thoughtful gifts are on the way. So trying to bolster buyers who may have second thoughts a to um not make a return and be to know, like and trust your brand so they feel more comfortable to make more clicks on your website.

So I know that once you buy something from somewhere, you're going to see more of it in your inbox, on your Facebook, your Instagram, because it is more cost effective for that business to keep you as a customer. That is their primary goal UM than to look for more cold like buyers, which is another downside to this online shopping when you shop in person, you don't have to give your emails. Sometimes they'll try to get you to give them to them to sign up for those

rewards points, YadA, YadA. But usually when you buy online you have to give an email because it's associated with payment and receipt and all of that. But and that's okay, but be aware of this and maybe have a junk email that some of these things can go to that's not constantly in your inbox tempting you to keep purchasing. M Yeah, So that is all for this article. Uh, And then now we have the second article. It's for money ning and it's tent tips for avoiding impulsive spending

during the holidays. And these I just thought all ten of them are very practical, um and strategic that you can put in your pocket use if you need to, and it will help you just kind of take Now that you're aware of what's happening and the marketing tactics that these stores are using, now you can take these two kind of just um, you know, play your defense a little harder. Mm hmmm. So we will go through all ten because I think that they're worth it. The

first one is to understand why you buy. This is a great way to be able to avoid impulsive holiday spending, but it does take some introspection because it's not the same for all of us as to the reason that we are impulsively buying. But they do give a few examples. It might be, oh, this doll that looks like your favorite doll as a child, or a popcorn tin that has your favorite sports team logo on it, or a massive l C D TV that's bigger than what you

have or bigger than what your friend has. You name it right. There's either competition or nostalgia or I mean, for me, the desire to be the best aunt ever just saying, or just clearance. I am I can be a sucker for clearance. I see those yellow signs and I'm just like a moth to the flame. So with this it is a matter of knowing why you're buying.

But then for me, this is my own therapy tip coming at you or something like a theme that I often talk about with my clients is protecting our vulnerabilities, to know where you're vulnerable. Like for me, it is clearance and a desire to really give good gifts and be seen as somebody who gives good gifts, and that's why I will just buy anything that makes me feel

like that's going to be the the end result. And so because I know that about myself, I can protect those things by telling myself ahead of time and not going to the clear in section. The clear and section isn't gonna have anything for me today. Um or planned to go to the clear and section because they usually have X y Z, which is exactly what I'm looking for. So, protecting your vulnerabilities so that you're not exploited in those areas.

And I know that it sounds quite dramatic, but vulnerability without protection leads to exploitation. So that's my like my in depth like clinical therapy for you. But I do think it helps us. It's it's a it's a similar concept. Protect your vulnerabilities. It's okay to have them, just know them, put some protections in place around them, and you won't be exploited financially us I I just went to school. I think on that man, that was so good. Number two,

don't shop hungry. But that's another thing, right like that makes us vulnerable if we're hungry. It says that even if your blood sugar is slightly before below normal. Your judgment may be impaired, you may be cranky, emotional, and more impulsive. And I feel like this writer knows me. Um, So eat a balance meal before leaving the house. Uh, and eat what you have at home, and then carry water and healthy snacks on all of your shopping trips.

It's so small, but it does make a difference. Like when I am cranky from being hungry, I'll just buy whatever or I won't buy anything at all, and it makes for It's just makes things harder. Not only that, not only is it just just throw whatever in the cart. And then you've got all this stimulus around you of other shoppers, which heightens our stress levels, which makes it

even more difficult to make rational decisions. And then we might impulse on the food because now we're hungry, we're gonna get that pretzel, and then we're gonna go get that fast food and then we're gonna go like it just it's this like vortex that will suck us into spending money that we don't actually want to be spending. Yeah. The next tip on here is to shop alone. This of course depends on who you are, and they do make that caveat that the pendulum could swing in either direction.

So know who you are. If it is more difficult for you to not impulse by let's say, if you've got all of your children with you who are like mommy, mommy, daddy, daddy, I want, I want, then go alone. Figure out a way for you to be by yourself while shopping. Conversely, if you recognize I'm actually really susceptible to purchasing a ton of things, then bring an accountability person with you.

Of here's the amount that I want to spend, here's in general what I want to spend it on, and go together so that somebody else can help keep tabs on. Sure you want to spend that you just told me five minutes ago you didn't, So recognize who you are and shop accordingly. Yeah, that's so great. You could if you go with your accountability partner, give each other your

lists and shop for each other. That way you're not impulsively buying, and then come back together and then all right, maybe I don't know, like kind of a way to game of fu, yeah, kind of. Or you might spend more because you're justifying it because you're buying for somebody else. I feel like I would spend last but I don't know it's true. I'm not you're actually spending the money on it. You're just like picking the things out for them.

Fourth is to use a prepaid credit card. Um. So this one is for people who are especially prone to overspending, like all through the year. Um. I think if you just want to protect yourself over the holidays, I would recommend using a gift card. So getting a gift card from Target or Walmarder wherever you're shopping, with the amount you want to spend. In that way, you only spend

what's on there, even a discounted gift card. Yeah, but I mean leave your other cards at home, leave your cash at home, and only take your driver's license and your gift card or your prepaid card. And then when the card's empty, you're done shopping. That's it came over.

The next tip is to shop online. So this is of course with the caveat of all of the other things that we mentioned in the first article to keep all of those online tricky trick sers in mind, but it can help with the weeding out the distraction of other things like when you go in person to a store, you're seeing a plethora of other things on the shelves, and you might purchase something that you didn't previously intend to purchase just because it's right in front of you.

Whereas there's not as much opportunity for that when you're online. Uh there's you're not seeing shelves of unrelated things, right. That's why I do all of I try to do all of my grocery shopping online. I go to all the maybe like once a month now, ideally just to get those pouches, those little fruit pouches. Yeah, I I'm constantly forgetting that I can just do a pickup of

my groceries. And I do think that that would help me a ton in meal planning and in my own impulse food purchases throughout the year, not just Christmas time. And they sent Walmart does not mark up crisis like insta cart. So just a recommendation Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Walmart ten dollars off your first pickup order m okay number six, walk around the store with your items for a while before purchasing and see if the urge to buy passes. Um So this can be a

good one. So maybe you can walk around or maybe sit on your phone for a little bit and just see give yourself some time out. Um I. I sometimes will say, like do a little kind of mini meditation, so you're just kind of like, don't look weird, but you're just like standing there and maybe you close your eyes and kind of like recite something I don't know, uh, say a prayer for more money, and then look back at your cart and see if everything in there is what you still want to be in there. I love

this tip. It's one of my best tricks. And sometimes I'll just throw things in the cart before I've gone around to the rest of the store if it's like, Okay, this could be the thing that I want, but I'm going to check out some other sections and see if I can find something better or less expensive. And it usually works that either I find an alternative that is better or I realize, you know what, No, I don't need to do this. I can just live without it or give a different type of gift. Um. So I

love this tip. It allows us to kind of manipulate it in our minds a little bit and determine whether or not we actually want it. Yeah, if you do that pause right, not so well, it's in the cart now, so you gotta gotta go, gotta get out of here, and you buy it. Yeah. Uh. This next one is also a favorite of mine. Translate the price of the item two hours worked. Is this a good one? It's such a tangible way to determine if it's actually worth

your hard earned cash. So something could seem like, oh great, like fifty dollars, it's such a good deal on this thing, but how many how many hours of work does that represent to you? And if you actually were to translate, I I worked these hours. Here's what I did in those hours to acquire this thing? Is it worth it?

This has been really helpful for me to kind of like cost benefit analysis various things and realize that I do place various value systems on things like to me, fifty dollars to go out for a night on a date on food isn't actually that much money, But then to go buy a shirt for fifty dollars feels like an insane amount of money to spend, And I'm like, why, it's that's one meal that I just blew fifty dollars that I can't get back, and yet I'll never and

fifty dollars on a shirt like and this kind of concept of how many hours did you have to work to get that thing can help to level the playing field on all of it, absolutely, And I have been thinking about this concept since our interview with Jesse meek Um from Why Nab about how you work so hard for this money and then afterwards you're just going to like, uh, you know, throw it away on like stuff you haven't planned on their stuff that's like fleeting, yeah, just so

that underneath the Christmas tree it can look full. I've like I've started to realize that year after year because I used to have this thing like I just wanted to look like there's so many wrapped presents and then they're all unwrapped, and like, I don't feel that great about myself with what I gave to people, Like I need to keep this in mind because just how it looks wrapped is not actually a value I will actually want to give of like a good gift, and I

wanted to not break my bank. I want to be kind to others while also being kind to myself, and so I'm just embracing this more and more year after year of I don't I don't need to just spend money. I'd rather be thoughtful or spend time with people. So that's just another thing to keep in mind of. Think back to like Christmas afternoon, what were the things you were telling yourself that you're going to do differently. I'm never going to wrap this many presents again as you're

cleaning up all the wrapping paper. Um. The next one is to freeze your credit cards for the month of December. So the article says to actually literally dunk them in water and freeze them in the freezer. You can also just go on to your credit card website. UM. This is very easy with Chase. I'm not sure how easy it is with other card providers, but you can put them on you can lock them so they're not able to be used. You would literally have to relog in

and unlock it to use it. But if you very much struggle with that impulse desire, um, then absolutely freeze it in a cup of water for the month. It doesn't actually do anything to the account. It just makes

it harder to right. It does nothing. You've got it now. Well, okay, so speaking of thought, um, there's also a free chrome and I think it might be Firefox extension to UM it's called ice box, and you can UM download it, and then every buy button on very popular websites turns into put it on ice and so it makes it impossible to buy it, well, not impossible, It puts that barrier to buy it for the number of days that you specify, so fourteen, thirty, whatever, And so after those

days are up, then that button turns back into a buy now button, so that you can make sure, yeah, that your impulses are not um, they're not impulses. These are some hardcore ways of protecting ourselves if needed. Yeah, that that built in way of pause, because that's ultimately the antidote impulse is pause and whatever it takes to get you to pause is helpful. So consider all of these things. And related to that idea is this next tip of lower your daily spending limit just on your

checking account. Even if you have a debit card, you can go into your bank account and lower your daily spending limits so that when you're done, you're done, and you won't be able to spend that money because you've you've set that limit already. So just more checks and balances, more pauses for us, so that we don't go over the spending limit that we want to. Yeah, and this last one very important. Uh, don't feel you need to

buy a gift for everyone. You know. The mailman is truly not going to shred your junk mail um or think you hate him because you don't leave him a gift in the mailbox this year. If you can't get a gift for everyone, Yeah, but you can send one to us the frugal friends. Just send it to St. Petersburg will find it. The Frugal Friends St. Petersburg, Florida, Thank you. You don't have to get us a gift. You can if you want to, I guess, But you don't need to buy a gift for everyone you know,

like that coworker. Even so, here's the hard one. Even somebody that gets you a gift, that doesn't mean you have to get them another gift you have you don't have to. Yeah, that's that's what gifting is about. You're not You're doing it not expecting to receive anything in the future. It does feel a little uncomfortable, honestly, but you can do a well written thank you note. Well, yeah, really sweet gum in there, and you've kind of given them a gift back. That's what you can send Jill

for Christmas is gum. I love them, so yeah, you can write a very sweet Christmas card. There are ways around it to show that you're thinking about them that do not cost money. And so if you really want to get somebody something and it's outside of your budget, think of free ways to do that, but don't stress yourself out about it. You can just say no to getting them. You can put that boundary up. Mm hmm. Yeah.

Speaking of good gifts and gifts that keep on giving and when I'm never going to say no to the 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 Bill Buffalo, Bill, Bill Clint, This is the bill of the week. Hi, this is Becky.

My bill of the week is Bill Shakespeare. My husband and I have been doing a Shakespeare for Kids program at our local library for the past eighteen years. We had to switch to a virtual program this year, which was a lot of work, but we're actually reaching more kids than we would have with our in person program. Speaking of libraries, I think that they are a great frugal friend. They feed my reading addiction. There's no way I could afford my book habit, and they off for

so many free cultural programs for families. I love your podcast. You give so many great doable ideas and I'm always smiling and laughing out loud while listening. Thank you, Betty. Yes, I love that Bill Shakespeare Bill share. Yeah, and I wouldn't think about that, and I'm always like William Shakespeare. But yeah, he's a Bill. He's just a regular run of the mill Bill just did Bill who just created

tons of literary masterpieces. And Becky, you sound amazing and so cool being involved in your library and calling us. Thanks for being our friend. Thank you for listening to Becky, and thank you for en reaching the lives of children with literature that is amazing and giving giving parents something to do with their children, which is so difficult sometimes. So I truly appreciate you. And I can't wait to take Kai to meet Billie Shakespeare in books one day.

Mm hmm. Take them to the libraries if someone else can watch him for a little bit. That's actually it. If you want to submit your William Bill of the week, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill um and leave us a bill. Now it's time for lining round, so we are going to share with you are real life holiday shopping plans so that you can keep us accountable. So we can keep each other accountable, but also you because we are not completely protected from impulse purchases. Yeah,

I'm still human, I make them. Yeah. Uh So this is one of the perks of moving away from where I'm from. Like I, if I go back home for the holidays, I can't carry much with me. So there you go. There's like one tick on the pros for moving away is it's more difficult to give gifts, So there for you, just don't Yeah, thanks, I will still give gifts, and so for me, I've already begun and I am. I will say. I love Christmas. It's my

favorite holiday. So I think about it year round and I alert others to about like how far away Christmas is, and it's usually just something like Christmas is going to be so soon, and it doesn't matter what time of year it is. I'll be like mid June, and I'm like you you won't even believe how close Christmas is. It's like right around the corner. Uh and and it's

usually right because it sneaks up on us. Anyhow, I do because I think about it so often, I'm able to kind of create a list of what do I want to give this year? So I do have a list of some thoughtful but inexpensive ideas for family. I can't say it because I do think some of my family members listen to this podcast. Just know that it's

inexpensive and it's yeah, just a personal, thoughtful thing. Um. And then other than that, when it comes to friends or people local, I usually just look around my house for what do I have. This could include what are things that I'm looking to get rid of that aren't super worn out or overly used, and I'll give them. I'll give them away. People like you don't care you're getting me something from my house. Yeah, I'm gonna love it.

You won't even know that it's from my house. Um, you might anyhow, Or for me it's plants, and that that's no secret. You just you just can know that if you're local to me, it's probably going to be a plant because I can propagate my plants. So if you don't know what that means, look it up. And if you've got plants in your yard or plants in your house, learn how to propagate them starting now and you'll have some good gifts for Christmas. Also, terracotta pots

are super inexpensive. Yes, we have a lot of those. If you need any. Thank you, yes for all those plants you got at the plants last weekend. Give me your terracotta pot. I'll put a plant in it, give it back to you. Um So, for me, I may indulge in Black Friday. Black Friday is my favorite holiday. Um But I love to shot. I love to look through all of the ads. Um I so I love. I used to not love holidays, but after I got married,

uh and I married into a large family. It's taken me like five six years, but I have because I've warmed up to holidays now. Uh So, but I used to always love looking through Black Friday ads on Thanksgiving morning while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. So that yeah, that's like my personal ritual every year. Uh and sometimes it includes cinnamon roles. But um so, I may indulge in Black Friday because that's me. Um, Kai is getting gifts from his birthday. I love this. I love this

so much, say so much more about this. So some people got Kai gifts. I did not ask people to get Kai gifts on his birthday. But we had a small birthday party and people just brought gifts. That's not me, Like, I don't do that. I don't bring gifts to birthday parties. Uh. And that may be rude, but that's just not what I'm not a good gift giver. I'm not good at it and I don't do it. So people brought gifts and I was not expecting it. Some of them brought gifts for one and a half two year olds for

a baby that was turning one. So they are in my closet waiting for Christmas and they will get rewrapped and given um and then everyone else is getting gift cards. I actually do want to be generous with gift cards this year. And um yeah, I actually need some accountability for being generous this holiday season. UM. Heads up, we do have In our next few episodes. The Friday before Black Friday is going to be on technology. UM kind

of elaborating going through tech deals for Black Friday. But also our Black Friday episode is on generosity and so ways to be more generous to other people, and so I think that's really going to be a um an episode for me. I'm outlined. Yeah, I'm outlining for myself because I need it. That's amazing. I'm excited to talk about that with you. Yeah, you too. So and also you guys, don't forget to visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Holiday to get that free debt free holiday

planner that we were talking about. UM so you can keep track of your Thanksgiving and Christmas expenses and keep them on budget. Thank you all so much for listening. We want to thank you for your kind of views on iTunes and Stitcher like this one. It comes from twin mom Boys eleven. Well there's so much even in that name. You sound amazing, but anyhow it's titled great Podcast. It happens to be five stars. This podcast is exactly what I need to help on my financial journey. You

provide friendly, useful content. Love it. Thank you. Wow, Twin Mom Boys eleven, You're welcome. I'm so glad to help you and we hope that you're eleven year old twin boys, uh get some of their birthday gifts for Christmas, or maybe she has a twin mom. Yeah, definitely the way you're taking how it is, but it's just so many ways. We also want to thank our friends who share these episodes on social media, so, uh, you know, for every five tags and reviews we get every month, we give

away a copy of the Frugal Friends Workbook. Um, so share our latest episode on Facebook or Instagram and make sure you tag frugal at Frugal Friends podcast, and of course keep leaving us reviews on iTunes or Stitcher and sending us a screenshot of those reviews to Frugal Friends Podcasts at gmail dot com. When we receive that email of your screenshot at review, we enter you into that drawing for the Frugal Friends Workbook. So tag us on social leave us reviews and email them to us. All

of it. We'll get you into that drawing. Yes, and we will see you next week. Bye. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Serria. What are you doing for Christmas this year? I don't know. Typically are schedule goes Travis's Dad's family, Christmas Eve, my Mom, Christmas Morning Travis's mom's family Christmas afternoon. But Travis has to work Christmas night, so sure, how we'll do it this year. He's gonna be Santa. He is Santa. Oh my goodness,

Travis is Santa. He has to work through the night. Santa works Christmas Eve night. Jill, well, but into like it's mostly Christmas Day that he's working. If it's like through the evening, Yeah, but Travis doesn't work Christmas Eve night. He works Christmas night. Oh dang it. He's the Grinch. Travis is the Grinch. He's going around taking all the gifts from everybody. Yeah, he's a burglar, I mean grinch. Uh. And so he will be working through the night on that,

which means that he has to sleep Christmas Day. Ah, he won't. Really, it's his since it's a Friday, that's his kind of Monday. So he'll be available on Christmas morning. So I'll just have to sleep Christmas afternoon. We'll see. But we have a lot a lot of Christmas festivity in the In the past ten years, after my dad died, we would do nothing for Christmas and so it kind of just became like a um But and then I got married and obviously having a million family members is

overwhelming for an only child. Never celebrate Christmas, and I have been slowly like easing into it where now I don't dread the holidays anymore. Wow. Yeah, I'm really glad for the growth you've experienced. Thank you to you. I still have my Thanksgiving morning, like I sit by myself and I watched the parade, and I eat my cinnamon roll and I look through my ads. So to me, that is it's not even about getting a deal, like sometimes I don't even shop. It's just about doing it. Yeah. Yeah,

and I've done that since I was maybe thirteen. Oh my goodness, that's so key. Little Jen eating the cinnamon roll, doing our good Friday shopping, my good friend Black driving. Different, very different,