Episode four seventy eight is episode two ninety seven, Tips for Living on an Extremely tight budget.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity and life. Here your hosts Jen and Jill.
Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are revisiting one of our most popular episodes from two years ago that is still extremely relevant, and that's living on a extreme tight budget. And we're talking extreme low income, not extreme low income, but extreme type budget, as in, there is not an option. It's not like a volunteer hairily extremely tight income tight gotcha.
Well, or maybe it is.
I think sometimes we can find ourselves in seasons where we've chosen to live on a little less and we want some more tips for that. And then there are times where our circumstances have decided for us that this is the amount of money that you're earning a month over month. And I think we had made these caveats in the initial episode when when we launched it for the first time. What I do want to say again here that I think a lot of people are a
good handful will come to Frugal Friends Podcast. Assuming that this is all we talk about, that we talk about how to just get as much as possible for as little as possible. That we're going to talk to upondrive yourself, Yeah, to be okay with depriving yourself, how to say no more often, how to white knuckle this thing and that is not us. So we are going to need to make that statement very clear at the start of this because we might be finding some new listeners with this
episode that we are reclaiming the word frugality. We are redefining it as being good stewards of all of our resources. So this includes our physical resource, our emotional, relational mental resource, our financial resources, our physical spaces, our natural resources. That all of these things come together and formulate how we engage with the world around us, how we view ourselves and our circumstances, and then the actions that we take
as a result of that. And so our perspective in this is that it's not bad to spend, It is not bad to splurge, it is not bad to impulse spend.
There are people who are frugal who make a lot of money, and there are people who are frugal who don't make a lot of money, and we can all find ourselves at this frugal table where we can live a long term lifestyle, because there's joy to be found in intentional living and conscious consumption, not just for the sake of deprivation or race to the bottom, or how can we live on as little as possible, or kind
of stay in this place. So you will hear messages throughout this episode two of encouragement and ideas hopefully filled and sprinkled with gentleness and kindness, that there is also permission for ourselves to identify ways to earn more. That yes, we may find ourselves in this place, and we may choose this place at various points in life, but we also don't need to stay stuck there in whatever is
within our control. We recognize there's so many external factors at play here and sometimes this is not our choice that feels very suffocating, And we absolutely see you in those places too. But we are also always going to look at all the parts of financial management, which include earning, spending and saving slash investing, And so when our earnings is not enough, we do want to help you there. We want to have some good tips and tangible takeaways.
But we also want to say that hopefully this isn't the goal of frugality to stay in a place where what we bring home is not enough to sustain us. We don't want that for anybody in the long term, and so we also hope that our content helps people to identify ways to be able to be creative with your skill set and earning, so that you can feel
more comfortable and stable as well. But first, this episode is brought to you by getting the most, like a good too for one deal, jumping in the deep end of the pool first, or scraping up those last bits of cookie dough from the bowl, probably with your hand. We love enjoying things to their fullest extent. Like the book we just wrote, you can get the most, you can be getting the most out here helpful tips, actionable steps, stories mixed with research, all aimed at helping you get
the most with your money. So if this sounds like something you really want. In twenty twenty five, this book is now available wherever you buy books. It's called Buy what you Love Without Going Broke. Order it from your local bookshop, Barnesennoble Bookshop dot org. Buy what you Love Without going broke, get the most.
Get it, get it, And I hope that you get something from this episode, like so many others did the first time we aired it. So let's get into it.
Let us do it. Circle comes from Caroline Vensel.
Caroline and her family of five lived on seventeen thousand dollars a year. They were family four at that time, but now they are a family of six and they still only live on one income. But for a very long time, Caroline was a teen mom and they lived on her husband's seventeen thousand dollars a year income, which I think, Jill, that was, I mean similar to your income at one point. Yeah.
I got Eric's permission. Eric's my husband to share. I asked him just before this episode. I'm like, Hey, we're talking about living off a low income.
Can I share this?
And He's like, yeah, totally, but thanks for asking. And this is pretty recent for us too. In twenty eighteen, our take home pay was eighteen thousand dollars. So when I say I can commiserate with the pinch and the difficulty, like I mean it. And thankfully we had a place to live and we had food, and we were provided for and it was not easy, and it required creativity
and all of the things. But when we say like, yeah, we get it, we've been there, like we're not saying we get it, we've been there, like we've made fifty sixty grand a year, like eighteen thousand dollars in twenty eighteen take home pay. So I can relate to a lot of the things that Caroline mentions in this article, and I think yeah can also comment on some of the things that worked for us. We did not thankfully
stay in that place. So fast forward to twenty twenty one and we are bringing in a lot more money than that, and a lot of that took intentionality and took a lot of different efforts on our parts to not stay in that place. So that's another piece that I think we're going to talk about on this episode today of are there ways to not stay in this place?
We understand some of the different dynamics that would lead us to be in a place where we are living below the poverty level, but also shifting mindset, finding opportunities, honing in skill set to not continue to find ourselves in this place year after year. And again, that looks different for everybody, and I'm not saying that you have to aim at being a millionaire or even making six figures, but living below the poverty line is not a place that we want to set up.
Yeah, exactly. But Caroline goes into detail about the things that she and her family did while they were living on seventeen thousand a year to make it through those multiple years that they had to do that. So the first thing that she goes over is they had to prioritize, and so this one is really really important. What needs to happen? Do you need a new car or is the one you have doing just fine? You just like
a new car or even smaller? Do you need the full price brand name products or can you go for the generic or maybe even make it yourself? So there are a lot of things. Or even I would go and step further and be like, do you really need the products that you are buying? Or can you skip a week, skip a month, or do without get creative and skip it. Caroline says, we learned pretty quickly that if we want to splurge, we'd need to plan ahead
for it. So but if splurging meant that our grocery budget would take a hit, we would opt for a night of frozen pizza and Netflix. So I think that's it's really important to point out that you don't have to be living on rice and beans, beans and rice, like. You can have little treasures, but A you have to plan ahead for them and budget for them, and B they have to be proportionate to the income you have
coming in. You know, a night at Carabas may not be in your best interests in this season of your life. And it's different for everyone. The things that people tend to get tripped up on are different for everyone. So you just have to be aware of Okay, what are the things that I like that I'm overspending on and how can I still incorporate them into my life but do them for cheaper, less expensive?
Yeah?
And the next one, I think it connects with the prioritizing aspect, and that is live below your means? Okay, So I just I need to pause here because I know that that, like, even inside me, it gives me this like cringe defense mechanism, like pops up of like, what are you talking about?
Live below my means?
If I'm making eighteen thousand dollars a year, twenty thousand dollars a year, like, no, this is not possible, and so yes, I want to acknowledge that. So depending on where you find yourself on an extremely low income, what that means for you in the area that you're living. But I still want to highlight this concept of not approaching it from what all can I buy? But where can I cut? And recognizing that sometimes okay, so I'll
speak for myself. When in this place of being very tight financially, whether it was making eighteen thousand in a year or maybe thirty thousand in a year, it doesn't matter, it all felt pretty.
Tight to us.
I had this idea on the back of my head, like this is so difficult, This feels like such a pinch, like I deserve something here for all my hard work, for like how much I've sacrificed for how little I actually get to have in life. And that would mean that sometimes I would blow my budget on certain things. And this is I know that a lot of financial people will talk about cutting coffee and everyone's like, that's not going to make you rich. It's like, no, it's not.
But for when we're living on extremely low incomes, that
can quickly derail a budget. If we are thinking that we're just going to treat ourselves in this way or that way, or it might lead us to a mindset of making payments, and so we might get an nice or car than what we can actually afford because we're just making payments, and so recognizing where our mindset is at and shifting to a mindset of how can I approach this as if I'm going to spend less than what I'm bringing in, and even if you can afford, even if you do get a little bit extra money
that you weren't anticipating instead of maybe going out for a nice dinner, that might mean how do I put this aside for savings or how do I pay off a bill? It's not easy. It's not a place that we want to live for a really long time. But I think approaching it in this way and also approaching it in a way of how do I not stay here can help us make those sacrifices along the way.
If this isn't forever.
And that's another thing we want to emphasize that it shouldn't. Your mindset shouldn't be I'm going to live on a low income forever, even if you are in a job or a position that is historically low paying. That doesn't mean that you have to be living on a low income forever. Jill is in a profession that is historically low paying.
Social work, right, it's going to call it out. I'm a social.
Worker, Yeah, and still prioritized increasing her income. And so this is a big mindset aspect to this too. You are living on a low income right now, but you are not a low income person. This is separate from you. And so this is a season that you are in
in life. And I think even when you start to separate yourself from that mindset, it becomes easier to actually live below your means because you're living below your income's means, not necessarily living below your means like it's like it's forever. Because when you think it's forever, and when you see no way out, that's when you start to overspend on three four, six, eight dollars purchases because you need something to hold you over, something to reward yourself, because you
see no way out of this low income trap. But when you start to separate yourself from this and start to put your attention and focus on getting out of that and just seeing this as the season that it is you can say, Okay, I can give up all this stuff for however long it takes, because I won't be here forever.
Yeah, yeah, exactly, And so we're going to be weaving in some of these mindset shifts along with tangible tips. The next one on this list is a more tangible tip of what do we do when we are in those places of low income and maybe it's going to be a few years before we do even see a way out shop only discount nearly. Make this a rule across the board for yourself. So if you need clothing, you need some furnishings, you need, you name it secondhand,
so Goodwill, go to Facebook marketplace. Of course, we are only talking necessities like my shoes are completely worn out. I need a new pair of shoes Goodwill. And again
these are tips for extremely low income earners. Remember this is this is who we're talking to right now, that these are the spots that you need to be going to find a discount grocery store and if you don't have one in your area, look for buy nothing groups, look for farmers' markets, look for swaps like what do they call those where you can like work at a
farm and also take home some of the produce. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you, find a co op, find a way to cut cut, cut your grocery bill if you've not found if you've not done all the yet, yes, all the is your best friend, and so are buy nothing groups,
discount grocers, and of course scratch in dent places. So you know this is definitely getting into some more like if you own your home and appliance breaks, holy smokes, scratch and den if you actually need to replace something or build up skill sets problem solving YouTube DIY fix it yourself is also your best friend. Look into fixing that thing first, or figuring out how to go without, or check your buy nothing group for the thing that
you need before you jump to purchasing or replacing. I would say, wash your clothes by hand before you move to how do I buy this new washing machine? When we are living bare bones, our mentality needs to be bare bones absolutely at that point with the focus on how do I not stay here?
Tell them about your your scratch and dent appliance.
Oh yes, so Eric and I just moved into a home. We were able to purchase a home this past year, and the fridge needed replacing and so we went to Year's outlet has scratch and dents, so let's look for one in your area. If this, if you're in need of this. But there's a big old den on the front door of this fridge. And so we got like a sixty to seventy percent discount off of what this refrigerator would normally be. And so I just so we bought it because there's nothing else wrong with it other
than cosmetics. And I just got a magnet chalkboard for the front of it. And now it also forces me to meal plan, so you don't even notice the dents anymore. I put up this black magnet a meal plan, so it's like a win win win across the board because now I'm more planful with what we're going to eat, which also helps me to save money. And I got a really dope appliance for super Inexpensive.
I love that story, and I love your refrigerator. And one more thing on shopping discount and secondhand thrift stores are not just for clothes. You can get almost anything from a thrift store, and thrift stores aren't your only way to get secondhand stuff. I love shopping eBay. We got so much stuff and I almost love eBay more than thrift stores because it takes a long time for me to search in a thrift store. I don't love shopping, so I don't love searching for things in thrift stores.
But if there's something I know I need and then I can instantly go on eBay and search for it secondhand and it comes up and I get it. Like we did this recently. We bought a sleepsack for when Kai was an infant to help him sleep through the night, and it was forty dollars new, it was thirty dollars at our baby consignment shops, found it on eBay for
twenty So I love eBay for that. When you need to buy something that is hard to find at a thrift store, still look for it secondhand first because literally there's all most nothing that we buy firsthand now. And I want to point out, like Jill and I still do these things because these are habits we cultivated when
we didn't make a lot of money. So if you adopt these habits now, later on you can pick and choose what you want to take with you, and it's going to free up so much of your income later on.
And connected with this, again, I want to highlight that if you're living on an extremely low income, purchasing items is not something you.
Should be doing off right.
So true, and this ties in with the next tip, which is rethinking necessities. When you're living on a low income, you are really focused on the basics. Transportation to your job so that you can make money, food.
Shelter bills. That's it.
And if that sounds tough, yeah it is yeah, And it is a reason and a motivator to be creative and look for ways to not stay at an extremely low income. But while you're there, you need to be rethinking necessities. So this means even down to paper towels. Do I really need to buy paper towels? Or can I be using rags? Can I be making use of reusable items? Do I really need to be buying detergent
for a month? Caroline gives us an example fifteen dollars for detergent for a month versus twelve dollars to make your own for the whole year, and she has a link to how to do that, how to make your own detergent. So this is the type of mentality that we need to be taking on of. How can we reuse, how can we diiy, how can we make our own and how can we make spending and buying things outside of transportation, food shelter bills very very minimal.
Yeah, this like might sound like, uh uh no, I don't make a lot, but at least I make something. I'm not destitute. I need to have like some luxuries.
But if your focus is on bettering your life, bettering your financial situation, which I assume it is because you're listening to this podcast, you're interested in it, you're interested in doing better, then these are things that you're only going to be doing for a little time, like a short amount of time, maybe a few years, And that seems like a long time while you're going through it. I understand two years seems like four ever when you're in it, But in the grand scheme of things, it's
not that long. So if you are and it can be, it can be really ego deflating when you don't have enough money and you're living like trying to, you know, wash your clothes without a washing machine like that sounds flating. But if you separate yourself from the situation and from what you are doing and realize you're not doing it because you have to. You're doing it because you're bettering your situation. This is what you have to do right now. To do that, then it becomes mentally a little easier.
Yeah, it doesn't mean that you can't have any joy or fun in the midst of this either. It's not as if I can't spend any money, so I just need to be downtrodden. There are plenty of free things that you can enjoy and so go on walks, find beauty in your surroundings, get together with friends in a way that doesn't cause you to have to spend money. There are still things that you can do. It just really needs to be with the mindset that this needs to not cost financially.
It needs to not cost me anything absolutely.
And then I like that she says hand me downs will be your way to upgrade. Yeah, we do this if I like with my office chair, I was sitting at a dining table chair and then found a chair, actually found it on the side of the road in front of my friend's house, so I knew where the chair came from and upgraded that way, and then upgraded
to a little better chair found on Facebook marketplace. So like the first upgrade was free, but I did pay for the second one, so it's yeah, upgrades don't necessarily have to be new.
Yeah, this was my life saver.
It was amazing, Jen, like, how many, how many really cool things Eric and I had even in our times of living financially below the poverty line, because we would get hand me downs, pick up things on the side of the road, find free stuff you name it, or fix something up that somebody didn't have any use for anymore and just had some really cool stuff. And I got to say I had a rule for myself, like we did not buy anything even if I needed new I mean I didn't never really need new clothes, but
you know, I would never buy new clothes. I wasn't doing those things, but I would somehow still get new things because friends were cleaning out their closets and they always knew to like, ask me if I wanted to dig through it, because I always did so shout out to Chelsea. I get so much of my wardrobe was given to me for my friend Chelsea.
And that was fun too.
And yeah, a great way to be able to make use of other people's things that they might be getting rid of and Caroline talks about paying people for their old stuff. That's great if you can afford it, but if people just know that, hey, before I take something to the thrift store, like maybe I'll check with so and so and see if.
They want it, Like, go for it.
Let your friends know that, Hey, let me know before you're getting rid of your clothes or you're such and such, like I'd be interested to pick through it. If that's not too ego deflating for you. That was something that was super or helpful for Eric and I.
Yeah, but if you are in the mindset you're a frugal person, not a charity case, like you can be like, hey, guys, I love the free stuff. Let me know what you're getting rid of, instead of like I really need this, and that's more deflating. But you're listening to this show, you're a frugal person, you love free stuff, so your.
Friends know it.
Yes, live in this. Did you have anything else, Jill, because we have to there's so many good things in this article, but we do have to move on to the next one.
I just like the tip of just make your own everything. I think that's a really good way to shift some things in a tangible tip when you're living on a really low income of what can I make? Can I make my own snacks? Can I make my own bread? Can I make my own laundry detergent? Do I have to have like soap, body wash, shampoo bar, soap condition or like or can I just have.
Like one thing for all of that?
So just really really pairing down on the essentials and even cutting bills. Find out where you can cut your bills, and then beyond that, Okay, the things that I do need, can I make it myself? These are the places that are really going to hone in our budgets.
Yeah, And then last thing that I'm going to say is her very last paragraph, is accept that this is where you are. So this was the biggest factor for them. They had to stop trying to live well, I'll just read it. We had to stop trying to live above our means and just accept that we didn't have the money to spend like other people did. By accepting this, we were finally able to stop working against ourselves and
reach our goal. And she says, if you're constantly looking for the next, bigger, better thing, life is going to be hard. The sooner that you accept this as your life. The better. Once you're content right where you are, you can actually start to enjoy this life that you live. So and that doesn't mean that she stayed where she was.
She makes a.
Lot more money now, but this is where they lived for several years with children. But they were even able to buy a house on this income, so they live in a low cost of living area. But it is totally in your capabilities to live here and to progress from here, And.
I would encourage anyone interested in taking a deeper dive check out this article.
She also talks about some of the things she.
Wished she had done on a low income that were available to her, but she didn't even know about it. So if you are in this place and you're kind of like, what other options do I have? What walls going to be pushing on? She talks about different side hustles that she wished she would have gotten into, certain diy things she wished she would have done to cut costs, particularly as a mom on a low income.
So definitely check her out.
Yes, So our next article is a little transition from how to live on the low income, and it's to how to pay off debt on a low income, and so that is going to level. It's gonna look so different for everyone. And I'm not saying that paying off debt should be your ultimate goal if you're on a low income, but it is certainly not collecting debt, absolutely not doing that. But sometimes you're at a place where paying off debt is right. You just need to get current.
Like our recent conversation with Lydia Sen, she was talking about the baby step nobody talks about is like getting current, and sometimes that takes some time. So that may be where you're at, but as you work on getting better, then maybe paying off debt is your goal. So this one is from nab Or you need a budget dot com And it's going through somebody's budget who wants to pay off twenty six thousand dollars of debt with a
thirty five thousand dollars per year income. So you can see big difference where Caroline was making seventeen thousand and this couple is making thirty five. So what did you think, Jill?
I like this article because it gives you real time examples of where is the money going, what is the plan, and not that this is going to look like everybody's situation by any means, but it does give us some ideas of how we can go about tackling this because and the reason we're including this in this particular episode is because this is a reason for a lot of
people to not pay off debt. I don't make enough money, and so we're kind of pushing back on that a little bit to say, well, maybe you can't pay off six figures of debt and five months while you make a thirty five thousand dollars a year salary. But what can be done and what creative ways can we be looking at this? So I like the real time example of here's how much money they bring in. This is where the money goes. This is the plan for how
they're going to do this. One of the that stood out to me and just looking at their budget is where they really cut back extremely However, and the article does highlight this, it is for a time, This is not for forever.
This is for a.
Season to be able to get out of debt quickly. So they made some drastic life changes from extremely limiting entertainment, if not having nearly zero entertainment, I mean they are paying for like Netflix and Hulu on this example, budget, but there's no gifts, there's no presence, there's no vacation, there's no birthday parties, and that is extreme and that seems like bah humbug type stuff. However, they continue to
highlight it's for an eighteen month period. They're not going to forever and always not do Christmas presents, birthday presence, no vacation.
It is for this time so that they don't have to stay.
In this rut of making a low income and having the burden of debt, so cutting back really extremely for a season.
Yeah, this article was super convicting to me because I had a thirty five thousand dollars income before I met Travis, and I had fifty thousand dollars of debt, and I thought I will be in debt forever. There's no way I can get out of this. Thirty five thousand is too low. And to see a budget that has this couple paying it off in eighteen months and realizing I could have done it in three years, like I could have done it in three years and I just didn't know.
And when I say that, I'm like, man, there are how many other people are out there making thirty five thousand dollars and in the same place I was, And if you're really like gung ho about it, you could be done in three years, not forever. And part of that was like I didn't want to waste the rest of my twenties paying off a debt. But then I was like, three years from then, I would have still been in my twenties. Yeah, So it's just it's crazy. Your mind will say you can't do this, like this
is impossible, it's too big, but the numbers say it's possible. Yeah, if you follow the numbers.
A magno mistake. This is bare bones.
It does git small.
There's like there's little things that are laughable on this budget, like why spend You know they have both Netflix and Hulu, but yet they're cutting out like so many other things, Like they've only got ten dollars for medical expenses, so I'd be like, well, cut out at least one of those TV subscriptions. And then it's also funny they have his and her spending. His spending is a bit more than her spending, So I don't know about this. What
are their names, Jenny and Aaron? But yeah, a good example of kind of all right, where can we put this money. Certainly their mortgage is very low, their water and electric bill are very low. So certainly this is dependent on what your particular expenses are, how much money you're bringing in. But to show you ultimately, my takeaway on this is this is bare bones. We've got to go sew bare bones, and we've got to get really creative on how to cut to be this bare bones.
And I think it goes back to Caroline's article of they're probably diying a lot. They've really cut their grocery budget. They're definitely eating at home a lot. They are not going out, they're not doing any of the extras. They're not spending money on gifts or presents or even any version of luxury items for themselves, including just a small coffee. It's not happening in this budget.
Yeah, some of the things that we can get into the nitty gritty on this, so like they have two thirteen to fifty paychecks per month, health insurance and retirement contributions are withheld so they don't appear in the budget, as well as some four oh one K loan payments
are also withheld. Something that I found really interesting in the budget is that this couple is giving to charity every month, and like significantly, they're giving three hundred dollars a month two in tithing in other charitable donations, So this is something that they have prioritized. Like you can see everything else, there's no like, no birthdays, no anniversary, no date nights, no like gifts, no nothing, and then
but three hundred dollars to charity. So there is even room in this budget for wiggle room if that's not something you're going to do as much. So it's not like they're maxing out their budget on just their bills, like there's there is room in this budget.
Something else that did stand out to me is that they are setting aside money monthly to kind of go into a pot for different spending. So the one thing is weekend fun. So they are putting ten dollars a month aside for weekend fun. So that certainly doesn't mean
that they're having weekend fun every weekend. That means maybe once a quarter they've got forty to fifty bucks to spend on a weekend, or you do small things here and there, but that there is still small amounts of money that they are setting aside that they can pull from that would be minor luxuries, minor rewards in this process.
So I think that is something worth considering, even setting aside a few bucks here and there that you can utilize for those times when you really do need just a little bit of a pick me up for all of the work and sacrifice that you're putting in.
Yeah, well, I think it's essential while you're paying off debt. I recommend that people create milestones within their debt payoff and have it be a milestone you can reach at least every other month to every three to four months, and you're saving every month, and then when you hit those milestones, you get a reward that's proportionate to the milestone that you're hitting, and you take it from that fund. So then again you're planning for it in advance. It's
also something that you're working towards. You know it's on the horizon, and so you work towards it to get to it, maybe a little faster, because you really want whatever that reward is. So it's essential to be doing something like that. But when you plan for it, it stops being one of those things that, oh my god,
i'm so bored. I haven't done something in so long, let me spend forty dollars to do this, and then you bust your budget and you feel guilty, and it starts being something like, oh my gosh, I can't wait to do it. It's forty dollars. I can't wait to do it. And then you do it and you feel good about it, and you spend the money and you feel good about it.
Yeah. I also like with this example of paying down debt on a low income is the process then that they lay out, so not just the budget that they're going to be working off of, but a plan of action.
And so they first describe how they're going to pay off to credit cards with savings, followed by using a little bit of the extra savings to pay down a final credit card, moving into focusing on the fourth credit card with the payments that they're going to make monthly, which moves into using a work bonus to pay off the credit cards, then work bonus and snowballing your monthly payments to pay down the car loan. Like it's actionable
steps going in consecutive order of one another. So they've even said, like, here's what we're going to do from now until the end of the year, here's what we're going to do the first three months of the new year, here's what we're going to do through the summer. And it's kind of laid out in this way, which I think is a really great plan of action. In this person's example, they're apparently getting a three thousand dollars bonus. So I know that that's not everybody's reality, that's what
they're able to work with. But again, all of our situations are different, and what works for one is not going to work for another. However, we utilize all these examples to say, what is your story and where can you utilize creativity? Where might you have something that other people don't have that you can use to your advantage to get out of debt, or to reach a savings goal,
or to increase your income. You know, I know for me, I often use the example of living in really non traditional housing that we house sat for a little bit.
We lived in a trailer.
I know that that cannot be everybody's circumstances, but I'm going to keep highlighting it in case it works for somebody. But also to recognize there is wiggle room for creativity here. There are ways that we can say well, is there a non traditional path that I can take that will help me get out of this very difficult circumstance. So anyhow, all that to say, it is good to have a plan, and it is good to kind of put it in consecutive order of once this is done, what comes next?
What's our plan for how we're going to get there? And then, as you mentioned, Jen, celebrate. You know, after you've done and accomplish each one of these steps, do something small. Doesn't even have to cost you anything. You can do something for free, but give yourself these little rewards as you accomplish each one of these steps along the way.
Absolutely, and then the last thing I want to point out about the strategy is that it emphasizes putting the focus on one thing at a time. When you are trying to dig out of a big hole with a little shovel, that hole can feel overwhelming. All you see is the big number and you say, I can't do this.
And so what the key is is to focus on one thing at a time, one financial goal at a time, one milestone at a time, and just work towards that one milestone and ignore the bigger number and say, okay, I may not get to it, But I'm going to get to this one, okay. And then maybe after I do that, I take a break for a month or something, and then I get right back on track and I work to the next milestone, to the point where I'm not taking any more breaks anymore. I'm just keeping going
and going and going. But focusing on one thing at a time is a powerful psychological tool to make big breakthroughs. So that's the last thing I liked about this.
But you know what else is a big breakthrough and something I like to move on to.
The bill of the week.
That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That bills, butffalo bills, Bill Claion, this is the bill of the week.
Hey, for wel friends, my name is Ellie here in Israel. Well, I actually got a promotion at my job, and my husband and I decided that we were gonna celebrate later that night. We were getting ready and I randomly found twenty one dollar bills just laying next to my bed. It was a little random, just because we haven't used US currency in the past about two years, but that's okay, I'll take it. That ended up going towards our date night, so we didn't have to dip into our date night fund,
which was totally amazing and made me extra happy that day. Anyways, you ladies, keep up the good work.
Thanks.
Oh my gosh, what a gift from the universe.
That's amazing.
I love finding money.
Yeah, that wasn't expected, but how great. There's so many layers in this one. That you were about to go celebrate a promotion. Congratul suns. That's what we hope for.
On this frugal journey.
But then even that your celebration didn't really have to cost you anything because of this nice gift of US dollar bill currency that you found. What a way to just enjoy a night together and celebrating growth in your life.
Congratulations.
Really stoked for everything in your life right now. And yeah, we hope twenty twenty one brings you more promotions and more date nights and more random money. I wish that for everyone listening.
For everybody, random money, Yes, you'll get a money you get a money, not.
Me, though. You find the money, you'll find a money.
Well.
If you find a money, please visit us at Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill and tell us about it.
Yes, we want to hear it.
We want to hear about the money you found, the money you spent, the money.
You saved, all of it.
Yeah, especially the money you saved.
Yes, yes, and the money you spent if it's on paying on your debt trick.
Now it's time for us slighting world.
Which turns into a song somehow always So, Jill, you came up with did you come up with this lightning round? No?
You know I did. I forgot out of yourself. Well I forgot I didn't write the last lightning round toil the last minute. I didn't remember writing this one. I wrote these outlines last week. So that's where my head is at. But it's a good one. I'll bring on myself. We're sharing the key to bringing yourself out of the low income trap. So as two people who have lived on relatively low incomes like I won't lie like thirty five thousand dollars isn't super low, you know, but it's
not average. So it felt so even though it wasn't as low now that I know more people who have actually lived on low incomes. When I was living in it, it felt low, and compared to my parents and my parents' friends, it was low. So low isn't always a number. Low income isn't always a number. It's a state of mind. A lot of the times.
Yeah, it can be relative, and sometimes we can look back and think, man, that that was really low compared to where I am now, or oh wow, I could have actually done more with that because it wasn't as low as I thought. Which leads me to my tip, which is mindset shift, where I think in getting out of this low income, I think this is a big component. It might not feel as tangible as we want it to feel. I talked about this in a previous episode too. I think like mindset shifts we need to make that.
I would often tell myself, like my internal narrative was, I'm never going to make a lot of money. I'm a social worker, my husband works for himself. Our income is irregular, and we are always going to be quote unquote poor. Granted, I have always recognized and hoped that I continue to recognize it. We have amazing family and friends that we've not experienced homelessness, although some people might have considered me living in a vehicle to be that perspective. Yeah, perspective.
But this thought that I'm never going to make a lot of money that was keeping me stuck. It meant that then I wasn't working towards anything beyond that because I was just like, I'm just poor. Some times I viewed myself as a charity case, like well, yeah, people should give me free stuff, or if somebody gives us dinner, thank you, like I need that. And I did, granted,
but it kind of kept me in this place. And when I started to make the shift and started to realize, oh, this isn't a place that I need to set up my tent that I need to live out of, that really shifted some things for me that yes, I'm still a social worker, I'm still living in the field. I
didn't switch to being a lawyer suddenly. But I am making more money and it is possible for me to make more money, whether it is I mean, even maintaining my social work job, but maybe doing some side hustles of things that I enjoy, or looking to cut expenses in ways that I didn't think was possible, you name it.
Mindset shift has been a huge one for me that it doesn't have to stay in this place, and it doesn't mean that I have to change what I do or what I love to make more money, because I know that's a big thing too for people in low income careers like social work or teaching or any kind of human service profession. It's like, I make a low income, but I love what I do, or you know, you're not going to be able to pull me away from
these kids or this population. I get it, But that doesn't mean that you need to be devalued in your financial earnings. It doesn't mean that you have to stay there, and that is like the banner over you for the rest of your life. You can stay in the work that you're doing and find creative ways, whether it is inside hustles or whether it is equipping yourself further so that your income potential grows.
Absolutely. Amen. Yeah, I mean I can't say much more than that, But again, I think my answer is also mindset shifts. When I think of the biggest things that I have done to specifically earn more income when I was willing myself into it by trying to use just physical force, like my time and my body, like most of you probably know. Like I tried that for two months when we were starting to pay off debt, and I worked myself into shingles, Like I got shingles at
the ripe age of twenty six from overworking. So it didn't work out for me just to like be sheer brute strength to increase my income. But when I started to familiarize myself with other people that were making more money than me, then I started to see like, oh, this person has And then I got to meet these people, and I was like, these people are not more special than I am. They are not more educated, they are
not more talented. They don't work longer, they don't work harder, but they have found a way to make more by simply getting creative and believing a they are worth more and that there is more to be made even in their selected profession. For me, I was making thirty five thousand dollars a year and I was an acupuncturist, and that's not a lucrative job.
And I took a lot of investment in yourself. I mean, that's the equivalent of a master's degree that you have to do that I did.
Yeah, I got a master's degree, and that was the debt I paid off. And like a lot of other people that I'm sure got master's degrees for fields that did not give them the pay increase they thought they were going to get. And so I did that. But then I realized like I had hit the cap for what I was going to make with acupuncture, and so it was a super difficult decision, but I decided to leave the industry to pursue a career in writing that
I saw could be much more lucrative. So it provided a small income jump initially, but I knew the room for income. The ceiling was a lot higher, and in
some cases for some people know ceiling. But that was a really hard decision, and so now I very much advocate for people not staying in the jobs that they are in that if you want to raise your income and you don't want to work a side hustle, then look for another job in the same field whatever, maybe a different city made the same city that pays more. Because raises are hard to come by, I was getting
a three percent raise every year at the clinic. My boss was amazing and consistent with that, but three percent every year was only going to keep up with inflation, and I wanted to. I was at the point where I was like, I know people are doing this, and I know I can do it, and I feel like I've hit the ceiling. And that was me, Like it was really hard to leave something that I loved, but I was able to find something I loved even more.
And honestly, when I quit, I didn't know. I wasn't confident that I was going to like writing full time. I knew I liked writing on the side when I was like, I could hate this, I could start doing full time and hate it. Yeah, but I needed to take that risk and just see so that I wasn't wondering what if.
Well, and I want to highlight for you too, because yeah, it's kind of different sides of a similar coin. That you did leave your career, but that didn't mean that you left it just to make money. You left it for also something that you enjoy and that helps people that you are encouraging others in their finances, showing people what's possible, giving tools, equipping others. So while I say you don't have to leave your field if you love
it to make more money. It is also possible that maybe you're a multifaceted person and you have more than one interest and you can pursue something else that might be a bit more lucrative for you.
And yes, I will acknowledge this can take time.
You know, I talked about how I made eighteen that we both my husband and I, So this is jointly. We made eighteen thousand dollars take home in twenty eighteen, and that was partly the sacrifice in the investment that we made so that I could equip myself. So this is not going to be like snap your fingers and jump to stage fifteen. There are going to be steps that we have to take and sacrifices we make along
the way. But consider what your options are and consider shifting your mindset to think outside of the box that I don't have to stay in this place, or if I do want to stay in the field I'm in and I'm only getting incremental salary increases, Maybe consider moving to a different location or practice or business doing a similar thing. But you're more likely to increase your pay exponentially switching companies than staying with the same one and
just taking the standard pay increase every year. So there's lots of different things to consider there, but ultimately thinking outside the box, creativity, equipping yourself, considering location change, considering field change. Yeah, all of these things can help us when we're on low incomes. Yeah.
And two more things I want to say. The first is if you keep hearing suggestions over and over and over again about how to lower your expenses and increase your income, and to every suggestion you say, I can't do that, I can't do that, I'm not willing to do that, And to the point where you say I just can't get any useful information out of anybody, then you have to start to re examine, like is it the people giving you the recommendations or is it your
unwillingness to change for a season. So that's like a hard realization thing. Yeah, you have to be willing to do things that you don't want to do for a period of time in order to better your life.
And then because there is no magic, like there's no magical that any one of us can give to any person who's making eighteen thousand dollars a year, it doesn't exist, it doesn't and saying what needs to happen to move forward from this place.
Yeah, and then one last thing on my story. So I think when I recommend people switch their jobs, they're like, oh, but the job. You know, market is so volatile, what if I lose that job? Like I'm in a really safe job right now, I will say from experience, yeah, it's possible you lose your job. I got fired from that writing job a year after I took it, and which forced me into honest, gosh.
You got laid off.
I'm sorry you for having a They had a mass layoff. I was one of forty five people laid off. I don't know what you do so bad as a writer that you would get fired but at a personal finance website. But yeah, and I lost it. And I took the skills that I had gotten from that job and implemented
them immediately to start working for myself. So like, there are very few reasons why anything is a bad idea, like any of these recommendations, Yes, there's could always be a downside to doing one, but there's always an upset. I may have never gone full time into my business had I not been laid off. I mean I always wanted to, but I may not have had the courage too. And I'm not saying like everybody has to be self employed. That is not the path for everyone. But there are
jobs out there. They do pay more, they are not finite, they are out.
There and more and more.
You know.
One of the silver linings of this pandemic is how many companies have moved to online remote work, so that whole avenue I think is opening up more and more where people might be able to switch jobs more easily because spots that maybe aren't super local to you are starting to open up.
Yeah, opportunities.
I really liked the love low income trap part, like to round it out because our hope and our idea is that low income may be happening to you, either by choice or by circumstance, but it is never a place that is sustainable, so and it's not going to help you grow financially or mentally or in the things that money can't buy. So if there is a level of income that is really stifling, then working on getting out of that low income trap I think is truly.
The first key, the best place to be putting our time, energy and attention, because there's only so much we can do to cut our expenses. I know that we talked about that in this episode, but eventually we it's going to need to cause us to look at how can we earn more? And related to the low income trap, you and I Jen have learned more kind of on this topic how we engage with the world and the
ways that things are sold to us. Since we recorded this episode, we've been in the process of writing this book now. The book is available in Buy What You Love Without Going Broke. We talk about marketing and the ways in which marketers try to appeal to us, and I think you know, with the low income trap, it's not just marketing. There's like a whole system at play
here that can kind of keep us down. But certainly the ways in which products and experiences and services are marketed to us can help to perpetuate some of this trap that we can find ourselves in when we don't give ourselves that space to identify why am I spending? Are there other ways that I can meet my needs
that are free or low cost? And so I think sometimes building out this knowledge and understanding and being able to identify where where we are being cheated, where we are not getting the most that we actually truly deserve can also be helpful in this in this space.
Yeah, and I don't think it just the marketing aspect doesn't just get us to buy things, but when we're in this low income space, it gets us to think that we deserve less, that we are not capable of being more, accomplishing more, doing more, and so if we're not, if we're not capable, then we might as well just take the little treats that they throw at us. So that I think is the true disservice that a lot of this marketing plays. It's not just when your low income.
You're not buying a ton of stuff anyways, so you think this, you know, can't be helpful, but it does perpetuate this idea that we can't lift ourselves out of where we are, so we might as well just you know,
treat ourselves to little things over and over. So I hope that maybe this has inspired you to think bigger, to think more, and if you can't, to surround yourself with people who can think that for you in real life, not just on the internet, like not like internet scammers that are like you can build up a million dollar business just like me, that's.
Not what we're talking about.
Put yourself in community with people that can help you think bigger, and it will take time. And that's why we like to talk about saving money and optimizing our spending, because that's something you can do today, even if the income piece can't be handled today. And if this has helped you, I hope that you will leave us a rating and review on Apple or a rating and comment on Spotify, kind of like britty ka, did they say
great podcast? I have never been a podcast girly, but I listen to Frugal Friends every day that I work from the office. I listen to one episode on my way in, one episode on my way home. This podcast has given me a bunch of tips and tricks on how to be a better adult all around. I appreciate that consistently listening to this podcast has helped me stay
true to my goals and make progress more quickly. I've always been a consumer and changing the mindset to values based spending is hard, but Jen and Jill make it a lot easier. Thank you for all that you do and the information that you are putting into the world.
Ooh pretty kay, this is really fun review.
Thank I love the fact that you've never been a podcast girly, but you're listening to us twice a day.
Really, you're getting the most.
You dove head first into the deep end and are listening to us constantly. But it sounds like it's just helping you to kind of stay on track and rethink some things. This is a really encouraging review for us, and I imagine a really helpful review for other potential listeners. So if you are one of those current listeners who also wants to be helpful and you haven't left us a review or rating, please do so if you can
do that on Apple or Spotify. Again, it's encouraging to us, and it's helpful to other people identifying.
Will this be a good fit for me? Will this help me?
I'm not a podcast girly, but should I give it a try?
So thanks for doing that, Thank you, and we will see you next time. Google Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni Okay. I don't think we have any ideas for what to talk about right now. We're looking at each other like this comes out usually organically that one of us will have something to tell the other, But I think we have seen each other so too much in the past six weeks. There is nothing left.
Here's the only though. We're not in person right now.
We're not.
Because I need to go home. I need to be home, like I need to see my family. I'm just kidding like that when the stuff happens, I need to see my house. My house needs love, and like, I can't. I can't keep doing this leaving the house every day for work, Jill, I.
Can't keep coming to your place. You need to meet me in the middle.
Even meeting in the middle. We tryed a co working space for two weeks and I was like instantly, I did like that. No, it was okay, I would have loved an office. Okay, you wanted to drop so much money on this, that's I know.
Okay, But we have a private office in my home. So what's that.
I know.
Well, that's why I prefer like doing that. I also just want to be home like two days a week. M Yeah I do.
I yeah, I do. And that's I'm glad you're getting that today.
It's not that I want to be home, it's that my home looks like a twister went off in it, and it takes time to reset, like literally Atlas just runs through the house and anything we have on a counter. He's like one of these minimalism gurus that's like like clear your spaces, your horizontal spaces, because he'll just clear our horizontal spaces for us, our countertops, coffee table, and then it's just all stands right, but it's all on
the ground. So he's like not there yet, but eventually I think he will possibly be like a minimalism guru. He is that extreme. He's either he's going to one end or the other. And I I don't know how I'm going to teach him radical middle.
He's never gonna learn it.
I don't say, I don't know, I don't know se but like that's what I have to do when we get off of recording, is pick up the other the larger horizontal space in my house.
Well, god speed, thank you,