Tips to Avoid Overspending on Back to School

in co host, so excited about this. Jen is currently out on maternity leave. But don't you worry. We have got a fantastic co host here, Alison Baggerley from Inspired Budget. So she has brought a really fantastic person efective to the past couple of episodes, and we are excited to do another one. How are you feeling, Allison? I am feeling great. I'm so excited. I'm like sad that Jen isn't here with us, but I'm so happy that I get to be here, that she gets to be at

home snuggling a baby. So I think it's the definition of bitter sweet. Probably yes, yes, I miss her too, But this has been this has been super nice. Yes, it's nice. It's fun. It is this fun frugal friendship. So, and I'm excited about today's episode two because we're talking about back to school. I'm sure if there are kids currently listening this is a dreaded thing for the parents, maybe not so much. But Alison, with your background and being a teacher and a mom, I'm super excited about

the perspective you bring to the table. Yes, I'm excited. I was reading through the articles and I was like, m I have some thoughts on this for a few of the things so awesome. Well, before we get into that first award from our sponsors, also brought to you by buses. That's right, this episode is brought to you by those big yellow beacons of hope and glory. Risk your precious little treasures off to be educated. Well you

wave goodbye to them from your bedroom window. Yellow buses the national symbol of the end of summer entertainment, responsibility and allowing parents everywhere to remain in their pajamas until at least eight thirty am. Oh, yes, you know my favorite thing is Well, actually, as a teacher, this wasn't my favorite thing, but now that I'm done teaching full time.

My favorite thing was seeing like all the busses bus drivers in training, you know, like a week or two weeks before school, they like run their routes and they're just driving around all these busses and just empty busses, and I'm like, ha, it's coming coming, hop and Gloria is back. Yeah. I mean for the rest of us who aren't in school, it just means the beginning of a longer commute. It's always nice in this summer when the buses are off the road. But I get it.

I mean, it's got to be the next best thing to magic to just put your kid on a bus and go about your day. Yeah, not needing to provide the transportation anyhow. Speaking of back to school, we're going to get into some of these articles, and the first one is from money Crashers and they give us sixteen tips on how to save on back to school supplies. I was shocked. So I don't have kids, in case you haven't been paying attention to that end does have fun with that, uh, And you do, Alison, But I

was shocked at how much it can cost. So this article says that UH an annual index chart that has been tracking the average car cost of back to school supplies found that it costs on average one thousand dollars to send a single child back to school. Now I think they are including in that cost of school supplies as well as extracurricular activities, band, sports, clothing, all of that, but still that's more than I'm sure you're spending on

your child or possibly everybody at Christmas time. So this is a half de blow to the budget if this is the amount that you're spending. So we want to talk about how to minimize that. What are the essentials? So what did you like in this article, Alison or some of the tips so well? One thing I liked is that they reminded people about the costs that you don't think about, because when I think of back to school, I think of okay, new clothes, new shoes, school supplies.

But I like that they talked about extracurriculars because you know, if you have a child Dots in high school or middle school, they need physicals and if that's not covered by your insurance, that's an extra cost um. A lot

of times some school districts will offer free physicals. I know that's what we did growing up, but bands, like I remember because you know, my husband's a band director, and I had a coworker whose son was in band and his daughter was in band, and he made a comment to me last year at the beginning of the school year that was like, oh, yeah, we just took out a loan to for for band. And I was like, ha ha ha, you're joking, right, And he was like, no,

we just took out a small loan for band. And I was like, goodness, gracious, and every part of me was like, no, you have to save up for that, And then the other part of me was like, oh, my gosh, how much is it for two kids in band? You know, to get those instruments up front and all

the supplies and everything. So I think that, you know, I like that it brought attention to those things that you don't normally think about whenever you you're back to school, back to school costs, and I think that that's when it gets more expenses and when your kids are older. Yeah,

it's not just the notebooks. I remember in high school needing that calculator or whatever it was, and now I'm sure cell phones do it, but holy moly, those calculators were like a hundred and which felt like I was buying a car, I know, and then like my brother and I were just a year apart. My mom was like,

isn't there any way you can share? And my brother's like, I'm not sharing my calculator with I had to like meet up in the hallways and switch it off by our locker, Like that would not have gone over well, that would have been the frugal way to do it. Yeah, sure, I'm sure I tried to share my sixteen year old self didn't want to spend a hundred on a calculator

Texas instruments. Yeah, but it's interesting you and I, Allison were talking before before we started recording, just from your experience of being a teacher and some of the things that this article talked about in what is expected and that you're pressed on all sides because parents are trying to get out of it, but if the parents don't purchase it started cool even mentioned that teachers are purchasing things with their own money. Yes, I've bought pencils. I

bought pencil sharpeners before, like those are really big. It also says, um, I can't remember if it was this one. Oh, No, it's a different article that I disagree with that we'll talk about later. But you know, like because I've run out of pencils as a teacher, where I have to like middle of the year asked parents to bring pencils, or I buy my own pencils. I buy my own pencil sharpeners, erasers, um. So it's it's almost like if you don't provide it, usually the teacher will buy it.

I've done things where I buy extra extra supplies for kids that show up and have no supplies, so you have to have something, so that comes out of that came out of my own money. Or if I had leftover supplies, if I hoarded enough supplies from a previous year, right, so you learned to hoard as a teacher. If I could hoard enough supplies from the previous year, then I could have supplies for the kids that came in the following year that didn't bring any school supplies. Minimalists at

a maximalist in the glass room exactly pretty much. I mean it, it was crazy how I would hoard, because you just never know if you're going to get what you need. And so that's what I used to do. Yeah, I mean, it's it's interesting because this article talks about how like now parents are expected to bring scissors and glue and markers and disinfecting wipes and germ X, and they're like, you should have to bring that. That's what

the article what I feel like it's saying. But then my teacherself, it's like, well, yes you should, because we need those things. We would it's yeah, Like so it's funny how I have like this very conflicting view because I think parents should bring them because I'm a teacher, and I'm like, but we really do you some guys like we we disaffect all the time, especially during flu season, and if we didn't have those, like your kids would be a lot more sick. Sure, and it does help

to share the burden of that. That is the frugal way for all parents to bring in some of these things for the entire year. I do. I do think that there's some great tips though in this article. I particularly liked number one, which says do a supply sweep, meaning go throughout your house and collect the krayans, markers, pencils, pens, papers, notebooks, binders, all of those things. See what you have, but not

just with those supplies, but also clothing. Go through the closets and see what do you have, what still fits, what doesn't fit, so that you can really get an inventory of the things you actually need. And I will say I even remember as a kid going to buy things. I wanted the new thing. I wanted the pretty new pencils and the nice pencil case, and the notebooks that

didn't have any pages written on them. But reality is is that if you want to go about this in a frugal way, you can use a notebook that has two pages that are already written in it. You can use a pencil even if the eras or is half used already. Just these areas where even on the small things, you can save if you just are willing to be able to use some things that still have life in

them but they're not brand new. Christie plains right. And I think that's a lot easier to do for like younger kids, you know, like especially if your kids are like really they don't care. You know a lot of them don't care. Um. One of the tips that I

really liked was checked the dollar store. I think that the dollar store is something that people really over a look and sometimes you can get multiples of something for a dollar, so you know, maybe two packs of Kleenex for one dollar, especially if like Kleenex, you don't have to like you don't have to buy the name brand. You don't have to buy the name brand on these school supplies, So just get whatever is cheapest and send

it in. Um. Teachers will just be happy that you're sending in something, even if it's not the name brand. I will say that a lot of places have these great back to school sales where you can get you know, no books for like ten cents or folders for a penny, So keep an eye on those sales. Typically people get

there early and they sweep through it. But when you're talking about if you have three or four kids that you're sending back to school, and you can get notebooks that are normally a dollar fifty for ten cents and they need six, Like I know our school supply list they needed to bring six composition notebooks. You know, that could be sixty cents versus six dollars, So it really

does add up. Be on the lookout for those sales papers because they will come and like I know, as teachers, I would go up there and I would stock up like I would take like twenty of something because I knew I would have kids come or we would run out, and so I would stock up that way as a teacher. And now it's like, okay, as a mom, I need to stock up that way. Sure, And along those lines, we also recommend garage sales thrift stores. I have seen

so many school supplies at garage sales. Again, it might be a used binder or a notebook that doesn't have of all one fifty pages in it, maybe it now only has a hundred. Whatever the cases, garage sales can be great areas to purchase some of these school and office supplies, as well as clothing. Certainly, if you can find clothing for your kids, there's so many yard sales that have kids clothing at them. If not, thrift stores are just abounding with it. So consider that too as

you're doing some of this back to school stuff. I also really liked and I was not aware of this and probably because Pennsylvania doesn't offer it after I did a little bit more research, But different states will do sales tax holidays, which is certain times of the year, usually right around back to school time. It seems to be specifically for this time of year where they will waive the sales tax up to a certain amount on

certain items. And again it's back to school stuff, it's some electronics, clothing, shoes, and so we'll we'll link to the two the website that they referenced in here with the different states what they offer when they offer it. But just for instance, Connecticut offers uh no sales tax on clothing the third week in August. Florida does no sales tax on clothing, school supplies and books the second week in August. The list goes on and on, but that's an example. So even to be planning your back

to school shopping around those sales tax holidays. Yeah, and I wonder, I wonder. I don't know if this is true, but I wonder if you could buy the things online and still not pay the sales tax if you buy it during that time. I don't know if that's the case, but I remember growing up and Texas announced the sales tax, like I was in school, probably elementary school. Whenever they did that in Texas, I think it was and oh

my goodness, like it was so exciting. That was Those were like my big memories of back to school shopping was you know, we load up in the car with my mom. My mom was like, we're getting it all on these days. This is it. You can't get anything that's not on these days because we're not hand sales tax on the sex stuff. And we'd go around the store to store and it was exhausting, but many fun

memories like Black Friday all over them. But like, yeah, but back to school version and I mean and they and they A lot of stores will coordinate their sales with that same time, so you know the stores are having sales and then you don't have to pay sales tax, and so you can really save money that way. I think that the tempting thing to do, though, is that you get sucked in, and you know, don't be don't be tempted to buy something that's not necessary or not

on your list, because you'll be tempted. And so it's having that ability to say no, which is also on this article, is say no, it's okay, Like your kids don't need every brand new thing. They don't need the

cutest things, and holy smokes, if they do. They also mentioned having them work for it, whether that's through chores or if they are an older student who who does have a job or able to get at least a summer job, that some of these things that they want that aren't necessities they can contribute to, which continues to help in perpetuating the frugal community in this mindset, when there's that connection to oh, this cost real money and how badly do I actually want this thing? I did?

In this article, they did mention this to consider holding off on new clothing. Even though a lot of stores are running sales. Consumer Reports has found that usually the best times to buy are actually in September and October, despite the sales that are being run in July and August. It's apparently seems as though the market is a bit

better to purchase. Prices are better September October, So they suggest either holding off altogether until a bit more into the fall, or consider buying one new outfit for that first day of school and then purchase the rest come September and October, which also help kind of along the lines with what you're saying, Allison, you know that one

day of here's the sales, get everything you need. It can be dangerous if you spend your entire budget on that you know one day, when then you finally get into school, it's like, oh, I actually do need that calculator, and now I need to buy this, and now I need to buy that. But then you've spent your whole budget on that first day of shopping, and it mentions how that second or third day of shopping once you're actually in school can be what really breaks the bank.

So if you're able to hold off on a lot of things, that could help to even suss out what are the actual needs here. Absolutely anything else in this article, Allison that you thought were good tips. Um they talk about do a supply swap where you coordinate with friends and neighbors, so you swap with other people. I think this is great, even even if like you sell them

for very cheap. But I think of you know, when you're getting into high school and you need those calculators, or you need those very specific school supplies for specific subjects. If you have someone that's older that's already gone through that class, if you could have them loan it to you or even pay for a very you know, a lot lower rate than you would pay in a store, just for some of these supplies that are very specific like I'm thinking like pro tractors and things like that.

You know, do they still use protracts. Yes, we use protractors and hear it in Texas, but we don't use them in fifth grade. So if you're you know, if you're a neighbor's kid just went through fourth grade and you need a pro tractor, you know, say like, hey, protractors on the list. You know they're not using it at home, you know, like, don't throw away your pro tractors. People reuse them on the hunt for pro tractors. Oh, you know you've arrived when that's happening. Yes, So I

don't know. I'm just thinking, like, no one's going to use their pro tractor again, at least on their fourth grade one, Like never again, not if you've got a Texas instrument calculator. No more need for a protract Like school ends and the kids like, let me clean out my backpack this protractor. I'm gonna play with this all summer, Like, no on to someone who's gonna need it the next year. Yeah, along those lines. If your kids are do go to

a school that requires uniforms. They even mentioned that some schools will will offer a swap at the school for the uniforms, so you know you're gently used uniform you could donate back and then those might be offered for free or at a reduced cost to those who are in need of that. But then also considering if it's more of a standard uniform khakis or certain color shirt, that those can those don't have to be bought through the school. You can go to Walmart, a thrift store, target,

wherever and get those things. I know that my sister's kids go to a private school and the shirts are the ones that have the logo on them, but the pants don't, so maybe it's just buying the shirt, the vest and then going elsewhere for your belt, shoes, khaki's pants, all the other things. So definitely get creative or even along the lines of the swap, even if you don't do it through the school, through other parents of some of the hand me downs that that you can go

back and forth with. It's a great idea. And last but not least, I do want to give a shout out to our college students that might be listening to

this or parents of college students. Textbooks, Holy smokes, they are so expensive and usually not planned for cost right we know that it's coming, but college students aren't future thinking like But I do want to say so having gone through many different schools, I went to like five different universities, I have my bachelor's degree and my master's degree.

So coming from a place of experience, you do not have to buy the newest addition, just loud and clear, no matter what they say on that syllabus, don't do it. They want to three additions previous. You are okay, even you type A folks, don't worry about it. Two to

three editions sooner. Now if it comes with you know the special log on that you need to purchase with it, still do your research on some ways around this, either whether that's through rental or I have done this, emailed my professors and asked how much are we actually going to use this? Are there other platforms with which I

can run these statistical tests whatever without needing this specific software. Um. My professors, every single one that I've emailed on textbook questions have been super gracious and understanding of students wanting to cut costs in this area. And I have not had a single professor say, no, you need this addition. Most of them are like, yeah, I gotta put that into the of this because it's the agreement that we

have with the book publisher. But certainly you can get addition number two, not addition number six, so just keep that in mind. And also all linked to some of the discount book websites that I've used in the past, Um check a Books, Amazon Rentals, so there's some really fantastic options. I have spent literally a fraction of the cost on books, so I made this my baby to be like, Nope, I am not spent a thousand dollars um. So I'll linked to that too for for folks that

might be interested in that. Anything else on this for you, Allison, No, I think we covered all that. Yeah, we did. Let's move on. So this next article comes from Miss Millennial magazine Miss Millennia Magazine, So she talks about three tips to avoid overspending. I will say we disagreed with this article bit more than the Swan, but we'll get into that.

We're not afraid of controversy, you know us. Uh So how to kind of think about spending on back to school supplies and we'll just there's only three so we'll go back and forth on it. So go for it, Allison. Okay, So the first one was to enlist your phone for help, and she's talking about how there's basically apps for everything

that can help you with your shopping. So they have different apps to offer coupons, um and get you know, like even just using like ebates, scenes like that, you can find ways to save money and spend less whenever you use your phone to help you. Uh in the

in the whole shopping costs and everything like that. Mm hmm, yeah, I've even I can't remember if it made it into the podcast or not, but on a previous episode with with a Guest, he was telling us about shopping at Target and how every single time he goes to Target, he'll go onto the website and look to see if it is cheaper on the Target website. And he says, literally every time he goes, there's a couple things in his cart that he could get cheaper through the Target website.

So all he does is take it up to the information desk and they give him the price that he could have gotten online. Oh yeah, oh yeah, you don't even I mean, you can just take it to the cashier. What I did in Target is I with the Target app, and then hopefully they change this is if you turn your location off and you scan it, it'll give you the online price. But if you turn your location on and it registers that you're inside that target, it gives

you the price that's inside that target. So literally, I know it is. It is actually kind of creepy because I'm very sad, and so I really hope that like they changed this as soon as possible, because there have been people that like, when you walk outside the store, the price goes down, but then when you walk inside the store, the price on your app goes up because

it registers that you're inside a target. My friend and I tried it out, and I had my location on and we both scanned an item and mine was the store price and her location and her app was off and it was a lower price, and we were standing right next to each other scanning the same item. So, and your target app, turn your location off, because then you can literally go up there and I literally I just screenshot, you know, the lower price, and I show

it to them and they adjust it right at the register. Yeah, every time I'm at a store, I will look online as if I do find that I want to purchase something, I'll look online for coupons and usually I can find one just by googling, you know, coupon to such and such store. So definitely utilize that that little thing you've got in your pocket. Number two on this was utilizing your student I D or your child student I D. So this is something I never grew up with, but

maybe it's something that's new now. Maybe for high school students. I don't know if this is the key for middle school or elementary, but definitely middle school ers I live, they have they have to wear their I d s every day at school. Oh wow, okay, so new things new on the horizon. So basically what they're saying is with a student I D, whether that's a kid in middle school, high school, or college, there are tons of student discounts that different places offer if you look into it.

So in some places this could cover public transportation, uh, some different bus fares, discounts at local stores or restaurants.

And even this was new to me. There is Amazon Student Prime, so it's a specific Amazon account for students that you can sign up for with your student I D and you get all kinds of access to discounts on school related items, education related items, whether that's textbooks or supplies, but also free access to Prime Video for six months, so especially for those older students, something to consider. And again we will link this in the show notes how you can get an Amazon Student Prime account. But

great tip on that one. Yes, okay, So the third tip was no your backup plan, And um, I guess this is where we kind of disagree with the author because she starts talking about how, you know, back to school time can be expensive. It's there's no you know, there's no lie in that, that's absolutely true, and that if you spend so much, you might not have enough

money to cover bills or unexpected repairs. And so then she talks about how if you can't afford those things and you're back to school supplies, that you know, maybe there are some payday loans that would be right for you. Yeah, clearly there was. There was a sponsor and an affiliate link connected with that which we got pay our bills, but and and payday loans. I mean, I'm looking and I'm I'm kind of looking at the art. Yeah, it does says this post may contain affiliate links. So I

don't see an affiliate link for that. But maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. I don't know. But but she talks about how you know your furnace could break, and you know, there's just all these other things that could happen, and your child shouldn't go without. And I'm sitting here thinking I wouldn't without growing up, Like if we didn't, we didn't have the money we went without

and it builds character. But I mean, I think that you know, if if you have a good financial foundation and you have a savings, you use your savings for those types of things, um, not a paid a loan with a crazy high interest rate and things like that. Yeah, this is why planning ahead, having a budget, having an emergency fund, and cutting costs where needed that and there are things that you don't need to buy new or

spend money on. So before taking out a loan to go back to school or to participate in band, I know, let's reevaluate how how we're doing things before it gets to that point. And I do want to say my husband as a band director, and he has always said and I cannot I speak only for him, not for all band directors across the country, but he has always said money will never be an issue for a student playing band. So for him, he will never let money

be a problem. He will always find a way, whether it's a long payment plan or a way to do a school own instrument, he will find a way to get a an instrument in that child's hands. He will negotiate with parents. So don't think that you have to like, it's okay to ask for hell number one and number two. Don't think that you have to go out and take a loan just to get just to get that. I mean. And and if you're hearing this now and school starts

very soon, it might be too late. But in the future, you know, take six months or four months to save up. That's what we do. We set aside money for several months beforehand, and and we save up for those back to school purchases because we know they're coming. Yeah, future planning is key here. And also not assuming that it has to be done the way that it's being recommended to be done. Right, those things don't have to be purchased through the school. Check outside of that, right, textbooks

don't have to be purchased through the university. You can brainstorm some other creative ways of purchasing these things. That isn't the exact way that you're being told to do it. You know, we got freedom us frugal friends. Speaking of fun and freedom and frugality. I think it's time for the best part of the week. What's that. It's time for Bill we that's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born

and his name is William. Maybe you've paid off your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. That's Bill Buffalo, Bill, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week. Hello, is this thing on? I haven't used it in quite a while. My name is Jen, I'm a new mom and with my tiny baby always on top of me. My Bill of the Week is dedicated to him. But my bill is Bill Lawrence, the creator of Scrubs. Because when I'm stuck under a warm lump of human I have been

rewatching the entire series of Scrubs from the beginning. Highly underrated show. Very recommend if you are stuck in the house and can't really move your arms or legs. So, uh yeah, thanks for letting me do a Bill, and uh I don't know. Maybe I'll talk to you guys again soon. Bye. Oh my word, I'm so excited that we got to hear from Jen. So she's still making an appearance despite being trapped under a baby, baby baby watching tvc That's that was always my favorite thing. It's

like they're they're sleeping a lot. They're too young to care what's on TV. You don't have to worry about it. You watch whatever you want. That's awesome, Jen. We miss you and we love your super creative bill of the week watching Scrubs, build a creator of Scrubs, just doing your thing, being frugal, staying home, nursing that baby. That's right. And yeah, we hope we hope to see you back here someday maybe again here here more from you, But

enjoy your time while you have it. Yes, exactly. Well, if you all want to submit a bill of the week, visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. You can record your bill of the week right there. Will get it, We'll play it. You'll get our organic response to all the creativity and frugal things you guys are doing with your lives. We love it, clearly by how loudly we scream Bill and onto our next favorite portion of this podcast.

It's funny because even as intense as I say it, Eric always needs to edit it to make it sound more intense, but always on board with I love it. I think there was a time where you even put in actual lightning and thunder noises, which I hope that didn't scare anybody while they were driving or like their child that was listening. He just has fun while he's editing,

and sometimes some weird things make it in there. Anyhow, during this Lightning round, we want to talk about things you don't need to pack, purchase to send your kids back to school with. So this one comes from patch dot com and we just picked our favorites out of it. Alison, go for what's one of your favorites. Flip flops. Okay, let's be honest. If your kid goes to PE every day or almost every day, they are going to need

to pack a backup pair of tennis shoes. And I cannot tell you, as a teacher for ten years, how many students have walked up to me at recess or in the hallway and their flip flop has broken. And you know those things are impossible to fix. You've tried duct tape, you try safety pas. I mean though they when they are done, they are done. And then you have the thing of okay, what do I just give the kid like a plastic bag to put on their foot?

Do we call their mom? What do we do? So you're gonna be called up there when the flip flop breaks, You're going to be called up there to bring sneakers for gym class. So just don't get them. Let them be the summer thing and buy your kid clothes so shoes only and not flip flops. Also, yeah, it's a safety thing to kids wear out their shoes like crazy. Anyhow, So good one, next one. Every single cute idea you

ever saw on Pinterest, you don't need it. It's a fun idea, right like the little butterfly sandwich and ants on a log and all these things to make the lunchbox just look like it jumped off the page of a beautiful magazine. But this just adds added stress. Let's be real, and it's wasteful because how much bread are you throwing into the trash to make that sandwich look like a butterfly? Not to mention all the time in the morning that you could have probably just spent sleeping.

You're making the sandwich anyhow, You just don't need to add all that extra stress and pressure to the beginning of the school year or to set your kids expectations up right that the first day of school mom was on point. What happened a lot of weeks I just got mugable, So just don't stress yourself with that. You don't need to purchase all the little gimmicks so that you can make everything just look super cute. Absolutely. The other thing you don't need to send kids back to

school with are the super fancy pens and pencils. Number one, A lot of elementary schools do community supplies, so you might be buying all of these super fancy pencils and they go into a big community supply bin and your kids might not even get to use all of them. And secondly, you know, I have been there as a teacher and as a mom where your kid loses their favorite pencil or a student loses their favorite pen and in there's all the pointing of the fingers and there's

the need to calm down. Whereas if you you know, it's like how much classroom time have I wasted trying to calm students down about their felt tip pins that have been lost. Like if you can't keep up with them, just don't get them, like keep them at home. I love the takeaway here is just don't have special things. That's that's the point here. Just buy the cheap stuff so that there aren't any meltdowns, or if you have the special things, have a special place for them, like

you're does get home, you know, I don't know. We don't need the exactly, we don't need the special things for the special meltdowns, for the special you know, losses and all of that stuff. So moving on from the fancy pencils and pins, what else do you not need to buy? Smelly markers? As in like smelling markers you know when you draw and then they're strawberry flavored. We'll see,

that's the thing. They're flavored, which is all too tempting to eat, right, especially if you're using those smelling markers right before lunch and then it's like, oh my goodness, I just want to lick this paper. And children do, right, They actually do try to eat it. If not, they try and prank people with it. So again, to avoid uh ingestion of chemicals and pranks on other children. You don't need to spend the extra money on all the scratch and sniffs and strawberry markers and just all all

the extra just it's also extra. Yeah. It reminds me of like lip smackers growing up. They smelled so good you wanted to eat them. Why can't it taste as good as itself? Not that I have eaten them, but you know, it's like all the different flavors and everything, Like there's the fear I licked my lips a whole lot more when I had some root beer chapstick on my way, and then it's like, why don't I just get some root beer? What the heck am I doing

playing around with the fake stuff over here? Well, and I'm sure there's so many more that you all could come up with on the stuff that's just not worth it. And we can all hang out at the Frugal Friends podcast community group Facebook community group is a private group not that hard to get into, but join us. It's growing, it's powerful, it's a it's a force to be reckoned with This Frugal Friends group super fun. We're sharing our tips, so head on over there. Uh. And in the meantime,

we're also doing this thing called a book club. And it's July right now, and we are reading Mom and Dad We Need to Talk by Cameron Huddleston, where she talks about diving into the conversation about finances and end of life and caring for parents. So super great topic. Get the book, and yeah, if you need a free copy. If you want a free copy, you can leave us a review on iTunes or sitchert and simply take a screenshot of the review and send it to Frugal Friends

podcast at gel dot com. And we're going to select the winners at the end of the month for free books. And you know, there's just something special about getting something free in the mail, like you can't go wrong with it. So we would love those reviews, and we want to give away books for free, and where possible, we even send you a Frugal Friends bookmark which has our faces

on it, so my face. Maybe maybe if you can get a couple of bookmarks and I can get like some pictures of myself and like glue them some Elmer's glue and glue them to the side of the bookmark, I'm so going to do that honorary limited edition bookmark. I love it. If we make it sound special, it's special if you want an example of a helpful review that could possibly win one of these books. Again, it's helpful, so obviously it's five stars. That's helpful for everybody, us included.

This person. Love Hockley says fabulous Frugal Fun. I mean clearly, we love it because of the alliteration. We love alliteration. Frugal friends, fabulous frugal fund. I love the podcast. I've learned a lot, but laughed even more. Glad to hear people who love research as much as I do. It's a great length for my work day. Commute to the fantastic Love Hockley h we are so excited to be here, to be researching alongside you, to be making you laugh. That's fun too, So that that's just a little taste

of the type of review you could leave for us. Absolutely, and I'm so sad. It's like bitter sweet. But this is my last week. But next week Jen is back. She's back, and she again hopefully we'll get to hear a little bit of Kai. Well, Allison. We want to stay in touch, So how can people continue to get more of your frugal goodness awesome. So you can follow me on Instagram at inspired Budget or you can check

out my website inspired budget dot com. Um. I talk about how to budget better, make saving second nature, and pay off debt nice and it is fantastic. You've got some really great resources for people, free and low cost resources. UM constantly pumping out content. I love following you on Instagram, so well, thank you. Super personal to you. You let us into a snapshot of your life which feels really

authentic and genuine. So well, thank you. Any One to touch base with Allison if you want more from her, Thank you and we'll see you all next week. Bye bye. Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syria