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- [00:00]
Toyota Truck Narrator
The world is full of tours. But you don't choose a Toyota truck to follow the beaten path. You choose it to find the places in between the detours, where each adventure pulls you toward the next. And wrong turns turn out right. So why would you ever take a tour when you could take a detour?
- [00:28]
Wix Advertiser
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- [01:01]
Jen
Total Waste of Money for Women.
- [01:08]
Podcast Host Intro
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and.
- [01:15]
Jill
Live a richer life.
- [01:17]
Podcast Host Intro
Here are your hosts, Jen and Jill.
- [01:24]
Jen
Welcome, Frugal Friends. I'm Jen. I'm Jill and and we're in a new setting today if you're watching on YouTube, because we had quite the ride at our office and now we're at Jill's apartment, got kicked out and the.
- [01:38]
Jill
Emergency signal went off and we left. But we brought some of our recording equipment with us and we are out.
- [01:44]
Jen
Of the office the rest of the week. And so this had to be recorded today. And so we're going to record it. We're going to talk about the total waste of money. Things that as women we are marketed to and told we need to spend money on, but they're actually draining our wallets with zero return.
- [02:09]
Jill
So as two millennial women ourselves, we've totally made our fair share of why did I just buy that? Purchases. And so we know that the pressure to keep up can be really real, but we also know how freeing it is to say no to some of these things.
- [02:27]
Jen
So stick with us because we're not just talking about overpriced beauty trends or other viral things that you see on social media. We are talking about legitimate money wasters that combined together add up to $14,000 per year per person. And especially I think by the end you will be convinced that these are wastes of money. I don't think you'll need to get to the end. I think by like number six, you will have a fresh perspective on what's actually worth your money.
- [03:00]
Jill
You'll be bought in by then. But first, this episode is brought to you by Worf. It, you know, like staying up till 1am to finish just one more episode. Carrying 17 bags of groceries into the house just to avoid more than one trip or driving all the way across town just for free guac or my actual favorite, our budget spreadsheet.
- [03:27]
Jen
Worth it. Whoa, what a transition.
- [03:30]
Jill
Yep. It's mobile optimized. It's our spending planner spreadsheet, and it is the perfect amount of worth it for you and your budget. It's perfect for those of us who want to track our money from our phones but don't want to spend money on a budgeting app. It is beautiful. It has all the tabs you need to budget monthly. It allows you to see your full financial picture at a glance and even has perks like an opportunity cost calculator. Get yours@frugalfriendspodcast.com budget.
- [04:04]
Jen
Yes. Do it. All right, so you've probably seen these waste of money videos around Pod, other podcasts, other YouTube videos, and sometimes it infuriates me what other people define as waste, because if you value something, it's not a waste. Just because it's a waste for one person doesn't mean it's a waste for you. And so in this episode, what we are going to define as waste is something that you don't use, it's not utilized, or it's underutilized. That to us is a waste, because even if you value it and you and you purchase it and you don't use it, it's still a waste. And so that is what we have laid the foundation for all of these things. So I think some of them you're going to be a little shocked by and maybe possibly we're going to start strong with the first one.
- [05:02]
Jill
Yeah. If all you do is stay away from these particular money traps, you can save yourself $14,000 a year, you know, approximately. We'll tell you how we got to that math. And the first one is groceries. Total, Right. Stop.
- [05:18]
Jen
Total waste of money. Groceries.
- [05:22]
Jill
Yeah. So based on some average stats here, the amount of money spent per person is about $2,421 per year. Then if you look at the amount that is wasted, we're talking $728 per person per year in uneaten household food. So that's that unused category. And $728 a year.
- [05:52]
Jen
So even if we were per person.
- [05:54]
Jill
Yes. If we were to get better at eating the food we have at home, that's an amount of money that we could save ourselves annually.
- [06:03]
Jen
And a big way that we say to do that, and there's a bunch of small different ways. There's a bunch of small different tips. The biggest way to cut down on food waste is to make a meal plan and then follow through with that meal plan. And I think the easiest way to follow through with a meal plan is meal prep. So whether that is prepping as many meals as you can in one day and eating leftovers or prepping ingredients so that you take out a barrier to entry throughout the week when you are cooking whatever works for you, that is what is going to cut down on the most food waste. I just recently had like a. I wanted to do a, like a marathon meal prep. So I, I made like five meals in one day to eat like throughout the week. Because I was like, I don't want to cook it all this week. And what I did was like, I just looked at what I had cause I'll buy like meats and stuff bulk at Costco. And then I looked at sauces and spices that I thought were underutilized or that I hadn't used in a while. And that is how I planned the meal like marathon. I did not go in with a strong plan. Like I didn't go into recipes on the Internet. I literally just looked at everything. I had all the frozen veggies and I just put things together and that was. I used so many underutilized things in my pantry and freezer during that marathon. It was so clutch food looked so good. It was so good. And then we ate it all, didn't waste anything. And I did not cook for like a week and a half. I know, right?
- [07:52]
Jill
That's the best part.
- [07:53]
Jen
I know. So yes. So number one, definitely grocery. And that's the. The largest proven unused category. So the rest of these are taken from data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics or other places that, you know, compile usage and then looking at statistics on what is statistically wasted and then doing the math from there. But it's not like hard data like food waste is. But the second biggest waste for women is credit card interest and fees. And we think that all credit card interest is a waste of money. Because if you can't pay your credit card off in full every month, then it's not a good thing to be. Using credit cards can get you great like travel rewards points, but it is not worth paying interest every single month. And even for fees, fees are not a total waste. But I know a lot of people will get will travel hack like to the max and maybe not just like hoard points and not be utilizing them in that case, if you are paying fees on multiple credit cards and you're not fully utilizing all of the benefits and all of the points, those fees are a waste as well. And so data shows that per person per Cardholder, cardholders pay $1,155 per person per year.
- [09:35]
Jill
On just interest and fees.
- [09:37]
Jen
On just credit card interest and fees. And so I would say probably like maybe 100, 150 of that is like for a new credit card every year. So then that is totally normal. But around $1,000 a year is wasted from credit card interest and annual fees and late payment fees, all those fees.
- [10:03]
Jill
So if you've got credit card debt, getting rid of that can be huge for your money savings long term.
- [10:11]
Jen
Yeah. And if you ever see a late payment fee, then going right in and calling at this point, you don't even have to talk to a person to get the late payment fee taken off. I know I will get two to four new cards per year. And so that always comes with setting up auto payment again. And so recently I forgot to do that and I got charged a fee, but I hadn't done that in a very long time. So I just called up and I literally didn't even have to talk to a person. It. I think it kind of, it already automatically knew that I had a fee and it asked if I was calling about it. And as soon as I like clicked, yes. It's like, we've forgiven this fee. Oh, my gosh. I was like, this is the easiest thing I've ever done. Yeah, I don't have to talk to anyone.
- [10:58]
Jill
Oh, that's such a good tip.
- [10:59]
Jen
Yeah. So don't pay your first late payment fee either.
- [11:04]
Jill
Okay. Number three, personal care. You knew we were going to talk about it. It's not what the whole episode is, but products and services. So the spend per person per year is about $361. And while it's hard to kind of come up with a what is wasted. There's no kind of solid unused total that we could find. Here's some of how we can come to this number. So single females spend roughly $690 to $1,441, depending on their income, substantially higher than many other groups. And so the unused amount can definitely skew female. You know, since we are spending more on.
- [11:51]
Jen
Yeah, let's be honest with ourselves.
- [11:53]
Jill
Yeah. So when it comes to personal care products, we're talking about makeup, hair, skin products. And so that's about $186 per year. Again, we can't really understand a total unused amount here, but surveys do frequently show that many products expire or are never used. And so we can understand that if women are spending higher, then we are probably unusing it higher. We are not. We're with.
- [12:25]
Jen
In a very gentle way.
- [12:27]
Jill
Yeah. And so that comes to a total of $547 spent per person. And so a widely cited industry estimate from a Vogue business report based on interviews with brand leaders puts product waste at about 20 to 40%, which can equal anywhere from $110 to $220 wasted per year. You know what, let's be kind. Let's say $150 a year. That's still a decent amount of money.
- [12:57]
Jen
And sometimes we think like, oh, that's not me. Surely that's not me. I don't spend that much on beauty services or beauty products. How do you waste a service? You know, probably on a service you don't need because you're just getting because somebody else told you to or you're insecure or et cetera, et cetera. That is how you waste service. But we don't realize we're using because we usually don't think, throw it away in the year we buy it. So, like, we're accumulating all this stuff slowly, without thought, and then we'll do kind of like a declutter every couple years because we see a decluttering video on YouTube and that's when everything goes out. So this is one of those insidious ones that you don't really think about. But it is costing us about $150 a year.
- [13:47]
Jill
I mean, just in sunscreen. Just think about sunscreen. You buy it one year and. And then it sits in your closet and then it feels weird and goopy the next season and you throw it away like just that.
- [14:01]
Jen
I don't do that, but I buy the cheap stuff.
- [14:08]
Jill
Some people might.
- [14:09]
Jen
Yeah. All right, so let's move on to the next one, which is impulse buying. So this is online in apps, in retail. CNBC reports that an average of $3,768 per person annually, or $314 per month, gets spent on impulse buys. Now, if you have done a 90 day transaction inventory, which we highly recommend in our book Buy what yout Love Without Going Broke, which theoretically would be right here if we were in our office, but maybe it will be in a graphic on the screen. I don't imagine it.
- [14:47]
Jill
Even if it's not graphic, imagine it.
- [14:50]
Jen
But we talk about doing a 90 day transaction inventory so you can get an idea of realistically what you are impulse buying. Not all impulse buys are wastes of money. And you will put me on record saying that because there are some impulse buys that I've made that I'm like yes, this is everything I needed it to be. It fulfilled its purpose. So glad. Unfortunately that is not the majority. About 60% of impulse shoppers say they've regretted at least one impulse purchase. With Bankrate's 2023 survey showing 57 to 68% depending on the time frame. So some of these are getting wasted. And so we're going to, we're going to estimate that at around $2,260. So if we're doing one, if, if we're making a couple impulse spends a.
- [15:50]
Jill
Year, it sounds like a lot but if you are to think about the entire year, that can really add up. If you are making multiple impulse purchases monthly, which most people are, then this is the number you're going to arrive to at the end of the year.
- [16:03]
Jen
More, more often than not the impulse buy will be regretted. Not every time. Yeah but let let us know in the comments if we're like how, what's the last impulse purchase you made that you regretted and the last one you made that you really loved? And tell me you can't think of one that you really love. Yeah, sometimes, I mean there are few and far between.
- [16:24]
Jill
Yeah, thankfully you can return a lot of things, but a lot of times we don't we miss the window or it just is too much work. Okay, number five, apparel and services. So we're talking about clothes, tailoring, dry cleaning. The average person is spending $810 per year. So in some numbers from UK's wrap w r a P, I don't know what that stands for but they found that 30% of clothing is unworn for an entire year. So if similar behavior holds for those of us in the US that would imply $240 a purchase person of unused apparel. And so in the US a survey shows that 21% of women versus 15% of men often buy clothes that end up unused. That comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And when it comes to jewelry, the average person spends about $58 per year and a lot of pieces just sit worn. I think that's the. So like how do I know if it's wasted? I mean are you wearing it, are you wearing it at all in the entire year?
- [17:41]
Jen
Yeah.
- [17:42]
Jill
And what is kind of the cost per wear that's actually a calculator that we have in our budget spreadsheet. Again frugalfriendspodcast.com budget where you can see how many times would I have to wear it to make the cost per use worth it. You get to decide what that is. Do you want it to be a dollar per wear? Do you not mind if it's a $10 per wear? You decide but that of help us before we make some of these purchases so that they're not wasted in the end.
- [18:14]
Jen
So we're going to we're going to say about $240 per person of unused per year. Our next one. This is number six. So if you've tuned out come back to me. This is the kicker. This is going to ruffle some feathers and I want to know what you think about it. So please, please be here. Number six is too much housing, too much house and so many people I feel like are house poor because either a it's just right now it's hard to get into the housing market at all. But I think from maybe if you bought five or so years ago I don't know but the studies show that the median size of a new single family home sold in 2024 was 2,146 square ft per Wikipedia the average US home offers 700 or the recommended is 700 square foot per person or average is 7. We'll read through this which is 50 to 100% more than other high income countries. That's not. That's other high income countries. So we're buying 50 to 100% more house than other high income countries. Meanwhile 2022 analysis showed that by 2020 households averaged 926 square feet per person up from 477 square feet per person in 1970. So we took these averages and they're different across the board but we gave it like a let's do a 700 square foot per person. That seems like a reasonable per person size for house. It's also what some averages will show. So looking at that and so you also may be familiar with this like quote from a study that says you only use 40% of your house which is not completely accurate. It's actually from a UCLA study about they wanted to heat map the most utilized places in the house. So researchers videoed like where people were in the house I think over 30 days. And the study showed that one family in particular it only showed the first floor didn't show upstairs or outside stuff. They one family use 40% of their home so 528 square feet of their 1300 square foot home and that was the entire family only used 528 square feet of that home. So given all of that we'll say 700. So after doing the math of the price, the median price per square foot of a home, what people are paying, what could be a reasonable. The wasted value per person of a home over a 30 year mortgage is $33,300 and that is $1110 per person.
- [21:40]
Jill
Per year depending on how many people.
- [21:43]
Jen
No, I mean that's just per. It's given two and a half household family because that's the median is two and a half. But it would be, I mean in general, I think, I don't think it, it gave like a house size but. Right.
- [22:01]
Jill
Yeah, that's just paying so much more per square foot.
- [22:06]
Jen
That's a waste of 215 square ft. Yeah, that right there. So that. And that's $155 per square foot. I know you can not get that here. You cannot get a house for $155 a square foot here.
- [22:20]
Jill
Right.
- [22:21]
Jen
So that's just median.
- [22:23]
Jill
Yeah.
- [22:24]
Jen
So think about that. I know it's hard when you're thinking about home buying because it is so expensive to live anywhere. But maybe you're just thinking about renting, maybe you're thinking maybe Instead of the $2,500 place, we go with the $2,000 place, you know.
- [22:45]
Jill
So thinking about how much space you actually need because it's not just how much you're going to pay in square footage, it's how much you're going to pay to heat and cool the space, how much water you're going to be using if you have so many extra bathrooms, how much it's going to cost when other things inevitably need to be replaced. A larger home means a larger roof. A larger home often means a larger yard. Larger home means more of your time taken to clean it, more of your paying more than you're paying them to, to spend more time cleaning. So every single cost goes up. When you're thinking oh but I need this many bedrooms or I need it to have this many living rooms, really weigh it out. What, what could my time and energy and other money actually buy my family? If Maybe we had three bedrooms and four, if we had 2,000 square feet instead of 25.
- [23:43]
Jen
If you have the option, this is the biggest impact change you can make to your personal finances. There is nothing else you can do that will have a bigger change than where you live. And so if it is an option that you are moving or buying, then it, it should be considered. It's not an option for everyone, but it is for you. This is the single most important financial decision you would make besides the person that you, you know, legally marry.
- [24:14]
Remy Night Guard User
So a few years back I woke up to Eric telling me that I was grinding my teeth in my sleep. Wasn't surprised. I was super stressed during that season. But I was bummed to learn that the Remedyaka getting a night guard would be super expensive and somewhat time intensive.
- [24:30]
Remy Advertiser
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- [24:53]
Remy Night Guard User
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- [25:08]
Remy Advertiser
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- [25:31]
Toyota Truck Narrator
The world is full of tours.
- [25:36]
Jen
But.
- [25:36]
Toyota Truck Narrator
You don't choose a Toyota truck to follow the beaten path. You choose it to find the places in between the detours where each adventure pulls you toward the next. And wrong turns turn out right. So why would you ever take a tour when you could take take a detour. Toyota trucks.
- [26:02]
Jill
All right, number seven is cable and satellite tv.
- [26:08]
Jen
Sounds a little boring, but I know we'll, we'll include like rental, stream, download all the that stuff.
- [26:15]
Jill
All that stuff. Okay, so the average spend per person on this subset of Entertainment is $223 per year. And so the amount that is wasted. And again wasted meaning unused. So just forgetting that you have subscriptions to some of these different things. 42% of consumers forgot about a subscription. They just kept paying for it.
- [26:42]
Jen
So that happened to me.
- [26:43]
Jill
Yeah, well apparently it happened to us, the frickle friends.
- [26:48]
Jen
It happened. Yes. I just canceled four. They call them zombie subscriptions. I just canceled four. Four of them. Last week.
- [26:56]
Jill
Which is insane.
- [26:57]
Jen
Right?
- [26:58]
Jill
Yeah. So yeah, when it comes to streaming video, this the average spend per year is $58. Which that does not seem right. I mean most people are spending that amount per month.
- [27:10]
Jen
Yeah. I mean we tried to keep it conservative.
- [27:16]
Remy Advertiser
Yeah.
- [27:17]
Jill
So okay. But per, per person.
- [27:19]
Jen
Per person.
- [27:20]
Jill
You were to like break down a 2.4 description.
- [27:23]
Jen
Yeah. They're saying a 2.44 person home.
- [27:26]
Jill
Yeah.
- [27:26]
Jen
Is the average.
- [27:27]
Jill
Okay. So a CNET 2025 survey finds that the average American wastes $205 a year on subscriptions they rarely or never use. And a self financial to the 2024 survey found that subscribers are wasting $32 a month on unused paid subscriptions. So all of this comes to $395 per year. And so let's split the difference and say it's a waste of about $300 a year.
- [28:00]
Jen
So that's another sell for the 90 day transaction inventory. Go do it. See what you are paying for every month. You could be. And this was something we've talked about all the time. You and your partner could be paying for the same thing every, every month accidentally. And you see it and you're like, oh, I'm using that and not realizing that you're both paying for. That happens all the time. So check it and cancel those zombie subscriptions. Next is another doozy. And it is another one. I need you to come back to me for buying new cars. And we did. In our car episode we highlighted a creator who talked about like car trauma. And I think women especially are maybe drawn. Like typically we are more financially savvy, I would say, than our male counterparts. Nothing against men. I just think that we save money better. You know, we're a little bit more risk averse. We are a little bit more risk averse. And so typically used cars would be something that we might, you know, be attracted to. They save a lot of money. But car trauma is real. Being in old used cars that break down and you're alone on the side of the road at night as a woman, that's scary. Having to go to the mechanic shop and feeling like you're getting taken advantage of or ripped off, like because you're a woman, like all of this is real, all of it happens and it leads to us buying new cars so that we don't have to worry about that as much. Unfortunately, new cars are now having as many issues as used cars. And we talk all about that in our car episode. And the only thing that I will say is that There is a radical middle, right? We don't have to buy like these super used junky cars. We don't have to buy the cheapest car available. We also don't have to buy a brand new car to get a very safe and reliable 1. 3 to 5 years old is this sweet spot I like 3. 3 years old to me feels like a very sweet spot because the depreciation. Kelly Blue Book's latest breakdown shows that a car depreciates about 16% in year one and then 12% in year two. So for a $35,000 mass market car, a 16% loss is $5,600 in value lost in one year. So that is significant. And if housing is the number one choice you can make for your personal finances, your car is number two. And we make car decisions a lot more often than housing.
- [30:59]
Jill
And cars are a depreciating asset. So yeah, any car that you buy, it's going to be really worth less than the day that you bought it, whether it's new or used. But all the more reason to make a really prudent decision with our car buying choices that yes, it's used, but it's not a junker, that we've done our research on the types of issues that it might have and not waste.
- [31:22]
Jen
A ton of money. Car complaints.com has been a really reliable source for me when I'm looking at complaints and about different makes and models because not every car from a specific brand is created equal. And even in really reliable cars, maybe one year is less reliable than another. So Car Complaints.com has been a reliable source that I use for testing.
- [31:50]
Jill
Moving right along. Number nine, video games. I'm not sure how many of you out here are buying video games, although Jen says she is a lot.
- [31:59]
Jen
This one's here for me because I, I don't buy the video games. Travis buys the video games and then our child, our six year old sits on the video games and doesn't go outside and it's very difficult. And so I think video games are a waste of money.
- [32:18]
Jill
So moms are buying video games for their kids. The average person's parents spends $27 a year on video games. I don't think that's true if you're gaming.
- [32:28]
Jen
I think, if I think, I think it's more skewed to people who do buy video games. And it's like including video game hardware, accessories, online gaming, gaming apps. So this is across, across the board.
- [32:48]
Jill
So, so if you're, we. If you're un, if you're not using 25 to 30% of what they say is typical for what's not being used then that's $9 a year. This is small.
- [33:00]
Jen
$9 a year.
- [33:01]
Jill
This is pennies. I wouldn't, I wouldn't worry too much about this unless you're a game.
- [33:06]
Jen
Worry about it. Do worry.
- [33:11]
Jill
Okay, moving on, moving on. Televisions. Television. So the average US TV home, like a home that has a TV has about two and a half sets of TVs. So that's like your per person. Every person has a tv.
- [33:26]
Jen
I have two TV sets.
- [33:28]
Jill
I have one and there we go. So okay, between the two of us we have one and a half which sounds small but it equates to roughly 25 million TVs set sitting unused. So the average TV price is $433. There's too much math going on.
- [33:51]
Jen
Well, it's the value of the devices that are discarded. So the TVs that end up in the dump annually, that's about 14 or 15.4 million dollars every year essentially. So I think with Black Friday and all these sales that are really big that get you to buy TVs and I'm looking specifically at Black Friday because that up people get, you know. You know, oh, it's such a good deal. I haven't gotten a new TV in a while like and just go out and get a deal on a tv.
- [34:26]
Jill
Yeah.
- [34:27]
Jen
When really the TV is fine, it can be used for another year or two, you know.
- [34:34]
Jill
And TV prices like have gone down a ton too over the years. So even keep that in mind, wait a little longer and that TV that you're oogling right now will be even more affordable in a few years for sure.
- [34:49]
Jen
Like it's, it is something that now you used to have to save up for a nice TV and now you can really easily impulse buy a tv.
- [34:58]
Jill
Yeah.
- [34:58]
Jen
And so that equates with that amount of discarded television waste equals about to $51 per year of waste. Because again, we're not doing it all in the same year. And I think the solution to that is just to keep your TV a little longer. Especially if you are a two TV household. If one of them breaks, just watch the other one until a really, really good sale comes along and you can get a new second one.
- [35:29]
Jill
So true.
- [35:30]
Jen
Yeah. So next we're going to pick up the pace. Tickets. So to play theaters, concerts, movies, parks, museums, sporting events. So these are the bulk passes that you don't use or you under use the season tickets, the multi Game packs, the multi museum packs that you like buy for your kids. So the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that households spend about $951 on entertainment fees and admissions and stuff. And around 10 to 20% go unused. So that's about $27 per person per year.
- [36:05]
Jill
All right, number 12, recreational lessons, gym classes. This is talking fitness dance. The estimated amount wasted is $58 per year per person. So this is your missed classes, your unused services. Whether that's the. The gym. I mean, usually. Yeah, mostly.
- [36:25]
Jen
I think it's mostly the gym. Yeah.
- [36:27]
Jill
The gym specifically has widely underused. The gym specifically is widely underutilized. And so industry reports show large shares of memberships go unused for months. And so we just need to catch it before and cancel these subscriptions.
- [36:47]
Jen
Yeah, and we do eventually, but not before wasting money. The next one is pet stuff. So reports show that pet owners spend about $378 on per year.
- [37:01]
Jill
Per pet or per person?
- [37:04]
Jen
I wasn't, I'm not sure which one because a lot of households have multiple pets, but wasted. Obviously not food they need toys they need, you know, their leashes and stuff. Stuff they don't use or need. Right. I don't think pet costumes are wasted, if I'm being honest. Put, put your pet in that costume. But all of the fancy treats, unless they're like for training purposes, the extra add ons at the groomer for like just a little bandana. All of these extra things that pets can have and people love to spend on their pets, a lot of it is wasted. And so I would say that out of that. So a realistic midpoint on waste from what's reported to be spent on pet stuff is about $8.6 billion per year or about $90 per pet owning household. So per pet per household.
- [38:15]
Jill
Number 14 is coffee. That's right. Coming at you. Coming for you. This is a tough one because most of us are not actually wasting the co. The coffee is getting drank. However, it still could be a little bit of a not great way of spending our money if we're constantly buying it out. This could, this could be where we're breaking our own rule and saying it's a little bit of a waste of money to be spending $6 on a coffee potentially five times a week, maybe more than that. That could be $30 a week. Whereas Jen, you love to give this specific simple. That is stoke cold brew. This is Jen's favorite.
- [39:00]
Jen
Apparently it's a big thing that you.
- [39:02]
Jill
Get from the grocery store with a syrup or creamer. Can be about $30 per month. So this is more so talking about a savings of $1,200 per year. So not, not a wasting amount but a savings amount.
- [39:17]
Jen
You do this, you're wasting twelve hundred dollars a year in my opinion.
- [39:22]
Jill
You don't do it Jen's way.
- [39:24]
Jen
You have to examine at some point why, why do I need to get a Starbucks every day? Why do I need to get a coffee every time I walk into a particular place? Why there's no like caffeinated reason that most of the time we need this, we just like it and that's fine. But how do I get what I like for less money? And I think that's an exercise we should run on all the habits that we have. Next is reading and I'm going to come for books. Oh no again because they do did not like it when we came for them the first time about the over consumption of books in our hobby Episode how social media is ruining hobbies Truly people with like stacks of 40 books and then bragging about how their TBR to be read is like 40 books high and they just bought another book. That's not a flex. Books truly are fundamental. They're great, they're fantastic. There were people in our comments being like but I like to annotate. You're annotating what Twilight? You're annotating acotar. Like what are you doing? Why?
- [40:43]
Jill
Maybe they are reading the more academic books.
- [40:45]
Jen
Okay, if you're reading a textbook and you like to annotate, that's different. But like you know your fairy smut does not need to be highlighted and noted.
- [40:57]
Jill
So this could be a waste of $10 per year. Still small, small amounts of money. But we've all got to focus in on where, where am I unusing?
- [41:08]
Jen
This is truly a median because people who fall into book talk are truly.
- [41:13]
Jill
Going to be wasting more.
- [41:15]
Jen
They are on at $25 a book, it's hundreds of dollars a year. But at a conservative level, 10.
- [41:25]
Jill
Okay, 16. Tech upgrades, equipment, services. The average amount of money spent per person per year is $425. And so this can be wasted on new tech or services that we just don't use. I mean someone just commented on one of our like things, things I wish I didn't buy. Talking about AirPods, how they don't fit and so yeah, then that's, that's like wasted money on tech because it doesn't work for me the way that I thought it would, the way that other people told me that it would. And so this can then amount to about $200 wasted per person.
- [42:08]
Jen
I give this example in our book about the, like, buying the newest iPhone, how if you would just wait an extra year and keep your iPhone for an extra year over, you know, your entire lifetime, you're buying probably five fewer iPhones. That's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars saved. And, like, sure, you can pay over time. You might be getting a quote unquote free phone, but then it limits you from the phone provider you're able to use too. So you wouldn't be able to use a service like Mint, where you can get like $15 a month service if you wanted to. So there are other costs associated with upgrading tech too often. And not that you never can upgrade it, but we tend to upgrade it too often.
- [43:00]
Jill
Yeah.
- [43:00]
Jen
And our very last one is takeout.
- [43:06]
Jill
For me this time.
- [43:07]
Jen
Yeah, not all takeout is a waste. And obviously you eat it, so it's not quote unquote wasted. But honestly, like, food you get delivered because you didn't make a meal plan or follow through with your meal plan and the fees, the delivery fees and the tips associated with all of that, and even potentially like, restaurant food that you take home and don't eat. So, like, that's a little bit that we'll throw in there too.
- [43:34]
Jill
Food you didn't like.
- [43:35]
Jen
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I didn't like a coffee. I tried a new fall coffee and I didn't like it. Girl, I kept that thing and went back the next day and handed it to them. They're like, I'm sorry, I did not communicate well. What I did not like. It is my fault. Can I get the iced coffee I usually get? And they were like, sure. And it's not like I was complaining or being mad or the next day.
- [44:03]
Jill
Well, yeah, you held onto the coffee. You're like, I don't like this. The next day you put that. You put that curdled milk back on their counter.
- [44:13]
Jen
It was like iced coffee.
- [44:14]
Jill
Give me a new thing.
- [44:17]
Jen
I did not demand.
- [44:19]
Jill
Wow.
- [44:19]
Jen
I asked because I wanted to prove that I didn't drink it. And then I'm just trying to get a freebie. Is that weird? Then please defend comments or trash me in the comments. Let me know. I don't know, but I thought it was a thing.
- [44:37]
Jill
It's at least bold.
- [44:38]
Jen
But on the topic of, like, food you don't like, I'm getting a little off. But so I would gen. I would venture to say so. Data shows about 11 to 1200 per person on takeout per year, about $200 per person per year in fees. So I would venture to say around $1,000 per year we spend on takeout that we didn't really need to get. Plus the fees and tips associated with all of that is probably conservative.
- [45:09]
Jill
Do you know what's not wasted is not.
- [45:13]
Jen
It's outside of the $14,000 that we just covered in the episode.
- [45:19]
Jill
The Bill of the Week.
- [45:31]
Podcast Host Intro
That's right. It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Duck bills, Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton. This is the Bill of the Week.
- [45:51]
Jennifer (Listener with Bill of the Week)
Hi, Jen and Jill. My name is Jennifer. I've been listening to the podcast for about a year. I have read your book.
- [45:58]
Jen
I love it.
- [45:59]
Jennifer (Listener with Bill of the Week)
I'm excited for your course in May and I wanted to submit my bill of the Week. So I have been paying for lawn service for about as long as I can remember. And this year I decided I was done with it. I bought myself a brand new electric mower. The lawnmower guys started circling the neighborhood about three weeks before I would have even entertained the idea of mowing, but I was able to do that. This will also give me an opportunity to be outside a little bit more and get some fresh air while feeling accomplished of doing something. So I'm really excited to have that opportunity. I know that I will probably regret this in about July, but I hope that I won't regret the extra fifteen hundred dollars this year that will go back into my budget. So, yeah, that's my bill of the week. Keep doing what you do and thank you so much.
- [46:58]
Jen
Oh my gosh, Jennifer. Well, it's October when this comes out, so I hope you didn't regret it too much. But early mornings mowing the lawn, I don't do it early morning. But I would hire a lawn service before I would do it because we live on a double lot and it is a lot of grass.
- [47:19]
Jill
Now that we've sold our house, I don't have to mow the lawn. No one has to mow the lawn in our family anymore. But I feel you on this one. This is one of those toss ups, right. Of what's worth it for me to do myself.
- [47:31]
Jen
You were the lawnmower in your family.
- [47:33]
Jill
Yeah. Save the money versus what's worth hiring out. And so for you, it sounds like I'd rather put that $1,500 back in my pocket I'll do it. But that's the thing for us to identify what's utilized and worth it and valuable, what's unused, underutilized. I'm just going to cancel this thing and find alternatives and it sounds like you found what works for you. Yeah and if you all listening have a bill that you want to share if it's about canceling a bill or paying a bill that you just love paying, or taking one of these tips and just really making it work for you or being bill frugalfriendspodcast.com bill leave us your bill.
- [48:20]
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- [48:50]
Jen
Do you think you could name all.
- [48:51]
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- [48:59]
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- [49:11]
Remy Advertiser
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- [49:28]
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- [49:54]
Jill
And now it's time for the lightning round.
- [50:00]
Jen
What's something you've wasted money on recently? I'll be very transparent. I forgot to cancel a credit card that I meant to cancel and I paid the $150 fee for it. I could not get it reversed. Oh, so you know that maybe has only happened to me like once or twice in my life. So I'll take it that it was a dumb, dumb move.
- [50:34]
Jill
Yeah, it happens. Yeah, for me it's replacing keys. I lost my keys. Now we live in an apartment. Here's something I have to keep track of key fobs and and I thought that I had the perfect solution, but that solution fell off of my purse when we were out and about in public. Couldn't find it so had to buy new keys. I don't know if it like goes under the category of like unused, but yeah, feels like a waste.
- [51:09]
Jen
Yeah, we didn't have a category for forgetting, but maybe we should have. Maybe stuff we forget should have been a category. So thank you so much for listening to all these wastes. Let us know in the comments if there are wastes that we forgot or if you disagree with any of our wastes and maybe how much you've wasted on things and overcome and now how much you're saving. And if you have gotten anything out of any of our episodes or our book, please let us know in the comments, in a review on Spotify or for the book on Amazon. Kind of like this book review from Evan Black, which happens to be five stars, says I've gone through phases in my life where I'm more frugal, thrifty than others. I hit the thrift shops hard in high school, for example, and recently discovered that thrill. I also had a Dave Ramsey phase and lately I've gone down the buy nothing rabbit hole. Jen and Jill speak to all these different parts of me so clearly and use all the best lessons learned from each phase to create a holistic new lifestyle that I'm excited about. Values Based Spending. It's a great read. It's conversational, educational, all at once and requires just the right amount of self reflection. I'm definitely embracing my season and saying no more. Thanks to these gals.
- [52:37]
Jill
Thanks Evan. What a cool, kind review. And we all have different seasons and phases of life, so we're happy to be here for all of them for as long as you'll have us. If you also have read the book and you haven't reviewed it, please do so. Amazon's a great place. Goodreads A great place to review us costs you nothing. And again, feel free to, you know, hit that button and subscribe. Stick around and keep enjoying this episode.
- [53:07]
Jen
Thanks everybody. Cue up the next episode. You just heard unhinged ways to waste money. We've got an Episode on Unhinged ways people save money that you might like. Yeah. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. So if you're listening to this, you won't see it, but we are in Jill's house, so. So pop on over to YouTube if you want to get a peep into Jill's house.
- [53:45]
Jill
My new. My new. It's actually an apartment.
- [53:48]
Jen
Yeah.
- [53:49]
Jill
New apartment.
- [53:50]
Jen
But we had to come here because literally we sat down and were about to press record because we are out of town at fincon for the rest of the week. We have. This is our only day to record. And as soon as we sat down, the lights start flickering. I think our neon sign is broken. Like, I think it. Whatever happened, blew the neon.
- [54:15]
Jill
Yeah.
- [54:16]
Jen
And then things start beeping and then the fire alarm goes off, the Internet goes out, and we're like, hi.
- [54:26]
Jill
Yeah, well, yeah, the alarm went off and that was. That was the indicator also the voice that comes on when the alarm is going on. There is an emergency happening. Evacuate immediately. Meanwhile, you and I are just, like, taking our good old. Packing up our stuff because we're literally.
- [54:44]
Jen
Flying out tomorrow morning and we have to, like, get things to bring. And I'm like, this is not how I imagined packing for Portland. Like, I thought I was going to be able to.
- [54:56]
Jill
Thought I'd have more time.
- [54:57]
Jen
Yeah, right. Like, think about things. We'll see.
- [55:01]
Jill
We'll see what we remembered.
- [55:03]
Jen
We remembered some books and that's it. That's it.
- [55:08]
Jill
We remembered the microphone. Hopefully it worked out.
- [55:11]
Jen
Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah.
- [55:15]
Jill
So you know what? I'm liking this comfort couch situation, though. This actually might become our new studio. If you do pop over to us on YouTube, let us know if this should be our new studio.
- [55:26]
Jen
Let us know if my feet without shoes on offend you because, yeah, I'm liking this casualness.
- [55:35]
Jill
Yeah, it's fun.
- [55:36]
Jen
All right. And we're. We got one more episode to record like this, so we'll see you in the next one, too.
- [55:44]
Podcast Host Intro
For a limited time, earn up to 200,000 bonus points with the IHD One Rewards Premier Business Card. Visit ihd.com businesscard cards issued by Morgan Chase bank and a member FDIC offer subject to change terms apply.