21 Spending Habits That Are Quietly Keeping You Broke

Summary

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Frugal Friends Podcast – Episode Summary

Podcast: Frugal Friends Podcast
Hosts: Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni
Episode: 21 Spending Habits That Are Quietly Keeping You Broke
Date: March 31, 2026

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Episode Overview

Jen and Jill break down 21 everyday spending habits that subtly (but powerfully) drain your bank account—and how to spot and change them. They approach each habit with humor, relatability, and a no-shame attitude, encouraging frugal listeners to recognize common traps, take control, and align money habits with what truly matters. The episode is packed with personal stories, practical examples, and a few spicy hot takes on why “everyone is probably doing at least one” of these habits—even the hosts themselves.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Avoiding “the Call”

[02:24]

• Dodging calls to negotiate, lower bills, or ask for a discount (internet, phone, insurance) is a quiet money leak.
• “There is a call that you need to make ... and you are avoiding it, and it’s costing you money. That is all.” – Jen [02:24]
• Recommend putting reminders to check bills and make those calls every 3-4 months.

2. Paying for Unlimited Everything

[03:21]

• Unlimited data, streaming, cloud storage, or gym access—do you really use it?
• “Why do I need access to every gym of yours in the nation? I’m only going to use one, right?” – Jen [03:40]
• Check your usage; you may never reach those limits and can save by switching to tiered plans.

3. Snacks & Beverages as a Social Habit

[05:36]

• Constantly showing up with a purchased treat becomes an expensive, mindless habit.
• “You do not have to show up to the function with an iced beverage in your hand.” – Jen [05:36]
• Bring from home or make it a special occasion rather than a daily ritual.

4. Amazon Prime & Impulse Buying

[07:15]

• $139/year for “free shipping” often just enables more frequent, impulsive purchases.
• “No, Jeff, here’s 140 bucks, make it a little easier for me to impulse buy ... let me give you more of my money.” – Jen [07:23]
• Create friction: consider dropping Prime, and only buy with intent.

5. Too Many Streaming Services

[08:41]

• Subscribing to multiple platforms adds up quickly—and you can’t possibly watch everything.
• “You’re trying to watch the latest episodes of Bridgerton. It’s good, honey, but it’s not that good. Like, you can wait.” – Jen [09:12]
• Use the library’s digital resources for movies/shows and consider rotating subscriptions.

6. Not Tracking Your Spending

[11:04]

• You don’t have to love budgeting, but vigilance over transactions helps catch duplicative or erroneous charges.
• Example: Jen caught and got refunded for an unnecessary annual gym fee she would have missed otherwise.

7. “Procrastispending” – Buying to Avoid Action

[12:19]

• Buying new gear for a hobby (fitness, journaling, cooking) instead of just starting with what you have.
• “Prove to yourself that this is something worthwhile ... then we can discover what we actually need.” – Jill [13:26]

8. Buying in Bulk Without Certainty

[14:29]

• Bulk buys are only efficient if you know you’ll use and enjoy the product—otherwise, it’s pantry clutter.
• “Will you use all the units? Have you ever tried the product before to know that you will use it at all?” – Jen [14:29]

9. Seasonal Home Décor Overload

[15:22]

• Feeling compelled to refresh home décor for every season isn’t frugal (or necessary).
• “The season should not look like it threw up inside your house, point blank.” – Jen [16:57]

10. Low Self-Esteem = Compensatory Spending

[17:34]

• Recognize if purchases are coming from a place of insecurity, not genuine need or joy.
• “How many times have you purchased something because you felt bad about yourself?” – Jen [17:34]
• Spend time with supportive people offline to counter this tendency.

11. Shopping Sales Without a Purpose

[21:10]

• Defaulting to the clearance aisle leads to buying things you don’t need.
• “Let the clearance rack tell me what I’m looking for.” – Jen [21:48]
• Sales are marketing; saved money is only money truly saved if you already needed the item.

12. Replacing Fine Things with “Better” Ones

[22:48]

• Social media stokes discontent, making us swap perfectly functional items for upgrades.
• “Stop breeding your own discontentment ... by looking at what others have.” – Jen [23:17]

13. Shopping to Celebrate

[24:31]

• Celebrating achievements by spending is a learned ritual that may be sabotaging savings.
• “You don’t need to buy something to celebrate.” – Jill [24:53]

14. “Reward” or Comfort Spending

[25:58]

• Treating a hard day with a spending spree—common but not aligned with long-term goals.
• “The sweetness of achieving that goal will be so much better than the slight dopamine increase...” – Jen [26:52]
• Instead: library visits, baking brownies—low-cost self-care.

15. Buying New Outfits for Every Event

[27:45]

• Feeling pressured for “something new” each event or trip undermines frugality.
• “What’s wrong with the outfit that we wore to the last event?” – Jill [27:45]
• Normalize re-wearing and getting creative with what you already own.

16. Lifestyle Matching Friends Over Values

[29:08]

• Matching others’ (often expensive) habits or aesthetics instead of focusing on personal priorities.
• “Why are we buying these overpriced pieces of clothing ... just because everybody else is wearing it?” – Jen [30:00]

17. Replacing, Not Repairing

[31:14]

• Instinctively replacing clothes, appliances, or furniture instead of repairing or upcycling.
• “That should be a question ... before we go to, ‘Oh, I’m ready to replace this’—just ask ourselves, can it be repaired?” – Jill [33:09]

18. Experiences > Things: A False Dichotomy

[33:33]

• Overspending on “experiences” can be as financially reckless as buying stuff—debt is debt.
• “You just have pretty pictures in your iPhone and I have plastic things that will last a lifetime ...” – Jen [35:26]

19. Being Polite at the Car Dealership

[36:21]

• Fear of appearing rude or ungrateful makes it hard to walk away from a bad deal.
• “We can walk away. We can say, no, I’m not going to pay for that extra thing ... I have to do what’s right for me. Even if that feels a little rude.” – Jen [37:18]

20. Not Cooking (Ever)

[38:32]

• Not loving cooking isn’t an excuse to always eat out—it’s a core living skill that protects your budget.
• “You don’t have to love cooking ... but you still have to cook because you eat three times a day, every day.” – Jen [39:20]

21. Having Social Media Apps on Your Phone

[39:47]

• Social media = distraction and spending triggers.
• “That motivational and informational content that I was watching on social media ... It was an illusion of action. It was distraction.” – Jen [41:10]
• Removing apps led Jen to more action, less comparison, and fewer impulse buys.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On unlimited memberships:
  “Why do I need access to every gym in the nation? I’m only going to use one, right?” – Jen [03:40]

• On snacks as a hidden expense:
  “If you’re out here worried about gas prices, but every time you go to the gas station you get a snack, that’s the real upcharge of the gas.” – Jill [06:47]

• On sales shopping:
  “Let the clearance rack tell me what I’m looking for.” – Jen [21:48]
  “Being a sales shopper, being a clearance deal diva, is not morally superior.” – Jen [22:48]

• On social media’s effect:
  “That motivational and informational content that I was watching … was an illusion of action.” – Jen [41:10]

• On celebrating without spending:
  “There are all sorts of ways to make meaning out of things without spending money.” – Jill [25:08]

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Special Segment: Bill of the Week

[41:56]

Caller Brady shares a money win: by asking the pharmacist about a discount card instead of running ADHD medication through insurance, their monthly bill dropped from $222 to $43.

• Memorable reaction:
  “I am both so thrilled for you … but I honestly am mostly so ticked.” – Jill [43:21]
  “Who knows how long you were paying this before one pharmacist decided to tell you about this?” – Jen [43:34]

Advice arising from this “bill”:

• Always ask about discounts, self-pay rates, or programs at pharmacies.
• Tools like GoodRx can offer major savings.

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Lightning Round: What Hit Home?

[45:54]

• Jill confesses buying in bulk (Costco mushrooms, protein bars, bottles of shampoo) is her weak spot.

  • “[Dried mushrooms] were great ... but it was so much mushroom. … There was maybe about this much mushroom left, and I finally said to myself, you know what? We’re going to throw it away.” – Jill [47:14]

• Jen admits that even as a financial educator, she avoids making dreaded negotiation calls.

  • “This is my MO. When I say something sternly to you and I look into your eyes, I’m looking back into mine.” – Jen [48:51]
  • She’s currently avoiding following up on a medical bill and auto insurance renewal.

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Resource Reminders

• Library for free digital resources: streaming, audiobooks, and even streaming sticks for certain shows.
• Use apps like Monarch to track spending.
• GoodRx for prescription discounts.
• Swapping subscriptions and checking usage to save on streaming/data services.

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Tone & Final Thoughts

Playful, compassionate, and direct, Jen and Jill make clear that these money leaks are universal and that naming them is a path to empowerment, not shame. Whether you’re comfort-spending, procrastinating with purchases, or justifying Prime for shipping or streaming, you are not alone—and every small change adds up.

Jen closing:
“We hate it, but we gotta do it ... We want us, all, to do the hard things together.” [49:24]

Jill:
“We appreciate the vulnerability that led to violence.” [49:26]
(After lightly smacking Jen for dodging her own advice about making calls.)

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For Listeners

Reflect on which habit quietly drains your money the most. The real work, the hosts gently insist, is replacing auto-pilot spending with intentional, values-based decisions—one call, one canceled subscription, or one homemade snack at a time.

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For more:

Frugal Friends Podcast | [YouTube] [Spotify] [Apple]
Buy the book: buywhatyoulovebook.com – “Buy What You Love Without Going Broke”

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Transcript

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[Jen]

Spending habits that are quietly keeping you broke.

[Podcast Host Introduction]

Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live a richer life. Here are your hosts, Jen and Jill.

[Jen]

Welcome, Frugal Friends. I'm Jen.

[Jill]

And I'm Jill.

[Jen]

And today we have some spicy hot takes on some things that you are probably doing that are leading to or exacerbating that feeling of being broke or the actuality of being broke.

[Jill]

Who knows, not probably doing. You are. You are doing. You're doing at least one of them and let us know in the comments which one it is and we can all commiserate together.

[Jen]

You might feel a little offended by one or two that we're going to bring up, but we're all in the same boat together. We don't say this in judgment. These are things that everyone does, but if you are not aware of them, they will eat up your bank account. And all 21 together can be really detrimental. And that's why we're going to tell them to you so that you know and you're aware.

[Jill]

Then we can make different choices. So let's get into it. Number one, this is all you, girl.

[Jen]

Number one is avoiding the call. You know, you know who you are. You know I'm speaking to you. There is a call that you need to make to lower a bill, negotiate a bill, whether it's auto insurance, Internet, phone, there is something coming up and you need to make a call and you are avoiding it and it's costing you money. That is All. And I say that at every bill in the week, bill of the week, when we get somebody who's like, I lowered this, I lowered this. They made the call. They made, and they are lowering their expenses. Not just letting them slowly creep up. They are lowering them. So there is something you should probably be calling about probably every three to four months. So that's like three to four calls in a year. It's. It's not every single month, but there's.

[Jill]

Make the call.

[Jen]

Make the call.

[Jill]

Number two, going unlimited.

[Jen]

Unlimited.

[Jill]

So we're talking data, text messages, cloud storage, streaming gym access, buffets. Okay. We always think that we need the most.

[Jen]

We need it all. Everything we can have, we need to be able to have access to. Will we use it all? No. No. But for some reason, we think we just need to have the choice. Like. Like the gym memberships. Yes. Why do I need access to every gym of yours in the nation? I'm only going to use one, right?

[Jill]

Maybe two or three.

[Jen]

But no, what if. What if I'm lucky if I go. Which I do go to the gym, right? Yeah, yeah.

[Jill]

I don't need unlimited access to every single thing. And I feel like our best example is with phone usage. So I. We are on a business plan together with our cell phones, and so I get the bill every month. And I was looking over our usage and realizing that everybody on our plan uses about, what was it, seven gigabytes

[Jen]

of data of data per month?

[Jill]

Like, it wasn't a ton. We weren't using unlimited amounts. That's an amount that you could purchase. And so I think getting clear on how much am I going to use. Is it possible to only pay for that amount and therefore save myself a bunch? So cut the habit of assuming that you're going to use it to the max or you need to have access to unlimited amounts. It's probably costing us more money.

[Jen]

Yeah. That's why we love working with Mint Mobile. And people ask us, like, is it a, you know, crappier service? Or, like, what do you do when you cap out? Like, look at what you've been using. Because you may never hit like. And they still have unlimited stuff, but you, like, may never hit those caps.

[Jill]

No, it's not crappier service either.

[Jen]

So. All right, number three is snacks. I'm going to give you permission right now, girl. You don't have to show up to the function with an iced beverage in your hand. Whatever the function is, whether it's the iced coffee, the matcha, the refresher, you do not your ticket into the function is not your iced beverage. Now, I know you love showing up with your iced beverage or you're stopping the gas station. You love your gas station snacks. There is a gas station called Buc Ees that apparently people love. We love Wawa. You know there we get it. You do not have to show up to every function with a snack or an iced or hot beverage. If you do love that, bring your snacks and your iced beverages from home. These little yes, $7 is not going to bankrupt you. But as a habit, if you are showing up to every function every day with some kind of treat, that is going to add up. And the compounding that that could be doing in your Roth IRA is significant.

[Jill]

If you're out here worried about gas prices, but every time you go to the gas station, you get a snack. That's the real upcharge of the gas. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't want gas to be $7 a gallon. But number four, moving on Amazon prime, my friends, why are we paying $139 a year for free shipping?

[Jen]

Why?

[Jill]

Just to have Amazon make it easier for us to impulse buy. We don't need to be giving them.

[Jen]

Not enough that it's already easy to, like impulse buy on Amazon with its algorithm pushing you things that you're already sear for, whether it's on Amazon or not. Pushing things that you might like. We're like, no, no, no, Jeff. Here's 140 bucks. Make it a little easier for me to impulse buy so I can justify getting the thing in two days instead of having to like, get creative with what I already have to meet an immediate need I have. Let me give you more of my money.

[Jill]

Right? Yeah, we're getting heated.

[Jen]

I think we're mostly.

[Jill]

We're probably. It sounds like we're yelling. And that is not. It's on brand. Totally on brand for us. We're not.

[Jen]

We're not trying to shake these things to us, too.

[Jill]

It's just I don't need to be giving Jeff Bezos all of my money.

[Jen]

Any more of my money. You don't need my money.

[Jill]

And I can create greater levels of friction to impulse buying. And I know some people. Then, okay, that then, then I'm going to buy more to get myself up to that minimum spend to get free shipping. And I just think all of that means we've got to look at our buying and spending habits rather than just giving money away. Assuming this is going to be a good use of my Money might not be.

[Jen]

Oh, and you might be like, oh, but I do it for the streaming. Number five. You have too many streaming services, baby girl. Too many. If you want Amazon prime, you got to get rid of Netflix, you got got to get rid of Peacock, you got to get rid of Paramount. Why do you have Paramount? Why? What's on there besides Paw Patrol? Trust me, I know.

[Jill]

I get the Detroit is on Paramount, and that's worth it. Okay, if you pick one, Streaming services for the Detroiters, let's go.

[Jen]

All right, but if you're gonna have Paramount, you gotta get rid of the hbo. You gotta get rid of. Rid of all of. There's no way you can consume every piece of content on one streaming platform. So why do you have four? You're trying to watch the latest episodes of Bridgerton. It's good, honey, but it's not that good. Like, you can wait. You don't have to be. You're not the journalist who needs to be on the forefront of what everyone's talking about. And if you do run out of stuff, maybe your only streaming service is Apple. Very likely you could run out of stuff. Then you have the library that has hoopla, Libby. It has audiobooks, TVs, TV shows, movies. It has so many things for free.

[Jill]

And that's the thing, too. We've got an episode about libraries. 21 things you probably didn't know you could get at library. And one of them is at least at a library that I went to recently, you can rent a streaming stick for some of these different platforms. So if you choose one platform, let's say you choose Netflix, but you want Paramount plus to watch the Detroiters, check library, see if they have it, rent it out for the 14 to 21 days, whatever they'll allow you to do. Plug that bad boy into your tv and you got Detroiters and give it back.

[Jen]

Yeah, that's probably all you're going to want to watch.

[Jill]

Only reason that we gain new streaming services is to watch that one show that somebody recommended. And nothing else on any other platform that we already have. Seems good enough.

[Jen]

Library, don't. There is you.

[Jill]

Yeah. Okay, number six. Another habit is us not tracking our spending.

[Jen]

I feel so passionately about this. I'm not a big budgeter. I don't make a budget every month. But I do track my spending. And here's a great example of why. I had a gym membership that I actually do use. And midway through, they try to charge me an annual fee. And I was like, no, I paid my annual fee. When I got my membership and that's an annual fee and it wasn't even like the first of the year or anything. Like they are trying to charge me just an extra one. But I have the Monarch. I pay for Monarch and it's a budgeting app and it has a widget on my phone where my most recent transactions populate. So I could see immediately that I had that expense. And I was able to call and be like no, no. And they're like oh no, it's an annual fee. And I'm like no, no, I've only been with you for six months. And they're like oh, I can see that. I'm like why are you, why are you saying things before you have read information? And I got that refunded in 24 hours. And so that stuff will slip. That was 50 bucks. That stuff will slip through the cracks. If you are not being vigilant with tracking your spending, I would say about

[Jill]

every quarter there is a charge that needs to be disputed. Yes, and I'm aware of it because I'm tracking my spending. That's a leak. Number seven. Procrastispending. This is a made up word to describe us spending money instead of taking action thinking it's going to get us closer to whatever goal we have. This happens a lot of time with exercise that instead of getting up, doing the routine with what we already have, we go shop for the best equipment, clothing, shoes, hair, tie, watch, you name it, anything to have all the things thinking that that's going to be the motivator to do the stuff instead do it, prove to ourselves that this is something worthwhile that we're going to stick with. Then we can discover what we actually need instead of just collecting the stuff. It happens with cooking and baking and journaling and like literally any hobby this happens with.

[Jen]

I saw this when like women started walking with weighted vests and it was like you could not walk without a weighted vest. I'm like baby girl, I have enough weight on me. I am a weighted vest, right? Like I weigh right? So like why do I need 10 extra pounds on me? You don't need.

[Jill]

It's a right of popular to being a middle aged woman.

[Jen]

Jen, you don't need what you see on social media to get started with something. Like with runners they're like oh, I can't start running. I need new running shoes. My shoes are so old. When you start running you ain't going to go out there and run 10 miles. You're going to run a mile if you're lucky, right? And you can do that on old shoes. Running a mile on old shoes will not kill your feet. You can get out there, get started, and once you've proven to yourself that you can do one to three miles, then we buy the new shoes, then

[Jill]

we can justify the purchase.

[Jen]

All right, next is buying in bulk. I understand that the per unit is less expensive, but will you use all the units? Have you ever tried the product before to know that you will use it at all Costco shoppers? And I will say that I compare Walmart, like regular stuff to the Costco. And a lot of the times Costco only offers the organic version and it is the same price, if not more for the organic version as it is the smaller regular version at Walmart. So sometimes it doesn't even save money unless you're really sure you want the organic version. And so you do not always have to buy the bulk just to save the most money, because that's how we ended up with. We end up with overloaded pantries of stuff that we're not using.

[Jill]

Number nine, seasonal home decor. And I understand that at this point in the episode, we're just really ticking you off. I get it. Stick with us, please.

[Jen]

Please be here.

[Jill]

Please. Here's the thing. We don't need every single season to be splattered around our entire houses and homes. That's not to say that you can't enjoy seasons and want to market with different trinkets. But we really need to identify what is enough. There is no reason. I'm about to say it. Let's. Here we go. There is no reason for every single season we are buying a decor item for that season. Because if we're doing that, chances are we did it last year and the year before and the year before that. Where are those things? Why are those things not okay anymore? Why can't I decorate for spring with the things that I had from three years ago? We need to recognize that a lot of times it is just us looking for the dopamine hit of purchasing something new. We get it back home and it doesn't look the same as it did in the special section of Target. So let's rein it in, okay? And let's figure out how.

[Jen]

What.

[Jill]

What is enough for being able to mark the seasons. And are there more meaningful ways to enjoy the season than just collecting a bunch of stuff?

[Jen]

Jill was being much nicer. I wrote, and I quote in the outline, just one line for this one. The season should not look like it threw up Inside your house, point blank. All right, Aunt Kim, I'm talking to you.

[Jill]

Who is Aunt Kim? Oh, no, Aunt Kim, I'm so sorry.

[Jen]

Kim does not listen to. Because the season. Seasons do look like they threw up inside her house.

[Jill]

It's probably beautiful. Aunt Kim. I would probably love to be in there, but if it's hurting your wallet,

[Jen]

she loves Rae Dunn. If it's not labeled, it's not decor.

[Jill]

Okay.

[Jen]

You know, it's like one of those things.

[Jill]

Yes.

[Jen]

All your decor needs to be labeled. All right, number 10. This one is okay. Less, less laugh out loud. And really more serious. So come, come back to me. Let's center, center ourselves for this one. Low self esteem girl. How many times have you purchased something because you felt bad about yourself? And I like, talk to me when I'm saying this. Like when I thought in times where I was like, I look fat and clothes are all ugly on me, this happened especially postpartum, I would get a pedicure so at least my toes would look good. Like I can't do anything about like my body and feeling like tired and frumpy, but at least my toes can look good. You know, like stuff like that. Pedicures are fine. Pedicures are not the problem. It's how we feel about ourselves and how that feeling translates to spending that does not need to be there. If I am spending on pedicures because of my internal discontent, I am my biggest critic, right. And that spending doesn't need to be there. I need to deal with what's really going on. And so this is why we need to have more confidence in ourselves, own ourselves more. And that's going to breed a lot less of this discontentment spending.

[Jill]

Our finances are interconnected with who we are. We love to talk about how we are whole people. And it is so true and apparent in my life as well that when I have a healthier, more beneficial view of myself, my spending is also going to reflect that. I'm not going to be as grabbing for the next thing or allowing somebody else to tell me how I should be spending my money, what I need next. There's a greater degree of confidence. And this is just a sidebar. A lot of that has to do with how much time I'm spending online versus what with real people in person there. For me, I'm not going to speak for all people. There is a direct correlation. So if this one is hitting home really strongly for you, find your in person people who make you feel really great over time. This, it'll help this one in a big way. Go.

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[Jen]

are not gonna fit. And it got me thinking.

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[Jen]

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[Jill]

That's policygenius.com and number 11 is shopping the sales. Here's the thing. Sales are marketing. We don't save money when we're spending money unnecessarily. Hear me out. I love a good deal, but I love a good deal on the things that I need. And so there have been times when my habit was straight to the clearance aisle, straight to the sales rack. I don't even know what I'm looking for. I'm just letting the deal tell me what's going to find its way in the car.

[Jen]

Let the clearance rack tell me what I'm looking for. We all walk into like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Trader Joe's and be like, I'm. I am going to let Trader Joe tell me what I'm eating this week. Like, I'm going to let Joe tell me, right?

[Jill]

And sometimes that's a fun approach with food, but when it comes to just shopping as an activity, but thinking we are morally superior because we're going straight to the sales rack, it's not a habit that's helping our finances. And what is also true is there's a reason all those things are in clearance because nobody else wanted to buy it. When why? A lot of the clothes that I've gotten on clearance racks I end up getting rid of in two to six months. That's not helpful for me. I'm not actually saving money on clothing if it's cycling like that. But it's making me feel better because I just spent less money on it. No, I'm still just spending money on unnecessary stuff. That's so beware of the sales.

[Jen]

You, you, you shifted over that real quickly. But something we all need to hear is we are. You are not morally better because you shop sales than somebody who does not shop sales. You just, just not like being you or me. Yeah, being a sales shopper, being a clearance deal diva is not morally superior. Next is replacing fine stuff with higher quality stuff. Why do we look at social media, think, oh, their house is so much nicer, their closet is so much nicer than mine. We breed discontent in ourselves, like again willfully and then our perfectly fine stuff becomes not good enough. We've got to replace it because it doesn't look like the room I saw on social media that I really liked. We are replacing cars, perfectly fine cars that might need to be taken to a mechanic. But still taking them to a mechanic is cheaper than getting an entirely new one. Clothes, jewelry, furniture, all this stuff. Stop breeding your own discontentment. Stop increasing it by looking at what others have on social media. Be content with what you have if it's perfectly fine. And get creative with how you decorate. Give, make it an opportunity to get creative. This is just a new way to keep up with the Joneses. And the problem is is that now we can see inside all the Joneses homes instead of like just a couple of them and it makes it harder and harder.

[Jill]

Get off the Internet. Hang out with people in person.

[Jen]

Not. Yeah, just get off social media. Get off social media.

[Jill]

I mean, you'll see people in person though that you want to keep up with too. So it does have more to do with contentment. There. Number 13, shopping to celebrate. Did you get a promotion? Good for you. You feeling yourself?

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

You do look fly. You made that call that you've been putting off. Here's the thing, you don't need to buy something to celebrate that something

[Jen]

here's out.

[Jill]

We've all been there. Okay. You do deserve the woo moment. And we're going to, we're going to woo you up. But it doesn't always mean that it has to be associated with pulling our wallets out. There is something to be said for practicing how can I enjoy this moment market and maybe even have some version of a ritual around it that, that feels really great, that is completely free and it is possible. There are all sorts of ways to make Meaning out of things without spending money. Like, we really need to start teasing those things apart, trying new things and seeing what's possible and feeling really great about all the money that we've saved because of it.

[Jen]

And maybe you are spending a little bit of money, but it's not as much as what you typically go to. Instead of going out to dinner to celebrate something, maybe you're getting the box of Ghirardelli brownie mix and you're making yourself a half pan of Ghirardelli brownies, which is the best reward, I think, that you could have. And so you're going, yeah, you're going from spending 50 bucks on a dinner out to 5 bucks on a box like that, too. You know, so stuff like that. The next one is similar, but it is reward spending. It's like celebratory spending, but it's spending after something bad happens. You know, like you had a bad week or a rough week, something unfair, fortunate happened. And we, again, we get it. You do deserve. You deserve the world. You deserve the moon. You deserve everything. But sometimes when we have financial goals, we can't justify spending that money because the sweetness of achieving that goal will be so much better than the slight dopamine increase that comes with spending, you know, that 50 or 100 bucks. Impulsively, again, I truly believe a trip to the library and a box of Ghirardelli brownies can solve every problem. I was thinking we did say that the library could solve every problem, but I do think the ones that it can't solve, the box of Ghirardelli brownies, would solve the other ones. And so you let me know in the comments if, again, I have not expanded this wide enough, because I do believe those two things are it.

[Jill]

It's all, what a dream pair, though. Library. That should be our Halloween costume. Library and box and Ghirardella chocolate.

[Jen]

I do not want to go through the effort. That would be dressing up as a whole library.

[Jill]

We'd figure it out. It'd be beautiful. All right, number 15. Speaking of outfits, buying a new outfit for every event. What's wrong with the outfit that we wore to the last event? And I run into this every single time, specifically for weddings and thinking I have nothing to wear. But then I remember I went to a wedding not that long ago. What did I wear to that one? I have done this before. I have gone on vacation before with the stuff that is in my closet. I have been to the north, where it's frigid with the stuff I already have in my closet. I have been to weddings. I have been to dinners. Let's do it again. I think some of it is just that we feel so. We just. We like newness. We want some. We want to feel special, but there are other ways to do that. None of these things. There's nothing bad with buying new clothes. I think it's just the habit of being prompted by something external that makes us think it has to then go here and it doesn't. So wherever we can interrupt these patterns and habits with a new way of thinking, something creative, it's going to help us again financially.

[Jen]

For me, I'm like, okay, if I don't get this new bathing suit or. Or outfit for this event or vacation, it's an extra drink I can have while I'm there. Oh, you know, what do I really want, right? Or. Or reach my financial goal faster. You know, like, whatever is to each their own. Next is lifestyle matching friends instead of values. This is. This one struck me recently. I was at Busch Gardens. We took the kids to Busch Gardens over the weekend, and I saw these two girls that looked unironically identical, like, they weren't trying to match. They weren't, you know, like Family Vacation 20, 26 shirts. They were both wearing the same influencer outfit. And I bet if I tell you that, like, the same blonde hair extensions and the same outfit every influencer who's ever been to a theme park wears. Unless they're like Disney influencers who are Disneybounding. And I bet just from that statement, you could tell me in the comments what they were wearing. And they were wearing the same exact thing from shirt, pants, socks, shoes. One of them was wearing a baseball cap, but they had identical hair, too. And, like, they look like every other influencer in a theme park. And I'm like, why are we looking at people? It's not even. It's a. It's the blandest outfit in existence. Why are we looking at these people and trying to emulate them? Why are we buying these overpriced pieces of clothing? And I guarantee you the pieces, because I saw the brands. They're overpriced for what they are, and it's just because everybody else is wearing it. Why are we matching people we barely know? Or, you know, in this case, they did know each other. They were together. But, like, why don't we just, like, match our values? Why don't we match what we want?

[Jill]

Yeah, I don't want to shame people for what they wear. That's. That's a choice we all get to make and there are days we show up, we look same for some reason because we're in similar demographic and we just do we have similar style or are we so influenced? It's what's available. At the end of the day, we do want belonging. And so I think that that's what it points to and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It is what we need. We are always saying find your belonging in people, in your community, in person. But again, when it bleeds into I think I have to have these things to belong or I'm being told to buy these things versus I am choosing to buy these things or this is actually what I feel best in. And I've taken some time to understand that it's, it's a teasing apart because in and of itself it is not wrong. We're just trying to get to the bottom of what are the habits that we might be having that are not beneficial to our finances. And this could be one of them. Number 17, replacing instead of repairing. So this is, this is everything from clothes to kitchen appliances. Clothing can be tailored. Small appliances can be repaired. Stainless steel can be polished. Rugs can be sent to the cleaner. Glass can be replaced. Decor can be repurposed or upcycled. Not everything needs to be actually tossed or donated and replaced with something else. There could be ways for us to continue using what we already have. And I get it, we've done a whole episode on the fact that things are not made to the same degree of quality that we might have been used to 10, 15, 20 years ago. So that does make it a little harder. It does require us to be more judicious shoppers to ensure that we're buying things that can be repaired and be long lasting. But that, that should be a question of ours before we go to, oh, I'm ready to replace this, just ask ourselves, can it be repaired?

[Jen]

Yeah, I don't know. Like with the Industrial Revolution, how we got from repairing things to just initially just throwing it away as, as soon as it displeases me or as soon as something goes wrong with it. Like I hear this even with cars. Like people are so quick to trade in a car because it needs like some repairs and just do the long term math on it before you do something like that. To see you can save $1,000 is nothing when you're talking about cars. But like sit there and be like, oh yeah, if somebody handed me a thousand dollars, like if I'm going to save $1,000 overall by repairing this vehicle versus replacing it. Now, whether it's a lemon or not, that's a whole different situation. But. But yeah, like just thinking about the long term math. All right, next. This one's been getting me. This one is fiery. Assuming experiences are always better than things. I think we have yo swung in the opposite direction where these self righteous influencers who overspend on experiences and travel think that they're better than people who have just overspent on a bunch of stuff and they, you know, live in hoarder houses. But I guarantee you they're probably spending the same amount of money in the same financial state. Right? You just have pretty pictures in your iPhone and I have plastic things that will last a lifetime, multiple lifetimes, actually. They will outlive me. Right? You know, so, like, I love experiences. I do think experiences that is like what we try to give our kids versus toys. It definitely makes it much easier to clean when you're given somebody experience versus like a bunch of toys. But in the. When we are talking about overspending and spending habits, spending on experiences and spending on things is still spending money. And so a trip put like on a credit card is not justifiable like people on social media says it is. We had that in one of our episodes. Like, people like going into debt for experiences and people being like, oh, going into debt for stuff is like dumb. Going into debt for travel and experiences, like, that's going to last you a lifetime, girl. No, it's not. You're gonna, you probably gonna forget you went eventually.

[Jill]

You're still spending money that you don't have.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

Okay, number 19. I like this one. Being polite at the car dealership. This is a very specific circumstance. All know about it, every single last one of us adults out here. This is a habit, I suppose this is a degree of a habit, especially for us women, that we just need to be so polite, so kind and so smiley that we give them all of our money. And here's the thing, we can walk away. We can say, no, I'm not going to pay for that extra thing, because actually I understand numbers and those numbers make sense and I'm not gonna pay you that amount of money. And yes, you've spent all of this time with me trying to get some version of a deal, but it's still not good enough for me. I'm going to walk away. You can, you can do that.

[Jen]

Yeah. So I talked about my experience buying my last car in our episode, that I did all the right things and I still regretted it. And we had a commenter on there being like, I wish I saw this before my last car purchase because, you know, ultimately glad she got the car that she did, but she did fall victim to some of the manipulation tactics. Part of it was she spent so much time, you know, with this salesperson, kind of felt like obligated because she'd taken so much of his time. And I had like the same feeling. And ultimately I was like, like, nope, not. I'm gonna have to live with this car and this loan for the foreseeable future. And you stay here and you won't remember me. So I have to do what's right for me. Even if that feels a little rude. It's not mean we're not being rude, but it might feel rude.

[Jill]

Big red flags, big sirens. If we feel obligated to spend tens of thousands of dollars that we wouldn't have otherwise just because we don't want inconven convenience, the salesperson and the insidious

[Jen]

thing is not going to be tens of thousand. It's going to be a couple thousand, one to two thousand, which when you're talking about a car, is not a big deal because we are talking about tens of thousands. But if I'm sitting here and somebody hands me a thousand dollars, that's a big deal. So we have to think about these things in full context, not just anchor them to the. To the situation that we are in. Next is not cooking. Girl. Cooking is not knitting. If you don't like knitting, you don't have to knit when it's cold. For a couple months of the year, you can go buy a scarf, right? And you use that for a couple months, a year. You don't have to knit if you don't like it. If you don't like cooking, you still have to cook because you eat three times a day every day. It's not the same. You've got to do some cooking. Do you have to love cooking? No. There are ways to make it work for you so that you can still eat at home and you can still enjoy eating out, maybe more than the average person. But if you've got a debt payoff goal right now or a financial goal you're trying to, you know, achieve pretty quickly in the short term, then you're not gonna be eating out as much now as you will later. You gotta cook. That's. It's not liking it is not an excuse.

[Jill]

It can be easy. You can make it easy. You can make it simple. You can still make it Tasty. Listen to literally any other episode that we've done about food, because we got you. All right, last but not least, 21. Having social media apps on your phone. This is a big one. You took social media apps off of your phone and it made a big difference for you.

[Jen]

I realized there was. There was four months that I took social media apps off of my phone last year, and then I brought them back for like the last three or four months. And I noticed a huge difference of what I was doing in those eight months. Those first four months, I was taking action. The last four months, I was watching people take the action that I wanted to take and then being like, bummed because I didn't have enough time to take the same action. Well, I got off social media again in this year, and guess what? I found the time to take the action. That motivational and informational content that I was watching on social media, it was an illusion of action. It was distraction. And I don't want that clipped like it's a, like a, like a bro podcast clip is what that sounded like. And I'm sorry, it rhymes, but it's so true. Like social media, even if it's positive, and I have a really positive algorithm, it's more distraction and it keeps you from actual action.

[Jill]

It is where a lot of our impulse purchases come from as well. So just, you know what, remove it, see what happens, experiment, take it off,

[Jen]

see what happens, see your money, see if you have the same experience.

[Jill]

You know what, we love to just see what happens. We throw it out there and we're like, what's gonna. What's gonna happen?

[Jen]

And it's why. It's why number one is on our list in the first place. It is the inspiration of it.

[Jill]

Oh, the bill of the week.

[Jen]

This is the pillow. This is the pillowy.

[Podcast Host Introduction]

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.

[Caller Brady]

Hey, frugal friends. I'm calling with a bill of the week. My 11 year old son takes ADHD medication and we have a high deductible health insurance plan, which essentially means we basically pay most of our medical costs until we reach a really high limit, which we never reach over the course of the year. So every month I had to pay $222 for these 30 pills. You know that his monthly doses of ADHD medication. The last time I went to pick it up, the angel of a pharmacist looked at me and said do you want us to run it through your insurance or do you want us to try our discount card? And I told her to go ahead and try the discount card because what could I lose really? She ran it through and the new bill is $43. So if I go instead of paying the $222 I was paying, I can say now just run it through your discount card and pay $43 a month instead. Super, super excited, feeling really good about that and really grateful to the pharmacist for suggesting it.

[Jill]

I am, I am both so thrilled for you, so grateful for this huge amount of savings but I honestly am mostly so ticked.

[Jen]

I'm pissed.

[Jill]

So devastatingly angry actually. This is so messed up up and

[Jen]

that who knows how long you were paying this for monthly before one pharmacist decided to tell you about this. And it's not the pharmacist job to do this. I understand but like but so happy for you Brady. I'm so glad you were there at the right place at the right time to get this opportunity and I am, I am so pleased for you and your child.

[Jill]

For those of us living in the United States with a very very very

[Jen]

very very very very very very very

[Jill]

very broken medical system, medical insurance system, we're not even going to get into all of it. It is what we are currently navigating and we're trying to do it to the best of our ability. Recognize that sometimes going through your insurance is not going to best bet if you are a person like we've just heard sometimes pretending like you don't have insurance and asking for the self pay rate or asking for the discount rate is going to be better and I am so sorry that that is accurate. Give it a try though. Wish it weren't so Also on prescriptions Goodrx many of us know about this but that also utilizing Goodrx has saved me a ton of money as well.

[Jen]

Same it'll tell you because different the same medication will be different prices at you know Walmart, cvs, Walgreens, etc and so it'll often tell you where the least expensive store is and you can choose to go there even maybe if it's a little further. So Goodrx is a really good asset to have.

[Jill]

Well thank you so much for sharing this bill again we're super glad for your money savings. If you all have a bill that you want to share. If it has to do with saving money, if it has to do with not minding to spend money because you've really figured out what you feel good about spending on, or if your name is Bill and you want to give us a call. We've not heard from you yet, Bill. And we'd really.

[Jen]

We're waiting for you, Bill.

[Jill]

Hear from you. Frugalfriendspodcast.com Bill. We can't wait for it. And now it's time for the lightning round.

[Jen]

All right, which one of these hit hardest for you?

[Jill]

There was one. I'm gonna go with buying in bulk. Not because it's a super huge problem, just because I do have examples of this.

[Jen]

Honestly, I wrote it for you.

[Jill]

No way.

[Jen]

You're not the worst culprit of this, though. Like, you do not have a crazy pantry any. But, like, you have told me about buying stuff at Costco you've never tried before. And I'm like, why would you buy 20 of them? I don't know.

[Jill]

And I am learning. I am learning. My most recent Costco trip, I did not buy anything that I had not previously tried and know that I like and will eat. That is my new rule. Because one time I. I bought, for some reason, the. The biggest bag of dried flavored mushrooms, thinking, what a cool snack. I'm going to be the person who snacks on dried mushrooms. That.

[Jen]

Be that. I want to be that person cool

[Jill]

for me and anyone who watches me. And you know what? I did like them. They were great. And I put them on salads, and there were times that I would snack on them, but it was so much mushroom. It was so many mushroom, and I couldn't. I got to the point where the flavor and the texture just started to shift for me, and I couldn't get through it. I tried my best. There was maybe about this much mushroom left, and I finally said to myself, you know what? We're going to throw it away. We're going to let ourselves throw it away. As much as it hurts me to waste food, we've also gotten protein bars that we had never tried before. We did. We did make it all the way through, but it did feel like, oh, I shouldn't have done this, because this is painful. Now I am suffering because of my decisions.

[Jen]

Yeah, it's. It's sucky.

[Jill]

It's real. Yeah. Okay, how about for you?

[Jen]

I'm gonna be honest.

[Jill]

It's what we want.

[Jen]

Calling, making the call.

[Jill]

Shut up. I am beating you now. Stinging my hand a little bit.

[Jen]

Stop it. I got on my knees.

[Jill]

This is. Yeah, it hurts me, too. So here's the thing. This is your shtick.

[Jen]

I know.

[Jill]

Your shtick is yell at everybody to make the call. You know, when I yell into the

[Jen]

camera, I can see my reflection in the camera. You know, that I'm talking to me.

[Jill]

This is wild. This is wild behavior.

[Jen]

This is my mo. It's when I say something sternly to you and I look into your eyes, I'm looking back into mine.

[Jill]

Wow. Wow, wow, wow.

[Jen]

That's why I say it so passionately. And you can know one thing and still hate doing it and avoid. You can know it and not do it. You know, like, doctors are the worst patients. So I say it to. To normalize it for everyone. Is that, yes, we hate. We hate it, but we got to do it.

[Jill]

Wow.

[Jen]

We got to.

[Jill]

Okay. I. You know, I appreciate the vulnerability that led to violence.

[Jen]

Good job. There was no violence.

[Jill]

I was violent with you.

[Jen]

Oh, okay. Yeah. It hurt you more than it hurt me because you were just on my nose, like, on my kneecap.

[Jill]

So tell me, what is the call you are currently avoiding?

[Jen]

Okay, so I. Well, this ended up. Okay. One of them ended up in my favor because I was avoiding my auto insurance, but then it just got naturally dropped from that thing. So I have until August to make that call. And then a medical bill. It's just, like, $500. They call me, and I just. It's not a big bill, and I'm just avoiding it. Yeah. Because I know I'm going to negotiate it, and I just don't want to do it.

[Jill]

So your version of avoiding the call

[Jen]

is avoiding them calling you both, avoiding calling them back, and then just avoiding them every time they call me.

[Jill]

And this was illuminating.

[Jen]

I don't want to feel like I'm lying to you guys about who I

[Jill]

am, but it did feel like it's been concealed until this moment.

[Jen]

Yeah. And so this is important for everyone to know. I want us, like, all to. To do the hard things together. But I did call and cancel a couple credit cards because I didn't want to pay the annual fee. So I do it. I don't like doing it. Credit cards are easier because you typically don't have to talk to a person to do that.

[Jill]

Thanks, everyone, for being here. Thanks for bearing with us as we yell at you, but it's really yelling at ourselves. Let us know which one hit the hardest for you. Also, thank you for reading our book. And for those of you who read it and left a review we appreciate you like this one from Lisa. Five stars. Buy what you love without going broke isn't just about budgeting. It's about transforming your spending into values based on spending. The authors encourage readers to spend all of their resources well money, time, physical space and energy. Instead of focusing on restriction or shame, they guide you toward intentional, values aligned choices. What I love most is the shift from guilt to curiosity. Rather than asking, why am I so bad with money? This book helps you ask, what is the purchase trying to give me? That mindset feels so much more freeing and empowering. There are so many practical tips throughout, but unlike other financial systems I've tried, this one feels sustainable. It's less about rigid rules and more about aligning your spending with what truly matters to you.

[Jen]

Yay. Oh thank you so much. If you're still here with us, would you subscribe to the YouTube channel? Or you're over on Spotify or Apple? Would you just come over here, hit that subscribe button and head on back? It truly helps us get this message out to more people. And if you are a subscriber, if you haven't picked up the book yet, buywhatyoulovebook.com there's even instructions on that page on how to request it from your library. We would just love for you to get your hands on it, or your eyes if or your ears, depending on the format.

[Jill]

But get it all over you.

[Jen]

We'll see you next time.

[Jill]

Bye.

[Jen]

Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.

[Jill]

I remembered that I have another bulk buy that's been staring me down.

[Jen]

Oh, what is it?

[Jill]

Shampoo.

[Jen]

Oh really?

[Jill]

Yeah. So there was a time when Eric's been on a shampoo journey because he had just I don't know if this

[Jen]

shampoo journey too much for everyone, but

[Jill]

these are our real friends who are still here with us. He was struggling with a flaky scalp and was was trying and had used Head and shoulders. And his barber eventually told him like actually head and shoulders is not going to fix this. It's going to perpetuate the problem. Here's another kind of clean but inexpensive shampoo that you can try. And he loved it. And so we had constantly been utilizing the shampoo for at least a year, I want to say possibly two years. So eventually this shampoo was on sale, the pump version, the big pump version. And it must have come in a three pack. So I did it on sale for the three pack and all of those three are still sitting in my closet because between that point and running out of the last shampoo bottle he has just switch to a different shampoo.

[Jen]

Did you tell him he was not allowed to do that?

[Jill]

No, because he was having issues again. And then asked another barber, what should I use? So I'm just not. I'm not getting rid of them. They're. They're there and I can't return them. But it is staring me down. And it's not a shampoo that I want to use because I've zeroed in my shampoo. Maybe. Maybe my guests will use it. I don't know.

[Jen]

But that's.

[Jill]

That's the one thing I'm hoarding right now, is three big bottles of shampoo.

[Jen]

Well, tell him he needs to go back to old shampoo. Go back and forth, vary his shampoo usage. Shampoo, shampoo. I'm so sorry about that. Yeah.

[Jill]

Crazy.

[Jen]

That's not your fault.

[Jill]

Yeah. Moral of the story is, even if you've tried and tested things and you're pretty certain you're going to use it sometimes, sometimes it backfires. We can't always be perfect.

[Jen]

Yeah. Remember that.