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Subaru Representative
The holiday season is back, which means it's a time for giving. Subaru and its retailers believe in giving back to those who need it most. For the past 17 years, Subaru has made the act of buying a Subaru during the holiday season an act of love. When you purchase or lease a new Subaru during the Subaru Share the Love event, Subaru and its retailers donate a minimum of $300 to charity. By the end of this year's event, Subaru and its retailers will have donated nearly $320 million to national and hometown charities. To learn more, go to subaru.com share Subaru more than a car company 1.
Purina Representative
In 3 women and 1 in 4 men experience domestic abuse in their lifetime and nearly half of survivors delay leaving because they can't bring their pets with them. Purina started the Purple Leash Project to help eliminate one of the many barriers domestic abuse survivors face a lack of pet friendly domestic violence shelters. Through the Purple Leash Project, Purina is helping to create more pet friendly domestic violence shelters across the country so so abuse survivors and their pets can escape and heal together. Visit purina.compurple to get involved.
Radhi Devlukia
This is Radhi Devlukia from a really good Cry when you take a shower, where does your shower take you? If you're like me, your shower is your escape from everything. The Kola Anthem plus Smart Showering system lets you create a personalized refuge by fine tuning water, steam, light and sound all from a single control. You can customize music and lighting, even pre programmed steam therapies. With Anthem plus, you're not just imagining your sanctuary, you are creating it and you can save up to nine of your customized favorites. Personalize your escape with Anthem plus Smart Showering only from COLA small business owners.
Chase Representative
This one's for you. Chase for Business and Iheart bring you a podcast series called the Unshakeables. This one of a kind series will shine the spotlight on small business owners like you who faced a do or die moment that ultimately made their business what it is today. Learn more@chase.com business podcast Chase make More of what's Yours Chase Mobile app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA Member FDIC Copyright 2024 JP, JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Field App Representative
The dating app fatigue is real. Mindless swiping, meaningless DMS and an overwhelming amount of likes have made us feel more disconnected than ever. While most dating apps are all about pursuing someone else, there's one that's carved out of space for you to find yourself Download Field F E E L.
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In fact, 62% of field members evolve their sexuality, interests and desires within their first year on the app.
You have the freedom to explore who you are and what you like in ways you haven't imagined.
As part of this community, you'll quickly find that people regularly practice honesty and openness. See any Field Bio Download Field F E E L D on the App.
Store or Google Play PK Budget Better.
Jen
Bonus Series Step one Look to the Past.
Jill
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 to the Frugal Friends Podcast. My name is Jen. My name is Jill and we wanted to give you a little podcast post holiday gift or mid holiday gift or mid holiday gift wherever you're at. And we wanted to help you budget better in 2025 with a three part bonus series we're calling Budget Better. And today's first step is looking to the past.
Jill
We are also going with a little bit of a Christmas theme. Past, present, future. So this is like what you can expect from us.
Jen
I actually didn't think about that.
Jill
Oh ye. The Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and future.
Jen
It all makes sense.
Jill
So today we're looking to the past. We're just doing a quick 20 minute episode. Then we're gonna release part two which will be step two which is the present changes you can make now. And then we're gonna do step three, Plan for the Future. So this is all happening kind of right in a row. So if you love getting content from us, keep tuning in.
Jen
Yes. Okay. So as the Ghost of Christmas Past, I'd like to take you on a journey to your past. But not to make you feel guilty or like a bad person. We are, I'm feeling like more like a Muppet. Like now I'm feeling like, like a Kermit. I want to help you. I want to encourage you and help you feel neutral about your spending. So before we get into the past, let's just set a foundation of neutrality. We are looking and we're not judging. That's really what we are doing. So let's start there and then we are going to do a walkthrough of the last 90 days of our transactions. And yes, I understand it's the end of December. You might want to go, hey, all of my spending was really wonky over the holidays. I'm just going to go back to like August, September, October, much more normal. And no, we really want you to go through the last 90 days. And here's why. It's because this is a more accurate depiction of your current habits now. And so we'll talk about that tomorrow. But we're looking at the most recent past, so no skeletons in your closet. Because when we go back to the past past, the way back, that doesn't help us get to the now or the future. It just makes us feel sad.
Jill
Yeah, if you are a listener of the Frugal Friends podcast, you know we've talked about a 90 day transaction inventory. It's also one of the things that we go in depth on in the book Buy what yout Love Without Going Broke. And if you are a visual person, you can get a walkthrough video of the 90 day transaction inventory with the resources page. So everyone who gets the book just gets access to that. We mention it throughout the book, so make sure you do that. So you can also have a visual element and component added to this. This is one of the first steps that we recommend before even considering creating a budget. Because we have to know what are our current spending habits, how do we engage with money? Where are impulse spending transactions happening? To even know the shifts that we we need to make and what we want to be doing with our money, how we want to be allocating it? So what we're going to do is collect the last 90 days of transactions. This is going to include going back to your credit card statements, your bank statements, and getting it all into one spreadsheet and sorting it that way. But we also want to include every single transaction. So we're not excluding what we're paying for rent, what we're paying for our mortgage, some of our more fixed expenses. We want to be able to look at the whole picture of all of our spending over the last 90 days. So get that into a spreadsheet to be able to then visualize this. The cool thing about a spreadsheet as well is we can then order it however we want. We can order it by date, we can order it by location, we can order it by spending amounts so that there's a variety of ways that we can kind of observe ourselves. Another kind of piece that we want to add to this. You've heard us describe this before. But the questions that we're going to then eventually ask ourselves about these transactions, we want to avoid the why question. So Once we have this whole 90 days of transactions compiled, and whether you're going to work in a spreadsheet digitally or you print them out, you can do that too. If you do print it out, I would just recommend having it in order, in date order, and you can kind of look at the various components that way as well. But then what we want to be doing is having a almost journal prompt in the column to the right of each transaction where we're able to ask ourselves questions like what came just before this purchase? How did I feel about this purchase? Did it achieve or get me what I wanted this spending to get me? Of course we're not going to remember that with every single transaction. But as much as we can looking back to it, this can also help us to understand some of the habits we can look at. What is the cue that might have led to this spending? Is there location, proximity, time of day, people that I'm around and asking ourselves what led to this spending? Not why did I spend so much here? That's going to be one of those ways that we can approach this 90 day transaction inventory with neutrality is by not asking ourselves inflammatory questions.
Jen
Yeah. So if you don't want to do a spreadsheet, if that feels a little overwhelming, you can also use your budgeting app. And so this is going to work best if you're using an app that you pay for that has transactions automatically uploaded. I know with the Fall of Mint, there's not a lot of if any, free budgeting apps that can do that for you, but if you do pay for one like Ynab or Monarch, which is our favorite one right now, then this, you can do this really easily. You can sort it by category, by place, by date, and it brings. It's very versatile so you can look at these patterns more easily. But otherwise a Google spreadsheet will do just fine.
Jill
And you can, if that sounds interesting to you. Frugalfriendspodcast.com monarch I think that they're running a sale.
Jen
Yes. If you use frugalfriendspodcast.com monarch, you get 30% off of your first year. So that's really great.
Subaru Representative
This episode of the Happiness Lab on the Joy of Giving is brought to you by the 2024 Subaru share the Love event. As I've often said on this show, we should help people whenever we can. But we often make the biggest difference when someone is struggling. Just like when the Make a Wish foundation grants wishes to critically ill children.
Leslie Mater
They tell me they didn't want to continue to go through the pain they were going through. They didn't see an end in sight.
Subaru Representative
This is Leslie Mater. She's the President and CEO of Make a Wish America.
Leslie Mater
And then Make a Wish came alongside them and allowed them to have this joy, this hope, something to look forward to. You're a child. Dream big. We're going to make it come true.
Subaru Representative
And with the support of Subaru, the dreams of critically ill children have come true. Whether that's to be a firefighter for a day, go skiing or meet their.
Leslie Mater
Sporting hero, Subaru has been an amazing partner since 2011. They have enabled amazing wishes from very simple to very elaborate. Every wish is unique as the child itself, which is what makes it incredibly special.
Subaru Representative
For 17 years, Subaru has made buying a car during the holiday season and and act of love with the Subaru Share the Love Event. From now until January 2nd, when you get a new Subaru, Subaru and its retailers will donate a minimum of $300 to charity, including Make a Wish.
Leslie Mater
We've granted over 16,200 wishes this last year, which is a record for us. However, we have a lot of children that are out there waiting for wishes. A lot of children that deserve the life changing power of a wish. So partners like Subaru and individual customers allow those wishes to come true.
Subaru Representative
The 2024 Subaru Share the Love event runs through January 2nd. To learn more go to subaru.com/subaru More than a car company.
Radhi Devlukia
This is Radhi Devlukia from a really good Cry when you take a shower, where does your shower take you? If you're like me, your shower is your escape from from pretty much everything. The Kola Anthem plus Smart Showering system lets you make that refuge exactly what you need it to be. It lets you fine tune water, steam, light and sound all from a single control. You can dial in your temperature settings to the degree so it's just how you like it. And you can stream music from your own playlist and program the lighting to create the right mood. And with pre programmed steam therapies with infused aromatherapy oil, it's really getting into spa territory. With Anthem plus, you're not just imagining your sanctuary, you are creating it. And you can save up to nine of your customized favorites. The system even pairs with Cola Connect app so you can start your shower remotely before you're even in the bathroom. Honestly, I'm relaxed just thinking about it. Personalize your escape with Anthem plus Smart.
Chase Representative
Showering only from Cola small business owners. This one's for you. Chase for business and iheart bring you a podcast series called the Unshakables. This one of a kind series will shine the spotlight on small business owners like you who faced a do or die moment that ultimately made their business what it is today. Learn more@chase.com business podcast Chase Make More of what's Yours Chase Mobile app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply JPMorgan Chase Bank NA member FDIC Copyright 2024.
Jill
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Just a few.
Purina Representative
Years ago, only 3% of domestic violence shelters accepted pets, meaning many abuse survivors had to choose between staying in a difficult situation for their pet or leaving their pet behind. One in three women and one in four men experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, and nearly half of survivors delay leaving because they can't bring their pets with them. Purina believes in the healing power of pets, particularly for survivors of abuse. They believe pets and people are better together, which is one of the many reasons they started the Purple Leash Project. Through the Purple Leash Project, Purina is helping break down one of the many barriers abuse survivors face the lack of pet friendly domestic violence shelters. Purina has helped increase the amount of pet friendly shelters across the country from 3% to nearly 20% through the purple Leash Project. With more pet friendly domestic violence shelters, survivors and their pets can escape and heal together. Visit purina.compurple to get involved.
Jen
You know when you discover a new binge worthy show or hilarious reel that you have to send to your friends so they can enjoy it with you? That's kind of what it feels like when you discover that Mint Mobile offers Premium Wireless for $15 a month when you purchase a three month plan. It's such an awesome deal, there's no way you can keep it to yourself.
Jill
Friends don't let friends overpay for wireless. So say bye bye to your overpriced wireless plan and switch to Mint Mobile. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. Plus you can use your own phone and bring your same number over to.
Jen
Get this new customer offer and your new three month premium wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month. Go to mintmobile.com froogle that's mintmobile.com frugal cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com frugal $45 upfront.
Jill
Payment required equivalent to $15 a month new customers on first three month plan only speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. So when we do this 90 day transaction inventory and we've got it all gathered in our way, that feels best to us. Again, whether that's paper or digitally or through an app. And we're starting to see where our spending is happening, Noticing any patterns that might be coming to the surface because of these non judgmental why questions that we're asking ourselves. A couple of things that we can expect to see is patterns, patterns of spending, patterns of behavior. We will probably start to see maybe what type of impulse spender we are, what whether we are primarily making unplanned purchases out of habit. If we're making unplanned purchases because of social influence, we're making unplanned purchases because we like to shop as an activity or as the result of stress or other ranges of emotion. Maybe it's the thrill of the hunt. We are impulse spending on any deals or price reduction stickers that we may see. These are the types of things that are going to be informative for us when we do get to that point of making a spending plan. Because the ways in which we shift our behaviors need to be congruent with the behaviors that need to be shifted. And so that's something that the 90 day transaction inventory can bring to the surface is how am I even engaging in this? In what way am I spending? Maybe unnecessarily? Or in what ways do I want to be shifting? Do I not even remember some of these purchases that I made? And therefore I can say that wasn't actually that important. So I might be able to eliminate those things. So we can start to get an idea of the purchases we felt really good about, the ones we forgot, kind of the easy nos, and start to kind of parse this out of what do I want to keep for the future? What feels good to me and congruent with my needs and my values. And what of this? Can I start to put on my. My easy no list? This is gonna be an easy thing to throw out or at least for a time, say no to.
Jen
Yeah, that no list is so important to make. And we'll go into that a little bit more in the next. In tomorrow's episode. But we need to have a no list and a yes list. We need to have both lists and they don't need to be long, especially when you're first starting out. But we need to start drawing some lines in the sand of these are the things I will not buy anymore because I don't want to buy them. And these are the Things I will buy without guilt because I love to buy them regardless of what other people think or what other people want me to spend on. These are my three to four things on each list that I'm going to either buy or not buy.
Jill
And that's talking about some of this discretionary spending. But as we mentioned, all of your more so fixed expenses are also on this 90 day transaction inventory. So this is a good time to even be able to question some of those expenses. We're not saying you're going to be moving in the next month or now you automatically have to sell your car. But it is worth being able to look at these larger expenses, the things that take up the majority of our budget. And are there questions and considerations that we can be asking ourselves when it comes to housing? If you are thinking about moving soon, certainly this is a good opportunity to look at what am I currently spending on housing? What would my goal be for the next place that I live? How much of my income could I allocate here? It could also be as simple as are there ways of reducing my insurance costs on my house or rental costs at the place that I'm living? Are there things that I can do when it comes to transportation to be able to reduce those costs? Am I planning on buying a car soon? Should I be considering what type of vehicle and what's going to be kind of within range for the money that I have and the goals that I have with my money? And again, as simple as, are there ways to reduce insurance costs and kind of my monthly overall expenses if I'm not planning on making a big purchase, massive money decision when it comes to these things. And of course food is a massive area of spending for a lot of us. What am I noticing specifically as it relates to my food purchases, my food habits? How might that inform the way that I want to engage with this aspect of my lifestyle? So some of these fixed expenses can still be questioned at this stage.
Jen
It's important to look at the the past because and especially not to separate housing from transportation. They are intertwined. I know so much of the advice that we hear is you're looking at your housing and you're saying, oh, can I move maybe a little further away to save on housing? And they don't take into consideration transportation, where if you're breaking down the costs and looking on what you've spent in the past, you can maybe see maybe it is more. I save more money by moving closer to my job and having higher rent because then we can go down to one car and I save an entire car payment. So when we look at the numbers from the past, instead of just blindly, like following financial advice from people who don't know us, then we can make informed, mathematically accurate decisions for our situation. And it's the same with food. If we're looking at our past food spending and we are looking at these triggers that come around food. So I'll just. We use the cues from atomic habits. So time of day, location, preceding event or preceding location, other people that you're with. So these are really good ones to use for food because food tends to be a habit purchase more than anything. So looking at each of your food purchases and trying to connect them back to one of these habit cues or triggers can help you choose which one that you might want to focus on when we go into our next phase tomorrow.
Jill
Well, this leads us to one of my favorite parts of typical episode.
Jen
We can't even in a bonus round, you can't get rid of it. The lightning round.
Jill
Sorry friends, we don't have the bill of the week in our bonus episodes.
Jen
I know those are special.
Jill
We might have been letting you down just now, but you did get the sound effects.
Jen
All right, so what is something. So we Recommend Doing a 90 day transaction inventory once a year. No matter how long you've been budgeting, no matter where you're at, there are some things that you can do less often after you've been doing them for a while. But always want to do a 90 day transaction inventory at least once a year. When you're starting out, you may do it three or four times a year. It's really beneficial to take that inventory more frequently when you are first learning this stuff. So in our last 90 day transaction inventory, we're going to share with you what's something that you noticed and I will go first. So for me, I don't budget monthly anymore. And so I keep an eye. I do use Monarch. It's not just something that I promote and I love that the option to have a widget on my phone with my most recent transactions there. So I keep tabs on the transactions. I make sure the transactions are all ones that I have made or Travis has made. That's a big reason to be continuously checking in with your spending to make sure nobody has taken your credit card information and is buying things without your knowledge. But so yeah, I do that and I look at the cash flow when we're doing our transaction inventory. And something that surprised me was the amount of excess we had each Month when it felt like we were just like. I knew we were breaking even. But to see month over month, the amount of cash flow, extra cash flow that we had was encouraging and.
Jill
Oh, nice. Like you were living kind of below your means without really putting that much intention into it. Just, it's naturalized and I knew we were doing it.
Jen
It's one of those things. Like, I knew we were doing it, but you still, like, without checking in, you can't be sure. And so that's why we also tell people when you do something like this, the anticipation is always worse than the actual end result. You always think it's gonna be worse than it actually is.
Jill
I think, yeah. In part because even if there's big shifts that need to be changed, just pulling the veil back and looking can help to remove some of that shame, that fear. Being able to look at something and know the realities of it can automatically dissipate. Some of those. The mystery of it.
Jen
Yeah. And I was happy with what all of our spending was. That's the year.
Jill
Do you have a preferred way of arranging the transaction inventory? Like, I like to do it by date, but do you have a preference?
Jen
I also like to do it by date, in groups of months. Monarch makes it very easy to do that, to see it month by month or to see all the transactions together. But there were some times where I forgot or maybe it was like mismarked. It was at the very end of the month, so it was put into the next month when it should have been in the last month. So it was then easy to click on that transaction and see all those transactions back to back.
Jill
Yeah.
Jen
So that is. I mean, that's something easy you can do in the Google sheet too, when you just sort by alphabetical and you can see all of one transaction type in a row.
Jill
Yeah. Yeah. For me, I noticed that we spend the majority of our money on the weekends. We don't really leave the house very often during the week. We work from home. I've gotten really good at eating at home and meal planning and cooking throughout the week. But then I think because of that, just because we're human and we need to get out and we need some sort of difference and stimulation and spontaneity. That will then be when we kind of make all of our purchases. And some of them are necessary, like we're running our errands. It's when we're getting our groceries. But it kind of then spikes on the weekends and then dips during the week. And so in some ways it helped to inform. Are there ways that I can rearrange what I do on the weekends? Is some of this just to get me activity? Is some of this shopping as an activity? What if this is actually getting me the things that I need and want? Where can I make shifts? So it has led to just a greater awareness of free activities both on the weekend and throughout the week. Knowing I do need to get out, but I don't necessarily want that to lead to increased spending and how can I kind of spread this out a little more so it doesn't feel like whiplash for me throughout the week? So yeah, interesting observations there.
Jen
Well, thank you so much for joining us in Step one of the Budget Better bonus series. Tomorrow we will be back with step two, which is what do we do with changes now as a result of what we've learned from our past transactions?
Jill
See you then.
Jen
Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
Subaru Representative
The holiday season is back, which means it's a time for giving. Subaru and its retailers believe in giving back to those who need it most. For the past 17 years, Subaru has made the act of buying a Subaru during the holiday season an act of love. When you purchase or lease a new Subaru during the Subaru Share the Love event, Subaru and its retailers donate a minimum of $300 to charity. By the end of this year's event, Subaru and its retailers will have donated nearly $320 million to national and hometown charities. To learn more, go to subaru.com share Subaru more than a car company 1.
Purina Representative
In 3 women and 1 in 4 men experience domestic abuse in their lifetime and nearly half of survivors delay leaving because they can't bring their pets with them. Purina started the Purple Leash Project to help eliminate one of the many barriers domestic abuse survivors face, a lack of pet friendly domestic violence shelters. Through the Purple Leash Project, Purina is helping to create more pet friendly domestic violence shelters across the country so abuse survivors and their pets can escape and heal together. Visit purina.compurple to get involved.
Radhi Devlukia
This is Radhi Devlukia from a really good Cry when you take a shower, where does your shower take you? If you're like me, your shower is your escape from everything. The Kola Anthem plus Smart Showering system lets you create a personalized refuge by fine tuning water, steam, light and sound all from a single control. You can customize music and lighting, even pre programmed steam therapies. With Anthem plus, you're not just imagining your sanctuary, you are creating it and you can save up to nine of your customized favorites. Personalize your escape with Anthem plus smart showering only from Cola the dating app.
Field App Representative
Fatigue is real mindless swiping, meaningless DMs and an overwhelming amount of likes have made us feel more disconnected than ever. While most dating apps are all about pursuing someone else, there's one that's carved out of space for you to find yourself. Download Field F E E L D.
On Field, an app where curious people come to connect. You have the breathing room to explore your own desires and go on a journey wherein the person you discover is yourself.
In fact, 62% of field members evolve their sexuality, interests, and desires within their first year on the app.
You have the freedom to explore who you are and what you like in ways you haven't imagined.
As part of this community, you'll quickly find that people regularly practice honesty and openness. See any Field Bio? Download Field F E E L D.
On the App Store or Google Play.
Jill
PK Every day our world gets a little more connected, but a little further apart.
Jen
But then there are moments that remind us to be more human.
Jill
Thank you for calling Amica Insurance.
Subaru Representative
Hey, I was just in an accident.
Jill
Don't worry, we'll get you you taken care of. At Amica, we understand that looking out.
Jen
For each other isn't new or groundbreaking.
Jill
It's human.
Jen
Amica empathy is our best policy.
Frugal Friends Podcast: Budget Better Bonus Series | Step 1: Look To The Past
Release Date: December 28, 2024
In this special Budget Better Bonus Series premiere, hosts Jen Smith and Jill Sirianni of the Frugal Friends Podcast embark on a transformative journey to help listeners gain better control over their finances. This three-part series is specifically designed to aid those aiming to save money, spend wisely, embrace minimalism, pay off debt, or pursue financial independence. The series kicks off with Step 1: Look To The Past, setting the foundation for effective budgeting by examining past financial behaviors.
Jen and Jill introduce the concept of a 90-day transaction inventory as the critical first step in budgeting. This method involves meticulously reviewing all financial transactions from the past three months to understand current spending habits comprehensively.
Jen emphasizes the importance of neutrality in this process:
"Before we get into the past, let's just set a foundation of neutrality. We are looking and we're not judging." [04:39]
The hosts outline the steps to gather financial data:
Jill highlights the versatility of using spreadsheets:
"We can order it by date, we can order it by location, we can order it by spending amounts so that there's a variety of ways that we can kind of observe ourselves." [06:20]
For those who prefer digital tools, Jen recommends budgeting apps like ynab or Monarch, which allow automatic transaction uploads and easy categorization:
"If you use frugalfriendspodcast.com/monarch, you get 30% off of your first year. So that's really great." [10:37]
With all transactions organized, the next step is to analyze spending patterns. Jen and Jill encourage listeners to ask themselves non-judgmental questions to uncover the motivations behind their spending:
Jen advises against asking "why did I spend so much here?" to maintain a neutral perspective:
"We want to avoid the why question. So... how did I feel about this purchase? Did it achieve or get me what I wanted this spending to get me?" [09:48]
A practical outcome of the transaction inventory is the development of 'Yes' and 'No' lists:
Jen underscores the importance of these lists:
"We need to have a no list and a yes list. They don't need to be long, especially when you're first starting out." [18:17]
While discretionary spending often garners attention, Jill reminds listeners to scrutinize fixed expenses such as housing, transportation, and food. Understanding these major cost centers can reveal opportunities for significant savings:
Jill shares her personal insight:
"We spend the majority of our money on the weekends... It has led to just a greater awareness of free activities both on the weekend and throughout the week." [28:17]
Jen and Jill share their own experiences with the 90-day transaction inventory, offering relatable insights and encouragement:
Jen's Takeaway: Discovered excess cash flow by continuously monitoring transactions, even without formal budgeting.
"I was happy with what all of our spending was. That's the year." [24:27]
Jill's Observation: Noted high spending on weekends due to social activities and sought ways to balance spending throughout the week.
"Knowing I do need to get out, but I don't necessarily want that to lead to increased spending." [28:17]
Their stories illustrate the transformative power of self-awareness in financial management, inspiring listeners to undertake their own transaction inventories with confidence.
Jen and Jill conclude Step 1: Look To The Past by reinforcing the value of understanding past spending behaviors as a foundation for future financial planning. They tease Step 2: Present Changes You Can Make Now, promising practical strategies to adjust current spending habits based on insights gained from the transaction inventory.
Jen wraps up with encouragement:
"Thank you so much for joining us in Step one of the Budget Better bonus series. Tomorrow we will be back with step two, which is what do we do with changes now as a result of what we've learned from our past transactions?" [28:17]
Listeners are encouraged to stay tuned for the next installment, which will delve into actionable changes to implement in their budgeting efforts.
By following Step 1: Look To The Past, listeners lay a solid groundwork for creating effective budgets and achieving their financial goals. Join Jen and Jill in the next episode as they explore immediate changes to enhance your budgeting strategy.
Produced by Eric Sirianni.