Do THIS Payday Routine Every Time You Get Paid | Paycheck Routine Habits

Summary

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Frugal Friends Podcast: Do THIS Payday Routine Every Time You Get Paid | Paycheck Routine Habits

Hosts: Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni
Date: October 14, 2025

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Episode Overview

Jen and Jill address the all-too-common dilemma of paychecks vanishing too quickly, leaving little progress toward savings, debt payoff, or other financial goals. This episode introduces their streamlined four-step payday routine—a sustainable, five-minute system designed to make your money work for you every time you get paid. The hosts blend actionable advice with their signature humor, sharing real-life routines and tips for making budgeting effortless and, yes, even a little fun.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Realities of Payday Euphoria (01:40–01:59)

• Most people feel a burst of excitement on payday, only to watch their money disappear faster than expected.
• The episode is “exactly what you need” if you can’t figure out why your money isn’t sticking around.

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Ground Rules and Pre-Routine Assumptions (03:33–06:56)

1. Simplicity is Key

• The system should take just five minutes per payday (03:33–04:13).
• Works whether you’re paid weekly, biweekly, or monthly.

2. Automate Everything

• Bills, savings, direct deposits, debt payments—set them all on autopilot.
• Jen:

  “When you don't automate, you're setting yourself up for saving what's left over. …We want to do the good stuff first, so that we don't feel guilty about all the other stuff.” (04:19)

3. Know Where Your Money’s Going

• If you haven’t recently, complete a 90-day transaction inventory for a clear picture of your spending habits (05:20).
• Jill:

  “Identify where are we spending money, what are impulse purchases, what are the emotional spending that's happening.” (05:20)

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The Four-Step Payday Routine

Step 1: Ensure Bills are Covered (07:48–09:53)

• Double-check that your account has enough for all automatic bill payments and upcoming expenses.

• Dip into the emergency fund/sinking funds only if absolutely necessary.

• Example:
  Jen describes a tight month due to unexpected home repairs and needing to verify funds before reimbursement (08:24).

• Pro Tip: Use your 90-day inventory to spot spend-tightening opportunities if you find yourself short.

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Step 2: Reallocate Savings and Debt Payments (09:53–14:48)

• Adjust automatic savings or debt payments as needed:

  • Sinking funds might need shifting (e.g., travel vs. new computer).
  • Use “buckets”/“pockets” in savings accounts or spreadsheets to add flexibility.

• Jill’s approach:

  “This is my favorite part of my budget or my payday review—seeing where I can allocate those different funds once I know that I've got my bills covered.” (11:51)

• Jen emphasizes:

  “What's not in this step is reallocating your portfolio or rebalancing your portfolio. That should only be done once a year.” (13:31)

• Gamify your allocations to make it fun and habitual.

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Step 3: Review Transactions and Adjust Your Spending Plan (16:48–22:50)

• Look back on the last pay period: Check for over/under-spending and realign as necessary.

• Keep it neutral:
  Jen:

  “We are looking at this neutrally. …We are only spending five minutes to check in with things. …We don't have time for feelings during this routine.” (18:33)

• Jill offers a balanced view:

  “If we are seeing there was a purchase that stirs…regret, and if that might be a pattern, then we do want to give ourselves some time to reflect.” (20:05)

• Why not track every transaction? Jen:

  “You don’t have to. If you’re looking at your past transactions every payday, you’re still keeping on top of things.” (21:48)

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Step 4: Plan Free or Low-cost Entertainment Until Next Payday (22:54–27:11)

• Unique to Frugal Friends! Use this moment to plan free or budget-friendly entertainment, which avoids boredom spending.

• Jill:

  “Let's make sure that we give our fun selves some fun things to do. …Making this a part of your payday routine can also make it really exciting.” (23:54)

• Jen links social connection to spending less on impulsive habits:

  “You're probably spending less…than you would be [with] the cumulative of impulse purchases made by, you know, watching TV that has ads or scrolling social media.” (24:19)

• Keep it simple:
  Jill advises finding one or two free events, or even just scheduling a call with a friend.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the importance of automation:
  Jen (04:19):

  “We want to do the good stuff first so that we don't feel guilty about all the other stuff that is technically neutral or even good.”

• On handling transactional regret:
  Jill (20:05):

  “We're not saying ignore those feelings, but we're also not saying go so far that this is a constant shaming process…”

• Making entertainment intentional:
  Jen (24:19):

  “When you're out…with your friends, you're scrolling a lot less, and…you're investing in relationships, which we think are the ultimate best investments, even better than the stock market.”

• On different budgeting styles:
  Jill (39:22):

  “I like the pen and paper. Find your radical middle spreadsheet. Yes, it is sustainable for me.”

• Jen’s chaos-method badge of honor:
  Jen (42:28):

  “Is it not a good descriptor for my life?”
  Jill:
  “I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit. ... In your chaos, you’re not overspending. You’re not going to debt.”

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Real-Life Payday Routines (32:17–43:09)

• Jen:

  • Paid monthly; uses Monarch app daily to spot transactions, bills, investments, etc.
  • Enjoys planning entertainment, leverages Facebook events, and sometimes checks account balances as her “minimum threshold” system.

• Jill:

  • Paid monthly; spouse is paid bi-weekly, so she’s used to regular check-ins.
  • Enjoys more traditional, pen-to-paper or spreadsheet budgeting sessions that last about 20–25 minutes, balancing rigor with enjoyment.

• Both emphasize it’s not about perfection—systems should serve your real life.

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Pro Tips and Peripheral Benefits

• This routine doubles as fraud prevention—catching duplicate or suspicious charges.
• Use the 90-day inventory annually or after big life changes for a deeper reset.

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Timestamps for Key Topics

• 01:40 – Episode theme and why paydays feel disappointing
• 03:33 – Assumptions/setting up for success
• 07:48 – Four-step payday routine begins
• 14:48 – Why this part is fun; avoid over-tweaking investments
• 16:48 – Transaction review and emotional neutrality
• 22:54 – Free/cheap entertainment planning
• 32:17 – Real routines from Jen and Jill
• 42:28 – Customizing for your life; embracing chaos or rigor

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Tone & Community Vibe

• Encouraging, friendly, and relatable—no shame, just practical help.
• Invites listeners to comment with their own routines and approaches (44:01).

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Summary Table — The Frugal Friends 5-Minute Payday Routine

| Step | Action | Purpose | |------|--------|---------| | 1 | Ensure upcoming bills are covered | Prevent overdrafts and reliance on the emergency fund| | 2 | Reallocate savings/debt as needed | Keep your goals synced with real life | | 3 | Review transactions neutrally | Course-correct without shame or over-analysis | | 4 | Plan free/low-cost fun | Prevent boredom spending, build true wealth (relationships) |

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For the Skeptics & Overthinkers

• You don’t need to budget daily. Just do a quick, routine check-in every payday!
• Customization is key:
  You can spend five minutes or 25, use spreadsheets or apps, be detailed or “chaotic”—just build the habit.

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Call to Action

• Share your own payday routines in the comments to help everyone find their “radical middle.”
• If you found this useful, rate, review, or join the Frugal Friends on YouTube/social.

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Related Episode

• Next up: 50 Things We Regret Buying in Our 20s – for practical regret-proofing your spending.

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Produced by Eric Sirianni. Frugal Friends Podcast—helping you save money, embrace simplicity, and live a richer life.

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Transcript

[Jill]

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[Jen]

N rakuten.com do this payday routine every time you get paid. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live a richer life.

[Jill]

Here are your hosts, Jen and Jill.

[Jen]

Hey Frugal Friends. I'm Jen. I'm Jill and every payday feels exciting until the money runs out way too soon and you haven't gotten to any of your goals or you've just missed them. If that sounds like you, this episode is exactly what you need.

[Jill]

We've been there too. A new paycheck in the bank account. It feels so exciting and then somehow it just does. Doesn't last. But after trial and error and hundreds of episodes on the Frugal Friends podcast, we've got a four step system that you can do every payday.

[Jen]

And it is simple. Literally only four things that are pretty much just like checking boxes because that is what is sustainable. So stick with us. We're going to walk you through the step by step system as well as some things to have in place before the system so that it all works out well and we're excited to share it with you.

[Jill]

But first, this episode is brought to you by Going on autopilot. Not like when you walk into a room and completely forget what you walked in there for. When you accidentally say love ya when hanging up with your boss. Yikes. We're talking about the things that we have on autopilot that actually save us time and money. Like resources that help us make a spending plan that actually works. Just like our budget spreadsheet. It's got tabs for every month, annual overview, beautiful aesthetic, and everything you need to have your payday routine on autopilot. Essentially, it'll feel that way. Plus it's a one time purchase, not a monthly subscription. So you can feel good about how you're budgeting and this resource that you're using. Frugalfriendspodcast.com budget and make this budgeting feel thing. Make this budgeting thing feel like it's on autopilot.

[Jen]

Yeah, it is a thing. And keep that in the back of your head because we will revisit the budgeting thing. All right, so let's get into this payday routine. And first we have to start with a few assumptions. So this isn't something, this isn't a big, long, drawn out, like, financial plan that you'll be doing every time you get paid. We're assuming payment is every other week, twice a month, once a month, what have you. So this needs to be something sustainable that you could feasibly do in five minutes every other week max, or every week.

[Jill]

That's the key, that it shouldn't take you a ton of time, otherwise we're not going to do it. It's not sustainable. Yes.

[Jen]

So the first assumption is that you have automated everything. Your bills are automated, your direct deposit is automated into your checking account, everything. Your savings are automated, your debt payments are automated. And we'll get into adjusting those within the routine. So stay with us. But everything should be automated to an extent because when you don't automate, you're setting yourself up for saving what's left over or doing good stuff with what's left over. And we want to do the good stuff first so that we don't feel guilty about all the other stuff that is, is technically neutral or even good. When you value something, it's good. Right. So we want to automate so that we don't get like too much of our values and not enough of our values that may be like, down the line.

[Jill]

We're also assuming that you kind of have an understanding of where you're spending your money. And so if you haven't done this at all before or, or you haven't done one in the last year. Do a 90 day transaction inventory. This will help you get clear on where your money is typically going. So that's going to involve compiling your credit card statements, your bank statements, kind of anywhere that compiles what all of your transactions have been and be able to go through them and identify where are we spending money, what are the impulse purchases, what, what are the emotional spending that's happening. And so that can even help us to clear out some of the clut. Clutter. But then get us a really good idea of how we're currently spending so that this payday routine goes even smoother.

[Jen]

Yeah, because we want the payday routine to be five minutes. It's four steps, but it should take five minutes. So make sure everything's automated and make sure you've done a 90 day transaction inventory. And if you want an episode on both or either of those, let us know in the comments on YouTube. And, and because we don't have like a visual like episode on either of those things so we could walk through everything to automate suggested percentages and then exactly how we do a 90 day transaction inventory, which we talk about in our book Buy what yout Love Without Going Broke. And we have talked about in the past but have not dedicated a visual episode to that yet.

[Jill]

Yeah, I like visuals. Visuals will be helpful.

[Jen]

That's why we're here. I mean, look at this beautiful space that we're in. We decided to come back because the light was nicer. So if you're listening and not seeing, we are back in Jill's apartment because we had to do the last two episodes here. But it was overcast and we were like, well, let's try it again with nice lighting and see what happens. Also, she got a new couch. Yes.

[Jill]

Peep the new couch.

[Jen]

Yeah. And in our next episode there's going to be a little apartment tour. Ooh. So.

[Jill]

So subscribe and stay tuned to be able to see.

[Jen]

So there's a two part reason why, why we're here. But anyways, those assumptions. We like visuals. Let us know if you want an episode on either of those two topics. Let's get in to the payday routine.

[Jill]

Okay, so step one is make sure you have enough to cover the bills that are upcoming until your next payday. So, you know, we are assuming that bill payments, savings transfers, investing is all on autopilot and scheduled to go shortly after every check hits, but you still want to make sure that there's enough there to certainly cover all of those automatic withdrawals and anything else that's upcoming within the next, whether it's a couple of weeks or a full month until the next payday hits.

[Jen]

Yeah. So this is if you are in a tight spot and you are not covering all of your bills, that is the point in which you would pull from your emergency fund potentially sinking funds somewhere as a last resort, maybe your Roth ira. But so this is what we look at first because we want to make sure we can cover our bills. And nine times out of 9.1 this, you're going to have enough to cover your bills. But we just want to make sure that if maybe I had a big expense last month, like when we got our windows done, we had to pay for all that upfront before we would get the grant money to reimburse us. But like that next month before we got that check was super tight. And so I had to just check and make sure when the money came, like the money coming in was aligned with the money going out. Just so if I had to pull from savings, I knew and this is.

[Jill]

Where a 90 day transaction inventory will come in handy. That if you are realizing, oh, it's a tight pinch being able to look back at how have I been spending money and are there adjustments, even just minor tweaks that I can make between this payday and the next payday to help give myself a little bit more margin. You're going to be able to know where to go from here when you know where, where you've just come from.

[Jen]

So step two, once we make sure we have all the money in our checking account that we need to take our payer bills is to reallocate saving and debt payments if necessary. So yes, your savings transact transfers and your debt payments should be on autopilot, but we may need to adjust them month to month or even within weeks. So you will likely have the same amount going towards your sinking funds every month, but they may go to different sinking funds. So maybe I have a new computer sinking fund and I fill that up, but I only needed a hundred and my sinking fund I have budgeted 200 for sinking funds. So then I put 100 in there and then I start or put more towards my car sinking fund at that point. And so if you have a bank account that has buckets or pockets or whatever, then this would just be the time to adjust those. If you are using an actual separate high yield savings account, we'll link to our favorite in the description, then that would involve adjusting the actual transfer between bank accounts. So I personally like to keep my emergency fund out of sight and out of mind at a different bank, a different high yield savings account. And I don't touch that. I don't look at it. But for sinking funds, you could keep those in the same account that as long as the account has like pockets, so it's not all one grouped up together. But then you could have a separate high yield savings account. I would not keep my sinking funds and my emergency funds in the same account.

[Jill]

No, I do you. I mean, lol. I do. And I use a spreadsheet to be able to keep track of it. So that's typically how I budget. So yeah, I mean, this is, this is where you can see, you can individualize it for you. But I will say this is my favorite part of my budget or my payday review is seeing where I can allocate some of those different funds once I know that I've got my bills covered. If you've got debt payoff goals or sinking fund goals, or growing your emergency fund, or even increasing your retirement investing, this is the time that you're doing that. And I would say this is the most fun thing about money.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

Is seeing yourself be able to accomplish some of those goals. And so oftentimes payday for me will align with the beginning of the month. And so that's also when my high yield savings account gives me that monthly interest amount. So I'm also able to decide what do I want to do with this extra money that my money is making. And so that's where, like I said, my emergency fund and my sinking funds are in. And I keep track of how much is in each bucket it within a spreadsheet. So then I can know whenever I'm pulling out, I can pull out of that one account, this amount, and it comes out of this line item. But this reallocation, you know, sometimes it's okay. I'm putting more towards travel fund right now. I'm focusing on the holidays and building that up for food and gifts and travel and that kind of a thing. So whatever it is for you, if you can make this part a little fun, a little gamified, it will help you to probably do it every payday.

[Jen]

What's not in this step is reallocating your portfolio or rebalancing your portfolio. That should only be done once a year. And so this is. Yeah, this is the most fun where you'll double check like, okay, is this my. Still on track to invest this much, save this much, pay off this Much debt. Can I go a little higher? Do I need to go a little lower? And so, yes, it is fun to, you know, change that if needed. Most of the time it's not going to be needed, but on the off chance that it is, you do want to be checking. It's not the time to be like looking into your investment actual, like account with your, you know, index funds and stuff and, and changing things up. That shouldn't be changed every other week. Really. Not every week. We rebalance quarterly max. If you're somebody who's like super into it. Quarterly max. I personally do once a year. So yeah, but that is, that is the most fun part of the payday routine. So that one will take two minutes. Well, I'll still, I'll still say one minute on that because our next one, I think that'll be two minutes.

[Jill]

Perfect.

[Jen]

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[Jen]

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[Jill]

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[Jen]

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[Jill]

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[Jen]

All right, step three is reviewing our transactions and adjusting our budget or spending plan.

[Jill]

Mm. Yeah. So this is where you're reflecting on your spending since your last payday. So different from the 90 day transaction inventory, only in that we're not looking back at the last 90 days, we're only looking back at the last two weeks or the last month to get our bearings again. A lot of this is just kind of recalculation and making sure that we're on track, that we feel confident about where our money is going, that we have what we need to pay for what's ahead. Again, not spending a ton of time on it, but how is it going? How has my spending been in the last two weeks? What do I want to adjust, if necessary, over the next two weeks to a month? How will I make those adjustments? Like having a plan for that is really important because we know that life is not, not, it doesn't remain the same. Right. It's, it's dynamic. And so it's one of the reasons why we talk about month to month or even paycheck to paycheck, redefining what that budget is going to look like. Because sometimes there's a wedding or a birthday party or there's nothing or there's travel. And so the way that we spend is going to shift and look different. And that I think is one of the reasons why people get so discouraged in this process is because it didn't work. But we can't make just one plan, and that's our plan for the whole year. We need to be willing to be dynamic with the dynamic lives that we're leading. And so making those adjustments as we go. What just happened, what's ahead, what do I need to shift around? What do I need to keep saying yes to? What do I need to do? Less yeses to that kind of thing.

[Jen]

And I think it's important to reiterate, as we often do, that we are looking at this neutrally, we are looking at this as data. I know if the last week or two hasn't been really great, you might not want to look at your budget and review your transactions because you know they're not going to be great. And that is a slippery slope. Instead of feeling guilty about what we've done in the past. We want to take this payday routine and we want it to be super data driven, super neutral, that we are only looking, we are spending literally five minutes to check in with things. We are not giving ourselves time to feel. We, we don't have time for feelings during this routine. And we are just looking at, okay, what was, what was that happening? What did I spend? Am I on track? Yada, yada, do I need to adjust the budget more here, less here? We are looking at it neutrally so that we can do it quickly, so that we don't overthink it and not do it. Because when you skip it once, you get out of the habit. And a big part of the success of this payday routine is making it a habit and doing it every week or every other week. And that's why we said speed is so important. And the way we get to that speed is by not over analyzing while we, we're doing it.

[Jill]

I'm going to bring a little bit more of the radical middle to that because yes, I do want longevity with it and we do want, we want the speed to be able to have that sustainability. However, if we are seeing that there was a purchase that stirs some of that, like I wish I wouldn't have done that, like I kind of regret making that decision and that might be a pattern that's happening, then we do want to give ourselves some time to reflect on that. It doesn't, it's gonna stir bigger things for us to be focusing on if that's something we're noticing every time. Like it's not the goal for that to be what's happening every time. But I do imagine in the beginning, as we're getting accustomed to this, there are gonna be feelings. And we're not saying ignore those feelings, but we're also not saying go so far that this is a constant shaming process and we're always just feeling super down on ourselves. So where there is room for reflection, there are some of those transactions that stir some of that. Then we deal with that. But I think also to your point, the reason why this doesn't always need to be an emotional exercise is because of the 90 day transaction inventory. So yeah, it's good to remind ourselves that we have that assumption that we've done that exercise in the past because that's where we're really going through and journaling our thoughts and feelings about it and beginning to make those adjustments. But we're not perfect. And as time goes on, more impulsive things are going to happen and decisions are going to be made that we're going to later regret. So yes, let's deal with those, but let's also keep track of if it's happening every single time, then there might need to be some bigger shifts that are happening.

[Jen]

You can feel with it after the routine, have your feelings after you look at it neutrally, but give yourself some space to look at it neutrally and then adjust your, your budget or your spending plan. And we, we like to call it a spending plan, but we'll also refer to it as a budget because that's what it's commonly known as. But if the word budget sounds icky to you, then you can absolutely call it a spending plan because that's what it is. And this also saves time. You don't have to be tracking your transactions in real time. It is good to do that maybe for a few weeks, maybe once a year, just, you know, maybe if that's something that appeals to you. But you don't have to. If you're looking at your past transactions from the past week or two every payday, you're still keeping on top of those things that are habit that are forming, like as habits, things you want to pay attention to and start feeling about.

[Jill]

Yeah. Okay. Last but not least, your final and fourth.

[Jen]

This is, this is my favorite. So if you have ignored the past three, you're like, I don't need these. I don't need to tune in. This one I have not seen on any other payday routine. And I believe it might be the most important. And that's just belief. It's not fact.

[Jill]

I like it too. Yeah, this is plan free and paid entertainment until your next, next payday. So a lot of times we will overspend or spend unnecessarily. Spend money we didn't actually want to because we didn't make a plan. It's why we spend so much on food every month. We're like, why did I spend? Because you probably didn't make a meal plan. The planning is always going to be the most important part for staying on track and keeping expenses low. And we know we want to have fun. Like, that's what I want to do. I don't want to do the boring stuff. I don't want to have to do all of the work. I just want to have fun.

[Jen]

Right? Fame.

[Jill]

And so let's plan for it. Let's make sure that we give our fun selves some fun things to do. And there's plenty of free stuff to Be able to do so looking up for Facebook events or your city's website page will often have events eventbrite. There's a free section that you can look under. And so making this a part of your payday routine can also make it really exciting.

[Jen]

Yeah, because this is how you'll form your meal plans around in the future. And like, how often are we at home on a Thursday night or Saturday night or something, just like scrolling and putting ourselves at risk for impulse spending. Whereas when you're out with other people, when you're meeting new people or you're out with your friends, you're scrolling a lot less. And so yes, maybe you're spending a little bit of money on a drink or on parking or something, but you're investing in relationships, which we think are the ultimate best investments, even better than the stock market. And you're probably spending less on doing that kind of stuff than you would be the cumulative of impulse purchases made by, you know, watching TV that has ads or scrolling social media. So, and eventually if you're doing, if you're practicing this long enough, then you'll be able to compare throughout your, your payday routines, like, am I spending less when I'm isolating myself or am I spending more? Who knows? You know, you'll find that out after a couple payday routines of practicing this. But we just, we just think it's so important in this day and age of social media, AI streaming, all of this stuff that could very easily isolate you and put you at risk of, I don't know, like being in these parasocial relationships with brands and people trying to sell you stuff, be in actual relationships with people who have your best interest at heart. And that's easier said than done. It's not easy to find those, but it takes intentional work. And I think it's intentional work that we need to think about every payday routine.

[Jill]

And we're not talking about making an entire daily itinerary because that's going to take a long time. We're talking find one to two free events, find me or make some plans in addition not or with some friends upcoming. Even if it's a zoom date with somebody, we don't have to be going out and spending money. We can hop on a phone call. So these are the types of things that we're just setting in motion, figuring out where they're happening, sending a quick text to invite other people. Boom, done.

[Jen]

Yeah, one per week is all we're asking. And maybe not, you know, maybe 80% of those efforts pan out. That's still better than not being intentional with it. And we do believe it will overall save you money. It won't be like $0, but it is a great investment.

[Jill]

So if number two is my favorite, it sounds like number four is your favorite.

[Jen]

My favorite. So we've, we've got, you know, we start with automating and making sure you have that 90 day transaction inventory. And then we want to make sure you have enough in checking to cover the bills. Reallocate savings, investing debt as appropriate. We are not reallocating in our portfolio. We're not doing that. I know. If you feel seen, I'm pointing at you. If that's who's feeling seen right now, then we're reviewing our transactions and our budget. We're not feeling for five minutes afterwards. You can feel that's totally fine. I will allow it. And then planning some kind of free or paid entertainment so that we can feel alive and live richly.

[Jill]

Oh, yes.

[Jen]

Yes.

[Jill]

Do you know what is very fun for me and makes me feel very alive? Living that rich life.

[Jen]

It makes me feel rich because I have so many bills.

[Jill]

The bill of the week.

[Jen]

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. Hey, Jen and Jill. For my bill of the week, I wanted to call in and tell you about my $110bill at the feed store. I needed to get hay for our guinea pigs and before going saw on Facebook that the local humane society needed some dry dog food. And from your recent episode about keeping dollars local and normally saving money, I wanted to stick to that and so decided to check out dog food selection. While I was at the feed store, I was able to get 50 pound bags for $35, which is so much cheaper than the usual pet store. So needless to say, the pet shelter got 150 pounds of dog food and my guinea pigs have 50 pounds of hay. So everybody is fat and happy over here in Alabama. Thanks again. Love the show and appreciate you guys and all the awesome hints, tips, tricks and just commiseration that you bring us every day. So thanks. Yes, everyone is fat and happy in Alabama. And I don't know if any everyone in Alabama would agree with that, but at least the dogs and guinea pigs do.

[Jill]

That was my favorite part of this bill. I know but also. Yeah, yeah. Keeping money local, finding the deals, spreading the wealth. You included some generosity into your deal finding which is amazing.

[Jen]

That's a frugal superpower and I will confirm that. That like £50 of dog food for 35. That's Costco prices. So don't tell me the big box stores are cheaper than your local stores. Like you just got to look. Yeah.

[Jill]

And spring on the deals that they end up having. If you all are listening and have a bill that you want to submit. If it has to do with being bill or being fat and happy or finding deals or being generous.

[Jen]

Especially being fat and happy.

[Jill]

Especially if you're fat and happy. I Want to hear frugalfriendspodcast.com bill. Leave it for us. We can't wait to hear it.

[Jen]

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? Toyota trucks. Introducing your new Dell PC. Powered by the Intel Core Ultra processor, it helps you handle a lot. Even when your holiday to do list gets to be a lot. Because it's built with all day battery plus powerful AI features that help you do it all with ease. From editing images to drafting emails, to summarizing large documents to multitasking.

[Jill]

So you can organize your holiday shopping and make custom holiday decor and search for great holiday deals and respond to holiday requests and customer questions and customers requesting custom things and plan the perfect holiday dinner for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, and Uncle Mike's carnivore diet.

[Jen]

Luckily, you can get a PC that helps you do it all faster. So you can get it all done.

[Jill]

That's the power of Dell PC with intel inside, backed by Dell's price match guarantee. Get yours [e-mail] deals, terms and conditions apply. See Dell.com for details. And now it's time for the life.

[Jen]

All right, what is your payday routine? Do we follow our own advice?

[Jill]

Ooh.

[Jen]

Nope. See you.

[Jill]

Bye. Do as we say, not as we do.

[Jen]

So yeah, we get paid once a month.

[Jill]

You and I get paid once a month.

[Jen]

Yes.

[Jill]

And then what about you and Travis? Because that's your other spouse.

[Jen]

He gets paid twice a month, so 1st and 15th. Okay, so I only do this at the first of the month, but I will very frequently. So I have on my phone, which is slightly out of frame and Here it is. Now.

[Jill]

The.

[Jen]

I, I don't know if you can see it on the phone, but I have, I use Monarch, I pay for it. But we'll put our link for a discount in the description. I. And I use that like daily. I look at my transactions in my widget. I have the widget on my iPad as well. So I'm, I'm constantly looking at the transactions to make sure bills were paid, to make sure investments and savings and donations went out and that making sure everything that went out was made by me or Travis and not somebody else. And so. And you can set it to where it's just yours, but I have it for like both of ours. I can see every. I can see everybody's transactions. So I think I'm, I'm a little bit. I will check the balances because we also have our mortgage come out of our savings for some reason instead of our checking. But. But those two are connected.

[Jill]

Okay.

[Jen]

So I will have. I have some like my self published books. All that revenue from Amazon actually goes in my savings account.

[Jill]

Oh, nice.

[Jen]

Which theoretically it doesn't pay my mortgage. You would, you would, you would think.

[Jill]

Which is millions of dollars every month.

[Jen]

It doesn't get investors. Yeah. Every couple months I have to put some more money towards. But like in my head I'm like, oh, one day it could pay for my mortgage. No. So maybe one day.

[Jill]

The fact that you still have. You're taking chunks out of your mortgage with books you wrote years ago is still really amazing.

[Jen]

All the money I make from my self published books goes straight to my mortgage. So fun. And then so I'm constantly reviewing transactions, reallocating savings that I don't have to do as much because I have. My emergency fund is fully funded. My. I'm not saving for anything big right now. I should go back in and probably redo the savings. And I have actually been thinking about that. That is on my list, but that would be something I would do quarterly.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

But I do plan free and paid entertainment at least twice a month.

[Jill]

What's on the docket this month?

[Jen]

Okay, well, I took Facebook off my phone. I took all social media off my phone so I can't see. Oh well, I have my laptop right.

[Jill]

In front of me. Oh wow.

[Jen]

Technology. I know.

[Jill]

So as you look that up. Unless you had something to say?

[Jen]

No, well, I was just gonna say it's. We're recording this in September right now. So like Trunk or Treats are like big on the event space. And I will go to Facebook events that's where I get all my events. Next week there's a confetti glitter art kids workshop which is free. And then there's a martini Monday coming up with $5 martinis that I was going to tell you about.

[Jill]

Yes, thank you. And this is the benefit of being friends with someone like Jen is. She'll do that work and then tell me about it. So then my free and low cost entertainment is planned. Yeah, so that's, that's perfect.

[Jen]

That's what I've got.

[Jill]

Wow. Okay, good. So one of the things that you reminded me of that we didn't mention when we were listing out the four steps is that this routine is also going to be an opportunity where we see fraudulent charges, duplicate charges. There are so many times that because of my routine I end up seeing I didn't make that payment or they actually charged me twice or they charged me too much or whatever or oh yeah, I gotta return that thing. There are just reminders that happen that help us to save money as almost a peripheral benefit.

[Jen]

When I go into Monarch on my desktop and this is one of the great, like, oh, Monarch, if you're listening, thank you for supporting the show. Support us more. I love it.

[Jill]

We need more support.

[Jen]

You support me so much that I've become dependent because Travis and I use separate credit cards. If I was just looking at my credit card statement, I would just see my, you know, this happened. This is a real example. I just saw my Hulu subscription. And so when I see Hulu come up on the transactions, that doesn't trigger anything because I know that we pay for that and we use it. But when I see it on Monarch and I can see two Hulu transactions coming out in the same month for the same price and I'm like, like what dat that Travis also had one coming out, then we can cancel one sync up.

[Jill]

And it also reminds me of different subscriptions that I may not want to be paying for anymore. It's kind of that revolving transaction inventory that just helps to keep things tight. Still values based. We're still spending money. The goal is not zero.

[Jen]

Oh yeah.

[Jill]

But we don't want to be spending frivolously. And this really helps with that.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

Okay. So for me, I get paid monthly. We get paid monthly. My other spouse and I, he gets paid bi weekly. So I and I used to get paid bi weekly when I had my other full time work. And so I'm accustomed to doing that two week payday overview.

[Jen]

You do have a more like regular routine. You like sit down and you. My life is chaotic and I personally am chaotic. So I, it's not as rigorous.

[Jill]

I like it. So, yes, it only has to be five minutes. I choose to take something more like 20, 25 minutes because I just, I like the pen and paper.

[Jen]

Find your radical middle spreadsheet.

[Jill]

Yes, it is sustainable for me. It's not an unusual amount of time or crazy amount of time to me to be doing every two weeks. And so this is, this includes reviewing all of my transactions. It definitely means making sure that I have what I need to cover it. But honestly, that that step starts to become. Can I say this, this a little bit irrelevant when you are very on top of your spending every month. Like, I know how much we're bringing in, I know how much goes out, I know how much we can spend on the miscellaneous discretionary categories. And so I'm, I'm really on top of it. So there's not necessarily a need to like check those things. So I'm, I'm kind of immediately moving to step two of reallocating. And so like I said, looking at, okay, how much did my high yield savings account earn? Where do I want to put that money? Which sinking fund? Or do I need to put more into emergency fund? Or are we ready to move this over to the retirement investing accounts? Those are the questions that, that are variable month to month. That is really exciting. And where am I at within my sinking funds? And if they are fully funded, okay. Travel funds, fully funded. When do I want to go on a trip?

[Jen]

Where are we going? Where are we going?

[Jill]

And when are we going to start to plan? And that's a whole other fun thing that gets to happen.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

And like I said, reviewing the transactions and then texting Jen to see what free thing are we doing this month or low cost. We're the candy though.

[Jen]

Five dollar martinis, you know.

[Jill]

Yeah, yeah. So that's the, the longest part for me is reviewing the transactions. But I really like that. I like to out, you know, see how much did I, I end up spending on food, how much did I spend on entertainment, gifts, travel, that kind of a thing.

[Jen]

And I just want to make sure there's a certain amount in my bank account every couple weeks and that it hasn't dipped below that number. I have the number and it just can't go below. And as long as it's not below that number, I'm like, cool. And as long as there's no like fraudulent transactions, it's like, like, okay, yeah, we're thriving and it Works for both of us.

[Jill]

That's the thing.

[Jen]

It does.

[Jill]

It is not a one size fits all, but these four steps are a.

[Jen]

Really great guide and we put a lot of effort up front in our 20s to build a cushion where we could be chaotic.

[Jill]

Now, I know I'm a little worried with how many times you've used the word chaotic. Like, yikes.

[Jen]

I mean, is it not a good descriptor for my life?

[Jill]

A little bit. You're. I think you're not giving yourself enough credit. Like, you are on top of things.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

For the most part.

[Jen]

For the most part.

[Jill]

You treat your. Your finances like your email inbox, a sauna. You're on top of Gmail. Forget about it.

[Jen]

Asana is my to do list and Gmail is my for like is lost in the abyss list.

[Jill]

But in your chaos, you're not overspending. Correct. You're not going to debt.

[Jen]

Absolutely not. No. Credit cards are paid in full on time every month. Bills are paid on time every month. Except for that one time I forgot to set up my bill, pay for a new credit card. And then I did have a little late fee that I got reimbursed, but oopsie.

[Jill]

But you know what? It was all forgiven.

[Jen]

It was, wow. And you get one of those free, like, I don't know, for every card. One or two. You don't even have to talk to anyone anymore. You literally just call up and they're like, we see you have a late fee. Are you calling to get that removed? And you're like, yeah. And they're like, great, we've removed it. And I was like, what?

[Jill]

So easy.

[Jen]

So great.

[Jill]

Who would have thought I'm gonna get.

[Jen]

Late fees on all my cars.

[Jill]

Why not? It's this easy, fast and loose.

[Jen]

Yeah. Chaotic. Thank you for listening to this episode. Please let us know in the comments what your payday routine is. Do you have one? Do you love it? Do you hate it? What do you do when you get paid? Or do you just monitor that number in your bank account and be like, I hope I stay above this? Let us know in the comments. Let's create a space where we can all find different perspectives so we can form our own radical middle. And if you liked the episode, we would so greatly appreciate if you would give the YouTube video a thumbs up. Subscribe to the channel. Give us a rating and review on Spotify or Apple, wherever you're listening. Every little thing helps us if you've also read our book. If you could take a few minutes to leave us a Review like this one from Alexis happens to be five stars, she says. I've followed this team of financial friends for many years throughout their podcast, but it isn't necessary to know anything about them to get something out of this book. Like many financial books, if we really sat and thought about it, it's not new information. We know we need to earn more and or spend less to get ahead. But I like the approach told in this book because it isn't restrictive or filled with shame. It's realistic. We all have things we want to spend our money on and this approach helps you figure out your priorities and help to have the money to buy what you love without going broke. Read this to jumpstart your motivation to making better financial choices. Yay.

[Jill]

What a good review, Alexis. Thank you so much for reading the book and saying kind things about it. If you've also read the book and you have kind things to say, please leave a rating and review of it. If you're listening, please leave us a review of the podcast. Go follow us on YouTube, subscribe to our channel and we just can't wait to hang out with you next time.

[Jen]

See you next time. Oh, and go watch this video 50 things we regret buying in our 20s. It's a really good follow up. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.

[Jill]

So Jen, this is a re record of the outro.

[Jen]

Yes. And we spent a lot of time figuring out how to make mics work.

[Jill]

Yeah, we. We bought a new video so that was like a big investment.

[Jen]

A new camera.

[Jill]

What did I say?

[Jen]

Video.

[Jill]

Video recording.

[Jen]

We. We buy new thing to make video. It called camera.

[Jill]

We bought a new camera and we tested it. We were testing it out in the YouTube video associated with this episode and for some reason the camera splits the files into two and we didn't realize that, so we deleted the second half. Well, it wasn't even the second half. The last. Last few minutes. Yeah, mostly the post show. So here we are. I don't remember what we talked about.

[Jen]

Nor do I.

[Jill]

Nor do I previously. So this is now the new post show is. We are seven and a half years into podcasting and we still need to.

[Jen]

Re record things sometimes we still need to call Eric in to help us with our mics. We couldn't pair the mics and we are smart, independent women who couldn't figure out how to pair the mics.

[Jill]

I am not that smart. That's the thing.

[Jen]

You're so smart. You made a beautiful wreath at your wreath crafting event last night. And that means that you are smart.

[Jill]

Thank you. Wow.

[Jen]

Yeah. And it was the Mike's fault. It was. Yeah, it was the Mike's fault. Mike's fault.

[Jill]

Wherever you are, Mike.

[Jen]

Mike.

[Jill]

Thanks a lot, Mike.

[Jen]

Whatever. Well, see you next time.

[Jill]

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