Got Extra Cash? Here's What to do With It

Summary

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Frugal Friends Podcast: "Got Extra Cash? Here's What to Do With It"

Hosts: Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni
Date: April 10, 2026
Episode Theme: Practical, step-by-step advice for making the most of extra money—whether it’s a tax refund, a bonus, or recurring monthly savings—explored with candid, lively discussions and plenty of laughs.

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Episode Overview

Jen and Jill dedicate this episode to helping listeners decide what to do when they come into extra money. With tax season in full swing and larger-than-average refunds going out, the duo lays out a practical five-step framework for channeling windfalls—big or small—in ways that build financial stability, alleviate guilt, and maximize long-term benefits. The conversation is loaded with relatable anecdotes, actionable insights, and the hosts’ signature blend of transparency and humor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Understanding Why You Have Extra Cash (04:26)

• Be Mindful, Not Mindless:
  “Without having a framework, something tangible we can come back to, we could end up mindlessly spending it and not even really knowing where it went… maybe even feeling guilty.” — Jill (04:26)
• Sources Matter:
  • Tax Refund: Not “free” money; it’s your overpaid taxes being returned. “If it's a huge amount… we might need to readjust our withholdings. We don’t want to be having a refund of more than $1500.” — Jen (05:13)
  • Bonus, Sale, Lottery: Money earned through effort, sales, or luck; approach each with awareness.
  • Life Insurance: “A loved one wanted you to be taken care of financially, not blowing your money everywhere.” — Jen (06:32)
• Golden Ratio (07:23):
  General rule: Spend 10–20%, put 80–90% toward a goal.
• Key Question (07:57):
  “What problem in my life can this money solve?”

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2. Step-by-Step: The 5-Step Windfall Framework

Step 1: Know Why You Have the Extra Cash

• See above.

Step 2: Build or Top Off Your Emergency Fund (08:27)

• Essentials Over Excitement:
  “Emergency funds prevent future debt. They are not sexy, but they are essential.” — Jen (08:27)
• Guidelines:
  • 3–6 months of bare-bones expenses in a high-yield savings account.
  • Single income household: Aim for 6 months.
    Dual income: 3 months—but if both work for the same company, lean towards 6.
• Why Not Optimize?:
  Safety > Optimization. “Anybody worth their salt is going to say the same thing.” — Jen (09:07)
• Annual Check:
  Review your emergency fund yearly to keep pace with changing expenses and job security.

Step 3: Knock Out High Interest Debt (14:59)

• Target Debts Over 7–8% (16:44):
  “If you have debt above 7% you would essentially be losing money… You need to get that high interest debt gone before we talk about investing.” — Jill (16:44)
• Order of Attack:
  • If you have lots of high-interest debt (e.g., 20%), tackle it first, maybe even before fully funding your emergency fund.
  • For small, manageable amounts, building the emergency fund can coincide.
• Flexibility:
  Steps 2 and 3 can flip based on the amount and urgency.

Step 4: Fix One Problem in Your Life (19:28)

• Intentional Spending > Mindless Splurges:
  “This is the spending one… but we don’t want you to spend it on an Amazon shopping spree … Don’t be weird about it.” — Jen (19:33)
• Guiding Question (20:00):
  “What is one thing I can do now or purchase now to make something else easier or unnecessary in the future?” — Jill (20:00)
• Examples:
  • Replace a broken dishwasher (saves time/curbs dining out)
  • Fix your car or buy a good mattress
  • Upgrade a laptop to improve workflow
• Self-awareness > Willpower:
  “You do not fail because you don’t have enough willpower. You succeed because you set up your environment to make it more difficult to fail.” — Jen (25:02)

Step 5: Invest the Remainder (25:47, 31:19)

• “If you get this far, good for you! Most of us only make it to step two, honestly.” — Jill (25:36)
• Investment Tips:
  • 401(k), IRA, Roth IRA: Max them out, especially if you have a windfall.
  • If the windfall’s early, contribute to last year’s IRA before April 15th.
  • Monthly vs. Lump Sum: Lump sum early is better for compounding.
  • 529 Plan: For children—can now be partially transferred to a Roth IRA after 15 years (as of 2024).
• Key Principle:
  “Time in the market is more beneficial than timing the market.” — Jen (31:19)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Emergency funds prevent future debt. They are not sexy, but they are essential.” — Jen (08:27)
• “You do not fail because you don’t have enough willpower. You succeed because you set up your environment to make it more difficult to fail.” — Jen (25:02)
• “Don’t be weird about it. Those are things you should be budgeting for.” — Jen on using windfalls for splurges (19:33)
• “Fix one problem in your life... That’s your step four.” — Jill (29:48)
• “If you want to know how to save money on your groceries when you’re 60, invest that money now.” — Jen (31:19)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:24 – Tax Refunds & Setting Up The Episode’s Framework
• 04:23 – Why Knowing Your Windfall Matters
• 08:27 – Step 2: Emergency Fund Guidance
• 14:59 – Step 3: High Interest Debt
• 19:28 – Step 4: Fix One Problem in Your Life
• 25:47 – Step 5: Investing Extra Cash
• 32:54 – "Bill of the Week" Listener Story
• 40:14 – Lightning Round: Hosts’ Best Windfall Decisions

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Lightning Round: Hosts’ Best Decisions With Unexpected Money (40:14)

Jill:

• Used unexpected cash (gift from in-laws) primarily for debt pay-down:
  “Never really do much fun things with it... I just always have big problems in my life and it’s just not that fun.” — Jill (40:40)
• Some used for a camera (no regrets), but most for erasing debt and gaining relief.

Jen:

• Used her “first little bonus” (book advance) for LASIK eye surgery—solving a persistent problem and improving her quality of life, plus another windfall was directed towards paying off low-interest debt.

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Listener “Bill of the Week” Highlight (32:54)

• Allison’s Success: Saved money by switching from Spectrum to T-Mobile home internet—faster speeds, $20/month savings, guaranteed rate for 10 years: “My current speed with Spectrum was 400 megabytes... and I’m going to be getting two gigs for $20 cheaper per month... 10-year price guarantee.” — Allison (33:35)

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Bonus Laughs

• On Spending Windfalls:
  “Don’t be weird about it.” — Jen (19:33)
• On Dishes:
  “I will eat out so much more because I hate the dishes so much, and I cannot hire dishes out… You can hire out your laundry. You can hire out your house cleaning. Also things I don’t do, but could hire out. You can’t hire out your dishes unless your cleaner does your dishes.” — Jen (22:56)
• On Willpower:
  “This isn’t 60 minutes of running on the treadmill kind of willpower… this is everyday life with everyday money decisions…” — Jill (24:06)

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Quick Review: The 5-Step Framework

1. Know why you have extra cash.
2. Build/top off your emergency fund.
3. Knock out high interest debt (7%+).
4. Fix one problem in your life (intentional spending for meaningful improvement).
5. Invest the rest (maximize time in the market with IRAs, 401ks, or 529 plans).

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Closing Encouragement

• Be intentional with your windfalls—no matter the size. The right structure takes the guilt and confusion out of spending, helps you progress toward financial freedom, and ensures extra cash works for you.
• “You succeed because you set up your environment to make it more difficult to fail.” — Jen (25:02)

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For more frugal fun, subscribe to the Frugal Friends Podcast, check out their book, and remember: mindful, intentional use of extra money pays dividends far beyond the initial windfall!

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Transcript

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[Jen]

Got extra cash? Here's what to do with it.

[Podcast Host Intro]

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. I'm Jill and according to a study I read on Yahoo. Finance, the average tax refund this year is about 10% bigger than last year. And so this might be the time some of you just got a tax refund. Maybe you're expecting a tax refund pretty soon or if you just have extra cash from a bonus or I mean congratulations if you got a bonus or just any, maybe won the lottery, I don't know. We are going to walk you through this step by step ladder on what you should do with extra cash. Whether it is a one time extra cash or if it's like you don't have to pay for daycare anymore and you have 1,000 extra dollars a month or more to do something with. We're going to walk you through who, how to spend that extra cash.

[Jill]

Whether it's 200 to $5,000 or like you said, extra money every month.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

One of the options is just to spend it.

[Jen]

So. And that is on the list. Yeah, don't worry, we've got that here. It's somewhere there.

[Jill]

But here's a quick framework for you. But first, mugs. We have a mug that we don't sell, we just give away, only give this mug away.

[Jen]

And here it is. I've had it for four in a huge box. Literally no lie. The box is this big and it's huge. It's in my office and I want to get rid of it. So I'm giving a bunch of mugs away. And our next giveaway drawing is tomorrow or today, I don't know, it's soon. So if you're watching this today, you have all day today to enter. What you need to do to enter to win one of these mugs is is you need to subscribe to the YouTube channel and then go to frugalfriendspodcast.com mug and then you will put your YouTube username so that's how we know you're subscribed and your email address so that we know how to contact you. And we will pull five winners todayish tomorrowish. I don't know when I get around to it, it'll be very soon. And then do not fret because if you're watching this in a couple days, you will still have another chance. Our next drawing, our Last drawing is May 22 ish. So if you've already registered and you didn't win the first one, you're still in. No worries. No need to re enter. But yeah, I hope that you win a mug. These mugs are coveted among frugal friends listeners. I want you to know that how many comments I've seen about always wanting the mug making up maybe what the AF stands for. Like I have seen so many of

[Jill]

you got a DM saying I think it stands for frugal and fresh. Oh and I love that.

[Jen]

Good girl. Good girl.

[Jill]

So we're going to leave it right here.

[Jen]

Yeah, we're going to leave it so

[Jill]

you can know what it looks like.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

And we're going to talk about this five step framework that you can do anytime you come upon extra cash. Of course it, it could be a tax refund. Tis the season. But this does happen to us sometimes we just come upon extra money that we weren't expecting. And without having a framework, something tangible we can come back to, we could end up mindlessly spending it and not even really knowing where it went, not feeling great about it, maybe even feeling guilty. So the first step is know why you have the extra cash.

[Jen]

There's a reason you have extra cash and you need to know why that is very important.

[Jill]

Most likely it's not just free money.

[Jen]

I'm sorry girl, math did not work here. Yeah.

[Jill]

So a tax refund that is not the government being like oh such good job, here's money. Your tax refund was you overpaying in taxes throughout the year and them paying you back what you overpaid. It does still feel great because the money felt gone to us. But if it's a huge amount of money, we might need to readjust our withholdings. We don't want to be having a refund of more than $1,500. That means we did something wrong with our taxes.

[Jen]

Yeah, you could have had a bonus. Again, congratulations. Let us know where you work, where you still get bonuses. But like, that is because you worked hard. You put in that effort, you earned that bonus. Trust me, even people who work hard ain't getting bonuses. You worked for that money.

[Jill]

It could be the profit from a sale, whatever kind of sale. A house sale, a car sale, furniture sale, whatever it is. And that's usually going to represent a monetary return on time invested. Did you fix the thing up? Did you take good care of it that you were able to make money off of that sale? It's worth knowing that you are being repaid for valuable time and energy.

[Jen]

And then maybe it's a big sum like a life insurance or a lottery winning. Life insurance. That's because a loved one wanted you to be taken care of financially, not blowing your money everywhere. I'm, I'm lottery winning. Well, it's for scholarships. Just kidding. Like you are, like, honestly, you're likely recouping all the money you put into buying lottery tickets. I'm going to be honest.

[Jill]

But Jill, my aunt, played one time and she won.

[Jen]

So what? So you could be Aunt Joanie. But Aunt Joanie did very well with her winnings and she, she followed this five step framework and now look at her now. She's living her best life.

[Jill]

Be like Joanie if you're going to play the lottery. Ben, if you're going to win the

[Jen]

lottery, be like Aunt Joanie. So yeah, I think it is this. We have to put ourselves in this mindset that every time we get extra cash, it isn't just extra cash that we can blow, we can spend a portion of it to blow. And I think most people use like 80 or 90% should go towards a goal and then 10 to 20% can get blown. But I do think this framework is important to follow before we even get to that ratio of how we gonna blow it.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

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[Jen]

How if, or how we're gonna blow it. Yeah.

[Jill]

I think a really good question is what problem in my life can this money solve? Really viewing it as not just oh, extra money, who even cares? Don't even think about it. Just spend it on whatever, but treat it as the valuable, unexpected cash that it is. And how can it help to support your life? Your goals benefit you. So that leads us to step number two, which we would recommend is to build or top off your emergency fund.

[Jen]

Yeah, emergency funds prevent future debt. They are not sexy, but they are essential. And we talk about them so much. We talk about them all the time. We say you need to keep your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses in a high yield savings account. If you come across anybody on the Internet that says something different than those words I just said said unfollow, run, maybe even report, I don't know. You need to turn the screen or the car off. Like wherever you're listening to this person,

[Jill]

take the brakes, turn off the car, don't even worry about going to where

[Jen]

you're going, turn the car off. Just like get them out of your ears as quickly as possible. Anybody worth their salt is going to say the same thing. There is no way to optimize your emergency fund because you don't want to optimize your emergency fund. You want to have three to six months of expenses in a high yield savings account. Debt sits there. It does nothing except keep up with inflation. That's why we say high yield savings account.

[Jill]

However, I would say that a high yield savings account is more optimized than a regular savings account. So if you're going to optimize it, you are optimizing it by a high yield savings account. We love the1@cit frugalhands podcast.com cit we do love.

[Jen]

Ultimately, safety is more important than optimization. That's what this is. And even if you or your partner is super into is a more aggressive investor, there still needs to be a part of your portfolio that is just safe. Anybody worth their salt will say that, including us. And that is, that is a hill that many of us will die on.

[Jill]

Three to six months of living expenses is a wide range. One is double the other. It can be hard to know where should I live or should I be

[Jen]

at 4 or 5?

[Jill]

Right. Here's a good framework. If you are a single income household, six months of living expenses. If you are a dual income household, three months of living expenses. And we're talking bare bones. We're not talking the budget. When you are spending money on new clothing, that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about, we're paying for our housing, we're covering the bills, we're doing bare bones, groceries. That's it. What is that number? And then you can figure out the wiggle room if it's four or five months in between. That framework of what do you feel most comfortable with? People will base this off of volatility of their career, that kind of a thing. But three to six months?

[Jen]

Yeah, I would say if maybe you're a Dual income household, but you work for the same company. That's kind of the same as being a single income household. So that would lean more towards six months. Again, the volatility right now it's hard to find a job. And so we are always recommending, always be networking in your industry, always be keeping connections open. So if the worst does happen, you have a community that you can reach out to and be like, hey, do you know anybody? Right? Like that is also. That's a career emergency fund right there. The relationships you make in your industry, that's a career emergency fund. But we also need to have this emergency fund as well because maybe somebody doesn't have somebody for you for, you know, the next six months until they do. Right? So this is so, so important. The High Yield Savings Account makes sure that you're keeping up with inflation. It's always good to check your emergency fund once a year and compare it to those bare bones expenses. So, so that you make sure, even if you're like, oh, I got my tax return, but I already have my fully funded emergency fund. It's time to take this step to reevaluate. Okay, these are my bare bones expenses now. This is how many months I need due to job volatility and income streams. And am I at that? Do I have too much? Do I have too little? We're going to determine that before we move on to the next step.

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[Jill]

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[Jen]

Okay.

[Jill]

Step number three is to knock out that high interest debt. So we want to be focusing on debts that are more than 7,8% in interest rates.

[Jen]

Yeah. So why do we say do this next after you have your fully funded emergency fund, shouldn't we be saying just have a thousand dollars and then do this high interest debt? Sure, if you want, like that's a thing you can do and that's not a bad thing. But you do have to prioritize these two things very highly. And like, honestly, if you're, if you've got a lot of debt at 20% interest, of course, I think that you should probably prioritize your high interest debt before your emergency fund. Right. But if you've got maybe like $1200 in high interest debt, you know, you're just trying to top off, you can pay that off pretty quickly. But you're also struggling with, oh, I only have a thousand dollars in my emergency fund. What, what should I do? Some people would say pay off the debt. Honestly, I think if you have more money in your emergency fund, you're less likely to go into debt, so it could be a wash. So these steps two and three could be interchangeable. I think if you've got a lot of high interest debt and again I'm talking around that 20% range. Maybe do this one next. If it's a little and it's manageable and it's a small like smaller amount of high interest debt, maybe work the emergency fund. But you could disagree with me in the comments.

[Jill]

And the reason we're talking about high interest debt above 7 to 8% is because over the last 30 years, so we're looking at ending in about 20, 25, 20, the S&P 500 which tracks the top 500 companies in the US has provided an annualized real return so after inflation of approximately 7 to 8%. So that means that if you have debt above 7% you would essentially be losing money certainly by investing it. Right. When people talk about like investing versus paying off debt. No, we're not even at that conversation. You need to get that high interest debt gone before we talk about investing. Because it's a, it's a wash. You are, you owe more in, in the interest on the debt. So pay off those first and then that can kind of free you up to figure out what you want your next steps to be. But that's not to negate. If you are in a debt payoff journey, you've got debt payoff goals and maybe they aren't 7%. This still could be a good third step. Even if you don't have high interest debt. Maybe that's what you want to put it towards is knocking out a little bit more of that debt if it's student loans or that kind of thing.

[Jen]

Yeah. But I would also say like you if you're playing with like $1,000 tax return and you have the option to pay off low interest debt or do steps four or five, I honestly would go to steps four or five in this instance. So we are not against becoming totally debt free. Jill and I both took that journey. Travis and I paid off $78,000 of RUB low interest debt in two years. We our interest the my grad student loans were six and a half percent. So right. Like we, we did it and it, we're not against it but when we're talking about what are we doing with extra cash, I think we do have to go through, we have to think more short term about it honestly like if it's just like a one time thousand dollars, we think a little bit differently about it and that's just us. Right. Like these are, this is a guide and you should ultimately do like what feels best for you. But I would definitely do not go out and spend or waste 10%, 20%, any percent of your windfall of your extra cash on anything until you have your high interest debt knocked out. And high interest for us is anything above 7%.

[Jill]

Okay, so step four, we've gone through all. All of the first three is still

[Jen]

have money left at this point, which is amazing. That's a lot of money.

[Jill]

Fix one problem in your life. You might not have expected us to say this one.

[Jen]

This is the spending one. This is where you get to spend it. But we don't want you to spend it on an Amazon shopping spree. We don't want you to spend it on an impulsive vacation. We don't want you to spend. Spend it weirdly, you know, like, don't be weird with it. Don't be weird about it. Those are things you should be budgeting for. Okay? Those are great things. Put them in your budget, save for them over time, not with your fun money that you just got as a tax refund.

[Jill]

It is okay to spend money to improve your life. That is one of the best ways to spend money way better than our life. More efficient to solve a problem, to create greater levels of sustaining convenience. We love spending money on this kind of thing. Here's some examples. I mean, here's a good question. What is one thing I can do now or purchase now to make something else easier or unnecessary in the future?

[Jen]

I'm not going to lie.

[Jill]

For some people, this might be debt. You might have gone through step three, you get to step four and debt is still the problem in your life.

[Jen]

That may be where we are here at that lower interest debt. It may be here, but is there

[Jill]

a problem in your life that maybe is costing you more because of the problem or energy because of the problem? Love some of these examples. Broken dishwasher. If you had a broken dishwasher, are you eating out more? How is that affecting your spending in other areas of life? How's it affecting your time because you're not able to conveniently wash the dishes? This would be a great opportunity. Oh, we finally have unexpected cash. Get the new dishwasher. You've got a bad mattress. You've always been complaining about your mattress since day one. And it's hugely impacting your sleep and you are waking up super sore. Get a new mattress. And you know what there are. This is not a segue into an ad, although it sounds like it's about to be. But the ones that get delivered to your doorstep in a box are great. Like, that's what Eric and I have been using it's what we have in our guest room. Everyone loves it. So you don't have to have thousands of dollars to get a new air mattress or get a new air mattress. Get a new mattress even.

[Jen]

Yeah. I mean, there are, there are a lot of things. Like maybe you have an old laptop. It makes work slow and hard so you spend more time, like, waiting for things. Like, you can improve your workflow with getting a new laptop. Or get the car repair you've been avoiding. Like some. Somebody just backed into my car in a parking lot and. Yeah. And my blind spot indicator is now broken. So insurance will cover some of it, but we're going to have to cover a deductible. So I'm kind of like avoiding that. So if you've got something like that going on, this is the time to get those problems solved. Right. We save up for the vacation. We save up for whatever the heck that you're buying on Amazon that you're paying $140 a year for free shipping on. Like, we save up for that stuff. And we use our extra cash for things like this to solve a problem in our life quickly. For me, dishwasher is so like, I will use paper plates and dishwasher. Or I don't. I don't eat at home sometimes because I hate dishes. And I know, like, that's an unpopular opinion. It's an unpopular take. But it's just my life. Like, I will eat out so much more because I hate the dishes so much and I cannot hire dishes out. That's something I've thought about. You can hire out your laundry. You can hire out your house cleaning. Also things I don't do, but could hire out. You can't hire out your dishes unless you're cleaner, does your dishes.

[Jill]

Yeah. And they might.

[Jen]

They might, but not.

[Jill]

But I don't know the ones in our price.

[Jen]

Yeah. I don't have a house cleaner, so I wouldn't know.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

So, yeah, here's the thing.

[Jill]

We really don't love the concept of willpower when it comes to managing money. Well, I think that this is such a strong idea that has been perpetuated in the personal finance space of just. You just need to buckle down. You just need to figure out how to just plow through and deprive yourself more discipline.

[Jen]

You need more discipline. It's your problem. You're not good enough. You're not doing good enough. You could do it if you just tried harder. Right. All life.

[Jill]

If you just had the willpower to do it. And this isn't an exercise program. This isn't 60 minutes of running on the treadmill kind of willpower.

[Jen]

That's 75 hard.

[Jill]

No, this is everyday life with every everyday money decisions interwoven into all sorts of difficulties and joys. And it's just not about willpower. It's about doing things smart and intentionally and learning more about yourself. It's about setting up your environment in a way that is going to support these things. And sometimes that means efficiency and convenience and making sure that you have the tools and the resources to sustainability sustain you on this journey. That's going to have its ups and downs and is rarely connected to how much willpower you have.

[Jen]

I want to make sure you heard that right there. You do not fail because you don't have enough willpower. You succeed because you set up your environment to make it more difficult to fail. That is what we're trying to do to create our environment to make it difficult to, to fail. We're not muscling through willpower.

[Jill]

Okay. We've made it this far. All right, so you have no problems in your life.

[Jen]

Are you, are you problem free? Step four didn't apply to you. Here we go. Welcome to still got money left over.

[Jill]

Good for you. Step five, you get to go to step five. We call it a, we call it a five step framework. But like most of us are only going to make it to step two, honestly. So that's your framework.

[Jen]

Step three. I maybe. Yeah, yeah. But step five is invest it. And so this is, I think where we are. You know, we're about to transition from daycare to preschool, which will save like $100 a week in what we pay. And so we have that monthly extra cash now what are we going to do with it? And so we run through all of this and we're good. The first, you know, month or two, we've solved a problem. What do we do in month three? We're putting extra money towards investments. And so what I would do when you're looking at how am I going to invest it? Because you might have some options. You have a 401k, an IRA. Those are the ones we would focus on not being financial advisors yet. Yeah. But also not knowing your, your situation. So, so this is just education. But if you have a 401k that you like and you want to, you know, get that, that tax benefit on your income now, then you can defer more into that. And then maybe we're putting, you know, we're pulling from something some, you know, your Roth IRA investment or something. So it's like you can either just directly put the extra money into an ira, but if you can't directly put it into like a 401k, then just get more deferrals and then that extra cash can go to wherever it came from, your groceries, your car, whatever. So that's kind of how we would do it. And look, you have, if you're getting your tax refund early and you want to do something, you want to invest it. Like you have until April 15th to contribute to your last year's IRA. So if you did not max out last year's Roth or traditional ira, you can still contribute to last year's. So you can get a jump start on contributing, you know, or maxing out this year's. It's always better. If you want to do monthly contributions, that's great. But if you get a windfall, it's always better to put that windfall in earlier in the year rather than later because then you get that whole extra year of compounding. Or you could start a 529 for your kids. 529 since 2024 now can be transferred into a Roth IRA for your child. So even if your child does not go to college, they will not lose that money. You will not have to pass it on to a grandchild or finagle where the money goes. That can be rolled over into a Roth IRA, up to $35,000 for the beneficiary of it. But the 529 has to be opened for at least 15 years. So just even opening up one now, funding it a little bit, getting started starts that 15 year time clock.

[Jill]

So these are all your options. We'll just, we'll review them again real quick. We are going to first know why we have the extra cash. Give some space and time to understand what's the reason that this money came to me and how can I value it for the time and energy probably that I put in to be receiving this money. Then we're going to look at our emergency fund. How much do we have in it? How close are we to our 3 to 6 month goal? Top it off, work on building it. If you still have money beyond that, we're going to knock out that high interest debt again. We qualify that as anything above 7%. We want to be really focusing on that. Even if, if there is still more debt, we believe you could still move on to step number four. But if that is up to you, if you, if that's just your goal, and you just want to stay on the debt stuff.

[Jen]

For sure. I really put it all there. I really think the lower interest debt is step four. Yeah. So step four, we're doing that one thing principle. What's the. What's one thing I can do right now that makes everything else or something else easier or unnecessary in the future? So that's step four is fix one problem in your life. And so maybe that is the lower interest debt. You want to be completely debt free. And so we're putting the money towards that now. So, yeah, that's. We're either buying something or we want. Our ultimate goal is to create financial freedom. Right. And so what are the habits and the practices that get me there? What can I do to set up my life so it is more difficult to fail than it is to succeed? And that's really what we're looking for in step four. It can seem a little frivolous. Like some people would say, like, why are you buying a dishwasher? You could just wash your dishes by hand and save however much the $700. Right. But like, if you are like me and you hate putting your hands in the stuff, then you're not going to do it. If you, if you've proven that you're not going to do it, nothing's going to change by somebody shaming you out of buying a dishwasher. Right. So, like, let's you figure out what the problem is.

[Jill]

Right. If you're the person who's like, I don't mind doing dishes, then that's not your problem to solve. You solve a problem for you.

[Jen]

Yeah. So.

[Jill]

And then if you get that far and you've got more money to give,

[Jen]

if you've got no problems in your life. No, I'm just kidding. You could still have problems in your life. But yeah, investing is step five because time in the market is more beneficial than timing the market. And that is across the board. So even if you can get a little bit in right now, you will save so much money on your retirement. And we're a podcast about saving money. If you want to know how to save money on your groceries when you're 60, invest that money now into your Roth IRA or your 401k or whatever you have. And then you're going to have that much money plus exponentially more for. For groceries. You can buy two weeks worth of groceries if you invest one week today.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Oh, wow.

[Jill]

That was not.

[Jen]

Matt. I know. I'm sorry that the math probably does not work out. I would love for somebody to do that math for me. But like, if you want to be able to get a free week of groceries in your 60s, invest like $60 today. And that'll probably get you there.

[Jill]

It'll probably do it.

[Jen]

Please, somebody do the math for me. I don't have time to do it right now.

[Jill]

Do you know what we get to invest in every single week? We make it to step five in every episode. And it's my favorite thing to invest in.

[Jen]

I know what it is. The middle of the week.

[Podcast Host Intro]

That's right. It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Duck bills, Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week.

[Listener Allison]

Hello girls.

[Jen]

I have a bill of the week.

[Listener Allison]

So excited to share with you. I was watching your most recent episode and thanks for all you do. It's so enlightening and interesting. But the most recent episode was how marketers market to us, especially social media influencers.

[Jen]

And you got to the bill of

[Listener Allison]

the week and I said, I've got a bill of the week. So I have been trying to save money for a few years now on my spectrum home Internet and they will not discuss the bill. And not only that, but it keeps going up. So recently I have T Mobile for my phone and T Mobile has come into my area saying that they're going to do home Internet now. So I decided to look into it and I've decided to try it out. So my current speed with spectrum was 400 megabytes or bits or whatever it is. And I'm going to be getting two gigs for $20 cheaper per month. Not only that, but there's supposedly a 10 year price guarantee on this price, 10 year price guarantee on home Internet and faster speed. So that's my bill of the week. Thanks for all you do.

[Jen]

Oh, girl. Allison, I'm so happy for you. T Mobile is in our area installing fiber Internet and it is so annoying. Literally this morning they were outside my house. I could not pull into my driveway to drop off the birthday cupcakes because they were just in front of like three or four trucks in front of my house and they're blocking driveways, they're blocking roads. Like I can't drive down roads. They are everywhere.

[Jill]

They're doing fiber optics, I think.

[Jen]

Yeah, they're burying wires, which is going to be great for more competition and negotiation power for Internet. But right now it's so annoying. But I am pleased. And if you are annoyed by T Mobile and all of their trucks and their burying stuff, know that it'll be better in the end. It's, you know, it is capitalism at its finest when we have, you know, multiple companies that can get our business versus just one monopoly.

[Jill]

You know, we talked recently about skimpflation and how so many companies are not just charging more, but they're charging more for less. And I don't know what the inverse word of that would be. Excess. Not flation, excess.

[Jen]

What are you, what are you describing

[Jill]

where you're getting better for less?

[Jen]

I think as things evolve, you will like get better. You should get better for less because there's always going to be like a mid tier and a top tier and a low tier and. Right. Like what was top tier 10 years ago is like mid tier now and in 10 years will probably be low tier.

[Jill]

Right. I think we see it with TVs, but in every other area that's not what's happening. But that is what's happening for Allison. You are getting more for less and you're tricking the system.

[Jen]

And they're hoping over the 10 years you'll want more gigs. Right. So they're, it's a 10 year price guarantee, but they're going to try to upsell you on gigs over that 10 years, hoping that you'll increase your price,

[Jill]

you know, because our frugal friend isn't going to do that.

[Jen]

Right.

[Jill]

We know that about you.

[Jen]

It's. It's going to be. Cyber is a good move.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

I just hate all the trucks and how I went down a road so far and then saw that the trucks were in the intersection and I had to turn all the way back and go all the way back because there were no alleys out. There were no other options.

[Jill]

Wow. It's really inconvenient.

[Jen]

It's really hard for me.

[Jill]

This is about Allison and the money that she saved and I'm so thrilled for you, Alison.

[Jen]

I want to talk about how hard it is for me.

[Jill]

Right, Right. And I'm going to move on. If you are listening and you have a bill that you want to share, if it has to do with saving money, if it has to do with getting more for less. Oh, we love to hear it. Leave us your bill. Frugalfriendspodcast.com Bill. We can't wait.

[Jen]

Go for it.

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[Sponsor Voice 1]

I was doing the spring closet sweep recently and had that moment when you pull out last year's swim shorts for your kid and realize, yeah, these are not gonna fit.

[Jen]

And it got me thinking.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

If that much has changed in the last year, are our insurances much less our life insurance keeping up?

[Sponsor Voice 4]

Honestly, that's exactly why we love policygenius. It's not an insurance company, it's an insurance marketplace. So you can compare quotes from America's top insurers all in one place. Completely free life insurance, home, auto, side by side. No sales pressure, no guesswork.

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[Jill]

That's policygenius.com and now it's time for the lightning round.

[Jen]

You know another way people get more for less is because the manufacturer is taking advantage of more natural resources and being more exploitative. So that's another way. And I know that that's not what you wanted, but anyways, what's the best decision you've personally made with unexpected money? Jill, you should go first.

[Jill]

Honestly, it was debt pay down. As I think about some of the various unexpected cash that we've received over the years, I never really do much fun things with it. I'M so sorry. I always have just like big problems

[Jen]

in my life and it's just not that fun. Life is so hard for her, guys.

[Jill]

Life is so hard for me. It's not even the trucks making me need to turn around in intersections. Okay. It's the debt. And there was one year. I have talked about this before on the podcast, but it's been a while where Eric's parents decided that they wanted us to receive money now, not when they're dead. And so they gave each child of theirs. They got three boys and each one had spout have spouses, so each couple $4,000, which was so fun. And she had such a blast with it putting money. And of course she got smaller bills, like hundred dollar bills. So she was, you know, putting it on our chairs and then under our napkins and under the plate. So throughout the Christmas dinner, we just kept finding money.

[Jen]

Did somebody make out with more than 4,000?

[Jill]

No, no, no. I know it was risky. She really had to plan this thing out for sure.

[Jen]

Wow, she is truly a saint.

[Jill]

Yeah, it was very fun. So that was, that is. That's a lot of money. And at the time we had a lot of debt. I will say we did spend some of it on a nice camera because we thought we were going to become video bloggers. And there's some evidence of that on YouTube.

[Jen]

You'll have to really search for it. But it is there. It is public.

[Jill]

There's a couple of videos we put out thinking we were going to do that. We kept it for a long time. I don't regret that camera purchase, but that felt like a big purchase. And we put all the rest of it towards debt. And that took a huge chunk out. That significantly reduced the amount of time that we were paying down debt because we were on such a fixed and tight income that that was so relieving. That was a huge problem for me that we were working towards fixing.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

How about for you?

[Jen]

Okay. For me, I solved a problem. I got our book advance. We each got an advance, which wasn't

[Jill]

unexpected money, but it probably felt like.

[Jen]

Yeah, it was. I mean, I don't think all extra money, like unplanned is like totally unexpected. Like, like $4,000 from your in laws. But even a tax refund you kind of know is coming.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

So I used our very first little bonus to get Lasik.

[Jill]

I remember that. How many? That would have been me two years ago, three years. I did drive you. It was so fast. I the the office. Because everyone who does Lasik Needs to be driven afterwards. And so they've got this whole waiting room for the drivers. And it had snacks and drinks. And I sit down thinking, oh man. Okay, I'm gonna pull out my laptop. I'm gonna go see the snack bin. We're just gonna have ourselves a fun little time. I didn't even hardly have time to sit down before you were walking back out, like, okay, let's go. I didn't even get my snacks. It was so fast.

[Jen]

Like under.

[Jill]

Under five minutes.

[Jen]

Yeah, yeah. It was crazy. And so like now I can see without contacts or glasses. And it's so wonderful. Yeah. And I love it. So it's not for everyone, but maybe it should be. I am so glad I did.

[Jill]

And it lasts forever. You are just good now. Your eyes just work.

[Jen]

My eyes just work. I know. I don't know how it works. Yeah, but man, I'm glad it works. I'm so glad it works. Yeah, yeah. We did get. We got like a 2000$. I closed out a whole life policy when we were paying off debt and I put that towards my debt and that was a good chunk. So like, yeah, I have used it for low interest debt for sure. And that's a step four thing.

[Jill]

Speaking of our book and things that

[Jen]

work, the reason I got my extra cash, some of you have read it

[Jill]

and have left us such kind reviews. Like this one from Elise, five stars. The description nailed it when they said this is a relatable personal finance guide about how to control impulse spending. If you are battling the ever mounting pressure of consumerism and are struggling to keep up with the Joneses on social media, I highly recommend this book. A few of my key takeaways. We know social media is a highlight reel, but that hasn't stopped it from fueling the idea that the grass is greener on the other side. Perfect doesn't exist. Also, it is an illusion that more money will solve our pet spending problems. In fact, more money gives more fuel to spending problems. And finally, global consumption of fast fashion has increased by 400% in the last 20 years and 85% of textiles end up in landfills. I love that you highlighted these takeaways, Elise.

[Jen]

Yeah, you got some of my favorite takeaways too. Honestly, like, these are some good ones. But if you haven't read the book, you should just read the book or listen to the audiobook to get all of the takeaways. They're all very good. You can get it from your library, the Hoopla or Libby app. You can also go to buywhatyoulovebook.com to get your own copy of it. And we would be so appreciated if you have read it, if you'd leave a review on Amazon, whether you have or not, if you would subscribe to this YouTube channel, even if you're listening on audio, just popping over for a minute, hit subscribe, go back to where you came from and and it helps us spread this message further and, and wider. So we are so hopeful that more people are coming, becoming disenfranchised with overconsumption and are looking for a different way. But the leaf doesn't turn over overnight and our content is to help people make that transition. So please subscribe, leave a comment, get the book and we will see you next time.

[Jill]

Bye.

[Jen]

Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirian Money.

[Jill]

Okay, Jen, what amount of money in day, in a windfall, let's say, would you need right now? What would be enough to solve your problems?

[Jen]

To solve my, to solve my problems? Girl, I got a lot more problems now than I did back then. I don't know.

[Jill]

Oh no, it's like not even countable.

[Jen]

Well, okay, what are my problems? My house is 90% done. So I would hire somebody to finish the last 10% and that's not cheap, but I don't know how much it is. And then I think I have a, a time problem, not a. No, I don't have a time problem. I have an effort problem is that I don't want to put effort in to things like cleaning and mowing the lawn and laundry. And so I would hire somebody to do all of those things.

[Jill]

Okay, I think you're under misunderstanding question.

[Jen]

Those are my. Well, you ask me, I've seen my problems. And I'm telling you, Jill, you don't get to define my problems.

[Jill]

So true, so true. But here's the thing you're describing. Becoming independently wealthy, not just a windfall happens to you. And it's as if, oh, that's enough to wipe out some of these things.

[Jen]

I have to pay my taxes,

[Jill]

so there you go. You were dreaming real big though there a second ago. I'm so sorry, did I pop your balloon?

[Jen]

Well, no, it was never a balloon to be popped. Like, I just, I live with problems.

[Jill]

I want a finished renovated home. I would like a housemaid and a nanny and a butler.

[Jen]

I didn't say all that. I just somebody to clean my house

[Jill]

everywhere, watch your children.

[Jen]

You know what? You're inflating what I want, but it

[Jill]

does sound good, right? When I say it all.

[Jen]

Of course it sounds good. It sounds great. But I'm a. I wouldn't say I'm a salt of the earth kind of girl, but I.

[Jill]

Your spice of it.

[Jen]

I'm also, like, not living in a glass house or ivory tower or whatever. Whatever the opposite of that euphemism is.

[Jill]

I don't know if it's a euphemism.

[Jen]

Words are hard. It's not an onomatopoeia that's like, boom.

[Jill]

What are we even saying anymore? I don't even know how we got here.

[Jen]

Turn it off.

[Jill]

Okay, so you just. You want to pay your taxes?

[Jen]

All right, I want to pay my taxes.