Listen to This to Shape The Future of Frugal Friends

Summary

Frugal Friends Podcast

Episode: Listen to This to Shape The Future of Frugal Friends

Hosts: Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni | Backyard Ventures

Release Date: April 24, 2026

---

Overview

This special episode marks the 8-year anniversary of the Frugal Friends Podcast. Jen and Jill reflect on their journey—celebrating milestones, sharing favorite memories, and inviting input from their listeners to help shape the future direction of the show. With laughter, nostalgia, and genuine gratitude, they highlight the podcast’s impact on their lives (and listeners’), discuss shifting to video content, and detail upcoming changes and opportunities for community involvement.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Eight Years of Frugal Friends (01:27–06:00)

• Jen and Jill celebrate 8 years of the podcast, reminiscing about how their catchphrase and sign-on have become tradition.
• Festive vibes: Bubbles and streamers mark the occasion—and prompt some playful chaos.
  • Quote: “And it is hard to believe that we have been saying that for eight years.” (Jen, 01:27)
• They tease stories and invite listeners to participate in defining the podcast’s future.
• Setting a new goal: Reach 10,000 YouTube subscribers by Jen’s birthday (May 9th).

2. Favorite Memories from the Show (03:17–14:39)

• Star Wars Christmas Special Parody:
  • Jen’s favorite memory is recreating the Star Wars Christmas special intro for a podcast holiday episode.
    • Memorable Quote: “Our only hope now is to parody a train wreck. But how are we gonna find what compares to the train wreck 2020 has been?” (Jen, 06:45)
  • Jill wasn’t sure if everyone would get the reference but appreciated the fun.
• Bill of the Week Origins:
  • Jill recalls brainstorming while driving: “The Bill of the Week has stuck” (Jill, 08:23)
  • A personal story: Trying to get Jen’s son Kai to say “bill” as his first word—eventually he says “Bob,” captured on tape.
• Personal Life Interwoven:
  • Jen reveals Jill was the first to know she was pregnant—with recording happening just after learning the news. They reflect on how the podcast has shaped both their personal and professional lives.
  • Quote: “Frugal Friends has been life-changing for me in so many ways, that isn’t just the things that we’re recording constantly.” (Jill, 12:04)
• Their Career Mindset:
  • Jen shares her complicated feelings about introducing herself as a podcast host. She values the multidimensional nature of her work, not just the “podcaster” title.

3. Listener Stories: The Podcast’s Impact (14:39–21:54)

• Jen surprises Jill with recorded messages from listeners who:
  • Paid off student loans and car, bought a house—thanks to the podcast’s financial tips.
  • Gained confidence building emergency funds and saving for retirement.
  • Find joy and relatability in the hosts’ honesty and camaraderie.
  • Notable Listener Quote: “You guys could recite the alphabet or nursery rhymes and I would love listening because you’re just so fun.” (Listener 3, 16:40)
• The hosts discuss the value of connection, emphasizing the importance of moving to YouTube for more engagement and deeper relationships with their community.

4. Embracing Change: Why Video, Why YouTube? (19:05–21:54)

• Transition to YouTube was a strategic choice—focusing on long-form video over fleeting social media trends.
• Authenticity over “finfluencer” short-form content: Jen and Jill value the effectiveness and personal connection possible through longer, more meaningful episodes.
• The shift to video is costly and logistically challenging, but they believe it results in a more impactful show.

5. Looking Ahead: Becoming CFPs & The Importance of Trusted Guidance (24:27–30:15)

• Both Jen and Jill are pursuing Certified Financial Planner (CFP) credentials to offer trustworthy, accessible financial planning to everyday listeners.
• They critique the growing risks in influencer finance, including the use of AI-generated (and often inaccurate) content and the acceptance of risky brand partnerships by large creators.
  • Jen calls out the trend: “You’ve got big influencers… telling their audience… to invest in gold… I guarantee if you go to your financial planner as a 30-year-old woman and ask, ‘Should I be investing in gold?’ I do not think that is the first thing that they are going to tell you to invest in.” (Jen, 26:58)

6. Community Involvement: Shaping Future Content (34:04–41:50)

• Jen and Jill solicit input from listeners on future content ideas:
  • Frugal wins and fails
  • Listener Q&A and real reader budgets
  • Money and no-spend challenges
  • Grocery/food episodes
  • Social commentary and “de-influencing” content
  • Reacting to viral/social media videos
  • Interviews (with experts or YouTubers)
  • The return of past series like “Sunday Reset,” with updates via the Friend Letter and themed episodes
  • Book club, 30-day experiments, deeper dives into psychology/history of consumerism
• Directly address the monetization of the podcast—why they need continued audio downloads and how shifting from iHeart to Backyard Ventures gave them more control over sponsorships.
  • Quote: “We’re supposed to say yes to like 80% of the offers and I think we probably only say yes to like 60%.” (Jill, 31:27)
• Multiple examples given of what they tried, what worked, and what fell flat—with a request for honest feedback.

7. Ongoing Show Traditions (43:42–46:15)

• Bill of the Week is confirmed as a permanent segment—listener submissions keep the tradition alive.
• A listener shares a win on negotiating a medical bill—saving 25% with a full payment. Advice: Always call and ask for a discount or payment option.
  • Quote: “They always want you to pay in full and they will incentivize it most of the time.” (Jen, 45:04)
• Jill references a past episode as the “holy grail” for saving on medical bills.

8. Lightning Round: Where Do You See Yourself in Ten Years? (48:13–54:42)

• Jen longs to be more embedded in her local community post-CFP, developing more in-person relationships.
  • Quote: “I want to be embedded in my community. I want to be known around town… But I will also now have something to offer people face to face.” (Jen, 48:42, 50:16)
• Jill jokingly says she wants to be retired but nods to her driven nature and joy in helping others. She’s excited about combining social work training with financial planning.
  • Quote: “My true north is I really find deep purpose and enjoyment in helping people, whether that was in my previous social work career, now with this podcast…” (Jill, 51:55)
• Both value their partnership and lifelong work together—comparing their business relationship to marriage longevity stats.
  • Quote: “I must work with Jill forever on what we do. Like, if you do something different, I’m coming.” (Jen, 53:41)
• They muse humorously over what the future holds, embracing reinvention but looking forward to a long-term collaboration.

---

Memorable Quotes & Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |-----------|-------|---------| | 01:27 | “And it is hard to believe that we have been saying that for eight years.” | Jen | | 06:45 | “Our only hope now is to parody a train wreck. But how are we gonna find what compares to the train wreck 2020 has been?” | Jen | | 08:23 | “The Bill of the Week has stuck.” | Jill | | 12:04 | “Frugal Friends has been life-changing for me in so many ways, that isn’t just the things that we’re recording constantly.” | Jill | | 16:40 | “You guys could recite the alphabet or nursery rhymes and I would love listening because you’re just so fun.” | Listener 3 | | 26:58 | “You’ve got big influencers… telling their audience… to invest in gold… I guarantee if you go to your financial planner as a 30-year-old woman and ask, ‘Should I be investing in gold?’ I do not think that is the first thing that they are going to tell you to invest in.” | Jen | | 31:27 | “We’re supposed to say yes to like 80% of the offers and I think we probably only say yes to like 60%.” | Jill | | 45:04 | “They always want you to pay in full and they will incentivize it most of the time.” | Jen | | 48:42 | “I want to be embedded in my community. I want to be known around town… But I will also now have something to offer people face to face.” | Jen | | 53:41 | “I must work with Jill forever on what we do. Like, if you do something different, I’m coming.” | Jen |

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:27 – Anniversary celebration, goals for YouTube and community involvement
• 03:17 – Sharing and reminiscing on favorite show moments and how the podcast intersects with life
• 14:39 – Listener call-ins sharing the impact of the show
• 19:05 – Reflecting on the move to video and building deeper connections
• 24:27 – Plans to become CFPs and thoughts on trust in financial advice
• 34:04 – Soliciting listener feedback for future show directions
• 43:42 – “Bill of the Week” and another listener win
• 48:13 – Lightning Round: Personal visions for the next ten years
• 53:41 – Enduring partnership and reflections on future work together

---

Call to Action for Listeners

• Help define the future: Share ideas for new episodes, segments, and challenges. Provide feedback on what content you enjoy (or don’t).
• Biggest money struggle: Share what’s challenging for you right now and be specific—it helps tailor episodes to listener needs.
• What got you to subscribe or keeps you listening: Especially if you’re new—what “hooked” you? If you’re a longtime friend, why do you stay?
• Comment on YouTube: The best way to interact and participate in shaping the show.

---

Closing Thoughts

This episode is equal parts celebration, reflection, and an earnest invitation for listener collaboration. Jen and Jill reaffirm their commitment to authenticity, transparency, and actionable advice in personal finance—plus a healthy dose of humor and heart. As they look ahead to new qualifications and podcasting adventures, they intend to keep Frugal Friends growing in partnership with their community.

---

Next steps for listeners:

• Leave feedback in YouTube comments (episode link in show notes/description)
• Subscribe to the podcast/channel
• Submit your "Bill of the Week" or a story of financial transformation
• Sign up for the Friend Letter for additional resources (frugalfriendspodcast.com)
• Share your biggest financial hurdle so they can help address it in future episodes

---

Production Note: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Searing.

Transcript

[Ad Voice 4]

Insurance isn't one size fits all. That's why customers have enjoyed Progressive's name your price tool for years now. With the name your price tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they'll show you options that fit your budget. So whether you're picking out your first policy or just looking for something that works better for you and your family, they make it easy to see your options. Visit progressive.com, find a rate that works for you with the name your price tool. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law

[Ad Voice 5]

when it's time to scale your business, it's time for Shopify. Get everything you need to grow the way you want.

[Jill]

Like all the way.

[Ad Voice 5]

Stack more sales with the best converting checkout on the planet. Track your cha chings from every channel right in one spot and turn real time reporting into big time opportunities. Take your business to a whole new level. Switch to Shopify. Start your free trial today.

[Jen]

Listen to this to shape the future of Frugal Friends.

[Narrator/Producer]

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

[Jen]

Welcome Frugal Friends. I'm Jen.

[Jill]

I'm Jill.

[Jen]

And it is hard to believe that we have been saying that for eight years. This is our eight year anniversary episode. I know we had our 600th episode a few weeks ago, but we wanted to do a special something for our eighth anniversary and so we're going to be looking back at some things. We're going to be reminiscing and we got streamers which if you're an og, you'll know where these are from. But we will tell you. And yeah, we're also going to invite you to be part of the next phase of Frugal Friends.

[Jill]

Yeah, we want to give you all a chance too to help define what the future is going to look like because we don't plan on stopping. My friends, we are really loving what we're doing and we're going to give you opportunities to help us understand what could we be doing better? What do you want to see more of? And if you're wondering what what is this luxurious hot pink wall between Jen and I?

[Jen]

Stay tuned for that.

[Jill]

Yes, we'll tell you.

[Jen]

Stick with us, we'll explain it.

[Jill]

But just know that we out here celebrating. Okay. Oh, with bubbles. Look at that. Okay, only if you're on YouTube.

[Jen]

Don't.

[Jill]

And subscribing when you see the bubbles.

[Jen]

A horrible decision for me Woo.

[Jill]

Eight years.

[Jen]

I got it. I got there. I am sticky now.

[Jill]

All right, well, that was fun. At various points throughout the episode with

[Jen]

two children, I would be a pro at bubbles, but I'm still bad. I'm still. Oh, it's. Oh, only one bubble came out of that one.

[Jill]

All right, well, Lolly, blow bubbles. Jen, what are some of your favorite podcast memories?

[Jen]

Well, first, a future memory that I have not had yet, but expect to have is us reaching 10,000 subscribers on YouTube. And we need you to do that. You listening or watching this episode are the real ones, and that means you need to be subscribed because we're not getting any less unhinged and we're not getting any less involved in your spending life. So if those are things, if those are lines and boundaries you want to blur with us, you gotta subscribe.

[Jill]

Get involved.

[Jen]

Get. We want to be involved, and we want you to be involved. So please. My birthday is May 9, which is coming up, and so I would love to have 10,000 subscribers on the show by May 9th. And I won't know if we've done it because we're recording episodes early on, but.

[Jill]

But if we do hit it, we're gonna celebrate. We'll probably do a birthday celebration on Instagram.

[Jen]

You let us know on this episode what you'd like us to do to celebrate 10,000 subscribers.

[Ad Voice]

Oh.

[Jill]

Oh, yeah, Jen.

[Jen]

And I'm giving all the people no parameters to that. I want you to give us your best, most unhinged ideas and no parameters. So. Okay. Favorite podcast memories over the last eight years. Okay, so my favorite. And I want us to try and find clips of this. You're the episode girl, so I'm gonna put that on you. I will find the social media clips.

[Jill]

Oh, my.

[Jen]

This particular is one I want you to find, and it is the Star Wars Christmas episode.

[Jill]

Do you remember that? It's just the audio, though.

[Jen]

I know it's just the audio, which is fine.

[Jill]

I mean, you just want us to stop and listen to the audio of it.

[Jen]

Yeah. It can be without our faces, obviously, since we don't have it up. But we did a. We do a Christmas kind of episode every year. And I was really like, I do like Star wars, but one year I was, like, set on. We have to recreate the Star Wars Christmas special as like, for our Christmas special. And so we did recreate the intro.

[Jill]

Okay, so if we find it here it is.

[Jen]

Because of the following special program.

[Jill]

Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk will

[Jen]

not be presented this evening. That's It. We're not doing an episode.

[Jill]

I know you've been waiting for the listener special.

[Jen]

I know it's an important episode.

[Jill]

All right, we'll give it a try. But it's Christmas. I don't know what we can do differently to get people to listen.

[Jen]

Our only hope now is to parody a train wreck. But how are we gonna find what compares to the train wreck 2020 has been?

[Jill]

Great idea. We'll have people listening to this episode. No problem. Stand by. Let's give them a show they can't help but play on Christmas. And if we didn't find it. Yeah, that was just like a moment of silence.

[Jen]

So I still think about it. So such a good. And I don't know why I love that so much, but I do.

[Jill]

I mean, for people who like Star wars, it's great. I had no idea. I'm like, well, people get this. Well, people understand it and some did. So I'm glad that we did it.

[Jen]

But it's an iconic opening to any Christmas special, and I'm so glad we were able to recreate it. Well, that's okay. That's one of mine. What's one of yours?

[Jill]

For me, it's a little bit more generalized. For my favorite parts of Frugal Friends or my favorite memories, I think the bill of the week. But of course, I have the recollection of the origin of coming up with the bill of the week, of us hanging out, driving in the car, just imagining what would be the aspects of this podcast, what would make it unique and fun, and coming up with the bill of the week idea and thinking at that stage of we'll probably have tons of ideas. Some will stick, some won't. But the bill of the week has stuck.

[Jen]

And I think that makes sense for episode one. Like Bill of the Week, it was synonymous. It was like Frugal Friends is the name. Bill of the Week is the segment from hour one.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

That's what the show was built around, literally. The name and the bill of the

[Jill]

week, which also leads to an adjacent frugal friend's memory of Kai when he was a baby just learning to talk. We were driving to your in laws u pick farm and Eric and I were sitting in the back next to Kai in his car seat trying to get him to say words. You were both trying to get him to say mom and dad, and that just wasn't happening. We were trying to get him to say Bill, and that also wasn't happening. So I'm like, wouldn't it be so Great. If Kai's first word was Bill, that'd be amazing.

[Jen]

Looking back on it after eight years, that would have been so amazing.

[Jill]

It would have been so amazing. And instead I pivoted, thinking, you know what, maybe he could say Bob. Bob is Bill adjacent. And so I'm like, kai, say Bob. Say Bob. And he did it. And we got it on video that

[Jen]

we're gonna play that.

[Jill]

We're gonna play that video right about now.

[Jen]

He's looking at you now.

[Listener 1]

Bill of the week.

[Jen]

Bill. Duck Bill. Buffalo Bill. This is the Bill of the week. Bill.

[Jill]

What's your Bill?

[Jen]

Can you say Bill? Bill. Bill.

[Jill]

Bill.

[Jen]

Bill.

[Listener 1]

Is that the dog's name?

[Jen]

Bill Clinton. That's not funny.

[Narrator/Producer]

That's not funny.

[Jen]

We're not fans of Clinton's. Can you say Bob? Bob.

[Narrator/Producer]

Sorry, Travis. First word.

[Jen]

Eight and a half months long on tape, too. Yep.

[Narrator/Producer]

Bob.

[Jill]

Bob. And so that I thought was just so amazing. And you can tell Travis is, like, a little peeved that that's his first word. I'm sure he's over it by now.

[Jen]

Yeah. He says plenty of words now. And he has said mommy and daddy plenty of times. Yeah. I'm bald. I'm still shocked. There's still a bubble in the air. What is happening?

[Jill]

It's crazy. It's really good soap. Really quality soap.

[Jen]

But, yeah, that was. The fact that we got that on tape is unreal.

[Jill]

Yeah. That, for me, feels like a Frugal Friends related memory.

[Jen]

Well, another Frugal Friends and Kai related memory is that you are the first person I told that I was pregnant.

[Jill]

Yes. Right before we started recording an episode,

[Jen]

I literally found out I was pregnant, like, right before I got on the computer. And this is when you were still living in Pennsylvania. I found out I was pregnant, and then I got on the computer to record.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

And that was. We had only been doing it a couple months because we started in April, and I found out I was pregnant in October of the same year.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

So that was wild.

[Jill]

You know, that's an interesting thing that I haven't really maybe put totally to words is how interconnected Frugal Friends is just with our lives and our friendship. It is one of the main reasons that we moved to Florida. Frugal Friends has been life changing for me in so many ways. That isn't just the things that we're recording constantly.

[Jen]

Yeah. I mean, I never planned to be a podcaster.

[Jill]

No.

[Jen]

And for real, when people ask me what I do, like, podcaster is like, the last thing that I want to say. I will try and think of anything else to say besides podcasts.

[Jill]

I've just leaned in at this point.

[Jen]

I mean, but I'm like, sometimes I'll be like, oh, yeah, Joe Rogan. Another bubble. I'm so sorry. What is happening?

[Jill]

I'm not seeing the bubbles.

[Jen]

This is a chaotic episode. Sometimes I'm like, oh, yeah, Joe Rogan and I are colleagues. I've never met him before, but, yeah, like, that.

[Jill]

We both do the same thing.

[Jen]

I will joke about it.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

But I'm like, I'm sor. So much more than a podcaster.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Like, the podcast is an extension of who we are and the relationship we've built and the expertise we've cultivated. I could also say I'm an author, but I don't really make money from the book.

[Jill]

Right. Yeah. Not anymore.

[Jen]

No. So that's one of the exciting things. Like, we're getting our cfp and we'll be able to say, like, I'm a financial planner, and that feels better to me. And when I tell people in our industry that they. Their jaw drops and they're like, what? They just do not understand that I would, like, not want to tell people I'm a podcaster and an author and a speaker and an influencer, versus I'm a financial planner, which, like, on the other, sounds, like, so boring.

[Jill]

Yeah, you've got your own stuff to work through.

[Jen]

I do have on. You know, it's been eight years and, like I said, still need therapy that I haven't gotten yet.

[Jill]

And as a therapist, I refuse to give it to you. Yeah. I'll just tell you, you need the help.

[Jen]

This is the horrible thing is I have a lot of friends who are therapists, and I'm like, I know so many of them, and I can't get help from any of them. None of them will help me. But it also makes me. I don't know if it should make me feel better that I have. That I am the type of person therapists want to be friends with.

[Jill]

Yes, yes, yes. And then you are our project.

[Jen]

Am I a project or am I healthy? Let me know in the comments if you've been with us for a while, let me know. Okay. So this show has definitely changed our lives, but it has also changed yours. And we invited you to share with us how the show has impacted your life, and we're going to play those now. Oh, are we? This is a surprise for you. I didn't tell you I was doing this.

[Jill]

Whoa. There's a link in here that I Don't remember seeing before. Okay, here we go.

[Listener 2]

I want to thank Frugal Frugal Friends for everything because I discovered your podcast during COVID and it was with your podcast that I was able to pay off my 13,000 student debt at no interest. I saved lots of money and I was also able to pay off our 2023 Honda Pilot and we bought our first house in 2022. And I'm still following all your recommendations. Thanks and have a great day.

[Listener 1]

I love the way Frugal Funds helps me to save either emergency fund or other things like that. I really appreciate all you guys tips and inputs on different topics that you guys share on the show. And I am a subscriber on YouTube. Also really appreciate how you guys talk about topics like emergency funds and other things like that. I thank you so much for your input and I look forward to the new show next month in April when you guys will have a show celebrating your eighth anniversary. All right, you guys take care now. Bye. Bye.

[Listener 3]

Hi, Jen and Jill, Love the podcast. Loved your book. You guys could recite the Alphabet or nursery rhymes and I would love listening to you because you're just so fun. You laugh, you are honest. It's just enjoyable. Keep doing what you're doing. Congrats on going for your CFPs. I hope that that's toast. Easy toast for you. Thank you. Bye.

[Jen]

Oh, that was so sweet.

[Jill]

Yeah,

[Jen]

it's cool to hear your read your comments and stuff and read your reviews and it's even cooler to hear your voices. That's why we like love the bill of the week. But yeah, to know that there are real people like here and listening is such a gift.

[Jill]

Yeah, you all are always hearing our voices, but we don't get to hear your voices. And that just makes it so much more real to know there's another person on the other side of this who what we're putting out regularly is making an impact for and we're getting to hear that more and more now. That's one of the reasons I'm grateful that we're on YouTube now is seeing comments more regularly and knowing the differences that we're making in people's lives. When we were doing the podcast, there was, and we're still doing the podcast, obviously, but when it was audio only, there was still quite a disconnect for me between us just talking in our living room to people listening and making changes. But now I'm starting to feel that integration a lot more. Certainly hearing it again is so beautiful. But now being able to Read the reviews of the book and the reviews of the podcast and the comments on YouTube and starting to hear more and more stories of. I now have an emergency fund. I just started saving for retirement. I was able to make a difficult financial decision that I previously didn't feel confident about. But now you all helped me to know the steps that I should take. And it's just really incredible to realize like something that is fun for us is actually making a difference. So that was so sweet.

[Jen]

Yeah. And, and the move to YouTube was intentional in that it's not just like, oh, YouTube is the next frontier for podcasts. It's that to be able to make a bigger impact in your life, you have to feel connected to us. You can't just hear information, you have to feel connected to us in some way. And so the best way to connect you isn't through audio only, it's through audio and video. And so we had two choices. We came. This is, I mean this is the story of how we came to YouTube. We had two choices. We could transition to like social media influencers and go hard into social media and then have the podcast or we could take the arguably more difficult route of transitioning to a video podcast. And the more we thought about influencer and finfluencer culture and just social media in general. We are not social media people. We don't document our lives, we don't find value in that. And it was just a lot harder and less enjoyable to do that type of short form video that feels like just so pump and dump. And so we position like we pivoted to YouTube because we're just passionate about long form content. Like there is a place for short form content somewhere. But we are really passionate about the effectiveness and, and the connection and the way it can change people's lives. Like much more impactful than short form. And so that's how we got here. And it does make such a big difference. When you're watching somebody, you can see their eyes telling you a story or giving you a tip or like doing something and that I do feel like we've just heard so many more stories in the past year since we've been in video than we have ever before. And I think it's that connection and I think we can cultivate that connection without creating these weird parasocial relationships that social media kind of like get.

[Jill]

Yeah. And we still are on social media, but yeah, where our focus is, yeah, YouTube, we are literally there.

[Jen]

So just people know that we're over here. That is why we Are there, in all honesty. But yeah, it's not where our focus is and it's not where we're trying to grow here. We're trying to grow to 10,000 subscribers.

[Jill]

Yeah, we are. Yes, we are.

[Jen]

10,000 in the fam. We have what, like, 24,000 followers? Followers. See, it's even different. It's followers on social media and it's subscribers here. It's. Even the verbiage is different. Don't follow me. Like, subscribe to me, See what I have to say, and then do whatever you want. Follow your own path.

[Ad Voice]

You know that feeling when you find something so good at a thrift store and you're like, wait, how is this still here?

[Jill]

That's kind of what it feels like.

[Ad Voice]

Shopping on Whatnot. It's a live shopping app where you can snag amazing deals in real time.

[Ad Voice 2]

I finally tried it, and now I get the hype. I grabbed a bunch of clothes for my kids. I all of which cost me, with shipping and tax, less than $5 per item and I didn't have to leave my house. I got their summer shopping done secondhand and was even able to chat with the seller live and requested that they list a jacket I saw in the background for me to bid on.

[Jen]

And I got it.

[Ad Voice]

I do enjoy the community aspect. Sellers can show pieces up close, answer questions, and help you figure out sizing. And you're almost never paying full price. We've been using Whatnot and recommend it for getting the things already on your buy list.

[Ad Voice 2]

Download the Whatnot app today and get free shipping on your first order. Just search wh a t n o t whatnot in the app store and start scoring amazing deals. Does anyone else get the urge to reset everything when seasons change? Like, I start cleaning out closets, reorganizing my space, and then I'm like, oh, my finances could use this same energy. That's where Monarch has been so helpful for me lately.

[Ad Voice]

I say let Monarch do your financial spring cleaning for you. One dashboard that gets your entire financial life organized. No more clutter, no more mess, no more scattered logins. Just accounts, investments, property, and more all in one place. Get your first year of Monarch for half off. Just $50 with promo code Frugal.

[Ad Voice 2]

What helps me is seeing where my money is actually going. I thought I was doing fine, but Monarch showed me my savings rate had quietly dropped after a month of lots of springtime activities. Now I check the weekly recap and it flags spending spikes before they get out of hand. I use this and I recommend it for anyone looking for a good budgeting

[Ad Voice]

app, use code [e-mail] to get your first year half off at just $50. That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with code frugal.

[Jill]

That leads us to today and recognizing that the future of what we do isn't just up to us, but there are some things that we are working on. You've already mentioned that both of us are working towards becoming CFPs, certified financial planners, which is the type of designation that we have always recommended from the jump to seek out when you are in need of financial advice, consultation because of their fiduciary responsibility to you to work in your best interest and because of just the breadth of knowledge that they have. And so we're thinking, how great would it be if the people that you've come to know and trust could be that person with a fiduciary responsibility that if you're like, I do need this, who am I gonna go to? We could do that. We could do that for you and at a reasonable price for regular people, not just the super wealthy. And that really excites me. Something accessible for the common person because that's who we all are. We are the common person.

[Jen]

And I think it's becoming increasingly more important to get your financial education from people who have some kind of degree certificate, some kind of educational backing in what they are teaching. And this just like it became. We, we realized this a year ago, but it is becoming more and more obvious that there's new influencers who are just coming out using ChatGPT to create like a year's worth of content and they're just spewing it out. And ChatGPT is useful if you're putting in the knowledge base and it's funneling through what you know the knowledge base is. But if that's not how you're using it, you can't trust it. And it's. You cannot.

[Jill]

I have used it to help explain different things as I've gone through this process. And in some ways it's been helpful, but it has been wrong.

[Jen]

Yep.

[Jill]

More than a handful of times to what the actual content would say. And so that is kind of raising my awareness for. No, we can't just trust AI to be able to create individualized plans for us because it's not always right and it doesn't claim to be. There's always that caveat, Claude, whoever you're using, we can be wrong. You know, do your own research.

[Jen]

Believe someone when they tell you who they are. Okay, so you've got that. And then this is what's worse. And this is, I want you to hear me. If you've checked out, like just come back to me for a minute. This is what is worse. You've got big influencers. I'm talking 1 million-plus followers on social media who now can get sponsorships and brand deals that they could not get as a small time influencer and are taking riskier and riskier, riskier brand deals. There is an influencer with over a million followers who just took a brand deal from the Gold Council is telling their audience of predominantly people in their 20s and 30s, predominantly women in their 20s and 30s to invest in gold, which is not a blanket bad investment. But I guarantee you go to your financial Planner as a 30 year old woman and ask should I be investing in gold? And I do not think that is the first thing that they are going to tell you to invest in. If you go in as like a 70 or 80 year old woman, you might get a different answer. Right? It's just they can get so much money from people in the financial industry for risky things. We all know that recent, like a couple years ago, Dave Ramsey was on blast for promoting Timeshare Exit Team. They got millions of dollars for Timeshare Exit Team that ended up being a scam and scammed people out of a lot of money and they kept promoting it even after reports that it was scamming people. But it's hard to turn down millions and millions of dollars when you have it available to you. And so we're going to see big influencers become more and more, I would

[Jill]

say, unreliable and also recognize that there really can't be any blanket recommendations for what you need. Individually, we talk blanket statements for the broad population about creating a spending plan, about curbing impulse spending and over consumption. But there are unique nitty gritty details that we all do need to be figuring out within our finances, where we need someone to be able to help us through one on one when those circumstances happen. So eventually we will do actually episodes on how to create your own financial plan that'll help us study for the exam to kind of give a sense of this is the or when you should seek out a cfp, what will they do for you? What aspects could you do for yourself? That kind of thing. So we are excited about that. There are things that we have on our radar, but we also want to seek out your input on what you want more of some of the things that we've been Thinking of is certainly wanting to do more YouTube. That is something we've been working on for at least the last year. But we want to see even more opportunity to grow to give you even more of the type of content that you want. We won't be leaving the audio only platform.

[Ad Voice]

We're still here for you.

[Jen]

And in full transparency. Audio is still where we make are living. We need, if you listen on audio, I need you to keep listening on audio.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Because that's how like we are monetizing. You hear ads that we are reading and we switched networks, we were on Iheart and last year we switched to Backyard Ventures and that was so that we could, so we could control our ads more instead of just getting like a lot of ads, you know, for like McDonald's and Starbucks, which if you know how I feel about Starbucks, you like know why I want more control of my ads. We now can do. We can read our own ads for companies and brands and services that we use and love. We've got quints, whatnot, mint, Monarch, chime, policygenius. You know, we have vetted these and you're hearing our voice. Not just some random grab bag. There's still, you know, some grab bag ones in there because we can't book out 100% because we just turned down so many. That's why we can't book 100%.

[Jill]

We're supposed to say yes to like 80% of the offers and I think we probably only say yes to like 60%.

[Jen]

I would say that. Yeah.

[Jill]

So judicious in what we're going to read for. So you can at least know that if we're reading for them, we do think that they're a worthwhile brand.

[Jen]

Yeah. So we, so we made that switch. I forget where I was going with that. But no, we do want you to keep listening on audio if you're already there because that is how we are making our money right now until we are fully certified as financial planners and then we can all come to YouTube and because we would make like what, two or three hundred dollars a month on YouTube. That's like, you know, so yeah, it's helping.

[Jill]

And if we grow then, then that'll be awesome. We want to stick around. But this does cost money for us to do.

[Jen]

Much more expensive to run a video podcast than it is to do an audio podcast.

[Jill]

It's not free. You know, we try and do as much as we possibly can for free, but it is. Yeah, it's still not free.

[Jen]

But like I said, the. I think the video podcast is more effective in helping and you can let us know in the comments, like how you feel about that.

[Jill]

But speaking of doing video, we had done video a ways back. We had done people's individual debt free stories and that's okay. So here's, here's where we're revealing. This is from. This was our background. What's in between us, these hot pink streamers.

[Jen]

We'll have to put. We'll put in a clip of. And I was very pregnant during this. Like, so we're like sitting down and.

[Jill]

Oh yeah.

[Jen]

Out of breath. Sitting back.

[Jill]

Yeah. Here's a little clip from one of our debt Free stories.

[Jen]

We just do like a Go me go Megan.

[Jill]

Yeah, exactly. Thank you.

[Jen]

Welcome to Debt Free Speech Stories. I'm Jen.

[Jill]

I'm Jill.

[Jen]

And we are the co hosts of the Frugal friends podcast and YouTube channel debt free Stories.

[Jill]

It's what we're doing. Yes. So we've come a long way.

[Jen]

I know, right?

[Jill]

Hopefully from that video to this was not. This was not a great background, but I held onto it because, you know, I'm like, maybe I'm going to reuse this.

[Jen]

We didn't even use it for the full series. We took it down midway through. We're like, this is too much.

[Jill]

It was visually too much.

[Jen]

We podcasted Too Close to the sun. Yeah. YouTubed too close to the Sun.

[Jill]

But we're gonna keep doing video. But here's what we want to know from you. What is it that you want to see more of? Whether it's something we've already done or maybe a new idea. So to kind of get the wheels turning, here's some of what we're thinking you might be interested in. But we don't want to waste our time if you're like, nah, Jenna. Jill, that's not where it's at because

[Jen]

we've recorded some that I thought you'd be interested in and it was a waste of time.

[Jill]

So what is it? Do you want to hear about the frugal wins in our lives or listener lives or some of the frugal fails? Do you want us to go through listener questions? Do you want to submit questions to us and have us do some of those Q and A type things? Do you want no. Spend challenges or other types of money challenges? Do you want to see us doing them and giving you our feedback? Grocery and food episodes de influencing content have done a lot of that. We personally enjoy it.

[Jen]

You do. And you love it too. So like, do you want to see kind of like deep dives into a couple social, like social media videos or do you want us to gather like 10 videos and we're just like playing and reacting like so. So let us know what kind of social commentary de influencing content you like to see with the social media videos.

[Jill]

And what about real budgets? So we did just do a budget makeover episode. We are very curious to see how you all respond, react to that if that's something you would want more of. Also interviews. So we've. If you've been around for a while, you've noticed we've really not done interviews in a while and we used to have them every third episode. Then it was just sound bites from people who are expert on a topic. I personally did prefer that more. We've kind of gotten to a place where we feel like we don't need other financial experts on our show. We've been doing this for eight years. We want to bring in people who are talking about things we don't know about. And that did work for a time. But sometimes interviews are exhausting for us. But do you like them?

[Jen]

Logistically it's a little weird like to get it into the episode. But if you miss them, we will do more. And we can like reach out to YouTubers now because we're in a new space. So kind of like, like broadens the availability of interviews too.

[Jill]

We have had a commenter say on a few occasions that they really missed the Sunday reset.

[Jen]

I see that. Yeah.

[Jill]

So if that's also you, I did tell her get a petition signed. We would need to hear that from more than just that person. But if you agree, let us know if the Sunday reset and what you particularly liked about the Sunday reset.

[Jen]

Okay, so here it is. Okay for you specifically. I don't remember her name. Right. But so the Sunday reset started as a way to get onto YouTube when we were still just doing the episodes audio. When we switched over the episodes to audio, it's really too much to be doing three episodes a week for video. It's too much for us. Two is a lot. So we're not going to do a third video every week. But I have scheduled in everybody's favorite friend letter the budget toolkit. So it is always every month, the last Friday of the month we send out in our friend letter. If you're not getting Our Friend Letter, frugalfriendspodcast.com It is a toolkit with what's on sale. What should we be budgeting for? What's produce is in season. So like you can Be cooking. All this is stuff like one money move to make for the month to like get you ahead. Everybody loves that email. That email is going to become a podcast episode on the last Friday of every month. So if that's the type of stuff that you liked in the Sunday reset, it is coming. So tell me also what you want to see in that episode specifically if there's something from the Sunday reset you want incorporated. But that is coming. That is starting I think the last Friday in May.

[Jill]

Okay. So those are all the things that we have done and we're asking, do you want to see more of it? There's also this category of what should we try next that maybe we. We really haven't done. Real listener budgets. We did try it once, so yeah.

[Jen]

But it hasn't come out like yet. So we're not sure how it's going to land.

[Jill]

Okay.

[Jen]

But we did do that one.

[Jill]

Real listener budgets. Frugal Friends react videos.

[Jen]

So that's what I was talking about. Like if we're just gonna play like 10 videos and kind of react to them and give like short tips, we're never gonna be critical of like an influencer or a person in a video. But we could do like a more video in a more react style. Yeah.

[Jill]

Do you want 30 day experiment videos? So yeah, that's like the challenges, that kind of a thing where we've done something for 30 days and then we're talking about it more or just trying out anti over consumption breakdown. So that might be slightly more cerebral where we are kind of digging into the reasonings behind things, the history, more research based, data driven.

[Jen]

I tested the waters with that one with the Edward Bernays episode like the man responsible for why you're broke. And I don't know if it fully landed and I don't know if I could have done something differently with the thumbnail and title to make that land differently or let me know in the comments if you're hearing this and you listen to that video, that episode. If there's something we could have done differently there.

[Jill]

Yeah. Do you want a Frugal Friends book club? Do you want us to talk about a book that we've loved?

[Jen]

That would be something that we could maybe do quarterly, like a book review or something.

[Jill]

Right. Where was a time that we used to do.

[Jen]

We did a book club. That's OG if you're an og. You remember the Frugal Friends book club. And so maybe we could bring that back for. For video.

[Jill]

Yeah. Do you want us to do. We tried this so you don't have to type thing. These are just some brainstorming ideas. If you've got an idea, please let us know.

[Jen]

We love to be inspired in the comments and we also want to know what is your biggest money struggle right now? So we kind of know by what episodes get the most views on audio or listens on audio and views on video. So we want to hear from you though what your biggest struggle is right now. The ones that don't seem to be getting a lot of traction for us are side hustle things and debt payoff related stuff. So we want to know like what's your biggest money struggle right now? Is it impulse spending? Whether that's in clothes? Be specific. Impulse spending on Amazon, social media, clothes at the grocery store? I want you to be specific. Where's your impulse spending struggle? Is it in investing? Investing typically doesn't content doesn't do well for us. But if there's something specific that a lot of people and if you see this comment on the video and you just want to like second it by commenting underneath that comment, then that'll help us know that that's something that a lot of people, if it's got, you know, if it's a comment with like 30 replies that are just seconding, will obviously get that. Is it lifestyle, inflation? Housing motivation? Let us know what your biggest struggles are right now.

[Jill]

We've asked for so many comments and we will read them all. Here's two final questions that we have for you that we would also love to hear. So even if you, if you want to answer all of our questions, feel free, just keep letting us know.

[Jen]

We'll list them all in the description

[Jill]

so you know, if you are new here, what got you subscribed? If you could narrow it down to one to two things, what pushed you over to the edge to finally be like yeah, I'm gonna hit that subscribe button. We'd love to know if you've been around for a while, why do you stay so glad you're still here.

[Jen]

Why are you still here?

[Jill]

No, we love it so much but curious what keeps you around? We have always said we imagine that a frugal friends listener will stay with us for about two years. That's always a two year life cycle goal. And, and not, not just goal, but also just what the research is going to say. But there are also people here who have been with us longer than that. And so we're so glad you're here and we want to know what is it that keeps you because that's probably going to be the secret sauce for us to be aware of.

[Jen]

So if you've been here for less than two years or less than a year, what got you subscribed? If you've been here for like, like a year, more, two years or more, then why do you stay? That's it. So let us know in the comments

[Jill]

something that is not going away. And please don't make a suggestion for we will go away. We will not listen.

[Jen]

Actually, there was a comment that said this was annoying and we were like, oh, yeah, bye.

[Jill]

Yeah, I mean, please stick around if the other stuff is worth it to you. But just know we will never change this about ourselves. It is a part of who we are.

[Jen]

Our DNA.

[Jill]

The bill of the week.

[Narrator/Producer]

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.

[Jen]

Hi, ladies.

[Listener 4]

My bill of the week is a bill from a surgery center that was about $1,100. And just money was tight at the season, so we decided to call. We knew we could negotiate to possibly get a payment plan set up. So I called the office, talked to the billing person to get a payment plan set up. And she put man holds. Then she comes back and offers me, well, you can do the payment plan or if you pay all in full today, we can. You can do it for like $860. And so I was able to get a 25% discount off of this bill simply by calling and inquiring. So that was my bill of the week. And it's nice to save a little bit of cash on a medical bill. Didn't even know this was possible.

[Jill]

Amazing.

[Jen]

Yes. They always want you to pay in full and they will incentivize it most of the time.

[Ad Voice]

Yes.

[Jill]

Make that call.

[Jen]

She said it for me.

[Jill]

I'm learning. Yeah, you don't know until you try. And especially with medical bills, there can be a lot of wiggle room that we might not be totally aware of. And if you are facing a lot of medical bills, I cannot stress enough the episode that we did about how to save on medical bills. It is the holy grail. It gives you a step by step and it has saved so many people so much money. And so I'm so glad that this worked for you. Valerie. Well done making the call. Saving yourself 25%. That's huge. It was hundreds of dollars that you saved on that bill. If you are listening and you have a bill for us because again, we're not stopping so we need, we need, we need your content. Yeah, would love to hear from you. Anything bill related. Frugalfriendspodcast.com bill we can't wait for it.

[Ad Voice]

Okay. You know that feeling when you already found a good deal and then you realize you could have saved even more?

[Jill]

That was me before I started using Rakuten.

[Ad Voice]

Now it's just part of how I shop.

[Ad Voice 2]

Same because with Rakuten you earn cash back in rewards on almost everything you buy. Like I'm already shopping at places like Target, CVS, Chewy and eBay so why wouldn't I get something back for it?

[Ad Voice]

I even used it when booking travel on Expedia.

[Jill]

It's super easy to use.

[Ad Voice]

Just sign up with your email and shop through the app or simply download the free browser extension. Then get your cash back paid out however you want it. Like PayPal or gift cards.

[Jill]

I've been using Rakuten for years now

[Ad Voice]

and think everyone should have it downloaded.

[Ad Voice 2]

Join for free at frugalfriendspodcast.com rakuten or download the Rakuten app to start saving money today. Spring always makes me want to simplify everything. My schedule, my house, even what's for dinner. The last thing I want on a busy night is to try and figure out what to cook. That's why Butcherbox has been such a game changer for me.

[Ad Voice]

For over a decade. Butcherbox has led the industry with meat and seafood that's antibiotic free, hormone free and independently verified. Because when it comes to fueling your body, quality isn't extra. It's everything. Clean whole, whole protein means better support for strength, metabolism and that steady all day energy we're all chasing.

[Ad Voice 2]

I ordered my go to proteins which included their organic chicken breast and grass fed ground beef which helps me to make a simple meal plan, know what's for dinner each night and move on.

[Ad Voice]

As an exclusive offer, new listeners can get their choice between chicken breast or top sirloin for a year or ground beef for life plus $20 off when you go to butcherbox.com frugal that's right, your choice of chicken breast or top sirloin for a year or ground bee for life plus $20 off your first box and free shipping. As always, that's butcherbox.com frugal don't forget to use our link so they know we sent you and now it's time

[Jen]

for the lightning round, which I initially tried to get cut from the show so many years ago, and I gave up. It's a fight. I gave up. I usually give up all my fights, and that's fine. Okay.

[Jill]

You will say no, but eventually you'll say yes because you're too worn down and you're too tired.

[Jen]

I am too tired. Yes. I have been too capable and too rich for too long. Just kidding. Okay, that was a joke from last episode. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

[Jill]

Go for it.

[Jen]

Okay.

[Jill]

I

[Jen]

have been saying this a lot lately because it has been something that I've been meditating on, but I guess maybe it should be a question where you see yourself in eight years, but 8 and 10 are probably the same. I want to be embedded in my community. I want to be known around town, not by everyone, but, like, when you have a national podcast, you're kind of, like, well known to a lot of people, but also to no one. Nobody. Like here, I could walk into rooms and no one would know me. And I just want to be more embedded in the community and have more relationships, more people to call with, with questions, more people to know if I attend events. Attend events. You know, you want to be the

[Jill]

person who attends stuff. You want to have a gala dress.

[Jen]

I want to go out and do things. Like, you've, like I said, you've done more things in the past week than I have done this whole year.

[Jill]

I don't even know that that's true. Your weekends are pretty packed.

[Jen]

Yeah, but they're not, like, in the community. They're, like, doing stuff with our kids, you know, So I want to be embedded in the community, and I think adding the financial planning component will allow me to do that. I can still see people across the country and like our frugal friends community virtually. But I will also now have something to offer people face to face. Like, you can't really podcast with a person face to face. It's just.

[Jill]

No, it doesn't work for us. We don't have.

[Jen]

We don't have people behind the camera watching us podcast. So this is something that I can become more embedded in the local community. Yeah, Jill

[Jill]

retired. Let's be real. I want to be retired.

[Jen]

I've only got her for nine years.

[Jill]

No, that's what I want. It's just always what I say. But in reality, I'm a little busy bee. I don't want to just be sitting around in the true sense of retirement.

[Jen]

But retirees don't just Sit around. Jill, we're gonna have a retiree in the comments saying, I don't sit around.

[Jill]

Right. That's so true. Right.

[Jen]

You'll have more time for beach cleanups.

[Jill]

I'm not a person who looks that far into the future because currently where I'm at my 10 year ago self never could have. Never could have. But I am obviously working towards something. So I suppose I hope that I get the CFP. So I hope that by 10 years from now I have attained that.

[Jen]

Shout out to Brett Danko, who is going to save us.

[Jill]

Yeah. He's gonna help us pass.

[Jen]

He is going to save us.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

I

[Jill]

kind of. If it looks similar to how life looks now, it's not too bad, honestly. Dream big. You know, I want to Disney cruise like my life.

[Jen]

That's my big dream.

[Jill]

So I hope that. I hope in 10 years, I like my life that I am helping people.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

Like, I think my true north is I really find deep purpose and enjoyment in helping people, whether that was in my previous social work career. Now with this podcast, I think your

[Jen]

social work background and your CFP background are gonna just like make you. I think so too, a dynamo in financial planning.

[Jill]

That would be so lovely.

[Jen]

I think I'm gonna have to fight you for clients. Everyone's gonna wanna see you.

[Jill]

No.

[Jen]

And I'm gonna have to be like, hey, I'm fun.

[Jill]

I think I was watching somebody recently talk about getting the CFP or what is it like to work in the business? And they said it's 80% people skills, 20% technical skills. I was like, that's great.

[Jen]

That's what we wanna hear.

[Jill]

That's so great. So I'll be the 80%. And she's sobering them in all schmooze them. And you can handle all the technical stuff.

[Jen]

I'm sorry. I like to talk to people and maybe part of the reason I'm not embedded in the local community is I maybe struggle with talking to people. I'm better at talking at microphones and cameras.

[Jill]

You are actually really great at like networking and knowing people. Like, there is. No, I'm not. I am joking.

[Jen]

But there is a smidge of truth to your joke.

[Jill]

Mostly in that there will be plenty for you to do because there's gonna be plenty that I don't wanna do and vice versa.

[Jen]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I. There's so much that you do that I. That I would just not do.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

It would just not get done and then the IRS would come round and it would be a mess.

[Jill]

Do you know what I also love about what we are doing is that we are continuing to say whatever it is we do next, we're doing it together.

[Jen]

Oh, that was never a question. I can't work alone and I can't work with anybody else. Yeah. These are two non negotiables for me moving forward.

[Jill]

I just merged.

[Jen]

I must work with Jill forever on what we do. Like, if you do something different, I'm coming.

[Jill]

Right. If we both become circus artists, it's what we're both doing.

[Jen]

I'm coming. I'll have to be able to work from home at the circus.

[Jill]

But now we are just merging. Now we both live in St. Pete. Now we both have a podcast, we both have an office. We both are pursuing the same education and certification.

[Jen]

We're both moving into the same room.

[Jill]

Oh, but that's. I mean, eight years in and to be like, the next business that we do is still going to be together. That's huge. It's honestly probably why you're sticking around. I can probably answer the question. I think probably is because. Because we're truly friends and I think that comes through.

[Jen]

Yeah. People are gonna be like, yeah. I think you guys feel like real friends. I don't know if you are, but, like, you feel like it. You're like good actors. I'm not actually a good actor at all. You can, like, read my face very instantly. Whatever is in reality.

[Jill]

Yeah. So, well, thank you everyone for being here again. Of course, this was a celebratory episode, so we know this one's not gonna get a lot of views or listens. But those of you who have been here, it's because care about the podcast and maybe it has helped you and you want to weigh in. So please do. Please weigh in. Give us your feedback in the YouTube comments. So, yeah, it is going to require you audio only listeners to pop over and answer these things in the YouTube. Doesn't mean that that's where you now have to consume Frugal Friends. It's just how we're going to hear what you have to say. And one of the ways that we hear what you have to say is through your kind reviews of our book Buy what yout Love Without Going Broke. This one comes from. Oh, y.

[Jen]

Don't ask if we have another book coming out.

[Jill]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jen]

The answer is no.

[Jill]

No. We're working on our cfp. That's our next baby. This one comes from frugal friend number 12397 12,397. We've got so Many of you we do this says Helping me save.

[Ad Voice]

I have read several finance books in

[Jill]

the last few years now that I am an independent adult learning how to enjoy life while also saving and investing for my future. I think this book was a great resource and addition to my knowledge brain. As someone who has followed the Frugal Friends email chain for a while, I feel that the book took the things I have learned simply from the emails and dove even deeper into some great tips for me to enjoy life and not deprive myself while also being responsible. I actually am moving apartments soon and feel that some things I learn in this book are going to help me discern better and plan better for how to make my move move and decorate to my liking without breaking the bank. I am glad I read it. Thank you authors.

[Jen]

Well, thank you frugal friend number 12,397. That is about how many listeners we get per episode. So that could be you. It could be the last download and if you have enjoyed the show, read the book, benefited from Frugal Friends at all. The best ways that you can help us is help us spread this message of conscious consumption and intentional consumption further and wider. Let's normalize this. Let's let this be the way we operate on autopilot and not the other way. That has not been working for us. And so the best way you can help us spread that message subscribe to the channel, leave a review for the book on Amazon and leave a comment on this video with what you would like to see. Because I'm sure if you would like to see it, There are like 10 other people who would like to see it too. So we do give weight to people who share their feedback.

[Jill]

See you next time.

[Jen]

Bye. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Searing.

[Jill]

Jen Jill we have nearly outlasted the average marriage in the U.S.

[Jen]

well, I think one of our strengths is that we're also. We've also both been married like 10 plus years.

[Jill]

Is that what it means not to each other, being able to the average length of a marriage. Oh no. Okay. The average length of a marriage that ends in a divorce is approximately eight to nine years. Okay. However, the median duration for all marriages, including those that end in death, is 20 to 22. All right. Got more to go.

[Jen]

Okay. Wow. That's a lot of commitment. Even Travis and I didn't say till death do us part. We gave each other 50 years. We were like, let's really?

[Jill]

Did you really? In your vows?

[Jen]

Yeah, I think we might have said, I think we might have said the traditional vows. We did our own vows too, but we were just joking the whole night. Like, we're gonna give this a good 50 years and see what happens.

[Jill]

That's so funny. Yeah. Okay. So how old would you be? 50 years from the age that you got married.

[Jen]

76.

[Jill]

And pack. I mean, you'd still be in your prime at 76.

[Jen]

I know. You'll probably be dead is what I'm thinking. This is the. That's the.

[Jill]

That's how you're pre planning.

[Jen]

Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see. Yeah, well, we'll see what happens.

[Jill]

I. I could see us being together for.

[Jen]

For 20 years, I think, especially if there is a time. So I don't know if I want

[Ad Voice 2]

to be online forever.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Is the thing. I love this podcast and I love what we talk about, but when I think about whether I want to be

[Ad Voice 2]

doing it in 10 years, I'm not sure.

[Jill]

We might not be relevant anymore.

[Jen]

Yeah. I don't know. But I do want to be working with you.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Because it's the only way I can nail you down. You're so busy.

[Jill]

That's not true. I am so available. You just have kids that you have

[Jen]

to put to bed. I know I'm unavailable is the thing. So I realized that I'm almost out of that phase, though.

[Jill]

Yeah. And then you're gonna be embedded in the community. In bed with everyone in the community.

[Jen]

I think you're reading.

[Jill]

I take it back. I take it back. It didn't land well.

[Jen]

Yeah, when I'm 76. Jill, wait. I'm waiting till I'm 76, right?

[Jill]

Yes.

[Jen]

But other before then, I'll just be, you know, hanging out. Out with people in the community.

[Jill]

That is weird to acknowledge. Like, for how long we've had business together, we will probably be hanging out. When we're 76. What will we be like?

[Jen]

The same.

[Jill]

We're not changing. We're locked in.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

This is it now for the rest

[Jen]

of life, this is what you get.

[Jill]

This is.

[Jen]

This is what I have always been, and this is what I will always be.

[Jill]

Like, how many years retired do you think we will be by the time we're 76?

[Jen]

Probably 16.

[Jill]

That was quick math.

[Jen]

Or 14.

[Jill]

You think you'll retire? 60, 62. Nope, that's not how that math works. 64.

[Jen]

I will go around the age Social Security becomes available to me, if it is available to me.

[Jill]

Me.

[Jen]

But we'll see. Life is short.

[Ad Voice 2]

And it's long.

[Jill]

And it's long. I think life is long. Yeah. We have decades of career left.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

And that feels daunting, but we're going to do it. How many more times will we change what we do? Because we were also talking about this. You have a master's degree, and we're a certified acupuncturist. Me, too. I'm still a licensed clinical social worker, which required hours of experience, like, thousands of hours of experience. Supervision. An exam board certified. And I'm just like, yeah, I could have my own practice, but now I'm gonna go do this other thing that requires thousands of hours of experience. Education exam.

[Jen]

You'll use your LCSW way more in practice as a csp.

[Jill]

Yeah. It still will serve me, but it makes me wonder, will I try and reinvent myself again?

[Listener 4]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Throw him a plot twist.

[Jill]

Yeah, we'll see. I don't know. Right now I feel tired. Right now I feel like if I get the cfp, somebody stop me. Like, we're done.

[Jen]

Oh, yeah.

[Jill]

Exams.

[Jen]

I'll stop you, okay? I'll stop you for sure. I'll put some sourdough starter in front of you, and you'll forget all about it.

[Jill]

Oh, that is all I want to do. I just want to make pretzels and English muffins and.

[Jen]

And I went for focaccia.

[Jill]

Oh, I'm hungry. Let's go eat.

[Ad Voice 3]

If the world were like a Sleep number mattress, everything would adapt for your comfort. Because as your life changes and your body changes, Sleep number mattresses adapt and shift to give you personalized comfort night after night. And now everything's on sale during our Memorial Day event. Save up to $1,200 on mattresses for a limited time. To experience a whole new world of comfort, visit a sleep number store or go to sleepnumber.com sleep number to a good life sleep. If the world were like a sleep number mattress, everything would adapt for your comfort. Because as your life changes and your body changes, Sleep number mattresses adapt and shift to give you personalized comfort night after night. And now everything's on sale during our Memorial Day event. Save up to 121200 dollars on mattresses for a limited time. To experience a whole new world of comfort, visit a sleep number store or go to sleepnumber.com sleep number to a good life sleep.