The 7 Types of Impulse Spenders (Which One Are You?)

Summary

Frugal Friends Podcast – Ep. 298

The 7 Types of Impulse Spenders (Which One Are You?)
Hosts: Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni
Release Date: May 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this throwback-style episode, Jen and Jill break down a popular article detailing the seven types of impulse spenders. The goal: help listeners recognize their own spending triggers, cultivate self-awareness, and offer practical strategies for more mindful, values-based spending. The episode is peppered with warmth, humorous banter, and concrete takeaways—reminding listeners that spending habits are actions, not identities, and that everyone has the power to choose change.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Opening Thoughts & Philosophy

• Spending ≠ Identity:
  • “Spending is not who you are. It’s what you do.” (Jen, 06:01)
    The duo reiterates throughout the episode that being a certain type of spender isn’t a fixed identity—it’s a behavioral pattern that can be understood and changed.
• Self-Understanding as Frugal Power:
  • “We do think that this one, while a little bit tongue in cheek, can be really helpful to get to know ourselves, because self-understanding is one of the most frugal things that we can do.” (Jill, 02:08)

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The 7 Types of Impulse Spenders

1. Fanatical Shoppers / The Deal Diva

Starts: 08:18

• Traits:
  • Obsessed with getting the lowest price; loves optimizing and “winning.” Clearance hounds.
  • “Paying full price feels like losing.” (Jen, 08:18)
• Trap:
  • Optimizing for price over true value. Buying for the deal rather than need.
• Advice:
  • Ask: “Would I purchase this if it were full price?” (Jill, 09:50)
  • Track what you spend (not just “money saved”).
  • Build a “planned purchases” list—avoid shopping for fun without a goal.
• Notable Quote:
  • “You would save more money by buying things full price than you do by being this expert Deal Diva.” (Jen, 10:35)

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2. Passive Spenders

Starts: 12:45

• Traits:
  • Easygoing, highly influenceable by others (social media, friends, ads).
  • “You allow other people to decide what you value.” (Jill, 13:20)
• Trap:
  • Other people, influencers, and trends dictate spending rather than intrinsic values.
• Advice:
  • Audit social media, email lists, and influences. Limit inputs that drive passive spending.
  • Insert a pause between seeing and buying. Take social media breaks.
• Notable Quote:
  • “You need to create boundaries between you and what your brain sees and interprets.” (Jen, 15:27)

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3. Escapist Spenders

Starts: 16:25

• Traits:
  • Shop in response to emotions—stress, boredom, sadness. Spending is a temporary reset or comfort.
• Trap:
  • Emotional spending cycle, often followed by regret.
• Advice:
  • “Identify the feeling before the purchase.” (Jill, 17:41)
  • Create a menu of free or low-cost coping mechanisms (calls to friends, walks, lists of activities) to substitute shopping.
• Notable Quote:
  • “You just kind of want the dopamine hit—the thrill of the hunting and the spending money.” (Jill, 17:41)

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4. Esteem Spenders (Keeping Up with the Joneses)

Starts: 22:17

• Traits:
  • Spend to achieve a certain image or feel belonging/security. Not always superficial—often driven by insecurity.
• Trap:
  • Linking purchases to identity, confidence, or group belonging.
• Advice:
  • Ask: Is this purchase to satisfy belonging/identity or a true want/need?
  • Reflect on Maslow’s hierarchy—Address root needs internally, not with spending.
• Notable Quote:
  • “We will often side to the part where it’s like, ‘okay, I will hear the negative things about me and then buy the things to supplement and improve my self-esteem.’” (Jen, 25:48)

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5. Special Interest Spenders (“Hobbyists”)

Starts: 27:15

• Traits:
  • Go all-in on new hobbies/interests. Enthusiastic but may flit from one phase to another.
• Trap:
  • Over-investing before developing a habit. Acquiring gear in hopes of “becoming” the role.
• Advice:
  • Prove your interest before buying supplies.
  • Use existing materials to try the hobby first; seek “Buy Nothing” groups or thrift supplies.
  • Separate interests from core identities/values.
• Notable Quote:
  • “Buying does not make you into the person who does it.” (Jen, 30:48)

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6. Hot Potato Spenders

Starts: 32:12

• Traits:
  • Procrastinate on big buys, then make rushed decisions out of stress or analysis paralysis.
• Trap:
  • Decision avoidance leading to poorly timed or thought-out purchases.
• Advice:
  • “Eat that frog”—tackle decisions early.
  • Set a limit on research time. Schedule purchase decisions.
  • Subscribe to monthly toolkits (like Frugal Friends’ Friend Letter) to plan ahead for deals.
• Notable Quote:
  • “You cannot overanalyze to the point of burnout. It’s not good for anyone. You have to eat that frog, make the decision, and not freak out just because the purchase is big.” (Jen, 35:35)

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7. YOLO Spenders (Classic Impulsive)

Starts: 36:13

• Traits:
  • “You only live once” attitude. Dislike restrictions; seek spontaneity and freedom.
• Trap:
  • Removing all spending barriers, justifying purchases as experiences or one-time opportunities.
• Advice:
  • Add friction: 24-hour pause rule, wish lists.
  • Allow planned spontaneity (e.g., few impulse buys per trip with a cap).
  • Balance “fun now” with longer-term mindful spending.
• Notable Quotes:
  • “Optimistic about your future self—‘I’ll figure it out. Who cares? YOLO.’” (Jill, 36:40)
  • “Society has eroded all barriers between us and our credit card. Businesses are now annoyed if there are any barriers between us to spending money.” (Jen, 37:30)

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Thematic Highlights & Quotes

On Impulse, Needs, and Self-Check:

• “Every purchase, every impulse purchase we make, ties back to some kind of higher need.” (Jen, 41:23)
• “Until we understand the root cause and deeper meaning behind why we are spending money, we will not be able to stop spending.” (Jen, 41:37)

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Lightning Round: Which Type Are Jen & Jill?

Starts: 48:20

• Jen identifies most with the Hot Potato Spender due to her tendency toward over-research and stress-induced snap purchasing.
• Jill describes herself as a “floodgate spender”…
  • “Once the floodgates open, spending is a deluge and we black out.” (Jill, 51:30)
    …meaning she spends rarely, but when she does, it's a cluster of planned purchases all at once—a variant of Hot Potato/Deal Diva types.
• Humor:
  • “Call me a steak because I’m rare.” (Jen, 48:44)

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Notable Moments

• Jen’s comparison of the marketing-industry’s role:
  • “Marketers want you to believe it’s who you are so you give them more of your money.” (Jen, 06:48)
• Jill on Amazon frictionless payments:
  • “Instead of innovating products, these companies will innovate frictionless payment. Much cheaper, much easier.” (Jen, 38:17)
• Joyous “Bill of the Week” call sharing debt freedom from “Buy Now Pay Later” traps. (43:54)
• Spirited, playful contest for “rarest spender” status. (49:00–54:10)

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Practical Takeaways (by Type)

• Deal Diva: Shift focus from discounts to value. Buy only what you’d pay full price for; make a list and stick to it.
• Passive: Prune social input; increase pauses between seeing and buying; take social media breaks.
• Escapist: Spot emotional triggers; keep a menu of healthy (free) coping alternatives.
• Esteem: Reflect on true needs; recognize when you’re buying for “image.”
• Special Interest: Prove the habit before investing; enjoy hobbies with minimal upfront spend.
• Hot Potato: Timebox decisions; tackle big purchases without burnout.
• YOLO: Build in spending barriers; allow planned spontaneity, not endless splurges.

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Recommended Listening

• See also: “This is why you keep buying stuff and it never fixes anything.”
• Coming soon: Episode on social media detox for spenders.

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Closing Thought

“Every purchase we make is meeting a need in some way… but we must know how to get the things we truly need without spending, so we can push out the marketing manipulation.” (Jen, 41:23)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [08:18] Fanatical Shoppers / Deal Diva
• [12:45] Passive Spenders
• [16:25] Escapist Spending
• [22:17] Esteem Spenders
• [27:15] Special Interest Spenders
• [32:12] Hot Potato Spenders
• [36:13] YOLO Spenders
• [43:54] Bill of the Week (“Pay Later” Debt Freedom)
• [48:20] Lightning Roll: Which Type Are You?

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Final Notes

• Jen & Jill remind listeners to see spending as actions, not identity, and encourage playful self-awareness and experimentation with the solutions provided.
• For deeper dives, listeners are encouraged to check out their book, “Buy What You Love Without Going Broke.”

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Subscribe for more insights, laughs, and actionable tips on financial well-being.

Transcript

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[Jen]

the seven types of impulse Spenders which one are you?

[Podcast Announcer]

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 today we are throwing it back og Frugal Friends style. If you have been with us since the beginning, we used to critique articles. Now we critique social media trends and viral videos. But we started by critiquing what was really viral at the time, which was these clickbaity articles on the Internet saying what is is really good information, what is, you know, fluff and what is just downright there for for clicks and ad revenue. And that's how we started. And it's still what we're doing today in a different way, which I absolutely love. But I saw this article recently about the seven types of impulse spenders and I thought this would be a really good one to do an episode on.

[Jill]

Yeah, we love a good personality test. I mean honestly, not personally but we as a whole.

[Jen]

Right.

[Jill]

We get like drawn.

[Jen]

We don't necessarily but but we as people love to be told who we are.

[Jill]

I can, I can understand the attraction to them and I certainly have taken my fair share of like what Disney princess are you? Who would you be in this lineup? And it can just be fun. We want to learn more about ourselves. We do think that this one, while a little bit ton tongue in cheek can be really helpful to really get to know ourselves because believe that self understanding is one of the most frugal things that we can do to actually push out all of our unnecessary spending and really be able to spend on what we value. So if we can understand what are the triggers, what type of spender am I then the better equipped we are.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

So we're going to break down the seven types, how to spot yours, what to do about it.

[Jen]

And this is a little follow up to our episode on this is why you keep buying stuff and it never fixes anything. So definitely queue up that one to listen to after this if you like this one. But first, I am running a marathon, but only with your help. Check out this video.

[Charity Marathon Speaker]

Hey Frugal Friends, I know you are conscious consumers and values driven spenders and

[Jen]

I would like to appeal to you today on that.

[Charity Marathon Speaker]

I have the opportunity with a few friends to run the Disney World Marathon in January. And we are doing it to raise money for Ronald McDonald House charity. Now, if you are unfamiliar with Ronald McDonald House, it's an organization that does something incredibly simple and incredibly powerful. When parents are faced with the unimaginable. A child sick in the hospital, far from home, Ronald McDonald House steps in and gives them a safe, warm place to sleep, eat and breathe, do laundry, shower, store their stuff. And it's just steps from the hospital. And we want to raise $3,400, which is the cost for a family to stay there for three weeks. And how you can help is by heading to frugalfriendspodcast.com run and donating to help us not just run the Disney World Marathon, but helping these families stay together. And for every donation of over $25, we are gonna send you one of these frugal, not cheap bags because that's what you're doing when you are donating to Ronald McDonald House Charities. So again, frugalfriendspodcast.com run and I look forward to seeing how much the Frugal Friends community can raise for this amazing organization and showing you fun behind the scenes as I train for the Disney World Marathon in January.

[Quince Advertiser 1]

Thanks.

[Jen]

So again, we are trying to raise enough for a three week stay. So if you want to see me or hear about me running a marathon and making it my entire personality because I know everybody loves that friend who's running a marathon, please head to frugalfriendspodcast.com run or maybe you don't want to hear me make it my personality. Maybe you just want to help an organization that's doing really great things in their respective communities. Frugalfriendspodcast.com/run and please give to Ronald McDonald House Charities. It's a really, really great organization.

[Jill]

And now for the reason that you're here, I mean, definitely do it.

[Jen]

I love maybe you're a charitable spender. Maybe that's the type of spender you are. I love that it's not on the list, but we could add it just for you.

[Jill]

We do want to remind you we want to begin this episode with something that we talk a lot about in the book and that is spending is not who you Are. It's what you do. And that's a take on a favorite of Jen's Disney classic, Brink Brink.

[Jen]

It's spending is what we do, not who we are. If you're gonna say the quote, what is.

[Jill]

What would I say?

[Jen]

It's. Well, in the movie he says skating is what we do, not who we are. And you Yoda ed it. You just so it's fun. Fine. Nobody is offended over here. Oh, wow. Oops. But it is really like, it's. It's funny when you think about it in the context of that movie. But truly we have internalized that for so many things that we think the things we do define who we are and we must do them perfectly or that we. Or we might as well not put any effort into them at all if we can't excel into it. And that's what wise and intentional spending has become, too. If I'm just this type of spender or I'm just this type of spender, that's who I am. And I really don't need to put effort into being better or improving because that's just not who I am. And we believe that narrative is something that's been planted into our heads by marketers so that we give them more of our money. There is a already a huge wage disparagement. Like there doesn't also need to be this extra layer added on top where we are buying things we don't need and just moving further and further away from. From equality in that area. So we want to set the tone with that.

[Jill]

But we do still love these personality things. From the early 2000s, the magazines made us, you know, really fall in love with figuring out who we. Who we are. But we don't want to make this an excuse to not find solutions. And we imagine that you will actually find yourself maybe in a variety of these seven options. That's okay, too. It's important to identify where are some of these trigger points for me and what are the solutions that might work for me. Most likely, we're not just going to be one type of spender. We're going to be multiple, but we're going to outline them in some really defined ways and give you some ideas on. On what you can do instead.

[Jen]

And I think a lot of you watching this might identify with number one, and that is. And I am maybe going to rename some of these, but these are just what the article is going with. Fanatical shoppers. And these are shoppers obsessed with getting the lowest price. And so I'M going to kind of call you the deal Diva. This is your personality. You love winning and optimizing. Stocking up on deals gives you the satisfaction of feeling prepared. Paying full price feels like losing. Please drop. Please drop something in the comments to let if you're feeling this, there is going to be so many of you feeling on this one. Your spending trap. What you have to watch out for as Deal Diva is optimizing for price instead of value. And so I am sure you have purchased something because it was a good deal, not because you needed it. I want you to think of the first item that comes to your mind in that category. Are you still using it? Let us know. That's what I want you to let us know in the comments. Are you still using it? Was it worth it? Maybe your most recent one is, yes, somebody is going to drop that in the chat. But ultimately for most of us the deal is not worth housing it, not using it. And it is. Deals are marketing, right?

[Jill]

Yeah, you're driven by the clearance section. If you're a person who just beelines to the clearance with no idea of what you're even going to buy, you're just going to let the deals make the decisions dis you. So here's what we can ask ourselves instead. Would I purchase this in if it were full price? And this might seem like, oh, I'm going to balk at this.

[Jen]

Of course not.

[Jill]

I never spend full price on anything as a deal diva. Okay, but painful. But do you like it enough? Is it going to be valuable enough to you to take up space in your home that you would have spent full price on this, something you were already looking for? The answer is no. We might want to put that thing right back on that clearance shelf.

[Jen]

I feel like you would save and this is counterintuitive, so stay with me. You would save more money by buying things full price than you do by being this expert Deal diva. And so I'm not talking maybe specifically to the ultimate couponers with like stashes and stuff like that is bizarre to me. But I think for most of the common deal divas, I think you would save more money if you committed to buying things full price. I think you would buy fewer items. That's the thing that's going to save you money. You will buy fewer things if you commit to being paying full price. And then once you've trained yourself to overlook the deal and not buy something just because it's on clearance, then you can combine your true nature and your true self. With your. Your self. What is it? Not discipline. That's a. I hate that word. Your resiliency. And you'll be great. Okay, next.

[Jill]

Well, wait, there's a few other things. I mean, we are taking it, but I feel like so many people are this one. So.

[Jen]

Okay, there are more.

[Jill]

Here's the thing.

[Jen]

There can be more solutions.

[Jill]

Yeah. That you can also be tracking the total amount of money that you spent because I think a lot of times we look at it as I saved this amount and we're coming home with hordes of things because we can justify it because I got it all for only $20. But instead, track how much have we spent over time with all of these deals that we've gotten? Because here's the thing, it is a superpower. You do have a superpower. Don't let it go. Hold on to it. But also recognize in what ways might it be hurting you and build a planned purchases list. So we're not going to that clearance aisle. We're not hopping in the car to get ourselves to the thrift stores or the yard sales until we have a solid five things at least that we are looking for. This is the list. And if it so happens to be in the clearance bin or at the thrift store, hooray. Okay, now we're moving on to number two. Passive spenders. Different from just not spending. Hear us out.

[Jen]

Spending passively.

[Jill]

Yeah, it's still spending. You are easygoing, you're open minded, you're fun to be around and highly influenceable. Here's the thing, that's not a bad thing. But ads, influencers, salespeople, these ones really work on you. You emotionally attach to them and you believe them. Every word coming out of their mouth. And like I said, it's not bad. Trusting isn't you being dumb, but you do need to be more intentional about what you're consuming and how trusting you are of others and allowing others to define your values. So your spending trap can be that you allow other people to decide what you value. You allow other people to dictate what you're going to spend on. And social media especially can be a really interesting rabbit hole for you because everything is being sold on social media. So this can be a huge struggle when everybody is telling you this is the best possible hair product, this is the best possible sunscreen, this is the most flattering dress you'll ever see in your life. And. And the passive spender is just gonna be like, I believe you. Here's my money.

[Jen]

Yeah, I think if we're describing ourselves negatively. You might have said before, like, oh, I'm so gullible. And I don't think it is being easily like gullible or being too trusting. Our brains do put a lot of things on autopilot and for this, this particular type of spender, your brain is just doing more things in other places. And so in this area it is more on autopilot. So you are trusting more, relying that you can trust the person in front of you for the information. But you've got to be a lot, a lot more critical of the people you see on social media, the people who are trying to sell you things. And I think that's where you're going to find your strength in overcoming these purchases that maybe you regret because they weren't everything that the person said it was cracked up to be. So you really need to audit your inputs. So audit your social media time. The people you follow, the email lists, you belong to you. You do need to audit that more than other people because again, your brain is on autopilot. So you need to create boundaries between you and what your brain sees and interprets. You may need to take a break from social media from time to time. And we have an episode on doing a social media detox coming out next month. So subscribe to the channel if you're not already so that you will get a notification when that comes out. But that could be really good for you to like take a break from people telling you and influencing you and stuff and then just inserting a pause between seeing and buying, seeing something like on TikTok shop or the reviews on Amazon. Pause and think critically about whether you really love it, really need it, really like it. Make sure that you are, that you are being true to yourself and not to what other people think you should be.

[Jill]

Number three is escapist spending. That's my relabel of this one or said ulterior motive could be that. But I think it's, I think it's escapism. This would be where you are spending to avoid or escape some of your emotions. Stress, maybe your doom spending during your doom scrolling. And for this person you are feeling very deeply. You do have a lot of emotions going on, a lot happening in your life and maybe you sometimes spend in order to cope with it. So this could be shopping. When you're stressed, sad, bored, overwhelmed, spending can feel like a relief or provide some version of control to you where you might feel a little out of control. You may see spending and shopping as a reset. You Might have had in, in the past. Why did I just buy that moment after an emotional day? This is probably the person who is going to TJ Maxx Home Goods Marshalls, just doing the whole circuit to just. Just see. See where the wind blows.

[Jen]

Yeah, we talked about this literally in our last episode. So, like, check that one out too. If this is you.

[Jill]

Yeah, you might not even totally care about what you're buying. You just kind of want the dopamine hit, the thrill of the hunting and the spending money. So your spending trap, most likely, if this is you, is the. Is the emotions that you spend when there's some sort of emotional trigger. So it's not even necessarily. It is impulsive, but you're not always an impulsive spender. It usually is triggered by some sort of stress, emotion, relational dynamic. There's some sort of thing that prompts you to then seek this as a coping mechanism. So for you, something that, that you can do instead is to identify the feeling before the purchase. This is one of the most important pauses that we can do. And it doesn't have to take that long. It's a simple check in with ourselves of what is actually going on inside of me. What is it that's prompting me to think I need to cope in this way and maybe find an alternative to that. Was it a stressful day at work? Would it be better if I were to call a trusted friend? Would it be better if I were to just go home and cook a good meal? Would it be relaxing to me if I went for a long walk? All sorts of ideas that we can come up with here. You're going to have to decide what that is, but put that pause in place first. And in case we don't know how to make solutions for ourselves in the moment, having a whole list or a menu, if you will, of options that you can do instead? We talk about in our book about making small, medium and big lists so that if we only have five minutes, we can look at our small list. What would be an alternative coping mechanism that's free, that might even give me a dopamine hit if I were to do this and say instead a medium thing, you know, instead of. Or a big thing, instead of getting in the car and going somewhere, I am getting in the car and visiting a friend, right? So it's still kind of same level of energy, same level of output, but receiving something back that's totally different that won't put us in this spending guilt cycle.

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[Jill]

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[Jen]

All right, our next one is Esteem Spenders and so this one they describe as the Keeping up with the Joneses. I don't think it's as simple as that, but we'll get into that. So you care about how your life looks and this isn't so much in a superficial way, I think it can be taken to its extreme, but I think a lot of it is born out of insecurity. So what your life looks like is what that says about you as a person. So you can you compare your car to those, to the other cars driving around you. Even if you don't know the people, you compare your house and vacation to the ones you see on social media, not just strictly the influencers, but the people around you. You've upgraded something perfectly fine because everyone else was doing it. I think about that with water bottles. I saw a woman carrying around a water bottle and half of the paint had peeled off and the, like, metal underneath was, like, showing through. And I was like, why is that? Like, I would have replaced that so long ago. And why it has the same function. It does the same thing. The cap is not broken. Why would I replace that? Because what does it say about me to carry something that looks, you know, kind of arguably gross almost, right? So, like, that's something I have to check with me. And I ultimately really respected that woman. But so I think so much of our status spending is not extreme how it looks on social media. We're not buying the Fendi and the Prada and stuff. I think it's just born out of this, like, insecurity that we all possess. And we, if we do not feel secure in ourselves, want to at least seem like we're secure. Kind of fake it till you make it. So that's why I don't think it's as straightforward as keeping up with the Joneses. And so your spending trap is going to be trying to meet belonging and identity needs. And what I mean by that is, if you were with us in our last episode, we talked about the hierarchy of needs. And this is something we've talked about in our book. We talked about it on the show at length. But it is essentially this hierarchy of needs. I think every purchase we make is meeting a need in some way, whether that's basic or higher. And self esteem is one of these needs that gets glossed over. So it's one of the higher needs. It's right under self actualization. But we for some reason are told, like, we need to hate ourselves because we need to buy products to be better. But we can't look like we hate ourselves because that's embarrassing. We have to feel confident to get the job, get the position, get the man, whatever. There is this. This at odds of all of the information we're inputting. And so, like, how are we supposed to sort it Out. Right. And so we often will spend, we will often side to the part where it's like, okay, I will hear the lower, the negative things about me and then buy the things to supplement and improve my self esteem when really self esteem comes from within. And so we are trying to meet these assessments, esteem needs that we have and then often belonging as well when we, we want to belong to like to the groups that are around us. And sometimes we might feel like an outsider so we'll buy in order to fit in. And I don't think that's necessarily like a fully horrible thing. Right. Like to me and on the hierarchy, belonging is more important than esteem. Right. So if you value belonging more than other things, then that's a need that has to be met. But you cannot be fully devoid of these higher needs just in order to meet the belonging need. And so there has to also come a time is where, where do we. Do we shift where we belong? Do we shift the group of people we surround ourselves with, if that's possible. And so these are, these are things you have to think about as you're buying things. Is this a self esteem purchase, an identity purchase or a belonging purchase? Or is this truly something that I want and love?

[Jill]

Okay, number five is special interest spenders. So this is the person who when you're into something, you are haul the way in. You're going to deep dive into hobbies, interests. You might have phases throughout life. It's have you had a woodworking phase, have you had a sewing phase, have you had a bread making phase? You justify spending because it's something that you care about. This is going to be the next thing. Even more dangerous, it's going to be your next side hustle. You imagine that I'm going to do this so hard that it's going to end up being something I make money off of. Whether or not that ever actually pans out can be a justification. You've bought all the gear before fully using it. You love the idea of becoming that person. Whatever your idea of having these things and doing this thing is going to make you into. So certainly a hobbyist, someone with a lot of interest, someone who wants to try a lot of different things. And we actually did talk a little bit about this in our Q and A episode a little like a month ago. Listener was buying organizational items and said that this is something that she really valued. She had learned about different ways of organizing and optimizing her life and now she was all in but buying tons of organizational bins and you know, we love to talk about values based spending and how important it is to be spending on your values and, you know, not worrying about the other things as much. But then it can be really tough for this particular person, the special interest spender. When you do have a lot of things that you value, then it can be hard to know, well, when do I stop? How do I interrupt this pattern of just collecting all the organizational items or all the camping gear or all the exercise equipment, whatever it is that you're into at the time. And so over investing in your identity

[Quince Advertiser 1]

or your interest or the future.

[Jill]

Future me fantasy spending is part of this trap where we can think that we are able to buy an identity versus build the identity. And so what this person can do is, here we go. Prove it before you buy it. Do the thing before you buy the most expensive running shoes. Use what you already have and just run a mile or two consistently.

[Jen]

But like, look at the shoe before you go. Because we had a commenter when we said that on an episode, be like, I tried it your way and then I ran for a mile and the shoe, the sole, like the pole bottom fell out of the shoe and I had to walk back with one shoe. And I was like, you can probably tell if your shoe is gonna fall apart before you take it out or if your shoe is like 10 years old or you bought a crappy shoe to begin with. Like, let, let's be real about the capabilities of the items.

[Jill]

We are coming from an assumption that you do probably already have a decent pair of sneakers.

[Jen]

Yeah, these are not falling apart.

[Jill]

We're not talking to you. Yeah, yeah. If you want to become a journaler, you want to be journaling every day, use, use a notepad first. Start with what's already in your house before you spend 30 bucks on a beautiful new journal or tons of new journals.

[Jen]

Buying not make you into the person who does it.

[Jill]

Oh, if you want to do sourdough and you're getting a sourdough starter from somebody, you don't need all of the things. It amazes me when people want to get into sourdough. They're like, oh, I saw the special bowl that you have to get and the scorer and the this and the that. And I'm just like, no, whatever bowl you already have on hand is fine. And even if you don't have a kitchen scale, you can measure it out with your measuring spoons that you already have. Okay, I digress. If this is you to set a spending plan for it so we don't want to deprive ourselves. This might be just the type of person you are. You've got a lot of interest, you've built a lot of skills, you want to do a lot of things, have an amount of money that you feel comfortable spending but also recognize you can get so much for free. So we are checking, you know, your are buy nothing groups we are looking for. If it's a ton of crafting, there are thrift stores dedicated just to craft supplies.

[Jen]

Yes, there are secondhand craft stores and

[Jill]

ultimately just focus on using what you already have versus acquiring. So this type of person, there is an element of creativity and problem solving that you have. So make the next item of creativity and problem solving how to do the thing with what you already have.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

Prove that you're going to do it before you spend it.

[Jen]

And then I'll just add that these are interests, not identities. So not what we talk about when we talk about values. So you may like your organizational, you know, and value organization, but organizational items are not value, are not your value. Those are interests. You can be organized in any way. So separating that identity versus purchase, super important here. Six is hot potato spenders. And this was, I like this, this was a stretch for me but it's procrastinating on big purchases until they can't stand the pressure anymore and quickly making the purchase. And I think this might be some frugal people because stereotypical frugal people hate spending money. So like we will wait and wait and wait so we don't have to spend a big amount of money and then it'll kind of be at the last minute and then you won't have time to like have searched for the deal. Searched for the deal. Yeah. So I can see how, how this will let me know in the comments. I think this is the most rare one on the list. I'm going to put that out because every other personality test like says oh this is the most rare personality. And I'm going to, I am going to award you hot potato spender the most rare personality spender. So let, let us show up in the comments if it's you. And so you might, this might also come with like overanalyzing so like researching endlessly or avoiding it completely. That's me sometimes. And then maybe you're, you're over researching so much you get overwhelmed and just snap and just make the purchase again. Maybe not at the last minute but just like from overwhelm and you're not looking for that great deal. So this is a Common like decision avoidance, like trap, like by definition. So what do we gotta do? Eat that frog. You may have heard that phrase before and it, it does mean like on a daily task list thing, you get the mo. The worst one out of the way first and then keep going. And it really does work. It is the worst, but it does work. And so you may just have to set some time aside, give yourself a limit. If you're an over researcher, say, I'm going to limit myself to this. If you're trying to avoid it, you got to block out some time to do the research and then also research when that thing might go on sale. So like, so you have time to save and time your decision. We have in our friend [e-mail], the last Friday of every month, we send out a budget toolkit for the next month. So you can make your next month knowing what's on sale, what holidays, or things to budget for produce. It's on sale so you know how to meal plan with stuff that's going to be on sale. So we have that for you on the most major items. So definitely head to frugalfriendspodcast.com so that you can get our friend letter. So you get that on the last Friday of every month. We just had one and we're going to be adding them as episodes too, so stay tuned for that. But you cannot overanalyze the point of burnout. It's not good for anyone. You have to eat that frog, make the decision, and not freak out just because the purchase is big. This is what we save for, guys. This is what we save for.

[Jill]

Number seven, our last and final one. The article listed as impulsive spenders, but we're gonna call it YOLO Spenders, because here's the thing. We all, we all spend impulsively. And all this is.

[Jen]

All of us are impulsive spends. Yeah, exactly.

[Jill]

So this is just. This is yolo. And if you're not a millennial, that means you only live once. Okay?

[Jen]

It's kind of.

[Jill]

That kind of mentality. You only live once. Just buy it. So this is. You planning can feel really restrictive or unnecessary. We don't want to have to look at a budget. We don't want to be constrained. Don't tie me down. You're optimistic about your future self thinking, I'll figure it out. Who cares? Yolo, I'm gonna spend this money now. I'm gonna go on this vacation. I'll figure it out in the future. I always do. It'll be fine.

[Jen]

I always have anxiety.

[Jill]

Mostly though, this person. You have had at least, least one experience of being surprised by your bank account more than once. This has happened to you more than once. Also, you really value freedom. No one's going to tell you what to do, especially not your bank account. Your spending trap is the erosion of any barrier to spending money.

[Jen]

And it's not your fault. Literally, society has eroded all barriers between us and our credit card businesses are now annoyed. If there are any barriers between us to spending money. We want the card number save. We want tap to pay. Soon they're going to want like your retinas so you can just look at the register and they can twice you want this. Yeah. And they can just take your money. I truly believe this.

[Jill]

Here we go.

[Jen]

Where's. Where's my soap? Jeff. Bill. Jeff Bezos, right. He is a billionaire partly because he exploits his workers and pays less than 1% in taxes.

[Jill]

But minor, minor details.

[Jen]

He's a billionaire because we have cumulatively given Amazon billions of dollars, right. If we hadn't given it to him, he wouldn't have it to exploit. So that is by design, that is not on accident and it will not get better in the near future. So instead of innovating products, these companies will innovate frictionless payment. That's where the money is. That's where the profit is. Much cheaper, much easier to innovate frictionless payment, to capitalize on all the forms of impulse spending than it is to actually care about the consumer and innovate products. And that is why we have this type of spender.

[Jill]

Here's, here's a couple of solutions for this person to add more friction to the spending that we can create a 24 hour rule before we buy something or create a wish list on our phone so that the urge and the impulse has somewhere to go. But it doesn't mean that we are putting action to it by pulling out our credit or debit cards. I think, you know, moving away from this idea of budgeting but moving towards the concept and mentality of making more mindful, meaningful purchases. So we can ask ourselves, is this purchase truly something that I love? Value is going to solve a problem for me. I still think that this YOLO spender can make a justification for it of yeah, it's the only opportunity I'm ever going to get for this thing and I'm going to be so big bummed if I don't because I think the yolo spender isn't just buying things they're also buying experiences and kind of allowing that justification of this is meeting a need of love and belonging and relationships and memory making and yolo. Let's just do it.

[Jen]

That's not bad. We love that. Some of the best things I've ever done have been impulsively. Yeah, impulsiveness is not the enemy.

[Jill]

Right. So I think a solution here too is to provide more outlets for the, that impulsivity that isn't always spending. So allowing room for and even in small ways. When I go to the grocery store, yeah, here's my plan. But I'm allowing myself three impulse decisions while I'm there and maybe set a cap. You know, none of them are going to be more than $5. You get to decide, but weave in spontaneity to your life. You know, maybe it's. I'm going to allow myself to say yes to people hanging out, but I'm gonna weigh in on what it is that we do and not always assume that for me to have friends, it means I have to say yes and spend the money on that vacation, that happy hour, that, that night out dancing. You can also make suggestions and maybe, maybe sometimes ahead of time.

[Jen]

Yeah, I'm gonna tie all this back into the hierarchy of needs again. And it's because I truly do believe that every purchase, every impulse purchase, we make ties back to some kind of higher need. And we can set boundaries and we can do all these things to try to keep these like natural tendencies, you know, to keep our spending safe. But until we actually understand the root cause and the deeper meaning behind why we are spending money, we will not be able to stop spending it because we won't know how to get it without spending. And we have to know how to get the things that we truly need without spending so we can push out the marketing manipulation that comes through telling us what we need costs money. And so if you're watching the YouTube video, I'm going to throw up another Maslow's hierarchy of need that's different from than last week. But just looking, understanding that yes, I do have basic needs of safety and health and physiological needs, but my need for love and belonging, my need for self esteem, my need for self actualization, creativity, spontaneity, those are not nice to haves, they're needs. And yes, I do need my basic needs met first. But these are needs. And if we try to push them out and call it self discipline for denying ourselves, we will fail. We will fail this mission to live a full life without going broke and that's essentially what our whole book is about. So if you haven't read our book, buy what yout Love Without Going Broke. Highly recommend. If this spoke to you, read the whole book.

[Jill]

You know what speaks to me? Because it's literal people speaking to me and it's completely free.

[Jen]

That was such a good transition. Oh, the Bill of the week.

[Podcast Announcer]

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.

[Jill]

Hi ladies.

[Bill of the Week Caller]

Happy New Year. Wishing you guys all the best for 2026. Just wanted to let you guys know I wanted to submit my bill of the week. Or should I say my bill of the year. I know we just started, but I've officially paid off the last of my affirmed balance last week and I am over the moon and this is actually the first time in three years where I didn't have an affirm and a klarna a any other pay bride or any other buy now pay later balance looming over my head. So I'm more than excited. And when it happened, I really just wanted to let you guys know. I haven't been listening to the podcast very long, but I just want to say thank you so much for inspiring me and I'm so excited to see what this is year brings and yeah, all the best and keep doing what you do. Thanks guys. Bye.

[Jen]

Yes.

[Jill]

This is thrilling.

[Jen]

Proud of you and Happy New Year. Happy New Year. I'm so like this is such a good debt to get rid of because it is directly tied to to impulsive spending. We don't typically save up for something or plan for something and then try to break it up into four easy payments. Right. So these are a direct access. It's that frictionless payment. The innovations and frictionless payment, they are a direct tie back to more and higher amounts of impulse spending. And so good for you. Don't go back even when you can afford it. That's not the issue. It's doing more frequent and higher amount impulse purchases and staying away from them is going to save you so much money in the long run.

[Jill]

Yeah, it's such a trap. But I'm so thrilled that you have just gotten yourself out of that trap and you're free with no more buy now pay laters on the horizon. And well done, if you all are listening, have a bill that you Want to share? If it's about paying off a credit card or buy now, pay later, program strategy, trap, whatever you want to call

[Jen]

it, there will be a program for it soon.

[Jill]

Or your name is Bill, we want to hear from you. Keep it vague. Keep it fun. Frugalfriendspodcast.com Bill can't wait to hear it.

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[Jill]

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[Jill]

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[Jill]

And now it's time for the lightning roll.

[Jen]

All right, which type of impulse spender are you?

[Jill]

Oh, yeah, Jen, you're the. You're the most rare spender.

[Jen]

I've decided that I am the rarest.

[Jill]

I'm the rarest of them all. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the spender of them all?

[Jen]

It's me. Call me a steak because I'm rare. I'm so sorry. Oh, I regret that now.

[Jill]

I don't. We're keeping it in there, okay. Because we never edit anything.

[Jen]

I'm sorry. But I'm also not sorry about it. So I would say I do kind of identify as the hot potato spender. I am a researcher by nature, and if I do not have the capacity to research something, I will just say, like, forget it. Just buy it and just be done with it. Or I will research into overanalyzation to where I just, like, get analysis paralysis. And so, yeah, that is a big one for me.

[Podcast Announcer]

It's.

[Chime Advertiser]

So.

[Jen]

I have given a lot of that for, like, big decisions over to Travis because of how much they stress me out.

[Jill]

What's. What's the most recent one?

[Jen]

We had a lot of decisions to make about the rental and the debacle we had in December. And it was so stressful for me. I was like, you need to make all of the decisions on that. I will not be participating. And I trust you because we have been together for over a decade, and.

[Jill]

And I am the rarest of them

[Jen]

all, and I am rare. And I cannot be cooked.

[Jill]

It'll sit in my rare tower thinking my rare thoughts.

[Jen]

Okay. You say I'm rare. You made up your own identity. I'd like to say that she. The pot is maybe calling the kettle black because she couldn't even pick one. And I will pick one for her based on this answer. I think it is one, But I know how you're gonna. So you go off, and then I will categorize you as. As I sat by you long enough that your license in clinical social work has just kind of, like, permeated. I've absorbed it. So I will.

[Jill]

You can diagnose me now.

[Jen]

I'll get at you. Yeah.

[Jill]

Okay.

[Jen]

In this and just personality types, nothing else.

[Jill]

Yeah. I will say I do think it's adjacent to some of these, but I didn't. I couldn't quite find one that I feel would actually describe my spending because she's so Rare. Because I'm. I'm the rarest of them all. The mirror, mirror on the wall thickens.

[Jen]

Yes.

[Jill]

So I'm calling it a floodgate spender. Like, once the floodgates open, spending, spending is a deluge and we black out.

[Jen]

She's a delusional spender, but not with an S. With a.

[Jill]

With a G. It's a delug.

[Jen]

That is actually it.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

I'm going to retitle it.

[Jill]

I'm not. No one reads our outlines, but she is retitling it in our outline. Okay. That's fun. So I really don't spend that much money. Obviously. I do spend money, Right. We all spend money sometimes. I do impulsively spend, but I really don't connect with too much other than I'm hardly spending, hardly spending, hardly spending. But then these things will. I'll. I'll start. I have got my wish list, right? So I start making my wish list, and then it's finally time to buy those things. And it's a. And then I feel as though, well, now that we're spending, we might as well collect all the things that we did need to spend on and then close the floodgates back up again. So probably. I'm probably like, in every other month a deluge happens. Deluge.

[Jen]

Yeah, deluge, deluge. I think that's also under the hot potato category, kind of, because it's. It's not necessarily overthinking or procrastinating, but it's just like, nothing, nothing, nothing.

[Jill]

But I will get a deal. Like, it's not. I'm going to spend more because of that.

[Jen]

I think it's adjacent to this one.

[Jill]

It is adjacent. Yeah. It's like an offshoot of hot potato. Potato, for sure.

[Jen]

Because you're just like, not making any purchases, and then you. You make a couple of them and you're like, okay, I'll make that one. And then I've been thinking about that, so I might as well. And just adding everything to it is

[Jill]

also the trap that can happen after a no spend challenge of I've done all this, but then I waste all of the progress. I think for me, it is just the difference of having bought it throughout the month versus all in one sitting. I. And it's not hurting. It's not hurting anybody.

[Jen]

It's not hurting anyone. Do it.

[Jill]

The flood is happening where no homes exist. Okay. The flood is happening in a desolate area. The deluge is.

[Jen]

And it's so rare. Yeah. So rare. Thank you so much for listening. You're a rare little gem too and I want you to know that that but you know who is even more of a gem? Sarah, who reviewed our book. She gave it five stars and said I found the Frugal Friends podcast when I was looking for practical ways to stay within my budget. This book was a refreshing change from the typical financial advice out there. It includes simple, actionable steps to live within your means without sacrificing what's important to you. As a bonus, the actions have a positive impact on the environment and mental health. Goodbye clutter. The most powerful part for me was the mindset shift which has been the guiding force in my spending decisions. A great read with useful tips for everyone. Thank you Sarah. What a what a gem of a human you are.

[Jill]

Yes, thanks Sarah. If you've read the book but you haven't reviewed it yet, we would love it so much if you would. Speaking of Amazon, that is actually the best place to leave us a review. Not that you need to buy it there, but if you have read it, review it there because that's where people understand and look for reviews. It's where they are. Can't. What are we gonna do? Yeah, can't beat them. Join them. Also, please subscribe because if you need more ideas on how to steer the ship in another direction with your impulse spending, this is what we talk about all the time.

[Jen]

Shore up your delusional spending. Delusional and and just come be with us. Subscribe to the channel on YouTube and stick with us because we ain't stopping.

[Jill]

See you next time.

[Jen]

Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.

[Jill]

Okay, speaking of spending, this is something funny that happened to me recently and is ongoing. So I've been. I've been a part of a book

[Quince Advertiser 1]

club for a little over two years

[Jill]

now and I get my books from Libby Hoopla, obviously and usually I get the audiobooks. Well, recently I've been getting if the audiobooks aren't available, then I'll just take the ebook that's available and read that through a lot of times until the audiobook becomes available and like, well then I'll pop over there. But I've been noticing I do like being able to read through it if that's what I want. There is something that finds actually reading instead of only listening enjoyable and so I've been thinking and considering getting a Kindle, but it's that that prove it before you do it right? Like actually prove that that you are going to read a couple of books and you'd utilize it. But not only that, Jen. So I have, I've a couple of books just on my phone. But I, I am thinking this is the actual delusional part of my spending. I'm thinking, okay, well when, when could I get it? Like maybe I'll have Eric get it for me for like my birthday or Christmas. Mind you, we are currently early April. My birthday is August, Christmas is in December. And I'm thinking I've got to drop hints to Eric to get the this for me for my birthday or the holidays.

[Jen]

Oh, they have sick deals on them for prime day in July.

[Jill]

Okay, well, good to know. But it did not occur to me until it felt like the skies opened up and I had the, the realization I could buy myself a Kindle. Like I am allowed.

[Jen]

You can buy one used.

[Jill]

I can buy myself a used Kindle. I probably would only have to spend 50 to 80 bucks on it. And I'm sitting here thinking like plotting, I've got to read so many book books before I do it. I've got to get Eric to buy it for me. It's got to be for my birthday for Christmas. I don't know what that problem is if we were to diagnose it.

[Jen]

But I think that's just a sound like step by step strategy to go through to wanting to make a purchase. Yeah, I think that you're like, oh,

[Jill]

you're doing it right.

[Jen]

Yeah, I feel like you're doing just healthy.

[Jill]

Oh,

[Jen]

Sorry.

[Jill]

I'm going to go to sleep now.

[Jen]

Sorry.

[Jill]

It takes over.

[Jen]

I love you.

[Jill]

Okay, few well.