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- [00:00]
A
My Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card is my go to accessory. When I shop I can earn 3% cash back on US online retail purchases. Try on the Blue Cash Everyday Card. Learn more@americanexpress.com Explore BCE terms and cash back cap Apply.
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B
The subscription crisis is worse than you think.
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C
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity and live a richer. Here are your hosts, Jen and Jill.
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B
Hey, Frugal Friends. I'm Jen.
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D
I'm Jill.
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B
And the average American pays over $219 per month on subscriptions. That's over $2,600 a year. And most people don't know what half of those subscriptions are going toward.
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D
Yeah, the thing is, it's not just Netflix and Spotify anymore. Everything seems to a subscription from software to shipping to premium upgrades, convenience, sometimes even the navigation or seat warmers in your vehicle are on subscription. And these things are quietly eating away at our financial goals.
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B
So today we are talking about the subscription crisis. If we can continue to say the word subscription correctly, we're going to talk about why we're seeing it, where we're seeing it the worst and why we need to continue to stay vigilant. This is a problem that while Congress is trying to fix, we know it won't be fixed completely. And even efforts to fix it have been thwarted. And then also what you can do to stay vigilant. So we are not like blind to this subscription crisis. Obviously we know like things are. We see it on social media. There's a lot more subscriptions than there used to be. And I think maybe one of the, maybe one of the things we need to start out with is like putting the dots together. Like, not just like what, like that it's happening, but like, why is it happening? We should always be questioning the motive behind why we're seeing it is not for ease, which is what they're marketing it as. They're saying, oh, it's easier for you. You don't even have to forget about it or run out or think about it. Like it's easier for you. We are helping you. That is just absolutely not the case.
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D
I mean, it is easy when things are on autopilot. The only things that we want to see on auto renew is our retirement contributions, our contributions to our savings account to build up our emergency fund debt, pay down. Right. The things that are going to actually, actually help us with our finances.
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B
I do want my auto insurance to auto renew. You know, I want my health insurance to renew without me having to do right. You know, like I don't use health insurance, but my health care sharing. Auto renews, you know, there are things are helpful, some things I want to be auto renewing, right. But things are going so much to subscription base, not for our benefit, but obviously for the company's benefit. Because subscriptions are predictable revenue for, for companies. It gives people when they're having these shareholder meetings. It allows executives to better approximate the next quarter's earnings based on subscription, based on turnover, new subscriptions, it's easier for them to explain it to shareholders and to make a higher profit. Instead of convincing you to buy, buy again, upgrade, transfer, whatever. All they have to do is convince you to buy once and then allow you to forget it and then just send you an email buried saying like, oh, your annual renewal is increasing this year. You know, like that's all they have to do. And it's so much easier for them to do that. So now, instead of putting time and money and effort into innovating and improving their product, they can make more money more affordably by just figuring out how to turn that product into a subscription.
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D
And it's wild how well it works. It's because these companies know how we operate. We're going to forget we want the path of least resistance. We like the idea of, sure, I can set it and forget it. I don't have to think about it anymore. But it's wild to read and recognize the numbers about how well subscriptions are working. So 74% of people, first of all underestimate how many subscriptions they have or how much their spend is on subscriptions by over $100, meaning they think they're spending less than the amount that they're actually spending. Usually they're spending $100 more than whatever it is that they think that they're spending. Also, here's a real shocker of a number. 42% have forgotten a subscription that they' paying for. So that means you're not even most likely utilizing whatever service it is that you're getting and yet still paying for it. How amazing is that? For these companies, we don't have to do anything, improve anything, provide any kind of customer service. We just get to take your money. I mean, if you are the executive at a company, that's, that's a sweet spot. That's amazing.
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B
Yeah, it is insane. So we want you to just take a minute to figure out what your, how many subscriptions you have. This will be a fun little. You can minimize this video and literally Pull up your banking app or Monarch if you use it. Frugalfriendspodcast.com Monarch it will compile everything together. But like I'm, I'm looking at my. And it has. Monarch has like a recurring right in it. And looking at. Yes. So like most of these I recognize, but there is like one that's kind of like if I didn't. I know what it is, but I might if I was just looking. It's the annual subscriptions. That's the thing that gets you because it's not coming out every month. That's the one I want you to look for and see. Yes. If there's any monthly ones. If you're not like regular budgeting, there might be some. And there's no shame in that. When we are looking at our transactions, it is literally fact finding. We are trying to get off autopilot and back engaged with our money. Right. But if you are budgeting, I still think you should look at your recurring transactions to see those. Even quarterly. They've gone into like quarterly subscriptions too. Look for those annual subscriptions and see if there's any you forgot about before they charge you the next annual fee. But yeah, you might minimize the video and do that and then let us know in the comments if there was one that you forgot about.
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D
Yeah. Oh, I'd love to know what those are. And here's how they profit. Auto renewal. When you sign up, you are typically clicking a box that says that you give them permission to charge whatever card you put on file for them at the renewal date. Whether that's in a month from now, seven days from now, a year from now, and especially if it's in a year from now, forget about it. I'm not going to remember unless I've been really diligent to set a reminder. And then it's going to auto renew. And most of them are then going to have clauses about no cancellation. You could cancel for the next time, but they're not going to refund you.
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B
Oh, you think that doesn't happen? Microsoft. That's all I'm going to say.
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D
That was rough.
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B
Yeah. No, they do it.
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D
Yeah. Also, and this is the stickler probably for the majority of us frugal friends, is the free trials that convert to paid subscriptions. Another wild statistic, 48% convert. In the marketing world, that is gangbusters. To have a 48% conversion from a free trial to a paid trial, that's wild. But for most of us it's because we forgot and that's what draws a lot of us in is, oh, I want that perk. I want that little luxury. I want to try that out. I can try it out for free. I'll just cancel. Will we forget? Or as we're going to get into later on, they make it very difficult to cancel. So wherever you find yourself, we are still paying the cost of some of these auto renewals. So be very, very, very careful and vigilant about those free trials.
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B
Yeah, and we're also seeing like smaller, like monthly payments. So we're seeing like 999amonth. And yeah, 999 doesn't feel like a lot. Doesn't. You know, it's a, it's a latte at Starbucks at this point. I think Starbucks lattes are like $20 at this point. I don't know.
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D
That's insane. I don't go there.
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B
I don't know. But 9.99amonth is still $120 a year. But it doesn't feel like that. And that's the same psychology that buy now, pay later companies use. Breaking that up. And if you've ever said to yourself, oh, I would never use a buy now, pay later, I would never do that. You're essentially doing it, but you're breaking that payment up into 12 payments. And that is what the subscription model is. And then also, like, it can make us buy. Here's the crazy thing. We, and this is another frugal track, will pay for an annual subscription because it saves money and not like overestimate how much we'll use it. And so we have a full year for it and we've quote, unquote, spend saved money versus monthly, but you really only used it for six months.
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D
That is a hot take that you have.
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B
Yes. You should have just paid monthly, paid more so you could cancel it.
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D
Yeah, so true. Don't lock yourself in just because it's a little bit better of a deal. It could be better financially to use it for the three months and then cancel than have purchased a whole year and not use it all. Amen and amen.
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B
So where are we seeing this? What are we subscribing to? There are so many. Like when you think Spotify and Netflix. Yeah, those have always been subscriptions. Right. But there are a lot of things that you used to be able to own and buy that are now subscription based or subscription only. Like that's your only option. And companies don't want you to own their product. They want you to lease it so that when you stop Paying them, you don't have access anymore. Like that to me that's insidious. That's the negative part.
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D
Yes.
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B
And so yes, streaming has always been subscription. But who do you know that owns a DVD or a Blu Ray or a VHS anymore and a player and then actually watches them? That's how they consume media.
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D
Really?
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B
No one. Like it's basically, we don't own our media anymore, it's all rented. And when you stop paying, you lose access.
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D
Yeah.
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B
And then they hike up the prices like exorbitantly because they know that. So according to the government CPI data, streaming and video subscriptions increased around 19 and a half percent far faster than overall inflation. And I didn't write down the timeframe, but 19 and a half percent over like any amount of time is a lot.
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D
Yeah. $35 a month on average is also going to convenience fees. So this is where you're talking about delivery apps who might be punishing you with high fees for not being a member. Car companies are starting to offer features as subscription only add ons, so heated seats, remote start, advanced navigation and you'd have to pay for them. So companies that are doing this, BMW, Mercedes, Tesla, even Toyota and Ford are starting to do some of this as well.
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B
It didn't shock me when the luxury vehicles were doing it, but when Toyota started doing a subscription for their like key of just eight bucks a month. Eight bucks a month, Right. Nothing and nothing insane. But that's for the entirety of you owning the car. If you want to be able to open used be included. The only thing, the only cost associated was with the battery.
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D
I, I hate this one the most. This one feels the most, this feels cheap to me actually when very luxury brands, expensive brands, go for the $8 a month money grab, that's cheap, that's lowly. I, I, it just, just have a visceral reaction to it.
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B
All of this starts out with consumer pushback and then we all just get used to it.
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D
Yeah.
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B
And that's why we're doing this episode, to remind you that you shouldn't have to get used to this 1998 Toyota
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D
Corolla and be good.
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B
You can get your video, you can get your movies, your DVDs from the library and you don't have to own them, but you also don't have to pay for them.
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D
Some libraries will even give you streaming service access. You can like rent streaming service access. So if there is a show that you want to watch, go rent it from the library through streaming.
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B
And I don't do like food delivery apps. But it has sucked, like, since they have been pushing memberships like Dash Pass and all these things. Like, yes, these members pay monthly and then get lower fees. And then other people get punished with higher fees because they're not members. Right. And so, like, eventually I think you end. You will end up paying the same whether you are a member or not, depending on your usage of it. And it's. It doesn't. Like, I was looking for a coffee membership the other day, and it was like 20% off the bag of coffee. But then you still have to pay delivery. And it used to be if you were like a member of something like that, free shipping, you would get free shipping. Yep. Not anymore.
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D
The perks are gone. Food prices are high.
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B
The more we get used to stuff like this, the more it just starts eroding away and you don't have to just like sit down and take it. There are things you can be doing. We're going to talk about it. But yeah, we also got two more categories. So the next one is fitness stuff. So, like, we're spending each of us about $32 a month on fitness stuff. So that's gym, health app, like nutrition food, healthy stuff. This is a lot where you buy a year to save money because you have really high expectations of, oh, I'm going to be healthy now. And now that I have decided that I will continue to be healthy for the future, for the rest of my life, and we all know that that is wrong. We all know that motivation to be healthy is fleeting. And then also, like these workout programs that you pay monthly for. I walked into a pawn shop one time and got P90X whole program for a dollar.
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D
Wow.
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B
Can't do that anymore.
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D
And you're also not doing P90X anymore.
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B
I mean, I don't think it's.
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D
Cost per use was probably real high,
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B
though it was for Trav. I never did it. But, like, I don't think it's a bad program.
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D
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, and even this category, too, is another big offender of this when it comes to all your health and wellness things. So, like the rings that are tracking things, sometimes even watches. Like, if you want access to certain parts of the product, you have to be paying monthly. Otherwise you. You lose the all of it.
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B
Or you pay more monthly. You're already paying monthly. But if you want access to all of it, you have to pay $5 more per month or $7 more per month.
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D
Yeah, you buy a bike and it comes with a subscription, a treadmill one of the mirror things. And you can't just buy the product, you've got to also be paying them monthly. And it just feels so suffocating.
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B
Yeah. And then last is software and apps. Like, you used to be able to buy an app for your phone and just like pay once for it, and now you have to pay monthly. That is primarily honestly where we're seeing subscriptions be the worst. So we already mentioned Microsoft, but used to be able to buy Microsoft and Adobe and then just use it until you wanted to upgrade to the new feature. So you'd use it for a few years and then upgrade and now they're like, oh, let us make it like much cheaper. And you just pay for months. But like, and you get the latest features, but you are locked into that forever.
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D
There's no way out.
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B
There's no way out.
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D
And we even talked about this in one of our recent episodes about printers are starting to do this. Printer companies are like, how can we get in on this subscription?
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B
Ink.
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D
Even if you still have ink, you can use now, if you haven't paid,
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B
you can't use it. This is a real thing HP has done. Like, if you have ink in your printer and you are not paying for the subscription for ink, the printer will not print your stuff.
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D
Yeah.
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B
And that's why you can just go to the library, print it there. Honestly, like, fight our next week I'm doing an episode on the library to fight back against 90 as an inspiration from this episode episode to fight back against like 90% of the things in here.
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D
Oh, I love that.
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B
So stay, subscribe,
- [19:06]
D
hit the subscribe button and then that's free.
- [19:08]
B
Subscribe to this for free. Will never charge for the show. Promise. After eight years, we still haven't and have no plans to. But yeah, like Microsoft made us pay for a whole year. Would not let us do month to month. We only needed Microsoft for like what, three or four months? Because when we were writing the book, our editors at HarperCollins, the only thing they would use is Microsoft to edit. It was so annoying. Shout out to Google Sheets because Google Docs. Because I've never, I've never wanted to use a Google Docs so bad in my life.
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D
Yeah.
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B
And all we could use is Microsoft. We had to pay for that for a whole year. Even though we only used it for three months and only had the the option to pay for a year, we didn't have the option to pay monthly. And that's, that's why this matters so much.
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E
Everyone has that one friend who somehow finds the best deals like the cute jacket that was only $12 secondhand. Well, lately that friend has been me. Thanks to Whatnot. It's the number one live shopping app in the US where you shop in real time with real sellers and real people.
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D
We hopped on a stream the other night and I grabbed an athleta set for $20 and a belt for $10 and you got sweatshirt for 30 bucks.
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F
All things we were already planning to buy, just not at those prices.
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B
Something I enjoy is actually seeing the
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E
items live sellers hold them up, show close ups, talk about sizing and answer
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B
questions in the chat.
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E
It's like thrifting with a group of people who totally get your style and also your love for a good deal.
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D
The sellers curate great stuff, including clothes,
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F
handbags, beauty and collectibles. You almost never pay full price, which
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D
we obviously love around here.
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F
And I enjoy using the app for a fun way to find secondhand pieces and deals on brands you already love. Download the Whatnot app today and get free shipping on your first order. Just search w h a t n o t whatnot in the app store and start scoring amazing deals. These days I'm all about quality over quantity, especially in my closet. If it's not well made and versatile, it's not worth it. That's why I love quince. They make high quality wardrobe staples using premium fabrics like 100% European linen, 100% silk and organic cotton poplin.
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E
Quince works directly with safe ethical factories and cuts out the middleman so you're not paying for brand markups, just quality clothing. Their 100% European linen is breathable, the cotton poplin is crisp and holds its shape and everything is built to hold up season after season.
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F
That Quince washable silk midi dress has become my go to. It's perfect for dressing up, dressing down or layering. It feels luxe and didn't cost what I thought quality silk would. Stop waiting to build the wardrobe you actually want. You don't need more clothes, just better ones right now.
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E
Go to quince.comfrugal for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's a full year to wear it and love it. Now available in Canada too. Don't keep settling for clothes that don't last. Go to Q-U-I-N-C-E.com frugal for free shipping and 365 days return quince.com frugal that's
- [22:21]
D
the thing about it is it's not just us forgetting to cancel. Companies are Making it hard to cancel. And that's where we get into some really unethical territory that there's some things we can do about it as far as pushing back, not signing up. But there's also hopefully some legislative things that can happen to reduce how often this happens. But JustCancelIO analyzed 1,189 subscription services across 67 industries to rank which make it
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F
the hardest to cancel.
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D
So 13% are rated are hard or very hard to cancel. 543 use dark patterns to prevent cancellation. So that's like tricks on the website or the app designed to manipulate you into doing something that you might not otherwise do. Like the way that they've designed it for the user makes you want to click on something without really realizing what it is that you're clicking on.
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B
Like you can't cancel it in the app. You've got to go to the desktop, even though you could buy it in the app or on your phone or
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D
hiding the button kind of with the design pattern.
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B
Yes, so, and that's justCancel IO is a wealth of information on this stuff. But some of the hardest that they found were things like Adobe Creative Cloud. They can charge early termination fees of up to 50% of the remaining contracts. Gyms like Planet Fitness and LA Fitness required a certified letter or in person visit to cancel.
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D
That one's honestly just kind of funny. Yeah, certified letter to Planet Fitness.
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B
Yeah, I know. Sirius XM has a phone only cancellation with aggressive retention. New York Times requires a chat or phone call and they're famous for the retention tactics. NOOM has faced multiple lawsuits over cancellation difficulties. So like, it's not just about forgetting, it's also the way things are designed to be hard to cancel. And the burden is still on us and will continue to be on us on February 12, 2026. So as of recording this, just like less than two weeks ago, the Federal Trade Commission halted implementation of three consumer protection laws at the same time. One of those was called the click to cancel rule. And you may have heard about this. It's a rule that would have required companies to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to sign up.
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D
Wouldn't that be nice?
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B
I know, right? It's meant to protect consumers from predatory subscriptions like free trials that quietly convert hard to find cancel buttons and the impossible to cancel gym membership, because we've all been there. But a federal court recently blocked parts of those updates, saying that the agency didn't follow the exact procedural steps required during rulemaking. So for now those stronger protections won't take effect. And listen, that doesn't automatically mean that there is some secret backroom deal happening, which is what I assume.
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D
I would love to believe that though. It's not hard to believe.
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B
It's not hard to believe.
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D
It doesn't men with a lot of money who have a lot to lose.
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B
We're not saying that that's what's going on. Regulatory law is complicated and courts can strike down all kinds of things for technical reasons. But here's what is true. When stronger consumer protection gets delayed or weakened, then whether that's for procedural or whatever, the result is the same and it's the burden stays on us. And so companies are still legally allowed to structure subscriptions. So they auto renew that. You have to send in certified mail to cancel. And they're allowed to design systems that make signing up easier than canceling. It's not ethical, but that doesn't mean it's illegal. And until it is illegal, we need to push back on subscriptions. Subscriptions are not evil. But we need to be pushing back on some of this before it just it gets too bad.
- [26:46]
D
We need to question the amount of subscriptions that we personally are signed up for, whether we need to be doing them all. If we sign up for the trial, it is on us to cancel before that trial ends. And oftentimes you can sign up and immediately cancel and still have access to however long they offered you that free trial that's most recommended.
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B
If it doesn't let you use the rest of the free trial, it's not an ethical company that you want to be doing business with. And so just take it like that. Yeah.
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D
So here's why you would need to be doing a subscription audit. Let's review. Let's go through all of them step by step. Here's how you do it. First, you're going to want to open up your banking app and scan those recurring charges. If you are using a budgeting app, then a lot of times you'd be able to filter for recurring charges.
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B
Yeah, Monarch has a tab that's just for recurring.
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D
This is not the enemy. We do believe it is fine and good to be paying for a budgeting app. This is where we're weeding out what is useful and beneficial to me and what do I not need? What's a money drain? So after you've identified what your recurring charges are, then you're going to go to the Apple or Google subscription settings on your phone. A lot of times you can access it there or I guess you could do it on your laptop, but most
- [28:08]
B
likely you're whatever's easiest for you and
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D
then use a bucket list to identify what is daily use, what's weekly use, what didn't you even use in the last month? So literally kind of make these columns of what am I using regularly, what am I like medium amount. And I haven't even even touched the thing. This is going to give a really clear picture of. Start with the ones that you haven't touched at all. Cancel or pause anything unused. A lot of times these companies that are on subscription, you can just say, I'm pausing. And that doesn't delete all of your info or any of like the loyalty or perks or whatever that you've built up, but it won't charge you. So that'll kind of give you some time to identify. Do I want to keep going with this thing and then figure out where you might be able to consolidate things? Is there a family plan that is possible? Would one of these apps potentially solve for the thing that two of these other apps do for me? I don't really know what that would be, but maybe. Maybe you've got some apps.
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B
Maybe. So we love aura frugalfriendspodcast.com aura and it is protection insurance, like identity theft insurance. And it has a VPN and it has a family like, like protecting your kids online. So it's a lot of different things in one subscription. But instead of having all those different subscriptions, then I just have the one aura. Now that is to say, like, these are things I would use anyways. It's not like, oh, I'm gonna pay more because. Because that sounds good and I'll just add it in. I wouldn't have paid for it anyway. So you're actually paying more. Like, that's not what we're saying. But there are some ways that maybe you could bundle into like one service. So doing some searching and see if there's any, like, bundles out there.
- [30:02]
D
And lastly, the next step could be downgrading expensive tiers. So if you want to stay with a certain subscription, I mean, I'm thinking streaming services is downgrade and don't pay as much. Be the frugal person who watches the ads. And you know what, maybe it'll keep you watching TV less.
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B
You know what you're paying and they're showing you ads anyway. Yeah, might as well just use Hoopla or Libby or Pluto or any of those free places to watch your stuff if you're going to be getting ads. While you're paying anyway, maybe you look into that for a little bit of time. Yeah, it doesn't have to be forever.
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D
So cancel the ones you're not using, downgrade or bundle or hop in with, you know, other people on family plans for the ones that would allow it. And also remember Jen's hot take of stop paying for annual subscriptions when you don't know if you're going to use it for the whole year. Tis better to pay monthly and cancel than to pay for a full year and be out that money for the six months that you didn't end up using the thing. And finally, we've already said it, but the library. A library can solve for pretty much all of your problems.
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B
I don't know of a problem that the library can't solve. Let me know in the comments if you know of one. I personally do not.
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D
Honestly, it it there isn't. Because whatever problem you're going to identify, library has a book.
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B
Library has answers to help you overcome
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D
whatever it is you're facing.
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B
Like health problem, library doctor in that order. Money problem, AI. You may not be able to trust Google anymore from some of the answers I've been getting.
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D
Printer problems Problem library Movie problem library Streaming service problem library I do know Museum pass problem library.
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B
I do know one thing that the library doesn't have.
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D
Uh oh, you watch your mouth. But go ahead, I'll watch your mouth for you. The Bill of the Week.
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G
This is the pillar of the week. This is the pillow week.
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C
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.
- [32:51]
H
My name is Jess. I'm calling from the Pittsburgh area and my bill of the week is a bill that I used to love paying that I have decided I don't value anymore. I'm a gamer and for the better part of the last decade I have been paying for Xbox Game Pass ultimate, which is the highest tier of their subscription. And with that you get all kinds of perks, including but not limited to access to over 100 games that I can download and play whenever I want, including some games on their Day one release. However, I just learned from another podcast that Xbox will be taking away the 20% discount perk that has been part of Game Pass since its inception. Earlier this year, Xbox announced that the price of Game Pass will be going up, which will make the ultimate tier go up from 1999amonth to $29.99 a month since. I haven't been gaming much lately and this subscription was 14.99amonth when I started paying for it many years ago now I have decided that I no longer value this bill and I would rather budget for video games than waste $30 a month for access to a bunch of games I'm not going to play. I couldn't have come to this conclusion if it had, if I hadn't started listening to your podcast five years ago. Thank you so much for everything you do and I can't wait to read and review your book when it arrives next week. Kay, bye.
- [34:02]
B
Okay, we don't listen to these before we. Before we hear them in the episode, but that doesn't mean Goldie does.
- [34:07]
D
I think Goldie listens and she curates to make sure it's on point.
- [34:11]
B
But that, I mean, you couldn't have had a better example.
- [34:15]
D
It's so brilliant. It's so brilliant for so many reasons. I mean, first of all, just your awareness of how much you're paying, the changes that are coming, and your own consumer right to change your mind and cancel. But it's also not deprivation. It's not, I just shouldn't be paying for gaming anymore. No. If this is something that you value, you do often, you use it, often you enjoy it, that you're still going to be paying money for it, just not here. Because you're identifying. There's too much of a waste, there's too much of a leak. My money would be better spent here, purchasing the games themselves rather than on this subscription. Like, I love the intentional swap. This is the exact like step six that we talked about in the subscription audit of downgrading. We're not talking about a complete denial of every single subscription. But how are there ways that we can be creative and identify? Is there a better deal out here for me? It's beautiful. It's beautiful, Jess. We love it.
- [35:21]
B
Good job. Well done.
- [35:24]
D
And again, you wanna be told well done in a bill of the week? If you just want us staring at you, applauding you, cheering you on, saying you're amazing, we'll do that. I mean, we'll do other things too. If you don't need that, if you just want us to bemoan whatever situation you're in, that's related bills, you tell
- [35:43]
B
us what you need from us.
- [35:45]
F
Yes.
- [35:45]
D
And we will provide it 100%. Leave us your bill at frugalfriends podcast.com
- [35:52]
I
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- [36:36]
D
And now it's time for
- [36:41]
H
you.
- [36:43]
B
All right, what is your most recent canceled subscription?
- [36:48]
D
Okay, this isn't really mine. It's more so Eric's, but it is the most recently canceled one, and it is. You're never going to guess it. A coin identifying.
- [37:05]
B
I need to know more, because when I read it, I was like, what?
- [37:08]
D
You know what? My husband, I love him so much, and he is. He is. He is a wonderland and an abyss to be discovered.
- [37:22]
B
Like, I don't like where you're going with the description.
- [37:26]
D
Stick around, phones.
- [37:29]
B
Bring it back.
- [37:33]
D
He has these interests and knowledge and skill set that just keep bubbling to the surface. Not that this is a skill set, but at one point, he collected coins, because of course he did. This boy was a thoroughbred homeschooler. Side note, another thing, he used to be super into birds. And so to this day, he can like, identify so many birds. He was the person excited about birds. There's just, like, things about him.
- [38:02]
B
Birders are cool.
- [38:03]
D
What? I'm not saying anything about it. I'm just saying, like, it continues to surprise me.
- [38:10]
B
Like, you wouldn't.
- [38:11]
D
Okay.
- [38:11]
B
Yeah.
- [38:11]
D
You know a ton about birds. Okay. Okay, you've got a coin collection. Here we go. I didn't know this because he. He had his coin collection with his mom. It was him and his mom. So his mom, Linda St. Linda, had it at her house, and they recently moved. And so the coin collection came out of hiding. And when we were visiting, Eric was super interested in going back through the coin collection. Like, what do I have? Could any of it be worth anything? And, you know, the only way to identify if it's worth anything is a coin identifier app. So he did that, signed up for a free trial, tried to cancel it, had all this rigamarole that we already talked about. He thought he had canceled. It turns out he didn't. I, of course, since I'm always in our transactions, I see this 39.99 charge, and I'm like, what is this? And he's like, oh, no. Is that the coin identifying app? Then, sure enough. So he tried to reach out to the app to cancel it, and they wouldn't. They're like, no. He's like, I. I canceled this, though, and it's not my fault that it didn't go through. Like, that's on you guys for these poor practices.
- [39:23]
B
You couldn't identify coins, and they were
- [39:25]
D
just like, no, no, no. Well, thankfully, and here is where, you know, we. We are not opposed to credit cards and where I believe credit cards have come in handy so many times. This is not the first time something like this has happened. I took it up with the credit card once the post truly went through, I put in a dispute, explained that, you know, we tried to cancel this, and the company's not accepting that, and they just refunded us. It's on the credit card company now to take it up with the app. And I love that. And unfortunately, no, none of our coins are worth much. I mean, some of them are worth, like, 25 to $50. So that's, like, fun. But that's my long coin identifier story, man. There you go in that. A long story. But a tip. If you've got a charge that you've tried to dispute with the company themselves and they're not doing it and you bought it on a credit card, dispute it with the credit card.
- [40:24]
B
Yeah, yeah, that's what they're there for. Mine was actually a credit card.
- [40:33]
D
Your subscription to a credit card.
- [40:35]
B
Well, yeah, because the credit card had an annual fee, and I didn't want to pay the annual fee. And it was our Southwest credit card. They increased the fee, and I was like, I'm not paying that.
- [40:49]
G
That.
- [40:50]
B
That is outrageous. So I waited until I was going to be charged, like, end of February. But I was taking a flight with Southwest on February 2nd, my flight home from the half marathon. So I flew home on the 2nd, and on the 3rd, I canceled the card.
- [41:12]
D
Nice.
- [41:13]
B
So that was my most recently, because credit cards are tech, are. Are like subscriptions. If you pay an annual fee, there are a no annual fee credit cards. But a lot of the ones that have the better welcome bonuses do have that fee. And if it's worth it, sometimes, you know, if you do the number, sometimes it can be worth it to pay the fee. It's typically not worth it for me to pay the fee. More than one year.
- [41:37]
D
Yeah.
- [41:38]
B
But, yeah, I canceled that one.
- [41:42]
D
Nice. Well done. Still got the perks, though.
- [41:45]
B
Still. Still got the perks. Use them to the max. And now there's, like, no TSA pre check, so I won't be flying anytime soon. We'll talk about that later.
- [41:56]
D
Oh, okay.
- [41:57]
B
Yeah.
- [41:57]
D
Wow. Thanks so much for being here and for listening and for reading our book, Buy what yout Love Without Going Broke. And for those of you who have read it and reviewed it, we're so grateful. Like this one from Casey. Five stars. Omg. The cognitive dissonance of getting this book from the library. We're here for it, Casey. It is well worth the purchase price, but after reading it, I'm proud of myself for following its own advice by borrowing it. Well done, Jill and Jen, for balancing sound financial advice advice with self care mindfulness. Buy what you love without going broke. Feels like a. It was written by a friend for a friend. Can't wait for the sequel when I can buy the book outright. I owe you $25.
- [42:35]
B
LOL.
- [42:35]
D
Daisy, you might be waiting a while, but if you do want to do us a Solid, subscribe
- [42:42]
B
on YouTube.
- [42:42]
D
On YouTube.
- [42:44]
B
Subscribe not to the thing that we are selling, though we do ourselves have a subscription.
- [42:50]
D
Oh, that's true. Yeah.
- [42:51]
B
But we don't talk about it a lot and we do have a free subscription, which is YouTube. So thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed the book, please leave a review.
- [43:03]
E
We are so close.
- [43:05]
B
We're inching our way to 10,000 subscribers on YouTube. We're gonna, like, pop some champagne or maybe a champagne popper with confetti once we hit 10,000. And so if you want to see that, you gotta subscribe on your mom's phone, subscribe on your boyfriend's phone, on your girlfriend's phone, on everybody's phone.
- [43:24]
D
Thank you so much. You're doing good work. See you next time.
- [43:30]
B
Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
- [43:44]
D
Okay, what is. What's this hot news about?
- [43:46]
B
Okay, So I misspoke. 10 hours ago, they. They reversed the decision, but for a minute, TSA PreCheck was like, canceled. Like, they were taking it away just
- [43:59]
D
because they were like, thanks for the money, right?
- [44:02]
B
They're like, we don't have enough money to do pre check. And. And I'm like, but what about all the money people gave you to do pre check, right? And it was supposed to take effect on this Sunday or last Sunday, I'm not sure.
- [44:22]
D
But
- [44:24]
B
they reversed it, like, very quickly before it could, I guess.
- [44:31]
D
Just kidding. Just kidding.
- [44:32]
B
Yeah. But Global Entry, and this is what I thought when I originally heard it, is that, oh, they're just gonna, like, stop people from, like, applying. But no, they were like, we're abolishing it, but. So they brought TSA PreCheck back and they are halting all Global Entry arrival processing services.
- [44:55]
D
I wonder why? Because they've already done the upfront work of making it easier. It seems like it would take more
- [45:03]
B
manpower, but no budget cuts. So, yeah, that is why. And there's deeper reasons, too, I guess, that we won't get into right now, right?
- [45:17]
D
No reasons.
- [45:19]
B
There are reasons why there's not enough money for us to be able to do Global Entry.
- [45:27]
D
Wow. I'd rather talk about how my husband is a wonderland.
- [45:31]
B
I would rather not. I'd rather end the episode before John Mayer starts playing and it gets weird.
- [45:39]
D
People might stick around for it, though.
- [45:41]
B
They might want them to do that. Goodbye.
- [45:46]
G
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- [46:18]
A
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