These Small Habits Are Costing You $10,000 a Year

Summary

Frugal Friends Podcast

Episode: These Small Habits Are Costing You $10,000 a Year

Hosts: Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni (Backyard Ventures)
Date: June 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Jen and Jill break down the everyday habits that, if left unchecked, can quietly drain thousands of dollars from your budget every year. Rather than blaming big financial “disasters,” they argue, it’s often our normalized, unnoticed routines—the little expenses and behaviors—that add up over time to a staggering annual sum (over $10,000!). The duo aims to help listeners identify, challenge, and reshape these habits, bringing their signature mix of practical frugality and relatable humor. Stick around for the final three habits—they account for about $3,000 in savings alone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dining Out & Takeout: Cut in Half

• [02:31] Jill: Most Americans spend over $3,000 a year on dining out. Simply cutting that in half can recover $1,500–$2,000.
  Quote: “We’re not even saying never do it—just cut it in half, and you save thousands. That’s not deprivation, that’s just moderation!”
• [04:33] Jen: Do a 90-day transaction inventory—review how much you’re really spending.
  • If you do a lot of DoorDash/Grubhub, try deleting the apps for a month and see the change.
  • Consider shifting to pickup instead of delivery to save fees.

2. Grocery Optimization, Meal Planning & Store Switching

• [06:51] Jen & Jill: Small changes—like meal planning, bulk-buying selectively, and wasting less—can easily save ~$1,200 a year ($100/month).
  • Reverse meal planning: plan meals around what’s already in your pantry, then fill in gaps.
  • Try a pantry challenge—go one week using only what you have.
    Quote: “[08:17] Jen: I am convinced…everyone can go a week without buying groceries.”

3. Cutting Unused Subscriptions

• [09:53] Jill: Average American spends $50/month on unused subscriptions ($600/year).
  • Do a transaction inventory to uncover forgotten or duplicate services.
  • Example: Listener canceled a duplicate Amazon Prime, saving hundreds.
  • Always set alarms for trial cancellations, and consider tier downgrades.

4. Negotiating Car Insurance (and Internet)

• [12:56] Jen & [13:39] Jill: Car insurance is one of the easiest bills to negotiate—listeners routinely save hundreds.
  Quote: “[13:39] Jill: I’d say about 60% of our bill-of-the-week calls are people lowering car insurance, saving hundreds.”
• Add usage-tracking devices for discounts. Can also drop coverage on older, paid-off cars.

5. Drive Less / Combine Trips

• [15:15] Jill: Calculating the real cost of using a car—including gas, maintenance, depreciation it can cost $10,000–$15,000/year to own a second vehicle.
  Quote: “[17:47] Jen: Is it worth going outside?” (laughter—pokes fun at the idea of not leaving the house for frugality’s sake)
• Ditching a second car or reducing driving can save at least $800/year.

6. Lowering Your Phone Plan

• [18:26] Jen & Jill: Most people overpay for “unlimited” phone plans. Pay-per-usage options (like Mint Mobile) can save ~$600/year. Quote: “[19:46] Jen: Is it really a perk to give you something you don’t need and will never use?”
• Check your ACTUAL usage, especially if you’re still on the family plan.

7. Making Energy-Efficient Tweaks

• [23:30] Jill: LED bulbs, energy audits, aerators, and strategic thermostat adjustments can save “a few hundred dollars a year.”
  • Don’t get bogged down unplugging every appliance—focus on higher-impact actions. Quote: “[23:57] Jen: …Just another micro-decision…I can barely handle feeding my children one or two meals per day!”

8. Pausing Impulse Spending

• [26:29] Jen: Use a 24-hour pause on purchases, especially if you struggle with impulse buys.
  • Even saving $20 a week = $1,000+ a year.
  • Impulse spending never goes away, but you can learn to align it with your values.

9. Buying Used Instead of New (Especially for Kids)

• [29:45] Jill & [30:42] Jen: Huge accessibility for second-hand goods—Poshmark, eBay, local groups, refurbished tech, etc.
  • For kids: “They deserve new underwear, socks, and food. The rest can be hand-me-downs.”
  • Savings: At least $1,000/year is conservative!

10. DIY Basic Services

• [33:16] Jen & [33:44] Jill: Haircuts, nails, cleaning—the basics can be DIY’d.
  Quote: “[34:20] Jill: …You could try to DIY waxing with homemade supplies and your husband's t-shirt… and then find out THAT is not the way.”
  • Start small, find what works for your skill & comfort.

11. Refinance & Bill Negotiations (Rent, Insurance, etc.)

• [36:02] Jill: Call your providers, ask for reductions or value exchanges.
  • Even $50–$75/month saves nearly $800/year.
  • Rent reduction: Offer to take on responsibility (e.g., mowing lawn) in exchange. Quote: “[38:33] Jill: …I have negotiated rent. Even in a large apartment complex—it’s possible!...”
  • As a landlord, Jen confirms: “I have lowered rent to keep good tenants.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On reality checks:
  “[02:31] Jen: Most people are not broke because of big devastating mistakes… it’s habits that are normalized and just get worse and worse and compound in that worseness over years…”

• On permission to moderate, not eliminate:
  “[03:19] Jill: …we’re not even just talking about takeout… cut it in half… you could save yourself thousands of dollars here.”

• On practical meal planning:
  “[07:18] Jill: …Reverse meal planning…I am making a meal plan based off of what I already have…”

• On the overwhelming number of subscriptions:
  “[09:53] Jill: We are a subscription generation. I imagine you could save a lot of money here…”

• On negotiating bills and rent:
  “[36:02] Jill: …refinance or negotiate your bills… Just being a big girl, making the phone call, and asking for a reduction…”

• On mindset shifts:
  “[48:41] Jen: …I used to think that if I can’t do something big, then it’s not worth doing anything at all… that is the biggest lie and what holds the most people back…”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Intro of episode’s theme – [01:06]
• Start of 11 habits (Nuggets begin here) – [02:31]
• Takeout & meal planning deep dive – [02:31] to [09:53]
• Subscriptions audit – [09:53] to [12:35]
• Car insurance & driving costs – [12:56] to [18:19]
• Phone plan savings – [18:26] to [21:03]
• Energy efficiency tips – [23:30] to [26:34]
• Impulse spending – [26:29] to [29:45]
• Secondhand purchases & kids’ stuff – [29:45] to [33:16]
• DIY Services – [33:16] to [35:52]
• Bill negotiation & rent – [36:00] to [39:40]
• Listener “Bill of the Week” (William the baby!) – [40:24] to [43:15]
• Lightning round (hosts’ personal habits) – [46:03] to [54:14]

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Lightning Round: Host Reflections

• Jill: Long-term lifestyle change—becoming a one-car household. Took years but now can't imagine going back.
  Quote: “[47:48] Jill: Now I’m in too deep. Now it would be too much of a line item for me that I’m too accustomed to not having…”
• Jen: The biggest shift wasn’t a specific action—it was embracing small, imperfect changes instead of waiting for a “big move.” Quote: “[48:41] Jen: …Doing it imperfectly, small things, and… hop right back in—that is when I… started to see meaningful change…”

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Episode Takeaways

• The small, quiet habits cost you the most over time—cutting back on them, even just by half, can net THOUSANDS yearly.
• Transaction inventories are KEY: you can’t cut what you can’t see.
• Let go of perfection. Moderation, audits, and value-aligned spending all beat unsustainable extremes.
• Don’t be afraid to negotiate or DIY—these “awkward” steps often yield the biggest results.
• Stack small changes and forgive mistakes. That’s where meaningful, lasting transformation lives.

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“[29:45] Jill: …Never ever have we been in a time where getting secondhand is more accessible. That’s a win—take it!”
“[38:33] Jill: I have negotiated rent. Even in a large apartment complex, it’s possible. You just have to do your research and ask.”

Listen in for the full list, laughs, and candid personal stories—because frugality isn’t about deprivation; it’s about waking up to where your money goes and shifting what’s truly “normal.”

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For more actionable tips and deeper dives, check out the accompanying Frugal Friends episodes on subscriptions, meal planning, car ownership costs, and bill negotiation. And remember: small steps, big change!

Transcript

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[Jen]

These small habits are costing you $10,000 a year.

[Podcast Host Intro]

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

[Jen]

Welcome Frugal Friends. I'm Jen.

[Jill]

I'm Jill.

[Jen]

And most people are not broke because of big devastating mistakes. When there's the absence of something traumatic, it's usually habits that are normalized and just get worse and worse and compound in that worseness over years, over decades.

[Jill]

And some of these habits can cost us upwards of $10,000 a year. Stay till the end because the last three habits that we talk about all add up to about $3,000 alone.

[Jen]

Yeah. So we are going to go through all of these habits and we would like to know in the comments if you are doing any of them or if maybe you were. How you have come out of and reshaped your actions. That one stop them.

[Jill]

So I want to know.

[Jen]

There's 11 so let's not waste any time.

[Jill]

The first is to cut your takeout in half.

[Jen]

Look at half.

[Jill]

We're being so nice. We're being so nice all the time. It feels like we're ruining your life.

[Jen]

Well, we just recorded that concerts episode and if you haven't checked it out, you absolutely should. It's a long one but it's a good one. So we're just coming out of that mentally. We should probably drink some water. We need more time.

[Jill]

There was a lot of rage happening in that one and this one's an easy one. Okay. And we're, we're being so kind to you. But here's the thing. Trust us, cutting takeout is going to save us. Well here, let's talk about this. The average American spends $3,000 plus a year on dining out.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

Okay?

[Jill]

So we're not even just talking about takeout. All of, all of dining out, whatever your version is, cut it in half. And I get it that if you're primarily doing takeout, you're thinking I'm already kind of cutting it because I'm not needing to spend as much on tip for takeout as maybe I do at a sit down restaurant or I've really locked in my order, whatever the case may be. And yeah, that's great, we can do it sometimes. But if we were to just cut it in half, then you're talking a savings of $1500, maybe $2000. And that's not even depriving yourself of it entirely. Still doing it occasionally, just making those extra few shifts to eat at home a little more to maybe make a double batch of whatever it is that you're making when you're cooking to buy the do the things, make the meals that are five ingredients or less that take 15 to 20 minutes or less in the kitchen. Even substituting going out with a freezer meal, which is still going to cost a little bit more for convenience than it would be to make it yourself, but it's still going to be less than going out. You choose, you choose your own journey. But you could save yourself thousands of dollars here.

[Jen]

Yeah. And if maybe you're doing doordash or grubhub a lot, then maybe you're not even cutting your total like takeout in half. Maybe you're just committing to not do door dash for an entire month. And you can still do takeout, but you have to pick it up in order to have it. So that could be another way that you can decrease your spending on it without depriving of yourself altogether. And this could be something where if you look back at your 90 day transaction inventory, which is something we recommend everybody do at least once a year, no more than twice a year. But look back at all of your transactions over the last 90 days and see how much you spend on everything that's fixed expenses, discretionary one offs, all of it. We want to look at everything, figure out how much you are actually spending on takeout. So much of the time things are not as bad as we believe they are when we are living in ignorance and anxiety. And so to have that data, to look at it with neutrality and see, okay, it's not as bad as I thought, but it is still pretty bad. Or yikes, it's worse than I thought. I'm glad I caught it. And then we start shaving it away. What's one thing I can do that makes everything else easier or unnecessary? And so maybe that for you, that start is no more doordash. We delete the apps from our. From our phone and we are either ordering it, you know, by phone or online and picking it up ourselves. Maybe that's we avoid certain routes. It's. You get to figure out what's right for you. So next is grocery optimization, meal planning, and store switching. So typically we don't love driving to different grocery stores to save money on different things. If you like that, and that is cathartic to you, by all means, go forth, Be free. I have a limited amount of time, so for me, I am grocery shopping at home on an app and then I am going to pick it up. I did get a deal on one year of Walmart plus for 50 bucks and I did that for a year and did not feel like it was valid enough for me to pay $100 for another year. So I just pick up the food. But you can save by making just a few changes throughout the year. Probably $100 a month by just meal planning, bulk buying, strategically, not everything, and then wasting less food, eating everything that you do buy or all of your leftovers.

[Jill]

I cannot stress enough the reverse meal planning. You've heard me talk about it. But I mean, I really put this into practice in March and saw some

[Listener Megan]

significant

[Jill]

savings and that have now carried with me beyond March of I am making a meal plan based off of what I already have, and then I'm just filling in the gaps with the grocery store. So then I'm making a list and I am challenging myself to only get the things that are on the list, maybe allowing myself one to two impulse grocery buys to give myself a little bit of wiggle room.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

And my grocery bill has been 50 bucks a week, which is unheard. Like, that feels unheard of now. Thank you, Aldi. Hashtag Aldi. But because it's, It's. I'm not buying that.

[Listener Megan]

Oh.

[Jill]

But I'm not sure what I'm gonna do. Maybe I need potatoes. No, I know I don't need potatoes. I don't have to get it Just because I feel anxious about. Well, I usually have potatoes on hand. I don't have potatoes on hand. It's not in my meal plan for the week. We don't need to buy them.

[Jen]

I am convinced that everyone, most people, if you haven't done a pantry challenge recently, everyone can go a week without buying groceries. Yeah, I am fully, fully. Like, unless you already live with a minimal like freezer, fridge, pantry, and you've already been on that lifestyle for a while. I think everyone who's new to this has enough food in the freezer, the fridge and the pantry to go one week without buying groceries. And I think you could try that. You're gonna have to get weird.

[Jill]

It's not always gonna be a balanced meal.

[Jen]

Right. It's. Well, it can be balanced, but not going to be normal. Like, it's not going to be what you see on social media. You're going to have to sub things out for some weird stuff.

[Jill]

But it's going to be the can of beets in the back of the pantry that you kept for hurricane season.

[Jen]

That is where we are wasting so much money is by wasting our food, throwing away our food, overstocking and not

[Jill]

using and bulk buying things we've never tried before. I'm talking to myself too. Yeah, you can't go to Costco and get a snack and bulk that you've never had before. Especially if you're a no food waste kind of girly. You can, your life is really going to suck for a couple of months if you don't like that snack. You have to have tried it first.

[Jen]

Yeah. So I, I would say challenge yourself if you're really in this journey, try to go one week without buying groceries and only use what you have on hand. I swear, whatever you're spending on groceries every week, you're, you're going to save that money immediately.

[Jill]

Number three, reducing subscriptions or canceling them altogether. Here's the thing. The Average person spends $50 a month on unused subscriptions. So that's not just what our subscription buying is across the board. We're talking unused. This is another area where that 90 day transaction inventory comes in handy of what even are the subscriptions that I'm signed up for? Because if I know us frugal people, we're doing a lot of the free trial trials. They're great, I recommend, but then we forget to cancel them and then they're not great and then I don't recommend. You've got to either cancel immediately and oftentimes they'll still allow you to have that free trial or you got to set an alarm in your phone and you've got to cancel the thing. And if you've not done any of that, now's your time go through, look at all your subscriptions. What do I not need anymore? Cancel them all together. And then for my subscriptions that I do years do use, is there a lower tier that I can be utilizing? Do I have to have whatever tier I currently am on? A lot of times we will get the unlimited, the premium, the one without commercials. No, no, we're not the no commercials kind of girlies. I mean you're allowed to. It's fine. I'm just saying like I don't.

[Jen]

It depends on your utilization. So yeah, two stories. I was overpaying for the gym. I was paying for the top tier because I Do you utilize the gym. I go multip times a week, every week, very reliably. So it would seem like justifiably I could have the highest tier. Yeah but I wasn't using the classes or the, or the massager, the hydra massage, the tanning. Like I'm not using any of that. So I did an intake and downgraded to the $10 a month plan. It locked me in for a year, but I know I'm going to use it. Another story, we had a bill of the week caller saying that she cancele Amazon prime because they were paying for two Amazon prime subscriptions. In her household she had an annual and a monthly and she thought the monthly was her Amazon prime account. And then she asked her husband, hey, can we cancel Amazon Prime? I'm trying to save money. She's like, he's like, we paid up front, we paid for the year. So on his card it was the annual and it was hers the monthly. And so she was able to cancel Amazon prime without actually canceling Amazon Prime. And they had been doing that for two years.

[Jill]

And you don't know that. You won't know that unless you do a 90 day transaction inventory. And if you are sharing finances with someone that that's something you do together. Review it together because the other person might have info that you don't have. So this could be a savings of at least $600 a year.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

least.

[Jill]

We are a subscription generation. I imagine you could save a lot

[Jen]

of money here we did an episode on subscriptions and link to that. Next is negotiating car insurance. So shopping rates, bundling policies, car insurance. If you are looking for an easy insurance to negotiate. If you're new to negotiating Then, then it's car insurance. And I believe Internet, depending on how many Internet providers are in your area, are typically the easiest to negotiate down because you can compare like competitors and really motivate your insurance company to keep you.

[Jill]

I've not actually dug into the data on this, but if I were to take a guess, because that's fun, I would say it's about 60% of our bill of the weeks are people calling in saying I lowered my car insurance. And that's probably an inaccurate number. I'm bad at guessing. But that's so many people. And it's significant amounts of money. We're talking hundreds of dollars. And this just happened to me. My. I pay every six months and I want to say my car insurance dropped $500 for the six month period, so. So you're talking for me a $1,000 savings in a year just on that? Yeah, just because of one call.

[Jen]

And so. Yeah. And you can also add to that the little driving things, you car that track your usage, your stopping. And so that's another way whenever we do that, we always save some money. So if you hate negotiating, that's just something you can, you can. Or if you do love negotiating, it's just another thing you can tack on top of car insurance to not have to pay. If you have an older car, you can drop some percentage of coverage. I would say if you have a newer car, if you are paying on a car, you have to have full coverage. But even if you've paid off your car and, and it is, you know, more than what you have in your emergency fund, I would definitely keep that coverage. But for very, for one car, we have full coverage. For the. I think it's a 2008 Toyota Tundra. We don't have full coverage on that. No way. No way, no way.

[Jill]

All right, number five, drive less or combine trip tips. My friends, I don't think we ever really truly do the calculations, probably because it'd be too scary and maybe we don't know how, how much it really costs us both to go out and use our car now more than ever, because gas is insane, but also maintenance and, and the depreciation. I mean, not, I mean, depreciation is going to happen, but the wear and tear on the vehicle. I mean, I don't want to go overboard and be like, I'm not getting together with my friends because I want to keep in good condition. But I do think it's worth that extra little check to say, do I have to go now or could it Wait until my grocery run that I do this? Or is there another way for me to get there? Or could I carpool? And not only always mooching off of other people, but creating a community where this would be normal, that we all don't have to. If we live within five minutes of somebody, we all don't have to be bringing our own car somewhere. Eric and I were just talking about this. Like, would we ever get a second vehicle? And calculating, well, if we were going separate places, how much would Ubers be? It's like that could. That could end up being a good amount of money every month. But it's also wild to think that just buying a second car would somehow be more economical. Like it still would be more worth it for us to spend hundreds of dollars a month on Ubers or public transportation if we're going separate directions than it would be to get a second vehicle. That statistically, say, or the math the research says, can cost between like 10 to $15,000 a year to own a car.

[Jen]

Yeah, if you're. I mean you could spend probably $500 a month between Ubers and public transportation and still come out on top by not owning another car. And that is being conservative.

[Jill]

I think so.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

I think, I think you're absolutely. So it's. This is one of those areas that is truly worth questioning and it's. Especially if you live in a more urban area. What is public transportation like near you? Is an E bike plausible? How walkable is your community? Is it worth just starting to make more friends who are within walking distance of you? I'm not trying to be too extreme here, but there could just be a whole lifestyle that is just better.

[Jen]

Is it worth going outside?

[Jill]

No, no, I did not say that.

[Jen]

But some people, but some people on social media do not think it's worth to go outside. And to that then why you have cars.

[Jill]

But even just driving money, just driving less, just reducing it a bit. This, this, you could save you $800 a year. Just when we're thinking about gas and then the maintenance costs, how often you're going to have to oil change that kind of a thing. Certainly if you got rid of a car, you went down to a one car. Hey.

[Jen]

Ho. Hi.

[Jill]

Oh, now, now we're talking. All the savings you need. The episode's over if you only have one car.

[Jen]

No, stay with us. Okay, Number six is a lower flown plan.

[Jill]

Phone plan instead.

[Jen]

And this is our next move. As soon as our contract is up, we are switching to mint because we've been Talking about them. They have been a sponsor of the show for probably six years.

[Jill]

They're great. We've heard, we've, we, we've heard all of you listeners who are using them.

[Jen]

Well, we've just been on a family plan with like nine people for a very long time. And so when you've got that many people, it is not nine, is it four, five, seven, seven. It's seven people. And we've just been to get, you know, we've been a family for a long time, but we are ready to go our separate ways and get our

[Jill]

own time to break the family.

[Jen]

It's time to break the family up because it's not worth the money that we are paying anymore. Yeah.

[Jill]

And we realize we don't need unlimited. You all have heard us talk about this too times. But if you've heard us talk about it and you've not checked your usage and you're paying for unlimited plan, then, then that's on you. We're going to keep talking about it because we actually don't need unlimited. It will be far more cost effective for us to pay per gigabyte because we only use less than 10amonth.

[Jen]

Yeah, it's truly this feeling like we are getting something from having unlimited. Like that is a habit in and of itself that transcends money. Like we really do. We trust these people who tell us like, oh, this is, this is a perk. Like, is it a perk to give you something that you don't need and will never use and didn't even want before you knew it was a perk, before you knew it existed? Like we have to take more ownership of what comes into our life and not just take things because they're coming in for quote unquote free because you do pay for them. And so I, yeah, we're ready to pay by, pay by use it. I, I remember when we were young and we first got cell phones paying by minute. And so I think we have this bias paying for text.

[Jill]

Right.

[Jen]

We now we have a bias towards, towards that. But there's a lot more WI fi now. So like that has come back around to be more cost effective. Yeah.

[Jill]

If big carriers are charging $90 a month, you can get some of these budget plans for $40 a month. You're talking about $600 a year that you could be saving.

[Jen]

And I am ready to say this. Yes, I am ready. GoFriendsPodcast.com Mint join the movement. Join us. And Ryan Reynolds.

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[Jill]

All right. Number seven making some energy efficient tweaks yeah. So what, what, what do we mean by this? Certainly switching everything over to led. Now hear me out. I am not this person who thinks that turning off the light weights is actually going to move the needle all

[Jen]

that much and unplugging everything. Like when. Yeah. Using it. It's just.

[Jill]

We're not those people.

[Jen]

It's too much mental fatigue. There is this balance between saving money and is it worth my mental and physical fatigue? Like just another micro decision that I have to make or another 20 micro decisions I have to make throughout the day. I can, can't handle it. I can barely handle feeding my children one to two meals per day, depending on the day.

[Jill]

But they do get fed. I'm gonna need to hear you say that. They do need to be on.

[Jen]

They do get fed at daycare and school. Thank the Lord for public lunch and breakfast programs and all of that. Not because I can't afford to feed them, is because I am mentally fatigued.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

By everything going on right now.

[Jill]

But, but truly, I mean, you're never, you're, you're never going to need to buy another light bulb again. They just last for forever. Also, I'm watching Love on the Spectrum. Have you ever seen this?

[Jen]

No.

[Jill]

Oh, yeah. You don't have Netflix. Oh my gosh. James is one of the people on Love on the Spectrum and He's obsessed with LEDs and I'm obsessed with him for, for those who know what I'm talking about, you know, and we're all just loving life. But so, so there's that, there's that option. But also you can get an energy audit, usually for free, from your local energy provider who is going to all of the tips of how to make your home or apartment more energy efficient. Sometimes the resources to do so that can include an aerator that you can put onto your faucets and your shower heads that will reduce flow of water but not totally feel like any less pressure to you. So that can decrease your water consumption without you really even doing much. Doesn't even mean you need to take a shorter shower. So that, that's fun. You can do things to seal up your windows better. You can be adjusting the thermostat just by a couple of degrees and we could see a savings of a few hundred dollars a year just with these small tweaks. But get the professionals to tell you what, what to switch up and get that done for free. Yeah.

[Jen]

And a lot of times if it's just like weather stripping, they'll give you weather stripping to do that too. So you don't have to go out and buy it. Even if you don't. If you know where the problem is and you're like, like, I just want this man to give me some weather stripping. That could be a thing that you do. Let us know if you've tried that and you like, if that is a unique experience or is it something that regularly.

[Jill]

Yeah, yeah, it happened for me. Like, I can say it did happen for me, but yeah. Am I an anomaly?

[Jen]

We don't know. Maybe. Okay. Eight is to pause impulse spending. So. So live by the 24 hour rule, especially if you are new to lowering your impulse spending. Honestly, there's so much more that goes into impulse spending than just pausing and giving yourself a 24 hour rule. It's not going to solve the problem, but it will move the needle. So even $20 a week saved is over $1,000 a year. That's like 20 less dollars spent at Ross TJ Maxx. That's like 3 less lattes at the coffee shop that shall not be named. Like, just saving a little bit per week can add up. And that compounds because these are habits that we're talking about. Right. And so you are never worse at a habit than you are right now. You are the worst right now. You will only get better. So like if you do a small thing right now, that will compound to more and more money saved. Remember right now, you are the worst.

[Jill]

Okay. If number eight is your bit, if you're like that. This is me impulse spending. Oh, yeah. Well, I need more than this. Make getting our book your last impulse spend. And I'm not even like, I'm truly being so honest with you because we wrote this book for you. Buy what you love without going broke. That, that $20, maybe like 15 at this point, it always goes on sale. It will be the best amount of money that you spend because it will, it will give you those deeper, deeper works, deeper prompts to do, to work through in order to see a real shift in impulse spending.

[Jen]

Yeah. Remember that impulse spending never goes away. Like we are as human beings, we have an inherent need to be impulsive at times. We have a desire to, to surprise and delight and to just kind of be impulsive. Most of us have, we all have that desire at varying levels. Right. So the desire to impulse spend never goes away. But we can hone in our spending to the point where we are spending so in alignment with our values that impulse buys can generally be either if, if it's, you know, one that's going to eventually get regretted. It can be floated and it. And it's fine with you financially, but we eventually get to a point where even your impulse spends are values aligned and you don't have to feel guilty about them afterwards. You actually feel really good and even better that you got something that aligned with your values and you got the opportunity to be spontaneous.

[Jill]

Okay, number nine is buy used instead of new. We think that this is one of the questions that we need to be asking ourselves before when making purchasing decisions. Right. Can I get it for free? Can I get it low cost? Can I get it at a deal? Can I buy it full price, guilt free? Those are the, that's the order filter that we need to be going through. And when we're talking about low cost cost, we're talking about secondhand. Honestly, when we're talking about free, we're talking about secondhand too. Because a lot of times you can do buy nothing groups. But as far as purchasing goes, we have never. There's a lot to complain about and you are hearing us complain a lot in some of these episodes. Things are real broken out there. But I'll tell you what, it's bad out there. Never ever have we been in a time where getting secondhand items is more accessible to us.

[Jen]

Us. It is the most accessible, the easiest. And this is so this is one of those last three. So if you're distracted, if whatever you're doing, it's not as me right now, come back to me right now just for these last three. And then you can, you know, you can go back to what you're doing. It has never been easier to buy secondhand because we're not just talking about things at the thrift store, we're talking about consignment. People are buying more higher end and designer than ever before and then realizing they can't afford it and trying to sell it, but not really solving the problem and then just going out and buying more and justifying it by saying that they can sell it on Poshmark or ebay or et cetera, et cetera. And so we can be the people who are buying it secondhand but not rationalizing it because it's secondhand. So that we also are over buying secondhand quality stuff. Yeah, that was, that was a lot like it's so easy to buy secondhand.

[Jill]

Whatever you're looking for, clothing, furniture, tech, shoes, kids items, sports gear, you name it, you can find it. And they don't mean you can find it. If you go and you dig through a thrift store and you get an allergy attack. I mean you can find it online. You can also still have your fun little online shopping experience secondhand if you need it. If we've also gone through all of

[Jen]

our values based spending and I'll stand on business. Your kids don't deserve anything new. So like maybe you're buying new stuff. They deserve new underwear and socks and food, I'll give you that. But they could do with some leftovers. They'll be fine. You can get all of their tech refurbished back Market is a great place. You can get their, you know, running shoes for the. Their sports that relay goods. It's all. It's gray stock. So what gray stock is. It's people who have bought a pair of shoes, worn it within the 30 day trial and then returned it. And so it's. It's been worn, but it hasn't really been worn. So like stuff like that, stuff that starts to become expensive when you start getting teens, you can still buy things for them. It does not have to be new.

[Jill]

We're guessing a savings of a thousand dollars a year, but that is conservative. Especially if you're getting tech and furniture and that kind of a thing used.

[Jen]

Yeah, you're gonna do good girl. All right, next is DIYing basic services. Hear us out and this will be different for everyone. So you might cut your own hair or your spouse's or your kids. I could never no like curly hair, luscious socks, a multitude of sins. Right. But it cannot hide what I would do to it. Like you should see me cut Atlas's hair. I literally just like bring it up over his head and I'm just like. And like that's good enough because he these three. But I have been getting Kai's hair cut once a year for like four years at this point. And you know, we're lucky in that we have curly. We all have curly hair. But yeah, so hair is not something you'll see me doing nails though. Nails I don't need to get done.

[Jill]

Look at us doing our nails.

[Jen]

You know, I do my own is is so nice cleaning. I wish I could hire a cleaner, but I do own my own cleaning.

[Jill]

That would be nice.

[Jen]

So it's like there are all these basic services. Inspect the ones that you are paying for and see if you could start to DIY some yourself. And I would love to know what DIY like things that you started to DIY that turned out really good for you. I don't want to hear the horror stories.

[Jill]

So I was about to dive into which one? You already know my hors.

[Jen]

Like say your horror story. But I just want to, I, I want people to be encouraged to diy,

[Jill]

you know, whatever is fine. You could see if you can DIY wax yourself. You could try that and see if you could make your own wax and use your husband's T shirt as the waxing strips. And you could try, you could have a real fun little girls night alone in your bathroom and then find out

[Jen]

that that is not the way it never sounded. From the very beginning.

[Jill]

I did everything myself. But also at the time I was so broke, so beyond actually broke. But you know, now, now you know.

[Jen]

And now that part of her hair doesn't have. Or her leg doesn't have any hair. Forever. Still I wish.

[Jill]

All right, we made it to the end. Number 11. Okay, my friend, here we go. This is a big girl. 1.

[Jen]

We alluded to it earlier.

[Jill]

This is for, this is for very big girls, meaning grown up. I mean, okay, refinance or negotiate your bills. We cannot stress enough how much money you can save by just being a big girl, making the phone call and asking for a reduction, asking them to slice and dice, place these bills. Okay, they're getting out of hand. The rent is too high, the, the rent insurance is too much, the house costs too much. I mean, you can't really negotiate with your mortgage, but you can by doing a refinance. So if the interest rates are low enough now to make it worth it, depending on when you bought, that can be worth it. We helped people do the math on that in an episode a while back. Just search for it. We talked about refinan and how to make that decision. But other, other low hanging fruit things are just really any of our bills, our Internet bill. You can call your electric company and see are there any things that you could do. Chances are they're going to do a free energy audit for you. Like we already said, you've got a lot, a lot of luck, a lot of things going for you. If you were to call your insurance companies and try and lower those bills, even a 50 to $75 reduction in any of these bills is going to be a, a savings of $800 a year. And if you're sitting here thinking. You mentioned rent. Yeah, right, girl. Yeah, right girl. I do mean a reduction in rent. And here's how that works. You could offer, depending on the setup that you're currently in, is there anything that you could be doing on the property that would reduce the rent? Could you shovel snow could you mow the lawn? Could you clean the common areas? You get to decide what you might be willing to do that might be a value to the landlord to reduce the rent or at least not increase it, if that thing is coming for you. Certainly at lease renewals, you can look at comps in the area. Rent doesn't only go up. Sometimes rent decreases. And you'd be able to look and say, hey, I'd be able to get this very similar unit for $200 less than what I'm currently paying. What are you going to do for me? Yeah, it does work. Because guess what?

[Jen]

What?

[Jill]

I've done it. And so I. I mean, I'm not saying my situation is going to be what everybody else's situation is going to be, but I have negotiated rent. Even in a large apartment complex, it's possible. You just have to learn the negotiation script, know what you're asking, have done your research and do it.

[Jen]

Just ask. As a landlord, I have been negotiated with.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

And it as. And I have. Have lowered rent because if I have a really good tenant that takes good care of my property that I don't want to leave because it's going to cost me more time, energy, and probably money to look for a new tenant. That's. I don't know if they're going to be as good. I want to keep that tenant within reason. Right. Like, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to not raise the rent or maybe I'll go down 100 if they want to take on the, the lawn mowing responsibility. So there are things you can think about being. I will do this and that. If you don't raise the rent or if you lower it 100. Be reasonable, because most people, if you're a good tenant, they want to keep you.

[Jill]

You know what I want to keep? It's been a good tenant.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

For me.

[Jen]

I. Yeah.

[Jill]

And I would reduce the rent all day for them down to zero.

[Jen]

I don't think it pays rent.

[Jill]

Exactly. The bill of the

[Jen]

week. This is the bill about me. This is the bill about me.

[Podcast Host Intro]

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

[Listener Megan]

Hi, Jen and Jill. My name is Megan and I am going to tell you about my bill of the week. His name is William. That's Right. We had a little baby boy back in October, and his name is William. And I'm not sure if he will actually be called Bill, but his name is William and he is our best bill we've ever had to pay for. We have one older child, and we have suffered through many miscarriages. So he is our little miracle baby. And we are so blessed that we have a wonderful HSA that we have been putting money in for I don't even know how long. And so we ended up having to pay nothing out of pocket. It all came out of that and our wonderful insurance. So that is the best bill we've ever had to pay. And hopefully in the future, I will be calling to tell you that we paid off all of our medical school debt. Only about, you know, $350,000 to go. So, anyway, my bill of the week is my special little sweet boy. We love watching your show, listening to the show, and have a great week. Okay, Bye.

[Jen]

Megan.

[Jill]

This is beautiful. This is so beautiful. Come on, baby. Bill, I think that we can't get better bills than what we've gotten in the last eight years. And then in comes maggot Bill actually literally doing the thing that's in the original song. You had a baby. His name is William. You did it. You're the one. We wrote the song about you.

[Jen]

We're waiting for the Buffalo Bills to call. Somebody from the Buffalo Bills. We're waiting for Bill Clinton to call. And we are waiting. I don't know if we've had somebody pay off their mortgage. We might have had that something about a car.

[Jill]

We've had plenty of stuff about cars.

[Jen]

Plenty of cars.

[Jill]

You're taking the cake, Maggie. You had a baby, and his name is William, and you called us about it. And this is the sweetest, most adorable, cherished thing for. For both of us. I'm so glad that William is here. It sounds like it was a really hard, grievous journey for you, and I'm so sorry for what you went through. And celebratory with you now for this sweet, sweet little boy named William. You are our bill of the week. And yeah, girl, you couldn't get that debt gone. But you know what? For now, just breathe in the smell of sweet baby.

[Jen]

Oh, new baby smell. It's a good smell.

[Jill]

It's such a good smell. Yeah. Assuming that diapers have been changed. But if you're listening and you have a bill that you want to submit, if it has to do with literal lyrics in our Bill of the week song so true.

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[Jen]

If you have a connection to the Buffalo Bills. I don't. I don't know if we want to talk to Bill Clinton at this season, but go for it.

[Jill]

That's all right.

[Jen]

Go for it.

[Jill]

Okay. You know what to do. Frugalfriendspodcast.com Bill Thanks.

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[Jen]

Trips, family time, long days at the pool.

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[Jen]

Getting it sorted is one of those

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[Jill]

Com.

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[Jill]

And now it's time for the Lightning round.

[Jen]

All right. What's a small lifestyle change that took a long time to stick?

[Jill]

Well, hopefully this counts. I wanted to be a one car family for a very long time. Our OG listeners will remember me saying for years, I just want one car. I think we only need one car. I don't want to have two cars. This is ridiculous.

[Jen]

Us.

[Jill]

And then finally the skies opened up and we've, we've now been a one car family for six years. I mean, couple, you know, it's just two of us. But yeah, it's been a long time.

[Jen]

I can't remember, I mean, obviously you were living in Pennsylvania when you had the two cars. You, you've been one car. I mean, but I've known you for nine years, so I, I feel like you've always been a one car family. But no, it's only been six.

[Jill]

We always Dr. Down to one car. I think it was like a year before we moved here. No, so it'd be seven years because we've been here nearly six years now, so. Closer to seven years. Yeah, man. Yeah. No, you've known me mostly as a one car. One car, little household.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

And yeah. Love it, love it, love it. I, I understand that there could be a time in life that we change our minds on that, but again, I'd have to run the math because now I know how expensive. Unless we get just a beater for like 2,000 bucks. And that's our little meep, meep, meep.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Jill]

Type of thing.

[Jen]

Even if you did it for one year, it still saves you money, you know, like it doesn't even have to be something that you do permanently. But still it, it does save.

[Jill]

Now I'm in too deep now. Now it would be too much of a line item for me that I'm too accustomed to not having. Anyways. What about for you?

[Jen]

For me, it's the actual concept of, of small changes. I have always been in, you know, go big or go home, all or nothing mindset, which is the typical human condition. Right. Like that's what how most of us operate.

[Jill]

And it's not incredibly wrong because we do talk about the big four.

[Jen]

Right. But, but in life, like in general, it's been a small efforts stack and they are worth it even if you can't do the big things.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

I used to think that like, if I can't do something big, then it's not worth doing anything at all. I'll just wait until I can do the big thing.

[Jill]

Yeah.

[Jen]

And that is the biggest lie. And what Holds the most people back. That mindset right there. And so when I finally was like, like, okay, like, we're just gonna do it imperfectly. We're gonna do it, you know, small things, and then we're gonna make a mistake and then we're just gonna hop right back in. That is when I, when I started to see meaningful change. But that took. I took a long time. I, you know, mid-30s to get that. So. And some people never get it. And so I'm thankful. But it comes a lot from, like, what, what I do for a living and seeing, you know, what's right in front of me.

[Jill]

It is so true. I am so glad that my $26,000 a year salary didn't keep me from beginning a debt payoff journey. Like I began my debt payoff journey when that was the amount of money that I made, there were big decisions I made that helped me to pay that off, but it was also the little things and believing that even in this season, I can still be working towards a goal mindset that is so crucial. Well, thanks everyone for being here, for hanging out with us and for reading our book where we also talk a lot about mindset and those shifts that we can make both big and small, to see real changes in our spending habits. Really, it's teaching people how to spend. Buy what you love without going broke. People have loved it. Like Christina, who said this about the book. Jen and Jill have a way of talking about money that eliminates any shame or guilt you've ever felt about your financial situation, while simultaneously giving solid advice to make steps towards your goals. From wisdom about finding contentment and gratitude for the season you're in to reframing how you view your financial past as a path toward growth. This book gave me exactly what I needed as I continue on my debt repayment journey. I couldn't recommend it more. Whether you're just starting to learn about personal finance or have been at it for years. Christina, that's lovely. Thank you.

[Jen]

Yes, thank you so much. Please, if you've made it this this far, make sure that you're subscribed. A lot of people watch videos and they are not subscribed and they think they are because it just keeps popping up in their home feed. So please subscribe to the channel and watch more of our episodes. Listen to more of our episodes because it helps the algorithm push it out to more people so that we can spread this message further and wider and change what is normal about spending in our culture.

[Jill]

See you next time.

[Jen]

Bye, Frugal. Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.

[Jill]

Jen, do you think you have any, like, small habits that, that have stacked for you?

[Jen]

Oh, abs, Absolutely. Well, I'm in a, in a healthy health journey right now and health training. I'm, I am losing weight. Let's, let's keep it real. There's a difference and, but there's health,

[Jill]

there's healthy choices you're making in the midst.

[Jen]

Yeah, yeah, but, but let's not get it twisted. The two are different. And so I have had. Had little change. I've been doing it for almost a year at this point and I will, I am stopping it at the end of the year. There is a hard stop date and the things that I started doing in June of last year have, are definitely different than the things I'm doing right now. Like I started at 7,500 steps a day. Very inconsistent, very kind of like unmotivated at the gym, not knowing what to do, even though I had a plan, like not really wanting to, you know, do it or see strategic differences to where now I am. I'm doing 10,000 steps a day. Some days I'll do 12,000. I have a plan that I stick to and it's easy for me to do that because I've built the habit and, and the habits have stacked over the year. It wasn't just like a hard shift to doing 12,000 steps a day, but it's built up to that.

[Jill]

Oh, that's so great. Yeah. I mean, you look great. Like I said, even off the recording, I've always thought you look great. I know it has been cool seeing you stick to something and feel so invigorated and strong and capable and, and

[Jen]

yeah, it's really built my self esteem,

[Jill]

which is one of our higher level needs.

[Jen]

I mean, it's aesthetic, but it's also being able to do something and follow through and do hard things,

[Jill]

but also finding a way to weave it into your life too. Like that sounds 10 to 12,000 steps a day sounds insane, but you figured out what it actually takes to do that and how to weave that in.

[Jen]

Yeah. And the things I'm doing right now are not the things that I will do long term, but it ha. It is, you know, for a particular goal.

[Jill]

Yeah. So yeah, it's cool. Stacking it up.

[Jen]

Stack, stack, stack.

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