What to Budget For This Winter

Summary

Frugal Friends Podcast: What to Budget For This Winter
Hosted by Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni
Release Date: December 6, 2024

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Overview

In Episode 465 of the Frugal Friends Podcast, hosts Jen Smith and Jill Sirianni delve into effective strategies for budgeting during the winter season. Tailored for listeners aiming to save money, reduce spending, adopt minimalist lifestyles, pay off debt, or achieve financial independence, this episode provides actionable insights complemented by relatable anecdotes and data-driven discussions.

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1. Understanding Seasonal Spending Shifts

Key Discussion Points:

• Impact of Weather on Spending: Winter brings unique financial challenges, primarily due to increased heating bills, higher grocery expenses, and necessary vehicle preparations.
• Psychological Factors: The season's cold and darker days can influence spending behaviors, potentially leading to impulsive purchases aimed at boosting mood.

Notable Quote:

"We will make possibly spending decisions when we are feeling cold that are different from how we might choose if we are not cold."
— Jill Sirianni [07:07]

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2. Heating and Energy Costs

Key Discussion Points:

• Anticipate Increased Bills: Especially prevalent in northern regions, heating costs can surge during winter months. Jen emphasizes the importance of planning ahead to mitigate these expenses.
• Energy Efficiency Measures:
  • Sealing Air Leaks: Investing in weather stripping, caulking, and window insulation can significantly reduce heating costs.
  • Energy Audits: Utilizing free resources from energy providers for home assessments and implementing suggested improvements.

Notable Quote:

"Just putting the efforts to do some caulking, to maybe do some of the plastic over your windows, to do some weather stripping around your doors... could lead to some savings."
— Jill Sirianni [14:30]

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3. Clothing and Household Preparations

Key Discussion Points:

• Secondhand Shopping: Purchasing winter clothing from secondhand platforms like Poshmark or eBay can lead to substantial savings. High-quality items, such as Patagonia puffer jackets, are highlighted as worthwhile investments.
• Early Preparation: Planning and purchasing winter essentials well in advance prevents last-minute, often more expensive, purchases.

Notable Quote:

"Winter clothing is the best type of clothing to buy secondhand because coats are not worn that often in a lot of places."
— Jen Smith [15:17]

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4. Vehicle Maintenance

Key Discussion Points:

• Regular Check-ups: Ensuring tire pressure, battery health, and brakes are in optimal condition to prevent breakdowns and costly repairs.
• Winterizing Vehicles: Investing in winter tires, proper wiper care, and other seasonal preparations can enhance safety and reduce future expenses.

Notable Quote:

"If you need it then again possibly increased medical bills because people kids are sick."
— Jill Sirianni [18:24]

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5. Medical Expenses

Key Discussion Points:

• Anticipate Health-Related Costs: Winter often brings an increase in medical bills due to illnesses. Jen advises proactive measures such as investing in personal medical equipment like nebulizers to avoid high emergency costs.
• Research and Preparation: Understanding the cheapest options for medical procedures and avoiding panic-driven decisions can lead to significant savings.

Notable Quote:

"I bought one of those yourself, it's much cheaper than getting it from the doctor."
— Jen Smith [17:56]

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6. Grocery Budgeting and Food Spending

Key Discussion Points:

• Shift to At-Home Eating: Cold weather discourages dining out, leading to higher grocery bills. Jen and Jill suggest thoughtful meal planning to manage increased food expenditures.
• Healthy Eating in Winter: January's push for healthy diets can be challenging due to the scarcity and higher cost of fresh produce. Adapting to seasonal foods like soups and stews can help maintain budget-friendly, nutritious meals.

Notable Quote:

"Food expenditures tend to rise in the winter months, specifically on eating at home."
— Jill Sirianni [24:17]

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7. Saving and Future Planning

Key Discussion Points:

• High Yield Savings Accounts: Maximizing savings through accounts with higher interest rates, such as CIT, can provide additional funds for future needs.
• Prioritizing Savings for Upcoming Seasons: Allocating funds now for future vacations or summer activities ensures financial stability and reduces stress during peak spending times.

Notable Quote:

"Whatever money you already have set aside for an emergency fund, if that's sitting in a high yield savings account, you're earning money on that."
— Jen Smith [31:21]

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8. Personal Anecdotes and Listener Interaction

Key Discussion Points:

• Jen and Jill Share Personal Experiences: The hosts reveal their own budgeting challenges, such as vehicle registrations and fluctuating mortgage payments, adding a relatable touch to the episode.
• Bill of the Week: Listener Liz shares her success story of disputing an inflated medical bill, highlighting the importance of vigilance and research in managing expenses.

Notable Quote:

"Liz, do you know what else catapults us?"
— Jen Smith [32:00]

"I just logged in to check the balance on my account zero. So thank you to you beautiful frugal friends for saving me almost $1,000."
— Liz [33:08]

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9. Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Key Discussion Points:

• Empathy and Self-Kindness: Jen and Jill encourage listeners to understand seasonal spending patterns without self-judgment, emphasizing control over individual actions.
• Continuous Learning: Reflecting on past spending habits and adjusting future budgets accordingly is crucial for financial well-being.

Notable Quote:

"The only thing we can really do is focus on our actions. And in seasons we may take more actions that get us further, faster."
— Jen Smith [08:22]

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Conclusion

Episode 465 of the Frugal Friends Podcast equips listeners with comprehensive strategies to navigate winter's financial demands. By addressing key areas such as energy costs, clothing, vehicle maintenance, medical expenses, and grocery budgeting, Jen and Jill provide a holistic approach to winter budgeting. Their blend of practical advice, personal stories, and listener interactions fosters a supportive environment for individuals seeking to enhance their financial resilience during the colder months.

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Additional Resources:

• Budget Toolkits: Available to subscribers every last Friday of the month at frugalfriendspodcast.com.
• High Yield Savings with CIT: Learn more at frugalfriendspodcast.com/cit.

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For more episodes and financial tips, visit frugalfriendspodcast.com.

Transcript

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[Jen]

Episode 465 what to Budget for this winter.

[State Farm Representative]

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

[Jen]

Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen.

[Savannah Guthrie]

My name is Jill.

[Jen]

And it's cold outside, baby. It is. And, but not here in Florida. It's fine.

[Savannah Guthrie]

It's, it's, we're fine.

[Jen]

Temperate.

[Savannah Guthrie]

It's hot. I'm going to the beach later.

[Jen]

But for most of the people in our listening audience, there will be a change in how you spend and what you spend on in this season. And so we're going to remind you of some of those things and also share with you some data that might make you feel better about where your spending is headed.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah, I like that. Nothing super new here. We're just kind of utilizing this episode to be your little PSA reminder women, an encouragement on. Yeah, remember, these bills are coming up. Are you ready? You've got time to prepare now.

[Jen]

Yes.

[Savannah Guthrie]

So here we go.

[Jen]

But first, this episode is brought to you by spring, the next season on the calendar. And if you want to be ready for our what to budget for this spring episode, you're going to want to start saving. And you should start saving in a high yield savings account, preferably at CIT. They've got a really great APY and you can open an account there. Frugal Friends podcast.com CIT be ready for whatever spring springs on you.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah, because you can make a break. You can make your money grow in a high yield savings account. By spring, you could have an extra few hundred dollars.

[Jen]

If you keep your emergency fund in a High Yield Savings account, it can pay for your manicure and or pedicure every month. You could get a, you could get a pedicure every month with the money you make just from keeping your emergency fund in a High yield savings account.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Extra ye.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Extra cash.

[Jen]

There you go.

[Savannah Guthrie]

I love it so much.

[Jen]

All right, so winter, we've, we try to do a winter episode every year, sometimes more. Last year we did Frugal Living Tips for winter. That was episode 264. We, you know, we do our Frugal Holiday episodes. We got episode 456, how to have a Frugal Holiday. That was very recent. And so this one, we're talking specifically about your budget. We also have our budget toolkits. Every month, the last Friday of every month, we send all of our friend letter subscribers a budget toolkit. For the next month. So you will have just seen some of this stuff in the budget toolkit we sent out on Black Friday, but we're here to expand on some of it. If you don't get the friend letter, you didn't see it. Frugalfriendspodcast.com a popup whenever you move your cursor away from the screen or stay there long enough on your phone, a pop up will come up and it will ask you to join. So it's free, but so today we are going to start with a little a fascinating study, as Jill puts it.

[Savannah Guthrie]

So this one comes from Spectrum News. It's titled Expect to Spend More when It's Cold Outside. And this is based on a study that was conducted by marketing professors at the University of Oxford and the City University of New York looking at cold temperatures as being a contributing factor to our spending Wild setup I don't even know how they came up with this setup, but here's what they did. They ran an experiment with 112 students and they were asked to hold a cup in their non dominant hand that contained water at either an uncomfortably warm or an uncomfortably cold temperature. And while in that hot or cold condition, they were presented with a hypothetical situation where they were asked whether or not they wanted to purchase insurance for an antique clock.

[Jen]

So bizarre.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Now they still separated these groups even more. Half of the students were read a strongly sentimental description for the clock and the others were read something really objective, without sentiment about the clock, and asked would you want to purchase insurance for this clock? Here's what they found. The students were willing to pay significantly more for the clock's insurance after reading the highly sentimental description of the clock, but only when they were in the cold condition. When in the warm condition holding something uncomfortably warm in their non dominant hand. The description of of the clock made no significant difference on how much they said they would pay. So that's why I called this a fascinating study. Because I think even the minds of the people who came up with this study is fascinating. Like how did you even think about this specific scenario? But ultimately finding that we will make possibly spending decisions when we are feeling cold that are different from how we might choose if we are not cold. And so just I don't know.

[Jen]

And that is why the friends live in Florida.

[Savannah Guthrie]

That's why we live in Florida. Honest to goodness. Yeah. And I'm sure we could just probably conjecture around the rest of it why that might be whether it's discomfort or we know that buying releases dopamine. We Know that cold dark settings can often make a lot of us feel a little bit more down than what we typically feel throughout the year. And shopping and buying and doing something that's going to release that dopamine could increase this time of year. Ultimately, I think it's just something important to keep in mind that my spending decisions might shift depending on the season. Apart from the pressures of spending that can happen just how I respond to the various contexts that I'm in, the temperature, darkness that's happening outside. I think knowing ourselves and how we experience those, these different environments throughout the year, how it affects our spending. So that could include looking back on your spending last year, doing a transaction inventory for last winter. Is there any surprising purchases that you see that possibly were just because of the season and how can that inform you this year?

[Jen]

Yeah, I think hopefully it gives you a little empathy for yourself because we go through, through these seasons where we're like, oh, I'm doing really well. And then we enter a new literally weather season and we fall off of this progress and we feel like it's us, when in reality there are a lot of factors that contribute to our performance. And so the only thing we can really do is focus on our actions. And in seasons we may take more actions that get us further, faster. And in some seasons we will not be able to take as many of those actions. But your actions are really the only thing that you can control and you have to give yourself grace in. Yeah, the psychology of cold and darkness. Obviously not an excuse, but reasoning, informative. So let's look at some of these things that we are going to have to do to prepare our finances for cold weather. And this is from Harvard Federal Credit Union. You know we love a credit union.

[Savannah Guthrie]

So of course expect heating bills. Especially if you live in the north, you all know your heating bills are going to increase. This isn't new knowledge, but I do think these types of expenses can creep up on us every year, especially because we're still recovering from the holidays as we move through January, February, March. And so having our sights on this kind of early December can really help us to be aware and maybe even inform some of how we spend throughout the holidays, knowing the rest of the winter is still ahead.

[Jen]

Yeah. Alternatively, if you're in the south, your heating bills might be less. This might be an optimal like time for you and your energy costs. So I would, I would compare your 12 month energy costs and if you're not going to do budget billing, which I don't necessarily like, but can't decide if it's going to be most helpful for you. Maybe that's something you switch to at this time right now, or use the money that you have been that you are saving, especially January, February, after the holidays, and use that surplus to pay down some extra debt, pay off a credit card, or to put extra in your [e-mail] cit yes, if this is.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Historically a more expensive time for you, if you do know energy costs are going to increase, even just because we're at home more often and, and so we're utilizing all of our utilities, definitely check with your energy provider, your electric provider, to see if they're offering any incentives or doing any energy audits. We had that done by our electric company and they actually sent us some really helpful stuff in the mail for free to help us on all sorts of energy costs, like help with sealing up windows, help with not using as much water, some things to kind of disperse the water a little bit more that you can put onto your faucet. So they'll do these things. I had no idea. I'm like, I'll give it a try. It'll probably be gimmicky, who knows? But they actually sent us some really helpful things for free that we then didn't have to buy. And beyond that, really sealing up as many air leaks as possible. I think this goes for both people in the north as well as the South. Just when, when heat or cold can exit your home, it's going to raise prices on your electric bill or your heating bill, however you are, you know, heating and cooling your home. And this is something I've learned from Eric over the years. I mean, he's worked in construction for a long time, really highlighting how important it is to have sealed windows and doors. And I'm just kind of like, how much is one little crack going to. And it really does impact the temperature of a room. I mean, we got to experienced that firsthand living in the rv, how much it can shift just having these minor, you know, cracks open. So how much more so in an entire home. So taking the efforts to do some caulking, to maybe do some of the plastic over your windows, to do some weather stripping around your doors. These efforts could cost, you know, less than $100 or be given to you for free by your energy company and potentially lead to some savings.

[Jen]

Yeah, you just put like a screen, like a plastic over your windows in our recording room, as in an effort to lower the temperature when the sun comes in.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah, it helps to filter the sunlight. So it's still like I can still see the sun and still see through the window. It just darkened it a bit. And it has helped so much in being able to keep this place cool while not needing to have big thickness curtains over the windows.

[Jen]

Right? Yeah. And it makes it so you can't see inside the windows. So it's also a safety thing which.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Stinks for you since you just admitted recently that you like to peep on people's Christmas lights inside their house.

[Jen]

But those are the people who put their Christmas tree in front of the window. They want me to peep.

[Savannah Guthrie]

So true.

[Jen]

Yeah, you don't want me to peep. Next is winter preparation. Everything from clothing, household prep, vehicle prep and so I. And possible increased medical bills. So I would say first is that we're looking. When we are looking at clothing, we are looking at secondhand. Winter clothing is the best type of clothing to buy secondhand because coats are not worn that often in a lot of places. That's why they end up on these secondhand sites. Sure. There are places where coats are run into the ground. You're obviously not going to see those on Poshmark Thredup. And so this is where I would say buy your very quality coats and everyday jackets from a place like Poshmark or ebay. I. I see a lot of the same item, literally from the same seller is posted to both Poshmark and ebay. And you can often it's cheaper on ebay. So look at these things. We use Benny B N I as it's a chrome extension and it can help you if you're looking at what's a very good coat brand.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Patagonia.

[Jen]

Patagonia. So you're on the Patagonia website. You want the puffer jacket. It can pop up and show you that same exact puffer jacket on a variety of secondhand sites. Honestly, most of the time it's Poshmark because that one's just the biggest. But so prepare now for to get these things because it may take you a few weeks to find the type of coat or any clothing, ski stuff. Like if you. It's great if you want to take a ski vacation or something. Awesome. Don't wait till the last minute to where you're buying all of your kids new ski clothes new because they've all grown out of last year's. Look at the consignment stores, the resale stores and places like Poshmark. And then you've got your vehicle prep. If you need it and then again possibly increased medical bills because people kids are sick. Get investing maybe in a nebulizer then you can if you buy one of those yourself, it's much cheaper than getting it from the doctor. I have learned and shopping around if your child needs something like tubes in their ears, it's a very in and out procedure. Don't wait until they need it because of all the ear infections and sicknesses. Do your research on what the cheapest option is before they need it because I made that huge mistake this year and it cost me a lot of money just because I was panicky and I wasn't prepared.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Along the vehicle lines, I will say again this is especially for our northern friends. Recommend checking your tire pressure, your battery, your brakes if those things need to be updated. Now that can really help with just safety and eliminating the potential costs of what having low pressure, a flat tire, a battery that doesn't work for you when you're needing to get home from work. There's extra costs that could be incurred so check those things now. And there's also things that you can do to winterize your vehicle. From wipers to possibly getting winter tires or maybe even rotating your tires, there are things that you can do that are lower cost to be able to prep your vehicle that could potentially save you more.

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[Jen]

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[Jen]

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[Savannah Guthrie]

The next thing on this list that I will point out is grocery budgeting. This was really interesting. They cited this research and stats on spending on groceries on at home food through the winter, that food expenditures tend to rise in the winter months, specifically on eating at home, which is interesting. I mean good on us. You know, I think, well nobody wants.

[Jen]

To leave the house because it's cold.

[Savannah Guthrie]

And dark and so we don't want to go out. So we are eating at home. But that does mean that we're then spending more money on groceries. And I think if we're not aware of that shift that happens, we could find ourselves still spending the same amount that we that we typically do on ordering out or going out and increasing our grocery budget and possibly food waste. So I think even planning for how do I want to be eating in this season, are there seasonal shifts that I want to make to the ways that I'm purchasing food and whether or not I'm eating out, how often I'm eating out. Even if we do have a typical routine of when we allow ourselves to go get food out, that could shift. We could decide, you know, what No, I think this winter I'd rather do more potlucks with friends or big bowls of soup or chili with the family. I don't need to have my typical weekend out. I'm finding ways that I want to be at home more and just kind of adjust in that way. But recognize that food spending goes up. Maybe some of that is just for comfort. Whatever it is, be planning for whatever your food budget's gonna look like, because we know it's one of the big three. Food, transportation, housing. And so if you're not making a housing or transportation decision this winter, definitely be looking at what the food's gonna look like.

[Jen]

Yeah. Something I had not thought about until we were looking at this outline is that January is such a big month for people to start eating healthy. Right. So, like whole, all these healthy eating plans, and it is the hardest month. It's the hardest season to find fresh food. Fresh food is like a lot of this stuff. The salads and stuff are summer foods and the winter is comfort foods. So be careful. If January is a time where you want to maybe like, refine your eating habits, know that. Refine it in a way that's more in line with the season. So you can, you know, get healthy soups and stews, obviously, but stay away from things that are just going to be. Set you up to fail. You know, with the salads and, like, fresh fruit stuff, they're also going to be more expensive in this season. So just don't set yourself up to fail. If you do plan to change some things about your eating and really make it a goal to minimize food waste, that's going to be the biggest way that you make it through and prioritize easy meals because it can be very. If we're not going out to restaurants, then doordash Uber Eats can be the next alternative. And so delete the apps from your phone, increase the barrier to entry, and then just have these staples that you will turn to in these cases where you don't want to cook. So, like the spaghettis or the jarred soups or something. Figure out what is a safe, easy meal for you. Freezer meals, whatever. So that you choose to eat at home versus redownloading the takeout app.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah, because this can also be a really good time that we can enter into new rhythms and habits. We can habit stack. We can find replacement activities. This would be also a great time to jumpstart some of that meal planning, meal prep that can happen this time of year too, which will help our budgets. There's not really a ton of other things that I think come up in the winter. I think this is really just a call to know what your winter typically looks like. Again, look back at what last year was, to kind of know what to be preparing for and just know that thinking and planning ahead is one of the best things that we can do for our finances. Getting into that rich and setting aside the money when we can, I think it's easy to look back and say, I wish that I had put money aside for xyz. And while maybe you hadn't done that up until this point, but you can start now for the next season. We love to talk about what's one thing I can do now that will make other future things easier or unnecessary. And saving putting money aside is one of those things. And so even if you want to go above and beyond, start thinking about the summer and your travel plans. I think we talked about this in a recent friend letter. That part of our winter planning can be what vacations do I want to take in the summer? This is an excellent way to be kind to our future selves is to start thinking what will I want to be doing and how can I start planning out my budget and my spending on my savings, so to speak, to be ready to be able to take the vacation that we want to take or do the travel that we wanna do or the activities that we enjoy doing and not feel so stressed and strained in the summer. Kind of. I think part of our what to spend in any given season should always include thinking about the next season. I know you joked about that with cit, but it is true. Like part of winter spending should be spending on putting money towards savings.

[Jen]

Yeah, you might and it might not. Like for spring break you might need to be saving for a spring break camp. Or like maybe that's when you're going to take your vacation versus summer. Or maybe you do want to put your kid in a summer camp. That's a big expense. So maybe you start saving now for that and you're just staying home for spring break. Figure out what the next six months looks like. Don't necessarily plan beyond that because I think things change. Sometimes we plan too far in ahead and then we get disappointed because things always change. But look at the next six months and figure out what you need to start saving based on what you spent last year. And just kind of look at the things you had to buy last minute, look at the things you bought that were last minute and say, how can I avoid that? Or at least refine to feel better about it next year.

[Savannah Guthrie]

And truly, a high yield savings account can really like. I'm not, I'm truly not trying to like sound like a commercial here. It truly is a tip. It can catapult our savings efforts in that way. Like whatever money you already have set aside for an emergency fund, if that's sitting in a high yield savings account, you're earning money on that. I mean something around 4% APY, which is excellent. So again, frugalfrontspodcast.com cit if you don't already have one, is a great option to help, like I said, catapult that savings. Do you know what else catapults us?

[Jen]

Just, oh, through the holidays, through the winter, through the room. It gets me through, warms my heart.

[Savannah Guthrie]

The Bill of the Week. This is the bill of the week.

[State Farm Representative]

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. Ducks Bill. Buffalo Bills. Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week.

[Mint Mobile Representative]

Hi Jen and Jill and hey Goldie. My name is Liz and my bill of the week is a medical bill that I did not pay. I had to have emergency surgery a couple of months ago and when the bills started coming in, the anesthesiology bill was really high. I had just listened to your episode on medical over billing, so I googled the code. They were the wrong codes. And the going rate for anesthesiology, what should have been less than $1,000 total was billed to my insurance company at almost $7,000 and the remainder billed to me was $997. I called the anesthesiology company and they asked what I thought it should have been, which seemed like a really strange question. I told them what I found in my research. I put the bill on hold until it was reviewed. I just logged in to check the balance on my account zero. So thank you to you beautiful frugal friends for saving me almost $1,000. If you're ever in the DC area, I'll buy you both some margs and chippies. Okay, thanks.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Bye.

[Jen]

Oh we Marks and chippies and chippies.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Oh my gosh. There's so many things I want to say about this. First of all, thanks for the shout out to us and Goldie, how special and thank you for sharing about this medical bill. I hope that you are okay. That's a very scary thing to have to Go through an emergency surgery. You know, oftentimes when we know a surgery is coming, we can do some of this research on the front end, be able to pay for some things ahead of time and it not cost as much. But you don't have that luxury when it's an emergency surgery. And then you're just finding out what all you've been built. But good on you that you had the energy to go through and look at each of these bills. Get the CPT codes. That's something that we talked about in our interview with Dr. Virgie Ellington. I forget what episode number that is, but we can link it in the show notes. She was so, so helpful. It is actually an earmarked episode for me to go back to whenever I have some questions on medical bills. But that was one of her biggest tips, was to go back and if it's not given to you, to ask the billing department for an itemized list of charges with the CPT codes connected to them and then be able to research what does that hospital charge for those CPT codes. Transparent billing is required by hospitals, so they do need to have their pricing listed for common procedures. So you should be able to find that on the hospital's website. And again, well done. $7,000 billed should have been less than 1,000. You did your research, you pushed back and it came to zero. And well done. And we'd love to come celebrate and do such a piece of.

[Jen]

You know what I think we're going to replay, we replace our most popular episodes from like two years prior. And Dr. Virgie was two years ago. And so I think on our next rerun we will replay her episode.

[Savannah Guthrie]

That'd be great.

[Jen]

Yeah. Because it is one that just. It never gets old. It is still important and I think everyone should hear it.

[Savannah Guthrie]

So that was episode 230. So you can search for that episode.

[Jen]

Yeah, search for it in our archives on our website. Or you can just search frugal friends, Dr. Virgie Bright Ellington.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah.

[Jen]

And it'll come up.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Well done, Liz. Thanks for calling in. If you all listening, have a bill that you want to share. If it's about a bill that you didn't have to pay, if it's about putting your brilliant mind to work, doing the research and lowering a bill. If it's about chippies and margs, if your name is billfrugalfriendspodcast.com Bill, leave it for us.

[Liz]

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[Dr. Laurie Santos]

This is Dr. Laurie Santos from the Happiness Lab. Many people have questions about how to improve levels of happiness, and there are a lot of different ways. Happiness is unique to each individual, but living a healthy lifestyle is one sure way of increasing happiness. And a good place to start is with your oral health. Just a few small changes to your oral care routine, such as changing your toothpaste to Colgate Total, can lead to beneficial changes in your oral health. Colgate Total helps stop oral health problems like gingivitis and cavities before they start. Before they start is an important part because preventing oral health problems is a lot easier than treating them. So for a happier, healthier you use Colgate Total and actively help prevent oral health problems like gingivitis and cavities. You'll be happy you did. Be dentist ready and get colgate [e-mail].

[Navy Federal Credit Union Representative]

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[Oracle Representative]

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[Savannah Guthrie]

Time for the lightning round.

[Jen]

All right. Right. What's a winter expense that somehow always seems to surprise you, Jill?

[Savannah Guthrie]

Okay, for me it's registration of our vehicles. I think that this happens at different times of year for everybody. It happens for us because that's Eric's birthday. Connected to Eric's birthday. Yeah, he was born on January 25. So every January, you know, I'm recovering from whatever the end of the year, beginning of the year did to our finances historically. And I do know this January we spend the most money on food, usually even more than December. I don't know what happens to us. I don't know if we're tired.

[Jen]

It's darker.

[Savannah Guthrie]

It's darker. We're tired. There's not as many parties happening where you can just bring all your potluck stuff. It's also around Eric's birthday, so we're celebrating a little bit more. I don't know. But that's happening, right? We're just going ham with the food. Probably some of it is including ham, if I'm honest. Yeah. And then we get hit with these registration for our vehicles. And it just catches me by surprise every year. Of course, now that I'm saying it out loud, hopefully it won't catch me by surprise. I can remind myself ahead of time, put money aside for this. And the weird thing is some of you who know me well might be like, Jill, nbd, you have one vehicle.

[Jen]

I was just saying, I was just like, tell them, tell them all the modes of transportations you really have. Jill, you let the people know. You be honest with them.

[Savannah Guthrie]

I know the cat's gonna get come out of the bag right now. Okay. I am very proud that we only have one car.

[Jen]

However, how else can you get around?

[Savannah Guthrie]

Oh, this is really tickling me. We also have two scooters. And I have talked about that on the podcast before. This is not a huge. But here we go. So we have two scooters. That's very fun and actually very helpful. There are plenty of times where I out in the car. Eric needs to go somewhere and he can just take a scooter anywhere within St. Pete we can get to on the scooter.

[Jen]

Dragging it out.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Just can't cross that bridge. K Dragging it out.

[Jen]

What else you got?

[Savannah Guthrie]

We also have a boat. Now, before you get any ideas about what this boat looks like, it is a four seater center console fishing boat that cost very little money used. And we live right on the water. Not right on the water again. Don't get any ideas. We live close to water. I'm still your frugal friend.

[Jen]

You can live on the water and be a frugal friend.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Oh, absolutely.

[Jen]

You're justifying all of these things, but none of them are bad.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Absolutely. Yeah. So that's just a very fun recreational vehicle that we have that we have to pay registration for. And get this, you have to pay registration for the boat and boat trailer. So even though they are one entity parked on our property, the boat trailer is considered something separate because we're not paying to dock our boat. Boat. It's not constantly in the water. We drop it in, we pull it out. So registration for that and but wait.

[Jen]

There'S more y'all didn't know. Y'all did not know.

[Savannah Guthrie]

We also have an enclosed trailer. Not an rv, just like a utility trailer that. Oh, man. We've had this thing for 10 years, maybe eight years. It has helped us through every single renovation we've ever had. It's how we moved down to Florida.

[Jen]

It helped us move.

[Savannah Guthrie]

We fit everything we owned into this enclosed trailer and moved down to Florida and then kept it through our renovations. Right. You gotta pick up drywall and lumber and just furniture, all sorts of tools. So I think we bought it used for a thousand dollars eight years ago, and it has been wor worth 10, 20 times its weight in gold.

[Jen]

But then you also have to pay to register it every year.

[Savannah Guthrie]

And then we have to pay to register it every year. So. So, yeah, we have one car, but we get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 pieces of registration in the mail, and it just feels a little bit heartbreaking. Much.

[Jen]

It feels a little much.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Savannah Guthrie]

So I gotta remember that this year when my mailbox just gets stuffed. Yeah. How about you, Jen?

[Jen]

I forgot everything I was going to say because I was so enthralled with all of your registration because I knew all of them were really ready for me to hear, like, oh, people don't realize she only has one car, but she's got a lot of things she got to register.

[Savannah Guthrie]

This property is full. We are filled up.

[Jen]

Okay. Winter expense. That somehow always seems to surprise me. Oh, I really. I don't get surprised because I just don't pay attention to my expenses. Just kidding. I don't. So maybe it's the. Here it is. The increase in taxes and insurance every February. Oh, it's not something I can control. Right. Like, I can't. I don't have any other options for homeowners insurance. And this property no longer has a homestead exemption. It is our rental property. And so, like, it's. The taxes are just astronomical. And every February, our mortgage goes up. You know, our total mortgage, not the fixed payment, but. So I'm never prepared for that.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Well, because you also never quite know how much it's going to increase and.

[Jen]

You can't, like, can't control it.

[Savannah Guthrie]

So you can vote, but.

[Jen]

Yeah. Which I did vote for the thing that increases the tax exemption with the increase in value of the property. So I did make my voice heard in November.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Nice.

[Jen]

So we'll see how much the city overall suffers from that vote. Because it passed.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah. That's a tough one. And that's one of the ones that I wish I would have known in home buying. I don't think it would have made much of a difference in my decision, but maybe just my expectations. You know, I think this idea that you buy and then like you know what your quote unquote like housing expenses are going to be and, and if you rent, you're paying more every year, year over year, you're at the whim of your landlord. It's like it's no different for homeowners. We are at the whim of our local government and insurance companies. Like that goes up and it in essence raises your annual amount that you pay for your housing. And so we bought our home for well, you know, what would have been recommended solely based off of my salary. And now just four years later we are at about that like 25% of our combined take home income is going towards, you know, our housing expenses. It's just like, yep, what can be done about that?

[Jen]

So Ramit has a good saying and I don't know if he said originally but I heard it from him, he says when you rent, your rent is the maximum you will pay. When you own your mortgage is the minimum that you will pay. And it is a very good wake up call as housing is our number one monthly expense and if we are not responsible, it can go up very, very quickly.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah. And all the more reason to really buy a home extra within your means, not at the tippy top of your budget because it will increase year over.

[Jen]

Year and you hope that your income also increases over 30 years but you.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Don'T want and you also want the flexibility to be able to choose to make less money. Like you know, I, even at the rate that we bought our house at, I was able to do that, take a pay cut to pursue the thing that I love doing, which is this, talking to all you beautiful people. So yeah, hope that jogs your memory on what winter holds for you all. And begin preparing, set your expectations, maybe find ways to trim a little if you are anticipating. Oh yeah, yeah, that thing's come and do. So I can't spend as much on XYZ because I want to be ready. I want to be kind to my future self and your current self. Yeah, thread that needle. Thanks so much for listening everyone. We really love, we love being with you and we love reading your reviews. Like this one from Kate which says real budget talk that won't bore you to death. Five stars. Listening to these fantastic ladies is entertaining, motivating and educational. It seems like many budget podcasts and Blogs are geared towards stay at home moms or just moms in general. And while that's not totally abandoned on this show, it's great to get some perspective from folks in a similar time of life. Maybe married a couple years. Married a couple of years, no kids yet. Killing that debt. I feel like they've really cornered budgeting for millennials. They'd really be beneficial for anybody. Even my husband likes them. Yay. Usually he's only tolerating the PODC podcasts I play, but not with Frugal friends. Thanks, ladies, for inspiring self deprecating humor and realness. Kate, what a lovely review. Thanks for taking the time. Yeah. For putting all those words to paper and saying such specific things. We really appreciate the time that you took to do that. It does help us and it encourages us, which is fun.

[Jen]

Yeah. We still like to have like our diverse opinions and different takes. Even though slowly we are becoming the same person. Some of our opinions are still different. So tune in because one day we're literally going to be saying the same thing at the same time. So get in now.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Well, the water's warm.

[Jen]

And if you enjoy the show, please take a minute to leave a rating and review on Spotify or Apple podcasts. It helps new listeners know that their husband's going to like it and not tolerate it. Or that it's not all about sitting in the car line in your minivan.

[Savannah Guthrie]

See you next time.

[Jen]

Even though some of it is See you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.

[Savannah Guthrie]

We got five minutes.

[Jen]

All right, what should we talk about?

[Savannah Guthrie]

Oh, man. I want it to be something juicy. You know me.

[Jen]

I do know you. We didn't really dive into recording our audiobook, did we?

[Savannah Guthrie]

No, we didn't.

[Jen]

Okay, well, we spent two and a half days in a legit studio recording our audiobook.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah, it was very fun. I got out of the house, I drove for potentially the first time in potentially two months.

[Jen]

I'm always telling Jill she needs to drive more because it's a skill. If you don't use it, you lose it. And in an emergency, you will really need it.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah, yeah. Look at me, listen. I just hardly drive anymore, and it's becoming scarier and scarier.

[Jen]

I know. And you're scared of it. That's the problem.

[Savannah Guthrie]

I'm too young to be scared of driving, but I'm really. I'm really leaning into my retirement era.

[Jen]

But it was. It was my very first time recording anything like that in a legitimate studio.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Sitting on an uncomfortable Bar stool.

[Savannah Guthrie]

It was not the most comfortable chair.

[Jen]

Comfortable at all.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah. That would be my notes.

[Jen]

I think most of the recording they probably do is for TV and movies. And so it's people standing.

[Savannah Guthrie]

My butt hurt more than my voice did.

[Jen]

Same. And I had.

[Savannah Guthrie]

That's how you know we're podcasters and not glute enthusiasts.

[Jen]

Glute enthusiasts.

[Liz]

I don't know.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Just like exercise gurus.

[Jen]

I had to use my hands a lot. Same during the reading, which I do read ads with my hands, but I don't. When we're talking podcasting wise. And I'm only using.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Are you about to say you don't use your hands?

[Jen]

I'm only using my hands now because I'm talking about using my hands when we're talking. I don't use my hands. So when we're recording the show, I'm very still.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah.

[Jen]

It's only when I am recording an ad or reading an entire book out loud.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Well, and okay. And that's because you're reading literal word for word and wanting it to sound as natural as possible. So we don't need to use our hands when it's just you and I talking because we are naturally. We're not reading a script to have conversation with each other. But when you're reading something word for word, it really does feel like I need my hands for this to help me feel the realness of it, the authenticity of what was written here. So it doesn't just sound red.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Savannah Guthrie]

I mean, you'll be able to tell still because there are no mistakes in our talking.

[Jen]

Yeah. We had somebody in. We had two people in our ears listening.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Well, three if you count me. Do I count? I was able to talk to you throughout it, too.

[Jen]

Yeah. Yeah. We were in different rooms, but there was a window so we could see each other. At first, Jill wasn't going to face the window. And I said, please look at me.

[Savannah Guthrie]

It's not the way that the chair was facing. And I just didn't think to move furniture.

[Jen]

So. So, yeah, there were three people in each of our ears. And if we said something dialect, like incorrectly, like regionally regional dialect. Incorrect. Aesthetic was a hard one.

[Savannah Guthrie]

And I think it's aesthetic.

[Jen]

Aesthetic.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah, aesthetic.

[Jen]

You have to really say the aesthetic.

[Savannah Guthrie]

We could not get that one. That one. That took a while. And I really wish we hadn't used that word so many times in the book.

[Jen]

It does come up. It makes you one, three or four.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Times in the book.

[Jen]

Me regret some of the big words that I use in I think it was chapter four or it was the one where I used the, like, more of the psychology terms. And I was reading that one and I was like, dang it, this is bad.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Including the names of all these different people. We're like. We don't know how to say, oh. And that was for me. So the people that were in our ear was the engineer who was in the studio, and then our producer who was actually in New York City, given to us by, like, assigned to us by the publisher. So the producer was more the one kind of checking our words and pronunciations, and the engineer was there kind of marking when we made mistakes so that they could go back and post and kind of do the different editing. Where was I going with this words aesthetic? Yeah, that I remember.

[Jen]

Yeah. But it was just funny some that, like, the. She kept giving, like, regional pronunciation, like, reasons that. Oh, the name.

[Savannah Guthrie]

The name. That's what it was. So the engineer at the. We had to read the. We had to read the credits of the book. And so it was assigned to me that I would read engineered by and his name. So he's in. In the studio, in our ears, and has the wildest last name.

[Jen]

Somehow you got every single hard name in the credits. And I got all of the easy names.

[Savannah Guthrie]

His was the hardest. My mouth just couldn't do it. They'd say it, I'd hear it. I'd be like, yup, got it.

[Jen]

You were reading it.

[Savannah Guthrie]

I read it. And I'd be like. So it was. I'll just say it. It was mocking. I'm not. I'm still Mock and Sturm. My voice wanted to keep saying strum, mock and strum. I couldn't get it through my thick little brain. It's mocking Sturm. And I felt so bad because he's there.

[Jen]

He's the only one there listening to.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Me mess up his name royally, probably six to eight times.

[Jen]

And at the end, you said it, and the producer was fine with it. And he was like, can you try one more time?

[Savannah Guthrie]

You gotta do that one again, sweetheart. I was just like, I am so sorry, Dan. Can you leave the room for this? Because it's not happening. And I don't mean to be offensive, but we did fine. We did Bonds.

[Jen]

We both started crying during our acknowledgments.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Which they say, don't they? The publisher literally was like, you can read this if you want, but it's recommended. You don't read this in the audiobook.

[Savannah Guthrie]

And we didn't know why they didn't want us to read it. But they did say author discretion. And I'm like, I want to read the acknowledgements. Like, I want it to come from our voices.

[Jen]

I get paid per published hour of audio, right?

[Savannah Guthrie]

So we get an extra five bucks. So Jen went first and you started. You started crying on like your first acknowledgement. I was like, oh, first line. This is going to be rough. And I'm like, this isn't going to happen to me. I'm going to plow through this.

[Jen]

I even went through talking about my dad dying and I powered through that would.

[Savannah Guthrie]

I was crying, but I had to be quiet because I was still in the studio on the mic so I couldn't make noises while you were talking. And I'm like, meanwhile tears streaming down my face, trying not to sniffle because it's just such a heart wrenching. Chapter 10 is so heart wrenching and you were so vulnerable.

[Jen]

It's like if you don't read anything else, just read chapter 10. Like. And I'm not saying that just cause I wrote it, but it is so powerful.

[Savannah Guthrie]

I do, I think for it to be as powerful as it is, you do have to read the rest of the book. I think there is a journey that you take.

[Jen]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Savannah Guthrie]

But, yeah, but, yeah.

[Jen]

So no, I powered through that and then I got to the first line of my acknowledgments. This was on the same day and I lost it.

[Savannah Guthrie]

And then I'm like, that's not gonna happen to me. And then I get like 3 acknowledgements down and I start crying.

[Jen]

I started tearing up too when you were. And I was like, I'm done though. So I'm like, fine.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Oh, gosh. Aw. Well, we have hearts. You know, it proves that we are people who.

[Jen]

People were wondering after the holiday anti haul episode if we had hearts. But I hope that now people realize that we do. And the book is a lot of action steps, but also a lot of heart. It's a lot of both.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Yeah, it's a lot of both of us. Frugalfriendspodcast.com book.

[Jen]

No, that's not it. It's buywhatyoulovebook.com that was in the. That's the resources page for the book.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Oh my gosh.

[Jen]

And we read that in the book.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Don't go to our library this page yet.

[Jen]

Yeah, don't go to it yet. I haven't established. I haven't made it yet.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Buy what you love.

[Jen]

I might have by the time this comes out. I might actually maybe you should make.

[Savannah Guthrie]

That one for now. Be like a sales page and then we'll change it.

[Jen]

No that's smart. It might actually good. I might have actually done that.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Buy what you love book.com that definitely.

[Jen]

Goes to the pre orders page.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Oh my.

[Jen]

Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids instantly, set up chores, automate allowance and keep an eye on your kids spending with real time notifications. Kids learn to earn, save and spend wisely. And parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money with guardrails and place Sign up for Greenlight [e-mail].

[Oracle Representative]

Iheart hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway this holiday season. Make sure you set aside time for Self care now through December 31st. Shop in store and online for participating self care products and get four times.

[Navy Federal Credit Union Representative]

Points to use for discounts on future.

[Oracle Representative]

Grocery and gas purchases. Stock up on self care favorites like Pantene Shampoo, Gillette Fusion and Proglide Razors, Tampax Tampons, Aussie Base Hairspray and Pampers Swaddlers diapers offer ends December 31st. First restrictions apply. Promotions may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details. Wasabi Technologies is purpose built to free businesses from skyrocketing storage costs and unpredictable egress fees from those old and top heavy legacy providers. You know the big guys. Wasabi is the go to provider for professional and collegiate sports teams around the world. From Wasabi's AI enabled intelligent media storage Wasabi Air to the industry's only cloud storage service. With triple protection against cyber criminals, Wasabi is driving innovation in data storage, all for up to 80% less than those other guys. Try them out for [e-mail] the flavor.

[State Farm Representative]

The tradition and the spirit of Carne.

[Oracle Representative]

Asada lives on at Del Taco. Join the Asada today with Del Taco's.

[State Farm Representative]

New limited time half pound Chipotle Carne Asada Steak Burrito packed with sweet, spicy and smoky flavor.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Wrapped up and grilled to perfection, the.

[State Farm Representative]

Whole Carne Asada steak menu delivers the bold flavors you crave with epic burritos, loaded fries and street tacos starting at just 2.99.

[Lifelock Representative]

Only at Del Taco, imagine relying on a dozen different software programs to run your business, none of which are connected and each one more expensive and more complicated than the last.

[Navy Federal Credit Union Representative]

It can be pretty stressful.

[Lifelock Representative]

Now imagine odoo Odoo has all the programs you'll ever need, and they're all connected on one plat form. Doesn't Odoo sound amazing? Let Odoo harmonize your business with simple, efficient software that can handle everything for a fraction of the price. Sign up today at odoo.com. that's o d o o dot.