Loading summary
Transcript91 lines
- [00:01]
Jen
Sail to breathtaking destinations in Alaska or Europe with Disney Cruise Line. Discover where onboard magic meets onshore adventures, where beloved characters Hiya pal. Meet alluring landscapes, where Broadway quality shows meet historic cities, where imaginative dining meets amazing wildlife and where exciting experiences await the whole family. Book an adventure filled summer Disney cruise to Alaska or Europe. Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide and every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report tired of restless nights at Leesa? They know good sleep is essential for mental, physical and emotional health. From memory foam mattresses to hybrids that keep you cool all night long, Leesa's mattresses offer exceptional comfort and support with free delivery and 100 nights to try out your mattress in the comfort of your home, go to leesa.com today and get 20% off all mattresses and two free pillows. That's L-E-E-S-A.com and use code iheart for an extra $50 off your purchase. Remember, no matter who you are, there's a Lisa just for you. Lowe's knows that free is just better. That's why Milo's Rewards is free. To join as a member, you earn points towards Mylo's money on eligible purchases, get exclusive free gifts and earn free shipping at Silver Key status, all on top of weekly member only deals. Don't wait. Join my Lowe's Rewards for free today and start saving more Lowes. We help you save loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions. Details@lowe's.com Terms subject to change Episode 483 why it's so Important to Buy local welcome to the Frugal Friends Podcast where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and live a richer life.
- [02:20]
Jill
Here are your hosts, Jen and Jill.
- [02:26]
Jen
Welcome to the Frugal Friends Podcast. My name is Jen. My name is Jill and today's episode is an important one, and one that differentiates us from a lot of other Frugal Living experts. Ooh yeah.
- [02:42]
Jill
Wow. That's a big statement in that we.
- [02:44]
Jen
Are willing to pay more to invest in the local economy and we do that by buying less of the things that do not invest in the local economy.
- [02:56]
Jill
I am finding myself having so many more Conversations like this where people know that we have a Frugal Friends podcast and we just wrote a book about it, and they're like, oh, you'd be so upset with me. I just spent money the other day. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. We all spend money. It's just about making better, better spending decisions and feeling really good and confident about our money. Which all of you Frugal Friends listeners know this. But I think you're going to be hearing it even more from us this year in 2025. I know in 2024, we talked about quality over quantity, and we're not ditching that. That still remains. And kind of even taking deeper dives into understanding marketing tactics under consumption. Lower spending on the things that don't matter, but maybe higher spending on the things that really do, like buying local. And so you will not hear us always getting the best possible lowest price on any given item. We might be willing to spend more on something if it gets us more of what matters in other categories.
- [04:01]
Jen
Yeah, I don't want to hear that you got a shirt brand new for $3. I don't want to hear of the little trinket you got on Amazon for $5. Those are things we no longer want to talk about. Well, and we never have talked about. But this is something. Yes, for 2025, this is. Our theme going into your personally is to invest in our local economies. And what do I need to change about the way I shop to be able to do that more? But first, let's get, you know, let's get a little backstory. This episode is brought to you by my favorite coffee shop from when I was in College. In August 2024, a local Orlando coffee shop that was near and dear to my heart. I went to college in Orlando, closed its doors. And the impetus for this closing was due to lack of sales that were out of their control. They had multiple locations, and last summer, they were forced to close their busiest location because the landlord refused to renew their lease and would not give them a reason why. At least that they were able to say to the public. And that led to a decrease in sales where they had to completely close. They still sell coffee, but do not have a brick and mortar, to my knowledge. Four months later in that location, which is inside a hospital, a Starbucks opened in that location. Now, I legally cannot say why a hospital in Orlando would kick out a successful locally owned coffee shop in favor of. Of a publicly traded company with a lot of money, but I will say I no longer give My money to Starbucks for this reason. And so this episode is dedicated to that coffee shop, the people that worked there, the people that not just worked there, but invested heavily into the Orlando community. It was the entire core of that coffee shop's being to take their profits and invest more widely in the Orlando community. And so this one's for them. And I hope that this will drive you to think about what are the local businesses in my community that are being driven out by companies that just have more money to pay rent or just have fancier branding? What are those things?
- [06:33]
Jill
There's a lot not within our control, and I think that can be a really overwhelming part of this conversation when it comes to the economy and finances. But I think we can often lose sight of what is within our control. Like, Fast Fashion exists because we keep buying. Starbucks exists and is pushing out smaller coffee shops because we keep buying from them. And so that is something that's within our control, is to choose where we're going to put our dollars. Certainly sometimes it's not like you and I, 100% of the time are only buying local things, but what are the ways that we can take some of these smaller steps in that direction where there could be an easy pivot to. I just didn't think about that. I'm so accustomed to just going online, but I could have driven 10 minutes down the road to get that thing right.
- [07:26]
Jen
What are the barriers that we can put in place that keep us from sending our money out of our communities that we could just inconvenience ourself a smidge more by driving, waiting, paying a couple dollars extra to invest locally? And you'll hear throughout this episode, we're not talking about really, like, paying double or really inconveniencing yourself or, you know, having it be a detriment to whatever. That's not what we're talking about. But it's those small barriers that we can put up to inconvenience ourselves possibly a little bit. Many times it won't inconvenience us, but if it can, how can we be okay with it? Because we've been conditioned to believe that the easiest route is the best route.
- [08:16]
Jill
So this article that we're going to go through today, just one, comes from Metro Family magazine, and it's titled 15 Reasons to Shop Locally. And the first reason being that it keeps money local. And before they even talk about this, they talk about the math behind why and really compelling numbers. Here they cite that for every $100 spent at a locally owned business, 73 of those dollars remain in the local economy compared to that same $100 spent at a non locally owned business where only 43% or $43, which yeah, I guess would be 43% too, 43 of those dollars would remain in the local economy and that local eateries even higher. 79% of revenue at local restaurants remains in the community, compared to just over 30% at chain restaurants. And so when we can buy local, it increases the community's wealth, tax revenue, standard of living. And these are the things that fund vital services like policemen, fire protection, street repair, trash collection. Everything in your local community can be better, can get better, be more service oriented, improve quality of life. When you are just putting your dollars back into the local economy.
- [09:45]
Jen
Yeah, if you've ever looked at like Jeff Bezos's rocket ship or Elon Musk's or I mean any of these other like big, all the tech overlords standing behind the president at the inauguration, if you've ever looked at that and been like, why are they all there? It seems fishy. Remember, you are funding them, we are funding them, we are the reason they are there. So the next one is the local investment. And so this kind of piggybacks on the funding keep money local. And so local businesses are less susceptible to national downturns and more likely to work harder to stay open. Open local ownership means that important decisions are made by people who live in our community and feel the impact of those decisions. I just looked at a coffee shop online and they were not in my community, not in Florida, but when Starbucks announced they would no longer have an open door policy. So in order to be inside, you had to buy something before it was, you didn't have to buy something to, you know, come in and sit down. That coffee shop immediately took to social media and was like, you can come here. This can be a third place for you even if you don't buy something. And I think one of the reasons that we are so numb, or maybe apathetic to Starbucks is because they used to have standards like this. They used to have empathy like that, which is why they enacted that policy. But now it has become more profit driven and we already have trust built. They already have our trust. And so by doing something on the sly like this, it doesn't really impact us because we're buying something, but it does, you know, impact other people. And so local people see that and they make decisions that best impact the community, not shareholders.
- [11:56]
Jill
Yeah, it's not people outside of your community making decisions for that community. Which we're beginning to see a lot of in the Tampa Bay area.
- [12:06]
Jen
And this I'll say also, it's not just products, but this is in credit unions. It's why we advocate for credit unions so often because the money that they keep is invested back into the community. They have a responsibility to whatever they represent. Some represent like teachers and they invest in education, some just in the community at large. You put your money in bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, and they are investing in the highest profit businesses, you know, like crude oil and all these fast fashion, tech, all of those things that. So not even the money you're spending, but just the money in the bank is going to support things. Where do you want it to go?
- [12:58]
Jill
The third reason to buy local is most often you're going to also be purchasing locally made products. So they're citing that oftentimes local business owners, if they're selling a product, it's often made with local ingredients. And that can also help to preserve a little bit of the community's uniqueness. It can create more jobs locally. So again, just keeping more within the community and providing employment for more people in the local community.
- [13:31]
Jen
Next is when we come to nonprofits. And so I think this one, it's not just where you give, but also how you're shopping secondhand. So obviously we want you to shop secondhand first. So in whatever capacity you can do that. But if you're in an area that has a local nonprofit benefiting thrift store, try that one first. If you only have time to go to one thrift store and you have that available to you, go there. If you've already been there recently, they didn't have anything, then go to another. Or as a last resort, choose a Goodwill or something like that. Local businesses support good work in our area. And you know, that's even more so for nonprofits. The article says studies show that nonprofits receive 250% more support from small businesses than large ones. So when you're putting money into the local economy through local businesses, they are supporting local nonprofits as well, because they're connected. Even if you don't know of local nonprofits, these people are connected in the community. And when they go to support, they are supporting local because they know how beneficial it is. It's not to say that large corporate nonprofits are bad, but the larger the nonprofit, the more overhead that it's going to have, which again, overhead is not bad. People need to be paid for their work. They should be paid well. But when you are investing in local nonprofits, then your dollars are more effective. They go further. And so you are helping to employ and give raises to people who work for those nonprofits who are also in your community. And your giving is just more efficient. If you want to be an efficient giver, giving to local nonprofits and then your local business purchases, know that those also are going to support local nonprofits.
- [15:38]
Jill
I am going to combine numbers five and six, which are discovering interesting things and people and creating personal connections. So when you are buying local, you are most likely going in person, you're meeting people, you're probably even being able to meet, meet the business owner themselves. You're able to see what makes the community unique, what are the things that are being bought, because local business owners are able to tailor their offerings to the people right in that community and make it really unique and specialized and individualized to that specific area. And so you might come across products or services that are unique or bring kind of a different perspective and you might meet new people. And just when it comes to community building and what that can lead to, the more connected you are in local economy with local business owners, local workers, we can't even say exactly where all of that can go. But I think both Jen and I have experienced firsthand just what it is to interact with people in our community. And this provides so much more opportunity to do that when we're not just purchasing on Amazon from our phones at midnight, but going in person and being able to meet people. And that's not to say that we can't shop online. We could shop locally online too. But there is something really rich and meaningful about being engaged in the community in which we live, spending in the community in which we live, and building relationships within that community. We are going to feel more peaceable, less chaotic, more satisfied and content.
- [17:17]
Jen
Yeah. Well, so this actually just this morning happened. I went to the early release, not the midnight release, but early release for the new Onyx Storm book, If you're any 4th Wing readers out there. So I went to their release party at Tombolo Books this morning and was able to interact with other people who had the same interests as me and meet new people. And if I had just bought the book on Amazon and stayed in my house and read it, I would have not been able to interact with people. And that is what we are so starved for, right? We are always saying how I wish it was easier to meet people. I wish that I could build more relationships. And prioritizing shopping locally helps with that. It prioritizes that so if you're feeling you're not getting enough people interaction, put yourself in situations like that where you will be put in to proximity with people who have similar interests as you. Okay, business leaders, are you playing defense or are you on the offense? Are you just. Excuse me, hey, I'm trying to talk business here. As I was saying, are you here just to play or are you playing to win? If you're in it to win, meet your next MVP NetSuite by Oracle NetSuite is your full business management system in one suite. With NetSuite, you're running your accounting, your financials, HR, E commerce, and more all from your online dashboard. One source of truth means every department's working from the same numbers with no data delays and with AI embedded throughout, you're automating manual tasks plus getting fast insights for your next move. Whether you're competing on your home turf or looking to conquer international markets, NetSuite helps you get the W Over 40,000 businesses have already made the move to NetSuite, the number one Cloud ERP right now. Get the CFO's guide to AI and machine learning at netsuite.com stereo get this free guide at netsuite.com stereo okay guys.
- [19:30]
Jill
If you're in a food slump, struggle to cook at home or just in a really busy season, we Recommend Trying out HelloFresh, who are now the owners of EveryPlate with an even greater variety of meals. You can now enjoy the goodness of both brands with a frugal friends discount.
- [19:45]
Jen
HelloFresh cuts out the need for meal planning and grocery shopping and offers 50 wholesome meals to choose from each week delivered straight to your door. Plus they have new options for ready made meals that take just three minutes to prep.
- [19:57]
Jill
I personally love HelloFresh for the opportunity to learn new skills in the kitchen and try flavor combinations I never would have thought of. It makes eating at home much more efficient without sacrificing flavor or health goals. Plus it helps me reduce food waste.
- [20:11]
Jen
Get up to 10 free meals and a free high protein item for life@hellofresh.com frugal10fm One item per box with active subscription free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. That's up to 10 free HelloFresh meals. Just go to hellofresh.com frugal10fm creating a solid financial plan for you and your family should include term life insurance. That's where Fabric by Gerber Life comes in. Fabric offers flexible term life insurance to give you peace of mind and protects your loved ones financially in case the unexpected happens.
- [20:45]
Jill
Fabric by Gerber Life is term life insurance you can get done right from your couch, all online and on your schedule. You could be covered in under 10 minutes with no health exam required.
- [20:56]
Jen
This is an important thing to do, especially if you've got kids and certainly if you're young and healthy. The time to lock in low rates is now. Even if you have life insurance through your employer, it may not offer enough protection for your family and it may not follow you if you leave your job.
- [21:10]
Jill
Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family. Apply today in just minutes@meetfabric.com frugal that's meatfabric.com frugal frugal M E-E-T fabric.com frugal policies issued by Western Southern Life Assurance Company not available in certain states Prices subject to underwriting and health questions I.
- [21:35]
Jen
Don'T know about you, but I like making the best possible decisions with my money. Unfortunately, traditional big wireless carriers often demand that those decisions include paying big bills and high fees. If you're fed up with crazy high wireless bills, big bogus fees, and quote unquote free perks that actually cost more in the long run than switch to Mint Mobile.
- [21:55]
Jill
So you can say buh bye to your overpriced wireless plans, jaw dropping monthly bills and unexpected overages because Mint Mobile is here to rescue you with premium wireless plans starting at 15 bucks a month.
- [22:07]
Jen
Plus all plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans@mintmobile.com frugal that's mintmobile.com frugal upfront.
- [22:21]
Jill
Payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required equivalent to $15 a month new customer offer for first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.
- [22:36]
Jen
The next I'm going to combine 7 and 8 and this is product knowledge and diverse products. So local business owners are well informed about their products and know what they are selling because they know their customers. They can easily adjust their inventories and include goods and services local people want to buy. Again, I'll bring it back to books. This is what saved Barnes and Noble. They were in decline because they were treating it like a corporate entity and then they said okay, we're losing out to Amazon. How can we make this a different experience and more incentivized than just buying a book from Amazon and So what they did was they took the model from local owned bookstores and created inventories that were custom to the community, to what most people were buying. They created events that were accustomed to the community. And so when they started to do that, Barnes and Noble's on the up again. They're opening more stores now. And this is what locally owned, not even brick and mortar, but just locally owned stores can do. And then also diverse products. Local stores carry inventory you might not find at national chain stores. So they can choose products based on what their customers want and often carry unique items from local artists and farmers. And so this is one reason I think a local business there are sometimes so like I, I will joke on going to like farmers markets and everyone there is selling tchotchkes that nobody really needs, but people will just buy it to support local businesses. That's not necessarily what I'm talking about. I don't think you need another tchotchke for your home. And it's not necessarily like a, it's different from art, right? If you, if it's art that you believe will be unique to your home, then that's right. But Chachki is bought for the sake of just support and not thinking about your own well being and your own home. Right. We're not into that, but we, what we are into is trying new things too. So this could be a local food like gourmet food store. So maybe we're not going to Williams Sonoma. Maybe we're trying a locally owned Italian cafe. There's actually one that both Jill and I have been meaning to try. But finding these places and making some room in your budget to try them, it feels good too. Right? Sometimes when we're being frugal, we think, oh, I have to shop and get everything at Walmart because it is the cheapest or get everything in Aldi because it is the cheapest. But we really do think that maybe you should just spend less on Amazon so you can spend more on fun things at the local Italian grocer and have fun with your money instead of stress scrolling and accidentally one click buying.
- [25:42]
Jill
Okay, the next one I'm going to combine three now because we're just getting really bold over here. We're just number nine, 10 and 14 is what I'm going to look at. They're pretty similar. So that shopping local, buying local can be cost effective, a better experience and you might experience better service. So on the cost effective piece, sometimes prices at local businesses can be better because they don't have the overhead that larger stores may have, they may be more willing to negotiate to be able to meet your price needs. This is going to be hit or miss. I do recognize, I think sometimes we will not buy local for the better price. I understand that and I have been there. Sometimes we are out priced on certain things. I know that this existed during our renovation. We tried to get as much local as possible. We got local lumber for some of our projects. We've gone to, you know, local plumbing distributors or electrical distributors. Particularly on those things. Though what we would find is the opposite with some of these more small business mom and pop shops that because they're not able to have the level of inventory that a big box store can have, then they do need to increase their prices. So sometimes we were able to buy, you know, lighting or electrical needs from a local place, but other times it was we just are not going to be able to afford this house and have it finished within a good timeline unless we go to Lowe's or Home Depot. So sometimes that's going to happen. But also be aware that it's not always the case that it's going to be more expensive. But also there are times where it might be worth spending the 10 to 15% more on the local thing because of all of these other benefits that we're talking about. It's going to get you out of the house, it's going to get you off your phone, it's going to cause you to meet new people, it's going to put money back into the economy. And for that reason, I'm gonna pay a few bucks more on this thing to be able to have this experience and give back to my community.
- [27:43]
Jen
Yeah, we had the. So we also went to the same place, Anderson Lumber. Yeah. And we found that their pricing on some things were less expensive than Home Depot, but then other times it was a little bit more. But they also had wood that Home Depot did not carry because they were only lumber. So they had a much more like a diverse. And they would cut it for you like even they would bevel it, which Home Depot would not do.
- [28:10]
Jill
And a lot of times those, if we're talking specifically construction shops where you could buy, you know, home renovation tools and items that they might be more likely to have salvage that you can purchase from. So even we got our countertops, both of us from a local granite place and they had just tons of salvage countertops that we were able to utilize and then negotiate on pricing. They're just a lot, like this article says, a lot more open to Some of those conversations.
- [28:43]
Jen
Well, I think for furniture too, if you're going to locally owned furniture shops, the negotiation really goes farther when you're looking at higher priced items, right? So maybe we're not getting all of our groceries at the farmer's market, but when it is time, when we do need a couch, we're looking at a vintage furniture store for something that's very good quality. And I actually, it was Julia Louis Dreyfus who they were asking SNL stars, what did you do when you got your first check from snl? And I'm pretty sure it was her. It could have been another female comedian with dark hair.
- [29:22]
Jill
But yeah, was Julia Louis Dreyfus on the snl? Yeah, maybe it was Tina Fey.
- [29:26]
Jen
No, no, no, it wasn't her. But she was like, it probably wasn't. Julia Louis Dreyfus was on there. But I digress. She's like, I bought a couch and I have reupholstered that couch three times since then. I had an interior designer come in and say, no, the arms are too high on that couch, we gotta get rid of it. And I said, no, we're getting rid of you. And so she has had like this couch. This woman who has lots of money, very successful, could have had as many couches as she want, bought a really good quality couch and has had it reupholstered several times over her life.
- [30:06]
Jill
You know, I think that that's something of our grandparents generation that we could do well to reclaim. Is that idea where we would think, oh, I don't have the money to be reupholstering my furniture. That's a luxury that the wealthy do. But what if we had the mentality of, I'm gonna buy something that I'm gonna make sure can last me decades, from furniture to dishware to, I don't know, appliances. If we were to take that approach to it, then you are gonna save far more over time. I mean, Eric and I have been married coming up on 13 years. I think we've had about seven different couches. But what if I had my grandmother's perspective and we had bought one couch and covered it in plastic? I think that's.
- [30:53]
Jen
Don't go too far. Yeah, don't go that far. But yeah, reupholstering when needed and trying not to Change your style seven times over 13 years. Right. Trying to get something that's a little more timeless but really good quality. And you know how you do that is you have to, you can't just decide you want to redo your house or get into a new house and decide I have to fill it all up within three months. Right? You take your time and you save and you do without until you have saved enough to get the really good quality item.
- [31:30]
Jill
Man, but we really got to slow down. I'm digressing too, but this is. It's so I'm having my own mindset shifts and aha. Moments that it would cause us to have to slow down. I think we see so many of these quick transformations on Instagram and we can know that they're not quick, but we're seeing a transformation in 60 seconds and that's what we want. And you know what? We can actually kind of get it because we can buy all of the products that can ship overnight, that can be at my door before I'm even out of bed in the morning, and I can recreate this whole thing. But then at what long term cost and economic cost and labor cost is that happening at? Okay, keep going. Take us on the next thing we need to learn.
- [32:13]
Jen
Did we go through all of your three?
- [32:15]
Jill
Well, yeah, I mean, a better experience, better service. I think, you know, this is kind of self explanatory that with everything we've described of being able to engage in community, being able to have some of that tailored individualized experiences that can happen with locally owned businesses, that you can have a better experience shopping, you're probably gonna get better service because these local people are really probably passionate about the products or services that they're selling. They are very knowledgeable and are able to help to inform you on the things that you need to know, make quality recommendations, you know, desire your business, you know, not like a, I don't care, I'm just the manager, right?
- [32:55]
Jen
But they have more incentive, they have better bosses because they know their bosses, their bosses live, you know, and work beside them. And they have more incentive and more joy in their community. And I will say I'm a stickler for service too. Like I'm very, you know, chill. But if I get bad service, I don't go back, you know, like I, I will, you know, forgive somebody and not like I don't go back to the same person, right? If it's just one person than maybe somebody different. But like, you don't have to live with bad service if you have experienced it at a local shop before or restaurant, right. You could probably get good service at the same place from another person. Don't give up local altogether. If you've had bad experiences with service in the past, because generally then they are better.
- [33:54]
Jill
Yeah, it's a good point.
- [33:56]
Jen
And then the last one is your dollars in local. In the local economy, support future growth. So the article says our experts agree on the last reason. Shopping locally is the best way to show pride in your city and help protect the businesses that make your city unique. And just how do you want your city to look in 10 years? Because that's something that St. Pete has struggled with. It really valued. We had a local community that very much valued shopping local. And over, I think it was two years, our city gained 50,000 new residents over two to three years. And those 50,000 new residents did not value local businesses like we did. And so in the past four years since that's happened, we've gotten a lot more chains, a lot more chain restaurants, a lot more service providers that are owned by hedge funds and private equity or franchises. It's just kind of exploded. So you have to. If you love your city, if you love where you live and you want to be there long term, you need to consider what you want it to look like in 10 years, because you are responsible for what your city looks like in 10 years to a small degree. Obviously, there are a lot of things you can't control, but the way you act gives permission or leads by example of how you want the other people around you to act. And so what your city looks like in 10 years is truly up. Do you. Do you want another Chipotle, another Starbucks, or do you want another locally owned Mexican restaurant or another locally owned coffee shop? Or neither of those things. If you don't care about Chipotle or Starbucks, what do you want to see? What kind of different things do you want to see in your community and invest there?
- [36:03]
Jill
Yeah. Keeping the money local is what will allow for growth and more local businesses. And some of the things that the community itself really wants to see, and probably even events and activities that bring the community together is funded by the local economy, the local city. And if you're keeping more money, if $73 of $100 is able to stay there, imagine what that can do for what you're even able to do as hobbies and recreation as a result of having previously purchased in your local community.
- [36:39]
Jen
Yeah. And I just want to reiterate that when we talk about all this, we're not talking about drastically increasing your budget just to support the local economy. We're talking about spending less overall so that you can afford to put. And you're incentivized to put more barriers in place so that you choose to purchase locally on something you would have purchased anyways. So whether that is, you know, the special edition of Onyx Storm that you know, my friend really wanted, she said. So she bought it from our local bookstore and then found out that Target had a special edition that you couldn't get anywhere else except Target. And it was a colored map and colored pictures. And I'm like, but you have the black and white map in this and you've supported local and do you really need colorful pictures inside your book? You already have this really cool keepsake.
- [37:38]
Jill
And you have your imagination.
- [37:39]
Jen
Yeah. That you didn't need, but you wanted and that's great. We don't need to just buy things we need. We want to be empowered to also buy things we want. And you did that and you supported the local store.
- [37:53]
Jill
Did she listen to you?
- [37:54]
Jen
And you don't need to spend an extra $30 to have two of the same books.
- [37:58]
Jill
Did she listen to you?
- [37:58]
Jen
Yes, she did listen.
- [37:59]
Jill
Yes. Well done. Well done. Influencing you little influencer.
- [38:03]
Jen
That's why buying what you love, knowing what you love is so important and then creating just simple barriers to make sure that first we're looking to get it locally, to get it secondhand, to get it in the most cost and ethical effective ways. And if we can't, then we can go to Amazon, we can go to Walmart. You know, these things exist and we can take advantage of them. We don't have to like feel guilty when we use them.
- [38:35]
Jill
But we can live in the radical middle. It doesn't mean need to be our solution for everything that we purchase. Speaking of a good solution that we think is in the radical middle. Holding the tension between professionalism and unhingedness.
- [38:49]
Jen
Absolutely. The bill of the week. This is not feeling. 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. Hi Jen and Jill. I. I love your podcast. It's my go to workout podcast. My name is Raf and I'm from Forest Hill, Maryland. My bill of the week is a non bill. We were looking for an extracurricular activity for our 7 year old son to do. We got two sons, one 3 year old and one 7 year old and he had an interest in martial arts. So we tried different places and they all charged around 200 bucks a month. Sometimes 250. So since I used to teach martial arts, I put up a syllabus and he and I go over it together almost every day for, you know, 10, 15 minutes. He gets stripes on his belt when he reaches a milestone and a homemade certificate. He loves it. He's doing great too. And we're saving about 2,400 bucks a year, so it's a win win for everyone. Thanks for taking my call and have a great week. Raph, that's so cute. Jill, does that not remind you of the we can help episode where there's a mom who, who wants to put her kid in martial arts and then gets like guilted into paying for a six month subscription to it? Because the, the dojo master is like.
- [40:45]
Jill
Kind of mean and like demanding that they sign up and stay committed and loyal in order to receive the next level belt.
- [40:53]
Jen
Right. They're not even going to receive any like belts or certificates until they get like at least six months of payment. And so it was like not even like encouraging for the child. And this sounds so encouraging. Little homemade certificates and the stripes and getting to spend more time, like more loving time as a family.
- [41:17]
Jill
How fun that that podcast is called We're Here to Help and it's Jake and Gareth. Jake is. I forget his last name, but he's the guy from New Girl. It's a fun podcast. Anyways, this is amazing and I love this intentional page parenting that you're describing that you know what, I have a skill set that I can teach my child and we're able to create structure and routine and incentives around this that is no less legit than going into an actual establishment. But yet you're able to do it at home and create memories together and build a skill set and bond and I just love all of this.
- [41:59]
Jen
I'm obsessed.
- [41:59]
Jill
And congratulations for saving $2,400 a year while bonding with your son. That's so awesome. If you all listening, have a bill that you want to submit. If it has to do with teaching your children a skill set at home and creating homemade certificates, saving money, or if it has to do with investing in your local economy bills, you don't mind paying how you're buying quality over quantity or your name is bill frugalfriendspodcast.com Bill, can't wait to hear it.
- [42:29]
Jen
I don't know about you, but I like making the best possible decisions with my money. Unfortunately, traditional big wireless carriers often demand that those decisions include paying big bills and high fees. If you're fed up with crazy high wireless bills, bogus fees and quote unquote free perks that actually cost more in the long run. Then switch to Mint Mobile so you.
- [42:49]
Jill
Can say bye bye to your overpriced wireless plans. Jaw dropping monthly bills and unexpected overages because Mint Mobile is here to rescue you with premium wireless plans starting at 15 bucks a month.
- [43:01]
Jen
Plus all plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans@mintmobile.com frugal that's mintmobile.com frugal upfront.
- [43:15]
Jill
Payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required equivalent to $15 a month new customer offer for first 3 months only then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.
- [43:29]
Jen
Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide and every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report at Amica Insurance, we know it's more than just a car or a house. It's the four wheels that get you where you're going and the four walls that welcome you home. When you combine auto and home insurance with Amica will help protect it all. And the more you cover, the more you can save. Amica Empathy is our best policy. Amazon One Medical presents Painful thoughts I could catch anything sitting in this doctor's waiting room. Okay, just wiped his runny nose on my jacket and the guy next next.
- [44:40]
Jill
To me sitting in a pool of perspiration insists on sharing my armrest.
- [44:46]
Jen
Next time make an appointment with an Amazon One Medical provider. There's no waiting and no sweaty guy. Amazon One Medical Healthcare just got less painful.
- [44:59]
Jill
And now it's time for the lightning round.
- [45:05]
Jen
All right Jill, what's your favorite thing to buy?
- [45:09]
Jill
Local food at local restaurants. I will say as much as I think St. Pete, our area could do, do even better at keeping things local. Downtown St. Petersburg. I cannot think of chains that exist.
- [45:28]
Jen
You know what? Saint Pete is still one of the best cities for local culture. Honestly, it's just like having lived here my entire life. I know it used to be better, but I don't want to say that now. We stink at it because while there's 50,000 new people, there are still hundreds of thousands of people who have lived here. And a lot of them are invested in staying local, keeping St. Pete local.
- [45:55]
Jill
Yeah. So in downtown St. Pete and even from my house to downtown St. Pete, like, I don't think I pass a single Starbucks. Like, there are many small owned, locally owned coffee shops, restaurants, grocers. We just went to one of the Italian grocers yesterday and like got a sandwich. And then we'll often just buy some groceries for the week from there. And yeah, if we're going out to eat, it's going to be at a local restaurant. And that, that's win, win, win. Because Eric and I love going out to eat. And then when we can say that we're supporting local, then even better.
- [46:35]
Jen
Yeah, mine is services. So we often think of things and food when we think of buying local. But honestly, services are where it's at. So I just had a woman who lives three minutes away from me come over to give me a free consultation to have her company clean my house. Women owned, hyper local owned. And I got a deal where I get buy three cleanings, get the fourth one free.
- [47:05]
Jill
Nice.
- [47:05]
Jen
Yeah.
- [47:05]
Jill
Are you gonna do that monthly?
- [47:07]
Jen
Yes, so. Cause we have in our Airbnb, we have a fewer, like short term stays. Normally they're, you know, one to three months, but so we're gonna get help with that. And I am so excited to keep that stress off my plate because I know if I also had to clean our Airbnb, then that would lead to me being stressed and out of time, eating out, eating not so great food. So instead I'm spending probably the same amount of money I would, but I'm giving it to a local woman and I'm taking the real stressor off my plate, not the symptom of the stress. And so I'm so excited to do that. But also when we did our renovation, hiring, you know, a local guy who is not part of like a big franchise or company there, because there are sometimes companies who may be local but aren't ethical. So that's also something you have to be aware of. And you can find that out through reviews and Googling. Right? You're gonna find that out. You don't have to compromise. Like with a local business, it will be maybe a little less convenient, a little less flashy, but you don't have to compromise quality. So we got that and local window guys. And I prefer honestly, shopping at Publix to Walmart, which is not hyper local. But it's Florida in our small, in our region. So I consider statewide to also be local because when we're thinking of these big high end publicly traded companies owned by private equity, stuff like that, that's the stuff we want to avoid. It doesn't have to be like one location hyperlocal, but it can be, you know, statewide or you know, area wide, maybe several states, but still in your area. So just consider, consider where you want to keep your money and quality of.
- [49:10]
Jill
Life for their employees. Like Publix I think offers, you know, stock options.
- [49:15]
Jen
Such great benefits.
- [49:18]
Jill
It's cool.
- [49:19]
Jen
Yeah.
- [49:20]
Jill
Wow. Everyone, thanks so much for being here and just all of your support. In addition to supporting local as we know that you are thinking about what one small pivot or step you can make to buy more local. Yeah. We are so grateful for you being here and we've also really enjoyed your kind reviews of the book. Many of you have gotten Buy what you love without going broke. You can purchase that at a local bookstore. If they don't have it, you can call and ask them or go to bookshop.org uh huh. And so this person has read the book and reviewed it. This is from Theresa Raitt. Five stars. Spending is a skill that Jen Smith and Jill Sirianni from the Frugal Friends podcast know well. Throughout their journeys to frugality, they've learned how to be better spenders, investing in items and experiences that match their current seasons and values. It's values based spending that the book is all about. With chapters full of timeless advice, helpful exercises and ways to get real about what matters most to you. Rather than scold you for not being a better saver, the authors teach you how to buy the things you love without going broke. Thank you so much for this kind review.
- [50:31]
Jen
Yeah, thanks Chris.
- [50:32]
Jill
And it feels very in line with what we've just talked about too. Like how can we even create the habits and patterns and behaviors to be able to even buy local? I think this book will help teach you that.
- [50:46]
Jen
Yeah. So if you're interested, you can head to buy what you love book and the bookshop link is in there or you can request it at your favorite local bookshop, both. If you are in Tampa, head to Oxford Exchange. There's about 20 signed copies there, so we're going to look at a way to get those up online so you can purchase those online as well. So they may already be available at Oxford Exchange website if they are. If they do become available online, you'll find the signed copies@buywhatyoulovebook.com Yay.
- [51:18]
Jill
See you next time.
- [51:19]
Jen
Bye. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. Jill we buried the lead a little bit. This goes out on February 7th and on February 12th we will be somewhere special.
- [51:45]
Jill
Yes, we will. We're gonna be in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, which is my old stomping grounds where I am originally from to be doing a book Q and A and signing at a very local bookstore at a local bookshop in Sellersville. It's called Next Chapter Bookshop bookstore in Sellersville, Pennsylvania. So that'll be February 12th at 7:00pm if you want to come out and meet us, buy from a local Sellersville bookshop, get us to sign your copy, write your name in it, come on out.
- [52:21]
Jen
Yeah, we look forward to seeing all you Pennsylvanians at Next Chapter. 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 quickly, set up chores automate allowance, and keep an eye on what your kids are 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 in place. Try Greenlight Risk free today@greenlight.com iheart during tax season, your sensitive info does a lot of traveling to places you can't control, stopping off at payroll, your accountant or tax preparer, and countless other data centers on its way to the irs. Any of them can expose you to identity theft because they all have the info on your W2, just the ticket for criminals to steal your identity. No wonder the IRS reported tax fraud due to identity theft went up 20% last year. You need Lifelock. They monitor millions of data points per second and alert you to threats you could miss if your identity is stolen. LifeLock's US based restoration specialists will fix it, backed by the million dollar protection package and restoration is guaranteed or your money back. Don't let identity thieves take you for a ride. Get Lifelock protection for tax season and beyond. Join now and save up to 40% your first year. Call 1-800-LIFELOCK and use promo code iheart or go to lifelock.com iheart for 40% off terms apply. Sail to breathtaking destinations in Alaska or Europe with Disney Cruise Line. Discover where onboard magic meets onshore adventures, where beloved characters Hiya pal. Meet alluring landscapes where Broadway quality shows meet historic cities, where imaginative dining meets amazing wildlife and where exciting experiences await the whole family. Book an adventure filled summer Disney cruise to Alaska or Europe? Do you own a business that's ready to thrive? It's time to let Intuit QuickBooks take things like unpaid invoices and tracking expenses off your plate so you can take.
- [54:35]
Jill
Things to the next level.
- [54:37]
Jen
Intuit QuickBooks is an all in one business platform that can help with those day to day tasks like invoicing and expenses. Manage and grow your business business all in one place. Intuit QuickBooks your way to Money Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments, Inc. Licensed as a money transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services.