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StitcherRaise your glass to the 5 incredible frugal years (and counting) you have been with us! In every great show comes spectacular stories and secrets behind making it. We’re letting you take a peek at what goes behind the Frugal Friends podcast and how we became your best friends on personal finance through the personal questions you sent us. As always, we will relate our answers to YOU because you have always been a massive part of this 5-year journey with us.
It’s unwise to set your opinions in stone even when it pertains to yourself. You can have the knowledge about yourself and think it’s the best way for you but in reality, what’s best for you is only best for you right now. That can always evolve, and it probably should.
Sponsors:
- The shows who helped us get here. Success doesn’t happen in a vacuum and to record over 300 episodes it takes a village of mentorship, support, and love. One of those early shows was Optimal Finance Daily. If you like audiobooks you’ll love OFD, they narrate personal finance articles every day of the week to help you invest, save, and earn more. Definitely subscribe. The original podcast, Optimal Living Daily was one of the first to recognize my writing, that one is great for topics like minimalism, and literally everything optimal living. They have other shows too you can search them where you’re listening to this or at OldPodcast.com. So our first thank you for this episode is to Justin and Lee and there are more to come.
Check out some relevant episodes
We’ve Made It!
Did you know that when you Google’ personal finance podcast’ and click “42 more,” you can find the Frugal Friends podcast there? And that’s how we know we’ve made it! And guess what? We’re also on the front page of one journalist’s curated list–that’s only because Jen knows the journalist! 😂 We may not be the biggest name out there, but we always strive to provide the best personal finance episodes for our best listeners.
The Fruit Of Curiosity
Jill’s husband, Eric, wanted to get into the podcasting space to take his knowledge of audio engineering to the next level. He saw potential in Jen and Jill as podcast hosts and asked them if they could join him to study how to create a podcast from the ground. Jen initially refused to co-host with Jill but eventually wanted to grow her blog brand through podcasting. Jill has always been on board with the idea in support of her husband, and she wanted to learn more about personal finance. All three of them went in out of curiosity and willingness to learn.
The Evolution of The Frugal Friends’ Mindset
Jen and Jill’s views on personal finance and frugality have evolved. Jen’s views have become more refined as she has moved from wanting to help people save money on paying off debt to helping listeners feel good about their money and spending. While for Jill, the circumstances in her life have changed, including becoming debt-free, buying a house, and settling down in Florida. Also, she has shifted from more traditional views of frugality to embracing values-based spending while maintaining beneficial habits. Jill helped Jen recognize that she doesn’t have to compartmentalize her professional and podcast host identities, allowing her to show up as her whole self on the podcast.
Reflecting On The Past
Anything that Jen and Jill may have said regarding the scarcity mindset is something they want to change or speak differently. They were pushing against this mindset from the beginning but have evolved from this thinking. Sometimes you know what you’re against but don’t know what you are for. We are against pyroclastic-spending–doing things to feel like you’re making progress, but we aren’t really making progress (i.e., couponing, rebate apps, nickel and dime type of saving) versus gaining self-control over your discretionary spending and mindless spending. Also, Jill wants to take back her advice on buying a car on Craig’s List. Don’t do it!
The Surprises of Podcasting
Jen has always been independent, so when she started the podcast and had Jill as her co-host, it was a leap of faith. While Jill’s biggest surprise is that they’re still doing it! Treating it not as an obligation but as an opportunity to learn about personal finance and one another. Jen and Jill have become inseparable as their friendship has always bloomed, together with this growing community we have in the Frugal Friends throughout this 5-year journey.
5 Years Worth of Laughter
We would never subject you to a clip of Jen and Jill laughing so hard you could barely understand what they’re trying to say. Still, there have been plenty of times when one had to pull away from their microphones to suppress laughter. For instance, when Jen drops gold paired with her stone-faced expression, it just gets Jill laughing so hard. Sometimes, when they’re about to press record or even when they’re about to wrap up, they would burst out laughing for a variety of reasons!
The Frugal Friends’ Podcast Recommendations
Jen and Jill have shared some of their favorite podcasts on various topics! Jen enjoys True Crime podcasts such as “Smokescreen” and The Imperative Entertainment Network’s True Crime Podcasts. She also listens to “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” with Peter Sagal and Bill Kurtis. Jen also mentions some of her favorite podcasters you should check out, like Allison Baggerly (Inspired Budget), Andy Hill (Marriage, Kids, & Money), Diania Merriam (Optimal Finance Daily), Rich Jones (Mental Wealth Show), and Joe Saul-Sehy (Stacking Benjamins).
When Jill was renovating their house, she and her husband listened to SmartLess hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett. She also enjoys listening to “The Place We Find Ourselves” by Adam Young, which focuses on mental health.
If you could go back when you were first starting out as Frugal Friends, what would you do differently?
Jill wishes she had moved to Florida sooner, as it has positively impacted her mindset and lifestyle.
Meanwhile, Jen wishes she had embraced the podcast for what it was and gone all-in sooner rather than trying to juggle too many things at once–she found more success as the show grew more quickly, even leading to a partnership with iHeart.
Bill of The Week
Thank you Lisa for sharing your bill about your BIRTHDAY DISNEY CRUISE!!
Thanks so Much for Listening!
Thanks so much for listening. Many of you know we have a private community where we do monthly money challenges and offer accountability groups. We want to congratulate one of our members for a big win.
Within the first 24 hours of joining (literally), I found two websites suggested in here that I'd never heard of to sell clothes (poshmark.com.au and swapup.com.au. I live in Australia so I had to find more local versions).
I had a box of clothes I knew I wanted to try and sell, and another couple of boxes in the trunk to take to my local op shop. Looking up what brands these websites sold, I dragged the boxes back into the house took out specific brands, and have an even bigger pile to sell.
My plan with the money I make? Put it towards my emergency fund! 🙂 The websites/apps are also so much better than Facebook Marketplace (I hate Facebook, which was one of the deciding factors in me joining this club).
Congrats! If you want to check out our monthly challenge community head to frugalfriendspodcast.com/club to see what challenge we have coming up next.
And keep leaving us reviews on iTunes or Stitcher, and sending the screenshot to reviews@frugalfriendspodcast.com. And don’t forget to share your favorite quote from the episode by using the hashtag #FrugalFriendsNote. 