Starting to feel that dreaded holiday spending hangover? No matter what your December looked like, January is the opportunity for a fresh financial start. If you’re looking to pay off your credit cards fast or just do better with money this year, The Frugal Friends are here with our Best Money Saving Tips For 2023 and beyond. In this episode, we’re not regurgitating overused tips you can find on Google, we’re talking about the four most significant changes you can make this year to save thousands now and tens of thousands long term.
Everybody spends money and everybody should be saving money, so we're not defined by what we do with money or what we have done with money. We are whole people— we spend, we save.
#FrugalFriendsNote
Sponsors:
- The One Week Spending Makeover. On January 2-6, we are hosting a free one-week challenge with daily live lessons with daily live lessons delivered in a pop-up Facebook community and to your inbox. The goal of this challenge is that in 5 days or less you will have a clear picture of your past spending, a foundation for values-based spending, and a plan to improve your spending in a way that makes you happy, not guilty. If you want to kick off your 2023 financial goals with a bang then join us for the one-week spending makeover at frugalfriendspodcast.com/makeover. And if you’re hearing this episode during or after January 2-6, don’t fret, there will be a replay so you can still get all the goodness! Again that’s frugalfriendspodcast.com/makeover to transform your spending without giving up everything you love!
Check out this relevant episode
Follow the 80/20 principle
Prioritize the Big 5 (Housing, Transportation, Groceries, Taxes and Healthcare) as these are the expenses making up to 72% of your monthly spending and many of it go totally untouched in people’s quest to save money. Also, instead of focusing on 100 hacks, making you save by tidbit amounts such as $3 here and $10 there, focus first on the few decisions that can save you $100 here and $10,000 there.
Figure out what you value
Figuring out your values and having the courage to say no to things you don’t value or can’t afford this season can help you make money without guilt. Spending well does not mean spending on everything or spending on nothing. Spending money well means that you feel good about what you see on your bank statement and it aligns with your current income. Can you look at your bank statement and agree with us?
If not, we got you covered with three ways to find your values and how to establish values-based spending in our free one-week spending makeover that will run Live on Jan 2 to 5 (there will be a replay after) so head over to frugalfriendspodcast.com/makeover and catch us there.
Draw a line in the sand on what you don’t value
As much as our values are oftentimes the only thing we ask ourselves, we should not forget to acknowledge what we also don’t value. In this day and age, everything may look important and is the next ‘big thing, if it’s working for someone else, it must and has to work for me too–these are all untrue. We need to say “no” as often as we say “yes”. You must sit down and decide what you’re going to say “no” to as intentionally as you think about what you want to say yes to.
Simplify to streamline
Simplification may feel like you’re cutting everything out but the more complex a project or work you handle, the more time it takes to accomplish. When you make your project your entire life, finances can make you feel like you’re constantly spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. Simplify your physical space to save money on other important physical products and simplify your schedule for less takeout and services.
You might also want to consider simplifying your digital life for fewer online purchases, and subscriptions which may give you extra storage on your devices. Simplification can help your mental space as it limits many factors negatively affecting you such as decision fatigue and emotional shopping.
Our 2023 Financial Goals
Jen loves calling Jill’s kitchen a ‘dumpster fire’ and she couldn’t agree more with her. For 2 and a half years in, Jill’s kitchen is falling apart so this 2023, she wants to get a major renovation on her kitchen and AirBnB. She also plans to recoup the money they’ve spent on renovating the AirBnB with the income they’ll earn from it.
Meanwhile, plans to get creative in 2023 as she hopes to get their rental area done and have it rented out very soon. Just like Jill, the income from the rental area will be earned and used to pay for their mortgage payment.
Bill of The Week
Thank you Lindsey for sharing your bill about your $1200 grocery bill per month and the ways you shifted you spending habits to $465!
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:
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One thing I love about being more conscious of marketing tactics!
You can give credit to the marketing team but resist the urge of making impulse purchases… A green house nearby organized a scavenger hunt for kids (they were getting free herbs as a prize), but parents had to walk every single aisle with their kids to find the hidden objects…
I thought to myself “Well done! 👏Nice marketing tactic because … I do want to buy all the plants and decorations around me haha!!” … but I didn’t because I get most of my plants for free on BN and I have enough Christmas decorations. 🙌🏻
Vanessa
Congrats! Thanks for listening and if you want to check out our monthly challenge community head to frugalfriendspodcast.com/club to see what challenge we have coming up next.
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. 😉