What You Actually Get for Your Money in 2026: Then vs Now

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And I was a senior in high school. Honestly, in 2006, everything did just feel a little simpler. And fast forward to 2026, it feels like we're paying a lot more for a lot less. And it's making me wonder, is that just nostalgia that's making me think back with like rose-colored glasses? Or is it true? Is that what's really happening? It just feels more complex. Like everything and everything you buy has become more complex. It's not just going into bi-growseries, but you have to sign up for the service, and then also get a subscription if you want to save money, because you can't just like coupon anymore. Like everything just feels like you have to go through two to three extra steps. And is it worth it? Like are you getting more for the price difference? Yeah. And I don't want to be one of those like, oh, the good old days type of person. Like I really want to age well and embrace the current present reality. However, it is kind of hard when it's like, but it really feels like my money went further just five years ago. And so we think it's worth it to look back just in the last 20 years. Like what is true? Why does so many of us feel like things have quietly or maybe sometimes loudly shifted? And is it true? Like what has shifted? So we're going to go through a couple of our main categories starting first with streaming services. We all do it. We all need to be entertained. This has been, I wanted to start with streaming services because in 2006, what we know as streaming services like did not exist. Like it was Netflix mailing DVDs for, get this $20 a month. I think we all complain so much now paying $20 a month for Netflix. Many years ago, Netflix cost $20 a month and you had to pick like three DVDs. You had to wait in the mail. If you wanted a new one, you had to mail it back. I remember doing Redbox. If you didn't want to wait, you could go to the nearest Redbox and I am pretty sure you can fact check me. I'm pretty sure it was $3.17 to rent a movie. You had to go pick it up, bring it back home and then take it back. That was $3.17 just for one movie. Now you will pay the same amount to stream a movie that you are not, like if you're not a subscriber of where it's streaming, you can usually pay $3 to stream that movie and you don't even have to go to the grocery store. We're going to be hating on some things, of course. But I think it's important to realize that sometimes the changes for the better too, that maybe you get something different, maybe you get something less, but maybe you get something more. I was really shocked to realize it wasn't really Netflix that did it first. It was Amazon. Amazon Unbox launched in 2006 as an early digital video store with a streaming extension and it didn't have a big library. It was mostly paid downloads unlimited streaming, but Netflix's true streaming wasn't available until 2007 for most people. It was still that DVD by mail, which we love to reminisce about. And cable bills, streaming services kind of took over what used to be cable bills, but in the mid-2000s, they were roughly $80 to $90 for a month for the basic, maybe a somewhat expanded package. To me, that still does sound like a lot of money for a cable. And that was 20 years ago, money. And so now into 2020, it's like people are rarely subscribing to just one service. Most of us have three to four. So split the difference, like 3.4 streaming services, which is equating to about $48 per month. Now for those who are still on some version of a cable package, the basic version averages about $122. So that pricing hasn't shifted all that much. And yet now we do have the optionality of we can only we have the option only subscribed to one streaming service. We don't have to have three and a half services. Yeah. This is one of the examples where I feel like things have gotten better. Like we can come playing like yes, there was a heyday where you could pay $12 a month for a streaming service and get everything. But when we were 20 years ago paying like 80 bucks a month for cable, add on Netflix potentially a hundred bucks a month for entertainment at home. Now we're paying about $50 a month. So like in 20 years, our monthly entertainment and streaming has cut in half, but it's expanded so much. You never you don't have to wait for your show to come on and then potentially have to record it to watch it later. It's typically all there. Binging is super easy like because everything is pretty much dropped at the same time. HBO is still doing its weekly drops like we get at HBO. Do you think Netflix does that with a couple of shows too? Yeah. So some of it's going back and you know what? It's probably good for us that probably need to wait. Yeah. It's some time pretend like we're in the early 2000s. Yeah. But like I do think that the price for streaming services has has improved but maybe the experience of what we remember. I think ultimately has improved because everything you have instant access for, whereas before you did not or was very very limited. But now that since we hit that peak and we're like on the it feels like we're on the decline, it can feel like it sucks a little bit because now instead of just like waiting for your show or waiting for your DVD, you're waiting for ads in your paid plan. You are waiting for one annual plan to finish before you go to Ford another. So it's just like maybe different kinds of waiting. Yeah. Choose what type of waiting you want. But I personally do Netflix and HBO right now. I did live Paramount through Walmart Plus. But that's not something like I pay for. It's just because I pay for Walmart Plus. And then I did have peacock for the Olympics. But I did not renew that. Nice. So I don't have it right now. But I probably will get it again. I mean, because the Olympics when this comes out starting, we're in it. Yeah. Yeah. I currently have Netflix and HBO. But again, sometimes I oscillate between just having one streaming service. Because we don't we can only watch one thing at a time. Yeah. Watch things that are not in the top 10. Like there's a lot of it. Okay. The next one. We have a little dinner at a restaurant. I feel like we've been talking about this a lot lately. Yeah. But we have to talk about the price difference because part of it are eating at a restaurant. So yeah, I mean sit down meals used to be that you could get them for like 10 to $12. And that would be for like an entree. Sit down. Yeah. Sit down. Entree. 10 to $12. Yeah. Now we're talking 18 to 25 dollars. That's even that's like mid range. I feel like most of the time you're even creeping up on $30. This probably depends on where you're living, right? Like if you're in a city or you're more of a suburb or rural, that's going to probably affect the pricing. But we're literally talking double here. Yeah. It's insane. And these numbers come from the USDA. And if you haven't watched our last episode about money traps, you have to watch it just for the video. It's near the front of the episode, the burger joint gastropub like video. Let us know in the comments if you saw that. And if you've been to that gastropub, it's I feel like we've all been there. But you're getting same like basic foods, burgers, pizzas, like nothing revolutionary. It is double the price. Yeah. Because they're using fancy words. Because because they're giving you mayo and calling it a holy. And they put some sriracha in the ketchup. And now it's spicy. And it costs you a dollar. I hate it here. Another really thing that has changed drastically in the last 20 years is tipping. Whereas in 2006, tipping, you knew where to expect tipping. Like you were not going to get surprised by somebody asking for a tip where it normally is not expected. This is such a side tangent. But do you know what? We pay for QuickBooks for our business. And there is a tipping option when I get an invoice from QuickBooks. I mean, because we also have like an accountant assigned to it. I don't know. But we haven't talked about it in like four years. When I pay the invoice for QuickBooks subscription, I can tip five, 10, 15% or other. I hate it. I don't. Of course I don't. I'm not tipping on my QuickBooks subscription. Let it be known. Come at me. We're into very different worlds. We just dingy sisters. Okay. Come at us. I will tip at a restaurant, 100% I'm a tip where you're supposed to tip. But that's just that's why now nobody knows where to tip or how much to tip because the tip thing is like, oh, a tip 30%. I'm like, when did we talk about this? When did we sit down as a society and talk about where to tip and how much to tip? Because it used to be, oh gosh, I am this I hate that that I just come out. I don't know where here used to be. I could sit down at a restaurant. I knew I had to tip the server 20%. Yeah. But now I don't know. And I haven't even seen the server because I ordered everything off of a screen myself. But I am a horrible person if I don't tip. But we did talk in our last episode. Everywhere how servers, it gives the elude because of this. It gives the illusion of less service. But the servers are worked just as hard. If not harder because now they have larger sections. And so it sucks for employees as everything typically does. It's not just with pricing and tipping. It's also with quality. Yes, we are still on restaurants. Portions used to feel very generous. I mean, granted I was probably a smaller person back then in high school in 2006. But being able to make at least two meals out of one meal was pretty common. Four girls could walk into a restaurant and I'll share one plate in high school. That's what we could do. Now, granted maybe those larger portion sizes had something to do with the obesity in America. We're not talking about the hat. We're just talking about generous portions and I liked it. But okay, here's the thing. The portions have decreased, but the quality has decreased too. So while portions are smaller, calories same if not more. So we think, oh, it's a move towards health, like healthier portions, fewer calories. No, lesser quality ingredients with the same caloric structure, but calories in like worse plate, like more out of balance places, which is skimplation. When we are skimping on quality while still charging the same amount or increasing pricing, we did a whole episode on this. You're going to want to catch that. We talked about it at least in our 2026 money traps everyone's falling for. So if you're curious about that concept, all right, moving on to another really hot button topic, mortgages. Mortgages. Okay, so now we're going to cover it. So now we're going into our top three. We just covered restaurants and our other two top three expenses are housing and transportation. And we're going to start off strong with housing specifically mortgages because we know a lot of people watching our podcast are interested in buying house or owning a house and wondering why more people aren't owning houses. But if you're a renter, Jill recently sold her house and went back to renting. So you're not alone. Yeah. I think it's a great life. I own two houses and Jill left housing. And so I'm a free bird. I want I'd love to be a free bird. That's a nice. But I trapped myself in place. You might have trapped yourself. I trapped myself in places. And that should have been my money trap that we talked about at the end of that. So anyways, pricing of mortgages, right? In 2006, the annual median existing home price was about $222,000. Oh man, not that thinking. Can you imagine being able to buy a home for that amount? Oh my god. Now today, 2026, the median existing home price is $405,000, which is a 55% increase. And that's just the median. Some places have increased more like that a higher percentage. Yeah. Yeah. Some of you are thinking, oh, wouldn't it be nice if I could find a house that was $400,000? Yeah. That'd be great. Like in St. Pete, we bought our house in 2017 for 185,000. Today, it is worth 405,000. So St. Pete used to be a way more affordable city to live in and is now kind of like on par with the median, which sucks for people born and raised here. But I know. I know. Okay. So let's take a look at interest because this is where things really get crazy. And this is where the affordability really like sinks in when you combine the interest with the price. So interest rates in 2006, mid six percent, mid sixes. And today, as of January 15th, 6.06. Okay. So not a difference. Like I know people are still scared of these interest rates because they remember 2020, 2021, these three percent interest rates. But six is quite average. So it shouldn't be a reason to not buy a house if you can afford it. The problem is affordability because in 2006, when you put 10% down, your loan would be just under 200,000, which would result in a payment and interest or like a principal and interest payment of just over 1200. In 2026, same scenario, you're putting 10% down. Your loan is now 364,000. And your principal and interest payment is 2200. So a thousand dollars more per month for a median home. And you still have to add on taxes and insurance and PMI if you're only putting 10% down. So like you will be paying over 2200 easily for that. And so even with similar rates, it's that thousand dollars a month that really hurts people because the loan amount is so much bigger. And it's not even just that inventory availability of housing has been difficult for many. In 2026, you had a lot of homes to choose from. There was about six months supply of homes to be able to shop around for. As of December 2025, that was closer to three and a half months worth of supply. So that's another barrier, I think, for a lot of people is just not being able to find the home that they're looking for even if they can afford it. So multiple barriers. Yeah. And people in 2006 didn't know it was coming forth in 2008. It's crazy that we like have almost 20 years of perspective since the housing crisis. So like people could get these financial information, financial education was a lot harder to come by in 2006. You really had to rely on a money guy to tell you what to do or a word of mouth. You didn't know who to trust. You didn't really have the availability as of certified financial planners who had a fiduciary responsibility to you. Most of the people giving financial advice were trying to sell you something, ie, maybe a mortgage. And so you had a lot of people walking into mortgages that were too big. And so it was a really reasonable time to buy a house, but we did not have the education information available today. Whereas today is a lot harder to get one, but we're going in with a lot more availability of education and consumer protection laws that were enacted after the housing crisis. We love a consumer protection law. So we, it made it a lot harder to get a mortgage, because there's more things that you have to like submit. And so the rules change, and it made mortgages harder to get, but ultimately safer, more protected. You're not going, it's very unlikely that you will get into a mortgage, that you will not be able to pay for, which is why they're talking about a 50 year mortgage, right? Like that's why we have stuff like that. And it is, it is a give and take, right? Like we, I think we also didn't know what was coming for us in 2020, 2021, when you had hedge funds get into single family home investing and in some areas buy up up to 25% of single family homes in neighborhoods that are typically first time home by your neighborhoods. So you've got some really bad things. And hopefully there will be consumer protection enacted against these hedge funds. There are rumblings of that. Right. But we're not there yet. And so it just seems like a way more dire situation for housing. We get it. Yeah. And it sucks. And hopefully, we always see after something big and bad, we usually will see consumer protection laws come up that will prevent that from happening again. So we'll see. We don't have like much hopeful to offer on this one other event to say you're not crazy, right? A firm that this is happening. This, this particular category has it's more cons than pros than it did. Yeah. Maybe 20 years ago. If somebody's coming up to you being like, I don't know why you just don't buy a house. Like, yada, you can just explain that or show this Pat little clip. And it really can explain why we don't have like wages of stagnated. And we don't have an extra thousand dollars a month for this. Yeah. It's inflated at an insane rate. Yeah. Honestly, one of the best things we can do for our wallets and our health is cook more at home. There's just nothing like it. That's easier said than done, which is why we love Hello, fresh. It makes it simple to eat at home, even on a busy weeknight. Plus they offer over 100 recipe options every week with portions big enough to actually satisfy everyone. And here's what actually happens. You get options that fit your goals. There are more than 35 high protein recipes each week plus Mediterranean inspired dishes. The ingredients are wholesome too, like sustainably sour seafood and 100% antibiotic and hormone-free chicken. The quality is so noticeable. 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This is another massive area of spending annually for each one of us and let's see how does it shake out pricing wise. In 2006, a median four-door sedan cost about $15 to $18,000, which was affordable on a mid-range budget compared to today. So in 2026, the average price of that same type of car has jumped to over 22,000 to 30,000. And the average new cost of being $50,000 for a new car. So we're talking about a 45% increase. Yeah, I use the Toyota Corolla as a. That's a great one to use. The median four-door sedan. Yeah. So four comparison general US inflation for the same period was approximately 59.25%. So it feels like when we see, especially when we did our car episode, like World Prices for car loans are insane. People paying $700,000 per month for their car payment. And then people going like, well, if you didn't buy a such an expensive car, then you could buy a car. But cars didn't increase at a faster rate than US inflation. So they've been kind of on part. The problem is, here's where we get into it, is reliability and choice. And I want to jump to choice because I just like feel so passionate about this. In 2006, you could walk into a showroom, and you had a lot of options available to you that were very basic. Like you could get a hatchback, you could get a small sedan, you could get, you could find something basic in addition to your luxury models. Or these basics just had different levels. And by the mid 2020s, those cheap options have mostly been discontinued. They're not around anymore. They're in favor of you've got like, they stop making these like cheaper affordable models and start focusing on like electric vehicles to compete with like the Tesla and the Ravion and stuff. So you've got more that stuff. So your choice options for affordable cars are gone. And so that's why when people are like, just pay cash for a car. Like you can't because those cars that you could pay cash for at a reasonable rate, they're gone. They don't exist anymore. Where in 2020, you can find them new and used. Now it's hard to find than used. And it used to be that you could do private sale with vehicles. But COVID really intersected that one. I don't totally know what exactly happened, but the used car private sale market was just about the same pricing as going and getting a certified pre-owned car from a dealership. And at that point, it's worth doing the dealership route because a lot of times it will come with a dealer warranty on that vehicle. And so going private sale has become relative. People are still doing it. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but like not necessarily a great option anymore, given the fact that we don't totally, there's no warranties backing these vehicles. You have to look just as expensive. You have to really look for a while and get lucky like marketplace. You have to really get lucky. Yeah. And that sucks because you used to just be able to go to Craigslist and you could find something. You didn't have to get lucky. You just had to pick which one. And now SUVs and trucks dominate sales. That's what everybody seems to want. And so that's what all the brands are making is bigger SUVs, more SUVs, bigger trucks, more trucks. That's what the consumers say they want. And I think some of it has to do with social media. I don't think all of it because I think cars, you can see a lot of cars without being on social media. Yeah. But I do just like it's become a status symbol to have a big shiny new car. And you're embarrassed to have a small older sedan. And the car companies know that and that's why they're making bigger, more expensive cars. And they stopped making smaller. So no one for some of us. It is a flex to be out here with our 15 to 20 year old vehicle that is just still going. I love it. And that's the thing too that I think people are starting to become jealous of is that reliability factor? We did an episode this was months ago at this point with Hayden about purchasing vehicles and he lives in that world and has described the decrease of quality in these newer vehicles that there is planned obsolescence happening that is going to force us to need to be buying a new car every four years. My friends, our vehicles should be lasting us 14 years. That is how long we should be having vehicles. No, it's not your fault if your vehicle is just like breaking down because it wasn't made well. But that's one of the reasons that our play now is whatever car you're in. Take good care of that puppy because 2006 cars did not have the same amount of tech built into them as these newer cars in the mid 2020s have. And there are so many more complaints about that tech, that tech breaking down that tech needing updates. And who knows what that's going to how that's going to impact, you know, the what we're able to do in our vehicles if they are constantly able to give us like a software update, I don't even want to think about it. No, keep your car, change the oil or rotate the tires, do the things on a regular basis because she she's your beauty. Yeah, take a care of her. It was crazy to me in that episode hearing that cars like in 2006, they had components that were made of metal. And then the new cars in 2025 were making the same components with plastic. And knowing that they used to make cars that would last 14, 15 years, but consumers, we have been conditioned. And I'm not going to say that it's all our fault, all our fault, but we have been conditioned to want what we want and get it when we want it. And so we want a new car every four years. So then brands do not have the incentive to make a car that lasts for 14 years because they it's better for them if we buy cars every four years. And so they make a car that will last eight years. And they will sell the new car and they'll resell it once. And then it'll be done and it will just have a shorter cycle on each car. And that's better for the car manufacturer worse for us. And there's a part of us that's doing it to ourselves and them that's do it. It's like we're both at fault. And I think if we would just keep our cars longer. Let us know it in the comments section. How long have you had? How old your car? Let's find a winner. And in 30 days, I'm going to write off the cuff. So this comes out the 13th of February on the 13th of March. Whoever has had their car for the longest and can provide a picture. I don't know if you can provide pictures in comments. I don't think you can. But maybe we'll just have to like, I don't know. I'll send a tote bag. Our fruit will not cheap tote bag. You can put in that vehicle. You'll have to send me. You'll have to email me a picture if you get picked to win to prove to get put it in our story on Instagram. Yeah, we'll put in our story on Instagram. We won't put your license plate. But let us know in the comment. And we'll send a tote bag to whoever has had their car the longest. Cause let's honor and celebrate. Let us not drive down the street. Look at the old banged up car next to us. And no, that millionaire. And think that person is like not doing well in life. And I'm doing better in life because I have a newer, shinier, bigger car. That is a fallacy. We need to stop that line of thinking. And we need to look at people with older, smaller cars and be like, good for them. They're doing better car wise than I am. You know, like regardless of what life looks like for them, car wise, like there is wisdom there. Or even better, I look at people on ebikes and be like, they're crushing it. They're ebiking to work. And I'm here in this gas guzzlin minivan. Pull stop. Yeah, I mean, there is a, there is something to consider as far as where you live, accessibility, walkability, bike ability to be made. I know that that's a little bit more of a drastic step than just like keeping your car or making the best wisest car purchasing decision. But that is on the table for us. For example, Eric and I only have one vehicle granted. We both work remotely. We don't have kids. So that option is more readily accessible for us. But if that's you too, I mean, we can think outside the box and what our choices are from there, you know, we, we do have public transportation accessible to us. That has been something that, you know, we've done in the last year, we've got then little scooters that we can like meet me around. And that's fun. Yeah. Yeah, there are other things that we can choose rather than just forking over tens of thousands of dollars every four years. Yeah. We don't have to do it. We can opt out. We have decided to only do one car loan at a time. So we have two cars, but one is paid off and one has a car loan and we can replace the paid off car until the car with the loan is fully paid off. Yeah. So that's kind of like our, we won't have two car pay-papers. That's true. For sure. Yeah. So yeah, the deal has quietly changed. It's been like you could go across decades. And I mean, all the way back to like the 20s and 30s and 40s when I was when when we were talking about Edward Bernays and that guy Elmo, you know, their prop prop, propaganda and planned off the lessons like created in in the 20s and 30s. Like there are things leading up to how we got here, right? There are things that have led up to how we got to 2006, which less to 2008, right? So like, we can't sit here and look back on the quote-unquote good old days. Yeah. Because all the good old days had bad old days there too. Yeah. And right now we're sitting in some bad old days, but in 20 years, there are definitely going to be some things right now that we will consider good. And it's just a matter of of really being intentional with your purchases today and trying to shed some of the normalized ways of thinking that have become like common and normalized because of the run-up since the 20s and 30s of propaganda and planned off the lessons. So asking yourself questions when you spend money, like, how long will this last? And am I okay with that? It doesn't have to, you know, just because my car won't last 20 years, like, it's not enough to just be mad and then waste $50,000 on a car. It's like, okay, I know this car will only last eight to 10 years, you know? Like, what can I buy that I can be okay with the reality? Yeah, doing the math. What is the annual cost of this if I plan to own it for seven years? Am I okay with that? Right. How often will I use? We'll get the use out of it that it's warranted. Which we actually have a cost per use calculator within our budgeting spreadsheet. We'll link to that in the show notes as well. And it will help us to know if this costs this amount of money, let's say a piece of clothing, and I think I'll wear it, you know, this amount of times, what's that cost per use? And is that worth it? Sometimes changing around the math, the way that we take in numbers can help us to make an informed decision. Like, if I'm only actually going to probably wear this dress two times, is it worth $50 per wear? No, no, that's where it gets us, right? You either have the dress that's $50 per wear or like a dollar per wear. Like, there's no thing in between. Yeah. And that doesn't mean you can't buy a $100 dress. It just means buy one that's going to be a little bit more versatile. Exactly. It can change how you purchase, not that you don't purchase at all. So yeah. And then how much friction does it remove for how long? What do I lose by choosing this option? Because there's always a trade-off, right? We always lose something when you spend your money in one place, you can't spend it in another. And so like just thinking through these things, these are negative things. Necessarily, they're just reality. And we do have to think through them. It'll really help us to interrupt our impulse spending if we can remind ourselves we asking these questions. Even write them down, keep them in your purse, post them up on your dashboard, keep it on your computer wherever you just like are when you're spending the most money. These are good questions to be asking yourself. Do you know what else is good to be just doing regularly? Yeah. And you do, I believe, truly get what you pay for now and even back eight years ago when we started the show. The bill of the week. 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 clean. This is the bill of the week. Hi, I have a bill the week related to your podcast today on how to save money at Disney. And my bill the week is actually from April, 2024. I belong to a professional organization for my area work. They had a conference in Orlando of April, 2024. And I was able to attend that conference. I was able to go early. I was able to spend one whole day in each Disney park, which was amazing. I've never been before and it was my first time going alone as adult and I got to do all the rides, all the things and I had a fabulous time. I also did not spend that much money on food in the park because it was just too hot. However, I would have education funds through my job and I also had donations from some of my co-workers who were incredibly generous. My total bill for the week, for the conference for Disney, for the hotel was about a little over $5,000. I didn't have to pay any of it. I was told this to knit all of my receipt and I was fully refunded. So that's my tip on how to do Disney on a budget. Thanks, take care. Oh, wow, that is amazing. Who did she submit it to? Her work, yeah, because of work conference. They did not have to pay for sports. But that's amazing. I actually have another Disney tip now that I didn't have when we recorded that episode. I am going to Disneyland in a week and a half. So out in California. Yeah, in California. So I'm not a resident. Normally, I would just do Florida resident discounts for Disney World. Drive over there, bring my own food, but I'm doing a half marathon. And so going out there for just a couple days by myself, Costco, I got a two-day park hopper with Express Pass from Costco saved me about a couple hundred bucks. And I was just going to do basic no Express Pass one par today. And I think I ended up paying maybe $50 extra for the whole Shebang. So so worth it. Costco, if you're a member of Costco, check for their friend, whose member of Costco. Yeah. You want to reimburse? Yeah. And I was like so worried, it would be sketchy and like not work. But I've already attached it to my phone, made my reservations for the parks. And I'm using points for the hotel, points for the flight. And I did have to pay for the race. Yeah. But yeah, which they're not cheap or that I love this. This is just celebratory. Well done on getting your solo vacation. Way to go. Ladies going to Disney by doesn't it's also as an adult alone. If you have a bill that you want to submit, if it has to do with getting reimbursed for a very fun travel experience, or your name is bill and you want to tell us literally anything about your life for go friends podcast.com slash bill. We can't wait to hear whatever you've got for us. We cannot stand bank fees overdraft fees monthly fees minimum balance fees. It's like getting punished for using your own money. That's why chime is such a game changer. It's fee free, smarter banking built for you. The new chime card lets you build credit with your own money and earn rewards while doing it. No strings attached with qualifying direct deposits. You get one and a half percent cash back on eligible purchases. This is the card my younger self would have needed and loved. It's banking upgraded. Chime is not just smarter banking. It's the most rewarding way to bank join the millions who are already banking fee free today. It just takes a few minutes to sign up head to chime.com slash frugal. That's chime.com slash frugal. Chime is a financial technology company not a bank banking services a secured chime visa credit card and my pay line of credit provided by the bank or bank NA or stride bank NA my pay eligibility requirements apply and credit limit ranges $20 to $500 optional services and products may have fees or charges. See chime.com slash fees info advertised annual percentage yield with chime plus status only otherwise 1.00% apy applies no mean balance required chime card on time payment history may have a positive impact on your credit score results may vary. See chime.com for details and applicable terms. The start of the year always has me thinking about our goals especially maxing out our raw our a's building savings and planning for the long term stuff but goals are just wishes if you don't have the right systems to support them. That's why I use monarch. It's the budgeting app I use to actually implement those plans not just track what already happened set yourself up for financial success this year with monarch the all in one personal finance tool designed to make your life easier. It brings your entire financial life budgeting accounts and investments net worth and future planning together in one dashboard on your phone or laptop so you can feel aware and in control of your finances this year and get 50% off your monarch subscription with code frugal. What I love is that monarch helps you move from tracking to actually achieving. I can see exactly where our money is going project our savings and map out what it takes to hit those milestones. It's helped us feel way more confident and intentional with our money set yourself up for financial success in 2026 with monarch the all in one tool that makes proactive money management simple all year long use code frugal at monarch dot com for half off your first year that's 50% off your first year at monarch dot com with code frugal. And now it's time for the lighting. All right in honor of valentine's day tomorrow what do you love now that did not exist in 2006? Oh I like this question but I don't I've got a noodle on it. I know do you have an answer? I want to give my cop out answer first. Okay while we think of real answer. Okay for me is my children. Oh yeah yeah they did not exist in 2006. Frugal friends did not exist in 2006. Yeah yeah I know I was going to say like my marriage didn't exist yet but Eric did. Yeah he was alive and well. Yeah semi well. He hadn't let me yet so that's the real one. It wasn't that well. It wasn't the best dick of being out. He hadn't peaked yet. So funny I would always ask my parents where was I before I was born as a child I could not wrap my mind around not not not exist not being here like you just weren't here yet. It was a question that I literally asked them on the regular I think I annoyed them they probably eventually just like said an answer. Oh my gosh but I was like I had to have been somewhere like there's no way that like all of this just wasn't that all in the atmosphere somewhere. Oh my gosh. Yeah what else didn't exist. Oh my gosh okay I had an answer and it's when she know they started in 2006. Okay what is it? Kava the restaurant the quick service restaurant with the Greek food. Yeah I love that place. That is. But it was here in 2006. Wow you just didn't you just didn't know about it. I didn't know and that's you know we're gonna have to find more things. Yeah I don't know maybe maybe better cameras. Honestly. Like here's the thing Eric and I got married okay six years after we got married in 2012. So this is our bad cameras did exist however I guess not not enough for us that we have zero photos of like our early dating life our early marriage. It just we didn't have smartphones. Yeah I think they existed we just didn't have them. 2007 was the first iPhone. Was it really? Yeah yeah so we just didn't take pictures like I get it that there's pros and cons of that I'm not talking social media. I'm just talking the ability to kind of document but not to an extreme like now we're trying to just like when we're out with friends we we snap one photo just to remember. That's so sweet you know like what otherwise my memory this is it isn't it's other problems. Don't remember. I'm bad I'm bad at taking photos and so I love that. Yeah. That idea. Well thanks so much for being here and another thing that didn't exist in 2006 that exists now is our book by what you love without going broke that many of you have read and I've left wonderful reviews for like this one from Allison who said when the student is ready the teacher will appear five stars. Jen and Jill you are my wives and hilarious pair of social guardian angels in your podcast slash book helped me change my life. Oh my gosh. I started listening to Fruple Friends podcast on January 1st 2025 while putting away Christmas decorations probably thinking I had overspent during the holidays and could use some frugality in my life. I had been in a never ending cycle of consumer debt for 17 years. I'm not sure what changed in my brain by listening to your bills of the week and lightning rounds but I decided I couldn't keep saying one day any longer so I did the math and I hate the math to see that I had 41 weeks until my balance transfer deal expired. I began simply by following a schedule to pay off debt every week. I couldn't believe it was working and how exciting it was to see the debt total dwindle. Buying the charming how how to buy what you buy by what you love without going broke book has given you to were helping was it given as you too I can read oh my gosh helping me during my debt free helping helping my debt free dream come true. I paid off for $10,000 of debt in fort 41 weeks. I can't make it through this. As of October 7th 2025 I am debt free. But most importantly I'll never ever be in debt again because I've learned to budget, pause before buying and realize how feelings of insecurity affected my spending. Thank you for being the teachers who appeared when this student was ready. Wow, I'll finish. We did it. Just like the book we did it together. Yes, for my lack. Just stepped in and if you want to see that real time get the book by what you love book.com. And thank you so much if you read the book we would love to read your review on the show but you got to leave it we pull them from Amazon. So go over there, leave a review, comment on this video with how old your car is and do you want that tote bag. And what you love today that wasn't here in 2006. Yeah, yeah. Oh beautiful. See you next time. Bye. Forgo Friends is produced by Eric Seriani. Reading. You had it. You were just getting into the wheels. You got your feet. I know. I was I was too much in my head about what a great review it was. I will be honest the last review we read on episode 588. I read it while I was doing the outline. I read it before we just read it today. Yeah. And I started crying to be part of somebody's journey. To I mean and even with with Allison to be part of somebody's journey in literally changing the trajectory of their life in a way that is so meaningful because everything we do is for the stuff that isn't monetary. We do money well so that we can live a fuller life without worrying about money and to be part of somebody realizing that feels even more gratifying than helping somebody win with money. No kidding. I yeah I often forget that this is some of the impact that's happening. I love just hanging out with you and talking about the things that light us up. But then it is really helping people and when we read reviews and messages and comments like that man it really it really can get me. Yeah it is a bummer that we can't see all. 15,000 plus of you that are listening to each episode because then you can miss that there are that many. I would feel overwhelmed though. We were actually a stadium and we saw how many people were listening to and that's so that would I think it would be a different vibe. I think maybe we would speak differently. It's probably safer that we can't see the thousands of people because then we just feel like we're talking to this Osmo camera and nobody's on the other side. So it is a cute camera. A little Aussie. All right before he dies let's turn him off. Let's go eat lunch.