People Share What They're Doing to Save Money in This Economy

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And it is one thing for us to sit here and tell you how to save money, give tips from doing this for 10 plus years or for other experts to make videos on how to save money. But we wanted to share people who are not YouTubers, who are not influencers, who are not experts, what normal people are doing to save money in this economy. So this episode is all about we found some real people on the internet telling you what they're doing. And they're actually pretty good. Not a lot of it is being talked about by even personal finance influencers. But first, I am doing some decluttering at home. And we actually have Fugal Friends merch that we do not sell. We only give it away for free. And I would like to get rid of some of it. So if you're a coffee drinker, like me or a tea or other hot beverage drinker, like Jill, you could be doing so in a beautiful Fugal Friends mug for free. Fugal AF. And AF can stand for whatever you want it to be. Fugal and fun. Fugal and fun. Fugal and folk music lover. Whatever you feel. Fugal and Fugal and feeling. Yeah, you're in touch with your motions. So this is how you win one of these mugs. We're doing, I'm going to do a giveaway once a month through May. So we're going to have a March, an April and a May giveaway. If you register once, you're in it for all three giveaways. So our first drawing is on March 13th. And you can register at FugalFriendsPodcast.com slash mug. And we're giving away five mugs for each one, three times 15 mugs. And you register today, you're in all three. So it increases your likelihood. The earlier you come to your house, we might send you one of these. This is unfortunately for U.S. subscribers only. You do have to also be subscribed to the YouTube channel. So when you register, you're going to put in your little YouTube username. Don't know what it is. Comment on this video and then it will pop up. And that's how we'll get a gauge who is subscribed. So you're going to add your little YouTube username and your email to register for that. And you could be sipping from a mug. Yeah. Not this one. Don't worry. I won't give you my lipstick stained one, but it'll look exactly like this. All right. Let's get into some money saving tips from people you can trust. I.e. people who are not trying to sell you anything, people who are not trying to grow a following, people who are just sharing what's worked for them. My free U page is full of people trying to save money. And as much as I want to save money, I also don't want to give up hardly anything at all. But today I made a little progress and I'm so proud of myself. And I just wanted to share with you guys. I was feeling a little worn out and exhausted this week because we just got back from vacation. And it just felt like a really long week at work. So I texted my husband and I was like, where are you taking me for dinner tonight? And he was like, tacos, question mark. And I was like, yes, perfect. And then I sat there and I was thinking about it for a little while. And when I got off work, I called him and said, how would you feel if I just went to the grocery store and bought stuff to make tacos at home? And he was like, that sounds perfect. That's great. It'll save us a lot of money. So yeah, January 2026, saving money over here. Yes. I just got back from a vacation to Orlando. So spent way too much money then. But today is a new day and we are saving money. Woo! Yeah. I wanted to start with this one to emphasize that small actions matter. That we so often, no matter how many times we sit here and tell you small actions matter, still in my mind, I feel like if I can't do it 100%, if I can't turn over a new leaf and keep the leaf turned, that it's not worth it. That I'll just wait to save money or wait to do these little actions when I'm ready to actually turn that leaf over for good. Yeah. But building these habits of cooking at home and reducing that barrier to entry to cooking at home can make such a big difference long term. I mean, certainly month to month, but as we build that habit, it becomes more of a habit and not just a, okay, now I'm so used to buying takeout. I kind of appreciate especially in this example, the coming back from vacation or having a super long week at work or with the kids or you name it, that when things just feel really stressful, a lot of times cooking, eating at home is the last thing we want to do, which is why we've done so many episodes on food because we know what it's like to be tired. We know what it's like to be stressed and yet still set ourselves up for some of that success. And one of the things that I will mention as it relates to coming back from a trip because yeah, you haven't grocery shopped and there's usually a lot of stuff that needs to go into getting yourself back into a routine. Those are the exact moments that I have found meal delivery kits to be perfect. Like I don't do them regularly, but it is something I will do to help ease myself back into life where I'll schedule that delivery kit, maybe the day the day I get back from vacation, the day after. And yeah, it's going to be a little bit more money than I would have spent up the grocery store, but far less than getting takeout every single night because life just feels overwhelming and I wish I was still on vacation. So yeah, it is that good buffer. Like it's not a good thing to make a habit out of, but it is a good buffer between if I'm just getting home and I don't have any food like that I want to eat in the fridge, what is going to force me to eat at home. And it's not grocery shopping, meal planning, and cooking, it's like having ingredients prepped and at my door. Another thing that I will do if I don't think about that in a head of time is just like a bag salad kit, um, bag salad kit, and then I always have chicken nuggets in the freezer. And and that's a really good opportunity. Yes, having emergency meals, which we do have a list of 15 emergency meals. Those are things we're using ingredients that you most likely do already have on hand if you want to get that, um, for free. Fruiglefriendspodcast.com slash meals. Yes. And you can get that whole list for free and be inspired to know what you can do instead of eating out because we've all been there and we will all continue to be there. There is no there is no magic elixir on the other side of the leaf that makes this all easier, right? It's always going to continue to be easier in some seasons and harder in other. And I don't even want to say seasons easier some days harder than other days. And the real power comes in the choice on those hard days to do the to do the thing that you want to do whatever that is. Next tip is a triple play. I think it's a double or triple. I think it's a double. Let's go. I sat down and I actually like compiled everything on dualists because I want to make sure that I hit everything and that it's actually helpful to you. I don't want you to watch this like super long video and have it not be concise. So the number one thing that you need to be doing right now immediately no matter if you can pay one dollar towards your debt or $20 right the second is gamify paying down your debt. This is the number one thing that changed my whole mindset and has allowed me to begin paying down debt and not also adding to my debt at the same time. Quick disclaimer, I'm not a financial planner. I'm not like a CPA or something. I've just this what I've been doing. It's the first time in my life I've actually been able to save money. So number one, gamify paying down your debt. You're going to be paying something towards your debt, paying it down every single day that you go to a job and work. I don't care how much it is. It could be a dollar. It could be $0.50. It could be $100. Whatever you can, whatever you can comfortably do, you're going to be doing that every day as a bare baseline minimum. The next thing you're going to do is we're manned side cooking. I don't care if you've never cooked before in your life. I don't care if you burn eggs. Go on Pinterest right now. I don't care if you have a Pinterest or not. I don't care what your gender is or if you think Pinterest is silly. But what I do every single day if I'm at work or not wanting to go home and cook after or wake up in the morning and I'm not motivated to cook is open up Pinterest and you will find some sort of food that looks good on there. In the beginning, it's really important that if you aren't very good at cooking, that you try and find really simple meal type ingredients. I recommend starting with breakfast food because I felt that that was the easiest as a person who was horrible at cooking my whole life. I've had so many people say that they can't cook without a recipe and it's just not true babes. It's just not. The other thing that you need to do if you're going to be romanticizing cooking is washing your dishes more. You need to make sure that you have no dirty dishes in your sink and that your dishwasher is clean at all times as much as you possibly can every day. How many times are you excited to go home and cook and then you realize that you have a bunch of dirty dishes and nothing to cook with and then you just don't cook. So make sure your dishes are clean. If you have roommates or a partner, maybe one of you could cook and the other could do the dishes or whatnot, but it's important to do the dishes before you cook and not after. All right. Let's start with the first one, Gamify, paying down debt. I do love that idea is that when you work and you come home, put a portion of that work towards your future, towards your debt. I think that's a really good way to stay engaged with it. And the reason it's a money saving tactic is because the earlier you pay things off the more money you save an interest. So there's nothing that will save you more money on your debt or saving for retirement or what have you, what anything that has to do with interest, there is nothing that saves you more money than putting money in early time. We'll cost you the most and time will save you the most. So again, the small actions consistently, consistently staying engaged. That's the hardest thing. So I loved that advice. We're most likely to stay engaged with something if it's fun or there are motivators or things to look forward to as much as we can incorporate those sorts of things, whatever works for us, the more likely we are to stick with it and actually see progress. I know for me, it was really helpful. Part of my gamifying debt payoff was having a fun visual to coincide with money being paid off. And so I made a chain, a paper chain, you know, we all did this in elementary school. Tap into your elementary school side. We need it. We all have a creative side and sometimes we're not showing it. Yeah. And then you can put action to some of these goals, create a visual. So my paper chain, because I had a lot of debt hanging all around the perimeter of our living room. Like I were like tacked it up to the ceiling. But every time I put money towards it, I got to rip off a chain. And I had that visual of seeing the chain shrink. I got to look forward to doing something like not just have a number and a bank account, but something I could put my hands to. And it was just enjoyable. And it led to conversation, right? When people come over, like, what's with the chain? And they was able to talk to people about it, which kept me more engaged. So yeah, that's super important. Okay. She also talked about food, though. And I really connect with this one. Romanticizing time in the kitchen. Yeah. Because most of us, like, that is the barrier. We just, it feels labor some. We're tired at the end of the day. We don't want to be on our feet. We don't want to be standing. And we were talking with somebody in our debt freedom challenge that we're doing, that freedom fast track. And they said that their biggest barrier to cooking is the dishes. And I believe that this person lived alone. They didn't have the hack of a roommate or a partner being able to do the dishes, which is a bummer. But that's a, that's a biggie is. And I don't really have a hack for that other than trying to keep on top of it as much as possible. Okay. Paper using as little. I know you hate me right now. I know you hate that. But in my, in my stressful seasons, I'm getting paper plates. I'm getting plastic utensils. And it does keep down. If that's your biggest barrier and parchment paper on the baking sheet, I mean, sometimes you just got to do what you got to do. And maybe you don't have to do it, but it does make your life easier. You're not doing it forever. Do it. It's fine. It's okay not to be perfectly sustainable all the time. You're actually probably being more sustainable by cooking at home and like throwing away a paper plate than you are by eating out. Like, we can, we can, we can, we can work on and think it. Yeah. One thing at a time is fine. We don't have to do it all all at once. So if we can eliminate a barrier, fantastic. But then from there, the romanticizing piece, what's going to make it seem fun to be in the kitchen, whether that's putting on some fun music or sipping an enjoyable bevy while you're cooking or even watching a show, like in a stowage and a show that you don't have to really be paying attention to, like, like don't watch the bear while you're cooking or maybe, I don't know, maybe it'd be inspiring. But something that you're familiar with, you can kind of just have on in the background, but makes you look forward to doing it. That's really going to help. Yeah. I, and I love how she's like, people say they can't cook without a recipe. And it's just not true. You do, you're not going to be able to cook everything without a recipe. That's not our goal. But the goal is to get this collection of five to ten recipes that you can do without a recipe. And you just start with one, you start with one that you make maybe every other week. And you start to get familiar with it. It's something that your family will all eat that you enjoy that seems more appealing than take out. And you start small. And you start to learn what you really enjoy eating, what you really hate cooking. And so you can learn those things about yourself. The goal is not to become a Pinterest or Instagram worthy cooking influencer. And that's what all those people with. So if there, if our goal is not that, then we cannot recreate all the recipes that these people do. 80% of our meals are going to be super simple, like three component meals. 20% are going to be those, those Pinterest and Instagram and TikTok beautiful recipes that we see on social media. These days, I'm all about quality over quantity, especially in my closet. If it's not well made in versatile, it's not worth it. That's why I love quince. They make high quality wardrobe staples using premium fabrics like 100% European linen, 100% silk, and organic cotton poplin. 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Make sure you use our URL so they know we sent you terms and limitations apply subject to approval and eligibility. Built cards are issued by column and a member FDIC pursuant to license for master card international incorporated. All right next tip. Things I'm doing in 2025 that helped me save money. But I will also be doing in 2026 coming from a 25 year old girl who works a regular nine or five job who is married and is trying to buy a house hopefully next few years. All right first on the list. I'm following a bunch of celebrities and influencers who push on consumerism. I personally do not follow a bunch of celebrities in general because I do not feel the need to keep up with their lives. Just me personally now this year I have unfollowed a bunch of influencers who really push on consumerism meaning doing crazy halls every other day having just unrealistic lifestyles in general happy for them but I personally just do not need to see that on my social media and by just not consuming that content in general it has helped me save a lot of money. Next on the list is sharing a car with my husband. This one it really depends on your situation but we moved to the city about a year ago for us it just makes sense to downsize to one car again doing the temporary sacrifice to save money. I have to say it's been really nice to not pay a lot of money for gas and also for parking in general. Next on my list is one upkey beauty appointment only so I stopped getting my nails done about six months ago now and I just wanted to pick one thing that I can actually keep up with and for me that would be my hair I get my hair done about two to three times a year which is not bad I feel like once you start doing this you would be surprised at the amount of money that you can actually save. Great great that was the three-banger right there. The unfollowing influencers that are not helpful for our own perspective and outlook is such a game changer of course it depends on how much time you are scrolling the internet but for most of us it's it's at least 20 minutes a day that's solid kind of marinating consumption and so if we can curate our algorithm to actually be helpful content maybe it's maybe it is some food influencers who are making cooking look approachable for you they're doing minimal ingredients they're making meals in less than 20 to 30 minutes they exist you can follow them yeah you're maybe you're following some financial influencers helping you on your journey towards debt payoff maybe it's the frugal friends I don't know but we're certainly not going to be telling you to buy a bunch of stuff all the time so that's helpful I think really narrowing down the people you follow so that your algorithm your feed has an end how often do you see the end of your social media feed and if you cannot tell me when you see that little message because it does exist when you've seen all the recent posts it's like that's the end of your feed yes and so and you'll see ones you know from from far back but I think if you can really curate get your following list down to and of course you're gonna it's you're gonna see suggested too but you can turn that off for you know I think 30 days at a time so really getting that down and just spending less time on social media just getting off take it off your phone for a month go take it off your phone for a month and see what you do instead see what happens yeah and and I think you don't have to be anti social media we are not anti social media but you can do these tests to challenge yourself to be more present like right now I don't have any social media on my phone except TikTok which is for work in finding these videos but like TikTok doesn't tempt me I don't get on there and scroll what I'm bored so for me I can leave that so test what challenges you and test what's hard for you to see what you will do differently if you don't have those kind of mindless go-tos at your disposal Eric and I are a one car family as well as she mentioned not everyone can do it but there might be more people who could who haven't really even thought of it or given themselves the opportunity to think outside the box on could we make this work with more and more people working from home the need to have two vehicles per household I think is definitely decreasing yeah there are certainly times that it's inconvenient but we also have two scooters and we live in like a downtown area so a lot of times if one person's going really far like over the bridge the other person could take the scooter if they need to go someplace or we have public transportation that that Eric has done on multiple occasions so consider it it will significantly save you money public transportation man like if you're not taking advantage of it you really should try it just see how your city's public transportation is because you're probably assuming it's worse than it actually is 90% of the time Eric was shocked to learn that the bus from where we used to live our house to our office it made like one stop so it was about the same amount of time as if we were to drive and you know a lot of times you don't want to do it because oh there's so many stops in between it goes a weird route the bus came every 15 minutes and was like a 10 minute ride yeah it was crazy whatever I travel I try to use public transportation as much as possible yeah and it's so affordable like as compared to like an Uber or a lift so please try it I mean so we my husband and I have two cars because we have kids we're doing drop-offs he works you know clear water I work from home most of the time and so yeah two cars but what we have decided a compromise is that we will only have one car payment at a time we used to have zero car payments and then we bought a house to renovate and we didn't want to take out a loan to renovate because that's higher interest so we got the van we financed it and then the truck is paid off and we are keeping the truck until the van is paid off because we'll only have one car payment at a time so that is an alternative if you do find yourself in a place where you do need two cars speaking of one payment at a time love her tip for one beauty treatment at a time this is taking me back to our conversation with Katie Gotti Tassen about the hot girl hamster wheel and how for a lot of us this is such a slow bleed or maybe a quick bleed of our finances depending on what all it is we think we have to be doing again heavily influenced by social media making us think that we all have to look like we're still 17 years old oh well I think it's worse for for girls in their 20s like because you have more time to worry about how you look and it is honestly like more energy you spend more energy into that it's more important yeah and so like in the time of your life where you're like supposedly at peak beauty we're doing so many more beauty treatments it's wild yeah so really again like and it's it's not just social media it's really cultural like where you live like what your friends are doing right like here we have much more like relaxed beauty standards I think there's a lot more freedom but you go across the bridge to Tampa yeah and it's shocking it's a lot more heightened and then you drive down to Miami and it's a totally different ballgame right like we're not allowed in because they won't cross the border in the moment of sitting no so it is cultural too so you kind of have to like fight back against like the cultural norms around you and that doesn't mean don't do anything that doesn't make you can't feel good about ourselves but I love her challenge of what is most important and can we learn to do the other things ourselves one of my friends has the most beautifully done nails that I mean they I'd be it'd be in the top of my friends and she does them herself not saying we all have that skill but she learned how to do it sometimes she'll get like the stickers from marshals or something and learn how to do them and I can't tell the difference granted I'm not like a funno sword but yeah look at our nails we're a fun natural I got that natural friendship yeah but that could be a fun thing to do and there's plenty of YouTube tutorials to teach us how to do our own nails you know figure out figure out some of the ways to to do makeup that maybe we've not tried before if that is your thing yeah it could be a skill that you build yeah we you want to feel good about yourself right so that doesn't mean like just wearing trash clothes and and no makeup no face care whatever no you know letting your hair grow to the floor right we're not saying that you have to do that but choose your thing what is your thing Joe well technically I guess I'd have two things because I do get my hair cut but about twice a year but waxing that is what I've chosen that is your thing yes I will do hair twice a year and I go to a really nice hair stylist that like specializing in curly hair and I love my hair every time I leave but I'll also do a pedicure like three times a year that is my other like you know I could paint my own toenails but I like the pedicure yeah I can't seem to get my cuticles the same way that they do yeah I know all the things to do to do it myself with like from a stone I'll do that like in the interim um but right now like my my toenails don't have any polish on them I think yeah even decreasing the amount like you know if you do have two things instead of just one is there a way that you can kind of go a little bit longer in between those treatments yeah yeah and I have thought about like permanent makeup at least for my eyebrows and it's just like not my thing right now maybe in the future when I don't have to pay for daycare or preschool anymore like that'll be something it's not good and people are like oh you'll save money on makeup I was like you don't know the makeup on buying it will not save me money $10 a year right it's not it's never gonna break me even on that um but I have thought about like as a time saver um but yeah it's just like not my thing right now maybe in the future and uh and for now like it's sock season so I don't need to do my right still nails right now believe in care yeah um but yeah I do I like that that idea next tip I'm gonna give you a tip on saving money after you buy something at the store I keep the tie on it and I sit it on top of my garser and I wait and chances are three to four days later they're on like I actually really didn't believe there's still I and I take it back to the store because I want my money back I did not understand the music I love video I don't understand it but I love it it is just it's like it's almost one of those like it really intense like teaching moments like if you don't want it you can return and I'm just sitting there like what if I impulse bought something and I don't want it I can return it yeah yeah it's not like a good plan long term right we want to be decreasing impulse buys but it is possible right but if you regret it and you still have the tags on it that's available to you and this did just happen to me so I am a classic when it comes to um wanting to feel prepared for something I think a lot of people experience this around holidays this just happened to me with a wedding that I was in I was the maid of honor and so I want to do all of the things and and as the event gets closer and closer it can feel like this pressure of have I done enough let's just like do a thousand more things so that it can really feel like yeah I did it again yeah I think this happens like at holidays too like we we have the list and then suddenly it's oh no but did I buy a net kind of the most so I wanted to make this wedding day survival kit 90% of the things in that survival kit I already had so that felt like a big win you know a little sewing kit scissors bobby pins hairspray you just never know what you're going to need but there were a couple of things that the internet recommended to me that I was going to need and I'm like I really probably shouldn't spend this money but here I go so I like bought a tied pen I bought little sticky what do they call that fashion tape for just if we ran into these issues but I didn't open them I just put them all in the in the survival kit we did not use any of the things I purchased we did use we did use the sewing kit we used the seam ripper we use the bobby pins we use the mints we use we use the things I already had on hand but these other things we never broke into and so I I returned them hey man it made the survival kit look great but I can't to keep the items I'm not saying that I'm super proud of that but I do I am saying like my bad those are reasonable things and I got money back and here's the thing the ability to return shop should not be a rationalization for buying it should be a freedom from an unwanted purchase that you already made yeah so think about it that way if you make a mistake you can rectify that mistake through returning most of the time okay now we got a triple tip we got a triple tip these are some of the ways I'm trying to save money in order to hit my goal of saving up my first $100,000 by the end of this year they have been doing to reduce a lot of my impulse spending because I definitely am an impulse vendor is when I have anything I want to purchase that's a bigger purchase so anything over around $150 what I've been doing is I put a two-week weight period on that so I wait two weeks and if I still want the item then I can get it another big thing I've been doing is I as a 21 year old obviously I'm on a point in my life where I want to go out I want to go to the bars I want to drink with my friends but alcohol is such an expensive purchase so what I do is I make most of my drinks at home and we pregame at one of our houses before going out rather than pregaming or getting only drinks at a restaurant which is so much more money as someone whose closet is very packed another big thing that's helped me a lot is when I want to buy a new piece of clothing which happens frequently I need to get rid of something on depot from my closet before buying new piece of clothing this is just something that's really helped me maximize closet space so I'm not overspending and not having too much clothes while also kind of making a little bit of a trade so if I really want something I need to get rid of something and then make the money to then put towards that purchase I love these tips 21 out here just crushing it yeah and so I think this is a good one for like our young listeners and I mean honestly everyone alike it's so a two week weight period is ideal like I feel like it's a minimum some people will start with 24 hours but I think two weeks is a good amount of time to put something in your cart and weight I think 30 days is ideal but two weeks great place to start yeah absolutely and I also think so she's talking about the alcohol piece of if if you are going to consume alcohol it has gotten so expensive to buy alcohol out however and this is wild I've not dug into this but alcohol that you just purchased from the liquor store has not gone up for some reason it seems immune to inflation like it's a shrink-flating yeah the bottle of tequila is the same amount today as it was six years ago I don't know explain that however you go out to a restaurant and a margarita that you took off is you eight dollars six years ago is now somehow six is ten dollars why explain that to me because alcohol has not increased in price but the people making the drinks here we go you put this here we are this gifts are a little like low-s marry leaf in there and now it's eighteen dollars I don't know yeah listen we are so old but she's so right it is better if you're younger if you're in your 30s just stop drinking mostly we're just gonna be yep the best route I love that she is pre-gaming at home smart smart girl and also the rest of us just quit alcohol don't quit we don't need to quit out of the hot don't listen to her we don't need to quit sometimes we need it all right that's for another episode um and this probably my the last one is my favorite tip sell on D-pop before buying new clothes I think what this also will do is you get into the mindset of buying clothes to be like okay when I'm done with this would this be something I could sell on D-pop so then we're instantly now buying better quality clothes and this is this work second hand too I get a ton of my close second hand and I want to buy better quality so that one day when I am done with it I can either you know sell it on D-pop posh mark ebay facebook marketplace whatever um instead of just sending it to the thrift store which is essentially just sending it to the trash can with a detour yeah this one ups I know I hear a lot of people talk about oh I'm not gonna bring in anything new unless I get rid of something and that's great that's a great decluttering strategy a great maintenance strategy after you've decluttered but when it particularly comes to clothing that can just be a justification I'll just throw something out and get something new but to have that added layer of no I have to sell something in order to bring something else in you're yeah you're just gonna be bringing in far less than two um but you know what I don't want to bring in far less of and it's something that every week we hear from regular people having success with 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 but flow bills bill claim this is the bill of the week hi jen and jill my name is mara from waskonson my bill of the week is buying your um values based budget planner i got it 50% off $14 i was up last night like nerding out filling everything in um and so i'm super happy about that mini little bill and how it'll impact my ability to manage all my other bills thanks guys how fun mara mara from waskonson okay so if you don't know what she's talking about it's our values based like spending planner it's it's our budget spreadsheet you can find it at frugalfriendspodcast.com slash budget but it is our alternative like if you don't want to use a budget app like monarch then we have this really um extensive comprehensive spreadsheet that does a lot of the things monarch does but in a spreadsheet form and you only have to buy it one time whereas monarch is an annual fee um so we encourage you to check out both um let's all i'll make a uh uh little if you listen to this episode you can get 50% off the budget planner with the code mara m-a-r-a-h oh my god i know i think we would do a coupon code mara and it's over we've never done this before like never making a coupon code of a listener's name after sharing a bill of the week are wow i mean that's amazing i just have things on the fly and i don't consult Jill and she let's i love it okay i love just what we're just gonna spill out of you code mara m-a-r-a-h and also check out monarch you can get frugalfriendspodcast.com slash monarch and when you use the code frugal you get 50% off your first year of monarch so uh 50% off either way check them both out and see what works for you if if you have a bill that you want to submit and if it has to do with purchasing one of our resources we would love to hear about it if it has to do with using code mara we would love to know about it let's do a deep cut on this if it has a bill where you think that eventually we're gonna because of it tie your name into some code word to save money hey have at it uh and if your name is bill skies the limit we can't wait to hear it frugalfriendspodcast.com slash bill 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 dot com slash frugal that's chime dot com slash frugal chime is a financial technology company not a bank banking services a secure chime visa credit card and my pay line of credit provided by the bank or bank na or scribe 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 dot com slash fees info advertise annual percentage yield with chime plus status only otherwise 1.00% apy applies no no main balance required chime card on time payment history may have a positive impact on your credit score results may vary see chime dot com for details and applicable terms the start of the year always has me thinking about our goals especially maxing out our Roth IRAs 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 lightning alright what is working for you to save money right now Jill oh oh I should have seen this coming eating at home I it's not sexy it's not new isn't I just is how you save money eating at home making a meal plan um I've been typically making a meal plan on Sundays and writing it out and posting it to the fridge and throughout the week it reduces my decision fatigue like I just know what I'm doing each day I have also been making my meal plan based on the schedule my calendar for that week so if I know that there's an evening where I'm going to be a little bit short on time I've plugged in a dinner that is going to either be a freezer meal or something that I know I can make in 15 minutes and that that keeps me to it I never find myself having a night where it's like I plan to make something that's going to take me 45 minutes and I have to run out the door in 20 minutes that's you know that's not happening so I'm sticking to the plan I'm more likely to stick to it yeah how about you um well I would say yes same um if I had to think of something else I would say I'm not buying any clothes right now because I am trying to love my body without trying to make it better like by masking it with clothes which is something I have done in the past like if I'm feeling insecure about my body I will buy a piece of clothing thinking that that piece of clothing looks good on me and will make me feel better about my body but it never does the real solution is just being happy with myself and not my like these arbitrary standards I've set I'm still always trying to like improve and get better and head in direction of becoming healthier but like satisfaction with my body is not at the end of that journey it is now and it is what propels me on that journey that's really beautiful you have also curated a really nice wardrobe though I'd say you know after having at least your second like that I know was a goal of yours yeah have clothing quality clothing and so part of it from my perspective is also you being like content with the things you have purchased well also practicing contentment in yourself yeah so that's where I am let us know what's working to save money for you right now let us know in the comments so that we can compile an even bigger list of regular normal people saving money and helping other people save money with no ulterior motives and if you want more we have personally ulterior motives we would love for you to get our book by what you love without going broke at by what you love book.com if you've already read it we'd love for you to leave a review on amazon you don't have to have bought it there but it is where most people's read reviews first like this one from Patrick happens to be a five star review it says frugal fun and full of heart by what you love without going broke is a wonderful read for anyone no matter where you are in your financial journey frigality is a key ingredient to successful saving and this book is packed with practical ideas that inspired me and were easy to implement in my own life saving money never gets old for me because frugality keeps evolving and this book helps me grow right along with it it's an easy read and quite the page turner if you enjoy YouTube videos or podcasts the frugal friends have you covered they're everywhere offering simple but impactful advice along with a dose of humor in their Instagram reels. Thank you Patrick that's a beautiful review and yeah we are everywhere and so if you are also in one of these everywhere places that we are and you want to support us in a free way please do that whether you're liking subscribing commenting or trying to get a free mug at frugalfriendspodcast.com slash mug yeah and you'll also be added to our weekly newsletter we are oh so grateful yeah thanks and we'll see you next time bye frugal friends is produced by Eric Suryani okay another way that I have saved money having done nothing I don't this is not even a tip it's just more of a celebration this is my bill of the week oh yeah I got nearly $400 back to my account just a refund that I didn't have to ask for I did nothing to achieve or earn just insurance rates dropped and I'm with progressive not sponsored they refunded me nearly for your dollars they might be the only company so other companies are this is part of a Florida insurance reform that across the board auto insurance and homeowners insurance is decreasing and a lot of these major insurance carriers are decreasing their rates but only progressive I'm not saying that others aren't doing this it's just the only one that I read about doing it is refunding money so I got just I was just scrolling through as I do you know me I look at all my transactions I love it and noticed $393 back in my account and I'm like what this what this for Florida insurance reform and we got almost $400 taken off our bill that's due in a week so it didn't go back to our account but it's being taken off of our next six month bill incredible who would have thought who would have thought 2026 would have decreased some of our biggest bills without having to make a call didn't even actually was going to make a call to progressive today because the bills do in a week and then you brought that up so maybe I still will I don't know well sometimes good things happen you know it's good things happen to good people oh my gosh it's probably happening to bad people too but you know bad day everyone it's a good thing to say yeah