How to Get Your Life and Money Organized (Without Budget Apps)

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None of them are made. It's a lot. It's overwhelming. And we get it. And so we have devised a few systems. One system really. To help with one aspect of that. Here's the thing. If managing your life and money feels like a second job, it is not because you're bad at it. It really, most likely, is because it's all scattered across too many places. And so what we've realized is that we really only need three spreadsheets. It's not a lot. Three is a great number. Not as all your problems. But it will really down a ton on some of that life and money organization anxiety. Yeah. Because I find the biggest sources of anxiety for me in money and life is just having all of these things, writing them down to do lists, bunch of different to do lists, like notes on my phone, scrap pieces of paper. And I don't, the biggest source of anxiety is not knowing if I've gotten everything done. Not knowing if I've gotten the most important things done. And so we are going to show you, we have made three different like spreadsheets for just our own use. And we also sell them to our audience. But we want to show them to you. So you can make your own. And if you don't want to make your own, then we will have links for you to get ours. But we want to ease some of this anxiety and overwhelm as much as we can. As regards money, but like really everything that money touches as well. So we will have a discount code in the description. If you're listening to this, then you can use the link that's in the description on either platform and use episode 587. That is the discount code. Episode 587. Which is this episode. Okay. You really got to remember that. 87 episode. That code will never expire too. So it doesn't matter when you, when you watch or listen to this. So let's get in to de-stressing with our first spreadsheet, a budget. Yeah, we are talking about budgeting, right? Because we're, you know what, we're the verbal friends and we love to talk about money. And this is really important. We also like to call it a spending plan. So if you want to call it a spending planner, that's great for us too. But we really do need to have an understandable plan for our money. And here's the thing. It doesn't need to be complicated. It can be really simple. And it doesn't need to be about deprivation. It just needs to be about knowing what's coming in and what's going out. That's the basics of it. Because otherwise, things are going to feel all over the place. We're going to feel like we can't keep control of anything. We don't actually know how much we could spend on some things. We just feel guilty about spending anything. We need to reduce all that. That's the big issue I have. When I don't have money allocated somewhere, then I spend money on something and I feel anxiety or guilt about it. Because I don't know, even if I do have the money for it, I'm not 100% sure I have the money for it. So there's always, it's not like high anxiety. It's just this lingering low level of like, okay, I don't know if I can do this. But I am going to do it regardless. And you can do that even when you have a budget. But then you have the confidence. You're like, I no longer have the money for this. But I can pull from another category. And so there's like a confidence. And there's a plan that goes into it. So it doesn't matter how you budget. If you like budgeting apps, you can use that. I use Monarch and we'll leave a code in the description for 50% off your first year if you want to try that. But if you're not an app girl like me, maybe you're a spreadsheet girl like Jill. Hey, oh, I love it. I feel like I get to tailor the spreadsheet to what I need. It feels really simple to me. I'm not getting a ton of notifications about it, right? Like I don't love spending time on my phone. And so this is another way where I don't have to do that. I could utilize the spreadsheet. And our budget spreadsheet is mobile optimized. So I could use it on my phone. But I can also use it on the desktop. But here's the basics of what you need in a budget that I think spreadsheets are really good at helping you keep it simple. For categories, you need to, well, in that, I mean, yes, you need income. You need to know what your income is. Honestly, that's not even like a whole column. That's just like one line item. Yeah. But as far as then, the categories that you have discretionary expenses, so those are the things that month to month, you're making different decisions on. You've got recurring expenses. So those are your regular bills, your kind of fixed expenses, as well as debt savings investing. And some of that can fall under like the same type of category. So again, really simple. And you get to decide what are the subcategories? For me, when it comes to discretionary expenses, it is miscellaneous, food, and gas. That's it. I don't make it complicated. I am not parsing out what is hygiene products, what's paper products, what's cleaning products. That is all it's miscellaneous. I always tell the story. I was behind a lady in the grocery store once. Who paid in two separate transactions, her grocery separate from her home items, because she wanted the transaction separated for her budget. Okay, here's the thing. I do kind of understand that. Here's what I do. This is the, I know you're, I know you're calling her out. And here I am. I will not make separate transactions, but I will have it go through the conveyor belts. Like I'll first do my groceries, then I'll do my home items so that when I look at the receipt, I can like parse that out. You don't have to be this nutty. This is how nutty I am. But a good portion of my grocery bill is actually miscellaneous. So I like to know like what am I spending? So that is something that I will do. Yeah, so you can be on any extreme that you want. Honestly, keep it simple. Yeah. First, if you're getting back into budgeting or you're just starting budgeting, keep it so simple. Like this is where the 50, 30, 20 budget comes in and is really useful. Needs, wants, and what is it needs, wants, how and bills, you know, you know what I'm saying. So like, it can be as simple as that. So needs, wants, must have needs. I'm sorry, I'm still stuck on it. I think savings investing, like that is the third category. And to me, that's like a need. And so it just confuses me. Yeah. So that is what you need in a budget. So our budget will show you a little walkthrough of it on the screen. But we love ours. We just recently redesigned it with like a colmar color so it could be like a more calming experience. So it has the spending plan, which has the discretionary, the recurring, the debt payment. And you can even go through and name your own categories. And then that will show up with a little graph at the top that kind of gives you a breakdown. And that's just for funsies if you want to, because we love a graph. But it's mobile optimized. So the first and only column you'll see on your phone is that discretionary expenses column. So it's really easy to add transactions. And then you can copy that budget every single month. So your budget's kind of like pre-planned. And then you can just delete the things you want. And then at the end of every month you can come to the annual dashboard. And you can keep track of this is how much income I got this month. This is how I spent in discretionary, recurring, savings, debt, all that. So that you can be keeping track of that year over year. And once you're doing that for so long, you're going to have a spreadsheet to look back on. And so you can compare, okay, this is what I spent on recurring this month last year and this month the year before. So that you can kind of get a whole a grasp on. All right, lifestyle inflation happens. And that's a good thing. But like how much lifestyle inflation is happening? And how is that aligning with my income? Am I bringing in more money? Less money. Because those are things that if you don't pay attention to them, they get out from under you. And then you're not earning more or getting any like inflation income raises. I know raises are hard to come by at all. But like if we don't pay attention that we don't know. And if we're not at least getting a raise to account for inflation, we are literally making less every year. And so it may not be a problem you can fix quickly. But once you're aware of it, it is a problem you can actively start taking steps to fix. But we can't fix things we don't know are happening. And so that's a real big like plus to that annual dashboard. Some of my favorite things in our particular spending planner is the opportunity cost calculator. This is one of those interruptions to potential impulse spending that I think can be really helpful for people in that if you're planning to, if you're thinking about spending money on something and you've got the wherewithal to create a pause, you could hop into the opportunity cost calculator and see how much could that money be in a certain amount of years were you to have invested that money instead? Like if you're saying, yeah, I've got this to spend on something that I don't necessarily need right now, what would happen if I were to invest that in the stock market and an example that we just already have in here currently is like if something were to cost $250 in 10 years at just 6% interest, that could be $447. Like instead of having one thing that maybe you're going to forget that you even own or is going to break, you're going to end up throwing away instead, it could be nearly $500. So I love that. It's not nothing. It's like one of those things, well yes, you can make a budget and this isn't required for your budget, but the biggest thing with a budget is sticking to it. So if you can have a couple tools in your spreadsheet to help you stick to it like the opportunity cost calculator, we also have like a small medium big list. So it's just the list of activities that you can do instead of activities that typically cause you to spend money. So like a small one would be I scrolling social media and then I get influenced to buy something. So then if that's happening a lot to me, I go to my small list and then when I'm instead of going to social media, I pick something from the small list to do, like play solitaire. Or if a friend wants to go get coffee and I'm trying not to spend money on coffee, I can go to the big list and see, okay, what are some maybe some thing that we can do that's similar vein, but doesn't cost money. And so like having these tiny these little tools that you can have to help you stick to your budget are some things that we include in our full of tools. And I love that about it. For most of us, tax season is the time of year that forces us to actually look at our full financial picture earnings spending savings. And honestly, it can feel overwhelming. That's why I use and love monarch. It shows me exactly where my money is going and where a potential tax refund could make the biggest impact. Simplify your finances with monarch, the personal finance app that brings your entire financial life together. So you can see your spending plan, all your accounts, what you've got going on with investments, and all in one dashboard right on your phone or laptop. What I love most is that monarch keeps me focused on hitting real milestones, not just tracking spending. From debt payoff timelines to savings goals, it helps me actually plan ahead and make progress toward the things that matter. Achieve your financial goals for good with monarch, the all-in-one tool that makes money management simple. Use code frugal at monarch.com for half off your first year. That's 50% off at monarch.com code frugal. 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 quints. They make high quality wardrobe staples using premium fabrics like 100% European linen, 100% silk, and organic cotton poplin. Quints works directly with safe ethical factories and cuts out the middleman, so you're not paying for brand markups, just quality clothing. Their 100% European linen is breathable, the cotton poplin is crisp and holds its shape, and everything is built to hold up season after season. That quints washable silk midi dress has become my go-to. It's perfect for dressing up, dressing down, or layering. It feels luxe and didn't cost what I thought quality silk would. Stop waiting to build the wardrobe you actually want. You don't need more clothes, just better ones. Right now, go to quints.com slash frugal for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's a full year to wear it and love it. Now available in Canada too. Don't keep settling for clothes that don't last. Go to quint.com slash frugal for free shipping and 365 days return. Quints.com slash frugal. Okay, the second spreadsheet that we think is super helpful would be really great if we all had it, and that is a financial planner. This is different from a budget in that it is helping us to map out everything that might be related to money in our lives for an entire year. Because having like Jen was saying earlier, everything in 50 different places and some notes in our calendar and some sticky note here and something posted to the fridge there is what makes us so nutty and feels so kind of chaotic and all over the place. Whereas having it all in one place as a way to track the when certain bills need to be paid. What how and when to check on our benefits that might be offered by our employer. When we need to be maintaining the vehicle, what should be maintained within the house, when the filter needs to get replaced. And these are all the random things that can go through our mind. And if they're not written down or compiled in one place, then it can take up unnecessary mental space and that anxiety as the thought goes through of, oh, I needed to do that. We know it's written down. One of our three spreadsheets. Yeah, I think it's not difficult stuff, right? But it is a mental load nonetheless. So in your finance planner, I think I want to refer to it as a finance planner versus a financial planner because a financial planner is a person and I will get confused in my finance planner. So something that you really need is your work benefits. If you have any work benefits or health insurance benefits, any benefits that are provided to you that literally if you don't take advantage of, you're literally telling your employer or whoever, like, oh no, you don't need to compensate me fully. Like the compensation we agreed upon, you can have some of it back. I don't want all of it. That's what you're saying. If you don't take advantage of all of your insurance and your work benefits, you need to have a place to list all those out, list how frequently you are eligible for them. And so you can plan dates to take advantage of them or to call and make schedules so that you don't miss out on those dated years here. So I'm thinking, especially specifically in health insurance about annual checkups, all the annual checkups you are eligible for, and then also work benefits. If there are, you get like a free class pass or something, wellness benefits, making sure you list all the benefits that you get annually, when you have to use them by making the call, if you don't know when you have to use them by, and then putting those in the spreadsheet. It's also helpful to keep track of the things that you want to do within the year. Things that are going to take some time to save for, this is where you can track that. What are the vacations coming up in the summer? What are you hoping to do this upcoming year over the holidays? Are there any other weekend trips or even obligations? This is where you can see it all in one snapshot. And know how much do I think that's going to cost and be able to then make a plan coinciding with than your budget for how you're going to set that money aside to do that thing? And it's not just things you want to say for it's free things too. So like in Gulfport, there is every August, they call it gecko fest. And it's Gulfport, it's like time to shine. There are activities throughout the month, free and paid. And so I want to make sure that I know when the free activities are. So like the parade is the first Saturday of August. Then I want to put that in my like August list. So I know when all the free events are happening because it can feel if you're not pay attention to those things, you're like, if I want to do anything, I have to pay for it. You know, everything costs money. Well, when you make a list of all the free things that happen in your community every year, then you're ready to go. And you can plan ahead to do those things. So then it feels like everything I want to do is free. Why would I pay to do something? Another thing I forgot to mention with benefits, it's not just work benefits, but it's credit card benefits. So if you're a travel rewards credit card accumulator, then your credit cards typically will have benefits that you need to use every year. So I have a couple hotel, co-branded credit cards, and I get a free night stay once a year at a certain level of hotels. And so I want to make sure that I have that someplace. I also want to make sure I know how many points I have off of that card, how many I've used, how many I've left to use. What are the benefits? Do I get a free global entry credit? You know, if I apply for global entry, these are all things that you can get with credit cards. And you want to make sure that you're taking advantage of them every year, especially if you're paying an annual fee for that credit card. I pay an annual fee for some credit cards. This year we had to re-up our global entry. That's $120. But I paid $99 for or 95 for an annual fee. So I saved money, right? Because I got that global entry for free. So those are just some of the things that you should have in your annual planner. So all of these things that we've just mentioned are also in the one that we have created, the annual planner that we've got. And so in addition to even what we've talked about so far, some of our favorites is we've got a second hand shopping list within it. So when we say we want to buy second hand first, we don't have to just fall back on the two second hand shops down the road that we're aware of. There's an entire list of ways to get what we want second hand online. And so we personally have already compiled all of those things. You, of course, could you do your own research and compile your own list? There's space for you to add to it. Yes. But knowing and having that that quick list for what specifically you can get used pre-owned second hand, because I think we forget a lot of times that it's not just clothing. Like we can get used sporting equipment equipment for the kids or for yourself. And if you've got a ski trip coming up, get it second hand. If you have a tech or gadget need coming up that too, you can get second hand and refurbish. So having a whole list readily available is going to be really helpful. And the list to keep track of what you need is mobile optimized. So when you open up the second hand tab, you've got that list immediately to be like, Oh, I saw this in an Amazon. I really want it. Let me add it to my second hand list so I can make sure I look for it second hand first. We also utilize this type of spreadsheet as a place to keep track of important things. You may or may not want to keep your passwords here. That's a whole other conversation about, you know, online safety. But as far as what is the website to go to for our life insurance policies? And what, I mean, really just all kinds of estate planning needs so that anybody in your family could access it and know what are the important pieces that I need to be aware of? Yeah, where is the birth certificate in the house? What file is it? Where are the social security documents? Where's the will? So this is kind of like a thing where you can get in the list. You can check off, did I do it? And then it's available for your loved ones or your partner to be like, Okay, where are all of the documents for the house? Where's the title to the house? Okay, it's here or what's the website for the, for the IRA? Like, I don't even know where we keep our IRA. Here is, here's the website. So even if you don't keep the password in here, you know where to look for that. I found something like this to be really helpful, especially in partnerships to where, you know, for Eric and I, I am the one who kind of has made all of those phone calls. I have set up our life insurance. I've set up our Roth IRAs. I'm doing the budget. But stuff like this, he needs to know and be able to have access. And so having it in a shared place can make the task just more shareable, more delegatable, if that's a word. But also then just gives them access whenever they, they might need it. So that's another reason. Yeah, I really love the auto plan. Yeah. That's so there's a tab that we have, and this is probably important for you to have in your, your sheet to probably should have mentioned that one. But you need to do auto maintenance on your car. If you watch our episode on, I think it was our last episode that we did on planned obsolescence essentially, you know, we need to take care of our cars because new cars are not what they seem we can't trust it. You can't trust it. So there is maintenance you need to take at every, you know, every month, every three to five thousand miles, every six to eight thousand miles, every 12 to 15 thousand miles. And who can remember all that? Nobody. But if you have a list of when you last did it, when you need to do it again, then you don't have to remember that. And so we have all up to a hundred thousand miles, like things that need to be replaced or maintained or whatever so that you can keep your car. This does take, you know, some time to set up certainly if you're going to make your own spreadsheet and you get extra time. But then once it's in there, then life can start to feel like it's on autopilot. You forget something. You know the exact place to come back to. It's all there. Yes. And our third and final spreadsheet that we think everyone needs and will make our lives far less stressful is you guessed it based around food. It's a meal planning spreadsheet. And so of course we've we've got one of these. But you can make your own. But here's the thing. This is one of the big three expenses that eats away the majority of our money month to month, year over year. And we're going to think about, we eat so many times a day every day. Uh huh. Yeah. You always have to be thinking about food. Yeah. And then so then you buy food, but then you're too tired or the plans change when you're eating out and we just need to listen. We're never going to become perfect with it because this is something we have to do every single day. But guess what? So many times. Some weeks and some months can go really well. But only when we have a plan for it. And when we've made that plan as simple as possible. And when we've made that plan something that we know we're going to enjoy, we're going to eat, we're going to do, we're going to engage in because it's not complicated. And so this is something that can help us to eat at home more, cook at home. That is that is the biggest key to saving money on food. But you don't want to hear it. Just about eating at home. It's about eating what you already have. It's about overlapping ingredients. It's about making sure that the meals are really simple. So they're going to take you less than 30 minutes. It's about again, just keeping it simple, keeping it tasty, keeping it doable, utilizing that freezer. And that's only going to go so well if we're just winging it. When we actually have something written down and we're then able to build upon it and say, these are my favorite recipes. These are the recipes I was able to do in 20 minutes. These are the recipes that froze well. Forget about the time and energy saved. Like it's insane. Just be like, and I know you've recently done this where you're making a list of eight and in different categories, eight different things, a sweet snack, a salty snack, a chicken dish, and an other dish. And what are eight options in each of those categories? It can be as simple as that. But we do need it. We need it in the spreadsheet. Yeah. And it's not about following the plan perfectly. It's about having it there. So that you have it to look back on it. And that's why I pick eight, eight breakfasts as well. That's why I just picked eight of each so that I can go back if I don't know what I want to cook. Maybe I don't want to cook something on my plan. That's totally fine. I just go back to my list of things. And then I pick something because I know I've planned the list is short. I'm probably going to have those ingredients on hand because they overlap with other things. So it's just going to be much, much easier. And I eat a lot of chicken. I like chicken. So that's why I have like eight chicken and then eight other, like literally, you know, the other kind of meat. vegetarian pork, beef, all that turkey stuff. So I think the most important thing that you can have for your meal plan is like a list of recipes that you know you'll eat that are quick to make. You can also go to frugalfriendspodcast.com slash meals. We have a book of 15 emergency meals free, totally free, 15 emergency meals. And you can start by adding some of those to your list. They're very frequently overlapped ingredients on hand easy, quick to make easier than takeout. So having that list of meals that you can pull from. And maybe you just commit to those for one quarter. We're not trying all kinds of new things. There's just like these are my recipes that I'm going to make for the next three months. And this is it. And if I think about something else, I add that to next quarters list. And we try the stuff there. So that. And then also the inventory of the foods that you have in your fridge freezer and pantry. So you know what you're working with. This honestly can be as simple as taking pictures of them weekly. I know you take pictures. And then it work then you'll look through what you have. Yeah. And so some of the cool things that our particular meal planter has everything that Jen already mentioned. But also we've got some conversion charts. I will often find myself, you know, needing to Google again and again these different things. But if it's all in my my spreadsheet that I'm already in because it's where my recipes are linked, it's where everything already lives. Then I can know all right, if I'm doubling a recipe or trimming it down, what what does that mean for me? How can I quickly kind of convert those things? We've also got a substitutions cheat sheet which this this is the holy grail honestly because one of one of the ways that we save to when it comes to food is by limiting the amount of times that we go to the grocery store. Ideally, the aim is once a week, no more than once a week because we're just going to be spending so many more impulse money on that. And so what what can happen though is if we're not going all of the time, we forget something. It's inevitable. But here's the thing. A lot of times it doesn't matter. You don't have a specific type of vinegar, you don't have a lemon, you don't have milk. But there might be other things you have that that could replace those. And the recipe tastes just fine or possibly even better. We actually I rarely keep milk on hand. But Eric loves to make mac and cheese. But I always have Greek yogurt. And so I'm he's like, Oh, how can I make the mac and cheese? And like try out the Greek yogurt. Loved it. It is the creamiest mac and cheese. Even if we had milk, we would choose Greek yogurt because it made it so good. So you might even discover that there's something even better. So substitutions to cheat a thousand meal ideas. My friends, we did the work for you. This was probably my piece de resistance. Like I, it took me a long time. It's a list of literally 250 poultry dinner recipes, 250 beef flush pork recipes, 250 lunch, light dinner, vegetarian recipes, and then 250 breakfast recipes. With links to food blogs that have them, not like the exact link because those things can change. But yeah, this is just and you don't have to cook all thousand of them. They're just like, you don't know what to cook. You come to your list of a thousand meal ideas and I bet there's going to be something that kind of peaks your interest. So the three spreadsheets are a budget spreadsheet, a finance planner spreadsheet, and a meal planning spreadsheet. Keep them simple. You can make them yourself. If you want it done for you, you want to get ours. Again, code episode 587 will get you 30% off. So we'd love to help a girl. Yeah, individual spreadsheet, but also we sell them as a bundle where you can save even more and that code works on all of it. Yeah, on all of that. So beautiful. You know what also works every single time and also helps a girl out. And has always been free. It doesn't mean we don't, at free done for you. 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, Jen and Jill. I'm a long time listener. First time caller and I wanted to share it with you, my bill of the week, which is my husband and I. We have a daughter who is going to kindergarten this year, which means that we can use now the money that we used to pay for daycare to put towers on retirement. So that's exactly what we did. We opened an account this week and we are using that money for that to add a little bit more to our savings. I also wanted to take the opportunity to let you know that I my college professor and I teach a course in consumer culture in Latin America. In that course, in addition to talking about the history of consumer culture in Latin America, we also discussed the ways in which we can minimize the negative impacts of our consumption. I'm just finishing listening your audiobook, listening to your audiobook and I'm going to recommend it to my students this semester because I think it has very solid grounded advice and important questions for us to reflect on our habits when it comes to consumption. Thank you so much for the book and the podcast. I look forward to what more you guys have in StarFest. Bye. Oh my goodness. This is amazing. This is one of those. Our book is pop pen. Being recommended in a college class. Take that in. Oh yeah. And same thing. Once we're done with daycare, we too will put we're planning to put that money back into our rather so like same. Yeah. And thank you from the bottom of my heart. This course that you're teaching sounds so riveting. Oh my gosh. So thrilled that it exists and that you are teaching it and just well done. Dreaming up the next generation. And well done with your daughter going to kindergarten congratulations. Did it. You did it. And you got money to spare now. We love that. If you all are listening, have a bill that you want to share. If it's about recommending our book at a university or anywhere or anywhere buying the book, not loving to spend money on purchasing the book, we'd love to hear about it. Or if your name is Bill, you know we want to hear from you. For your friends podcast.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 time 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. C chime.com slash fees info advertised annual percentage yield with chime plus status only otherwise 1.00% APY applies no man balance required chime card on time payment history may have a positive impact on your credit score results may vary C chime.com for details and applicable terms. You've heard us talk about bill as a loyalty program that lets you earn points on rent wherever you live and they just leveled up even more as of 2026 homeowners can also earn up to 1.25x points on their mortgage payments. This is thanks to builds three new credit cards the palladium card obsidian card and blue card all three turn your housing payments rent or mortgage into flexible rewards so you can choose the card that fits your lifestyle without missing out on points and exclusive benefits. Build points can be redeemed at top airlines and hotels Amazon.com purchases future rent payments and more build points have also been ranked by top publications as the industry's most valuable point currency your housing payment is already your biggest expense make it your most rewarding find the card that fits your lifestyle and apply today at join build calm slash frugal that's j-o-i-n-b-i-l-t calm slash frugal 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 now it's time for the lightning ground okay what is your single favorite thing in all of our spreadsheets oh wow okay you go first okay so I kind of have to I will say my favorite thing now is the opportunity cost calculators I think that's so cool I think having tools within your spreadsheet to help you stick to your budget is so essential like I can't believe that you know like I use monarch but I do come back to the opportunity cost calculators just in random life things so you know I'm not saying use both but since I have access to both I do use both yeah but I will say the reason that I wanted to make our annual finance planner is for the travel rewards credit cards the all of the things that are offered with my credit cards we are people who every couple months get a new credit card and I want to see when I signed up for that credit card so I know when to cancel it so I don't get charged the annual fee yeah I want to know backlogs so I know when an annual for or ready for that that card again to get the welcome bonus again like it travel rewards card like not hacking but you know optimizing takes some record keeping and I just had that kind of a notes doc on my phone and it was just getting too like you know confusing and so the idea for the annual finance planner came from that's like what other things am I not taking full advantage of because I just don't have them all in one place to know them 100% my favorite thing is actually coming back to the annual finance plan as well and it is that second hand strategy list I just feel like we are not aware of 90% of the second hand online store options like where's the lie try me we don't know about 99% of them but I'm going to be you know conservative about it and so to be able to have this this particular tab within a spreadsheet talking about what are the second hand fashion and accessory second hand stores furniture and home decor books media and electronics kids and baby miscellaneous in general marketplace athletic and running shoes as we know we know you runners I recommend okay I'm a runner but I did recommend it's relay goods dot com I know exactly which one it is yeah because I recommended it to Travis my husband last night because he wanted to get new black shoes to wear at the school he teaches at and I was in he normally goes to Facebook my place that's the first place he goes but he wanted to be specific he want he needs all black shoes for work yeah so it's a little harder when your specifications are that dialed in so I was like okay don't go to Amazon or anything go to relay goods and see if they have black shoes there yeah and he found some so it's a relay sells gray stock so it's like shoes running shoes that people have like returned in like the 30-day window so it's it's slightly used but not like used used so that's kind of like that middle section and so much of the online secondhand stuff is that middle section so like yes if you find it in the thrift store or face at marketplace you're gonna get you know less expensive but if you have some more parameters and you don't want to go straight to Amazon or Walmart then these websites are a good middle ground so much good stuff in these spreadsheets we hope it's inspired you to just get everything in order and feel really good about it while keeping it simple and you guys have given us good stuff in return like reading our book and giving us reviews on them like this one from B five stars balanced practical and fun this is not your basic finance book it will not tell you to quit buying lattes or avocados to solve your financial woes it's compassionate and fun it will encourage you to look at your past spending make a plan to move forward and adjust it is well researched and helps identify the why behind your impulse spending as well as identifying what we value and how to incorporate those values into what we buy yes thank you so much for listening thank you so much for watching let us know in the comments if there's anything that helps you fight your money in life anxiety and overwhelm that is legal and we would love to have that be a resource for everyone to feel a little bit calmer and more in control or if you have any spreadsheets or tabs that really help you keep track let us know that too and we would love it if you would subscribe to the channel if you're not already half of the people watching this do not subscribe and I would I would dare to say 99% of the people listening to this on Spotify or Apple are not subscribed on YouTube it's a free way to support us to help us grow and bring this message to more people and we'll we'll see you next time thanks everyone frugal friends is produced by Eric Cereani what's on your fun list this year that's another one that I didn't we just didn't have time to mention but is a fun part about an annual planner that I probably would imagine most people would overlook is yeah how to plan for the fun we have so we have like three sheets that could be have that fun element we have a seasonal calendar and then we have a family fun and a actual fun list and so gecko fast is definitely on it the holiday parades like anything that has to do with holiday stuff annual five k's that we like to do or runs um thank you running company will do um like holiday runs um we let's see yeah I would say like any we don't really go we used to have on there like in May and October uh downtown there would be free movies I don't even know if they do this anymore but there's things we've had to take off the list because they're just not practical for us right now um but toddler one thing that we just did on our list very recently was that the trampoline park has a toddler time Saturday mornings whoa it's discounted and it's only for five like five six and under um so we just did that yeah and it also helps us get out of the house more you know there's so many things to do who can remember them all but if it's on the list i'm like oh we should do something this weekend we know have anything going on i go to the list oh so good we love having fun okay