Creative and Fun Ways to Save You Money with FinanceRox | 105

Creative Ways to Save Money Without Feeling Deprived with Roxanne Duckels of FinanceRox | 105

Saving money doesn't have to feel like punishment. In this episode, Chris sits down with Roxanne Duckels, accountant, personal finance coach, and the woman behind FinanceRox, for a real, practical, and genuinely fun conversation about creative and resourceful ways to save more without losing your mind or your social life.

Roxanne paid off $49,000 in debt and is on the path to financial independence by 39. She brings a unique perspective to saving: it's less about restriction and more about resourcefulness.

In this episode you'll learn:

• What "purchase procrastination" is and why Roxanne's 30-day rule beats the impulse every time
• How to run no-spend challenges that actually work, including how to set custom rules so you don't feel like you're white-knuckling it
• The "thrift first" strategy for buying almost anything
• Why building skills like sewing, drain snaking, and DIY repairs beats calling a pro
• How Buy Nothing groups and bartering can replace spending with community
• The two money-saving prompts Roxanne uses to find alternatives before buying anything
• Grocery hacks including the reverse shopping list, end-of-day markdowns, and pantry shopping
• The truth about subscriptions, loyalty apps, cash back tools, and bulk buying
• And why keeping an inventory of what you own might be the most underrated money habit

This one is packed. Horns up. 🤘

Guest: Roxanne Duckels | FinanceRox YouTube: youtube.com/@financerox Website: financerox.com

Giveaway: Leave a review on Apple Podcasts to win a copy of The Student's Guide to Financial Freedom by Dr. Paris Woods.

BONUS AI PROMPTS:

how can I buy this for less or how can I get it for free?
 
 how can I achieve the same outcome for less or for free?

Contact Chris:

https://heavymetal.money

https://www.facebook.com/MoneyHeavyMetal

https://x.com/MoneyHeavyMetal

https://www.instagram.com/chrisluger

https://www.tiktok.com/@heavymetalmoney

email: chris at heavymetal.money

Resources and Links:

FinanceRox: financerox.com

YouTube: youtube.com/@financerox

Amish Donuts
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB8Nq45Cjf0

Too Good To Go App

https://www.toogoodtogo.com/en-us

Meta Viewpoints App (survey/passive income app)

https://heavymetal.money/metaviewpoints/

Buy Nothing Groups on Facebook

The Student's Guide to Financial Freedom by Dr. Paris Woods

Primate
 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33028778/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Terrible Maps

https://www.facebook.com/TerribleMaps/

Contact Chris:
https://heavymetal.money

https://www.instagram.com/heavy_metal_money/

https://www.youtube.com/@heavymetalmoney

https://www.facebook.com/chrisluger

email: chris at heavymetal.money

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Fun and creative ways to save money with Finance Rock. This week on the Extreme Personal Finance Show. All right, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this week on the Extreme Personal Finance Show. I'm really excited to welcome back to the show Roxanne Duckles. She is an accountant, a personal finance coach, and a comedian who I like likes to give financial stress the middle finger. That's awesome. Before we jump in and say hi to Roxanne, I just want to remind everyone please like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. We now are on a lot more distribution players and platforms. So you can find our podcast everywhere you get your podcasts. And please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. We actually have a really fun and awesome giveaway. So please listen to the end of the show and we'll tell you how you can win something really cool by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. So with that, let's go ahead and welcome Roxanne back to the show. Roxanne, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Good. How are you, Chris?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

I'm doing well. I'm doing well. I'm excited that okay, you and I were talking about like, okay, you know, there's there's some things that we should talk about. And I think that's a good I mean, I love getting a good deal. I know you love like getting a good deal. So we're talking about like ways to save money and kind of the mindset that goes into, you know, saving money doesn't always have to feel like deprivation, right? Usually when you say, Oh, you're gonna save money, it means like I don't know, no coffee, no fun, no life, just sadness. I don't know. Um, but it doesn't have to feel like that. Like saving doesn't have to feel like a punishment, right? It can be kind of more like a game. You can kind of gamify it, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Yeah, yeah. I love that. Um, I found when I was like paying off debt, I would go through sprints, right? Where I would like go super hard, spend no money, buy nothing, but then it would lead to like I like to call it yo-yo spending, binge spending, right? Because it's like if you get too deep in that deprivation mode, then you can swing the other way. And so I would like suddenly have spent like $300 and some of those legitimate things that I had delayed the purchase of, um, but not all, not all. Not all of them.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Sure, sure. Do you think um one thing that you mentioned, and I remember you and I talking about this some other I don't know if it was on a maybe it was when we were in person, but you mentioned about telling yourself that give yourself like for the next 30 days you're gonna do this thing or something like that. Like talk a little bit about how some of those like like changes don't have to be permanent cuts to your spending, but you can use it as kind of like a temporary thing, like um kind of like so you can spend guilt-free after January or something like that. Like, what are your thoughts there?

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Yeah, so I mean to go to that, I guess I've always been the kind of person who likes to like focus on one thing at a time and do like sprints. So it'd absolutely still be a sprint, but now I just have different kinds of sprints for my finances, some that are a bit more intense, and then some that are, you know, very moderate, like a moderate spending sprint. And then of course, there are times in life where it's just not really appropriate to be focusing on our finances. Like, for example, like when my dad was having heart surgery in the hospital, right? Like it's not really a good time. So being able to identify which mode you should be in and then have this the discipline and self-control to switch in between those, I think is really important.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Ah, got it. Do you actually do you participate in like the no spend challenges? Like, do you do like a no-spend month?

SPEAKER_00 3:49

I do, yeah. Um, I love no spend challenges. I do them all the time. Um, sometimes I host them on my channel. So if your uh listeners are interested. And yeah, I think that it's it's a good way to focus. And a lot of people will say, well, what's the point in doing like a hardcore sprint, whether that's health or finance or whatever, um, if you're just going to go back to bad habits later. But I think that when you're sprinting, sometimes you discover efficiencies or hacks or develop habits that are more frugal that do stick with you, even if like the intensity, you know, goes away after a little while.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Sure. What are a couple of the habits that you've adopted as kind of a permanent thing that came from a sprint?

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Okay. Well, the first one that came to mind was actually a health one, um, which was switching to Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I really like to eat um baked potatoes. So I have like a baked potato every day with Greek yogurt.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Really? Yes. I never would have thought to put Greek yogurt on my baked potato, but I will try it. I have big yogurt right now. Oh man, I fell in love with I don't know. So I was just on the Alaska cruise with the FinTalks group, and so I got spoiled for seven days. I could just go eat whatever I wanted, whatever whatever I wanted, whatever I wanted. Yeah. Anyway, so like every morning I would go down and have yogurt with granola. And oh my gosh, I would have they had these like little cups with like yogurt, they were pre-done, right? I would have like four of them in one sitting. They're like so good. So now I've been doing that. I went and I bought Greek yogurt and I've been putting granola in it. I don't know if it's healthy because I'm putting a bunch of fatty granola in it, but sure as fuck tastes good. No, I won't have to try that on a baked potato.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Yeah. So that was that was a health example. Um let's see. Some of the what would be a financial example? I I was listening to your granola story instead of trying to think of examples.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Um, but no, it can be anything. It can be, I mean, this is kind of a weird example, but um, when I was going to be a digital nomad and was getting my camper van all set up, I wanted like a cargo net. And instead of like trying to find a custom-sized cargo net, I literally looked up how do you make a net. Um, so I made a net for my van out of paracord. And so like I learned, I know how to make a net now. So it's things like that where it's like, oh yeah, maybe I'm not using that all the time. But like now, that's a skill that I have as a result of trying not to have spent money.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Sure, sure. Man, I really want to talk to you about your camper van, nomadic, because I think I want to do that for the winters. So we're gonna we'll have another discussion at some point. I'll I'll have you back on and we'll talk about it because that sounds fun. Yeah, I think that um it's just it's really hard for me. I've tried and tried to do no spend months, and it seems like there's always something that comes up. What are what are some of the rules on no spend months?

SPEAKER_00 6:58

So I like to set custom rules, and I think that that's what people should do as well. Like if I know that I'm gonna like I have a friend coming into town and I know that I'm gonna want to go out to lunch with her one day, you know, I'll just say I'm gonna do a no spend challenge for the week except for this lunch. And I feel like as long as you set the rules ahead of time, clearly stated, specific, then you can set whatever rules you want. Um, a lot of the times people will do like no spend except gas for the vehicle, um, no spend except groceries. Now I like to do, I try to do as much as possible zero spend when I do a no spend, just because um I can be a little bit um sneaky.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

So wait, wait, okay, you're already breaking the rules.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Well, I know that that's exactly the point. It's it turns into a slippery slope so so quickly.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Well, because you're being resourceful, right? You're not breaking the rules. You're being or as the Canadians would say it, resourceful. You gotta be a little bit more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Said yeah. Anyway, well, what are some of the sneaky ways that you break or bend the rules?

SPEAKER_00 8:04

I mean, grocery store is a good example. Um, should I be buying on my no spend challenge like Doritos? No, it's not a necessity. Like, so you know, there's things that I'm like, oh shell, maybe I should just avoid the grocery store entirely. Um so yeah, that's okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

I'm tracking, I'm tracking, I get it. Do you think that um, you know, one of the big things that people always talk about when they do, okay, we're gonna save money, we're gonna no spend. The first thing that comes up, and it's all over like there's services and platforms and everything about oh, cut out all your subscriptions, and there's probably two or three of them that you never even remember that you're doing. How real is that, do you think?

SPEAKER_00 8:50

I mean, I've had clients that had like six different streaming services, and I mean they were aware of them, but um, I don't know, I think that it's a very good way. I had one client that cut like more than a thousand dollars worth of subscriptions.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Wow. Was that like a gym membership and all the other bullshit that people pay and pay and they never go?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Yes. Um, a big part of it was um like self-development courses and coaching and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

I can see that. I could see that. Yeah, yeah. I'm always like debating. There's so many things that I want to do to like be better. And I'm like, is that like another subscription I want to spend? You know what I mean? That's the thing, right? That's what holds me back all the time. Well, I just I read that the typical the typical subscription um averages out to about $12 a month, but the average person has about $144 worth of subscriptions. So it depends on, yeah, what can you stop doing, you know, and I gotta be honest, um so HBO Max, I still am watching that. My kid moved out like a year ago and it's still his login. So I'm just saying I'll still watch it until it somehow doesn't let me log in.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

So well, I mean, I think it's I think that if you are regularly tracking your expenses, then the need to like look at your subscriptions is like zero. And because I do that, then like I don't really need to do a separate audit for subscriptions. But I mean, absolutely, I have been guilty of having them and being like, oh shoot, I thought I canceled that.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

And then it's like not just a one-time ping, you know, since it's a subscription, you keep getting pinged. Um sure.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Well, and I had to actually look one up and it just I happened to, I mentioned this on another episode, but like I happened to look at my credit card bill, and there was like a charge that I didn't recognize what the service was. And so I went back and looked, it was the last like five months of that same um like 1999 or whatever, and I was like, oh my gosh, like, and I had to like Google this like service. Oh, it was this um it was called Bloodstream, it was a horror streaming service that I got last Halloween and just never canceled the trial or whatever. Yeah, so it does happen.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Well, that would not happen to me because I don't watch horror genre.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Oh my gosh. Actually, we were just talking about that earlier today. I saw this great map. So one thing I love this one site that there's actually a site out there called or it's a social channel that says it's called terrible maps, and it'll map out just the funniest, most random things. And so there was a map today that said here are the states that it is legal to own a monkey. And I personally, you should never own a monkey because they'll rip your fucking face off. They are the most terrifying. If there's one thing that scares me, it's a freaking monkey. It's a it's a gym. Like, have you seen the horror movie Primate? Those of you that are listening, it's terrifying. I think it's because they got poseable thumbs. They got hands. I think that's why it scares me. Like raccoons? Oh my god, they got little little hands.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

I didn't know you had a hand thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Oh my gosh, they'll they'll rip your face off. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so definitely subscriptions, and that makes sense for like classes, courses, uh, gym memberships, things like that. Absolutely. One thing that I like is the idea of a reverse shopping list. Because there are so many times um well, like when I had like kids living at home or whatever, I'd be at the grocery store and I'd like, damn it, I don't remember. I'd have to call my kid and say, Hey, do we have this in the freezer? Or like, how many, like I, you know, how do we have a loaf of bread left in the freezer? You know what I mean? I would like, I don't remember. So the idea of truly doing a reverse shopping list. So make note, write down, okay, these are the things that I have, and I don't need to fill the pantry or fill the freezer. Oh, and I was at um one of my in-person meetups last week, and we were talking about saving money and challenges, and I like the idea of eating, like basically using what you have. Like the freezer, the pantry, like so many things we have that we just never use. And someone in our group, um, I'll I'll call her out because she's awesome. Um, Carrie in our group, she's like, she has so much stuff in her freezer, like it is packed. Yet, why do we keep going to the store? Like, you could easily thaw out that, you know, roast. You could easily use the things that you already have. And I love that type of challenge. She mentioned like gamify. Okay, let's say for the next 30 days, I'm gonna start to clean up my freezer and actually cook what I have. Have you ever done something like that?

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Oh, yeah. And I mean, that's one of the big benefits, I feel like, to the kind of no spend challenges that I do where I don't even go to the grocery store, right? Is because, oh yeah, I do sometimes have to shop my own freezer and shop my own pantry and try and use those things down. And I've found a lot of like, you know, you learn how to substitute things, like, oh, I don't have this particular kind of maybe I don't have black beans right now. And you get used to just using, you know, whatever and getting creative with recipes, like, yeah. So I think that that's a great, a great way.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Yeah, like Greek yogurt and potatoes. You can substitute things.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Yeah. That's awesome. And I do, I do keep um, I have some little tiny stickers that I will put on if I've already have a duplicate, like if I already have the backup thing, like my peanut butter right now has a little orange sticker on it, which means do not buy another one. Um there is one in the cabinet. Um, so like I kind of keep the sticker. I don't have a full-on list of like what not to buy. I will sometimes take pictures of my fridge, freezer, and pantry before I go shopping. So that way I can be like, do I have this?

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Right. That's interesting. Okay. So I have above my pantry. So I have my pantry, and then above it, there's this separate cupboard that I open, and I actually put a label on it that says overstock. And I will put my extra thing of peanut butter or like vegetable oil, like things that I I will always check that before I need to go to the store for something. And so that's where I kind of keep my my overstock. Um like pantry items and grocery items. Um you mentioned something earlier about you know, building your cargo net for your van, like skills, right? I like this because there are definitely creative and easy ways that you can save money by DIY things, right? Like you can you can fix things, repair things. I remember one time I did like a TikTok back in the day. Back back in my day when I used to use TikTok, I was like repairing one of my cargo shorts. And I'm a I'm an old man, so yes, I have cargo shorts, but I was repairing it with you know, I was sewing it because like one of my pockets ripped or something, and it was like the fourth time I've like mended these shorts, and so I got them at the Goodwill for like six dollars, and now I've mended them for they've lasted me so long, they were so cheap. But it's a simple like skill of like just sewing a pocket or whatever, and um oh, it wasn't repairing the same pocket four times. It was that would mean I was really bad at sewing.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

It was or bad with pockets, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

I know it was repairing something else anyway. But like that's like a small thing that I got to save money because I was able easily gonna repair my repair my um repair my my shorts. I've also done things like used YouTube to learn how to replace the pump in my washing machine, right? And you could just buy the pump off of Amazon, and now I saved a service call and it was super cheap. Um recently the wind took my patio umbrella, like it was I I mean, I forgot to close my patio umbrella and the wind took it, and sure enough, it ripped through the canvas. What did I do? I sewed it up and I fixed it, right? What are some other ways that you can think of that are simple repairs, DIY things that you can be resourceful and that can really, you know, reduce those repair costs or save you money?

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Yeah, I love that your main example was sewing because uh I love sewing as well. Sometimes I'll like thrift things that have just like a little like tear or something wrong with them, and then mend them, and then like you have a good quality garment that is fine. Um, but yeah, I love sewing. I love um my first the first thing that came to my mind was snaking drains. I snake my own drains. Um I mean, little things like that. I mean, this is kind of a random one, but I I just got my oil changed in Montana instead of Colorado because I was just visiting and yeah, I was gonna ask you about that because I saw you saved money.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

What is that just because of where you went, or why was it so much cheaper?

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Yeah, cost of living is lower there, and so it literally costs less to get an oil change. And I used to live there, so like they already had my information and everything, so it wasn't like that weird, but that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

I never would have thought of like, hey, while I'm on this road trip or while I'm in this other, you know, this other location, I'll get that done. Yeah, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

And and it worked out great because like my brother and like his my brother, his wife like were working, the kids were at school that day. So I was like, I'm gonna go get an oil change. And so it worked out perfectly. Um, but this kind of I I actually have like a whole like thrift first is like one of my like strategies that I use for it's like when I want to buy something, um, looking for it thrifted first. And I mean, I guess this kind of goes against impulse spending in general. Like, how do you control that? And I use a system I call purchase procrastination. So you said you have a list of what not to buy, but this is the list of like what I'm not gonna buy yet kind of situation.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

So you you do like you sleep on it, right? So you give yourself some time.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Yeah, and you can set a predetermined amount of time. A lot of people do 72 hours. In fact, they call it the 72 hour rule. I'm I'm hardcore, extreme. So I like I like to do 30 days. And even then, I don't necessarily buy it after 30 days, that's just the minimum.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

30 days. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Yeah, because that helps with budgeting too, then, because it's like, oh, well, I can actually plan for it the following month.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

What give me an example of something that you put off and then you're like, okay, now like the urge had passed, like it's not an impulse buy, you've planned for it, and then the the following month or whatever, you were able to buy it. Like, what's an example of something?

SPEAKER_00 19:56

Um, things that I actually actually bought. See, I I I wrote down a big long list of things that I put on there and then never ended up buying and or things that I I would love to know some of the things that you put on your list.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

What are some of the things that you put on your list?

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Okay, so some of the things that I haven't purchased yet would be like a um a sunlight alarm, like the kind that like make the room bright gradually.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Do you think that would really wake you up?

SPEAKER_00 20:23

I don't know. I mean they they say that they work, and especially, you know, we're northerners, so we don't have sun.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

I just don't think it would work for me. I think I would sleep through it.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

That's just my opinion, but I I mean I haven't bought one, so yeah, either have I. So I must not find that much value in it. Um, a salt lamp, a milk frother are some of the other things. Yes, a milk frother.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

I need one so bad. I know.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

So you can just put it in a mason jar and shake it. That was one of the things that I found as like an alternative.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Um, but yeah, and then like a lot of the times um I'll put them on the purchase procrastination list, and then you know, it's kind of a whole process of trying to find alternatives, right? It's like, can I phone a friend? Can I find someone that, you know, wants to get rid of their whatever anyway? So like the shower caddy that I have was from a friend. And I use community for this as well. And I happen to have like the um Vi collective right nearby, and we have a buy nothing channel. But there are like buy nothing groups on Facebook as well, where you can go and be like, here's things that I have that I don't want or need. And then you can also post, hey, does anyone have a George Washington costume that I can have?

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Which is a real example of something that I put on there and just recently got.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Wait, wait, why do you need a George Washington costume?

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Okay, all right. I can't tell you because Oh, it's secret. I can't, yes. I can't tell you because I was just on Mile High Five, but it hasn't been released yet. And I I say why on there, and I don't want to spoil it. So check out Doug's Mile High Five podcast in about a month.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Understood. So I I do you I will I will do that. I will um I often use my Amazon save for later as my procrastination list. So as there's something or I'm out for a walk or whatever, or even when I'm driving, because I can just use um Siri to invoke things, but I will like basically think of something I need, then I find it on Amazon. I'll add it to my cart so that it shows up next time I log in for something I need, and then I just add it to my save for later. I don't really need that right now right now. And so we're gonna we were gonna compare things that you put in your list. I have this tropical Aloha Beach Hawaiian shirt with skulls on it. I have I have uh Renegade Game Studios, the G.I. Joe deck building card game. Come on, cool as that. Um, and then I have uh literally new cushions for my patio furniture. So there's also practical things that um, you know, and that's one thing I learned. So my patio furniture is, I don't know, 10 years old. My cushions were beat to piss, right? They're fucking expensive. Like I went to Menards and I'm like, holy shit, like, and so then I'm looking at at Amazon, and you know, there's so many, and you're like, well, you're looking at reviews, are they gonna last? Are they gonna hold up? You know, is it something where I gotta get and truly like put away every season so they don't get wrecked during the winter? And yeah, that was something where that's on my someday maybe I'll buy it list.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Yeah, and then kind of in the meantime, you can do things like research, you know, like find a friend, see if you can find them on Facebook, you know, something like that, where it you need time, you need time for resourcefulness and creativity between the impulse to buy it and actually buying it. So I think that I just want to make sure that we highlight that as like, you know, a way to make sure that you are able to do it.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Yeah, and it's it's basically just it's a waiting period, not that you're forgetting about the item entirely, but it's giving you a little time to and again by the time it rolls around, maybe something had like, oh, I don't need to buy that anymore because this other thing happened or I found it somewhere else, or someone had one I could borrow, or whatever. Speaking of borrowing, I'm curious where you land on this. Okay. What do you think about again, saving money by bartering, trading, swapping with your friends, family, neighbors, that type of thing? You know, it doesn't currently like you don't have to like spend money, you could literally help someone else, and then you can get that back. Have you done any sort of like borrowing or um bartering or borrowing from neighbors and stuff?

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah, absolutely. And in fact, being here in Colorado, I've done it so much more um than I was in Montana. Right now I have Mr. Money Mustache his keyboard. Really? Yeah, that I'm just borrowing for a few months while I'm like taking singing lessons and what are you playing?

SPEAKER_01 25:12

What kind of songs are you playing? Come on.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

What what I mean? Well, I'm working on writing a song with um Carla. You know Carla?

unknown 25:21

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Carla and Robert.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

I don't know Carla.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Okay, anyway. Um yeah, so I'm just taking singing lessons. So a lot of the times it's like trying to match pitch and tone of the notes and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Do you have perfect pitch? Can you just like rattle it out just no, no?

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Um, my singing instructor said I hit about 80%. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Well, I can't sing a note to save my life. Good for you. That's awesome. Good for you. But it's that's cool that that again you've borrowed that. Um, I actually, one of the most successful things I've ever heard of bartering, which I never would have imagined, my buddy that was here, I think I may have mentioned this in another episode. My my buddy that lived here, he needed a bunch of remodeling work done. He had some windows that were leaking and they were like flashed around when they were installed years ago, and there was some water damage, and the windows need to be replaced. It was like a, I don't know, like a $60,000, $70,000 project. It was a big project. And somehow, like the the contractor knew that he had this like 1996 like Range Rover or something, and he had it on like Facebook Marketplace, and they literally swapped a vehicle for all of this like home remodeling work. I know. I was like, dude, that actually works. You can like swap stuff, but yeah, I think that we should start to do that more. I think that it's kind of gone, you know. I think more people did bartering, obviously, back in the day. But you know, I think we could do it. Whether you're good at cooking, tutoring, maybe you are well, AI kind of took all the graphic design work away from people, which that's just what happens. But like maybe you're good, you maybe you're a good, you know, you're a handyman, you're good at home repair, and you could fix someone's washing machine, right? Replace the pump, and then you know, you can get their home cooked meal or something, right? So I think more people should get into bartering or trading that type of thing.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Yeah. I have try I have um traded uh financial coaching for health coaching. That was one of the like service trades I've done. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

I love that. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Um I think that uh there are um do you think? I mean, I I just don't know. I guess because you're in you're in Colorado. I'm just wondering, one of the big things that people often talk about is you're gonna save money on energy bills, right? You're gonna do all these things, you're gonna install a smart thermostat, you're gonna do all this stuff to save money on your energy bills. Do you think it really works? Like, do you think, like, okay, I'm gonna install uh EcoBee smart thermostat. Is that really gonna save me like $200, $400 a year?

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Uh is this sponsored or not sponsored? It is not sponsored, no. Um, I don't know. I think that I don't I so I don't have an answer for you on the efficiency of like turning off appliances and whatnot. Um, but I don't know. I kind of am in the camp of like, well, we're doing whatever we can. Um like I hang dry a lot of my clothes. Mm-hmm. Yep.

unknown 28:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

I used to hang dry like all of them. Um, because there was a while when I lived on a farm and like the dryer was like from the 70s, and I'm like, that looks like a more like a fire hazard than a dryer. So wow.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

I haven't I haven't even yeah, I haven't thought about that in a long time. I got a funny story about uh drying clothes. You want to hear this funny story?

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Oh of always?

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my very first house, right? I was like 20 years old or whatever in the east side of St. Paul, and I was doing tons of like landscaping work around the house. Like literally putting in like I did, I was doing so much stuff, and while I was at work during the day and stuff, or like when it was raining, I would cover everything with poly. I had these giant rolls of poly, and I was like covering it while I was doing a bunch of work, and I remember the neighbor came over and said, Hey, you know, that plastic is really doing nothing for the neighborhood. And I was like, And your fucking granny panties hanging on the clothes line is doing nothing for the neighborhood. Like, are you kidding me? She was bitching because I had plastic on my lawn. Oh my god, I wanted anyway. But no, that's the last time I heard that's cool though. Um yeah, I just I feel as though that I mean, like, I know that like there was another podcast I was listening, and people were like so dialed in on like saving as much as they could. Like, literally, they would put off running their air conditioner till the very last, like, you know, they would always be in the basement and they would do all these things, and you know, I just I mean I have a smart thermostat, but I just don't know if it's really dropping my my energy bill 10% or whatever. And so I was like thinking ways that, you know, there's also I remember um especially up here, people put plastic on the windows like in the winter, right? And I remember reading somewhere about energy bills, and it was like putting plastic on the windows, it can help with the comfort, but it's really not gonna save you that much like energy costs, but it can make your house feel not as you know, drafty or chilly. But yeah, anyway, that's like a big thing. I know people really are on like I'm gonna save money on my energy bills, I'm gonna get energy efficient, you know, I'm gonna add solar, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. I don't know, like where I live, if I add I can elect to use like a wind farm to get my my electricity, but they add a cost to my bill. What's the like I get I'm doing good for the environment because evidently they're not making enough to offset it, so I'm helping fund the wind farm before we start to see the benefits. I don't know. And so I'm like, well, I kind of don't want to already add more to my bill.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Yeah, you know, I've been through phases of my life when I had to be like really like trying to cut every single thing. Um, but I think you know, for a more like moderate approach, you know, I think it's fine to like spend some and to choose some efficiencies to focus on and focus on those and then try to not worry about other ones.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Right. You know, one thing that I I do, I mean, most of the time, and we've talked about this a lot, is when you when it does come to like grocery shopping, you know, I've now like I remember just several years ago when we finally got an Aldi and it I mean it was dramatic the cost savings going to Aldi, um, if you don't mind not having like the brand name type food. Um and I've now recently learned that I go to Uldi. Um if I physically go there, I've kind of been saving a lot of time now by doing the curbside pickup because when I just wander the store, I end up buying more than what I needed anyway. I'll buy what's not on my list. Um but no, what I've learned now, if I go to Aldi, you go like towards the end, like I think ours closes at like seven, and you go at like you know, quarter to seven, you'll see like their deli pizza, you'll see a bunch of stuff where they have like the discount stickers on it. Dude, I mean you'll save like 20%. I know.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

I okay, I love that, Chris, because actually one of my like pieces of advice that I give to people who have like shopping problems is like only go to the store within like 20 minutes of it closing. So it's like you can't just like wander the store for two hours and buy stuff, right? Like you have some kind of external cutoff.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

They're gonna kick you out, they're gonna kick you out.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

So that kind of goes along with that.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

That's right, that's right. But yeah, that I've used that a lot, and um, sometimes I've I've done also because you'll get like hamburger or like pork loin, they'll have them marked down. So sometimes I will buy extra, but I can always put it in the freezer. But I know I've I've saved you know 20%, and so um that's just a little tip that I like to do as well.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Yeah, yeah, buying in bulk. I got good at that because I have three little brothers, so growing up, everything was in bulk. So it just seems weird to me to buy small portions of anything.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Really? I man, I'm conflicted. I actually posted in my in heavy metal money mosh pit, dude. Say that three times fast. Heavy metal money. Um, I posted, I asked the question about how many people have those um big like bulk stores like Costco or Sam's Club or what's another one that's not here is like BJ's or something. And it was just really interesting hearing all basically the consensus is yes, everyone should have one, which I was like, really, man. I mean, it's just so amazing to me. I mean, I'm one one person, so I don't know. And again, I think the thing is my nearest Costco is like 18 miles away. So it would definitely take a little more planning on like my, you know, I usually go like bi-weekly, like I'll go to the grocery store every two weeks. Um, don't you think it's funny that bi-weekly can mean both twice a week or every two weeks?

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Yeah, not so much funny as an it is absolutely annoying.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

That's right. Um, but yes, so I don't I don't know. Do you guys have like a Costco or Sam's Club there? Do you buy do you still go by bulk?

SPEAKER_00 35:06

So I had a Costco membership for a little while until I had to throw out two family-sized bottles of barbecue sauce. I know, right? Just don't get to it. And it's like, so you know, if you haven't really dialed in and you know exactly the things, you can do the cost benefit analysis. My kind of rule of thumb is it's it annoys me to have the um what is it? It's like the model where it's like you pay to pay. So it's like you you go to Costco, you pay for a membership so that you can go and buy stuff there. Um going to like the state fair, you pay to go in so that you can pay for rides and stuff. It's like anytime it's the pay-to-pay model, I'm like F you, first of all.

SPEAKER_01 35:47

Is that right? Yeah, I hear that. I hear that. No, I mean, I just I'm always thinking of like all the times that I pay to go to a concert and then buy a shirt.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

Well, I mean, I know, but still you get other stuff, you get other stuff than the shirt though. So, and you know, I'm not against concerts, I'm not against spending money. And in fact, like this purchase procrastination list that I keep, I think one of the big benefits is being able to give yourself the things that you want, truly want and have waited for. And that feels good. And I think that's a big part of like how I've avoided that deprivation mode um over the years, is because this is not a list of like to put things where you're never gonna see them or look at them again. Like it's a way to honor the desire, the impulse of something that you wanted by writing it down, taking it seriously, and then following through both on your goals, your financial goals, and then also finding balance and buying yourself some of the things that you want.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Sure. Do you do you feel as though there are, I mean, we talked about bulk and like the big box stores. What do you think about loyalty programs and like you know uh cashback apps and those type of things? Are they do you think you there is a benefit there, or do you think it's just kind of like a scam?

SPEAKER_00 37:09

I mean, I've done I've done a dabble. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

Okay. I mean, is there one that truly like, you know, I don't know what the ones are out there, maybe like Gas Buddy or Rackiton or like some of those, some of those cashback programs?

SPEAKER_00 37:23

I mean, I again as kind of a cost benefit thing. Um I did swag bucks for a while. That was one that I I don't know if that's still a thing. I've heard of that.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

Did you make any money on it?

SPEAKER_00 37:35

I mean, I definitely had some gift cards from it that I, you know, used. Um that's another one of my like kind of rules for like if I'm really trying to like when I was trying to pay off debt or trying to save money, like only getting gift cards for things that are like useful. So I'd get like an Albertsons grocery store gift card kind of thing. So that way I'm not like spending all this time and effort into buying things that I don't want or need, you know, and then just like having fun and just buying the things that I do want with regular money when I want them.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

Right. Regular money, regular money fake money.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

You know what though, actually, to your point, gift cards. That was one thing that I learned from the group was that Costco membership, they will often have discounted gift cards for all these other, you know, retailers and things that you use, and then they also will have sales sometimes where you get even more discounts on the gift cards. Oh, and other people have bought travel through Costco, which I didn't even know that was a thing. And they save a bunch of money on on travel and like uh what was another one? Like tires, I think was a big one. Maybe that was Sam's Club, I can't remember. But but yeah, to your point, um I one thing that I've been using now that absolutely has been making me money, and it takes seconds, literally seconds, is again you gotta be in the meta playground, right? So you gotta have a Facebook account. But if you do, they have an app out there called View Viewpoints or Viewpoint, and it's basically like a survey app. And but the thing is, like once you get it set up, it takes you literally seconds and you earn points every time you have to do it. And once you get so many points, you can just cash it out for PayPal money or a virtual gift card. And I've been using it now for I don't know, a year, but I've made like over a hundred dollars, like, and it takes like literally seconds. So it's pretty rad. Like yeah, and now they've actually made it even easier. What you're what they're doing is they're tracking um my usage on what app I'm in, right? So your screen time basically, your screen time data. But they actually gave me an iOS, those of you that are on iPhone, they gave me like an iOS shortcut. So literally I'll get a notification that there's a new um a new task available. You open up shortcuts, hit the button, and then paste it, and you're done. Like it took literally 20 seconds, and you can earn what I do is every time I get the 20 bucks, I just cash it out because that's free lunch.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

There's no such thing as a free lunch. I'm an accountant. Okay, I feel attacked right now because I'm an accountant, and so there's no such thing as a free. That's one of our that's one of our things. Okay, okay. But I mean, I guess it would be I guess we should probably mention that a lot of gift cards go unused. That's partly why they're able to give you a discount.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Oh my gosh. You know what? It was crazy. I literally I remember um God, when was that? I think I was still working, so a couple years ago. I remember doing research on it because I heard this crazy stat of how many billions of dollars of unused gift cards there are, and I'm like, man, there's gotta be some business model to tap into that. I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of services that you can like trade it for another kind or you can get a percentage of the cash value. There's a lot of different ways to do that, but man, I just feel as though it's such a waste.

SPEAKER_00 41:19

Yeah. So like at Costco, if it was like the option to buy a gift card, I would make sure it was something that was on my purchase procrastination list. So something that I have already wanted to buy, not getting lured into an impulse purchase with at that place. And then um, yeah, that I like follow through. And I mean, I have set calendar reminders for like tracking um to make sure that I do follow through and purchase the thing or use the card.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Oh, spe speaking of which, I bought, I think it was last Black Friday. There was because I follow like I follow some like save money groups on like Facebook or whatever, and there was like this awesome deal for like AMC movie theaters. Get like a family pack. It was like four movie tickets, four pops, four popcorns, blah, blah, blah, blah, for like, I don't know, 80% off or some shit. And I'm like, oh, awesome! So I buy this thing, totally forgot about it. I literally just got an email saying, Hey, remember you have this thing, and it's been six months. So that was money well spent. I mean, I better use it before it expires or something.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Yeah, and that's like the kind of the deal with like loyalty programs and gift cards and um like coupons and stuff. Like, I am detail oriented, but I am not apparently that detail oriented to where I perfectly execute deals and discounts all the time. And so, like a lot of times it just ends up, you know, I just get frustrated, like, oh, I did all this work, I did all this reading, and now I still I mean, it happened the other day with a three-dollar um donut. Uh uh, it was like three dollar Thursdays, but then it anyway, it was a whole thing where it was like there was a bunch of fine prints where it's like it's not actually three dollars, it's in the three to four dollar range, and you have to buy a drink. Well, I mean, it didn't say three dollars buy a you know, get one when you buy one anyway.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

So anyway, yeah, but I I gotta I gotta ask you because there was something you posted where you went to two donut shops in one day. Oops, yes, very recent. Apparently, you really like donuts.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

Yes, yes. I'm big into it. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

I mean, is there a more whimsical dessert? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 43:33

Man, I'm they just they're opening up two Duncan's in my in my town. Oh, you can go to them in one day. They just they just open well the crazy part, they're within I don't know, like a mile from each other. One is a standalone location, one is now gonna be in our Walmart. So that's crazy. I know.

SPEAKER_00 43:55

These were fancy donuts for the audience.

SPEAKER_01 43:58

Oh what's the difference?

SPEAKER_00 44:00

About $3 each. $3 each different.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

They used the fancy flour or what?

SPEAKER_00 44:07

No, no, no. I like um well some of them were like uh one of the places was um made fresh to order, so like hot and like they had um it like a coffee cake flavor and um a caramel latte flavor.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

That's my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Yeah, I got a cookie butter, cookie butter flavor.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Ooh, have you ever had an Amish donut?

SPEAKER_00 44:29

No.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

So yeah, you gotta look this up. So there is a booth that's at our Minnesota State Fair, and they can sometimes have lines that are like I mean, a hundred people long waiting for these donuts, and they are the best melt-in-your-mouth glazed donuts you'd ever eat in your life. I don't know the magic that's behind them, but Amish donuts are amazing. So it'll be your jam.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

I'm into it.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Are you gonna be at Camp Five Midwest at some point?

SPEAKER_00 45:00

I am, yes. Uh week two of the Labor Day.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

Our state fair. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

Okay, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

Usually there's a group that go. So if you go, find the Amish donuts.

SPEAKER_00 45:10

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. And not to dunk on Duncan. I'm not I'm not an elitist when it comes to donuts. I like all. I just meant like just so that the there's different levels of donuts, and I I experience all the levels. That's one of the benefits of having money.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

That's right, that's right. So um have you ever, and those of you may have known, have you ever heard of the service uh Too Good to Go?

SPEAKER_00 45:34

I have, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

Yeah, so like um basically restaurants, stores, rather than just toss their older food or whatever at the end of the night or the next day, you can go and buy that food at a discount. And so in mine, it's so funny because our uh like our speedway, like our gas stations, they're on there and they will literally say, Hey, we have it, and you can go get like a dozen donuts before they throw them away at like a couple dollars for like donuts.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

So Hell yeah, donut donut money saving tips. I actually don't have any donut money saving tips. Oh, so that's a good one. Yeah anyway.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

Yeah, good to go. Um, and it gets weird because you need the app, and then you what I would do is you gotta like have location turned on because the the different restaurants and stores always change. So if you have like our bagel shop, like Big Apple bagels, it's not on there all the time, but sometimes they'll say, Oh, we got a bunch of leftover bagels from the previous day, and you can get a dozen bagels for like three dollars. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

So this is um, I wanted to share um two of the prompts that I use pretty consistently for like this um time of trying to find alternatives, which is um, how can I buy this for less or how can I get it for free? And how can I achieve the same outcome or less or for free? Um, so for example, I had a pizza cutter on my purchase procrastin procrastination list for a long time because mine was like wobbly.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 47:12

And um just at randomly one time I was like watching um, I think it was like money saving videos, like TikToks or whatever, and someone was like, Oh, you can use scissors to cut pizza. And I was like, I already have two pairs of kitchen shears. So I tried it and now like I never did buy a pizza cutter. So I just wanted to mention like you don't always have to replace the thing with the thing, you can like try and find other ways to do the thing you're trying to do.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Right on. I love that, and I think I don't know why, but for some reason, like I don't know, 10 years ago, maybe my pizza cutter was dirty or something. I don't know what the thing was, but I just took out the biggest knife I had in my block, and I was like, crunch, crunch, and from then on, that's how I cut my pizza.

SPEAKER_00 48:00

Yeah, it's so funny, right? The things that you think that you need or that you know people have and think that they need when you can get by with so much less. So yeah, I highly recommend scissors, it's a good hack.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

That is a good hack. I never would have thought about it. Absolutely. What's another one? That's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 48:17

Um, yeah, so another one would be like, oh, well, sometimes maybe I'll go shoe shopping because I'm bored. So, okay, well, if you're bored and you want to not be bored, maybe read a book. So, you know, it's like it can be it. I've been surprised at times when like I've been like trying to come up with the outcome and being like, oh, okay, I can come up with something that you know is absolutely free and unrelated to spending money.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

I I do think it's kind of crazy that there are people like it's just so not the way my brain works. But to your point, when they're bored, like that is to them an activity to go shopping, or that's a hobby to go shopping. Like I used to work with somebody that you know I'd come back or like we go to all of a sudden I say, Hey, how was your weekend? Like, oh, it was great. My daughter and I went to Chicago for the weekend to go shopping. Like, what? That's a thing, like I don't to me, it's just so weird. I don't know. I'm sure a lot of people do, and again, no disrespect to those people that if they can do it and they can afford it, and they I just think a lot of people probably can't afford it. That's the problem.

SPEAKER_00 49:26

Yeah, and you know, I'm one of those people, like in my heart, I like spending money. Thankfully, I was forced at a very young age to develop frugal habits, and so you know, I can I feel comfortable now in the frugality as well as the spend. Um, but yeah, I mean, I get it. And I it's kind of more I I think that is kind of more common for women as well. Like it's something to do um that gets you out of the house and it can be free as well. You go like I went shopping with a friend the other day and didn't buy anything, went to an art festival. And so, you know, it it can be shopping. It seems weird to say that, right? Shopping can be a free, fun hobby, but you get exercise, yeah. No, get out of the house, it's social.

SPEAKER_01 50:09

Yeah, no, I guess that's what window shopping is, right? You're just like looking, you're perusing. Can I use that word? Perusing, is that the real one? I'll allow it. So um, yeah, totally. And that's but again, I think it depends on who you are because sometimes that's dangerous because then you find those impulse buys where it's like, holy shit, I can't afford not to buy it. It's 80% off or whatever. And that's where I don't want to fall into that trap, you know.

SPEAKER_00 50:37

Yeah, it is hard to pass up a deal as well. I will say, with like my purchase procrastination list, there have been times where the thing was on sale and then by the time I went to buy it, it wasn't. Or and and or and times where I went and then the thing didn't it wasn't at the store anymore. Like they had like not, they weren't carrying the same shirt shirt or whatever. Um, so that can happen, but you know, I like to think that it the universe levels itself out as far as like, oh, uh, there's always gonna be something else that I want to buy. There's no lack of finding fun things to spend money on.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

So I feel as though that there are those people, like especially in the Fi community, those people that have kind of reached their, you know, there are people too that they're at a point where they're learning how to spend their money because they haven't for so long, you know? So it's like one extreme to the next, you know. And uh do you have any last-minute money-saving tips for our listeners and our people on YouTube?

SPEAKER_00 51:42

Um, yeah. Two quick things. Okay. Um, keep an inventory of what you have. So like going through the stuff that you have kind of more regularly or like on a consistent quarterly basis or something. So that way, like when you're thinking like, oh, I need a dot dot dot. Sometimes I already had the dot dot dot and didn't realize it. So making sure you're going through your shit. Um, and then here's a really weird idea I had for like how to be more creative and resourceful with your money is um keeping a list of things that you were wrong about or that you have changed your preference on. I feel like it's just a explain, explain. Okay, so it's just a really good exercise in like um questioning your own brain's things of what it thinks it wants and needs. And it's like kind of an open, it's a it's an exercise in openness, right? It's like, okay, I was so sure that pesto was disgusting. Um, but then I discovered that I liked a pesto. And so it's things like that where it's like the flexibility that you have in your brain really contributes to how resourceful and creative you can be. And so trying to keep that openness.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

Yeah, I like that. I mean, I remember for the longest time I thought I didn't like squash for whatever reason. And I remember one time I was at my grandma's and she made these like squash, stuffed, squashed, baked things, and I was like, oh my god, they were like amazing. Like, where have these been my whole life? You know? Yeah, yeah, that's so wild. No, I like that. Yeah, sometimes you guys take a step back and revisit that. Maybe your tastes have changed, your thoughts have changed. Hey, we know we change what's the psychology? Typically, we are a different person every 10 years or something like that. That's why people get divorced. I heard it's true. If you're not growing together, you grow apart. I don't know. I'm not a psychologist, I don't know. I'm not a scientist. That's right. Um, so anyway, I want to thank you again for coming and I want to thank everyone for listening. And remember, I got a really fun giveaway. So, what I want you to do is if you can go leave a review on Apple Podcasts, I have copies of this book by Dr. Paris Woods. This is the student's guide to financial freedom. Go leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and I will pick um someone that leaves a current review of the podcast, and I will contact you and send you a copy of this book. Super rad for that young person in your life that wants to get um get a heads up. The cool thing is one of the previous uh a past U.S. Secretary of Education says this is a must-read guide for empowering the next generation um to achieve economic mobility. It's just a really cool book. So, again, we should do as much as we can for the young people. So cool. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Roxanne Finance Rocks. I appreciate it. I want everyone to have a great rest of your day, and we will see you next time on the stream personal finance show.

SPEAKER_02 54:49

See ya!

unknown 54:57

All right.