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Episode 189 - How to Save Money On Groceries

Welcome to episode #189 of the Debt Free Dad Podcast. We all know that food prices have been on the rise, although this past year they have slowed down a bit from the previous year. But groceries are BIG expenses in our budgets. Today we are sharing some ideas, tips, and reminders to help you save money and reduce your grocery bill.

 

What You'll Learn

  • With food prices on the rise, hear the latest tips that help us stick to our budget.
  • This one change can make a huge difference in how much you spend. (Most people miss this!)
  • Having trouble sticking to your list and your budget? Use this one tool that will keep your grocery spending under control!

Resources Mentioned

Free Tools and Downloads at www.debtfreedad.com
Connect With Brad

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Episode Transcript: 

Brad:  

Hey everybody, welcome to episode number 189 of the Debt Free Dad podcast. So we all know that food prices have been on the rise, although this past year they have slowed down a bit from the previous year here in 2022, but groceries are a big expense in a lot of our budgets. So today we're gonna be sharing some ideas, some tips that have helped us and some great tips on the Debt Free Dad page. Stay tuned as we deliver this episode.

Announcement:  

You're listening to the Debt Free Dad podcast with Brad Nelson. Brad and his co-hosts experienced the anxiety of living paycheck to paycheck before learning the fundamentals of financial security. They are now on a mission to empower regular people to pay off their debt for good and enjoy happier, less stressful lives. Keep listening for inspirational interviews, tips, tricks and practical advice to gain financial freedom.

Brad:  

So guys talking all about groceries today and this is a hot topic and again, something I see on social media quite a bit is these comparisons, where people will do somewhat of these dramatic videos and Amber, I know we were just talking about this but of comparing what $100 was buying several years ago versus what $100 is buying today in the grocery store, and you had mentioned up in Canada that you're seeing a pretty dramatic difference right now.

Amber:  

Oh, it's awful. And I remember when Watermelons were coming out it was like hey, summer, yeah, watermelons are here. They were $10 of Watermelon Holy smokes Canadian dollars, so that's about $7 US.

Brad:  

Yeah, so that's still about $2 or $3 more than I'm paying. Yeah.

Amber:  

And everything's pretty much up like that yeah.

Brad:  

So when you look at your grocery budget from a few years ago versus now, how much more per month are you spending? Do you think?

Amber:  

I should have looked it up. I think we were averaging about 7 to 800 in a month when we were a couple of years ago. Now we're up to 1,000 to 1,200.

Brad:  

OK, wow, for two people. Wow, what about you guys? Ryan, chris, what do you guys know? You guys are obviously different. Chris, you have no kids at home, right?

Chris:  

Correct, I'm just thinking. I'm not going to move to Canada any time soon.

Amber:  

Free health care, but we take 40% of your income A charge you for Different topic for a different day.

Chris:  

I'm not going to bite on that one. I mean, I guess food prices have gone up. In the area where I'm at, we don't have a lot of competition. If you want competition you've got to drive 20, 25 minutes. So the one player in town, so to speak, has found a way to really stick it to people. The prices are astronomical and it's not just one item like watermelon, it's all across the board. I mean, there's a type of sausage, for example, that they used to carry that was almost double what you could get it for. It's some of the little mom and pop shops around. Wow, and they do that because that's where most people are going grocery shopping. Right, and they can get away with it. Now you mentioned Aldi. Before we started broadcasting, or not broadcasting, recording, and we try to still shop at Aldi. There is one about 20 minutes away and that's the best gig in town in terms of keeping your prices down. But overall, I think inflation is happening. We all feel that, we all see it, and it makes you have to make different choices.

Brad:  

Right, yeah, aldi is amazing. There are people, though, who won't shop at Aldi because they're very specific to name brands and Aldi does not have. I mean, they do have some name brands, but most of their stuff I'd say 90% to 95% of it is not name brand, so you kind of get over that hump a little bit.

Announcement:  

Do you guys have?

Brad:  

Aldi up in Canada. No, we do not, you don't have Aldi, ok, but yeah, that's been it. That's huge, I would say, for me and my two kids. So I'm a single parent with two kids. We're probably between six and $700 a month right now. But that's kind of everything. That's dog food and pick up a couple cases of beer per month or toiletry type stuff. I mean, that's everything, toilet paper, that's everything kind of lumped in. But I do and I find that the majority of the stuff that I buy is at Aldi, just because it's just significantly less money. Now I will say, lately their produce has been a little bit disappointing to me, but I've had to make some different selections at some different stores, but for the most part their stuff's been pretty good. Now, where you got to watch yourself when you go to Aldi is the Aldi find. You go down that aisle, Chris, the Aldi buys, you know the hot buys.

Chris:  

No, I don't want to wait for chainsaws at Aldi.

Brad:  

Yes, I love bringing up this story every time. I mean, that's why Aldi is my favorite now, because where can you go to a grocery store and buy a fricking chainsaw?

Amber:  

I can't wait till I'm in the States again, Like I got to go to one of these stores.

Chris:  

I can't equate a vacuum cleaner at a grocery store.

Amber:  

Well, what's the big deal? Walmart does it.

Chris:  

I know a lot, but they sell a bunch of other things too. It's not just vacuum, but it's like 12 random things every week. You're like if somebody call up the sales reps at Aldi hey, we got over a bunch of chainsaws. You think you can help us move them?

Amber:  

I bet you, that's what happens.

Brad:  

I love it. Oh, never forget that day. Well, Katie was just on Not Too Long ago talking about it. She bought it herself an area rug. Yeah, Aldi finds man. They got some great stuff in there. But anyways, let's go down and talk about a few things that have helped us. You guys can obviously share your tips In fact, I would welcome you guys to share your tips, but I think the biggest one you know several years ago, what was it 2021? Was it 2021? We did the meal challenge, where Sarah and I ate at home for like 425 straight days. I think that was 2021.

Chris:  

2020 and 21 was during COVID. Right, it was during COVID, right, yeah, it was during COVID, so that was 2020.

Brad:  

Yeah, so we ate at home for 425 straight days and the key to that was making a list and just meal planning. And I think that's the biggest thing that'll help you save when it comes to grocery shopping is making a list and sticking to it and then just having a meal plan. And sticking to that list also means sticking to the meal plan too. And that's where it can get a little challenging too, because sometimes when you buy something at the beginning of the week and then you make it 4 days later, you're like, oh, I'm not really in the mood for whatever, I just meal plan. That's hard right. Because then it's like, oh, let's go out to eat and then, before you know what, you're throwing away groceries. In fact, according to SaveTheFood. com which this is an interesting website, go to this website, savethefood. com A typical family of four and this is again, this hasn't been updated, so I'm guessing this probably even more now because groceries are more expensive A typical family of four wastes $1500 a year on food $1500. That's over $100 a month that you're throwing away. And there's nothing more painful because, like, if you're throwing away produce, the stuff that you didn't use, or you know, the cheese gets moldy because you use it right, but you know, you know it's like man, I just paid $3 or $4. So you're throwing it right in the trash. Also interesting statistic from that website 40% of all food produced in the United States is wasted 40%. That is unreal. But the other part about meal planning and creating a list is just cooking more of the food at home means less processed food, which honestly is more healthy for you but also less expensive. So like, for instance, when you start talking about snacks and stuff for your kids and all of that, like, if you can do more of that prep at home rather than buying, like the individual packs, the stores and things, you can save a significant amount of money. Now, obviously, you trade off a little time. So there's a little, you know, sacrifice and trade off there. But that for me, has been big. Now I will say in the last six months since Sarah passed away, I mean, it's been, it's been let's just say not it's been a zoo. It hasn't been quite as organized as it used to be right, and there's definitely been times where I've had to throw away stuff because we didn't. You know, the schedules didn't work out. Now, being that my kids are now going to be starting school. We're going to try getting back into this a little bit more consistently, but you know, if you can meal plan and have a list, I think that that set yourself up for success right away.

Amber:  

And I like this one, being aware of what you already have. I actually take pictures of my fridge and my pantry because I don't want to write it down and it's just easier, and I open up the picture when I go to the grocery. I'm like, oh, did I have that in there? And it's so easy.

Brad:  

That's actually really good. I just randomly take pictures once a week. Yeah, how many times. There was one time in my, my first marriage, when I was married to Kelly, we went grocery shopping. We came back, we bought frozen corn. We went in the freezer. There were 10 bags, of frozen corn.

Amber:  

That's like that. That tik tok about the hoist and sauce. Yeah.

Brad:  

Hoist and sauce. Wait, what Hoist and sauce?

Amber:  

I didn't see that one, oh my gosh, I'll have to send that one to you, so you instead, is you take a picture of your fridge?

Chris:  

Is that what you said? Yeah, so you mean I don't have to buy one of those expensive refrigerators that have a camera that's Wi-Fi connected and I can just from the grocery store? Definitely not, okay.

Brad:  

Save your money. That's a thing, yes, what?

Chris:  

You've never seen the, the, the refrigerators that you touch them and they they clear and you can see through the door. No, into the refrigerator and then their Wi-Fi connected and you can do your shopping list and there's. I would imagine that some of them have cameras in them. I would imagine that you could probably just pull up on your phone and go what's in the fridge tonight.

Brad:  

Weird. Wow, that's pretty cool actually, technology I'm not. I'm not a connoisseur of refrigerators when I'm in the market for one, but those do sound pretty cool. That sounds cool. I'm sure they're pretty expensive too.

Chris:  

Or you can just take a picture like was mentioned, right With your $1,100 phone See the phone of the refrigerator. You're spending money one way, but why spend both? Right, Right, Right.

Brad:  

Other two big areas are obviously don't shop hungry and don't shop with your kids. These are huge, especially hungry. This one's big one for me. I will buy the store.

Amber:  

Oh my gosh, it's amazing.

Brad:  

It's amazing the stuff that you buy and then you get home and you're just like, yeah, I went.

Chris:  

I went to the store here about a month ago. My wife called me, says, can you start buying? Get some milk. And I said did you get dinner made? She's like, well, not yet. It's not like 9.15 at night. So guess what happened when I got to the grocery store? It wasn't just milk, it was like $70 later and it was half of its junk food. So, yeah, don't shop when you're hungry. Now you mentioned don't shop with kids. That's real important. But if you do, here's a tip for you. You know those little clickers that people clicked when you. They're counting people who come through the door. So as you come through the door you can click those things. Get one of those for your kids. And if you've got a budget set up this, we're only going to spend X amount of dollars. Have them click. So it's $3. 99. Have them click it four times and their job is to keep track of how much you're spending as you go through the grocery store.

Amber:  

That would have been easier than sending back stuff at the cash when I used to do that. Take that off, take that off.

Chris:  

There's some stigmatism for some people who don't want to get a calculator out because they don't want other people seeing them and go oh my gosh, they're using a calculator. They must be broke or poor. So you just, you know, keep a little clicker and have your kid that their job is to see how low they can keep the clicker. That way they don't ask for a bunch of things.

Brad:  

That's actually a really good idea. I love that. That's awesome. Yeah, I think if I were to give that clicker to Avery, though, that would be like three to be like $800. There's something to do right, right, um, a big one that I even put on the list, guys, is use cash. It's a big one and we get so used to paying with, you know, your credit card or your debit card and and it's so easy to overspend that way, even using your debit card, and this is something we I've gotten away from. Now I use my debit card all the time, but when we were getting out of debt, we went to cash and it helped a lot. Stick to the plan and we see this inside roots a lot. Where people use the envelope system, they'll put money away and, ryan, you guys do this right, you guys are still using cash your groceries and stuff, right, yeah, and you guys find that helps you.

Ryan:  

Well, yeah, I mean it just because when you go to the store, you just you can't you, this is what I have to spend, so it's just you know, and it, it. I mean I should say we, if we go to the store, we do a lot more order online and pick up now, because then it's like you get the total right in front of your face because I am horrible. I am a horrible like in the grocery store, like you know. Like, oh, they make Reese's Puff minis. Now I should try those. Like, if you put a cartoon character on it and make the box colorful, I'm probably gonna buy it. It's just like I don't need that, but it looks like I way like it.

Chris:  

So what we used to do and again we use debit cards now because we don't have to go to extreme measures but when we were really young how we're getting out of debt we created a meal plan, went and looked and seen what things do we need to buy, whether we already have. Well, we need to buy is our grocery list. Next to it, we estimated the cost, added it up, added tax, and that that was our number. And if the number was more than what we had in our envelope, well, I guess we're redoing our meal plan, changing the grocery list. But if we had enough money, we only took maybe a five or ten dollar buffering cash. We didn't even take the whole cash envelope Right. That way, when we're in the grocery store, we're actually with a calculator out calculating and keeping track. Or how close was our guess? Do we need to modify? So we're not at the checkout line at the end and sending things back? Yeah, but we knew there was no wiggle room to add anything because we only had what we had, right. So it's. It's one of those tools to protect you against your own worst financial enemy, which is yourself, right. So, meal plan, grocery list, but estimate it. Take cash only enough to cover what it is that you expect to buy, maybe a few extra bucks in case your numbers are off. And then you, you have to get the grocery list or, as Ryan says, now with the technology order and go pick it up. Then somebody else does the shopping for you. They're probably not gonna add puff marshmallows or whatever to your shopping list Themselves, but you would. So I need to try this. You know, ordering and picking it up, yeah Well, that's a big one.

Brad:  

I haven't done it. That's one of the. That's one. Obviously there's so many people who actually, I think, commented on our page too about that. But just doing shop online and pick up and, ryan, you brought up just the the whole impulsiveness of grocery shopping and In an article on the conversation. com titled how shops use psychology to influence your buying decisions, they have a statistic in there that says as much as 50% of all groceries are sold because of impulsiveness. 50%, a lot, and again it's a huge part of your budget. It's a huge part and and you start making just different decisions and some of these practices even things like just basic, you know getting back into, you know doing coupons and Rewards cards or checking out, like the weekly flyers and lining that up to your meal plan or planning around what's on sale in those weekly flyers is huge.

Amber:  

Do you guys do that? Do you guys coupon that kind of thing to you? That?

Brad:  

I do not actively coupon outside the store, like if I buy something that's got a coupon I will take it. You'll take it, yeah, but I will look at some of the flyers and stuff that come through and if there's certain things, I'll go to specific stores for certain things. But I have found, though, across the board for the most part. For me, I mean, aldi has just been like the most, the biggest saver, you know.

Amber:  

I tried to coupon and I found like a lot of the things is like I wouldn't even buy this.

Brad:  

Well, that's right.

Amber:  

I'm gonna buy stuff I don't really want or need. Right, just made no sense to me these extreme couponing. But like, what about apps, though? You guys must have apps, like in the States where, like we have, like for Canadians, flash food app or too good to go app, and these are places that it's reaching expiry and they're gonna put it on sale, like I accidentally bought 40 pounds of bacon one day.

Brad:  

Did you really?

Ryan:  

can never have too much.

Amber:  

My freezer's full. We've been eating it all summer.

Chris:  

So how do you accidentally buy 40?

Brad:  

because you just get put into the cart.

Amber:  

They've got more of it. I mean right, no, in the app. So there's, there's an app, it's called flash food and it's the grocery stores in the in town and Basically anything that's getting close they're gonna put it really discounted. So it was two dollars a pound and I was like, wow, this is great, and I'm right here. I was near the place, so I start adding it to my cart. I'm like I'm gonna get 20. So I added it to my cart, I processed it, something happened. It glitched. It said it didn't go through. So, all right, I'll do it again. Well, when I got there, I got there with one like big, huge, reusable shopping bag and the guy's like putting it in. I'm like, yeah, okay, that's 20, that's what I bought. And he goes no, no see, you bought 20 and 20.

Chris:  

So you accidentally bought 20, and you purposely bought 20.

Amber:  

Yeah, that's the real story here. That's the real story.

Chris:  

I was thinking how do you accidentally, did you like knock the box off? As you were walking down the alley, fell in your car and you didn't notice it.

Amber:  

Okay, so I accidentally bought 20 extra pounds of bacon.

Brad:  

That's a good accident though.

Amber:  

I mean, it was two bucks, it was okay.

Chris:  

but what do you? Got Two bucks, adds up.

Brad:  

So we've been talking about all the ins and generics. What do you guys feel about generics If they taste as good?

Chris:  

or close than I buy them. I don't care if it's generic or not.

Amber:  

I can't buy generic ketchup.

Ryan:  

Try the Aldi. Well, you don't have an Audi, I don't have an Audi.

Chris:  

The Audi ketchup is a name brand that's very popular and I almost said it starts with an H, but then I realized the two most popular ones both start with H. Okay, try the Audi one, but you don't have an Audi there. But everybody else listening. If you're a ketchup snob, audi ketchup.

Brad:  

Well, you know it's gonna be. Yeah, audi, ketchup is good. You know it's a generic when it's called catsup, not ketchup, and by the way I was just talking to a friend about this and they said catsup. They said catsup. I'm like do you really say it that way? They're like, yeah, I'm like you know it's ketchup, right. They're like, no, it's ketchup. So we looked it up. Ketchup actually started as catsup. That's how it originally started and yeah, but you definitely know you got a generic brand of ketchup when it's called ketchup now.

Chris:  

So it reminds me of the debate that happens every day in my ice cream shop Is it pecan or pecan? Oh yeah.

Brad:  

Or pecan.

Amber:  

Tomato, tomato, pecan, it's pecan.

Ryan:  

Is it?

Brad:  

pecan.

Amber:  

It's pecan.

Brad:  

What do you say, chris, pecan Pecan?

Chris:  

But then there are people up here who are in Georgia and grown up in Georgia. It's pecan.

Ryan:  

Pecan. Yeah, yeah, I mean I don't mind, I mean it depends. I mean there's some stuff that's generic, so I don't really care. Like you know, we bake and so like certain things, like when it comes to generic like flour and generic like baking goods, like we're just, it just depends. I mean some people don't care, but for me, I mean, there's definitely a difference in taste depending on what you. So there's a certain things, like if I'm gonna bake and we're gonna have certain things like Christmas cookies, that sort of stuff I'm gonna go buy, you know, good butter and good stuff you know In that thing. But then other stuff I don't really care, it doesn't, really doesn't matter to me, although I will say and I'm not gonna plug it, but we did buy a generic cookie and we're because you know we've been trying to save money and we're like, oh, I will just try and we'll see how they are, we love them. We like buy them all the time now and it's like driving us crazy because they're cheap. Yeah, it's like, yeah, I just get three of them. It's like there's. So I do like some generics a lot.

Brad:  

Yeah, yeah, like mac and cheese, though is not like I can't. I bought. I bought Avery some of the mac and cheese from Aldi and I was just like. Now we're not doing that again.

Amber:  

You guys don't have Kraft Dinner right.

Brad:  

Kraft like Kraft, macaroni and cheese. Yeah, do you oh?

Amber:  

okay, it's called Kraft macaroni and cheese, not Kraft Dinner. That's all we have Kraft Dinner.

Brad:  

Okay, so it's macaroni and cheese.

Amber:  

But I prefer the no-name one.

Brad:  

You do. That's interesting, yeah, wow. Or like cereal, like I am. If I'm going to get cereal, I want the cocoa puffs, not the chocolate balls. Right, yeah.

Chris:  

Well, that's, that's the way I am with the business here. When it comes to the ingredients, up to the ice cream, I'm not skimping, and that's while we're at a different price point compared to the ice cream shops. But that's that's our. You know, our claim to fame is that we have better ingredients, better taste, something you can't get anywhere else. Personally, you know there's a lot of generics that I will buy that I'm okay with. Now there's others. Like you said, if I'm buying cereal, there's pretty much one cereal that I'm going to eat and it's so expensive I don't buy cereal much anymore.

Brad:  

Yeah, what's the cereal, chris Come on, it's a golden grams. Yeah, that's a good one, love it. I know it's like $6 a box.

Chris:  

It's like gracious.

Brad:  

It's expensive. What kind of tips did we get from the page? Let's take a look at some of those. Let's see what Kati. I want to read. Kati's real quick and we can, Ryan, if you want to pick out, because Kati is not here. So we're going to give Katie some credit. Katie says check the grocery store ads to see what's on sale right. Check physical and digital coupons and apps that offer discounts. That's a good one. Obviously, she mentions make a meal plan, which we did. Make a grocery shopping list and stick to it, which we did. Don't go shopping while you're hungry, which we talked about. Don't stock up or take stock of what you've got. Like she said Amber, look at that.

Announcement:  

I take photos before she does too.

Brad:  

Look, you guys would have been on the same page with that. She says see what kind of meats and veggies you can stretch out across multiple meals. Get ahead of lettuce instead of the bags of salad. Five pound bag of potatoes versus picking out individual potatoes. Get the large, family size bags of chicken breast and break down into portions. Yes, that's a big one.

Chris:  

So do we plagiarize her list. No, she's just sounds like it right.

Brad:  

She's just great. She says grab a quick, easy meal. This is a good tip. We didn't even mention this one. This is good. She says grab a quick and easy meal while you're shopping, in case you need to make something for dinner right away when you get home. So you don't make an excuse to be lazy or tired after you get back and you don't feel like cooking, so you go, order takeout.

Announcement:  

That's genius, that's actually a really good tip yeah.

Chris:  

And then, last but not least, yeah, go ahead, Chris. And we throw out one thing that I've heard it on her list and that it's not on our list, something that we've been doing more of lately Grow your own.

Brad:  

Yes, yeah, big one, yeah, having a garden. And then last one that she has get creative on what you've got on hand and create meals with what you already have, instead of going out and shopping for more stuff.

Ryan:  

So, yeah, yeah, there's one here. I'm interested because we've done this and I kind of see it both ways. But Dennis Rivera says hello fresh. So, like those meal kits that you get for the amount of like, we've done them number of times for the amount of food you get I would say it's a little pricey. But I think where you could potentially save money is if you're the kind of person who buys three pounds of chicken to cook a chicken meal and you throw half of it away, or you don't save it or you put it in the freezer for nine months until it's growing a bunch of freezer burn. What I did like about it is you do get exactly what you need, you cook it and you're done. You have no waste. So it's not always more expensive. It just depends on how you use that extra food that you're buying.

Brad:  

Yeah.

Chris:  

Is that sort of like when I go grocery shopping and then I get to the checkout line? I've got to check my own self out, I got to do their job for you. Now it's like going to a restaurant, but I'm cooking my own food, but somebody else is providing it.

Amber:  

Well, they give you everything you need for the meal so you don't have to buy a whole thing of onion powder. It's just in little packages and it's just the meal that, when you're done cooking, there's no food left.

Brad:  

Yeah, and it's actually really good, it is really good.

Ryan:  

And a little tip for everybody If you want it cheap, you just sign up for their promo and then you cancel it, and then you sign up for the next promo and then you cancel it, and then you sign up for the next promo, and by the time that one's done, they're sending you come back promos, and so you just keep playing the promo game and you'll always get it for much cheaper.

Brad:  

Hey, hello fresh. If you want to advertise on our show.

Chris:  

Sounds to me like a plant. It's like XM radio.

Ryan:  

You can renew for $200. Yeah, I'll just cancel. And then three months later they're like you can have it for 10 bucks. I'm like, okay, that reminds me.

Brad:  

I got to call them because I just went up. I do have to call them. I like Christopher whippers comment here His goal or his money saving tip is starving. There we go. But no, all kidding aside, sometimes like just and this is like, this is a I mean a good one I'm trying to eat. Healthier is just having less junk food, like this one's, Brenda, we are. We are doing fasting over here, so intermittent fasting, not buying any junk food. So they're not buying soda punch juice, they're trying to drink water and do crystal light type stuff. She says junk food is not good for you anyways. Fruits and veggies, lean meats. Sure, there's some complaints, but my pocket book is actually feeling the difference right now. So again, like we talked about, you know bringing more, you know processed foods, and this is another one big one. Guys, you know just this one I see all the time Big money wastes are in a lot of people's budgets is convenient store stops. Stop doing that. Like your pain and I got, and I'm such a hypocrite for this. So the other night I was coming home and I was running super late. I, Avery, was with one of my relatives that was watching her and I had to get home to meet them and I forgot that we needed milk so I had to stop at a convenience store to pick up milk for the next morning it's double the price that it is at the grocery store. Double. I mean if you're constantly doing that, you know, once in a while, like if you're in a pinch, I get it. You know, none of us are perfect, but if you're doing that every day or if you're doing that multiple times a week for soda and snacks and sandwiches and lunch and man, those are huge budget killers. Huge, and you don't even realize it because a lot of people aren't just keeping track of that. Any others that we want to go across? I'm just looking through the list here.

Ryan:  

A lot of Aldi. We use this, so a couple of people using apps like Ib otta, like Marcella McMaster so another person. I had another one. I missed it here, but yeah, just the apps that are out there I know we use. for that sort of stuff and I don't know, if that's how you say it. But that's how we say it. It's , yeah.

Brad:  

Okay, yeah, katie's. Kati talks about that a lot too in Roots and uses a lot of those apps as well. So so, anyways, lots of great tips for you guys. Again, some of these are some really good reminders and sometimes it's just a recommitment. You know you get busy in life, especially, you know, this time of year. School is getting back in and sometimes we get lazy with meal planning and making lists and sticking to it. And but all great reminders, today we're going to take a quick commercial break and come back here with some celebrations. So the totally awesome Debt Freedom Planner is helping so many people make consistent progress with their finances, whether that be building emergency funds, paying down bills, budgeting, tracking paydays, saving up for larger purchases, goal planning and planning for those irregular yearly expenses that always seem to catch you by surprise. Now the Dev Freedom Planner will help you take the stress out of managing your money. And if the thought is running through your mind, hey, I just need to have a simple tool to get my finances together. This planner is perfect for you. Head over to therealdebtfreedad. com, click on the Dev Freedom Planner in the menu at the top of the page and order your Dev Freedom Planner today. Okay.

Amber:  

And that's how we just time for the celebrations of the show. First, we have Sandy Curt's Jared concert tickets for November. So excited, it's so happy. I did not put it on a credit card. Yeah, that is awesome.

Brad:  

I wonder who she's going to see. I don't know, but that's awesome. And, by the way, these are all celebrations of fun things that people have paid cash for here inside Roots. So, liz Pfeffer, I got a pedicure. This always makes me feel like I am taking care of myself well, which is awesome. Good for you, liz.

Chris:  

And real quick, Brad, concert tickets she paid cash for Is that right, Sandy Did that's right. One of the beautiful things you can do when you're out of debt is every now and then you can splurge. So yesterday I bought tickets to Wisconsin Ohio State in Madison October 28. So, brad, I want to be up in your neck of the woods here in a couple of months.

Brad:  

That's awesome.

Chris:  

Just to watch a different football game. So that's the nice thing you can do when you're out of debt. So that's my splurging with cash. Right, Sally Annis I'm going to butcher that name. She bought new flooring.

Brad:  

Awesome, there you go. Great job Sally and Nick.

Ryan:  

Uh, Terry Manley Campotaro, I bought myself a few new houseplants. There you go. Awesome, Love it.

Amber:  

And Robbie Donahue $30. All you can eat sushi and a nap.

Brad:  

Yeah, I like the nap. I need a nap. Awesome wins, guys. Congratulations you guys. And if you're just getting started with our podcast or maybe you've been listening for some time and you're interested in how you can get started on the road to financial freedom, go visit our website at balancedcents.com and sign up for my free Life Without Payments workshop, where I'm going to show you the first steps that have helped tens of thousands of people just like you and I kick financial stress and worry for good. We'll see you guys next week.

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