The Best and Worst Frugal Habits (Ranked!)

22:57You are saving pennies with all this extra effort. Listen, you can only put so much effort into things each and every single day. And if you're putting all your effort and energy into these minuscule tasks, you are wasting your time and you have money backwards and you have saving money backwards. You need to reframe the way that you think about money if this is something that you do. I know people who do this or I talk to people who do this. Like, for example, there's a guy who writes a blog, and I think he wrote a book called Early Retirement Extreme. Really interesting to read, and I actually used to enjoy it a lot.

23:26But he would do stuff like this, and he retired really early, but he lived on like$8 ,000 per year. It was just the whole crazy scenario. I would never want to live like that. This is F tier for sure. Number 10, auditing and canceling unused subscriptions. I like this one. This is one of the highest returns habits that exists. many of you right now listening, in fact, probably all of you right now listening, have subscriptions that you most likely need to cancel. And this is going to eat away into your budget every single month if you don't cancel those subscriptions. So I tell people, especially at Master Money Academy, this is one of the steps we have people kind of go through, is once a quarter, go through all your subscriptions and see which ones you're not using.

24:06Sometimes this can happen in the form of something like streaming services. So maybe you're watching a show like Landman on Paramount Plus. And then all of a sudden, the show ends and you are now on to Apple TV or Netflix watching a couple of other shows and you keep Paramount Plus around for the next three, four or six months. Well, at the price a lot of these streaming services are at now, they're 20 bucks a month for the most part. And so when that's happening, you are losing out on about 100 bucks. And so this is something where if you audit these subscriptions, it can save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars every single year.

24:37So do this quarterly. Just put this as the recurring thing that you do once a quarter so that you can save money on this. So this is S tier for sure. This is a frugal habit, not a cheap habit. Number 11 is driving a paid off car into the ground. So everybody here who has been at the Personal Finance Podcast for a long time and been listening for a long time, you know I love driving paid off cars and I love driving them as long as I possibly can. The older I get, the less likely I am willing to take on any debt whatsoever. or in debt for a depreciating asset like a vehicle, an asset that goes down in value year over year, is not worth my time and energy typically for me.

25:15And so right now I drive a 2018 Ford F-150. My goal is to get my seven-year-old that 2018 Ford F-150 when he turns age 16. So I'm gonna drive that thing as long as I possibly can until my wife pries me out of that thing. It's got cloth seats. It's got a backup camera that's about the size. It's smaller than my iPhone and I'm not joking. It literally is. it's got little zero features whatsoever. It's got stains on the seats in the back from the kids. There's some things in there. I probably need to at least get some leather on those seats because my kids just wreck them all the time, but she's still running just fine.

25:48And so over a hundred thousand miles on that thing, I'm going to drive it as long as I possibly can. I'm going to keep fixing it over and over again. And this is just a habit that I believe it. Now, if you value cars or power to you, I don't have a problem with that. If you want to continue to drive cars, if you know the trade-off, but I don't value cars as much instead, I would rather invest more money where I'd rather put more dollars towards vacations or things that I actually value. And so this is an area where, hey, I'd rather drive this paid off F-150 as long as I possibly can to buy a boat or something else that would be of interest.

26:16That could be something that would be fun for my family and I. So there's a trade-off there for sure. And I think driving a paid off car is the elite move. That's how you win with cars. And if you feel as though you're just renewing your car every couple of years or getting a new lease or whatever else, you are going backwards financially when it comes to vehicles. And so you need to make sure you really value that if that is what you're doing. So that is S tier for sure. Number 12, negotiating your recurring bills. So I did a couple of videos recently on social media talking about negotiating your bills and some of the top bills to negotiate.

26:48In fact, we did a ranking video all about this that we can link down below in the show notes. And we were talking about this and people were like, you can negotiate your bills. I'm like, man, you got to catch on and listen to this podcast because this podcast, we talk about negotiating bills all the time. We just recently had an episode talking about negotiating your bills. We had an episode with Nicole Lappin, who hosts the show Money Rehab, about negotiating your bills. We've had an entire episode on how to negotiate your rent, and we will link all of those down below in the show note as well so that you can check this out.

27:14This is an underrated, high-leverage S-tier move. This is for sure an S-tier move. You need to be negotiating your bills. You need to be negotiating your car insurance. You need to be negotiating your medical bills. You need to be negotiating your rent. You need to be negotiating every single bill you can to reduce the overall cost of that bill. In fact, even if you're a business owner, negotiate all your recurring subscriptions. Negotiate with all the companies that are time usage or your cell phone bill. All these different things need to happen on a yearly basis. And again, when you start to audit maybe those subscriptions every single quarter, start negotiating some bills as well.

27:50Have a list of bills that you want to negotiate. You can knock both of them out really quickly in less than an hour and save yourself thousands of dollars. The car insurance one alone, which we have a link where you can compare and shop car insurance. I will link that up down below in the show notes as well. We're going to have a lot of links in these show notes so that you can check that out to make sure you are getting the best price on car insurance. Because I really believe that people who don't negotiate their car insurance are just falling further and further behind. They're losing out on hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

28:17So that's definitely a big one. So the latte factor is the next one that we have here as a team versus making your own coffee at home. So the latte factor is one of, if not the most famous frugal happens. It's skipping the daily coffee so that you can save$5 per day. Now, it used to be$5 per day. Now, a daily latte is about$8 if you go to Starbucks. I usually get a black coffee at Starbucks, by the way. My wife always gets something fancy. And every single time, it's like$7 or$8, which is something that does matter. Now, I have said this time and time again. I have been a hater of the latte factor for a long time.

28:50Why? Why? Because I want you to focus on the million-dollar money decisions that matter. But there are scenarios where the latte factor should matter. If you're going out and getting a$7 or$8 coffee every single day and you are in credit card debt, well, we've got a bigger problem at hand here because$7 or$8 per day over the course of a month, you're going to end up spending$300 around that on these coffees instead of putting it towards your debt or instead of putting it towards something that will actually help you and improve your financial life. And so if this is something you absolutely enjoy, you love your daily coffee, I don't want to take that away from you, but just find somewhere else that you want to cut out that'll make a lot of sense.

29:25And so this is something I might could talk for a very long time on. I won't do it in this episode, but I think this is one that I'm going to put out as a B tier. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, I think you should cut out your daily latte. If you are someone who is making decent money or you have a surplus, then nothing wrong with it whatsoever. It just depends on your situation. So it's B tier for sure. 14 is buy it for life and paying more once. for quality. So if you don't know what buy it for life is, this is where you buy something once and hope that it lasts about 30 years. So an example of this, let's say you are someone who is interested in buying a new pair of boots or a new pair of dress shoes or a new pair of high heels.

30:04Well, that's the case. And you want these to last a really long time. You're going to buy something that's probably real leather that you're going to replace the sole with that you can repair so that this will last for a long time. And so typically when you are buying quality with something like that. You have to pay more. Someone who wants to buy the$50 dress shoe at Nordstrom Rack is going to note that those dress shoes may last them a year or two, depending on how much they're using them. Maybe if you're only using them for weddings and special events, maybe they'll last you up to five years.

30:32But outside of that, at some point in time, the wear and tear is going to break down. The cheap leather is going to break down. The sole is going to break down and it's not really replaceable. And you're just going to recycle and buy a new pair. Nothing wrong with that because if you look at$50 over that time frame, you know, you can recycle shoes a couple of different times and have the ability to be able to, you know, maybe brave close to even. But somebody else who wants to buy a dress shoe that can last a lifetime, and there are plenty of those out there that you can do this with, you can repair the leather, you can repair the soles, those types of things, or maybe a pair of eye heels that can last a lifetime, those are going to be things we're going to have to pay up for.

31:04Maybe it's$400 for a pair of shoes instead of a 50. And so making sure you think about this is a big one. Another great example of this is mixed like kitchen items or appliances. I know people that buy toasters as buy it for life. I know people like a KitchenAid mixer is a great example of this where those things last, what, 60, 80, 100 years before they go bad. People try to do this with all sorts of different things in their life from gym equipment I've seen. It's kind of hard to do with tech, but everything else you can pretty much do this with. So things that you use in your daily life that are quality that you want to do.

31:33So I really enjoy this. I think this is a great thing to do and something that, you know, if you're buying tools or you're buying a mattress or you're buying boots, you want to buy something that will last as long as you possibly can. So You don't need to keep thinking about this. And there is a mental load to having to buy some of these items again. And so if you don't want to think about it or you don't have to buy them again, I really like this. This is the A tier for sure. I know a lot of really wealthy people who do stuff like this, so they don't have to buy things again and have that mental load.

31:57Again, sometimes some of these moves are to just remove some of the stress and the mental load on your brain. We've got a lot planned this summer. Trips with kids, time outside, long weekends, and just more moments together as a family. And honestly, the older I get, the more I realize how important it is to protect it all. The good news is getting life insurance doesn't have to be this huge, stressful project anymore. That's why I like PolicyGenius. PolicyGenius isn't an insurance company. They're an online marketplace that helps you compare life insurance quotes from top insurers side by side for free.

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34:22Optional products and services may have fees or charges. For more information on APY rates, MyPay, SpotMe, and Travel Parks, go to chime.com slash disclosures. Number 15 is tap water and skipping drinks and apps at restaurants. It depends. I grew up in a family that this is what we did. We would get water and we would skip drinks and apps at restaurants. My wife grew up in a family where they would order and still do every single appetizer on the menu. They get drinks the entire time and they were restaurant owners. So they really, really enjoy that experience. If you enjoy the experience and you are depriving yourself of that enjoyment and you are doing okay financially where you have a surplus of money that you can actually spend on this kind of stuff, then I would put this as something that you should not be doing.

35:04but if you are someone who is on a fine line and you're going out to eat just to spend some time with friends and build relationships and you just want to go for the relationship building and not for the food really well then that's a great thing to do so it just depends on your situation i'm gonna put this as a c because it depends and it's one of those things that could be either or i don't want you depriving yourself i really did not like you know ordering water and and no apps when when i would go out to eat as a young kid so now i probably overcompensate on that where we order Usually apps and like either a soda or, you know, beer or something like that, depending on what we're doing.

35:38So usually that is going to be the route that I take. So I'm going to put that as a seat here. Extreme couponing and chasing every single deal. So extreme couponing is one of those things where I remember growing up, my mom would cut out coupons from the newspaper every single week on Sunday. Usually the coupons came in on Sunday. She would cut up all the coupons and then she would have this little book that she would organize all the coupons in. and the coupons are coupons. How do you say it? Let me know in the comments below. And this would be one of those things that she would do every single week.

36:09And it was very time consuming to go through that entire process. I remember her sitting at the table, spending an hour or two, just kind of cutting up these coupons and putting in the same space. If you've ever seen that show Extreme Couponing, those people spend eight to 10 hours just getting the coupons ready, making sure they're tactically ready to go to the store the next day. And they have the big event where they go to the store and they look at the price dropping down Every single time an item is scanned across the register, it goes beep, beep, beep, and they're not spending any money whatsoever.

36:34Then all of a sudden, they're sliding the coupons across, and that balance just continues to go down. Well, this is going to be something that I think just takes way too much time, unless you've got a lot of time on your hand and you just love doing it. So I'm going to put this as a D tier for sure. Not worth the time and energy for the return that you are getting. Number 17 is credit card points and cash back optimization. Boy, oh boy, do I love this. This is something that I love for people to do, and I think that most people should consider credit card points and cashback optimization. Why?

37:07Now, if you've had trouble with credit cards in the past, probably should not be doing this. But if you haven't ever had issues with credit cards in the past, putting all your bills on a credit card, paying it off in full every single month, and reaping the rewards and points is a great thing to do. In fact, that is what a lot of very good, frugal people I know do. Let me give you an example of this. Chris Hutchins, who is the host of the All The Hacks podcast, who's been on this podcast a couple times, is probably the biggest optimizer of this that you will ever see. When he will, he's been to like 30 plus countries now completely for free on just points and miles from doing this exact strategy.

37:42And so for you specifically, this could be a great thing to do. Now, you could take this way too far, which is why this is going to come down on my tier ranking a little bit. Because you could spend way too much time doing this stuff where you could be much better and well suited to spend more time thinking about other options when it comes to this. So I'm going to put this as a B tier because I know people who do this wrong and they spend their 40 hours per week on this stuff. I don't want you to do that. But what I do want you to do is just put your bills on a credit card, pay it off in full every single month and allow and reap the benefits of that.

38:14By the way, we have our favorite credit cards. We will link them up down below in the show notes, but you can check those out as well. I always forget to talk about that, but we do have a page. And if you go to the personal finance podcast.com, there's also a little menu item up top there. That's my favorite credit card. So definitely check that out if you haven't already. My daily driver right now is the MX Platinum, but it is pretty expensive. I think I might even downgrade to the immense gold because I think that that would give me more value for what I'm doing currently. So for anybody else, let me know what your daily driver is down below in the comments.

38:45Would love to hear more about that because this is an area for a lot of you. We can share some of the things that we're doing. By the way, the Chase Sapphire has some pretty good deals right now too if you're looking to open a car. So check out our link. It has some cool stuff there. Number 18 is lowering or caring about the thermostat all the time. This is something that used to matter a lot more than it does today. And for me specifically, I have noticed I can freak out about the thermostat all I want and my electric bill is still going to be moving in the wrong direction typically. And it depends on the time of year.

39:13In Florida, we can't escape the fact here where I live that it is extremely hot. And in the wintertime, if you live up north, you can't escape the fact that it is extremely cold. And trying to stress out and worry about a thermostat, or if you had parents growing up who were just telling you, hey, don't mess with the thermostat. out. It's got to be on 73 all the time. This is something I don't worry about at all anymore. In fact, I think you're saving pennies. And a lot of times it seems as though no matter what you do, really doesn't make sense to make your family miserable in order to make sure you try to save a few bucks.

39:43So for me, I would rather you focus on efficiencies in the house than trying to save a few bucks on the thermostat. So making sure your windows are sealed, making sure you have the right insulation in the home. Those are going to be the types of things I would rather you care about than doing stuff like trying to just adjust the thermostat because those are going to matter a lot more. You don't want air escaping and then your fill is going to crank up way, way more if that's the case. So just thinking about that kind of stuff is really important. Number 19, okay, this is a good one. DIYing everything, including things like repairs or oil changes or haircuts.

40:15Well, haircuts, I would not DIY whatsoever. Oil changes, too cheap to try to DIY in my opinion. Repairs could be something you could DIY. So it depends on the person. And because it depends, I think you can save some good money by DIY. I wish I had the skill of being able to fix things. I don't have that skill, but I do now with Gemini. So a lot of times I will take a picture of the thing that I am trying to fix and Gemini tells me what to do next. And I just go through that over and over, step by step. And I've been able to fix a lot of different things and save myself hundreds of bucks. For example, just had a toilet that kept making the flushing sound over and over and over and it was constantly running.

40:52So I took out Jim and I, took off the back of the toilet, and I took a picture of the back of the toilet. And I said, what the heck's going on here? My toilet is continuing to run over and over and over again. Jim and I told me a couple of fixes to try. The first one didn't work. The second one I tried. And I said, okay, I need to go to Lowe's to go pick up this item. Where should I go get it? It gave me the exact aisle to go find it. Went to Lowe's, picked up this little O-ring. It was the smallest thing in the world. It cost me two bucks. Came back, installed the O-ring exactly where it told me to, and boom, it was fixed.

41:19I would have called a plumber out for$250 to fix that issue, or I could have just got the$2 O-ring and fixed it. So I saved myself$248 by doing this. So I would say, try that first. I think this is a great thing to do. You could save yourself good money, especially on stuff like that that is fairly simple, even if you're not handy. Use some of these AI tools to help you fix some of this. It's very, very helpful. So I'm going to put that as a B tier. I like it. I think you could take it too far. I think oil changes is too far. I think haircuts are too far. but if you're fixing things around the house or if you're putting in your own garden beds or you're working on things that you know how to do, I think it's a great thing to do.

41:57Number 20, this is a good one, drifting and buying set in hand. So I think this is a great frugal habit. I have done this on eBay before where, for example, I wanted to test out a brand, like there's a brand called Mizzen and Main. It's supposed to be like these really stretchy dress shirts that you could wear and it looks super comfortable. And so what I said to myself was I could spend$140 on a Mizzen and Main dress shirt, or I could see if I like it first and buy one secondhand. So I went on eBay and bought a couple of Mizzen and Main dress shirts for$35. And so instead of spending$250 on those, I spent$35 for two.

42:31They came in completely clean. I washed them as well when they came in. And they were a great option for me. And I actually, they look brand new when they came in. And they've been a great option for me. And in fact, I would do it again for sure if I was going to buy that brand again because it's so expensive. And so I think this is a great thing to do. If it's something, you know, like, or if you like sweaters or jackets or coats, those are also great things to buy secondhand. And I used to do this all the time. And when I was in college, I went to a thrift store, found a three-piece pinstripe suit because I had to go to a wedding.

43:01A three-piece pinstripe suit and tried it on. It fit me literally perfectly. It was like the best fit of all time. And so there's cool things like that that you can do. And I bought that suit for$4. So thrift stores also have some great finds. If you are looking for anything alone, it's not that great books, stuff like that too is a great place to look at that stuff. So I'm gonna put that as a B tier. People take that also too far, but as a B tier, I think that's great. Number 21 is buying off season and waiting for sales. Listen, one of my favorite things to say is buy your straw hats in winter and buy your winter coats in summer.

43:33This is a great way to save money is buying the off season things in the time where you're not needing them most. So I love to do this here in Florida because our season is pretty much always the same. It's always just hot. And so I can buy things like shorts at Lululemon, for example. I'll buy shorts at Lululemon in the winter all the time because it's less demand. And so they put up on their we made too much section. And so I buy that all the time. Or if it's something like golf apparel, because I like to golf. I'm not good at all. I shoot in the 90s. Sometimes I shoot in the 100s. One time I shot an 88.

44:05So that gives you an example of how good I am. And if any of you out there are golf coaches online, by the way, hit me up. But if I'm going to buy golf stuff, I usually do it in the winter, in the off season, because that's when the prices usually will go down on some of this stuff. And so I think waiting for sales is a great thing to do and waiting for the time frame when they are in less demand. So this is a B tier for sure. I do it a lot. In fact, for me specifically, I put it as an S tier, but it's a B tier for most people out there because you can't, again, take it to four. Using the library instead of buying books.

44:35Love this. So my mom built this frugal habit into me. She always, always, always uses the library. She takes my kids to the library still. She was a teacher and a principal for 30 years. And so she just loves the library. And I think it's a great thing you can do. I did it forever when I wasn't making a lot of money. Now I buy books. One of my rules is I will buy, if I think I can learn one thing in a book, I'll just buy it. I don't even think twice about it. And sure, that is something that is a little bit more of a privilege to be able to do. But it is also something that is my rule for life.

45:05And then I go through that book, see if I like it. If I get through the first 40 pages and I don't like it, I will toss it out and go to the next one. And I think that's what most people should consider doing is either using the library to do this and or just finding cheap ways to do it. Another cheap way to find books is thrickbooks.com if you've never checked them out. Really great. And a lot of times if you buy a couple from them, they give you extra discounts. So that's another great website. In fact, I bought a book at thrickbooks.com which was Think and Grow Rich. And it had a signed copy by Napoleon Hill.

45:35I don't know if the person just didn't know who Napoleon Hill was. But he actually signed the copy in the book, unless it's a fake signature, which I guess it could be. So that's a great one. I'm going to put that as B tier as well. So the last three have been B tier. So let's see what we got next. My relationship with money has changed a lot over the years. Early on, I thought building wealth was about making more money. Now I know it's really about having clarity. When you know exactly where your money is going and whether you're on track, you make better decisions. That's one of the reasons I love Monarch.

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48:39Wrapping paper, no, not doing that at all. that is just stupid. I mean, regifting is completely fine if it's thoughtful. Again, we do this with kids toys. Sometimes my kids just get way too many toys. They'll even open up some of them. And so I'll save a couple of them, throw them in the closet and then regift them to someone who I think would like it. Or if we go to a kid's birthday party and we forgot to get a gift, something like that, we kind of keep an orso of gifts in the closet. So that's something we do all the time. And all my parents out there probably do the same thing. Not a big deal, but I put this as C because it depends.

49:08If you're taking that too far, your gift looks ridiculous because you wrapped it with extremely wrinkled wrapping paper, just placed mismatching wrap paper on top. Probably doesn't make a ton of sense, but I guess, honestly, probably really doesn't matter. But I'm going to put it as a C tier for sure. Reusing the same razor or watered-down products forever. This is where frugal is going to curdle to cheap. You are degrading your own daily experience to save scents, and you are sometimes putting your body at harm if you have a cheap razor. could be cutting yourself up. So definitely do not do this.

49:43This is F tier for sure. Pretty hard to defend this too if you are doing this. I don't see why you would ever want to do this. Number 25 is not tipping. Okay, this is going to be a fun one. Not tipping when it comes to, I'm going to put this as not tipping at a restaurant, okay? Because there's a lot of different nuances when it comes to tipping. If you are not tipping at all at a restaurant, I am going to put this as F because for most people, if you are going to go out to eat. Then go out to a fast, casual place where you don't have to tip if you're going to go out to eat and you don't want to tip.

50:16If you're going to go out to a sit-down restaurant where the server's job is to serve you and the way they get paid is from your tips, then you need a tip. I know the tipping culture's out of hand. I know it's out of control. It is one of the most ridiculous things that we have to deal with right now. I went to Dunkin' Donuts the other day and ordered a black coffee, drove to the drive-thru, and they turned around the iPad and asked me to tip them$3. I'm driving and you want me to tip you$3. Or if I'm standing up face to face to you, we're belly to belly and I make an order and you hand me my order.

50:45Do you think I need to tip? No. Do I do it anyway? Yes, because sometimes I just feel guilty. I don't know why. It's probably a money psychology thing for me. When the Dunkin' Donuts person turned around, I tipped it. I can't stop pushing that tip number. And for me specifically, I think that generosity is a big portion of why I want to build wealth. So that's part of the reason why I do this. but also I gotta, you know, in some of these scenarios, I gotta stop doing it. I gotta stop clicking tip. And I, most people wouldn't tip in those scenarios. I get it. Um, so it's probably a problem more than anything else, but when it comes to like sit down restaurants, you gotta tip.

51:21And I tip over 20 % every time. Usually, even if it's bad service, generosity, again, is a big thing for me. And so that's why I do that. So you don't have to do that, but it's a, you know, it's your call on what you want to do and what you feel comfortable with. Uh, but for me, that's how I do it. So it's F tier. If you don't tip at a sit down restaurant for sure. Skipping a gym membership to work out at home? Well, if you're going to work out at home, completely fine. Great thing to do if you want to do that. But if you're skipping a gym membership and not working out because you don't want to pay$20,$40,$60 per month, there's plenty of cheap gym memberships out there now in the massive scale of gyms.

51:52But if you're doing it to work out at home to save money, sure, that's a V tier for sure. Especially if you have equipment, you could also add equipment slowly over time. I built out a really great home gym during COVID. One of my best things I've ever done. I still use it every single day to this day. I was in it right before I started recording this episode a couple of hours ago when I was at my house. So it is the thing that I use the most that I have ever purchased. I think I ended up spending, I spent a lot. I think I ended up spending$7 ,000 to$10 ,000 on my home gym. I have a squat rack.

52:22I have dumbbells, a full set all the way up to 75. I need to get up to 100. I have a cable machine. And between all of these different things, I have really, really, really enjoyed having that. I have a leg curl and leg extension. I had a rower. I sold it. I have a spin bike. I'm looking to get a treadmill too, because it's pretty hot right now to run. And so between all of these things, I absolutely love every single piece that I buy. And if I don't love it, I sell it. So worth every penny for me. So I'm going to put this as B tier, but you got to make sure that you are thinking through what you're going to do and do not skip your workouts just because you want to save money.

53:01Health is a necessity to me. This is a baseline expense, in my opinion. Do not skip out on working out just because you want to save money. Bringing your own snacks into the movie theater. Oh, okay. All right. Bringing your own snacks into the movie theater. I've got a little dilemma with this, okay? Because there's two sides of this coin. I have done it forever. And forever, I would just, hey, tell my mom, let's bring some snacks in the movie theater. I'd stuff it into my wife's purse and say, let's bring some snacks. But as of late, and once I had kids, for some reason, and you guys tell me if I'm just being crazy right now, okay?

53:37So now we're having a conversation, okay? But for some reason, I started to feel guilty. I'm asking myself, okay, well, I'm doing this. I'm bringing snacks in the movie theater. I'm trying to sneak them in. I'm trying to hide them as I come into the movie theater. But is this something that is immoral to women a little bit? Am I stealing from the movie theater by bringing snacks in? They don't want them in there. So is this an actual problem? Even though I know the prices are jacked up, I know it's crazy. Every time I take my family in there and I actually, you know, we buy all the stuff, it ends up being like another$60 in snacks because we get the kids the little trays, and then my wife and I get popcorn, and we get two drinks, and it's like$60 just for that, plus some candy.

54:16You know, your boy's got to have his Sour Patch Kids, and so I get a couple bags of candy, not just one usually. Uh, so between all that stuff, I say to myself, well, I could have spent$5 on bringing this in myself, but I do like the popcorn. So I always get popcorn, but it's just, it's just one of those things that I have a little bit of a moral dilemma. Is it stealing? Is it, or is it just a frugal thing? I feel as though because the rules are, don't bring it in. I feel as though maybe I'm, I don't know. I'm going to put this as a C tier because I am indifferent morally on that. Okay. Uh, number 28 is stiffing on the group gift.

54:50Now, this is one of those things where if you can establish boundaries up front early on that you do not want to contribute to co-worker gifts whatsoever. It's just not something you want to do. You could say, hey, I'm just working on some financial goals right now. I don't want to do this. Fine. But if you are stiffing group gifts without having any conversation with anyone, then I would put this as a D tier, as like a cheap thing. Just have a woman up or man up and have the conversation with the group and tell them you just don't want to do this going forward. and say, I don't want gifts for me.

55:19And I just don't want to get caught up in this wave of gifting. But, you know, if you're going to be the type of person who just like tries to stiff it, everybody knows you're stiffing it, then it's a reputation issue again. And I don't want you to damage your reputation over money when it's something that you can afford. And if you can't afford it, that's another thing. But if you can't afford it, or you can afford just to put the five bucks in or whatever else, then just do it and move on with your day. I know it's not fun to go to work and then feel as though you're losing$5 when you're working for$25 an hour and all of a sudden you're like, well, I just worked 15 minutes to pay for Nancy's gift over here because she's having a baby.

55:52But it's still one of those things that you got to have a conversation if you're going to stiff on it. But if you're just stiff in the group and not contributing whatsoever and they notice, that could be a reputation thing, especially at a workplace. So again, I don't feel as though you should be obligated to give a gift. Just make sure you are open about that a little bit. So that would be D tier for me on that one. Well, listen, this is my ranking of frugal habits online. I'm sure some of you are going to disagree with me on this. And some of you may say, Andrew, bring some snacks in the movie theater.

56:22Get your sour patch for$2 at the grocery store. Bring it in a movie theater. But I don't know. You know, I'm just indifferent on that. I don't know what I'm going to do next. But I truly appreciate each and every single one of you being here. If you guys are looking to take your finances to the next level, I would love to invite you to join Master Money Academy. We have a seven-day free trial that will be linked down below to podcast listeners where you can join Master Money Academy. check out some of our courses, come to the live coaching call with me, see if this is for you. If it's not a good fit, no worries whatsoever.

56:51You can always, always, always opt out after the seven-day free trial. So we'd love to have you inside Master Money Academy as the community where we help you transform your finances. Thank you guys enough for being here and we will see you on the next episode.