Frugal Tips from Growing Up Poor

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Ralph: So the question for today is how can the lessons learned from a childhood of financial hardship?

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Empower you to be a wiser steward of God's blessings today.

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We'll stay tuned today because we're going to discover frugal tips.

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Forged in the crucible of growing up poor.

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You don't want to miss today's episode folks.

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Welcome back to the show today on this motivational Monday, where we try to motivate you.

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Today, we're diving into a topic near and dear to my heart.

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And that's frugal tips from growing up poor.

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I was very fortunate to not grow up in poverty.

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Most of us in the United States would have to say we didn't.

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I truly feel we all may learn for some very practical tips.

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Through my practice and meaning with others who have struggled, I know firsthand the challenges and struggles that come with financial hardship.

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But I also know the invaluable lessons and habits.

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That can emerge from those trials.

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Lessons that can serve you no matter what your current financial situation.

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well it's a beautiful morning today.

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here on the farm.

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I can hear the neighbor's chickens waking us all up.

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And since it's lamb seasoned a sounds, a little lambs are filling the air.

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It's a truly, a great day to be alive and I'm very happy.

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You've chosen to join us on the program today.

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before I forget, don't forget to subscribe to the show and you and our email list.

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You do that at askralphpodcast.com . So you don't miss tomorrow show.

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What are you going to talk about tomorrow Ralph Tomorrow, we're going to talk about AI generated robo, cause we've all become victims of these.

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We're going to talk about those tomorrow.

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As we always do, let's start with a relevant Bible verse today.

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As it says in Proverbs chapter 22, verse seven, the rich rule over the poor and the borrower is a slave to the lender.

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The truth is growing up.

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Poor teaches you the importance of living within your means.

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Something I preach about all the time.

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And avoiding the trap of debt.

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It instills a resourcefulness and creativity that can help you stretch every dollar.

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So today let's explore some actionable frugal tips from the school of hard knocks.

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First and foremost.

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You got to do this folks.

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Embrace the power of planning.

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When money is tight, you can't afford to wing it.

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This is where you're going to hear Ralph start talking about budgets again.

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And I'm going to say, it's sit down and create a budget.

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You've got to track every penny coming in and going out.

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Why do you do that, Ralph?

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It gives you control and purpose in your spending.

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If you don't have a plan.

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You're going to plan to fail.

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Especially, so, when money is tight.

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That's when you really need to create a budget.

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Let's move on to number two and that's master the art of delayed gratification.

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Those are two words and none of us like to hear.

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But the truth is from when I've talked to people growing up poor teachers, you can't always have what you want right away.

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And guess what folks.

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That's okay.

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And we've got to learn to know that it's okay.

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You've got to master that art of.

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Delayed gratification.

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We live.

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In a society right now where nobody wants to wait for anything.

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I could go right on my computer right now and click a button and order whatever I want from Amazon.

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But you've got to resist those impulse purchases and save up for what you truly need.

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That may be a discussion for a whole nother day.

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Do we really understand our needs versus our wants??

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This is where patience is a financial virtue.

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Something we all could work on.

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And number three, become a bargain hunter.

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We all can do this.

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Look for deals.

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Look for discounts and secondhand treasures.

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You got to figure out a way to not be too proud to shop at thrift stores or buy generic brands.

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A penny saved is a penny earned.

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And I'm going to talk a little bit personal here.

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When I was a kid, about eight years old, my parents decided to divorce.

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It was probably what was in the best for both of them.

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And I lived a crazy childhood where my dad was very successful and very wealthy.

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And my mother was Lower middle class.

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I would have to say she did a great job with us and she did the best she could with what she had.

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But I lived in this weird dichotomy of going out to dinner, where we would drop a couple of hundred dollars on a dinner for an evening to where my mom would really pinch, her pennies and really look at every dollar spent.

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And it really taught me some lessons.

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It taught me how to balance those things.

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In my mom's house, it was all about what do we need?

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Wasn't necessarily what we wanted.

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And that really taught me some life lessons.

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So I thought we can all look back and say what did we learn during our childhood?

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Did we learn good financial habits?

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Unfortunately, what I see my practice every day is many people didn't learn those great financial habits.

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Now I think there's extremes on both.

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One of the things my mother used to say, and my mother has been dead a year now and I miss her every day, but one of the things she said, And used to crack me when I, when she said it she's, I don't have that kind of money.

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And I would go to see my Dad on the weekends.

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And I would say, dad, what kind of money do you have?

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It sounds funny saying it now, but I truly respect both of my parents and I truly respect what my mother was able to do.

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She was able to stretch a dollar.

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We never wanted for anything as a kid.

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And I got to give my dad credit too, because the truth is my dad helped support us in, putting, paying for school, paying for clothing and all those sort of things.

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But it's just an interesting dichotomy to grow up.

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And while I'm talking about this.

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You've got to get in the habit of saving something from every paycheck, no matter how small.

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Those modest savings.

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Add up over time.

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That's one of the things my mother used to do First thing she would always say to me is okay, before I do anything else, I'm going to put aside in my savings account.

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And maybe it wasn't a lot.

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That she was able to put into that.

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But she got in the habit of saving something from every paycheck, no matter how small it's the truth, you build it up a little bit over time.

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You also got to learn to do it yourself when you can.

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What does that mean, Ralph?

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It means this and these are simple things, folks that you can do to directly impact.

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Your financial situation, that's cooked meals at home rather than eating out.

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And trust me, I get it.

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It's real simple to do the door dash or the grub hub or whatever those things are now.

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But are you truly getting, first of all, are you getting a healthy meal?

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That's one question.

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And number two, are you getting the most bang for your buck?

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Another thing you can do in the do it yourself realm is try repairing items before replacing them.

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If you've listened to the show, you know, that is not one of my fortes.

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But the truth is folks.

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There was so many resources available now to help you learn practical skills.

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YouTube is a frugal friend.

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I have a farmhand that works here on the farm.

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For me, one of the things he does consistently is he'll say to me, Ralph, I can't figure out how to fix the trimmer the other day.

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We hear it's getting to be time to start cutting grass again.

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He said, Ralph, the gas trimmer is not working.

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And I said that's strange.

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It was working last season.

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So I let him stew on it a couple of days.

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And next thing you know, I noticed he's out next to my office and he's got the gas trimmer running.

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And I said, what did you do?

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He says, I YouTube.

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It.

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And that really did fix it.

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So there's a bunch of resources out there.

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You can use this program.

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For example, we've got over 300 episodes in our catalog at askralphpodcast.com . Of ways to enhance and improve your financial situation.

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Now here's another tip.

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Embrace the gift of simplicity.

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And I'm guilty of this one folks.

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Every time the new iPhone comes out or the new apple watch, I got to have it.

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But the truth is that's a want, that's not a need, you don't need the latest and greatest of everything.

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You've got to learn to take pleasure in life.

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Simple, joys.

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Less truly can be more.

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And when you do need to make a purchase, focus on quality over quantity.

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Invest in items that will last that's one of the things my grandfather used to say to me all the time, he would go out and buy something.

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He would investigate it.

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he would find the thing that worked the best.

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The thing that has the highest quality are you gonna buy a bunch of things, but if you're not investing in that quality.

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Those items aren't going to last.

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And as why things had grown up poor teaches you.

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It teaches you to appreciate and care for what you have.

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One of the things my dad always stressed was taking care of the things you have.

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I remember when I was 16.

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He had bought me a car.

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And I went out with some friends that night and the next morning was Sunday morning at our house was time to wash the cars.

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So we weren't allowed, we weren't really allowed to sleep in much.

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It was time to wash the cars.

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And I know my dad come running up to my bedroom.

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He goes, I am very angry with you.

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And I said, oh boy, what did I do now?

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He says, come down here and look at this.

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And we came downstairs and we walk out to the garage and there's my car sitting here.

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And he had started washing it well, when he was washing it, I guess he noticed on one of the windows, there were some mud or something on the inside.

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And he says, how in the world did you get mud on the inside of your window?

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And I said Dad it must've been one my friends must have put his foot up in a window.

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And he says, son, you got to learn to take care of your stuff.

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If you take care of your things, they will last longer.

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So that's a lesson that I learned from my dad.

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And it's a true lesson.

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If you take care of the things you have, they, really will last longer and it will teach you to appreciate them.

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I can tell you one thing, I never let another kid sit in the back of my car and put their feet up.

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Another thing you got to do is practice gratitude and contentment.

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Maintain the possession you own to extend our lives.

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And we just talked about that.

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A frugal mindset.

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Isn't about deprivation.

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But about valuing what you've been entrusted with and listen, folks, I did a podcast about that a couple of weeks ago.

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Everything you have is a gift from God and he's watching to, see how you steward that.

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It's one of the things you also, you can do is look for free or low cost entertainment options as well.

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You can explore parks, libraries, community events.

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Invest in hobbies and experience rather than just material things.

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And you will find such joy in connecting with others.

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Maybe it's something at your church.

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One of the things I like to do is I play church league softball.

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It doesn't take any money to do that besides a couple of pieces of equipment, but it really does fill my tank with joy.

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And connect with those other people.

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And finally remember this.

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Even in times of lack, we can be rich in our generosity.

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It doesn't have to be generosity with money.

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Had a client.

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The other day, we were talking about this.

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Look for opportunities to share your time.

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Share your talents.

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But mostly share the resources that you do have.

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God gave us these things.

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Giving reminds us to keep money in proper perspective.

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And it invites blessings back into our lives.

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Now I know putting these frugal tips into practice takes effort and it takes intentionality, but I promise you.

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The financial freedom and peace of mind you'll gain is so very worth it.

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So start small and celebrate each win along the way.

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And I'll leave you with this verse.

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Proverbs chapter 21 verse 20 tells us the wise store up choice food and olive oil.

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But fool's gulp.

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There's down.

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Let's be wise and stewarding our resources.

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The habits you build today will lay a strong foundation for your financial future and legacy.

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Now, before we wrap up, I'll remind all of our listeners.

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to visit our podcast page.

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You do that at askralphpodcast.com . There you can leave a review, share your thoughts, or even send us a message.

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I'm gonna encourage everybody to send us a message this week.

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I would really like to hear your questions for future episodes.

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All you got to do is go to the bottom right corner.

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Click on that.

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And tell me what you want me to talk about on the show now, while you're there.

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Make sure you join our email list.

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You want to do that so you can enter a weekly $25 Amazon gift card draw.

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Yes.

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Now, if you want specific help with something that you need help with, you can schedule a consultation with me there as well.

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And while I'm talking about that.

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If you know, someone who's struggling with their finances or we're struggling to make ends meet.

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Please share this episode and share this program.

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This is my mission field.

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This is my way to give back and to help people, if I can help one person, I feel like I've done my job today.

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So if you know somebody that's struggling, just shoot them a text or shoot them an email and say, Hey.

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Listen to this.

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podcast says, Ask Ralph podcast he's really helped me.

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So let's do a little bit of a recap.

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In today's episode, we unpack some powerful frugal tips learned from growing up poor.

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From budgeting and bargain, hunting to simplicity and generosity.

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These topics can help you wisely.

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steward your finances.

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No matter what your current circumstances are.

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It doesn't matter whether you're wealthy or poor.

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Remember this folks.

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Embracing frugality.

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Isn't about lack.

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But it's about intentionally aligning your resources with your values and faith.

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So go put these tips into action.

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And watch your financial world transform.

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And until next time.

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Stay financially savvy.

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Keep walking by faith and may God bless you abundantly.