The Radical Middle: Building a Money Reset You’ll Actually Stick With
How Jen & Jill from Frugal Friends make intentional spending feel human, values-driven, and—dare I say—sustainable.
Most money advice is either extreme restriction or delusional optimism.
The truth is that real change happens in the middle, where you build systems that work with your actual lifestyle instead of the one you wish you had.
This week, I’m joined by Jen and Jill from the Frugal Friends podcast to talk about why we overcomplicate money resets, how to spend based on what we truly value, and what “frugal” really means in 2026.
We dig into the psychological reason we over-complicate New Year money goals, how values-based spending creates direction without deprivation, what the “radical middle” looks like in real life, the difference between being frugal and being restricted, and why paid-off debt and pretty spreadsheets aren’t a personality.
If you’ve ever set a financial resolution in January and rage-bought something by February, this episode is for you.
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owner
Jen Smith & Jill Sirianni are co-authors of Buy What You Love Without Going Broke and co-hosts of the top-rated Frugal Friends Podcast, with over 500 episodes and 10 million downloads, Frugal Friends is changing the way the world thinks about frugality. Jen Smith is a personal finance expert who, along with her husband, paid off $78,000 of debt in two years while facing unemployment and buying a house. Jill is a licensed clinical social worker who enjoys exploring the connections between our money behaviors and mental health. Together they’re helping people deinfluence overconsumption and learn the skill of values based spending by aligning their money, time, space, and natural resources with what matters most.
