Meet a Reader | Beth B., from Arizona
Hey everyone! I am pleased to tell that I am feeling much better than I was last week; thank you for all your prayers and well-wishes.
Today, we're meeting Beth, who has all sorts of creative ways to get free food and entertainment, such as being an elite Yelper (I had no idea that was even a thing!).
Here's Beth:
1. Tell us a little about yourself
Hi Frugal Friends! I'm Beth B. from Scottsdale, Arizona.
I am 50 years old and originally from Saginaw, Michigan and moved by myself to AZ in 1996. I wanted to get away from Michigan winters. I think I was also sun-starved!
It was definitely the best decision I've ever made. I love the desert. I met my boyfriend, Darren, in 2006, and he lives 10 minutes away.
He and I both have pet birds and are animal lovers.
I work in insurance full-time, and I live in a townhome that I purchased in 1997 (when the prices were still decent in the Scottsdale area).
2. How long have you been reading The Frugal Girl?
I have been reading the Frugal Girl for about 10 years, I think.
3. How did you get interested in saving money?
My parents are very frugal. They have done very well for themselves but live simply. That has enabled them to pay for my brother's and my college education, take us on trips, etc.
I have been interested in free stuff since I was a kid. Does anyone remember the book "Free Stuff For Kids"? It was my favorite book in the whole world!
I have also always enjoyed entering radio station concerts, and to this day, still win a ton of stuff through the radio stations. Darren and my friends love to be my "plus one" for concerts or other events that I have won tickets to. It's fun!
4. What's the "why" behind your money-saving efforts?
I am working on building up my savings. I am planning on ditching my full-time job in two years, when I am fully vested in my company's ESOP (Employee Stock Options Program).
I really hate working full-time and plan to get a part-time job (Starbucks?) that provides health insurance to their employees.
That way, I will have more time for my fun "side hustles" - pet-sitting, selling Avon (I earned a trip to Hawaii through Avon! It will be my first Avon trip!), movie, television, and commercial "extra" work, market research studies, mystery shopping, and mail decoy work (I get paid by 2 companies to report junk mail).
5. What's your best frugal win?
A frugal win happened when I was laid off from a prior job (I didn't really like the job, so I wasn't super upset about it).
Since I didn't make a fuss, they offered to sell me my company car for $3,500. It was an awesome car and I ended up putting over 200,000 miles on it.
6. What's a dumb money mistake you've made?
A dumb money mistake I've made is buying a used car without doing a lot of research. It turned out to be a lemon and I spent a lot of money trying to fix it up, which went nowhere.
I traded it in for another used car which has turned out to be a dream car for me. It was previously owned by a senior who only put 25,000 miles on it. It's been a great car for road trips.
7. What's one thing you splurge on?
I splurge on travel, but Darren and I are both frugal-minded, so we fly stand-by whenever possible (he works in the airline industry) and use my hotel points, rental car points, and miles from work travel to help make the trip more affordable.
We typically like to go on one international trip a year, but since 2020, we have been taking some fun road trips to National Parks. My life goal is to visit all the US National Parks and Monuments.
8. What's one thing you aren't remotely tempted to splurge on?
One thing I'm not tempted to splurge on are designer handbags or fashion. I'm pretty low-key and tend to wear the same things over and over. I also am hard on purses and they tend to get trashed.
9. If $1000 was dropped in your lap, what would you do with it?
I would put it into my savings account (boring, I know!). My goal this year is to build up my savings.
10. Share a frugal tip with other Frugal Girl readers
A frugal tip would be to become active on Yelp.
I started checking in, posting a lot of reviews and photos and found out that I could nominate myself to "Yelp Elite." I was excited that they liked my reviews enough to allow me to join the Yelp Elites. They have so many fun, free events, restaurant meals, virtual parties, etc. It's so much fun!
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Beth, thanks so much for sharing! As a fellow sunlight lover, I can imagine how much you enjoy Arizona.
I chuckled when I read about you being interested in free things when you were a kid, because that was me as well! Though I didn't have the book you had, I did send away for my fair share of free things in my childhood.
I think we are kindred spirits. 😉
I'm impressed you get paid for reporting junk mail; I do it for free!
I thought that was a fascinating side hustle! I have never heard of such a thing. Beth, how did you get signed up to do that?
@Kristen, One company that I work for is US Monitor. They hire a person in every zip code to report junk mail. They also hire folks in Canada, so definitely check them out. I was on a waiting list for a couple years before I got hired by them. The link to apply is: https://www.usmonitor.com/agentform/agentform.aspx
The other company I work for is not hiring at this time.
@Bobi, To whom do you report junk mail?
Thanks, reporting junk mail, for free or otherwise, is not something I’ve known about!
@Erika JS, You're welcome! 🙂
Beth, I thoroughly enjoyed your post and pictures. And it's so great to see the sunny weather from my perch in Minnesota. Your side hustles are fascinating and creative. You've crafted a wonderful life for yourself!
@MB in MN, Thank you so much! 🙂
Hi Beth,
that was fun to see your beautiful pictures and learn a little bit about your life. You seam to be enjoying g yourself very much and trying to get as much as possible out of your life. And I liked how your life seems to be full and rewarding even without having to care for a family. With my kids grown and out of the house I feel we both have in common that we try to enrich our lives as much as possible without the responsibility for people depending on us and we are both not exactly teenagers anymore.... 😉
@Lea, Yes, I love life enrichment. I'm a lifelong learner, and enjoy taking classes through Parks & Recreation (ours is pretty economical!). I am taking yoga classes via Zoom through Parks & Recreation, since I wasn't quite ready to go back to in-person classes yet.
Enjoyed meeting Beth—I also live in Phoenix area.. love that sunshine and the deserts,too! I am going to follow Beth’s suggestion to become more active on yelp.I do post reviews now and then but would love to qualify for some freebies!
@Madeline, Great to meet another Phoenician! Send me a friend request on Yelp (I'm Beth B. in Scottsdale) and I can start liking all your reviews and photos.
Hi Beth! Totally got the free stuff when I was a kid. I love hearing how other readers side hustle--both the junk mail and becoming a Yelp Elite are new to me, so thanks for sharing!! Enjoy your sunshine.
@Tricia, Thank you, Tricia! I'm glad to offer some new ideas.
Great post. Thanks for sharing. Very nice pictures. I sent away for free stuff when I was a kid, but I never had the book. When a toy was missing from a bag of snack food, I wrote the company and they sent me a toy. I was six at the time. Enjoy Hawaii. Have never been. Was a mystery shopper for over ten years. That was a lot of fun.
@Anita Isaac, I love it that you wrote to the company for the missing toy, and they sent you the toy! I bet they were impressed that a six year old would do that. I am looking forward to Hawaii. I was in Kauai in 2003 but never to the other islands. The Avon trip is to the Big Island. I am looking forward to seeing the volcanoes. Mystery shopping is fun! I dabble in it as time allows. I like to get free meals out and entertainment, such as an evening of bowling.
My daughter spent three weeks in gifted child camp learning about volcanoes in Hawaii. (They also did plenty of other things like visit the Arizona Memorial and learn to hula.) I am still envious of her, ha, and it was 12 years ago.
@Rose, Wow! That camp sounds amazing!
@Rose, I wish they had that camp for adults! I am Fascinated by volcanos and love Hawaii. I would happily sleep on a cot to spend 3 weeks there again.
We are the same age. I live in MI and retire in 2.5 years. I hope to work parttime like you. I am currently working hard to build up our savings and do miss sunshine in winter. Your citrus tree looks FAB!
So nice to meet you!
@Stephanie, Yea! I'm excited to meet someone (especially a Michigander!) who has the same retirement goal as me. 🙂 It's nice to know I'm not alone! I got the tree in 2001 and it started producing lemons within 2 years. I have it trimmed once a year, but otherwise just water it and leave it alone. It produces so many lemons!
I could read an entire article on your sides hustles, especially your film work. Are there that many movies filmed in the Scottsdale area?
@Anne, There have been several made-for-tv movies filmed in this area, as well as bigger movies, such as "Jerry McGuire," which filmed at ASU Sun Devil Stadium (I still kick myself for not signing up to be an extra in that movie, but I had just moved to AZ.). I just worked on a Food Network project over the weekend in Tucson (I can't say the name of the project..yet). They also filmed an HBO Max tv pilot in Tucson in 2021 and will be coming back this year to film the rest of the series. I am really hoping to work on that project. There are also a ton of commercials, print ads, and industrial videos for companies filmed in Arizona.
Hi Beth - I'm so impressed that you knew so early in your life that you wanted to live in a sunny state and just moved yourself there! I love that you can grow lemons. Home-grown citrus fruit just seems so exotic and luxurious to (cold) me.
I have a friend whose parrot is about 50! How old is Kong? He looks like a happy bird, and such pretty colors.
PS - I forgot to say, Kristen, I'm so happy to hear you're starting to feel better! Especially since your classes are restarting. Hope you can take it a little easy as you get all your stamina back...
@Suz, Kong is a good boy. He just turned 35! Hopefully he will live a good long life.
@Suz, I too am glad you are feeling better, Kristen. Hope your first week of classes goes well!
@Beth B., we’ve got a double yellow head who is 36.
@Lana P, That's so cool! They are fun birds.
You have so many unique interests and ideas. It was a pleasure to get to know you a little. We have something in common. My partner and I lived in separate houses for many, many years and had to pay 2 of everything (mortgage, utilities, house insurance etc). Since we moved in together we renting out one of the houses and saved a TON of money on expenses plus we were able to save the rent $. The decision was hard to make but looking back we are sorry that we didn't take the leap much earlier.
@Edit Jeremias, We have thought about it. Someday! We are both super independent so this works out well for us.
@Beth B., My partner and I are in the same situation. He owns a condo, and I own a townhouse ten minutes away. In a couple of years, we will hopefully buy a single family home with plenty of space for us both, and rent out our current homes. But right now, living separately is working for us.
@Lizzy, Living separately works well for us, too. It has its benefits.
Hello, Beth!
A delightful read, thanks for sharing. You’ve crafted a wonderful life in a cool area. Travel has always been a priority for me as well, including internationally. I would just love to have a lemon tree among my plants but they don’t do well in my area.
I always enjoy seeing the pets and a parrot was a real surprise! His feathers are very colorful. Does he say words sometimes?
@Erika JS, Yes, Kong says "hello," "pretty bird" (only occasionally), "come here," and he calls to a long deceased dog named "Bubba." He was Darren's uncle's bird and still yells for Bubba or "Bub."
Kong is such a funny name for a parrot--my friend had a bitey cockatoo called Snapdragon which I also found funny.
I'd love some pet birds. But with two dogs and a cat, I feel like I spend enough time on cleaning up after them. Then again I also want a seahorse tank. (slaps some sense into self)
My sister won a radio contest once where you had to jump into a pile of jello and select a key, and she won a car that way. I once won the Stick Up for Breakfast contest (remember those) and got a bike. I think I was 12.
@Rose, I love the name Snapdragon! That's a great name. Seahorses would be so fun! I would totally jump into a pile of jello. That's great that you won a bike!
Beth,
What a thoroughly enjoyable "interview" I feel the sunshine you live in came through to warm me in MD. I loved reading about all your side hustles, you are a real go-get-em person. I really love your lemon tree, how wonderful it must be to have that in your yard.
@K D, Yes, the lemon tree is such a blessing.
Oooo, I LOVED that book too!! It was so thrilling to get free things in the mail as a kid! I still have the little Louisville slugger bat that I got free from that book. So happy you reminded me of it!
@Yvonne, So cool! My favorite thing that I received were some horse posters. I think they are long gone, however.
Hi, Beth, great to meet you.
Except for the Avon, you have different side hustles from just about everyone I know! I had no idea one could be a Yelp reviewer as a side job. Interesting!
Congratulations on your plans to leave the 9 to 5 in a couple of years. I know you will really enjoy that!
@JD, Thanks, JD! I am looking forward to it. I had previously been laid off for 5 months several years ago, and that gave me a taste of retirement. I enjoyed that time so much.
Hi Beth, great to read from you! I love the picture of the lemons and can only imagine what the smell is like - our climate is no good for lemons or oranges sadly.
The common denominator for FG readers seems to be: does not splurge on accessories. I do not think I ever read a post from a reader who spent much money on that!
@J NL, Thank you. I love the scent of the lemons. The blossoms in the spring smell wonderful as well. Yes, I'm not big on accessories either.
What an impressive list of side hustles! They go well beyond the ordinary.
I have several 50+ friends who work part-time to fill the insurance gap. Just a note in case you are interested. Unequivocally, everyone who has worked at Trader Joe’s loves it.
@Bee, I think Trader Joe's would be a really fun place to work. Their employees are always in a good mood.
It's snowing heavily in my neck of the woods in Michigan today. I love it but can appreciate your desire to live someplace sunny and without the cold white stuff! Enjoyed your upbeat post. Sounds like you are fully enjoying your life!
@Kris, Thanks, Kris. I don't mind seeing snow in the distance, like on top of a mountain. We get snow on our mountains occasionally.
It was so fun to read about you, Beth! I will say, you're missing some beautiful white snow right now in Michigan! Ha! But I'm glad that your move to Arizona was so good for you.
I entered a lot of radio contests when I was in my 20's and won some cool stuff! My dad entered my husband and I into one a few years ago at Christmastime and we won a giant stocking full of toys and other goodies. Unfortunately my dad forgot to tell us about it, so my husband was totally confused when the radio station called to tell him that he won. It was certainly not the winner phone interview they seemed to be hoping for! But we enjoyed the prizes.
Thanks for sharing with us all!!
@Ruth T, Radio station prizes are the best! The giant stocking sounds like a great gift.
Great information and overview!!
@Mary Endline, Thank you, friend!
This was fun to read! When I was very young, I planned to move to Arizona! But, here I am, still in Illinois many years later… we took a very fun vacation where we rode Amtrak to Arizona, rented a car and drove all around the whole state, top to bottom, east to west.
I’ve done a few “side hustles” like you, and they really require self-discipline, time management, and organization. Otherwise, one makes little or no money. It can work for the right person, it seems.
Your possibilities are wide-open, Beth. Keep us posted!
@Jenny, Thank you, Jenny! I've always wanted to do an Amtrak trip across the country. I've only been on short Amtrak treks, like from Lansing, MI to Chicago.
Hi Beth,
I enjoyed hearing about all your side jobs.....how does one become a mystery shopper? Is there a general company, or do specific stores/restaurants hire people to mystery shop?
@Addy, I posted a reply but it says "reply pending." Sorry!
@Addy, There used to be a website http://www.volition.com that had a list of all the reputable mystery shopping companies. I was on that website on a daily basis 15 – 20 years ago. I’m not sure if it is still around. However, one great mystery shopping company (my favorite!) is A Closer Look. http://www.a-closer-look.com
Hi Beth B, thanks for telling us about yourself. All that sunshine in your photos is so inviting. I'll definitely look into yelp. Be sure to give an update in a couple of years when you have retired early!
@Elaine N, Thanks! Will do!
Hi Beth,
Mid Michigan here, love our state during the summer. I do not like winter at all, today was just a mess of car crashes due to slippery roads. That I won't miss.
You sure have a very cool work history! Makes life more enjoyable when you like what you do for a living!
@Mar, Yes, I don't miss getting up early for work and having to warm up and scrape my car. I'm not a morning person, so it was tough! Michigan in the summer is the best! We always try to visit during the summer months.
What a fun post! You have so many irons in the fire. Thanks for sharing!
@Jem, You're welcome.
Hello. How do you register for Yelp? Do you get paid for reviews? I've been posting on Google reviews, and have had seen number viewing my reviews but no money coming my way! Thank you for your post and for sharing. May God bless you as you continue the frugal journey.
@LEEANNE NUNEZ, I do not get paid for reviews by Yelping. If you Yelp enough, you can nominate yourself to become a Yelp Elite. There are no guarantees, but if you get accepted, there are a lot of fun perks, free meals, get-togethers, etc. Yelp is an app or you can sign up online.
I loved that book too!
@Kelli, It was the best!!
Hi Beth! The photo you posted of you at the 3 Doors Down concert made me laugh, because my 12-year-old son has been going through all my old CDs and that band has been on repeat in my house for weeks now. Good thing I like them, too. 🙂
@kristin @ going country, Ha ha! That's hilatious! They put on a really great acoustic show.