WEBVTT - How much money do I really need to live? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.920 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.600 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff You Should Know 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:12.000 from house stuff Works dot Com. Join Josh and Chuck, 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:14.400 the guys who bring you Stuff you should know, as 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:16.439 they take a trip around the world to help you 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.479 get smarter in a topsy turv economy. Check out the 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:22.239 all new super Stuff Guide to the Economy from house 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:27.560 stuff Works dot Com, available now exclusively on iTunes. Hey, 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.360 and welcome to the podcast. Chuck is cracking up? What 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:32.240 is going on? Chuck? I just can't believe I said 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:34.840 that episode growth. Yeah, we can't repeat what Chuck just said. 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:37.239 He's a dirty, dirty boy. They're all gonna wonder. His 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.440 name is Charles W. Bryant. My name is Joshua M. Clark. 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.000 I go by Josh. He goes by Chuck or compass 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.720 head and chuckers Um, and this is stuff you should know. 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:51.000 Thanks for tuning into our podcast. Are you on uppers? Yeah? Okay, 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:54.120 I did a bunch of amial nitrate. Man, everything is weird. 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.200 Good for you, Thanks so, Chuck Um. Times are tough 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.840 right now. Indeed, as you know, they're particularly tough for me. 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:06.319 I am broke all the time, right, I know that. Actually, 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.039 we have this cool monthly Yeah you know that because 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:10.760 I like to bump money off a chunk cords in 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:14.960 a while. Um, we have this monthly expenses calculator on 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.960 the side. Have you been on it? It's it's unnerving. 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.039 It's got all this great stuff and you know, like 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:23.839 how much you estimate how much you spend on gas 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:28.080 a month, cable, your phone, insurance, all this, and then 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:30.920 you put in at the top your your monthly gross income. 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:35.920 Somehow I'm living on negative two and fifty four dollars 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.319 a month. That's awesome. I have no idea how I'm 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:41.760 still alive. But Uncle Sam has well, Uncle Sam's in 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.160 trouble too, but they take quite a bite. Well imagine 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.200 if I had put my net income in here, and 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.520 I'd be in the hole like a grand every morning 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.320 when I wake up. Um. But yeah, so, I mean, 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:54.640 like I said, times of tough. We're all very very 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:56.960 happy to be here at how stuff Works dot com. 0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:59.600 How stuff Works dot Com. We love this place. I 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:05.400 love it. Seriously. Please don't fire un exactly as we know. 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.520 Remember we met that guy Chris in our in our 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:12.760 our podcast. Yeah, so no, I'm sorry. Our spoken word album. 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:16.760 I just got the Crop the Kakai from our producer Jerry. 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:21.160 She's like, I don't even say audiobook kid, um, but yeah, 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:23.560 so so it's a little rough right now. One of 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:26.440 the things I've learned is that as long as I 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:30.360 have gas in the car, beer and cigarettes, I'm set. 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:36.400 Because really, honestly, um, I have virtually discontinued eating. Like, 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.240 I don't eat breakfast. I rarely ate breakfast anyway. I 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:43.560 don't eat lunch um, and dinner is usually kind of small, 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.080 that kind of thing. Uh. And it's amazing how quick 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:51.360 your stomach shrinks, right. Um, you just I'm not hungry. 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.200 I'm rarely hungry, usually by about seven, which is when 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.680 I'll eat dinner. If I do, um, i'll be kind 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:58.480 of hungry. But if I just say no, I'm not 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:02.160 really hungry, it goes away. Sure, um and some coffee 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.960 and that helps. But the problem is is there's like 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:08.880 there's an arc where it's like, you know, appetitius suppressed, 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:11.919 appetiti supress, and then all of a sudden, the caffeine 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.639 just screams into your stomach and it really points out 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:17.640 how empty your stomach is, so you have to know 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.400 where the cut off point is, right. Um, but no, 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.560 I've been writing a lot of health articles lately, and 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:28.040 it turns out that there is a well known fact 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.760 and the medical establishment this isn't crack pop fringe stuff 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.760 that you're really unhealthy because you don't know that that 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:36.680 I will probably live longer than I normally would have 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:40.400 because of a calorie restricted diet, which we've talked about. 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:44.120 We have, and I have found out quite happily that 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:49.920 I accidentally fell uh backwards, thank you backwards, I'm like 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:54.560 hung up on profanity, uh into a calorie restricted diet 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:59.080 and I will live longer even smoking cigarettes. Well, good 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.640 luck with that, my thanks. But the point is is 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:06.160 I've found that you can't get by the very little money, 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:08.960 and um, that just so happens to be what we're 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.480 talking about right now. That was the longest setup in 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.920 the history of stuff. You should know, which is good 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:16.800 a new records. I wasn't knocking it. Did I get 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.320 a medal of it? Because I would totally pawn it 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:23.880 right now, Yeah, to my cigarette. So yeah, Josh, you 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:25.599 can get by then I think, what's the name of 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.520 the article? How much money do I Really Need to 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.400 Live Written by Jane, our colleague Jane McGrath, who is 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:36.480 our fine, fine financial and money writer, and she also 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.320 has her own podcast, Stuff you Missed in History Class 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:43.440 with Candice Gibson at the Tricks Extraordinary. Actually, no, it's 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:45.880 not Candice Gibson any longer. Our dear Candice got married 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.400 Candice Keener. Candice Keener now c K So, Chuck, what 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.080 what do we How much money do we need to live? 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.279 I know how much I need to live, But I mean, 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.080 as far as the government's concerned, don't they have some 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.200 sort of estimate that I may have heard of. I 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:02.799 think you're talking about out the poverty threshold. Yes, which, 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:08.240 again reading this article, that's a very little money that 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:12.000 the government considers the poverty line, right. I looked it 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.839 up in two thousand nine. For for a single person, 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.119 the government thinks you can get by in ten thousand, 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.760 eight hundred and thirty dollars a year. Yeah, you actually 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.200 lived below the poverty line one year? You didn't. I 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:26.640 did not too long ago. Wow, Chuck. This is when 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:28.679 I was in the film business and I was working 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.640 as a p A and I made very very little money. 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:35.200 But like with this article. I had very cheap apartment. 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.560 I had l a Yeah, there's such a thing there 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:40.360 was at the time. I've had a really good deal 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:44.239 going and uh, you know how it works, dude. I 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.720 didn't buy much food. I thought really cheap food. Uh, 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:49.480 and I was able to do it. I was shocked 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:51.800 when I got my UM statement at the end of 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:53.280 the year. I was like, you gotta be kidding me. 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:55.080 I lived on that and I didn't feel like I 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:56.880 really missed out on that. That's crazy. Well, it's because 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:00.440 you're hanging out with Matthew McConaughey the whole time. True, Yeah, Maddie. 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.680 So that that's that's for one person, ten grand and 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:07.920 thirty dollars um. That's absolute poverty, which they've been Uh, 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:09.719 they've been looking at this kind of stuff since the 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:12.359 nineteen sixties. Right. Well, let me say, also, a family 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.159 of four as far as in two thousand nine supposedly 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:19.719 can get by on two thousand, fifty dollars. A family 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:22.560 of four. That's insane to me. But yeah, so this 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:24.599 is this is uh, this all comes from the sixties. 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.600 There's an analyst named Mali Orshansky, and he came up 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.320 with the poverty line. Right. Basically, what he did was 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.920 he estimated the total annual cost of a healthy diet 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.679 in America, and then he multiplied it by three because 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:40.760 he'd read in nineteen fifty five U. S. D. A 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:44.240 Report that said that Americans spend about one third of 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:46.880 their income on food, So that would make sense. You 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:48.960 figure out how much food you need and then multiplied 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:50.920 by three, and then you have the poverty line. That's 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:53.159 the least amount of money you need to make. And 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.600 the bureau adopted that. They like, this is a great job. True, 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:59.960 and unfortunately they've been using it ever since with very 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:04.280 little adjustment. Right, they ad just for inflation, the inflation 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:08.440 of uh increases in in the price for food, that 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.120 kind of thing. But really it's still based on that 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.960 original formula, right, with the one third number. I think 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.720 that's what's causing a lot of issues. Some people think 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.400 say that one seventh of your income is what you 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.680 actually spend on food now. And also you have to 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:24.120 take into account like back in the in the fifties 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:27.200 and early sixties, you didn't have to get a loaned 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:32.040 by a car, right they become exponentially more expensive. You 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:36.040 also didn't have cable TV. You also didn't have wireless internet. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.040 You also didn't have cell phones any internet for that matter. 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.080 That is true, Thanks for that one. We have so 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:46.680 many more bills today that the formula should have been 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:49.400 changed years and years ago, right, but the bills. I 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.120 think this is the crux of the matter is want 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:54.280 versus need, And that's kind of the crux of the 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.920 article is do you need wireless internet? People think they 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:00.640 can't live without their cell phone, but not too long ago, 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:02.400 all of us lived without a shell phone and it 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:04.200 wasn't that big of a deal. Well, there's this thing 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:06.440 called the relative needs. Do you remember when we talked 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:09.080 about the five day weekend? We talked about relative needs 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.880 and it was, uh, like, say your neighbor gets a 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.520 really big TV, and all of a sudden, you need 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.320 a TV. But you need a really big TV. Right, 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.720 that's a relative needs. But not all relative needs are 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.240 kind of want to grabby needs, like I need to 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:27.840 beat my neighbor. They also reflect the competitiveness that we 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:32.000 have in the marketplace and in the labor force. Right, 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.720 Like if you have a cell phone and the guy 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:36.800 who's up for a job next to you has only 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:38.959 a landline, and has to go home or use a 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.880 pay phone to stay connected. Who's going to really come 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.400 out on top or you might just miss the one 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:46.480 call that you need, you know. Sure, Yeah, So I 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.160 mean there there are certain things that you can say, yeah, 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.120 that's kind of frivolous. We did without them, but the 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.679 fact is everybody else has them. You kind of have 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.120 to have him to stay competitive. Like, um, I've been 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.000 trying to find any way I can to cut down 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.120 on a monthly expenses. In one clear way is to 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.320 just get rid of my cable. But I'm not going 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.160 to get rid of my cable entirely because I still 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.360 need wireless internet because I work at home a lot, 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.199 you know, and we we have a research based job, 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:15.520 so we need the internet exactly, and and the cell phone. Like, yeah, 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.480 you can pare it down, like I could have a 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:21.000 pretty bare bones um uh cell phone plan and it 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:22.719 would save a few bucks, But if you really look 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.280 at it's like, oh, I'm saving like thirty forty bucks 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.080 a month, which technically adds up over the course of 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.960 a year, but really you're like, ah, that I just 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.839 went through that in gas, you know. So it's kind 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:38.959 of a frustrating balancing act, trying to pare down monthly expenses. Right, yes, 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:41.480 absolutely so. So what are some of the things you 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.040 can do their chuck if you want to really look 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:48.320 at how to live on the least amount of money. Well, Josh, 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:52.440 I was raised by my mother and father, but namely, 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:57.120 my mother raised our family of five on a elementary 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:01.520 school principal salary. In the it was just your dad working, 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.000 just my dad. My mom quit teaching to raise the 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:05.760 kids and then went back to teaching later once I 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:07.920 was older, and she did a sterling job. By the way, 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:11.280 thank you, thanks mom. But my mom is and what 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:16.920 wasn't is a master um economist micro economist. She was 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.080 able to She clipped coupons, which is one of the 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.560 things that we highly recommend. I mean, she had a 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:26.080 box filed with coupons, alphae tized, it was already organized. 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:30.680 We shopped at the discount to clothe the ears, like Marshall, Like, 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:32.720 my mom was pretty good like that too. And she 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.439 could never understand why I would I just refuse to 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:39.160 wear nights of the round table clothing. She's like, it 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.560 looks exactly the same, Like, no, see that that's a 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.520 little flag was supposed to be the polo. It looked 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.920 just like the polo thing, except instead of a polo mallet, 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.720 the top of the mallet it was a flag. And 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:54.280 I gotta tell you, when you're eleven, every kid around 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.240 you sees that flag. Hero win on that flag. Well 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:00.319 try me, buddy. I Not only that, but in my family, 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:04.560 we shopped at the store that had the the flaws 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.600 in the clothing. Oh an outlet store. Yeah, well now 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.240 it was an outlet store. It was called I can't 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.440 remember what it's called, but factory store. No liquidator, No 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.800 I don't, I'm out of It's basically like you'll it'll 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:17.560 be the name brand and be like, hey look at 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.960 those Converse shoes, but they're missing two eye holes, or 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:24.040 your your your genes are missing a zipper, that kind 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.079 of thing. Well, what's funny is as I've grown older, 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:28.520 I've come to see the value and stuff like that. 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.679 Absolutely like who pays full price, who pays retail? Not me? 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.160 And that goes back to my point is growing up, 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:38.120 I always felt like I was maybe missing out here 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:39.960 and there, and not that we were I mean poor 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.120 by any means. Always felt like I had everything I needed, 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.120 but I didn't get the members only jacket, and I 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.959 didn't get the parachute pants, and now it's no no. 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.000 I think, God yeah for my mom not getting you 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:55.079 those things. And the end result is as an adult, 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:59.000 I have a natural inclination toward being a little more 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.880 frugal and watching my money in some ways. But I'm 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.040 also my father's son who is notorious for blowing money 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.920 on flights of fancy, so I always I also have that, 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.080 So it's a nice balance. That is a good balance. 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:12.760 Like I won't I'll walk around behind my wife turning 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:16.160 out lights, and I'll try and recycle everything under the 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.439 sun and reuse it. But I'll go out and like 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.040 blow five hundred bucks on the guitar without even thinking, 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.320 and he will people I have been there with him 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:27.640 when he did. It was a great guitar. What was it? Uh, well, 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.280 it's a nice guitar. Okay, he Chuck's afraid you're gonna 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.439 break into his house and take his guitar, So coupons wait. 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:35.079 Let me also say that I want to give a 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.000 shout out to my mom, who was a very very 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.520 great woman at being thrifty but also making her kids 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.800 feel like we were rich as I've grown older, I've realized, Yeah, 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.360 not everybody ate turkey loaf and drank green kool aid 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:48.520 for dinner, you know what I mean. Yeah, So now 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:51.120 I'm kind of like, hats off, it's off the mom's 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.640 mother stays approaching. Let's just yeah, here's two more So, 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:58.600 clipping coupons is a good way, Josh buying generic. I know, 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:00.760 I go that was a great grocery store in Atlanta 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:02.520 called Kroger, and I think I don't know if they're 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:05.480 nationwide another and yeah, they're pretty big. But man, I 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.760 buy the Kroger brands. It's always cheaper. It's just as good. 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:13.439 Especially they're delicious private stock brand, right, Chuck, do you 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:17.319 remember the generic? Like the generic brand. There's a brand 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.080 that was like it was a like it was a 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:24.920 white box and it would say in black block letters 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.960 brand Flakes and then there was a UPC code and 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:31.080 that was it. Did your see the beer? No, it 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:33.040 was great. My first this is when my brother lived 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.360 in Los Angeles, my first visit ever to l A. 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:37.360 Me and some friends from U g A went and 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.120 stayed with my brother. We went to the store and 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.560 to get some beer, and literally the first thing where 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:45.800 I went to was the six pack of white cans 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.760 that said beer and we loaded up. It was awful? 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:52.080 Was it bad? Could you stomach it? Did you finish it? Well? 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.640 Of course I was in college. I have never seen that. 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:59.000 I would love. I'm going on eBay find well, it's 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.840 not around anymore, and somebody's got it in their garage somewhere. 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:05.880 Probably yeah, some Yeah, we could probably find some Billy 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:11.200 beer on there. Oh yeah, from Billy Carter some alright, 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:15.640 so check, we've got coupons, we've got generic. There's also 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.840 a Cooking at home is huge. Number one. If you're 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:21.840 like out and about and you're not cooking, but you're poor, 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:27.000 you're say goodbye to vegetables in your diet because you know, 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.400 no fast food place sells vegetables, and if they do, 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:33.560 they're no longer nutritious. They have been slathered in fat 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:36.240 and deep fried so long that you might as well 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:40.760 just eat, you know, blocks of cheese. That's it. Um. 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:43.840 So yeah, you if you can cook at home. Number one, 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:47.960 it's cheaper. Number two's healthier. Um. And in the article, 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:50.880 uh Jane cites a source that that says that if 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.280 if you bring your own lunch to work every day 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:56.960 you can, you can save about nine and sixty bucks 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.440 a year. Struck me as very low, because don't hear 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:04.760 you can't get lunch for less than ten bucks. I 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:06.760 let's go with ten because the mass a lot easier. 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:08.960 But that comes to if you go out every day, 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:11.160 which there's a lot of people who work with us 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:15.800 that do um and that's like bucks a year. That's 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.920 a lot of cheese. I feel guilty when I eat 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.480 out lunch, Yeah I do. I feel like it's a 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:24.280 complete waste of money. If I don't like bring my 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.280 sandwich or something and I'm forced to eat out, I'll 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:30.000 try and skip lunch. But yeah, it makes me like 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:31.800 I don't want to go home and say, you know, 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.680 it's been twelve dollars on lunch. Yeah, yeah, no, no, 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:36.160 I don't. I don't either. I know what you mean. 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:39.160 I value a buck. I'll treat myself sometimes generally I 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.840 don't eat lunch. I'm a Gordon Gecko adherent. But let 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:43.040 me give you a little tip. And I know you 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.360 already know this. If you ever happen to be hanging 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:49.960 around the courtyard downstairs around twelve twelve thirty, you see 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.800 rocks in read strike up a conversation with her because 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:54.880 she has a policy of buying lunch or whoever she 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:56.920 runs into while she's out there. She bought me lunch 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.040 one day, she bought me lunch twice. Well, we just 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.120 needed time. This better alternate. Yeah, we can both just 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.560 be there with big dough eyes like hey Roxanne. So yeah, 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:07.760 need versus want, Josh. That's what it comes down to. 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:11.480 If you're uh suffering in these tough times, I think 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:13.800 what you need to do is take a good hard 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.320 look at your finances, break it down, line it, out 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:19.360 it and buy item and really think about it. Do 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:21.200 I need a cable or can I get rid of 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:23.480 it for the next six or eight months? Especially with 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.640 the new digital transmissions apparently that opened up If it works, 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.160 it opened up a lot more channels than than it 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.720 was available with just ravities, and it's a lot clearer too. 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.320 So that's something. I went without cable a couple of 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:36.720 times in my life for extended periods, and I thought 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:38.760 I was gonna miss it, man, But after a little while, 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.440 you you can just kind of forget. It's like not eating. Yeah, 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:43.160 I've done it a bunch of choice before, and you 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.240 get used to it really quickly. Right, Although we're not 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:50.440 saying that you should not eat people that's Josh's bag. Nice, 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:54.360 thanks Chuck. It's not healthy. We're not encouraging that. So yeah, 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.600 I think the irony is in this article we never 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.840 really say how much it takes. It's more like a 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:05.360 relative thing. Yeah, So, as you were saying, I think 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:07.160 it's it is time for us to take a good 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.000 long look at our finances. It seems like we we 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.199 were coming out of a phase where, you know, just 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:16.119 conspicuous consumption is a thing in the past. See somebody 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:18.120 riding around in a hummer, It's like, did you miss 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:20.800 the memo? Like, I realize you can't sell that thing 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:23.520 to anybody or give it away for free. But it 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.560 seems like at least the US is kind of taking 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.920 this new tech where we're getting a little more frugal, 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.879 and you know it, there's a big difference between you know, 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:37.520 being wealthy and rich and and you know, being able 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:39.880 to take care of yourself and your family. And it's 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.400 good that it's in I feel it. Feel good about that. 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.600 And the other thing is is don't forget to save. 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.600 Saving is huge. It's an important thing where you are 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:52.160 not a nation of savers, and apparently it's we're becoming 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:54.119 more and more of a nation of savers, which is heartening, 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:55.800 is a good thing. Yeah. You know what I hope, dude, 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.360 is that this whole recession blows over and that we're 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.200 all better for it in the end. Ultimately we will. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.120 But you know, like the uh, the Great Depression era 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:08.280 grandparents that everybody gripes about, it's like kind okay, yes, 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.560 I understand, you can use this coffee can for eighty 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.840 different things, and you have been. We're that generation, dude, 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:18.760 we're in in the making. We're going to annoy the 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:22.840 kids that come behind us badly. Yeah. It always works. Yeah, 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:25.720 So look forward, you whipper snappers to hearing from Chuck 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:27.520 and I because we're gonna tell you all about how 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:30.000 bad it was. And opp nine. I'd like to also say, 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:32.080 if you want to learn more about, um, how much 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.680 money you need to live, you can go to UH. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:36.840 You can type that into how stuff works dot com 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.400 in our handy search bar, and there's a monthly income 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:43.040 or monthly expenses calculators and there's a bunch of really 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.400 great personal finance links in that article. It's a good one. 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.399 By again by Jay McGrath. Um, so let's do the 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.840 blog thing, Chuck, right, Uh, speedy plug. We have a 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:55.200 blog now. We've been writing on it. We have people 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:57.960 uh posting comments and it's a lot of fun and 0:18:57.960 --> 0:18:59.879 we encourage you to check it out on the right 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:01.720 out of the homepage. And also, I'm glad you said 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.520 that because you just gave me my new hotel pseudonym 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:07.760 what is it? Speedy Club. That's pretty good. We actually 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:09.800 had a bunch of people right in with suggestions for Yeah, 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:13.920 we need to do that for listener mills because there 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:15.520 were a lot of them that were French. Didn't you 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:20.200 notice that? No? Ye, so should we? And quickly our 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:25.359 audio spoken word record album are spoken word album called 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:27.920 The Stuff You Should Know, super Stuff Guide to the Economy. 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:33.360 It's up on iTunes worth every penny we're coming to realize, um. 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.200 And you can type in super Stuffed and the search 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:38.639 bar of your iTunes while while you're searching the iTunes 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.040 store and it should be the first thing that comes up. 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.480 And if you want to buy it, great for you. Right, 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:47.639 help support Josh and Jerry and Chuck. So we begging 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:52.000 for Nichols anytime soon is it time. It's time for 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:57.960 listening rail. Okay, Josh, I just have one today. This 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:02.680 is from Patrick. Yeah. Uh. Patrick was writing in about 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:07.399 dejab wu, the deja episode. He wanted to respond because 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:11.400 we talked about biological deja vu, and he has some insight. 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:13.920 He has an affliction and this is really odd. He's 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:18.320 had it since he was twelve. Now, occasionally I'll experience 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:21.320 an intense sensation of deja vu, almost like a dream. 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:25.159 I remember some senior dialogue that feels incredibly familiar. It 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:28.160 sounds like normal dejab It's so far right. However, during 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:30.919