Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt's.
Speaker 1: Today we're discussing enjoying the holidays without spending a dime. Yeah, Chel,
Speaker 1: there are so many different reasons for us to spend
Speaker 1: less money around the holidays, and there are many different
Speaker 1: ways for us to do that while still enjoying the holidays.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to talk about this episode with you. I'm
Speaker 1: only sad though, that we don't have hot chocolate here.
Speaker 1: I'm sad that we don't have Christmas music playing in
Speaker 1: the background. Yeah, I feel like those things would be
Speaker 1: help us to get in the spirit a little bit.
Speaker 1: You have a go to Christmas album, map, I feel
Speaker 1: like the classic is like the Mariah Carey h Christmas album.
Speaker 1: That's my wife's favorite, is it really? But personally I'm
Speaker 1: a big fan of that five volume Sufi and Stephen's
Speaker 1: Christmas Album's in Hipster classic so good. It is really good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree. Do you have a favorite? I mean that's
Speaker 1: up there for me, the Soup jan and that's kind
Speaker 1: of that's kind of what I go to a lot
Speaker 1: during the holidays. But I like some old school classics
Speaker 1: as well, some of the old carols from the old
Speaker 1: hymns like Crosbie, those White Christmas soundtrack. Emily tells Alexa
Speaker 1: to play like a Christmas classic station and that always
Speaker 1: works out. Well. Nice, Yeah, but yeah, we got a
Speaker 1: lot to get to on on how people can enjoy
Speaker 1: the holidays without spending too much money, especially as we
Speaker 1: get closer. We're less than three weeks away from Christmas now,
Speaker 1: which is it's it's hard to believe. But before we
Speaker 1: get to that, you wanted to talk about some homemade
Speaker 1: stuff you're doing in your kitchen. Yeah, So in the notes,
Speaker 1: I put a c V and do you even know
Speaker 1: what that stands for? Now? I'm assuming it's see your
Speaker 1: up to no good? Because I didn't, because so I
Speaker 1: saw it all my calendar and I was like, what
Speaker 1: is strain a c V? What the heck is that?
Speaker 1: And it stands for Apple Cider Vinegar And it's something
Speaker 1: that Kate had stuck on the calendar. Back in the fall,
Speaker 1: we went to an orchard, you know, an apple orchard,
Speaker 1: and we picked a bunch of apples, came back with
Speaker 1: like multiple bags of apples from North Georgia, and we
Speaker 1: did a little baking one day and we had a
Speaker 1: bunch of course leftover. Uh, And I was getting ready
Speaker 1: to toss him out. But Kate is incredibly resourceful, especially
Speaker 1: in the kitchen, and she looked up this recipe man
Speaker 1: to make your own apple cider vinegar, and literally all
Speaker 1: it takes our apple cores, sugar and water. So you
Speaker 1: take that and you you have to make sure you
Speaker 1: submerge it, right, so there can't be any apple like
Speaker 1: sticking up out of the water, otherwise it'll mold. But
Speaker 1: then the apples in the water it starts to ferments,
Speaker 1: and you make your own naturally fermented, you know, spontaneously
Speaker 1: fermented apple cider vinegar. Uh. And I am so stoked
Speaker 1: to try it. We actually haven't tried any of it yet,
Speaker 1: So that brings up the question is it frugal or
Speaker 1: cheap to make your own fermented I don't even know
Speaker 1: what you would call it, like drink her food. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, if people are into it, that's great. I
Speaker 1: think especially some people just love like your wife loves
Speaker 1: being in the kitchen, she loves cooking, she loves probably
Speaker 1: straining her own apple cider vinegar right like that, that's
Speaker 1: the kind of apple chunks out of that. Yeah, she
Speaker 1: gets jazzed about the kind of stuff. Me. I'm the
Speaker 1: kind of guy that doesn't as much. So yeah, for me,
Speaker 1: it would probably be cheap. I'd be trying just to
Speaker 1: save money while doing something I hated. But for other
Speaker 1: people it's frugal because it's a labor of love. It's
Speaker 1: something that they enjoy and at the same time they
Speaker 1: could save money doing it. So yeah, I know. Some
Speaker 1: people make their own beverages, some people brew their own beer,
Speaker 1: and and that's great. It's just not something I'm into.
Speaker 1: I prefer the store bought variety. I mean. My biggest
Speaker 1: concern though, is the fact that this is something that
Speaker 1: sat on top of our fridge in a jar like
Speaker 1: open air, you know, like she put a cloth over
Speaker 1: it to keep, you know, flies and stuff from getting
Speaker 1: in there. But otherwise, I think as Americans, we it's
Speaker 1: weird when we see something that sits out for that
Speaker 1: long and then we think, oh, are we gonna eat that?
Speaker 1: Is that something that's gonna go inside my body? And
Speaker 1: so I'm a little bit nervous there. But it's no
Speaker 1: different I think than kombucha, Like that's not something that
Speaker 1: we've ever created ourselves or lambics. That are made in Belgium.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, I trust a lambic from Belgium, where
Speaker 1: there's been somebody that has done this for you know, millennia.
Speaker 1: It's been in this family where they've they brewed it.
Speaker 1: It's still so interesting when you go and you tour
Speaker 1: one of those Belgian breweries that has what they call
Speaker 1: it's called a cool ship and they're huger the space
Speaker 1: of a room and they put the beer in there
Speaker 1: and it's open air, and there's spiders and there's every
Speaker 1: things like bugs whizzing in and out. But it's it's
Speaker 1: all a part of the TWA. Yeah, it's the most
Speaker 1: delicious tasting beer at the end of the day. And
Speaker 1: so I don't know, man, I think maybe you're gonna
Speaker 1: you're TWA of your a CV is gonna be delicious.
Speaker 1: Maybe it'll be good. Yeah, So I'll post the recipe
Speaker 1: if folks were interested in given this a shot, because
Speaker 1: I was. I really was surprised at how few ingredients
Speaker 1: it took. But yeah, we'll make sure to put that
Speaker 1: in our show notes and all that. Note, Joel, that
Speaker 1: was a good transition as we were kind of talking
Speaker 1: about the beer a little bit. I did want to
Speaker 1: say you are the Martha Stewart of Personal Finance podcast
Speaker 1: hosts Oh you think so? I think so? Okay? Yeah,
Speaker 1: does that make me the snoop Dogg? I don't know. Well.
Speaker 1: On that note, let's introduce our beer for this episode.
Speaker 1: We are enjoying an owl theory. This is by field
Speaker 1: Work Brewing Company. UH and Tim actually sent this one
Speaker 1: our away. We actually participated in a wellness webinar that
Speaker 1: his company hosted a couple of months ago, and obviously
Speaker 1: we talked about personal finance. But I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: us both enjoying this bearer and we'll talk about it
Speaker 1: at the end of the episode. Sounds good, All right,
Speaker 1: Let's get onto the subject at hand. We're talking about
Speaker 1: enjoying the holidays without spending a dime, and for many
Speaker 1: of us, Matt, I think, our default way of thinking
Speaker 1: in order to have a successful or fun holiday season,
Speaker 1: we feel like we need to spend lots of money.
Speaker 1: We've it's almost been ingrained in us culturally. That's how
Speaker 1: we do it in America. We buy our vinegar, and
Speaker 1: we also buy all of our gifts exactly, and we
Speaker 1: buy more than we need. And it's like we feel
Speaker 1: like we need to have just a ton of presents
Speaker 1: under the tree or you know, wherever you put them
Speaker 1: in your house, and they can't be homemade like you said,
Speaker 1: or reasonably priced either. They kind of be expensive. They've
Speaker 1: got to be kind of showy. And lots of folks
Speaker 1: show that they love someone through over the top gift giving.
Speaker 1: And it's even easy, I think this time of year
Speaker 1: for money conscious folks like our listeners, like you and
Speaker 1: I even at times to get caught up in all
Speaker 1: the spending that happens this time of year. So we
Speaker 1: wanted to create this episode. Um, we wanted to talk
Speaker 1: about enjoying the holidays without going overboard, because we think
Speaker 1: there are ways to do it, ways to get creative
Speaker 1: and at the same time, ways to really actually enjoy
Speaker 1: the holidays more if we're a little bit more money
Speaker 1: conscious over the next few weeks. Yeah, I mean, and
Speaker 1: this is especially true, you know, considering the financial positions
Speaker 1: that a lot of Americans are in after this year,
Speaker 1: after uh, you know, stimulus checks back in the spring,
Speaker 1: where we're nice, those increased unemployment benefits certainly helped, but
Speaker 1: a lot of individuals are still without jobs, which means
Speaker 1: their income has been severely disrupted. As of us recording
Speaker 1: this episode, initial unemployment claims are down to only seven
Speaker 1: nine thousand a week, which is actually good news, but
Speaker 1: that's still way more than where we were this time
Speaker 1: last year, when it was closer to only two hundred
Speaker 1: thousand a week. Yeah, to say that that's good news
Speaker 1: is scary, but it is. I guess you're right when
Speaker 1: you think about where things were, you know, just a
Speaker 1: handful of months back. And aside from that, the impact
Speaker 1: that COVID has had on American incomes, on households and
Speaker 1: what they're able to bring in financially, there's also added
Speaker 1: health constraints this time a year, which means a lot
Speaker 1: of families are separate from each other, or at least
Speaker 1: they're social distancing during their festivities this year. So with
Speaker 1: a lot of families not being together due to COVID,
Speaker 1: I think maybe there's an additional temptation to make up
Speaker 1: for the lack of proximity with increased amount of spending.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like, um, well, it says it can't
Speaker 1: be there in person, I'm gonna get you something super fancy,
Speaker 1: really nice. I wish I was there. I can't be there.
Speaker 1: So let's go ahead and double the Christmas budget this year,
Speaker 1: thinking of you, here's a Tiffany bracelet. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know how you're gonna roll with Emily, right,
Speaker 1: probably yeah, good for you, Joel. Right, But but this
Speaker 1: is totally gonna be a budget busting approach. If people
Speaker 1: do that, if they end up spending more because they
Speaker 1: can't be nearby their family, and that's not necessarily the
Speaker 1: best way to show somebody that you love them. And
Speaker 1: if you spend too much, obviously it's going to lead
Speaker 1: to overspending and it could lead to a debt as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if you're thinking that this isn't really a problem
Speaker 1: for most folks, you know, let alone you. Let's share
Speaker 1: some stats on holiday debts. My favorite that's on Hoiday.
Speaker 1: Let's do it man. According to Magnify Money, they every
Speaker 1: year they do a post holiday debt survey. Uh, they
Speaker 1: did one of last year's spending. According to that research,
Speaker 1: Americans racked up an average of one thousand dollars during
Speaker 1: the holidays. And I think one of the more interesting
Speaker 1: things here is that of the consumers who took on
Speaker 1: that debt, the majority didn't plan on doing, so it
Speaker 1: just happened, right, And so the reason that we're talking
Speaker 1: about this today is because it's not good enough to
Speaker 1: just you know, hope for the best, to just cross
Speaker 1: our fingers. We need to change the way that we
Speaker 1: approach our holiday spending. And so that's our that's our
Speaker 1: goal for this episode. Yeah, yeah, and yeah, Matt, you
Speaker 1: mentioned that people didn't have a plan, and that's it
Speaker 1: just kind of happened, right that that was their excuse
Speaker 1: at the end of the day when they were interviewed
Speaker 1: for this survey. And we don't have a plan to
Speaker 1: not overspend, the likelihood that we will ever spend goes
Speaker 1: up dramatically, and then this debt has potential to even
Speaker 1: stick around for years, all in the name of of
Speaker 1: a joyous holiday season, of having a good time during
Speaker 1: the Christmas holidays, or whatever holiday you celebrate this time
Speaker 1: of year. And in that same debt survey, of folks
Speaker 1: were only making the minimum payment on the cards that
Speaker 1: they racked up dent on. So not only is it
Speaker 1: going to take longer to pay for all that holiday spending,
Speaker 1: but you could end up paying massive amounts on interest
Speaker 1: on the holiday gifts and items you purchased. So it's
Speaker 1: not just the Tiffany bracelet, but it's a Tiffany bracelet
Speaker 1: with finance with uh interest rate attached to an ouch man.
Speaker 1: And yeah, also, we wanted to mention you know that
Speaker 1: we're referring specifically to Christmas some in the course of
Speaker 1: this episode. That's because it tends to be the biggest
Speaker 1: consumption driver of the holidays this time of year. But
Speaker 1: when you look at the history of Christmas, it hasn't
Speaker 1: always been about scoring all the best deals and you know,
Speaker 1: getting presents to the max. Uh not, you know, not
Speaker 1: that gifts haven't been a regular part of the holidays
Speaker 1: for hundreds of years, but you know, the marketing hype
Speaker 1: has caused us to change much of our perceptions are
Speaker 1: kids expectations about what the holiday should look like. So
Speaker 1: just remember that even though overspending in Christmas aren't massively
Speaker 1: intertwined these days, it hasn't always been that way and
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be that way for you and
Speaker 1: you know, for your family. There are specific ways to
Speaker 1: change the trajectory of your holiday season, and we've got
Speaker 1: more on that right after this break. All right, we're
Speaker 1: back from the break. We're talking about enjoying the holidays
Speaker 1: without spending a dime. I don't know why we didn't
Speaker 1: say penny or nickel, Matt, dime. You don't want to
Speaker 1: spend a dime? Exactly? Why did dime become the reference
Speaker 1: to piece of currency when you're talking about that, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Maybe because you can't buy anything these days
Speaker 1: with a penny or nickel. That's true, that's true. A
Speaker 1: dime maybe something. I mean, I know it costs more
Speaker 1: to produce a PENNI than a penny is actually worth.
Speaker 1: And I think it's almost to that point with a nickel. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gotta be. There's gotta be. So let's get rid
Speaker 1: of the peny, let's get rid of the nickel. Let's
Speaker 1: only let's start with dimes, put chips in our risks
Speaker 1: and pay with everything. That way, you could that smart
Speaker 1: watching might be going in that direction, But we digress.
Speaker 1: Let's get back to the topic. We're we're talking on
Speaker 1: this episode about about not spending any money really when
Speaker 1: it comes to having an enjoyable holidays. And I think
Speaker 1: you know it's it's our hope in this episode that
Speaker 1: we're talking about what will help you to shift and
Speaker 1: alter the way that you think about the holidays and
Speaker 1: holiday spending, and it all starts with how intentional you're
Speaker 1: being with your holiday spending and how you're approaching that
Speaker 1: with your friends and family. And man, I think too,
Speaker 1: you know, we we did say the title of this
Speaker 1: episode enjoying the holidays without spending a dime. But it's
Speaker 1: not like you and I are not spending any money
Speaker 1: on gifts for the people that we love. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: not taking it that literally. Yes, yeah, So we want
Speaker 1: you to know that too, that it's not like we're
Speaker 1: saying don't spend anything on gifts for anybody. That sounds
Speaker 1: a little gritchy. Actually, well that's the thing. We're not
Speaker 1: trying to be like ba humbugs here, right. We want
Speaker 1: people to get into like the spirit. We want folks
Speaker 1: to have that holiday ch here, but we want them
Speaker 1: to achieve that with a change in the way that
Speaker 1: they're they're thinking about things, not by just throwing a
Speaker 1: bunch of money at it. Yeah yeah, I mean you
Speaker 1: and I were gonna spend money on our kids and
Speaker 1: on our spouses and on a few close family members
Speaker 1: and and then small gifts for some friends that we
Speaker 1: love to but we're gonna take more measured approach, and
Speaker 1: that's really what what we're talking about here. Yeah, one
Speaker 1: thing to note too is if you're listening to this
Speaker 1: and you're thinking, Okay, this episode came a little bit
Speaker 1: too late. I've already purchased way too much stuff. Maybe
Speaker 1: I went notes on Black Friday. Maybe, so you know,
Speaker 1: maybe you've already gone overboard. If that's the case, you know,
Speaker 1: just remember that it's not too late to make some returns.
Speaker 1: And that sounds maybe like almost anti patriotic to say, like,
Speaker 1: go ahead and return this Christmas gifts, but know that
Speaker 1: you're able to rethink how you can approach gift giving
Speaker 1: this year. It's the joy to give people. We you know,
Speaker 1: we love things that we know that they will love. Right,
Speaker 1: But if it means buying stuff that we can't afford,
Speaker 1: if it means financing those things, then it becomes a
Speaker 1: financial burden and it's not worth it. You still got
Speaker 1: time to cut down on the costs of the holidays
Speaker 1: by taking things back that you will potentially be paying
Speaker 1: off for much of. Yeah, you don't want to be
Speaker 1: a negative part of Magnifying Money's survey next year, right
Speaker 1: that you're in way too much that after the holidays,
Speaker 1: don't become a statistic and it's just and it's just
Speaker 1: not worth it, like it is fun. I understand the
Speaker 1: joy in the on of of spending money and buying
Speaker 1: somebody the perfect gift, but again, yeah, if it leaves
Speaker 1: you with months and months of regret afterwards, it's not
Speaker 1: worth that moment of joy. Uh. And And that there
Speaker 1: are ways to to give gifts without spending much money
Speaker 1: at all or any money. Gift giving is one of
Speaker 1: the major challenges of enjoying the holidays without spending a dime, right,
Speaker 1: Challenging yourself to give gifts they don't cost any money,
Speaker 1: challenges you to get creative. How creative can you be?
Speaker 1: And giving the gift of your time, Matt and I
Speaker 1: think is one really meaningful way to do this in
Speaker 1: order to not spend any money, but to give quality
Speaker 1: time to someone that you love instead. Right. For For
Speaker 1: some folks, this could be as simple as a one
Speaker 1: on one day that you spend with a sibling doing
Speaker 1: something that they love to do, or a double date
Speaker 1: with you and your partner and your parents right at
Speaker 1: the end of the day. Though relationships are better and
Speaker 1: more important than physical gifts, until giving that gift of
Speaker 1: time can actually be even more meaningful than giving someone
Speaker 1: like an actual item that you've purchased that they would enjoy. Two. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, along that same train of thought, you know,
Speaker 1: giving a voucher or a coupon for a task er
Speaker 1: chore that needs to be done is also a way
Speaker 1: to to not spend any money. Specifically, think through some
Speaker 1: tasks I think that you specifically are good at, you know,
Speaker 1: or even chores that only you can get done. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate the voucher you just gave me, Matt for
Speaker 1: cleaning our toilets. I was so nice of you, as
Speaker 1: you've proven that's something that you are incapable of. But
Speaker 1: maybe this is helping a parent go through and organize
Speaker 1: their photo library on their computer, right, Like, something that's
Speaker 1: kind of technology related might be kind of a way
Speaker 1: to think about it. Or another example I'm thinking of
Speaker 1: is maybe fixing something that is broken that happens to
Speaker 1: be driving your spouse or your partner crazy. So, for instance, Joel,
Speaker 1: I've got a little story for you. Kate's got this
Speaker 1: fifteen inch cast iron skillet, right, I mean it's huge.
Speaker 1: We cook everything on there, and she recently got this
Speaker 1: glass lid that goes on top of it with this
Speaker 1: tiny little knob handle in the in the middle for
Speaker 1: this giant fifteen inch pan. Uh, well, it's stripped out.
Speaker 1: The screw came out of it, and we were no
Speaker 1: longer able to use it. So we were like, oh,
Speaker 1: we set it back, thinking maybe it was a manufactured defect.
Speaker 1: They sent us a new one a few days later,
Speaker 1: same stinking thing happened. It's just poorly designed. And so
Speaker 1: instead of going through the entire return process again, I thought,
Speaker 1: you know what, I bet I could make my own
Speaker 1: handle for this thing. And so I found some scrap
Speaker 1: wood that we had on the basement, made some cuts,
Speaker 1: sanded it OUs. It was nice and smooth, and kind
Speaker 1: of ran a screw up in there oiled it, you know.
Speaker 1: So it was nice and pretty. Dude, that thing works
Speaker 1: so well. Uh. And that's something that Kate she like,
Speaker 1: she couldn't have even purchased something like that, And it's
Speaker 1: something I was like, I'm not a woodworker, but I
Speaker 1: was handy enough to make some cuts and find a
Speaker 1: way to solve a problem that made her life, I
Speaker 1: mean significantly better. In particular, when it comes to using
Speaker 1: that lid. And so in our case, that's something that
Speaker 1: I was able to kind of step in and provide.
Speaker 1: Literally didn't cost me anything because that's used scrap wood
Speaker 1: and found some screws that we had laying around in
Speaker 1: my screw drawer down in the basement down there where
Speaker 1: we keep the bikes. But that's the kind of creative
Speaker 1: problem solving I want to point people towards. And it
Speaker 1: didn't cost anything. They say, the best businesses are started
Speaker 1: when somebody sees a pain point and they want to
Speaker 1: relieve it by creating something. And maybe the best gift
Speaker 1: is own by seeing a pain point in someone that
Speaker 1: he loves life and then finding a way to help
Speaker 1: resolve that. And oftentimes you're right, I think it can
Speaker 1: be free or incredibly inexpensive. We wanted to make that happen.
Speaker 1: But let's talk about another way that somebody could use
Speaker 1: their time in order to give a gift. And I'm
Speaker 1: thinking of maybe like parents who are wanting their attic
Speaker 1: cleared out because there's so much junk in there um
Speaker 1: and and they have a hard time going through some
Speaker 1: of that stuff on their own, and you could help
Speaker 1: them do that. Stuff's been sitting around maybe for decades.
Speaker 1: They're afraid of tossing it out because of sentimental reasons.
Speaker 1: And then you, as they're growing up child, you can
Speaker 1: actually help them call their possessions. And you know what
Speaker 1: I'll say too, it's going to help you on the
Speaker 1: end one of these days. Or maybe it's even from
Speaker 1: having to move that stuff one of these days. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. And maybe it's even your parents who own
Speaker 1: boxes and stuff that are keeping around in case you
Speaker 1: might want it. Instead of avoiding that conversation. Maybe this
Speaker 1: is the year that you tackle that stuff right and
Speaker 1: you decided to give some away. You find the things
Speaker 1: that you want to keep, but that gets rid of
Speaker 1: a headache or your parents. Right, and this could be
Speaker 1: especially helpful if all that stuff is is sitting in
Speaker 1: storage costing them money. Right, I think what ten percent
Speaker 1: of households rent a sell storage facility and the average
Speaker 1: cost of that is like just under a hundred dollars
Speaker 1: a month. So you could save your parents money and
Speaker 1: solve a problem in their lives just through a little
Speaker 1: bit of time. Um, it doesn't actually cost you any
Speaker 1: money in order to give that gift. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: And you know, while we're talking, we're kind of talking
Speaker 1: about coupons and vouchers, that kind of thing. Of course,
Speaker 1: kids creating certificates of some special chore in there done
Speaker 1: that that they could do around the house. Is that's
Speaker 1: like a classic, right and so like, as a parent,
Speaker 1: avoid going out with your kid and spending an afternoon
Speaker 1: wandering around a department store or sitting down on the
Speaker 1: computer and kind of clicking through Amazon or whatnot where
Speaker 1: you're helping them to like pick out a gift for
Speaker 1: your partner. You know, that might just end up being
Speaker 1: a total waste of money. Instead, take a more thoughtful approach,
Speaker 1: help them to create one of these coupons. You know,
Speaker 1: these can be as simple as like, here are five
Speaker 1: vouchers to windex all the windows in the house. You know,
Speaker 1: these can just be one time tasks and then it's over.
Speaker 1: But it could also involve like ongoing behavior in chores
Speaker 1: that a kid would be responsible for. And definitely, you know, Joel,
Speaker 1: you mentioned these pain points a second ago, but like,
Speaker 1: sit down and challenge your kids to maybe think through
Speaker 1: some of these pain points. Ask yourself, what are some
Speaker 1: areas that make life difficult that you could you know,
Speaker 1: both sit down figure out a solution for I'm thinking
Speaker 1: in our house, like laundry is uh just a terrible
Speaker 1: ongoing problem. We've got three girls, and they all love
Speaker 1: to constantly change their clothes, and their dirty clothes end
Speaker 1: up on the floor in the room, we're out in
Speaker 1: the hallway, basically all over the place. And so if
Speaker 1: I was able to sit down with them and we
Speaker 1: kind of formulated this plan, uh, and we kind of
Speaker 1: you know, quote unquote gifted that to Kate. I think
Speaker 1: that would be basically like the gift of the decade
Speaker 1: because it's something that she would appreciate so much because
Speaker 1: so much of her time, in particular when you're virtual
Speaker 1: schooling and you're kind of managing the kids at home,
Speaker 1: which Kate does, but so much of your time has
Speaker 1: just spent making sure the house is like staying together.
Speaker 1: And I mean it's an incredible hard task. I don't
Speaker 1: envy her at all. But if we were able to
Speaker 1: figure out a solution to that problem, I think that's
Speaker 1: something that Kate would really like. Yeah, no, I think
Speaker 1: she would do. You're right, now that I've said it
Speaker 1: out loud, I'm pretty sure I have to actually follow
Speaker 1: through and do this and you're committed, buddy, Yeah, you've
Speaker 1: got to make that happen. I think yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that is the kind of creative thinking there really needs
Speaker 1: to go into gift giving. And you're right, I think
Speaker 1: you can actually give somebody a gift that they didn't
Speaker 1: ask for, but that far exceeds any expectations that they
Speaker 1: had for what they might receive based on creativity and
Speaker 1: a little bit of time, and of course too, when
Speaker 1: you spend your time in order to try to enjoy
Speaker 1: the holidays. It's not just about gifts to your family,
Speaker 1: but there is also a lot of joy that comes
Speaker 1: from serving others this time of year, particularly people that
Speaker 1: are going through a hardship. And and Matt, I'm I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've seen the statistics. I think one
Speaker 1: out of five American families has had to go to
Speaker 1: a food pantry at some point since the pandemic started.
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of people in need in
Speaker 1: particular right now in our country, and serving together with
Speaker 1: the people you love is a great way to enjoy
Speaker 1: each other while also providing some of that much needed
Speaker 1: assistance that nonprofits out there are looking for. And maybe
Speaker 1: even your neighbor or people nearby where you live are
Speaker 1: in need of Yeah, you can make a meal for
Speaker 1: that elderly neighbor, right, or maybe it's volunteering at a
Speaker 1: soup kitchen or participating in a coat drive for the homeless.
Speaker 1: You could even deliver them yourself and have that actually
Speaker 1: be an activity something that uh that you look forward
Speaker 1: to doing around the holidays, you know. But serving others
Speaker 1: is key to feeling the holiday spirit without spending much money.
Speaker 1: So Joel, these are some different ways how we can
Speaker 1: spend our time, right, But we've got some more ideas
Speaker 1: for ways to enjoy the holidays for free, ways that
Speaker 1: involve a little bit of creativity and how does that
Speaker 1: we approach different activities and we'll get to those right
Speaker 1: after this break, all right, So we are back and
Speaker 1: we're talking about ways and Joel, the holidays without spending
Speaker 1: a dime. And you know, at the core of discover
Speaker 1: bring these you know, free and kind of creative things
Speaker 1: that we can do to enjoy the holidays. Really at
Speaker 1: the core of this is the ability to bring us
Speaker 1: together in order to kind of ramp up and build
Speaker 1: these relationships. Right, Like we're talking about togetherness here and
Speaker 1: the things that we're that we're going to continue to recommend.
Speaker 1: Like they're not groundbreaking, you know, but with a little
Speaker 1: bit of kind of creativity and intentionality, you can make
Speaker 1: what might have been otherwise an ordinary holiday activity super special.
Speaker 1: I think it really does all come down to just
Speaker 1: your approach and and being intentional with your your time
Speaker 1: and how you're approaching these things. Yeah, man, I completely agree.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that our family loves to do.
Speaker 1: We loved and just like a lot of other families,
Speaker 1: go around, drive around in your car and look at
Speaker 1: Christmas lights. Who doesn't love that? Right? There's this, uh,
Speaker 1: this one house we have to go buy multiple times
Speaker 1: every year that's close to where my parents live, and
Speaker 1: they just go I mean to an absurd level. Uh,
Speaker 1: the amount of life they use. I would like to know,
Speaker 1: and I would like to know what their electricity bill
Speaker 1: is because it gets a little insane, but probably don't
Speaker 1: want to know it make you cry, right, you might
Speaker 1: feel that like I can no longer support this. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: People do you have like a little donation box, which
Speaker 1: is great and they deserve it because they bring a
Speaker 1: lot of chair. We'll just sit there for like ten
Speaker 1: or fifteen minutes you know, a couple of nights out
Speaker 1: of the year and just watch their lights because they're incredible.
Speaker 1: It's awesome. Or not even a donation too, but like
Speaker 1: maybe even like writing a thank you note and like
Speaker 1: kind of tying it to a candy cane like that.
Speaker 1: That's sort of like something kind of creative like that
Speaker 1: where they can feel some appreciation for what they're bringing
Speaker 1: to the neighborhood. I I asked them, they said they
Speaker 1: want cash. Actual, yeah, hard, hard money, please, they got
Speaker 1: to pay that electricity build No pennies and nicchols. Let's
Speaker 1: start with dimes exactly, exactly. But yeah, if you love
Speaker 1: looking at Christmas lights as much as we do, there's
Speaker 1: a website called Christmas light finder dot com and you
Speaker 1: can find some displays at least near you, or just
Speaker 1: drive around to neighborhoods. Especially once it seemed to make
Speaker 1: exterior holiday decorating a big priority. Matt. You know where
Speaker 1: we live on our street, Halloween lights are the big deal,
Speaker 1: and decorating for Halloween Christmas not quite as much. You
Speaker 1: can change that, though, Yeah, it all comes down to you.
Speaker 1: I can be the Clark Griswold in this situation and
Speaker 1: change change the dynamic. But yeah, finding the neighborhoods that
Speaker 1: do really get into the holiday spirit and and have
Speaker 1: the lights up and stuff like that. Find those neighborhoods.
Speaker 1: Ask some other people where do you go to hunt
Speaker 1: for Christmas lights? Um? Where are the best places to
Speaker 1: to check it out? But yeah, that's such a fun
Speaker 1: experience just hunting for Christmas lights. It's like experience that
Speaker 1: costs as much as you know, a couple of gallons
Speaker 1: of gas at most, and it brings a lot of joy.
Speaker 1: Or you can throw those kids on the electric bike
Speaker 1: man bike around you don't You don't need a driver.
Speaker 1: It depends on how far you're going. I guess your
Speaker 1: parents do live further away than you could probably bike
Speaker 1: two with the kids in December at least. Man something
Speaker 1: else that we're big fans of our Christmas movies. You
Speaker 1: can have a free Christmas movie night. I think our
Speaker 1: girls started watching Christmas movies in October. But it's a
Speaker 1: wonderful life is free. If you've got Prime Video home alone,
Speaker 1: it's is on Disney Plus. Uh so is Nightmare before Christmas.
Speaker 1: But if you don't have those, remember that you can
Speaker 1: do a free trial. Um, if you don't already pay
Speaker 1: for those, And there are some solid holiday movies available
Speaker 1: on Netflix too, And also, man, don't forget some of
Speaker 1: those different free streaming sites you know, like obviously YouTube
Speaker 1: but check out to be the Roku channel and Voodoo
Speaker 1: as well. We'll make sure to put a couple of
Speaker 1: links in our show notes that will help you to
Speaker 1: track down some of those solid streaming options. We recently
Speaker 1: looked up Elf because the girls are like obsessed with
Speaker 1: that movie. It's just fun to kind of go back
Speaker 1: and watch some of these fun movies, uh like through
Speaker 1: your kid's eyes as well, which is I don't know that.
Speaker 1: It definitely brings me a lot of joy. But like
Speaker 1: that's one where we're gonna have to like maybe do
Speaker 1: like a free trial of stars like that kind of
Speaker 1: premium add on. I thought I saw that one on
Speaker 1: the Roku channel. Maybe, yeah, I need to go look
Speaker 1: check it out. Yeah, there's some really bad ones out
Speaker 1: there to actually my gosh, in certain like doing a
Speaker 1: little looking around to see like what how are they
Speaker 1: movies right there? I was like them look terrible, Like
Speaker 1: all the ones on like the Lifetime channel, which are
Speaker 1: they all have the same premise. It's always about like
Speaker 1: somebody in the big city go into like a small
Speaker 1: rural town and really rediscovering the true meeting of Christmas.
Speaker 1: I think the maybe one of the worst Christmas movies
Speaker 1: ever made, Christmas Shoes. Have you ever seen it? No? Okay,
Speaker 1: it's based on a song and then they turn it
Speaker 1: into like ah, I think it was a Hallmark Channel
Speaker 1: movie or something Rob low. Um. I don't encourage it,
Speaker 1: but I don't know if anybody out there loves it.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, sorry for burshoning your Christmas bubble. Not one
Speaker 1: of the high points that Roblo's career. No, it wasn't. No,
Speaker 1: it wasn't. What's your favorite Christmas movie? By the way,
Speaker 1: it's a wonderful life is up there. I cry every
Speaker 1: time I watched it too. It's been years since I've
Speaker 1: seen that. I need a Yeah, but we've been watching
Speaker 1: so much else. I don't have time on my schedule
Speaker 1: for For old Jimmy Stewart, it's a it's a classic.
Speaker 1: As the kids get older, I gotta share it with him.
Speaker 1: Another fun, kind of helpful idea that could bring the
Speaker 1: family together this time of year to have a good
Speaker 1: bit of fun. It's hosting a family talent show or
Speaker 1: a family karaoke night. Right, you don't even have to
Speaker 1: have a fancy set up in order to make this happen.
Speaker 1: Um YouTube is ripe with karaoke songs. It's easy to
Speaker 1: find what you want to sing and then just go
Speaker 1: to town and so literally you search any song and karaoke, yeah,
Speaker 1: and you'll find it. You'll find it and then pull
Speaker 1: out your laptop. Make it happen. Get the kids together
Speaker 1: or what I even just do it with your significant
Speaker 1: other or your parents, like whoever you are potting with
Speaker 1: or hanging out with, do a karaoke night will be
Speaker 1: a ton of fun. It makes me think of our
Speaker 1: friend Andrew. So every year he hosts a Hanaka party
Speaker 1: and karaoke is a massive part of that party every year.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately obviously not gonna be having it this year. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just a laptop pulled up, plugged into a speaker
Speaker 1: with some microphones and yeah, every single time you just
Speaker 1: search whatever song you're looking for plus karaoke, uh and
Speaker 1: you got the words. Man, ready to go. Easy to do.
Speaker 1: Also to board games with some hot coco. I mean
Speaker 1: that's a good way to uh have some fun as well,
Speaker 1: pull out some board games that you haven't played in
Speaker 1: quite a while. You already own them. You don't have
Speaker 1: to spend any money to buy new ones. But just
Speaker 1: break out the board games or a card game that
Speaker 1: you haven't played in a while, and it makes some
Speaker 1: meaningful memory. He's just playing games together. And something else
Speaker 1: we've been doing together to as a family is like
Speaker 1: we always keep our previous year's Christmas cards. Uh, And
Speaker 1: so we've got kind of gotten into this tradition of
Speaker 1: when we pull out the Christmas decorations, we've got all
Speaker 1: the previous year's Christmas cards all kind of bound together. Uh.
Speaker 1: And we'd like to flip through this kind of look
Speaker 1: at how our friends have aged or some well, some
Speaker 1: not so well, not a good year for them. And
Speaker 1: it's just fun to see, you know kids obviously as
Speaker 1: they grew up well in the pictures. But man, something
Speaker 1: else I wanted to mention too, Like we just kind
Speaker 1: of touched on our friends hanaka party. Don't forget about
Speaker 1: the just the religious significance and meaning behind the specific
Speaker 1: holiday that you you celebrate, right, and so whether you
Speaker 1: celebrate Christmas or Quanza or Hanakah, you don't have to
Speaker 1: spend a lot of money, or any money at all
Speaker 1: to celebrate these holidays, and so I think keeping that
Speaker 1: kind of forefront in your mind that can be a
Speaker 1: great way not only to anchor you to the true
Speaker 1: reason that we do have these celebrations, but it can
Speaker 1: also keep you from spending a ton of money as well. Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: for sure. And you know you mentioned how our annual
Speaker 1: Hanaka party is not happening this year. Everybody in our
Speaker 1: friends circles superbum It's one of the most fun things
Speaker 1: we we usually get to do this time of year,
Speaker 1: but everyone is experiencing a dearth of Christmas parties for
Speaker 1: the first time ever. You know, usually there's three, four
Speaker 1: or five, depending on if you have a work one
Speaker 1: or you know one that your friends do or your
Speaker 1: family does. Holiday parties are part of the season in
Speaker 1: their a ton of fun. But if you're finding yourself
Speaker 1: missing the fact that you don't have any to go
Speaker 1: to this year, start your own. Create your own. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be obviously on a much smaller scale. Put on
Speaker 1: your ugly sweater and make some mold wine and live
Speaker 1: it up with the people closest to you. And if
Speaker 1: you want to have more people over. Well, then you
Speaker 1: know you can, uh you have an outdoor fire pit.
Speaker 1: You actually did that last night. Yeah. Yeah, we've been
Speaker 1: doing more of that this time of year. And you know,
Speaker 1: I turned picking up sticks in the backyard to into like, uh, oh,
Speaker 1: it'll be fun because we could have a fire pit
Speaker 1: with the kids, and so it turns like a chore
Speaker 1: into a fun activity. But yeah, and then you can
Speaker 1: actually have maybe a few close friends over to hanging
Speaker 1: outside around a fire pit. But yeah, throwing your own
Speaker 1: socially distance outdoor holiday party could can still happen. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, you gotta just be creative this time of
Speaker 1: year and in order to be able to enjoy it
Speaker 1: and celebrate it to the fullest. Yeah, man. And ultimately,
Speaker 1: you know, we think that money can be more of
Speaker 1: a barrier to enjoy the holidays than a facilitator or
Speaker 1: even the reason that we're having a lot of fun. Obviously,
Speaker 1: budgeting for your gift giving and keeping your your recipient
Speaker 1: lists small certainly helps a lot. But we would challenge
Speaker 1: folks to really get creative and intentional with the activities
Speaker 1: that you're gonna be partaking in this holiday season and
Speaker 1: continue to think of ways that you can serve others
Speaker 1: this time of year. You know, by doing that, we
Speaker 1: think that you'll probably find that this Christmas will be
Speaker 1: one with maybe even more joy and fulfillment than you
Speaker 1: would have otherwise expected. Joel, even as you're talking about
Speaker 1: how there's a lack of Christmas parties to go to,
Speaker 1: it's interesting, how like the the emotion I noted in
Speaker 1: myself when you mentioned that was that I thought, oh, like,
Speaker 1: I felt kind of stressed leave my body because typically, man,
Speaker 1: December is one of the busiest months of the year,
Speaker 1: is slammed, and there's kids, school performances, and just all
Speaker 1: sorts of things that that you know, that we're supposed
Speaker 1: to be a part of, and it really does add
Speaker 1: a lot of stress. So and so I'm really looking
Speaker 1: forward to seeing how I feel as these weeks continue
Speaker 1: and as we reached the end of the month. Am
Speaker 1: I going to feel like that, oh, there wasn't enough
Speaker 1: going on? Or is this going to be one of
Speaker 1: the many ways in our lives that we've been able
Speaker 1: to slow down and really truly focus on what it
Speaker 1: is that's important in our lives versus the frantic running
Speaker 1: around and continuing, you know, to do the things that
Speaker 1: we always do because it's you know, either tradition or
Speaker 1: it's it's what's expected. I guess this is a small
Speaker 1: silver lining to the pandemic, but I I really am
Speaker 1: excited to see how this holiday season, how it'll be
Speaker 1: different for a lot of folks. Yeah. I never thought
Speaker 1: I'd ever used the phrase pandemic silver lining, but but
Speaker 1: we've used it before, but certainly in relation to the holidays.
Speaker 1: It almost seems kind of like, how could you say that? Right?
Speaker 1: But but I think, yeah, there there is a silver
Speaker 1: lining here, and it is slowing down. It is a
Speaker 1: calendar that isn't quite as packed, and there's more time
Speaker 1: to actually be intentional and think through what you want
Speaker 1: your holidays to look like this year instead of letting
Speaker 1: the holidays happen to you, which is what happens to
Speaker 1: so many of us most of the time. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we wish you the best in your creative endeavors to
Speaker 1: make this holiday just incredibly enjoyable. And just remember it
Speaker 1: doesn't have to cost a whole lot of money. And
Speaker 1: actually you're gonna be more relieved come January if it doesn't. Um,
Speaker 1: All right, now, let's give actually the beer that we
Speaker 1: had on today's show. This one's called Owl Theory and
Speaker 1: it's by field Work Brewing Company. Were your thoughts on
Speaker 1: this beer man? Yeah? Man, this is a check dark
Speaker 1: lagger like check as in for the Czech Republic. Uh.
Speaker 1: Is it Czechoslovakia or is it the Czech Republic? I
Speaker 1: think it's the Czech Republic. I don't know. I'm not
Speaker 1: big on world history geography. I know it's in Europe, right, yes, okay,
Speaker 1: but I do know my beer. Uh. And this beer man,
Speaker 1: it was really good. You could really taste some of
Speaker 1: that roasted malt flavor. I feel like one of the
Speaker 1: ways to describe it is if you took a slice
Speaker 1: of ho whaite bread and you toasted it like maybe
Speaker 1: a touch too long, and so like it was just
Speaker 1: like a really dark toasted sort of flavor going on.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, it had a really light body. Right,
Speaker 1: So this is a logger. It's not a really thick,
Speaker 1: heavy bodied beer. Uh. And so you know it's not
Speaker 1: a stout. You know, it's not a porter, but it
Speaker 1: still has those deeper, darker roasted flavors while finishing really clean,
Speaker 1: really light. So I feel like it makes it kind
Speaker 1: of a fun beer to drink this time of year,
Speaker 1: because I don't you kind of want some of those
Speaker 1: darker flavors. But at the same time, this isn't the
Speaker 1: kind of beer that really just weighs you down like eggnog,
Speaker 1: you know, right. Yeah, I feel like I don't know
Speaker 1: how much to add to the description because I think
Speaker 1: you did such a good job there and I really
Speaker 1: really enjoyed it. I think it was kind of bordering
Speaker 1: on porter territory but not quite there, and I think
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it more than a porter um. You know,
Speaker 1: Porters are okay in my book. I really like you
Speaker 1: really wanted to go ahead and be a stout, like
Speaker 1: if you hit porter territories, like just finished the drill
Speaker 1: and become a stout, go all the way to scout
Speaker 1: or stay in this checked our clogger territory because I
Speaker 1: really really like this one a lot um. It was delicious,
Speaker 1: had those roasty notes without being overpowering and without feeling
Speaker 1: like it was lacking anything. So this one was delicious.
Speaker 1: Big thanks to our friend Tim for sending this beer away. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Tim sent this beer as well as the beer from
Speaker 1: Monday from one of his favorite breweris out there in Napa.
Speaker 1: He lives out in California. And you and I we
Speaker 1: actually participated in that webinar where we talked about personal finance.
Speaker 1: At least you didn't ask us to talk about world geography,
Speaker 1: right whereas the Czech Republic, I'm not sure. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I could not find it on a map, that's for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's something we really enjoy doing that that webinar.
Speaker 1: And so if you're listening and that's something that you
Speaker 1: are a part of putting it together, maybe for your
Speaker 1: company or organization, go to how to money dot com,
Speaker 1: forward slash speak, and yeah, reach out to us is
Speaker 1: something that Joel and I would love to talk to
Speaker 1: you about. All right, Matt, that's gonna do it for
Speaker 1: this episode. For folks, I want the show notes and
Speaker 1: the links to everything we talked about today on this episode,
Speaker 1: they can go to how to money dot com. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. And if you've been listening and you enjoy
Speaker 1: our show, we would love it if you left us
Speaker 1: a review over at Apple Podcast. Just head over there.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've already done that, and if so, let a
Speaker 1: friend or family member know about it. We would love
Speaker 1: to have more people on board listening how they can
Speaker 1: handle their money better. Yeah, would be the best holiday
Speaker 1: gift you could give these two guys a review, letting
Speaker 1: somebody else know, like spreading the message about getting your
Speaker 1: personal finances in order y heck yeah man, yeah, I
Speaker 1: love it all right. That's gonna do it for this
Speaker 1: episode until next time, Buddy, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,