Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing creating a holiday spending plan. Yeah, Juel,
Speaker 1: you know, it kind of seems early to talk abouts
Speaker 1: the holidays. It is only October, but it's going to
Speaker 1: be important for us to talk about these things now
Speaker 1: before we get to the holidays. We're discussing ways to
Speaker 1: get through the holidays without debt. We're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: healthy habits when it comes to holiday spending. Man. Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: there's a status is consumers say we'll take more than
Speaker 1: three months to pay off their balances after the holidays.
Speaker 1: That's a big problem. And so yeah, we've got some
Speaker 1: thoughts that we want to share in order to help
Speaker 1: people avoid that. Because it feels nice to buy people
Speaker 1: fancy gifts for the holidays, but then January comes, you
Speaker 1: get the credit card bill in the mail, and that's
Speaker 1: what really sucks. That's what it's not good. And so
Speaker 1: it makes that spending it like kind of taints it.
Speaker 1: I feel like the tainted holidays. I know, right, you
Speaker 1: don't want to be there. You don't want to be there.
Speaker 1: It sounds like a lawsuit or a band I don't know.
Speaker 1: All right, but before we get there, Matt, what do
Speaker 1: you want for the holidays? Any anything that you want
Speaker 1: in your stocking or under the tree. Maybe a little
Speaker 1: more sleep? That's actually that sounds really good. I wish
Speaker 1: someone could wrap that up and give it to me,
Speaker 1: like take the bags out from under my eyes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we each have had our babies on the scene now
Speaker 1: for a couple of months. I'm still not getting great sleep.
Speaker 1: But actually, so related to that, I had a story
Speaker 1: to share with you about venmo. All right, I want
Speaker 1: to hear how venmo equals no sleep? Like what how
Speaker 1: did these tie together? Here's the thing. So we thought
Speaker 1: that the reason Weston wasn't getting great sleepers because we
Speaker 1: kind of have this different sleeper, this bedside sleeper units,
Speaker 1: and he was sort of getting turned diagonal a little
Speaker 1: bit and we'd wake up and see him kind of
Speaker 1: crammed in the corner. It just didn't look like he
Speaker 1: was very comfortable. So we thoughts, you know, what, he
Speaker 1: needs to be laying on something flat, maybe just a
Speaker 1: little bit nicer bassinet. Maybe we went cheap and got
Speaker 1: the least expensive safe option, and we're paying for it
Speaker 1: because we're not getting any sleep. Now, Yeah, that's not
Speaker 1: worth it right there, man, I've trade hard cash for
Speaker 1: sleep any day of the week. Well that's exactly what
Speaker 1: we did. So Kate found something on the neighborhoods selling swap.
Speaker 1: It was a basically brand new bassinet. She had found
Speaker 1: it online as well. It had great reviews and it
Speaker 1: was an amazing deal. I went over to their house.
Speaker 1: I saw it, you know, as brand new, didn't have
Speaker 1: spit up on it or anything to hold it under
Speaker 1: a black light to makee no black light. But keep
Speaker 1: in mind how I mentioned that I haven't got much sleep, right,
Speaker 1: and so I'm halfway aware of what's even going on
Speaker 1: while I'm over there, Like I probably fell asleep, just
Speaker 1: kind of leaning against the wall while the lady was
Speaker 1: talking about and so she told me her Venmo name,
Speaker 1: because that's how you do stuff, right. You don't really
Speaker 1: carry around cash, right, I don't, at least know most
Speaker 1: people don't anymore, especially people in their twenties and thirties.
Speaker 1: They're totally used to sending money virtually through Venmo and cash. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And I'm very used to it as well, very used
Speaker 1: to punching in someone's name accurately. But in this particular instance, man,
Speaker 1: I did not do that. I got her name. Let's say,
Speaker 1: for example, her name was Cassie Smith, and I like
Speaker 1: the made up names, very nice one. In fact, she
Speaker 1: said her name was Cassie Smith too, and so I
Speaker 1: was like, done, got it? So I punched it in
Speaker 1: and popped right up. I was like, gotcha, I see
Speaker 1: you right here, clicked it, punched in thirty bucks, send
Speaker 1: it to her and she was like, all right, he
Speaker 1: let me help you take it out to the car.
Speaker 1: I didn't take much of it, took a home. We're
Speaker 1: done right until an hour later I get a message
Speaker 1: from Venmo from Cassie Smith too that says wrong person.
Speaker 1: And I was like, what is she just messing with me?
Speaker 1: Because I pulled it up right with her right there,
Speaker 1: and I mean Cassie Smith too, right, Like how many
Speaker 1: Cassie Smith's two are there? Well, turns out there's at
Speaker 1: least two of them. It totally was the wrong person,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to share the story because you need
Speaker 1: to make sure that you have the exact right screen
Speaker 1: name or handle when you're using cash app or when
Speaker 1: you're using Venmo, because those companies they don't have any
Speaker 1: control over the money that you send to people. Once
Speaker 1: it goes into their account, it's their money and they
Speaker 1: don't have to send it back, right, Yeah, And there's
Speaker 1: no protections for anybody if you send money. Whereas if
Speaker 1: you use a credit card and you don't receive the
Speaker 1: items right that you purchased, you have the ability to
Speaker 1: do a chargeback. Well, there's there's nothing like that when
Speaker 1: it comes to Venmo or cash app. And with Venmo,
Speaker 1: it's easy to see the people that you've paid before.
Speaker 1: They're kind of in your history. Same thing with cash app.
Speaker 1: But if it's somebody exactly, that's what it's the most difficult.
Speaker 1: So if it's somebody that's done work at my house
Speaker 1: and it's the first time I've paid them, I just
Speaker 1: have to make sure I show it to them physically,
Speaker 1: like is this your right screen name? That's what I
Speaker 1: should have done. Yeah, So that's like really the only
Speaker 1: way around it is to actually pull it up and
Speaker 1: show it to their face and say is this your
Speaker 1: actual screen name? And they have the scan future too,
Speaker 1: like you can pull it up, pull up your profile
Speaker 1: and it pulls up the what do you call it,
Speaker 1: the bar you know, like the square with like the
Speaker 1: different coded shaded sections, so just to ensure that you
Speaker 1: get the right person. But again, it wasn't a big
Speaker 1: deal and I thought, surely that's you. Didn't think much
Speaker 1: of it. So did fake Cassie Smith too? Did she
Speaker 1: or other Cassie Smith who I should call it, she's
Speaker 1: a real Cassie Smith too? Was she above board? Did
Speaker 1: she send that thirty bucks back? Well, eventually it's like
Speaker 1: a lot of conversation back and forth. But the fact
Speaker 1: was was she was a that I was trying to
Speaker 1: pull on on her because it was totally random. And
Speaker 1: I looked into this because I thought there's no way
Speaker 1: that could actually be a thing. But it is. There's
Speaker 1: been some reports of fraudulent payments being sent to people
Speaker 1: and then them saying, oh, no, rob person, and then
Speaker 1: they asked for back and somehow that person who sends
Speaker 1: it back, they're out that money because the the initial
Speaker 1: money wasn't maybe fully in fully deposited. I'm not exactly
Speaker 1: sure how it works because I'm not a criminal, but
Speaker 1: that's something to take into account. So if you ever
Speaker 1: get money sent to you, you know, be above board,
Speaker 1: be cool, send it back. But if it seems fishy,
Speaker 1: right if they have like a weird history, or if
Speaker 1: it's a brand new user, definitely something worth reaching out
Speaker 1: to Venmo and just letting them know that, like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is going on. Should I be doing this? And
Speaker 1: I think that could be a really healthy and safe
Speaker 1: way to be above board but still take advantage of
Speaker 1: those different apps. Yeah, I've heard about that with fake check.
Speaker 1: So you get a check in the mail, right, and
Speaker 1: then and they're like, send me back six bucks, but
Speaker 1: I give you a check I overpaid. It's like, it's okay,
Speaker 1: I'm still walking away with a ton of money in
Speaker 1: this situation. But really, they check is fake. It looks
Speaker 1: like it clears, and then it doesn't. Then the bank
Speaker 1: realizes that it's not a real check, and then they
Speaker 1: want their money back, and it's just, yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: hairy situation. But I've not heard about that with Venmos.
Speaker 1: That's fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Yeah, I mean, overall,
Speaker 1: still very safe, but like we said, make sure you
Speaker 1: have the person's name right at their handle exactly correct, yep, yep,
Speaker 1: show it to their face. All right, mat, let's get
Speaker 1: to the beer that we're having on this episode. Today
Speaker 1: on the show, we're drinking a beer called Timely Surrender
Speaker 1: by Archetype Brewing, and this was sent to us by
Speaker 1: Brad and Corinna, who brewed the beer themselves. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they are the owners or founders of Archetype Brewing up
Speaker 1: there in Asheville, North Carolina. So thanks so much for
Speaker 1: sending us this beer. Yeah, Monday's I p A was
Speaker 1: excellent and I love me a good Sason, So I'm
Speaker 1: excited to drink this one and talk about it at
Speaker 1: the end of the episode. Yeah, man, me too. Alright, Matt,
Speaker 1: let's get onto the subject at hand. Today on the show,
Speaker 1: we're talking about creating a holiday spending plan. The problem
Speaker 1: is most people don't have a plan for how much
Speaker 1: they're gonna spend and who they'll be buying for this
Speaker 1: holiday season, and their budgets get wrecked because they overspend,
Speaker 1: and lots of Americans will have a holiday spending hangover
Speaker 1: and be paying off those unforeseen expend is well into
Speaker 1: the new year. But if we start saving money now
Speaker 1: and start planning for how we're going to spend, we
Speaker 1: can avoid that kind of January nastiness and the ridiculous
Speaker 1: bill that we don't actually have the money to pay off. Right.
Speaker 1: You know what I love around the holidays like a
Speaker 1: nice fresh blanket of snow like outside for Christmas and
Speaker 1: some fresh credit card debt. Well, in Atlanta, we're not
Speaker 1: getting snowbuddy, But we're also not getting credit card debt either. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true, man. So a few main points before we
Speaker 1: dive into just how to set up a spending plan
Speaker 1: is just overall, you want to make sure that you're
Speaker 1: not going into debt for the holidays, that you're not
Speaker 1: going into the red spending money on gifts. You want
Speaker 1: to only spend the money that you actually have, and
Speaker 1: so make a commitment to not going to debt over
Speaker 1: holiday spending. No one's gonna love you more just because
Speaker 1: you spend more than you could actually afford. And if
Speaker 1: they say that, they'll love you more because you spend more.
Speaker 1: And that's not somebody you want to hang out. No, No,
Speaker 1: those are keepers, right, that's a bad friend. But you know,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. If you just love giving gifts and
Speaker 1: you want to spend more, just be creative about it.
Speaker 1: Find other places that you can cut back onto, increase
Speaker 1: the amount you have for holidays. Sending. So for example,
Speaker 1: if you change cell phone providers to save maybe fifty
Speaker 1: bucks a month, like that is going to give you
Speaker 1: more gift money to spend every single month. Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1: I love the idea of looking at your budget, finding
Speaker 1: places to cut, and then allocating that money towards the
Speaker 1: positive things that you want to do. So, like, if
Speaker 1: gift giving is really really important to you, but you
Speaker 1: don't have the money to make it happen, well, finding
Speaker 1: ways to cut your current budget so that you can
Speaker 1: allocate more money towards gift giving is an awesome way
Speaker 1: to do it. Also, another thing you need to do,
Speaker 1: probably right now, if you're into online shopping is install
Speaker 1: the plug in called Honey or or something similar. There
Speaker 1: are other plug ins that do similar work, but Honey
Speaker 1: is just probably the best. Honey is the best. It's great.
Speaker 1: It's so good. Yeah, so people should install that right now.
Speaker 1: It helps with coupon codes and really it's just gonna
Speaker 1: help you save money when when shopping online. Honey can
Speaker 1: help you see like the price history of a particular item.
Speaker 1: It can give you notifications of price drops if you
Speaker 1: sign up for that. And also it will kind of
Speaker 1: do this automatic searching for coupon codes, so you're not
Speaker 1: going down to Google Rabbit hold to try to find
Speaker 1: a cupon code for that website. So I would do
Speaker 1: that now if you're into online shopping, nice man, A
Speaker 1: nice little plug for a plug in. Another thing is
Speaker 1: we want to encourage folks to start early. Another reason
Speaker 1: we're talking about holiday spending this early in the year,
Speaker 1: this early in the season is because last minute Christmas
Speaker 1: shopping is the worst, right, It's hard for planning and
Speaker 1: you will end up spending way more money that way.
Speaker 1: You actually want to make sure that you're thinking like
Speaker 1: a retailer, like retailers are thinking about the holiday season
Speaker 1: like the following year. And you know what, that's not
Speaker 1: a bad approach. Yeah, retailers would prefer for you to
Speaker 1: buy all your gifts between like December. In December, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's when they want you to buy because they're not
Speaker 1: running sales anymore at that point in time. The biggest
Speaker 1: price competition is in mid to late November. Really, that's
Speaker 1: when you're gonna find the best deals on things, maybe
Speaker 1: creeping into early December. But if you want to save
Speaker 1: the most money on gifts, if you want your dollar
Speaker 1: to stretch further this holiday season, and you are planning
Speaker 1: on shopping on line in regular bigger retail stores, locally
Speaker 1: small businesses, the best sales, the biggest discounts, you're gonna
Speaker 1: find those earlier on in the holiday shopping season. And
Speaker 1: if you wait too long, if you are a last
Speaker 1: minute shopper, you're gonna pay a heck of a lot more.
Speaker 1: And and that could end up really throwing a big
Speaker 1: wrench in your budget. Unless you're just like me and
Speaker 1: you love waiting to the last second, because that used
Speaker 1: to be my m O back in high school, back
Speaker 1: in college even I used to totally wait until until
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve. And do you feel like you paid a
Speaker 1: lot more because of it? I don't know. I was
Speaker 1: a very presconscious was in high school or in college.
Speaker 1: I was just kind of like, I gotta get something
Speaker 1: for mom. I waited too late, And I was totally
Speaker 1: the guy that's like parking up on the curb because
Speaker 1: there's so many cars at the mall. Do you remember
Speaker 1: them all, by the way, Yeah, I think they still exist.
Speaker 1: Actually I don't think they do there, so I'm not
Speaker 1: all of them, that's for sure. They're they're going the
Speaker 1: way of the Dodo bird. It's interesting to see how
Speaker 1: malls are being reconfigured and the companies that are buying
Speaker 1: malls to do something different with them, because people just
Speaker 1: don't shop at malls like they used to go to
Speaker 1: the mall and work, you know, like it's just the
Speaker 1: we work now, like you can go there and get
Speaker 1: work done. But we were kind of joking about thinking
Speaker 1: like retailer, but you really do need to think that
Speaker 1: far in advance. If you can even start thinking about
Speaker 1: the next holiday season now, that is going to put
Speaker 1: you in an even stronger position. Consider opening even a
Speaker 1: separate savings account where you can funnel just however much
Speaker 1: you need to maybe twenty bucks for fifty bucks a
Speaker 1: month for next year's holiday spending. It's just about having
Speaker 1: a plan, having time on your side so that you
Speaker 1: can implement and execute that plan. Yeah, I mean, some
Speaker 1: people might think we're crazy for doing an episode about
Speaker 1: holiday spending in October. Yeah, it's like when the Christmas
Speaker 1: decorations go up and it's not even Halloween yet, right, Right,
Speaker 1: That's that's what this episode feels like. But it's even
Speaker 1: crazier that we're talking about creating a holiday spending plan
Speaker 1: for right, But really and truly, if you want to
Speaker 1: make sure you're fully prepared for Christmas, it takes budgeting
Speaker 1: in advance. It takes setting aside that money every single month,
Speaker 1: because you in all likelihood know roughly what you're going
Speaker 1: to spend for Christmas based on last you're spending. And
Speaker 1: we're going to get into more on that and how
Speaker 1: you actually create a solid spending plan right after the break.
Speaker 1: All right, girl, we are back from the break. We're
Speaker 1: talking about holiday spending. And like the title of this
Speaker 1: episode says, this is about creating a holiday spending plan,
Speaker 1: and so having a solid spending plan is just so clutch.
Speaker 1: And here now are some specific steps you can take
Speaker 1: to get started. Jill, you just hinted at taking your
Speaker 1: cues from last year's spending, right if you don't even
Speaker 1: know where to begin now, it's not a bad idea
Speaker 1: to base this year spending on what you spend last year,
Speaker 1: assuming that you didn't overspend. Think about who you bought for.
Speaker 1: Did you buy for teachers, maybe some distant relatives, third
Speaker 1: cousins or no, go, you don't have to buy for them,
Speaker 1: forget them, But at then ask yourself, do you plan
Speaker 1: to buy for those folks again, and if so, like
Speaker 1: what seems like a reasonable amount of money. This will
Speaker 1: give you a realistic starting point for how much you
Speaker 1: can save and set aside. And before the break, you know,
Speaker 1: we talked about setting aside like twenty forty or fifty
Speaker 1: bucks a month. Well, this is when you actually determine
Speaker 1: that amount. When you take that total and you've got
Speaker 1: your annual spending for the holidays, you just take that,
Speaker 1: divide that by twelve, and then set that money aside
Speaker 1: every single month, just like you would towards an annual bill. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and make sure you're adding in new people. So, like,
Speaker 1: let's say you've got a girlfriend or a boyfriend and
Speaker 1: you didn't have one last year. Looking at last year
Speaker 1: spending can get you a long way. But don't forget
Speaker 1: about it. Yeah, yeah, looking at last year's we'll get
Speaker 1: you like ninety five percent of the way that right.
Speaker 1: Like that, you still need to make some small tweaks,
Speaker 1: but that's I mean, that's exactly what we do every year, dude.
Speaker 1: We I mean, we'll take eighteens Christmas spending XCEL file.
Speaker 1: I will copy and paste that, change it to twenty
Speaker 1: nine seen and then we'll just open it up and
Speaker 1: Kate will go in there and kind of tweak some numbers,
Speaker 1: maybe add somebody, maybe cut somebody. But it's really that easy,
Speaker 1: and that will get you most of the way there.
Speaker 1: But don't forget any special significant others who may have
Speaker 1: joined you in the past year. True, all right. And
Speaker 1: also it's important to round up have an amount specified
Speaker 1: to that you can factor in if you go over
Speaker 1: So if you can allocate five more than you thought
Speaker 1: you would spend, well, that can help ease the pain
Speaker 1: if you do overspend on a gift for a loved one.
Speaker 1: That way you don't feel quite so cramped or tempted
Speaker 1: to throw in the towel if you blitz through the
Speaker 1: budget that you had set for yourself. I know, sometimes
Speaker 1: you find that perfect gift for somebody and you had
Speaker 1: let's say thirty dollars allocated for their gift, but it's
Speaker 1: a fifty dollar gift and it's perfect. You really really
Speaker 1: want to get that for them. I think there are
Speaker 1: ways to try to see if you can get a
Speaker 1: better deal on it, whatever, But if that's ultimately the
Speaker 1: gift that you want to buy for somebody, having that
Speaker 1: excess amount budgeted in for overages. It's just super helpful
Speaker 1: so that you can go over occasionally on that perfect
Speaker 1: gift for that right person. Yeah, the idea here is
Speaker 1: that you have a number man, that's realistic, right, and
Speaker 1: that you have a number that's not so low that
Speaker 1: you completely burned past that and like you said, you
Speaker 1: just completely quit and give up on that budget. And
Speaker 1: so once you have that list put together, and man, personally,
Speaker 1: I do feel that like a Google sheet or an
Speaker 1: Excel file is perfect for that because you've got all
Speaker 1: your mouths you keep their totals running. I just write
Speaker 1: it on my hand and pen. That's my way of keeping.
Speaker 1: And then you swept profusely wipe your brow and you're like, oh, no,
Speaker 1: my budget well, and then my friend like sees it
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, you're spending twenty bucks on me
Speaker 1: for christ, it really gets awkward. Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 1: After looking at last year's list, what you want to do.
Speaker 1: If it's looking like you're setting yourself up to fail
Speaker 1: to spend maybe more than you can actually afford, then
Speaker 1: it's gonna be time to start making some cuts. It's
Speaker 1: time to get really picky at this point you'll either
Speaker 1: need to maybe limit the folks that you buy for,
Speaker 1: like altogether, or maybe some combination of both. I think
Speaker 1: Joe and I would both recommend that you just cut
Speaker 1: everybody off your list. Actually, boom problem solved, joyful holiday
Speaker 1: is in store for all. I'm sure if all those
Speaker 1: fails just Scrooge mcduckett, all right, that's one way to
Speaker 1: do it. Probably not the best advice for Matt on that. One.
Speaker 1: Another thing you should do in this whole process is
Speaker 1: is be tracking the whole time. Like Matt said, an
Speaker 1: Excel spreadsheet could work. I don't actually write things down
Speaker 1: on my hand and pen. That just wouldn't work out
Speaker 1: very well. But once you've created your holiday spending budget,
Speaker 1: you want to keep trying as you're buying the gifts.
Speaker 1: If you get a great deal on something and spend
Speaker 1: less on somebody because of it, well they give you
Speaker 1: some wiggle room to spend more on others. This is
Speaker 1: how you can have even more flexibility and freedom within
Speaker 1: your budget. You want to be sure that you stick
Speaker 1: to the overall budgeted amount and you don't want to
Speaker 1: go over that, but there is some wiggle room inside
Speaker 1: of that if you do score just an incredibly low
Speaker 1: price on the perfect gift that you've been looking for
Speaker 1: for somebody. It just gives you that ability to spend
Speaker 1: a touch more on somebody else. Yeah, Soul, this is
Speaker 1: such an important step, right because you're not only just
Speaker 1: coming up with the plan, but this is the follow through, right, Like,
Speaker 1: this is the actual execution, and we're not only just
Speaker 1: tracking those expenses, you're comparing it to the numbers that
Speaker 1: you have decided that you're going to spend. Um. This
Speaker 1: isn't a situation where you just kind of close your
Speaker 1: eyes and crush your fingers hope that that it works
Speaker 1: out after you set that number at the very beginning.
Speaker 1: This is something that you are going to track and
Speaker 1: follow and monitor because, like you mentioned, man, there's gonna
Speaker 1: be times when you need to make some tweaks and
Speaker 1: adjust the amount that you're gonna spend on somebody else
Speaker 1: because you know what, like I really wanted to spend
Speaker 1: more on this other person, but we're sticking to the budget.
Speaker 1: We're sticking to the plan, and really that's the hardest part.
Speaker 1: That's kind of what it all comes down to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: mat And as we're kind of thinking about tracking our purchases.
Speaker 1: One interesting way of doing it I think that can
Speaker 1: be really really helpful is considering going cash only for
Speaker 1: the holiday season. If you pull out the exact amount
Speaker 1: of cash that you've budgeted to spend, it really helps
Speaker 1: you be disciplined in sticking to that number. And granted,
Speaker 1: that can be hard to do because so many of
Speaker 1: the presidents that we buy for each other are are
Speaker 1: online purchases these days. But going to that cash system
Speaker 1: can really help curb unnecessary spending and can help us
Speaker 1: be a little more focused as we're buying gifts for
Speaker 1: the people that we love. Ye man, setting up those
Speaker 1: constraints can be a great way to help folks. But
Speaker 1: here's the thing, if you're not into that, discounted gift
Speaker 1: cards can be an awesome gift and it can be
Speaker 1: an awesome way to actually save you money. When you're
Speaker 1: going to buy specific gifts for folks. You can check
Speaker 1: out card Pool as well as gift card Granny. Those
Speaker 1: are both sites where you can buy or sell gift cards. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think really those websites are so helpful in lowering
Speaker 1: the overall amount you spend on gifts because two things.
Speaker 1: If you're buying a gift card for somebody, you can
Speaker 1: get them a gift card at the same store you're
Speaker 1: planning on actually going into the physical location, or buying
Speaker 1: it on that store's website, and you can buy it
Speaker 1: at a site like gift card Grannier, card Pool, and
Speaker 1: you can just get it for less money. That's one
Speaker 1: way I think these websites are really helpful. Another way
Speaker 1: is if you know that there are items at those stores,
Speaker 1: those particular stores are where you're going to do your
Speaker 1: holiday shopping, you can stretch your dollar and make it
Speaker 1: go further. So, for instance, let's say you're planning on
Speaker 1: spending a lot of money at a store like Target
Speaker 1: or Old Navy or wherever, you can buy that discount
Speaker 1: of gift card on one of those discounted gift card sites,
Speaker 1: and you might be saving eight percent or twelve percent
Speaker 1: or fifteen percent on the gifts that you're buying for
Speaker 1: folks from those stores, just by having taken that one
Speaker 1: additional step of buying a gift card that somebody else
Speaker 1: didn't want and snagging it at a discount. So I
Speaker 1: love that kind of approach. If you know kind of
Speaker 1: the stores that you're planning the shop at, it can
Speaker 1: be really helpful and just kind of driving down those
Speaker 1: overall holiday spending costs. Yeah, man, And it actually almost
Speaker 1: works like hash right, Like we're talking about sending those constraints.
Speaker 1: When you buy a gift card, you're going to be
Speaker 1: less likely to overspend because you have a set amount
Speaker 1: that you've already spent. And so I think that's another
Speaker 1: great way to kind of control and curb your own
Speaker 1: spending on others. So later on the show, we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about some more practical ways that you can actually
Speaker 1: save money. But real quick, man, before we go to
Speaker 1: the break, let's talk about kids, because there can be
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure when it comes to kids and
Speaker 1: presents around the holidays. There are expectations from previous years,
Speaker 1: maybe what they're seeing in advertising and even what they
Speaker 1: see their their friends getting right, this can be the
Speaker 1: perfect time to talk about and live out what you
Speaker 1: actually value. What a great way to start some of
Speaker 1: those money conversations with your kids in order to set
Speaker 1: some realistic expectations, and instead you can turn the focus
Speaker 1: to traditions and that time spend together as a family. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think the hardest thing is when you don't communicate
Speaker 1: well with your kids about what the holidays are gonna
Speaker 1: look like, about where time is going to be spent,
Speaker 1: about the way Christmas Morning is going to look or
Speaker 1: whatever holiday you celebrate. You can be upfront and communicate
Speaker 1: with them. I think your kids are way more likely
Speaker 1: to understand and to be okay with the direction that
Speaker 1: you've chosen your kids. Let's make sure you know about
Speaker 1: crampus right exactly exactly, that's what we're setting their expectations for. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just kidding. But again, that's why we're putting this episode
Speaker 1: out so early in the season, because these are the
Speaker 1: kind of conversations that you need to begin having now.
Speaker 1: It's really crummy if you start telling your kid they're
Speaker 1: not going to get very many presents on December three,
Speaker 1: that's a bummer and they're not going to take it
Speaker 1: very well. But if you can start building up the
Speaker 1: idea of what the holidays mean to your family and
Speaker 1: actually follow through and make the holiday season more about
Speaker 1: time together, more about traditions, more about family events, your
Speaker 1: kid might be bummed that they don't get the latest
Speaker 1: Nintendo Switch or whatever it is it's on their list,
Speaker 1: but they'll have more of an appreciation for the way
Speaker 1: your family views it and the way you guys spend
Speaker 1: your holiday time. Yeah. Man, that's a great point. We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk more about communicating and talking about these expectations,
Speaker 1: but first, let's take a quick break, all right, Joe,
Speaker 1: we were just talking about communicating with our friends and
Speaker 1: family about maybe how we might be spending less this year.
Speaker 1: We want to encourage you to not be afraid to
Speaker 1: talk about your spending or the lack thereof. Maybe others
Speaker 1: they might even be relieved to know that the gift
Speaker 1: giving this year is gonna be kind of toned down.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Have you ever had that conversation with
Speaker 1: someone in your family and they're like, please, thank you,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, are you too good? Thank you for
Speaker 1: taking the reins on this, because it was killing me
Speaker 1: that to have to kind of meet this crazy gift
Speaker 1: giving schedule that we had set up. Yeah. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: the fact is is, it's easy to spend less when
Speaker 1: you and everyone you know, when you're on the same page.
Speaker 1: But like we're saying, it's important to communicate that clearly
Speaker 1: and specifically why it is that you might be cutting
Speaker 1: back this year. You want to make sure that you
Speaker 1: can let that friend know that's not getting that gift, Well,
Speaker 1: it's because that you don't love them anymore. That's always
Speaker 1: a fun conversation have, right, Yeah, I feel like I've
Speaker 1: been kind of in a joking, bohambag kind of mood.
Speaker 1: And it's not even the holidays, talking about crampus, talking
Speaker 1: about telling your friends you don't love them. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I think one way to kind of help approach that
Speaker 1: conversation is is to talk about the bigger goals that
Speaker 1: you have and letting your family know that that's part
Speaker 1: of the reason that you're not able to spend as
Speaker 1: much on holiday gifts. So, for instance, if you're intently
Speaker 1: focused on paying off your student loan debt, or you're
Speaker 1: saving for a down payment for a home, or you've
Speaker 1: got medical bills or some other financial setbacks going on
Speaker 1: in your life, those are great reasons to spend less.
Speaker 1: But the people in your life that you love might
Speaker 1: not know that about you. They might not know that
Speaker 1: that's something that you're going after really hard. And you
Speaker 1: know what, honestly telling people that that, hey, you know what,
Speaker 1: I've got this really small budget this year and it's
Speaker 1: just not gonna look like it has in years past,
Speaker 1: opening up those lines of communication and letting them know
Speaker 1: why things have changed for you. Honestly, I feel like
Speaker 1: that can be really really motivating to hear from a friend,
Speaker 1: and it can deep in a relationship by getting that
Speaker 1: honest with somebody that you care about. Oftentimes we feel
Speaker 1: a little guilty or a little weird talking about money,
Speaker 1: talking about our goals, talking about what we're prioritizing, opening
Speaker 1: up those lines of communication, getting honest with the people
Speaker 1: around you. That is, in and of itself, kind of
Speaker 1: this beautiful way to spend the holidays by increasing that
Speaker 1: level of relationship, by trusting somebody in your family or
Speaker 1: somebody in your inner friend circle enough to kind of
Speaker 1: let them know what's important to you, what you're prioritizing
Speaker 1: right now, and that can open up the lines of
Speaker 1: communication for further discussions about money that could be really
Speaker 1: impactful to you as well. Yeah. What a much more
Speaker 1: meaningful way to to spend the holidays, right. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: not an excuse. I think we can feel like an
Speaker 1: excuse if you're like, hey, I can't do it because
Speaker 1: of this, But if you can have a heartfelt conversation
Speaker 1: about heart to heart your limits and what's going on
Speaker 1: in your life. I feel like that can be really
Speaker 1: helpful totally, And another great reason to discuss with your
Speaker 1: friends and family why you might be cutting back this
Speaker 1: year when it comes to spending around the holidays is
Speaker 1: because maybe you feel a moral obligation to cut back
Speaker 1: on the amount that you're spending, on the amount of
Speaker 1: consumption that you are a part of. Honestly, presents like
Speaker 1: sometimes they can be a bit overrated gift giving. It's
Speaker 1: a love language for some people, but for a lot
Speaker 1: of folks, they just get sucked into that advertising and
Speaker 1: that consumption mindset. Dozens of presents under a Christmas treet
Speaker 1: doesn't make for a better Christmas. But the thing is
Speaker 1: make sure though that when you share this with your
Speaker 1: friends and family that they know for you it's a
Speaker 1: personal decision that you've made and that you're not judging
Speaker 1: them because they're into the gifts. Right If they're bigger spenders,
Speaker 1: that's totally fine. Just ask them to not include you
Speaker 1: with their holiday spending or you know that sounds a
Speaker 1: little negative, you know, so it maybe instead they can
Speaker 1: donate that money that they would have spent on you
Speaker 1: to a charity that they really care about. I think
Speaker 1: that's an awesome way to make some positive change in
Speaker 1: our world while at the same time not participating in
Speaker 1: over consumption. All right, Matt, And regardless of the reason
Speaker 1: that you're spending less, well, let's talk about some easy
Speaker 1: ways to actually spend less. So one way to do
Speaker 1: this is to make homemade gifts for the people in
Speaker 1: your life. If you're having a tough time thinking I'm
Speaker 1: at a great gift that's within your budgeted amount, maybe
Speaker 1: consider going homemade with it. Cookies, scarves, handwritten notes. It
Speaker 1: doesn't take a whole lot of money to let some
Speaker 1: know that you care. Sometimes the best gifts that I've
Speaker 1: ever gotten are a card with a thoughtful note that
Speaker 1: let somebody know that they were thinking of me. It
Speaker 1: didn't have to be a physical item. And oftentimes some
Speaker 1: of those smaller trinkets that come as presents during the holidays,
Speaker 1: the smaller things, they end up getting discarded. But that
Speaker 1: kind of note, that sentimentality, that meaning, it lasts for
Speaker 1: a long time. Yeah. And on the note of scarves,
Speaker 1: and on the note of gifts that you're gonna give me,
Speaker 1: I remember how you said you're gonna take up knitting
Speaker 1: and you're gonna knit me an Atlanta United scarf? Where's
Speaker 1: my scarf? Dog? All right, it's on my to do list.
Speaker 1: I'll see if it makes it in time for Christmas.
Speaker 1: I'm just messing with you, dude, although if you made
Speaker 1: me something, I probably would wear it. So another way
Speaker 1: that you can spend less is to make it a
Speaker 1: priority to spend time with the people you love. How
Speaker 1: many crimmy gifts have you gotten that you just completely
Speaker 1: forgot about over the years. Time is almost always so
Speaker 1: much more valuable once you realize that the true value
Speaker 1: of time and how it's not something that you can
Speaker 1: make more of. Be intentional with the time that you
Speaker 1: have with your loved ones, especially around the holidays. And
Speaker 1: Joel a quick example of this. I'm thinking of the
Speaker 1: gift that I gave my dad last year for Christmas
Speaker 1: for a day in Atlanta. And this isn't something that
Speaker 1: we've done before, but I think you and I we
Speaker 1: kind of talked about this last year when we're talking
Speaker 1: about spending around the holidays, and so I thought, you
Speaker 1: know what, this is something I'm gonna do. Gave it
Speaker 1: to Dad and we did that this year. Dude. It
Speaker 1: was so much fun. He came to Atlanta. We you know,
Speaker 1: first we had brunched with the whole family, which he
Speaker 1: totally appreciated and enjoyed. He kind of got to see
Speaker 1: sort of a peek into our our lazy Saturday morning, right,
Speaker 1: and so he got to spend some quality time with
Speaker 1: the girls there in the morning. But then later that day,
Speaker 1: me and him, we went to a local brewery. We
Speaker 1: got some beers, which was a lot of fun, a
Speaker 1: good conversation there, and then we went to an Atlanta
Speaker 1: United match, which was a lot of fun. We won,
Speaker 1: that was the most important, but then after that we
Speaker 1: went and got some barbecue. All the beautiful, perfect things
Speaker 1: in life, right, and it was such a good time.
Speaker 1: He had a great time. I had a great time.
Speaker 1: We got to talk about some things that we hadn't
Speaker 1: talked about in a while. Yeah, shared some different stories.
Speaker 1: It was just a way for us to connect and
Speaker 1: grow our relationship at a deeper level. And that's not
Speaker 1: something that you know, he would have gotten if I
Speaker 1: would have gotten him a tie, And there's nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with a nice tie, but just a gift or an
Speaker 1: electric shaver, yeah, exactly, which, by the way, I totally
Speaker 1: I think I needed not a new electric shaver, but
Speaker 1: I wanna get some clippers, like some new hair cliper. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta have those to do the self trim to
Speaker 1: be able to come my own hair exactly. But but
Speaker 1: that's just a small example of just quality time and
Speaker 1: how much more meaningful and impactful that can be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one more way to kind of spend less is let's
Speaker 1: say you're doing like a family gift exchange. If you
Speaker 1: set a firm dollar amount, stick to it. I feel
Speaker 1: like in a white elephant gift party or in a
Speaker 1: family gift exchange with set spending limits, it's so the
Speaker 1: worst when one person goes way over and spends too much,
Speaker 1: Like if the white elephant gift is something fancy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like Bro brought a thirty bottle of wine. I
Speaker 1: want that right exactly. It kind of like changes the vibe.
Speaker 1: And so the same thing in your family. If you've
Speaker 1: got a spending limit, stick to it. And and that's
Speaker 1: a good way of making sure everybody spends less. And
Speaker 1: it's just better if everyone sticks to the limit that's
Speaker 1: kind of been created. I follow the rules. Another example
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of too, Maybe it's like some larger families
Speaker 1: that have a lot of kids running around, Like maybe
Speaker 1: the adults could really care less right if they actually
Speaker 1: receive gifts or not, But what they really want is
Speaker 1: to make sure that the kids do right. And so
Speaker 1: in that case, make sure that you're getting gifts. You know,
Speaker 1: if you're a kid, so say you're eighteen or younger,
Speaker 1: bom you get a gift. Or if there are adults though,
Speaker 1: who do want to do the gift exchange, then you
Speaker 1: can draw names, you know, Like that's what we do
Speaker 1: with our extended family, and that way you're not stuck
Speaker 1: with like trying to buy eighteen different gifts for all
Speaker 1: the different members of the extended family. Yeah. I love
Speaker 1: prioritizing giving to the kids because they appreciate it so
Speaker 1: much more than we do. And I don't know about you, Matt,
Speaker 1: but but for me, when when people are asking me
Speaker 1: what I want for Christmas, there's just almost nothing that
Speaker 1: comes to mind because I feel like I have everything
Speaker 1: that I need. I know that's not the case for everybody,
Speaker 1: but I know for a lot of folks out there,
Speaker 1: we can be a little more content with what we have.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of one of the last things that
Speaker 1: sticks out to me as an important way to spend
Speaker 1: less is to make a conscious decision to not spend
Speaker 1: on ourselves this holiday season as well. I think it
Speaker 1: can be really easy, especially when the killer deals come
Speaker 1: out and we can get a flat screen TV for
Speaker 1: bucks or something like that. It becomes really easy to
Speaker 1: start spending on ourselves this holiday season. And I think
Speaker 1: if you budget a small amount and you keep it
Speaker 1: super focused, maybe on one item that you've been really
Speaker 1: meaning to replace in your life, something like that, I
Speaker 1: think it's okay. But for the most part, if you
Speaker 1: can cut that out all together, I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: make your holiday season more meaningful and it's gonna help
Speaker 1: you spend less. At the same time, if you're just
Speaker 1: not out there shopping for yourself this holiday season, yeah,
Speaker 1: just be honest with yourself. You know why you're shopping
Speaker 1: those sales racks. Nobody else wants that stuff you do. Oh,
Speaker 1: I bought this ran Jenny, but I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: look better on me. I guess you wants a flat screen,
Speaker 1: but maybe really I do. It's also important to keep
Speaker 1: your ultimate goal in mind. That's hug of the moment
Speaker 1: can be to buy those nice things for the people
Speaker 1: around you, and you're gonna be even tempted to buy
Speaker 1: those nice things for yourself. And that isn't a terrible
Speaker 1: thing to feel to buy, I guess for other people, right,
Speaker 1: but it could would leave you broke. So remind yourself
Speaker 1: of your overarching savings and life goals and to avoid
Speaker 1: overspending in the moment. For most folks, I think that
Speaker 1: the true reason for the holidays is to spend quality
Speaker 1: time with those who you love. Let's try not to
Speaker 1: allow over consumption to get in the way of that.
Speaker 1: Those are good thoughts, my friend. All right, enough about
Speaker 1: the holidays. It's too early. Let's talk about the beer
Speaker 1: that we had on this show. Honestly, I did kind
Speaker 1: of feel that way when we were talked about doing
Speaker 1: this episode, because it feels like, oh man, Thanksgivings not
Speaker 1: even here, and all the Christmas trees are up, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like one of those numbers, Oh my gosh, Christmas trees.
Speaker 1: Christmas stuff has been up since mid September and a
Speaker 1: lot of retailers, which is crazy. So I know that
Speaker 1: it's on people's minds. I know people are thinking about it.
Speaker 1: I think it is important for us to talk about
Speaker 1: it now for budgeting and preparation reasons. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel weird. I feel we're talking about that, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: But Matt, let's talk about the beer that we had
Speaker 1: on the show today. We had a brew called Timely
Speaker 1: Surrender by Archetype Brewing. This was a sayson. We don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of saisons, but I really really enjoy
Speaker 1: a good saison, and this, my friend, was a good
Speaker 1: says Yeah says On's farmhouse beers. The more I have them,
Speaker 1: the more I enjoy them. It's sort of like the
Speaker 1: first time I had an I p A. Remember somebody
Speaker 1: telling me like, yeah, it's an acquired taste, like it's
Speaker 1: gonna it might take you a while before you enjoy
Speaker 1: an I p A And I remember thinking, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: gonna take me forever, But now is my favorite beer.
Speaker 1: And I think saysons are sort of like that for me.
Speaker 1: Same with the first time I had a sour. I
Speaker 1: was like, why anybody want to drink this? Oh? Dude? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And then like fourth one in, I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I'm getting it. I think I understand that,
Speaker 1: and then now it's one of my favorite styles. Dude.
Speaker 1: I completely agree with you. I enjoy the fact that
Speaker 1: my palette is expanding and I'm enjoying different style of beers.
Speaker 1: But this one, in particular, it was pretty Brett heavy
Speaker 1: Itt and Brett is like a what is it a
Speaker 1: bacteria or a yeast? It's not a yeast. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a yeast. Is it really so? Bretta maiases? I think
Speaker 1: that's how you say it. I always say it wrong,
Speaker 1: But they're oftentimes and Sayson's farmhouse beers, and then it
Speaker 1: has a real distinct, funky barnyard type of flavor a
Speaker 1: lot of times, and this one totally had it going on.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, it wasn't weighed down by
Speaker 1: that flavor. This was a really bubbly, effrofescent I don't
Speaker 1: know if you saw when I poured it, but it
Speaker 1: had a lot of bubbles going on, and it's like
Speaker 1: I was pouring a glass of champagne. It's really refreshing.
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed this one, man. What were your thoughts? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It had like a kind of like a
Speaker 1: great fruit zesty vibe going on, while at the same
Speaker 1: time having that funkiness. I really like the citrus in
Speaker 1: the funk kind of mixed in a Sayson, a little
Speaker 1: bit of earthiness. Really overall, A huge fan of this beer.
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of Sazons in general, but this
Speaker 1: one is a really good example of it. So and
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of this label too. Man, they're
Speaker 1: they're so good. Yeah, their labels are really pretty. We
Speaker 1: didn't really talk about Monday's episode, but they're really graphic
Speaker 1: and a lot of you don't see a lot of
Speaker 1: graphic labels, you know, where where you see a picture
Speaker 1: instead of just exactly what's in the beer. Yeah, sometimes
Speaker 1: it's just a label with words the type of beer
Speaker 1: and maybe like a gear or a crank or something
Speaker 1: like this, whereas this it's just a picture of something.
Speaker 1: It's really graphic. It's really cool, very artistic for Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to mention so bradon Karna. We should
Speaker 1: have mentioned this in the last week's episode when we're
Speaker 1: talking about real estate, but we have some things in
Speaker 1: common with them, and that they started managing real estate
Speaker 1: back in the day, and while they were doing that,
Speaker 1: they were living in a shed or like a garage
Speaker 1: in the back of one of their properties. So they're
Speaker 1: house hacking. They're yeah, they're totally saving a ton of
Speaker 1: money while they're sort of getting started down their own
Speaker 1: real estate path. And so after doing well there, they
Speaker 1: decided to open up this brewer and so now they're
Speaker 1: also crushing it in the craft beer game. So brand Krenit,
Speaker 1: you guys are killing it. Thanks so much for sending
Speaker 1: us this beer as well as Monday's beer, as well
Speaker 1: as being a friend of the show. Yeah, we love
Speaker 1: friends of the show, especially once it brew beer that's
Speaker 1: the best. And next time I'm in Nashville, totally going
Speaker 1: to drop by Archetype Brewing. Alright, Matt, let's get onto
Speaker 1: our final thoughts for this episode. There's just really a
Speaker 1: couple of things I think we need to hammer home,
Speaker 1: and one of the main things is that you need
Speaker 1: to start saving now and shopping early for the people
Speaker 1: that are on your list, because the closer you get
Speaker 1: to decembery, the more retailers are going to be charging
Speaker 1: and the more money ultimately you're going to be spending.
Speaker 1: And when it comes to creating that holiday spending plan,
Speaker 1: basically what we're talking about is creating a budget right
Speaker 1: in the same way that you start with the previous
Speaker 1: month's budget. You know, month of month with your own
Speaker 1: personal budget. We're gonna do the same thing when it
Speaker 1: comes to our holiday spending budget. So look to last
Speaker 1: year spending. Start there, make tweaks, and then track that
Speaker 1: spending to make sure that you're staying the course and
Speaker 1: don't forget to talk about it. Open the lines of
Speaker 1: communication with people that are closest to you, whether it's
Speaker 1: your significant other or your family and friends, just by
Speaker 1: letting them know that you're prioritizing saving or paying down
Speaker 1: debt and that you won't be spending as much on
Speaker 1: gifts this year. That helps set proper expectations and also
Speaker 1: can help connect you towards the people that you love
Speaker 1: in a deeper way, especially as you prioritize quality time
Speaker 1: over fancier gifts. Nice man, you know, this is an
Speaker 1: episode that would have been great to have had one
Speaker 1: of our Christmas spears on. But this has been a
Speaker 1: fun episode. Man, I think that's gonna be it. You
Speaker 1: can find our show notes up for this one on
Speaker 1: our website at how some money dot com. Yeah, if
Speaker 1: you like this episode, if you like this podcast, we
Speaker 1: would appreciate it if you would subscribe and consider leaving
Speaker 1: a review for us. On Apple Podcasts. And you know what,
Speaker 1: if you think Matt and I can do better, we
Speaker 1: would love to hear from you too. Please drop us
Speaker 1: a line. Just go to how to money dot com
Speaker 1: slash you do better and you can do that there alright, buddy,
Speaker 1: Until next time, best friends out, Best friends Out,