Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing avoiding the holiday shopping hangover. Joel,
Speaker 1: how's it going good, buddy? How the heck are you today? Going? Awesome? Awesome? So,
Speaker 1: so I wanted to let you know man, that I
Speaker 1: have been riding my bike so much. We'll tell you what.
Speaker 1: For anybody that rides their bike a lot, I think
Speaker 1: it's so helpful to have an odometer on your bike,
Speaker 1: just to kind of help you see how much you're riding,
Speaker 1: how many miles you're going. And man, on my odometer,
Speaker 1: just racked up sixteen hundred miles on my bike in
Speaker 1: the past just over a year. Dude, that's a lot.
Speaker 1: Did you, like, right down to Florida or something, take
Speaker 1: the Silver Commets to Alabama? No, but if that's a challenge,
Speaker 1: I will accept and make that happen. Dude, have you
Speaker 1: been on the Silver Commet It literally runs from Atlanta
Speaker 1: to Alabama? No? But actually, it's funny you mentioned that.
Speaker 1: I was talking to this guy the other day. He's
Speaker 1: like really old guy actually, and he bikes. Let's see,
Speaker 1: he's like eighty. He's like Katie. Okay, So yeah, legit,
Speaker 1: old legit. But he rises his bike on the Silver
Speaker 1: Common Trail every day. I know. No, it just first off,
Speaker 1: it was a challenge to me to keep riding my bike,
Speaker 1: not to get soft in your old age exactly, and
Speaker 1: the fact that he was still doing it was super impressive.
Speaker 1: But also it made me think, I need at some
Speaker 1: point to challenge myself to do this bike from where
Speaker 1: we live and go all the way to the state
Speaker 1: border and then bike all the way back in one day.
Speaker 1: I need to make that happen at some point, just
Speaker 1: because that just sounds like a fun challenge to commit to. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: there are some beers and the paneers. We already said
Speaker 1: beers and paneers together before. That's a nice ride. That's good,
Speaker 1: like the little side bags. But yeah, for those who
Speaker 1: don't know, Joel commutes pretty much every single day, you
Speaker 1: commute to and from work on your bike. I will say, Matt,
Speaker 1: we're getting into that uber cold weather season and anybody
Speaker 1: who is a big time bike rider knows that it
Speaker 1: just becomes a little bit harder than yeah, a little
Speaker 1: more uncomfortable, right that kind of fall time and a
Speaker 1: lot of places is actually perfect falls great, but as
Speaker 1: you get a little bit further into winter, it starts
Speaker 1: to become those like dog days of super cold, and
Speaker 1: maintaining that pace of you know, biking in to work
Speaker 1: every single day is hard. I mean to do my darndest.
Speaker 1: And you know what, my old friend Harry, who rides
Speaker 1: his bike every day on the Silver Commet, he is
Speaker 1: on the guy's name, har it's his name. He's gonna
Speaker 1: be my shining star. I'm going to look to him
Speaker 1: as my beacon of of bike riding truth. So immediately,
Speaker 1: just picture Clint Eastwood on a bike, because like I guess,
Speaker 1: dirty Harry. Did you ever watch Then with your dad?
Speaker 1: We'll say, We'll say, Harry is kind of like Clint Eastwood.
Speaker 1: Dirty Harry. Yeah, I'm feeling it. Let's do it. Let's
Speaker 1: do it. Silver commets to Alabama. I don't even know
Speaker 1: how far it goes into the state, but I think
Speaker 1: it's well. I think we only at least from here
Speaker 1: to the border. I think it's like forty five miles
Speaker 1: or something like that. I would assume we could do
Speaker 1: ninety miles around trip in a day, right, I used
Speaker 1: to do that in college. Or there is this road
Speaker 1: trip I won't go into the details, but we'd ride
Speaker 1: our bikes from Athens down to Jacksonville for the Georgia
Speaker 1: Florida game. There was a three day ride and the
Speaker 1: longest day I think was a twenty miles, which is
Speaker 1: a lot. That sounds like a lot. Yeah, that's like
Speaker 1: Twitter France levels, right, twenty miles, like the Lance Armstrong
Speaker 1: of riding the cargo bike. You Know, something I was
Speaker 1: thinking about earlier today is I've been telling all my
Speaker 1: friends about this because I am all about it. But coffee,
Speaker 1: I've been delaying my cup of coffee every day now
Speaker 1: until either later in the morning or like mid afternoon.
Speaker 1: It's because of this article. A friend of mine sense
Speaker 1: and explained how like your QUARTERSOL levels in the morning,
Speaker 1: they kind of peak right when you wake up, and
Speaker 1: they say to not drink coffee right away and instead,
Speaker 1: if you want it to be effective, to delay it slightly.
Speaker 1: And I feel like it's going to change my life, specifically,
Speaker 1: it's keeping me from changed life. That's a big freaking thing.
Speaker 1: The same has changed my coffee drinking lafe. I'll say, okay, alright,
Speaker 1: well it keeps me as well from getting a second cup.
Speaker 1: And I work from home and a lot of times
Speaker 1: that means just more wasted time because I'm getting up
Speaker 1: and boiling the water. And if I'm drinking twice as
Speaker 1: much coffee, man, that's twice as much. That's twice as
Speaker 1: much coffee that I'm not having to purchase, let alone
Speaker 1: make as well. I've just found it to be a
Speaker 1: nice little hack that I've done recently to decrease the
Speaker 1: amount of coffee I drink every day and at the
Speaker 1: same time save a buck. And have you felt like
Speaker 1: you're dragging at all in the morning, because I know
Speaker 1: most people when they wake up, a lot of people
Speaker 1: have like an automatic coffee maker and it turns on
Speaker 1: and they smell the folders like brewing or something. I
Speaker 1: don't recommend that first of all, or not drinking folders
Speaker 1: or maxwill, but that's like something that people look forward
Speaker 1: to or need. Almost was there like a period of
Speaker 1: a few days where, like a drug addict, you felt
Speaker 1: like that need and you had to kind of wean
Speaker 1: yourself off. I will say, now that's getting a little
Speaker 1: bit cooler. I do kind of miss having that hot
Speaker 1: drink at breakfast, like we always do fried eggs in
Speaker 1: the morning, but only from a warm drink standpoint, so
Speaker 1: I might start having maybe a small cup of tea
Speaker 1: or something, but from a caffeine standpoint, no, man, I've
Speaker 1: I found I just don't need it. And it's been
Speaker 1: a few months, so I can't remember maybe as much
Speaker 1: the effects initially, but yeah, I would totally check it out.
Speaker 1: And what we'll do, I'll throw a link up to
Speaker 1: this article in our show notes. This kind of breaks
Speaker 1: it down. How Yeah, your quartosol levels peak in the morning,
Speaker 1: around lunchtime, and so what they say is to instead
Speaker 1: drink coffee like mid morning, so when those cortosol levels
Speaker 1: drop and we kind of get a little groggy. But
Speaker 1: for me, dude, when I needed is that mid afternoon slump,
Speaker 1: like around two o'clock or three o'clock. For me, I
Speaker 1: gotta have my coffee otherwise I'm falling asleep at the
Speaker 1: desk right in emails, and that's always bad. Well, I
Speaker 1: love the idea. I don't know if I'm going to
Speaker 1: change my habits, but I'm gonna read this article and
Speaker 1: at least give it a chance. In my brain, I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure Harry doesn't drink his coffee until the afternoon. Gosh,
Speaker 1: that guy has a baller here. I'm just telling you
Speaker 1: I still want to be like Harry I was speaking
Speaker 1: of coffee. You wanna introduce our beer for this episode.
Speaker 1: Nice segue, Matthew. Yesterday on the show, we are drinking
Speaker 1: a Sierra Nevada nar Wall Imperial Stout, and this beer
Speaker 1: has coffee in it and also dark chocolate. So I
Speaker 1: can't wait to talk about the beer with you, Matt
Speaker 1: at the end of this episode. Yeah. What's awesome about
Speaker 1: this beer, too, man, is that this is something that
Speaker 1: you can pretty much pick up in any grocery store
Speaker 1: that carries decent craft beer. A lot of times on
Speaker 1: the episodes, we have beers that are really rare, to
Speaker 1: say the least. Sometimes they're illegal to get your hands
Speaker 1: on because it might be homebrews. But yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: I love about the beers that we enjoy is that
Speaker 1: we like all the beers just about and we like
Speaker 1: flouting the loss. We love that illegal beer. You're a
Speaker 1: scoff law. Yeah, anybody who is into beer and especially
Speaker 1: like stouts, you can easily find Sire In Nevada on
Speaker 1: your shelf than our whale. It's here in about actually
Speaker 1: normally known for kind of their hoppy beer offerings. They're
Speaker 1: they're more like pale ales and I p a s.
Speaker 1: But man, I can't wait to talk about this stout
Speaker 1: uh and and how it's completely out of here in
Speaker 1: Nevada's wheelhouse, but how they make it so deliciously and
Speaker 1: we'll get to that later. So with that being said, Matt,
Speaker 1: let's talk about avoiding the holiday shopping hangover. That's rajel.
Speaker 1: With Black Friday coming up, this is a topic that's
Speaker 1: definitely on people's minds. Specifically, we're talking about holiday shopping,
Speaker 1: and we want to make sure that you are avoiding
Speaker 1: that hangover. We don't want you paying for your holiday
Speaker 1: shopping months to come into the next year. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: and Matt, the problem is that most people, when it
Speaker 1: comes to their holiday spending, they haven't really thought through
Speaker 1: how much they're gonna spend, you know, how they're gonna
Speaker 1: pay for it. And so it turns out that most
Speaker 1: people spend more money than they intended to spend, and
Speaker 1: because it wasn't thought out well and budgeted oftentimes, then
Speaker 1: those people find themselves in a shopping hangover after the holidays,
Speaker 1: where the credit card bills come rolling in in January
Speaker 1: and it kind of hits them upside of the head,
Speaker 1: like WHOA have that happened? Um? And and it's just
Speaker 1: because of a lack of planning, a lack of intentionality
Speaker 1: when it comes to holiday spending and kind of letting
Speaker 1: the joyous holiday season that is a lot of fun
Speaker 1: get the best of them when it comes to how
Speaker 1: they spend their money. That's right, man. So some quick stats,
Speaker 1: shoppers typically spend more than a trillion dollars during the
Speaker 1: Christmas holiday a shopping season, and that is a ton
Speaker 1: of money. And I saw another statuo that in the
Speaker 1: UK that on average, somebody will spend half of their
Speaker 1: monthly income. And so if you make like around fifty dollars,
Speaker 1: you're looking at close to two thousand dollars that you're
Speaker 1: spending on holiday shopping. Wow, who are these people? Dud? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's crazy. I don't know what other people spending, but
Speaker 1: my family does not spend anywhere near that. That's just
Speaker 1: a lot. I mean, you'll probably spend close to that
Speaker 1: on a gift for me, But that's understandable, right. Podcasting buddies,
Speaker 1: we gotta do that for each other. Yeah, because we're
Speaker 1: best friends. Dog. Yeah, you know, Wait, what are you
Speaker 1: gonna get from me? Man, I was thinking of pony
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know. Yeah, So ultimately, Matt, you don't
Speaker 1: want to overspend be left with that debt on your
Speaker 1: credit cards, so you'll be paying off all of next
Speaker 1: year and you have to ask the question to why
Speaker 1: are you doing this? Consumerism dominates our culture and it's
Speaker 1: what we see in ads all around us, and it
Speaker 1: makes it look festive and fun to get the free
Speaker 1: shipping and start buying stuff for all the people that
Speaker 1: you care about. That's what's fed to us. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: I think that's what most people would think of. When
Speaker 1: you stay the holidays, Their minds immediately go to shopping
Speaker 1: and packages and gifts and paper and just you know
Speaker 1: everything that goes along with that in dollar signs in
Speaker 1: the eyeballs, that's where mind goes, right, So we would
Speaker 1: make a push to mindfulness this time of year to
Speaker 1: kind of pushing back against that rampant consumerism. And the
Speaker 1: only way you're going to be able to get through
Speaker 1: the shopping season well, to actually buy the gifts that
Speaker 1: you intend to buy and stick within a reasonable budget
Speaker 1: is by planning ahead and staying organized. And we'll run
Speaker 1: through those strategies and how to create that perfect holiday
Speaker 1: money game plan right after the break. All right, Joel,
Speaker 1: we're back from the break, and yeah, like you said,
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about some strategies. We're gonna talk more
Speaker 1: about the overall game plan on how to approach holiday shopping.
Speaker 1: And so the first thing I want to do is
Speaker 1: to make sure that you're planning ahead and that you're
Speaker 1: staying organized. Specifically, we want you to make a list
Speaker 1: of potential expenses, think about all the different things that
Speaker 1: you'll be spending money on, not just the gifts. Once
Speaker 1: you've gotten that together, fine where you can cut or
Speaker 1: eliminate all together, because chances are you're gonna be dreaming
Speaker 1: much bigger than maybe your pocketbook can handle. And we
Speaker 1: understand that this is gonna be tough. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: you've got to ask yourself the question how much should
Speaker 1: I spend for each person on my list and for
Speaker 1: each individual that you have on your list. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be different and for you as the gift giver, right
Speaker 1: as the shopper. This is a tough question. This is
Speaker 1: cutting back and it's never something that is fun to do,
Speaker 1: but this is something that is necessary to keep your
Speaker 1: expenses down. Yeah, it's always helpful for me to remember
Speaker 1: to when I'm creating that list that the people that
Speaker 1: are on that list are usually people I care about
Speaker 1: a lot, right, And I know those people wouldn't want
Speaker 1: me to spend money that I didn't have, um just
Speaker 1: in order to get them a gift for the holidays.
Speaker 1: I would maybe you would give me that pony dog,
Speaker 1: all right, I'll make it happen. Fine, I'll work three
Speaker 1: jobs just to get you that pony, but a couple
Speaker 1: of tips, right in order to make that happen. Start
Speaker 1: saving now, So how much do you want to spend?
Speaker 1: Divide that out by the monthly amount that you need
Speaker 1: to save. Think about doing that in an Excel spreadsheet. Right,
Speaker 1: And we're already in November. We're already closing in on
Speaker 1: Black Friday, Cyber Monday. The holiday shopping season is getting
Speaker 1: ready to be in full swing. So you don't have
Speaker 1: a whole lot of time to start saving for this
Speaker 1: Christmas right now. But you know what, most people don't
Speaker 1: think about saving that Christmas money at all or until
Speaker 1: next November. Yeah, so you still have some time at least,
Speaker 1: and that's better than no time. So I would say,
Speaker 1: start making that list now, start thinking now about what
Speaker 1: you're spending is going to look like for this Christmas,
Speaker 1: and then you know what, You've kind of got a
Speaker 1: head start thinking ahead about next Christmas. And it becomes
Speaker 1: just so much easier when you're thinking about it, you
Speaker 1: know that far in advance. Yeah, man, And I'll totally
Speaker 1: second that approach as far as decide how much that
Speaker 1: you're going to spend and dividing it out per month,
Speaker 1: because that's exactly what we do. And I think a
Speaker 1: lot of folks might push back against that because they think, man,
Speaker 1: that just doesn't sound fun, right, that doesn't sound like Christmas.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't sound like the holidays. It just sounds
Speaker 1: to formulaic and stiff. Like, No, that's just responsible, Like
Speaker 1: that's what you do when you have an expense. When
Speaker 1: it comes to your car insurance, if you pay your
Speaker 1: car insurance once a year, because you get that discount,
Speaker 1: that discounted rate, if you pay it all at once,
Speaker 1: you divide out how much you need to set aside
Speaker 1: every single month. Look at Christmas or whatever holiday that
Speaker 1: you celebrate, look at it the exact same way. This
Speaker 1: is an expense that's not an emergency. It comes every
Speaker 1: year and you know that this is something you can
Speaker 1: plan for. And we don't think about people that budget
Speaker 1: accordingly for car insurance to be Scrooge like characters. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but for some reason, that's how we think of people
Speaker 1: that budget like that for Christma is that man, I
Speaker 1: don't know, like if you think it's got to be
Speaker 1: like spontaneous and you're just like gonna whip out the
Speaker 1: cash or you know, swipe their credit card without even
Speaker 1: thinking about it, is the way that it's supposed to go.
Speaker 1: But that's just irresponsible or you see that, Yeah, perfect
Speaker 1: gift for someone that is way outside your price range.
Speaker 1: You know what I hate is the car commercials, but
Speaker 1: the car sitting in the driveway with a giant red
Speaker 1: bow on. Who the heck does that? Like nobody does that? Right?
Speaker 1: But also don't forget about other holiday expenses like travel
Speaker 1: house decorations. Right for us, that's something that that kind
Speaker 1: of creeps up every year because we want the place
Speaker 1: looking really good. Is we end up getting a bigger
Speaker 1: tree or we want to add another wreath to the mix,
Speaker 1: and so before you know it, Yeah, the holiday de
Speaker 1: coorse kind of creeping up there. So we got although
Speaker 1: last year, you've got a really sweet wreath for free
Speaker 1: on the side of the road. Oh, we did. Should
Speaker 1: I share that with us? Just I want people to know.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're super good at finding free stuff on
Speaker 1: the side of the road, and and that's that's a
Speaker 1: nice quality to have. You know why. It's because we
Speaker 1: go on walks all the time, and we ride our bikes,
Speaker 1: and so I feel like when you're riding your bikes
Speaker 1: you're able to see stuff up close. If you're zipping
Speaker 1: buy in your car, it just looks like trash. But
Speaker 1: in our case, our neighbor was tossing out this four
Speaker 1: foot wreath I saw her put out on the curb
Speaker 1: when in years past I've seen her hanging on our house.
Speaker 1: It's like the size breath that they would punt on
Speaker 1: the side of a Macy's. Yeah, it's pretty big, man.
Speaker 1: And so I was like, Kelly, are you putting that
Speaker 1: on the curve? Is that a curb alert? Are you
Speaker 1: gonna toss that? She's like, yeah, the lights don't work anymore,
Speaker 1: And I thought to myself, no problem, I got more lights,
Speaker 1: so dude, Yeah, we totally snatch that up. It's currently
Speaker 1: up in the attic and we're gonna pull that out
Speaker 1: when it comes time to decorate the house because it's
Speaker 1: beautiful because the wrap lights around it. So if you
Speaker 1: get free stuff like Matt, it makes it even easier
Speaker 1: to budget, right, But you want to factor in all
Speaker 1: those things, including Christmas cards, because cards, those are the
Speaker 1: sort of things that will break your budget because you
Speaker 1: didn't factor them in. And those things you can plan
Speaker 1: on right. You can plan ahead knowing that that's going
Speaker 1: to happen, and most people just forget leave it out
Speaker 1: because all they're thinking about are the gift buys. But
Speaker 1: think about those other purchases you're gonna make during the
Speaker 1: holidays too, And what you absolutely don't want to do
Speaker 1: is to wait until the last minute, you know, right
Speaker 1: before Christmas. If you're waiting to make any of your
Speaker 1: purchases until then, or even making your decisions as to
Speaker 1: what you're gonna spend, then it's pretty much gonna be
Speaker 1: too late. You're gonna ruin your bud it, you're gonna
Speaker 1: go way over and you know you're gonna be in
Speaker 1: the sort of situation where you're gonna be paying for
Speaker 1: Christmas well into the New Year. It's gonna be bad news, bears.
Speaker 1: You don't want that no way, So yeah, we would
Speaker 1: encourage you to start shopping now, right. The best deals
Speaker 1: to be had, the best prices that you're gonna find
Speaker 1: when it comes to shopping for people you care about
Speaker 1: for Christmas are gonna be had in November, in early December.
Speaker 1: And if you're waiting till a few days before Christmas time,
Speaker 1: it turns out you are going to pay wait, wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: way too much. It's just like buying an airline ticket
Speaker 1: the day before the flight takes off. That is like
Speaker 1: the worst time you could potentially buy an airline ticket.
Speaker 1: And the same thing goes with buying Christmas presents. You're
Speaker 1: going to want to buy while there's a lot of
Speaker 1: competition happening, and let it be said, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of competition happening in that spear right their Target and
Speaker 1: Amazon have announced, you know, free shipping for the holidays,
Speaker 1: So there's just so much competition here. You don't want
Speaker 1: to take yourself out of that mix. By waiting until
Speaker 1: the day before or two days before Christmas and hopping
Speaker 1: into the mall, you're gonna pay full price. You're gonna
Speaker 1: pay way too much for everything. Yeah, you don't want
Speaker 1: to be that guy and also too man, not even
Speaker 1: just with retail. But if you start shopping earlier, if
Speaker 1: you start thinking about what it is that you want
Speaker 1: to purchase for an individual, say earlier that year, there's
Speaker 1: a good chance you could find something, even like at
Speaker 1: a yard sale. And I know that sounds kind of
Speaker 1: like cheap, right, you're gonna buy like a gift for
Speaker 1: some day for Christmas at a yard sale. But if
Speaker 1: you find something that you know that they want, or
Speaker 1: something that is more of say an antique, that you
Speaker 1: wouldn't buy a new anyway, well why not buy it
Speaker 1: at a yard sale or a garage sale where you
Speaker 1: can get it for crazy cheap. And so because you
Speaker 1: started shopping early, like way early in June or July,
Speaker 1: you're able to go ahead and get that gift, make
Speaker 1: that purchase, and cross them off the list, and just
Speaker 1: think about how less stressed out that's gonna make you
Speaker 1: as well, all right, Matt, And yes, So one of
Speaker 1: the things that's going to help you actually stick to
Speaker 1: that plan is to be able to keep a running
Speaker 1: list with the names of the people you want to
Speaker 1: get gifts for your right ideas down next to their names.
Speaker 1: Maybe keep it in the note tap on your phone.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's exactly. Yeah, that's what we do. I got
Speaker 1: like a secret sort of note that's labeled differently. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not like it's gonna go on there and try
Speaker 1: to figure out what it is. I'm gonna get her. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's totally what I do. So you're saying Kate
Speaker 1: wasn't the type of person to take the tape off
Speaker 1: the presence carefully and look inside and then wrap it
Speaker 1: back up. No, man, don't you know what's funny is
Speaker 1: I don't think either of us are that way. I
Speaker 1: was the kind of kid that if I accidentally stumbled
Speaker 1: upon a gift that my parents said not hidden well enough,
Speaker 1: or it was just kind of tucked behind something, I
Speaker 1: would pretend I didn't see it because I didn't want
Speaker 1: to ruin the surprise for myself. Specifically, I remember stumbling
Speaker 1: upon Super Mario Brothers three. I knew I was gonna
Speaker 1: have to pretend that I didn't see it in order
Speaker 1: in order to be surprised on Christmas morning. You try
Speaker 1: to like erase the memory from your brain. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like control out, delete reset. So I was a sneaky
Speaker 1: kid at least for a few years, who knew lamely
Speaker 1: where my parents hit the presents, and oh yeah, what
Speaker 1: there was one spot and it wasn't hard to find out.
Speaker 1: You could have done better, mom, But no, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: But it was easy to find and I would try
Speaker 1: to sneak in there and look. But then, you know,
Speaker 1: after a couple of years of that and realizing that
Speaker 1: actually it made Christmas way more disappointing, I stopped. But yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I'm completely with you making that list and that way too,
Speaker 1: sort of like with shopping, right, if you start way early,
Speaker 1: if you start thinking way early about the different gifts
Speaker 1: that you're gonna get somebody, it allows you time to
Speaker 1: be creative, allows gives you time to be thoughtful and
Speaker 1: think of something that maybe you wouldn't have thought of
Speaker 1: had you waited until the last minute or even the
Speaker 1: month before. You know, when the when the clock's ticking,
Speaker 1: you may not think of a certain gift. It just
Speaker 1: may not come to mind. Yeah, there's nothing I hate
Speaker 1: more than kind of being on this timer, this time clock,
Speaker 1: where I have to find this perfect gift in thirty
Speaker 1: days or less right, or I'm not gonna make the
Speaker 1: cut off and it's gonna be a terrible Christmas for everyone.
Speaker 1: I love thinking ahead because it gives me that chance
Speaker 1: to throughout the year kind of be looking and find
Speaker 1: something that is either a just the perfect gift or
Speaker 1: be a great deal and just snack it when I
Speaker 1: see it. And so all of our shopping for our girls,
Speaker 1: you know, we've got two girls, five and three, all
Speaker 1: of our shopping for them. For Chris, this is done already,
Speaker 1: is really yeah. Man, So I say all this, but
Speaker 1: Kate's kind of more in charge of our immediate family. Well,
Speaker 1: Emily found a lot of good stuff, especially in the
Speaker 1: all the Center aisle. So I don't know if anybody
Speaker 1: out there, all these shoppers, man, they know what's up.
Speaker 1: The Center aisle especially oftentimes has great kids stuff and
Speaker 1: m look at that. Yeah, you're like, oh, that's a
Speaker 1: perfect gift. And so oftentimes Emily will buy that stocking
Speaker 1: up for our kids for Christmas and also for other
Speaker 1: kid birthdays. But yeah, so keeping that list with the
Speaker 1: names and making it kind of top of mind as
Speaker 1: something that you check into periodically throughout the year, it's
Speaker 1: a good strategy for helping you save money and avoid overspending,
Speaker 1: you know, right before Christmas. Yeah, that's true, man's overspinning, right,
Speaker 1: So like smart shoppers like used sales and coupons and
Speaker 1: credit cards with purchase protection, things like that. And we
Speaker 1: talked about credit card purchase protection in our lesser known
Speaker 1: credit card Benefits episode and it's already come back to
Speaker 1: help me. So yeah, I think that's an important element
Speaker 1: to this boom. That's right, man. However, even taking all
Speaker 1: that into account, it's still not justification, right for over consumption.
Speaker 1: If you know yourself well and you know you might
Speaker 1: be tempted to overspend, use cash because it's not worth
Speaker 1: it to totally blow your budget and be stuck with
Speaker 1: that holiday spending hangover. Yes, so, Matt and I we
Speaker 1: do like credit cards for a lot of reasons, and
Speaker 1: there are additional benefits if you buy things, you know
Speaker 1: with the credit card that you don't get when you
Speaker 1: buy with cash. But there is a huge caveat, and
Speaker 1: the caveat is if you're not spending within your means,
Speaker 1: and you're putting things on your credit cards that you
Speaker 1: know you won't be able to pay off come January.
Speaker 1: That is when we would say avoid the credit cards,
Speaker 1: take that temptation out of your life, put cash in
Speaker 1: an envelope, and go that route because that is gonna
Speaker 1: be the safest for your finances, that's gonna keep you
Speaker 1: from overspending, and it's just gonna kind of help you
Speaker 1: stick to that that budget that you've laid out for yourself.
Speaker 1: So if credit cards are kind of that like Achilles
Speaker 1: heel for you and you're not gonna be able to
Speaker 1: keep it in check, then definitely stick with the cash method.
Speaker 1: Another approach is to consider having an honest conversation with
Speaker 1: your family, uh and friends, even about gifts and expectations.
Speaker 1: This is something that even aside from having like, you know,
Speaker 1: let's pretend you're not even gonna do some sort of
Speaker 1: huge Christmas or holiday gift exchange revamp, like you're just
Speaker 1: gonna have your typical spending, it's still worth it to
Speaker 1: have those conversations where you're discussing what it is that
Speaker 1: you're expecting, what you're going to discuss, what it is
Speaker 1: that you're going to do or that you're not gonna do. Uh.
Speaker 1: These just are important things you need to communicate with
Speaker 1: your family and friends. You can't just say too that
Speaker 1: we're using the term Christmas a lot. I think and
Speaker 1: I know that there are people that celebrate other holidays
Speaker 1: prides of Christmas, So well, you want to get that
Speaker 1: out there that you know, whether you're celebrating Hanukkah, Christmas,
Speaker 1: another holiday, this time of the year, there's still this
Speaker 1: tendency to buy gifts that you can't afford. And so
Speaker 1: we're not trying to certainly alienate anyone who celebrates a
Speaker 1: different holiday, but we just want to get that out there.
Speaker 1: No matter what it is, it's this time of where
Speaker 1: you want to buy people awesome things and appreciate them
Speaker 1: and show them how much you care. Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: overspend and go into debt and celebrate Hanaka, yes exactly,
Speaker 1: exactly those eight crazy nights and way too much spending.
Speaker 1: Oh that's right, man. So so back to like the
Speaker 1: conversations right with your family and friends, something that's I
Speaker 1: I kind of touched on, but set spending limits. This
Speaker 1: might seem kind of lame, right to say that, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're only going to spend ten dollars per adult, but
Speaker 1: if you can kind of turn that on its head
Speaker 1: and think about how much fun you could have having
Speaker 1: to find a gift for like your cousins who are
Speaker 1: now adults, and you have to buy a gift like
Speaker 1: something creative, something funny, something we're going to really have
Speaker 1: a good time for only ten dollars. Talk about that.
Speaker 1: That's something that needs to be discussed because on the
Speaker 1: flip side of that, you don't want to be the
Speaker 1: person that doesn't follow the spending limits and goes and
Speaker 1: spends fifty bucks on like a bottle of nice Scotch
Speaker 1: or something, or for every everybody, which I would love.
Speaker 1: By the way, if somebody wants to give me a
Speaker 1: bottle of nice Scotch, I'm all about that. We'll post
Speaker 1: Matt's mailing address in the show notes. But you know what,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like, if you said a
Speaker 1: spending limit, it's like bringing something nice to a wide
Speaker 1: devil party. Yeah, it's like that one gift that everybody
Speaker 1: kind of wants because it's actually a nice gift. It's
Speaker 1: supposed to be a wide elephant party. What are you doing?
Speaker 1: You ruined everything? Yeah, and so if you have a
Speaker 1: bigger family, you should consider maybe like an assigned gift
Speaker 1: exchange draw out of a hat maybe use a name drawing.
Speaker 1: So for me and my family, we have with our
Speaker 1: siblings instead of buying each other a gift, our siblings
Speaker 1: have spouses and it just becomes harder to know where
Speaker 1: to draw the line. So we have a drawing where
Speaker 1: we get a different sibling couple that we buy for,
Speaker 1: and we have a set spending limit, and we also
Speaker 1: prioritize and experience when we're buying a gift for each other.
Speaker 1: So usually it's it's a little fun, it's it's a
Speaker 1: little outside of the box and that kind of makes
Speaker 1: it easier for us because there's fewer people to buy
Speaker 1: for and it feels a little more intentional. And also
Speaker 1: with that spending limit, right, Like, we talked about creating
Speaker 1: that spending limit and just having an open, honest conversation
Speaker 1: about it. That's kind of how it came about, was it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we felt like we had too many people to buy
Speaker 1: for and it kind of felt like a burden as
Speaker 1: opposed to kind of this really fun thing. And it's
Speaker 1: actually kind of I feel like, allowed us to create
Speaker 1: something fun where we got to enjoy buying the gift
Speaker 1: for this couple that we care about as opposed to
Speaker 1: feeling like we needed to buy this individualized gift for
Speaker 1: every single person in our family, and um, you know what,
Speaker 1: each family is going to kind of come up with
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit of a different solution, But that's
Speaker 1: kind of something you can propose to your family if
Speaker 1: you're kind of overwhelmed with feeling like you have to
Speaker 1: buy gifts for every single human in your family, it
Speaker 1: just kind of maybe this can make it a little
Speaker 1: bit easier. So with a family that has kids, maybe
Speaker 1: the rule is that only the kids get gifts and
Speaker 1: the adults just kind of get to hang back and
Speaker 1: watch the kids, you know, open the gifts and enjoy that.
Speaker 1: Like you said, it's gonna vary from family to family,
Speaker 1: but just make sure you're part of that solution. Make
Speaker 1: sure you're part of that change and that you're not
Speaker 1: just kind of going along with this idea of, oh,
Speaker 1: we all have to spend at least fifty bucks per person,
Speaker 1: this is something that's got to be done. We're all
Speaker 1: going into debt because we don't want to talk about it,
Speaker 1: and there's just an expectation of this is how it is.
Speaker 1: You know, like I hate that, I hate that there
Speaker 1: is this pressure and instead it can just be avoided
Speaker 1: just by talking about it. Yeah, those conversations, right, aren't
Speaker 1: always easy, but they're important and they're necessary. And I
Speaker 1: would say you start that conversation early. Right now might
Speaker 1: not be the best time for this year's Christmas, but
Speaker 1: start thinking about that and and maybe start hinting at
Speaker 1: that for next year's Christmas. You wouldn't even better time
Speaker 1: to wait till Christmas morning. Oh yeah, yeah, show it
Speaker 1: Christmas morning and be like, hey, you know we're not
Speaker 1: gonna do gifts anymore. Sorry, guys, I didn't buy anything
Speaker 1: for any of you. Yeah, no, I completely agree. This
Speaker 1: is something you want to talk about well in advance,
Speaker 1: and specifically too, with your spouse or a significant other,
Speaker 1: Like if you've got a boyfriend or girlfriend, you want
Speaker 1: to be on the same page about this. This isn't
Speaker 1: something that you surprise the other person with literally the
Speaker 1: morning of Christmas where you're like, oh, yeah, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm not really into gift giving anymore. This is something
Speaker 1: that I'm trying to scale back on. Like now, that's
Speaker 1: a terrible time to make decision. And you don't want
Speaker 1: it to be grinch like either, Right, And so we'll
Speaker 1: get into some of those tactical ways that you can
Speaker 1: avoid being the grinch of your holiday gathering, but you
Speaker 1: can also be thoughtful right after the break. All right,
Speaker 1: go back to the break and again we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about now some helpful and specific tips to avoid the
Speaker 1: holiday shopping hangover. And So if you don't have the
Speaker 1: cash on hand, because you're just listening to this now
Speaker 1: and you haven't budgeted, you, basically you have two options. Right.
Speaker 1: You can either cut more and you could truly spend less.
Speaker 1: And I think that would be more of the route
Speaker 1: that we would say, yeah, that's that's kind of the
Speaker 1: route you want to go, and that could be cutting
Speaker 1: kind of peripheral people off of your shopping list. So
Speaker 1: maybe your second cousin doesn't get a gift this year
Speaker 1: when they normally did, and you say, sorry, sorry, Ralph,
Speaker 1: you're not a legit relation to me, so I'm not
Speaker 1: buying gifts for you this year. Or the other option
Speaker 1: is to lessen the actual money amount that you spend
Speaker 1: on each person. That's right, Yeah, I love that. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can either cut more or a secondary option is
Speaker 1: that you can make some more money, right, in order
Speaker 1: to pay for Christmas shopping, and we would say to
Speaker 1: be very careful when it comes to this option, because
Speaker 1: essentially by saying that, what you're saying is that your
Speaker 1: time is worth less than a gift that you're going
Speaker 1: to give somebody that they may not even enjoy. Your
Speaker 1: time is your life, and like you're treating your life
Speaker 1: for money. It's just a slippery slip to say that, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna work a little bit more so that
Speaker 1: I can buy one more thing for this person. And
Speaker 1: I know that, especially if you have kids out there,
Speaker 1: you want to see that sort of the ripping open
Speaker 1: the gifts. Like there's just this whole sort of culture
Speaker 1: surrounding like gift giving and gift opening that involves ripping paper,
Speaker 1: throwing it in the air, like throwing it behind the couch.
Speaker 1: That's part of like people's traditions. Yeah, we don't want
Speaker 1: to completely rain on the parade of those fun traditions
Speaker 1: because I will be honest, I have some great memories
Speaker 1: of being a kid and getting that perfect gift that
Speaker 1: wanted and mom and dad got me right playing there
Speaker 1: in the sea of like wrapping paper, let's like completely
Speaker 1: covering the floor. Yes, but I also know that especially
Speaker 1: with young kids at least, that they have oftentimes been
Speaker 1: more enthralled by that wrapping paper on the ground than
Speaker 1: the actual gift that was in the box. And so
Speaker 1: that's definitely a potential to so I think sometimes we
Speaker 1: build it up more in our mind and the reality
Speaker 1: of how it plays out at our Christmas gatherings or
Speaker 1: holiday gatherings, it's just not quite what we wanted it
Speaker 1: to be in our minds. And so we're not trying
Speaker 1: to provide these tactics and these solutions as a way
Speaker 1: to make Christmas dole and boring and avoid all the
Speaker 1: joy and the fun of president opening, because that that's
Speaker 1: super fun, right, That's good stuff, and we don't want
Speaker 1: to take that away. But what we're trying to say
Speaker 1: is there are ways that you can make it meaningful
Speaker 1: while avoiding that nasty holiday shopping hangover that you're gonna
Speaker 1: have in January if you're not thoughtful about how you're
Speaker 1: actually spending your money. So with that, something to keep
Speaker 1: in mind is that thoughtfulness is better than a high
Speaker 1: price tag. Our loved ones they want to know that
Speaker 1: we care about them, not that we spent a ton
Speaker 1: of money. So consider handmade gifts or an experience, or
Speaker 1: maybe even just like a written letter. You know it's
Speaker 1: a spouse or again, so like a loved one, just
Speaker 1: kind of sharing your thoughts and you know how much
Speaker 1: you appreciate and how much you love them. Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: I think this comes off sometimes, this sort of suggestion
Speaker 1: as like trite, and well, there's no way I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do that, because we're like hokey, right, what they really
Speaker 1: want is like the new iPhone or something like that,
Speaker 1: and and and a written letter that's meaningless comparatively, But
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, the things that have meant the most
Speaker 1: to me that do mean the most to me when
Speaker 1: it comes to gift giving, oftentimes is like a friend
Speaker 1: who knows how much we need my wife and I
Speaker 1: need like a night out right and they offer a
Speaker 1: free babysitting. Or one of our friends who you know what,
Speaker 1: she's a really good baker and so she spends a
Speaker 1: lot of time during the holidays to bake people like
Speaker 1: an awesome pie or some awesome cookies I know you're
Speaker 1: talking about. Yeah, yeah you do, and i'd so much before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would so much rather have that than like a
Speaker 1: Best Buy gift card or something, right, because that comes
Speaker 1: from her heart and it's something that means a lot
Speaker 1: to her, and so it means a lot to me
Speaker 1: to eat that apple pie after she brings it. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it can seem like a trite thing, but
Speaker 1: really it's the most meaningful. And when you think about
Speaker 1: some of those great gifts you've gotten in your life
Speaker 1: throughout the years from people that you care about, oftentimes
Speaker 1: they are these kinds of gifts and it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be crappy macaroni art or something like that, right,
Speaker 1: But I love macaroni art, dude, I know you do,
Speaker 1: so that's why I'm making you some for Christmas. I
Speaker 1: just love pasta specifically. I love the macaroni less the art,
Speaker 1: So don't waste it on a piece of construction paper
Speaker 1: with glue, right, But I just wanted to mention that
Speaker 1: because I know that it can come off that way.
Speaker 1: But truly, I think it's a meaningful way to give
Speaker 1: someone a gift. Yeah, I mean I can I totally
Speaker 1: agree with you, right, especially in a time when we
Speaker 1: just have so much junk and there's just some weird
Speaker 1: stuff that you're getting sometimes from folks that don't know
Speaker 1: you that well, and that can be totally avoided by
Speaker 1: giving of your yourself, just like you said, and along
Speaker 1: those lines, the gift certificate, like it sounds kind of hokey,
Speaker 1: but I think it's awesome, man, if you're able to
Speaker 1: utilize your skills or your talents that you have, or
Speaker 1: even a gift certificate for quality time like you talked
Speaker 1: about earlier, where there's either like a hike or a
Speaker 1: museum involved, like something that's you know, low cost. This
Speaker 1: involves more giving of yourself, like your time and your energy,
Speaker 1: and less of your money. And we're all about saving money. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So oftentimes, like for my dad for his birthday, I
Speaker 1: will make a certificate for him to take him out
Speaker 1: to dinner or to take him to some sort of
Speaker 1: like sporting match in town. The sports, the sports generally speaking,
Speaker 1: he enjoys the sports. He does well, it's not about
Speaker 1: the sports, it's about the It's about the time, right exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So for me it's about I'm happy to get a
Speaker 1: nice meal with my dad or to go see you know,
Speaker 1: a baseball game or soccer game or something like that.
Speaker 1: That's great, but really it is it is at intentionality
Speaker 1: level that I'm oftentimes missing, and it allows me that
Speaker 1: ability to be intentional because what I really want to
Speaker 1: do is hang out with my dad. Spent some time
Speaker 1: I'm with him, whether that's you know, over a barbecue
Speaker 1: sandwich or watching our soccer team just like unload on
Speaker 1: another team, right Like, either way, I'm just happy to
Speaker 1: be with my pops. And that gift certificate is just
Speaker 1: kind of this way for me to say, in writing Boom,
Speaker 1: we're setting it in stone, right, because I failed to
Speaker 1: do that so much of the time, and I wish
Speaker 1: I did it. I was better at it on the leg,
Speaker 1: but I'm not, and so this is my chance to say, Dad,
Speaker 1: we're doing this you and me. So I think those
Speaker 1: giftstificates are helpful. It feels good to get it and
Speaker 1: to say they thought about this particular thing I like
Speaker 1: to do with them, like this thing we like to
Speaker 1: do together, and it's written down and then now we've
Speaker 1: got to follow through and make it happen. But I
Speaker 1: feel like those giftstific gates like can be meaningful. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're they're more than met. You have to back off.
Speaker 1: You're gonna like start making our listeners start to like
Speaker 1: get tarr eyed you know what I'm saying. Yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: I might actually have to steal that idea. So I
Speaker 1: hope my dad's not listening, but he actually probably is.
Speaker 1: And then another sort of creative idea too, man, is uh,
Speaker 1: if you want to give less, but you still you know,
Speaker 1: want to spend money, or you've got money to spend
Speaker 1: because you've budgeted for it, you can consider some philanthropic gifts.
Speaker 1: Our family used to do this thing where we would
Speaker 1: gift each other loans through Kiva dot Org. Have you
Speaker 1: ever done the loan program with them? No, I haven't. Basically,
Speaker 1: you go on there and you can buy a gift
Speaker 1: certificate and they have all these different individuals and oftentimes
Speaker 1: Third world countries, and they're trying to start a business,
Speaker 1: and so they're trying to race, say like two thousand
Speaker 1: dollars to buy a motorcycle in order to give taxi
Speaker 1: rides and Honduras because that's gonna be their business. That's
Speaker 1: awesome and that cool. Yeah, and you can donate like
Speaker 1: bucks or fifty bucks and it goes towards that, and
Speaker 1: they're part of the program, and you know that's what
Speaker 1: it's going to go towards, but it's a loan, and
Speaker 1: so they also work to pay that back and almost
Speaker 1: all the loans get repaid, and so once it does
Speaker 1: get repaid, you can leave that money within the Kiva
Speaker 1: program and then reloan it out to somebody else who's
Speaker 1: looking to get money to start a small business in
Speaker 1: their town, you know, somewhere far off. Isn't that cool?
Speaker 1: I love that? Yeah, super cool. It's like the entrepreneurial
Speaker 1: spirit mixed with philanthropy and and yeah, it's awesome. I
Speaker 1: love it. I love that. And I also I feel
Speaker 1: like there's kind of this move for families that realize that,
Speaker 1: you know what, we have a lot of stuff and
Speaker 1: who are able to talk about it. Well, uh, there
Speaker 1: there are a lot of families that say, you know what,
Speaker 1: let's forego gifts and let's actually do an active service
Speaker 1: on Christmas. Let's serve at a soup kitchen or find
Speaker 1: a way to care for people in our community that
Speaker 1: have less than we do on Christmas Day. And that's
Speaker 1: really cool too. Certainly, no guilt trip, right, no family
Speaker 1: has to do this has to take their Christmas off
Speaker 1: from being together and just kind of hanging out to
Speaker 1: go like serve other people. But if your family is
Speaker 1: so inclined and does something like that or you think
Speaker 1: might be interested in doing that, I love doing something
Speaker 1: like a like a philanthropic gift or considering gifting your
Speaker 1: time as a family and serving together can kind of
Speaker 1: create this bond and can kind of bring a whole
Speaker 1: new meaning to your holiday season, right. And so much
Speaker 1: of the holidays is spending quality time together, right, Like,
Speaker 1: I think that's honestly what most families oftentimes are are missing,
Speaker 1: whether it be because of business or technology or jobs
Speaker 1: or distance, right, Like, you just don't have that quality
Speaker 1: time together. And yeah, I love that dude, when you're
Speaker 1: able to come together with your family and and and
Speaker 1: sort of unite around a cause, whether whatever it is
Speaker 1: that you decide on, Like that's it's kind of like
Speaker 1: just getting on the same team is what matters, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: And if you don't have as many gifts that you
Speaker 1: have to buy because your family is going to get
Speaker 1: together and serve other people, then maybe you can work
Speaker 1: a little bit less during the holiday season and just
Speaker 1: kind of enjoy that time a little bit more. Y man.
Speaker 1: And on the flip side though, too, it's common you
Speaker 1: know around the holidays for shoppers to spend money on themselves. Initially,
Speaker 1: when I read that, read that sort of little stat
Speaker 1: I was like, no, that's not something that I do.
Speaker 1: But then I thought, no, that is something I do.
Speaker 1: Specific when it comes to beer. Obviously you and I
Speaker 1: love craft beer, but around the holidays, I tend to
Speaker 1: grab a couple of bottles of like something really primo,
Speaker 1: like something really nice that I don't just enjoy myself
Speaker 1: like I tend to share it. But still it's sort
Speaker 1: of like a little self splurge, a little a little
Speaker 1: treat yourself. I'm gonna say little treat yourself exactly. Then
Speaker 1: Initially I was like, no, that's not me, but I
Speaker 1: was like, wait a minute, that is me. Well yeah,
Speaker 1: and I know I think too, especially during you know,
Speaker 1: Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when a deal on something
Speaker 1: you have been interested in for a while or kind
Speaker 1: of what pops up, you just kind of throw caution
Speaker 1: to the wind and say why not now the time
Speaker 1: to pounce. And that sort of spending can ruin your
Speaker 1: holiday budget, yes, right, and can also take some of
Speaker 1: the joy out of the meeting of the season if
Speaker 1: you're too focused on getting stuff for yourself. Yeah, if
Speaker 1: you're too focused. However, you know, if that's something that
Speaker 1: you've budgeted for, because maybe every every holiday you do
Speaker 1: know that you're gonna spend thirty bucks on a single
Speaker 1: bottle of beer. Well, if you've budgeted for, then that's fine,
Speaker 1: you know, like, don't let it wreck your budget. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, yeah, I love what you said.
Speaker 1: You like, don't let that become too much of the
Speaker 1: focus of your holiday gift giving. So let's talk about
Speaker 1: some specific ways to that we can make the holidays
Speaker 1: meaningful for our kids, especially for families, for moms and
Speaker 1: dads that are listening that have children, how can you
Speaker 1: kind of make it special for them without spending a
Speaker 1: ton of money, Because that's something that I think all
Speaker 1: parents have to deal with, especially parents who have older
Speaker 1: kids who expect a little more maybe like a PlayStation
Speaker 1: five or whatever they're on now I don't even know, um,
Speaker 1: but I think there are ways to to make the
Speaker 1: holidays meaningful for for everyone involved in the family, for
Speaker 1: the kids, the parents, everyone, and not spend a whole
Speaker 1: ton of money at the same time. And so just
Speaker 1: a couple of things I wrote down, We're you know,
Speaker 1: making ornaments together. So we've done that with our five
Speaker 1: and three year old and it's been just a lot
Speaker 1: of fun, reading holiday books together, baking together, making holiday art,
Speaker 1: creating inexpensive traditions, right like parents. As parents, you're setting
Speaker 1: the tone for what the holidays look like. And if
Speaker 1: it's all about expensive gift giving, well then the kids
Speaker 1: are gonna respond in kind and they're gonna make that
Speaker 1: the focal point of the holiday season. But if you
Speaker 1: are able to create these other traditions that are that
Speaker 1: don't revolve around spending money, that revolve around spending time together,
Speaker 1: maybe creating something thinking outside the box just a little bit.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's actually really helpful ways to
Speaker 1: encourage in atmosphere in your holiday season that is just
Speaker 1: a little more rich than then, let's say one based
Speaker 1: around you know, buying the latest and greatest gadgets. I mean,
Speaker 1: I love what you said about setting the tone. Right. Um,
Speaker 1: keep in mind that you're not only setting this home
Speaker 1: for your house around the holidays, but I think that
Speaker 1: bleeds over into the rest of the year. If around
Speaker 1: the holidays it becomes this magical time of gift giving
Speaker 1: and buying and purchasing and surprising, and there's just money
Speaker 1: and dollar bills like flying left and right. Well, that's
Speaker 1: sort of going to be expected at other special times
Speaker 1: during the year, too, like maybe at birthdays or this
Speaker 1: special occasion or that special occasion. And it's worth considering, like,
Speaker 1: is that the kind of life that we want to
Speaker 1: live around the holidays? Do we just want to be
Speaker 1: preoccupied and distracted with gadgets and activities and things to do,
Speaker 1: or or is it about spending quality time together? Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: I'll be honest that even for me, when I get
Speaker 1: a gift, and even if it's the thing that I
Speaker 1: have been wanting that I had on my list, there's
Speaker 1: always this tinge of it didn't quite meet my expectations. Um,
Speaker 1: And I feel that I see the same thing in
Speaker 1: my five year old daughter that sometimes receiving a gift
Speaker 1: can be hard because, especially in our hypercharged atmosphere where
Speaker 1: we feel like we need so much or we want
Speaker 1: so much, and the only cure to that is not
Speaker 1: getting the exact thing you want, but it's wanting less, right,
Speaker 1: I feel like that's how you kind of combat it.
Speaker 1: And so we saw this in this summer when my
Speaker 1: daughter turned five at her birthday that it wasn't helpful
Speaker 1: to get her more things. Actually it actually was worse
Speaker 1: for her the more gifts that we got her. And
Speaker 1: I don't even feel like we we got her that
Speaker 1: much stuff. She like, like all five iPads that she got,
Speaker 1: such a weird tradition to have an iPad for every year,
Speaker 1: you know, hey man America bro. So yeah, I would say,
Speaker 1: like we're dialing back even from where we were, which
Speaker 1: I thought was pretty reserve, And we're doing a three
Speaker 1: gift maximum um for for each girl, and I just
Speaker 1: think even that it might be a lot. So I'm
Speaker 1: not exactly sure how it's going to work out. I
Speaker 1: hope it is just a little more meaningful and a
Speaker 1: little less present centric on the day of, and that
Speaker 1: we're able to kind of just step back and and
Speaker 1: have fun together. They're gonna be smaller gifts, a little
Speaker 1: more tangible. I just don't want to make the holiday
Speaker 1: season about how many gifts do I get? When's the
Speaker 1: big gift coming out? Like those sorts of questions that
Speaker 1: that that you ask as a kid. Um, the more
Speaker 1: we can kind of temper to those expectations, you know,
Speaker 1: the more we can dial back on kind of that
Speaker 1: consumer approach and insert a little more of that kind
Speaker 1: of inexpensive tradition and sending that phone for our family.
Speaker 1: I just I love that approach, and that's kind of
Speaker 1: what we're trying to adopt as a family. I mean,
Speaker 1: like that mine fullness and thoughtfulness, right, that goes into
Speaker 1: it because otherwise, yeah, you're just playing like you're just
Speaker 1: playing games, you're just keeping yourself busy with distractions, with gifts,
Speaker 1: with gadgets. Man. That's something that I love that Kate
Speaker 1: has been able to do with our family, is that specifically,
Speaker 1: Like around Thanksgiving she starts ramping up like this Thankfulness project.
Speaker 1: Recently they've called it their Thanksgiving Masterpiece, I think, but
Speaker 1: they create like a piece of art, and it's looked
Speaker 1: differently in the past, but every day that's where they
Speaker 1: sort of sit down and talk about something that they're
Speaker 1: thankful for. And again it brings time and attention and
Speaker 1: our focus as a family to something that isn't a gift,
Speaker 1: to something that isn't going to be unwrapped that costs money,
Speaker 1: whereas instead it's about being intentional and being thoughtful. In
Speaker 1: my hurried, busy life, sometimes I think, oh, why are
Speaker 1: we doing this. Come on, we just gotta get the
Speaker 1: girls off to school. That that's sort of thing. She
Speaker 1: just has a great mind about that, Like Kate, she
Speaker 1: thinks like a teacher, you know, And a lot of
Speaker 1: times I think that's sort of what it takes. You
Speaker 1: and I both have girls in kindergarten and starting to
Speaker 1: see them think about things and seeing their teachers engage
Speaker 1: their minds. And as parents, that's what we have to do, right, Like,
Speaker 1: we have to get our kids to engage their minds
Speaker 1: and not to just uh keep them busy or to
Speaker 1: distract them. We're kind of creating the culture in our
Speaker 1: homes and especially around the holiday or gift giving time
Speaker 1: of the year. What it comes down to is more
Speaker 1: of that minimalist approach, right, that kind of understanding that
Speaker 1: the best present is actually just present. And I feel
Speaker 1: like Matt, you know, I don't know, I've seen that
Speaker 1: more with my girls, the little things they asked me
Speaker 1: to just spend some time with them. I get home
Speaker 1: from work and it's like, Daddy, can you just come
Speaker 1: play with me? That means more to them now than
Speaker 1: those gifts that I could potentially buy them. Right, I
Speaker 1: can maybe work a little harder, save a little more money,
Speaker 1: to spend more on physical gifts for them this holiday season.
Speaker 1: But I realized that that is not what they want
Speaker 1: ultimately deep down, and we can cultivate a tone and
Speaker 1: an attitude in our family where that's the case, where
Speaker 1: they want more stuff. But I think our families are
Speaker 1: going to be better off. My family if it is
Speaker 1: going to be better off if I cultivate that atmosphere
Speaker 1: of presence is the best present and us being together,
Speaker 1: enjoying this holiday season together, putting down work, you know,
Speaker 1: putting down the technology, and just kind of spending some
Speaker 1: time enjoying each other as opposed to trying to put
Speaker 1: more gifts under the tree and spend a little more
Speaker 1: and then waking up in January to a credit card
Speaker 1: bill that I don't know how it got there. Right,
Speaker 1: that's what we want to avoid for everyone, a little
Speaker 1: more presence and a little bit less holiday shopping hangover. Dude,
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree more right, because that is what we
Speaker 1: are being fed by advertising and consumerism and just the
Speaker 1: spending culture that we're surrounded is that you do have
Speaker 1: to spend, and you can't have a good Christmas, you
Speaker 1: can't have a wonderful, warm, fuzzy holiday feeling without spending
Speaker 1: a ton of money. But you know, it's up to
Speaker 1: you as an individual if that's what you want to do.
Speaker 1: So some people might be a huge part of their
Speaker 1: holiday family experience, but it doesn't have to be. And
Speaker 1: to those who might be struggling financially, there are lots
Speaker 1: of other ways that you can cultivate that family culture
Speaker 1: and have an awesome time without going into debt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think for some families it's going to mean going
Speaker 1: from spending a hundred dollars on every single person in
Speaker 1: your family to spending fifty on half as many people,
Speaker 1: or for some families it's not gonna mean any change
Speaker 1: at all in their spending, but just maybe a little
Speaker 1: more mindfulness in what you're buying and how you're thinking through.
Speaker 1: You know, what you buy for the people that you
Speaker 1: care about. But more than anything, hopefully for everyone out
Speaker 1: there listening, it's not going into debt. It's not racking
Speaker 1: up credit card debt that you can't afford to pay
Speaker 1: off for gifts for people that you love, thinking that
Speaker 1: that's the meaning of the season, because that's not it.
Speaker 1: And I don't think anybody that you love would encourage
Speaker 1: you to go into debt to buy something for them
Speaker 1: that you can't afford to pay off. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: just a crummy situation all around. Yeah, man, I love that, dude.
Speaker 1: That's the you know what else is so good? This
Speaker 1: beer that we're finishing off. Yeah, Buddy Sierra Nevada and
Speaker 1: Narwhale Imperial Stout. This is delicious, dude. It's got the
Speaker 1: Narwhale on there. Uh, speaking of Christmas, Like on Buddy
Speaker 1: the Elf, you know when he's at when he's at
Speaker 1: the North Pole and he's telling Mr Norwal exactly except
Speaker 1: for it. This is like the grown up version of Hilm.
Speaker 1: He looks all hardcore on the label. He's gonna spear
Speaker 1: somebody or something. It looks way more sharp on this picture.
Speaker 1: And yeah, not nearly as friendly looking. But this is
Speaker 1: a fantastic solid Imperial Stout by Sierra Nevada. And you
Speaker 1: and I we both kind of feel like stouts are
Speaker 1: great beers to drink during the holidays, because especially during
Speaker 1: the holidays, like you want to have that what dark, thicker,
Speaker 1: robust beer. Yeah, it's kind of like a winter warmer.
Speaker 1: And so this one in particular has coffee and you know,
Speaker 1: dark chocolate notes in it. Man, I've always kind of
Speaker 1: been a fan of Sierra Nevada and Narwhale. I enjoy
Speaker 1: a lot of their beers, but I would I don't
Speaker 1: gravitate towards most of them very often. But this is
Speaker 1: one I pick up like every year, and it's in
Speaker 1: six packs this year, which is kind of nice. I
Speaker 1: just really like kind of a bitter stout and this
Speaker 1: one has a nice bitter coffee, bitter dark chocolate notes
Speaker 1: and it works. It works really well. I like it
Speaker 1: a lot. Speaking of inexpensive Christmas traditions, I wonder if
Speaker 1: that's why you like this every year, man, I bet,
Speaker 1: like you pick this up every single year, And I
Speaker 1: bet it's because you have sort of like this memory
Speaker 1: associated with this of affordability mixed with great flavor, mixed
Speaker 1: with coming together with family and friends for real, you know.
Speaker 1: Oh completely. I'm obsessed with finding a great beer that
Speaker 1: is reasonably priced, and this one comes out every year,
Speaker 1: and I'm just always excited because it is a great
Speaker 1: beer that's really pretty inexpensive when it comes down to it. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: And especially with this being an Imperial stout. So if
Speaker 1: you're not really into like craft beer or specialty beers.
Speaker 1: If you know that you like coffee or you like
Speaker 1: things that are maybe a little bit less bitter, right Like,
Speaker 1: if you like your coffee with a little bit of sugar,
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit of cream, then stouts tend to
Speaker 1: be a good sort of beer for folks like that, Right, Like,
Speaker 1: you want to stay away from like the I. P. A.
Speaker 1: S that are a little more bitter, instead look towards
Speaker 1: the beers that are darker and have more of that
Speaker 1: multi backbone, and this will totally do that for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and this one in particular is probably better for people
Speaker 1: that like dark chocolate over milk chocolate. Yeah. So if
Speaker 1: you're interested in finding a beer that has kind of
Speaker 1: some of those notes and you're not really sure what
Speaker 1: to drink this holiday season, well, I mean we would
Speaker 1: recommenden Narwhall Stout by Sierra, Nevada, and it should be
Speaker 1: on shelves wherever you buy beer. All right, Matt, let's
Speaker 1: get to our final thoughts on how we avoid that
Speaker 1: holiday shopping hangover. All right. The first thing that you
Speaker 1: can do is make sure that you are planning ahead,
Speaker 1: and you want to make sure you're staying organized. That
Speaker 1: allows you to start saving now because you're saving ahead
Speaker 1: of time, and that keeps you within your budget. But
Speaker 1: it also allows you to be thoughtful. Keep a running
Speaker 1: list with the names of those that you want to
Speaker 1: give gifts to. And when you have those names listed out,
Speaker 1: that allows you to start shopping now. You can start
Speaker 1: looking for those deals and you can start thinking of
Speaker 1: creative gift ideas to those who you love. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: also allows you to open the lines of communication with
Speaker 1: people in your family if there are a lot of
Speaker 1: expectations in the holiday season when it comes to gift
Speaker 1: giving and gift receiving, and it's kind of tough to
Speaker 1: broach that subject sometimes, but planning ahead allows you to
Speaker 1: start having those conversations with the people that are closest
Speaker 1: to you and would be most affected by you deciding
Speaker 1: to shake things up a little bit. So make sure
Speaker 1: to start that conversation when it comes to expectations around
Speaker 1: your family gift giving traditions sooner rather than later. Then.
Speaker 1: The number one specific tip that we want to give
Speaker 1: is to just not spend money that you don't have.
Speaker 1: If you are going to be tempted to spend more
Speaker 1: than you have. If you are using your credit card,
Speaker 1: don't use your credit card. Joe and I we both
Speaker 1: love using our credit cards because of all the different
Speaker 1: perks and cash back and purchase protection benefits that we have,
Speaker 1: but it's not worth it if you're going to end
Speaker 1: up overspending. Also, thoughtfulness is so much better than a
Speaker 1: high end gift. Your loved ones, people that you care
Speaker 1: about the most. They want to know that you care back.
Speaker 1: And so it might sound trite, but it's true. Something
Speaker 1: handmade or an experience, or even just an expression of
Speaker 1: love can be so much more meaningful than inexpensive gizmo
Speaker 1: or gadget. That's right, man, More giving of yourself, your
Speaker 1: time and energy, and less of your money. All right, everyone,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for listening. Our home on the web
Speaker 1: is how to Money dot Com. We will have show
Speaker 1: notes up there for this episode, and if you like
Speaker 1: what you hear and have found this episode helpful, you
Speaker 1: can let us know by giving us a review on
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Speaker 1: with all of our new episodes. All right, Joe, Until
Speaker 1: next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,