Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: episode is going to be a longer one part of
Speaker 1: the series where I interview fascinating people about how they
Speaker 1: spend their time and any advice they have for the
Speaker 1: rest of us. So today I am delighted to welcome
Speaker 1: Joel Larsgard and Matt Altmex to the show. They are
Speaker 1: better known as Joel and Matt, the hosts of the
Speaker 1: how To Money podcast. So today we are going to
Speaker 1: be talking financial tips alongside productivity ones. So Joel and Matt,
Speaker 1: welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having us. I didn't realize we were fascinating.
Speaker 2: We appreciate you having us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I know I've been listening to you guys
Speaker 1: for a long time. So I've been following all the
Speaker 1: details of the lives of Matt and Joel and their
Speaker 1: their various kids and two minivans. You each have matching
Speaker 1: mini vans.
Speaker 2: Right, sorry, we do.
Speaker 3: Actually mine just rolled over one hundred and seventy five
Speaker 3: thousand miles. It was a badge of honor. I've made
Speaker 3: the kids watch the odomeiner as it rolled over. We
Speaker 3: all did a little dance in the van while we
Speaker 3: did that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hopefully strapped.
Speaker 2: In Indeed, Yeah.
Speaker 1: You're wonderful. So, you know, listeners to this show love
Speaker 1: hearing about people's routines. So I would love to hear
Speaker 1: if either of you guys have either a morning routine
Speaker 1: or another routine at a different point of day that
Speaker 1: really helps make your life more functional.
Speaker 2: Wait, okay, so I'll share, Laura.
Speaker 3: So, for the past two years, I've been working out,
Speaker 3: and specifically the past two months, I've been working out
Speaker 3: on a daily basis. This is something that I wanted
Speaker 3: to incorporate more into my life. And I have never
Speaker 3: been an early morning riser kind of person. And I'm
Speaker 3: getting up every single day at five forty five, which
Speaker 3: is for me at least. I don't know that's crazy early.
Speaker 3: And what I realized was that for the longest time,
Speaker 3: I was trying to eliminate distractions in my life, like
Speaker 3: for like specifically like social media in the evenings, you're
Speaker 3: sitting there, you're doing the like the doom scrolling, it
Speaker 3: just goes on and on. And what I realized was
Speaker 3: that instead of just saying no to something, what I
Speaker 3: needed to do was replace it with something, And what
Speaker 3: I finally realized was that, oh wow, working out this
Speaker 3: is something that I really enjoy and it's become more
Speaker 3: important than obviously wasting time on social media or you
Speaker 3: know some of the other ways that we waste our time.
Speaker 3: And so the ability to supplant that was massive for
Speaker 3: me actually wanting to get up in the mornings and
Speaker 3: do it. It means I'm going to bed earlier as well,
Speaker 3: which is a vital part to yeah, stay healthy and
Speaker 3: making sure you don't feel like like garbage the next morning.
Speaker 4: Now Matt looks like Dwayne the Rock Johnson, so there's that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, part of a morning routine is in fact
Speaker 1: going to bed on time the night before.
Speaker 2: So what time do you have to go to bed?
Speaker 3: Duake? Nine thirty is what I'm aiming for my wife
Speaker 3: and I'm both and it's awesome. I feel like I'm
Speaker 3: a completely different person than I was even two months ago,
Speaker 3: but certainly beyond two years ago for sure.
Speaker 1: Well, I love that the idea that you know, it's
Speaker 1: not enough just to be like I need to get
Speaker 1: off social media, right, I need to spend less time
Speaker 1: on social media. If you don't have something else that
Speaker 1: you are replacing it with, Like why You're like, well,
Speaker 1: why am I off social media? Social media is kind
Speaker 1: of fun. I don't know, there are fun things I
Speaker 1: can do with my time. But you've really enjoyed the
Speaker 1: getting up now.
Speaker 2: I really do.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean it's something I maybe that sounds crazy to
Speaker 3: some people, but it's something I really do look forward to.
Speaker 3: And sometimes my wife gets out there with me as well,
Speaker 3: and so it's kind of a time of connection. I
Speaker 3: mean that's mostly on Saturdays, I guess only, but yeah,
Speaker 3: it's fantastic.
Speaker 1: Awesome, Jill. How about you. You have any sort of routine.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so probably my favorite routine is taking my son
Speaker 4: to school on the bike. So I've got an electric
Speaker 4: cargo bike and that just kind of like that's the
Speaker 4: best part of my morning is getting to ride with him.
Speaker 4: We just tell jokes the entire time, and then I
Speaker 4: come home and I walk my daughter to school. So
Speaker 4: something about like that kind of uh, you know, I'm
Speaker 4: not pumping iron like madness, but there's something about that
Speaker 4: activity that gets my day started right, especially doing it
Speaker 4: with the kids, and then after lunch and after lunch
Speaker 4: walk just because you're sitting down. You're at the computer
Speaker 4: so much of the day, and so like getting out
Speaker 4: and nature, touching some grass, looking at some leaves is
Speaker 4: just very grounding and it takes me out of this
Speaker 4: all the whirlwind of running a business. Then you get
Speaker 4: back into it after that walk.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you need a little break to boost your energy.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure that's something that does.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, Joel.
Speaker 3: What you did share is that there's there's a there's
Speaker 3: medical research to back this too, because the ability to
Speaker 3: move a little bit. And so this is something I
Speaker 3: do as well, and it's it's not only just like
Speaker 3: a psychologically healthy thing, but like it keeps your blood
Speaker 3: sugar from spiking and don't you get me started on
Speaker 3: like continuous glucose monitors, which oh.
Speaker 1: No, we're doing this. Yeah. Well, you know, the post
Speaker 1: prandial walk as they call it, Yeah, is an old
Speaker 1: fashioned term, but you know, good to good to still do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I like, I like you're bringing interesting definitions to
Speaker 4: an interesting term.
Speaker 1: Well, so you guys run a financial podcast and have
Speaker 1: for several years. We are coming up on the holidays
Speaker 1: when this is airing, which is of course a time
Speaker 1: of financial stress for a lot of people. Probably doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be, but does tend to be so question time.
Speaker 1: Have either of you ever overspent during the holiday seasons before?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have, but not outside of the realm of normalcy,
Speaker 4: I don't think. But there are times where you want
Speaker 4: to get a certain gift for somebody and you feel
Speaker 4: that is the perfect thing for this person that I love,
Speaker 4: and so you end up kind of over committing or
Speaker 4: spending more than you thought you would on a specific
Speaker 4: gift for someone that you love. Yeah, or maybe you
Speaker 4: do go a little bit overboard. I guess I have
Speaker 4: never gone to the point where I ended up in
Speaker 4: credit card debt the next year because I overspent on
Speaker 4: Christmas or holiday gifts for friends or family or anything
Speaker 4: like that. I think that's the thing that I'm wary of,
Speaker 4: because when you look at the numbers, like there's a
Speaker 4: significant portion of Americans that wind up getting the credit
Speaker 4: card bill in January and they're paying it off for
Speaker 4: months and months to come. There are still Americans who
Speaker 4: are in debt from last holiday holiday twenty twenty three,
Speaker 4: a significant portion of Americans. So I guess that's the
Speaker 4: thing that worries me. Overspending a little bit. If you
Speaker 4: have the extra cash, and you can take it out
Speaker 4: of your budget somewhere else. That's one thing. But if
Speaker 4: you're like putting it on the credit card and you're
Speaker 4: not gonna be able to pay the balance off, that's
Speaker 4: the scary stuff.
Speaker 3: And I think oftentimes it's not just like one giant purchase,
Speaker 3: or maybe maybe for some folks it is, but I
Speaker 3: feel like it's just the accumulation of all the little purchases.
Speaker 3: It's just a little bit more here, a little bit
Speaker 3: more there. Oh, we forgot to account for the teachers.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's a lot of you know, like we
Speaker 3: got to include them. And so I think for a
Speaker 3: lot of folks, maybe a takeaway is just to have
Speaker 3: some of these discussions ahead of time. I was talking
Speaker 3: with a friend of mine, and man, I was so
Speaker 3: encouraged because she was saying how her and her husband
Speaker 3: they decided that they were trying to back off the
Speaker 3: gifts this year, and I was expecting her to talk
Speaker 3: about grandparents like extended family, which I think for a
Speaker 3: lot of times, for a lot of folks, that's difficult.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: It's like, Okay, I see you a couple times a year,
Speaker 3: how am I supposed to know something that's actually going
Speaker 3: to move the needle, and but no, And so I
Speaker 3: went into the conversation assuming that to be the case.
Speaker 3: She was talking about her and her husband as well
Speaker 3: as her first grader and her third grader, and she
Speaker 3: said they had this conversation on the front end, and
Speaker 3: the kids were on board with it. They substituted a trip,
Speaker 3: which I think was a trip that there was still
Speaker 3: planning to take in the spring. But the ability for
Speaker 3: the I guess the I don't know not to say
Speaker 3: that you should be tricking your kids or.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I'm not sure that my children
Speaker 1: would be done on board.
Speaker 4: Mom.
Speaker 3: I think having these conversations can help a lot of folks, again,
Speaker 3: especially when it comes to extended family. But even still,
Speaker 3: if if you do want to have some gifts around
Speaker 3: the tree, around the like, around the holidays, I think
Speaker 3: maybe what that means is slowing your role a little
Speaker 3: bit when it comes to expenses leading up to that,
Speaker 3: because we are all so used to just the not
Speaker 3: only like weekly purchases that we make, but almost daily
Speaker 3: where we're thinking, oh, this is something I would kind
Speaker 3: of like, and you go ahead and make the purchase.
Speaker 2: It shows up.
Speaker 3: So now anytime we get a gift, it's not even
Speaker 3: all that special, I think, as opposed to think back
Speaker 3: thirty years ago and people I don't know, like we're
Speaker 3: a wealthy country now, Laura, and we don't really do without,
Speaker 3: and oftentimes that can maybe take away from some of
Speaker 3: the magic of the holidays and actually getting gifts for folks.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Yeah, I think another thing that happens with the
Speaker 1: holidays is you know, you were saying people don't account
Speaker 1: for all the people that they're going to have to
Speaker 1: buy gifts for. But I don't know that we even
Speaker 1: account for all the things that we wind up spending on.
Speaker 1: Like maybe people have a thought of like, okay, well
Speaker 1: here are the gifts, but then you're going to wind
Speaker 1: up traveling to see family or something like that, and
Speaker 1: that's an entirely separate expense, or you know, you decide
Speaker 1: to host a party, or there's a additional going out
Speaker 1: or something like that that happens in the course of
Speaker 1: the month. I think maybe it's just that people don't
Speaker 1: build all of it into the picture.
Speaker 4: I think that's true. And I think to your point,
Speaker 4: Antomat's point, part of the things that we spend extra
Speaker 4: money on too. That didn't used to be the case.
Speaker 4: I don't think to nearly the same extent is buying
Speaker 4: stuff for ourselves, and so instead of putting them on
Speaker 4: our Christmas list or whatever for other people, the wish
Speaker 4: list that we would love other people to get for us,
Speaker 4: because you're right, Like my mom will say, hey, what
Speaker 4: do you want for this Christian? I'm like, I don't know.
Speaker 4: I feel like I don't need anything or but it's
Speaker 4: because I do buy the things along the way want
Speaker 4: when I want them, and I think when things are
Speaker 4: on sale, and this is the time of year where
Speaker 4: all the retailers are trying to get in our pockets.
Speaker 4: They want our cash, and so there's discount of things significantly,
Speaker 4: we're more inclined to buy, I don't know, a nice
Speaker 4: TV because it's significantly cheaper than it's going to be
Speaker 4: at any other time in year in the year. And
Speaker 4: so I think that's the other thing we don't account
Speaker 4: for as well, because we're just like adding things to
Speaker 4: our cart for us while we're adding things to the
Speaker 4: car for other people, and that can become like an
Speaker 4: overwhelming financial burden too.
Speaker 1: All right, So that's our tip. There be careful about
Speaker 1: treating yourself over the holiday seasons. Maybe at least ask
Speaker 1: other people for those things that you really want. Well,
Speaker 1: we're going to take a quick ad break and then
Speaker 1: we will be back with more from Joel and Matt. Well,
Speaker 1: I am back. This is one of the longer episodes
Speaker 1: of Before Breakfast. I am talking with Joel and Matt
Speaker 1: of How to Money. So we've been talking about the
Speaker 1: holiday season, but of course the holiday season comes right
Speaker 1: before the New year. If people were going to make
Speaker 1: New Year's resolutions financial New Year's resolutions, what would you
Speaker 1: suggest doing? What are some steps that people might be
Speaker 1: able to take to have a more financially sane life
Speaker 1: in the new year?
Speaker 3: Or I think one of the best things that we
Speaker 3: can do is I mean, especially this time of year,
Speaker 3: like a lot of folks have time off from work, right,
Speaker 3: and I think using that time to do the hold
Speaker 3: day things like baking cookies, building snowman, going caroling.
Speaker 2: Like all by the way, Laura, do you still sing
Speaker 2: in the choir? I feel like that.
Speaker 5: Nice I will be singing a lot of you go
Speaker 5: there you go obviously doing all those things that are
Speaker 5: important to you and like the culture of your family,
Speaker 5: but also the ability to take some of this time
Speaker 5: and to look back sort of like you said, like
Speaker 5: oftentimes we don't account for all that we're spending on,
Speaker 5: and the.
Speaker 3: Ability to look back, look back over the past year
Speaker 3: and see where our dollars went, and having a meeting
Speaker 3: with your partner, to be able to get on the
Speaker 3: same page to make make it feel like and not
Speaker 3: just make it feel like, but to realize that you're
Speaker 3: on the same team moving forward and looking ahead to
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five and maybe identifying some of the different goals,
Speaker 3: some of the like some of the rocks that are
Speaker 3: non negotiables where you're like, this is something that's really
Speaker 3: important to us. Let's do all that we can to
Speaker 3: make this happen. Hey, we've been eating out a lot.
Speaker 2: This past year.
Speaker 3: Would if we cut back and that's going to allow
Speaker 3: us to go on that sweet vacation this summer. Let's
Speaker 3: make that a priority. And not only for partners, I think,
Speaker 3: but also these conversations I think are less likely to
Speaker 3: happen with like if you're flying solo, right because you
Speaker 3: got the natural prodding of your partner saying, ah.
Speaker 2: Do we really need another one of those?
Speaker 3: Or you know, there's different conversations you have, but when
Speaker 3: it's just yourself, like you said, Joe, oftentimes we just
Speaker 3: add that item to the cart, we click to buy,
Speaker 3: We don't think twice about it. So I think it's
Speaker 3: even more important to be intentional with our time for
Speaker 3: individuals that are by themselves as they think through just
Speaker 3: some of the different goals that they're financial goals that
Speaker 3: they're looking to achieve on their own for the next year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that money date thing is really important,
Speaker 4: right and having those conversations, and now's a perfect time
Speaker 4: just try to have those Hey what do we want
Speaker 4: to accomplish in twenty twenty five? Start thinking about those things?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 4: What are the financial goals we have when it comes
Speaker 4: to saving and investing and buying awesome stuff that we
Speaker 4: care about, whether it's experiences or actual physical items. But
Speaker 4: I think I think the other thing too is to look
Speaker 4: at your prior spending and say, well, what is it
Speaker 4: that I didn't even realize I spent money on. I
Speaker 4: just recently realized that we are paying for Apple TV
Speaker 4: and we don't watch Apple TV. And so that's actually
Speaker 4: the norm for most Americans. When you look at what
Speaker 4: people assume they're spending in subscription amounts every single month,
Speaker 4: they vastly underestimate. So the avers versus say, I'll probably
Speaker 4: spend it, I don't know, one hundred and twenty bucks
Speaker 4: or something. But maybe they're in actuality, they're spending three
Speaker 4: hundred plus dollars on recurring subscriptions. So identifying those things,
Speaker 4: because the truth is lots of times it's wasted money.
Speaker 4: It's money that could be better spent elsewhere. And because
Speaker 4: our eyes not on the ball and we're not identifying
Speaker 4: maybe the places that we're spending where we're not getting
Speaker 4: any value, we don't have the chance even to make
Speaker 4: the change.
Speaker 1: All right, So we've got money conversation with a partner,
Speaker 1: if you have one, making sure you're on the same
Speaker 1: page for your big goals for the next year. We're
Speaker 1: going to look through all those subscriptions, see if you're
Speaker 1: actually watching those shows that you are paying for. You guys,
Speaker 1: got any others for us we might consider for the
Speaker 1: new year.
Speaker 4: So I think the other thing that I want to
Speaker 4: and this feels so anathema to American culture, is to say,
Speaker 4: be really careful before you upgrade your car. It is
Speaker 4: it is like the single line item. I think that
Speaker 4: people can stand to save the most on and lost
Speaker 4: of times. It's just this assumption that, ah, I think
Speaker 4: it's time to upgrade the car. It's like four years old, right,
Speaker 4: And the truth is, like with what's happened with car prices,
Speaker 4: with what's happened with interest rates, cars are more expensive
Speaker 4: than they've ever been. And the same is true when
Speaker 4: it comes to insurance costs. So there are all of
Speaker 4: these things stacked against you when it comes to car
Speaker 4: ownership and how much it's going to cost you. A
Speaker 4: significant portion of the American public spends one thousand dollars
Speaker 4: or more for a single car every single month, and
Speaker 4: I think you can slash those costs significantly. And that's
Speaker 4: particularly true in the work from home era. So if
Speaker 4: you're talking about, yeah, the Apple TV subscription, when I
Speaker 4: cut that, I'm going to save eight dollars a month.
Speaker 4: But if I can slash my car costs by a
Speaker 4: whole lot more than that, and just thinking about the
Speaker 4: trade off involved in that, it's like, well, how much
Speaker 4: I'm actually going to miss that car, especially when I
Speaker 4: only drive it once or twice a week, versus the
Speaker 4: things I can do with the massive pile of cash
Speaker 4: I'll have back in my life if.
Speaker 3: I do make a big change like that, And that's
Speaker 3: something that we've got a little more room to have
Speaker 3: movement on right Like Like when it comes to like
Speaker 3: when you are looking out the biggest line items on
Speaker 3: our budgets every single month, housing is at the top.
Speaker 3: But not many folks are going to say, Okay, hey,
Speaker 3: we're really trying to cut back. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 3: sell the house and move to a more affordable neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Let's move out to the sticks. Uh, let's let's move
Speaker 2: in with your with your parents. Wouldn't that that allows
Speaker 2: to save a ton of money.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Tilan like that would be a big change.
Speaker 5: In a year.
Speaker 2: Yes, for sure, typically have that kind of flexibility.
Speaker 3: But when it comes to vehicles, like yes, because oftentimes
Speaker 3: they are providing us typically more than just that A
Speaker 3: to B transportation, we do find a part of our ego,
Speaker 3: a part of our identity tied up in the vehicles
Speaker 3: that we drive. And especially given the fact that these
Speaker 3: are crazy expensive depreciating assets. The man we I really
Speaker 3: hate financing vehicles because you are paying interest on something
Speaker 3: that is going down in value, and so yeah, I'm
Speaker 3: just gonna second wogol set here about finding ways to
Speaker 3: cut your transportation costs.
Speaker 1: Excellent, But you guys will be happy to know I
Speaker 1: am driving a twenty eleven car. Yeah, and I'm not
Speaker 1: even just driving. I'm sharing it with my teenage son,
Speaker 1: so he actually has it at school right now, so
Speaker 1: I'm kind of just my home office.
Speaker 2: I can't beat that. That's amazing. I'll love a lawyer.
Speaker 4: You ever get in the car and you're like, what
Speaker 4: radio station am I listening to?
Speaker 1: I know, he's like, what is this? It doesn't play anything,
Speaker 1: Although you know, there's also the craziness of it doesn't
Speaker 1: help you park either, which sometimes that's not a good thing.
Speaker 4: The old technologies, Yeah they don't. The fact that your
Speaker 4: car can self park now is incredible, but I probably
Speaker 4: won't experience that for another decade.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly. All Right, Well, we're going to take
Speaker 1: one more quick break and then we'll be back with
Speaker 1: a little bit more from Joel and Matt.
Speaker 2: Well, we are back.
Speaker 1: I am talking all things money and also productivity with
Speaker 1: Joel and Matt. So, Matt, I want to talk about
Speaker 1: a little exercise you did productivity wise, not not the
Speaker 1: exercise back to exercise, I d not exercise. Now we
Speaker 1: can we can be done talking about exercise now. But
Speaker 1: at one point you drew up a calendar. I think
Speaker 1: of what you called Matt's perfect week. So you can
Speaker 1: you talk about what that is and why other people
Speaker 1: might consider maybe not creating math perfect week, but their
Speaker 1: own perfect.
Speaker 2: You've got a good memory, Laura.
Speaker 3: Yes, this was a separate so within Gmail, I created
Speaker 3: a whole. It was another calendar that I decided I
Speaker 3: wanted to see where my time was going. And so
Speaker 3: it wasn't just a way for me to account for
Speaker 3: every minute, not literally every minute, but every I will say,
Speaker 3: every fifteen minute chunk. But it was a way for
Speaker 3: me to prove myself that I did, in fact have
Speaker 3: the ability to do all the different things that I
Speaker 3: was oftentimes finding myself saying that I didn't have time
Speaker 3: to do. And so it included all aspects of my life.
Speaker 3: So it included time for you know, my own intellectual growth.
Speaker 3: It included me at that point in time, I was running,
Speaker 3: so it included time for me to in fact to
Speaker 3: go work out, but then also time to spend with others.
Speaker 3: So there's a slot there that included relationship. Obviously work
Speaker 3: was a big part of that as well, but I
Speaker 3: think for me it was the relationship aspect. And so
Speaker 3: what I mean by that is time spent with others
Speaker 3: and because oftentimes I found myself saying no to things
Speaker 3: that were coming up, I'm really good at saying no,
Speaker 3: probably better than I should be. Yeah, Joel's like, man,
Speaker 3: you are so heartless and cold.
Speaker 4: But I'm just like, I'm very protected that every day I'm.
Speaker 3: Protective of my time. But what I found was that, man,
Speaker 3: I wonder if I do actually have time to do this.
Speaker 3: And so by pre scheduling a bunch of different items
Speaker 3: throughout the week, I was essentially able to create Matt's
Speaker 3: perfect week. And I could see that, Oh wow, look
Speaker 3: at this, I'm running three times a week. Oh wow,
Speaker 3: look I've got time where I am devoting like an
Speaker 3: hour every other day to me being able to read
Speaker 3: and dive into a novel. Oh look, there's a couple
Speaker 3: times on here. Not only am I able to, well,
Speaker 3: once a week go out with my wife and have
Speaker 3: a great date night, but to also meet up with
Speaker 3: a buddy and grab beers. That it was very eye
Speaker 3: opening for me, because what I found was that I
Speaker 3: could no longer I did, no longer have the excuse
Speaker 3: to say, well, I don't.
Speaker 2: Have the time.
Speaker 3: It's like, no, no, no, I've proved to myself that I've
Speaker 3: that I do now have time. And granted there's always
Speaker 3: things that come up, right, They're like they're the unaccounted
Speaker 3: for random quasi emergencies that our weeks are full.
Speaker 2: Of those things.
Speaker 3: But I don't know, I found that to be incredibly helpful.
Speaker 3: And it's not like I actually stick to that today, right,
Speaker 3: It's not like I'm looking at my week and I'm
Speaker 3: accounting for every fifteen minute block. But it does help
Speaker 3: me to say that, oh, you know, I do in
Speaker 3: fact have the ability to make some of these different
Speaker 3: activities a priority if they actually are important to me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So just thinking about how this might work, So
Speaker 1: you put in like when you need to work to
Speaker 1: run your business, like when you're hanging out with your kids,
Speaker 1: when you have childcare responsibilities, when you are doing your housework,
Speaker 1: the other things you want to do, and then let's
Speaker 1: say you see Tuesday night after eight pm is still
Speaker 1: you're just hanging out, right, You could say like, well,
Speaker 1: that's the night I could go out with a friend
Speaker 1: if I wanted to.
Speaker 2: Exactly Yeah, that's that's exactly right.
Speaker 3: And so I mean it's I don't know, maybe it's
Speaker 3: similar to block scheduling, but the ability to have these
Speaker 3: events on there. And what's cool about Google Calendar at
Speaker 3: least when it feeds into two Apple's calendar.
Speaker 2: That's so that's how we do it. I've got my
Speaker 2: Gmail calendars and they feed into iCal or calendar or whatever.
Speaker 3: But sometimes when I was feeling a little discouraged, I
Speaker 3: could reach over and turn that calendar on and it
Speaker 3: would overlay what I could in fact be doing with
Speaker 3: my time. Instead of feeling like I don't have any
Speaker 3: enough time in the week, it was like literal proof
Speaker 3: that I did in fact have that time.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love this idea of creating a realistic, ideal week.
Speaker 1: So it's still, you know, you're not quitting your job.
Speaker 1: You're not like suddenly able to fly. I mean it,
Speaker 1: it's life as it is, but life showing you at
Speaker 1: your best and what could see.
Speaker 3: Yes, it was within the confines of the current responsibilities
Speaker 3: that I had. It's just oh, look, there's a whole
Speaker 3: lot of nooks and crannies here where there's whole lot
Speaker 3: of wasted time, like an English.
Speaker 1: Muffin line englush muffin. Yes, time is one giant English
Speaker 1: muffon sometimes, so Joel, we always talk in this show
Speaker 1: about little ways we have taken our days from great
Speaker 1: to awesome. I wonder if you have done anything recently
Speaker 1: that has made one of your days more awesome.
Speaker 4: The thing that has changed my days in our families
Speaker 4: days the most is eradicating screens and TV Monday through Thursday,
Speaker 4: all day every day. And part of that is one
Speaker 4: for me, I don't even think about it, But then
Speaker 4: my kids have stopped asking about it, and it's that
Speaker 4: sort of pestering thing that sometimes kids here you're like, no,
Speaker 4: I don't think we're gonna do it today, whereas like
Speaker 4: now the rule is like no, we're we're not doing
Speaker 4: it at all, And so then they don't even ask
Speaker 4: the question anymore. And it even just reduces the amount
Speaker 4: of TV we watch on the weekend evenings too, and
Speaker 4: so Friday night Pizza movie night, we're watching something every
Speaker 4: Friday night typically, but we just watch a whole lot
Speaker 4: less TV in general. It's kind of made it so
Speaker 4: much easier to relate to my kids when it comes
Speaker 4: to like how we're talking about that stuff. And yeah,
Speaker 4: I watch so much less TV than I even used to.
Speaker 4: So I think eliminiting TV during the weekdays has been
Speaker 4: the way to take all those days, make them instead
Speaker 4: of great, being awesome.
Speaker 1: And what are your kids kind of doing to entertain
Speaker 1: themselves during their downtime, because I think that's what a
Speaker 1: lot of families stumble ever is like. Well, especially these
Speaker 1: days as it's getting dark in the evening after school.
Speaker 1: I mean, my kids get home and it's like dark
Speaker 1: thirty minutes.
Speaker 4: No, it is the hardest of this time of year.
Speaker 4: But like last night, truly, the girls put on roller
Speaker 4: skates and we're out in the driveway roller skating, even
Speaker 4: in the dark. Like we get the floodlight on and
Speaker 4: we're having a great time just because like we know,
Speaker 4: we got to find something else to do. Or they
Speaker 4: have started to play maybe with some of the toys
Speaker 4: that got neglected for a little while, the ones you
Speaker 4: bought for Christmas exactly exactly, and so yeah, for the
Speaker 4: first week or something, you hear a lot of cries
Speaker 4: of I'm bored, I don't know what to do, but quickly.
Speaker 2: They figured it out.
Speaker 4: They'll get a friend from down the street, or they
Speaker 4: end up playing with each other. They kind of they
Speaker 4: come up with the most cute and interesting games, but
Speaker 4: it's because they're forced to be creative instead of just
Speaker 4: turning a.
Speaker 1: Screen on excellent Matt, how about you.
Speaker 3: I will sort of dovetail into what I was saying,
Speaker 3: maybe about taking time at the end of the year
Speaker 3: to kind of look back at the previous year, especially
Speaker 3: with a partner. So I will say that on a
Speaker 3: daily basis, my wife and I we try to go
Speaker 3: for a fifteen to twenty minute walk after dinner while
Speaker 3: the kids clear the table and clean up and start
Speaker 3: to get ready for bed. It's just a way for
Speaker 3: us to have some adult, grown up conversation, to be
Speaker 3: able to step away from the kids, and honestly to
Speaker 3: have like some parenting conversations sometimes too, because I feel
Speaker 3: like meal time can oftentimes it's just so difficult sometimes
Speaker 3: and so it's like, all right, how did that go?
Speaker 3: Should we have done something differently in that instance? And
Speaker 3: so that's something that we've pretty much always done. But
Speaker 3: lately every Sunday we have taken a hike, like we
Speaker 3: go for about a one hour hike, and it's real
Speaker 3: similar to what we do on a daily basis, except
Speaker 3: for we're doing it for the week. We kind of
Speaker 3: talk about, all right, we just had a busy week,
Speaker 3: let's unpack some things. If there's any tension like boiling
Speaker 3: under the surface, maybe it allows us. It gives us
Speaker 3: time to discuss that allows us to do something together
Speaker 3: where we're both hiking up this mountain, which is a
Speaker 3: ton of fun that we both enjoy, but then also
Speaker 3: to start the week on the right foot as well,
Speaker 3: where we're looking ahead and we're able to kind of
Speaker 3: reconnect and maybe we're not even planning right. Sometimes it
Speaker 3: is planning and talking through some of the schedule as
Speaker 3: we're hiking, but sometimes it's is just sharing how we
Speaker 3: feel about something or so it's just a great connection
Speaker 3: point from a relational standpoint with my wife and I
Speaker 3: and at least for us in this stage of life.
Speaker 3: Our oldest is eleven, and we feel the freedom to
Speaker 3: do that because she's getting to the age where, oh
Speaker 3: my gosh, I'm realizing there's this whole wow, this is
Speaker 3: a we're graduating to like a different level. It's it's
Speaker 3: completely changed the game, and we're realizing that we have
Speaker 3: the the autonomy to be able to do some of this,
Speaker 3: and so we're taking advantage of it.
Speaker 2: And man, it's been such a sweet time.
Speaker 3: For us to strengthen our relationship and ultimately do a
Speaker 3: better job as parents as.
Speaker 4: Well, and also get out of having to do the
Speaker 4: dis He makes the kids do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that's even better, this dividend of the
Speaker 1: kids getting old enough like to do stuff and to
Speaker 1: watch each other. I mean, when I realized I had
Speaker 1: like three live in babysitters all of a sudden, I
Speaker 1: was like, Wow, I'm it makes life sore.
Speaker 2: Was like, I'm going to write another book. Let's do it.
Speaker 1: I well, or even I can go to the grocery
Speaker 1: store and I'm not like, Okay, where is everybody? Are
Speaker 1: they all in the car? All that good stuff?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 1: Well, guys, this has been great. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for joining us. Everyone be sure to check out Joel
Speaker 1: and Matt on How To Money, which airs multiple times
Speaker 1: a week also through iHeartMedia. Thank you to everyone for listening.
Speaker 1: If you have feedback about this or about other episodes,
Speaker 1: I would love to hear it. You can always reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com and in
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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