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💰9 Things Too Expensive to Justify, Saved by the Bell, & Yoga Etiquette! 🧘
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🪙 Rising prices are changing how we spend. In this episode we talk about what’s now simply “too expensive” to buy, from energy drinks to dining out. We share what we and others are cutting back on and explore new, budget-friendly choices for 2024.
In this episode, we discuss:
1️⃣ Energy Drinks and Coffee: Swapping pricey energy drinks and cafe coffee for cheaper, at-home caffeine options.
2️⃣ Grocery Staples: Rising costs on essentials like cereal make basic breakfasts feel like splurges.
3️⃣ Dining Out and Alcohol: High restaurant and bar prices lead to more meals and cocktails made at home.
4️⃣ Fresh Produce and Meat: Opting for frozen fruits and buying meat in bulk to stretch the grocery budget.
5️⃣ Amazon Prime and Streaming: Reconsidering subscriptions and rotating services to manage monthly expenses.
🔗 Carla's Links:
📘 Start Thinking Rich: 21 Harsh Truths to Take You from Broke to Financial Freedom
🔗 David's Links:
🍏 Forget About Money on Apple Podcast
🎧 Forget About Money on Spotify
#inflation #frugalliving #budgetingtips
🎧 Listen & Subscribe: Don’t miss more episodes on creating a life of intentionality and financial freedom! Hit subscribe and the bell icon 🔔 to stay updated.
📜 Disclaimer: This episode is for entertainment and informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice. Please consult with a professional for specific needs.
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Transcript
Introduction: The Cost of Living Discussion
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the forget about money podcast today. Our money topic is going to be things that are way too expensive to buy anymore. And then we'll talk about some other things. I'm here again with Carla. How are you doing? And how was your weekend?
00:00:14
Speaker
I am doing pretty great and I had a super fun weekend. I did a bunch of fire-related activities, which is pretty common for us because I live in Longmont, which is the fire capital of the universe. On Saturday night, we went to a book launch party. Somebody wrote a money-related book and they had a launch party. Don't tell anybody, but I actually read the book. Do you want to plug it?
00:00:42
Speaker
I think it's called like start start thinking rich, 21 harsh truths that you need to like get from poor to rich or something along those lines. Okay. Yeah. I mostly went to just hang out with people that I know and that I knew were going. so It was fun. I can't really give you my opinion on the book one we or the other though because I haven't actually read it, but it was still a really fun
Weekend Activities and Family Visits
00:01:04
Speaker
party. so yeah I did that on Saturday and then Sunday, I went to a coffee meetup, which we have like roughly once a month around here, just to talk about like all things finance related. And yeah, it was super fun. It actually went way longer than they normally do. It was like almost three hours. And then it was a beautiful, beautiful day here in Longmont. So took a nice long walk with the world's most perfect dog. And yeah, it was a pretty, pretty available weekend. Not at all debatable. Yeah. how How about you? How was your weekend?
00:01:34
Speaker
Well, my week was good. I got a text from my brother, Steven, and it was of him and his daughter, and it was a beautiful background. And I was like, I know that's not in Georgia, at least not in Warner Robins, Georgia. So he said he had gone to Longmont. He sure did. Did you see him?
00:01:52
Speaker
I did, yeah. I told him that I had been seeing his face a lot recently, a.k.a. your face. Yeah, I got to see Steven and meet his daughter Alyssa for the first time. I've heard him talk about Alyssa a lot and she was lovely to meet in person. Yeah, they were at that book lunch party. So, yeah, I am hanging out with the Boyer brothers left and right these days. Good for you.
00:02:14
Speaker
So, so good. Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that. No, my weekend was okay, except for all of the football teams that I was reading for lost Vanderbilt, who has had a magical season. They beat number one, Alabama earlier in the season. They couldn't really muster enough to overcome South Carolina's defense this Saturday. So they lost. They're still going to make it to a bowl game for the first time in eight years, maybe. I don't know a while. That's something. So.
00:02:41
Speaker
Overall, a really good season for Vanderbilt. Then Stephen's Gators lost kind of pathetically to Texas, I think. And I'm not sure what's going on with the Florida program. Wait, does Texas mean UT? Is that the University of Texas? It does, yes. It's one of my alma maters, yeah. So do you do the hook-up signal everywhere you go? No, no. Can you do it? Do you know what it is?
00:03:01
Speaker
I mean, of course I know what it is. It's just a little hook of horns with your picky and your pointer finger up. Yeah, I was a terrible, terrible Longhorns fan. I'm just a terrible sports fan in general. I could not possibly care any less about sports in any capacity.
00:03:18
Speaker
so So that was college. And then on Sunday, the Falcons lost to a not very good but Saints team. So they should have been good at the season, but a lot of injuries and there were two and seven going in. So and then they should so Atlanta should have beaten them, but did not. Okay. Well, my husband is from Louisiana and he's got a bunch of Saints fans in his family. So maybe they'll be happy about that.
00:03:40
Speaker
I again, I'm quite neutral, quite neutral. So it sounds like we both had pretty low spend
The High Cost of Living in San Diego
00:03:48
Speaker
weekends. Is that fair to say? How much money do you think you spent this weekend? Oh no, spent so much money. No, it was very, I don't go out that much. I know it's hard to imagine a social butterfly such as myself, yeah not just, you know, gallivanting around Pacific beach, San Diego, but I really don't go out that much. But there are reasons for that.
00:04:08
Speaker
Things have just, they've gotten too expensive. There's some other factors too, but the prices of things are just ridiculous. I ah live in San Diego, which is already a high cost of living area. And it does seem like, whether it's the city, state, the restaurants, grocery stores, whatever wherever, everybody's just trying to get as much money from the citizens as they can around here. And and it's, I honestly don't know how people, I really don't know how people do it.
00:04:32
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely gotten tougher. I feel like housing is the biggest piece of that puzzle for most people.
Cutting Costs: Energy Drinks to Caffeine Pills
00:04:38
Speaker
Well, so let's go through like some things that we don't spend money on anymore because they maybe have gotten too high or whatever reason that might float your boat. But yeah, so we've we've looked at this BuzzFeed article that has all these different things of things like people chiming in and saying, I don't spend money on this or this or that anymore.
00:04:56
Speaker
But before we dig into that, I want to hear your list. David, tell me what you refuse to spend money on anymore. Well, refuse is a strong word. So I will say, even if I go through this list, I will still spend money on those things every once in a while. yeah But definitely give us some thought ahead of time. So let's start with number one. Uh, energy drinks is one. Like I'm probably drink more caffeine throughout the day than I should. I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I'll do pre-workout powders. And ah if I'm filling up on gas and for some reason, Oh, let's go get a energy drink.
00:05:30
Speaker
terrible for you. I know that, you know, you get a little, little pick me up in the day if you, if you can get one. However, there's a value exchange. And so I would say that the average energy drink costs, like on a great day, like even if you get one is like two for four or three for five deals if if they exist. And I know somebody's listening to this saying like, it's way cheaper than that where I am. Good. I'm i'm very happy for you for that, but that's not what it is here. And so I would say an average, an energy treat costs $2 on a good day. So coffee is another thing, something else I don't do out because by the time, even if you get like the most basic coffee after a tip at Starbucks, you're paying five bucks. And I think that's very, usually it's more, but I think that's it. Cause you gotta do the double espresso latte. I don't even know all the lingo.
00:06:18
Speaker
Because I don't think, but I would say on average at the low end is five bucks per every time you go. Not to mention there's a big, long line and you got to wait mostly. No, that feels true to me. Okay.
00:06:30
Speaker
Yeah. And then, so I think, so then what i how I think about those decisions are, what's the value exchange is for the pick me up. That's what you're paying for. But did you know you could get a bottle of caffeine pills on Amazon for like 16 bucks and 500 pills and each of those pills has 200 milligrams of caffeine. Wait, how much how much caffeine is in like a standard energy drink?
00:06:53
Speaker
I would say ah it ranges, but 300 is a good round number. Some is a little bit more, some a little bit less. So 300 milligrams is a good round number. Okay. So for five cents of, so you're exchanging $2 for five cents. Yeah. A $2 energy drink to get the same amount of caffeine that you can get from five cents. that's Yeah, that seems like a very solid swap. Although I'm wondering, how do we just feel about maybe getting a better night's sleep? What do we think about that? Well, I think that's a different conversation and I'm not opposed to having that conversation. Uh, that's fair. But, but I do want, but then you do make a good point. And I think one practice that I try to put in place is I don't, I try not to have caffeine after noon, after 12 o'clock at noon. So then by the time it's out of your system, the half, I don't know, half life or whatever it's called, like usually you're good at seven or eight hours after caffeine, your should be okay.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah, I have no idea what the half-life of caffeine is, but half-life does feel like the right term. so Okay, so energy drinks and coffee, you are swapping out for caffeine pills hi on Amazon. I have to say, do you remember that Saved by the Bell episode? I'm excited. yeah That one. That is the one, that is the one. Was it Caffeine Pills or was it something more nefarious than that that she was supposedly addicted to? I was like, does Nodos? That was like super caffeine pills maybe? Yeah, maybe. I don't remember. It knows the acting performance of a century. If anyone doesn't know what we're talking about, Saved by the Bell was a TV show in the 90s. Yeah, the 90s. And there's this episode where one character supposedly gets addicted to caffeine pills.
00:08:29
Speaker
And it's just this like ridiculous storyline and there's this major intervention and it's just all very hilarious. um Yeah, that's what I think of when I think of caffeine pills. I actually think I read somewhere that it was supposed to be some like harder drug and then the TV network was like, let's tone that down a little. That feels like a lot for like a teen program. So they changed it to caffeine pills. And now if that was like in today's context, you're like, it's not even edgy enough. We can't put that on TV. We've got to step it up. So that's true.
00:08:59
Speaker
Let's, let's, let's move it up to methamphetamines, i yeah crystal meth. Yeah. Okay. So anything else on your list of stuff that you don't like buying anymore? Cause it's too
Shocking Grocery Prices: Cereal and Breakfast Costs
00:09:10
Speaker
pricey. Yes. Cereal. Cereal. Cereal. And this is when I, you know, we've had a huge and inflation over the last four or five years. so And i one of the first indicators of me personally that I saw was I walked into a Rite Aid and right in the front on a shelf for sale,
00:09:27
Speaker
And it was a box of cereal that was Raisin Bran Crunch. And it said for sale, $5.49. And it wasn't even one of the family ones. It's like just a regular skinny box of cereal. Yeah. I was like, what the... How's that on sale? That's not sale. That's expensive as hell. So that's that's what kind of like my personal indicator and ah in a regular Rite Aid where you would think something on sale may be reasonably priced. I don't know.
00:09:50
Speaker
I would actually think the opposite. My experience is that normal food stuff is always more expensive when you're in like a Walgreens or something like that. So yeah, I think maybe you're shopping in the wrong places, but okay. But even now you go to a grocery store and you look at a box of cereal, it's $5. Yeah. Yeah. Cereal has definitely gone up and you are not alone in this. I think that's the cereal is like number one on that BuzzFeed list as well. Yeah. I don't, so we don't really eat cereal unless you count oats, which I don't, don't think you should, but I have eaten a lot of cereal in my past. I think the best way to go is to buy that generic like giant bag of stuff. I know people like think it's not as fancy or whatever, but I would say just get over it. It's practically the same stuff.
00:10:36
Speaker
So I don't want to go for the wrong, they have wrong impression. I don't sit around eating cereal all day. It's not good for you. A lot of sugar, very little is good for you. But every once in a while, do you have that little craving for a sweet tooth craving? And you're like, okay, a bowl of cereal sounds good. I don't even buy milk anymore. So that's another reason why I don't, if I do buy milk, it's all my milk and I just don't have it usually. Yeah. Yeah. When I do have a son, so I want to have it available if he decides he wants it. So I do buy, you're at the big bag, the Malta mill brand. It's not the general mill or the other, but it's a big, big bag of Malta mill. Yeah.
00:11:05
Speaker
And it's the knockoff. Like I think I have like the sugar smack knockoff or puff sugar puffs probably is what it's called. Another hack for cereal is like seasonal stuff or some kind of gimmicky stuff. Are you talking about like chocula goes up at Halloween or like what do we tell you baby? Yeah.
00:11:24
Speaker
or whatever, there might be another one, I don't know. I haven't had it in probably since I was six years old, but I don't know. Yeah, it's definitely been a good while for me as well. But seasonal cereals like that or like even, so I shop at the commissary. I'm one of the fortunate people who get the privilege of shopping at a commissary. So I do get in general, groceries cheaper than like if you were to buy it at Kroger's or Ralph's.
00:11:45
Speaker
Yeah, but still even then I think I got this box of cereal and I'm only saying this because it's got Travis and Jason Kelsey on the cover and it's a mixture of Reese's puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms. And I think this was like 99 cents. It's unopened, but like 99 cents. wait You don't even know whose people are deep since you don't know football. Okay, but I know who Taylor Swift is. So yes, I do know who those people are. Wait, but that's from the commissary. It's 99 cents.
00:12:10
Speaker
It is. I think it was like a dollar, but they're just trying to get rid of it. Do people not want to eat Kelsey branded cereal? that's I mean, it's just the Lucky Charms Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Reese's Puffs. It doesn't sound that appetizing, but at 99 cents, I had to crab it. Yeah, there you go. Can't pass up that kind of a deal. Okay. Anything else on your list that you're just dying to talk about?
00:12:31
Speaker
I live in Pacific beach and it's a very walkable and there's a lot of bars and restaurants around here and it's nice. It's it's nice. So when I first moved here in July, I think I moved here in July. Yeah. So I would, I would frequent go check out the different bars and there's a place nearby that's got nice pool tables. So I'd like to go shoot pool and they charge by the hour, like 16 or $18 an hour to play pool, which is again, that's a lot. But on top of that, you want to have a drink while you're there. So a friend of mine and I went there one evening and he got a couple of Jack and Cokes and each Jack, so we went to check out and his drink, each of his drinks cost 10 bucks for one Jack and Coke. So at that point I'm like, okay, I'm just not doing that anymore. Yeah.
00:13:11
Speaker
And it's it's kind of like i mean I live two blocks away from the place. And and that's not unique. every everybody around Every bar around here is sort of like that. It may not be as expensive. And I'm sure listeners like, well, my honky tonk down the street, I get them $4 a shot or something. But yeah again, that's not the norm for a place like here. But then you think,
00:13:30
Speaker
I don't know if they say like if you're an alcoholic, if you drink at home by yourself, or you could just be frugal. Like I think that's another, maybe that's just an excuse. No, I'm not an alcoholic, I'm frugal. Frugal or alcoholic. I'm not a chicken prison. No, I don't have it. But oh yeah, this was the pre-workout powder that I was talking about. And that's only about 67 cents per scoop.
00:13:50
Speaker
Okay, that's pretty reasonable. Yeah, that's that's a pretty solid list. I was really struggling to come up with anything that I'm like, just drawn a hard line. We just want won't do that anymore. I did come up with one thing, although I will say this is not a recent thing. This is like a lifelong commitment.
00:14:10
Speaker
Anything in the vein of like Uber Eats or DoorDash or whatever, where you pay a premium to have someone bring food to you, absolutely refuse to do it. Don't think I've ever done it. Certainly, I've never done it when it's like just me or just me and Robert. like It would have to be with friends who would insist on this. and We do have one friend whom we totally adore, but he's kind of a fancy pants and he likes Uber Eats. And so we may have done it with him, although we put up a huge fight every time he suggests it. But yeah, I just i guess I'm of the opinion. I don't if i don't love paying
00:14:48
Speaker
people to do things that I could very, very easily do myself. So like with food, I'm like a decent cook. It better be pretty good and something that I can't do on my own or it would just take a really long time for me to do on my own. And like, even if we are eating out, I'm sure as hell not going to pay a premium to save me like a five minute trip back and forth to wherever we're getting food from. So yeah, I am pretty anti Uber Eats and DoorDash. I think it's a huge money sack for a lot of folks and I refuse to jump on that bandwagon. Yeah, I agree. I used to live in an apartment downtown San Diego and people always have like Uber Eats bags left outside their doors. And many times they just like still, they'll show up the night before and they'll still be there next day. So they actually even never eat it. It's just not there. And I don't know why they may be passed out or something. I don't know. Yeah. But it's, it does seem odd, but maybe that's the general, you think that's a generational thing. Do you think because it's so convenient that the next generation is just like, that's just the way it is. I think it's just a societal norm now.
00:15:47
Speaker
Partially, it might be a little bit of a generational thing, but I think people of all ages have been like, oh, this is amazingly convenient. And I'm just going to do this all the time. I think there's a lot of people who just fall into the pattern. And then whats once you're in it, I feel like it's probably a pretty tough habit to break. But yeah, I think the key is just don't get started.
00:16:06
Speaker
buts That's what helps for me at least. But yeah, I do think maybe younger kids like it more, especially maybe if you haven't learned how to cook yet or you have a super busy job, can see it being more more reasonable then, but even then it's just still like such a huge suck on your money.
00:16:22
Speaker
Yesterday I was walking my dog, Pepper, the best dog in the world. I walked by this restaurant and had some patio seating and the the menus were on the tables and I knew we were going to be talking about this. So I glanced over and looked at it and it was a breakfast menu and there was a breakfast plate and it was two eggs and probably bacon and toast maybe. And it was $14. And I'm just thinking, Oh my gosh, again, how do people afford it? And then on top of that, you know, you got tipping and you got gas money.
00:16:48
Speaker
to get there in many cases. And it's I just don't see how it's this is sustainable. I just don't. Eating out is definitely pricey for sure. Yeah, I try to think of it as just like a very unusual treat or things that you do when you're spending time with friends who maybe aren't up for like a potluck or whatever. Yeah. but Yeah. So, so much of what we do around here are just gatherings where people bring their own food and it's dramatically cheaper and more fun. Honestly, I think yeah at the grocery, when you go to the grocery store, is there something that you used to buy that now you look at the price and like, Oh, how did that happen? And maybe you don't pick it up.
00:17:28
Speaker
Yeah, I would say that's a pretty unusual occurrence for me because I don't know. So we eat like we're vegetarian and we so meat is like a huge thing that I know has gone up a lot in price that we just don't even notice because we don't look at it. And yeah, like so much of what we buy is just pretty, pretty low cost stuff. Like we eat a lot of beans and rice and pasta and vegetables and fruits.
00:17:56
Speaker
Sometimes fruits, like they do shock me, berries right now as we're coming out of berry season are getting pretty pricey. but But my hack for that is I've started to buy frozen berries in the winter and they're much cheaper and that works great. I don't like it quite as much as the fresh berries.
00:18:12
Speaker
But it's pretty solid and it's way, way cheaper. So yeah, I feel like food is an area where we're happy to just get the things that we know we we really love. And there's you know there hasn't been like, ah you know, big carrots is not like driving up the price of carrots.
00:18:29
Speaker
It's been pretty chill in the vegetable area. So yeah, the stuff that we eat is usually pretty inexpensive. Also, this is like my favorite like snack hack ever is popcorn. It is so delicious and it's so easy to make at home and you can make it. I'm not talking about like the, what do you call it? Like, chiffy popcorn. Yeah, not the microwave popcorn.
00:18:51
Speaker
But stuff that you just make at home and like an air popper or you can just put your little kernels in a paper bag and throw it in the microwave. You can like dress it up however you want it. It's way better for you than like a bag of Doritos. And it is a fraction of the cost. Like chips have gone up a lot and popcorn is where it's at and everyone should be eating way more popcorn. That's my pitch for popcorn. Pitch for popcorn. Yeah. I like it. I agree. we We popcorn a good bit too, but it's probably not the healthy kind that you're talking about.
00:19:20
Speaker
fake butter That's what we eat around here. Yeah, yeah. That steak has gone up a good bit. A lot, actually. When I go to even the commissary, which is generally cheaper than a normal grocery store. Yeah. Two ribeyes, two thinly sliced ribeyes is like $22. But I'll go to Costco and buy this huge thing of ribeye and then just cut it in slices. And it might cost like $270 or even maybe upwards of like $300 for it. But when you get done, you've got 20 something steaks sliced.
00:19:52
Speaker
this thick that you can put in the freezer. And what I do is I just bomb out, cut them into cubes, throw them in the air fryer for, you know, nine, 10 minutes and call it good. Yeah. again Costco is like just such a great way to get your groceries spending down. If, if, if like huge flashing neon, if you are responsible about it and you don't get sucked in because, man, it is so easy to walk in there and drop like $300 because you're like, oh, look at these little cinnamon bites that they have that look super delicious and cost like $9. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, the list goes on and on and on. There's so many things in there that you can just be like, no, it's tasty. Yeah. If you go in with like a mission,
00:20:35
Speaker
I know these are the things that Costco has for cheaper. These are the things that will last me for months and months. Or like if you eat a lot of fruit, like I get some fruit at Costco because I eat a lot of fruit and it works out great. So yeah, you got to go in with a mission, man. But if you do that, I feel like Costco can be amazing.
00:20:52
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. And we were talking about alcohol earlier. But where do you buy alcohol? Do you buy it at the local liquor store on the corner? Or do you go to Costco and get it? They've got Costco brand liquor. And but even if you didn't get the Costco brand liquor, let's say you can you can find a handle of Jack Daniels for on a $32 maybe. Yeah. And if you were to, did you know in a handle you actually have 41.5 ounce shots?
00:21:17
Speaker
I did not know that. And a handle. Yeah. So if you buy a big bottle of liquor, it's about 40 shots. Okay. And a shot is 1.5 ounces and that's about 80 cents a shot. Yeah. So you add a coat to that, which is 75 cent a can probably roughly if you buy it from a discount store.
00:21:33
Speaker
huh So what was that? $75, $80, $1.55? $1.55 for that $10 drink that you just got down there. yeah So 650% markup, I think. that's Yeah, 650% markup in alcohol if you eat out, drink out, or you can just be a frugal, not alcoholic at home drinking.
00:21:50
Speaker
That's good. Yeah. I mean, I think that's the way to to like tackle those things. It makes so much sense. So I'm just curious if there was anything else on this BuzzFeed list that like really jumped out at you that you were like, oh yeah, either that's really stupid or you're like, oh man, I totally agree with that. I won't do that anymore. Are cars? Was cars on the list? I don't think it was, but yeah, cars is a big one. Yeah.
00:22:12
Speaker
I think cars is a big one too, because at this point in my life, like I get ah got a little bit, of I've got some money and I'm like, okay. And now it's not, I understand like frugal by a 10 year old Camry or hybrid and, or a Camry or an Accord hybrid, if you can find it and just ride it till you can't ride it anymore. But that's not the point I'm at in my life right now. Okay. So I was like, okay, maybe I'll go check out new cars. And then I did check out new cars and it doesn't take long. and A new truck. Have you looked at the price of new trucks?
00:22:39
Speaker
I am, no, I'm not a big truck person. They are crazy. Wait, let me guess. Crazy. I bought rental properties for half the price of a new truck. So my guess is like a pretty base model truck is going to be somewhere in the range of 60 to 70, 65. I'm going to say 65. I think that's probably fair. I have seen trucks and SUVs go up to above a hundred thousand dollars. Oh, sure. Yeah. We're not talking about like luxury brands either. We're talking, you know, normal Toyotas. Again, I don't know how people can pay this stuff. And then you, I think Kelly blue book says that the price of a new car went from, I think it was 2018, like 38,000 and to now it's at 48,000 or
00:23:24
Speaker
So it's like a $10,000 or $11,000 difference, but in just six years? Yeah, in just six years. Yeah, I mean, I think we have never fully dug out of the inflation hole that COVID dug for us and like all the pipeline issues that people are having. That's my take on it. And yeah, it is definitely continuing to linger even though it's come down.
00:23:45
Speaker
yeah now it's like it's start like I mean, my personal take is I don't think prices are ever going to actually go back down. It's so hard to put that genie back in the bottle once prices have gone up. unless you're So we can talk about eggs. I know that's a hot topic. I feel like for eggs, there's a specific reason that it's gone up so much, which is this bird flu that's been decimating or shouldn't say decimating actually means, did you know, fun fact, the word decimate means to take out only 10% of something.
00:24:13
Speaker
So I think it's done way more than decimate. I think it's done like some significant damage to the chicken populations. And so yeah, egg prices have gone up for that reason. And I think as the flocks get better and like repopulate, those egg prices will come back down. But yeah, eggs are definitely a place where I know people are feeling a beat. I was going to say, apart from some specific thing, like a bird flu killing chickens, generally prices do you tend to trend upwards. And then I'm skeptical that we'll get get to see them go back down. But I don't know. I think once you've established a baseline at a higher price, businesses just won't lower them, even if they're margins. Because imagine eggs are not the most expensive they've been. Like a few years, like a year and a half ago, what was it? They were like triple what they are now. Yeah. I remember seeing like ah just a dozen of eggs was like eight bucks. Yeah. Something like that here. And now you can get them back down to 250 or 325, something like that. You get to find them cheap enough again. Yeah.
00:25:06
Speaker
But when they went up, I understood them when the restaurants would maybe they did really need to increase their breakfast price to $14. But when the price of eggs drop back down, they're not going to drop their menu prices again. So I think that this this that the big fluctuation of increase, and we're just talking about eggs as an example, but it's across the board. It was like the supply. You're talking about the supply chain and automotive during COVID. I mean, we'll never see it back down again, I don't think. Yeah, that's my guess, too.
00:25:34
Speaker
But I think we are fortunate right now that they are starting to dip a little bit. Used car prices are going down significantly and and new car prices are going down a little bit because they are piling up. If you've done a little bit of researching, car lots are just piling up. Nobody's buying them. So then you've got, and right now we're at the end of a year, the next models are going to be coming out. There's no place to put them. and So something's going to have to give. Yeah. Yeah. And hopefully it's the price. Would not be a crazy time to buy a car. I think that's, that's reasonable. If you need one, no one should ever buy stuff they don't need.
00:26:04
Speaker
I remember car commercials back in the day where you would, you would see it, but there was still be small print, but you could still see it and it would have like the MSRP. So I noticed now the car commercials, they didn't have that MSRP on there anymore. They just say $7,000 cash back or whatever credit, whatever but they don't tell you the price of the truck or vehicle. So it's like, great, $7,000 off of a $102,000 vehicle. Don't put you, because if they put it in the commercial, nobody would go to the lot.
00:26:29
Speaker
yeah Yeah, that's so interesting. I have not paid attention to car commercials lately, but now I will. I'll see if I can notice that. Yeah, I feel like the sticker price always used to be on there for sure. its Yeah, that's a wild one to think about. So one thing that's on this butd fee Buzzfeed list is an Amazon
Is Amazon Prime Worth It?
00:26:46
Speaker
Prime subscription. And the person just said, better for me anyway to stop buying shit I don't need.
00:26:51
Speaker
I thought, yeah, that's actually not that crazy. And so this is something I didn't know until fairly recently that with Amazon Prime, I feel like the primary reason most people get a Prime membership is the free shipping. But I think you get free shipping anyway on anything over like $30, $35 maybe. Do you know what the number is?
00:27:11
Speaker
I think it depends on the whoever wherever this whoever you're buying it from. Okay. I think they decide. Got it. Maybe that makes sense. Well, maybe it's not so crazy then, but I was thinking like, man, you could just you know sort of accumulate little stuff you need if you don't something that you need on Amazon is not $35. Can you just like sort of glom all your Amazon purchases together, cancel your Prime membership and get that free shipping anyway? So it's something I'm thinking about and we'll look into some more. So we might cancel ours next year.
00:27:41
Speaker
However, that's not just about free shipping. with With your Prime membership, you get the free streaming Prime video. Well, you pay for it. You don't get it for free, David. Also so free shipping. I'm saying you neglected to say that you get a whole streaming service. Yeah, no, that's true. That you pay for in addition to free shipping. Yeah.
00:27:58
Speaker
so This is a good segue because streaming services was also on this list and the person was basically like, look, each one of these things is like 20 bucks a month.
Streaming vs. Cable: The Subscription Debate
00:28:07
Speaker
If I'm just you know doing all of these things, it's going to add up to over 100 bucks a month. Anyway, I might as well just cancel them all and get cable instead. I do not agree with that person.
00:28:17
Speaker
i think you You can only watch one television show at a time, right? So, like, just rotate through them. That's what everyone that I know around here does. That's certainly our approach. Like, just have one at a time. The only exception to that for us is Amazon Prime because we have that anyway, like, all the time. But I don't know. I feel like they haven't had any super amazing shows in a while. I don't think I would miss the TV streaming service that much. but Am I missing amazing Amazon Prime shows? What are you watching on Prime?
00:28:46
Speaker
not Not a whole lot, I don't use, but there's just, I have, I think I have all of the damn streaming services. I think I've got every one of them. At one time? At one time? Look, I know it's not the right thing to do. I got a kid, he wants to watch Disney, Disney Plus, Hulu, he's got to get the combo pack and then you got to get the ESPN because it's all connected somehow. I don't know how it's connected. Leave it to. And yeah, so Amazon Prime, but yeah we talked about that Nate Bargazzi, he's got to stand up on Amazon Prime. That's true. So before you cancel, at least watch that one.
00:29:14
Speaker
Okay, that's fair. I will watch that one. Although i might I think I may have already seen it, but if I haven't, I will make sure to watch it. But yeah, I mean, I feel like there's stuff occasionally. Also, like I know password sharing is not something we're supposed to be doing, but if there's like one thing you want to watch, can you just not like have a movie night with your friends and use somebody else's subscription for the night? So there are ways around these issues. There are. Wait, did you say steal someone's streaming services?
00:29:40
Speaker
No, I would never advocate stealing. I'm just saying like the occasional very light password sharing for like one thing at a time. Yeah. Napster, didn't you use that a lot in college? You're the one I for sure was into Napster way back in the day. Yep. Yep. Yep. I don't want to say that. Well, I guess I'll say it. We'll see if we get canceled on YouTube. I don't say piracy because I don't want like, I don't know what words trigger algorithm things, but you're just talking about people who say all the seven C's, right? That's what we are and all that are totally. so we So we talked about things that we think twice about because they're just too expensive. Either we figure out some hack to get the same value in return, or we just don't buy it. Are there things that are there things that you do spend money on that like I would think is probably too expensive for that somebody listening is like, what? I would never.
Why Pay for Yoga? The Value of Studio Memberships
00:30:28
Speaker
Yeah, so the biggest thing that comes to mind for me is I have a yoga studio membership. And like I fully understand that that is probably kind of silly because there are like 18 quadrillion YouTube videos where I can just watch yoga instruction for free.
00:30:48
Speaker
Yoga with Adrienne. Yoga with Adrienne. I've done a lot of yoga with Adrienne. I like Carla. So yeah, I fully get that this is like a, you know, kind of a luxurious thing. I will say I've been doing more hot yoga recently. You can't really recreate that in your own home, at least not very gently or very desirably. But yeah, beyond that, like if you're just sitting in a room with a bunch of other people doing yoga. Can you imagine Robert walking in the room? Honey?
00:31:17
Speaker
but da what the What in the hell is this? yeah mean yeah it's I mean, in super moderate temperatures, it's only like 105 degrees, 85% humidity, I think is what they said it at. So, you know no big deal. Anyway, yeah, like normal, not hot yoga, you could absolutely do it in your home for absolutely zero dollars and not have to I have to drive all the way to the yoga studio and not have to like pay for any of the yoga instruction. But it's just so fun and it's very motivating for me. like i don I don't do yoga on my own nearly as much as I should. But when I have a class to go to, I get excited about it and I'm happy to go and like give it my all for a while.
00:31:58
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like any sort of fitness subscription like that, there's virtually maybe other than rock climbing where, you know, again, it would be hard to like recreate that in your own home. And like rock climbing in nature is certainly not free and it's more dangerous whenever. But yeah, there's very few fitness things.
00:32:17
Speaker
that you could not just as easily do on your own for free. But I feel like for me at least, because I'm not super athletic and I don't have that, it's like strong motivation to do it on my own, it's well worth the money to pay somebody to motivate me to go to a class. So yeah. If you join the military. I mean, that sounds amazing. Basic training. Yeah. I will look into that as soon as we hang up here today.
00:32:41
Speaker
No. Okay. Good. i Yeah. I want to get credit though. Help you meet the quota. Help the military meet the quota. Did you know right now the military is at the worst point of recruiting and history as far as numbers? You can't get people to join. It does not shock me. I have to say, yeah.
00:32:56
Speaker
Yeah. and the And the people that people don't want to join. And then the people who do want to join only like 25% of them may be being qualified because of, you know, mental health doesn't, you know, ASVAB scores or whatever, they may not qualify. yeah ASVAB is the test that you take to determine what rating you can get, whatever branch you join. And then the others like substance abuse. oh So it's a big one. to saying Yeah. So people just don't qualify anymore. And you definitely don't want to lower the bar, even though I think it probably has been lowered a good bit in the last couple of decades. Yeah. To to keep the numbers up. Well, thank depressing us all, David. That was super fun. So yeah, what would have like on a lighter note, are there things that you do spend money on that you think are well worth it to you?
00:33:41
Speaker
Like you, I have a, well, you have a hot yoga membership. I have a gym membership and it's a hundred dollars a month. And many people will be like, that's just too much. I use it. So I think a lot of people maybe have had gym memberships in the past and they didn't use it. So they just assumed that there's no value exchange. I try to go to the gym at least three times a week and usually for at least two hours, I mean, go on there and jump on the treadmill and do weights. And it's usually more than three times a week, but just even assuming three times a week, that's what is that? Three times a week, two hours,
00:34:09
Speaker
six, six times four, 24 hours a month, a hundred divided by 24. It was like $4 and something. Yeah. $4 every we time you go. Yeah. And the the more you go or the longer you spend there, the lower that hourly rate goes. So if you really think about it, you you're trading, you're paying $4 to go get in better shape. And if you're not, if you're at the gym too, that means the opportunity cost is like, you're not sitting on the couch watching TV. That's a kind of a trade off too.
00:34:34
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Plus for me, I think there's just some like mental health benefits of getting out of the house a little bit, being part of that yeah like community of people who are all like-minded, trying to accomplish similar things. and So yeah, for me, it feels like money well spent, but I can certainly see where other people would be like, that's stupid. You could do that for free. Is there etiquette at hot yoga classes that somebody does and you're like, I can't believe they're doing that?
00:34:59
Speaker
Okay, so I've actually recently overheard some of the yoga instructors like gossiping about some of the students, and they were saying that there's apparently somebody in like one of the classes is just a really, really loud breather.
00:35:18
Speaker
i feel i mean they encourage you to like like to breathe really deeply in yoga class like breath is a big part of yoga. But apparently this person is just making these ridiculous noises and they actually talked i see what's the hurt is mostly hurts you know class somebody talk to her about it and apparently her response is just like i think that's just how i breathe that's just what i do i can't not do it.
00:35:43
Speaker
Somebody actually talked to her about it. Katie, if you were the instructor and you were the person that going up to talk about it, how would you frame that conversation? Oh, my God. Well, first of all, I just wouldn't do it because I'm way too non-confrontational. But if I did, I don't know. I'd probably like ask if something was wrong, maybe. I guess there's some way.
00:35:59
Speaker
because there's something going on with your breathing. But yeah, I'm in the class. It's me. You don't know me, but I'm in there using and you walk over like, you know, my name, that's all you know. And you know, I'm a heavy breather. How I sweat this hot yoga is after I'm already, I can barely catch my breath. How would you say that? You just say, David, I i might just like ask if you're okay. What would you say exactly?
00:36:19
Speaker
Confrontational. We're working with your confrontational skills. I mean, you're... Okay, so I feel like the way that they were... Hold on, I have to clear my throat. This is making me laugh. Okay, so the way that they were describing this person's breath, it did not sound like heavy breathing. There's a lot of heavy breathing and that's totally normal. I think it was more like a...
00:36:41
Speaker
ah like There was like some vocalization going on in addition to just like heavy breathing. So I think what I would say to you is, David, it sounded like you were really struggling to breathe in class. Are you okay? How's that going for you? I didn't pass out. I'm good.
00:37:00
Speaker
But then that's not the issue. The issue that is bothers people. So how do you tell them that? I mean, I think I just say, so it is a, you know, your wave breathing is quite loud and I, you know, yoga is supposed to be a place where we can all be calm and like focus on our breath and our body. And it's a little distracting to do that while you're grunting over there. Is there any way we can tone that down a little? You want to just be like, damn it, Susan. Shut up. So what you would say? So your approach?
00:37:29
Speaker
I think that might be, I probably would have a more direct approach. I'd say, you all right, man? How's going on over there? It actually might be a man. Cause we do, we definitely have some men in every class and they do tend to breathe a little louder, I will say. So I don't know. Maybe it was one of the guys, mystery, mystery. I don't think I've encountered this person in class. I have heard like a couple weird breathers, but nothing to the level that they were describing. So.
00:37:56
Speaker
So if this is the floor plan, you've got all the mats and then then there's just one mat over here and then all the other mats like crammed on top of each other, like just to get away from the loud breather. Yeah. The very vocal breather. Yeah. I don't know. Make sure you share this link with them, whoever that person is. That's another way you could break it.
00:38:12
Speaker
ah Yeah, I will be sure to do that. Send it around to everyone in my yoga studio. There's one more thing that I spend money on that I think people think would think is completely
The Supplement Spending Dilemma
00:38:22
Speaker
ridiculous. And having taken a look at this again today, I think it probably is ridiculous in its supplements and multivitamins and things like that. Okay.
00:38:32
Speaker
It took up like half of my counter, like a third of my counter space this morning when I took them all out of the cabinet and put it down. And I usually have, there's like pre, I have like little containers and I'll put all the pills in it. And it usually ends up being like a handful of pills I take every day. Oh man. But I took them all out of the cabinets, took them on the counter and took a picture of it today. I'll upll put that, it'll be showing like right now on the video probably.
00:38:56
Speaker
Do you actually do they make you feel better? Like, do you feel like they do? They really do. I've i've had some, you know, have some issues in the past. And when I do take certain ones, it does. I think it does make a difference. And whether it's placebo effect or not, there is a difference in how I feel. So I will probably continue to do that. and Okay. People just saw that picture. I'm sure. And it it is. I agree. It's ridiculous. And it's not that cheap.
00:39:19
Speaker
A handful of pills feels like a lot of pills, but I don't. I don't know. I've never really gotten into the the supplement game. So I am not a very knowledgeable person in this area, but it feels like a lot. It feels like a lot. It is. Karla, I think we both agree that there's a difference of like buying something to consume for a dollar amount and then having the experience of going out with friends or whatever it might be.
00:39:44
Speaker
And in your case, this last weekend, you went on a coffee meeting with a handful of friends and you incurred some cost there. Do you think next time you do that, you'll just walk up with a couple pills and say, here, just eat, drink these caffeine pills and just ask for a nickel in return?
00:40:01
Speaker
So actually, I spent zero dollars at the coffee meetup because we had it at our like local co-working space and everyone just brought their own coffee. Also, I don't drink coffee in general. So I just had my trusty water bottle, my emotional support water bottle, as my husband likes to call it. And yeah, I incurred zero dollars there as well. But next time I do go to a coffee shop, I am going to tell everyone that they should stop drinking coffee and just buy caffeine pills. I'm absolutely going to become more percent. Just pass them out.
00:40:30
Speaker
you You become the pusher. That wouldn't be weird at all. Everyone would totally love it. Somebody would make a sitcom episode about it. Oh, man. Well, Carla, thank you very much for talking through that. Listeners whoever and watchers, whoever you are out there, thank you very much for sticking with us out there, this new format. And hopefully these conversations will be a little bit more entertaining. And if there's anything that you think is too expensive out there that's affecting your life, please share it. And or if you think you're spending too money on something, but you find it value, also share that too. And thank you very much for watching and listening. Thanks, everybody. I'm going to stop now.