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💸 How to Stop Spending Money: Overspending, Prada Shaming, and Sugar Gliders! 🦄
228 Plays1 hour ago
🎁 How do we stop spending money on things we don't need? We cover the psychology of excessive spending, exploring why we buy things we don’t need, how to prioritize our purchases, and strategies to avoid being manipulated by marketing tactics.
Watch and Subscribe on YouTube
In this episode, we discuss:
1️⃣ Why We Spend: Differentiating between needs and wants and how societal pressures influence gifting.
2️⃣ Emotional Spending: How marketing and social media fuel impulsive purchases and financial strain.
3️⃣ Prioritizing Purchases: The importance of aligning spending with values, like investing for financial independence.
4️⃣ Holiday Spending Tips: Setting budgets, automating savings for gifts, and avoiding last-minute overspending traps.
5️⃣ Breaking the Cycle: Simple, actionable ways to resist consumer pressures and build a better financial foundation.
🔗 Carla’s Links:
📘 Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
🔗 David’s Links:
🍏 Forget About Money on Apple Podcasts
🎧 Forget About Money on Spotify
#overspending #personalfinance #financialfreedom
🎧 Listen & Subscribe: Join us for more episodes tackling financial independence, frugality, and making smarter spending decisions. Hit subscribe and tap the bell 🔔 to stay updated!
📜 Disclaimer: This podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making major financial decisions.
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Transcript
Financial Overspending During Christmas
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Forget About Money podcast. As Christmas is only a few weeks away at this point, it got me thinking about shopping habits and the dangers of, I say dangers, I don't mean like walking out in front of a car, but dangers of like the financial dangers of of overspending.
00:00:20
Speaker
And I was talking to Robert earlier, Carla, and he said that he wanted me to have this conversation with you in particular. Do you feel that you overspend for Christmas? Going straight to the stories, talk to Robert about my spendy ways. No, I don't feel that I spend too much. I think we've pretty much got that dialed in. Robert is definitely more dialed in with that than I am. He has very few wants.
00:00:48
Speaker
in life. He's a very easy to please dude. Yeah, I'm definitely more prone to wanting the sillier things in life. Like I buy way too much yarn, that's for sure, for knitting. And I frequent our local thrift stores probably more than I should and buy like more silly shirts and sweatshirts than I probably should.
00:01:07
Speaker
But overall, I would say my spending is pretty well in check. I don't feel like I have a lot of weaknesses when it comes to spending. But I'm really curious to hear your answer to this question. Do you feel like you spend more than you should or more than you're comfortable with?
00:01:24
Speaker
No, I definitely don't spend more than I'm comfortable with. And I probably don't spend as much as people think I should spend on um holidays and gifts, says my daughter. Are you a Scrooge? Is that what you're saying? I'm not a Scrooge. And and they no i think I think if I adorned them with gifts so much every single year and you couldn't see the Christmas tree for all the packages that are around it. And then I just stopped. I think that might be an issue, but I try to ask them what they want. Tell them Santa's got a budget.
00:01:55
Speaker
That's great. That's, yeah, that sounds like a pretty healthy approach. Yeah. We definitely overdo the Christmas gift specifically, but my family especially has always been very, very generous with Christmas gifts. And so we feel like we kind of want to reciprocate that with them.
Thoughtful Gift-Giving and Spending
00:02:10
Speaker
So yeah, that we probably spend more than we should in the, just the family category. But I mean, I say that more than we should, I think we just try to show them how much we care about them and how much we appreciate how generous they are with us.
00:02:24
Speaker
So I don't think it's like a toxic thing. And mostly my family, I feel like they are very, very good gift givers. And so hopefully you we're good gift givers with them too. I don't know. You'd have to ask them that question, but we certainly try to give stuff that's thoughtful and that we think they'll actually use. So yeah, Christmas is a place where we do overspend a little bit probably, but I feel like it's because my family is very generous and we try to keep up with that. So.
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah, Christmas says is a lot. There's just so much consumerism all around you. And I will say, even though we probably spend a lot, we really, really try to be thoughtful about it and not just get stuff that's going to end up in a landfill.
00:03:02
Speaker
so I'm just imagining you, could you just mention that you have a lot of yarn? you know Are you the auntie who always shows up with socks that are different sizes that you made or an attempt at an afghan that's a triangle instead of a rectangle? ah thank you have you Have you incorporated your yarn your love for yarn? Wait.
00:03:22
Speaker
I'm making assumptions. she sure I don't even know what you do with this yarn. Do you use it or you just just like to look at yarn? Do you put it into something functional? I do make stuff out of it. I am an avid knitter and I do make stuff for people, but I strongly resent the implication that my things are not wonderful and lovely because they totally are. No, I make stuff for people for sure. but I try not to make things for people who I don't think will really appreciate it. And I try to make limited things that I think will like really be treasured. So yeah, I am not the person who's just like, you get weird sex and you get weird sex. I try to make very nice things that will hopefully be something they have for a long time to come. That's the goal anyway. Do you prioritize gifts of yarn over other gifts because you enjoy it? you Like for me, do I ask for that for myself?
00:04:11
Speaker
Oh, do you give it to people? Because you're, I'm assuming you're good at it. You're good at a lot of things. Right. I'm amazing at everything I've ever touched. I mean, no, I wouldn't say I prioritize it over anything else. I just try to incorporate it into the gift giving process. If I can come up with something that I think someone will really like, then I make
Mindful Spending and Marketing Influence
00:04:30
Speaker
that. Otherwise I buy something like a good little American consumer.
00:04:34
Speaker
Okay, Carla, I'm going to ask you for some pictures of some things that you've made so that we can put them on the YouTube video so that people can have an idea of your skill craft. My knitting skills. That is a thing I can do. Nice. Well, I i'm personally am looking forward to it. I did not know this about you until today. You may get a hat in the mail soon. but Keep an eye. Like, is this a hat? Is it a Christmas stocking? It's multi-purpose.
00:04:59
Speaker
Oh, you're hurting my little knitter heart. Really sad. It's gonna be great. It's like amazing stuff and it's in your fashion stuff. I don't even, I don't even know. So talk to me about ways that you think you can keep your spending in check, whether that's during the holidays or any other time of year. How do you, how do you like cage the consumer animal that lives inside of you? Or do you have a consumer animal that lives inside of you? Are you one of those people who just doesn't have one?
00:05:26
Speaker
No, I think we all have one to some degree. I think it's very natural for every single human being to want something that they don't have right now. And I think that's the, you know, at the, at the very core now, how, how powerful that goes and how much you allow that to impact your spending. Now that that's kind of like where this conversation is going to head. Yeah. Yeah. So I do like to buy things generally though, not for myself. I don't know why that's just the way it is. It's fine. Do you have a child? So I think, okay, what can I, what can I, do by that would be a value to him or her. and And I just get it. You know, if I think it's going to be value ah you added, usually not just stuff, but if he does, like, for example, my son likes the little popco pop head, the little plastic bobblehead things. Funko pops. I don't know why that's in my brain, but somewhere that's intermolexicon. Yeah, that shelf above the shelf. Just got your whole collection there.
00:06:22
Speaker
They're all of just financial independence personalities.
00:06:27
Speaker
I'm sure would sell great, very entertaining. ah So I'll buy him some yeah things like that just because he wants, wants them and that's okay. But, but no, I do not have a, I don't have like this ravenous consumer
Psychological and Environmental Impacts of Consumerism
00:06:40
Speaker
energy in me.
00:06:41
Speaker
uh, if anything is probably the opposite, but it's really hard to do it, but it's really hard to control that. And I understand that, especially if you've never attempted to do it before, let's say you're 25 years old and you just got your first job, you maybe just got out of debt and you're like, Oh, I've got all this money. I've got a couple thousand dollars in my checking account burning a hole. And then the holidays show up and then we're inundated, you know, with, with all of the marketing techniques and all the psychological tricks that were, that none of us are entirely immune to. I do think the very first,
00:07:11
Speaker
Step is just to be aware of that. Yeah. Yeah. We have had this conversation with folks and i've I've heard a lot of people say, oh, marketing just doesn't work on me. I'm immune to that. And I always think, man, I'm not a immune to it. Like i I think you're maybe not being fully honest with yourself because they would not, like big corporations would not pour millions or and billions of dollars into advertising if that stuff didn't work. If everyone was just like, oh no, that doesn't work on me. So yeah, I think we for sure need to take that first step of admitting it. And then that can open up some other doors into how to control it because I think it works on.
00:07:51
Speaker
just about everybody. I know it works on me. So how how do you like limit your access to advertising so that those things don't warm their way into your brain and make you want to buy things you don't need or really even want? Well, I think number one is just being aware of the forces out there that are trying to separate you from your money. It happens in every walk of life.
00:08:14
Speaker
I've had conversations with you and I don't know who, I don't know how, what is seeing or listening, but i after recording one episode with you, I walked away and the very first feed on my YouTube was of what we were talking about, kind of a side conversation. It wasn't even what we were talking about primarily in the episode. And then I afforded you that video, remember? yeah so That was really, really odd, but that's how that's how deep it is to think that it doesn't affect you. It affected me as much that I was like, oh, this is interesting because it knew I thought found I would find that interesting. yeah And then I shared that with someone. So I'm not a immune, and and but I recognized it. And I think the first I was recognizing it. If you go into, as far as a way to prevent excessive spending, I think there are some very hard rules that you should stick to until you're at a particular financial stage of your life.
00:08:59
Speaker
but sir If you don't have a positive net worth, do not go deeper in debt to provide gifts for anyone. Yeah. yeah That's hard. i don't and And if anybody cares about you and they think, out it really what they're saying is, I would rather you go out in a debt so that I can have this. If somebody really cares about you, they would never say that.
00:09:15
Speaker
yeah that's not your friend Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think the very next level up of how to think about this that might provide some value is what I said the word value exactly that really look through all of your purchases through the value filter. Yes. Yeah, I think that's so important. That alone cleans up a lot of this.
00:09:36
Speaker
One approach that I like to take is when I'm thinking about purchasing an item, I look at it and I picture it sitting in my closet or like sitting on a bookshelf or just somewhere in my house for
Social Media's Influence on Consumer Behavior
00:09:50
Speaker
years and years to come. Because that's what's going to happen, right? Every single thing that comes into your life, you now have responsibility for that thing. If you move, you have to take it with you. You have to physically carry it. If you like reorganize, you have to deal with this thing.
00:10:05
Speaker
One day when maybe it's like worn out, you're gonna have to figure out how to get rid of it. Am I gonna donate this? Am I gonna sell it? Am I gonna just throw it in the trash? Like everything that comes into your life, you have to think about the future of this item. It's not gonna be like fun and shiny forever and ever.
00:10:23
Speaker
it's eventually going to lose its appeal for you. So just like have that moment in your head where you sort of picture the life story of this object and fast forward a little bit and think about what it's really going to look like. So yeah, I try not to get caught up in the excitement of the moment, like, oh, this is so cute or fun, or wouldn't this be helpful to my life? I feel like that, especially with kitchen gadgets, like these really specific kitchen gadgets that do one thing that you're thinking, oh, well, we have fun, like making these little many waffles that have reindeer faces on them or whatever some silly thing that people buy. and Yeah, like that's just going to sit in your kitchen cabinet taking up space for like a decade to come. and Then one day you're going to look at it and be like, this was fun. We use this a few times and then you're going to throw it away. so Yeah, just fast forward into the future of this object's life because you might end up not buying nothing.
00:11:17
Speaker
When I walk into a Target or any kind of department store, I see immediately to the left at the right. I'm thinking about Target specifically now. Yeah. A bunch of these little plastic things, toys that are 99 cents or I don't know, inflation, maybe it's a dollar 29 now, I don't know, but this cheap nothingness. It's meant for kids to, when when kids walk in, they just grab and say, mommy, I want this. And, or daddy don't want this. And they end up with this register.
00:11:43
Speaker
But I can't think of a more clear example of like the stuff that will be trash not five years from now, like five days from now. They get home
Societal Pressures and Spending Perspectives
00:11:50
Speaker
and they throw it in the whatever their toy bin. And that's just something that gets either crushed or damaged or just discarded after the next time their parent cleans the room when they're not there.
00:12:00
Speaker
Yeah, but we as adults can fall victim to that exact same thing. And this especially makes me think of fast fashion, where you go into one of these stores like Forever 21, we're now online, there's this company called Xian and Timu. There were all these things about Timu recently, they've been like coming into the fore forefront. And yeah, I just feel like people want this quick little hit.
00:12:25
Speaker
of dopamine like, oh, I have this fun new thing or this cute new shirt. And you wear it once and then it just like disintegrates more or less, right? It never looks as good. So yeah, I really, really would strongly advise people to stay away from all of those things that are just junky. You know, they're certainly not going to last you at all. Yeah, I just think those things are horrible, horrible.
00:12:50
Speaker
We actually just watch a do watched a documentary on Netflix called Buy Now, which is about kind of this whole mentality of people just buying things too fast and then you know where where does the waste go? right There really is no way. You can't throw things away. It just goes somewhere else on the planet.
00:13:07
Speaker
so yeah there's it's it's just accumulating. And I think we've got to convince people to stop just getting this quick dopamine hit of buying things that go in the trash can within a few months or a year. It's just crazy. It's absolutely crazy. We are talking a little bit about holiday spending, and we're also talking about spending in general. The term excessive spending, it sounds negative. I define excessive spending as any spending above your needs, but then there's like levels above that. There's
00:13:39
Speaker
Spending more than you need to isn't as bad as spending money you don't have for reasons that you can't justify. So I just want to say that what we're talking about right now is damaging aspect or the harmful excessive spending. We all have that little gray area of we buy things that we want and don't need. That's not what we're talking about here.
00:13:57
Speaker
Over time, you can put into habits that reduces the gap between what you need and that excessive harmful spending, which is nothing is natural for anybody who constantly only thinks about money and in trading money for value.
Creating Intentional Environments for Financial Goals
00:14:10
Speaker
And it can be really, really damaging to those people who don't have it and just feel the need to do it. Whether it be for the dopamine hit, whether it's for social acceptance, whether it's for guilt, whether it's for even feeling good temporarily. I mean, you talked about the dopamine hat, but we also talked about, you mentioned you're generous in gift giving. I feel that I'm, I guess, despite my earlier comments, throughout the year, I'm very generous in giving because it makes me feel good. so Maybe that's my dopamine hat, but the end result is the same. You're still spending money to make you feel good. so
00:14:43
Speaker
That's the end result, really. but we all We each have to manage that as we go. What are you balancing? You're balancing things that you hold in your hand or the social interaction value with the long-term delayed gratification of let's hold on to some of that money, invest it for our future so that maybe I can do that even more, whether that's more gifting, whether that's altruism through donations, charitable giving or other.
00:15:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think taking that zoomed out approach where you get out of that moment that you're in with this little object that you want and think about your life as this long linear line and what's going to maximize your lifelong happiness. Is it having more flexibility with your time and more peace of mind? You know, if your appliances break and you have to get a new one, you don't want to be stressed about that, right? So you're, thinking ahead about, okay, these things are going to happen in life. I need to be prepared for them. So I'm going to prioritize my mental wellbeing and not having to worry about these big stressors that everyone faces in life, as opposed to just being in the moment and wanting this, this little object. Yeah. I think that zoomed out approach is really, really powerful.
00:16:01
Speaker
Do you do anything in particular to shape the environment that you're in so that you don't get inundated with so much marketing? Yeah,
Humorous Takes on Purchases and Modern Luxuries
00:16:10
Speaker
I try really, really hard to stay off of most social media. I don't get on Instagram. I don't get on TikTok. I very occasionally get on Facebook and then my social media like Poison that I do probably way too much of is Reddit. But I do feel like Reddit is way less intrusive with the advertising than a lot of social media platforms. And mostly what you're reading is just text like you are actually reading.
00:16:42
Speaker
and you're hearing about like different people's life stories or you know people just people talking about whatever topic it is that you're interested in. So I try to stay off of the social media that I know is going to bombard me with the latest flashbang. Look at this thing that you like. And it's like you were talking about before, it's going to be targeted specifically to me and my needs, right? because The algorithms are so good now at looking at my browsing history and figuring out what's going to make Carla tick and what's going to get her juices flowing that'll make her click the buy button. So i I'm not seeing the stuff that I think is like totally silly, like you know fancy bags and shoes. They know I'm not into that stuff.
00:17:29
Speaker
But they do know that they're more likely to get me if they show me the latest backpacking gear or you know certain brands of clothing that I do really like, like Patagonia. They know what will get to me specifically, and I think being aware of that is really helpful. So I try to stay away from the platforms that'll be like, hey, look at this, the latest backpack that's super cute. And they know I'll be like, that is really cute. I'm into that. I like that. So yeah, I try to just avoid it altogether.
00:17:56
Speaker
Karla, I think ah that's a very smart thing that you did right there, because in the description, we have your wish list. see Audience members, see what we just did there? That's all that's subliminal. Got it. so me Hiking shoes and like fun backpacks. I'm into it. I like it. Now we just need to wrap this episode up so they can start clicking on the links and yeah i'm getting your stuff.
00:18:21
Speaker
And lots of yarn, obviously. Yeah, what about you? Are there any strategies that you've taken to try to minimize your exposure to these things? Yes. And ah I guess I did it inadvertently without knowing it. I was cleaning up my inbox, my email inbox. And now I know at least Gmail, they divide things into promotional tabs and ye things that you've subscribed to. And so what I've done is I've really routinely probably within, you know, every few months I'll go into that and just unsubscribe and subscribe. Cause I did not, I did not subscribe to all the things they say I subscribed to. And my inbox just gets filled up with crazy stuff.
00:18:55
Speaker
But there are times I'll go get shoes from my son at the van store, sign up, get whatever, sure, I sign up, get the 30% off, but that also means I get things in my inbox. So when I open up in my inbox right now, I see vans, I see Vivo Airbus, which is a you Mexican airline because I've flown them Southwest, Alaska Airlines.
00:19:13
Speaker
Anything that you've ever bought something through, it seems like they fill up your inbox. And if you've ever, I say forever, but like sometimes I think even if you like somebody's profile, somehow that links up and you start getting stuff about that kind of stuff. and They're really good at like finding your inbox, so even without your permission.
00:19:28
Speaker
Totally. ah So I think the act of just going in, cleaning up your inbox periodically reduces that. Another thing that I like to think about, even though I haven't done it so cleanly, is right after Christmas, while you're still thinking about Christmas, think about next Christmas. Of course, people's like likes and desires change in the course of a year.
00:19:48
Speaker
But if you can think of it in a 12 month span versus Black Friday to Christmas Eve span, then you might be able to find better deals. You might be able to think more deeply about the value aspect of gifting and you reduce that stress that you not only the holiday stress, but the likelihood of overspending during such a compressed holiday shopping season over the course of a year. So put something in your Google calendar, you know, once a month, this person next month, this person next month, this person.
00:20:17
Speaker
And during in that time, do your shopping as you go. That way you can probably get much. I think if you do that, you'll get better gifts, more meaningful gifts, and you have the time to really think about the trade off of whatever value. And I know there's apps out there that I think Honey was one maybe a while back. I can't remember, but I know there are apps out there that if you put in what you're looking for,
00:20:39
Speaker
They'll tell you like the trajectory of the pricing throughout a year. And then you'll get notifications, this is the cheapest this has been in nine weeks or nine months or whatever. And that could help you reduce if you've already decided what you're going to get somebody. yeah But that takes work. Yeah, it does take work, but that's a good tip. And yeah, I guess that.
00:20:58
Speaker
That does just make me think of like all these Black Friday sales that we have. I do think so many people fall into the trap of just buying something because it's on sale that they don't actually need or that the person they're buying it for is a gift doesn't actually need or maybe even want. I do like that approach, but I do think it's good to remind folks to be careful not to get sucked into the sale trap because it is as a trap. As Admiral Ackbar would say, it's a trap.
00:21:25
Speaker
Do you think marketing takes advantage of our increasingly growing entitlement society or entitled society? Yeah. I mean, standards just keep going up and up and up. I mean, you know, when I was, I guess, like roughly high school, college, cell phones were not ubiquitous yet. And now it's just like, well, of course everyone has a cell phone. Like even most people that you see, like, you know, you and I were talking about, you've got a homeless problem and where you live. And we do here in Long Walk too, I think everywhere.
00:22:02
Speaker
pretty much in the United States has an issue like that. But I think most of those people still have cell phones. like it's They're just everywhere. And fentanyl. So whatever that marketing has worked.
00:22:13
Speaker
ah Yeah, that's a whole other topic. Everyone should read Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Yes, it's really, really good on the fentanyl subject. Yeah, I do think we all just have to keep our standards in check and remember, like all we really need is a warm place to sleep at night and, you know, food in our tummy and clean water. Like these are the basics and everything else above that is a luxury and we should just keep that in mind more than we do, I think.
00:22:38
Speaker
You touched on something that I was just thinking about. That's how to frame your wants and needs. And it might sound barbaric, and I'm not even sure I've given it ample thought. If I was in the woods, what would be my needs and wants? If I didn't have shelter, if I didn't have easily accessible food, and then you just take a... Say you're in the middle of a forest and then you get a bigger bubble and a bigger bubble, and now you have a city, and how your needs and wants change with all of the different dynamics and forces that are acting ah acting upon you. And if we could bring ourselves back down to the simplicity aspect of like, we're humans on a planet, we're animals existing on a planet, what are our needs? Okay, let's start there. let Make sure those are squared away. Because maybe there's times that people give money when they shouldn't be giving money for their, you know, there aren't, maybe they don't have enough for themselves or,
00:23:24
Speaker
family members asking them for money that they don't have, which I've seen many times. People who I know don't have that much money or or just starting out on their financial independence journey or their life journey, their parents asking for money and they give it or other. I mean, I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I'm just, these are the ways to think about, these are the things to think about.
00:23:40
Speaker
But as far as how we're, when I say an entitled society, it seems like a sloop. Unfortunately, I think parents are playing a role into it. Marketing's playing a role into it. Politicians are playing a role into it. And I don't want it. This is not about politics. It's just about the psychology of it. The deserve versus earned aspect. You deserve a new car. You deserve to be happy. You deserve this. You deserve that.
00:24:01
Speaker
But I don't think any, and of course, like I deserve it. Sure. Why not? I deserve it. But then what that does is it disempowers the the person for actually control, having control over the life. And I think that it gets extended to how we treat money as well. You just, you don't deserve a new card, but they'll tell you that on a car, on a radio commercial, so that you go in and spend $109,000 on an SUV that you have no business buying.
00:24:23
Speaker
Oh my gosh, $109,000 a car just kills me. Yeah. Yeah. I don't like that marketing approach either. And this is reminding me that one point I wanted to make is that I do find it really helpful to just do sort of resets of your appreciation level for all the luxuries that we live with in modern life all the time. And the way that I have done that is by backpacking or just like travel in general, that's at a much lower standard of living than your normal day of life.
00:24:54
Speaker
So backpacking, you know, you're talking about being out of the woods. Like I have done that. I have lived outside for months at a time doing long distance backpacking. And that really, really resets your brain into what do I actually need to be happy and comfortable and feel safe? And it's very, very little. It's literally what you can carry on your back, right? You need something warm. You need some things off to sleep on.
00:25:18
Speaker
You need something to keep the rain off. You need clean water and you need food in your stomach. That's it. That's where the list stops. And, you know, people bring, quote, luxury items on backpacking trips like kindles or like, I don't know, extra warm stuff or something, if that's what your fear is, is being cold. But whatever it is, people bring these extra luxury items. But really, the list of things you actually need is quite short. And then when you get back to civilization, it's like,
00:25:44
Speaker
Wow, what do you mean I get to sleep on this giant puffy cloud of a mattress? This is insane. Or I get to stand in like hot water that makes me feel clean and amazing. This is incredible. Like it's it really is such a powerful reset and I would strongly recommend It's anybody cuz it's fun to be out there and like immerse yourself in nature cut yourself off from technology for a while and then you get this added bonus of when you come back it's just like you're living in the land of a abundance and you see everything for just how amazing it is and there's Moving pictures on screens that are fun and entertaining to watch and yeah, it just really recalibrates your brain a little bit So I would strongly encourage people to do that. I think it's great
00:26:26
Speaker
Yeah, that's the power of environment, right? Like yeah we get really used to and everything is recalibrated in our environment. So I think a big message of this episode, which is not a unique message, but it's be aware of the stimuli that you're allowing to have an effect on you. And you are allowing it to have an effect on you because you have the choice and the ability to separate yourself from most of that, but be conscious of it all. Yeah. And take some actions if you think it's a problem for you or could lead to a problem.
00:26:53
Speaker
Yeah, I think being mindful about it and just paying attention to it and creating the environment around you, surrounding yourself with other people who care about the same kinds of things that you do. And like in our little community in Longmont, it's a very like reverse effect. Instead of, you know, you buy like some fancy designer clothes in a lot of communities, you go wear that to some event and people are like,
00:27:14
Speaker
That's pretty snazzy, kind of jealous of that. That looks like it costs a lot. People are very impressed by these displays of wealth. Whereas here in our financial independence community in Longmont, if you showed up at a party wearing some designer duds or something, everyone's going to look at you and be like, huh, that's an interesting choice.
00:27:36
Speaker
Why does does this really make you happy? Are you really excited about this? Like talk me through this because this is not not what's the norm around here. So yeah we actually have a conversation with somebody about the shirt that they wore to an event.
00:27:48
Speaker
I have not done that, but I expect that if someone showed up in some like, I don't know, trying to what's like like a Prada t-shirt or I don't even know if Prada makes t-shirts, I don't know, fill in the blank with whatever like designer thing or maybe like a really fancy bag or something. I feel like people would just look at it and be like, it's an interesting life choice, but no one is going to be jealous and it's just a very different dynamic here than I think in a lot of places in society. and i love it. I love it so much. It's so much more relaxed. So I would encourage others to surround yourself with those kinds of people who are going to be questioning your big spins, not in a judgmental way, but just to know like, talk me through this, this is really making you happy kind of way. But is that not, Carl, is that not judgmental?
00:28:36
Speaker
I mean, plot of shaming is a real thing. I mean, plot of shaming is a real thing. I would say it's not so much judgmental. It certainly could be, but I would say it's more about just like, let's think this through. How much did that cost? What could you have done with that money instead? How much joy is this really adding to your life? And they're like, we're trying to watch the movie. Could you just eat your popcorn while we're having this conversation here? Could you move back a few rows?
00:29:02
Speaker
I mean, I wouldn't do this to like a random person in our community. I would just do it with someone who's like, specifically in the fight community. It was like, next time I come hang out with you. you know I'm just costing people in like the movie theater being like, where did you get that shirt? How much did you pay for that? Did you get that American Eagle from that thrift store down the street? You better have. yeah yeah That would be a life choice. That would be a life choice. ah so We were going to talk about some fun, silly stuff today. This is the part where we forget about money. so I am really curious to hear your answer to this. We were going to talk about
00:29:38
Speaker
the weirdest animal that you would have as a pet. So tell me your answer to this, David. Are we talking about legal? can you Are there qualifiers for this? like Does it have to be illegal in the United States or you're in your state?
00:29:50
Speaker
I mean, you know, choose your own adventure. If you want to risk going to jail over this creature, I will support that life choice. I'm going to have questions about it though. So are we talking about weird as in humans don't usually have it or is it just a weird, like a weird habitat kind of animal, weird looking animal? I think it's open to interpretation, however you think about it. Can we create this animal out of thin air?
00:30:13
Speaker
I'm going to say yes because I can't wait to hear where that's going. Well, I'm not going to do that, but it would be fun to do. When I was in college, a friend of mine introduced me to something called a sugar glider. Have you ever heard of a sugar glider? Get out of here. This was my answer. You totally stopped the answer. Get out of here. I'm so serious. Let me prove. I'm so serious. What? I'm really serious. I love sugar glider. You know, we're both going to be wearing Prada to the party. We can't just be the same, Carla.
00:30:40
Speaker
Okay. I mean, I've got a backup answer now, but go ahead. Go ahead with your sugar glider and still my thunder. Well, you can't have a squirrel because I think the state of New York will come in and get it from you and do bad things. Have you heard that story? No. Yeah. Apparently I'm going to pause right now and look it up. It's not a good story. Squirrel, New York, pet, euthanized. Yeah. So this, there was a squirrel. This is in the state of New York and This is in this article is from the New York Times from November 4th. It's just whatever popped up in the Google search peanut or peanut pee apostrophe nut pet squirrel with a popular Instagram page was seized by state government officials on Wednesday in Pine City, New York.
00:31:21
Speaker
and later euthanized to test for rabies. The raccoon taken from the same house was euthanized as well, the state authorities said on Friday. People were really, really upset about this. I don't know the man, I don't know the pet, I don't know really anything. I just thought that was a big uproar. People were mad like, it's just a squirrel. Why can't a man have a squirrel as a pet?
00:31:40
Speaker
So ah we'll scroll your next answer. Was that your second? Was that your backup? It sure wasn't. I, yeah, I do. I always think it's funny when people get like all up in arms about one animal dying when like, how many dead squirrels do you see on the ah road as roadkill? Like every day, nobody gets... I know. And right before this episode, you, you killed an insect off of your webcam. It did. I did do that. And I did feel a little sad about it. And I apologize to him as I ended his life. I did apologize to him. I'm sorry, little buddy.
00:32:07
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I try to take as few lives to support my own life as possible. We actually quit eating meat a few years ago and that's been good. So I try not to end animals' lives, but also I fully acknowledge that it is happening just like it is with humans all the time. And yeah, I don't think we should get all up in arms about one particular animal. Like the rabies is bad. This girl potentially had rabies, maybe. I don't know. I don't know the story, so I'm not going to weigh in on this.
00:32:34
Speaker
Back to the sugar glider. Back to the sugar gliders. They are super adorable. They have these really cute little hands. They are just the best things ever. And I would love to have a sugar glider as a pet. Okay, but since I can't steal your answer, I mean, if you're saying that we can just make these creatures up out of whole cloth, I'm obviously going to have a pet unicorn. Like, that would be pretty sweet. They have magical powers. Who knows what those magical powers can do for me. That could be pretty fun. I remember. harry There was some book that I read when I was a kid about the unicorn who could like dip its water its horn into water and make the water like perfect and drinkable. That'd be pretty awesome. I would like to have that skill in my back pocket. Be a great backpacking. I wouldn't have to carry a water filter anymore. I could just bring my unicorn and then would daintily dip his little horn into the water. So yeah, that sounds pretty great. I would love to have a myth of gold unicorn. Also, I'd totally be super rich because other people would pay me to come see my unicorn.
00:33:30
Speaker
A few ideas just jumped in my head. I think of a cartoon series maybe with a unicorn with a sidekick of the sugar glider, but it's actually not. It's reversed the sugar glider, which is probably of like no bigger than the size of your hand. It's actually like the leader with the attitude and everything. And then the unicorn runs around purifying water. is that That's what you said, right? Cleaning water. It's pretty good life skill to have. I wish I could do that. This sounds like an amazing... The whale doesn't want that. The whale would not want that. um Shorts wouldn't want it. So you can keep the unicorns away from the ocean.
00:33:59
Speaker
Okay. But it's not just making it drinkable. It could also use its magical powers to just make it clean. And then we can get all the plastic out of the ocean and that would be better. So I mean, it's a unicorn. The limits to its powers are endless. What's the sugar glider? It was a unicorn. I think that becomes cool. I also had the same part, but you couldn't ride it because it's too small. Yeah. I mean, yeah, look at on I'm getting from my unicorn. It's ki be that's going to be pretty great. Giant unicorn sugar glider that you can ride.
00:34:26
Speaker
I mean, this also sounds great. Yeah, we could just give the sugar glider the magical powers and then you could just keep it in your pocket at all times. There would be no restrictions on like bringing it into wherever you want it to go. We bring it on an airplane. It'd be perfect. I'm going to Amazon. I'm going to Amazon right now. I'm just going to find a sugar glider unicorn. Magical sugar gliders. I'm pretty sure they're sold out if they're selling those because that sounds pretty great. That was my transition, Carlo. You got to jump in. I drew a softball.
00:34:53
Speaker
Didn't nail it. You didn't nail it. Okay. Okay. Well, if you're going to go to Amazon... I'm keeping that down, by the way. Okay, I'm just gonna pretend like we're not gonna do it as though you're gonna edit this. Okay, so if you're just going to Amazon, then I wanna know what the last thing is you bought on Amazon because with this like whole mythical thing that we're talking about here, we're gonna pretend that you have just won a lifetime supply of the last thing you bought on the internet. So one, what is it? And two, are you excited about this new lifetime supply that you've just won?
00:35:27
Speaker
I feel like we should preface all of this entire conversation that there is no affiliate links in any of these videos, at least that I'm aware of, and I put them all in there. Maybe a one day, I'm not trying to make any money off affiliate links, people going to Amazon or books or anything that you ever find in these descriptions. Maybe one day, but not right now.
00:35:44
Speaker
so It's not a trick to get you to go buy something. What I purchased most recently should be arriving today by 10 p.m. is Life Skills Every 11-Year-Old Should Know, an essential book for tween boys and girls to unlock their secret superpowers and be successful, healthy, and happy. I mean, that sounds like a great purchase. I like that a lot. And I also got Quentin a book.
00:36:09
Speaker
Yeah, I love that for both of you. Whoever the book is for, it sounds really helpful and fun. That's great. So you've just won a lifetime supply of this book. How jazzed are you about this? It would probably be more useful than many of the other purchases I've bought, like these headphones, which is the one before it. I had a lifetime supply of these. I'm sure they'll be outdated in some way. That's true. Then I'll be the end chip in my jaw or something later in 10 years that everybody gets, never needs upgrading, whatever.
00:36:36
Speaker
I mean, I suppose you could use the book as like kindling or maybe you could like recycle the paper and turn it into journals or something else. I don't know. think I could. I expect this is a book that prompts you how to think about things. And at any age, I think that any prompts are good. So I was thinking, yes, this might've been written for an 11 year old, but I could probably really find value in it. And If this is a journal-style book and prompted me to think about certain things in my life as I go through life, it's probably not invaluable. Or, wait, probably not not valuable. Invaluable is a good thing. There you go. Yep. That's correct. Good job. Thanks. I appreciate you since you're wearing a books t-shirt that you educated me and corrected me on. My books t-shirt today. I'm trying to encourage everybody to read. Readings, good stuff. Okay. That is a pretty solid answer. The last name. Oh, you're like, this is a solid answer, but check this one out. Go, Carla.
00:37:30
Speaker
So the last thing I bought online was quite big and pricey. We just had to replace our washing machine. So we just bought a new washing machine from Costco and it's going to be here a day after tomorrow. Can't get here soon enough because we got some laundry piling up. So yeah, I would be pretty jazzed about having a lifetime supply of washing machines. Hopefully, you know, that's not that many washing machines because hopefully they'll last a good long while. and But still, like next time this one dies,
00:38:00
Speaker
I would love to have another one for free. Yeah, I think this could be a pretty big win in life. I get free washing machines from now to the grave, not too shabby. Oh, I thought the question was like, if you got them all at once, and you got a lifetime supply. I mean, I suppose you could interpret it that way. And in that case, I am not excited. What am I going to do? Like have a backyard full of washing machines? That sounds dreadful.
00:38:23
Speaker
Well, you just came back from Mississippi, Louisiana. Louisiana. It's not too far from exactly what's in the backyards of Middle Georgia, or I just came from after Thanksgiving. No comment. No comment. Yeah, it's a that's not too far off the mark. But man, that is not how I would like to roll, so I'm going to maybe spread those washing machines out over the course of my life. Try not to keep them all inside my house at one time. That sounds terrible.
00:38:49
Speaker
audience member, this will be a reason for me to put an affiliate link below. If someone actually purchased this item using my affiliate link, make millions, I guess, just off of one purchase. just stuff The most expensive thing, according to this article, amzscout.net blog article, is a piece of artwork called The Way by Gaffer Tamarianova.
00:39:14
Speaker
marion now Okay, I might need your help again, Carlin. Okay, well done. Listed for $32 million. dollars Okay. Remarkably, this person, Timmy Knob, Timeria Knob is blind and he paints his masterpieces mostly through the tactile sensation. Additionally, he crafts his own frames by hand, adding a further layer of individuality and intrigue to his creations.
00:39:37
Speaker
Very interesting. So my Amazon shows that it is currently unavailable out of stock, but I do see this person. My guess at the pronunciation is Gefor Tamarianov. That's my guess. I really apologize to you, Mr. Tamarianov, if I'm butchering your name.
00:39:52
Speaker
Say it correctly again to make me feel less, even less smart. Gafoor to marry enough. That's the best I get. But now, okay. So Amazon is just showing me like really expensive things now. You can buy the 1930 New York Yankees team signed baseball, including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig for $80,000 on Amazon. Yes, please. Art collections for $4 million. dollars Okay. Now my Amazon suggestions are just going to be crazy, crazy expensive.
00:40:22
Speaker
So you did the opposite of what we advised in this episode. I sure did. I sure did. This is also quite random. It also is suggesting that I buy a tough care century max bariatric bed, long-term care bed with foam mattress and half rail for $7,390.
00:40:40
Speaker
Just what Robert has been asking for. I mean, this is clearly Christmas shopping is done. I'm just going to buy that and we're good to go. OK, who knew the weird things lurking on Amazon? i This is fascinating. But don't. This is like the whole point of this podcast episode. Let's just tell people not to do this thing. Here we are giving people weird expensive things. Do as I say, not as I do. All right. Well, I think that's pretty solid episode for everybody, other than the fact that we just undermined ourselves at the end there. Yeah. What do you think, David? Can we wrap it up? Let's do it. I think the biggest takeaway from this episode is, particularly because it's holiday season right now, don't get wrapped up. Have a plan going in, stick to it. Don't lose sight of your long-term financial goals and lifestyle goals. December will come and go. You'll start a new year fresh, and it's a lot easier to get that momentum going at the beginning of the year if you're not another $3,000 in debt from the holiday spending. Amen to that. I love that message. All right. Well, thanks so much for listening, everybody, and we'll catch you next time.
00:41:38
Speaker
I'm going to jump in and and say something I've never done on a podcast before. I'm going to ask for people to, I think we have a subscription, recently we have asked for subscriptions. We are trying to get this growing both on YouTube and traditional podcast. And if you've listened to this long, more than 40 minutes, you've got some kind of value out of it, or at least you had it playing or you were walking away doing something else. For that, I thank you.
00:42:00
Speaker
But if this is your first time listening, please hit the thumbs up like button. If this is your second time listening, hit the thumbs up and subscribe. And if it's your third time listening, thumbs up, subscribe, and leave us a comment down below. I do a good job of getting in the comments. They are pretty entertaining even for me, so.
00:42:18
Speaker
ah We really do appreciate it. We have published more than 50 episodes now, which my goal when I first started doing this was 50 and then decide if I want to keep going or not. And Carla jumped in to help me and re-motivate me for that. I'm thankful. I'm thankful for all of you listening. If there's anything that we can do in this podcast to make it more exciting and educational for you, please let us know. Thanks. Yeah. Echo all of that. That's good stuff, David. And yeah, thanks everybody for tuning in. We appreciate it.