BiggerPockets Money Podcast - 473: Holiday Shopping Hacks That’ll Save You Hundreds (or Thousands) This Season

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast, where we interview Chris Hutchins from all the hacks and talk about all the finance hacks for the holiday season. Hello, hello, hello. My name is Mindy Jensen. And with me, as always, is my stuffed after Thanksgiving dinner co-host, Scott Trench. Thanks, Mindy. It's great to be here and feast on life hacks, tips, and tricks for the holidays with Chris Hutchins today. Scott and I are here to make financial independence less scary, less just for somebody else, to introduce you to every money story because we truly believe financial freedom is attainable for everyone, no matter when or where you're starting. That's right. Whether you want to retire early and travel the world, go on to make big time investments in

Starting point is 00:00:43 assets like real estate, start your own business, or simply save a tremendous amount of money by thinking through your strategy, tactics and tricks for holiday shopping and travel. will help you reach your financial goals and get money out of the way so you can launch yourself towards your dreams. All right, Scott, it's time for that segment of the show called The Money Moment, where we share a money hack, tip or trick to help you on your financial journey. And today's money moment is drink more tap water. Did you know that the average water bottle is $1.29?

Starting point is 00:01:14 If you use this as your major source of water, it adds up fast. Bring a reusable water bottle if you can. And if you're concerned about water quality, put a $1.5.5. filter in your fridge or on your sink. Over time, it will save you more money and will be better for the environment. Do you have a money tip for us? Email money moment at biggerpockets.com. Tax season is one of the only times all year when most people actually look at their full financial picture, including income, spending, savings, investments, the whole thing. And if you're like most folks, it can be a little eye-opening. That's why I like Monarch. It helps you see exactly

Starting point is 00:01:47 where your money is going and more importantly where your tax refund can make the biggest impact. Because the goal isn't just to look backward, it's to actually make progress. Simplify your finances with Monarch. Monarch is the all-in-one personal finance tool designed to make your life easier. It brings your entire financial life, including budgeting, accounts and investments, net worth, and future planning together in one dashboard on your phone or your laptop. Feel aware and in control of your finances this tax season and get 50% off your Monarch subscription with the code pockets.

Starting point is 00:02:13 What I personally like is that Monarch keeps you focused on achieving, not just tracking. You can see your budgets, debt payoff, savings goals, and net worth all in one place. Every decision actually moves an needle. Achieve your financial goals for good with Monarch, the all-in-one tool that makes money management simple. Use the code pockets at Monarch.com for half off your first year. That's 50% off at Monarch.com code pockets. I love Matt, said no one ever. Nobody starts a business thinking, you know what would make this more fun?

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Starting point is 00:04:18 Kickstart your well-being journey with your first audiobook free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.com slash BP money. Chris Hutchins is the award-winning host of the podcast All the Hacks. You may remember him from episode 355, and also because we just reran that episode last Friday after Thanksgiving. It was so popular. We knew we had to run it again. Chris, welcome back to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast.

Starting point is 00:04:47 I am so excited to talk to you and hear about all of your holiday hacks. Thank you for having me again. It's always fun every time we have a conversation. It's always fun every time we have a conversation. But Chris, for those of us who haven't had as many conversations with you as I have, can you remind our listeners who you are and tell us a little bit about your podcast all the hacks. Yes, I am one of those crazy optimizers that builds a spreadsheet for everything. Now it's actually mostly a notion where I just collect all the information with the

Starting point is 00:05:19 quest that I have to upgrade and optimize my entire life. I do that and publish it and share it with the world at All the Hacks, which is my podcast and newsletter. And my goal is just to help you live more optimal lives and spend less and save more. Awesome. Okay. Well, today we're going to be talking about all the holiday hacks. But before we do, Chris, let's set the tone. What does your family do for the holidays? Gosh, we've gone through a lot of evolutions here. So we started with, you know, one, my wife and I, we would just alternate families. One family, next family, one family, next family.

Starting point is 00:05:52 And my family, I was always pushing us to go on a trip for the holidays. And her family, I think there's more siblings and siblings with kids sooner that it's always kind of get together, almost always in Colorado where her family's from. And it's a big family ordeal. So it seems like every year it's either. either Colorado with family or push to take a trip with my family. All right. So, you know, how do you manage this? What are some hacks you can use to get your family out to Colorado, cheaply, effectively,

Starting point is 00:06:20 safely? So I think the biggest holiday travel hack, it's to be flexible. And I know this sounds so ridiculous. Like, everyone says this. But definitely looking at dates and times to create flexibility. I also think that airports can change the price a lot. And so in the mountains, in Colorado, as, as you know, like, Maybe you don't want to pick an airport that's three hours away and get stuck.

Starting point is 00:06:42 But there are a lot of other places in the country where if you were flying to, I used to fly to DC all the time. And it was so expensive. And some years, it was like half the price to fly to Baltimore, which is like a 40-minute drive instead of a 10-minute drive. But if you could save $1,000 for a family to flying, you know, an extra 30 minutes out of the way, whether you're renting a car or asking family to pick you up, I think it can be a worthwhile alternative. So when you go to Google flights, it's really easy to go and search from multiple airports. And so I think for a lot of trips, especially if it's a work trip and it's just you, you would never consider driving an hour out of the way. But if you were going on a week-long trip over the holidays with four people where your total

Starting point is 00:07:25 flights could be $2,000 or $7,000 for everyone, all of a sudden, you're like, well, maybe I drive an hour and a half. And sometimes those hour and a half drive might end you up at an airport where parking is even cheaper, you know, it could end up actually saving you even more. So I would say definitely look at other airports because sometimes there could be great deals that way. The big other thing you can do, and this is true for dollars or points, is nowadays post-pandemic, most flights have become flexible to the point that you can cancel them and get credit without having to pay any fees. And if you used points, a lot of times it's cancel, get your points back

Starting point is 00:08:02 with no fees. So we recently had a trip planned to go to Mexico. The flights were on Alaska, and one of the flights changed. And any time a flight changes, this is like your best. You should be so excited if your flight changes by like an hour. And it's amazing. So just sit on it. Even if the change is fine, make sure when you log in, never click that button. It's like, I accept the change.

Starting point is 00:08:27 Because what happens is if any time your flight changes, depending on the airline, by an hour or more, you can usually change your flight, can't see your flight or anything for free. And we called Alaska and we said, hey, Alaska. yeah, that one hour time changes isn't going to work. Can you cancel our flights? They canceled them. No credit. Full refund. Saved 150 bucks per person for four people, which was awesome. So what are some common ways we can all save during the holidays? Let's start with the holiday season. How do we make our dollars go further during shopping? Should we be looking for coupons? Do we set price alerts to monitor gifts like you set price alerts for your travel? So I'm going to back up because I found that the holidays for me got to this point where it just felt like it wasn't about the holidays.

Starting point is 00:09:14 So I remember a moment where I got an email and it was like, hey, we haven't gotten your Christmas list yet. Can you go send it? And I was like, okay, I really don't like Christmas list personally. Because I feel like it's just me sending you a list of the stuff I want to buy. And now I've got to wait a month to get it. and if I wanted it and I really needed it, I would have bought it. And if I don't need it, I don't really want to waste money on it. And so the proposals I had started with were a total flop. And they were a bit extreme to make a point. But my extreme proposals were like, well,

Starting point is 00:09:48 if this is how it works and everyone just comes up with a budget, what if we all just write our budgets in a spreadsheet and we net out how much we each want to spend on each other? And then if I want to spend 120 on you and you want to spend 99 on me, then I'll just Venmo you $21. And everyone was like, well, that's horrible. Of course it's horrible. I'm trying to make a point here. So we've done a few things. In some families, we've said, let's just eliminate sibling gifts. Like, we all have enough things. Let's do that. Or let's all, each person can pick a charity and we can all just donate to that charity or something like that. If you want to keep the spirit alive, you have got kids, you don't want to have no one opening gifts for the, even the adults. We've done, we divided my wife's

Starting point is 00:10:30 family up into four. We have four, three siblings. siblings and parents, and each one picked one of the others randomly, and we got one gift. So other than gifts for the grandkids and the kids, everyone just got one gift. And so one of my gift guide tips that I thought was a cool gift was so we got my sister-in-law and her husband an uni pizza oven, which is like a cool thing. If you like making pizza at home and you don't have a pizza oven, you can buy this thing and set it up outside. and some of them are wood and some of them are gas.

Starting point is 00:11:03 And we made pizzas one night, so it was a fun family experience over the holidays. But it was just one gift. And I feel like when you, the only pressure you have is to pick one gift for one person or one couple, you put a lot of thought into it. And, you know, you're not just buying things for the sake of buying things. And so that cut back on all the financial and mental overhead of the holidays and made it about this really special thing, which I think is, what I want, like, or what most people want is it's about, you know, expressing your kind of love and

Starting point is 00:11:36 appreciation for people. And you can do that without gifts. But if you want to do gifts, maybe if you limit the number, limit the amount, limit the people who are getting them, it can make it a little bit more back to what I think it's supposed to be. And so before we get into shopping hacks, I think sometimes the holidays can devolve into, well, we've got to buy everyone, all these gifts. And I don't know. A lot of us, I think, if we're frugal and optimal and we, you know, we manage our own lives well, we don't have a ton of things we need and it ends up just buying people's stuff for the purpose of buying them stuff. I don't know. Have you guys felt any of that ever? I'm curious. Oh, my God, you are speaking my language. I do not like Christmas traditionally because it is

Starting point is 00:12:20 this obligation to buy somebody something. And maybe I'm not close with them or maybe like you, They have everything that they need and they don't want anything, which makes them even more difficult to buy for. And it just turns into this like, here, I got you this thing that kind of reminded me of you because you used to like vanilla candles when we were in second grade or, you know, whatever. It's just this like, it's an obligation. I love the story about the pizza oven where not only do you gift it, but then you get to use it right away. And it's this experience gift. It's not just, here's a thing. Thanks for being in my life.

Starting point is 00:12:55 Like it just, it takes a lot of the joy out of it. I have advocated for years, my husband and I together have advocated for years on both sides. Let's not do gifts anymore. Let's just get together. And we're literally the only ones on either side of the family that doesn't want to do gifts. We do kind of a white elephant or a secret, I'm sorry, Secret Santa on one side of the family and white elephant on the other side of the family traditionally. So that helps with that. And then in. Inside, you know, baby's first Christmas was last year. She was much more interested in the box than the whatever, whatever we ended up getting her. So I think that will be the same this year. But next year, I think that'll be, that'll be particularly fun to do a lot of those. But yeah, I think it can be really stressful when you have to pick out seven different

Starting point is 00:13:46 gifts for seven different people. And, you know, these two people won't care very much. This person will care very greatly about what gift you get them. Yeah. It's, it can add stress to the. holiday instead of making it, you know, a wonderful experience sometimes. That's the other point is that there's some people on your list are going to be highly offended if you don't get the perfect gift while simultaneously not giving you any clues at all.

Starting point is 00:14:11 But that doesn't mean that you're not going to give gifts. There are a lot of people listening who are like, I'm going to give gifts. If I'm buying something, I've got like a whole checklist to make sure that we're getting the best deal. So let's assume that even though there are ways to kind of make Christmas about what it's about or make the holidays, whatever holiday you celebrate, what it's about, there are still ways to save money when you're doing it. So let me share how I think about buying gifts, at least when they cost an amount that it's worth this time. If you're buying someone something that's $8, I wouldn't go through this process. But anytime I'm looking to buy something, I'm looking at a handful of things. So first, you know, where's the best price?

Starting point is 00:14:50 I think a lot of us just assume Amazon's always the cheapest. But if you plan the holidays in advance, You don't need to get your gifts in two days or one day from Amazon Prime. And Amazon's not always the best price. So I would say Google shopping is pretty good at this, showing you a bunch of other retailers online that will sell a thing. Obviously, keep in mind the return policies and if that matters to the type of gift you're buying. So one is finding the best price. Then I'm not just looking at the best price, but it's what if I can stack on cashback? So sites like cashback monitor let you go out and say, what retail?

Starting point is 00:15:25 do I get the most cash back for? So you know, you might think, oh, the cheapest place to get this is at, you know, Best Buy. But it turns out if I buy it somewhere else, I get 10% cash back. Well, maybe it's actually cheaper there. So I'm always checking the cashback sites to make sure that I'm earning a little bit of extra back. And by the way, Fun hack, if you play the points of Miles game, you can take your racketing cash back and say, don't pay me cash back, but pay me Amex points, which if you play the points of Miles game, you should be able to get more than a cent of value from Amex points. And so 100% of my Racketon cashback gets shoveled into my Amex points balance. Okay. What is this cashback website that you're talking about because I've never heard of this before?

Starting point is 00:16:09 So if anyone's ever used Racketon, it's like you go to Racketon and they have all these retailers that are like, oh, if you buy from Nike today, you get 10% cashback. And so you either click the link on the website or you install the browser extension, and when you're browsing, sometimes it'll even pop up and say, hey, on this site, you get 10% cash back. You click the link, it refreshes the page, and now 10% of that purchase, you get back. So that's the general principle. However, if you just commit to only use racketon, yes, it's a little simpler and not complicated. And mostly that's what I'm doing. But if I'm making a big purchase and I could buy it at the same price from 10 different retailers, I go to a site called Cashback Monitor where you can basically look and see what is the best place to get cashback for certain types of purchases.

Starting point is 00:16:58 For example, or where do I even credit it? So like, let's take, for example, I'm at Cashback Monitor right now and I'm saying I'm going to go to Target. Actually, let's use something that's a little bit like more obscure that you might be buying from. So let's say Chewy, which is like a place that you can buy dog food. food and that kind of stuff. And it's like, well, if you go to Racketon, you're not even going to get any cashback. I don't even see them on this list. But if you go to top cash back, you're going to get 4%. And if you go to the American Advantage shopping portal, you'll get one mile per dollar. And if you go to the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, you'll get two points per dollar. And so for

Starting point is 00:17:35 different retailers, the best place to funnel your cash back might be something else. So I always like to check if you're about to spend a lot of money, where can you get the most cash back. Okay, so to Rapid Fire, so I'm going to buy something online. Yes, I'm going to get the most cashback. Yes, I'm going to find the place with the best price. Yes, I'm going to use the card that gives me the most points so that I earn that also because all these things stack, right? You can stack earning points on your card, earning cashback on a site like Racketon or another

Starting point is 00:18:04 one you find on cashback monitor. Yes, I'm going to see if there's a coupon. There's a bunch of browser extensions to find coupon codes. If you can't find one, just live chat the site and be like, hey, are there any offers? and sometimes they'll say, oh, we have a 10% off coupon. Let me apply it to your cart, which has happened to me. Or, oh, here's go. Someone once told me, we don't have any discount codes.

Starting point is 00:18:25 But if you just search on Twitter, you'll probably find people sharing our referral codes, which give you 20% off. And I was like, oh, I didn't think about that. I'm embarrassed that I didn't think about that, given what I do for a living. But so I'm just going to stack all these. And on the rare occasion, there are comp sites. The ones I know most are Home Depot, Lowe's, and Crate and Barrel, where you can get all these coupons when you change your address or when you attend a webinar or something.

Starting point is 00:18:50 And people that don't want to go through the process of this sell them online. And so there is this website. I'm going to check if it still exists called Save N, the letter N deals.com. I have no affiliation with this site at all. And I don't even know if it's still around. But it is. And you can go buy a $10 off or 20% off Lowe's coupon. And they're usually not that expensive.

Starting point is 00:19:12 So 15% off coupon for Home Depot is, well, this one's $24. So that's more than I thought. But you could buy these coupons. So if you're going to go buy patio furniture like we were and you're going to spend hundreds of dollars and you can go buy a coupon that'll save you 10% for a few bucks, might be worth it. And so my goal is relative to how much you're spending put in the effort to see how many kind of deals and discounts you can stack.

Starting point is 00:19:41 And if you do it right, you buy it. it at the cheaper place, you got the cash back, you use the best credit card to earn the most points, and you went ahead and found a coupon to get the best price within that store. What percentage total savings is this on average for you? I would say at most you'll probably get, let's say, 30 to 40% off. And on average, it might be, let's call it five to 10. Okay. So this is very serious, serious dollars here. Especially, you know, if you're, you know, especially if you're spending a lot of money on travel on a big repair project. This is a real estate tips, right?

Starting point is 00:20:22 You're doing a big remodel. These are huge potential savings. This is where we did it. The biggest one was we bought a toto Japanese toilet seat from Lowe's. And it was cashback plus bought the Lowe's gift cards on Amazon because we have an Amazon credit card that gets 5% off Amazon. And all the credit cards we had for that we could use at Lowe's. were like at most two points. So we bought all our Lowe's gift cards on Amazon to get 5% off. We used a coupon that we bought to get a 15% off. And then we found a cashback thing for,

Starting point is 00:20:52 I think at the time, three or four percent off. So stacked it all together. I think we saved 25-ish percent, including cashback off, you know, a much more expensive toilet than the average person would buy. But, you know, it was the one luxury we wanted in our bathroom remodel. Tax season is one of the only times all year when most people actually look their full financial picture, including income, spending, savings, investments, the whole thing. And if you're like most folks, it can be a little eye-opening. That's why I like Monarch. It helps you see exactly where your money is going, and more importantly, where your tax refund can make the biggest impact. Because the goal isn't just to look backward, it's to actually make

Starting point is 00:21:27 progress. Simplify your finances with Monarch. Monarch is the all-in-one personal finance tool designed to make your life easier. It brings your entire financial life, including budgeting, accounts and investments, net worth, and future planning together in one dashboard on your phone or your laptop. Feel aware and in control of your finances this tax season and get 50% off your Monarch subscription with the code Pockets. What I personally like is that Monarch keeps you focused on achieving, not just tracking. You can see your budgets, debt payoff, savings goals, and net worth all in one place. So every decision actually moves the needle. Achieve your financial goals for good with Monarch, the all in one tool that makes money management simple. Use the code Pockets at

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Starting point is 00:24:26 it's all under one roof. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk. Business. You brought up gift cards and that is where I wanted to go next because there's a lot of us that are shipping gifts when we're not going to that side of the family for the year or I just don't know what to get to and a gift card gets everybody. Are there any hacks for purchasing gift cards either for you to use or to gift?

Starting point is 00:25:01 And can you double dip those with credit card point? You can. The hack there would be, you could go to, let's say you have an Amex gold card, which gives four points on groceries. Or there's a, I can't remember which Chase Inc card gets 5x on office supply stores. Or there's like the Wyndham, the Wyndham business earner card gets eight points per dollar on gas stations. All and I said Amazon gives you 5% back on Amazon. All of those cards work at places that sell gift cards. So, you know, I wouldn't necessarily buy the gift card on the website of the company as much as I would go to the grocery store and buy the gift card for four points per dollar with my gold amex or to the office supply store with a card that gives 5% back at office supply stores. So if I'm going to buy a gift card, I'm going to find a place that sells that gift card at, you know, a retailer that I get more cash back on. A lot of the coupons don't work. So if you're going online buying a coupon, you know, you're not going to get 10% off buying a

Starting point is 00:26:02 gift card with a coupon. So that's not really an option. Well, let's keep going with more of these rapid fire tips. What else? I mean, is there more? I guess a couple things. So one, depending on the family member, I would say definitely consider whether it's worth looking into used gifts.

Starting point is 00:26:22 And I know this sounds like maybe not that classy or not that great. But I'm going to. push back a little bit. So I needed to buy a new camera. And so I wanted this particular camera for, I have a little studio back here. We did a couple in-person interviews. It was like $700 at Best Buy or anywhere you buy it online plus tax. And it ended up being about $800. And I was looking on Facebook Marketplace and there was someone that had the camera inbox didn't want to pay the restocking fee and was selling it for $600. So saved about $200 on a camera. And And did it come with the gift receipt?

Starting point is 00:27:00 No. You know, was it completely unopened and never used? No. But maybe the savings you would get for buying a gift like that for someone lets you give them a gift that is far better than the gift they would have gotten. And so if I had gotten that same camera, but not with the box and maybe a couple years old, maybe it would have been 400 bucks. So if you were looking to get someone a gift, I would say know your audience.

Starting point is 00:27:25 but there are a lot of savings to be had buying things secondhand that being secondhand doesn't really matter. You know, like a new bicycle for your kids. You know, our daughter has a womb bike, which is these very expensive children's bicycles, but way less expensive if you buy them online. In fact, I think that I found a deal on one. I found a deal so good that we bought the next one.

Starting point is 00:27:51 So one that she's not going to need for like a year or two is sitting in our basement. Thank goodness she doesn't listen to this podcast. But we already have her gift for like Christmas 2024 or birthday 2024, 2025 because we found such a good deal on it and it's in great shape. Does it come in the box? Does she get to put it together? No. Does she care? No? Like she's excited to get a bicycle. So I, if you plan in advance and you're not scrambling at the last minute and you're thinking about this throughout the year, oh, wow. And this is a great example because these bikes have sequences. They're like the womb two, the womb three, the womb four. Like, if you know you're going to want to

Starting point is 00:28:28 get one of these in the next 12 months, just keep an eye on it, see a good deal, scoop it up. There's an extension for the browser called Keepa, which will show you like, how is the price trended on Amazon? So sometimes you'll be like, wow, this thing's always $20 and right now it's $30. Like, maybe I should wait a little bit. Or it's always $50 and right now it's $30, I should buy it. And so, again, I think, you know, planning ahead is a great. way to save on all of this, both on flights, travel, gifts. I don't know. Maybe it could be cool to share a few, any other ideas people have, whether they're gifts or experiences. I'm going to be writing and emailing out probably before this goes live, a All the Hacks gift guide. I did one last year.

Starting point is 00:29:11 There's probably 20 or 30 things on it that throughout the year I've thought, wow, this makes a great gift. Wow, this is really a cool experience. I'm going to put it at all the hacks.com slash gift guide. because I haven't put it there yet, but that URL redirect. But to the extent either of you have ideas here, I'm curious if there are a few things around the house or that you've bought or used or love could be clothes, could be gadgets, could be practical things, that you'd be like, wow, this makes a great gift. My mother-in-law is a really great gift giver. And she got me a knife that I never would have bought myself. It is, I swear it never needs sharpening. but it does actually need sharpening.

Starting point is 00:29:55 It's an amazing knife and it stays sharp forever. And then, you know, when it cites to get a little bit dull, I give it a couple of swipes on my samurai shark knife sharpener. And then it's like really, really sharp. It's like the best knife I have ever used in my whole life. I love to cook. And this, I open it up and I was like, oh, it's a knife. And then I started cutting it.

Starting point is 00:30:16 I'm like, oh, it's really a knife. I better like, you know, tuck my fingers back so I don't cut off my fingertips. And it was such a great. gift for somebody who cooks, it was fantastic. It was probably really expensive and I never even asked how much it was. And pajama pants because I'm always cold. Yeah, my gift is Viori joggers, which are like not pajama pants, but like the most uncomfortable, comfortable soft joggers in various styles that we've given lots of times for the holidays. But I've got a few others. I, because I am writing this gift guide, I put, I like, I have some thoughts. So I'm going to share a few more,

Starting point is 00:30:53 while Scott comes up with a few. I'm going to inspire you. So the number one clicked gift in the email I did last year for the gift guide was a Coravin, which is a wine tool where you can basically take a wine bottle and it sticks a needle through the cork, lets you pour out a glass or two of wine, and then takes it off and the cork reseals. So you can, and it replaces as you're pouring some, I think it's argon gas in the bottle. So basically, let's say you don't want to drink an entire bottle. You got a nice bottle of wine. You want to have a glass or two. You don't need to open it. And so you could pour out two glasses and then six months later pour out two more glasses. And it's a few hundred dollars. So it's like a, you know, definitely not a cheap gift to throw in a stocking. But it was the number one pick. Not the number one pick, but at least from link click data. It was the thing more people clicked on in the last one on the, on the, The less expensive side, a lot of people enjoyed, I sent a link to this company, Whiskey River Soap,

Starting point is 00:31:59 which makes candles, but they have, like, slightly, like, inappropriate and funny sayings on the candles. So I will send people to their website. They are great, like, funny gifts. And there's probably a candle that, like, expresses that feeling that someone in your family has. Okay. People love their pets. If you can get a picture of their pet, There's this site. I forget what it's called, but you have a, you can put the pets picture in like a fancy suit or in like a historical regalia or whatever. And it's just hilarious.

Starting point is 00:32:32 And they get like a huge painting of their pet that they didn't have to figure out where they're going to put in the house. Plus one to Scott's suggestion. One of our favorite family board games is coup. I don't know if anyone's ever played this game. It's a up to six people. If you've ever played mafia or werewolves in like a large group, it's kind of a I don't even know how to explain it, but it's a little bit of bluffing, but because it's quick and fun,

Starting point is 00:32:57 we were bringing this card game. We went on a family trip to the beach, and we just brought the card game. It's like, oh, waiting for our table at dinner, playing coup, sitting on the beach, playing coup, sitting in the lobby waiting for someone to come down, playing coup. I'll give you one more here. We have a game that we play as a family called One Night Ultimate Werewolf, which is just very fun. It's kind of like one person's the bad guy, and you've got to figure out who they are and everyone has to deceive each other with it.

Starting point is 00:33:19 If you like One Night Ultimate Werewolf, you will love Koo. They're in the same family of bluffing and deception. It doesn't work well if you have a very sensitive family because you're calling each other out all the time. But if you can get over that, I think it's great. Yeah, those are fun. I'm going to pick that one up this year for the holidays. That's great. $13 in Amazon, but I'm going to beat that price as a personal challenge with your

Starting point is 00:33:42 suggestion. Yeah. I don't know if 13 is worth your time yet. Wait, wait for the big ticket. If you're going to buy the Coravin, maybe shop around and see if you can save some money. Well, Chris, this has been really informative. Thank you so much for coming back on the show and sharing a lot of these tips. There's a worldview that goes into the way you approach this kind of stuff, which is already, you know, maximizing for happiness.

Starting point is 00:34:05 And it comes with a lower price tag in a general sense. And then a really great tactical approach to optimizing at each stage when you do have to spend money. So I think it's really admirable. It's probably saving a lot of people. a lot of time of money and helping them be happier in the process and really appreciate you coming on and sharing your energy and wisdom with us today on the show. Yeah, thanks for having me. And I would just encourage everyone, find a way to make the holidays about what you really want it to be about. Take five minutes before you even think about saving money, spending money or anything and say,

Starting point is 00:34:35 what do we want to get out of this holiday season? And if it's more time with family, propose that that be the focus of it. If it's giving back, make that be the focus of it. If it's both, then go volunteer with your family and make it about spending time. with your family and giving back. So I would say, think about what you want the holidays to be before you jump into the tactics of ways to save money on it and everything else. Chris, I love that. I take more notes when you're on the show than when anybody else is on the show. Well, thank you for having me. And thank you, everybody, for joining us. Thank you, Chris. And where can people find you when they're done with you on our show? Yeah, all the hacks is the podcast. You can

Starting point is 00:35:14 search for that wherever you are. And since we're talking about the holidays, I'll go put the gift guide up at all the hacks.com slash gift guide by the time this episode airs. Awesome. Thank you so much, Chris, and we'll talk to you soon. Thanks for having me. Holy cat, Scott. I'm not kidding. Whenever Chris is on this show, I am taking note after note after note. That was a super fun episode. Yeah, I mean, he's just a wealth of knowledge on this stuff. You can tell he treats it like a sport or a passion here to go and find all of these little intricacies in ways to make more money, save more money. or reframe certain situations to ways that are more fun and cheaper and more cost effective.

Starting point is 00:35:53 So really admire his passion and energy for this. And my wheels are spinning and turning after that conversation. I got a lot to think through about this holiday season and how to maximize the stuff that he told us. Yes, that is a lot of information that we just got from Chris. And he's, I think you said it best, Scott. He treats it like a sport. and he's very competitive. He is going to win.

Starting point is 00:36:20 So we always love when Chris has some fabulous suggestions for us. I want to hear from you, our dear listener. At the end of this episode, Chris was asking us about really great gifts. I want to hear what your really great gifts are. What's your go-to gift for people when you are giving gifts or what is a really great gift that you have gotten? So please share with us either email Mindy at Biggerpockets.com. Scott at biggerpockets.com or go to our Facebook group.

Starting point is 00:36:52 Facebook.com slash groups slash BP money and share in the question that I will post at the top of the group this morning the day that this episode comes out. All right, Scott, should we get out of here? Let's do it. That wraps up this fantastic holiday hacks episode of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. He is Scott Trench and I am Mindy Jensen saying, don't be a stranger ranger. If you enjoyed today's episode, please give us a five-star review on Spotify or Apple. And if you're looking for even more money content, feel free to visit our YouTube channel at YouTube.com slash bigger pockets money.

Starting point is 00:37:29 Bigger Pockets Money was created by Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench, produced by Kailen Bennett, editing by Exodus Media, copywriting by Nate Weintraub. Lastly, a big thank you to the Bigger Pockets team for making this show possible.

BiggerPockets Money Podcast - 473: Holiday Shopping Hacks That’ll Save You Hundreds (or Thousands) This Season

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