She's On The Money - Jingle Bells, High Cost Of Living Smells!

Episode Date: December 21, 2023

Merry Christmas angels! It's the Friday before Christmas and all through the SOTM house...we are celebrating your money wins, looking at some broke tips, and the gals answer a Money Dilemma about how to best funnel your savings. PLUS, you slid into our DMs about that family member who just wants cash when it comes to gift giving time. Is this awkward or practical? The gals have thoughts! Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kurni, Wolperi and Awadjuri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjuri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

Hello and welcome to She's On The Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Today, my friends, it is Friday. It is one of our favorite days of the week. So it is time to get my little team together and celebrate you, our gorgeous She's On The Money community. Today, Ms. Jessica Ritchie is going to be sharing her favorite money wins. Bex Syed, who is very husky, is going to be sharing her best broke tips. And we're going to be helping to answer a juicy money dilemma, which this week is all about deciding how to funnel your savings. Then, on the other side of the show, we are going to be unpacking something you slid into our DMs about. This week, we're talking about Christmas gift etiquette.

Before we get any further into the show, Miss Jessica Ricci, how has your week been going? Oh no, I feel like this year, you're so ready to write off. Yeah, I was going to say, I think I'm just teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown. But aren't we all at this time of year, right? Yes, absolutely. Like, I'm done with this year. 2023 can get in the bin.

I'm so ready for 2024. I agree. I just, yeah, I'm a bit done. Me too. I ripped my pants this morning and that just really, like. How? Two minutes ago? On that thing.

There's a big hole. How does this happen to you? On my butt. Oh, my gosh. And I'm so upset because these are my favourite LSKD pants. You should colour the bum in with black texture. That's what Bex said. She's like just cuddly as can.

Yeah, Bec's free broke tip. She's like, colour your skin in with a permanent marker and you won't be able to see. It's giving season. I'm going to. They're brown, not black, though. That's the only one. Get a different texture, Jessica.

If anyone in the office has a brown texture, I'll borrow it. I'll slide into LSKD's DMs and be like, hi, so those brown flare leggings that you used to make. I think they don't sell them anymore. No, that's my mate. I know they don't sell them anymore because I wanted a pair and they're sold out. So rude.

But I'll slide into their DMs and be like, excuse me, do you have any floating around to the office? Do you have a staff member that was gifted them and doesn't wear them enough to deserve to keep them? I'll buy them secondhand. I love them. Yeah, we don't even care. Oh, well.

I can stitch them up for you. Thanks, Mum. That's cute. I feel like leggings stitched up, it's hard, but we can definitely do it. Yeah. Anyway, how are your pants, Bec? My pants are currently stained as usual, but otherwise hole-less.

Hole-less. They are. I'm impressed. I'm really sorry in advance to everyone listening. I've lost my voice. I think it's what you had, V. Yeah, I think bronchitis is definitely going around. I think so.

I mean, I'm going to say I sounded even better than you did. I usually love a husky voice. I rate it. I don't know if you like this one. No, no, no, no, no. Like I sounded worse. Like I wasn't trying to say, oh, I sounded so sexy with a husky voice. I actually sounded like a demonic demon.

That's hot. Yeah. Yeah, like I was trying to get through the week, the other week, and Maddie called me in the morning and was like, hey, this is what we're going to do today. Like, any questions, Farrah? And I started talking and she was like, right, I'm calling your producer, Annalisa,

because there's no way you're allowed on the show. And I was like, but I want to go here. And she was like, absolutely not. You don't even sound sexy. You sound disgusting. And I was like, you know what? I appreciate an honest team. That's fair.

Yeah. But no, my week's been otherwise good. I feel like my symptoms physically are not really there. I literally just have no voice. And so what do I do with myself? But the week's been great. You know, it's festive season. I'm feeling so excited.

Yay. So festive. So festive. How about you, V? I'm honestly same as Jess. I mean, probably haven't been thrown under the buses many times by the world as Jess in the last few weeks. I don't know what I did. Look, at least you're acknowledging it.

Like, I don't know what you did in a past life, but it was bad juju, Jessica. Yeah. Why is it happening right now? It's all compounding. They're giving me a mental breakdown. The Gatorade is in the microwave with you. My week has been good. You know, the lead up to Christmas, I feel like there's a lot of pressure to have already organized all your Christmas presents. Like I'm seeing it on TikTok and like, don't get me wrong. Like I haven't organized all of my Christmas presents yet. But in my head, leaving Christmas shopping to the last minute actually means doing all your Christmas shopping like Sunday, so like the day before Christmas or like, you know,

on Christmas Eve. Like to me that's last minute. If you're buying presents in the week leading up to Christmas, like, mate, you're prepared. Yeah, that's organised. In my head you're prepared. That's organised. So I feel like there's a lot of, I don't know, I'm on TikTok

and they're like, if you haven't organised all your presents by now, you're behind. I'm like, sir, I'm blocking you. I don't need that type of energy right now. No. Yeah. Also personally I'm not doing gifts. Also, I am the gift.

Bye. Exactly. That's the thing. No physical gifts. No physical gifts from you. I don't think so. I rate that. Yeah, I think that's great.

Maybe chockies at most. Yeah, well, you gave us a chockie just before, which was very, very nice. We'll talk about that later in the show, though, because we're going to talk about Christmas gift etiquette. Yes. And I would love to know your thoughts on that. But before we get there, that's the other half of the show, guys. Stop getting ahead of yourselves.

I'm just too excited. We get to hear from Miss Jess Griechi what her favourite community money wins were. So, Jess, what money wins or confessions have you got to share this week? Starting off with a slightly self-indulgent one from Anna, which says, Oh, really? Money win, it's taken me the better part of this year, but I finally listened to every She's on the Money and Business Bible episode. Oh, my gosh.

I've made so many changes in my life with more to come next year to put myself and my children in a far better financial standing. Adore, but also I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Well done, Anna. That is a lot of episodes. That is so, that's like 500 plus episodes. So many episodes. Incredible work.

Next, I've got one from Rebecca who said, I did a huge Christmas grocery shop today and I spent no money. I redeemed my Flybuys points, which I've been collecting for the year, to pay for it after saving over $300 worth. And then she gave us a cheeky pro tip to get a OnePass membership because you get free shipping and bonus Flybuys points at Kmart, Bunnings, etc. And it adds up really quickly. Whoa.

Sleigh. Big sleigh. That's incredible. Next, I've got one from Domenica, and I kind of just have questions because she said. You're like, I have questions. This is why it's going on the show. You're going to have questions too.

She said, I picked up three extra shifts at work, which was an extra $3,000. I'm sorry, what? You are correct. Sign me up. You are correct. I have questions. Domenica, are you recruiting?

Because I would love. Jessica is currently doing, what are you doing, Jess? A $1,000 challenge at the moment on TikTok, which is very cool, very creative. I'm also like, excuse me, are you not getting paid enough at She's On The Money? But okay, sis. So she's trying to save $1,000 in the next month.

She could just do one of Dometica's shifts. Yes, seriously. Here's me trying to be creative and I'm recycling bottles and returning, like I'm trying to survey. She's hustling to meet her savings goals, which we honestly respect, mad respect, but then Dometica's like, oh, yeah, by the way, I do that in one shift at work. Yeah, wow.

Domenica, you can't just drop that and then not tell us what you do for work because I cannot think of a job that has a $1,000 shift that you can just pick up if you want, Jess. Maybe announcer. Yeah, I'm going to head back to announcer. Like a radio announcer or something. Maybe. Domenica, are you famous?

Are you famous? We're going to go back to the comments because I'm sure Domenica's going to let us know what she does. Come on, Domenica. And I'll be sliding into her DMs. Just kidding. Just kidding. Can you not slide into Jessica's DMs? I actually want to keep her on the team.

Next, I've got a money win from Phoebe who said, I didn't order any Uber Eats last week. Good for you, Phoebe. Simple but a good one, I think. Can't relate. Yeah, I love that. No, I also can't relate. This time of year.

Sorry. All bets are out the window. Next, I've got a money win from Sinead who said, Win, I got three Squishmallows at the Salvos for $2 instead of paying $35 each at the shops. Everyone's happy. Jess, do you remember last year when we were like shopping, Christmas shopping together and we could not find the Squishmallow she wanted.

Yes. We went to like every single shop finding Squishmallows for, I think it was your niece. My nieces. What's a Squishmallow? It's like a giant toy. They're like squishy plushies. Plushy toy. Cute.

Okay. They look like a marshmallow. Yeah, kind of. They do all different. Oh my God. This is such a side note. They do all different characters. I've ended up on Jellycat TikTok.

Is anyone else there? What? I'm there. I'm there. Oh my God. The Jellycat Christmas tree. I want to do one so bad. So jellycats are like a bougie as toy and they do these like really fun.

Oh, my, they're adorable. I'll show you a photo. They're like 50 bucks a toy bag and they're a soft toy. They do a marshmallow. That's what I think of it. They do like a little set of marshmallow twins that are really cute. They do little croissants. Oh, our producer's showing us right now.

That's very cute. But it's one of those things that great gift would not pay full price for it. No. Yeah, no way. But I just want to say, Sinead, I highly rate the idea of getting your gifts at the op shop for Christmas. Yeah, that's genius. Agreed. That's absolutely genius.

What else have you got, Jess? That's actually it. I thought a good one to wrap it up with a little Christmas win. Love. Great idea. Love. All right, Bec, you gave us the broke tip earlier of just colouring in your skin when you rip your leggings.

And that was really, really good. One that I will, in fact, probably take you up on. Yes. But I'm not actually going to be letting you use that as your one of three today. So what broke tips are you bringing to the table this week? Okay. So I'm going to do my very best and sorry in advance for the listeners who are so sick of my voice right now.

No, they all love it. We're assuming they love it. Okay. We're assuming they love it. So my first one comes from Saz who says, the grass is currently seeding right now so you can mow it, scatter the seeds on patchy parts of your lawn and it works really well. That's something I never knew. That's something I would make my husband do, let's be honest.

The feminism leaves my body when things like this need to be done. That is my boyfriend's job. We have this argument every week because I'm like, the lawn needs to be mowed. And he's like, okay, well, then mow the lawn, just to be, like, annoying. Because he's like, well, when are you going to mow? Do you know what I mean? And I'm like, never.

Well, I would actually riot because I know how much housework Jess does. So I'd be like, really? We're going to play this game, are we? He knows that the lawn is his job. I'm like, that is in our household. It's just not mine. And that's all I know. I'm a staunch feminist.

Like, obviously, I'm just like, no, there's no such thing as men and women jobs. like absolutely not equal pay all of that you guys I'm assuming know me well enough by now to know my thoughts on that the second you step inside my house we have pink and blue jobs yeah I will not take out the bin I will not be mowing the lawns doing anything to clean the back deck are you joking sorry that's not in my wheelhouse that's a blue job it's a blue job I mean technically I have to because you know okay yeah how does that work in a same-sex couple well oh you just have to take one for the team and actually mow the lawn yeah which really sucks or you just call

the dude to do it yeah that's smart that's when the feminism leaves your body leaves my body that's okay i'm all right with that yeah it's a really good tip though thank you yes i mean well thank you saz the next one comes from emily who says that the hungry jacks app have a shake and win game where you get two chances to win something or get it cheap like a cheeseburger nuggets which is Like, obviously, you know, again, as I always say, like, sometimes if you don't have money, you're literally just trying to survive. Or if you're trying to treat yourself, low budget, you know, whatever your situation might be.

Yeah. This is really, this is a great idea. So you might have, like, a free burger one day or a free small fry. So smart. Awesome. I just think it's really cool. I might actually download this. I think you should download it and try it.

One of my favorite things in the entire world is actually, this is niche. Jessica, I think it was you and I recently, semi-recently discovered this. Hungry Jack's chips slap. Oh, they're so good. Why are they so good? They're super good. They're like, I don't know how to explain it, but if we were talking about like how skinny a McDonald's French fry is

and then how fat a KFC chip is, it's in the middle. It's in the middle. It's in the middle. Yeah. It's in the middle. How did they do that? I don't know, but it's wizardry and they are really good. They're really good.

They're delish. Niche because I don't think many people are like, oh, yeah, Hungry Jack's is my favourite fast food. Yeah, I've never heard anyone say that. The chips are the best. And their vegan burgers are really good. Their vegan burgers are actually good, good. Really, really good.

We're not being paid by Hungry Jacks, but honestly. No, not yet. Hungry Jacks, if you wanted to pay us, we'd eat burgers on the show. 100%. I would be very okay with that. Yeah. Me too. Is this because we're all low-key real hungry?

Yeah. I think we're literally, we're all just like, ooh. It's end of year. We're all a little bit sick. Let's go get Hungry Jacks after this. We're recording and I'm literally, guys, just sitting here thinking, Oh, I wonder if the cafe downstairs, because under our studio there is a cafe called Little Nookie, which we love, but they do these feta and pumpkin, like, little egg muffins, and

Bec, you saw me eating one the other day, and it was really, really good, and I have dreamt about them since. There is going to be an actual riot if I go down there and there's none. Fair. I really want to see that. Yeah, okay. We'll get a coffee. I will literally flip a table or something.

I hope so. I'm pregnant, I'm hungry, and you said I could have pumpkin. It's the end of your energy. But we'll be like, you can't lift anything heavy, we'll flip the table for you. Okay, that's so kind. All right, Bec, what is your broke tip? Okay, so my one, I actually was inspired by Jessica Ritchie this time. Oh, hello.

Recycling bottles and cans. And now in Victoria we can do that. So I'm taking a page out of your book and also my mum, when we lived in Sydney together, I would go and do this occasionally. And honestly, we'd rack up like $10, $20, which is enough. Honestly, that's such a good money win. It's so good. That's a whole bloody dinner.

It is. It's sometimes even like depending on your situation, if you're like a single person, that could be a week's worth of food for you. Exactly. So I think this is, yeah, just such a great like way to recycle and make money and buy yourself some groceries. Yeah. Can I add on to it?

Please. I would say, like, collecting the bottles, ask people around you because at this time of year, people have bottles and cans they want to get rid of. They're hosting parties and their recycling bin is overflowing. So if you go to a friend's house and they do a thing and you're helping clean up. Do you want me to take all of the recycling home for you?

Yeah. Like, literally, I'd just be like, oh, I'm doing the recycling thing. It's really fun. I'm loving it. Like, do you want me to take your cans? And nine times out of ten, they'll say yes. Also, the workplace. The work.

Because people don't want to have to take the work bin out. So if you have a recycling bin, no shame. I already told Jessica we should be going in to the studio's kitchen and putting her own bin in there for cans and bottles and then just collecting it when we come in to record. Scavenge through like a little raccoon. Don't be ashamed because like you said. Don't be ashamed to be a raccoon.

No. So true. A recycling raccoon. You're doing good for the environment. And they're all so really cute. They are super cute. I'm not mad about being a raccoon. But when we were in America and we were talking to people about raccoons

because I didn't get to see one and I was really sad, I did see a squirrel and I cried. A squirrel. Oh, my gosh, Bec, it was the best moment of my entire life. But I said I wanted to see a raccoon because I was like, those are really cute. And every American that I said that to would give me side eye and be like, what is wrong with you?

Why would you want to see, like, a bin bear? What is wrong with you? It's like their version of the bin chicken. Yeah, they're like, why would you want to see a bin bear? And I'm like, have you seen them? Like, they are very cute. They are really cute, yeah. Well, Bec, those are good broke tips.

Thank you so much. I like that. Let's go to a really quick break. And on the flip side, we're going to be talking about how to decide where to funnel your savings. And then we're going to get into Christmas gift etiquette, what it means, how it works, and talk about a little spicy question one of you wrote in for us about that topic. So guys, don't go anywhere. Welcome back, everybody. Let's take a listen to this week's Money Dilemma. hi there have you got a money dilemma you just can't solve the she's on the money team is here to help every week we tackle your dilemmas both big and small to answer your most burning money

career and life questions to get involved simply head to our website and leave us a short voice recording and you might just find yourself on the show now let's take a listen to this week's money dilemma hi she's on the money my partner and i are about to purchase a home and we're thinking about how to best use the money available each week for savings now it's not going towards a house deposit. At this stage it's about $500 a week and we'd like to use some of it to make extra mortgage repayments and some of it to set up an investment portfolio. We don't have any consumer debt and we do have an emergency fund. My question is how do we make a decision about splitting money between investing and extra mortgage repayments? My partner would like to

put most of the money on the mortgage but I'm worried about making sure we put enough in investments as we are already in our mid-30s and don't yet have an investment portfolio and I want to make sure we are setting ourselves up for the future. Really looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Luckily for this one, I can rest my voice because I assume Vicky D has the answers. Nah, never. Jess, what would you do? I mean, it's value-based spending, right? Partially. I feel like you would have to, ideally, you'd do the math. So you'd look at maybe our favourite compound interest calculator on the Money Smart website and chuck in how much you could potentially earn on investing over 30 years or however long the term of your mortgage is. And then you would

compare that to how much interest you would save by making those extra mortgage repayments, right? Which is like the practical... See, I'm just not needed on this show. Yeah, wow. That's the brain way. It's fine. But it comes down to values, I feel like is what you would say, right? Yeah, exactly. So I'll just see myself out. Should I walk you downstairs? Yeah, if that's okay. No worries. Can I grab my bag before I leave?

Oh, no, no, we'll send it to you. Thank you. Could you just pack up my desk? Yes, we can do that. Be really gentle with all the plants. I can't promise anything. I don't know how to work out the mortgage interest thing, though, so you can't go, sorry.

Oh, okay. Well, I finally have value in life. She's back. You are absolutely correct. It's really about values-based spending, and what it sounds like is your values are building an investment portfolio and your husband's values are paying down the mortgage. And I think we actually, before we talk about returns, need to step back a little bit and go, well, why does he have, I guess, not a fixation, but where are his values coming from when he says he wants to pay down the mortgage?

Because obviously that feels very financially secure. So, you know, Jess, I can almost guarantee, this is just a values thing, knowing her when she has her mortgage, she's going to prioritize her mortgage guaranteed over the share market because that's what's going to make her feel safe and secure. And I know Jess well enough to know those are her values. Those could be your husband's values. And that's great. But we need to talk about this and also respect it because it's not, quote, which one is better?

Let's ask she's on the money. They'll know. I can tell you on paper which one is better. Investment portfolio hands down. The average annual return over a 30-year period for the Australian share market right now is 9.2%. Your average mortgage is sitting at about five. So if we go is getting a 5% return because I paid off more of my mortgage better than getting a 9.2% return, Jessica, the math maths and tells us that technically on paper, the best return for your cashola is the 9.2%. However, that doesn't mean that aligns to your goals and your values and your financial security and what you're trying to

achieve. Maybe one of your big financial goals, like Jess's, is to own your own property. And I can almost guarantee she wants to own that outright pretty quickly. Am I on the right track there, Jess? Yeah, I think so. I think it's, for me, it would just be a security thing. It's the thought. Yeah, security. It's not about not knowing the maths. Like Jess invests now and I think she wouldn't stop. No. But I think that you would, you know, really prioritize making sure that mortgage is smashed down and it's out of your hair. For you, it's always been about like having your own home. And interest is a bit sickening when you look at like if you run the numbers on how much extra you pay. Like I get that you have to, there's no way out of it, but

oh, it makes me feel ill. Yeah, don't even start me. Like it's terrifying. But I think really understanding what that looks like. You've got some extra, you know, cash flow, that's fantastic. But what are we doing now? You mentioned you already have an emergency fund. I'm glad you did because that obviously would have been the first thing that I spoke about. She preempted you. She knew what you were going to say. She knew. But also, is your emergency fund working hard for you? Is it like offsetting any of the interest on your mortgage? Where's your emergency fund sitting? Is it just sitting where you used to have your emergency fund before you had a mortgage? What does that look like? How

can we make that money work as hard for us as we did for it? So then after that, we're looking at, you know, do we go into an investment portfolio? Do we go into a mortgage? And to be honest, because there's two people in this relationship, we kind of need to always have compromise. So having a deep conversation with your husband about, well, why are you prioritizing this? Let's have a look at the numbers. What does that look like? Maybe he's just never invested before and didn't realize what that looked like. Do what Jess said, go on the Money Smart website and have a look at that compound interest calculator. There are also so many calculators online for mortgage repayments. So you could Google free mortgage repayment calculator and see what that money

would shave off your mortgage. How many years is that going to take? If you're in the she's on the money, money masterclass, girl, I already did it for you. It's built into the spreadsheet because I'm just really smart, babe. She's so smart. That spreadsheet. I definitely do not have any tickets on myself either. So like, that's really good. You always want to like work with people who are super humble. Totally. She's so humble. I think that's so important. But yeah, I would have a look at, well, what would it look like? Let's pretend you have an extra $300 a month. What would an extra $300 a month actually take off our mortgage versus what would it look like in an investment portfolio? What are the returns? But also,

when will you finish your mortgage? Because if you're planning on finishing your mortgage and chucking every single dollar to that, are you then only starting your investment journey in 25 or 30 years? If so, how much time do you have for that to compound? Or, you know, if it's 300 bucks a month, could we split it? Could we potentially go half-half? Again, as Jess was saying, it is values-based. It's not often logic-based because money is inherently emotional. That's my TED Talk. Thanks for coming. You're so welcome. You've been a stellar guest. Thank you so much. Not to hurry us along, but I really want to get to this yeah because you're like a little christmas fairy yes and it's a good one this

week not that it isn't every week it's a good one every week but also anything that has anything to do with christmas like jess's ears just prick up she's having a bad day be like jess remember christmas exists and she's like i don't even care that my house flooded literally i love christmas all right guys here is the dm we received hello she's on the money i have a christmas dilemma for you. So my siblings and I have put a hundred dollar spending limit on presents for each other this year. However, my sister has come back and requested, more of a demand if I'm being brutally honest, that we just transfer her the $100 rather than buying herself a gift with it. Now, I don't know if it's just me, but this doesn't sit right. I'm more than happy to be in the Christmas spirit

and spend the money on a nice present that I think she would love. But I don't really want to transfer $100. It feels like I'm just giving my money away. She said she doesn't want or need any gifts and would just much prefer the cash. She also said she would return my present and get a refund so she can have the cash if I gave her one. I think she's being super ungrateful, but I mentioned it to my friend and she just said if cash is what she needs, it's not rude to ask for that over a gift. Now, I'm not sure what to think. What are your thoughts on this? This is like what we were talking about a couple of weeks ago with wedding gifts and I said the same thing.

I was like I get why people ask for money but for some reason something in me feels a little bit uncomfy about it. Sure. And I think it's partially, I said this already, but I think it's partially like the fact that they know exactly what you've spent. Yes. Do you know what I mean?

Like if you're buying a gift to someone, you can try to get it on sale or you can use ShopBack to get cash back or there are all of these ways for you to make it a little bit easier. Like, if you're giving someone $100, like, you're giving them $100. There's not really a whole lot of ways around that. Why are we doing gifts? Oh, yeah. Like, you know, Jess, if you and I sat down and put a limit on the gifts that we were giving each other

and I said, let's do $100, and you said, yep, no worries, can I have it in cash? What, are we just swapping $100? Well, that's so true. Like, a little switcheroo. Yeah, true. Like, I'm going to give you $100 cash, Jess, and you're going to buy me something worth $100. Like, please don't get me wrong, I'm always super grateful for it, but I think it changes the dynamic of, like,

the spirit of giving at Christmas. Like, I love buying gifts for people. I know Jess does too. And you do too. I've noticed your little love language is gifts. Like, it's very, very sweet. But it's also one of those things that, you know, I give gifts because I want to spark joy.

I give gifts because, you know, I see things and I go, Jess would love that. Like, I was so stoked this year when I picked Jess's present because I was like, it's from a place I know she loves. it's a thing I know that she would never buy herself it's something that I really like which to me is really important when giving gifts because like I want to like something that I'm giving you but also I just knew she would like it or hopefully like it or she's lied to me this entire time and said she liked it but it's one of those things where I just get a lot of joy out of

that whereas if she'd said oh well can you just transfer me the cash anyway I'd be like oh well this now just feels like a transaction as opposed to an entire like I've thought about you Jess this is something that I've gone you know above and beyond for I've had to track it down and do this and do that like I don't know for me gifts are the thought and that's why I've never really cared about what they cost like I saw in our Facebook group did you see in our Facebook group as well there was a post about one of the girls had actually made our wheat packs Jess oh my god yes yeah and she got these gorgeous tea towels from Target that were like six dollars she made a whole heap of them and she was like these wheat packs cost me like three dollars fifty a gift

gift like money win yeah and everyone's gonna love them she wrapped them up beautifully because it was the thought that counts yeah and I do feel like when I say oh Jess I'm gonna put a spending limit on our our presents it's a hundred dollars this year I feel like that's the limit not the expectation like I'm not getting you a gift worth a hundred dollars I'm just saying let's just make sure that our budgets are relatively similar like let's just make sure that we're not going you know really obnoxious this year $100 is a lot of money too yeah it is for one gift for one gift for one person like that's a lot of money so I just look at it and go you're just asking for 100 bucks now that's a bit weird whereas if I had set I don't know if I'd set a budget of $100

especially way back in uni days and when I just was a bit more strapped for cash I'd be like great let's pretend it's $100 Jess I'd then be like shopping around going to DFO trying to find something that was also discounted so I didn't have to spend the whole $100 but you as the gift receiver was still getting a heap of value yeah so I don't know I know what do you think I've been on the other end where I want the cash because especially if you're just so fair yeah and like I guess if you're spending money over Christmas what you really need is cash because you're like it's so stressful sometimes it's so anxiety inducing so I totally get wanting the money but I totally get the dissatisfaction of literally just transferring someone 100 bucks and also when

it comes to like the morning of when that person's just sat there not opening any presents but I guess like if everyone's comfortable sending or not sending but giving the hundred dollars instead I would maybe try and make it like creative like get like a really cheap piggy bank and put like the hundred bucks in there or like make it or like have it in a card and it's cash or something put it in something that you can still wrap so it feels like she's still opening a present or something like that you know yeah or just transfer me the hundred bucks don't worry about it yeah it feels very transactional it does it feels very unsatisfying and then yeah like what if everyone wanted that same thing then everyone would just be like oh I'll just keep

the money in my own account and everyone breaks even no one gets a present you know what I mean like yeah we're just not doing presents this year because we stretch for cash like yeah I don't know I just I don't feel uncomfortable with it like I feel like I've given cash as presents before when people are being like oh I'd love cash and when I was younger if my parents were like what do you want for Christmas you need days I was like money yes please give me money I need cash yes but and this is very entitled again like it is absolutely showing my privilege I knew that by asking my parents for cash they would definitely give me cash but I'd always still get something trivial to open on the day yeah and I feel like it did take the spark away like now I'm gonna be a mom

I'm not gonna love giving my kids cash like I I'm a gift giver at heart like I'm not gonna love that but it's also practical yeah and right now I feel like asking for cash is fine but like let's just take it one step further let's not do that little dance of Jess you get me a present worth a hundred dollars and oh I'll do the same thing like let's just be like oh let's just not do presents yeah you know what I would love a really beautifully written card hey Merry Christmas it's been so lovely hanging out with you this year like yeah some really nice words card would be cute if you didn't want to do gifts like okay we have to make each other something with stuff you have to make a card you have to make a gingerbread house you have to make something that doesn't cost money

but it's made with love. No I agree. So we asked the community we said do you think it's rude to tell someone to give you cash instead of buying a gift? 42% of you said yep that's rude but 58% of you said nope not rude at all. We also asked the question would you prefer the $100 gift or $100 in cash? 41% of you said the gift it's much more meaningful and 59% of you said give me the cash it's just more useful cost of living crisis it's true the next question we asked was have you ever returned a present for a refund so that you could have the cash instead of the gift 15% of you said yes and 85% of you said no it's hard because a lot of time you wouldn't have the receipt so I always feel like logistically it's probably you know I always gift with gift receipts because

I'm anxious yeah yeah fair like I gave Jess a Christmas present and then she looked like she liked it but like there was a little gift receipt in the bottom if she was like just in case yeah but I'm always just like oh like I would tell someone that I loved the gift yeah like have you ever been like oh thanks for the gift Beck I'm gonna return this because it's not really my vibe I couldn't no neither I do not have like I do not have that level of confidence and I'm just too much of a people pleaser wouldn't happen if anything I would re-gift yeah yeah yeah same It's like, we should have asked about re-gifting. Yeah, sorry, guys.

We suck. All right, but we did say give us your two cents. So someone said, my sister and I just don't do presents for this reason. We both just get to keep our money. Yeah, that's fair. Someone said, I much prefer giving people cash or gift cards. People never pick what I need. Someone else said, no problem with asking for cash for Christmas.

Sounds like your sister didn't ask for it, though. She demanded it. Yeah. Maybe it's in the execution. Perhaps. Sure. I would really love cash this Christmas. I'm just so strapped.

I guess it might have gone over differently too. If you buy me a present, I'm returning it. True. Yeah, actually the tone is what threw me the most. Yeah. Can you imagine if I turned around and said, Jess, if you get me a present, I'm just going to return it. It's a little bit awkward.

And you're like, oh, okay. Can you imagine if you'd already bought the present? Well, yeah. Like what if my sister had? I know. I'll just see myself out. Thanks. Someone said, it's pointless to give $100 cash and then receive $100 cash.

Just keep it. Don't do the transfer. Don't do gifts this Christmas. Yeah. A lot of people said there's nothing wrong with asking for cash, and absolutely that's the case. I think it really goes back to tone. So asking for cash is one thing.

Being blunt and being like, Jess, I'll return your present. Chucking it straight in the bin. I am not going to respect this at all. and then a few other people said look asking for a transfer does feel rude maybe a voucher could be a happy medium oh yeah like so you still like what you were saying becky still have something to wrap yeah maybe yeah i just feel like vouchers are limiting though like don't get me wrong i feel like lots of us appreciate like a colesmire gift card and as a business owner actually i've looked into this kind of stuff for like christmas presents and bonuses and stuff and as a business

owner, it's actually easier to give you guys like a gift card, like a Colesmire gift card that you could use however you want than giving you cash because then you don't have to pay tax on it. Yeah. And it becomes like a work gift because I bought a thing for you. That makes so much sense. Yeah. Whereas if I just transferred the cash, well, that's income, isn't it? Yeah. So see you later, however many percent in tax you pay. A lot of people have said, look, you just don't need more stuff. They just need to pay their bills. And I totally resonate

with that. Again, I just honestly, like, I'm not going to go through too many more of these because they're honestly the same. A few of you are a bit rude and we're like, give her nothing. Someone else said, and I laughed at this. I shouldn't have laughed at this because it's kind of nice. They were like, why don't you just make a hundred dollar donation on her behalf? She'd hate it. Like you can't refund that one. That's true. That's true. Yeah. Anyway, I think it's really interesting. Again, I think, especially at this point in the

year, people do just need cash to pay their bills, put food on the table. And I don't think it's bad to ask for that. I think it honestly all comes down to tone and meaning. And if you're demanding something and saying, well, I want this. And if you don't provide this, well, then I'm just going to return your gift. That to me feels a bit ick. And it's like, well, let's just not do gifts because you clearly don't even care about the fact that I would be gifting you something anyway. Sure. Like, yeah, keep your money. I'll keep my money and we'll just call it even. so true anyway those are my thoughts anything else to wrap with my ladies have a wonderful

christmas oh my gosh yes happy christmas my babies happy christmas everyone i am so excited for christmas day i look forward to christmas jess is the same she's very festive and i think you rock a little bit of a christmas vibe too definitely like you you slip into it but it's also not the happiest time of year for each and every single one of our community members so if you're hearing us talking about how exciting and amazing it is and you're like geez like V like that's not going to be my Christmas one I'm really sorry two I'm thinking of you and we love you and we hear every single other day of the year at the end of the day if you're not surrounded by people who love and support you then maybe you're in the wrong room

but also I just want to remind you all that we are thinking of you and that Christmas is bloody hard for lots of us yes absolutely so it's not easy but another year we've done it and I think that we all deserve a little beverage you know to celebrate the fact that we're still here we're still thriving absolutely big merry christmas and happy yule to those who celebrate yes see you next week guys bye guys the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD

and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of MoneySherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289. Thank you.