Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Financial Experts Rank Your WEIRDEST Unexpected Expenses

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

💵 Create a free budget and find more margin with EveryDollar.   This one goes out to ole Murphy and that pesky little law of his. (If you know, you know!) Today we’re rating your worst-case scenarios and proving why everyone needs an emergency fund. Next Steps: ·   🎙️ Catch our episode Surprisingly Simple Things That Make You Feel Wealthy. ·   🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour ·   📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it.    Connect With Our Sponsors: ·   Check out the FAIRWINDS Credit Union exclusive account bundle. ·   Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. ·   Get 20% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth.   Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🥃 Salty Dog Recipe by Liquor.com ·   1 1/2 ounces gin or vodka ·   3 ounces grapefruit juice, freshly squeezed ·   Garnish: salt rim ·   Garnish: grapefruit slice   Instructions: Wet the rim of a highball glass and dip it in coarse salt. Fill the glass with ice, then add the gin (or vodka) and grapefruit juice, and stir gently to combine. Garnish with a grapefruit slice. Serve and enjoy!   Explore More From Ramsey Network: 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights  🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This one goes out to old Murphy and that pesky little law of his. Today we're going to rate your worst case scenarios to prove that everyone needs an emergency fund. I did the no-no in marriage. I called my dad. That one is, I think, an 11 out of 10. This is why I'd go to jail. Oh, my gosh. It's getting juicy.

Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers. Oh, that was no clink because of this salt. A lot of, look, some crispy salt on this. Is this kosher? It looks kosher.

My toxic trait, as I always ask, is this kosher? You know what, though? But literally, I think it is kosher salt. This is how every salt-ram drink should be. So, well done. I love some salt. Well, done. Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about,

which you're talking about, everything from pop culture, current events, and money. But first, we're sipping on. a salty dog. Yeah, that's a fun name. There is salt on it, so part of the name. Yeah, a little dead giveaway. You loved your dogs. I love my dogs and I love salt.

We're going to give you the rating and reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode. Stick around for that. All right, so for all the haters who think they're the exception to the rule, not to be alarmist, but this is the episode where you are proven wrong.

That's right. And, you know, that pushback against people being like, I don't really need an emergency fund, I feel like it either comes from high earners that are like, oh, it's fine. I'll just, I'll figure it out, like, whatever. And then sometimes low earners actually have the same mindset where they're like, ah, it's not that big of a deal. Don't worry about it.

Or they're helpless. I can't save that much. And I can't do it, right? So it's like, oh, it's not a big deal. I'll just figure it out when it happens, right? That, because it seems like a mountain to climb to save up an emergency fund. So either way, I get it, but also, we got to get it. It's a rough place to be when you don't have liquid cash.

Yes. Because I found you stay in the cycle where like everything is a crisis. Yes. The littlest things become the biggest things. And you can never get ahead. Because here's what people say. Well, I try, but there's always something happening. I'm like, I know.

That's why you need an emergency fund because something's always going to happen. That's right. And the stuff that can happen, crazy. Crazy, crazy. Life is nuts. Do you remember early on like you and Winston, you had it? Yes. What was like one of the bigger emergencies you still remember?

And I did the no-no. in marriage. I called my dad. Wait, like a Trump card. Like a Trump card. Like, I'm calling my dad. Nope, nope, nope, because I, nope, I'll tell you the story. We, this was early on. Our heat went out and it was like winter. We didn't have kids or anything. It was just us. And Winston, remember, was in a rental house with like eight other guys and they never used heat. They would sleep in camping sleeping bags to save money. I mean, like, this is like the low maintenance man that I married. So the heat goes out and I'm like, we got to get it fixed.

I mean, it's like, it's like one of those nights that it's like sleeting and we got to get home from work. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it was a winter night in our, and we walk in, and our house is freezing, but it's on a Friday night.

And Winston was like, God, if we pay for service on the weekends, it's going to be like, it's like the emergency call pricing. We'll wait until Monday. And I remember thinking, am I high maintenance, or do I just like normal

temperatureed houses? because I what were gonna do? I mean, and I was like, there's no way. And I did, I called my dad

to see who his heating and air guy. I was doing it for a connection. But secretly. And then was like, hey, I called my dad.

Here's a guy. We can call that might give us a good rate and Winston was probably so deflated. We weren't in therapy at that point, but I'm sure that

would have been brought up if we were in a session. You're behind my back, called your dad to find a guy. I know, y'all. But listen, I was cold. I was cold.

I was 22 and cold. What do you do? Well, did you have sweaters? Don't. That's what, yeah. See, we're not even, that is unnecessary. People frequently comment and they go, I don't understand. Rachel has no sleeves on in the studio.

George is fully clothed. How cold is it in that studio? Present day? Are you talking present day? Yeah, I'm talking right now. Okay. Because like women like you will be like, ooh, it's so cold in here. I'm like, you have very little clothing on compared to me.

Just throw a layer on. I said I'm comfortable. But the real reason is I heard from Seinfeld. Oh. For men, doing comedy, you cover your arms. Nobody wants to see those. It's distracting. It's more professional.

So Nate Bargetse said that. Because you never see Nate. When's the last time you saw Nate's arms? Exactly. Never thought about it. Not on a stage. Never thought about it. Also, anytime I don't wear a layer and I have my t-shirt on, people comment and go,

whoof. George. I got a comment. I'm so sorry. We posted a picture. I was at the World Cup doing the man on the street, and you could see my pale, sad legs. And most of the comments were like, hey man, you know you don't need to be posting that.

And mostly from ladies, mind you. Y'all, don't be mean, George. They said, what are you trying to light the way to Gander? I was like, I don't know what these references are, but I don't. Poor George. I didn't wear shorts after that. I'm so sorry, George. That is unfair to you.

You get a little ankle. That's all you're getting. My gosh. But anyways, we did use our emergency funds, and we paid the double and had the service tech come out. Okay, did you and Whitney ever have one? It's why the trades are making so much money, kids. I know. I'm not kidding. It's not time and a half on Sundays.

It's a 100% raise every Saturday and Sunday. Amen. The biggest one I remember is HVAC, because that one for some reason is just one of the top of the list. Outside of like a roof, it's one of the most expensive things to have to replace. And so at like 24, replacing the HVAC for like $5,000, it hurt my soul. So it took some time to read. Luckily, I had an emergency fund, but that about decimated it at the time. Oh, that's tough.

So it took a while to balance back. High dollars. High dollars. Those are tough calls we get on the Ramsey show when someone doesn't have it and like, what do I do? I know. And that's where you have to be creative, right? Figuring out either pricing stuff out, getting on a plan where you're like, hey, do some of it here.

This much here. Totally. And you got to cash flow your way through. But having the emergency fund is big because life is going to happen. It's just not, you know, or it is going to happen. Not an if it's a win. So. And the Internet's great for this stuff.

It is so good. We can throw out a prompt, ask some questions. To you guys. Get on some, yeah. We put this on social. And so our listeners submitted their wildest, most unexpected reasons they've had to rely on an emergency fund. So why don't we take some turns? And while we do it, we're going to rate it, George.

Okay. One being boring. Like, it's a boring emergency. Okay. HVAC. Boring. That's a yawner. Unless it's Rachel being cold, and then it's a 10.

Yeah. And then 10 is P. peak insanity. I mean, this is the craziest thing I've ever heard, okay? So we're going to rate them. This is not a judgment on you guys. If it's boring, it doesn't mean you're a boring person. It just means you submitted an emergency that is forgettable. Yeah, it's forgettable, which I think we all want those. All right, pulled $10,000 out of my emergency fund to buy Space X stock. Oh, boy. So, no emergency, but sort of. It's timely, right? Definitely not an emergency. That's a good call out, there's three things that you need to check before using money from your emergency

fund. Is it urgent? Is it necessary? Is it unexpected? And I'm sorry to say that SpaceX is none of those things. No. And here's the problem. They probably lost money on that, at least in the short term. Because by the time people like you and me can buy it, it's so overhyped and so overpriced that it's kind of like a mini bubble and it pops and then it goes back down to reality, which means you just lost money. That 10 grand probably turned into 8 grand pretty quickly. That hurts. I'm going to rate that a three. I'm going to go five. Ten grand? That's a lot. It's enough money that warrants, but it's not lost. It's in a stock. They didn't just like use it. So I feel less bad, but also very stupid behavior.

Please don't do that. Please don't do that again. If you're watching at home. All right. Ran over a spike strip in my husband's truck, so I had to use it on expensive new tires. Oh no. Isn't it your worst fear? You go into one of those like garages and the spikes come up? Yeah, is that where else would you find those other? Like a police chase where they're trying to stop a car. Okay. Now if she was in the police chase, 10.

I rate that at 10. It was just in the parking garage. Oh. Ouch. Okay, new tires already very expensive for all four new tires. Hey, but isn't it she either went the wrong way or you back up, you know, when you were, like if you had to reverse. There's one rule. Do not back up.

Do not back up. You keep going. straight. Oh, that hurts. Now, the fact that it was in the husband's truck, that gets at at least three extra points. For sure. And the feeling of regret and the feeling of regret of like, I could have prevented that. Like, that was so stupid.

Why did I do that? All of those feelings, I'm going six. Ouch. But I want to know what the husband said, because I guarantee you he was fuming. I knew I shouldn't let you take my truck. No, I bet he's like, listen, stuff happens. Are you safe? Are you safe?

Did the spike get you? What are you, Deloney? I mean, in a car wreck, usually hopefully the spouse says, are you safe? It doesn't seem like she was going very fast. Yeah, true. Unless she was going 80 and spun out. I wish she was in the, I wish she was in the place.

Did you put it back in there? I'll give it a seven. No, I put it right here. Oh, it was right there. Okay, good. A seven for me. What was yours? Oh, this next one's so good.

I gave six. Okay. Speaking of crimes, bailing my husband out of jail. That's all it says. Yes. Are you going to leave us with no more detail, sis? I know.

It's unconscionable. I mean, what? Wow. That would be, what crime would Whitney commit? And you get a call that you probably wouldn't be like overly surprised. You're saying what crime would she likely commit if she were to commit a crime? Yes, that you'd be like, that sounds like Whitney. Whatever it was would probably be accidental.

Like she accidentally, you know, put something under the stroller, forgot to pay for it. Alarms go off. You don't go to jail for that. It could be a felony depending on the amount. Straight to jail. If it's something expensive. Okay. How about you?

What's the limit to which you would bail Winston out? Is there a limit where you're like, hey, it's a million? Like, I'm not bailing you out. Even if you had the money, based on principle. Uh, no, that's really hard. I think I would bail out. I'm really asking how much do you love your husband? I think I would go high.

Okay. To get him out of jail, especially if he's innocent. Well, it's bail. So it's temporary. You don't lose a million dollars. Oh, you get it back. I don't know my jail world very much.

Yeah, yeah. I don't think, now correct me if I'm wrong. Bail, you get it back? I'm not up on like the prison. People, we don't know. Chat GPT in it, we got it. We need to, I think people watching out there, there's got to be someone who also doesn't know.

We just don't know. Everybody knows exactly how that works. If you put money up to bail someone out of jail, do you get that money back? You didn't do the voice? Usually yes, but depends. on how the bail was posted and what happens in the case. So, depends.

All right. Depends. Yikes. That's tough. That's a wild one, though. I'm going to go 10 out of 10 for that one. I wonder how their marriage is doing. How is their marriage doing?

I don't know. I don't know much, George. All I know is she used her emergency fund to get her husband out of jail. Wow. That's true love. I'm going to go 10. I mean, I don't know that you can be jail. Yeah, definitely not.

worst case scenario there. Yep. Now, if I did have to bail him out, I'd probably need some cash quick, and that probably would be sitting in our high-ield savings account. And Fair Wins is where I would go. Perfect. Yeah, I would tap that Fair Wins app. Yeah, because that's where our high-ield savings accounts are.

So you have a no monthly fee-checking account. You can have up to 10 high-yield savings accounts, and you get the debt-as-normal B-Ware debit card from Ramsey, and now they have a new one. I live like no one else, debit card. design, who dis? You get to pick it. I want it. Now I have a little fomo.

Yeah, we got to get it. And I love it. It's like the easiest banking experience that I do. I just love fair ones. And I didn't realize the joy of having checking and Ohio savings connected for easy transfers. When there is an emergency, I don't need to wait for a different bank to send that money to my checking account. So I do love that. And now I know you can earmark a savings fund for posting bail. For posting bail.

That's fun. That's it. If you have that as a savings fund. account, your life is... Way more interesting than ours. Yes. That's a regular thing you're saving for. Whatever you're saving for, go check out Fairwinds at fairwins.org slash Ramsey. All right, moving on.

$25,000 to remove a grass on from my pit bull's lung. Oh, gosh. Okay. So that's on AW. Georgie, this is your time to shine. It's like a barbed seed. That dog somehow ate that thing. That's terrible.

It's one thing to have it in the paw. which is very painful, but in the lung. That's horrible. $25,000? I hope the dog got some plastic surgery while you're at it, make it worth his while while he's under. Goodness gracious. That one is, I think, an 11 out of 10.

More than a human in jail? Yeah. Because you're not getting the 25 grand back. You can't be mad at the dog. It's a dog. So now you're 25,000. $25,000 for a dog. That actually makes me feel so much better

about doing my dog surgery. I was going to say, this is like your time to shine. Whoever submitted this. George isn't even shocked. Like the sicker price, not even a big deal. They got a good deal at 25K. That's right. I do think, and Dave has said this on air that being a vet is smarter than being a doctor. Because vets can charge whatever they want. There's no

health care system. They have to get paid by. It is so true. They can just be like, that'll be $30,000. And you're like, okay, I guess. A little bubble. Just take them under. Sweet bubbles. A pit bull named bubbles.

I know. It felt right. Yeah, that one's an 11 out of 10 for me. I don't know if you can beat that. $25,000 for a dog. That's wild. That makes me look frugal. I'm going to look frugal.

I can't go above jail time, but I'm going to go. Thank you. Pretty big. Next. Oh, gross. Getting bats out of the attic. So there are protected, oh no, there are a protected species. So it costs six.

to $10,000 for visits for specialized exterminators. Is everybody making money hand over fist in today's America? Do you feel like it's like Jemongi? That's what I just pictured. Like are the bats like breeding in the attic? Because that gives me the heby-jeebies. How many bats are we talking? Oh, it makes me shiver.

Because I feel like where there's one bat, there's a thousand bats. Oh, that are brown recluses. No thank you. No thank you. Actually, I'd probably rather have bats than brown recluse. I think they're basically impossible to get rid of. You said $6 to $10,000? Yes, to remove bats.

Because you need a special exterminator? How just mad would you be? Like, you bat? I can't even keep you as a pet. At least the dog is part of your family. That's true. Those bats are just, yeah, being removed. I would probably, let's see, what could you?

Now, if they're in the attic, can you just leave them there? Can you just leave them in the attic? No, this is why I'd go to jail. Here's a question. You're going to burn it down? Would you just take care of the bats and not tell anybody? Oh, because they're like, us protected. Do you know what I'm saying?

That's country living right there. That's a good question. Because who's going to know? That's what I'm saying. But can I tell you, I recently... Don't arrest me, please. I recently experienced this, not with bats, but with a robin. I didn't know this, but there's a robin's nest in my front porch.

Oh, sweet. She's having her babies, and I want, thank you for trusting the Camel household. We are a safe place. But I also was sick of seeing the droppings and the mites that are all over that follow. these robin's nests. Yeah. And then I found out, you can't touch the thing. It is super illegal to touch that nest.

Wait, it's illegal or the mom just won't come back to the nest? No, the robins are protected species. It is elite. It's like federal law says you cannot mess with a robin's nest. No way. Yep. I don't think I knew that. So the nest is still there.

Don't even know if the babies are still there or not. It's been a month. Oh my gosh. But I'm too scared to touch it. I don't want to go to jail over this. Yeah, yeah. We can't go. We can't imagine.

Can't imagine. No. What are you in for? Mess with a robin's nest. I know. See if they mess with me. See if they mess with me. So, yeah, I would, I don't know who to pay it, because they can't remove it, technically.

Where is it? Right on my front porch. Okay, George. Right underneath. Okay. Like by the column, you know. I think at 11 o'clock one night. They're long gone.

Mine, I'm less about the law. I just don't, I want to make sure she goes back to her babies. Some birds are very, was it bluebirds or some of that are very particular. Oh, they're like, leave their babies. Yes, and we don't want that. Yeah. That'd be very sad. Oh, man.

Protecting. The last protected species, fun fact I have for you, turkey vultures. Those nasty huge birds. They are protected. It's illegal to shoot them. And anyways, we had a dead raccoon in our back, like way in our backyard, y'all. And we had probably six or seven of those guys hanging out yesterday.

They are disgusting. Disgusting. And Winston told me. He's like, yeah. And he's like, they're actually, they're actually pretty good because they clean up a lot of carnage and like they're good. But they are disgusting. Oh, it's actually really good for the environment. It's actually, oh, they're one of those.

It's like, like, like, like black snakes, rat snakes. You don't want to kill because they eat. And like a lot of spiders. Because they eat a lot of spiders, yes. It's my least favorite argument. No, they're actually good to have around. And there's something else that eats ticks. What's the animal that eats ticks that's, like, good to have?

It's kind of a nuisance. Anyone? Okay, anyways, not a nature gal, but. We got to Google what loves to eat ticks. It's a weird diet. Yeah. What is it? There's so little.

There's an animal that loves to eat tips. How do they have enough nutrients to sustain life? I know. If that's your diet. I can't remember now. Okay. Wow. What would you rate that, George?

Oh. Bats. I'm going to nine. That's disgusting. Yeah, bats are one of the more frightening creatures. Yes. That's a nine for me. It might be bats that eat ticks.

I don't know. That feels wrong. I'm sorry. I'm just multitasking. We're hanging, right? We're just hanging right now. I got nowhere to be. I'm at work.

What animal eats ticks? I'm sure multiple animals too. I'm sure there are many animals. Fow chickens. Well, turkeys. I think it's turkeys. Turkeys, chickens. Okay, so poultry?

Poultry. Poultry loves ticks. All right, keep going. All right, next on the emergency list. Paying for my parents' emergency because they don't have savings of their own. Wamp, wah. That's a sad one.

As far as boring to exciting, this is probably a one. But on the sadness scale, it ranks high. It does rank high. Man, that's tough. Now, the parents ask for help? Or did you just kind of step in and go, hey, I know you guys don't have savings? So that's a whole other part of it is did they ask? And you know, this is where I'm a conditional human at times, George.

So I'm like, if your parents, I'm just throw it out there. Sweet people on the mission field their whole life. They don't need much. They're just precious, right? And they just don't have a lot. something big happens and you're able to go and help them. Like, I have more of a heart for someone. You know what I mean?

Like those types, that stereotype of parents versus the ones that are just irresponsible, made a lot of money, they just spend everything. Like, do you know what I mean? There's no excuse for that behavior. Yes, yes, you know. Yeah, and that's where I always wonder what happened here. What happened? But I mean, if it was my parents, I would cover an emergency for them.

Now, if it was a pattern and it was a quote unquote emergency, then I'd be like, hey, guys, we need to have a time. Yeah, but if we have to step in and write a $10,000 check to help X, Y, and Z, I agree with you. It's one of the best parts of fall on the baby steps. You get to decide where the generosity goes. That's fair. Totally fair. All right, next.

College accidentally gave me too much suited aid. Oh, and I had to pay it back later before graduating. Ouch. Because you probably spent it. That's on the college. They should not do that. Yeah, I think there should be a law. If you overpay.

Sorry. That's on you. Because they got plenty of money. Yeah, they're not hurting. They're doing fine. They're like, hey, we overpaid my five grand. We need that back. Yeah.

Also, can you donate to the alumni fund while you're at it? Oh, that's hard. That's a new rule. I think we should institute. If you took student loans to go to college, they cannot call you for alumni donations. That's my rule. Don't you think that's fair? No, no.

I went into, I'm still making payments to pay off my time. and now you want more money on top of that? Oh, if you're still paying student loans? Yeah. Okay, yeah. But once they're paid off, you could have a great job and do well with your life. I've given $0 to any school that I've gone to. Listen, I love an alum.

It brings me back. Would you pay to get your own, like, gymnasium? No, I don't know, no. I don't need my name anywhere. A classroom? Except for Instagram. What about like the... I said, I don't need my name anywhere.

Okay, how about this. University of Tennessee Knoxville calls and says, hey Rachel, we want to do like a media broadcast center and call it the Rachel Cruz Media Center. It's going to cost a million dollars. You don't care about that. No, that gives me, that gives my...

No joy. Nothing. What if it also meant that your kids could get into UT, no matter what, full ride? For my kids. Now it's for the children.

To go to the autumn modern of... Alma Mater? Say it again. Alma Modern. It is a really annoying word. I'll give you that. All right. I'm going to say, I'm going to go four.

It's not overly exciting, but it's not so fun. I'm going to go three as far as excitement goes. Okay. But it does stink. If you're that person. Yes. But like that wouldn't be a long conversation at dinner if they were telling the story. True.

Cool. Yeah, it's not like bats and how to give like a special person. I need more drama. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not the Burser's office. Nobody likes that place. So true. Burser.

It's so true. Well, you know what I would just give a 10 to on the scale of zero's horrible 10 is life-changing. What's that? Anything from Cozy Earth. 10 out of 10. Unbelievable. I still can't get over it, George.

We got a new set of sheets. How are the new sheets doing? Oh, my gosh. They're wonderful. I ask you got a new dog. And the color was beautiful. I mean, all of it. I just love it.

I was in my robe this morning. I do. I love my brands. You know, I love my clothes. I love my stuff. I do. And when you find something that every time it just delivers.

That's so true. That's what we appreciate. Because some stores are like hit or miss. Like, oh, I like that one thing, but then I got this. Cozy Earth, every single thing across different categories. Yes. From bedding to the loungeware, to the footwear, everything is 10 out of 10 and actually lasts.

And I'm in a stage of life where I want to invest in quality things instead of just going, well, I've got to get a new pair because they don't last. That's right. That's right. I know. So everything from their bamboo sheets, I was just talking about their bamboo pajamas. I wore this last night, the Lux towels, the cuddle blankets. The loungeware, all of it is there at CoZero.

So go to CozyRth.com slash smart money and use our code, smart money for 20% off. It's amazing. And if you do the post-purchaseerrorth make sure you tell them that you heard about Cozzeerth here. Give us a shout-out. Smart money at the hour. Some of my favorite DMs are people who are like,

hey, I use Coz-Zerth. Use your promo code. My wife loves it. My husband loves it. It's the best. It warms my heart. It's changing lives. All right.

Next step. My in-laws offer to help. us remodel our house only for them to bail and we had to hire someone. Woof. Oh, man. And you had to use the emergency fund for the renovation. So I guess, like, let's just make up a story, right? That the dad's like a contractor, right?

And he's like, oh, yes, son. Don't pay someone I can do it. Yeah, I'll do it. And he goes in there and then he decides, oh, I don't have time, sorry. And you're like maybe partly into it and you got to finish. Oh, that's disappointing. because now you kind of have a broken relationship. Well, don't go that far, George.

Well, I mean, I'm going to be a little resentful at my, you know, father-in-law. I'd be mad. I'd be frustrated, for sure. And now you've got to burn the emergency fund, which please don't use your emergency fund for renovations. Yeah. But it sounds like they're midway through the project. They got half a bathroom. Uh-huh.

You've got to finish it. You've got to see it through. So commitment. Make sure you got committed people. You know, but there could be a juicier story in there that we're not getting the deeds. So I'm going to go seven on that one. You think there's more to it. I don't know.

You put it in a little stirring of the in-laws, and they bail, and now you're, you know. It's drama. And I guarantee you one of the spouses was like, we shouldn't do this. Oh, that's the worst. And he's like, well, baby, we can save money. He said it'll do it for free. But then maybe the mom of the parents, her mom, sweet granny, had to be put in nursing home. So they're like, listen, we have to move.

Maybe so the reason they bailed was something really sweet and good. Why do all your stories end with benefit of the doubt? The least exciting ending of anything. It may have happened. I'm going to go six out of ten. Okay. Dramatic, but not super exciting on the actual emergency side. Fair.

But I do love me some family drama. We love family drama. All right. You should create a reality show. Where people film this? They film their family drama? Who's willing to put that out there? I don't know.

We could be the hosts. We could go fund me that way you get paid to be on it, to expose your family drama. Oh, that's good. And people can pay depending on how much they want to see the story. It's good. Love it. Crowdsource. My roommate once used hers to retain a lawyer to fight a speeding ticket. So you use an emergency fund to get a lawyer to fight a speeding ticket. Wow. I mean, is that an emergency? I would not call that an emergency. I understand the back end of, hey, you want that speeding ticket off your record, which is going to lower your insurance. premiums. Yeah, whatever. I could be on. Is it that big of a deal?

How much? I wonder how much this was. I don't think I would hire a thousand dollars. I don't know. I can't imagine you would pay that much to fight a speeding ticket. Yeah, and unless the speed, you know what do you mean? If you're over, what is it, 25 miles an hour, you could like go to jail for. Yeah. So if it's like that serious, but if you got a speeding ticket for going 13 over, I'm not hiring a attorney. You're just going to pay it? Yes. I don't got time for all that. Well, I'll tell you what Whitney did, because she got a speeding ticket driving my car. Did you guys hire an attorney?

No. Oh. But what we did was the online driving school. Oh, yeah. So you can opt. Now, she had to go to the court because it was, I think, 16 over. If it's 15 or less, you can just do the online driving school. But if it's over 15, you have to go to the court to request it from the judge.

Little need for speed. So she had a legit court date to show up. Oh, my gosh. Now, it was, like, annoying. You know, the speed limit changes drastically. and randomly. Oh, it goes from 50 to 35. Yeah, so it was like a 51 and a 35. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So she had to go to the court.

And I told her to bring our toddler. That way they'd be a little more, you know, the judge would have pity. I'm like, you know what, don't even... And if she was pregnant at the time, you got a lot going on. She's like, look, look at me. She did not bring the toddler, but she did the driving school. It took about four hours and it was like 50 bucks. Oh, there you. And no more ticket. Not too terrible. Okay, that one, I'm going to go three. I'm a three. I'm a two. I'm a three. $5,600 to have a tree removed from our yard. $5,000 for tree removal.

Feels like a lot for one tree, right? Yeah. I mean, not super that. That's part of being a homeowner, you know? I want to know the backstory. Was there a dramatic storm? Yeah. What happened that caused this tree

didn't need to be removed? I'm going to go a three for the amount. The amount is that's a sizable. emergency. Mm-hmm. Okay. I'm going to go I'm going to go one. Wow, you really hate

trees. Well, no, it's just you've got to get it done. That's part of being a homeowner. Is this because you weren't allowed to watch Fern Gulley growing up? Which is a movie about tree removal and capitalism? Wow. That's fine. I think a subconscious

PTSD from that. Did you watch it later in life? Or you still have never seen it? I guess once you're old enough, it's kind of too late to watch it. Yeah. I picture when you say what is Rescuers Down Under. Remember that movie? Yes.

That's like the visual that comes in my head. But I don't think that's Fern Cutley. No, I think just based on the fact that they have different titles, tells you it's not the same. I don't know if I've ever seen it. I should watch it. Yeah, they're trying to chop down the forest. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the premise of it. Yeah.

But listen, a part of me, that is being a homeowner. You got stuff to do. Tree removal. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's one of the beauties of renting, but yeah, I'm a two. Yeah.

But that's a big enough number. It's a lot of money for sure for a tree removal, but. Wait, I'm jumping ahead. I'm sorry, George. Kitchen Renaud, because our neighborhood started a grant program to reimburse 40% of the cost. What? Have you heard of that? The neighborhood, like the HOA.

Yeah, started a grants program to reimburse 40% of the cost. So you spend 10 and you'll get back four. Listen, not a bad deal. But they took six out of the emergency fund to make this happen. To do it. It's not necessary. Like, you didn't need to do your kitchen removal. So it's technically not an emergency fund.

But to cash for that and take advantage of something like that, if that really is real, no strings attached? How do we know the contractors didn't get wind of this and go, why don't we just charge more? Oh. Oh. Shards double. Sneaky.

Because we're already getting 40% off. Yep. It's like when Amazon Prime changes the price right before Prime Day. And you think, wow, it's 80% off. And the next day, it's the same exact price. Not even on sale. So true. So true.

But that one definitely not an emergency. And so for that, it's going to go in the boring category. But the idea of it that they're going to reimburse, that's exciting. You're like free money. I'm going to say four. Four out of ten. So you're basically paying for 60% of that bathroom. It's pretty cool.

If you're going to do it anyways. Pretty nice. Wow, I can't believe you just greenlit them to go and use their emergency fund. No, I didn't say to use it. I said cash flow it. Oh. Elsewhere. Yes.

But if you want to take advantage of the program. That's one of the beauties of having margin. An opportunity like that comes up and you go, yeah, we could cash flow this. But please don't drain your emergency fund because then you're going to have a real emergency and have nothing to show for it. Yeah. You know, one of the worst emergencies. What's that? Is it people take all your information from the Internet.

Terrible. That's a big one. Terrible. And these data broker sites are getting sneakier and sneakier. Yes, they are. And they'll package it, sell the data to spammers and scammers. And then you're wondering why you're getting all these spam texts and emails and putting you at risk for fishing and fraud.

Yes, not good. So delete me actually goes in and removes all your information from those data broker sites and helps you, again, man, protects you from that. And we need protection in 2026, George. Especially on the internet. How much you spend on the internet? how much time you spend, how much information you're putting out there constantly about yourself that you don't even realize. So you just want to be safe and protect yourself.

And that is why we love Delete Me. Yep, I got my latest report. They removed me from 15 more data broker sites that where my information popped up. So very thankful for them. Go check it out and get 20% off their annual plans at join deleteme.com slash smart money. We'll put a link down below too. So you guys can click that. Some people prefer the click, I found out.

I love a clicking. They don't want to have to type it in. clacking. We like it. I'm struggling. I don't have nails. So dramatic. So dramatic. Valentino purse. It went from $1,800 to $750, so I had to. I saved money if you think about it.

I'm still thinking. Everything's 100% off if you don't buy it. Oh, man. Yeah. If you hadn't bought it, you would have made that money. That's right. I don't know Valentino purses, so I don't know what's a good deal. I'm not sure either. I don't own anything Valentino, but... But that's a steep discount.

Yeah, I can't see... Dip it into the emergency phone for it. Especially for a purse. Out of all the things, that feels like a vanity purchase. I know. Nobody needs that purse to survive. I would rather them go on like a trip with all their friends. An experience. Yes. The memories will pay dividends. That purse will do nothing. I know.

Sit in the closet and one day you're going to feel bad. Because it's big designer, I'm going to go three and a half out of ten. You like that it's big designer. That helps the points. Well, it helps the drama. Wow. It's not like she was like, I went to Home Goods and saw a pillow I like. Yeah.

If you drain the emergency fund on Home Goods purses? Yeah, I know. You got some purses. A little T.J. Max action. Wow. I'm going to give it a two. Okay. Maybe a 1.8, just because I don't like it.

Yeah. I don't like it. I don't condone this behavior. We don't like it. All right. Two more, George. What do we got? What do we got?

Oh my gosh. It's getting juicy? I think we got it. I think we got on above five for sure. Dentists left a tool in my jaw. Had to pay for two tooth implants after the removal. What? I'm sorry.

Now that's a story to tell at dinner. How is there not a lawsuit? Why did she pay? Insane. So the dentist leaves the tool in the jaw. Can I say like how, I know, everything get queasy, we don't want to get queasy. How bad is your dentist? How bad is your dentist?

How big is this tool? What is the tool? That's what I was going to say. I imagine it's little. It's not like a thing that sticks out and you're like, oh, he left that thing. I imagine they're like, you know, going into the gum and like a piece fell out. And they don't know. That's exactly what happened.

I'm not a dentist, but that's exactly what happened. Oh my gosh. I've missed a couple of cleanings after I heard from you. That's a 10 out of 10 for me. I've not been in a while. That's horrible. makes me not want to go. No, George, I'm telling you.

That's why. Because I know what they're going to say. Hey, it looks like the start of some cavities here. You might want to get those filled in before they get any worse. Money. Not falling for it. That one's bad. That's bad.

And the fact that she had to pay for the implants? Yeah, not good. I'm going nine out of ten on that one. I'm going ten out of ten on that one. I don't know how you didn't sue, though. No fun. All right, George. Finish us out.

Last one. Last one. Last but not least. Make it a good one. Wow. Okay. Paid off our 15-year mortgage, then built it back up aggressively. Oh. Okay. All right. Too mad about that. Yeah.

Technically, I don't know if I would like drain it to do that. Definitely not an emergency. But we sometimes tell people is if you want to go from like six months to three months and take that money and throw it at the mortgage to finish it off and then replenish, be my guest. And you don't need as much emergency fund when you don't have a mortgage payment anymore. That's right. That's right. So it actually reduces the amount you need in the emergency. fund. So for that, on the boring side, I'm going to give

it a three, but on the like way to go for paying off your mortgage, it's an 11. 11 out of time. Way to end on a high. We needed to win. I'm going, I'm going five. I'm going half and half. This was not a crisis. Nobody was hurt in the making of this one. No. And they restocked it. Well done, you guys.

They're made whole. Well done. That was fun. Thank you for sharing everyone. Appreciate that. Yeah, and just remember, your emergency fund is built after you pay off all your consumer debt, everything but your house, build it up to three to six months of expenses, put it in a high-yield savings account, and it's just there. It's not supposed to be invested or anything. It's just liquid cash that is there for a rainy day,

and it just feels good to have. So there's that, and then also creating sinking funds. You love a sinking fund. Oh, I love it. Because then you barely ever have to touch the emergency funds. To know what's coming up, yeah. So car repairs, bat removals, you know, things that just happen in life. Car replacement?

Yep, you just save up a little bit. each month, vacations. And all of these. And when you need to actually pay for the thing, all the money's sitting there in the account. That's the goal. The goal in life is let's have less stress. And part of that is making all these emergencies

an inconvenience instead of a crisis. So if you want a great way to set up the sinking funds, to set up your savings goals, check out every dollar. It's the app that Rachel and I use for all of our goals, and it makes it super easy to set up all of these funds. Yep, absolutely.

Make sure check it out. All right, before we spill the tea on our guiltiest charge segment, And let's share the details, George. All right. This is the salty dog. And it's a pretty simple drink. Probably one of the most simple. It's literally two ingredients.

Yes. It's vodka and grapefruit juice. Yeah. Now, it does have a salted rim, hence the salty dog. If it doesn't have a salted rim, it's called a Greyhound. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay. And traditionally, it's actually made with gin.

We've used vodka. You can do vodka or gin. Okay. With the salty dog. Okay. So depending on what you're into. But for such a simple drink, it should, Shines.

George, I was going to say the same thing. Are you, I may do it. I may give it a 10 out of 10. Wow. I would drink this out. Like if all the girls are like, ooh, let's get salty dogs, I'd like, yes. Because it's sweet with the grapefruit. Yeah.

I prefer a vodka-based cocktail, so I do, that's good for me. And I love a salt room. I mean, it's part of why I love a margarita. Especially this kind of salt rim. And I love, yeah. It does make me feel like a kid again. I'm going 10 out of 10, y'all. Easy to make.

Great combo flavors. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I'm going to go 9 out of 10. Wish I had that earlier this summer. I usually prefer complexity, but this one hits, and it reminds me of our honeymoon in Cancun. Okay. In the pool with like the pool bar, you know,

you're in the pool and you can get a drink. And I got the Greyhounds, which was just the non-salted version of this. I didn't know the salty dog existed back then. Me neither. The salty dog. We love it. So check it out.

It's $1.30 to make it at home. I think you can even make it cheaper, depending on the vodka and grapefruit juice you use. Get the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend if you're of age. All right, now it's time for. Guilty as charged. And this is where we ask each other a guilty as charge question every week.

And if we're guilty, we take a sip. All right, George, have you ever had sticker shock over an emergency fund purchase? Ooh. I'll tell you the most recent one. Okay. Is I got a nail on the old tire. Oh, Tesla? They couldn't plug it.

Tesla tires are tough. And they are, they think they're special. They are, those Tesla tires. That is like one of my biggest. Now, I love that we don't have to take it to maintenance. We don't take the Tesla's to maintenance. But the tires are not great. And they, well, and they wear down faster because the weight of the car due to the battery.

So heavy. So that's the one thing that you have to replace more often than a regular car is the tires. But they couldn't plug it up. Oh, no. And so they said, hey, you're going to have to get. Oh, four. Well, they said you have to get this exact same tire due to the style of tire. Okay.

So I had to get the exact same one, and it was $503 for one tire. Good, nice. The single tire. Good night. Because they said, hey, you want to just go ahead and replace all four? And I said, how much is it? They said it'll be $503 per tire. I went, I'm going to go ahead and just get to one today.

Just do one, thanks. But I walked out of there. Well, I can stomach. And that was like the going price, because you know your boy researched and went like, okay, what is, can we find a cheaper price? Nope. $500 for a single tire. So tread with caution. if you're going to drive a Tesla.

Yeah. How about you? Have you been shooketh? I'm trying to think. I may have told the story already on here, but I really was trying to think, like, when was the last time you just have to pay for something? You're like, this makes me sick.

We were on a trip, and our airline canceled our flight home. Cancelled. So we had to spend the night again, which they actually refunded our hotel night, so I appreciated that. But the next day, we woke up in the next flight that we were supposed to take with that airline, kept being delayed.

And I just told Winston, I was like, we got to get home. And so we bought a whole other set of five airline tickets on another airline. Because we knew we'd get credit for the other ones. Okay. So we could use it again. But I mean, I want to say, yes.

I mean. Last minute tickets, five people. Yeah, $2,500. I mean, like, it was a lot. Ouch. It was a lot. And we did it just to be like, we got to get home.

I don't want a chance, like, stay in here another night, right? Yep. That one hurt. As someone who just had an eight-hour delay from BNA to New York, I would have paid to get on another flight that left on time. I would have paid extra for that. Yes. That's the sad state of air travel.

Where it's at, yep. But that's probably what I'd say. So it hurts. I don't know how much of an emergency that was, but getting home. Worth it. Priceless. Priceless. That's great.

Priceless. Oh, well, if you have a guilty-of-charge question for us, make sure to DM us at Richel at Richard Kammel. We see them, we love them, we screenshot them. And we love you. I got a few great ones this week. Yeah, y'all keep sending them. We appreciate it. And they pair up with some of our episodes, which we love even more.

So thank you so much. And if you enjoyed this episode, you're going to love our episode. Surprisingly simple things that make you feel wealthy. So we'll put a link for you. And make sure to subscribe. So you don't miss an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.