Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - The TV Network That Brainwashed Us All

Episode Date: September 22, 2022

Home is where the aesthetic is! Rachel Cruze and George Kamel discuss how HGTV and the rise of social media might have gotten our housing hopes up a little too high. In This Episode: ·     Middle-class cribs then and now (think bathroom—not bathrooms, people) ·     How creating a space you love living in might actually SAVE you money ·     George shares a genius Google hack for decorating on a budget Helpful Resources: ·     Be entered to win a $100 Visa gift card when you take our listener survey! Click here to let us know what you think.  ·      Get your finances organized, make a plan, build up your confidence, and kick money stress out of your life for good with the EveryDollar budgeting app. Click here to get started today! ·     Do you have a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George? Send a direct message to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! This Week’s Happy Hour Special: Screwdriver ·     5 ounces orange juice ·     2 ounces vodka Pour orange juice and vodka over ice in a tall glass. Stir, *sip* and soak up the vitamin C.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. This is the show where we talk about the things you wish you were talking about, money. And we're going to make it fun because a lot of times it's not. And I think that needs to change, Rachel. I agree, George. Well done.

Well done. And this episode specifically, we're going to talk about did HGTV ruin our generation and our bank accounts? It is a question we all have. Rachel, coming out the gate, can we just have a little fun first? I know, I know. But we're going to talk about some facts around just the housing market and even our emotions towards our houses. George and I are both homeowners, so you'll hear some of those stories. And we're also going to give you some ways that you can actually update your current home without spending a ton of money.

Absolutely. Before we get to it, it's called Smart Money Happy Hour, which means we have a drink in hand. And the way this goes, we just keep going until one of us finishes the drink. No matter how disgusting I might find it, Rachel. Well, I get the feeling, George. You're not happy with this one so far. This was my pick. I'll be honest.

Tell them what it is. It's a screwdriver. I don't know why you don't like how you can't like a screwdriver. It's orange juice, which is fantastic. Well, the listeners are going to have to wait with bated breath till the end of the episode where they get our rating. They find out how much it costs, and we give them the recipe to try to make it at home. And George might complain some more, so just prepare your hearts. That's part of it.

But those of you that don't know who we are, maybe you found us on some crazy algorithm that just popped up some ad. The robots. friend told you, because they are out there. That could be another episode. We can get all into that. But George Camel, he has multiple podcasts, really talking about the dark side of money, all the traps, everything that's out there. And he's married to Whitney, who personally, I just love her so much. And he has two dogs.

They have two dogs. And I think George, I've decided he likes the dogs more than people. That's 100% true. Dogs don't talk back. And Rachel, you've been helping people with money now for over 15 years. and you've got your own show, and on top of that, you love a good reality TV show. That is true. You love the drama.

Give me like the Bachelor franchise. Give me a real housewife from the OC or Beverly Hills. That is something we disagree heavily on. So fantastic. So let's get back to it, Rachel. You ready for this? Did HGTV ruin our generation and bank accounts? Strong statements.

Just coming in hot. We are. Because housing, number one in the market right now. It's just crazy. I'd slow down a little bit. It's a little bit... The market is a little soft

if we're going to use the lingo. But, you know, whether it's apartments or condos or houses, number one, they're just more expensive than ever today. And I think our expectations are so different thanks to social media,

thanks to things like HGTV. And we just expect a whole lot more than we did even wear kids. Like, can we just go back to the 90s? Childhood houses? Can we go? George and I are on the same age. So like the 90s,

90s, that was our generation, right? So like the early 90s, what was your house like growing up in the early 90s? Oh, my goodness. I mean, it was, we had one tiny bathroom. I'm talking like you couldn't open the door without hitting someone on the toilet. It was that small and four of us shared it. One for the house. Yep.

My childhood bedroom, I could, with my arms out, I could touch both walls and I'm tiny. It was that small. Can I ask like a personal question? Where would you place yourself like lower, lower? Like middle class or lower class Yeah I feel like we were middle class Okay yeah yeah you know like my parents were immigrants

They worked hard they had good jobs They had education So I never felt like we were struggling Yes But it also never felt like Like our friends are the ones that have the pool You know it's like oh they have the money Yes totally yeah yeah

Because that's what I'd say I'd say we were middle class But it was like a triplex I mean you We always shared a bathroom The kids There was no like Jack and Jill bathrooms. No, and even the closets, even mom and dad, like, I remember even like they had just one big closet in that, you know what I mean? Not big, no, I shouldn't say big. They just had one closet.

Where now it's like, oh my gosh. It's a requirement. There's so much. It's a traumatic childhood if you had to share a room. And the doors. I just remember the doors even like being hollow. Like when you close them, they're so thin, so thin. All that kind of stuff.

And nowadays, man. It's a long way. I don't know. Have we changed our society changed yours? I think both. I think there's higher standards now. I know. Because of social media and because of television, which, you know, was around before social media.

Let me remind you. So HGTV started back in 1994. You were in first grade. I was in kindergarten. Yeah, I guess that would be about right. Simpler times. Lion King had just come out. Seinfeld was the number one show.

It really was simpler times. That was the good days. And it used to be called the Home, Lawn, and Garden Channel. And later it just changed to HGTV They took out the lawn For some reason Yeah We're done with lawn

No one wants to watch You channel The guy moaned his lawn Show me a bathroom Show me a redone bathroom So you remember the show This old house Were you, are you old enough

Remember that? I don't think I remember that one Well, that and TLC Which Oh TLC, yep Yeah All I think of is like My 600 pound life or whatever

Like those kinds of shows They had a good one About clothes though The um Oh geez Never mind Keep moving I feel like the point of any of those shows is to make you go,

oh, I guess my life's not that bad. Better dress. Better dress. My life is not good enough. What was it called? Better dress. What not to wear. What not to wear.

That was the show I watched. Hot television. But the number one show on H.E.T.V. overtime was house hunters. That one is hilarious to me. It's so funny. Whenever they ask them about their jobs, I'm always so confused.

So obscure. They're like, my husband catches butterflies part time, and I stay at home with the kids. Our budget, 1.4 million. And I'm like, what? How is this happening? How is this happening? I'm in puppetry and our budget is 2.3. And you're like, wait, wait, wait, what? crushing the puppet game. What are you doing? I know. Yeah, their jobs are always below obscure. But the trends have changed over time and now there's higher standards.

You know, now it's, there was shiplap and bored and batten. I just learned about Wayne's coding because of my wife. We just moved. It's all the rage among the youth. Yes. It is beautiful. It is beautiful. Because of social media and cable, we're just just, we have a picture in our minds of what our house needs to be. Our very first home has to be beautiful and immaculate. I know. In like the high ceilings. I mean, all of this stuff, large baseboards, right? Like, if you get really down to it. Well, now we're ripping out all the carpet to get back to the hardwood. It used to be that if you had carpet, it was like a sign of wealth and luxury. Yes. And I had an aunt and uncle who covered their couches in plastic. You know about that? Yes, I do. I don't know if it's a Middle Eastern thing, but. Oh, no. That's a generational thing.

But like that living room was like a museum. Like you didn't touch it. You didn't go near it. No one ever sat there. It was like reserved in case like a king happened to be at your house. You know what? And I feel like I've heard this stuff, but I even wonder the square footage of a house from like the 1970s to the square footage today. And again, it's just the expectation of society of what we expect.

Not what we need. Not what we need, but what we want. And it's so hard though because then it makes you discontents, all of this stuff. I don't know. But you know who ruined HGTV for me, but I love them. Like want to be BFF. Do you know what I'm talking about? Chip and Joe?

Chip and Joe, man. She does the most amazing designs. And I do think there's something to be said about having a home that you love. That is. That you walk in. You're like, oh, wow, this works. And I don't know I'm not a creative, but I'm like, where you know when you walk into a room, this is beautiful. But it also feels warm.

It's nice. Functional. Yeah, like we want to enjoy our spaces for sure. So we're not saying that. But man, it can make you really discontent. We're like, I want all of that. It should flip out, though. I feel like it is.

I personally think it's out. Yeah. But that could just be me. I'm not hip with the trends. Like my wife is very hip with the trends. But then I'm worried because I'm like, well, next year she's going to need to paint the cabinet's a different color because it's not the color of the year anymore. It's true. So I like timeless.

Yes. I like mid-century modern personally. That's very, very specific. Mid-century modern, but it's come back. It's come back. Yeah. What is it? You know, it's a lot of like walnut.

and leather and, you know, kind of the peg leg. You sound like a little masculine. That's me as a descriptor that many, many people have used to describe me. But Rachel, I want to talk about your first home. Yes. What was it? Was that beautiful? Not growing up, like as an adult.

Yeah, as an adult. As an adult. As an adult. You got your own space. So Winston and I, we got married young. So right after college, married. And we actually, because it was 2009. So we bought during the crash of real estate.

Oh. So ours was a short sale. The whole bank, like the place where we got our house, even the development, it was like half finished and the builders went under. So the bank owned like all of these properties. So anyways, long story short, bought from the bank. Is it a fixer-rupper? No, no, it was like a brand.

I think one other family had lived there. Okay. Actually, they were renters that lived in it. And then the bank bought it and like, I don't know even know. No, it was like a two-year-old house. Yeah, but it was in short sale all of it because of the, because it was the recession, the real estate bubble. So anyways, so we ended up getting a much larger house than we could have afforded today, right? Like if you fast forward to today, we wouldn't have been able to do it.

But because it was in a short sale, we did. And we had no furniture door. It took we moving in this house. And it was like- It was just like lawn chairs in there? We bought, and I'll ever forget this, we went to a furniture store. We bought a sofa, a coffee table, a kitchen table, and then our bedroom, like a king bed, two nightstands, and like a TV. What do you call it?

like a, not a dresser, but like a, media stand. Yeah, yeah, yeah, thing in our room. That was it. That's all we had. And so you walked in and it was like, I mean, everywhere. Now it's minimalist, right? I know.

To not have a lot of stuff. But it was interesting. So I was like, oh, gosh. And that was one part because we both believe in living debt-free lifestyles. And that was a moment that I thought, okay, I'd get, I get how people go into debt. Like, I could furnish this whole house. You could go 90 days same as cat, you know, do all the furniture. Oh, yeah, furniture stores love that.

Totally. They're like, nothing down. You can pay over. 19 years. Yes. And I'm like, I get it because it was discont. I was discontent when I'd walk in the house. There was like a little bit of embarrassment of like, this just looks awkward. And it was bare for a good year and a half or so. And we slowly filled it up. But like, oh my gosh, yeah, it wasn't, it was a great house because of the time we bought, but there was nothing in it. Wow. Yeah. Up until marriage, I was, I mean, I still am very frugal, but I was just like

Craigslist, Facebook marketplace. I couldn't even bring myself to buy like new furniture. Really? Yeah, I just, you know, it's the college age mentality. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I still have some pieces that still work from those days. But once I got married, Whitney was like, yeah, that's got to go. We're not doing that. That couch has seen some things. That we're not doing it.

I know, I, and maybe it's a, I don't know, I'm probably a little bit more high maintenance all that. Winston would be totally fine secondhand all of it. He's a simple man. He doesn't need much in life. I have a hot take, Rachel, I'm going to share with you. I think one of the reasons people are broke is because they don't have functional beautiful spaces to live in. So this is not like pro making poor decisions when it comes to decorating your house and

upgrading. But I do think the reason you want to go out with friends and get out of your apartment or whatever is because you get your apartment and you hate it. Or your house or whatever. Yeah, or your house, wherever it is. And so I think there is some truth in that if you have a beautiful space, it can actually help your budget in a weird way. Yeah, I could see that.

But you can get a beautiful space and it not like make you broke. And you can take a space that had, you know, needed some love. Yes. And you can add the right lighting and furniture and all kinds of things to make it way more livable and buy you some time. Yes, that's true. Because a lot of people right now are going, I hate where I live. I want to move somewhere better. But the housing market's insane.

And the average house is $400,000. Right, right. Totally. That's a real, I feel that. Yep. No, I get that. Absolutely. But it's fascinating.

Anyway, our living situations, man. And our expectations. But there are some, I just moved, and so had to upgrade their house on a budget. Here's my recommendations for you if you're looking to do that. Okay. Number one, we set up a separate Google sheet with the entire budget of how much we had to spend, what we wanted, what we thought it would cost, what it actually cost, and we measured that constantly to see where we were at, what we could afford.

Next, I was looking for the best deals possible. So I was looking for promo codes, coupon codes, can I get it used from Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist? Can I get a deal at Target? Can I go to home goods for this versus going to expensive furniture stores? And lastly, sticking to the budget. It's easy to see the couch of your dreams and it's $4,000.

And you're going like, I can't afford this right now. So find a dupe. Here's a hack. Find a picture of that. You can upload it to the Google app under the images section and it will show you all of the items that look just like that

and show you the prices. And it's a great way to do your research and find deals. So smart. You know, and when Wynce and I, when we got new furniture at our house, we always looked at, like, the investment pieces or the pieces that are just like, we're going to go a little cheaper. And the places that are used the most, the most high trafficked area, aka where our kids are,

cheap. I'm like, I'm not, I cannot buy an expensive couch because I know I'm really changing diapers on that couch. The kids are crawling all over with their shit. Like, I can't emotionally do that. But we have two rooms in the house. I was like, oh, no, I can get like a nicer rug here. There are places that I put, like, my money, I feel like, with, like, those investment

things. And the stuff that I know we're going to replace because. it's high trafficked areas of the house go simple because I also didn't want to buy new furniture and sit there and be like, you can't do that, you can't do that, you can't do that, you can't do that. Don't sit there, don't sit there. It's like, it's a couch, it's made for sitting. Feel the anxiety. I'm like, I want to have freedom in my life and enjoy. And if I pay too much for it, I know in the back of my mind, I'm going to be just like, have a pet peeve the whole time. So I'm like, I just want to enjoy and let my kids go and enjoy life.

And if they take a Sharpie to it, so be it. And they may have. And they will. I'll make sure. of that. Crayons. But great reminders. And do it at the speed of cash. Do not ever, ever go into debt to upgrade your house. And I'm talking about the biggest renovations to the smallest ones.

It's not worth it. Go to Amazon, go to Target, go to home goods, and do it all on a budget and stick to it. That's right. And again, my big thing, too, would be with homes, like what we need versus what we want. And it's changed. Go back to the 90s. Simpler times. Simpler times.

So true. All right, George. It's time for our last segment, guilty as charged. Wow. Okay, this is where our producer, Lindsay, comes up with a question. Maybe it's incriminating. We don't know. It's borderline ethical.

I'm fairly nervous about it. And if we have done this, we've got to take a drink. Okay, what's the question for today, Lindsay? Have you ever fudge the numbers on your budget to feel better? Yes. 100%. Yes. Oh, yeah.

Rachel's cooking the books all the time. Last month, grocery and restaurants were, I don't know what we were doing. I literally look at it. I'm like, I don't know how we spent that much on food. But we did. But I just upped it a little bit. And you know what I did, George? What'd you do?

This is probably very guilty. You took it away from the kids? I took it. Oh, no. The dog didn't eat, but Rachel got to eat out. I have thrown a nail salon transaction into Amelia's category. I've done that before. Just threw it right in because I thought she loves nails.

Without her consent. Without her consent, yep. Oh, my goodness. No, I took it out of our, out of our, like we have a savings line item that will save extra income. And I lowered it by a few hundred bucks to finish out the food category of the line. So I took it out. I didn't even go and take it out of miscellaneous that had like extra money in it. I was like, I don't want to move any categories this month.

So I'm taking it out of her savings. And through poor little Amelia under the bus. I did put a nail salon transaction in hers. When you get to heaven. How about you? Have you punched the budget? At the pearly gates, they're going to be like, Rachel, we got to talk about it. Before you come in here, we got to talk about that time.

And the dip is expensive, the nails these days. That's what I get. I get the dip. I'm still confused about all of that. It hurts my brain, but I'm happy for you. The nails look great. Okay, I want to know about you, George. Have you punched the budget?

Okay, for sure. Yeah, so we've been in moving mode, and therefore we literally did not cook a single meal for 30 days straight. What? What? We were just surviving on hope, a prayer, and, like, microwave tacos. Stop it. And so our food budget, skyrocketed because we had no energy to cook a single meal when you're in moving mode.

Oh, so sad. Thank you, Rachel. Are you okay? So, yes. I've, I've, doing okay now. I cook the books and the budget. Moved it all around. We were still in budget, but we spent way more on food than we ever should have.

Yeah. Food man. No ragrets. I get you. And these days, it's just expensive eating out. Wait, what did you say? No ragrets. It's an inside thing, Rachel.

He got a tattoo that says no ragg. R-A-G. Who is he? Who is he? guy on the internet. It's like a meme. Do I have to, Rachel, are you a boomer secretly? I feel like it deep in my heart of times.

Okay, part of this podcast is me just explaining pop culture to Rachel. Maybe less Bachelor and more memes are in your future. Oh, man. Okay, so we're both guilty. We got to drink. All right. Sip that screwdriver, George. Enjoy it.

Enjoy it. Enjoy every second of it. Yum, getting my vitamin D and calcium in. I think it's great. Oh, gosh. Well, if you have a guiltiest charge question, DM us on Instagram and let us know, and it might make an upcoming episode of the show. Yeah, we'd love to hear.

Love to hear. All right, who finished our drink? George, you say? I got a lot left because I'm just straight up drinking orange juice, Rachel. It's a lot of sugar for me. I know. I watch my physique. For sure.

Okay, so what do you rate it? What do you rate the screwdriver? I'm going to give it a two out of ten. Wow. I think five-year-old George would be like, wow, this is delicious because it's just orange juice. Why is a five-year-old drinking? I don't condone them. I'm giving it an eights, because we're recording on a Friday, and it's kind of a brunch situation is what it feels like. That's fair. I'm very happy with my situation. I just want that little crisperier. I prefer

a mimosa over a screwdriver. Oh, like a little sparkle. If I'm just going to drink orange juice, throw a little shamps in there. Yeah, that's fair. I could, yeah, yeah, I know. All right, so the cost breakdown is if you make it at home, it's probably what, two bucks? About two bucks. Depending on the type of vodka you use, the type of orange juice, you're looking at two bucks. And if you go to a fancy, schmancy brunch place at like a nice hotel, you're going to pay, what, $12, $15? And Rachel has done that for sure. $12.15, so. I'm just going to CVS and I'll just make my own in the hotel room for $2.

Swirl it around in a Yetty and bring it on down the brunch. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy. Classy, George. All right, you guys, thanks so much for listening to this episode. Make sure to follow us on social. And even if you want to subscribe to this podcast, hit that subscribe and follow button to learn more about money and what's going on in our culture today. And you get a free drink recipe. It's free. We're not charging for this. We're not. We're giving people the information.

You can find it on the internet anyways. We're saving you all the ads you'd have to go through on some blog. So there you go. Check out the show notes. New episodes every Thursday. Can't wait to see you next week. I'm George Camel. I'm Rachel Cruz. This has been the smart money happy hour.