Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Ultimate Hot Take Compilation: Tacky, Sketchy, Icky and Worth It

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

💵 Create a free budget and find more margin with EveryDollar.   When it comes to life and money, we’re full of hot takes. Join us for a nostalgic trip down memory lane as we revisit some of our most hilarious (and unhinged) financial advice episodes. Next Steps: ·   🎙️ Catch our episode Judging People Based on How They Spend Their Money. ·   🍸 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 Specials: ·   🍸 Tequila Manhattan Recipe: Liquor.com ·   🥧 Caramel Apple Pie Mocktail Recipe: Merry About Town  ·   🥃 Aperol Tequila Sour Recipe: @cocktails  ·   🍹 Cherry Basil Smash Recipe: BevsByBeverly    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

Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers, George. Cheers. Wow. Fallelujah, that is good. Fall in a cup.

Is that not a T.J. Max candle at checkout, Rachel. That is, I mean, if Bedbath and Beyond was still around, they'd be selling that in the store. Let's be honest. We could make good money just bottling this stuff. That mocktail, fabulous. All right. We'll tell you more about it later. Wow.

Well, this is the show. We're two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And today, we are asking the question, how far is too far when it comes to your money and saving a buck? We respect the hustle to save a buck, Rachel. Yeah, and there are decisions to be made in our daily lives that, well, the question is, is it too much? Or is it worth it? Worth the squeeze.

You heard that line? I have heard that line. I don't like it. I like to say it. Because it's uncomfortable. Or dime versus time, you know? Oh, that's a fun way to say it. Yeah, yeah.

So we're going to talk about that. It's basically called your opportunity cost if you're an econ 101. Right, nerd. That's what they talk about. So figuring out what's worth it. But what are we sipping on? When you go calculate your joy over there.

Well, we're chatting about this, George. Yeah, we are sipping on a caramel apple pie moktail. Can I just say that on the paper, it says caramel, not caramel, it says just C-A-R-R-E-R. R-M-E-L Carmel. Which, that's different. I spelled that. Is it incorrect?

Well, caramel has a, is two A, C-A-R-A. Well, then maybe I should go back to school. Carmel's just real southern. You know, I'm going to be honest, Lindsay. I don't see a typo. Thank you, Rachel. I don't. I don't see a typo.

I don't see a typo. Okay, so in a last, you know, recent episode, we did the whole Would You Rather? This, we're going to go back to another fun game. A little truth-red-air. Oh, did you ever play that growing up? Did I ever play truth or dare? I feel like every kid played truth or dare.

No, no. No, we played it for sure. Did you know I play truth or dare? For sure. I wasn't invited to environments or scenarios in which this game would happen. Can I just say that? I've been so sad.

I was in the Arabic Baptist youth group. All right? I wasn't going to parties where cool people were there. I was in a gym, gym, of a church. You know what I just had a flash? We literally would pray through the new year. Do you know the movie?

She's all that? Yes. But she walks on the stairs in the red dress and Freddie Prince Jr. is like down there. I like have this like vision of George like getting a makeup. That's me. That is me. I am Freddie Prince Jr. in a lot of ways.

All right, Rachel, since I never got to play as a child, let's play this right now, truth or dare. Okay, go. You have to say, which you would choose. You want truth or dare? Oh, oh. Oh, I'm going truth. Have you ever added something extra to the cart just to get free shipping?

Oh. You didn't hit the limit? Truth. Yes. You don't say truth. Okay. I'm wondering if you've ever played. Truth.

Yes, I have. I have. Okay. I've added a T-shirt. A tank top. A single tank? Throw in a $9 item and get the free shipping. Yes, I have.

Good for you. Yeah, have you? Yeah, I for sure have. But it's usually like a small item and it usually involves hair care. If I'm going to be honest, I'll get a trial-sized grooming gel. Truth or air for you, George.

Truth, because I don't want to get up or have to do anything. Okay, so have you ever driven further than you had to to a gas station to get a lower price on gas? 100%. I'll use an app like upside or gas buddy. Oh, yeah?

like, oh, they're ripping us off. I'm not going to... How far will you go? I will not go far off the bean path. I'm going to lose more than five or so minutes. I'm going to stick to whatever soon by. Okay, that's fair. But five minutes of my time is worth it to save upwards of $10, $20.

That's fair. Yeah, because I think there is this high-level view when you're living with money that when you are frugal, you're naturally going to save more. But there again, it can be a fine line. Because on one side, it's like, oh, yeah, wealthy people became wealthy, because they made smart decisions. They didn't spend money on stupid stuff.

They were investing, they were saving, they were buying things like reasonably priced, right? But then it can go too far, you know? The frugal mentality. There's a limit. We've all seen extreme cheapskates. Yes, yes. So you can get to this point where you're like, okay, I'm going out of my way so much that I'm losing time, valuable time, which is obviously a resource we all want more of, just to save a dime, right? Or just to save a dollar or 10.

Dime versus time. So the question is, yeah, what is worth it and what is not? and I think with me being probably the more frugal one, you know, a little more resourceful trying to find a deal, you being more trying to buy back your time, I think it's going to be an interesting conversation. And I would love for the listeners and viewers to vote along with us. Yeah.

Are these things worth it? So let us know the comment section. Which I would say, again, this is one reason why I love the budget is because it does allow you to kind of give those guardrails naturally. Like, okay, do I have the margin to spend a little bit more for the convenience? Or do I really need to figure out a deal and make it work, right? That's a great point. If you want the convenience, just budget for it, and then you don't feel guilty afterwards.

And the best tool to do that is every dollar. And you can check it out for free. Just go to every dollar.com slash smart money or click the link in the description. So good. All right. So yeah, let's play the little game. Let's have some fun. Save a dime or save your time.

So we're going to go through some money-saving hacks tips out there. I'm going to share our hot takes on whether it's worth the time and effort that goes into it. We might have different takes. All right. I'm going to go first. sale hopping at multiple grocery stores each week. Is that a waste of time? Ooh.

And a waste of gas, or is it worth it long term? Ooh. Okay, so sale hopping in multiple grocery stores. It's just like I'm going to go to Aldi and Costco and Kroger. I'm going to say up to a two-store limit for me. Okay. I'll go to two stores. What are those two stores for you?

Those are Costco. Where can we find Rachel? Costco. Okay. And then I am bougie, y'all. I do love Publix. Okay, that's fair. So I'll go there.

Yeah. Every now and then I'll hit a Kroger. Kroger has some good stuff. Okay. If I need some staples and it's closer, I will go there. Yeah. But Costco and Publix, I will hop between those two, depending on what the item is of where I can buy it. That's legit.

I am more sale conscious. Like, if you look at my, if I did an Instacart, for example, everything in my cart will be on sale. Really? I will only shop. what's on sale. So it's a strategy I use. Really?

If I can, within reason, if there's something that's like, I need this exact item. Exactly. But then again, there's always a different milk on sale. I'm not super choosy. So you go off of the food item

because I go off of the meal. So I'll think through like, okay, I can make a salad and chicken on top for me and Winston, the kids kind of mac and cheese and the chicken. So what's the cheapest within that genre?

Does that make sense? Yeah. And I go based on what's on sale. So I'll go, okay, what is it? meal plan based on what's on sale? Yeah, I go. What's a protein on sale?

What's a carb that's affordable on sale? What's a veggie that's on sale? And I'll go, all right, that works. So, like this week we did... I think I like more control over my destiny than you do. Wow. I like the variety of going, oh, let the sale choose my meal plan.

That's even easier. Yeah, but you get asparagus. And you're like, I'm going to make an asparagus casserole. We did broccoli this week. That was our vegetable of choice. Okay, because it was on sale. Whitney shopped at Trader Joe's this week. And that's just what she chose.

She likes Brussels sprouts. You know, I wish I was a Trader Joe's gal. We'll get you there. Well, it's been like a one-off for me. But I wish it was one of those like, oh, I shop at Trader Joe's. Well, not everything is, like, it can be more expensive for certain items. Okay. But it's a great, like the portions are right for a small family.

Yep. And then we go to Costco for the bigger things or Sam's Club. So, all right. So, yeah, sale hopping. In a sense, I would be more likely to do that than you. Yeah, I would say that's true. All right, next step. Researching promo codes for online purchases.

I'm 100%. I'm the promo. King. This is you. This is you. Rachel will text me being like, hey, do you got to, I'll take one if you got one, but she's not going to do the research. When's the last time you used one? Unless it's within my app. Like I have the Papa John's app. I have the Chick-fil-A app. Like I have some food apps.

And within the app, if it's there, the promotion's there, obviously I use it. But I don't. We're still doing the Papa John's thing. I love Papa Johns. And I'm a Marco's guy. I love Papa Johns. The crust at Papa is so good.

It is so good. So I haven't tried a gluten-free at Papa John. Don't even know if they have it. I don't know. But Marcos has a real good gluten-free. We like our toppings. We know what we like.

Yes. What's your pizza? Pepperoni's and banana peppers. Okay. It's my favorite. Can someone explain the difference between pepper and cheesnie and banana peppers? Okay. Pepper chis are more are spicier.

And they're not as available. So Papa John's, this is what I like them. They give you the pepper chini, the full pepper in the box. So you... I don't know. Heart with your pizza, you get both. Is that what you do? Oh, yeah.

I got my peppercini in one hand, and then I got my pizza pizza pizza. And then you take a bite of the pizza? Yeah, and then you put hot red pepper flakes on top of your pizza too. She gets it. Fantastic. Red pepper flakes are game changer. All day, all day. That or the Jets, Eugene.

If you have Jets, go to the Eugene. It's sausage, banana pepper, red onion. Oh. Fabulous. Sounds great. Whitney loves one at Marcos. It's a white sauce, not a red sauce. Oh, okay.

With grilled chicken and green peppers. Yeah. I can't do the white sauce pizza. Give it a shot. I have. I do extra red sauce, sausage and pepperoni. Old world. Have you had the old world?

The little puppies? Oh, the little guys. The little guys. Yeah. Good one. Game changer. A little spicier. I love it.

You know what I don't like a stuffed crust. Not for me. Don't eat it. Don't eat it. You're overestimated how much we want to eat bread. And then they give you that garlic sauce, which you're supposed to dip in. poured over my pizza.

Oh, that's a good one, too. It's so good. I'm hungry. Wow, I wish we did that. We are hungry. Yeah, but do you know what's always worth it, though? What? promo code or not, but a promo is still great, is your online safety.

Way to transition. And when you have a program that's helping you in life, a service to get your data off the internet, it is worth it every time. That's a game change. And with Delete Me, this is what they do. You go in, you fill out a profile, create an account, and they go through all. all these data broker websites and take your information off these websites because there are scammers, there are spammers, there are people out there that are selling your data and getting

it off the internet is so important in 2024. That's why I love to leave me. And you think, well, I could do this myself to go scour the internet, find it, find the little form to fill out to remove it. Well, it's not a one and done. Your info is constantly being sold to data broker sites out there. So this is a great way, an affordable way to make sure you don't have to worry about that ever again. So you can check it out. Just go to join delete me.com slash smart money and you'll get 20% off for being a smart money happy hour listening. There's your promo, guys.

There's your promo. Are you getting sticky from the old... Yeah, a lot of caramel. I've got sap. I feel like Buddy the Elf. A lot of caramel on here. There's stuff. Crapes everywhere.

Can I tell you, when it comes to promo codes, they are not sponsors, but I love honey and slip deals. And sometimes we tell me not to find those promo codes. I just did this with Marcos this week. my go-to promo code to save 30% did not work. So I had to settle for a 25% instead of a 30%. It hurt. Can I be honest, it hurt a little bit.

I'm sure. Did it ruin your night? Or did you bounce back? I wouldn't call it a night ruiner. Because I still think pizza is an affordable option to feed your family. Resilience. Yeah. Good for you.

I was resilient. Good for you. Okay, about this. Paying debt off over the course of several years. Oh, is this worth it, dime versus time? Yeah, where it's like, okay. I'm not going to. sacrifice my lifestyle. I'm going to just pay for it.

Several is the operating word. I would go, if it's going to take, like, I want to make the pain a shorter time frame. So two years, two and a half years, now we're talking. If it's going to be three, four, five years, we've got to really find out a way to get some extra income or cut our expenses. Yes, for sure. So yeah, I would say it's always worth the time because you're getting money back, right? The amount of money you're paying, not only in payments, but the interest on top of that. It is, it is so worth just to buckle down like you're saying and saying, I'm going to just cut everything, get extra income and do it in a short amount of time. And I paid off 40 grand in 18 months. Our friend and fellow personality, Jade Warsha, her and her husband took him seven

and a half years because they had almost half a million in debt. And so regardless of how long it takes, be intense about it and knock it out. It's always worth it to free up your income for the rest of your life. So good. All right. Next, George, finding cheap parking far away. And walking instead of paying $15 for the garage or a valet fee. I am that guy who... You're a walker? Well, I will do excessive research before. And there's an app called Spot Hero.

There's other parking apps out there. So I can pre-book a parking spot in a garage, and I know exactly how much it's going to cost. Oh, wow. So it'll show you on a map. How do you pre-park it? Because what if someone pulls in and just parks in your spot? Well, it's a parking garage, and so you're pre-paying for a spot.

So I don't know how that works. Oh, a spot. Not like a specific spot. And so I'll know, hey, if I'm going to the show downtown Nashville, I can pay $10 for the library parking garage. I got you. Versus paying 25 for the one right next to the venue. When I could have driven or walked an extra five minutes.

Yeah, how far are you walking? Let's talk blocks here. Let's go big city. I am, a 10 minute is about the max walk. If it's a 15-minute walk for parking, I try to find something closer. Yeah. Or street parking. But I will always look for street parking first.

That's free, which is more rare in Nashville because... They've just taken over with trying to get you to pay for parking. Yeah, it's not a lot here. But I'm a big fan of just taking a little bit of extra time. Yeah, I would go to 10-minute walk. You would? Yeah.

What about valet if it's offered? Airport. I'm going valet. It's my bougie trait. That's your toxic trait. I love a valet parking with airport because you got your suitcases, you got everything else.

It's worth it to me. But yeah, we, yeah, I say we would walk. But then if you circle the block like five times, then I'm like just pay. Like there's a point I give up. I'm not going to circle for a half hour. But if I can circle for 10 minutes, I would do that to save 20 bucks.

Yeah, for sure. And it's healthy to walk after a meal. Oh, I didn't think about that. It's a big deal. I know. So after a big meal, you're like, oh, let's go walk the city for a little bit. And weather dependent as well. That is true, for sure.

But if it's free valet, I'm open to that. But what I hate is, like, locally, there's a place in Franklin that does this, which is not like a big city parking situation. and the valet will move your car like three feet. I'm like, I can go park. It's not a big city park. It's a normal like suburban parking lot. I'll go park myself.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Because then you've got to tip the valet and all of it costs. Always tip your valet. Yes. Who doesn't tip their valet? But if I can avoid it and park myself, I'll tip myself instead. How about this one? Going to pick up an order instead of paying it for delivery service to bring it to you.

Now this is a no-brainer if you're getting out of debt. Don't pay for delivery service. do-it-yourself. But I tend to err on the side of going to pick it up myself if it makes sense. So that's me 90% of the time. 90% of the time you might go for the delivery service. You know, we don't do like an Uber Eats though.

Like I don't do a... Yeah. I don't do... I mean, groceries I will deliver at times, but food delivery services I don't do it except for pizza. That's fair. So like if we're going to go out, we usually go out. We don't usually get it to go.

Yeah. I don't know. I have probably DoorDashed or Uber E's. it's like I can count on one hand, how many times I've done that in my life, because it hurts my soul to see how much of a rip-off it can be when you're adding up. Number one, they're charging more for everything on that menu.

Then number two, there's a delivery fee. The number three, you're adding tip on top of all of that. Yes. So a $10 meal could end up costing you 20 or more when you add up all. So it just, for me, if it's pizza and it's a big group of people and I can't leave the house or don't want to, I'll get it delivered. Totally. I will always deliver pizza.

Will you always pick up pizza too? Oh, I will attempt to pick it up. Oh, wow. Okay. Less than 15 minutes one way. I'm such like a 90s kid. I feel like delivering pizza is like the... It's a real treat.

I'll tell you that. It's a real San Francisco treat when I can just get the pizza delivered. But something about me feels good when I got to be the delivery driver and save my family that, you know, five or eight bucks on delivery fee plus tip. You know, heroes don't all wear capes. Thank you. Well done, George. Well done. They wear corduroy denim jacks in case.

In case you're wondering what a hero looks like. Oh, okay. How about this? buying things in bulk when there's a major sale. This is the Middle Eastern in me. I love a bulk purchase. Give me a bulk purchase. I'm doing the price per ounce.

I'm doing the calculation of my phone. I'm going, let's buy it in bulk. Yeah. Caviot, I need to check the expiration date. If it's something that will expire within a week... If it's a perishable item, I'm more cautious. Yes, agreed. But soap, dove soap at Costco, give me 80 boxes, absolutely.

80 boxes of devso? I'm exaggerating. Probably 20, though. A big old thing. and you're like, that will last me forever. Wow. So great. I love bulk.

I do. Yeah, it does, because then I don't have to go shopping as quickly. You're not going every week to get this thing, and you're saving money along the way. So, you know, Costco, Sam's Club. It can be a good deal, but I also, I try to only buy things that are on sale at Costco.

Another toxic trade of mine or Sam's Club. If I can get it on sale, I feel even better. Totally. Even more bang for the buck. Yeah. And you can return it at any time, no questions ask, which I did. We know that. the other week with a full-on grill.

You returned a grill? I returned a grill. Why? I don't know if it was user error or the grill just wasn't great. But we used it at my daughter's first birthday party and it almost ruined the party. No, did it fire? That was the second time I used it. There was a grill fire, which did know was a thing.

George, I don't know. Are you like a grill master, though? My question would be user error. No, but it's a, what's it called the easy bake oven? it's the Trager, it was like a Trager Jr. from Costco. And you plug it in, you set the temp. It's supposed to be like no frills. The birthday? The birthday, we could not, I couldn't get the thing started.

I couldn't even get it to like go to turn on, essentially. I hit the power button. I was going to say, is there an on button? There is, but then there's like, it has four buttons and they're not labeled. And you're just hoping and guessing, like, which ones you have to hold together to get the thing ignited and get the pellets going. Did you ask anyone for help? I made the mistake of calling customer service.

and it was some dude following a script. He had an accent. He clearly had not grilled before. Because he just kept going through his script. He was like, do you have an account online? I was like, no, tell me how to get the grill on. It was very frustrating. I eventually got the grill on.

Then my dad was handling the grill. The pellets were not feeding in. And that grill went down in temp. So I was like, I give up. I'm going to Costco and returning it. I'm glad you did. But then they took it back? They took it back.

Dang. I wouldn't say happily. They were a little bit like what's going on with the grill. It's a few years old. And I went, it hasn't worked for me. Yeah, just not working. Yeah. And their policy is, other than electronics, appliances, jewelry,

at any time you're not satisfied, bring it back. Full refund. There you go. Good for you. There's my take. All right. Driving to your vacation instead of flying because of the high cost of flights.

This depends on the destination, of course. What is the most you'd be willing to drive? Call me boogey. Call me boogey. I'm a flyer. No more road trips for the cruise family. Y'all, I, we could go. What's the distance?

You're like, okay, this is a flight-worthy destination versus a driveable. Like Atlanta is, what, three and a half hours? Yeah, yeah, I'd say five hours. Five hours or less, you're willing to drive. Yep. Five hours or more, we're flying. To be fair, is Winston driving most of the time?

Oh, 100%. Okay. I'm the passenger princess. Or what do they call it? Yeah, oh, yeah. I've got my phone. I've got, oh, yeah, I'm not even. You're not at all helpful.

I'm not even aware. Because my kids now, we only give them tablets on road trips or on flights. So they're like on drugs every time we like travel. They're like, they don't get them. Oh, yeah. So I don't do anything now. What are they watching? It's great.

They play games, a snake game that you've got to eat stuff. That's their big thing. That feels like a good thing. I know. They love games. And one's a color in per box thing. Amelia does. So the reason they want to travel is not for the destination.

That's what we're learning, yes, that they just went there. tablets. What if it was a vacation where you just drove around and let them play on an iPad? They would be none the wiser. They would be fine. They would think, wow, what a great trip that was. I know. So yeah, but I'll say say five hours or more, we're flying. I'm going to say if I can save like $100 per hour. So if the flights are more than $100 for every hour I save, then I'm probably going to drive. Okay. Within limits. Yeah, what's your limit? What's your hour limits? Now with a baby, I realize my wife is very like,

we're not going to drive in a car for eight hours of the, you know. So we're still at that stage. So we have, we've been flying mostly to Florida and to Boston. That's where our families are. Sure, sure. Which are pretty easy flights. My key is it's got to be a nonstop.

I don't do connecting flights if I can help it. At reasonable times, I will not fly before 9 a.m. That is my limit. What? Because the earlier the flight, the more chaotic the airport is with more people and more stress,

and less sleep. I think I would challenge you on that. Go ahead. Challenge me. All right. You get an 8 a.m. flight. You got to show up at 6.30 at the latest. What?

We got a lot of luggage because the baby stuff. No. So you've got to wait in line for the baby. Oh, you're still checking. We carry on. We carry on. If it's just me solo, who cares? But with the baby now when we're traveling with family.

I know, I forgot about those days. All right. You got the playpen and the car seat. You're bored at 730. then we're there at 650. Risky. No. Because sometimes those lines at 6.50 are out the door.

They're not with TSA pre-check. Or then you just look to the sad little family and say, we're late for our flight. Can we get you? It's the bad drop. That's the issue. Can we pass you? Can we pass you or late for our flight?

Is that what you say? This poor family. No, I've never had to, but worst case scenario, I 100% would. I'd say, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. But Nashville, we walk right up every time we fly to TSA. America, let me know in the comments.

If Rachel asks you, of course you're going to say, oh, absolutely. If I ask you, you're like, the line's back there, Bucco. You're going to wait like the rest of us. Get back there. Get back there. Oh, George. It's a lot of stress. It is.

But if I can save 100 bucks per hour, I'd rather fly if I can. I'll say that. That's fair. I know. Flying's gotten more expensive. And like to Florida, that trip was like, it can be an eight and a half hour drive. to see the family in Boston. I wouldn't even dare make that grass.

See, I would skimp on food and be like, we're not going to eat out nice. Like, we'll just get whatever to go. We'll get easy food. Yeah. To save money to pay for flights. Like I would find ways to like, even for the holidays, we looked,

and I was like, I'm not paying $1,300 for flights. It was the cheapest to get to. Yeah, that's hard. During the holidays, they up the prices. And I was like, forget it. They can come see us if they want. Yeah. So, George, I think the point of all of this, though,

is you've got to have boundaries in life. We can't all just get what we want all the time. You have to prioritize and know what is worth your time because your time is, in essence, you want to be able to have, I mean, to me, the life quality of saying, gosh, I have the spare time, it gets worth it in a certain season, right? Yes.

So that's why I think getting out of debt, getting yourself some margin, all of that, to be able to do some of the conveniences, like we talked about this episode. Because you're not mad at the conveniences. Yeah. And I think that they're buying back your time, yeah. And I think that there's a point in that that is great.

And that's where the whole like, does money make you happy idea? I think that it can provide conveniences, right, in this kind of way. That's beautifully said. And I'll add to that. Your priorities will always dictate your boundaries. Oh, beautifully said. Tweet that. I know in tweets, but you can into the abyss.

All right. Well, it's almost the end of the episode, George. And we close out every episode with guilty as charged. And this is where our producer, Lindsay. these last, guiltiest charge. Have you ever impulsively bought something you didn't budget for? And what was it? Yeah, I mean, I've got some.

I didn't. I'm not scared. Okay. I'm not ashamed. Mine's from my children, so I feel good about it. Okay. What a great mom. Basketball.

Our middle child is going to do basketball. We've never done basketball as a family. And it came up literally in like a group chat. And I asked her, would you want to play basketball this winter with all your friends that are doing soccer. She's like, yes. And I said, sure, but it was $215 to sign up.

That was not in the budget. So, rearranged some of the stuff, added a line item, put it in the budget, but it was not originally for it. So it didn't derail anything, but it was just like,

all right, we got to figure this out. Yeah, little things here there, little tweaks, if you will. Yeah. Does that count? Yeah. I would say so. Mine was a lot pricier,

but I don't regret it. But it was definitely like a non-joy splurge. Who was it? So Whitney's grandpa passed a while back. Okay. Not super recently. But then grandma,

going through all the stuff, said, hey, he's got this old Rolex watch. Would you want it? And I was like, absolutely. Are you a Rolex king? Here's the thing. So they said, here's the idea. You can't sell it,

but if you're going to wear it and you're going to enjoy it, we want to give it to you for free. And I was like, oh my gosh, what an honor. So it needed some fixing up. So I take it to the jeweler, to the like whatever, they sent it off to Rolex for an estimate,

and it was over $1,000 to get the watch repaired. Oh, wow. Which, you know, hurts my soul. Sure. How much was it worth? I've had a Series 3 Apple watch that I bought. How much was the Rolex worth, do you know? I don't, I'm guessing, I think from what I can tell, I need to get it appraise,

but I think it's probably a $5,000, $6,000 watch. So in my mind, I went, okay, would I pay $1,000 to get a new to me Rolex watch? Absolutely. But that wasn't in the budget. This was sprung on me, but I needed to get the repair. done in order to use it. So we have been saving for a new house and so we used some of the new house savings and went, all right,

I'm going to make that up in the long run over the next year and I will get this repair done for the heirloom, jewelry, and, you know. Do you like it? Is it cool? I'm picking it. They just text me today and said the watch is ready, come pick it up. But when you saw it though, is it like the size you like? Oh, it's beautiful, yes. And he was a smaller fellow like me

and so I think it's going to be, I get to carry the legacy of my wife's grandpa, which is cool. So I'm excited. But again, when people see me, they're going to be like, oh, okay, Mr. Roel. I'm like, no, no, no, no. Like, trust me, I'm not this guy, but it's a beautiful watch. All day.

So I'll wear it with no shame. I love that, George. So can't wait. You'll see it on a future episode of Smart Money Happy. Maybe you can come to Caroline's game wearing the Rolex and we can say no budgets. You know me, Rachel. I am the last guy to do, like, I'm not trying to flex. I'm kidding.

You know what I mean? I know. But do I want to show up to a Little League soccer game wearing Rolex? For fun? Sir. Me and Winston, broing down, talking about the big game, coaching them up,

yelling things at them, absolutely. All day, every day. So that is my, yeah, was not in the budget, was impulsive, we made it work. I think it was worth it.

I love it. That was a good one. So good. All right, who finished their drink first, George? I think it was you. I know, it was you. It is a very sticky drink, but I do,

caramel is my favorite acutche-a-moat. Topping, okay. It's Winston's. Like, if it was ice cream, forget the hot fudge. I'm sick of hot fudge within three bites. Yeah, that's what Winston says. Caramel's his too.

I think this is a guy I think because my husband is the same way. It's so weird, and I don't like caramel. I don't either way. Uh-uh. Love a Snickers, but the caramel part of like... What about a payday? No.

Twix. Nope. Give me a snickers. I'd be twixt by your hot take on that. But I like hot fudge. I would do hot fudge. Gross, basic. Wow, unbelievable.

There we go. What would you rate the drink, first of all? Oh, I'm going 9 out of 10. It's a little sweet. That's why it's not a 10 out of 10. Like the sweetness level is just like a tad much. But it's so good. I think as the ice watered it down, it tempered the sweetness,

I'm going to go 10 out of 10. The only way I could improve on this moktail and call me bougie, if you add a little bit of spin drifts apple, Bifika crisp apple flavor, a spin drift, there's a little bit of the bubbles in there. Yeah, you got a little bubble. That would have really taken this up one notch. Okay.

But still a 10 out of 10 moktail for me. It tastes like an apple pie. It's great. It is great. Very good. So the cost, break down $1.38 per glass. Not bad for a 10 out of 10 moktail.

And here's the ingredients. Apple cider, caramel syrup, not caramel, caramel, caramel syrup. Don't know if you can find that in the store. Cinnamon, apples. You got the fresh apple slice in there. Rosemary. Again, fresh rosemary, game changer. And brown sugar.

So it's a brown sugar caramel rim. Delicious. That really adds to it. I would personally add sparkling water if you want to take it to an 11. I think that would have just really been the apple on top instead of the cherry in this case. Wow. There you go. So get the recipe in the show notes.

Give it a try this weekend. Your kids can enjoy this one too. And Fallelujah to all of us. Fallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel.

And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers, George. Cheers. Yours looks more full than mine, but that is delicious. Only one way to explain that, Rachel. We will take that. Well, this is the show. We're two friends who happen to be money extorts.

Talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And Rachel, you've heard this Michelle Obama quote. When they go low, we go. We go high. There it is. But are you familiar with the lesser known saying, when cost of living goes high, we go even lower.

Lower. That's when I just made up. Go as low as we can to survive the world today, George. We're going to unpack that little haiku together today. But let's talk about what we're sipping on. Yeah, we are sipping on a tequila Manhattan. Two of your favorite things. I know.

I enjoy a clean tequila these days. That could be for another episode. But it's, when you find a clean tequila without preservatives, so none of the celebrity tequilas, they're full of preservatives. Oh, wow. Clean tequila's. It's like you're about to launch your own celebrity to fill on the show. And that's why I created.

And that's why I created Middle Wilson. I don't know. Was that your best name for a tequila? I was trying to come up with it on the sports. I mean, Cruz already has like a Mexican vibe. Oh, I could use my name. You could have just went. Yeah, I could.

That's good. No, all right. Don't invite me to the marketing meeting. I was trying to go like location. Okay. No, but I was reading or listening to a health expert on a podcast and he said if you're going to drink a clean tequila, clean is the key here, is the healthiest for it because the gape plant and the way you bought.

It's the healthiest poison you could imbi. That's right. For your body to, yes, like as it goes through everything, I don't know, because it's a gavel plant. Or a bolden, are you ready for this? A bolden, Italian red wine. That's the second best. I love that when you listen to health experts, you become one.

Did you know? You fooled me. I basically got a degree. That's impressive. So anyways, that's it. Yeah, yeah. Okay. But American wines, they said no go.

They just add a bunch of cusset sugar. Yeah, they said it's not good. Don't get mad at me, napa. It's the American way. You know, okay. So anyways, we're sipping on a, I would think a clean, lean tequila. We're going to just go for that. Sure. You can think that.

Manhattan. And we love a Manhattan. It's great. Very good. And wait till the end. We're going to give you our rating, reveal the cost per glass. And as always, the recipe is in the show notes. And this is one we might recommend making. Yeah. Pretty good so far. Well, Rachel, today's topic is it's giving the same energy as I can't even. I know. You know, remember when that phrase became an overnight staple in millennial vocabulary? And then Gen Z was like, that's chuggy. And by the way, don't say chuggy anymore. It's not cool. I can't even. See, I can't even feel, doesn't feel millennial.

Millennial to me was like the Valley Girl, like, oh my gosh, as if, like clueless. Oh. Like that world, the dumb blonde. That's elder millennial. That was like my high school. Like, that was the lingo there, you know? Yeah. But anyways, whether I can't even or like, oh my gosh, Valley Girl, it is. We are all exhausted with the world today and the cost of living, George. The cost, it's out of control. It feels out of control, people. I can't walk out of the house without spending 100 bucks. Like, prove to me. I'm wrong. If you leave, it parties over. So I just don't leave anymore.

Okay, so we're going to talk about some ridiculous trends of people saving money during the world today, because again, it is so expensive. But yeah, I'm curious, George, you got any crazies, any skeletons in your closet? When it comes to how I've survived

the cost of living increases, how I save money. I do have one recent that I feel like is not impressive. Most people are unwilling to do it. But you can go do it today. Okay. So you know I'm a frugal guy. I want to see Twisters. I don't want to pay the $15 plus $4 convenience fee

that they now charge to see these movies. So I'm a AAA member. So I went, they got movie tickets on the AAA website. So I bought the tickets at a discount from the AAA website for like $8 or $9 and that you scan them. Then I realized, well, if I enter the code on the AMC app, it's still going to charge me a convenience fee of $3. And so I went, screw that.

I'm going to go to the movie theater. the day before and get my tickets in person to avoid the convenience fee. Wow. So I double hacked. I was like, I'm not paying full price for the ticket and I'm not paying the convenience fee. Okay.

And that's how I saw Twisters for $9. Can I tell you this? This is that Rachel saw Twisters for 12. You ready for this? Okay. You go to a matinee. Yes. You got to get a sitter or the whole thing, right?

Go to a matinee 25% off. Yep. And then you become an AMC member. The Stubbs member. The steps member, and your fees waived. It's only waived if you buy four or more, though, unless you're paying for the premium subscription. Rachel paid a fee.

Shoot, am I paying? Am I paying a subscription? I hope not. They have different levels. Okay. But the first one is just a free. Mine, my convenience fee was waived when I. Good for you.

Apple paid. That's legit. That's me Apple paying for my ticket. Anyways, that's the latest thing I did for frugality sake. That's so great. let's go to labor and statistics, shall we? That is so great. The Consumer Price Index rose...

You know what the energy was? I love that for you. Energy. That was like, could not care less, but glad you took the time to share. Thank you, George, for sharing. Now, tell us about the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is that sounds fascinating.

It rose 3.1% in 2024. The Consumer Price Index, you say, the CPI, if you will. Yeah, so this is less growth than the 5.6% year over year from 2022 to 2023, and 6% from 2021 to 2022, but it's still an increase. Okay, so what we're seeing is, you know, the prices have cooled, but that doesn't mean things are cheaper. And they're building on each other.

So it's basically a 15% increase overall in the last four years. Because they're compounded. You're adding these up over time. I mean, it's just, it keeps going out. If something was $1, now it's $1.3, and the next year it's $1.8, you're adding all these up. So something that was, let's say, grocery budget in 2020 was 500 bucks.

Well, in 2024, it needs to be 575. It depends on why you shop. We've talked about this in other episodes, but there's a lot of things you can do to save on groceries. Let's look at some more state-specific data. Yeah, this is good, because people are moving. We actually have a new team member here on this team that came from California. And it's like, yeah, there is going to be a significant price difference from L.A. to Nashville.

Have you been to Airwan, which is like Whole Foods on steroids in California? No. Oh, like fancy schmancy. I just heard about this. There's some hilarious TikTokers are like, I'm gonna make a PBNJ and they buy all this stuff from Airwant. It's like a $400 peanut butter and jelly.

And their smoothies are like $25 to $30. Yes. Oh my gosh. I went to one just to see. How is it beautiful though? Oh, they're just. It's unbelievable. Gospel gorgeous.

Yeah, it's unbelievable. Absolutely. Absolutely. But no, I bought like one thing. That's the Lisa Harper. And then Lisa Harper is it. If you know, you know, Harper fans.

Rise up. Oh my gosh. Lisa, we love you. Oh, my God. Deep cuts. So good. Anyways, things do be expensive. And Forbes published an article

unpacking recent data around cost of living. So let's test our knowledge in some of these stats. Which state in the U.S. has the highest cost of living, Rachel. If you just guess. 50 states. California. No, Hawaii. I'm going to say Hawaii.

You are correct. The average annual expenditure, $55,491. Man. Okay. And this is largely due to high housing prices. It's a popular vacation destination. It's a lot of tourism. High income and tourism taxes.

High cost to import goods to a remote island location. So they're having to bring in a lot of stuff, which makes your grocery prices go up. Oh, that's fair. When you think about that. Yeah. So that's a tough one. Would you ever move to Hawaii, George? It feels just inconvenient.

It feels crazy to say I would never. But it's not on my list because it is so far to get to and with family and all that. I wouldn't want to be that far away from family. And I'm not, truthfully, I'm not really a beach guy. I don't know if you can tell for my complexion. Haven't been there much. Don't know much about it. You just blend in well.

Yeah. Camoufl. If you hide me in the sand, you'll never find me. You'll never find you. Never find your choice. Where would you move? If you had to move to any other state in the world, cost living is not a factor. Oh, wow.

That's a different kind of question. No, like, I'm going, I'm going Manhattan. Wow. You could handle the seasons? Upper East side. Yeah, I'm going to my hat. The rats, the smells, everything. If I wasn't married to Winston, I'd go to Manhattan.

Okay. If I genuinely had to move somewhere else, I think I may go Phoenix. I like Phoenix a lot. I like Phoenix. Okay, I could see you as a Phoenix. Mm-hmm. I thought, you know, I contemplated Texas for a while. Dallas, too big.

Houston, too hot. You know, San Antonio, I go through all the, I'm like, Austin, too cool. Can't do Texas. Austin's real hot as well. Okay, so you're a Goldilocks. You're talking Manhattan. Not who, yeah. No, but Phoenix is hot.

Maybe a Carolinas, one of the Carolinas. Oh. Sound good, too. How about you, George? This is a weird one, but Whitney, my wife, went to Arkansas, University of Arkansas. You're going to go to Arkansas? I'm going to Fayetteville. What?

It's a hidden gem. It is a hidden gem. Ask people who live there. That was not on my being a car. Card. I know. I want to get out of the hustle and the bustle. I don't need to be in the big city.

You know, just give me a good coffee shop, and I just want to chill. I don't want to be in traffic ever. Emo George is going to, okay. You know? I would literally would have not won that contest. I think I'd get burnt out in a big city. And I think in too small of a town, I would go crazy.

Is Fayetteville rather small? It's got a vibe. Have you been? What was the last time you went to Fayetteville? September 2020. Okay. Does that not count? Is that not count as a time I've been to Fayetteville?

Why is that funny? This is very specific. I don't know. Well, I remember because we went to pick up our French Bulldog Olive from Paris, Texas. So we flew into Fayetteville, got a rental car, drove to Paris, Texas. Oh, wow, yeah.

Got the dog, went back to Fayetteville, and then flew out. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. That's great. All right, Rach. Okay. Back to expenditures.

Which states? has the lowest cost of living in the U.S. Kentucky. Incorrect. Think further south. Okay. Think Forest Gump. Mississippi.

Now we're talking. Notice I didn't go blindside. It felt a little, you know, too easy. I wanted to saw a deeper cut. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I got you with the forest gum. Okay. Because I could watch that as a child at the Ramses.

Couldn't. Isn't there nudity in length? Shall I remind America or the world? Ferengully, no. Rugrats, no. Forest Cup? Sure. Angelica, that was a character flaw. You know, Jenny, like she was going through, it was a season for her.

All right. Average annual expenditure in Mississippi, Rachel, $32,336. Versus Hawaii, which was $55,000. Oh, wow. Big difference in annual expenditure. Okay. All right, which state has the highest amount of disposable income? This is extra money to spend on non-essentials.

So who's got the most margin? You would never guess this one. I'm going to Oklahoma. Couldn't be further. Well, I don't know that you couldn't be further. California? Washington. Okay.

Which is, that's up there. Yeah. Average of $30,893 in disposable cash to spend. They got money in Washington. And I wonder if it's like, because you look at the whole state, which is, I guess, is some states, but Seattle, right, is your main. Yep. And then everything else, like, you look at a Spokane, all that.

I mean, it's very like... You get the West Coast income without the West Coast cost of living. That's right. Okay. I can go there. I can go there. State with the lowest disposable income. California.

Close. You guessed it right the second time last time. Kentucky? Who had the highest cost of living? Cal... Oh, no. Hawaii. Hawaii.

Hawaii. So highest cost of living... I don't know the same answer could be on this quiz. This is very tricky. Yeah. So the highest cost of living, and they also have the lowest disposable income. Okay, that's fair. So that makes sense.

Mathematically makes sense. That makes sense. So residents have the least amount of extra money to spend at just 9,550 per year on average. There we go. So there's a lot of factors that go into cost of living, Rachel, and a lot of people, like we mentioned earlier, they're basing this off emotion and feelings, and it feels like it's out of control.

But the budget helps you look at reality and things you can control and the actual facts, and it actually helps you because you go, oh, it's not as bad as it seems. We make good money. We're just not really paying attention to it. And that's why I love budgeting. And we have a really great app called Every Dollar that Rachel and I both use. You can check it out for free at Everydollar.com slash Smart Money and get started.

Yeah. And I think the pro, honestly, of that, though, is having your numbers visual because that brings the facts actually to reality. We're like, okay, I'm seeing it. I know how I can control it. And it is powerful in that way. So yeah, every dollar, we love it, you guys. Go check it out. We'll drop a link in the description as well, make it easy on you.

Yep. All right, George, so this world today, cost of living is high. So people are doing these hacks to kind of get around it, if you know. Hacks is a nice word. They're insane things they're doing. Some of them. Some of them, yes. So let's go through some of them, and I want to know if you would do it or not.

Airbnb is a permanent residence. So according to statista.com, the average nightly Airbnb in San Francisco is $392. a night, which means you'd pay $12,000 a month, so that wouldn't work. But in New York City, again, the nightly rate is $156 a night, so that's $4,600 a month. So technically that could be less rent that you're paying via an Airbnb. That's still a lot. I feel like I could do better with $4,600 in New York City.

I mean, it's a lot. I don't know how much rent is in New York. And like what area is this? Is it a room in someone's condo? Is it the whole place yourself? There's a lot of factors here. that people just Airbnb instead of renting or buying. Yeah.

I mean, I guess in certain cities it could make sense, but I feel like there's too many, I would want to have a little more, you know, like I'm going to live here for six months and this is what it's going to be. With Airbnb, they could just. That's what I was going to say. Almost going through a third party is scary to me,

like an Airbnb or a Verbo, VRBO, VRBO, whole thing, versus going to the actual person that owns the unit, right? Like if I had their contact and you could bypass the third party, so it's like renting it at that point. This is one I could see doing if it made financial sense.

Yeah. I could see that. Now, there's also been stories of people living in all-inclusive resorts for months at a time because it's cheaper to rent in certain cities. This one I can actually get behind. Wow, yeah.

It feels like a lot, though. More than the cruise ship one, you know, which is a whole other thing of like living on a cruise ship to save money. All-inclusive resort, different. I feel like it's a little more, you have your agency. Yes.

I mean, for a year, it would be kind of fun. Just to say, I'm living here. I wonder if I'd have to have, like, friends, like, you know, a spouse there versus just solo. Solo would be hard. We're built for community, you know? There we go.

We need people. I love that. Here's one in the Dominican charged $3,100 a month. Another one in Mexico charged just over $4,000, which, depending on your city, could be comparable to rent utilities food. But to your point, though, $4,000 is a lot. That's a lot.

That is a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot. I could do better in most cities. And I would put that in a property, right? Like start building equity at that point. Build something for yourself. Yep.

Okay. How about house or dog sitting in Europe? We actually knew someone that did this. That's right. Yes, they dog sit it all through Europe. Like literally went on, I guess, an app or a website. Yeah, there's different sites you can use for this. Yeah.

So it's a little different than couch surfing where you're, you know, just sort of crashing on someone's couch. You're doing some work for people. But you could actually get paid in this case. to dog sit or house sit. And live there for free, right? And live there for free. Because people are like, hey, I need a trustworthy person. And they're like, hey, we are traveling for a month or whatever,

and you can be here for, you know, 20 days. She was very European. I feel like all the Europeans are just traveling. They just go all the time. They just get on the tube. They work like two months a year, 10 months off. It is so true. And even though, they take a nap during the day.

Ciesta. I could go for that. They got something right. They got something right. Wow. So that's a different one. I could get behind that. I would want to, here's the thing,

I don't want to be in Europe being like, I'm stuck in this house. Now, if your house sitting and dog sitting, you can get out for hours at a time, I imagine. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. So this one feels better to me. Yeah, that's good. How about rent a storage cube to use as your office?

Like a windowless prison as my office? I don't think I'd be very productive. I know. I think that's a thing, though, because it's cheaper than renting an actual office somewhere. Yeah. I feel like the newer version of this that millennials and Gen Z are gravitating towards,

is co-working spaces. Now, that I can get behind. So it's like a good vibe, there's good coffee, you pay a certain fee, and you kind of, you have a spot. And if you want your own spot or your own office, you pay a little more. Yes.

So I like that. Or even the girl that does my hair, she will share her space with another girl for two days a week. She's on three-day. Like they kind of like, yeah, yeah. So that kind of situation. I'm like, oh, that's brilliant.

So nice, right? They're not paying for a full, you know, property or room or whatever. it is that you're not using for certain days. Yeah. And you're splitting the bills. But at that point, I would just work from home and try to create a private space. Would you, though?

You would? Well, I'm saying instead of renting a storage cube. Well, yeah. I would just go, like, I'm going to renovate this closet to be an office at that point. Yeah. All right. Next step on the list. This is one that I am all for.

Wear all your clothes on the plane to avoid checking a bag. All? Oh? All? I am a carry-on savant. I could carry on. But this is saying where all. all of your outfits add once.

Well, to avoid it. So, like, if you had a big jacket, that would take up room in your suitcase, like, just wear the jacket. Like, you know, you can layer up, the big stuff. I mean, I literally could pack. I bet for 12 days on a carry-on. Okay, what about just small backpack?

Could you do it? No. You need at least a carry-on. I would need a carry-on. Sure. I mean, just toiletries and clothing and a pair of shoes alone. Unless it was a quick, like, I've done a day trip where it's kind of like you're in-you-out,

maybe one overnight. I can do a backpack for that. All right, fancy traveler one day on an airplane and the back home. Yeah, most situations I would need a carry-on, but I can go far in the carry-on. Where are you, George, shall I remind you when we would travel for live events with our team, would check a bag for a overnight? I brought my pillow from home. I have a distrust of, it's not a, like, dirt thing, it's a comfort thing.

Like, you know, they just, all the hotel pillows now are, like, pancakes. that just flatten. Mm-hmm. You use, like, four pillows just to, like, have your neck. So I just bring my own. Do you have a memory foam pillow? Do you have, like, one of the... It's not memory foam, it's like one of the Casper ones.

It has a pillow within a pillow, is how there is their strategy. Okay. Fair. There you go. Next hack, retired couple books, 51 back-to-back weeks on a cruise ship. Oh, we just talked about that. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if I can do it.

I would do a all-inclusive resort over a cruise ship. How about you? Yes, agreed. Okay. I just don't like being stuck on a cruise ship for. for a year straight. That's too long. Yeah. How about Wi-Fi, George? Stealing neighbor's Wi-Fi.

Oh, gosh. How would this even work? I think I would do that on an accident. Like, I feel like my phone is set up for Wi-Fi and you just like live your life and then you look up. You're like, oh, I'm going to do this Wi-Fi. You have to know the password. Not all. Is your Wi-Fi just open? No, because I'm married to Winston.

If it was Rachel, it may be open. God bless Winston. Oh, my goodness. I know. So the idea here is like you pretend your Wi-Fi is down one day. you befriend the neighbor, ask them to borrow there so you can do your work, then you hope they never change the password. I personally would not do this.

I would just pay for internet and suck it up. Yeah. And this is like you'd have to live in like pretty tight, you know, condos apartments where you're close enough to where the signal would still reach well. Yeah, and we talk about the four walls, food, shelter, utilities, transportation, in utilities these days, I mean, I have like, in my head, that includes internet and includes cell phone. Like there are things, I guess you...

It's become a base, like a universal... I guess you don't need to, like, like survive in the world today, but you kind of do. I mean, there is a point that like if you're working, you probably need access to internet. You don't mean like those kind of things that I would wrap that in your four walls. 100%. Like that's what you, your baseline.

I would never tell someone, hey, cut the internet to save some money. No, right, exactly. I would tell them to reshop it and make sure you're getting the best rate for the, for sure. For sure. For as much speed as you need, which I'm sure you know all about the internet speeds these days. Yeah, all the 11KG. Yep, it's 11 kilograms

is how much internet is required. I'm guessing, because I know Winston well enough, you guys got Gigabit. I don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know. Just for fun. I bet he'll text back. I know it is.

I know he's got fiber. What do I ask him? How fast is our internet speed? What are we paying for? Okay, let's, I'm going to keep it right here. All right. We'll see. All right, last one.

And this is one that I don't think either of us would do, but people will share electrical outlets in common spaces, meaning if you're in an apartment or condo, the hallway outlet you'll plug in, I guess, everything from your toaster to your hair dryer, but you use the buildings, right, electrical outlets versus your own to save on electricity. If you are blow-drying your hair in the hallway,

I will pay for your electricity that month. I will be your financial coach. I know, people are doing it, though. And if I was the landlord, I'd be blocking those plugs. I know. I'd have like a lockbox on them because that's weird. Yeah, I wouldn't do that. I mean, unless I was in a real terrible situation, but I feel like...

So here's the deal, George. Here's the takeaways for me. And again, this is after, when I think about it, honestly talking to people, constantly on the Ramsey show and I get DMs from people, all of it. Getting, I think there are like hacks you can do in life that are fine, but I also think that they can be so inconvenient and not worth them. money, right, blow-drying your hair in the hallway, while they're possibly making a $700 car payment a month, right? Like, like, you can make significant changes in your life.

You're not going to hack your way to financial stability. Yep. Oh, we got an answer. Um, what, okay. I said a thousand, a gigabit. Fiber. 1,200 G-P-G-B-S. What does that mean? Or, I'm sorry, M-B-B-P-S. Yes. Yes. What is that? I said a thousand. He's at 1,200. Oh, wow. He's always trying to want up me.

First, it was the Merv with the air filter. I got Merv 16, bro. And now it's... Is that a lot? It's very fast internet. We do have, like, Disney Plus. That's what's doing it. And, like, multiple accounts on TVs.

Like, we do have, like, a lot of internet happening. Sure. No, that's great. That's great. That's exactly what I thought. Was it too much? Am I too bougie? No, you didn't even... Is that a bougie thing? No, you thought it was kilograms.

I don't think anyone thinks you're bougie when it comes to internet. I think they think you're the opposite. My big takeaways. Number one, I have a lot of empathy for people who feel like the cost of living, inflation, the economy, it's all out of control and something needs to be done. That's number one. So hear me say that. Number two, I do think there's way more in our control than there is out of our control. Yes.

When you look at debt, your lifestyle, your income. These are all things you can control to some degree. Whereas inflation, economy, the price of whatever the thing is, I don't have control of that. I have control of whether I buy it or not in some ways. Some things we have to buy that are expensive, like rent or housing. But you can get creative. You can stick to a budget.

You can get out of debt, have an emergency fund, build wealth of the future, regardless of what's happening. Yeah, and I think to George, part of like adulting, if you will, is, and I've learned this over the years where I'm like, okay, you have to adjust with the times. And I think that we have like a human nature to stick to what we've always done. Well, I've always shopped at this store. I've always bought this, but we've always had this, you know, X, Y and Z.

And when times change, you have to be able to say, and we've done this in our household, we're going to have to change and pivot to this. And so I think part of being an adult, and a level of maturity is just saying, yeah, we can't live how we've lived, right? I mean, when prices go up, there is going to be a natural pool if you don't have the margin in your budget to say, okay, something else has to give, right? It is math. Or we can't afford to live here anymore.

That's a reality for a lot of people. Totally. Which again, is so sad. Like, that's a big deal. When you're uprooting your family, I mean, these are not light decisions. But at the end of the day, you're like, okay, what's going to give me peace, right? And some of those decisions have to be made. And it is really difficult.

But again, looking at the big things you can change, and I think debt is a big one. I think car payments, I think when you're, I'll talk to a girl today on the Ramsey show. And she had, I think it was like $8,700. It was $8,700 on Clarma, which is the buy-now pay later. Yeah. And she just kept racking it up. And I was like, oh, my gosh. So, again, there are things that you can just make a line and say, I'm not doing that.

And then you have to make other choices, right? Which gives you other options. And that's what you have to do in times like this, because it is really difficult. So don't rely on debt. Take debt off the table. Use your own money. Figure out if you can afford to live the place you're choosing to live. And we had that call on the Ramsey Show yesterday.

She was making $70,000 living near. here's San Francisco. And I was like, you might need to either make more money in a different career or a better job in that field or you need to move further out. Yep, that's right. So you have options, but they're not always fun. But if you're blow-drying your hair in the condo hallway...

I'll pay for your electricity. Just comment and George will send you his debit card information. Okay. Rachel is more likely to do that. That's true. All right. We're almost to the end of the episode, and we close out every episode with guilty as charged.

And that's where our producer, Lindsay, gives us a new guilty-a-charge question every week, and if we're guilty, we take a sip. So, Lindsay. What do you got? What boy or girl math are you guilty of doing that worked for you? Oh, so that actually worked. Not like you tried to justify it.

No, that it actually worked. Oh, I'm guilty. I can think of one recently, Rachel. Wow, okay, go. Five years ago. I know. Before I grow back to 2019, we bought a concrete dining table, like a four-foot round concrete dining table from overstock with four black little leather chairs.

And they were like, hey, do you want to buy a warranty? It was 50 bucks for five years that covered. And I was like, well, I've never had a concrete dining table. I don't know. This thing's going to stain. Sure. So I bought the $50 warranty for five years. And lo and beholds, ever since having a baby, there's more stains in the house.

And this table finally had a stain. and I could not get out. I don't know what it is, but it's kind of a round stain. Are you like four years and eight months into this country? We are four years and ten months into the warranty. And I file a claim. And I go, hey, I can't get the stain out.

This thing should cover stains. They send a guy to my house. He shows up, and I kid you not, he goes, oh, it's concrete. I said, yeah, I put that in the... He's like, oh, I can't do anything to concrete. I'm just going to have to mark this out as I could not repair. I said, what happens now?

He says, well, they're going to contact you and give you a choice. they're going to either write you a check and pretend this never happened, or they'll give you a credit and take away your table and you can go re-buy something with that credit. Oh my gosh, George. And so they wrote me a check for $340. No way. No. And I get to keep the table.

That was their policy. So this is my boy math. I made money by buying the warranty. I spent 50. I got back 340. 100%. I rest my case, Your Honor. Wow. Wow. That's some George-level conniving.

That is conniving. I don't think you can beat that, but can you even come close? No, mine would be on my 30th birthday, I went to Vegas with two of my girlfriends, and I had an envelope with cash in it for gambling. And I said, this is the amount of money. Just a little bit of fun money. And when this envelope is empty, I'm done. But I'm going to have fun. And then I brought, true story, I genuinely brought another envelope in.

put my winnings in the other one, right? So I kept this like balance going throughout the trip. And I made money in Vegas. I came out with more money. I can't remember how much I had to gamble. Let's just say I genuinely can't remember. Let's say it was $400. Okay.

And I came out with like $6.50. I came out with more money combined than I came in. And the night I had at the crap table was one that I will never forget. Wow. I was on a hot street is what they call it in Vegas. And at the craps table, if I'm not wrong, it's like a community. Everyone's cheering y'all. The adrenaline rush.

It was everything I would hope for in life. For everyone to experience, people were cheering. I was getting high fives with guys with lanyards from like a technology conference. They were all, we were making, I was making everyone money. It was amazing. Because everyone wins when you win. That's how craps works. That's how craps works.

So they love you when you, and I was on a hot streak. and... So you walked away $250 up from when you walked in there. Yeah, I made money on Vegas. I don't know if that's girl math, but that is Rachel's proud of the moment. That's girl math. And had a great time.

And felt very important. But you spent a lot of money to go to Vegas. So that's factored in there. But there was a gambling money. It was separate. Got it. So not the trip itself. You know, I paid for a dinner with my winnings.

Oh, good. Like a nice dinner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to treat myself. I did. I treated everyone. My friend, not the crap stag. Just me and my two friends.

Generosity. Yeah, just me and my two friends. And I was like, I'll pay for tonight's dinner because I made so much. I know. Anyways, that's the only thing I can think of. That's what came to my head four years ago or whatever your... That's a great story. Number was.

Glad you had to win. Looks like I'm... Yeah, you did great with this drink. You did really good. You had a strong start before we even started. And you beat me. It was great. This is a tequila Manhattan.

I'm going to give this drink. I think it's a 10 out of 10 drink. I would order this at a restaurant. I would too. 10 on 10. Congratulations to mixologist Michael, because you know he's going to text us later and be like, what did you think of the drink?

Mm-hmm. He will. He will. Cost breakdown per glass, $3.19. So not the cheapest drink we've had, but I think one of the top-tier drink. The ingredients are an nejo. Anejo.

Anejo. Anejo. Anejo tequila, which is an aged tequila versus like a blanco, which is clear. That's why it's got this color. It's got sweet vermouth. and it's got moly bitters, which is fun. Oh, very nice.

That's it. It's come out to a glass. Three ingredients. 319. You would pay probably, I'm going to guess, 18. Four to five times that at a restaurant. I'd say 18.

So you can make this at home for four times less. You're welcome. Get the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend or whenever you'd like. Taxful or tacky. Today we're talking about the frugal wedding fails of the century. So to see you like an old. older woman do that, I would feel bad.

In a gown. In a gown. That's crazy. That's crazy. We got to draw the line somewhere. We wouldn't have been friends right now. This podcast would not exist. This would not have existed.

Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And before we get to the frugal wedding fails, let's talk about what we're sipping on, Rachel. It's an apparel tequila sour. And you know, I love all three of those words.

Really good. So stick around until the end. We're going to give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass. You don't want to miss it. That's right. Okay. So personal finance, Rachel, looks different for everyone. That's why we call it personal finance.

But there's a few major life events that the majority of the population has to navigate financially. Yeah, I think there's a lot of these. So you think about, you know, college, maybe renegotiating your salary, buying a home. Like, there's some big. purchases or situations in life when it comes to money. And one of the biggest are weddings. It's gotten out of control. It's a huge life event.

It can come with a high cost. And some people are wiser about this than others. That is true, which is so unfortunate. But you guys, you and Whitney had a pretty successful wedding story financially. Actually, it's pretty insane. You've talked about it on this podcast before. It's not relatable. So hashtag unrelatedable.

But Whitney found a local wedding contest that was a free. wedding package worth $28,000, and we won. And you were hosting the Ramsey Show at the time and asked all the viewers to vote for you, right? Yes. So we had the best video. So aside from that, it was merit-based. We had the best wedding story captured on video, and we got the most likes on our video within a week. That was the contest stipulations. But $28,000. I didn't think it was real. I thought it was like, we're going to get scammed. Yeah. So what did they pay for in that? Everything. But here's the kicker. It only included 50 people, which includes the bride, the groom,

the bridal party. So by the time you get to the invites, you can invite 10 people. Yeah, and then y'all did a big reception after. So then we threw a second wedding reception after the first wedding ceremony and reception, and that ended up costing us a lot of money. Yes.

Yeah, was it a frugal fail? More than 28,000? No, no, not near that. Came out well, George. Yeah. And at first I thought, I didn't go to your wedding. And then memory served me correctly, and I was there on the dance for. On the second reception.

I remember thinking the cruises will get us a good gift. We should invite them. What did I get you? I don't remember. Probably financial peace, maybe financial peace university. Stop it, whatever. No, I'm sure it was a wonderful gift. Terrible.

That's good. Do you regret wasting money on anything for your wedding or a frugal fail? I don't know. I feel like we were pretty... You focused on the stuff that mattered. Yeah, I mean, I think we did, like, back then you would mail out, save the dates. Oh, yeah. I feel like people don't do that as much anymore.

Yeah, we mailed ours out. I kind of regret. I feel like people don't mail out. save the dates. I feel like people just are like, I don't know, or maybe they do. I don't know. It feels like one of these old-timey things that you harken back to. Like we did that. We did that. Yes. We had very, I like loved like really formal wedding invitations. So I probably could have like chilled out on that. Yeah. Like I had like the tissue thing. Like I was like I wanted like, I wonder my wedding formal. There was something about it.

Even my dress where I was like, I don't want this just to be a party. Like this is like I was like if I'm walking down the street and my dress I want people like, that's a bra. Not like, oh, she could be going to the prom. Like, I wanted to look like a wedding dress. You didn't want something too trendy and modern. Yeah, I wanted to look like a wedding dress. I wanted a center aisle. I wanted it in a church. Like, I was like, I want very, like, traditional things with my wedding.

I love it. So because of that, I don't know. I made my bridesmaids wear champagne color in December. So that was real sad. Is that a no now? No, they all probably, I don't know. Sprite tans weren't even like a thing then, you know? Oh, so you're saying everyone's pale.

Yeah, a terrible color to pick in December. I only have tan friends. So I'm really. Really. Sorry, brides me. We had a frugal fail, though, and you were at this reception. Yeah. Instead of doing an open bar, because it was going to be astronomically expensive at like a Marriott to do an open bar,

we decided to prepay for a certain number of, you know, bottles of wine, certain number of beers. We thought this will be enough. That's like two drinks per person. We did the math. I know. We party, George. And within 30 minutes, they said they ran out of alcohol. And I was like, did they jip us?

Did they skimp on us? Because there's no way that two drinks per person, everything's gone in 30 minutes. I just didn't believe that. Sure. So what was the truth? I don't know, to this day. So did you get upcharged then after? They didn't upcharge.

I think it turned into cash bar after that. Oh, okay. So we were okay with that. Okay, beyond two drinks per person, it's on you. Yeah, that's fair. We were okay with that. But apparently that didn't happen. Party hardy, man.

Oh, gosh. Yeah, well, I think what's hard is like in the moment, like the weddings, especially the mishaps, the things that end up like, oh, crap, that didn't go the way we wanted it. It feels like a massive deal, right? because this is like the day, especially for girls. You dream about it, your whole childhood. I mean, it's a big, big deal.

But then, you know, you look back sometimes and the mistakes and the flops are kind of what makes the memories, you know? And it doesn't make the marriage. No, it does not. Wow, well said. Maybe the worst the wedding goes, the better your marriage is going to be.

I'd like to see a study on that. Oh, that's good. You know what I always think about, too? Rings, like the bigger of the diamond. Oh, yeah. Shakeier the marriage. Not terrible to think. I'm doing really good then.

Sorry, Whitney. So whether you're wedding planning, maybe you're looking for money-saving hacks, maybe you're 20 years into a marriage and you just want to be entertained, maybe your kids are going to get married one day. Today's episode is going to deliver. Yeah, and so we're going to talk about these wedding fails

slash trying to be very budget conscious, maybe a little cheap in some cases. So we're going to say, is that tactful or tacky? And play along in the comments and stick around later. share our own list of non-negotiables when it comes to planning a budget-friendly but memorable wedding. All right, you ready?

Let's do this. What's the first frugal wedding fail? And did we get these from the internet? These are from the internet, if I'm not mistaken. That's where everything, all good things come from. All happens. All right. First up, we have spray painted grass.

So this person went to a wedding at an old rustic estates that used to be fancy when they got home. Their feet and shoes were bright green. Oh, no. they had spray painted the grass to make it look better for pictures. At least the pictures turned out nice. Is that tactful or tacky?

I don't think it's tacky. I think it's tactful. They just didn't think through it all what would happen on the other side. But I think it's a good idea because it's cheap to get some grass spray paint. You can just make it look nice and lush and green. I'm going tactful.

Why not? Very creative. Make your wedding video and photos black and white. No one can tell what color of the grass was. That's smart too. There you go. You saw black and white photos. Okay, next one.

Mashed potato exit. Already love this. Wow. Leftover rice on the ground is bad for birds, and sparklers can get pricey, so a friend of mine had guests tossed potato flakes for the send-off, thinking it would look like white confetti.

No. It had rained all day, so the water mixed with the flakes and mashed potato clumps were everywhere on the ground in bridesmaid's hair, et cetera. Boy, oh boy, do I want to know what is in the et cetera part.

Okay, that. That's funny. Potato flakes? That is funny. I am going to go tacky. It feels weird throwing food. I guess rice is considered, but people don't do rice anymore.

Is that a thing? I don't know. Is it a cultural thing? Yeah, I don't think people do rice anymore. I think that would, like, people would do rice. But I think it is sparklers. We had stuff thrown. What was that?

What did we have thrown? I think we did sparkl cliffs. I wanted tradition. I wanted to like run through a thing falling. Oh. I love that. We did glow sticks. Cute. So that was fun.

Cute. I like that. What did we do? Ours may have just been confetti or something. That makes sense. I don't know. But I, yeah. What year were you guys married?

Oh, nine. Okay, and we were 2018. So the times had changed. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We moved on to glow sticks, apparently. I did you do. From confetti.

From confetti to glow sticks. So that one, I'm going to go, I'm going to go tacky on that one. I will too. The food thing just throws me. But creative still. Yeah. All right, next. No floral waste.

I've been to a few weddings where the bridesmaids' bouquets were reused for centerpieces. We just dropped our flowers in the empty vases on the table and people arrived and we still had the option to keep them afterwards. I thought it was resourceful and one less thing to keep up with all night. Tactful or tacky. Love it. I'm going tactful on this one. I am too. We did this.

Good. Yes. Because the bridesmaids don't want to carry around this bouquet on night. Yeah, no. We literally used their, we did that exact same thing. Pop it in the vase? Yes, we did the same thing. Centipiece, done. I think it's great. Reduce, reuse, recycle. I know. Man. Gosh. Yeah, that was one thing. And I feel like my

bouquet, I even put, we put it on like our like parties table too. Like I think we even use my bouquet too for the center so I didn't carry it around. But yeah, I don't know. I thought it was resourceful. All right, next up on our frugal wedding fails list, return window wedding decor.

Let's see what this one is. I'm planning to order my reception decor from Amazon so I can repackage and return it within 90 days after the wedding. May have to sacrifice a few stained tablecloths here and there, but I bet I'll get most of my money back on the stuff that still looks as good as new. That feels wrong to me.

This is basically a free rental at that point. As much as I want to say taxful, even I have to go tacky on this one. George Campbell goes tacky on a money-saving idea. If we didn't end up using it and we got it and didn't use it, I'll return it. It's the same feeling I have with people that wear clothes and leave the tag on and then go and return it. Oh, like for one party? Like, I'm going to get this dress, leave the tag.

I've never liked that tip. People, like, give that as a tip. Well, think about if you're the person now buying that dress that someone else wore and the store doesn't know. I know. You don't know. Yeah, it just feels like a little, it just feels wrong. You have to do a smell test.

Oh, man, that's so unfortunate. Yeah, I don't love that one. I'm going to go tacky. All right, B.YO. Desserts. I once received a wedding invitation on very fancy stationary. Appreciate that. Encouraging guests to contribute to the B.Y.

Oh. dessert spread. Is this a church potluck? Shoot, yeah. That's the thing. When you're invited places, a wedding. Can I say that? Probably over any other event or situation.

You are inviting people as a guest to celebrate you. They do not need to contribute to the situation. Bring a gift. Now, friends coming over for dinner. I was going to say even birthday party, but that even feels a little odd. Yeah, I don't know. A wedding, having people help

contribute to the wedding, it does not feel like they're a guest at that point. And I don't trust desserts. Like, if you bring a congealed salad to my wedding, it's over. You ruined the entire party. It's a congealed. What is it? Where they put, like, the green jello and stuff with cottage cheese.

Gross. Who makes that? Southern women. It's a delicacy in the South, apparently. Stop. The word congealed is enough, like, bad branding. They need new PR. If you're going to put cottage cheese,

cheese and a dessert. Gross. With jello. It's disgusting. It's disgusting. It's good protein. No, but I agree with you. What would you bring to a wedding?

Let's say you're coming to my wedding and I said, Rachel, you have to bring a dessert. What are you bringing? I'm going to Aldi and picking up some pre-made cookies. Smart. Bringing them to the, I'm not making anything. Would you act like you made it? Would you put it on a nice platter? Let me say this.

If I was invited to your wedding and it was just like your family and Whitney's family and like three best friends, I would make you a cake. Wow. From the box, but I would make a cake. That's so kind. But if it's like a massive wedding,

I ain't bacon for that. Yeah. No one knows what it is either, right? It doesn't say it my name on it. You'd have to bring like... So the performer in me doesn't need to perform because I won't get credit. You need signage.

I got to know what's in that thing, when it was made. Just skip dessert if that's going to be you. All right. Next up on the frugal wedding fail. Wedding Fund, Arrow, down payment. Here we go. When I got engaged,

my parents told me they had $40,000 saved in a wedding fund for me to put toward this season. They said I could use it on anything, wedding, honeymoon, housing, etc. We used $20,000 for the wedding, plus cash flowed a few expenses ourselves and put $20,000 toward a down payment on a house. So smart.

Tactful. Very tactful. Would you do that as a parent? I'm thinking through that now, I have a daughter. I'm like, one day I'm going to pay for a wedding. Do I want to say, here's a pile of money, use as much of it to the wedding as you want, use as much of it towards something else if you want.

Yes. I think that's great. Mom and Dad did that for us. Oh, nice. Yes. And then you got to choose. All to the wedding. Used every penny and more.

Yes. And I remember Winston be like, babe, you know, it would be nice to like, you know, have somebody set aside for like life, you know, furniture, like just the simple things in life. And you said, no. I wasn't like, no. But I was like, yeah, we can see what happens at the end of this. I don't know. Part of me goes like, do I want to just say this is for the wedding?

Because otherwise, if it's me, I'd go, how do we have the cheapest wedding possible so we can have the most money for a bigger financial board? But what is going to be a longer term? Happiness, joy, etc. And I think it's... It's putting it toward the further financial goals. I think it is, too.

I wonder if mom and dad cringed when I chose to spend it all. I think they assumed that would happen with you in particular. You're known as the spender in the Ramsey family. I actually think. Gano may have saved some. I'm not kidding. Which makes a lot more sense.

He's the kind of guy who's going, we're spending how much on that? No, let's skip that. Yeah. He's very reasonable. But I think that I like that approach. If you're able to do that, I don't know. That's kind of cool.

Say here's a pile of money. Use it however you wish. But I would say the caveat is you cannot go into debt. Oh. So you got a little strings attached for a G. Yeah, I would have some strings. We're going to do this wedding debt-free. You can use this money how you wish,

but you've got to come. cover it. Even if Mia is 28 years old. Even if. No debt for a little Mia. All right, your little strings attached gift. I don't make sure of that.

I'm going to freeze her credit. She couldn't if she wanted to. But she's going to be smart enough that she's going to avoid that. And knowing me, I'll probably throw in a pony and just say, get the wedding in your dreams. You're my little princess. Sweet little thing.

Although we had a camel or a wedding. So to have a pony is actually not that far-fetched. Not that crazy. Not that crazy. I love it. All right, next. Asking reception guests to fund honeymoon. Oh.

I went to a wedding at a very fancy music hall and museum downtown. The groom's father, a wealthy business owner, said it was a tradition in their family to ask everyone at the reception to fill a beach hat with honeymoon cash. They passed it around and asked us all to contribute. Tactful or tacky? It depends. Was this the gift or was this on top of the gift they brought?

It was then like a love offering. I'm going to say on top of the gift. Okay, can I... Okay, I'm so fickle in this. Like that, when I first read it, I thought, mm-hmm. And then as it was going down, I was like, aw! It's like a tradition, because I do think, especially different cultures and stuff, people do that.

They give cash, and, like, it's like a thing. So for me, I would caveat it. If it's, like, a tradition, like a thing that you just do, and it's fun, and it's not serious, like, you know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's out of just, like, the fun, spirited of it all? That doesn't bother me. can I say this?

And I hope I don't step on anyone's toes in here. That's gotten married recently. I don't know. I'm just going to say it. But like a QR code for a GoFundMe or something feels different. I don't like that. Like that feels tacky to me. But cash is fine.

Yeah, with like we're going to do a song and like we've done it for five generations. Oh, now there's songs involved. And like, do you know what I'm saying? Like there's like a fun spirit about it versus like you need to go fund my honeymoon for me. Okay. Now we know, Rachel loves a physical love offering, pass around the bucket. Do you feel that at all? Are you good with it all?

I do think there's a level of QR code that feels a little less personal. Yeah. You know, no one's like, it's been a tradition for 50 years that we pass around the QR code versus there's a beach hat. It's a fun thing. Yeah. I think the honeymoon's going to happen with or without this beach hat getting funded. Yes.

So it's more of just like a hey, have fun on the honeymoon, a little send-off. But I can tell this person is a little bit miffed that this is clearly a way. wealthy family asking for more money. Yeah, yeah. She keeps saying very fancy, wealthy business owner. I don't know why I'm assuming it's a she, but this feels like something a woman would have umbrage with. Oh my God. Take umbrage. What do you think? TAC you're tactful. If they already brought a gift, I would, I'm going to say this is tacky. Okay. Plus, I don't carry cash, so I would feel uncomfortable, like, ah, sorry, man, like, don't have any on me. Don't have it, yeah. And then it feels weird to, like, do the vent. You've seen the cars

that drive around like Nashville and there's a Venmo code. Yeah, what's that for? And it's like, give to the, it's the bachelor's party. Oh, yes. And it's like, buy the bride a drink. Woo! Yeah, that's kind of fun. Have you ever done it?

No, but I have Venmoed people in life for things. Okay. That's very specific. I appreciate that. I don't want to be like bragging, but I've run into situations at airports or even in the lobby here at Ramsey. Like, people are here for special occasions. If the spirit leads, I will randomly...

Wow. How do you find out their Venmo? I go and ask them. I'm like, do you have a Venmo? Like, yeah. I'm like, all right. Dinner's on... That's so fun.

Well, yeah, Ken and I just did that last week. There was a girl in for her birthday with her husband in Nashville. That is so thoughtful. And it's from your personal Venmo. So it's that you're like, I don't give you a little. That's fun. Wow. I think that's fun.

And you're okay giving out your Venmo handle. Because then people can request money from you. That's what I would be doing if I knew your Venmo handy. Well, not... It's not like they can go into my bank, account. No, but they can just request a million dollars from you. You can decline it, but you might accidentally fat finger it and say yes. That's my strategy, is I just randomly find people on Venmo and request money. Stop, George. Have you ever Venmoed someone for something, like a drink

or a... Yeah, I have. Or food or like, um, like fun. If it's like someone's birthday and I can't make it, I'll Venmo them for the drink. Like, hey... That's fun. Yeah. I did accidentally Venmo the wrong person for something off Facebook Marketplace once, and I had to beg them for the money back. Was it like hundreds of dollars? It was probably $150 or something. Oh, no. And I Venmoed to the wrong. You know, you're typing fast.

The person's at your front door, getting the... And so I Venmoed real quick, and it was to the wrong person, and I had to message them and say, I'm so sorry. I know you could keep the money if you wanted to, but please give me this money back. And they did. And they did. It restored my faith in humanity. And it's great.

Next up, tactful or tacky. Family photographer. To save on photography, my friend's mother, a retired photographer, took the pictures. She walked down the aisle and her fancy mother of the groom, gown, and corsage, and then scooted out on the front row and started crouching in the aisle with a cannon. It was distracting, and honestly

at her age, I felt bad for her joints. Oh, no. Oh, that's got a tacky. You kind of just, oh, no, you do feel bad for her. Now, did they pay her anything, or did she volunteer? I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. Was this an elderly woman? The mother of...

Retired. Let's say she's in, like, she's in her 60s or beyond. if she's a retired photographer. You can't enjoy the moment of a wedding that is your son or daughter. Yeah, it says my friend's mother. So that's all we know. But I think it is distracting. But she's in, like, her, like, gown. Yeah.

Yeah, no. And you've seen a photographer with the way. They'll do anything to get the shot. So they're crawling on the ground. They're leaning over. So to see, like, an older woman do that, I would feel bad. In a gown. In a gown.

Especially if you know, like, we didn't pay her very much or at all to do this. It's her mother, though. Like, you know what I mean? This is the groom or bride's mother doing it. Well, it said my friend's mother. Yeah, exactly. This person went to their friend's wedding. It would be like me going to your wedding.

I went to a friend's wedding and say your mom ended up being the photographer of your wedding. Got it. Yeah, because it says mother of the groom gown. Yes. What if your mom? No. I know. I wouldn't let her do it.

I know. I'm going to say tacky. First of all, you want them to enjoy the wedding. Second of all, I'm not making my mom do Jack Squat on my wedding day. Yes, I know. Yeah. All right. Next, Trader Joe's flowers. So there was a wedding where Costco never delivered the flowers on the wedding day. Oh, no. So all the bridesmaids drove around to every Trader Joe's in Nashville and bought all the white flowers, making the table arrangements, the bouquets, all of that. Costco gave a refund and the floor budget ended up costing just over a couple of hundred bucks. This is tactful, 100%. Taxable 100%. It can't be tacky. Joe has great flowers. Amen. Hallelujah. That's awesome. And they are very inexpensive.

comparatively to, you know, and I get it, support your local florist. Don't come at me, Floris. You know they're going to come at us, Rachel. They're going to get mad. We provide a servant. Okay, we get it. You're great of what you do. No shade to Floris, but this is a good way in a bind to make it happen.

Yeah. All right, next up on the frugal wedding fails. Wedding attendance fee. I already don't like where this one's going. I heard about a family friend who charged an attendance fee at their wedding, $150 per person and $50 for kids under 10. Stop it. Tactful or tacky.

I don't know how you could say tactful. You charge people to come to your wedding. That's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. We got to draw the line somewhere. Can I tell you the part that I do? I get why people do it.

I would never do it. I think it's tacky. But if people don't show up after they RSVP, yes, I've heard of people sending a bill. Oh, that's tacky. Which is so tacky, but also I love the pettiness of it. You would love it. Because this happened on our wedding.

I know, because I marked down who didn't show up. That RCPDF. George. Listen. Oh my gosh. You're getting charged per plate per seat. Yeah. Agreed.

We wouldn't have been friends right now. This podcast would not exist. This would not have existed. Like, let them know if you can't make it. I think it's super rude to RCPES to a wedding where you know it's costing them 100 plus per person. Oh, man. So it hurts my soul. I just have a list in my phone and I'm not over it.

But I did not send them a bill. It makes you feel better. But doing the math I think I've done this, y'all. You've ditched on weddings you said yes to? Yeah. Wow. Were they close friends or like, eh?

No, not necessarily. You get invited to like random people's weddings. Like fans of this show have invited you to their wedding. Well, yeah, but I don't RSVP yes to those. Have you thought about it though? No. Do you ever send like a gift? Oh, oh, I see what you're saying.

I've done that. I've sent them like Financial Peace University on me. Don't start DMing me with that. I will not, now I know. George. If it happens in the future, I'm not falling for it. Taki. Unbelievable.

But I think they invite us because they're like, maybe they'll send us something. Okay, yeah. Have you heard about this? Now, we're not celebrities by any stretch. But they do like invite celebrities. They find their address, the PR person, and they'll send wedding invites. And they end up getting some nice gifts out of it. Yeah.

You know, not bad. Yeah. I like the effort. I respect the hustle on that one. Oh, my gosh, y'all. That is. I'm like sweat and think about all this. That is so funny.

Oh, man. Let's talk about non-negotiables. So what are things that you were like, if you're going to plan a wedding, you've got to have these things, and if you were going to skip some things, I would skip these. I would go, I would want a great photographer.

I would, but not the most expensive, because there's some great ones, photographers that are like up and coming. You know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. Okay, I want good music at the reception. A live band would be like,

ideal. Oh, you want a live band? Oh, I'd love it. Yes. So fun. So fun. A DJ would be next for me. Okay. Um, but I think, yeah, good music, dancing and with the party aspect, if you will. Um, I would have a day of coordinator. I think it's always really helpful. I have someone that's like doing, helping you on it. I think it's worth the money. Yeah. How about you? Definitely a good photographer. I would say, as much as I love video, and we did have a videographer, it was a friend of ours, so it wasn't super expensive. But video is one that I find myself not going back to watch the wedding tape.

Yes. And I don't know that your grandkids want to, like they'll see the photos. That's enough. If you wanted to save on something, again, no shade to videographers. You're doing great work. The other one would be a DJ.

I could skip the live band, only because when live bands are there, I feel like it's always so loud. Oh, okay. I want to escape. Like, I want to go to the lobby or something, and it's just sensory overload. Too much. Okay.

But I think a good DJ or the minimum, a really good playlist will hit. Yeah, that's fun. And then good food. It doesn't have to be a sit-down dinner. I'm good with like a really good buffet. Yeah. It could be tacos. I don't care.

Yeah, but just have some great food. Some sustenance. And drinks are a plus. I've been to some dry weddings. They are less exciting. You're not going to get as many people on the dance floor. The party will end about two hours earlier than you wanted to. Just know that.

That's probably true. I had a time. And then I would say a planner for sure. They have coordinator minimum, but a planner will save your life. You can't care about what people think in life, but I do think there is a, is quorum the right word? There is a decorum. Decorum. Decorum.

Of manners and etiquette, like, to be a human. Keep it classy. Yeah, do you know what I'm saying? There's like, I don't know, a level there. But I guess still do, you do you. You do you. And people will think. Regardless of how it affects your personal brand.

That's right. But it will. It can affect it. But also, honestly, if you are planning a wedding, like, do it on a budget because this is one event that gets so out of control so quickly. The expenses are insane. So if you need every dollar, use an every dollar budget for your wedding planning. Yeah, create like an extra free account that's just for the wedding. Yes, so smart.

I had a Google sheet that was very complicated. But I had to keep track of everything. I needed the link to where I bought it from, what the estimated versus what the actual. So I nerded out too hard, but it did keep us. under budget. Yeah, so great. And remember, you know, the wedding's one day. Your marriage is a lifetime.

So take some of that money if you get some and pay for therapy. That's a great idea. Oh, my goodness. Can you imagine if you said, hey, therapy for a couple, let's call it $250. Like a year in. Pre-marital sometimes is like, eh, get a year in. You're going to need it. You're going to need that $200 an hour therapist once a week.

like have your priorities and then say no to the rest. Yeah, totally. Like maybe you don't need the donut wall. Maybe you don't need the party favors. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Focus on the stuff that really matters. And then also call your list down. That was the most stressful part,

was having boundaries because my mom wanted to invite her friend that she hasn't seen in seven years. And I was like, Mom, we can't just have this open invite to everyone who wants to go. I know. So we really have to scale down. That's the other thing. If you're not paying for it,

there are strings attached. It's tricky. So be careful who you accept the help from. Oh, so good. Weddings. We're out of that season, though. We don't get invited to many weddings these days. I can't remember the last time I got invited.

I know. We should go to one chore. Just find someone. Well, I've had someone here at... Ramsey's getting married soon. Oh, yeah. Let's ask them to invite us. Maybe they're in the room.

We don't know. We'll go party the night away. I don't know. I don't know. Oh, man. All right. Before we spill the tea in our guiltiest charge segments, Let's share what we're drinking, George.

This is an Aparol tequila sour, and based on how much you had, you liked a little more than me, which is great. The cost breakdown is $2.82 per glass. Here's what's in it for curious minds. Tequila, apparel, you guess those two, strawberry syrup, lemon juice, egg white, and some Angostura bitters.

There's an egg white in here? That's what's causing the foamyness. Because I'm not usually an egg white person. Have you had like a good whiskey sour? They'll do an egg white in there if it's made properly. Yes. So that part, you got to be into that. This feels like summer to me.

Yeah, it is a very summery drink. It's very light and smooth while having a complexity that I really enjoy. So I'm going to go eight out of ten on this one. I'm going, I may go ten out of ten. Mm-hmm. That's a big win. I would order this. This would be a great lunch cocktail.

Like if you're out with friends on a patio, getting some lunch. It feels like a day drink. Is it a taco situation? No. No. What are you eating with this? Mm. I feel like this is a patio at bar taco in Nashville situation.

Okay, yeah, you're right. You're right. Yeah. Maybe it's just me. Yeah, I'm going to little chips and guac. A lot of apps. I'm feeling apps. Oh, tapas.

Small plates. Topas lunch with this cocktail, 10 out of 10. Top us the morning to you. Love it. I'm going to be very specific. Get the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend and see if it is, really a 10 out of 10.

All right, now it's time for guilty as charged. And this is where we ask each other a new guilty-a-charge question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip. Here it is. It's wedding-related. Have you ever re-gifted or returned a wedding gift

and it backfired? Yes. Yeah, cheers to that. Cheers to backfiring. I think I've said this on the show. I've told this story on the show before. But we got a wedding gift, and it was a great.

gift. We just would never use it. And I ended up re-gifting it to a friend six months later for her wedding. And I left the part of the original wrapping paper at the bottom of it. And I put in a gift bag and when she took it out. She was like,

here's some other wrapping paper. Oh. Straight up asked me. Hey, did you re-gift this? And I was like, oh, man. You got it. So you need to a full 360 view at the gift. Oh gosh. So bad. I was, you know, I was broke. I spent on my money on my wedding.

Sixthens later. And if it's a good gift, who cares? You know what I mean? Yeah. If it's something they would want and they would use, I don't care if you re-gifted me something. Thanks. How about you? We got some silverware for our wedding, as one does, and we got, it was gold. And we decided, you know, we went with the silver. It's a little cheaper. We can get more of it. So we went to return it. They couldn't do it. This place, this fancy place could not do a return. They're like, we just don't do that. So I had to meet them at the old Ramsey building

to do this exchange to return it. And when they returned it, they sent the new one for an exchange to the people who bought it for us. So then we had to contact them like, hey, you're going to get a package. It's nothing malign we just accidentally. It was just...

Oh, you did a return and they sent the own. They sent it to the person who bought it for us, which they obviously found out at that point that we did not want what they gave us. Oh, no. really awkward situation. The whole thing was just a cluster. Do you still see those people today? I think I've seen them one time since that happened. Okay. That's good. They're very nice. They're very nice. Yeah, that makes it feel better. Yeah. But just be careful out there, guys.

It's a dark world. It's a wild world out there. Get your foundations, you know, control what you can control, you know, stick to the... Great advice. Just keep it. It's just a lot. Just keep it. Yeah. You know what's fun, Amazon stuff, you see the little QR code that comes with it. And it's like, let them know what you think. Well, if someone sends you something anonymously and you scan that code, it'll have their name on the like, thank you. Who sends you stuff anonymously? It happened one time and it was really awkward. I got a vinyl record sent to the office

and I was like, who sent this? I'll never know. But you scan the QR? And I scan the QR code and it's had their name. And I reached out to them and confronted them. Yes. And they were like, what? No, I didn't. I was like, it had your name.

And they're like, oh gosh, and they were really embarrassed. Why are they? I'm so confused. I don't know. To this day, the whole thing was very strange. That's so weird. You get so many fun, awkward moments in your life, George. Thank you for saying they're fun. I find them pain inducing. I want some. But I'm glad my trauma is your joy. It's a true friend. It's either dude, that's sick or major financial ick. Today we're telling you exactly how we feel about your financial habits.

If I lied about my income on the first day with my girlfriend. what we're doing now? I received a $40,000 inheritance before we got married and never mentioned it. You know what? I did in Mexico. Have I told you the story? Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers, George. Cheers. Ah, very refreshing.

Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts, talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events and money. And let's talk about what we're sipping on to start. This is a cherry basil smash. Delicious. Would you say it's wicked sick? Wicked sick.

Ooh, both together. Oh, no, wicked. Ick and sick. It's not ick. We have so much to teach Rachel. We have bad at the Gen Zee. Well, hey, by the end of this episode, we will teach Rachel all the buzzwords and we'll give you a rating and reveal the cost per glass of this delicious drink.

Stick around. Oh, man. All right, Rachel. By now, we've spent enough time with our Gen Z co-workers. Most of it we've learned against our will. All of the words. We know what ick means, but do you also know that sick is a positive term? I did. And did you know that like I'm dead? I am dead. Oh. Dead. With a skull emoji. It's my favorite now. I've just started adopting it like two weeks ago.

You don't even need to say it now. You just do the skull emoji. I just do the skull. I did. It's in my favorite emojis. You know when you like get to your text messages, your emojis. It's like the ones you use a lot. The skull is in mine now because I'm just like dead. You're so on trend. I know. Well, you can't say dead. But it's not the ones. with the crossbone. No, they can't say dead. I don't do the crossbone. I just do the, just the school. Don't they say, they say unalive. What? Yeah. We can't say dead. You can do the skull emoji, but you can't say dead. No, that's a jinsey term. You can say dead out loud, but in text on the internet, you're not allowed. No, I don't say the word dead. I use the

skull emoji, which means dead. School. Oh, good. Okay. We got there, guys. You can't say dead as a text, as a... You can't. It's illegal. No, it's not. Gen Z makes the rules. George. It's the law. George, stop it. Support me in the comments. There was an incident on the playground.

I will not give names. And a teacher had to email and said that there was a mole on one of my kids' playgrounds at school. You mean mole as in like... Like a little rodent. Okay, I think he meant like a nark. And he became a... There was a mole. You know what I mean?

Like a mole as in like a spy? Oh, no. Gosh, there's a lot. No. No. Oh, there was a critter mole. And in the email it said there was a mole on the playground today that was unalived. See?

So she had to let the parents know. That's amazing. She used unalived. Yeah, but there's all these like terms that they use. Yeah. There was one and I'm trying to think. Okay, my son, Charles says cooked. I'm cooking.

That's what he says. After he like shoots a basketball. Oh, it's a present tense. I guess. I don't know if he uses right. But hearing a six-year-old say it. So he is syncing those threes. And he's like, Mom, I'm cooking. And I'm like, this is the funniest thing.

That's adorable. Because there was a term that I picked up that I really liked and then it was out. Not boogie. Oh, oh, Chugi! Chuggy! What a great word! Oh, Chuggy's out. But no one uses it anymore.

It's Chuggy to say Chuggy. But what a great description of what it means. Yeah. It's like one of those words that you're like, oh, that makes so much sense now that I know it in terms. But no one uses it anymore, so I'm done. But I liked it. You combine them all. Do you ever say wicked sick?

Well, as someone who was born in Boston, that's all I heard growing up. Wait, stop. So go. If anything was... Give me an example. Oh. Dude, that Red Sox game was wicked sick. You catch you on friggin' fox, dude?

They all talk like that. They all talk like that. Give me a Boston accent. I love it. It's so great. It's so heartwarming. It's kind of intimidating. Yes.

When you hear in New York, New Jersey, you're like, I'm not going to mess with you. You know what I mean? But you know the truth? The people of Boston are some of the warmest, kindest individuals beneath the hardest exterior. That in an Italian, put it together. That's a good one. Now that's fun. But you know, the South is the opposite.

Soft, kind exterior, mean interior. Just cruel, bitter. Gossipy women, they just bless her heart. Unbelievable. A lot of bless her heart energy in the South. Tina's having a hard time with her marriage. Greg has not been a great husband. So we need to pray for them.

You know what I mean? is that? You're like classic Southern Baptist right there. They'll just tell it to you raw. Yeah, Tina. Friggin' Greg's cheating on Tina again. Get along with this guy. They don't put it in a prayer.

They put it in an announcement. Oh, that's fun. In the pub. That's fun. Well, I need you to help us understand what ick really means. Yeah, it's like a... Like a turnoff? Yes, great.

That's it. Yes. It's like a... Ugh. Oh, gosh. Like, I saw a video. He's a grown man in an indoor trampoline park

probably like with his kids and stuff and his wife videoed him and he's you know how the trampolines are like right next to each other but you have to jump over the little like padding Oh yeah And he's like jumping in his And his knees like are going so high up

To like make it across And she's like new ick unlocked That's incredible It's just like the it's like the most ridiculous It's like a person A grown usually a grown man Doing something that you're just like, oh wow, that just looks terrible.

Like, I just, I don't like that, you know. Yeah. Well, I experienced one of those. Like, Whitney felt the ick towards me. Stop it. Pretty recently. And I was kind of shocked. Yeah.

So my brother, very kindly, got us a Nintendo Switch 2 for Christmas. Very kindly. As a gift to both of us, mind you. So, like, great, we're going to play, like, Mario Party. Like, all the stuff we played growing up, you know? Mario Kart, just good times. Sure. That's what I think about.

So I go, well, I'm going to play. So I download my favorite game of all time, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and I'm going to town. I beat this game in a weekend, and I haven't played it since, okay? But she walked in, and she was just like, oh, ew, no, no. Okay, does it have a remote control? What's it doing? Is it little or on the TV? It's, you know, it's a, I bought a control that felt like the old PlayStation ones.

But you're looking at the TV while you're playing? And are you, like, moving with it? I mean, you're going for it. Because that is, that would be a hick. Yeah, if you're like in it so much that you're standing up, you know, in the TV. And you're like having to move around. But I was focused. I was intentional.

You're in character. Yeah. Like Tony Hawk. She wasn't having it. Not having it. Do you have one for Winston that? I feel like Winston's like Chuck Norris. Like he's never done anything on Manly.

You know what's funny? He got it. Is he going to hate that you shared this? I don't know. No, probably not. He's actually probably proud of it. He got a new red light. Like the red light therapy stuff is like all big.

No, it's like a box. Oh, just a box that, okay. But this is like a panel. And it was actually kind of expensive, you know, but he gets us all of our health stuff. He's like into the sauna and all this. And he wants to get like a good version of it. He doesn't want to just sit.

Yeah, and it was nice. And I don't mind spin it. It's fine. But I do laugh now. It's only been like four days. Y'all, every time I walk into our bedroom though. Our bedroom number one of red light is coming from the corner. And he has some different body part against the red light.

His foot, he like had his foot up at one point. That's amazing. So yeah, he is like. like all into the red light therapy. And he swears it helps. He's already like, my cells are turning over. He's like, I am. What is it?

Like inflammation? Yeah, all of it. I don't even know the science. I haven't looked it up. But he swears for that. No, I have a red light therapy mask because it's supposed to help with fine lines and wrinkles.

Yeah, that one's so frightening. If you walk in a room and someone's wearing that. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very Jason vibes. It is. It looks like a hockey mask.

Yeah. No, but him and his red light now, y'all. And it cracks, it cracks me up. So I guess an ick, but it just makes me laugh that a grown man is like, has his calf up next to it. You don't mean it?

You're just like Winston. So yeah, that's funny. Winston, I hope you live to a hundred. But you know, his, his metabolic age, he's doing all of his blood work. He turned 40, so he's like, he's like one of these,

like, you hit 40 and he's like, I'm just going to be healthy, all things. And he's like 31 in his, whatever his age is, yeah. Who tells him that? He did like blood work. And he even got one of those things that you prick on the back of your arm

to see, insulin because you want to see, yep, you want to see when your blood sugar spike so you don't have crashes throughout the day. So you can kind of like see what your body, all this stuff. Monitoring his levels. My gosh, God bless him. It's like he's 80. He's not. He's a good looking 40.

He'll look good at 80. I think he will. He actually looks great. You should be thankful. I'm not mad. He's looking good. I think we both have gotten better looking as we've gotten older. You and Winston?

Uh-huh. Do you feel like that was you and Winnie? I look back on pictures of me and I'm like, oh man, I wish I knew how to like, yeah. Yeah. And you think part of it was just a story. styles like didn't you thought it was on trend and looking back you're like oh it's like so maybe so yeah no now now I think you guys have had a glow up do you look back and you're like you figure out like the right way to style of the hair like you're probably a better looking guy right now

than George with like the big hair down the side yeah Whitney helped me you know when she started dating she was like hey you dress fine we can do more with this you know I agree it's a that's a good goal of like the older I look the the better I'm going to look right yeah And not like crazy. You want to age like a fine wine and not milk? Yes, that's our goal, George. All right, all right, we're back. We're off track, we're off track.

Here we go. All right. So our team has collected some controversial money behaviors from the internet, which we love. And all of these have been classified as financial icks by some, but they're not all black and white. You know, there could be some that we're not necessarily. Some gray area. Yeah. So we're going to do a kind of like a.

A little contest, George, as we name them out. Oh, that's fun. It's either going to be an ick. So we have a little paddle here with a red thumbs down or a green thumbs up. So ick is a no, but then, or is it sick in a good way? Wicked sick. Wicked sick. Like, yes, we are all for that.

So we're going to read these scenarios and we're going to judge. And let us know in the comments what you think, if we're wrong or not. You're never scared to let us know, and I appreciate that about you guys. That's right. Here, you read the first one. Okay. I was put into a group chat, unknown. And suddenly we're all booking hotels and plane tickets to the tune of $2,500 per person.

Can I just ghost and leave the chat quietly? What? Put into a group chat unknowingly? I think that's sick. I think you can, 100%. Wicked sick. That's wicked sick. To leave the group chat.

Well, ghosting is the, that's the operative term here. Yeah, but you were put in the chat unknowingly. You were not asked to be part of it. It was probably like a big girls trip is what I'm assuming. Oh, got it. And I'm sure Anna was like, I heard. Sharing like the war details. Like I got added to the group chat.

I wasn't even supposed to be in this group chat. My bad. Oh my gosh. No, I bet it was like a big girls trip. And I bet Anna was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to text 10 girls to go on this big fun weekend trip. And what's her name? Who's this person? Do we know?

No one knows. Who do you think this is? You think it's an Anna? No, I think Anna added her. Oh. She would be a... She a Kelly? Kelly? Yeah, that feels right. Kendra?

Wow, Kendra. Way to bring out the name. I think Kendra's in the group, but she's not leading the group. Okay, yeah, so Kendra gets added and Kendra's like, what am I doing in here, y'all? I can't swing this kind of money. I think that's an Allie started the group. Allys are more aggressive. Do you think? Yeah, I think Annas are a little more behind the scenes, a little kinder. Anna's are more kinder. Allie's a little, yeah, okay, I'll take it. Fine. Change on my names and my fake scenario, George. I'm just, there's power in their name. Let's get it right. Jeez, that's an ick.

What about Allie with A-L-L-I? More aggressive than a Y? Oh, that's the ultimate. Okay, so we got Allie texting a group of girls and Kendra gets put in. And Kendra's like, wow, Allie, I wasn't even asking for a girl's trip. I'm not going to respond. I'm just going to leave. I would, can I say this, though?

I would probably text Allie on the side. Yes. Hey, thanks so much for including me. Not in the budget. I don't have, or the schedule's not going to work out. But y'all have so much fun and send me picks. So we're not envious. I do think that's where I go.

This is a... You include in the excitement. It's a wicked sick, but with a caveat that I think she needs to learn how to deal with some conflict. Okay. You know, just be a little more honest. But I do like the side text. I wouldn't just leave quietly. I would let Allie know and have Allie remove you from the group and say, hey, like, Kendra can't make it.

Okay. would you secretly though not want to be removed and see all the banter and like see what happens and if something happens my toxic trait is i want to stay in the group chat i want to say to you put it on mute but i can always check in me too that's it okay i think i so don't ask to be removed but just say i can't come but y'all have so much fun send me picks perfect that's healthy we're going to be excited for people y'all that's part of the gratitude you're also assuming this is women this could be guys fair i jumped to women but i think you're right this feels This feels like a girls' weekend vibe. I'll tell you this.

Never been invited into a group chat with a bunch of guys saying, hey, let's go on the trip. Usually doesn't happen like that. It's true. All right, next. My husband and I have a rule slash boundary. Anything over $200 requires a quick text to the other. We both agree to it, agreed to it.

So I thought it was normal, but our friends think it's controlling. Oh. Wow. Okay. So is she, is this an ick that they have this, $200 text requirement. Yeah. Okay, I mean, no, I don't think so.

I will say $200 doesn't go very far. Like, if you're a family, like that'll be like a grocery run. So are you supposed to text every time you go to the grocery? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, they may not understand. Maybe it's not just like groceries, but it's sort of like an outside of the norm purchase. Yeah, it's not like you're buying a sweater at Target for $40.

So you got a text on about. That would be controlling. But I could see $200. And depending on where you are financially, I think a dollar amount is good and for them of 200's what they both agreed on I'm going green I'm okay with that

well Whitney just text me today because she was like hey I'm buying some things from J. Crew Factory it's more than we budgeted for but I'm going to return a lot so she always says I love Whitney and to her credit she does

so she'll spend 500 and get back 350 you know what I mean so it's like by the end of the month you're all squared up you're all fine but she doesn't want me to see the transaction and go oh my gosh was this fraud which I appreciate So it's not a controlling thing on my part

that I'm going to smack her down and say, no, you don't get to spend that. I appreciate that she's letting you know. It's more a heads up. Like, don't freak out, George. That someone has robbed our account. It's just me. Yes. Fair.

Thank you, Whitney. I love that. Whitney. Love her. Love her. All right, back to our financial ick or sick. Here we go. I told my friend dinner was on me.

Internally, I expected her to pay next time or Venmo me. She didn't. I'm quietly resentful, but never said anything because I said it was a gift. That's on you, girl. That is on you, you know what? That is like not true generosity. I'm giving to expect a return.

Internally, you already know when you said I told her this. Yeah. I expected this without ever saying it out loud. Now I'm quietly resentful. This is all inside of you. Yes. This is a poison you drink. That is not her problem.

That's not her problem. You presented it. So, yeah. Yeah, we can't be doing that. We don't give with any expectation. I think that's where you go wrong with giving. 100%. When you expect a return or something different.

Just say this next time. Hey, I don't mind grabbing this one if you want to grab the next one. Easy. Yeah, that's right. If that's what you want to happen. That's a great line. Say it out loud. So casual.

But just say, hey, here's what I'm thinking. Yep. Or you just go, we'll just get our own checks if that's cool with you. For sure. Because I have some friends in my life that I do think genuinely are like, oh, yeah, they're happy to be like, oh, no, no, I'll just like, if we're all ordering coffee at the or, I don't know, or something. Yeah.

They're like, oh, yeah, I'll grab it. And they really have no expectation. They don't say, like, just, you guys can Venmo me. Well, that's a clear sign. They want to be paid back. And that's fine, too. A hundred percent. There's nothing wrong with either scenario.

But I think I do have friends that, yeah, they will just like, yeah, take care of something. And they're like, oh, they genuinely don't worry. If we get an Uber together or something, like, oh, I'll pay for it. It's not a big deal. You are the friend that will go, guys, I'll get it. No, no, no, not always. But I then, in turn, clock it, though. So if someone does do something for me, I do think about it.

Because you want to repay the kindness. I do, yes. Not out of guilt. No, no, no, no. But I am like, okay, they grab this. Because I am a little bit more like, I want to make sure it's fair. I do want to make sure everything's fair, especially if you're on a trip. We're just talking about girls trips.

And someone keeps like, oh, I'll get this. You get the next. And in my head, George, I do think, okay, but if you're getting this, you're getting Starbucks coffees. And then the next could be like cocktails. It could be like $200 at dinner. Yeah, like, how are we? But there are some people that just they're not worried about it.

They are good. Yeah, they're not doing the math. Yeah, they're good. So I want to be more like that. I think you need to find friends who are not doing the math. You know what? I just feel like being others. But you do math. I know.

I'm telling everybody, do not be my friend. You would be a friend that does math. But I'll be the guy who's like, you know what, guys? I found a 20% off coupon. So I just saved this all so much money. Yeah. Yeah, but this whole scenario, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going. Yeah.

You can't secretly have that expectation. Nope. All right next. We decided to leave significantly more money to our daughter who is a teacher than our son. Oh, who is a software engineer making $200,000. Our son was blindsided. We thought it was obvious. Oof, that's the ick for me. And it's a tell when they say we thought it was obvious. Oh, I know. I am such a, I am such a socialist when it comes soon. You're like, must be fair and equitable for all. I do. I'm my mother. My mom wants to do that on Christmas. We'd all. all get a check for the exact dollar and cent that she spent between everyone. We call it socialist Christmas. Like, it is even.

Like, everyone is even. And I feel that about inheritances. That issue just like, if you can, just split it all evenly. It makes the most sense. Yes. Each child, like, regardless of, yeah. Now, now, I'm saying that in like a broad stroke. Like, if someone is, like, destroying their life on one end, you're like,

I don't want to give them that. Like, I'm not saying that, but just like. Barring any misbehavior or addiction. Yeah, especially when you leave it, inheritance-wise, don't you think? Yeah, I can't imagine leaving more to my daughter than my son because my son has a more lucrative career. Because your son could lose their job because of AI and he can make, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, who knows? I don't know.

With the kids. If you did it right, your wealth when you die is just like an extra blessing to your kids. It's gravy on top. It's not the make or break. That's a great point. Whether or not you're going to like own a house. Yeah. You know, hopefully I die late enough that my kids are well enough off on their own.

I've taught them good principles. And we know that teachers can and do become millionaires. Yes, yes. Even on teacher's salaries, quote, unquote. And software engineers can spend like crazy and be broke later in life if they're not careful. That's right. That's right. Yeah.

Yeah. But I'm not going to punish a kid for being successful, basically. Do you know what I'm saying? By giving them less. Well, and then it makes him resent the sister when she didn't even do anything. Do you think are yours as a parents? Both? Yeah.

But now he's, you know, when the sister gets the inheritance, or she's going to be, you know, he's going to be resentful toward her going, wow, I can't believe it. I know. I'm with you. I think it's even. I mean, I'm going on a third, a third to third third. Yeah. Because it would be like, okay, if so-and-so has seven kids, they should get more than

so-and-so who's single, right? Rank them by income and net worth? Yeah, net worth, income or needs versus not. I'm like, no, like, y'all, like, every life is different and you all get me. You get the same. You get a third of me, everybody. Amelia, Charles, Caroline, you're going to be okay. You should get a third.

No one's going to fight. That's right. Unless you're going to give an extra quarter to your old pal, George. Oh, George is going to be written in the will for sure. You know who asked for that was Winston Cruz. That's my dark fantasy that some random person out there is like, I just like him. You know what? Let's put him in the will.

Let's just throw him a buck. Not because I need the money just because it's nice to be invited. And the best would be if it's someone so random, like the guy who founded Wall. awful house and somehow he's like I saw George Camel on the internet and I made me laugh one time and I thought and you thought I'm gonna give him a million bucks yeah like I don't like my kids that much I like that guy though yeah let's swap him out you know the I think some of the best stories are these like you know multi-millionaires or billionaires and maybe they have kids or not but they like leave half their fortune to the janitor at the university who they've loved you don't even mean like some like and you're like

that because like the kids are fine let's really blow someone's yeah what are we and do genesis. This was great. I really enjoyed that. Lord have mercy. Where are we? Here it is. I received a $40,000 inheritance before we got married. I kept it in a separate account and never mentioned it. Eight years in, my spouse found out and felt completely blindsided. I didn't think I had to disclose it.

Seeing a theme here, it's an ick for me. Yeah, what? What's you doing? Like, there's so many clues here. Do you think that's a guy or a girl? I feel like it's a dude Why don't I feel like it's a dude that I hit it I don't know I feel like when people say my spouse

It's usually a woman Correct me if I'm wrong But I think guys you should just say my wife I feel like a wife I feel like a woman would be like my husband Interesting A jury's out on this I'm going man

I think this is a man writing in Anyone We all think it's a woman Well I think women also could be kind of As a protective You know like a security thing but it was before they got married separate account

never mentioned it I feel like when you get married you sort of like put it all out there well in my head to Pollyanna but the idea of like I hope you get married and you're so excited

to be like here's all our money what are we're gonna do with it let's go get a big house yeah I'm sure they have goals in those eight years let's like have fun with it and like figure out what to do

with our lives and it's so exciting that I have 40, that we get to like advance to kickstart this yeah advance our lives get the emergency fund get the house down

payment, invest. And George, I just don't feel like that's how people look at marriage anymore. You know, that 50%, divorce rate, really getting us down. It hurts. It hurts. Yeah, I don't remember, like, if I had any money when I was married, I was, like, bragging to Whitney. I was like, I got $10,000.

I know. So, you did pretty good. I got five figures. That's what makes me think it's a woman. Okay. The guy would have been like, I'm loaded. Funny, okay. That's a funny perspective.

Yeah. Well, I think it's an egg. Yep. Well, if I had 40,000, you know where I'd go? CozyEarth.com. That's a spending sparing right there. And I would start spending. One of each, please.

What of each, please? I've always wanted to do that. One of each, please. You know what? We got today. What's that? I got a, they're calling it the first layer, I think is what they're calling them. Yes.

And it's like a, it's basically like a lightweight, almost like I'd wear it. It's like a PJ set. But it's different than the bamboo. It's like a different material. and I want to go home. Do you have it with you? Okay, y'all, it is like legitimately. It's the softest stuff I've ever felt.

So you got yours in too. Well, I was so scared. I was going to forget it at my desk because I wanted to wear it so I grabbed it. Okay, let's see it. Let's see it. To be clear, I wouldn't not look as cute as Rachel would look in her first layer set.

But these are like just, oh, it feels so good. It's like that cool side of the pillow feeling. Look at this. It's like nice and stretchy. and then matching shorts. Look at that. Because I got that swagger.

I got that Bieber swagger. And I love the waistband. It's very Calvin Klein 90s. For a big meal, I need a nice stretchy waistband. Oh my gosh. Well, we love it. CozyEarth.com. Incredible.

And they have great deals for our listeners, George. Yeah, you can get up to 20% off. Go to cozyearth.com slash smart money and use promo code smart money at checkout to get the deal. All right. Next, I went on a girl's trip and paid for one of our group dinners on my credit card for points.

Everyone agreed to Venmo me, but one girl still hasn't, and we've been home for a week. Can I send a remind on Venmo, or is that cringe? Ooh, I'm going, that is wicked sick. Yeah, that's great, for sure, because you know what?

Benefit the doubt, this girl, forgot. Happens all the time. Totally forgot. You know who I do that with? I've done it two times in a row, and I'm like, Rachel, stop. You're hitting the Remind button? No, was babysitters.

That's how we pair of babysitters now is Venmo. And two times I forget to pay them. You forgot. Yes. And then do they send you a request? Thank God. No, they will text me and be like, hi. And it's sweet if they're like sweet high school girls.

Hi, Miss Rachel. I wasn't sure if you sent me a Venmo or if I missed it. You know, and I'm like, I'm so sorry. I feel terrible. Imagine the story they're telling their mom and dad. I feel so terrible. Rachel Cruz stiffed me the other day. So I'm saying that to say, she may not be malicious in not paying you.

She genuinely may have just like totally forgot. had a great night, you know, with the girls, and she's moving on. She doesn't know. So the reminder actually will be helpful. I find it helpful. For her. And it's less awkward than like a text message of, hey, I noticed you never paid me for babysitting. Well, it's not $2.74.

It's a girl's dinner. So you're probably, you know, 30, 40 bucks. At least. Yeah. That's if you went to the Olive Garden. Cheesecake Factory, up that. Going up. Because you know we split some cheesecake.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a tough one. But I'm never ashamed to hit the reminder. button. Yeah, you love that. I've never done a remind on Vimmo. I'm more of a text. Yeah, I wouldn't be scared to text you about it. Yeah. I can be direct with you. It's not going to hurt your feelings.

Totally forgot it. It's fine. Next up, my 23-year-old moved back home after college. We charge him $400 a month. Some family members think we're heartless. What they don't know is we're saving it and planning to gift it back when he buys his first home. That's sweet. I mean, I'm going wicked sense. on this one. Yeah, I think you're fine. I think the whole idea of like adults moving back in with

their parents and it's a big question, should we charge them rent or not? I think that's your discretion. I mean, I really do because I think there's some responsible kids that move back home and they need six months between this lease and that lease. I mean, that's great. And there's some that move back home because you're like, oh, wow, they've not found a steady job. Yes. They need to learn some responsibility. Yeah, like I think you can get the tone and the spirit of the kid and what they need. If they're in a crisis, I'm not going to charge them rent. Yeah, no. Like, you have a place to land for a little bit. You're fine. But $400 a month is a steal. So you're not charging a market rate. You're like, well, $1,500 if you're down the street, bud, so. Totally. Pony up or

get out. Like, that's, that feels a little more cruel. Yes. But this is actually helping them understand how to handle monthly bills. Yes. And we know. Because when they get on the real world, it's actually cruel to have them not know how to handle that. And not build a habit. And when we talk about living without debt, your credit score is going to be undetermined if you don't use debt. And so you actually need a rental history. That's true. Like a history payment. So actually doing those parents, you're setting them up well.

Because they can then do manual underwriting to get a mortgage, even without a credit score. Because the mortgage lender still looks for a history of on-time rent payments, even if it's to mom and dad. You still need a history of that flowing to bank accounts. So I think it's great. Love it. And I love the idea of gifting it back. That's really sweet. What a fun surprise.

Okay, so this is funny on we were just doing Ramsey Show Lives. We had one in Phoenix. On the road. In Phoenix, Ken Coleman, Jade Warshall and myself. And we had a similar question. And they both were like not, don't give it to them. Like they're fine. Let them figure it out.

And I was, and I went back and I was like, I think I, yeah, disagree. And then it turned out that he'd been living there for like two years and like all this stuff. It ended up not being like, I mean you shouldn't get it. But it was so funny, we like disagreed on stage about it, where I was like, yeah, because I think that's great. Part of me, I'm like, that does not bother me. And I mean, how long is he living there? If it's a year, that's $4,800. Right.

It's not like it's life changing either way, but it's a nice thing to do to go, all right, here's your moving money. Yeah, the chief, like, yeah. Some closing costs, you know, life's expensive. Give your kid a leg up. Like, why are we punishing our children? That's a pretty joy. She'd be like, well, you got to learn the hard way like me. Says a dad of a little girl.

That's what he's saying, yeah. God, I know. I will treat. my girl differently than the boy. For sure. The boy, tough it up, kid. And I'm the opposite. Charles, and he just says,

I just love you. I'm like, I could just hold you all night. I mean, just the best. It is. So sweet. All right, next. I lied about my income on the first day with my girlfriend.

I just rounded, oh, down a bit. Ooh, we're going humble. So modest. I work in pharmaceutical sales and didn't want to come off braggy. Oh, that's kind of sweet. I feel like I should clarify, but I'm not sure how to handle the conversation now

that things are more serious. Wow. What do I want to go green here? I think it's really sweet. I want to go just total financial ick for the idea of talking about income on your first date. Is that what we're doing now?

I guess that's true. Like it went from like, I think he should pay to, I think he should tell me his income. That feels, it's like on the hinge profile now. Oh, no. It just feels like it's a lot. So for that I go ick.

I think the motive was sweet in a way. Because I relate to him most. I'm more of a I downplay things more than up. Because upplay feels ego to me. It feels like I need a boost. There's something actually about like, gosh, I don't want to like be intimidating, scare her, or whatever he says.

Like, I don't know. I appreciate the downplay. Something about that I'm good with. Because when I first read it, if you heard my inflection. Yeah, you were very sympathetic to the gentleman. Remind the tape. Remind the tape.

I said, I lied about, yeah, my income. And I said, oh, gosh, I, I just rounded and I really thought it was going to say up a bit. And he said, down. So. Well, he's in pharmaceutical sales. So he's making high six figures. Yeah. If he's any good at his job. High six figures. I would say he could be, no, no, I think he'd make him. You said high six figures. Well, in my head, it was like high, like 150 to 250, somewhere in there. Maybe upwards of 300, depending on how long he's been in it. I don't know. But if he's a young guy, somewhere in there is what you can make in that world. For sure.

But I still don't understand who brought this up. I have a lot of further questioning, Your Honor. But I just feels too soon. Do you have a, like I don't remember talking about income with Whitney when we were dating. No, we are in college. Winston had a, he was mowing lawns. I thought I have a working man. Hey, that's not a Nick.

It's a hard working man right there. And I said, landscaper. Wow. Wow. That's why he's so good with plants and shrubbery. Yeah, yeah. I've always found that to be interesting. Yeah, he landscaped through college.

Wow. And you guys have a little garden now. Mm-hmm. You have a gardener. He actually just told me yesterday. He was like, I'm about to plant all my spring or my summer vegetables, and I need to know what you're actually going to use because he planted all this stuff for the winter. He's like, you didn't eat any of my stuff.

I'm like, because you planted radishes. Like, I don't eat a radish, but he'd chop up a radish. Hey, good fresh radish hits. No, it doesn't. Finely sliced in a salad. Oh. So I said green onion. Give me some green onion.

Give me all the herbs. Yeah. Give me cherry tomatoes. Halapino peppers. Ooh. Bell peppers. Our cucumbers always end up weird. They have like spikes.

I don't know. The cucumbers are tough regarding. But those are like what I really, but then he loves okra. So he's going to do okra. Oh, that's a fun one. Do you ever fry it up? Yes. Yeah.

Fried okra is a southern specialty. So good. So yeah. That's great. Yeah. I don't know how we got off on that. Oh, shrubbery, yeah. He loves the outdoors.

He is a man of the outdoors. Get him outside. Get you a man who can garden and mow. All right. Next one. May seem dramatic, but I just refuse to tip more than 15%. It feels ridiculous to me. Am I a monster?

Wow. I'm going to go ick on this one, just in the phrasing of it. That's what I was going to say. I mean, Monster was like, wow, really strong. Are you a monster? I mean, no, but are you cheap kind of? Yeah. Like, I think just the spirit of it, like, I'll never do more than this. Feels so legalistic.

Yeah, that's a good point, George. Yeah, I agree with that. Like, this is my bar with generosity. That just feels odd to me. That's a good. Because a tip is generosity. And yes, it is expected in American culture. There is a level of if you don't tip, that is not okay for a service that normally would get a tip.

But the idea that anything more than 15% is over the top, it depends. depends on the service. If someone really went out of their way to serve you, give 20. I'm a 20% minimum. Like even if the service was terrible, Rachel's giving you 20. Man, the servers are like, Rachel, come visit my restaurant. Winston will go 15. He's pickier than I am.

But I, yeah, I'm a 20. Can I tell you what I do that I think is petty? That is my toxic trait, that is the ick? I love Georgia's toxic traits. I do 20%, but I do it on the subtotal. Wait, what? Why am I tipping the government's taxes? Oh.

Think about it. New Hampshire doesn't have sales tax. So that server is going to get less to New Hampshire. Oh, that's interesting. You know what? In Tennessee, they're liquor tax, 15% extra. I know. Now that is true.

On top of the sales tax, you're talking 25%. And now I'm doing 20% of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm tipping on the actual service and product provided. Okay. That's my line. percent happily on that. I'm not like terribly mad. I just haven't never

thought about it that hard. Next time when they on the receipt where it shows you the like pre-calculations for tip, check to see if that's on the pre-tax or post-tax. Yes. A little fun exercise for you guys at home if you have no friends. Next time you're out and about. You don't have a social life. Clearly you're going to be solo. Study your checks at your restaurant the next time you go out.

That's fun. That's George. Oh my gosh. That's my ick. Well, I do know that whenever we do go out to eat that regardless of if I tip on the sub-total or total. I'm throwing my Fairwin's credit union debit card out there to pay the bill. Cheers to that. Because Winston and I have switched over, yeah, our banking. And it's like, it is amazing. Fair wins, we love. So this is a credit union, you guys, that is pro-Ramsie principals. They actually want their team to become debt-free. Like they-selebrate it. Yes. I mean, they are amazing. And so they have a smart bundle where you can actually get a no-feet checking account,

up to 10 high yield savings accounts, which is so funny to me. For all of your different sinking funds and savings goals, they did that for our fans. Did that for nerds like George. And they got rid of all international transaction fees because of my YouTube video. What? Say more. If you're traveling internationally, don't pay these fees. Find a debit card that doesn't charge you those.

And Fairwinds went, let's get rid of that for our Ramsey fans. Unbelievable. So check it out. It just keeps getting better. Go to fairwins.org slash Ramsey. You can get that smart bundle with the no-feet checking, the high-yield. savings, which by the way, number one question we get, what's a good high yield savings?

Boom, I drop the Fairwind's link and I sleep good at night. That's right. And you get the debit card, so make sure to check it out. Okay, George, what do you think? About the whole ick or sick? I think there's a spirit to it, that you can just feel it. Is it a spirit of

your poor communication skills? Your lack of generosity, your sort of controlling personality, you know? Or, is it actually I'm not okay and this was someone else that wronged you it usually isn't yes that's usually on the person in the mirror I agree uh I heard this construct from my therapist and she used this term and I was like oh I love this it's called the stable flexible self so there's like a stability

in your life of like your conviction like what you what you believe but the flexibility is big like the more rigid you are some would say the more unhealthy you are But the more flexibility, it's almost like the more grace you can have, the more, like, you're good. And a lot of this is what you're saying. When you're talking about that, I thought, oh, the stable, flexible self. There's like almost that, like, flexibility in life that, like, oh, I'm going to pick up the coffees. And I'm good. I don't have to have this like, oh, my gosh, everyone has to pay me back.

And I'm saying. Like, it is. It's a control thing. And a little bit when you let that go, I think you have a more enjoyable life. Well, and I think you're more attractive as a person. Like, people want to hang around that person. They're flexible, they're adaptable. And not to take advantage of, but just like you're enjoyable.

You're easygoing. Nobody wants someone. I mean, unless you want to hang with me. Very neurotic, very rigid, very uptight. Very uptight. No, it's true. I think if you have a generous spirit, you give someone the benefit of the doubt. You're always thinking, hey, what would I want to experience?

How would I want to be treated? Sort of that golden rule mentality. I think you make different decisions. and just say the thing that you want to say. Do it kindly, but don't leave it inside and then be mad at everyone else. That's right. Because they didn't return the favor

that you thought they'd return. To be unclear, it's to be unkind. Amen. Don't be unclear. Be clear. Amen, and roll tide. Okay, before we spill the tea on our guiltiest church segment,

what do you think? I loved this. It got better as it went on. This was a cherry basil smash. It's got gin, pitted cherries, lime juice, simple syrup, basil and soda water. Y'all, we are in summer, and that is a summer cocktail.

Yeah, I could have gone heavier on the gin. It wasn't coming through enough for me, so I'm going to go seven out of ten on this one. Okay, I'm going to go, I think I'm, I mean, nine out of ten. So generous, once again. If I'm going to order at a restaurant, I would order it for sure, but I think I would like, my favorites of like a marguery, right?

Like, I have my go-toes. This isn't probably going to become a go-to. of mine. But so good. You know what I pictured? What's that? You did a big batch of that and one of those like a punch bowl thing like one of those, everyone's like at the house. That could be dangerous. But that is. A little summer party. Are you going to be throwing one? But that would be good. I should, shouldn't I? We had a great time last year. All the personalities did a great dinner at your house. That's right. By the pool, which we got to see in person. And wow, what a flex. Don't. Jonathan, I'm sorry. He's a really nice pool. I'm not going to lie. Honestly,

what really got me was the little like workout room adjacent in the little like pool house. I was like I would work out if I, like I, now I want to work out with Winston. With Winston. And me? It's fine if you want to be there too, but it's kind of a, that's where I work out. It's kind of a boys club. We're going to be lifting heavy weights, Rachel. We don't want you to get hurt.

I do too. Oh, man. $2.80. If you want to try this at home, the recipes and the show notes, give it a try this weekend if you're of age as the weather warms up. And you're by the pool. if you choose to post that on your Instagram. All right, now it's time for guilty as charged. And this is where we ask each other

a guilty charge question every week and we're guilty. We take a sip. All right, George, have you ever overspent in a foreign country? Oh, gosh. I'm trying to think the last foreign country I was in. That's sad.

I need to get out more. No, it's not sad? Well, Mexico. I did, yeah. We did, you know, honeymoon, anniversary Cabo and Cancun but I did Costco travel

so you know that I was And then it's all inclusive You know what I did in Mexico Have I told you this story? I don't remember Tell about the airport and the pizzas So we're in the airport To go home

And there's a pizza place But they had a kiosk That you could like Tap on So I was like Oh perfect I'll order from the kiosk So we're with Winston's like

Whole Family So I have like my two girls Like a few of my nieces with me that I'll leave the gate to go find food. I'm the only adult, so I'm like, have all these, like, these girls with me. And I'm like, oh, and everyone's like pizza. I'm like, perfect. Sounds great.

I love pizza. Easy. Rachel loves it. So I go on the kiosk, and there's like a cheese, pepperoni, supreme option, three options, and buttons. But on it, it had a slice of pizza on the button. So I thought it was a slice of pizza. So I order six slices of cheese pizza.

and I Beep beep Feroon's debit card And it They probably thought this was fraud at this point And out no And my niece was like Oh my gosh

Because I can't remember I can't remember what it was But let's just make it up Like 2,600 pesos or whatever She was like Aunt Ram is that $2,000? I was like oh no no no That's pesos

Or it was like a thousand thousand pesos or whatever I was like no no no that's pesos It converts dollars or whatever like way cheaper. She's like, oh, how much? I was like, oh, good question. So we're walking with the receipt to the pizza place to pick up the pizzas. I type it in chat, CBT. And it comes up like $236. And I was like, oh, boy. And I was like, uh, hmm, well, this was supposed to be like $30, but it's saying like $200, like $236 or whatever. And I thought, oh my gosh. And I go up to the

counter, y'all, I go up to the counter. And I mean, I'm, I, I changed. choose to be in a country that's not speaking English. I don't expect them to know English. Sure. But I'm sitting there like, do you know? And they're like, oh, we can't. And I'm like, George, I ordered six full large pizzas.

Oh, wow. Six pizzas. For six people? So everyone got their own large pizza. Basically. Well, I mean, like, there are other people in our group. Yes. Oh my gosh.

No refunds. I couldn't blame it. You can't take back the pizzas. Oh, and I have a, like a stupid. line item in the budget. Actually, I could pull it up and tell you exactly how much it will know. Oh, this is juicy. If you want to know. Yeah, we have a stupid line item in every dollar just because stuff happens like this. And you're like, that is so stupid. Is it usually on you or Winston? Oh, I'm the only one that puts it in. For sure. Uh, for sure. And I'm like,

that was so stupid. And so I put it in there because I thought that is the dumbest. Let's see how much. Oh, gosh. I was so dramatic. It was $128 and $36. Not $200. Not 200. But I spent $128. Well, that's still like 20 bucks of pizza, though. Which? Now I need to know how many pesos that is in case I'm ever in a Mexican airport. I go, I know.

I know. I'm not falling for it. Yeah, don't fall for it. What'd you do with all the pizzas? Well, most of them weren't even being, like, we had to wait and our flight was boarding. So I ended up just saying, just keep them. That's what I told them, because we couldn't get them all and get everyone's bad. So how many did you take out of the six?

I think we took two. You didn't think, let me take all these on the flight and start a pizza party? You know, epic that would have been? You would have been everyone's favorite person. Like, hey guys, pizza on me. No, I would have smelled up the whole plane with pizza, which is what I hate. You hate the smell of pizza. On an airplane. Food on an airplane? That is the ideal food to be smelling on a flight. You know what? I'm going to say this. Controversial or not? I think bringing fast food on an airplane and opening it up is worse than reclining your seat back. Can I tell you this past weekend I was on a flight and I had literally three minutes to get food before they

boarded, I got a Greek bowl, you know, but there's like garlic. It's pretty smelly. And so I was eating like a madman while we were waiting to board and I finished as I was walking on the plane, I tossed it and I was like, you know what? I have one. I did the Lord's work today. I have won. My neighbor is going to be so happy. That is so true. I know I said next to a girl and she opened a big breakfast sandwich, McDonald's breakfast sandwich right next to me with the hash brown and everything. And I was like, I can smell that. And it smelled so good. I wanted it so bad. The word one, subway. Subway on a flight, not the vibe.

Not good. It's the onions for me. Oh, man. Well, if you have a guilty-of-charged question for us, make sure to DM us at Rachel Cruz and at George Camel, because we read them. We appreciate them. And if you enjoyed this episode,

you're going to love our next episode, judging people based on how they spend their money, we will link it for you. It's coming up. And make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an all-new episode of. Smart Money Happy Hour. Thank you.