Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Why “Get Ready With Me” Videos Are Costing You $$$$

Episode Date: June 20, 2024

💵 Sign up for EveryDollar today to create a free budget! Are "Get Ready With Me" videos filling your feed? Join George and Rachel as they explore the internet's latest obsession with watching strangers’ routines, explain how it fuels comparison culture, and offer some helpful tips to keep your spending safe from viral trends. Next Steps 📱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. 🎥 Watch George and Rachel break down bad habits that are hurting your wallet.   Offers From Today's Sponsors This episode is sponsored by DeleteMe. 🔒 Remove your personal information from the web and get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/smartmoney.  Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🥃 Maple Bourbon Sour Recipe: Joy + Oliver   Ingredients: • 1 1/2 ounce bourbon • 3/4 ounce lemon juice • 3/4 ounce maple syrup • 4 ice cubes • 1 rosemary sprig   Instructions: In a cocktail shaker, combine the bourbon, lemon juice and maple syrup and fill with ice. Shake until fully combined and pour into your favorite cocktail glass. Garnish with fresh rosemary and enjoy! Listen to More From Ramsey Network 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights   🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💼 The Ken Coleman 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. You know, these little toothpicks are so fancy, but I do like to... They also can be used as a weapon. I thought they're going to stab me.

Look a little shank. That is refreshing and wonderful. 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. Get ready with me, Rachel. while I tell you about the time I offended the entire equestrian community.

I remember that. Well, get ready with me, George, while I tell you how it was like growing up as Dave Ramsey's daughter. Do pray tell. And get ready with us, America, and wherever you're listening, as we tell you, everything you need to know

about pop culture and finance. You get in the hint? You'll get in it. You see? Get ready with me. Get ready with me. There is a trend going on, people, and we are here to talk about it

and how it involves your money. And I promise it does. Routines, this is a big one. But first, we are sipping on a maple bourbon sour. I mean, it's delicious. It is what you think it is. Ibu, well done. It's delicious. We're going to give you the rating, reveal of the cost per glass, and of course, recipe will be in the show notes. So stick around to the end for that. Okay, so George, the last probably, I don't know, I'm going to go 18 months. Get ready with me. More for the women. Let me make that clear. G-R-W-M. It is a concept that's all over social media.

Mostly I'd say Instagram, TikTok, in that world. But people get ready and, you know, they show you how they get ready. They show you their makeup routines or their morning routines. Or they just, like, talk about stories and just hang out, but, like, they're getting ready at the same time. That's true, too. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. So some of it is, like, specifically for products. Some of it is just about life.

Like, get ready with me while I talk about 401Ks, which... Juicy. I may have done that before, George. Yeah, this is big. So the rise of TikTok during the pandemic, kickstarted a lot of this. Before that, there was a lot of skin care and makeup YouTubers. Before that, there were seven-minute long infomercials for proactive cleanser,

celebrity cameos. You remember that? Oh, man. And I did proactive, the three steps all day, every day. You see Jessica Simpson, like, she's splashing her face in the sink. With pro, that's a three-step thing. And then you scrub the crap out of your face with that St. St. Ives face scrub.

I'm pretty sure everyone destroyed their skin. We ruined our skin. Or did we? I hear we're aging better. Then who? Gen Z. Oh. But they're not aged yet, so I don't know who that was.

Yeah, they have their youth still, so we can't really tell. I don't know. I just feel like maybe it all worked for us. But yeah, the proactive infomercials were a real thing. Okay, with this one we like, budget talk. This has become a trend. Watching people just do their paycheck routines, just stuffing cash envelopes. Like, here's my grocery envelope, $150 and they get their cash.

there's something therapeutic about watching that. Yeah, and you can learn from that one. Cook Talk. So you got people cooking showing you the recipes. I do have a lot of those saved. I like those. Those are enjoyable. Coupon talk, watching people strategize sales with extreme couponing.

I love it. Oh, ballet talk. I have seen this, ballerinas. Are you ready? I've just seen a couple of these. And it's weirdly satisfying, y'all. It sounds so weird. But it's these ballerinas that get new shoes.

Okay, did you ever see Center Stage? I don't know what that is. Oh my gosh. It was a movie. I had it on actual cassettes. I had it on a cassette. VHS? Thank you, VHS.

And it was about this girl from a small town. So how did you watch a movie on a cassette? Yeah, sorry, like a VHS. From a small town. Anyway, she ends up in like a New York ballet. But there's like, I think Jessica, Mandy Moore. Mandy Moore's on the soundtrack. I mean, it's just, it's so good.

But they have a scene where they have their new ballet shoes and they're like ripping them up. They like hit them on the floor. They like take a tool for the bottom. To break them in? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're like literally ripping them to shreds to get them to the place where they meet them.

Well, that was VHS, center stage, Rachel, and probably seventh grade watching that. Now it's back, George. 36-year-old Rachel now gets to watch it on Instagram, but it's like 30 seconds long, but it's like weirdly satisfying. Are they like letting out their anger into this shoe? I don't know, but they're like the toe shoes.

Do you want to know something about me, George? I feel like you're about to tell me anyways, But yes, please. I think we all do. It was like this dream of mine to be a ballerina. I had no idea. I know. And I, Jeremy Breeland, our boss, left because his daughter is like a fantastic dancer.

She's in New York now. She's trained. She's amazing. And I like confess this to her one time. And Jeremy and his wife, Jennifer, overheard. And now he always makes fun of me. You're like, yeah, brings it up. Because y'all, like into high school, beginning of college,

I would practice George my turnout. And I was doing it at the grocery store. And the lady behind me said, oh my gosh, are you a dancer? And I looked at her and I couldn't lie. And I just said, Hi. I just turned back around.

How old were you? In college. Okay. I thought this was still like seventh grade. You're a grown woman at this point, still practicing the grocery store. And I was like practicing a turnout like for my feet. I don't know.

Anyways, so I see ballet and it just hits me in my heart. Next thing Rachel failed at, that's also a TikTok trend, Rush Talk, watching sorority girls share about their overpriced outfits in Tuscaloosa. That's a real thing that you dropped out or do you get kicked out? I always forget. Oh my gosh, I dropped. I didn't get kicked out of my sorority. It feels like a plausible scenario.

No, I dropped. But we were not, this was not. I mean, we would go, like, get, like, Lily Politzer dresses, like when we went through Rush. It was never this. Is that the same one that gives out the prize? I'm sorry, what? The Pulitzer Prize. Who's Lily Pulitzer?

Lily Pulitzer. Is she fashion designer? Lily Pulitzer is like your quintessential Southern. I'm thinking Vera Bradley. Now, very, very, same family. Like they're cousins. I think they're cousins.

Those always bothered me visually. Just like a big quilt. Like, I've never seen fashion that just gave me an instant migraine to look at. It was like a puzzle that was not asking to be soft. just as you looked at it. Yeah, I'm going to say,

Lily may have had that same. Anyways, that's what we wore in rush. I mean, it was like nothing like it is today. I still don't know what rush even means. It's the week that you go and you like... What are you rushing toward? Why are they in a rush? You go to every sorority and then they basically judge you,

you judge them, and then the next round. Then the next round, you're told who you get the next round with, who accepted you for the next round, but you have to maybe cut people. You know, it's like this whole, it's a whole game. It's a whole system. And then we wonder why we have anxiety and relationship problems and toxicity. I think that's because of social media.

Sororities have been around since like the 1900s. It seems like a lot of pageantry for zero payoff. You know what? It's just a way to pay even more for college. Yes. Yes. But I'm not going to, I'm not a complete hater on it. Because I think for some people it is fun.

Like you get in, it's a big group of girls. You do contests. You have like, um, themed parties. You have people cook for you and do your laundry sometimes. Only if you had a house. I lived in the... Tennessee didn't have that when I was there. We lived in a dorm. You poor thing. I know. I survived. All right. Demas Stority Talk, George. I'm sorry. If Mia ever needs support, tell her calling Aunt Rachel. She probably will be like, I want to join this Rorty like Aunt Rachel. Yeah. I'm not say...

Chi Omega. Grocery Talk is the last one too, George. There's a lot of them, but this one's great because it talks about people's grocery budget. You kind of get a rundown of what they're buying. Being intentional about your meal planning and prepping. Yeah. But it is an interesting concept. because I'm like, these are complete strangers that we're sitting here and watching everything from like makeup routines to budgets. But yet, like, that's like the world we live in these days. And they go viral somehow.

Just people doing everyday normal things, just talking. Yes, totally. I think it does part of it, it makes us feel more normal watching other people do boring things like we do. It's like relatable. Oh, that's good. And you know what? I'm going to say this.

I think this is a healthier version of social media than all the like plastered pictures that are like perfect, right? This is like, here I am, everyday life. Here's how I do it. Unless I did see one. There was a mom. I just saw this last night, actually. So it's funny. We're talking about this today. And she, like, homeschools, like, five kids. And she's like, I get up at 4 a.m. every morning. And as the sun comes in, I make my coffee. And as I make my coffee, then I'm working out at the same time. And then I pack my kids' lunches with my other hands while I'm working out with the other. And then my husband gets up and he goes on a ride. And then I wake my

And it's just like, it is War War III in our house in the morning. So then sometimes you are like, holy crap. Well, and I've seen, have you seen these, like there's Asian moms and they make these amazing lunches for their kids. It's like. They have little like, they're making shapes and characters. And it's so beautifully. And like salmon it.

Like, like real food. They got like sashimi going for the kids lunch and I'm just like, I'll never be enough. I'll never be a good mom. This is never what I'll do. So there is a piece of it that can be compared. If it's too perfect, we don't want the perfection. And I think, though, the quick get ready with me or the quick, here's what I just do, to your point, the mundane of life, we're great with.

Like, we don't need any perfection here, people. We don't need any perfection. But some of it does inspire us, new ideas and get us, you know, off of our own routines. And some of it, I think there is a communal void that we're kind of missing, feeling like we're a part of a community, culture. And so I think this helps us feel more connected in a sense. Yeah, and I do think about that. You're going to see the good in it like Rachel does.

As I'm like scrolling though mindlessly at night where I'm like, okay, if I was out with friends right now, I wouldn't be looking at my phone. But you're like, you know what I mean? I've seen those tables. It's just like a group of girls and are all just on their phones separately. Oh, yes. Or like I've heard this, my sister-in-law was on a bachelor's party and they were all on their phones the whole time. Like no one talked. I was like, why even, why did you guys go?

Why do I spend all this money to go to the beach to separately like do trends for TikTok? And not to call it age groups. But I expect that from like separate. 17-year-olds. Not like 20-something. Like, be like, hang out with her people. I know. Yeah.

We're going to go full Dr. John Deloney and put our phones in the bowl when we walk in the doors and, you know. I think it's fantastic. Very healthy. Just disconnect, disconnect. So, again, there's also a narrative part of these videos that lures people in.

And again, the topics, they can get more and more shocking. Are you ready for these? Get ready with me while I tell you the time that I caught my boyfriend cheating. Oh, my gosh. Or get ready with me while I tell you about the time I was almost kidnapped, which you know, that's my greatest.

So it's like you're doing something very mundane and normal while talking about something insane. And then you're lured into all of it because you're like, oh my gosh, is that how she curls her hair? And I'm like, how are you doing all of this while putting your makeup on? That's impressive to like, that's a lot of brain calories to be burning. That's called. Multitasking? I was like, what is it called? Something Rachel is struggling with right now.

Multitasking. Well, these videos are really popular and we've started doing them at Ramsey. And I've seen you, Rachel. I know. I did. She'll get ready with me. Yeah, I have. I've jumped on.

And I'm like, here's the three things you need to do for retirement. Because I find them fascinating again. When I like how they're done, I like them personally. So whenever I find something I like personally, I'll be like, here, I'll do my own version and share it with the world and see if other people like it. Why is it only a female thing? Like, why can't the guys get in on this?

George, you, will you please do your hair? Get ready with me while I do my hair. It's physically impossible. And talk, no, and talk about high-yield savings accounts. Please do it. While the blow dryer is going at full speed, how will anyone hear me? You can say, well, that's where you pause the video. And then you come back and your hair's all, like, dried, and you're like, and we're back.

It's mostly blow drying. It's about three minutes of blow drying in one minute. Then you don't talk and you just show how you do it. You know what I could try is, like, get ready with me while I tell you about how my identity was stolen. That's an outrageous story. Let's see, drama and get ready with me because it was stolen. While I put on my zero makeup. It would take no time.

It would mostly be me telling you the story. Yeah. But this was a crazy story. I'll give you the spark notes. Okay. It was 2013, simpler times, or was it? I get a call from a debt collector. And I went, I don't have any debt in collections.

What's going on? They said, yeah, you owe $1,700 on an AT&T account and a Verizon account separately. So $3,400. And I'm like, well, this isn't me. I don't even have those. And he went, is this your name? I went, yep. Is this your address?

I went, yeah, I used to live there. Is this your social security number? and he said it back to you? He said, I never said it. They were telling all this to me, confirm it. And I was like, but they were confirming it. And so I realized that my identity had been stolen and the bottom line, two older women in Boston

used my previous Nashville address, my name and social, to open up two different cell phone accounts, racked up $1,700 on both. No. And it went to collections. And I had no idea until I, and so I pulled my credit report to verify all of this, and it was not pretty.

Okay, so not only do the topics get more shocking, but the methods and the products that people use during these Get Ready with me, I mean, they're intriguing. And so people are watching to see, oh, my gosh, do I need that, right? And that's what the consumerism play comes in. They always make you think you don't have enough, you are not enough. If you just had this one product, it would be the game changer for your face. Yeah, or the way you do it.

So like in 2010, so think about your identity being stolen in 2020. Yeah. Two years before that, it's like when the Kardashians, I feel like we're probably at their height, like they were doing real well. But their makeup artist came out and showed how to contour, which was like a way to do makeup.

Oh, shaping your face. Very shaping. Which feels like a scam. I feel like it's a lie. You know what I mean? That you're like, are you really? Is that really you? Like if I gave myself an amazing jawline with makeup.

Yeah. It is crazy what makeup can do, though, for real. Yeah. Oh, it's fascinating. kind of change it up. I saw the Joker. You seen the Joker from Batman? They put some, yeah, that makeup is, you can really change your look with makeup.

Very scary. Very scary. No, but she had a video, the makeup artist go viral because it looked like crazy paint, right? Like all over her face. And then you like blend it all together and it's like, what? It is truly art. I will say that. Yes, for sure.

And people are making like six figures off this stuff, George. I mean, like they're making crazy income doing this. Well, now with a TikTok shop, I'm sure you've seen this. Yes, yes. But TikTok shop is now blown up. I feel like every other video in the feed is a video like that. But then there's like, hey, check out my store and buy it for this price. And listen, I'm going to say this too.

I don't go to like Sephora.com and just like browse a website. It's usually things I find. Like I find somebody doing one of these that I'm like, oh my gosh, that looks like a great bronzer. That looks like a great foundation. And then that's how I buy. That's how I shop these days. Wow. They've lured me in, but it saves me time.

They use, like, their link, their affiliate link to support them. Yeah, I will. It's very kind of you. Yeah, you're so welcome. I feel so blessed. So welcome. Well, like most of the things in the digital space, money has quickly become the center of it, like you're talking about.

So can I give you some stats? Yes. See how they hit you. You ready for this? Yep. Total cost of social media advertising projected to reach $219 billion in 2024. Good night. Does that feel accurate?

Billion. Social media. ads account for nearly 29% of all digital advertising budgets. So companies are going, we're putting a lot of our eggs in the social basket to advertise. Businesses put around 8.7% of their total revenue just towards social media ads. The global cosmetic industry is valued at 277.67 billion in 2020. And now it's projected to grow by, are you ready for this? Or two, 415.29 billion.

by 2020. That's like four years from now. It's going to almost double. That's insane. Yeah. And the category, skincare is currently leading in the global market

with the rise of self-care and grooming in recent years. So again, yeah, this whole idea of, I mean, the cosmetic market is crazy. I mean, it's increasing disposable income, influence of social media, tech advancements, increase awareness around health and sun damage,

increasing in popularity for men's grooming. George, you groom. You're a groomer. I don't know what that means, but, I mean, do I shave? Sure, once in a while. Yeah, but you're... My hair is quaffed.

It's cool. That's the technical term for it. Is that it? I have no idea. So you'd fall right into this. So anyways... I try to, you know, have some self-care routines. Yeah.

I use an SPF moisturizer. There you go. Gentlemen. Follow George's lead. Yeah, I don't want to be like... He's leading you to the right place. You've seen those guys. They look cool, but they also look like a baseball glove when they get older

because they just haven't taken care of it. They've been out in the sun too much. Clearly, I don't get in the... the son enough. I could use a balance. How's your vitamin D, George? I feel like you need to be out. Out and about. But yeah, so anyways, it's just that whole e-commerce world. It has blown out. It's out of control. And thanks for get ready with me. And with these video ads, Rachel, I've seen these on social media. Consumers can see exactly how the products are meant to be used and applied. And so there's sort of a virtual try-on. And then the comments, which feel fake, if I'm going to be

honest, are all like, oh my gosh, I use this and I didn't believe it at first. They always have these testimonial comments underneath for the social proof. That's what it's called the marketing world to make you go, oh, this is not a scam. Real people are using this. Yes. I'm seeing this a lot with like vitamins and different things like for your hair or your skin, yeah, or to make your skin clear or whatever. And there's so many of that.

And then you go to another site and the reviews are like, didn't work, didn't work, didn't work, didn't work, didn't work. And you're like, wait, what? So. Reviews are hard to trust these days. So we have to always have our yellow flags up people, our head on a swivel. As we are watching social media and we're thinking, do I need it? Do I need it? Do I need it?

And sometimes it's yes. Sometimes it's like I really am looking for a new bronzer or whatever, right? I mean, like truthfully, that's how I. So my wife Whitney recently bought a bunch of stuff from Sephora. And she was like, hey, I'm going to buy a bunch of makeup, but I'm probably going to return it. With truthfully, she did. The problem was we went back to Sephora and returned all this makeup. We were in New York City at the time.

Yeah. The lady was not happy to see us. You know, because you go to the normal checkout. And all of a sudden they're like, hi, can I help you? You're like, yeah, I like to make a return. And you, like, dump all the products on. And she's just...

Not happy. It's been used. No, so mad. So it could be awkward. But make sure you check the return policy so that if you do make a bad spending decision, you can undo it. Always.

And yeah, if it's that idea of like, oh, I'm going to take it back. Take it back. Just take it back. It's okay. And I have to do the returns because Whitney has too much, like, Oh, can you just...

You know, there's a little bit of shame. So you go in there and you just put on that armor, George, and you go to war. No shame. You go to battle. Take it all back. I purchase a product. This is your return policy for said product. I would like to return this item.

Don't feel bad. I love it. No shame, ladies. Don't just keep it because you're trying to be like a good person. I think it's great. No morality there. I think it's great. So, George, because people really do buy off social media a lot,

some of these products have just gone crazy. So here's a list of some products that have been very popular, and I think we should guess the price. So we don't know the price of it. Lindsay does. And it's going to be a little game. What happens if we get it right? Is there a prize?

I have a big thumbs up for you. Okay. Not what I was looking for, but I'll take it. I'm sorry. I just really want Rachel to win. She needs this win. Okay. She's very competitive.

She doesn't have a lot going for her. This is all she has. Sure. Okay. Let's go. Okay. I have this. I'm not going to pronounce it correct.

Linesj. Lenege. Thank you. Lanage, lip balm. I'm going to say... Lip balm. I mean, $15? It looks like a lip mask. I'm going to say 28.

What do you think? I said 15 for a lip balm. It is 2499. I jumped the gun. And it's not big. It's like a little... When I picture lip bomb, but it's like a little... Little container.

Okay. Yeah, it lasts a long time, though. I was picturing like a tube of chapstick. Sometimes I think they do make it in more of like a tube. Yeah. As well. All right. Next.

Okay. I'm going to jump to this one. because I see it all the time, I think it's so funny. The medical grade red light therapy mask. Have you seen these? They're like this white mask, but it's red light. People have, I see them on like people, no, over your whole face. Okay.

And I see people on Instagram with them and they're funny. Does that actually work? I bet it works. Okay. I say it works. Therapy mask. I think you could charge $75. Oh, no, it's more than that.

I bet. I'm going to say. No, you would buy it. Like you would then get to keep using it over and over again. Oh, yeah. I'm going to go, I'm going to go $2,000. $99. Wow.

What do you think? I guess 100. It would be my personal max. $144 and up. So it starts off. I'm probably right. You were closer. Yeah.

Okay. Here's an interesting one that I have, and I don't know the cost because Whitney got it for me as a gift. The men's beard trimming hair catcher bib. Now to picture what this is, it's got the little, what's it called? The stickies that go on the mirror? Oh, yeah. What are those called? Suction cups.

So you put the suction cups on the mirror. It's got kind of this like silk thing, and then the other side goes on your neck. So as you trim your beard, it catches all of it. It's like a bib. It's like a child's bib. To a degree. It's not a child's big. Except it's on a mirror.

It's a furrow cape. It catches the beard trimmings. We're just fighting crime. And guys, by the way, don't let your wives clean up your beard trimmings. Okay? Clean it up. Be a man. Yeah.

It's disgusting. That's my PSA. Thank you. Amen. Hallelujah. I don't know if that's a thing, but I always make sure I get that sink. Good for you. Good for you.

Super clean. Okay, I'm guessing the cost on that. It's cheap. It's got to be 20 bucks. Yeah, I would go like 15, 20. 7.99. Wow. Real cheap.

Plus one for the guys out there. So good. Okay, I've seen these, the walking pad. It's just like a miniature little. Oh, my gosh. I bought one of these for Whitney, and I can count on zero fingers how much she used it. To be fair, she got pregnant after, and it was a tough pregnancy. No shade.

For sure. But we then sold it at a loss. Okay. That walking pad... I mean, it's like a mini treadmill is what it is, right? It's a treadmill with no, like, arm support. That's right. Yeah, yeah, it's just the...

And that walking pad, I would go $499. No. I think it's closer to $200. Wow, okay, just kidding. Ding, ding, ding, you're right. $200. $200. Because I bought one.

Because I bought one. Oh, this one. I see this a lot. Countertop Pebble Ice Maker, like the Sonic Ice. This one I'm jealous of Yes We have some friends that have this one Every time I look them up

Because I'm like you know what I'm a grown man I'm gonna get an ice maker And then I look at the price Yeah they're probably what 700 I'm gonna go 500 dollars This is a countertop one Not like a giant one

Sure I'm gonna go $400 Is what I've seen the countertop ones go for Okay I would have said probably six I mean I would have thought more Okay Actually they start off at 179 No way what is steal George go buy you up

We should get one for smart money Happy Hour. Yes, we need a countertop. Pebble Ice Maker. Sounds like a producer problem to me. Well, work on. Ooh, the Dyson Air Wrap kit. Is that for hair?

There's a Dyson blow dryer. Or is this the vacuum? I think this is for hair. No, I think it's all the tools that you can, like, switch out. Like where it'll curl, where it'll dry. It'll do it all. Just because it has Dyson in front of it, I'm going to say $400. I know.

I'm going to... I think they're really expensive. $400's a good number. That's a good guess. I'm going to go 401, Bob. Well, it is a big old $600. Whoa, my goodness. Ding, ding, ding.

That's insane. I know. That's crazy. People swear by him, but I agree. That's because people have to justify why they spent $600 for a low dryer. Hold on. I think it's your hair dryer, curling iron. It's straight.

I think it's everything. It's all the tools in that kit. Yeah, it's everything. I still feel like that's an absurd. A lot, but I think it's a good, I think it's a good product, George. Okay. I think it's a good product. You don't own it, so how good is it?

I don't know, yeah, I don't know. I don't know, but I'm going to see it's good. You're not much of a curler. Because a lot of people, I'll do it quick. I'll do, I have a big barrel. You know what I mean? Just give it some wave? Is that how you get the waves?

Yes. What's your secret? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, you didn't tell the people about your routine. Oh, my what? My hair routine? You get ready with me, like, morning makeup. I go moisturizer.

I go primer. I do a foundation foundation here and then bronzer bronzer like a liquid bronzer drunken elephant and I go around get that do a little bit of powder this is if I'm doing camera

this is like getting ready for a shoot day for this yeah I go bronzer bronzer bronzer bronzer bronzer blush blush eyeshadow eye shadow eyeliner eyeliner mascara mascara

So it was like eight or nine You did it for each eye Eight or nine products right there And then yeah And then hair blow dry I'll sometimes throw a straighter through it's like really humid out, and then I'll do like big curls real quick. And then I have this like cheap hair spray from like Target, $7, it's great.

Real quick. And then accessories, earrings, jewelry. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is exhausting. I can get ready from shower to the ends in 35 minutes. I'm very fast. I can do my makeup in less than five minutes. Oh, Winston's like a solid 10, 8, 10 minutes.

Now his hair's gotten long these days, so he has. a little more primping, Winston. Not so easy, is it? He's got a little grooming to do. Wow. But I can be quick. Yeah. That's impressive.

Ladies, does this resonate? Is this tracking? Is that what it takes? Yeah. Couldn't tell you the order of that. If this was Simon says, I would lose big time. Yeah. Okay, so one thing the internet does need, though, is a financial get ready with me.

I think we got to, like, break down. Yeah, some of you all got your skincare routine, but no financial routine. That's right. That's not okay. Yep. It ends today. Yeah. And I think one of the big steps of your financial routine when you look at it, daily for me is the budget.

Like if someone was like, what's your financial routine? Mine would be, I go to the every dollar app, I track my spending. I look to see, okay, what do we have the rest of the week? What's groceries, out to eat? Like, I'm looking at food a lot to plan out the week of what we have. But like on a day-to-day basis, I'd say every dollar is kind of my financial routine. I like that. Same here, but I'll add that what I'll do is I'll get notifications of bills coming in via

a text or email. Oh, yeah. And so I'll go into every dollar. Let's say it's my electric bill. Well, I don't know exactly what the electric bill is going to be. I have a rough idea. So once that email comes through, I'll go into every dollar and I'll adjust my electric bill to the exact amount. Then that feels so great. So when the transaction comes through a few days later, I can just drag it to electric bill. And there's no red. And it's just perfect zero. Oh, that's. And it warms my heart. Well done, shorts. So that's kind of a little daily financial routine I like to do. And just checking in with Whitney, hey, what's going on today? Do we need to do any shopping.

Yep. You know, is it in the budget? I'll check the bank account. I'll make sure there's no weird transactions. That's one thing you should do. Oh, yes. You know, it doesn't take long, but just go like, yep, that's all us. And if I don't know what it is, I'll go to Whitney and like, hey, did you order this

thing? Oh, yeah, that's me. I feel better about it. Make sure there's no fraud. Yep, totally. Yeah, that's probably our daily. And then monthly, we always like do a new budget every month. Yearly, we sit down with a financial advisor and look over everything.

But yeah, I think our day-to-day financial routine is really not much. I think honestly that app helps us. And I don't know. That's kind of ours. It's not that crazy. Not that crazy. Yeah, it doesn't take long. A lot of people don't do a budget

because they think it's going to be super cumbersome. These are quick check-ins that, you know, I'll do with Whitney. And if you're single, you can do this just solo or if you have an accountability partner. But it doesn't take that long. And I'll just say, hey, Whitney, what's going on this week? Let's look at the calendar.

Let's look at the budget. Hey, we got a date night this week. All right, cool, that's right there. We've got to cover a babysitter. Let's make sure we have that in the budget. It just helps to communicate. big surprises. Yeah. And looking at schedule and life and all of it. Yeah, it's good.

Okay, so George, we've been doing the baby steps for a while now. So that's kind of ours. It honestly just gets easier because it's in the habit and you're to the point that you're not having, you're not juggling, right? All these different things. Yeah, for a decade of living these principles out budgeting. I mean, you guys are in a different place financially. Yeah.

You know, versus a lot of people getting started. Yeah, so yeah, if you're getting started or you're toward the, yeah, the beginning of this process. Your routine looks different. Yeah, it would. I mean, I would say the budgets should be crucial still, I think you'd scrutinize it more and you'd be scrutinizing more purchases to say, okay, is it something I need? Is it something I want? If I didn't spend money here, what would that take me to get to my $1,000 emergency fund? Like that money could be going there

or getting out of debt. Yeah, it's just a more strict planning process because you have these big goals that you're trying to hit that are very, very specific and in a time limit, right? You're wanting to do it as quick as possible. So double checking against your budget and going, hey, I should have $600 of margin to throw up my debt this month. My goal is to make sure that actually happens through my daily spending or lack of spending. Yes. And then making sure that I've covered my four walls, food, utility, shelter transportation, insurance, and then my minimum debt payment.

So making sure you're current in all of your bills, making sure that you're going to get through the month without running out of money. That's something that happens to people, because they didn't realize, oh, a bunch of the bills fall in the first, but I don't get that second paycheck until the 15. And you may have to move some due dates around in order to make sure that those bills are paid. That's right. And you can call companies and do this. They are pretty, for the most part, can be very flexible of like, hey, instead of taking my money out, you know, on the seventh, can you move it to the 27th? You know, and you can kind of move those dates around. Because, yeah, the paycheck planning part is really big too, especially when you're starting out. Yeah. And every dollar is a great tool. If you guys are getting started, you don't have to open up an Excel spreadsheet, just download the every dollar app or do it online at every dollar.com. This makes it super easy. And if you have a spouse, you can give them the same login and you have transparency and communication around it. That's right. Yep.

All right, George. So listen, here's the bottom line. What's the take on us? We have a love-hate relationship with social media and get ready with me. The hate is sometimes you show me things I don't need. And then I sometimes am tempted to buy them. Or, oh my gosh, your life looks so wonderful and calm and peaceful. And mine is an insane place sometimes to live.

So you're like, okay, I can't do the comparison thing. But I do think that it is helpful because I don't have time to go through. through like websites or like you know shop around i don't know i'm not if i see something that's like oh i like that that works great i've been looking for something like that buy it i'm done i'm done it saves me time so there's like the there's a weighted balance there and i think there's a trust from a human to human interaction versus going to a website and hoping that they were honest about what products are the best it's the it's the world today let's be honest it is you know back in my day you'd flip through 17 magazine, take the quiz on who's going to be your next boyfriend.

And which spice girl are you? What spice girl are you? And then you'd see Cover Girl makeup, and that's how you would know about stuff. But today, it's on the apps. That's right. And some of them, you always have to wonder, do they have a vested interest here? You know, are they pushing this makeup because they're paid by the company? Yeah.

Or are they doing it because they truly love it? Do you know what I know? If I follow the same person for a consistent amount of time and I've used enough stuff that they've said that I like. I'm like, okay, I trust them. But what they like, I like. And then some people you're like, eh, you just feel, just feels a little.

Like, you were way too excited about this product that was truly mediocre. Yeah, that's right, that's right. You kind of lose trust pretty quickly with that person. So the trust part. So that's a good one. It's huge. So, I'm on forward, George.

Yeah, be aware of that consumerism, the comparisons. And then have a healthy routine in your life across the board. Financial, health. I think routines are really healthy for humans. For sure. And they keep us grounded. and they keep us safe and keep us living. Amen, George.

I mean, golly, preach, yes. And it can get boring and mundane, and that's why we create social media videos to make us feel alive. But there's consistency in life, which is great. So whether it's like tracking your transactions in the every dollar app that's consistent, your wake time needs to be consistent, I hear it.

Like, yeah, there's things in life that's really good for consistency. And some routines need to be broken, some bad routines. That's right. Like if you're living paycheck to paycheck, break that. break that cycle.

Break that routine. And start a new routine. Yeah. I love it. There you go. I love it. That's my takeaway. All right, George.

It's almost the end of the episode. And we close out every episode with guilty as charged. And this is where our producer, Lindsay, gives us a new guilty church question every week. And if we are guilty, we have to take a sip. Not much left, but we will try to take a last sip. We'll favor it. All right. Is there a skincare routine or product you think is an absolute hoax?

Oh. Oh, folks. Why'd you have to bring conspiracies into it? You know, this just got Rachel way too excited. Okay, I'll tell you one. And it was given to me as a Christmas gift by my sister-in-law. Thank you. She got me the lip thing and this other thing I'm about to tell you about.

And I am curious if it works. Now, I am one, I don't, I have issues in life, but I don't have major, major stuff, not major under-eye circles. But for some women, it is a big thing. So she got me, and they're very expensive because I looked to get them for a gift for somebody else. I was like, holy crap, Allison. Thanks for the nice Christmas gift.

Thanks, Allison. But they were the gold under-eye patches. And I've done them, and I still do them because it just makes me mentally feel like I'm doing something. But do they work? It depends. Okay. So the hoax, I don't know, for me are under-eye patches.

I don't know. But everyone uses them. Like even when you see celebrities getting their makeup done, they all have them on. But I'm going to go question there. That's my number one. When you said that, that's the very first thing that was in my head. I don't know if under-eye patches really work.

So that's mine. How about you, George? That's an interesting one. I'll do one in the, and I guess it's the women's world. They have them for men, too. I've got one that I don't know that it does anything. And it's the under-eye cream. Oh, yeah.

And as I researched this, it turns out the cream is really just hydrating. And so it temporarily makes your skin look better there. But I don't know that it's actually like reducing dark circles long-term. Do you, wow. Are we? connected on the dark circles? I think we're on team. Are you a dark...

Under eye products? Are you a dark circle eye creamer? I have terrible sleep hygiene. You do have really bad sleep. I've heard this. Thank you. And so my glasses help sort of like temper my eyes, but they're real sleepy, just, you know. So the under eye cream you're trying.

I'll give you my gold patches and see if they work. You always have to do this, like, take a pinky. Like, why do we have to just barely dab with a pinky? Oh, that George is dabbing. Very sensitive. You've seen that, that routine? Oh, yeah. You know who taught me that was Chris Jenner.

When they cry, she's like, don't just like rub your tears. You just pack your tears. Wow. That's true wealth right there. So, yeah. That's when you know you're doing real well. I'm kind of in the guys' products, I think we're less susceptible to some of that. I would say that's probably true.

But I have like a beard moisturizer. I don't know that it does anything, but it makes me feel good and makes your beard smell a little better. And it's less itchy. Yeah. I don't know that it's really life-changing. Sure. You know, no one's going up to. smelling my beard.

I know. At least I hope. Please never do that to me. Whitney might. No. Okay. Well, that was a good one. I think there are some hoaxies out there.

Lindsay, anything for you? I feel like you've used a lot of skin care products on your day. Have I? Well, you're just very hip to the trends. Okay. I think chapsic is the hooks. I don't think chapsic works. Do you think it makes it worse?

That's just my personal opinion. And I have a hate-love relationship. And I use it all the time hoping that it's still. works and I still don't think it works. The one thing always in my pocket is chapstick. And I do think it makes your lips more chapped. Oh, I haven't used aquifor. I think aquifor is the best.

I do. Oh. I don't like ones that make your lips look glossy. I can't do that as a guy. Oh, aquifer. Yeah, that's true. It's very. Yeah.

Yeah. And I do think people spend a lot of product on like trying to get like wrinkles out. And you know what just works? Botox. Wow. But it's expensive. You just smooth it out. Just clip that out.

But you're going to do it twice a year, twice a year. Any favorite. skincare brands that you want to shout out, Rachel, not sponsored, but any that you're just like, cross the board, I think they have great products. Okay, I did get my foundation from Instagram. I-L and then a space, and it's M-A-K, something, something, something. You lost us on the second.

You had us in the first half. Would you say it again, sorry. I think it's I-L. Il-MAC? Oh, Il-Maj. That's it. Yeah, and it's great. It's called, Woke Up Like This Foundation.

Yes. Fabulous. There's a lot of. videos where they convince you that that's going to be awesome and you love it oh i do yeah yeah yeah that's one that i love uh give me give me some nars i love nars um i love mac for like eyeshattos and stuff so yeah there's some products for you george okay i'm a very big consumer i'm not like the i don't find the niches i see what the masses are doing i think you'll support this what about the serravea solid brand for the price i think for the budget it's hard to beat fantastic uh fantastic set of fills another one

Yeah. Fan of that. And then Keels is my third. Keels. Yep. K-I-E-H-L-S. Okay. That's awesome.

Any Keels fans out there? Sav, look at her. Make a great hand sav. Great face wash. Winston would love it. Okay. She'd get them some. It's good to know.

It's a great men's line. I do like Sarah Vair. So it's closing time. So George, who finished the drink? We equally finished our drink. It was really... That's pretty rare. Good.

It was really good. Nailed it on this maple bourbon sour. Yeah, tell us what's in it because it's not complicated. You like to know. Not complicated. This has maple. It has bourbon and it has sour.

And the sour is lemon juice in this case. So maple syrup, bourbon and lemon juice. Very simple. You can find the recipe in the show notes. It comes out to $3.25 cents a glass. And for such a simple drink, I think it was lovely. A great summer drink. Give it a try this weekend.

Let us know what you think. Add a little marasino cherry, Luxardo cherry, if you want to feel fancy. And put it on a little sword if you want to be able to stab people with it. for some of it. Did you, do you like to eat the cherry? Yes, shall we? Let's do that. Cheers. I'm scared to...

That could have been deadly. Well, hey, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave us a review and check out our episode All About Habits, very similar to Routines. So we'll link it below for you and make sure you watch that one next. Yeah, and share this show with your friends and your family. We've met so many people recently out and about, and they've left so many happy hours. So spread the word for us because we'll see you guys next Thursday on an all new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour