The Rachel Cruze Show - 2 Things That May Be Costing You Thousands (and How to Save)

Episode Date: November 14, 2022

This is a fun one, you guys! We’ll talk about the priciest places to live in the world, and then my friend George Kamel will join me to talk about our bougie pets (and how to save on pet care).   In this episode: ·      Most Expensive Places to Live in the World ·      How Much Having a Pet Is Actually Costing You with George Kamel   Helpful Resources: Christian Healthcare Ministries Financial Peace University EveryDollar                                                 Sponsors pay the producer of this show, The Lampo Group, LLC, advertising fees for mentioning their services or products during programming. Advertising fees are not based upon or otherwise tied to any product sale or business transacted between any consumer or sponsor. The following sponsors have paid for the programming you are viewing: Christian Healthcare Ministries.   Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How much would you say that you spend on your dogs? Can you want me to share? Okay. We can edit this out if it's too much for y'all to handle. But on average, I think we'd probably spend. Wait, are you serious? George likes dogs way better than you. It's unbelievable.

Hey guys, welcome to this episode of the Rachel Crew Show podcast. I am so glad that you're here. So in this episode, we're going to talk about two topics that really eat up your budget. Where you live and your pets. You'll hear a conversation I had with Ramsey personality and my friend George Camel on the true costs of being a pet owner. We both open up about this particular line item in our budget and how to save more money when it comes to your pets. But first, let's talk about another really expensive topic, where you live. Let's talk about the most expensive places to live and what you need to consider before moving to a new place.

Take a listen. I always find this stuff so fascinating because you see things on movies or you hear about places, you see places on Instagram and you think, oh my gosh, what if? What if we sold everything and we moved somewhere for six months?

Like, oh my gosh, I always dream about that. It never will happen. But just what if? And then where's like the busiest place to live? Where's the cheapest place to live? I don't know. So we're going to talk about the top nine most expensive cities in the world.

Are you ready? Starting with number nine. Beijing, China. So this city has one of the highest costs of living in the country of China. Prices are so high, mostly because of the huge population of the city, which is 21.54 million people. Coming in at number 8, Tokyo, Japan. Japan in general is known for its high cost of living, but this city is specifically very, very expensive. So rent, car ownership, and transportation are the main things that people people spend a lot of money on.

And there, yes, to live. And then, everything else, food. All of it is just pricey. Number seven, Singapore, Singapore. Yes, crazy. Rich Asians, anyone? I love that movie. Okay, because it is so small

and there's like billionaires that live on this island, the land is scarce and in high demand for property. And so because of that, real estate is a very, very expensive. Now, the city specifically also has very few natural resources, so they rely on a lot of importing.

Number six, the place I thought I would always live in my life. It may happen. Who knows? Probably not. New York, New York. Oh, is it a New York City just great. It's just, every time I go, I'm like, this is it. This is where I'm supposed to be.

But it's number six on the most expensive cities in the world, so probably won't happen. and in fact, rent prices hit a record in 2022 coming in at about the average rents of $5,000 a month. Which honestly kind of shocked me because I thought it was one place I feel like people vacated during COVID and all that. So I was like, well, maybe this is like the time to get in. Nope, apparently not. Still very, very expensive. All right, number five, the fifth most expensive city in the world.

I don't know why I was shocked by this. I don't know why, but here it is. Tel Aviv, Israel. I've been to Tel Aviv. Love Israel. So good. Such a great country and a very booming city and a very expensive city, apparently. So this is the largest city in Israel, but it still has a very expensive real estate because it has such a vibrant nightlife and tourist scene. Number four, burn Switzerland. So this is the capital city of Switzerland. Switzerland, and it is expensive for people to live there and for people to travel there. So here's what's interesting. A week-long trip for a family of four would cost that family on average $6,000. Pricy, pricey. Number three, Basel, Switzerland. This is Switzerland's oldest

university city and is close to the borders of France and Germany. And it also hosts the world's largest art fair every year. I'm not an art gal, but sounds very fun. Maybe I'll go. Number two, Geneva, Switzerland. Hey, Princess Diaries. That's right, Geneva. This city is famous for luxury stores, fancy cafes, and the world's tallest water fountain. Who knew? And last but not least the most expensive city in the world, Hong Kong, China. This city is so expensive because there is a competitive demand for housing, and it is a huge tourist destination with tons of nightlife and attractions. So we got that top nine list from a Forbes article, and again, it's just fascinating. I love knowing what's going on in the world, and it's a place I wouldn't have

thought if Rachel made her top nine list, some of those cities probably wouldn't make it. I wouldn't, I wouldn't known. So who knew? Okay, just for fun, here are the top 10 most expensive states in the U.S. Are you ready? New York, Hawaii, Massachusetts, California, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Alaska. Yep. Okay, there are a lot of different factors that make a place expensive to live in. If you've already noticed some of the patterns already, housing costs rise when there is a demand to live in that area. So the more people that want to live in that city or that area, obviously that means there is a lot of demand. So prices will go up because supply is going down. There's not enough housing to house everyone that wants to live there.

Now, urban areas have a higher cost of living because, again, there's more people and more demand for housing and resources. So how far the place is from natural resources like oil, natural gas, they actually have lower energy costs, but the further away you are from farms and food production, that raises the cost of living as well. Obviously, taxes, whether it's state or local, has a lot to do with expenses, and also the schools, the jobs that are available, the stores there, activities, attractions, history, and the newness of the homes in that area can also affect the cost of living in a given location. And of course, last but not least, you got to throw inflation in there. Yep, it has made the cost

of living higher just about everywhere, but obviously some areas are feeling it a lot more than others. So all of those factors you need to consider if you're thinking about moving somewhere. So if you thought Hong Kong is the place to be, just know it's the most expensive city in the world. It's just good to know, right? So whether you're just moving states, you're moving cities in the U.S. or beyond, consider what is going on in that area and how much the cost of living is. And even if you want to get into real estate, maybe you're like, okay, it's just good to know the cost of living as well. But it's really important because I think sometimes we can have like these dreams of like,

I just want to live in New York. I just want to live in New York. I want to live in L.A. I want to live in Miami, right? these like really expensive places to live. The real estate is very expensive, but sometimes the math doesn't always correlate with it. So just because something seems really cool

or you feel like you just want to live there, getting there and actually living and knowing how high the cost of living is compared to what you're making, it may not be worth it. That's why we saw a lot of people move out of these expensive states to places that are less expensive because, again, it's like, oh, a breath of fresh air when you actually have margin.

So where you live and obviously how much income you make plays a lot into your standard of living and the stress when it comes to your expenses. I have my friend, fellow Ramsi personality, George Campbell, back on the show. Thanks for having me back. George, we're together a lot these days. We are. I mean, Smart Money Happy Hour, Ramsey show, Rachel Cruz show. The party never stops.

The party never stops. So today specifically, though, we're going to be talking about something that is near and dear to our hearts, probably more near and dear to Georgia's heart than mine, but we can get there. That is about pets. Pets. So we're going to go over how much pets are actually costing you and us

because we both have pets. And then we'll talk about some ways to actually save money on pet costs. So they're expensive, those little free friends. And Americans especially, we spend so much on pets. American spent about $109 billion dollars on their pets in 2021. There you go, y'all. It's a big number.

And one year. One year. And one year on pets on everything. We love our animals. We really do. Yep. And the average pet owner spends about $126 a month on their pets. So that adds up to about $1,500 a year.

It's pretty wild. And pets, they actually cost money when you purchase them. Now, unless you adopted, awesome, low fees there. But if you average purchase price, about $282,000. And for some, that's on the low side. Yeah. I was good. I know.

I wish. I wish I spent that much. Yeah, that feels like reasonable. $2.80? Yeah. That's like a reasonable. And obviously, cats are less expensive because they're less wanted. They're cats.

That's fine. I know a lot of cat people watching. Are you, have you had any cats in your life? No. Never owned a cat. Me neither, George. Never owned. I knew.

I knew we were good friends. I had nothing against cats. I don't have a lot for cats. So per month, the cat, if you own a cat, it costs about $92. while a dog costs about close to 140 a month. And 45% of American pet owners spend about the same amount on their pets' health care per year. Then they're owned.

Oh, my goodness. Now, that's a tricky one. I believe that. Winston and I have a dollar amount, which I will not share with you all publicly, because I feel like y'all would get mad at me. Yeah, that's true. Of, like, how much would you spend on your dog?

Oh, like, this is a limit. Before it's like, Dave has said, he's like, hey, listen, I love Fido, but if it's, you know, 10 grand to get Fido surgery, Fido's gone. Wow, really? He said that. I'm pretty sure he said that.

That's actually a lot of money, $10,000. Yeah, and some of the surgeries these days can cost that. I know. It's pretty nuts. It's funny because they spent money replacing their golden retrievers to hips. Oh. And I feel it costs, maybe not quite that, but close to it. It's a lot.

Dave's a softie on the inside. But Fido's out of here. a certain amount. All right, and one of the main categories that people spend money on when it comes to their pets, of course, is food. And again, that's about 55% of people spending money on their pet is when it comes to food. Yep, and then you've got health care, vet costs, toys, accessories that all fill in the rest. Hey, what kind of accessories do you have and tell everyone your, what kind of dogs should have? Okay, so we have two French bulldogs, olive and blue, about two years old and one-year-old,

very sweet, very expensive. Where'd you get them? One we got in Paris, Texas, from a braider. I thought you were about to say Paris. Not Paris, France. We're not that. A French Bulldog, that would have been perfect. I know.

Mind blown. I've never thought about that. The other one we got in Kentucky near Louisville. So there's some southern gals. Yeah. Both girls? Boy and a girl. All of us a girl, blue is a boy.

So we've got a nice mix. B-L-U-E? Yes. Okay. We got them to like socialize with each other so that we didn't have to constantly play. So much work. So much work.

And you, Rachel, this is more recent for you. Yes. So we got a new puppy. We had to put our lab Nala down. She was 12 years old. I know it's terrible, y'all. Man, when you have a dog, and again, Winston's more of, like, the dog lover.

Like, between us two, it's like Winston's more. You could live without a dog. You'd be okay. I could, yeah, for like at least a long period of time. I think I eventually would want one again. But I'm like not in a rush. But even, I'll have to say, though, it was terrible. We had been all down.

It was terrible. But we just got, yes, a new dog. She's probably six. months old now. I'm going to say the full name so I can be bougie. Are you ready? A English working cocker spaniel. So it's not the one with like the American. That's kind of the puck face. Not one of those unemployed dogs. This is a working dog. Okay, provides for the family. It does. It's a hunting. It's a flusher. A what now? It's a flusher dog. What are they flushing? Go, George. That's a hunting term. Okay. And her name? Juniper. Juniper. Boe

called her June. Love that. And she's beautiful. She kind of looks like a mini golden retriever, honestly. Yeah, beautiful color. She is. Kind of like a copper-ish. Yeah, really red. Yeah, red is actually the phrase. Dogs are good.

Like, considering dogs don't shower, they're just like good-looking comparatively to people. You know what I mean? The average dog, more attractive than the average human. That's all I'm going to say. Wait, are you serious?

That's a hot take. George likes dogs way better than he. I love dogs. Unbelievable. Okay, so how much would you say that you spend on your dogs? Every month, George. Each month.

Okay, I did the math because, you know, you got to add it up. I went to my every dollar budget. And I appreciate this. We're going to be honest. Can we be honest with you all? Because everyone's like, be real, be authentic, be yourselves. And then sometimes when we are, people don't like it.

They're angry. And let's say this. We've been following the Ramsey plan for a long time. Yes. And so we're not broke. We have money to spend on things that we want to spend money on. And dogs are one of those. Fair?

And yes, you and Whitney, dinks, dual income, no kids. So they just got some money coming in. And it's like, what's you're going to do with it? What are you going to do? Spend it all in our dogs. Olive and blue. I averaged it out. Food, about $62 a month. They need special vet diet food because Frenchies have a lot of allergies.

Are they many? Are they like... They're small. They're like 20 pounds a piece. So, little small chunks. Really cute. So food's $62. Treats and toys. I'm going to say $13 a month. We don't really do a lot for treats and toys. Nail trim. We do that occasionally. We try to do it ourselves. We bought the little grooming tour.

Yeah. When we went to SNIP, all of yelled like a human. being, and it ricocheted across the house, and I said never again. Never again. I would pay thousands of dollars to get my dog's nails trimmed after that experience. It was traumatic for everyone. So, nail trimming. George, when you become a dad, not a dog dad, like a human dad, you're not going to be able to like, when your kids cry, you're going to be like, oh, I have to go get them. But like a blood-curdling scream, it's just from a dog, it's so innocent. Okay, so there's that, then there's, you know, vet appointments. We have sinking funds for that.

And then dog sitting is the biggest expense, daycare and dog sitting. Do they go every day? No, no. Monday, Fridays usually, and then someone comes, like, at lunch and we'll walk them other days. And then we're with them on the weekends. I appreciate that. But that adds up. It does. Are you going to, are we going to share? Yeah, I'm going to pull mine up now. This is brutal. We can edit this out if it's too much for y'all to handle. But on average, I think we'd probably spend close to 700 bucks a month between all that. Now, without dogs, sitting it would be like dirt cheap but the dog sitting is the brunt of that yeah okay are you dual income no kids dual income no kids George there's no judgment on my hands some people back here

might be judging but me judgment free zone George thank you live like no one else so later you can live and give to your dogs and be a dog like no one else okay let's fine I'm all my ever know this is such a drum roll moment I know okay Juniper I'm so curious wow I'm gonna be honest real quick okay I have if this is Correct, George. I'm going back. I'm going back. We spend $12 a month on June. Look at this. We budgeted $100. How much should we spend? Zero dollars. Zero in August. I don't know what that means. What are you trying to get a gold star on your own show? Okay, then we went on, in September, we went out of town. So here's what we spent.

This dog is just. So we spent that. Okay. For her to go somewhere. Yeah. $280. That's not bad. When we were out of town to go somewhere. There you go. What else? Juniper. Oh, here's another one. Here's some food. $32 and $18. Oh, that's decent. Oh, that's decent. So we spent $51. You guys are doing really well. I mean, it feels a little bit better than the 700, but again, this is a judgment-free zone, George. That's true. Judgment-free zone. Hey, I'm proud of you. It adds up.

Confession and accepting. If one of us stayed home and we could just hang out with the dog and some people are like, just leave the dogs for nine-hour, I can't do that emotionally. I'm sorry. They're tiny. They have tiny bladders. and they need to get their energy out. So that's part of it. No shame. If you got the money, that's right.

Do what you want to do. So we budget for this in every dollar, for dog sitting, and food, and vet bills and all this stuff. All of it, all of it, all of it. Okay, so that's a little bit of the breakdown of what we feel, but medical is always a big deal.

We talked about that earlier. Yes. Pet insurance. Is it worth it? This is a hard one for me. It is. I can go back and forth. I'll be honest.

I will speak from experience. Now, the Ramsey stance, let me put that out there. Sure. Is that pet insurance isn't worth it. you should just have a sinking fund for your pet, which is great advice. When we got our French Bulldogs, we were so scared because we've heard stories. It's like buying a used range rover.

It's like buying a used luxury car, and you know it doesn't get good fuel economy. It's going to be in the shop and be very expensive. So we were scared. And so we got like a wellness insurance plan for the first year just in case. Oh, that's good. A little buffer. Yes. And so I will say now that I've done the math, the insurance plan is not worth it.

And so we're dropping. Wow, that's a testimony. It's a testimony to the fact. because there's like a $1,000 deductible, and there's a $5,000 limit, and there's waiting periods. Like, there's all these caveats. Yeah. And they only reimburse a certain percentage. So overall, most insurance plans aren't worth it, and you're better off just putting money

into a sinking fund and using that to take care of it. When something happens, that's so good. Which is why I say, like, if you're in baby step one through three, you're in debt, you don't have your emergency fund, it's not a great time to be a pet owner. I would honestly wait until you're in a better spot financially because animals deserve better. You know, like you want to be able to take. care of them financially. It's not fair to the animal. So that's my big caveat with all that. That's good, George. I appreciate the pet insurance. That's like a real life testimony.

Yes. And if you do have it, make sure you submit every single receipt and you stay on top of it. Because we did good on the wellness plan. We made sure to take advantage of it to where we were, we broke even. It's good, good, good, good. But it's hard to do it. But overall, not worth it. No. All right. So what are some of your tips, though, George, on pet care in general? This is a big one. So number one, if you're willing and able to do the grooming yourself, that is a huge, that's one of the biggest expenses, aside from food. It's hard to, like, skimp on. We do like auto delivery to, you can save 5 or 10% on some of these auto delivery if you

do it once a month, so we do that. But other than that, grooming is the biggest expense. And then if you have a neighbor that is from the kindness of their heart willing to go let them out, that helps too, instead of having to pay someone. Totally. Yeah, the grooming thing, we've never paid really for a groomer. Like we just, we've always washed. Yeah.

Water hose, shampoo, spray them off. I didn't, but now there's like vans that like travel. Oh, the mobile grooming vans. Yeah. I will say if I had to cut our dog's hair, because we don't do. Oh, like the haircuts. That would be a tough. Yeah.

A tough expense. We got short hair dogs, so you don't have to deal with that as much. That's true. That's true. So another great tip for saving money is to stop buying all of these toys and treats. They are dogs. They're happy to chew on cardboard. And so what we found out was our dogs love vegetables.

And so we'll just let you know, cut up some pepper. and just feed them a little pieces of pepper. Obviously, Google everything, make sure that there's no allergies that dogs can't have these foods. But it's a really cheap way instead of buying super expensive treats. Yeah.

And they love it. And it's healthy. So in moderation. But there you go. So you don't have to go buy all these toys and treats. It's like kids. They have enough toys. That's not the answer.

That's true. So another saving tip, before you have a dog or before you have an animal, a pet, look at a shelter. Because a lot of those places, yeah, there might be some very small fees, but for the most part, I mean, adopt, adopt a dog.

Oh, yeah. You don't have to go buy one from a breeder. So definitely that's a great option. But if you do have a specific breed in mind, that's what you want. Then when you look at breeders, make sure you look at the gamut because it can be, man, so expensive to really cheap.

So do your research because you can really save some money even by the breeder that you pick. And don't fall for scams. There's so many scams out there with breeders. So do your due diligence. Do not just send people money, willy-nill. without ever seeing dogs. That's a great point.

This is huge. And when it comes to boarding, this is a big one. Obviously, boarding costs can be astronomical. You're talking $50 to $100 per day to stay. And Rover has been a great app that we've used in the past to find people to come watch them, to come visit, let them out.

That can be way more affordable than that. And then once you connect, you can connect offline and have a long-term relationship with that person and get even more discounted pricing. Yeah, that's a great point. And I even love using kids in the neighborhood. Yes. That's my go-to.

Yes, I know. Hosting your neighborhood. Facebook group. And they love it. The kids love it, especially if they don't have a dog. And they're like, they come play with your dog. So sweet. And you pay them like, yeah, I don't know. Five bucks, ten bucks a leto. What do you pay? I was about to say like 30, 40 dollars. Well, if they're like there for hours. A day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was saying for a quick leo. And to an 11 year old kid, that's a lot of money. So. And it's easy money. It's helpful. Okay, so you keep talking about sinking funds. So explain specifically what that is.

Yeah. So of course, with any expense, we want you to budget for it every single month. have a line item. And so with a sinking fund, all that means is you're putting money every single month to cover a larger expense down the road. So if you have a $400 expense, that's four months from now, you need to save $100 per month.

So the same goes with dogs. Instead of having an expensive insurance plan, put that $50 into a sinking fund in your budget, so it sits in your bank account, and that $50 adds up every single month. You know, when you have an emergency or an expense, a vet visit, you have that money ready to go, and you're not freaking out.

You're not having a dip into the emergency fund because you weren't aware it was going to happen. So this is a great way to budget for your pets and actually track this stuff. Pets can get out of control and you want to go get the Halloween costume and you start getting crazy. But remember, it's an animal.

It doesn't know the difference. That's right. Okay, last but not least, coupons, you guys, and buy one, get one free sales, happen a lot for dog food, pet food. So make sure you stay on the lookout for that because that's another great way to, yeah,

save some money. So, George, how do you feel? I feel like I got a lot off my chest. You're a little nervous, though? I guess, but you know what? The people are going to judge, right? That's the internet for you. But the real pet owners, they get it.

They're like, this guy takes care of his animals. That is true. Let me ask you, does your dog sleep in the bed with you? No. Okay. Nala did before kids. But no, June crate for probably the first year. Wow.

Yeah, that's a Winston thing. You ought to be, the training is hardcore. Winston is militant. But then she has her bed our room, so eventually, hopefully she'll be able to go and sleep. How are you? You got two next to you? Yeah, they're very spoiled. And did they shed?

Uh, not a ton. Okay. And they're light hair, so. Whitney and I both very little people, but we upgraded to king's eyes for the dogs because they were taking up so much room. Do they sleep on the, on the edge? Like at the foot of the bed?

They'll switch around. They'll usually edge next to us. Edge or in between us. In between us. Yeah, I know. Listen, I know, I know we should go. Dr. John Deloney's always like, You guys need to go to therapy. This is a lot. This is a lot.

But it's a good time. We love our pets, don't we? We love our dogs. And leave the judgment at the door. Okay. Well, this has been fun. George, thanks for being here. Where can everyone find you?

Well, of course, on the Smart Money Happy Hour with Miss Rachel Cruz, as well as at George Camel on Instagram is another great place to connect. I love it. Oh, George, he's such a funny one. And, you know, we love our dogs. What can you say?

All right, George, thanks so much for being on the show. And thank you guys so much. for listening. If you have not subscribed to this podcast, make sure to hit the follow button. And if the spirit leads, you can leave a review. And as always, make sure to take control of your money and create a life you love.