The Rachel Cruze Show - 3 Big Ways to Save Money This Winter with Dr. Axe

Episode Date: November 1, 2021

You've come to the right place! We’ll talk about major ways to save on seasonal expenses— like holiday travel, staying healthy during cold and flu season, and even skin care—without upsetting your dermatologist. In this episode, you’ll learn: 17 ways to save money on a road trip How to boost your immune system on a budget (with Dr. Axe) Why you’re spending too much on skin care Zander Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know, there's a study out, and this is really mind-blowing, 80% of doctor visits are related to stress. If somebody's watching too much of the news or they have a stressful situation in their family or at work, you know, that actually raises stress hormones like cortisol, which then weakens the immune system. Hey, everyone, welcome to another episode of the Rachel Cruz Show podcast. I'm so glad that you're here. In this episode, I'm going to be interviewing Dr. Axe on affordable and free ways to boost. your immune system this winter. It's a really interesting conversation. And then we're going to talk about skincare and ways to save on it. I know a lot of my girlfriends overspent on skincare, including myself since the pandemic. But first, let's talk about road trip hacks. The holidays are quickly approaching and it can be so easy to waste money. So here are some ways to save money and time while

traveling. Take a listen. The holiday season is upon us and road trips are about to happen. All right, you can save a ton of money by just driving. Skipping the airplanes, skip in the airports, get in the car, and driving. So a family of four can fly from Nashville to New Orleans for $500. Or the same family could drive from Nashville to New Orleans in about $130 worth of gas. So road tripping is super budget friendly, and it's really the cheapest way to get to your destination. So let's talk through some road trip hacks to save you more and more money. All right, number one, the way you drive impacts your gas bill. Mm-hmm.

You know, pedal to the metal, lead foot, all those things. You actually waste so much gas driving that way. So instead, just follow the speed limit. Use cruise control to keep you consistent. Don't slam on your brakes or on your gas and like all this, because that just wastes gas. We need to use cruise control a little bit more, a little bit more. Save that money.

All right, number two, fully inflated tires get the best mileage. This is so interesting because you can inflate your tires for free at most car washes or gas stations. Even if you don't know how to do this, I bet one of your friends does. Just do this because it can, it saves you on mileage. It's really interesting. Number three, get your car checked before you hit the road. Now, some places will do this for free. So ask your mechanic, but have them just go over

just kind of the basics, because what can happen is one of the basics can be kind of off. And if you're on the road trip and it gets worse and worse and worse and breaks, then it's going to cost more money to have to go back and fix everything. So instead, you could just do a little bit of adjustments here or there to avoid breakdowns later. Number four, prep travel food ahead of time. So prepare your food. And so this is going to save you money because you will not be stopping at restaurants. So on the go options for snacks, usually for kids. I mean, it's crackers, cheese sticks, fruit, veggies, popcorn, granola bars, like have food from home because that is going to save you money versus just saying every two to three hours, we're hungry, we're hungry, I'm hungry.

you got some healthy snacks in the car can keep you going stronger. Number five, bring your coffee from home. All these sells a 12-ounce bag of coffee for $5.99, and it brews 36 cups of coffee from that one bag. Versus, if you went to Starbucks for that 36 cups, you would pay about $86. Yeah. So, coffee, make it at home first if you can. It's going to save you a lot. of money on that road trip. Number six, speaking of food, eat up everything that's in your

refrigerator that will go bad while you're gone. So don't let your groceries just spoil in the refrigerator. Use that food on the road trip. And if you struggle in this area, you can check out my brand new meal planner and grocery savings guide. It's going to help you buy only what you need and use what is left in the refrigerator. You can text meal plan to 337-8-9. Number seven, avoid holiday weekends and travel in the off-season. So if you couldn't do this, you guys,

this is going to save so much money. Because if you look, especially for places to stay, like hotels, Airbnbs, they're always more expensive during the holidays. In fact, some hotel prices can increase up to $500 a night during holidays. So watch when you're actually taking the road trip and see if you can avoid those holidays. Number eight, if you enjoy the outdoors,

you can find campsites to stay in for free. So some national forest campgrounds, they don't cost a thing, just bring your tent, you enjoy, have a family vacation, road trip to a great national forest, and there you go. It's a great, great trip. Number nine, make sure you notify your bank that you're traveling ahead of time. Make sure you let them know because their fraud at detection systems can be alerted, and then you're going to be locked out of your money, which is not great. So this is a very easy thing to do. You can go online. Just search the name of your bank and travel notification.

You can usually do it right there on your website. And since you're focusing on some money priorities, I also want you to knock out another priority, which is term life insurance. So just like notifying your bank that you're traveling, it will take a ton of worry and stress and lower all of that. Having term life insurance will give you that same piece of mind. So getting a quote is so easy with Xander insurance. Just plug in your information online, and Zander will shop around for you and find the best rates.

They make it really easy, convenient and affordable to protect your loved ones. So just go to zander.com to get your free quote. Number 10, bring cash on your road trip. So this tip, it can save you time and money because with cash, you always spend less. And number two, if you need cash, you're not looking for an ATM for. from some random bank, because when you use random ATMs, they really check up the fees. So you end up paying more to get your money out. So bring cash ahead of time.

Number 11, keep the kids entertains. This is a tough one. But there's some ways to do this, you guys, word searches, kid podcasts and audiobooks. You can even bring a baking tray with magnets and they can play on it. I mean, there's a lot of free things you can do. But if you love the screens, those cruises, we're kind of one of these, especially on trips. you let them watch movies. If you have iPads, make sure you bring the headphones, chargers, all that stuff to keep those kids entertained. Number 12, sleep is important.

So get as much rest as possible. This is free. But when you are well rested, it avoids having to stop for, you know, if you're having to get more caffeine in you. It just creates a better, safer driver, which always is going to save you more money in life. Let's be honest. Number 13, you ready for this one. Bring a travel potty. That's right. As cruises, this is what we do, especially when our kids were potty training.

But if we're going on a road trip, we will do this so we don't have to stop. I would rather let my kids pee in this little plastic toilet dispose of it on the side of the road while stopped. We've made that mistake once or twice. Versus stopping, unloading everyone, going into some sketchy gas station or something. I'm like, no, no, no.

We're going to keep this all clean, people. and it keeps things efficient. That's what we like. Number 14, use road trip apps. So you have gas buddy, shows you the cheapest gas, the I-exit app. This is a great one. It shows you rest stops and restaurants and the road trippers app. This is great because it helps you plan attractions if you want to visit for free, different places. It has everything listed on it. It's pretty awesome. Number 15, be intentional with your attitude. Your mindset. make or break a road trip. This isn't really a money tip. I think it's an important one. You know, make sure you're excited and you're happy. Your attitude does a lot. It does a lot for the

family. Number 16, don't take a vacation if you're in debt. So if you have debt, you guys, we are all about paying it off as quickly as possible. And the more you sacrifice your lifestyle, which includes vacations, instead of paying for a vacation, you're taking that cash and you're throwing it at your debt, it is so key. So baby step one is that. that $1,000 emergency fund. Maybe step two is the debt snowball, paying off all of your debts, smallest to largest. And all of this, it gives you this focus intensity. All of your extra money goes to this, not vacation.

So if you got debts, pause the vacation until you are debt free. Number 17, the most important road trip hack is to plan ahead. Plan ahead. Plan ahead for your money. You don't have a budget. think about food, gas, parking fees, lodging, sightseeing, paying for a pet sitter if you had a pet, car maintenance if you need it. I mean, budget for all of this so that you have a plan, because you will realize quickly that a budget, it doesn't limit your freedom, but actually gives you

freedom. It gives you freedom to say, hey, we can afford this. We have peace of mind. We're doing this on a plan with some guardrails, but we can enjoy it more because we know that we're not going to go home and regret decisions we were making because we spent money we shouldn't have spent. You have planned ahead of time, and that is a beautiful, beautiful thing. All right, you guys, I hope this helps, but you know, I love hearing how you guys save money on a road trip. So I love all your money-saving ideas. So on this one specifically, again, because the holidays are coming up, people are getting

in their car, traveling, seeing family, I want to know some of your road trip packs. So let me know because all of this, you guys, saving money. in general. It's a powerful thing, and it's in these little times in life, these little decisions that can make a big difference. Okay, you guys, staying healthy. It is a topic everyone is talking about, obviously because of the time of year we're in, obviously because we're in a pandemic, all the things. So building your immune system is so important, and there's a way to do it in an affordable way. So I decided to have Dr. Axe back on. He's a popular doctor of nothing.

medicine, creator of Dr.ax.com, and host of the podcast, The Doctor Axe Show. So Dr. Haxe, welcome back. Hey, Rachel. Great to be here. Thanks for having me again. Yeah, absolutely. I'm so glad. So this is a topic, obviously, your health. Have you been busier than ever? I felt like the last two years. I really have. And I'm getting more questions than other, whether it be on social media channels or my mom texting me. But, you know, there's, you know, lots of questions about the immune system right now. For sure. Absolutely. Okay. So what are some ways, some just basic ways we can boost the immune system just in a simple way. Well, I think the first thing to remember, and by the way, I love your question, is there

are things we can do, right? I think sometimes people feel powerless, like, oh, there's really nothing I can do to strengthen my immune system. There's actually a lot you can do, number one, using food as medicine. You know, there are foods rich in certain nutrients like vitamin C and zinc and vitamin D that support our immune systems. And then keeping stress low, better sleep is important, light exercise, all of these. things help. But I really think food is the biggest way we can really naturally support and boost

our immune systems right now. Okay, so that's a great point. Okay, so off the top of your head, what are a couple of foods that you're like, this is, here are four things I would absolutely add to my diet if someone has it yet. Yeah, so I would say, and by the way, what I'm sharing, a lot of this is ancient forms of medicine. So according to ancient medicine, both biblical medicine and ancient Chinese medicine, what they found is foods that are a certain color strengthen the immune system. Foods that are light yellow tend to be the most immune strengthening are foods that are white. So think about chicken broth. Any time that, now, I bet your parents, you know, when you were sick as a kid, I know that's what happened to me. My mom gave me chicken noodle soup.

And then she also gave me ginger ale, which I look back at had like 40 grams of sugar. Totally. But the ancient remedy throughout the eastern area of the world, when someone got sick with cold and flu, was chicken bone broth and ginger herbal tea. Nobody says when you're sick drink beef broth. It's always chicken. There are very, very unique forms of collagen and other nutrients that actually strengthen the gut lining, which is where 70% of your immune system lives.

So bone broth, specifically chicken broth is the number one superfood for supporting gut and immune system health. Ginger, a very powerful herb, you can simply make ginger tea, buy ginger, grate it, or by the powder. You can put it in different recipes. Garlic and onions are that light color as well. all have tremendous benefits. There's actually a type of soup

many people have maybe had if they've gone to an Asian restaurant, miso soup. Yes. Very good for the immune system. So those light yellow foods I'd put up on the list. In addition, foods rich in vitamin C,

papaya, citrus fruits like lemons and limes and grapefruit and oranges are fantastic. Strawberries and kiwis are actually very high in vitamin C. And there's a few vegetables. Broccoli, Brussels, Bell peppers and cabbage are also rich in vitamin C.

So I can go on and on, but I would say vitamin C rich foods and those light yellow color foods are probably the most immune-boosting foods there are. Okay, that is so funny. You said that about chicken dough soup and ginger ale because I'm like, I was like in the 80, you know, that's like all,

yeah, that's like a thousand percent what my mom would give me. And it does, because it traces back to all that. That's fascinating. Okay, and I love this too because in an affordable way, like everyone, you're having to eat, no matter what.

And so being able to plug in these elements of your food that are, that obviously are helping boost your immune system in this time. Like, that's so key because you're going to have to buy food anyway, so might as well do it well. And babe for your buck, you can make chicken broth at home for very affordable. In fact, what most people are discarding, which is where, you know, the animal tissue that has all the collagen,

that's what a lot of people are getting rid of. And so, you know, you can actually, you can go to your grocery store and buy chicken feet. And that's where, I mean, that's literally where all the collagen lies or where you're pulling out all the things that make bone broth or chicken broth. So there are very affordable ways to do this. You can buy it in both the frozen section and in the packaged goods section of pretty much every grocery store on the planet.

Yep. So I do think, you know, getting chicken broth is, you know, probably the number one thing we can do. And do that, not even when you're sick. That's right, all the time. It's a great preventative measure. Okay. Okay. I'm sure the answer is yes to this, but I just have to know.

Like, in your own personal life, are you very intentional with, like, this is what I'm going to eat for breakfast and I'm going to have certain, like, I'm doing, like, you're very, very intentional with each meal and what you're putting in your body, not just from a processed natural standpoint, but even the vitamin standpoint. Like, do you know what I mean? Like, even that? 100%. And some of it depends on the time of year. So just to give an example, you've probably heard of circadian rhythms, right, to where when the sun goes down, your melatonin goes up to help you sleep at night. Cortisol is higher during the day. We also have seasonal rhythms that

affect our hormones differently, which keeps certain organs stronger and others a little bit weak. So to give me an example, your liver is very strong in the spring. So the springtime is the best time to do a liver detox, where the fall is not the most ideal time. In the fall, you want to be really supporting the immune system and gearing that up for winter. And so in the fall, you want to be really loading up on foods that are the light orange, the yellow. So a lot of the foods I just mentioned are really ideal. And then there's certain supplements. Cinnamon is fantastic this time of year.

it's going to support your pancreas, your blood sugar, that also can support your immune system. So getting, especially cinnamon and ginger, it's a lot of the foods we crave, right? People are moving in the fall. They're like, I want my pumpkin spice latte and my pumpkin pie and my turkey and all of the things we love at Thanksgiving, right? That's innately within us. Like our body is craving certain foods this time of year in preparation of strengthening our immune systems. So fascinating. Okay.

Like you said, it's ancient medicine, right? It's biblical. It's Chinese, all that. like that type of food, that is Thanksgiving food. Like everything you said, is there a reason for that? Like, was that a coincidence? You know, I think the way that God set things up is that's when you're having your fall harvest, right? These are the things that are ripe and ready to eat that time of year.

Yeah, I guess that's true. And so that seasonal eating, similar thing, you know, certain vegetables that, you know, you're starting to get a lot of those green leafies in the spring. That's naturally what's growing. So I think what's natural to your region is really the way we should be eating is local and seasonal. Oh, my gosh. It's like one of those things. I'm like, I've never thought about that, but it makes a complete sense.

Okay, so obviously the food is great for the immune system. You said food is medicine. That is so key. You mentioned sleep. Yep. And this is free too. This doesn't cost you anything. And we just don't get enough sleep.

I mean, you hear this all the time from, or I do from studies, books. Like you hear people talk about it. And it's probably true, right? People are running on fumes. They're staying up late. They're having to get up early, all of it. So walk us through just some good, healthy patterns of sleep that can help with the immune system. Yeah, the key for almost everybody is get to bed earlier.

I mean, that is the key. If you have an alarm to get up at night, have an alarm to go to bed. Shut off the TV earlier. Listen to a book on tape or something like that is a good thing to do even if you're going to get in bed earlier. If you want something to sort of entertain you, you help you fall asleep. There's a few things I do. Chelsea and I, my wife, we have a weighted blanket.

It is fantastic. Winston Craze will love you right now. He asked for that for Christmas two years ago. Hey, good for you guys, because weighted blankets have been. shown in clinical studies. You actually feel like someone is hugging you. So all the studies show your anxiety levels go down, your melatonin goes up. And so we just bought a weighted blanket online. And we use that. That's great for sleep. Keeping your room a little colder if you can. Not doing a lot of carbs and sugar before bed helps too. I saw a study recently that said,

compared to 100 years ago, we get probably two hours less of sleep a night because of all of the, you know, computer screens and TVs, all the light that is keeping people up. Yeah. But yes, sleep. If somebody gets less than seven hours of sleep a night, I think the stats are it close to triples the risk of getting a colder flu. So getting more than seven hours a night is really critical to health. That is so good.

Okay. Well, I'll say this. We are not perfect in the cruise household, but we do go to bed early. Winston and I have been known that we have friends over. It gets to be like 839. Like, we've got to go. The cruises are going to sleep. Because we're just like, we are not night people at all.

So we do. We go to bed early. We do wake up early, but we go to bed early. Okay, so cold flu season. It's kind of upon us right now. What is it inevitable? Like, is there a way to avoid it besides everything we just talked about? Is there other stuff that people can be doing?

Because they're going to be visiting family. Obviously, COVID is in people's heads of like with family and all of that stuff. Well, one of the things I think people need to remember is that you shouldn't live in a state of fear. I mean, a lot of this produced by media and other things is like we really believe we should have faith over fear. Like we have a big God he created an incredible body, and we just need to support our body the best we can. Here's the other thing to remember is, again, your immune system is powerful. Just like you can train a muscle, for instance,

like you can build a bicep or a quadricep muscle or your different muscles, you can train and strengthen your immune system. Your immune system gets stronger every time it beats a colder flu. So think about if you naturally get the flu and you beat it, now your immune system is actually more adapted and ready to it's stronger now to be the next virus down the road. So it's important to know that your immune system, but you're more able and capable to beat a virus if your immune system is stronger as well.

So that's why getting vitamin C, getting sunshine, you know, when you can, getting that vitamin D is critical for health too. So I think what I would encourage people to do is take control of your health, take responsibility for you and your family, and don't live in a state of fear. just do everything you can, just to strengthen your body's own immune system. And what we're seeing here statistically with people, and really this is almost any virus. People are most susceptible to viruses if they have a preexisting condition. And there's really three main ones that we're seeing.

It's obesity. It's being far overweight. It is diabetes and it's heart disease. And so if you can also change your diet, we know using herbs like turmeric reduces your risk of heart disease, turmeric and garlic and green tea and eating a healthier diet. We know that people can lose weight, right? And people can reverse diabetes if they cut the carbs, add in more healthy fats and things like collagen and more nutrients.

So we can make a huge, huge difference with our immune systems. And I would say in terms of supplements, you know, first off, remember food first. Supplements are for supplementing an already healthy diet. So if people are going to invest and spend on their health, you know, buy in bulk at places like Costco or Amazon or, you know, or your local, you know, grocery store, farmers market. But get quality foods number one. If people want to take just a couple supplements for their immune system, I like collagen

and probiotics for preventative measures. And then if somebody is feeling ill, echinacea, elderberry, and then probably vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc are the things that are going to help them the most. Okay. My sister-in-law literally has a zinc block in her mouth. Wow. Okay. Like, well, like at least once a week, I'll be talking to her.

I'm like, do you have zinc in your mouth for now? She's like, I am. I am. A lot of people are low in zinc. Yeah, she's like, all about it, all about it. Okay, so vitamin D, that's another great one. I would say in the middle. And that's free, right, the sun.

Like, you just go out. Number one, if you can get it from the sun, it's the most effective way to get it. If you are, let's say, in the middle of winter, though, and your skin is not seeing the sun in three months, especially if you live up north, in that case, it can be good to take a supplement for those people. And by the way, if you ever want to check your vitamin D levels, you can do an online test for around $50 and know what your levels are. Interesting. Interesting.

Okay, that's so good. Okay, so again, the holidays are here. Yeah. People are hearing all this eat healthy, eat greens. Oh, yeah. Okay. But they're thinking, okay, how do I incorporate that mindset into Thanksgiving Christmas? Do you have a couple of like easy recipes just off the top of the head of here.

Here are some things you can eat during these holidays that are good for you, help boost the immune system, but also are festive and, part of the holidays. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so Chelsea and I, and my wife is an amazing cook, and we like to cook for Thanksgiving and the holidays together. But we do pumpkin pie. And what we'll do is we'll do a crust that's made of something like nuts, like pecans. And so, or a gluten-free crust. And then we just put in a little less sugar, you know? And so that's one thing we do. If we do sugar, we actually typically do more maple syrup or honey or coconut sugar, so we use more of a natural sweetener. And we'll add in a little bit of extra

cinnamon and that sort of thing. If we use ice cream, we'll buy coconut milk, or oat milk ice cream. So anyways, we're just using healthier ingredients trying to lower that sugar content a little bit as well. And then we are, we're trying not to just go over killing the cars, but here's the thing. Hey, if it's one day and it's Thanksgiving

and you want to do mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce and sweet potato, all the stuff, hey, it's okay. It's not that one day that gets somebody sick. It's that you're doing it the week before and then you're traveling, and then when you get home, you're, you know, it's just overdoing it. it's not the one-day thing.

So I would say, hey, have fun on Thanksgiving, spend time with family, eat what you'd like. But around that time, try and get more vegetables and meat, vegetables and organic meat, and that's going to help out tremendously. That's so good. And even just cutting back the sugar. Like what you just said,

I was like, because that's what always gets people in the holidays too, I feel like. Okay, so we talked about sleep, food is medicine, vitamin D, the sun. Okay, what other free things or inexpensive things can people do for their health? Yeah, there's a lot people can do to stress. strengthen their immune system without spending money.

And I'll give you a couple examples. One is exercise, right? Just move. And when people hear exercise, sometimes that sounds intimidating. Even walking. You know, getting outside for 20 minutes a day and just going on a brisk walk does wonders for your immune system. It is so powerful, especially if you can do it just around any type of nature in the trees

or just a walk through the neighborhood makes a big difference. The second thing is doing what I call a spiritual triathlon. Essentially, it's working on your spiritual growth, working on building your faith and a hopeful mindset. You know, there's a study out, and this is really mind-blowing, 80% of doctor visits are related to stress. Interesting. So if somebody's watching too much of the news or they have a stressful situation

in their family or at work, you know, that actually raises stress hormones like cortisol, which then weakens the immune system. And so one of the things I do, and the way I start off every morning is I start off just saying everything I'm grateful for. So I start off praising God, saying, hey, I'm so grateful for my wife. wife. I'm so grateful for a mission in life I love. So I start my day off that way. And then I'll read something like the Bible or a spiritual growth book. And then I'll spend the next five minutes, either meditating and thinking about, let's say I read First Corinthians and I'm reading like,

love is patient, love is kind. Like I'll think about that, how I need to implement my life or in pray, you know, connect with God. But I found when I spend time reading the Bible and spiritual growth books and connecting with God first thing in the morning and to build my faith, it really takes that that fear, it drives it down, my faith goes up. And that is probably, and I'm not just saying this, it literally is even statistically, scientifically, the most powerful thing we can do to strengthen our immune system. What fear does is it drives your adrenal glands, which then start to tax and weaken your whole immune system if they get into overdrive. And so literally by reducing that stress, strengthening your faith, it does wonders for the immune system. So I've always known this because

I feel like it's, I mean, not common sense by any means, but you know, everything in your life is connected, right? Whether it's your spiritual, emotional, physical. I've heard someone say the issues are in the tissues, right? When you're, like, stressed out. It does. Your body responds in that way. And so I love that idea, because it is this holistic way of looking at your life and your health and as someone of faith. But there is something to be said of a piece that you have and what that does. And I love that you connect that so much to fear because I think that there are a lot of things right now in our world, I mean, whether it's national affairs or politics or COVID or financial situations. We all are, right? There's a lot of things right now that are causing that. And so when you can get

above your own self and know that there's something greater that is there and is for you, it does. It does. It does wonders. It does wonder's to your life. So I love that. I love that you can circle back to that because it does. It makes so much sense. So much sense. Okay, so great. Where can everyone find you? Because I'm sure people are itching to say, oh my gosh, I want more. I want more. Yeah, you can find me at Dr.ax.com. That's just D-R-A-C-C.com. I've got a website there where you can look up any of these foods.

You can. If you've got a health problem, let's say hypothyroidism, you can search Dr. Axe, hypothyroidism, have written articles and recommendations on things. And then social media, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, just Dr. Josh Axe. And then I own a supplement company called Ancient Nutrition, we're in health food stores and Whole Foods Market and Target

with, you know, collagen, probiotics supplements and that sort of thing. Okay, so one question I do like to ask people. what is one thing that you're doing with your money that you're enjoying right now? It's creating a life that you love. Wow. I would say, I mean, buying toys for my daughter, who's a year and five months old,

you know, we, I mean, she is just at, I was telling you before, like, just at this perfect age of, you know, we brought her to the zoo recently and, you know, she wanted to get a stuffed animal and, like, she just goes and grabs it and starts running away with it. We're like, no, you have to, you know,

we have to pay for this, but I would say that's definitely this thing. Oh, so fun. That's such a fun season. Oh, my gosh, so great. Well, thanks again, Dr. X. I appreciate you. Yeah, thank you.

One of my goals in 2020 was skincare. That's right. I wanted to try it all. I really do deep into that world. Skin care. This is something I was passionate about for a solid 12 months. And then I've kind of gotten off the train a little bit.

But I just know from my mother, thank you, Sharon. Those around me is like, hey, just take care of your skin. Take care of your skin now. do preventative stuff. If you take care of it now, when you're older, you're going to just be thankful, you know. This can be for men and women, mostly women engage in all of this. But this idea in 2020, before the pandemic, I thought, I'm going to spend this year and just try different products, try different stuff, see if I can tell a difference, all of it. And it was great. It was great. I spent probably too much money doing it all. But I wasn't the only one.

The pandemic changed all of our focus from wearing makeup every day, because it was a lot of everyone was home to skincare. For example, online searches for vitamin C serum were up 49% last year. And Americans spend on average $322.88 on skin care every year. Some of you are thinking, what? That's insane. That's stupid. That's crazy. Some of you are thinking, that's it? Oh, gosh, I spend so much more on that. But that's the average and that's what's happening. But no matter where you fall on the skincare spectrum, you don't want to get sucked into buying too much stuff, stuff you don't need, stuff you're not going to use. So we really want to figure out what is worth buying. So that is what we're going to dive into. The skincare basics are what's important. And so if you invest in some good

products, you want to invest in good face wash, moisturizer, and sunscreen. Sunscreen number one. and my dermatologist agrees. Now, you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars at the dermatologist's office. You can just get a couple of great things, even at Walmart or Target or a local drugstore. There are some quality products there. They're inexpensive, but will help you in your skincare routine.

So one of my favorites is Saravei, and it's really the best quality and budget-friendly option out there. So I use Sarajevoi moisturizer. I love it. There's Sarvei hydrating. facial cleanser out there. It's $14, but that is a great product. Now, in the winter, you know, the lack of humidity really dries out the skin, so you want some good moisturizer. And setafil is great. They have great moisturizer. It's like eight bucks. So again,

good quality, but budget-friendly. Now, dermatologists always say one of the most important things to do is wear sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. So some pretty inexpensive sunscreen is Nutragina. It has a highly rated dry touch sunscreen, and you can get a two-pack at Costco for $16. Some of you have a very big passion for clean products. So if that is you, this option may not work for you. But those of you on a budget, they're like, hey, I just want some good sunscreen right now. Well, I'm getting out of debt, all of it. Hopefully that will help. And as a little pro tip, even if your makeup has SPF in it, you still need to wear sunscreen. So remember that. All right, for fun, here are three affordable options to take even better care of your skin

during these cold and dry winter months' hydration on the go. Again, Neutrogena makes a travel-sized gel-boost moisturizer for around $8. Coconut oil is a great makeup remover. Yep, and supposedly a miracle cure for many things. And dermatologists actually agree that it's antibacterial, anti-hease, and works again as a great makeup remover. My friend and guest on the show, Dr. Axe, approves of coconut oil as a moisturizer and anti-aging cream, and you can even put it in your hair as a natural conditioner. It's amazing. And all these sells a 14-ounce jar of organic coconut oil for just

$4. And you don't have to buy expensive face towels either. So instead, you can get some soft baby wash cloths just to clean your face. You can get a 12 pack on Amazon for less than 10 bucks. All right, let's move on to some free stuff. Here are five free things that you can do for your skin. Number one, drink water. Keep your body hydrated. Your skin will be hydrated. It is just good for your skin. Water, water, water. Number two, wash your pillowcase regularly. So you know how 2020 is my like skincare year? It's not as much here. so I will go to bed my makeup on. I know it's not good. But just think about, even if you don't do that, but all the stuff that's on your pillowcase. So clean it so that it doesn't make your face break out.

Also clean your cell phone. Yeah, that screen, you know, you hold it up to your face, get a lot of stuff. And wash your face masks between uses. A lot of people will break out because of your masks, so make sure you keep that clean. Also clean your makeup brushes. Brushes harbor so much. bacteria and old oil. So just find a good makeup remover and use that on your brushes, clean your brushes even with just shampoo you can do as well. But make sure you have clean makeup brushes. All of these things will help your skin. Now, if you bought everything we talked about today, you're going to spend around $60. And again, these things will last you an entire year, even more. And that $60 is way less than the $322 that the average American spends on skincare.

But again, no matter what you decide to spend, make sure it's in your budget. Being in control of your money is one of the most important things. And again, I'm all about living a great life, doing things that make you feel good that you want to do. It's great. All of this, this is not right, wrong, or indifferent. It is just making sure that you are focused on your money goals and that your budget is permission to spend. You have a plan on when you're spending your money. This is so, so key.

Well, I hope this helps you guys. care. It's a fun topic. It really is. Mostly for you women, but you guys, you can jump on board with some good skin care routines. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. I want to thank Dr. Axe for being a guest on the show. I hope you guys enjoyed that conversation. And thank you all so much for listening. If you have not hit that subscribe button, make sure to do that. And if the spirit leads, you can leave a review. As always, make sure to take control of your money and create a life you love.