The Ramsey Show - App - FOOD: Saving Money on the #1 Budget Buster (Hour 2)

Episode Date: March 23, 2023

Ken Coleman & Jade Warshaw answer your questions and discuss: Ken and Jade do a taste test comparing generic and name brand food to save money on groceries, 8 Meal Planning Rules, Saving for retirement to pay off debt, "Should I push my spouse to choose a new career?" Get Clear Career Assessment "Can we finally afford to buy a house?" Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Take our FREE 3 minute assessment: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life, specifically your money, and that affects your relationships, that's involving your work, and so we cover all three of those areas because we want you to have true financial peace and live a life of purpose. I'm Ken Coleman.

Joining my colleague, Jade Warshaw. The phone number to jump in this hour is 888-825-5225. Now, I'm a slight bit distracted. Those of you that are watching the show can already tell why. I'll explain to our listening audience in a moment. But we're going to cover one of the biggest budget busters in the world. Jade, I would say that you think it's the number one budget buster. I know it is.

She knows it is. And you all do, too. The people listening. What is it? What is the number one budget buster? Say it with me. Food. Food. Groceries. Eating out. The people listening. What is it? What is the number one budget buster? Say it with me. Food. Food.

Groceries, eating out. All the things. So for our listening audience, I'm struggling. I'm struggling to focus because of the smell wafting from this board. Yeah. We got to set up here, Ken. A foot away from me. You've got fries and ketchup.

And then if my eyes don't deceive me, I think I see some Oreos and double stuffed. But don't look too closely at those. And I'm going to set up. Why is the food in here? Okay. And am I going to be able to eat it? Yeah, we're going to eat it. We're going to eat it in a minute.

Here's the thing. We all know food's the biggest budget buster, right? It is. And you can save so much money. I didn't realize exactly how much until i really dug in you can save between 20 and 60 percent kim by buying generic brands the store brand all right is what i mean by that i feel like i have to be a voice of the people here you're a man of the people i i try to be i feel like you're probably right i know

you're right about that because I know you. But I feel a little bad about myself when I grab the generic brands. I'm looking over my shoulder to see if any neighbors recognize me. Am I the only one that feels that way? Anybody in the studio audience a little bit ashamed when you grab the generic? Thank you, sir. There we go. Now some honest people. Why are you ashamed? I don't know. I'm not a psychologist. I'm just revealing my feelings. I'm going to psychologist. I'm just revealing my feelings. I'm going to pull these numbers up and it's going to change your life. This is what I need because I want to get over the shame of grabbing the generic brand.

For some items, we're going to decide if it's worth it. Ketchup. Ketchup that you buy every day. You can save 60% by buying the generic brand. The national brand that we all know, Heinz, and those things like that, the price of 32 ounces of Heinz is $5.29. So what brands do you have

over there? Because you've got the bottle. So Heinz is the big culprit. Heinz is $5.29. Whoa! Then you've got your Publix brand. If you listen, Publix is like Kroger. It's kind of like a middle of the road. Your Kroger brand or your Publix brand. If you listen, Publix is like Kroger. It's kind of like a middle of the road. Your Kroger brand or your Publix brand, $279. So we've already gone down significantly.

And you're saying there's a cheaper version? Yeah. It's called Great Value Walmart. Walmart, baby. Well, of course. Sam Walton. Of course. I should have thought of that.

Think about that. That's like a $4 spread. Yeah. That's unbelievable just don't go to walmart after midnight so let's see ken what should i set up the oreos too and then we'll just no no no let's start with the ketchup because we just with the ketchup so all right what do you i have three bowls of ketchup you got three bowls it's a blind test taste test so let's see if you let's see if you know the difference so where where are the fries from? These are from the Ramsey Cafe. Oh, right. Just downstairs, just around the block downstairs.

One of the great benefits of working at Ramsey Solutions. Dave, by the way, Papa Dave subsidizes our lunch every day. Thank you, Papa Dave. We love Dave. Okay, so this is a Ramsey Solutions fry. Yeah. And I'm going to go left here. Go left. And I'll go right because I'm going to do this with you. But you know what the real answer is. I don't remember where I put it. It's under the dish. Before I eat this, what am I determining? Which tastes best? Yeah, tell me which tastes best. Alright, folks. Because you don't know which is which.

Y'all can hear us chewing on the radio. Alright, I'm going to tell you right now. I know you hate it. I'm going to tell you right now. What? I'm a tang guy. Okay. I want some tang in my condiments there's a nice tang in number one let's go number two all right should i should i don't be in here double dipping kim i don't know where your mouth is but i have to have a swig of water to then clear out level uh ketchup one ketchup two here we go oh i got a little bit on my finger and i'm not ashamed to lick it all right what do you think i like one better all right let me taste i'm tasting your one quick

swig oh no i don't like one one is very salty okay don't try to influence me i'm trying to be a man of the people okay now this is an exceptionally large fry and i like to give bonus tips from time to time here's what you do with this one you fold it together look at i got some people out there that know what i'm talking about you gotta make the scoop and look at this now i've got it this is like you wait you scooped the wrong side no i didn't i went one two and this is three i'm talking about your scoop technique oh would you leave me alone right, here we go. Ooh. All right. What do you think?

One is the best. Three is second. The middle one is third. Now reveal. Which one did I choose? One is the best? I said that number one. We're going to lift it up.

I don't want to choke and die. Go ahead. Here we go. Three, two, one. Oh! Hi! You chose the national brand. I have a sophisticated palate, apparently. Butz! You chose the national brand. I have a sophisticated palate, apparently.

But I have a theory. I came prepared. Let me tell you why I think I chose Heinz. Why? I said I like a little bit of tang. I think that the big boy brands are putting more syrups and sugars and stuff in there. More salt, more sugar. And that's why they're charging us more.

What say you? Well, the real question is, is it worth paying $3.50 more for it? No, not at all. But the taste test is what it is. So we prefer the national brand, but it could be worth... Is it worth $3.50?

No. No. No, but there's a reason why. Now let's get to the Oreos. Oreos. So I'm just going to... Yeah, just get one. Oh, wow.

Don't read what it says on it. I think it could tell and knock off Oreos. Oreos. So I'm just gonna Yeah, just get one. Oh, wow. Don't read what it says on it. I think it could tell the knockoff Oreos. I'm eating the whole cookie. The whole cookie? Come on now, Ken. We gotta hurry. Yeah. Alright, I'm gonna taste one. Alright. Ooh.

Number two. I can tell this is not an Oreo, but it's good though. Okay. I'm going number three not an Oreo, but it's good, though. Okay. I'm going number three. James is getting nervous about the clock. We're good. That's pretty close.

This is pretty good. All right. We're going to hit the groceries. It's pretty good. This is pretty good. What do you think, Ken? I'm just telling you guys right now, I ate one that I know is not an Oreo and it's banging. I'm going number three.

The cream is better in number three. That's what I'm telling you. What is number three? Publix brand. This Publix cookie right here is bussing. Y'all don't know what this right here? I don't even know what that means, but it turns out. Ask your boys.

It's good. I'm a Publix guy. Man. Okay, so let's see the prices. The cream is better. Let's see the prices on these cookies austin because i know the oreo 420 420 420 cents for the oreo then we come down to the public's brand that's the mid brand 379 so we're saving about 50 cents and some change there then

we get to the twist and shout come on great value come on walmart you guys can't name that better that's like a dollar. Twist and shout. What is that, like $1.35 difference? I'm going back to the twist and shout from Walmart. Yeah, we just saved you $5 on just two items. Think about it. The average person's probably putting about, I don't know, 50 items in their cart for a week.

Think about how much you would save. If you saved this much on every item, you'd save like $80 per trip. $80 a week? Y'all, we just gave you free game right here. I'm going Publix. You only live once. Eat good tasting Oreos. There's Publix cookie.

It's in the middle. It's on point. All right, are we doing some meal planning rules coming up? Are we doing that? Yeah, we'll do it. We're going to do that. You're going to love it. Don't move.

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So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm'm Ken Coleman I'm joined by my colleague Jade Warshaw we're here to answer your questions about your life specifically your money your relationships and your work 888-825-5225 uh Jade you are you are not only a money personality here at Ramsey Solutions an expert someone who's paid off with your husband, Sam, almost a half a million dollars in debt. You've lived this, but you're also a foodie.

Yeah. You eat well, you cook well, and food is, when you first start to do your budget, that's where you start to see money flying out the door, whether that's eating out, fast food on the way home, or just not meal planning. So you have a lot of good tips on this. And I want people who are brand new to this to go, wait a second, I can start saving money now with different purchasing choices? Yes. And I want to highlight, like Ken said, these are the things that I came up with when we

were in the thick of it, paying off debt, trying to get through this thing. And a lot of these things I still use to this day because they actually work. So number one, I always say, Ken, the meal plan is for your food, what a budget is for your money. So a budget, obviously we know it. Instead of you tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went with the meal plan, it's the same thing. You tell your groceries what to do instead of finding them where they went, which is usually spoiled in the trash, right? So this is the meal plan. I'm going to give you guys eight ideas that you can implement today so that you can really start doing this. Now, let me caveat this by saying,

I know half of y'all listening are like, Jade, meal planning is not for me because I don't even like cooking. I'm just not here for it. Trust me, the way we're going to do it, we're going to make it for you. Okay, number one, and this is in order of importance, I might say, you got to take inventory, Kim. Because if you don't look and see what you already have, you're going to buy things twice. You're going to buy more than what you need. So you look at what you already have and you go, okay, I got this can of beans.

I got this in here. And you craft your recipes based on what you already have. That's thing one. Don't just be out here and say, you know what? Chinese sounds good. I'm going to make some stir fried. No, look at what you have and say, okay, I've got beans. What can I make with beans? So take inventory first, then you make the menu and then you make the list and then you shop in that order. That's how it must be. All right. Now for those folks who don't like to cook, busy folks, you got a lot of kids, you got soccer practice, all that, cook four, no more. That's it. I'm only asking you to cook four times a week. That's it. But the key here is you got to cook things and double it up so you have leftovers.

I love this. I have a tradition at our house where on Sunday nights, I love to grill, you know, when it gets into the warm season. And course i don't want to stop grilling yeah and it's like the one thing i love doing around the house that i have a great attitude about is cooking so i'll cook a ton of meat that's right because i've got three teenagers two of which are boys and they have tapeworm and so you gotta you gotta cook a lot they can eat a whole chicken i like that idea yeah cook for no more because and if you're not in baby step two a lot of us it's like on the weekend it's friday night's the time for pizza anyway so you don't need to be cooking all this food you overcook then you have it spoiling in the back of the fridge all right number three few and fresh is best everybody knows they got

that plastic tin of spinach they buy the big one at costco and then it rots in the back so i say buy just a few fruits and vegetables at a time. Just what you need for the week. Don't be trying to buy it up in bulk. All right. Learn to love leftovers. That's the next one. Ken, I just got to say it. The people who say, I don't like leftovers. It wasn't good to begin with. And that was your problem. All time favorite leftover dish for me, spaghetti. Oh, I love it. And that was your problem. All-time favorite leftover dish for me, spaghetti. Oh, I was going to say lasagna. All right, we're right there.

Why is pasta so good the next day? It congeals and the sauce gets, I don't know. Congeals and the sauce. See, I never knew that. It just comes together. Love leftover pasta. If you don't love leftovers, it's because it wasn't good in the first place, which means you need to find better recipes.

Bring in the truth. Next, don't leave it, freeze it wasn't good in the first place which means you need to find better recipes next don't leave it freeze it oh y'all are leaving a perfectly good broth in the fridge you're you're leaving perfectly good yogurt what freeze that freeze it freezing broth when you make soup and you know sometimes the recipe calls for and there's that half a thing left just put it in the same you don't have to put it in a tupperware put the whole thing in it in the freezer freeze it say i do the same thing with my marinara there's leftover i put the whole jar in the freezer marinara you can freeze earthing ken marinara tofu yogurt coffee creamer you'd freeze a bologna sandwich i'd freeze a bologna sandwich oh my gosh all right you stop. You're going too far. No, I'm not.

These people need this. Do double duty. Do you know what do double duty means, Kim? Well, I got to be careful here on how I answer that because I raised three kids and changed a lot of diapers. So I went another direction with that. Double duty for me was changing two babies at once. I got pretty good at it.

Double duty just means don't, I know I'm going to make this recipe with water chestnuts. Don't nothing else call for water chestnuts. Don't do that to yourself. Pick recipes that use the same. That's what I'm saying. You pick ingredients that recipes that use the same ingredients. Red sauce. You can put that in so many different things.

All right. And don't forget, you can freeze it. You can freeze the cheese. Do you freeze cheese? Yes. Yes. Ken it you can freeze the cheese do you freeze cheese yes yes ken coleman i freeze my cheese all right there's no need to yell at me here's a i'm gonna hit one more uh stretch for success now this is what this means stretch stretch and this is how we do it we're in a fitness segment i'm confused it's when you have a little bit of leftovers left but it's not enough to feed the whole family. Oh, no. So what do you do? Don't do this. Do it.

Ken Sr. did this. He did it with A1 sauce. My dad would make us eat steak with A1 sauce three extra times. He would put water in it, shake it up, and then dilute it A1 sauce. I say enough, enough. I must stand for the people. Not that, Ken. I'm talking about keeping things on hand that help you stretch meals.

Oh, okay. Things like pasta. You add pasta to it. You add rice to it. Okay. You put it inside a tortilla, all right? I get it. You get my point. Yes. Don't dilute the sauce, please. No, don't dilute the sauce. Freeze it, yes.

Yes. Don't dilute it. Don't dilute it. I'm talking about adding things. Okay. And finally, just save up a money of cash so that you can buy things when it's on sale. Yeah. Because you see it, buy one, get one free, and you're like, oh, I want to stock up you can buy things when it's on sale. Yeah. Because you see it, buy one, get one free, and you're like, oh, I want to stock up. You told me about this the other day.

You said that when yogurt goes on sale, you go buy it in bulk, and then it's no surprise to anyone who's paying attention, she freezes it. You do. Because when yogurt goes on sale, you're usually, it's either BOGO or it's like a dollar off. That's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. You know, folks, Jade's a a dollar off. That's a lot of money. Tell you what I know, folks. Jade's a very lovely person.

But if she were to ever snap and one of her family members disappeared, I'd check the freezer first. They won't fit because it's all filled up with yogurt. Of course it is. There it is. This segment just got very dark. Eight meal planning rules, Jade Warshaw. You can check her out on Instagram.

She's doing all kinds of great stuff. At Jade Warshaw. Am I saying that right? That's right. Very good. And check out her glasses if you're watching on YouTube or if you're listening, check it out on YouTube. She's got incredible glasses. All right, let's get a call in real quick. Will is on the line in Boise, Idaho. Will, how can we help? You there, Will? Yes, I am. Hello, Will. We got about two minutes. What's your question? So my wife and I are, I just turned 21. She's about to turn 20. We're new to the baby steps. We just crossed over baby step one into baby step two. And about six months ago, I took a position as a manager in a

landscape company with that. They are offering a company rig to me and they just opened up a simple IRA that I could invest into. With that, they're matching up to 3% of whatever I put into it. And my question was, is should I be investing into that simple IRA at this age? And if I, while I'm in baby step two, and if I should, where should my investments go? Should they be a little bit riskier because I am young or should I just stay with the true and steady? Well, let me lay it out for you real quick in this next minute. So I love that you're asking this question and I love that your employer is offering a benefit like this. At this point in the baby steps, it's not time. We don't start investing until baby step four. And at that point, you would then invest 15% into that IRA at 3%, which is great.

Actually, what I would do is since it's just a traditional IRA, I would invest up to the match. And then I would invest the rest of your money into just a Roth IRA that you can open up on your own. And that's what I would do. But I would wait until baby step four to do it because you need all of the money that you have right now to throw out your debt snowball and get clear of that. So hopefully that answers your question, Will. And not only that, but when the time to invest comes, we always talk about investing into four different types of mutual funds, growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international. So when the time comes, that's what you'll be doing. You'll be getting with the SmartVestor Pro and making it happen. Yeah. And Will, hang on the line. We're going to give you a copy of the Total Money

Makeover, Dave Ramsey's number one selling book of all time. Just really a great guide for the baby steps. You're off and running. We want you to follow them in order because there's a reason. Hang on the line. We'll give you that book. Thank you so much for the call. She's Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman. Your calls are standing by and we'll be back to answer them very soon. Don't move. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show, where we bring you hope-filled advice to your questions around your money, your work, and your relationships. Jade Warshaw is my co-host this hour. I'm Ken Coleman. We're both Ramsey Personalities, and we are here for you. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Let's go to Salt Lake City, Utah. Andrea is there. Is it Andrea or Andrea?

It's Andrea. Oh, good, good, good, good. Well, how can we help? I actually prepared my question for Dave and didn't realize he was in today, but it's actually a good surprise because this is a really great question for you, Ken. Oh, great. So my husband just took your course on Monday, the career assessment, and I just need to figure out the best way to give him a gentle push to make a career change.

After 15 years of doing the same thing and absolutely hating it and not making enough, he's in his mid-40s. He doesn't think that he has any choices or options. And I think we do. But I don't know how to help him see that. I mean, this has been going on since we've been married. And I just feel like I'm hitting my head on the wall. Yeah, well, you are. And I want to set your expectations here.

There's not a whole lot you can do to help. And I think you know that because we're 15 years in, you've tried to help and gently push before I'm guessing. Yes or no? Yes. Okay. So he took my get clear career assessment, which is great because at least he's now got some self-awareness. Did he talk to you about it? And then if he did, what were the kind of things he was saying to you? Well, I mean, it was great, but he said that it wasn't a whole lot of surprise because, you know, he knows himself pretty well. He's not entirely sure where to go because a lot of the options require going back and getting more education, more training. He is certified as a project manager, and that is on his list.

And he's tried to switch careers to that from the medical field but has not had a lot of success with that. Okay, so he tried, and he got rejected a few times. Is that about right? Yes. Yes, that's about right. And he does not handle rejection super well. Right. So I'm hoping that, what is his name, by the way?

His name is Nolan. Nolan. I would love for you to schedule a call with Nolan on my show, but I hope that you'll have Nolan watch this on YouTube because, Nolan, I want you to hear me say that you've tried to move into project management, something that you've identified as something that you're good at and that you enjoy. Is that right, Andrea? Would you say he would agree with that? He enjoys it and he's good at it? Yeah, he's doing it for his job already.

He just doesn't have the title. Exactly. Or the pay. Right. But would he jump at it if I handed him a project management job that paid him 15%, 20% more, and he actually had the title, and he saw a ladder of growth beyond that? Would he jump at that today, or would he go, I don't know? Oh, no, he would jump fast. He needs to see a clear path to success.

All right, do you guys have kids? We do. We have three. Did both of you teach them to ride bikes, or was Nolan more involved? We kind of didn't teach them. We gave them balanced bikes, and they figured it out on their own. Okay, well, that's going to kill my metaphor. Here's the point. If I was talking to Nolan, I'd say,

Nolan, what would you have said to your kids if they would have come in after two or three attempts to ride the bike and said, I'm done. I just don't think I'm ever, ever going to be able to ride a bike. What would he say to that? And the point here is, is that he has been rejected a few times. And it's interesting that when I said it that way, you jumped on that and said, he hates to be rejected. And I just want, Nolan, I want you to understand something. So do I. And I'm fairly certain, Jade, you hate rejection as well. Ooh, nobody likes it. So this is a human thing. And I will tell you, if you know what you want to do and why you want to do it, this is a get back up on the horse and keep getting after

it. And I'm going to give you a couple of tools. And I love that he took the Get Clear assessment, Andrea, that he wasn't surprised by it. So here's what's going on with him. He doesn't have a self-awareness problem. He has a confidence problem. And he's dealing with a lot of self-doubt and he's been dealing with it your entire marriage, which tells me he was dealing with it before you got married. Does this all seem to make sense to you? It does. I've never thought of it that way because he is pretty confident in the things that he knows he's good at. Yeah.

But he's not confident when he has to take on new things. So he's a guy that probably naturally doesn't like change, likes things to kind of be known. And so he's a guy that probably naturally doesn't like change, likes things, you know, to kind of be known. And so he's just dealing with, he's been in one field for a long time and he's begun to feel like he's in a rut. And when you're in a rut, you're kind of trying to move in and out, but you just stay stuck and he's not stuck. He's just full of doubt. Doubt that he'll get a shot and maybe doubt that he would do a great job. Or maybe it's just a doubt that he'll get a shot.

So there is no magical thing you can do other than have him watch this. And I hope, Nolan, you hear me cheering you on, not guilt tripping you. Because what has to happen right now, Nolan, is that you've got to say, I want a better life. And in order to have a better life, I've got to move out of this rut that I'm in, and I'm actually not stuck. See, when you're stuck, you require someone, if your car is stuck in the mud or the sand, which I've had happen to me growing up in the beach area. You got to have somebody pull you out, but he doesn't need you to pull him out. You know what he needs from you, Andrew? He just needs

a loving and encouraging wife reminding him, you are so talented at this. You love all the stuff that comes with project management. And that's the only thing you can do. You cannot push him anymore. He has got to get to the point where he believes in himself. And the only thing that you can do in this situation is try to transfer some of your belief in him. Once he realizes that you believe in him, that you're not ashamed of him, that you're not frustrated at him, that you're not mad at him, that you don't resent him. And by the way, Andrea, if you do any of those areas, you're not a bad woman.

That's just called normal life. But you've got to check yourself at the door and make sure that you're not coming across in any of those ways. Because this is a guy who's just down on his confidence, Jade. That was a word, Ken Coleman. What Ken said about stuck and needing someone to pull you, that's a word. He doesn't need to be pulled out. He just needs to walk out. Yeah. Walk on out. I love that. That's for all of us, Andrea, not just you. Yeah. So, hey, listen, hang on the line. There's a couple of things I want to give him. I want to give him both of my books, but I really want him to read The Proximity Principle,

which is a deep dive. It's the first book I wrote here, Jade, and this is a deep dive on how to turn connections, that's real people, into opportunities. Here's what I know about getting out of ruts and getting unstuck. When I'm around the right people, Jade, and I'm in the right places, I've found, and I'm guessing you have too, that the right time tends to just show up. Yeah, it does. It does. That's so good. I don't recall any major opportunity in my life, and I wonder if you have where you walked into it as opposed to it found you. No, you have to get around the right people and the right things, and they start to transform you to

be ready for what that situation has to offer you.'s right but you know there's another lesson here when i get around the right people and i get around the right places i'm not trying to be cute with that so don't like don't miss the real truth behind this there's intentionality and diligence there i am intentional to go who are the people i need to be around yes What are those places that I need to be in so that I can get some experience, have some conversations, get noticed, have the opportunity to fail so that I can learn and do it better next time? There is an intentionality behind this. And this idea that we're going to just kick doors down, it's kind of been cartoonized.

Yeah, I agree. And movies have made it seem, and motivational posters, which I find most successful people, they just keep showing up around the right people in the right places, and then eventually the right time happens. I 100% agree. You've got to stick around for the opportunity to show up, I think. But you've got to put yourself out there.

That's the hard part, so I want to acknowledge. Like, you're a musician. So I watch American Idol every year with my kids. And I'll tell you the number one reason why I watch it. I'm so admire those singers that are terrified. Yeah. They're not quite sure how good they are. And then we all discover they're really great.

But they put themselves in that moment to be discovered. That's true. And there was a lot of work that went in before that moment that nobody ever saw. Yeah. Which is, you know. And just sheer guts. I'm going to go stand in front of Lionel Richie and sing his song. That's good.

Don't get me. Don't get me started on Lionel Richie. Now we don't have enough time for that. Ken Coleman. I need to discover more about that during the break. I don't know if that's good or bad. We'll find out if I need to tell you, I will,

but Hey, appreciate the call. Andrea, your husband's a good man and you're a good woman. Hang in there. Encourage him, encourage man, and you're a good woman. Hang in there. Encourage him, encourage him, encourage him. He'll jump out.

All right, don't move. Jade Warshaw, Ken Coleman. This is The Ramsey Show. Coming right back. Welcome back, America. Thrilled to have you here on The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman, and I am joined by my colleague, Jade Warshaw. So excited that you're here. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225.

That's 888-825-5225. Well, debt payments and inflation are combining for a perfect storm. They're stealing more and more of Americans' paychecks, and we know a lot of you feel like you're absolutely drowning and you're scared to death. You shouldn't have to live with that kind of stress. But if you want things to change, you've got to say, I'm done. I'm not going to live this way anymore. And I'm going to do something different. And that different is Financial Peace University. It's our nine lesson course that will teach you how to beat debt and build wealth. Nearly 10 million people have taken Financial Peace University, and they will tell you they don't have to worry about money like they used to. And I will say

this. When I get to co-host this show on a weekly basis, Jade, and we do debt-free screams, I've not heard one debt-free screamer talk about how inflation's got them down. They're just inflation-proof. They've risen above it. They don't have to worry about it, and that can be you. So if you're done stressing about money take control start financial peace university now by going to ramsey solutions.com slash fpu that's ramsey solutions.com slash fpu all right let's go to brent in flint michigan brent from flint What's going on? Hey, how you doing? I'm good. How are you guys doing? We're having a blast. What's up? None. Appreciate you taking my call. I'll try and paint the picture for you. About four years ago, wife and I, we took financial peace.

And at that point, you know, we were all on board. We paid off vehicles, paid off credit cards. I paid off $80,000 in student loans. So we were good. We had a mortgage. We were paying off the mortgage. We paid extra every, you know, every month. We paid extra on the mortgage to, you know, bring it down. And then in August of 2021, we made a decision to sell because we both, you know, we wanted to be closer to schools because we got three daughters.

They're involved in athletics. You know, we're running a dance, soccer, basketball over the place. In our previous house, we were about 15, 20 minutes out of town. So we figured it was a good time to sell. We sold. You there? Did I lose you? I think we lost Brent.

Are you there, Brent? One more shot? Well, let me see if I can just give him a quick little something if we can't get you back. My screen said that you have $300K in savings. My guess is it's from the sale of the home. So if you're looking to buy another home, just remember the rule of thumb. You've got to use a 15-year fixed mortgage.

That's thing one. And then we want to find something where the payment, everything in taxes, insurance, all in is no more than 25 of your take-home pay i think i think we got him back let's see if we can get him brent from flint are you there yeah sorry about that no worries all right so hit us hit us with your question we've got a general idea so we want we've been in our apartment for about two years now two better apartment three girls and a dog and it's just been crazy and in terms of like a home like do we wait until we find a home that checks all the boxes or do we you know purchase a home that isn't necessarily what we want because you know we just want to get out of the apartment because market wise we're looking at a home of three hundred thousand dollar home we don't want

a mortgage sure but yeah at the same time i'm i'm paying three we're looking at a home of $300,000 home. We don't want a mortgage. Sure. But at the same time, I'm paying $300,000 for a home that's like 1,800, 1,900 square foot. Well, here's the thing. I see both sides of it. And I get your frustration level. You're at level 10 of like explosion right now because you're in a small place with kids. You're like ready to just go off.

I don't really want you to make a decision based off of that feeling. Because when you let that emotion guide you, that's when you end up just, let's just get something, let's just get whatever. And you're likely to regret that. The 300K that you have, that's a pretty decent amount of money. There's nothing in Flint, Michigan that you can get that check off the boxes that we talked about that I was saying while you were getting your phone back. Is there nothing there? Because are you trying to do a buy fully in cash or are you trying to just have a nice down payment for what you want? So, yeah, we set a budget. We don't want a mortgage. And we figured,

you know, $300,000 was a good amount to pay for a home cash. We did find a home. And we actually, you know, we did put an offer in. We're waiting to hear back. Okay. But there are some boxes that aren't checked. What are those boxes? Yeah, what are the boxes?

Well, in terms of, like, space, you know, we kind of, with three girls, we wanted them to all have their own rooms. We kind of want to run a little over 2,000 square foot home, and this is just a little bit smaller. There's no master bathroom. It's really small. I'm a bigger guy, so I need a bigger shower. What's it going to cost to check your boxes? Because I want to throw out there, when it comes to cost to get what's it going to cost to check your boxes because i want to throw out there when it comes to home buying there is this idea in the world right now that it's like my forever home yeah my dream house yeah and it's look ken you can speak to this i've only owned two homes and none of them checked every box well then you're never going to find that i'm glad you

bring that up i brent i think where she's, and I like where she's going with this, is we don't have to settle for something that we just go, bleh. Right. But it's better than living on top of each other in the box of the apartment you're in, which you're about ready to lose your mind. But I think what she's saying is right. If you buy a decent house, it's a little bit better than the one you put the offer on as it relates to like the master baths but do the girls all need to have their own room no that's too much yeah my boys shared a room for 12 years of their life my brother and i shared a room let me be honest with you they now have their own room i wish i had put them back in a room together because they live like pack mules i mean mean, it's just disgusting in that room. And now it's two rooms I got to gripe about.

You know, let's just be honest. I think it's about you and your wife that's more important that you all have a good space. I like what Jade's saying. What if we buy a house that's, it's at the $300 or a little bit less, but it's pretty nice. And then it's not the best, but we two, three years from now, because we paid cash. Come on, somebody.

That's what you were saying. Yeah. Now it becomes a nice little place to invest. Exactly. This, it's not your forever home. You can buy this one and stay in it for a while. And the market is going to continue to grow and sell it and move on up.

You're in a really great spot, or you could buy a home within your budget right now that has room to improve and you're willing to make those improvements and pay cash over time, whether it's adding square footage or doing all those things. That's what we did. Stacey and I are in our third home here in the Nashville area. And each time we have added, made changes. We rode the market. It did well. And we made money. We kept transferring the equity. And now we're in a home. Jade and Sam have been there. It doesn't check every box, but we got a lot. It's pretty nice though, Ken. We got a nice house. We're very comfortable there. We've added

square footage to it. Now that house is worth almost double what we paid for it. The idea here is some patience and not worry about checking every box. I think the lesson is check the right boxes. Yes. And what I want to highlight in this call, Brent, and for anybody listening is these are the kind of problems you want in life where you've done the money stuff right. He's gotten out of debt. He saved up the money. He's done so many things right that the conversation that we're having is what's the best way to pay cash for my house. Yeah, very good. I love that.

That is amazing. So I want to highlight that. You've done such a great job and you've got great options. The biggest thing here is, you know. I just want to say that comes from my wife. I just want to give her credit. Good job. Hey, congratulations on being a great husband.

If you don't have the money, if you don't have the cash to pay for it then you shouldn't pay then you shouldn't buy it you should keep saying yes ma'am brent she has got you into a very nice place my friend very very very good yeah great call thanks for the question yeah brent you got this and i i love the shout out jade you're right i mean i'd pull right. I mean, I'd pull the offer. You know, I'd pull the offer here and go, let's be a little bit more patient. I know they're going stir crazy in the apartment. But he's sitting pretty with $300K sitting in his bank account waiting for the right house to pop in Flint, don't you think? Yeah, I get it though.

I get where he's coming from. He's stir crazy. When we moved here, we were in a hotel with the two kids and my husband. I was ready to just, I could have lifted that apartment out of its foundation. I had so much frustration. I get it. I see where he's at, but like, hang on, hang on, because you're sitting really pretty with that cash.

Great hour, Jade Warshaw. Thank you so much for co-hosting. And I want to thank James Childs and our entire crew behind the glass for keeping us on the air. We want to thank you, America, for listening. This is your show. This is The Ramsey Show.

Hey, what's up, guys? It's Jade. If you love the show and want a deeper dive on your money journey, we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Just go to ramsesolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's ramsesolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.