Ultimate Hot Take Compilation: Tacky, Sketchy, Icky and Worth It

💵 Create a free budget and find more margin with EveryDollar. When it comes to life and money, we’re full of hot takes. Join us for a nostalgic trip down memory lane as we revisit some of our most hilarious (and unhinged) financial advice episodes. Next Steps: · 🎙️ Catch our episode Judging People Based on How They Spend Their Money. · 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour · 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. Connect With Our Sponsors: · Check out the FAIRWINDS Credit Union exclusive account bundle. · Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. · Get 20% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth. Today’s Happy Hour Specials: · 🍸 Tequila Manhattan Recipe: Liquor.com · 🥧 Caramel Apple Pie Mocktail Recipe: Merry About Town · 🥃 Aperol Tequila Sour Recipe: @cocktails · 🍹 Cherry Basil Smash Recipe: BevsByBeverly Explore More From Ramsey Network: 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05Rachel Cruze?

  Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 0:06George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 0:07Rachel Cruze?

  And this is

• 0:08George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:11Rachel Cruze?

  Cheers, George.

• 0:12George Kamel?

  Cheers.

• 0:15Rachel Cruze?

  Wow.

• 0:16George Kamel?

  Fallaluya, that is good.

• 0:18Rachel Cruze?

  Fall in a Fall in a cup.

• 0:21George Kamel?

  Is that not a TJ Maxx candle at checkout, Rachel?

• 0:24Rachel Cruze?

  That is, I mean,

• 0:25George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 0:26Rachel Cruze?

  If Bed Bath & Beyond was still around, they'd be selling that in the store. Let's be honest.

• 0:30George Kamel?

  We could make good money just bottling this stuff.

• 0:32Rachel Cruze?

  That mocktail, fabulous.

• 0:34George Kamel?

  All right, we'll tell you more about it later.

• 0:35Rachel Cruze?

  Wow. Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money.

• 0:43George Kamel?

  And today, we are asking the question, how far is too far when it comes to your money and saving a buck? We respect the hustle to save a buck, Rachel.

• 0:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and there are

• 0:53George Kamel?

  I do.

• 0:53Rachel Cruze?

  There are decisions to be made in our daily lives that, well, the question is, is it too much?

• 0:59George Kamel?

  Is the juice

• 1:00Rachel Cruze?

  Or is it worth it?

• 1:00George Kamel?

  Worth the squeeze? You heard that line?

• 1:02Rachel Cruze?

  I have heard that line.

• 1:03George Kamel?

  I don't like it. I like to say it because it's uncomfortable.

• 1:08Rachel Cruze?

  Or dime versus time, you know?

• 1:10George Kamel?

  Oh, that's a fun way to say it.

• 1:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah. So we're gonna talk about that. It's basically called your opportunity cost if you're an econ 101.

• 1:17George Kamel?

  Right, nerd.

• 1:17Rachel Cruze?

  That's what they talk about. So figuring out what's worth it. But what are we sipping on?

• 1:22George Kamel?

  When you go calculate your joy over there.

• 1:24Rachel Cruze?

  While we're chatting about this, George.

• 1:25George Kamel?

  Yeah, we are sipping on a caramel apple pie mocktail. Can I just say that on the paper, it says caramel, not caramel. It says just C-A-R-M-E-L caramel.

• 1:38George Kamel?

  Which, that's different.

• 1:39Rachel Cruze?

  I spelled that, is it incorrect?

• 1:42George Kamel?

  Well, caramel has two A's, C-A-R-A.

• 1:45Rachel Cruze?

  Well, then maybe I should go back to school.

• 1:47George Kamel?

  Caramel's just real southern, you see?

• 1:49Rachel Cruze?

  You know, I'm gonna be honest, Lindsay, I don't see a typo. Thank you, Rachel. I don't, I don't see a typo. This is why we're first. I don't see a typo. Okay, so in a last, you know, recent episode, we did the whole would you rather? This, we're gonna go back to another fun game, a little truth or dare.

• 2:02George Kamel?

  Oh, did you ever play that growing up?

• 2:05Rachel Cruze?

  Did I ever play truth or dare? Like, every kid played truth or dare.

• 2:10George Kamel?

  No, no, I mean, no, we played it for sure.

• 2:13Rachel Cruze?

  Did you ever play truth or dare?

• 2:14George Kamel?

  We for sure. I wasn't invited to environments or scenarios in which this game would happen. Can I just say that? Like,

• 2:23Rachel Cruze?

  I've been so sad.

• 2:24George Kamel?

  I was in the Arabic Baptist youth group.

• 2:26Rachel Cruze?

  Do you know what?

• 2:27George Kamel?

  All right. I wasn't going to parties where cool people were there.

• 2:33George Kamel?

  I was in a gymnasium of a church and

• 2:36Rachel Cruze?

  You know what I just had a flash?

• 2:37George Kamel?

  We literally would pray through the new year.

• 2:39Rachel Cruze?

  Do you know the, you know the movie She's All That? Yes. Where she walks on the stairs in the red dress and Freddie Prince Jr. is like down there. I like have this like vision of George like getting a makeup.

• 2:50Rachel Cruze?

  And they're like, is this Freddie?

• 2:52George Kamel?

  That's me. That is me. I am Freddie Prince Jr. in a lot of ways. All right, Rachel, since I never got to play as a child, let's play this right now, truth or dare.

• 3:01Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, go.

• 3:03George Kamel?

  You have to say which you would choose. You want truth or dare?

• 3:06Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, oh, oh, oh, I'm going truth.

• 3:09George Kamel?

  Have you ever added something extra to the cart just to get free shipping?

• 3:13Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 3:14George Kamel?

  You didn't hit the limit?

• 3:16Rachel Cruze?

  Truth. Yes.

• 3:18George Kamel?

  You don't say truth, okay.

• 3:20Rachel Cruze?

  I am sorry.

• 3:20George Kamel?

  Now I'm wondering if you've ever played.

• 3:23George Kamel?

  Truth.

• 3:25Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, yes, I have. I have.

• 3:28George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 3:28Rachel Cruze?

  I've added a t-shirt, a tank top, you know?

• 3:32George Kamel?

  A single tank.

• 3:33Rachel Cruze?

  Throw in a $9 item and get the free shipping. Yes, I have.

• 3:37George Kamel?

  Good for you.

• 3:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, have you?

• 3:40George Kamel?

  Yeah, I for sure have. But it's usually like a small item and it usually involves hair care. I'm gonna be honest, I'm gonna be honest, I got a trial size grooming gel.

• 3:50Rachel Cruze?

  True or dare for you, George?

• 3:51George Kamel?

  Truth, because I don't want to get up or have to do anything.

• 3:53Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so have you ever driven further than you had to to a gas station to get a lower price on gas?

• 4:01George Kamel?

  100%. I'll use an app like Upside or Gas Buddy.

• 4:05Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 4:06George Kamel?

  And I'll be like, oh, they're ripping us off. I'm not gonna, $271.

• 4:08Rachel Cruze?

  How far will you go?

• 4:10George Kamel?

  Uh, I will not go far off the beaten path. If I'm gonna lose more than five or so minutes, um, I'm gonna stick to whatever's nearby.

• 4:16Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, that's fair.

• 4:16George Kamel?

  But five minutes of my time is worth it to save upwards of 10, 20 bucks.

• 4:20Rachel Cruze?

  That's fair. Yeah, because I think there is this high level view when you're living with money that when you are frugal, you're naturally gonna save more. But there again, it can be a fine line. Because on one side, it's like, oh yeah, wealthy people became wealthy because they made smart decisions. They didn't spend money on stupid stuff. They were investing, they were saving, they were buying things like reasonably priced, right? But then, it can go too far, you know? The frugal mentality.

• 4:44George Kamel?

  There's a limit. We've all seen extreme cheapskates.

• 4:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes. So you can get to this point where you're like, okay, I'm going out of my way so much that I'm losing time, valuable time, which is a, obviously, a resource we all want more of, just to save a dime, right? Or just to save a dollar, or 10.

• 5:00George Kamel?

  Dime versus time.

• 5:00Rachel Cruze?

  So the question is, yeah, what is worth it and what is not?

• 5:04George Kamel?

  And I think with me being probably the more frugal one, you know, a little more resourceful trying to find a deal, you being more trying to buy back your time, I think it's gonna be an interesting conversation. And I would love for the listeners and viewers to vote along with us.

• 5:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 5:17George Kamel?

  Are these things worth it? So let us know in the comments section.

• 5:19Rachel Cruze?

  Which I would say again, this is one reason why I love the budget is because it does allow you to kind of give those guardrails naturally of like, okay, do I have the margin to spend a little bit more for the convenience? Or do I really need to figure out a deal and make it work, right?

• 5:32George Kamel?

  That's a great point. If you want the convenience, just budget for it and then you don't feel guilty afterwards.

• 5:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's right.

• 5:37George Kamel?

  And the best tool to do that is EveryDollar. And you can check it out for free. Just go to everydollar.com/smartmoney or click the link in the description.

• 5:45Rachel Cruze?

  So good. All right. So yeah, let's play the little game.

• 5:48George Kamel?

  Let's have some fun.

• 5:48Rachel Cruze?

  Save a dime or save your time.

• 5:50George Kamel?

  So we're gonna go through some money-saving hacks, tips out there. And we're gonna share our hot takes on whether it's worth the time and effort that goes into it. We might have different takes.

• 6:00Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm. All right, I'm gonna go first. Sale hopping at multiple grocery stores each week. Is that a waste of time?

• 6:07George Kamel?

  Ooh.

• 6:07Rachel Cruze?

  And a waste of gas? Or is it worth it long-term?

• 6:11George Kamel?

  Ooh. Okay, so sale hopping in multiple grocery stores, is this like, I'm gonna go to Aldi and Costco and Kroger?

• 6:20Rachel Cruze?

  I'm gonna say up to a two-store limit for me.

• 6:23George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 6:23Rachel Cruze?

  I'll go to two stores to get the better of them.

• 6:26George Kamel?

  What are those two stores for you?

• 6:27Rachel Cruze?

  Those are Costco.

• 6:29George Kamel?

  Where can we find Rachel?

• 6:30Rachel Cruze?

  Costco.

• 6:31George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 6:31Rachel Cruze?

  And then I am bougie, y'all. I do love Publix.

• 6:34George Kamel?

  Okay, that's fair.

• 6:36Rachel Cruze?

  So I'll go there. Yeah. Every now and then I'll hit a Kroger. Kroger has some good stuff. Like, if I need some staples and it's closer, I will go there.

• 6:43George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 6:43Rachel Cruze?

  But Costco and Publix, I will, I will hop between those two depending on what the item is of where I can buy it.

• 6:49George Kamel?

  That's legit. I am, I am more sale-conscious. Like, if you look at my, if I did an Instacart, for example, everything in my cart will be on sale.

• 7:00Rachel Cruze?

  Really?

• 7:00George Kamel?

  I will only shop what's on sale.

• 7:02Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 7:02George Kamel?

  So it's a strategy I use.

• 7:04Rachel Cruze?

  Really?

• 7:04George Kamel?

  If I can, within reason. If there's something that's like, I need this exact item. Exactly. If there's, but then again, there's always a different milk on sale. I'm not super choosy.

• 7:13Rachel Cruze?

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

• 7:28George Kamel?

  Yeah. And I go based on what's on sale. So I'll go, okay, what is it?

• 7:30Rachel Cruze?

  So you use a meal plan based on what's on sale?

• 7:32George Kamel?

  Yeah, I go, what's a protein on sale?

• 7:34Rachel Cruze?

  It's terrible.

• 7:34George Kamel?

  What's a carb that's affordable on sale? What's a veggie that's on sale? And I'll just go, all right, that works. So like this week, we did

• 7:41Rachel Cruze?

  I think I like more control over my destiny than you do.

• 7:43George Kamel?

  Wow. I like the variety of going, ooh, let the sale choose my meal plan. That's even easier.

• 7:49Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we should get asparagus. And you're like, I gotta make an asparagus casserole.

• 7:52George Kamel?

  We did broccoli this week. That was our vegetable of choice.

• 7:55Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, because it was on sale.

• 7:56George Kamel?

  Whitney shopped at Trader Joe's this week. And that's, that's just what she chose. She likes Brussels sprouts and broccoli.

• 8:02Rachel Cruze?

  You know, I wish I was a Trader Joe's gal.

• 8:03George Kamel?

  We'll get you there.

• 8:04Rachel Cruze?

  Well, I, it's been like a, it's a one-off for me. But I wish it was one of those like, oh, I shop at Trader Joe's.

• 8:09George Kamel?

  Well, not everything is, like, it can be more expensive for certain items.

• 8:13Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 8:13George Kamel?

  But it's a great, like, the portions are right for a small family.

• 8:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 8:16George Kamel?

  And then we go to Costco for the bigger things or Sam's Club. So, all right. So yeah, sale hopping, eh, in a sense, I would be more likely to do that than you.

• 8:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I would say that's true. All right, next up, researching promo codes for online purchases.

• 8:29George Kamel?

  I'm 100%. I'm the promo code king.

• 8:31Rachel Cruze?

  This is you. This is you.

• 8:32George Kamel?

  Rachel will text me being like, hey, do you got a, I'll take one if you got one. But she's not gonna do the research.

• 8:38George Kamel?

  When's the last time you used one?

• 8:39Rachel Cruze?

  Unless it's within my app. Like, I have the Papa John's app. I have the Chick-fil-A app. Like, I have some food apps. And within the app, if it's there, the promotion's there, obviously, I use it. But I don't

• 8:49George Kamel?

  Papa John's, huh? We're still doing the Papa John's thing.

• 8:53Rachel Cruze?

  I love Papa John's.

• 8:54George Kamel?

  And I'm a Marco's guy.

• 8:56Rachel Cruze?

  I love Papa John's. I, the crust at Papa, it's so good. It is so good.

• 9:02George Kamel?

  So I haven't tried a gluten-free at Papa John's. Don't even know if they have it.

• 9:05Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know.

• 9:05George Kamel?

  But Marco's has a real good gluten-free. We like our toppings. We know what we like.

• 9:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 9:10George Kamel?

  What's your pizza?

• 9:12Rachel Cruze?

  Pepperonis and banana peppers.

• 9:14George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 9:15Rachel Cruze?

  It's my favorite. It's it.

• 9:16George Kamel?

  Can someone explain the difference between pepper and chenilles and banana peppers?

• 9:20Rachel Cruze?

  Pepper chenilles are more, are spicier. And they're not as available. So Papa John's, that's why I like them. They give you the pepper chenille, the full pepper in the box. So you

• 9:30Rachel Cruze?

  And then heart with your pizza pizza, you get both.

• 9:33George Kamel?

  Is that what you do?

• 9:34Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah. I got my pepper chini in one hand and then I got my.

• 9:37George Kamel?

  And then you take a bite of the pizza?

• 9:38Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and then you put hot red pepper flakes on top of your pizza, too.

• 9:43George Kamel?

  She gets it.

• 9:43Rachel Cruze?

  Fantastic.

• 9:44George Kamel?

  Red pepper flakes are a game changer.

• 9:45Rachel Cruze?

  All day, all day. That or the Jets Eugene. If you have Jets, go to the Eugene. It's sausage, banana pepper, red onion.

• 9:54George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 9:55Rachel Cruze?

  Fabulous.

• 9:56George Kamel?

  Sounds great. Whitney loves one at Marco's. It's a white sauce, not a red sauce.

• 10:01Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 10:01George Kamel?

  With grilled chicken and green peppers.

• 10:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I can't do the white sauce pizza.

• 10:06George Kamel?

  Give it a shot.

• 10:07Rachel Cruze?

  I have.

• 10:07George Kamel?

  I do extra red sauce, sausage and pepperoni. Old World. Have you had the Old World? The little cuppies?

• 10:14Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, the little guys.

• 10:15George Kamel?

  The little guys.

• 10:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, good one.

• 10:17George Kamel?

  Game changer. A little spicier, a little crispier.

• 10:19Rachel Cruze?

  You know what I don't like? A stuffed crust. Don't eat it.

• 10:23George Kamel?

  Not for me.

• 10:23Rachel Cruze?

  Don't eat it.

• 10:24George Kamel?

  Crust is already like, let's tone down the crust. You're overestimating how much we want to eat.

• 10:28Rachel Cruze?

  And then they give you that garlic sauce, which you're supposed to dip in, but I pour it over my pizza.

• 10:31George Kamel?

  Oh, that's a good one, too.

• 10:33Rachel Cruze?

  It's also good.

• 10:34George Kamel?

  I'm hungry.

• 10:35Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, I wish we did that.

• 10:36George Kamel?

  We are hungry, but yes.

• 10:38Rachel Cruze?

  Do you know what's always worth it, though?

• 10:39George Kamel?

  What?

• 10:39Rachel Cruze?

  Promo code or not, but a promo is still great, is your online safety.

• 10:44George Kamel?

  Way to transition.

• 10:45Rachel Cruze?

  And when you have a program that's helping you in life, a service, to get your data off the internet, it is worth it every time.

• 10:53George Kamel?

  That's a game changer.

• 10:54Rachel Cruze?

  And with Delete Me, this is what they do. You go in, you fill out a profile, create an account, and they go through all these data broker websites and take your information off these websites because there are scammers, there are spammers, there are people out there that are selling your data and getting it off the internet is so important in 2024. That's why I love Delete Me.

• 11:14George Kamel?

  And you think, well, I could do this myself, to go scour the internet, find it, find the little form to fill out to remove it. Well, it's not a one and done. Your info is constantly being sold to data broker sites out there.

• 11:25Rachel Cruze?

  Over and over.

• 11:26George Kamel?

  So this is a great way, an affordable way, to make sure you don't have to worry about that ever again. So you can check it out. Just go to joindelete.me/smartmoney and you'll get 20% off for being a Smart Money Happy Hour listener.

• 11:37Rachel Cruze?

  There's your promo, guys. There's your promo.

• 11:39George Kamel?

  There's your promo.

• 11:40Rachel Cruze?

  Are you getting sticky from the old?

• 11:42George Kamel?

  Yeah, a lot of caramel.

• 11:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I've got sap. I feel like Buddy the Elf.

• 11:44George Kamel?

  A lot of caramel on here.

• 11:46Rachel Cruze?

  Sap everywhere.

• 11:48George Kamel?

  Can I tell you, when it comes to promo codes, this is not, they are not sponsors, but I love Honey and Slip Deals, and sometimes they tell me not to find those promo codes. I just did this with Marco's this week. My go-to promo code to save 30% did not work. So I had to settle for a 25% instead of a 30%.

• 12:07Rachel Cruze?

  Dad, no it's.

• 12:08George Kamel?

  Can I be honest? It hurt a little bit.

• 12:09Rachel Cruze?

  I'm sure. Did it ruin your night? Or did you bounce back, George?

• 12:12George Kamel?

  I wouldn't call it a night ruiner because I still think pizza is an affordable option to feed your family.

• 12:17Rachel Cruze?

  Resilience.

• 12:18George Kamel?

  Yeah, I was resilient.

• 12:19Rachel Cruze?

  Good for you. Okay, how about this? Paying debt off over the course of several years.

• 12:25George Kamel?

  Oh, is this worth it? Dime versus time?

• 12:26Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, where it's like, okay, I'm not gonna like sacrifice my lifestyle. I'm gonna just pay for it.

• 12:32George Kamel?

  Several is the operating word. I would go, if it's gonna take, like, I want to make the pain a shorter timeframe. So two years, two and a half years, now we're talking. If it's gonna be three, four, or five years, we gotta really find out a way to get some extra income or cut our expenses.

• 12:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, for sure. So, yeah, I would say it's always worth the time because you're getting money back, right? The amount of money you're paying, not only in payments, but the interest on top of that, it is so worth just to buckle down, like you're saying, and saying, I'm gonna just cut everything, get extra income, and do it in a short amount of time. So.

• 13:05George Kamel?

  And I paid off 40 grand in 18 months. Our friend and fellow personality Jade Warshaw, her and her husband, it took them seven and a half years because they had almost half a million

• 13:13Rachel Cruze?

  Crazy, yeah.

• 13:13George Kamel?

  in debt. And so regardless of how long it takes, be intense about it and knock it out. It's always worth it to free up your income for the rest of your life.

• 13:21Rachel Cruze?

  So good. All right, next, George. Finding cheap parking far away and walking instead of paying $15 for the garage or valet fee.

• 13:31George Kamel?

  I am that guy who.

• 13:33Rachel Cruze?

  You're a walker?

• 13:34George Kamel?

  Well, I will do excessive research before. And there's an app called Spot Hero. There's other parking apps out there. So I can pre-book a parking spot in a garage, and I know exactly how much it's gonna cost.

• 13:44Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wow.

• 13:45George Kamel?

  So it'll show you on a map how close to.

• 13:46Rachel Cruze?

  How do you pre-park it? Because what if someone pulls in and just parks in your spot?

• 13:50George Kamel?

  Well, it's a parking garage, and so you're prepaying for a spot. So I don't know how that works.

• 13:55Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, a spot, not like a specific.

• 13:56George Kamel?

  Not a specific spot. And so I'll know, hey, if I'm going to the show downtown Nashville, I can pay $10 for the library parking garage.

• 14:04Rachel Cruze?

  I got you.

• 14:04George Kamel?

  Versus paying 25 for the one right next to the venue, when I could have driven or walked an extra five minutes.

• 14:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, how far are you walking? Let's talk blocks here. Let's go big city.

• 14:13George Kamel?

  I am, 10 minute is about the max walk. If it's a 15 minute walk for parking, I try to find something closer.

• 14:19Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 14:19George Kamel?

  Or a street parking. But I will always look for street parking first that's free, which is more rare in Nashville because they've just taken over with trying to get you to pay for parking.

• 14:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's not a lot here.

• 14:29George Kamel?

  But I'm a big fan of just taking a little bit of extra time.

• 14:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I would go a 10 minute walk.

• 14:33George Kamel?

  You would?

• 14:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 14:35George Kamel?

  What about valet, if it's offered?

• 14:37Rachel Cruze?

  Airport, I'm going valet. It's my bougie trait.

• 14:41George Kamel?

  That's your toxic trait.

• 14:42Rachel Cruze?

  I love a valet parking with airport because you got your suitcases, you got everything else. It's worth it to me. But yeah, we, yeah, I'd say we would walk. But then if you circle the block like five times, then I'm like, just pay. Like, there's a point I give up and I just.

• 14:57George Kamel?

  I'm not gonna circle for a half hour, but if I can circle for 10 minutes, I would do that to save 20 bucks.

• 15:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, for sure. And it's healthy to walk after a meal.

• 15:07George Kamel?

  Oh, I didn't think about that.

• 15:08Rachel Cruze?

  It's a big deal. I know. So after a big meal, you're like, oh, let's go walk the city for a little bit.

• 15:12George Kamel?

  And weather dependent as well.

• 15:14Rachel Cruze?

  That is true, for sure.

• 15:15George Kamel?

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

• 15:27Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 15:28George Kamel?

  It's not a big city park. It's a normal, like suburban parking lot. I'll go park myself.

• 15:33Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Because then you gotta tip the valet.

• 15:36George Kamel?

  Always tip your valet.

• 15:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Who doesn't tip their valet?

• 15:39George Kamel?

  Avoid it and park myself, I'll tip myself instead.

• 15:42Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, how about this one? Going to pick up an order instead of paying it for delivery service to bring it to you.

• 15:48George Kamel?

  Now, this is a no-brainer. If you're getting out of debt, don't pay for delivery services. Do it yourself. But I tend to err on the side of going to pick it up myself if it makes sense. So that's me 90% of the time. 90% of the time, you might go for the delivery service.

• 16:04Rachel Cruze?

  You know, we don't do like an Uber Eats, though. Like, I don't do.

• 16:07George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 16:08Rachel Cruze?

  I don't do, I mean, groceries I will deliver at times, but food delivery services I don't do except for pizza.

• 16:15George Kamel?

  That's fair.

• 16:15Rachel Cruze?

  So like, if we're gonna go out, we usually go out. We don't usually get it to go.

• 16:19George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 16:19Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know.

• 16:20George Kamel?

  I've probably DoorDash or Uber Eats, like, I can count on one hand how many times I've done that in my life because it hurts my soul to see how much of a ripoff it can be when you're adding up. Number one, they're charging more for everything on that menu. Then number two, there's a delivery fee. Then number three, you're adding tip on top of all of that.

• 16:38Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 16:38George Kamel?

  So a $10 meal could end up costing you 20 or more.

• 16:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 16:42George Kamel?

  When you add up all. So it just, for me, if it's pizza and it's a big group of people and I can't leave the house or don't want to, I'll get it delivered.

• 16:49Rachel Cruze?

  Totally. I will always deliver pizza. Will you always pick up pizza, too?

• 16:52George Kamel?

  Oh, I will. I will attempt to pick it up because it's less than 15 minutes one way.

• 16:56Rachel Cruze?

  I'm such like a 90s kid. I feel like delivering pizza is like the.

• 16:59George Kamel?

  It's a real treat. I'll tell you that. It's a real San Francisco treat when I can just get the pizza delivered. But something about me feels good when I got to be the delivery driver and save my family that, you know, five or eight bucks on delivery fee plus tip.

• 17:12Rachel Cruze?

  You know, heroes don't all wear capes. Well done, George. Well done.

• 17:16George Kamel?

  They wear corduroy denim jackets, in case you're wondering what a hero looks like.

• 17:20Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, okay. How about this? Buying things in bulk when there's a major sale.

• 17:26George Kamel?

  This is the Middle Eastern in me. I love a bulk purchase.

• 17:29Rachel Cruze?

  Give me a bulk purchase.

• 17:30George Kamel?

  I'm doing the price per ounce. I'm doing the calculation on my phone. I'm going, let's buy it in bulk.

• 17:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 17:36George Kamel?

  Caveat, I need to check the expiration date. If it's something that will expire within a week.

• 17:41Rachel Cruze?

  If it's a perishable item, I'm more cautious.

• 17:42George Kamel?

  Yes, agreed.

• 17:43Rachel Cruze?

  But soap, Dove soap at Costco, give me 80 boxes. Absolutely.

• 17:47George Kamel?

  80 boxes of Dove soap?

• 17:49Rachel Cruze?

  I'm exaggerating. Probably 20, though. A big old thing, and you're like, that will last me forever.

• 17:53George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 17:53Rachel Cruze?

  So great. I love bulk. I do.

• 17:56George Kamel?

  Yeah, it does. Because then I don't have to go shopping as quickly. You're not going every week to get this thing, and you're saving money along the way. So, you know, Costco, Sam's Club, it can be a good deal, but I also, I try to only buy things that are on sale at Costco. Another toxic trait of mine, or Sam's Club, if I can get it on sale, I feel even better.

• 18:14Rachel Cruze?

  Totally.

• 18:15George Kamel?

  Even more bang for the buck.

• 18:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 18:17George Kamel?

  And you can return it at any time, no questions asked, which I did.

• 18:20Rachel Cruze?

  You know that.

• 18:21George Kamel?

  The other week with a full-on grill.

• 18:24Rachel Cruze?

  You returned a grill?

• 18:25George Kamel?

  I returned a grill.

• 18:26Rachel Cruze?

  Why?

• 18:28George Kamel?

  Uh, I don't know if it was user error or the grill just wasn't great. But we used it at my daughter's first birthday party and it almost ruined the party.

• 18:36Rachel Cruze?

  No, did it fire?

• 18:38George Kamel?

  Uh, that was the second time I used it. There was a grill fire, which didn't know was a thing.

• 18:43Rachel Cruze?

  George, I don't know. Are you like a grill master though? My question would be user error.

• 18:46George Kamel?

  No, but it's a, it's a, uh, what's it called? The Easy Bake Oven. It's the Traeger. It was like a Traeger Junior from Costco. And you plug it in, you set the temp. It's supposed to be like no frills. The birthday, we could not, I couldn't get the thing started. I couldn't even get it to like go to turn on essentially. I hit the power button.

• 19:06Rachel Cruze?

  I was gonna say, is there an on button?

• 19:08George Kamel?

  There is, but then there's like, it has four buttons and they're not labeled. And you're just hoping and guessing like which ones you have to hold together to get the thing ignited and get the pellets going.

• 19:15Rachel Cruze?

  Did you ask anyone for help?

• 19:17George Kamel?

  I made the mistake of calling customer service and it was some dude following a script. He had an accent. He clearly had not grilled before. Cause he just kept going through his script and he was like, do you have an account? Online. I was like, no, tell me how to get the grill on. It was very frustrating. I eventually got the grill on. Then my dad was handling the grill. The pellets were not feeding in and that grill went down in temp. So I was like, I give up. I'm going to Costco and returning it.

• 19:46Rachel Cruze?

  I'm glad you did, but then they took it back?

• 19:48George Kamel?

  They took it back.

• 19:49Rachel Cruze?

  Dang.

• 19:49George Kamel?

  I wouldn't say happily. They were a little bit like, what's, what's going on with the grill? It's a few years old. And I went, it hasn't worked for me.

• 19:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, just not working.

• 19:57George Kamel?

  Yeah. And their policy is, other than electronics, appliances, jewelry, at any time you're not satisfied, bring it back. Full refund. There you go.

• 20:05Rachel Cruze?

  Good for you.

• 20:06George Kamel?

  There's my take.

• 20:07Rachel Cruze?

  All right. Uh, driving to your vacation instead of flying because of the high cost of flights.

• 20:13George Kamel?

  This depends on the destination, of course. What is the most you'd be willing to drive?

• 20:17Rachel Cruze?

  Call me bougie. Call me bougie. I'm a flyer.

• 20:21George Kamel?

  No more road trips for the Cruz family.

• 20:22Rachel Cruze?

  Y'all, I, we could go.

• 20:25George Kamel?

  What's the distance? You're like, okay, this is a flight worthy destination versus a drivable. Like Atlanta is what, three and a half hours?

• 20:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I'd say, I'd say five hours.

• 20:34George Kamel?

  Five hours or less, you're willing to drive.

• 20:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. Five hours or more, we're flying.

• 20:39George Kamel?

  To be fair, is Winston driving most of the time?

• 20:41Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, a hundred percent. I'm the passenger princess. Or what do they call it? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I've got my phone. I've got, oh yeah, I'm not even, I'm not even aware. Cause my kids now, we only give them tablets on, on road trips or on flights. So they're like on drugs every time we like travel. Cause like they don't get, they don't get them.

• 20:59George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 20:59Rachel Cruze?

  So I don't do anything now.

• 21:01George Kamel?

  What are they watching?

• 21:02Rachel Cruze?

  It's great. They play games, a snake game that you gotta eat stuff. That's their big thing.

• 21:06George Kamel?

  That feels like a good thing.

• 21:08Rachel Cruze?

  I know. They love games and one's a color in per box thing Amelia does.

• 21:14George Kamel?

  So the reason they want to travel is not for the destination?

• 21:16Rachel Cruze?

  That's what we're learning. Yes. That they just want their tablets.

• 21:19George Kamel?

  What if it was a vacation where you just drove around and let them play on an iPad?

• 21:22Rachel Cruze?

  They would.

• 21:23George Kamel?

  They'd be none the wiser.

• 21:24Rachel Cruze?

  They would be fine.

• 21:24George Kamel?

  They would think, wow, what a great trip that was.

• 21:26Rachel Cruze?

  I know. So yeah, but all to say, five hours or more, we're flying.

• 21:31George Kamel?

  I'm gonna say if, if I can save like a hundred dollars per hour. So if the flights are more than a hundred dollars for every hour I save.

• 21:42George Kamel?

  Then I'm probably gonna drive.

• 21:43Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 21:43George Kamel?

  Within limits.

• 21:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. What's your limit? What's your hour limit?

• 21:46George Kamel?

  Now with a baby, I realize my wife is very like, we're not gonna drive in a car for eight hours with a, you know? So we're still at that stage. So we have, we've been flying mostly to Florida and to Boston. That's where our families are.

• 21:57Rachel Cruze?

  Sure, sure.

• 21:58George Kamel?

  Which are pretty easy flights. My key is it's gotta be a non-stop. I don't do connecting flights if I can help it. At reasonable times, I will not fly before nine AM. That is my limit.

• 22:08Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 22:09George Kamel?

  Because the earlier the flight, the more chaotic the airport is with more people and more stress and less sleep.

• 22:18Rachel Cruze?

  I think I would challenge you on that.

• 22:19George Kamel?

  Challenge, go ahead.

• 22:20Rachel Cruze?

  All right. You get an eight AM flight.

• 22:23George Kamel?

  You gotta show up at six 30 at the latest.

• 22:26Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 22:28George Kamel?

  We got a lot of luggage because of the baby stuff. So you gotta wait in line for the baby. You gotta check the.

• 22:33Rachel Cruze?

  You're still checking. We carry on. We carry on.

• 22:36George Kamel?

  If it's just me solo, who cares? But with the baby now, when we're traveling with the family.

• 22:40Rachel Cruze?

  Those days. All right. You know what? Okay. So eight o'clock, you board at seven 30. Then we're there at six 50.

• 22:51George Kamel?

  Risky.

• 22:52Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 22:52George Kamel?

  Cause sometimes those lines at six 50 are out the door.

• 22:56Rachel Cruze?

  They're not with TSA pre-check. Or then you just look at the sad little family and say, we're late for our flight. Can we get you?

• 23:03George Kamel?

  It's the bag drop that's the issue. And we experienced this.

• 23:06Rachel Cruze?

  You are late for our flight.

• 23:07George Kamel?

  Is that what you say?

• 23:09Rachel Cruze?

  Poor family. No, I've never had to, but worst case scenario, I a hundred percent would. I'd say, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. But Nashville, we walk right up every time we fly to TSA.

• 23:18George Kamel?

  America, let me know in the comments. If Rachel asks you, of course you're gonna say, oh, absolutely. If I ask you, you're like, the line's back there, bucko. You're gonna wait like the rest of us.

• 23:28Rachel Cruze?

  Get back there. Get back there. Oh, George.

• 23:31George Kamel?

  It's a lot of stress.

• 23:32Rachel Cruze?

  It is. So.

• 23:33George Kamel?

  But if I can save a hundred bucks per hour, I'm gonna, I'd rather fly if I can. I'll say that.

• 23:38Rachel Cruze?

  That's fair. I know. And flying's gotten more expensive.

• 23:40George Kamel?

  And like to Florida, that trip is like, it can be an eight and a half hour drive to, to see the family. In Boston, I wouldn't even dare.

• 23:46Rachel Cruze?

  See, I would, I, I would skimp on food and be like, we're not gonna eat out nice. Like we'll just get whatever like to go. We'll get easy food.

• 23:55George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 23:55Rachel Cruze?

  To save money to pay for flights. Like I would find ways to like find around it.

• 23:59George Kamel?

  We looked and I was like, I'm not paying 1,300 bucks for flights. It was the cheapest to get to.

• 24:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's hard.

• 24:04George Kamel?

  During the holidays, they up the prices and I was like, forget it. They can come see us if they want.

• 24:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. So George, I think that, I think the point of all of this though, is you gotta have boundaries in life. We can't all just get what we want all the time. You have to prioritize and know what is worth your time because your time is, in essence, you want to be able to have, I mean, to me, the, the, the life quality of saying, gosh, I have the spare time. It gets worth it in a certain season, right?

• 24:32George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 24:33Rachel Cruze?

  So that's why I think getting out of debt, getting yourself some margin, all of that, to be able to do some of the conveniences. Like we talked about this episode.

• 24:40George Kamel?

  Cause we're not mad at the conveniences.

• 24:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And I think that there's a point in that that is great. And that's where the whole like, does money make you happy idea? I think that it can provide conveniences, right? In this kind of way.

• 24:53George Kamel?

  That's beautifully said. And I'll add to that, your priorities will always dictate your boundaries.

• 24:57Rachel Cruze?

  Ah, beautifully said.

• 24:59George Kamel?

  Tweet that. I know when tweets, but you can into the, into the abyss.

• 25:04Rachel Cruze?

  All right. Well, it's almost the end of the episode, George. And we close out every episode with guilty as charged. And this is where our producer, Lindsay's last guilty as charged.

• 25:15Speaker 02

  Have you ever impulsively bought something you didn't budget for? And what was it?

• 25:21George Kamel?

  Yeah. I mean, I, I've got some.

• 25:24Rachel Cruze?

  I did.

• 25:25George Kamel?

  I'm not scared. I'm not ashamed.

• 25:27Rachel Cruze?

  Mine's for my children, so I feel good about it.

• 25:29Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 25:30George Kamel?

  What a great mom.

• 25:31Rachel Cruze?

  Basketball. Uh, our middle child is gonna do basketball. We've never done basketball as a family and it came up literally in like a group chat. And I asked her, would you wanna play basketball this winter with all your friends that are doing soccer? She's like, yes. And I said, sure. But it was $215 to sign up. That was not in the budget. So. Rearranged some of the stuff, added a line item, put it in the budget, but it was not originally for it.

• 25:57George Kamel?

  So it didn't derail anything, but it was just like, all right, we gotta figure this out.

• 26:00Rachel Cruze?

  Adjustments. Yeah. Little things here, there, little tweaks, if you will. But does that count?

• 26:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:06George Kamel?

  I would say so. Mine was a lot pricier, but I don't, I don't regret it. But it was definitely like a non-George splurge.

• 26:13Rachel Cruze?

  Who was it?

• 26:15George Kamel?

  So Whitney's grandpa passed a while back.

• 26:18Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 26:19George Kamel?

  Not super recently. But then grandma going through all the stuff said, hey, he's got this old Rolex watch. Would you want it? And I was like, absolutely.

• 26:28Rachel Cruze?

  You're a Rolex king.

• 26:29George Kamel?

  Here's the thing. So they said, here's the deal. You can't sell it, but you, you keep, if you're gonna wear it and you're gonna enjoy it, we wanna give it to you for free. And I was like, oh my gosh, what an honor. So it needed some fixing up. So I take it to the jeweler, to the like whatever. They send it off to Rolex for an estimate and it was over a thousand dollars to get the watch repaired.

• 26:48Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wow.

• 26:48George Kamel?

  Which you know hurts my soul.

• 26:50Rachel Cruze?

  Sure. How much was it worth?

• 26:51George Kamel?

  Series three Apple watch that I bought.

• 26:53Rachel Cruze?

  How much was the Rolex worth? You know?

• 26:54George Kamel?

  I don't, I'm guessing, I think from what I can tell, I need to get it appraised, but I think it's probably a 5,000, 6,000 dollar watch. So in my mind, I went, okay, would I pay a thousand dollars to get a new to me Rolex watch? Absolutely. But that wasn't in the budget. This was sprung on me, but I needed to get the repair done in order to use it. So we have been saving for a new house and so we used some of the new house savings and went, all right, I'm gonna make that up in the long run over the next year. And I will get this repair done for the heirloom jewelry and you know.

• 27:24Rachel Cruze?

  Do you like it? Is it, is it cool?

• 27:26George Kamel?

  I'm picking it. They just text me today and said, the watch is ready. Come pick it up.

• 27:29Rachel Cruze?

  But when you saw it though, is it like the size you like?

• 27:32George Kamel?

  Beautiful, yes. And he was, he was a smaller fellow like me. And so I think it's gonna be, I get to carry the legacy of, of my wife's grandpa, which is cool. So I'm excited. But again, it's, when people see me, they're gonna be like, oh, okay, Mr. Rolex. I'm like, no, no, no, no. Like trust me, I'm not this guy, but it's a beautiful watch. So I'll wear it with no shame.

• 27:52Rachel Cruze?

  That, George.

• 27:53George Kamel?

  So can't wait. You'll see it on a future episode of Smart Money Happy.

• 27:56Rachel Cruze?

  Maybe you can come to Caroline's game wearing the Rolex and we can say, no budget.

• 28:00George Kamel?

  You know me, Rachel. I am the like last guy to like, I'm not trying to flex.

• 28:05Rachel Cruze?

  I'm kidding.

• 28:05George Kamel?

  You know what I mean?

• 28:06Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 28:07George Kamel?

  But do I wanna show up to a little league soccer game wearing Rolex for fun?

• 28:12Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 28:13George Kamel?

  Me and Winston bro-ing down, talking about the big game, coaching them up, yelling things at them? Absolutely.

• 28:18Rachel Cruze?

  All day, every day.

• 28:19George Kamel?

  So that is my, uh, yeah, was not in the budget.

• 28:22Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 28:22George Kamel?

  Was impulsive. We made it work. I think it was worth it.

• 28:26Rachel Cruze?

  I love it. That was a good one. So good. All right. Who finished their drink first, George?

• 28:31George Kamel?

  I'm a little closer.

• 28:31Rachel Cruze?

  I know, it was you.

• 28:33George Kamel?

  It is a very sticky drink, but I do, caramel is my favorite accoutrement.

• 28:38Rachel Cruze?

  Okay. It's Winston's.

• 28:40George Kamel?

  Like if it was ice cream, forget the hot fudge. I'm sick of hot fudge within three bites.

• 28:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's what Winston says. Caramel's his too.

• 28:46Speaker 02

  I think this is a guy thing because my husband is the same way.

• 28:48Rachel Cruze?

  It's so weird. And I don't like caramel. I like a milky way. Eh eh. Love a Snickers, but the caramel part of it.

• 28:54George Kamel?

  Payday. A Twix.

• 28:58Rachel Cruze?

  Give me a Snickers.

• 28:58George Kamel?

  I'm betwixt by your hot take on that.

• 29:00Rachel Cruze?

  But I like hot fudge. I would do hot fudge.

• 29:03George Kamel?

  Grouse, basic.

• 29:04Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, unbelievable.

• 29:05Speaker 02

  There we go.

• 29:06George Kamel?

  What would you rate the drink, first of all?

• 29:08Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I'm going nine out of 10. It's a little sweet.

• 29:11George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 29:11Rachel Cruze?

  That's why it's not a 10 out of 10. Like, the sweetness level is just like a tad much. But it's so good.

• 29:16George Kamel?

  I think as the ice watered it down, it tempered the sweetness. I'm gonna go 10 out of 10. I, the only way I could improve on this mocktail, and call me bougie, if you add a little bit of Spindrift's apple, they have like a crisp apple flavor with Spindrift. It's a little bit of the bubbles in there.

• 29:30Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you got a little bubble.

• 29:31George Kamel?

  That would have really taken this up one notch.

• 29:33Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 29:33George Kamel?

  But still a 10 out of 10 mocktail for me.

• 29:35Rachel Cruze?

  It tastes like an apple pie. Like, it's great. It is great.

• 29:39George Kamel?

  Very good. So the cost breakdown, $1.38 per glass. Not bad for a 10 out of 10 mocktail. And here's the ingredients: apple cider, caramel syrup, not caramel, caramel syrup. Don't know if you can find that in the store. Cinnamon, apples, you got the fresh apple slice in there. Rosemary, again, fresh rosemary.

• 29:57Rachel Cruze?

  Mmm.

• 29:58George Kamel?

  Game changer. And brown sugar.

• 30:00Rachel Cruze?

  Love it.

• 30:00George Kamel?

  So it's a brown sugar caramel rim.

• 30:02Rachel Cruze?

  Delicious.

• 30:03George Kamel?

  That really adds to it. I would personally add sparkling water if you want to take it to an 11. I think that would have just really been the, the apple on top instead of the cherry in this case.

• 30:12Rachel Cruze?

  Wow. There you go.

• 30:13George Kamel?

  Get the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend. Your kids can enjoy this one, too. And hallelujah to all of us.

• 30:19Rachel Cruze?

  Hallelujah.

• 30:20Speaker 02

  Hallelujah.

• 30:24Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 30:25George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 30:25Rachel Cruze?

  And this is.

• 30:26George Kamel?

  Smart, Money, Happy Hour.

• 30:29Rachel Cruze?

  Cheers, George.

• 30:30George Kamel?

  Cheers.

• 30:32Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yours looks more full than mine, but that is delicious.

• 30:36George Kamel?

  Only one way to explain that, Rachel.

• 30:37Rachel Cruze?

  We will take that. Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and money.

• 30:48George Kamel?

  And Rachel, you've heard this Michelle Obama quote, "When they go low, we go..."

• 30:52Rachel Cruze?

  We go high.

• 30:53George Kamel?

  There it is. But are you familiar with the lesser-known saying, "When cost of living goes high, we go even lower."

• 30:59Rachel Cruze?

  Lower.

• 31:00George Kamel?

  That's one I just made up.

• 31:01Rachel Cruze?

  Go as low as we can to survive the world today, George.

• 31:05George Kamel?

  We're gonna unpack that little haiku together today, but let's talk about what we're sipping on.

• 31:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we are sipping on a tequila, Manhattan.

• 31:12George Kamel?

  Two of your favorite things.

• 31:13Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I enjoy clean tequila these days. That could be for another episode. But it's, when you find a clean tequila without preservatives, and none of the celebrity tequilas, they're full of preservatives.

• 31:23George Kamel?

  Oh, wow.

• 31:24Rachel Cruze?

  Clean tequilas.

• 31:25George Kamel?

  It's like you're about to launch your own celebrity to show on the show. And that's why I created...

• 31:29Rachel Cruze?

  And that's why I created Nino Wilson. I don't know.

• 31:34George Kamel?

  Was that your best name for a tequila?

• 31:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I don't know. I was trying to come up with it on the spot.

• 31:39George Kamel?

  I mean, Cruz already has like a Mexican vibe.

• 31:42Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I could use my name.

• 31:42George Kamel?

  You could have just went...

• 31:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I could. That's good. That's good.

• 31:45George Kamel?

  All right. Don't invite me to the marketing meeting.

• 31:47Rachel Cruze?

  I was trying to go like, "Location."

• 31:49George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 31:49Rachel Cruze?

  No, but I was reading or listening to a health expert on a podcast, and he said if you're gonna drink a clean tequila, clean is the key here, is the healthiest for it, because of the agave plant and the way you're bought.

• 32:00George Kamel?

  It's the healthiest poison you could imbibe.

• 32:03Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. For your body to, yes, like, as it goes through everything, I don't know, because it's an agave plant. Or a, or a bolden, are you ready for this? A bolden Italian red wine. That's the second best.

• 32:17George Kamel?

  I love that when you listen to health experts, you become one.

• 32:22George Kamel?

  You fooled me.

• 32:23Rachel Cruze?

  I basically got a degree.

• 32:24George Kamel?

  That's impressive.

• 32:25Rachel Cruze?

  So anyways, that's it. Yeah, yeah.

• 32:26George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 32:27Rachel Cruze?

  But American wines, they, they said, no go.

• 32:29George Kamel?

  They just add a bunch of crap to it.

• 32:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, they said it's not good. Don't get mad at me, Napa. Don't get mad at me.

• 32:33George Kamel?

  It's the American way.

• 32:34Rachel Cruze?

  You know? Okay. So anyways, we're sipping on a, I would think a clear, a clean tequila. We're gonna just go for that.

• 32:40George Kamel?

  Sure. You can think that.

• 32:42Rachel Cruze?

  Manhattan. And we love a Manhattan. It's great.

• 32:44George Kamel?

  It's very good. And wait till the end. We're gonna give you our rating, reveal the cost per glass. And as always, the recipe is in the show notes, and this is one we might recommend making.

• 32:53Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Pretty good so far.

• 32:54George Kamel?

  Well, Rachel, today's topic is, it's giving the same energy as "I can't even."

• 32:59Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 33:00George Kamel?

  You know, remember when that phrase became an overnight staple in millennial vocabulary? And then Gen Z was like, "That's chugi." And by the way, don't say chugi anymore. It's not cool.

• 33:08Rachel Cruze?

  I can't even. See, "I can't even" feels, doesn't feel millennial. Millennial to me was like the valley girl, like, "Oh, my gosh, as if," like, clueless.

• 33:15George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 33:16Rachel Cruze?

  Like, that world, the dumb blonde. That was my, that was like my high school, like, that was the lingo there, you know?

• 33:22George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 33:23Rachel Cruze?

  But anyways, whether "I can't even" or like, "Oh, my gosh, valley girl," it is, we are all exhausted with the world today and the cost of living, George.

• 33:31George Kamel?

  The cost, it's out of control.

• 33:33Rachel Cruze?

  It feels out of control, people.

• 33:34George Kamel?

  I can't walk out of the house without spending 100 bucks. Like, prove to me I'm wrong. If you leave, the party's over. So I just don't leave anymore.

• 33:42Rachel Cruze?

  Um, okay, so we're gonna talk about some ridiculous trends of people saving money during the world today, because, again, it is so expensive. Uh, but yeah, I'm curious, George, you got any, you got any crazies? Any skeletons in your closet?

• 33:56George Kamel?

  Uh, when it comes to how I've survived the cost of living.

• 33:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, saving money.

• 33:59George Kamel?

  How I save money. I do have one recent that I feel like is not impressive. Most people are unwilling to do it. But you can go do it today.

• 34:06Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 34:07George Kamel?

  So you know I'm a frugal guy. I wanted to see Twisters. I don't want to pay this $15 plus $4 convenience fee that they now charge to see these movies. So I'm a AAA member, so I went, they got movie tickets on the AAA website. So I bought the tickets at a discount from the AAA website for like eight or nine bucks, and you scan them. Then I realized, well, if I enter the code on the AMC app, it's still gonna charge me a convenience fee of three bucks. And so I went, screw that. I'm gonna go to the movie theater the day before and get my tickets in person to avoid the convenience fee.

• 34:40Rachel Cruze?

  Wow.

• 34:41George Kamel?

  So I double hacked. I was like, I'm not paying full price for the ticket, and I'm not paying the convenience fee.

• 34:45Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 34:46George Kamel?

  And that's how I saw Twisters for $9.

• 34:49Rachel Cruze?

  Can I tell you this? Uh, Rachel saw Twisters for 12. You ready for this?

• 34:54George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 34:55Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, you go to a matinee.

• 34:57George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 34:58Rachel Cruze?

  You gotta get, you gotta get a sitter or the whole thing, right? Go to a matinee, 25% off.

• 35:02George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 35:02Rachel Cruze?

  And then you become an AMC member.

• 35:04George Kamel?

  The Stubbs member.

• 35:05Rachel Cruze?

  The Stubbs member, and your, and your fee's waived. But I do...

• 35:09George Kamel?

  It's only waived if you buy four or more, though. Unless you're paying for the premium subscription.

• 35:13Rachel Cruze?

  Ooh.

• 35:14George Kamel?

  Rachel paid a fee.

• 35:15Rachel Cruze?

  Shoot, am I paying? Am I paying a subscription?

• 35:18George Kamel?

  Hmm, I hope not. They have different levels.

• 35:21Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 35:21George Kamel?

  But the first one's just a free...

• 35:22Rachel Cruze?

  Mine, my convenience fee was waived when I...

• 35:25George Kamel?

  Good for you.

• 35:25Rachel Cruze?

  Apple paid.

• 35:26George Kamel?

  That's legit.

• 35:27Rachel Cruze?

  That's me, Apple paying for my ticket.

• 35:30George Kamel?

  Anyways, that's the last, the latest thing I did.

• 35:33Rachel Cruze?

  All right.

• 35:33George Kamel?

  Because, you know, for frugality's sake.

• 35:35Rachel Cruze?

  That's so great. Let's go to the labor and statistics, shall we?

• 35:37George Kamel?

  That is so great.

• 35:38Rachel Cruze?

  The Consumer Price Index rose...

• 35:39George Kamel?

  You know what that energy was? That was, I love that for you, energy. That was like, could not care less, but glad you took the time to share.

• 35:50Rachel Cruze?

  Thank you, George, for sharing.

• 35:51George Kamel?

  Now, tell us about the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Rachel. That sounds fascinating.

• 35:55Rachel Cruze?

  It rose 3.1% in 2024.

• 36:00George Kamel?

  The Consumer Price Index, you say? The CPI, if you will.

• 36:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, so this is less growth than the 5.6% year-over-year from 2022 to 2023. And, and 6% from 2021 to 2022, but it's still an increase.

• 36:15George Kamel?

  Okay, so what we're seeing is, you know, the prices have cooled, but that doesn't mean things are cheaper.

• 36:20Rachel Cruze?

  And they're, and they're building on each other. So it's basically a 15% increase overall in the last four years.

• 36:25George Kamel?

  Because they're compounded. You're adding these up over time.

• 36:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I mean, it's just, it keeps going up.

• 36:28George Kamel?

  If something was a dollar, now it's a dollar three, and the next year it's a dollar eight, you're adding all these up. So something that was, let's say your grocery budget in 2020 was 500 bucks, well, in 2024, it needs to be 575. It depends on where you shop. We've talked about this in other episodes, but there's a lot of things you can do to save on groceries. Let's look at some more state-specific data.

• 36:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, this is good, because people are moving. We actually have a new team member here on this team that came from California. And it's like, yeah, there is gonna be a significant price difference from Cal, LA to Nashville, right?

• 36:58George Kamel?

  Have you been to Arowan, which is like Whole Foods on steroids in California?

• 37:02Rachel Cruze?

  No, like fancy schmancy.

• 37:05Speaker 02

  I just heard about this.

• 37:06George Kamel?

  There's some hilarious TikTokers that are like, "I'm gonna make a PB and J," and they buy all this stuff from Arowan. It's like a $400 peanut butter and jelly.

• 37:12Rachel Cruze?

  And their smoothies are like $25 to $30.

• 37:14George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 37:15Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 37:16George Kamel?

  I went to one just to see.

• 37:17Rachel Cruze?

  How, is it beautiful, though?

• 37:19George Kamel?

  Oh, they're just...

• 37:20Rachel Cruze?

  It's unbelievable.

• 37:21George Kamel?

  Gospel gorgeous.

• 37:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's unbelievable.

• 37:22George Kamel?

  Absolutely. Absolutely. But no, I bought like one thing. I bought like eight...

• 37:27Rachel Cruze?

  That's Lisa Harper. Isn't Lisa Harper...

• 37:30George Kamel?

  If you know, you know. Harper fans, rise up.

• 37:35Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh. Lisa, we love you. Oh, my gosh.

• 37:38George Kamel?

  Deep cuts.

• 37:39Rachel Cruze?

  So good. So good.

• 37:41George Kamel?

  Anyways, things do be expensive, and Forbes published an article unpacking recent data around cost of living. So let's test our knowledge in some of these stats. Which state in the U.S. has the highest cost of living, Rachel? If you just guess, 50 states.

• 37:53Rachel Cruze?

  California. No, Hawaii. I'm gonna say Hawaii.

• 37:56George Kamel?

  You are correct. The average annual expenditure, $55,491.

• 38:02Rachel Cruze?

  Man, okay.

• 38:03George Kamel?

  And this is largely due to high housing prices. It's a popular vacation destination, so a lot of tourism. High income and tourism taxes, high cost to import goods to a remote island location. So they're having to bring in a lot of stuff, which makes your grocery prices go up.

• 38:17Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's fair.

• 38:18George Kamel?

  When you think about that.

• 38:19Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 38:19George Kamel?

  So that's a tough one.

• 38:20Rachel Cruze?

  Would you ever move to Hawaii, George? It feels just inconvenient, you know?

• 38:24George Kamel?

  It feels crazy to say I would never, but it's not on my, like, list. Because it is so far to get to, and with family and all that, I would just, I wouldn't want to be that far away from family.

• 38:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 38:34George Kamel?

  And I'm not, truthfully, I'm not really a beach guy. I don't know if you can tell from my complexion. Haven't been there much, don't know much about it.

• 38:41Rachel Cruze?

  You just blend in well.

• 38:42George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 38:43Rachel Cruze?

  Camouflage.

• 38:44George Kamel?

  If you hide me in the sand, you'll never find me.

• 38:46Rachel Cruze?

  Never find, never find you, George.

• 38:48George Kamel?

  Where would you move? If you had to move to any other state in the world, cost of living is not a factor.

• 38:54Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wow, that's a different kind of question. No, like, I'm going, I'm going Manhattan.

• 39:00George Kamel?

  Wow. You could handle the seasons?

• 39:02Rachel Cruze?

  Upper East Side. Yeah, I'm going Manhattan.

• 39:04George Kamel?

  The rats, the smells, everything?

• 39:05Rachel Cruze?

  If I wasn't married to Winston, I'd go to Manhattan.

• 39:08George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 39:08Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, if I genuinely had to move somewhere else, I think I may go Phoenix. I like Phoenix a lot. I love Phoenix.

• 39:15George Kamel?

  Okay, I could see you as a Phoenix.

• 39:16Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm. I thought, you know, I contemplated, um, Texas for a while. Dallas, too big. Houston, too hot. You know, San Antonio, I go through all the, I'm like, Austin, too cool. Can't do Texas.

• 39:29George Kamel?

  Austin's real hot as well. Okay, so you're Goldilocks. Is, you're talking Manhattan.

• 39:35Rachel Cruze?

  Not who, yeah. No, but, but Phoenix is, Phoenix is hot. Um, maybe a Carolinas, one of the Carolinas.

• 39:42George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 39:43Rachel Cruze?

  Sound good, too. How about you, George?

• 39:45George Kamel?

  Um, I'm, this is a weird one, but Whitney, my wife, went to Arkansas, University of Arkansas.

• 39:51Rachel Cruze?

  You're gonna go to Arkansas?

• 39:52George Kamel?

  I'm going to Fayetteville.

• 39:53Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 39:54George Kamel?

  It's a hidden gem.

• 39:55Rachel Cruze?

  It is a hidden gem.

• 39:56George Kamel?

  It's a hidden gem.

• 39:57Rachel Cruze?

  That was not on my bingo card. That was not on my bingo card.

• 40:00George Kamel?

  I know.

• 40:01Rachel Cruze?

  Fayetteville, Arkansas.

• 40:02George Kamel?

  I wanna get out of the hustle and the bustle. I don't need to be in the big city. You know, just give me a good coffee shop, and I just want to chill. I don't want to be in traffic ever.

• 40:11Rachel Cruze?

  Emo George is gonna, okay.

• 40:13George Kamel?

  You know?

• 40:13Rachel Cruze?

  I would, literally would have not won that contest.

• 40:17George Kamel?

  I'd get burnt out in a big city. And I think in too small of a town, I would go crazy.

• 40:22Rachel Cruze?

  Is Fayetteville rather small?

• 40:24George Kamel?

  Uh, it's got a vibe.

• 40:27Rachel Cruze?

  Have you been? When was the last time you went to Fayetteville?

• 40:29George Kamel?

  Uh, September 2020.

• 40:31Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 40:33George Kamel?

  Does that not count? Does that not count as a time I've been to Fayetteville? Why is that funny?

• 40:38Rachel Cruze?

  This is very specific. I don't know.

• 40:40George Kamel?

  Well, I remember because we went to pick up our French Bulldog Olive from Paris, Texas. So we flew into Fayetteville, got a rental car, drove to Paris, Texas.

• 40:47Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wow. Yeah.

• 40:48George Kamel?

  Got the dog, went back to Fayetteville, and then flew out.

• 40:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Wow.

• 40:52George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 40:53Rachel Cruze?

  That's great.

• 40:54George Kamel?

  All right, Rach.

• 40:55Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 40:55George Kamel?

  Back to expenditures. Which state has the lowest cost of living in the US?

• 41:05Rachel Cruze?

  Kentucky.

• 41:06George Kamel?

  Incorrect. Think further south.

• 41:09Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 41:11George Kamel?

  Think Forrest Gump.

• 41:14Rachel Cruze?

  Mississippi.

• 41:15George Kamel?

  Now we're talking.

• 41:16Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 41:17George Kamel?

  Notice I didn't go blindside. That was a little, you know, too easy. I wanted to saw a deeper cut.

• 41:22Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I got you with Forrest Gump.

• 41:24George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 41:25Rachel Cruze?

  Because I could watch that as a child at the Ramses. Couldn't...

• 41:28George Kamel?

  Isn't there nudity in language?

• 41:30Rachel Cruze?

  Shall I remind the America or the world? Fern gully, no. Rugrats, no. Forrest Gump, sure.

• 41:39George Kamel?

  Angelica, that was a character flaw. You know, Jenny, like she was going through, it was a season for her.

• 41:47George Kamel?

  All right. Average annual expenditure in Mississippi, Rachel, $32,336. Versus Hawaii, which was 55 grand. So

• 41:55Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wow.

• 41:55George Kamel?

  Big difference in annual expenditure.

• 41:57Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 41:58George Kamel?

  All right. Which state has the highest amount of disposable income? This is extra money to spend on non-essentials. So who's got the most margin? You would never guess this one.

• 42:07Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going Oklahoma.

• 42:08George Kamel?

  Couldn't be further. Well, I don't know that you couldn't be further.

• 42:11Rachel Cruze?

  California?

• 42:12George Kamel?

  Washington.

• 42:13Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 42:14George Kamel?

  Which is, that's up there.

• 42:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 42:16George Kamel?

  Average of $30,893 in disposable cash to spend. They got money in Washington.

• 42:24Rachel Cruze?

  And I wonder if it's like, because you look at the whole state, which is, I guess, is some states, but Seattle, right, is your main.

• 42:30George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 42:31Rachel Cruze?

  And then everything else, like you look at a Spokane, all that. I mean, it's very like...

• 42:34George Kamel?

  You get the west coast income without the west coast cost of living.

• 42:37Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. Okay. I can go there.

• 42:38George Kamel?

  I can see it.

• 42:38Rachel Cruze?

  I can go there.

• 42:39George Kamel?

  State with the lowest disposable income?

• 42:42Rachel Cruze?

  California.

• 42:43George Kamel?

  Close. You guessed it right the second time last time.

• 42:47Rachel Cruze?

  Kentucky?

• 42:50George Kamel?

  Who had the highest cost of living?

• 42:53Rachel Cruze?

  Cal- New...

• 42:56Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no. Hawaii, Hawaii.

• 42:58George Kamel?

  Hawaii.

• 42:59Rachel Cruze?

  Hawaii, okay.

• 43:00George Kamel?

  So highest cost of living...

• 43:01Rachel Cruze?

  I didn't know this same answer could be on this quiz. This is very tricky.

• 43:03George Kamel?

  Yeah. So the highest cost of living, and they also have the lowest disposable income.

• 43:07Rachel Cruze?

  That's fair. That makes sense. Mathematically, makes sense.

• 43:09George Kamel?

  That makes sense. So residents have the least amount of extra money to spend at just $9,550 per year on average. There we go. So there's a lot of factors that go into cost of living, Rachel, and a lot of people, like we mentioned earlier, they're basing this off emotion and feelings and, ah, it feels like it's out of control. But the budget helps you look at reality and things you can control and the actual facts. And it actually helps you because you go, oh, it's not as bad as it seems. We make good money. We're just not really paying attention to it. And that's why I love budgeting. And we have a really great app called EveryDollar that Rachel and I both use. You can check it out for free at everydollar.com/smartmoney and get started.

• 43:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And I think the pro, honestly, of that, though, is having your numbers visual. Because that brings the facts actually like to reality, where you're like, okay, I'm seeing it. I know how I can control it. And it is powerful in that way. So, yeah, EveryDollar, we love it, you guys.

• 44:01George Kamel?

  Go check it out.

• 44:01Rachel Cruze?

  So great.

• 44:02George Kamel?

  We'll drop a link in the description as well. Make it easy on you.

• 44:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. All right, George. So this world today, cost of living is high. So people are doing these hacks to kind of get around it, if you will.

• 44:11George Kamel?

  Hack is a nice word. There are insane things they're doing.

• 44:14Rachel Cruze?

  Some of them.

• 44:15George Kamel?

  These are bizarre.

• 44:15Rachel Cruze?

  Some of them, yes. So let's go through some of them. And I want to know if you would do it or not. Airbnb is a permanent residence. So according to Statista.com, the average nightly Airbnb in San Francisco is $392 a night, which means you'd pay $12,000 a month. So that wouldn't work. But in New York City, again, the nightly rate is $156 a night. So that's $4,600 a month. So technically, that could be less rent that you're paying via an Airbnb.

• 44:49George Kamel?

  That's still a lot. I feel like I could do better with $4,600 in New York City.

• 44:53Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, it's a lot. I don't know how much rent is in New York, but...

• 44:55George Kamel?

  And like, what area is this? Is it a room in someone's condo? Is it the whole place yourself?

• 45:00Rachel Cruze?

  But for real, but the idea that people just Airbnb instead of renting or buying. Yeah.

• 45:05George Kamel?

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

• 45:18Rachel Cruze?

  That's what I was going to say. Almost going through a third party is scary to me, like an Airbnb or a Verbo, VRBO.

• 45:24George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 45:24Rachel Cruze?

  Whole thing. Versus going to the actual person that owns the unit, right? Like, if I had their contact and you could bypass the third party, I guess it's like renting it at that point, but...

• 45:34George Kamel?

  This is one I could see doing if it made financial sense.

• 45:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 45:37George Kamel?

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

• 45:47Rachel Cruze?

  Wow. Yeah. It feels like a lot, though.

• 45:50George Kamel?

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

• 45:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. I mean, for a year, it'd be kind of fun, just to say, I'm living here.

• 46:04George Kamel?

  I wonder if I'd have to have like friends, like, you know, a spouse there versus just solo.

• 46:10Rachel Cruze?

  Solo would be hard. We're built for community, you know?

• 46:13George Kamel?

  There we go.

• 46:13Rachel Cruze?

  We need people.

• 46:14George Kamel?

  I love that.

• 46:15Rachel Cruze?

  We need people.

• 46:15George Kamel?

  Here's one in the Dominican, charged $3,100 a month. Another one in Mexico charged just over four grand, which, depending on your city, could be comparable to rent, utilities, food.

• 46:23Rachel Cruze?

  But to your point, though, $4,000 is a lot. That's a lot a month.

• 46:26George Kamel?

  That is a lot. I could do better.

• 46:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And I would put that in a property, right? Like, start building equity at that point.

• 46:33George Kamel?

  Build something for yourself.

• 46:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 46:35George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 46:35Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, how about house or dog sitting in Europe? We actually knew someone that did this.

• 46:39George Kamel?

  That's right.

• 46:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. They dog sit it all through Europe, like literally went on, I guess, an app or a website.

• 46:45George Kamel?

  Yeah, there's different sites you can use for this.

• 46:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 46:48George Kamel?

  Because it's a little different than couch surfing, where you're, you know, just sort of crashing on someone's couch.

• 46:54Rachel Cruze?

  You're doing some work for people.

• 46:55George Kamel?

  But you could actually get paid in this case to dog sit or house sit.

• 46:59Rachel Cruze?

  And live there for free, right?

• 47:00George Kamel?

  And live there for free. Because people are like, hey, I need to trust where the person is.

• 47:03Rachel Cruze?

  Especially if the person isn't there. And they're like, hey, we are traveling for a month or whatever, and you can be here for, you know, 20 days.

• 47:10George Kamel?

  It feels very European. I feel like all Europeans are just traveling.

• 47:12Rachel Cruze?

  They just go all the time. They just get on the tube.

• 47:14George Kamel?

  They work like two months a year, 10 months off.

• 47:17Rachel Cruze?

  It is so true.

• 47:18George Kamel?

  And even then, they take a nap during the day.

• 47:19Rachel Cruze?

  Siesta.

• 47:21George Kamel?

  I could go for that.

• 47:22Rachel Cruze?

  They got something right. They got something right.

• 47:24George Kamel?

  Wow. So that's a different one. I could get behind that. I would want to... Here's the thing. I don't want to be in Europe being like, I'm stuck in this house. Now, if you're house-sitting and dog-sitting, you can get out for hours at a time, I imagine.

• 47:35Rachel Cruze?

  Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 47:35George Kamel?

  So this one feels better to me.

• 47:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's good. Um, how about rent a storage cube to use as your office?

• 47:42George Kamel?

  Like a windowless prison as my office? I don't think I'd be very productive.

• 47:47Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I think that's a thing, though, because it's cheaper than renting an actual office somewhere.

• 47:52George Kamel?

  Yeah. I feel like the newer version of this, that millennials and Gen Z are gravitating towards, is coworking spaces.

• 47:59Rachel Cruze?

  Now, that I can get behind.

• 48:00George Kamel?

  So it's like a good vibe, there's good coffee, you pay a certain fee, and you kind of, you have a spot. And if you want your own spot or your own office, you pay a little more.

• 48:08Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 48:08George Kamel?

  So I like that. But I wouldn't rent a storage cube.

• 48:10Rachel Cruze?

  Or even the girl that does my hair, she will share her space with another girl for two days a week. She's on three days. Like, they kind of like... Yeah, yeah. So that kind of situation, I'm like, oh, that's brilliant. So nice, right? You're not paying for a full, um, you know, property or room or whatever it is that you're not using for certain days.

• 48:30George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 48:30Rachel Cruze?

  And you're splitting the bills somewhere.

• 48:31George Kamel?

  But at that point, I would just work from home and try to create a private space.

• 48:35Rachel Cruze?

  Would you, though? You would?

• 48:36George Kamel?

  Well, I'm saying, instead of renting a storage cube.

• 48:37Rachel Cruze?

  Well, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 48:38George Kamel?

  I would just go like, I'm going to renovate this closet to be an office at that point, you know?

• 48:42Rachel Cruze?

  All right. Next up on the list, this is one that I am all for. Wear all your clothes on the plane to avoid checking a bag. I am a carry-on savant. I would, I could carry on...

• 48:56George Kamel?

  But this is saying wear all of your outfits at once.

• 48:58Rachel Cruze?

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

• 49:09George Kamel?

  Okay, what about just small backpack? Could you do it?

• 49:12Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 49:14George Kamel?

  You need at least a carry-on.

• 49:15Rachel Cruze?

  I would need a carry-on. Sure.

• 49:18George Kamel?

  I mean, just toiletries and clothing and a pair of shoes alone. Unless it was a quick, like, I've done a day trip where it's kind of like, you're in, you're out, maybe one overnight. I can do a backpack for that.

• 49:27Rachel Cruze?

  All right, fancy traveler, one day on the airplane and then back home. Um, yeah, most situations I would need a carry on. But I can go far in the carry on. Where you, George, shall I remind you, when we would travel for live events with our team, would check a bag for a overnight?

• 49:45George Kamel?

  I brought my pillow from home. I have a distrust of, it's not a, it's not a like dirt thing, it's a comfort thing. Like, you know, they just, all the hotel pillows now are like pancakes that just flatten. You use like four pillows just to like have your neck.

• 50:00Rachel Cruze?

  Just to get something.

• 50:01George Kamel?

  So I just bring my own.

• 50:02Rachel Cruze?

  Do you have a memory foam pillow? Do you have like one of the?

• 50:04George Kamel?

  It's not memory foam, it's like one of the Casper ones. It has a pillow within a pillow is how there is their strategy.

• 50:09Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, fair.

• 50:11George Kamel?

  There you go. Next hack, retired couple books, 51 back to back weeks on a cruise ship.

• 50:16Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, we talked about that, yeah, yeah. I don't know if I can do it. I would do a all inclusive resort over a cruise ship. How about you?

• 50:23George Kamel?

  Yes, agreed. I just don't like being stuck on a cruise ship for a year straight. That's too long.

• 50:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, how about wifi, George? Ceiling, neighbors wifi.

• 50:30George Kamel?

  Oh, gosh. How would this even work?

• 50:33Rachel Cruze?

  I think I would do that on accident. Like, I feel like my phone is set up for wifi and you just like live your life and then you look up, you're like, oh.

• 50:39George Kamel?

  But they're private, you have to know the password.

• 50:42Rachel Cruze?

  Not all.

• 50:44George Kamel?

  Is your wifi just open?

• 50:46Rachel Cruze?

  No, because I'm married to Winston. If it was Rachel, it may be open.

• 50:49George Kamel?

  Bless Winston. Oh, my goodness. Uh, so the idea here is like you pretend your wifi is down one day, you befriend the neighbor, ask them to borrow theirs. You can do your work, then you hope they never change the password. I personally would not do this. I would just pay for internet and suck it up.

• 51:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 51:07George Kamel?

  And this is like, you'd have to live in like pretty tight, you know, condos, apartments where you're close enough to where the signal would still reach well.

• 51:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and we talk about the four walls, food, shelter, utilities, transportation. And utilities these days, I mean, I have like in my head, that includes internet and includes cellphone. Like, there are things, I guess.

• 51:23George Kamel?

  It's become a base, like a universal.

• 51:25Rachel Cruze?

  You don't need to like survive in the world today, but you kind of do. I mean, there is a point that like, if you're working, you probably need access to internet. You know what I mean? Like, those kind of things that I would wrap that in your four walls.

• 51:39George Kamel?

  A hundred percent.

• 51:40Rachel Cruze?

  Like, that's what you, your baseline.

• 51:41George Kamel?

  I would never tell someone, hey, cut the internet to save some money.

• 51:44Rachel Cruze?

  No, right, exactly.

• 51:44George Kamel?

  I would tell them to reshop it, make sure you're getting the best rate for the

• 51:47Rachel Cruze?

  For sure.

• 51:48George Kamel?

  As much speed as you need, which I'm sure you know all about the internet speeds these days.

• 51:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, all the 11 kg.

• 51:58George Kamel?

  Yep, it's 11 kilograms is how much internet is required. I'm guessing, because I know Winston well enough, you guys got gigabit?

• 52:08Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know, just for fun. I bet he'll text back.

• 52:13George Kamel?

  I know it is, I know he's got fiber.

• 52:15Rachel Cruze?

  Well, what do I ask him? What's the?

• 52:17George Kamel?

  How fast is our internet speed? Like, what is the, what are we paying for?

• 52:21Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, let's, uh, I'm gonna keep it right here. We'll see. All right, last one, last one. This is one that I don't think either of us would do, but people will share electrical outlets in common spaces. Meaning, if you're in an apartment or condo, the hallway outlet, you'll plug in, I guess, everything from your toaster to your hair dryer, but you use the building's, right, electrical outlets versus your own to save on electricity.

• 52:44George Kamel?

  If you are blow drying your hair in the hallway, I will pay for your electricity that much. I will, I will be your financial coach.

• 52:52Rachel Cruze?

  I know, people are doing it, though.

• 52:54George Kamel?

  And if I was the landlord, I'd be like, hey, you can't, I'd be blocking those plugs.

• 52:57Rachel Cruze?

  I know, I know.

• 52:58George Kamel?

  I'd have like a lockbox on them, because that's weird.

• 53:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 53:01George Kamel?

  I wouldn't do that. I mean, unless I was in a real terrible situation, but I feel like.

• 53:05Rachel Cruze?

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

• 53:34George Kamel?

  You're not gonna hack your way to financial stability.

• 53:36Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, we got an answer. Um, what, oh, okay.

• 53:40George Kamel?

  I said a thousand gigabit, fiber.

• 53:43Rachel Cruze?

  1,200 GP, GBPS, what does that mean? Or, I'm sorry, MBPS?

• 53:53George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 53:54Rachel Cruze?

  What is that?

• 53:55George Kamel?

  I said a thousand, he's at 1,200.

• 53:57Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wow.

• 53:57George Kamel?

  He's always trying to one up me. First, it was the MERV with the air filter, I got MERV 16, bro. And now it's.

• 54:04Rachel Cruze?

  Is that a lot?

• 54:05George Kamel?

  It's very fast.

• 54:06Rachel Cruze?

  We do have like Disney Plus.

• 54:09George Kamel?

  That's what's doing it.

• 54:10Rachel Cruze?

  And like multiple accounts on TVs, like, we do have like a lot of internet happening.

• 54:14George Kamel?

  No, that's great, that's great. That's exactly what I thought.

• 54:17Rachel Cruze?

  Was it too much, am I too bougie?

• 54:19George Kamel?

  No, you didn't even.

• 54:19Rachel Cruze?

  Is that a bougie thing?

• 54:20George Kamel?

  No, you thought it was kilograms. I don't think anyone thinks you're bougie when it comes to internet. I think they, they think you're the opposite. My big takeaways, number one, I have a lot of empathy for people who feel like the cost of living, inflation, the economy, it's all out of control and something needs to be done. That's number one, so hear me say that. Number two, I do think there's way more in our control than there is out of our control.

• 54:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 54:46George Kamel?

  When you look at debt, your lifestyle, your income, these are all things you can control to some degree. Whereas inflation, economy, the price of whatever the thing is, I don't have control of that. I have control of whether I buy it or not in some ways, some things we have to buy that are expensive, like rent or housing. But you can get creative, you can stick to a budget, you can get out of debt, have an emergency fund, build wealth for the future, regardless of what's happening.

• 55:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and I think too, George, part of like adulting, if you will, is, and I've learned this over the years, where I'm like, okay, you have to adjust with the times. And I think that we have like a human nature to stick to what we've always done. Well, I've always shopped at this store, I've always bought this, I've all, but we've always had this, you know, X, Y, and Z. And when times change, you have to be able to say, and we've done this in our household, if we're gonna have to change and pivot to this. And so I think part of being an adult and a level of maturity is just saying, yeah, we can't live how we've lived, right? I mean, when prices go up, there is gonna be a natural pool. If you don't have the margin in your budget to say, okay, something else has to give, right? It is math, and so.

• 55:48George Kamel?

  Or we can't afford to live here anymore. That's a reality for a lot of people.

• 55:52Rachel Cruze?

  Totally, which is, which again, is so sad. Like, that's a bit, it's a big deal. When you're uprooting your fam, I mean, these are not light decisions. But at the end of the day, you're like, okay, what, what, what's gonna give me peace, right? And, and some of those decisions have to be made, and it is really difficult. But, but again, looking at the, the big things you can change, and I think debt is a big one. I think car payments, I think when you're, um, I talked to a, um, a girl today on the Ramsey Show, and she had, I think it was like eight, $8,700, it was $8,700 on Klarma, which is the buy now, pay later, yeah. And she just kept racking it up, and I was like, oh, my gosh. So, again, there are things that you can just make a line and say, I'm not doing that. And then you have to make other choices, right?

• 56:36Rachel Cruze?

  Which gives you other options and, and that's what you have to do in times like this, because it is really difficult.

• 56:42George Kamel?

  So don't rely on debt, take debt off the table, use your own money, figure out if you can afford to live the place you're choosing to live.

• 56:48Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 56:48George Kamel?

  And we had that call on the Ramsey Show yesterday, and she was making 70 grand living near San Francisco. And I was like, you might need to either make more money in a different career or a better job in that field, or you need to move further out.

• 57:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, that's right, totally.

• 57:01George Kamel?

  You have options, but they're not always fun.

• 57:04Rachel Cruze?

  But if you're blow drying your hair in the condo hallway.

• 57:07George Kamel?

  I'll pay for your electricity.

• 57:08Rachel Cruze?

  Just comment and George will send you his debit card information.

• 57:11George Kamel?

  I, okay. Rachel is more likely to do that.

• 57:18Rachel Cruze?

  That's true. All right, we're almost to the end of the episode, and we close out every episode with guilty as charged. And that's where our producer, Lindsay, gives us a new guilty as charged question every week, and if we're guilty, we take a sip. So, Lindsay?

• 57:31George Kamel?

  What do you got?

• 57:32Rachel Cruze?

  What boy or girl math are you guilty of doing that worked for you?

• 57:38George Kamel?

  Oh, so that actually worked, not like you just, you tried to justify it.

• 57:41Rachel Cruze?

  No, that it actually worked.

• 57:42George Kamel?

  Oh, I'm, I'm guilty, I can think of one recently, Rachel.

• 57:46Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, okay, go.

• 57:47George Kamel?

  Five years ago. I know.

• 57:51Rachel Cruze?

  Before a girl math.

• 57:51George Kamel?

  Let me take you back to 2019. We bought a concrete dining table, like a four foot round concrete dining table from Overstock, with four black little leather chairs, and they were like, hey, do you want to buy a warranty? It was 50 bucks for five years that covered, and I was like, well, I've never had a concrete dining table, I don't know, this thing gonna stain?

• 58:11Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 58:11George Kamel?

  So I bought the 50 dollar warranty for five years, and low and behold, ever since having a baby, there's more stains in the house. And this table finally had a stain I could not get out. I don't know what it is, but it's kind of a round stain.

• 58:24Rachel Cruze?

  Are you like four years and eight months into this?

• 58:26George Kamel?

  We are four years and 10 months into the warranty. And I file a claim, and I go, hey, I can't get the stain out, this thing should cover stains. They send a guy to my house, he shows up, and I kid you not, he goes, oh, it's concrete? I said, yeah, I, I put that in the, he's like, oh, I can't do anything to concrete, I'm just gonna have to mark this, I was like, I could not repair. I said, what happens now? He says, well, they're gonna contact you and give you a choice. They're gonna either write you a check and pretend this never happened, or they'll give you a credit and take away your table, and you can go rebuy something with that credit.

• 58:59Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh, George.

• 59:00George Kamel?

  They wrote me a check for $340.

• 59:02Rachel Cruze?

  No way, no.

• 59:04George Kamel?

  And I get to keep the table.

• 59:07George Kamel?

  That's, that was their policy.

• 59:11George Kamel?

  So, this is my boy math. I made money by buying the warranty. I spent 50, I got back 340.

• 59:19Rachel Cruze?

  A hundred percent.

• 59:21George Kamel?

  I rest my case, your honor.

• 59:22Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, wow.

• 59:24George Kamel?

  That's some George level conniving.

• 59:28Rachel Cruze?

  That is conniving.

• 59:28George Kamel?

  I don't think you can beat that, but can you even come close?

• 59:31Rachel Cruze?

  Mine would be, on my 30th birthday, I went to Vegas with two of my girlfriends, and I had an envelope with cash in it for gambling. And I said, this is the amount of money.

• 59:40George Kamel?

  Just a little bit of fun money.

• 59:41Rachel Cruze?

  And when this envelope is empty, I'm done. But I'm gonna have fun. And then I brought, true story, I genuinely brought another envelope and put my winnings in the other one, right? So I kept this like balance going throughout the trip. And I made money in Vegas. I came out with more money, I can't remember how much I had to gamble. Let's just say, I genuinely can't remember, let's say it was $400.

• 1:00:05George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 1:00:06Rachel Cruze?

  And I came out with like 650. I came out with more money combined than I came in. And the night I had at the craps table was one that I will never forget.

• 1:00:17George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 1:00:19Rachel Cruze?

  I was on a hot streak, is what they call it in Vegas.

• 1:00:21George Kamel?

  And at the craps table, if I'm not wrong, it's like a community, everyone's cheering you on.

• 1:00:25Rachel Cruze?

  It was my, it was everything I would hope for in life.

• 1:00:29George Kamel?

  It was like out of a movie.

• 1:00:30Rachel Cruze?

  For everyone to experience. People were cheering, I was getting high fives with the guys with lanyards from like a technology conference.

• 1:00:38Rachel Cruze?

  We were, we were making, I was making everyone money. It was amazing.

• 1:00:41George Kamel?

  Cause everyone wins when you win. That's how craps works.

• 1:00:43Rachel Cruze?

  That's how craps works. So they love you when you, and I was on a hot streak and...

• 1:00:48George Kamel?

  So you walked away 250 up from when you walked in there?

• 1:00:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I made money on Vegas. I don't know if that's girl math, but that is Rachel's proudest moment.

• 1:00:55George Kamel?

  No, that's girl math.

• 1:00:56Rachel Cruze?

  And had a great time. And felt very affirmed.

• 1:00:59George Kamel?

  You spent a lot of money to go to Vegas, so that's factored in there.

• 1:01:02Rachel Cruze?

  But there was a gambling money. It was separate.

• 1:01:05George Kamel?

  Got it, so not the trip itself?

• 1:01:08Rachel Cruze?

  You know, I paid for a dinner with my winnings.

• 1:01:10George Kamel?

  Oh, good, like a nice dinner.

• 1:01:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:12George Kamel?

  You're like, hey, I'm gonna treat myself.

• 1:01:13Rachel Cruze?

  I did, and treated everyone. My friend, not, not the craps table.

• 1:01:15George Kamel?

  Oh, I was like, wow, generosity is...

• 1:01:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, just me and my two friends. And I was like, I'll pay for tonight's dinner because I made so much.

• 1:01:22George Kamel?

  That's incredible.

• 1:01:22Rachel Cruze?

  I know. Anyways, that's the only thing I can think of. That's what came to my head four years ago, or whatever your...

• 1:01:28George Kamel?

  That's a great story.

• 1:01:29Rachel Cruze?

  ...number was.

• 1:01:30George Kamel?

  Glad you had a win.

• 1:01:31Rachel Cruze?

  All right, um, looks like I'm...

• 1:01:33George Kamel?

  Yeah, you did great with this drink.

• 1:01:34Rachel Cruze?

  I did great with this drink.

• 1:01:35George Kamel?

  You did really good, you had a strong start before we even started. And you, you beat me.

• 1:01:42Rachel Cruze?

  It was great.

• 1:01:42George Kamel?

  This is a tequila Manhattan. I'm gonna give this drink, I, I think it's a 10 out of 10 drink. I would order this at a restaurant.

• 1:01:48Rachel Cruze?

  I would too, 10 out of 10.

• 1:01:49George Kamel?

  Congratulations to mixologist Michael, cause you know he's gonna text us later and be like, what'd you think of the drink?

• 1:01:55Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm, he will, he will.

• 1:01:56George Kamel?

  Cost breakdown per glass, $3.19. So not the cheapest drink we've had, but I think one of the top tier drink. The ingredients are anejo, anejo, anejo, anejo. Anejo tequila, which is an aged tequila versus like a blanco, which is clear, that's why it's got this color. It's got sweet vermouth, and it's got mole bitters, which is fun.

• 1:02:19Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, very nice.

• 1:02:20George Kamel?

  That's it.

• 1:02:21Rachel Cruze?

  What's it come out to a glass?

• 1:02:22George Kamel?

  Three ingredients, $3.19. You would pay probably, I'm gonna guess, five, four to five times that at a restaurant.

• 1:02:30Rachel Cruze?

  I'd say 18.

• 1:02:31George Kamel?

  So you can make this at home for four times less. You're welcome. Get the recipe in the show notes, give it a try this weekend or whenever you'd like.

• 1:02:41George Kamel?

  Taxful or tacky? Today we're talking about the frugal wedding fails of the century. So to see like an older woman do that, I would feel bad.

• 1:02:49Rachel Cruze?

  In a gown.

• 1:02:50George Kamel?

  In a gown.

• 1:02:50Rachel Cruze?

  That's crazy, that's crazy. We gotta draw the line somewhere.

• 1:02:54George Kamel?

  We wouldn't have been friends right now. This podcast would not exist.

• 1:02:56Rachel Cruze?

  This podcast would not have existed.

• 1:03:02Rachel Cruze?

  Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 1:03:04George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 1:03:06Rachel Cruze?

  And this is...

• 1:03:07George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 1:03:14Rachel Cruze?

  Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and money.

• 1:03:21George Kamel?

  And before we get to the frugal wedding fails, let's talk about what we're sipping on, Rachel. It's an Aperol Tequila Sour.

• 1:03:27Rachel Cruze?

  And you know, I love all three of those words.

• 1:03:29George Kamel?

  Really good. So stick around till the end, we're gonna give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass, you don't wanna miss it.

• 1:03:35Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 1:03:35George Kamel?

  Okay. So personal finance, Rachel, looks different for everyone, that's why we call it personal finance, but there's a few major life events that the majority of the population has to navigate financially.

• 1:03:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I think there's a lot of these. So you think about, you know, college, maybe renegotiating your salary, buying a home, like there's some big purchases or situations in life when it comes to money. And one of the biggest are weddings.

• 1:04:00George Kamel?

  It's gotten out of control. It's a huge life event. Can come with a high cost, and some people are wiser about this than others.

• 1:04:08Rachel Cruze?

  That is true, which is so unfortunate. But you guys, you and Whitney had a pretty successful wedding story financially. Actually, it's pretty insane, you've talked about it on this podcast before.

• 1:04:17George Kamel?

  It's non-relatable. So hashtag unrelatable, but Whitney...

• 1:04:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but responsible, because...

• 1:04:22George Kamel?

  Whitney found a local wedding contest, it was a free wedding package worth $28,000, and we won.

• 1:04:28Rachel Cruze?

  And you were hosting The Ramsey Show at the time and asked all the viewers to vote for you, right?

• 1:04:32George Kamel?

  Yes. So we had the best video, so aside from that, it was merit-based. We had the best wedding story captured on video, and we got the most likes on our video within a week, that was the contest stipulations.

• 1:04:42Rachel Cruze?

  But $28,000.

• 1:04:43George Kamel?

  I, I didn't think it was real, I thought it was like, we're gonna get scammed.

• 1:04:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, so what did they pay for in that?

• 1:04:49George Kamel?

  Everything. But here's the kicker, it only included 50 people, which includes the bride, the groom, the bridal party. So by the time you get to the invites, you can invite 10 people.

• 1:04:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and then y'all did a big reception after.

• 1:05:01George Kamel?

  So then we threw a second wedding reception after the first wedding ceremony and reception, and that ended up costing us a lot of money, so...

• 1:05:08Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 1:05:09George Kamel?

  Yeah, was it a frugal fail?

• 1:05:10Rachel Cruze?

  More than $28,000?

• 1:05:11George Kamel?

  No, no, not near that.

• 1:05:13Rachel Cruze?

  Came out well, George.

• 1:05:14George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:15Rachel Cruze?

  I know, and at first I thought, I didn't go to your wedding. And then memory served me correctly, and I was there.

• 1:05:20George Kamel?

  I knew I invited you.

• 1:05:22Rachel Cruze?

  On the second reception.

• 1:05:23George Kamel?

  I remember thinking, the Cruises will get us a good gift, we should invite them.

• 1:05:27Rachel Cruze?

  What did I get you?

• 1:05:28George Kamel?

  I don't remember, probably Financial Peace, maybe Financial Peace University.

• 1:05:31Rachel Cruze?

  Stop it, whatever.

• 1:05:31George Kamel?

  No, I'm sure it was a wonderful gift.

• 1:05:33Rachel Cruze?

  Terrible, that's good.

• 1:05:34George Kamel?

  Have you had any, do you regret wasting money on anything for your wedding, or a frugal fail?

• 1:05:38Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, I feel like we were pretty, uh...

• 1:05:41George Kamel?

  You focused on the stuff that mattered.

• 1:05:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I mean, I think we did, like, um, like back then you would mail out save the dates.

• 1:05:48George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:05:49Rachel Cruze?

  I feel like people don't do that as much anymore.

• 1:05:50George Kamel?

  Yeah, we mailed ours out, I kinda regret.

• 1:05:52Rachel Cruze?

  I feel like people don't mail out save the dates, I feel like people just are like, I don't, or maybe they do, I don't know.

• 1:05:56George Kamel?

  It feels like one of these old timey things that you hearken back to.

• 1:05:59Rachel Cruze?

  Like we did that, yes.

• 1:06:03Rachel Cruze?

  We had very, I like loved like really formal wedding invitations, so I probably could've like chilled out on that.

• 1:06:10George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:10Rachel Cruze?

  Like I had like the tissue thing, like I was like, I want it like, I wanted my wedding formal, there was something about it, even my dress, where I was like, I don't want this just to be a party, like this is, like I, like if I, I was like, if I'm walking down the street in my dress, I want people like, that's a bride. Not like, oh, she could be going to the prom, like, I wanted it to look like a wedding dress.

• 1:06:27George Kamel?

  Too trendy and modern.

• 1:06:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I wanted it to look like a wedding dress, I wanted it in a center aisle, I wanted it in a church, like I was like, I want very like traditional things with my wedding.

• 1:06:34George Kamel?

  I love it.

• 1:06:35Rachel Cruze?

  So because of that, I don't know. And I made my bridesmaids wear champagne color in December, so that was real sad.

• 1:06:41George Kamel?

  Is that a no-no?

• 1:06:41Rachel Cruze?

  Sorry, everyone. No, they all probably, I don't, spray tans weren't even like a thing then, you know, so like...

• 1:06:47George Kamel?

  Oh, so you're saying everyone's pale?

• 1:06:48Rachel Cruze?

  It's just terrible, yeah, a terrible color to pick in December.

• 1:06:50George Kamel?

  I only have tan friends, so...

• 1:06:52Rachel Cruze?

  Really, really sorry bridesmaids.

• 1:06:54George Kamel?

  We had a frugal fail though, and you were at this reception.

• 1:06:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:58George Kamel?

  Instead of doing an open bar, cause it was gonna be astronomically expensive at like a Marriott to do an open bar, we decided to prepay for a certain number of, you know, bottles of wine, certain number of beers. We thought, this'll be enough, that's like two drinks per person, we did the math.

• 1:07:11Rachel Cruze?

  I know, we party, George.

• 1:07:12George Kamel?

  And within 30 minutes, they said they ran out of alcohol. And I was like, are they jip us? Or did they skimp on us? Cause there's no way that two drinks per person, everything's gone in 30 minutes. I just didn't believe that.

• 1:07:24Rachel Cruze?

  Sure. So what was the truth?

• 1:07:25George Kamel?

  I don't know, to this day.

• 1:07:27Rachel Cruze?

  So did you get upcharged then, after?

• 1:07:29George Kamel?

  They didn't upcharge, I think it turned into cash bar after that.

• 1:07:32Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:07:32George Kamel?

  So we were okay with that, okay, beyond two drinks per person, it's on you.

• 1:07:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's fair.

• 1:07:36George Kamel?

  We were okay with that, but apparently, that didn't happen.

• 1:07:39Rachel Cruze?

  Party hearty, man. Oh gosh, yeah, well, I think what's hard is, like in the moment, like the weddings, especially the mishaps, the things that end up like, oh crap, that didn't go the way we wanted it, feels like a massive deal, right? Cause this is like the day, especially for girls, like...

• 1:07:54George Kamel?

  You dream about it, your whole childhood.

• 1:07:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I mean, it's a big, big deal. But then, you know, you look back sometimes, and the mistakes and the, and the flops are kinda what makes the memories, you know?

• 1:08:04George Kamel?

  And it doesn't make the marriage.

• 1:08:05Rachel Cruze?

  No, it does not. Well, well said.

• 1:08:07George Kamel?

  Maybe the, the worse the wedding goes, the better your marriage is gonna be. I'd like to see a study on that.

• 1:08:12Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's good. You know what I always think about too? Rings, like the bigger the diamond?

• 1:08:17George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:08:19Rachel Cruze?

  Shakeier the marriage? Terrible to think, I don't know.

• 1:08:22George Kamel?

  I guess I'm doing really good then. Sorry, Whitney. So whether you're wedding planning, maybe you're looking for money-saving hacks, maybe you're 20 years into a marriage and you just wanna be entertained, maybe your kids are gonna get married one day, today's episode is going to deliver.

• 1:08:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and so we're gonna talk about, um, these wedding fails slash trying to be very budget conscious, maybe a little cheap in some cases.

• 1:08:46George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 1:08:46Rachel Cruze?

  So we're gonna say, is that tactful or tacky?

• 1:08:49George Kamel?

  And play along in the comments, and stick around later, we're gonna share our own list of non-negotiables when it comes to planning a budget-friendly but memorable wedding.

• 1:08:57Rachel Cruze?

  All right, you ready?

• 1:08:58George Kamel?

  Let's do this. What's the first frugal wedding fail?

• 1:09:00Rachel Cruze?

  And did we get these from the internet?

• 1:09:02George Kamel?

  These are from the internet, if I'm not mistaken. That's where everything, all good things come from.

• 1:09:07Rachel Cruze?

  All happens. All right, first up, we have spray painted grass. So this person went to a wedding at an old rustic estate that used to be fancy, and when they got home, their feet and shoes were bright green.

• 1:09:21George Kamel?

  Oh, no.

• 1:09:22Rachel Cruze?

  Because they had spray painted the grass to make it look better for pictures.

• 1:09:27George Kamel?

  At least the pictures turned out nice.

• 1:09:32George Kamel?

  Is that tactful or tacky?

• 1:09:33Rachel Cruze?

  I don't think it's tacky.

• 1:09:34George Kamel?

  I think it's tactful. They just didn't think through

• 1:09:37Rachel Cruze?

  Through it all.

• 1:09:37George Kamel?

  what would happen on the other side. But I think it's a good idea because it's

• 1:09:40Rachel Cruze?

  What if it rained?

• 1:09:41George Kamel?

  to get some grass spray paint. You can just make it look nice and lush and green.

• 1:09:44Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going tactful. Why not?

• 1:09:47George Kamel?

  Or just make your

• 1:09:47Rachel Cruze?

  Very creative.

• 1:09:48George Kamel?

  Make your wedding video or photos black and white. No one can tell what color the grass was.

• 1:09:52Rachel Cruze?

  That's smart, too.

• 1:09:53George Kamel?

  Life hack.

• 1:09:54Rachel Cruze?

  There you go. Just on black and white photos.

• 1:09:56George Kamel?

  Okay, next one. Mashed potato exit. Already love this.

• 1:10:00Rachel Cruze?

  Wow.

• 1:10:01George Kamel?

  Leftover rice on the ground is bad for birds and sparklers can get pricey. So a friend of mine had guests toss potato flakes for the send off, thinking it would look like white confetti.

• 1:10:10Rachel Cruze?

  No, no.

• 1:10:11George Kamel?

  It had rained all day, so the water mixed with the flakes and mashed potato clumps were everywhere, on the ground, in bridesmaids' hair, et cetera. Boy, oh, boy, do I want to know what is in the et cetera part.

• 1:10:23Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, that's funny.

• 1:10:25George Kamel?

  Potato flakes?

• 1:10:26Rachel Cruze?

  That is funny. I am gonna go tacky. It feels weird throwing food. I guess rice is considered, but people don't do rice anymore. It really

• 1:10:34George Kamel?

  Is that a thing? I don't know. Is it a cultural thing?

• 1:10:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I don't think people do rice anymore. I think that like, people would do rice, but I think it is sparklers. We had stuff thrown. What was that? What did we have thrown?

• 1:10:45George Kamel?

  I think we did

• 1:10:45Rachel Cruze?

  Because I did. I wanted tradition. I wanted to like run through a thing falling.

• 1:10:49George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 1:10:49Rachel Cruze?

  I love that.

• 1:10:50George Kamel?

  We did glow sticks.

• 1:10:52Rachel Cruze?

  Cute.

• 1:10:52George Kamel?

  So that was fun.

• 1:10:53Rachel Cruze?

  Cute. I like that. What did we do? Ours may have just been confetti or something.

• 1:10:57George Kamel?

  That makes sense.

• 1:10:58Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, but I, yeah.

• 1:10:59George Kamel?

  What year were you guys married?

• 1:11:01Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, nine.

• 1:11:01George Kamel?

  Okay, we were 2018. So the times had changed.

• 1:11:04Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 1:11:05George Kamel?

  We moved on to glow sticks, apparently. From confetti.

• 1:11:08Rachel Cruze?

  From confetti to glow sticks.

• 1:11:10George Kamel?

  So that one, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go tacky on that one.

• 1:11:12Rachel Cruze?

  I will, too. The food thing just throws me, but creative still.

• 1:11:16George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:17Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next. No floral waste. I've been to a few weddings where the bridesmaids' bouquets were reused for centerpieces. We just dropped our flowers in the empty vases on the table when people arrived, and we still had the option to keep them afterwards. I thought it was resourceful. And one less thing to keep up with all night. Tactful or tacky?

• 1:11:33George Kamel?

  Love it. I'm going tactful on this one.

• 1:11:35Rachel Cruze?

  I am, too. We did this.

• 1:11:37George Kamel?

  Good.

• 1:11:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 1:11:37George Kamel?

  Because the bridesmaids don't want to carry around this bouquet, don't they?

• 1:11:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no, we like literally used their, we did the exact same thing.

• 1:11:42George Kamel?

  Pop it in the vase?

• 1:11:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, we did the same thing.

• 1:11:43George Kamel?

  Centerpiece, done.

• 1:11:44Rachel Cruze?

  I think it's great.

• 1:11:45George Kamel?

  Reduce, reuse, recycle.

• 1:11:46Rachel Cruze?

  I know. Man. Gosh. Yeah, that was one thing. And I feel like my bouquet, I even put, we put on like the, like our like, parties table, too. Like, I think we even used my bouquet, too, for the center, so I didn't carry it around. Um, but yeah, I don't know. I thought it was resourceful.

• 1:12:04George Kamel?

  All right, next up, on our frugal wedding fails list, return window wedding decor.

• 1:12:09Rachel Cruze?

  Hmm.

• 1:12:09George Kamel?

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

• 1:12:25Rachel Cruze?

  That feels wrong to me.

• 1:12:27George Kamel?

  Oh, this is basically a free rental at that point.

• 1:12:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and that

• 1:12:32George Kamel?

  As much as I want to say tactful, even I have to go tacky on this one.

• 1:12:35Rachel Cruze?

  George Campbell goes tacky on a money-saving idea.

• 1:12:37George Kamel?

  If we didn't end up using it, and we got it and didn't use it, I'll return it.

• 1:12:41Rachel Cruze?

  It's the same feeling I have with people that wear clothes and leave the tag on, and then go and return it.

• 1:12:47George Kamel?

  Oh, like for one party? Like, I'm gonna get this dress, leave the tag?

• 1:12:50Rachel Cruze?

  I've never liked that tip. People like give that as a tip, and I just don't like that.

• 1:12:53George Kamel?

  Well, think about if you're the person now buying that dress that someone else wore, and the store doesn't know.

• 1:12:57Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 1:12:57George Kamel?

  You don't know.

• 1:12:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it just feels like, it just feels wrong.

• 1:13:00George Kamel?

  You have to do a smell test.

• 1:13:01Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man, that's so unfortunate.

• 1:13:03George Kamel?

  Yeah, I don't love that one.

• 1:13:04Rachel Cruze?

  I'm gonna go tacky. All right, BYO dessert. I once received a wedding invitation on very fancy stationery, appreciate that, encouraging guests to contribute to the BYO dessert spread. Um, is this a church potluck? Shoot, yeah, that's the thing. When you're invited places, a wedding, can I say that? Probably over any other event or situation. You are inviting people as a guest to celebrate you. They do not need to contribute to the situation.

• 1:13:38George Kamel?

  Bring a gift.

• 1:13:38Rachel Cruze?

  Now, friends, friends coming over for dinner, um, I was gonna say even birthday party, but that even feels a little odd. Like, yeah, I don't know. A wedding, having people help

• 1:13:49George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:50Rachel Cruze?

  contribute to the wedding, it does not feel like they're a guest at that point.

• 1:13:53George Kamel?

  And I don't trust desserts. Like, if you bring a congealed salad to my wedding, it's over. You've ruined the entire party.

• 1:13:59Rachel Cruze?

  What's a congealed? What is it?

• 1:14:02George Kamel?

  Where they put like the green jello and stuff with cottage cheese?

• 1:14:06Rachel Cruze?

  Gross. Who makes that?

• 1:14:09George Kamel?

  Southern women. It's a delicacy in the South, apparently.

• 1:14:11Rachel Cruze?

  Stop.

• 1:14:12George Kamel?

  The word congealed is enough, like, bad branding. They need new, new PR. If you're gonna put cottage cheese in a dessert

• 1:14:18Rachel Cruze?

  Gross.

• 1:14:19George Kamel?

  with jello, it's disgusting.

• 1:14:20Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, it's good protein. Um, no, but I agree with you.

• 1:14:22George Kamel?

  What would you bring to a wedding? Let's say you're coming to my wedding, and I said, Rachel, you have to bring a dessert. What are you bringing?

• 1:14:27Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going to, uh, Aldi and picking up some pre-made cookies.

• 1:14:33George Kamel?

  Smart.

• 1:14:34Rachel Cruze?

  Bringing them to, bringing them to the, I'm not making anything.

• 1:14:38George Kamel?

  Would you act like you made it? Would you put it on a nice platter?

• 1:14:41Rachel Cruze?

  Let me say this. If I was invited to your wedding and it was just like your family and Whitney's family and like three best friends, I would make you a cake.

• 1:14:50George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 1:14:51Rachel Cruze?

  From a box, but I would make a cake.

• 1:14:53George Kamel?

  That's so kind.

• 1:14:54Rachel Cruze?

  But if it's like a massive wedding, I ain't baking for that.

• 1:14:57George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:58Rachel Cruze?

  No one knows what it is either, right? It's not saying my name on it.

• 1:15:00George Kamel?

  You'd have to bring like

• 1:15:01Rachel Cruze?

  So the performer in me doesn't need to perform because I won't get credit.

• 1:15:04George Kamel?

  Yeah, you need signage. I gotta know what's in that thing, when it was made. Just skip dessert if that's gonna be you. All right, next up, on the frugal wedding fail, wedding fund arrow down payment. Here we go. When I got engaged, my parents told me they had $40,000 saved in a wedding fund for me to put toward this season. They said I could use it on anything, wedding, honeymoon, housing, et cetera. We used $20,000 for the wedding, plus cash flowed a few expenses ourselves, and put $20,000 toward a down payment on a house.

• 1:15:32Rachel Cruze?

  So smart.

• 1:15:34George Kamel?

  Tactful.

• 1:15:35Rachel Cruze?

  Very tactful.

• 1:15:37George Kamel?

  Would you do that as a parent? I'm thinking through that now. I have a daughter. I'm like, one day I'm gonna pay for a wedding.

• 1:15:41Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 1:15:42George Kamel?

  Do I want to say, here's a pile of money?

• 1:15:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 1:15:44George Kamel?

  Use as much of it to the wedding as you want, use as much of it towards something else if you want.

• 1:15:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. I think that's great. Mom and dad did that for us.

• 1:15:50George Kamel?

  Oh, nice.

• 1:15:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 1:15:52George Kamel?

  And then you got to choose.

• 1:15:52Rachel Cruze?

  I didn't save any of it.

• 1:15:54George Kamel?

  All to the wedding.

• 1:15:55Rachel Cruze?

  The wedding.

• 1:15:55George Kamel?

  Used every penny and more.

• 1:15:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. And I remember Winston being like, babe, you know, it would be nice, like, you know, have somebody set aside for like life, you know, furniture, like, just the simple things in life.

• 1:16:09George Kamel?

  And you said, no.

• 1:16:10Rachel Cruze?

  I wasn't like, no, but I was like, yeah, we can see what happens at the end of this.

• 1:16:16George Kamel?

  I don't know. Part of me goes like, do I want to just say this is for the wedding? Because otherwise, if it's me, I'd go, how do we have the cheapest wedding possible so we can have the most money for a bigger financial goal?

• 1:16:25Rachel Cruze?

  But what is gonna be a longer term? Happiness, joy, et cetera. And I think it's

• 1:16:30George Kamel?

  It's putting it toward the further financial goals.

• 1:16:31Rachel Cruze?

  I think it is, too. I wonder if Da, I wonder if mom and dad cringed when I chose to spend it all.

• 1:16:39George Kamel?

  I think they assume that would happen with you in particular. You're known as the spender in the Ramsey family.

• 1:16:44Rachel Cruze?

  I actually think Daniel may have saved some. I'm not kidding.

• 1:16:46George Kamel?

  Which makes a lot more sense. He's the kind of guy who's going, we're spending how much on that? No, let's skip that.

• 1:16:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:52George Kamel?

  He's very reasonable.

• 1:16:53Rachel Cruze?

  But I think that, I like that, um, I like that approach. If you're able to do that, I don't know. I think that's kind of cool.

• 1:16:59George Kamel?

  Say, here's a pile of money, use it however you wish. But I would say the caveat is you cannot go into debt. Because if you say, I won't only spend

• 1:17:07Rachel Cruze?

  So you got a little strings attached, Georgie.

• 1:17:09George Kamel?

  Yeah, I would have some strings. We're gonna do this wedding debt-free. You can use this money how you wish, but you gotta cover it.

• 1:17:15Rachel Cruze?

  Even if, even if, um, Mia is 28 years old.

• 1:17:20George Kamel?

  Even if.

• 1:17:21Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so you

• 1:17:22George Kamel?

  No debt for little Mia.

• 1:17:23Rachel Cruze?

  All right, you're a little strings attached gifter.

• 1:17:25George Kamel?

  And I'll make sure that. I'm gonna freeze her credit. She couldn't if she wanted to. But she's gonna be smart enough that she's gonna avoid that.

• 1:17:33Rachel Cruze?

  She'll avoid, she'll, she'll

• 1:17:34George Kamel?

  And knowing me, I'll probably throw in a pony and just say, get the wedding in your dreams. You're my little princess.

• 1:17:38Rachel Cruze?

  Sweet little thing.

• 1:17:39George Kamel?

  Although we had a camel at our wedding, so to have a pony is actually not that far-fetched.

• 1:17:43Rachel Cruze?

  Not that crazy, not that crazy.

• 1:17:45George Kamel?

  I love it.

• 1:17:45Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next. Asking reception guests to fund honeymoon.

• 1:17:49George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 1:17:50Rachel Cruze?

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

• 1:18:08George Kamel?

  It depends. Was this the gift, or was this on top of the gift they brought? It was then like a love offering?

• 1:18:13Rachel Cruze?

  It's on top of the gift. Okay, can I, okay, I'm so fickle on this. Like, that, when I first read it, I thought, mm. And then as it was going down, I was like, aww. It's like a tr, it's a tradition, because I do think, especially different cultures and stuff, people do that. They give cash and like, it's like a thing. So for me, I would caveat it. If it's like a tradition, like a thing that you just do, and it's fun, and it's not serious, like, you know what I mean? Like, it's out of just like the fun spirit of it all, this doesn't bother me. Can I say this? And I hope I don't say about anyone's toes in here that's gotten married recently. I don't know. I was gonna say it. But like a QR code for a GoFundMe or something feels different. I don't like that. Like, that feels tacky to me.

• 1:18:58George Kamel?

  But cash is fine.

• 1:19:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, with like, uh, we're gonna do a song, and like, we've done it for five generations.

• 1:19:04George Kamel?

  Oh, now there's songs involved?

• 1:19:05Rachel Cruze?

  There's music and like, do you know what I'm saying? Like, there's like a fun spirit about it versus like, you need to go fund my honeymoon for me.

• 1:19:13George Kamel?

  Okay. Now we know. Rachel loves a physical love offering. Pass around the bucket.

• 1:19:18Rachel Cruze?

  Do you feel that at all, or are you good with it all?

• 1:19:20George Kamel?

  I do think there's a level of QR code that feels a little less personal.

• 1:19:24Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:19:24George Kamel?

  You know, no one's like, it's been a tradition for 50 years that we pass around the QR code versus there's a beach hat, it's a fun thing.

• 1:19:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:19:31George Kamel?

  I think the honeymoon's gonna happen with or without this beach hat getting funded.

• 1:19:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's a good way of putting it.

• 1:19:37George Kamel?

  So it's more of just like a, hey, have fun on the honeymoon, little send off. But I can tell this person is a little bit miffed that this is clearly a wealthy family asking for more money.

• 1:19:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:19:47George Kamel?

  She keeps saying, very fancy, wealthy business owner, and so I don't know why I'm assuming it's a she, but this feels like something a woman would have umbrage with.

• 1:19:56Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:19:56George Kamel?

  Would take umbrage.

• 1:19:57Rachel Cruze?

  What do you think? Tacky or tactful?

• 1:19:58George Kamel?

  Ah, if it, if they already brought a gift, I would, I'm gonna say this is tacky.

• 1:20:03Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 1:20:05George Kamel?

  Plus, I don't carry cash, so I would feel uncomfortable being like, ah, sorry, man. Like, don't have any on me.

• 1:20:11Rachel Cruze?

  Don't have it, yeah.

• 1:20:12George Kamel?

  And then it feels weird to like, do the Venmo. You've seen the cars that drive around, like Nashville, and there's a Venmo code?

• 1:20:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, what's that for?

• 1:20:19George Kamel?

  And it's like, give to the bride, it's the bachelorette party.

• 1:20:22Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yes.

• 1:20:22George Kamel?

  And it's like, buy the bride a drink, woo.

• 1:20:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's kind of fun.

• 1:20:27George Kamel?

  Have you ever done it?

• 1:20:28Rachel Cruze?

  Um, no, but I have Venmo'd people in life for things.

• 1:20:34George Kamel?

  Okay, that's very specific. I appreciate that.

• 1:20:37Rachel Cruze?

  I don't want to be like bragging, but I've run into situations at airports, or even in the lobby here at Ramsey. People are here for special occasions, and I, if the spirit leads, I will randomly.

• 1:20:47George Kamel?

  How do you find out their Venmo?

• 1:20:48Rachel Cruze?

  I go and ask them. I'm like, do you have a Venmo? They're like, yeah. I'm like, alright, dinner's on.

• 1:20:52George Kamel?

  That's so fun.

• 1:20:53Rachel Cruze?

  Well, yeah, Ken and I just did that last week. There was a girl in for her birthday with her husband in Nashville.

• 1:20:58George Kamel?

  That is so thoughtful.

• 1:20:59Rachel Cruze?

  So it's that kind of stuff that you're like, I'll give you a little. That's fun.

• 1:21:02George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 1:21:03Rachel Cruze?

  I think that's fun.

• 1:21:04George Kamel?

  In your, okay, giving out your Venmo handle. Cause then people can request money from you. That's what I would be doing if I knew your Venmo handle.

• 1:21:12Rachel Cruze?

  Well, not, it's not like they can go into my bank account.

• 1:21:15George Kamel?

  No, but they can just request a million dollars from you. You can decline it, but you might accidentally fat finger it and say, yes. That's my strategy, is I just randomly find people on Venmo and request money.

• 1:21:25Rachel Cruze?

  Stop, George. Have you ever Venmo'd someone for something, like a drink or a?

• 1:21:29George Kamel?

  Yeah, I have.

• 1:21:30Rachel Cruze?

  Or food, or like, or like, um, like fun, like not?

• 1:21:33George Kamel?

  If it's like, um, someone's birthday and I can't make it, I'll Venmo them for the drink. Like, hey?

• 1:21:36Rachel Cruze?

  That's fun.

• 1:21:37George Kamel?

  Yeah. I did accidentally Venmo the wrong person for something off Facebook Marketplace once. And I had to beg them for the money back.

• 1:21:44Rachel Cruze?

  Was it like hundreds of dollars?

• 1:21:45George Kamel?

  It was probably a hundred fifty bucks or something.

• 1:21:47Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no.

• 1:21:48George Kamel?

  And I Venmoed to the wrong, you know, you're typing fast, the person's at your front door, getting the, and so I Venmoed real quick, and it was to the wrong person, and I had to message them and say, I'm so sorry, I know you have, you could keep the money if you wanted to, but please, give me this money back.

• 1:22:01Rachel Cruze?

  And they did.

• 1:22:02George Kamel?

  And they did. It restored my faith in humanity.

• 1:22:05Rachel Cruze?

  And it's great.

• 1:22:06George Kamel?

  Next up, tactful or tacky? Family photographer. To save on photography, my friend's mother, a retired photographer, took the pictures. She walked down the aisle in her fancy mother of the groom gown and corsage, and then scooted out on the front row and started crouching in the aisle with a cannon. It was distracting, and honestly, at her age, I felt bad for her joints. Oh, no.

• 1:22:29Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's kind of tacky. You kind of just, oh no, you do feel bad for her.

• 1:22:33George Kamel?

  Now, did they pay her anything, or did she volunteer?

• 1:22:35Rachel Cruze?

  I don't care, I don't care, I don't care.

• 1:22:37George Kamel?

  Was this an elderly woman?

• 1:22:39Rachel Cruze?

  The mother of?

• 1:22:41George Kamel?

  Retired, let's say she's in, like, she's in her sixties or beyond. If she's a retired photographer.

• 1:22:46Rachel Cruze?

  You can't enjoy the moment of a wedding that is your son or daughter.

• 1:22:50George Kamel?

  Yeah, it says my friend's mother, so that's all we know. But I think it is distracting.

• 1:22:55Rachel Cruze?

  But she's in, like, her, like, gown.

• 1:22:57George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no, that's tacky.

• 1:22:59George Kamel?

  And you've seen the photographers at weddings, they'll do anything to get the shot. So they're crawling on the ground, they're leaning over, so to see, like, an older woman do that, I would feel bad.

• 1:23:07Rachel Cruze?

  In a gown.

• 1:23:08George Kamel?

  In a gown, especially if you know, like, we didn't pay her very much or at all to do this.

• 1:23:12Rachel Cruze?

  It's her mother, though, like, you know what I mean? It's the, it's, this is the groom or bride's mother doing it.

• 1:23:17George Kamel?

  Well, it said my friend's mother.

• 1:23:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, exactly. This person went to their friend's wedding. It'd be like me going to your wedding, like, I went to a friend's wedding and say, your mom ended up being the photographer of your wedding.

• 1:23:26George Kamel?

  Got it. Yeah, cause it says mother of the groom gown.

• 1:23:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. What if your mom?

• 1:23:31George Kamel?

  No.

• 1:23:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I know.

• 1:23:34George Kamel?

  I wouldn't let her do it.

• 1:23:35Rachel Cruze?

  I know, I'm gonna say tacky.

• 1:23:36George Kamel?

  First of all, you want them to enjoy the wedding. Second of all, I'm not making my mom do jack squat on my wedding day.

• 1:23:41Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I know. Yep, alright, next, Trader Joe's flowers. So there was a wedding where Costco never delivered the flowers on the wedding day.

• 1:23:50George Kamel?

  Oh, no.

• 1:23:51Rachel Cruze?

  So all the bridesmaids drove around to every Trader Joe's in Nashville and bought all the white flowers, making the table arrangements, the bouquets, all of that. Costco gave a refund, and the floral budget ended up costing just over a couple of hundred bucks.

• 1:24:04George Kamel?

  This is tactful, hundred percent.

• 1:24:06Rachel Cruze?

  Tactful, a hundred percent.

• 1:24:07George Kamel?

  It can't be tacky.

• 1:24:08Rachel Cruze?

  Trader Joe's has great flowers. Amen, hallelujah.

• 1:24:10George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:24:11Rachel Cruze?

  That's awesome.

• 1:24:11George Kamel?

  And they are very inexpensive comparatively, too. You know, and I get it, support your local florist, don't come at me, florist. You know they're gonna come at us, Rachel.

• 1:24:18Rachel Cruze?

  They're gonna get mad.

• 1:24:19George Kamel?

  We provide a servant, okay? We get it, you're great at what you do. No shade to florists, but this is a good way.

• 1:24:26Rachel Cruze?

  Trader Joe's has some cheap flowers.

• 1:24:27George Kamel?

  In a bind, to make it happen.

• 1:24:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 1:24:29George Kamel?

  Alright, next up on the frugal wedding fails, wedding attendance fee. I already don't like where this one's going. I heard about a family friend who charged an attendance fee at their wedding, a hundred fifty bucks per person, and fifty dollars for kids under ten.

• 1:24:42Rachel Cruze?

  Stop it.

• 1:24:43George Kamel?

  Tactful or tacky? I don't know how you could say tactful.

• 1:24:46Rachel Cruze?

  You charge people to come to your wedding?

• 1:24:49George Kamel?

  That's crazy.

• 1:24:50Rachel Cruze?

  That's crazy, that's crazy, we gotta draw the line somewhere.

• 1:24:52George Kamel?

  Can I tell you the part that I do, I get why people do it, I would never do it, I think it's tacky.

• 1:24:57Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 1:24:57George Kamel?

  But if people don't show up after they RSVP yes, I've heard of people sending a bill.

• 1:25:02Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's tacky.

• 1:25:04George Kamel?

  Which is so tacky, but also, I love the pettiness of it.

• 1:25:07Rachel Cruze?

  You would love it.

• 1:25:08George Kamel?

  Cause this happened at our wedding. I know, cause I marked down who didn't show up, that RSVP'd yes.

• 1:25:13Rachel Cruze?

  George, George.

• 1:25:14George Kamel?

  Listen, you know how, like, you're getting charged per plate, per seat. Yeah, agreed, we wouldn't have been friends right now, this podcast would not exist.

• 1:25:23Rachel Cruze?

  This would not have existed.

• 1:25:24George Kamel?

  Like, let them know, if you can't make it, I think it's super rude to RSVP yes to a wedding, where you know it's costing them a hundred plus per person.

• 1:25:33Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 1:25:34George Kamel?

  So it hurts my soul, I just have a list on my phone, and I'm not over it. But I did not send them a bill, if it makes you feel better. But doing the math.

• 1:25:42Rachel Cruze?

  I think I've done this, y'all.

• 1:25:44George Kamel?

  You've ditched on weddings you've said yes to?

• 1:25:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:25:48George Kamel?

  Wow. Were they close friends, or like, eh?

• 1:25:50Rachel Cruze?

  No, not necessarily.

• 1:25:51George Kamel?

  You get invited to, like, random people's weddings, like, fans of this show have invited you to their wedding.

• 1:25:57Rachel Cruze?

  Well, yeah, but I don't RSVP yes to those.

• 1:25:59George Kamel?

  Have you thought about it, though?

• 1:26:00Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 1:26:00George Kamel?

  Do you ever send, like, a gift?

• 1:26:03Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, oh, oh, I see what you're saying, um.

• 1:26:05George Kamel?

  I've done that, I've sent them, like, Financial Peace University on, don't start DMing me with that, I will not, now I know.

• 1:26:11Rachel Cruze?

  George.

• 1:26:12George Kamel?

  If it happens in the future, I'm not falling for it.

• 1:26:13Rachel Cruze?

  Tacky, unbelievable.

• 1:26:16George Kamel?

  But I think they invite us because they're like, maybe they'll send us something.

• 1:26:19Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, yeah.

• 1:26:20George Kamel?

  Have you heard about this? People, now, we're not celebrities by any stretch.

• 1:26:22Rachel Cruze?

  But they do, like, invite celebrities, yeah.

• 1:26:24George Kamel?

  People invite celebrities, they find their address, the PR person, and they'll send wedding invites, and they end up getting some nice gifts out of it.

• 1:26:30Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you know, not bad. I like the effort, I like the effort.

• 1:26:33George Kamel?

  I respect the hustle on that one.

• 1:26:35Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh, y'all, that is.

• 1:26:37George Kamel?

  I'm like, sweating thinking about all this.

• 1:26:39Rachel Cruze?

  That is so funny, oh, man.

• 1:26:41George Kamel?

  Let's talk about non-negotiables. So what are things that you were like, if you're going to plan a wedding, you gotta have these things, and if you were gonna skip some things, I would skip these.

• 1:26:52Rachel Cruze?

  Um, I would go, I would want a great photographer. I would, but not the most expensive, cause there's some great ones, photographers, that are like, up and coming, you know what I mean?

• 1:27:04George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:27:04Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. Um, okay, I want good music at the reception, a live band would be like, ideal.

• 1:27:09George Kamel?

  Oh, you want a live band?

• 1:27:10Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I'd love it, yes, so fun, so fun. A DJ would be next for me.

• 1:27:15George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 1:27:15Rachel Cruze?

  Um, but I think, yeah, good, good music, dancing, I want the party aspect, if you will. Um, I would have a day of coordinator. I think it's always really helpful, to have someone that's like, doing, helping you on it. I think it's worth the money. Yeah, how about you?

• 1:27:31George Kamel?

  Uh, definitely a good photographer. I would say, as much as I love video, and we did have a videographer, it was a friend of ours, so it wasn't super expensive, but video is one that I find myself not going back to watch the wedding tape.

• 1:27:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 1:27:44George Kamel?

  And I don't know that your grandkids want it, like, they'll see the photos, that's enough. If you wanted to save on something, again, no shade to videographers, you're doing great work. Uh, the other one would be a DJ. I could skip the live band, only because when I, when live bands are there, I feel like it's always so loud.

• 1:28:01Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:28:02George Kamel?

  That it's, I like, I want to escape, like, I want to go to the lobby or something, and it's just sensory overload.

• 1:28:07Rachel Cruze?

  Too much, okay.

• 1:28:08George Kamel?

  But I think a good DJ, or the minimum, a really good playlist, uh, will hit.

• 1:28:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:28:13George Kamel?

  And then good food. It doesn't have to be a sit-down dinner, I'm good with, like, a really good buffet.

• 1:28:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:28:18George Kamel?

  It could be tacos, I don't care.

• 1:28:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but just have some great food.

• 1:28:21George Kamel?

  Some sustenance, and drinks are a plus. I've been to some dry weddings, they are less exciting. You're not gonna get as many people on the dance floor, the party will end about two hours earlier than you want it to, just know that.

• 1:28:32Rachel Cruze?

  That's probably true.

• 1:28:32George Kamel?

  Ahead of time. And then I would, uh, say a planner, for sure. Like, day of coordinator, minimum, but a planner will save your life.

• 1:28:39Rachel Cruze?

  You can't care about what people think in life, but I do think there is a, is quorum the right word? There is a?

• 1:28:46George Kamel?

  Decorum.

• 1:28:46Rachel Cruze?

  Decorum of humanity, of manners, and ele, you know, etiquette, like, to be a human.

• 1:28:55George Kamel?

  Keep it classy.

• 1:28:55Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, do you know what I'm saying? Like, there's like, I don't know, a level there, but I guess, still, do, you do you.

• 1:29:00George Kamel?

  You do you.

• 1:29:01Rachel Cruze?

  And people will think.

• 1:29:02George Kamel?

  Regardless of how it affects your personal brand.

• 1:29:03Rachel Cruze?

  That's right, but it will, it can affect it. But also, really, honestly, if you are planning a wedding, like, do it on a budget, because this is one event that gets so out of control so quickly, the expenses are insane. Um, so if you need every dollar, do the, use an every dollar budget for your wedding planning.

• 1:29:20George Kamel?

  Yeah, create like an extra free account that's just for the wedding.

• 1:29:22Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, so smart.

• 1:29:23George Kamel?

  I had a Google Sheet that was very complicated, but I had to keep track of everything. I needed the link to where I bought it from, what the estimated versus what the actual, so I nerded out too hard, but it did keep us under budget.

• 1:29:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, so great. And remember, you know, the wedding's one day, your marriage is a lifetime. So, take some of that money, if you get some, and pay for therapy.

• 1:29:45George Kamel?

  That's a great idea, oh my goodness.

• 1:29:48Rachel Cruze?

  Better than a down payment.

• 1:29:48George Kamel?

  Can you imagine if you said, hey, therapy for a couple, let's call it two hundred fifty bucks?

• 1:29:53Rachel Cruze?

  Like, a year in.

• 1:29:54George Kamel?

  Get a year's worth of therapy.

• 1:29:55Rachel Cruze?

  Pre-marital sometimes is like, eh, get a year in.

• 1:29:58George Kamel?

  You're gonna need it.

• 1:29:59Rachel Cruze?

  You're gonna need that two hundred dollar an hour therapist, once a week.

• 1:30:02George Kamel?

  And I would say, like, have your priorities, and then say no to the rest.

• 1:30:05Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, totally.

• 1:30:06George Kamel?

  Like, maybe you don't need the donut wall, maybe you don't need the party favors.

• 1:30:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:30:10George Kamel?

  Focus on the stuff that really matters, and then also, call your list down. That was the most stressful part, was having boundaries, cause my mom wanted to invite her friend that she hasn't seen in seven years, and I was like, mom, we can't just have this open invite to everyone who wants to go.

• 1:30:25Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 1:30:26George Kamel?

  So we really had to scale it down.

• 1:30:27Rachel Cruze?

  And that's hard if they are paying for the wedding, too.

• 1:30:28George Kamel?

  That's the other thing, if you're not paying for it, there are strings attached.

• 1:30:31Rachel Cruze?

  It's tricky.

• 1:30:32George Kamel?

  So be careful who you accept the help from.

• 1:30:35Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, so good, weddings. We're out of that season, though, we don't get invited to many weddings these days.

• 1:30:40George Kamel?

  I can't remember the last time I got invited.

• 1:30:42Rachel Cruze?

  We should go to one, George, let's find someone. Well, I've had someone here at, Ramsey's getting married soon.

• 1:30:47George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:30:48Rachel Cruze?

  Let's ask them to invite us.

• 1:30:49George Kamel?

  Maybe they're in the room, we don't know.

• 1:30:51Rachel Cruze?

  We'll go, uh, party the night away.

• 1:30:54George Kamel?

  I don't know. I don't know.

• 1:30:56Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. All right. Before we spill the tea in our guilty as charged segments, let's share what we're drinking, George.

• 1:31:04George Kamel?

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

• 1:31:26Rachel Cruze?

  There was an egg white in here?

• 1:31:27George Kamel?

  That's what's causing the foaminess.

• 1:31:29Rachel Cruze?

  Cause I'm not usually an egg white person.

• 1:31:31George Kamel?

  Have you had like a good whiskey sour? They'll do an egg white in there if it's made properly.

• 1:31:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I guess that's true, yes.

• 1:31:35George Kamel?

  So that part, you gotta be into that.

• 1:31:37Rachel Cruze?

  This feels like summer to me.

• 1:31:38George Kamel?

  Yeah, it is a very summery drink. It's very light and smooth while having a complexity that I really enjoy. So I'm gonna go eight out of 10 on this one.

• 1:31:48Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going, I may go 10 out of 10.

• 1:31:53George Kamel?

  That's a big win.

• 1:31:54Rachel Cruze?

  I would order this. This would be a great lunch cocktail. Like if you're out with friends on a patio, getting some lunch. It feels like a day drink.

• 1:32:02George Kamel?

  Is it a taco situation?

• 1:32:04Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 1:32:05George Kamel?

  No, what are you eating with this?

• 1:32:09George Kamel?

  I feel like this is a patio at Bar Taco in Nashville situation.

• 1:32:12Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, yeah, you're right.

• 1:32:13George Kamel?

  That's where I go with it.

• 1:32:13Rachel Cruze?

  You're right. Yeah.

• 1:32:15George Kamel?

  Maybe it's just me.

• 1:32:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I'm going a little chips and guac. A lot of apps. I'm feeling apps lunch. Tapas.

• 1:32:21George Kamel?

  Small plates.

• 1:32:22Rachel Cruze?

  Tapas lunch with this cocktail. 10 out of 10.

• 1:32:25George Kamel?

  Tapas the morning to you. Love it.

• 1:32:27Rachel Cruze?

  I'm gonna be very specific.

• 1:32:28George Kamel?

  Get the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend and see if it is really a 10 out of 10.

• 1:32:34Rachel Cruze?

  All right, now it's time for Guilty as Charged. And this is where we ask each other a new guilty as charged question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip.

• 1:32:43George Kamel?

  Here it is. It's wedding related. Have you ever re-gifted or returned a wedding gift and it backfired?

• 1:32:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 1:32:52George Kamel?

  Yeah, cheers to that.

• 1:32:53Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:32:54George Kamel?

  Cheers to backfiring.

• 1:32:55Rachel Cruze?

  I think I've said this on the show. I've told this story on the show before. But we got a wedding gift and it was, it was a great gift. We just would never use it. And we ended up, I ended up re-gifting it to a friend six months later for her wedding. And I left the part of the original wrapping paper at the bottom of it. And I put it in a gift bag and when she took it out, she was like, here's some other wrapping paper.

• 1:33:20George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 1:33:21Rachel Cruze?

  Straight up past me.

• 1:33:22George Kamel?

  Hey, did you re-gift this?

• 1:33:23Rachel Cruze?

  And I was like, oh, man.

• 1:33:26George Kamel?

  You gotta, so you need to a full 360 view at the gift. Oh, gosh. We had one.

• 1:33:32Rachel Cruze?

  I was, you know, I was broke. I spent all my money on my wedding. Six months later, I didn't.

• 1:33:36George Kamel?

  And if it's a good gift, who cares? You know what I mean?

• 1:33:38Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:39George Kamel?

  If it's something they would want and they would use, I don't care if you re-gifted me something.

• 1:33:43Rachel Cruze?

  Thanks. How about you?

• 1:33:45George Kamel?

  We got some silverware for our wedding, as one does. And we got, it was gold. And we decided, you know, we went with the silver. It's a little cheaper. We can get more of it. So we went to return it. They couldn't do it. This place, this fancy place could not do a return. They're like, we just don't do that. So I had to meet them at the old Ramsey building to do this exchange to return it. And when they returned it, they sent the new one for an exchange to the people who bought it for us. So then we had to contact them, like, hey, you're gonna get a package. It's nothing malign. We just accidentally, it was just.

• 1:34:21Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, you did a return and they sent the.

• 1:34:22George Kamel?

  They sent it to the person who bought it for us. Which they obviously found out at that point that we did not want what they gave us.

• 1:34:29Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no.

• 1:34:30George Kamel?

  So just create a really awkward situation. The whole thing was just a cluster.

• 1:34:33Rachel Cruze?

  Do you still see those people today?

• 1:34:35George Kamel?

  I think I've seen them one time since that happened.

• 1:34:37Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, that's good.

• 1:34:38George Kamel?

  And they're very nice. They're very nice.

• 1:34:38Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that makes it feel better, yeah.

• 1:34:39George Kamel?

  But just be careful out there, guys. It's a dark world.

• 1:34:43Rachel Cruze?

  It's a wild world out there. Get your foundations, you know? Control what you can control, you know, stick to the.

• 1:34:49George Kamel?

  Great advice.

• 1:34:51George Kamel?

  Just keep it.

• 1:34:52Rachel Cruze?

  It's just a lot.

• 1:34:53George Kamel?

  Just keep it.

• 1:34:54Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's a lot.

• 1:34:54George Kamel?

  You know what's fun? Amazon stuff, you see the little QR code that comes with it? And it's like, let them know what you think. Well, if someone sends you something anonymously and you scan that code, it'll have their name on the like, thank you.

• 1:35:07Rachel Cruze?

  Who sends you stuff anonymously?

• 1:35:09George Kamel?

  It happened one time and I was really awkward. I got a vinyl record sent to the office and I was like, who sent this? I'll never know.

• 1:35:16Rachel Cruze?

  But you scanned the QR?

• 1:35:17George Kamel?

  And I scanned the QR code and it's had their name. And I reached out to them and confronted them. Yes. And they were like, what? No, I didn't. I was like, it had your name. And they're like, oh, gosh. And they were really embarrassed.

• 1:35:28Rachel Cruze?

  Why, why are they, I'm so confused.

• 1:35:30George Kamel?

  I don't know. To this day, the whole thing was very strange.

• 1:35:35Rachel Cruze?

  So weird. You get so many fun awkward moments in your life, George.

• 1:35:38George Kamel?

  Thank you for saying they're fun.

• 1:35:40Rachel Cruze?

  I want some.

• 1:35:41George Kamel?

  I find them pain inducing.

• 1:35:41Rachel Cruze?

  I want some.

• 1:35:42George Kamel?

  But I'm glad my trauma is your joy. It's a true friend.

• 1:35:49George Kamel?

  It's either dude, that's sick or major financial ick. Today, we're telling you exactly how we feel about your financial habits.

• 1:35:57Rachel Cruze?

  I lied about my income on the first date with my girlfriend.

• 1:36:00George Kamel?

  Is that what we're doing now? I received a $40,000 inheritance before we got married and never mentioned it.

• 1:36:05Rachel Cruze?

  You know what I did in Mexico? Have I told you this story?

• 1:36:13Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 1:36:15George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 1:36:17Rachel Cruze?

  And this is

• 1:36:18George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 1:36:21Rachel Cruze?

  Cheers, George.

• 1:36:21George Kamel?

  Cheers.

• 1:36:25Rachel Cruze?

  Ah, very refreshing. Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money.

• 1:36:36George Kamel?

  And let's talk about what we're sipping on to start. This is a cherry basil smash.

• 1:36:40Rachel Cruze?

  Delicious.

• 1:36:41George Kamel?

  Would you say it's wicked sick?

• 1:36:43Rachel Cruze?

  Wicked sick. Ooh, both together. Oh, no, wicked, ick and sick. It's not ick. Wicked sick.

• 1:36:48George Kamel?

  We have so much to teach Rachel.

• 1:36:51George Kamel?

  Well, hey, by the end of this episode, we will teach Rachel all the buzzwords and we'll give you a rating and reveal the cost per glass of this delicious drink. Stick around.

• 1:36:58Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 1:36:59George Kamel?

  All right, Rachel. By now, we've spent enough time with our Gen Z coworkers. Most of it, we've learned against our will. All of the words. We know what ick means. But do you also know that sick is a positive term?

• 1:37:10Rachel Cruze?

  I did. And did you know that like, I'm dead? I am dead.

• 1:37:15George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 1:37:16Rachel Cruze?

  Dead.

• 1:37:17George Kamel?

  With a skull emoji.

• 1:37:18Rachel Cruze?

  It's my favorite now. I've just started adopting it like two weeks ago.

• 1:37:20George Kamel?

  You don't even need to say it now. You just do the skull emoji.

• 1:37:22Rachel Cruze?

  I just do the skull. I did. It's in my favorite emojis. You know, when you like get to your text messages, your emojis, it's like the ones you use a lot? The skull is in mine now. Cause I'm just like, dead.

• 1:37:32George Kamel?

  You're so on trend.

• 1:37:33Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 1:37:33George Kamel?

  Well, you can't say dead.

• 1:37:34Rachel Cruze?

  But it's not the ones with the crossbones.

• 1:37:35George Kamel?

  They can't say dead.

• 1:37:36Rachel Cruze?

  Right? I don't do the crossbone. I just do the, just the skull.

• 1:37:39George Kamel?

  Don't they say, they say unalive?

• 1:37:42Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 1:37:42George Kamel?

  Yeah. We can't say dead. You can do the skull emoji, but you can't say dead.

• 1:37:47Rachel Cruze?

  I'm dead? No, that's a Gen Z term.

• 1:37:48George Kamel?

  You can say dead out loud, but in text on the internet, you're not allowed.

• 1:37:52Rachel Cruze?

  No, I don't say the word dead. I use the skull emoji, which means dead.

• 1:37:55George Kamel?

  Oh, good, okay. We got there, guys.

• 1:37:58Rachel Cruze?

  You can say dead as a text, as a.

• 1:38:00George Kamel?

  You can't. It's illegal.

• 1:38:02Rachel Cruze?

  No, it's not.

• 1:38:03George Kamel?

  Gen Z makes the rules.

• 1:38:04Rachel Cruze?

  George.

• 1:38:05George Kamel?

  It's the law.

• 1:38:06Rachel Cruze?

  George, stop it.

• 1:38:07George Kamel?

  Support me in the comments.

• 1:38:08Rachel Cruze?

  There was an incident on the playground. I will not give names. And a teacher had to email and said that there was a mole on one of my kids' playgrounds at school.

• 1:38:20George Kamel?

  You mean mole as in like?

• 1:38:21Rachel Cruze?

  Like a little rodent.

• 1:38:22George Kamel?

  Okay, I think you meant like a narc.

• 1:38:23Rachel Cruze?

  And he became a.

• 1:38:26George Kamel?

  There was a mole. Given, you know what I mean? Like a mole as in like a spy.

• 1:38:30Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no. Gosh, there's a lot. No, no, there was a critter.

• 1:38:34George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 1:38:36Rachel Cruze?

  And in the email, it said, there was a mole on the playground today that was unalived.

• 1:38:40George Kamel?

  See?

• 1:38:41Rachel Cruze?

  So she had to like let the parents know.

• 1:38:43George Kamel?

  That's amazing.

• 1:38:44Rachel Cruze?

  And she used unalived. Yeah, but there's all these like terms that they use.

• 1:38:48George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 1:38:49Rachel Cruze?

  There was one and I'm trying to think.

• 1:38:50George Kamel?

  Gas, fire, cooked.

• 1:38:51Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, my son, Charles, says cooked. I'm cooking. That's what he says after he like shoots a basketball.

• 1:38:57George Kamel?

  Oh, it's a present tense.

• 1:38:57Rachel Cruze?

  I guess. I don't know if he uses it right, but he was a little, hearing a six-year-old say it.

• 1:39:01George Kamel?

  So he is sinking those threes and he's like, mom, I'm cooking.

• 1:39:04Rachel Cruze?

  He goes, I'm cooking. And I'm like, this is the funniest thing.

• 1:39:07George Kamel?

  That's adorable.

• 1:39:08Rachel Cruze?

  Gosh, there was a term that I picked up that I really liked and then it was out. Not bougie. Oh, oh. Oh, chugi. Chugi.

• 1:39:17George Kamel?

  Chugi.

• 1:39:17Rachel Cruze?

  What a great word.

• 1:39:19George Kamel?

  Oh, chugi's out.

• 1:39:20Rachel Cruze?

  But no one uses it anymore.

• 1:39:21George Kamel?

  It's chugi to say chugi.

• 1:39:22Rachel Cruze?

  But what a great description of what it means.

• 1:39:24George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:39:24Rachel Cruze?

  It's like one of those words that you're like, oh, that makes so much sense now that I know it in terms. But no one uses it anymore, so I'm done. But I liked it.

• 1:39:31George Kamel?

  You combined them all.

• 1:39:32Rachel Cruze?

  Do you ever say wicked sick?

• 1:39:34George Kamel?

  Well, as a, as someone who was born in Boston, that's all I heard growing up.

• 1:39:38Rachel Cruze?

  Wait, stop. So go.

• 1:39:38George Kamel?

  If anything was.

• 1:39:39Rachel Cruze?

  Give me a example.

• 1:39:41George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 1:39:43George Kamel?

  Dude, that Red Sox game was wicked sick. You catch on friggin' Fox, dude? They all talk like that. They all talk like that.

• 1:39:50Rachel Cruze?

  Give me a Boston accent.

• 1:39:52George Kamel?

  It's so great. It's so heartwarming.

• 1:39:54Rachel Cruze?

  It's so fun. It's kind of intimidating.

• 1:39:57George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 1:39:57Rachel Cruze?

  When you hear in New York, New Jersey, you're like, I'm not gonna mess with you. You know what I mean?

• 1:40:02George Kamel?

  But you know the truth?

• 1:40:02Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 1:40:03George Kamel?

  The people of Boston are some of the warmest, kindest individuals beneath the hardest exterior.

• 1:40:08Rachel Cruze?

  That and an Italian. Put it together. Now that's fun.

• 1:40:12George Kamel?

  But you know, the South is the opposite. Soft, kind exterior, mean interior. Just cruel, bitter.

• 1:40:19Rachel Cruze?

  Gossipy women. They just

• 1:40:21George Kamel?

  Bless her heart.

• 1:40:22Rachel Cruze?

  Unbelievable.

• 1:40:23George Kamel?

  A lot of bless her heart energy in the South.

• 1:40:24Rachel Cruze?

  Put it in a prayer request. Tina's having a hard time with her marriage. Greg has not been a great husband. So we need to pray for them. You know what I mean? Is that?

• 1:40:32George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 1:40:32Rachel Cruze?

  Classic Southern Baptist right there.

• 1:40:34George Kamel?

  Boston, they'll just tell it to you raw.

• 1:40:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, Tina.

• 1:40:37George Kamel?

  Friggin' Greg's cheating on Tina again. Get a load of this guy.

• 1:40:41Rachel Cruze?

  They don't put it in a prayer. They put it in an announcement.

• 1:40:44George Kamel?

  Oh, that's fun.

• 1:40:46Rachel Cruze?

  In the pub.

• 1:40:46George Kamel?

  That's fun. Well, I need you to help us understand what ick really means.

• 1:40:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's like a, um...

• 1:40:54George Kamel?

  Like a turnoff?

• 1:40:55Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Great. That's it. Yes. It's like a, ugh, ooh, gosh. Like I saw a video, um, he's a grown man in an indoor trampoline park, probably like with his kids and stuff.

• 1:41:08George Kamel?

  Oh, no.

• 1:41:08Rachel Cruze?

  And his wife videoed him and he's, you know how the trampolines are like right next to each other, but you have to jump over the little like, um, padding?

• 1:41:14George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:41:15Rachel Cruze?

  And he's like jumping and his, and his knees like are going so high up to like make it across. And she's like, new ick unlocked.

• 1:41:23George Kamel?

  That's incredible.

• 1:41:24Rachel Cruze?

  It's just like the, it's like a, it's like the most ridiculous, it's like a person, a grown, usually a grown man, doing something that you're just like, oh, wow, that just looks terrible. Like I just, I don't like that, you know?

• 1:41:36George Kamel?

  Yeah. Well, I experienced one of those. Like Whitney felt the ick towards me.

• 1:41:41Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, stop it.

• 1:41:42George Kamel?

  Pretty recently. And I was kind of shocked.

• 1:41:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:41:44George Kamel?

  So my brother, very kindly, got us a Nintendo Switch 2 for Christmas.

• 1:41:49Rachel Cruze?

  Very kindly.

• 1:41:49George Kamel?

  As a gift to both of us, mind you. So like, great, we're gonna play Mario Party, like all the stuff we played growing up, you know? Mario Kart, just good times.

• 1:41:58Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 1:41:59George Kamel?

  She has yet to play. So I go, well, I'm gonna play. So I download my favorite game of all time, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. And I'm going to town. I beat this game in a weekend and I haven't played it since, okay? But she walked in and she was just like, mm, ew. Ew, no, no.

• 1:42:16Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, does it have a remote control? What's it doing? Is it little or on the TV?

• 1:42:19George Kamel?

  It's, you know, it's a, I bought a, a control that felt like the old PlayStation ones.

• 1:42:25Rachel Cruze?

  But you're looking at the TV while you're playing? And are you like moving with it?

• 1:42:28George Kamel?

  I mean, you're going for it.

• 1:42:29Rachel Cruze?

  Cause that is, that would be an ick. Yeah. If you're like in it so much that you're

• 1:42:33George Kamel?

  Standing up, you know, in the TV.

• 1:42:35Rachel Cruze?

  And you're like having to move around.

• 1:42:36George Kamel?

  But I was focused. I was intentional.

• 1:42:38Rachel Cruze?

  You're in character.

• 1:42:39George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:42:39Rachel Cruze?

  Like Tony Hawk.

• 1:42:41George Kamel?

  She wasn't having it.

• 1:42:42Rachel Cruze?

  Not having it.

• 1:42:42George Kamel?

  Do you have one for Winston that, I feel like Winston's like Chuck Norris. Like he's never done anything unmanly.

• 1:42:47Rachel Cruze?

  You know what's funny? He got it.

• 1:42:50George Kamel?

  Is he gonna hate that you shared this?

• 1:42:51Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. No, probably not. He's actually probably proud of it. He got a new, a red light. Like the red light therapy stuff is like

• 1:42:59George Kamel?

  Like a mask?

• 1:43:00Rachel Cruze?

  Big. No. It's like a box.

• 1:43:02George Kamel?

  Oh, just a box that, okay.

• 1:43:03Rachel Cruze?

  But this is like a panel. And it was actually kind of expensive, you know, but he got, he gets us all of our health stuff. He's like into the sauna and all this.

• 1:43:10George Kamel?

  A good version of it. He doesn't want to just

• 1:43:12Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. Yeah. And it was nice. And I don't mind spending, it's fine. But I do laugh now. It's only been like four days, y'all. Every time I walk into our bedroom though, our bedroom number one, a red light is coming from the corner. And he has some different body part against the red light. His foot, he like had his foot up at one point and he's like

• 1:43:29George Kamel?

  That's amazing.

• 1:43:30Rachel Cruze?

  So yeah, he is like all into the red light therapy and he swears it helps. He's already like, my cells are turning over. He's like, I am

• 1:43:37George Kamel?

  What is it? Like inflammation?

• 1:43:38Rachel Cruze?

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

• 1:43:46George Kamel?

  Yeah, that one's still frightening if you walk into a room and someone's wearing that.

• 1:43:48Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:43:49George Kamel?

  It's very Jason vibes.

• 1:43:50Rachel Cruze?

  It is. It looks like a hockey mask. Yeah. No, but him and his red light now, y'all, and it cracks, it cracks me up. So I guess an ick, but it just makes me laugh that a grown man

• 1:44:02Rachel Cruze?

  is like, has his calf up next to it. You know what I mean? You're just like, Winston. So yeah, that's funny.

• 1:44:08George Kamel?

  Winston, I hope you live to a hundred.

• 1:44:10Rachel Cruze?

  But you know, his, his metabolic age, he's doing all of his blood work. He turned 40. So he's like, he's like one of these, like you hit 40 and he's like,

• 1:44:16George Kamel?

  Kind of a midlife crisis.

• 1:44:17Rachel Cruze?

  I'm just gonna be healthy, all things. And he's like 31 and his, whatever his age is, yeah.

• 1:44:22George Kamel?

  Who tells him that?

• 1:44:23Rachel Cruze?

  He did like blood work and he even got one of those, um, things that you prick on the back of your arm to see insulin.

• 1:44:30George Kamel?

  You're like blood sugar?

• 1:44:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. You wanna see when your blood sugar spikes so you don't have crashes throughout the day. So you can kind of like see what your body, all this stuff.

• 1:44:36George Kamel?

  Monitoring his levels.

• 1:44:38Rachel Cruze?

  My gosh, God bless him. It's like he's 80. He's not. He's a good looking 40.

• 1:44:41George Kamel?

  He'll, he'll look good at 80. That's the goal.

• 1:44:44Rachel Cruze?

  He actually looks great.

• 1:44:45George Kamel?

  You should be thankful.

• 1:44:46Rachel Cruze?

  I'm not, I'm not mad. He looking good. I think we both have gotten better looking as we've gotten older.

• 1:44:52George Kamel?

  You and Winston?

• 1:44:52Rachel Cruze?

  Uh huh.

• 1:44:53George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:44:53Rachel Cruze?

  Do you feel like that with you and Whitney? I look back on pictures of me and I'm like, oh man, I wish I knew how to like, yeah.

• 1:44:58George Kamel?

  Yeah. And you think part of it was just the styles, like didn't, you thought it was on trend and looking back, you're like, oof.

• 1:45:02Rachel Cruze?

  It's like so, maybe so.

• 1:45:04George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:45:04Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know.

• 1:45:05George Kamel?

  Now, I think you guys have had to grow up.

• 1:45:07Rachel Cruze?

  Do you look back and you're like?

• 1:45:08George Kamel?

  You figure out like the right way to style the hair.

• 1:45:09Rachel Cruze?

  Like I think you're probably a better looking guy right now than George with like the big hair down the side.

• 1:45:13George Kamel?

  Yeah, Whitney helped me.

• 1:45:14Rachel Cruze?

  You know what I mean?

• 1:45:15George Kamel?

  When she started dating, she was like, hey, you look fine. We can do more with this.

• 1:45:21George Kamel?

  You know?

• 1:45:21Rachel Cruze?

  I agree. It's a, that's a good goal of like the older I look, the, the better I'm gonna look, right?

• 1:45:28George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:45:29Rachel Cruze?

  And not like crazy.

• 1:45:31George Kamel?

  You wanna age like a fine wine and not milk.

• 1:45:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's our goal, George. All right, all right. We're back. We're off track. We're off track. Here we go.

• 1:45:38George Kamel?

  All right.

• 1:45:39Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so our team has collected some controversial money behaviors from the internet, which we love. And all of these have been classified as financial icks by some, but they're not all black and white. You know, there could be some that were not necessary.

• 1:45:53George Kamel?

  Some gray area.

• 1:45:54Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. So we're gonna do a, um, kind of like a, a little contest, George, as we name them out.

• 1:46:01George Kamel?

  Oh, that's fun.

• 1:46:02Rachel Cruze?

  It's either gonna be an ick.

• 1:46:03George Kamel?

  So we have a little paddle here with a red thumbs down or a green thumbs up.

• 1:46:07Rachel Cruze?

  So ick is a no, but then, or is it sick in a good way?

• 1:46:10George Kamel?

  Wicked sick.

• 1:46:10Rachel Cruze?

  Wicked sick. Like, yes, we are all for that. So

• 1:46:15George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 1:46:15Rachel Cruze?

  We're gonna read these scenarios and we're gonna, we're gonna judge.

• 1:46:18George Kamel?

  Let us know in the comments what you think. If we're wrong or not, you, you're never scared to let us know. And I appreciate that about you guys.

• 1:46:24Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. Here, you read the first one.

• 1:46:26George Kamel?

  Okay. "I was put into a group chat unknowingly and suddenly we're all booking hotels and plane tickets to the tune of $2,500 per person. Can I just ghost and leave the chat quietly?" What? Put into a group chat unknowingly?

• 1:46:41Rachel Cruze?

  I think that's sick. I think you can. A hundred percent. Wicked sick.

• 1:46:45George Kamel?

  That's wicked sick.

• 1:46:46Rachel Cruze?

  To leave the group chat.

• 1:46:47George Kamel?

  Well, ghosting is the, that's the operative term here.

• 1:46:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but you were put in the chat unknowingly. You did not be, you were not asked to be part of it. It was probably like a big girls' trip is what I'm assuming. And I'm sure Anna was like, I heard.

• 1:47:00George Kamel?

  Sharing like the war details. Like I got added to the group chat. I wasn't even supposed to be in this group chat. My bad.

• 1:47:05Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh. No, I bet it was like a big girls' trip and I bet Anna was like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna text 10 girls to go on this big fun weekend trip. And, and, uh, what's her name? Who's this person? Do we know?

• 1:47:19George Kamel?

  No one knows.

• 1:47:20Rachel Cruze?

  Who do you think this is?

• 1:47:21George Kamel?

  You think it's an Anna?

• 1:47:22Rachel Cruze?

  No, I think Anna added her.

• 1:47:24George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 1:47:25Rachel Cruze?

  She would be a

• 1:47:26George Kamel?

  She a Kelly?

• 1:47:27Rachel Cruze?

  Kelly, yeah, that feels right.

• 1:47:29George Kamel?

  Kendra?

• 1:47:31Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, Kendra. Way to bring out the name.

• 1:47:33George Kamel?

  I think Kendra's in the group, but she's not leading the group.

• 1:47:35Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, yeah. So Kendra, Kendra gets added and Kendra is like, what am I doing in here, y'all? I, I can't think it's kinda money.

• 1:47:42George Kamel?

  Not an Anna. I think Ally started the group. Ally's are more aggressive.

• 1:47:46Rachel Cruze?

  Do you think?

• 1:47:47George Kamel?

  Yeah, I think Annas are a little more behind the scenes. A little kinder.

• 1:47:50Rachel Cruze?

  Annas are more kinder. Ally's, Ally's a little, yeah, okay, I'll take it. Fine. Change all my names in my fake scenario, George.

• 1:47:56George Kamel?

  I'm just, there's power in a name. Let's get it right.

• 1:47:58Rachel Cruze?

  That's an ick.

• 1:47:59George Kamel?

  What about Ally with A-L-L-I? More aggressive than a Y?

• 1:48:04Rachel Cruze?

  A-L-I.

• 1:48:05George Kamel?

  Ooh. That's the ultimate.

• 1:48:07Rachel Cruze?

  So we got Ally texting a group of girls and Kendra gets put in. And Kendra's like, wow, Ally, I doesn't, I wasn't even asking for a girls' trip. I'm not gonna respond. I'm just gonna leave. I would, can I say this though? I would probably text Ally on the side and be like, hey, thanks so much for including me. Not in the budget. I don't have, or the schedule's not gonna work out. But y'all have so much fun and send me pics. So we're not envious.

• 1:48:34George Kamel?

  I do think, that's where I go. This is a

• 1:48:36Rachel Cruze?

  You're including the excitement.

• 1:48:37George Kamel?

  It's a wicked sick, but with a caveat that I think she needs to learn how to deal with some conflict.

• 1:48:42Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 1:48:43George Kamel?

  You know, just be a little more honest.

• 1:48:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 1:48:45George Kamel?

  But I do like the side text. I wouldn't just leave quietly. I would let Ally know and have Ally remove you from the group. And say, hey, like Kendra can't make it.

• 1:48:53Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, would you secretly though, not wanna be removed and see all the banter and like see what happens? And if something happens, you're like still in it?

• 1:49:00George Kamel?

  I wanna stay in the group chat.

• 1:49:01Rachel Cruze?

  I wanna stay in the group chat too.

• 1:49:02George Kamel?

  Put it on mute, but I can always check in.

• 1:49:04Rachel Cruze?

  Me too. That's it. Okay.

• 1:49:06George Kamel?

  It's more fun.

• 1:49:07Rachel Cruze?

  So don't ask to be removed, but just say, I can't come. But y'all have so much fun. Send me pics.

• 1:49:12George Kamel?

  Perfect.

• 1:49:13Rachel Cruze?

  Love it. We're gonna be excited for people, y'all. That's part of the gratitude.

• 1:49:17George Kamel?

  You're also assuming this is women. This could be guys.

• 1:49:21Rachel Cruze?

  Fair. I jumped to women. I did.

• 1:49:23George Kamel?

  This feels, this feels like a girls' weekend vibe. I'll tell you this, never been invited into a group chat with a bunch of guys saying, hey, let's go on the trip. Usually doesn't happen like that.

• 1:49:32Rachel Cruze?

  That's true. All right, next. "My husband and I have a rule slash boundary. Anything over $200 requires a quick text to the other. We both agree to it, agreed to it. So I thought it was normal, but our friends think it's controlling." Oh.

• 1:49:47George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 1:49:50Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 1:49:50George Kamel?

  So is she, is this an ick that they have this $200 text requirement?

• 1:49:55Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Okay, I, I mean, no, I don't think so. I do, I will say $200 Doesn't go very far. Like if you're a family like that'll be like a grocery run. So you're supposed to text every time you go to the grocery. You know what I'm saying?

• 1:50:09George Kamel?

  Yeah, they may not understood that. Maybe it's not just like groceries, but it's sort of like an outside of the norm purchase.

• 1:50:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's not like you're buying a sweater at Target for 40 bucks that you gotta text them about. That would be controlling. But I could see 200 and depending on where you are financially, I think a dollar amount is good. And for them, if 200 is what they both agreed on, I'm going green. I'm okay with that.

• 1:50:30George Kamel?

  Well, Whitney just texted me today because she was like, hey, I'm buying some things from J. Crew Factory. It's more than we budgeted for, but I'm gonna return a lot.

• 1:50:38Rachel Cruze?

  So she always says, I love Whitney.

• 1:50:41George Kamel?

  And to her credit, she does. So she'll spend 500 and get back 350. You know what I mean? So it's like, by the end of the month, you're all squared up.

• 1:50:48Rachel Cruze?

  You're all fine.

• 1:50:49George Kamel?

  But she doesn't want me to see the transaction and go, oh, my gosh, was this fraud?

• 1:50:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:50:53George Kamel?

  Which I appreciate. So it's not a controlling thing on my part that I'm gonna smack her down and say, no, you don't get to spend that. I appreciate that she's letting me know.

• 1:51:00Rachel Cruze?

  It's more a heads up, like, don't freak out, George, that someone has robbed our account. It's just me.

• 1:51:03George Kamel?

  Yes. Thank you, Whitney. You're a gem.

• 1:51:06Rachel Cruze?

  Whitney. Love her. Love her.

• 1:51:09George Kamel?

  All right, back to our financial ick or sick. Here we go. I told my friend dinner was on me.

• 1:51:14Rachel Cruze?

  Hmm.

• 1:51:14George Kamel?

  Internally, I expected her to pay next time or Venmo me. She didn't. I'm quietly resentful, but never said anything because I said it was a gift.

• 1:51:25Rachel Cruze?

  I can't hold.

• 1:51:25George Kamel?

  That's on you, girl.

• 1:51:26Rachel Cruze?

  That is on you. No, that is like not true generosity. I'm giving to expect a return?

• 1:51:35George Kamel?

  Internally, I, you already know, when you said, I, I told her this, or internally, I expected this without ever saying it out loud. Now I'm quietly resentful. This is all inside of you.

• 1:51:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. That is not her problem. That's not her problem. You presented it. So, yeah. Yeah, we can't be doing that.

• 1:51:53George Kamel?

  We don't, we don't give with any expectation. I think that's where you go wrong with giving.

• 1:51:57Rachel Cruze?

  100%. When you expect a return or something different, yes.

• 1:52:01George Kamel?

  Just say this next time. Hey, I don't mind grabbing this one if you wanna grab the next one. Easy. If that's, if that's what you want to happen.

• 1:52:07Rachel Cruze?

  That's a great line. So casual, but just say, hey, here's what I'm thinking. Yep.

• 1:52:12George Kamel?

  Or you just go, we'll just get our own checks if that's cool with you.

• 1:52:14Rachel Cruze?

  For sure. Because I have some friends in my life that I do think genuinely are like, oh, yeah, they're happy to be like, oh, no, no, I'll just like, like if we're all ordering coffee at the airport, I don't know, or something. They're like, oh, yeah, I'll grab it. And they really have no expectation.

• 1:52:28George Kamel?

  They don't say like, just, you guys can Venmo me. Well, that's a clear sign they want to be paid back.

• 1:52:32Rachel Cruze?

  And that would be okay. 100%.

• 1:52:34George Kamel?

  There's nothing wrong with either scenario.

• 1:52:35Rachel Cruze?

  But I feel like I do have friends that, yeah, they, they will just like, yeah, take care of something. Like, oh, yeah, they genuinely don't worry. If we get an Uber together or something, they're like, oh, I'll pay for it. It's not a big deal.

• 1:52:44George Kamel?

  You are the friend that will go, guys, I'll get it. No worries.

• 1:52:47Rachel Cruze?

  I, no, no, not always. But I then in turn clock it though. So if, if someone does do something for me, I do think about it.

• 1:52:55George Kamel?

  Because you wanna repay the kindness. Not out of guilt.

• 1:52:58Rachel Cruze?

  No, no, no, no. But I am like, okay, they grab this. Cause I am a little bit more like, I wanna make sure it's fair. I do wanna make sure everything's fair, especially if you're on a trip. We were talking about girl's trips. And someone keeps like, oh, I'll get this, you get the next. And in my head, George, I do think, okay, but if you're getting this, you're getting Starbucks coffees. And then the next could be like cocktails. You know what I mean?

• 1:53:19George Kamel?

  It could be like $200 at dinner.

• 1:53:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, like how are we, but there are some people that just, they're not worried about it. They are good.

• 1:53:23George Kamel?

  They're not doing the math.

• 1:53:24Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, they're good. So I wanna be more like that.

• 1:53:27George Kamel?

  I think we need to find friends who are not doing the math, who are just kinda, you know what? I just feel like being generous. I know. I'm, I'm telling everybody, do not be my friend.

• 1:53:35Rachel Cruze?

  You would be a friend that does math. Um.

• 1:53:38George Kamel?

  But I'll be the guy who's like, you know what, guys? I found a 20% off coupon. So I just saved this all so much money.

• 1:53:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Yeah. But this, this whole scenario, I'm going, I'm going ick.

• 1:53:46George Kamel?

  Yeah. You can't secretly have that expectation.

• 1:53:51Rachel Cruze?

  Nope. All right, next. We decided to leave significantly more money to our daughter, who is a teacher than our son, oh, who is a software engineer making 200,000. Our son was blindsided. We thought it was obvious.

• 1:54:04George Kamel?

  Oof, that's the ick for me. And it's a tell when they say, we thought it was obvious.

• 1:54:09Rachel Cruze?

  Y'all, I know. I am such a, I am such a socialist when it comes to inheritance.

• 1:54:15George Kamel?

  Must be fair and equitable for all.

• 1:54:17Rachel Cruze?

  I'm my mother. My mom used to do that on Christmas. We'd all get a check for the exact dollar and cent that she spent between everyone. We call it socialist Christmas. Like it is even. Like everyone is even. And I feel that about inheritances.

• 1:54:31George Kamel?

  That is, she just like, if you can, just split it all evenly. It makes the most sense.

• 1:54:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Each child, like regardless of, I, yeah, no, no, that, I'm, I'm saying that in like a broad stroke. Like if, if someone is like destroying their life on one end, you're like, oh, I probably don't wanna give them that. Like, I'm not saying that, but just like.

• 1:54:48George Kamel?

  Barring any misbehavior or addiction.

• 1:54:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, especially when you leave it inheritance wise. Don't you think?

• 1:54:56George Kamel?

  Yeah, I can't imagine leaving more to my daughter than my son because my son has a more lucrative career.

• 1:55:02Rachel Cruze?

  Cause your son could lose their job because of AI and he can make, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, who knows? I don't know. With the kids, I'm like.

• 1:55:09George Kamel?

  If you did it right, your wealth when you die is just like an extra blessing to your kids. It's gravy on top. It's not the make or break.

• 1:55:17Rachel Cruze?

  That's a great point.

• 1:55:18George Kamel?

  Whether or not you're gonna like own a house.

• 1:55:19Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:55:20George Kamel?

  You know, hopefully I die late enough that my kids are well enough off on their own. I've taught them good principles. And we know that teachers can and do become millionaires.

• 1:55:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 1:55:29George Kamel?

  Even on teacher salaries, quote unquote. And software engineers can spend like crazy and be broke later in life if they're not careful.

• 1:55:36Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. That's right. Yep. Yeah. But I'm not gonna punish a kid for being successful, basically. Do you know what I'm saying? By giving them less.

• 1:55:45George Kamel?

  Well, and then it makes him resent the sister when she didn't even do anything.

• 1:55:49Rachel Cruze?

  Do you think, do you think, or you resent the parents?

• 1:55:52George Kamel?

  Both.

• 1:55:53Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:55:53George Kamel?

  But now he's, you know, when the sister gets the inheritance, or she's gonna be, you know, he's gonna be resentful toward her, going, wow, I can't believe it.

• 1:56:00Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I'm with you. I think it's even. I mean, I'm going a third, a third, a third.

• 1:56:04George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:56:05Rachel Cruze?

  Cause it, that would be like, okay, if so and so has seven kids, they should get more than so and so who's single, right?

• 1:56:10George Kamel?

  You're gonna rank them by income and net worth?

• 1:56:12Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, net worth, income, or needs versus not. I'm like, no, like y'all, like every life is different and you all get me. You get the same, you get a third of me, everybody.

• 1:56:23George Kamel?

  Amelia, Charles, Caroline, you're gonna be okay. You're, you should give a third. No one's gonna fight.

• 1:56:27Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 1:56:28George Kamel?

  Unless you're gonna give an extra quarter to your old pal, George.

• 1:56:32Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, George is gonna be written in the will for sure.

• 1:56:34George Kamel?

  That is my, can I tell you, that is my dark fantasy, that some random person out there is like, I just like him. You know what? Let's put him in the will. Let's throw him a buck. Not because I need the money, just because it's nice to be invited.

• 1:56:46Rachel Cruze?

  And the best would be if it's someone so random, like the guy who founded Waffle House. And somehow, he's like, I saw George Kim on the internet and I'm just.

• 1:56:54George Kamel?

  He made me laugh one time and I thought.

• 1:56:55Rachel Cruze?

  And you thought, I'm gonna give him a million bucks.

• 1:56:57George Kamel?

  Yeah. Like, I don't like my kids that much. I like that guy though.

• 1:57:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 1:57:01George Kamel?

  Let's swap him out.

• 1:57:02Rachel Cruze?

  You know, the, I think some of the best stories are these like, you know, multimillionaires or billionaires. And maybe they have kids or not, but they like leave half their fortune to the janitor at the university who they blow. You know what I mean? Like some like, and you're like, that's.

• 1:57:15George Kamel?

  Cause like the kids are fine. Let's really blow someone's socks off here with some generosity. This was great. I really enjoyed that.

• 1:57:22Rachel Cruze?

  Where are we?

• 1:57:23George Kamel?

  Here it is. I received a $40,000 inheritance before we got married. I kept it in a separate account and never mentioned it. Eight years in, my spouse found out and felt completely blindsided. I didn't think I had to disclose it. Seeing a theme here.

• 1:57:40George Kamel?

  It's an ick for me.

• 1:57:40Rachel Cruze?

  Going ick. Yeah. What? What you doing?

• 1:57:44George Kamel?

  Like, there's so many clues here.

• 1:57:46Rachel Cruze?

  Do you think that's a guy or a girl?

• 1:57:48George Kamel?

  Um.

• 1:57:49Rachel Cruze?

  I feel like it's a dude. Why do I feel like it's a dude that hit it?

• 1:57:51George Kamel?

  I don't know. I feel like when people say my spouse, it's usually a woman. Correct me if I'm wrong. But I feel like guys usually just say my wife.

• 1:58:01Rachel Cruze?

  I feel like a wife, I feel like a woman would be like my husband.

• 1:58:04George Kamel?

  Interesting. A jury's out on this.

• 1:58:06Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going man. I think this is a man writing in. Anyone? We all think it's a woman.

• 1:58:11George Kamel?

  Well, I think women also could be kind of as a protective, you know, like a security thing. So, but it was before they got married, separate account, never mentioned. I feel like when you get married, you sort of like put it all out there.

• 1:58:23Rachel Cruze?

  Well, in my head too, Pollyanna, but the idea of like, I hope you get married and you're so excited to be like, here's all our money. What are we gonna do with it? Let's go get a big, let's, let's go get a house.

• 1:58:33George Kamel?

  Yeah, I'm sure they had goals in those eight years.

• 1:58:35Rachel Cruze?

  Let's like have fun with it and like figure out what to do with our lives. And it's so exciting that I have 40,000, that we get to like advance.

• 1:58:42George Kamel?

  To kickstart this.

• 1:58:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, advance our lives.

• 1:58:44George Kamel?

  Get the emergency fund, get the house down payment, invest.

• 1:58:47Rachel Cruze?

  And George, I just don't feel like that's what people look at marriage anymore. You know, about 50% divorce rate. Really getting us down.

• 1:58:54George Kamel?

  It hurts.

• 1:58:54Rachel Cruze?

  It does hurt.

• 1:58:56George Kamel?

  Yeah, I don't remember, like, if I had any money when I was married, I was like bragging to Whitney. I was like, I got $10,000. So.

• 1:59:05George Kamel?

  You did pretty good.

• 1:59:06Rachel Cruze?

  I got five figures.

• 1:59:09George Kamel?

  That's what makes me think it's a, it's a woman.

• 1:59:11Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 1:59:11George Kamel?

  The guy would have been like, I'm loaded.

• 1:59:13Rachel Cruze?

  Funny. Okay. That's a, that's a funny perspective. Yep. Well, I think it's an ick. Yep.

• 1:59:19Rachel Cruze?

  Well, if I had 40,000, you know where I'd go? CozyEarth.com.

• 1:59:23George Kamel?

  That's a spending spree right there.

• 1:59:24Rachel Cruze?

  And I would start spending.

• 1:59:26George Kamel?

  One of each, please. I've always wanted to do that.

• 1:59:29Rachel Cruze?

  One of each, please.

• 1:59:30George Kamel?

  Add to cart.

• 1:59:30Rachel Cruze?

  You know what we got today?

• 1:59:32George Kamel?

  What's that?

• 1:59:33Rachel Cruze?

  I got a, they're calling it the first layer. I think is what they're calling it.

• 1:59:36George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 1:59:37Rachel Cruze?

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

• 1:59:54George Kamel?

  Well, I was so scared I was gonna forget it at my desk because I wanted to wear it tonight.

• 1:59:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I'm wearing mine tonight too. Okay. Let's see it. Let's see it.

• 2:00:01George Kamel?

  To be clear, I would not look as cute as Rachel would look in her first layer set, but these are like just, oh, it feels so good. It's like that cool side of the pillow feeling.

• 2:00:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, because it's.

• 2:00:12George Kamel?

  Look at this. It's like nice and stretchy and then matching shorts.

• 2:00:16Rachel Cruze?

  Look at that.

• 2:00:16George Kamel?

  Cause I got that swagger. I got that Bieber swagger. So.

• 2:00:20Rachel Cruze?

  And I love the waistband. It's very Calvin Klein 90's.

• 2:00:23George Kamel?

  Yeah, for a big meal, I need a nice stretchy waistband.

• 2:00:26Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh. Well, we love it. CozyEarth.com. Incredible. And they have great deals for our listeners, George.

• 2:00:32George Kamel?

  Yeah, you can get up to 20% off. Go to CozyEarth.com/smartmoney and use promo code SMARTMONEY at checkout to get the deal.

• 2:00:40Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next. I went on a girl's trip and paid for one of our group dinners on my credit card for points. Everyone agreed to Venmo me, but one girl still hasn't and we've been home for a week. Can I send a remind on Venmo or is that cringe?

• 2:00:54George Kamel?

  Ooh, I'm going, that is wicked sick.

• 2:00:56Rachel Cruze?

  I am sick. Yeah, that's great for sure. Cause you know what benefited it out? This girl forgot.

• 2:01:01George Kamel?

  Happens all the time.

• 2:01:02Rachel Cruze?

  Totally forgot. You know who I do that with? I've done it two times in a row and I'm like, Rachel, Rachel, stop.

• 2:01:08George Kamel?

  You're hitting the remind button?

• 2:01:09Rachel Cruze?

  Um, no, was babysitters. That's how we pay our babysitters now is Venmo.

• 2:01:13George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 2:01:14Rachel Cruze?

  And two times I forget to pay them.

• 2:01:16George Kamel?

  You forgot?

• 2:01:17Rachel Cruze?

  I, yes.

• 2:01:18George Kamel?

  And then do they send you a request?

• 2:01:19Rachel Cruze?

  Thank God. No, they will text me and be like, hi, you know, and it's sweet. They're like sweet high school girls. Hi, Miss Rachel. I wasn't sure if you sent me a Venmo or if I missed it, you know, and I'm like, I'm so sorry. I, I feel terrible.

• 2:01:32George Kamel?

  Imagine the story they're telling their mom and dad.

• 2:01:34Rachel Cruze?

  I feel so terrible.

• 2:01:35George Kamel?

  That Rachel Cruz stiffed me the other day.

• 2:01:36Rachel Cruze?

  So I'm saying that to say, I, she may not be malicious in not paying you. She genuinely may have just like totally forgot. Had a great night, you know, with the girls and she's moving on. She doesn't know. So the reminder actually will be helpful.

• 2:01:47George Kamel?

  I find it helpful.

• 2:01:48Rachel Cruze?

  For her. Yeah.

• 2:01:49George Kamel?

  And it's less awkward than like a text message of, hey, I noticed you never paid me for babysitting.

• 2:01:54Rachel Cruze?

  Well, and it's not $2.74 either. Like it's a girl's dinner. So you're probably, you know, 30, 40 bucks, like.

• 2:02:00George Kamel?

  At least.

• 2:02:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 2:02:02George Kamel?

  That's if you went to the Olive Garden. Cheesecake Factory, up that.

• 2:02:06Rachel Cruze?

  Going up.

• 2:02:07George Kamel?

  Cause you know, we split some cheesecake. Yeah, that's a tough one, but I'm never ashamed to hit the remind button.

• 2:02:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you love that. I've never done a remind on Venmo.

• 2:02:15George Kamel?

  You're proud of that.

• 2:02:16Rachel Cruze?

  I'm more of a text.

• 2:02:18George Kamel?

  Yeah, I wouldn't be scared to text you about it. I can be direct with you. It's not gonna hurt your feelings.

• 2:02:23Rachel Cruze?

  Totally forgot, but it's fine.

• 2:02:24George Kamel?

  Next up, my 23 year old moved back home after college. We charge him $400 a month. Some family members think we're heartless. What they don't know is we're saving it and planning to gift it back when he buys his first home. That's sweet.

• 2:02:40George Kamel?

  I mean, I'm, I'm going wicked sick on this one.

• 2:02:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I think you're fine. I think the whole idea of like adults moving back in with their parents. And it's a big question. Should we charge them rent or not? I think that's your discretion. I mean, I really do. Cause I think there's some responsible kids that move back home and they need six months between this lease and that lease. I mean, that's great. And there's some that move back home because you're like, oh wow, they've not found a steady job.

• 2:03:02George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 2:03:02Rachel Cruze?

  They need to learn some responsibility. Yeah. Like I think you can get the tone and the spirit of the kid and what they need.

• 2:03:08George Kamel?

  If they're in a crisis, I'm not gonna charge them rent.

• 2:03:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no. Like you have a place to land for a little bit. You're fine.

• 2:03:13George Kamel?

  But $400 a month is a steal. So you're not charging them like market rate. You're like, well, it's 1,500 bucks if you went down the street bud. So.

• 2:03:21Rachel Cruze?

  Totally.

• 2:03:21George Kamel?

  Pony up or get out. Like that's, that feels a little more cruel.

• 2:03:24Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, no.

• 2:03:25George Kamel?

  But this is actually helping them understand how to handle monthly bills.

• 2:03:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, and we know.

• 2:03:29George Kamel?

  Cause when they get on the real world, it's actually cruel to have them not know how to handle that and not be able to have it.

• 2:03:33Rachel Cruze?

  And when we talk about living without debt, your credit score is gonna be undetermined if you don't use debt. And so you actually need a rental history.

• 2:03:41George Kamel?

  That's true.

• 2:03:41Rachel Cruze?

  Like a history payment. So actually doing this, parents, you're setting them up well.

• 2:03:45George Kamel?

  Cause they can then do manual underwriting to get a mortgage even without a credit score. Cause the mortgage lender still looks for a history of on time rent payments, even if it's to mom and dad. You still need a history of that flowing to bank accounts.

• 2:03:57Rachel Cruze?

  So I think it's great.

• 2:03:58George Kamel?

  Love it. And I love the idea of gifting it back. That's really sweet. What a fun surprise.

• 2:04:04Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so this is funny. On, we were just doing Ramsey's show lives. We had one in Phoenix. On the, in Phoenix, Ken Coleman, Jade Warshaw, myself. And we had a similar question and they both were like not, don't give it to them. Like they're fine. Let them figure it out. And I was, and I went back and I was like, I think I, yeah, disagree. And then it turned out that he'd been living there for like two years and like all this stuff. Like it ended up not being like, it was kind of like, uh, maybe he shouldn't get it. But it was so funny. We like disagreed on stage about it where I was like, yeah. Cause I think that's great. Part of me, I'm like, that does not bother me.

• 2:04:40George Kamel?

  And I mean, how long has he lived in there? If it's a year, that's 4,800 bucks.

• 2:04:44Rachel Cruze?

  Right.

• 2:04:45George Kamel?

  It's not like it's life changing either way, but it's a nice thing to do to go, all right, here's your moving money.

• 2:04:49Rachel Cruze?

  They chief like, yeah.

• 2:04:50George Kamel?

  Some closing costs, you know, life's expensive. Give your kid a leg up. Like, why are we punishing our children? You're like, well, you gotta learn the hard way like me.

• 2:04:58Rachel Cruze?

  Says a dad of a little girl. That's what he's thinking of me. Yeah.

• 2:05:01George Kamel?

  I know. I, I will treat my girl differently than the boy.

• 2:05:04Rachel Cruze?

  For sure.

• 2:05:04George Kamel?

  The boy, tough it up kid.

• 2:05:06Rachel Cruze?

  And I'm the opposite. Charles, he just says, I just love you. I'm like, I could just, I can just hold you all night. I mean, just the best. It is, it's the best. All right, next. I lied about my income on the first date with my girlfriend. I just rounded, oh, down a bit. Ooh, we're going humble.

• 2:05:24George Kamel?

  So modest.

• 2:05:25Rachel Cruze?

  I work in pharmaceutical sales and didn't want to come off bracky. Oh, that's kind of sweet. I feel like I should clarify, but I'm not sure how to handle the conversation now that things are more serious. Why do I want to go green here? I think it's really sweet.

• 2:05:39George Kamel?

  Well, I want to go just total financial ick for the idea of talking about income on your first date. Is that what we're doing now?

• 2:05:48Rachel Cruze?

  I guess that's true.

• 2:05:49George Kamel?

  Like it went from like, I think he should pay to, I think he should tell me his income. That feels, it's like on the hinge profile now.

• 2:05:56Rachel Cruze?

  Oh no.

• 2:05:57George Kamel?

  It just feels like it's a lot. So for that, I go ick. I think the motive was sweet in a way.

• 2:06:03Rachel Cruze?

  Cause I relate to him most.

• 2:06:04George Kamel?

  Guessing she brought it up.

• 2:06:05Rachel Cruze?

  I'm more of a, I downplay things more than up. Cause upplay feels ego to me. It feels like I need a boost. There's something actually about like, gosh, I don't want to like be intimidating, scare her or whatever he says. Like, I don't know. I appreciate the downplay. Something about that I'm good with. Cause when I first read it and if you heard my inflection.

• 2:06:25George Kamel?

  Yeah, you were very sympathetic to this young man.

• 2:06:28Rachel Cruze?

  Rewind the tape. I said, I lied about, yeah, my income. And I said, oh gosh. I, I just rounded and I really thought it was gonna say up a bit and he said down. So.

• 2:06:37George Kamel?

  Well, he's in pharmaceutical sales. So he's making.

• 2:06:40Rachel Cruze?

  What's he making? Two?

• 2:06:41George Kamel?

  High six figures. Yeah. If he's any good at his job.

• 2:06:44Rachel Cruze?

  High six figures. So seven?

• 2:06:46George Kamel?

  He could be, no, no, I think he could make them.

• 2:06:47Rachel Cruze?

  You said high six figures.

• 2:06:49George Kamel?

  Well, in my head, it was like high, like 150 to 250, somewhere in there. Maybe upwards of 300, depending on how long he's been in it. I don't know. But if he's a young guy, somewhere in there is what you can make in that world.

• 2:07:00Rachel Cruze?

  For sure.

• 2:07:00George Kamel?

  But I still don't understand who brought this up. I have a lot of further questioning, your honor. But.

• 2:07:05Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 2:07:06George Kamel?

  It just feels too soon. Do you have a, like, I don't remember talking about income with Whitney when we were dating.

• 2:07:10Rachel Cruze?

  No, we were in college. Winston had a, he was mowing lawns. I thought I have a working man.

• 2:07:16George Kamel?

  Hey, that's not an ick. It's a hard working man right there.

• 2:07:19Rachel Cruze?

  And I said landscaper. Wow.

• 2:07:21George Kamel?

  Wow. That's why he's so good with plants and shrubbery.

• 2:07:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:07:26George Kamel?

  I've always found that to be interesting.

• 2:07:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, he landscaped through college.

• 2:07:30George Kamel?

  Wow. And you guys have a little garden now.

• 2:07:33Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm.

• 2:07:34George Kamel?

  You have a gardener.

• 2:07:34Rachel Cruze?

  He actually just told me yesterday, uh, he was like, I'm about to plant all my spring or my summer vegetables and I need to know what you're actually gonna use. Cause he used, he planted all this stuff for the winter. He's like, you didn't eat any of my stuff. I'm like, cause you planted radishes. Like I don't eat a radish. But he chopped up a radish.

• 2:07:52George Kamel?

  Hey, a good fresh radish hits.

• 2:07:54Rachel Cruze?

  No, it doesn't. I was like, thanks.

• 2:07:55George Kamel?

  Finely sliced in a salad. Oh.

• 2:07:57Rachel Cruze?

  So I said, uh, green onion. Give me some green onion. Give me all the herbs.

• 2:08:01George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 2:08:02Rachel Cruze?

  Give me cherry tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers. Our cucumbers always end up weird. They have like spikes. They like, I don't know. The cucumbers are tough regarding, um, but those are like what I really, but and then he loves okra. So he's gonna do okra. So.

• 2:08:16George Kamel?

  Oh, that's a fun one. Do you ever fry it up?

• 2:08:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yeah.

• 2:08:19George Kamel?

  Fried okra is a southern specialty.

• 2:08:21Rachel Cruze?

  So good. So good. So yeah.

• 2:08:22George Kamel?

  It's great.

• 2:08:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. I don't know how we got off on that. Oh, shrubbery. Yeah. He loves, he loves, uh, he loves the outdoors.

• 2:08:29George Kamel?

  He is a man of the outdoors.

• 2:08:30Rachel Cruze?

  Get him outside.

• 2:08:31George Kamel?

  Get you a man who can garden and mow.

• 2:08:35George Kamel?

  All right. Next one. May seem dramatic, but I just refuse to tip more than 15%. It feels ridiculous to me. Am I a monster? Wow.

• 2:08:47George Kamel?

  I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go ick on this one, just in the phrasing of it.

• 2:08:51Rachel Cruze?

  That's what I was gonna say. I mean, monster was like, wow, really strong. Are you a monster? I mean, no, but are you cheap kind of? Yeah. Like.

• 2:09:00George Kamel?

  I think just the spirit of it, like I'll never do more than this. Feels so legalistic.

• 2:09:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's a good point, George. Yeah, I agree with that.

• 2:09:05George Kamel?

  This is my bar with generosity. That just feels odd to me.

• 2:09:08Rachel Cruze?

  That's a good.

• 2:09:09George Kamel?

  Cause a tip is generosity. And yes, it is expected in American culture. There is a level of if you don't tip, that is not okay for a service that normally would get a tip. But the idea that anything more than 15% is over the top, it depends. Depends on the service. If someone really went out of their way to serve you, give 20.

• 2:09:29Rachel Cruze?

  I'm a 20% minimum.

• 2:09:31George Kamel?

  Like even if the service was terrible, Rachel's giving you 20.

• 2:09:34Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going 20.

• 2:09:34George Kamel?

  Man, the servers are like, Rachel, come visit my restaurant.

• 2:09:37Rachel Cruze?

  Winston will go 15. He's pickier than I am, but I, uh, yeah, I'm a 20.

• 2:09:45George Kamel?

  Can I tell you what I do that I think is petty? That is my toxic trait? That is the ick?

• 2:09:49Rachel Cruze?

  I love, I love George's toxic traits.

• 2:09:51George Kamel?

  I will do, I do 20%, but I do it on the subtotal.

• 2:09:56Rachel Cruze?

  Wait, what?

• 2:09:57George Kamel?

  Why am I tipping the government's taxes?

• 2:10:01Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 2:10:02George Kamel?

  Think about it. New Hampshire doesn't have sales tax. So that server's gonna get less in New Hampshire?

• 2:10:08Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's interesting, George.

• 2:10:09George Kamel?

  Because taxes are different.

• 2:10:12George Kamel?

  In Tennessee, their liquor tax, 15% extra.

• 2:10:15Rachel Cruze?

  I know, now that is true.

• 2:10:16George Kamel?

  On top of the sales tax. You're talking 25%. And now I'm doing 20% of that?

• 2:10:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:10:21George Kamel?

  I'm tipping on the actual service and product provided.

• 2:10:23Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 2:10:24George Kamel?

  That's my line, but I'll do 20% happily on that.

• 2:10:27Rachel Cruze?

  I'm not terribly mad. I just have never thought about it that hard.

• 2:10:30George Kamel?

  Next time, on the receipt where it shows you the precalculations for tip, check to see if that's on the pre-tax or post-tax.

• 2:10:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 2:10:38George Kamel?

  A little fun exercise for you guys at home if you have no friends. Next time you're out and about.

• 2:10:43Rachel Cruze?

  You don't have a social life.

• 2:10:44George Kamel?

  Clearly, you're gonna be solo.

• 2:10:45Rachel Cruze?

  Study your checks at your restaurant the next time you go out.

• 2:10:48George Kamel?

  That's fun.

• 2:10:49Rachel Cruze?

  That's George. Oh, my gosh.

• 2:10:50George Kamel?

  That's my ick.

• 2:10:51Rachel Cruze?

  Well, I do know that whenever we do go out to eat, regardless of if I tip on the subtotal or total, I'm throwing my Fairwinds Credit Union debit card out there to pay the bill.

• 2:11:02George Kamel?

  Cheers to that.

• 2:11:03Rachel Cruze?

  Because Winston and I have switched over, yeah, our banking, and it's like, it is amazing. Fairwinds, we love. So this is a credit union, you guys, that is pro-Ramsey principles. They actually want their team to become debt-free.

• 2:11:16George Kamel?

  They celebrate it.

• 2:11:17Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. I mean, they are amazing. And so they have a smart bundle where you can actually get a no-fee checking account, up to 10 high-yield savings accounts, which is so funny to me.

• 2:11:27George Kamel?

  For all of your different sinking funds and savings goals, they did that for our fans.

• 2:11:31Rachel Cruze?

  Did that for nerds like George.

• 2:11:32George Kamel?

  And they got rid of all international transaction fees because of my YouTube video.

• 2:11:37Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 2:11:37George Kamel?

  Well, same. If you're traveling internationally, don't pay these fees. Find a debit card that doesn't charge you those. And Fairwinds went, let's get rid of that for our Ramsey fans.

• 2:11:45Rachel Cruze?

  Unbelievable.

• 2:11:46George Kamel?

  So check it out. It just keeps getting better. Go to fairwins.org/Ramsey. You can get that smart bundle with the no-fee checking, the high-yield savings, which, by the way, number one question we get, what's a good high-yield savings? Boom. I dropped the Fairwinds link and I sleep good at night.

• 2:11:59Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. And you get the debit card, so make sure to check it out. Okay, George, what do you think about the whole ick or sick?

• 2:12:08George Kamel?

  I think there's a spirit to it, that you can just feel it. Is it a spirit of your poor communication skills, your lack of generosity, your sort of controlling personality? You know? Or is it actually not okay? And this was someone else that wronged you? It usually isn't.

• 2:12:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. That's, I think that's great.

• 2:12:30George Kamel?

  It's usually on the person in the mirror.

• 2:12:31Rachel Cruze?

  I agree. I heard this construct from my therapist. And she used this term, and I was like, oh, I love this. It's called the stable, flexible self. So there's a stability in your life of like, your conviction, like what you believe. But the flexibility is big. Like, the more rigid you are, some would say the more unhealthy you are. But the more flexibility, it's almost like the more grace you can have, the more, like, you're good. And a lot of this is what you're saying. When you were talking about that, I thought, oh, the stable, flexible self. There's almost that flexibility in life that like, oh, I'm gonna pick up the coffees, and I'm good. I don't have to have this like, oh, my gosh, Jeffery has to pay me back, and ever, ever. You know what I'm saying? It's a control thing.

• 2:13:14Rachel Cruze?

  And a little bit when you let that go, I think you have a more enjoyable life.

• 2:13:17George Kamel?

  Well, and I think you're more attractive as a person. Like, people wanna hang around that person. They're flexible, they're adaptable.

• 2:13:23Rachel Cruze?

  And not to take advantage of, but just like, you're enjoyable. Like, you, yeah.

• 2:13:27George Kamel?

  You're easygoing. Nobody wants someone, I mean, unless you wanna hang with me. Very neurotic, very rigid, very uptight.

• 2:13:35Rachel Cruze?

  Very uptight. No, George, you're not.

• 2:13:37George Kamel?

  I think if you have a generous spirit, you give someone the benefit of the doubt, you're always thinking, hey, what would I want to experience? How would I want to be treated? Sort of that golden rule mentality. I think you make different decisions. And just say the thing that you wanna say. Do it kindly, but don't leave it inside and then be mad at everyone else.

• 2:13:56Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 2:13:56George Kamel?

  Because they didn't return the favor that you thought they'd return.

• 2:14:00Rachel Cruze?

  To be unclear is to be unkind.

• 2:14:01George Kamel?

  Amen.

• 2:14:02Rachel Cruze?

  Don't be unclear. Be clear.

• 2:14:03George Kamel?

  Amen, and roll tide.

• 2:14:04Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, before we spill the tea on our Guilty as Charged segment, what do you think? I loved this.

• 2:14:11George Kamel?

  It got better as it went on. This is a cherry basil smash. It's got gin, pitted cherries, lime juice, simple syrup, basil, and soda water.

• 2:14:21Rachel Cruze?

  Y'all, we are in summer, and that is a summer cocktail.

• 2:14:24George Kamel?

  Yeah. I could've gone heavier on the gin. It wasn't coming through enough for me. So I'm gonna go 7 out of 10 on this one.

• 2:14:31Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, I'm gonna go, I think I'm, I mean,

• 2:14:36Rachel Cruze?

  9 out of 10?

• 2:14:38George Kamel?

  So generous, once again.

• 2:14:40Rachel Cruze?

  If I'm gonna order at a restaurant,

• 2:14:43Rachel Cruze?

  I would order it, for sure. But I think I would like, my favorites of like a margarita, right? Like, I have my go-tos. This isn't probably gonna become a go-to of mine. But, so good. You know what I pictured?

• 2:14:54George Kamel?

  What's that?

• 2:14:55Rachel Cruze?

  If you did a big batch of that in one of those like,

• 2:14:57George Kamel?

  A punch bowl?

• 2:14:57Rachel Cruze?

  A punch bowl thing, like one of those, everyone's like at the house. That could be dangerous, but that is.

• 2:15:02George Kamel?

  A little summer party? Are you gonna be throwing one?

• 2:15:04Rachel Cruze?

  But that would be good. I should, shouldn't I?

• 2:15:06George Kamel?

  We had a great time last year. All the personalities did a great dinner at your house.

• 2:15:10Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 2:15:10George Kamel?

  By the pool, which we got to see in person, and wow, what a flex.

• 2:15:15Rachel Cruze?

  Don't, Jonathan, I'm sorry.

• 2:15:18George Kamel?

  It is a really nice pool, I'm not gonna lie. Honestly, what really got me was the little workout room adjacent in the little pool house. I was like, I would work out. Like, now I wanna work out. With Winston.

• 2:15:28Rachel Cruze?

  With Winston. And me?

• 2:15:30George Kamel?

  It's fine if you wanna be there too, but it's kind of a,

• 2:15:33Rachel Cruze?

  That's where I work out.

• 2:15:34George Kamel?

  It's kind of a boys' club. We're gonna be lifting heavy weights, Rachel. We don't want you to get hurt.

• 2:15:38Rachel Cruze?

  I do too. Oh, man.

• 2:15:40George Kamel?

  $2.80. If you wanna try this at home, the recipe is in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend if you're of age, as the weather warms up and you're by the pool. If you choose to post that on your Instagram.

• 2:15:52Rachel Cruze?

  All right, now it's time for

• 2:15:54George Kamel?

  Guilty as Charged.

• 2:15:56Rachel Cruze?

  And this is where we ask each other a guilty as charged question every week, and when we're guilty, we take a sip. All right, George, have you ever overspent in a foreign country?

• 2:16:05George Kamel?

  Oh, gosh. I'm trying to think the last foreign country I was in. That's sad. I need to get out more.

• 2:16:12Rachel Cruze?

  No, it's not sad.

• 2:16:13George Kamel?

  Well, Mexico.

• 2:16:14Rachel Cruze?

  I did, yeah.

• 2:16:15George Kamel?

  We did, you know, honeymoon, anniversary, Cabo and Cancun, but I did Costco travel, so you know that I was,

• 2:16:23Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah, you're in one.

• 2:16:24George Kamel?

  And then it's all-inclusive.

• 2:16:25Rachel Cruze?

  You know what I did in Mexico? Have I told you this story?

• 2:16:28George Kamel?

  I don't remember. Tell.

• 2:16:29Rachel Cruze?

  About the airport and the pizzas? Oh, man. So we're in the airport to go home, and there is a pizza place, but they had a kiosk that you could like, tap on. So I was like, oh, perfect, I'll order from the kiosk. So we're with Winston's whole family. So I have like my two girls, like a few of my nieces with me that all like leave the gate to go find food. I'm the only adult, so I don't like have all these, like, these girls with me. And I'm like, oh, and everyone's like, pizza? I'm like, perfect, sounds great. I love pizzas. So I was like, I can do that.

• 2:17:01George Kamel?

  Rachel loves it.

• 2:17:02Rachel Cruze?

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

• 2:17:18Rachel Cruze?

  And I, beep beep, Fairwin debit card. And it,

• 2:17:24George Kamel?

  They probably thought this was fraud at this point.

• 2:17:25Rachel Cruze?

  And out, no. And my niece was like, oh, my gosh, because I can't remember, I can't remember what it was, but let's just make it up. Like, 2,600 pesos or whatever. She was like, Aunt Rem, is that $2,000? I was like, oh, no, no, no. That's pesos. Or it was like 1,000 pesos or whatever. I was like, no, no, no, that's pesos. It converts, dollars are like way cheaper. She's like, oh, how much? I was like, oh, good question. So we're walking with the receipt to the pizza place to pick up the pizzas. I type it in ChatGPT, and it comes up like $236. And I was like,

• 2:17:57George Kamel?

  Oh, boy.

• 2:17:59Rachel Cruze?

  And I was like, ah, hmm, well, this was, this was supposed to be like $30, but it's saying like $200, like 236 or whatever. And I thought, oh, my gosh. And I go up to the counter, y'all. I go up to the counter, and I mean, I choose to be in a country that's not speaking English. I don't expect them to know English.

• 2:18:20George Kamel?

  Sure.

• 2:18:20Rachel Cruze?

  But I'm sitting there like, do you know? And they're like, ah, we can't tra, and I'm like, George, I ordered six full, large pizzas.

• 2:18:29George Kamel?

  Oh, wow.

• 2:18:31Rachel Cruze?

  Six pizzas. Six pizzas.

• 2:18:34George Kamel?

  For six people? So everyone got their own large pizza?

• 2:18:37Rachel Cruze?

  Basically. Well, I mean, like, there are other people in our group. Yes. Oh, my gosh, George.

• 2:18:42George Kamel?

  No refunds. You can't take back the pizzas.

• 2:18:44Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, and I have a, I have like a stupid line item in the budget. Actually, I could pull it up and tell you exactly how much it was.

• 2:18:50George Kamel?

  Oh, this is juicy.

• 2:18:50Rachel Cruze?

  If you want to know. Yeah, we have a stupid line item in every dollar. Just because stuff happens like this. And you're like, that is so stupid.

• 2:18:58George Kamel?

  Is it usually on you or Winston?

• 2:18:59Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I'm the only one that puts it in, for sure.

• 2:19:01George Kamel?

  Just wanna make that clear.

• 2:19:02Rachel Cruze?

  For sure. And I'm like, that was so stupid. And so I put it in there because I thought, that is the dumbest. Let's see how much. Oh, gosh, I was so dramatic. It was $128.36, not 200. Not 200. But I spent $128.

• 2:19:20George Kamel?

  Well, that's still like 20 bucks a pizza, though.

• 2:19:22Rachel Cruze?

  Which,

• 2:19:23George Kamel?

  Now, I need to know how many pesos that is in case I'm ever in a Mexican airport. And I go, well, I know, Rachel, so I'm not falling for it. What'd you do with all the pizzas?

• 2:19:30Rachel Cruze?

  Well, most of them weren't even being, like, we had to wait, and our flight was boarding. So I ended up just saying, just keep them. I told them, because we couldn't get them all and get them, everyone's fed.

• 2:19:40George Kamel?

  So how many did you take out of the six?

• 2:19:42Rachel Cruze?

  I think we took two.

• 2:19:44George Kamel?

  You didn't think, let me take all these on the flight and start a pizza party? You know how epic that would have been? You would have been everyone's favorite person. Like, hey, guys, pizza on me.

• 2:19:52Rachel Cruze?

  No, I would've smelled up the whole plane with pizza, which is what I hate.

• 2:19:55George Kamel?

  You hate the smell of pizza?

• 2:19:56Rachel Cruze?

  On an airplane. Food on an airplane?

• 2:19:58George Kamel?

  That is the ideal food to be smelling on a flight.

• 2:20:00Rachel Cruze?

  You know what? I'm gonna say this, controversial or not, I think bringing fast food on an airplane and opening it up is worse than reclining your seat back.

• 2:20:09George Kamel?

  Can I tell you, this past weekend, I was on a flight, and I had literally three minutes to get food before they boarded. I got like a Greek bowl. You know? But there's like garlic. It's pretty smelly. And so I was eating like a madman while we were waiting to board, and I finished, as I was walking on the plane, I tossed it, and I was like, you know what? I did the Lord's work today.

• 2:20:30Rachel Cruze?

  I have one. I have one to live.

• 2:20:32George Kamel?

  My neighbor's gonna be so happy.

• 2:20:33Rachel Cruze?

  That is so true. I know, I sat next to a girl, and she opened up a big breakfast sandwich, McDonald's breakfast sandwich, right next to me, with the hash brown and everything, and I was like, I can smell that. And it smelled so good. I wanted it so bad.

• 2:20:44George Kamel?

  The worst one, Subway.

• 2:20:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 2:20:47George Kamel?

  Subway on a flight, not the vibe.

• 2:20:49Rachel Cruze?

  Not good.

• 2:20:50George Kamel?

  It's the onions for me.

• 2:20:51Rachel Cruze?

  Well, if you have a guilty as charged question for us, make sure to DM us at Rachel Cruz and at George Kamel, because we read them, we appreciate them. And if you enjoyed this episode, you're gonna love our next episode, Judging People Based on How They Spend Their Money. We will link it for you. It's coming up. And make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.