08.26.26 Food Tossed Is Money Lost / Couples Currency: Best Practices

With food prices sky high, food waste is an area of real concern - and potential savings. Clark breaks down the truth behind confusing expiration dates like "Best By" versus "Use By" as marketing tactics designed to get you to buy more often. Also, Clark tackles a critical and all too common relationship issue: one partner completely in the dark about household money. A household culture of "he handles it" or "she takes care of that" is a pathway to financial stress, hidden debt, and complete chaos if the unexpected occurs. Clark discusses how couples can maintain financial independence without secrets, and outlines a simple seasonal document routine to ensure both partners always know where all accounts, debts, and assets are located. Plus, Christa shares your #AskClark questions and Clark gives his take. All this and more on the August 26, 2026, episode of The Clark Howard Show. Submit your questions: Ask Clark. Waste Not: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Couples’ Financials: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: 10 Ways You’re Wasting Money on Groceries - Clark.com Do you toss food once the date on the label has passed? Experts say that's often a waste How To Choose a Tour Company - Clark Howard Best Cash Back Credit Cards: Setting Up a No Annual Fee Rewards System The Most Dangerous Words I Hear From Married Couples as a Financial Adviser: 'He Handles It' When You Should (and Shouldn't) Use a 529 Plan - Clark Howard Clark.com resources: Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.

• 0:29Speaker 01

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 0:42Speaker 02

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 0:49Speaker 03

  It's great to be here with you on the Clark Howard Show. Our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. And I'm going to begin today's show with something every single one of us pays for, food. And then we throw out somewhere close to 40% of the food we buy uneaten. Now, there are ways for you to save you may not have thought about. And also, if you're part of a couple, do I have a special assignment for you coming up later in today's podcast and YouTube show?

• 1:31Speaker 03

  So, ready for something gross? My son was on a flight recently and was served some food that clearly had spoiled and he didn't eat it. And the same day, I saw a video on YouTube with this YouTuber who does airline flight reviews, and he was in business class on a European airline and was served a meal. And on the meal, it had the date the meal was packaged, which happened to be 13 months ago. And in this prepackaged food, there was a yogurt.

• 2:15Speaker 03

  And he's got video of taking his spoon and trying to punch it into the yogurt that had congealed into, I don't know, almost like something you could use as construction material because he couldn't even get the spoon through the yogurt. And think about it, it had been sitting there in some catering kitchen for 13 months. Yuck, right? But sometimes we think something's not good when it's absolutely fine regardless of what date is on it. And so with food costs having gone up, up, up and away over the last seven years, I

• 3:00Speaker 03

  wanted to talk about how we prematurely throw out stuff all the time. And I want to tell you, there's two kinds of dates on food. One is a marketing date that basically is to try to get you to prematurely throw things out. And it's under this crazy made up kind of thing where they're only guaranteeing the quality of the food to that date. And that'll be things that there are a bunch of terms that companies use. The most well-known is best buy or used by are the two most common dates. But there are other things that I've seen stamped on things.

• 3:42Speaker 03

  I saw an AP story of terms they saw best if used by, enjoy by, sell by, and it goes on and on and on with the marketing labels put on things. And then there are items like that yogurt that I saw the same day my son, he was texting me from the airplane about the food being just way not good. And then I see the video and then send it to him of the guy with the congealed yogurt that was served to him, 13 months old. So with food, just because it has a date on it, you got to look at that and see what

• 4:23Speaker 03

  it is and see if that's a date you need to respond to or not. If it is something that's dairy, that date matters a lot, right? If it's something, in fact, it was a thing from food scientists about what foods are good year after year after year. Unopened canned food can go on way, way, way, way, way years past the date on the label. How about boxes of soy milks and almond milks and those things are crazy expensive to buy, right? But if they're in those UHT boxes, they're good for year after year after year, even

• 5:07Speaker 03

  without refrigeration. Beans, tomatoes, fruit, vegetables, any of the things that are in canned packaging are good for many, many, many, many years. That's why people that are survivalists will have stuff like that in inventory if the end of the world comes or whatever it is that they're surviving. So these things are ways that you can keep money in your wallet instead of throwing it away. Now, Krista, what do you think about? I think you would start dry heaving if I showed you the YouTube video of the yogurt served on a plane 13 months.

• 5:47Speaker 04

  That's pretty gross. That's pretty gross. Although I can handle it because I've, I remember when my kids were little, I found sippy cups under the seats that have been in there for a long, long time. Talk about spoiled yogurt, you know, they had milk in them or something and just trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. Did that ever happen to you when your kids were little?

• 6:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, well, there was a lot of, we had a minivan.

• 6:11Speaker 04

  Me too.

• 6:12Speaker 03

  And I remember taking it in to have it detailed once because the kids had just turned it into a rolling trash pit.

• 6:21Speaker 04

  Sure.

• 6:22Speaker 03

  And I had tried to do it myself and I was like, no, I'm done. And I had to pay extra.

• 6:28Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 6:29Speaker 03

  For the interior detail because, well, it was a minivan and they had a special price for that.

• 6:35Speaker 04

  Yeah. You know what the amazing thing is? Have you seen the videos people do? Or there was even Morgan Spurlock did that whole thing, Super Size Me, that if you have like McDonald's, it looks the same after like 10 years. It doesn't spoil. That's really.

• 6:51Speaker 03

  Well, see, if you eat a lot of food with preservatives.

• 6:54Speaker 04

  Right.

• 6:55Speaker 03

  I mean, think about it. I mean, it's really a great thing. It preserves you, right?

• 6:59Speaker 04

  That's the key.

• 7:00Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:01Speaker 04

  You're so smart. You're always ahead of everybody else.

• 7:04Speaker 03

  So how do you handle this with the dates on things?

• 7:09Speaker 04

  I mean, I'm pretty careful with dates. The one thing is eggs, I've always heard you can keep longer. But yeah, canned foods, I never worry about that. I really sort of buy my food, like I really try to buy it when I'm about to make it or eat it.

• 7:23Speaker 03

  You're European?

• 7:24Speaker 04

  Well, I think they have it right with that. I really do because I used to just have to throw away a lot of food and I hate doing that. It feels like such a waste and I have more time in my life now because my kids are no longer in the minivan and they're out of the house. And so I have more time to do that.

• 7:39Speaker 03

  You don't even own a minivan.

• 7:40Speaker 04

  I don't own a minivan anymore, but it was sure great when I had it. So, all right, well, you ready for some questions to come your way?

• 7:48Speaker 03

  Sure am.

• 7:49Speaker 04

  Okay. Todd in Washington sent this one. I had a complete roof replacement in March. I had three estimates and I went with a company that had recently completed my neighbor's roof replacement. For both him and me, the work was done on time and on budget and cleanup was thorough. The trouble is that I never received the promised warranty from the roofing materials manufacturer. When I texted the foreman, I was basically told, we're out of business, go pound sand.

• 8:18Speaker 03

  So this roofing company that at least took your money.

• 8:21Speaker 04

  Right.

• 8:22Speaker 03

  Did the job right, did it on the budget they promised, goes bust.

• 8:27Speaker 04

  Right. I'm currently pursuing my case with the manufacturer, but I'm hesitant to involve my home insurer until I know the outcome. Do you have any suggestions as to how I should pursue the warranty and possible insurance discount?

• 8:41Speaker 03

  Okay, this is not as hard as you might imagine because the roofing industry is historically an unstable business. A lot of roofers do go out of business. The manufacturers are used to this. And you said you're contacting the manufacturer. As long as you have, you know, on a shingle or some packaging, you know what shingle you have, the model number, all that, you know, when it was installed. It's actually pretty easy because the manufacturers all have a process for this where basically they timestamp your installation and your warranty is fully in place. And the only wiggle room for a manufacturer is if you have problems with the roof during

• 9:26Speaker 03

  the long warranty period, if they allege that the now out of business installer did substandard installation, that's their wiggle to try to get out of the warranty. But getting the warranty in place should not be, at least in theory from past experience, should not be that bad.

• 9:47Speaker 04

  Okay. John in Wisconsin says, we booked an Alaskan cruise for 2027. I loved my Alaskan cruise and I'm not a cruise person. I just want to say that. Clark has mentioned in past shows about when and where to purchase excursions. I've forgotten his advice on this. Would you remind me and other listeners who have traveled planned in the future?

• 10:07Speaker 03

  Okay, so the cruise lines will tell you the only place to book an excursion is with them. And they actually aren't running the excursions, they just mark them up a lot. The advantage with overpaying to the cruise line is they're not going to leave you if the excursion is back late. I mean, imagine you're somewhere in remote Alaska and you got left behind. Not a good day for you.

• 10:34Speaker 04

  No.

• 10:35Speaker 03

  But the reality is that happens so rarely and the third-party excursion companies or whatever you want to call them, you know, ground tours, they all say, we guarantee you'll be back to the ship because they know what kind of trouble they're going to get in. So look third-party and compare it to what's offered from your cruise line. You don't say which cruise line, but compare it to their brochure prices on the shore excursions. Viator, is that how you say it?

• 11:09Speaker 04

  I usually say viator. I don't know.

• 11:11Speaker 03

  Viator, Viator. They are a big aggregator of these shore excursions. In Alaska, there's one called, I mean, it's a complicated name they use, Alaska Shore Excursions. And then I don't know if they broke away from them, but there's another one called Alaska Shore.

• 11:28Speaker 04

  Shore tours. Alaska Shore Tours.

• 11:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:31Speaker 04

  And Alaska Shore Excursions.

• 11:33Speaker 03

  Yeah. So you can compare, usually you'll save about a third of the price going third party. And all that is, is the markup the cruise line has added on to the shore excursion.

• 11:46Speaker 04

  You've done Alaska, have you done an Alaskan cruise?

• 11:48Speaker 03

  No, we went on the Alaska Marine Highway, which is the state ferry system, which was not like being on a cruise ship.

• 11:57Speaker 04

  No.

• 11:58Speaker 03

  But it was sure cheap.

• 12:00Speaker 04

  What a beautiful, beautiful place. And it is one of the.

• 12:02Speaker 03

  See, I saw all the beautiful stuff, but I saw it at discount.

• 12:05Speaker 04

  You did, you did. I mean, the reason I did a cruise there is because it really is hard to get, you know, from place to place. It worked out. And plus I was with my mother and my little daughter at the time. So that was great. Justin in Illinois says, with more and more places charging fees for using credit cards, what is your preferred form of payment? I feel like paying with credit is a win for the Visa and Mastercard cartels, but paying with a piece of trash fake Visa offers less consumer protection. Justin's definitely been listening to you.

• 12:34Speaker 03

  Justin has been listening. Piece of trash fake Visa, fake Mastercard. So what I do is I use a 2% back card. And that way.

• 12:44Speaker 04

  Which one do you use?

• 12:45Speaker 03

  Well, I have two. I have a Navy Federal something, something rewards. It's the green card I carry. And then I have the Capital One Venture X card. That's 2X or more on everything, but that comes back in points. And that way, most of the merchant fees are going to be within shouting match of that 2%. And so that's what I do.

• 13:09Speaker 04

  Okay. So you think, just go ahead and keep the credit cards?

• 13:14Speaker 03

  So the whole credit card thing, I.

• 13:16Speaker 04

  Even when you get charged.

• 13:17Speaker 03

  I raged about it recently on the podcast.

• 13:20Speaker 04

  I know.

• 13:20Speaker 03

  That what's going on in the United States is unconscionable because it's a sign of modern corruption. The actual cost for, apparently for processing a credit card transaction for the Visa Mastercard cartel is pennies.

• 13:36Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 13:37Speaker 03

  And instead they're charging these massive cartel-like prices.

• 13:42Speaker 04

  So if you go to a place, like say you go out to eat tonight.

• 13:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 13:45Speaker 04

  And you don't have any cash on you and they want, well, they say they don't even take cash and they want a 2.5% fee for using your credit card. What do you do?

• 13:56Speaker 03

  I have, I use my 2% card.

• 13:58Speaker 04

  Okay. All right. Good to know.

• 13:59Speaker 03

  I mean, it's, it's such an abuse. And for us as consumers, the real abuse is not for us, it's for the retailer, the restaurant, whoever we're buying from. The system is so dirty. And why is it that in other countries, the cost of doing that transaction is pennies and here it's dollars? There's only one explanation, and that's that the banks have a hammerlock on the political process in Washington. So, see, I said it again. I said it again. It's a dirty, corrupt system in the United States that needs to be fixed.

• 14:42Speaker 03

  And you know when it's going to be fixed? I don't know. Terrible. Coming up ahead, there's something I want you to fix in your relationship. If you are with a life partner or married, there's something I need for you to do as an assignment. We're going to talk about that straight ahead.

• 15:07Speaker 00

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• 15:36Speaker 01

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change, your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 15:48Speaker 02

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

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• 16:52Speaker 06

  Afternoon glare totally ruined my watch party for the big game. That's when my buddy recommended blinds.com.

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• 17:22Speaker 03

  There's a problem and it's one that is part of the dynamics of relationships. And it's the lack of knowledge of one partner or spouse, what the other is up to. What's the story with their money? And we've had a number of times and examples in questions that have been posed to me about problems going on with people, particularly in the saddest situations after the death of a spouse. And the surviving spouse has no clue what assets there are, what debts there are, various obligations, who they're owed to, when they're owed.

• 18:04Speaker 03

  This is something that historically was a gender thing. If you go back in time in the Wayback Machine,

• 18:14Speaker 03

  it would be overwhelmingly, the widow would have never clued in what was going on with the money. And it was just this gender thing that the man takes care of that. We're generally not in any era like that anymore. And now it's really because of the dynamic that I addressed like two months ago, how to handle money when people meet and marry or become a couple later in life than when people used to, which was very early twenties.

• 18:53Speaker 03

  Now people tend to go into a permanent relationship, late twenties, in their thirties, somewhere in there. Or it could even be a situation where later in life, someone having been through a divorce, remarries or has a new partner, whatever it is. So they've gotten used to a period of independence. They've been on their own. And suddenly there was someone else. And I've talked repeatedly, and I love doing this around Valentine's Day, talking about how you don't want to have financial infidelity, that you want to discuss with your partner or spouse, what your goals are, how you're handling things, whatever.

• 19:37Speaker 03

  I have no problem with people who meet later in life, each having their own money, their own accounts. But secrets about money are really dangerous. And especially in a marriage, when the marriage may end because of unhappiness and a couple separates, gets divorced, one of the spouses dies suddenly, unexpectedly. It's really important to, if nothing else, have each have documents that show what the other has, so you can deal with it at a time that could be a really rough time in your life.

• 20:20Speaker 03

  Emotionally, financially, all of it. I mean, it's enough for someone to have to deal with the grief. At least make it easier by having some kind of file, it can be an electronic file, paperwork, whatever, to open in the event of. And you just don't do it once because your finances don't stay static. People will change accounts. They'll get a new credit card. They'll close an old one. They'll do whatever. They'll take out this kind of loan or that. Keep this updated. Come up with a time that works for you. Could be around your birthday, whatever it is that you update.

• 21:03Speaker 03

  And what my wife and I do, we do a document once a year. And then we do a minor, a more like mini document that we do every change of season. And so this way she knows I know. And in our case, we do have a separate credit. We have some separate accounts. But we each know what the other has and we know the accounts. We know how to access them, all of that. What I'm trying to say is this is something that you prepare for the possibility of an unexpected event in your life.

• 21:43Speaker 03

  And just going through this in a minor way, seasonally, and once a year, big way, is really good to assess, hey, you know, I really shouldn't be doing that. I should really close that. I should do this. It's helpful in the present and it's helpful long-term. Krista?

• 22:03Speaker 04

  Okay. Matt in New Jersey says, in April of this year, I was among a group laid off due to an office closure. We received a severance package of two weeks per year, resulting in a lump sum payment of six months. Fortunately, we were.

• 22:17Speaker 03

  So you were there 12 years? Wait, six months, 24? Yeah, 12 years.

• 22:24Speaker 04

  Fortunately, we were given notice of the closure and I had a job that started one week after being laid off.

• 22:29Speaker 03

  No way.

• 22:30Speaker 04

  I know. It's so great.

• 22:31Speaker 03

  No way. Okay. You bent the curve. Most people are not that lucky.

• 22:37Speaker 04

  For sure.

• 22:38Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 22:38Speaker 04

  I had never been through this before, and I assumed that taxes taken out by the company were appropriate. I decided to do the calculations myself and determined they only took out 22%.

• 22:48Speaker 03

  Yeah. Can I explain that?

• 22:49Speaker 04

  Sure.

• 22:50Speaker 03

  When people get bonuses from a place of work, happens to a lot of people in technology fields, often it's taxed at just this flat rate that may be significantly below your normal tax rate. And so that's how it ends up being something like 22%. I'm gathering this is a high income earner here.

• 23:11Speaker 04

  Sounds like it. The influx of funds, while a good problem to have, pushed me into the 37% tax bracket.

• 23:17Speaker 03

  Wow. Do you know what kind of annual income that is? It's over $600,000 a year.

• 23:22Speaker 04

  I realized that I had known the situation at the time tax was due. I'd have paid it and have been grateful to have what was left, but to catch up, I've asked my current employer to withhold an extra $1,200 from each of my future paychecks until the end of the year.

• 23:36Speaker 03

  You know why that's brilliant?

• 23:38Speaker 04

  So you won't owe penalties?

• 23:39Speaker 03

  Because if you don't do quarterly estimates, you get stuck with penalties. And if you have it withheld through a paycheck, it doesn't matter. Whatever you have withheld at the year, the IRS system calculates it as if it was contributed all year long. So this is really smart because the penalty rate now, because of the inflation problem in the country, is much, much higher than it was for a long time.

• 24:06Speaker 04

  Now that I see this money disappearing every two weeks, I feel as though I'm missing an opportunity. I've seen countless reels about short-term rentals and accelerated depreciation tactics that reduce W-2 income by $50,000 or more. I've listened to your podcast for years and have been grateful to learn as much as I have, but I really need your help. These funds could really turn my overall financial situation around.

• 24:32Speaker 03

  Okay, so Matt, first of all, in a bad situation, things are really great. That you have been pushed in a 37% tax bracket is a good problem to have because that means you are making enormous income, plus all the money you got from the severance. So doing something on the fly with just a few months left in the year to try to get the benefit of accelerated depreciation, I think is a very risky kind of thing because you're letting the tax tail wag the dog, something like that, whatever that expression is accountants

• 25:12Speaker 03

  use. Because you could put money in, and if the investment is a disaster, you could potentially lose more than the tax benefit you're trying to get. What I would think about is, I assume at your new job, you have access to a 401k. And if you're contributing as much as you possibly can to it, and you're doing a traditional instead of a Roth, that will reduce your tax by a decent amount because it may take you from the 37 down to a lower tax bracket. Remember, the 37 is only a marginal tax rate. Your effective tax rate is lower

• 25:53Speaker 03

  because most of your income is taxed in a blend of the various tax brackets. 37% only becomes a real issue if you have a real problem, and that is income, I'd say beyond about $1.25 million. Then your blended tax rate really is way in the stratosphere. So you ended up, after a long time with this old company, landing on your feet, and you're going to suffer some tax because of it. But the fact they gave you six months severance, that you had a new job right away, I think you've just got to count your blessings in this case.

• 26:35Speaker 04

  Siraj in Florida says, hi, I'm a 24-year-old college student with an associate's degree, currently working on my bachelor's. After graduating in about two years, I plan to pursue law school. I have money in a Utah 529 set up by my grandmother that will cover my bachelor's with a small amount left over.

• 26:54Speaker 03

  Thanks, Grandma.

• 26:55Speaker 04

  I know. I've saved a large amount of my own money that I'm planning to put towards law school tuition, which is currently in CDs. Being that I will need this money in two to three years, is it worth moving it to a 529 of my own? Or am I better off keeping it in CDs? I know the 529 would provide tax-free growth, but I'm unsure if stable investments such as bonds would provide comparable returns to a CD. If a 529 is a better option, should I open one in Florida or Utah?

• 27:23Speaker 03

  So first of all, great that you're going to finish undergraduate school, fully funded by the 529. And I do like the idea with law school, two or three years away, you opening a 529 account of your own in Utah, not Florida, because Utah has historically been just about the best 529 plan in the US. Your money will not be taxed over these next few years. You go in the expected enrollment date portfolio, or age-based portfolio, whatever Utah calls

• 28:01Speaker 03

  it. And then the money is pretty much put in a holding cell like CDs, and you'll have that money tax-free there for you. So I think that is superior to a CD that, whatever your income is taxed at, ordinary income tax rates, which are the highest possible rates. And so I think it's wonderful. And what's really neat is if you change your mind later, and you get a great job, and you don't go on to law school, whatever, you're then able to take 35 grand of money put in that 529, and tax-free move it into your own Roth IRA,

• 28:44Speaker 03

  and have tax-free growth for life for retirement. I think the advantage in this case, it's not a huge one with only two to three years till school, but I think the advantage is clearly for the 529.

• 28:59Speaker 04

  Sean in Wisconsin says, we own a small farm and will periodically buy feed and supplies for our animals using our business card at the local chain. It's one of the big chain pet stores. The day after a purchase, I checked the account online, and there was an additional $445 on my transaction, in addition to the $50 we spent on feed and supplies.

• 29:20Speaker 03

  Wait, wait, wait. So you got billed $495 instead of 50?

• 29:23Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 29:24Speaker 03

  What did the retailer say?

• 29:26Speaker 04

  The transaction was to an organization called, and it's an animal rescue organization. When I went to their website, indicated they had partnered with this retailer. We didn't notice anything different about our transaction at the retailer, like a donation option or anything like that. I immediately disputed the charge, and my credit union reversed it the next day. I'm not sure if this was a scam, accident, or we clicked something when entering our card. Great lesson that checking online accounts regularly can help prevent getting ripped off.

• 29:56Speaker 03

  So Sean, I'm just shocked.

• 29:58Speaker 04

  There's no way you just click something by mistake, because when those show up on the thing, it's like, give five, 10, 20. It's not 405.

• 30:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, that is just bizarre. And I, you know, you're out of danger because you do monitor your accounts. But I would also call the store, talk to the manager, and say, what could have happened here? Because that's just weird. And the store probably would have reversed the charge without you having to go through the chargeback process with your credit union. But the store needs to know that this happened to you. I can't imagine what was in it for the store or anything like that.

• 30:42Speaker 04

  No. I can't imagine either. I don't know what. Maybe they're trying to raise a certain amount, but it just seems really weird.

• 30:49Speaker 03

  So, gosh, most people now, because they get their credit card statements online, don't really look at their transactions.

• 30:58Speaker 04

  Right, right.

• 30:59Speaker 03

  Let this be a lesson to you, to make it a habit to look through the line items, and make sure they really are A-OK. I know, Krista, we subscribe to so many publications, getting content for the podcast, and YouTube, and for our websites and all that. I mean, we read so many publications. And by you going through line item after line item, you'll say, wait a minute, why do we have two subscriptions to that?

• 31:30Speaker 04

  Right.

• 31:30Speaker 03

  I mean, you save a lot of money for the company just by going through, because we have lots of people. And sometimes we'll end up with duped subscriptions.

• 31:41Speaker 04

  Sure.

• 31:42Speaker 03

  And it's one of the ways that we save money is just going through those statements, line item by line item.

• 31:49Speaker 04

  Yep, for sure.

• 31:51Speaker 03

  So please do that in your own life. And I just appreciate so much what I hear from you. I mean, think about that situation. That money, that $400, almost $50, that's your hard-earned money that almost flew out the window.

• 32:10Speaker 04

  I know. And you know what I think too? Like, that was such a discrepancy. But if I see, if I'm going through my statements, and I see a retailer that I shop at often, and I see a charge for, I might not notice if it's $40 instead of $20 or something. I just check that, yes, I was at that retailer that day, but I'm going to look more closely now at that, too.

• 32:29Speaker 03

  Yeah, because every dollar counts, right?

• 32:31Speaker 04

  It sure does. Yep.

• 32:33Speaker 03

  Right. Well, thank you so much. And coming up on Friday, we have Clark Stinks coming your way. And I can't wait till I get to hear from you where I was a little thick in the head, or my answer was incomplete, or maybe wrong. And it's how we all learn, and I learn. We all help each other. We all serve each other. And so I appreciate, more than you know, that you take the time to sit down and think through and write to me, the questions you posed to me, the help you are to your fellow listener or viewer with

• 33:11Speaker 03

  the questions you take time to submit. And I know that there are times that, like last Clark Stinks, there were two different posts about people pointing out things I missed in answering someone's question, and completed the answer and improved the answer I gave. I mean, that's just great stuff, that we all have an opportunity to work together to serve each other as part of this community, where we learn and improve because we're each helping each other, which we don't do enough of, it doesn't feel like, right now

• 33:51Speaker 03

  in the United States. So having an opportunity for us all to be of service to each other, I love that. And what's it all about? For your empowerment with knowledge, so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. And I'll see you Friday.

• 34:12Speaker 01

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change, your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5, only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 34:25Speaker 02

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 34:27Speaker 06

  This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just $15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like, All I Want [bleep]. Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch.

• 34:46Speaker 05

  Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms.