Show Notes
Coffee Date episodes are more casual, meandering conversations where we follow our whims and indulge in off-topic discussions. So take a stroll to your local café and bring us along for company!
In this episode, we talk about our recent frivolous spending, along with our ‘gazingus pins’, or purchases that we can’t help but make.
Maggie:
[0:07] Maggie here just like to introduce the topic for our episode today as,
[0:12] the Material Girl episode where we’ll be talking about things we purchase and things we love to purchase, things we don’t want to give up and how that sometimes influences our financial independence.
But sometimes maybe we’ve decided it’s worth it.
Becca:
[0:30] Just encouraging each other’s spending, over and over again.
Maggie:
[0:32] Yeah, that’s pretty much what this episode is. But I mean, that’s important, too, because it’s not about not spending.
Becca:
[0:38] Mhm. Yeah, it’s being conscious of it.
Maggie:
[0:38] It’s about choosing what you’re spending on. Yeah.
Taylor:
[0:42] Material Girl.
Becca:
[0:45] Welcome to Vaginance. We’re very happy to be here and to be your vaginancial advisors.
Maggie:
[0:52] Hahaha. I spent money and didn’t do any homework. So, you know -.
Becca:
[0:53] Vaginancial Advisors.
[0:59] Ah.
Maggie:
[1:03] You know, we talked a lot about how we need to be honest about our failures, and I wouldn’t necessarily call it a failure, but maybe just I wouldn’t call it a success either.
Becca:
[1:11] Mm hmm.
Maggie:
[1:12] Um, I bought, but it was again. I think the same thing I did last week. I was like, Oh, I bought a gift.
Same thing this week. I bought Phil’s, um, her birthday’s right before Christmas. So her birthday slash Christmas present I bought this week, and it was not super cheap.
Becca:
[1:17] Yeah.
[1:24] Mhm.
[1:27] Um, Okay. So, yeah, we got to talk about some purchases this week. It’s very important to contextualize that this was the week of the election, and so tensions in the world were high.
Um, so not everything that might have meant to be get done. Meant to be get done.
Got done. And that’s okay. I only got halfway through In Time, 2011 sci-fi thriller starring Justin Timberlake um.
Jewels:
[1:55] And I completely forgot to watch it.
Jewels:
[2:33] My homework this week was to get together with Taylor and figure out what she’s going to owe in taxes for her freelance work.
Taylor:
[2:41] I scoured my emails and Amazon site purchases and everything else to figure out how much I had spent. And I put it in a spreadsheet.
And then Julie did some magic and calculated out what? Approximately, how many taxes?
Maggie:
[2:57] Spreadsheet magic.
Taylor:
[2:58] It was spreadsheet – yeah, it was it was beautiful.
Becca:
[3:01] That is amazing.
Taylor:
[3:02] And then I brought her cookies is a thank you, but – the cookies are really good, but I definitely owe you a lot more, because that was, like, hundreds of dollars’ worth of work. For free.
Jewels:
[3:04] And they were magical.
[3:13] You don’t understand how much I love spreadsheets. That was a gift.
Maggie:
[3:14] Yeah, I was like, Julie will pay you.
Taylor:
[3:15]
I’m helping you out. No, it was really great to, actually just sit down and look at everything I had spent, um, and what I could use as part of my, you know, um, deductions.
And, uh, what did we fall on? It was like, how much am I gonna owe? Like not as much as I thought, right? Like 2500.
Jewels:
[3:41] Yeah, I think, actually, only about 2300. And that might include converting all of your traditional 401k to a Roth this year and taking advantage of your nice, low tax bracket.
Taylor:
[3:44] Yeah.
[3:50] Mhm.
Yeah. So I’m going to do that before the end of the year. That is my homework to look into.
Maggie:
[4:00] That sounds like a huge accomplishment. Yeah.
Becca:
[4:03] Yeah, that’s massive.
Taylor:
[4:04] Mostly for for Julie -because of Julie, really. I did very little.
Maggie:
[4:07] Yeah.
Becca:
[4:07] Right.
Jewels:
[4:09] But can we talk about the more exciting spreadsheet, which was not the tax spreadsheet? Did you get a chance to look at it? It’s got a whole plan for the next year for you.
Taylor:
[4:18] Oh I know. I was terrified when I saw it. I was terrified.
Jewels:
[4:20] Uh huh.
Maggie:
[4:22] Is it a feasible plan?
Becca:
[4:25] Yeah. What was scary about it?
Taylor:
[4:27] I just – I feel like any time I have – I think I was telling you a little bit about this today – anytime I start to think about my finances and tracking my money every month of like what I’m spending and where it’s going, I just immediately, I wanna be like, “Nope, shut down. Not going to do this. I’m good.”
So it’s just it’s it’s beautiful and I’m going to do it.
It’s just scary thinking about actually really paying attention to what I’m spending my money on. It’s scary.
Maggie:
[5:03] I definitely cannot, I found and learned in the past month, I cannot look at every purchase I make every day because then I get overwhelmed by it and like it’s like.
Taylor:
[5:13] I feel overwhelmed. Exactly.
Maggie:
[5:14] It’s like when you have a to do list that’s too big and then you’re just like just not gonna do anything.
Taylor:
[5:20] Yes, like you feel paralyzed.
Maggie:
[5:21] But if I do it like once a week and then kind of reflect back on the week, that seems to be working better for me.
Taylor:
[5:28] Maybe that’s what I need to do. I think I just need to schedule in time like every Friday. I’m going to look at my bank account and see what I’ve spent money on, where I’m at.
Because this is the other thing, too. Is have so many apps that track my spending, but – and I’ve mentioned this to you, Becca, and I think to you as well – my apps don’t always know what category to put my spending in.
So then I feel like I’m spending so much time just going into my apps and correcting it, right? So, like with Mint, I have all these goals of ‘Okay, I want to spend this amount of money. I want to spend this amount on food. I want to spend this amount on whatever.’
But when I go in and see how it’s tracking it, it doesn’t always know that like, okay, that purchase wasn’t actually food.
That was this other thing. Like, it doesn’t always categorize it correctly.
So then the, just the stress of going in and fixing that to know what I’m actually – then then that becomes another thing I have to do.
And then it becomes even more stess- I get even more stressed out about it, and I just like, don’t even wanna look at it because then I have to spend an hour just fixing the categories.
Maggie:
[6:34] Yeah. Is there a way to make your categories more general, where you won’t have to be doing that?
Jewels:
[6:40] Think they’re the standard, like bank accounting categories that your bank statement puts it into.
But what I wonder is if it starts to learn. So if there’s places you go to repeatedly once, you’ve re-categorized it a time or two.
Taylor:
[6:53] Maybe I just need to give it a minute, then because I think I’m just not – I’m, like, trying to, like, I’m being overbearing with it. You know? I’m, like, trying to make it perfect. And if it’s not perfect, I immediately want to give up.
Jewels:
[7:06] I think when we started really focusing on our finances this spring, we focused on just, well, one category, primarily first, which was our food spending.
And so we didn’t worry about fixing everything related to other ones. We just made that our food – made sure that the food budget was showing accurately because that was the one we’re blowing out all the time.
Taylor:
[7:25] Mm. Right. That’s smart. Look at like what you spend the most on and then just focus on that. Yeah, that’s a good point.
Jewels:
[7:29] So maybe just like a category at a time.
[7:34] Mhm.
Maggie:
[7:35] Yeah, that’s very 80/20 Principle of you, Julie. And I liked it.
Taylor:
[7:39] Uh huh. Please explain what the 80/20 – What is the 80/20 Principle?
Jewels:
[7:39] I’m so glad you read that book.
Maggie:
[7:44] Ah, the 80/20 Principle is – I’m gonna get it backwards.
Um, 80% of results come from 20% of input.
So basically, like, for example, a company is working and they make $100 million.
You could predict that $80 million of that came from their highest 20% of their employees performing.
So what Julie was saying is her biggest expense was food.
Um so you can get big results just by fixing that, rather than spending your time on every little detail.
Taylor:
[8:28] Everything, yeah. Okay. That makes sense.
Maggie:
[8:30] It’s very hard to explain a concept which in my head is simple.
Taylor:
[8:33] No, that that totally makes sense to me. Like focus on the problem that’s going to be, like, 80% of your problem, which is the food budget. And like, the other stuff doesn’t matter as much. Yeah, yeah.
Maggie:
[8:35] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just fix that. And then, like, the 20% is way less important.
So, um, but you can – the 80/20 Principle in the book that is called the 80/20 Principle is about the 80/20 principle in all aspects of life.
They definitely talk about finances, but they talk about relationships, it’s like 80% of your joy in your life probably comes from 20% of your social relationships.
And so figure out what those are and like, focusing on those a little more, than spreading out all of your energy on across all these places and – what else do they talk about. Julie?
Jewels:
[9:15] That book. Like I was familiar with the 80/20 principal before, but that book blew me away with just how many areas of life that he touched on and off the top my head, I’m not gonna be able to do it. But he talked about, like, career choices. He even had, like, an investing one. Um.
Maggie:
[9:30] Hiring people, um, answering emails. Like what books you read. Like, you can pretty much apply it to any aspect of your life.
They talk about, like population growth and where food is grown. Like it applies – it’s this weird economic principle that just applies to like every aspect of human behavior.
You should read it, it’s cool. Um, but yeah.
Becca:
[9:54] I will read it. Putting it on the list.
Jewels:
[9:56] There’s an audio book and he has a really nice, like, relaxing British voice.
Maggie:
[10:02] Um, so I guess this is important for me to remember, too, because I often don’t.
But swinging back to the 80/20 principal. If you’re feeling overwhelmed about something, just find the one thing that will make the biggest impact. Fix that one thing.
Yeah. I mean, who talks about it? One of the financial people talks about it.
They’re like, if you’re gonna fix your finances, focus on the big wins, which is like your transportation, your car, your house. And don’t focus so much on not buying a $5 coffee because you’re – Fix the big things first.
Jewels:
[10:37] Right. If you’re having to change a purchasing decision every single day, that is only going to save you $5, that’s a lot of effort to make sure that you stick to that. Whereas if you can change one thing, that’s much bigger.
Taylor:
[10:51] I do feel like, Yeah, no, that makes sense. And I do feel like since we’ve been doing this, I am a lot more conscious of what I’m spending money on because I was spending money on stuff all the time.
Jewels:
[10:51] You only have to make that decision once.
Taylor:
[11:05] Just not even thinking about it like, ‘Oh, 20 bucks here. 40 bucks here.’
But now I feel like I spend a lot less just thinking about money in general. Even if it’s not, like, you know, making a massive impact, it does feel nice to just know, like, ‘Do I really need this? I don’t. Like this is not going to make me happy, ultimately.’
Maggie:
[11:27] Yeah. I mean, you say it might not be making massive impact, but if over time, like it definitely will.
Taylor:
[11:31] Right, Right. Well, I mean, there’s just so much crap that I buy that I’m like, Why am I buying this?
You know, when it comes to things like food, I think that to me, I’d rather spend my money on, like, a really great meal or a gift or something that I think, like would bring, like would make other people happy as well.
Like going out to dinner with some friends or like bringing a friend like a gift, like that to me seems more worthwhile, than, like you know, buying all the clothes that I used to – that I buy. Yeah.
Jewels:
[12:07] You seemed pretty jazzed up after your grocery shopping experience last week.
Taylor:
[12:11] I did. I forgot about that. I went to the grocery store and I had a list. A very short list of like, we need these three things. And I didn’t buy anything outside of that.
Maggie:
[12:23] That’s impressive. I don’t think I’ve ever done that.
Taylor:
[12:24] Like, I didn’t even have a desire. I was just like we went. We got these things, we were like, ‘Great. Let’s go.’
Taylor:
[12:30] We didn’t buy any other shit.
Becca:
[12:33] That is truly unrelatable.
Maggie:
[12:33] It’s impressive.
Taylor:
[12:37] I know. It’s insane.
Maggie:
[12:38] Yeah. I went to the grocery store today for a loaf of bread and got 10 items.
.
Jewels:
[12:44] Were they all things that go on the bread, or between the bread?
Maggie:
[12:46] I think three out of those 10 items might have been sandwich related, but no, I got – Yeah, I got I got some frozen Amy’s meals because, you know, I love Amy. I can’t remember what else?
Becca:
Taylor:
Jewels:
[12:52] Yeah. To wash down the bread.
Becca:
[12:58] Mm
Taylor:
[12:58] Yeah. Amy’s is great.
Becca:
[13:01] Maggie is vegan. Everyone needs to know that. It’s gonna come up.
Maggie:
[13:03] Mhm. Which is Yeah, and – I would just like to note that I am not the one who announced that.
Taylor:
Jewels:
[13:06] Yeah. We didn’t say it was going to come up because you were going to bring it up back. Becca was just setting the stage for us to bring it up.
Becca:
[13:20] So that no one’s shocked when we talk about it.
Maggie:
[13:21] Uh huh. Um, but yeah, Amy’s is – even if you’re not vegan – amazing.
Taylor:
[13:22] Uh huh.
Becca:
[13:26] I love the burritos.
Taylor:
[13:26] Amy’s is really good.
Maggie:
[13:29] Me too. I live on those. It’s probably why I have a vitamin deficiency.
Taylor:
[13:31] mhm. Um So what was everyone’s like, frivolous spending in the last week?
[13:45] I’ve got mine because it was – it took a lot of thought because I am trying to be mindful about my spending, and I don’t need anything, like, at all.
Um, but I just, like, got in my head that I wanted a pajama set and I looked up what I wanted, and I found it at Target.com. 22 – it was like $21 99 for the set.
And it’s a little shorts top, like short sleeved top button down and shorts and it’s black with white piping.
And I just put it in my cart and I just stared at it and I was like, ‘Don’t buy it, don’t buy it, don’t buy it.’ And I didn’t buy it.
And I waited another day and I waited another day. I waited five days and I decided if at the end of the week, after all the election nonsense, I still wanted this thing, I could do it. And I still wanted it. So I bought it, and I can’t wait to get it. It’s coming on Thursday.
Maggie:
[14:39] I feel like your level of joy 100% justifies that purchase.
Becca:
[14:42] I think so too.
Jewels:
[14:43] And your level of self restraint is unrelatable, in your own words.
Taylor:
[14:48] And just the fact that you didn’t also add four more things into your cart on top of that.
Becca:
[14:50] Well, I did add one thing because of the ship, like you get free shipping, after you spend $35. So thank you for calling me out. I but actually, no, thank you.
Taylor:
[14:56] Right? Right, Right.
Becca:
[15:00] Because I originally added five pairs of underwear because they have the like, buy five, get one free. And I was like, I really don’t need this. So I took it out, and then I was, like, trying to look at groceries so I could get something practical.
So I bought my protein powder that I get from Target, so yeah.
Taylor:
[15:14] Oh, that’s well, you’re gonna buy that anyway. So.
Becca:
[15:16] Yeah. So it’s and it’s a consumable in it. Yeah, my favorite vegan powder that doesn’t taste like ass.
So that’s good.
Taylor:
[15:24] Nice.
Maggie:
[15:25] Vegans love ass.
Taylor:
[15:28] You heard it here.
Becca:
[15:28] Fun fact, a little insider knowledge.
Maggie:
[15:32] Yeah. Um I mean, I have a lot that has happened as far as things I shouldn’t have spent money on in the past seven days.
Um, well I bought Phil that gift, which I probably shouldn’t have spent as much money as I did, and then I bought myself some things because I was like looking at my kitchen. And I was like, ‘This could be better.’
And so I bought.
Taylor:
[15:58] I think that every day when I look at my kitchen.
Maggie:
[15:59] You’re gonna love the things I could not resist buying for my kitchen. I got a new dish drying rack.
Because the dish drying rack that I have takes up half my sink. This one goes on the counter.
So now I can have full use of my sink back.
Becca:
[16:15] That is important. How did you even do that?
Maggie:
[16:17] I just don’t cook at my house, so I don’t have dishes. But now that Phil’s in my life, there’s just always dishes.
Maggie:
[16:25] And so she cooks delicious food – Babe, I love you. Thank you. Please continue cooking for me. There’s just so many dishes all the time.
Taylor:
[16:26] Always dishes.
Becca:
[16:32] Well, And if you only have half-sink, I think this is a good solution, this was important.
Maggie:
[16:35] Yeah. So, um And then I got one of those things that you put in your fridge that you can put a 12 pack of cans in that like, dispenses them. Yeah.
Becca:
[16:44] I feel like I remember that from my childhood. Like my friend’s mom had that.
Maggie:
[16:48] I needed. I needed one of those because I had I had a bad back. It’s really hard for me to reach all the way in.
I had to bend down to reach all the way back for the last can and I was like, I need a better system.
Becca:
[16:54] Never again.
Maggie:
[16:59] Uh huh. I need a better system. So I got one of those, um and then also me and one of my cousins split the cost of a cabin to go camping this weekend.
Becca:
[17:11] Oh, that’s amazing.
Taylor:
[17:12] That’s really cool. Where you going? Mm.
Maggie:
[17:15] Canyon Lake. And it’s like a little I think there’s, like, bunk beds, so me and Phil and two of my cousins.
And George and Leah are gonna go, um, sit out by the campfire and drink whiskey and be foolish, I suppose.
Taylor:
[17:26] That’s awesome.
Becca:
[17:32] Be foolish. Mhm. Julie, would did you buy?
Jewels:
[17:37] I went back and looked through my spending because I feel like after the massive bike purchased last week, I kind of stepped back a little because I know as soon as it shows up, I’m going to buy a bunch of accessories.
So there’s many frivolous purchases coming. But what I saw in the transactions is probably unnecessary.
Is a new hot tub cover for the free hot tub We got so perfectly justifiable, right?
Becca:
[18:02] Yeah, completely.
Jewels:
[18:05] Uh huh. Um.
Becca:
[18:07] What, you’re going to leave that thing uncovered like a barbarian?
Jewels:
[18:10] Well, it’s.
Maggie:
[18:10] Before you continue. I just want to point out that we’re all telling each other that our purchases were smart moves.
Jewels:
[18:15] Okay. Um, it has a cover on it. The cover’s just in pretty bad shape.
Becca:
[18:16] Hey, no shame. No blame.
Taylor:
[18:18] Wait till you get to mine.
Becca:
[18:25] Mm.
Jewels:
[18:26] So I feel like it’s more responsible with water and energy to spend money to put a better cover on it.
Becca:
[18:28] Well.
[18:33] Yeah. This is in the earth’s best interest.
Jewels:
[18:36] And then we also ordered, like, bamboo reed, um, privacy screen things to go around it.
Taylor:
[18:46] Oh, that’s perfect. I mean, that’s like a good -Yeah, that’s a good Airbnb purchase.
Becca:
[18:46] Oh, that’s amazing.
Maggie:
[18:48] So you could be naked.
Jewels:
[18:49] Well, and because as you guys have noticed, it is in my driveway, visible from the street.
Jewels:
[18:55] Were very classy here in east Austin.
Taylor:
[18:57] I honestly didn’t notice.
Jewels:
[18:58] But But if there was, like, you know, someone chilling topless in the hot tub in the driveway, you would notice.
Becca:
[19:07] No, I think that’s a -that’s a necessary purchase because I don’t intend on wearing a top in your hot tub. And I don’t wanna be forced to.
Jewels:
[19:13] Exactly yes.
Maggie:
[19:15] Yeah, and I don’t care what your neighbors think or if there’s bamboo screens or not. So, yeah.
Becca:
[19:17] Yes.
Jewels:
[19:19] Yeah. I mean, to be fair, all bets are off on the street because our neighbors across the street, their little boys are so adorable and one of them, one day, we’re just looking out the window and he has crawled up on top of their vehicle in the driveway and is just peeing off the side, just butt naked.
Becca:
[19:35] Uh huh. Oh.
Jewels:
[19:37] Yeah. So all the neighbors will be very happy to see us in the hot tub with our tatas free.
Maggie:
[19:43] Mhm.
Taylor:
[19:45] People pay good money to see that, so. That is true. And I think that the bamboo privacy, um, walls, whatever.
Jewels:
[19:47] Also, it’s totally legal everywhere in Austin.
Taylor:
[19:56] That is a great purchase for, like, because you Airbnb your place out sometimes, like, people will really appreciate having that.
Jewels:
[20:02] Yes.
Taylor:
[20:03] So that’s, like just a smart, you know, purchase to make.
Jewels:
[20:06] And for the ambience. Tropical hot tubbing.
Taylor:
[20:08] Yeah, Yeah, you could put some lights out. String lights up on it.
Jewels:
[20:11] Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
Becca:
[20:12] Yeah. I’m so excited.
Taylor:
[20:13] Yeah, I’m very excited.
Jewels:
[20:17] Okay. Taylor, lay it on us.
Becca:
[20:19] What did you buy?
Taylor:
[20:21] So my frivolous purchase this week?
Um, I spent about $100 on cookies.
Jewels:
[20:33] Yeah.
Becca:
[20:34] Doesn’t sound frivolous to me.
Taylor:
[20:35] Yeah.
Jewels:
[20:36] As somebody who received some of these cookies, I have no complaints about this purchase.
Taylor:
[20:40] It’s I went to Tiny’s Milk and Cookies. The greatest chocolate chip cookie store in the world.
Becca:
[20:48] And.
Taylor:
[20:48] And, um, I got a little excited and maybe purchased 30 cookies or so.
Becca:
[20:55] Wait, where’d they all go?
Taylor:
[20:58] I gave some to Julie for helping with the finance stuff, and then I gave some to my mom because she loves chocolate chip cookies. And then I brought, uh, some back for us.
Becca:
[21:04] Aww, Uh oh. Oh, right.
Jewels:
[21:08] I was like, I hope you got yourself some too.
Taylor:
[21:08] I mean, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s some in the house. Um, and then I also got, like, coffee and some other stuff. Just pastries, really. $100 on pastries.
Becca:
[21:14] Yes.
[21:18] Always. That’s amazing. Generous as well.
Taylor:
[21:20] Um, but well, they were very delicious.
Jewels:
[21:24] Very generous.
Taylor:
[21:27] I couldn’t say no.
Jewels:
[21:28] I’m a total convert. This was a new addiction I didn’t need, but I’m very happy to have.
Taylor:
[21:31] You’re welcome.
Maggie:
[21:32] I feel like that purchase brought you joy. And you had even said before mentioning this, that you were excited to spend money on giving things to people, and so that was a perfect example of that.
Taylor:
[21:35] Yes.
[21:39] I do. Yeah.
Yes, I do. I will often explain big purchases away by just – I will I justify them by being like, Well, I’m buying this for somebody else. Or this is like also going to benefit someone else, which makes me feel better about the purchase.
Um, like with gifts like, I always will spend more than I should on gifts, because it’s like, Well, I feel weird about spending this on me, but because it’s a gift, like I get, I get I want to “get off.”
[22:12] But I like, I get off on the excitement. Scratch that. Don’t include that in the podcast.
Jewels:
[22:15] Your love language is gift giving.
Taylor:
[22:18] Yes. I really get excited about giving people really good gifts. Yes.
Jewels:
[22:23] Ah, what’s your love language? What gets you off?
Taylor:
[22:27] I get off on shoving my big gifts in people’s faces.
Maggie:
[22:28] I relate to that. I also in unable to control myself with travel spending because it’s like, I’m like, Well, that’s what I want to do with my life and my time and money. And so if it’s expensive, then fuck it.
Taylor:
[22:34] Mhm, right? Yeah.
Maggie:
[22:41] I’m doing it anyway because that’s what I want to spend money on. And then I’ll come back and be like, Well, now I’m broke the rest of the year.
Taylor:
[22:48] Yeah, that’s fair.
Jewels:
[22:50] After Becca message about the gazingus pins today, I started thinking about like what those things are. I also asked Zach, my husband, for his opinions, and he knew some for me that I hadn’t thought about.
But travel was definitely one of the ones that came up on mine.
I cannot pass up a good flight deal if there’s any chance I can shove one more trip into my calendar.
Becca:
[23:13] Mhm. So in the book, Your Money or Your Life, there’s this concept she brings a lot called a ‘gazingus pin’, and it’s something that whenever you see it, you can’t help but buy it.
In some people, it’s like things they collect. And so one of the like exercises is to figure out what your gazingus pin is.
Mine, I don’t know. Mine’s definitely probably food. Like there’s a couple of times I never have a budget. I’m very, very budget minded, but I am completely budgetless when I travel, like you said. I do not – there is -there’s not – there’s no budget when I travel, um, but I budget for that.
Um, And when I grocery shop, I don’t work with a budget. I just get what I want.
Um, yeah, so those two things, but I bet I could narrow it down more.
Jewels:
[24:13] Yeah. I didn’t even think about food for Gazingus pins because I’m just not even gonna – no – not making any more adjustments in that area than I already have.
Taylor:
[24:23] Probably burrata cheese. Might be my gaingus pin like, I think I need this. I think I need it.
Becca:
[24:26] Every time you pass it, you just have to.
Maggie:
[24:31] I have a bad habit. Although I’m not, I like refuse to undo it. It’s just something I’m always going to do. For my birthday every year, I buy myself a very expensive new pair of glasses.
Becca:
[24:43] Oh.
Taylor:
[24:44] Oh, I like that habit.
Maggie:
[24:46] And I just love doing that. And it, like, makes me happy. And that’s my birthday present to myself. And I refuse to not do it.
Taylor:
[24:53] You do have really nice classes. I’ve noticed. Very, like sharp. Yeah.
Maggie:
[24:54] Thank you.
[24:58] Appreciate that.
Jewels:
[25:00] That’s actually like a really nice marking the passage of time thing, like – New Year. New me. New glasses?
Maggie:
[25:06] Yeah, and I, like, have so much fun going and trying on all the different glasses. It’s like a birthday experience for me.
Like I gotta get my prescription renewed in January and then come February, I’m like, Oh, yeah, we’re gonna go Lens Crafters. We’re gonna, you know, Warby Parker. Is it Warby Parker?
Jewels:
[25:18] Yeah. Uh huh.
[25:24] Mhm.
Becca:
[25:26] So that’s very sweet. I like that ritual.
Taylor:
[25:28] Mhm, Yeah. One shout out, Shout out! Yeah!
Jewels:
[25:30] Speaking of sweet ritual.
Becca:
[25:32] Oh, 110%. That is absolutely a gazingus pin.
[25:39] Um, one that I used to have that Covid put a massive kibosh on, um, was novelty cocktails.
Does the glass come with smoke in it? Does it come in a pineapple?
Taylor:
[25:48] Mm.
Becca:
[25:52] Oh, I don’t care how much it costs, I always get it. I want I want the novelty cocktail. Do I have to reach my hand in a cage to get it?
Taylor:
[25:57] Yeah.
Maggie:
[26:00] What is that place called? Roosevelt Room?
Jewels:
[26:02] Where we went.
Becca:
[26:04] Yes there.
Taylor:
[26:04] Yeah. I love the Roosevelt. Yes, we went there for my UX, when I graduated.
That was like my graduation. Do you remember, we went there for cocktails for – Yes. We went to the Roosevelt Room for cocktails when I graduated from that program, and it was fucking amazing. That cigar cocktail thing where it comes in an ashtray.
Oh, so good. Yeah, there was like, a whiskey cocktail that literally came in a glass ashtray.
Maggie:
[26:30] Fuck yes, we got to go. Once Covid’s done, we got to celebrate our podcast by going to Roosevelt Room and spending too much money on cocktails.
But my story about Roosevelt Room is they organize their menu in different categories. There’s like tiki drinks and, like classic American drinks and stuff like that, I was like, Oh, definitely going for the Tiki drink.
And then the top of the menu is like the least alcoholic to the most alcoholic. I was like, well, clearly ordering the most alcoholic tiki drink that I could get, so I ordered that. And I was with a table of like, 11 people, and everyone got very normal appearing cocktails and mine showed up in a flaming skull.
I was like, This is amazing.
Taylor:
[27:09] Yeah.
Maggie:
[27:13] I was so happy.
Taylor:
[27:14] The showmanship of cocktails is really – I agree with you, Becca. Like, I think I’ve spent way too much money on really fancy stupid cocktails that are just like all show.
Becca:
[27:25] Um, so Julie very generously kind of broke out some different subjects especially circled around the book, Your Money or Your Life. And we have hovered very strongly in one of those sections titled, Material Girl.
Maggie:
[27:40] Yeah.
Jewels:
[27:40] Uh huh. Uh.
Becca:
[27:42] Um, so maybe we could go over a couple of the other questions that you provided for us because I really liked them. So one of the questions was – What’s your gazingus pin, which we just discussed right? And I’m sure we’ll have plenty more.
Um, but the first question was – Talk about one thing you own that you love, and what do you love about it?
In my head, I have a lot of things that I love, especially in our house. I feel like, um, Taylor has, I don’t know. She has a very beautiful home, and it’s made me appreciate a lot of the things we have.
But one of the things I have that I just like love and Taylor just happens to have an identical one, is a fake fireplace, and it’s a little space heater that looks like it’s a little fireplace.
And I’ve had it since Christmas of last year.
And I remember, like, over Christmas, I used to, like, sketch it. And I was just like, this is my favorite object. I just love it so much. I love the atmosphere it creates.
I love how simple it is. I love how I can turn it on. And if I want, I can turn the heat on and it just changes the room for you. I would tattoo that on my body. I love it so much.
Yeah, that’s one of my things.
Taylor:
[28:55] I do love. Yeah, I love those little fireplaces. I I found mine at a, um, thrift store, and I brought it home and Becca was like “I have the exact same thing.”
Becca:
[29:02] Mm.
Taylor:
[29:08] Like, Well, now we have two. Um I think mine thing is my, um, Sam’s blanket.
I really just want Sam’s to sponsor us so they can give us all free blankets. Um.
Maggie:
[29:26] Julie. I would really like, um, after about 30 podcasts, you to put in a separate folder every time Taylor says, I want X to sponsor us. Just edit that into, like, one 5 minute clip of Taylor being like, I want Sam’s to sponsor us. I want Mint to sponsor us.
Jewels:
[29:45] We’ll drop a beat in the background, so it’s like a rap I want I want I want Sam’s.
Taylor:
[29:47] Yeah.
Listen, I’m just putting that energy out in the world because Sam’s has the best fucking soft blankets, and it really does make me feel safe when I put it on my body.
It is. It makes me so happy.
Um, yeah, I don’t know.
That’s tough. I feel like there’s so many things that I have that I love. But I also like if you took it away for a week, I’d forget that I had it, you know.
Jewels:
[30:24] I’m trying to think about the things I miss greatly when I travel.
Taylor:
[30:24] But.
Becca:
[30:28] Mm, yes. Oh, it should be, 100%.
Jewels:
[30:30] And it’s the toilet seat.
Taylor:
[30:32] Oh, my God, Yes. Julie has the best toilet seat. It’s It’s not just a bidet.
Jewels:
[30:37] Uh huh.
Becca:
[30:40] Changed my life.
Taylor:
[30:41] It is a way of life.
Jewels:
[30:42] I never thought I would be bougie about a toilet, but we have the, like Toto Japanese toilet seat that has the whole bidet thing.
Becca:
[31:21] No. Yes, because I remember the first time I came over, it was a party.
[31:27] It was one of yalls’ big birthday parties, and I was like, What the fuck? And I was like, I need to spend some time in here, but the door didn’t have a lock. And there were all these people, and I was like, “Ahhhh it’s a dangerous game I’m playing!”
Jewels:
[31:36] Yeah, yes, for parties, we really probably should. I like, all of the doors in our house. We redesigned our house, and it’s it’s a very small footprint, so we put all pocket doors in, but the locking mechanism for pocket doors are not great.
And we didn’t like the hardware that locks. We wanted our fancy black hardware.
So we got the hardware we wanted, and then we just never put locks on the doors. Yeah, yeah.
Maggie:
[32:03] 99% of the time it’s fine. If we are talking the 80/20 Principal, do not get locks. It’s where I settle. Yeah.
Jewels:
[32:07] Yeah, yeah. I could just put, like, cool recording lights outside or something, like turn on the neon lightning bolt when you’re in the bathroom.
Maggie:
[32:14] I like that a lot better. That’s Yeah. I think everyone needs in the on lights in the bathroom. So in or near, in or near?
Maggie:
[32:14] I like that a lot better. That’s Yeah. I think everyone needs neon lights in the bathroom. So in or near, in or near.
Becca:
[32:14] Yes.
Taylor:
[32:16] That would be cool.
Jewels:
[32:21] I’m – I am a – That is something that I love that I stole from you.
Maggie:
[32:27] Yeah, that was something I really wanted for a long time. And although I do love my neon sign, it is probably not one of my most treasured.
I really, when I think about this question realized that I, my spending habits contrast greatly with my mindset because I’m like, Oh, I’m not a material person.
Like I could probably get rid of everything I own and be fine, but then I buy a buncha dumb shit.
[32:55] So, um, but I think maybe my most treasured thing that I currently own, I recently acquired within the past couple of years.
I think I’ve told you guys the story at least, um, but my dad was stationed in Germany in the seventies,
um, when he was in the army and he stole an original Star Wars 1977 A New Hope poster from his army bunker and gifted it to me in my adulthood.
And so I have an original Star Wars poster in German.
I think before the movie was like, entirely cast, because Mark Hamill is definitely not as muscular as the Mark Hamill portrayal of this poster. But yeah.
Becca:
[33:39] I love that.
Jewels:
[33:41] It is an amazing poster, and Maggie got it framed in the most badass frame as well.
Maggie:
[33:46] Yeah, the frame was kind of expensive too, but part of the deal was that my dad, it’s like in fairly bad shape because he had it up in his army bunker and then wherever he lived after the Army, so it has got all these thumbtack holes in it.
Becca:
[33:48] Mhm.
Maggie:
[33:59] Was like, it’s not going to survive more thumbtacks. So I had to go get it framed.
Maggie:
[34:03] Um, it looks really good in my living room, and it makes me think of him.
Becca:
[34:05] That’s awesome. Yeah, that is very sweet and unique.
Taylor:
[34:10] That is really cool.
Maggie:
[34:13] I don’t speak German, though. A lot of people come over and they’re like, Oh, you know German now. Yeah, I’m partly German.
Becca:
[34:18] You come across as someone who knows German.
Maggie:
[34:23] So maybe it’s, maybe I look a little German, but no, I don’t know any German.
Becca:
[34:24] Maybe that’s it.
Maggie:
[34:29] Um, but I do have a joke in German which is fully unrelated to this podcast. But that – a joke someone told me that I thought was true for many years until, uh, I was told how dumb I was for not understanding the joke.
Becca:
[34:41] Oh, I love it.
Maggie:
[34:42] Becca, what do you – What is the word for constipated in German?
Becca:
[34:48] I don’t know.
Maggie:
[34:49] Far from poopin.
[34:53] I really thought that was the truth.
Taylor:
[34:56] Far from poopin.
Maggie:
[34:58] Mhm. Yeah. For years I thought that was true.
Becca:
[34:58] That’s an amazing joke. Sure. Oh, my gosh. We could have a whole segment of lies we believed for a long time.
Jewels:
[35:07] And lives we’ve perpetuated. This is one of my favorite things to do.
Becca:
[35:09] Mm,
Like Santa Claus?
Jewels:
[35:14] Mhm, no, just to lie very convincingly about things that people don’t know.
Jewels:
[35:21] Like it is my, my mission to convince people that the province next to Alberta in Canada is pronounced Saskatchewan.
[35:34] And because I’m Canadian, they stop arguing with me once I tell people that. Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan and well, you know.
Maggie:
[35:38] She must know. Clearly, I’ve been hearing it wrong this whole time.
Taylor:
[35:39] Saska chew in, saska chew in? I can’t even pronounce the fake pronunciation.
Jewels:
[35:50] Uh huh.
Taylor:
[35:51] Sascha chew in.
Jewels:
[35:52] Well, because one of the major cities, if you can call it that, there is Saskatoon, then I’m like, Well, no, that one is true.
Taylor:
[35:59] I don’t believe you.
Jewels:
[36:02] But I’m like, why would it be a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and not Saskatoon, Saskatchewan?
Taylor:
[36:10] Fair point Julie.
Maggie:
[36:12] Make a lot of good points.
Jewels:
[36:14] Uh huh. No matter what.
Even if people knew how to pronounce it before the conversation, by the time I’m done with them, they can’t remember it all how to pronounce it.
Maggie:
[36:22] That would, I would, I feel like I would fall prey to that. I’d be like, Julie is one of the smartest people I know. She would know this. Clearly, I’m wrong.
Jewels:
[36:30] Yeah, well, and that’s the beauty of it – is that then everyone else spreads my lie for me.
Maggie:
[36:34] Right?
Taylor:
[36:34] Right? Right. And then that just becomes – the lie becomes the truth.
Jewels:
[36:38] Exactly.
Maggie:
[36:39] It’s a social experiment in fake news.
Jewels:
[36:41] Uh huh.
Taylor:
[36:41] Yeah, say it loud enough and often enough and people will believe it.
Becca:
[36:51] Okay. One of the other, one of the other questions was, “what was the last item you actually wore out?”
Maggie:
[37:00] I remember that one. Yeah, that’s easy for me. I wear out shoes very quickly and repeatedly all the time.
Taylor:
[37:06] Yeah, I do, too. The heels of my shoes often. Well, same because I don’t feel like I wear like some of the shoes where the heels wear out quickly.
Maggie:
[37:11] I don’t know if I’m wearing them wrong. Yeah.
Taylor:
[37:18] I don’t wear them that often. I’ll just wear them, like, one night out, and then suddenly the heel’s all fucked up.
Maggie:
[37:22] What?
[37:27] Yeah, where my pinky, my pinky toes end up popping out of the side of and I don’t know why it happens.
Becca:
[37:36] Yeah, I have the charming habit of wearing shoes until they wear out and then replacing them, but keeping the old pair. So now my closet is just stacks of shoes that I don’t want to wear.
Jewels:
[37:43] Uh, yes.
Becca:
[37:48] I mean, now I just moved, so I got rid of a ton. But there’s still a ton of shoes that I like, definitely don’t wear in there.
Jewels:
[37:56] I feel you on that. My closet is like half shoes that – I worked so hard to find comfortable shoes because I’m so picky about my feet, and then I just wear them until they’re unwearable.
But I still can’t get rid of them. And the other half of the closet is shoes I have bought that are the exact same shoes as the ones I am wearing because I’m so scared that they’re gonna out mode the new shoes I worked so hard to find that I like that anytime they go on sale, I just buy them.
So half my closet is like unusable shoes. And the other half is like my fear purchase of future shoes.
Maggie:
[38:31] Future shoes.
Becca:
[38:32] Future shoes.
Taylor:
[38:35] Yeah.
Jewels:
[38:35] That is one of my gazingus pins.
Taylor:
[38:38] Yeah, I have a bad habit of keeping clothes that I really love, that are really cute, but don’t fit me.
And I’ll just hold onto them because I think one day I’m going to fit into them again.
So, like, half of my closet, no joke. Probably half of my closet is just clothes that I cannot actually fit into, but I can’t get rid of because I’m like, this is the cutest sweater ever. Like.
I can’t get rid of this.
So that’s a fun thing to live with.
Becca:
[39:09] Get rid of em.
Taylor:
[39:11] I can’t.
Becca:
[39:11] Your brain doesn’t need that shit. Yes, yes.
Jewels:
[39:14] Put em in a box, put em in your shed. And when you go out there and you can’t remember what’s in that box, Becca takes it away.
Becca:
[39:23] Seriously, that way you don’t – oherwise, I don’t think it’s good for your brain to keep looking at clothes that you want to wear but can’t wear. You just look at it every day. Put it in a box. You don’t need that shit and then put in the closet – and finish it.
Jewels:
[39:36] In fact, one of those questions in the material girl category was, ‘What do you have in storage or closets that you’d be better off without and why do you keep it?’
Becca:
[39:45] Oh.
Taylor:
[39:48] That’s true. It’s the hope, the hope of one day fitting into it, I think, is what keeps me holding on.
Maggie:
[39:56] I had the privilege of buying a house with a storage shed that already had a bunch of shit in it.
Becca:
[40:01] Whoa, that is a privilege.
Maggie:
[40:01] Uh, I’m afraid to touch some of it, so it’s, I probably should get rid of that stuff, but it’s like there’s definitely bugs and, like, creatures.
And I’m like, I don’t think they make gloves long enough for me. I need a whole body suit in order to do that.
And so. Yeah, in general, I’m I’m fairly comfortable with bugs, but, like when it’s in a dark shed, that’s been, I’m like, I don’t know, rat shit has diseases.
Jewels:
[40:19] Brown recluses, copperheads could be really dangerous.
Taylor:
[40:29] Light it on fire.
Maggie:
[40:31] Yeah, so have that to deal with. Um, I’m pretty good about keeping my closet small, but I do have some sentimental clothes,
and I have a large costume suitcase of mostly I can’t fit into them either, but I’m like, Oh, you never know when you’re gonna need a costume, So.
Jewels:
[40:49] I think you need a trunk for your costumes.
Maggie:
[40:51] Yeah, I do.
Taylor:
[40:52] Treasure. A treasure chest
Half of it’s just cocktails and other half is costumes. Costumes and cocktails.
Maggie:
[40:56] Um.
[41:00] Yes. I want that.
Becca:
[41:04] Um, I Yeah. So I hate having stuff.
And whenever I moved, I got so, I got rid of so much shit, like so much shit. I just love getting rid of stuff.
I’m kind of like what Maggie was saying. I just wanna burn everything I have.
I told – I can’t remember if I told yall this, that, like, one day. So when I moved, I like, you know, filled up my jeep a couple times, and then we rented a truck and filled that up.
But once when I, like, filled up my jeep and I had it parked somewhere, I don’t remember if I went to work or something. I just left all the doors unlocked and had hoped that someone would just take everything inside so that I wouldn’t have to move it.
But no one did. No one stole anything.
Taylor:
[41:46] Yeah, I leave my doors unlocked, but that’s just cause I don’t want them to break the glass, which was a tip that I picked up from.
I don’t remember where I picked it up from, but if you don’t leave anything valuable in your car anyways and they can’t steal it, um, because it has like, like my car has, like, auto theft, like you have to, it’s a keyless entry, so you would have to have the key in the car for them to take it.
Jewels:
[42:12] As someone who’s had their car stolen, I could say that is not true.
Taylor:
[42:16] Okay, well, my idea is, I lock it when I’m out.
But when I’m in my drive – like when it’s parked in my driveway, I leave it unlocked because if someone’s gonna come sniffing around, they’re probably gonna want to break the windows, and it costs more to get the windows replaced than anything inside the car is worth.
So to me, it’s like I’d rather leave the doors unlocked if someone wants to go in and look, there’s nothing in there that they could take that I would be, like, really sad about. I’d be more upset about having to replace the windows in my car.
That’s my reasoning for leaving my car unlocked at night in my driveway.
Jewels:
[42:49] I think that’s pretty common, actually. Um, by the way, for anyone thinking my car got stolen in East Austin. It did not.
It got stolen in Westlake, which is West Austin fancy town.
Taylor:
[43:03] Wow. Wait, I Yeah, I never heard about this.
Becca:
[43:03] What happened? I don’t know about this.
Jewels:
[43:06] This is a longer story for another day. It’s the Audi that we still have.
[43:12] We did end up recovering the car. Um, but they had, like, joy ridden it around and used it to steal packages from other fancy neighborhoods, which,
yeah, then also made me think I was just gonna get pulled over for months afterwards because our car had been reported for stealing packages and stuff, but, um yeah.
Taylor:
[43:33] That’s crazy. So do you have a keyless entry as well? How did they did they – hot wire? Like, how did they steal it?
Jewels:
[43:37] Mhm.
[43:42] I think – So this may seem a little paranoid, but now we keep our keys in our house in a little fair day pouch that blocks the signal because there are devices people can use to boost the signal from your key in your house so that they can unlock your car outside.
Taylor:
[43:58] Yeah, but when they start to drive away with it without the key physically in there.
Jewels:
[44:01] I don’t know how they do it, Taylor. I don’t – I am not a car thief.
Taylor:
[44:03] Okay. Why are you not a car thief?
We need to know – we need answers. Because my understanding is that, at least with my car, I have the Avalon.
Jewels:
[44:09] Uh huh.
Taylor:
[44:15] It it will, if it doesn’t recognize that there’s a key in the car, once you start driving – like you can’t drive away without the key in the car.
But say some some someone was able to boost the signal, get the car at least started, once they get down the block, if it realizes that you don’t have, like, a soon as you stop the car it like, yeah.
Jewels:
[44:32] It does say, like ‘key not in car.’ But I think when they do the signal boosting, they have some sort of technology that can also replicate the key signal.
Taylor:
[44:39] Oh, so will it keep, yeah. Interesting. Mm hmm.
Jewels:
[44:42] I’m not an expert on that, but it happened. They did it.
Taylor:
[44:49] Fucking bougie Westlake car thefts.
Maggie:
[44:53] I have two things I’d like to say unrelated to this. One, someone else is gonna have to go get the hot water. And two, I would like to talk about how you have 15 boxes of cereal. Uh huh.
Jewels:
[44:53] Yeah.
[45:05] Yeah, yes.
Becca:
[45:10] Have yall become bunker people?
Jewels:
[45:12] No. So I literally sent a photo of all of those boxes of cereal to the cereal company this week because, I forgot that my like subscription was coming up and I was going to get four more boxes until I got the shipping notification that I have four more boxes coming to my house.
Yes, so.
Taylor:
[45:33] Why do you have a subscription of cereal?
Maggie:
[45:34] So you’re gonna have 19 boxes of cereal.
Jewels:
[45:36] So I emailed them. And I was like, Hey, guys, last month when you had, when you did the seasonal release, this is magic.
Taylor:
[45:47] Why do you have a – Okay. Well, how did this not even come up during your fucking like, whatever zinger pin frivolous spending shit category.
Jewels:
[45:47] Becca has spotted the cereal.
[45:55] I will add cereal to my list.
Um, so this is Magic Spoon cereal, which is like a much healthier protein based cereal, but it tastes like all of the cereal we were addicted to as children, and last month they released their like fall seasonal flavors, and they released them to people with current subscriptions a week before or a couple days before they released them to everyone else.
So I went in there and I ordered the new seasonal ones. And these things come four boxes at a time when you, when you buy them, okay.
And then while I was checking out, they had a brilliant up sale of this other flavor, which was honey nut, which they, they’re not selling, like you can’t buy it, but I’ve been wanting to try it for a while.
So they were like, ‘You want us to throw in a little extra two boxes?’ And I said yes.
Taylor:
[46:49] My God.
Jewels:
[46:50] So I added that to my current stockpile of, like, the fruit loops type variety and the cinnamon. Because those two are my favorite.
You should open the boxes and smell them, like especially like if, if you know the smell of fruit loops when you open that box and smell it, it is uncanny.
Please do it.
Well, you can have some. There’s milk in the fridge.
Becca:
[47:14] There’s not enough to spare, Julie.
Jewels:
[47:16] Yeah, So I sent them an email and was like, ‘Hey, um, if this hasn’t shipped yet, is there any way you could possibly cancel or postpone my order?
Because I forgot to bump this one, this renewal out when I bought the seasonal stuff last month’ and they were like, ‘you know, our shipping team is so fast that,
it’s already out out of the warehouse, but, um, we’re just going to go ahead and comp you for that and, like, keep it or give it to friends.’
So talk about amazing customer service and so to give them a good laugh.
Maggie:
[47:50] Yeah, that’s awesome.
Jewels:
[47:53] Because in my email I was like ‘my husband is starting to think I’m a cereal hoarder, which apparently my friends also think, um and so that is true.
Taylor:
[48:03] There’s a fine line between cereal hoarder and serial killer Julie.
Jewels:
[48:06] That is true. So I sent them a photo of my cereal stash to give them a good laugh and prove that I was, in fact being genuine when I said that I had ordered so much.
[48:20] I hope, I feel like they would appreciate it. I hope they did.
Taylor:
[48:21] Definitely. Yeah.
Becca:
[48:24] So do we have any goals that we want to set for, by the next time we meet?
Taylor:
[48:32] I have some money now that my mom sent me that I was talking about last time about the inheritance.
[48:40] So I have that ready to go. And I’m, like, scared to pull the trigger on actually using it, because then it’s gone, once I use it.
[48:48] Um, So I’m gonna, I think what me and Julie had discussed is using, like, about 10 grand, right, to pay off the credit card.
Maggie:
[48:58] That’s going to feel so nice.
Taylor:
[48:59] My biggest credit card. Yeah, and then the rest kind of like keeping as a, you know, a couple months back up if I need, like, emergency funds. Plus the amount I would need to pay off my taxes on my freelance work next year.
So just kind of keeping that in reserve.
So I think that’s what I’m going to do. So that’s kind of my plan is doing that soon. I just keep postponing it for some reason. Maybe. I might need, so I might need a little, like, hold my hand while I do it.
Jewels:
[49:29] Do we need to all come sit around the computer with you? We’ll hold hands, we’ll make a protective circle.
Becca:
[49:35] We could! We could, like, light candles and do, like a ritual around it.
And I’m not being facetious. I mean, these sorts of things take strength.
Jewels:
[49:41] This could be fun. I will bring wine. We will crack that open, celebrate these massive financial gains.
Taylor:
[49:42] Yeah.
Becca:
[49:50] Because for me, I keep saying that.
Taylor:
[49:50] I would love that. I like wine. I like wine.
Jewels:
[49:55] And, uh, and improved net worth.
Becca:
[49:57] Well, it just, it resonates. I -that resonates with me because I keep saying I want to open this investment account. But I’m, like, so scared to actually click anything where my money leaves my hands and then goes somewhere fucking else.
Taylor:
[50:09] Mhm. Yeah.
Becca:
[50:11] And I feel like I do need the strength of women.
Taylor:
[50:13] Maybe Maybe we should do that. Maybe we should pick a night to like, you open your investment account and I pay off part of my credit card.
Becca:
[50:15] Yeah.
Yeah.
Fuck yeah, light some candles. We get some nice wine, we turn the lights down low.
Taylor:
[50:25] Yeah. Then we all. Yeah. Yes.
Maggie:
[50:28] Stiff as a board. That’ll feel really good, though once you do it.
Becca:
[50:28] Yes, like that.
[50:32] Mhm.
Taylor:
[50:33] I hope so. Yeah.
Becca:
[50:35] Cool. So dealing with your inheritance money that you got this week is a is a near future goal for you.
Taylor:
[50:39] Yes,
yes, I think part of what I’m worried about is I’m gonna pay it off, and it’s gonna not feel like it’s enough. And then it’s just gonna keep slowly going back up.
[50:49] You know, like when you pay off your credit card and feels like you paid off a lot.
But then, like, two days later, you’re like, how is it already half back up to where I, like, got it down from? Because then all those other fees start coming in.
Maggie:
[51:03] Ten grand is a significant – it’ll feel, you’ll notice it.
Taylor:
[51:07] I hope so.
Becca:
[51:09] I don’t really have. I don’t think I have. Well, okay, I can come up with a goal. I gotta fucking invest my money.
Um, so I’d really, really like to get that done, certainly by end of month.
Um, I got I, like, psyched myself out over the last week because I was like, I didn’t know, and I know, like, all the shit we’re reading i saying, like, don’t try and like, time, the market.
But it was a particularly volatile week, so I didn’t really know if it would be an objectively like bad time to pour a bunch of money in. Um.
Maggie:
[51:44] See, Here’s the thing. If you would have invested last week, though, you’d be looking hot today. Market went up 1200 points today.
Becca:
[51:47] Yeah,
that’s beautiful.
Taylor:
[51:51] What? Where? How are you looking? Where you going to look at the market.
Maggie:
[51:54] The news.
Maggie:
[51:59] Um but yeah, so, like, that’s just to say, I mean, tomorrow it might drop 1800 points. Who fucking knows? But there’s there’s no use in timing it.
Becca:
[52:05] Yeah.
[52:09] I know. I just need to put it in.
Jewels:
[52:09] Also, I don’t remember what it is called, but most of the financial advocates, whatever they’re called, um, the financial people, they advocate for buying in small amounts at a time, and then you just end up with the average over it.
Jewels:
[52:27] So that way, you don’t put all of your money in on a bad day.
Maggie:
[52:31] JL Collins argues this point. Just so you know.
Jewels:
[52:34] Yes, that’s the financial people I was talking about.
Maggie:
[52:38] No argues against that point, yeah.
Jewels:
[52:38] Thank you, Maggie. Oh, argues against it.
Well, okay, because he says, buy into the market whenever you have excess money to buy in, which would kind of have that effect.
[52:49] And then once a year, they rebalance their portfolio. So they don’t try to time rebalancing.
Maggie:
[52:49] Yeah, yeah, I,
yeah, he’s just saying, Put your, he’s not saying, he says. Whenever you have money, put it in. Don’t wait for a specific time to do it.
Jewels:
[52:59] Right.
Maggie:
[53:02] But I say that’s arguing against that point because that’s saying I’m picking I don’t know Friday to put my money in. Where what he’s saying, If you get money on Monday, put it in on Monday. If you get money on Friday, put it in Friday.
Jewels:
[53:02] Right?
Mhm.
[53:14] Right. Which I think,
[53:18] Yes, I think there’s like, an overlap there because we’re talking about such a large amount of money.
Putting it in on a few different days gets you, like, sort of an average market cost.
[53:32] Maybe. There’s, there’s the articles. We’ll find them.
Becca:
[53:34] For my own mental health, I won’t be able to do one big dump.
Um, I just won’t. But I can do a big dump. It just won’t be.
Jewels:
[53:45] Yeah.
Taylor:
[53:45] Sorry, I just immediately started laughing. Drop maybe. Ah.
Becca:
[53:46] Uh, what’s a better word for that? One drop? Is that better?
Jewels:
[53:51] Hmm. Invested all at once. Will not be investing it all at once.
Becca:
[53:55] I’m just-Yeah, not all at once, but because.
But I also have – you may have guessed – I have the issue of, I consider my emergency fund to be.
I want a huge emergency fund on hand, just in case the world goes to shit.
Taylor:
[54:08] Yeah.
Becca:
[54:13] Even though that’s silly because there’s much bigger worries if the world goes to shit.
Taylor:
[54:16] If the world goes to shit, you could just burn your money. Like uh huh.
Becca:
[54:18] Very. Yeah.
Maggie:
[54:20] Yeah, that’s a valid point.
Becca:
[54:22] Yeah. Last year, the, uh.
Maggie:
[54:24] You better have invested in frozen food packets, like at that point.
Taylor:
[54:26] And and all in very warm Sam’s blankets.
Becca:
[54:28] Okay. Yes, 100%.
Maggie:
[54:31] Water filtration devices.
Becca:
[54:34] Um, last year I had kind of realized that I gained a lot of actual cash because I have, because I receive cash tips, mostly pre-Covid.
Um, and I realized I had a lot of cash and I was like, I don’t know, I just kinda wanna keep it.
I don’t just in case something happens, I don’t know.
And, uh, pretty much everyone in this room was like, You should really put that in the bank, so it can make money. It’s not doing anything for you and then Taylor specifically was like, “if the world, if the banks shut down, you’re gonna have to burn your catch for fuel.”
Maggie:
[55:09] I am 100% with Taylor on that, for sure.
Becca:
[55:09] So I put. So I put it in the bank. It’s in the bank. Except for some.
Taylor:
[55:13] I learned everything I know about finances, from movies and in most movies when banks go up, people are burning them in fucking tin bins for warmth.
Becca:
[55:16] Yeah, from the Book of Eli.
Yeah. Yeah. So get my money out of my bank account and into an investment portfolio by close of business November 30th. Yeah.
Jewels:
[55:38] So it sounds like you need to pick what that emergency safety fund number is so that you’re comfortable, like, Okay, I’ve decided I’m going to keep that amount of cash.
Becca:
[55:47] Yeah, for me, it’s like – I want it to be a year, and I know that’s way excessive, so I’ll have to talk myself down from that.
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