Hey, hey, hey, we're back. We're black, we're.
Brown, we harmonize.
Oh a little earlier today, Mandy, how you feel about it?
I mean, these midday recording sessions are a bit challenging, I have to say, but I'm working with it.
Thank you for accommodating me.
Uh So, Unfortunately, you were talking a little earlier and you were saying that we're still in this still in the government shutdown, which I'm like, yikes, is there any word on the street of there being, like, you know, a slowdown to this.
We're officially in our what is it the fourth week? Now, it's a record, a record long government shutdown. My husband, I was talking to him. We've been through since I've been with him for seven years. I think there's been maybe two shutdowns that he's had to go through, but none has lasted as long as this one. I mean this past weekend he did not get paid at all. I can safely say he has not been working over time or trying to stay later than he absolutely needs to.
Because what's really sucky is like if you're deemed essential, which means you still have to go into work, and you're still not getting paid. Some people are furloughed, which means you just don't have to go to work and you're not getting paid. But hopefully what they'll do is they'll repay, they'll like back pay people when the shutdown's
finally over. But it sucks because some people are I mean, yes, no one's getting paid, and that's really really challenging for some families who are living, you know, paycheck to paycheck. But at least if you're not getting paid, don't have to go to work. You know, he still has to go to work.
Yeah, he's still to the expense of going to work, whether it's the train or toll or gas or whatever.
Yep, it's like insult to injury. So I don't know what the hell's happening. In Congress. You know, we had some Republican representative whatever his name is, make a comment about how he's not sure why white supremacy was ever seemed like such a negative.
I saw that. Okay, Republican racism is so bad. It's bad. I don't know.
Someone was like man, but wasn't it good to see the Republicans, you know, immediately denounce him and try and get him off these committees and ousd him and stuff and I'm like cool, So they did the bare minimum. You know, they had one good instinct, which is like, yes, racism is bad. Pat on the back for that one. You know realization. The bar is very low.
The bar is low.
Even like like I, you know, I thought the government shutdown was not directly directly affecting me until I got some letter for two of my businesses about filing a specific type of like form. But we had already taken care of it digitally, so we tried to call just to be like, oh, just the FYI, this is done, and it was like, oh wait, no one's there, Like we could not get through.
There was no one to pick up.
So it was like wow, So if you have an IRS question or you know, whatever it is for your business or for yourself personally, you know there you might not be able to you know, you might.
Have to just basically wait.
So we're just kind of waiting and it's just a little questrating because you know, there's a fee attached if you don't act within a timely manner according to the letter. So it just makes me like a little worried, like wait a minute, you know.
Yeah, one thing I'll say is we got some We got some emails from the banks that we bank with, and a lot of banks are being cool about, you know, with the shutdown and saying like, if you're afraid you're going to be laid on a payment, to call your bank.
And if you're having trouble making ends meet, credit unions, a lot of financial institutions will issue or offer loans potentially to people impacted by the furlough if you you know, at a at a low rate, so it's it's one possibility if you guys are struggling to make ends meet. I'm thankful that we have our emergency fund, so we're not you know, and we have a dual income household, so we're not as stressed as some family. Is that I feel really blessed to be in that position, But there.
Are people who are like I can't imagine being like a single mom or single dad and being like, but how am I going to buy things? You know, like this is four weeks is that's two paychecks, and you know most people don't couldn't miss one, let alone two. So it's just very Yeah, I just I wonder what the longest shutdown has ever been just in history.
Periods you know this.
No really, yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure this is a record government shutdown and it's not Government shutdowns aren't even that common of a thing. I mean, they have been in me being the last I don't know, Obama had a couple, but before that, there hadn't really been any since the seventies. I was looking at a list of you know, historical government shutdowns, and no, it's not something that happens all the time, and certainly not for this long period of time, a full months. That's not common.
And meanwhile, we're playing a game of economic chicken over a wall, which I have to say. I did listen to a couple of podcasts where they interviewed law enforcement from the border, and it was interesting to hear their perspective. And it's really sad to me because there is so much there is, like a valid concern over border security and the humanitarian crisis at the border and families you know, risking their lives to cross and being you know, doing
it really unsafely. There is so much that needs to be done, and yet we're just kind of getting stuck on this one conversation over a wall, and there's so much more nuance to it than just that, and it's just like, you know, it's not even about Trump anymore.
It's as much about Trump as I think, as it is with just Congress people in general not being able to you know, amend their differences and create some kind of actual reform that will help people versus, you know, getting stuck on this whole the wall symbol of the wall.
You know.
Yeah, it's like twenty nineteen is already starting like this because one, I don't know if ever, I was reading some article I forget what newspaper's saying that they feel like Europe is already in a recession. Really oh yeah, and I'm like, oh my gosh, out nineteen, can I get my friends the door before you slam it?
I mean, there's still there's still good to be had. I think that is, you know, hopefully a lot of our listeners, if you work, you know, your typical nine to five. This is performance review season. So this is the time. I always say, don't wait till the performance review to ask for that promotion or that raise. But I'm curious to hear how people's performance reviews have been
and if they feel like they're beneficial. I'm about to do my whole round of them next week, and I always and if especially if you're like on the other side, I don't know if you do performance reviews with the budget needs to crew, But for me, we do weekly check ins and I try to make sure that nothing I say in that annual review is a surprise, and as a manager, I would like the same in return, Like you know, as long as we're being open and candid during like the weekly one on ones, then the
performance review really shouldn't be a surprise or a shock to anybody. So if I've been like meeting with you once a week and then you wait until like the day of the review to be like, oh yeah, I'd love a promotion or I really have ambitions to do this, or that, there's nothing wrong with it, but it's it's not as guaranteed to like actually like you know happen in some cases sometimes those things take You need some more of an opportunity to plan or put the pieces in place to get things going.
Yeah, I mean it is.
It's I mean I'm kind of thinking we don't we do I guess some performance reviews, but not like in a we still don't have like a like a super system. That's something that we were working on at the end of last year, like a place where things can be held and like a specific maybe like performance review tool. So we're still kind of flying by the seat of our pants pants when it comes to that, like seems like you're doing a good job.
Keep it up.
No, but we're getting there sometimes you don't, you know, as we start to It's crazy when you like with the business, as we get like bigger, we definitely move, we make bigger moves, but it takes a little longer, you know, yeah, because there's just people to consider.
So before it was literally like what do.
You think, Tiffany, Sure, Tiffany, okay, you know, and you pivot. And then now it's like, okay, well if we make that decision, what does that mean for the finance team and what about the marketing team and will they have the fun you know, so I can see how like I can't even imagine like a huge corporation like a Coca Cola or something, or like a Ford, you know, like what it takes to turn that vehicle around, you.
Know, yeah, yeah, yes.
Let's do on the house front.
Well, you know what I did find a really good cabinet person. So I was just looking for different like cabinet people. And you know, the thing about cabinets is is once people make a design for you, they don't necessarily like to give it to you because they don't want you to shop it around, you know really, So yeah, well sometimes I mean like because if they give you all the specs or whatever, you can literally take it
from person. I mean that that takes you know, maybe like an hour or maybe not even maybe half an hour to hour orn hour if not more for someone to create and then you shop it around and then someone else might end up getting the you know, getting the payment for the work that.
That person has done.
So there was a little shopping around can be a little bit difficult because you're wanting to remember the pair compare apples to apples, but you know, the only way to do that to be like, these are the same specs over and over. But I found a good cabinet person M and D. I think cabinets are something in like Belleville Bloomfield. I really like him, Lou he was Yeah, he was great, honestly he he What I liked about him is you can sell so it's a family owned
business with which I liked. But what I liked is that you can tell that he's been doing this like thirty forty years, because like when I showed him the drawings from other places that I had gone, he was really like, oh, you know, they put this too close to the wall. You don't realize it, but when you open his door, it's going to hit this, you know. Oh, you know, like just little nuances that people missed out on. And so I got to see the rendering today and
it looked awesome. It looks honestly really because he also came with his own kind of like design sensibility, So I'm excited.
The tile for the.
Kitchen is picked out, the bathroom, all the bathrooms kind of like tile and backsplash, all that stuff I picked out. So now the only thing is is like ordering. The hard part is with the cabinets is that they come in fairly quickly, within like two weeks, but we're still not ready. We're stay still haven't closed up the walls yet, so it's like you can't where you put them, you know. And apparently there's a there's a pending tariff coming that
I guess the President has threatened. So that way it flows, that slows down how much foreign goods that we purchased, and so that I have to be mindful because.
Where the cabinets come from.
Most cabinets come from China, they tell you. Even the American ones they tell you usually they're put together in America, but the components typically come from China. Interest yeah, and so there are a few that are made in America, but very few. Like like I said that, we saw some hapbins that they posture as American cabinets, but really they're like, girl, these they put them together here. So potentially the TARFF could be as high as twenty percent, and sou you know, Lou was like, just be my
I know. So you know, let's just say your cabinets are going to be you know, ten thousand dollars. That's another two thousand dollars on top of that. So he was like, typically they get a heads up about a week in advance, but he's been getting letters like faxes every day saying like, you know, potential tariff is coming. So he's like, I'll let you know and then I'll just have to order them and put him in like storage or something, because I don't want to spen an extra two thousand dollars you.
Know, yeah, nope, buano. Or if someone I was sharing my Instagram, my Instagram story, I was sharing like pictures of the reno and like what the before and the after my kitchen and everything like that, and one of the I think when of our listeners asked, you know, how much of the kitchen actually costs, it's kind of hard for me to like say how much the kitchen costs because so much of it was it's all wrapped up into the total rhino cost because we did the
whole ground floor, but my countertops alone were countertops and cabinets alone. Do the math real quick for nine at least like eleven to twelve thousand dollars just for that by itself. So that gives you a sense if you're listening of the cost. And that's just new cabinetry. I think the hardware for the cabinets, which we got from build dot com, that was like another five hundred bucks. And then the appliance is if you have to get
all new appliances, that adds to it as well. But let me tell you, my husband just got back to me with an update. I've given a boost to the City Price Rewind program before. And he just was g chatting me earlier letting me know that the fridge that we bought went down in price by two hundred and eighty eight dollars and they just sent him the refund.
Wait wait, wait, wait, wait, So what tell me about the thing again? I've told you, I know, but you know I've got the memory of for eighty year old. It doesn't have the first time. See, you got to take notes.
It's called the City. So if you get a City I had the City Double Cash Card and it comes with access to the City Price Rewind program. And I don't know if it's the only card, the only city card that offers it, but it certainly does. And what happens if you make the purchase with your City card, which offers you one percent cash back on the purchase and then one percent cash back when you pay off the card. On top of that, if the price of that item that you purchase with the card goes down.
I don't know what the I forget what the timeframe is. Then if you tell them or they may find it themselves. Actually, like sometimes we'll get an email just saying, hey, the price dropped on this, We're going to give you a refund. But if you see that a price drops and you alert them, then they will refund you as long as it's within the terms and conditions of And I'm telling you we've saved hundreds of dollars, like no joke purchasing our appliances on.
I do remember now now that my flash back. I'm like, oh, yeah, you said that like three times. Yeah.
Man, it's legit, especially if you're buying like appliances this January. Now, we purchase our appliances like in November, December and the end of the years when they start discounting last year's models and rolling out the new stuff. So I think that's why we're seeing the stuff that we purchase drop in price now. So there's no such thing as boy is remorse as far as the appliances thing.
No, when you went with the Pliente, did you guys get the clients is from the same like manufacturer, like all LG or whatever.
Lord. Yeah, my husband was like became really obsessed. I'm like, listen, our entire like the entire house sings now, the dishwasher sings, the oven freaking sings, the microwave sings, the laundry machine sings. We it's all just like do do doo doo doo doo doo whenever, everything when it's preheated, when the cycle's over. And not only that, but he's got it set up to text him because everything's wi fi ing. Don't ask
me why so what I let me tell you. I was like cooking dinner, doing laundry, and I don't know, I used the microwave, the dishwasher or something, and at one moment, like everything was beeping and d and jingling, and his phone was going off, and I was like, this is freaking insane. Our place is not this big. We're never not gonna hear when some things is done. And he's like, it's fun. It's he just loves his gadgets.
But you know, no, that's awesome though.
Yeah, we're gonna I just can't wait to get you know, when you get over the when you start closing up walls, and I'm just like, I just can't wait till we get over the hump.
You'll be there soon, You'll be there soon.
Yes, I think I'll get another week or two because all the electricals done except for the HVAC and.
Then all the plumbing is done.
So I really I feel like we have another week at the most of like of the HVAC and then we start closing up walls and that's when you start really rocking and rollway. Yeah.
Man, it's exciting.
Yes, So are you good with your buzz anything else you're buzzing about? I'm all buzzed out, all right, So let's go for couestionon. We're gonna do something special today. I'm excited and we haven't done this before. But if you are Agurine Catcher, you know that I have a DreamCatcher Facebook group. It's about three hundred and fifty or sixty thousand women. We're actually to pull some questions from the DreamCatcher group. I will keep your name anonymous since
you didn't consent publicly. So first question come to well, I'll just use a fake name. Comes from Maria. Maria says, my husband and I are thinking about consolidating our debt. It's about seven thousand hours and this would include all of our debts, loans, credit cards, all that.
Kind of stuff. Do you think that's a good idea to consolidate our debt?
Oh, I mean, I think consolidating debt, especially if you can save money on interest, is an amazing idea, and I don't think people do it often enough. Yeah, I
love the idea of debt consolidation. It's also a way to like if you, for example, you're struggling to afford your monthly payments on a loan or something like that, if you take out a new loan and use that loan to pay off your existing loan, the new loan may have terms that are better suited to your needs, like they may have lower payment which you can achieve by maybe get a longer term loan. That's one reason
people consolidate their debt. Just understand that when you extend the time the term of the loan, which means you pay it off for longer, even if you're saving money, it feels like monthly because your payments are lower, you are adding to your interest costs, right because you're you know,
dragging on the debt for longer. So if you do that, just keep that in mind, and you know, once things, hopefully the financial picture gets a little bit better and you can start making bigger payments than the minimum and you know, not end up paying way more down the line.
I'm also I know, go ahead.
I was also going to shout out to balance get so excited about balance transfers.
Tip no, gokay, go ahead for that.
Balance transferred out. So credit card consolidation balance transfer offers are really awesome, especially if you have good credit. You tend to need to have you know, high six hundreds, low seven hundreds minimum to get approved for good zero percent interest intro offer on a balance transfer card. But let's say you know, you spend money on one car credit card and you know you're struggling to make the payments on time, but you know you can do it in a few months, or you know, maybe it'll take
you even longer than that. A balance transfer, if you get approved, you can transfer money to a new card and then enjoy a zero percent interest rate for however long the term says. And then let's say you get to the end of that term and you still have some leftover, if your credit is still good, then you kind of apply for another balance transfer and you know, keep it moving. That's just one way to get around interest fees.
Yeah, I remember I did that when I That was one thing like when I was going through like my financial struggle before I knew this is like I knew I was going to miss my mortgage payment, and this is like post recession or during the recession and before that hit and drag my score down. Is that a
really great score. I went ahead and opened up you know about I think one, maybe even two balance transfer cards because I had some high, high credit card balances, and that saved me because I think one of my credit card balances was maybe it was a combined of like thirty thousand dollars and that like the interest what I would have paid on that thirty thousand dollars would have been, I don't know that I could have paid it off, but it gave me because my balance was
my credit was so good at the time because I had not this my mortgage payment yet I think it gave me like a year and some change for a zero percent interest, so I was able to actually just pay on the thirty like as well as it was, and so that that, you know, it gave me a significant like running head start.
So that's always a good idea.
It's crazycause I know, you know, you hear like the Dave Ramsey's of the world that tell you like, so you're going to get into more debt to get rid of your debt, like and they tell you, don't.
Do it, don't do it.
And I can understand in idealistic theory, like you know, like you know, taking on debt to get out of debt.
But sometimes you you know, it's like you have to do what you have to do.
You know, Yeah, I understand, because what happens is sometimes you'll pay off. So let's say you take out a loan and you pay off like three credit cards on your auto loan or whatever, and then you have three you have those four payments which are no longer stressed you out, and you have one payment now, and you may feel like, oh, you know, I'm debt free now, I'm more relaxed. I can go to the mall, or I could spend money on lunch today or whatever. But
you're really not debt free. You have to, like mentally remind yourself the debt has not gone anywhere.
It still exists.
It's just more simple for you to manage. So mentally you have to just shift that mindset so that you're not feeling like you're debt free, because you definitely aren't.
Yes, and you don't want to all of a sudden have one card you paid off and another card you transferred it to, and then start using that card.
Now you have two cards with high balances.
So you know, yeah, Okay, next up, we've got let's call her Cynthia. So Cynthia says, I am looking to sell my home. Has anyone negotiated commission fees for the listing with them? I guess, with the listing agent? And if so, how much did you save?
Oh? I read this wrong.
So I was telling you earlier, Mandy that I have negotiated commission fees. But honestly, I negotiated commission fees with the I was. I was a buyer with the buying agent. I didn't realize I didn't see the listening. But I've definitely heard because a couple of my friends are realtors. So you can always negotiate, I mean, you can always ask.
It depends on what kind of market it is, you know, if if there's not a lot of buyers and not a lot of sellers, and people are kind of like, look, I you know, I you know, if someone has like, you know, a hundred different homes, they might be like, no, I really don't have to.
It really depends on the market that you're in. And honestly too, like how well you know the agent.
Oftentimes agents that you know that you're cool with, Like my my seller's agent, she knew me and knew what I did, and she cut her commission down in exchange for one on one budgeting session, you know.
And so in my experience, like my real so example, the agent that we used when we bought our house, the seller paid his commission, not us. So typically, like if you're the seller, you have to pay your own agent's fees plus the buyer's agent's fees. And in that case sometimes you can negotiate with either your agent or maybe the seller's agent to try and decrease the cost.
Of those fees.
So yes, So for me, because I bought my house the through or foreclosure, there was no the she was getting her feed directly for me.
So it was a unique situation, gotcha, you know.
So her name is Amena, and so it was like I was gonna have to pay her the three percent, you know, just out of pocket basically because the site that we use real Ty bids, it was just the bidding site, so they're not gonna pay her anything. So but in exchange, like I said, matter of fact, I mean, I owe you your own session. But that was what we that was what we negotiated, and I was like, okay, that's fine. And so you know, I say, it's some money, and and then you know, I get to do a session,
which I like doing anyway. But to me, you know, it's not even just about bartering some that's just about asking. And if it's the right environment for that kind of negotiation, then it doesn't hurt.
To ask, you know, yeah, one hundred percent.
You want to take one more?
Sure?
All right?
This one is from Tanetta. I'm the worst of covering gods name. Hey, that's what Taneda said. So I got my first credit card from Navy Federal. The limit is two hundred dollars because it's a secured card. I use twenty dollars of it. But am I supposed to pay it back when I get the bill? Or can I
pay it now? I'm trying to rebuild my credit so tonight, and first of all, congratulations, because that's good that you know you're clearly trying to raise your credit score and a secured card, do you want to maybe explain what a secured card is, just in case folks are new.
Oh yeah, I'm then listen to the show. Apparently, secured cards are different than an unsecured credit cards. When unsecured credit card is when you apply for a credit card online, you give the lender nothing in return except for your good credit score, and you get approved and they issue a line of credit. Secured card works the opposite way.
You actually give the bank money to hold and typically a CD account, and now that they've got your money held up, they will issue you a line of credit for around the same amount, maybe a little bit more. And what you'll do is you'll pay a monthly payment against that account for twelve months or however long it is. And after that time, as long as you've made on time payments and everything, they'll return your deposit to you. And you may wonder, why the hell am I giving
people money just to borrow money from them? It makes no sense. Typically, secured cards are used when you're trying to build credit. So if you're someone who's recently moved to the United States and you don't have a credit history here, or you're someone who has poor credit, you can't get approved for a traditional credit card and you want to rebuild your credit, It's one way to build
your credit back up. Or if you're someone who's young and has no credit history, you may not get approved for the card that you want, so you want to open up a secured card account to start building credit.
I like to say the secured card is like a credit card with training mails.
And because Saneta, you got it from Navy Federal, which is good, they likely have a unsecured card which has just been basically like a regular credit card where when you swipe your basically taking out a temporary loan. That what will happen is it's easier to make the transition from a secured card to an unsecured card because it's already with the bank versus like a secured card that's not with the bank, which those are fine, but depends
on what your end goal is. So Tanta, to answer your question, it's best if you wait till you get your bill, or at the very least ask your your credit card companies, ask Navy Federal what it's my statement date?
Because if you're trying to raise your credit score.
I'm assuming you're wanting the credit bureaus to get the report from Navy federals saying, hey, Tanetta used her card and if you paid off too soon, by the time they report, the card is at zero and so there's nothing to report. So you're wanting the statement date. It's just the date that they release the statement. And that's why it's fine for you to just wait till you
actually get your statement and paid off. Then that way you know they've reported to that used it and then they're going to report today that paid it off.
So that's what you're wanting.
This consistent she used it, she paid it off, and congratulations on being smart and really keeping your your balance low. You really want to be low and under thirty percent really should be the maximum that you should be charging on that card. Ideally lower than that. And and honestly too, I didn't know if it like two hundred dollars. That's a good rate, right, Mandy, Like that's a good down payment for a secured card, because sometimes they could be like six hundred dollars.
Yeah, definitely, that's not bad. I can I can share a list on the podcast notes of we have a good roundup on Magnifying Money of the best secured cards, you should look at the deposit amount. Also, some of them carry interest rates that are pretty high, so you want to get ones that have a lower interest rate, few fees, if not no fees at all. And yeah, the lower the deposit amount the better because it's hard to come up with like a few hundred bucks on the fly for some people.
Yeah. Yeah, so this is that was actually a pretty good one.
So that's not so.
If you guys have questions, you can certainly hit us up. If you go to Brown Ambition podcast dot com, there's an ask us anything button you can ask there. You can email us at the BA podcast at gmail dot com.
Did I get that right?
From Brown Ambition Podcasts at gmail dot com?
Done it?
Twitter handles you?
So I was like, remember someone wrote there like it's hilarious. Activity still goes to know the handle.
So I'm like, whatever, girl, funny business funny. I was just thinking, how funny.
I'm like, my business girl. Everybody does have the shop. It's memory, your memory shaving.
We love you just the way you are.
No, we love your questions honestly, career questions, business questions, finance questions, personal questions.
Send them on over all right, So we always like to end with.
A brown break or a brown boost, booster a break or a booster a break.
Are you gonna boost? Are you gonna break? Man? Draft?
Oh, let me just count my boost as a city price rewind for today because my brain is shot.
Well I am going to break, so you know how well? I don't know.
I think Mandy, typically you cut it out that almost every time we tape, somehow Superman like opens the door like no other time, Like I could take a three hour nap, no door opening. But he's, like I said, no, tificanally tape it her podcast.
So not only so thank got I have my phone on quiet, and I told him.
I was like, hey, babe, your lunch because where we live is where he works. Your lunch is on the it's on the it's on the snow. Here's what like, everything is here. And then I called to the town and I text him, I'm taping my podcast, you know, so just you know, do what you need to do. So I heard him coming a little bit, I heard him eat lunch. Then I see my phone ring because why not? And then he just text me, I locked
my keys in the house. Text me when you're donb taping and leave the door unlocked.
I can't.
I'm like, yo, oh god, wait so if they locked out right now, yes, let that man into the house. It's cold out there.
I am.
But it's just hilarics because like yo, Superman, like any other time, you are a fully functioning human being, except when I take me when we're taping at a different time.
I swear he's doing this some purpose.
So that is my brown break break from man Sinan again. No, I love him, but it was just like really funny because I'm like, wow, really every time you just can't help yourself.
Work from home struggles.
All right, it's been real, Mandra.
Please let him into the house. It's really cold outside.
So I'm gonna go downstairs break now.
Okay, all right, all right, rest here weed.
Thank you guys for listening.