A New Year with More Margin #153

the perfect time to talk about margin. Any percent of folks say that they're living paycheck to paycheck Americans, they are among the most stress and the entire world, and a lot of that has to do with not having enough margin in our lives. We're gonna talk about financial margin as well as some other ways to include margin in our lives. Yeah, man, I feel like margin is

the word for for me. It's like the word when it comes to our fine answ is when it comes to my time, like all those kind of things like I want more margin brought back in to my life. And so we're gonna kind of tackle that. This is something that you and I are personally invested in. It's something that we care about most definitely. Yeah, And so I think it resonates with us on this deep personal level, and and then it has application not just to our time,

but to our money as well. As we're gonna talk about that at the same time, Matt, before we get to that real quick, uh or over the holidays, our girls set up a hot chocolate and cookie stand in our neighborhood, and it was such a fun time getting to see our girls kind of step out there and do their first like entrepreneurial venture. Yeah. It was just like a little business there right on the sidewalk. Man. It's so cute. Yeah, I think. Yeah, they made what

like thirty bucks something like that selling cookies. And how did they We haven't gotten our final cut yet. Oh all right, well we're gonna have to dish that out to you. Then well, well, look, does your oldest daughter to she use the cash app? Or should I just give her a hard cash? Yeah, she's got the Venmo okay,

all right on her smartphone she's hit. Yeah. That was so fun though, man, And it's so fun to set something like that up in your neighborhood and just such a great way to kind of tea those money lessons. And then you know, we're preparing for a little trip to Disney World next month. Oh yeah, I'm not necessarily excited about it, although I've been told I should be. You know, when you first told me, I emailed back and I said, who even are you right? Yeah, No,

it's it's not necessarily our jam. It's not kind of how we roll. But my mother in lawn, father in law, they're super into Disney and they're running a place, and so we're gonna stay with them, and we're gonna go to the park a couple of times. It's my girls

are gonna love it. But that that was one of the things behind starting doing the stand was that I know my oldest daughter is going to want a bunch of things while we're there, and so this was the perfect opportunity to say money, you need to earn some of that spending money that you want to use while we're down there. So so I think she's excited. She's got some cash on hand, and we'll kind of give her an allotment of what she can spend each day.

We'll provide a portion of that, she'll provide a portion of that, and then that will teach her a lesson. I think about the work that she had to do in order to have the money to buy the things that she wants while we're there. Yeah, well, both of our girls they're also in first grade, and so that's it was a perfect way for them to learned some math. And in a real life situation, people are always showing up with fight all our bills and they gotta break

the five. So like, what's five minus one? Because the goods the cookies in the hot chocolate cost one dollar, so they got really good at saying five minus one is four. Well, they also learned about tipping because we have some generous neighbors. Yeah, there were a lot of lessons and a lot of It was a lot of fun at this cookie and hot chocolate stand and just perfect for the weather. It was. Yeah, such a fun time.

I think we've even got a picture from that as well, So maybe we'll toss that up on the Instagram later on, no doubt. All right, man, let's mentioned the beer that we're having on the show today. This one's called Visible World by Modern Times. It's a double I p A and big thanks to my buddy Craig who sent this one our way. He's a brewer out there in California for Modern Times and man, they make some great beers. I'm really excited to have this one on the show

with you today, my friend. Yeah, man, I'm looking forward to this one. I can already tell you that it's a little bit sweet because I took a sip, and that means I'm gonna like it. I like the sweet things in life. Yeah, you do. That's that's why you like our friendship? Is it sweet? I think so sweet and sour? All right, let's get onto the topic at hand. It's it's a new year, and I feel like a new year, of course, presents new possibilities for all of us.

It's just easier for us to believe that a new narrative is possible for our lives as kind of the calendar turns and it is. We have the power to change our previous negative money associations, and we have the ability to start handling our personal finances better this year. In creating a larger gap between incoming money and outgoing expenses allows you to save more and creates more financial

margin in your life. So we're gonna talk about that, but we'll also talk about the other areas of our lives where we should all be shooting for more margin. And we often hear the term margin when business is mentioned their profit margin, right, like when they referred to like what's left over after selling your product and factoring in your expenses, not unlike what the girls did with their cookies. Right, what was the profit margin, Joel? Where details? Well,

you gotta factor in the publicized statement. Well that's why EVY hasn't gotten their cut yet, because we all the supplies and so we gotta figure out all that. But yeah, so the hot chocolate, there's the chocolate chips, there's a flower, there's all that kind of stuff that went into creating the product that was sold. Well, I know, you guys definitely did most of the heavy lifting there, so I'm

not expecting that cuts. What is interesting, though, you know, when it comes to profit margin is we do often think of ourselves individually as businesses sometimes, but you know, specifically with this episode, we're talking about margin a little more broadly. There's this quote by doctor Richard Swinton, and he kind of had a good definition for us where he said that margin is the gap between rest and exhaustion.

It's the space between breathing freely and suffocating. And I think many of us could use more margin in our lives when it comes to our time, and a whole lot of us could also use some more financial margin as well. Yeah, so let's kind of talk about financial margin first, because our shows how the money. It's obviously crucial that we talk about creating that financial breathing room in our lives. And I think that's something to strive

for this year. If you feel like you haven't been able to accomplish any sort of financial margin in your life, well that's what we're here to do this year. That's our goal. Like, we're here to talk about it now, kind of set the table, and then throughout the year, we're gonna be giving examples and we're gonna be giving specific advice in order to help you achieve that goal of creating more financial margin in your life. And who this is getting official? Is this gonna be our official

official theme for the years? Is margin? I don't think no, I don't think it's like a fully themed year or anything, but I think you know, for me, this is a word that I'm using to kind of prioritize, and I think so many of our listeners have expressed that they've had a hard time finding financial margin or they're kind of at the beginning of their journey and they've just

created a certain amount of financial margin. And so, yeah, a lot of the topics that we cover anyway are helping people develop more of that margin in their lives when it comes to their money, right, and hopefully it gets to the point where they're savings rate is astronomical and they've got like an insane amount of margin. Right, that's the ultimate coal. Yeah, next year's word will be excess. Yeah.

But so the first really financial margin that you're able to gain in your life is build thing an emergency fund. And at a very basic level, when it comes to your personal finances, margin is an emergency fund. Some people call it a cash cushion or cash reserves, but an emergency fund is money that's set aside that can be accessed quickly if you're in a pinch. So a lot of folks say that the minimum should be a thousand bucks, or that three to six months of saving should be

your goal. But we recently discussed on the show Matt how there's a specific number that people should be aiming for when they're saving up an emergency fund. It's two thousand, four hundred and sixty seven dollars to four or six seven, And for almost everybody out there, that's like an infomercial,

right right, just for one easy payment of two six seven. Yeah, if you can be a stress free but if you can hit that number, that truly is that baseline amount you need to have that breathing room to have that financial margin that allows you to weather those unexpected storms, the unexpected expenses that do pop into your life, a surprise bill or a surprise expense that you weren't considering, you weren't thinking about, a transmission failure in a car,

or whatever it may be. And that is a great goal to have to hit that amount in your fund in order to have that baseline margin. And you know what, just having that financial margin creates a lot of like margin in your head like brain space. Yeah right, it's huge just for being able to think clearly. But even still, man, I think for a lot of folks, you know, they hear that and they think, man, that's bucks, that's that's

still a lot of money. And so I think even if you don't have a pile of cash sitting around like, there is a chance that you could immediately have some financial margin this month with just a few tweaks, right, Like, the goal is to spend less than you're currently earning, and while by definition you now have financial margin, Like it really doesn't have to be more complicated than that.

You know, like maybe there's not a lot there. You know, you don't have a ton of financial margin, but over time, like you want to work to increase that gap between what you're earning and what you're spending. This might just be acting a few easy line items maybe on your budget, or depending on your situation, it could mean maybe some

more difficult pruning. But essentially, any time you're able to have any sort of gap there in between what you're earning and what you're spending, like, by definition, that as financial margins, So be encouraged if that's you. I think, no matter where you are, aiming for a semblance of financial margin, if you're at zero right now or more margin, if you have gotten the ball rolling and you already have a decent emergency fund, that's your goal. Wherever you are,

you can aim for more. And I think that's definitely a positive message and something that's important for us to realize as we're talking about this. This this message is for everyone. So and why, Matt, is margin so important? I think the reason it is so important, to the reason we really feel compelled to talk about it on the first day of the new year right in, is that we well, we have to fight for margin, whether we're talking about our time or our money. It doesn't

just magically appear. It's It takes a proactive effort on your part, on my part, in order to secure it for ourselves and for our families. So let's talk about time for a second time. Margin helps to keep these important relationships intact, as well as allowing us to time to think in solitude that we need in order to keep our own personal well being in a good place

and to keep those stress levels at bay. If we don't have margin to to think about the people that we love and care about the most, it's going to impact those relationships negatively. We're not going to be putting the thoughtfulness and the effort into those friendships, into those relationships that we have that are the nearest and dearest

to us. Man. I don't know about you, Matt. I felt this at times in my life where I know that I love and care for people, but I feel like all these other things have encroached on me so hard that I feel like my margin, my lack of margin has led to just a decline and satisfaction in some of my relationships, mostly because I was unable at that time to really be there for the people I love the most, because I just wasn't putting enough thought

or care into those relationships. And that can be stressful, right well, like when you know your relationships are suffering because of a lack of time, Like that's that's stressful. You know, when you don't have financial margin as well, though, that can also be crazy stressful, like when you have some financial margin that can help keep those trying times at bay. Most Americans would have no idea what to do if they lost their job today, you know, or

if their employer had a payroll glitch. I think a lot of folks even got a wake up call was a full year ago now where the where the government kind of shut down for a little bit and folks weren't getting their paychecks and and overnight jobs that were maybe once seen as kind of being the most secure jobs. The folks who had those jobs then felt like that they had unsure footing. Yeah, and really, so many of them knew that once the government shutdown was over, that

they were going to get that back pay. Most most of the employees, they knew it was coming, but they couldn't bridge the gap in between, you know, the weeks and what ended up being what three weeks or a month what however long it was. They couldn't bridge that gap. And that's the case for so many of us. Like if there was a glitch like that, if there was something that happened where your your employer forgot to pay you and they're like, you know what, I'll make up

for it two weeks from now and you'll get double pay. Well, could you stomach those two weeks? Do you have the money in savings in order to handle a glitch like that? Or if you work for the government and they are in net at coming to a deal again, like, do you have the money to be able to cover yourself for three weeks or a month during that time or are you going to be stressed out unable to meet

your bill payments. That's a terrible place to be. Yeah, totally, man, I mean financial margin is just so crucial and ensuring that you can navigate those trials, those whatever it happens to be, but without an overwhelming amount of stress, you know, and we're kind of talking about the negative side of it, right,

but let's put a positive spin on it. When you have a financial margin that can afford you the flexibility to maybe not stick exactly to your budget, say maybe your priorities might change, or you want to take advantage of a deal or an opportunity that comes along. That's not just about avoiding stress, but it can be the ability to jump at the opportunity, you know, when something good like that comes along. You know, we're talking about in the in the frame of money, but the same

thing goes with time as well. When you have some time, it gives you more flexibility and more options to say yes to things, if, of course those things line up

with your priorities. Yeah. Man, I feel like the more financial a margin I've been able to gain in my life, the more I see these really kind of odd sometimes ways that I can use some of that money to make more money, or I can pounce on a deal that otherwise I would have had to say no to but it's such an amazing thing for my family, or or something that we've been a purchased that we've maybe been thinking about for a long time, and we've just been waiting and holding out and I would have to

say no if I didn't have the financial margin. And so I think the more financial margin we have, there's this big positive impact that it has on kind of how we're able to take advantage of different opportunities that come our way. It's not about just making life not suck, it's about making it awesome, right right, Yeah, So I think when we're thinking about margin, an interesting kind of way to think about it, that kind of I don't know, mental imagery that helps me is to think about it

as a shoulder on the highway. So if you're driving at night, having a shoulder on the road with those rumble strips on the side, well, it's incredibly helpful. It means that if you steer off course just a bit, you aren't directly getting tangled up with the guard rail, ruining your car running off into a ditch. Right, So that margin is our aim, Like we want if you did doze off just to touch and you hit the rumble strips, it wakes you up, it brings you back.

You're able to veer back into your lane and that's kind of what that margin does for us. At the same time, it means that the slightest deviation doesn't take us off a cliff. It's actually just a reminder to help us get back into the place where we're supposed to be. I like that. Man. We're gonna talk how we can create more margin in our life later on in the show, But next we're gonna talk about some of the different things that keep us from having more margin.

But first a quick break. All right, Matt, we're back. It's our first episode of and we're talking about margin, a word that we hope kind of defines this here for you and I for our families. And let's talk about some of the things that currently keep us from having more margin. And I think there are there are a few specific ways that we approach life that can affect how we view margin. And it's important to note because so much of the way we think about our

lives is tied up in these things. And if we can just kind of change our viewpoint and see where reality lies, then we can then start to attack the problem. So one of the things that keeps us from having more margin is buying into kind of the current status quo in our lives. Basically, we've just gotten used to having so little margin in our lives that it's all

we know. We're all busy and money is tight for lots of us, and it's just easy for us to accept that both of those things are definitive statements about who we are. They're immovable, they're concrete. But that's just not the case. Right. We can take a mental leap to see both of those things as circumstantial situations that we have the ability to put a dent in to create more margin in our own lives and homes. We have the ability ultimately to create a new status quo.

We can change the narrative, right, And I think that is just one of those the biggest hurdles to actually getting a semblance of margin in our lives is overcoming that idea that what the way things currently are has to be the way that things stay. Yeah, that's so good, man, Like, that's a good question that we can ask ourselves, right, Like, do you identify as being a busy person? Because if so, like, then that's probably what you're going to continue to be

if you identify with that, Joel, are you a busy person? Yeah? That's a good question, I think. Man, the narrative I tell myself oftentimes is that I am a busy person, and I think there are so many ways for me to become less quote unquote busy, and ultimately that that business is just kind of the story I've told myself about my life, and there are changes that I can make, concrete changes that I can make to change what's actually true.

It reminds me of our conversation with Laura Vanderkam, who hosts the podcast Before Breakfast, and she had some good insight I think. I think it was like something like episode ninety. She had some really good insight for us, and she talked about kind of this water heater analogy where this this lady she was talking to about her time management had a water heater burst and it just

created this ripple effect of problems in her house. Right, the the the water that needed to be cleaned up, the carpet that needed to be replaced, on and on and on, not to mention just replacing the water heater and getting that done, and all the hours she spent in this quote unquote busy week where she didn't have time to do anything else, but she was forced to make time in order to do this this pressing thing.

And I don't know about you, man, but but that resonated with me deeply, and I feel like that's something that I'm guilty of, is saying that I don't have time for the things that actually should matter more to me. And that's yeah, that's why I think this episode and kind of tackling this topic is so important for us and hopefully for our listeners to write and at this specific moment in time. Yeah, Well, that's the thing about business, right, is that it can be a precursor. It can lead

to a less margin than our lives. Like Seth Godin says that anybody can be busy. All you need to do to feel busy is to try to get two things done at once, or seek to beat a deadline that is stressing you out. And you know, when it comes to our personal finances, being quote unquote busy is just going up out the daily acts of earning and spending our money without giving enough thoughts to the larger

things that might be even more important. Right to me, it's allowing the urgent things in life to overtake the things that are more important. So, yeah, you need to go into work so that you don't get fired, right, And yes, you should probably pay your different bills. But maybe the more important questions we should be asking ourselves are things like, well, maybe this particular job is holding me back and I should be looking for something that I'm better suited for. Or maybe this isn't a bill

I should have in the first place. I shouldn't have a car payment at all. And so when we're busy, we're not stepping back enough to take site of the entire picture. We're not kind of lifting our head up above the smoke and seeing like what is actually going on here. We're just doing it. We're just going about the motions of it. And I think that specifically is

when dizziness can keep us from having more margin. Yeah, it's like walking through a forest and you're just looking at every individual tree as you're going on your hike. But you know what, for the forest and the tree analogy of somebody giving somebody get where. I don't know where I'm gonna attribute it to myself right now, But if you had like this sweet own that could rise above at all and give you this bigger picture. To me,

that's kind of margin. Right, you need that ability to see kind of what's in front of you a little bit further out, so you can make a decision about whether you're gonna go left or right at that trail bend. And that is our problem, right when we're so hyper busy, we're so focused on the day to day, we're so focused on the thing right in front of us, that we have an inability to kind of be a little introspective and to plan a little bit ahead for the future.

So I think business matt ultimately is kind of a terrible but widely accepted excuse. If we don't have time for the people that matter most to us, then something's got to give. If we don't have the money to meet our obligations every month and we decide instead to use credit cards to help us through, well, we're taking away our potential for future margin in our lives. And

this cycle has to stop. I've heard of people say so many times that they just don't have the money for something else, and it must be nice that somebody else has the time or the ability or the money to travel or to prioritize, you know, taking as sabbatical from mo. All these kind of bigger things that seem

impossible for for most of us. But ultimately, what it comes down to is a set of prioritizations, and we can make excuses, and that's easy to do, right, It's easy to say I can't have that, I can't do this, I'm too busy whatever. That's again just another excuse, another reason that blocks us from having margin. When we think that way, we're not giving ourselves credit. We're not giving ourselves the ability to use our own agency that we actually do have in order to make decisions that will

change the narrative in the future. And I'm telling you, man, we we have so many interesting people on our show. Some people have lived these just incredible lives that seem I think at the surface, like, how in the world could I do that? How in the world could I get to the point where I'm like this thirty one year old retiree. And we don't bring those people on the show in order to to shame you, to make it you seem like you've made poor money decisions in

your life. I think ultimately, what we try to do, Matt is we try to dig into the story and we try to say, how did this person who is ordinary who made an ordinary income, who ended up doing something completely extraordinary. How did those lines connect? And that, to me is why the interview shows are so important. Is it's helping us see that somebody was able to do something beyond what it looks like they should have

been able to accomplish. And for all those people that we've brought on who have accomplished something great, it would have been really easy, probably five thousand times throughout the process of getting to where they and ultimately ended up getting to throw an excuse in the bucket and to tap out and to say, you know what, it's too much, I can't do it. And I'm not saying it's always easy. It's it's not always easy. Sometimes these decisions and pushing

through are really difficult. Yeah, I don't know. I feel like I just want on a tangent with that. But I love kind of those stories. I love the interviews for that reason. And when I think about business, I think of it as an excuse that prevents us from being able to achieve what we ultimately do want to achieve. Yeah, man, no, I'm with you. I think the different stories that we hear from oaks who are succeeding in doing great, you know, things with their money and great things with their time.

It should be encouraging for us because they have consistently not used business as an excuse in the first step to them getting to where they are is financial margin. I also think it's important for us to recognize that there might be individual circumstances where somebody might be in more of a crisis situation that would also not allow them to have margin. Right Like, sometimes people have paused long enough to assess what it is that they're spending

their time and their money on. You know, we are being thoughtful, but we have to keep paddling and kicking in order to stay afloat. Sometimes there's just not that luxury of being able to you know, stop and not work for a while, or to you know, to stop and just think. That's a tough spot to be in. But I do want to acknowledge that there are situations like that that do exist. So if you are living paycheck to paycheck after major attempts at creating more margin

in your life, but you need outside help. Listen back to episode seventy three. That's when we talked about you know, escaping living paycheck to paycheck, and even look at your local neighborhood or government and religious organizations for different types of assistance that they might provide your local NFCC chapter. It can also help with you know, budget counseling, helping you to create a debt repayment plan. There are resources that are out there that can kind of help you

along your way. But just know that you are not alone. Yeah. I think that's so important to note, Matt, because there are people who whether it's running away from an unhealthy relationship and maybe you've got multiple kids and it was the right move for you to make, but it puts you in this position where you have to work multiple jobs and you don't have any margin. You don't have the margin you want to be able to spend that time with the kids that you long for. You're in

this just unfortunate position where you're just making ends meet. Yeah, Or I mean even if you're just a single individual, right and maybe like you have what looks to be a solid job and you're, you know, a new graduate, but guess what, You've got tons of debt and you're you know, up to your eyeballs in it, and you just don't know what to do. Yeah, and you're living alone maybe right now, and you ran, you haven't figured out the roommate thing, you haven't met someone that you

feel comfortable living with. They're all sorts of difficult situations that people might be in, and it is important to note that there's help out there for people that are in different situations. And and you know what, there's not a one size fits all go to this website, go turn to this program for help, but for people in all sorts of different scenarios that have different needs. We live in a country where there are a lot of resources and a lot of free resources for people in need.

And so yeah, NFCC in particular NFCC dot org for people who do need that budget counseling or debt repayment help. That's one of our favorite places to help people turn. I truly believe that our country is really a fantastic place to live in large part because of local community and neighborhood organizations that are always reaching out to help a neighbor in need. And man that is truly matt something that that sets our country apart the philanthropic efforts

of just individual everyday Americans. The way that we give and help people around us, it's super impressive. And so yeah, I would just say, if you find yourself butting up against these limits, these upper limits of having zero margin and needing help, just don't be above asking for help, because that's really important thing to do when you're in

that situation. Yeah, and so here's another question I think we can ask ourselves, which is are we afraid, like, are we actually afraid of of margin in our lives? Because it really feels like we are. I think margin feels like waste to lots of different people out there, like either wasted time or wasted money. We live in a hyperactive and over committed culture where every second and every dollar is double booked. We're we're you know, we're

scheduled to the hilt. We do try and multitask ourselves, and you know that often leads to poor results all around. But I think what we've found is that we can't multitask our money. You can't say that this money, you know that this dollar is going to go towards my future, but it's also going to go towards you know, me spending it right now. It's just not possible. Optimization is fine in a lot of aspects of life. I think it's something that we we rightly strive for in a

lot of areas of our life. But we're over optimizers, were too intent on optimization because a lot of our lives are are supposed to be removed from the hustle and bust well spent in ways that are meaningful apart from work. And so I think that optimization mindset can be can get kicked over drive and can be really, really unhealthy for us. I think margin is stillness. It's embracing some quiet in our lives. And when it comes to our personal finances, margin looks like cash that's parked

in a high interest savings account. Don't spend it, don't invest it, just let it be. Let it be there as a buffer for you to provide you with some security and some peace of mind. So on that notemat. We've got some tips, some specific ways for folks to help create more margin in their lives, and we'll get to those right after the break. All right, man, we are back to the break, and we're talking about margin in our lives, and specifically we're gonna talk about how

to create more margins. You know, some people when they hear the word margin, they hear the word margarine and margin kind of like butter. The margin is very different, though, are you saying that? Because when I say margin, it sounds like marginin no, no, no, no, but I swear to create butter. Sometimes I feel like I've I've said the word margin and people are like, you mean like the butter sub institude, And I'm like, no, no, no, no no, it's I can't believe you look like Fabio

when you say that. It's taking me back to the nineties right there. You know, he was on a roller coaster and a bird hit him in the face. Really, yeah, that's like the old Fabio story got to get like, yeah, you had to get surgery for his nose and stuff like that. I don't think I remember that. You feel like I should know that. That's funny, all these nineties thoughts are coming back. But yeah, let's talk about creating margin.

We mentioned this earlier, but we have to be proactive and create the framework to foster the growth of margarine. Just kidding. Margin in our lives, right, If we don't self imposed margin into our routines or into our schedules, other things will seep in and those things will fill any void that we leave exposed. So to get started, one of the first things that we'd recommend is to

think about an ideal budget. When it comes to our money and when it comes to our time, think about in an ideal week and then actually write those things down. We all have money constraints and we have time constraints as well. But the thing is with time is we all have the same amount of time. But I think looking at the ideal that can help us to decide where to put our focus this year, especially if you have no clue as far as you know what step

to take first. Yea, some of us are ideal is going to look, you know, not terribly far off from where we currently are, and others of us, it's gonna look drastically different, and it's gonna look like we're working too much. It's gonna look like our lifestyle is just too unhealthy and so but having that ideal in writing Matt, Yeah, at least gives us kind of this goal that we're aiming for and helps us kind of see exactly where we are. At the same time, another way to create

more margin is to pick your priorities. It's easy for us to say that we don't have time for something. But again Laura Vanderkamp comes up. We love her and what she says about time prioritization, Well, Laura says is that saying that we don't have time for something really just means that we're saying it isn't a priority for us. We have time for the things that we truly value. So now is a great time to start picking your main priorities and giving them plenty of room on your

calendar and in your budget. Everything can't be a priority. Of course, it might be difficult to pick just three to five priorities for your time that day, or only a couple of areas to expand your budget. But if everything is a priority, you'll find that nothing truly is in your life. It's necessary to work down and whittle your priority list and make the hard cuts that are

necessary on both fronts. Matt, A long time ago, we did this episode called the Why behind Money, and I specifically noted three things that my family is really prioritizes are spending just three kind of random areas that we put highly on our list. And you know, two of those are still the same, and one of those is kind of changed. We don't really prioritize international travel like we did. We've got three kids now, it's just not possible. It just doesn't make sense for us and the way

we're currently living life. But it's just kind of interesting how that has really informed the way we spend and it's informed the way we enjoy those things too. So, yeah, if you pick your priorities and kind of stick to those, funnel your time and your budget accordingly, it makes a

big difference. Yeah, being proactive like that can kind of give you some of that direction even when you are what feels like crazy busy and you can't give it the thought in the moment, But when you know you kind of have this overarching mission or these goals that you're trying to achieve, that can totally point you in the right direction. Another thing that we would suggest is to set actual boundaries, right Like, once you've identified your

different priorities, create some boundaries around those things. So maybe you want financial margin, but you have trouble spending too much on Amazon right while you're readombly shopping before you fall asleep in bed, we'll put your phone in another room before going to bed, Or maybe you have trouble sticking to, you know, your grocery budget for that month, or even sticking to a shopping list if you go into the grocery store, Well, in that case, you can

try a grocery pickup service so that you can actually stick to the list. You know, if you can create specific actions that will lead to whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish. I don't think of those things as restricting or you know, maybe as a total kill joy, but realize that these are the different things that you want accomplished. This is you trying to whip yourself in shape.

So if there are different strategies or apps or services that you can utilize to help you achieve those things, well, by all means, use those. Yeah, man. I feel like I mentioned, I don't know, like a few months ago, that that we're doing the Kroger the grocery pickup, and it doesn't cost anymore. The groceries don't cost anymore, and the pickup at least for the most part, is free.

I think I think it used to cost five bucks at least for right now pick up is completely free, so it doesn't add even a dime to our grocery bill. It saves us time, but more than anything, it does save us from buying random things, and so it helps us really stick to that list. So it's been it's been great for us. And I think we heard feedback that Walmart a lot of folks do some something similar to Walmart. So yeah, there are tons of options out

there for you to to set boundaries. Whether it's your grocery bill, whether it's your your shopping habits. There are boundaries that you need to put in place. They can really just help you not go overboard so that you can have more margin in your life. And another way to create more margin in your life is to stop over committing. Filling your day or your budget with too many things means margin is gonna be hard to come by.

By learning how to know more often and Matt, I'll readily admit it, this is one I need to do better at. It will help you fence those areas of your life that are meaningful. It's easy to say yes to people write it. I don't know, at least for me. I'm kind of a people pleaser. When someone asks me for something, I usually I just want to help. I want to oblige but I have to practice saying no because it ultimately that helps me to be able to prioritize my time better and do the things that really

mean the most to me. I would say for folks when it comes to their money, practice saying no to spending more frequently and practicing no to the things that don't align with your time priorities. It becomes empowering and you begin to see the fruit of saying no is that you do have more time and more money than to spend on those things that you did say that you prioritized. You weren't just committing willy nilly to everything

that was put in front of you. You curated those things, and you made time for the things that you said were most important to you. So yeah, I don't know. That's another goal of mine inies to get better at that, you know. On the service, I feel like you and I are real similar in a lot of ways. But what's interesting here is that this is one way that you and I think are total opposites. Personality wise. We're very very different people. I think. I don't know if

like our listeners know that paper were very similar. But when it comes to how you and I operate, and so for me, it's really easy for me to say no to individuals or like events or just different things that might make their way onto my calendar. I'm just like, no, I don't want to go to that, Like I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. Maybe because I'm just selfish, right but but dude, something I've realized, I think maybe more recently, is that it

is harder for me to say no to expenses. It's harder to say no to different things I want to buy or that our family wants to purchase. In the past, I would have said that, like, no, I'm pretty much a savor you know. I don't spend a ton, but there are ways in which we do spend money that I'm not going out and racking up credit card debt. And I don't have a car payment right with with two cars in the driveway that I don't really need.

But I am seeing that in other ways where I can kind of maybe challenge myself to say no to some of the different expenses that come up in my life. When I kind of feel that, I just serve that I convinced myself that I'm not treating myself to it, but then I've earned it because you know, I work hard and therefore I deserve this. And I think that's

the problem. Right, So many people fall into that trap, and it's almost kind of odd for me to admit this, But I think I've sort of realized that about myself maybe over the past six months or so, that you know, this is something I need to maybe have my eyes open to a little bit more. Is that I am more prone to this than I actually realized. Yeah, I

think it's astute to to realize that about yourself. And I think we all have that tendency at least to to reward ourselves based on good behavior or whatever to justify a purchase. And and ultimately what we're doing is we're harming our our ability to actually achieve the goals that we the bigger goals that we have in mind, and we're harming our ability to create that margin in our lives that's so important by saying yes to a purchase, by saying yes and committing time to people or events

that shouldn't be a priority in our lives. And so yeah, I think for me, stop over committing is definitely one of those takeaways that I want to put more in to my life because I think it's gonna help me have a better with my family and with my friends, and then ultimately too with my budget. Yeah, you stop

over committing and I'll stop overspending. All right. Well, it's funny too that you mentioned goals, because I think a lot of times folks might hear what we're talking about and they think it just sounds like simple goal setting, Right. I think goal setting can be good, especially for right now,

because it can be clear and identifiable. Right, Like we talked about the emergency fund two four six seven, Like, that's the amount that you need to to focus on, and by achieving that, there are numerous benefits to having that much set aside in your savings account. But over time, transformational change like that is what we're actually looking for.

Right As you knock out some of these simple and easier goals, right, these different goals that are easy to identify, then you can be more thoughtful and intentional with your time and with your money because you then have the space. It's hard to make intentional decisions with our time and with our money without margin. Without margin, we're not thinking we're only executing or a lot of times we're reacting. It often feel like the state of consumer debt and

over consumption that so many folks find themselves in. But with margin, you know, we do have that agency, and we have that ability to be proactive and to be able to take control of our lives, not just our financial lives, but just how we spend our time as well. Yeah, so we gave that analogy kind of earlier on in the show about the shoulder and how margin is kind of that shoulder on the highway kind of giving you that ability to veer off the road just a little

bit and then you kind of get back on track. Well, let's give another highway analogy here, Matt. Ultimately, it's tough to keep revving your engine at highway speeds every moment of the day and night, but it's necessary for so many of us due to a lack of margin. Like we can't stop pushing the gas because we don't have any alternative, because we don't have any margin built into our lives. I think that's why, you know, we felt

compelled to talk about this. Let's make gaining more financial in life margin an overarching goal for all of us in and we'll do our best here at how the money to give you thoughtful ways to help you achieve

that goal this year. It's something we're shooting for four more for ourselves in our own lives, and it's something that we desire for all of you out there, like we want you to be able to have more financial and time margin so that you can spend your life in a way that resonates more with your actual values and your actual goals that you're that you're hoping to achieve. We're going back to her, now, do you what are you talking about reving your engine? Because you got that

electric car? You mean, like that electric buzz I don't know, how do you describe the yeah, yeah, exactly, it's like the word yeah. I know. Electric vehicle makers are working on fake engine sounds for electric cars, and I can see that being a necessary thing because there's so many terrible stories about folks are getting hit man, yeah, getting hit by electric cars because they don't know what they're

coming because they are so dang silent. By the way, on that note, it always makes me think I've joked with Emily about this. What about these like old schools song lyrics to talk about reving the engine, running out of gas, all that kind of stuff, like, are they going to be completely iniquated in a few years when we're all driving electric vehicles? Maybe you know what song won't be iniquated is Tracy Chapman's I've Got a Fast Car. Yeah, because I don't think they talk about running out of gas.

It's just about having a fast carl. Totally fits a bit on that it doesn't matter if it's electric or gasoline powered. Yeah, yeah, all right, Matt, Let's get back to the beer that we had on the show today. We drank a beer called Visible World by Modern Time Screwing Company. What were your thoughts on this beer? Man? Well, first, man, I wanted to say, what do you think about this can? Because I think so often times the label and I

can can influence how you perceive the beer. And it's totally got this seventies tippy trippy thing kind of going on with the colors, the waves kind of back and forth. It's s hary to describe, but we'll definitely put a picture up on our website. Yeah, No, I mean, I love the Modern Times labels, by the way, and this one is definitely super cool too. They're almost like simple and complex at the same time. I don't know how to describe it. Well there, I mean they're they're simple,

but there it's just well designed. Yeah, well designed, always well designed. And yeah I like the label, but I like the beer so much too. I feel like it it tasted. You know, we talk about sometimes beers tasting like orange juice in that vein, but this one, to me was like almost straight up orange juice. Like it really more than any other beer we've ever had. It's this double I p a that had the sweetness of oranges but also just kind of that whatever hopster they

used to make this beer. I'm not sure which ones they were, but they had their straight up orange vibe going on throughout it. I thought it was a really good beer. Yeah, orange juice, but kind of with that hoppy zip to it, which specifically actually made me think of Sunny D. Did you ever drink sunny D growing up? Yeah, sort of orange juice but also sort of soft drink. Would I be a red blooded American human if I

hadn't drunk sunny D when I was a kid? Did sunny do you have like a little bit of carbonation in it? I don't think so like it had something in it that made it seem kind of like tingly maybe you think, I think, which no, not also a fantastic beverage. You've had that before. I'm talking specifically about Sunny D. I don't think it had any carbonation. Maybe there's just so much sugar n that it kind of

like crystallized on your tongue a little bit. Probably that coupled with the sweetness you know that you get from that orange double I p a flavor. It was very, very delicious, but to me totally kind of had that just orange shoese vibe going on. But specifically Sunny D. Sunny D maybe felt like that kid in the commercial coming in on the skateboard being like, Mom, sunny D, where's my sunny d? App Mom? That's awesome, But I

feel like that was the commercial. Yeah, it was something like I can pick in the back of the fridge. And now now you're reminding me of the Dave Chappelle's Get the Purple Drink. I feel like, yeah, they're Chappelle is so good. Maybe that's the next one we'll get from Modern Times, is their take on purple drink. That'd be awesome, all right, that's gonna do it for this episode, Matt Um And you know what. For Shure notes for this episode, you can go to our website how to

money dot com and Joe, you know what. It's the year and there are a lot of podcasts out there, but not all of them are helpful. And so hopefully you have found this podcast helpful, and if you have, we would love for you to leave a review over at Apple Podcasts. If you aren't already subscribed, if you could subscribe wherever it is that you listen to your podcast, just that simple stuff of mashing that subscribe button that helps you to not miss any future episodes, you'll continue

to get the dopest financial advice on the planet. So true, Alright, Matt, that's gonna be it for this episode. For folks that are new to the podcast, we always close it out by saying this best friends out, best Friends Out.