A Practical Guide to Surviving Black Friday #278

I'm excited to cover this topic today. Yeah, I feel like Black Friday it's almost like a battlefield with a bunch of land mines that you can barely see, or maybe you can't see at all, and so you gotta you gotta be prepared in order to survive Black Friday. So that's kind of why we tiled it that, right, because there's like a lot of things that can trip

you up. And so yeah, we've got a lot of helpful advice to help you get through these next few weeks, especially of crazy Christmas shopping, and hopefully it just trips you up, it doesn't completely destroy you. Angel Finances that would be bad. That's not the kind of situation you want to find yourself in. But first, man, I recently came across this Instagram account called Cheap Nordic Houses. It's

exactly like it sounds. So I'm not gonna explain it, but that leads me to ask you the question, if you were to uproot your family and purchase a cheap Nordic house and move there, would that be considered frugal or cheap? Well, I will say this, that sounds like

an Instagram that was perfectly crafted for my taste. H cheap things in cheap houses that are kind of cool and old in Nordic countries, they just have like this beauty that's um just unmatched, right, and your part Norwegian And so it's like if I came across the account an account that said like cheap Korean houses, right, So yeah, I like and some time looking through there after you mentioned it to me, and I it's I might have

lusted after some Norwegian and Swedish properties. There really are some cool houses in just some beautiful settings, like on fiords in the Norwegian or Swedish countryside. But yeah, I don't know if it's frugal or chief to uproot my family from where we live and currently love. But some

of those houses, like thirty grand it's insane. I'm sure the thirty grand ones need a little bit of work, but but that's the kind of house you know, in certain markets might go for three hundred thousand dollars literally ten times as much. Yeah. Yeah, And I'm sure the travel expenses right to get back and forth to go

to your Norwegian summer house would be uh prohibitive. But I do love the idea, like I get through there, and I like to at least think about what my life could look like if I were to own one of those homes and and go there for you know, every summer for a couple of months. We'll forget every summer. I'm talking about like permanently, permanently. Ok. Yeah, I don't know.

I do think sometimes about moving somewhere more rural and what that would look like, and I just don't think my personality I could stomach it, like it sounds idyllic and sounds wonderful, but I like people too much. I like walking through o neighborhood and run into neighbors all that kind of stuff. Yeah. Well, First of all, I love that you said rural, because that's like one of

my favorite words. Makes me think of the rule juror, which is that you know that thirty Rock episode maybe vaguely, like, could you have named it anything more difficult to pronounce? Um? But I'm with you right, Like, we have lived in our neighborhood, in our part of town for over ten years now. We've put down roots, we've created community, our kids, you know, they're in school. I would say that I would fall on the side of defense and label it cheap.

If you if you were to actually uproot your family moved to a far off country like that just to save the money, just because it's cheaper, obviously, that's that would be difficult to do. I mean. And plus two, you know your family, your extended family is still here, and so it'd be difficult to see them, you know, it'd be difficult to set up a little visits when you are an ocean away. But um, and so I think for us, at least, that's a that would be

a huge barrier obviously. But dude, if like Kate and I had just gotten married, uh, and you know, if we had work that allowed us to be able to

work remotely anywhere in the world. We would one d cent be considering doing something like that, at least trying it out, man, because gosh, like you said, you know, on a lot of these properties on that Instagram account, they show like these exter year shots of the house and like the setting and yeah, you see what random fjord it happens to be on, or you see the mountain that it's kind of perched up against that you

could go hiking on every single morning. And so man, when you have that kind of natural beauty, it's hard for me to to see that and think, yeah, I live on a normal street in Atlanta, you know, and pay way more than a house that's thirty dollars that needs some work, or even one that's you know, eighty thousand. Well, maybe if we go from podcasting three times a week to seventeen times a week, we can afford a Norwegian

house that's only for the summer, a summer house. Yeah, and and I don't know if our listeners would dig that many episodes, but we can consider it. Yeah, that

would be one way maybe to accomplish that. But yeah, if if listeners out there, I've never heard of this account, I would recommend for you to check it out and maybe if you aren't a position where you have fewer ties to wherever it is that you live now, who knows, like that might be something you would even consider doing so, But if you do, please let us know, because I

want to live vicariously through you. Well, I feel like, even just honestly looking at through the Instagram feed, I was able to get a little bit of that wanderlust satisfaction right now. You know, traveling it's almost non existent for or it has been non existent for us recently, at least on an airplane to somewhere in Europe or anything like that, and you just kind of scratch that itch, at least for a second. So I got you a little fix and you move on with life exactly exactly.

Speaking of fix, Matt, we have beer fix that we have to get in every week. Right, we're today on the show. We're splitting a beer called Caliente, a key by Tripping Animals Brewing, and man, they make some really good beers. This in particular is an I p A. It's brewed with a gave. So I'm looking forward to having this one on the show with you today my friend. Yeah, this is a brewery that we only recently started getting here in Atlanta. So this is my first tripping Animals

beer and hyeah. Looking forward to sharing this one with you and talking about it later in the episodes. Sounds good. Let's get onto the subject at hand. Today's episode is a practical guide to surviving Black Friday. And Black Friday is still like this important time for deals. It's a time where retailers end up making a good bit of their money for the year. Right, And at this point it's almost become an American tradition for better, for worse, right,

for worse, mostly for worse. Uh And and even though the time frame has expanded beyond just a day, Right, it's traditionally Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, that Friday. But Black Friday now has become more of a season, and and Matt and I are going to kind of refer to it as this time period. It is not necessarily just that one specific day. Yeah, We're not talking about Friday only. We're talking about the entire season surrounding

Black Friday. Yeah, and encompasses small business Saturday and Cyber Monday, all that kind of stuff too. Right, um, and it can be a good time for scoring low prices and getting some good deals, and that can make it a good time to buy things like toys for the kiddos or holiday presents for your partner or your friends, for less things you'd normally have to spend on those things sixty days out of the year, right, those five days or those couple of weeks typically are going to offer

some of the best prices. And we've already seen some legit sales, some really good sales starting with Prime Day in mid October, and retailers have already had some impressive sales starting in early November. But over the next three weeks or so, you'll see ads trying to sell you on countless numbers of things. And Matt and I, we think it's important for all of us to get through this time period with our budgets and our sanity intact to avoid those landmines. They're gonna completely mess us up

this time of year. Yeah, you know, even though you can find some really great deals, uh, for a lot of folks, this time of year is difficult on our bank accounts. There's the temptation to overspend and consume more than we need to UH, and we end up buying way too much stuff. And because of this, a ton of Americans end up with a boatload of debt. Come January, you know, getting that first credit card statement of the new year, and your inbox really sucks. And for many

more it more than sucks. You know, they can't pay the bill in full, and it leads to even more financial difficulty. And so there are a number of different problems that arise during this consumption driven time of year. We're gonna highlight the primary issues we think people face, as well as you know, why we think that they're a big deal, and then we're gonna discuss what to actually do about those issues. And Matt, you know us. You know, we could simply call these things issues you're

going to experience during Black Friday shopping problems. We could be super boring about it. But we decided that we're going to call these issues to pop up Black Friday foibles and uh, because then we can abbreviate them to BFFs. The student listener will have immediately picked up on that. They're like, alright, BFFs, because you and I we don't

really call ourselves BFFs, but we kind of are right. Well, I mean we could, but I think that would be might be a little juvenile's referred to each other as BFFs. We're not seven years old, man, but we are best MUDs. That's true. That's true. So we're gonna go through a bunch of Black Friday foibles and how to avoid them, and we'll get to those in just a minute. But Matt, I wanted to first mention that another day that's typically

included in Black Friday right now is Thanksgiving. But a lot of retailers this year in particular, have announced that they're not opening for Thanksgiving. I think in large part that's due to the pandemic. But what are your thoughts on Thanksgiving being one less day in the Christmas shopping season? Essentially?

Isn't that a novel concept that on Thanksgiving Day, like a day that we're supposed to spend with our family or with friends, that maybe we shouldn't be in stores, you know, with our credit cards, spending money in the pursuit of more. Oh my gosh, dude, it is ridiculous that it took like a worldwide pandemic to get us to this point. I don't know if this is gonna be something that sticks around. I would hope that it would,

right like, but here's the thing. Next year, it's only gonna take a single retailer to say, all right, it's twenty ONNY one. You know, the coronavirus is behind us. We're gonna you know, we're gonna start our sales on Thanksgiving Day. We'll see you at seven pm, that kind of thing, two pm or whenever they open their doors. And then all the other retailers are gonna follow suit.

And So while I love this idea that instead of focusing on consumption, that that we're being encouraged to spend time with our family instead, but I don't necessarily think it's gonna stick around. I was digging around a little bit and I didn't realize. I've heard about Patagonia how they dedicate all of their Black Friday sales. They donate the profits to different organizations that are basically keeping the earth.

Pretty wow, that's awesome, But I didn't know that, Ari I they actually close on Thanksgiving Day and on Black Friday, which is super cool. Basically that they they've done a six years in a row now, uh, And they do this thing where they they call it like hashtag opt outside, but instead of you know, spending our time indoors, whether it be shopping or indoors sitting at our computers shopping online,

they're encouraging folks to get outside. And I love how they're taking a stand, uh to not necessarily encourage consumption. We love both of those companies, and I think that's something that's that's super cool. Oh and ari I, they pay their employees for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday even though their employees don't work. It's a classy move man. How good is that? I love the classy company? Yeah, ari I rocks, But I agree with you, and I love the trend, and I hope the trend sticks around

even after the coronavirus is over. Agreed that the stores are closed on Thanksgiving? Um, Because yeah, I do think gratitude is one of those things, is one of those antidotes to needing and pursuing more. Um. But let's get to those Black Friday foibles, the bfs and how we can all survive this Black Friday in We'll get to our thoughts on that right after this break. All Right, we are back, and it's ton of for us to talk about our first BFF, our first Black Friday foible.

Uh you're to tell me about your kindergarten best rand. Let's let's start super broadly. Man. You know, we just mentioned this, but we're tempted to to overspend and rack up credit card debt around the holidays, and Black Friday is a major culprit. Man. Companies and retailers have created essentially a culture right in an environment that encourages spending and consumption. Uh. And it comes at a big cost

to us. And it's not just you know, individual companies as well, but it's it's even our whole country, you know, Like we have an economy that is consumer driven. Consumer spending accounted for roughly seventy percent of our GDP last year. Uh So it's just kind of important to point out that the world that we live in is drenched through and through with spending at its core. It's it's a part of our our current reality. Yeah, I feel like

we're trying to go against the grain. We're being incredibly countercultural because the norm is to float the mainstream, go to Black Friday route and and rack up debt that you're going to experience in January, right, and and we

want to avoid that. So, yeah, this is a big deal because it's an obvious problem because though some folks might have a plan when it comes to holiday shopping, a lot of individuals are spending money that they don't have, and they aren't keeping their larger goals in mind while they're doing their holiday shopping. So when you spend money that isn't yours, that means that you're paying interest to credit card companies. You have the magic of interest working

against you, not for you. And of course, if you're not working towards your larger goals in life, like saving up for your first house or eliminating debts, your partner can stay at home with the kids if they want, well, then all this spending is going to lead to a lot of disappointment. Holiday gift giving can be a whole lot of fun, but if we get swept up in consumerism, I feel like it can have the opposite effect. Yeah, that's certainly an instance where the joy would be sucked

out of the holidays. And then we asked the question how do you remedy this BFF which every time I say it, man, I love it because it makes me smile. And what we would recommend is to create a Black Friday budget. Right, It's as simple as that, before even more of these sales hit, proactively sit down and decide

how much money you're going to spend. I know this sounds simple, but but think about all the members of your family and you know the friends who you want to include, and decide on a dollar amount that you're willing to spend on each one of them over the holidays. But then, you know, don't stop there. Actually do the legwork and keep a running total. You can easily create a simple spreadsheet and excel numbers um Google sheets even uh will actually link to some templates in the show notes.

But you can't stay on budget if you don't know how much money you have actually spent. Yeah, and the cool thing about Black Friday is that in so many ways your dollar can actually go further. Prices are lower um in this time period than they are, let's say, as we get closer to Christmas. But the biggest issue is that we spend too much. We don't have a

list that we can stick to. And we can combat that BFF, that first Black Friday foible by having that list and sticking to it, and and maybe our dollar can go even further during this time because of the sales. Yeah, and so that's all about creating a plan for your money, specifically the money that you're going to spend around the holidays. Another tip I saw that somebody had written about was essentially they're talking about how, you know, the later it

gets at night, how our willpower decreases. You know, like traditionally people make poor decisions the later it gets and the more tired we get. That's when I find myself eating my kids Halloween candy. I'm finding all the snicker bars and butter fingers as well, those are the best. But no, the same thing is true in regards to

spending as well. I think a lot of people might find themselves in situations later at night where they're just like kind of sitting there clicking on their phone or you know, swiping, and and they're like, I think I'm gonna get this, and then they realized they spent maybe an hour like looking at different products, and they feel

like that they've wasted time. And so a way to sort of prove to themselves that they, you know, have spent that time wisely is by actually purchasing something, you know, like it's like, well, I don't want I want to make sure that I didn't just waste that full hour looking at sweatpants, So now I'm gonna buy a couple

of pair. And so to that, I think a good tip might be to limit your ability to shop from bed, you know, or on your phone later at night, when you know we're less likely to stick to the budget that we have already created. It's a great point, Matt.

And that's just a behavioral thing. Whether it's keeping your phone out of the bedroom, which a lot of experts already tell us that that's the best thing to do um or good for your sleep, right, or whether we're taking some of those social media apps that are that create a temptation in our lives off of our phone. Either those options are good options. Right, Let's get to

beff number two, Black Friday Foible number two. Because of the fact that there are so many deals out there, well, we as humans can fall prey to the best marketing and we end up not getting the best deal, right. So sometimes it's just the marketing that overcomes us into buying things, and we're not necessarily buying something because we've

been thoughtful or because we've been a good shopper. The advertising and marketing budgets of companies can be ridiculous, right Coca Cola, they averaged about four billion dollars will be

each year on advertising. Right between we might think that we're a little too savvy or sophisticated of a consumer to be swayed by brand messaging, but it has an impact on us and we may not make that purchase right away, but it affects the way we view that product or that company, and before you know what, you're clicking the purchase button. Marketing just has a massive impact on the way that we view consumption. YEA. So a specific example I can think of here, Joel, are All

Birds the shoes? That's true. The first time I heard or saw, you know, anything about All Birds, I was like, Man, this is a dumb shoe company, you know, like I don't know what they're trying to do, but they're just like a new, like this new startup company and they're making cool shoes. And I was like, there's no way I'm never going to get a pair of those. But then I heard a podcast where it talked about like their story how they kind of got got started and

I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. Then one of my neighbors down the street he got a pair and I was like, oh, those are pretty cool and he's like, yeah, they're really comfortable. And then they showed up in your Instagram feed. Seriously they should and like you see as from all over the place. And then I started thinking, I wonder, maybe I should look into all birds, you know, and so each maybe i'd look good, and like, I'm just thinking about how comfortable that they would be on

my feet. So I feel like that's an example of how each one of these little inputs like on their own, Yeah, it doesn't do much, but as they kind of build up over time, it changes the way you view something. And now I'm like, oh, maybe I should get those, Like I think that those would be perfect shooes to wear around the house and coming down here to the basement for us to to work. But yeah, like you said,

don't underestimate the power of marketing. And you know, the sort of solution the antidote to marketing is making sure that you are doing a good amount of research ahead of time. Right, you want to ensure that you're making an informed purchase, not only on the quality right, or or the type of product that you're considering, but that you're also getting the best deal on the product you've

chosen to go with. When you're looking at quality, there's no shortage of review websites out there or unboxing videos where somebody is talking about a product and their thoughts on it after having used it for a while. But then when it comes to getting a good deal, look at the different Black Friday ads that are out there on sites like black friday dot com and even deal News they have a dedicated Black Friday page as well.

I just want to know what Black Friday dot Com does the other eleven months out of the US they did. They do the same thing that the Spirit Halloween stores do and just kind of like disappear um. But by keeping up with, you know, some resources like that, you'll know what is and what isn't a deal when you

see it. It also allows you to come up with a reasonable list of the things that you actually want to purchase, and you'll be less prone, I think, to buying things that you don't actually want or need uh in the heat of the moment, just because something kind of splashed across your screen, something just because an ad showed up in your Instagram feed and you think, oh, those those shoes look comfortable, all right? So I was wondering if I should confess this, but I did. I

bought a pair of All Birds. It happened. What I'm wearing them right now? You don't even notice? Are you serious? Yeah? I'll put them up here on the How did I not realize that? I don't know. I noticed that you had a new new pair of kicks on, but I didn't know that they're All Birds because they don't look like all that. So they have like a newer version. Here's what those are, like, desert boot All Birds. I felt like similarly, the world world was conspiring to get

me to buy All Birds. So funny, Well we we talked about this a few weeks ago, we did, and so so funny. I found some on eBay for that were way less than half price, even like it was like this store that was clearancing. Uh, like the display models of their All Birds believe you actually have a pair on And I didn't realize that, and that was something I was thinking of. I had to say it. But it's kind of scary. Actually, I feel like our minds, like my mind is fused with your actions on a

level that we don't even understand. I will say they are ridiculously calm, are they really? They're They're great. Now I'm gonna have to resist all right, but all Birds aside, Matt, that's what these companies want to do to us, right there, was to buy things without really thinking about You thought about it though, that's the thing you thought about it, and not only that, like, I guess you researched it

and you're like, oh, yeah, these are good shoes. But then you went and found an amazing place to buy them eBay where yeah you got them. What what do you say? I think they were fifty bucks and that's the price on all birds dot com is like a D fifteen. Um, And I put them on my watch list, um, And I, you know, didn't buy them right away, and I thought about it a little more and I was like, yeah, I think I'd like some nice, comfy, wool false shoes.

But yeah, I feel like that totally points to the power of marketing that it can have on our lives. At the same time, right I was marketed to and I realized that that's a product I'd actually like to bring in my life, and I took some time to think about it. And oftentimes advertisements can make us aware of new things that we didn't even know existed, or products that we do want to have in our lives.

But at the same time, it can lead to over consumption and then regret because you bought something that you didn't actually decide and choose that you wanted. And all these marketing efforts man like they are hoping to get us to purchase things without any consideration at all for the cost. You know, it's just so easy to to get caught up in the shopping blitz surrounding things giving.

You know, like we we see a ticking clock on an item that we're interested in, and it creates this false sense of urgency because you know, like we we have fomo, but we feel like we're going to miss out. Uh. Amazon Lightning deals. I feel like they are a good example. You've only got like two more hours before this deal is gone on forever. We'll never see it again at

this price. Yeah, or or your target app pings you with notifications that Halloween costumes are buy one, get one, like Kate literally got that message a couple of weeks ago. The week of Halloween. And then in addition to that, we now have to contend with live shopping, and this is where influencers are on a live video and you know, they're essentially talking about some of the different products that they like. Basically, it's like QVC for our generation and Amazon, Facebook, Google,

they have all jumped on board. There's no shortage of ways that companies are trying to get their wares in front of us to consider purchasing them. Yeah, and I feel like the whole atmosphere, the whole way things go down, can feel overwhelming, and if we don't keep ourselves in check, it's easy to have our frugal habits eroded away with every advertisement or promotion that we're exposed to. Yeah, you know, with with each onslaught, with each campaign, with each wave.

It makes me think of like like if you build a sand castle, like at the beach, and then the tide slowly comes in and the waves just kind of like it lapse up onto the same castle and and it goes away, and you see the saying just kind of like go with it. The foundation gets eaten out from underneath of it. I think that's what happens to get I like it, you like it, you can't picture it. And similarly, it makes me think of that scene from

Inception where they're you know, they're in like that limbo world. Yeah, I mean literally it's supposed to be like a sandcastle thing, but the you know, like the the city's falling into the ocean. But that's what it makes me think of, that city that's falling into the ocean. Those are our

frugal ways. And when these banners pop up on our phone, when we see these lightning deals, when we see the percentage off that we're missing out on, if we we don't take advantage of it, it can eat away at our tendencies to you know, to not spend our money. And that's what we need to be careful of. Yes, So the way that we fight back is we have to work hard to limit the inputs and the exposure

that we have to consumption and to these advertisements. Right, the more social media and television that we have in our lives, to more will be tempted to spend. We're not saying that we should all be ludite and avoid technology altogether and avoid any sort of marketing at all. Right, that'd be virtually impossible to do anyway, especially considering billboards when you're driving right, it's just impossible to keep them

out of your life altogether. But just make sure that you're thinking about the effect that marketing can have on you and your money and make a concerted effort, especially in this time period when marketing goes Rambo style, um and just to just tries to obliterate your mind with all these advertisements and deals. So even now is more important than than even it is throughout the rest of the year to protect your mind and to limit those inputs.

I feel like Rambo style should be a type of burger that you can get at in and out, like a burger Rambo style. The fries animal style, but the burger Rambo style, please just go crazy on it. Just ruin my stomach. By the way, I feel like Rainbow is due for like a reboot. Uh you know they're one. I don't know, do they I think they might have. I thought it was like a comedy though, like, what was it really Rambo the comedy? I don't know, man, I feel like they've done everything at this point. I

will say, Sylvester Stallone underrated. Do you think so? Yes? All right, come on, Rocky four, that's still a class. He wasn't a Cliffinger. I remember when that movie came out and being a big, big fan of it. And actually the mountains where he climbed, the Dolomites, I've been there and college, uh, me and some friends. We we actually took one well like ten days and we backpacked and we specifically went up to the Dolomites and did

some backpacking, some sleeping in the mountains. It was beautiful, very kind of takes me back to the noorder houses thing, like literally that's what it looked like, except for like Rocky er essentially, But could I live here in the Dolomite? Yeah, exactly. All right, we're getting off track. Let's get to a couple more bff's, uh and we'll get to those right after this break alart. We're back from break We're discussing

Black Friday foibles. We're talking about these bfs that essentially can mess you up financially, especially during rainbow style rambow style over the next few weeks, right, and and so one of the things that can happen BFF number three is you can get stuck with an item that you are unable to return, and Matt, this is the worst right. You bought the item, maybe hoping that it would fit you or that your kid would like it, but sadly

not so much. Each company has its own policy surrounding returns and exchanges, and some even have special restrictions when you're buying stuff during the Black Friday time period. Maybe that Doorbuster TV that you bought on a whim but you realized you couldn't actually afford well, you might not even be able to return it, and that's a foible that can cost you money because you still spent the money, but now it's an item that's sitting in the back

of your closet that's going unused. Yeah, and I feel like this is I mean, it sounds almost ridiculous to say, but we've all been in a situation where we have something and even you know, if we can't return it. Sometimes just the process of having purchased it and it's sitting inside of our our houses, we think, uh, do I really want to go through with like making the return and sending that back, even though I can. Unfortunately, I think sometimes we fall prey to that right, like

just because it's it's we already have it. Like there's almost like the sunk cost fallacy. It's like I've already gone through all the trouble of you know, perch seeing it and unboxing it, and it's sitting here. And I think sometimes people end up keeping stuff that's not only is it not for somebody else for a gift, but it's something for them and even then they don't really

want it, but they're still hanging onto it. And unfortunately that can almost be like another layer to you know, not being able to return something is being able to return something, but we get so lazy that we actually don't do that. Yeah, it's like can you return it? Yes? Are you going to return it? Man? I don't know if I feel like it, please do right. You know, this is a big deal because that impulse purchase like

that can completely wreck your budget. Uh. And and the trend towards online shopping, you know, man, it was already happening, but in more folks than ever are shopping online. So many of us, you know, now buy stuff just to to try it on. Sometimes, like I know, like we'll do this, but we'll buy like five different pairs of shoes, you know, with a plan to to send for them back.

But without an understanding of the return process, restocking fees, and shipping costs, you can find yourself with unwanted merchandise that you are now stuck with. That's why it's important to stay or organized. A great return policy is under rated because I'm willing to pay a little bit more to have that greater flexibility for being able to take

it back. Um if that item doesn't work out. Also make sure to check and see if there are any stipulations for returns in the Black Friday time period right, and create a calendar reminder at the time you purchase an item that you're unsure about so you remember to return it if it isn't working out. I love that, right. And then also consider using a credit card to make

your purchases. Some come with added perks like extending the manufacturer's warranty and price protection, but it's important to only use a credit card if you're gonna be able to pay the balance in full and if it won't lead you to spending more than you otherwise would. If that's not gonna be the case, then we would suggest sticking to cash. Yeah, whether you are able to return an item or not, you still want to make sure that you know you can purchase that with a card where

you can maximize some of those benefits. And then BFF number four are Black Friday foible. The final one that we're gonna get you today is that it's it's not all about getting the lowest price, right, It's also about things like you know, the store return policy, but it's also about supporting local stores and small businesses as well. Small Business Saturday is smack dab in the middle of this Black Friday time period. Uh So don't skip out

supporting small companies that rock. Small businesses really need your help, especially now, especially given the current environment that we find ourselves in. It can be you know, a local small business where you can safely go into that store in person, or even one of your favorite small businesses that mostly operates online. Either way, you'll be able to score some some pretty solid deals on many different items that that also aren't mass produced. You can find something hopefully that's

a little more unique to that specific store. But even then, like, I'm not even necessarily looking for the best deal or or even a good deal because I think, you know, supporting a local business that in and of itself, Like I'm doing that for that purpose in addition to getting the good, right, Like I am okay paying a little bit more for something maybe locally if I know that I'm supporting that store which adds character and flavor to my neighborhood, or if it's a store that's owned by

a neighbor, you know, Like, these are all things that I think we should all take into account and things that we should remind ourselves of when we're on the hunt for the lowest possible price. It's not always about that, Yeah, I think, especially given the circumstances of it's really important for us all to allocate some of our holiday budget to the businesses that do add a bunch of creativity to where we live. Those are the ones that aren't just selling the same stuff trying to push for the

lowest possible price. Right and specifically, on the Saturday after Black Friday, it's it's actually gonna be the tenth annual Small Business Saturday this year. A X started this um a decade ago and it's been embraced by small businesses everywhere. Now, lots will be offering special incentives to come shop with them. So, yeah, keep your eyes open, and some of them are going to be offering deals, whether they are local small shops

or whether they're online. Uh, Matt, and I do think it's not just about paying the least amount of money and then being able to tell your friends that you

got the littlest possible price on a TV. Um. That can be cool if you're in the market for TV, I guess, but but for a lot of us, that's not necessarily what we're into, or we already have way too many TVs already, and so thinking about how we can use our dollars put our dollars at work in our community is is another good way to think about it, Matt. The stats show that more of our dollars stay local when we spend locally as opposed to using our dollars

at like a big box store. Nice. I feel like the way to approach this, too is just one with balance in mind. You know. It makes me think of food because we talked about on the show, and we've had guests on before where we are trying to save

money by cooking for ourselves at home. Right it is a huge boost to our budget when we're able to do that, But at the same time, we are also keeping in mind that we need to support our local businesses, specifically our restaurants, you know, in order for those guys to stick around. Uh, it takes going out to eat and not only looking at you know, our own personal

bottom line. And so just like we were holding this intention, you know, like at the same time where it's like, Okay, I want to make sure that we're being smart with our money, but at the same time, we are willing to go out and support these businesses and in these restaurants. Uh, and you know, spend a little bit more than we

would how do we purchase those ingredients ourselves? And so you know, we've discussed four BFFs here Black Friday foibles and uh, hopefully this helps you to approach this coming Black Friday shopping season well so you can survive the onslaught of companies that are you know, trying to part you with your money. It's okay to spend money this time a year, but we want to do it in a way that fits into our budget and allows us

to breathe easily come January. We don't want to get sucked into this Black Friday vortex and we don't want That's what happened to you either. Yeah, we all want to survive Black Friday. We want our budgets to survive Black Friday. Come January, we're able to continue to breathe easily. UM. I just hate hearing the many stories of people to

get to January. They get the credit card bill, they're freaked out because they didn't realize that they've overdone it to that extent, and they are just ways to avoid it. So yeah, hopefully some of these antidotes to the foibles were able to help you plan accordingly, um, so that your personal finances will be in a good position. Come one. All right, Matt, let's get back to the beer that we had on the show today. This one's called Kali and Aki. It's by Tripping Animals Brewing Company there on

a Florida. What was your take on this? I p A with A Gave. Yeah, well, I'll say too as well. This is a collaboration with a brewery called Narrow Gauge and I've never actually heard of them before. Might have to to check them out, but yeah, this was a double I PA with Mosaic Galaxy, Mrillo and A Gave. I'll be honest, I didn't really taste any agave. I just tasted a really good hazy double I p A. Man, this is one that listeners have heard us enjoy on

the show before many times. But I mean the reason for this is, and if you haven't had one of these types of beers before, I feel that it's an easier introduction to I p a s than the old school kind of West Coast i p a s. You know, there's just more balance that there's not as much bitterness. There's like the right amount of sweetness going on. It's got like a little little citrusy you fruit action going

on that you get from the hops. Has all the flavors that I once uh in an I p A these days, And so maybe you're listening and you're like, I've tried an I PA before it was maybe it was a West Coast I p A. Well, I would recommend that you check out, you know, one of these hazy I p a s or these New England style I p a is. They're a bit more balanced and they might cause you to change your mind. But yeah, Joe, what were your thoughts on this one? Man? I thought

this one was so good. I'm a big fan of the artwork, in particular by the way the Tripping Animals does on on like all of their beer cans, just really really cool artwork. And yeah, but this beer was so good. It was an excellent I p A. I'm not sure if I was getting the agave either. I think if I did it, it felt like it just had a little bit more of an earthiness to it, and so I feel like that's why I'm getting from it. Um. But yeah, I really really enjoyed this one and looking

forward to having more beers from them in the future. Yeah, man, I totally agree. I'm with you with Tripping Animals. Great brewery, looking forward to enjoying more of these, and that's gonna be it for this episode. Listeners can find our show notes up on our website at how to mine dot com. And if you're new to the show, if you haven't been listening for very long, well, we would suggest checking

out our website how to money dot com. There are helpful articles there to help you in your personal finance journey, as well as a slew of older episodes that can really help you figure out some of the personal finance basics. So that's gonna do it for today's episode, Matt until next time. Best friends out, best friends out,