1 00:00:00,321 --> 00:00:03,487 Speaker 1: Hi, stacey Hyde and I'm back with another episode of 2 00:00:03,487 --> 00:00:05,892 Better Financial Health in 15 minutes or less. 3 00:00:05,892 --> 00:00:10,147 And what I'd like to talk about today is the great summer 4 00:00:10,507 --> 00:00:13,413 budget busters and how you can beat them. 5 00:00:13,413 --> 00:00:17,948 Because did you know that the average American spends over 6 00:00:18,088 --> 00:00:20,211 $2,000 every summer? 7 00:00:20,211 --> 00:00:23,464 That's not like a big trip, that's just like extra stuff, 8 00:00:24,045 --> 00:00:24,948 summer activities. 9 00:00:24,948 --> 00:00:29,797 So what I want to talk about today is how you can enjoy your 10 00:00:29,856 --> 00:00:34,966 summer and maybe steer clear of some of these budget busters or, 11 00:00:34,966 --> 00:00:37,231 even better, plan for them. 12 00:00:38,259 --> 00:00:40,162 So common culprits travel. 13 00:00:40,162 --> 00:00:44,290 Of course we know that airfare, hotels, eating out that sort of 14 00:00:44,290 --> 00:00:48,402 thing, kids are out of school, you've got camps, maybe 15 00:00:48,523 --> 00:00:53,993 babysitters going to the ice cream store all those types of 16 00:00:54,033 --> 00:00:58,484 things can go up also your utility bill, because you know 17 00:00:58,524 --> 00:01:03,249 where I live in Memphis it gets hot, so you know we run our AC 18 00:01:03,710 --> 00:01:09,456 all the time Social events, barbecues, weddings, general get 19 00:01:09,456 --> 00:01:10,100 togethers. 20 00:01:10,100 --> 00:01:17,212 Maybe you join your local like the Germantown Athletic Club in 21 00:01:17,233 --> 00:01:19,703 the summer, so you've got a membership for that. 22 00:01:19,703 --> 00:01:25,256 If you can go back and look at what you spent last year right 23 00:01:25,296 --> 00:01:28,123 now, as we're just getting started in summer, so you can 24 00:01:28,162 --> 00:01:31,572 sort of see what you spent and make sure you're prepared for 25 00:01:31,611 --> 00:01:35,867 that that's one way to kind of start planning ahead, see what 26 00:01:35,888 --> 00:01:39,743 you did before and then set up a seasonal budget. 27 00:01:39,743 --> 00:01:44,572 Budgeting is not just for Christmas or retirement, it's 28 00:01:44,671 --> 00:01:48,025 planning for these things and have a fun fund. 29 00:01:48,025 --> 00:01:51,049 That's kind of hard to say fast three times. 30 00:01:51,049 --> 00:01:55,510 What I mean by that is you know we always talk about an 31 00:01:55,569 --> 00:01:58,179 emergency fund, but let's have a fun fund. 32 00:01:58,179 --> 00:02:03,250 So put some money in there for concert tickets, a weekend 33 00:02:03,290 --> 00:02:05,474 getaway, whatever it is. 34 00:02:05,474 --> 00:02:10,263 Maybe it's something special you wanted to do with your kids 35 00:02:10,364 --> 00:02:11,127 or your parents. 36 00:02:11,127 --> 00:02:15,125 You know you can use an app for this or you can just kind of 37 00:02:15,366 --> 00:02:20,169 plan it out and use the old Dave Ramsey envelope system with 38 00:02:20,210 --> 00:02:20,570 cash. 39 00:02:21,460 --> 00:02:23,788 So there's some alternatives you can do. 40 00:02:23,788 --> 00:02:25,826 You can look for free things. 41 00:02:25,826 --> 00:02:28,908 You know free outdoor concerts. 42 00:02:28,908 --> 00:02:32,802 The Overton Park Shell has a lot of free concerts that you 43 00:02:32,842 --> 00:02:33,463 can go to. 44 00:02:33,463 --> 00:02:36,722 There's festivals, there's things like that that you can do 45 00:02:36,722 --> 00:02:36,722 . 46 00:02:37,223 --> 00:02:41,358 And instead of hosting a big event at your house, maybe do a 47 00:02:41,418 --> 00:02:45,169 potluck where everybody brings it, because providing burgers 48 00:02:45,229 --> 00:02:48,365 and hot dogs and all the sides and all the fruit and all that 49 00:02:48,384 --> 00:02:50,430 can get really expensive quickly . 50 00:02:50,430 --> 00:02:54,526 But if everybody kind of kicks in, it's not so expensive. 51 00:02:54,526 --> 00:02:59,096 For example, we have a friend who makes wonderful paella. 52 00:02:59,096 --> 00:03:01,664 Well, that's a really expensive item. 53 00:03:01,664 --> 00:03:05,573 Well, we're having a paella party and everybody's going to 54 00:03:05,659 --> 00:03:08,330 kick in at the cost of all the seafood. 55 00:03:08,330 --> 00:03:12,143 She's going to contribute her labor and then everybody else is 56 00:03:12,143 --> 00:03:16,122 bringing some desserts, some sides, their cocktail of choice, 57 00:03:16,122 --> 00:03:20,298 and it'll just be a fun event that is not very expensive for 58 00:03:20,378 --> 00:03:23,365 anybody but everybody's getting some fabulous food. 59 00:03:23,365 --> 00:03:25,229 So that's one way to do it. 60 00:03:25,670 --> 00:03:28,461 The other thing is you can house swap. 61 00:03:28,461 --> 00:03:30,870 If you've got a friend who lives in another area and you 62 00:03:31,031 --> 00:03:34,241 want to visit there, maybe y'all can swap your houses or do 63 00:03:34,301 --> 00:03:35,526 something along those lines. 64 00:03:35,526 --> 00:03:41,400 Or you can keep an eye out for little weekend getaways. 65 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:48,074 So instead of flying and doing a big event, you just maybe stay 66 00:03:48,074 --> 00:03:52,223 closer to home or even have a staycation where you become a 67 00:03:52,282 --> 00:03:54,752 tourist in your own town or your own area. 68 00:03:54,752 --> 00:03:56,015 That can be a lot of fun. 69 00:03:58,060 --> 00:04:00,891 And I want to kind of talk about the difference between spending 70 00:04:00,891 --> 00:04:01,974 money and getting value. 71 00:04:01,974 --> 00:04:08,038 There's all kinds of ways that you can maximize your value and 72 00:04:08,117 --> 00:04:10,125 it really depends on what you enjoy. 73 00:04:10,125 --> 00:04:14,256 You don't need to necessarily have the big beach vacation, 74 00:04:14,276 --> 00:04:17,750 because going to the beach right now is pretty expensive and 75 00:04:17,771 --> 00:04:18,892 there's a ton of people there. 76 00:04:18,892 --> 00:04:23,343 So maybe what you really want to do is maybe go to a lake and 77 00:04:23,951 --> 00:04:26,795 sit there, because really all you want to do is be able to see 78 00:04:26,795 --> 00:04:30,482 water and read a book or something like that. 79 00:04:30,482 --> 00:04:33,653 But if the beach is your thing, that's fine, just make sure you 80 00:04:33,653 --> 00:04:34,394 plan for it. 81 00:04:34,394 --> 00:04:40,971 So here's hoping that your summer is super fun and also 82 00:04:41,011 --> 00:04:45,735 financially healthy and really do enjoy that fun fund, because 83 00:04:46,257 --> 00:04:52,362 I promise you your summer memories will be much better 84 00:04:52,642 --> 00:04:56,872 remembered if you also don't have a big credit card balance 85 00:04:57,072 --> 00:05:03,103 to get over come next May that you're still trying to pay off 86 00:05:03,142 --> 00:05:05,192 this year's vacation. 87 00:05:05,192 --> 00:05:09,942 So it really is just planning ahead and setting aside money to 88 00:05:09,942 --> 00:05:11,084 do what you want to do. 89 00:05:11,084 --> 00:05:17,079 And here's a challenge take a hundred dollars and challenge, 90 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:21,634 uh, maybe, another family or friend to see who can do the 91 00:05:21,814 --> 00:05:26,588 most on a hundred dollars in a weekend, and I think you could 92 00:05:26,608 --> 00:05:28,913 have a lot of fun with that, like, okay, we spent. 93 00:05:28,913 --> 00:05:31,500 You know you set your ground rules, what's included, what's 94 00:05:31,581 --> 00:05:37,322 not included and see who gets to do the most things for that. 95 00:05:37,870 --> 00:05:41,759 One other tip for those in the Memphis area a zoo membership 96 00:05:41,819 --> 00:05:45,954 can be a great value for a family, because going to the zoo 97 00:05:45,954 --> 00:05:49,382 one time and paying for everybody to go can be pretty 98 00:05:49,422 --> 00:05:49,942 expensive. 99 00:05:49,942 --> 00:05:54,057 You basically pay for your zoo membership in two visits and I 100 00:05:54,098 --> 00:05:57,569 can remember when my kids were little we went all the time and 101 00:05:57,589 --> 00:05:59,374 we'd go for like an hour or two. 102 00:05:59,374 --> 00:06:02,161 They didn't have to go for a long time because we had a 103 00:06:02,201 --> 00:06:05,218 membership and we'd get the kids out of there before they had a 104 00:06:05,259 --> 00:06:05,740 meltdown. 105 00:06:05,740 --> 00:06:08,531 So that was fun to go in the early morning. 106 00:06:08,531 --> 00:06:11,038 It was also fun to go kind of late in the day if we hadn't 107 00:06:11,077 --> 00:06:12,120 done much during the day. 108 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:16,759 So there are some memberships that can really help you stretch 109 00:06:16,759 --> 00:06:18,322 your vacation dollars as well. 110 00:06:18,322 --> 00:06:20,115 Thanks for tuning in. 111 00:06:20,115 --> 00:06:23,718 This has been another episode of Better Financial Health in 15 112 00:06:23,718 --> 00:06:24,439 Minutes or Less.