Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and and rolling right along into the holiday culmination that is Christmas. We are goined by 3 time guest Brad from Debt Free Dad. We made friends with Brad during our first season and have had him back a few times since. We talk about trying to stay debt free during Christmas as well as how he is doing personally with all that has happened in the last 10 months. We hope you look forward to our chat with Brad as much as we look forward to having him on our podcast.
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Email 2dadsunfiltered@gmail.com
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Chris's emotion coaching
Tick Tok @dadding_daily
Instagram @chrisoneilcoach
YouTube @crisoneil
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and and rolling right along into the holiday culmination that is Christmas. We are goined by 3 time guest Brad from Debt Free Dad. We made friends with Brad during our first season and have had him back a few times since. We talk about trying to stay debt free during Christmas as well as how he is doing personally with all that has happened in the last 10 months. We hope you look forward to our chat with Brad as much as we look forward to having him on our podcast.
Tick Tok @dadsunfiltered
Facebook Dads Unfiltered
Email 2dadsunfiltered@gmail.com
YouTube https://youtube.com/@DadsUnfiltered
Chris's emotion coaching
Tick Tok @dadding_daily
Instagram @chrisoneilcoach
YouTube @crisoneil
Pete (00:00.586)
Hey guys, welcome back after a week away because we were in a fucking food coma I was still kinda repulsed by Chris's green bean casserole talk
Chris O'Neil (00:05.344)
Yeah
Chris O'Neil (00:10.581)
doesn't like green bean casserole this motherfucker right here that's who
Pete (00:14.41)
I don't like green bean casserole. How about you, Brad?
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (00:16.261)
Really? You don't? Oh yeah, who doesn't like green meat? I mean, green meat's green meat casserole.
Chris O'Neil (00:18.372)
Yeah, it's a staple, man, right? Right, see? Yeah.
Pete (00:21.622)
Are you fucking kidding me? I'm outnumbered?
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (00:23.198)
I freaking love it, man. They put that little crunchy top on it, man. It's delicious.
Chris O'Neil (00:26.617)
Ah, yeah. French fried onions.
Pete (00:27.218)
I actually like the, yeah, I like those, but I'll eat them out of the can by themselves. No green bean casserole. I like crush them up and snort lines of French fried onions.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (00:29.954)
Yeah, yeah.
Sure. Oh yeah.
Chris O'Neil (00:33.592)
No, that's fine. I'll do that too. Heheheheheheh Ha! It's a little bit of a rush, but it's great.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (00:38.001)
Hahahaha
Pete (00:41.426)
All day long. My smoked turkey though came out fucking awesome. I shared pictures of it. The thing looked like something straight out of like a Saturday Evening Post cover from Norman Rockwell. Yeah. I actually posted it in a food group that I'm in and I said that when you look at this picture, you have to play the song. What the fuck was the song that I said? It was a Carly Simon song. What one? No, it wasn't simply the best.
Chris O'Neil (00:47.181)
guys.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (00:53.645)
Oh yeah.
Pete (01:10.558)
Shit, I'll have to come back to it. It was funny. No, not so much. Yeah, no, not- no, it wasn't you're so vain.
Chris O'Neil (01:12.256)
You're Sylvain?
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (01:14.228)
Hahahaha
Pete (01:19.486)
Shit. Nobody does it better. That's what it was.
Chris O'Neil (01:20.888)
Bet you think this turkey's about you. Oh, nobody does it better. There you go.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (01:25.017)
Ha ha ha!
Pete (01:27.198)
Yeah, oh it was so good, so fucking good. But here we are, we got our good friend Brad back from Debt Free Dad, and he's gonna help keep our sanity during the holidays.
Chris O'Neil (01:33.728)
Yes indeed. Our first third timer.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (01:34.105)
Yeah, good to be back.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (01:39.589)
Third timer!
Chris O'Neil (01:39.64)
Yeah, and uh... Episode 25, by the way.
Pete (01:40.914)
Right. He's already asking for a jacket. We don't even have the budget to make stickers. Ha ha ha.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (01:42.989)
Hahaha
Chris O'Neil (01:47.599)
But as soon as we get that gold jacket for the hat trick of guest appearances, you're getting the first one, buddy.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (01:56.381)
Awesome, can't wait. I can't wait.
Chris O'Neil (01:57.91)
Yeah.
Pete (01:59.59)
I'm sure that was a nod to the five timers club that they talk about on SNL, right?
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (02:04.361)
Yeah, there was actually just I was just watching Saturday live on there was a there's a new five timer I forget. I don't know what her name was Oh, yeah, there you go. Yep. Emma stone
Pete (02:10.964)
Emma Stone.
Chris O'Neil (02:13.064)
Oh wow, really? Five timer. Cool.
Pete (02:14.014)
I'm on top of my entertainment shit. Yeah, in-
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (02:16.751)
No. I don't know. A Star Wars Live isn't obviously as funny as it used to be. There's still some good skits once in a while, but I was like watching it and I'm like, this is kind of a snooze, you know?
Pete (02:25.258)
The trouble is they never have a good core at the same time like they never have a good core of people they have one or two random funny ones like that bow and yang guy is fucking hilarious and I like Michael Che and call and chose Yes, because you got young kids. You're not gonna stay awake to watch that shit
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (02:35.832)
Yeah, right.
Chris O'Neil (02:36.944)
I don't even know who the hell's on the cast right now. Yeah, they're good.
Chris O'Neil (02:44.288)
Well, there is that too. But yeah, honestly, I feel like Saturday Night Live for me is like music. I stopped listening or finding new music. Well, not like I don't discover it, but it's I stopped actively looking for good new music, probably in my early 30s. It was like this just way too much shit. Like that, you know, I'm going to stick with what I appreciate, what I know as a go to because I had different priorities. And then. You know.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (02:45.625)
Hahaha.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (03:08.803)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (03:12.408)
Now I feel like that old bastard is like, hey, why don't we just listen to some Soundgarden or something? You know, people are like, well, haven't you heard of so and so? I don't even know. No. But it's like Saturday Night Live peaked for me in probably the early 2000s with like the Will Ferrell cast that core. It was like late 90s, early 2000s, right? And then and obviously the Sandler core group in the 90s as well.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (03:18.629)
..
Pete (03:24.514)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (03:33.598)
Oh, yeah.
Yep, that was a good one.
Pete (03:42.542)
I don't know. I always found like I like saying Andy Samberg and His Lonely Island group the songs that they would do the digital shorts and there's a new group on there called Please don't destroy They're all nepo babies that do videos on Saturday Night Live Yeah, one of the kids father is Higgins the guy that's the announcer for Jimmy Fallon and then another guy is another kid is
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (03:52.355)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (03:52.459)
Hmm.
Chris O'Neil (03:59.056)
Oh yeah? Ha ha ha.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (04:06.83)
Okay.
Chris O'Neil (04:06.884)
Oh yeah, yeah yeah.
Pete (04:10.662)
His father's famous and I don't remember the third kid. But don't watch their movie that's on Paramount+. They're good in short segments on their show. But a long hour and a half long movie? No.
Chris O'Neil (04:18.701)
Mm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (04:22.478)
That's so good, huh?
Chris O'Neil (04:23.792)
Good to know.
Pete (04:25.099)
Never again.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (04:26.461)
Never again.
Chris O'Neil (04:27.145)
Never again. Never again.
Pete (04:27.806)
Yeah. Speaking of, you watch DC, Brad? Do you like comic books?
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (04:33.149)
I mean I got it. I mean when I was younger, but not so much anymore I mean, I'll watch I haven't watched any of the like the latest Marvel movies, but I've watched a lot of them I especially watched a lot of like the Marvel DC movies when my son was a little younger now He's he's gonna be 14 and he's kind of He's kind of gotten out of watching him He's what got me into him and then lately over the last I'd say year Maybe two years he kind of fell off the wagon a little bit with him. He doesn't really check him out anymore so I haven't watched really any of the
Pete (04:40.393)
Okay.
Pete (04:51.231)
Right, right.
Chris O'Neil (04:51.312)
Hmm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (04:59.865)
the newer ones but uh... i've enjoyed the movies
Pete (05:02.698)
Yeah, Chris and I just watched Blue Beetle. Not together, because he's in California and I'm in Massachusetts.
Chris O'Neil (05:03.629)
Yeah, they've done a good job with it.
Oh yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (05:07.937)
Yeah, right.
Chris O'Neil (05:09.572)
But I had to watch it piecemeal. That's the thing. I can't watch movies in one sitting right now. I just... I get 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there. You know, I think it took me four days to watch the whole movie. Um, but yeah, it was... It was, uh, you know, formulaic. You knew, okay, yep, this is gonna happen and then that's gonna happen. It's, you know what's gonna happen, just not how it's gonna happen. But I appreciated the fact that...
Pete (05:11.222)
But that was a nice one.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (05:15.971)
Right, right.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (05:19.619)
Yep.
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (05:35.874)
Right.
Pete (05:35.979)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (05:36.696)
they paid homage to the uh... the latino character the third iteration of the beetle and they got a lot of latino culture in there and it was kind of like you know it wasn't uh...
like illegitimate diversity where they just like throw one person of color in there and say like, yay, we have everybody. You know, it was like a legit, you know, focus on that type of culture and that family and in that situation. I thought they did a good job with that. But also they didn't take themselves too seriously. They knew it was formulaic and they did it anyway type of thing and just laughed about it. I thought I thought that was smart.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (06:01.77)
Right, yeah.
Pete (06:19.018)
I like that they kind of pulled back the veil, because for some reason DC movies have always had that shroud of gray, like everything's sad and depressing. And this was like, oh, it's sad and depressing, but still fucking bright fancy colors, woo! And they were throwing jokes, and everything was fantastic about it. It was nice, and I hope that that's the way that they go with James Gunn.
Chris O'Neil (06:26.816)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (06:34.145)
Yeah, that is true.
Chris O'Neil (06:38.318)
Yeah.
It was, it was... Yeah, it was nothing that broke the mold, but it was fun. It was a fun movie.
Pete (06:50.666)
Hmm. Speaking of breaking the mold, how the hell do we survive Christmas without breaking the fucking bank, Brad? Tell me how, tell me how!
Chris O'Neil (06:56.416)
Yeah, there it is. There's the damn question of the year!
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (07:01.081)
Oh man, it's tough, a tough time of year. Just read some crazy statistics we were sharing on our podcast a couple weeks ago and I said like upwards of 90, it was almost, it was nearly 100%, 96% of people admitted that they are planning to overspend on the holidays. 96% and yeah and of that, you know, over 50% of them are planning on, you know, affording it with debt and then of that
Pete (07:17.424)
Oh, fuck that.
Chris O'Neil (07:19.209)
It really is amazing.
Chris O'Neil (07:27.296)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (07:29.297)
75% of those people it's gonna take them two months or longer and sometimes even five months or longer actually get all that debt paid off So yeah tough time of year for a lot of people and the sad reality is though I mean, I think you know, it's tough if you're if you get to the begin late November early December and you're like How do we plan for Christmas? Sadly, it's probably already a little too late Yeah
Pete (07:36.717)
Hmm.
Pete (07:53.586)
I know, I was gonna say, we should have had this episode back in July.
Chris O'Neil (07:57.837)
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (07:58.157)
Yeah, that's what we try to talk. We actually did our last this year early 2023. We actually did a podcast episode in the middle of January for our holiday one because we're like, Hey, you know, if you're if you're getting those credit card statements right now and you're opening those up and you're looking back and saying, Why did I do this to myself and how are we going to pay all this stuff off? It's like you can fix all that 11 months from now just working on some of the stuff that we talk about here on the show. And we gave some tips back then because it's like
Chris O'Neil (08:07.94)
Wow.
Chris O'Neil (08:18.532)
Mmm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (08:27.765)
For a lot of people, it's one of the most expensive times of the year in a lot of cases.
Chris O'Neil (08:30.924)
Yeah. Well, I think...
Pete (08:33.202)
I used to be friends with this lady when I was growing up. Sorry, Chris, that she used to do it. She would start like the day after Christmas shopping and she would buy gifts here and there throughout the year so that by the time Christmas came, she didn't overspend. You know, it was just when she had it. And yeah, it was like, it made me think of Clark Griswold from Christmas story. Uh, Christmas vacation.
Chris O'Neil (08:36.888)
That's all right. I know, we got that lag.
Pete (08:58.978)
where he's like hiding the gift, but then he finds the other one that he forgot about covered in dust. You know? Yeah, yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (09:01.529)
Oh yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah, right, right. Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (09:02.808)
from Valentine's Day, yeah, yeah. The previous February, yeah. Yeah, and I think...
Pete (09:09.022)
Now, do you recommend something like that? Sorry, Chris, I can't.
Chris O'Neil (09:17.872)
This is gonna turn into a Jimmy Kimmel Matt Damon episode. It was like, sorry, we didn't have time for Matt Damon.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (09:18.695)
Uh, yeah, to answer your-
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (09:29.386)
Yeah, I most certainly do. I like I love the idea of what they call our sinking funds. So you know deciding hey how much are we gonna spend on the holidays like for instance I budget personally like 1800 bucks and I just divide that by 12 months and that's $150 a month so I take $150 a month and put that money aside every single month and then when it's time for you know Christmas shopping or if like you said
Pete (09:46.894)
Uhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (09:56.845)
You know, Pete, if you find something throughout the year, you got money in a savings account already there. And if you find a good deal on whatever it is that you're looking for somebody, you can pull the trigger and buy some of that stuff. But yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people will use the excuse, you know, well, the holidays snuck up on me the last time I checked. They're December 25th every year. You know, it is. Every single year, it doesn't change. And I think, you know, when we talk about financial health and...
Chris O'Neil (10:06.885)
Thanks.
Chris O'Neil (10:14.633)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pete (10:14.714)
Yep, fucking hate me.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (10:23.513)
You know, people staying out of debt, I think a lot of it, not everything, but a lot of it has contributed just to a lack of planning. You know, a lot of us are living paycheck to paycheck. So for a lot of us, it's hard to say, like, let's plan six months from now when we're just trying to survive this month, right? And so, you know, for a lot of people, that's why they don't probably plan too well ahead of the holidays, and they just try to wing it. You know, and so, I mean.
Chris O'Neil (10:38.817)
Yeah.
Pete (10:39.198)
Right, right.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (10:49.965)
The holidays is one part of it, but you know, in the grand scheme of things, it's really about how do we, how do you get your personal finances better shaped, not only just to afford the holidays, but really just to get through the rest of life too, because you know, holidays are just a part of that. But yeah, sinking funds, planning ahead, I think those are all really, really great things. I think if you were just getting started right now, yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
Pete (11:01.172)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (11:01.366)
Mm.
Chris O'Neil (11:08.6)
What I- I would-
Pete (11:13.218)
We'll let you talk, Chris.
Chris O'Neil (11:14.385)
Hey, thanks Brad! No, I was just gonna say, I think another part of that too is just... Because I grew up that way too, where it was... Granted, my parents were the planners, and so when I first started getting out as an adult... It's that idea of investing in a future benefit. Like, that was never really instilled in me.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (11:15.747)
Hahaha
Chris O'Neil (11:41.964)
You know, it was just, it was viewed financially as well as in life. Just, oh, well I figured it out. He'll figure it out too. And it's like, okay, well my brain didn't work that way. And I fucked myself so many years in a row. And then, you know, by the time I figured it out, I'm playing catch up. Um, but I think to your point, like 150 bucks a month to some people is so much money to have to put aside. But.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (11:43.071)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (12:10.529)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (12:11.792)
um, even just, I think, nobody, even just the idea of like five or $10. I think most people can, can manage that. But then your thought is, well, what's that going to do? Nothing. Fuck it. I'll just buy a coffee anyway. And I think certainly for me, I have that problem where I'm looking at the, the small amount in the moment and not really thinking about how that can compound if you do it right.
Pete (12:13.774)
but if you break it down weekly.
Pete (12:41.516)
Right.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (12:42.085)
Right. Yeah, there's that old saying of how do you waste $10,000 a year? And the reality is, is it only takes $27.86 a day to waste 10 grand a year.
Pete (12:55.798)
Well, that's depressing.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (12:56.173)
So, you know, you have a lot of people, a lot of people think about that. And again, I would agree, you know, I'm not one of those, you know, financial coaches or, you know, financial guys that are out there like saying, you got to give up everything to do this. And it's like, no, no. Okay. Well, let's, let's be realistic. You don't have to give up everything, but, but I think, you know, you know, Chris, you bring up a valid point. I think every dollar does count, especially.
Chris O'Neil (13:07.437)
Yeah.
Pete (13:07.872)
Hahaha
Chris O'Neil (13:19.458)
Mm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (13:20.045)
you know, when you're looking at, you know, middle income earners or people who are living paycheck to paycheck, I mean, every dollar does count. I mean, your income is your number one source to get you out of debt. It's your number one source to, you know, build savings. It's your number one source to invest. It's it is the thing, you know. So I don't I don't want to like say like, you shouldn't go out and get coffee. But at the same time, I think we all need to take a better approach to saying, okay, how can we just be more intentional? Like if you want to go get that coffee, it better be like the thing that you want, right?
and less of this haphazardly spending, because that's what I see a lot of. One of the things that I'll tell new people that have questions or new people that are wanting to get started, one of the number one things that you can do, and if you're working on your finances right now or you're wanting to find some money for Christmas or the holidays, one of the best things that you can do is just go back and look at your past spending. Look at the last three to six months of your bank statements, your credit card statements, your PayPal accounts, your Apple Pay, Venmo. I mean, anywhere you're spending money.
Of everyone that I've told to do this, I've never had one person come back to me and say, I didn't find anything. Everything was exactly the way that I thought it was. It's just not the reality. No matter how broke they say that they are. I never have had anyone come back and say that. So, you know, I think a lot of us, the money is there's more money out there. It's just, we're not using it to the best, to bet to the best of its ability. And again, that's not to say that you shouldn't have fun. I think you should, you know, you work hard, life is short.
Chris O'Neil (14:27.52)
Yeah, yeah
Pete (14:40.5)
wisely.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (14:47.405)
You know, I went through a very big transitional year this year, and it was a big kind of wake-up call to me that life is short. You know, I want to enjoy more. I want to experience more. I want to be in the moment more. But at the same time, I don't want to sacrifice my entire financial future and be stressed out to the max because I want to live that way, too. I think there's a balance there that we all need to find. And one thing that ruins that balance during the holidays is marketing.
Chris O'Neil (15:10.628)
Big time.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (15:14.293)
So this overall well, a well-meaning of advertising, social influence of, you know, if you're a family, giving your kids the perfect Christmas, and you know, I gotta make sure my kids get enough, as the next family does, you know, it's all of this pressure, societal pressure that's on the holidays, I think too, that a lot of us parents and a lot of us deal with. You know, and I think, so that adds to that overspending of do we get enough, do we have enough, right? So yeah, I think it is a tough time of year for sure.
Pete (15:32.268)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (15:37.281)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (15:43.309)
but it doesn't need to be that way all the time. And I think there are some things, just looking at your past expenses, looking at your spending, to help ease some of that stress right now and really focusing on what can we afford without making our financial situation worse? And then, hey, we're gonna do it better next year. Don't just go all in and say, we'll figure it out in January because you're setting yourself up then for even a tougher 2024.
Pete (16:07.178)
Yep. Oh yeah. With me, I learned, I mean.
Chris O'Neil (16:08.811)
I do have something that... Go ahead, Pete, your turn.
Pete (16:15.138)
Alright, sorry. I learned that, I mean, by being thrown into the fire. When it was just me raising my two boys, I had to come up with a fucking plan fast in order to make it work. What I ended up doing was like, once they figured out, well, once my oldest one figured out that there was no Santa, and he was pretty quick on that uptake. Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm sorry to break the bubble, dude. Don't let your kids listen to this shit.
Chris O'Neil (16:41.68)
Son of a bitch man, warn me before you do that shit. Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe
Pete (16:45.17)
I know, I know. The Easter Bunny, by the way. So, yeah. My neighbor shot and killed Rudolph the other day. But I learned, you know, it was like, so you can pick out a big gift, you know, this is the amount of money that you can do. And then the smaller things, like there would definitely be little things, but it would be more practical things like a deodorant set and socks and underwear.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (16:50.318)
Thank you.
Pete (17:14.858)
You know, but it was still more to open, so it felt like there was more. That illusion. Individually wrapped batteries. Um, but that was, yeah, basically how I went and I did it. You know, and now, now that they're even older, it's even easier because I don't even have to go shopping. I can just give them cash. That's all they want. It's fucking beautiful. I can go like the night before and go to an ATM and I'm done. No rapping, no nothing.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (17:18.713)
Yeah, right.
Chris O'Neil (17:25.082)
Yeah, that's good.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (17:35.033)
Yeah, right.
Chris O'Neil (17:38.252)
I do have to say that...
Yeah, just put a little bow on an envelope. Nice. Fuck the envelope. Just put a little bow on the on the dollar bills. Yeah, my wife and I.
Pete (17:50.398)
Like, first of all, they're teenagers, they ain't reading the fucking card. It's just cash. Does he go? Be on your way.
Chris O'Neil (17:53.96)
Yeah, yeah, no shit, right? Yeah, that's like homework, man. Reading a card. Um, no, but my wife and I have been discussing this as well and you know right away, it's not like we spoil our daughter, but um You know, it's just especially being a single child in a relatively big family with a lot of relatives. People just send us shit. So she has so much stuff that's just sitting in her room
Pete (17:59.852)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (18:23.776)
not because we buy her everything, but people just say, oh, hand me down, and here, you're gonna love this, and it's awesome, and it's great. And we've actually had to say to people, like, please, for the love of fucking God, stop sending us shit. And my mother's like, well, why? Why? I just wanna, and she visited recently, and she was like, oh, okay, I get it now. Yeah, I won't just send shit anymore. But we're, we're.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (18:36.348)
Oh yeah.
Pete (18:44.958)
Why, you should have said, Charlie's in the room, go find her in all that shit.
Chris O'Neil (18:48.968)
Yeah, yeah, it's like that scene for me T when he's just one of the stuffies just sitting there My wife found this great like five gift thing for Christmas specifically but it could be for a birthday or another holiday where you give you know, Hanukkah whatever gift giving holiday you have and it's
Pete (18:54.879)
Yeah, yeah.
Chris O'Neil (19:17.372)
something to read, something they need, something they really want, a piece of clothing, and then something functional like, not necessarily school supplies, but like, it could be fun, but it's also like a set of markers or something, oh, yours dried out, we'll get you a new set because you like drawing, it's stuff like that. So you're getting
like that one big gift that you really want. And the other stuff you're gonna enjoy, but it's also much more functional in your life. It's not stuff for the sake of stuff, you know?
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (19:56.769)
Yeah, yeah, I got a lot of roots members who practice something very similar to that, you know, they'll they've really dialed it down a lot You know and I think you know, I mean we've talked about this on our podcast quite a bit You know and you know taking your kids through this journey and I think you know if you talk to your kids a little bit about hey We want to really work on our finances and we can't really do that when we spend
Ton on Christmas. So we're gonna kind of dial it back I mean we found over and over again that most kids most families if you really talk to them Really talk to the kids really get them on board. I mean a lot of them are very accepting of that In fact, we haven't had anyone really come back and say, you know, they were so mad, you know In fact, right had no had very little issues with it But I think again where we you know as parents, you know, we kind of put a lot of that pressure on ourselves That it's got to be like this
Chris O'Neil (20:34.562)
Mm.
Pete (20:40.182)
They moved out.
Chris O'Neil (20:40.889)
Yeah.
Pete (20:51.83)
You know, a lot of it too is like, I think, and I was just thinking about this the other day with a lot of different things, but when we were little, everything seemed so massive. Like, I remember like people were huge, you know, and then as you grow up, like, well, my dad's not so fucking tall, you know? Like, and I think that we have that image stuck in our head from when we were kids of like, oh my God, I remember just there being fucking presents everywhere, but in all honesty, might not have been, yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (20:51.982)
You know.
Chris O'Neil (21:06.739)
Right, yeah, yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (21:06.882)
Yeah, right.
Chris O'Neil (21:14.212)
That's a really good point. Yeah, it has to be big.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (21:15.531)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (21:18.549)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Pete (21:19.53)
You know, so it's like you're setting yourself up with your own twisted fucking memory of it, you know?
Chris O'Neil (21:25.304)
Yeah, that's a really good point.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (21:25.493)
Right, right. Or then you go on, you know, you go on TikTok or social media and you see all these, you know, top 1% income earners, you're seeing what they're doing. And everyone's just like, well, that makes me kind of feel like shit. You know, you know, so that's the other thing I think that's out there too, is not just the advertising and marketing, it's the whole social influence thing. It's the, it's the stuff you see on social media, that other people who maybe either have the money or don't have the money are just going to the debt for it.
Pete (21:37.544)
Yeah, yeah.
Chris O'Neil (21:45.293)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (21:54.529)
make it look really, really big. And that makes you feel bad for maybe what you have or what you don't have, and again, adds on more pressure to spend.
Pete (21:56.299)
Yep.
Chris O'Neil (21:56.431)
Right.
Pete (22:04.97)
Yeah. Keeping up with the fucking Joneses, man.
Chris O'Neil (22:05.392)
Well, and that's a reminder, too, of how, yeah, oh, dude, huge. But it's that reminder that, you know, you see someone driving around in a Benz or a Range Rover or something, and they could have the shittiest shithouse that they don't take care of because they put all their money into their car. You have no clue what their life is like beyond that particular, you know, and there are people that do that all over the place. But something that popped up recently, because you mentioned TikTok.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (22:08.098)
Yep.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (22:25.229)
No clue.
Chris O'Neil (22:32.48)
Um, yeah. So, uh, I saw this great video that a dad put out on TikTok about how he sat his kids down next to him on camera and they knew they were on camera. And he said, OK, your last birthday, what did we do? And they're like, oh, we went, you know, to this park and we.
or we went to an amusement park, we went on these rides, or you took me to this mini golf place and we played video games, or, you know, blah, and then he said, awesome, cool, what did I get you as a present? And they're like, and none of them could remember the presents, but they all remembered the experiences. And it was a very, very potent message about it's what you do with your kids that they will remember.
Pete (23:15.594)
Which is great.
Chris O'Neil (23:21.428)
more so than what you give them as a material thing. And I think that's a great lesson, especially in the materialistic, you know, holiday season, where you feel that pressure and that obligation socially, to just remember that the only people that care about that are the people that are doing it for the wrong reasons anyway. You know, just to feel a certain thing that isn't real. It's the perception of it.
Pete (23:41.6)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (23:42.157)
Right, right.
Pete (23:48.836)
was certain.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (23:50.201)
Yeah, yeah, I'm doing that right now for my son. You know, his birthday is actually in about four days right now. And, you know, yeah, 14. And, you know, it's like he don't he don't need anything else. You know, it's like you like what else we have by so, you know, we're going to we're going to spend some money. I'd probably be it actually end up being probably a little bit more expensive than buying him something, but it'll be something to remember. We're going to, you know, go to a Milwaukee Bucks game over here and, you know, go, go do something and go to a game, bring some friends with and and, you know, make a thing of it.
Pete (23:56.051)
Oh fuck, happy birthday.
Chris O'Neil (24:02.285)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (24:14.97)
Nice.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (24:20.013)
You know, I just, it's like I said, you know, I, I've gone through this big, huge transition this past year when my wife passed away about 10 months ago, nine, 10 months ago. And so I realized very quickly, like when it comes to stuff, you know, when like Christmas and all that stuff, and like, like you brought up Chris with people giving your kids things. And it's like, man, it's just like adds up so quickly. And I have been just on this like therapeutic, just getting rid of as much junk as I can. And if I see it and it's like, we haven't used it in like six months,
Chris O'Neil (24:25.34)
Mm.
Chris O'Neil (24:35.246)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (24:46.492)
Uh-huh. Like the Purge, right?
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (24:50.465)
Yeah, we're just purging. We're throwing all that stuff away. And I've been uncovering so many things and it's like, you know, my kids got this two years ago and they barely even touched it, barely even played with it, you know, and, uh, you know, all the money that was spent and wasting on so much of that stuff, you know, and you know, when you lose a spouse, you know, you gotta unfortunately be tasked with getting rid of stuff. You know, it's like, it's a life that no longer is there. There's a lot of things that a person has and you come to realize it's like, man,
Pete (25:00.11)
Mm-hmm.
Pete (25:11.724)
Yep.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (25:20.397)
the shit really even matters, you know? It really doesn't. It doesn't really do anything. And so my perspective on things, you know, and I was kind of already, you know, my whole mindset of consumption and consumers had drastically changed as I got out of debt and became debt-free and have been debt-free now for 10 plus years. But when, you know, Sarah passed away, it really even brought back more, like just, we don't hardly need anything.
Like, I'm just like, let's get rid of all of it. Like the kids are going to think they're next. You know.
Chris O'Neil (25:45.624)
Mm.
Chris O'Neil (25:49.584)
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Pete (25:53.598)
You should just put a list on the fridge with everything on it and then their names at the end. Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (25:54.04)
You're gonna keep us, right dad?
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (25:58.593)
Yeah, right. Right. But it's just, you know, I look at my, you know, my daughter's toys in her toy box and it's like most of that stuff, like she just hardly like she'll play with a few things and the rest of it, it hardly gets touched, you know. And so to spend, you know, another holiday, just bring in more of that crap just to do this all again next year. It's like why, you know, so I like you said, you know, I'm a big fan of the experiences. I think that's a I think that's a really
really good thing or even going on like a vacation rather than spending money on a bunch of presents and stuff. I mean if your family can afford something like that maybe think about something different.
Chris O'Neil (26:28.825)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (26:35.076)
Mm-hmm.
Pete (26:35.502)
So when we were talking about the really nice car and then the shitty house, so that's me. I live in a shitty apartment, but I have a decent car. I bought an electric car just past COVID. And I got that for reasons I needed a car, and it came with three years of free charging, which I'm still working on. So that's enabled us to go up and down the East Coast. So I've gone and I've eaten like real crab cakes in Maryland. I've gone and had...
Chris O'Neil (26:42.393)
Hahaha
Pete (27:05.73)
Peaches in Georgia, you know, that sort of shit. And it's like that sort of thing that, you know, the kids remember. We went and drove around places in Virginia with the kids and saw like battlegrounds and stuff like that. And like this summer, my youngest son, Zach, who's artistic, loves baseball. I've taken him to see the Savannah Bananas and we're going to see him at Fenway. I already got my tickets.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (27:20.398)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (27:28.098)
Oh yeah.
Pete (27:32.298)
And then I'm crossing off my own bucket list. I didn't go in to see a game in Durham, North Carolina, cause I've ever since bull Durham, obviously. And, um, you know, it's, it's experiences, man. It's, it's totally that thing. You know, after COVID, I know that, that feeling where you're like, fuck, we should get out and do more shit because stuff sucks and you know what else I hate? I can't stay in to seeing all these fucking places that are being built to store your shit. Like.
Chris O'Neil (27:40.08)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (27:40.354)
Oh yeah, sure. Right.
Chris O'Neil (27:54.136)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (28:01.867)
Oh yeah.
Pete (28:02.37)
They're tearing down like literally places where that had experiences one of one of the places in my town was used to be a fucking public pool Gone a skating rink gone you know and now they're talking about all these empty retail stores like um Bed bath and beyond and shit like that now people are like, why don't they put a rolling rink in there? I'm like you fuckers. We just tore one down and put up a storage facility It's like what the fuck? But yeah
Chris O'Neil (28:19.855)
Mm-hmm.
Chris O'Neil (28:24.648)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (28:26.189)
Ugh.
Chris O'Neil (28:30.192)
No, there's the acknowledgement too. There's the acknowledgement too. It's like you ever want to know what's happening in society. Just look at what's being built. Look at the political landscape. What are people talking about? What's on social media? And it's not to say that you should live your life by that, but there are signs that tell you what the,
Pete (28:31.351)
It's maddening, but experiences are the best way to go.
Chris O'Neil (29:00.652)
If that wasn't a factor, they wouldn't be building it, is the point, right? So, more and more people have more and more stuff, hence why they continue building storage facilities. And... that, like... I mean, shit, man, it's the irony of this. It's in every fucking Christmas movie ever!
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (29:13.679)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (29:23.7)
No materialism can replace love and connection and family. And in real life, we're like, fuck you, man. I want my shit. So it's like, yeah, you're kind of missing the whole point of the situation. It's like, yeah, I own every one of those Christmas movies. Oh, Jesus. Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (29:30.357)
Right. Yeah.
Pete (29:44.906)
Yeah, I got the BB gun and I shot my eye out. Depth perception is for suckers.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (29:45.149)
Right, right, right.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Chris O'Neil (29:49.244)
Yeah, yeah. But I have to say, like, my five year old is very much. And I it really hit me recently what she actually wants. Because when she says, Daddy, can I have this, Daddy, can I have that, whatever. She wants the experience of getting something new. It's not the thing that she wants. It's the feeling that she wants. Right. So. It's and years ago, it was holy shit. It was 10 years ago this year.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (29:52.482)
I'm sorry.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (30:11.705)
Right. Sure. Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (30:20.016)
I created, I still haven't figured out how exactly to use it, but it'll turn around to something sometime. But I had this idea for a website called lifejingle.com and it was basically jingles for your life because we have a jingle to remember a product, but why are you getting the product? Because the product makes you feel a certain way. So why not just skip?
the middle man and use the jingle to make yourself feel a certain way. So it was like jingles for life to remind you of, you know, being grateful or the things that you have or, you know, an experience that you can have, things like that. And in that sense with the materialistic stuff, why I tend to skew towards the experiences is for that reason, because the whole reason you're doing any of this is to feel a certain way. And being the emotion coach that I am, I, that's something I harp on constantly.
Every single thing we do as human beings is in direct proportion to what and how we want to feel. So the reason you're a binge drinker and you're an alcoholic is because you want to feel a certain way. Now granted physiologically that's a different story when you know an addiction you have to quit and all that and that's a whole other conversation but the point being whatever actions you take that are mindless or subconscious even purposeful ones.
It all comes down to how you want to feel. And I think that's where the materialism comes in, and that feeling of obligation, or keeping up with the Joneses that we've been talking about, is you think those things are going to make you feel a certain way, and then they don't. So you are like, oh, well, it wasn't that? Well, maybe it's this. And then you spend more. And then you go get more, and more stuff, and more stuff, and more stuff. And then you hit that breaking point.
Pete (32:06.271)
Mm.
Chris O'Neil (32:12.104)
and you're just devastated and like it didn't work, I don't understand and now I'm in mountains of debt and I don't know how to get out of it. So ironically enough, you know, Brad, you, like we're all kind of in the same business with regard to helping people change because it really comes back to a different iteration of getting to those emotions that we wanna feel.
Pete (32:35.874)
Hmm.
So you had already mentioned the loss of your wife this year. What things are you doing different this holiday to kind of shake things up and maybe not have that be a focus for the kids missing their mom and such?
Chris O'Neil (32:53.424)
Great question.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (32:53.965)
Yeah, I mean, obviously, I don't think we could ever, you know, I don't think we could ever do anything that's gonna, you know, change the emotion or the term missing, you know, missing them. You know, right, right. I mean, the reality is, I mean, with my wife's situation, I mean, even last holidays were pretty rough. And so, I mean, this holiday is just going to be different, just like last year's was.
Pete (33:05.746)
Yeah, you can definitely mute it a little bit.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (33:24.669)
But I mean, yeah, what I'm trying to do is just do things different, you know, not try to do the same things. I have found, like, especially early on, it's like I kept, you know, I was, I mean, I can't blame myself, because it's like that's the life we just lived, you know. So we were just, you know, I was kind of got back into routine, but then as I got back into routine, I was just like, this is, this life's over, you know, this whole life is, the life that I knew is now over.
Pete (33:29.164)
Right.
Chris O'Neil (33:37.807)
Hmm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (33:51.413)
And it kind of felt like the more and more of the stuff that I was doing, it made me feel worse. You know, it was like more sad, more grief, more just, more just gross feelings. Right. And so I knew right away, I was like, okay, and I recognized it right away. It's like, okay, we got to, we got to do some different stuff and try some different things and you know, I mean, obviously there's only so much you can do all at once, right? Because I mean, there,
When something like that happens, and for any spouse, like if anyone who has a spouse that passes away, no matter what the situation is, I mean, it's, for the people that go to the funeral and say goodbye, it's typically, they say their goodbyes and within a week or two, they're kind of back into life, but for the immediate family, there's a lot to do, a lot more than I would have ever even imagined. And I felt like we had our stuff together, especially from a financial side of just being prepared for something like that and just having, but it was still.
Chris O'Neil (34:46.52)
Mm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (34:47.705)
Immense amount of work. I mean we're talking months and months and months of having to go through some of that stuff So but yeah, so I mean there's only so much you can do but I mean as far as like the holidays and stuff You know like Thanksgiving when we got to you know, we didn't really and I told the family That's like we're not said it's nothing against you guys, but we're not gonna do the normal thing, you know We're not gonna probably come and it's not that I Don't want to it's just it nothing feels right now, you know, so we're just gonna do our own thing we're gonna do some different stuff and You know, and I also realized too. It's like
Pete (34:48.014)
nothing.
Chris O'Neil (34:52.652)
Yeah, yeah.
Chris O'Neil (35:03.501)
Mm-hmm.
Pete (35:10.868)
Right.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (35:17.653)
One year isn't gonna hurt anybody. It's like, we'll still make it special, we'll still do some fun things, but I don't feel like hopefully my kids will look back and be like, do you remember that one year when everything was just completely different? And they might remember some of that. But, and it's not like I'm saying we're skipping it all, but at the same time, we're just gonna do it different. And so far, the kids have been great with it. We still decorate the house, we put up our Christmas tree, and everything's just on much of a lower key level though.
Pete (35:31.423)
Yeah, yeah.
Pete (35:47.148)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (35:47.213)
You know, it's just, you know, but I also wanted it that way too. You know, it's just, there's only so much as a single parent that you can do now. You know, it's like you don't have someone helping you out with things. So it's like you can't, you can't put in all of the energy and effort when you got two parents involved. It's just, it's just impossible, right? So I have to be, you know, reasonable with myself and accept the fact that there's only so much that I can do and here's what I can do. Here's what I have the energy to do. And, you know, so far the kids are happy and, you know, we're, we're
Chris O'Neil (35:47.35)
Yeah.
Pete (36:01.992)
Right.
Chris O'Neil (36:02.19)
Yeah.
Pete (36:11.106)
Hmm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (36:16.505)
pushing through. So yeah, I mean, it's gonna be weird. I mean, I would think it would be weird not to feel like it's gonna be weird, right?
Pete (36:23.123)
Right so Like for with Thanksgiving for instance when you said you did your own low-key thing did you guys like? Do like a turkey different like a different style like hey this year? We're gonna deep fry it or I remember one year my family. We did a turducken I remember that Thanksgiving like clear as fucking day all the others are kind of muddled together but
Chris O'Neil (36:23.304)
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (36:36.994)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (36:43.893)
Yeah, we went, we actually decided to just go over to a friend's house. We typically would host, we have hosted Thanksgiving here. Sarah would do it every year. And so that was probably like the bigger holiday, especially over Christmas, than anything. So I actually feel like getting over to Thanksgiving was actually going to be harder than say Christmas because of just how we've always done it. And so we just, we spent time with some new friends that I have and
Chris O'Neil (37:05.009)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (37:12.269)
went over and just did some stuff completely different, new experiences, and yeah, it turned out just fine, you know, and we still had the Green Bean Casserole. Yeah, we still did.
Pete (37:18.562)
but you still had the green bean casserole. You guys are gross. Gross!
Chris O'Neil (37:20.848)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Pete (37:25.996)
HUEH
Chris O'Neil (37:30.416)
He didn't ever get that down, man. Yeah, yeah, thanks. You fucks. No, uh... No, I see, it's just one of those things. I love when Pete, I love when Pete comes in hardcore with, with some, like, opinion of his that he really feels is, is like solidly mainstream, and he's like, yeah, how about that bullshit? And then the... Well, the green bean casserole for one, but, uh... I can't think of anything off the top of my head now.
Pete (37:30.562)
So you were gonna say something Chris? We'll let you talk now.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (37:38.649)
Yeah.
Pete (37:51.659)
Like what?
Pete (37:58.146)
Gross.
Chris O'Neil (38:00.152)
But you came in with it like, yeah, who the fuck likes green bean casserole? I'm like, fucking everybody, dude. You're the odd one out here, man. Don't act like it's normal to not like green bean casserole. It's like, it's like our buddy Ryan hates sour cream.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (38:07.429)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Pete (38:11.786)
I've been watching House lately and my behavior right now is totally acceptable.
Chris O'Neil (38:16.838)
Hahaha!
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (38:16.997)
Ha ha.
Chris O'Neil (38:20.861)
Mm, yeah, yeah.
Pete (38:22.422)
But yeah, Green Media Haswell's growth.
And so is in cranberry sauce, but that's a story for another time.
Chris O'Neil (38:31.756)
Now, see I'm with you on that one.
Pete (38:33.226)
and I'm from New England.
Chris O'Neil (38:37.036)
Yeah, I'm one of those weird fucks that doesn't like cranberry sauce either. No, but I-
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (38:42.437)
See, I can do cranberry sauce on the turkey, like put it on a slice of turkey. Oh, that's good. That's good, man. Oof.
Chris O'Neil (38:46.616)
Well, see, that's the thing, like on a turkey sandwich with mayonnaise, turkey, and cranberry sauce, uh, blended, fine. But like, just spoonfuls of cranberry sauce? No.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (38:52.921)
Oh, that's good. Yeah. Oh yeah. No, I don't, I don't know if anyone just, I don't know. Maybe people do. Does anyone actually sit down, open up a can of cranberry sauce and just put it in a bowl and eat it? I don't know. That's weird.
Chris O'Neil (39:03.748)
Well shit man, I used to-
Pete (39:03.978)
I don't even think they have to put it in a bowl, I think they just... It stays in that can shape, so they just hold it and they eat it like a fuck it, I don't know what. I bet it's like... And melts and drips. Oh. Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (39:10.385)
Alright, I'm just taking bites out of it.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (39:15.434)
That gel, that gelatin, it's all for.
Chris O'Neil (39:17.092)
dripping down, you like fucking look like a vampire. Dude, I used to, when I was real, real little, I used to sit under the kitchen table and eat sticks of butter.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (39:21.701)
I'm
Pete (39:22.094)
Oh, this is good!
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (39:31.843)
Ugh, really?
Chris O'Neil (39:32.192)
Yeah. Yeah, like, and I like, and I might be remembering that wrong. It might shit. I know at least one of my siblings did that with mayonnaise. I think it was my sister, Katie. And yeah, because we got caught one time under my grandmother's kitchen table, just chowing down on a stick of butter. I can't even.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (39:37.192)
Ugh.
Pete (39:57.41)
just eating random shit.
Chris O'Neil (39:59.4)
Yeah, I can't even think of that right now. I'm just like, oh, ha Oh god couldn't do that now, but
Pete (40:04.95)
Don't leave those O'Neill kids alone, they'll eat fucking everything in your house. They're like goats, those O'Neills.
Chris O'Neil (40:08.74)
I swear to god, man, one of my sisters would eat the paint off my other grandmother's banister. Like, stick her head between the- between the banister rails and just, arrrrgh, and chew the paint off the- off the rail.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (40:08.805)
Hehehehehehe
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (40:17.275)
Oh, wait.
Pete (40:21.182)
If it's a sister I'm thinking of that explains a lot. Oh my God, does it explain so much. Oh no, shit, then nevermind. She was totally normal. I thought it might've been Eileen.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (40:21.209)
Ha ha ha!
Chris O'Neil (40:27.012)
This is Katie.
Chris O'Neil (40:30.924)
Yeah, no, it was Katie. And yeah.
Nope. No, she got her head stuck too. Like, she stuck her head in and then turned her head to eat and then couldn't get her head back out and started crying. Oh yeah. Some good stories there, fuckers.
Pete (40:38.114)
Cough cough.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (40:46.509)
Well, it's a good thing you had the butter underneath the table. You could run over and help her out with that butter and get her out of the pan.
Pete (40:48.756)
I know right?
Chris O'Neil (40:50.02)
That's true! Yeah, just hold on! This is rubbish. Ha ha!
Pete (40:54.974)
I'm all greased up. I, uh, I ate cat food once. Not dry cat food either, but like wet cat food.
Chris O'Neil (40:57.2)
Jesus.
Chris O'Neil (41:02.557)
Oh nice. Why would you do that?
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (41:03.277)
Oh, that's oof.
Pete (41:05.438)
Yeah, I was lied to early in the morning. So when I was a teenager, you know, I'd stay out late, get high and things, and then come home and then wake up all groggy in the morning. And I thought one morning that my family had chocolate cake and my dad was like, oh yeah, it was delicious. So I ate some of the crumbs and it was fucking cat food. It was dried, wet cat food.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (41:14.873)
Ha ha!
Chris O'Neil (41:14.884)
Right. Mm.
Pete (41:30.888)
fucking disgusting.
Chris O'Neil (41:36.108)
Oh yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (41:36.36)
That's awesome.
Pete (41:37.158)
I learned my lesson, dude. That's for sure. Oh, it's gross. So gross. I don't even know how cats can fucking live.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (41:39.618)
Ugh.
Pete (41:47.138)
Yeah, so it's true. So what are the plans for Christmas for everybody? Brad, what do you got going on that's gonna be different for you this year?
Chris O'Neil (41:48.496)
Jesus.
Well, alright, uh...
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (41:57.661)
Uh, laying low, honestly, Christmas is pretty low key for us to begin with. So, uh, my dad lives, uh, down in Florida. I'm up in Wisconsin. So, uh, my other brother lives in, uh, Tennessee. And then I've got a brother that lives about an hour away from me, but, you know, he typically do- does things with his wife's family. Uh, so, I mean, Christmas is usually because of our fam- my family is, like, so spread out. Usually, if we- we got together, it would just be with, uh-
you know, Sarah's family for Christmas day afternoon and that was only typically for a couple of hours. So, I mean, we've always had a pretty low key, which honestly is really nice because most people's Christmases are just freaking chaos. You know, oh man. And it was always kind of nice, you know, just to hang out and chill out. You know, you spent all this time, you know, getting all the gifts ready for the kids and you just kind of open them up slowly and just, you know, hang out. And it's just, it was kind of always a very relaxing holiday. So I kind of have the same plans, you know, nothing, I mean, nothing.
Pete (42:29.858)
Hmm.
Chris O'Neil (42:36.494)
Yeah.
Pete (42:36.811)
nightmares yeah
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (42:54.957)
too crazy or abnormal. And we're also just kind of winging it too. You know, I don't really have any... Because you don't know exactly how you're going to feel until you get there sometimes. You know, you can make all these plans and all of it's like, well, I don't know. You know, so that's a big part of this too is that I've... And I've told people this. They're like, hey, do you want to go do such and such and, you know, go here? And it's like a few months from now. And it's like, no.
Pete (42:56.644)
Mm.
Pete (43:06.22)
Right?
Chris O'Neil (43:07.17)
Yep.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (43:23.361)
I'm not going to commit to that because I just don't know, you know, if I'm going to be in the mood to do anything when I get to that point, you know. So it's always just been kind of playing it by ear and not really making any long-term plans, which is really weird for me because I'm kind of more of a planner, especially for like the year of, hey, these are the things that we want to do, these are the things we want to go do, especially if we're going on trips or anything. And right now I'm just not doing too much of that, you know. I am going on a cruise in a week, which is going to be cool with a friend.
Chris O'Neil (43:26.646)
Yep.
Chris O'Neil (43:30.116)
Yeah, totally get it.
Pete (43:30.177)
Oh god, yeah.
Pete (43:47.554)
Hmm. I get that.
Chris O'Neil (43:52.879)
Nice.
Pete (43:52.959)
Nice.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (43:53.109)
You know, and I'm really excited about that getting away and finally just me getting away. I haven't had any like time away from my kids except for like a few weekends here and there. And you know, just getting some time and just being able to get away from everything and refresh, recharge and you know, come back. We are going to be going on an Eastern Caribbean cruise. Is it Eastern? Yes, no, Western, sorry. I can't remember if it's Western or Eastern.
Chris O'Neil (44:02.422)
Yeah.
Pete (44:10.895)
What's your crew's gonna entail? What are you gonna see?
Chris O'Neil (44:18.654)
Oh damn.
Pete (44:21.294)
So Western, are you gonna hit Jamaica? Okay, yeah, if you're hitting Jamaica, you're gonna hit Western.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (44:23.617)
Yes, Western, right? That's Western. Yeah, so Jamaica. I think we're going to go to... It's always interesting when we say Haiti, right? We're going to go to Haiti. And then... What is the other one? I think the Bahamas is the other one. Not Cuba. No. Although I've heard it's fantastic for my Canadian friends. You know, they love going to Cuba. Yeah.
Pete (44:31.885)
Mm.
Pete (44:38.026)
not Cuba. What cruise line?
Chris O'Neil (44:40.065)
Thank you.
Pete (44:44.91)
I have heard good stuff too. What cruise line? Because they usually have their own private island that they stop at as well.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (44:50.849)
Yeah, that's the it's Royal Caribbean. They go to Haiti. It's called the Labadee is their island, I think Um, and uh, so yeah Yeah, it's uh, six nights seven days and uh, i'm excited about that. So I guess if you were gonna say it What we're doing different. That's what i'm gonna do Right
Pete (44:55.577)
Okay.
Chris O'Neil (44:56.093)
Mm.
Chris O'Neil (45:01.86)
Dude, nice.
Pete (45:02.094)
Nice.
Pete (45:07.39)
Hey man, that's what counts is how you're handling it yourself, man, you know? And that ought to be fun.
Chris O'Neil (45:12.088)
Yeah, because you're the spearhead for the family. It's that making sure that you're good so they can be good. And that's important.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (45:23.501)
Right, right. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Pete (45:25.382)
Yeah. It's like this one time I took my first vacation to see my friend out in California and the motherfucker worked the whole time that I was out there.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (45:33.342)
Oh no!
Who was that, I wonder? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Pete (45:38.266)
And then I ate an in-and-out burger, and then I had a milkshake, and then I had to like immediately be dropped off That was horrible. It was literally in-and-out burger. Oh my god. Oh But we did see some really cool shit we know what the airport yeah, you've picked me up and dropped me off
Chris O'Neil (45:47.844)
Dude, uh, dropped at the airport you mean?
Chris O'Neil (45:54.936)
No, you said it me... What?
Pete (45:59.338)
What? Huh?
Chris O'Neil (46:00.112)
What did you just say? I didn't hear it.
Pete (46:03.902)
I said we saw some good shit. Like Nakatomi Towa and we did that Back to the Future thing. But I'm gonna bitch, we did that DoorDashing shit that you did out there and then we ate some guy's food because he didn't answer the phone, remember? That was good shit. I drove around in the car with him and I smoked weed the whole time and he delivered food.
Chris O'Neil (46:06.04)
Yeah, we did. Fucking A.
Chris O'Neil (46:16.176)
That's right. Yeah, it was, well, out here it was.
Chris O'Neil (46:26.05)
Oh yeah. Yep. Oh yeah, that was back before I met my wife. I was in my massage therapy days and I was... What? Was it?
Pete (46:28.055)
Fat guy in a Mini.
No, you were living with your wife because
Actually, Chris, you were with your wife because if you remember, yeah. Uh, so there was this story that they had hidden the remotes and I was sleeping in the remote, in the, the living room and, uh, apparently somebody wanted to be frisky that evening. And that's all I could hear the whole night was Chris and his lady friend. And then I woke up before everybody and I waited and Aisha was like, good morning. How did you sleep? I'm like, oh, lovely. She's like, you want some coffee? I'm like, sure. And then I'm like, where's Chris? And she's like, oh, he'll be out in a minute.
She went into the bedroom and you came out and I'm like, you motherfucker. You go, how do you turn on the TV? I go, cause if I have to deal with that again, I'm knocking on the door and I'm gonna ask for my turn, is what I said.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (47:07.801)
Ha ha.
Chris O'Neil (47:17.604)
Dude, I completely forgot about that. Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (47:21.499)
Oh
Pete (47:22.014)
Ugh, I never forgot. It was like seeing your parents naked when you were a kid.
Chris O'Neil (47:24.88)
Clearly.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (47:27.334)
hahahaha
Chris O'Neil (47:27.608)
Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice. Err, ehh,
Pete (47:30.667)
Ahem.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (47:31.717)
Uhhhhhh...
Pete (47:33.302)
Good times. But yeah, no, dude, vacations are good to break that.
Pete (47:45.674)
Yeah, I was in the fetal position rocking back and forth and those dogs were comforting me.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (47:46.189)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (47:52.688)
I'm trying to dominate you buddy, sorry. No, so that had to have been like 2014 or something, right?
Pete (47:58.077)
Hmm. But yeah, no, vacations are good, man.
Pete (48:03.17)
It was the Back to the Future days, 2015. Remember? The year that Marty came back. We all stood in a parking lot like a bunch of morons waiting for a fictional character to show up. Lone Pine Maul.
Chris O'Neil (48:05.376)
Oh, 2015, okay. All right, yeah, that's right. That's right. Yep, yep, I do know. That's right. October 21st, 2015. Yeah. Oh yeah. And that was when we smoked a joint. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, we have pictures. We'll have to put them up on the Facebook page.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (48:10.424)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (48:21.538)
Were you guys actually there at the parking lot?
Pete (48:23.518)
Oh yeah. I got, I got.
Pete (48:29.298)
I got wicked stoned and I sent my girlfriend this like insanely rambling video about what was going on and I'm talking like I had done like 18 lines of cocaine. I was like talking and I'm like watching the thing and I'm sweating and I'm like Jesus Christ but man what a good time that was. My favorite moment from that whole trip was standing in front of the McFly house on the street where Doc says Rhodes.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (48:29.785)
That's awesome.
Chris O'Neil (48:31.609)
He did.
Chris O'Neil (48:40.063)
Hahahaha
Pete (48:57.718)
where we're going, we don't need roads. I've never felt like so like connected to a spot in my life and I never had been there, but because of I've watched the movie so much, like I literally like tingles and then that little Haitian kid came up, hey, Mr. and he gave us that flyer, remember? The save the clock tower flyer, Chris.
Chris O'Neil (48:58.98)
They don't need rope.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (49:09.942)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (49:18.62)
Oh yeah.
Chris O'Neil (49:20.273)
yeah duty uh... what's great to is there was an event at the twin pines mall and obviously not called the twin pines mall but where they filmed it uh... at night and there were just everyone who had a delorean and you know they're all tricked out back to the future style and uh... that a big screen christopher loyd surprised everyone with a zoom call and
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (49:21.701)
That is awesome.
Pete (49:45.358)
Oh, that was terrible. The connection was so shitty.
Chris O'Neil (49:45.836)
Yeah, it was just, I know, because the connection was so bad. It was like, can you hear me? Ah, yeah. But after that, we ended up going of our own accord out to all of these other locations of like, you know, Lorraine's house and Marty's house and Doc's house. And we just went on this tour of all of the spots and it was definitely a good time.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (49:51.249)
Yeah.
Pete (50:12.695)
We.
Pete (50:15.99)
We were in front of Lorraine's house in Back to the Future arguing about the tree that George fell out of. And we're standing on the street and I got my YouTube, I got YouTube open and I'm showing him the video. I'm like, it's this fucking tree. And I'm like pointing to the tree and we're standing out and I'm like, look, you know, and it's like everyone must have been looking out the window going, these fucking people are still here.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (50:16.645)
That's awesome.
Chris O'Neil (50:21.368)
Right, which one was it? Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (50:21.861)
Oh.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (50:35.984)
Hahaha
Pete (50:37.482)
That's it surely we're moving get the fuck out of this neighborhood But yeah Yeah, that's like that's my big thing for vacations I love going to see Things that I've seen in movies like I've been to the mall the Blues Brothers drove it drove through that's up in your state with Wisconsin Yep, it's just over the border I've been to the bridge that
Chris O'Neil (50:43.184)
Yep. Good time. It was.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (50:43.789)
What a cool thing though, that's awesome.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (50:56.867)
Oh, is it really?
Pete (51:02.722)
Carol Hathaway and Doug Ross stood on at the end of ER. I've been to the Quick Stop and RST video, respectively, from Clerks. Yeah, I'm a total nerd when it comes to shit like that. I almost crashed. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I met the owner and his extremely hot wife, which after seeing pictures, I was wrong. Not very hot at all. I had this very vision that he was like this 90-year-old guy with like this like...
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (51:14.349)
Yeah, that's awesome.
Chris O'Neil (51:14.444)
You've been up to the Kent farm in Vancouver.
Pete (51:31.714)
30 year old blonde and like she was like super attractive, but we have pictures my friend was like I don't know what you're talking about But this is that woman and I'm like, holy shit. My memory was so wrong. I was like oh fucking betrayed
Chris O'Neil (51:47.724)
You were Smallville High, I think. That's the problem.
Pete (51:50.85)
God. But that was cool. I love seeing that sort of shit. Because that's my memories, is stuff that I've seen in movies. That was my childhood.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (51:58.177)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (51:58.852)
Well, there you go, experiences, experiences over things. So there we go, full circle.
Pete (52:03.698)
Yeah. Full circle. So yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (52:04.269)
Right. Yep.
Chris O'Neil (52:07.256)
All right, well, is there like any small little, cause I think, I hear you on that. Yeah, we should have had, you should have had you on talking about Christmas finances like four months ago, but I know we're really close, but at the same time, like the little reminders just before we get into the season in real time that you can, you know, maybe not do this and do this instead type of thing.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (52:31.982)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (52:35.957)
Yeah, I mean, I would say, I mean, one of the things you can definitely do is just is look at reasonably what you can afford to do. Go through your finances, figure out like what are your true needs for this particular month, because obviously it is the month of December. And, you know, figure out how what can you afford to do with the least amount of debt that you possibly can if you're someone who the only way that you're going to be able to do it is with financing it. You know, I would say.
That's probably the best thing that you can do. And look at it. There's so many of us that have gone through this. And we get to the holidays, and it is that stressful situation. But I can tell you that the people that have gone on to get themselves out of debt and to improve their finances, they've looked back at that and said, it's been one of the best things that we ever did, was to really kind of just hold back a little bit during that holiday and really work on our finances come January. And a lot of people feel really, really good about that decision. So.
Chris O'Neil (53:21.804)
Hmm
Pete (53:25.517)
Mm.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (53:33.309)
I would say again, look at your budget, and if you don't have one, this is a good time and maybe we should make one, right? Especially just even if it's for your, right, mega budget, you know, start looking at what you want to spend, start looking at who you want to buy stuff for, what is your list of people you need to buy for, and then start prioritizing from top to bottom. And you know, you only have so much money, so figure out who you want to spend on what, and if you get to the end and there's not enough money and there's more people, well, those people just don't give presents, right?
Chris O'Neil (53:37.88)
Well, there you go. Make a budget. All right.
Pete (54:01.745)
They get a card.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (54:03.213)
But they get something like homemade or something like that, right?
Chris O'Neil (54:04.376)
Well, yeah. Well, and seriously, like there's nothing wrong with with, you know, thought, right? It was a thoughtful gesture as opposed to a materialistic gift, right?
Pete (54:20.278)
They get a card. Sorry my money ran out before I got to you. Have a Merry Christmas anyway!
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (54:24.13)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (54:30.709)
But yeah, I think those are those are some of the easy things that you can do is number one Just set up a holiday budget and figure out just based off of the money that you have also Hey, this is a good time like sell some stuff get some stuff on Facebook marketplace Like if there's stuff around your house like stuff you're not using You know, that's a that's a great way just to make some extra money right now during the holidays There's people looking for deals like I bought one of my one of my kids actually was is my daughter
Chris O'Neil (54:43.392)
Oh shit, there you go. Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (54:52.036)
That's a great tip.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (54:56.129)
but are used power wheels during the holidays. Like two years ago, it was like a $400 or $500 power wheel. I got it for like $100, the thing's still running. This was two, three years ago now, and that thing runs great. So I mean, look for used opportunities too. I mean, it doesn't always have to be brand spanking new stuff. There's a lot of good things that are still out there. So I think, yeah, I mean, if you're willing to be resourceful and you want to get through the holidays without debt, I mean, there's definitely plenty of opportunities in order to do that.
Pete (54:58.51)
gone.
Chris O'Neil (55:03.748)
There you go. Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (55:13.434)
Mm-hmm.
Pete (55:24.47)
Yeah. Best way would be to plan ahead.
Chris O'Neil (55:24.568)
Well, and I think I'd like to throw out this one big thing. If no one else gives you permission, anyone who is listening, you have permission to not have to keep up with everybody else. It's not an obligation to buy presents for everyone. And if they make you feel guilty about it, then that's on them. That's not on you. So it's to put yourself into d***.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (55:40.771)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (55:54.undefined)
major debt to put yourself in a shitty situation just so you don't have to hear someone else's bullshit. You have full permission to not do that this year. From all three of us.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (56:08.129)
Yep. 100% agree.
Pete (56:10.966)
Just tell them that Chris O'Neill said it's okay. I'm not taking any shit from nobody.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (56:13.785)
Hahaha.
Chris O'Neil (56:15.536)
Ha ha!
Never mind, just Brad and I. Yeah, from the emotion perspective, I say it's alright. And from the financial perspective, Brad says it's alright. Pete says you can go fuck yourself. Hahaha!
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (56:28.517)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Pete (56:29.546)
I didn't say that, I just, you know, do whatever makes you happy.
I just don't want to get involved.
Chris O'Neil (56:37.308)
Yeah, yeah, alright then. Well, shit.
Pete (56:43.131)
And if someone says like have you ever had anybody say oh don't get me anything for Christmas And then you don't and then they like lambasted you for not getting them anything My dad all the time. I Don't need nothing Okay
Chris O'Neil (56:51.3)
Yeah, yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (56:54.381)
Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (56:59.001)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (56:59.371)
And then you show up with nothing and they're like, what the fuck?
Pete (57:01.662)
Oh, you wrap an empty box. Like, well, you said get you nothing.
Chris O'Neil (57:02.254)
Yeah.
And that's what he said he wanted. I spent money on a wrapper paper. Yeah. No, no, seriously. And, and, uh, your dad's great and all, but people like that can go fuck themselves. Seriously. Like, that's, that's some good, solid, psychological and emotional manipulation. And they can keep it. Okay?
Pete (57:07.978)
Yeah.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (57:09.038)
Uhh... Good stuff.
Pete (57:23.998)
Oh yeah. Well, it's 10 o'clock Eastern time, and that means I'm gonna turn into a pumpkin. I think Brad has some childcare issues.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (57:34.753)
Oh yeah, yep. You got to get back up there. I got a sitter who needs to get out of here. So I accidentally had someone who got sick. Wow. Yeah. And it's the other thing, you know, it's like, you know, it's only me, you know, it's like, it's just like this whole new world, you know, of trying to navigate all this stuff by myself. So yeah, I had someone set up for this interview tonight. They got sick. So I had to, you know, rush around, find somebody else and, uh, luckily was able to make it work, but yeah, it's like,
Chris O'Neil (57:39.56)
Oh yeah, cause you're right. Hahaha Dude it's like
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Chris O'Neil (58:02.564)
and we are eternally grateful did uh... yet we've we thought that was gonna make it the uh... he pulled it out last minute and uh... we're grateful for it and we totally get it did absolutely it yet for sure and i hear you on the money did is a hundred dollars just leave my house if i can't babysit dot forget
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (58:03.425)
Makes it challenging, there's no question.
Pete (58:12.162)
Totally would have worked with you though, man, anytime you needed.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (58:16.373)
Yeah, don't worry. We got it to work. We're good. We're good.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (58:24.925)
Oh, man, it's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah.
Chris O'Neil (58:30.105)
Well.
Pete (58:30.238)
Yeah, I just have the teenager watch one of them and it usually cost me like a Dr. Pepper.
Chris O'Neil (58:35.096)
Well there you go, you have that, uh, you have that, uh, See, there's the bonus to having teenagers. Ha ha
Pete (58:39.498)
When I'm feeling really cheap... When I'm feeling really cheap, it's a McDonald's fuckin' drink. Dollar 29.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (58:40.1)
You do.
Right, right.
Chris O'Neil (58:46.064)
Yeah, nice. Yeah, that's flat soda. Awesome. Well, Brad, you have a fantastic holiday, and I hope you and your kids have the experience that you want to and still have those memories and and. Have those shared grief laden experiences in a positive way that, you know, in good remembrance of your wife, so best wishes there.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (59:13.953)
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate that. Thanks guys. Hey, have a good Merry Christmas to you guys, too
Pete (59:15.522)
For sure. Thanks, you too, man. Hey, if you need an idea, movie theaters are always empty on Christmas.
Chris O'Neil (59:18.949)
Thanks.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (59:23.345)
Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's actually a really good idea.
Chris O'Neil (59:23.492)
True. It's true, great place to go. And, uh, and, uh.
Pete (59:26.71)
So what we used to do, we used to hop like crazy.
Chris O'Neil (59:30.612)
Oh yeah, always. Always as a kid. And uh, Brad, uh, last, uh, quick last thing, go ahead and plug, plug all your stuff, man.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (59:41.009)
Oh yeah, I mean if you're looking here in 2024 to improve your finances, go check out us out at defredad.com. We have a podcast also called the Defredad Podcast. We actually just released our 200th episode, which is an amazing milestone. We're pretty happy about that. And yeah, I mean, we got on, thanks guys. Yeah, we got on TikTok this past year and man, TikTok has really helped our podcast just really grow and really, really excited about what we're doing next year. We just hired a company on.
Pete (59:54.785)
Bye!
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (01:00:10.009)
to really help our podcast grow even more. So yeah, we've got a lot of great stuff there. So if you're looking just for, you know, you're a normal everyday person just like us and you want to improve your finances, that's what we're all about. You know, we're just helping normal everyday people learn how to just do this stuff better. And come check us out. I think you'll find that you'll like it a lot.
Pete (01:00:28.878)
Excellent. Definitely. He is a good guy and he knows his shit.
Chris O'Neil (01:00:29.892)
Awesome. Indeed. Yeah, we've had him on three times. Come on.
Brad Nelson - Debt Free Dad (01:00:34.309)
Appreciate that. Ha ha ha. All right guys, appreciate ya. All right, you guys too. Thanks for having me on again.
Pete (01:00:40.939)
All right, Brad, have a good one.
Chris O'Neil (01:00:42.072)
You as well, buddy.
Pete (01:00:44.759)
Thanks.
Chris O'Neil (01:00:45.14)
Absolutely.