Are you looking for more ways to save money? Josh and Austin have ten tips that might be able to help! They discuss groceries, insurance, subscriptions, cooking at home, and much more! If you’re looking for ways to save, this episode is for you. Listen now!
Main Talking Points
[0:57] – #1 Do You Really Need That Much House?
[4:33] – #2 How to Save on Groceries
[9:08] – #3 Stop Buying New Cars
[13:14] – #4 Maintenance on Cars
[18:42] – #5 Subscriptions
[20:40] – Dad Joke of the Week
[21:06] – #6 Plan Ahead
[24:05] – #7 How Much Insurance?
[27:47] – #8 Cook at Home More
[31:38] – #9 Stop Buying the Newest Gadgets
[33:47] – #10 Round Up Automatically
[35:49] – BONUS: Make More Money
Links & Resources
Invest With Us – The Invested Dads
Free Guide: 8 Timeless Principles of Investing
Social Media
Full Transcript
Intro:
Welcome to The Invested Dads Podcast, simplifying financial topics, so that you can take action and make your financial situation better. Helping you to understand the current world of financial planning and investments, here are your hosts, Josh Robb and Austin Wilson.
Austin Wilson:
All right. Hey, hey, hey, welcome back to The Invested Dads Podcast, a podcast where we take you on a journey to better your financial future. In an effort to better your financial future, today, we are going to give our 10 ways, 10, count them, ways to save you money.
Josh Robb:
All right, these are going to be ways that most people can do. Now, they may not all apply to you, but hopefully, you can take a couple of these and get farther down the road to savings.
Austin Wilson:
There are probably some that actually if this don’t apply to you, you probably just won’t listen to this episode. If you’re like the guy who has a Ferrari, then you’re good to go. So, anyway, let’s just hit the ground running, Josh.
Josh Robb:
Jump in there.
[0:57] – #1 Do You Really Need That Much House?
Austin Wilson:
Number one. What about your house?
Josh Robb:
Yeah. So, there’s a couple things you can think about when you’re looking to save money when it applies to your house. Now, again, if you’re renting, this is a different situation. But if you own your home or have a mortgage on your home more particularly, this is two things. First is interest rates are super low.
Austin Wilson:
Super low.
Josh Robb:
We’ve talked about this, right? We’ve talked about this in other episodes. We did a refi episode. We talked about that.
Austin Wilson:
Yup.
Josh Robb:
What to do, all the ideas of what refinancing looks like, all that.
Austin Wilson:
So, check that episode out. If you’re more interested about refinancing, go ahead.
Josh Robb:
Yes. So, refinance your home, that may be an opportunity to free up cash flow. So, we’re talking about saving money. So, if you refinance and you cut your mortgage payment down, you have extra cash flow each month to do something with, i.e., safe.
Austin Wilson:
That would generally be done through keeping the term the same but getting a new low rate, because rates are probably lower-
Josh Robb:
Correct.
Austin Wilson:
… if you bought the house anytime in the past really.
Josh Robb:
Yes, yes.
Austin Wilson:
So yes, that can save you monthly money in your budget as well. Another option when you’re thinking about your house is downsize. It’s an option a lot of people don’t really consider that option, but if you don’t need the space… Now, I know we’re probably going to have someone email us saying, “Hey, my family gets together twice a year. There’s 1,000 of us, because all my kids have seven kids. We all get together and come,” but do you really need to live in an 8,000 square foot lake house mansion with two of you? Maybe not.
Josh Robb:
You do, you have to.
Austin Wilson:
Maybe not. So, yes, if you’re retired, you could probably live in something smaller. Maybe go to one of your kids’ houses for the holidays or-
Josh Robb:
Rent a place.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, rent a room or a place somewhere. Because those huge houses make A, for large, large, large mortgage payments, which you could if you had a smaller house pay less, which is great. If you own it, there’s still more costs associated with it from utilities, from heating and cooling space you’re not using, more taxes, more insurance, more maintenance and more work.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. So, high level is don’t let the sentiment of… Sentiment?
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
Sentiment.
Austin Wilson:
Don’t try and keep up with the Joneses.
Josh Robb:
Yes, but don’t let your past relationship with your house keep you from making that decision. Don’t fall in love with the property. Remember the memories, but it’s not the building. It’s the memories that are made there. So, there may come a time in your life where you may say, “You know what? As much fun as it was raising a family here, it just doesn’t make sense anymore.” We could make some new memories at a new place.
Austin Wilson:
That’s right. Now, I hear the mortgage payments. So, utilities, heating and cooling expenses, taxes, insurance, maintenance, those things we talked about. They’re very affordable in cardboard boxes.
Josh Robb:
Yes, yeah, there’s very little-
Austin Wilson:
Overhead is quite low. For real, we’re not saying that. We’re saying find a size of a space you need and allow the extra money you save to fuel your ability to travel, spend time with family, do things you want to do, because having more house than you need can be an anchor.
Josh Robb:
Yes. A lot of what we’re going to talk about today really comes down to prioritizing your needs and desires. Can you have a big house? Yeah. What do you give up to have that? You know what? My family gets together here. This is the spot that everybody comes to and they do it often. Okay, that makes sense. We really don’t like to travel. We don’t do a lot of… Okay, that’s a location everybody can come. Just weigh the two. What are we giving up to keep this property?
[4:33] – #2 How to Save on Groceries
Austin Wilson:
That is a lever some people can pull. Number two, consider your groceries carefully.
Josh Robb:
Yes, I always look very hard at my groceries.
Austin Wilson:
Because they’re delicious.
Josh Robb:
There are a lot of choices.
Austin Wilson:
But some practical things you can do when you start thinking about your groceries, A, don’t go to the store hungry, which I feel like I often do.
Josh Robb:
That’s a bad idea.
Austin Wilson:
Because then I’m like, “Yum, that sounds good.”
Josh Robb:
I know when you’re there, you’re just grabbing stuff here.
Austin Wilson:
Right.
Josh Robb:
You’re like, “I would not be picking this up if I wasn’t starving.”
Austin Wilson:
So, don’t go to the store hungry. You make impulse purchases. It’s not great. Number two, speaking of that, stick to the list. Take a list with you. Plan your meals out. Do whatever to stick to the list and don’t buy things that aren’t on the list. Another way to do this and it’s something that we’ve started using, Instacart. Consider delivery. You can’t go off the list or go to the store hungry if you get your groceries delivered to your house.
Josh Robb:
Unless the guy delivering is hungry, then you might be missing some groceries.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, that’s going counterproductive there, but that’s something we’ve done. It’s not free. There is a cost involved, but some people can weigh out the fact that you might spend a couple dollars to save a couple dollars of impulse purchases.
Josh Robb:
Or time even.
Austin Wilson:
Time equals money. That’s something good. People are going to debate me on this up and down, but I’m going to say it. This is controversial.
Josh Robb:
Go for it.
Austin Wilson:
I don’t believe that organic produce is worth it.
Josh Robb:
I’m on the same page as you.
Austin Wilson:
I’m like, “Does that $4 apple… Is it really worth twice as much as the $2 per pound apple?”
Josh Robb:
If it’s Honeycrisp, then yes.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, Josh.
Josh Robb:
But other than that, there’s no reason to pay more for an apple.
Austin Wilson:
I think that all produce goes through the same FDA approval process.
Josh Robb:
It’s just a difference of how-
Austin Wilson:
It’s deemed safe.
Josh Robb:
… they treat them there.
Austin Wilson:
Right, it’s deemed safe.
Josh Robb:
You’re right. I’m on the same page. Where we live, there’s a lot of farmers in the area. The ones I am friends with and related to or talk to, they’ll say the same thing is. I mean, organic’s there for a reason. It’s because they do go through extra stuff to make sure it’s not treated with certain chemicals and stuff. But in the end for most people, if you don’t have some issue from a health standpoint, where you find that, you’re really just paying for the label more than anything else.
Austin Wilson:
So, that could be a place to save a couple bucks here and there. Another option when you’re thinking about your groceries is it’s okay to use coupons, find deals. There’s probably more than one grocery store in your town. At least when I was growing up, there was one grocery store in town. But if you’re in a bigger town, there’s plenty of options. So, different stores have different coupons, different deals, different things or different prices. You might like different things at different places. So, shop around.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. There’s always generic brands to the brand names.
Austin Wilson:
We are big proponents… That’s for. We’re big for non-brand name foods. A knockoff Frito, it tastes a lot like a Frito.
Josh Robb:
There’s some things you got to go with the brand name.
Austin Wilson:
Coffee.
Josh Robb:
I don’t know.
Austin Wilson:
I’ve found there’s a difference between-
Josh Robb:
You got to have Folgers.
Austin Wilson:
Folgers or Maxwell House is the minimum. Aldi brand, we like Aldi a lot.
Josh Robb:
So, not the generics-
Austin Wilson:
Aldi brand coffee.
Josh Robb:
… brewing into your hot water stuff.
Austin Wilson:
Instant coffee, no. No, I don’t do that. Jif Peanut Butter, we like name brand peanut butter.
Josh Robb:
I actually go off-brand peanut butter. I’m okay with that. Mac and cheese. If you go off-brand mac and cheese, you’re running some risks there. I’m going to be honest with you.
Austin Wilson:
You’re saving like ¢20 of box.
Josh Robb:
I mean, it’s really cheap. That’s one in particular that I definitely go that route. What’s the other one that I’m just adamant about? Toothpaste. There’s certain toothpaste that I like. Crest and Colgate, everybody has their brand. When it’s not that, sometimes it’s not the same.
Austin Wilson:
So, you know how I like Dr. Squatch, that’s the soap I use.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
Dr. Squatch. It’s like naturally kind of soap, but I like it. It smells manly. So, I feel good about it. But they’d launched toothpaste. Manly toothpaste.
Josh Robb:
Manly toothpaste. Is it bacon flavor? What do we got here?
Austin Wilson:
There’s a different toothpaste at night and morning.
Josh Robb:
Oh, wow.
Austin Wilson:
Two different ones.
Josh Robb:
Interesting.
Austin Wilson:
I didn’t really plan on buying it, but it was part of a bundle I got for an early Christmas deal or whatever. So, I’m going to try it.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, let me know.
Austin Wilson:
I’m going to try it. So, night toothpaste and morning. Don’t use your morning toothpaste at night.
Josh Robb:
That’d be weird.
Austin Wilson:
We’d be up all night. We’d be jacked up.
Josh Robb:
Is there energy in it or what?
Austin Wilson:
I don’t know. We’re going to find out. All right. We’ve went through two items already, but preface this with this is Josh and my opinion. None of this is fact. You can debate us on this. In fact, we would welcome questions.
Josh Robb:
It is fact that if you do these, you can save money.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah.
Josh Robb:
Is it worth it or do you have value? Then that’s a whole another-
[9:08] – #3 Stop Buying New Cars
Austin Wilson:
Some people will debate us on these, but these are just our opinions. Yeah, we see a lot of people and get a lot of questions on these things, but that’s where we’re at. So, number three, I’m saying don’t buy a new car ever.
Josh Robb:
Drive a bike.
Austin Wilson:
I’m just talking brand new car. Unless money doesn’t matter to you, the benefit of buying a new car is far outweighed by the cost of buying a brand new car. Mostly because A, if you’re buying a brand new car, nowadays a new car’s easy $30,000-
Josh Robb:
That’s a lot of money.
Austin Wilson:
… $40,000. If you probably don’t have that in your pocket, so you’re going to finance that. When you’re financing something that’s depreciating very rapidly in the very beginning, you’re underwater instantly. I don’t like the idea of that.
Josh Robb:
There was talk about how much-
Austin Wilson:
So, wealth destroyer.
Josh Robb:
… you lose value driving out of the parking lot of the new car dealership.
Austin Wilson:
So, that is a wealth destroyer in my opinion. So, I would be a fan of low mileage. So, buy something used. Buy something of low mileage from a brand you trust, Honda. That’s just what I’m saying.
Josh Robb:
I’m a jeep fan.
Austin Wilson:
He’s a jeep fan.
Josh Robb:
So, what do you need to do?
Austin Wilson:
But buy it from a brand that you trust. I think it’s going to be less expensive over time, because that depreciation is horrible. If you buy it after the depreciation hit, it still depreciates, but it’s a lot slower.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, I agree with you with that. If you’re buying a two-, three-year old car as opposed to a brand new, there’s really not a lot of wear and tear on that for what the average person keeps a car for.
Austin Wilson:
True.
Josh Robb:
So, if you hold your car for 7 to 10 years, between having a 10-year old and a 12-year old car, not a big difference there really.
Austin Wilson:
Technology in cars, it’s changing, but the two-year difference isn’t really going to be that big of a difference. Another couple bullet points on that is you can save more money, even if you buy it not from a dealer. So, obviously-
Josh Robb:
There’s a markup there, yup.
Austin Wilson:
… used cars dealers, new car dealers, they all earn there to make money. It’s better if you’re buying a used car, you’re going to pay more for that used car at a dealership than you would if you found it on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace and did a private party transaction. The best deals come from people you know selling cars.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, really.
Austin Wilson:
So, keep an ear out. Give yourself time. You don’t have to buy something right away. That’s a good position to not be in. But say, “Hey, in three or four months, when the right deal comes along, I want a new Accord.” And then put the word out. Someone you know is probably going to sell one. Also, maintenance records. Buy a car with maintenance records. Especially something with higher mileage-
Josh Robb:
You want to know what’s been done.
Austin Wilson:
It’s going to have had maintenance records or maintenance done to it. So, if you don’t have those, you could be buying something that’s going to cost way more money in the long run.
Josh Robb:
If they said, “Oh, you’re supposed to change the oil. There’s 70,000 miles on it,” probably-
Austin Wilson:
Walk away.
Josh Robb:
… you get some problems there.
Austin Wilson:
Be okay with walking away. If you go and look at a car and it’s cracked up to be or you’re unsure about it, it’s okay to walk away. So, that’s a good thing.
Josh Robb:
Last time we were looking at a car for our family, I build a spreadsheet, because I love spreadsheets. I was tracking. I was watching online looking for, had a list of what I wanted, and had this nice sheet to track which one had what and everything. We were about three, four months into it. My wife’s like, “Are you just going to buy a car yet?” I’m like, “I got to wait, find the one I want.”
Austin Wilson:
That’s right.
Josh Robb:
We were driving about an hour and a half away to get it and it was great. It was-
Austin Wilson:
Michigan, right?
Josh Robb:
Yup, worth the time, worth the trip to find what you want for the price that you want. So, some people are great when it comes to knowing cars and what to look for if you do a lot of your own maintenance and issues. The dealership, the plus side and part of what you pay for is someone’s already looked at that car.
Austin Wilson:
Yes, exactly.
Josh Robb:
They bought it from somebody. They’ve looked through it and fixed up or tuned whatever they need to. So, if you’re uncertain and you don’t have someone you trust to come with you to do that, understand that part of the markup is you have at least something there to know that somebody looked at it. So, I bought cars from dealerships.
Austin Wilson:
I have, too.
Josh Robb:
I’m not great with vehicle maintenance. I’m not as handy on that side of life, but you’re right, buying from a private individual is you save that markup.
[13:14] – #4 Maintenance on Cars
Austin Wilson:
So, speaking of maintenance, I think my number four money saving option that people can have is to do some routine maintenance work on your vehicles by yourself. So, things like changing your oil, rotating your tires, just topping up your fluids.
Josh Robb:
Every time I drive Ford, my tires rotate. So, I’m good, right?
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, you’re good.
Josh Robb:
They’re always rotating.
Austin Wilson:
Exactly, constant rotation.
Josh Robb:
That’s a circle, right?
Austin Wilson:
Even things like headlight bulbs and air and filters and stuff like that, these are all things that you can do yourself very easily. They take very little time, very little knowledge. You can’t really mess them up. Although if you don’t put oil in it when you change the oil, that would be a bad thing.
Josh Robb:
You can’t just empty it out. You got to refill.
Austin Wilson:
You can do this at home for a fraction of the cost you could do it if you took it somewhere to get done. So, A, my advice is learn from YouTube, because-
Josh Robb:
That’s great.
Austin Wilson:
YouTube can tell you how to do anything. I was replacing a fog light. So, one of the low lights on my pilot, so I bought it six months ago now-
Josh Robb:
That’s true, like a normal light, super easy.
Austin Wilson:
It was the actual lens that was broke. The bulb’s fine, still works. But I bought a used lens on eBay. My vehicle’s old, but the thing was broken. I was going to fix it when I got the chance. Well, I finally had a chance the day after Thanksgiving, didn’t have work. So, I decided, “Hey, what’s it going to take to go out and work on this?” So, I’m like, “Hey, babe, I’m going to be in in half an hour. This should be real quick.”
Josh Robb:
Super easy.
Austin Wilson:
She knows now after all these years that it’s going to be more than twice as long.
Josh Robb:
You need two hours.
Austin Wilson:
You’re going to bust and knuckle and get a little frustrated at some point. Well, long story short, to change the fog light lens… Not the bulb, the bulb was fine. … I had to take the entire bumper off, the entire front bumper. So, I did that. Well, anyway, I learned how to do that from YouTube video. So, I’m a big proponent of YouTube.
Josh Robb:
This weekend, I had to mess with our washing machine. Same thing, ours doesn’t have a front access panel to get to stuff. There’s a drain valve that has a filter in it that stops clogs. So, I had to pull it out, take it off the backside. I just Googled, same thing, YouTube. Find it, watch a video, know how to do it.
Austin Wilson:
It’s awesome.
Josh Robb:
All so good.
Austin Wilson:
It’s awesome.
Josh Robb:
My wife always knows what I’m working if I come in and I need a Band-Aid.
Austin Wilson:
Exactly.
Josh Robb:
That’s how you know I’m doing something.
Austin Wilson:
I’ve never done a job if I don’t bust a knuckle.
Josh Robb:
If I don’t get a Band-Aid, I must not have been doing anything.
Austin Wilson:
That’s right.
Josh Robb:
I’m just sitting there.
Austin Wilson:
Sitting on the couch.
Josh Robb:
That’s how I hurt myself.
Austin Wilson:
Another benefit to doing some of your own work… I’m not talking major things. I’m just talking minor things. … is that when you’re working on your vehicle, you can spot other things to preventively take care of them. So, I was doing an oil change on my wife’s van a couple weeks ago. It went smoothly. There was no problem. But while I was under there, I was like, “Well, this heat shield has a little rattle thing. I’m going to tighten this up and fix it while I’m here.” It was great. So, these little things you can do instead of things causing bigger issues down the road.
Piece of advice is get what’s called an OBD II scanner. You can get them on Amazon, get them at a car store. It’s the same thing that AutoZone or whatever plug in and read the code. Your check engine light comes on. You can buy those things for 50 bucks or less. And then when your check engine light comes on, you scan it and you know what the code is, you can Google what causes that issue. And then either A, decide to do it, fix it, or B, find someone to do that for you. So, building on that, I say, never repeat it.
Josh Robb:
Never ever.
Austin Wilson:
Never ever except for sometimes take your vehicle to a dealership to get the work done, because independent-
Josh Robb:
Expensive.
Austin Wilson:
… mechanics are a much better option for most people. Now, I’m going to have a disclaimer, but most people would be better served on a cost basis and a service basis from an independent mechanic. I thank you because my mechanic and Findlay is the one that you told me about. You use him.
Josh Robb:
He’s awesome.
Austin Wilson:
So, it’s great. They’re wonderful, but I feel like that that is a much better bang for your buck than a dealership.
Josh Robb:
I feel like you get to know them. You trust them. In a sense, I don’t want to say a relationship with them, but they’ve seen your car. They know what’s happening. You have that communication.
Austin Wilson:
They’ll be honest with you.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, they do. So, you find one you could trust. You’re right on that. Now, go back to your OBD II scanner real quick. Now, if you want to save even more money, you know what I’m going to say, but AutoZone and those places do it for free. So, you have your spouse take it in.
Austin Wilson:
But what if you’re scared to drive your vehicle with the check engine light.
Josh Robb:
Oh, man, then you have a tote over there. No, I’m just kidding. Yeah, then you need your scanner. Then you call Austin for the scanner.
Austin Wilson:
When you drive an old vehicle like me, you keep your scanner in your trunk.
Josh Robb:
It’s there ready to go.
Austin Wilson:
That’s what I do. No joke.
Josh Robb:
It’s there ready to go.
Austin Wilson:
But yeah, I mean, they will do it for free. They’ll actually sell one to you as well.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, probably.
Austin Wilson:
Some of those things, you can actually just clear the error and see if it comes back. My rule of thumb is if it happens twice, then I take it seriously if it’s something minor sounding.
Josh Robb:
I just look for smoke, that’s when you know. Car smoke when something’s wrong, that’s what I’ve learned. So, see smoke, then you need to pay attention. That’s nothing. Do not listen to that.
Austin Wilson:
My disclaimer for the independent mechanic is if you own something that’s like super rare or an exotic car of some sort, probably take it to the dealer. They know what to do on those. This is for like average Joe’s like me and Josh. Also, if you own something super rare, super exotic, you probably aren’t listening to 10 ways to save money.
Josh Robb:
That’s true.
[18:42] – #5 Subscriptions
Austin Wilson:
This episode might not be for you. Number five, Josh, what is that?
Josh Robb:
Yeah. So, all right, we’re in a digital age, right? There’s a lot of subscriptions. So, first of all, know what you’re paying for. I think we’ve talked about this in the past. There’s ways of finding all the different reoccurring subscriptions, but pay attention to what you’re paying for. Make sure it’s still of value to you, first. Second, if there are subscriptions, is there a way of sharing that? Is there a way that you and family members or somebody could get the same value for that subscription without all of you paying for it?
Austin Wilson:
Right. Yeah, one example that comes to mind is Amazon Prime. So, it may not be cost effective for you and your parents to have Amazon Prime, because you can have more than one address and credit card saved in Amazon Prime. And then when you order something, you just select it and you’re done. Pay for it once. It’s great. Other things like streaming services, which we have another episode about, but there are so many options. First of all, do you need all of them?
Josh Robb:
Probably not.
Austin Wilson:
Probably not.
Josh Robb:
Probably not.
Austin Wilson:
Have you really watched everything on Hulu to need Netflix as well? I don’t know. Probably not. If you did, that’s a lot-
Josh Robb:
That’s impressive.
Austin Wilson:
That’s a lot of watching. All of these different services have different screen limits. You can pay more and get more screens or whatever. If you have a big family, just pay to have additional screens, instead of adding another service or whatever. They might be a better option. So, yeah, share subscription services. It’s probably pretty cost effective.
Josh Robb:
Yes. Now, there’s a moral aspect of that, but that’s a whole another show. Is there?
Austin Wilson:
Let’s talk about it. Is there a moral aspect to sharing subscriptions?
Josh Robb:
No, there’s not. As long as that’s allowed within the way that subscription is set up, that is definitely part of the deal. That’s why they put screen limits themselves.
Austin Wilson:
Yes, as long as there’s screen limits, you’re probably within the moral obligation to share your-
Josh Robb:
Correct.
Austin Wilson:
… service. Josh.
Josh Robb:
We’re halfway there.
Austin Wilson:
Halfway there. Five, down, five to go.
[20:40] – Dad Joke of the Week
Josh Robb:
All right. Let’s take a break. Dad joke of the week, I got this. This is good. All right. What did Liam Neeson say when someone stole his copy of Microsoft Office? “I will find you. You have my word.” Have my word.
Austin Wilson:
I was thinking it was going to be something about Taken.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
So, that’s a good one.
Josh Robb:
You have my word.
[21:06] – #6 Plan Ahead
Austin Wilson:
When it came out, that was a good movie. You have my word. That is funny. Josh, number six, plan ahead. Number six way to save money, talk about planning ahead. What’s that mean?
Josh Robb:
Yeah, so, you’re not going to see extra money from this right away.
Austin Wilson:
Now, I don’t want to do it.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, right. It takes work. This one, though, will in the long run help you. It’s really about budgeting. There are things that happen infrequently in an expense standpoint. Example that’s coming up, Christmas. Every year, it’s December 25th-
Austin Wilson:
It happens the same time.
Josh Robb:
It shouldn’t be a surprise to you. But surprisingly, when we talk finance, a lot of people from a budget standpoint are like-
Austin Wilson:
It stresses them out.
Josh Robb:
“… I don’t know where this money is going to from to pay for everything I want to do for Christmas.” What did you do the last 11 months? That’s what this is about, planning ahead. So, okay, January, I know Christmas is going to happen again. What if I set some money away every month to plan for it and be prepared for it? Which then in December, I’m not scrambling either pulling money from accounts I shouldn’t be or stopping my savings to the accounts, because I don’t have the extra cash flow.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, what if you spent $600 on Christmas last year? Well, then $50 a month.
Josh Robb:
Got it, taken care of.
Austin Wilson:
Christmas is taken care of.
Josh Robb:
Now, this also doesn’t just apply to the holidays. But property tax, if you don’t have that as part of your payments for your mortgage, if it’s not rolled into that, property tax happens every year, if you’re in those states that have property tax, I guess.
Austin Wilson:
Probably a lot of people.
Josh Robb:
Pretty much everybody. Insurance is the same way. Any kind of infrequent payments, make sure you know they’re coming.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, auto insurance.
Josh Robb:
Auto insurance. If you have any kind of insurance setup for an annual or semi-annual payment, just know it’s coming. Just be ready for it.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, my advice is to do your own… So, if you have the bank take care of your property tax and insurance, you’re doing what’s called escrow. So, you pay a little extra every month.
Josh Robb:
They put in an account.
Austin Wilson:
They put it into an account. And then when those bills come due, they pay it. Well, do that yourself. So, you know generally speaking plus or minus. So, it moves up and down every year, not down. Things will get more expensive every year, but you know what your car insurance is probably going to be. You know what your house insurance is going to be. You know what your property tax is going to be within reason. So, you can just set it up to automatically put a 12th of that every month into an account. And then when it’s ready, when it’s due, you just write a check and you’re done.
Josh Robb:
Correct.
Austin Wilson:
So, do your own escrow.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. So, planning ahead. Again, coming back to when we’re talking through budgeting, it’s really just being proactive with your money and thinking it through the best way of managing it. This is one of the pieces. Just saying, “Okay, I’m not thinking about today and tomorrow. I’m thinking about six months from now. Is there something I need to be thinking about?”
Vacation is another thing. If you’d like to take vacations, don’t put it on a credit card and then try to pay it off. Because if there’s interest there, you’re going to pay extra for the vacation and it’s already happened. It’s not as much fun. Saving for it gives you that anticipation of every time you put that money away, hey, this is for that awesome trip I’m going to do. You can then enjoy it more knowing that it’s already paid for.
Austin Wilson:
Exactly.
Josh Robb:
Those type of things.
[24:05] – #7 How Much Insurance?
Austin Wilson:
Number seven, consider reducing the level of insurance on your vehicles.
Josh Robb:
Wait a minute, that doesn’t seem safe.
Austin Wilson:
It seems backwards.
Josh Robb:
What are you talking about?
Austin Wilson:
So obviously, legally speaking, you need to have insurance on your vehicles. You typically need to have liability as the main legal requirement. You need liability. I would also recommend for a couple dollars adding comprehensive, because that’s like you hit a deer or tree falls on your thing, very cheap. But liability and comprehensive-
Josh Robb:
If you live in the Midwest, hitting a deer-
Austin Wilson:
That’s true. Very True.
Josh Robb:
Hitting a deer happens.
Austin Wilson:
So, that’s like basic insurance. But if you drive an old vehicle, maybe that used vehicle we’re talking about. So, my wife and I drive 13 and 11-year-old cars. They are not worth having collision insurance on in our opinion, because we can replace them very affordably. Now, if you own something newer, maybe a little bit more worth it or whatever or if you have a loan on those vehicles, you’ll be required to have collision insurance typically. But if you can reasonably, affordably, whether a very short-term low interest rate car loan or you’ve got the money saved up in emergency fund or whatever, you can replace that vehicle really cheaply, really easily. You don’t really need to have all this insurance.
You can save on your premium pretty substantially, because collision insurance is the biggest portion of your insurance premium. So, yeah, our example is we’ve got a 13-year-old Honda Odyssey. Love it, great van, very reliable, do my maintenance on it, keep up on it, but it’s not worth. I don’t know, it’s probably worth $5,000 or whatever. It’s got 140,000 miles on it. It’s not in perfect shape, because it’s used. Do we really need collision insurance on it? I don’t think so. So, we’ve chosen something like that and we saved money on insurance. But if something happens, that’s on us. You just have to plan ahead for that.
Josh Robb:
On top of that, you talked about your payments for insurance. There’s another way of reducing that is increasing your deductible.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, that’s right.
Josh Robb:
So, the idea there is you may have $250 deductible, where if something happens and my insurance is covering it, the first $250 is on me then everything else after that, the insurance covers. Well, if I have an emergency fund set up, I have everything set aside, what if I double that to $500? So, I paid the first $500 and then they’ll pay the rest. Well, that’s going to reduce my monthly cost.
Austin Wilson:
Because that’s going to reduce their risk.
Josh Robb:
Yes. Because if it’s a small ding, chances are they may not be involved at all.
Austin Wilson:
Exactly.
Josh Robb:
So, if you can and make sure you can have the ability to pay it, so that you can get your car repaired. But you can increase your deductible to decrease your premium. Same is true with your house. Again, look at that, make sure you can cover that cost, but doing so can save you monthly premium.
Austin Wilson:
Absolutely. Building on our car insurance or any insurance, work with an independent insurance agent. So, that’s someone that they’re an insurance agent that can work with any-
Josh Robb:
Shop around.
Austin Wilson:
… insurance company. They can shop around and find you the best deal. They can find you the best deal on your home, your auto, your boat, whatever.
Josh Robb:
All the stuff.
Austin Wilson:
They can even lump it in like bundle it, especially if it’s all with one provider, whatever. But they can do that and run different scenarios for you. That can save you a lot of money as well. Yeah, we’ve got our house, motorcycle and cars all on one policy. Because we bundled it, we get significant discounts.
Josh Robb:
It’s nice. Always ask about different discounts, because they have all these crazy things. Does your car have an alarm to it? There might be a discount for that. Do you have a fire extinguisher in your kitchen? Well, you could get a discount. There’s all these things you can do to get discounts. Don’t be afraid to ask to reduce that payment.
[27:47] – #8 Cooking at Home More
Austin Wilson:
Number eight, cook at home more. I’m really a proponent of eating. I like it. So, because I like to eat, my dad always told me, “You got to like to cook.” So, I love to cook and I cook a lot. But truth be told, the cost per meal of cooking at home compared to going out is so much cheaper. Especially when you’ve got a bigger family, I’ve got four kids.
Josh Robb:
Oh, it’s expensive.
Austin Wilson:
So, if you go out to eat, you’re ending up pretty high.
Josh Robb:
Yes. To me, always the biggest example of this is steaks. If you go to a steak house to eat and you order a steak, then you go to the grocery store and buy the exact same steak, you see what that difference you’re paying for someone else to cook that steak for you. To me, that’s always the biggest example. Now, they do a better job of cooking than I do most the time, but I can make an okay steak and save some money. You’re right. Now the caveat here is again, for everybody, you can save money, but is it worth it, the trade-off? Now, if you’re not a good cook, then maybe it’s not worth it.
Austin Wilson:
Or you’re going to become one real fast.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, but if you can survive the food poisoning, you will be alright.
Austin Wilson:
So, a couple of perks is you might enjoy cooking the more you try it-
Josh Robb:
It is.
Austin Wilson:
… the more you do it. It can be healthier, especially if you’re not eating fast food.
Josh Robb:
I mean, you control-
Austin Wilson:
You control-
Josh Robb:
… it too, right?
Austin Wilson:
… exactly what’s in it.
Josh Robb:
If you need to reduce your sodium, you just sprinkle a little bit more of that in there. You just control how much goes in.
Austin Wilson:
It’s a delicious hobby. So, I’m a proponent of cooking, but I also like to say that you got to live. So, it’s okay to get takeout or eat out sometimes. We typically on the weekends are a little bit more lacks on eating out or getting pizza or takeout or whatever. But typically, during the week, we do a good job of planning for and cooking ahead. Another thing is to make sure you eat those leftovers.
Josh Robb:
Whether you cook at home or you take out, it doesn’t matter.
Austin Wilson:
Don’t throw them away. I am surprised by how many people will not eat leftovers. I grew up in leftovers, because it’s a good meal for one, but it saves a whole another meal that you have to make.
Josh Robb:
Save time.
Austin Wilson:
Eat your leftovers. Take your leftovers to lunch the next day. Pack your lunch. These are ways that you can save money with your food.
Josh Robb:
Leftovers, packing your lunch. Again, comes back to planning ahead is just thinking through, “All right, if my family’s busy on Wednesday nights, because we have events that go on Wednesdays, maybe I make a big meal Tuesday when I have more time and then we have leftovers.” Thinking ahead, so then you’re not forced to, “Oh, we better just go grab food. We don’t have time.” So again, it really just comes back to thinking ahead and planning. That’s huge.
Austin Wilson:
I know, statistically speaking in America, we have a huge food waste issue. I see this in my own house. Sometimes we’ll get done with eating, and I’m like, “I didn’t finish that,” or whatever. You have too many leftovers in your fridge, and then you never get to it or whatever. We should really just collectively eat our leftovers, but maybe don’t make so much. It’s such an excess all the time. That’s a hard thing to do sometimes, especially when we only have two adults. So, it’s really hard to cook for two. But yeah, throw away less food as well.
Josh Robb:
I found that was the biggest transition for some people in the empty nest state.
Austin Wilson:
All the food they used to eat.
Josh Robb:
Let’s say, you had two, three, four kids at home, and then now they’re all out of the house. Your meal planning is totally different. Your recipes are probably way off. So, you tend to have a lot more leftovers at least early on, because you’re making that adjustment. So, yeah.
Austin Wilson:
So, when my brother and I were in high school, we just ate obscene amounts of food.
Josh Robb:
Crazy.
Austin Wilson:
I do not know how my parents afforded to feed us all the time, because we just ate them at a house and home. So, now I have a four-year-old little brother who lives with mom and dad still and the rest of us are out of the house. He doesn’t eat hardly anything. So, their food life has changed-
Josh Robb:
That’s so nice.
[31:38] – #9 Stop Buying the Newest Gadgets
Austin Wilson:
… substantially. Yup. Number nine, stop buying the newest gadget.
Josh Robb:
Don’t tell me that.
Austin Wilson:
I’m guilty of this. I am an Apple guy. You’re an Android guy.
Josh Robb:
Yup.
Austin Wilson:
I’m an Apple guy. I like seeing when the new things come out. I like having a relatively new, whatever. But the truth is last year’s iPhone or Android, they’re going to work great. You’re going to get three or four years out of it, and it’s going to be fine. It’s third the cost of the brand new one. So, just not having that need to constantly have the newest and the latest and the greatest is a way to save money, because you’re not spending money on the newest and latest the greatest. Because cell phones like other things lose their value really quickly.
Josh Robb:
Yes, they do.
Austin Wilson:
Or phones or computers or tablets or anything like that. So, let’s just work on maybe use what you have a little longer. Buy affordable last year’s model. Those are some ways to save some money there.
Josh Robb:
In general, when it comes to gadgets, it’s really that they’re trying to get that “You need it, because everybody else is going to have it” type of mindset. If you can really again step back and say, “Okay, what value does this add for me? Is my phone compared to the new phone that much different? What am I going to get?” If you just stop and think about it, slow down that purchase process and say, “How much do I really want this?”, you may find that it’s not as big of a deal as I thought it was. My camera with 7,000 megapixels, I don’t need that extra 1,000. All I do is look at it on my phone. It’s just not getting any value. I’m not looking by 60-by-80 framed picture on my wall.
Austin Wilson:
That’s the funny thing. So, TVs are the big thing pushing statistics. 1080 was the big thing 10 years ago.
Josh Robb:
4K.
Austin Wilson:
And then it went to 4K. Now, there’s like 6K and 8K. I can’t tell the difference between 1080… It’s all good.
Josh Robb:
It’s good.
Austin Wilson:
So, let’s just-
Josh Robb:
Be cool. At some point, too much details probably are not good.
[33:47] – #10 Round Up Automatically
Austin Wilson:
I know. You’re going to see all the imperfections in the movies you watch. No one wants to see that. Number 10 and last but not least, Josh, what do you got?
Josh Robb:
This is just one of those that you probably tell your kids, save your change, use that extra change. Now, most people are going to say, “I don’t use cash anymore.”
Austin Wilson:
I was just about to say that.
Josh Robb:
I’m all digital. Well, guess what? They got an app for that. There are-
Austin Wilson:
Apps.
Josh Robb:
… software that round up and automatically… So, let’s say, I’m purchasing something. It’s $11.95. It’ll take that extra ¢5, send it to a savings account, investment account or something, but it takes that change that if I was using cash I would have and puts it somewhere. That’s really the concept is just essentially just rounding up your purchases and taking that a little bit extra. Over time, it amounts to a decent amount of money.
So, take your change, use your change, but just be again, aware of where your money’s going and automate that savings. So, whether it’s rounding up or whatever it is that you do, that just says, “Okay, I’m being diligent and taking some extra money that I probably would have just lost track of if I was just going through life.” I have a little thing in my car just with spare change, right? If I use cash, change goes in there, right? It’s just there for-
Austin Wilson:
Tolls.
Josh Robb:
To put air on my tire or tolls or something, but in general, if that gets too full, grab them out, cash it in.
Austin Wilson:
There was a period of my life where I use cash a lot. I don’t really anymore, but I was amazed with how much change, because I had obviously little thing in my car. I still do but there’s not much in it. I need a quarter for all the card. That’s about it. But even the air pumps use Apple Pay now.
Josh Robb:
It’s awesome. It’s funny, air is expensive when you’re using credit cards.
Austin Wilson:
They charge you more.
Josh Robb:
They do.
Austin Wilson:
They charge you more. So, anyway, I had this little bowl I kept on my desk, where I throw the spare change. I think I ended up having $20 some when I ended up taking it to the bank, because I was like, “This is getting out of hand.”
Josh Robb:
Yes, it’s getting full.
[35:49] – BONUS: Make More Money
Austin Wilson:
So anyway, yes, use your change. Josh, guess what I brought?
Josh Robb:
What do you got?
Austin Wilson:
I brought an extra-
Josh Robb:
Bonus.
Austin Wilson:
… bonus. This is an 11th way to save money. Oh, wait. It’s not a way to save money at all. What if I told you there was a way to spend the same amount of money but have more money in your pocket?
Josh Robb:
That’s magic.
Austin Wilson:
That just doesn’t make sense. It’s like witchcraft.
Josh Robb:
It’s great.
Austin Wilson:
Nope, it’s not. It’s true. You can free up money in your budget by not focusing on spending money, but in fact, focus on making more money. So, if you take on a side hustle, if you take on a part-time job, consulting, giving guitar lessons, something like that, you can have more money in your budget and spend the same amount of money. It’s pretty cool.
Josh Robb:
Sometimes it’s easier to make more money than trying to find ways to cut.
Austin Wilson:
A lot of personal finance is related on cutting spending. Everyone only has a finite amount of spending that they can cut, but truth be told, we have essentially unlimited ability to make more money than we do more things. So, that’s really where a huge lever is that I think is potentially untapped for a lot of people.
Josh Robb:
It plays back into what I always say is the moderation side of life is you can focus so hard on saving that you’re not enjoying life. You’re causing people around you to not be happy to be around you, right? You could be a Scrooge type of person, right? That has its impact on you. It has a toll. So, instead of being so locked in on pinching every penny, you could say, “Well, I have some time. I can turn that time into additional money by utilizing a skill I have,” like you said. So, you’re right. It’s a great way of moderating between cutting your spending and finding more cash available.
Austin Wilson:
Building on that, suppose that you meet your friend every day at the coffee shop for a cup of coffee. That brings you a great relationship and great joy, but it’s $5 a day. It’s not the most conservative way to spend your money. Some people might not view it as the most responsible. But if you can swing it and that truly brings you joy and a great relationship, we’re not going to be here to tell you to stop, because you’ve got to live. You’ve got to live. You can’t just cut to the bone all the time.
Josh Robb:
It’s really finding, “What are the things that bring me joy and bring me happiness? What are the things that I could do without?” and making the adjustments in between those. It’s not just taking a big cleaver and cutting everything 20%, saying-
Austin Wilson:
That hurts.
Josh Robb:
“… Here’s where I’m at.” Say, “Okay, what are the spots where when I do make a cut, I’m okay with?” Right? Like you said, going back to subscriptions, okay, I have four subscriptions. If I cut one, I may miss a couple shows, but in general, I’d be okay. Or would I rather cut down on my eating out? Maybe some people love watching. Maybe they just love movies. So, I’d rather cut out eating out. It’s just a matter of finding what works for you and make it happen. You’re right.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah. So, anyway, that is Josh and I’s list of 10 ways to save you some money. We are excited that hopefully some of these can be things you can think about. I’m not saying go out and implement all these things at once, but these are just things that as you see these expenses come up or whatever, just hey, maybe this is a time to revisit our auto insurance or whatever. So, as always, check out our free gift to you. It’s a brief list of Eight Principles of Timeless Investing. These are overarching investment themes meant to keep you on track to meet your long term goals. It’s free on our website. Josh, how can people help us to grow this podcast?
Josh Robb:
I would say, based off this episode, if you have a savings tip you’d like to share, shoot us an email at hello@theinvesteddads.com. We’d love to hear about it. If it’s awesome, we’ll share it with everybody as well in the next-
Austin Wilson:
That’s right.
Josh Robb:
… episode. But also, subscribe to this, that way you get our most recent releases every Thursday. Review at Apple Podcast, which is great. It helps us with ranking, which then helps more people hear about us. If you know some people that are talking about saving and would like to hear this episode, make sure you share it with them.
Austin Wilson:
Did you know that The Invested Dads Podcast is free?
Josh Robb:
Free.
Austin Wilson:
It’s free entertainment.
Josh Robb:
That’s saving right there.
Austin Wilson:
That’s savings right there. So, some people would pay big money for this-
Josh Robb:
That’s true.
Austin Wilson:
… but you get it for free. All right. Well, thanks, everyone. Until next Thursday, Josh and Austin signing off.
Josh Robb:
Talk to you later.
Austin Wilson:
Bye.
Outro:
Thank you for listening to The Invested Dads Podcast. This episode has ended, but your journey towards a better financial future doesn’t have to. Head over to theinvesteddads.com to access all the links and resources mentioned in today’s show. If you enjoyed this episode and we had a positive impact on your life, leave us a review, click subscribe, and don’t miss the next episode.
Josh Robb and Austin Wilson work for Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. All opinions expressed by Josh, Austin, or any podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for investment decisions.
Clients of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. There is no guarantee that the statements, opinions, or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Indices are not available for direct investment. Any investor who attempts to mimic the performance of an index would incur fees and expenses, which would reduce returns. Securities investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principle. There is no assurance that any investment plan or strategy will be successful.
