July 24, 2020 • 25 mins
Friday Flight episodes are all about the week’s news and the effects of Covid-19 on your personal finances. There are a lot of headlines out there, but we are distilling it down to specific takeaways that will allow you to not just weather this health and financial crisis, but to come out on the other side even stronger. In this episode we cover a lot of interesting topics like how Aldi is expanding, back to school spending is expected to be higher than ever, where to check if you haven’t received your federal tax refund yet, and how to go about getting out of a lease. After all of that we cover how mortgage rates are at 50 year lows, no closing cost refinancing, and how the options available to us as retail consumers are decreasing.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Matt and today we're discussing mortgage rates at all time
lows and back to school spending. Yeah, Joel, not only
(00:27):
are we gonna talk about how mortgage rates uh interest
rates that they are at all time lows, but we're
also going to discuss what to do if you can't
pay your rent, So if you don't own a place,
or if you're not looking to own a place, what
to do if you are in a renting situation. Yeah,
and back to school spending. By the way, I use
that term loosely because I realize a lot of people
aren't actually physically going back to school, but there's still
(00:49):
money to be spent, right and there's still things that
people need, and in a particular electronics right now for
a lot of their kids who are doing schooling from home,
there are deals to be found. Man, speak of electronics
real quick, Are you still rocking your your bone conduction
wireless headphones? I sure am, Yeah, where like the sound
vibrates through your your skull bones? Yeah? I really like
(01:09):
my They are the Aftershocks brand. I guess there are
probably a couple of different brands, but they're by far
the most well known and and yeah, I really really
like them. I have a pair of over the ear
headphones too that I that I use sometimes, but if
you're serious listening, I don't want any noises. It just
kind of depends on what I'm doing, especially if I'm
riding the bike and I want to listen to something
(01:29):
like on my bike commute. I love the bone conduction
headphones for that because you can also hear what's going
on around you when it comes to pedestrian or carnaways. Yeah,
it's like having multiple inputs for your for your brain
in those situations. I just pulled one of my earbuds
and so I just got there. You go. Both work well.
The reason I asked is I just got some super
cheap oh Amazon Lightning Deal earbuds. I've been rocking like
(01:51):
these old school ones, the kind that like sits over
your neck and then like the wires come out of
that thing and then it like loops up and plugs
into your ears. They still work, but I am not
able to run with those because the thing kind of
bounces around on my neck and that your buddsend up
like popping out of my ear and plus as well.
I've caught them on my thumbs before, like on my hands,
and when they're kind of plugged in your ear and
then you remove them quickly, it is not comfortable and
(02:13):
it kind of hurts, and actually I think messed up
you're hearing. Anyway. I wanted to mention that though, because
I was thinking about it, and this is an instance
where I was afraid I was gonna go cheap. But
I feel like when it comes to certain electronics like this,
it's okay to go a little bit cheaper. Maybe just
look for the best deal because man, technology becomes obsolete quick,
especially in like consumer electronics like this, and so in
(02:35):
this specific instance, I feel this might be an example
of where it makes sense maybe to go cheap instead
of going with something higher end. But yeah, what are
your thoughts? Are you calling me higher end? Is it? Well? Yeah,
I mean when it comes to sounds like you've got
a specific brand, you know, after shocks. I don't know
what those are. It sounds like a type of shot
guns over in a nice tennishoe When now I just
heard from people, a few people that are working with
(02:56):
that that had after shocks and they were like, they're
really great. They really like having the bone conduction instead
of just you know, having earbuds that go in your ear.
And I've always found them uncomfortable anyway, putting earbuds straight in. Yeah,
oh no, I love those. Ye I hate it, okay, Yeah,
I feel I feel uncomfortable. So that's why I'm using
the ones that are either over the year or the
bone conduction, because I don't like anything in my ear. Yeah,
I like it just plugged in there to where I
(03:17):
can't hear anything else, like, because I like to use
them as kind of like noise cancelation as well. But
that being said, these don't have noise cancelation. These are
super cheap thirty bucks literally And that's another thing too,
is like they're really small and I'm afraid you might
end up losing them, you know, like Apple makes their
fancy air pod pros or whatever, um, and you're gonna
spend tune with thirty bucks on a pair of those.
I don't know how this don't fall out people's ears.
(03:39):
I think they have like little inserts in them where
they kind of like plug in. They don't just like
rests on the little bowl of your ear. I know,
I know that but still I was like running or
something like that. Well, that's the thing. Either way, I'm like,
I'm not willing to spend that much money on something
that is that small that a might be obsolete and
and be like that I might end up losing and
the quality isn't bad. That's the other thing. I'm not
willing to spend like eight times more are just on
(04:00):
something like is it actually eight times better to go
with the Apple product, even though I'm all about Apple
products like in this case, No, I'm want to keep
rocking those l cheap pos unless they break, and then
I'll let you know, because that's what I've gone, cheap
and bit being the butts. Yeah, when when it came
to getting the aftershocks, I just waited on a sale
because I knew that at some point i'd be able
to get them forty fifty bucks off and and finally
(04:21):
it happened, and so I bought them. I was in
no hurry, in no rush, And sometimes that's how you
score the best deal on something that you actually really want,
just waiting around for the price to drop. All right, Matt,
let's get on to the Friday flight. Let's talk about
some of the stories that we found interesting this week,
and we'll get to back to school spending in just
a second, but before that, I wanted to mention something
that I know you're going to be excited about. While
(04:42):
a lot of businesses and retailers are having a tough
time and some have announced locations closing, all the one
of your faces is thriving love all right. So I
just saw a story that seventy all these are set
to open in the United States this year, all these
and thirty seven states right now, and pretty soon they're
going to add another one. They're gonna be in Arizona,
(05:04):
and they're just gonna be opening up more stores in
states that they are already in as well. But for
all of our how to money listeners out in Arizona,
you're pretty soon gonna be able to shop at the cheapest,
best grocery store around. Yeah. What I'm afraid of is
that these all these are going to get too big,
because I've been into some of the newer ones and
they are bigger than the one that is closest to
where we live. And that's one of the benefits is
that they're so small you can kind of get in
(05:24):
and out of there. Yeah, I feel like if you,
if you normally shop at like Kroger or safe Way,
give all these shot because you'll definitely will be able
to save some money. In another quick tip, if you've
never been to an Aldy, make sure you show up
with your own shopping bag, because they charge you for
shopping bags there, and that's one of the ways that
you're able to save money. We use the giant blue
Ikea bag because you can fit so many groceries in there.
(05:44):
Nice nice. Yeah, well and actually too, even if you
don't decide to shop at all the but already shows
up in your neighborhood, by default, the prices go down
at the place that you're shopping because of the increased
levels of competition. So yeah, more all these all around
is just better for everybody, even if you don't shop
at Yeah man, makes sense. All right, let's talk about
some of that back to school spending. Schools almost back
(06:05):
well sort of right, Like your kid may not even
need a new backpack because they may not be going
in person. You know, zoom calls might be what your
school life looks like for the next few months. But
the average expected school expenses per family is up this year,
you know, which I think is in large part due
to needing to purchase another computer just like you mentioned, Joel.
But we want to remind folks UH that even if
(06:26):
you don't feel that you have, you know, the technology,
the tools to do online school well currently, you don't
necessarily need to buy a super expensive computer. We'd recommend
for folks to look at some deal sites like deal
news or slip deals where you can shop for tech
bargains ahead of the start of school. And also too,
don't be afraid if you are looking even to buy
(06:47):
an Apple product, don't be afraid to buy the refurbished
items on Apple's website directly. Every single Apple UH desktop
computer and laptop device that we've ever purchased, Joel Uh.
Literally ever we have purchased ref Back in the day,
they used to call it refreshed, but now I saw
that they just like owned up to it and they're like,
it's just referb But they've always served us well, and
we've always been able to save anywhere between like ten
(07:09):
even upwards, depending on the item that you get. Nice. Yeah,
and then we actually just spent ninety bucks on some
power line adapters so that we can have stronger internet
in the back of our house where we're planning on
setting up the schooling area. So it's kind of part
of our additional costs of of school this year, but
it should make a big difference in reducing the stress
(07:30):
level that we face as we're trying to kind of
help our kids succeed in online schooling. And of course,
like all of our roles as parents, if we have
kids going to school, it's just ramped up in a
big way because most of us are helping out with
the learning and helping out with getting our kids into
zoom calls and all that kind of stuff a whole
lot more than we typically would be if they're just
gone at school. Right. Uh, we've got those unpaid teacher
(07:51):
assistant positions now, yeah, exactly. So, Yeah, I understand why
why spending overall for is is up, and that's because
people need things that they don't typically need in the
school year. But there are other things I think you
can forego, like a new backpack because who needs it. Yeah. Well,
and Jul you know you mentioned that powerline adapter that
essentially turns your homes electrical system into like a you know,
working ethernet cable because you plug in the little adapter
(08:13):
into the wall and it boosts the signal. That's a
great solution. Something else that we've done is we we
took an old wireless router and hard wired it to
our new one, and using that we rant it to
the other end of our house and we're able to
turn that wireless router and so basically just another Internet
access point, and so it blankets the home in solid
internet coverage. And so if you have like a long,
skinny house sort of like we do, it allows you
(08:35):
to not just have internet in the back of the house,
but also in the front where the offices and the
girls need to be on the internet. Yeah, during those
zoom calls for sure. Yeah, and the mesh router WiFi
mesh routers are kind of all the all the rages
these days. But those costs like three times as much
as what we just got. I think it's gonna work better. Um,
And yeah, you can do it even cheaper if you've
gotten an older router lying around. Most people do because
(08:57):
like what are you gonna do with those? You know, Like,
I feel like a lot of time they're just like
sitting in closets and they're in that same box that
you have a bunch of old Ethernet cables, you know,
and all my old cell phones that I forgot to sell.
So yeah, uh, Matt, let's talk about tax refunds to
everyone out there who's filed their tax return but they
did it more recently and you haven't received your tax
refund yet, Well, it just heads up. It could take
(09:18):
a while before that refund gets to you. Last week
was tax Day delayed by three months, of course, and
then with COVID shutting down some I r S offices
and stimulus checks taking up a lot of resources, tax
refunds are going to be slow to get to people
this year. So in particular, if you are old school
and sending in a paper return, you'll be waiting even longer.
You can check the status of your refund online. Will
(09:38):
put a link to the I r S website where
you can do that in the show notes. But the
great thing is that if your if your refund is delayed,
the I R S is going to be paying you
interest on those refunds that they weren't able to get
out in a timely manner. Yeah, so it might be
a bummer, and especially right now where so many Americans
have a reduced income, that tax refund is something that
(10:00):
they're in all likelihood wanting quickly, and the stakes are
going to be delayed. But at least, yeah, there's that
silver lining that you might get paid some additional interest
on that refund money. Yeah, and actually saw that the
interests that they're paying is actually pretty great. Uh, they're
paying five percent for April through June, and then starting
in July they're only paying three percent, but still three
percent is huge compared to what the online high interest
(10:20):
Savings accounts what they're offering. And so it's actually not
a terrible thing that that money's sitting there with the
I R S and JO. Speaking of taxes, let's talk
about property taxes. Some local cities and towns are offering
extensions to pay property taxes, and even some states like Idaho,
they have set up property tax relief funds to provide
aid to those who can't currently afford to pay. And
(10:41):
so if you're having trouble, you know, paying that property
tax bill, be sure to contact your local tax assessor's office.
The same thing is true with homeowners insurance. A lot
of providers aren't necessarily advertising that this is something that
they're doing. But reach out to both your tax office
and your insurance company and see if that's something that
you can negotiate, because there might be some relief there
for you. Yeah, Matt, we've tried to cover on the
(11:02):
show everything that you can do to postpone payments on
your mortgage, on property taxes now, and on your car loan.
I mean, there are just so many ways that you
can get relief because of COVID, And if you think
your job is at risk or you have lost your job,
it's important to take advantage of as many of these
things as you can because that's going to keep your
emergency fund intact. That's gonna allow you to continue to
(11:23):
buy groceries and keep the lights on, that kind of stuff. So, yeah,
everything that Man and I hear about, we're gonna relay
it on the show because we want you to be
okay financially, and so much of that means taking advantage
of what's being offered. And Matt, on that note, let's
talk about getting out of a lease. It looks like
the new stimulus bill it's probably not gonna be passed
until sometime in August. That remains to be seen, but
a lot of people could use a direct payment right
(11:45):
now to help out with things like rent, and the
numbers reflected that almost twenty million Americans are at risk
of eviction before the end of September. That's pretty awful, right,
But some states are offering a moratorium on evictions, which
of course helps the most vulnerable among in so many locations,
but other states have not extended that deadline. So depending
on where you live, your landlord might not be able
(12:06):
to evict you, and then in other states if you
just don't have that protection. So it's important to know
your rights. It's important to see exactly what your states
government has said about eviction proceedings and whether or not
your landlord can begin the eviction process. If you're having
a hard time paying your rent right now, yeah, if
that's the situation that you are in, it is certainly
good to know what the laws are in your states.
(12:26):
But then beyond that, next we would recommend for you
to have a frank conversation with your landlord. Uh. You know,
when tenants don't respond to the ghost or landlord, chances
of working things out in a mutually beneficial way like
that massively decreases. But if you have been communicating and
you've been a good tenant, the chances are that they
will do their best to work with you through this
(12:46):
difficult time. If you're doing your best there, you never know,
you might even be able to ask for for new
terms even Yeah, Matt, I don't know what you've seen
with your tenants, you know. I tried to communicate early
and often with mine throughout the pandemic as things are
getting crazy and people were losing their jobs or or
having unstable income. And one of my tenants was about
and sign a new lease and she just felt uncomfortable
(13:08):
going into another year long lease, and I totally understood,
but she's been a great tenant and I want to
keep her around. So we're we've gone month to month,
and we were able to work out a reduced rent
amount too, And also we just decided to do away
with late fees for the time being, because sometimes you
can't pay rent until the tenth or eleventh of the month.
And that's okay for me right now, because things are crazy,
right and so we all just have to do our best.
(13:30):
But landlords and tenants should be working together to find
terms that work for everybody moving forward. Yeah, that's totally true. Man. However,
you know, if you do find yourself in a position
where you can't afford the rent, or you know you
need to move somewhere else that's maybe a little more affordable,
you can also give a thirty day notice that you
are leaving and offer to help your landlord find another
suitable tenant. You might receive threats that you'll owe rent
(13:53):
for the entirety of the lease that you originally signed
and agreed to, but most states require that the landlord
worked to fund a new and mitigate that damage. And
so again, this is another situation where it is helpful
to know what your specific states laws are, but know
that this is a common rule in most states. Yeah, Matt,
you said mitigate the damages, and what that means is
that the landlord is required to try to find a
(14:15):
new tenant to take over your lease and to get
somebody else living in the house as quickly as possible.
Like you said, right, there's a lot that an individual
tenant can do to help that process along by listing
the property and trying to help the landlord find somebody
to fill the shoes that you were in. But it's
so important for tenants to know that while you could
be on the hook for the rest of the least
(14:36):
if your landlord isn't able to find somebody to take over,
if there is decent demand in your area, this might
just be the best move that you have is turning
in that thirty day notice and leaving the property and
helping the landlord find somebody else to take over. If
you have to move in with friends or family in
order to lower your housing costs in a massive way,
this is kind of a gamble, but it might be
the best thing that you can do for yourself, yeah, man.
(14:57):
And also the National Low Income Housing a Lot Alliance.
They have a list of resources state by state that
you can turn to four rental assistance if you're struggling
right now, and we'll make sure to link to that
in our show notes. And on the housing note, let's
talk about mortgage rates and some of the nuances you
need to consider if you are considering refinancing a mortgage,
(15:17):
if that's on the table for you, and we'll get
to that right after the break. All right, we're back
from the break, Matt. We were just talking about preventing
eviction and let's talk about like the flip side of
housing for people who own a home or are looking
(15:37):
to buy a home soon. Mortgage rates kind of just
hit a magical level where you can get a mortgage
right below three, which is just incredible. Yeah, it's been
a long time since we've had rates that lad. I
think it's been like fifty years since we've dipped under
the threes. Yeah, pretty nut to think you can borrow
money at two point seven five percent or two point
eight seven five percent for thirty years, right, And there
(15:58):
are a lot of people who would be well served
by refinancing right now with a bank, credit union, or
an online lender. It's so important, though, to think about
your specific situation. I had a friend recently reach out.
She's gonna sell her home in probably less than a year,
and she's thinking about refinancing, And I was like, no, no, no, no, no,
you probably don't. Not for you, Yeah, because you're gonna
pay thousands and thousands of dollars in closing costs in
(16:20):
order to make that happen. So a good question to
ask yourself is are you planning on being in the
home for a while to come right, Because it doesn't
make sense if you're not going to be there typically
for at least three years, more like five years in
a lot of cases, depending on what your rate is,
and depending on what the closing costs are associated with
that refi because they are all these fees like the
appraisal title fees and other loan fees like underwriting and
(16:40):
origination fees. Those can make refinancing cost prohibitive if you're
not getting a big enough cut and interest rate and
you're not gonna be able to realize it over a
long period of time. Yeah, that's true, man, There are
a lot of costs associated with refinancing. But what about
no closing costs refinances? Those seem to be getting more
steam right now. And basically the way those work is
that instead of paying out of pocket for the and costs,
which can be anywhere between one and four percent of
(17:03):
the overall loan amount, those costs get rolled into the
mortgage balance or you'll you know, possibly end up with
a higher than market interest rate. And so typically you'll
get the best overall terms when you opt not to
go with a no closing cost mortgage refinance. But it
could make sense in particular if you don't have immediate
access to the cash and you're wanting to jump on
(17:23):
those really low rates. But especially you know, in the
situation until that you mentioned, this would have maybe worked
for her. You know, if you don't plan to be
in the house very long, opting for you know, a
slightly higher than market rate, assuming that it's still lower
than what you currently have, and then going the no
closing cost route can make sense because effectively you're not
realizing all of those expenses right then and there. It
(17:43):
kind of gets spread out over the life of the loan,
and if you know you're gonna move out soon, well
that's something to consider. Yeah, and again, knowing that there
are multiple flavors of no closing cost mortgages, that's that's
something I actually discussed with her. I was like, if
you're just paying an above market rate, but it's lower
than what you currently have, then there's like no harm
in doing that no closing cost refi. But if it
(18:04):
adds a whole lot more of the loan balance at
the same time, then it doesn't make sense. Right. Uh So,
something else to consider is whether or not you even
qualify to do a refinance. This can be one of
the issues that comes up if you're recently unemployed or
if you're self employed. But it's slightly affecting a lot
more individuals these days because of coronavirus and with banks
tightening up on lending standards. So if you've had a
(18:25):
salary cut, you're just not making as much as you
used to, then it's likely that the debt to income
ratio that lenders use when deciding whether an applicant qualifies
or not, that those ratios are a little out of
whack for you. A refi or even a new loan
that you might have qualified for a year ago might
be out of reach, or the interest rate might not
be the lowest that's available on the market right, and
(18:46):
that's a bummer, But there are ways around this for you.
For instance, you could bring more money to the closing
table if you have that cash on hand. That's just
something to keep in mind if you've been financially impacted
by COVID. It's important to kind of have an idea
when you're submitting an application for a REFI of the
terms you think you're going to be able to qualify
for based on your income, based on your debt, and
(19:07):
based on your credit score. Yeah, man, you know, that's
actually a situation that Kate and I that we're finding
ourselves in right being self employed. We've seen our income
drop because guess what, man, there aren't a whole lot
of big in person weddings happening in a lot of
small backyard elopements, and we were not expecting to see
that impact our ability to potentially refi a property. So
in our case yet, we we've kind of been talking
(19:28):
about potentially looking to maybe even focus on paying down
a mortgage of an investment property a little bit early.
But that's something we can maybe say for another episode
because there's kind of a whole lot of psychological things
to kind of talk about when it comes to that
as well. I'm not a psychologist, but I'll dive deep.
That's the hard questions, uh, Matt. Another thing too, I
think people are actually doing early you know you said
(19:50):
you might pay off your mortgage early. Well, other people
are actually pursuing buying a house earlier than they otherwise
would have because the rates are so low. And I
think for for a lot of our listeners who have
put themselves in a good financial position and they were like, yeah,
I might buy a home in the next two years,
But I don't think right now, with rates being so low,
I could understand why they might be interested in accelerating
(20:11):
that decision. And I think sometimes like market conditions, right,
getting something on sale or getting a better value like
locking in a thirty year mortgage at two point eight
seven vibe or something like that, can make it worthwhile
to bump your plans up. But I think only if
you're underlying financials are in a really, really good place,
that is when I would say, yeah, I go for it,
bump up that timeline and make it happen. That's right, man.
And one other thing we wanted to cover we saw
(20:33):
that consumer choice it is vanishing due to the coronavirus.
We're seeing fewer options and lots of different areas, ranging
from grocery stores to restaurants and even to auto and
motorcycle manufacturers. A lot of this has to do with
the fact that there there have been just supply chain bottlenecks,
you know, and manufacturers an ability to really just get
goods and parts two retailers. So you know, it's partly
(20:55):
a business decision, as businesses are focusing on just trying
to keep up with the high demand you know, they're
they're looking to just keep the basic items on the shelves.
You know, who cares about all the different varieties of
you know, fat free potato chips or all the different
kinds of motorcycles that they used to sell, and they're
just trying to look to maintain some of the basics.
Some of those companies are looking to cut some of
those zombie brands right that aren't making a whole lot
(21:17):
of money. So, you know, don't be surprised if you
don't see your odd walla smoothiejuice on the shelves next
time you go to the grocery store. Oh, man, I
hope there's one thing that I tried recently. My dad
had some at the house. It was a combination of
dr pepper and cream soda that shouldn't exist. Man, that's
one of those things I think they should cut from
the rotation. It was terrible. Apparently my young nephew really
(21:38):
likes it. Uh. But from a consumer's point of view, Matt,
I think things aren't super stable on the income front
for a lot of us right as we've been talking about,
so it's natural to see a shift towards kind of
the basics compared to just the endless options that we
used to have. A lot of the country is taken
kind of a batten down the hatches approach, and they're
finding ways to reduce their spending and so skipping super
(22:00):
niche things like organic toilet paper or whatever. Altogether. It's
it's one of the natural consequences of economic uncertainty, and
it makes sense that certain companies might be limiting their offerings.
And part of the reason I think this is actually
a really good thing is that decision fatigue is real,
and it affects us all right. With with so much
going on all around us in our lives and the
(22:20):
economy and just kind of general uncertainty, We're living in
a typical times, and I'm sure most folks are actually
searching for ways to reduce the number of decisions that
they have to make in daily life, to provide a
little ease and a little piece And I think having
fewer decisions at the grocery store, fewer decisions with the
things that we are on shelves that we might consider buying,
is actually better for our brains. I think it's helpful
(22:40):
to fewer decisions. Oh yeah, man, I'm always looking for
ways to put things in my life on autopilot. And
plus you know the health risks as well. I don't
forget those like who wants to spend a ton of
time in the grocery store debating their different options when
you've got like another shopper without a mask on breathing
down your neck. You know, we mentioned all the at
the beginning of the show, Like, that's another one of
the huge was going with Ald, Like you really can
(23:01):
be in and out of there in one minutes. Like
I feel like I mentioned that before in the show, Like,
but one of these times, I really I'm gonna time myself.
I wanna hit hit go on the stop bots, gonna
run in and grab milk and eggs, which is oftentimes
what we need right just like to restock for the
week and get out of there and see how long
and it can actually take. But like, I love how
small those all these stores are, because you really can
make it happen so quickly. Yeah, and you realize too
(23:23):
when you're shopping at all the oh, I didn't really
need twelve different kinds of all the different options. Yeah, yeah, exactly,
So I agree. That's one of the things I love
about aldi is that you don't have the decision fatigue
that comes from going to the grocery store and it
doesn't take nearly as long. Yeah, I'm with you. You
don't have to devote an afternoon of your weekend to
go into Costco. All right, I'm done with you. Our
(23:47):
friendship is over. Uh you wish you can't. You can't
hate on Costco, man and get away with it? Not
not on this podcast. Now. They're both great, Man, They're
just great for different reasons. For instance, I really appreciate
that cooler backpack that you guys picked up for us
the last time you're at Costco. That thing's been clutch
the summer. Yeah, it's uh, it's pretty helpful, isn't it
super helpful? All right? Well, that's gonna do it for
(24:07):
this episode. If you want the show notes, including a
link to those adapters that I bought, they're gonna massively
help our WiFi and the list of resources that can
help you if you're struggling to pay your rent will
link to those in the show notes as well as
other things, and those are available on our website at
how to money dot com. And if you've been listening
to our show and you've enjoyed it, we would love
for you to leave us a review over at Apple
Podcast specifically. That really helps us out. And you know,
(24:31):
while we're giving Aldi some love, if you haven't left
us a review yet, go over there, and when you
leave your review, let us know what item you specifically
love over at Audie. I, for one, I'm a huge
fan of their basic vanilla ice cream. It's in this
black cartain and people I've talked to multiple people and
everybody loves this ice cream. It's literally got like I think,
like six ingredients or maybe even like four, but it's
(24:53):
super like pure. There's not a whole lot of preservatives
in it, and it really is some really dang good
ice cream and we're eating a lot of it. This stuff.
All right, I'm gonna say the spicy salami and sharp
cheddar cheese. There you gon good comment? Well, alright, man,
that's gonna be it until next time. Best Friends Out,
Best Friends Out.
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Matt and today we're discussing mortgage rates at all time
lows and back to school spending. Yeah, Joel, not only
(00:27):
are we gonna talk about how mortgage rates uh interest
rates that they are at all time lows, but we're
also going to discuss what to do if you can't
pay your rent, So if you don't own a place,
or if you're not looking to own a place, what
to do if you are in a renting situation. Yeah,
and back to school spending. By the way, I use
that term loosely because I realize a lot of people
aren't actually physically going back to school, but there's still
(00:49):
money to be spent, right and there's still things that
people need, and in a particular electronics right now for
a lot of their kids who are doing schooling from home,
there are deals to be found. Man, speak of electronics
real quick, Are you still rocking your your bone conduction
wireless headphones? I sure am, Yeah, where like the sound
vibrates through your your skull bones? Yeah? I really like
(01:09):
my They are the Aftershocks brand. I guess there are
probably a couple of different brands, but they're by far
the most well known and and yeah, I really really
like them. I have a pair of over the ear
headphones too that I that I use sometimes, but if
you're serious listening, I don't want any noises. It just
kind of depends on what I'm doing, especially if I'm
riding the bike and I want to listen to something
(01:29):
like on my bike commute. I love the bone conduction
headphones for that because you can also hear what's going
on around you when it comes to pedestrian or carnaways. Yeah,
it's like having multiple inputs for your for your brain
in those situations. I just pulled one of my earbuds
and so I just got there. You go. Both work well.
The reason I asked is I just got some super
cheap oh Amazon Lightning Deal earbuds. I've been rocking like
(01:51):
these old school ones, the kind that like sits over
your neck and then like the wires come out of
that thing and then it like loops up and plugs
into your ears. They still work, but I am not
able to run with those because the thing kind of
bounces around on my neck and that your buddsend up
like popping out of my ear and plus as well.
I've caught them on my thumbs before, like on my hands,
and when they're kind of plugged in your ear and
then you remove them quickly, it is not comfortable and
(02:13):
it kind of hurts, and actually I think messed up
you're hearing. Anyway. I wanted to mention that though, because
I was thinking about it, and this is an instance
where I was afraid I was gonna go cheap. But
I feel like when it comes to certain electronics like this,
it's okay to go a little bit cheaper. Maybe just
look for the best deal because man, technology becomes obsolete quick,
especially in like consumer electronics like this, and so in
(02:35):
this specific instance, I feel this might be an example
of where it makes sense maybe to go cheap instead
of going with something higher end. But yeah, what are
your thoughts? Are you calling me higher end? Is it? Well? Yeah,
I mean when it comes to sounds like you've got
a specific brand, you know, after shocks. I don't know
what those are. It sounds like a type of shot
guns over in a nice tennishoe When now I just
heard from people, a few people that are working with
(02:56):
that that had after shocks and they were like, they're
really great. They really like having the bone conduction instead
of just you know, having earbuds that go in your ear.
And I've always found them uncomfortable anyway, putting earbuds straight in. Yeah,
oh no, I love those. Ye I hate it, okay, Yeah,
I feel I feel uncomfortable. So that's why I'm using
the ones that are either over the year or the
bone conduction, because I don't like anything in my ear. Yeah,
I like it just plugged in there to where I
(03:17):
can't hear anything else, like, because I like to use
them as kind of like noise cancelation as well. But
that being said, these don't have noise cancelation. These are
super cheap thirty bucks literally And that's another thing too,
is like they're really small and I'm afraid you might
end up losing them, you know, like Apple makes their
fancy air pod pros or whatever, um, and you're gonna
spend tune with thirty bucks on a pair of those.
I don't know how this don't fall out people's ears.
(03:39):
I think they have like little inserts in them where
they kind of like plug in. They don't just like
rests on the little bowl of your ear. I know,
I know that but still I was like running or
something like that. Well, that's the thing. Either way, I'm like,
I'm not willing to spend that much money on something
that is that small that a might be obsolete and
and be like that I might end up losing and
the quality isn't bad. That's the other thing. I'm not
willing to spend like eight times more are just on
(04:00):
something like is it actually eight times better to go
with the Apple product, even though I'm all about Apple
products like in this case, No, I'm want to keep
rocking those l cheap pos unless they break, and then
I'll let you know, because that's what I've gone, cheap
and bit being the butts. Yeah, when when it came
to getting the aftershocks, I just waited on a sale
because I knew that at some point i'd be able
to get them forty fifty bucks off and and finally
(04:21):
it happened, and so I bought them. I was in
no hurry, in no rush, And sometimes that's how you
score the best deal on something that you actually really want,
just waiting around for the price to drop. All right, Matt,
let's get on to the Friday flight. Let's talk about
some of the stories that we found interesting this week,
and we'll get to back to school spending in just
a second, but before that, I wanted to mention something
that I know you're going to be excited about. While
(04:42):
a lot of businesses and retailers are having a tough
time and some have announced locations closing, all the one
of your faces is thriving love all right. So I
just saw a story that seventy all these are set
to open in the United States this year, all these
and thirty seven states right now, and pretty soon they're
going to add another one. They're gonna be in Arizona,
(05:04):
and they're just gonna be opening up more stores in
states that they are already in as well. But for
all of our how to money listeners out in Arizona,
you're pretty soon gonna be able to shop at the cheapest,
best grocery store around. Yeah. What I'm afraid of is
that these all these are going to get too big,
because I've been into some of the newer ones and
they are bigger than the one that is closest to
where we live. And that's one of the benefits is
that they're so small you can kind of get in
(05:24):
and out of there. Yeah, I feel like if you,
if you normally shop at like Kroger or safe Way,
give all these shot because you'll definitely will be able
to save some money. In another quick tip, if you've
never been to an Aldy, make sure you show up
with your own shopping bag, because they charge you for
shopping bags there, and that's one of the ways that
you're able to save money. We use the giant blue
Ikea bag because you can fit so many groceries in there.
(05:44):
Nice nice. Yeah, well and actually too, even if you
don't decide to shop at all the but already shows
up in your neighborhood, by default, the prices go down
at the place that you're shopping because of the increased
levels of competition. So yeah, more all these all around
is just better for everybody, even if you don't shop
at Yeah man, makes sense. All right, let's talk about
some of that back to school spending. Schools almost back
(06:05):
well sort of right, Like your kid may not even
need a new backpack because they may not be going
in person. You know, zoom calls might be what your
school life looks like for the next few months. But
the average expected school expenses per family is up this year,
you know, which I think is in large part due
to needing to purchase another computer just like you mentioned, Joel.
But we want to remind folks UH that even if
(06:26):
you don't feel that you have, you know, the technology,
the tools to do online school well currently, you don't
necessarily need to buy a super expensive computer. We'd recommend
for folks to look at some deal sites like deal
news or slip deals where you can shop for tech
bargains ahead of the start of school. And also too,
don't be afraid if you are looking even to buy
(06:47):
an Apple product, don't be afraid to buy the refurbished
items on Apple's website directly. Every single Apple UH desktop
computer and laptop device that we've ever purchased, Joel Uh.
Literally ever we have purchased ref Back in the day,
they used to call it refreshed, but now I saw
that they just like owned up to it and they're like,
it's just referb But they've always served us well, and
we've always been able to save anywhere between like ten
(07:09):
even upwards, depending on the item that you get. Nice. Yeah,
and then we actually just spent ninety bucks on some
power line adapters so that we can have stronger internet
in the back of our house where we're planning on
setting up the schooling area. So it's kind of part
of our additional costs of of school this year, but
it should make a big difference in reducing the stress
(07:30):
level that we face as we're trying to kind of
help our kids succeed in online schooling. And of course,
like all of our roles as parents, if we have
kids going to school, it's just ramped up in a
big way because most of us are helping out with
the learning and helping out with getting our kids into
zoom calls and all that kind of stuff a whole
lot more than we typically would be if they're just
gone at school. Right. Uh, we've got those unpaid teacher
(07:51):
assistant positions now, yeah, exactly. So, Yeah, I understand why
why spending overall for is is up, and that's because
people need things that they don't typically need in the
school year. But there are other things I think you
can forego, like a new backpack because who needs it. Yeah. Well,
and Jul you know you mentioned that powerline adapter that
essentially turns your homes electrical system into like a you know,
working ethernet cable because you plug in the little adapter
(08:13):
into the wall and it boosts the signal. That's a
great solution. Something else that we've done is we we
took an old wireless router and hard wired it to
our new one, and using that we rant it to
the other end of our house and we're able to
turn that wireless router and so basically just another Internet
access point, and so it blankets the home in solid
internet coverage. And so if you have like a long,
skinny house sort of like we do, it allows you
(08:35):
to not just have internet in the back of the house,
but also in the front where the offices and the
girls need to be on the internet. Yeah, during those
zoom calls for sure. Yeah, and the mesh router WiFi
mesh routers are kind of all the all the rages
these days. But those costs like three times as much
as what we just got. I think it's gonna work better. Um,
And yeah, you can do it even cheaper if you've
gotten an older router lying around. Most people do because
(08:57):
like what are you gonna do with those? You know, Like,
I feel like a lot of time they're just like
sitting in closets and they're in that same box that
you have a bunch of old Ethernet cables, you know,
and all my old cell phones that I forgot to sell.
So yeah, uh, Matt, let's talk about tax refunds to
everyone out there who's filed their tax return but they
did it more recently and you haven't received your tax
refund yet, Well, it just heads up. It could take
(09:18):
a while before that refund gets to you. Last week
was tax Day delayed by three months, of course, and
then with COVID shutting down some I r S offices
and stimulus checks taking up a lot of resources, tax
refunds are going to be slow to get to people
this year. So in particular, if you are old school
and sending in a paper return, you'll be waiting even longer.
You can check the status of your refund online. Will
(09:38):
put a link to the I r S website where
you can do that in the show notes. But the
great thing is that if your if your refund is delayed,
the I R S is going to be paying you
interest on those refunds that they weren't able to get
out in a timely manner. Yeah, so it might be
a bummer, and especially right now where so many Americans
have a reduced income, that tax refund is something that
(10:00):
they're in all likelihood wanting quickly, and the stakes are
going to be delayed. But at least, yeah, there's that
silver lining that you might get paid some additional interest
on that refund money. Yeah, and actually saw that the
interests that they're paying is actually pretty great. Uh, they're
paying five percent for April through June, and then starting
in July they're only paying three percent, but still three
percent is huge compared to what the online high interest
(10:20):
Savings accounts what they're offering. And so it's actually not
a terrible thing that that money's sitting there with the
I R S and JO. Speaking of taxes, let's talk
about property taxes. Some local cities and towns are offering
extensions to pay property taxes, and even some states like Idaho,
they have set up property tax relief funds to provide
aid to those who can't currently afford to pay. And
(10:41):
so if you're having trouble, you know, paying that property
tax bill, be sure to contact your local tax assessor's office.
The same thing is true with homeowners insurance. A lot
of providers aren't necessarily advertising that this is something that
they're doing. But reach out to both your tax office
and your insurance company and see if that's something that
you can negotiate, because there might be some relief there
for you. Yeah, Matt, we've tried to cover on the
(11:02):
show everything that you can do to postpone payments on
your mortgage, on property taxes now, and on your car loan.
I mean, there are just so many ways that you
can get relief because of COVID, And if you think
your job is at risk or you have lost your job,
it's important to take advantage of as many of these
things as you can because that's going to keep your
emergency fund intact. That's gonna allow you to continue to
(11:23):
buy groceries and keep the lights on, that kind of stuff. So, yeah,
everything that Man and I hear about, we're gonna relay
it on the show because we want you to be
okay financially, and so much of that means taking advantage
of what's being offered. And Matt, on that note, let's
talk about getting out of a lease. It looks like
the new stimulus bill it's probably not gonna be passed
until sometime in August. That remains to be seen, but
a lot of people could use a direct payment right
(11:45):
now to help out with things like rent, and the
numbers reflected that almost twenty million Americans are at risk
of eviction before the end of September. That's pretty awful, right,
But some states are offering a moratorium on evictions, which
of course helps the most vulnerable among in so many locations,
but other states have not extended that deadline. So depending
on where you live, your landlord might not be able
(12:06):
to evict you, and then in other states if you
just don't have that protection. So it's important to know
your rights. It's important to see exactly what your states
government has said about eviction proceedings and whether or not
your landlord can begin the eviction process. If you're having
a hard time paying your rent right now, yeah, if
that's the situation that you are in, it is certainly
good to know what the laws are in your states.
(12:26):
But then beyond that, next we would recommend for you
to have a frank conversation with your landlord. Uh. You know,
when tenants don't respond to the ghost or landlord, chances
of working things out in a mutually beneficial way like
that massively decreases. But if you have been communicating and
you've been a good tenant, the chances are that they
will do their best to work with you through this
(12:46):
difficult time. If you're doing your best there, you never know,
you might even be able to ask for for new
terms even Yeah, Matt, I don't know what you've seen
with your tenants, you know. I tried to communicate early
and often with mine throughout the pandemic as things are
getting crazy and people were losing their jobs or or
having unstable income. And one of my tenants was about
and sign a new lease and she just felt uncomfortable
(13:08):
going into another year long lease, and I totally understood,
but she's been a great tenant and I want to
keep her around. So we're we've gone month to month,
and we were able to work out a reduced rent
amount too, And also we just decided to do away
with late fees for the time being, because sometimes you
can't pay rent until the tenth or eleventh of the month.
And that's okay for me right now, because things are crazy,
right and so we all just have to do our best.
(13:30):
But landlords and tenants should be working together to find
terms that work for everybody moving forward. Yeah, that's totally true. Man. However,
you know, if you do find yourself in a position
where you can't afford the rent, or you know you
need to move somewhere else that's maybe a little more affordable,
you can also give a thirty day notice that you
are leaving and offer to help your landlord find another
suitable tenant. You might receive threats that you'll owe rent
(13:53):
for the entirety of the lease that you originally signed
and agreed to, but most states require that the landlord
worked to fund a new and mitigate that damage. And
so again, this is another situation where it is helpful
to know what your specific states laws are, but know
that this is a common rule in most states. Yeah, Matt,
you said mitigate the damages, and what that means is
that the landlord is required to try to find a
(14:15):
new tenant to take over your lease and to get
somebody else living in the house as quickly as possible.
Like you said, right, there's a lot that an individual
tenant can do to help that process along by listing
the property and trying to help the landlord find somebody
to fill the shoes that you were in. But it's
so important for tenants to know that while you could
be on the hook for the rest of the least
(14:36):
if your landlord isn't able to find somebody to take over,
if there is decent demand in your area, this might
just be the best move that you have is turning
in that thirty day notice and leaving the property and
helping the landlord find somebody else to take over. If
you have to move in with friends or family in
order to lower your housing costs in a massive way,
this is kind of a gamble, but it might be
the best thing that you can do for yourself, yeah, man.
(14:57):
And also the National Low Income Housing a Lot Alliance.
They have a list of resources state by state that
you can turn to four rental assistance if you're struggling
right now, and we'll make sure to link to that
in our show notes. And on the housing note, let's
talk about mortgage rates and some of the nuances you
need to consider if you are considering refinancing a mortgage,
(15:17):
if that's on the table for you, and we'll get
to that right after the break. All right, we're back
from the break, Matt. We were just talking about preventing
eviction and let's talk about like the flip side of
housing for people who own a home or are looking
(15:37):
to buy a home soon. Mortgage rates kind of just
hit a magical level where you can get a mortgage
right below three, which is just incredible. Yeah, it's been
a long time since we've had rates that lad. I
think it's been like fifty years since we've dipped under
the threes. Yeah, pretty nut to think you can borrow
money at two point seven five percent or two point
eight seven five percent for thirty years, right, And there
(15:58):
are a lot of people who would be well served
by refinancing right now with a bank, credit union, or
an online lender. It's so important, though, to think about
your specific situation. I had a friend recently reach out.
She's gonna sell her home in probably less than a year,
and she's thinking about refinancing, And I was like, no, no, no, no, no,
you probably don't. Not for you, Yeah, because you're gonna
pay thousands and thousands of dollars in closing costs in
(16:20):
order to make that happen. So a good question to
ask yourself is are you planning on being in the
home for a while to come right, Because it doesn't
make sense if you're not going to be there typically
for at least three years, more like five years in
a lot of cases, depending on what your rate is,
and depending on what the closing costs are associated with
that refi because they are all these fees like the
appraisal title fees and other loan fees like underwriting and
(16:40):
origination fees. Those can make refinancing cost prohibitive if you're
not getting a big enough cut and interest rate and
you're not gonna be able to realize it over a
long period of time. Yeah, that's true, man, There are
a lot of costs associated with refinancing. But what about
no closing costs refinances? Those seem to be getting more
steam right now. And basically the way those work is
that instead of paying out of pocket for the and costs,
which can be anywhere between one and four percent of
(17:03):
the overall loan amount, those costs get rolled into the
mortgage balance or you'll you know, possibly end up with
a higher than market interest rate. And so typically you'll
get the best overall terms when you opt not to
go with a no closing cost mortgage refinance. But it
could make sense in particular if you don't have immediate
access to the cash and you're wanting to jump on
(17:23):
those really low rates. But especially you know, in the
situation until that you mentioned, this would have maybe worked
for her. You know, if you don't plan to be
in the house very long, opting for you know, a
slightly higher than market rate, assuming that it's still lower
than what you currently have, and then going the no
closing cost route can make sense because effectively you're not
realizing all of those expenses right then and there. It
(17:43):
kind of gets spread out over the life of the loan,
and if you know you're gonna move out soon, well
that's something to consider. Yeah, and again, knowing that there
are multiple flavors of no closing cost mortgages, that's that's
something I actually discussed with her. I was like, if
you're just paying an above market rate, but it's lower
than what you currently have, then there's like no harm
in doing that no closing cost refi. But if it
(18:04):
adds a whole lot more of the loan balance at
the same time, then it doesn't make sense. Right. Uh So,
something else to consider is whether or not you even
qualify to do a refinance. This can be one of
the issues that comes up if you're recently unemployed or
if you're self employed. But it's slightly affecting a lot
more individuals these days because of coronavirus and with banks
tightening up on lending standards. So if you've had a
(18:25):
salary cut, you're just not making as much as you
used to, then it's likely that the debt to income
ratio that lenders use when deciding whether an applicant qualifies
or not, that those ratios are a little out of
whack for you. A refi or even a new loan
that you might have qualified for a year ago might
be out of reach, or the interest rate might not
be the lowest that's available on the market right, and
(18:46):
that's a bummer, But there are ways around this for you.
For instance, you could bring more money to the closing
table if you have that cash on hand. That's just
something to keep in mind if you've been financially impacted
by COVID. It's important to kind of have an idea
when you're submitting an application for a REFI of the
terms you think you're going to be able to qualify
for based on your income, based on your debt, and
(19:07):
based on your credit score. Yeah, man, you know, that's
actually a situation that Kate and I that we're finding
ourselves in right being self employed. We've seen our income
drop because guess what, man, there aren't a whole lot
of big in person weddings happening in a lot of
small backyard elopements, and we were not expecting to see
that impact our ability to potentially refi a property. So
in our case yet, we we've kind of been talking
(19:28):
about potentially looking to maybe even focus on paying down
a mortgage of an investment property a little bit early.
But that's something we can maybe say for another episode
because there's kind of a whole lot of psychological things
to kind of talk about when it comes to that
as well. I'm not a psychologist, but I'll dive deep.
That's the hard questions, uh, Matt. Another thing too, I
think people are actually doing early you know you said
(19:50):
you might pay off your mortgage early. Well, other people
are actually pursuing buying a house earlier than they otherwise
would have because the rates are so low. And I
think for for a lot of our listeners who have
put themselves in a good financial position and they were like, yeah,
I might buy a home in the next two years,
But I don't think right now, with rates being so low,
I could understand why they might be interested in accelerating
(20:11):
that decision. And I think sometimes like market conditions, right,
getting something on sale or getting a better value like
locking in a thirty year mortgage at two point eight
seven vibe or something like that, can make it worthwhile
to bump your plans up. But I think only if
you're underlying financials are in a really, really good place,
that is when I would say, yeah, I go for it,
bump up that timeline and make it happen. That's right, man.
And one other thing we wanted to cover we saw
(20:33):
that consumer choice it is vanishing due to the coronavirus.
We're seeing fewer options and lots of different areas, ranging
from grocery stores to restaurants and even to auto and
motorcycle manufacturers. A lot of this has to do with
the fact that there there have been just supply chain bottlenecks,
you know, and manufacturers an ability to really just get
goods and parts two retailers. So you know, it's partly
(20:55):
a business decision, as businesses are focusing on just trying
to keep up with the high demand you know, they're
they're looking to just keep the basic items on the shelves.
You know, who cares about all the different varieties of
you know, fat free potato chips or all the different
kinds of motorcycles that they used to sell, and they're
just trying to look to maintain some of the basics.
Some of those companies are looking to cut some of
those zombie brands right that aren't making a whole lot
(21:17):
of money. So, you know, don't be surprised if you
don't see your odd walla smoothiejuice on the shelves next
time you go to the grocery store. Oh, man, I
hope there's one thing that I tried recently. My dad
had some at the house. It was a combination of
dr pepper and cream soda that shouldn't exist. Man, that's
one of those things I think they should cut from
the rotation. It was terrible. Apparently my young nephew really
(21:38):
likes it. Uh. But from a consumer's point of view, Matt,
I think things aren't super stable on the income front
for a lot of us right as we've been talking about,
so it's natural to see a shift towards kind of
the basics compared to just the endless options that we
used to have. A lot of the country is taken
kind of a batten down the hatches approach, and they're
finding ways to reduce their spending and so skipping super
(22:00):
niche things like organic toilet paper or whatever. Altogether. It's
it's one of the natural consequences of economic uncertainty, and
it makes sense that certain companies might be limiting their offerings.
And part of the reason I think this is actually
a really good thing is that decision fatigue is real,
and it affects us all right. With with so much
going on all around us in our lives and the
(22:20):
economy and just kind of general uncertainty, We're living in
a typical times, and I'm sure most folks are actually
searching for ways to reduce the number of decisions that
they have to make in daily life, to provide a
little ease and a little piece And I think having
fewer decisions at the grocery store, fewer decisions with the
things that we are on shelves that we might consider buying,
is actually better for our brains. I think it's helpful
(22:40):
to fewer decisions. Oh yeah, man, I'm always looking for
ways to put things in my life on autopilot. And
plus you know the health risks as well. I don't
forget those like who wants to spend a ton of
time in the grocery store debating their different options when
you've got like another shopper without a mask on breathing
down your neck. You know, we mentioned all the at
the beginning of the show, Like, that's another one of
the huge was going with Ald, Like you really can
(23:01):
be in and out of there in one minutes. Like
I feel like I mentioned that before in the show, Like,
but one of these times, I really I'm gonna time myself.
I wanna hit hit go on the stop bots, gonna
run in and grab milk and eggs, which is oftentimes
what we need right just like to restock for the
week and get out of there and see how long
and it can actually take. But like, I love how
small those all these stores are, because you really can
make it happen so quickly. Yeah, and you realize too
(23:23):
when you're shopping at all the oh, I didn't really
need twelve different kinds of all the different options. Yeah, yeah, exactly,
So I agree. That's one of the things I love
about aldi is that you don't have the decision fatigue
that comes from going to the grocery store and it
doesn't take nearly as long. Yeah, I'm with you. You
don't have to devote an afternoon of your weekend to
go into Costco. All right, I'm done with you. Our
(23:47):
friendship is over. Uh you wish you can't. You can't
hate on Costco, man and get away with it? Not
not on this podcast. Now. They're both great, Man, They're
just great for different reasons. For instance, I really appreciate
that cooler backpack that you guys picked up for us
the last time you're at Costco. That thing's been clutch
the summer. Yeah, it's uh, it's pretty helpful, isn't it
super helpful? All right? Well, that's gonna do it for
(24:07):
this episode. If you want the show notes, including a
link to those adapters that I bought, they're gonna massively
help our WiFi and the list of resources that can
help you if you're struggling to pay your rent will
link to those in the show notes as well as
other things, and those are available on our website at
how to money dot com. And if you've been listening
to our show and you've enjoyed it, we would love
for you to leave us a review over at Apple
Podcast specifically. That really helps us out. And you know,
(24:31):
while we're giving Aldi some love, if you haven't left
us a review yet, go over there, and when you
leave your review, let us know what item you specifically
love over at Audie. I, for one, I'm a huge
fan of their basic vanilla ice cream. It's in this
black cartain and people I've talked to multiple people and
everybody loves this ice cream. It's literally got like I think,
like six ingredients or maybe even like four, but it's
(24:53):
super like pure. There's not a whole lot of preservatives
in it, and it really is some really dang good
ice cream and we're eating a lot of it. This stuff.
All right, I'm gonna say the spicy salami and sharp
cheddar cheese. There you gon good comment? Well, alright, man,
that's gonna be it until next time. Best Friends Out,
Best Friends Out.
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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