June 10, 2025 • 6 mins
Can you really live comfortably in North Texas anymore—or is it time to pick up a waiter shift and share a bed with your co-hosts?In this eye-opening and laugh-out-loud episode of The Ben and Skin Show, hosts Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray dive into the rising cost of living in Dallas and the harsh reality of inflation hitting home. What starts as a breakdown of the 50/30/20 budgeting rule quickly spirals into a hilarious brainstorm of communal living, syrup-based retirement plans, and the economics of Taco Bell vs. salad bars.🔑 Key Moments & Themes:
- 💸 The 50/30/20 Rule Breakdown: Skin explains the classic budgeting method—50% for needs, 30% for wants, 20% for savings—and the crew hilariously fails to meet any of it.
- 🏠 Dallas Cost of Living Shock: With a median household income of $74,350, and a “comfortable” living threshold of $90K per person, the team wonders: Is Texas still affordable?
- 🛏️ Budget Survival Plan: The gang jokes about moving in together to save money—offering Krystina her own room while the guys share a bed. “We’re gonna need a bigger bed.”
- 🌮 Taco Bell Economics: Krystina suggests fast food as a budgeting strategy, while Skin questions if syrup counts as a retirement plan.
- 🎟️ Giveaway Alert: Listeners can win Rangers vs. Royals tickets by using the iHeart app’s talkback feature—just name the political figure Ben sounded like when he was sick!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So Ben and Skin Show ninety seven point one The
Eagle Man. We got so much fun stuff today, lots
of stuff to get to. I want to remind everybody
that we loves to give away stuff. We get way
stuff all the time, tickets, all kinds of things, and
we usually use that iHeart app, So you have to
have it. It's free, you can stream everything. There's a
talkback feature on there where you can leave messages. We're
(00:22):
going to use that right now. We have a four
pack of tickets to see Rangers Royals on June the nineteenth.
That is June the nineteenth, and so we're gonna give
it to the first person that leaves a talkback message
with their name, their phone number, their email address and
can go ahead and tell us what famous political figure
(00:45):
currently where we just talking about That been sounded like yesterday.
We just laughed and had all kinds of fun and
yucks talking about it. We played audio of him being
sick and said he sounded like this particular current political figure.
First one that can tell us you're going to win
those tickets. But right now it's time for this.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Is another edition of things. Skin is Traffic.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Ah, Yes, okay, I got a lot of things to
jump to here, and they're mostly kind of money related.
But I saw an article today. I've always said people
ask me about, you know, living here, what it's like, etc.
I've always said, you know, it's one of the best
places to live comfortably easily. Now, that's always going to
(01:31):
be depending on your situation. But for the longest time,
living in North Texas was pretty easy to live here
comfortably because of just the way the economy is. Opportunities
and inflation hadn't hit us like other parts of the country.
Well man, with all the people moving in from different
parts of the country, specifically from California and New York,
(01:55):
that is actually starting to change. And I saw an
article today your average person now living comfortably. That's there's
a variable there, right, pants off, shoes off, that can
meet a lot of different things. Are you guys familiar
with the fifty thirty twenty rule when it comes to
your income.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
No, fifty percent goes to savings. Oh, if you can
do that, you're a mom. Fifty to your mortgage.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Fifty percent of your income goes to necessities such as housing, food, transportation,
and medical expenses. Thirty percent goes to discretionary spending like
travel and hobbies. I would also argue eating out, Oh right,
if that's your hobby, if you're into that, that doesn't
(02:43):
cost what depending where you go, which restaurant you go to,
it doesn't cost that much.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Right, What kind of restaurants are you talking about? You've
just gonna tackle bell, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
And twenty percent goes to retirement savings paying off debt.
So it's just kind of like a standard they use
the fifty to thirty twenty rule, okay, solid and go
to in some places.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, just a toss, what kind of salad? Twenty percent
to what I prefer? Sarap, you said, twenty percent goes
to what sir? To either retirement or paying off debt? Damn?
How are you guys doing in that regard? Ah? Not great.
I think I'm doing ninety five and five. I've been
(03:30):
looking at doing someting, so I'm enjoying the content. Yeah,
I'm doing forty fifty and ten. That got you to
one hundred, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Do you guys know what the average median household income
in Dallas's dude?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Fifty nine to five median household household?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Okay, so to both household anybody that's bringing an income.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
All right.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Now, whenever you do this, you got a factor in
Highland Park, and you have to factor in people living
below the poverty line. Seventy nine to nine. It's a
wide spectrum. Ben says, seventy nine to nine. What do
you say, Kevin one hundred? What do you say, Christina?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I don't want to go in between them? That's hot.
But no, no, not like that. I'll go I'll just
say yeah, sixty five. The answer is or the answer
was no.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
The answer is in Dallas seventy four thousand, three hundred
and fifty dollars, So seventy five thousand, just round up,
so a big holder seventy five thousands of household median income.
In Texas, a person needs about ninety thousand dollars as
an individual or two hundred and four thousand dollars as
a family of four to quote unquote live comfortably. And
(04:48):
that now puts Texas in the middle of the pack.
Oh so it's you know, it's not like Hawaii, California, Massachusetts,
but at eight West Virginia, Arkansas, or South Dakota at
either on average, a person needs about fifty eight hundred
dollars more than they were averaging last year to meet inflation.
(05:10):
So you need to be making fifty eight hundred dollars
more than you were making last year to meet the
demands of inflation. Are the tariffs gonna help that. It's
not gonna help it at all. And I was looking
at these numbers going damn, because I've always thought North
Texas is a place where you could live rather comfortably.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
It ain't that way anymore.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Man.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
This makes me know this.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So you guys need to get back to that. Let's
all move in together. Let's get a house together, save moddy.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, let's pick up some waiter shifts.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, seriously, we'll let you have your own room, Christina.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
The three of us, me, Ben and KT can share
a bed. He's gonna need a bigger bed, he said.
He's going to pick up some waiters. Oh yeah, you'll
beast you all right, let's do this.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Coming up next in the Hollywood Shuffle, the most watched
shows of the end of twenty four beginning of twenty five.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Are you watching these? Are we watching these? We'll tell
you next
So Ben and Skin Show ninety seven point one The
Eagle Man. We got so much fun stuff today, lots
of stuff to get to. I want to remind everybody
that we loves to give away stuff. We get way
stuff all the time, tickets, all kinds of things, and
we usually use that iHeart app, So you have to
have it. It's free, you can stream everything. There's a
talkback feature on there where you can leave messages. We're
(00:22):
going to use that right now. We have a four
pack of tickets to see Rangers Royals on June the nineteenth.
That is June the nineteenth, and so we're gonna give
it to the first person that leaves a talkback message
with their name, their phone number, their email address and
can go ahead and tell us what famous political figure
(00:45):
currently where we just talking about That been sounded like yesterday.
We just laughed and had all kinds of fun and
yucks talking about it. We played audio of him being
sick and said he sounded like this particular current political figure.
First one that can tell us you're going to win
those tickets. But right now it's time for this.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Is another edition of things. Skin is Traffic.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Ah, Yes, okay, I got a lot of things to
jump to here, and they're mostly kind of money related.
But I saw an article today. I've always said people
ask me about, you know, living here, what it's like, etc.
I've always said, you know, it's one of the best
places to live comfortably easily. Now, that's always going to
(01:31):
be depending on your situation. But for the longest time,
living in North Texas was pretty easy to live here
comfortably because of just the way the economy is. Opportunities
and inflation hadn't hit us like other parts of the country.
Well man, with all the people moving in from different
parts of the country, specifically from California and New York,
(01:55):
that is actually starting to change. And I saw an
article today your average person now living comfortably. That's there's
a variable there, right, pants off, shoes off, that can
meet a lot of different things. Are you guys familiar
with the fifty thirty twenty rule when it comes to
your income.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
No, fifty percent goes to savings. Oh, if you can
do that, you're a mom. Fifty to your mortgage.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Fifty percent of your income goes to necessities such as housing, food, transportation,
and medical expenses. Thirty percent goes to discretionary spending like
travel and hobbies. I would also argue eating out, Oh right,
if that's your hobby, if you're into that, that doesn't
(02:43):
cost what depending where you go, which restaurant you go to,
it doesn't cost that much.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Right, What kind of restaurants are you talking about? You've
just gonna tackle bell, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
And twenty percent goes to retirement savings paying off debt.
So it's just kind of like a standard they use
the fifty to thirty twenty rule, okay, solid and go
to in some places.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, just a toss, what kind of salad? Twenty percent
to what I prefer? Sarap, you said, twenty percent goes
to what sir? To either retirement or paying off debt? Damn?
How are you guys doing in that regard? Ah? Not great.
I think I'm doing ninety five and five. I've been
(03:30):
looking at doing someting, so I'm enjoying the content. Yeah,
I'm doing forty fifty and ten. That got you to
one hundred, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Do you guys know what the average median household income
in Dallas's dude?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Fifty nine to five median household household?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Okay, so to both household anybody that's bringing an income.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
All right.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Now, whenever you do this, you got a factor in
Highland Park, and you have to factor in people living
below the poverty line. Seventy nine to nine. It's a
wide spectrum. Ben says, seventy nine to nine. What do
you say, Kevin one hundred? What do you say, Christina?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I don't want to go in between them? That's hot.
But no, no, not like that. I'll go I'll just
say yeah, sixty five. The answer is or the answer
was no.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
The answer is in Dallas seventy four thousand, three hundred
and fifty dollars, So seventy five thousand, just round up,
so a big holder seventy five thousands of household median income.
In Texas, a person needs about ninety thousand dollars as
an individual or two hundred and four thousand dollars as
a family of four to quote unquote live comfortably. And
(04:48):
that now puts Texas in the middle of the pack.
Oh so it's you know, it's not like Hawaii, California, Massachusetts,
but at eight West Virginia, Arkansas, or South Dakota at
either on average, a person needs about fifty eight hundred
dollars more than they were averaging last year to meet inflation.
(05:10):
So you need to be making fifty eight hundred dollars
more than you were making last year to meet the
demands of inflation. Are the tariffs gonna help that. It's
not gonna help it at all. And I was looking
at these numbers going damn, because I've always thought North
Texas is a place where you could live rather comfortably.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
It ain't that way anymore.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Man.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
This makes me know this.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So you guys need to get back to that. Let's
all move in together. Let's get a house together, save moddy.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, let's pick up some waiter shifts.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, seriously, we'll let you have your own room, Christina.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
The three of us, me, Ben and KT can share
a bed. He's gonna need a bigger bed, he said.
He's going to pick up some waiters. Oh yeah, you'll
beast you all right, let's do this.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Coming up next in the Hollywood Shuffle, the most watched
shows of the end of twenty four beginning of twenty five.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Are you watching these? Are we watching these? We'll tell
you next
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.