A Little Good Experience

Cheyenne: Thank you for joining us for this episode of What the Finance. There are a few things we like to mention at the top of each episode.

Rachel: First, if you want to get in touch with us, you can email What_the_finance@protonmail.com or join the What the Finance Discord server.

Cheyenne: Second, it would mean a lot to us if you could support our show through Patreon. Starting at $3 a month, you can get episode shoutouts, access to topic polls, and get to listen to some pretty hilarious outtakes.

Rachel: Third, as we seek to be a more inclusive show, we want to acknowledge that colonialism is an ongoing process and capitalism, which we regularly decry, is part of this process. We are recording this episode on the ancestral land of the Dakota and Ojibwe people, and we recognize our sovereignty and express our gratitude at being here. Season Three of What the Finance.

Cheyenne: That happened. I was thinking about that this morning. It's wild to me that this is already the third season of this.

Rachel: Right.

Cheyenne: You would think that by now we would have run out of stuff to talk about.

Rachel: Well, I mean, you know, money is everywhere, so true. But I also feel like it's kind of taken this long for us to actually get into a good groove.

Cheyenne: I agree.

Rachel: Right. Like mhm, um, I feel like we really turned a corner when we decided, you know what, no, we're only going to record when school is in session. Mhm. Yeah. I feel like over the last few years, like, what's always ripped our flow is trying to record when school is not in session.

Cheyenne: I would agree. Yeah, that's definitely a struggle for us. Um, I feel like summer is busy for everyone. I feel like for our schedules, it was especially difficult because our lives follow school years pretty closely.

Rachel: Yeah, pretty much. Well, and I would say that for you and Bridgett specifically with like, you're always living up that camping life in the summer, which is super awesome for like, regular human life and not great for content creation.

Cheyenne: Yeah, that is for sure. I have a newfound respect for people who travel full time and do content creation. I have no idea how they do it because right. I for sure could not have functioned. It.

Rachel: Yeah, I have no idea. It just seems like a lot of work.

Cheyenne: It does. I'm sure for them, it's like, I don't know, maybe there's an easier way, uh, to do it that I just am not aware of.

Rachel: Or maybe I would say maybe even possibly more likely, people who do it also found it to be really difficult in the beginning, but they just kept trying anyway. The implications of that are ones that now they're running through my head and I don't love. But if you are, uh, traveling full time and that's your life all the time, and content creation is something that is super important to you, that level of tenacity is important, but if you are like, you just know, hey, I'm living up that travel life for the summer.

Cheyenne: Right.

Rachel: And then kind of going back to, quote unquote, normal, I guess it's not as important. Just take a break.

Cheyenne: I would agree. I think that's 100% it. I think that one of the best parts that's come from having done this a few seasons now in a couple of years into it with, like, truly one of my best friends, is that communication for us is very easy. And so if something's just not going to work out for us in the morning, like, we do not put that extra stress on ourselves. We're just like, no, today is not the day.

Rachel: Right.

Cheyenne: For me, knowing that being out and doing the campaign thing is a huge part of my summer, just being real about it and saying, like, I'm not going to add this extra layer of stress. Like, it's not necessary.

Rachel: Right.

Cheyenne: Was huge.

Rachel: Yeah. I thought that it worked out and I don't know, I feel like with the kids stuff, it's always there. So although I said we're talking about family stuff always being there, I think one thing that will impact the early season, uh, is that we'll be together for two weeks and then you've got some life stuff. That's all that I will say. But we also have some guests for a few weeks while you are while you have your things going on. So that's something that is a little bit exciting and different for the show.

Cheyenne: For sure. And again, I think that one of the best parts of doing this type of thing with one of your best friends is being able to have those conversations. And honestly, I, uh, think that because right now I'm just busy and so I'm not even thinking that far ahead. So for you to come to me and say, like, hey, realistically, is this going to work? Because as soon as you said it, I was like, oh, yeah, no, that's not going to work for sure. I can't do that, actually.

Rachel: Right.

Cheyenne: I feel like if it's something that I am able to somehow show up for, it's going to be the exception, not the norm, for those few weeks. I just didn't even think about it until you said it. And that was thank goodness, because that would have been an ordeal.

Rachel: Right. And I feel like for traveling too, the, um, less stuff that you have to bring with you, the better.

Cheyenne: Right? I would agree. Yeah. And I think that we've done, um, so last summer, in fact, I know for sure, we did one episode while I was in the camper using my phone, and I think that we ended up having some audio issues with it, like, pretty noteworthy ones because we recorded two, and I think one of them was completely scrapped. The audio was too bad.

Rachel: Yeah. I don't even remember what that episode was about.

Cheyenne: Oh, I don't remember. One of them was the tiny living episode that we ended up having to redo.

Rachel: Yeah, that's right.

Cheyenne: And then there was a second one and I don't remember what that one was, but yeah, ah, we tried two and it didn't work.

Rachel: Just didn't pan out.

Cheyenne: No, one of them I think the audio was okay, but I think it got lost is what happened there. But that's a whole other thing.

Rachel: Yeah, I don't know. I honestly couldn't even tell you what happened last week.

Cheyenne: Fair. Yeah.

Rachel: Like, unless it's written down, like right in front of my face now, it's just gone. It's, uh, just gone.

Cheyenne: Yeah. So I think that that kind of little direction for our conversation this morning to mention that one of the things that we have talked about as we've done this and realized that this is something that we really enjoy doing, obviously we enjoy talking to each other and having these conversations about pretty much everything related to finance. We wouldn't have done season three if we didn't.

Rachel: Right.

Cheyenne: Um, but something that we really learned that we actually really love is having guests. That's kind of where we have found that we enjoy it most. We feel like we shine best there because we can bring in people who are living the specific situation that we're talking about. And so for the whole season, I think that our goal is to bring in as many guests as possible, covering as many topics as possible. Um, it just so happens that the first few round of guests that we have, I'm not going to be around for. But that, again, adds another fun layer to this. And with all of that said, if you are someone that listens and you want to be a guest, um, reach out to us, let us know. And if you have a topic in mind, great. Let us know that if you don't, but you just want to come and chat with us, fantastic. We'll figure something out to talk about.

Rachel: Yes, and I will say too, as I've been, ah, out there in the world looking for guests for the next few weeks, one question that I've gotten a couple of times is do you want people who are experts on these topics? We have a few coming up that are pretty cool and exciting, huh? Uh, and I'm just saying no, we kind of want just like a regular, um like it helps obviously, if you know something, but you don't have to have the equivalent of a PhD on the topic no. To talk about whatever it is that we have to be talking about that week.

Cheyenne: Right. Your experience up to that point in your life is exactly what we're looking for.

Rachel: Exactly, yes.

Cheyenne: I think that we try to mention it somewhat frequently because it is obviously important enough to us to have done this. The main reason that What the Finance was even created was because we wanted to be a resource of information for people who didn't even know where to start. Because ten years ago that was us. We were trying to figure out how to put together our first budgets, going, what do we do? And there's so much information out there and it can be really overwhelming. So for me, that goes back to not needing to be an expert in a particular area, but instead coming with your experience and sharing that, whatever that may be.

Rachel: Exactly. And I think I'm like having an idea in real time here, so I'll make sure to write it down before it's gone.

Cheyenne: I was just going to say, well, tell me, tell me, tell me. It's not a secret for me.

Rachel: Yeah.

Cheyenne: No.

Rachel: So I was thinking about, um, my very first experience living on my own with a roommate. Mhm, and it wasn't a very good experience, um, which Cheyenne, I think you probably know better than anyone. Um, so my idea is maybe it's like a mini episode or a solo episode that kind of talk you through that whole experience. But one little nugget, um, from that experience is like, my roommate was even younger than I was and didn't have any experience at all budgeting, um, and didn't grow up with examples of how to budget very effectively. Uh, and that caused a pretty significant amount of strife in our roommate situation. But I said to her on multiple occasions that I, uh, had been in her situation because I have been, uh, and I was happy to talk through it with her, to come up with a plan to kind of get ahead and she did not take me up on that at the time. I think when you're in financial trouble, it can be really scary. Mhm, so I think kind of one of the things that I have come into this with is that we can be your friends to have those hard conversations when maybe like talking to somebody about it face to face when you're also stealing their food. Mhm, um, like, that is a goal that those are hard conversations to have, that you absolutely have to have with somebody.

Cheyenne: Yeah. And I think that when it comes to finances. And when you're talking about that specific situation in which your finances are kind of a mess for whatever reason. Whether it's because you don't know how to handle money or because simply you just don't make enough money. Which I think is something that is very different now than from when we first started or first stopped recording in the spring. I mean, inflation was a thing at that time, but it was nowhere near where we were. Gas prices were probably the only thing that had been, um, disproportionately affected. And now that is not the case anymore. It is everything that you need to survive. This might be something that some people are experiencing for the first time in their lives, potentially, whether it's because of inflation or because they're new college students or whatever it is. Sometimes our brains tell us that the way to best problem solve is to avoid it. And I am here to tell you that is not the case.

Rachel: It's true.

Cheyenne: So if you just need somebody to be a sounding board, we would be happy to listen because we've been doing it for each other for a decade now.

Rachel: Yes, we're really good at this.

Cheyenne: That's true. I would say it's our content area expertise. We are professional venting listeners. I do appreciate, um, just how our relationship has evolved over the years.

Rachel: I do too.

Cheyenne: We're good stuff. I like us.

Rachel: I do too. I think we're great.

Cheyenne: Yeah. I mean, we're pretty biased, but believe us anyway.

Rachel: Yes. Or you could also just listen to past episodes of the show and form your own opinion.

Cheyenne: You could also yeah. You could also join our Discord where we are routinely awesome and hilarious.

Rachel: We did take a break over the summer, same time as recording, but now we're back and doing the thing.

Cheyenne: Yeah, I think that's one of my favorite things about us when it comes to this is that we have very good boundaries. We're just like, you know what, this can't be my focus right now. And so we're going to focus on life. And we still always talk to each other.

Rachel: Yeah.

Cheyenne: That'S the thing. But we're pretty good about taking a break from the podcast when we need to. Because while it's very fun, um, it is also work. Fun work, but still work.

Rachel: And I would say over the summer of Discord, where I think you could find most of our content, was honestly in. Uh, we have a food channel there in the server. And if you are there in Discord with us, what something that you might know is that my family is plagued with a wide variety of conflicting food challenges. I will often share things that are trying in there for people who have texture issues or, uh, just like plain old straight up not wanting to eat anything issue. So you can find all kinds of stuff in there.

Cheyenne: It's true. Yeah. The food channel is probably the most active next to Pets.

Rachel: Yeah.

Cheyenne: And we have one particular person that holds down the Pets channel for us.

Thank you. Shout out to Justin. Uh, yes. Is it gray's matter or gray matter?

Rachel: Plural. GraysMatter Podcast.

Cheyenne: Grays Matter podcast. And Justin's Cat. Leo.

Rachel: Leo Person Leo?

Cheyenne: Or is it Leo's Person? Justin. I don't know how.

Rachel: Uh, yeah, I'm not sure.

Cheyenne: I am not sure we'll have to inquire about that. Stay tuned.

Rachel: So here's a funny tangent. So, uh, Leo is short for Leonidas. There is a quote unquote suburb of the town that I grew up in. If you were familiar with Greek mythology, uh, history rather you would say Leonidas. Now, when I moved to this town, I was familiar with any of that and everyone locally pronounces it Leonidas. Mhm, every single time. Am. Now as, ah, somebody who is right, like grown and learned and been exposed to the wider world, I still have to do the mental labor every single time it's Leonidas and not Leonidas. Yeah, it's a challenge. It is a challenge.

Cheyenne: I do not put in that mental effort back. And why.

Rachel: This is a little depressing, but, uh, as a bunch of younger adults, I was in fact mocked pretty regularly for staying at the wrong way. Uh, and it turns out that being mocked mercilessly by your peers will definitely change your behavior.

Cheyenne: Yeah.

Rachel: There you go.

Cheyenne: All right, well, is there anything else we want to throw out there before we wrap it up today?

Rachel: Yeah, I guess I would just say as a recap, the too long didn't read a version for a conversation.

Cheyenne: Right.

Rachel: We're looking for guests and you don't have to be an expert. If you want to join us, we would just like to have you. Uh, and if you need a sounding board for your money, woes, we're happy to be it.

Cheyenne: Yeah.

Rachel: Um, and then I guess it's a little bonus. Not a recap, but just a thing. If you have something that you want us to talk about, let us know. Uh, we'll have our email address and all of our social media handles at the beginning of this episode, so reach out.

Cheyenne: Yeah. I was actually just thinking of some of the, um, really fun extra stuff that we've talked about doing for a couple of years that we finally said was this was going to be the year. And so I'm like, we're going to have some fun. Like, this is going to be awesome.