everyone has their own unique views and needs when it comes to financial success if you'd like to leave your financial woes behind and live a life of Financial Freedom you've come to the right place welcome to the saving with Steve show hosted by Steve Sexton the show will help you with the ins-and-outs of money we talked about financial issues that could be costing you thousands of dollars and keeping you up at night we talked about money tax reduction saving more spending less 401K is risk management retirement and everything under the sun that relates to you having a healthier happy relationship with money now here is your host of saving with Steve Steve Sexton a little welcome to the same thing with Steve show where we talked about the ends<br> how much money pretty much everything in the sun release the you having a happier or healthier relationship with money my name is Steve Sexton and I want to thank you for joining us today he would keep continue to expand here in the United States were expanding internationally so we're very grateful that you're here with us and sharing this with your friends and family we had so much so much so much people said hey I want to go check out that Chris class episode you can go to saving with Steve. You ask again at sitting with Steve. Us and Chris Clash he's the number one travel Guru he spent almost 20 minutes educating people on how to go about paying only one of the ten cents on the dollar for travel he went to the actual website he showed us websites where you can be go to Hawaii Kai hotel resort hotel it's like six seven hundred bucks a night they can do it for 177 they can avoid Resort fees all that other stuff that goes along with it the ballet stuff to everything on top of that he showed people<br> for Less is one of those things where you show people actually how to pay only the taxes at the airport charges Chris is open to providing you a little time so you can get his insides does it for free so you want to go check it out it's something you just got to mention your was saving with Steve about the impact of Social Security cost-of-living increase in the making and I think it's important to understand what's going on here so we're going to unpack it for you as well today we got something special in Hope and Larry we're hoping Larry where are Frugal Living expert who raised four Sons debt-free bought a house and cash and the only lived up $40,000 a year they discovered the secrets of spending less saving more while living the spirit of joining abundance practical Frugal ways to over there 100,000 fans on a YouTube channel YouTube channel called under the median you really want to check that out either going to be talking to us today<br> about how to say money during the holiday with that my great pleasure to introduce you or welcome open Larry where I hope Larry welcome to the show thanks so much for having us you know what I'm really glad you're here because there is just so much happening in our world right now with a global instability so it's really important people look at ways to stretch their dollars in the cool thing about you guys is you know what it's wild you actually raised for boys get free which is like really hard to say and you pay for a house cash and put more importantly did it all in less than $40,000 a year and admittedly housing prices in the midwest are very very reasonable so that Jenna but everything is relative and I'm just making light of it but the reality is doing that is something special you also been sharing this on YouTube with your YouTube channel<br> are the median there's over a hundred thousand people there I bet they watch it religiously cuz I've seen some of those things. Oh my God why didn't think of that so we're walking into the holiday season it's a great time with all this going on to have some tips on how to save some money during the holidays but first I would really love to hear your story how do you guys really get started and being Frugal we have started being Frugal because two months after we got married I open the bank account statement and we were flat broke<br> who is forced upon us to figure it out figure it out fast or you're in big trouble and so she got home from work and I said you know what we got to figure this thing out we got married thinking we live on love and found out exactly cost money to live and we can you know it's it's been really interesting cuz we have grown children who aren't committed relationship and they started having these conversations about money and far far far earlier than we ever did we start having money conversations that we figured out we didn't have any money before we got married not that we didn't even discuss it didn't even talk about it and so that's what sort of interesting to see that passed down through are now grown children that they're like oh yeah we need of these conversations a lot earlier than usual but yeah so we started figuring it out and I worked in are you at the time and at the time there was a man named Larry Burkett that started a half-hour program that talk about finances<br> and and it came out to 30 and I would ask you my lunch hour so that I could sit not in the controller and sit in the lunchroom to 30 minutes and listen to him and take notes and that's where I really started figuring out finances is so interesting that you say that then your kids are doing what you're doing right there with wood used to do and they're doing a younger and I always say this is phrase when I talk to a lot of people and I've done the discussions with parents at schools and stuff like that and I used to say do you know what monkey see monkey do is I said the things you do now your kids are going to do when they grow up with that that's a big lesson and learn nowadays specially with the inflation going on the price is going up if you're debt-free and you have a set budget you can live with peace of mind even through tough times<br> the deprivation and we say this all the time for gallaty is absolutely no doubt about deprivation you can make $200,000 and still be frugal that's a good thing you can make $50,000 in befrugal but there's no difference between before Galley frugality is choosing when where and how you're going to spend that money if not depriving yourself of everything that you want it's deciding what you want and figuring out how you're going to get my I would call it Precision planting what you just said it's about planning what you want and how are you going to get there who more importantly planning and just a lot of people just don't I have those conversations all the time that's why I thought what you're talkin about here I trying to preach to the choir do you know how kids are you all the time and I guess Mom and Dad or somebody else comes in there it says the same thing that I will fence but you're here for the hum of it down to that we are so down for being your aha moment<br> holiday season the big question is everybody has those holiday traditions that give giving it all that can we do that with that with costing little about a little or no money going to do is first of all not assume that a tradition is a tradition because it cost a lot of money is tradition is attrition because it it connects your family in meaningful ways and that doesn't have to cost a lot of money we got really good raising four kids on an income which was consistently under the US average income we have really good at creating those moments where things became really special not because we spent money because we spent time together and so we're going to run through these are top five ways that you can find free or nearly free ways to express Traditions around the holiday season in your area all right and then we'll tell you as we go through will tell you some of the things we found the first thing you're going to start with is does your area have like a community calendar and online community calendar start with<br> Convention and Visitor's Bureau I signed up for my Convention & Visitors Bureau they like you want like a weekly email it tells you what's going on in our area Mike will shoot yeah so they send there's a lot of things on there that are like really high price and moderate priced and then you find some things you like serious best free app for free one of our absolute favorite family traditions through the Convention & Visitors Bureau and it's just a local event is done downtown we living in Peoria so it's called you love Peoria you will spelled y u l e n h where businesses downtown will open up and they'll have talent there are Refreshments they only have one of the local churches has full-blown good baked food and and they show part of their play and they invite you back to their Christmas play so it's a really fun event it's very well-attended they have a trolley car that runs around between the different places if it's real cold<br> how to get warmed up nothing very fun free event in our kid loved it and they want us to do it every year our grandkids call us to make sure that you know what they're getting us on the calendar that things were these are the things are grown kids in their mid-twenties are like now when is that when are we going to do that that's one of those things that they're you like to write we joked that it's like more sugar than they consume in like a month, and it's a blast get some of them like like there's this like this inverse ratio between the amount of sugar to eat and how active they are in the singalong do you know you got some sugar in your life that song it's a blast it's so much fun to do is check with local churches there are some local churches that put on some programs in the Christmas season. I'm telling you they are top-notch so we left around 1 year and we found out one of our churches in the area was going to do a mall in the night visitors it's actually a Christmas Opera and then we found out<br> lady that was conducting it out which school was Larry went to high school with and be like hey what are your boys want to come be in a mall in the night was in the restroom so he got to be in this Christmas Opera and this lady that was nothing it was cheap been on Broadway so she was really New York New York to the performances for free and see him in a mall in night visitors one of our local parks is called Forest Park it's a park with trails to go through the woods they have a walking candle light thing for Christmas in their Visitor Center they'll have life Talent playing you can sit and kind of warm up and listen to them when you get out on the trail they have hot chocolate if it's all lit by those luminary candles really fun free event<br> want to be here for this is your wonderful holiday tips don't think what this will be right back with more seating with Steve more expert advice for having a happier relationship with money still to come on the saving with Steve show<br> don't let your financial woes keep you up at night and prevent you from living a life of Financial and personal freedom hi I'm Steve Sexton post of the saving with Steve show where did he talk about the ins-and-outs of money was Financial issues it could be costing me thousands of dollars causing stress keeping you up at night we're going to talk about money tax reduction saving more spending left your investment risk management retirement and everything is so sweet with you having a healthier happy relationship with money soon as you've ever dreamed of living a life of Financial and personal freedom you owe it to yourself and your family to tune in to the saving with Steve show join me Steve section of the saving with Steve show as we talked about everything under the sun when it comes to money to learn more about the show visit saving with Steve. Us that's saving with Steve. Us saving with Steve. Us will see you soon<br> welcome back to the show that is here to help you achieve your financial goals it's the saving with Steve show now here's your host Steve Sexton about the ins-and-outs of money you know what if you would like to follow us you can go to the shaving with Steve. You West website looking all hundred episode you can also go to Facebook at saving with Steve for behind the scenes guest gets all sorts of stuff and with that I just want to get back there hope and Larry where they were giving me some Grave by now you know what the cool thing you talked about this family experiences after all the stuff is gone after it's all thrown away everybody remembers experiences and create Traditions out of the even the decorating the Christmas tree we do it every single year like the Friday after Thanksgiving it became a thing with the kids getting together and figuring out how to decorate the<br> we have Traditions associated with exactly what goes on the tree who gets to put the first ornament on my 82 your mother came came over this year and she put the first ornament on that was huge the kids for Grandma to put the first ornament on anything like that can become that meaningful tradition watching campy Christmas music we have a list we won't give them to you but we watch them every year like this same champy Christmas movies and the kids will like say OK what dates are we doing this on we have pop popcorn and we sit around popcorn hot cocoa and watch the camp Christmas music movie that doesn't cost you a thing but it's those moments that you're creating together that's what counts that's wonderful to see parallels with my family cuz we kind of do some of the same things as my wife always love the Christmas movies let's talk about what's next how about shopping early what's open for the best shopping early you know one of the things that we<br> like to do is shop right after Christmas for the next year or at least begin that process so you go to the store specially January end of January you'll get some really great discounts a lot of clothes out maybe 55% 75% off will look for things that we can put in our gift closet to say for the following year and throughout the year we do a lot of shopping we like to buy used items for each other we just love getting things from thrift stores or Goodwill and find you some really nice items go if you shop early you have plenty of time to look for those things you're not in a rush just trying to do the last minute thing I want to do is make sure that you have a complete Christmas list and that list is prioritize prioritize is like one of my favorite words in the English dictionary for not getting you prioritize means that the most important things to you are at the top of that list any list you make really should be prioritized so the people that you know for sure that you're going to buy for<br> immediate family clearly they're going to be at the top of the list now the people that bought him unless you're not going to spend as much money on them and it's not that they're less important that they're at the bottom of the list is that it makes it super easy to look at those people and group them together put a bracket around their names that they all right all of these people are going to get a DIY thing I'm going to make them something specific so you know that those people are going to get the same gift like teacher gifts I always use that as an example we got to give gifts for teachers amen and I'm saying they were here and so all of the teachers are going to get basically the same gift but it makes it easy for you visually your eye is going to see that and when you assign a monetary amount to it and say this is how much I'm going to spend on each person it gives you a goal post for how much money you going to spend on those gifts the worst thing in the world is walk out without a list without any ideas and without any budget plan then you can keep that that spending more strategic<br> another thing that we do is we save Amazon gift cards that we get throughout the year so we can use those say in November to get things that are kids have already given us on a list that they'll compiled from Amazon so that we know exactly what they want what to get them and then we've pretty much got it paid for as well as on account and they create a wish list and they can label Christmas they make that list shareable they send you a link to it you go right to their list and that list is clickable so whatever they want you click on it Amazon will take you right to that item you can click on it put it in your cart and you know you've just got to send them something they really want it all you need is your own Amazon account and you can create your own wish list and make it either private or shareable just make sure you make a shareable and they'll be a link associated with it you can pass it on to your friends and loved ones does Amazon send you a little link and say hey guess what it's cheaper now actually okay<br> this is how you find out what goes on sale at Amazon camel camel camel camel camel camel.com okay so you're talking about smoking a website that tracks Amazon prices and you can go on there you create a free account on Gamble Campbell Campbell and tell them what you're looking for so let's say you have decided Steve you want an instant pot we know you do but you don't want to pay full price are you close to full price for that instant pot so you're going to tell camelcamelcamel what do put it on your watchlist and once Amazon drops the price of that instant pot camelcamelcamel is going to send you an e-mail say hey Steve Amazon just dropped the price of that item you were looking for I do all the washing for you that's that's wonderful<br> just go home and go to camel camel camel camel<br> okay let's talk about simplifying entertainment for entertainment we have loved to do steamed potlucks we've done them for years right Larry what kind of pot Lux at we.org member well you know I can't come up with bars and everybody brings their favorite XYZ right and then you can bring a favorite beverage to drink and basically it's like a it's a potluck but it's all around one centralized theme and we had so much fun doing this with friends and the other thing we add so we do these theme potlucks throughout the year was friends but at Christmas time we had something else that makes it even more cool and that is the white elephant gift my gosh one year we went to Salvation Army and we found this okay so you remember the the leg lamp<br> from the Christmas story it wasn't the leg lamp but it was a big lamp shaped like a woman's high heel shoe okay and you should have seen those teenage girls like stealing that white elephant gift from each other it was so much fun we found so many fun I think we spent a total of like $13 on all the gifts we bought a lot of gifts yeah for the white elephant gift exchange. Everybody like goes to their favorite second hand shops and looks for a really really fun things for the white elephant gift exchange this wonderful we do it a different way we called The Gourmet group so somebody has led like a German Italian with everything and they make a main dish and and then everybody is given in a recipe for a side dish and dessert they obviously bring your own drink but we also had a game into it so I could be bunco or Farkle or Monopoly or whatever it is we do that in fact one time everybody that we decided we're going to have an eating competition so every<br> had to bring their own little thing that they had to be the day they practice eating that was how much fun is it to destroy the share your favorite Italian recipe are your favorite Mexican recipe your favorite Chinese recipe you bring what you know is really awesome and your family loves and you sharing with other people you love I didn't people people get too hung up on feeling like if they're the hostess they have to make everything or make everything perfect the house have to be perfect and decoration has to be perfect when we did one of these potlucks we did a travel around where we did the appetizer somewhere the main dish somewhere desert I forget what we had at our house but it was cold we actually had it out in our backyard on the patio we had fires going and<br> fire pit and one of our tables has a fire pit built into the middle and we all just cuddled around the fires and we just had so much fun once again didn't cost a lot of money but a lot of good memories. You know I think that's wonderful and that's it's really really great now one of the things that everybody needs to stop is and you called the comparison game so let's help help help people understand that and I think there's a day that they keeping up with the Joneses type thing people need to stop believing that gives have to be the biggest or the most expensive to be the most meaningful one of the things that we encourage people to do is keep a running list list say Mom sometime in the middle of June says you know I'd really all those those new things that I just saw this advertisement no stopping at work and and they're really cool and by the time it gets to November and you shopping for Mom you were completely forgotten what it was that my what Mom say that was really cool back in June you remember keep a running list<br> people's favorite colors their hobby gift ideas because that will help you also by the time you get to Walmart at 10 p.m. we went to at Walmart long before that or wherever else go shopping and you're going to go and you're going to have a list of things you know these people are going to appreciate most special gifts my family ever bought me was I collect all radios and televisions that you've been collecting a lot more than I do now but they found an old 1953 Zenith transoceanic radio at a thrift store and they all pitched in and by golly the thing actually work that was my favorite Christmas gift once again didn't pay a lot for it but it was so fun cuz it was right up my alley. Guys this is been going really really well we're going to be gone about 30 45 seconds left with our time how can people get ahold of you how can they connect with you to to learn these<br> is it to talk about today cuz I know there's a whole bunch more and how can people go see your YouTube channel on YouTube and under the median m e d i a n or you can find a sitter website under the median.com wonderful that's great he looked I want to thank you so much you know what we're probably going to have you back again cuz you've been so much fun in this goes like that and now he's a good guessing that happen so much you guys stay safe stay healthy and again thanks for being part of shading with Steve today thank you thank you thank you so much the more expert advice for having a happier relationship with money still to come on the saving with Steve show<br> don't let your financial woes keep you up at night and prevent you from living a life of Financial and personal freedom hi I'm Steve Sexton post of the saving with Steve show where did he talk about the ins-and-outs of money those financial issues that could be costing me thousands of dollars causing stress keeping you up at night we're going to talk about money tax reduction saving more spending left your investment risk management retirement and everything is so sweet with you having a healthier happy relationship with money soon as you've ever dreamed of living a life of Financial and personal freedom you owe it to yourself and your family to tune in to the saving with Steve show join me Steve section of the saving with Steve show as we talked about everything under the sun when it comes to money to learn more about the show visit saving with Steve. Us that's saving with Steve. Us saving with Steve. Us will see you soon<br> welcome back to the show that is here to help you achieve your financial goals it's the saving with Steve show now here's your host Steve Sexton hey welcome back to the about the ins-and-outs of money I want to truly thank you for tuning in I appreciate you letting your friends and family know about the show all the replacer available at skating with Steve. You asked if you're enjoying the stories of helpful information check out our affiliate to UK help Radio AM FM 247 BBS radio and talk radio New York City if you'd like to check out other episodes and you can always go to saving with Steve. You was if you have comments would like to see somebody on the show be more than happy to accommodate you please go to viewers at staying with Stephen just sent us an email tonight new one I just want to talk one brief little Philly in its hear about social security Social Security Administration just announced the cost of living allocation for Social Security<br> you do realize about social securities that it's a guaranteed income one of the few guaranteed incomes that last as long as you do it's one of the few guaranteed income that will not get adjusted with the stock market goes down then one of the few guaranteed incomes that will help you keep up with purchasing power and that's just what happened to cost of living allocation went up 8.7%. Hasn't happened like that since 1981 so its been over forty years now here's one of the big things really interesting 70% of claimants take Social Security early and they typically do this cuz they think Social Security going to go away or they worked really really hard they want to get your money now and or many people think that if they take the money now they're going to be able to buy more well that the reality according to studies like the one from CNBC Mary Beth Franklin and others that's not quite the case in fact because of people taking it early they're giving up on 3.4 trillion dollars of money that could be in their bank account<br> in fact study showed that 57% of people that took sole security early could have had a larger income and had more assets if they just waited a few years there's a lot of people that retire at 62 they say I'm going to wait five years Excel security you have to look at that as well because you got to remember if you're in 62 you're getting $2,000 a month to $24,000 a year for four years or 5 years it's over $100,000 what would that hundred thousand dollars of me to you when you're 85 86 87 when you might need it for help I understand if your income is quite tight and you need to take a cash got a ticket if your family is one of those situations where they don't live past 70 65 70 71 72 73 you might want to take me to otherwise you won't get full benefits but if you're in a situation it's important to chicken count longevity your genetics it's important to take account how much you're going to need later on it's important to take a look at it a vice<br> advisor based on your choice what's important<br> to see where the income they guarantee Nails going to because it's one of those guaranteed ones and you need to maximize at like you maximize your pension you also want to set up your spouse cuz there's ways you can take your social security or not so it's really important that you do that I want to thank you all for hanging out with you today on saving with Steve as we move into this holiday season we're going to have more things for you to take a look at so if you want to find some things are you want to hear about something of yours at table with Steve. US citizen to email will make sure it gets on the air will plan for we got some real cool things coming up here in the future we have we have more people on with travel talk about money like we usually do and with that I want to say thank you for being with its Heroes saving with Steve stay safe stay healthy and we'll look forward to seeing you next Thursday at 5 I thank you for joining us for the saving with Steve show hosted by Steve Sexton to learn more about the show and how to become a guest or sponsor visit saving with Steve. Us that's saving with Steve<br> yacht us join us again next time as we continue to talk about everything under the sun that relates to you having a healthier happier relationship with money this has been the saving with Steve show hosted by Steve Sexton<br>