The Coast Capital THRIVE Podcast
The Coast Capital THRIVE podcast is a platform aimed at highlighting topics related to equity, diversity, and inclusion, specifically focused on employment for youth and young adults living with disabilities.
The Coast Capital THRIVE Podcast
Smart Spending
In this episode, Coast Capital Savings' financial education manager, Brenda Mah, shares some best practices on spending our money wisely and provides some tips on how to take our money further.
Coast Capital Savings, a province supporter of the Thrive program since 2020, is a member-owned financial cooperative with an 80-year-old legacy of unlocking financial opportunities that positively impact people and communities. Driven by their social purpose of building better futures together, they look at everything they do through the lens of how they can help their 600,000 members, employees, and communities. Ranked in the platinum category of the 2022 Corporate Knights Social Purpose Ranking and a proud, certified B Corporation Registered, they're part of a global movement building a more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economic system. Each year they invest 10% of their bottom line into local communities, which over the past two decades totals 100 million. To learn more, visit them online at CoastcapitalSavings.com. Welcome to the Thrive Podcast, an open space to celebrate diversity, share our perspectives, and promote the abilities of youth with disabilities. Thrive is a program at the BC Center for Ability and is generously sponsored by Coast Capital Savings. This podcast is produced on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish peoples. I'm your host and producer, Anu Pala. Spending has become so easy now with online shopping, ordering food, ordering groceries. Honestly, almost everything we acquire can be purchased from the comfort of our own home. Knowing how to prioritize our spending can help avoid impulse purchases. It's not about spending less, but spending wisely. Once again, I'm delighted to welcome back Coast Capital Savings Financial Education Manager Brenda Ma. Welcome back, Brenda. Thank you, Anu. So let's get right into it. How would you define smart spending?
SPEAKER_01:For myself, smart spending is not about not spending at all. It's about really making sure that you're spending wisely and that you are taking advantage of any kind of additional benefits or discounts out there that come with spending. Spending is unavoidable, but I think that there's ways that we can spend smart and you know maximize on what we are spending.
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm. I've seen in the grocery store sometimes where you'll see a box of cereal, you'll see a larger box for a certain price, and then you see a smaller box for a certain price. And some people will buy the smaller boxes because they think it's cheaper, but actually the bigger box ends up being cheaper.
SPEAKER_01:But also conversely, if you're purchasing the larger box, as long as you're actually going to consume the larger box, um some people buy the larger box but don't end up consuming it and then it goes to food waste. But they bought it because they thought they're getting a deal. In reality, they never were gonna be able to eat that much cereal to begin with. So really important to kind of know what you actually need and only spend on what you need.
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm. That's a really good point. It reminds me of Costco. Yes. Because many of us shop at Costco and we buy all these items, and you it's in bulk of of course, and you end up buying a lot of things that do end up going to waste. So you're really literally throwing your money down the drain.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:No one needs five heads of lettuce. Absolutely not. What's an example of not so smart spending? Would that be the Costco thing?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so seeing kind of a sale on something maybe at the grocery store and just really wanting to buy it because it's on sale, but do you actually need the item? So buying items that you don't necessarily have a need for, even though you're saving money, is not always the best option. I'm for one find it really hard to pass up a deal, but I really have to stop myself and ask if I actually need that item.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I do that every time when I go shopping. And this is a great segue into the topic of impulse buying. We talked about this a little bit before recording this episode as well. So, what is impulse buying and how can we stop?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So impulse buying really is just, you know, we get that serotonin hit, that instant gratification when you purchase something um shiny and new. But the result is either one, you've got an item that you don't use um that's gonna lie around the house, or um you end up lining up to return that item. So this is hopefully this will save you some time and uh and some money.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but sometimes we end up buying something thinking that we are going to use that thing. Or we're gonna wear that item, but we don't. But I think there's some kind of a like you say an instant gratification we get. I know I do. It feels good. It's what do they call that? Like retail therapy? Retail therapy. It's my favorite. I know it sounds like it sounds negative, but there is something to be said about it. It does feel good. I'm not saying it's healthy, but I'm just saying it that there's something there. It does make you feel happy.
SPEAKER_01:It does. It does make me feel happy. I don't even have to go to a mall anymore for retail therapy. I can I can do it at home. Sometimes that's actually my favorite way of relaxing is just scrolling through, you know, whether it be Amazon or online clothing store. I won't necessarily buy anything. I think that's like the new window shopping. But it's like at times it's just um, you know, really relaxing to be able to turn your brain off and and just search and scroll.
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I do that as well a lot. And also I follow some YouTubers, and so they'll paste links to certain things they're talking about. You know, I'll click on the link and check out all the different things that they're talking about, and I find it kind of fun. Yes, YouTube and Instagram have cost me a lot of money. Yeah, me too. But they say on TikTok, like TikTok made me buy that. Yes. For me, the YouTube made me buy that. But um oh, I don't get sucked into that like necessarily. Like, oh, this YouTuber, you know, is swears by this, so I'm gonna buy it. But I get some good ideas though.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I think it's just really important to do your research. Absolutely. Um, to see whether or not it really is that great and whether or not it is something that you actually need. We forget that often these influencers are paid to post these endorsements. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Promote certain items.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Okay, so what is the 24-hour spending rule and how can we apply it? What is this thing?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, so this is actually one of my favorite strategies to reduce my spending. It's actually saved me a lot of money. The 24-hour rule is basically you can add whatever you want into your cart, but you have to wait to check out. You have to wait 24 hours. And by waiting 24 hours and then checking your cart again the next day, it really gives you the time to think about do you actually want it? Do you actually need it? Um, often we'll completely forget that it's even in the cart, and sometimes it goes 48, you know, hours. But uh the next day, if you check your cart and you still love what's in there, then great, go for it. But if you don't, then take it out of your cart and it saved you a lot of money. The nice thing about the 24-hour rule also is at times vendors or stores will give you, they'll recognize that that you've put something in your cart and you haven't checked out. And so what they'll do is they will send you a discount email saying, I see that you've put this in your cart, but you haven't checked out. So if you're still interested, here's a 10, 15, 20% discount to check out right now if you if you still would like it. So sometimes it'll even save you some money.
SPEAKER_00:I've done that many times. Or I put in my save for later areas. And so I haven't forgotten completely about it, but it might be something that I might want to consider in the future.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But I add it to my cart so I don't forget.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I'll add it to my cart and I'll tell you 90% of the time when I go back and check my cart the next day, I don't love what I put in there. Or sometimes I even ask myself, why did I put that in my cart?
SPEAKER_00:Or do I really need this right now? Like, really, you know? And that's where it goes to save for later. And then sometimes I'll go back, I'm like, I don't really need that. Like done, out, yeah, there you go, money saved. Yeah, yeah. And I feel good about saving money. So then I can go into something else with that money. Absolutely. What is the benefit of creating multiple accounts for specific items and naming those accounts?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so one of the strategies to effectively save is to create multiple savings accounts. By creating multiple savings accounts, you're separating the money and you're intentionally putting that money aside. And then you name that account. By naming the account, it visually puts that money aside for a specific item. And so, you know, when you go to dip into your savings for, you know, that Starbucks coffee or for that shirt, you are consciously making a decision as to whether you want to take that money away from your vacation fund or from your education fund. And you still may, that's okay. But you're it's a conscious decision then.
SPEAKER_00:That's very handy. It saved me many times. Okay, so let's talk about the importance of tracking your spending.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so um, as we were talking about in the last podcast, creating kind of a money plan, tracking your spending is really important. You want to make sure that you track your spending so that you can really see where your money is going. And a lot of times you don't realize how much you spend on an item. And I'll give you an example. So at the end of every month, I never knew where my money was going. I had no money left over at the end of the month. And um, my partner was like, you know what, you need to try use a tracking app. And so I downloaded an app and I started tracking my spending. And surprisingly, well, not really surprisingly, all my money went to food. I did always know that I loved eating out and that I'd eat out a lot at restaurants. Um, but it didn't occur to me how much money was actually spending on eating at restaurants. And so when I actually tracked my spending and saw how much I spent on restaurants, um, it really prompted me to actually maybe like cook more and eat at home more versus eating out because it was astronomical.
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I can relate to that where you know sometimes life happens and there's just a lot going on, and so we end up taking the shortcut. I know definitely for me, what do we do with our friends, right? Eating is like a social activity. It is, it is. Um, and so I can absolutely relate to that for sure. And what you said resonates with me as well about cooking at home more as well. So it's also healthier. It is healthier, I've been told. That's what they quote unquote say. Um, what is the best way to pay for your purchases? Now that we live in this convenience era, it's so easy to just pull out one of your many plastic cards, whether be credit, debit.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And I'll tell you, I don't even carry a wallet anymore. It's just loaded right onto my phone. So I just use my Apple Pay. But yeah, so I think that there's, you know, many different ways that you can pay. And I think you need to choose a way that works best for you. If you feel like cash works best for you, then do that. You can also use your debit card. But the most popular way, of course, is the credit card. And this is actually my favorite method of payment for a few different reasons. So when you are paying with your credit card, it's important that you only use what's available in your account. So you're really replacing your debit card with your credit card. And so if you only have a thousand in your account, you should only put a thousand on your credit card. And so I I, you know, really caution that unless you're careful, this one can get a little bit out of control. So it's important that you're diligent about only putting what's on your card. But by using your credit card, you will get benefits. So every card comes with benefits, and so you really just need to look at your cards to see what kind of benefits come with your card and what benefits work best for you. My favorite is the cashback. I am able to cash in my points at the end of the year when I know that my, you know, my um credit card bill might be a little bit higher due to the holidays, and that helps me pay it down. So it's almost kind of like a savings account, one that you don't access all the time. It just, you know, it kind of saves up the points and and you don't really kind of pay attention to it. And then at the end of the year, when you need it, you can cash it in. Credit cards also have a lot of other benefits as well. There's travel insurance if that's what you like to travel. There's also a lot of insurance features on cards that people don't realize. One of my favorite ones is purchase protection. So if you purchase something on your card and it's lost, broken, or stolen in the first 90 days, you can apply to the insurance company that's covering it and they will either replace it or refund you for it. And I'll tell you, I've used that one many times. I'm very clumsy. I have broken mirrors while mounting them. I have a rabbit that chews all my cords. Oh wow. Um, so I've had to replace many cords that the insurance company has paid for. You know, really look at the benefits that work best for you to see what would work best for you. You know, you can even take the cash back to the next level. And um, if you have multiple cards, check and see. Like if you spend most of your money on restaurants and say gas, then have one card that's really good, has maybe a higher percentage of cash back on, you know, restaurants and gas. And then if you spend a lot on groceries, then you might have a separate card that's higher percentage cash back for groceries. Obviously, you don't want to go out there with, you know, and have 20 cards, but if you're gonna have a couple, make sure that they work for what you're spending on.
SPEAKER_00:Great advice. So as we're wrapping up this episode, Brenda, any final thoughts? Anything that we haven't talked about?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, uh a few things. You know, I think that if you're going to be purchasing something, make sure it's something that you're gonna need. Not that we're purchasing things that just l in the moment look good, like we talked about kind of things on on sale, but also like make sure you're prepared. So when you're gonna go out shopping, um make sure you have um, for example, a list um to go grocery shopping and do possibly like some meal prepping. We come home and we're tired from a long day of work. The easiest thing for us to do is go out and order takeout. So by doing, like, for example, some meal prepping, that um keeps you from actually ordering that takeout. And then just having that shopping list when you do go out and plan ahead.
SPEAKER_00:I think they even say to make sure you go to the grocery store on a full stomach, not an empty stomach. Yes. But that can also uh contribute to impulse buying.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, absolutely. And if you do need to shop at Costco and you do end up with five heads of lettuce, look and see are there any groups that you can like form, um, like support groups. So you can do food swaps. So my neighbors and I, we do food swaps. We don't need an entire carton of eggs and they don't need five heads of lettuce. So we'll often do like food swaps to share in the cost, but still take advantage of the lower discounts. And then instead of going out and buying brand new outfit, my friends will do like a clothing swap. So we just recently did uh clothing swap. Everyone brings 10 pieces of clothing and we we do a swap. I love that. That sounds like a fun girl's night out. Yeah, there's a lot of fun um ways to kind of save money or shop smarter, or you know, instead of shop, share, kind of share and recycle.
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm. Love it. Thanks again so much, Brenda, for coming on today and sharing these amazing tips with us. No problem, Anu. Thank you for having me. All right, and we'll see everyone in the next episode. Thanks so much for joining us today. This brings us to the end of our episode. I want to give out a huge shout out to Coast Capital Savings for their ongoing support of the Thrive program. Thank you so much. I hope that today's topic resonated with you, and if it did, remember to share it far and wide with your networks. You never know who it might help. And while you're doing that, remember to like, follow, and leave a review. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.