Good morning, lovely people!

Today we are celebrating National “Just Because” Day.

Why?…. Just, because!

You don’t need a reason to celebrate. You can be happy, just because. Buy yourself a little treat, just because. Call an old friend to say hello, just because. Do something nice for a coworker, just because.

There’s no permission needed today. Just start doing good stuff, practice some spontaneity, and spread some smiles around. 🤗

OK, onto the money stuff!👇👇👇

TO DO

Check & Freeze Your Credit… 🔐

National Public Data (NPD) suffered a massive data leak earlier this year, and billions of personal records (names, addresses, SSNs, birthdates, etc.) have since been published on the dark web. 🙈

Whether your info was leaked or not, it never hurts to freeze your credit so “hackerman” can’t open fraudulent accounts under your name!

To freeze your credit, put in a request with these 3 credit bureaus: 👉 Experian 👉 Equifax 👉 TransUnion. Do it today. There’s no downside.

SAVING

Turn Your Home into a Restaurant 🍱

Do you know the #1 reason people like to eat out?…

According to a Statista poll, it’s because of the atmosphere. People love the ambiance of restaurants and the excitement of eating in different places.

This got me thinking… is it worth upgrading your dining areas at home so they feel more exciting? Maybe you’d want to eat at home more (and save big bucks on food) if your house was a bit more restaurant-esque?

Here are a few ideas to try at home:

• Cook and eat outside more when the weather is on point. On the patio, in the yard, on the lawn at lunch, etc.

• Light candles (our kids LOVE the color-drip kind) at night for mood lighting.

• Buy a cheap electric flat grill (~$20) and put it in the middle of your dinner table for family-style DIY grilling or food warming.

• Switch up your seating, rotate your tables, or upgrade your dining furniture.

• TV off, chill music on, cell phone away. Bust out a deck of cards or a fun table game you like to play.

• Dress up a little, or give your dinner a “theme” so it feels unique and special.

• Celebrate and cheers regularly, like you do at restaurants. Ask about the good stuff that happened during people’s day.

Putting in a bit more effort (or even spending a bit of money on dining room upgrades) could be a big money saver in the long run. Eating at home is 5x cheaper than eating out — that’s a massive difference to your wallet!

Related stuff:

• 👩‍💻 New HTM Blog: How to Stop Eating Out So Much

• 🥘 Parties: Ways to Make Dinner Parties More Interesting

• 🤑 Frugalwoods: How We Broke Our Eating Out Habit - 9 Steps

TOGETHER WITH US MOBILE*

Unlimited plans from $17.50/month 📲

Welcome to the future!

US Mobile is a “SuperCarrier” — which means their network is actually made up of 3 different carriers on the back end (Verizon, T-Mobile & AT&T!). So depending on the cell reception where you live and work, you can manually select the best carrier for coverage.

Joel just switched last week and is doing the 30-day free trial. So far things are working awesome!

If you own your device and want to lower your bill, check out US Mobile. 💪

INFLATION

The Bacon Indicator 🥓

I gotta say, there are some whacky ways people measure inflation these days.

For example, here’s a “bacon indicator” chart from Axios, which compares the average hourly salary to the cost of bacon over the past ~25 years. 👇👇👇

I wonder if someone could create one of these charts for craft beer? 🍺 I used to pay $8 for a 6-pack back in the day, but now I’m forking out $12-$16 for a 4-pack of cans!

I guess it costs me way less in work hours to afford my beer now though. My wages out of college were like $15/hour. And these days I’m pulling in about $89,000 per podcast episode (kidding!!).

But let’s get real for a second: inflation is a tricky beast, and it’s something we can’t control. Prices for all the things we buy and love are going to rise and fall based on a variety of factors.

What we can control, though, is how we respond to it. Things we have influence over a) earning more, b) spending wisely, c) substituting a more expensive item for a cheaper one, and d) increasing our savings rate.

So, when you see fun charts like this being thrown around, keep an open mind. General inflation based on single products and average salaries —> is different than your personal rate of inflation.

Related stuff:

• 📈 Inflation Rate: Calculate your personal inflation rate based on salary/spending

• 🏡 HTM Blog: How to negotiate a pay raise!

ICYMI

Noteworthy news…

Rent-first Lifestyle 🤔
According to a new survey from Credit Karma, more Americans (especially younger ones) approach life with a “rent-first” mindset. They’ll happily rent clothing, electronics, furniture, and more because the flexibility of renting outweighs the benefits of owning.

Sports Betting 🙈
Sadly, more and more folks are gambling their savings away on sports bets instead of investing in the stock market. “For every dollar put toward a sports bet, a household’s net investments drop by $2, the study found”

Fake reviews 🚫
The FTC has put a ban on businesses creating fake reviews (or using bots to boost follows/likes on social media to seem more legit than they actually are). Not sure how many fraudsters will follow these rules, but hopefully they’ll think twice now that there are some hefty potential fines involved!

ALDI 🛒
Our favorite grocery chain ALDI is growing like crazy! In addition to scooping up some smaller competitors earlier this year, they plan to open 800 new locations over the next 5 years! (That’s like 1 new store every 2.2 days! 🤯)

State of Hiring 👩‍💻
Robert Half’s latest survey shows that 52% of companies have plans to hire more permanent staff through the remainder of 2024. Here are the top specialties and cities in demand.

Earn & Invest 🎧
Massive thanks to Doc G for hosting us on the Earn & Invest Podcast last week! We had a great discussion on mastering lifestyle creep.

ASK HTM

“I’m having a BABY! How should I prepare my finances!?” 🍼

CONGRATULATIONS to all of you expecting parents out there!!!!! You’re in for a fun ride. 😅

While exact baby costs can be hard to predict (every baby & family situation is different), here are the high-level things to plan for…

1. Beef up your e-fund a little! An extra cash buffer helps solve unplanned baby expenses that pop up.

2. Fully understand your health insurance plan. Know exactly the costs you’re on the hook for, and which ones insurance will cover. Save for those costs! Use an FSA and HSA if you have access.

3. Leave and benefits. Work out who’s going to care for the baby, time off work, any salary impact, etc. Look ahead to childcare options for years 1+2.

4. Start collecting baby essentials. Big ticket items like a crib, car seat, changing table, and feeding supplies. Try to coordinate family/friend gifts so people who want to give you stuff don’t buy things you won’t actually use. Use Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and Buy Nothing groups. There’s a LOT of free and cheap gently used baby stuff online.

5. Increase your budget. For ongoing costs (diapers, formula, wipes, etc) add these to your future budget. Now is also a good time to see what expenses you can cut from your spending to make room for the new baby costs.

6. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need yet. It’s tempting to start collecting any/all baby and toddler gear, even if you won’t use it for 1-2 years. Resist the urge, it only clogs up your house. Buy the stuff you need in the short term only, then pick up more when needed.

After your baby is born, there’s a handful of financial tasks you’ll want to address (update will, life insurance, college savings, etc). But that can take a backseat for a little while.

That’s the short list. Here’s the longer answer for preparing finances for a baby!

Cheers for reading! Now, get out there and kick some keister (as my 4-year-old son would say) today — just because. 💪

Best friends out! 🍻