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The Episode You NEED · The Opinion You Didn’t Ask For

0:01
You don't just want this episode, you need this episode.
0:05
So buckle up, you guys.
0:21
Welcome back to the opinion you didn't ask for.
0:24
I'm Hannah and Black Friday season is upon us and I feel
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like it's terrible that it's become its own season.
0:33
It's not just a day anymore. It's now taking up the end of
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October all through November. It will go into December.
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I mean, it's become a problem. Honestly, I am not a fan of
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Black Friday. I never have been a fan of Black
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Friday. I think if there is a day that
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comes right after the day that you were supposed to be so
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thankful for everything you were given, and then the next day
1:01
you're fighting in a store over like a Tickle Me Elmo or
1:05
shooting someone over a 50 inch screen TV.
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I just think that, you know, there's a big disconnect in
1:13
those two days being back-to-back and people were
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dying. I remember as a kid that it was
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in the newspaper that a lady had been trampled to death on Black
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Friday. OK, in what world?
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In what world is that acceptable behavior for grown-ups for a
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sale to save some money all because you probably didn't save
1:38
money throughout the year and now you're like I can't afford
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any of this so I must buy it on this sale.
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But guess what? It was not a need, it was a
1:47
want. So today we are talking about
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something I am so beyond passionate about and that is
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living within your means. And it starts with the Sephora
1:58
sale that just ended I'm sure. I don't know if whoever you are
2:04
a teenage girl, you know what Sephora is. middle-aged mom.
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You also know the husbands of all these women.
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You see it on the credit card statement.
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I know you know what Sephora is. OK, Sephora is a worldwide known
2:18
thing. But recently it has been on
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every social media story that I tap through.
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Every influencer has been talking about the Sephora sale,
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what they got, all their links, all their codes, whatever it is.
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They have been promoting this sale for weeks.
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So clearly I see this and I'm like, you know what, Home girl
2:45
needs new makeup? I do I, that is a fact.
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I do need more makeup, however, because I have been squeezing
2:52
the last remaining like not even oz the last remaining dabs of
3:00
makeup out of my little tube for weeks and I keep thinking I'll
3:05
order more later. And later is just not happening
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because it's not. It's honestly not a huge need.
3:11
I'm not a huge makeup girl. It was on my 2025 New Year's
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resolution goal to have a makeup routine and to wear makeup more
3:21
often because I want to be a grown up.
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OK, I'm I'm 30 now you guys. I have to be more put together
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and makeup is where it started. So I've watched Tik Toks and I
3:33
found this girl and everything she used looked amazing.
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So I was going to my Sephora app.
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Never have I shopped at Sephora before.
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OK, that's I just needed that to be known.
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But I have the app to scroll randomly every now and then.
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But I went and added every single brush, every single
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product that this girl used to my cart because I was like OK,
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the sale is my time because shoot this was before the sale
4:01
started and she's like everyone get ready.
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So I was like, Oh yeah, girl, I'm going to be ready.
4:06
So I add everything to the cart. Well, the safari sale started
4:10
and I kept just being like, OK, I'll order it later.
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I'll I don't know exactly what shade of this I want.
4:16
I don't know what I'm going to do with this.
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Like I kept going back and forth and there are things in my life
4:22
that just take precedent over makeup.
4:25
And by that I mean everything takes precedent over makeup.
4:28
So I was like, OK, we'll get there.
4:30
I'll get there. I will order it before the last
4:33
day. So the last day comes and goes.
4:36
Well it comes and before it goes I go to the app and I click
4:40
check out just to see. Because I am a frugal girly.
4:46
I love to save money. I love deals and discounts.
4:50
You will not see me pay full price for something.
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For the most part, I will do my duty to save money and I go to
4:59
the checkout to see exactly how much I'm saving.
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I'm like wow, what a what a blessing I am to my husband that
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I did my research. I know that this is supposedly
5:09
the best sale of the year and I am going to save us so much
5:14
money, but I'm also going to get makeup so that I can feel like a
5:17
person. The total was 300 and like 65
5:22
after the sale price. It took off 36 dollars.
5:27
OK excuse me what? You're telling me that is the
5:31
best savings I'm going to get all year?
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That doesn't even feel like savings.
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You I'm still after tax paying over $350.00 for makeup.
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And I sat there and I looked at it and I was like, Nope, I don't
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need this. And I closed out of the app and
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I walked away. And I yes, I've thought about it
5:50
since then, but it's not something that was life or
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death. Like we are going into the
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Christmas season. We, I have 3 kids.
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I have a spouse who loves receiving gifts.
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I don't love receiving gifts. I would have felt so much guilt
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if I had spent all that money on myself, on items that were not a
6:12
necessity, that was not going to bless our family.
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And I know that there are some people who think, well, you need
6:18
to take care of yourself and self-care is so important.
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And for that, yes, I do agree. Do I think I need to spend
6:25
$350.00 at Sephora to live my best life?
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Absolutely not. But once again, you see all
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these influencers who buy all this makeup, who have all these
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different brands sending them items, and you're thinking, OK,
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well, they have all of that. It's fine if I spend a little
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bit and oh, they swear by this brand, so it must be amazing.
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It's so overwhelming that I feel like it's being thrown at us
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that if we don't shop this sale like we're a loser.
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Like if you can't afford this or you don't have this new makeup
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or this new Rhodes blush or this new makeup by Mario Bronzer,
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then you're it. You're an idiot.
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You clearly don't know how to look good.
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OK, That's that's honestly how it feels sometimes that I feel
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like they are almost talking down like you need this.
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Nothing, nothing on social media triggers me more than when an
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influencer says this is not a want, it's a need.
7:32
No, no it's not. No girlfriend, I don't need my
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7th hydro jug. I just don't need that.
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That's a ridiculous waste of money at this point.
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Now, unless you are a multimillionaire and the economy
7:48
is not hurting you right now, I just don't want to ever have you
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look at me and say you need this.
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No, I need to pay my bills. I need to buy groceries.
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I need gas in my car to take my kids to school.
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Those are needs. I don't need another another
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item that guess what they were gifted.
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They didn't buy that all their hydro jugs are free.
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Yours were not OK and theirs not only were free, theirs are
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making them money every time you use their code which is great.
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This sounds like I'm bashing on influencers.
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I'm not, I'm just simply reminding everyone, but mostly
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myself that they are not source of truth and knowledge.
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Like they are not the wisest people on this planet, OK, That
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is their job is to sell this. It's as if they were knocking
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doors like the pest control people.
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OK, but we're not as nice to the pest control people as we are to
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these influencers who we've started idolizing.
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And we want their lives and we want their jobs and we want what
9:00
they have. But we are not realizing that
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they are in the market of sales. They are salespeople.
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They're just pretty and they live in big nice houses and they
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go on extravagant vacations. And that is great because they
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can afford it. However, a lot of us cannot
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afford it. So I I find myself battling
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going back and forth. I can admire the life they have
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without hating the life I have because it's not the same.
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So the point of this is it is OK to not have this Christmas
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holiday season, the Christmases that these people online are
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having. It is OK if you cannot afford to
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take your kid to Disneyland for their Christmas.
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OK. It does not make you a bad
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parent. It also doesn't make them a
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better parent because you don't know what their situation is.
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You don't know if their kids wish that they had gotten to
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stay home and go to grandma's house on Christmas morning, or
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if they had wanted to stay home and just play board games and
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watch the Grinch. OK, You don't know what their
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life is like, but it's so easy to see this glorious, beautiful
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Christmas season. And they have, they've paid
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people to come decorate their trees, not just one, multiple
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trees. And you just think, I wish I had
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that. I don't wish I had that because
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I'm a control freak. I would pay someone to do it and
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then be like, wrong. And I would take the whole tree
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apart and do it myself. So now I've wasted time and
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money. So I think you have to just be
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grateful for what you do have and appreciate what you do have
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and acknowledge. You can't have a Christmas theme
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every year. You can't have brand new
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decorations every year. And if you are the 1% who's
11:00
listening to this episode and you're like, girl, I can do
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that, then cheers to you. Mazel tov.
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OK, I love that for you. That is not majority of people.
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We usually get one new Christmas decoration after the Christmas
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season when it's gone on like a huge sale the next year.
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The next year, we're not even buying Christmas decorations at
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full price. We still have the tree and the
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decorations from when we were newlyweds.
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And let me tell you, they're not good.
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They are ugly. Ugly, OK?
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And I hate them, but I also love them.
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I love that they remind me of a time when we were broke as a
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joke and we were scraping by and Target had a sale and I spent
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our pretty pennies on these decorations.
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The now I look at and I'm like barf.
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I would give this to the DI in a heartbeat.
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OK, Goodwill, you can have these.
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I don't want them anymore, but it's so fun to see where you
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are, like came from, where you're at currently, and it's OK
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to hope to one day be able to have 7 flocked trees in your
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entryway. OK, that would be a dream for
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someone else. I don't want to have to clean up
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the stuff that's going to come from all of those trees.
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It's like flocking or the pine needles.
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I guess if they're fake, you don't have as much of that.
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But it's OK to not have the Kim Kardashian Winter Wonderland
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Christmas house. Your Christmas is still going to
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be amazing. Just don't.
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Don't Max out your credit cards, Kate.
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Your kids will not appreciate it more.
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Your spouse or partner will not have a better Christmas.
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If you Max out the budget because you were trying to live
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like the next door neighbors or the girl on social media over in
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Nashville, you are not going to have the same joy for Christmas.
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When you're looking at the bill after Christmas comes and you're
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like, I don't know how we're going to survive this.
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That's not the purpose of Christmas.
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That is not the purpose of the giving season.
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That also doesn't really scream grateful.
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So as we're like going into Thanksgiving, we're supposed to
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be grateful for what we have, not dwelling on what we don't
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have. And yes, I'm talking to myself
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in this moment because I struggle.
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I struggle with, well, what if we had done this instead?
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And what if we had, you know, save this money here And what if
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we hadn't spent this? I am a regretful buyer a lot of
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the time, remorseful buyer. I think that one of those
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things, words are hard, OK? I have regrets when buying a lot
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of things because I'm like, well, how could we have spent
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this better? Or what if we had gotten
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something that we liked more? And it's a constant cycle of I
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never can just live in the moment and be like, OK, this is
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what we have. We are going to make do.
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We're going to love it for now. And we're going to just keep
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working to have what we want more.
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And I do not have a job at the moment.
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I mean, that's a lie. False.
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I have three children. I work harder than a lot of
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people, OK? I'm exhausted when I wake up and
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I'm exhausted when I go to bed and I get paid $0.00.
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So I have a job, just not one that pays any bills.
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So I've taken it upon myself to make Facebook marketplace my
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little part time job that brings me so much joy.
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When I list something and someone messages, is this still
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available? And I'm like yes.
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And they're like great, where can I pick it up?
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Nothing brings me more joy. They did not try to offer me
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less. They're not trying to.
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They have me meet them halfway. They Venmo me.
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I set it on my porch. And I don't spend that money
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unless it's on other Facebook Marketplace items because I have
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become this thrift shopper via on lines because I don't want to
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go into store. I don't want to go through 20
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racks at Goodwill looking for something that doesn't have cat
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hair on it. OK, I'm allergic to cats.
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Nothing makes me itchier than a thrift store and that might
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sound rude. I get so itchy.
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It also partly might be in my head because one time I bought
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my kids something that had animal hair on it and I was
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sneezing. And since then if I walk in to
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any type of thrift store I'm instantly itchy.
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I'm sneezing, I'm rubbing my nose, I look ridiculous.
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So if you just do it online, you get to save all the ridiculous
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allergies. So I love Facebook marketplace.
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I love finding deals on clothes for my kids for the next season,
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new shoes that have barely been worn.
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And I never thought I'd be the girl buying slightly used items
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from random strangers online. I never thought I I was never
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going to have to buy something used ever in my life.
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Well, that's not the life I'm living.
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So we are frugal, we are saving money and we are finding great
16:24
deals. And there's nothing wrong with
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that. There is nothing wrong with
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seeing something that's super cute that once your kid wears it
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one time off the rack, it's now gently used like it's not brand
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new. Kids don't even care about tags
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or it being in a brand new box. So my invitation to you this
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year is maybe instead of worrying on spending so much
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money on brand new items, maybe look for slightly used items
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that might be better than what you even found.
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Because sometimes the old school stuff is better quality.
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It was made better, the materials are better.
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You never know you might find a diamond in the ref.
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But someone else sent a link to something and all these gift
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guides, they give me anxious anxiety.
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They're like, oh, here's a gift guide for him, for her, for mom,
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for dad, for grandma, for grandpa, for your.
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And I'm like, oh, I am so overwhelmed.
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I will not be clicking on one of these gift guide links because
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I'm about to go into a psych ward.
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I cannot look at those. They will overwhelm me.
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They will also then maybe be like I can't afford any of this
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and it'll be a whole spiral with my whole self worth and what am
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I doing in life and why don't we have more Not healthy, not the
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need to spend my emotional time on at Christmas.
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OK we can avoid that. Just keep in mind that there are
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other options. Your kids don't know if
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something is used or brand new. They have absolutely no idea
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unless you tell them. And if your kids are snobby
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enough to even care, that's a you problem.
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That's not a them problem. You should not be teaching them
18:06
that they need brand new all the time because they deserve it.
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Everything they are given is a blessing because it's a it's
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literally a gift. They are given it so they can
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just be grateful and they can appreciate how hard you're
18:21
working to provide for them. It's also really hard for me to
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not do things in amounts like money amounts.
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My brain works very much in numbers and throughout the year
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my kids do activities. My son has done T-ball and flag
18:39
football. My daughter is in dance on a
18:42
company team, she is in tumbling and acro.
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And I spend so much time and money for my kids to be in these
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activities that sometimes it's not going to be realistic for
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them to have brand new outfits only from Zara.
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It's not going to be a realistic that they get to go on a two
19:02
week trip to Hawaii because we are spending our money to give
19:06
them the ability to learn and grow and expand their talents
19:10
and figure out what their interests even are.
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And that adds up. So at Christmas time, if there's
19:16
less gifts under the tree, that's OK because you've been
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spending that money on them to have a great childhood on them,
19:24
to be able to have goals and to have things to look forward to
19:29
and make friendships on the teams that they're on.
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And that is a gift. My daughter has her little
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company team jackets that they're going to be getting.
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You better believe I'm wrapping that because it was not cheap,
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but it was a requirement for the team.
19:45
She will be opening that as a Christmas gift because no 6 year
19:50
old needs a $90.00 dance jacket. They just don't need that.
19:54
But we are going to gift it to her so that she hopefully
19:58
appreciates the amount that goes into her being able to do
20:02
something that she loves. And that has been I've actually
20:07
had to teach my husband. How to appreciate things more.
20:12
Bless this man, he has ADHD. It is a it is a trial in my
20:19
life. Like God gives his toughest
20:21
battles to his strongest soldiers.
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It's me. I'm the soldier.
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I am the one surviving his ADHD because he is, he has a million
20:32
ideas going all the time, tells me 12 stories within two
20:35
minutes. And my brain was not wired the
20:38
same. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
20:39
whoa, whoa, chill. Please sit back, relax.
20:44
Like give me a minute. But with his ADHD.
20:47
And I've actually talked to multiple people who have ADHD
20:50
and they're just like, I am your husband.
20:52
Like I am the same way when it comes to spending.
20:56
They look online and they find these things and they're like,
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oh, this is a great sale. Like I need to buy this right
21:02
now. And then they buy it and then it
21:04
doesn't actually bring them joy. And that has been a constant
21:08
with my husband that he has to have something and he'll be
21:11
like, babe, this is the best price it's ever been.
21:14
I need this. And me being this loving wife
21:19
who I want him to have things that he wants because he works
21:23
so hard. He's the only income, and most
21:26
of the money goes to the bills and the kids.
21:28
So I'm like, I want him to have the things he wants.
21:31
So I struggle to tell him no. But throughout the last eight
21:36
years, this man will buy things that he told me he needed, that
21:41
it was the best price, that he had done the research.
21:45
And then it arrives and he'll be like, it's not as great as I
21:49
thought it would be. And I'm like, what?
21:51
What do you mean it's not as great?
21:52
Like you begged for this. So at the beginning of our
21:56
marriage, he would have random packages show up and he had no
22:00
idea what they were. And I was like, that is not how
22:03
this is going to work. He'd be like, oh, I bid on that
22:06
on eBay. I didn't know.
22:08
I won. Like awesome.
22:09
And I'm like, and then it was like the wrong size.
22:12
And I'm like, what do you mean you bid on this?
22:14
It's not even the right size. And now it's just sitting in our
22:18
closet because you can't wear it, but you can't return it.
22:22
Yeah, yeah. This caught.
22:24
This has caused some problems. So I had this rule that he had
22:29
to talk about something for at least 10 times and it could not
22:33
be within the same day, but he had to bring it up at least 10
22:37
times to know that he actually wanted it.
22:40
And then I would say, have you looked at other brands?
22:44
Have you researched this? I have had to put Homeboy on a
22:47
budget because he sees something that looks so awesome and he's
22:52
like, I must have it, I must have it.
22:56
And then he gets it and it doesn't bring him as much joy.
22:59
So then he starts researching more and he'd be like, OK babe,
23:02
hear me out. I know I bought this backpack,
23:05
but I found a better backpack and it's on sale and I'm like,
23:09
well, well what about the first backpack?
23:12
Like what are we doing with that thing?
23:14
Because we're not just going to have a plethora of backpacks
23:18
hanging out when you're only using one of them.
23:21
It's it's this cycle. But he has gotten so good at
23:27
deciding if he needs something or if it's just a want.
23:30
And if it is just a want, he'll put it on the back burner and
23:34
he'll do his research. He will decide, OK, is this the
23:37
best material? Is there a different material
23:40
that would maybe be better that a different company sells?
23:43
And then he'll watch the pricing and he, it's honestly been so
23:48
fun for him now that he's like, OK, I like this one, but I want
23:52
it to have a different zipper. You guys, I, you might not give
23:55
a crap about this backpack or zipper, Neither do I, but I hear
24:00
about it every day. Every day that man talks to me
24:04
about some type of backpack pouch situation.
24:08
We've actually had friends text him and be like, hey, can you
24:11
give me some backpack racks for my husband?
24:14
It he could have a job being the backpack guy.
24:17
OK, that could be. He could start his own podcast
24:20
where he just talks about backpacks.
24:22
Nothing would bring that man more joy.
24:25
But bringing it back to Christmas.
24:27
OK, we're getting there. I promise There is a point.
24:30
He has really struggled with me giving him budgets for the kids
24:36
for Christmas because he grew up.
24:39
He's the oldest of eight kids, so Christmases were a little bit
24:42
smaller. So he's like, I'm going to give
24:45
my kids the most extravagant, over the top, ridiculously full
24:51
of presents Christmases so that they know that they're loved, so
24:54
that they know that we want to give to them.
24:57
However, on the other side, I was one of two kids.
25:02
I have other siblings but I grew up with one sister.
25:05
So it was just the two of us in our house growing up and my
25:08
mother. My husband calls her Missus
25:12
Christmas. She is over the top when it
25:17
comes to Christmas, to the point where my sister and I, as
25:21
grown-ups, as moms now, we have told her that she has almost
25:26
ruined Christmas sometimes for us in the sense that we cannot
25:31
give our kids the same Christmas that we received as kids.
25:35
And it makes us feel bad. It makes us feel like we are
25:38
failing them as moms. It's not.
25:41
We are not you guys. My mother was out of control.
25:47
That woman needed someone to take her card.
25:50
She should not have been allowed to do Christmas shopping.
25:54
And as a kid, it was so ridiculously magical.
25:58
Kay, let me set the stage. We would wake up Christmas
26:01
morning as early as possible, and we would sneak out to look
26:06
at the stockings. And these stockings were packed
26:09
to the brim. I mean, you would.
26:11
And they were giant stockings. You would think that the threads
26:14
were about to RIP out, they were so packed.
26:17
Like the lumps were coming out the sides because she had
26:20
shoved. Well, Santa had shoved so much
26:24
into that stocking and it's over flowing onto the bench and there
26:28
is candy and toys and presents next to the stockings.
26:32
And that was just the stockings. And then we would look into the
26:36
living room. It was as if Christmas had
26:40
thrown up in our living room. I mean, the tree is half covered
26:44
behind presents, the entire floor.
26:47
You couldn't see carpet. It was all over the couch like
26:50
presents were covering the couch.
26:53
It was stupid. It was stupid how packed this
26:59
living room was for Christmas. But as a kid you're like, holy
27:03
crap, I'm rich. Like we have all this stuff.
27:08
This is amazing. And you just, you feel like, oh,
27:12
I'm so spoiled. I'm, I was such a good kid.
27:15
I clearly made the good list. And then you get older and you
27:20
realize it's all coming from one bank account.
27:24
And it what my dad blessed that man.
27:27
He looked more shocked than anyone else on Christmas morning
27:31
when he'd walk out and his eyes would bulge out of his head
27:35
because he went to bed. That man wasn't wrapping
27:38
presents. And he would wake up and he
27:40
would, and I never understood as a kid, but he would look angry
27:44
and he'd be like, looks like I'm going to need to talk to Santa
27:47
about the budget. And I was like, what are you
27:49
talking about? Santa doesn't have a budget.
27:52
No, he does. So I grew up with the most
27:56
extravagant of Christmas mornings and I am not a gift
28:02
receiver. That is just not my love
28:03
language. So it was partly overwhelming
28:06
for me to see all these things. But my mom loves giving gifts.
28:11
That is how she shows love. I also think a part of it was,
28:15
and she has openly admitted this is not like a bash on my mom.
28:19
She has openly admitted she did it wrong, that she went
28:23
overboard, that she spent way too much.
28:25
But I think a part of it was her guilt that she was a working
28:28
mom. She was gone a lot, we were
28:31
alone a lot. And so I think she thought that
28:35
this was her, like, buying US, like, to show how hard she was
28:40
working, that like, we deserved all these presents.
28:43
We surely did not deserve all those presents.
28:46
But she also was wrapping freaking underwear, OK.
28:49
She wrapped underwear and socks and towels and things that are
28:54
just not really gifts. I did not need my dad watching
28:58
me open a pack of underwear for Christmas morning.
29:01
That was not a need. That was something that could
29:04
have just been done separately because underwear is a
29:07
necessity. Deodorant, toothpaste,
29:10
toothbrushes, those were not needed in the stocking, Mom.
29:14
But she just wanted it to look so full and so magical, and she
29:19
didn't know how to stop. She didn't know how to dial
29:23
back. And then she would tell us some
29:25
years it's going to be small. Yeah.
29:28
There may have been a few less presents, but the presents that
29:32
were wrapped were like iPhones and tablets and laptops and
29:37
snowboards. And I mean, so the price of the
29:40
items went up. The gifts were slightly less.
29:43
It wasn't like she was really dialing it back at all.
29:47
Now imagine having that Christmas morning versus my
29:51
husband's Christmas mornings. Very different people.
29:54
We grew up very differently. And I remember our first
29:57
Christmas together, he was almost like overwhelmed with how
30:01
many gifts he had under the tree when we were dating.
30:04
And he's like, this was the most magical Christmas.
30:06
I've never received this many presents.
30:08
And I looked at him and I was like, this is the smallest
30:11
Christmas I've ever had in my life.
30:13
Like there was only a few gifts. And he's like, there were a ton
30:16
of gifts. So just, it's just the different
30:19
mindset. It's just how you were raised
30:21
and the different things. But my husband saw that
30:24
Christmas morning with my family and he was like, this is what I
30:27
want to give to our kids. And I was like, yeah, no, that's
30:31
not actually what I want to give to our kids because that's how I
30:34
grew up. And I want them to to appreciate
30:38
things a little bit more. I also want them to know that
30:41
Christmas is not a time that I am about to go broke so that
30:46
they can have a few toys that they will play with once or
30:49
twice, once or twice. And half the time they like the
30:53
box that it was wrapped in better.
30:55
Also, I forgot to mention with my mom, I never understood why
30:59
she was so tired every Christmas morning.
31:02
I found out like as a teenager that she stays up till 6A M
31:07
wrapping presents and all those presents she didn't start
31:11
wrapping until Christmas Eve night.
31:13
She spent the whole time wrapping till 6:00 AM.
31:19
Sometimes my dad would wake up around 4:00 if she wasn't in
31:22
bed, and then he would go up and help wrap a little bit and then
31:25
go back to bed. He didn't know how much she had
31:27
already put in the living room. OK, Keep that in mind for his
31:30
shocked, bulging eyes. At what point are you
31:33
sacrificing, like, sleep and also waking up to these magical
31:38
things? They used to set a timer, and
31:40
they'd be like, you can't come out of your rooms till 8:00 AM.
31:42
And that felt so long. And then as we got older, it
31:46
started being later, like 9 or 10, and we were like, this
31:49
torture. What do you mean?
31:50
And then she started saying, you can wake up whenever you want.
31:53
You can go look at your stockings.
31:54
You can't open any presents. I'm going to sleep which you're
31:58
sacrificing time with your kids on Christmas morning because you
32:01
stayed up so late wrapping presents that they did not need.
32:05
It's just this cycle of wanting to give and thinking that the
32:08
more more is better with the you know, the more the merrier.
32:12
No less is more. Your kids would rather have your
32:15
time and attention. That's a whole different topic.
32:18
But now my husband wants to give our kids these over the top
32:24
insanely extravagant Christmases and I've been like,
32:28
unfortunately our circumstances are not going to allow that.
32:32
Sorry. Like I've checked the budget, it
32:35
said no try again next year type of a thing.
32:38
And so it's been honestly a battle that we've had the last
32:42
few weeks of as we prep for Christmas and as we're getting
32:45
close to Black Friday, he's like, OK, what do we need?
32:47
And I looked him dead in the eyes and I said nothing, we need
32:52
nothing right now. We are just going to make it
32:55
magical because they are so little.
32:58
They don't understand, they don't know.
33:01
So for Christmas my 2 year old I call him my baby because he is
33:06
my baby. But my 2 year old he will be
33:08
receiving gifts and now you can all judge me I don't I do not
33:12
care. But he will be receiving gifts
33:14
that are already the toys we have in storage that haven't
33:18
been seen in years nor have they been used in years because the
33:23
other two haven't touched them. They also probably will not even
33:27
remember we had them and by the off chance they do I'm going to
33:31
tell a tiny white lie and be like ah we lost that in the
33:35
move. It's awesome we got a new one if
33:38
they remember. OK because he's 2 and we have
33:41
more toys than I know what to do with.
33:43
I have been listing toys on Facebook marketplace and they
33:46
have been selling and it brings me so much joy because I'm like
33:48
oh good, another little kid gets to enjoy these toys that my kids
33:52
step on. My kid will use a toy to step
33:56
over to another toy and I'm like, OK stop that.
34:00
Don't do that again. We have toys everywhere that
34:03
they do not play with. So why not just recycle?
34:06
I'm all about saving the planet. I'm all about recycling toys.
34:10
So that is what he will be receiving is some gently used.
34:14
They were brand new for my older two.
34:16
Sorry, buddy, you, you just don't, you're the third kid.
34:18
You just don't get brand new toys very often.
34:21
But he just had his birthday and he got so many new toys that I
34:25
did not need. But that's great.
34:27
He had. That's what birthdays are for,
34:28
OK? They can have brand new toys on
34:30
their birthdays or not. They can have gently used toys
34:32
on their birthdays too. That is acceptable.
34:34
That's a whole different conversation.
34:36
Also, we're talking about Christmas gifts here, people.
34:38
OK, by people, I mean me. Rein it in, Hannah.
34:41
So yes, that's what he will be getting.
34:43
My son, My middle son, will be getting clothes that we bought a
34:48
year ago on sale on the Gap factory sale.
34:51
I bought sizes that I knew were too big so that they would fit
34:55
him, and he's going to love it because that boy's obsessed with
34:58
little hoodies. He has a new Gap hoodie waiting
35:01
for him with the tags still on. Came this one he will have tags
35:04
on but I bought them forever ago when they were out of season on
35:09
sale because why not. I'm going to have to buy him
35:13
clothes someday anyway. Might as well buy him ahead of
35:16
time on sale and save it for later.
35:19
My daughter is the only one and it's hard because my middle son
35:23
everything he has that's even new will be passed down so I'm
35:26
getting a 2 for one deal on that.
35:28
My daughter, bless her, the only girl, she likes random things.
35:32
She opened up an Amazon wishlist magazine that they mail out
35:38
because Amazon hates parents and they want them to be gaslit into
35:43
buying all these toys they can't afford because their kids are
35:46
crying at the magazine that was given in the mail.
35:49
I would like to that to stop showing up to my house.
35:51
But she was looking through this Amazon magazine and she was
35:54
like, mom, do you want to sit down so I can show you
35:56
everything I want? And I looked her dead in the
35:59
eyes and I wasn't being mean, but I was like, no, baby,
36:02
because you're not getting anything in that book and I love
36:06
you so much. But like, that will not be
36:08
what's happening this Christmas. Like you're not going to be
36:11
getting hang at. The best part is that she
36:12
doesn't even care about any of those toys.
36:15
Like everything she pointed at, half of them were boys toys.
36:19
And I was like, did you even look at this?
36:20
Or are you just pointing at every single thing on every
36:23
single page? Like I want this and I want this
36:25
and I want this and I want this, but it's not her fault because
36:29
that's how the world is now. Everything is at your
36:32
fingertips. You scroll and you're like, oh,
36:35
I want that. I want that, I want that.
36:37
You didn't even know you wanted it before you saw someone else
36:40
have it. You just now think, oh, someone
36:43
else has this. Now I want this, now I need
36:46
this. And we're very good at deciding
36:49
what a want and a need is and making it somehow a need like,
36:54
oh, I wanted this new puffer vest.
36:56
Oh, it's so cute. I've been watching it.
36:57
Oh, now I need, oh, it's getting cold.
36:59
I must have this. But you have two of them in your
37:02
closet that you haven't worn. But I'm sure that new color is
37:06
just, that's the one that's going to be the one that you use
37:09
all the time. We've got to rein it in, people.
37:12
We have got to realize living within your means is not a
37:17
punishment. You're teaching your kids and
37:21
you're teaching yourself and your partner that it's OK to
37:25
live with what you have, to be grateful for what you have.
37:28
You used to pray for the things that you have now, but it's so
37:32
hard to remember that. Like when you're in the moment
37:34
and you have the house that you used to pray for or the car that
37:39
you used to dream of, or you've gone on that trip, but you get
37:42
off that trip and then suddenly you see someone has gone on a
37:45
different trip and they're in Turks and Caicos, which I said
37:48
that to my husband the other day and he's like, what is that?
37:50
And I was like, it's like a country where influencers go and
37:53
I think they have like super Clearwater and swim with pigs.
37:56
OK, It's now on my bucket list because it looked phenomenal.
37:59
But you didn't even know you wanted that until you saw
38:02
someone else have it. I think it's so important to
38:07
stay in your lane, to appreciate what you have, to have goals and
38:12
to have dreams. But to decide, do I have this
38:15
goal and dream because I wanted it or because someone else had
38:19
it? And during Christmas is the
38:21
easiest time I feel like for people to get sad.
38:24
They get sad for what they don't have.
38:26
They get sad for the lives they're not living, for the the
38:29
gifts that they wanted and didn't receive.
38:32
And I just want everyone to remember that influencers aren't
38:38
paying your bills. They may share these links and
38:42
these codes and these gift guides.
38:45
They may be giving the best info possible, and they may be
38:49
telling you that this is a need. This is not a want.
38:54
They're not paying your bills, but you are paying theirs.