Reacting to Random Things People Used Their “Emergency” Fund For
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Today, we're talking about emergency funds and more importantly and more entertaining, the weird things people have spent their emergency fund on. I used the emergency fund because I had to bail my brother out of jail. Ooh. Raccoon removal. It costs $99 per raccoon. Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. ♪

Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and money. We're sipping on a Cubanada. Ooh. And we're going to give you the rating and reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode. So stick around for that. That sounds so fun. Okay, so this episode kind of started because one of my friends got in a car wreck.

Not a bad one. Everyone's okay. But it was on this like highway in Nashville in 96, if you're a Nashville person off, you know, in Franklin. And at a stoplight and she gets hit. Well, the guy keeps going. So she's like, no, no, no, no. You just hit me. You just hit me. And so she ends up at a stoplight and he's like a car ahead of her. So she gets out of her car at the stoplight, like taps on the window. She's like,

That's not loud. I thought that was going to have a sound effect. Just a gentle tap. Just a, you know, she texts. And it's like this kid. And he like looks at her and she's like, roll down your window. Roll down your window. And she's like, what are you doing? You hit me. And he's like, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. And she was like, you need to pull over. And we have to do insurance and call the police. Like we have to do a police report. Like you can't just drive off. But this poor kid like had no clue what he was doing.

And so anyways, it was this whole thing about like, when you're in an emergency, you don't always know what to do, right? And as an adult, it's like, that's a very adult-like thing. And if that's your first wreck and this poor kid like panicked, I guess, it's like,

She was like, I felt like a mom. Like, I felt like the old woman in this scenario. She's having to walk him through this and hold his hand. Yes, I know. So anyways, we were just talking about emergencies and then like the things that she had to pay for, right? You gotta claim insurance and all of it. She didn't like to pay for much, but he had to. He didn't have a lot of money. So we're just talking about emergency funds and all of it. And I was like, man, it is so great when you have an emergency fund. Like there is a level of...

Just calmness and peace. Like, I just have cash in the bank because 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency in cash. So there is something to be said about having money in the bank. And again, it's peaceful. But sometimes when we have money sitting in the bank, George, we end up spending it.

And sometimes some weird emergencies come up. And some of them may not be emergencies by my definition. So I'm excited to get into that. A little strict about that one. Well, here's some stats because, you know, I love a good stat to set it up. Did you see my stat earlier? Did you see I just threw in that 40%? I noticed that. I was like, I hope she didn't steal one of my stats. I've been waiting to do these for a long time. I've been so excited. No, you didn't. You didn't encroach on my stats. I'm so glad. Here's one. More than 25% of Americans have less than $1,000 saved.

Okay. So there you go. The average car repair is between $500 and $600. Average urgent care visit is between $100 and $300. I don't think I've ever gotten out of urgent care for $100. That feels cheap.

Urgent care feels like they always charge you way more than you want. Yeah, don't you do insurance though for that? Yeah, but I feel like urgent care is always more expensive. Like insurance doesn't cover enough of it. Yeah, it's so urgent, right? So urgent. Yeah, so some of those, again, these are pretty common emergencies that pop up or things in life. So that's why we recommend starting out with a $1,000 emergency fund because those can usually get kind of these ankle-biter things, right? As you're getting out of debt, having that $1,000 is so important. And again, it covers everything.

These, not the big emergencies, but these little ankle-biter ones. Yeah, and my last few emergencies were all well under $1,000, so I can attest to this. But for more expensive ones like replacing an HVAC system, I mean, that's like $6,000. You know, we're paying $3,500 to meet a deductible for an ER visit. That's why you want to get to that fully funded emergency fund fast.

It's one reason to get out of debt fast so that we can get the emergency fund fast. Yeah, it's good motivation in that way, right? Yeah. It keeps the progress going. So again, there's always something that comes up in life, but again, we're going to react to this episode. I'm kind of excited about it. This is going to be a good one. Can we get into some of the listener-submitted stories? Yes. Oh, I can't wait. Sad, but real. The last week of our Golden Doodles life cost us $9,000. Oh.

Like end of life care for a dog. I guess the surgeries you do to like, to try to save the dog. I know. That's super sad. We've talked about this on the show. Do you have a number? I do have a number in my head of like, here's how much you'd spend. Like let's say that the doctor said it's going to be 12 grand to attempt to save the dog.

Yeah, we can't. You're saying no? No, oh, for 12 grand, George? No, I'm just, I'm putting a number out. I'm not saying that's my number. Yeah, 12 grand. I mean, the dog's been great, but I, yeah, we're not, I'm not doing that. You would spend $12,000. I'm not saying I would or wouldn't. I do think, here's my thing.

I'm okay having like a, you know, we have a high deductible healthcare plan that covers like, hey, this is the worst case scenario. I'm okay with that for dogs. Yeah, that's right. You talked about this. Pet insurance, you're not mad at it. Pet insurance, like I try to get the lowest cost possible. This is my kind of like, just I want it for peace. Knowing that if there was a medical event and a surgery that had to be done for my dog that was $10,000,

my out-of-pocket max would be a fraction of that. That's fair. Okay, PETA is going to probably cancel us for this next question, but I'm going to ask you. I don't want to be involved in your cancellation. You can do that yourself. You're ready for this question. If your dog had to have a wheelchair. 100%. Are you kidding me?

They would go ballistic on Instagram for a dog in a wheelchair. What are you going to do with that Instagram? Just content? Are you going to make money off your dog? I'd quit my job and go full-time dog in wheelchair Instagram content. I know. Have you seen these, though? Dogs that are in mini wheelchairs. I draw the line. I'm sorry. You've had a great life. That is a terrible life. What if they could have a totally normal life? If you are a dog and you are dreaming of running fields and you're in a wheelchair. No, I can't.

Why can't they just be on a sidewalk? Why do they got to be going through a field? Because I actually have a real dog, George, that likes to run and hunt. Wow.

I thought you were going to get canceled for breeding dogs, not the whole wheelchair situation. Only once. No, I had 100%. I'd get a wheelchair for my dog. You would? Yeah. Okay. That's a tough one, though. That's what I need you to know. That's one you feel like I'm willing to sink a lot of money because this is a family member. Okay, here's one that I feel like I have more of the right to say out loud than you do. Wow. Got an epidural without planning on it.

For uninsured people, the cost of an epidural during childbirth can range from $1,000 to over $8,000 for an epidural. Again, this is for uninsured people. So this person was not planning on getting it. Make up a story in my head. Natural childbirth, going in with the birth plan, what they want, you know. And then all of a sudden, it's like, phew.

There's no other option, essentially. There was a Ramsey show called, do you remember this, a few years ago? It was a woman calling in and saying that her boyfriend was making her pay for the epidural bill. I remember that. He was like, well, that's something you chose to get, therefore you got to pay for it. You got to pay for it. Unbelievable. I pray for that couple every day. If you ever had to have a baby, George, would you get an epidural? I hope that man is still alive.

Would I pay for an epidural out of pocket? A hundred percent. Yeah, you would do it. And of all the human experiences that I'm going to shell out money for, I feel like delivering my human child is the one thing I should be like, yeah, let's go ahead and make sure this goes well. We're going to make sure this is covered. It's insane. Yes, I know. I know. I'm team epidural. I'm willing to say it. Bravery. Oh, man. Now, there's some crunchy moms that I'm sure would come after me. Do you think dog wheelchair people and non-epidural people are the same? Or do we think these are like all different camps?

Let us know in the comments. You will let us know? I didn't know that was like we're separating the team epidural or team wheelchair for dogs. I know, I feel like you're going to fall on wood. So we're pitting them against each other. All right, how about this one? Here's an emergency. $3,400 IRS bill in the mail. Ouch. It's not the mail you want to get. That's not what you want. IRS, that's a scary one though.

Oh, yeah. And that moves up in the debt snowball. If you have debt and you're paying enough debt, but you get an IRS bill, that's the first thing you pay off. Number one thing that gets paid off. You don't mess with them. Okay. Gosh, I'm so controversial today. Here's another controversial stance on this one. I think I would rather owe...

I mean, that's a lot. But like, I would rather owe than get a refund. Yeah, I'm with you on that. And I'm saying from like a small amount. Not owe like 25 grand. Gosh, no. But just, I'd rather owe a thousand than have a refund of a thousand. Because that means you didn't give the government your money all year long. Yeah, and I guess it's depending on where you are in the baby steps, would that be true? But to get to that point...

For reference, we recommend trying to get as close to zero as possible. Yes, not getting this massive refund. You didn't pay too much, you didn't underpay. That's right. Yeah, for sure. All right, how about this one? Covered a family member's funeral costs. So the median cost for a funeral, get this, is $8,300 according to the National Funeral Directors Association. That's a hefty bill. I kind of think funeral homes are a scam.

Oh, well, tell me more. I just feel like, what are you paying for? You know what I mean? Like, they can charge what they want because you're going through all this grief and you have no other option. Yes, that's true. So that part, I'm not saying funeral homes shouldn't make money. Well, I think the burial, the casket, like all of that's very expensive and people get like very nice, beautiful. Just go to Costco.com. They have some beautiful options. They sell them. Stop it. They sell caskets. They do. I'm not buying it from the funeral home. I'm getting it in bulk. Get one for the whole family while I'm at it. I don't know.

But do you think it's wild to get like a fancy casket? That part always throws me off. Rachel's so bougie. Dead or alive, there's just something about like going out well. I want it bedazzled. It just feels right. It just feels right. Like me in a Costco casket. Why are we dogging the Kirkland casket? It's fine.

You want a name brand casket? Name one brand of casket. I don't know. I don't know. Does Louis Vuitton make one that you'd like to have? No, I wouldn't do a designer casket. That's a thing too? No, I don't know. You just said Louis Vuitton. I'm like, I wouldn't do that. I don't know. There is something...

God, it's so morbid. But like people you love that you're like, I don't know, you just want to like honor. There's like an honoring. There's a, I don't know, there's something to it. I mean, I understand the practicality. Yes, you are not alive. You're not going to know. I get it. But I do think there's something about laying to rest. I don't know. Would you get cremated? I'm still iffy on that one. Although I like the idea of me like turning into a tree that then gets made into a guitar. Like that kind of thing that's very intriguing to me.

You know what I mean? That's a thing. You can like plant it and then it becomes a thing and then you can use that thing to make things. I like being useful. I feel like I haven't been useful for most of my life. So after I'm gone, I want to contribute. You can keep being reused. Yes. A pipe. Smoke a jar. Hey, that's beautiful. I think that's great. Keep it in the family. Oh my gosh. How about you? You know what, George? I would get a memorabilia. Thank you. Yeah, I could sell it as merch.

Get a piece of me. You want a piece of me? $9.95. To all my haters, you can now get a piece of me.

I think I would want to monetize my funeral. That's fair. I feel like I'd go out with a bang. That feels right for you. I think that feels right for you. Pay for the live stream. You pay for some ashes. I think that's a beautiful way. I want to go out with comedy. Oh, George. But that is an expensive one. I hope family can all chip in. I want to make sure my family's not worried about that. We say to have life insurance for people that are dependent on your income, but I have heard people say, I'm going to get life insurance as a single person, very, very small coverage, to cover...

you know, funeral expenses. But I think I would say instead of going through that kind of all that process, just save up. Have the money in the bank. Yeah, yeah. Have a separate...

fund for that if you really are concerned about that. That's beautiful. All right, next one. Unexpectedly went into labor and had my baby at home. Oh my goodness. Emergency fund covered the ambulance bill. Oh my dear. Could you imagine? Now there are home births, right? All about it. Whatever. You go, girl. But an unexpected one is scary. Well, you weren't planning for that. You were not planning for that. No doula, no midwife, just, oh gosh, here it is. That's a scary one right there. I got scared that was going to happen to us.

Yeah. Because Whitney woke me up in the middle of my slumber. She claims it was very calm, but she was like, hey, I just need to know. Like, I think, you know, you should get up and shower. She knew that was a big thing for me. I wanted to be showered. Because you got to be... I don't want to be unshowered for seven days on end. I'm going to be in a bad mood.

So she said, hey, get up and shower, get ready. I think we need to go. And I jumped out of bed. All right, let's go. He's getting in the car. Like George Banks on Father of the Red 2. Just like that. I know, just all panicky. So that's a real scare, but luckily we made it in time. But not making it and then having to go to the hospital once the baby's delivered safely. We got to get right to the hospital and do all the things they do there. Yeah, it's a lot. That's stressful. Yeah, Caroline came about an hour after I got to the hospital.

Which is cutting it too close. Yeah, that is scary close. I need a few more buffer hours there, just making sure no one's not coming out where they should be. That timing is very difficult. I got a lot of empathy for people stressed out about the timing. It's a lot. It's a lot. All right, next, my 48-year-old friend.

hot water heater died sorry the sentence was all jumbled in my eyes uh thank you yeah no it's perfect on paper yeah when it went through your brain into your mouth year old and then died i don't know we're going back to funerals but no it's just the hot water heater uh and paid 1 353 dollars for a new one without batting an eye are water heaters that cheap can anyone verify

Okay. I thought they were way more expensive in my head. I guess I'm thinking more HVAC, but water heaters are cheaper. 48 years old. That's a heck of a run. Well done. You know, they don't make them like they used to. In water heater years, that might as well be $170. Amazing. Amazing. All right. How about this one? Surgery on my wrist costs $3,500, but I play instruments for a living, so I had to. Now that is fair. I didn't think about that. Okay. Have you heard this? That musicians will...

parts of their body for more. Oh, like my hands because I need that for work. Yes, yes. So if something happens to my hand, I need it to replace my income. Yes, so like guitar. Yep, that's exactly right. It's kind of like a living life insurance. Yeah, that if you literally can't work anymore for the job that you have. It's like a disability insurance. Yeah, totally. It's a very specific version. Would you ever do that for like your voice because you need your voice to do your job? Think about it. Maybe I should. With pipes like that, you should be insured. How bougie.

100%. You and Adele, you and Adele both have insurance. All up there. I bet Adele does. I bet those singers do. Can you get insurance on like, I know you're like, but is your voice considered, I guess your vocal cords is part of your body. Yes. Your voice isn't. It's sound. Yes. Closer, warmer, Marco. Marco. This is great.

Yeah, I mean, I would consider surgery on your wrist, that is an emergency. Oh, for sure. I don't know what level of like, you know, if it's just, you know, is it, what's it called? Carpal tunnel? Like, is that surgery? I don't know. Who am I to judge? Man, we are moving on. Are you ready for this one? Yep. We are on the same theme. Dog broke a leg chasing a bone in the yard. $6,000. $6,000, y'all. That's a lot of money.

So the dog broke a bone chasing a bone. That's interesting. Broke a leg chasing a bone. Yes, broke a bone chasing a bone. The irony is not lost on me. Man. We got to get rid of the bones in the yard. We got to.

Six grand? That's a lot. That seems like a lot, doesn't it? I feel like they got ripped off on that. Don't you just put them in a little cast? And vets, wouldn't you? I would go get like multiple opinions. Do you feel like vets are one of these like industries that it could, depending on who you go to. There's a wild spectrum of prices. Yeah, who you go to of what, yeah, of what it costs. And like an emergency vet is 48 times more than your normal vet. That's right. That's right. Like, have you ever been to those emergency animal hospitals? No.

We had to go in. So scary. No, I don't think so, George. I'm trying to think. I don't know if we ever had to go. I have very few fears in life. One of my greatest fears is paying the bill at an emergency animal vet. Oh, yeah. I could see that. Yes. Because a lot of them, it's like 2 a.m. when something happens and you're like, who's open? You can't go anywhere. It's like one. Can I tell you why we went? My dog, Olive, ate a dryer sheet.

And apparently, they can just die from eating a dryer sheet. Oh, no. Did you Google it? Yeah. Should never Google it. Don't Google. It's like going to WebMD when you have an ailment. Never Google. It's like, you got two hours, bucko. Yeah. So, yeah, we went and they said, hey, not worth it. Like, just see if it will pass. Oh. And this, too, shall pass. Shall pass. Wait, and you paid a ton of money for it? No, no. They said, like, we're not even going to let you in the door. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. How nice of them. They spared us. Very kind of them. Here's one.

Husband got laid off and applied for 260 new jobs before he found one, lived off of the emergency fund. Wow. That's a... How unqualified or overqualified was this man? 260? Who has the time? And I think what's hard these days when people apply for jobs, they just put in applications in. We're truly, Ken Coleman would be proud of us for talking about it, but honestly, one of the best ways to get your foot in the door in a company is knowing someone. Like that personal connection is...

is huge. Even posting in your neighborhood Facebook group or texting. Does anyone know someone who, it doesn't have to be someone you're already friends with. Because a lot of companies, they do, they just get filtered in all these resumes and not all of them look at them. So I think that's what's tough. If you can just get to the top of a stack and have a real person look at it, you've just increased your chances. So much. And when you're filling out applications like this, your personal data

is now going to 260 more places, right? Yes. All over the internet. And all of our data is all over the internet and our information because we live in 2025 right now. That's a new currency is data. It is. So protecting your data should be one of the top priorities. And that's why we love and we both use Delete.me. So Delete.me goes in and removes your information. This is like your home address, your phone number.

I mean, they have stuff with like your bank. I mean, like all of the information that's out there, they will go and remove it from data broker websites that honestly have your data and then they sell your data to other sites. So whenever you're like, why am I getting all this spam? Why am I getting all these robocalls and spam texts? It's because of that. And so DeleteMe does the work for you. You can do the work on your own, but it's exhausting to go through every single site, do all the research. They've already saved me 66 hours.

It shows you in your report how much time they've saved, where they removed it. And so I love getting my report every few months and just sleeping easy. Love it. And they're giving our listeners a discount. A great discount. If you go to joindelete me.com slash smart money, you'll get 20% off any of their plans and it is well worth it. We'll also put the link in the description of the show. All right, next. I used the emergency fund because I had to bail my brother out of jail. Kind of sounds exciting.

I don't have a jail story. I don't have a jail story. Do you have a jail story? Have I been to jail? Not you or someone you know who had to bail anyone out? No, I don't roll with those crowds. I don't know if you've seen me. I don't even have friends that could commit a crime. You also be like hacking. Really? Or hackers? It's like you'd be on a computer.

No, the worst crime... That'd be your crime. I'm trying to think of a crime that my friends would commit. You know what I mean? That's a fun game. Skateboarding. We almost got... Yeah, we almost ended up... We'd had to go to the police station a few times because of that. You did? Yeah, because you're trespassing illegal property, destruction of property. George, this is exciting. You wish.

We were part of a sting operation. They popped up out of the bushes. Stop it. Stormed us, took our skateboards. Wow. We had to pick it up from the scariest police station in the Boston area at like 11 p.m. at night. Oh my gosh. So you come after 11 p.m. to get your stuff. Unbelievable. To teach us a lesson. Would you bail your brother out of jail? Yes. What's the number? We all have a number. Oh, this is good. What's bail? What if bail's 10 grand? What if it's 100 grand? For brother? For brother. For brother. Okay.

I would go high. If I had the cash available, I would get a family member out of jail. As just a gift? As a gift. Oh, wow. I don't know. I think I'd want them to really sit in whatever it is they did for a little bit. I'd probably do it eventually. I would try to help them post bail.

I mean, I think I would. Yeah, if you have a family member in jail. I don't want them going to one of those bail bond places. That place is scary. Yeah, for sure. They're like the payday lenders of criminals. So I guess I would do it just to help them avoid a predatory lender. Yeah, and I guess I would have to believe that they weren't. I mean, we're talking about my brother.

Who is the least likely to commit a crime. Out of all of us, for sure. You're number one. 100%. I think, and again, I think if you had a family member, though, that you were worried about them in society, I wouldn't want to be the responsibility of getting some people out of jail. Yeah. Some people, you know. That's the key. Depends on what they did. Yeah, I think that's fair. Here's one. Bought grandma a new car battery because I left it running all night when I borrowed it.

First time with a push-to-start engine. Oops. You know, what a great grandson. That's very responsible. It's the least you can do. And a new car battery is not that expensive, too, which is nice. See, I don't even know. A couple hundred bucks? You never had to replace a car battery, and it shows. It's not. You can get it at, like, Walmart for, like, I don't know, 100 bucks, 150 bucks. Oh, yeah. There you go. Yeah, the men are nodding. Yeah. Plus sign, minus sign. All the batteries. I know. I know.

I usually have the AAA guy do it. Yeah, for sure. It's a little more, but he's already there. He's got the battery. He knows what he's doing. Helped my best friend pay for her marriage license. That's sweet. But how much are these? Now, that's inexpensive, though. Marriage licenses are not that expensive. It's like 100 bucks. Someone Google that. That can't be a lot of money. I gotcha. I love Google. It's a weird thing to be excited about. Do you not get to Google a lot outside of work? No.

This is my chance to show them I can Google. This is all I do. Okay, around $100. Is it just a gift? Like, hey, I'm excited for your marriage. I don't know, but $100, like, okay, we're getting married. And this has helped. I don't know. I mean, the fact that you had to use your emergency fund to help a friend cover $100 scares me. That's what I'm wondering. I'm scared a little bit for everyone here. We're getting married here. Everyone's guilty. We're getting married. We're doing grown-up things. Wow. I don't know.

But we're back on track with this next one. Yeah. Raccoon removal. It cost $99 per raccoon. Per raccoon? How many raccoons were there? Apparently enough to say per raccoon. They don't say it costs $99 to remove a raccoon. What would be the worst animal that you would have to remove? I could tell you because it happened to me. It was a snake in the garage. Gross. I had a four-foot gigantic snake in my garage. Gross.

I guess that's pretty big. Like double this mic stand. Think about that. Gross. And like pretty sizable. Yeah. So I called the, I found like a wildlife removal guy. This is so fun too. Well, I called him and he said, I sent it, he said, send me a picture. I went, all right, here's the photo from zooming in like, you know, like a boomer. I'm zooming in from far away. Getting the stripes because it could be poisonous. And he said, you know what it is? Ah, you're fine. I went, what do you mean I'm fine? He's like, ah, I don't think it's worth coming all the way over there. So,

I'm about 20 minutes away. I'm George Campbell. I don't do animals like this. You'll be all right. So I had four neighbors over there all trying to coax this thing out. Stop it. We had to dismantle the entire garage to get it out of there. No. So it was free. Didn't have to pay the wildlife guy. There you go. Who knows what his charge would have been, but that was an emergency. Oh, so terrible. Well, how about you? I'm trying to think if we've... At our old house, we had some... I can't remember. It was under the house, though. It may have been like a raccoon kind of thing. Now, my sister-in-law... Are you ready for this? Yes.

had a rat, y'all, a rat in her kitchen. She had the pest control guy out there. Like they could not. They couldn't find it? Couldn't get this rat because of where it was. It was all behind everything. Like, I mean, it was like, they couldn't, they did all the tricks and stuff. Y'all, for like probably two to three weeks, she would lay trap. I mean, she did everything, but this thing, and they caught it on camera. I mean, it was like every, oh,

Did they get it out? Yes. They didn't just burn it down? Burned down the house? Yeah, we tried. I know. Isn't that terrible? It's the worst rodent story I've heard, like, firsthand. I mean, it was a saga for, like, two weeks. I mean, we were getting rat updates. What's the other ones that will, uh, they'll destroy your garden? A mouse is like...

A rat's like, whoa. Yeah. What's the one that destroys gardens? Are those moles? What are they called? Moles? Armadillos. Armadillos, moles. Armadillos are nasty. Skunk is a bad one. Yikes. Yikes. All right, pick your animal. I got snake. I'm sticking with snake. Is the worst. Oh, it could be deadly. It's true. Fair. All right. Fair, fair, fair. Ooh, brown recluse. Oh, I didn't think about that one. I'm going that one. Worst animal.

That's a good bet. And they can procreate like wildfire. Like really quick, yes. No, thank you. And you can never catch them because, yeah. All right, we're done. Moving on. Gross. Okay, insurance rep called and told me I had 30 days to get a new roof. I don't trust them. Insurance rep? But is insurance covering the roof? They said they'd use their emergency fund maybe for their deductible. I don't know what's going on there. I don't like urgency on...

Well, I guess if it's the insurance rep. It'd be different if a roofer was like, you gotta get a new roof in 30 days and use me. Yeah, I guess they were saying it's in such disrepair, we're not gonna cover it, you gotta get this thing done now. Versus waiting for it to, I don't know, fall through? Yeah, possibly. There's more risk there? Yeah. I don't like urgency with money, though. Always remember that. If someone's like really, really urgent and trying to sell you something, red flag. 100%. Our writer, Savannah, decided to put herself into this. Here's her story. Yes!

She bought a house, used equity from the sale of the previous home, love that, to cash flow a six-month renovation, also love that. HVAC went out the week she moved in, and she's currently nearing the end of her pause investing era. So she paused investing while this was all going on, very wise, but she's excited to get back to being a wealth girly. That's how I pictured her saying all of this. It's very good, Sav. That's a very, that's a very sweet thing. Great story. You know what Sav needs for her new renovated house?

Condo. I know where you're going. A big Cozy Earth blanket. A big throw on the couch? Yes. It's one of the best. That's what makes a house a home. I mean, seriously. But Cozy Earth, the blankets, the sheets, the joggers, the socks. I've gotten a lot from Cozy Earth. Lounge pants. I mean, all of it, you guys. They make the best products ever.

The pajamas, it's amazing. Coziest products on earth. I guess that's where they got the name. I don't know. It should. Who am I to judge? Hashtag truth. But no, this is a really great company because we do talk about a lot, you know, saving money, budgeting, all of it. But when you get quality things...

There is a difference. And you feel certain things like, oh my gosh, this is what heaven's going to feel like. Just this little, the sheets. It's incredible, you guys. So make sure to go to Cozy Earth, get some great stuff. And they're giving an incredible discount to our listeners. Yeah, up to 40% off. Up to 40% off if you go to CozyEarth.com slash smartmoney or use the promo code smartmoney at checkout.

And let me tell you, this is your living like no one else era. When you get Cozy Earth, obviously do it on a budget, do it with cash, get out of debt. But if you want to upgrade your life, check out their products. It will elevate you. You'll feel just luxurious. You deserve that. When Winston had socks, Cozy Earth socks delivered, one foot says cozy, the other one says earth.

He was a new man. I mean, it's amazing. Change this family tree. Make sure to check it out. We'll put the link in the description as well. Well, those are some good testimonies, you guys. That was a good one. Okay, George, what's the last thing or one of the big things that you guys have had to use your emergency funds for? Oh, my gosh. Our most recent one, we had one of the classics. We had a water heater situation. Yes. The expansion tank on the top.

started leaking and just spraying water at the wall. Oh, not good. And of course, when does this happen? On a Sunday. And what do they do? They charge it double on Sundays for Jesus. I don't know what they're doing out here with these emergency calls. The weekend stuff is tough. Yeah. Yes. So that was 360 bucks gone. Oh, man. And not soon after that, an HVAC situation. It would not blow cold air. This is the summertime.

And so had a bad capacitor needed to be replaced. That was another 300 bucks right there. Yeah. So it could have been worse. Totally. But still not a fun thing to deal with. Yeah. Yeah.

Ours have been like medical stuff. Amelia chipped her tooth a few weeks ago. How do you do that? Falling? Yeah, she like hit it on something. But it wasn't even that hard. She was like, I don't feel like I even hit it that hard. But man, she screamed and I was like, what is going on? And she was like, it was like a little shattered tooth in her hand. Oh, no. But she looked like just. Did she get a little like veneer thing? What did they do? That's amazing that they can even do that. Yes. Well, and they did it pretty quick the next day. She's in fourth grade.

So she's at the age where she's like aware that people, you know what I mean? Like when you're a little, you don't even know. Yeah. She's like, I don't want to go to school like this, mom. And I was like, oh man, poor little tooth. So yeah, so we got her in. We had to do that.

Charles broke his leg. Oh. This was a few summers ago. I remember that. Tough. He was like three at the time, at the beginning of the summer, y'all. He couldn't go in the pool or anything. It was terrible. And he loves to be on the move. Yeah, so he had this like little, he called it his big boot. He was like, my big boot. And he just would have to like walk around. He kind of crawled. It was terrible. But I did not, okay, this is where I'm not a great mom. Medically, I always like,

I always lean towards the like, we're going to be okay. We don't need to go to the doctor. We don't need to go to the emergency room. Like that's where I lean. Winston's a leaner the other way. He's like, just take them in, just take them in.

I'm like, I think they're fine. He's just to be safe. Let's just go ahead and do that. But yeah, so after it happened, Charles like wasn't walking. Winston was like, I think he broke his leg. I was like, he didn't break his leg. Look at him. And you're like, he's fine. Get up. Take a hike. For about an hour, I was like just watching. I'm like, he's going to get up and walk. You really just said, walk it off, bud. My really was like, I mean, it didn't look that bad the fall. And then after about an hour, Winston's like, we're taking him in. I was like, oh, man. And then you felt bad. Yes.

He broke his leg. Poor little thing. What a trooper. I know. But that's the stuff. It's like, man, just boom, boom, boom. Yeah, that's life. It's going to happen. The question is when and what is it going to be? That's right. So you got to be prepared with this emergency fund. So that $1,000 emergency fund we talked about earlier, that's your starting point.

And then once you're out of debt, you bump that up to three to six months of expenses. That's your fully funded. Yeah, and that's a good marker to have because that's if big medical emergencies come up, you can cover that. I think job loss is a big one. Just to know if income doesn't come in

you have that three to six month marker there is just, it's great. And a lot of people, that's happened, right? Throughout the years, you know, people lose their jobs and they actually end up living off of that emergency fund. Just like our friend who applied for 240 jobs. 260. 260. An extra 20 just to get there. That's a lot. Yeah. So let's talk about where to put it, when to use it. So,

So where to put it? I recommend a high-yield savings account. The goal is not to make money, so don't invest it into the stock market, but it's good to let it at least grow at the rate of inflation. So park it in a high-yield savings account. You want it to be liquid, FDIC-insured, no monthly maintenance fees and junk fees, all that good stuff. And then when to use it, I like to ask three questions. Is it urgent, is it necessary, and is it unexpected? So someone said they bought a new iPhone because I was trashing Android.

So they spent a thousand bucks on an iPhone because of me. Don't blame that on me. That's not urgent. That's not necessary. It is necessary in the long, the grand scheme of life. If you want to have friends, but it's not urgent. It's not unexpected. That's right. Yep. It says they're good filters too. I mean, that is a true emergency when things come up and it's like, wow. So let's talk about what's not an emergency. Yeah. A vacation. Travel funds. Oh man. Christmas. It's tough.

You knew it was coming. They haven't changed the date. What's the date of Christmas? One, two, three. December 25th. But we could all say it together. We know it's coming. Pregnancy and childbirth.

Like that is child care even when it comes after. You've got a nine-month lead time, guys. Come on. I know it's happening. So again, we're going to prep for it. Routine car maintenance. Can I say though, if you are pregnant and expecting, pause the debt snowball and then like build up a big emergency fund because the epidural, right? Things cost during this process. So making sure you have money for it. If things go perfectly, you're probably fine. But until mom and baby are home safe, just stack away some cash. Last one, routine car maintenance. This is a big one.

You know you're going to need an oil change. You know you're going to need new tires at some point. So set up sinking funds in your budget in every dollar to get these going. And EveryDollar is my favorite app to budget for all things, investing, saving, giving, emergencies. And you can set up these sinking funds to where you go, all right, I know tires cost $1,200. I need them a year from now. I'm going to put away $100 into this sinking fund for new tires so that when that time comes, it's not a surprise. I'm not stressed. Okay.

And it's all there. It's a beautiful thing. Planning ahead of time. This is like far out thinking, right? So good. Well, before we spill the tea on our guiltiest charge, what's in our drink, George? This is a Cubanada, which is a fun name. And I think it's personally. You love it. One man's opinion. I think it's a perfect drink. Yeah. I'm going nine out of 10. I'll agree. Oh, look at us. Nine out of 10 on this one. Here's the cost breakdown. $2.78. $2.78.

Not bad. Pretty affordable. It's got aged rum, lime juice, and maple syrup. So these are things that are very simple. You can make this at home. That's a great one. Give it a try this weekend. We'll put the recipe in the show notes for you to make it easy. All right. Now it's time for Guilty as Charged. And this is where our producer Kelly gives us a new guilty as charged question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip. Kelly. What do you got? All right. Have you ever caused an emergency? No.

Oh, shoot. Like it was our, we were at fault. Yeah, it was your fault. This emergency could have been prevented by us not being involved. Correct. Got it. Yes. Yeah, I guess I'm guilty. Okay, I want to hear yours, George. Mine involves driving. Mine too. It involves my car.

And I was trying to be a hero, trying to pick up our friend Dr. John Deloney from his house, which is in Narnia, apparently. And my car told me, so first of all, what you need to know,

John had multiple cars. He had zero keys to any of these cars. He let us know way too late on our way to the Blink-182 concert in downtown Nashville that he does not have the keys to these cars. I did not plan for this. You got to pick me up. Didn't plan for all this driving. And as you know, I have an older Tesla. The mileage, you know, it doesn't have a crazy high range. And I went, I'm going to be a hero and try to get John and get back in time to charge.

The car let me know. Let me tell you, this is not Tesla's fault. As soon as I was on my way to John's, it was like, hey, you're going to Narnia. There's no chargers nearby. You're going to run out of juice. And I went, I'll risk it for the biscuit. I got John on our way back. We were one mile from Ramsey where there's chargers and it just completely died. So what'd you do? I feel like I've heard this story before. Well, what I didn't know is that when a Tesla completely dies...

You can't even get back into the car because the battery is dead and it needs electronics to then open the car door because it's stupid. So I ditched the car. I called the police and I said, hey, I'm going to leave this car here for a day. I got to go to a concert, but rest assured, I'm going to come back and get it towed.

You wanted to go to this concert so bad. We couldn't miss Blink-182. This is a concert of my lifetime. Oh my gosh. And so we ended up getting a ride from my third friend who was going to the concert. He picked us up. We got to the concert just in time, got the car towed to my house, had to get it jumped just so I could open the charging port to get it charged up. Oh my gosh. And then I still had to pay to get a new battery installed.

Because once that happens, once that thing goes on the fritz, it's safer to get a new battery. No way, I didn't know that. Yeah. Good to know. Now, it's a new, like, 12-volt battery, not like the big battery underneath the car. Don't freak out, people. Yeah. So it was, you know, a few hundred bucks total. Okay, wow. Tough, tough, tough. I learned my lesson. When it hits zero on your Tesla, there's not an extra secret 25 miles in the tank. Yeah, I was going to say, it's like on empty, you can ride on empty for like a solid 15 miles and you're fine. No, Elon loves math. He says zero is zero. Yeah.

He's a precise man. He's put people in space. That's my most embarrassing. Not on the moon yet, but in space. I'm just making the point. Thank you. We're all up there. Why aren't we going on the moon? Around the outer space. The outer space place. We haven't yet. Anyways, mine's a car one too, George. Oh, good. What'd you do? We bought a minivan.

Was that your first, is that the problem? Well, yeah, a little bit. My soul died, but we bought a minivan and we had it for literally not even 48 hours, George. We bought it on a Monday night and this happened Wednesday morning and I am pulling out of the garage to take our kids to preschool and I just hear this like crunch and I thought, oh my gosh.

No, no, no, no, no, no. You know, it's that feeling where you're just like, oh, no. So I get out and I go to the back. But I'm like, the back was fine. I thought I like ran into the garage. The back was fine. And I was like, what was that? I was like, that is so bizarre. So I'm walking around and I step on something and it just cracks. And I was like, well, that was weird. And I looked. It was a computer chip.

And I was like, well, that's weird. And I was like, and then I look again, there's pieces all over the garage. And I'm like, what is happening? Like, what happened? And then I look up, George, and there are wires sticking out of the roof of the van. I had sliced that thinning that's on the top of the car.

Yeah, that's not for like decoration. I didn't think it was. Yeah, it has stuff in it. No one thought, oh, that makes it look cool. I don't know. I just always thought like wind. You know how people have like spoilers on their back? That was like my little spoiler at the top of my minivan. I think that's like antenna and like internet and other things. And GPS and all the technology of cars is in this little thing. It's the entire brain. And so then I looked up in the garage and there's a little hole in the bottom of our garage that I had just, I didn't let the garage go up all the way. And I was like,

oh my God, oh my God. And the hole, and I got a ladder because I went and looked. There's like a hole in the top of the van like this. Oh gosh. And I was like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. And I called Winston and I was like, babe. He was like, what happened? And I was like,

I think I hit something. I think something happened to the van. And I told him he was fine. He was like, oh my God, we just got to take it to a body shop. But it's like a full on. That's an expensive repair. It's a lot. It was the whole technology of it. I mean, it was just, it made me sick. Wow. We were just so mad at yourself. You're like, if I had waited two seconds, Rachel, two seconds. So the garage hadn't fully opened yet. It hadn't fully come up. Yeah, like it was down, right? So I opened the garage. And you started backing out while still. Yes.

I mean. Lesson learned. Man. Can I say props to Winston for handling it with, I would have not have, I would have lost my cool a little bit. Would you have? Yeah. I don't know. He was actually kind of chill. I mean. Well, he's always a chill guy, which I respect about him. Yeah. He's not easily shaken up by something. Yeah. But I think he probably was like, this is why we don't rush, Rachel. And I'm like, what do you mean we don't rush? What do you mean we don't rush? I'm not a rusher. I don't rush. You rush. I rush. I don't rush. Do you rush? I don't. Rushing? Urgency? Wow. No car accidents since? Not even a scrape? No.

No car accidents since. No. I'll jinx it. No. All right. I've gotten, no, not since that. I'm proud of you. Thank you. Thank you for being so honest and vulnerable with us. You're so authentic. Love that about you. Make sure to DM us your ideas for Guilty as Charged. We love to get your ideas. And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out this other one coming up here. Harmless Purchases.

that drain your bank account. That's coming up next. If you're listening on podcast, we'll put a link below. Make sure you guys subscribe to Smart Money Happy Hour. And we will see you next Thursday on an all new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.