Spilling the Financial Tea With Our Better Halves
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Cannot believe it, but Whitney Camel. George's better half. Winston Cruz, ladies and gentlemen. Unbelievable. Wow. Who is the nerd and who's the free spirit in your relationship when it comes to money? I've never heard this question before. What's a harmless pet peeve your significant other is guilty of? It's got dark real quick. Yeah. Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour.

Special drink for some special guests today. That's right. Highly requested. Cannot believe it, but I'm going to go ladies first. Whitney Camel, Georgia's Better Half.

Winston Cruz, ladies and gentlemen. Unbelievable. Wow. Thank you for having us. I don't think you understand how long the people have been wanting this. This has been the longest sales job ever for Whitney and I. It feels like it. Finally closed the deal today. Congratulations. I'm not sure. I think people thought I was lying that I even had a wife.

Well, this episode's going to be very special. I think you'll prove it after today. I think you'll prove it after today. Well, overall, 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. And this episode, obviously, we're going to chat our marriages, which is so fun. Marriage and money. And we're going to sip on a... Hanky Panky. Oh, Hanky Panky. I know it's a family-friendly show. That's about as edgy as we're going to get today.

And we're going to tell you what's in this drink and give you our rating at the end of the episode and reveal the cost per glass, so stick around for that. That's right. This is going to be a fun episode. We got questions in the fishbowl that we're going to draw. You see that fishbowl over there? I see that fishbowl. No fish, just questions.

Draw some questions out. And we're actually going to play a newlywed game. We have dry and erase boards and everything. It's going to be pretty entertaining. I feel like this is really a tell-all episode. People are just hoping that our spouses roast us. I know. Do y'all have a lot to roast us on, you think? I don't know. No, it's not. It's a pretty mild episode. Okay. All right. We'll roast you then. It's very, very exciting. I would love for you to roast me, George. Wouldn't dare. People know I love Winston. Oh.

Okay, so before we draw the first question, I want to hear how you two met. And I'd like to hear from Winston's side, if that's okay. Oh, wow. Because I've heard it from your side. I feel like there's a different side. We have like three stories. Exactly. I know the very first time that I met her in person, she was coming over to the house that I was renting. This was in college. And she was with...

One of my roommates. Oh. He brought her by. And then she comes in and she shakes my hand like we were like... Business acquaintances? I mean, like she was in a job interview. I had never played... Rachel Ramsey. I had never played the handshake game with a female until then. But it was like this like... Standoff. And so...

And she does the tour of the house with my roommate and they leave. And that's the first time we met. Wow. But I walked in, I was like, classes hadn't started yet. I was just a freshman to this house. And legitimately, I was like, there are so many good looking guys that like love Jesus. They're like good guys. They're like young life leaders and stuff. And they were like, all had like visors on and like,

outdoor bags and like y'all were all like campers and this Brentwood girl was walking in like wow what's an outdoor bag I was like who what is there's a whole other world of men out there but I always thought I thought you were good looking oh

Thank you. You say it like it was surprising. Yeah, I was fascinated by you. So when was the first spark? When was the, okay, I think there's something here. I think we should date. Was that months later? A year later. It was a great... I mean, Rachel alluded to it. She actually...

Went on dates with multiple roommates. Oh, wow. So this is literally... This is the bachelorette. It was the bachelorette before the bachelorette. I did not overcook that statement at all, but she went out on dates with one other...

Listen, my rule is if a guy asks me out to dinner, sure. So you dated three out of the four roommates before you landed on this? No, no. Not dated, but she went out with a few. It was not serious. I was trying to figure out life, as I still am. And so then she became great friends with my younger sister, and the circle started to get tighter and closer, and then she was available. Yeah.

That's a good start. Green flag. All the roommate stuff had kind of like washed out. Wow. And so I called her and specifically remember asking her on a date because I'm old school. Represent. And...

No, I didn't. I didn't. I take that back. Yeah, you didn't. You hung out with me twice. I went in with the can I drive your car method. What? That's not a method. He wanted to hang out a couple of times. And then I remember saying, I'm not hanging out with Winston Cruz anymore unless he asks me on a date because...

I don't know what this game is like. She didn't say that to me. I think by that time I just said date. Wow. That's the magic word, I guess. Hey, can I borrow your car? No, not borrow it. No, he was like, you got a new car. Let's go drive it. I'm going to drive your car. Okay. Similar to borrowing, but the person is in the car with you. The owner is in the car too. The owner is in the passenger seat. I didn't need a ride to CVS. Wow. It's very different. Much less romantic than Rachel's version. Wait, what?

Rachel's like, I saw him and I just was so enamored by him. I did. Winston's like, yeah, I mean, she was there. I was there. She dated a few of the other roommates. I was still there. And I was like, yeah, let's go for a ride. Oh, my gosh. That's the spark notes. No, this is the how we met story. And then we went into, oh, then how did it start to go? First date, sparks fly, bada bing, bada boom. She's Rachel Cruz. So much sparks.

Many. Multiple. Multiple. All right. Okay, how about you guys? Settles it. I think equally as unromantic, we were coworkers. I think I'd like to hear your side. Yeah, and it was my first week and George came and

said hi to me and he was one of the first few people that was super friendly to me. But it wasn't in a flirty way. It was actually like, oh, this guy is so nice. Yeah, just a nice guy. But we didn't start dating until like two years later because at the time, Ramsey was a lot smaller and you had to kind of know if you were going to like actually date or work out because the whole company I feel like was watching you at the time. Totally. So you all worked at Ramsey for about two years before you actually like started dating? Yeah. How long did y'all date for before you got married? Yeah.

A year. Yeah, just over a year. We did hide it for three months. We didn't tell anyone at work. And someone came up to me and they were like, that George guy is really weird to you. And I was like, oh, is he? I don't know why. People are watching, but you weren't a personality then. No. You're doing social media. Yeah, yeah. This is before personality. He wasn't even in the host role. I was like an email marketing coordinator.

Yeah. You know? Okay. Social media guy. Were you intimidated to like walk up to her? Oh, I was. He didn't even ask me out. Yeah. He did it over Snapchat. I messaged her over Snapchat. Wow. And I'm a grown man at this point. I'm not 17. To ask her out. And I was like, hey, Michael, Michael Reddish, mixologist, and his wife Vicky, they want to know like what you would say. No, they think we should go on a date. They think we should go on a date. That's what he said.

Oh, no, George. So she called me. I would rather drive her car. Yeah. Be honest. Yeah, I should have asked, hey, can I drive your car? And I was on my way to church. A lot of people are saying. And I literally said to him, I was like, I'll get back to you after church. So I was mad because I had sneakily given him my number. So I was like, you have my number and you're doing this like. You need Snapchat. You're putting me in a trap because he's not actually asking me out. So then you're making me feel weird. It was like, let me just get my thoughts because then it was, you know what? It was protecting myself.

You were. Self-preservation mode. Yeah. Unhealthy George. Exactly. If she says no, then it's their fault. It's just like when she said no to the idea of them saying that we should. Them. Yeah. She wasn't interested in their idea. It's a third party, arm's length proposal. She didn't reject me. She rejected their idea. That's right. Oh, yeah. They're great. But I came back and said I'd go on one date, and then I regretted it because we had fun. But we didn't start dating again until Christmas party of...

What was it? 2017 or something? 2016 Ramsey Christmas Party. We danced the night away on Broadway. Oh, y'all, that's fun. And then it began. And I hate dancing. That's so great. It worked out. I don't think any, like, no relationship was like, it was just as beautiful, so romantic. Everything went perfectly. It's always a little awkward from the start. Sure. Yeah. I'm not saying I had the best idea to do a car and that, you know, it worked.

Yeah. But I never did that story, so that's good to hear. There we go. I love it. All right, let's get to the fishbowls, what the people came here for. Oh, are we drawing for them? Yeah. What is this? Are these questions for them? They're for all of us, I think. Okay, all right. No one said. I'm ready. But I think they should answer because they are sick of us talking. For sure. All right. Who? Who is the nerd and who's the free spirit in a relationship when it comes to money?

I've never heard this question before. Let me take a minute. Take your time. I think we were going to cover this. I think your wife wrote like a whole book about this. Yeah. I was born a nerd and she was born a free spirit from the beginning. 100%. How about you guys? We're as opposite as it gets. I feel like the same.

But I do have my nerd tendencies. You don't give me enough credit. When's the last time you opened up a Google Sheet? Just tell me. Wait, y'all are the same? No, I'm free spirit. He's the nerd. I'm like the nerd spender and she's like a free spirit saver.

Oh, you're like a Dave and Sharon combo. Oh, look at that. Look at that. Am I the Sharon? No, she's the Sharon. Oh. The free spirit saver. And you're the nerd spender. Yeah. Like I'll eat my vegetables to know I have room for this. I need like X and Y axes for this. I don't understand. I know. Because I'm the spender free spirit.

And you're the nerd saver. Just a straight one or the other for us. Yeah, we don't mix it. That's amazing. That's good. I feel like if you guys weren't together, you'd have some problems. I probably might. We need the Winston in your life. I do. We'd either be like living crazy or in a hole if we were both one or the other. Either way. Oh, yeah. No fun or just all crazy. Yeah. We're going to chill out. It's good. One down. One down. Here we go. Are we doing all this? All of them. Possibly. Yeah.

What's one challenging aspect of being married to a Ramsey personality? I would definitely say, what do you call it? Energy something. Energy... Management? Yes. Like just going from podcast to camera to everything all day and then coming home. And then I'm a stay-at-home mom now. So I'm like, hey, talk to me. But there's literally nothing left in the tank. So I think that's...

probably the hardest part is you have to just lay it out there all day so I leave it on the dance floor at work and then I go home and I feel like I have no energy or like mental capacity to give hey what'd you talk about today you're just like luckily she's here now so we don't have to talk about this yeah I've got a battery I'm human all humans have batteries

I know, but Rachel's goes up and most people go down. It's amazing. It is amazing. Which is maybe why it's a challenging part of our interview. No, it's great. And then Winston's drained when you come home to talk about your day. Exactly.

All right, I heard enough. You did a podcast. Cool, good for you. Yeah, Rachel charges while she's driving. It's weird. It's amazing. What's the biggest challenge for you, Winston? There's a few. I'm married to a Ramsey, too. We can go top three. We got some therapy sessions. Here's an interesting one. I think most people think that we have it all together.

And so if you're always treated like the guide or the person that led you somewhere or taught you something or helped you celebrate a milestone in your life, sometimes you're like over here with your story, you know, and it's like, okay, that's great. But we're not like perfect, you know, at all. You feel like you can't really put that out there because there's an expectation that you have it all together? I don't know.

Rachel is a Ramsey personality that we have all the answers. Yeah. And we don't. Yeah. You're right. So. That's a good one. Yeah. The humanity of life is very real. Yeah. For us, regardless of job or not. Yeah. And some people don't always expect that or see that. But yeah, that's good. And on the flip side though-

Like if people come up to Rachel in an airport, I don't have to do anything. And that's awesome. I know, it's so awesome. For an introvert, she'll talk to all of y'all and I'll hang and just kind of like part B as we go. Do you ever want to be introduced? Do you feel awkward to not be? No, I actually have learned to embrace the awkward and just be like... Just stand there. At first I was like... Shake your hands. I taught you that, babe. Yeah.

She taught you how to shake hands? Hi, I'm Mr. Groose. Farthest handshake ever. Wow. I didn't know that about you. Very stiff, like just... Well, no. No, but as an 18-year-old girl... One day he taught you. Hey, look him in the eye. Shake their hands. She called me sir. It was so crazy. Yikes. Nice to meet you, sir. Who handles money in your marriage?

Why would you read it like that? Well, it says underneath spoiler both. So I feel like... Is that like breathing? Yeah, but I think there's different skill sets that you bring to the table. Yeah, I mean, honestly, in our marriage, who handles the money? Me? Yeah.

Yeah. You don't think so? Who knows the logins to the utility account to pay the bill? Oh, okay. From that perspective, I'd do it. It's not like she's not involved and doesn't know what's going on. I get the mail. I could tell you what our last electric bill was. I could tell you the gas prices too. And Rachel's like, she checks. She's at this level up here.

And I'm down in the wheat. Yes. Got it. Right? 100%. Would you describe it that way? Yeah, oh, 100%. So she's CEO, you're CFO. We have our roles. That's exactly right, George. That's fair. That's exactly right. Great way of putting it. A real fun-spending CEO. And a Grinch. She calls the shots, you tell her how much those shots cost and if we're going to be okay. She does ask me that. I am like, hey, how much is... You're like her business manager. At a big picture, she's like, are we going to be okay? Yeah.

And I'm like, do you think we'll be okay? You're seeing the same thing I am. We're really at a pool this year. So there was a lot of checks being written. Yeah. And he's doing all that, right? And I can like log in and see the account, but I am like, okay, how much is left? Like, oh, and you have the spreadsheet, like the details, you have a lot of that covered. Yeah. I just have more control issues than you. Probably. You do. There we go. That's great. Very similar. Yeah. I'd say almost exactly the same. No changes. Wait, who's who? I'm you. Yeah. Oh.

We're the same. We're so much more alike than I thought. I know. I thought we were exactly alike. People mistake us. I mean, the boots are just identical. I'm like walking through Costco. I'm like, are you Winston? No, I know we get that a lot. You got the wrong guy. He's a little shorter. Do you want to draw one? I think you should draw one. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You read one. This is fun. You draw one. It's not an easy job. People think it is. I'm going with whatever I get. Yeah. I read one.

What's a harmless pet peeve your significant other is guilty of? It's got dark real quick. Rachel is wild to live with for like a Grinch. You know, like the control Grinch who likes everything neat. Half-eaten breakfast bars.

Nothing's ever finished. She's never just done. She gave up midway through anything. But it's like, even if it came with two bars, she'll eat one and a half. Like one bite is there. And it's in the cup holder of the car or something. I'll make her coffee in the morning. Always some coffee left. Because it gets cold. Yeah, but every day. Water bottles always leave a little bit left. And they're all crunched up.

She just doesn't finish anything. I'm like, are we the same people? Are you the same with you? I know that's going to be yours. I would consider that a harmful pet peeve. I mean, you're wasting food. You're causing other people to clean up after you. I don't ever ask him to clean up after me. It's on my nightstand. My nightstand too. Eventually you go, someone's got to do it. No, I'd still do it. Thank goodness for two spaces. Yep.

Two toothpastes. Thank you, Lord. My toothpaste is terrible, y'all. It looks like it got murdered. Ever since I was a child. Never. It looks like a crime scene. Is it all over the counters? In her bathroom drawer is a crime scene. Like how many, are we talking multiple toothpastes or just two? No, it's just one. So it just got, I'm a child, y'all. I'm a child. It's just, um. How hard are you squeezing the toothpaste? Well, I just don't. It's not about that. It's not the squeezing. It's the like. It's the.

Oh, you don't know how to get it on the toothbrush. I don't get it off. She doesn't know how to get it on the toothbrush. It's the motor skills. Okay. It's the motor skills. All right. Cool, cool, cool. And don't close the lid because it can't. It's no longer. It won't go on. It's gunked over. Yeah, yeah. I know. It's bad. It's fascinating. Yeah. I'll say, I guess you need to go for me. Wait, what's for me? Rachel didn't say her. I mean, it's kind of on the same lines.

And his tolerance for, like, the kids in, like, his bathroom drawers and stuff. Like, we have three kids under nine. Like, kids are going to be, they're going to be everywhere. And they're going to, you know. But when he, like, opens his drawer and everything's not, who's been in my drawer? My cotton balls aren't, you know, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever. And it's just like a... Is that the big item for you? The big toiletry? It's in the drawer on the side. And it has, like, the kids' homework in there. I mean, it does. I mean, it can get crazy. Yeah.

I have like three spaces that you cannot touch. That's what he always tells us. My wallet, my bathroom drawer, and my network gun closet. Yeah. Well, that's a safety issue. Well, I say the same thing to all of the spaces. And I don't have any cotton balls in there. It's just like you got to be flexible. Like stuff's going to happen. Yeah, be flexible. Yeah, no biggie.

You got this whole house, but you want my bathroom drawer, which is perfectly organized. They do. They love dad's drawers. It does feel very personal. Okay, y'all, let's go.

Mine for you? Yeah. Very similar. I'm a very kind of tidy, clean freak. So like, there's like a little bit of LaCroix left. Keep going, George. It's been three days. I'm feeling for temperature. Like, oh, the body's dead. It's gone. LaCroix is done. It's gone room temp. Let's toss it. Empty water bottle. Let's crush that up and toss that. It's that kind of stuff. The bathroom counter, like mine, my side, tidy every night. I get ready for bed. It's clean. Her side? Clean.

Could be a few weeks before it gets tidied up. But if everything's out, you can see it all. Yeah. So it makes it easier. But it causes stress and trauma for the other person who has to live with it. He does like two things to get ready for bed. And I'm like, yeah, so that's why you don't have a bunch of junk all over your counter. Yeah, that's true. I'm a simple man. So in the same vein, mine is also the tidying. He has to tidy every night.

And if I'm not in the mood to tidy... That's like my worst toxic trait. I care too much. Yeah.

I simply care too much. Then he is passive aggressive about it. He's like, he's a two, an e-gram two. And he's like, why aren't you helping me tidy this house? And I was like, oh, because I've tidied after a toddler all day. I'm out of tidying. I need to lay here. Yeah, I need to lay here on my heating pad and chill. And it's 10 p.m. at night. I'm just wiping down countertops. Oh, no, George. I'll sleep better. You gotta let go of that stuff, man. It feels good. You can't. All right, George, one thing we can all agree on, though, is that Cozy Earth has the best...

That's nonpartisan. I mean, obsessed, y'all, from the PJs and the sheets and the socks. I got some lounge pants. Love them. I mean, like, seriously, everything I buy. And I even bought a ton of Christmas gifts off of Cozy Earth because it's just, they're amazing. And our spouses have reaped the benefits of these products because we sleep on their sheets every night. And Whitney and I, we were making the sheets and we, like, unfurled them to, you know, throw them on the bed and you're like, wow.

That's amazing. Luxury. Especially when they're tidied, even better. Love a tidy. Love a tidy sheet. So they have great products and we are considered bougie frugal. So we like nice things, we want to get a deal. And so for our Smart Money Happy Hour viewers and listeners, they get up to 40% off when they use the code SMARTMONEY

at cozyearth.com slash smartmoney. And that's our gift to you. Yeah, which is a huge code, you guys. I mean, because I will say, again, it's quality products. You're going to pay a quality price for the stuff, but it lasts. The material is amazing and you're going to love it. So make sure to, yes, use the smartmoney happy hour code. And Winston famously paid full price. That's how good it was for him.

He bought a sweater. Oh, yeah. A hoodie at full price. I did. I did. I couldn't wait. It hurts my frugal soul, but hey, that just speaks to the quality. It was very out of character for me. I love it. But it was so good. So check him out. We'll have a link in the show notes as well or go to cozyearth.com slash smartmoney. So great. All right, Whitney, you draw one. Let's see what we got here.

Name the top three qualities you admire most in your spouse. That's a nice one. Gosh, here we go. Happy Valentine's Day. My number one for Winston is he is a man that continues to work on himself. He's not a guy that's like, oh, I'm fine, da-da-da.

There's like a major level of like, oh yeah, I want to continue to learn and grow. And I'm curious about this part of me and all this, all this. Like it's one of the best. To be married to that type of man is like the biggest gift ever. I would say his kind of pairs with that humility. I feel like there's a level of just an honesty, a vulnerability, like a...

Like here's who I am and here's what's going on. And there's not a lot of like pride in that. And so that's been like so helpful in marriage. And then third, I'm gonna say, okay, it was my pet peeve. See, it's a blessing and a curse. I'm gonna say your level of taking care of things.

His organization, his like, he can do stuff like, oh yeah, your tire's low. Here's the tire pump thing that I have. Or here's the, there's this, this, the washer dryer broke. Like it's like, I just, you just take care of things. He's like a proactive, proactive guy. So there you go. Off the top of my head. Thanks, babe. Very nice things. 15 years of marriage. Let's do this again tomorrow. That's great. I'm going to go with authenticity is probably my number one.

because I feel like Rachel's the same wherever she goes, which is really hard to do. On camera, off camera? On camera, off camera. And then she's really intelligent, and so I love watching her have conversations, and she is so smart and quick and up-to-date and has great perspective and things to say when we're talking with people, and with us, obviously. Yeah.

And then I'm going to go with her nails. I like her nails. I've always liked her nails. Always love my nails. Like natural. He's a scratcher. He's like a cat or a dog. I am? Yeah, just like he likes to be scratched. Oh, yeah, I am a dog. Head, back, like that's his love language.

I do have long nails. She's always had great nails. I've always liked them. So I'm going to go with the easy one. I'm surprised you did none of that for Winston. No physical traits. Best qualities are on the inside. Well, she hasn't finished her hanky-panky yet. Okay, I'll go. You want to do me? Yeah, my favorite thing is her calming personality. I'm a naturally anxious person. She's a naturally very peaceful, calm person, and that was what initially really attracted me.

me to her and I appreciate that about her because I can spin out pretty easily. Not you, George. Not me. Me, no. Number two, her intentionality, especially seeing her become a mom. I've never seen someone do the research, want to do the right thing the right way, even if it's harder, even if it's more expensive, she's going to do it the right way because she cares that much about our daughter or our dogs. And so I love that about her. That's good. And number three...

I just think she's really cute. I know that's very, I know, I know, but I was, obviously that's what initially attracts you to someone. Sure. At face value. Yeah. You only get three today, so it's hard to. Yeah, well, truthfully, she's also shorter than me, which was a big win. As a short king to find your short queen, that's special. But I did think I was taller than him until our first picture, so. That's her toxic trait. And I had to pray about it. Wow. So, for the record, I would have dated George. She had to pray about it.

If I was taller. She had to pray to be like, Lord, help me get over his tiny, tiny body. I mean, it's admirable. I gotta say. Whitney. Speaking of which, say three nice things about me. Good luck.

Same thing. I would say even though, yes, I give you a hard time for tidying, it does give me a great like mental, like my mental space is not free of, it's free of like all the clutter and stuff in our home. Like I don't have to like worry about those stuff because I know you got it. Watching you become a dad, you just love Mia and she obviously loves you so much. Like all day long, it's just like da-da-da-da. And I'm like, he's not here. It's mama right now. I'm like, I'm doing all this right now. But,

But that's been so sweet just to see y'all's relationship. And then...

The last one would be, I just know I can trust that you like have the best intentions for our family and our future. Like I feel like George is already 10 years ahead all the time and he'll bring me in, which is great and all his like spreadsheets and stuff that he just nerds out over. But it's cool that he cares enough about where we're going instead of just like us waking up one day and being like, oh shoot, what's happening here? So I know that I can trust him in that just to like,

care about you know our family and our finances and all the things so it's really sweet that's so good thank you man well done y'all I like George even more now well done that was a really sweet time let's get back to roasting each other George is bored I'm more comfortable no it was really sweet I think people tuned out yeah what are your and your spouse's love languages this should be easy there's only five of them right Winston's physical touch I mean oh

Bingo. And the key in the book is like not necessarily sexual because everyone's like, oh yeah, of course. But like... What's my number two? He always says like, can I just have a hug? Like I just need a hug. Right? And Rachel's flying around the house making a schedule for like next year. I know. I'm like, I'm sorry, sorry. And then I pat him sometimes. And he says, don't pat me! It's patronizing. No, I'm sorry. It's like we're buds. Yeah.

Bro, thanks for that hug in the kitchen. Wow. That's rude. Okay, that. You want to throw darts later? Second would be quality time. Yeah. I mean, way to go. I got you, babe. I got you. Okay. Rachel's. Words of affirmation. Mm-hmm. Acts of service. Yeah. Yes. Did I get them in the right order? Oh, boy. Yeah. No, no, no. Tied? Yeah. I'd say tied. Yeah. Interchangeable.

So say nice things and do nice things. Yes. About and for Rachel. Love your nails while I'm doing the dishes. That's called a callback. Good job. If you know, you know. Pay attention. Okay. Yours is acts of service. 100%. Really? Because I'm always the one doing all the things. Okay. And when someone does it for you, you're like, it feels good. So you'll notice something and you're like, that's a big deal. Yes.

That means the world. Let's just say it's not things that always need to be done in that moment. Did you know we were still roasting? I thought the pet peeve part was over. Act like you do all the things. If I see a task needs to be done, I don't care what's going on. House could be on fire. I'm like, well, I'm finishing this. Let me do this. Through priorities. It's like, what do I see in front of me? The priority is whatever I'm doing right now. Whatever's there. Whatever gives you therapy. Whitney's quality time.

Yeah. Still figuring out what that means, but... His version of quality time is us sitting together in silence on our phones, but we're still together. Where I'm like, no, we need like... That's very sweet. Me speaking to each other. We're like watching a show together that we both are into. I feel like that's quality time. Nope. Yeah. It's not there yet. I think she wants like a conversation. I bet she does, Jordan.

I agree as a fellow quality timer. Wow, thank you. All right, next question. Let's see this one. Were you and your spouse on the same page financially when you first met? Yes.

Well, that's easy for us. We met at Ramsey. So the answer is yes. And Whitney was debt-free when I met her, which, you know, green flag for sure. Wouldn't have been a red flag if she had debt she was paying off. But the fact that she was debt-free was just like, oh, that's awesome. Like we're going to be leapfrogging when we're married completely debt-free. So that was really nice. How much debt did you have? I had paid it off by the time I met her. Okay. So you were debt-free too. Yes. Yeah, yeah. So that was a game changer. And we didn't have to have a ton of financial conversations because...

we both believed in the Ramsey principles. We both had been through Financial Peace University. So that made our life a lot easier, I would say, on that front. Agreed. That's good. That's great. So Rachel, obviously, coming from Dave and Sharon, very Ramsey, very has her financial principles. But were you in the same, did you even know Ramsey? No. I was a college kid.

Not listening to talk radio. Which... Fair. Pretty much all of them. Yeah. And... So where were you at with your money? Back in the day too, right? I loved work and I loved like earning money. I was into the credit thing. Like I remember getting my first $500 limit because it was all strategy for me. It was... You wanted to play the game. Yeah. Yeah. And I was...

going to be great at it. You know? I wouldn't say we were on the same page when we started dating. And then, I don't remember having specific conversations around it, but I just think as I got to know her family, I just started to adopt certain principles, probably. We did go through financial peace. Yeah, I think we did watch it. I think Dave made us do that. I know.

He made us do that. He did on engagement. That's your prenatal. I haven't thought about that in 12 years. We went to a class, y'all. Like we went to a class. Did they know? Yeah. Like you're Dave's daughter? Like did they know? Not until I was on the lesson. Not until we were like, she looks familiar. Did you ever have red flags, Rachel, when you like you see a credit card? No, I remember thinking, oh, this is pretty funny, but like I'm out of,

You did? We're getting pizza and like, there's the... Did you really? Yeah, it's your Eagle credit card. But you didn't say any... I mean... I didn't really care. I mean, honestly, I'm 19. You're 20 years old. I'm out with Winston. Last thing you're thinking of. He's driving my car. He's driving my car. It's great. I'm fine. What car was it? I paid for that dinner. I want to know what kind of car was this.

It was like a SUV. Yeah. Lexus SUV. Nice. Yeah. But with the money, because people ask us this a lot. And I'm like, yeah, number one, we were so young and it was kind of like this. And you weren't like a crazy, like, oh my gosh, I want... No. I want this crazy nice car. He's not a consumer. Like consumerism is not Winston's like top issue, right? So because of that, he's like very practical. And so the idea of living...

With what you have, not going into debt. It fits my personality. Yeah, I was like, it wasn't this big like, yeah, it wasn't this like, oh, I have to change my mindset. I was going to work hard and be practical with or without credit. I really was. So I was like, okay, without. Okay, yes, FPU is a great class, right? Worth the money you pay. You know what else is worth the money you pay? What's that? For delete me, a subscription is,

that literally this company goes in and removes all of your data that is online. So data brokers come in and get your data from websites that you filled your information out. And so these data brokers, they have your address, your number, your name. I mean, it's crazy the information that you have that's out there.

and Delete Me goes in and removes your information from all of these websites. So it helps you, you know, stay away from like scammers and spammers and everything out there. Oh, yeah. It's one of the ways I say I love you to my family is by using Delete Me, our information is being scoured online, removed, Delete Me sends me the report, and I sleep easier, which as an anxious person,

Very nice. That's what you need. Very, very helpful. Some peace. So I encourage everyone to check it out. They're giving our listeners and viewers a great discount. If you go to joindelete me.com slash smart money, you'll get 20% off any of their plans just by going to that site, joindelete me.com slash smart money. And their plans start as low as $9 a month, you guys. So it's really inexpensive. And in the world today of technology and internet and all of our information out there, it is worth it protecting your information. So-

It is a great service. I love it. And it's so fun to get the emails and the reports to see how many hours you've saved. They saved you from removing your information. And I'll always beat you because I started first. I'm at 66 hours and I brag about it. George is there. I'm in the 40s, but it's fine. Check it out. We'll drop a link in the description below. So great. Okay, next I think we should play a game. And we could play like the not so newlywed game because we've all been married, you know. Yeah, how long? How long?

Six years. Jinx, you owe me a Coke. Six years, 15. Wow. I don't know. That's pretty wild. If they beat us, we're screwed. This episode. You guys should do better than us. This episode comes out. This is like a trivia. At Valentine's Day, do you remember when you proposed?

The day before Valentine's Day. Like a true strategist. I know. The 13th. Get into the restaurants. That's true. That's how you get into the restaurants. Notice that menu on the stone. Actually, I don't know why I did it. Maybe that was it. I don't know. I didn't want to be cliche. That's kind of my four coming out. Yeah, but I thought about that this time of year. This is when we got engaged. That's so funny. Okay, so Kelly, our producer, is going to ask some questions. So let's get our whiteboards. What is your wife's favorite fast food order? Oh, man. This is hard. I have a lot. I have a lot.

I just wrote one and then I thought, oh, but there's another one in my head that's really good too. Gosh, George. That's a long order. It's an exhausting life. We have dietary restrictions, so. Okay. I'm ready. All right, Winston, what'd you put? I went with Taco Bell. Non-specific. It's the dirtiest fast food. I know. You just went Taco Bell. Rachel? Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Do you know what her Taco Bell is? Two soft shell beef tacos. Yeah. That is true. That's correct. That's not what you wrote. No.

Oh, wow. Can we see? That's really good, too. For the good of the group, can you read it? Italian. Sorry, Italian. I don't think I've ever got that. From Firehouse Sub. Fully involved? Fully involved. Si, senor. Yes, that's exactly right. We just did our fast food Smart Money episode a little while back. Okay. I learned a lot about her fast food habits. Oh, that would have been helpful. You should be worried. You should be worried. George, what'd you put? I said Chick-fil-A grilled chicken club meal gluten-free bun. Wow. Wow.

Chick-fil-A. Dude, what now? Nailed it. Unbelievable. Had to add the gluten. You got to tell them. One to zero. Wow. All right. Y'all are winning. All right. Second question. What is your wife's vacation dream spot? Oh, gosh. Not even a dream. She doesn't even know. This isn't fair. I don't like dream. That's different. Yeah. Then where are we going to go? Okay. All right. Winston? New York City. Oh, New York City. Wow. Look at that. I said Alice Beach.

And I went beach first, but then I went dream Europe, cross that out, back to realistic and beach. See how he's trying. Wait, with a what? 30A. Oh, yeah. She covered the whole highway for you. I went very specific. That was good. Okay. All right, last question for the guys. What is your wife's favorite place to shop for herself? Oh, gosh, this is tough. I know. It's like there's where she would like to shop and there's where she has to shop. No, her favorite place. Like where does she go most often?

I don't shop. He doesn't give me money. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. She acts like there's an allowance. He doesn't give me money. Wow, you won't let her have any money? I'm going to go perfect world type. All right, Winston. Target with question mark. Yes. Yay. Such a close. I'm waiting for her to finish, to be fair. I can't even, okay. I don't want to be accused of cheating. I know, sorry, sorry, sorry.

What do I like? I don't know. Okay. I'll tell you what you like. Okay, you can go. I'll tell you how much money you get. I said anthropology. Dang, that's it. That is it. I put Nordstrom, but that's what it would have been. I know her better than she knows her. You know her better than she knows herself, George. All right. It's me and the Lord. You get internal points. Whitney and Rachel.

What is your husband's favorite music album of all time? Can I say an album? Okay. That's the hardest question. I don't know albums. I mean, I genuinely, can I say like favorite artist? Let's say favorite music artist of all time. Okay, that's better. I can do that. I can do that. Artist. I got album and artist. We're going album and artist, which gives us a bonus point. Oh, shoot. Yeah. No, it's fine. Rachel can change the rules at any time, but I can't. Okay, no, it's fine. I get it. Makes sense. Makes sense.

All right. Whitney? How do you say it? Bon Iver, Bon Iver. Bon Iver, Bon Iver. Okay, it's the same word. It means good winter in French. Well, that's the album. It's his self-titled. Okay. Wow. All right, Rachel? Winston loves Gavin DeGraw. Oh, way to go,

Nice job. I guess what I thought you would guess. He did the Sweet Chariot song. Was that his big hit? You don't sound too enthused about that. You're like, well, you got to listen to his deeper cuts. No, piano. No, he's awesome. What's one chore around the house your husband hates the most? Easy. Don't process it. I'm going for it. All right, Whitney.

I said deep cleaning, specifically the shower. Oh, yeah. I got that one wrong. I said washing baby dishes. Which, how many times have you done that? That's why I said it. I'm being honest.

Never. I draw the line. His brother has washed more dishes. Rachel? I said laundry. Oh, shoot. I said dishes. Oh. How did we both say dishes? We both hate the dishes and they don't know. No, you love adult dishes. You don't like baby dishes. What was the laundry? I think we were married like four or five months and you did laundry. And I was like... Probably perfectly. And what did I say?

We joke about time. I think laundry's your thing. So I told him, I was like, I think laundry might be your thing. I was like, I need to stop doing laundry so often with my acts of service. She considered it like it's one of his greatest talents. I did. I was like, you're really good at it. I understand. I'll wash and dry and wait till George gets home to fold. Okay. It's the folding of the detail people. I'm a great folder. All right. Last question unless we have to go into tiebreaker. Okay. Oh, Lord. If your husband had to pick one TV show to watch for the rest of his life, what would it be? Oh, man.

Oh my gosh. One TV show for the rest of your life. It's not a good sign when I can't think of it. I know. Oh man. It's not that deep. All right. Okay. Whitney. This is for the championship. Seinfeld. Yes. Oh. Oh wait, this is his. I almost said Breaking Bad. All right. I love Friends because I love Friends. Rachel. Okay, I'm putting this because it's kind of my two Real Housewives. All right. Real Housewives. Because I have to. You laugh at it a lot.

Oh, no. Oh, shoot. How it's made. Yeah, that is Winston's. Totally. Okay. The camels won. Yay! I went me. I went so selfish. Do you need time to grieve the loss or are you good? I mean... Save it for therapy. We got to keep moving. I just hate that I went selfish with Real Housewives, but you do think it's funny. Oh, gosh. If I have to... That's what I sacrificed to be with you. Okay. There it is. There it is. Congratulations on the win. Yeah, well done, guys. Thank you.

You didn't have a sore loser on one of her top traits. Y'all are way ahead. No, she's... She'll bring it back up. Cool, cool, cool. All right. So if we could all each leave a final money tip for the viewers and the listeners...

When it comes to, are we going to go money and marriage specifically or just life money tips? George, what do you think? Ooh. I mean, I feel like this has been a very marriage focus, but I think we can open it beyond that. Okay. So just a money tip. Yeah. What would you say to people out there? Top of my head, I would say just practicing contentment. Like-

One of my biggest traps, I'm always kind of like looking at the next thing, which is great to have goals, but sometimes you need to be okay with what you have. So even in singleness, like you don't have to be chasing the next thing all the time. Beautifully said. Well said. I would say that the way that my relationship with money is always telling a story about me on a deeper level. So if I'm...

wanting to spend, then there's probably a lot of reasons why. And so it's not just the money of it. It's telling me a story about where I'm at. So it could be because I want some control. It could be because I want a little hit of dopamine. So I'm going to do a little Amazon shopping. It could be because I want to feel powerful. It could be because I'm scared. It could be all kinds of different things. And so my tip would be, it's telling you something about where you're at in the moment. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, on that same kind of idea, I would say to have money in its rightful place. Because I do think even being in a career where we talk about money a lot and we're like, budget and get out of debt and save and invest and all the things, which is very important and you need to do to create peace in your life. But put money in its proper position in life. Because I do think people just chase it and chase status. And there is an underlying belief. If I just had more, kind of what you were saying, Whitney, like, I'll be okay. Yeah.

And to a degree that it's an unhealthy part of your life, more does not mean that it's gonna be better. So when you can kind of get to this place of like, it's great and we want it under control. We don't want it to be a stressful thing in our life. So we're gonna do and make wise choices around us

So that's, it's not the thing that we're chasing all the time because it kind of leads to a dead end. Beautifully said. I'm going to put a bow on it along the same theme and say that you go with you. Doesn't sound like it's about money. It is. The question to ask here is, and then what? You're going to achieve this financial goal, and then what? Hmm.

Well, then my life will be, no, it's not going to be fixed. And so I think money is a tool to accomplish goals. But if money is just the thing that you're trying to solve for, you're going to be really disappointed when you get there. So have a bigger goal, have a bigger vision for who you want to become, whether you're single, as a family, whatever it is, and chase that instead of the next financial goal. Yep. Love that, George. That's good. Well said.

So wealthy. And marry the correct person. I do feel like marrying the right person is a wealth hack in and of itself. You know, I saw an Instagram reel, and I don't know who the guy was, but he was like an older looking guy. He looked very smart and rich. And the interviewer said, what's the number one thing you would say to people? Like the number one piece of advice ever, ever. And he said, marry the right person. I mean, truly, the spouse creates a lot of...

I don't want that to cripple people to be like, well, there's a soulmate out. No, it just means make sure you're aligned with that person versus going, oh my gosh, he's not on the same page and I'll never get there. Yep, exactly. So good. Okay, well, before we get to guilty as charged, George, tell us what we sipped on because I am almost finished. We sipped on a hanky-panky, which is appropriate for this episode and at the same time inappropriate. I'm going to give this drink an 8 out of 10. How about you?

I'm going, I'm not usually a dark liquor cocktail person anymore, but I think I would order, I'm going to go 10 out of 10. I think I would order it at a restaurant. I think it was really good. Winston? Wow. Rating? I am, honestly, it's growing on me as a cocktail does, but I'm like a six and a half. All right. Thanks for being honest. Six and a half. I'd say nine. That's good. All right. We just like stair-stepped there. We got a full range from six and a half to 10.

So here's what's in it. If you're curious, it's got gin, sweet vermouth, Fernet Branca, which is an Amaro, and an orange twist as a garnish. And it comes out to $3.96 a glass, which is probably a fifth of what you'd pay at a restaurant for this. So make it at home, the recipes and the show notes, and tell us who's right on their rating.

Is it a six and a half or is it a 10? Somewhere in between. 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. So this one's a little bit different. This is what is your spouse's most toxic money trait?

Are you trying to cause Meryl's strife? Why would you do that? We're going to have a great night after this. In Rachel's haste,

sometimes she has fallen for scams. Sometimes. Our audience is very familiar with this. Because of her authenticity, they know. They know. I'm not telling you anything you don't know. That's it. I mean, that is it. She just goes. I've fallen for a lot. Click, click, click. That doesn't look real. Wow. You know what I mean? Do you remember that one? Yeah. Yeah. Yes!

Show me the website. No wonder you need to delete me. So her most toxic trait is that she's too trusting? I don't think that's what I said, George. I've seen worse. That's all I'm saying. I just don't think through things sometimes. Just get excited. Yeah. We've all got that text from USPS being like, hey, you owe us money if you want this package delivered. Click this tracking number. So exciting. Yeah, exactly. Rachel, what's Winston's?

Winston's toxic trait is that he claims and is undercover a saver. Doesn't spend. I mean, literally, we will go through, we'll go through like, I'm not kidding, a month, two months, maybe three months, and the Winston line item in the every dollar budget, like there might be like one Starbucks in it. I mean, like nothing. And then he comes to me and he's like, hey, I kind of want to buy a

that's against the wall that's silent, even though we have another piano, but he wants to practice piano where the kids don't bother him and it's a lot of money. Or I want a sauna, but I kind of want the really nice sauna, the three-person sauna. It's going to cost a lot of money. He never spends, but when he spends, it's like a lot of money. Lifelong product. Lifelong product.

And I'm like, sure. I mean, I'm great. I'm like, that's fine. Right, we're not going into debt for it. Like, we got it. So, but when he spends, it's like, I could buy. My Amazon packages don't equate to what he spends. Like, I think if we added it up, you actually spend dollar amount more than I spend. Thank you. A thousand cuts versus a piano. So he focuses on life-changing things that really matter and you focus on the trivial. I think that's a fair assessment. Wow.

And don't you reap the benefits of said sauna and said piano playing? Well, no, the piano's silence because he wanted it away from the kids. Which reaps its own benefits when you don't want to hear piano, which I think is very thoughtful of him. She just wants more hangers. It works out. More clothes. Just like, we got to get some of these hangers out of here. More hangers, you got to get more clothes because now you have empty hangers. Well, the closet's full, so you have to... I don't know.

Okay, what's yours? All right, Whitney? I mean, it's weird how similar we are. That's exactly what I was going to say about George.

So same thing, he won't spend frivolously for months and then all of a sudden he wants a bed jet that will air condition his bed. Wait a minute. Side at night. We thought you'd tell them how much it was. We hung out this long and the bed jet didn't come up? Yeah. And he just bought a bed jet mini because the big one had too much air conditioning. To be fair, I returned it to save us money.

and purchased the mini version, which was a few hundred bucks cheaper. This is fascinating. Do the viewers know about this? I think I've mentioned the bed jet before. Yeah, it's not an endorsement. I mean, if I could afford the eight sleep, I'd probably go with that, but that's $4,000. So I thought $350 for the bed jet's a steal. But even minor things like just girl stuff, like he gets his haircut every two weeks, so that's in the budget. So obviously that's like normal. But then when I go and get high,

he's like, whoa, whoa, like freaks out. But I'm going twice a year, which is way less than his twice a week haircut. Toxic. Toxic! Okay, is it my turn? Yes, it is. How much time do we have? No, your toxic trait is...

unequivocally, is the fact that you will buy hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of clothing, but she's going to return it all, maybe more than she bought, to where somehow she's going to make us money. It's a money-making scheme for her. I put money back in the budget. She's like, hey, I'm going to spend...

$500 at Old Navy, but I'm going to return most of it. Because it's 50% off. And I don't know my size anymore. I just had a baby. She's a mom. I'm going to throw that card in there. So I have to buy multiple pants. If you just say the word postpartum, I'm like, okay, I can't win. It's the trump card. And to be fair, she does return it all. A month later, there's a $400 credit back to our account. But in the moment, as a saver, I'm like...

That's a lot of money to spend on clothes in one month. Also, I'm not doing it every month, you have to be honest. This is like once every two years. Don't even. Hey, you know what? Mia's going to love you. I just took my girls to Target and I was like, should we get some new boots? They're like, yeah. I was like, okay. So we went and bought new boots and it's so fun. And I got Mia three pairs of shoes the other day and he was like, what is this charge? I was like, your daughter needs to be happy. She can't walk. She cannot walk. I feel like it's a valid point. But she's cute. That's all that matters. But she does look cute. I know.

I know. Oh, it's so fun. Girls are fun. I think what we've learned is that toxic money trades don't mean you can't have a great marriage. That's right.

That's what I've learned. Thousand percent. That was fun. Kind of say thank you too for being here. I know maybe you both were dreading this. We kind of forced you into it, but we appreciated it. Very much. Thank you. Thank you. Happy Valentine's Day to y'all. Happy Valentine's Day. So glad to know each other better than we did. Love to get dinner on Valentine's if you guys are free. Let us know. Double date. Double date. So great. Rachel still wants to finish the newlywed game. What am I like Rachel?

I'm trying to write sports on Twitter. Thanks for having us to dinner. Oh, like round two? Should we do round two? It's three to two, I think, from what I remember. Best out of three. Best out of three. Best out of three. Oh, man. Well, thank you guys for listening and watching. As always, you can check out our episode on why fewer people are having kids today. It's not us because we got kids. But make sure to check that out. Subscribe and like. And we will see you guys next Thursday on an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.