In this informal dialogue, two speakers discuss the financial stress of paying for family outings like a Disney vacation and a basketball game when expenses are handled on the spot. Speaker A recounts a past California Disney trip where every hot dog and drink was calculated in real time, leading to lingering anxiety and a feeling that the experience was “not worth it.” Speaker B explains that after adopting “The Money Habit” – a habit of pre‑saving and pre‑paying for all anticipated costs – the same family outings become more enjoyable because the money is already allocated, removing distraction from the moment. They share concrete cost examples (four hot dogs and drinks totaling $100 at Disney, $100 for two sandwiches at a stadium, plus additional drinks and hot dogs) to illustrate how quickly expenses add up. The conversation emphasizes that pre‑saving preserves the quality of family moments, reduces on‑the‑spot financial calculations, and mitigates the emotional strain of seeing children upset over money constraints.
Chapters
I like that we're saving for these kinds of experiences because then they're paid for however long it takes. You don't have that stress of like thinking like when we took the kids to Disney, right? Like it's such a big trip. It takes so much out of you and you see people who don't have the money to be there. This is a dream trip. They want to do it for their kids, but they're fighting. The kids are melting down and, you know, usually it's the father going, "You get around that birdie!" You know, and it's like insane. But you get it. I get it, but it's like not worth it. It's a total loss.
It's not worth it. You do everything to have a family moment, and that's the moment. But prior to us doing The Money Habit, we would go to Disney, and I was worried about, should we really be going to that pasta restaurant as opposed to just getting a hot dog? But now we pay for everything in advance, and it just changes the whole experience. You can just be there. It's still painful to spend that money, but it doesn't distract from the moment. Because it's already addressed.
Yeah. When we took the kids to Disney one year, California, I remember we were paying for the trip as we go, so you were definitely calculating every single drink, right? Do you remember?
No.
4 hot dogs, 4 drinks, $100. You talked about it all day long, and that was me sharing with the youngest.
Oh my God.
So it was 4 instead of 5. All day. I still think about it every time I pass that hot dog place.
That's unbelievable. I'm gonna share something with you that was ridiculous happened this weekend. So Jake and I went to a sporting event. One thing we save for is an annual trip. I do one with each of our kids every year. So this year, Jake and I went to see a basketball game, and we're in the stadium, and he's like, I'm hungry. I'm like, I'm hungry too. Let me get something. It was $100 for 2 sandwiches. He wanted a beer, 2 waters, and 2 hot dogs.
At the end, I'd be like, I could eat a little bit more, and I didn't care at all. I'm like, I don't care.
But I also saw people coming up going, oh my God, like, this is ridiculous. I can't afford it. I get it. But because we pre-saved for it, it's just like, it's right in the account.
