Shopping as a financial wellness teaching tool with Trae Bodge
Episode Description: Smart Shopping expert Trae Bodge is back on the podcast just in time for a back to school lesson. We share strategies on using this time to engage and inspire the next generation to be smart shoppers, and reveal Trae’s top ways to save as the kids head back to class.
Trae Bodge’s Bio: Trae is an accomplished lifestyle journalist and TV commentator who has specialized in smart shopping, personal finance, and retail for more than a decade. She has appeared on TV over 1,000 times; including Today Show, GMA, NBC Nightly News, Inside Edition, and network affiliates nationwide.
She was recently selected as a founding member of the Kiplinger Advisor Collective, and has been named a Top Voice in Retail by LinkedIn, and a top personal finance expert by GoBankingRates and FlexJobs. Her writing and expert commentary have appeared in Forbes, Time, Marketwatch, MSN, USNews.com, Kiplinger, Yahoo, and numerous others.
Trae is also co-founder of the media coaching firm, One Take, and the cult cosmetic brand, Three Custom Color Specialists. She is a frequent panel, podcast, and IG Live guest, addressing such topics as media relations, entrepreneurship, and how to navigate the media landscape as an on-air talent and expert source.
She loves delicious food, vintage clothing, art, music, and new places. She spends her free time with her 16-year-old daughter, Sadie Mae, her husband, Chris, their rabbit, Willow, and family and friends.
Links to resources mentioned in the episode!
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Follow Bobbi!
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LinkedIn- Bobbi Rebell
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Website- http://www.bobbirebell.com
Financial Wellness Strategies- www.financialwellnessstrategies.com
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Full Transcript:
Bobbi Rebell: Being a financial grownup is hard- That’s why we need to be focusing on financial wellness. According to PwC, the majority of employees said that financial worries had a negative impact on their overall health and wellbeing. Money stress is expensive for companies- workers are less productive, and more likely to leave a job. They also have higher healthcare costs when they are worried about finances. As if health care costs weren’t already sky high. Financial Wellness Strategies is here to help by providing engaging and yes, delightful workshops and educational programs for employees to better control their finances. Anyone can lecture and run numbers. We talk about real life money stuff.
Topics include
-setting up the best grownup everyday money habits
-managing those social media temptations to splurge.
-strategies to shop for the best deals
-demystifying and really understanding financial lingo
-strategies to steer friends and family away from bad money decisions.
-and how to know when you should ignore the math that says you “should’ do one thing with your money, and focus on your goals, even when it isn’t the best “financial decision”. It's time for your company to invest in peace of mind with Financial Wellness Strategies. Get in touch at FinancialWellnessStrategies.com.
Welcome to the Wellness for Financial Grownups podcast. I’m your host Bobbi Rebell- Certified Financial Planner, author of Launching Financial Grownups and the founder of Financial Wellness Strategies. Back to school shopping is happening already. Some love it- the feeling of excitement for all the opportunities coming for kids in the new school year. It is a ritual many look forward too that brings us back to our own childhoods. But it is also expensive and if we are being honest, yet another thing - in fact many things- to add to our to do list.
My advice to make the most of the time - and the money- you are spending is to leverage it as an opportunity for a little financial wellness education. And for that I brought in a friend who is, in my mind, the best shopping expert there is.
Before we get to her, I want to share this week’s quote which I hope gives you some motivation and inspiration.
This week's quote is from designer Vivienne Westwood: “Buy less. Choose well. Make it last."
And that is definitely something this week’s guest smart shopping expert Trae Bodge would agree with. In our interview we get into how to use the back to school shopping experience to share money strategies with the next generation. We both get honest about the struggles we face as parents of teens. Trae shares her latest shopping tips, whether you should be loyal to one cash back app or play the field, and we even get into whether or not you should be clicking those cookies that pop up seemingly everywhere.
Tray Baj, my friend, you are a financial grownup. Welcome back to the podcast.
Trae:
Thanks so much for having me back.
Bobbi Rebell:
Well, I had to bring my favorite smart shopping expert back because I've been doing a lot of shopping with my teenager lately, and I find that it's actually a great way to teach young people and friends and acquaintances that show interest, let's say that too, just to throw it out there, about personal finance skills and about money and just making it, just normalizing conversations about money. And so I asked you to come on, especially because we're sort of into this back to school season where A lot of parents and multi-generational families may be out there shopping, getting ready for the school year. So welcome back.
Trae:
Thanks so much for having me back. I'm always happy to be with you.
Bobbi Rebell:
So give me your general viewpoint on how to first approach this topic. Because when you, one of the great things about doing money lessons while doing something else is that you can be, it's a little like the broccoli and the brownies thing. Tell me your general thoughts. And by the way, I should mention, you are also the parent of a teenager.
Trae:
I am, so my daughter is 17 years old and I have been taking her shopping with me since she was very little because I saw, especially when she was even maybe three or four, that she didn't understand how money worked, of course, because I hadn't shown her. And so she would ask and ask and ask for things and get upset when I didn't give them to her. And so I thought it might be helpful for her to understand sort of the give and take of money, the exchange of money, how much things cost, how you can save money. And so I've been taking her shopping with me the whole time, and I have to say she's one of the smartest shoppers I know.
Bobbi Rebell:
Well, she is. She's really good at thrift shopping, which is something that's very on trend these days.
Trae:
It is not only on trend, but I am so grateful for it because I don't spend that much money on her at all when it comes to clothes because she loves buying secondhand. That's one of my favorite lessons that you can teach kids, especially around back to school, because kids are very conscious, they're worried about being judged, they wanna look cool. And then you say, let's go to the thrift store. And for a lot of kids, that's like a big bummer. But what I like to say to kids who resist going secondhand shopping is that their budget can go so much farther. So if you have a finite amount to spend that you tell them, and then you say at a thrift store you can buy these many things, and if you go to a regular store you can only buy a few things, they might be more willing to go to that thrift store with you after all.
Bobbi Rebell:
So what are your top dos, and then we're gonna get to your don'ts separately, but what are your top dos when it comes to teaching? And it doesn't have to be just children. It can be even if you're shopping. We all have friends that we know are a little bit too spendy. What are your top tips and your dos? We're gonna do dos and don'ts. What are your dos when it comes to this?
Trae:
so for me, for dues for back to school specifically, and this seems so obvious, but I talked to so many people about this and they're not doing it, is to make a list. And this applies very well to holiday as well. Go through your kids' clothes, have them try everything on. Go through their backpack. Maybe their backpack just needs a wash. Maybe they can reuse their thermos from last year or their lunchbox. Then create a list based on this list from the school and what you have at home or don't and then go shopping. So that's rule number one. And then also look for the sales. There are so many great sales out there, especially from your big box stores like your Target, your Walmart, your office supply stores like Staples and Office Depot. Check Amazon, use tools like Google Shopping or Yahoo Shopping for example to compare prices. If you do happen to be doing some shopping online, use shopping apps when you're in store to see if there are available cash-back offers or coupons that you can use. And then set limits for your kids. Don't give them carte blanche to buy everything that they want, especially if they want pricey things like that pricey pair of sneakers that all the kids are wearing. These are things that you can talk to about your kids and say, listen, if we buy those sneakers, we only have a tiny bit left for your binders and other things that you need. Show them the cause and effect of those big purchases that they wanna make. And trust me, they will grow to be smart shoppers as well.
Bobbi Rebell:
At what point do you let the kids sort of drive the decisions, maybe even shop without you present?
Trae:
This is a great question. So I am a huge fan of letting, especially kids of tween and teenage, do some shopping on their own when they see how much something costs and how much it. eats into their budget, this can be very instructive for them. Something fun that I like to do is to give them a gift card and set them loose in the mall like a Visa or MasterCard gift card. You can even do a personal one from gift card granny. You can upload a photo and a message and then they can kind of run with it and have fun with it. So that is a great way for them to control the narrative, for them to choose what they're buying but also see that cause and effect that we talked about.
Bobbi Rebell:
Also, one thing that you talk about is student discounts. As kids get older, they can often access discounts that we don't... You have to be proactive about it. They don't just hand them to you, but they have to learn to ask and advocate for themselves.
Trae:
right. And this is a little bit tricky because a lot of public schools don't give out their student IDs if they do it all until the school year starts. So if you are a student at a public school and you're doing your back-to-school shopping now, you can't take advantage of student discounts unless the retailer has kind of an open policy and you just tell them you're a student. Most retailers will ask for an ID. And so if you go to private school, you're much more likely to have that student ID that you can use or maybe even use last year's and then take advantage of those student discounts. And this applies specifically or usually for more tech items like Apple, for example, has a student discount. So ask there with your tech retailers if there's a discount that you can use for that laptop, for example, that they need.
Bobbi Rebell:
So what are some of the don'ts? We did some of the do's. What are the dangers and the things that we all fall into and how do we get out of them?
Trae:
Yeah, so there are so many. So let me choose a few. What retailers are really good at is creating a sense of urgency. And I really strongly suggest to be as mindful as possible to that. For example, buy three, get one free. That sounds awesome, but do you need four of that thing? Limited time sales, like Amazon's lightning deals, for example, you may see that savings and you think, oh my gosh, you have to get that thing right now. Take a beat, ask yourself, do you actually need that thing? Is it on your list? And then, like I mentioned before, kind of indulging your kids very pricey requests if they have to have that pair of sneakers, for example, and it's really important to them for their social status and their self-confidence. It's very tough as a parent to say no, but if it's above your budget and it's really going to make a dent, ask them to contribute a portion. Maybe you can get them to do some extra chores like mowing the lawn or weeding or... you know, doing helping you with grocery shopping, whatever it is, have them contribute and have some skin in the game for those pricier items if they really feel like they need them.
Bobbi Rebell:
So statistics are already showing that this year's back to school is going to be much pricier than it has been in recent years. What are some general shopping strategies, my friend, that we can incorporate? What new things are out there that we must be doing?
Trae:
Yeah, so, you know, there are a few things that I like to do to save for back to school in particular. These aren't necessarily new, but they are kind of my go-to's like buying in bulk. If you happen to have a Wholesale Club membership, it's a great time to use it, especially if you have multiple kids for your binders, pencils, pens. even backpacks, things like that at your Sam's Club BJ's Costco. I also say use your off price retailers. Don't ignore your dollar stores, for example. There are great dollar stores out there that have name brand items that you can get for a dollar or under in some cases. So that's a good way to kind of supplement your back to school shopping. And then in terms of utilizing technology, technology is your friend. So using price comparing tools like PayPal honey, for example, this is a really good browser extension that you can install and as you shop, it'll let you know if it's a high price right now or a low price right now. So you can do your shopping now or wait. Apps like that also have coupons and cash back opportunities. I also love coupon cabins, slick deals, Rakuten. pick which one you like the best and use it all the time consistently. And then many of these platforms have an in-store opportunity as well. Coupon Cabin in particular is the one that I like for in-store just because they have good solid in-store coupons that you can use very quickly on your phone, just by showing the barcode at checkout.
Bobbi Rebell:
So I want to ask you something based on that last answer. I didn't realize with these things, Rakuten and Honey and coupon cabin, you said pick one and use it consistently. Is that kind of like the airlines where you kind of want to put all your miles on one airline or the hotel loyalty where you want them all to be concentrated on one? Because that's something I never thought about.
Trae:
Great question. So as a shopping expert, I have way too many going at one time and it's totally overkill, but I do it for my own instruction just to have a sense of whether this one's better than that one. If you don't mind sort of lots of pop-ups coming up, I mean, you can definitely pick the best offer each time and then you'll just accrue funds in each one of those platforms as you go. But I would say if you don't like a lot of... sort of virtual noise happening when you're shopping. I say pick the one that seems to be the most user-friendly for you, and then you can accrue that money, like you said, like airline miles, and then you have a little pocket of fun money to use for something else down the road.
Bobbi Rebell:
And I love that. I do get checks. I'm not going to name favorites, but I do get checks every so often from one of those players. And I do love it. And it feels like free money. To that point, what… Oh gosh, right now I just lost my train of thought. Steve cut this part out. I'm just going to spend all the miles accruing. So when I'm shopping online especially, I constantly get these pop-ups, including when you're new to a website, to sign up for text, sign up for their
Trae:
Yeah.
Bobbi Rebell:
newsletter, get on their mailing list and you get 10%, 15%, and sometimes 20% off. I mean, at a certain point, it's over, I mean, how do you manage that? What are your tips for that? Is it worth
doing?
Trae:
so I would say yes with the retailers that you shop with frequently or if you're buying something expensive and if you're buying a new couch for your college student's room, for example, that's hundreds of dollars, right, or thousands of dollars. So you do wanna take advantage of those discounts, but you wanna be really mindful of not signing up for too many things. You may wanna unsubscribe afterwards, which I often do. So keep the things that you use regularly and receive those emails. I don't like to receive texts, frankly, from retailers, so I never opt in for that. And yes, I am leaving maybe a 10% discount on the table here and there, but I find that stressful to receive too many texts like that. So I think it's really a matter of what you can manage, what works for you. I do often suggest if you don't mind promotional emails and you like to kind of sift through them sometimes to set up a separate email address, and then that way. all of that promotional stuff ends up in one place. And then when you're in the mood on your couch with your glass of wine at night, you can go to it and just kind of scroll through and see what pertains to what you need to buy at that particular time, rather than like filling up your email box and causing you stress.
Bobbi Rebell:
I also want to get your perspective on those cookies. We get those pop-ups to accept the cookies. First of all, do we have to accept them? And is there, I kind of feel like we're being, I feel like I'm always being followed no matter what. So it's a losing game no matter what you do. But I have mixed feelings because I feel like if you look, let's say you look at one item that you really want to buy, it's gonna follow you. They just follow you with pop-ups of that item. Indefinitely, it seems. Is that good or bad? Because maybe then by them knowing you want it, you might get a discount. good thing, or should we just not accept the cookies? And what happens if we don't accept it? Do we then not, are we not able to shop there?
Trae:
Yeah, that's so tough. You know, I don't know the answer to whether we're able to shop there or not because I always accept the cookies. I mean, I shop for a living, right? So like if anyone’s following me, they're just dizzy. Like they, you know, I met on Amazon a million times a day because I'm doing it for my work. And so I just accept all the cookies. And frankly, to your point, like I've been served up offers and opportunities to save because they do know what I'm looking for. So,I'm not a naturally suspicious person, so I don't think they're just like, they're tracking me and following me, and they really care about what I personally am doing. Again, they would just be so confused by my, the, what I'm looking at. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. I think it's really a personal choice, but I have saved, and I have discovered things that I liked because I have accepted the cookies, and then I'm served up other things that are similar to what I'm looking at.
Bobbi Rebell:
I agree because it's tricky. I mean, like I said, I feel like the privacy thing is such a monumental issue to begin with that me clicking that I'm accepting cookies at a department store is not gonna move the needle and I might get a deal because of it. So I don't know.
Trae:
Yeah, and you know, it's an interesting point because a lot of people are suspicious and rightly so, but you know, like I said, I'm doing all of this stuff, like probably by multiples of an average consumer, and I've never been scammed online. So the time that I was scammed was at a store, and this became a known thing. If the retailer, employees put a device on top of the debit card reader, and they were stealing people's debit cards and pin codes. That's when I was scammed.
Bobbi Rebell:
Amazing advice as always, where can people follow up with you?
Trae:
You can find me at trutrae.com. I have a bi-monthly newsletter where I talk about saving money around across the year. And then also my Instagram, which is where I save, where I share shopping tips almost every day.
Bobbi Rebell:
And by the way, I just have to plug this. Your Instagram is like the best content. You're so good and everyone should follow Trae because I mean, it is a curated thought leadership stream of brilliant shopping information that will give you so much like extra things to think about and save so much money and get the things you want at the best prices. So. I personally enjoy it every day and you just, you really put a lot of effort into it. So it's an exceptional, it's not just to throw it up there, Instagram, this is what I'm eating for lunch. It is really great shopping advice. So please follow TrueTrae.
Trae:
Thank you so much Bobbi, that’s so sweet.
Bobbi Rebell:
We all want to live our best financial grownup lives and one way to do that is to know that the people we care about are also in a good place when it comes to their money. That might mean our kids, our grandkids and yes- even our friends. But how. Its’ awkward. You see them struggling- pretending to know more than they do- or making bad money decisions but don’t know what to say- and even if you say something supportive- then what? That’s why I wrote Launching Financial Grownups. In Launching Financial Grownups I share the tools and strategies so you know what to say to take the pressure off and give those you love the confidence they need. It's about giving those we care about the right amount of help, at the right time- so they can not only learn what they need to know about being financial grownups- but also be confident they can do it- and that you will be there to cheer them on. Pick up a copy of Launching Financial Grownups - I promise you will be so happy you did.
Trae’s insta really is my go-to for all things shopping. She is so fun to watch and follow along with. So following Trae at TrueTrae on instagram is everyone’s extra credit assignment for this week. While you are at it please follow me as well at bobbirebell1.
If you are not already on my free substack newsletter- and want to improve your financial wellness- what are you waiting for? Go to BobbiRebell.substack.com and get on the list.
Big thanks to Trae Bodge for helping us all be financial grownups and invest in peace of mind
Wellness for Financial Grownups is a production of BRK Media. Editing and production by Steve Stewart, guest coordination, social media support, and show notes by Alliee Borbon. Artwork by Chelsea Perez. You can find the podcast show notes, which include links to resources mentioned in the show, as well as show transcripts by going to my website, bobbirebell.com.
To get even more out of this podcast, make sure you are also on our newsletter list to get more free content to live your best financial lives. There is a link in the show notes but you can also sign up at bobbirebell.com or at financialwellnessstrategies.com. And be a friend- share the podcast with your friends by taking a screenshot and sharing it on social media. Make sure to tag me on instagram at bobbirebell1. And while your there- follow me- and if you DM me that you listen to the podcast I will follow you back. You can also leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Reading each one means the world to me. You can also support our merch shop, grownupgear.com by picking up fun gifts for your grownup friends and treating yourself as well. And finally my grownup friends, don’t forget to invest in peace of mind. Thanks everyone.