Introducing: What We Spend

Summary

Family Lore (Audacy) – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Introducing: What We Spend
Release Date: April 10, 2025
Host: Courtney Harrell
Featured Guest: Kelly

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Overview

This preview episode of Family Lore introduces listeners to Audacy’s new original podcast, What We Spend, hosted by Courtney Harrell. The main theme centers on financial transparency and the real-life stories behind individuals’ weekly spending. The episode features Kelly, a 32-year-old woman managing significant student debt while trying to achieve major life goals. The tone is candid, empathetic, and surprisingly relatable, as it delves into how past decisions, societal expectations, and the realities of adulthood shape financial well-being.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Premise of “What We Spend” (00:00–02:50)

• Courtney Harrell introduces What We Spend as a series that dives into people's daily financial decisions via audio diaries.
• Each episode features one guest who openly tracks and reflects on a week’s worth of spending.
• The show aims to demystify the “nosiness” many feel about others’ finances and normalize conversations about money.

Notable Quote:
“You know how you always want to know about everyone else's money? You do, right? ... I actually think that's good. I think we should be talking about money more and all the ways, big and small, that it impacts our lives.”
— Courtney Harrell (01:21)

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2. Introducing Kelly & Her Financial Reality (02:51–04:24)

• Kelly shares that she once owed $300,000 in student loan debt after her master’s but is now down to $150,000 due to a family inheritance.

• Family intervention helped pay off private loans, but substantial debt remains.

• Kelly: “I remember pressing submit on $150,000 payment and just being like, holy shit. ... It feels like 50% better.” (02:56)

• Age & background: Nearly 32, living in Salt Lake City with her husband Ben, both balancing mid-level incomes and major financial responsibilities.

• Kelly used to be a therapist but now works as a director at a medical spa and as a mental wellness coach.

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3. Relationship with Money & Daily Economics (04:24–07:48)

• Kelly describes her relationship with money as “all consuming,” likening it to a “monkey on their back” (04:47).
• Details the stress of ongoing tug-of-war between control and overwhelm.
• Weekly budgeting includes a meticulous spreadsheet covering essentials and discretionary spending.

Breakdown of Monthly Regular Expenses:

• Rent & utilities: $2,800

• Two gym memberships: $108

• Car insurance: $254

• Gas: $125

• Phone: $75

• Pet insurance: $76

• Physical therapy: $250

• Groceries/toiletries: $600

• Medications, supplements: $650

• Streaming platforms: mostly “mooched” from family; some subscriptions like Dropbox, Soundcloud, Spotify (07:12)

• Self-care: Hair wash, $40/month (“It is like the gift to me to have somebody else wash my hair every once in a while.” — Kelly, 07:19)

• Total regular expenses sum to ~$4,800 monthly, not including debt payments.

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4. Debt & Generational Perspectives on College (07:51–09:59)

• Kelly and Ben’s total debt: roughly $202,728.
• Kelly attended Belmont University; school plus graduate degree cost about $40,000/year.
• She reflects on societal pressures:
  • “Part of, like, the dream or the lie that was sold to my generation was like, if you don’t go to college, you’re going to end up working at McDonald's... you’re going to be a bad person, essentially.” (08:17)

Memorable Moment:
Kelly admits she didn’t think much about the long-term cost at 18:
“I had no clue what I was doing. ... Like, your prefrontal cortex is not developed when you are making those decisions.” (09:16)

• Despite regret about the math, she values who she’s become but feels “financially trapped.”

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5. Emotional Impact of Tracking Expenses (10:11–10:48)

• The core of the show: Kelly will track and share every dollar and feeling associated with her spending for a week.
• She feels both nervous and curious about what she’ll discover about herself:
  • “Maybe I will just realize through tracking every expense that I’m actually just a dum dum and I’m very irresponsible and this is all my fault. ... But I’m feeling curious.” (10:24)

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Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• On the shock of paying off debt:
  “I remember pressing submit on $150,000 payment and just being like, holy shit.” — Kelly (02:56)

• On the cultural message about college:
  “If you don’t go to college, you’re going to end up working at McDonald's ... you’re going to be a bad person, essentially.” — Kelly (08:17)

• On budgeting and guilt:
  “Even now, just reading my own budget ... I still feel the need to justify, like, I just need to treat myself sometimes and have my hair washed.” — Kelly (07:19)

• On regret and acceptance:
  “I don’t regret anything because I am who I am and I’m happy, but I’m financially trapped.” — Kelly (09:59)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• Introducing the show’s premise & mission – 00:00–02:50
• Kelly’s debt journey & family intervention – 02:51–03:36
• Kelly’s income, background, and shift from therapy to coaching – 03:37–04:24
• The all-consuming nature of money stress – 04:47–05:10
• Detailed monthly expenses and budgeting strategies – 05:19–07:48
• College pressures and the weight of student loans – 08:09–09:59
• Kelly’s feelings about sharing and tracking spending – 10:11–10:48

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Tone and Style

• Authentic, confessional, and empathetic.
• Candid discussions about finances, shame, and generational perspectives.
• Mix of humor and vulnerability, especially in discussions of self-care and budgeting quirks (e.g., “who needs a roof?”).

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Conclusion

This episode sets the tone for What We Spend, promising unfiltered, honest explorations of personal finance as experienced in real life. Listeners get an intimate look at Kelly’s household finances—her worries, routines, debts, and aspirations. The preview ends as Kelly prepares for a week-long financial diary, inviting listeners to follow along for deeper insights in full episodes.

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For the full episode and more financial diaries, follow “What We Spend” wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript

[A]

Hi, Cement City listeners. I'm Courtney Harrell and I'm here to share a preview of a new Odyssey original podcast. It's called what We Spend. Like Cement City, what We Spend dives deep into the day to day lives of people you might not normally get to spend time with. But this time what we're talking about is people's money. It's a new weekly series and in each episode I talk with one person as they document a full week of their lives, recording audio diaries and sharing all the details of what came up for them around money. You will hear about everything they purchase, the ways they've thought about their finances over the course of their week, what their relationship to money was like growing up, all kinds of things. I think the stories are intimate and moving, but some are also super fun. I hope you enjoy this preview for the full episode. Search for what we spend on your favorite podcast platform. You know how you always want to know about everyone else's money? You do, right? Like you'll see someone buying something you want or taking some amazing vacation and you think, how can they afford that? Or you meet your friend's new girlfriend and she has some very impressive job and you think, how much money does she make? I think when it comes to money, even if you don't want to admit it, we're all a little nosy. But I don't know, I actually think that's good. I think we should be talking about money more and all the ways, big and small, that it impacts our lives. On this show, we are actually going to do that. We are going to go somewhere that we almost never get to go deep into the heart of someone else's finances. Here's how this is going to work. Each week I'm going to introduce you to a new person from somewhere across the country and they are going to tell us everything about their finances. How much they make, how much they want to make, what they worry about, or if they don't worry at all. And then for one week, we'll follow them through their daily routine. Every day they'll record an audio diary with all the nitty gritty details of how they're spending their money. I mean, the coffees, the groceries, the rent that's due, the car accident that suddenly upends everything. And after that, we'll talk about what the week brought up for them, what it's made them feel. Because whatever you're buying or not buying or saving or spending, at the end of the day, money is always about more than your balance. I'm Courtney Harrell, and this is what we spend. How much school debt do you have?

[B]

I have 150,000. I had more. I had 300,000 after my master's. I had a great uncle pass away who was an artist. And my parents chose with their share of that that they would help pay off all my private loans. And so that was a crazy night. I remember pressing submit on $150,000 payment and just being like, holy shit. And they were like, yay. Doesn't that feel so much better? And I was kind of like, it feels like 50% better. And it still feels like I have still $150,000 of debt.

[A]

This is Kelly.

[B]

I turn 32 in one week, and I live in Salt Lake City.

[A]

Kelly is One of the 42.8 million Americans who has student loan debt. And also, like a lot of her generation, she wants to buy a home and have a baby, and she's trying to figure out if it's possible to make all that work. Kelly married her husband about a year ago, and eight months ago, the two of them moved from Tennessee to Salt Lake City, Utah. Ben is an engineer for a software company. Kelly's a director of client experience at a medical spa, and she's also an online mental wellness coach.

[B]

I used to be a therapist, and for lots of reasons, I'm not right now, but I will always have therapy or coaching in my life, and I will probably go back to that full time at some point.

[A]

Kelly is paid hourly, but she makes about 50k a year, and Ben makes about 78k. That's before taxes and health insurance together. That puts them just under the average income for married couple families in Salt Lake City. How would you describe your relationship with money consuming?

[B]

Oh, I would describe it as all consuming. Yeah. The thing that keeps, like, coming to mind is, you know when someone has, like, an addiction or a struggle and they call it like, the monkey on their back.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Cause you just can't get away from it. It's just clinging, and it's present with you all the time. It feels like that. And I try really hard to, like, be in control, like, maintain my control.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But it's kind of this tug of war.

[A]

What do you do on a weekly basis to manage your expenses?

[B]

On a Sunday, I will sit down and look at the budget. And I made a spreadsheet.

[A]

Okay. Yeah. So walk me through your spreadsheet. So I would love what all of your regular expenses are and, like, what you kind of typically pay in each category.

[B]

So rent and utilities, 2,800. That's pretty expensive. For rent. Anytime I tell someone that, they're like, that's more than my mortgage. I'm like, yeah, I. I know. Please don't tell me what your mortgage is. I don't want to know.

[A]

Two gym memberships, 108. Car insurance, 254.

[B]

Gas, 125.

[A]

Do you have a car payment?

[B]

No, we just buy used cars.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

Ben's car, basically, the. The roof flies off, but, you know, just don't take it on the highway, you know, we don't have a car payment.

[A]

Who needs a roof?

[B]

Yeah, who needs that? It's a. It's a convertible.

[A]

Phone payment, 75. Pet insurance, 76. And physical therapy for 250. It helps with Kelly's chronic back pain and osteoarthritis.

[B]

And then groceries. This one sucks the most right now, and I really feel like everyone will understand. I put 600amonth for our groceries. And I mean, that includes, like, toiletries and stuff, too.

[A]

They have a Costco membership, but they pay that yearly fee with the cash back they get from their credit card.

[B]

Medications and supplements. Like, Ben works out, so he has, like, this huge bag of protein powder that he gets from Costco. So Ben's is mostly workout supplements and just one medication. And mine is, I think, like, four medications and like a probiotic and some multivitamins. Total for that is 650 streaming platforms. No, we mooch off of our families.

[A]

Some of the subscriptions are on them, though. Dropbox for 12. Soundcloud for 6. Spotify for 10. Hair.

[B]

My hair. I put $40 next to my hair, and that's so I can spend that $40 and get my hair washed by somebody else one time every month. And it is like the gift to me to have somebody else wash my hair every once in a while. And isn't that shitty that, like, even now, just reading my own budget, that it really is just my business? I still feel the need to justify, like, I just need to treat myself sometimes and have my hair washed.

[A]

What does that make your expenses altogether, your regular expenses?

[B]

Around $4,800 a month. But then you get to debt.

[A]

How much debt do you have?

[B]

A lot. If you are including my student loans, we have $202,728 in debt.

[A]

Where did you go to school?

[B]

I went to Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

[A]

Why did you go to school?

[B]

I thought I was supposed to because I was told that, you know, this is. This is the next step. And I think this is Part of, like, the. The dream or the lie that was sold to my generation was like, if you don't go to college, you're going to end up working at McDonald's, you know, and, like, you're going to be a deadbeat and you're going to have to live with your parents, and you're probably going to use marijuana even, like, you're going to be a bad person, essentially, if you don't go to college.

[A]

Kelly's degree cost about 40 grand a year. And after undergrad, Kelly went on to grad school at the same university. She has a master's in mental health counseling. But as Kelly sees it now, the math doesn't make much sense. I want to ask you something about that, and I mean, no judgment with this. How did you think you were going to pay off that amount of tuition? Or were you at the time? Like, I know I can't pay this off. Like, how did you think about it then?

[B]

Oh, no, it's a good question. I didn't. I did not think about it. I had no clue what I was doing. It wasn't like, I wonder how I'm going to pay this off when the, you know, average annual salary for a therapist is 40 to 60 thousand dollars a year. I was not thinking about that. I had no idea what I was doing, and I didn't really have anyone around me who was explaining what I was doing. Like, your prefrontal cortex is not developed when you are making those decisions.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Ultimately, I don't regret anything because I am who I am and I'm happy, but I'm financially trapped.

[A]

So that's Kelly. And this week, instead of just tracking it in her spreadsheet, she's going to tell us about every dollar she spends and every feeling that comes with it. How are you feeling about tracking your finances for a week?

[B]

I'm feeling nervous because maybe I will just realize through tracking every expense that I'm actually just a dum dum and I'm very irresponsible and this is all my fault. But I'm feeling curious. I'm just curious to see what comes of it.

[A]

Yeah, me too. I will check in with you on the other side of your week.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

For full episodes, follow what We Spend An Odyssey original Podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts,