The Stuff You Should Stop Buying (and Why Your Wallet Will Thank You) SB1707

Summary

The Stacking Benjamins Show: Episode SB1707 – "The Stuff You Should Stop Buying (and Why Your Wallet Will Thank You)"

Release Date: July 11, 2025

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Introduction to the Episode

In this episode of The Stacking Benjamins Show, hosts Joe Saul-Sehy and OG delve into the topic of reducing financial clutter by identifying items you should stop buying. Set against the backdrop of "Greatest Hits Week," the episode features a lively roundtable discussion with frequent contributors Paula Pant, Len Penzo, and Joe’s neighbor Doug. The primary goal is to offer listeners actionable advice on saving money while minimizing clutter in their lives.

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Clutter and Financial Efficiency

Joe kicks off the conversation by reflecting on personal experiences with clutter, both physical and mental. “[...] sometimes it makes these episodes for me because right now just getting back from vacation and I think about not just the clutter around me, but the clutter in my mind” ([00:49]). This sets the stage for a broader discussion on how unnecessary purchases contribute to financial strain and environmental clutter.

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Game Show: Items to Stop Buying

The heart of the episode features a game show segment where participants identify items to cease purchasing to save money and reduce clutter. The segment is both entertaining and informative, highlighting common pitfalls in consumer behavior.

First Round: The Basics

• Periodicals (Magazine Subscriptions):

  • Doug suggests, “Periodicals, final answer” ([12:44]).
  • Discussion revolves around the accumulation of physical magazines and the shift to digital formats to save space and money.
  • Len shares, “The only magazine our household subscribes to now is People magazine” ([13:28]).

• Holiday Decor:

  • Doug reads from the list: “The average American spends over $200 on winter holiday decorations alone” ([21:53]).
  • Emphasis on the temporary use of seasonal items and their tendency to consume storage space.

• Collectibles:

  • Doug elaborates, “If you buy collectibles with the expectation to increase in value over time, that's a different story” ([18:53]).
  • The conversation touches on personal collections of Christmas decor and coins, with anecdotes about managing or parting with these items.

Second Round: Expanding Choices

• Exercise Equipment:

  • Paula Pant proposes, “What about exercise equipment?” ([23:40]).
  • The hosts debate its categorization under recreational items, ultimately agreeing that it often ends up unused and contributes to clutter.

• Clothing and Shoes:

  • OG suggests, “Clothing and shoes” ([28:15]).
  • The discussion highlights the tendency to purchase trendy items that quickly go out of style, leading to unnecessary spending and space usage.

Final Round: Wrapping Up

• Organizing Bins and Containers:

  • Doug notes, “Organizing bins and containers just put stuff somewhere else” ([49:59]).
  • The hosts discuss how such storage solutions can be a temporary fix that may lead to more clutter in different areas of the home.

• Home Decor (Throw Pillows, Knickknacks):

  • Doug remarks, “Home decor like throw pillows and knickknacks are frivolous purchases” ([48:27]).
  • The segment emphasizes focusing on quality over quantity to maintain a tidy living space.

Throughout the game show, participants earn points for accurate guesses, fostering a competitive and engaging atmosphere. “[...] Paula Pant is in first place” ([50:47]), highlighting her insightful contributions.

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Trivia Segment: Google Search Statistics

In a shift from the game show, the hosts introduce a trivia question: “What percentage of Google’s daily searches have never been looked up before?”

• Participants’ Guesses:

  • Len Penzo proposes, “I’m going to say 5%” ([32:07]).
  • Paula Pant guesses, “1%” ([36:14]).
  • OG takes a bold stance with, “95%” ([34:35]).

• Revelation and Discussion:

  • Doug reveals the correct answer: “15%” ([38:46]).
  • This statistic sparks surprise and debate among participants, underscoring the vastness of unique information seekers encounter daily.

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Personal Anecdotes and Experiences

The episode is rich with personal stories that illustrate the challenges of managing clutter and resisting unnecessary purchases:

• Doug’s Magazine Subscriptions:

  • Shares his experience of trying to reduce magazine clutter by donating subscriptions to friends and acquaintances.

• Paula Pant’s Stamp and Coin Collections:

  • Discusses her childhood hobbies and how she manages her current subscription to Columbia University magazine by repurposing received materials.

• OG’s Wine Collection:

  • Talks about his wine collection as an example of a personal hobby that, while enjoyable, necessitates space and organization.

• Len Penzo’s Book Collection:

  • Describes his extensive bookshelf and the dilemma of keeping versus donating books to reduce household clutter.

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Key Takeaways and Conclusions

The episode concludes with several actionable insights for listeners:

1. Evaluate Necessity Before Purchase:

   • Consider whether an item is essential or merely contributing to clutter and unnecessary expenditure.

2. Opt for Digital Over Physical:

   • Shift subscriptions and content consumption to digital formats to save physical space and reduce costs.

3. Focus on Quality:

   • Invest in high-quality items that offer long-term value and functionality rather than transient, trendy purchases.

4. Adopt Minimalist Storage Solutions:

   • While organizing tools can help, they should not be a substitute for decluttering. Regularly assess and donate unused items.

5. Reassess Hobby Expenses:

   • Manage and limit spending on hobbies and collections to prevent financial and spatial overextension.

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Notable Quotes

• Joe Saul-Sehy on Clutter:

  “Clutter all over the place. I really am in cleanup mode.” ([00:49])

• Doug on Periodicals:

  “Periodicals take up a lot of space... Cost money, save money.” ([12:44])

• Paula Pant on Subscriptions:

  “I just take them on airplanes and I'll read them on a flight, and then I'll just leave them in the seat pocket.” ([15:03])

• OG on Storage:

  “I found the one and only shred company that will come to my house... throw it into the meat grinder.” ([16:22])

• Paula Pant on Hoarding Books:

  “One of my dreams is that eventually in life I want to have a home that has, like, a big library in it. Like Beauty and the Beast style.” ([43:31])

• Doug on Google Trivia:

  “Today's trivia question was... it's actually 15%.” ([38:46])

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Closing Remarks

As the episode wraps up, the hosts encourage listeners to take the discussed advice to heart. They emphasize the importance of regular decluttering and mindful purchasing to enhance both financial health and personal well-being. Additionally, they tease upcoming content, including a focus on goal setting in the next week's episodes.

Joe Saul-Sehy concludes with a heartfelt reminder:

“Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor.” ([56:34])

Listeners are invited to engage with the community through their social media platforms and explore further resources available on StackingBenjamins.com.

---

Summary by The Stacking Benjamins Show Team

Transcript

[Joe Salsihai]

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[OG]

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[Joe Salsihai]

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[Doug]

Hey everyone, just a reminder to tell Joe's mom she looks like she lost weight cause I accidentally parked on the grass again.

[Joe Salsihai]

Hey, guys.

[Paula Pant]

Mics are hot. Quiet on the set.

[Doug]

Live from Joe's mom's basement, it's the Stacking Benjamin show. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and today it's game show time. One of those things you should stop buying to save money and get rid of clutter. Joining us to answer that question, we welcome our youngest team member from afford anything, Paula Pant. And we welcome from TikTok fame, Charli D'. Amelio.

[Paula Pant]

Wow.

[Doug]

She's busy with her 9.3 million followers, so we're just bringing you her grandpa's best friend, Lenpenzo. And of course, the guy who's not sure what TikTok even is and has probably never heard of Charli D', Amelio, our very own OG but that's not all. Halfway through the show, we'll play yet another game with my inquiring trivia question. And now, a guy who only knows cap is something you wear. It's Jo. Sal Se.

[Joe Salsihai]

Hi. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Friday. And you know what, Doug? When it comes to cap, I feel like I'm becoming more large cap every day. I just got home from vacation and I went from maybe mid cap to large cap.

[Doug]

You. You really have no idea what that means, do you?

[Joe Salsihai]

What's that?

[Doug]

No cap.

[Joe Salsihai]

No cap? Yeah, I thought you were talking about like small cap, large cap, mid cap? No. No. Anybody?

[Doug]

Oh, God. Our demographics are soaring through the roof. Well, here in the crushing the 80 to 100 year old market.

[Joe Salsihai]

Approve it across the card table from me. Oh, geez. Here. How's your cap, OG? You got it on your head.

[OG]

As my kids would say, stop the cap.

[Joe Salsihai]

Stop the cap.

[OG]

Yes.

[Joe Salsihai]

Good.

[OG]

Don't know what they mean, but they say it to me all the time.

[Doug]

Nobody really knows what it means. Kids that age who use it in a sentence, they don't even know stop the cap.

[Joe Salsihai]

And the woman in Manhattan who's bringing all the wreaths to this show. See, I know that one. It's Paula Pant. How are you?

[Paula Pant]

It's giving eye roll.

[Doug]

No, it's.

[Paula Pant]

It's giving. Try hard. What can I say?

[OG]

Oh, try hard. That's a. That's one.

[Paula Pant]

Oh, yeah. Thank. Thank you. Thank you.

[Joe Salsihai]

Fantastic. Good you showed up on time.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. Wow. Really, really applauding the bare minimum here.

[OG]

High standards within the margin of the standard deviation.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Salsihai]

On stacking Benjamin's time. Anyway, we're happy you're here in deep under Los Angeles. The guy who is all cap. And Riz. It's Mr. Leslie.

[Len Penzo]

I'm freaking old because I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about. The only thing I know is, you know my daughter. All the time she's been saying slay. She always says slay, now slay, slay. So I know that means good, right? When somebody says slay, that means good. But all this other stuff, I don't know what you're talking about.

[Joe Salsihai]

Aren't people that say slay, like, turning 30 this year?

[Len Penzo]

Well, she's not that old.

[Joe Salsihai]

I'm just. I don't know.

[Len Penzo]

That just shows me how out of touch I am.

[Joe Salsihai]

I don't know. Well, we're here to slay another game show episode, which is exciting, Doug, because get this, we're going to be awarding two points today, not just one. And our score. Len has 11. Paula somehow, some way has 11.

[Doug]

Unbelievable.

[Joe Salsihai]

OG who we, I think, pronounced dead like, a month ago, has 10. So ostensibly, OG could take the lead today.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Joe Salsihai]

What the hell's going on? What is happening? It's. It's like he's the Seattle Mariners of this podcast.

[Doug]

Venus is aligned with Uranus.

[Joe Salsihai]

I just don't want to go there. And in fact, we got the HR people talking to Doug while they talk to him. You guys can listen to this. I think you guys got to give Doug the other talk as well. Doug, hang on. All right, you got that page seven in the manual?

[Doug]

Third time this week.

[Joe Salsihai]

It is horrible. We've got Paula, OG Len, and Doug. We got the original crew here. So let's get started. You guys know what that sound means? It's time for a game show. This is the episode where we pick some usually fairly ridiculous piece off the Internet, which is some crazy list. Len is already shaking his head. I haven't even announced what it is, Len, and you're already shaking your head.

[Len Penzo]

You know, I was telling the honeybee today, but I go, oh. I go. It's game show day, and it's freaking. It's so frustrating because half the time we give good, good answers, and they're not on the list, and then these wild answers are on the list.

[Joe Salsihai]

So it's completely. It's.

[Len Penzo]

It's frustrating.

[Joe Salsihai]

The answers you guys usually come up with, which the reason I love our game show is better than what's on the list. I love that this list. I don't know, Doug. I think this is actually a competent one. I know the writers of this list. They're a pretty. Pretty good duo. I'll just leave it at that. We'll Announce where it's from later on. But these are items. Items that you should either. Let me make sure I get the wording right. These are items to stop buying, to save money and curb clutter. And those are some key words there. You're trying to both save money and curb clutter. We're now halfway through September, which means that it's a good time to, you know, clear out. Clear out stuff. Get. It's. It's like the start of the fiscal year here. I think I felt like, oh, gee, every September. My practice, when I was a planner, would get busy. Your practice pretty busy right now?

[OG]

Yep. From now until November. Thanksgiving.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah. Seriously, that. That time of year. Then you get to Thanksgiving and nobody wants to talk about saving money. They want to. About spending it. So let's do that. Let's curb clutter. We get to start with the person. This is horrible. Who's in last place gets to go first. So weird to say, oh, gee, you're getting first crack at this now also, guys, this is a hard one. There's only eight on this entire list. We've done a long list with 20. There's only eight, and we're going to do three rounds. So I think there's going to be a lot that aren't on this list.

[Doug]

The good news for them is, I would say, Joe, there's more like eight categories. So they could name something that might fall into one of the categories. Does that sound right to you?

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah, these are. These are fairly wide.

[Doug]

Yeah. So even OG has a show.

[OG]

So what's the question again?

[Joe Salsihai]

These are items to stop buying to save money and reduce clutter.

[Len Penzo]

Items or lists? A list of things.

[Joe Salsihai]

These are things.

[Len Penzo]

Okay.

[Doug]

How complicated is it that way? I'm going to say name a thing that, if you bought, would create clutter. Take money out of your pocket.

[OG]

Can I. Can I go? Can I go?

[Doug]

Sorry.

[OG]

Thank you.

[Doug]

Got a little worked up there.

[OG]

I'm going to say periodicals. I'm thinking magazine subscriptions. Newspaper subscriptions. Takes up a lot of space. Lot of just stack up in the corner. You don't know what to do with them. Cost money, save money. Do it digitally. Periodicals, final answer.

[Joe Salsihai]

Are periodicals on the list? No, but that is a good one. I have a family member.

[OG]

Not a good one. If I didn't get a point, who.

[Joe Salsihai]

Has stacks, Stacks of periodicals around their house? An older relative, and just lots and lots of them. All interesting stuff, but it just adds up. How do you guys deal with that? Len, do you subscription study magazines?

[Len Penzo]

I used to subscribe to a lot of magazines. But now I. Let's see, what do I. We. The only magazine our household subscribes to now is People magazine.

[Joe Salsihai]

People. People magazine. How do you make sure they don't stack up?

[Len Penzo]

Well, we give them. Is this an. This could be an answer.

[Joe Salsihai]

Probably.

[Len Penzo]

I guess not. We give them to, for example, my relatives. We read them and then we give them. Or we have a dentist friend. Our dentist. He's not our friend. Yes. And we give them to him sometimes, too. Hey, you want to. Want these people? Yeah, sure. You know, and he puts them on the lens, like, puts them on the table fence. Yeah, right. No, no.

[OG]

I don't know what happens to him after.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah, so. Yeah, so we give them away. You know, people appreciate them.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, that's. I was going to ask was if you get, like, some sort of a dentist discount for that.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah, right. No, no.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, you're not a good negotiator, Len. You should be negotiating that harder. Paula, do you get any subscriptions?

[Paula Pant]

No, no, I don't get any subscriptions. Well, I do get Columbia University magazine. It's a quarterly.

[Joe Salsihai]

God, you just freaking graduated, like, yesterday.

[Doug]

I also get. I. This Intellectual Elite magazine. Do you guys get that? It's weird.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, there's my MENSA membership, but that's about it.

[Paula Pant]

Brainiacs Monthly, it's the only periodical that I get. I get it four times a year. And actually, the way that I've dealt with it. So I started actually getting this. The person who lived in my apartment before me had also gone to Columbia, and so I started getting his. He went to the School of Dentistry. So like, every.

[Doug]

For.

[Paula Pant]

For a couple of years, I. I would get his magazines, and then I would get these letters from the School of Dentistry asking for alumni donations.

[Joe Salsihai]

It's like seeing your future.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Doug]

Now, your subscription only cost you $180,000.

[Paula Pant]

I got a full ride. Are you kidding? Cost them $180,000. So, yeah, I've actually. I've been getting this for years, even before I had any affiliation with the school, just by virtue of, like, moving into a place that got these. And so what I've been doing with them is I just take them on airplanes and I'll read them on a flight, and then I'll just leave them in the seat pocket in front of me.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, that's nice. Pass it on for somebody else.

[Paula Pant]

Exactly. Yes, exactly.

[Joe Salsihai]

And by the way, just for all the people out there wondering, she just likes Columbia magazine for the articles. That's the only reason.

[Paula Pant]

I Just read it for the articles.

[Joe Salsihai]

That's it. Oh, gee. Subscriptions around your house.

[OG]

We have so many. That's why I thought about it.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah.

[OG]

I mean, only a few that I can think of that we actually subscribe to. But there's so many marketing things that are disguised as magazines now. I don't know how we got on this list, but. But we get a. Maybe it's every other month. So bimonthly. I guess that would be Mountain House Living. And it's just this beautiful architectural magazine of mountain homes and, you know, priced into like the.

[Doug]

You know, the low 3 millions.

[Len Penzo]

Couple.

[OG]

Couple commas in there in the design and all this other sort of architecture. And it's just a fantastic magazine. Just sit and thumb through and dream.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah. You're not just reading those articles.

[OG]

I'm not. I'm only there for the pictures. I don't know how we got it. You know what I mean? It just showed up one day. But it's clearly a marketing advertisement of some kind. So we have a shred company. Actually, I found the one and only shred company that will come to my house. And I have a closet that I have a shred bin in. And everything goes into this big giant bag. And some poor guy has to come up every couple of months and drag that thing out of my house and throw it into the meat grinder.

[Joe Salsihai]

Doug.

[Doug]

I don't know. I just thought he's taking all the fun away from. Remember in the old days when you'd find your dad's stash of dirty magazines and OG is shredding them all? He's depriving his kids. Yeah, that opportunity.

[OG]

Mountain. Mountain House magazine and.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[OG]

Cirrus Pilot Monthly. Yeah, those are page turners for the. For the kids. Dad, I never knew that's how a propeller worked. That's not. Just had. You go by what's on the. In the pictures.

[Joe Salsihai]

Zero points for OG and that means. Mr. Penzo, you're up next.

[Len Penzo]

Oh, okay. Well, how about a yard sale?

[Joe Salsihai]

Is a yard sale a thing that you can buy? Can you buy a yard sale?

[Len Penzo]

It's something you have to buy. See, that's why I was asking McFly.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah. These are. These are fly. These are.

[Paula Pant]

I thought you meant things from a yard sale. Like scavenging at yard sales on the weekends.

[Joe Salsihai]

Is it? Well, you'd have to tell us what the things would be. These are things you avoid buying.

[Len Penzo]

You avoid buying. Things you avoid. Oh, now you tell me. Buying to do clutter by avoiding the.

[Doug]

Prevent clutter.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, I thought it was saving money.

[Len Penzo]

I thought it was good, because this is. I was really struggling. I had some things down, but I was like, what the heck? So I thought that was a good answer for things. Okay, so things to avoid buying to. Okay, how about souvenirs? When you go to a. Like a. You know, like Bali, hypothetically, Bali. Don't buy souvenirs. Yeah, don't buy souvenirs.

[Joe Salsihai]

Is souvenirs on the list?

[Doug]

Yeah, I think so.

[Joe Salsihai]

On this list, they actually call it Len. They call it collectibles.

[Doug]

Yeah, that's what I was looking at in general.

[Joe Salsihai]

And collectibles, it says. Doug, have you scrolled down to that one?

[Doug]

Yep, I did. I just landed on that. I was giving it a thumbs up.

[Joe Salsihai]

Read that off to us, if you don't mind.

[Doug]

So it depends on why you're buying them in the first place. If you purchase collectibles because you enjoy them, that's one thing. But if you buy collectibles with the expectation increase in value over time, that's a different story. So your life's a beach T shirt from Daytona. It's not going to appreciate in value.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah. So one for Len. You know what's funny is, Len, we used to collect this Christmas in the city stuff. Dickens Village thing. And Doug, you remember when I had. When we lived close to each other, had that set up and finally it got so big that I couldn't even put. We wasted so much money on that.

[Doug]

That for me was like having a neighbor with a pool. Like, I love going over to see how much you guys love Christmas, but I sure as hell didn't want that crap in my house.

[Joe Salsihai]

That was actually. Yeah, the collectibles was a bad thing. Paula, you ever have a collection there in your huge Manhattan sprawl?

[Paula Pant]

Not in the sprawling Manhattan, but when I was a kid, I had a stamp collection and a coin collection because I was a fun kid.

[Doug]

I was a lonely kid.

[Len Penzo]

I had a coin collection too, Paula.

[Joe Salsihai]

I had stamps. I did the stamp piece. That was fun. Oh, gee. How about you? Collections? Collectibles.

[OG]

No, Nope, not my jam.

[Joe Salsihai]

Not a big collector.

[Doug]

But wait, I don't know.

[Joe Salsihai]

I've been to your house. I saw a collection of wine at your house.

[OG]

Well, indeed we did have. I do collect wine.

[Joe Salsihai]

That low cost collection, Doug, you were going to say.

[Doug]

I was gonna say Paula's collection increased in value. She collected coins. With inflation, that quarter probably inflated. It got bigger. Right.

[Paula Pant]

Winter decrease in value.

[Doug]

That's not how that works.

[Joe Salsihai]

Fairly certain.

[Len Penzo]

Not if it was from 1960.

[Joe Salsihai]

Four earlier.

[Len Penzo]

It probably is quadrupled in value. See, actually, it's been more than that.

[Doug]

That's what I.

[Len Penzo]

Times the value.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yes, See, Impala gave it away.

[Paula Pant]

I know, Right, right.

[Joe Salsihai]

Was that back in Cincinnati and you just gave it to some kid on the playground?

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, that was back in Cincinnati. I have no idea what even happened to it. I left for college and that was the last I ever saw of any of that.

[Joe Salsihai]

I don't know what happened to my stamps either. No idea. But, Paula, back to you speaking. Paula, we got one off the list. There's still seven out there. These are things to buy to avoid clutter and save some money.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. So? Well, then, took the thing that I was going to say. I was going to say souvenirs, because I was immediately thinking, you know, like the Myrtle Beach T shirt kind of a thing. A Hard Rock Cafe shot glass, Easy Snow globes.

[Joe Salsihai]

Are you looking at me?

[Paula Pant]

But since you brought up Christmas, I will venture to avoid buying holiday decor.

[Joe Salsihai]

Avoid holiday decor? Is that on the list? That is holiday decorations on the list. Doug, you got what they wrote about this one?

[Len Penzo]

OG?

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, gee, steaming. Now OG knows what Len feels like. Every usual time we play, we play these games. Doug, what does this say about holiday decorations?

[Doug]

Well, it says the average American spends over 200 on winter holiday decorations alone. And when you factor in other 200 whole dollars, costs quickly add up. The decor is often bulky, cheaply made, plastic and trendy. It only gets used a few weeks every year if you use it at all. It's not to mention that it takes up tons of space and often ends up in the trash. In other words, cutting back on seasonal decor is a practical way to save money and reduce clutter.

[OG]

Okay, Scrooge.

[Joe Salsihai]

Fabulous.

[OG]

Sounds great. Why don't we all work on Christmas, too, while we're at it?

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, that's a good idea. Is work on Christmas on the list? All right, that's the end of round one. Oh, gee. What's the score? Around one.

[Doug]

I believe.

[Joe Salsihai]

That means that would be your score. Zero.

[OG]

Exactly. No, I was talking about Paula has one and Len has one.

[Joe Salsihai]

If you're not on YouTube, you'll never believe how he made it.

[OG]

They're the number one in my book.

[Joe Salsihai]

Len has one, Paula one, OG zero. We go to round two, and we do round two in reverse. And that means that Len, you get to. You get to go first. No, Paula gets to go first. What am I talking about?

[Paula Pant]

No, I got to come up with another thing. I like to buy a vowel. Things to avoid Buying in order to reduce clutter.

[Doug]

And save money.

[Paula Pant]

If a person had a garage, what would be inside of it?

[Doug]

Like a car Jump starter kit.

[OG]

Foreshadowing.

[Joe Salsihai]

Wow. That is. Yes, weirdly placed.

[Doug]

That's just what I would imagine would be in somebody's garage were they to own a car.

[Joe Salsihai]

Maybe more on that later.

[Paula Pant]

This is the episode where I strongly encourage everybody to be on YouTube. Anyway, this might be too specific, but what about exercise equipment?

[Joe Salsihai]

Is exercise equipment on the list?

[Doug]

What?

[Joe Salsihai]

Absolutely. Outdoor and recreational items. Yep.

[Doug]

I guess I was thinking of the outdoor part more than the recreational.

[Len Penzo]

That is broad. That is really broad.

[OG]

Brushstroke. I wouldn't call outdoor and recreational equipment. Goes into recreation. Workout equipment.

[Joe Salsihai]

Workout equipment is recreational equipment.

[Paula Pant]

Recreational.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah, that. That's not recreational.

[Doug]

But when you have me.

[Joe Salsihai]

Bicycles, not recreation.

[Doug]

Look, when you have me read this one, there's only one phrase that saves your thumbs up compared to my thumbs down. And OG and Len are going to have your head. But okay. If you want to award the points Master game show MC dude, go ahead.

[Joe Salsihai]

We already did. So let's read the piece.

[Doug]

Okay. Outdoor items are used seasonally and often get left outside in weather. Furniture, equipment, camping gear, pool toys, grills and smokers. And here's the one thing that might savor. Sporting equipment take up space and get thrown away.

[OG]

Sporting equipment's like a football or a wiffle bat.

[Len Penzo]

Working out is a sport.

[OG]

It's a requirement. Yeah, that's not a long sporty.

[Doug]

Okay, she apparently already got the point, so the complaining is useless. That doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't buy and use these items. But think twice about plastic or poorly made purchases and those difficult to store and maintain. Instead, focus on high quality items you can easily maintain and store. Or consider borrowing or renting.

[Joe Salsihai]

There it is.

[Doug]

Or not working out at all.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah, you could. You could borrow it.

[OG]

Hey, don't bother cooking on your grill. Let's save some money.

[Joe Salsihai]

Who needs it? But borrow a grill. Oh, gee. Just go over your neighbor and borrow a grill. How hard is that?

[Doug]

This is going to be turned into yet another roundtable where we attack the.

[Joe Salsihai]

Piece or we have an asterisk over the piece. Again, I think that's every single one, isn't it?

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Joe Salsihai]

All right. Paula gets two points here for the second round, so that gives her three. Len, you get to keep pace if you get this one right.

[Len Penzo]

Gosh, clutter. What clutters up, Mom? Thinking of trying what colors up my house. This is. This is really. This is really hard. How about old games Old board games.

[Doug]

Oh, shut up.

[OG]

Nice shots fired.

[Joe Salsihai]

Holy cow.

[Doug]

Like, screw the game now. Joe didn't even look.

[OG]

He just said, no.

[Paula Pant]

Playing dirty here.

[Joe Salsihai]

Clearly not on the list.

[Doug]

That's funny, because I see it several places. I could categorize it. Based on your previous categorization, I could find several places to insert games.

[Joe Salsihai]

Are board games on the list? Which one of these. I don't see which one you're talking about.

[Doug]

If I say any of them, I'm going to give.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yes, I know I don't just say.

[Len Penzo]

The first one, the second one, the third one, the fourth one, the fifth one.

[Joe Salsihai]

Are you talking about the first one? Because. Because anything fits under the first one.

[Doug]

Yeah, that was one of them.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah. That's the only one.

[Doug]

Okay, that is.

[Joe Salsihai]

That's the only one. I see. But that was. That was evil.

[Len Penzo]

Isn't that good enough if you can allow workout equipment under recreation.

[OG]

I did hear everything fits under that one.

[Joe Salsihai]

It was way, way, way broader than Paula's.

[Doug]

I was gonna say. How about the one we just did? Recreational items. Isn't a game a recreational item?

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, Paul already got that one, though. But that's already a board game.

[Paula Pant]

A board game wouldn't be a recreational equipment.

[Joe Salsihai]

Easy. It is recreational.

[OG]

But Paula didn't say recreation. Paul said exercise equipment.

[Len Penzo]

Paul said exercise equipment.

[OG]

Clearly not on the list.

[Len Penzo]

Isn't recreational equipment.

[Joe Salsihai]

But you don't enjoy exercising, Len.

[Len Penzo]

No.

[OG]

Do you Stop the cat.

[Doug]

What psycho does?

[Joe Salsihai]

All right, OG Chance. So that is a point.

[Len Penzo]

So that's a no.

[Doug]

No. You're getting a no.

[Joe Salsihai]

That is a no. That is a no. Oh, gee, Chance.

[OG]

To keep pace, I'm going to try to be as broadly based as Paula was to see if I can steal a few points here. I'm gonna say clothing.

[Joe Salsihai]

Is clothing on the list? Trendy clothing.

[Doug]

Clothing and shoes.

[Joe Salsihai]

Trendy clothing and shoes. Much like. Maybe like, wow, Paul, those are beautiful socks. Whose face is that on those socks?

[Paula Pant]

Why, thank you. Thank you for the YouTube audience. You're welcome.

[Joe Salsihai]

Would that happen to be your face on those socks?

[Paula Pant]

It would happen to be my face on these socks, yes.

[OG]

That's not narcissistic.

[Paula Pant]

Joe, what socks are you wearing at the moment?

[Joe Salsihai]

I have none on, thank you. Because I would never wear socks with my face on them. Who would do that?

[Paula Pant]

Never is a strong word, Joe.

[OG]

Sure, sure, sure.

[Doug]

Did you pay for those yourself? Like, did you? I didn't.

[Paula Pant]

I did not. No, no. So Joe and I both had a. Someone who listens to each of our respective shows send us socks. With our face on them.

[Joe Salsihai]

Wow. Super exciting.

[Paula Pant]

Yes. A listener. A listener. That's the word I'm looking for.

[Doug]

Yes.

[Paula Pant]

Yes. A listener sent these socks to both.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, she didn't get socks with his face on him.

[Doug]

Weird. Neither did I.

[Joe Salsihai]

And that means two rounds of this shindigger over. Paula Pant with three points, OG with two, and Len Penzo gets back in his.

[Len Penzo]

Under protest. Under protest.

[Joe Salsihai]

Game. Game show day with one. Third round, though, is three points. Three points for third round. We got five out of. No, we've got four that are left on the board. But before we get to that time, for our normal game show, we do this every Friday on the show. This is the part of the show where we ask a trivia question to our three frequent flyers here, Len, Paula, and Og and, well, we're gonna word another point. Doug, what's today's Friday trivia question?

[Doug]

Hey there, stackers. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. You know, when I was a kid, the only search engine we had to look things up on was the Dewey Decimal system. And you had to walk down to the local library to use it. Uphill both ways, snowing and hurricane in the whole time. Once you got to the library, you'd have to search through a bunch of tiny drawers filled with note cards to look for what you needed. Or in my case, you'd leave a note card of your own to let people know where the best party was that weekend.

[Joe Salsihai]

Wait a minute. Hold on a second. Hold on. Didn't you say earlier that we were not appealing to the young people and we're doing trivia about the Dewey Decimal System?

[Doug]

The trivia is not about the Dewey.

[Joe Salsihai]

You are complaining that I'm like an old guy and really we're doing Dewey Decimal System. This. This will get the 20 year olds. This will get them.

[Doug]

Can I go now?

[Joe Salsihai]

Go ahead.

[Doug]

The very first card catalog was created at Harvard, not Columbia, Harvard, in 1840, which makes sense given all the books they make you read there now that we're in the digital age. See how I just zoomed it right back to the young folks?

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, here they come.

[Doug]

Libraries have replaced that search system with their own specialized online inventory. Sort of like Google, but just for books and not other cool stuff like pictures of bitching. El Caminos. Launched in 1998, Google performs an astounding 8.5 billion searches every single day. Today's trivia question is what percentage of those daily searches have never, ever been looked up before? I'll be right back with the Answer after I return this library. Great book. I checked out in 97.

[Joe Salsihai]

We've got. We got a company here that's made billions and billions of Benjamins. And we start with. It's weird because he's in last place today, but he's got to go first on the trivia. Mr. Penzo.

[Len Penzo]

So what is this? This is the number of searches that are done that have never been searched before. So the percentage that are.

[Doug]

Percentage what? Percent of searches every day have never ever been looked up before.

[Len Penzo]

Well, that's. Isn't that. So that's as of when, as of today. I mean, wouldn't that. I mean, that shouldn't be a constant. That should be a slowly decline, a decaying curve. But I also just.

[Joe Salsihai]

On the average day.

[Doug]

Yes.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah. But over time, right. And when it first came out, right. I'd say, you know, 80% of the searches were never searched before. But then over time that. That's going to decay down to almost nothing. You would think. I think it's a small number.

[Doug]

Whatever helps you say an answer faster. That's what my answer is going to be.

[Len Penzo]

I'm going to say exercise equipment.

[Doug]

Correct.

[Joe Salsihai]

Correct.

[Len Penzo]

That seemed to be a catch. All that seems to be a good one. No, I will, I will say I think it's low. I'm going to say it's 5%.

[Joe Salsihai]

Five percent is Len's answer. We go to Paula.

[Paula Pant]

Hmm. Well, on one hand, okay, I see the argument for a steep decay at the beginning when Google first comes out. On the other hand, there are new topics that could be searched about now that could not be searched about previously. For example, AI. Right.

[Joe Salsihai]

Nobody knew at all anything about AI in the 50s.

[Paula Pant]

Well, I mean, there was AI but not the way there is today, you know. So as knowledge pushes boundaries, there are more things to search about because the expanse of human knowledge grows also as more things get added to the Internet.

[Joe Salsihai]

Hold on a second. Paula, where did Len go to take a nap while you're.

[Paula Pant]

I was actually thinking about running to grab a Diet Coke. So I'm going to follow lead in a moment. All right. I think that Len guest high being in second place though I don't want to get Chelsea Brennan. I'm gonna guess 1%.

[Joe Salsihai]

1%. Well, oh, gee, you've got five and you got one.

[OG]

Yeah. The only right answer here is 5.01% and higher. I think it's a really small number. But I have to, I have to bet the table and the table says I got 95% on the upside. So I'm taking everything above Len.

[Joe Salsihai]

All right, so Len gets capped on the upside and we got 5.0015% and 1%. Who's right?

[OG]

Repeating, of course.

[Joe Salsihai]

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[Paula Pant]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies. So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy on WhatsApp, no one can see or hear your personal messages. Whether it's a voice call message or sending a password to WhatsApp, it's all just this. So whether you're sharing the streaming password in the family chat or trading those late night voice messages that could basically become a podcast, your personal messages stay between you, your friends and your family. No one else, not even us. WhatsApp message privately with everyone.

[Joe Salsihai]

Len, you kick this thing off with 5%. Len's not here.

[Paula Pant]

Hey, I returned. I returned with my Diet Coke and with some pumpkin bread very quickly.

[Joe Salsihai]

And so, Paula, you had 1%.

[Paula Pant]

What do you think? Out of my kitchen. So, honestly, I was thinking that the. The real answer is probably somewhere between 1/2 of 1% to 2%. So that was why I guessed 1.

[Joe Salsihai]

All right, OG, you got 5.0001 and up. What are you thinking?

[OG]

I'm thinking that the odds will ever be in my favor.

[Joe Salsihai]

Where have we heard that before? And yet, Doug, he said he's never heard Harry Potter. He's never seen Harry Potter. He knows nothing.

[Doug]

That's not from Harry Potter.

[Joe Salsihai]

I know, but how. How do you see the.

[Doug]

Oh, I see.

[Len Penzo]

How do you.

[Joe Salsihai]

How do you do the Mockingjay series and not. Do not. Do not do that.

[Len Penzo]

Anyway, Len, I apologize.

[Joe Salsihai]

Accepted.

[Len Penzo]

I apologize. He accepted I'm not going to tell you why.

[Doug]

Yes. Now you have to hemorrhoids again.

[OG]

It involves being 50.

[Paula Pant]

Oh, wow. See, I was just gonna guess that he needed a snack.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah, I actually, I actually thought you. That was a statement about Paula going on forever before she guessed 1%.

[Paula Pant]

I literally thought you were just gonna go get a snack. I did the same.

[Len Penzo]

You know me, Paula. My snacks are usually right here with me.

[Paula Pant]

I was like, oh, Len got up. Cool. I'm kind of hungry too.

[Len Penzo]

I had to let go. I had to let go of some snacks.

[OG]

No, thanks for not telling us, but tell.

[Joe Salsihai]

I won't type a. Swampy or not, Len, OG took 5.0001. So he took the upside. But you still have got between 5 and what, 3%. So feeling good?

[Len Penzo]

No, I actually, I really think it's less than 1%. But I didn't want to. I was. Didn't think anybody would go lower than me, but somebody did.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, we. We played a game of how low can you go? Apparently. Doug, you've got the answer man. Who's right on this one.

[Doug]

Hey there, Stackers. I'm Motley Crue fan and guy who apparently owes the Lake county library a lot of money, Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. I've been Googling all kinds of stuff today, like what are the top 10 sandwiches? Or where can I get my jorts tailored? Or what are the five deadliest snakes? And are any of them in Joe's mom's backyard? Or how long can I hold my breath underwater? All kinds of stuff. Google is so popular that it's become the generic word for looking up information on the Internet. Since its inception, it has helped billions of people learn more, do more, and maybe most importantly, save money. Google is so good at Googling that I found the answer today's trivia question on. Yeah, Google. Today's trivia question was what percentage of its daily searches have never been looked up before? Well, Len guessed 5, Paul against 1 OG I'm rounding you up to 6 because I don't feel like dealing with decimals. You were all way under because the answer is actually 15%. Meaning OG is our winner. And yes, on track to possibly create a three way.

[Joe Salsihai]

Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

[Len Penzo]

That's high. I really thought that. I thought it would be less than that. That's really high. That's like one in every six or seven searches. That's crazy.

[Doug]

But think of the weird that people typed in there, I guess.

[Len Penzo]

Geez.

[Joe Salsihai]

I actually Len, I slack Doug, partway through this going this is way too high. There's no way it's 15. This is a piece from the BBC.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah, yeah, I thought it was. I honestly thought it was like 056 or something like that. But I didn't want to say one or two. I wanted to kind of play the game and. Wow.

[Paula Pant]

Wow.

[OG]

And then the game played you there.

[Len Penzo]

It did.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, let's get to the final round of our big game because last round of the big game is brought to you by DepositAccounts.com, paul Pant. You know what happens when you go to depositacounts.com you learn how to find.

[Paula Pant]

Accounts in which you can make deposits.

[Joe Salsihai]

You do, which is savings accounts, checking accounts, money markets and CDs all rated head to head against each other. We are a little early in recording this, but listen, I said the day we're recording, you want to go to depositacounts.com yourself to see this. Top 1% of all savings accounts today. 4.74%. The national average, though. 0.45%. Huge difference between the national average and the top 1%. They look at the same for CDs, checking and money markets. 275,000 deposit rates from 11,000 banks of credit unions all ranked against each other for free deposit accounts dot com. All right, time for our thrilling three point round. And we are going to start then with Mr. Penzo because he is in last currently. This will move you from worst to first, Len, you get it?

[Len Penzo]

I don't know. Clutter. It's hard because I'm, you know what, I'm not a cluttery person by. I mean, I get rid of things too early. I'm one of those people that throw things away because I don't like clutter. And then it haunts me. And like a year later, I threw away something that I needed. So there's really not a lot of clutter here. I'm trying to think what's in my house. It's cluttery.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, think about some of those things you've thrown away, maybe, because I actually look at the things on this list. Three of them, three out of the four that are left.

[Len Penzo]

You know, there's a thing right behind me here is a bookshelf and there are a crapload of books in that bookshelf. And I tell Maria, I tell her, I was like, man, can you get rid of some of those? So let's say books is.

[Joe Salsihai]

Books on the list. Doug, it is not on the list. Which means, Len, congratulations. You will finish this Game in last place, as usual. So it feels very.

[Len Penzo]

Yes.

[Joe Salsihai]

Feels very comfortable spot. But books. Books are a good one. When we. When we moved, I actually read a piece. Oh, gee. That said that, you know, some of these books that are on your bookshelf, and you're like, ooh, I really like these, like three lines, four lines. You're actually stopping other people from maybe reading that book. It'd be better to donate to the library instead of sit on your shelf where nobody can see it. So to Len's point, take the book and donate it as you see the.

[OG]

Background of all books. All books, yes. But other people have access to it. So you don't want to go to the library?

[Joe Salsihai]

You don't want to touch somebody else's book, Is that what you're saying?

[OG]

I'm just, you know, these are my books. Pretty soon they won't make any books and I'll be rich because I'll be the only one with books.

[Joe Salsihai]

Almost like Paula would be today with her coin collection had she kept it. Yes.

[Paula Pant]

Be worth like $12.

[Joe Salsihai]

Paul, I feel like we're talking to the wrong crowd here about getting rid of books, though. Are you a book hoarder?

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, I am an absolute book hoarder and proud of it. So one of my dreams is that eventually in life I want to have a home that has, like, a big library in it. Like Beauty and the Beast style. Giant library. Needs a turret. It needs a fireplace.

[Doug]

Ladder.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, a big ladder. Yeah, yeah.

[OG]

Turret. Like a machine gun?

[Paula Pant]

No, no, kind of like a. A bay window, except it goes all the way around. It goes all the way around. It's not exactly 360. It's like 270 degree angle, you know, a 270 degree circle.

[Len Penzo]

You know, there are homes in my neighborhood with those turreted, those. Those kind of. And they're empty. You can't even get up there. But they look cool from outside.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah, but then they're empty space.

[Paula Pant]

Why would they be empty?

[Len Penzo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Paul is picturing a window seat with a little blanket over her feet.

[Paula Pant]

Totally.

[Doug]

Some, like, celestial seasonings.

[Joe Salsihai]

Tea.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. It's gonna be amazing. There's gonna be, like, trap doors in the library.

[OG]

Oh, boy.

[Joe Salsihai]

Cool.

[Paula Pant]

Maybe the whole thing will actually. Also there'll be like a hidden bookshelf that, like, you tap. So it'll be speakeasy style.

[Doug]

Teach you to another dimension.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. Narnia. Narnia. So that's. So anyway, so in the. In the meantime, I'm just hoarding all of these books. Can you See, can you.

[Joe Salsihai]

There's some books. You and Og have seven books.

[Doug]

I have seven books. That's a great start, Paula.

[Len Penzo]

Put a ladder up there, and you've got your dream.

[Joe Salsihai]

There you go.

[Paula Pant]

There we go.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yes.

[Paula Pant]

There we go. More books.

[Joe Salsihai]

And, Paula, as short as you are with the ladder, you could reach that top shelf.

[Paula Pant]

Can you see the Kraft macaroni and Cheese right up there?

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Joe Salsihai]

Keeps out their books.

[OG]

Devils is a pantry.

[Joe Salsihai]

This podcast is going into Narnia. If we don't get. We don't get moving. All right, Paula, what is your last answer?

[Paula Pant]

So I'm gonna get.

[Joe Salsihai]

No, wait a minute. You're in first place, aren't you? It's Og's turn. I'm sorry.

[Paula Pant]

Oh.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, gee. Is to see if he can. If he can put some pressure on you here.

[OG]

I was gonna go with books also, Len, so thank you for taking that.

[Len Penzo]

Bullet because, look, I saved you.

[OG]

Yeah, I was pretty certain that that was you.

[Len Penzo]

Try exercise equipment.

[Paula Pant]

Try that.

[Len Penzo]

That seems to be a catch.

[OG]

All right, I'm going to try sporting goods, grills, you know, things that people hoard. Things like a smoker. Boy, if I had a nickel for every smoker I hoarded over my lifetime, I'm sure glad I got rid of that, all the clutter and money I saved. All right. I will say one thing, though, that I have no business owning in any way, shape, or form. I'm going to say any sort of tool, power or otherwise.

[Len Penzo]

That's a really good one.

[OG]

Tools, like unnecessary. Unnecessary tools, like just hire somebody else to do it. I don't know if you save money doing that, but you sure save clutter. Tools. Come on. Big money, no whammy. Big money, no whammy. Big money, no whammy. Stop.

[Joe Salsihai]

Is tools on the list, Doug, or is Paula going to win the game? Maybe.

[Doug]

Because he didn't specify what the use of the tools were.

[Joe Salsihai]

I think there's a word there that's missing.

[OG]

I said power tools. I said. I said garage tool. It's in my garage.

[Joe Salsihai]

He's burying it. Doug. None of that's it. That's not it. Shoot.

[Doug]

He was so close.

[Joe Salsihai]

You were so close. Yes, this is horse. It's not it. And somehow, some way, Paula Pant has won the game.

[Paula Pant]

What?

[Len Penzo]

Oh, God.

[Joe Salsihai]

Somehow.

[OG]

Okay, let me hear the one that you thought it was and how I got screwed.

[Paula Pant]

Wait, can I tell you the guess that I was going to have?

[Doug]

Have?

[Joe Salsihai]

Yes, absolutely.

[Paula Pant]

It was going to be lawn and yard stuff.

[Doug]

Well, that was in the category.

[OG]

If you tell Me that. That's the answer.

[Doug]

Well, no, we already used that one.

[Joe Salsihai]

Okay.

[Doug]

Yes, that was in the. What was it called? Outdoor. Where'd it go?

[Paula Pant]

That's an outdoor recreational item.

[Joe Salsihai]

And outdoor stuff.

[Doug]

Plastic furniture and.

[Paula Pant]

But a lawnmower kind of thing. That would be like lawn and yard.

[Joe Salsihai]

Get rid of your lawnmower.

[Doug]

Well then, yeah, what says the.

[OG]

Says the gal from New York City, right? What was the one, Doug, that you thought I got, but I didn't?

[Doug]

Yeah, well, so here's where I thought you were in the vicinity anyways. Where it says single purpose appliances and kitchen gadgets. Small appliances and kitchen get plentiful in thrift stores, yard sales.

[Joe Salsihai]

He was so close.

[OG]

That was my other guest. He was between tools and appliances.

[Doug]

Yeah, but like if you hadn't specified some of the stuff you did, like.

[OG]

Yeah, honestly, I was between tools and appliances.

[Len Penzo]

But. But I still protest. I still. Pro games is recreation equipment, right?

[OG]

I would.

[Len Penzo]

I say recreation exercise equipment isn't, but Paula got credit for it.

[OG]

What were the other answers that the stupid offer?

[Paula Pant]

Because if you think of bikes, if you think of exercise equipment is recreational equipment. Like think. Think of REI recreational equipment.

[Joe Salsihai]

Len's about to send me. All of a sudden I'm gonna get some salt from Len.

[OG]

Gonna get a horse head in your bed is what you're gonna get.

[Len Penzo]

It's all. It's all good, man. It's all good. It's just fun playing around with it.

[Doug]

There was one I was surprised that nobody got, which was home decor. Like throw pillows, knickknacks, throw rugs, High quality, trendy items. Knicksnack.

[Len Penzo]

That's a good one.

[OG]

The paddy whack.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah.

[Len Penzo]

Give a dog a bone knickknacks. Absolutely.

[Joe Salsihai]

And the one that I thought was amazing. And by the way, this piece to give credit where credit's due is from the Women who money team, which is a Plutus award winning site. It's Amy Blacklock who's been on the show a couple times. Vicky Cook, Amanda K. And Lori are the women who money. And so this was a women who money list. But the other ones, Doug, the one items on sale just because they're on sale, which was Len, that was kind of your. Where your yard sale. I was thinking you were headed there. You know, people pick up junk at yard sale just because it's on sale sale. So it's this I relative. Literally there's an answer. Items.

[Len Penzo]

Well, that's a catch. All yard sale stuff could be on.

[Joe Salsihai]

Sale, but I would argue that the.

[OG]

Tools are quite Often on sale. I only bought the ones on sale.

[Joe Salsihai]

Doug, if you would have said tools that were on sale, we would have given it to them.

[OG]

Well, I only buy things on sale. By definition, they're for sale items on.

[Joe Salsihai]

Sale just because they're on sale. And then the last one, which I thought was hilarious and is so true. Organizing bins and containers.

[Doug]

Yeah. Oh, to keep all your crap in so you don't throw the crap away. You just put it somewhere else.

[Len Penzo]

But those. Oh, those actually work.

[OG]

Those Mrs. OG heard this.

[Joe Salsihai]

They're like, get rid of the stuff.

[OG]

Buy boxes of cereal and pour the boxes of cereal into other boxes of cereal.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah, we have that. We have that too. I like it.

[Doug]

The people who go rent off site storage facilities for all their crap because they don't want to get rid of it, they're going to pay more to store it someplace else.

[Len Penzo]

Well, because their garage is full too. Their garage is full. The cars are out in the driveway, and then they still have a online. Yeah. It's just crazy.

[Joe Salsihai]

And all they're wishing they had in the garage that they don't is a car charger. Brick. If they had one of those.

[OG]

Foreshadowing only.

[Paula Pant]

If only.

[Joe Salsihai]

It turns out. All right, Paula gets a point. Oh, Gee gets a point. Which means Paula Pant is in first place. What the hell is going on?

[Paula Pant]

Right.

[Doug]

Hold on. Does I don't remember, but when we do these game shows, do those points go towards the yearly trivia competition? They do, yeah.

[OG]

Doug, where have you got it? It would have been quite an epic comeback, but there's still time.

[Doug]

Hollow with 12. OG with 11 and Len with 10.

[Joe Salsihai]

Len with 11. Yes.

[Len Penzo]

But the only good thing that's come out of this is I finally get to pick last, which is a huge advantage. So I am definitely looking forward to the next several trivia questions.

[Joe Salsihai]

This is going to be exciting. I thought it wasn't going to be exciting a couple months ago and look at what happened. Well, hey, I'm also excited to hear about what you guys got going on this fine mid September weekend. Oh, gee. What do you got?

[OG]

Nothing. The kids got a bye week from football, so. So I think we're gonna do some college tours this weekend, as a matter of fact.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, fabulous. That time.

[OG]

Kind of check out where the spawn may go.

[Doug]

Oh, that's disgusting.

[Joe Salsihai]

It's just a. Well, Mr. Penzo, what's going on [e-mail]?

[Len Penzo]

Oh, I'm on vacation. Just stop on by lenpenzo.com there's lots of things you can check out and have fun. See some stupid comments from me. So I don't care. Just, I don't know. I'm on vacation. I'm closing out the summer.

[Joe Salsihai]

Len is. Len is actually. I know he's in the middle now of writing a piece called why Exercise Equipment is not recreation. Top 10 reasons.

[Len Penzo]

You know what? You know what? In honor of this exactly. I have. I have an old article. I'm going pull it up. 10 ways to get physically fit for free. For free.

[Joe Salsihai]

For free.

[Len Penzo]

That's what's going to [e-mail] you come over here and check that out. 10 Ways to Get physically fit for free.

[Joe Salsihai]

Perfect. Which is just despite me and Paula.

[Len Penzo]

Hey, I get to pick last. This is all good.

[Joe Salsihai]

Speaking of Paula, Paula, what's going on at Afford Anything?

[Paula Pant]

At Afford Anything, we are in the final few days of offering our rental property investing course. Your first rental property, which Joe, you and I have chatted about that quite a bit. It's an amazing course. There's like way more than I could even say about it in this moment. But afford anything.com VIP list has a ton of info, so check it out.

[Joe Salsihai]

And if you want to hear Paula's interview on the Stacking Deeds podcast, our sister show, you can hear that. And you don't even have to go to the Stacking Deeds feed. We did a replay on our off week last week. So you can just go back just a few shows and you hear Paul and I talking about real estate in general. Paula's real estate journey and your first rental property.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, absolutely. So check out Stacking Deeds. Stacking Benjamins.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yes, absolutely. Well, that's going to do it for today, Doug. Another game show with an asterisk after it. We managed to continually controversial asterisks after each one of these, but there's got to be at least three takeaways. What do you think the top three are?

[Doug]

Well, Joe, first, take some advice from the writers of this piece. Reduce clutter and clean up your budget at the same time. Win, win and clean. Second, for you freaks buying all the exercise equipment just to be used as a staging point for your laundry. Just stop. You're not fooling anybody. But the big lesson when it comes to coral snakes, if red touches yellow, he's a deadly fellow. If red touches black, venom, he lacks. Just a little tip I learned from Googling.

[Joe Salsihai]

What the hell?

[Doug]

I just got it from Googling. I googled the things about the deadly snakes in mom's backyard.

[OG]

Potential deadly snakes.

[Doug]

Yeah. Okay. Now I'm gonna do the thing, the part where I say the things about the people that are on the show. So thanks to Paula Pant for hanging out with us today. You'll find her fabulous podcast Afford Anything wherever you listen to find her podcasts. Thanks to Len Penzo for joining us today. You can find [e-mail] yardsale thanks also to OG for joining us today. Looking for good financial planning help? Head to stackingbenjamins.comog for his calendar. This show is the property of SB Podcasts, LLC, Copyright Table 2023 and is created by Joe Salsihai. Our producer is Karen Refine. This show was written by Lisa Curry, who's also the host of the Long Story Long podcast. With help from me, Joe and Doc G from the Earn and Invest podcast, Kevin Bailey helps us take a deeper dive into all the topics covered on each episode in our newsletter called the 201. You'll find the 411 on all things money money at the 201. Just visit stackingbenjamins.com 201. Wonder how beautiful we all are? Of course, you'll never know if you don't check out our YouTube version of this show engineered by Tina Eichenberg. Then you'll see once and for all that I'm the best thing going for this podcast. Once we bottle up all this goodness, we ship it to our engineer, the amazing Steve, Steve Stewart. Steve helps the rest of our team sound nearly as good as I do right now. Want to chat with friends about the show later? Mom's friend Gertrude and Kate Junkin are our social media coordinators and Gertrude is the room mother in our Facebook group called the Basement. Say hello when you see us posting online. To join all the Basement fun with other stackers, type stackingbenjamins.com basement. Not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don't take advice from people you don't know. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and we'll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjamin Show.

[Paula Pant]

SA so we were supposed to.

[Joe Salsihai]

Hold on, hold on a second. Yeah, we were supposed to be live.

[Paula Pant]

Yes, we were. We were supposed to be live. It is my fault that we are not.

[Joe Salsihai]

If people saw this, by the way, on our social media channel that we were going to be live, one of you should raise your hand as to who the culprit might be.

[Doug]

And you totally Threw her under the bus when you canceled it, didn't you?

[Paula Pant]

Well, it's true. It's well deserved. It's well deserved. Yes. So everybody else was prepared to do it live on Fireside. I was not. I cannot find the equipment anywhere.

[Joe Salsihai]

I know, but hold on a second, Paul, before you go further. You own a huge piece of real estate there in Manhattan. You've got, like, a monster place.

[Paula Pant]

Oh, my goodness. 600 square feet.

[Joe Salsihai]

Not 6ft or 60ft. That's 600.

[Len Penzo]

Isn't that triple the size of the average New York apartment, though? I mean, that's pretty dang, probably.

[Paula Pant]

Everybody tells me, so you can see my kitchen.

[Joe Salsihai]

For.

[Paula Pant]

For those of you watching this on YouTube, you can see my kitchen in the background. This is, by New York standards, considered a massive kitchen. Like, everyone who comes over is like. Like, wow.

[Joe Salsihai]

Wow.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. Seriously.

[Doug]

So do you only invite homeless people over?

[Paula Pant]

So this is my kitchen. This right here is my living room. This is my home office. That right there. Oh, that's a money tree. There's a. Like kind of a couch with a. See? And that's. That's the whole. And then on that, through that closed door, there's a bedroom. And that's it. So that's the whole apartment just giving you.

[Joe Salsihai]

Wait, is that a money tree? Because you're growing weed? Is that what it is?

[Paula Pant]

Oh, no, it's a money tree. See, Check it out. It's a money tree. And see, it's doing well. So that means.

[Doug]

Looks a lot like something else that starts.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah, that sure does.

[Doug]

To your left. Is that the swimming pool?

[Len Penzo]

Looks like a. Paula's in the rope business making.

[Joe Salsihai]

She is a new side hustle Lynn.

[Doug]

By the way, I hope. Oh, go ahead.

[Paula Pant]

Oh, go, go. Go for it.

[Doug]

I was going to change topics because I am distracted by the fact that we have two Joes on today's podcast.

[Joe Salsihai]

Who's got two Joes? What do you think?

[Doug]

You don't see it?

[Joe Salsihai]

I don't know what you're talking about, dude.

[Paula Pant]

No.

[Doug]

Look at Len and Joe. Compare Len and Joe and tell me that they're not brothers.

[Paula Pant]

One.

[Len Penzo]

We're handsome dudes. We are handsome. I'll give you that.

[Joe Salsihai]

We are hot.

[Len Penzo]

Proof that you get more handsome with age.

[Paula Pant]

I think Doug's been smoking the money tree.

[Joe Salsihai]

I think so, too. So anyway, Paula, we were going to be live, okay?

[Paula Pant]

So, yes, we were going to be live, and I needed the equipment for it, and I. I know the equipment is in my apartment. It's not that big of an apartment, so it's gotta be here somewhere. There aren't that many places it could possibly be. So I start looking through everything. I still don't find it. But here's what I do find. I found a jump starter power bank, which is. I think it's. I think it helps start a car. I don't have a car, so I don't know why I have.

[Len Penzo]

Can I have that? Can you send it to me?

[Paula Pant]

There you go. There you go. I should give this away as prizes.

[OG]

It's prizes. Clean out Paula's closet.

[Paula Pant]

I won this at Fincon. It's still in the original plastic packaging. A Fire TV 4K stick. You can still see it in plastic because I don't own a tv. You just got the apartment tour. I don't have a TV in here.

[Joe Salsihai]

You can take that to Og's house and leave it there because we were just talking about that. Somebody left a fire stick at his house and he has no idea who it is.

[Paula Pant]

I have a cigarette adapter for said car that I don't own. I have this.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, that is. That's a car. What? That's a USB adapter.

[Paula Pant]

It's a range extender. I have an Internet range extender for.

[Joe Salsihai]

My 600 square foot apartment to reach the other 200ft.

[Paula Pant]

Yes. And then my personal favorite. And Joe, I saved the best for last. This is just for you. A pair of socks with my face on it.

[Doug]

And you didn't remember or realize that you owned any of these things until you went searching for the equipment to do our live show.

[Paula Pant]

I was reminded of the socks with my face on it last week. I had forgotten about my face socks until last week when I noticed a certain gentleman sporting a certain pair of socks. Joe, who me?

[Joe Salsihai]

No, not me. Couldn't have been me.

[Paula Pant]

We're at Podcast Movement. Joe sits down, crosses his legs and everyone can see he's got a pair of socks with his face on them.

[Doug]

God, talk about an ego.

[Paula Pant]

Which was the moment that I remembered. I also own a pair of socks with my face on it.

[Doug]

I hide mine on my underwear. You guys have it out there on your socks for everybody to see.

[Joe Salsihai]

It was. Yeah, just entertaining me. But that's nice, Paula. We should. We should. You should have worn yours. And we could have been twins. Everybody would have mistaken us for twins. Like Doug talks about lead and I. Oh my.

[Paula Pant]

Mine are not for wearing. These are just display socks.

[Joe Salsihai]

I think mine were meant to be display socks, but then I panicked.

[Doug]

Thanks to Len Penzo for joining us today. You can find [e-mail] yardsale how do.

[OG]

You not say lenpenzo.com exercise equipment/ exercise equipment is not outdoor, you know, or whatever.

[Doug]

No, I know it. I actually was leaning that way, but then I just got done doing that for the second takeaway, and I thought, I can't keep hammering on the exercise equipment.

[OG]

I wasn't listening.

[Len Penzo]

It's just a slash Treadmills R Us or something like that.

[Paula Pant]

Yard sale is more succinct. It's more pithy.

[Doug]

It was also his ridiculously ridiculous first answer.

[Len Penzo]

Well, I totally misunderstood the question.

[Joe Salsihai]

Clearly.

[Doug]

You'Re kidding.

[Joe Salsihai]

You didn't say it loud enough. Doug. You didn't say it loud enough.