A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads. This week I have a TJ's taste test to share and OMG we gotta talk about books.
Eats
I hit up TJ's last weekend and scooped up the latest seasonal goodies. My haul included the stuffing seasoned popcorn and the stuffing seasoned potato chips. It was basically like buying the same dress in two different colors, and I tried to talk myself into putting the potato chips back on the shelf since historically I haven't liked TJ's chips. But I'd already done a shopping cart edit and parted with several other goodies, so for whatever reason I decided to get both.
Spoiler: I am obsessed with one of these products and the other went into the trash.
Oddly enough the two "stuffings" do not have the same flavor at all. The popcorn was delightful, and the chips came across as heavy handed and dull. Shortly after eating a small portion of the chips, my belly wasn't happy about something. I think it's safe to say that I will never eat another TJ's potato chip in any flavor. It's also safe to say that stuffing flavored popcorn is a keeper.
Workouts
Same old same olds during the week, and Hubs and I continue to take Doggo out for a hike on the weekends. Last Sunday we repeated one of my favorite hikes from last winter's hiking challenge and did our longest hike yet with her of 4.5 miles. Keeping up with our young German Shepherd/Husky/Pit Bull mix just adds to the fitness challenge of the hikes.
Watching
If you like the podcast Maintenance Phase, you'll love the movie! Aubrey Gordon is one of the hosts, and she used to write an anonymous blog called Your Fat Friend that went viral. At some point after that a camera crew got interested and started filming her. The result is the documentary Your Fat Friend.
Right now the streaming price is a little spendy at $11.99, but I like Aubrey so I felt good about blowing the big bucks to watch. I also feel that I got my money's worth, and I'd recommend it to all Aubrey/Maintenance Phase fans.
Reading
OMG!!! OMG!!! The last time we talked about books I was in a reading drought, and even though I didn't know where my next read was coming from, I knew that it would pass. Sure enough, it started raining books.
(Good books 1 & 2 c/o the Sarah's Bookshelves Podcast)
🚨🚨🚨 ***good book alert***🚨🚨🚨 ***good book alert***🚨🚨🚨 ***good book alert***🚨🚨🚨
Good book #1: Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra. A mother who is home alone with her two young kids gets up in the night to tuck her son back into bed when she hears a noise and realizes that someone is in the house who shouldn't be there and oops she doesn't have her phone with her. It just so happens that it's a very old house with a secret room and she's able to (1) confirm that the someone who shouldn't be there is a Bad Man and (2) get herself and the kids into the secret room to wait it out. I can't say more without spoilers, but this is a near perfect book with a ton of suspense and an incredible payoff.
🚨🚨🚨 ***good book alert***🚨🚨🚨 ***good book alert***🚨🚨🚨 ***good book alert***🚨🚨🚨
Good book #2: Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner. What happens when you're the good kid and everyone makes excuses for your sister? This was a riskier choice for me, but the Sarah crew really hyped this up and it was available on Libby, so I went for it. The story gripped me from the first page to the last.
Now we turn to non-fiction. I have two hits and a miss. We're gonna take a big ol' sidebar to talk about hit #1.
Non-fiction hit #1: Millionaire Mission: A Nine Step System to Level Up Your Finances and Build Wealth by Brian Preston. He owns a wealth management firm and hosts The Money Guy show. A few months ago Hubs found their YouTube videos and one of our hobbies is watching their reactions to Tiktok financial advice (yep that's what the Hubs and I are into). I love a good money nerd, especially one who appears to be sharing a pair of Airpods with his partner.
I would describe Money Guy as "the thinking person's Dave Ramsey". Here is a quickie view of some of the differences:
Step 1:
- Dave Ramsey: priority #1 is always having $1,000 in the bank for emergencies.
- Money Guy show: priority #1 is always having enough in the bank to meet your highest deductible (example if your health insurance deductible is $5,000, you should work to save up $5,000 so that you're covered if something bad happens).
(I like both of these things, but I also know that there are a lot of Life Situations that can shred $1,000 in a hurry)
401k
- Dave Ramsey: don't contribute to your 401k until all of your debt is paid off.
- Money Guy show: WTF Ramsey? Contribute enough to your 401k to get your employer match, and after that go after debt.
Debt:
- Ramsey: pay off debts from smallest to largest with no exceptions.
- Money Guy: do what ya wanna do as long as you're working to paying it off.
(I don't disagree with either position, I just like the Money Guy approach of "you're an adult so do what feels right to you")
Yuckies:
- Ramsey: gets sued for promoting a shady time share and his financial advice once you have money is to work with one of his advisors and just do what they say without bothering your pretty little head about the details.
- Money Guy: No yucks that I can see. Google isn't turning up any lawsuits. Their advice once you have money is to invest in low cost index funds and live a good life. If you really make it big, they'd be happy for you to become their client.
(Basically I like the early steps of the Ramsey plan but the longer I listen to him the more I feel that I need to take a shower, and I pretty much checked out on him 10 years ago. I've never felt that way listening to the Money Guy Show)
Anyway, I liked Millionaire Mission, and if you like informative and entertaining personal finance books, I'd definitely recommend it. Plus there was a tidbit of insider baseball that hit home with me. When Brian was a child his father was laid off from a job of 20 years and took it hard. He just happened to mention the name of the company...oh snap it's the same company that I've referred to as Big Corporate on the blog - yep two jobs ago they bought up the really great company that I worked for at the time and plundered it for all it was worth. Can I tell you how glad I am that I saw the writing on the wall and got out of there?
Phew, enough of a sidebar, let's move on.
Non Fiction Miss: You Only Die Once: How to Make it to the End With No Regrets by Jodi Wellman. This ended up being a 2x DNF. I'd heard the author on a podcast and was so excited for this book. I fired up the audio version and...it felt like two hours went by but it was only 10 minutes. I really did want to read it so I figured that maybe audio was the wrong format and got the book...um what can I say both the audio and the book format were not the right formats for me.
Recommendation: skip the book and listen to her episode on SHU's podcast instead.
Non Fiction Hit #2: The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living by Russ Harris. A while back I saw an article about self help books that mental health professionals like, and this was the title on the list that stood out to me. I've been dealing with a case of burnout due to work and personal issues for the past few years, and I have a lot of "stuff" that I'm working through. This book dovetails nicely with some of the things that I'm working with my therapist on, and I think it's worth a look see for anyone who is dealing with "stuff".
Peace out! Has anyone tried the stuffing flavored popcorn or potato chips from TJ's? Any Maintenance Phase fans out there? Have you read any of these books?
Interesting...I have (of course) listened to the MG podcast for days, and of course they talk about the book all the time, but I never really thought about reading it, as (1) I listen to the podcast and (2) I pretty much know all the stuff already. Is that arrogant of me to say? However, you are correct that I like their style and that also Choosing FI is not really in total agreement with Ramsey and his debt removal. I mean, if you follow Ramsey are you paying off your 2.87% mortgage but skipping your 401k match? No thanks! Obviously I could go on and on about this subject. I also like that Rebie, even though she is about to go on maternity, as I think it is good for women to hear a woman who is smart about finances on one of these podcasts. I have never watched them on YT or Tik-Tok though! Do you listen/watch Bigger Pockets? I can't remember.
ReplyDeleteAlso, two new books on my hold shelf, thanks! Since Sally Diamond, I have listened to you when you say a book is good and you have not disappointed! I am looking foward to seeing if our book choices are aligned (except for GOTW of course).
Re TJs, I am not really too into seasonable things. First, often they are one hit wonders and second, if I do like it, I do not want to wait for nine months to have it again.
It's not arrogant of you to say - it's accurate! I listened to the book for entertainment purposes;-) I'd take more Rebie any day!
DeleteFrom what I remember the "don't contribute to your 401k" thing only applied to non-mortgage debt, but still...give me a break.
I'm intrigued by the fiction choices, that is my jam.
ReplyDeleteBooks about money and wealth always make me feel horrible and like I have made terrible decisions in my life because my jobs mostly paid crap and didn't have a 401(k) match and I was paying for childcare and live in an expensive area, so I didn't contribute as I should have. So I don't read them. HOWEVER, I now work at a company that matches, and I no longer pay for childcare or school stuff or college, and am putting as much as I can away. I don't have debt (aside from mortgage, working on that...though I suspect there are car payments in our future). So it's better than it was, but I'm almost 59, so the past is catching up with me.
I have the same comment for you that I had for Kyria - it sounds like you know the material and you're doing the right things so there's no point in you reading the books. You're doing just fine!
DeleteThanks for the recommendation! I will definitely have a look at Millionaire Mission.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you - Ramsey is good for beginners, people who have had no role models and have no idea how to stop the financial haemorrhage.
But with time, you move on. You realize that you don't need a budget if you question every expense. You pay off the debts with the highest interest rate instead of the smallest one. You learn to optimize EVERY area of life's spending.
And that FIRE actually works!
Team Fire! I love it.
DeleteI'm intrigued by Millionaire Mission since we're in the process of trying to maximize some financial decisions moving forward. I will report back.
ReplyDeleteThe only book I've read from your list has been The Happiness Trap which I've read (and recently included in my list of fav "mental health books"). It's one of the rare books I ended up buying as a resource and now that I'm in a better place...I should re-read it again.
The only seasonal thing I'm hoping to get is Silk Peppermint Mocha creamer. Why has it not been released yet? WHY???? I have an artificial Christmas tree up. Don't producers know I need coffee creamer to match the mood?
I enjoyed Millionaire Mission and I recommend it for entertainment, but I bet that you're already doing everything in it;-)
DeleteI got Happiness Trap on Libby and I'm taking my second pass through it to reinforce a few things, and I'm thinking about getting a hard copy as well.
I used to really love Maintenance Phase, but I haven't loved the last three or four episodes. I think it's because the topics have veered off their original track. But I did read both of Gordon's books and really thought they were smart and thought-provoking - I didn't know she had a movie!
ReplyDeleteHere's my hot take: I don't like stuffing and I never have. I mean, it's not vegetarian but even when I wasn't vegetarian I couldn't even look at it. That seems to be a "me thing" because everyone else seems to love it. So the thought of "stuffing flavour" well, I don't even know what that means. Maybe I would like it if it was given to me in a bowl and I didn't know what it was? I don't really know. I do know I love popcorn and chips generally. In terms of seasonal items, IT'S PEPPERMINT CHOCOLATE SEASON BITCHES. That is my favourite!
Aw yiss for peppermint choc season!
DeleteHey it's kind of a good thing that MP is running out of material? I feel like sometimes they just go off the rails but when they get it right they get it right.
BIRCHY!!! I came back here specifically because this week's MP episode (and the last one, I forgot about it) had to do with RICHARD SIMMONS who I absolutely adored, RIP Sweating To The Oldies. My fandom has returned!
DeleteYay! I saw it pop up on my podcast queue. I haven't listened to it yet but I will soon and I can't wait!
DeleteI am intrigued by that first fiction book but I might be too much of a wimp to read it! I will have to check out Shred Sisters! I'm reading "Wolf at the Table" right now which is very much character driven. I am liking it but wouldn't broadly recommend it. Susie from SBSL really liked it, though.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely shaking my head at the idea of not contributing to your 401k!!!
Well, let's just say that if you're looking for a book after Shred Sisters maybe come back to Nightwatching. The suspense was done very skillfully, so yes it was scary but not too scary.
DeleteI am now on a mission for that stuffing popcorn. It sounds like a dream! I really enjoyed Your Fat Friend, but I am a super fan of Maintenance Phase so that doesn't come as a surprise. Aubrey's vulnerability in sharing her experience coupled with her general badass-ness (badassitude?) was super effective.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the popcorn! Team Aubrey for sure!
DeleteI DNFed the same book. Very intrigued by The Happiness Trap and just put it on hold. Now I need to stop by TJs for the stuffing popcorn...
ReplyDeleteHey Amanda, thanks for stopping by! The podcast episode with the author of You Only Die Once was so good, so I was surprised that the book was a miss for me. It happens.
DeleteI have not read any of those books. I'm sort of the fence about Nightwatching since home invasion stories are not my jam, but if enough people pile on, I might convince myself it's okay.
ReplyDeleteWe don't go to Trader Joe's because of three main reasons: 1) it's far away 2) every parking lot at every TJ's I've ever been to is a nightmare and 3) when I was last there a decade ago the labeling practices were a nightmare and I couldn't tell if anything was GF or not. It's likely that #3 has changed, but #1 and #2 are deterrent enough for me.
That's three great reasons not to go to TJs! My store isn't very convenient so I only go a few times a year. They expanded a few years ago which made the parking a lot better, but before that it was tight.
DeleteI have never tried any of the stuffing flavored snacks, but I think I am intrigued now. Strangely enough, I do like some of the TJs chips (have you tried the horseradish & chives riffle chips? They are so good!
ReplyDeleteOh San, you're right! The horseradish chips are the exception to the rule.
DeleteI just saw an ad for dressing chips at Aldi and was so intrigued! I wonder if they are as bad as the TJ's ones.
ReplyDeleteThat's for the reminder on Your Fat Friend! I listened to her podcast for a while and she mentioned filming it and I was interested.
Thanks for the book recs! I am going to look them up, especially Shred Sisters.
Wow. I had never heard the "don't contribute to your 401K" advice before. Seems like... bad advice.
I feel like I have it in me to try one more stuffing flavored chip. I never really go to Aldi's but maybe I should change it up and go there.
DeleteI've never tried stuffing flavored popcorn, and I think I'll pass! Stuffing is OK once a year, but I almost always get a stomach ache from it. Probably from the onions.
ReplyDeleteLove the popcorn but you're right that I only want stuffing around this time of year;-)
DeleteI'm not a Trader Joe's shopper. Too far off the beaten path for me to bother, and I've had a $50 gift card to that store forever from one of Coach's former patients. I enjoy peppermint bark, but I sort of feel the same as Kyria - I don't want to try something and then wait so long to buy it again.
ReplyDeleteI've not heard of these podcasts or the Your Fat Friend documentary. I may or may not live under a rock. If the documentary is on a streaming service we have, I'll give it a try. I think The Happiness Trap sounds like a really good book that I'd like to check out. The Nightwatching and Shred Sisters sound really good.
I don't disagree with the non-TJs stance. You have a $50 gift card, and I'm sure that I spent $50 in treats every time that I go. But still, it's an entertaining experience for me.
DeleteWell, you're brave. I've seen those chips at TJs (I don't think I've seen the popcorn though.). They both look pretty gross to me, but I will admit that I've had the pickle potato chips- which probably also sound gross- and I enjoyed those.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of either of those fiction books, but they sound good! And- I'm no financial expert. But my husband's #1 regret is that he didn't start contributing to his 401k right away. When my company started offering it, he told me to DO IT NOW, and I did. Seems like good advice for everyone.
Sorry I'm so late reading and commenting. The wifi situation at my house is throwing everything into chaos!
I did enjoy the popcorn, but I'm good with the fact that I won't get back to TJs for a while.
DeleteLife without wifi...it's no joke.
I haaaaate Dave Ramsey. Hate him. He is not a good person and nobody should be taking financial advice from him.
ReplyDeleteI do like Maintenance Phase! But I haven't thought about watching Aubrey's movie because I'm not a movie person. $12 is STEEP, woof. I'm glad you enjoyed it, though!
I was just thinking that it's nearly time for my Christmas TJs run for their seasonal snacks. I need some candy cane Joe Joes in my life!
Yes, $12 was steep. I think it's still in theaters, so that's why the price is high. Eventually I'm sure it will make its way to other streaming platforms.
DeleteEnjoy your TJs run! I got a pint of the candy cane Joe Joe's ice cream, which I'm saving until after Thanksgiving.
I am not a stuffing fan, so I can't say I would gravitate toward either of your snack choices, but I do empathize with trying a new snack -- full of hope! -- that turns out to be garbage. Yuck. What a bummer.
ReplyDeleteAdding Nightwatching to my list IMMEDIATELY.
I fell into the “you only die one” trap too, I thought her interview was soooo interesting but the book did not grip! I thought the audiobook might but… maybe not. Also a story about a person hiding in their house from a baddie sounds very scary to me. your rundown of Dave Ramsey vs money guy was super interesting! I used to like Dave Ramsey and I think he’s a great beginner money person, but you are so right on the £1,000 thing. That always bothered me a bit.
ReplyDeleteI can’t try any trader joes here in cold wales so I appreciate all tales of their fall food. Stuffing popcorn sounds confusing to me but I am glad you bought and tried and enjoyed it!
I love stuffing but don’t think I’d love stuffing flavored snacks. You do make a strong case for the popcorn though. I put the happiness trap on hold based on your recommendation. I’ve been reading Jon Lewis: A Life, which I picked up on a whim from the library. It is very well written and I’ve been reading through it much faster than I thought I would.
ReplyDeleteSee Engie's comment re: TJ's, and Lisa's comment re: the first book. That said, the 2nd nonfiction one is appealing. Off to Libby... I have never been in to reading about finances like you, Kyria, and Lisa. I try to do my best, listen to my brother, who is a...CFA? and not do anything stupid. Like not contribute to retirement. What the...? Thanks for sharing your insights with us. Appreciate you.
ReplyDelete