Jenny GK: 0:30

it's Tuesday and today we're going to talk like we're at the bank so you know I used to work at a bank did you talk like this? No, because I worked at a drive-up and I had to shout into a microphone or I always feel like you have to be quieter at the bank than you do at the library.

Caitlin K: 0:50

People are quiet in the lobby, but they're not like none of us. Behind the things are quiet. You're quiet when you're talking to a customer about their business. I guess yeah. But, like teller window, the two ones that we had had like glass. So you had to like shout.

Jenny GK: 1:08

Oh, you did have to scream.

Caitlin K: 1:10

Anyway, that's not the point. Hi to like shout. Oh, you did have to scream. Anyway, that's not the point. Hi, welcome, we're so glad you're here. This is how to be a grown-up the show that teaches you things grown-ups should know. This week we are kicking off finance february. Uh, full disclosure, we are not finance gurus, so this is going to be fact adjacent. No, that's not true.

Jenny GK: 1:33

This is going to be like just wrapping your head around finances, right right, because we're not giving advice here.

Caitlin K: 1:40

No, well, we're just talking about it we're just.

Jenny GK: 1:42

I mean, yeah, don't take it. Yeah, when caitlin said like hey, do you want to make the notes for this one? I was like I don't do money.

Caitlin K: 1:51

Well, that's what we're going to talk about today.

Jenny GK: 1:53

I need help.

Caitlin K: 1:55

Let me just kind of wrap both of our heads around what I'm talking about. So everyone's relationship with money is complicated, right. It's more than just numbers and a bank account and whisper talking at the bank. Our feelings about money and our money mindset deeply influence how we spend, how we save, if we invest, how we invest. So we're talking about these really deep-seated beliefs that we don't realize that we have. You know, the money is the root of all evil. Money can't buy you happiness, those sorts of things. I'm not good with money, right. So in this episode we're going to talk about how these beliefs can impact your financial decisions and then how to shape a healthier, more positive money mindset.

Jenny GK: 2:42

Oh I love this.

Caitlin K: 2:43

Yeah, this is going to be good. So before we do that, though, we can introduce Caitlin.

Jenny GK: 2:49

I will call her the cash machine because whenever I walk away from her I always feel a little withdrawal.

Caitlin K: 2:55

That's very sweet. Well, speaking of money, that's Jenny, my dazzling, glittering diamond.

Jenny GK: 3:04

Wow.

Caitlin K: 3:05

I know these are nice. I'm moving towards nicer ones that actually kind of make sense.

Jenny GK: 3:10

We'll how long that was a redwood.

Caitlin K: 3:12

That was pretty fun, the redwood one. I still can't believe you haven't seen those. Moving on, um, okay, so I do want to give a quick shout out to one of our new friends. Um, her name is valerie probesfeld. She hosts a podcast called to mom is to love. It's a great show If you're a mom. She talks about all the things that moms deal with emotionally, physically, mentally all these beautiful topics and she has amazing guests highly recommend and most recently, one of her really amazing guests yeah.

Caitlin K: 3:47

Us Incredible. So when that episode is available, we'll let you know. But, valerie, thank you so much for having us on the show. We had a blast. It was really fun, really fun. Okay, so let's get into the topic for today. I do have to say I got some support from AI, because sometimes pulling resources together is just easier with a little help, of course.

Jenny GK: 4:09

Reddit Love me a robot.

Caitlin K: 4:10

Right, love me a good robot help. Um, of course, let me a robot right, love me a good robot. Also, the if you're someone who uses ai, the nicer you are to the robot, the more likely your answers are going to be what you want. Just saying, just putting it out there, like hi, how are you today? Are you ready to help me, for whatever reason?

Jenny GK: 4:24

I get better answers.

Caitlin K: 4:24

I know I get better answers when I do that. Okay, so um my other I also.

Jenny GK: 4:28

I also like give updates. Oh yeah, I'll go back to the other conversation and be like hey, this worked really well. Thanks for all your help.

Caitlin K: 4:34

Yep, or, if you want to, you can say like hey, do you remember when we talked about this? I really loved that. Let's go with that direction. And it's like yep, I remember everything because I'm a robot blah, blah, blah, and it'll just spit it all back out at Okay. My other source for today is this is the cutest bank name on the planet Happy State Bank. What, that's a real thing Happy.

Jenny GK: 4:56

State Bank.

Caitlin K: 4:56

That's amazing, and they have a great article called Six Steps to Creating a Positive Money Mindset, which I borrowed some of the ideas from there.

Jenny GK: 5:03

Love it.

Caitlin K: 5:04

I'm going to say this again this is not financial advice. If you are looking for financial advice, please consult a qualified professional for personalized guidance. This is about your money mindset. This is not about here's what you should be investing in.

Jenny GK: 5:18

Oh yeah, no.

Caitlin K: 5:20

Okay, so I want to start with.

Jenny GK: 5:23

I did not get beanie babies. I didn't do those.

Caitlin K: 5:27

I did.

Jenny GK: 5:27

But there are plenty of things that I've put my money on that I should not have.

Caitlin K: 5:30

Well, we're going to talk about that.

Jenny GK: 5:31

I got you Okay, okay.

Caitlin K: 5:33

Okay. So let's talk about kind of your, how your money mindset comes into fruition here, okay.

Jenny GK: 5:41

Oh my gosh, we're going back to our family of origin.

Caitlin K: 5:43

Yes, so thinking about your childhood, were you ever?

Jenny GK: 5:47

oh my gosh, for real you are, I'm not kidding.

Caitlin K: 5:49

I told you we're going back. This is amazing. Yeah, were you taught about money? Did you have an allowance? How did your parents talk about money around you? Hey, those are important questions to consider as you as we get into this topic, because your upbringing plays a huge role in your beliefs about money. If you grew up in a household where money was always tight, you probably associate money with stress and scarcity, right? If you grew up in a household where money was readily available to you, you probably have a really different perspective. So keeping that in mind as we move into this topic is going to be a really big deal. So just take a moment to reflect on that for yourself, because it probably has a lot to do with the way that you treat money.

Caitlin K: 6:40

Okay, um, there's also societal pressures as we've gotten older, especially, uh, with social media. Media constantly bombards us with messages about wealth, about success, about the perfect lifestyle, like aesthetic households, all these things that can leave you feeling inadequate. If your house doesn't look like that, you can't go on that vacation, you don't have that fashion in your closet, right, right, um, it's important to think about how these influences kind of impact your money mindset in addition to your upbringing. Okay, yes, so you there's. The thing to do now is, once you've identified all of those kind of background factors, you need to start identifying what your beliefs actually are and then challenging them if they are kind of putting you in a stressful place with your finances. So there's those voices that I personally have in my head where it's like oh my God, you are spending, stop spending, or you are never going to save enough to retire, you're never going to retire. I think that that's a millennial mindset. I think a lot of us feel that way. Right, I'm not good with money. Those sorts of things in your head are limiting beliefs, right, they can sabotage your financial goals if you're not careful about them. And we've talked about this before Not every thought is a fact, right? So just keeping that in your head, if you truly believe you're bad with money, you might have what's called a self-fulfilling prophecy, where you do things that are not okay with money because you're like, well, I'm bad with money, so I might as well just X, y, z. Right, that's me.

Caitlin K: 8:29

So you need to identify what those beliefs are before you can really change your mindset. So what do you tell yourself about money? Do you notice any regular recurring negative thoughts? If you need to write them down, I would highly recommend doing that. If you're someone who's serious about budgeting, I would say start before you budget. Start by writing down what those beliefs are, identify them and then start challenging them. Okay, is this belief really true? Where did I get this belief? From? What evidence do I have to support it? Your beliefs are probably based in fear or past experiences that societal conditioning I talked about Also. Ps, that's a good thing to do for other areas of your life, right?

Jenny GK: 9:15

I'm ugly Challenge that belief.

Caitlin K: 9:16

right, this is like kind of hitting me at the core it's supposed to right. It's about your mindset. So this is a big deal. So if there's no evidence to support it, then you need to let it go. Okay, that's anxiety speaking. Then you need to let it go. Okay, that's anxiety speaking. When you're challenging these beliefs you have about money, it's really really, really important that you start to forgive yourself for any past money mistakes. Okay, that's a big big deal.

Jenny GK: 9:49

Well, I think also like learning to forgive yourself for past mistakes in all aspects, like you just said, like these are not just money, specific things.

Caitlin K: 9:58

No, they're not at all. Um, so I want to get into, kind of how to actually cultivate that positive money mindset, now that you've identified what those beliefs are and you know you've acknowledged that there are past mistakes. So I'm going to, I'm going to say, gonna say I'm gonna go more into this forgive yourself thing. Okay, money is complicated, money is tricky. Not everyone is taught how to manage it effectively, which is something I'm still bitter about as a former math teacher. Right, personal finance should be a topic in schools not econ.

Caitlin K: 10:34

Personal finance, then econ right, so there's a really good chance that you learned about money through trial and error, right? Like you get your first credit card in college and you're like, yes, free money. And then the bill comes and you're like, oh crap, okay, happy State Bank, this adorable bank, I can't, even I don't. Whatever they said, whatever decisions you've made in the past are in the past. Yes, you might still be suffering the consequences of those mistakes, but you don't have to continually beat yourself up over it. The two most important things to focus on are learning from your mistakes and forgiving yourself. Oh, wow, right, okay. So start by forgiving yourself, then stop comparing yourself to other people.

Jenny GK: 11:24

Yeah.

Caitlin K: 11:25

Bad, super bad, doing that is actually detrimental to your health. It's bad for you. It's true with beauty, with fashion, with relationships, and, yes, it's true, that is actually detrimental to your health. It's bad for you. It's true with beauty, with fashion, with relationships, and yes, it's true, in finances and social media is a lie, friend. Okay, it's a lie. If you want to feel better about the garbage you see on social media, like influencers follow, influencers in the wild, like that will make you feel like, oh, influencers in the wild. Like, yes, that will make you feel like, oh, all of this ish is a lie. Yeah, right, do you know how many people have been caught taking pictures in front of these beautiful homes and like sitting on hoods of cars that do not belong to them?

Jenny GK: 12:04

oh my gosh, that's, amazing it is amazing.

Caitlin K: 12:07

Go follow influencers in the wild if you ever want to feel better about the influencer stuff you see on social have you heard about these um private jet photo sessions?

Jenny GK: 12:18

sorry, what? Yes, so um, it's. It's come out um recently in the news, maybe with like, it could not be recently, I'm old, it could have been a year ago, I don't know.

Caitlin K: 12:29

Anyway, permanence and time are not strengths for people with ADHD.

Jenny GK: 12:33

Yeah, so, anyway, this private jet company was renting out the jet by the hour for people to come and take pictures in it like they were on a flight. Stop no no and so like, depending on how much you paid, like they could have the flight attendant in the picture with you. You could be served drinks like. But basically it's come in here and do a photo shoot like you're hanging out on your, your normal private jet.

Caitlin K: 13:04

Your PJ.

Jenny GK: 13:05

Your PJ.

Caitlin K: 13:06

Social media is a lie. Ok, yes, all this does is make you doubt yourself and crap all over how far you've come. So don't, don't do that. This in the words of my favorite back to school video on Tik TOK this ain't that All right. She's the best. That woman is the best, oh my gosh. Okay. So now you're also going to create a money mantra. You're going to replace your negative thoughts with more positive and empowering money affirmations. So, instead of telling yourself I'm bad with money, you're going to say I am learning and growing in my financial journey which journey always makes me feel a little condescending. When I say that, right, like, oh, I love that journey, yes, but I'm learning and growing in my finances, it's totally fine to say, okay, it's a long process, right.

Caitlin K: 14:05

Small shifts in inner dialogue, how you talk to yourself matters. We've covered this with several guests before. Megan DeVito is one of them. How you talk to yourself matters. So just don't say negative things to yourself, right? Don't talk about my friend that way, those sorts of things, okay. I loved this quote on Reddit from Veritas643. Money is completely neutral and simply a tool to acquire assets and decrease liabilities. Money is a tool.

Jenny GK: 14:38

Money is a tool.

Caitlin K: 14:39

Okay, so keeping that in it'll help you stay neutral. If you remember, this is just a tool that I have. It's not. It doesn't define who I am or anything like that. Okay, money, the object itself of money, is not good or bad. Right, keep that top of mind, and you could even add it to your money mantra as you move forward. This is a tool to help me get from good or bad right, it's not good or bad.

Caitlin K: 15:02

Okay, also, you're going to start practicing gratitude for what you already have yes I am struggle bus with practicing gratitude because I always go to those default things, right right, like I'm glad I'm healthy, I'm glad I have a house. You know things that we all take for granted, but I try to be mindful of them. So then I end up only focusing on those things and it feels stale and cliche and overdone.

Jenny GK: 15:33

Well, and that's why I love at my family Thanksgiving when we go around the table and say what we're thankful for that year. All of those things are assumed.

Caitlin K: 15:41

Yes, that's.

Jenny GK: 15:42

So you don't look shallow by saying, oh, I'm really thankful that I got a new job, or I'm really thankful that bought a house this year, like it's. It's understood. We start with OK, we're thankful for our family, we're thankful for stability, we're thankful for health, we're thankful for stability, we're thankful for health, like everybody's thankful for those things. Now let's get shallow. What are you thankful for, right?

Caitlin K: 16:03

I'm thankful for this pie, stuff like that Okay.

Caitlin K: 16:06

So, you're going to appreciate your financial blessings, no matter how small, and celebrate any financial successes, no matter how big or how small they are. Okay, now you can be thankful and still have goals. So, as we move into this positive mindset, we're going to start visualizing financial goals. Okay, if you were to imagine yourself achieving those financial goals and dreams, what would it feel like? How does it make you feel to think about the accomplishment of that? Okay, those are the things that you are going to need to lean on when you want to buy something that is not a new budget, right? Okay, then you're going to work on creating good money habits. Now, this is probably where you're like yeah, but what are those?

Caitlin K: 16:48

right um I am not a financial advisor. However, I do have resources in the blog post for this episode that you can go to to help yourself do this Okay.

Jenny GK: 16:58

Oh, amazing.

Caitlin K: 16:59

Yeah. So I'm going to say this you've already beat yourself up. You've probably accumulated debt because this is America and you know something has to change right.

Jenny GK: 17:10

Right.

Caitlin K: 17:10

That something could very well be your pattern of behavior that you have developed around money, right? So it's time for you to face your fears and your frustrations, yes, and take steps to educate yourself. Okay, okay, um, I have started doing this and it is very eyeopening and frightening, but it's, it's important, okay. So you're going to educate yourself. Start with educating yourself about budgeting, right? I personally like the 50, 30, 20 method. I'm not going to get into what that is here. There's a link to it in the show notes, so make sure you go check that out. It's in the blog post for the episode. You're going to set small goals to build some momentum, and then you're going to dedicate some time weekly to go over your finances. Okay, and then you're also going to remember that, since Rome wasn't built in a day, good habits around finances and healthy accounts aren't going to be built in a day either.

Jenny GK: 18:11

Right, right.

Caitlin K: 18:11

Okay, Just also keep in mind. This is why I like the 50-30-20 method. Budgeting doesn't have to suck. There are systems that allow you to have money to spend on things that you love and enjoy.

Jenny GK: 18:28

I like that because I enjoy things.

Caitlin K: 18:32

I enjoy Amazon. That instant gratification though, so good. Okay, the last thing you're going to do to cultivate this healthy money mindset is you're going to celebrate every win that you have, it doesn't matter how small it is. I mentioned this earlier. Okay, did you successfully stick to your budget this week? Did you pay off a small debt? Did you not make that impulse purchase? You just added to cart and then hit save for later.

Jenny GK: 19:01

Dude, I love that move.

Caitlin K: 19:03

Uh-huh, me too. Reward yourself, and not with a little treat. Not one of them little. I need to buy myself a little treat because that's going to sabotage what you just rewarded yourself.

Jenny GK: 19:16

Exactly Right.

Caitlin K: 19:17

Do something like 10 minutes of something you love. I don't know, crochet, sleep, whatever. Do something I love sleep.

Jenny GK: 19:27

It's like one of my. I'm going to give myself a nap today.

Caitlin K: 19:29

I'm going to give myself a nap because I earned it.

Jenny GK: 19:31

Also, side note you can't spend money while you're sleeping and I cannot spend money when I'm sleeping. Yep, spend money when I'm sleeping.

Caitlin K: 19:35

Yep, just putting it out there. Anytime you acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishments, it's going to help you feel more motivated and it'll keep you inspired to keep going. You need that when you're changing how you feel about money entirely. Okay. So I have some resources here. I'm going to list them out Now. I haven't read these are not vetted resources. These are generated by AI. Remember, I told you I use AI. This is where I use it. Okay, so there are some books that were recommended. One book by Jen Sincero you Are a Bad A at Making Money. It's supposed to challenge your limiting beliefs about money. Another one by morgan housel, the psychology of money, which talks about behavioral finance aspects of money and how your emotions and psychology influence your decisions around money oh robert kiyosaki wrote rich dad, poor dad, which is a classic.

Caitlin K: 20:34

I've actually heard of this book, but I've never read it, so it's just all about views on money and investing. Okay, so those are some books generated by AI, thank you. Podcasts that were also generated by AI Again, I have not listened to these Afford Anything by Paula Pant, which focuses on building wealth and achieving financial independence, and Happy Money by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton explores the psychology of happiness and how it relates to money. I full disclosure. Dave Ramsey was mentioned in this list. I personally am not a Dave Ramsey fan. I think he's a little out of touch, given his most recent statements on how you can just get free childcare over the summer, so I did not include him here. However, there are plenty of people who swear by Dave Ramsey and his methods. That is up to you to take a look at, listen to, et cetera.

Jenny GK: 21:26

I will tell you, pardon me, I also am not like a huge fan of his, but I do love the debt snowball. This is the Ramseyism of paying off your smallest thing first, and so you make your minimum payments on everything, but you put as much as you can towards the smallest and so you get that sense of accomplishment Okay, that one's paid off. Then you go to your next and you do it by size, and I have used that mindset for a lot of big tasks. Be, okay, I'm gonna do the smallest thing first and build, and so, um, I don't know if, like, he made up that snowball, but if he did, I I like it. I like the idea of just like tackling the smallest thing and building on on your momentum. But yeah, um, some of the things that he says on his show or in the news is like I don't know man.

Caitlin K: 22:22

Yeah, I think I could get into a whole reason why not to listen. However, I do agree with the debt snowball thing and I used it myself and it did work for me. So that's why. But you know, again, to each their own. I just wanted to be honest about that information being here.

Jenny GK: 22:39

I'm going to Christmas decoration snowball Because, yes, it's February and, yes, my house is still decorated for Christmas Girl you do. That tree is staring at me. Your knee is messed up. It is a big job.

Caitlin K: 22:50

It is hard to do things.

Jenny GK: 22:52

My knee is messed up.

Caitlin K: 22:53

Okay, all right, okay, so forgive yourself. Okay, okay, all right, okay, so forgive yourself. Okay, these resources, these websites, I actually have used and vetted, so I'm going to put these out there. Um, one of them is nerd wallet. I actually have the nerd wallet budgeting app on my phone. Okay, is there a cost for that? No, there is not.

Caitlin K: 23:12

Okay, there's a nerd wallet plus that you do pay for but, I, do not pay for this, and they fully acknowledge why, like, if you need a budgeting app, it's probably because you can't afford extraneous expenses. Why would we make this be a thing that you have to pay for? And to me, that's why I went with theirs, honestly.

Jenny GK: 23:33

Okay, I want to play with it, but I have been afraid that it's going to disappoint me, because I go through all the steps and then they say, okay, and now for only $49.99 a week.

Caitlin K: 23:45

No, that is not my experience with it. Now, I haven't linked all of my accounts yet, because it's kind of a pain to do that process right, like you're just like oh my gosh, so many things, yeah, so many things. However, it is a very interesting thing to see just with my bank accounts not my credit accounts or anything that how all of this is playing out in terms of that 50, 30, 20 idea yeah, yeah, yeah yeah um, so they have.

Caitlin K: 24:11

Also. I love their blog because, like all the topics they have about everything, it's written in such a way that is so accessible and relatable. I don't like when um websites I mean, we've talked about this. I'm a. I write content for educational technology companies. I don't like when the language is not relatable, it doesn't feel good um, and they don't use words that you don't understand. The content, the the language, is very much like how you would expect someone who's teaching you how to do this to speak to you. It's a great website.

Caitlin K: 24:45

I really like NerdWallet. I've also looked at Investopedia. It's a little bit more technical. It's not my favorite. However, it does do a lot of that you know. Here's how to get started and move into investments, which is something that I just need to hire a professional. But there you go. And also Bankrate. Bankratecom is a really common one. You probably hear ads for it. They like to also give advice on what credit cards to use and why to use them. So really good resources there. So that's how we're going to reframe our money mindset. I hope that you find that helpful. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back For links to resources mentioned in this episode. Head on over to ckandgkpodcastcom slash blog to find everything you need, and be sure to follow us on social media. Head over to your favorite social media network and find us at CK and GK podcast. And now back to the show.

Jenny GK: 25:52

Okay, so that was like a little heavy for me, but not in a way that's scary, but more of like Jen, you got to do this work.

Caitlin K: 25:59

I know it's, it's a scary thing, but I'm trying to practice what I preach here, right.

Jenny GK: 26:05

And do it myself. I'm I'm already taking some time to think about my mindset and say, okay, well, what are my beliefs? So I love that, yeah, okay. So let us talk about what we are obsessed with.

Caitlin K: 26:20

Ready.

Jenny GK: 26:22

Besides changing our money mindset. This is so cool. Okay, at my school, the ASL class has put QR codes on different doors and objects around the school and you can scan the QR code and learn the sign for that thing.

Caitlin K: 26:44

That's so awesome, isn't that cool. I would not do any work, I would just be standing there.

Jenny GK: 26:50

Walk around and learn things.

Caitlin K: 26:53

Oh, my, isn't that awesome. Okay, I don't know the cell phone policy at my former workplace. What is?

Jenny GK: 27:01

We are no phones at school, okay, but they can access it from their Chromebook, yes, so they can walk around with their school computer. And, oh my gosh, my dog is barking again. Real life folks so, but the adults, you know we're all walking around with our folks, yeah, and I mean it's really cool Like you're watching, you see the kids like stop, scan the code and learn the sign.

Caitlin K: 27:28

That's super cool. I love that. What a fun thing and very creative.

Jenny GK: 27:35

Yeah, super awesome. Our ASL teacher is very creative she's amazing props to her. I'm like I love it so much and it's really cool because when you watch the video it's a kid doing the sign.

Caitlin K: 27:47

Um, it's neat I love it okay, well, mine. I've got two. One of them is fleece line leggings, if you're not on board? Yes, absolutely this time, and I know, I know, that Texas is not known for being cold. However, it has been pretty cold here. We had that cold snap at the end of January or MLK weekend, and I mean Fleece Line Leggings, that's the jam.

Jenny GK: 28:17

I have the ones that look like you're wearing stockings, but they're really just leggings. Oh, yeah so it looks like you're wearing black tights, but they're fleece line on it, but they're fleece line and when you like, pull it. You'd be like, oh, your skin is pulling off. It's like, no, my skin is not pulling off, it's just flesh toned. And then black sheer layers on top of each other and they make them in multiple tones of skin I love that yeah I'm going to get my hands on those.

Caitlin K: 28:46

Okay, amazon. Um, my other one that I loved as I was scrolling reddit, because that's what I do now. This one is from eftel Quartz. It's a quote from her therapist that was in the self-care channel and I just had to share it. You're already capable of so much love and with patience, that love will start to turn inward, toward yourself, where it belongs most. Oh, just let that sit and sink into your skin. Amazing, right?

Jenny GK: 29:23

I loved that yes, where it belongs the most where it belongs most.

Caitlin K: 29:28

So good, okay, let's talk about something funny. You got something funny for me?

Jenny GK: 29:32

yes, okay, okay. So, um, we have talked about my knee a couple of times because it's kind of the biggest thing in my life right now. I received results and I have done some significant damage to this joint. I have what they call the unhappy triad. So when they say during a sporting event, oh, they blew out their knee, that's what I did. That's what I did. I tore my acl, my mcl and my meniscus both of them.

Caitlin K: 30:11

But that's not the jam okay, that's funny, but that's not. It's not funny, it's. I mean how?

Jenny GK: 30:17

you did it. It's funny how I did it. I was jumping for joy but so you know, got the unhappy triad by trying to spread joy and cheer around the holidays. But you know that's a different story. What the gem is is I'm telling a kid this he was like, oh, did you get your results? I said yes, I tore my ACL, my my ACL, my MCL and both menisci.

Caitlin K: 30:46

And he goes oh, are you going to get an elevator pass? For context, at the school it's multi-floor and the kids have to use the stairs unless they get an elevator pass. So he's totally just giving it back to Jen.

Jenny GK: 30:56

And I'm telling my husband this, and he was like, oh, he went to this school, right, he has been up and down the elevator it's the same elevator. Oh please, um. But he said oh man, those elevator passes, they're like a wonka ticket like they really are.

Caitlin K: 31:14

It's very. I got a golden ticket for sure.

Jenny GK: 31:18

Oh my gosh. Yup yeah, I'm going to get an elevator pass.

Caitlin K: 31:21

I love when kids are smart enough to be witty. Like I love when that stage of middle school, when they start getting witty, it's really, really fun.

Jenny GK: 31:29

Yeah, it was funny.

Caitlin K: 31:31

Okay, so here's mine. I have a very inquisitive young son.

Jenny GK: 31:43

Yes.

Caitlin K: 31:44

And he thinks in ways that I would never have thought and it is very challenging to answer his questions sometimes. So last night he wanted to listen to a sleep cast put on. We use Headspace in our family and Headspace partnered with, I guess, disney They've done like Headspace plus Sesame Street where the characters teach kids how to meditate and calm down.

Jenny GK: 32:16

But they also did one with Star Wars.

Caitlin K: 32:19

So the people who are doing the meditations actually read some sort of Star Wars-esque story?

Jenny GK: 32:26

Oh my gosh, that's funny.

Caitlin K: 32:27

It's cool. It's cool and he likes the stories and it's like a really meditative voice just putting you to sleep. So he wanted to listen to that. Last night and I thought he was asleep and he rolls over and he goes mom, why are there humans in star wars? So that's the first part of my gem. And then he would not accept any of the answers that I had for him, like you know, um, because it's a movie, because it's right real um, because human costumes are easier than alien costs like the.

Caitlin K: 33:08

The practical, real answers did not suffice for this child right so I reached out to threads and I said can someone with knowledge of Star Wars please explain to me why there are humans in the Star Wars universe? My child will not go to sleep until he knows. And the search engines have failed me because, you know, I searched.

Jenny GK: 33:29

I had. This is hilarious. I cannot believe you did this.

Caitlin K: 33:35

And I just need you to know that the thread has four and a half thousand views no, it doesn't yes, it does, and a hundred comments on it. Now, part of this is me going back and thanking people for their responses but, still, but this is a lot, and someone reposted it, not me. I did not repost it. Um threads is not the dumpster fire that twitter has become?

Caitlin K: 34:06

x right ever this is people who were like genuinely trying to give me some sort of response. Like you know, tell him it's a movie, tell him george lucas wanted to have relatable characters like.

Caitlin K: 34:17

and then there are people who are going in there and being like, well, actually there is some sort of canon about Luke knowing about this distant place called Earth and I was like what? This is wild. So I can use the word canon around my child because he understands superhero canon, like he knows Superman or not Superman, sorry, spider-man, that's a very different. That's a big mess up. Those are dc and marvel. I apologize to my my comic book nerds who listen. Um, he knows, spider-man canon is whoever is spider-man is going to lose someone important in their life and that's how you become spider-man, right, like that's just how it works. So I can go to him and say, because it's canon that Luke knows about a place called Earth or whatever.

Caitlin K: 35:05

And then some of the answers are funny, like you know, and then confuse him with Battlestar Galactica, which I of course can't do because I don't know anything about Battlestar Galactica.

Jenny GK: 35:12

I don't know anything about that.

Caitlin K: 35:13

But some of them are really funny, but it's just. Them are really funny, but it's just. It's so great that, like first of all, he asked me this question and I was like I don't, I don't know, but also that there are a lot of people who are genuinely trying to help me give an answer to a child on threads. I just loved that.

Caitlin K: 35:31

So that's amazing it's a great and also four and a half thousand people four and a half thousand people have seen this, which is like wild and nuts, and also there's a hundred comments on it that's crazy, the alien actors are cheaper to hire, or sorry, the human actors are cheaper to hire than the alien aliens. Like people are just so good, so good, I love it. Like people are just so good, so good, I love it.

Jenny GK: 36:02

All right. Well, when you're casting for a film, go with humans.

Caitlin K: 36:08

They're cheaper, make good choices and forgive your past financial mistakes because you can move on and have a happy money mindset.

Jenny GK: 36:20

Okay, bye, bye.