[speaker001:] Okay, uh, well do you, uh, keep a family budget or do you have some,
[speaker002:] No, I don't use a family budget, my father who is very old has kept one his entire life,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and I probably re-, rebelled against it.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I probably should have kept one. He keeps every penny that comes in and goes out
[speaker001:] Oh, interesting.
[speaker002:] on a very strict percentage.
[speaker001:] Yes, well, uh, we sort of started doing it years and years ago and my husband started graduate school, when we were first married, and I sort of just got in the habit, I guess. And, you know, never have gotten out of it. I cannot really say that it's a formal budget, it's more just a, a pretty, uh, a fairly, uh, accurate, uh, recording of what I spend,
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] and what I think I am going to have to spend. And, uh,
[speaker002:] I think it makes much more sense,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and I have recently, uh, [sigh] gotten out of debt and everything and I will probably ke-, start keeping a little better,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] track of it.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I just, uh, spent whatever came in and, and, uh, didn-, never knew what came in and what went out.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] But, uh, just, you know, like, about like the government runs.
[speaker001:] Yeah [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Huh.
[speaker001:] That sounds real similar.
[speaker002:] So, I think it is probably better to have some sort of a, a, at least a record but my dad was so precise,
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] that, I mean, if it said to spend eleven percent on something that's what it was spent. And
[speaker001:] Oh, my, yeah.
[speaker002:] that was put over there and, I mean, of course, he is from the depression, and, {F uh,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] so, } uh, you know, it's his life,
[speaker001:] Sure.
[speaker002:] but, uh, I would, I think it would be smart if somebody would keep, uh, some sort of a plan that works for them.
[speaker001:] Yeah. I think you are right, um, uh, well i-, it must have been sort of interesting to us is to, uh, it's because, since I have pretty much kept my record books for the last fifteen years, I guess, I can go back and look and it's real fun to just see how things have changed over the years. Uh,
[speaker002:] Yeah, it is.
[speaker001:] For instance,
[speaker002:] I'm a historian, and my father had kept them, I think, since nineteen twenty-seven and, uh,
[speaker001:] My goodness.
[speaker002:] but he burned the ones from twenty-seven to fi-, I could not believe he did that, but then,
[speaker001:] Oh dear.
[speaker002:] so, I took the ones from fifty-two on to the present,
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] but, to look, to have looked back into the twenties, thirties and forties, it would have been fantastic,
[speaker001:] Oh yes.
[speaker002:] to see that. But, uh,
[speaker001:] Well, as a matter of fact, uh, my mother was going through some things not lon-, not long ago, I guess it has been a couple of years ago, [throat clearing] in an old trunk that she had. And she came upon a, a budget book that she had back in the thirties. Uh,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] when they, it was the late, well I guess it would have been, I will take that back, it must have been in the forties, because they had been married, uh, probably fifteen years at the time. [sigh] And, [throat clearing] it was just, uh, fascinating to see how little things cost, I mean it was,
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] it was just almost laughable in some instances that, you know, of course, it's all relative, of course,
[speaker002:] I know. Right.
[speaker001:] but, uh, never the less it was fun to see those figures next to, you know, for a pr-, pair of shoes was like five dollars and [LAUGHTER],
[speaker002:] I know, well even in nineteen sixty-three, I found a record that I had, uh, I travel in Europe a lot and I, what I had paid for hotels.
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] And a similar hotel in Paris is two hundred dollars a night now.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] And I paid, uh, oh, between four and five dollars,
[speaker001:] Oh, isn't that,
[speaker002:] in nineteen sixty.
[speaker001:] something.
[speaker002:] And that's really crazy, cause that's about thirty years ago.
[speaker001:] Really. Oh, that is, that is really, really something.
[speaker002:] Oh. But, of course, it's just what the market will bear.
[speaker001:] That's true.
[speaker002:] If people will pay two hundred then why charge ten.
[speaker001:] Yeah,
[speaker002:] You know,,
[speaker001:] that's, that's right. That's, exa-, that's just good old economics working.
[speaker002:] Right, right.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Well, uh, we have tried to, uh, instill some, some sense of, uh, of budgeting in our kids, but our two children are just, uh, as, um, unlike as night and day. And,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] our son could care less about a budget, and our daughter watches her pennies so closely,
[speaker002:] [Noise].
[speaker001:] that [sigh] she almost, she almost, just sounds like your father, I mean, she has everything planned so closely,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] that if,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] something goes wrong, it just throws her for a loop [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah. Well, then you never know how they will, one, they may flip flop when they,
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] get to be, uh, ol-,
[speaker001:] Right, yes.
[speaker002:] we-, older. The other one may be very careful,
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] and she may marry somebody and, of course, it would be good because, it you marry somebody a little loose, then she will have that stability of watching, uh.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] You should have one in the, in the,
[speaker001:] I think that is true, I, uh, and,
[speaker002:] in the house. And I think,
[speaker001:] I think that is probably what happened in our house because I think my husband was not quite as, uh, good at saving and so on before we got married and I was, [sigh] I was really diligent about that. I was putting money aside and when, before I was married, you know, when I was working out of college and,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] uh, that really paid off. Because when time came for him to go back to graduate school, we were in, in fairly good shape financially as far as not having any major debts. And,
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's about the way it is here,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] if it had not been for my wife, I would have probably been in debtor's prison,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] if we had one.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] So but, what does you husband do now?
[speaker001:] Uh, he is an engineer, he is, uh,
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] an electrical engineer. And, in fact, went through, uh, many years of graduate school and got his P H D so we,
[speaker002:] Um.
[speaker001:] had a lot of lot of years of budgeting [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah. You have,
[speaker001:] And, you know,
[speaker002:] to do it when,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] you are in school.
[speaker001:] When you,
[speaker002:] My wife is still in school getting her doctorate,
[speaker001:] uh, yes.
[speaker002:] and it, uh,
[speaker001:] Well, I'm working,
[speaker002:] and I have got,
[speaker001:] I'm working on my master's degree now, so, in fact, this last year we had three, both of the children were in college, our son has a year left and our daughter graduated this year and I'm just about ready to finish my master's degree,
[speaker002:] Um [NOISE].
[speaker001:] so we have had, uh, once again, you know, some really, a real lean year for us.
[speaker002:] Oh, I, I know. We had three,
[speaker001:] But, uh,
[speaker002:] in college, plus my wife, so that was four.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] So we were both in the same,
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah, you know exactly what it,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] what it's like then.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And it's, uh, [sigh] which you learn, I guess you figure that that is an investment that is, uh, really a in-, invaluable.
[speaker002:] That is the best one.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Yeah, with education you can't,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] take that away from you.
[speaker001:] That is right, so it's, it's one that you can live through. And I,
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] think that that's the way that we looked at it in our beginnings when my husband was in graduate school that there was a light at the end of that tunnel. You know,
[speaker002:] Sure.
[speaker001:] that that it was worth it to save and to not have, uh, something and, uh, in return know that something better was going to be at the end of it so
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's true.
[speaker001:] uh, it really makes it easier but, uh, [sigh] well, I have enjoyed talking with you, Jerry.
[speaker002:] I have enjoyed talking with you, Kathy.
[speaker001:] And, I, I wish I could hear more about your historian part of your life, because that sounds really fascinating to me. I am interested in that.
[speaker002:] Well, if I had your address, I would send you, I am also in the travel business, I
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] do tours and I can take some real great tours to Europe. So, uh,
[speaker001:] Oh, wow. Well, my, my husband,
[speaker002:] if you.
[speaker001:] and I just went there last year, um, actually we did not take a tour, we, we were in England and, and, uh, went to Ireland and Scotland and just rented cars and,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] did it on our own but, uh, um, I, that sounds interesting. Is your business in Dallas then?
[speaker002:] Yeah, it's here in Dallas.
[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] In the Quorum. So, I, I'm Jerry Hammond and I'm out at Brookhaven College, so you could just holler at me there.
[speaker001:] Oh, you are kidding.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Well, I'm going to be teaching at Brookhaven in the fall [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] All right, what is your last name?
[speaker001:] Kuenzer, K U E N Z E R, and I'm,
[speaker002:] K U E N,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, Z E R. And, I will be,
[speaker002:] Well good, I will,
[speaker001:] in the communications department teaching, uh, English One Oh One to, I have a couple of sections.
[speaker002:] Oh, well I know Zack Miller real well.
[speaker001:] Yes, yeah, that's the guy who hired me, yes.
[speaker002:] Well wonderful, I will look you up in the fall then.
[speaker001:] Fantastic.
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] Well, it's been good ta-, it's been a good type conversation.
[speaker002:] Bye-bye.
[speaker001:] Bye-bye.