2010年ESL之日常生活 05 Reducing Household Expenses

05 Reducing Household Expenses

GLOSSARY 1

finances 2 – how one manages one’s money; the way that one saves and spendsmoney and/or the amount that one saves and spends

* They review their finances together at the end of each month, balancing theircheckbook and paying the bills.

financial planning – the process of planning for one’s financial future, especiallyhow one will pay for retirement 3 and major expenses like a child’s wedding orcollege education

* They took a class in financial planning to learn about their options for saving forretirement.

household budget – the amount of money spent each month, and the way inwhich it is spent, by a family or a group of people who live together

* Fifty percent of their household budget is spent on rent and the rest is fortransportation, food, clothing, and entertainment.

all about – very much involved or interested in something; with a strong interestin or passion for something

* Vince is all about football and never misses a game on TV.

bottom line – profit or loss; the amount of money that a person or organizationhas made or lost at the end of a certain period of time

* If the company can’t improve its bottom line, it will go out of business by the endof the year.

spending patterns – the way in which money is spent; the amount of moneyspent in each of several categories

* They changed their spending patterns by cooking at home more often andeating out at restaurants less often.

to underestimate 4 – to guess or believe that something is smaller, less, and/orless important than it actually is

* Phuo underestimated 5 her own strength and was surprised when she was ableto pick up a 100-pound weight.

expense – money that is spent on something; cost

* We could reduce our transportation expenses by taking the bus instead ofdriving our car to work each day.

discretionary – optional; something that one has a choice about

* The company gives managers a large discretionary budget that they can spendhowever they want, as long as their department continues to perform well.

spreadsheet – an electronic document created with Excel 6, Lotus, or a similarprogram, used to store numbers and data and make calculations based on thatinformation

* When they were trying to buy a home, Leola created a spreadsheet to comparethe cost per square foot of each of the homes they looked at.

nonessential – something that is nice to have, but is not necessary; somethingthat one can live without

* If you live in a remote area, your car is probably an essential, but if you live in acity with lots of public transportation options, it’s probably a nonessential and youcould save money by selling it.

to do the math – to look at the numbers; to base one’s decision on calculationsrather than vague (unclear) ideas

* Once they did the math and considered the cost of taxes, transportation,babysitting, dry-cleaning, and business lunches, they realized that they couldactually save more money if Becca quit her job and stayed home to take care ofthe children.

to cut back – to reduce; to decrease the amount of something

* The school is trying to cut back its costs by serving less expensive food in thecafeteria.

drastically 7 – dramatically; very much; importantly; in a big way

* Living in New York City is drastically different from living in a small agriculturaltown like the one I grew up in.

retirement – the period of time after one has stopped working, usually beginningwhen one is 65 years old

* Cristian looks forward to a long retirement when he can go golfing for hoursevery day.

to afford – to be able to pay for something; to have enough money to buysomething

* If we want to be able to afford a good college education for our children, weneed to start saving money now while they’re infants.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1. What does Roland say they need to remember?

a) That they tend to spend too much money.

b) That they spend less than they should on expenses.

c) That they spend more than they think they do.

2. What does Roland mean when he says that Ginger 8 should “do the math”?

a) She should base her conclusions on the actual numbers.

b) She should carefully consider how big a TV she needs.

c) She should check his calculations.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

all about

The phrase “all about,” in this podcast, means very much involved or interestedin something, having a strong interest in or passion for something: “Hank is allabout food. When he travels, all he wants to do is eat in restaurants.” Thephrase “out and about” means to be out of one’s home or office, doing manydifferent things: “On weeknights, they stay at home to rest, but on the weekendsthey’re always out and about, going to parties and exploring nearby areas.” Thephrase “to be quick about it” is used to tell someone to hurry: “When Kazaukiasked if he could take a break before continuing, his boss said, ‘Yes, but bequick about it.’” Finally, the phrase “to go about (one’s) business” means to dothe things that one normally or usually does: “We were surprised to see everyonegoing about their business shortly after the earthquake.”

to cut back

In this podcast, the phrase “to cut back” means to reduce or to decrease theamount of something: “Louise is trying to cut back on calories by putting skimmilk in her coffee instead of cream.” The phrase “to cut (one’s) teeth” means totry doing something for the first time: “He cut his teeth at a small insurancecompany before beginning to work for some of the most powerful companies inthe country.” Finally, the phrase “to cut corners” means to do something poorlyin order to save money or time: “Yes, we can save money on the home renovation 9 by cutting corners, but it will end up being more expensive when wehave to make repairs in a few years.”

______________

CULTURE NOTE

“When times are tight” (when one doesn’t have enough money for everything onewants to buy), Americans try to “pinch pennies” (save money) and cut costs inmany different ways.

Many Americans “clip” (cut out of a larger piece of paper) “coupons,” which aresmall pieces of paper that give shoppers a certain amount of money off whenbuying something. For example, a coupon 10 clipper might take a coupon for $0.35off of a bottle of juice when he or she goes to the grocery store. Shoppers mightalso choose to buy “generic” (with a store brand) food, toiletries, and cleaningsupplies.

Other Americans try to save money by canceling unnecessary services. Forexample, they might “switch” (change) to a less expensive cell phone plan withfewer minutes each month, or they might cancel their “cable” (paid TV channels)or magazine “subscriptions” (something that is paid for each month). Peoplemight decide to have their hair cut less frequently or stop “dying” (coloring) theirhair.

Many people find that they can save a lot of money by “brown-bagging it”

(bringing lunch to the office from home) instead of eating lunch at restaurants,and by bringing coffee from home in a “travel mug” (a special cup with a lid)instead of buying expensive coffee drinks.

Americans can also save money by starting to do things on their own instead ofpaying someone else to do them. For example, they might cook at home insteadof going out for dinner at a restaurant. They might also decide to wash their owncar, make their own coffee, clean their own home, or “mow” (cut the grass) ontheir own instead of paying for another person to do it.

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT 11

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 563: ReducingHousehold Expenses.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 12 563. I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Our website is eslpod.com. Go there to download a Learning Guide for thisepisode that will give you all of the vocabulary, definitions, sample sentences,additional definitions, cultural notes, comprehension questions, and, mostimportantly, a complete transcript of everything we say on this episode.

This episode is a dialogue between Roland and Ginger about “householdexpenses,” the money that you have to spend to live in a house or apartment.

Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Roland: If we want to save enough money to buy a house, we need to getserious about our finances and do some financial planning. I think the first stepis to create a household budget.

Ginger: Okay by me. You know that I’m all about the bottom line.

Roland: Yeah, right. I think we have a pretty good idea of our spending patterns,so it shouldn’t be too hard to come up with a budget that we can both live with.

Ginger: Right.

Roland: Okay, one thing we need to keep in mind is that we tend tounderestimate our monthly expenses. If you look at our discretionary spendingon this spreadsheet I created, you’ll be surprised at how much money we spendon nonessentials.

Ginger: Okay, I can cut back on nonessentials.

Roland: You can?

Ginger: Sure, instead of getting my nails done every week, I’ll get them doneonly three times a month.

Roland: Well, that’s a start…Ginger: And instead of buying a new 60-inch TV, we can get a 52-inch oneinstead. That should save us a lot of money.

Roland: I think you need to do the math. If we don’t cut back much moredrastically, we’ll be ready for retirement by the time we can afford a house!

[end of dialogue]

Roland begins by saying to Ginger, “If we want to save enough money to buy ahouse, we need to get serious about our finances and do some financialplanning.” Roland and Ginger want to buy a house; they need to save theirmoney, so they need to “get serious about,” or focus on, be concentrated on, andactually do things related to their finances. Your “finances” are how you manageyour money, the way you save and spend, the amount of money that you saveand spend. “Financial planning” is the process of sitting down and thinking aboutyour future and the money that you will need. When you retire, how much moneyyou will have to live on? If your child is going to go to college, how much moneywill you need to send them there? The answer is a lot!

Well, Roland says that he thinks the “first step,” the first thing they should do, iscreate a household budget. “Household” refers to everyone who lives in yourhouse, apartment, or condominium: the father, the mother, the children, maybegrandma, maybe grandpa, and so forth 13. A “budget” is a plan about how muchyou are going to spend for different things – how much are we going to spend forfood, how much are we going to spend for gasoline for our car, and so forth.

Ginger says, “Okay by me (meaning yes, I agree). You know that I’m all aboutthe bottom line.” The expression “to be all about (something)” means to be veryinterested in something, very involved, perhaps, in something. I’m all about theDodger baseball team; I love to watch the Dodgers 14 here in Los Angeles. Gingeris all about the bottom line. The “bottom line” refers to the amount of money thatyou have at the end of a certain period – how much did you spend, how much didyou save. Did you spend more than you saved, or did you save more than youspent? I should mention that “about” as a preposition is used with a lot of different verbs and idioms (phrasal verbs); take a look at the Learning Guide forsome more information about that one.

Roland says, “Yeah, right. I think we have a pretty good idea of our spendingpatterns.” Your “spending patterns” are the ways in which you spend money. A“pattern” is something that happens usually repeatedly over time. You alwaysspend about this much money every month on food, this much money on cabletelevision, this much money on Starbucks coffee, and so forth. Roland says, “itshouldn’t be too hard (too difficult) to come up with (to write down) a budget thatwe can both live with (that we both agree to follow).” Ginger says, “Right,”

meaning I agree.

Roland says, “Okay, one thing we need to keep in mind (meaning one thing weneed to remember) is that we tend to underestimate our monthly expenses.”

“We tend to” means we usually “underestimate.” “To estimate” means to guessapproximately how much of something that you need or want. “Tounderestimate” means to guess or believe that something is smaller, or less, orperhaps less important than it actually is. So if you say, “Oh, I estimate I spend10 dollars a month on gasoline,” and you actually spend 100 dollars a month ongasoline, well, then you are underestimating 15. The opposite would be, of course,“to overestimate,” to guess too high rather than too low. Roland says that he andGinger underestimate their monthly expenses. “Expense” is money that is spenton something. The money that you give to other people for something, that’s anexpense.

Roland says, “If you look at our discretionary spending on this spreadsheet Icreated, you’ll be surprised at how much money we spend on nonessentials.”

“Discretionary” means optional, something you have a choice about, somethingyou could do or not do. “Discretionary spending” is money that you don’t have tospend; money that you could save or spend, depending on your decision. A“spreadsheet” is an electronic document, usually created by a program such asExcel or Lotus or other software, that’s used to store numbers and to makecalculations about things – numerical 16 things. So, what Roland has done is madea spreadsheet on the computer of how much they spend, and he says theyspend a lot of money on nonessentials. Something that is “essential” issomething you must have. Food and water are essentials for human life.

“Nonessentials” are things you don’t need. A 56-inch flat screen television is anonessential; human beings can actually live without one. I know that’s hard tobelieve for some of you! Computers are really essential for many people in theirjobs and businesses; they’re not nonessential, at least they’re not for me.

Ginger says, “Okay, I can cut back (I can spend less) on nonessentials.” Rolandsays, somewhat surprised, “You can?” Ginger says, “Sure, instead of getting mynails done every week, I’ll get them done only three times a month.” “To get yournails done” is to go to a place where they shape and paint your fingernails andtoenails, something that women usually do – and some rock stars! What Gingeris saying is that instead of going every week to get her nails done, she’ll only gothree times a month, not four times a month. Roland says, “Well, that’s a start(that’s a beginning).” Ginger then says, “And instead of buying a new 60-inch TV(that is, a television where the screen is 60 inches measuring diagonally, fromone corner to the other, opposite corner), we can get a 52-inch one instead. Thatshould save us a lot of money.” Of course, these are not very importantsacrifices; you’re not going to save a lot of money doing these sorts of things.

Roland says, “I think you need to do the math.” When someone says “do themath,” they mean look at the numbers, calculate, add and subtract, figure outexactly what the numbers are. “Do the math.” “Math” is short for mathematics.

Here, it means really do the calculations. “If we don’t cut back much moredrastically, we’ll be ready for retirement by the time we can afford a house!” “Tocut back,” as I mentioned earlier, means to reduce, to decrease the amount ofsomething. The verb “cut” has several meanings in English; “to cut back” is aphrasal verb, but there are other ways of using this verb that are explained in theLearning Guide. Roland says that they have to cut back drastically. “Drastically”

means in a big way, a lot. If they do not, they’ll be ready for retirement by thetime they can afford a house. “Retirement” is when you quit your job, usuallyafter you’re 55-60-65 years old, and you don’t work anymore. In the UnitedStates, it’s typical around the age of 65, though some people retire earlier andsome later. “To afford” means to be able to pay for something. Roland is sayingthat they won’t be able to buy a house for many, many years unless they cutback much more drastically.

Now we’ll listen to the dialogue at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Roland: If we want to save enough money to buy a house, we need to getserious about our finances and do some financial planning. I think the first stepis to create a household budget.

Ginger: Okay by me. You know that I’m all about the bottom line.

Roland: Yeah, right. I think we have a pretty good idea of our spending patterns,so it shouldn’t be too hard to come up with a budget that we can both live with.

Ginger: Right.

Roland: Okay, one thing we need to keep in mind is that we tend tounderestimate our monthly expenses. If you look at our discretionary spendingon this spreadsheet I created, you’ll be surprised at how much money we spendon nonessentials.

Ginger: Okay, I can cut back on nonessentials.

Roland: You can?

Ginger: Sure, instead of getting my nails done every week, I’ll get them doneonly three times a month.

Roland: Well, that’s a start…Ginger: And instead of buying a new 60-inch TV, we can get a 52-inch oneinstead. That should save us a lot of money.

Roland: I think you need to do the math. If we don’t cut back much moredrastically, we’ll be ready for retirement by the time we can afford a house!

[end of dialogue]

The script for this episode was written by someone who’s all about writing greatscripts, Dr. Lucy Tse.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Comeback and listen to us next time, won’t you, on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan, copyright 2010 by the Center for EducationalDevelopment.