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*DISCLAIMER* This episode covers adult topics that are not intended for young ears.   260. Sex After Cancer with Dr. Kris Christiansen   James 1:19 (NIV) My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,   **Transcription Below**   Questions We Discuss: What is common mis-information that you want to set straight as it relates to cancer and sex? If someone is walking their own cancer journey right now, what would you advise them to both do and avoid doing so that they can still enjoy the healthiest sex life possible with their spouse? What hope do you have to share with people who have battled cancer and still desire to connect intimately with their spouse?   Dr. Kris Christiansen is a board-certified family physician who specializes in sexual medicine. She attended medical school and completed her residency in family medicine at the University of Minnesota. She practiced full spectrum family medicine for 10 years and then pursued additional training to specialize in sexual medicine. She works as a sexual medicine specialist at two different clinics in the twin cities.   Her clinical interests include both male and female sexual dysfunction, and she loves working with individuals and couples to restore an important part of life. Dr. Christiansen is involved with teaching medical students and residents at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and she has presented at multiple local, national, and international medical conferences. She is involved with the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH) and serves on committees, collaborates with other experts to publish articles for medical journals, and edits informational articles for the society's new patient facing website. She is passionate about teaching patients, students, and colleagues about the importance of sexual health and well-being. In her free time, she started her own business called Intimate Focus which provides information and quality products to enhance and restore sexual health and wellness. She also enjoys shopping, hiking, and spending time with her family.   Dr. Kris Christiansen's Website   Previous Episodes featuring Dr. Kris Christiansen on The Savvy Sauce: 215 Enriching Women's Sexual Function, Part One with Dr. Kris Christiansen 216 Enriching Women's Sexual Function, Part Two with Dr. Kris Christiansen   Additional Place to Find More Episodes from The Savvy Sauce Related to This Topic: One-Stop Shop for Marriage and Intimacy Resources   Dr. Kris Christiansen's Recommended Websites for Sexual Health: The Menopause Society Mayo Clinic National Institutes of Health International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health American Urological Association International Society of Sexual Medicine Sexual Medicine Society of North America American Cancer Society ISSWSH International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health SMSNA Sexual Medicine Society of North America  ISSM International Society of Sexual Medicine The Menopause Society   Find a provider: For a women's sexual health provider, pelvic floor physical therapist, (non-Christian) sex therapist ABCST American Board of Christian Sex Therapists (for a Christian sex therapist)   Thank You to Our Sponsor: Leman Property Management Company   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and subscribing to this podcast!   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)   Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   **Transcription**   Music: (0:00 – 0:09)   Laura Dugger: (0:10 - 1:22) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.    Leman Property Management Co. has the apartment you will be able to call home, with over 1,700 apartment units available in Central Illinois.   Visit them today at lemanproperties.com or connect with them on Facebook.    Today's message is not intended for little ears. We'll be discussing some adult themes, and I want you to be aware before you listen to this message.   Not many people specialize in the same thing as our returning guest for today, Dr. Kris Christiansen. She specializes in sexual medicine, and today she's going to provide clarity, information, and direction for how to maximize sexual pleasure with our spouse after one receives a cancer diagnosis. Here's our chat.   Welcome back to The Savvy Sauce, Dr. Christiansen.   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (1:23 - 1:30) Well, thank you so much, Laura. We had so much fun last time, and I'm looking forward to this conversation again today.   Laura Dugger: (1:31 - 1:57) Likewise. I feel the same way. And it really wasn't that long ago that you were on The Savvy Sauce two times, so I'll make sure and link to both of those episodes in the show notes for today.   But hopefully everybody's already well acquainted with you, and that's why we're just kind of diving right into our topic today. So, for starters, how did this topic of sex after cancer become an interest of yours to study?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (2:00 - 2:32) Well, so Laura, my job as a sexual medicine physician is that I work with both men and women and helping them with their sexual lives when they have problems or whatever. So, cancer is often a big part of that. So, through my journey with work, I've just developed a significant interest in learning how to really care for people to help restore this important part of life.   Laura Dugger: (2:33 - 2:52) Absolutely, because a lot is taken away when somebody gets that awful diagnosis, and so I'm very grateful for people like you who are experts. But is there any common misinformation that you would like to set straight as it relates to cancer and sex?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (2:55 - 6:42) Well, interesting you say that, because there is so much misinformation out there just about sex in general. And then when we throw cancer in on top of that, it just makes it even more complicated. So, I think a common fear that people experience when they get that diagnosis that they hope they never hear, the C word, is that it's going to have a significant impact on their sexual intimacy.   And you know what, it can, but that doesn't mean that that chapter in life is closed. We just have to remember that sexual intimacy is much, much broader than just intercourse. So, if we can refer to this as PIV sex, penis in vagina sex, many people view it as kind of an all or none thing.   If they can't have vaginal intercourse or that PIV sex, then they don't want anything at all. Unfortunately, that just rules out or shuts out so much of sexual intimacy that God has intended for us. We may not be able to engage in the same activities for a time or even long term, but that doesn't mean that we can't connect.   So, if we try to remember that intimacy, sexual intimacy is all about giving and receiving pleasure, then there are so many more opportunities. So, we have to get beyond the fact that sexual intimacy, sexual intercourse is just vaginal intercourse because it's not. It's giving and receiving pleasure.   And however people want to connect or comfortable connecting, that they can still enjoy a very fruitful sex life. The other thing that is misunderstood and misconceptions is estrogen, vaginal estrogen, especially. Because, well, all women who enter menopause and you're in menopause for the rest of your life do experience some changes.   And it's so common that women experience the genital urinary syndrome of menopause. That's vaginal atrophy, or when the tissues get drier and thinner and there can be tearing and pain as well as bleeding and decreased sensation, decreased sensitivity. These things are common with aging, but oftentimes cancer treatments emphasize that or accelerate it or make it even worse.   And vaginal estrogen is really, really safe. It does not cause cancer. And most of the studies show that even in women who have breast cancer, that it doesn't cause recurrence.   So vaginal estrogen, being so safe, can really save our vaginas. And we're talking about vaginal health and bladder health. It's not just about sex, but it helps keep our bodies functioning properly and minimizing pain and discomfort.   So, if a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer and she's on treatment, then obviously we have to talk to the oncologist, make sure they're okay with that. But we get more and more studies showing it's safety and it's definitely effective and can help keep our tissues young.   Laura Dugger: (6:42 - 7:25) This is really helpful and brand new information to me. So someone, like you used that example, if they have breast cancer diagnosis and there's different types, but if they're doing the treatment where perhaps they go into early menopause or they have a hysterectomy or remove their ovaries and they even have an estrogen blocker so that they're not producing estrogen, for that type, you're still saying as long as you're working with the oncologist for that personal client, even in those situations, vaginal estrogen, which would be, I'm assuming, more of a cream or something you insert to the vagina, is that right? That that would be safe?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (7:25 - 10:55) So, where it gets a little gray is if the woman is taking an aromatase inhibitor, which is the estrogen blocker. So, it pretty much wipes all estrogen out of her system. There's a little more risk there.   So most definitely we need to double check with the oncologist. But it often comes down to quality of life. I have a patient who, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, I believe, in her early 60s.   And she came to me at the sexual medicine clinic and she was just miserable. I mean, when we think of vaginal dryness, you think of, okay, it's annoying. You use a lubricant, right, and it's going to be just fine.   In the beginning, yes, that's the case. But this genital urinary syndrome of menopause, GSM, gets worse with time, especially with those anti-estrogen treatments. And for this poor woman, she couldn't exercise.   She loved to go hiking. She loved to go skiing. And just any kind of movement was painful.   And we don't think of that. We kind of take it for granted. But for some women who really experience severe side effects of the breast cancer treatments and causing dryness and irritation, it affects everything.   And for her, we tried all the non-hormonal things first. They didn't work. And her oncologist gave us the blessing saying, you know, we tried it.   This is really important to you. Let's give it a try. And so, we've monitored her, and the vaginal estrogen hasn't caused any problems.   So, a couple points on that. With the vaginal estrogen, yes, it comes as a cream. There's a tablet, which is like a little pill with an applicator that you insert in the vagina.   There are vaginal inserts. They look like little caplets that you just insert with the finger. There's a vaginal ring.   But with the localized treatment, it's meant to just act locally, meaning just on the vaginal tissues. And, oh, package insert. So, you know, here we tell patients, vaginal estrogen is safe.   Don't worry. It's not going to cause cancer, heart attack, strokes, or blood clots. But then they go home.   They get their prescription. They open up the patient insert, package insert, and it talks about risks and bad things that can happen and side effects. Unfortunately, the FDA says we have to use the class labeling or the side effects that are associated with systemic estrogen.   And it automatically gets applied to the localized or vaginal estrogen treatments. So, patients go home, they read that, and they think we're lying to them. But, unfortunately, it's just very misleading because we have plenty of studies to show that vaginal estrogen doesn't cause those terrible things.   And it's very safe. So, they just have to trust us. And there are groups and people out there trying to work with the FDA to get that class labeling effect removed because it just scares everybody away from using estrogen, which can be so helpful.   Laura Dugger: (10:57 - 11:04) Wow, that is helpful. Is there any other common misinformation you want to make sure we don't overlook before we continue on?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (11:05 - 11:29) Well, I made a few notes here. No, I don't think so. Except that media, television, and all that other stuff that we see out there is so misleading when it comes to sexual intimacy.   Because sex in real life doesn't look like what you see in the movies. Yeah.   Laura Dugger: (11:30 - 11:45) Great, great point. And so, when somebody does get, like you said, that dreaded C-word diagnosis, what's a common path that they may experience as it affects them sexually?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (11:48 - 14:00) Well, so, the different cancers are so different and treatments are so different that it's hard to generalize for everybody. But, you know, first thing most people experience is fear. What's this mean for me?   What's this mean for my life, my family? Am I going to be around in five years? So, it's that fear.   And the initial part of that journey is often involved with meeting with lots of doctors, having all the tests, trying to figure out what's going on, what we're going to do. And sexual intimacy often isn't part of that first steps that they take. So, but when things kind of finally settle down, then those questions start popping up.   What does this mean? It's important to talk with your cancer journey, your cancer team, the oncology team to find out what's going on. And it's important to ask all these questions because doctors really aren't very good about asking about sexual health and what that means to you.   Oncologists, generally speaking, they want to treat the cancer and their job is done when the cancer is treated, under control, gone, whatever. And they've done a good job. However, so many of us are just left afterwards saying, okay, thanks, cancer's gone, but now what?   And so, it's a matter of really trying to figure out what's important over time, learning what's going to work and what's not. And know that there are people out there to help you and that want to help you if it's not going as planned. You know, I just want to reiterate that people really need to advocate for themselves and they need to ask questions.   And if they're not getting the answers that they want, don't give up because there are people, organizations, information out there that can be helpful. So rather than just worrying about what's next, seek help.   Laura Dugger: (14:02 - 14:18) That's really great advice. And I think this may be an appropriate place to pause and just get some of those recommended places. Because if somebody, this is new to them and they don't know where to turn, do you have any places or websites off the top of your mind that you would recommend?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (14:20 - 15:41) Well, so cancer.org, the American Cancer Society has a lot of resources on there. When it comes to menopause-type symptoms and such, menopause.org is the Menopause Society, which has a lot of information. And a website called PROSAYLA, it's P-R-O-S-A-Y-L-A.com, is a website that's managed by ISHWISH.   We've got all these acronyms. The International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health. So that is my go-to.   Okay, so that's the organization where there's so much research and science and such happening. And the PROSAYLA.org or prosayla.com, either one works, is a website where there are several articles written by experts in the field. So, these are articles backed by science.   It's not just somebody's opinion or somebody's blog. And I know there's an article on there about sex or cancer and sexuality. So, some generalities and some other references on that site too.   Laura Dugger: (15:42 - 15:51) Okay, that is super helpful information. We'll make sure and add links to those places as well. Anything else that you want to make sure we don't miss?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (15:52 - 17:36) Well, when we talk about sexual concerns or sexual problems, we always try to approach it from a biopsychosocial aspect. Because those three different entities all play a big role in what works well and what doesn't. So, from the biological section, that's pain, medications, nerve problems, chronic medical problems.   So obviously cancer plays a big role in that. And with cancer treatments and such, pain may be part of that, nausea, fatigue. And so, we just don't feel the same going through these treatments because it's really hard.   As far as the psych bubble, I'm usually referencing a Venn diagram here. Psychological, so when we experience anxiety or depression or performance anxiety, that plays a big role. So, we need to take a step back and realize that what happens up here in our brain has a huge impact on how our bodies function physically.   And then as far as the social aspect, that's our relationships, our interpersonal relationships with our partner, our spouse, with our family and how things are going on at work. A cancer diagnosis and treatment can affect all of those. And so, it's not just a magic pill to improve your libido because if we don't treat all these other things, people continue to struggle with their sexual function.   Laura Dugger: (18:01 - 19:46) Duplexes, studios and garden style options located in many areas throughout Pekin. In Peoria, a historic downtown location and apartments adjacent to the OSF Medical Center provide excellent choices. Check out their brand-new luxury property in Peoria Heights overlooking the boutique shops and fine dining on Prospect.   And in Morton, they offer a variety of apartment homes with garages, a hot downtown location and now a brand-new high-end complex near Idlewood Park. Their beautiful, spacious apartments with private garages in a quiet but convenient location await you in Washington. And if you're looking in Canton, don't miss Village Square Apartments.   Renters may be excited to learn about their flexible leases, pet-friendly locations and even mini storage units available in some locations. Leman Property Management Co. has a knowledgeable and helpful staff, including several employees with over 30 years working with this reputable company. If you want to become a part of their team, contact them about open office positions.   They're also hiring in their maintenance department, so we invite you to find out why so many people have chosen to make a career with them. Check them out on Facebook today or email their friendly staff at Leasing@LemanProps.com. You can also stop by their website at lemanproperties.com.   That's LEMANproperties.com. Check them out and find your place to call home today.    Also, Dr. Kris, are there any certain cancers or treatments that have the most detrimental impact on a person's sex life?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (19:48 - 23:15) We know that cancers that affect the breast, for women, but men too get breast cancer, and also the genital area have the biggest impact. We've talked a fair amount about breast cancer. Many of the treatments for breast cancer result in early menopause.   If a woman is premenopausal when this happens, menopause can have a definite impact. The treatments can cause the pain and dryness and decrease sensitivity. Also, if surgery is involved in a mastectomy, it can affect our own body self-image.   From a more physical standpoint too, when we have the mastectomy and those nerves are cut, it decreases the sensitivity. For a lot of women, breast stimulation is really important as part of their sexual play. If now her breasts are gone and she can't feel anything when her husband is touching her breasts, that can be a really hard adjustment.   Any cancers that affect the genital area, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, or anal rectal cancer for both men and women, and prostate cancer for men, those all have a huge impact. In addition to working with a lot of women who have breast cancer and overcoming and improving those areas, I work with a lot of men who have prostate cancer. Those treatments usually result in erection problems and urinary incontinence, which can be hard to deal with.   Men who have a prostatectomy, so if they have their prostate removed, then 100% of them are going to have erectile dysfunction in the beginning. It's going to take time for those nerves to recover, and it may take up to two years to see that full recovery. In those first few months when I'm working with men, I'm trying to be their cheerleader, saying, don't lose hope, don't give up, because this is going to get better.   It just takes time for those nerves to regrow. In the process, though, it is important to do whatever we can to make sure that that tissue stays healthy. Remember that the penis is actually muscle, muscle tissue, smooth muscle.   If we don't use a muscle for several months, atrophy sets in, which is a bad thing. With atrophy, the penis can shrink in size, and scar tissue potentially can set in, and it just makes that recovery less optimal than what it would have been. Trying to maintain the blood flow during those first few months or first year is really helpful.   Just to help maintain the blood flow and the oxygen to help keep the tissues healthy, so when the tenders do recover as best as they're going to, we get the best outcome.   Laura Dugger: (23:16 - 23:36) This may be an ignorant question, but then if erectile issues are present during that first time period, but it's crucial to have the blood flow to that area, what can men do to increase blood flow there, even if erection is difficult or impossible?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (23:36 - 25:01) That's a great question. Taking a medication like Viagra or Cialis. Cialis is my favorite because it stays in the system for a good 36 to 48 hours every time you take it.   If you're just taking a low dose every day, it just encourages a little bit of that blood flow every day. Using a vacuum device, which I just happen to have one right here, looks like this. A penis goes inside the cylinder, we create a vacuum or suction, and it pulls the blood flow in.   It's not the most sexy thing, but using it and using the vacuum device several times a week just to get that blood flow going is a very helpful way to keep the tissues healthy. Getting an erection with the vacuum doesn't get those arousal-type feelings, so it looks a little weird, but it does work. For men who want to use this for sexual activity, you can get the erection within the tube, and then it comes with these tight rings that are stretched over the edge of the cylinder.   Once you get the full erection within the tube, you slide that ring off to maintain the erection.   Laura Dugger: (25:04 - 25:14) That's incredible just to pause and think of God's grace and these inventions and how incredible that there are solutions. Please continue, but I find that encouraging.   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (25:16 - 27:39) There are all kinds of encouraging things, but if you're in the middle of this journey, it can be sometimes hard to keep going when you're not getting the results that you want to. But we believe in a big God, and he created sexual intimacy, and it's a gift. Other ways to help manage erectile dysfunction and a couple other show-and-tell things here.   This medication is called Muse. The actual medication is a pellet that comes preloaded in this applicator. You insert it in the tip of the penis, the medication gets absorbed, and 10 minutes later, magic happens.   I don't prescribe this very often because it's really, really expensive, a little harder to find. But the advantage to this medication is that it doesn't need the nerves to work, whereas the medications like Viagra and Cialis, they need the nerves. Guys usually kind of turn white when I pull this out.   For our listeners, I'm holding an insulin syringe and needle. There is such a treatment where you can actually inject a tiny amount of medicine directly into the penis, and it will give you an erection. I tell men that with the pills like Viagra and Cialis, just in general with ED, it works in about 60% of men.   We can get this to work, the injections to work, in 90-95%. It's such a tiny needle that men say it feels like a poke or a pinch once they get past that initial shock that they think is going to hurt. The usual response is, oh, that wasn't so bad, and it's very effective.   This can work within four to six weeks, so whenever your surgeon says it's okay to engage in sexual activity again, this will work. Then last but not least is a penile implant. That's surgery, and that you have to wait at least a year, if not two, after the prostate surgery.   That works in 99.99%. Wow.   Laura Dugger: (27:40 - 27:56) We were focusing a lot on men for that one. Is there any medication or any other injections or anything like that for women, other than the vaginal cream or different ways to get estrogen in the vagina?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (27:58 - 31:15) Yes, we've got all kinds of treatments. If a woman has breast cancer, or for whatever reason we want to avoid hormones as much as possible, then generally we're starting with a vaginal moisturizer, which is different than a lubricant. A lubricant is just for sexual activity and just to make things slipperier and feel better.   That often helps in the beginning, but as the GSM or the atrophy continues, the lubricant isn't enough. A moisturizer, think of like a facial moisturizer or a moisturizer for your hand, in order for it to work, you have to use it regularly, which is probably at least three times a week. These moisturizers can come in forms of a liquid that gets injected.   They're little capsules that you can insert. Reveri is a hyaluronic acid suppository, which you insert in the vagina and over time that can be really helpful. One of my favorites is this Rosebud Everyday Balm.   It's a really nice balm that you can put on the tissues inside the lips and inside the vagina. It's just really, really soothing. Again, you've got to use these things regularly.   It will take a good two months at least to see the full effect, so it doesn't work right away. Just like with the guys where they've got to be patient with the nerves, we have to be persistent and patient with things that can work. A vaginal moisturizer is really helpful.   A lubricant for sexual activity. There are over-the-counter and prescription medications that can help with arousal and orgasm. There are two approved medications for the treatment of low libido in premenopausal women.   One is Addi, which is a pill that you take every day, also known as the pink pill. Another treatment is Vilece, which is an injection. It comes in a pen, so you never see the needle and really don't feel the needle.   You give it to yourself about 45 minutes to an hour before sexual activity. Both of these medications are working on the brain chemistry because the brain is the biggest sex organ in the body. It's the most important sex organ.   It works on the brain chemistry and improving the dopamine and norepinephrine and the good sex positive hormones. Like I said, it's only approved for premenopausal women, but many of us do prescribe it for postmenopausal women. We have studies to show that it's safe and it's effective.   The drug companies didn't go through with all the rigmarole they had to do to get the FDA-approved indication for that. We've got all kinds of tricks up our sleeve.   Laura Dugger: (31:16 - 31:26) Absolutely. Just piggybacking on that, they wouldn't oftentimes follow through on all those studies, would you say primarily because of financial restraints?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (31:27 - 31:41) Totally. To get a medication approved for female sexual function, it's multi-million, if not a billion dollars. Studies and everything that needs to be done, it's crazy.   That's why these meds are so expensive.   Laura Dugger: (31:42 - 32:14) Then you also mentioned earlier bringing in the quality of life. There are so many options to consider, but such a personal basis. I had another question that arose.   You kind of were answering that because this one works with the brain chemistry. I'm thinking the body parts may be functioning and you can do different things to have an erection or be aroused with your genitalia, but how is desire affected with cancer?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (32:16 - 35:03) It's huge, unfortunately. Again, if we go back to that biopsychosocial model and for everything to work well, everything's got to be working well. If we have pain, of course that drives down desire.   We use the analogy of putting your hand on a hot stove. Pain with sex can hurt just as badly as that. I have women tell me it's 10 out of 10 pain feels like shards of glass.   Obviously, that's not pleasant. If we compare that to putting your hand on a hot stove, why in the world would you want to do that? We've got to take care of the pain.   When it comes to pain, it becomes imprinted in the brain and the body responds by just amplifying that pain. You've got more pain and you have less desire. Part of GSM or surgery or chemotherapy and other treatments, radiation, can affect the nerves.   We don't get those positive sensations and the arousal anymore. There's arousal in the brain as well as arousal in the genital area. If we're not getting that positive feedback that this just isn't fun anymore, it's hard to get enthused about engaging in that.   Sex therapy can be really helpful. Sex therapy isn't going to fix thin tissues, but a sex therapist is very skilled and trained at working with people and working with couples on trying to process this, working through the process and the changes that are happening. Sometimes it is a permanent change in sexual function, so there's grief involved.   Helping to process through some of that is really important. But again, if we take a step back and remember that sexual intimacy is more than just PIV sex, that there are all kinds of ways to be able to give and receive pleasure, as long as each person is comfortable with this. And moving beyond the thinking that, well, if I can't have intercourse, I'm not going to have anything at all, then that may mean you might not have anything at all for the rest of your life.   That makes me sad. We just have to take a step back, work through some of this, because it's a journey, it's a cancer journey, it's an aging journey, and try to make the most of it.   Laura Dugger: (35:04 - 36:32) I want to make sure that you're up to date with our latest news. We have a new website. You can visit thesavvysauce.com and see all of the latest updates. You may remember Francie Hinrichsen from episode 132, where we talked about pursuing our God-given dreams. She is the amazing businesswoman who has carefully designed a brand-new website for Savvy Sauce Charities, and we are thrilled with the final product. So, I hope you check it out.   There you're going to find all of our podcasts, now with show notes and transcriptions listed, a scrapbook of various previous guests, and an easy place to join our email list to receive monthly encouragement and questions to ask your loved ones so that you can have your own practical chats for intentional living. You will also be able to access our donation button or our mailing address for sending checks that are tax deductible so that you can support the work of Savvy Sauce Charities and help us continue to reach the nations with the good news of Jesus Christ. So, make sure you visit thesavvysauce.com.   What are some of those examples for someone if they can't have PIV sex anymore? What are ways that you encourage continuing to build intimacy and a knowing of one another and offering and receiving pleasure?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (36:34 - 41:17) Well, starting with making sure each person is on the same page as far as what they're comfortable with. Okay? Communication is key.   To be able to talk about what you want, what you desire, what your needs are, and listening to your partner say that same thing, trying to make no judgments and not forcing anybody into anything, but just so that we can help understand each other. And when it comes to actual giving and receiving pleasure, whether that's with manual stimulation, with your hands, with your fingers, or if you have a massager, oral stimulation, using a vibrator. And a vibrator can be really helpful for women in menopause, women dealing with cancer treatments, and also for men if they need a little extra help with the stimulation because their nerves aren't working so well.   A vibrator, using it together in the context of giving and receiving pleasure can help, just help with the response, help with the enjoyment, and make it a little more fun, as long as everybody's okay with that. Using a lubricant is really important. And a good lubricant, you want to use a good lubricant because some of the more common ones, unfortunately, have ingredients in them that can actually hurt or irritate.   And like KY and Astroglide, sorry to name names here, but they're basic water-based lubricants, have either glycerin, parabens, or propylene glycol in them, and those can irritate, so we want to try to avoid those. A silicone-based lubricant doesn't have those preservatives, and it stays slippery longer. Where we have to be careful with that is that if you're using a silicone tool, otherwise known as a vibrator, you don't want to use those together because it can ruin the tool.   And if the man is struggling with ED, using too much, especially of a silicone lubricant, can make it too slippery. And too slippery is not so good for him. Oil-based lubricants, they're very nice, except if you're using condoms, it will degrade the condom and create other problems, potentially.   Other ways to stimulate, manually, orally, and when women have pain with intercourse, I'm going to bring in another show-and-tell here, the pain is often coming from the vulva, not so much in the vagina. We talk about vaginal dryness and vaginal atrophy, but the part that's most sensitive is often just right inside the little lips here. And so, if we have terrible pain with penetration, we want to avoid that.   However, the whole surrounding vulvar area is very rich in nerves, can be very much stimulated, and it can feel really good, however each person is comfortable stimulating that area. And another fun fact is that this entire structure is the clitoris. You know, when we think of the clitoris, we think of the glands, this tiny little magic button right here, which, by the way, has 10,000 nerve endings in it.   It's incredible. But the legs, the legs are the cruise of the clitoris, as well as the bulbs. They come down on either side of the vagina.   So, the vagina is here. However, this part of the clitoris can easily be stimulated, so the legs of the clitoris can be easily stimulated, just inside the labia majora, or the outer lips. So, using a vibrator here can be really pleasurable, and you're avoiding the part that hurts.   So, stimulating externally the clitoris, the labia, and wherever else feels good can be very fun. And so, if you try to approach it may be like a game, making it fun and exploring each other's bodies so that you can really figure out ways to make the other person feel good or experience pleasure without causing pain.   Laura Dugger: (41:18 - 41:43) That's so great. And like you had mentioned, if they go see a Christian sex therapist, they would say the same thing as you to stop when there is pain, because it just makes it worse over time. And so, I love that you've given us other options, if that is the case.   Is there ever a time where orgasm is no longer possible after cancer?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (41:46 - 43:14) It's possible. Yes. Depending on the cancer and the treatment, that it can make it really difficult or even impossible to get there.   But that's where we want to not focus on orgasm as the ultimate goal, because if we engage in sexual activity with orgasm as the ultimate goal, your brain's not going to let you go there, whether it's the male or the female, either one, the brain is the biggest sex organ in the body. Just trying to go for the gold just won't let you get there. So, you have to relax and enjoy the journey regardless.   So even if the cancer or the treatment didn't necessarily affect orgasm or if it's just our brains, my encouragement is to approach a sexual encounter as an experience. Enjoy the experience. It's not a performance.   We don't want to perform because then we get in our head, and we get nervous and our muscles all tighten up. So, we don't want to perform. We want to enjoy the experience, and it can be very pleasurable.   Even if orgasm isn't part of the picture anymore, it doesn't mean you can't have fun and can't connect because you can.   Laura Dugger: (43:15 - 43:25) But then I guess also to offer the hope, if I ask it a different way, are there times that orgasm is still possible after a cancer diagnosis?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (43:27 - 44:01) Absolutely. We always have hope. We always have hope.   Just because you're diagnosed with cancer doesn't mean you're not going to be able to engage in PIV sex or be able to experience an orgasm because that's always a possibility. Don't focus on just getting to the big orgasm. You want to slow down, enjoy the journey, and oftentimes it will come.   There are medications that help with blood flow, that help with arousal and orgasm, and sometimes they can be helpful. Sometimes they're not, but usually it doesn't hurt to try them.   Laura Dugger: (44:02 - 44:26) There you go. That's a very helpful reminder. It's a piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing.   But if someone right now is walking through their own cancer journey, what else would you advise them both to do and to avoid doing so that they can still enjoy the healthiest sex life possible with their spouse?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (44:29 - 47:19) That's going to involve several pieces. One, first and foremost, maintain the communication about wants and desires, what hurts, what doesn't, what can we do, what do you want to try tonight? Maintaining the communication.   It's much better to prevent problems like the vaginal dryness and pain than to try to treat it after you've been dealing with it for years sometimes, or even months. If you have, say, breast cancer, just getting in the habit of using one of those vaginal moisturizers from the get-go even before the dryness starts can help prevent problems. Seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist can be really, really helpful.   A pelvic floor physical therapist is a physical therapist who specializes in these pelvic floor muscles that help support everything on the inside. And so if these muscles are too tight, causes pain, and if they're already too tight, doing tangles is the last thing that you want to do, because sometimes it means being able to relax them. Or women who have, who need pelvic radiation, say for uterine cancer, the gynecologic oncologist is usually really good about giving you a vaginal dilator and to use it, but they're not always really good at telling you exactly how to use it, how frequently and how long, so be sure and ask.   Because again, we want to maintain the integrity of the tissues, because it's better to maintain them than try to get it back. That's often quite hard. For guys, especially with prostate cancer, it means participating in that, we call it penile rehabilitation.   So, it's basically physical therapy for the penis. You know, its muscle, so we want to keep that muscle healthy and to help maintain healthy tissues. And just trying to be as good to ourselves as we can, giving ourselves and our partners grace when we need it, because it's a journey and it's not an easy one.   But we believe in a big God and he's there to help us through this and he delights when husband and wife can unite as one, whatever that looks like. And it makes him happy and he's there to try to keep this going for us.   Laura Dugger: (47:21 - 47:40) And you may have already answered this question with that, but I love how you're always encouraging and gentle and full of hope. So, any other hope that you want to share with anyone who's battled cancer or is in the midst of their journey, but they're still desiring to connect intimately with their spouse?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (47:47 - 48:33) Sometimes it means asking for help. So, for finding a provider, whether that's a therapist, a gynecologist, a sexual medicine provider, or even your pastor counselor to help you through this. In the show notes, we'll put in websites where you can find a provider because not everybody is educated.   Hardly anybody's educated on this, unfortunately. But there are people out there throughout the country, throughout the world, where you can find to help guide you on this journey. Don't suffer in silence.   We're here to help. So be sure to reach out so we can help you.   Laura Dugger: (48:33 - 48:50) That's so good, Dr. Christiansen. And are there any other proactive measures that all of us can take to set us up for a healthy sex life into aging or any diagnoses that we may get in the future?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (48:53 - 50:38) Well, treating our body like a temple, like God says. We have to take good care of ourselves. And just in general, going for your preventative visits and checking your cholesterol and your blood sugar and your blood pressure and screening for cancer so we can prevent them or catch them really early.   And it's so much easier to treat. But things like smoking and diabetes and being overweight and high blood pressure, high cholesterol, they impact sexual function very negatively, especially smoking. Guys are still surprised when I tell them, or I show them a picture of a cigarette with ashes that are kind of wilting off the end.   This is your penis. This is what happens with smoking. Okay.   So quitting smoking. And in women, we have those same little blood vessels and nerves that men do. And so not taking care of ourselves as far as weight, exercise and diabetes and all that stuff, that affects our sexual function, too.   So just making sure that we take a proactive stance on just taking really good care of our medical and our mental health because that's so important. And our spiritual health. Can't forget that, too.   Yeah. Just, you know, taking care of ourselves because aging does impact sexual function. As we get older, our endurance isn't quite what it used to be.   Certainly not as flexible as we used to be. Things kind of hurt. Achy joints and whatever.   So, the more we can take care of ourselves, the more we can enjoy that sexual intimacy, which does involve a little bit of physical exertion.   Laura Dugger: (50:39 - 51:03) Absolutely. Well, you've shared a lot of places where we can go to seek help. But I would love to know where we can continue to learn from you or a website where people can find out more of your offerings because you mentioned not many people are educated in this field or on this topic, but you are a great resource.   So where would you direct all of us after this chat?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (51:05 - 52:23) Well, I started my own business called Intimate Focus, Intimate-Focus.com. Where my goal is to offer education and quality products that people can use to help equip them and enhance sexual intimacy. As part of my clinical career where I see patients, we'd often talk about using a good lubricant or getting a vibrator to help with those nerves that just aren't quite as effective anymore.   And so many times they told me they were just not comfortable going to an adult store or they didn't want to purchase them on Amazon because it could be a shared account and kids or whatever may see what they're ordering. So, this is a private and secure site and I don't even know how to sell your email so don't worry, that's not going to happen. Where you can purchase good quality products, I vet them out myself to make sure that they don't contain the ingredients that I encourage women to avoid and no pictures with nudity or anything like that because I want it to be a comfortable space or at least as comfortable as we can make it for everybody.   Laura Dugger: (52:24 - 52:43) Wonderful. Well, I'll certainly link that in the show notes as well. And Dr. Christiansen, you are already a friend of The Savvy Sauce, so you know that we're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge. And so, as my final question for you today, what is your Savvy Sauce?   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (52:46 - 53:15) Well, you know, James in the Bible is a very practical kind of guy and I love his advice that we should all be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. And if we were all able to do that or at least just a little more of that, I think our world would be a much better place to live.   Laura Dugger: (53:16 - 53:42) This is so good. I cannot hear that verse enough and I just truly look so forward to the times that I get to spend with you. You are such a calming presence full of wisdom.   That's what we prayed for before we had the recording begin for today. And I am just overflowing with gratitude. So, thank you, Dr. Christiansen, for all that you've shared. Thank you so much for being my returning guest.   Dr. Kris Christiansen: (53:43 - 53:48) Well, thank you, Laura. This has been great. It's an honor to be on your show.   Laura Dugger: (53:50 - 57:32) One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before?   It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.   That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.   We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, would you pray with me now?   Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you. Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life?   We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.   If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me, so me for him. You get the opportunity to live your life for him. And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason.   We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you ready to get started? First, tell someone.   Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble and let me choose my own Bible.   I selected the Quest NIV Bible and I love it. You can start by reading the book of John. Also, get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ.   I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps, such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. We want to celebrate with you too, so feel free to leave a comment for us here if you did make a decision to follow Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read scripture that describes this process.   And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.   And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

Magen and Rick are back, and this time they're getting straight to it—no fluff, just facts. This episode is all about the numbers driving the self-storage industry right now. You'll learn where people are moving, how much you can raise rates without losing tenants, and what metrics actually matter when you're making decisions.This is a numbers show—no feelings, all data.What You'll Learn:37% of people are planning a move in the next 6–12 months47% of customers will leave if rates go up 10–20%Renters want easy, no-hassle experiencesEconomic pressure is pushing people to more affordable areasTech will keep shaping the industryFlexible operators will winGreat customer service still matters—big timeIf you're ready to nerd out (just a bit) and walk away with actionable insights, hit play. Reach out to us at info@atomicstoragegroup.com

Andrew Lynch, CEO of Homely, spoke to Jerry about how the platform has applied to Limerick City and County Council to build its first rent-to-own scheme in Castletroy and has a target of 1,000 new and already-built homes by 2030. For more: https://ownhomely.com/

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines:Human rights groups condemn University of Melbourne surveillance policiesAttack on Zamzam camp in Sudan's North Darfur regionGaza and West Bank updatesCalls for review of AUKUS dealMedical groups urge federal candidates to prioritise climate change-induced health crisesConcerns about City of Melbourne's greening strategy Witt Gorrie at Trans Day of Action 2025//We listened to a speech recorded at the Trans Day of Action rally held on the 31st of March by Witt Gorrie, who described the ties between First Nations justice, trans liberation and decarceration. If you want to hear more about Witt's collaborative, abolition focused work, you can revisit our show from the 28th of February featuring Witt Gorrie and Beyond Bricks and Bars steering committee members Kate and Gia in conversation with Priya.Keep up this important work and show your support by coming down to Parliament House next Saturday the 26th April at 11:30am for the Trans Liberation Counter Protest. Bring along your p2/n95 face masks, friends, family and noisemakers!// The Nightmare Sequence//Omar Sakr and Safdar Ahmed spoke with Priya about their new collaborative work The Nightmare Sequence, which is out now with the University of Queensland Press (all author royalties donated to Palestinian charities). The Nightmare Sequence, featuring poetry by Omar and illustrations by Safdar, is a searing response to the atrocities committed by Israel and its allies in Gaza and beyond since October 2023. Born of collective suffering and despair, the book interrogates the position of witness: the terrible and helpless distance of vision, the impact of being exposed to violence of this scale on a daily basis, and what it means to live in a society that is actively participating in the catastrophic destruction of Arabs and Muslims overseas.  Omar is a poet and writer born in Western Sydney to Lebanese and Turkish Muslim migrants. He is the acclaimed author of the novel Son of Sin and three poetry collections, including The Lost Arabs, which won the 2020 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry. Safdar Ahmed is an award-winning artist, writer, musician and cultural worker. His graphic novel Still Alive won the Multicultural NSW Award and was named Book of the Year in the 2022 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Safdar is a founding member of the Refugee Art Project and a member of eleven, a collective of contemporary Muslim Australian artists, curators and writers.// Autism Supports for Comfort, Care and Connection//Prof Deborah Lupton joins us to discuss the new autistic-led project, Autism Supports for Comfort, Care and Connection with the Project Lead, Dr Megan Rose and illustrator Sarah Firth. The project reveals the everyday and creative ways autistic adults use objects, services, and creatures to support their wellbeing. Published by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society at UNSW, the project provides beautiful illustrations and rich inner worlds of Autistic adults about the supports that help them, special interests that fill them up, and challenges they face. The illustration published with this week's episode has been used with permission from the project team.// Renters' Federal Election Priorities//Bernie Barrett, Acting CEO of Better Renting, unpacks what's on the table for renters in the major parties' housing policy platforms announced last weekend. Bernie also speaks about Better Renting's Renter's Election pledge, and what it means to think about renters in so-called australia as a voting bloc. Head to renters-election.au to find out more about and sign up to the pledge.//

Rooftop solar has long been out of reach for many renters and apartment dwellers but the Haystacks Solar Garden in NSW's Riverina has pioneered a new model for people locked out of rooftop solar. Haystacks is Australia's first large-scale solar garden — and a recent winner of a Banksia National Sustainability Award. With 175 ‘solar plots' generating power from the Grong Grong solar farm, this community-led project offers a new model for energy equity and a fresh take on how big solar can partner with communities. Nigel Hancock from community energy group Pingala, one of the key partners behind Haystacks, explains how solar gardens work and whether the model can be scaled to empower more communities around the country.

Why pensioners and renters in some of the election's most hotly contested seats feel they've been left out of election housing promises.

Why pensioners and renters in some of the election's most hotly contested seats feel they've been left out of election housing promises.

Housing has been in the spotlight with Labour and the coalition launching their housing polices over the weekend to help new home buyers get into the market — but some say renters have been overlooked in all the new policy announcements — so what could and should a Federal Government be doing by way of improving the lives of renters?We also talk tax policy, the call for free school lunches and how virtual reality is being used to train first responders to birth emergencies.

Most agents avoid renters like the plague—but Andre built a thriving business by leaning into this overlooked niche. In this episode of Uncommon Real Estate, Chris sits down with Northern Virginia native Andre Gutierrez to break down how he turned low-commission rental leads into lifelong clients, consistent referrals, and long-term wealth. Andre shares the exact questions, scripts, and mindset that helped him go from $3K/month in rentals to a business fueled by service, loyalty, and hundreds of closed deals. What You'll Learn:Why most agents miss the opportunity in rental leads—and how Andre saw goldThe “qualify and convert” script that turns renters into buyersHow helping someone rent led to $1M+ in referrals (and a 10-year relationship)What to say when a rental client says, “I'm not ready to buy”How client events and community-building fuel his referral machineWhy pushing clients to make the right decision earns trust, not resistanceThe personal touch that keeps Andre top of mind—YEARS after the deal closesConnect with Andre:Instagram: @andresellsvaCall/Text: 703-586-7338

In this episode of Girls in Property, Athena Dobson sits down with the brilliant Kim from KoMo Properties to explore her inspiring journey into the world of property investment. Kim shares how she got started with her very first deal – a bold move into a multi-unit block – and talks candidly about the lessons she's learned along the way. From Kim's, legal know-how and risk management to the real-life challenges of dealing with tenants, Kim opens up about the realities behind the business.The conversation flows into the importance of education, both formal and through hands-on experience, as well as the huge value of surrounding yourself with the right network. Athena and Kim also touch on the need to pause and celebrate your wins, even while juggling the everyday demands of running a business.They dive into the complexities of managing HMOs and what the upcoming Renters' Rights Bill could mean for landlords. Kim also shares insights on building a solid brand, why consistently reinvesting in your business matters, and how working with a life partner brings both challenges and rewards. Throughout the episode, there's a clear message about staying flexible, prepared, and open to growth in an industry that's always evolving.Packed with practical advice, honest reflections, and plenty of motivation, this episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to build or scale their property journey with purpose and confidence.How to get involved with the Girls in Property Community

The Accommodation Supplement is one of Aotearoa's primary social housing support programmes. It provides weekly financial assistance to lower-income households struggling with housing costs. A recent study by University of Auckland has revealed that the supplement is failing to ease housing stress, with renters receiving the subsidy spending more of their income on rent than those who don't, across all income brackets. Producer Amani spoke to University of Auckland Associate Property Professor Edward Yiu to find out more about this research and to see what advice he has for student renters.

The spring market is all but dead in 2025. That much is clear. The traditional seasonal surge in home sales that typically arrives in March and April has simply failed to show up. Home sales across Canada remain at multi-decade lows, with April currently trending a shocking 33% below last year—an already sluggish benchmark in itself. The market remains paralyzed under the weight of higher interest rates and high home prices, both of which are now colliding with a wave of mortgage renewals, Trump-imposed tariffs, and an upcoming federal election. These compounding pressures have Canadians turning their attention away from housing, choosing caution and savings over real estate.And yet, below the surface, the long-term trajectory of the Canadian real estate market is beginning to reveal itself. This episode dives deep into the undercurrents—employment, arrears, monthly payments, national inventory, and new housing construction—to show you where the market is heading next, even if you're not planning a move anytime soon. One revealing example is a recent court-ordered sale we just attended. Despite going through a complex legal foreclosure process, the property still attracted multiple offers and sold over asking—showing us that demand isn't dead, just dormant and highly specific.But here's where the tone starts to shift. Monthly mortgage payments have started to trend downward from their 2023 peak of $3,400, and if the Bank of Canada cuts rates to 2% as forecasted by many Banks, we could see payments fall by 30%. Combine that with the fastest wage growth in 25 years and the highest household savings rate in three decades, and you begin to understand why buyer intentions are beginning to creep back into the market —albeit modestly. Renters planning to buy are up from 17% to 19%, and existing homeowners considering a purchase rose from 14% to 16%. With sales at 30+ year lows, these early signs of returning confidence could be the start of the next upswing in the market cycle.Inventory is also building. Active listings in February rose 13.1% year-over-year, and while we're still below the long-term average, the trend is undeniable. In Toronto, March condo listings hit a record 5,500 in one month. The sales-to-new-listings ratio has dropped below 30% for the first time since 1991, and condo prices are already down nearly 5% year-over-year. Pre-sale condo activity has collapsed. In Toronto, only 152 new condos sold in the last month—down 95% from the 2022 peak. At this pace, new completions are projected to fall from over 30,000 in 2025 to fewer than 5,000 by 2029.And yet, even this bleak data paints a roadmap. With fewer completions ahead, the pre-sale condo market may re-emerge as a viable opportunity once the correction has taken place—just not in 2025 and potentially not until 2027 or 2028. For now, returns are still negative, but improving, with cash flow losses narrowing and principal paydown delivering small but positive equity growth. As cycles go, we are in the trough. But every cycle turns, the question is when. _________________________________ Contact Us To Book Your Private Consultation:

Enforcement Against Letting Agents Is Getting Tougher! Are You Ready for 2025? The property market is about to face even stricter enforcement against letting agents, and 2025 is when it all ramps up. The upcoming Renters' Rights Bill promises tougher regulations, and Des Taylor, an expert at Landlord Licensing and Defence, is here to shed light on what that means for letting agents like you. With changes that could impact everything from tenancy agreements to property standards, the stakes are higher than ever. Des explains how the growing enforcement is linked to the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and why the Renters' Rights Bill is set to make things even tougher for agents who aren't fully compliant. The risk of penalties is on the rise, and many agents are unaware of the complexities in tenancy terminations or re-letting restrictions. Des shares his expert advice on what letting agents should be doing now to avoid the pitfalls, including why outsourcing certain tasks is crucial to staying compliant. As enforcement becomes more aggressive, it's clear that only agents who are fully up to speed on these regulations will thrive. Listen now to find out how to safeguard your business and stay ahead of the curve in 2025 and beyond. Comment below on how are you preparing for these changes?

Like most of the country, cities across Minnesota are facing severe housing shortages. It's caused cities to strike an uncomfortable balance between keeping renters safe and keeping them housed.  MPR News producer Ellie Roth talked to MPR News host Nina Moini about a story she covered looking at cities in greater Minnesota with dangerous buildings, vulnerable residents and no good options.

(Airdate 4/8/25) Michelle White is President of a Non-Profit company called Neighborhood Survant's. Her mission is to empower our local youth and community leaders with tools necessary to become difference makers.https://www.instagram.com/neighborhoodsurvants/ https://www.neighborhoodsurvants.com/ https://www.instagram.com/diprimaradio/

An RCMP officer and a retired Vancouver cop say that not even police are safe from high-tech spyware! How can we combat it then? The latest updates from the campaign trail with Richard Zussman! Landlords and renters will benefit from new measures that enhance supports, while disputes will continue to be resolved quickly and fairly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textAddressing Salon Challenges: Why You Might Be Losing Staff, Renters, and ClientsIn this episode, Jen and Todd delve into the pressing issues that might be causing salons to lose staff, renters, and clients. They analyze the root causes from three distinctive angles: staffing issues in commission salons, booth renter challenges, and client retention problems. This episode covers everything from the impact of poor leadership and lack of growth opportunities to the growing expectation of marketing support for renters and the importance of delivering a high-quality customer experience. Jen and Todd emphasize practical solutions like maintaining a clean and professional environment, offering consistent customer experiences, and fostering a positive salon culture. The conversation is rounded out with a discussion on the competitive nature of the industry and the need for businesses to innovate and improve continuously. This episode is packed with actionable insights to help salon owners and professionals thrive in the competitive beauty industry.00:00 Introduction and Greetings00:09 Why Salons Lose People: An Overview00:42 Personal Experiences and Challenges01:52 Opening Takes on Business Advice02:07 The Importance of Pricing Strategy07:05 Leading by Example and Creating Opportunities08:31 Why Salons Lose Staff: Key Reasons19:15 Why Salons Lose Booth Renters22:54 Misconceptions and Expectations23:21 Micromanaging in Salons24:40 The Walk-In Dilemma25:50 Lack of Community and Culture29:39 Client Retention Strategies39:47 The Importance of Competition42:21 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsLinks and Stuff:Our Newsletter Mentoring InquiriesFind more of our things:InstagramHello Hair Pro Website

Karen & Janet start this podcast with news for renters along with homeowners who have an excellent opportunity to sell their homes to people who are making all cash offers in Ventura.  Larry Reyes is the first guest, Larry has good news on rates as they went down a bit due to the tariffs.  Rates in the low sixes and even high fives are possible!  Larry tells us how equity can be used for investment properties, he also has the latest on new buyer programs.  Denise Pomboonreung of Paladin Professional Insurance closes out this GOTA podcast with important info on homeowners insurance.  Denise is an insurance broker who works with 50 insurance companies.  She creates a personalized package for each of her clients to find them the best rates.  Paladin will focus on high risk properties to help clients navigate through this complex industry.  Her years of experience have earned her respect in the industry, Denise knows the red flags, what to do if there is an inspection of the property and more, great conversation, a must listen for every homeowner. Lot's of valuable information in this podcast!  Janet & Karen thank you for listening!

The private rented sector is broken and tenants across the UK have been waiting for the government to ban no-fault evictions. Labour MP Alex Sobel tabled the amendment that on top of this ban, would see landlords banned from charging tenants more than one months rent up front. He's also looking at loosening guarantor laws to help more people get into private rentals. This interview was originally recorded in January 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How Letting Agents Should Prepare for the Renters' Rights Bill. The Renters' Rights Bill is on the horizon, and it's about to bring sweeping changes to the UK property market. For letting agents, it's crucial to start preparing now, because the impact on enforcement, penalties, and dispute resolution will be massive. In this episode, Des Taylor, an expert in landlord licensing and defence, breaks down exactly why letting agents need to be on top of their game before these new rules come into play. As Des explains, local housing authorities will soon have more power than ever to impose financial penalties, and you could find yourself at the mercy of hefty fines if you're not careful. Letting agents will need to make sure they have their paperwork in order, that all tenancies are compliant, and that regular inspections are up to scratch, especially since the new bill will tighten up the rules around property management. With tenants increasingly turning to 'no-win-no-fee' lawyers for issues like disrepair and deposit disputes, having a solid strategy for resolving issues without going to court is key. Plus, Des warns that even seemingly simple services like tenant find or rent collection could leave you exposed to investigation if the local authority starts digging into your files. This is the time to take action, stay ahead of the curve, and make sure you're fully prepared. Listen now to get the expert insights you need to protect your business and stay compliant. Hit play, and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Sales tax in LA County goes up today. Officials have released the results of their investigation into the Tustin Hangar Fire. The LA City Council voted today to give low-income renters in LA free attorneys. Plus, more.Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.comVisit www.preppi.com/LAist to receive a FREE Preppi Emergency Kit (with any purchase over $100) and be prepared for the next wildfire, earthquake or emergency!Support the show: https://laist.com

Today's location-specific episode features Vermont.  We explore the overview of the housing guiding document called Vermont Title 9 Chapter 137 Residential Rental Agreements.  Each of my location-specific podcasts is set up the same way answering the same four questions:  1) What are the basics of the Vermont Title 9 Chapter 137 Residential Rental Agreements, 2) What are the nuances of this location – what is different that stands out?, 3) Some guidance about abandoned items left behind by a tenant in a rental inVermont, and 4) Where to get help in your local area in Vermont.  This episode is NOT all inclusive – you must research further in your specific area including your County, Regional District, Parish, City or any other Governing Body that involves your rental location, but today's episode will get you started!

Kimberly, a seasoned property manager with 26 years of experience, shares insights on effective tenant management. She emphasizes thorough tenant screening, including credit checks and reference calls, and advocates for detailed lease agreements with house rules to educate tenants. Kimberly prioritizes showing properties before vacancy, ensuring minimal downtime. She also stresses the importance of clear communication, regular inspections (within legal limits), and proactive maintenance. In California, she advises focusing on single-family homes due to tenant protection acts on multifamily properties. Her strategies aim to minimize evictions and maintain positive landlord-tenant relationships. #RealEstateInvesting #PropertyManagement #TenantScreening #LandlordTips #RealEstateAdvice #RentalProperty #InvestmentProperties #CaliforniaRealEstate #EmpoweredInvestor #RealEstateTips Today's sponsor https://JasonHartman.com/Connected offers real estate investors access to Connected Investors' PiN (Property Intelligence Network) software. This tool provides nationwide property data, including features like unlimited individual property skip tracing, comprehensive property reports, and a Contract Genie for generating legal documents. Subscription options are available on a monthly or annual basis, with the annual plan offering additional benefits such as a dedicated product specialist. The platform emphasizes its commitment to providing accurate, up-to-date information to assist investors in making informed decisions. Visit http://jasonhartman.com/connected today! Key Takeaways: 1:29 Meet Aunt Joanie's property manager 2:17 Schedule and some housekeeping rules for https://empoweredinvestorlive.com/  4:04 Meet Kimberley 4:46 Some tricks of the trade and best practices 5:53 Showing the house 10:43 Sponsor: https://jasonhartman.com/connected 12:04 Credit, late payments, evictions, and post walkthroughs  15:21 Dealing with landlord-unfriendly regulatory environments 16:50 Lease document and house rules 17:19 moving from apartments to single family homes 18:55 Marketing the property before tenant leaves and doing virtual showings 19:59 Communicating with a tenant 21:52 Tenant protection laws 23:21 RE investing    Follow Jason on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM & LINKEDIN Twitter.com/JasonHartmanROI Instagram.com/jasonhartman1/ Linkedin.com/in/jasonhartmaninvestor/ Call our Investment Counselors at: 1-800-HARTMAN (US) or visit: https://www.jasonhartman.com/ Free Class:  Easily get up to $250,000 in funding for real estate, business or anything else: http://JasonHartman.com/Fund CYA Protect Your Assets, Save Taxes & Estate Planning: http://JasonHartman.com/Protect Get wholesale real estate deals for investment or build a great business – Free Course: https://www.jasonhartman.com/deals Special Offer from Ron LeGrand: https://JasonHartman.com/Ron Free Mini-Book on Pandemic Investing: https://www.PandemicInvesting.com

One of the largest earthquakes in decades has wrecked parts of Myanmar, but how does a country still grappling with civil war and military rule handle a natural disaster of this scale? The Guardian investigates why senior Tory Lords and MPs are lobbying to thwart the renters' reform bill. What does Prince Harry's bullying allegations, brought forward by his former charity chief, reveal about the way we provide aid? Basia Cummings is joined by the Guilty Feminist's Deborah Frances-White, plus Tortoise's Katie Riley and Claudia Williams, as they battle it out to pitch the top story of the day. **Join us at the next edition of the News Meeting Live on Tuesday 29th April here: https://www.tortoisemedia.com/our-events/the-news-meeting-live-2 Take a look at Tortoise's Peer Review tools here - https://www.tortoisemedia.com/peer-review-explore-tool Get in touch and let us know what you think should lead the news. Send a voice note to newsmeeting@tortoisemedia.com Follow us on Social Media: @tortoise on IG and X, @tortoisemedia on tiktok @tortoisemedia.bsky.social on bluesky Host: Basia Cummings, Editor at TortoiseEmail: newsmeeting@tortoisemedia.comProducer: Casey MagloireExecutive Producer: Rebecca Moore Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jill Brumbaugh is a dedicated insurance and financial services professional with a passion for helping individuals, families, and businesses secure their financial futures. With extensive experience in the insurance industry, Jill specializes in crafting personalized coverage solutions that provide peace of mind and long-term security. Her expertise spans auto, home, life, health, and business insurance, ensuring that clients receive comprehensive protection tailored to their unique needs. Known for her client-focused approach, Jill takes pride in educating her customers, simplifying complex policies, and guiding them through important financial decisions What You Will Learn: Who is Jill Brumbaugh? How did she transition into the insurance industry? What are the key differences between replacement cost and actual cash value in homeowners insurance? Why is it important for homeowners to understand the distinction between replacement cost and market value? What types of personal property should be scheduled for additional coverage in homeowners insurance? What are the implications of choosing basic fire coverage versus an all peril policy for rental properties? How can landlords protect themselves and their properties with the right insurance coverage? What are the differences between named peril and all peril policies for rental properties? Why is it important for tenants to have renters insurance, and what does it typically cover? What factors should landlords consider when requiring tenants to have renters insurance? What is the purpose of bundling insurance policies, and how can it benefit homeowners? How do claims follow a homeowner if they move to a new property? What is the Lexus Nexus database, and how does it relate to insurance claims and property history? What are the implications of having a vacant property for more than 30 days regarding insurance coverage? What types of coverage should landlords consider for vandalism and burglary in rental properties? What is service line coverage, and why might homeowners want to consider it? How does flood insurance work, and what should homeowners know about its requirements? What are the potential risks of not having water backup coverage for older properties? How can homeowners increase coverage for detached structures on their property? Jill shares how everyone can contact her. Additional Resources from Jill Brumbaugh: Website: https://agents.allstate.com/jill-brumbaugh-monaca-pa.html Email: jbrumbaugh@allstate.com Phone: 724-220-1046 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brumbaughinsurance/ Attention Investors and Agents Are you looking to grow your business? Need to connect with aggressive like-minded people like yourself? We have all the right tools, knowledge, and coaching to positively effect your bottom line. Visit:http://globalinvestoragent.com/join-gia-team to see what we can offer and to schedule your FREE consultation! Our NEW book is out...order yours NOW! Global Investor Agent: How Do You Thrive Not Just Survive in a Market Shift? Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3SV0khX HEY! You should be in class this coming Monday (MNL). It's Free and packed with actions you should take now! Here's the link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sNMjT-5DTIakCFO2ronDCg

In this conversation, Josh and Steve delve into the real estate market in Portugal, particularly focusing on Lisbon. They discuss the vibrant nature of the market, historical trends, and current economic conditions. Steve shares insights on whether now is a good time to buy, the importance of understanding prime real estate, and highlights key areas in and around Lisbon that are worth considering. Additionally, they explore the role of a buyer's agent and the differences between new builds and existing properties, providing valuable information for potential buyers. Green Ocean Global Financial Advisor: Book a call with John here - http://www.calendly.com/johnoceansgreenChoose the ExpatsEverywhere intro call and you'll get a free 15 minute call with him to see if you would like to work with him.For an introduction with Steve, contact Kalie at info@expatseverywhere.comInfinity Tower - https://residential.jll.pt/en-gb/development/infinity-tower/13774825https://www.vangproperties.com/en/lisbon-portugal-real-estate/infinity/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

257. Mother Daughter Relationship During Teen Years and Beyond with Sandra Stanley and Allie Stanley Cooney   "Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:8a NIV   **Transcription Below**   Sandra Stanley received her Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia Tech and Master of Arts from Dallas Theological Seminary. Sandra has a heart for foster kids and foster families, as she and Andy have been foster parents since 2010. Her ministry passion is promoting foster care in the local church. Much of her time these days is spent working on various writing projects and continuing her involvement with Fostering Together, the foster care initiative of North Point Ministries. Connect with her online:   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandrawstanley  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandra.w.stanley/   X: https://twitter.com/sandrawstanley   Website: https://www.sandrastanley.com/   Allie Stanley Cooney graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Communication. She completed the North Point Residency program and simultaneously earned a Masters of Christian Education degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. With a decade of experience guiding students along their spiritual journeys, Allie is passionate about empowering middle school, high school and college students to embrace a life devoted to following Jesus wholeheartedly. She has a heart for middle school and high school students and can often be spotted at any number of local coffee shops pouring into girls in those seasons of life.   Connect with her on socials: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alliekaycooney   X: https://twitter.com/alliekaystanley    Questions and Topics We Cover: How can understanding the three potential relationship stages help these daughters navigate relationships with friends and with boys? When we coach our daughters through developing friendships, what questions do you suggest we ask for clarification and what Scripture do you share for understanding our responsibility within friendships? I love how you both emphasize alone time with Jesus. How can we learn and apply this?   Other Episodes Mentioned from The Savvy Sauce: 200 Planting Seeds of Faith in Our Children with Courtney DeFeo 196 Parenting for the Relationship with Sandra Stanley   Related Episodes on The Savvy Sauce: Parenting the Prodigal Child And God's Desire For Redemption With Mother-Daughter Duo, Claire Stanfill and Tindell Baldwin Effective Parenting for Toddlers Through College with Wife, Mother to 8, and The Exchange Founder, Elizabeth Pehrson Intentional Questions to Ask Our Kids with Susan Seay 207 Cultivating Character in Our Children with Cynthia Yanof 212 School Series: Benefits of Homeschooling with Jodi Mockabee 217 Tween/Teen Females: How to Navigate Changes during Puberty with Dr. Jennifer Degler 220 Cultivating Healthy Family Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman   Thank You to Our Sponsor: Leman Property Management Company   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and subscribing to this podcast!   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)   Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   **Transcription**   Music: (0:00 – 0:08)   Laura Dugger: (0:09 - 1:46) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Duggar, and I'm so glad you're here.    Leman Property Management Co. has the apartment you will be able to call home, with over 1,700 apartment units available in Central Illinois. Visit them today at lemanproperties.com or connect with them on Facebook.    I am so excited to get to host these guests, Sandra Stanley and her daughter, Allie Stanley Cooney. They have co-authored this amazing book entitled, Meet Me in the Middle, and throughout it I just loved their sense of humor. I appreciated their witty comments that had me laughing in the middle of their stories, but I also appreciate the practicality this book has to offer.   If you think back, Courtney DeFeo was a previous guest and we discussed the treasured Bible study, which is a great thing for mothers to walk through with their tween daughters, maybe girls of approximately ages 10 to 12, so I'll make sure and link that episode in the show notes, but today's book that we're kind of emphasizing is really good as that next step to highlight perhaps with your junior high or high school daughter. It's a beautiful book because you get really both real perspectives of the mother and the daughter from two drastically different angles, and that's kind of what our conversation is gonna look like today as I get to interview mother-daughter duo, Sandra and Allie. Here's our chat.   Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Sandra and Allie.   Sandra Stanley: (1:59 - 2:03) Thank you for having us.    Allie Stanley Cooney: Thank you for having us. We're excited to be here.   Sandra Stanley: We really are.   Laura Dugger: (2:04 - 2:13) Well, I would love for us to just begin with the two of you sharing some of the hardest and sweetest phases that you've walked through in your own mother-daughter relationship.   Sandra Stanley: (2:14 - 4:00) Okay, well, let's see. Allie, this is funny and this kind of weaves through probably every question, but we are wired very differently from each other, and I am more analytical, efficient, organized, you know, all that. Allie is so creative and just spontaneous, and she is the best content creator and all of that kind of stuff, and I obsess over the details of did I capitalize everything and spell everything, and so while that has been amazing in this project working together because we kind of, you know, can just sort of coach each other along in our strengths, there were some times along the way in when she was growing up that that would just naturally cause some clashes, and that is mostly on me because I have a hard time understanding why efficiency didn't make it to the fruits of the spirit list, and you know, in parenting, efficiency is not the goal. The relationship is the goal, and I would switch those sometimes and err on the side of trying to be efficient, so often when we had those difficult times, it was on me, not her, because of all that kind of stuff, so the sweetest part, though, is she has always inspired me.   Even when she was a kid, she just had a maturity and a desire to have an intimate relationship with the Lord from an early, early age, and I think she just challenged Andy and me both in our just our personal walks with the Lord and authenticity and a bunch of things like that, so it's been a sweet relationship, and we pretty much talk all day long.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (4:00 - 4:34) Yeah, I was gonna say the sweetest season, I think, is definitely this one because I had a baby girl about two years ago, and I remember holding my baby girl for the first, second, third time, whatever, and just like, I love her so much, I'm so overwhelmed, and then looking at my mom and being like, wait a minute, you've loved me this much this whole time? Like, that's crazy. So I think getting to be a mom and doing this project together and all the things, I think this season has been definitely one of the sweetest for sure.   Laura Dugger: (4:34 - 5:07) I think that's very encouraging to anybody raising children in their home, but with your book, there were so many topics for mothers and daughters, but I'd love to first focus on this one section that you title, Finding Your People, and it's where you're talking about relationships, especially with friends and with boys, and so Allie, how can understanding the three potential relationship stages help these daughters navigate relationships with friends and with boys?   Allie Stanley Cooney: (5:08 - 7:43) Yeah, definitely, so how our book is laid out, a little bit of context, my mom wrote the first eight chapters to the moms, and then I wrote the back eight chapters to the girls, and we go through these different topics, and one of the topics, like you said, is friends and boys, so when I was thinking about that chapter, there's some, I feel like when you're in middle school, when you're in high school, friends and boys, that's what you're thinking about, that's what you care about, that's what probably you want to read about if you're gonna have to read something, so I wanted to break this down in a way that it's not natural for, you know, middle schoolers and high schoolers to think about, so we break down the three, the three potential stages, stages, that's what I'm looking for, we break down the three stages and let them know that in each stage of a potential relationship, you're called to love, and so the first stage is just before you enter into this relationship, or before you become really close friends, when you're kind of thinking through, is this something I want, is this something that will be good for you, asking the questions like, does this person make me more like Jesus, is this person a good influence, will this person help my life be better, or will it ultimately make it worse, and what does it look like to navigate that season really well, and then the next season is when you're in the relationship, and how can you love that person well while also honoring yourself and honoring that person, and then the last one I think is my favorite, because I think we forget about it potentially, and obviously a lot of our relationships, my best friend that I met in middle school is still one of my very best friends, but a lot of relationships that you have in middle school and in high school, they tend to go away, so there is a stage that is after the relationship, whether that's a breakup, or you just kind of drift apart, whatever that looks like, and the reminder that we're still called to love, because I know culture especially is like, breakup, you should just say horrible things about them, and trash them, and if anybody's friends with them, then you can't be friends with them, and I think the reality is, no, even when the relationship is over, you're still called to love them, and that doesn't mean you need to be with them, or anything like that, but it does mean being kind about them, being thoughtful, being gentle, even when you're no longer in that relationship, so I think that's something that students don't really think about, once the relationship is over, it's like moving on, yeah, you're not called to anything anymore, so yeah.   Laura Dugger: (7:44 - 8:13) I love it, and you really highlight the scripture in 1 Corinthians 13, and so even though your lessons there were directed at daughters, there's something for each of us to learn for relationships, and Sandra, I'd love to hear from your side too, when we're coaching our daughters through developing friendships, what questions do you suggest we ask for clarification, and what scripture do you share for understanding our responsibility within friendships?   Sandra Stanley: (8:14 - 10:28) Yes, great question. Well, and Allie talked about the structure of the book a little bit, you know, that we have eight topics. I write eight to the mom's. She writes eight to the girls, in the middle is the meet me in the middle section, where they come together, and where they can have these conversations, so that's the time when maybe we are talking about, okay, what is a good friend, you know, what does a good friend look like, what are some characteristics of someone that you want to be friends with, and that you want to see every day, and do life together with, what are those characteristics, what makes a lifelong friend, you know, what's the difference between a short-term friend and a long-term friend, what causes friendships to be short-term, you know, what are the things that can cause one to end, and another big question that we talk about is, do you, and do I, and this all applies to us too, not just to the girls, so when we're doing this meet me in the middle section, and having these conversations, this is a two-way conversation, and I think as moms, it's so important for us to be, you know, authentic, and to dive in and say, yeah, I kind of still struggle with this too, but do I want to become more like this potential friend, that's a big question, is there, you know, is this a person that I want to be like, because scripture is clear in Ephesians 5, “He who walks with the wise becomes wise, and companion of fools suffers harm.” That's an important thing to talk about with our kids. You are going to become more like the people that you spend time with. Another question is: Is this somebody I want to introduce my mom and dad to? I remember there were talking with our middle son years, you know, after college, after he was already married. He said, you know, I always knew, this is not a person for me, if I knew it wasn't someone that I would want to bring home and introduce to you and dad, or to Allie. You know, is this somebody that I want Allie to be friends with for the next bunch of decades, so you know, is this somebody I want to introduce my family to, and so we do take a deep dive into 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, Allie asked the girls to circle the characteristics of love, I asked the moms, hey, play along, circle the characteristics of love, let's talk about what it really looks like to love, and let's talk about what it really looks like to have friends who are lovely, and who we want to spend more time with.   Laura Dugger: (10:29 - 10:58) There's so much wisdom in that, and then I think one of your secret sauces, just as a family in general, is your practical teaching, and so if we're taking this even further, let's dive in, it's between pages 64 and 65, but there are a few quotes that I'd love for you to unpack, and one of the first ones is, don't trade what you want most for what you want in the moment.   Sandra Stanley: (10:59 - 11:01) Right, right, do you want to talk about that?   Allie Stanley Cooney: (11:01 - 11:43) Yeah, so I think it's really easy, especially when you're in middle school and high school, and you want to be popular, and you don't want to be left out, and you might want to have a boyfriend, and the reality is, if you just zoom back a little bit, you know, it's like, okay, what do you ultimately want? You ultimately want a healthy family, you ultimately want things in the future, and unfortunately, in middle school and high school, there are certain decisions that you can make that can ultimately compromise what you ultimately want, and so I think having that wisdom and that forethought of, why don't you even think about what you want? Like, have you ever sat down and thought about what you want in your future?   Let's do that together, and then back it up from there, and then see if you're making decisions that will lead to that.   Sandra Stanley: (11:44 - 12:55) Yeah, I think so, and the good thing about the book is moms can contextualize some of this to the age of their daughters, so if it's an older daughter, and she's in a relationship where, you know, there's likely to be some struggle with, you know, how far do I go physically, you know, what are my standards going to be, is all that, to relate to all that, this particular quote is such an important thing to talk about.   Don't trade what you want most for what you might want in the moment, and that speaks, you know, really loudly to a physical relationship, and one of the good things about doing this meet-me-in-the-middle-with-a-daughter is you can have these conversations ahead of time, before there's a face, you know, that we're talking about, or a particular boyfriend or friendship. We can have these conversations early, and then when these things come, we can go back and go, hey, remember what we talked about, about don't trade what you want most for what you want in the moment? Let's just, I want you to go on this date, but I want you to remember that, you know, the decisions that you're gonna make now, they're gonna impact what your future is gonna be like, and the story that you're gonna tell, so that was, that was just kind of what we were, had in our minds as we talked about, don't trade what you want most for what you want in the moment.   Laura Dugger: (12:55 - 13:06) Well, then you follow it up with, don't let your future be negatively influenced by people who won't even be in your future, and I think that kind of...   Allie Stanley Cooney: (13:07 - 13:41) I remember that clicking when I was in high school. I remember, I was dating a guy, and I was like, no, I don't want to marry him, like, no, like, that'd be crazy. What?   And then I'm like, why am I dating him? Like, yeah, I don't want anything, I don't want my friendships impacted, like, I don't want to push my friendships away because I'm spending more time with him. Like there's so many things other than just physical boundaries, which obviously that's a huge one too.   But even aside from that, people who aren't going to be in your life long-term do have the potential to affect your future. So I think that's a really important one too.   Sandra Stanley: (13:41 - 14:28) And affect the relationships that you want to carry into your future. Your good friends, you know, the people that you want to spend time with. So that's a really important one, I think.   And these are great conversation topics. You know, even if you write it on a card and hand it to your daughter and say, hey, let's talk about what this looks like. Don't let your future be negatively influenced by people who won't even be in your future.   And this is where the mom in the conversation that they're having in the meet me in the middle section can talk about a relationship that she can remember having that she thought was going to be forever. And it was, you know, seven months of her life. And then it was over.   So having those opportunities to have these conversations with our girls is so important. And these two particular quotes are really important to talk about ahead of time.   Laura Dugger: (14:29 - 14:52) Certainly. And it just circles back to even Allie, those three things that you were talking about earlier, those three stages, your conclusion in that section is love never fails. And so if we actually are loving in the way the list of first Corinthians 13 love list, then that is hopefully going to set our daughters and us as mothers up for success.   Sandra Stanley: (14:52 - 14:53) Absolutely.   Laura Dugger: (14:54 - 16:57) Let's take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. With over 1,700 apartment units available throughout Pekin, Peoria, Peoria Heights, Morton, Washington, and Canton. And with every price range covered, you will have plenty of options when you rent through Leman Property Management Co.   They have townhomes, duplexes, studios, and garden style options located in many areas throughout Pekin. In Peoria, a historic downtown location and apartments adjacent to the OSF Medical Center provide excellent choices. 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Check them out on Facebook today or email their friendly staff at leasing@LemanProps.com. You can also stop by their website at lemanproperties.com.   That's L-E-M-A-N properties.com. Check them out and find your place to call home today.    And Sandra, would you mind just setting the scene, take us back to that day that you walked into your sweet daughter's messy room?   Sandra Stanley: (16:59 - 19:08) Which time? So, this is so funny, and it goes back to how we're wired so differently. I have a place for everything and everything has its place, and I clean up as I go, and all of that kind of stuff, and my sweet, creative daughter just operates differently.   But that manifests itself in a messy room, which really wasn't okay. And growing up, obviously, we want to teach our children just good habits and being tidy and all the things that are gonna serve them well later. So there was one particular day, she was at school, and I had been in her room doing something and realized, wow, this is kind of off the chart messy.   And so when she gets home, we're gonna have to have a conversation about this whole thing. So fast forward, we get to the afternoon, Allie's upstairs, and I know she's up there in her room, so this will be a good time. And I wasn't always the best at picking my approach or my timing, but I did work on it.   So by the time she was in high school, I think I was better maybe at that. She might not think so. But anyway, so anyway, so I walk in her room and I look, and she's sitting on the floor, just furiously typing.   And she goes, mom, before I can even say anything, mom, my girls are going into high school, I'm getting ready to leave to go to college, and there's just some things I need them to know. So I'm writing Allie's rules for high school. And she said, let me read them to you.   So she starts reading this list. And with every single one, my heart just started, I mean, I just started melting into the messy floor with her because I thought this is so much more important. If I were to describe the bullseye on the target in parenting, it would have nothing to do with the clean room.   It would have everything to do with the character of her heart. And as she was writing and reading me these rules, I thought this is Allie's heart on display. And it just kind of was a life changing moment for me.   And then I asked her if I could put it on my blog. I was actively blogging at the time. And she's like, sure, nobody will see it.   So you can put it on your blog.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (19:09 - 19:09) Cute little blog.   Sandra Stanley: (19:09 - 19:37) And as it turned out, it went viral and was all over the place and radio shows in the mornings and all that. On the first day of school, back to school in Fulton County in Atlanta, there was the Burt Show, I think it's still show, Burt Show, a radio show, drive time show. And he was reading them, reading them off.   And everybody in his studio was all commenting on each one of them. So as all of Fulton County is driving to school, Allie's rules for high school were being read to them.   Laura Dugger: (19:38 - 19:45) Wow. I mean, I guess knowing the list, it doesn't surprise me that it would go viral.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (19:46 - 19:48) And I- Surprised me, for sure, yeah.   Laura Dugger: (19:49 - 19:59) Well, I envision mothers and daughters even listening to this conversation together. I do wonder if my daughters would love to pause and go back and say, remember, mark of good parenting is not a clean room.   Sandra Stanley: (20:00 - 20:03) So- Right, they're gonna bookmark that statement, yeah.   Laura Dugger: (20:04 - 20:10) I was guilty of that too, growing up. But Allie, would you be willing to share some of those rules with us?   Allie Stanley Cooney: (20:10 - 21:44) Yeah, no, I'd love to. Well, I will say, so I was going into high school as the small group girls that I was leading. No, no, sorry, I was going into college while the small group girls I was leading were going into high school.   And there was just a lot of things I wanted them to know and to remember and things we had talked about and things that maybe I had learned the hard way or watched my friends learn the hard way. So I will say, hearing them go, like I didn't write them for everybody to hear them. You didn't write them for a universal audience.   No, I think I would have written them differently, but it's sweet now and I'm glad. So I'll just read a couple. I won't do all of them because there's 20 in the book.   But one, surround yourself with people who build you up, not with people who tear you down. Have an accountability partner and be willing to tell her everything. Emphasis on her.   Yep, be so, so, so, so, so, so careful about who you date. This one's my favorite. I don't know why, I just, I really, this one hits home.   If you're wondering if you should break up with him, break up with him. That's the one I learned the hard way. Yep.   Pray, pray, pray. Don't ever forget how much you need God. Have a quiet time.   It may seem like a hassle, but it will help you stay close to God. Be nice to your parents. They love you and want what's best for you.   So if you disagree with them, just remember that they're a lot smarter than you. Sorry about that. Never be afraid to say no.   When you fall on your face, get back up. There's a bunch more, but the last one is one of my favorites and it's selfies are for faces. That sounds like a good one.   Sandra Stanley: (21:44 - 21:49) That was such an insightful one just for girls to hear. Silly. You know, you do a face, a face.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (21:49 - 21:52) I mean, it was mostly like an inside joke.   Sandra Stanley: (21:52 - 22:03) So there were several that were inside jokes for them, which didn't make fun and didn't make a lot of sense on the radio to drive time in Fulton County, but they made it all funny and fun.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (22:03 - 22:05) So that's a couple of them.   Laura Dugger: (22:05 - 22:17) I actually thought that was one of my favorites as well. It was put in a succinct way. And at that time, you were just a few years ahead of them.   And so hearing that from you lands differently than hearing that from mom.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (22:18 - 22:18) Yeah.   Laura Dugger: (22:19 - 22:35) But Allie, you're kind of explaining, it was one of those decisions, if you reverse back a little bit, can you share, you write that it was one of the best decisions to grow your faith. And it's something pretty replicable that I'm hoping others will grasp onto as well.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (22:35 - 23:12) No, and that was, if I'm remembering correctly, what I wrote in there, there's a couple of things, but deciding to be a middle school small group leader when I was in high school was probably the best decision I made for my faith because it caused me to take it really seriously. It made me realize, oh, the decisions I make aren't just going to affect me, it's actually now gonna affect these girls. I remember having a moment where I realized, okay, I don't wanna make any decision where I'm gonna be tempted to lie to these girls about it.   Cause you know, middle school girls, they asked me everything.   Sandra Stanley: (23:13 - 23:13) No boundaries.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (23:13 - 23:46) And they were all in my business. And so realizing like, okay, I don't wanna make a decision where if they ask me, which they will, I don't want to be tempted to lie to them. So what did those decisions look like?   What would I be proud to tell them? And ultimately what decisions do I want them to make when they're in high school? So it not only drew me a lot closer to Jesus, cause they also would ask me theological questions and like faith questions.   And I was like, I don't know, let me dive in. But also it was a really cool accountability that I really loved having in high school.   Sandra Stanley: (23:47 - 24:21) This is really one of the things that we've done for a long time in our church. And that is allow our high school students to partner with an adult to lead these small groups. And it just has, it has impacted all three of our kids in their faith journey.   And again, to Allie's point, a big part of it is accountability. Like, oh my goodness, I don't want my girls or my guys to, I don't wanna do something that's gonna cause me to either have to lie or that would be disappointing to them. And so I think it was a, I think it's a great part of the program, yeah.   But so volunteering, always huge.   Laura Dugger: (24:22 - 24:32) Agreed. And to get our students into ministry where they get to experience leadership early on, I think that's so profoundly impactful for faith.   Sandra Stanley: (24:32 - 24:33) That's exactly right, yes.   Laura Dugger: (24:34 - 24:59) Well, and something else that both of you emphasize, which I especially appreciated, was spending alone time with Jesus. And Allie, you were saying that we have to incorporate foundational beliefs and practices into our lives, specifically through two steps, learning and applying. So, will you elaborate on both of those parts?   Allie Stanley Cooney: (25:00 - 26:11) Yeah, so I, yeah, I mean, that's how we grow our faith. We can't have a faith if we don't know anything, and then we can't really have a faith if we're not putting what we know into practice. So, the learning really just looks like reading your Bible.   You know, it looks like it's those really obvious, quote unquote, steps. If you go to church, you've listened to the message and you take in the information about Jesus and about scripture and about God and about who you are and about who people are, and that's you're learning. You have to learn, you have to take in the information.   And then the second one is when you put it into practice, you know, you actually live out what scripture says, you live out what you're learning in church, you love the people around you well, you root yourself and establish yourself in the love of Jesus and who he says you are, and you walk in your identity. So, it's so multifaceted and there's a lot to it, but ultimately, if you can break it down and tell the girls, hey, we learn, and then we take what we learn and we do it, and that's how you grow your faith. And even when it gets hard, you keep going.   And even when people push back, you keep doing it, you keep learning, and you keep applying. And ultimately, that's how your faith grows.   Sandra Stanley: (26:12 - 26:20) And that is how a Jesus follower consistently follows Jesus. So, it's such an important thing. Yeah, absolutely.   Laura Dugger: (26:21 - 26:52) Well, and even one example of that, you first of all say, keep continually putting truth in front of you, but then you go a step further and you say, well, even before that, spend a little bit of time thinking about the best way to keep truth in front of you. And you challenge readers to consider the routines and rhythms of their normal day and see where they can put important truths in. So, do either of you have an example of how you do that in your own life?   Allie Stanley Cooney: (26:53 - 27:54) Yeah, and it's looked really different throughout my life. And I think I wanna give permission to these girls that it's okay if it looks different than somebody else, because we learn and we feel close to our heavenly father in different ways than everybody else and in different seasons of life. So, I remember when I was in middle school, I had a devotional, and it was very story-based.   It was like made up stories, but it had something to learn at the end of it. It had a moral and it was always Jesus-centered, and it was always about simple things like generosity and gratitude. And reading stories for me was how I connected with God.   And then as I got older, I started reading scripture for myself and I'm a huge journaler. So now my time looks a lot like reading scripture and journaling and then journaling some more and then reading scripture. And that's kind of where I find my time with the Lord.   Yeah, but it's definitely changed over time.   Sandra Stanley: (27:54 - 31:31) I would say that mine has changed in different seasons of life too. When you're single and you've got lots of flexibility and time, it really looked one way for me. It was morning and it was longer and all of that.   In the parenting seasons, it looked different throughout that journey when the little ones, I would try to get up before them and try to get my quiet time in, but it really did. It ebbed and flowed in the amount of time I was able to spend and all of that. In this season, I have more time.   And for me, it's always been better in the morning. I know some people are better at night and that's fine. For me, it's been morning, and I just have to have my space, my particular place that I go with all my quiet time materials there.   And when I'm there, it just, the distractions are minimal. And that's because that's just my place to be alone with my heavenly father. I've got a little spot to pray and a spot to sit and read and study.   And so that's what it looks like for me. I am so often asked by moms; do we make our kids have a quiet time? Do I make my middle school son or my middle school daughter or high school daughter have a quiet time?   And I always say, no, you don't need to make them do it. But I suggest three things. You model it, you encourage it, and you make it easy.   You model it, you encourage it and make it easy. So, I, my kids saw me and Andy having quiet times their whole childhood. And again, it looked different, different seasons, but they knew that we both spent time in the word and in prayer.   And that just modeled it for them. So, it was something that they just grew up kind of assuming is a given, which is a good thing, but you can also encourage it. And that's one of the things that we did was we just helped them as they got older, figure out what does this look like for you?   You know, what kind of, are you a morning person? Are you an evening person? Is this gonna be, you know, just helping them figure out best times and best practices and all that for their personality and temperaments.   And then making it easy. We always made sure our kids had age-appropriate Bibles in every season, starting when they couldn't even read little picture Bibles that were their own. We wanted them to have their own Bible and never remember a time that they didn't have their own.   And so we just made sure that, you know, different seasons of their lives, they had age appropriate Bibles. And one of the things that I did, and this is just a kind of a, maybe a little fun thing, their Easter baskets every year, while, you know, it always had some chocolate bunnies, you know, and all the normal Easter basket things, I always made sure that there were quiet time tools in their Easter basket that were age appropriate and, you know, proclivity appropriate based on what they liked. And, you know, one of our sons was a reader, one wasn't so much a reader, but if it was about an athlete and the athlete's testimony, they would both read that.   So, I would put all kinds of different things for Allie, journaling stuff, pens, colored pencils, just anything that I thought would encourage their journey in a quiet time. That was my big time to do that. And then of course, other times of the year, we would add some things, but model it, encourage it, make it easy.   And that's the best way to set your kids up to maybe make this as a habit. And even when they don't, nagging isn't gonna help, so don't nag, you know, don't nag under the guise of I'm just reminding them, but model it, encourage it in the appropriate ways and then make it easy.   Laura Dugger: (31:31 - 31:48) And I even thought there was additional practical wisdom that you shared within that section, just encouraging the mamas, guard your time. And how do you see that intentionality tying over into our time with the Lord?   Sandra Stanley: (31:48 - 34:00) Definitely it ties over. I think, you know, as we think about motherhood and Allie is experiencing this now, there's a whole other layer of busyness that gets added to your life. It's almost like the things on your calendar double.   And then as they get older, it's even more and more intense as they get older, because everybody, you know, has jobs. So, in this season with these moms of middle school and high school girls, they might be having their first little jobs or and your other kids also. So anyway, it's just a busy season and our time is limited.   So, we always say, Andy and I say this all the time to parents, your time is limited. So, you've got to limit what you do with your time. And when you make it a priority to have that time alone with your heavenly father, that's one of your biggest yeses.   And then they're just going to be some no's in different seasons. I call them categorical no's in different seasons of parenting. When the kids were little, I had all these categories of things that are just a no for now.   This might be a yes for later. It's a no for now. So, things like I'm doing now, like writing projects or speaking, or, you know, just stuff like that were no's when my kids were young, because those are so time consuming.   And so those were no for now, but not forever categories of things. So, I would say to moms and to daughters, you know, your time is limited. So, you've got to limit it.   And so, you know, pay attention to what the most important things are. And I would say, go so far as to say calendar those things, put those things on your calendar and treat them like appointments. Because typically the mom is the calendar keeper for the whole family.   And what we put on our calendars, what we actually do. And so I've always used my calendar that way to make sure that the most important things are on the calendar, even little things like call my grandmother, you know, back during those seasons, because I would get busy and, you know, two weeks would go by and, you know, I knew my time with her was limited. So just even little things like that I've always calendared.   And I think our quiet time may be something we need to calendar and give it a time slot. And, you know, for me, again, I'm the efficiency person. So that just works for me.   That doesn't necessarily mean that's for everybody, but it works for me.   Laura Dugger: (34:00 - 34:23) I think that's so good, Sandra. Thank you for sharing. And the two of you wrote about a couple really helpful words in a different section that was titled Family is Forever.   So, can you speak to the roles that gentleness and gratitude play in creating an enjoyable family culture? Yes.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (34:23 - 34:31) Yeah, well, I feel like a lot of girls feel like they don't have a lot of control within their family dynamics.   Sandra Stanley: (34:31 - 34:34) So, this was the topic on family in the book.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (34:34 - 36:07) So, you don't choose your family. You're not choosing what you're having for dinner. You're not choosing your curfew or your classes.   A lot of times in that season, it can feel like there's no control. And so, I wanted to give the girls a couple things that, hey, you do have a choice in these and you do control these as far as it depends on you. And so those things were appreciation, forgiveness, and gentleness.   So, appreciation, you can choose to appreciate your family. You can choose to appreciate your mom. You can choose to say thank you to the people around you for what they do.   Forgiveness, you choose to forgive. And then gentleness. This came a lot from my relationship with my brothers specifically.   How is the youngest of three? Of the youngest, I have two older brothers, and they were mean. Not gentle.   They were mean. And so, learning like, hey, they want you to respond in aggression. They want you to get angry.   That's kind of- They want a reaction. They want a reaction from you. And so responding in gentleness is actually how you deescalate the situation.   And I think that those things, it kind of gives girls like, oh, I'm not totally helpless. I'm not totally out of control. I can actually choose these things and I can choose to do them or not.   And I can see how it positively affects the family or if I choose not to do them, how it negatively affects the family. And we all have ownership in the family culture and vibes and feelings. And so, I think that helps the girls kind of have a grasp on something in their family.   Laura Dugger: (36:08 - 38:01) That's so good. And even, not that either one is more important for the other, but I really was thinking that sets children apart if they are grateful. And that sets parents apart if they are gentle and both are obviously encouraged in the Bible.   So I just thought that was incredible how you drew that out.    Do you love The Savvy Sauce? Do you gain anything when you listen?   Did you know that the two ways we earn money to keep this podcast live is through generous contributions from listeners and from our paying sponsors? That means we can promote your business and you're still supporting The Savvy Sauce. It's a win-win.   Please email us today at info@thesavvysauce.com to inquire about pricing for sponsoring each episode. Thank you for your consideration. And Sandra, you've been a previous guest.   I'll make sure and link to that episode in the show notes. That was about parenting, even starting with younger age children, which was wonderful. But Allie, this is my first time getting to meet you.   So, I'll share with you too. Your dad was actually my first pastor after I became a believer. So, I remember him preaching a series on better decisions, fewer regrets.   And he would challenge us to ask ourselves a question. I think I'm getting this right. In light of my past experiences, my current circumstances and my future hopes and dreams, what's the wise thing to do?   And so, as we're nearing the close of our conversation, would you like to share, after absorbing all this information from the conversation and from your book, now what? What is the wise thing to do?   Allie Stanley Cooney: (38:01 - 39:57) Yeah, so our last chapter is on decision-making because I do think all of it kind of points to the decisions and we point back to Philippians 4, where Paul is saying, now put it into practice. Everything you've learned, everything you've seen, all of these things, it's time to put it into practice. And so, pointing these girls and pointing these moms to stop in a moment and ask themselves exactly what you just said.   Okay, in spite of my past and my present and my future, what is the wise thing to do? What is the thing that will lead to healthier relationships? What is the thing that will lead to less regret in the future?   And I think it's even just a choice to stop and just ask that, because a lot of times we just go, go, go. We don't have time to stop to really think through anything, but the idea of, okay, before we make a decision, let's actually stop and ask ourselves, what is the wise thing to do? And it's not always gonna be popular.   It's not always gonna be easy. And sometimes you might be the only one doing it, but I know in my experience, and even when I was in high school, I went to public school, so I was surrounded by a lot of people who weren't making the wisest decisions and they were my friends and realizing, okay, I'm gonna, even though it's not popular, even though they might laugh at me, even though this might not go well for me, I know what I want my future to look like and therefore I'm gonna do the right thing. I'm gonna say no, or I'm gonna say yes, or I'm gonna do whatever I know the right thing to do is and just trust that it's gonna be okay and trust that my close friends will stick by me and my family will stick by me and they'll be proud of me. And so I think it's hard to do in the moment, but if you have that filter and if you stop and ask, then I think it's really, really great for you and your future.   Sandra Stanley: (39:58 - 41:46) And for moms and daughters to have this question in their back pocket as these things roll out, as hard decisions come along, it's just really important to ask what is the wise thing to do? And I think an approach for parenting in general, but especially for these moms of middle and high school girls, an approach and part of a conversation is, hey, Allie, I love you so much. And my goal is for you to get to the end of these middle school years or the end of these high school years with as few regrets as possible.   So, we're gonna get in the habit of asking this question, what is the wise thing for me to do? What is the wise thing for me to do in this situation? And the second question we talk about in that decision-making chapter is what story do I wanna tell?   When all of this is said and done, when this decision, even this one decision, when this is over and I'm on the other side of it, what is the story that I will want to tell? I think I'm gonna make that decision based on that. So those two questions, what is the wise thing to do and what story am I gonna wanna tell?   Those are big, big conversation pieces for moms and daughters to have and for moms and kids in general and dads and families to have, what's the wise thing to do and what story do you wanna tell? Because we wanna get them to a place where they have as few regrets as possible and God can certainly use our regrets, He can use our stuff. We're not gonna be perfect.   We are not gonna always get it right and we're not always gonna make the wise decision. And I think us being honest and chatting with our kids about decisions we didn't make that were the right ones that we might carry a little bit of baggage around on at the appropriate time and in the appropriate way, we can have those conversations with our kids and let them know, hey, I'm not perfect and I'm not expecting you to be perfect but let's get in the habit of asking these questions because they will cause us to have fewer regrets on the other side.   Laura Dugger: (41:47 - 41:53) So, good and it really puts you on the same team which you are when you're having these conversations.   Sandra Stanley: (41:53 - 42:18) And sometimes your kids don't feel that. They don't feel like we're on their team. They feel like we aren't because we don't want them to have fun or we don't want them to have freedom or whatever.   And it really does. These conversations do emphasize, hey, I am on your team and I am only saying no to this because I am so for you. And I think these conversations set us up for that.   Laura Dugger: (42:19 - 42:27) Well, you've shared some wise questions. Would you also be willing to share the prayer that Allie, I believe you prayed through high school?   Allie Stanley Cooney: (42:28 - 42:36) Yes, the prayer is give me the wisdom to know what's right and the courage to do what's right, even when it's hard and even when I have to do it by myself.   Sandra Stanley: (42:36 - 43:23) We started praying that for our kids before they even knew what we were saying. When they were toddlers, we were praying this prayer with them. And as they got older, that's when we tacked on the end, even if I'm the only one, even if I'm doing it by myself.   Because as you get older and you get into middle school and high school, sometimes you feel like you're the only one. And we celebrated like crazy when we caught our kids making a hard decision and especially if they were the only one. So, when we saw them making wise decisions, we didn't always catch it, but if we did, we wanted them to know this is to be celebrated because what's rewarded is repeated.   And we wanted to reward our kids for making those tough decisions. And I think Allie carried that on with her all the way through, so.   Laura Dugger: (43:24 - 43:36) Love that so much. And really, it's such a joy to learn from both of you. Can you tell us where to go after this conversation where we can continue learning from the wisdom of each of you?   Sandra Stanley: (43:36 - 43:56) Thank you. Yeah, the book is anywhere that you buy books, you know, on Amazon, all of the different places where you buy books. My website, sandrastanley.com has lots of links. Instagram, Allie Kay Cooney, yeah. So we're talking about it a lot these days, just in the season of talking about maybe in the middle.   Laura Dugger: (43:57 - 44:13) Love it. Well, you may know that I have one final question for you because we are called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge. And so as my final question for each one of you today, what is your savvy sauce?   Sandra Stanley: (44:14 - 45:04) You go. Okay, I'll start first. I think, Laura, it really is my calendar dictates my life.   But again, that's kind of a personality thing. But for me, if I don't get it on my calendar, it may or may not get done. So for me to put the biggest, most important things on my calendar, it just makes life more smooth for me.   So, I use my calendar for everything. There was a season where I even calendared exercise because it was a crazy season. I thought if I don't put it on here, I'm not gonna do it.   I have a rhythm with that now, so it's a little bit easier. But even things like making sure I'm checking in with my mom and dad, because they are in there getting to their late eighties and, you know, just little reminders of things that are most important that I don't wanna miss, that are easy to miss when I get busy, I just use my calendar for everything.   Allie Stanley Cooney: (45:05 - 45:51) Yeah, I think, I don't know if this is exactly what you mean, but recently, I wanna be off my phone more because it's just everyone's addicted to their phone. So, I got this thing called a brick, and I saw it on Instagram, ironically. But you can tap your phone onto it, and it basically shuts down any app other than whatever apps you want.   And the whole thing is you're turning your phone back into a tool and not a distraction. And it's pretty much changed my life. Because I'll sleep with it on brick, and then so I can't wake up and just like be on my phone.   So, then I have to like intentionally undo it to go on Instagram or do whatever. And then I just keep it bricked. And so, I'm not just scrolling, and it's been really, really helpful.   Laura Dugger: (45:52 - 46:21) I love it, those are so wonderful. And God has just blessed both of you with so many gifts, but I'm seeing so much wisdom, so much beauty in both of you, but your generosity to share because you have a unique family situation and are very well known. And yet you just are giving of yourselves through the time here, through the knowledge and wisdom that you shared in your book.   So, I want to say thank you for a thousand things, but thank you for being my guest today.   Sandra Stanley: (46:21 - 46:26) Thank you for having us. We really appreciate it. This was very fun.   Yeah.   Laura Dugger: (46:27 - 49:41) One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before?   It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So for you and for me, it means we deserve death and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.   That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.   We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So would you pray with me now?   Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you. Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life?   We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.   If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me, so me for him. You get the opportunity to live your life for him. And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason.   We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So you ready to get started? First, tell someone.   Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble and let me choose my own Bible.   I selected the Quest NIV Bible and I love it. You can start by reading the book of John. Also, get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ.   I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps, such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. We want to celebrate with you too, so feel free to leave a comment for us here if you did make a decision to follow Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read Scripture that describes this process.   And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.   And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

Dan Greenslade, CFO at Get Living, delves into The Renters' Rights Bill in the United Kingdom, which could have some serious positive — and negative — impacts on the country's residential rental sector. 

What exactly is a federal budget and why should everyday Australians care about this one? Tonight's budget announcement promises significant changes that could reshape Australia's housing landscape, especially for those struggling to enter the property market.At its core, this budget aims to win hearts with targeted measures addressing housing affordability. The most substantial change comes for first-home buyers through an enhanced shared equity scheme allowing eligible purchasers—particularly key workers—to enter the market with just a 2% deposit. The government will contribute up to 30% ownership for existing homes and 40% for new builds, with eligibility thresholds raised to $100,000 for singles and $160,000 for couples. Sydney buyers will celebrate the increased price threshold of $1.3 million, finally acknowledging the reality of the city's property values.Housing supply constraints receive serious attention through a $49.3 million investment in modular housing—prefabricated homes that can be built 50% faster at potentially half the cost of traditional construction. This could deliver approximately 4.7 million new homes nationally. Add to this the $1.9 billion allocated for 40,000 new social and affordable homes, plus an additional billion dollars to states for housing projects, and we're seeing unprecedented government intervention in the housing market.Renters haven't been forgotten, with specific funding for affordable housing initiatives, while investors should stay alert to Treasury's review of negative gearing rules. For all Australians, a $150 energy rebate aims to provide immediate cost-of-living relief. As one guest noted, "I only see this as a positive... They're trying to address key issues in the housing market—affordability, access to stock, and relieving pressure." Tune in tomorrow as we break down the official announcement and discuss what these changes might mean for your property journey whether you're buying, selling, investing, or renting.

The biggest shake-up to the private rented sector in 35 years is about to land. No more Section 21. No fixed-term tenancies. New rent controls. A ban on selling within 12 months of asking a tenant to leave. And that's just the start. ❓ What does this mean for letting agents? ❓ How can you prepare your landlords? ❓ Will this create new challenges—or new opportunities? I sat down with David Smith, one of the UK's top legal experts on landlord and tenant law, for an in-depth, no-nonsense breakdown of what this Bill really means.

Homeownership has become increasingly difficult, and many believe it may be permanently out of reach. With mortgage payments now nearly 90% higher than average rents, is the American dream shifting? In this episode, Jeannette Friedrich sits down with Arben Skivjani, Deputy Chief Economist at RealPage, to break down the affordability crisis, the forces driving the widening gap between renting and buying, and what the future holds for both homeownership and multifamily investments. Key Takeaways: - The Homeownership Affordability Crisis – Why the cost gap between buying and renting has skyrocketed and what's driving it. - Supply vs. Demand – The role of housing shortages, zoning laws, and new construction trends in shaping affordability. - Rising Costs Beyond Mortgage Rates – How insurance premiums, property taxes, and inflation contribute to the housing dilemma. - The Future of Renting – Is homeownership still the goal, or are cultural shifts and financial realities creating a long-term rental generation? - Multifamily Market Trends – How new apartment supply, rent growth, and absorption rates are shaping the investment landscape. - Solutions for Housing Affordability – Policy changes, zoning reforms, and other potential strategies to bridge the affordability gap. Whether you're a renter, homeowner, or real estate investor, this episode provides key insights into the shifting housing landscape and what it means for the future. Tune in to get the data-driven perspective you need to navigate today's market. Are you REady2Scale Your Multifamily Investments? Learn more about growing your wealth, strengthening your portfolio, and scaling to the next level at www.bluelake-capital.com. To reach Ellie & the Blue Lake team, email them at info@bluelake-capital.com or complete our investor form at www.bluelake-capital.com/new-investor-form and they'll connect with you. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction 01:29 The Rising Cost of Homeownership 07:08 The Future of Renting and Multifamily Housing 24:12 Market Trends and Supply Dynamics 25:26 Affordable Housing Solutions 30:29 Future Forecasts and Personal Insights Credits Producer: Blue Lake Capital Strategist: Syed Mahmood Editor: Emma Walker Opening music: Pomplamoose *

Landlords offering incentives to entice tenants is said to be a simple supply and demand issue. Rental listings in Auckland and Wellington have seen investors offer free weeks of rent, or bonuses like supermarket vouchers and even free moped scooters for people who sign on to a lease. Residential Property Managers' Association Chair Tony Mitchell told Mike Hosking investors are fighting for tenants due to a lack of demand. He expects it to be only a temporary thing and hopes the strong underlying demand factors will make a difference soon. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Househunters are being offered $500 grocery vouchers or a free week's rent by Auckland landlords keen to lure them in. This comes as new TradeMe data shows the number of new rental listings in the city in February was up 34 percent on the same time last year - from 8049 to 10,805. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen says people looking for rentals have more choices than ever, because there's less demand. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hundreds of thousands of Canadians exist on the edge. Renters fear eviction, homeowners feel trapped, and both are vulnerable to becoming homeless with a single stroke of misfortune. Unaffordable housing in Canada is tearing communities apart as long-time residents seek affordable housing elsewhere and businesses shutter because they cannot find staff who can afford to live nearby. For two generations, Canadians have watched affordable housing vanish while other nations have been tackling the problem. In Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisis (On Point Press, 2024), housing expert Carolyn Whitzman reviews the decades of policy that have gotten us into this mess and shows how all levels of government can work together to provide affordable housing where it is needed. Her compelling arguments for policy solutions are backed by ideas from researchers, planners, politicians, developers, and housing advocates at home and abroad. Home Truths addresses Canada's crisis from all sides, including exploring what adequate housing looks like, providing ideas on how to resolve homelessness, explaining why nonmarket housing is crucial for Canada, and showing how and why to tackle ever-growing wealth disparities between renters and those who own. From policymakers, planners, developers, and observers needing to understand Canada's housing struggles through to Canadians seeking ideas for a new way forward, Home Truths is a critical read for a nation on edge. Carolyn Whitzman is a leading housing and senior policy researcher. She has authored, coauthored, or lead-edited six previous books, the most recent being Clara at the Door with a Revolver. She has undertaken research for the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, and many other organizations. Alex Hallbom is a Registered Professional Planner in British Columbia, Canada. He sits on the editorial board of Plan Canada, the professional publication for planners in Canada, and publishes periodically in Plan Canada and Planning West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Hundreds of thousands of Canadians exist on the edge. Renters fear eviction, homeowners feel trapped, and both are vulnerable to becoming homeless with a single stroke of misfortune. Unaffordable housing in Canada is tearing communities apart as long-time residents seek affordable housing elsewhere and businesses shutter because they cannot find staff who can afford to live nearby. For two generations, Canadians have watched affordable housing vanish while other nations have been tackling the problem. In Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisis (On Point Press, 2024), housing expert Carolyn Whitzman reviews the decades of policy that have gotten us into this mess and shows how all levels of government can work together to provide affordable housing where it is needed. Her compelling arguments for policy solutions are backed by ideas from researchers, planners, politicians, developers, and housing advocates at home and abroad. Home Truths addresses Canada's crisis from all sides, including exploring what adequate housing looks like, providing ideas on how to resolve homelessness, explaining why nonmarket housing is crucial for Canada, and showing how and why to tackle ever-growing wealth disparities between renters and those who own. From policymakers, planners, developers, and observers needing to understand Canada's housing struggles through to Canadians seeking ideas for a new way forward, Home Truths is a critical read for a nation on edge. Carolyn Whitzman is a leading housing and senior policy researcher. She has authored, coauthored, or lead-edited six previous books, the most recent being Clara at the Door with a Revolver. She has undertaken research for the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, and many other organizations. Alex Hallbom is a Registered Professional Planner in British Columbia, Canada. He sits on the editorial board of Plan Canada, the professional publication for planners in Canada, and publishes periodically in Plan Canada and Planning West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/public-policy

Hundreds of thousands of Canadians exist on the edge. Renters fear eviction, homeowners feel trapped, and both are vulnerable to becoming homeless with a single stroke of misfortune. Unaffordable housing in Canada is tearing communities apart as long-time residents seek affordable housing elsewhere and businesses shutter because they cannot find staff who can afford to live nearby. For two generations, Canadians have watched affordable housing vanish while other nations have been tackling the problem. In Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisis (On Point Press, 2024), housing expert Carolyn Whitzman reviews the decades of policy that have gotten us into this mess and shows how all levels of government can work together to provide affordable housing where it is needed. Her compelling arguments for policy solutions are backed by ideas from researchers, planners, politicians, developers, and housing advocates at home and abroad. Home Truths addresses Canada's crisis from all sides, including exploring what adequate housing looks like, providing ideas on how to resolve homelessness, explaining why nonmarket housing is crucial for Canada, and showing how and why to tackle ever-growing wealth disparities between renters and those who own. From policymakers, planners, developers, and observers needing to understand Canada's housing struggles through to Canadians seeking ideas for a new way forward, Home Truths is a critical read for a nation on edge. Carolyn Whitzman is a leading housing and senior policy researcher. She has authored, coauthored, or lead-edited six previous books, the most recent being Clara at the Door with a Revolver. She has undertaken research for the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, and many other organizations. Alex Hallbom is a Registered Professional Planner in British Columbia, Canada. He sits on the editorial board of Plan Canada, the professional publication for planners in Canada, and publishes periodically in Plan Canada and Planning West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/economics

Hundreds of thousands of Canadians exist on the edge. Renters fear eviction, homeowners feel trapped, and both are vulnerable to becoming homeless with a single stroke of misfortune. Unaffordable housing in Canada is tearing communities apart as long-time residents seek affordable housing elsewhere and businesses shutter because they cannot find staff who can afford to live nearby. For two generations, Canadians have watched affordable housing vanish while other nations have been tackling the problem. In Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisis (On Point Press, 2024), housing expert Carolyn Whitzman reviews the decades of policy that have gotten us into this mess and shows how all levels of government can work together to provide affordable housing where it is needed. Her compelling arguments for policy solutions are backed by ideas from researchers, planners, politicians, developers, and housing advocates at home and abroad. Home Truths addresses Canada's crisis from all sides, including exploring what adequate housing looks like, providing ideas on how to resolve homelessness, explaining why nonmarket housing is crucial for Canada, and showing how and why to tackle ever-growing wealth disparities between renters and those who own. From policymakers, planners, developers, and observers needing to understand Canada's housing struggles through to Canadians seeking ideas for a new way forward, Home Truths is a critical read for a nation on edge. Carolyn Whitzman is a leading housing and senior policy researcher. She has authored, coauthored, or lead-edited six previous books, the most recent being Clara at the Door with a Revolver. She has undertaken research for the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, and many other organizations. Alex Hallbom is a Registered Professional Planner in British Columbia, Canada. He sits on the editorial board of Plan Canada, the professional publication for planners in Canada, and publishes periodically in Plan Canada and Planning West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send Us A Message! Let us know what you think.Topic #1:  Good Returns 4th of March - Rise in retiree renters to influence data in decades to comeTopic #2: NZ Herald 4th of March -What is NZ's biggest KiwiSaver balance?Topic #3: RNZ 5th of March - Number of pensioners needing rent help nears 50,000Topic #4: 1News 6th of March - Modest growth in property values in February - CoreLogicTopic #5: Good Returns 6th of March - Longer-term mortgage rates near cycle lows#propertyapprenticenz #investingadvice #mortgagerates #interestrates #rentalproperty #landlording #newzealand #propertymarket Support the show*Nothing from this episode should be taken as individual financial advice. *Property Advice Group Limited trading as Property Apprentice has been granted a FULL Licence with the Financial Markets Authority of New Zealand. (FSP Number: FSP157564) Debbie Roberts | Financial Adviser (FSP221305) For our Public disclosure statement please go to our website or you may request a copy free of charge.

Urgent action is warranted TODAY, if you happen to be one of the over half of adult Texans who rent their home from a landlord or property owner: HB-32, promoted by the Texas Apartment Association, introduced by D/FW Republican Angie Chen Button, and curiously supported by El Paso Democrat Joe Moody, would greatly speed up the process by which your landlord might evict you from your home - and mostly without due process. This bill is being heard at the House TODAY - your action in contacting your Representative in the House is needed NOW.Thanks to Mark Melton and Stuart Campbell with the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center for their work in opposing this bill, which is clearly bad for the millions of Texans who rent. Learn more about them at https://www.dallaseac.org/.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and pitch in to support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.

Renters are the worst!!

There’s a big difference between renting and owning. When you rent something—a house, a car, or even a tool—you may have access to it, but it doesn’t truly belong to you. You use it for a time, but in the end, you answer to the owner. Yet, how often do we live as if we own what has only been entrusted to us? Our lives, our resources, our time—all of it has been given by Someone else, yet we often cling to them as if they are ours to control. Jesus tells a story that reminds us of this truth: We are renters, not owners. And how we handle what we’ve been given will determine everything. The question today is, Are we living as faithful stewards, or are we trying to claim ownership over what belongs to God?

In this episode of Alternative Power Plays, hosts Alan Seltzer and John Povilaitis engage in a conversation with Aliya Bagewadi, the U.S. Director of Strategy Partnerships at Allume Energy. She discusses how Allume Energy is transforming solar access for apartment renters.  Aliya shares more about the company's origins in Australia and its mission to promote energy equity as it expands to markets in the U.S. and Europe. Throughout the episode, she highlights the benefits of Allume Energy for renters, who can see energy bill reductions of 40-60% with the company's technology. Meanwhile, building owners benefit from lower operating costs, new revenue streams, and increased property value.  Aliya provides insights into Allume's market focus, targeting Illinois and D.C. due to favorable incentives, as well as the company's plans to integrate energy storage for enhanced grid resilience. The episode concludes with Aliya emphasizing the importance of education and collaboration with utilities, cities, and community partners to drive adoption and scale their mission of providing clean energy access for renters.  To learn more about Allume Energy, visit: https://allumeenergy.com/us/ To learn more about Aliya Bagewadi, visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliyabagewadi  To learn more about Alan Seltzer, visit: https://www.bipc.com/alan-seltzer⁠    To learn more about John Povilaitis, visit: ⁠https://www.bipc.com/john-povilaitis 

If you want to join the webinar the link is HEREThis week I discuss the Renters' Reform Bill AGAIN... seriously its not scary, read THIS . Plus how to connect with agents to secure deals in commercial property.

Good Morning Thailand EP.828 | Fed-Up Bangkok Locals Demand Action on Rowdy Foreign Renters & More...

Rob & Rob are back to offer their advice to two more listeners!     (0:55) Jamie currently rents in the Southeast and plans to invest in a more affordable area like Manchester or Derby. His goal is to buy, renovate, and eventually turn the property into serviced accommodation. Concerned about covering both rent and a mortgage and unsure he'll get a loan approved far from home, he asks Rob & Rob how to navigate these hurdles and when property investing starts to feel easier.  (7:45) Mark owns two buy to let properties, one being his former family home. He's keen to move back into his home next year, but with tenants currently living there and the upcoming Renters' Rights Bill, he's concerned about how to handle the situation and asks the guys for their advice.  Enjoy the show?  Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts - it really helps others find us!  Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, Property Pulse  Send us your question by calling us on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply) or click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.  Find out more about Property Hub Invest 

Many Altadena renters are still going back and forth with their landlords about plans to return. The L.A. City Council voted to protect what remains of a historic Japanese American fishing community. And Huntington Beach has approved a "MAGA" sign outside its library. Plus, more.Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.comSupport the show: https://laist.com

Welcome to Loan Officer Freedom, the #1 podcast in the country for loan officers, hosted by Carl White. In this episode, your host, Carl White dives into a crucial question: Should loan officers market to renters at apartment complexes? While understanding the market is interesting, Carl emphasizes that your marketing strategy is what truly dictates your success in closing loans. He shares insights from a recent conference and explains why targeting renters can be a challenging and time-consuming approach. Instead, he advocates for focusing on motivated buyers who are already ready to take action. If you're ready to start attracting the right kind of business and want to learn simple techniques to build your own well of steady referrals, visit wantmoreloans.com to schedule a call with Carl and his team. Schedule a one-on-one free coaching call, click here or visit LoanOfficerStrategyCall.com.

In this episode of Casual Cattle Conversations, host Shaye Koester-Wanner engages with Ryan and James from Earth Optics to explore the intricacies of carbon markets in ranching. They discuss the basics of carbon markets, how they function, and the opportunities and risks for ranchers. The conversation highlights the role of Earth Optics in measuring soil health and carbon sequestration, the current trends in carbon markets, and the legal considerations ranchers should be aware of. Takeaways • Carbon markets provide additional revenue streams for ranchers. • Sustainable practices are key to participating in carbon markets. • Earth Optics uses advanced technology for soil measurement. • Legal counsel is crucial when entering carbon agreements. • Ranchers must consider the long-term commitment of contracts. • Communication with project developers is essential. • Drought and environmental changes are accounted for in contracts. • Renters can negotiate terms for carbon participation. • Understanding the additionality requirement is important. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Carbon Markets in Ranching 05:40 Understanding Carbon Markets: Basics and Functionality 11:14 The Role of Earth Optics in Carbon Measurement 13:40 Current Trends and Opportunities in Carbon Markets 18:21 Risks and Considerations for Ranchers 24:01 Navigating Carbon Programs for Renters 27:41 Challenges and Reasons for Non-Participation 30:59 Legal Considerations in Carbon Agreements 34:51 Flexibility in Management Practices 38:11 Working with Producers: The Earth Optics Experience 41:28 Final Thoughts and Encouragement for Ranchers Resources Learn more about Earth Optics: https://bit.ly/40Y0nQk Learn more about HerdDogg: https://bit.ly/3EjuUAm Move Your Ranch Forward Today: https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/ranchermind-events/p/move-the-ranch-forward-2025 #CasualCattleConversations #Ranching #CarbonMarkets #RegenerativeAg #SustainableFarming #SoilHealth #EarthOptics #CarbonFarming #CattleBusiness #AgTech #BeefIndustry #RancherLife #CarbonSequestration #AgricultureInnovation #CattleProfitability

The FULL live ghost hunt in their house is on our Patreon!Also here's Eenie's Patreon! She led the livestream:)Check out JT's Ouija Boards here!What would you do if something inside your home wasn't just mimicking your voice—but your entire presence? In this chilling episode, we sit down with Ray and his wife Corinna, who recently fled from a house that tormented them for years. Their home, possibly built over unmarked graves, was plagued by a sinister entity—a mimic—that imitated them so perfectly, they often couldn't tell what was real. From hearing each other's voices in empty rooms to seeing their own doppelgängers walking through the house, the experiences they endured are enough to make even the bravest soul question reality.Now safely moved out, Ray and Corinna share their terrifying encounters in full detail, explaining why they never looked back. Was this an intelligent haunting? A restless spirit? Or something far darker? Tune in as we explore their spine-chilling story and uncover the horrifying truth about mimics. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share with your fellow Parajunkies!

In today's episode - Clark has new data on renting vs. buying in terms of long-term net worth and how renters can close the gap. Also, With Valentine's Day ahead, Clark has good news if you are in the market for jewelry, specifically diamonds. Changes in the marketplace mean deals.    Housing: Bridging The Net Worth Gap: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 The Diamond Marketplace: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: The median renter in America has a net worth of $10,400. The median homeowner's net worth is $400,000 Should You Take Your Pension in a Lump Sum or Monthly Payments? What Is a Fiduciary Financial Advisor and Do I Need One? Best Financial Advisors De Beers amasses biggest diamond stockpile since 2008 financial crisis Verizon administrative settlement payments are nowhere near $100. Here's why Should You Respond to Class-Action Lawsuits? How To Sell, Cancel or Get Rid of Your Timeshare Why Vacation Clubs Are Even Worse Than Timeshares Clark.com resources Episode transcripts Community.Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices: megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices