George Kamel - 15 Cheap Things That Improve Your Life 100%

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app!   From blackout curtains to tongue scrapers, we’re reacting to Reddit’s best—and at times, painfully honest—answers to this question: What is something relatively cheap that improves your life by 100%?   Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video 11 Places Frugal People NEVER Spend Money! • 📙 Check out my book Breaking Free From Broke. • 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.   Connect With Our Sponsors: • Go to Boost Mobile to switch today! • Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle! • Sign up with Privacy today and receive a $5 credit just for being a George Kamel fan.   Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is expensive always better, or is the $300 hydrogen water bottle actually improving your life more than that $8 bottle from Amazon? Well, today I'm going to dig into a Reddit thread that answers the question, what is something relatively cheap that improves your life by 100%? And I'll get to their responses right after I extend a fiscally responsible thank you to delete me for sponsoring this channel. Who holds a mug like that? I do. Willy-nilly. That's how I hold them. All right, first relatively cheap thing that will 100% improve your life. Just buy 20 pairs of the exact same socks.

You'll never have to match them again. If one gets a hole, toss it. The other one still works with the rest. When you need socks, you just find any two of them. When you start running low, just pick up a few more pairs. Honestly, it's a shame I didn't do this sooner. Could have saved myself years of pointless hassle. What kind of struggle brus are you on trying to find socks that match?

I didn't know that was a real problem in today's society, but I will agree. Just grabbing any old sock knowing they're going to be a pair is great. So, sure. But I mean, I don't know what kind of psychopath wears the same type of sock all year long, except for Gen Z with their freaking tube socks. In the summer, you're going to wear the thick white sock? Taking the puppies out for a wok.

Home schoolers, no. No socks in this household. Barefoot, like the Lord intended. We're grounding all day as homeschoolers. But overall, I like this one. I mean, you get a 20 pack of socks for like 20, 30 bucks. So that's a pretty good deal to then not have to buy socks for a long time. I also feel like 20s a lot.

Like, are you not doing laundry? How are you going through 20 pairs of socks? Just buy like 10. That gets you through a week. I mean, I'm doing laundry every week. I don't know about you guys. How often are we doing laundry these days? Once a week.

Twice a week. Twice a week. Three times a week. Every day. All right. Decent start. I'm hoping we can do better here, Reddit. Next up.

A nice looking basket for lightly worn clothes that you plan to wear again before washing. keeps them off the chair slash floor and separate from your clean clothes. This is a good one. I don't know about the bat. I feel like in a basket they just sort of get ratty. Like I know they're still not dirty yet, but they're going to get dirty if piled together. Well, they're slightly dirty clothes. But I'm a fan of this one because there are a lot of things like, you know, a pair of jeans.

Or like if I have an undershirt, this shirt's still good, but I'll put that right back on the hanger. So I'm a hangar man. That's just me. Or put it back in the drawer. I don't know that I need a basket. But it's a good idea. And a commenter here said, Indoor bike also works.

Get it? Because people use their indoor bikes as clothes hangers. It's a thing we do in America for all my foreign viewers who are confused right now. We're not exercising. We just need a very expensive clothes hanger. Next on the list, a high-quality tongue scraper. You can brush your teeth all you want,

but once you start using a metal scraper, you realize you weren't truly clean before. Your breath stays fresh way longer and food actually tastes better. It's a total game changer for like seven bucks. That is true. I've been a tongue scraper fan for a long time. I don't talk about it a lot because nobody asks me about my dental hygiene.

But I do use it. I do feel cleaner because there's a lot of gunk on there, a lot of bacteria. So keeping that clean will help you avoid, you know, costly dental procedures. And what's it called? The gum inflammation. What's that called? Gingervitis. Not enough people talking about gingivitis.

Sounds fun. If you didn't know what it was. You're like, ooh, give me some of that. Tongues for the win. Dare to smile. I put them back on the hangar, but inside out. If I wear an inside out item, I know it goes in the hamper that night. What?

Okay, so that's like a second wear. So you get one wear, then you put it on the hanger inside out. You get another wear out of it, but then you have to flip it back inside out. And then you know it goes in the hamper? I'm confused. Why are you putting it back on the hanger if you know it goes in the hamper? Why not just go straight to hamper instead of hangar to hamper? This is too much effort so far, guys.

What are we doing? Why is everything about dirty clothes? Dirty socks, dirty clothes. Put it on the hanger. Put it in the hamper. Get over yourselves. Yourselves. I'm in a bad mood today because of you guys on Reddit.

All right. Hopefully we get more productive here. Next relatively cheap item that will improve your life. I bought 100% blackout curtain from Sheehan for only four U.S. dollars. Was skeptical, but actually made my bedroom. room 100% dark 24-7. I live in Norway where summer nights are bright. Always hated it. Now my problem is solved. Okay. So, I mean, I guess it can be a quality blackout curtain doing the job. Because if it's 100% that means it's got to block 100% of the light. So if there's any light coming in,

that's no Bueno. But four bucks, that's pretty cheap. I'm surprised. Have you checked air quality in your room on a sunny day? Curtains have a huge area to gas off VOCs from, and I would not trust $4 curtains to be made of materials that do not release harmful VOCs. This person really wants us to know they know what VOCs means. So I'm going to have to Google this for myself here. VOC's meaning volatile organic compounds. Somebody graduated high school and it shows. Final comment, only a Norwegian would complain about too much natural light laughing emoji.

It's nothing to laugh at. I mean, if you had bright sun 24-7, you would go insane. I don't know why the Lord did it that way, but I would need some blackout curtains to survive in Norway. Because you got to sleep. Have you ever tried to sleep midday? That's difficult. Next up on the list, my gremlin cat that I got for free, that was like a drug deal. Lady giving away cat said she wanted to meet at gas station.

She shows up in a trench coat, opens it up, and there's my new cat, just chilling in her inside pocket. She hands him to me, says good day and leaves. a single piece of punctuation in that whole thought. Wow, that was the craziest part to me. I had to fill in the gaps myself. I'm trying to picture where, how would you even hear about this cat? Was it like a Facebook thing? Because it sounds like you're part of the problem, that you agreed to show up. And the lady just goes, there he is. Someone said it was probably not her cat. So she stole a cat to give away? What kind of scam is she running where she makes no money in this deal. It's just stealing cats to give them to other people who might want a cat.

Another comment, she stayed in touch to see how the cat was doing. Oh, this is the original poster. She stayed in touch to see how the cat was doing so IDK, maybe she is just weird. I think you're both weird in this scenario. But to be fair, I got my French bulldog from a breeder in Paris, Texas, and we met in the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant called Tamales, T-A-M-O-L-L-L-Y, apostrophe yes. Very cute. And it was it was sketchy. I mean, it looked like a gerbil in the passenger seat. I'm like, that is not a, that's not a dog. She assured me it was said dog and eventually it did grow into a dog. So she wasn't lying. Next on the list, oh, first of all, I'm trying to think back a relatively

cheap item that improved your, okay, yeah. I mean, I think pets do improve our life. It comes at a cost financially and emotionally, especially when you lose said pet. But I would say pets are a great thing to improve your life that don't have to cost you a lot of money. Go to your local rescue and pick up a gremlin cat. Two twin-sized blankets and duvets, one each for me and my husband, rather than one king or queen blanket. No more pulling or fighting over blankets. We each have our blanket. It's made a huge difference. I have heard about this. I have not yet tried it, but I am convinced that it would solve a lot of problems in marriage, which is why do you keep grabbing the covers? I don't know why they don't just make them bigger, but it is a problem in my

house and I'm definitely willing to try it. I also wonder if it helps with the heat distribution. If you each have your own, you know, if someone's an oven over there, you're not going to feel it as much if they're cocooned in their own blanket. So yeah, this solves marriage problems, which then saves you from expensive therapy appointments. So I would say this one is worth it at, you know, 20 bucks for your own little blanket or duvet. That's not bad. Definitely. I mean, you know what, I'm going to try it. Twin size, is that enough? Yeah. That's enough? Okay. I'm just trying to think in my head. I mean, I'm a little guy, but I just picture a little twin-sized blanket.

Two twins makes, is that true? Two twin blankets make a king? Oh. Okay. I stand corrected, said the man in the orthopedic shoes. That's a classic. Kids love that one. If you know about orthopedics, you are into that joke.

Okay, back to our list. Let's see what else we have. Oh, this is a good one. Learning to say no. Okay, it's not an item, but it's a habit that will help you avoid being broke. And it will improve your life, learning to say no. I mean, that's really just having boundaries, whether that's for yourself and your own budget. I'm saying, hey, I don't really need this thing right now.

I'm not going to buy it. Or saying no to other people and what they want you to do or what they want you to buy or spend money on or a trip, a concert, whatever it is. But being comfortable in who you are, what your values are, what your goals are. and then using that as a filter to say, no, that's not a priority for me. Appreciate you thinking of me. That's why I was like to end things, because I do like being thought about.

So if I end with, thanks for thinking of me, I feel like it leaves a good taste in their mouth, you know? But in my book, Breaking Free from Broke, I do have a chapter called Spending a Self-control, and the point of it is to go, hey, make sure you're spending for the right reasons out of the right values with money you actually have. And a lot of times,

you'll end up saying no due to one of many factors. Maybe it was the motive. Maybe it was the fact you couldn't afford it in cash. Maybe it was the fact that you didn't do the research and you needed more time to sit with it before you made a decision. And maybe it's timing. And there's opportunity costs here. If you spend five grand on this thing,

you can't spend five grand on this other thing, like the home repair, investing, whatever it may be. And if you want to help saying no in a tactful way, a budget is the way to do it. And every dollar is my favorite app for this. I'll drop a link in the description if you guys want to check that out. will help you feel in control and say yes to the things that really matter. All right, next on the list, we have a short essay.

Not sure this is exactly what you're looking for, but understanding what a sunk cost is, both financially and in terms of my time. I don't know how many times I sat through a bad movie I rented or ate a horrible meal because I paid for the ingredients and took the time to cook it, then made it worse by eating something I did not enjoy. It may seem counterintuitive to cheap,

but stopping a movie I'm not enjoying after 20 minutes and doing something else with my time, walking, reading, playing a game is rather freeing, and I'm always happier when I do. This is a good one. Again, it's not an item you purchase, but it's a low-cost way to improve your life, realizing that just because you put some time, effort, money into it

doesn't mean you've got to see it all the way through. There's a smart time to quit, and it's when you're doing stuff that doesn't add value to your life. And so, yeah, I think if you're reading a terrible book, close the book. No one's forcing you to read the book. I've had friends leave in the middle of a movie, because they decided not into it.

Yeah, I paid money for this. Even if I can't get a refund, this is just not worth another hour of my time, just to say, at least you mustered your way through it. And I do try to eat leftovers, even if it's not my favorite thing. So I think there's some balance here. You don't just go, well, I'd rather eat out. I don't want to eat leftovers.

I'm not going to do it. There's times you have to be an adult and do things you don't want to do. But as far as entertainment goes, which is a lot of this, yeah, you can own your time. Take back your time. Take back your time. It's been a while since I slammed the desk. I just want to make sure.

I think I broke the... That doesn't seem solid anymore. This was a pretty nice desk back in the day. It's seen some things. Next on the list we have a hammock. Again, you don't hear about hammocks much these days. One of my greatest purchases ever. It's hard to explain, but taking my hammock everywhere

and setting it up in beautiful places, giving me a nice place to pause and be present, has been an absolute game changer in my life. Also binoculars for a similar reason. I bought a pair of binos? Binoculars. Binoculars. I guess they're binos.

I bought a pair of binos because I wanted to start birdwatching. But most of the time now, I just use them to look at clouds, trees, etc. Again, a useful tool to be present, really examine the world around me and appreciate the things that I usually took for granted, smiley face. What a just wonderful, well-adjusted person this is, that this is what they're grateful for in their life. is just a nice hammock and a nice place to enjoy Mother Nature. I think that's wonderful.

I don't know what a good hammock cost these days. I know binoculars can get expensive. I mean, some mid-range ones can go, you know, a hundred to a couple hundred bucks. I imagine hammocks are similar. You could probably get a real cheap one off Amazon, and then they probably range to the REI fanatics. People are hanging off cliffs.

That's a different level of hammock. If you're going full Alex Honnold, God bless those people. I'm just jealous of having this much uninterrupted time as a dad of a toddler and an infant for me to just disappear with my hammock who is a pipe dream. But I love it. And I do think you forget that going outside is free. It doesn't always need to cost you to enjoy life. And a hammock is a great purchase for that matter. Now while you're out there buying inexpensive socks, binocs, and more, the last thing you want is for your financial info to fall into the wrong hands. But it happens all the time. You pay with

your debit card, the merchant gets compromised, and boom, your account gets drained. But that's why I use privacy is sponsor of today's video. Privacy protects you from fraudulent charges by creating virtual card numbers so that your real debit card number is never exposed. You can set spending limits, create a one-time use card, and pause or close cards at any time. Simply put, privacy protects you so you can safely shop online. Sign up today and you'll get a $5 credit just for being a fan of this channel. Go to privacy.com slash George. And now that you lock down your money, what about your personal info. Most people don't realize it, but the reason spam, random calls, and other unwelcome outreach never stops is because data brokers are collecting your name, phone number, email address,

personal address, and selling it across the internet. And that's where Delete Me comes in, another sponsor of today's video. They remove your personal info from hundreds of these data broker sites to help keep the scammers and spammers at bay. And not just one time, they do it all year long behind the scenes and send you a custom report of all their hard work. And you can get 20% off their annual plans when you go to join DeleteMe.com, slash George. All right, next up on our list of relatively cheap items that will improve your life, a heated blanket. Back pain, gone. Joint stiffness vanished. Mine cost me about 50 bucks for one big enough to cover a full-size bed. Another comment here, I tried so hard to get one, but every single

heated blanket has reviews like, and then it caught on fire. Like every one. I spent days searching for something safe, but I'm not sure they are safe. Okay, I'm intrigued. I'm, I'm intrigued. I'm like, is there data that every heated blanket will eventually catch fire? I don't know, but I mean, a heated blanket, I think 50 bucks is a lot, but you can get them for, you know, 30 bucks, 35 bucks for a solid one. And I would be concerned, like, I probably wouldn't have it on all night. But if you want to get the bed warm and then turn it off, that might be the move. And I did find this out. We had a big power outage here in Nashville with some crazy storms, and you can't plug in a space heater into a little power generator because it would short it out.

but you can plug in the heated blanket into it to stay warm at night in case it's freezing cold. So fun fact there. A library card. Yeah, you forgot about those, didn't you? And your local library gives you access to something far greater than just physical books. They got e-books. They got audio books. And you can access them through a few apps.

And one of my favorite apps is called Libby. It's the one that I use. And you can even get my book Breaking Free from Broke in the app. So I just want to check the old Williamson County library system and see how many copies are available right now. They have got the audiobook. Three of nine copies available. That's fantastic. So three of you will have access to this.

The bookbook one of one copies available for the ebook there. And then for some reason, Dancing with Max came up under the search results. So if you want that book, go for it. Looks like a really sweet story of a single mother's love and perseverance and her son's autism diagnosis with its challenges and gifts. and they're triumphed together. Honestly, that sounds way better than my book. But both great books. Go check it out.

And library cards are one of the best ways that are super low cost. You're already paying for it through your taxes. Might as well enjoy it. And you don't have to go out and buy all these books and DVDs and audiobooks. Just go to your local library. On top of that, it'll make your librarians happy. They'd love to see you. Next on the list, turning off nearly all the notifications on your phone.

Ask yourself what you actually want to eat. interrupt your life. That's deep. What do I want to interrupt? I mean, nothing in that case. What do I want to interrupt my life? I'm trying to think of an app that would send me a notification where I'm like, thank you. I'm so glad you told me about Taco Bell's new Baja Blast Pie. So wonderful. Really needed that information. But people get suckered into it and then next thing you know, I'm driving a Taco Bell. I'm down on a pie at midnight. I can't have that. So that one is legit. That is a very low cost way. In fact, it's free to avoid spending money because most of these notifications involve marketing to get you to go do a thing that will then cost you money. So I like this one a lot. If there's notifications in your life that help you, like if they're health related or financial related to remind you to do things you know are good for you, keep those on. That's great. But otherwise, it's got to go if it's all marketing. And what I do is when a notification comes through and I'm like, why am I getting these notifications? I immediately.

go to settings and turn notifications off for that app. In the badges. I don't want the badge, bud. I don't need that kind of stress in my life. You get four notifications? I don't care. Don't want to know, Taco Bell. Why are they all Taco Bell? They talk to me more than my wife does. Does Whitney watch your... No. My wife doesn't watch this. She has better things to do. She watches Deloni's show. Suck it, George. Hi, Whitney. All right, next up. I was waiting. I was waiting. for this one, poop stool. I didn't know they were called poopstools, but okay, good for your health and it pays for itself in saved toilet paper. All right, I don't want to have to explain how that works because I'm not sure I could. But the Squatty Potty, it is a great product. I think

it was a shark tank product, if I'm not mistaken, and they've made a billion dollars because it does help. I mean, the positioning matters, guys. So I don't know that it's a super like cost saving measure, but I will say it's good for your health. from what I understand about science. And based on this guy's username, compost worm guy, I feel like he knows a thing or two. About the old compost.

All right, last one on the list, Baba Yaga. A motion light in the toilet. A man or woman, after my own heart here. I am a big fan of the motion light in the toilet. This is super cheap. Probably cost you, I don't know,

five to ten bucks a pop. I usually get it, you know, they come in a pack on Amazon. And you just pop the batteries in there and you can choose your color. I choose a nice light blue. You don't want red. That looks like a portal to hell if you choose red.

Yellow just reminds me of urine, so that one's an obvious no for me. Green feels like it's some kind of stranger things portal, so I avoid that one as well, which really leaves purple and blue, in my mind. I don't know why I had to run you through the colors on that, but I do find it to be helpful. I don't know that it... Yeah, that is relatively cheap, and it does improve. my life because I can tell you I can count on zero fingers how many times I've stubbed my toe

or stepped on something or like hit my knee against the doorframe because I was just middle of the night groggy. So I do think this is a worthy purchase I recommended to all my friends and because of that I don't have a lot of friends. But the people who have took me up on it are like, dude, I had no idea what I was missing out on. This is a great purchase and my wife enjoys it as well. So I've got them in all the restrooms in my house.

If you come over, look for it. Wow. Okay. Well, that's the end of this list. If you found this video helpful, I'm shocked, to be honest. But I enjoyed the journey that we went on together, talking about socks and hamper's and poop stools and toilet. Mostly toilet-related things and dirty clothes-related things.

I'm realizing on this list. But it's a good reminder that you can improve your life without spending a lot of money. And you can budget for the things that you want, and not everything in life has to be super expensive. And so I like being on the hunt for low-cost ways to improve my life. And that might be, you know, a six-foot iPhone charging cable so you don't have to lean over the bed like a madman. So that's the stuff I think about at night when I lay my head down on my pillow.

I think what are some low-cost ways I can improve my life? And then I make videos like this to help you guys. And while these relatively low-cost items could improve your life, low-cost doesn't always last the test of time. So watch this next video where I break down my top Buy It for Life items that are worth every penny. Click here to watch it or use the link in the description. That's it for today. Thanks for watching.

We'll see you next time.