George Kamel - Are These Products A Total Ripoff?

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. Some stuff is straight-up a waste of money. In this episode, I’m reacting to a list of questionable products so you can avoid rip-offs and buy stuff that actually works. Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video 6 Money Traps the Middle Class Is Falling For. • 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! Connect With Our Sponsors: • 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • 💸 Learn more about opening a high-yield savings account with Laurel Road. Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🎙️ The Ramsey Show   🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've all heard that if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. But when it comes to products that claim they'll make us lose weight or look younger or keep our house home edit worthy, we often say, take my money faster than Prince Harry ran away from the Royals than straight into a book deal. You say your life has been hard, and now you've written all about it in your new book, where? And I want to help you avoid wasting your hard-earned money on crap that does not work. So today, let's check out some potential rip-offs in a new BuzzFeed article titled, People are rattling off the purchases you should stop making ASAP because they're all a big scam. way to stick it to your English teachers with that 17-word run-on title

Along with my takes, I'll offer some cheaper and potentially more legitimate alternatives to each of them. All right, here we go. And as usual, this is a very long-winded list, so we're just going to hit the highlights. Starting with anti-aging skin care products. Here's what they had to say. A majority of anti-aging skin care products are a crock of family show. Do yourself a favor and wear an SPF every day. It'll do more than a lot of the products you're using.

So, the typical price for these anti-aging skin care products, 50 to 200 bucks or more. We're talking creams. We're talking serums. We're talking masks. Talking vitamin C. Ever heard of it? Get a clue. A legit cheaper alternative? Sunscreen. Broad Spectrum SPF of 30 or more. Retinal. Moisturizers with niacinamide. Peptides. Get that collagen, ladies. Let's keep it tight. But avoid anything that says anti-aging. That feels like a scam. Next up, we have memory enhancers. And Psychic Goose, 793 said, a shred of evidence they work. Typical price for these $20 to $60 per bottle of supplements like Previgin or NeuroQ.

So what do you do instead? Well, you can preserve your memories the old-fashioned way. Get some good sleep. Place a dooku every morning. Film your kids open Christmas presents on a bazooka-style camcorder. That's the old-fashioned way to capture the memories. But there's a lot of things you can do. Basically, stay in good shape, work out, get some good sleep.

You can skip with supplements. Next up on the list, detoxing foot pads. Okay, supposedly, you put these pads. on the bottom of your feet before you go to bed and they drain your body of harmful toxins. Can I tell you, here's what they look like. Detachs foot patches. Apply.

Who's doing? Oh, what is that tattoo? Oh, gosh. What came off of that? They're on my skin plus self-care finds on Amazon. This is why TikTok is not for me. I think she just had dirty feet. I think that was the toxin.

You know, a shower could do you some good. Not for me. Typical price of these, 10 to 40 bucks per pack of 10 pads. What do you do? instead. Well, here's the deal. Your liver and kidneys naturally detox your body. So if you want cleaner feet, use some warm water, get some empsom salt, and use some soap, you filthy animal.

Next up on the list, oh, it gets worse. Weight loss socks. Here's the quote. My mother bought weight loss socks that cost 40 pounds. They were just standard grip socks. She also bought a weight loss ring for 60 pounds. She was embarrassed when I showed her the same ring on Ali Express for one pound. God bless the Brits.

I don't know what's going on here with the pounds, but it's wonderful. Is that a fat joke? I don't know what makes these socks special if they're just grippy socks. Like, how are they legally pitching these as weight loss socks? But I found an Amazon link here for slimming health socks with a before and after. Look at this AI guy. Oh, my goodness.

I think this is one of the dudes. This is like Mike Myers and Austin Powers. Okay, so apparently increases blood flow and then you become ripped. That's pretty impressive. Good work. Good work, AI. You couldn't even use the real person. have sold me a little more on it.

Anyways, these go for anywhere from 10 to 50 bucks per pair. This pair right here, you get three pairs for 12 bucks. That's a steal for getting ripped off. So what's the alternative here? I shouldn't need to tell you. A combination of diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes. That'd be a good start. And compression socks can help with circulation,

but that doesn't burn fat. And I don't need to go to med school to tell you that. Next step on our list, we have bottled water, especially in countries where tap water is perfectly drinkable. Now, plastic water bottles did make my list of things frugal people never buy. So is it a scam? I don't think so. If that's your thing, go for it.

But now we know, apparently there's like a bajillion microplastics that are going to kill you anyway. So either way, we're all going to die. We're totally fine. Everything's great. Typical price, 60, 80 a year if you drink a bottle of water per day. So what's the alternative here? A good reusable water bottle, 10 to 30 bucks, and a quality water filter, Britta, Burkey, under-sync systems.

You can Google that. And if you drink straight out of the tap, good for you. In most places in America, if you're not in a third world country that has some water issues, you're going to be just fine, I promise. Our ancestors live to be 100, and they drink, you know, diet Dr. Pepper every day until me mom turn 98. God rest her soul. Next up on the list, we have newer versions of the iPhone.

All right, that could be a ripoff. Almost five years ago, I bought my current phone on iPhone 10. Still works just fine, does everything I needed to do, so I don't see how the latest iPhone model would provide me with any more utility. Typically keep my phones for four or five years and may go even longer with my current iPhone 10. Thank you, Sidney, for that very level-headed common sense take. Here's the deal. iPhones these days cost anywhere from $800 to $500 to $500 for the latest and greatest.

So do what Sidney does. Buy the older models, the 12, the 13, the 14, that work just as well for $3 to $700. And refurbished phones from Apple or reputable retailers offer great savings. And people are getting wise about this. 67% of consumers have started holding onto their iPhones longer than they used to. So you don't need to upgrade your phone every other year, especially if you're going to make monthly payments on. Don't do that. Buy it outright. And the truth is, Apple's not doing much innovation these days. You'll be fine. Next up on the list of potential rip-offs,

carpet powder to freshen up your carpet before vacuuming. This one's legit. And some of these powders can actually clog up to your vacuum. There's tons of chemicals and fragrances that can be irritating. They can affect your pets, your kids, who knows what else. And the typical price for these, five to 15 bucks per container. So let me give you a life hack here. Just use baking soda. It's like a dollar. And it works just as well. It doesn't leave any chemical residue that could clog your vacuum. There's no weird fragrances and it'll get rid of the odors and do a nice job. Next up we have deodorant. And here's the comment from Sleeping Minion 78. Deodorant should be unigender and nonsented. That's a strong take. Yeah, I guess we've been gendering our deodorant

for too long. Not long enough. Typical price for deodorant these days, $5 to $12 per stick. So what's the alternative here? Well, I do think fragrance-free, I mean, it's better for you. Less chemicals in there. And you can go unisex. Who cares if there's no fragrance to it?

Who cares what the bottle says? No one's looking at that. That's just for you. That's you in the privacy of your own home. So native, Schmitz, basic Arm and Hammer unscented, just please don't go without deodorant, okay? But yeah, I'm good if you don't spend $12 on the bright pink one because it's for the ladies and three bucks for the men.

I do agree. That's stupid. Next up, we've got... Oh, it gets weird again. Clumping kitty litter. I strongly prefer non-clumping because it's just as effective at masking odors as they happen, and I don't use as much due to having to refill to the appropriate depth more frequently the way I have to do with clumping litter as clumps are created and removed. If you need any more proof, cat people are not doing all right. They turn to their cats because nobody else will love them.

I don't know what's going on with the clumps, but I'll tell you this, I looked into it for you guys. There's a legit cheaper alternative, and that's non-clumping natural alternatives like pine pellets, which are $10 for a large bag, or silica gel litter, which is $15 to $20, and it lasts longer. And if you're going to use clumping litter, choose brands which lower dust and have safer ingredients like Dr. Elsie's. And I got to say, that's the most action the word clump has seen since the Mabelene Mascara Marketing with their no-clump formula from 2015.

Or so, I'm told, now I don't know what most of this means, but I do know there's a much better solution to kitty litter odors, and that's go with a dog. Do the right thing. They go outside. That's where animals should do their business in the outside. And while you're saving all this money by going with the cheaper alternatives, you need a good place to store that money.

So how about a high-yield savings account with the online bank, Laurel Road, a sponsor of today's video. Laurel Road offers competitive interest rates that will let your money grow way faster than it would in a traditional savings account at a brick-and-mortar bank. Plus, there's no minimum balance required to open an account. They'll never charge a sneaky hidden fees. And on top of all that, your deposits are FDIC insured. And that way you can sit back, relax, and watch your money grow worry-free. Get started by going to Laurelroad.com slash George or click the link in the description below. Okay, back to our list.

Next up, we have non-prescription products that promise to make your hair grow faster and detox your liver. Both are absolute and scientifically impossible. Thank you, Kestrel, for that comment. Now, just because it's prescription doesn't mean it's magically delicious, okay? Rogaine, the jury's still out. You know, people have varying results there. And people are out here trying to detox their livers with things like milk thistle and dandelion root. And maybe the homeopathic stuff works for you,

but honestly, those just sound like indie folk bands to me, and I am into it. Fleet Foxes with Dandelion Rood opening, I'm at that show, just saying. Next on our list, we have timeshares. Yeah, already can tell you this one is an absolute scam. Here's the, here's the comment. My mom and dad got their first time share in the late 80s when Cancun was still pretty undeveloped. They did use the timeshare for the entire time they signed up for it, about 35 years, I think. Wow.

So what does dad do? Gets talked into re-signing for another 35 years. He's 78 now and nobody in the family really uses it. We kids are going to get stuck with that thing when they're gone. John Oliver did a show on this last year maybe, and let me tell you, timeshares are next to impossible to dump. Additionally, those companies who promise to get rid of them for you,

obviously for a fee, are even bigger scammers than the original timeshare. I got to say, time shares are one of the worst products ever made, and these are the types of people falling for them. And I hope millennials and Gen Z, we're not going to the presentation for the free tickets. No thank you. Almost everyone in 2025 knows, to stay far away from timeshares,

and it's far away from these presentations in the basement of a holiday in. And the industry has gotten real creative with names now. They don't call them time shares, they're vacation clubs and travel clubs. It's just lipstick on the same pig. Still amounts basically to legalize fraud. Typically, timeshares cost over $20,000 to get in,

plus annual maintenance fees that can easily surpass $1,000, and they only go up. So what do you do instead of a time share? Just use a vacation rental service like Airbnb or Verbo that offer flexibility with no long-term communications, commitments or ongoing fees. That's the way to do it. You have flexibility. You have options. You choose where you want to go every year instead of being stuck going to the same place in Cancun that's 70 years old now. All right, that brings us to the end of our list. So to sum it all up,

at best, most of these products are just gimmicky marketing designed to get you to spend more money by praying on your insecurities and your dreams. And at worst, they're total scams. And that's why it's so important to do your research and make sure you're not falling for a trap whenever something seems too good to be true. But here's the deal. While goofy rip-offs like weight loss socks won't cost you more than 50 bucks, in addition to your time and dignity, other money traps not so friendly. Specifically, I see lots of Americans fall for six avoidable money traps that keep them broke and seriously hurt their ability to build wealth. So if you want the full scoop, watch this video up next or click the link in the description to watch. That's all for today.

Be sure to hit that like and subscribe button. If you enjoyed this video, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.