George Kamel - Frugal Habits Even Millionaires Won’t Give Up

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app!   Today, we’re finding the frugal line even I wouldn’t cross as I react to the money-saving habits people wouldn’t give up—even if they became rich.   Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video 22 “Broke” Habits Rich People Can’t Stop. • 📙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: • Get $5 credit when you join Privacy. • Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • Go to Boost Mobile to switch today!  • Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle!   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

Today we're finding the frugal line even I wouldn't cross. As I react to people's money-saving habits, they would never give up even if they became rich. But first, a tip of the hat to our trusty friends that delete me for sponsoring this channel. Let's get to it. Now, this question was posed in the Ramsey Babysips Millionaire's Facebook group, and who better to ask than actual millionaires or people who are on the path. Ma said, I buy gift cards when they're 4x fuel points, then get my gas discounted $1 off each time I fill up.

This one's legit. I've seen this. We got a grocery chain here called Kroger. Or if you're a real southern, Kroger's. And you can get four times the fuel points when you buy gift cards, and then you can't get gas discount. A dollar off each time you fill up is serious. I didn't know it was each time. Is that true?

I thought it was like a one time you use it and then it's gone and you got to get enough points to get back there. But who am I to question Ma? But that's a pretty good one. That is something that even if you are rich, you're like, okay, I'll still do this. Now, what are the gift cards for? I hope they're for things that you're normally spending money on versus, you're like, I don't know, when you buy a gift card? Like restaurants?

Because if you're buying gift cards for restaurants and then eating out a bunch, I don't think the cost savings are worth it here. So there is a caveat that I got to know what these gift cards are for, but you do you. Julie said, fusing the small sliver of my bar of soap to the new bar of soap. And who among us is not guilty of this frugal hack? I've done this one before, but here's my, here's the line that I draw. It's got to be an in-kind soap, right? So it's got to be like the same bar of soap.

I'm not mixing flavors that are unequally yoked. Okay, I'm not going to combine my spearmint basil with a coconut castaway. All right, that's unhinged. Shout out, Dr. Squash. Good stuff. That is a pretty frugal. I mean, here's the thing. If I'm rich, give me a frugal.

Give me a fresh bar of soap every morning. That's the life. What would that cost me? A dollar a day for a little Irish spring? A crispy boy in there every morning? Extra crispy. Because here's the thing. I know that you soap, and this is a hot debate on John Chris podcast.

He says that soap can never be dirty. And his boys were like, no, soap can get, that's gross. Like, you can't just use someone else's soap with, like, bacteria. So I'm not willing to Google it. I don't want to know. but I got trust issues with soap that is not my personal soap. Next up, we've got Chuck. The shirts that I wear every day came from tractor supply.

I bought eight of them for $8 each. Okay, so $64 for eight shirts. Let's check these out. I want to know what kind of shirts they sell at tractor supply. Let's see if they have any $8 shirts. I'm $8.99. Men's crew neck short sleeve shirt, two for 16. If so facto, $8 a shirt.

Combination not available. What colors do they have in my size? Oh, good. Safety yellow. That's what I'm going for. Look at this blaze orange. I'm going to call this Breaking Free from Broke orange. Let's see if it matches up.

I kid you not. The hex code is probably... It needs to be a little richer of an orange. Just as bright, but like a richer. A deeper orange. Pretty close. 4.7. stars, 576 reviews. Chuck, you're not alone here. Half of men in America are rocking these

tractor supply shirts. Thank you for that, though. That is a good hack of, you know, get the same eight shirts, go full Steve Jobs. I mean, I do it. Black tea every day. Throw on a layer. Capsule wardrobe. And honestly, I didn't know tractor supply had a website. Like, in my head, I knew they had a website, but I didn't know people, like, shopped on the website. It feels like a place where you walk into And you get the smell of a baby chick on your way in. Chicks, huh? And that's usually what you're buying there. Mostly baby chicks are being purchased at tracker supply.

Blake said, figuring out a store's sale cycle and buying when things are on sale. For example, Gap has 50% off the entire store regularly, so I have my kids place what they want in the cart, and I wait until it's on sale and then buy it. Now, this is some American ingenuity. I do agree. You'll notice if you sign up for their emails.

You're like, oh, here it comes again. J-Crew Factory is going, it's 40% off everything. And truthfully, what they usually do is they make the MSRP, like, absurdly high, and then 40% off, it's still like a $40 shirt, which is just an okay deal. But 50% off compared to it not being 50% off, I'll take it. Here's the caveat, though. Just because it's on sale doesn't mean it's a good deal, and it doesn't mean you need it. Everything's 100% off.

You don't buy it. This is the way. But I do like it. You got kids. That stuff can get expensive. And I like that they get the dopamine hit of like they're adding it to the cart, but you're waiting. So there's some delayed gratification there. And I got to assume you're paying cash.

Paying with a debit card versus putting it on credit. God forbid, a gap credit card. You want to save 10% by sending a pre-game credit card today? They say with this little conviction as possible because they know it's a scam and their manager forces them to do it. And the manager's in it's corporate. Going, hey, guys, we're going to get those credit card numbers up. Those are rookie numbers in this racket. That's how they're making their real money.

And that's not a gap thing. which is a retail thing. Never get a store credit card. They're the worst. Tweety said, washing Ziploc bags and reusing them. I especially love when I put the dish soap and water in and close it and make it slosh all over the inside,

swish, swish. Oh, I just threw up my mouth a little. It was like the combination of all of those things and the joy she gets from it. Dish soap and you slosh it all over the inside. Why would you say it like that? And then add a swish-swish at the end? That's sociopathic.

That of some dexter behavior right there. I'm out on the washing Ziploc bags. I'm totally comfortable just throwing a Ziploc bag away. I think they're made to be disposable. I don't think it's worth washing them. And then you get the water on the inside, which then can create more bacteria. You gotta like dry the thing out perfectly to reuse it.

I'm out on that one, Tweety, sorry. Bruce, ordering tap water to drink when we eat out. We've literally saved tens of thousands of dollars. My man, Bruce. Great minds think alike. This is one that I live by, the caveat, being that if it's like a nice dinner and there's a great cocktail menu, sometimes I will splurge for the cocktail. But in general, I always get water when I eat out,

and it does feel like I'm sort of, I'm breaking free from the system of having to go get a soda. Plus, I try to avoid liquid calories, and it's how I keep my physique without ever working out. Now, if they have a soda machine, and there's like the soda option that's just straight soda, just water that's carbonated, I will do that. If they have, like, fresh lemons or limes,

Squeeze that bad boy in there? Homemade LeCroy. With somehow way more flavor. Isaac said, I'll never stop using an antenna to get free local channels. No way will I ever pay 150 to 200 bucks a month for cable,

especially if all the channels are lame. Are there channels that aren't lame these days? Like, who's flipping on going, I could watch this all day on television? Love this one, though. I don't have one of these currently because I don't get to watch a lot of TV with an infant and toddler,

but I used to have one of these little antennas you can get on Amazon on for like 15 or 20 bucks and it'll give you all the local channels so that you don't have to get cable. And I think now some of them have like hundreds of channels. It's pretty impressive. So I would definitely try that before you ever go out and spend money on some kind of cable subscription or streaming service. Because the average monthly cable TV bill now is $108 per month. That is insane. And the average monthly streaming services add up to $46 a month. So if you add those together, if you have cable and streaming, we're talking over $150 a month for the pleasure

of maybe watching something that you may be like. Shout out to Secret Lives and Mormon Wives. Wait, what? Some of you are working really hard to save your money, but what really need saving is your personal info. Right now, data brokers are collecting your phone number, address, email address, family connections, and more than packaging it and selling it.

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And here's a rich frugal habit that may surprise you, not using your debit card number to shop online. I haven't used mine for years, thanks to privacy.com, another sponsor of today's video. Privacy protects you by creating a unique virtual card number for every merchant you shop with. So your real debit card number is not exposed

and you aren't left vulnerable to data breaches and unauthorized. charges. You can also set spending limits and time limits, which means when you're finally ready to pull the trigger on buying Little Johnny's clothes, you'll have total peace of mind. And just for being a fan of this channel, you'll get a $5 credit when you sign up today. So you got a lot to lose here. Five bucks, namely. Go to privacy.com slash George to get the deal. All right, back to the list. Mindy said, cutting up my kitchen sponges into smaller sizes, laughing emoji. She even knows that it's maniacal to do that. So imagine a kitchen sponge. How many smaller sizes? How many smaller

How much smaller can you go? Like, are you using a sponge like this big and, like, doing this on the plate? I don't understand that one. Out of all the things that cost a lot of money, I feel like sponges. I don't know what sponges are made of. I don't know, like, what the profit margin is on a sponge,

but I feel like they're pretty cheap. And here's the life hack. You can put a sponge in the dishwasher and sanitize it, I think. You sure about that? Ben said, Driving my cars until they die. I don't need to drive a beater, but I do.

This is a man who clearly doesn't care what other people think. And I think this is the wisest thing to do with the depreciating asset is use it as long as possible to get the full value out of it. Because then if it depreciates down to zero and it's paid for because you paid cash, you got nothing to worry about. And of course, here's the caveat. People go, I can't believe this. You guys tell people to drive beat her.

We don't tell people to drive beater cars. But what we are saying is if you want to get out of debt aggressively and your car is 30 grand and you guys make 50 grand as a household, this is a huge problem. Sell the car and get something cheaper. Sure, it's going to be hard to find a $2,000 beater car that's going to get you from A to B without a ton of issues. But a $5,000 car?

$6,000 car? Those are out there, and you can find reliable ones that don't have a host of issues. Just do your research, get a pre-purchase inspection that is well worth the money. Average new car payment now is $748 a month. That is insane. That's the average.

A lot of them are more. That's how average just work. I've met a lot of people paying $1,100, $1,200, for a single payment on a truck or a car. Usually it's the truck. What's going on with these trucks? And get this, the average used car payment is still $532 a month. That's over $6 grand a year you're paying with interest for something going down in value.

So regardless if it's new or used, don't do it with a payment. Buy the car you can afford in cash, save up aggressively, and then upgrade over time. That's what I've done. And it took me, I don't know, 20 years of driving now to get my dream car. that I paid cash for, but the whole way, I just paid cash, upgraded. And the next car was always slightly better than the last. And the problem is you drive a new car with a payment, it's really hard to go back to an old car that is not brand new with that new leather smell.

And the truth is, millionaires don't even buy new cars. Millionaires drive cars that are four years used on average, and it's Toyota and Honda in the running at the top there. The usual suspects. There's the facts for it. You don't need to look any further. It's the broke people who are driving the really expensive car. cars in general. Sharon said, selling my own clothes, I enjoy the skill building. I don't know.

Are you repairing the clothing? Are you sewing from scratch? Because that's way more impressive. If you are somehow making custom clothing for yourself and or your family from scratch. Yeah, that is some skill building right there. I only know one person who has the capability to do this. It's my co-worker's wife, and she's incredible at it. So she'll like hand-make the costumes for Halloween for the kids. And it ends up costing them more than if they just bought the costume, but they're obviously legendary costumes that are so much better and better looking than the ones you get at the store. So if you have that skill, that's fantastic. That's a, it's a dying art sewing. I mean, it's like cobbling. We're not going to have cobblers and

sewers in due time. So we need people like Sharon out there keeping the dream alive. Jeremy said, my wife cuts my hair for 25 plus years now. I see zero reason to change, and he did CHG. I'm happy for you. I hope it's a good haircut. I'll say this. I've rarely seen someone with like great head of hair, really good haircut, and they're like, yeah, my wife does this, or I do this myself. So that's my caveat as a guy who cares more than the average person about their hair. I think we can all admit that. Eric also said I cut my own hair. I do think cutting your own hair versus having your wife cut your hair, that's a step beyond to cut your own hair. Shout out to the wives out there who are willing to, you know, get the husband

in the kitchen with the, I don't know what he's covered, a sheet. Do you get the little apron situation going, the cape? I don't know, but that's commitment. 25 years straight. Who knows how many haircuts a year? That's at least hundreds and hundreds of haircuts. That's devotion. They're going to last forever. Ryan said, I have a mini fridge in my vehicle and I fill it with snacks, drinks, and food, so I don't have to stop at any gas stations or fast food restaurants. That's impressive. Is it like a mini fridge that's plugged into like the cigarette lighter?

Do you have an outlet in the car? That's really cool. Now, I do this with a cooler if it's like a road trip. I don't know about all the time. You said you just, is this constant that you do this? But I do think stopping is a waste of time and you always end up spending money on things you really didn't need because you're just tired, it's exciting to be on a trip. And you're like, let me just pop in the gas station and get some funnions.

People still buying funnions? I hope so. Let's keep funnions alive, guys. Funions and hot pockets. Underrated snack, I think. Marty said carrying cash in my wallet and budgeting every dollar before the month begins. I'm going to slow clap for Marty here.

This is also a dying art. Most people have no cash on them and also no cash in their bank account and they're living off of credit cards and payment plans and buy now, pay later. Meanwhile, Marty's out here proactively planning for every dollar that's coming in so that when it shows up, he's like,

I know where you're going. You're going over here to savings. You're going right here to pay the light bill. Instead of the paycheck flowing through his hands like grains of sand, wondering where it went at the end of the month. That's how most Americans live. So the solution really is to budget every dollar before the month begins.

Stick to debit cards and cash. And the best app to do this with is every dollar. I'll drop a link in the description if you want to get to budgeting today and be like Marty. Lisa said we reached Baby Step 7 over 10 years ago. That's fantastic. That means she is completely debt-free, house included, no mortgage. We still pack my hubby's breakfast. Negative point for a hubby.

We'll let it slide. Hubby's breakfast, snacks, and lunching. Coffee in the morning for work started it over 20 years ago to help him lose weight, but it saves a lot of money too. Ladies, this is a double life hack. Your man's going to be looking lean, eating clean, and saving the green. I just came up, I'm pretty proud of myself. I know you guys are like that was weak. That was all up here. Off the cuff, extemporaneous. And so she's saying over 10 years ago, they paid off the house, meaning they have lots of money. They're millionaires for sure. And she's still. still goes, what's the point in having him spend all this money out when I can do it here?

And knowing that he's eating good, eating healthy, staying in shape. I like this a lot. Jennifer said, buying dessert at a restaurant unless it's a birthday. Yeah, I think that is a waste in most cases. And truthfully, calorically, Americans, we are intaking way too many calories, let alone adding a dessert to the mix. So I think that's a good rule of thumb. And honestly, I'm always too full.

Anytime they're like, did we make room for dessert? And everyone's like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Why do we play that game? Why do we do it? Birthdays are the caveat. That's when dessert is warranted. Oh, now I will say, fancy restaurant, nice date night, maybe out with friends. We're all going to split a creme brulee.

Sign me up for that all day long. All right, finally, we got Maria, who said using plastic grocery bags as my garbage bag. The trash man must get a kick out of all those small bags dropping out of my trash can. I think you're overestimating how funny the trash man thinks this is. I doubt he's like, that Maria got me. Look at all these little bags. This is crazy.

Maria, this is unhinged behavior. Using the Kroger sack seven times a day to get your trash out the door. I mean, I know that, yeah, you're going to pay 15 or 20 bucks for 200 trash bags from Costco, but it's well worth the money. And the trash bags do a much better job of holding all the weight, keeping in the odor versus your hand-tied grocery sacks. But you know what? You do you.

I'm not your trash man, so not my problem. Now, just to be clear, there's a giant spectrum between extreme cheapskates and spending like there's no tomorrow. And I like most of these. I think most of these are generally things that we should all be doing to not be wasteful, to be a little more intentional with our money without going overboard. So I aim to be in the middle here.

Some things I'm happy to delegate, and it's not a waste of money, because I'm gaining back time and sanity. So how about this? Be frugal where it makes sense and splurge on the things that save you time and bring you joy and peace. And if you've got a frugal habit,

you'll never give up. Drop it in the comments, let me know. And give this video a like if you enjoyed it. Subscribe to the channel because there's more where that came from. And here's one where I react to even more frugal habits, wealthy people swear by. So click here to watch it next

or use the link in the description. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.