George Kamel - I Asked People the Most They’ve Ever Spent on Christmas — The Answers Are Wild

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

🎥 Watch my video The Debt Trap No One's Talking About Americans spent almost $1 trillion on Christmas in 2024. So today, I’m hitting the streets of Franklin, Tennessee—a city straight out of a Hallmark movie—to ask people one simple question: What’s the most you’ve ever spent on a Christmas gift?  Next Steps: • 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. • 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! Connect With Our Sponsors:  • Get up to 40% off Cozy Earth with code GEORGE. • Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • 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 💡 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

Guys, this is nuts. Americans spent almost a trillion dollars on Christmas in 2024 alone. So I'm here on the beautiful quaint streets of Franklin, Tennessee, on what feels like the scene of a Hallmark movie, to ask people one simple question. What's the most expensive gift you've bought for Christmas? What's the most you've spent on a Christmas gift? The equivalent of like $900. 900. Wow. What was it? It was a Mulberry laptop bag. A laptop bag?

Yeah. How much was the laptop that you had inside of it? Less than the bag. Okay, that's what I was getting at. Is that a fancy brand? Yeah, Mulberry's quite well known in the UK. What's the scarves? What's the fancy scarves?

That's Burberry. Same thing? Is it a cousin of Burberry, the Mulberry? They're a bit chavi. If you know, if that word translates chavi. Is it like chugie? I don't know what that means either. I don't know what chavie means.

It's a standstill. Might as well be speaking French to you, right? It sounds French. I love the French. Okay, what's the most you've ever spent on a Christmas gift? That's a great question. Thank you. No one ever tells me that.

Probably just buying a stupid gaming system for my kids. Thank you for calling it stupid. Do the kids know that you call it stupid? Oh, yeah. There's no question that I think gaming is the most ridiculous waste of time. Okay. What are they playing these days? You know what system, what games?

They do the PS5, I think it is, and they play sports. They play baseball and that kind of thing. Okay. And do you remember how much these systems, like $600 bucks? I think it was like $500-ish at the time, maybe. Yeah. And you're like, that was still a waste of money, even though we could afford it.

And even though it's for three children, I just think that's a dumb waste of time. Go outside. Go outside bad. It sounds scary. What's the most expensive Christmas gift you've bought? Probably some jewelry or something for like an ex. They didn't really deserve it.

Doesn't that make it so much worse when they become the ex? And you're like, how much did I sink into this relationship? Hundreds. Hundreds. Yeah. Okay. How about you? Me and my brothers.

I spent like 600 bucks one year to send my mom to Vegas because her entire family lives there. That's where like all of us are from. So that was cool. That was a dope gift. No regrets there. No regrets at all. And she fought with her family the whole time, but she still had a great time. That's how it goes.

Okay. How about you? Probably a purse for like an ex-girlfriend or jewelry. What do that cost? Do you remember like the highest ticket item for her? I want to say it was like 900. Woo! Okay.

She is shooketh over here. Yeah, get a little to this guy. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. What's the most you've ever spent on a Christmas gift? I would say probably me and my brother split something for my husband last year and got him maybe like $400. Okay.

What did you get him? He's a little nerd, a gaming computer. Oh, does he know he's a little nerd or is the first? Yes, he knows. Okay. So it was like $800 for this gaming computer and you split? Yes, me and, yeah, we split it. Do you still use it?

Oh yeah. He's probably gaming right now. As we speaketh, he is gaming. Oh, hey, I didn't see you there. I love you. All right, what is the most expensive Christmas gift you've ever bought? I bought my parents' tickets to see the Eagles a few years ago. That's fun. I think it was like $300 a ticket. So like $600 to get these tickets?

Yeah. Did you go into debt for it? You pay cash? No, no. Just stray cash? Yeah. Okay, that's fun. What about this year? What's the plan? How much are we going to spend on Christmas this year? I think I'm budgeting. a thousand in gifts for everyone. Okay. Because I've got a few more people to get gifts for this year.

And what about you? Are you included in the gifts? Do you ever buy for yourself? From time to time, yeah. Like, it's a good deal. It's a Bogo. I'll get one for them, one for me. Yeah.

I mean, I spend within my means, right? So just try to keep the gifts at a reasonable amount. That would seem to be reasonable. Well, let's talk Christmas. Are you guys going to, do you have a budget for how much you're going to spend? I haven't set a strict budget, but I kind of said my budget, like, per person. Yeah. Okay. What's the budget per person this year? Depends on the person.

It does. Do you like them or not? Yeah. I mean, I like everyone I buy gifts for, but it's like my parents I'll spend a little more on than like my sister. But I'll still spend a decent amount on my sister and like my clothes. Do you agree ahead of time we're going to spend this much on each other or what? No, I set a price for myself. They set their own price and they just know that it's more the thought that counts than the price. That's beautiful. How about you? Well, I kind of have the same thing. I already, I love Christmas. I already have a list of like how much I'm going to spend on each person. And me and my siblings have its own spoken rule

that we spend $50 on each other. However, last year my brother spent $100 on me, so I have to spend $100 on him this year. He just keeps sitting the bar higher and higher? That feels unfair. Screw you for not being in college. What are you going to get him? That's $100.

What am I going to get him? That's a good question. Well, actually, last year, I didn't get him a Christmas or birthday gift because I ended up getting him something that he already had, so I had to return it. And so I have to spend a little bit more on him. So I'll probably get him like shoes or something.

I think my budget for everyone is probably close to 300 or 400. Okay. Yeah. Three or 400 total. How about you? Yeah. Probably around the same. Okay.

Tell us about Christmas. Okay. What's the most you've spent on a gift? Honestly, not a lot. Okay. But I actually last year did a thrift miss. Ooh. And so I...

Tell me more. Okay. So I went to thrift stores and I love doing it. So I get a lot of stuff for my house and just all the things from thrift stores. And so I actually did like a game thing where it was like specific to the person. And on Christmas Day, we got to play a lot of the games and did like food and different snacks that people liked. But tried to get thrifted games that everybody would enjoy and different people, certain things if I really knew what they liked. And what was the total cost of all this?

For my whole family, probably like $50, maybe $60. That's amazing. Literally from a thrift store. Yeah. And it was awesome. And we had a fun time. and some of the games were terrible, but it made it even more funny,

and it was just good memories. Versus just a thing that you opened, and they're like, oh, it's what I asked for, cool. Yeah, and I feel like a lot of the adults in my life, especially have grown-up money, and so they just buy what they want anyways, and so I feel like it kind of takes some of the pressure off of what to get people,

and people can just enjoy it, and it's more of a memory, because you can't afford trips and stuff in college. Wow, shrewd and thrifty, too. Charlie, what is the most you've ever spent on a Christmas gift? Probably. 300. Okay, what was it? Do you remember? Yeah, it was some boots, some cowboy boots. Who were the boots for? My husband. Is he a big cowboy boot guy? Sometimes. Or were you trying

to get him to be a cowboy boot? I'm trying to get him that way. Are we talking like spurs? Like what level of cowboy boot was this? Very intermediate. Okay, so not full-on cowboy, but not too hipstery. There's somewhere like a boot barn level. Yes. Standard cowboy. Okay. Did you go into debt for it? No. Okay, do you do debt at all? We try not to. Okay. What about this Christmas? How much are we going to spend this Christmas?

Probably zero. We're doing no gifts this year. What? What happened? Are you guys doing okay? Should I get the kids something? We're painting the house in January, so we're bumping that up. So you're saving up for the house, and so it's just you and your husband.

You're like, why do we need to do gifts? We're grown adults. You can do gifts every day. We have the things we need. What about your family? Are they like, what the heck? Well, a little bit. I'm a gift giver.

I love to give gifts. Okay. But I'm going to have to call myself this year. So do you have an agreement with the outside family? Like, hey, we're not doing gifts this year. Don't get us anything? Just for the kids. We have two nieces, so I'm like, just for them.

Okay, so the kids don't get Christmas ruined. But the adults, you're like, we're all adults. What are we doing here? And they all took that well. They did. That's impressive. They said nobody needs anything. How would you rate the relationship with your bank from one to ten?

Ten being the best. Yeah, like a DTR to find their... 10 out of 10 my bank is amazing. I love them. One is like I could care less. Two. A two? Okay, can you tell us the name of the bank?

Chase. Take that Chase, you scum burgers. Okay, what don't you like about Chase? Or what are you not impressed by? I just don't ever go in there. So, I mean, I don't really have a... Okay, you're just like a number to them. You have the account.

You put money in and you take money out. Yes. Do you wish you could have a better, like, experience, banking that didn't feel transactional? I mean, yeah. Because growing up, it was like that. Back in the day. You actually knew your banker. Yes.

Well, would you be open to trying out a new bank? With my husband's consent. Consent is king. There you go. Okay, well, tell him about fair wins. They're a credit union, but they're nationwide. You can open an account. It's online.

They have a great high-yield savings account, a no-feet checking account. And here's the best thing. They want to see people win with money. So they're not going to push debt down your throat. They want to see you become debt-free. Isn't that weird for a bank? Very much so. Okay.

Well, check a lot. them out. Go to fairwinds.org slash Ramsey and you can open their smart bundle with that checking and savings and hopefully your husband watches this and is convinced. All right, I'll do it. Say yes, husband. We need a win right now because Chase sucks. What's the most you've spent on a Christmas gift? Like $100 maybe. All right. You remember what it was? I think I got him like some, I don't know. I think I got him a cool. I don't know. I got him a couple things like a keychain and so like outdoorsy guy stuff. Is that what you got him? I would say so. Little knick-knack. things. What are you getting him this year? I'm actually getting him this, it's like a little

knife, little pocket knife thing and a little wallet, like metal wallet. What a beautiful simple man he is. Just keep him a pocket knife and he's happy. What's that going to cost you? A hundred, probably that's our max. 100 bucks for each of you. Yeah, absolutely. And family, are you guys doing that too? Or is that only spending you're doing? No, I like making gifts. Like most of the time I'll make something. So for anything family, I'll just hand-make it. They don't make people like you anymore. Oh, they come from New Zealand. That's where they are if you want to find them.

I love New Zealand. That's great. So as you can see, you can have a great Christmas without spending a bunch of money. A lot of these people just set a price per person. They were thoughtful, they were creative, and they didn't go into debt to try to make someone happy. So set the expectations, set the budget, communicate early, and then you'll have a great Christmas without paying for it come January, come February, come March. Because here's the problem. Christmas has led to a toxic trait that is costing Americans $20 billion in 2025.

If you want to learn about it, watch this video coming right up here, or click the link in the description to watch. Thanks for watching. Click that like and subscribe button. We'll see you next time.