George Kamel - This Money Challenge Will Change Your Life in 2026

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! New year, same broke you? Not this time! 🙅 I’m laying down a 30-day money challenge that’ll help you save more, spend less, and start building the kind of financial margin that actually sticks—no dumb diets or cold plunges required.   Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video Harvard Professor Reveals the Worst Thing to Do With Your Money. • 📊 What’s your net worth? Find out fast with our Net Worth Calculator. • 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.   Connect With Our Sponsors: • Get up to 20% 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

People have all sorts of New Year's resolutions, going to the gym more, eating healthier, finally joining your local scream club, and yes, that's a real thing. This is what happens when you shelter your homeschoolers, parents. But the most common resolution is to start saving more money. 21% of Americans set that goal heading into last year, and plenty more are doing the same in 2026. And that's why in this video, I'll be laying out a 30-day money challenge that can literally change your financial life in the new year. Think of it as the money version of 75 hard, just without needing to drink a gallon of water,

reading 10 pages, and telling everyone about it every 10 minutes. We don't care. We're happy for you, but we don't care. Maybe I care a little bit. My version is super simple. I'll give you a list of five things to stop doing for a month and five things to start doing for a month. And if you commit to them for just 30 days,

it will rock your financial world. So, without further ado, let's hop into the list. Up first, stop eating out. When you eat out, you're not just paying for the food. You're paying for overhead, labor, and the privilege of your chatty waiter starting a mid-chew convoy. Don't need to hear it. Wait for me to finish chewing. Restaurants need to mark up ingredients 300% on average to cover costs and make a profit. That means that $16 meal you grabbed at lunch could have cost you just $4 if you made it at home,

which may not feel like a big deal in the moment, but it adds up fast when you're biting that bullet multiple times a week. So for 30 days, commit to eating at home. Plan your meals, pack your lunches, cook simple dinners, and see how much money you save. And not only will you save money. You'll start to see where your grocery budget can go when you're not spending it on markups and fees. And if you really want to get serious, take it a step further and delete the delivery apps. They make eating out even more expensive by adding delivery fees, service charges, and tips. All right, the first thing to start, start tracking your transactions.

This means tracking every single purchase you make, every coffee, every grocery run, every sack of gems on cloud. of clans, all of it. You can write it down, enter it into a spreadsheet, or if you're like me, make it simple and use an app. I don't care as long as you're keeping up with every last cent that leaves your bank account. Now, the simplest way to do this and the way I do it is through an app called Every Dollar. You can link to your bank accounts, so all of your transactions automatically just pop up in the app, and I can drag it to the correct line item and track it. And you can even try Every Dollar for free for two weeks, so I'll leave a link in the description if you're interested in checking it out. Oh, and if you haven't made a budget in the first place,

Start there. You cannot check your progress toward a goal that doesn't exist. So use a budget to track all of this. Up next, stop using a credit card. And hey, I'm not even asking you to cut up your credit cards or cancel them. I would love that, but for now, I just want you to stop using them for one month. Here's how to do it. First, stick your credit cards on a block of ice or lock them away somewhere. You'll never see them or think about them.

And delete credit card info from apps and sites that you frequently use. So for the next 30 days, stick to using a debit card. or cash for all purchases. Next, track your spending with a budgeting tool like every dollar that I mentioned earlier. Now, here's the trick. After 30 days, compare the numbers from your previous credit card days. And I dare you. See if you spent less.

See if you were more intentional. See if you got closer to your financial goals and felt more in control and aware of your money. I think you'll find that all of those are true. The next part of the challenge involves a different kind of phrasing, which is start phrasing your credit. When you freeze your credit, it means no one, including you, can open a new line of credit in your name until you unfreeze it.

And that protects you from identity theft and makes it harder to take on any new debt, which is good news if you've ever been tempted to open that credit card for 10% off a T.J. Max candle. And you can do this for free with the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Each one has a simple online process that takes about 10 minutes.

Once your credit is frozen, you'll get a pin or password to unfreeze it whenever you need it, but I hope you don't need it. And freezing your credit isn't permanent. It simply adds some friction to a process, that usually happens way too fast. Okay, up next, stop using social media apps. And this is money-related, I promise.

Work with me here. The average person spends almost two and a half hours a day scrolling social media, a.k.a. time that could be spent budgeting, meal planning, side hustling, or doing literally anything more productive than watching whatever this is. Immediate no, immediate no. Take it down. Take it down. Why? Is it Italian brain rot? Is that what this is called? We deserve everything.

that happens in today's world. Everything. So for 30 days, take social media off your phone. And please do not announce it in your stories or in a post, because again, we're happy for you, but we don't care. You don't even have to delete your social media accounts. Just remove the apps from your phone temporarily.

No Instagram, no TikTok, no X, no Google Plus. Definitely don't even attempt to use Google Plus because they got canceled. I don't know what they did, but it wasn't good. You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. Not only will this save you a ton of time, but it'll also keep you from getting bombarded by a bunch of ads, influencer posts, comparing your life to your friend's life,

all of the stuff that tempts you to buy stuff you don't need. Deleting the apps even just for a month will break that cycle. But once again, I'm begging you, do not post it on your stories. This is not an airport. You do not need to announce your departure. This is Jake speaking. I'll be getting off, Instagram for a month to be better than you. Over now.

Next up on the list, start keeping up with your net worth. This one habit will help you stay focused on the big picture and gives you the motivation to keep going with your money goals, even when the day-to-day stuff feels slow. And that's because knowing your net worth and tracking it helps you see long-term progress. And you'll be surprised at how even small changes like paying down a credit card or adding to your emergency fund will move the number in the right direction. So start by listing everything you own that has value. Those are called your assets. I'm talking savings, investments, your home, your car, things like that. Then on the other side, list everything you owe. This is your mortgage, the car loan, the student loan, the medical debt,

whatever liabilities you have listed there. And then you're going to subtract the second number from the first, what you own minus what you owe. That becomes your net worth. And once you calculate your net worth, start keeping track of how it grows. Now the easiest way to do this, this is with a net worth calculator and I've got a free one for you that I will link in the description below. Up next, stop making online purchases or in-app purchases. That's right, for 30 days I'm asking you to not buy things online. Are you serious? I know that sounds crazy, but you're probably using a lot of apps to buy things that you don't necessarily need, or that would cost a whole lot less to just go get from your local store. So start by deleting

these apps and removing your save payment methods. That's small barrier, just adding that little bit of friction will give you time to think before making another purchase. I know what you're thinking, but George, I use it for essentials like paper towels and baby formula. Hey, Bub, you ever heard of a grocery store, even a wholesale club? If you truly need something that you would ordinarily buy from somewhere online, get it from somewhere else for the next month. My guess is that you'll quickly notice that most of those essentials really don't matter all that much.

Up next, start keeping your savings in a high-yield savings account. If your savings are sitting in a traditional account with a brick-and-mortar bank, your money is collecting dust, a la that peloton that's turned into the world's most expensive co-wrack. The average interest rate for a traditional savings account is 0.4%. That means in a year, an account with a thousand bucks deposited will make $4. That's barely enough for a nightcap at the Costco food court, my guy. Well, who doesn't love Costco? On the other hand, a high-yield savings account will typically pay between 3% and 4%,

almost 10x more than those dusty old accounts at Brick and Mortar banks. And since opening a high-yield savings account with an online bank is super easy and only takes a few minutes, there's no reason to not do this. It's literally free money. Now, personally, I use a high-yield savings account from Fairwin's Credit Union because they offer competitive APY and check all the boxes we just went over. And best of all, they don't bombard me with ads for debt products or try to sell me a bunch of stuff I don't want or need. And it's been really fun having them as a sponsor on this channel because I've gotten to meet several members of their team. And let me tell you, these guys are the real deal.

They genuinely care about their customers, they want you guys to become debt-free and stay debt-free, and they've bent over backwards to make sure you are well taken care of. And best of all, their smart bundle comes with a high-yield savings account and a no-feet checking account, all in one place. And you can open one today by going to fairwinds.org slash Ramsey or use the link in the description. All right, I've got one more stop and one more start for this 30-day money challenge. But first, let me challenge you to make 2026 the year you finally clean up your digital footprint. The best way to do that is by signing up for Delete Me, another sponsor of today's video.

Look, when your personal data is floating around on data broker websites, you risk it getting sold to those people who blow up your phone with spam texts about deliveries for packages you never ordered. But Delete Me helps prevent that by combing through hundreds of those sites to remove your data and make sure your online presence is squeaky clean. And you can give them a try right now for 20% off their annual plans by going to join DeleteMe.com slash George or use the link in the description. Okay, back to our list. Stop paying for subscriptions you don't use.

Subscriptions are one of the easiest ways to lose money without realizing it. After all, 42% of people have stopped using a subscription service but forgot they were still paying for it. And the average US adult spends over $1,000 per year on subscriptions, including $200 on unused subscriptions. That is insane. So at some point in the next 30 days, audit your subscriptions. Go through your bank statement, make a list of every recurring charge,

and decide what you actually use and what you can really just cancel. And be honest with yourself. If you haven't opened that streaming app or used a membership in the last month and you're not going to use it during the next month, you simply don't need it right now. And yes, that includes the yoga app

you downloaded during your self-care era, okay? Namaste, Amber, and unsubscribe. Namaste. And, uh, uga-buga to you too. Now, this is not about cutting fun out of your life. It's about making sure you're spending intentionally instead of on autopilot, because that's where the money leaks happen.

And finally, last part. but not least on our list, start changing your inputs. The content and information you consume every day shapes both how you think and how you act and how you feel. And if all you're watching is The Bachelorette, odds are you're gonna wind up falling in love with a guy who divorces you just four months later. For real though, if you're constantly filling your mind

with garbage and trash and mindlessness, you'll never grow into the person you want to be. So for the next 30 days, really pay attention to the content you're taking in, whether that's on a streaming service, on YouTube, social media, podcast, wherever and start making intentional changes. Replace negative or unhelpful content with things that actually push you to grow.

Read books and listen to podcasts that challenge you to save and invest wisely and make good decisions. And if you're not sure where to start, I highly recommend The Ramsey Show. I'm a little biased because I'm one of the co-hosts, but we talk with real people every day on that show about how to get out of debt, how to budget, and how to build wealth the right way. There's also plenty of other videos on this channel that walk through the same principles and can help you grow. One of my favorites is my conversation with Harvard professor and happiness expert, Dr. Arthur Brooks. You can click here to watch the interview or use the link in the description. That's it for today.

Be sure to like the video and comment below, challenge accepted, if you're going to commit to this 30-day money challenge. And I will promise to respond to each of you that actually commits. And I will follow up. I will keep you accountable. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.