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I've got lots of things I would proudly defend. Justice, freedom, o' Keefe's lip balm. If you know, you know. But flagrantly wasting money. I would never. So today I'm headed to the most polarizing corner of the Internet, filled with the most opinionated people who shall remain anonymous Reddit. I'll weigh in on the top comments for things people waste money on but still somehow defend. And with a hi, howdy hey to our channel sponsor. Delete me. Let's. Let's head over to the Upside Down. All right, comment number one of things people waste money on but still defend Alcohol. It's poison and we still drink it. First of all, poison generally just kills you. I don't know if you've seen Romeo and Juliet. Pretty sure that's how it ended. Don't know. Didn't read the book, didn't watch the movie. Razzle dazzle, responded curly. Hungover. AF can confirm that's pretty good. I gotta say, sometimes Reddit is entertaining. So how do I feel about. It's something people waste money on but still defend. I don't know if people would say they waste money. I mean, if you enjoy it, you do it socially. You don't go overboard, you don't get drunk. I'm drunk right now. It's not a sin. Depending on what Baptist church you went to, if they were a little edgy, they'd tell you it's all right. Moderation. How do I feel about this one? I mean, as someone who imbibes occasionally, I wouldn't say that it's something that's a waste of money. Now, could you save money by cutting it out? Sure. But you could also do that by only drinking water the rest of your life from the tap. Sad way to live, but people do it. I mean, is soda a waste of money at that point? Potentially, I think that's just as much poison. But yeah, alcohol is technically scientifically poison. I'm not gonna argue with that. Next one up, gender reveal parties. Let me think about that. People waste money on it, but defend it. Yeah, this one, I would say, falls into that category. It makes you happy, it creates a memory. You get the people you love in one place to kind of celebrate the birth of this baby for the third time because you're going to have, you know, the baby shower. You may be a meal train. And then you get the gender reveal. It's a lot. Let's see what aspiring TS had to say. I respect people who take every excuse to have a party, but posting on the Internet is just attention seeking bordering on mental illness. Bro, you anonymously posting in a Reddit thread could be considered a mental illness. So I wouldn't be going after the gender reveal people. Okay. God forbid they post on their private social media page that they're excited to have a boy or a girl. They're not gonna find out. We, like, we don't wanna do a gender reveal. That's fine too. But you're also more annoying than those people. I want you to know we're just trying to keep everything neutral. Truly wanna make it special. We don't wanna make it a big thing. Just say that you're dogging on the gender reveal people without saying it. All right, this explosion could have been an email said chemicalgeekery. Username checks out. Who emails the. That's even weirder. Hey, just want to let you guys know, it's a boy. See ya. We oughta. Baby, it's a boy. I don't know. I mean, have I been to gender reveals? Sure. They usually don't last long. Cause it's just like, boo. All right, hey, congrats. But either way, you're gonna get a congrats. You know what I mean? You're not gonna get like a third color and be like, oh, my gosh, guys, this just got way more interesting. But happy for you, Stacy. All right, next up, Midnight Gamer said extended warranties companies push them so hard because they're basically free money. Most people never use them, and the rare times they do, the claim process is a nightmare. I never thought I'd agree with someone who goes by Midnight Gamer, but here we are. I mean, they absolutely nailed it. I am not a fan of extended warranties on anything. And it's usually justified because they go, well, I mean, if something does happen, it's gonna pay for itself. I don't wanna have to replace that. But there's a reason the salespeople are pushing this so hard, because it's one of the main ways they make money. The profit margin on the product you actually bought could be real slim, but the extended warranties are just straight gravy on top, baby. That's a cash cow for them. And it's why it gets pushed so hard. I wanna see this comment from Valiant Freak. I gotta say, the usernames here, you guys are really. You're coming through. Today I bought a 2K TV from local chain store. Remote failed immediately. Store told me it wasn't covered by warranty as it was, quote, an accessory warranty. Shysters told me that I need to speak to the store as it is still covered by consumer law. I just called Samsung and they sent me a new one. Most shocking thing of all of this is that Samsung customer service came through. Wow. I'm very impressed. Yeah, but here's the deal. It's an extra cost, it's rarely used, and it doesn't always cover every repair you'd need. All right, they fight you to say we're not covered in this. And here's why you didn't read the fine print. And for home warranties, they. They average over a thousand bucks a year, plus service fees if they do need to come out, versus the average home repair, which is less than 500 bucks. So the simplest way to do this is just set aside that money instead of paying the warranty, and you'll have your own little insurance plan. And don't get me started on the car warranties. These ones are hyped so hard by the car salesman or saleswomen. It's 20, 26. They're out there. More rare, but they're out there. These vehicle warranties can cost two to five grand over the life of their plan. Which, by the way, you. Your car might not be worth that by the end of the plan. And 47% of vehicle owners hold an extended warranty, and only 1 in 10 have ever used it. You tell me if it's worth it, but one time it covered. Sure, one time. You're the exception, not the rule. Next up, Lateral Thinkerer said wedding dresses. My wife worked in a bridal shop and the markups are astounding. $2,500 dress. Yeah, that was maybe $85 at the loading dock. Wow. Bringing the loading dock into it. For that kind of money, you should hunt up an actual dressmaker and go custom. The result will be better and it might be cheaper. Now that's interesting. You're telling me the actual cost of that wedding dress was $85? That feels low to me for how intricate some of these dresses can be. But who am I to judge from subsequent comments worth reading, the quality will be much better, but it will likely not be a savings. Thank you for the edit. Prom king said two 5k. Try an Indian wedding dress in a Western county 10k. Yeah, I will say Indian culture goes hard in the paint when it comes to weddings. But you know, if your wedding is gonna last a week, I feel like the dress can be five times the cost. That tracks. That is pretty wild though. I do think people waste money on this. They just yeah, people justify a wedding dress all day long. They go, I'm gonna hand this down to my granddaughter, who's probably not going to want to wear it, or they're going to cut it to shreds and, like, redo the entire dress to where it's like, are you really wearing Meemaw's dress at this point? But the average cost of a wedding dress these days is about $2,100, and that is a lot. I mean, that's more than some people spend on the entire wedding. And there's no correlation between a great marriage or even a great wedding and the cost of said wedding dress. So I would go as cheap as possible. And listen, ladies, you're going to be beautiful in whatever dress you choose. Yeah, I. You should have married me, but I'm taken. Don't even think it. All right, next up on our list of things people waste money on but still somehow defend food delivery services like grubhub and Uber Eats. Do people realize just how much more they're paying for food versus picking up themselves, which is still stupidly more expensive than cooking at home? Thank you, chaos 1313. You said the quiet part out loud. This is so true. And it's something people still will defend. Cause they'll go, oh, I'm tired. I don't have the energy to get up and go drive somewhere, man. I had a hard day, dude. Our parents had to, like, actually work. You know what I mean? They weren't just, like, on a laptop all day responding to toxic emails saying, let's circle back. Have I ever used one of these apps? Yes. At a point where it was. It actually made sense. Like, here's an example. The birth of my child, and I'm in the hospital and don't want to leave my wife. Yeah, I might do a doordash order, but it was probably from, like, a gift card that someone gave us as, like, a little baby gift. So in that case, I try not to spend my own money on this stuff. Or if I'm doing it for someone else, for convenience, like, they just had a baby. I can't make it out to bring them the meal. Sometimes I'll Uber eats it or doordash over to their house, but that feels like it's a generosity gift thing versus spending on myself. Nuff said. I'm not gonna convince any of you out there who use this crap. Not gonna waste my time. All right, next on the list, Azrob Jr. Said, little kids in crazy expensive travel leagues. This one's gonna ruffle some feathers. Let's read what this commenter had to say. Upper management. Bingo. The amount of money these clubs charge to not only have the privilege to play for, but then all of the other expenses for the actual travel and other knock ons is criminal. I never heard of a knock on. They knock it on all for the illusion of parents to think they need to play for these clubs in order to have a chance to start in high school and maybe a college scholarship. It is mental. Not sure if it's a nationwide deal, but out here on the east coast it's like a cult of travel sports. Yeah, travel sports I think is. It's pretty nationwide at this point. It's big here in the south where I am. But here's the real shocker. The range of cost for travel sports can be from $2,000 to $30,000 a year. That's per kid, per sport. And hockey is the highest of any sport. Cause think about all the things you're paying for. Club fees, the dues, the tournament fees, the travel costs, which include flights, gas, hotels, the equipment, the private training, the recruiters. It does, and I hope and I pray that my kids are not athletic enough to ever even qualify to be in a travel sport. I don't want to be driving my kid on a Saturday to stay overnight in Kentucky. All so that their team might make it to the playoffs and go to the championship so that we can go woo, you're 12 and you won the championship, bud. I'll give them a trophy before we even leave the house and say, hey, here's 20 bucks, let's go get you an ice cream. That's what I'm doing with my kids. Next up on the list of things people waste money on but still somehow defend big SUVs, claiming they need it for their growing family. As if humanity died off when we only had sedans and station wagons. Meanwhile, they get 13 miles per gallon on average and their owners complain about gas prices and they keep the engine running when they go into Whole foods. Are big SUVs a waste of money? Yeah, for people that don't need them. I mean there are families where it's just convenient to have said suv. But with the amount of money car loans that are out there, I mean, we're well past 1 1/2 trillion bucks in just car loan debt, which is insane to me. And much of that is on big expensive cars. Think trucks, SUVs. And yeah, most people, if I just look to your family and look to your vehicle, I'd be Like that. You didn't need that. You didn't need the luxury suv. You didn't need the Kia Telluride or the big brand new Tahoe. So if you're gonna do this and you need it, please, please buy used and buy it in cash, because that thing will depreciate like a rock. Like a rock. I don't know what constitutes a big suv. I do think a lot of women just like driving boats on wheels. That's the truth. They just like it. They feel. I guess it makes them feel safe. Like if we get in a wreck, I'm going to be okay. Whoever I hit, not going to be okay. But I will be just fine. Selfish. The big SUV is really a retaliation against the minivan. And I think minivans get undue amounts of shade. Okay? If you've ever stepped in a Honda Odyssey, even a Chrysler Pacifica, a Kia Carnival, God forbid. Still sick whips with great features that just make sense for a family. You don't need the big suv. Get a minivan. If you got a lot of people to tote around, get an Astro van, for all those things are actually cool. Mercedes Sprinter. That's turning heads at the stoplight. Next up on our list of things people waste money on but still somehow defend psychic mediums. That one was not on my bingo card. Young savage coming through with that one. I don't know a lot about psychic mediums because I don't go near that Jumanji heebie jeebie, okay? But here's what my team found out. These psychic mediums can charge around 350 per minute or 100 to 150 bucks per hour. Could be your next side hustle if you want to troll a lot of people. And there's even a newer trend of pet psychics. I don't know what they're telling you about your pet. Is it about their past? The present? The future? Who knows? But I do think that both the psychic medium and the person pursuing the psychic medium, both mentally unwell, both would do great to spend that 150 bucks on a therapist instead. Okay? Problem solved. Psychic medium. Nobody knows. Nobody knows but the Lord. Okay, And I'll take that to the bank. Switching gears, let's talk about something I will happily spend money on with no apologies. And that is Cozy Earth Products. And I'm not just saying that because they're a sponsor of today's video. Okay? Their Men's Everywhere pants are legitimately so comfortable, I forget I'm even wearing them. I think I'm pantsless. And I look down, I go, I'm wearing cozier men's everywhere pants. It's gonna be okay. But it's not just the pants. It's the joggers. It's the socks, it's the PJ sets, it's the sheets. It's all the epitome of comfort and luxury. Plus, so many clothes shrink or fall apart after one wash, and that is money down the drain. But everything from cozy earth is so high quality. I know I'm investing in clothes that will make me feel great and last a long time. And right now you can get up to 20% off by going to cozyearth.com/george and using promo code George at checkout. And since we're on the subject of spending money, when is the last time you thought about where you kept your money? AKA your bank? I hope you know the place you only hear from when you've been pre selected for a legendary once in a lifetime credit card offer. Wouldn't you rather have a bank in your corner that actually gives a rip about your finances? Well, good news. That bank is Fairwinds Credit Union, another sponsor of today's video. You see, with Fairwinds, your mailbox won't be stuffed to the brim with debt products being pushed on you, but you will get their exclusive debt as normal. Beware debit card when you sign up for their smart bundle, which is complete with a high yield savings account and a no fee checking account. So bail on your crummy bank and switch to Fairwinds by going to fairwinds.org Ramsey all right, back to our list of things people waste money on but still somehow defend playing the lottery. Watch your language, people. I know you're anonymous, but just think, your mom's watching, all right? Grandma's watching from up there and she's not pleased with this unless she was a big cusser too, and it runs in the family, in which case you do you. But the lottery, okay? And please, if you do grab your scratch off and get out of line. Geez, what does that mean? Are they scratching it at the counter? Okay, apparently this person has had this issue come up a lot where they're in line waiting on a guy getting a scratch ticket and he's sitting there going, Who does that? I've never seen that happen. Jeep Nismo said, I won't gamble in casinos, but I'll buy lottery tickets whenever I see it in the upper hundreds of millions. I absolutely know I'm wasting my time and money, but I Can dream. Why don't you dream about a better life where you don't have to play the lottery, hoping you'll win? This is crazy. I mean, this really is a tax on the poor. And if you look at the zip codes who play the lottery, they're generally lower income zip codes. So people who actually are building wealth, they're not doing it by playing the lottery. Okay. The odds of winning Mega Millions or powerball are about 1 in 300 million, which is almost the entire population of the United States. So just think, the higher the number you could win, the lower your chances are. Don't do it. The only time I'll do it Christmas. I'll get a few scratch offs for the fam. And if you win, I don't know what happens. I've never won, so I don't know what happens if you win, but I guess we'd all celebrate if you win, like five bucks. There's a better chance that a guy on Reddit gets a date than there is of you winning the lottery. And that's saying something. Oh, snap. All right, next up, timeshares. 100% something people waste money on. Yeah, pretty much anyone that owns a timeshare is like, no, it's actually been great. We actually like going to the same dilapidated condo every year no matter what, while the price goes up every year. Really? Really. Those tried to get me twice on vacation when my wife and I were still dating. The second time was worse. The salesman got so aggressive that my wife started crying. The manager came out and apologized, and the hotel gave us a free stay. I got so excited about the free stay, I just thought, I'm gonna get my wife to start crying. We're gonna sit in the timeshare presentation. The salesperson's gonna get aggressive. I'm gonna have her. I might cry. I could cry on command. Yeah. But this one is a legendarily stupid decision. Cause think about this. The upfront purchase price averages over $23,000. That's upfront. You gotta write a check to do that. And some people go into debt for that amount to get into the timeshare. And then the average maintenance fees are about 1,500 bucks a year. So you're paying like over $500 a night on average. With the upfront price plus 10 years of maintenance fees, about 70 vacation nights. And the worst part is they're really difficult to get out of, which is not a good sign. All right, timeshare deedback programs are one way or selling your timeshare another. But you can go on ebay and find timeshare selling for like a dollar. Cause people are just wanting to get this thing off their back because of all the fees associated with it. So run from these like the plague. I apologize to delete me. You didn't deserve that. Love you. That was weird. Next up on the list, giving money to streamers. Ooh, that's a good one. Streamers being. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and we'll go family friendly and imagine these are like people who stream on Twitch. They're playing video games and whatnot and they'll kind of interact with the people watching and you get the pleasure of watching them play a video game. And this is big business. A lot of people give a lot of money to this. So I'm not gonna knock on those who do. I think it's a waste of money. Do people defend it? I don't know. I've never seen the. I'd like to see the defense on that. So if you are someone who has paid a streamer, what is your reasoning? Are you like, well, I just really want to support them because they're really entertaining and it really helped me through a hard time. That would be the only thing I can think of. But giving money to someone simply for putting on. I mean, you're not going to give me money just for doing this. That's why we have advertisers. Because you guys wouldn't give me a dollar for this kind of amazing life changing content, let alone me playing Tony Hawk's pro skater. I would never ask you for money, not directly, but I would ask you to do something that costs you nothing but your fine motor skills. And that is to hit like on this video and hit subscribe on this channel so that you don't miss another fun episode. And as a little thank you, I. I promise to never kiss the delete me mug again. That's my promise to you. I don't, I don't even know if I can stand by that promise. Who knows? I mean, look at the thing. So kissable. Look at the handle. I mean, just next up, lot of people I know love their expensive car leases. I was waiting for us to get to this one. The response is they probably don't love the leases, just the car. Ha ha ha ha. Pretty good joke. That's a good joke for like a redditor, you know what I mean? Ark of engine said. And they probably would not be able to buy it or just want to drive Another new car every few years instead of driving the same car for a decade. That's the exact defense I found of people who lease cars. They're like, yeah, I just want a fancy new car every few years without having to worry about maintenance and insurance. Sure. True. You're just expensively renting a car. You're prepaying all of the depreciation, and the average lease payment now is $659. Hope you like the car. It is the most expensive way to drive a car. Cause you're paying for all the depreciation. You hand back the car at the end of it. So with a loan, at least you get to own it by the time you pay off the car. But with a lease, none of that's happening. You just think you're impressing people and yourself, but you're acting a fool. So I believe car leases are a scam with a capital S. And I explain exactly why. Plus expose even more toxic money systems in my book Breaking Free from Broken. And if you're not a reader, you're a listener. I got that for you too. I'll drop a link to the audiobook in the description so you can listen to more of my sweet dulcet voice. All right, next on the list of things people waste money on but still somehow defend big fat weddings. Thank you, Professor Peace. Don't bring the Greeks into this, okay? A lot of people are doing the big fat weddings, not just the Greeks. Loki Dopey, who is the original poster of this said, mortgaging your future. So the chair covers match the napkins for four hours. Oh, we love a chair cover roast. That is true, though the amount of like details we try to get just right. To throw a party for other people at the tune of 5, 6 figures is pretty wild. The average overall wedding cost is now $34,000. And the top costs include the venue, the photographer, the live music, the food, and I do not believe that the wedding industry as a whole is a scam. But there is an upcharge for a day that has this much pressure riding on it. And the photographers charge as such. The vendors are going to charge as such. So budget for what you can actually afford, not the party you want to throw, because you could invite 300 people and pay 100 bucks per person, but that's going to be an astronomically expensive wedding. To get some gifts, I would just try to limit the invite list. That'll really bring down the cost and then limit all the accoutrements and extra stuff. Just focus on what are the three things we really want? And then the other stuff can go by the wayside. All right, last on our list, buying flagship phones every year or two. Yeah, this one hits and there is some planned obsolescence happening with technology. I'm shocked, shocked where they somehow make the devices worse over time through like software updates and battery life. To where you go, I have to get the new phone, my iPhone 16 ain't cutting it anymore, and the new iPhone 17 Pro is eleven hundred dollars. That is insane. So think about that. If you're paying for these phones outright, which I hope you are not getting sucked into these contracts where you're just basically paying for it monthly on a payment plan, you're spending, if you get a new phone every two years, about 500 bucks a year just to have the latest and greatest. So the longer you hang onto that phone, the cheaper that phone becomes, much like a car. So I would encourage you to clear your storage, do what you need to do to get that phone back working in tip top shape before you upgrade just because you want a slightly better camera. Not worth it. I've seen your photos. You're not a good photographer. Wow. I gotta say, I agreed with the majority of these. And for once I'm not completely triggered by a Reddit thread, so that's a win. Yes, there's a first time for everything. But now that you've heard me dog on money wasters, check out this next video where I share 12 things that are absolutely worth spending money on. Just click right here to watch it next or use the link in the description. That's it for today. Thank you for watching. We'll see you next time.
Podcast: George Kamel – Ramsey Network
Episode: 14 Things People Waste Money On and Still Defend
Date: May 20, 2026
Host: George Kamel
In this episode, George Kamel dives into Reddit's most controversial takes on money “wasters”—the everyday things people spend on, passionately defend, but that often make no financial sense. Using his trademark blend of humor, pop culture, and sharp financial analysis, George responds to the top comments and adds his no-nonsense wisdom on how to avoid falling into these money traps.
“Could you save money by cutting it out? Sure. But you could also do that by only drinking water the rest of your life from the tap. Sad way to live, but people do it.” (02:08)
“You're not gonna get like a third color and be like, oh my gosh, guys, this just got way more interesting. But happy for you, Stacy.” (05:27)
“It's an extra cost, it's rarely used, and it doesn't always cover every repair you'd need.” (10:46)
“They go, ‘I'm gonna hand this down to my granddaughter’, who's probably not going to want to wear it.” (14:27)
“Our parents had to actually work... They weren't just on a laptop all day responding to toxic emails saying let's circle back.” (17:14)
“I hope and I pray my kids are not athletic enough to ever even qualify to be in a travel sport.” (21:02)
“That thing will depreciate like a rock. Like a rock.” (25:52)
“Both the psychic medium and the person pursuing the psychic medium—both mentally unwell. Both would do great to spend that 150 bucks on a therapist instead.” (29:42)
“There’s a better chance that a guy on Reddit gets a date than there is of you winning the lottery. And that’s saying something.” (36:45)
“A legendarily stupid decision. You can go on eBay and find timeshares selling for like a dollar.” (40:38)
“Giving money to someone simply for putting on — I mean, you’re not going to give me money just for doing this. That’s why we have advertisers.” (44:11)
“You’re just expensively renting a car. You hand back the car at the end of it. With a loan, at least you get to own it... but with a lease, none of that's happening.” (46:39)
“Mortgaging your future so the chair covers match the napkins for four hours.” (49:11)
“You want a slightly better camera? Not worth it. I’ve seen your photos. You’re not a good photographer.” (52:12)
George weaves in humor, sarcasm, and practical advice throughout, staying accessible even when giving tough love. His refrain: enjoy life, but don’t rationalize obviously bad money decisions.
Useful For:
Listeners looking to ID and challenge their own “defended” expenses; anyone seeking a blend of real talk and entertainment about personal finance.
For George’s next take: Check out the follow-up episode on “12 Things Actually Worth Spending Money On.”