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I'm so frugal. My friends call me Kermit the Frug. Just kidding. I don't have friends, but if I did, I would make them call me Kermit the Frug, which is probably why I don't have friends. I'm just now realizing. But just because something claims to be a money saving, frugal hack, it doesn't mean it's worth your time or your dignity. So today I'll be doing the Lord's work and. And going through a buzzfeed list of poor people habits, which, from what I gather, is a list of habits people can't let go of, no matter how well off they are. Now, trauma's gonna trauma. And I'll help you decipher which of these frugal hacks are worth it and which ones are not. Let's get into it. If you grew up poor, I know. Oh, she asked people in the very own there's a BuzzFeed community. That's where they're sourcing. These are the same people that get the Family Feud answers from when they say we did a survey top 100 answers on it's to Buzzfeed people. Number one, washing and reusing freezer and sandwich bags if they weren't used for raw meat. Oh, that's quite the disclaimer. My mom would hand wash and reuse bags three to four times. So now throwing away a bag after a single use feels so wasteful to me. The picture is. It's not helping. The picture of, like a wet plastic bag that you gotta, like, dry. I just feel like there's a higher chance of dying from dysentery from the bacteria that grows inside of that b than there is of me saving a buck. So, and here's my take. If you have to wash the bag, just throw out the bag. If the bag is dry and didn't have something heebie jeebie in it, reuse the bag. Simple rule. Moving on. I'm judging jury today, baby. Licking the bowl after melting chocolate. Don't judge, okay? It's a poor person habit because you don't want to waste the perfectly good chocolate. Yeah, I'm all for that one now. I mean, who's around when you're. Look, is it in public? I'd like to know that. Who's melting chocolate in public? That's another question I have for you people. But at home, if you're cooking something and you melted chocolate and there's no, like, raw ingredients that could give you food poisoning or salmonella, I'm all for licking the bowl. Now it feels like a messy process. You might have to waste a paper towel or two after licking going all the way around the bowl. So if there's a better method to collect some said chocolate droppings, I would go for that. And yes, they're called chocolate droppings. Droppings droppings. Number three. I lived in Calgary, Alberta. I'm so sorry. During the oil crash as a stay at home mom. Wow, we have a whole backstory here. My husband's income halved overnight. Luckily we had several amazing cheap wholesale produce places open to the public. I learned to make as much from scratch as I could. Gave up processed food because we couldn't afford anything but flour, sugar, produce, eggs, et cetera. Now I avoid processed food out of preference and own a restaurant where I put of those skills to good use and lost 220 pounds in the last decade to boot. Okay. What a wild M. Night Shyamalan twist this took. It started with I live in Alberta during oil crash, stay at home mom, husband loses job, I make food from scratch. Now I own a restaurant and I'm down 220 plus pounds. That's impressive. And also if I was down over 220 pounds, I would put the ex. I would be so exact in The I lost 224.3 pounds. That is impressive. Is this a poor people habit? Absolutely not. In fact, I think the more poor you are, the more likely you are to purchase processed food. And so I think this is a real flex to be making food from scratch with quality ingredients. So I'm not gonna put this in the poor person habit category regardless of what caused you to go down this road. And look at you now. I wanna go eat at this restaurant. Why? They wrote in anonymous, use this for free PR from Buzzfeed for your restaurant lady. Come on, look at her. I hope that's her food. Looks delicious. Little salmon, little basted salmon. Number four. Picking coins up off the street. I'm more comfortable now than I was growing up. But I'm not above squatting for a nickel. Here's why I don't do this. I got tricked once. It was glued to the sidewalk and boy, egg on my face when I tried to pick up that coin. So I don't do it anymore. Cause what if it's a prank show and Ashton about to walk out and be like, ha ha, you're poor and you got punked. The last thing I need my take. It depends on the environment. If it's at work, if it's on Clean carpet, I will pick it up. But like a New York City sidewalk. Not. Not getting dysentery over picking up that nickel. And also, I don't do pennies. Not doing a nickel, dime to quarter. That's the territory I'm aiming for here. That's where I might pick it up if no one's around. Cause what if it's someone else's change? And now they accuse thievery. Now it's a robbery attempt because I stole this guy's quarter. Again, can't have that on my conscience or my record. Is it a poor people habit? I don't think so. I think it's just wasteful to just let money be thrown away. Number five, I put half of my mouthwash in a separate container and fill them both with water. That way I get two bottles for the price of one. Bro, I don't think you understand how mouthwash works. If you could use water to wash your mouth, we would just use water. I think the ratios matter here, all right? It's like the people who are refilling their foam soap when it gets too low with more water. Well, it's no longer soap. It's mostly water. And now you're not actually washing your hands, which was the entire point of said soap. So your breath is half stinky is what I'm trying to tell you. You have bad breath caused by gingivitis. Is it a poor person habit? I don't know. But the habit of filling up old containers with water to try to, like, get the most out of them is definitely a poor people habit. So I will give you that. And it's not one that I condone because I care about hygiene more than the average person. Sue me. I like the floss number six. Let's see, they have a nice little story here. And then the one habit they still hold onto. I wear my underwear and undershirts until they are literally shreds. What are you doing, dude? What occupation are you in that you are shredding your underwear down to the nub? I have not bought myself underwear or undershirts in more than 25 years. You are disgusting. All that I currently have has been gifted to me by close family because I refuse to buy any. Yeah, I would be gifting you that too, as your family member who cares about you and your health. I mean, out of all the things that are not the most expensive, I feel like undershirts and underwear, that's an easy one to swap in and out. I mean, you know, get you some fruit of the loom, some Hanes, some generic brand. You'll survive. But surviving off of shreds of underwear. What's going on here? Like I would have to physically tear it apart for it to be in shreds. It's quite the adjective. Poor people have it. Sure. I don't know anyone else who does this. Now you might think that's where it ends, but this person had a little more. Little more gift where that came from. Another habit is that I always fill up on the free bread at restaurants. Makes sense. That's exactly why I picture the guy who loves free bread at restaurants. I also shredded underwear beneath those jeans. What a combo. Why even wear underwear at that point? Honestly? All right, before we get to the next one, let me tell you about one of today's sponsors, Boost Mobile. Because a habit I will never break is doing my research when it comes to the best phone plan at the best price. So let me save you the time of doing your own research. The answer is boost mobile. Their $25 Forever Unlimited plan gives you unlimited data, talk and text with 99% nationwide coverage. And that means you can scroll and stream and group chat to your heart's content. And the best part, there's contracts, no fees, and the price never goes up like ever. So stop overpaying and head to boostmobile.comramsey or use the link in the description below. Number 7. I really don't buy anything new. I check thrift stores and then I check discounted stores and then I will check to see if there are sales on the item and if I absolutely have to, I'll buy it new. Is that a poor people habit? I think that's more frugal than poor. I think it's just that's good stewardship to not waste and always have to buy the new thing. If we can reduce, reuse, recycle, get it cheaper from someone who didn't need it anymore. I think you're making the world a better place. I mean, that's what I do. But discounted stores? Sure. Sales on the item, sure. And a cool thrifted shirt I'm all for. I had a big phase where I specifically wore youth soccer shirts in high school. Don't know why, it's a major dork. Number eight, asking myself, do I really need that for pretty much everything. They go on with a nice little essay here, which I will spare you, but they go into the fact they're a solidly middle class adult now. They're stable enough, they could buy everything they need, but they ask themselves, do I really need it? You know, $6.99 just for the food delivery fee. Never mind. I'll just eat what I have. $15 for a movie ticket for a family of four, forget it. I'll wait till it comes out on streaming. Yeah. And they say the benefit is that their retirement accounts, where all the extra money goes, are looking really good now. I think there is, there's some wisdom here. You can live on a lot less than you think. And it's a little bit of that minimalism lifestyle of just not needing the most, not needing every single thing at the exact time you need it. And I think a little bit of that discipline, delayed gratification. And especially if you're using the extra money you would have spent for bettering your, your future, your nest egg. I'm all for that. So good for you. Anonymous, 41, Illinois. Everyone's anonymous here. I guess they stopped, like, outing usernames. They don't want these people to find them. Number nine. Every plastic bag becomes a dog poop bag or a trash can liner. This includes chip bags, bread bags, ceramic bags, et cetera. How many more bags are there? Like, I'm running out of bag types over here. I'm trying to think this through. Like, I'm trying to picture like your lay's potato chip bag over the bathroom trash can. That just feels a little bit unhinged. Bread bags. What is a. Yeah, I guess a bread bag can become a dog poop bag, but what if there's a tear in it? Now you got another situation on your hands. So I don't know that I'm risking it. I, I say a plastic bag from a store that, like, was used to bag the groceries. 100. I reuse those all day long. Paper bag, absolutely. But I'm out on shipping bread bags. Bro. That's, that's a, that's a poor people habit that I think you should drop. Coming in at number 10 from British Columbia, I refuse to buy a brand new car two years old and someone has paid the lion's share of the price with clothing. I still always check the clearance rack or the sales rack first. I rarely, if ever, buy things at regular price if there's a chance it could be gotten on sale. I'm with this one. I don't think this is a poor people habit at all. I think this is just someone with some intentionality and wisdom. Going depreciation on cars is insane. So if I can buy a brand new car at 20% off just by waiting two years and buying it two years old. I'm gonna do that. That's wisdom. Clothing. Yeah. Check the clearance rack. If you don't need a very specific item, you just need a shirt or a plaid button up. Yeah. Check the clearance rack first. And if it works for you, go for it. And regular price. I always wanna know, is there a way that I can get this thing cheaper? And that's where research comes into play. I check promo codes on websites. You can use browser extensions like Honey for this or Rakuten or RetailMeNot. If it's in store, I'll always check to see if there's a sale rack or if they have any promos going on. But regular price, count me out. At number 11, we've got buying lightly used things, including clothes, shoes, furniture, etc. I hate paying full price for anything. I could pay for it now since I make six figures, but it's deeply ingrained in me. Yeah, I mean, I'm seeing a thread here. People are going, why buy new when used work good. And I totally concur. Shoes are. I'm a little bit iffy on the shoes, to be honest. Now, if it's like brand new or, like worn once and it looks brand new, I can trust it. Or if it's from, like an actual store's website, but Facebook marketplace. Like a real used shoe. I don't know. It'd have to be a real specific, like, vintage. Something that you can't find anywhere that you really, really want. Otherwise, just people's. A foot, someone else's. Think about a foot. Think it's. Look at the foot. Now that foot has been in that shoe for an untold amount of time. Now you're telling me you're okay putting your foot in that person's shoe where their foot was? No, thank you. Number 12, never throw away the last sliver of soap. Press it onto the new bar. Amen. Yeah, this might be like a pretty, like, extreme frugal habit, but it's one that I do. Cause the truth is, that last sliver of soap is so frustrating. Cause you can't. It's barely. It'll slip through the palm of your hand like sand. And so you gotta add it to a bigger piece in order to make it work. And that's currently what I'm doing in my own shower right now. So shout out to all my soap savers out there. Can soap get bacteria on it? Cause I feel like soap is naturally antibacterial. So Google that, let me know. Cause they freaked me out. They're like, hey, you can't just leave soap out in the shower. It's gonna give. I was like, what's the point of soap? How do you clean soap with more soap since it's primarily the bacteria from your own skin? My skin is adding, so I'm using the soap on my skin, which is now adding bacteria to the soap, which I'm then using on my skin. What's the point of showering? Not to mention, you wash your hands to sit with your soap. Exactly. I'm questioning everything now. Also, this person who submitted this, 82 years old. That tells you I'm an old man at heart. Number 13. I'm going to squeeze every penny's worth out of any product that comes in a bottle, container or jar. Product packaging is often designed to be wasteful, so you have to buy more. And that deceit and the waste it creates really bothers me. So, yes, I will slice open that lotion bottle to get the last few scoops. I will add water to the soap shampoo bottle, and I will use a skinny makeup brush to get to the bottom of my foundation bottle. I feel like I'm not letting capitalism win when I use every drop of what I spent my money on. Listen, you go, girl. You use all that Gold Bond Healing sensitive Cream. As for me in my house, I mean, I'm gonna, I'm gonna push it to the limit, but I ain't cutting it open. That's none of my business what's going on in there. All right, I don't do surgery on my plastic, so I'll hard pass on that. And adding again, we covered this. Adding water to the bottle, I don't, I don't trust it anymore. All right, you're losing the potency coming in at number 14. All quote, useful garbage like bottle caps, wrappers, wrapping paper, string magazines, buttons, et cetera, make great craft items. I don't know what kind of modern art museum you're running, but I don't want to. I'm not paying to go see it. If you made art out of bottle caps, you'd have to really impress me with your bottle cap collection in order to make a great craft out of it. But I do think if you are the artsy type, which I am not, so I get this, then sure, I would save anything that you can make art out of. But what I'm fearing is that the 76 year old who submitted this is living in an episode of Hoarders thinking they're gonna, they're gonna make some Kind of amazing art collection out of all the trash they've collected. Oh, my gosh. For that reason, I'm out on this. I'm not gonna call it a poor people habit. I'm gonna call it like a hermit hoarder habit. Now that would be a show I would watch. Hermit hoarders. Oh, my God. Gosh. What? Hgtv. Call me. Our people will reach out to your people. Number 15. I was packing for a vacation when I discovered my go to sandals were pretty beat up. I immediately set about trying to mend them. Gluing one of the straps with binder clips to dry and looking for the right color paint to touch up the scuffs. It suddenly hit me that I could afford to just go and buy new sandals. Yet my first thought was to salvage what I had. I had this mental image of a certain uber wealthy jerk who shall not be named scoffing at me for gluing my shoes. But I grew up having to make things last as long as possible. Even doing anything less than that feels wasteful to me. That's fair. I mean, I like that you could afford to go buy sandals and it hits you that realization. But I love that your first thought was, does this have to go to waste? Can I fix this and salvage it? Now, the lengths you went to to salvage little over the top. For me personally, I'm not going to go there. What I would do is contact the company and say, hey, I bought these because I thought they'd be quality and last me a long time. I love the rainbow flip flops. Been wearing them forever. Big fan of the brand. The strap fell off. What can you do? And they might just send you a new pair. I don't know. They might offer to repair for free. I would go to those lengths, but I'm not crafty enough to, like, be gluing sandal straps together and still trust it. So those do look crispy. Though if those are your sandals, I would say it's time. They've also lost all grip on the bottom, so do not wear those in a Michigan winter. Now, truthfully, as I get older, I'm a fan of buying a high quality item once instead of regretting the low quality options later. And that's why I love buying clothes from today's sponsor, Cozy Earth. Their men's everywhere pant is basically the Chuck Norris of pants. Tough, dependable, and weirdly flexible. They've got that magic mix of structure and stretch. And when I'm back home, I change into their brushed bamboo joggers faster than you can say elastic waistband. They're soft, breathable, and built to go the distance, just like a 2008 Honda Civic. So if you're ready to upgrade your closet with something cozy, classy and durable, head over to cozyearth.com George and use promo code George to get up to 20% off or use the link in the description. And before we get back to more frugal hacks from buzzfeed, let me give you one of my faves. Stop letting your personal info float around the Internet like a free to a good home Craigslist post. Because when scammers get access to your data, you get a flood of fake calls, Amazon texts, and emails from a prince who needs your help unlocking his fortune. And that's where Delete Me comes in. Another sponsor of today's episode, DeleteMe, will find your personal info on hundreds of data broker sites, the ones that you didn't even know existed, and they will remove it. And you stay private and you stay protected. And you avoid a digital dumpster fire that takes forever to clean up. So if you want some peace of mind, go to joindeleteme.com George to get 20% off their annual plans or use the link in the description. All right, back to our list at number 16. When it's time to clean the fridge of numerous leftovers, I make soup or a tasty ground beef casserole with everything in it. What is everything? That's alarming. Mom used to call it bubble and squeak. So many questions. Why is it squeaking? Where are the bubbles coming from? Our family loved it. Again, I think this is the age next to the person's. It says Anonymous76. I don't know how many 76 year olds are a part of the Buzzfeed community, but I am impressed to say the least. This is where they're all hanging out. Is this a poor per. Yeah, I would say this is a poor person habit. Like if you're broke, you can't waste anything you can't afford to. You would rather risk food poisoning versus needing to go buy more food. So in that regard, yeah, you fit the bill here. But it just, it worries me how long we're eating this beef for. If like numerous leftovers, how long has it been sitting out? Has it been six days? And now you're gonna put this beef in a soup and eat that for another four days? You're asking for it down there at number 17. I cut the bottoms off of my moisture tubes and use a Q tip to extract the remaining cream, I generally get three or more applications. Smiley face. Really unique use of language here. You're cutting off the bottoms of the moisture tubes and extract the remaining cream. What it's like moist became a bigger sentence is what you just did. Again, the. The lengths at which people will go to use every thing in the container. I got nothing but respect for you. I just. Personally, I don't do it. I don't think it's worth the three applications to maybe cut myself in the process of getting some. Some of these. These moisture tubes, difficult to cut open. Real thick plastic on there. You gotta get the shears out. All right. The scissors aren't gonna do the trick. You need the shears. That's too much for me. Number 18. I bike and walk everywhere and take public transit occasionally. Haven't had my own car in over 10 years. Even if I hit the lottery and could afford a Ferrari, I wouldn't buy one. They go on to say cars are a waste of money. I would continue to bike Metro and walk. BMW smiley face. What does that mean? Oh, bike Metro walk. This guy has a BMW. A bike Metro walk. It's good for my health and the environment. Not about money. More people should try this in my city. But don't. I feel like even with all the ways you can get around in D.C. still a very car centric town, which is a shame with all the options we have here to get around by some other way. I respect it. I think you're gonna live longer than all of us, barring you getting hit by a vehicle, which I hope you don't, by the way. I'm not advocating for that. I'm just saying you're trading one risk for another risk. But I love that. I do think more people should move their bodies, get on a bike, use public transportation. And this only works in certain cities. So easy to say if you're in a metro area. Much more difficult to say if you're in, I don't know. Ankeny, Iowa. Apologies, Iowa. Not against Ankeny. I just don't know their public transit situation. Heck, even here in Nashville we have terrible public transit. So you just have to have a car. But I'm a fan of this one. I don't think this is a poor people habit at all. I think this is a healthy habit, financially and physically. Stay safe out there. Use a bike lane. Wear your helmet. Otherwise, shame on you. Number 19. A bonafide Q tip was a treat. Gosh, this person's 46. I imagine they were 82. The way they started off this sentence, a bona fide Q tip was a treat since brand names were for rich folk. So to this day, I keep one pack of cheapo cotton swabs and one pack of legit Q tips, brand name tm. It's annoying because every time I need a cotton swab, I got a pause to make a $0.01 mental calculation. Like, is this deserving of the brand name Q tip or is this cheap? I imagine they're made in like the same factory at this point. So is there a huge difference? And how. How many Q tips are you going through? I still have the same pack from 1997. They come in packs of 7,000. And so I don't know. What are you. Are you cleaning the ears out every day? Cause fun fact, it says on the box you're not supposed to do that. Hate to break it to you. Is this a poor people habit? I think this would fall into like extreme cheapskates level. If you're making the $0.01 mental calculation every time you use a Q tip. That worries me that there's some other anxiety OCD happening there. But more power to you. I mean, you got multiple boxes of Q tips, you're doing better than most of us. Number 20, we grew up thinking we were quite poor. Like, no money for basic things like underwear. We now know we had money, but my mom was obsessed with accumulating wealth, which now she's selfish about. I gotta read on for more here. There was never any money for much of anything outside of what she wanted to do. Taking us kids out for 50 cent McDonald's cone was a tall order anyways. There were many kids in the family, more than cheaper by the dozen. Ha ha ha ha ha. And we gave each other haircuts. My husband makes over a quarter million a year now, and I still cut his hair. And I don't think there's ever gonna be a number that makes me send him to the barber. Wow. So did. Did you inherit your mom's obsession with being cheap in order to accumulate wealth? I think that's what I'm gathering here. Yeah. I think this article was made for you poor people. Habits you can't let go of. Send the guy to a barber. I mean, is he looking like dumb and dumber? I don't know. Does he get. Get the flow be out like, what are you using to cut his hair? I've rarely have I seen a homemade haircut where I go, can't tell that's homemade. Cause usually I can tell not A lot of people could pull this off, but I can. So I hope you. Honestly, I hope you get some therapy to heal from the trauma that you experienced, and I hope that your kids have a great life and they're not telling this story to a Buzzfeed article 50 years from now. God bless. Buzzfeed cannot be around if Buzzfeed outlasts all of us. We've really screwed up as a society. Coming in at number 21, even though I can afford to pay movers to pack everything I own and move it wherever, I still cannot throw away cardboard boxes in case I suddenly have to move. Growing up poor, my dad's employment was spotty, which resulted in us having to move relatively quickly every few years. More than once, my things got left behind or thrown away because there weren't enough boxes or trash bags. That early trauma is hard to shake. Maybe if I were a multi millionaire, I would give up my boxes, but as a thousand heirs, I'll keep them. If you want to store all these boxes, that's your prerogative, but I feel like cardboard boxes are fairly easy to come by. I mean, jump on a Facebook group and say, hey, anyone got some boxes? Or to go to, like, Home Depot and buy them for 2 bucks a box. Get you 20 boxes for $40. So I think this one is a habit to let go of. I think you are. You are not your father, so you're not moving around every few years. So if you have stable employment, I would say it's time to get rid of the boxes and free yourself of that cardboard. Free your mind. All right, Last 1. Number 22. I reuse all my jars from honey to tomato sauce. I wash them and refill them with oats, spices, or whatever is necessary. There is literally no need to buy mason jars or any sort of container. I like this one. I'm not even mad at this one. This is Little House on the Prairie in the best way possible. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Why buy the jars when you can have all these jars for free? Now, if you're OCD like me and you like to have, you know, the same jars, you don't want to see, like, weird, differently sized jars, then that's your prerogative, and that's why I don't do this. And you got to take time to, like, you're taking labels off. You got to heat them up, get all the sticky off. That bothers me, too. I just don't want my oats in a ragu jar. It bothers me. My ocd can't handle that, but I'm all for this one. I don't think it's a poor people habit. I think again, it's just a good steward of what you were given and less wasteful. Wow, what a journey we just went on. Now listen, I truly love saving money, but if your hack involves reusing the same napkin seven times, it might be time to let that go. I'm looking at bigger habits that are gonna cause you to build wealth. Now, some broke habits make sense when you're broken, but once you've got more margin, it's okay and even healthy to upgrade your quality of life. And if you haven't gotten your fix quite yet, you can watch more of this in this next video coming up where I react to more poor people habits. Click here or use the link in the description. That's it for today. Don't forget to hit like on this video. Subscribe to the channel and share this video with someone who's watering down their soap. Consider it an intervention. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.