Frugal Fails that Might Actually Ruin You

This episode focuses on the pitfalls of excessive frugality and how trying to save money can sometimes backfire dramatically.

1. Overzealous frugality can lead to higher costs when DIY projects fail.
2. Skimping on necessary expenses like insurance can lead to financial disaster.
3. The allure of cheaper alternatives often results in poor quality and greater expense down the line.
4. It’s essential to know when to pay for professional services instead of opting for a DIY approach.
5. The episode underscores the importance of planning and realistic budgeting to avoid "frugal fails."

1: Introduction

The hosts introduce the theme of the episode, discussing the concept of frugality and its potential pitfalls. They share a mix of personal experiences and stories collected from listeners to set the stage for a deeper exploration into "frugal fails." George Camel: "Today, we're diving into when saving money goes wrong—those frugal fails that end up costing you more!"

2: DIY Disasters

This chapter highlights DIY projects gone wrong, including a home improvement project that ended up requiring professional intervention, significantly increasing the costs. Rachel Cruz: "Sometimes, trying to save a buck on home improvements can backfire, costing much more than expected."

3: The High Cost of Low Prices

Discussion about instances where buying cheaper products or services resulted in low quality and ultimately higher costs, such as a wedding dress disaster. George Camel: "That $100 wedding dress from a seamstress in China? Ended up costing much more after needing last-minute alterations from a local boutique."

1. Evaluate the Real Cost: Before starting a DIY project or buying a cheaper alternative, consider the total cost, including time, additional resources, and potential do-overs.
2. Insurance Check: Regularly review and adjust your insurance to avoid being under-covered.
3. Professional vs. DIY: Assess when it’s worth paying for professional services based on the complexity and stakes of the task.
4. Budget for Quality: Sometimes, it’s worth investing more upfront for higher quality that lasts longer and provides better value.
5. Learn from Mistakes: Use tools like budgeting apps to track spending and learn from past financial mistakes to improve future decisions.

We love a heroic attempt to save money! Until it backfires. (Let’s be real: We’ve all botched at least one DIY project.) Join Rachel and George for a relatable recap of the internet’s best frugal fails and find out where penny pinching might cost you more in the long run!

People

George Camel, Rachel Cruz

Content Warnings:

None

George Camel
What's up, guys? This episode is brought to you by our favorite budgeting app, everydollar. Rachel and I love everydollar because it is the easiest way to take control of your money, build the right habits, and make progress on your goals. You can download it for free on the App Store or Google Play today.

Rachel Cruz
Hey, guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel, and this is smart money happy hour. Cheers, George. Cheers. Mm.

My cherry got a little cray cray on me just there. Sorry about that. My bad. Mm. Wow.

George Camel
You know, I'm trying to figure out what your reaction is here. It takes me back to my youth. That's what I'll say. How old were you? Cause this is alcoholic, Rachel, without the alcohol.

What was happening at the Ramsey household without the alcohol? Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And today, Rachel, we're talking about frugal fails. That's right.

Frugality gone wrong. So in this episode, we are laughing at some of the hilarious ways that trying to save money can backfire. We're highlighting a few places you definitely should not skimp in your finances. And finally, we reveal the conspiracy keeping Americans from having nice things. Oh, that's my.

That's a good hook for Rachel. That's my bullet point. She's third. Hanging around for that bullet. Hanging around.

Rachel Cruz
You better hang out till the end of this episode. So you hear it? Cause it's great, but what are we sipping on? George, this is a dirty Shirley. So if you've heard of the Shirley Temple, this is the adult version.

George Camel
And if you wanna know what we think, and you're gonna wanna know, stick around til the end. We'll give you the rating. Reveal the cost per glass, and the recipe will be in the show notes. So stick around till the end for that goodness. Yep.

Rachel Cruz
Delicious. Okay, so frugal fails. George, I feel like we've all been there in life, you know, I love. Being frugal, and sometimes it doesn't work out. Yeah.

And we're all about saving money around here. I feel like that's one thing Ramsey really promotes, is where, like, we want you to save money, have an emergency fund, save up for things. So in the rice and beans in. The name of saving, sometimes cutting corners can go hand in hand. Yeah, the same idea, right?

George Camel
Get burned on some of those shortcuts. So this is what happens when you want to upgrade the bathroom with a new tile floor. But you decide to save money and do it DIy rather than hire a pro. And then, you know, there's the whole, like, oh, I'm gonna make my own at home. Like my own pad Thai or, like, whatever the thing is.

Well, we've all been there. Yeah. And then you go and you look at the recipe. This has happened to me where it's like the peanut oil, the fish sauce, you know, the bean sprouts, the tamarind puree. The tamarind puree.

Rachel Cruz
Like, it's like all this stuff that you use a teaspoon for, and then. You have all these extra. And then you're like, oh, my God, that's $7 for a beep. Yeah, beep. I mean, how much?

Dollar 28. How much fish sauce am I really gonna use in a lifetime? Better not expire. That's the thing you find. Oh, it always goes.

George Camel
That's what happens. I'm like, oh, yeah, we made pad Thai three years ago, and this fish sauce is still in here from Trader Joe's. Time to dump it. I know. So something is dying in that fridge.

Rachel Cruz
But listen, in any crazy way, true. To form, we have pulled some examples of frugal fails from our old standby, Reddit, and other dark corners of the Internet. Because, as the proverb says, why learn from your own mistakes when you can learn from someone else's? It's not actually in proverbs. It's more of just like, a life proverb.

Just an idea. A life proverb. There. Yep, it's a good one. All right, hit us first.

Let's go first. Here we go. I spent $60 on a wax starter set to do my eyebrows. Then I spent dollar 180 at the ER for first degree burns and no eyebrows. That feels dangerous.

That feels so sad. Can you explain how that works? I've never done it. I don't know if you can tell with these bushy boys, the wax, but what's the wax? Starter set.

George Camel
So it heats up and creates a hot wax. Yeah. You have a thing of wax. Yeah. And then you'll have, like, a thing that comes out with it, and then you put it on the hot wax, and then you put the paper on and you let it sit, and then.

You go, oh, wow. Yeah. But how do you know you're not gonna pull off your actual eyebrow completely? Well, it's where you put the wax is where it should stay. So trusting your pinky to do all the work perfectly well.

Rachel Cruz
No, you don't stip your pinky in the hot water. You were using a pinky. Sorry. As an example tool. Okay.

Not real pinky. Example tool. Got it there. And no eyebrows. That makes me sad as a.

George Camel
They grow. 2001. No, that's the thing. When I was like, Britney's did middle school and high school, we plucked our eyebrows, y'all, like, it was so bad. Okay, producer Skylar, can you tell me?

Cause I feel like. No. Everyone had, they wanted the big eyebrows. Now I feel like it's going back and forth. Isn't that the trend is like the big, thick, bushy eyebrows.

Rachel Cruz
It's going down now, though. No, I'm a big eyebrow person, too. Tiny eyebrows are out. Those wispy little nothing eyebrows. We're done with that.

Yeah, I don't, I personally, we've been done towards for like a decade. No one told me. So are you saying my eyebrows are now in. They've been in for a decade now, I bet for the last eight years or so. The big eyebrows.

George Camel
Timeless brow game over here. But I feel like what they, the really big ones now, they're not doing any, people aren't doing that as much. I feel like they're becoming medium sized. I mean, hey, these are my normal eyebrows, so this isn't a trend for me, guys. Good luck.

Rachel Cruz
This is what I'm saying. It's my good. Yeah, this is my life. They're gonna stay bushy, don't get in a time machine, and go to high school. And 20.

When was I in high school? 2004 or like 2004? Oh, three. I wish I get a time machine before you said 2004. I know.

Frugal fails. 20 00 20 04 20 03 20. 01 in your defense, we all of a sudden, once it hits 2010, we're like, it's 2010. It's not 2000. I don't know how to go back there.

I don't know how to go back there. Not good. And there are times when being too frugal will get you burned. Your eyebrows and your insurance coverage. The purpose of insurance is to protect yourself by transferring financial risk that you can't handle onto an insurance provider.

George Camel
That's the only point of insurance. It's not for the occasional unexpected expense that makes the budget a little tight. Cause there are things that can financially ruin you. And when that true catastrophe strikes, you don't want to be without adequate insurance coverage. And so that's why we have things like catastrophic coverage, health insurance, car insurance, life insurance, home and renters insurance.

Those are the ones you want to focus on. And I've, I've skimped on this. Rachel, as a young man, and I got burned. Did you got in a fender bender? Yeah, I was sued.

Rachel Cruz
Oh, I've heard this story. You know, the lady turned out to be fine until a few months later. She apparently claimed she wasn't. She was in her forties, but she had the spine of, like, an 80 something year old. Oh, my God.

George Camel
And so I had, like, apparently aggravated her bulging discs and now wanted, like, $350,000. Oh, my gosh. I didn't know it was that much. I got served with lawsuit papers as, like, a 23 year old. Sure.

And I was on my dad's insurance. We didn't have adequate coverage. Oh, shoot. And so she sued, and she did not get that much, but she ended up winning and got up to the coverage amount, 25 grand, from Liberty mutual, my insurance. At the time, you didn't have to pay out of pocket.

And she sued her own insurance company and got another 25 grand. Wow. So homegirl was a professional ambulance chaser because Liberty was like her health files. They're in boxes and boxes, getting sent. Shoot.

Not her first rodeo. She knew. She saw you, George, pulling out of. She saw this guy's easy money driveway, and she thought, I'm gonna go after that. Well, luckily, I was glasses.

But here's the key. When you're on your parents insurance, they can sue your parents, too. Oh, no. So she's going after old Max. I'm sorry, mister.

I'm glad it's all behind us. But, hey, I learned my lesson. We upped our auto insurance, and I've never. We haven't bat an eyelash since. Or an eyebrow either.

Rachel Cruz
And if you're not. An eyebrow. Yeah, and if you're not confident in the insurance you have or if you should have more, we have a coverage checkup. It's actually a great tool. It's at remcsolutions.com dot.

So we'll put that in the show notes, so you can make sure to feel like it takes a while. It's not gonna be a fail. Yeah, it takes a while. It'll tell you exactly what you need and what you don't need. All right, next.

You ready for this? I found a wedding dress that I loved, but I thought it was a little too expensive and wanted to try to find it at a discount. I ended up connecting with a seamstress in China who looked at the picture of the wedding dress in my dreams and claimed she could make it for $100. Well, when I got the dress, it was awful. Not shocked.

I ended up having to go to a boutique. Buy a dress off the rack, pay for expensive rush alterations to have it in time for the wedding. Wow, man, that's a risky move. That's tough. That's that when you hear too good to be true, $100 for a wedding dress, especially far away, there's like, unless.

Yeah, unless it's there in the store and you're like, oh, yeah, or you're buying it off j. Crew or, you know, or something. And you're like, oh, yeah, I know what I'm getting. But a random lady in another continent, you don't know? How did she even find out about this lady?

I don't know. So you may not remember this. I don't know. Maybe the girls will. I not remember.

That's a Tory burch flats with the big Tory burch silver. Like. Yes. Like emblem was on the top. Okay.

That's what everyone was doing. But they were. I mean, I don't even remember. Maybe 300, 200. Yeah, 200.

$300. Exorbitant. And I was like, that's. It was expect. I'm like, I can't.

So I went online and I was like, tory Burch sale. You know, I was trying to find like a good sale. Anyways, a website came up that sold Tory burch shoes for dollar 35. And that wasn't a red flag to you, George? I was naive.

It was. It was. It was 2004. 2004. I didn't know.

Yes. And I bought them legitimately, y'all thinking that this, like, that I got a deal. I was like, oh, my gosh. I found some, like, was that like a sketchy website? You know, Rachel, back then, you just.

You didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. And I bought it. And I remember you're very trusting.

Email address came back and it was like all these letters and numbers and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is weird. Like DHL Express. That's how you know you got scammed. It was. George, if it's DHL Express, y'all, this is so gross.

Are you ready for this? I mean, not so gross, but it's just. I opened the box and it smells. Odor was like a chemical odor. Disgusting.

It just was. It was gross, y'all. And I took those shoes out and I was like, oh, no, they were. I mean, it was the most fit. It was so bad.

It was so bad. But of course, $35 for designer shoes ain't real. But that reminds me. Too good to be true, y'all. Wedding dresses, shoes, purses.

George Camel
I bought Whitney that Louis Vuitton from Walmart. Oh, no. I thought it was a good knockoff. Like, I knew it was a knockoff, but it was like, Whitney's. Like, I'm not gonna wear that, George.

Well, she was like, oh, that's. That actually looks pretty real. And I was like, great. So I just bought it, thinking, I'll be a hero. And she was offended when I handed it to her.

Just not quite the same. You just can't do it quite with the logos. It's like the Chanel Cs, but their e's, you know, like, if you're gonna go knock off, it's gotta be one. That, like, that's why I go Kirkland. It's timeless, it's offensive, and yet inoffensive at the same time.

Rachel Cruz
It just goes with everyone. Yeah.

George Camel
What's up, guys? If you wanna be better with money, your first step is to start budgeting with everydollar. This is the app Rachel and I both use. And trust me, it's great because it gives you everything you need to make budgeting easier, faster, and, dare I say, even enjoyable. Yeah, I think you can say that, George.

Rachel Cruz
I mean, it's pretty enjoyable to have more money, right? And that's what happens when you're intentional with your spending. Guys, download every dollar for free on the App Store or Google Play today.

George Camel
Here's another one. I replaced my truck's timing belt myself with the help of YouTube and my brother, thinking I'd save over $1,000 by doing it myself. All was fine for a while, but I ended up needing two trips to the mechanic, including one tow, to fix things that went wrong from my repair shoots. Ended up spending more than I originally would have had I just taken it to the shop in the first place. I know this is classic, and this is hard, too.

Rachel Cruz
Cause we do talk about a lot when you're paying off debt that, like, you just do. You do what you can to get by, right? And a lot of people are like, oh, my gosh, I need to upgrade my car. But it's like, where can you just push through and keep paying off that debt, keep that momentum? And there's some things you feel like, oh, I can do that.

Right? Like, the diY, especially car stuff. A lot of guys, like, I could figure it out. I'm like, I don't trust myself doing the brakes for a car that my wife will be driving with my infant child. Yeah, no, right.

But then it becomes this whole thing of, like, how much do you put into a car versus selling it? True. Right at that point, looking at the value of it, I mean, it's all of that. But trying to just do it yourself. If you don't know your skill level or maybe you're unaware of your skill level.

George Camel
What's your level of skill when it comes to car maintenance? Like, could you replace splinker fluid? No, I know. I know nothing. I can't replace fingerfoot either.

Rachel Cruz
I know nothing. Winston will do. Fl. What would Whitney say? Not to be sexist in, like, 1950s, but.

George Camel
Well, I would send you to autozone and ask them there and say, can you just. Can you guys. Do you have blitz? Does whitney know how to do it? Can you replace my blitz?

Rachel Cruz
Does whitney know how to do it? I think whitney is. You're shaming me. But if whitney. I'm not shaming you.

But if whitney. All I'm saying is, whitney, we did this. Well, I'm saying, whitney. What's that? I would hope that the woman I married would be sharp enough to go.

George Camel
I don't think there's such a thing as blinker fluid.

That's a hope. Now, I could be wrong.

If you roll the tape back. Stop. You may have heard me say blinker followed by fluid. Why did you say that to me? Why are you.

Rachel Cruz
Why are you doing. It was a trick. Why are you tricking me? You fell right into my little trap and honestly felt pretty good. I feel pretty good about myself.

George Camel
Cause I know Winston is at home right now, listening, going, tsk, tsk, tsk. Smh, rachel. Smh. Have I not taught you anything? What's my name?

Rachel Cruz
Let's go to number four. I bought $160 in gift cards online for $80 through groupon for a chain restaurant that I visit once every few months. I did not see the promotion was different. For a state 4 hours away, no refunds, and customer service was no help. The gift cards have since expired.

George Camel
Oh, wait. A gift card expires? That's rough. I guess some of these groupons do have an expiration date. Yeah.

Rachel Cruz
No. Good. Have you ever done something like that? Like, you didn't read the fine print on one of these.

Probably. I'm trying to think. I did one. It was in Nashville gift card. Like, Nashville restaurants?

George Camel
Like, good restaurants. And I fell for it. And I was like, well, they have a little bonus. If you spend this much, you'll get an extra $20 bonus. Yeah.

What I didn't know was that the gift card is devalued over time. What? So I didn't make it downtown to use my downtown dollars fast enough, and it dwindled from, like, $80, and the next month it was 70 and then 60 to where it just, like, disappeared. I was like, I didn't know you could legally buy it. That's a good story, because I did not read the fine print.

Rachel Cruz
And they said it, though, in there. Apparently, in tiny, invisible font. In tiny, invisible font. So that one hurt. Make sure you read the fine print and be aware of some of these groupons and things.

George Camel
And look for expiration dates. That's right. Okay, let's do this one. Through a big birthday party for my husband over a year ago, my sister in law suggested hiring a taco truck. I said, no, that's way too expensive.

Rachel Cruz
I can do everything else myself. It'll be way cheaper. When it was all said and done, I spent more on ingredients than it would have cost just to hire the truck. Plus, of course, all the time I spent cooking. Man, this is one.

The food thing is big because you do save money usually when you do stuff yourself. Right. Unless it's a very intricate thing or it's a big quantity. Right. Cause sometimes it is cheaper just to go and buy in bulk or, like, to have someone just do it.

George Camel
Yeah. And so, looking into the cost of both, what would it take to actually get the ingredients? How much time is it gonna take me to cook for 50 people? 100 people. Versus the cost of outsourcing it.

Rachel Cruz
And especially, like, tacos. We did this. We threw mom and dad an anniversary party. Surprise anniversary party. Can't remember what anniversary it was a big one, apparently.

Yeah, I think probably. And we did Mexican from, like, a local taco shop. And they. And it was like. And it was perfect.

Like, it wasn't crazy expensive, but it fed a lot of people. Yeah. Which was huge. So Mexican. It's the way to go for the win.

Yeah. Yeah. All right, here's another one. I bought a new boiler to replace the ancient one in my house because the new one was supposed to be more efficient. The ancient one was almost 100 years old, but still, chugging the new efficient one cost seven grand and lasted four years before failing.

Oh, no. They don't make them like they used to. They don't make them like they used to. And this brings me to a concept. Have you heard of this?

What is it? Planned obsolescence. I have heard about this. Do we think it's true? I think it's very true.

George Camel
If you look at technology, especially. Yeah, I have a lot of. A lot of opinions on that. The lifespan of a laptop don't say. The word iPhone because I have complete conspiracies around that.

Oh, that they do updates to slow your phone down so it forces you. To get a new phone. Battery dies, like, so fast. Yeah. Okay, so planned obsolescence.

Rachel Cruz
If you don't know what that is. It's a business strategy where companies and manufacturers intentionally design products to break quickly or become obsolete after a few years. So then you have to go buy a new one. So it's taking. Yeah.

Advantage of the customer, promotes materialism and wastes. You know, this happens in fashion, too. When you look at, you know, h and m, like, the quality of some of the clothing out there, it's not made to last. Yeah. And if we throw a little devil wears Prada into the mix, too, is the fashion industry somehow getting these kickbacks of something because they changed the style?

It's like, even jeans. Every year I gotta buy new jeans to keep up with Skylar and to keep up with all the cool people. I've always said, if you follow the trends, you fall for the traps and mom jeans. I was not falling for it. I said, I'm gonna stay true to my skinnies guys, and I'm hoping they come back around.

Yeah. And they might. Yeah. But also, don't you think they're making things cheaper? Because.

But the quality is CIA. They can save money, and people think with their wallets and shop with their wallets a lot of the time. And so we're okay buying a $20 pair of jeans twice a year instead of getting one good pair for $80. That's me. Quality over quantity.

I'm quantity over quality. Wow. I would rather look in my closet and, like, have tons of options. I would be like, what do I feel like today versus having, like. But when it comes to drinks, your quality over quantity.

George Camel
Just think about it. You know what? And I'm going to say this, too. Food. Even though I love going out to a great restaurant, getting my apps, and I'll probably get blown up in the comments about, like, we'll tell people, hey, don't.

No comments about what she's about to say. We don't want to hear. But I love a good fast food. I don't like. I'm like, rachel, do you know what that's doing to your body?

Rachel Cruz
It's not real. Did you see the McDonald's hamburger 100 years later? It was not perfectly intact. It's not real. Cause mozzarella sticks at sonic.

You can't beat them. You can't beat em. They are so good. So good. So and I think your body will be studied.

I'm a quantity person. I don't know what that says about me and my character, but I think you're just. You just like, the fun nature of go big or go home and just. Change and, like, yeah, we'll change it up. I don't feel bad.

Like, it's fine. Yeah. And science will study your body and go, what happened? Like, how many mozzarella sticks does it take? I know.

It's so good. So here's some examples of what planned obsolescence does. They make products impossible to repair. Companies use materials that wear out faster. They make electronics run slower or less efficiently.

George Camel
When you update to the latest software, and they release new versions of items in different colors or styles to make the old ones feel done or outdated. So they play on our psychology to go, you don't want. That's out. That was so last year. So last year it's.

Rachel Cruz
Man. So, so psychological. Okay, how about these? Planned obsolescence. Are you ready?

IPhone 100%. Yes. Me too. I think so. I think they do it all.

I think they know when the new one's coming out and they put something in the towers, and it makes your battery go down faster. Everything. I met someone the other day, still had an iPhone eight, and I was like, how are you doing it? Like, well, I just have never updated. I don't know what that means.

George Camel
Well, we're on the iPhone 15 now. Oh. Oh, okay. So think about having an eight year old iPhone. That just boggles my mind that someone's.

Rachel Cruz
Out there, but it's fine. But they've never updated the software, so that's their. That's the key. Don't fall for it. Don't fall for it.

Also, too, Apple did pay $113 million to settle a battery gate investigation into its practice of intentionally slowing down iPhones. Oh, my gosh. I know it sounds crazy. I don't feel like they paid enough. Nope.

I don't think they've learned their lesson. Cause I think they're still doing it. That's right. Yeah. Don't sue me for saying that.

George Camel
But Pinupol's gonna sue you. I don't know if they hear this. I doubt anyone. I know they're busy printing money. I'm sorry.

They're not listening to smart money. Happy? All right, up next, here's two kitchen gadgets. You ready? Okay.

Rachel Cruz
Crock pots and kitchenaid. I feel like those last a good while. I've had each of those since we've had those 15 years, and they still are going. And to be fair, I feel like crock pots are reasonably priced now. Kitchenaid mixers, I feel like, are a little bit.

Yeah, it's a little egregious. Yep. But I think they last a while. I did it. Yeah.

Couches. Oh, I could see furniture being that. Yeah. A lot of furniture wears out too soon. I try to go quality with furniture because I want it to last a while.

Yeah, I'm kind of medium. What's your oldest piece of furniture you have that you've used for years now? We have a. What was our dining room table in our old house. We got it at a clearance furniture clearance warehouse sale.

And it's up in our playroom now. Our kids have it in our playroom. So, yeah, it's 15 years old and it's great. Wow, 1515. That's impressive.

George Camel
I was going like five years with, you know. Cause that's as long as we've been married. We got like a dining table and the couch, and they've held up pretty well. All right, ready for this? Rachel, you're gonna love this.

Did you know that the whole planned obsolescence thing started as a conspiracy? Started as, but then proven true. Prior to 1924, the average life of an incandescent light bulb was 2500 hours. In December of 1924, the biggest light bulb manufacturers from around the world got together at Lake Geneva and Switzerland. It hatched a secret plan to increase their sales by bringing the average lifespan of the light bulb down to 1000 hours instead of 2500.

Oh, my gosh. They did it on purpose. The group later became known as the Phoebus cartel. They created a monopoly on the light bulb marketplace, saw a 25% boost in profit over the first few years, and they disbanded in 1939 with the outbreak of world War two. And their strategy later came out in court when the US government came after General Electric on antitrust charges.

Rachel Cruz
Wow. Wow. Juicy stuff. Who knew? Light bulbs.

It's real, y'all. Conspiracies are real. Do you think led light bulbs are a scam too, then that's been the new thing. Like get rid of the incandescent skies. Led is the future.

Winston is an LED guy, so he's changed out so many of our light bulbs to Led. And I think they do work. Wow. I think they are, you know, his color, you know what he likes to go with? Is he a 2500 guy?

George Camel
A warm white? I was gonna say warm sounds right to me. So is there a warm white? Yeah, that's gonna be it. That's the key with Led.

Cause led can be a little bit. Too white, too bright. Too jarring. Too jarring. Daylight is a little much for me.

I'm a warm white guy. Yeah. I think Winston has too fit you on too pew. I even talked Kelvin with him. We'll have to get into that at some point.

All right, burning question, Rachel. Okay, if we're up against a conspiracy, is it even possible to, quote, buy it for life? These days? That's a trend where people go for the quality over the quantity. Is it possible?

Cause this is the idea. You spend more to buy high quality that will last you forever. Yeah, I think certain products. Yes. Okay.

Rachel Cruz
Cause I do think there's certain companies that pride themselves on quality, but I don't think it's the mass companies anymore. There's a store in Columbia, Tennessee. I wish I knew the name. Cause I'd give them a shout out. But it's like a clothing store that does leather.

George Camel
Bradley Mountain. Bradley Mountain. Okay. That's it. It's like a hip outfitter kind of vibe.

Rachel Cruz
But I see that jacket. I'm like, that feels like a quad. But again, it's a small shop in the middle of Columbia, Tennessee. Right. It's not Abercrombie.

Sorry, Abercrombie. Love ya. But that's fair. You know what I mean? Like, you just.

George Camel
So here's your quiz. First of all, any brands or products that you trust to last, like. Cause brand association is powerful. Yeah. You got any out there?

You're like, I just trust this brand. I'm gonna go all clad, pots and pans. Oh, nice. Those feel like good quality to me. Yeah.

What's the one that make the cast iron the company? It's like the brand of cast iron. Oh, le Crez. Oh, there's one too. That's a good one.

Pass that on your kids. Yeah, that's a legit one. Okay. Yeah. So again, but you pay for it, right?

Rachel Cruz
All these things are so expensive. But I think that's why I buy Kirkland. I can return it at any time for any reason, and they don't judge me. We all sponsor us. Please, can we get paid for George to talk about y'all?

It happens. That's fair. I do trust Apple, even though I don't think they're built to last. Yeah. But I think part of that is my own.

George Camel
Just, like, need for the newest, greatest item. Look at you. Are these products worth a slightly higher upfront investment? A nice queen bed from childhood so you don't have to upgrade from a twin later on? Yes.

I think it's weird. I think there's too many. They do studies on all of the dead skin that gets buried in the bed and it makes the bed heavier. And over time, I think every eight years you're supposed to replace a mattress. Are y'all with me on this?

Rachel Cruz
I hear that. How long have you had your pillow now? We could talk pillows. Pillow talk? Yeah, that's a new segment I'm going on.

15 years, y'all. For me, 15 years. I changed up the pillowcase. I've gone silk pillowcase recently. Cause of the trends.

See, I fall for everything. I fall for the trends. George. If that pillow could talk. Rachel, it spills some dirty secrets.

George Camel
Mostly just dead hair and skin cells. Oh, gross. George, it's not you. It's the human nature. It's not you, but it's you.

Everyone does that. Nevermind. Lodge. That's the one lodge. Cast iron Lodge makes great.

Yep. Okay. A classic leather belt or shoes. Yes, great. I'm not big on, I think, leather shoes.

Sure. Like a good quality pair of boots. If you have a good belt, though, that would last. And our friend Ken Coleman, he's had a pair of boots that he loves from J. Crew and resoles them.

And he loves to tell people, if you meet Ken and he's wearing his J. Crew boots, he'll tell you 25 years now. And they look, let's resole them, resole them. Keep them brand new. Patagonia or Ll bean jackets or outerwear.

I feel like those high quality, some of the outerwear companies. Okay, yeah. But they have styles to them, so I have some from like, oh, they. Don'T hold up styles. You know, the north face jacket, the black one, everyone had.

Yeah. In 2009, you know, like, like, no one wears those. I mean, if you wear them, that's great. I'm not mad at people that wear, but like, it is a, like their styles change. So I feel like it's so important to do capsule wardrobe so you don't have to change so much for sure.

Rachel Cruz
Yes, yes. And a Stanley cup built to last. That is true. I think we all saw the TikTok. Of the car fire and the Stanley cup survived.

That's pretty cool. And they bought her a new car, which. Props to Stanley. Great brand market. Such a great market.

George Camel
We're here talking about Stanley now and I don't even like Stanley. You know my feelings about Stanley cups. That is quality, though. George. Go watch the SNL.

Big dumb cup. Making fun of Stanley Tumblers. It was Chef's kiss. So good. Chef's kiss.

Rachel Cruz
So funny. Oh, George. Well, what do we have to learn? Frugal fails. Listen, there's going to be stuff you buy in life you're going to have to replace.

Cause that's the world we live in. And if you don't feel like you can do it yourself fully all the way, sometimes it's worth the outsourcing. And here's what I will also say. Be frugal when you're broke. And then once you're not broke anymore, upgrade your life.

George Camel
It's okay to buy quality items that last a long time and to outsource and hire people to do things for you. That's great. Support local businesses. That's right. Love it.

Rachel Cruz
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All right, it's almost the end of the episode, and we close out every episode with guilty as charged. And this is where our producer, Skylar, gives us a new guilty as charged question every week. And if we are guilty, we take a sip. So, Skylar. All right, did you ever have a frugal habit that you now consider cringy?

George Camel
Oh. Hmm. I feel like Rachel would say my current frugal habits are considered cringey, so I would. I was in the habit for a while of taking, like, the hotel shampoos and stuff. Yes.

Rachel Cruz
I don't do that as much anymore unless it smells, like, fantastic. And sometimes I know if it's in. Tiny bottles, I'm taking it. If it's like a mid grade to nice hotel. Yeah, I know.

George Camel
Like, I'm not at the La Quinta Inn trying to, like, you know, hustle my way, but I'm still in the shower right now. I have a tiny hotel conditioner, but it lasts forever. I know, but I used to do that all the time. I don't do that as much anymore. I always take the laundry bags from the hotel.

I don't get laundry done, but I take the bag. George. Like the nice ones? No, like the free plastic ones. Oh.

Rachel Cruz
Oh. I was thinking, like, a dry cleaning bag. Just the laundry bag.

George Camel
Tyler and I were traveling. I was speaking at a church, and there was, like, nice, big fiji water bottles, and I was like, I can't drink all this water. And so I put it in my suitcase, and Tyler was like, what are you doing traveling with water bottles in your suitcase? I was like, this is nice. This is, like, $16 worth of water.

Rachel Cruz
Fiji water's fancy. You can't keep up Fiji water. And you know what? I put it on whitney's side table, and I felt like a hero. Jessica clinking yeah.

George Camel
I mean, isn't that the american dream? It is the american dream. When you open up someone's refrigerator and they have fiji water, you're like, oh, yeah, they're rich. They're rich. Cause you know what I have if I have bottles of water?

Kirkland. Kirkland. Cause you can get a whole pack of them. And I know I should recycle on all the things. I hear everyone out there, but you can get a whole thing of them for, like, $4.

I know, but here's the. Can I be extra bougie? Oh, no. I'm totally good with purified. Whitney likes spring water.

Rachel Cruz
I don't know the difference. And I put purified on my side. What are you talking about right now? What are these words you're saying? Purified water is not from a natural spring.

George Camel
It's just, like, water that's been, you know, filtered and freshened up, essentially. Where is it coming from, exactly? It's basically tap water. All right. Not mad at that.

Spring water comes from a natural spring source. It's got all the minerals in there. It's the best you can get, essentially. So give me brands that are. The one here is, like, we have Poland spring in the north.

Here we have deer park, and that spring water, zephyrillis in south Florida. Is that spring water? Those are all spring waters. What's, like, the purified water, Kirkland? Yeah, Kirkland.

Rachel Cruz
What's Aquafina? Definitely purified water. Purified. Dasani all of those are purified. If it's from a Coca Cola or Pepsi or one of those, it's not good water.

George Camel
So that's how I follow it. I just feel good about myself when I drink water, let alone the type of water I drink. I know, but people will come at you in the comments. I believe it. But they'll also come at you for just not drinking tap water and for mozzarella sticks.

You're somehow too bougie. But also not bougie enough. It is so true. I can't win. You really can't.

Rachel Cruz
Thank you for feeling my pain. You just gotta pick a side and be confident in it. I'm so seen. And you know what side I'm gonna pick? Rachel's side.

George Camel
That's right. I'll send you me. There's a water sommelier on TikTok, and he's wonderful. I think he's austrian. He's very sassy.

And he goes to stores and shows you the best water to buy. Like, he'll be in a Whole Foods just raiding waters. I'm like, this is my future. Does he? Anyways, we'll save water for another.

Rachel Cruz
What is your frugal pill, George? My frugal habit that I now consider cringy. Oh, gosh. I mean, I feel like I was the guy who would, like, I would use a coupon on a first date, which I now get, like, not a good vibe. But I would do anything to save a buck.

George Camel
Cause I feel like I was winning. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, you know those situations where, like, your spouse is like, I'm gonna wait in the car. I don't wanna be a part of this. That's the level that Whitney feels when it comes to my frugality.

She's like, I'm gonna wait. I'm just gonna wait in the car. Let you go figure out regardless of any kind of negotiation, it's a little bit cringy. But, you know, like, at target, when I tried to return an item and they said no. Yes.

And then I said, I'll do a no receipt return, and I threw away my receipt. That was cringey. I think I can look back at. That and go, really? That's just beating the system for a stupid rule.

The rule is stupid. It's like I. I go the extra mile. Like, I'm not okay with no. Yeah, I'm very persistent.

Rachel Cruz
I believe that. And that's why Rachel and I don't hang out outside of this podcast. She can't be seen in public. We do so good. All right.

I finished my drink first. Congratulations. What do you rate it? I'm gonna give this dirty Shirley a two out of ten. Okay.

George Camel
How about you?

Rachel Cruz
I was gonna go five out of ten. I wouldn't order it at a restaurant. And it's not because of the maker of the cocktail. That's right, Taylor. Cause we didn't have resident bartender Michael here.

But Michael would have made the exact same drink. We would have rated it the exact same way. It's just not. It was not. It's very sugary, very syrupy.

George Camel
You know what it tasted like? It tasted like a red popsicle that just melted. Yeah. And got watered down. Yeah.

Just red popsicle flavor. Couldn't tell you what it is. Yeah. I don't know the best part, honestly, the cherry. Cherry is fantastic.

Rachel Cruz
Yeah. Okay. Maraschino cherry all day long. I know. All right.

Not our favorite. Here's what's in it. I couldn't taste the vodka, truthfully. Me neither. Was there, which is kind of was there.

There was. All right. She's claiming there was.

George Camel
So what was your rating? Five out of ten. So collectively, we're out of seven. If you add both of ours up, the dirty Shirley includes vodka, grenadine, sprite, and a Maraschino cherry. Cost breakdown, $2.44 per glass.

And if you want to try it for yourself, if you love a Shirley temple, you might actually enjoy this. So the recipes in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend. So good. All right, it's closing time.

Rachel Cruz
If you enjoy these episodes, make sure to leave us a comment. Leave us a review. We love reading them and hearing what you guys say. Make sure to subscribe. Share the episodes with your friends and family because we love being here with you guys.

And we'll see you next Thursday on an all new episode of Smart Money. Happy hour.

George Camel
Happy hour.