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How often do you think about the profit margin of a snow cone? As much as the Roman Empire? More? Less? The same? I mean, some of these shaved ice food trucks, they're charging six, seven, eight dollars for a cheap paper cup filled with little frozen chunks of water and a few squirts of artificially flavored high fructose corn syrup. What, you thought it was real tiger's blood? Wait.
Is it real tiger's blood? - The world may never know. - Anyway, the markup on that junk is huge, which is good for them, not so good for your wallet or your body, if we're gonna be honest. And flavored ice aside, there's a ton of other things in this world people are constantly paying too much for.
So in today's video, we'll look at 15 overpriced things frugal people should never waste money on, as well as some budget-friendly alternatives to help save you some cash. But before we jump in, smash those like and subscribe buttons and share this video with someone you know who you'd love to share a blue raspberry snow cone with. Maybe a mango nada if you're feeling a little tropical. - I was wondering if you wanted to get a snow cone sometime?
Okay, let's get do it. Number one, the first overpriced item, airport food. According to a study by CWT Solutions Group, airport food and beverage prices are often 25% higher than street prices. Why? Well, they can get away with it because they've got a captive audience with limited options. What else are you supposed to do? Money-saving alternative, pack your own little snack bag and fill up your own water bottle at one of those little water filler stations, as long as the filter status is green. I ain't messing with that red water.
Gross. Item number two, baby clothes. Get this, people spend an average of $688 per kid on their clothes each year. And listen, kids grow up fast. So the truth is you're not going to get much mileage out of that romper with the embroidered pumpkin on the front. So here's a money-saving alternative. Go for hand-me-downs, shop at yard sales, and maybe try not dressing your baby to impress your friends or their grandmas. Listen, I'm a father of an almost one-year-old, and she's been living in onesies since she was a little girl.
since we got her and her closet is full of beautiful clothing that we will probably never get around to actually dressing her in. Those are the cutest.
Number three, individual greeting cards. These can range from $4 to $10 per card, and it's largely dependent on whether or not it plays five seconds of oom-bop when you open it. And get this, annual retail sales of greeting cards are estimated at $7 to $8 billion. So the markups here are huge. These cost pennies to make, and they charge you multiple dollars for it. So here's an alternative. Make your own card, or buy a large box of cards that aren't occasion-specific, and write your own personal note inside.
And here's my own life hack, I shop at Trader Joe's and buy their 99 cent greeting cards instead of forking over four or five bucks at the other stores. - Birthdays were invented by Hallmark to sell cards. - Next up, self storage units. Now the price varies, but this can easily cost hundreds of dollars per month. And around one in 10 households rent a self storage unit. And over time, the cost to store your stuff can exceed the value of the stuff itself.
So here's an idea. Get rid of it. If it doesn't spark joy, Marie Kondo that junk and stop paying that monthly fee. Arigato. Thank you. Gozaimasu. Thank you.
Let's move on to number five, movie theater concessions. Now, the typical price of a medium popcorn at the movie theater is now $7.99. But guess how much it costs the theater? 90 cents. That is a 788% markup. And these high concession prices is really how the theaters are making their money. It's not from the movie ticket. So if you want to sneak in your own candy, I'm not going to tattle. Just kidding. I will rat you out. I'm a snitch. Keep your mouth shut, Tad.
Number six, new cars. Average cost of a new car right now is over $47,000. And a new car can lose up to 20% of its value within the first year and up to 60% in the first five years. So here's an alternative that might blow your mind. Save up and pay cash for a reliable used car. Don't drive fancy new cars. It's a way to kill your wealth. Next overpriced thing on our list is hotel minibars. I wouldn't darken the door of one of those minibars. These items are often marked up by 400% overpriced.
or more, and they're hoping to play into your laziness and the convenience. So you pay five or $6 for a bottle of water that would have cost you 50 cents to a dollar if you just left the hotel and went to a store. So BYO, bring your own snacks and waters. Okay, let's move on to number eight, whole life insurance.
Now, I'm a big fan of life insurance, but not whole life. I never recommend whole life, and the only people who do are the ones who are trying to sell it to you. And there's a reason. It's over-leveraged, it's high-risk, it's high-cost, and it makes them high commissions. And it locks you into premiums before you can change your mind without insane surrender charges. So what to do instead? Get term life insurance for a specific issue.
term, 15 or 20 years, and go for 10 to 12 times your annual income. So if you make $100,000, aim for a million in term life, and I promise you it's super affordable and it doesn't mix investing with insurance. And that's the way it should be. Number
Number nine, cell phone plans. The average monthly phone plan now in the U.S. is well over $100 with these big name companies. Let me tell you, if you've had the same phone company for 12 years and you don't want to switch, it's time to switch to a budget-friendly provider like Tela, one of the sponsors of
of today's video. They're a phone service provider designed to save you money with plans that are affordable and flexible. There's no contracts, there's no fees, there's no strings attached, much like my favorite NSYNC album. It's been great for my family and it was super easy to sign up. It required zero assistance from some authorized retailer and some guy in pleated khakis trying to upsell me on a phone case.
I didn't leave my house and I didn't even leave my bed. And I got to keep the same phone and phone number without having to find a freaking paperclip to extract my SIM card because Telo's awesome and they have this eSIM thing now. So all I had to do was copy and paste the eSIM onto the website, bada bing, bada boom, the phone has service. And Telo pricing starts as low as five bucks and goes up to 25 bucks a month for the unlimited everything plan. And you're free to upgrade or downgrade as you please. And to save you even more, because I love a good deal, you can go to telo.com slash george
and get five bucks off their unlimited plan for your first month of service. Our family has loved it, and I know you will too. So go to tello.com slash George and start saving big on that cell phone plan. I'll also drop the link in the description below.
All right, moving on to number 10, cocktails. Now, the cost varies depending on where you are and what you get, but a mixed drink can range anywhere from $10 to $20 at a bar or restaurant, and that's before sales tax, a liquor tax like we have here in Tennessee, and tip. And hard liquor can be hard on your wallet. âŞ
and the markup on liquor is insane. It can be as much as four to 500%. So here's a money saving alternative. Maybe you just enjoy drinks at home or during a happy hour special. Number 11, nice restaurants. These restaurants can cost 50 to 100 bucks per person if you add up the drinks, the apps, the desserts,
the tip, what have you. So eating out is a luxury and entertainment, not a priority or necessity. If you're working on paying off debt, cut this one out entirely. It is not a priority. You got to get out of debt. And even if you are out of debt, you might want to cut back on this to save some money. Get this restaurants need to mark up ingredients 300% on average to cover their overhead, their labor and make a profit and stay in business. That means you spend 40 bucks for a meal that would have cost you $10.
at home. So what do you do? Eat at home, maybe get takeout or stick to some fast casual or explore some more affordable local restaurants. Number 12 for profit colleges. This one's wild. Between 1977 and 2023, college tuition and fees shot up about 1400%.
For comparison, that's more than three and a half times the rate of inflation during that same time period. And the big problem with for-profit universities is that they're for-profit, which means they're more focused on the money rather than the education. So what do you do instead? Well, check out public universities, community colleges, and trade schools. You can get a quality education for a fraction of the price. Number 13, manicures and pedicures. Or if you actually get these, you call them mani-pedis. These can cost $20 to $50 per service, not including tips.
and there's a high markup on the services and products used. So what do you do instead? Well, maybe you do that DIY nail care, get one of those kits off Amazon, or you save the mani-pedis for special occasions. Next up, we've got ride-sharing apps. Now, the price here varies based on your location and surge pricing, which can lead to much higher fares during peak times.
And this demand-based pricing model is one of the reasons it can be so overpriced, paired with the fact that people are just willing to pay for the convenience. So here's an alternative. Drive yourself, take public transportation if it's available, or carpool. And for shorter distances, maybe you just, you know, use your legs, or a bike, or a skateboard, or worst case, and I do mean worst...
Heelys. Just saying it's an option. I don't really know why you think it's all right, but if you come around, can you just be nice? And coming in at number 15, the last thing on our list of overpriced stuff, extravagant weddings. The costs for wedding services are wildly inflated. The average wedding expense for couples getting married in 2024 totaled $33,000.
And here's the deal, I get it. There's a lot of expectations and emotions around the big day and your reputation's at stake as a family and people end up paying way too much for this stuff. So what do you do instead? Well, maybe you opt for a smaller, more intimate ceremony that's not gonna cost as much. Or maybe you consider an alternative wedding venue. Maybe you don't need a destination wedding in Italy and instead you just hit the local Olive Garden because when you're there, you're family. And shout out to the couple who took their engagement photos there to save big money and they came out great. What a beautiful couple.
What a beautiful couple. What a beautiful couple. Also consider DIY decor and flowers. Get you a little mason jar, put a little flowers in there, you'll be good to go. Now to be clear, I think everything on this list is overpriced, but sometimes there's a time and place for spending more. And it's okay to spend a lot of money on something if it really matters to you and it adds value to your life, as long as it's in the budget and you pay cash. Whether it's a nice wedding, a good steak, or a high quality medieval foam sword for your next LARPing meetup.
But as a general rule, try to avoid spending 10 bucks on something you could get elsewhere for five bucks. Be a smart consumer. Save money by doing a little bit of research to find the better deal. And if something you want to buy is too expensive, look for an alternative. And whatever you do, please, please never use debt to buy any of these things. Always make sure you're living on less than you make and you're sticking to a zero-based budget.
And it sounds basic, but that's how you get ahead with money. You create financial margin. And the budgeting app that I personally use is called EveryDollar. And if you want to check it out for free, go to everydollar.com slash George or use the link in the description below. And let me know in the comments if there's an overpriced thing you would add to this list and bonus points if you can share a cheaper alternative. And for those of you trying to be extra frugalicious, check out this video to see my 12 frugal rules for life. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.