Millionaire Reacts To: Money Saving TikToks
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- TikTok is full of money hacks. Some are good, some are bad, and some are technically fraud. In today's video, we're gonna check out some of TikTok's most popular money-saving challenges, and I'll show you an even better way to free up a solid chunk of change every single month. But before we jump in, hit those like and subscribe buttons and share this video with all of your friends who tried the viral ATM glitch and now are technically criminals. - Right to jail, right away.

Okay, this first video has nearly 7 million related posts on TikTok. It's called the $5 challenge and it can supposedly help you save $1,000 in one year. Let's take a look.

All right. So for those of you who may not know, I work in my life setting. I am a bottom girl. And last new year, one of my friends slash co-workers told me about this challenge that she does where basically you save every single five dollar bill that you earn for the entire year from work. Being that we always handle like cash, I was like, OK, fine, let's see and just see how much it's

I will be able to earn. So I saved every single $5 bill up until the last day of the year for 2023. And I finally counted it. Here it is. I literally saved 1K just by saving every single $5 bill I earned for the year. So I encourage you to do the same. Okay. Thank you, Tiffany, for the very helpful visualization.

So this is the idea that you save every $5 bill that you physically come into contact with. I love the simplicity of this, and I'm really proud of her for saving up money. That's great. But I don't think this is going to be effective for most people. Now, maybe it'll help you if you're a server or someone who handles cash all the time. But most people I know don't get paid in cash, and they don't use physical dollar bills to pay for things on a regular basis. And she saved $1,000 today.

in a year. So she saved $205 bills. That's going to take a long time. And honestly, I think you can do better. And later on in this video, I'm going to show you how you can save way more in one year than just a measly thousand bucks. Also, I need to go back. What did she say at the beginning? Those of you who may... She works...

Oh, she said she works in nightlife setting as a bottle girl. Okay. I am so just suburbian dad. I had to really piece that together. Okay, so you go to a club and you get bottle service, which is when you get one of those little fancy... I've only seen it in movies. You get a fancy little U-shaped booth and you're the cool guy. And they come up and they have super crazy expensive champagne bottles.

and it costs you like $10,000 for the privilege. That's what I've seen in the movies. Again, wouldn't darken the door. I don't think they'd let me into it. Sir, you're in the wrong place. Let me direct you to the nearest, I don't know, Barnes and Noble. Rude. Okay, next up, the 100 envelope savings challenge.

If you think you can't save any money, you're wrong. Let me show you. This is for all the people who think that they don't make enough money to save or they constantly are just not saving. Is she talking through an old radio? Why does it sound like that? The 100 envelope savings challenge. By the end of this challenge, once we've filled up all of the little pockets, we're going to have $5,050. Wow. So the binder comes with all these sleeves that have pockets. They're numbered 1 to 100, and those are your envelopes. Okay, 100 envelopes. You see me putting those in the binder here, and then it has this sheet where you can color off the amounts.

Anytime you have extra cash, you can contribute to the challenge. And how it works is that each slot, the number on it is the amount of dollars you put in that slot. So one, you put $1, two, you put $2, so on and so forth until the very end.

There's no timetable on this. You're not rushed to do this. It's just any time that you have any extra cash. No rush to do this, apparently. At your own leisure. As you have random amounts of cash. And then you go to the front page and you color in the amount you just contributed. It's a fun way to hold yourself accountable to saving and also be able to save with as little as $1. When you color in the tracker, it's really fun to see your progress. And once you get to the end, like I said, you'll have over $5,000. Okay.

I love the encouragement. I love the spirit here. I give this one an A for arts and crafts, F for financial progress. Okay, I don't know like this personal finance meets adult coloring meets Pokemon binder. I don't know that it's gonna really do...

Much for most people. So the idea is you get a binder, it's got compartments, you fill them up each day. Well, I guess not each day, at your own leisure. So maybe you go weeks without seeing money and you don't save anything. That feels like a bad plan. But I get the idea. Dollar on day one, $2 on day two, so on and so forth. You could end up over time, over a decade with $5,000 in your binder if you didn't lose it. Hello?

- I lost it. - And I guess this is better than saving a thousand with this $5 challenge we covered, but I still feel like we're dreaming small here. Plus, a lot of these are these TikTok shop videos that are trying to get you to buy the envelope thing. If this somehow psychologically helps you build a savings muscle at first, go for it. I'm just not out here trying to save physical cash in an old Pokemon binder, so this is a hard pass for me.

Okay, so far, these money-saving hacks are not all bad, but I still think we can do so much better. Let's see if this last one can redeem it.

Today I'm going to be starting a new challenge where I try to save $10,000 in 100 days. 10,000? 100 days? That's amazing. I have 100 envelopes labeled 2 through 200, counting by twos. I'm going to kind of put all the envelopes in this bag, and every shift that I work, I'm going to try to pick one to two, maybe more envelopes if I did really good that day, and just try to see how long it takes me to save up 10 grand. Okay, so today is Friday, and I work

Thursday night, I closed the restaurant. And then Friday this morning, I worked a morning shift. So I'm going to pick two envelopes. The first one is $4. I can do that. One, two, three, four. Here is $4 going in my first envelope. I'm going to go ahead and pick one more.

There's two here. So she's choosing envelopes at random. 96. 50, 70, 90, 95, 96. You have to have $96 of cash on hand in this example. I will be back tomorrow and Sunday to pick some more envelopes.

We're getting somewhere and it says in the caption that she's currently saving for a down payment on a RAV4. I got excited. I thought it was going to be house, not I'm going to get a car loan with some money down. Sierra, if you're saving up 10 grand in 100 days, you could pay cash for an older RAV4 and have no car payment attached to it. So this one was similar to the last envelope challenge, but a little bit more gamified. They're number two to 200. So we're upping the ante here. And there was a goal, 100 days down.

$10,000. And I gotta say, it looks fun. 'Cause she's randomly drawing numbered envelopes out of a bag, so there's a little mystery to it. And maybe that will help you keep doing it. So I'd say out of all three of these money saving hacks, this one, I guess, wins. It's the most amount of money in the smallest amount of time, but it's still not the best way to save money. I don't really want my savings rate to be determined by luck of the draw. So if you're looking for a savings hack to trick yourself into saving more, try this. Pretend you make less than you actually do.

Live off just a part of your paycheck and save the rest. Same amount every month. No trapper keepers needed. Works every time. But here's the deal. If you really want to reach your money goals, it's about more than just saving. You've got to create margin. See, these people have money left over to put into the savings binders. That's what's important.

So Margin gives you breathing room in your bank account and in your life. It's going to free up cash for saving, but also for giving, investing, and even an occasional splurge, a little treat, if you will, like a thug raccoon taxidermy statue. If that's your thing, we all have our hobbies. Some LARP.

Some do raccoon taxidermy. So how do you create margin? It's a simple formula. Spend less and make more. Let's start with spending less. Here are seven things you can do right now to try and cut back on your spending. Number one, try a no spend month. This is a 30 day challenge where you don't spend a dime on anything except spending.

the essentials like your basic bills, your rent, your groceries, your gas, but no eating out, no new clothes, no little treats, and definitely no raccoon statues. Number two, shop smarter for groceries. I know you guys are rolling your eyes at me, but listen, if you buy generic, you shop at discount grocery stores, you use coupons, you shop what's on sale, you meal plan, you stick to a list, you will save hundreds of dollars a month with way less waste. Number three, again, a no brainer, eat out less or maybe not at all.

Restaurants need to mark up their ingredients 300% on average to cover overhead, labor, and make a profit. So if you want to spend less, eat at home. Skip the schlotzkies, Rachel. Schlotzkies. Rachel makes it into nine syllables, I think, when she says it.

We got my favorite Schlotzkies. Schlotzkies. Two syllables, Rachel. Number four, evaluate your subscriptions. The average person has 12 subscriptions and pays $219 a month for the pleasure. And I know it's great having access to every episode of Full House, but if it's a subscription you're not really using, follow Uncle Joey's advice and cut it out. Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da.

Have mercy. Number five, do an insurance checkup. Even if you have the right coverage, you might be overpaying. I recommend working with an independent insurance agent who can help you shop for quotes and get you the best deal. Looking at you, guy who's had the same policy through his buddy from State Farm for the last 12 years, you're overpaying.

I promise. Sorry, Jake. You know we're good, bro. Number six, hunt for discounts, coupons, and promo codes. Whenever you're shopping online, try using websites and browser plugins like Honey that search for promo codes and automatically apply them at checkout. Or just clip out a good old-fashioned coupon. Who knows? Maybe you'll find one for 35 cents off a pound of ground round. Say that 10 times fast.

35? That's not bad. How many pounds do you need of ground round? What are we making? A chili cook-off or something? Number seven, borrow, rent, or buy secondhand. If you need a chainsaw for 17 minutes, just ask your neighbor. Looking for a kitchen table? Buy it used from Facebook Marketplace. It's that simple and you're going to save big. Let's move on to the make more money part. I'm going to give you a few ways you can earn some extra dough guaranteed. But first, I'm going to tell you one way to keep your data away from spammers and scammers. In

And that's by using Delete.me, one of the sponsors of today's video. You know those weird shady sites that make money by selling your personal info? Well, Delete.me finds and removes your info from hundreds of these data broker sites, and they send you an easy to read report showing you what they did and how much time they've saved you. And they've saved me 55 hours already from time it would have taken me to do it.

So help protect yourself from the risks of online scams and data breaches with Delete.me. Right now, you can get 20% off their plans by going to joindeleteme.com/george or just click the link in the description below. And before we get to the part about making more money, let's talk about where you're saving your money. If you're stashing cash for a used car, a down payment on a house, or high-end vermin taxidermy, your money should be working for you. And for that, I recommend a high-yield savings account like the one offered by Laurel Road, one of the sponsors of today's video.

It's way better than stuffing thousands of dollars in a binder because right now your account balance earns over 4% APY. And last time I checked, 0% APY in your little binder. Plus, there's no minimum balance required to open an account, your deposits are FDIC insured, and there's no hidden fees. Learn more by going to laurelroad.com slash george or click the link in the description below.

Back to making more money. Here are a few ways you can earn some extra dough to help you create more margin. Number one, sell stuff you already have. Electronics, old furniture, precious moments figurines, you name it, someone will buy it. I mean, for heaven's sakes, people are buying high-end vermin taxidermy. We get it! Throw it up on eBay or Facebook Marketplace or Etsy, or just have a good old-fashioned yard sale. Number two, delivery apps. If you've got a driver's license and a reliable car, you can deliver people, food, groceries, and packages in exchange for

for money. You can make anywhere from 15 to 30 bucks an hour depending on your location and peak hours. And pro tip, if you deliver groceries, it's just surprising to light your customers by picking out the fruit that's not rotten. The bar is low, still better. Number three, change your tax withholdings. This is an interesting one.

big refund at tax time means that you've been overpaying Uncle Sam. So if your refund is usually over 500 bucks, you may want to decrease your withholdings with your HR department to free up some extra cash every single month. Number four, pause investing. Now before you start yelling at me through your screen, I'd only recommend this if you have debt and you don't have savings. Once you're debt free and you have a fully funded emergency fund, you'll get back to investing. But in the meantime, this can be a great way to free up some extra money.

Number five, home maintenance and repair. We're talking landscaping, lawn mowing, weed whacking, pressure washing, mold trapping, gutter cleaning, room painting, and even assembling cheap furniture from Timu. You can expect to make around 40 to 50 bucks an hour doing this kind of stuff right there in your neighborhood. Number six, freelancing, consulting, and tutoring. If you've got skills in graphic design or writing, editing, web development, marketing, SEO, photography, you name it, you can make some extra dough freelancing and consulting. Even tutoring can earn you 20 to 75 bucks an hour.

Number seven, car detailing. Trust me, there are people out there who will pay a pretty penny for you to excavate the remnants of a Crunchwrap Supreme from their seat crack. Guilty. Guilty. You can make $100 to $250 per car by washing, waxing, wiping, and vacuuming vehicles. And you can do it on your own schedule and in your customer's own driveway. All right, so that's just a bunch of ideas, but I've got a challenge for you. Commit to trying a few of these over the next 30 days.

Try doing at least three things to spend less and three things to make more and see what happens. I think you'll be surprised by how much margin it gives you. I mean, this could add up to over a thousand bucks a month, which will make some serious progress to your savings goals or your debt payoff goals. So forget the TikTok hacks. I think creating some real financial margin is a better, faster way to save money and accomplish your financial goals. And for all you overachievers out there, keep watching this video to learn how to save $100,000 in just three years. Thanks for watching.

We'll see you next time.