Sneaky Marketing Tactics That Aren’t Your Friend

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a Free Personalized Plan Remember signing up for that “free” trial of Apple TV+ . . . and four years later, you’re still paying $9.99 a month for it? In this episode, Rachel and George reveal sneaky marketing tactics like this to help you avoid wasting money. Next Steps: 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour. 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. Connect With Our Sponsors: 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. 🌿 Get up to 40% off at Cozy Earth with code SMARTMONEY. Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🥃 Classic Amaretto Sour Recipe: Real Simple Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounces amaretto liqueur 1 ounce simple syrup 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon) 1 orange slice, for garnish (optional) 1 maraschino cherry, for garnish (optional) Instructions: Pour the amaretto, simple syrup, and lemon juice into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a glass filled with ice. Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry, if using. Listen to More From Ramsey Network: 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05George Kamel?

  Today, we're talking about sneaky marketing tactics pretending to be your friend, just so they can steal your money.

• 0:10Rachel Cruze?

  The free trial.

• 0:12George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 0:13Rachel Cruze?

  If you will. You give them your information to sign up for the free trial and then?

• 0:18George Kamel?

  You get charged.

• 0:19Rachel Cruze?

  They start charging you.

• 0:19George Kamel?

  Can I give you my hack for this?

• 0:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 0:26Rachel Cruze?

  Hey guys, it's Rachel Cruz.

• 0:28George Kamel?

  And George Kamel.

• 0:30Rachel Cruze?

  And this is? Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:38George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 0:39Rachel Cruze?

  Delicious. Well, this is the show where two friends who have money experts talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And what are we gonna sip on, George, while we're chatting about this?

• 0:48George Kamel?

  We're sipping on Rachel's, I assume, first drink, an Amaretto Sour. A classic.

• 0:54Rachel Cruze?

  I will say.

• 0:55George Kamel?

  It's nostalgic for you?

• 0:56Rachel Cruze?

  It is. My bachelorette party 15 years ago, this is what we all drank, because we were young.

• 1:01George Kamel?

  No way. And you wanted something that...

• 1:03Rachel Cruze?

  Probably didn't have great taste.

• 1:03George Kamel?

  Tasted like candy. It's good.

• 1:05Rachel Cruze?

  Tastes like candy.

• 1:06George Kamel?

  So stick around till the end. We're gonna give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode.

• 1:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. Okay, so I'm like the resident conspiracy theory.

• 1:15George Kamel?

  Thank you for owning it.

• 1:16Rachel Cruze?

  Friends here, right? And I know there's many of you out there. Thanks for reaching out. Appreciate you. But, you know, one of the conspiracies, I think, though, is that, like, companies will do things to get you to buy more of the product, right?

• 1:29George Kamel?

  That makes sense.

• 1:29Rachel Cruze?

  And one of those, expiration dates.

• 1:32George Kamel?

  That's the one you feel like is the conspiracy.

• 1:34Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. It is a very interesting thing. It scares me to death. They got me. So even if it is a conspiracy, I am one that I don't do well when I see that something has expired, because I immediately think food poisoning.

• 1:48George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 1:49Rachel Cruze?

  Right?

• 1:49George Kamel?

  There's a range of like, oh, it loses some quality and taste, or you will die. I think there's a spectrum we can agree on.

• 1:56Rachel Cruze?

  And I think the smell is big, right? If something is...

• 1:58George Kamel?

  I think smell is big.

• 1:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, so, that is one. But they have the sell-by date.

• 2:04George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 2:04Rachel Cruze?

  Right? Where stores have to... You know, stop allowing the food to be on the shelves and they have to get rid of it, right?

• 2:11George Kamel?

  Yeah, so, "sell by" is my favorite, because it means it's fine for a long time after that. The stores just can't sell it.

• 2:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, which is tricky, because if you see a date on a package, I immediately go to...

• 2:20George Kamel?

  You see "sell by"?

• 2:20Rachel Cruze?

  I see expiration, but it's not. So you got "sell by," you got "best buy," so it's like the optimal flavor of the product, right?

• 2:29George Kamel?

  Yeah, you're gonna get the most quality, but beyond this date, you'll start to lose some of that.

• 2:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, and then we got "expiration date," which is the manufacturer's guarantee or responsibility for food safety. What do you think?

• 2:40George Kamel?

  I think companies... I'm not gonna try to defend corporations, not what I'm here for. But I will say, part of it is liability on their part. They're gonna try to err on the side of being conservative and being safe, because the last thing you want is like, there's an E. coli outbreak, and it hurts your company and their brand and reputation.

• 2:57Rachel Cruze?

  Remember Jack in the Box?

• 2:59George Kamel?

  Yeah, did you go there?

• 3:00Rachel Cruze?

  No, but they had the worst E. coli breakout in America. It was like 20 years ago, do you not remember that?

• 3:06George Kamel?

  No.

• 3:06Rachel Cruze?

  Now, anytime... So this proves the point.

• 3:09George Kamel?

  I was 15 years old, I wasn't really concerned about Jack in the Box.

• 3:12Rachel Cruze?

  You didn't watch the nightly news?

• 3:14George Kamel?

  Well, there's not a Jack in the Box near me.

• 3:16Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, yeah.

• 3:17George Kamel?

  At the time, you know what I mean? So it wasn't a big... It wasn't my problem.

• 3:20Rachel Cruze?

  But it can Harper a negative feeling towards the brands if it makes national news.

• 3:27George Kamel?

  Like lettuce was a big one. Remember there was lettuce E. coli for a long time? I was like, "I just won't eat salad, fine, twist my arm."

• 3:33Rachel Cruze?

  Twist my arm.

• 3:34George Kamel?

  Don't touch the stuff.

• 3:35Rachel Cruze?

  I'll say no, just yes to the gluten-free pizza. Okay, you know who's the worst at this? When we go through her refrigerator, refrigerator.

• 3:43George Kamel?

  Sharon Ramsey.

• 3:45Rachel Cruze?

  Y'all, there is stuff in there, and what does she say? "It's fine, it's fine." I mean, bad.

• 3:52George Kamel?

  What does your mom know that we don't?

• 3:54Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, but she's fine.

• 3:56George Kamel?

  Well, she's from a generation where you didn't just throw things away because a date said you should.

• 4:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no, no, no, no. Do you? What do you do?

• 4:03George Kamel?

  Usually, it depends on the item. Like, I know, I'm not gonna trust for, I think meats is one. Like, I just have an issue with meat.

• 4:11Rachel Cruze?

  Can I give you examples and you tell me what you would do?

• 4:13George Kamel?

  All right.

• 4:14Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, you cook chicken. Have some extra chicken. Put it in the refrigerator, cuz you think, oh, we'll use it later this week for other recipes.

• 4:21George Kamel?

  Cooked chicken?

• 4:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, cooked chicken, but you don't. How long?

• 4:24George Kamel?

  I'm giving it three or four days.

• 4:27Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 4:27George Kamel?

  Beyond that, it's a toss for me.

• 4:29Rachel Cruze?

  It's a toss for you, okay.

• 4:30George Kamel?

  I'm not willing to risk it.

• 4:31Rachel Cruze?

  I'm a five to six dayer.

• 4:32George Kamel?

  But to be fair, I try to eat everything soon after. I'm not gonna like, leave it till the last second and then be like, I guess I should eat this.

• 4:38Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 4:39George Kamel?

  How about you?

• 4:39Rachel Cruze?

  Fair, yeah.

• 4:40George Kamel?

  Five day?

• 4:41Rachel Cruze?

  Five day, five to six day. When we're hitting a week, I get a little nervous with like, a leftover situation.

• 4:47George Kamel?

  I just saw a thing about rice. Cooked rice, if it's sat out before you put it in the fridge, becomes poison, apparently.

• 4:55Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 4:56George Kamel?

  Whitney sent my, my wife sent me the Instagram reel and there was some doc talking about it of like, the actual

• 5:02Rachel Cruze?

  Bacteria?

• 5:02George Kamel?

  Yeah, bacteria that, that forms as it sits on the counter. So I said, if you cook rice, don't let it sit out too long before you put it in the fridge.

• 5:09Rachel Cruze?

  Gosh, good to know. Thanks for saving lives, Whitney.

• 5:12George Kamel?

  I'm, I'm just here to be a blessing and my wife is the one who tells me all this.

• 5:17Rachel Cruze?

  Um, and yeah, is, is Whitney more conservative on the expiration dates?

• 5:21George Kamel?

  I think now that we have a child, if it's going to be eaten by our child, she's a little more,

• 5:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 5:26George Kamel?

  you know, on edge. For us as adults, we're less concerned. But, you know, there's, we pulled out the fridge, there's some like, mold.

• 5:32Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 5:33George Kamel?

  I'm like, once I see mold, I'm not like,

• 5:34Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 5:35George Kamel?

  I'm not working my way around it.

• 5:36Rachel Cruze?

  You know one thing I don't do either? When stuff's been left in the car?

• 5:39George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 5:40Rachel Cruze?

  Do you know who doesn't care about that?

• 5:42George Kamel?

  Winston Cruz.

• 5:43Rachel Cruze?

  Winston Cruz. Are you ready for this story?

• 5:45George Kamel?

  A real man's man.

• 5:46Rachel Cruze?

  Are you ready for this? I left pimento cheese, pimento cheese overnight in the car, cuz I forgot about it, in a grocery bag. The next day I see it and I was like, crap, cuz it was the jalapeno, I love, I love pimento cheese.

• 5:59George Kamel?

  That's, I know which one you're talking about. I know exactly the brand, I can picture it.

• 6:02Rachel Cruze?

  Shoot, I totally forgot about this bag. Winston's like, I don't care, I'll eat it. I was like, no, I was like, just put it in the fridge, I'll eat it later. Ate the whole thing. Man of steel, and I would not touch it. The whole time I was like, that's dairy, dairy.

• 6:15George Kamel?

  But I want to know, like, you see the wheel of cheese sitting out at Whole Foods, like, why can they do that?

• 6:19Rachel Cruze?

  Well, and he claims in Europe cheeses and meats sit out overnight all the time.

• 6:23George Kamel?

  There we go.

• 6:23Rachel Cruze?

  That's like what it, but Europe's a different story. Let's just be honest.

• 6:27George Kamel?

  That's fair.

• 6:29Rachel Cruze?

  Better situation.

• 6:29George Kamel?

  Milk, I'm a little more on edge about.

• 6:32Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, gross, gross.

• 6:33George Kamel?

  I feel like milk is one I'm just, I'm going, that's not risky.

• 6:36Rachel Cruze?

  If it's the date of expiration, it's out. Like, and I, and I have a very sensitive nose, and I can smell that stuff.

• 6:44George Kamel?

  That's a tough one. Eggs, if it says like Best Buy and it was a week past, use or toss?

• 6:50Rachel Cruze?

  A week? I'm tossing.

• 6:52George Kamel?

  I just don't think it's worth it for the cost savings.

• 6:55Rachel Cruze?

  I agree.

• 6:55George Kamel?

  To me, it's a risk analysis.

• 6:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 6:57George Kamel?

  And I'm like, was this a hundred dollar item or a three dollar box of eggs?

• 7:02Rachel Cruze?

  That's right, that's right.

• 7:03George Kamel?

  I'm gonna toss it.

• 7:04Rachel Cruze?

  Condiments, we'll go, we'll go six months to a year on the ketchup. I focus that.

• 7:09George Kamel?

  That's impressive. What about like a Chick-fil-A condiment, like you got it in a bag, didn't use it, you save those and?

• 7:15Rachel Cruze?

  We do, yes.

• 7:16George Kamel?

  How long?

• 7:16Rachel Cruze?

  We don't know.

• 7:17George Kamel?

  Cause there's no dates on those.

• 7:18Rachel Cruze?

  I know, I know.

• 7:19George Kamel?

  It feels like, it's like Russian roulette with Chick-fil-A sauces in my fridge right now.

• 7:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but it's all sealed and it doesn't have to be refrigerated. That all feels preservatives to me.

• 7:27George Kamel?

  Which also feels concerning.

• 7:29Rachel Cruze?

  But it, well, that we're putting it in our body in the first place, sure.

• 7:32George Kamel?

  And we don't know when they made that sauce. It could have been 2002.

• 7:35Rachel Cruze?

  But everyone's feeling great, right?

• 7:37George Kamel?

  So food is one.

• 7:38Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 7:39George Kamel?

  What about like skincare, prescription medicine, supplements? Like, do you feel more conspiracy theory about those?

• 7:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, expired medicine, is that terrible? But.

• 7:49George Kamel?

  Well, I think it depends on what it is.

• 7:51Rachel Cruze?

  Tylenol?

• 7:52George Kamel?

  Like, there was one that was three years old the other day, and I went, I'm gonna hard pass on that. I'm gonna toss that. But like six months, taking a Tylenol that's six months expired, I think you just lose some of the potency.

• 8:02Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 8:02George Kamel?

  Same with supplements.

• 8:03Rachel Cruze?

  That's what I would want to wonder, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 8:04George Kamel?

  But I don't think they're gonna like hurt you.

• 8:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 8:06George Kamel?

  One that is interesting, I had a, a face lotion on this last trip I took, and it expired eight months ago. But I thought it's face lotion.

• 8:15Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 8:16George Kamel?

  What could go wrong?

• 8:18Rachel Cruze?

  Did it go wrong?

• 8:19George Kamel?

  It didn't go right. It wasn't a full breakout, but it was a little bit like clumpy. Like, I could just tell when, like, I was like, oh, that didn't look right.

• 8:27Rachel Cruze?

  Did you shake it, like?

• 8:28George Kamel?

  I don't think I, I didn't think it was like something to be shaken. I've never shaken lotion.

• 8:34Rachel Cruze?

  I always do my lotions. I'll like kinda mess with the bottle.

• 8:37George Kamel?

  No one told me you should shake your lotions. This is why I listen to this, this, this podcast is the reason I live.

• 8:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I, God, I had makeup from a long time ago that I still use, so.

• 8:50George Kamel?

  But part of it is like, I spent good money on this and I don't want to waste it. Do you ever feel that way?

• 8:54Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Oh, 100%.

• 8:55George Kamel?

  Especially makeup.

• 8:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and especially if it's like little things and you just need like a dot every now and then. And you're like, I don't like, what are you gonna do?

• 9:01George Kamel?

  It'll take 19 years to use this whole thing up.

• 9:03Rachel Cruze?

  Man, I had stuff from high school through college. I mean, I kept stuff forever and ever.

• 9:07George Kamel?

  You still have like your, your Bath and Body Works?

• 9:09Rachel Cruze?

  Not today. No, but I wish. If I could go back to that warm vanilla smell, that would take me back to the mall. In 7th grade.

• 9:17George Kamel?

  I feel like you were a cucumber melon kinda gal.

• 9:19Rachel Cruze?

  No, it was warm vanilla.

• 9:20George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 9:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 9:21George Kamel?

  Wow, not cold vanilla, warm vanilla.

• 9:23Rachel Cruze?

  It was called warm vanilla. I'm pretty sure it was. I think it was.

• 9:26George Kamel?

  Those names are crazy. Okay, so today we're gonna dive into more of these marketing schemes that pretend to be looking out for you, but we are cautiously skeptical. So let's play a little game. Helpful tip or a marketing myth, Rachel?

• 9:37Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I love this.

• 9:38George Kamel?

  Oil changes.

• 9:39Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. I say.

• 9:41George Kamel?

  They always tell you need an oil change.

• 9:42Rachel Cruze?

  I say, marketing myth Winston would say, needed. He's big on oil changes, like taking care of your car. Me, eh, it'll be fine.

• 9:52George Kamel?

  But then what if your car like blows up because you didn't do any oil changes?

• 9:56Rachel Cruze?

  Are you an oil changer when it's like it's time? Because I think my car indicates it later than the little sticker they give you up at the top.

• 10:03George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah, that's true.

• 10:05Rachel Cruze?

  Because they want you coming in more. Isn't they also come to you and they're like, well, your tire, your engine, your whatever, whatever. And I'm like, all of you.

• 10:13George Kamel?

  That happened to me when I got, I had a tire situation. Of course, they like measure all your tires, like, hey, uh, these things are so bald that you're putting your entire family in jeopardy right now as you're on the road. I'm like, okay, I'm not gonna pay a thousand bucks to get four new tires right now. It's insane. But oil changes, I will follow the actual, if the car has a meter that shows you like the percentage, I'll follow that versus the sticker.

• 10:35Rachel Cruze?

  Me too, me too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 10:37George Kamel?

  That's just me.

• 10:38Rachel Cruze?

  Also, I'm like.

• 10:39George Kamel?

  But to me, out of all the things you could do to keep your car going, an oil change I'm happy to do. I do go try to go synthetic blend, so I don't have to go as often.

• 10:48Rachel Cruze?

  Oh wow.

• 10:48George Kamel?

  It lasts longer than the traditional oil changes.

• 10:50Rachel Cruze?

  Good for you, George.

• 10:51George Kamel?

  Full synthetic's a little pricey. It's a little rich for my blood.

• 10:54Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but you do it.

• 10:56George Kamel?

  I don't go full synthetic. I do the blend.

• 10:58Rachel Cruze?

  The blend, I'm sorry. Okay, okay.

• 10:59George Kamel?

  It's blend.

• 11:00Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, you're so bougie, George.

• 11:02George Kamel?

  Now I'm bougie for doing synthetic blend oil changes.

• 11:05Rachel Cruze?

  Where, yeah.

• 11:05George Kamel?

  Which by the way, neither of us have to do with our cars.

• 11:08Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 11:09George Kamel?

  Our house's cars. That's honestly one of the best parts about owning an electric car. They're underrated.

• 11:14Rachel Cruze?

  It's got nothing. It's a computer.

• 11:15George Kamel?

  Never have to go to a Jiffy Lube.

• 11:17Rachel Cruze?

  That's pretty wild. You just gotta change tires.

• 11:19George Kamel?

  Have some guy sell me on why my air filter needs to be replaced.

• 11:22Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 11:23George Kamel?

  That's a scam. I've heard they show you a fake air filter that's dirty.

• 11:27Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 11:29George Kamel?

  I've heard. I'm not saying all places do this, but they always show you like, hey, your air filter needs to be replaced. And it's always like $700 to do it through them versus just buying a cheap one.

• 11:37Rachel Cruze?

  That's it too.

• 11:38George Kamel?

  Do it yourself. Even I can change an air filter.

• 11:40Rachel Cruze?

  Good for you, George.

• 11:41George Kamel?

  Even me.

• 11:42Rachel Cruze?

  I like that. Okay, how about the next? Is the free trial?

• 11:45George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 11:46Rachel Cruze?

  If you will. So you get in, you give them your information to sign up for the free trial, and then?

• 11:52George Kamel?

  You get charged.

• 11:53Rachel Cruze?

  They start charging you.

• 11:54George Kamel?

  Can I give you my hack for this?

• 11:55Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 11:56George Kamel?

  I use a site called privacy.com.

• 11:58Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 11:58George Kamel?

  That creates virtual debit cards.

• 12:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 12:00George Kamel?

  So I use that for trials and you can say, hey, don't let this charge more than a dollar. Or let this expire after a certain amount of time. So you can set all these parameters around this virtual debit card.

• 12:09Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, so smart. So then when they charge, there's no?

• 12:11George Kamel?

  And you can just delete the card as if it never existed. So take that.

• 12:15Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, good for you, George.

• 12:16George Kamel?

  You're not getting me.

• 12:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. I've gotten scammed a couple of times with them just taking money out.

• 12:21George Kamel?

  Well, and all the free trials, you get to enter all of your personal info and data, which they can then use to remarket.

• 12:26Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 12:27George Kamel?

  Or sell to data brokers.

• 12:28Rachel Cruze?

  I know, which is one reason delete me though, is a subscription that I am all about. Because in our world today, how often we put our information out there? And data brokers will go and buy, sell, trade your personal data out there. They're making money off of your data.

• 12:44George Kamel?

  They're using our info like Pokemon cards out there.

• 12:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and then they send it all and you get text scams and emails. All this stuff, it is frustrating. Like if you go and buy, like I bought tickets to something, and I swear they sold my data.

• 12:56George Kamel?

  Cause you're getting inundated with all these offers.

• 12:59Rachel Cruze?

  Like ticket company stuff. And I'm like, oh my gosh. But Delete Me goes in, and they swipe all these data broker websites and take your information off.

• 13:06George Kamel?

  Find it, remove it, send you a report.

• 13:08Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. We'll put a link down below because we have actually a discount for Smart Money Happy Hour users.

• 13:13George Kamel?

  They get 20% off any of the plans. If you go to joindelete.me/smartmoney or just click the link in the description, it'll take you there. And we love having them as a sponsor because we want to protect our listeners and viewers out there from getting scammed and fraud and all the stuff that's happening out there.

• 13:30Rachel Cruze?

  All right, George, how about good return policies? Good being in quotes, if you will.

• 13:35George Kamel?

  You can return it at any time or up to a year.

• 13:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 13:38George Kamel?

  So is this a scam? Is it a marketing tactic? I think it's definitely marketing. They know that you're more likely to spend money once you're in the store. And, you know, if it's a good return policy, I do feel better about buying it. That's why I love Costco.

• 13:50Rachel Cruze?

  You send so much stuff back in life.

• 13:52George Kamel?

  It is embarrassing. It's an embarrassing amount of stuff.

• 13:54Rachel Cruze?

  It's pretty wild, George.

• 13:56George Kamel?

  I have no shame when it comes to returns.

• 13:58Rachel Cruze?

  You really don't.

• 13:59George Kamel?

  I've returned things as we were sitting here, I think. That's how much I return things.

• 14:02Rachel Cruze?

  Stuff is just getting returned as we speak, as we speak. Okay, you know, one scam that got all of us in the 90s, got milk.

• 14:10George Kamel?

  Oh, my goodness.

• 14:11Rachel Cruze?

  Do you remember that whole campaign?

• 14:12George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 14:12Rachel Cruze?

  It was everywhere. Every celebrity had like a milk mustache, like everyone, the milk.

• 14:18George Kamel?

  Great campaign. I think we just say that out loud. It was a great campaign and it worked.

• 14:22Rachel Cruze?

  And where did it go? Did like almond milk override cow's milk? Like what happened?

• 14:28George Kamel?

  I don't know what happened there.

• 14:29Rachel Cruze?

  Isn't that weird?

• 14:30George Kamel?

  How did it just die?

• 14:30Rachel Cruze?

  And isn't it weird that we were told as kids, you had to drink milk? Like you had to drink a glass or two of milk because your bones are going to be frail, calcium. It was like a whole.

• 14:39George Kamel?

  How much milk do you drink today? Very little? Zero?

• 14:44Rachel Cruze?

  No, zero.

• 14:45George Kamel?

  When's the last time you had a glass of milk?

• 14:47Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, honestly-

• 14:48George Kamel?

  I'm worried about your bones.

• 14:49Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I mean, I-

• 14:51George Kamel?

  You could bump into a door-

• 14:52Rachel Cruze?

  It's actually a great question. We buy milk every week, because my kids like cereal. But I don't eat cereal. So a glass of milk, I cannot tell you. You?

• 15:00George Kamel?

  No, only for our daughter. I will use cereal. I'll use like an oat milk, or something like that. I try to go dairy free these days, anti-inflammatory.

• 15:08Rachel Cruze?

  Good for you.

• 15:08George Kamel?

  If you know, you know.

• 15:09Rachel Cruze?

  So I'm saying, did nuts take over milk?

• 15:12George Kamel?

  I don't know.

• 15:12Rachel Cruze?

  And, here's the conspiracy. I'm not blaming dairy farmers, at all. Just go with me, people. But like, did they have some stake in how much milk was being sold across America that funded, you know, the FDA to promote the milk, and then they made a lot of money on the back? Like, is there a cahoots happening? And then one day, the farmers were like, "We're good. We don't need all this milk."

• 15:34George Kamel?

  We're good. We have enough money.

• 15:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 15:35George Kamel?

  We are billionaires now.

• 15:37Rachel Cruze?

  And then they stopped the campaign. I don't get it. Who funded the milk campaign? Milk?

• 15:42George Kamel?

  Big dairy.

• 15:42Rachel Cruze?

  Cows? I mean, like, it's a very-

• 15:44George Kamel?

  I guess the companies that produce milk.

• 15:46Rachel Cruze?

  Exactly.

• 15:47George Kamel?

  And then the farmers benefited.

• 15:48Rachel Cruze?

  I know. But I do follow Ballerina Farm, who's like a homesteader.

• 15:52George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 15:53Rachel Cruze?

  She milks her cows, and just drinks that sucker right out of the jar. No plastic, the jar, the glass jar.

• 16:01George Kamel?

  Which I also have concerns about.

• 16:04Rachel Cruze?

  Straight up, y'all. I mean, it's pretty-

• 16:07George Kamel?

  What other liquid from an animal would you consume, straight out?

• 16:10Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. But she is-

• 16:12George Kamel?

  No processing.

• 16:13Rachel Cruze?

  Looks great. So something's right.

• 16:15George Kamel?

  I've seen like, raw, unpasteurized goat milk, or cow's milk, is supposed to be great for you? I don't know.

• 16:22Rachel Cruze?

  That's what they say.

• 16:22George Kamel?

  I don't know what's happening in the pasteurization process, other than avoiding me dying, at an early age. So I appreciate that, but I could be wrong.

• 16:30Rachel Cruze?

  I know. But anyways, Got Milk, very interesting campaign.

• 16:33George Kamel?

  This was 1993 to 2014, was the Got Milk campaign.

• 16:35Rachel Cruze?

  2014? Really?

• 16:36George Kamel?

  2014. Where were you? Nowhere to be found.

• 16:39Rachel Cruze?

  No, they took spreads out in Seventeen Magazine. You'd open up Seventeen Magazine, there'd be Jennifer Aniston, all the Friends casts with their.

• 16:47George Kamel?

  And how much were they getting paid? They were in cahoots with Big Dairy.

• 16:49Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, cuz they gotta pay the celebs for, oh my gosh, it goes so deep, George, it goes so deep.

• 16:55George Kamel?

  You think Jennifer Aniston is doing anything for free?

• 16:57Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 16:58George Kamel?

  No.

• 16:59Rachel Cruze?

  She has a good heart.

• 16:59George Kamel?

  Here's some other 90s food scams. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A concept invented by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.

• 17:09Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 17:10George Kamel?

  So of course they would push breakfast is so important. Also, here's a great option for breakfast. Sugar Crunch.

• 17:17Rachel Cruze?

  Sugar Crunch.

• 17:17George Kamel?

  That's all it is. That's what you're giving your kids, Rachel.

• 17:20Rachel Cruze?

  It's so true. No, mine are like Trader Joe's brand. It makes me feel better.

• 17:24George Kamel?

  I don't know that they're any healthier, but if you feel that way, it's great.

• 17:26Rachel Cruze?

  I got a Costco organic chocolate, like oat thing that I feed them.

• 17:31George Kamel?

  That feels better.

• 17:32Rachel Cruze?

  And Honey Nutritions. Anyways.

• 17:34George Kamel?

  Another one?

• 17:35Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, for real though, breakfast, I do think breakfast is important. Starting your metabolism, getting energy for the day.

• 17:41George Kamel?

  But now intermittent fasting is all the rage and people are saying it's great for you.

• 17:45Rachel Cruze?

  That's so true, not to eat till lunch, yeah.

• 17:47George Kamel?

  You eat between a certain window, like 12 to 6 is your time to eat, which means skipping breakfast altogether.

• 17:52Rachel Cruze?

  That is true. Are you a breakfast eater?

• 17:55George Kamel?

  Uh, I just do like a bar.

• 17:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, me too, a bar.

• 17:57George Kamel?

  Like a perfect bar. Those are my favorite.

• 17:59Rachel Cruze?

  The perfect bar. Where was, what's this?

• 18:00George Kamel?

  I get them at Costco, as one does. They're refrigerated.

• 18:03Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, fancy.

• 18:05George Kamel?

  Yeah, and I like the dark chocolate chip peanut butter. It kinda tastes like a Reese's cup.

• 18:09Rachel Cruze?

  Alright.

• 18:10George Kamel?

  But healthier.

• 18:10Rachel Cruze?

  That's good.

• 18:11George Kamel?

  So that's my go-to. I wouldn't say it's healthy. If you look at the ingredients, it's not. But it's got a lot of stuff in it that I think most people would be like, oh, you need to do better. Not looking for your judgment, thank you though.

• 18:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 18:21George Kamel?

  I used to do Lara bars. I tried RX bars.

• 18:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 18:24George Kamel?

  Way too gummy for me.

• 18:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, well chewy.

• 18:26George Kamel?

  I'm chewing, like three days later, I'm still chewing back there, like it's some dip that I've had stuck.

• 18:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 18:31George Kamel?

  It's disgusting. So no thanks. Breakfast for you?

• 18:34Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 18:34George Kamel?

  I feel like you're not a breakfast person.

• 18:36Rachel Cruze?

  I'm not, yeah, if I'm like on vacation, I enjoy breakfast, but if it's like normal, I'll do my protein shakes.

• 18:41George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 18:42Rachel Cruze?

  In the morning if I work out. If I don't work out, I get the fig bars from Costco.

• 18:46George Kamel?

  Both Costco breakfasts.

• 18:48Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I don't work out and I just have, I'll like grab coffee, that and eat in the car on my way to work.

• 18:53George Kamel?

  I thought you'd be the type to be like, I had a big gust of wind on the way in, I'm good. A bowl of ice for breakfast, I'm fine.

• 19:00Rachel Cruze?

  No, but my protein shake, it does fill me up though. It keeps me full.

• 19:05George Kamel?

  Wow, well can I say, for, this is a little behind the scenes, in the Ramsey Cafe, in the cafeteria where we all eat lunch, Rachel has a sandwich named after her on the menu called The Rachel.

• 19:16Rachel Cruze?

  It's true. It's a wrap.

• 19:18George Kamel?

  Guess who doesn't have anything named after him on the menu?

• 19:21Rachel Cruze?

  Turkey, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, bacon, tomato and honey mustard in a wrap. Heated. Toasted.

• 19:28George Kamel?

  Try it at home. See if you can recreate it. That's a good one. Speaking of which, Clean Plate Club. A scam invented by Gen X parents to avoid the feeling of grocery budget waste.

• 19:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, we have that in our house.

• 19:41George Kamel?

  Were you a clean plate like Sharon was like, you must clean your plate?

• 19:44Rachel Cruze?

  Uh.

• 19:44George Kamel?

  Whatever you put on your plate, you must eat.

• 19:46Rachel Cruze?

  Mom and dad were a strict, you have to sit there and eat. And sometimes it was down like, you need three bites of that. And we would, y'all, in protest, we would sit at that table and the food would become cold and solid.

• 19:58George Kamel?

  Oh gosh.

• 19:59Rachel Cruze?

  And they would not let us get up until we ate. It wasn't that it had to be clean, but it was like, no, you have to have three bites of that, whatever, whatever, whatever. And yeah, we, uh huh. But you were like celebrated if you cleaned your plate.

• 20:10George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 20:11Rachel Cruze?

  The Clean Plate Club was a real thing.

• 20:12George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 20:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 20:13George Kamel?

  I feel, I try to do it. Cause I try, what I try to do is not put so much food that I know I can't eat it.

• 20:19Rachel Cruze?

  So I'm the opposite.

• 20:20George Kamel?

  A little bit less, knowing that I'll probably be full if I just take my time.

• 20:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 20:24George Kamel?

  Eat slowly, let it sit. Then if I want more, I can always get more.

• 20:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Now I do like when my kids clean their plates. I know they're gonna be full and they won't ask me 45 minutes later and tell me they're hungry.

• 20:34George Kamel?

  Oh, but really when they say they're hungry, they want like a snack or dessert.

• 20:37Rachel Cruze?

  Oh yeah, oh yeah.

• 20:38George Kamel?

  A treat.

• 20:38Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, oh, and you're just like, we just ate dinner, I just cleaned the kitchen. I swear, they watch me. Dump the plates, we're in some put on dishwasher. We're so hungry.

• 20:48George Kamel?

  Oh my goodness, I would pick it out of the trash and go, look at that.

• 20:51Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 20:52George Kamel?

  I found some food.

• 20:53Rachel Cruze?

  It's frustrating, it's frustrating. Um, and see, I'm the opposite. My eyes are bigger than my stomach. Like at restaurants, I'm the worst.

• 21:00George Kamel?

  You're like, let's get four apps, three entrees.

• 21:02Rachel Cruze?

  That side looks good, the potatoes, yes. You have that, and we'll do the spinach, someone will eat it. And then I eat like four bites of everything and I'm like, I'm good.

• 21:10George Kamel?

  I take everything home.

• 21:12Rachel Cruze?

  You flew.

• 21:14George Kamel?

  If there's like one ounce of food left, I'll get a to-go box. Oh, this is true.

• 21:17Rachel Cruze?

  From New York City to Nashville, put a bag of ice at his hotel, put the to-go food in the bag and flew home. Flew home with food. I can't believe you did that.

• 21:31George Kamel?

  It was worth it.

• 21:32Rachel Cruze?

  I cannot believe you did that.

• 21:34George Kamel?

  It was so much food. We did a gluten-free Thanksgiving in New York City. It was very, it was stupid expensive. I was already angry at how much we paid. I want to say.

• 21:43Rachel Cruze?

  Like 200 a person?

• 21:43George Kamel?

  I want to say, uh, like maybe 150 bucks a person total, like.

• 21:49Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, so it was expensive.

• 21:50George Kamel?

  Drinks, tax, tip, all of that. And we barely ate. I mean, it was so much food. It was, it was like where you're eating for eight and it was just the two of us. So I thought, there's so much food, box it all up, I'll figure it out. So we get back to the hotel, get our luggage and I went, I'm gonna go to the ice machine in the hotel. I got a bag, a laundry bag, filled it with ice, put it at the bottom of the bag, stacked it all and then carried it through the subways.

• 22:11Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my god.

• 22:12George Kamel?

  Bus, trains, planes, automobiles, I lugged that thing home.

• 22:15Rachel Cruze?

  What did they do through security?

• 22:17George Kamel?

  Judged me.

• 22:18Rachel Cruze?

  They did?

• 22:21George Kamel?

  But they let food through. Um, I don't think so. They probably just in their hearts judged me. It wasn't like a public like, sir, what are you doing with all this food, you're a little guy.

• 22:30Rachel Cruze?

  Like hush puppies.

• 22:31George Kamel?

  But to be fair, I ate on that for like four days after.

• 22:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 22:35George Kamel?

  It was an incredible amount of food. But I did wonder, should I be eating all this food that like sat this long? Maybe not properly refrigerated for seven hours?

• 22:44Rachel Cruze?

  Exactly what we were talking about.

• 22:45George Kamel?

  Yikes.

• 22:46Rachel Cruze?

  All right, uh, let's talk about regular appointments. I'm gonna go down a list and let's just do a quick hit.

• 22:50George Kamel?

  You've got a lot of conspiracies on this one.

• 22:52Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, ready?

• 22:52George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 22:53Rachel Cruze?

  Dentist. Scam.

• 22:56George Kamel?

  Twice a year for cleanings, I try to say no when they're like, hey, you have 19 cavities that need to be filled. I'll go, I'll wait on those. And I say no to fluoride now.

• 23:05Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wow. Look at you.

• 23:07George Kamel?

  Get some crunchier, crunchier than I thought.

• 23:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I think it's a scam. No offense to dentists out there, but.

• 23:11George Kamel?

  Wow. People are upset in the comments. Every time we talk about this.

• 23:14Rachel Cruze?

  Really? Are they?

• 23:15George Kamel?

  Like Rachel doesn't floss, you don't trust a dentist, and all the like dental hygienists and the, you know, they're all very upset with you.

• 23:21Rachel Cruze?

  I bet they are. This is their living. I get it.

• 23:23George Kamel?

  Well, I do think genetics plays into it.

• 23:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 23:25George Kamel?

  You must have, like, did you ever have braces?

• 23:26Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 23:27George Kamel?

  Hold on.

• 23:28Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 23:28George Kamel?

  How are your teeth perfectly straight?

• 23:30Rachel Cruze?

  I never had braces, but I will say I got a gumectomy last year. Do you remember this whole thing?

• 23:36George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 23:36Rachel Cruze?

  Do you remember that?

• 23:38George Kamel?

  Yes, this is when they add to your teeth?

• 23:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I always had small teeth. That was always my thing. And I kind of was on a kick of like, I don't know, it was one of those things, like if you had to change anything, like I think my teeth, I would have made like, I would have bigger teeth if I could. And I went to this dentist, yeah, and he was like, well, veneers, you know, you can go, all these options. I'm like, I don't know if I, you know, he's like, well, we could do what's called a gumectomy. And you, it's, it's gross, I'll just tell you. But they basically laser off part of your gum to see if you have more bone, more tooth up there that the gum is just overlaid. And sure enough, a lot of tooth, a lot of tooth up there.

• 24:11George Kamel?

  They excavated some more tooth for you.

• 24:13Rachel Cruze?

  And, but my gums have settled. They're not as, they're not as big as they were because like he did tell me the gums may settle. So I did do that.

• 24:18George Kamel?

  Wow. They look great, honestly.

• 24:20Rachel Cruze?

  Thank you. Thank you.

• 24:22George Kamel?

  The higher the gums, the closer to God. That's what I always say.

• 24:24Rachel Cruze?

  I know. So anyways, maybe it's genetics, but I do think.

• 24:28George Kamel?

  Maybe it's maybe.

• 24:29Rachel Cruze?

  Twice a year. Okay, chiropractor?

• 24:33George Kamel?

  Oh, gosh.

• 24:34Rachel Cruze?

  Never been.

• 24:35George Kamel?

  I do, okay, I don't want to like sully the, the good name of some chiropractors out there. There's some great ones.

• 24:39Rachel Cruze?

  Winston goes. Winston's a regular.

• 24:41George Kamel?

  But there's some heebie-jeebie ones and I was guilty of like, I went because they would do a free exam and a free whatever they do where they crack your back. And of course, they go, hey, we examined your spine and oh, you're gonna need about a year. It's gonna be $3,600 for the treatment plan. And I'm like, oh, you know exactly one year from now, I will magically be better with exactly this many treatments.

• 25:02Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 25:02George Kamel?

  How about I go and when I can tell that it's solved, I'll stop.

• 25:07Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 25:07George Kamel?

  So I feel like there's a lot of scamming going on.

• 25:10Rachel Cruze?

  Mm hmm.

• 25:11George Kamel?

  Because they gotta pay for their chiropractor school and the practice. And so they just have to jack up the prices, I feel like.

• 25:17Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, that's fair.

• 25:18George Kamel?

  These treatment plans.

• 25:18Rachel Cruze?

  I will say Winston goes regularly. He actually went today at three.

• 25:22George Kamel?

  What does he think?

• 25:22Rachel Cruze?

  And his, his, he was having like neck stuff and they took an x-ray and legitimately.

• 25:28George Kamel?

  They showed him the difference?

• 25:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And it's, yeah.

• 25:30George Kamel?

  How do we know that's his spine? What if they have?

• 25:33Rachel Cruze?

  Well, if it's like the air filter and they're like, this is a different x-ray. Oh, man.

• 25:37George Kamel?

  I wouldn't know my spine from Adam. I mean, I, you gotta.

• 25:40Rachel Cruze?

  George, it's a great question.

• 25:41George Kamel?

  Couldn't they have fake images?

• 25:42Rachel Cruze?

  I can't say 100% confidence.

• 25:43George Kamel?

  Of someone's spine adjusting over time.

• 25:44Rachel Cruze?

  But we did get recommended this chiropractor from a really great reputable friend.

• 25:49George Kamel?

  Okay. I'm sure the chiropractors will come after me now.

• 25:51Rachel Cruze?

  They will. They probably will.

• 25:52George Kamel?

  What are you gonna do? Crack my back?

• 25:53Rachel Cruze?

  My gosh. Um, massages.

• 25:57George Kamel?

  Oh, I feel like this one's not a scam because there's instant results.

• 26:01Rachel Cruze?

  I do think that's real.

• 26:02George Kamel?

  But I do think the effects wear off faster than I'd like.

• 26:05Rachel Cruze?

  Fair.

• 26:06George Kamel?

  And it's not a habit that I could sustain. It's like I get a massage every month.

• 26:10Rachel Cruze?

  Mm hmm.

• 26:11George Kamel?

  You know, now if I had like an actual injury, I want to make this clear. If it's like an injury or like a medical thing, different. For the average person, this is more just therapeutic.

• 26:20Rachel Cruze?

  Okay. I got a, I got an injury thought coming up next because we got physical therapy.

• 26:24George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 26:24Rachel Cruze?

  I broke my toe two years ago. Do you remember this? I broke my toe. I don't know why you'd remember, but broke my toe, ran into the door.

• 26:30George Kamel?

  Did you make a big deal of it?

• 26:31Rachel Cruze?

  So stupid.

• 26:32George Kamel?

  Did you have a little like toe cast? What do they do?

• 26:34Rachel Cruze?

  They just wrap your toe.

• 26:35George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 26:36Rachel Cruze?

  So it was so stupid. It was, I texted my friend.

• 26:39George Kamel?

  You kicked a door?

• 26:40Rachel Cruze?

  I kicked it. Well, I was walking fast and my, yeah, my foot hit the frame of the door.

• 26:46George Kamel?

  Like at night? I want to know the scenario in which you would kick a door.

• 26:49Rachel Cruze?

  Nope, just during the day. I just was walking fast. I had a purpose.

• 26:52George Kamel?

  Did you not see the door? Did you think the door was open?

• 26:54Rachel Cruze?

  Nope, it was the frame. I mean, I was just walking fast and I just off, I just didn't angle myself right. And my foot hit the, my, yeah, my big toe was fine, but the rest of my toes, yeah.

• 27:06George Kamel?

  The rest of your toes?

• 27:08Rachel Cruze?

  Well, one broke. Oh, my gosh. Okay, okay, let's focus. So, one of my toes broke and I went, they got an X-ray fracture. And I was like, this is so, I was so mad, I was so stupid. So then they make you come back to the orthopedic, like, a lot to, like, relook and all that. And every time you go, you're paying, you're paying.

• 27:28George Kamel?

  They're billing insurance every time.

• 27:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and after like the fifth time, I was like, I mean, I think my toes, like, I think, like, it's.

• 27:34George Kamel?

  We don't need to check on it again.

• 27:35Rachel Cruze?

  So I just stopped going and have felt fine since.

• 27:38George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 27:39Rachel Cruze?

  So, I, I think that possibly, probably over cautious for the average person. But I question how much you gotta go.

• 27:49George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 27:49Rachel Cruze?

  You know?

• 27:50George Kamel?

  Now, to be fair, Whitney just finished PT. She just went, her back was jacked up.

• 27:54Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I thought, wait, she was going to PT school?

• 27:57George Kamel?

  No, my wife is not a physical therapist.

• 28:00Rachel Cruze?

  I thought she went to school. I was like, wait, this is a big adventure.

• 28:04George Kamel?

  But what's funny is they call it graduating. She graduated from PT, like, as in she did enough, you know? But here's what's a life hack.

• 28:10Rachel Cruze?

  I didn't get a graduation, just.

• 28:12George Kamel?

  I'm so sorry. There's like, you need to come forever for your toes. Well, she graduated and then she did a bar class and she was like, it was almost exactly the same, but more enjoyable because it's a bar class workout versus PT. So there's your life hack, just do bar and it's kind of like PT.

• 28:28Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. All right, George. So, what do we think about all this?

• 28:32George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah, yeah. I think you need to be careful where and how you spend your money. But also, don't walk through life paranoid that everything's a scam. But it's just an exhausting existence when you're that. And there's a level of cynicism and skepticism that I think will exhaust you personally.

• 28:47Rachel Cruze?

  That's fair.

• 28:48George Kamel?

  I want you to have a healthy level of skepticism. Do your research, make sure it's recommended by other people, and feel free to say no. Because their sales tactics, they make you think you need this and you need it now, or else you're gonna harm your body.

• 29:02Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, they, yeah, the pressure is big.

• 29:03George Kamel?

  They know how to push the buttons.

• 29:04Rachel Cruze?

  They do, on a lot of these areas of life.

• 29:07George Kamel?

  So you need to be really good at saying, "No, thank you," or, "You know, I'm gonna look into that. I'll call back if I'm interested."

• 29:12Rachel Cruze?

  That's what I always say. "Oh, yeah, let me look at my calendar and everything and I'll call you back."

• 29:15George Kamel?

  Do you ever say, "I'm gonna, I'm gonna talk to my husband."

• 29:19Rachel Cruze?

  Uh...

• 29:19George Kamel?

  Do you ever play that card?

• 29:20Rachel Cruze?

  I play the calendar card more. "Let me look at my calendar and kinda get some dates situated and I'll call you back and reschedule."

• 29:26George Kamel?

  What about when like the cashier asks you if you wanna donate? Do you think that's a scam?

• 29:31Rachel Cruze?

  I went to Firehouse Subs last week.

• 29:33George Kamel?

  No shock to anyone.

• 29:34Rachel Cruze?

  And they, went to Jersey Mike's today.

• 29:37George Kamel?

  What?

• 29:38Rachel Cruze?

  I just love a sub, you know?

• 29:39George Kamel?

  Does Firehouse know?

• 29:41Rachel Cruze?

  No, but Firehouse did ask me to round up for the local fire department and I said yes, because I thought, "Why, why, why am I being stingy with 63 cents?"

• 29:50George Kamel?

  That's fair.

• 29:50Rachel Cruze?

  So I might be a rounder-upper these days.

• 29:52George Kamel?

  I think the Franklin Fire Department appreciates your donation.

• 29:55Rachel Cruze?

  I know. So, um, yeah, I rounded up now. So I've decided.

• 30:00George Kamel?

  My dad pulled this one. I was with him recently and he said to the cashier, "We've already committed all of our, we donate through our church and we've committed all of our giving." And I went, "Wow, what a life hack flex."

• 30:10Rachel Cruze?

  Wow.

• 30:11George Kamel?

  Yeah, he was, he was sharing his faith at the same time. I was like, "This is beautiful."

• 30:15Rachel Cruze?

  So good. Well done, Mr. Camel.

• 30:17George Kamel?

  Way to go.

• 30:18Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. So good. So just be aware, you guys, money can easily slip out of your hands if you're not careful. But there are some great things in life that we should be, you know, as a society, joining forces with, because it's good for us.

• 30:30George Kamel?

  And trust your gut.

• 30:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's good.

• 30:32George Kamel?

  Physically, I mean theoretically, metaphorically, trust your gut if it...

• 30:36Rachel Cruze?

  Unless you drink a lot of unpasteurized.

• 30:38George Kamel?

  Yeah, if it looks too good to be true, it is. If it looks stinky, it is.

• 30:43Rachel Cruze?

  You don't know, possibly.

• 30:44George Kamel?

  If it smells off to you, metaphorically or physically, don't do it. If it smells fishy, throw it out. Unless it's fish sauce. Which even then, fish sauce.

• 30:54Rachel Cruze?

  I did buy fish sauce for something. I saw it there in the refrigerator.

• 30:57George Kamel?

  That feels like they should just make them an individual, single use.

• 30:59Rachel Cruze?

  Very much so. Why do we need a...

• 31:01George Kamel?

  Because a single drop of that stuff leaks out and something died in your fridge, my friends.

• 31:05Rachel Cruze?

  But one thing I can be confident in is that Cozy Earth has some of the best quality products, George.

• 31:11George Kamel?

  Not a scam.

• 31:12Rachel Cruze?

  On this planet. And in fact, I got a lot of Christmas gifts this year for people via Cozy Earth.

• 31:18George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 31:18Rachel Cruze?

  Because it is so great. I'm like, people have, they have to know.

• 31:21George Kamel?

  It's like one of those gifts you can get for the person who has everything. You know they don't have the Cozy Earth blanket or sleep set.

• 31:26Rachel Cruze?

  Or the pajamas, or the sheets. And I went through and I bought new lounge pants and a shirt.

• 31:31George Kamel?

  A little something for you too.

• 31:32Rachel Cruze?

  I did. I Christmas shopped myself on Cozy Earth because they were running some good deals at the time. But for real, Cozy Earth, you guys, their products, phenomenal. Like, the quality, it's worth it. Like, that's one of those things that you're like, I have like a Target sweatshirt that's like really silky and nice. But you go up against the Cozy Earth and you're like, oh no, this one's way more... You can tell. You can tell.

• 31:51George Kamel?

  The quality matters.

• 31:52Rachel Cruze?

  Like, it's real. It's very real.

• 31:53George Kamel?

  And the good news for our listeners and viewers, they've got good deals because they listen to Smart Money Happy Hour. So you can go to cozylearth.com/smartmoney or use the promo code SMARTMONEY at checkout and you'll get up to 40% off, which is nuts.

• 32:06Rachel Cruze?

  That's a great percentage off.

• 32:09George Kamel?

  Go check them out.

• 32:09Rachel Cruze?

  For sure. All right, before we get to Guilty as Charge, what are we sipping on, George?

• 32:13George Kamel?

  We are sipping on...

• 32:14Rachel Cruze?

  The Amaretto Sour.

• 32:14George Kamel?

  The Amaretto Sour, which is Rachel's bachelorette party drink back in 09.

• 32:19Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm.

• 32:19George Kamel?

  I think it still hits 15 years later. I'm gonna give this a 9 out of 10.

• 32:23Rachel Cruze?

  You know, I'm gonna go 9 out of 10 too, George. It's not a 10 out of 10 because I don't think I'd probably like always order it at a restaurant. But if all my friends came back and they were like, "Amaretto sours," I would be like, "Team, yes, yes, yes."

• 32:35George Kamel?

  Well, this is a high quality. Like, some of them are made with like nasty mixes and low-quality liquors. This one is really well-made. It costs $2.95 per glass. It's got, wouldn't you know it, Amaretto, which is a sweet Italian liqueur. I feel like it's got some almond or cherry notes.

• 32:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, there's like a nutty...

• 32:52George Kamel?

  Yeah, it's really nice. And you've got fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, a lemon slice or peel for garnish.

• 32:58Rachel Cruze?

  Fresh lemon juice.

• 32:59George Kamel?

  It's gotta be fresh.

• 33:00Rachel Cruze?

  Thank you, Eboo. She did it for us.

• 33:03George Kamel?

  So check out the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend if you're of age.

• 33:09George Kamel?

  Good reminder, drink responsibly.

• 33:11Rachel Cruze?

  All right, now it's time for

• 33:13George Kamel?

  Guilty as charged.

• 33:15Rachel Cruze?

  And this is where our producer Kelly gives us a new guilty as charged question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip. Kelly?

• 33:21Speaker 02

  All right. Have you ever scammed your kids? Gotten scammed by your parents? Not like literally like your parents stole all your money.

• 33:28George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 33:29Speaker 02

  Kind of scam. But like the things that you tell your kids or that your parents told you that you grew up and you're like, that's not true.

• 33:36Rachel Cruze?

  Shoot, you know the lie I tell my kids a lot and I need to start unwinding it probably soon. Is that they're gonna get arrested.

• 33:44Speaker 02

  What?

• 33:47George Kamel?

  What a

• 33:48Rachel Cruze?

  Mostly in the car. Because they're not putting on their seatbelt or they're not sitting and I'm always like, if the cop pulls us over, you could be arrested.

• 33:57George Kamel?

  They could be arrested, not you as the parent.

• 33:59Rachel Cruze?

  I just say arrested and they all freak out. Sit down and put on their seatbelts.

• 34:03George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 34:04Rachel Cruze?

  I know, I should stop.

• 34:05George Kamel?

  Put the fear of God on them.

• 34:06Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 34:06George Kamel?

  I guess out of all things.

• 34:07Rachel Cruze?

  And then every time they say cop, they're like, are we okay? And I'm like, oh shoot, we need you to be like, no, they're for us and our community, like.

• 34:13George Kamel?

  You know what would be so funny though? If you told the cop like, hey, would you go over there and tell my kids they're getting arrested?

• 34:19Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my, oh my.

• 34:20George Kamel?

  Just to cause some trauma for fun.

• 34:22Rachel Cruze?

  That would be so traumatic.

• 34:24George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 34:24Rachel Cruze?

  I think even just getting pulled over is scary.

• 34:26George Kamel?

  Mine involves a car too. My dad growing up, if the car light was on, we were going to get pulled over and arrested.

• 34:34Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, up there, oh, they make you feel like they're gonna wreck.

• 34:37George Kamel?

  The light inside the car, I would turn it on for who knows what and you go, John, John, John, we're gonna get pulled over and arrested, what are they doing? That's how my dad sounds, by the way.

• 34:47Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so you were threatened with an arrest, threatening my kids. Are you okay? You're okay in life.

• 34:52George Kamel?

  I'm okay. We did get pulled over once though, but it was because he was speeding.

• 34:55Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, there you go. Uh huh. Isn't that funny?

• 34:58George Kamel?

  We were on our way to church.

• 34:59Rachel Cruze?

  That is one thing. My dad would yell at us if we turned the light on.

• 35:03Speaker 02

  My dad did the same.

• 35:04Rachel Cruze?

  And my kids.

• 35:05Speaker 02

  He told me it was illegal.

• 35:06George Kamel?

  That's what, that's I feel like is the biggest scam.

• 35:08Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, but my kids do it now and I'm fine. I'm like, what is the big deal? Did windows change?

• 35:12George Kamel?

  You're a well-adjusted adult.

• 35:13Rachel Cruze?

  Maybe that's what it is, but I'm like, it's really not that big of a difference.

• 35:16George Kamel?

  I will say it's bot, like the lights back in the day, you know, they had on the cars?

• 35:19Rachel Cruze?

  And maybe it was, maybe it was like brighter and now they're like dim to a certain level.

• 35:23George Kamel?

  Well, they're more like focused lighting. Back in the day, it was just like you're lighting up the car. And if you're driving at night.

• 35:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was that big light in the middle of the car that you just tapped.

• 35:30Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 35:30Speaker 02

  Everything was lit up.

• 35:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 35:32Speaker 02

  So.

• 35:33George Kamel?

  What can you do? We didn't have screens to light our way back then.

• 35:36Rachel Cruze?

  No, we played with Barbies on the floorboard. We never wore our seatbelts.

• 35:40George Kamel?

  While driving? How big was this floorboard?

• 35:43Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, we had an Astro van.

• 35:44George Kamel?

  Oh, wow. That was like a playground.

• 35:47Rachel Cruze?

  We had a blue Astro van, growing up. And yeah, we would, uh, yeah.

• 35:52George Kamel?

  Just going 78 down the interstate.

• 35:55Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah. And then why am I threatening my kids with arrests? I don't know.

• 35:59George Kamel?

  Wow. I haven't figured out how to scam my one-year-old yet. But if I can figure out how to do it, I will.

• 36:05Rachel Cruze?

  I can't wait to hear it, because we all have that as parents. We all have the thing.

• 36:08George Kamel?

  Those little white lies that we do to protect ourselves and our kids.

• 36:12Rachel Cruze?

  It's all about control.

• 36:13George Kamel?

  Stay out of jail, Amelia. We need you. Charles, good luck.

• 36:17Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh. So good. Well, oh, that was a great episode. George, if you guys enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, share it with a friend, leave a review. We love hearing from you guys. And we have a great episode on ridiculous things people spend their money on coming up next, or we'll put the link in the description. We'll see you guys next Thursday on an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.