16 Things No Longer Worth Your Money

Do you feel like these days even just stepping outside your door costs money? Yeah, me too. And it's not that you're bad with money. The rules have actually changed. Stuff that used to be a genuinely smart buy quietly stopped being worth it. And most of us never got the memo. So you overpay a little here, a little there. Death by a thousand cuts. Except that these cuts add up to thousands every year. That's money that could have gone towards trips. Towards creating a schedule with less hustle and more room to breathe. And above all, towards more freedom. So here are 16 things that are no longer worth your money. And exactly what to do instead. First up, getting your nails done. When did staying pretty get so freaking expensive? So one day I'm walking out of the salon. I love my nails. But I had just dropped $200 to get like all these special designs done. But usually when you start getting your nails done, you have to keep going back. Because the grow out looks really terrible. And they know how to professionally remove the gels. And I actually sat down to do the math. If you are someone who wants to retire early, you would actually need $45,000 invested just to fund this one habit for life. That's a lot of money. Every monthly recurring expense you add to your lifestyle means the goalpost of financial freedom. The day you can become work optional because you have enough money invested. That goalpost keeps moving further and further out. So for me, getting nails professionally done at a salon every single month just no longer feels worth it. Especially because there are some really awesome alternatives. Like press-on nails have become all the rage. There are so many times I've complimented somebody on their nails thinking it was done at a salon. And it turned out to be press-on nails. They're $10 to $15. You can do them yourself. And granted, they don't last as long. But you can definitely look fancy for any event you have coming up. Another option is learning to do them at home yourself. If you buy a UV lamp, it's actually not that hard. And my favorite option is you can also just go natural. As long as they're well-groomed and cuticles are trimmed, they can look really nice too. Luxury skincare. Plenty of dermatologists and skincare experts have verified that what you're paying for with these luxury skincare products is not necessarily a better formula. You're just paying for better marketing, more prestige, and nicer packaging. Retinol is retinol. Whether it's in a $300 jar or in a $12 bottle. The price tag isn't going to change how your skin reacts to the active ingredient. For example, the hyaluronic acid by The Ordinary or from Neutrogena are based on the same active ingredient formulas as the much pricier ones from SkinCeuticals and Drunk Elephant. Now, of course, I love nice, beautiful packaging. I love the feeling of luxury, of a nice, smooth cream on my face. But honestly, in this economy, do we need to be paying for luxury? I just need the thing to work. And I'd rather take all the money I'm saving from that, spend on actual in-office aesthetician treatments like microneedling. Now, that's worth it. I always end up with smooth, really great skin after a microneedling treatment. Fast fashion from apps like Teemu and Shein. When I discovered all the cute stuff you could buy on these crazy cheap Chinese e-commerce apps, I thought I discovered the ultimate life hack. Cute graphic tees for $6, $7, dresses for $11. I was stoked and I went a little crazy. But just a couple of wears and washes later, you quickly find out why they were so cheap to begin with. The quality is absolute ----. Like, compare these two t-shirts. This was $7 from Teemu. This was $175 from a website called Madeworn. I've worn this many, many times over three years, washed it as well. This, I got a month ago. And look how the collar's already fraying. And if you look closely, the fabric is like piling. You know how when the little balls of cotton start coming off and it looks cheap? This t-shirt still looks almost as good as new. The collar's a bit faded after having washed it a few times. But still, you know, looks high quality. So it looks like this $7 t-shirt is gonna end up in the landfill really soon because that's not something I feel okay wearing around in public. Now, I know the appeal of these apps is the novelty. But a better solution if you're still looking for that variety in your wardrobe is a clothing rental service like Nuuly. For $97 a month, you can rent six items. And when you send it back, you don't even have to wash it or do any repairs. They'll send you another six. It's like shopping without paying for all the shopping. Another thing you can do is organize a clothing swap with friends. Your friends have gold. Like someone else's trash is another person's treasure. Check out this super cute pink backpack that I scored recently at a friend's clothing swap. Buy now, pay later. Back in the day, stores would offer something called layaway, which is similar to buy now, pay later. Except that instead of owning first and then paying later, you would actually pay for everything in installments. And then at the end of the installments, you would then be able to own the thing. So it was pay first and then own. But now because you can own all this ---- without paying anything upfront, that actually puts all the risk on you. And it makes it a lot harder to exercise self-control. I actually went on NBC to talk about how much buy now, pay later is wrecking people's finances. Because it seems convenient of 0% interest. But if you factor in that if you make a late payment, you get hit with late fees. Or if you consider the fact that it's linked to your checking account, so that can trigger overdraft fees if you miss a payment. And you don't get any credit for paying on time. Versus if you at least paid it off on a credit card and you made your payments on time, at least your credit score would go up. That doesn't happen with buy now, pay later. At least with credit cards, you get rewards. Airline miles, free flight. With buy now, pay later, you don't get any of those things. Just late fees and a lot more risk. The real power move here is getting in the habit of saving first and then buying in cash. Next up, let's talk about eating and drinking. Another thing that's no longer worth it, food delivery apps. I actually had no idea about this. But when you order food on an app like DoorDash, not only are you paying extra delivery fees, service fees, but the actual menu item itself is marked up even more. So let me show you. So right now on DoorDash, if I put in my favorite order of a chicken burrito bowl with a side of guacamole, subtotal is $17.30. And then you add on delivery fees, tax, service fees, and that comes out to $21.06. And that's with a $3 savings for having a DashPass subscription. Otherwise, it would be $24.06. Now, if you go to the Chipotle app and order for pickup, the same order, chicken burrito with a side of guacamole is $13.30. And then with taxes, it comes out to $14.73. So that's pretty much a $10 markup to order delivery on an app like DoorDash. And then not to mention the tip to the delivery driver. So not only am I paying pretty much double, but it's also for colder food. I know sometimes it feels worth it to get delivery. Like sometimes on a Friday night, all you want to do is order in, put your feet up, and Netflix and chill. But as a regular habit, the convenience of food delivery just isn't worth paying almost double. So save the DoorDash for when you're really, really busy or when it's really, really worth it. Protein snacks. Since when did just one word, protein, immediately become justification for a $5 markup? Like $9 protein chips? Really? The same goes for supplements too. Like when did everyone start buying $45 electrolytes just to drink water? Whatever happened to just drinking water? Maybe sprinkling some salt and squeezing a lemon in it? The wellness industry is booming right now. And because everybody worries so much about optimizing their health and doing the mostest for their health, companies now charge a wellness tax on all these food products that seem extra good for you. I was paying $200 a month in supplements, $100 a month in protein powder, $50 a month in electrolytes, $125 a month for sauna subscription. And the trap here is it doesn't feel wasteful because, oh, it's for my health? Until you remember the fact that your grandparents didn't have any of this. My grandparents lived till their 90s and they definitely never ingested a supplement or worried so much about getting enough protein in their life. Plenty of health experts will confirm that just eating real unprocessed food, getting enough exercise, getting good sleep, getting sunshine, and keeping your stress down, that will cover all of your basics. Eating out for food you can make at home. I don't know about you, but have you ever gone to a restaurant that you used to go to and had a suspicion that the plates have shrunk even though the prices haven't changed? And this is a real thing called shrinkflation. A lot of businesses, instead of raising prices, which would get pushback from customers, are actually keeping prices the same but reducing portions, making things smaller to maintain their profit margins. That's why that $20 burger you swear is so much smaller than it used to be. And the chicken on that $18 salad is now basically a garnish. Which is why I become really selective about when I eat out. Either the food has to be super special, like something that I can't make at home. Sushi, Indian food, Thai food, anything like protein bowls, burgers. I will make that at home. I can make it better, cheaper, faster, healthier. Or the vibe has to be really special. I recently went to a really cute restaurant called The Witch's Cottage with some friends and even though the food was nothing special, the vibe and the whole witchy atmosphere, that made it worth it. Tipping culture that's gotten out of hand. You've noticed this too, right? Someone hands you a muffin over the counter, then the iPad comes around asking if you want to tip 20, 25% or 30%. This is absolutely nuts. I love tipping. I think it's a great way to thank people for their service. There are clear guidelines for when a tip is absolutely expected versus completely optional or even unnecessary. Places where tips are expected, spa service, sit-down table service, sometimes taxi or Uber service, especially if they help you with your bags, where it's completely, completely optional and even not obligatory. Cash registers at retail stores, over-the-counter self-serve food service, and you really don't have to feel bad. A lot of the time when tip isn't expected but you're prompted anyway, a lot of that money goes towards the actual corporate pool rather than that person who directly helped you. A lot of companies are just adding these tip screens to guilt customers and add to their passive revenue. Tip service people generously when it's expected and required and when it's not, feel free to not tip at all and not feel bad about it. Coffee out. I'm definitely not leaning on buying coffee for my daily survival coffee. Maybe when black coffee was under $2, but now for black coffee that's like $4, $5 and a latte that's $8, $9, definitely not okay paying these $9 prices anymore. I like making my own coffee at home in a French press. I can add my protein powder, coconut milk, honey, add all my little superfoods to it, and once in a while, I'll go to a cafe so I can sit there and soak up the ambiance and just chill there. That is a once in a while coffee expense that really does feel worth it to me. Now, if you're adding up all these leaks in your head and thinking, gosh, I do have some places where I could review my spending and really plug some leaks, then I have a great free resource for you. It's called my Financial Freedom Cheat Sheet and it's got a bunch of money-saving resources like a budgeting template, debt payoff tracker, and so much more. It's free, links in the description. Movie theaters. Remember when going to the movies used to be a casual, go almost every other week type of weekend activity? Well, the other day, I took myself to the movies, which I hadn't done in a long time, and I was shocked that for a small popcorn, a bottle of water, and a movie ticket, it was over $30. That's close to $100 for two people. I feel like it's more worth it to just wait till it's available on Amazon Prime Video that you can just rent for $4 or $5 and just watch it at home, make your own popcorn, and save the movie theater for when you really, absolutely have to go see it as soon as it comes out, like I did with the recent Michael Jackson movie. That was worth it. Also, I don't know if you know this, but a lot of theaters offer half-price movie tickets on Tuesdays, and if you really have to, you can always do what my parents did. Yes, when I was growing up, we didn't have a lot of money, but my parents still loved taking us to the movies, and they would always make their own microwave popcorn at home, sneak it into the movie theater, and take it out of our backpacks for us to snack on in the theater. I swore I would never be like my parents, but looking back, I can really appreciate their frugality. I might try it sometime. The streaming stack. I thought streaming was supposed to replace cable, but now streaming has actually become cable. The other day, I was watching my reality TV show, and just kept getting interrupted so much with ads. So now, not only do you have to pay for the monthly streaming subscription, but if you don't want to get interrupted with ads every five minutes, you have to pay extra for the $20 plus ad-free version. Multiply that by the two or three other streaming services that you're watching shows on, that could be close to $100 a month. And $100 a month, if you invest that, that could go a long way. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. We still want to watch our shows, right? So what I'm doing these days is I'm choosing one show to watch at a time, pay for one ad-free streaming subscription to one streaming platform at a time, and when that show is done, cancel the streaming subscription, take a break, and then when you're watching another show, get a new ad-free streaming subscription to that platform. And just keep churning the streaming subscriptions for only when you're watching the show. But don't be paying for five different streaming platforms when you're not even watching anything. Another handy thing to do is if you have an iPhone, go to your subscription and settings and just audit all of things that you are subscribed to. There might be apps in there that you subscribe to a long time ago that you don't even know that you're still subscribed to. There, it's really easy to go ahead and cancel. Like, oh, there you go. There's one app that I forgot that I'd signed up for. I'm gonna cancel that right now. Annual fees on Prestige credit cards. I used to have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. I thought I loved the metal card. I loved how it felt in my hand, how it clanged on the table. I loved, you know, what it said about me, how it made me feel this elite luxury person who has a status credit card. And back when the annual fee was $500, I was like, okay, maybe it's worth it because there's a lot of things you get in return for that annual fee. And then the annual fee quietly went up to $795. And the benefits changed. So now the math just doesn't work out. You would have to spend a lot of money to get enough in rewards to compensate you for that $795 annual fee. Not to mention, just by spending on credit and trying to get those rewards, you end up spending a lot more than you otherwise would if it was on debit or cash. There is a study done on this. People spend 12% to 18% more on credit, which is why I downgraded from the Sapphire Reserve to the Sapphire Preferred card, which has a $95 annual fee. You can keep all of your credit history with Chase. The switchover is super easy. And so far, I haven't missed my card at all. And if you travel that much and you really miss the airport lounge access, you can always get a priority pass lounge subscription separately and just pay for lounge visits if and when you use them. That ends up being a lot more flexible and economical. Now let's get onto the big stuff. The big do it right wedding. The average wedding now runs about $34,000. That's up roughly 30% in the last five years. 34 grand for one day. Weddings come layered with a lot of family and cultural expectations. But think about what $34,000 can do in this economy. That $34,000 could be a chunk of a down payment. And in this housing market, we can use all the help we can get. Even though I love celebrating love, I just don't think it's the best for a couple to start off their married life with potentially still student loans, potentially a car payment, maybe credit card payments, and not having any money for a down payment because they spent everything on this expensive wedding. Especially given the fact that money is the number one cause that marriages fall apart in the first place. That's why I love how my friends Pablo and Queenie completely flipped this societal expectation on its head and decided to get married after 10 years of being together. But by then they had already had a baby and built this whole life together and they had a banger of a destination wedding. Now that's an unconventional but I'd say a really cool way to do it. Brand new cars. At least back in the day when you bought a brand new car, new meant better and safer. But that is not the case anymore. According to J.D. Power's annual vehicle dependability study, the average number of vehicle problems reported per 100 vehicles rose from 126 in 2013 to 202 in 2025. In the span of a decade, vehicles are now having twice the amount of problems. You already know that brand new cars depreciate the fastest in the first few years that you buy them, so you already know that new cars aren't that worth it. So my recommendation is buy a lightly used car, three to five years old, and let someone else take the depreciation. It's not like brand new cars are better quality these days anyway. Add on subscriptions from car manufacturers. When you buy a car, a lot of dealerships will add on a bunch of subscriptions to your car payment. General Motors actually made $5 billion from this in 2025. And nowadays because everything is now a subscription, you can no longer just buy something for a one-time cost. Even Elon Musk is taking Tesla's self-driving feature to a monthly subscription model. A lot of times car dealerships will just add on these subscriptions. So make sure you read the fine print before you sign on a car. Otherwise, it inflates your monthly payment for years and you barely notice it's there. Tourist travel versus slow travel. I used to be into the kind of trip where you hit a bunch of different cities, see a lot of different tourist sites, stay in hotels, and just eat every meal out. But nowadays, not only does that sound exhausting to me, but that has become wildly expensive. That could cost $4,000 to $5,000 per person. And you come home needing a vacation from your vacation because you're so exhausted. Now picture that same money or half that money, and instead of seven frantic days going everywhere, you take that and just spend the whole week or even a whole month in one place. You take time to get to know the local coffee shop barista's name, you get an Airbnb, or my favorite, a Kindred, which is a house swapping platform where you can stay in beautiful places for very cheap. You cook some meals in the apartment, you eat out some others, you wander around with no plan, and you practice French with some of the locals. That kind of trip costs way less, you feel more rested, you experienced more, but spent less. And that's the kind of travel that just feels a lot more worth it to me. Bottom line is, a lot of stuff that used to be worth it just isn't anymore. But that also doesn't mean that we have to not spend at all and live in complete deprivation. Just by being a little more intentional, you can start funneling your money towards the life you actually want to live. Because financial freedom doesn't get created by one big action. It gets created with a series of small intentional choices. And you can start with the very next dollar you spend. Now, after years of doing this, I have learned that people who can never seem to get ahead all have one thing in common. It's usually not their purchases. It's a handful of invisible daily habits. I break them down in this video right here. Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you in the next one. Bye!