In this YouTube reaction, host Denzel Rodriguez watches a clip from PersonalFinancewithLeila where she outlines five unconventional money‑saving tactics she used over two years, ultimately saving $100,000. The tactics include: (1) converting the price of any desired item into the number of work hours it would take to earn that amount and rejecting purchases that exceed a reasonable hour cost; (2) committing to save 40‑50% of income, a restrictive but effective rate; (3) adding items to an online cart and waiting 24 hours before checkout, leveraging the natural decay of impulse buying; (4) tracking every penny on a daily basis to maintain awareness of cash flow; and (5) watching a Hoarders or over‑consumption documentary whenever the urge to shop arises, using the visual cue to curb desire. Denzel and Leila discuss how these practices are not meant to be permanent but serve as guardrails to build intentionality and financial maturity, especially for late‑starting investors in their 30s. They reflect on how such habits evolve with age, the psychological underpinnings of awareness, and the joy that can arise from seeing financial progress become a lifestyle habit rather than a chore. The conversation validates the strategies, adds personal anecdotes about calculating cost‑per‑hour, the effectiveness of the 24‑hour cart rule, and the transformation of budgeting from a chore to a satisfying routine.
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Let's take a look at another one. All right, here's our next one.
In 2 years, here are 5 slightly unhinged things that I did and still do in order to save money. The last one is a little bit weird, but it works. Welcome to my new series, Catching Up Financially, where I share practical money tips as a millennial who did not start investing until my mid-30s, which meant I had to get serious about money fast. If that sounds like you, make sure that you're following me because we're gonna figure out all of this finance stuff together. The first unhinged thing that I will do was compare the price of everything that I wanted To the amount of hours it would take for me to be able to work and purchase that item. So for example, if I wanted something that cost $100 and I was making $30 an hour, I would decide, is this item worth 3 hours of my life to be able to purchase it? Most of the time the answer was no. And if the answer was no, I keep it pushing. The next thing was that I saved 40 to 50% of my income. Yes, it was very restrictive. I felt uncomfortable. And it also meant that I had to say no to a lot of things. The next thing was that I would add things to my cart and then I'll never check out because the truth of the matter is that most impulse will expire in 24 hours. 24 hours later, I'm going to forget that I even added to my cart. I'm going to forget that I even wanted it. Right. Sometimes my Amazon cart will be like $1,000 and I'm like, I'm never checking out. Next thing is that I will write and budget Every penny, and I was doing this on a daily basis. Budgeting is important. Doing it on a daily basis was a little bit crazy, but I needed to know exactly where all of my money was going because I needed to direct it towards saving and investing. Because when you are starting late in this finance game, you need to be strategic and you need to be intentional. Because the truth of the matter is awareness changes behavior. This is why I always stress making sure that if you're in debt, you got to look at that debt. Be aware of your debt. What did you buy? What did you do? Be aware because. Hopefully that with that awareness is going to change your behavior. You're going to be disgusted at yourself. And the last and the weird one that I used to do was that whenever I wanted to spend money, I would put on a YouTube Hoarders episode or I would watch a Netflix documentary on overconsumption. Yes, very weird, but it worked. Nothing kills the impulse to shop than a Hoarders episode. I would be like, no, I don't need that. I do not need one more item in my house because if I continue trying, if I continue buying, I will eventually end up like this, but on that hoarder's episode, the impulse is gone.
Done.
Now, all of this slightly unhinged things that I did isn't meant to be done forever. It's meant to help me be very intentional about my spending. So if you're in your 30s and you're trying to build wealth a little bit later than you planned, make sure that you're following me so we can just figure out all of this thing together. I saved $100,000 in 2 years.
Nice.
Love it. Yeah. All of those things I would say I did as well. So I don't see them as unhinged. And even her calling out doing— it's just temporary, or like, you don't have to do it forever. But it kind of changes who you are as a person, because my spending habits in my teenage years and early 20s are completely different from now. Because it's like, that's how I lived. And it's kind of stuck with me because it's— and she said it— being intentional, like, that's, that's key.
Yeah, change is inevitable, and if you make it intentional change, it's even more empowering as you progress in life, as you mature. I think financial maturity occurs at different ages for people. Obviously, for you and I, it occurred as early as in our 20s. And for others, financial maturity doesn't like hit them until they've had 3 kids, you know, been married 30 years and they're like, oh my goodness, this is real.
Yeah.
Because now I'm, now I'm 10 years out from retirement, I gotta get serious. So being, becoming aware, love it. I'm seeing this trend of the word being intentional and awareness being used more and more in financial videos. I think that's super important. The times we live in today, Our time is being pulled in so many different directions that we have to, by default, be intentional with where we put our time. And if we don't, now we're in prison to the fleshly desires, right? Whatever the heart desires, whatever the body wants, it gets what it gets in that, in that very moment. So it's kind of cool how she created these parameters that were not invasive. Again, I wouldn't put them in the unhinged category. Watching a Hoarders episode instead of your favorite show that you want to watch, that's like a— I call that like a guardrail. It's not like you're punishing yourself, you're just choosing to spend your time watching an episode of Hoarders, maybe get a little entertained. You're like, I don't want to be that. And then the other thing was the— what did she say? Um, in addition to the hoarders, that was the biggest thing that stuck out for me. I was like, oh, that's cool, kind of like that. Oh, the cart. She fills up her Amazon cart with things that she wants, waits 24 hours, takes a look at it, and she's like, I'm not spending a grand on these Amazon purchases. This is This is nuts. Again, non-invasive, no judgment. It's just you in the cart. You didn't have to speak with anyone about it. And I didn't know that little statistic she threw out, like impulse buys expire after 24 hours. So if like you feel impulsive to want to buy something, you can just wait 24 hours.
Yeah.
Easier to probably do at home, probably harder in person.
I would imagine, right?
Because you're like at the checkout line. So yeah, it's like, are you gonna walk away? Any, anything that caught your eye?
Um, I think the, the first point she made on calculating the cost per hour, or like basically how many hours of your life of work does that item cost you. And it's not really something I practiced heavily when I, like, I don't always think of that, but I think Thinking of purchases that way is important just in general. Like, do I really wanna spend X amount? Or even I like the cost per use calculation too. Like if you're gonna buy a dress for $500, for example, and wear it for 4 hours, then, or like even if you just calculate as just wearing it one time, that costs you $400 versus you buy something and you're gonna wear it every single week for 3 years. And then you can do the math on that and it comes to pennies if you look at it that way, which I think is a good way to look at things depending on what you're buying. But yeah, I wouldn't call these unhinged. Most people do say that, like unhinged, but it's just a way to catch attention. And I still budget and track every penny to this day, even though I'm debt-free. I don't know that people have asked me, will you ever stop? And I I don't think so. I enjoy it. So it doesn't bother me to go into my spreadsheets. And I like the numbers. I like the data. And that's something that also I think comes with time. You just, at least with a lot of my clients, they're like, oh, I love this. I love doing this now, which is a good feeling to get other people to realize like this isn't a negative thing. It can be kind of fun.
Oh, absolutely. It gets even funner when your numbers— like when you open up your bank account, do you smile?
Yeah.
Yes, of course. And when you open up your investments, do you smile?
Yeah, like, okay, doing pretty good.
So now when you first started, it was like maybe for some people it's like because it's not exciting. As you progress towards getting out of debt and you start to see your overall asset portfolio in the green, right, positive, and you see gains happening, yeah, it becomes fun to look at whether it's daily, weekly review, monthly. That's why you still have the same level of consistency and excitement, I would argue, when you are giving your updates on your investment accounts, where you're at for the month of April, where you're at for the month of May, where you're at for the month of June. Just Now it becomes your lifestyle, not a chore, not a— not something that needs to get done, but it just becomes part of your lifestyle, like brushing your teeth, taking a shower. It's like, exactly, these are just things we do as human beings. So I think that's awesome. Anything else on that that you liked?
