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A Peak Life is Lived Off-Peak

campsiteOne of the key Principles of Mustachianism is that any and all lineups, queues, and other sardine-like collections of humans must be viewed with the squinty eyes of skepticism.

Paradoxically enough, I have found that if so many people simultaneously decide to do something that they are forced to stand or drive in a queue to do it, there’s a good chance it is something that is not worth doing.

How can I dismiss the desires of the millions of line-waiting humans as just wasteful folly? It is because in our natural state, we are supposed to be a diverse and individualistic species. At any given moment, you might choose to be walking in the woods while I’m at home cooking some dinner. Later, we might get together with some of our other friends for a party on my back patio, but we would not expect everyone else in town to suddenly mob into the yard as we did that. If we turned around and saw a lineup of people stretching around the block, we’d know something fishy was afoot.

So the sort of mass behavior that causes lineups tends to occur only in special situations:

  • When there is some central authority planning or advertising it
  • When herd mentality has taken over, turning People into Sheeple

Marketing causes crowds of people to want each new Apple phone on its release day, so those suckers end up in the silly all-night lineups you hear about every year. Black Friday sales are a similar phenomenon.  The 9-5 workday, (combined with poor choices of home and work locations) causes hordes of people to want to drive cars just before nine and just after five every weekday. And thus, these people end up in lines as well.

Herd mentality also makes certain people love certain bands and sports teams, for no better reason than the fact that they are already popular with other people. And thus they line up to get tickets and parking spaces at the crowded stadiums.

Knowing all this, it should not surprise you to learn that as a general policy, Mr. Money Mustache Does Not Do Lineups.

If I’m planning a car trip through a big city, I’ll plan around the rush hour traffic jams, no matter what. Back where I grew up, some of the biggest traffic jams on Earth would form on a daily basis across the megacity of Toronto. To traverse that expanse, you need to plow through over 60 miles of the sixteen-lane-wide highway 401, a road so busy that the daily traffic jam lasts about 18 hours. The only sane conditions are found between 10:00PM and 4:00AM – and so that is when I make my stealthy crossing.

In Colorado, the ski resorts have become so popular that a spectacular lineup forms around each lift chair. A 500-person mob of people waiting and shuffling instead of skiing and snowboarding, is your reward for trying to visit one of these places on the weekend. On top of that, the traffic jam that forms on Interstate 70 on weekend afternoons can turn a one-hour descent back down from the mountains into a six-hour ordeal. But if you stop by on a Tuesday, both conditions are cured.

As a lifelong music-lover, I love to go out and see live music as well.  But this doesn’t mean staying up all night to buy tickets for a sold-out arena to hear the world’s biggest pop stars repeat their radio hits. The best music experience for me is seeing insanely talented young musicians play the music they just invented,  in a small venue, where you can shake their hands, say thanks, and buy a T-shirt and an old-school CD from them directly after the show.

And during my recent stay in downtown Las Vegas, I found people queuing up for everything, with no apparent benefit to themselves. There are lines to get drinks at the bars. Lines to check into the hotels. Lines of cars everywhere. Lines waiting for the elevators that extend almost to the doorway to the empty staircases.

It’s all a bunch of nonsense. As explained in last summer’s post about reaching the top 5%, most people spend most of their time doing what everyone else does, without giving it much thought. And thus, it is usually very profitable to avoid doing what everyone else is doing.

On the trip, we did a little experiment: Mrs. MM and I wanted to get away for a few minutes. So we decided to go down to the hotel lobby and get some fancy coffees at the Starbucks, which we would sit peacefully together to enjoy. Already I can see your eyebrows raising, but try to stay calm and remember this is just an experiment.

When we got to the coffee stand, I was dismayed to see that everyone else had had the same idea. There was a line of at least 10 people snaking out from the cash register, including two formidably proportioned gentlemen sitting on electric scooters and towing life support equipment. My first instinct was to chuckle out a few new curses towards the overcrowded venue and keep walking. But we persisted.

After sufficient waiting, we finally earned the privilege of forking over $8.11 for two grande lattes. This is roughly the same amount I normally pay for two pounds of organic fair-trade espresso beans at Costco, which makes over 100 cups of fancy coffee at the MMM Homebrew Cafe, but again, we wanted to see what everyone else likes to do. The cafe tables were all full and people were awkwardly leaning on the noisy slot machines or enduring the Beyonce-blaring lobby nearby in order to drink their coffee.

At last, we decided to end the experiment, satisfied that the behavior of the masses was not for us. We found a quiet-looking staircase and walked up three flights to an abandoned conference center area. There was nothing to buy up here, and no automatic conveyances to carry your body here, and thus it was completely empty. We sat down on a comfortable little couch and drank our incredibly pricey coffees with no sounds beyond those of our own conversing voices. It was blissful.

Other parts of the vacation reinforced this pattern: In Moab, Utah, we usually stay in one of the little campgrounds in the canyon along the Colorado river. This year, I was surprised to find them all full, and we had to give up our first two nights of camping and stay at a hotel instead.

The hotel manager informed me that we picked one of the peak times to be in Moab – an event called “Jeep Week”. In this tragic comedy of an event, people from all over the country tow their ridiculous motorized La-Z-Boys with knobby tires from the comfort of their enormous 20,000 pound motorized RV homes. Once in Moab, they detach the smaller recliners and sit in them, pressing pedals and burning gas to bump around on the red rocks for a while. All apparently oblivious to the Muscle over Motor principle, which explains that greater fun could be had by simply riding a 25-pound mountain bike on the same trail.

To get back to the point, by unwittingly arriving at this peak time, the MMM family ruined its own fun and missed out on two nights of camping, because the campgrounds were full.

Although we tried our best to obey the Off-Peak principle, we also made another major stumble: touring the Hoover Dam. To understand the error, check out this quote directly from the visitor’s brochure:

“Although several modern dams are higher, wider, and produce more electricity, the Hoover Dam remains the most popular for visitors, hosting millions of visitors every year”.

Translation: “We have no idea why so many people are lining up to tour this old thing, but shit, we’ll keep taking the money if you keep giving it to us”.  

The pamphlet went on to explain that the popularity is continually reinforced by major movies that feature action at the Hoover Dam as part of their plots (Superman 1 being my favorite).

Sure enough, we took the tour, and it was over an hour of lineups and crowding just to see a turbine room briefly and hear a guide squawk out a few memorized facts. There was even a lineup to get into the parking garage.

Meanwhile, a much better experience can be had with no waiting: park in one of the free pullouts on the Arizona side of the dam. Hike down the hill and walk over the entire length of the dam to explore the stunning scene with your own eyes. Then hike back up and climb another 200 feet, to the astounding new Colorado River Bridge (built between 2005 and 2010), where you are so high that the dam looks like a little toy in the canyon far below you.

You can use this general principle to end up with a better life in all areas. If you find any part of your life subject to overcrowding, consider whether there is another way it can be handled. Crowded roads are eliminated by biking, replanning, or even moving. Crowds at Disneyland and National Parks are avoided by visiting areas where there is no RV parking or gift shops. Crowding at venues is eliminated by being a producer of entertainment, food, sports, or music, rather than just a consumer of it. Lineups at shopping malls are easily avoided by not going to shopping malls.

The off-peak life works perfectly for working people, since it frees up some of your limited time and money. And it takes on a new dimension once you gain the flexibility to escape the 9-5 work schedule. Suddenly you can do everything when everyone else is at work, from renting vacation homes down to visiting the grocery store. This saves you even more, and frees your mind from some of the overhead of dealing with constant crowding.

So from now on, if you ever find yourself amid a crowd of running sheep, just turn around and run the other way.

It can take a bit of dodging at first, but it’s worth it for the much better view.

  • Cameron December 11, 2014, 2:29 am

    I am guilty of driving a Jeep on the trails of Moab. I believe the event you speak of is Easter Jeep Safari, which last about a week leading up to Easter weekend. I’ve never attended. For me it’s always been about the company and the driving challenge. Not something I’m likely to give up, but I also don’t use a giant multi-hundreds o’thousands o’dollars motor home. My mountain biking skill level still sucks.

    My favorite time to visit Moab is the week before Memorial Day. Cactus are usually in bloom, tempts typically pleasant, and I can be on my way out before the holiday weekend folks show up.

    Reply
  • Miller February 17, 2015, 3:14 am

    I’m a recent MMM devotee and as I catch up with older posts, I’m finding that so many are chiming with my own views. I HATE queueing. If I see a load of people in one place, my instinct is always to turn and run the other way. My wife is different. She loves going to big events and attractions and reasons that if it’s popular it must be good. I kind of felt that maybe I was weird and so have just gone along, miserably.

    The latest bit of car crash planning I have been herded into, is going to a popular holiday destination, during the school Easter holidays. We have a son, who doesn’t yet go to school and the other family we are going with and who have organised the whole thing, have a son who is even younger. God only knows why they picked the school holidays to go! Anyway, I was at least allowed to sort the flights out, meaning I picked two very off peak times and we’re actually staying out there slightly longer at the end and saving a fair bit of money, even when you factor in the extra accommodation.

    The family we’re going with are very spendy people. Both have fancy jobs that stress the hell out of them and mean they barely see their son. They throw cash around on pointless fripperies with abandon. The main challenge on holiday is going to be resisting being forced into doing this. My wife will be little help here.

    Reply
  • Mara August 14, 2015, 9:10 am

    I’ve been reading through the archives, and this post really struck a chord! Because I work retail and my husband is in hospitality/ restaurant, we’ve had more flexibility than most re: peak times. Always plan my errands for weekday mornings, our rare “date-nights” for weekday evenings, vacations when not much is happening.
    We had a similar situation to yours once– planned a trip to Burlington, VT, only to discover that hotel rooms were 2-3x the usual pricing. Turns out it was the weekend of the Burlington marathon, a more worthy event IMO than Jeep Week but still crowd-causing. We dug a bit and discovered that B. has a campground actually within the city, so we set up co and used it like a hotel room. It was a bit of an odd trip, to be showering in the woods and then heading into town instead of off on a hike or canoe, but we saved $$$ and could bring our dog too.

    Reply
  • Jeremiah January 17, 2016, 9:24 pm

    I just wat to say that i am so grateful for your real life experience and “experiments”. I found your blog when i realized my lack of financial education was a major hindrance to acheiving the life i want our family to live. We have always been frugal to an extant, mostly because we were always broke. We have four young children with no savings until three weeks ago when we decided to stash away all the money my wife makes waiting tables. Thanks to MMM. I have poured through your post with excitement since and have started to search out other financial blogs as well. In all of my searching i have found that most other blogs are shallow. They appear like xerox copies of one another full of link backs and replies that promote othes shallow sites. Cookie cutter to the core. I understand the profit to be made by blogging and SEO but its still refreshing to find the needle in the haystack that is true to the spirit of sharing ones life experience through blogging. Thank you and i look forward to the future. Maybe one day ill share my story with you.

    Reply
  • David May 10, 2016, 7:11 pm

    I learned about off-peak because of my career choice. I spent most of my working life in the tourism business. Midweek and off season were the only times I could get away. I had never been ice fishing on a weekend before last winter. My first and only Saturday on the ice was a shock. Instead of the 2 or 3 people I usually see midweek there were about 250 people on the pond.

    Reply
  • William March 11, 2017, 1:51 am

    Hey I know you are anti private car ownership because of the high financial and health costs. I totally agree with this and living in a town of city you can get everywhere by bike but there are few times like camping when it is really helpful. Another would be buying timber for your carpentry projects. I am just wondering how you solve that? Do you rent each time as that would get expensive too?

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache March 11, 2017, 8:09 am

      Hi William,

      I’m not against car ownership specifically (I currently own two of them, an electric Nissan Leaf plus an old Honda van). It’s only the unnecessary driving of cars that I am working against. Bike for any trips under a few miles, and design your life such that you don’t need to drive a car every day.

      But it is generally cheaper to rent, even on a fairly regular basis, than it is to own and drive a car. Owning even an old car costs roughly $1000-2000 per year, which would pay for 30-60 days of rentals at local rates. Owning a new SUV/truck can burn upwards of $10,000 per year – and you could pay a driver to shuttle you around and still save money over ownership.

      I currently choose the inefficient path and actually own cars, but only because money is no longer a concern. If we were trying to cut expenses further, these cars would be gone in a heartbeat!

      Reply
  • mrf April 12, 2017, 10:43 pm

    Ever try backpacking, or an off-trail tag? I’ve camped in Zion’s that way avoiding the crowds, and getting the best secluded spots.

    Reply
  • Kevin April 18, 2017, 12:27 am

    i’m with you. i immediately get put off by large crowds. i dont even care if i’m getting a good deal, my time is more valuable. i know the cross town commute in Toronto very well, but via the Gardner and Don Valley Parkway, i used to come in a half hour early to work and leave a half hour early to avoid the worst of it (this probably saved me 40 min of each day). i avoid malls like the plague unless i have something super specific to pick up, and then it’s an in-out job. no browsing, no idly sipping Starbucks while i muse about wasting money on clothes or gadgetry, no consuming garbage at the food court while i gaze mindlessly at my phone. and vacations? zero desire to do major attractions. give me a national/provincial park way off the beaten path where i can do a little birding, a little fishing, a little hiking in peace with family or friends and i’m a happy dude.

    Reply
  • Mark Schreiner October 31, 2020, 5:03 pm

    In the late 90s, my wife and I took a package bus tour from England through Rome in October. Instead of buying the evening meals and special excursions offered by the tour company at the various stops, we just did our own thing at each stop. Sometimes, we ended up doing the same excursions as the others on the bus, but we paid the at-the-window price, which was usually much less than the buy-it-in-the-bus price. By the time we got to Italy, the bus tour guide (an Italian) would pull us aside and advise us on the good, non-tourist places to go, before she returned to herding sheep for a few minutes through glorious churches and 45 minutes in chutzy gift shops. All in all, a frugal and fun vacation with transport and lodging logistics (at group-rate hotels) managed by the tour company.

    Reply
  • hikeallday June 10, 2024, 11:30 am

    This post made me want to cry.

    I felt so understood. 😉

    I am teaching my kids a class on “money” which I’m coming up with on the fly. It’s actually become more a class on “my”philosophies of living (which rock! 😉).

    One question I ask in most of our classes is “When everyone else is going “right”, what should you do?”

    They now know “my” correct answer is “Stop. And think for yourself. Figure out if right is the direction you want to go and if it really makes sense.”

    In terms of investing, it’s usually a definite left when everyone is going right.

    I also just gave the example of the Taylor Swift phenomenon and told them a lot of times people tell themselves they like something even though they totally wouldn’t if there wasn’t mass hysteria around it. I’m guessing 50%, maybe 90%, of the people paying top dollar to brave the crowds at her concerts would have no interest in her music if it weren’t for the overwhelming craze. Though each one of those people would swear they would travel to Germany to see her in a corner pub even if no one had ever heard of her.

    I almost always make our plans to avoid the crowds even when we do go to crowded places (like RMNP last year… I just planned our big hikes for during the week). The only times I’ve felt this may not have been ideal is when my kids were a little younger and we went to the beach or camping at off times. They loved meeting and playing with other kids which sometimes works out better when there are more people.

    Maybe someday we’ll run into you at a place everyone else doesn’t go. Though we may have to avoid you because of the crowds your stardom would create. 😉

    Reply

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