Nov 23, 2011
This next edition of the Foreclosure Series answers the question: “How can I profitably maintain or fix up a bargain-priced house for eventual rental or resale, when it costs so much to do things like plumbing repairs?” When I was a 21-year-old just beginning an engineering career, I had no desire to become a plumber.…
I’ve noticed a little pattern recently, and I thought it would fit right in with the things we learn about here in Money Mustache School, so I’d like to share the story with you. Tuesday is garbage day in my neighborhood, and that means everyone will be rolling the enormous 96-gallon bins provided by the…
We’ve all read the tips in the newspapers about how to reduce our heating bill. Turn down your thermostat and get a programmable one. Seal your air leaks. Add insulation to your attic. Blah blah blah. It’s boring, but it’s powerful advice, because US households spend an average of about $960 each per year keeping…
Hey, just a quick note while I’m running around cleaning up the house for a big family visit: Some cool person (it wasn’t me, honest) started a new category on the excellent online forum site called Reddit. If you haven’t heard of Reddit, it is a place where people gather to ask and answer questions…
You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been typing articles a bit less frequently in recent weeks, and that is for good reason: I’m doing real work these days! The foreclosure project is going extremely well so far, both when measured against the original schedule and budget, and when measured on the fun-o-meter.…
I normally wouldn’t share a personal email from an MMM reader, but yesterday I got a really inspiring one about what it means to lead a good life as a parent, and I asked the writer’s permission to publish it and he agreed. I think it’s a great one to share because it shows the…
There is a small but growing social movement spreading around the world these days. It started long ago but has been accelerating recently. Although this revolution is tiny when measured as a percentage of the population, it has the Fiery Heart of a Golden Lion and thus it gets an unusual amount of shock, admiration,…
For all of its shortcomings, the traditional retire-at-65 system does have a few cushy benefits in the US. You get low-cost health insurance coverage through Medicare, a reasonable pension through Social Security, and you also get to start taking penalty-free withdrawals from your 401(k) plan. This system was originally designed to accommodate people who would…
Just a little internet video today, that Mrs. M. stumbled across. It’s a quick explanation for beginners on the life of gasoline before and after you use it for driving. The lesson is obvious for the more environmentally-minded folks, but I figured it is still worth sharing because the average US driver doesn’t think about…
A few years ago, I learned the most shocking fact about public libraries: Not everybody uses them! “No!”, you may say, “That’s impossible – how else do people get their books?” The scary answer that I discovered is that some people have developed a habit of regularly buying books which cost them $10 – $30…
Part of my duty to you as Mr. Money Mustache is to research the entire field of personal finance and investing, and report back to you with any significant findings. We need to know if there are any competing ideas, bloggers, or book authors that have something valuable to offer us. We also need to…
Yesterday, we had a second crazy fall snowstorm here in Colorado. The first one struck one week ago, and while it was fun at the time, I welcomed the warm sunny week that followed and returned us to normal conditions. But then, another storm came along and, DUMP, there were about seven inches of fluffy powder…
Hi there. I have no actual article for you today, but I thought I’d share two other things that popped up on the Internet this morning. First of all, I had the opportunity to take a virtual trip to Singapore, where Ellesse Chow, the editor of a website called “Goal Setting College” conducted an email…
The Triple M Family enjoyed a rather enlightening movie night tonight. These days, we tend to watch all our movies together, and we usually let the kid make the viewing choice, using the nicely organized browsing system on Netflix. Fortunately for us parents, our boy has graduated from the Pixar movies we’ve all seen a…
Since the last update in this series, there has been a certain amount of drama on our latest road to Real Estate Riches. There’s always drama when you buy a house, because relatively large sums of money are involved, and the sale involves a large number of people working together. A buyer and seller, real…
I just had one of my stranger birthday experiences when I turned 37 earlier this week. Things got off to an early start, when the doorbell rang at 12:01 AM, just as I was considering putting down my book and going to sleep. When your doorbell rings at that time of night, you answer it…
