Mar 17, 2012
A couple of Januarys ago, I spent a nice sunny day in my outdoor workshop doing some carpentry. I was helping a friend build a fancy Adirondack chair for her own patio. After we finished our work, she insisted on paying me with a huge pan of some delicious homemade dinner, and a box of…
Well, there goes another million. Sometime last week, this blog reached the “two million page views” milestone. It took less than three months to get that second million, compared to nine months for the first one, which I wrote about on December 10th. I remember we all thought we were pretty big business back then,…
Mustachians are a tech-savvy bunch. From what I’ve heard, engineers and other professionals are way over-represented in the audience compared to the general population. We may think we’re pretty smart, but we are actually some of the biggest suckers out there when it comes to the unfortunate condition known as gadget addiction. I’m right there…
I’ve only got 59 minutes left to finish this article for you. But I’m glad to have this time limitation, because it will keep me from going into my usual random sidetracks and wasteful web surfing that can easily end up burning half a day and leaving me with a stiff neck and a guilty…
Back in November, I read an article in the Economist with the tagline “House of Horrors: the bursting of the global housing bubble is only halfway through”. I usually pay close attention when the Economist calls a bubble, because unlike the daily rollercoaster of stock cheerleading and fear you read in most US newspapers, the…
I grew up in a pretty low-key family, financially speaking. We always had plenty of money for groceries and my parents never went into debt, but if you were one of the Joneses* living down the street from us, you’d be hard-pressed to notice any flashy spending. This upbringing occurred in a pretty small town…
One of the easier rules of Mustachianism is that you should shoot for using about 60-75% less power than the average US household (as described in this earlier article about electricity). By accomplishing this, you’ll end up about $13,000 richer every ten years. A big part of the savings comes from angrily smashing up any…
Keeping our tradition of occasional words of wisdom from readers on the weekends, I thought I’d share this educational article my Dad sent me some time ago on the topic of shaving. I covered my own take on the issue long ago when introducing what I like to call the Universal Men’s Grooming Device. But…
Many of our reader case studies have profiled people who are earning an average income, and looking for ways to make the most of it. They want to pay off debts, support a family, and save for eventual financial independence. Today’s story comes from another side of the spectrum: a recent Harvard Law School graduate…
It has been a while since we ran an MMM challenge here at Mr. Money Mustache. The last one, where I instructed you to start getting your groceries with a bike trailer, was way back on October 20th. And even that one was a bit of a cheat for me, since I didn’t have to…
In a recent article, I shared my enthusiasm for some of the confidence and hacking-the-system approaches covered in the Tim Ferriss book. In the reader comments that followed, there was lots of agreement but also some Tim-bashing, suggesting that he advocates taking unethical shortcuts and shunning real work. While it’s easy to misunderstand what Tim…
There’s a thoughtful debate going on right now over in the Money Mustache Forum, where people are comparing different strategies for investing in rental houses. Some people prefer to save up the full purchase price of a house before plunging in and making the move. Others will make the buy using a mortgage but then…
