Apr 28, 2015
To my Brothers of the construction trades, the oil industry, the armed forces, and even plain old civilian office jobs. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, because I think we should all be free to make our own choices. But with the recent oil boom and bust, and the even bigger housing boom…
Mr. Money Mustache can tend to get a little high-level at times, talking about all these feelings and philosophies that underlie the proper path to wealth. But you can’t just smile your way to the top – there are real numbers at work in the background, whether you understand them or not. These can gang up and…
There’s a subtle yet powerful difference between the Standard Consumer, who manages to spend all of his income regardless of how much is coming in, and the Mustachian for whom saving is an effortless activity. For the first type of person, saving money means deprivation, struggle, and painful budgets. For the second, saving consists of living…
The other day, the lady and I were biking through the parking lot of the fancy Natural Grocers food store, when I suddenly screeched to a halt, without even realizing why I had done it. It turns out the reason was that one of these things had caught the corner of my eye: “What’s going…
Mr. Money Mustache has been getting quite a few emails these days asking questions like this one: Dear Mr. Money Mustache, <BR> It is always nice to hear people asking this question, because it means one of the biggest financial mistakes in the lives of most people – a ridiculous vehicle choice – is up…
Today we’ve got a guest post from the esteemed Mustachian known as Arebelspy, who is also a Moderator over on the Money Mustache Forum. Since we’re both passionate about this particular idea, the article became a bit of a collaboration between Arebelspy and MMM. Mustachianism Can’t Work, Or I’d Have Heard Of It Before! There’s a…
Dear Mr. M., My wife and I have been reading your blog, and slowly feeling some of the free-spending ways of our past slipping away from us. But it’s a slow process, and while my wife takes after her frugal immigrant parents, I am not sure if I am quite ready to step up to…
This is a special bonus follow-up to yesterday’s article on Cash-Efficient Cars. There seems to be widespread confusion about the value of hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius. Are they worth the extra cost? Are they reliable? Do they explode when they crash or actually have a higher environmental footprint than a Hummer? In the…
I was stumbling through my living room the other day, catching my feet on various building blocks, puzzle pieces, and a tangle of fishing line that had previously been used to suspend our homemade space station from the second floor balcony, when the thought occurred to me, “Damn, I sure wish this house wasn’t such…
As anyone who has read more than a few MMM articles has learned, the key to becoming rich is living an efficient lifestyle. When it comes to your choice of car, this means making sure you choose one that is optimized for whatever you will use it for the most. While this sounds self-evident, it is…
When you hear people talking about their cars, you usually hear ridiculous terms like “dealer”, “interest rate”, and “payment”. Mr. Money Mustache has already laid down the law on this issue in the past: You should never even spend all your money on a car, let alone more than all your money. So why does everyone…
I originally started this blog to both Ridicule and Educate the rich and privileged group of people known as the American middle class. Being a newly minted member of this group myself, I feel that we are all living large, and the vast majority of our financial problems are of our own making. Thus the…
Who wants to spend less money on gas? Everyone? Yeah! Every few weeks, you’ll see yet another simplistic article in a bland mass-market publication like USA today or CNN news that says the same things about saving fuel: pump up your tires to manufacturer recommendations, accelerate smoothly, combine errands, and so on. You already follow the tips,…
So the other Sunday I went out for some errands on the bike as usual. I had to hit the Big Box stores at the Eastern edge of town – Staples for an office necessity and Lowe’s for a specialized light bulb. It was a beautiful day. Sunny with dappled clouds. Temperatures in the mid…
Becoming an excellent driver is a truly worthwhile pursuit – for both the added safety and the cash savings it provides. I still remember the the awe I felt towards driving as a young boy when my family went places together. When I was old enough, I’d like to sit up front, next to my…
I just got an interesting request for a Mustachian Makeover*. Here is our reader’s story: Dear MMM, I was wondering if you might want to do an analysis of some reformed spenders working hard on their stash but dealing with the repercussions of previous and lasting life choices (like a mortgage) in their newly reformed…
