May 25, 2013
One of the silliest objections I run across to the Mustachian lifestyle, is the concept that it is Extreme. Mr. Money Mustache needs to go out and buy more shit right now, because otherwise he’s depriving himself. And his family too. You only live once, and what good is money if you don’t spend it on…
In the first post of this series, we laid the groundwork for tempting a spendy spouse into a more frugal future. It was my attempt at combining the necessary logic and psychology that are required to slowly but surely allow someone to change their mind about the connection between spending and lifetime happiness. In this…
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…
Last week I wrote up an article about cutting your home heating costs. The discussion that followed in the comments section was full of more great information, and it even led to me making a small change in my own house that should work out to surprisingly large savings. This rather simple trick was: Changing…
It was a beautiful evening in my neighborhood, and I was enjoying one of my giant homebrews on a deck chair I had placed in the middle of the street, as part of a nearby block’s Annual Street Party. I was talking to a couple I had just met, and the topic turned to the…
Wow, how about that title. I can almost smell the politically correct outrage! But let’s explain right away, lest Mr. Money Mustache lose his rep as a caring family man who spends most of his time making sand castles and Lego ships with a 5-year-old boy. The alternate title was “Fix Impulse spending with The…
It’s time for Mr. Money Mustache to attack another one of America’s most sacred traditions. Marriage. Well, not marriage specifically, but those fantastic and fancy parties we call weddings. Now, in case you hadn’t figured it out, from an American perspective, I might as well be from another planet. I grew up in a small…
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,…
Happy July 18th. It sure is hot these days, isn’t it? Statistically speaking, a good portion of the continental US and Canada has its hottest average day of the year right around now. So I thought it was a good time to share some thoughts on the modern household’s biggest energy consumer in July –…
In one of the earliest articles on this blog called “If you Try Sometimes…“, I briefly described my goal of living life at a cost of 75% less than “normal”. Since then I have received many questions: What is Normal anyway? Where did I get this 75% number? Is it ridiculous or is it easy?…
Oh, hello there. I just noticed it’s July 8th, which means we’re already about two weeks into the annual MMM family vacation. It has certainly been reflected in the wimpy blog posting schedule, even while readership seems to be on a growth spurt due to the influence of Frugal Dad. There have been times in…
Oh, Mr. Money Mustache is pissed off today. It’s because he just stumbled across a competing personal finance blog that espouses blatantly Anti-Mustachian principles! And yet it has the audacity to call itself “I Will Teach You To Be Rich!” Here’s the article, called The Psychology of Cutting Back on Lattes, if you want to…
Yesterday I ran into a friend while perusing the Yogurt section of the local grocery store. It was around noon on a Thursday, and my friend explained to me that he had just come from his office job to grab a few necessities for lunch because he had forgotten to bring anything to work that…
There are lots of amusing stories in the news these days, as there always are when gas prices are rising. They often feature quotes like this, “I’ve got a 65-mile commute each way and these prices are making it impossible to put food on my table for my two kids!”, said Irene Smith as she…
Eliminating Lady Temptations An Indefinite, Ongoing Series by Mrs. Money Mustache Being a Lady myself, I’ve fallen prey to lady spending in the past and occasionally find myself suddenly “needing” lady things out of the blue. Such as cute shoes, for instance. I have also witnessed many seemingly normal and intelligent women declare that they…
Well what do you know, another Friday has rolled around! Looking back to last Friday, I see that I wrote about beer and that made us all happy, so perhaps we should talk about Beer on Fridays more often. And lucky for me, I have some pretty exciting beer-related stuff to share today. After last…
