Mr. Money Mustache: Are you a Mustachian?

[redneck]

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I like this guy... lol


Read.
Curing your Clown-Like Car Habit

To cure the disease, you just need to change the way you feel about driving. Right now, you probably feel that it’s just something you do because it’s necessary. Maybe you even find it pleasant at times (hell, I sure do). You have the cozy seats, the climate control, the stereo, lights, knobs and buttons, and all that power. You can go anywhere with that thing.

But there’s more to it than that. When you use a 3500-pound car to transport your 150-pound self around, 96 percent of the weight of that clump of matter is the car. You’re moving 25 times more junk around than you need to, and thus using 25 times more energy to do it.

Imagine that you’re hungry for lunch, so you go to a restaurant. But you don’t just order yourself a blackened salmon salad for $15.00. You order twenty five salads for $375.00! Then, you eat one of them, and leave the other 24 blackened salmon salads, $360.00 worth of food, to get collected by the waiter and slopped unceremoniously into a big black garbage bag. All that fine wild-caught Alaskan Salmon, lovingly seasoned and grilled. All the fine crumbles of feta cheese, the mango salsa, diced green onion, shaved peppers, rich zingy dressing, and everything else the chef worked on for hours – plopped into the slimy garbage bag. This is exactly what you are doing, every time you drive!

Only once this seed grows into the fruit of independence, can you wean yourself from the Poisonous Teat of the Automobile.

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[Daox]

Yeah, his writing is quite entertaining.

A few years back I posted his thoughts on long commutes, along with my own experiences. The result was quite a few replies and definitely not total agreement haha.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...you-21858.html

[niky]

Originally Posted by redneck

Reminds me of a Harlan Ellison editorial/review column on television called "The Electric Teat"... gave me a chuckle.

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Having started reading the site, I'm hooked. This guy writes well and has a lot of good advice for people of any stripe.

Might have just pushed me to selling my clunker instead of restoring it... have much better things to do with the money at this point.

[MetroMPG]

I probably qualified as "mustachian" before the term was coined.

He's a very good writer. I think the secret of his popularity is that he could rehash/rebrand old financial ideas in an engaging & compelling way. His car-related posts are great, and I've read most of the non-car-related ones too.

I also like that he's a gearhead, and ecomodder at heart (eg: made a hitch-mounted cargo box for his Yaris).

[Frank Lee]

The True Cost of Commuting

Validation!

So it wasn't all just in my head all these years...

[Xist]

Animal, I notice that you live in Colorado. Would you happen to know Mr. Money Mustache?

Frank Lee, I read that one!

I may be able to get a job that pays well, possibly twice what I had originally been told that I could earn, theoretically even more. I might start spending a great deal of time in my car, so I have been wondering how far is it worth commuting for how much salary?

[Ecky]

I've been following him for a few years now, and have been gradually changing my habits and how I think about things. Despite how much I like MMM's articles, I largely avoid the forums. A good percentage of the clowns on there are of the opinion that everyone has equal opportunity in this world, and anyone failing financially is completely liable for their own failures, and that aid for people who fall through the cracks of society should be abolished.

It's a useful mindset to apply to one's self (in most cases), that you're really the only one who can help you, but I don't have the social conscience for the rest of it. It ignores people like Chineka, who applied for an office position at the dental office I was working at a few years back, and was denied the position because of her name. "I can't hire someone with a black sounding name, because I have a lot of old, white, possibly racist clients. They'll go elsewhere for their dental care if they hear 'Welcome to X dental, this is Chineka speaking, how can I help you?'". Or, my sister-in-law, who has a chronic illness and has managed to rack up a million dollars in medical expenses by the age of 23, and is medically unable to consistently hold a job.

~

@Xist, that's very subjective. There are cases where the gas cost alone will offset the increase in pay... but that doesn't seem too likely if you're commuting in your HX. There is the time that's lost, but lost to what? If driving is preventing you from blowing money after work every day, you might actually come out financially ahead. Or not. You'll have to run the numbers and consider the opportunity cost lost.

[Xist]

Heh. I need to be offered a job first!

[MetroMPG]

Same here: I have read most of the blog, but don't frequent the forums. I have a hard enough time keeping up with this one!

[user removed]

With Pop's accounting degree, there was little chance of me NOT knowing the cost of driving a car, but I cheated and learned to fix anything, then I got old and bought the Mirage. I'm set until 75, but Pop still drives at 94, in the car Mom and I flew to Orlando and bought for him through CL. A $40k 2001 Eldoroado with 60k miles for $6k (2009). Mom bought a new ATS coupe, but it rides too rough, the Mirage rides better, go figure.

regards
mech