Telling on myself

[alm0stk00l]

So I have to tell a story about myself. It isn't my most anti-mustachian action ever based on dollar amount, but it is pretty bad generally. About 4-5 months ago our house was getting really hot throughout the day. I could hear the fans blowing, but after a few hours I put my hand next to the vent and only hot air was coming out. Well not hot; neutral air I guess I could say. I decided we needed someone to come check our AC; it is now after hours, but my wife finds an emergency service will to head over for a premium.

AC guy shows up, checks the AC unit, and notices it is not running. He heads to the breaker box, flips the breaker, everything starts working, and I get an invoice for $100 after literally 3 mins of his time. I would never consider myself handy, but I know enough to flip a tripped breaker; however, I had allowed myself to get so used to calling someone to fix my problems that it never even occurred to me to check one of the most basic remediation steps for a homeowner.

Big picture, that mistake may have helped me because it was the impetus for me to come back to these forums and to begin my FI journey in earnest.

Anything anti-mustachian you have ever done that turns your cheeks red when you think back on it?

[AMandM]

Many years ago, DH and I bought a NordicTrack treadmill at retail from the NordicTrack store in the mall.

I think we got more exercise moving it from one apartment to the next over the following years than we did from walking on it. Finally a couple of crucial pieces got lost and we junked it.

[gooki]

Lolz.

I once paid a drainage company $90 to tell me my down pipe on the garage was blocked with leaves When our gutters were overflowing. I simply never checked because I'd cleaned the gutters a month earlier and couldn't believe they'd be clogged up so soon. I had assumed it was something serious.

[Hall11235]

Putting ~$13000 on a credit card for Magic: the Gathering cards AFTER knowing about MMM.

Man, the shit we will say to justify our bad decisions.

I was able to sell most of the cards back and recoup about $7k after coming to my senses, but the rest had to be paid up the old fashioned way.

[Morning Glory]

I think it's well worth the $100 if it helped you change a habit.

My husband overspent by about $4k last month by hiring movers instead of upack (service similar to pods). I nodded ok when he was on the phone booking them because I was busy and not paying attention, and their initial quote was really low. (They first quoted him a lowball price and then raised it after taking a nonrefundable deposit, and by the time I actually looked at the agreement it was too late to get any of it back.)I can blame him for being naive, or myself for not double checking such a large purchase, or the company for being sneaky. Face punches for everyone!!!

I also dropped his phone and shattered it, so there's another $200 face punch for me.

[Just Joe]

Bought a car when we didn't need it. Did private sell the old car to recoup $3K when the dealer wanted to give us $750 for it. Bought a new car. We paid it off and did so early.

I thought/said all sorts of things to justify it but honestly, anything on the old car could have been repaired for the price of 3-4 car payments on the new car. And I'm a weekend gearhead. If the engine needed rebuilt - I could have done it. That car likely had another 10-15 years left in it and another 100K miles minimum.

Simply had new car fever.

So 22 years later we're still choosing to drive that formerly new car. It still gets the job done. Wasn't a batshit crazy choice, just unnecessary at a time when we were struggling to pay for home and daycare and get done with university (I was a non-traditional student).

The choice to purchase that car certainly led to some paycheck to paycheck situations that led to credit card debt that we floated for several years.

Then one day a friend told me about MMM. After some consideration of what we really wanted out of life, we started optimizing. And within a few years, our income had grown, the car was paid off (early) and the credit card was gone. Years later we are in a very good place b/c of those course corrections. We were drifting in the right direction but we took control of our future with things we learned here and properly shaped it. Made the future happen sooner.

Today we have several cars - each teen has an aged car similar in age to our commuter, we have a nice eight year old car we mostly use for out of town trips, and this same old car that we use as a carpool commuter for DW and I.

[BlueMR2]

Multiple times now I've needed car repairs done quickly, and knowing I couldn't get to it myself real soon I'd take it to a shop.  Where it would sit for MUCH longer than it would have taken me and cost a LOT more...  Yet I never learn.  Whenever I'm jammed for time I repeat this procedure.  :D

[jeninco]

Multiple times now I've needed car repairs done quickly, and knowing I couldn't get to it myself real soon I'd take it to a shop.  Where it would sit for MUCH longer than it would have taken me and cost a LOT more...  Yet I never learn.  Whenever I'm jammed for time I repeat this procedure.  :D

Ha, once or twice a year I do this exact thing with dinner. As in I sit there thinking "I could've cooked something, we could've eaten it, and we'd be washing up by now, and we're still waiting for our food to arrive."
After many years, I've about learned that "we're hungry and I'm not feeling it" means "make an omelette or defrost something" not "let's go out." (Also, I've gotten better about meal planning and making sure there are a couple of meals in the freezer at all times.)

[SwordGuy]

[(Also, I've gotten better about meal planning and making sure there are a couple of meals in the freezer at all times.)

My daughter really likes the spaghetti that I make.   So when I make it, I make a huge pot full.    (It's actually better the next day, so I try to make it a day ahead of time when possible.)

Then I just freeze three helpings in a plastic ziploc bag and freeze it.  Last time I made it we got 3 dinners and I got a lunch out of it.     All I have to do is cut open the bag, put the sauce in a pot and heat it, and boil some water for the spaghetti noodles.

[Heckler]

Allowed our optometrist to book us for annual visits, when knowing damn well my benefits pay bi-annually.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Multiple times now I've needed car repairs done quickly, and knowing I couldn't get to it myself real soon I'd take it to a shop.  Where it would sit for MUCH longer than it would have taken me and cost a LOT more...  Yet I never learn.  Whenever I'm jammed for time I repeat this procedure.  :D

Ha, once or twice a year I do this exact thing with dinner. As in I sit there thinking "I could've cooked something, we could've eaten it, and we'd be washing up by now, and we're still waiting for our food to arrive."
After many years, I've about learned that "we're hungry and I'm not feeling it" means "make an omelette or defrost something" not "let's go out." (Also, I've gotten better about meal planning and making sure there are a couple of meals in the freezer at all times.)

This is a constant & ongoing lesson for us. Sometimes, the two teenagers just ask for takeout enough that I cave, but it's almost always easier (leaving money aside entirely) to do it myself. At this point, I find that making that type of thing a rarity makes them appreciate it more. For example, I got Starbucks on finals week, and they were REALLY excited. As opposed to peers who buy it 3x/week on the way to school. Don't think it would have had quite the same effect.

[Sibley]

Allowed our optometrist to book us for annual visits, when knowing damn well my benefits pay bi-annually.

Eye exams are important. There's a lot of bad stuff that can effect your eyes, and its not so easy to fix your eyes if you mess them up.

[Sandi_k]

Allowed our optometrist to book us for annual visits, when knowing damn well my benefits pay bi-annually.

Eye exams are important. There's a lot of bad stuff that can effect your eyes, and its not so easy to fix your eyes if you mess them up.

Amen. I had a regular exam scheduled since it was time for new glasses. The eye exam revealed a partially torn retina. She didn't let me leave her office without making an emergency call to an ophthalmologist to schedule surgery.

Four days later, I had laser surgery to "re-stitch" the torn retina - all without ever having *any* symptoms, floaters, black curtains or visual impairment.

[moof]

Multiple times now I've needed car repairs done quickly, and knowing I couldn't get to it myself real soon I'd take it to a shop.  Where it would sit for MUCH longer than it would have taken me and cost a LOT more...  Yet I never learn.  Whenever I'm jammed for time I repeat this procedure.  :D

Ha, once or twice a year I do this exact thing with dinner. As in I sit there thinking "I could've cooked something, we could've eaten it, and we'd be washing up by now, and we're still waiting for our food to arrive."
After many years, I've about learned that "we're hungry and I'm not feeling it" means "make an omelette or defrost something" not "let's go out." (Also, I've gotten better about meal planning and making sure there are a couple of meals in the freezer at all times.)

This.  I've gotten much better over the years of making a proper mental note to my future self and gotten much better about not repeating such mistakes.  I also do most of the shopping and cooking, so I've gotten much better at keeping at least a couple quick options handy to avoid the eat-out necessity.
Now if I could find a way to motivate the family to either A) contribute to meal planning, or B) be happier with my choices when they don't...

[Morning Glory]

January stupid spending update: we got a $75 camera ticket from Iowa and our oldest cracked his tablet screen (we made him wait a week before getting it repaired so he would learn to take care of it better next time).

I also bought a dresser from.a thrift store (no returns) thinking it would fit in the kids closet because it fit the measurements but I didn't think about the angle. We can use it but now I still need something to organize the closet: renting so can't do built-ins.

[JAYSLOL]

Well, yeah that’s unfortunate, but a $100 mistake is worth it if it teaches you to investigate things more thoroughly before calling someone.  If anything, I’ve gone too far the other way, I’ll basically go to the ends of the earth to avoid outsourcing a repair, even when it takes me forever to get to it, and it really costs me too much time and I could easily pay for it and enjoy a couple weekends instead.  Case in point, I have a little electric piano that was developing an issue with a few keys, and I spent almost 6 months putting off repairing it because I didn’t have time to look into it, then when I finally got to it, it was a bunch of time spent tearing it apart and ordering parts and then many many hours to fix it and put it back together.  I probably could have called a tech and had it fixed within a couple days and paid less than $200, but I’m too damn cheap lol.  Pretty much same goes for all car repairs, but at least some of those would have been actually way more expensive, and it was worth the crazy long weekends wrenching.

[BikeFanatic]

I paid an electrician 200 to install a new floodlight that just attached to existing wires only to find out it was the light bulb unscrewed itself and was flickering. I thought it was a big electrical problem! I was working full time and I really should have taken the 5 minutes to trouble shoot myself. Oh well.

[baconschteam]

I recently purchased a used Priority Continuum Onyx bicycle for $750. Already had a decent (much cheaper) bike that works, that I do not get to ride very often lately. For some reason I've been lusting after belt-driven bikes for about two years. I folded when I found this deal on CL, complete with rear and front racks.

The price was decent. The bike is beautiful. However, my life currently consists of working 50-60 hour weeks at a very physical job that I have to car commute to, with the hopes of being able to work just part-time when my partner and I have children in a few years. Hopefully, I'll be able to ride this fine bicycle often then, but for now it sits in the garage and makes fun of me every time I come home from work and pass by it. It's just a totem.

[Chrissy]

My employer pays for massages.  In taking advantage of this, I racked up points at the spa, so I decided to use them for something I would never, ever pay for:  I got my eyelashes dyed and permed.  But, when I went to the front to settle up... I WAS 5 POINTS SHY!  I had to pay for the whole thing myself, using real money!!!  And, my eyelashes looked exactly the same.  Ugh.  So embarrassing.

[gooki]

I'm loving all of these, thanks for sharing.

[Just Joe]

We can use it but now I still need something to organize the closet: renting so can't do built-ins.

We did builts ins that don't screw to the walls. One board against the wall, the other board against the other wall. Shelves keep them pushed against the walls. Little quarter round molding or 3/4" x 3/4" wooden shelf supports. Add a center divider if the shelves are so long they droop. Shelves still keep sides pushed against the walls.