Mustachian People Problems (just for fun)

[Zaga]

You guys and your rain barrels are cracking me up!  There is no reason for us to save water, in fact we spend plenty getting drainage and gutter systems working so that our basement stays dry and the driveway doesn't wash away!

[forummm]

Coworker brought me a Starbucks gift card as a thanks for helping Her out. I didn't have the heart to tell her I haven't been in a Starbucks since 2012 and have no wish to drive 15 miles each way in the wrong direction to get to one and then buy nasty coffee. Guess I'll sell it.

I had the same issue. I have never bought anything at Starbucks before and don't drink coffee. I used it in the office white elephant gift exchange the next year.

[Rural]

Coworker brought me a Starbucks gift card as a thanks for helping Her out. I didn't have the heart to tell her I haven't been in a Starbucks since 2012 and have no wish to drive 15 miles each way in the wrong direction to get to one and then buy nasty coffee. Guess I'll sell it.

I had the same issue. I have never bought anything at Starbucks before and don't drink coffee. I used it in the office white elephant gift exchange the next year.

That's a really good idea, best yet. Mine is a family thing rather than office, but that's perfect.

[forummm]

Coworker brought me a Starbucks gift card as a thanks for helping Her out. I didn't have the heart to tell her I haven't been in a Starbucks since 2012 and have no wish to drive 15 miles each way in the wrong direction to get to one and then buy nasty coffee. Guess I'll sell it.

I had the same issue. I have never bought anything at Starbucks before and don't drink coffee. I used it in the office white elephant gift exchange the next year.

That's a really good idea, best yet. Mine is a family thing rather than office, but that's perfect.

It was really popular and got stolen the max number of times. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

And I didn't have to think of anything or waste any money. I also save the gifts and regift them. DW and I swap sometimes so the same people don't remember the thing from last year.

[eyesonthehorizon]

[lengthy discussion of intentional paycheck-to-paycheck strategies vs. buffer (& "butter"!) cash]
Yep.  Once mis-timed some things while keeping my checking account as close to zero as possible, ended up returning a rent check, costing me about $200 total in extra fees and a lot of hassle and stress (including a scary letter and some pissed off roommates).  Not worth it.

I found a convenient way around this that still kinda simulates the experience depending on your reason for wanting to run at a net-zero: I have my paycheck split three ways - an only-slightly conservative 'excess' to the investment account, a specific hard amount to a high-yield money market account and the remainder to my checking account. The money market covers rent and utilities - since those are stable amounts I can always be sure I'll have enough, and I can collect a sad weenie .8% on it meanwhile. Almost all the spending gets paid out of checking (generally as a single credit card bill for bills, and debit transactions for groceries).

While the checking account handles fluctuating expenses, so it's not truly net-zero each month, I make a game of having as much left over as possible. Due to my greedy investment slice of the pie the checking has only smallish, conceptually graspable amounts deposited; I feel like my "paycheck" is a couple hundred bucks, so there's a lot of psychological satisfaction in watching it snowball and very little temptation to adapt to even double-digit amounts as comfortable sums to be splashing about.

[charis]

I am pissed at myself because I wanted to put some money in my Vanguard IRA today and I missed the 4pm deadline by 30 seconds.  damn it

[theadvicist]

I am pissed at myself because I wanted to put some money in my Vanguard IRA today and I missed the 4pm deadline by 30 seconds.  damn it

Does anyone else wonder if these old-fashioned deadlines are still necessary from a technology standpoint? They are just a way for institutions to hold our money and not pay any interest, right? So annoying (and my bank is 3:30pm!)

[Zaga]

I am pissed at myself because I wanted to put some money in my Vanguard IRA today and I missed the 4pm deadline by 30 seconds.  damn it

Does anyone else wonder if these old-fashioned deadlines are still necessary from a technology standpoint? They are just a way for institutions to hold our money and not pay any interest, right? So annoying (and my bank is 3:30pm!)

This annoys me all the time!  My old bank was a "real time" bank, transactions would show up instantly no matter what time of the day or night the bank received them.  Then when I got married I switched over to DH's bank.  I was super surprised to find out that my new bank didn't do that!

[Nickyd£g]

I am leaving my company for a new job next week, and yesterday some of my team took me out to lunch - I had specified a nice Italian restaurant nearby that does a deal - £8 [$12] for a main meal and a soft drink, everyone loved it and commented how cheap it was for the quality and quantity of food.  A colleague had very kindly baked a cake, so we had that when we went back to work.  I was very happy with all that. 

Then, they surprised me with gifts: £50 [$80] gift card to a huge department store, a stick blender, wine, and "because you always bring your lunch to work!" a very fancy glass lunch box!  I was very touched, and overwhelmed by their generosity but a little part of my mind was thinking "WTF?! I have a lunch box.  And a stick blender that works fine.  And what the hell am I going to buy in the department store?!"

And then today, I looked up how much the blender was - £50!  and the lunchbox was £20!

I am the first person to leave the company, as the project we have been working on ends in October and I didn't want to be sitting around waiting for that.  And I have been here 6 years.  But still, I'm pretty amazed they seem to have spent about £150 on me...Wow!

I think I'm going to return the blender to the very fancy kitchen ware place they bought it from and see if I can get the cash, or if not some other useful utensils.

[dragoncar]

I am leaving my company for a new job next week, and yesterday some of my team took me out to lunch - I had specified a nice Italian restaurant nearby that does a deal - £8 [$12] for a main meal and a soft drink, everyone loved it and commented how cheap it was for the quality and quantity of food.  A colleague had very kindly baked a cake, so we had that when we went back to work.  I was very happy with all that. 

Then, they surprised me with gifts: £50 [$80] gift card to a huge department store, a stick blender, wine, and "because you always bring your lunch to work!" a very fancy glass lunch box!  I was very touched, and overwhelmed by their generosity but a little part of my mind was thinking "WTF?! I have a lunch box.  And a stick blender that works fine.  And what the hell am I going to buy in the department store?!"

And then today, I looked up how much the blender was - £50!  and the lunchbox was £20!

I am the first person to leave the company, as the project we have been working on ends in October and I didn't want to be sitting around waiting for that.  And I have been here 6 years.  But still, I'm pretty amazed they seem to have spent about £150 on me...Wow!

I think I'm going to return the blender to the very fancy kitchen ware place they bought it from and see if I can get the cash, or if not some other useful utensils.

Yes, when I got married I got a lot of random crap I didn't need, want, or request.  Boo hop me right?  But what am I gonna do with this POS coffeemaker?  Probably donate or regift.

[Geostache]

Since I came across MMM last October, I've been conditioning myself to scrutinize every purchase I make, and assess whether or not it is something that will add to my life. As a result, our monthly expenditures have been reduced by 50-60% (where did all of that money go before?).

We're looking to move in the next year or so. Our existing house has some much-needed repairs in order to prepare it to either rent or sell. Since I've gotten our household expenditures so low, now that we're doing the repairs, I feel like we're hemorrhaging money. All of it has been budgeted for, but with so much money going out the door at the same time, I'm having a minor panic attack!

[Edited to add clarifying statement about why we are doing repairs].

[NorCal]

I am pissed at myself because I wanted to put some money in my Vanguard IRA today and I missed the 4pm deadline by 30 seconds.  damn it

Does anyone else wonder if these old-fashioned deadlines are still necessary from a technology standpoint? They are just a way for institutions to hold our money and not pay any interest, right? So annoying (and my bank is 3:30pm!)

This annoys me all the time!  My old bank was a "real time" bank, transactions would show up instantly no matter what time of the day or night the bank received them.  Then when I got married I switched over to DH's bank.  I was super surprised to find out that my new bank didn't do that!

Interbank money transfers are run through FedWire or ACH, both essentially controlled by the Federal Reserve (I don't know all the particular details).

They've recently started some studies on whether it would be worthwhile to upgrade the systems with real-time clearing.

It's not a question of technical capability, it's a question of cost/benefit analysis.  The system today works on settling all money once a day.  That is, if $150 moves from BOFA to Chase today, and $100 moves from Chase to BOFA, they'll just send $50 to Chase at the end of the day.  It's simple, efficient, and annoying.

Real-time would have billions of dollars flowing back and forth every second of the day.  Every bank from the smallest credit union to Chase would have to spend tons of money re-writing all their complex and mostly proprietary software.  Whether or not it's worth it, I don't know.

[infogoon]

We're looking to move in the next year or so. Our existing house has some much-needed repairs in order to prepare it to either rent or sell. Since I've gotten our household expenditures so low, now that we're doing the repairs, I feel like we're hemorrhaging money. All of it has been budgeted for, but with so much money going out the door at the same time, I'm having a minor panic attack!

I'm going through the same thing; we have a bunch of repairs on our house that need to be done this summer, and it's all stuff that we can afford. I just hate to see a big check going to the paving company rather than my Vanguard account.

[1967mama]

We can't zip in and out of the library any more...all the librarians know us by name (and vice versa) so its always a chance to catch up on family news, etc. Bonus points: the kids spend more time in the stacks.

[I'm a red panda]

My car needs gas- I haven't filled up in 48 days...  I only have 30 miles left on the tank...
But gas is 5% cashback starting July...

And it is pouring rain...so I'm driving. 

I really hope I can make it.

[bzzzt]

My car needs gas- I haven't filled up in 48 days...  I only have 30 miles left on the tank...

For those who don't know, most fuel pumps of gas fueled vehicles are in the tank. When the tank is run low, you run the risk of two things. First, the pumps use the fuel around them to cool themselves. Second, when the tank is run low, the pump ends up sucking a bunch of sediment off the bottom of the tank and this can clog the fuel pump pickup ("sock"). Even if it's only a partial clog, it makes the pump work harder to move the fuel and decreases it's life. On top of that, anything small enough to make it through the sock should then be caught by the fuel filter, reducing it's flow.

Chancing the fuel pump to save 5% on a tank of fuel could be an effort in "pay a little now, or a lot later".

For those who will try to refute this info, it's my personal experience. My mom is not good with money and would rather go shopping than put fuel in her cars. TWICE, I've been involved in putting fuel pumps in her vehicles because "don't worry, this gauge goes past E"... *rage*

[1967mama]

At this time of year, it looks like we aren't home or we are asleep because the blinds are all shut to keep some of the heat out.

[OlyFish]

I did have an actual problem the other day so I'm not sure how much of it was a mustachian problem, but I had to send a certified check or money order for a large amount of cash and couldn't figure out how to access my gobs of moolah in short order. Since I don't usually get out lots of cash I didn't realize my main interest-bearing account where I hold cash had a $500 limit/day; there wasn't any money in my account in town because I always transfer out of it so quickly to investments and interest-bearing accounts; I have other interest-bearing accounts like Ally and ING but don't carry the cards with me nor do I have the PINs memorized.  So it was sort of a water water everywhere but not a drop to drink scenario.

I figured something out but for future reference, the post office will take debit cards to purchase money orders (and the daily limit doesn't apply to purchases, just cash).

My bank (USAA)  typically has a $600 limit on ATM withdrawals, but if you call then they will raise the limit for a day, to basically whatever you want if I rememer correctly. We had to do this when we needed to pay in cash for a two week stay in an apartment in Paris, for our honeymoon, and wanted to get the best exchange rates. I am not sure if all banks do this, but it's worth calling the customer support to see if they will make an exception for you.

[I'm a red panda]

For those who don't know, most fuel pumps of gas fueled vehicles are in the tank.

Interesting. This is only the 5th time I've put gas in this car, so I don't think there is a lot of sedimentation built up to worry about.

I didn't run out.  The bar on the fuel gauge did start blinking at me, which I've never seen.

My car is now 7 months old and I have 1,628 miles on it.  Hyundai tells me I should be doing my 6 month, 7,500 mile service.

[SweetLife]

Turning down the 15 or so people who ask me if I want a Timmy's coffee ($1.85) EVERY SHIFT ... while I go calmly and make my own (counting that $1.85 as putting water on my "hair-on-fire"!) ...

[Merrie]

My car needs gas- I haven't filled up in 48 days...  I only have 30 miles left on the tank...

For those who don't know, most fuel pumps of gas fueled vehicles are in the tank. When the tank is run low, you run the risk of two things. First, the pumps use the fuel around them to cool themselves. Second, when the tank is run low, the pump ends up sucking a bunch of sediment off the bottom of the tank and this can clog the fuel pump pickup ("sock"). Even if it's only a partial clog, it makes the pump work harder to move the fuel and decreases it's life. On top of that, anything small enough to make it through the sock should then be caught by the fuel filter, reducing it's flow.

Chancing the fuel pump to save 5% on a tank of fuel could be an effort in "pay a little now, or a lot later".

For those who will try to refute this info, it's my personal experience. My mom is not good with money and would rather go shopping than put fuel in her cars. TWICE, I've been involved in putting fuel pumps in her vehicles because "don't worry, this gauge goes past E"... *rage*

How low is too low? I usually fill up at around 1/4 or 1/8 of a tank, but every once in a while we plan poorly and the empty light comes on. If this is a really awful practice we can learn to plan better.

[Sanne]

Can't communicate with my friends anymore or relate to things.

Went shopping with some of my friends to buy gifts for another friend (we always do this together so we can buy something someone actually wants so this is a good thing actually, we bought her a giftcard for a D.I.Y.shop because they recently moved and some plants for the garden) and one of my friends kept wanting to try on clothes while saying she can't afford anything right now.. She kept trying things on and complaining about money problems at the same time. Then she said she already bought a  lot of clothes a week ago because there was a sale somewhere. Then she said she was going to the movies with another friend that same day. I said going to the movies is not cheap so why is she going. She responded with something like 'what else should I do, I should do something' and 'I really want to see that movie'.. It's always the same with her..

Another friend wanted some earrings because celebrities are wearing them? 

[bzzzt]

How low is too low? I usually fill up at around 1/4 or 1/8 of a tank, but every once in a while we plan poorly and the empty light comes on. If this is a really awful practice we can learn to plan better.

Depends on the accuracy of your fuel gauge and the size of the tank. On cars with smaller tanks, I tend to make 1/4 a hard rule because there is less margin.

Ex. I had a Ford 1-ton van with a 36 gal tank that was shaped narrow and tall. The fuel light would come on at 7 gallons, so I didn't mind seeing it as much. On my old Saturn with a 12 gal wide, short tank, I didn't like running it past 1/4 because it would be more prone to sloshing the sediment.

Most people don't care because they don't keep their cars long and it takes a while to plug the pickup and burn out the pump, but I don't usually purchase them until they're at the bottom of the depreciation curve (~8-10 years). So, I worry about preventative maintenance more than most.

[TheBuddha]

When I pay my student loans I always have to click past the warning "Your payment total is over $1,000. Continue?" like it's some kind of mistake.

[Latwell]

When I pay my student loans I always have to click past the warning "Your payment total is over $1,000. Continue?" like it's some kind of mistake.

This always confuses me!!!! I go to make my payment, and it says, "the amount you are about to pay doesn't match the payment due."(or something very similar). This then throws me off and I click cancel and triple check my numbers to make sure I didn't miss something, though I know I didn't make a mistake!

[Cougar]

When I pay my student loans I always have to click past the warning "Your payment total is over $1,000. Continue?" like it's some kind of mistake.

they're always going to give warnings to cover themselves and you. it's easiers for them to program in a confirmation message than pay for a bunch of staff to take calls all day because someone fatfingered their payment and is now complaining because their checking account is overdrawn.


booked a vacation to my favorite place(breckenridge, co) and since its middle of summer, everyone else is taking vacation and colorado is a big vacation spot so car rental rates are 3 times what they normally are.
i seriously considered going somewhere else just because i didn't want to pay the extra that everyone else renting a car in colorado is during that time.

[Daisy]

My car needs gas- I haven't filled up in 48 days...  I only have 30 miles left on the tank...

For those who don't know, most fuel pumps of gas fueled vehicles are in the tank. When the tank is run low, you run the risk of two things. First, the pumps use the fuel around them to cool themselves. Second, when the tank is run low, the pump ends up sucking a bunch of sediment off the bottom of the tank and this can clog the fuel pump pickup ("sock"). Even if it's only a partial clog, it makes the pump work harder to move the fuel and decreases it's life. On top of that, anything small enough to make it through the sock should then be caught by the fuel filter, reducing it's flow.

Chancing the fuel pump to save 5% on a tank of fuel could be an effort in "pay a little now, or a lot later".

For those who will try to refute this info, it's my personal experience. My mom is not good with money and would rather go shopping than put fuel in her cars. TWICE, I've been involved in putting fuel pumps in her vehicles because "don't worry, this gauge goes past E"... *rage*

How low is too low? I usually fill up at around 1/4 or 1/8 of a tank, but every once in a while we plan poorly and the empty light comes on. If this is a really awful practice we can learn to plan better.

I have a question on fuel efficiency and tank usage that maybe you can answer or see if it's related to the above.

My car has a computer which calculates mpg and miles left per tank of gas left. When I first fill the tank, I reset the settings so that I can see how my fuel efficiency is for each tank. When I first refill the tank, the mpg is higher than when I am down to a quarter of a tank. For example, my mpg driving during the first half of the tank is say an average of 34-36 mpg. Then as I am nearing empty (especially less than 1/4 of a tank), the average mpg starts going down more to the 32 mpg range. Same thing with miles left per tank. When I first refill the tank, it says about 430 miles left to go - but then I can only really get about 360-380 miles per tank.

I had chalked it all up to a poor algorithm in calculating fuel efficiency and maybe the software has a hard time calculating stuff on a full tank. But now I'm wondering if my fuel efficiency is really greater driving the first half of my tank vs. the last quarter of the tank.

For the record, I have a long commute so I try to drive down to empty as close as possible in order to minimize the number of trips to the gas station.

[I'm a red panda]

My car has a computer which calculates mpg and miles left per tank of gas left. When I first fill the tank, I reset the settings so that I can see how my fuel efficiency is for each tank. When I first refill the tank, the mpg is higher than when I am down to a quarter of a tank. For example, my mpg driving during the first half of the tank is say an average of 34-36 mpg. Then as I am nearing empty (especially less than 1/4 of a tank), the average mpg starts going down more to the 32 mpg range. Same thing with miles left per tank. When I first refill the tank, it says about 430 miles left to go - but then I can only really get about 360-380 miles per tank.

I noticed in my last car that I got better mileage on the first half of the tank than the second half.

But on THIS car I noticed that the MPG calculator seems to be always overestimating what my mileage is when I do the math myself based on miles driven (on the odometer) by the amount of gas I had to put into the tank to get it back to full.

[dragoncar]

My car has a computer which calculates mpg and miles left per tank of gas left. When I first fill the tank, I reset the settings so that I can see how my fuel efficiency is for each tank. When I first refill the tank, the mpg is higher than when I am down to a quarter of a tank. For example, my mpg driving during the first half of the tank is say an average of 34-36 mpg. Then as I am nearing empty (especially less than 1/4 of a tank), the average mpg starts going down more to the 32 mpg range. Same thing with miles left per tank. When I first refill the tank, it says about 430 miles left to go - but then I can only really get about 360-380 miles per tank.

I noticed in my last car that I got better mileage on the first half of the tank than the second half.

But on THIS car I noticed that the MPG calculator seems to be always overestimating what my mileage is when I do the math myself based on miles driven (on the odometer) by the amount of gas I had to put into the tank to get it back to full.

Likely it's just averaging your long term mileage down due to your driving habits.  There's no reason a full tank should have appreciably higher fuel efficiency (it can affect efficiency either way, depending on circumstances, but not that much either way).  The weight difference is on the order of 100 lbs.

[I'm a red panda]

Likely it's just averaging your long term mileage down due to your driving habits.  There's no reason a full tank should have appreciably higher fuel efficiency (it can affect efficiency either way, depending on circumstances, but not that much either way).  The weight difference is on the order of 100 lbs.

The calculator gets reset each tank, so it shouldn't be averaging long term anything.  My average actually doesn't tend to go down as the tank gets lower- it shows that I have 32 (or whatever) over the entire tank, but when I do the math myself, I only get 29.  (Less in the winter, but the calculator will also show less- so it will show 27, but I'll get 22.)   My car only gets used to go to work, so I have the same drive every time. There isn't a mix of highway/city.

My thoughts on why a full tank is more efficient has nothing to do with weight - but rather the efficiency of the pump mechanism that takes the fuel to the engine.  I haven't had this car long enough to compare half tank vs. to empty tank- but my previous car which I had for almost 15 years, I definitely got higher mileage on a half tank; that wasn't based on any computer calculator, as the car was too old to have such fancy things. That was just on my math of miles traveled vs. fuel needed to get the car back to full.

[Zaga]

I suspect that the in-car computers don't calculate in the times that your car is idling, because my personal MPG calculations are always lower than the car's computed calculations.

[StartingEarly]

When  you fill up your tank your car is generally warmed up and at peak efficiency. This will offset your numbers high especially if it's an in town gas station and you aren't exceeding 45mph and have few stops before you're home. After that it will be drug down from cold starts.

[Sam E]

I suspect that the in-car computers don't calculate in the times that your car is idling, because my personal MPG calculations are always lower than the car's computed calculations.

I'm pretty sure they don't. In my car if I take my foot off the gas pedal while moving the MPG monitor spikes to 99.9 and if I'm stopped it reads --.-

Any gas burned outside of using the accelerator/throttle is just lost and not calculated as far as I can tell.

[Daisy]

I suspect that the in-car computers don't calculate in the times that your car is idling, because my personal MPG calculations are always lower than the car's computed calculations.

I haven't done a personal calculation to compare with the computer readings like the poster up above. However, I do think my online computer readings take into account idle time because I see the MPG average tick down, down, down, while idling right after filling up and resetting the computer. It doesn't tick down so much while idling while I'm getting closer to the end of the tank and the average MPG is based on more time/miles.

[Daisy]

When  you fill up your tank your car is generally warmed up and at peak efficiency. This will offset your numbers high especially if it's an in town gas station and you aren't exceeding 45mph and have few stops before you're home. After that it will be drug down from cold starts.

I do notice really high MPG numbers right after filling up and resetting the statistics on the computer - sometimes reads into the 40mpg range for the average MPG.

I see the numbers then stabilize around 34-35 mpg until after past the halfway empty mark.

I really just thought it was the computer misreading the gas levels in the tank or something when it's really full. I was curious (by posting it here) if there was actually real efficiency differences and the computer was actually correct.

[StartingEarly]

Some also keep a 200 mile running average, at least mine does, it won't track it for an entire tank. That means that if you're getting really good mileage at the beginning of the tank that will stay on through about half tank. After you get past a set amount it starts getting truncated off. Your really good numbers from the very start of your tank are replaced with worse miles further into your tank.

[I'm a red panda]

When  you fill up your tank your car is generally warmed up and at peak efficiency. This will offset your numbers high especially if it's an in town gas station and you aren't exceeding 45mph and have few stops before you're home. After that it will be drug down from cold starts.

But I'm not comparing the beginning of the tank. I'm comparing what math tells me when I fill up the tank, to what the read out says after 3-4 weeks of driving when I fill up the tank again.  So it isn't just calculating at peak efficiency, it is calculating the 200-400 miles since I last reset the counter.

Mine definitely counts idle time; it ticks down if I get stuck in traffic and don't move. That is one thing I love about my husband's car (it's a hybrid) - his ticks UP the longer we get stuck.

I don't have instantaneous readout- so it doesn't tell me what I am getting that second, just over time since I reset it.

[dragoncar]

When  you fill up your tank your car is generally warmed up and at peak efficiency. This will offset your numbers high especially if it's an in town gas station and you aren't exceeding 45mph and have few stops before you're home. After that it will be drug down from cold starts.

But I'm not comparing the beginning of the tank. I'm comparing what math tells me when I fill up the tank, to what the read out says after 3-4 weeks of driving when I fill up the tank again.  So it isn't just calculating at peak efficiency, it is calculating the 200-400 miles since I last reset the counter.

Mine definitely counts idle time; it ticks down if I get stuck in traffic and don't move. That is one thing I love about my husband's car (it's a hybrid) - his ticks UP the longer we get stuck.

I don't have instantaneous readout- so it doesn't tell me what I am getting that second, just over time since I reset it.

You can get near-instantaneous readout by resetting it and seeing what it says.  I've used this to, for example, set my cruise control to 70-MPH on a long flat highway and hit reset.  It says 40 MPG.  Then I set it to 65-MPH and hit reset.  It says 45 MPH (numbers made up for illustrative purposes).  Then I start calculating how much more it will cost me to get there X hours earlier. 

[I'm a red panda]

You can get near-instantaneous readout by resetting it and seeing what it says.  I've used this to, for example, set my cruise control to 70-MPH on a long flat highway and hit reset.  It says 40 MPG.  Then I set it to 65-MPH and hit reset.  It says 45 MPH (numbers made up for illustrative purposes).  Then I start calculating how much more it will cost me to get there X hours earlier.

Yeah, but unlike my trip counters, I only have one mpg counter, so I'd have to give up the tank reading to "test" it that way.

I test drove a few cars that had instantaneous ones AND long term ones.  Those seemed fun, but man, it just seemed like something to get obsessive about...

[Daisy]

You can get near-instantaneous readout by resetting it and seeing what it says.  I've used this to, for example, set my cruise control to 70-MPH on a long flat highway and hit reset.  It says 40 MPG.  Then I set it to 65-MPH and hit reset.  It says 45 MPH (numbers made up for illustrative purposes).  Then I start calculating how much more it will cost me to get there X hours earlier.

Yeah, but unlike my trip counters, I only have one mpg counter, so I'd have to give up the tank reading to "test" it that way.

I test drove a few cars that had instantaneous ones AND long term ones.  Those seemed fun, but man, it just seemed like something to get obsessive about...

Mine has both instantaneous AND average MPG. I guess it is obsessive because I'm the one that started this little discussion... ;-)

I suppose I could check the instantaneous MPG while driving a particular speed at different levels of tank fullness to run my experiment. I was hoping some car expert here would save me from that drudgery and let me know if there was any fuel efficiency differences for full vs half vs empty tanks.

[dragoncar]

You can get near-instantaneous readout by resetting it and seeing what it says.  I've used this to, for example, set my cruise control to 70-MPH on a long flat highway and hit reset.  It says 40 MPG.  Then I set it to 65-MPH and hit reset.  It says 45 MPH (numbers made up for illustrative purposes).  Then I start calculating how much more it will cost me to get there X hours earlier.

Yeah, but unlike my trip counters, I only have one mpg counter, so I'd have to give up the tank reading to "test" it that way.

I test drove a few cars that had instantaneous ones AND long term ones.  Those seemed fun, but man, it just seemed like something to get obsessive about...

So?  You know you can also calculate your tank MPG using basic math?

[johnny847]

You can get near-instantaneous readout by resetting it and seeing what it says.  I've used this to, for example, set my cruise control to 70-MPH on a long flat highway and hit reset.  It says 40 MPG.  Then I set it to 65-MPH and hit reset.  It says 45 MPH (numbers made up for illustrative purposes).  Then I start calculating how much more it will cost me to get there X hours earlier.

Yeah, but unlike my trip counters, I only have one mpg counter, so I'd have to give up the tank reading to "test" it that way.

I test drove a few cars that had instantaneous ones AND long term ones.  Those seemed fun, but man, it just seemed like something to get obsessive about...

So?  You know you can also calculate your tank MPG using basic math?

This.

Some of you guys are hilarious. I don't have a "fancy car" with a MPG readout, but I do jot down the odometer value at every gas fillup. Then I use the gallons of fuel bought to compute average MPG over the interval.
Of course, this means that at the rate I drive, between 10/05/14 and 6/12/15, I only have 4 MPG readings, but that's okay.

[Beaker]

You can get near-instantaneous readout by resetting it and seeing what it says.  I've used this to, for example, set my cruise control to 70-MPH on a long flat highway and hit reset.  It says 40 MPG.  Then I set it to 65-MPH and hit reset.  It says 45 MPH (numbers made up for illustrative purposes).  Then I start calculating how much more it will cost me to get there X hours earlier.

Yeah, but unlike my trip counters, I only have one mpg counter, so I'd have to give up the tank reading to "test" it that way.

I test drove a few cars that had instantaneous ones AND long term ones.  Those seemed fun, but man, it just seemed like something to get obsessive about...

So?  You know you can also calculate your tank MPG using basic math?

This.

Some of you guys are hilarious. I don't have a "fancy car" with a MPG readout, but I do jot down the odometer value at every gas fillup. Then I use the gallons of fuel bought to compute average MPG over the interval.
Of course, this means that at the rate I drive, between 10/05/14 and 6/12/15, I only have 4 MPG readings, but that's okay.

For those not organized enough to keep a notebook in the car, just reset the trip odometer next time you fill up. Every time thereafter, you can look at the amount you just pumped and the trip odometer, and get a quick MPG. Then reset the trip odometer again until the next fill up.

I usually just do a rough division in my head to make sure it's not too far out of whack. I figure it's probably not incredibly precise anyway, because the point where the auto-fill thingie clicks off is (I assume) not perfectly consistent between different gas pumps.

[johnny847]

You can get near-instantaneous readout by resetting it and seeing what it says.  I've used this to, for example, set my cruise control to 70-MPH on a long flat highway and hit reset.  It says 40 MPG.  Then I set it to 65-MPH and hit reset.  It says 45 MPH (numbers made up for illustrative purposes).  Then I start calculating how much more it will cost me to get there X hours earlier.

Yeah, but unlike my trip counters, I only have one mpg counter, so I'd have to give up the tank reading to "test" it that way.

I test drove a few cars that had instantaneous ones AND long term ones.  Those seemed fun, but man, it just seemed like something to get obsessive about...

So?  You know you can also calculate your tank MPG using basic math?

This.

Some of you guys are hilarious. I don't have a "fancy car" with a MPG readout, but I do jot down the odometer value at every gas fillup. Then I use the gallons of fuel bought to compute average MPG over the interval.
Of course, this means that at the rate I drive, between 10/05/14 and 6/12/15, I only have 4 MPG readings, but that's okay.

For those not organized enough to keep a notebook in the car, just reset the trip odometer next time you fill up. Every time thereafter, you can look at the amount you just pumped and the trip odometer, and get a quick MPG. Then reset the trip odometer again until the next fill up.

I usually just do a rough division in my head to make sure it's not too far out of whack. I figure it's probably not incredibly precise anyway, because the point where the auto-fill thingie clicks off is (I assume) not perfectly consistent between different gas pumps.

I don't keep a notebook, but I do keep a pen in the car (handy in other situations too) and I just write down the odometer value on the receipt (which I need anyway to get the gallons filled).

But your way works too =)

[Sam E]

I needed to replace my car for one with better gas mileage to commute to my new job (plus the car was falling apart and costing an arm and a leg), but that meant trading it in with negative equity from the loan still on it. Because of that I wasn't able to get the cheap used car I wanted because the negative equity was too high to roll into a loan on a used car. I was forced to either keep my car or buy a new car, so I had to go with the new one. I got a 2015 Corolla with the lowest possible package with zero added features and it still nearly tripled my car loan and I was left feeling very bitter about the whole thing. Now I have to pretend to love my new car as if I wanted to buy it in the first place because no one understands why I would possibly desire a used car over a new car or why I'm so angry about having to add 12 months to my debt clearing timeline.

Sidenote: New cars these days are RIDICULOUS. These days Bluetooth and touch screens are standard features now! I just wanted to remove them to reduce the price of the car! I wish for the old days when even air conditioning was optional so you could get as barebones a car as you please.

[Spiffsome]

My folks think that I'm deliberately depriving myself to save money. The faces they make when I talk about experimenting with cheap cuts of meat like kidney are impressive. I was over at their place for dinner recently and screwed up the instant gravy. Mum asked if I was being frugal. No, I'm not making watery gravy to save money; I just suck at estimating things by eye.

It's like there's no middle ground between 'I'm going to buy a used car for cash' and 'I'm going to sleep on the dirt and eat rocks'. It's irritating, because most of my reasons for cutting my consumption are environmental (no, I'm not going to turn on the heat when I can put on a damn jumper and some socks instead) but I can't talk about that without sounding like I'm starving myself for a few cents.

[theadvicist]

My folks think that I'm deliberately depriving myself to save money. The faces they make when I talk about experimenting with cheap cuts of meat like kidney are impressive. I was over at their place for dinner recently and screwed up the instant gravy. Mum asked if I was being frugal. No, I'm not making watery gravy to save money; I just suck at estimating things by eye.

It's like there's no middle ground between 'I'm going to buy a used car for cash' and 'I'm going to sleep on the dirt and eat rocks'. It's irritating, because most of my reasons for cutting my consumption are environmental (no, I'm not going to turn on the heat when I can put on a damn jumper and some socks instead) but I can't talk about that without sounding like I'm starving myself for a few cents.

I wonder if maybe you've been talking about frugality a lot? No zealot like a convert, as they say!

Since finding MMM I haven't mentioned it to anyone. Just changed my own habits. And you know what? I've cut spending drastically... and no-one has noticed. At all. It's kind of crazy how little attention other people actually pay vs. what we perceive they pay.

Also, years ago when my mother commented on the fact I split my dishwasher tablets in half (which was to save money, but she was implying I was being oh so cheap and stingy!), I just told her, "oh, a whole tablet seams to leave residue" and that was a very acceptable answer to her. So maybe make changes and don't talk about the cost saving, but other benefits (eg environmental), but only when asked (which may well be never).

[WerKater]

Also, years ago when my mother commented on the fact I split my dishwasher tablets in half (which was to save money, but she was implying I was being oh so cheap and stingy!), I just told her, "oh, a whole tablet seams to leave residue" and that was a very acceptable answer to her. So maybe make changes and don't talk about the cost saving, but other benefits (eg environmental), but only when asked (which may well be never).

Isn't it weird how many people seem to see frugality as an inherently bad thing? If you do X in order to save money, you are "depriving yourself", if you do X for the environment or in order to become healthy or whatever, it is perfectly fine.

[theadvicist]

Also, years ago when my mother commented on the fact I split my dishwasher tablets in half (which was to save money, but she was implying I was being oh so cheap and stingy!), I just told her, "oh, a whole tablet seams to leave residue" and that was a very acceptable answer to her. So maybe make changes and don't talk about the cost saving, but other benefits (eg environmental), but only when asked (which may well be never).

Isn't it weird how many people seem to see frugality as an inherently bad thing? If you do X in order to save money, you are "depriving yourself", if you do X for the environment or in order to become healthy or whatever, it is perfectly fine.

I know! It's so strange. I think a lot of people have hang-ups about money and don't like other people to think that they don't have any, and then project that.

I know people think we don't have much money because they are always commenting on our outdated electronics and trying to give us their cast-offs. But I don't mind them thinking that, I know the truth :)

[Squirrel away]

Also, years ago when my mother commented on the fact I split my dishwasher tablets in half (which was to save money, but she was implying I was being oh so cheap and stingy!), I just told her, "oh, a whole tablet seams to leave residue" and that was a very acceptable answer to her. So maybe make changes and don't talk about the cost saving, but other benefits (eg environmental), but only when asked (which may well be never).

Isn't it weird how many people seem to see frugality as an inherently bad thing? If you do X in order to save money, you are "depriving yourself", if you do X for the environment or in order to become healthy or whatever, it is perfectly fine.

I know! It's so strange. I think a lot of people have hang-ups about money and don't like other people to think that they don't have any, and then project that.

I know people think we don't have much money because they are always commenting on our outdated electronics and trying to give us their cast-offs. But I don't mind them thinking that, I know the truth :)

I agree.

Since I've been trying to be more frugal I have noticed the type of comments people make about money.

There are a lot of remarks I've noticed implying that rich people are crooks, as if being wealthy must mean you are doing something unethical.