Three little birdies ... ummm questions :)

[SweetLife]

"Oh great and knowledgeable Mustachian hoard I am in need of advice!!!"  My brain hurts trying to figure out what to do for the following ... just wondering if any of you have some ideas that I may not have bounced around yet :)

1.  I currently own a 2002 Jeep Liberty 4X4 with 220000kms ... it has new tires, new brakes and runs reasonable well (it hesitates when you push the gas pedal down until it heats up otherwise works fine) though it sucks gas ... Should I keep this or sell and get something with better mileage? We have a new baby and my husband is taking care of him and will be doing all the shopping once I return to work. Where would I find out how much I could sell it for? Or trade in? Or sell privately?

2. Plumbing ... how difficult is it???? We have a house built in 1920 and needs new main watßer pipe (currently is galvanized - I think) and need to "clean up" and streamline the water pipes - Can I do this myself? Should I get a plumber? My issue with a plumber is that I am not sure what to tell him??? I know what I want basically ... new copper pipes (I have purchased them already) and less obstruction in our basement - the ceiling is only 6ft but has heating ducts etc ... and there seem to be water pipes every where and back on themselves ... looks a mess. There is a basement bathroom and would like to throw a shower stall in it (there is a floor drain already) but again not sure how doable this is ...). Have any of you done your own plumbing as a beginner???

3. I have some solid gold jewellery from africa that was purchased while I lived there almost 15 years ago ... it has no sentimental value quite ornate. I was thinking of selling it - have any of you sold your gold? Is it worth it ??? Should I use ebay instead of those "gold-buyers"? Or should I keep it?

I have issues with my grocery bill too lol.. but I am working on it and am not prepared for the face punching I would receive if I asked about that lol... luckily my husband is taking over that bit of shopping and he is the MOST mustachian person I have ever met ... without knowing about MMM!!!

Thank you oh wise and wonderful hoard!!! :)
I will be posting my full numbers and such once I get back to work and figure out what my salary will be !!!

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

Why would you use copper instead of PEX? PEX is a cheaper material and should be less labor to run.

[Leanthree]

1) If you drive a lot then sell it. If you don't drive too much then keep it. If you drive a lot try to stop driving a lot.
2) I personally would never perform a plumbing job on my own home. Bad investment but I lack any sort of skill, tools, etc. Your situation could be different. Do you learn quickly and already have many of the needed tools on hand?
3) Sell it. Take that money and invest it. Most likely for melt down value minus a fee. It serves you no purpose as jewelry you never wear and historically the stock market returns better than gold.

[ambimammular]

Don't let plumbing intimidate you. Youtube surf for a while to build your confidence, and if you have anyone in your circle of friends that is bad-ass and knowledgeable, bring them buy to get their opinion of the pipe situation. You're gonna feel fierce once you do a little and see how capable you are, and how oversold the difficulty of plumbing is.

And I'm with ShoulderThingThatGoesUp, Pex is what you want to work with. Who was selling you copper?

[forummm]

If you're asking "how hard is it" about plumbing, you probably don't know enough yet to actually do the job. Either get some more education, a friend who knows what they are doing to help out while you do it, or get a professional. You don't want to screw up plumbing.

Sometimes small local jewelers will give you a better price for gold than some of the gold buyers.

[Exflyboy]

Remember with copper plumbing you are going to have a naked flame under your house next to very old (and very combustible) timber. If you really don't know what you are doing you could easily burn down your house!

If you are going to replumb a whole house then this is the time to switch to PEX.. Much easier to run (i.e FAR less work) and all the joints are mechanical crimp joints.. i.e no flames.

Plumbing is not hard but I would strongly recommend staying away from copper.

Take back what you have bought.. believe me you'll thank me!

There are PEX supply houses online where you can get the fittings considerably cheaper than from the box stores... The pipe itself is about the same cost at Home Depot as I can get on line.

[Chesterfield]

Sell your gold. Find a coin dealer ( there will only be one or two in your area) who also buys gold. Sell it to them. They are unlikely to screw you because they are a legit business that has been around for years unlike all the "we buy gold" places.
Pex is the way to go. Join Angie's list, call 5 plumbers off Angie's list and get estimates. You will get 5 totally different numbers. If the ceiling is open, it won't be insanely expensive. Copper will be, because it takes forever.

[SweetLife]

Excellent responses ... thank you :)

The selling gold thing was going to be a bit of work now that I am decided to do it. I will take it to a few places I know and see what they are offering ... one antique dealer who does some jewellery sales and a used jewellery place ... then to a gold dealer.

Just not sure if I could get more on Ebay... have any of you used ebay to sell jewellery?

Plumbing ... we are in Canada ... is PEX up here too??? Ugh ... I bought the copper pipe before we went to Portugal as my brother was suppose to do it for us while we were away ... now I doubt Home depot will accept its return... but I can try.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

Copper pipe is copper pipe. I imagine you can find a buyer.

[SweetLife]

Just remembered my last question ... anyone know if I can pay my mortgage (in Canada) on my credit card???? I would love to do this as my card gives me back $$ lol... Also on the mortgage question .... this is our first house and I don't understand why the mortgage is covering my taxes???? Can I not just pay this myself???? I am currently paying weekly instalments on my mortgage of almost 235$ ... but only $something like 180 is going towards my mortgage... the rest to taxes ?!?!?!!

[sheepstache]

MMM actually had an article about selling silver cutlery for its melt down price and recommended Midwest Refineries for selling silver and gold in that way. http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/08/22/how_to_sell_silver/

[SweetLife]

MMM actually had an article about selling silver cutlery for its melt down price and recommended Midwest Refineries for selling silver and gold in that way. http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/08/22/how_to_sell_silver/

Thank you!!! I must've missed this article when I was plowing through all of the them last year :) - or more likely I completely forgot I had read it lol... :)

[RetiredAt63]

Mortgages and taxes.  Especially with new home owners, banks like to pay the taxes so they know the taxes get paid.  That way the municipality is not selling the house for unpaid taxes and the bank gets stiffed for the mortgage.  So how they do it is they figure out roughly how much your taxes will be and you pay 1/52 of that (weekly payments,you said) along with your principal and interest - you are going PIT, the T is taxes.  You need to be sure the municipality knows this, so they send the tax bill to your bank as well as to you, and when you get the bill, you just look at it and file it, you don't pay it, because the bank will.  But do check with the municipality that the taxes got paid by the bank.  ;-)

Lots of people (not on this forum) like this because it is easier than having to come up with a big chunk of money when the taxes come due.  I do it myself, although I don't need the forced savings plan this represents, because it is easier, one less thing to worry about.  My tax payments are small, and the bank does pay me a tiny bit of interest as the tax money accumulates, so I am not worrying about not having the money to invest.

this is our first house and I don't understand why the mortgage is covering my taxes???? Can I not just pay this myself???? I am currently paying weekly instalments on my mortgage of almost 235$ ... but only $something like 180 is going towards my mortgage... the rest to taxes ?!?!?!!

[SweetLife]

Mortgages and taxes.  Especially with new home owners, banks like to pay the taxes so they know the taxes get paid.  That way the municipality is not selling the house for unpaid taxes and the bank gets stiffed for the mortgage.  So how they do it is they figure out roughly how much your taxes will be and you pay 1/52 of that (weekly payments,you said) along with your principal and interest - you are going PIT, the T is taxes.  You need to be sure the municipality knows this, so they send the tax bill to your bank as well as to you, and when you get the bill, you just look at it and file it, you don't pay it, because the bank will.  But do check with the municipality that the taxes got paid by the bank.  ;-)

Lots of people (not on this forum) like this because it is easier than having to come up with a big chunk of money when the taxes come due.  I do it myself, although I don't need the forced savings plan this represents, because it is easier, one less thing to worry about.  My tax payments are small, and the bank does pay me a tiny bit of interest as the tax money accumulates, so I am not worrying about not having the money to invest.

this is our first house and I don't understand why the mortgage is covering my taxes???? Can I not just pay this myself???? I am currently paying weekly instalments on my mortgage of almost 235$ ... but only $something like 180 is going towards my mortgage... the rest to taxes ?!?!?!!

Thank you Retiredat63!! That makes it easier to understand :)