First time poster - admire MMM quite a bit.
In spite of the fact I own two PU's (one brand new) I'm not here for any advice. My current family of four actually spends about the same as MMM's famly of 3 on a yearly basis - under 30k total - (and we rent not own) - and the best part is I don't think we are particularly deprived or super frugal in any area.
I know the whole clown car (truck) thing is a big deal here - but there are more than a few situations where a PU works just fine ( or in our case, two :) ) IMO there are really three main issues that people get into trouble with in regards to vehicles - first, they go for status instead of value, second, they finance a depreciating asset, and third, they simply drive too much. Owning a small car does not make you a frugal person - I've owned lots of vehicles over my life and while it is true that small cars can be slightly less expensive than bigger ones, in the end most vehicle expenses result simply from owning a vehicle period. For example, insurance for my small car ran about $25 to $30 a month for liability only - that does not change much if you buy a bigger vehicle or a PU. It also does not cost more to pay for repairs - in fact some of the smaller cars can cost MORE for repairs. Maintenance is not much different either - an oil change is an oil change, tires might be a bit more. About the only place you actually save would be on the initial purchase price and for gas. Except that my brand new PU truck now gets between 22 and 24 mpg (V6 with 8 speed trans) and while a few small cars get 40 mpg or better, far more do not.
My family of 4 moves on average once a year. This year we are in WA, last year in TX, before that in OR, etc etc. I work contract work so we move where the work is. This involves packing everything we own into a vehicle (usually with a trailer) and going. We have this pretty much down to a science - our OR to TX move took us 72 hours to pack and go.
So we move and generally choose an apartment no further than about 10 mins from the new job. This is usually about 2 to 5 miles commute. Kids are homeschooled (of course) for a lot of different reasons :) Wife does not work (handles all the homeschool, finances, household stuff). We go shopping on the weekends for grocery type stuff, 95 percent of the rest we order online - example : just got 7 pairs of eyeglasses last week - total cost $75 delivered to our door (Zenni). My wife is a master deal finder. It's her hobby. She finds all kinds of free and cheap stuff online.
The bottom line is we put about 6k miles a year on our pickup - including the 1k to 2k yearly moves we make. In the past we have had used cars, and while they have their plusses, lately I think they are not quite the deal they once were. Our last 'car' cost us over $8000 in repairs (obviously in hindsight it should have been dumped, but it only had 60k on the odometer and if it could have been fixed could have easily lasted another 10 years at the 6k yearly driving we do.
The dumped car led to a used pickup - another 60k miler. And it shortly developed issues as well, altho these I fixed myself. But finally it occurred to me that I ought to consider new. Reason being - we only drive 6k a year now. When I retire, that will drop to probably one third or half that number. Insurance, including full coverage on the new truck and liability on the old truck runs $340 for 6 months (1k deductible). The truck cost 35k (cash) out the door - gets 22+ mpg, and should run to 100k + miles without anything other than oil changes (knock on wood :) ) the new trucks have sealed transmissions so no maint on them. 100k miles for us is probably 25 to 30 years of driving. That works out to a little more than 1k per year or about $100 a month. The old truck is a nice backup if anything goes wrong. I expect to give it to one of my kids in 8 to 10 years still with about 80k still on it.
Granted there is the opportunity cost of not investing that 35k - but I don't really have MMM's faith in the System maintaining itself as long as he thinks it will. Good on anyone who does, but all investments place your principal at risk, and I'm well past the age where I can sit back and watch it grow anyways - I'll pile up cash and useful tools and take my chances with what is coming down the pike :)
If you want to have financially secure life, the best thing to do, IMO is to secure those things that cost the most by paying them off - i.e. debt is the biggest enemy. In many parts of the country you can buy a house in a small town for well under 50k - buy a new car (cash) with the idea of keeping it until you or it dies - these are two of the best moves you can make IMO.
Anyways - blah blah blah - fun to be here and to read everyone's experiences.