Author Topic: What's your Mustachian superpower?  (Read 8824 times)

Not Sure

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What's your Mustachian superpower?
« on: February 09, 2020, 04:14:32 PM »
I went into the "What makes you "officially" Mustachian?" thread thinking it was going to ask a different question.

That question might be stated as, What is your Mustachian superpower?

My Mustachian superpower is my house:  420-square-feet and owned outright.  Needless to say, it's awesome.

How about it, Do you have a Mustachian superpower?

Buffaloski Boris

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2020, 06:14:04 PM »
What a great question!

I have two superpowers. My first one that people here will recognize, is that I知 a Very Stupid Personョ️. No, really. As a stupid person, I never really absorbed the lesson that conforming with social norms is a really good idea. But here痴 the thing: nonconformity means a great amount of freedom to do what I consider to be right. It also means that there are those fleeting moments where I get people to think and I get their BEST. I get these rare insights that I would never get otherwise. Those moments make it worthwhile. The bad news is I知 often excluded from a sense of community.

My second superpower that is not known about here at MMM is that I知 a pretty good scratch cook. And I specialize in the inexpensive.

iris lily

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2020, 06:28:06 PM »
For the past 32 years we have paid cash  for everything. Interest is The Enemy. We have multiple (cheap) cars and houses.

Zikoris

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2020, 07:04:45 PM »
My Mustachian superpower is not actually liking any of the consumer stuff people spend money on. The whole thing is a hell of a lot easier when you actively dislike things like restaurant food, cars, shopping, coffee, and so on. For people like me, saving tons of money is incredibly easy, automatic, and does not require one iota of discipline, sacrifice, or suffering.

Kazyan

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2020, 07:30:50 PM »
Superpowers? Goodness, no, I'm just mediocre-to-halfway-decent at most principles of Mustachianism, which combine to get the job done at a B-.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2020, 07:33:46 PM »
Mine is an extreme aversion to malls. I go from zero to homicidal rage in about a minute if forced into a mall situation.

I think I may also be a very stupid person, as above. Super power? Ok, I'll take it!

I'm also extremely good at seeing potential. Not a lot of people can see potential in old broken junk, but I can, and then I turn it into amazing stuff that people ask where I got.

goat_music_generator

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2020, 09:27:21 PM »
I'm pretty proud of how good I've gotten at bike repair over the past few years, just from the time I've invested in fixing my own bike as it has issues and building a new bike from scratch. It's gotten to the point where for several minor issues, I can notice the problem, diagnose it, and fix it (replace a brake cable, replace the chain, adjust brakes, ... few other things).

Still a long way to go, but it feels so good to be able to just handle most things myself.

I recently had to take a wheel to a mechanic to get it trued. Turns out the rim was bent, so I had to get a new wheel anyway. Overall, it was well worth the $15 I paid in truing to get it temporarily fixed, and have the knowledge that I'd need to get a new rim! Someday maybe I'll get to the level of experience and equipment needed to true wheels, but it's just not worth it for me right now.

kei te pai

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #7 on: February 10, 2020, 01:38:55 AM »
I am an Op Shop (charity shop) Queen. Cashmere jumpers my specialty.

2sk22

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #8 on: February 10, 2020, 02:44:55 AM »
Nice topic! My superpower is simply the ability to simply leave my automatic investments investments (both 401k and post-tax) alone and resist any urge to interfere with them :-)

Linea_Norway

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #9 on: February 10, 2020, 03:00:00 AM »
As a student, I always had my own rule that debt was something you should only take up for a mortgage or for a study that would generate a good income job. This idea has always made me sceptical against consumer debt. I have a more nuanced view of debt today, but it was good to have then.

We have kept camping in tents instead of upgrading to hotels like most people do. I still have the idea that hotels are a luxury I cannot afford, which is not the case.

Siebrie

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2020, 03:28:48 AM »
Being taller than average in a small-sized country (both the country and the people :)), and having really long arms, I have to wear my longsleeved tops for a long time, mending when I need to, saving money unintentionally.

Enjoying eating simple food, cooked from scratch. Fancy restaurant meals (the dishes with a five-line paragraph on the menu) are wasted on me.

Tom Bri

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2020, 04:15:22 AM »
Having very little interest in money, and little problem not buying things.

The low interest in money makes it easy to stick my investments in a few Vanguard funds and leave them there. The drawback is that it is hard to study deeply enough to do a good job when the topic is just boring. So I came here and asked a few questions and lovely mustachians who love this stuff gave advice. A little time spent reviewing other sources of info and I ended up following the advice. It has worked out fine so far.

Mike in NH

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2020, 07:05:34 AM »
"...for my greatest skill, has been to want but little."

If I'm not allowed to steal Thoreau's ready-made answer to the question, I think my superpower has to be curiosity.

It has always led me to read, learn, challenge myself, not be afraid to go see what's on the left when everyone else is going right.

Aelias

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #13 on: February 10, 2020, 07:40:15 AM »
Extreme temperature adaptability.  House goes down to 60 in the winter (somewhere in the 50s at night or during the day when we're no home), and up to 85 in the summer.  Sometimes it's uncomfortable, mostly when the seasons are changing. But we adapt and it's fine.

thesis

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #14 on: February 10, 2020, 08:05:11 AM »
Calling the top. /s

I guess I could say mine is minimalism, but not in the sense of those old articles where some dude has literally 100 things only (which usually doesn't even make sense when you really look at things). More along the lines of having put serious effort into analyzing the things I own and taking the plunge throwing things out. Several years ago I killed about half of my closet boxes that way, which made for some significant compounding of marginal returns on crap elimination. I've hit the psychological barrier for the vast majority of what's left. I'm sure others have done better, though, but having come from a family that loves their stuff, I feel like I've really achieved something meaningful. And dang those little boxes of things can be tough to work through.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2020, 08:07:15 AM by thesis »

Greystache

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #15 on: February 10, 2020, 08:24:53 AM »
My superpower is my shop. With the tools in my shop I can repair things myself. I can repurpose items and keep them out of landfills. I have a creative outlet to design and build furniture that will last a lifetime.

Much Fishing to Do

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #16 on: February 10, 2020, 08:30:29 AM »
Mine is my absolute hatred of: earning money to buy crap, going to the store to buy crap (if Amazon never happened I'd probably be worth twice what I am ;-), earning money to maintain crap, the time in maintaining crap, the time needed in cleaning/picking up/dusting around crap, having a house cluttered in crap, having to worry about crap that cost enough for me to have to worry about it...
« Last Edit: February 10, 2020, 08:32:22 AM by Much Fishing to Do »

bluebelle

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #17 on: February 10, 2020, 08:57:49 AM »
What a great question!

I have two superpowers. My first one that people here will recognize, is that I知 a Very Stupid Personョ️. No, really. As a stupid person, I never really absorbed the lesson that conforming with social norms is a really good idea. But here痴 the thing: nonconformity means a great amount of freedom to do what I consider to be right. It also means that there are those fleeting moments where I get people to think and I get their BEST. I get these rare insights that I would never get otherwise. Those moments make it worthwhile. The bad news is I知 often excluded from a sense of community.

My second superpower that is not known about here at MMM is that I知 a pretty good scratch cook. And I specialize in the inexpensive.
I know it's tongue in cheek when you say you're stupid.....because I was going to say my super-power is being intuitive and smart enough to see through the bullshit sales tactics.....like "you'll save the cost of the window replacement in just one year's heating bill" - sounds great, but who pays $10K for heat for a year?   Or time-share pitches about how much you "save" buying a time share.....I actually pulled out a calculator - just to 'play' with them.   I've never been concerned with impressing people with my 'stuff'.   I'm curious about what others think about me, but it won't change my behaviour to know.   And the older I get, the fewer fucks I give.

I'm a pretty good scratch cook as well as is DH - but 'nothing' is simple when he cooks, he likes to complicate things.  We don't eat in restaurants now, and can't remember the last time I thought it was better than what we could do at home.   And the salt - don't get me wrong, we salt our food, but I can't eat most restaurant food - it is SOOOOOOOOOOO salty, how do people eat that crap?

I think my greatest super power is that I'm happy with simple things.   I don't get a thrill out of 5 start resorts.   No wait - my greatest super power would be converting my very spendy spouse....although in all honesty, we're only semi mustachian, we just have high enough incomes that we can have a high savings rate without much hardship.   DH struggles a bit reading facebook post of people at fancy resorts and buying lots of 'stuff'.....I remind them that they're working to 65 and may be in for a shock with how drastically they'll have to downsize their lives.....and we'll be upsizing ours this year as he retires.

Davnasty

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #18 on: February 10, 2020, 09:26:05 AM »
Making cheap food even when I'm not worried about the cost.

We were tasked with making food to feed 25 people this week and decided on pulled jerk chicken, coconut rice w/ red beans, and coleslaw. We'll be reimbursed so we were more focused on making it good than making it cheap but after I did the math to figure how much to cook I did a rough estimate on cost and it should be just under $35.

That's not the absolute cheapest way to feed a lot of people, but if it turns out as well as the test batch we made this weekend, $1.40/person* will be more than acceptable.

*And there will almost certainly be leftovers
« Last Edit: February 10, 2020, 09:31:14 AM by Davnasty »

iris lily

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #19 on: February 10, 2020, 09:30:42 AM »
Mine is an extreme aversion to malls. I go from zero to homicidal rage in about a minute if forced into a mall situation.

I think I may also be a very stupid person, as above. Super power? Ok, I'll take it!

I'm also extremely good at seeing potential. Not a lot of people can see potential in old broken junk, but I can, and then I turn it into amazing stuff that people ask where I got.

This is a little bit me. The local middle class  mall is a horrible place with noise and little natural light. Hate it. The small upscale mall houses an arthouse movie theater, so I go there regularly. While all of the stuff for sale is stupid, the atmosphere is quiet and genteel. It has refined furnishings. That one I like.

I can spend only 12 minutes shopping for electronics. New tv? I dont care, give me a screen that displays stuff, not too big.

I love junk too and have had to stop collecting it from alleys. So many projects, so little time! My annual challenge to myself is to fix up at least one alley find or freebie and donate it to sell at the booth of our Park Conservancy痴 sale. My items always sell quickly partly because I price them low.

OtherJen

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #20 on: February 10, 2020, 09:52:04 AM »
I think my greatest super power is that I'm happy with simple things.   I don't get a thrill out of 5 start resorts. 

This is a big one. We are the same way. We genuinely enjoy camping and prefer it to a hotel vacation. We like having control over our food rather than needing to eat in restaurants all the time, and there's something really great about owning all our own camping gear and getting to spend several nights in a beautiful state park for only the cost of food, campsite rental, firewood, and the gas needed to drive to the park.

We also clean our own house, do our own yardwork, change our own oil in our cars, and DIY as many things as possible. Hell, I've even started knitting our sweaters, dishcloths, and kitchen towels, now that I've made enough hats/scarves to last for a good while.

My superpower might be that I actually enjoy grocery shopping for basic whole-food ingredients as inexpensively as is reasonably possible (I refuse to waste gas by driving far out of my way or to buy things that we won't use just because they're on sale/coupon discount). I also enjoy cooking from scratch as much as possible. Restaurants are reserved for a once-in-a-while treat when we want to eat things we don't make (e.g., sushi).

John Galt incarnate!

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #21 on: February 10, 2020, 10:19:28 AM »
What a great question!

I never really absorbed the lesson that conforming with social norms is a really good idea. But here痴 the thing: nonconformity means a great amount of freedom to do what I consider to be right.

I  too possess the Mu$tachian  power of nonconformity.

If there is  a nonconformity gene, my  manifestation of it  is pronounced.

Related to nonconformity, as a FIREd Mu$tachian  I also enjoy the power of "No."

"No, I don't want to do _________."

"No, I don't have to do _________."

"No, I won't do __________."

John Galt incarnate!

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #22 on: February 10, 2020, 10:28:13 AM »
Mine is my absolute hatred of: earning money to buy crap, going to the store to buy crap (if Amazon never happened I'd probably be worth twice what I am ;-), earning money to maintain crap, the time in maintaining crap, the time needed in cleaning/picking up/dusting around crap, having a house cluttered in crap, having to worry about crap that cost enough for me to have to worry about it...

A  communist  told me "The more you own the more you're owned."


2Birds1Stone

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #23 on: February 10, 2020, 10:35:23 AM »
I've become an environmentally conscious minimalist over the past 5 years, which has a nice byproduct of very low spending.

Trailing twelve month spending in a HCOL has been ~$17.5k, and my income has been 5X+ that during that period. 

triple7stash

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #24 on: February 10, 2020, 10:36:08 AM »
Awesome idea for a thread!

Off the top of my head I have three super powers...

1. Cryoskin - The ability to withstand cold temperatures without using heat.  It currently drops into the high 30s at night where I live and I never use the heater...I wish this applied to the A/C as well :(

2. X-ray Vision - Ability to "see through" what products are and see them over the lifetime of their use/cost.

3. Advanced Equilibrium - Never get too high or low by knowing that eventually hedonic adaptation will kick-in and this too shall pass.  Rough times are a learning process and always be humble in the good times.

Just Joe

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #25 on: February 10, 2020, 10:37:15 AM »
My superpower is my shop. With the tools in my shop I can repair things myself. I can repurpose items and keep them out of landfills. I have a creative outlet to design and build furniture that will last a lifetime.

Greystache beat me to it.

My super power is I fix things. Some it probably should just get recycled but I'm too dumb (or stubborn) to give up. Many years ago I did my first car engine valve adjustment. It took days before I learned how to get it just right. I'm the same way about computers. Given the time I can usually solve a nagging computer problem in three different operating systems.

I utterly despise throwing away things that have some little problem. Its easy to see how this could turn into a hoarding of bicycles, old cars, or lawn equipment for examples - but I resist. I did a clean out this summer when we moved. Made sure those things which were still useful went to people who could make use of them.

This super power served me really well when I was younger and poorer. I was able to flip cars and drive for free this way.   

TLDR: I'm cheap but I like quality things. Get cheap or free and broken, and do $25 worth of repairs.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2020, 10:41:48 AM by Just Joe »

ketchup

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #26 on: February 10, 2020, 10:38:53 AM »
I don't like stores.  Any stores.  Get in, get your shit, get out.  As soon as I enter a store, I'm figuring out the fastest way out.  Grocery stores are the only stores I visit with any frequency, and they can go to to hell too.

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #27 on: February 10, 2020, 10:40:03 AM »


I think my greatest super power is that I'm happy with simple things.   .

Whenever possible, I'll choose simplicity to avoid complication.

cupcakery

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #28 on: February 10, 2020, 10:46:55 AM »
I can cook almost anything.  I hear my cooking is fantastic.  It is cheaper and better than dining out.  I'm also really good at food preservation, which saves lots of money. 

My husband's superpower is that he can fix almost anything.  He is a genius at fixing things.  I can't even begin to count the tens of thousands he's probably saved us over the years.

Kris

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #29 on: February 10, 2020, 10:55:37 AM »
Chalk me up as someone who hates to go into stores or malls of any kind. So that's my superpower -- basically, other than the hardware store or the pharmacy, I hardly ever go into retail commerce spaces.

SunnyDays

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #30 on: February 10, 2020, 11:03:33 AM »
Mine is keeping big purchases to an absolute minimum.  One house in 27 years, so paid off, with no recurring buying/selling fees, moving fees, new/more furniture fees.  Two cars in 33 years.  You can do the math there.  Also, not a vacation person - I like staying home, enjoying my house and yard that I worked hard for.  Those three things alone have made a massive difference compared to the people around me.

JSMustachian

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #31 on: February 10, 2020, 11:08:51 AM »
Mine would be will power. I can resist any temptation and this helps me keep my FIRE progress on track. 

honeybbq

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #32 on: February 10, 2020, 11:27:22 AM »
Mine is probably not as an acceptable and answer as has been given but:

-my earning power.

I am highly employable, I don't get fired or have unwanted periods of unemployment, and I make a very good salary. It's easy to save a lot of money when you make a lot of money.

bluebelle

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #33 on: February 10, 2020, 11:36:57 AM »
Making cheap food even when I'm not worried about the cost.

We were tasked with making food to feed 25 people this week and decided on pulled jerk chicken, coconut rice w/ red beans, and coleslaw. We'll be reimbursed so we were more focused on making it good than making it cheap but after I did the math to figure how much to cook I did a rough estimate on cost and it should be just under $35.

That's not the absolute cheapest way to feed a lot of people, but if it turns out as well as the test batch we made this weekend, $1.40/person* will be more than acceptable.

*And there will almost certainly be leftovers
may I ask how many pounds of chicken you're cooking and the price per pound?   I get that the rice and coleslaw will be pretty inexpensive and both will be crowd pleasers.

Davnasty

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #34 on: February 10, 2020, 11:58:42 AM »
Making cheap food even when I'm not worried about the cost.

We were tasked with making food to feed 25 people this week and decided on pulled jerk chicken, coconut rice w/ red beans, and coleslaw. We'll be reimbursed so we were more focused on making it good than making it cheap but after I did the math to figure how much to cook I did a rough estimate on cost and it should be just under $35.

That's not the absolute cheapest way to feed a lot of people, but if it turns out as well as the test batch we made this weekend, $1.40/person* will be more than acceptable.

*And there will almost certainly be leftovers
may I ask how many pounds of chicken you're cooking and the price per pound?   I get that the rice and coleslaw will be pretty inexpensive and both will be crowd pleasers.

7lbs of boneless skinless thighs @ 2.29/lb. That's enough in theory, unless the chicken is too good and people get greedy.

bluebelle

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #35 on: February 10, 2020, 01:21:20 PM »
Making cheap food even when I'm not worried about the cost.

We were tasked with making food to feed 25 people this week and decided on pulled jerk chicken, coconut rice w/ red beans, and coleslaw. We'll be reimbursed so we were more focused on making it good than making it cheap but after I did the math to figure how much to cook I did a rough estimate on cost and it should be just under $35.

That's not the absolute cheapest way to feed a lot of people, but if it turns out as well as the test batch we made this weekend, $1.40/person* will be more than acceptable.

*And there will almost certainly be leftovers
may I ask how many pounds of chicken you're cooking and the price per pound?   I get that the rice and coleslaw will be pretty inexpensive and both will be crowd pleasers.

7lbs of boneless skinless thighs @ 2.29/lb. That's enough in theory, unless the chicken is too good and people get greedy.
thanks....we would never see boneless skinless at $2.29, a smoking deal is $3.99 a pound here.....and since DH is a big eater, 4.5 oz a person sounds too light to me, especially if you think there will be leftovers.   I couldn't make the numbers work in my head, as just the chicken was coming out to more than $35 in my world.   Maybe I over-feed people, but even 6oz per person may not have any leftovers unless there are a bunch of light eaters.   Maybe I just have alot of big eaters in my world.

StarBright

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #36 on: February 10, 2020, 01:28:18 PM »
My Mustachian superpower is not actually liking any of the consumer stuff people spend money on. The whole thing is a hell of a lot easier when you actively dislike things like restaurant food, cars, shopping, coffee, and so on. For people like me, saving tons of money is incredibly easy, automatic, and does not require one iota of discipline, sacrifice, or suffering.

^ that is a total superpower when it comes to major savings. Whenever I see you post something like the above my brain basically always goes, "REALLY?!! How do you dislike restaurant food?!" (I mean, I totally understand not liking some restaurant food - but at this stage of my life I would almost never choose to cook for myself if I had my druthers).

Davnasty

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #37 on: February 10, 2020, 01:31:21 PM »
Making cheap food even when I'm not worried about the cost.

We were tasked with making food to feed 25 people this week and decided on pulled jerk chicken, coconut rice w/ red beans, and coleslaw. We'll be reimbursed so we were more focused on making it good than making it cheap but after I did the math to figure how much to cook I did a rough estimate on cost and it should be just under $35.

That's not the absolute cheapest way to feed a lot of people, but if it turns out as well as the test batch we made this weekend, $1.40/person* will be more than acceptable.

*And there will almost certainly be leftovers
may I ask how many pounds of chicken you're cooking and the price per pound?   I get that the rice and coleslaw will be pretty inexpensive and both will be crowd pleasers.

7lbs of boneless skinless thighs @ 2.29/lb. That's enough in theory, unless the chicken is too good and people get greedy.
thanks....we would never see boneless skinless at $2.29, a smoking deal is $3.99 a pound here.....and since DH is a big eater, 4.5 oz a person sounds too light to me, especially if you think there will be leftovers.   I couldn't make the numbers work in my head, as just the chicken was coming out to more than $35 in my world.   Maybe I over-feed people, but even 6oz per person may not have any leftovers unless there are a bunch of light eaters.   Maybe I just have alot of big eaters in my world.

Ya, cheap chicken is a big part of how we keep our food budget low and still eat meat. It really shouldn't be so cheap. The meat portion will be stretched with lots of onions and peppers and there are a few vegetarians.

bluebelle

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #38 on: February 10, 2020, 01:37:46 PM »
My Mustachian superpower is not actually liking any of the consumer stuff people spend money on. The whole thing is a hell of a lot easier when you actively dislike things like restaurant food, cars, shopping, coffee, and so on. For people like me, saving tons of money is incredibly easy, automatic, and does not require one iota of discipline, sacrifice, or suffering.

^ that is a total superpower when it comes to major savings. Whenever I see you post something like the above my brain basically always goes, "REALLY?!! How do you dislike restaurant food?!" (I mean, I totally understand not liking some restaurant food - but at this stage of my life I would almost never choose to cook for myself if I had my druthers).
there are very few things I get in a restaurant that I don't enjoy more at home.   We haven't mastered sushi yet, and I haven't tried making shawarma, and prime rib is better when it comes off a giant roast - so those things are usually better in a restaurant.   Steaks are better at home, vegetables are always better at home, I know I washed the salad ingredients (and washed my hands in general)....And fries are usually better in a big deep fryer with year old grease that what we cook at home....if I had unlimited funds, I might have a personal chef - but they would be cooking to my specifications, so like I cooked it myself.

Caoineag

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #39 on: February 10, 2020, 02:00:23 PM »
I am an excellent problem solver. I am so good at it that I often make smart people's jaws drop with the solutions I come up with. I apply this skill to my own life but during my career it kept me employed during the great recession as a temp when I was laid off and made me the first choice for the temp agency to send out. Anyone who used me once made a point of requesting me again and the temp agency was wracking up the accolades. I even received flowers from my temp agency with a personal thank you note for dealing with a particularly bad situation caused in part by both the client and the temp agency where I still managed to get the project done in time.

When they ran out of temp work to assign (again great recession), I was able to get work with another temp agency in part because of this skill. (Technically where she placed me shouldn't have accepted me because I didn't have the minimum required experience they had requested but after I solved a computer issue at the beginning of my interview for her, she told them that if they didn't try me out, they would regret it. Apparently they agreed because they kept me as a temp beyond the contract time until they got the budget to hire me full time and I remained there until retirement. They have told me that if I get tired of retirement, I can return anytime).

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #40 on: February 10, 2020, 02:03:48 PM »
hmm, fun question.

1. My first super power is that my favorite things to do are basically free.  Give me three friends/relatives and a deck of cards/set of dominoes, and I can be happy for HOURS.

2. I don't understand peer pressure.  I mean, I understand it conceptually, but I don't understand the concept of keeping up with the Jones.  I'm not the Jones, why would I want to live like them?  It's conceivable this is not actually a superpower but more a function of where I was raised/live.  I'm in a flyover state, and I'm not sure any Jones live here.

3. I don't see advertisements.  I don't know why but my eyes go right over advertisements on a newspaper page, in a magazine, on a website.  My eyes truly don't see them.

Aegishjalmur

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #41 on: February 10, 2020, 02:05:50 PM »
My Mustachian superpower was a one shot deal: Convincing DW to marry me.

Gerard

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #42 on: February 10, 2020, 02:06:05 PM »
I have a couple of food semi-super-powers that I only recently realized not everyone has.

I can look in the fridge/cupboard/flyer and figure out how to make something tasty, no matter how sparse or mismatched the available stuff.

And I can eat something new and usually tell what's in it and how it was made.

The other side of the equation: my kryptonite is my assumption that anything I try to repair will break and rip off one of my fingers.

EliteZags

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #43 on: February 10, 2020, 03:58:44 PM »
Entertainmentwise, gaming the social scene of my community (Orange County, CA) to be able to attend high end weekend events (backstage at shows, tables/bottle service, mansion/penthouse/beach parties, boat parties etc) hosted by high rollers that constantly blow loads of money on fun, without hardly ever having to spend anything myself. A lot of intricacies to becoming established into the scene but I'd say a couple main selling points is hosting occasional parties at my shared beach house in Newport (reciprocation), and having a large network of female friends to bring and invite to events (offering value/making connections)   
« Last Edit: February 10, 2020, 04:03:47 PM by EliteZags »

ender

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #44 on: February 10, 2020, 07:50:07 PM »
Optimizing everything.

You need a spreadsheet? Gotcha covered.

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #45 on: February 11, 2020, 04:25:00 AM »
I track our spending tenaciously. I have a simple approach involving paper, pencil and receipts. At the end of the month I add it all up. We analyze the various categories and look for further cost reduction opportunities.
We are Fat FIRE and don't really need to do this exercise, but we enjoy it. We look forward to the new monthly number.
We've been doing it since 2010, so by now we have become tracking experts.

ShastaFire

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #46 on: February 11, 2020, 08:21:03 AM »
"...for my greatest skill, has been to want but little."

If I'm not allowed to steal Thoreau's ready-made answer to the question, I think my superpower has to be curiosity.

It has always led me to read, learn, challenge myself, not be afraid to go see what's on the left when everyone else is going right.

Nice -  I like to think I have this too.   

I'm also good at taking the long view, rather than short-term gratification.  This is oddly handy when saving and investing money...

matchewed

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #47 on: February 11, 2020, 08:37:54 AM »
IDGAF

Eowyn_MI

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #48 on: February 11, 2020, 08:46:34 AM »
My Mustachian superpower is not actually liking any of the consumer stuff people spend money on. The whole thing is a hell of a lot easier when you actively dislike things like restaurant food, cars, shopping, coffee, and so on. For people like me, saving tons of money is incredibly easy, automatic, and does not require one iota of discipline, sacrifice, or suffering.

^ that is a total superpower when it comes to major savings. Whenever I see you post something like the above my brain basically always goes, "REALLY?!! How do you dislike restaurant food?!" (I mean, I totally understand not liking some restaurant food - but at this stage of my life I would almost never choose to cook for myself if I had my druthers).

I'm firmly in the "dislike restaurant food" camp.  First, I can cook food that tastes much better at home.  Also, I can buy better quality ingredients than the restaurants because I'm not trying to beat a razor thin profit margin.  When I go out to a restaurant, I'm one of those people who wonder where they sourced their chicken and beef and what type of lives did those animals have.  I don't say this out loud, of course, because I don't want to act like a snob.  Finally, at home, I can eat whatever portion size that I am hungry for and just put the leftovers in the fridge.  I don't have to choose between eating everything on my plate or asking for a Styrofoam take out container that will be used for a day and then contaminate the environment for the next 500 years.

Master of None

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Re: What's your Mustachian superpower?
« Reply #49 on: February 11, 2020, 09:57:27 AM »

I'm firmly in the "dislike restaurant food" camp.  First, I can cook food that tastes much better at home.  Also, I can buy better quality ingredients than the restaurants because I'm not trying to beat a razor thin profit margin.  When I go out to a restaurant, I'm one of those people who wonder where they sourced their chicken and beef and what type of lives did those animals have.  I don't say this out loud, of course, because I don't want to act like a snob.  Finally, at home, I can eat whatever portion size that I am hungry for and just put the leftovers in the fridge.  I don't have to choose between eating everything on my plate or asking for a Styrofoam take out container that will be used for a day and then contaminate the environment for the next 500 years.

For the underlined portion I have started taking my personal leftover containers with me to eat when we do decide to go. I can't stand all the waste that is associated with taking leftovers or ordering carryout. Sure you may look a little silly, but IDGAF...