Tim Mueller

Comments:

• Michael, where do you live that a years worth of water is only $158? Is that for a house or something else? The only bottled water I use is distilled water, which I use for drinking water after our water was contaminated with cryptosporidium in 1993 here in Milwaukee. The distilled water is also chlorine free. I buy two gallons a week at a little over a dollar a gallon. The best well water I've ever had was at a small rental cabin that I stayed at over night right, next to the shore of Lake Superior this past summer in upper Michigan. It almost fizzed coming out of the faucet.

  Post: Truth is Often Stranger Than Fiction

  Link to comment from October 5, 2024

• Jonathan, I agree with all the points you made. It's nice to retire with money in the bank from not over spending and living within you means. It would drive me crazy to have the large credit card bills most people have. Paying off my mortgage was one of the best things I ever did. Which I did long before I retired. Most of the time I can resist corporate marketing. When I haven't, and convinced myself I really needed something, then a year later I tell myself I must have crazy and should have thought more before buying. I hate paying full price for anything and will wait sometimes months or a year or more for a sale or black Friday. I do like to buy things that are higher quality. Usually the best is the cheapest in the long run, but not always, sometimes second best is the best deal. It drove me crazy recently when I bought a new heavy wool Mackinac coat from Johnson Woolen Mills at full price. No matter how much I searched I couldn't find it at discount or on sale anywhere. They never have sales, but the quality is so high I know it will last forever. At least the shipping was free. Same as you, I book ahead for vacations, mainly to get the best deal. Also when I was younger, I could never justify a first class plane ticket. Now I think they're the best thing in the world. Big SUV rental vehicles are nice also. The last two years I've gone with extra large Ford Expeditions. They actually aren't that much more expensive than a medium size car (at least at Avis) and the extra room and ride are wonderful. I'm single, so don't have a immediate family to leave money too but I do give God his share. I heard Jon Templeton say once that a person will never be truly successful unless they tithe on a regular basis. The Bible says God will bless you now if you do, plus earn treasure in heaven. I don't know how he does it but I have more money now in my wallet, and in the bank, then before I started tithing on a regular basis. Its just amazing.

  Post: My Spending Rules

  Link to comment from September 28, 2024

• I can see Johnathan's point and have done the same thing a few times over the years but it depends on the dollar amount. While attempting a dual head gasket and cylinder head rebuild on my 1996, 308K mile Chevy Lumina Van last summer, I decided the exhaust valves were too pitted from the hot exhaust gasses to be reused and needed to be replaced. The Rockauto supplier (who was supposed to be a supplier to engine rebuilders) I went with only had four of the six needed so I ordered those (paid extra for 2 day shipping) and picked up up the other two valves locally. When the valves arrived, they didn't look right. When I compared them to the old valves, they were too short, but all the part numbers were correct. The only thing I could figure was the supplier sourced their parts from other suppliers and one of them had put the wrong valves in the correct bags. I wasn't going to eat the cost of those valves. It gave me great satisfaction to send those valves back to Rockauto (who paid for return shipping), have them investigate the problem, and credit me a refund.

  Post: Getting Rolled by Jonathan Clements

  Link to comment from September 21, 2024

• I'm 68 and have been retried two and a half years. I've found to keep sharp I have to exercise regularly, get enough sleep, don't eat anything before going to bed, try to go to sleep at the same time every night and the biggest, stop looking at any kind of electronic screen at least three hours before going to bed. The blue light is bad for sleep. That means no smartphone, no tv and no computer. The results of doing that(when I can, they are such temptation) are just amazing. My eyesight and hearing get better, my time sense slows down, and my thoughts are as clear as a bell. It also helps that I have never been a smoker or a drinker. I also read a lot (18 books on investing, including Johnathan's, also Bible reading) and I try to do, or attempt to do, new new things. Last summer I did a double head gasket repair on my van(308K miles) and this year I had a solar panel system installed on my house. Back in June, I finally did a three day trip I had been thinking about for years. Milwaukee up to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum on the shore of Lake Superior, across the Mackinac Bridge, down the west side of lower Michigan, then the Lake Express high speed car ferry across Lake Michigan back to Milwaukee. It's also important get out of the house and be around people. I try to go to every family gettogether and church activity I can and I never turn down a lunch date. Being single, loneliness can creep up, and that can suck the energy out of you so slowly you won't even notice.

  Post: The Persistence of Memory by Ken Cutler

  Link to comment from September 21, 2024

• I've found some great deals at auctions also. But I've also gotten carried away and paid too much. You have to have a dropout limit and stick to it. You also have to check items over very carefully. I've found some good things that other people overlooked. However sometimes I didn't do a good check and now have a few things I shouldn't have bid on.

  Post: Matters of Motivation

  Link to comment from September 14, 2024

• Great article on TIPS. Thanks for giving the ladder building details. The only problem I see with TIPS is that you have to trust that the government is honestly reporting the inflation rate. I don't believe they have. I think since 2008 the real rate has been under reported by at least 50%. It does seems to have become more honest recently.

  Post: Laying Down a Floor

  Link to comment from September 14, 2024

• Dave, your a guy after my own heart. You made the right decision going with the standard A/C. I did the same three years ago after I did some research and discovered the multi-stage A/C's with a computer board in the outside condenser unit usually go bad. I've always tried to buy either the best, or second best. I've found that the best is usually the cheapest in the long run. I really do hate to pay full price for anything though. If I don't need something right away I'll wait months or sometimes a year or more something to come on sale, or for black Friday to roll around. Like you, I also was a buyer of Sears craftsmen tools when they were still made in the US. Snap-on probably was the best but I just couldn't justify their prices. I've never had a craftsmen tool break either, except for a spark plug socket that I had used an extended breaker bar on. That was the only time I tried to buy a replacement from Snap-on, but then I couldn't get the local dealer to stop by my house. Several years ago, Samsung's top end stainless steel refrigerator was the most beautiful refrigerator I had ever seen. With top end features like four separate computer controlled, isolated zones, one refrigerator, one freezer, and two that could be switched between refrigerator and soft freeze. It was around $4000 at Best Buy, much more than I was willing to pay. I waited a year and a half until I found one on closeout plus scratch and dent for $1700. That was still a lot but I've never had a problem with it and I like looking at it every day. As far as vehicles, my only new one was a 1979, made in Germany, Ford Fiesta. I still have it but parked it years ago when the engine head cracked and never got around to fixing it. I've gone used since and currently have a 96 Chevy Lumina Van with 308K miles that I love. It was last year the body was made out of a plastic composite that can't rust. I do all my own work, even front end alignments, and replaced both head gaskets last year. Over the years, I've never liked any of the new vehicles I've seen at the autoshow's, but this year I finally like the Honda Ridgeline small pickup that I may order new. I used to fly coach for a long time, but a few years before retiring I started flying first class and find it well worth the money.

  Post: Good Enough for Me

  Link to comment from August 10, 2024

• I retired 2 1/2 years ago. Looking back, staying out of debt, even when I was younger, was one of the best things I ever did. There's interest and dividend compounding, but I've never heard anyone talk about "staying out of debt" compounding. I don't think people realize how much debt can cost over the years. For instance, for a 15 year fixed home loan, you end up paying about twice the amount of the loan back. For a 30, it's three times. Debt interest over the years can kill you and severely limit your funds for investing and a good retirement.

  Post: Turning on a Dime

  Link to comment from August 10, 2024

• A very informative article by Adam. Two percent inflation over ten years means the value of the currency drops by twenty percent. I don't see how that's good and what are people on fixed incomes supposed to do? Basically, the fed thinks its ok to steal two percent of our money every year. The US and most of the world were on the gold standard until 1971. The price of gold was set by the government and international agreement. One ounce before 1952 was $20.67 and after was about $35.60.That's not because there was a lot more gold floating around but because the supply of money was limited and it had that much more value. After 1971, when Nixon took us off the gold standard, the price of gold started to rise, along along with inflation and the supply of money, until now the price of gold is $2,454 per ounce. The argument that deflation is bad because people put off spending is kind of shallow and only goes so far. Eventually people are going to run out of things and have to buy. The government likes inflation because they can overspend and then use money that is worth less to pay off the debt which is a fixed amount. I would like to see the US Fed have the same mandate as the German Fed (Deutsche Bundesbank) which is to ensure price stability or zero inflation.

  Post: Down With Inflation

  Link to comment from August 3, 2024

• Jonathan, all good things to do while we can. I've really enjoyed reading HumbleDollar. I don't know if you're a church going man, but if not, it might be something to consider. If interested, I would recommend you read the third chapter of the book of John, from the King James version of the Bible (the most accurate translation).Then read the whole book of John. Then start at Matthew and read through to Revelation. Then, if you have time (or ask God for time) go to Genesis and read through to Malachi (the last book of the old Testament. Just a suggestion.

  Post: No Slowing Down

  Link to comment from July 28, 2024