People eat at restaurants for many reasons: It’s convenient. The food is delicious. We crave social interaction. We want a new environment. We like novelty. We can’t read nutritional labels – out of sight, out of mind. I used to dine out frequently. A few years ago, I resolved to cut back. But I can’t snap my fingers…
Let’s see a show of hands: how many of you actually make a budget? (Silence. Crickets chirping.) Yeah, I thought so. One of the most overplayed pieces of financial advice is “make a budget.” There are a small handful of nerds who jive with this idea. You dig data. You love crunching numbers. Good for…
A cornerstone of the Afford Anything philosophy is that every choice you make is a trade-off, and that applies equally to your time and your money. So what do you do about outsourcing? On one hand, the more you outsource, the more you trade money for the most valuable possession on earth: time. That itself…
A few months ago, I found a great deal on Groupon: two tickets to a murder-mystery dinner theater for $50, including both dinner and the show. I asked Will if he thought we should get it. “We’re trying to save money,” he reminded me. It was true. In fact, the previous day we had just…
Want to know more about world travel and tenants? Welcome to the latest installment of Readers Ask. Today I want to share two questions that AA readers posed last week.
Four months ago I declared that we’re renovating a 3-bed, 2-bath rental unit. You can see the “before” photos here. For the past 120+ days, contractors have torn out load-bearing walls, reinforced the foundation, fought water damage, ripped out floors, torn away drywall and filled several 30-yard dumpsters to the brim. Now we’re rounding the…
One of my rentals is back on the market. Last time, it took me three months to find a tenant. That’s because I made a crucial error which cost me $2,700 in lost revenue. You see, if I needed to rent a home, I’d check Craigslist. It’s the only place I’d search. I wouldn’t squint…
Welcome to the New Year. It’s been quiet around Afford Anything through the holiday season, but don’t worry: I’ve got big plans for this site in 2013. Which leads me to a topic I’ve been wanting to chat about for awhile: there are more worthy goals and worthwhile pursuits than we could ever accomplish in…
Many of my readers are rental property investors (or aspiring investors). But not all of them live in “cheap locations.” Several readers have asked what how to invest if they live in a place where houses don’t meet the One Percent Rule. Let’s answer this question by featuring Brian and Kristin, a couple in Arlington, Virginia,…
Yes, it’s true. “Don’t buy lattes” may be a personal finance cliché, but I literally buy a Starbucks coffee every day. I pay $1.78 for a tall (which is Starbucksian for “small,”) plus 54 cents for a refill. Daily damage: $2.32. That’s $71.92 per month, if I go daily (which I sometimes do). As anyone…