Everybody loves to take sides. In the personal finance world, you?re either for frugality or focusing on big wins. We think to build wealth, you need both. If it takes money to make money, then where does that money come from? And once you make money, how are you supposed to keep any of it if you can?t control your spending?
Further Reading:
https://goo.gl/hPSy82
https://goo.gl/i9qhdz
https://goo.gl/CuVNd4
A friend of ours saw a picture of a chilled whiskey dispenser online. They thought it would be perfect addition to their office to entertain high end clients.
I decided I would attempt to make one with an old dehumidifier. This is my first attempt.
The results are in. We no longer have any backyard animals, but we do have some hard numbers to share with you about raising goats and chickens. In this video we answer the question: does homesteading save money?
In the past month, we lost 2 chickens to a mysterious predator, and gave our last one away. Blanche had 2 babies, Arthur and Stanley. And we failed to try our hand at gardening this spring. We have plans to fix our mistakes in the fall. But until then…
Lauren wanted to make wooden letters that spelled “love” for the living room. I thought it would be a good chance to try a micarta style layering of fabric and wood.
All was going well until the epoxy set up too fast half-way through. We changed gears and didn’t use the maple veneer I made, but ended up with a unique decoration and a memorable time together in the shop.
We’ve shared in the past that Mike used to have bad credit due to a foreclosure when he was 18 years old. Just this month (10 years later) it was removed from his credit report, so we thought it would be a good time to reflect on the pros and cons of building good credit.
Dave Ramsey is famously opposed to having any credit score whatsoever. We’re not so quick to jump on that bandwagon. Watch to find out when we think it’s a good idea to build credit, and when it’s not.
Links:
Appearance of Sh*t Together – https://goo.gl/HwlpzX
Car Payments are NOT OK – https://goo.gl/quksT0
How to build a lithium ion electric bike battery pack from recovered used laptop batteries. Save hundreds of dollars by salvaging 18650 li-ion cells from used or even dead laptop batteries bought off eBay.
My pack is 24 volt 20AH which should hopefully provide a 30-45 mile range per charge on my ebike (and cost less than $150 dollars). In the video I show you how to calculate the capacity, then wire and test the completed battery.
Don’t Throw That Microwave Away!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W2jiB8islo
Rinoa Super-Genius:
https://goo.gl/ByyxlN
I got to thinking about what I would do differently if I could go back in time. Would I go to college or learn a trade? I went to 1 1/2 years of college before dropping out, and I think that was the right decision.
There seems to be a growing number of college graduates with no jobs and plenty of student loan debt. Maybe more young people should consider learning a skilled trade like electric, plumbing, masonry, drywall, HVAC, etc.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying college isn’t a good choice. I’m saying it shouldn’t be a default choice after high school.
Simple Dollar:
https://goo.gl/92p3Vs
I built shelves to organize my power tools last week, but I needed a way to organize my extension cords. I was inspired by a Pinterest pin and the 5 in 1 coat hangers that you’ve “seen on TV.”
In this video I design my own space saving extension cord organizer that folds down flat against the wall when not in use. Overall I was very happy with the design and it’s working great!
I don’t have plans for this build, but if there’s enough interest I might put together a sketch or two.
This week I build power tool organization above my new tool board that we made last week. Each shelf was custom built to hold each power tool with a shelf below that organizes all of the cables.
I was pleasantly surprised with the results. It’s nice to finally have a place to store everything!
Have you ever wondered how you should answer the question, ?debit or credit?? How can store owners have minimum purchases and offer cash discounts? In this video we discuss the pros and cons of debit cards vs. credit cards.
When researching this video we found the history of the ?debit signature? fascinating, so we go off on a tangent. We finish by explaining the difference between running a debit card as credit and using a credit card.
Hope you enjoy 🙂
Research Links:
https://goo.gl/kgJ26Q
https://goo.gl/KGqGK3
https://goo.gl/TKDDmY
https://goo.gl/BbtJnK