[...] that index funds outperform other mutual funds; Frugal Trader at Million Dollar Journey argues against upgrading your home; and Five Cent Nickel has an awesome discussion of managing asset allocation across a number of [...]

- forget about outside and landscaping for a few years. Let the ground settle down before digging it up again.
- enjoy the trees in your backyard planted by your neighbors, while keeping your lawn clear, and working on the master plan for a properly organized landscape in a few years. By that time you’ll have a better idea of what you really want to enjoy you personal outdoors, and will avoid mistakes some of your neighbors will make.
- remember that quite a few of the Jones are there just for a few years to do a flip. Their goal is not to upgrade to enjoy, but to upgrade to sell it for more money. Some of their cheap but flashy upgrades won’t last more than a few seasons.
- in a couple of years paint garage door, and decorative trims into colours of your choice using quality paint. For under $100 you’ll have a house that will look nicely among all the neighbors who still have boring default colour schemes. Remember your garage door must use less prominent colour than the entrance door to keep a nice welcoming balance of colours.
- upgrade with builder only what will be extremely expensive to change later (i.e. oak staircase, pickets, cabinets, rough-in in the basement, 6ft-wide vs 5ft-wide patio door). Everything else can be done for much less money at a later point
- buy your outdoor fertilizer and tools in the Fall fo the next year. Fertilizer can be bought for as little as $1 per bag versus $7 – $15 in the Spring.
- use Home Depot card to save 10% and free-finance your initial high costs for period of six months to a year (frequent promotions)
- check out Costco for cheap moderate-quality indoor furniture sales at the end of every Winter season
- $35/monthly for StarChoice is a good deal (free HD, and good selection of channels with time-shifts)
- don’t sign up for fixed-rate gas supply, variable rate is proven to be cheaper
- combine your home and car insurance
- don’t get suckered into long and expensive home alarm contract by your builder
- make sure to bother your builder right away whenever problems arise with your newly-constructed home
- custom window covering will cost over $3,000 for the whole house, so pay attention to promotions, and possibility of using pre-made blinds or draperies
- don’t do driveway sealing by yourself – you’ll save a measly $20 and will have to spend two days to do it properly. It’s better to pay $70 – $100 bucks to have it done professionally.
- avoid small bulb halogen lighting – my kitchen fixture, while it is cheap and looks nice, sucks 300 Watts of power
- buy and install a quieter belt-driven garage door opener. Prices have fallen by 30% in the last decade. You can do the installation yourself in under 5 hours with no experience

[...] Saving Strategy: Avoid Upgrading your Housing @ Millionaire Dollar Journey [...]

I then moved into a semi-decent condo, it’s a lot nicer than my older apartment. It seems like we all have it in us when it comes to the better quality of living. Some people I think just like to over step their bounds and spend EVERY paycheck on their living expenses, this is where it’s trouble.

[...] from Million Dollar Journey presents Saving Strategy: Avoid Upgrading your Housing, and says, “A discussion of how upgrading your housing can be more expensive than you [...]

[...] -Lazy Man & Money ponders the future of peer to peer lending and Million Dollar Journey has some tips on watching out for your housing costs. [...]

[...] Dollar Journey writes about avoiding to upgrade your housing. This is something that’s extremely difficult for me to think about. I have no problem living [...]

[...] Saving Strategy: Avoid Upgrading Your Housing Million Dollar Journey explained why it’s hard to live a frugal life when buying a new house or upgrading your current housing. [...]

It’s best to do as much as you can before you have kids because it will be so much harder when they come along.

Plus the stress of living through renovations is extremely tough even though it may not appear to be.

You are going through a stage of your life where you are spending a lot but eventually it will ‘calm down’. You should see what I see here in Toronto – people rip out a perfectly nice new kitchen because they are BORED.

[...] Saving Strategy: Avoid Upgrading Your Housing – Million Dollar Journey brings up some excellent points regarding upgrades to your home. In many cases there is much more to it than just the cost of the upgrade. [...]

I guess the whole idea is that if you can afford to live/drive the nicer things then you can afford to maintain and fix them as well.

Keeping up to the Jones’ can be a great way to lose a lot of money. Most homeowners will want to have the greenest weed-free lawn on the block (it’s a male thing I guess) and will spend an inordinate amount of money and time keeping it up. For myself, I have a manual push mower (this is a great way to be frugal and get some exercise at the same time) that I use once per week, leave the clippings in the grass for fertilizer and rarely water except during long dry spells. My lawn isn’t the greenest on the block, sprouts a few dandilions here and there and turns yellow during dry spells, but I much prefer to keep my time and money for other things. I usually add fertilizer once in the spring, costing about $10, and that’s it for lawn cost. All of my flowers and garden veggies I grow from seed indoors about 4-8 weeks before planting time, so my cost is maybe $20-$30 per year for seed packets that last me 2-3 years each. You have to love gardening to do this, though, as it requires a considerable amount of time and patience.

An alternative way to have cheap shrubs/flowers is to go at the end of the season, mid summer to fall, and pick up all of the dying perennials at the garden centre for a fraction of their cost in the spring. Put them in the ground when you get them, give them a few weeks to root in before frost, and the next spring you’ll have a bunch of lovely perennials pop out of the ground that will make you smile not only for their colouring but because you spent a total of $18.50 on 30 plants. Every year my wife and I scour the deals at the end of the season and pick out the plants that we want to see bloom the following year.

Watch with great amusement over the years as everyone in your block tries to outdo each other. It is much more prevalent in a newer subdivision than in an older one. If one person gets a new skidoo, there will be 7 people that get one in the next 3 months. Same with someone getting a new car, or doing fancy landscaping, or a bathroom/kitchen renovation/upgrade… the list goes on. Steer clear or beware!