If you're new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years on a median salary. The wiki page gives a good summary of the principles of the strategy. The key to success is to run your personal finances much like a business, thinking about assets and inventory and focusing on efficiency and value for money. Not just any business but a business that's flexible, agile, and adaptable. Conversely most consumers run their personal finances like an inflexible money-losing anti-business always in danger of losing their jobs.
Here's almost a thousand online journals from people, who are following the ERE strategy tailored to their particular situation (age, children, location, education, goals, ...). Increasing their savings from the usual 5-15% of their income to tens of thousands of dollars each year or typically 40-80% of their income, many accumulate six-figure net-worths within a few years.
Since everybody's situation is different (age, education, location, children, goals, ...) I suggest only spending a brief moment on this blog, which can be thought of as my personal journal, before looking for the crowd's wisdom for your particular situation in the forum journals.
If you enjoy the blog, also consider the book which is much better organized and more complete. You can read the first chapter for free, listen to the preamble, or see the reviews (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,Z). Subscribe to the blog via email or RSS. Get updates on the facebook page, join the forums, and look for tactics on the ERE wiki. Here's a list of all the ERE blog posts.
… the burner simply stops heating, but since the thermostat is still in the on position, the fan that drives the (no-longer) heated air stays on. As a result, the furnace will pipe cold outside air directly into the house. One should think the furnace would be smarter than that.
Thus when I woke up this morning it was 40F inside. Nothing remarkable although it did feel colder than usual. I currently wear PJs and sleep under 6 layers of blankets some of which are folded double, so it is hard to notice until you get out of bed.
The fix is to first realize that you have run out in the middle of the night before the heater turns into an cooling unit. Second, to override the thermostat. This is easy if you understand how it works. Rather than messing with the coil, I just pointed an electric heater at it for 30 seconds.
After switching propane tanks I had it up and running again in 10 minutes. But it is a good thing to know in case you don’t have a backup tank.
In other news, I just updated my
disclaimer. If there are any lawyers amongst the readers with an eye for these things, please have a look. I prefer not to go with the standard blurb, but obviously I also prefer it to be bulletproof against “I didn’t know hot coffee was hot”-lawsuits.
Originally posted 2009-12-06 08:15:55.
