Show notes
Today, we will discuss the long term impact of small decisions and why that $7 Starbucks really does impact your future. Well it does and it does't but you will find out on today's show. I will also discuss our usual sessions: Tales From The Prepper Pantry, The Weekly Shopping Report, Operation Independence.
Featured Event: AMAZING Workshops at the Self Reliance Festival:
- Sonny Puzikas, The Best Guy To Learn Self Defense from - Mindset and physicality
- Fight Hacker: Escapeology (Adapted to your level of fitness):
- The SCIENCE and ART of DE-ESCALATION - You always win the fight that never started:
- Homestead Medical: Advanced Wound Closures, go home with your practice kit:
- SRF bootcamp: We start with processing some rabbits and go from there. 7 instructors:
Sponsor 1: InvestableWealth.com
Sponsor 2: AbovePhone.com
Livestream Schedule
Tuesday Coffee with Angry Prepper and Shawn MIlls, 9:30am CT
Thursday: Great American Preparedness Tour Live, 6pm CT
Friday: Homestead Happenings with the Tactical Redneck, 9:30am CT
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
- Meat flies out fo the freezer when doing carnivore! Spent $52 per person on "groceries" counting meats we grew here at fair market price, or actual cost.
- Planted a bunch of swiss chard for late fall $30 total in purchased plants
Weekly Shopping Report from Joe
Dollar Tree: Stock levels were good, and she commented again about the holes she saw last week at Hobby Lobby.
Home Depot: A 2x4x8 was unchanged from last week, at $3.85.
Aldi: They again have the Cornish hens (essentially very small chickens). We like those. We found everything we wanted except Nutella. This included the new variety of wet cat food. Staple prices were: bread (20 oz. white): $1.39; eggs: $3.76; whole milk: $2.85(-); heavy cream: $5.39; OJ: $3.45; butter: $3.99; bacon: $3.99; potatoes: $4.49 (-); sugar: $2.99; flour: $2.35; and 80% lean ground beef: $4.39.
A gallon of untainted regular gasoline remains at $3.599.
Operation Independence
- Im paying off my mortgage right after this show
Leveraging your home to build something that gives you ongoing resilience, especially when money costs less than inflation is a tool that people have used for a long time to get ahead.
But there is also a trap in there.
If you leverage, and leverage, and leverage, and then fail, you can lose the home you are living in.
One of the amazing things about the US is that home and property ownership is relatively easy, even now when things have gone up, interest rates have gone up, etc. Bi we can buy our homes, outright. And if we organize them right, they can become a source on livelihood. Still. To this day, in 2004.
But I was supposed to talk about the $7 coffee at Starbucks and that it does, on fact, matter very much when you build your financial foundation. Bluntly, if you don;t fix your income problem, that $7 coffee may not change your life – but if you can use it to change your mindset, it can be the catalyst.
Why? I mean, every penny pincher article about getting a handle on your spending starts with the coffee. We really should call is scoffee because it seems so ridiculous.
But here is the thing:
- I had already planned to pay off my mortgage ahead of schedule - my plan was September 2025
- I rounded up by $3-9 per payment the whole time, along with added a 2 payments when there was extra
- I ended up paying off my mortgage 12 months (and with less total interest) early
But back to the coffee problem.
People hear about the Starbucks and are like - but I don't buy one every day. In fact, I rarely buy one. I've already cut that. But I paid a mortgage off and saved at least hundreds if not thousands in interest by adding 1 starbucks coffee per month to my principle balance on my home.
But what is your mindset?
- By default: It is easier to buy a $7 coffee than a $400 coffee maker
- Carry through to all parts of life..
- Vevor Vacuum Sealer VS Vacmaster
- Vevor Raised Beds vs Wood Ones, Vs self made
- Manageable prefabbed kitchen cabinets vs waiting
And that mindset is in fact about the $7 coffee. The $7 coffee is a symbol for making short term choices that don't serve the long term goal.
- What is your long term goal
- What do you have in place for that now and what needs to change, be developed, be accomplished to do this?
- What do you need to do every day to make this happen?
Simple terms = success - this is why we hammer the My3things language so very hard - and Marge is pretty good a rewording over on the Telegram group FWIW
Complicated = not understanding really well = you wont do it
But there is a part 2 here guys.
I almost could not pay off my mortgage today despite the fact that I triggered a clause that makes me pay it off. When your principle drops below your monthly payment, you have 30 days to pay it off.
But my payoff amount is close to $5,000. My savings has been tapped pretty hard this year for a number of personal reasons. That $1000 emergency fund doesnt magically become $5000.
I could have borrowed that from a friend, put it on a card, or any number of things.
But then I realized that one of my side hustles has an account. An account I have never tapped because reinvesting in the side hustle is how you make them grow into a full time hustle.
And so for real guys, not having 1 coffee per month, adding 2 windfalls to the tone of a single month's payment toward my principle, and starting a side hustle is why today, right after this, The mortgage will be gone.
And guess what I am doing with the "extra money" every month?
Saving it to turn it into an asset. That payment is going toward the future one way or another.
GUYS! Don't forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
Resources
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
