The NY Times has a new article They Supply the Garage, You Bring the Elbow Grease where you rent space hourly or daily for DIY car repairs. The article referenced GarageTime as a place to search for a residential or commercial garage space in your area. Most commercial spaces include lifts, while others are essentially listing their large driveway with an electrical connection and perhaps an air compressor. Be prepared to sign a liability waiver.

My related business idea is to use the space to teach people basic car repair skills like how to change your oil, replace brake pads, replace headlights, repair dents, or perform common after-market modifications like LED headlight swaps. YouTube has tons of how-to content, but I think there is still a market for someone to be walked through the process the first time. For example, someone could list their space and also upcharge for some lessons. The next time, the customer could just do it themselves.

I’m a bit surprised at the timing of this article, as isn’t the stereotypical Millennial is supposed to just stare at their phones and not do anything dirty with their hands? I also keep hearing that cars are becoming more and more like computers on wheels. I suppose it’s a nice little reminder that DIY is still alive, and some people still like to save a few bucks and do things for themselves.

You don’t even need a garage for many basic maintenance tasks that can save you money. For example, here’s a Youtube video I found the other day that shows you how easy it is to change both the engine air filter and cabin air filter on my 2015 Toyota Sienna. Your dealership shop will charge you at least $100 an hour for this knowledge. You’ll also probably be charged more than the $12 for the cabin air filter and $11 for the engine air filter that Amazon is asking. (These seem to have good reviews, but OEM parts are also available online.)

I feel like I’ve been reading a lot of backlash against the “latte factor”. I agree buying a Starbucks latte every day will not directly lead to poverty, and forgoing it will not make you independently wealthy. However, sometimes a concrete example is more powerful than a vague position like “just prioritize your spending” (which I believe, but sort of like “spend less than you earn”).

Instead of the small stuff, I prefer to start with the biggest expenses and work down from there. You may consider your mortgage and car payments to be a “fixed” expense, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be reduced. Tom Welsh of Humble Dollar has a post Pay to Play which includes a very simple test to see if you are spending an excessive amount on your social status, possibly at the expense of your future basic needs. No calculator required. No budgets.

How can we tell if we’re engaging in heavy social spending? Two simple tests can help you analyze your own degree of social spending.

Test No. 1: Did you pay $57,000 or more for your car – a 50%-plus premium to the average $38,000 new car price?

Test No. 2: How many rooms in your home are used by people every single day? Divide that number by the total number of rooms in your home. Is it 50% or less?

My current vehicle is a 2015 Toyota Sienna, bought used for well under even the average number. It creates zero excitement and is little more than a reliable appliance, but I have come to love it (and its sweet sliding doors) for what it is. We are a family of 5 inside a 2,000 sf house, and every single room is definitely used every single day, often by multiple people at the same time. We prioritized room, safety, and reliability in the car. We prioritized location with the house, with minimal commute time, while also trying to make it smaller (and cheaper) but still allowing for a home office.

Now, a luxury car and a big house may be your prioritized expenses and well within your means. Which is great. But if it isn’t, you may have found something to cut back on that is much more powerful than skipping the Starbucks. Moving is a huge pain, but it’s a one-time change to which you quickly adjust, while potentially improving your overall financial picture for the rest of your life.

In the post How Well Do Americans Balance Income and Spending? by the St. Louis Fed, they examine the breakdown of household spending as compared to income.

In terms of the big picture, 55% of US households were net savers (earned more than they spent), 30% broke even, and 15% ran an income deficit (earned less than they spent). However, that’s everyone across all income levels, and thanksfully they looked deeper in the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances and broke it down further by income quartile.

It is not surprising that lower income households overall have a harder time spending less than they earn. Instead, I would consider these two observations:

Out of the households in the bottom income quartile earning less than $27,000 per year, roughly 75% of them manage to break even and/or save money each year. This is not to say that households that are earning close to the poverty line ($26k for a family of four) are not struggling. However, I think a family that is “just getting by” on a $100,000 income would appreciate their situation more if they know that so many $26k income families are breaking even at this level, with a third of them even managing a surplus.

Out of the households in the top income quartile earning over $98,000 per year, roughly 25% manage to save nothing or go into debt at the end of each year. Yes, most households with a six-figure income are saving some money. But a quarter of them aren’t saving anything!

I have always been struck by the huge variation in spending by the same number of humans in the same city. The family earning $50,000 finds a way to spend $50,000. The family earning $250,000 finds a way to spend $250,000. If you have a relatively high income, that is a huge opportunity. Don’t waste it. If you create a budget surplus and invest it in productive assets, one day those assets will do the “work” to make money instead of you.