Cash Flow With Joe

Sitting at the laundromat with my bank account drained

Sitting at the laundromat with my bank account drained

 

So, I learned some very valuable lessons this week at the laundromat. First, laundromat has an “O” in it which is contrary to how I say it — “laundry mat.” Next, the machines there have come a long way since I was kid. They have timers on the washers now, which is awesome, and the dryers are very efficient. I know they’re very efficient because once upon a time you put in the amount of quarters required to start the machine and then added a few more to make sure the load was properly dried.

 

I did just that this time, putting in $1 to start the machine. That put 38 minutes on the clock. Even though the machine was set to high heat, I didn’t think that was enough time, so I added two extra quarters to get a full hour like my dryer at home would need.

 

Ya’ll, that was a mistake. Having the high heat on for that long shrank almost everything in that load — some things more than others. I have a pair of crew cut socks that are now the right size for my eight-year-old son to be wearing. We can wet most things and hang dry them again, but you can tell from the texture of the clothes that it got a little crispy in there.

 

Now, you may be asking yourself why I’m at the laundromat since I just referenced my dryer at home. That’s because my dryer had the audacity to stop working on us last week. And since I’m pretty handy with most things, I decided I’d take the dryer apart and see if I could figure out what was wrong because the machine was coming on and turning but we had no heat.

 

I have to say I was pretty proud of myself. I took the whole thing apart with no help from Google or Youtube. I got the case off and pulled the drum out to reveal the issue almost instantly. The heating coil was broken. If you’ve never seen one, a dryer’s coil is a long spring that makes a circle around the back side of the dryer. When electricity is connected to the coil, it heats up and dries the clothes. It’s the same principle as a hair dryer’s mode of operation, just a lot bigger.

 

I called Jimmy Payne’s Coast to Coast store in Calhoun, and they had a replacement coil in stock. It got there a little after closing time, but they stayed after for me. And I was grateful for that!

 

I installed the coil and tested it to make sure we got heat before I put the dryer back together. We did, and things were looking great. I put the machine back together and turned it on again.

 

My Dad has worked for Georgia Power my whole life. He has told me that all electrical things work on magic smoke. And if you let the magic smoke out, electrical things stop working.

 

Well, about 10 seconds after I started the fully assembled dryer, I heard something go “pop” and then smelled magic smoke leaving the dryer … and my heart sank. I was so frustrated I decided I would take it to an appliance repair man. It was going to be nearly a week before they could get to it, so we decided to look for another dryer.

 

Ashley and I don’t tend to buy new stuff for personal consumption if we can get around it. To us, there is just something fundamentally and fiscally wrong with spending your money on something that drops in value as soon as it’s purchased. As such, we tend to buy used appliances, and we found a dryer the next day.

 

I recently saw a thought-provoking quote. It said that it only takes $27.40 of miscellaneous spending a day to blow $10,000 in year.

 

As that sinks in, let me ask you something: what do you spend your money on regularly? Is it on capital assets — things that make you money? Or is it liabilities — things that take money away from you?

 

What if instead of spending $27.40 on lunch and coffee out each day, you put that money towards buying assets that would start making you money and one day allow you to be financially free? That’s the reason Ashley and I believe in putting every extra dollar we have towards buying capital assets like rental property, which gain value and produce income over time.

 

I left the laundromat that day to get a cashier’s check from the bank that almost completely drained our business account. And it wasn’t to buy a brand-new dryer, which can drain your bank account these days. Instead, it was to buy another rental property that will give us positive monthly cashflow, grow in value over time and provide us with financial freedom.

 

Joe and Ashley English buy houses and mobile homes in Northwest Georgia. For more information or to ask a question, go to www.cashflowwithjoe.com or call Joe at 678-986-6813.

 

 

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