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Give Me Your Best Lines!

December 10, 2019 by Mr. 1500 Days 52 Comments

I love DIY because I make it amusing.

  • Design is fun, especially when you nail it.
  • So is construction. Except when you nail your hand. Never mind.
  • Drinking a beer after looking at a great space you created is fun too. Just don’t drink the beer beforehand or you’ll nail your hand even more.

During construction, I love to leave easter eggs. Not real eggs, that would be gross. I’m talking about fun artifacts for the future remodeler to find.

As great as I think my designs are, the next person who moves in decades from now may not agree and will tear out all of my hard work. If that’s going to happen, I should leave her/him some messages.

I’m remodeling my bathroom now and one wall will be covered in shiplap. This is an opportunity to leave some presents underneath. I’ve already started…

Easter Eggs

My grandmother was an interesting person. As a child of the depression, she HATED to see hard-earned money pissed away. Whenever my siblings and I would visit, at random times, she’d sneer at us and unload this gem with much piss and vinegar:

Is there a more inspirational speech than Churchill’s “We shall fight on the beaches?” I don’t think so. I’m way too lazy to write it out, but this one is pretty good too:

This one from Jocko is one of my favorites:

On and on:

Your Turn

What are your favorite quotes, pieces of wisdom or truths?

Let me know in the comments and I’ll add some of them to my wall and show you the final product next week!

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Filed Under: Something Completely Different Tagged With: quotes, warren buffett

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Yyz says

    December 10, 2019 at 9:53 pm

    My day was successful if I finished with just a single trip to Home Depot

    Reply
  2. Andre says

    December 10, 2019 at 11:31 pm

    You‘ll miss 100 % of the shots you don‘t take — Michael Scott

    ;))

    Reply
  3. Matt says

    December 11, 2019 at 4:40 am

    “Nothing happens unless first a dream.” — Carl Sandburg

    This one is over-quoted, but I like it and very applicable to an FI mindset:

    “I took the one less traveled by,
    And that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost
    Like Winston, could write down the whole poem…

    Reply
    • John Doe says

      December 11, 2019 at 7:34 am

      The original is a classic. I like this one too:

      Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
      I took the one less traveled by. . .
      Since then I’ve been completely lost.
      Thanks for nothing, Robert Frost!
      -Chris Harris

      Reply
  4. chris haas says

    December 11, 2019 at 4:51 am

    Love people and use things because the opposite never works

    https://www.netflix.com/title/80114460
    I’m pretty far from a minimalist but I hopefully I can make small improvements.
    His quote is really profound in my mind.

    Reply
  5. Robocop says

    December 11, 2019 at 5:17 am

    “a man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone” Thoreau

    When i look at my brother in law who earns 300k a year but has credit card debt, i often think of the meaning of rich. I suspect i shall retire before he does

    Reply
  6. Rusty says

    December 11, 2019 at 5:27 am

    “Good Judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement” – Will Rogers

    “I have a life. And it only goes in one direction, Forward. – Don Draper character in the show MadMen

    Reply
  7. Anonymous says

    December 11, 2019 at 5:53 am

    You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream. – C.S. Lewis

    Reply
  8. Adam says

    December 11, 2019 at 7:44 am

    We are always more afraid than we wish to be, but we can always be braver than we expect. – Robert Jordan, from Lord of Chaos, Book 6 of The Wheel of Time

    Reply
  9. Deb says

    December 11, 2019 at 8:02 am

    “It’s not how many times you fall down, it’s how many times you get back up.”

    Reply
  10. Joe Chacko says

    December 11, 2019 at 8:28 am

    “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.” – Oscar Levant

    Reply
  11. financialfreedomsloth says

    December 11, 2019 at 10:04 am

    have buried a 100 gold pieces beneath the oak tree (where the rub is that you, off course, have no oak tree in the garden),
    financialfreedomsloth recently posted…Monthly expense report: OctoberMy Profile

    Reply
  12. Brian says

    December 11, 2019 at 10:19 am

    My Grandpa always told me, you should try to fix something yourself first because you might be surprised at what you can do. He would then follow this up with, if you don’t want to fix this again, at least now you know why you are willing to pay someone else to do it.

    Reply
  13. Marla says

    December 11, 2019 at 10:35 am

    Hi Carl – happy belated birthday! Here’s a good one:

    “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

    Anais Nin

    Reply
  14. Karen says

    December 11, 2019 at 10:54 am

    We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit, Aristotle

    Reply
  15. Matt in Michigan says

    December 11, 2019 at 10:55 am

    “Shoot for the moon and even if you miss you’ll be amongst the stars”….. I read that somewhere….

    Reply
  16. Adam says

    December 11, 2019 at 10:58 am

    “The more pleasures a man captures, the more masters he will have to serve.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
    “‘Should’ is a lousy word.” – Carolyn Hax
    “Mistakes are the exhaust of the dream machine.” – John Mayer

    Reply
  17. JW says

    December 11, 2019 at 11:40 am

    I love this! I’ve done this before and it’s a lot of fun! We did this at our last house but now that we’re remodeling this one I think it’s time to get the kids in on it, they were two young back then.

    Long but one of my favorites: “I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be much worse if life *were* fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?’ So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.” – Marcus Cole
    JW recently posted…AHA Big Brew Day 2017My Profile

    Reply
  18. Steveark says

    December 11, 2019 at 3:30 pm

    Life is not about how many breaths you take. It is about the moments that take your breath away. Anonymous

    Reply
  19. Steveark says

    December 11, 2019 at 3:34 pm

    Oh, I read a piece recently with photos of all the weird stuff people found behind walls on remodels. Things like a skull and one super creepy Annabelle looking doll! Yikes!

    Reply
  20. JRobi says

    December 11, 2019 at 6:49 pm

    “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”— Kahlil Gibran
    JRobi recently posted…Kadar Quote….My Profile

    Reply
  21. Sacha says

    December 11, 2019 at 7:32 pm

    Love all the quotes 🙂 we left human body outlines in spray paint of each member of our family on the subfloor before installing bamboo floors.

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      December 12, 2019 at 8:19 am

      Awesome!

      Reply
  22. Jenny Toms says

    December 12, 2019 at 3:28 am

    “True self care is not salt baths or chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life that you don’t need to regularly escape from” – Briana Wiest

    Reply
  23. Kevin Potter says

    December 12, 2019 at 6:09 am

    As I get older I understand this one much more from Yvon Choinard (Patagonia Founder)

    …”He who dies with the less toys wins, Because the more you know, the less you need.”

    Reply
  24. freddy smidlap says

    December 12, 2019 at 6:47 am

    our doubts are traitors that make us lose the good we oft might win for fearing to attempt.

    also: love the art in yourself not yourself in the art.
    freddy smidlap recently posted…We’re Killing the S+P 500 Index AND VTSAX in 2019My Profile

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      December 12, 2019 at 8:30 am

      Wow, that first one gives me chills.

      Reply
      • freddy smidlap says

        December 13, 2019 at 8:54 am

        shakespeare wrote it. he was pretty good, carl.
        freddy smidlap recently posted…Malevolent Missy Invests, Stock Series #4 We bought Twilio (TWLO)My Profile

        Reply
        • Mr. 1500 Days says

          December 13, 2019 at 9:51 am

          Oh yeah! I visited that guy over the summer.

          Shakespeare

          Reply
  25. Hannah says

    December 12, 2019 at 9:10 am

    “There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.”- Fred Rogers

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      December 12, 2019 at 8:23 pm

      Wow.

      Reply
  26. SharonW says

    December 12, 2019 at 10:16 am

    The price of abundance is restraint. – Greg Critser

    Reply
  27. Ryan Schlomer says

    December 12, 2019 at 10:58 am

    My limited wisdom to parents: “Even if you don’t intentionally teach your children about money, you are teaching them because they are watching you.”

    But I like the quote: “One million dollars.” — Dr. Evil

    I always wrote on the 2×4’s when I was helping my grandpa with construction. Fun times.
    Ryan Schlomer recently posted…Two Rules for Zero-Based BudgetingMy Profile

    Reply
  28. Kate says

    December 12, 2019 at 11:13 am

    You can’t stumble unless you’re moving.

    Reply
  29. Tina says

    December 12, 2019 at 2:43 pm

    “Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.” -Mr. Magorium

    Reply
  30. Shane says

    December 14, 2019 at 7:55 am

    This is the quote I put in my resignation.
    Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
    Mark Twain

    Reply
  31. wendy says

    December 14, 2019 at 9:11 am

    Silence equals assent.

    Reply
  32. Gareth says

    December 15, 2019 at 9:26 pm

    “I don’t think I’ll run out of money, but I know that I’ll run out of life” can’t remember who said that, but it changed my life.

    Reply
  33. Jay @ Dope Dollar says

    December 16, 2019 at 12:12 pm

    This probably isn’t the sexiest quote, but “little things done right every day leads to big changes”. This is a pretty big mantra of mine that I constantly remind myself of.

    Reply
  34. John Massie says

    December 16, 2019 at 10:03 pm

    1) If you drive don’t park, accidents cause people. – My late uncle, a catholic priest.
    2) Figures don’t lie, but liars sometimes figure. Father Kelly, freshman algebra.

    Reply
  35. Pat says

    December 17, 2019 at 11:56 am

    I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol, and wild women. The other half I wasted

    Reply
  36. Brad Beckstrom says

    December 17, 2019 at 2:09 pm

    failure is never so frightening as regret

    Reply
  37. Clint says

    December 18, 2019 at 7:40 am

    Construction Related Quote: I’m like lightening with a hammer. I never hit the same place twice.

    Reply
    • Clint says

      December 18, 2019 at 7:41 am

      *lightning

      Reply
  38. Patrick says

    December 18, 2019 at 1:36 pm

    This JL Collins character has collected a few good quotes. : )
    https://jlcollinsnh.com/2012/06/12/i-could-not-have-said-it-better-myself/

    Reply
  39. ThinkingAhead says

    December 18, 2019 at 5:39 pm

    Moderation in all things… including moderation.

    Reply
  40. Rachel says

    December 19, 2019 at 8:38 pm

    You don’t need to be accepted by others. You just need to accept yourself.

    Reply
  41. Kermit says

    December 20, 2019 at 9:53 am

    Jack Kerouac said it best…
    Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn, climb that Goddamn mountain.

    Reply
  42. RossOverThere says

    January 6, 2020 at 7:59 am

    You’re clearly not the first to come up with this idea! Stripping the wallpaper in the bathroom of my childhood home, we found the message:
    “I LOVE YOU – whiskers and all”

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      January 6, 2020 at 6:45 pm

      That’s awesome!

      Reply
  43. Late to Fire says

    January 13, 2020 at 11:03 pm

    Be yourself, everyone else is taken.
    Oscar Wilde

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      January 14, 2020 at 10:45 am

      Nice one.

      Reply

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Freedom!

My goal was to build a portfolio of $1,000,000 by February of 2017; 1500 days from the birth of this blog (January 1, 2013). And hey look, I’ve since retired!

Investments only (primary home excluded)
1/1/13 (The Start): $586,043
1/1/14 (1 Yr Later): $869,635
1/1/15 (2 Yrs Later): $987,351
1/1/16 (3 Yrs Later): $1,057,961
1/1/17 (4 Yrs Later): $1,257,128
1/1/18 (5 Yrs Later): $1,527,701
1/1/19 (6 Yrs Later): $1,549,440
1/1/20 (7 Yrs Later): $2,035,040*
1/1/21 (8 Yrs Later): $3,379,746**
1/1/22 (9 Yrs Later): $4,762,642
1/1/23 (10 Yrs Later): $3,112,821

2023: Investments only
1/1: $3,112,821

Overall
2023 investment gains: $0
Investment gains since 1/1/2013: $2,526,778
Net worth***: $3,342,821

* The big jump between 2019 and 2020 was partly because we bought another home, but kept the previous (much more expensive) one as a rental. We have since sold it.

** Tesla.

*** Includes our primary home equity in addition to our investment portfolio.

Finally, we still have about $290,000 in mortgage debt (which I love!). No regrets about the debts!

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