You don’t need hot water to wash clothes.
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I like to use hot water. Personal preference. And especially for the rinse cycles.
I assume your hot water heater is easily accessible, right? I would have to go into the attic to “re program”. Novel idea!
Correct. HWH is in cellar. You just walk right up to it and hit the touchpad a couple of times. I change temperature (nice large digital readout) and mode. Easy and fast.
My HWH is old (2011). Suspect today there might be models with same electronic controls but also with WiFi connectivity, which I do not have. Such as that would solve your accessibility problem. Maybe WiFi HWH is available, maybe not. I have not shopped for a new HWH since 2011 and don’t really mind walking downstairs to change the settings. But in future I will be looking for the WiFi feature. I mean, why not?
ETA
Hmmmm. After further review I am remembering now my HWH has an interface connector that taps right into its digital “brain”. I have never used that connector or connected anything to it. No need. But it is possible they could by now be making an add-on “box” that adds a WiFi feature for remote programming. I need to ask about that.
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You have a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis with only 35,000 miles on the odometer? And you’ve owned it for 10 years?
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Yes, that’s right, except I’ve actually owned the car for almost eleven years. It only had about 12,000+ miles on the clock when I purchased the car, and there was even a bit of the original warranty remaining. The car was nearly like new at purchase, but it cost a lot less than a new car. Cost was a bit south of $15k.
From the cost reduction standpoint of this thread, though, my reason for purchase of an MGM was the excellent service history of the model. Mercury performed a significant re-design of their GM starting with the 2003 model year. They are all great cars regardless year, but I wanted a slightly newer one (newer than 2003) on chance of any problems with the changes.
Compared with the 2002 (and earlier) cars, the re-designed MGMs have a tightened suspension, rack and pinion steering, and a Watts linkage rear suspension. The car is sort of like a big sports car. I have been considering buying another one, just to have as a spare in case of catastrophe.
The MGM, like the Crown Vics, is a foreign car, made in Canada at the Ford assembly plant in St. Thomas, Ontario. Unfortunately, that plant closed back in 2011 and these great cars are becoming more difficult to find with low miles.
Finally, to state the obvious, the MGM is just a gussied up Crown Vic. It is therefore a “real car”, exactly as is a Crown Vic. Real cars, for anyone unaware, have rear wheel drive (RWD) and good weight distribution. I have never owned a nose-heavy FWD car, and I never will own one.
I am unaware. 
Any links, pieces, or just reasons why you prefer RWD to FWD? TIA
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Sure. I drove sports cars in my younger days and handling has always been paramount for me. Here is a link you can find the advantages of each type of drive:
When they build a Corvette, or even a T-Bird, with FWD I will give the matter another look. It’s not gonna happen! 
And BTW, I have not even mentioned torque steer. You can Google that. The front wheels of a car should not be propelling the car . . . if it’s a serious car.
True story:
Before buying my MGM I owned an older (1978) large Buick. Great car, but it was aging and I needed to make a long trip and was uncertain the Buick would make it. So I rented a big Caddy (with FWD) for the trip. The Caddy front end was so heavy that the car bottomed out going into my garage!! The Buick never did that. Neither has my MGM ever done that. FWD cars are ridiculously nose heavy.
Today the manufacturers offer AWD cars. Have no experience with 'em, but too new and too expensive anyway.
They do sell them with wifi controls now. I just replaced mine. I forget exactly the cost difference but you had to get a “premium” model to get that feature. It is not worth it to me.
My GM american made FWD cars are very dependable and very easy and cheap to maintain. I recommend them to anyone wanting to be frugal. They almost never fail, I keep great tires on them in winter to avoid slides. If your battery is more than 3-4 years old carry a set of cables, and if you live in a snow environment, carry a tow strap and know how to hook it up. Get emergency road side coverage from your insurance company (its normally less than $1 per month)
Drive the speed limit. The speed limit saves lives, saves gas, reduces dependence on foreign oil, saves on speeding tickets, insurance costs and finally saves stress.
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In Manhattan, my neighborhood has a fruit / vegetable stand on the street year-round. The prices are easily 1/2 to 1/3 of NYC grocery store prices.
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You don’t have to sing the praises of the panther platform on this forum. I would assume all the Fat Wallet refugees get it.
What you do have to explain is how you manage to put only ~2,100 miles on your car each year! You could have bought any car and it still be reliable if you drive it that rarely!
Yeah. Actually, no, not these days.
These last few years my per year miles on the car have been below 1000 miles/year. It went up a tad bit back in 2016 because I had jury duty; but still was south of 1000 miles that year. It’s all part of frugal living. Decided years ago best option is to find a nice place to live and then live there. Purely a personal preference, nothing more.
My smartest financial move: bought decent-sized piece of beautiful land. It’s over a mile around the periphery.
My stupidest financial move: failure to buy more land than I did. I could kick myself, but it is WAY too late now to put that poor decision right. You live with your errors and then you die.
It’s doable if you’re retired or work from home and only drive to the grocery store. Or have another car
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Do insurers lower rates for minuscule usage? I couldn’t find anywhere online to enter annual usage for my existing Geico policy. For various reason, our second car (mine) doesn’t get more than a few thousand miles a year.
I imagine if your usage gets really low, at some point you should just consider selling the car though.
I have State Farm and you can request a policy with lower miles. The might request an OBD dongle be installed to prove it.
I don’t know about “miniscule”, but my rate (Wawanesa) depends on the annual mileage, and while it may not be linear, it is a noticeable difference (I think it was something like $600 for 8K/yr, but $400 for 4K/yr). They don’t ask to install a dongle, but they do ask for the odometer reading.
I hear metromile is pretty good for low-mileage uses. They use a OBD dongle.
I get a mileage discount of $6.74 per month for driving 6000 miles per year.
Another area you can save is the Uninsured Motorists property damage for your car. The insurer had automatically set it at $50,000. My car isn’t worth that so I set it at the lowest amount offered: $15,000. It saves a few dollars a year.
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