Edit 9/6/22: Pre-registration is no longer open, but we may have room - email us at campmustachemw@gmail.com and we will see what we can do!
(https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=123681.0;attach=77427;image)
What is Camp Mustache Midwest?
Camp Mustache Midwest (or CM*MW) is three days of fun, friends, and finances, held outside Cincinnati, OH, from May 5th-7th, 2023! Two nights’ accommodations and all meals, presentations, and activities are included in the $200 registration fee!
Camp Mustache events are community-run, not-for-profit, not-for-prophet, inclusive, and nature-conscious. Our attendees come from across the globe and from every corner of the FIRE internet. All attendees including the organizing committee and all speakers pay the same price and participate as equals in the discussion.
What will we do all day? Will Mr. Money Mustache speak at CM*MW?
Camp Mustache starts before lunchtime on Friday, May 5th and goes through lunchtime on Sunday, May 7th, with optional outings before and after occurring away from the venue.
There will be both financial and non-financial sessions for all experience levels. All presentations and sessions are led by community members - including you, dear reader! The CM*MW organizing committee is currently planning the sessions. We would love to have you on the agenda! Please reach out if you would like to lead a session or have a request for a topic.
The purpose of Camp Mustache events is to interact with the Mustachian community, not Mr. Money Mustache. Mr. Money Mustache is busy doing squats, carpentering, and living a brilliant retired life thousands of miles away.
Why come to CM*MW?
Don’t know a Roth from a wrench? Come to CM*MW and learn how to put the building blocks of FIRE in place in your life from other people who are doing it today.
Are your friends really tired of hearing you rant about buy-it-for-life? Come to camp and make new friends who understand the FIRE way of life.
Have you walked many miles down the FIRE path? Come to camp and share your knowledge with your fellow FIRE folk, and deepen your connection to the FI community.
Where is CM*MW held?
Camp Mustache Midwest is held in a rustic outdoor camp setting. For security reasons, the venue name and address will be released only to ticket holders.
Camp Mustache Midwest is physically located in southwest Ohio, outside Cincinnati. You can drive there with your car, or if you’re flying in from further away the camp is 50 minutes from DAY, 60 minutes from CVG, and 105 minutes from CMH. Please carpool if you are able! For confirmed attendees, the CM*MW subforum has threads to organize carpools from nearby cities and airports.
What will staying at CM*MW be like?
Our venue provides rustic cabins and common buildings surrounded by sports fields, a scenic river, woods, and hiking trails. The venue will feed and house us, and will also provide us with opportunities for badass fitness and naturey enrichment like high ropes, archery, gaga, foraging, and an always-popular campfire each night.
Each climate-controlled cabin sports a front room, two bunkrooms, and two bathrooms. As part of registration you can indicate friends (of any gender) you would like to room with, or let us know you would like to be assigned to a single-gender cabin. You can also let us know any dietary needs that our venue will need to accommodate.
New this year, you have the option of making your own arrangements to stay offsite, such as at a nearby hotel, campground, or AirBnB. (an offsite or ‘day ticket’ registration includes access to all activities but is still full price as the cost to the camp is little different.)
Also new this year, we are happy to host children of all ages at camp. Children 5 and younger can attend camp for free. However, only limited child-specific programming is planned at this time.
Can I bring my family?
Yes! We encourage you to bring your partner if you are both interested in learning more about the FIRE world, or bring your kids along as part of a family outing. Just make sure to complete the pre-registration once for each attendee (see below for more).
How does registration work?
We are targeting 75 attendees for CM*MW 2023. The pre-registration list opens on Friday 8/19 at noon EST. It will stay open until Aug 31st. (Please note that other Camp Mustache events generally fill soon after registration opens.) When you pre-register, you will indicate food and cabin preferences, as well as whether you would like to lead a session.
We will contact provisional attendees on September 1st. These provisional attendees have until September 5th to pay the $200 per person registration fee to claim their spots at camp. We prefer payment in USD via Paypal but can likely accommodate other services and currencies. Provisional attendees who do not pay by September 5th will have their spots offered to someone else.
If you find out about camp too late and don’t get on the list in time, we will do our best to accommodate you through matching you up with a registered attendee who needs to cancel. Conversely, CMMW is unable to offer refunds if Camp goes forward, so if a scheduling conflict comes up, the best route forward is to sell your ticket at face value to an interested camper. We will lock down attendance one month before camp; after that time, if you buy a secondhand ticket, you may not be able to change dietary or cabin preferences.
What should I bring? Can I bring food, alcohol, and my dog?
We will provide confirmed attendees with a complete packing list.
Outside food is allowed. However, please be very careful to ensure any outside food you bring is nut-free so that our venue can offer a safe experience to those with nut allergies.
Alcohol is not allowed at our venue. Alcohol has been permitted by other Camp Mustache events but our venue is unable to accommodate this. Do not bring or consume any alcoholic beverages at CM*MW.
Pets are not allowed.
How is CM*MW dealing with COVID? What happens if the pandemic worsens?
We request that all attendees are fully vaccinated before attending camp, but will not verify vaccination status. If you are not vaccinated we request that you look after the health of your fellow attendees by exercising extreme diligence in wearing a mask and physically distancing yourself whenever possible.
If we are unable to hold Camp Mustache, at your choice you may either 1) push your registration to the following year or 2) receive a partial refund of the fee you pay, offset by your share of the costs for the event already incurred.
If we are able to hold Camp Mustache, we will be unable to offer refunds for any reason. If you are unable or unwilling to come to camp whether due to inability to enter the US, because you are sick, or because you do not feel comfortable, we would suggest you attempt to resell your ticket to a prospective attendee on our waitlist.
TLDR for veterans of CM*MW
The structure of CM*MW 2023 is broadly similar to CM*MW 2022, but we are making a lot of tweaks in response to your and fellow campers’ feedback from last year. We hope these tweaks can build on the strong experience in 2022 and give everyone an even more touching weekend. Changes for 2023 include:
- Moving a little later in the spring to increase odds we get an equally beautiful weekend for the second edition of camp
streamlined registration to allow for more sessions on Friday, and generally more sessions throughout the weekend - Potential high ropes and archery so we can all get back into the ‘camp’ mindset
- Tweaks to cabin assignment including more space, and single-gender whole cabins for those that request it
- Better expectations setting for cabins including packing lists and agreed-upon quiet times
- Allowing children to attend, and allowing campers to stay offsite
- A more ambitious menu with much more fruit and vegetables, and better protection of special dietary needs from cross-contamination
- Modestly increased cost to reflect using much more of the camp
TLDR for veterans of other CM events
If you’ve been to another CM or Camp FI event, you probably have a good sense for the crowd, schedule, and ambitions of our weekend at CM*MW.
- CM*MW is a rustic outdoor camp setting (think a church or YMCA camp), more similar to past editions of CM*TO than to CM*NW or Camp FI events.
- We are very focused on managing costs to offer an affordable and inclusive experience.
- Unlike other CM events, our venue is unable to accommodate alcohol, unable to accommodate pets, and unable to offer extra nights at the venue rather than offsite.
- On the other hand, we are able to accommodate attendees wishing to stay offsite and we are able to accommodate outside food.
Can I be on the organizing committee? Can I speak? Can I host out-of-towners for a night?
Yes, we would love your help! Send us an email at CampMustacheMW@gmail.com!
More questions? Ask away!
You can contact us at CampMustacheMW@gmail.com or leave a comment right here in this thread!