Lest you think that we have completely fallen of the wagon compact wise I just wanted to update.
We managed to make it through the summer of doom in terms of cash flow. We paid for Mimi's school completely out of pocket this year which is long series of huge blessings. We are working on some serious credit card debt, sort of clueless about this stuff unfortunately, but getting a very effective education.
One thing we have started to do recently is reasses some of the descisions we made ages ago, like how many cars we are going to have, the insurance we will use and how we are structuring our debt. So far we have decide to get rid of my car and buy a bike, which I will use to get to work when Mimi needs the car. We are also getting rid of another car (we had three!) essentially to make up for the money that we put into it.The car that I have been driving for the last several years, very reliable, even under extreme neglect, pictured to the right, needs small repairs occasionally but usually very inexpensive.
We were actually given a car that was 10 years newer, but still 12 years old ;), that ended up needing alomost $1000 dollars worth of work right off the bat. Then when we got it fixed it broke down almost the next day!!! Then the dealership told me I needed a new computer, just another measly $1057 dollars. So I did what I always do when faced with disaster, I went into denial, I interrogated the mechanic, the salesmen, the original mechanic, random parts salesmen in Florida, every body. This is how it worked out. Originally of the $1057 only $200 was actual parts. The rest was labor that only the dealership could provide, so of course they were bilking me. But I determined that
A. reprogramming the computer isn't required (the labor that only the dealer could provide) on this year of car
B. I can save 300 dollars by installing it myself.
So $1057-(money saved by not just throwing money at the problem) = $118 out of pocket
Mimi and I have also been leaning very heavily on the automatic bread machine lately which has turned me into a bread snob. We have been making bread by hand for years but it takes so much effort, the bread machine is a good compromise.
I must admit that though in many ways we are still "not buying it" we have given in on a few occasions and even went back to fast food for a while. These spells usually are accompanied by willful ignorance of our finances and, no surprise, usually end when it is impossible to deny there is a problem any longer. So we do a budge,t vow to never pass under the golden arches again and leave our credit cards at home.
-Doug
