Thursday, December 09, 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The husband's car needs a new transmission part to the not so FA LA LA LA LA tune of $1600...and his car is not really worth fixing for that much. (It's basically just a workhorse for commuting a long distance. There's no point in having a really nice second car............it would be a huge waste of money.)

Ok, so uhhhhhhhh............worst month ever for this to happen? (Especially because on top of Xmas, this month also brings the renewal of our house/car insurance.)

Oh well. I'm still thankful because 1) $200 might be enough to cobble it together for a couple more months (*crosses fingers*) so we can shop carefully for the best used car deal in the meantime vs. having to buy the first thing we come across  and 2) he can always take my car to work for the time being if needed (to say I rarely use it myself is an understatement! heee heee hooo hoo! me? driving???).

He's been stressing over it these past two days and I had to remind him that we went through a period oh-so-long-ago when we first lived together where we had exactly ZERO money to our name and I drove a 15 year old $300 P.O.S. big ugly snot green car with NO FREAKING REVERSE and a plastic, taped in back window............FOR TWO YEARS!

(Did I mention it had NO REVERSE? That was..............interesting. :))

(And I needed a big fluffy pillow to help me see over the steering wheel because I'm teeny tiny.)

(And someone stole the equally P.O.S analog radio out of it...........right before they left an empty bottle of liquor under the front tire.........and a big pile of sick-up. *sigh* That was such a great neighborhood! Pfffft.)

Now that's car troubles. I think what we have now is closer to 'car annoyances'. lol

13 comments:

aprilmecheelesdulllife said...

Melanie, You are so funny !! I know at the time your POS car was not funny. I am laughing because I have been there and done that. I finally after 25 years of marriage got a new SUV. Brand New... Went to trade it in 3 years later... only worth 1/2 of price paid and we owed more than worth.. Got out from under it.. Guess What? I bought a used SUV, better.. I let someone pay that big payment and depreciation. I have a great paid for car now... So I hope that little fix gives ya'll more time!!!

Melanie said...

Thanks April!

We always buy used cars - never had a car payment and never want one if I can help it. Living debt free takes some planning and a little sacrifice but I wouldn't trade that for a new car, no way no how. I bought my current car when it was 3 years old and it freaking rocks. (I may not drive it myself very often but I sure do get DRIVEN in it all the time. lol)

valerie said...

Oh no! Don't you just hate car trouble. It's never a good time to have car expenses but it seems like you have a good attitude about it. I hope you can do the short-term fix to price around the transmission a little!

Margaret said...

What a bummer! I hope everything works out for you two. And at Christmas too. :(

gracie said...

Geez...sometimes I think we need to have a horse and buggy....but then we need to tote a shovel for the you know what, and have a feed bag, and ..maybe just fix the car......take a deep breath, it will get better.

Meadows08 said...

That sucks LARGE! We have our insurance due on the 22nd of December and every year I think, we should do payments...

KarenV said...

Oh, isn't it always the way?! Thanks for the laugh though :) Hope you get everything sorted without too much hassle.

Laurie said...

Oh no! We had a similar car-tastrophe a couple years ago right at Christmas. We decided to bit the bullet and pay for the repairs since the car was already paid for and we knew we could get several more years out of it.

Pumpkin said...

That sucks :o( I know what you mean about bad timing but hopefully the small fix will work for the time being.

DH and I have pretty much lived on one salary for most of our marriage and we've had the rough times too. Take heart, things will get better!

I'm sorry but the story about your POS was too funny ;o)

ViviBijoux said...

oooh sorry to hear you're both under pressure, am sure everything will work out in the end ^_^ V. vivibijoux.com

Anonymous said...

Glad you can see the humor in it. Hope the $200 fix works. That would be a good thing.

Anonymous said...

I believe the song you want is "Fa la la la la, la la, $ka-ching$." Yep.

BTW, we live debt free too. No car payments here either! We shared a car for eight years because we couldn't afford another one... getting to work or going for groceries was always a major planning event!

Natasha said...

cars can be a pain in the rear.. My DH had a car that had no reverse, did you peddle it with your feet like he did LOL

My P.O.S car was a 87 Chevette that only would hold lass than a half of tank of gas, had a hole in the other half LOL. Also had a car that when ever I drove it for a long period of time like on the freeway when coming off the freeway it would just die. Not thats the best LOL

I hope you guys work it all out ((HUGS))