My car.....yes, I know, you missed hearing all about my car......has yet again another problem. A new acquaintance mentioned that her soon-to-be hubby is a mechanic, so she said she would talk to him. He is supposed to come by later today, but he said it is probably a blown gasket. This could be a easy fix....or not so easy. I will find out later. Couple this with the actuator door that is now stuck. I am really DONE with this.
I have a feeling that a new-to-me car is in my near future.
I really haven't talked alot about the retirement loan. It is listed in the debt list, but not tallied as part of it. I am not denying that it is debt, but I guess I just see it in a different light. We have taken 2 loans out over the past 15 years. The first was when we bought our house....and used that as our closing cost on our home (we had a rotten realtor who didn't help us get anything from the seller). The second (and active) loan was in 2008 when we needed some home repairs.
We took out a $10,000 loan to replace the roof, do exterior painting, and a few other repairs. It was a 5 year loan. A while back, we increased the repayment amount so shave off some time. As it stands right now, it would be paid off in April 2012 (vs Feb 2013 as originally slated).
What do they say about the best laid plans??? Anyone who reads my blog knows that we are the King and Queen of Change in Plans. Alas, the ORIGINAL plan was to start contributing to G-man's retirement fund again once this was paid off. He is creeping up on 40, and we aren't where we are supposed to be. We stopped contributions 2 years ago to help with cash flow, but I really wanted to resume those.
So now the plan is to take G-man's extra paycheck, and a little from our home improvement fund to pay off this loan by the end of the month. This will yield $200 "extra" before taxes....so maybe $170 net??? And that will now become the new car payment.
NONE of this is official. We have to wait on a few other pending things. But by the end of the month, we should know what is going on. I am just hoping my car will hold out! I am sooooo unhappy about all of this. A new car will completely undo everything. Seriously....I started this blog in August 2009....and a new car will bring us back to that original number.
Two years....and almost nothing to show for it. Terrific.
Mysti don't look at it as almost nothing to show for it. Look at it as you had to have a roof, you needed repairs, you bought a house. And eventually when you are putting more money into a car then its worth then maybe its time for a newer car.
ReplyDeleteYou have not increased your debt so that shows your making headway. You have a plan. Thats all we can do right now is have a plan and change it as we can. Your kids are still young so emergencies prop up more often.
Stop kicking yourself and start patting yourself on the back. Look at what you have survived. How many people could have been through all of this and kept on going every day? Not many!
Judy
@Judy - I can't say I haven't added debt. It is just added debt, then pay that off....then try and get the overall number down....then tread water for awhile....
ReplyDeleteI always have a plan....they just don't work well!! But I do appreciate the encouragement. Really.
Mysti dawling, (say this in Billy Crystal's voice) you are living my life 15 years ago. Judy is right, you have young kids your life changes. Look at all you have learned. You are not going backwards you have figured out a way to pay off a loan to help create money for something you need. It is okay. You are still going forward. You need a new car. If you ever get the urge to open a dance studio, run, run fast!
ReplyDeleteyep, I really can relate to your ups and downs, it reminds me of where we where when our kids where much younger.
ReplyDeleteI think you're too hard on yourself!
You are not racking up more debt on frivolous things, and the expenses are things that are time critical (car, braces,kids needs!)
ing
Just keep roll with the punches and plodding along in the right direction
I understand the "pedaling in place" feeling regarding progress. And we've also had car worries and thoughts of a new-to-us car. Since we've just refinanced it, we'll probably keep it limping along. OR change plans... we do that a lot, too.
ReplyDelete