Tuesday, August 4, 2015

6th Blogiverary - Cars and Medical

Always great to stretch out the torture celebration!!!  Yesterday we talked about the retirement loan and student loans.  Today's subject:  Cars and Medical.

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Mysti's Car 
Day one of blog:  This loan didn't exist.
2014: $6,260.00
2015: $3,550.00

Back in 2009, my mini van was paid off.  It was starting to have problems....and had our situation been different, I may have pushed to get another car.  But we just couldn't imagine having another bill, so we let the car nickel and dime us to death (here are just some of the highlights: debacle, the continuation, and the vacation issue)  It finally died  in November 2011 and we replaced it with my current car.

Last year I started paying just a few bucks extra (min payment is $230)  to the loan each month to bring it to a round number.  Not that this has made a huge difference in the total number...but psychologically it was helpful.  We are coming down the home stretch! We are about 15 months away from the end.  Unless something changes.....which it could.....and this loan is part of that plan.  More on that another day.

The car has 109k miles on it, and despite a very pricey repair this past winter (the start, the middle, the end  it is fine.  I would like to get it to 200k....so maybe 5 more years.  The next 5 years are going to be ushering in huge changes so who knows.


G-man's Car
 
Day one of blog:  This loan didn't exist, but we had a different car loan
2014: $4,000.00
2015: $2,390.00

In 2009, we had a car payment for G-man's previous car.  We should never have gotten that car.  His previous car died (it was a hand me down from my parents when the previous hand me down from his parents died).  We had been driving beater cars for so long and kept trying to keep them alive.  So when we were trying to buy a new car, we were trying to get a car that would last....and we were so wrong.  We chose that car for the wrong reasons (it could tow the boat that we never used; he wanted a big car).  It killed us on gas.  And the payment was higher than what we had planned for.  By the time we realized all of this, we had created such a mess that getting rid of it wouldn't have solved anything....the car was having problems and it just didn't seem viable (wanna revisit just SOME of this fun....and there was ALOT of it...look  here and here and here and here)

In 2013, we limped the car in and got $500 for it.  We bought an old car for $6,000.  And I was so upset that this was the best we could do.  It was all about the payment.  We were now having to deal with 2 car payments and we weren't prepared for it.  And I was really surprised how far $6,000 went....which wasn't far.

The car is fine now, even though we we had to replace the catalytic converter in early 2014.  But it won't last forever.  We are hoping to replace it before Sassy starts driving in 3 years...eeek.  Then this can be "her" car.  But I hyperventilate thinking about this, so we are going to leave it in the future for the moment.

The loan was originally 5 years just so we could have the lowest payment.  Because of the age of the car, we didn't qualify for a "car" loan....and had to get a "personal" loan at 9.99% (that was the rate at the time). I am happy to say that in the 20 months we have owned the car, we have paid off 60% of the loan. We are roughly 18 months away from the end, but I am shooting for 15 months or less so both cars are paid off at the same time (if my car is paid off on time....basically this car can be paid off within 4-6 weeks).

Medical
Day one of blog: $1,200...maybe?

2015: Zero

I have to divert from the format for this one.  This number has gone up and down and up and down over the past 6 years.  The original debt was from our son, and was paid off in 2010.  In 2012, I needed root canal and a crown, I had surgery, and we had to pay that off.  We lost our financial waiver for Bossy's supplies, paid a ton, got the waiver back.  More dental issues.   All of this is paid off now.  The quick number I can come up with for the "big stuff" is we have paid $6,400...but I know it was way more than that when you account for co-pays, regular check ups, other procedures.

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We having fun yet???  Stay tuned for the big credit card discussion tomorrow!!!

2 comments:

  1. Cars and medical ... I can so relate. All we can do is keep on keeping on. Congrats on knocking out the payments so fast!

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