|
Cross-AI post: If you're really, legitimately worried about getting around in snow, I would sell the truck and buy a reliable beater and an extra set of some cheap snow tires. Rims for mid-90s Japanese econoboxes are a dime a dozen and there are plenty of affordable options in snow tires. Light car, FWD/AWD, snow tires. Hell make it RWD if you know what you're doing and want to have some fun while you're at it. Also your WRX overheating was either an unrelated issue or you not clearing out snow from the front cowl. Certainly not a reason to buy something else. Come to AI and we'll help you find something cheap and reliable. Please please please get rid of that truck, because it's murdering you buddy.
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2013 16:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 08:02 |
|
|
Hey all I'm at work so I have to be quick: I don't think it's a good idea to ask my grandmother for a loan. That would just be way too uncomfortable. Bhaal definitely agree with you on the points about losing the money. We'll do our damndest to make sure we make it as you said. I would feel major regrets missing out on that. Idea All of you guys talking about cars got me thinking: my wife doesn't need a vehicle for her job at all, only I do. If we sacrificed a bit and we left literally 30 minutes earlier every day, I could just drop her off, and then pick her up when I got off work. She would have to stay at work around an hour longer, but maybe she could cut hours on her Sunday to make up the difference. We could sell/trade in the truck AND car for something cheaper (after a bit of research), and bam, we just decreased our bills and cut 14k of debt. If we stay around the $5k mark, we'll probably turn 21k of car debt into $8k of car debt. Just a thought. Adiabatic it was a clearance problem for sure. The plows don't always make it in a timely matter, and we get a few feet of snow at once sometimes. I almost got stuck in the city a few times. Winter tires would probably work the majority of the time, but there would be times we'd both have to miss work every few years or so due to weather. I've seen plenty of cars completely stuck in their driveways and neighborhoods often enough to call a truck necessary sometimes.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2013 18:43
|
|
|
I personally think that's very reasonable and given your financial situation, very wise. Having two cars when it's not an absolute necessity is a big luxury. If in say five years you have an emergency fund, you're putting money away for retirement, and you've been in a house for awhile and are doing well on the mortgage...then maybe see if you can fit in a cheap second car for the sake of convenience.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2013 19:02
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Adiabatic it was a clearance problem for sure. The plows don't always make it in a timely matter, and we get a few feet of snow at once sometimes. I almost got stuck in the city a few times. Winter tires would probably work the majority of the time, but there would be times we'd both have to miss work every few years or so due to weather. I've seen plenty of cars completely stuck in their driveways and neighborhoods often enough to call a truck necessary sometimes. Having never lived in an area with snow I have to ask. Is the bold part a problem? You can't just take a sick day or something?
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2013 20:42
|
|
|
MickeyFinn posted:Having never lived in an area with snow I have to ask. Is the bold part a problem? You can't just take a sick day or something? I don't see how losing thousands of dollars in interest every year guaranteed could cost him less than having to take a personal day every couple of years.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2013 21:29
|
|
|
Nail Rat posted:Having two cars when it's not an absolute necessity is a big luxury. It doesn't seem like it in America, but it really is a tremendous luxury to have two cars. Whenever I hear people drowning in debt with car loans, it's one of the first things I recommend to stop the bleeding. It's certainly a hassle to have to coordinate driving, but it's not worth the thousands of dollars you lose to car payments, insurance, gas, and repairs for a second vehicle. Even more so if you've bought new cars, but I'm not going to beat anyone up over that. My wife and I each have our own cars, but I'm still driving a '99 Accord.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2013 21:38
|
|
|
I've never gotten stuck in the snow in an 80's RWD BMW with studs. And man is it fun. I'd suggest a 90's or early 00's Subi with studless tires and chains for oh poo poo moments. And then a late 90's / early 00's Honda or Toyota for your second daily. That would drop a LOT of debt off your plate, and probably (for sure) less insurance cost.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2013 23:14
|
|
|
MickeyFinn posted:Having never lived in an area with snow I have to ask. Is the bold part a problem? You can't just take a sick day or something?
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2013 23:58
|
|
|
He said he lives in Reno, I assume Nevada in which case it can get some bad storms but only get a couple feet of snow a year total.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 00:50
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:my wife doesn't need a vehicle for her job at all, only I do. If we sacrificed a bit and we left literally 30 minutes earlier every day, I could just drop her off, and then pick her up when I got off work. She would have to stay at work around an hour longer, but maybe she could cut hours on her Sunday to make up the difference. I hope she's okay with that. I think it's a fantastic idea. Once you get out of debt, you can put the money you're not paying on that car aside, and when you have kids and need a bigger vehicle, you can pay cash. Cars are cheaper when you have cash in hand. Rich people get the best deals. Knyteguy posted:there would be times we'd both have to miss work every few years or so due to weather. I've seen plenty of cars completely stuck in their driveways and neighborhoods often enough to call a truck necessary sometimes. What's cheaper: paying all this extra money (including gas) on a truck that you need a couple of times every few years... Or hoofing it to the end of the neighbourhood and calling a taxi? It's a casino town. There are taxis. Old Fart fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Dec 5, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 01:41
|
|
|
Here's another reason to stop spending to your bank account... Last night I was balancing the budget and saw that some asshat had used my debit card info at Western Union. A few transactions to the tune of $800. Last year this would have been major stress. Three years ago this would have been a severe crisis. Today, it's a mild annoyance. The bank has recommended moving to a new account entirely, and I have enough cash on hand to keep enough in both accounts not to worry about overdrafts as I shift the auto-payments and the like between accounts. And it gave me the drive to finally set up a savings account, so I can have my emergency fund available to me but not accessible via debit. One year ago I had your mindset with regards to spending. Four months ago we started living on last month's income. And today we can handle just letting $800 float around while we wait for this to settle out. And that's on top of a $500 reimbursement we've not yet received for a medical payment, and waiting for a $700 refund on our security deposit for the place we moved out of last weekend. And of course all the additional moving expenses. Budgeting is awesome. You can get there, too!
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 02:11
|
|
|
neaden posted:He said he lives in Reno, I assume Nevada in which case it can get some bad storms but only get a couple feet of snow a year total. 21.5" average according to wiki.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 02:40
|
|
|
I live in Reno and drive a Miata year round. I drove home from work yesterday in the snow with no problem. Unless you commute from incline village you don't need a high clearance vehicle or 4WD. For the rare occassion that there's more than six inches of snow on the ground, I have the following options: - Ask a coworker with an SUV to give me a ride to work (they've offered) - Work from home - Wait for the roads to be plowed or the snow to melt (it usually doesn't take long once the sun is out) - Take a cab - Take a bus + walk a mile - If I needed to drive to SF or something in a snow storm, I could rent an SUV I've thought about getting a second car or replacing my Miata with a Subaru, but I love not having a car payment. It is totally worth a little bit of extra effort on snowy days to be debt free.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 03:40
|
|
|
Crabby Abby posted:I live in Reno and drive a Miata year round. I drove home from work yesterday in the snow with no problem. Unless you commute from incline village you don't need a high clearance vehicle or 4WD. I've driven a rwd g35 in the snow here and it was terrible. I would go crazy driving a Miata I think. I did have to drive over the pass to Sacramento during the winter storm last year so I was going to say that, but a rental would work yea. When we get a house though I can absolutely foresee the usefulness in being to haul lumber or yard trash or something with a truck. I still am unsure about selling the truck. The insurance is like $70 a month for full coverage with medical. How would we sell the car though? I wouldn't even know where to start. Would it be worth it to just sell it to the dealership to get it over with? If we sell just the car we need to come up with a payment for the difference so it won't be this weekend or something. What if we sold both how should we do it? I've only ever traded in my cars . Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Dec 5, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 04:26
|
|
|
I remodeled the entire upstairs of my house. 2 trips from Home Depot cost me $50 in the truck rental. Keeping a truck with a crazy interest rate that high for the prospect of hauling some lumber or yard trash for a house you might have in 2.5 years makes little sense.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 04:39
|
|
|
spwrozek posted:I remodeled the entire upstairs of my house. 2 trips from Home Depot cost me $50 in the truck rental. Keeping a truck with a crazy interest rate that high for the prospect of hauling some lumber or yard trash for a house you might have in 2.5 years makes little sense. Agreed on everything but the high interest; I don't see us being able to get a better interest rate even if we get a $5k Honda or something. Both our credit history is bad unfortunately. Unrelated to the vehicle, but since we're talking about Reno snow: https://www.google.com/search?q=ren...php%3B400%3B248 We actually lived at that place in the third picture. The storms get crazy here. Not all the time or even most of the time, but definitely often enough to consider it a concern. That's an honest opinion from two people who've lived here our entire lives. If anyone has some input on the selling/trading in that'd be great. Technically we could squash half our debt this weekend if we traded in. I think the stuff everyone has posted about ways around letting the snow impact us too much would work fine. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Dec 5, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 04:59
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Unrelated to the vehicle, but since we're talking about Reno snow: neaden fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Dec 5, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 05:07
|
|
|
I am certainly not recommending that you buy a RWD coupe as a winter beater. The point is that Reno winters are not sufficient justification to own a truck over something more economical. As others have pointed out, trucks aren't necessarily ideal winter vehicles either. I've never sold a car either, but it can't be that hard. People do private party sales every day. List it on Craigslist with a couple good pictures see if anyone wants to buy it. Look online for tips about what to expect and how to avoid getting scammed. You won't sell it tomorrow, but the sooner you list it the faster you'll get out of debt.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 05:17
|
|
|
Edit: alright everything considered we'll make a decision on the truck based on the refinancing. We're still waiting for the CU to get back to us. We both enjoy the truck for outdoor activities on occasion, and I did quite a bit of custom stereo work in there. Edit 2: quote:I get it, poo poo can get overwhelming, especially when you've never done something before. The status quo is easy and comfortable. Thanks I agree that this might be the way to go. I mean it'd be smart to get some beater if we could go back and do it all over again, but we actually do enjoy the truck and we're both a little attached to it. I didn't think it through when I posted that idea and was kind of going off the hype everyone was saying about selling the thing. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Dec 5, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 05:47
|
|
|
I get it, poo poo can get overwhelming, especially when you've never done something before. The status quo is easy and comfortable. Then sell the car. You don't need two vehicles, you owe more, and it has a higher interest rate. Baby steps here. Get down to one vehicle first. Then see what the next step might be. One thing at a time.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 05:56
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:We both enjoy the truck for outdoor activities on occasion, and I did quite a bit of custom stereo work in there. These are the type of justifications that are annoying and make it seem like your rationalizing every bad purchase you make. Youve done it for every one. You can't do it all over again but you can fix your past mistakes or at least mitigate their damage by behavior in the present. You can still do plenty of outdoor activities in a non truck and the custom stereo is just one of those things where you eat your losses because you gain more as a whole.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 14:57
|
|
|
neaden posted:And speaking as someone who has lived in the great lakes region for their entire life that doesn't seem very bad. I have a 10 year old sedan that has gotten my wife and I through winters on the shore of Lake Superior, you don't need a truck in Reno. Yeah, it snows like that almost every day Dec-Feb here some years. You get really loving sick of it after a while but I've only missed two days of work over 6 years, and one of those days the company shut down too. Trucks aren't really popular or necessary here.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 15:02
|
|
|
HooKars posted:These are the type of justifications that are annoying and make it seem like your rationalizing every bad purchase you make. Youve done it for every one. You can't do it all over again but you can fix your past mistakes or at least mitigate their damage by behavior in the present. You can still do plenty of outdoor activities in a non truck and the custom stereo is just one of those things where you eat your losses because you gain more as a whole. And this is why people are focusing on bad decisions in the past, because we need to understand what was behind them in order to guide future behaviour. Regardless, I think getting down to one vehicle is a good first step. Then if that works out you can see about buying a cheaper vehicle and selling the truck. That's easier to manage than trying to figure out how to sell both vehicles at once and get a replacement. Doing that seems like a sure-fire way to end up with three vehicles instead of one.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 15:23
|
|
|
If you really do need a truck, why not sell the one you have and get an old beater truck? My husband and I have a 20+ year old 4x4 truck that my dad gave us and similar ones sell for about $1500. The insurance on it is like $70 every 6 months. I have never understood the mindset of having a nice looking new truck. People who have nice trucks just want something to drive around town and look fancy (which is fine, to each his own). But if you really want a truck to have a truck and haul stuff around and do outdoorsy things, get something cheap and don't feel bad about tearing it up, getting it dirty, denting the bed by throwing heavy stuff in there, etc. If I had a truck that I paid a lot of money for I'd be pretty scared about taking it offroad and actually doing stuff with it, because of the money invested in it. I don't have a problem taking my truck anywhere, getting it stuck, getting a new dent in it now and then, getting it scratched up or having a little rust in the bed. Only problem is, it gets <18 mpg. But we rarely take it on long outings, it's more of a ranch/work/hunting truck. Anyway just something to think about if you really think you need to have a truck.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 15:23
|
|
|
Someone remind me: why are we ditching the TRUCK and not the CAR? IIRC, the car loan has twice the outstanding principal and 7% more interest rate?
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 15:28
|
|
|
wintermuteCF posted:Someone remind me: why are we ditching the TRUCK and not the CAR? IIRC, the car loan has twice the outstanding principal and 7% more interest rate? I thought the idea was to sell the car AND truck and get one cheaper car, but that he was rethinking and justifying keeping the truck part now.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 15:34
|
|
|
razz posted:If you really do need a truck, why not sell the one you have and get an old beater truck? My husband and I have a 20+ year old 4x4 truck that my dad gave us and similar ones sell for about $1500. The insurance on it is like $70 every 6 months. I really like this idea. I used to have an old 72 Chevy beater that was awesome for this, and a 67 Chevy for the same purposes. I just really like having a truck. Still, I think it would be wise to take this one vehicle at a time for now until we figure out 100% what to do. The truck is going to take some money to make sellable. The car is ready to go though.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 20:52
|
|
|
So sell the car. Then buy an affordable car. If you guys can manage on one vehicle for 2 months with only minor inconvenience, you can save up and pay cash for another car. Then fix and sell the truck and get another car. Or an old truck plus another car. Operational costs will mitigate the asset expense, and you can maintain storage insurance on the truck until you get a big snow storm or go camping. It takes <5min to switch coverages with any big carrier these days. I have 2 cars but my second hasn't been driven in 3 months as my gf and I can share the one we daily and we save $40 a month in insurance plus consumables.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2013 22:02
|
|
|
Good on you for being incredibly practical about your car situation. In regards to ground clearance: lived in Grand Rapids (100-120 inches of snowfall per year on average) for 7 years and drove a raked beat up E30 BMW that had about 2" of ground clearance and plowed literally everything. I never once got stuck, because I had snow tires. I'm telling you man they're a beaaauuuuuutiful thing. Loving the old beater truck idea. You'll have much more fun with a beater truck than you ever could hope to have with a newer truck that you assign that much value to. It's a very very free feeling, knowing you only have ~$1500 tied up in a depreciating asset. Free yourself. If you're worried about reliability, please feel free to come over to AI and ask a bunch of questions. We love people that drive older cars and will fall over eachother trying to help you.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 15:11
|
|
|
Adiabatic posted:Good on you for being incredibly practical about your car situation. Thanks. Would love to get an old 80s BMW some time as a project car. Maybe in the next decade or something. New budget: Rent: $1060 Emergency Fund: $608 Truck Payment: $260 Groceries: $200 Spending: $120 Business Fees: $112 (income $75, these fees are from last month) Student Loans: $50 Stuff We Missed: $50 Fuel: $50 Christmas: $50 Eating Out: $22.46 -- Savings - New Amt - Old Amt - Diff Emergency Fund Balance: $1,122.08 ($514) +$608 Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Dec 7, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 17:47
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Will explain the last two later, but our debt just increased by $2000 What happened now? 
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 17:54
|
|
|
wintermuteCF posted:What happened now? Well I'm at work but the gist of it is I got a speeding ticket at Christmas 2 years ago that I need to start paying, and we thought the credit card was in collections but they contacted us yesterday to give us a chance to start making payments so it doesn't go that way. I'm sure we won't get an actual credit limit after we pay it, but since our credit will matter a bit in the next 2 years we need to pay it. Ticket: ~$1,100 I'll call today and get exact numbers. This is all late fees. I could lose my license or I would blow it off. Card: ~$1,400 we'll try to get them to knock off the late fees and penalties or whatever.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 17:56
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Well I'm at work but the gist of it is I got a speeding ticket at Christmas 2 years ago that I need to start paying, and we thought the credit card was in collections but they contacted us yesterday to give us a chance to start making payments so it doesn't go that way. I'm sure we won't get an actual credit limit after we pay it, but since our credit will matter a bit in the next 2 years we need to pay it. I know you said most of the $1100 was late fees, but jeez. That's an expensive speeding ticket.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 18:05
|
|
|
IllegallySober posted:I know you said most of the $1100 was late fees, but jeez. That's an expensive speeding ticket. Yep. These two things (and $20k+ in medical bills when my appendix went bad.) were all from our near-poverty state when we couldn't afford even $30 a month to keep stuff under control. Looking back we could have done more than we did sometimes though. The ticket was 85 in a 65 on an interstate highway. Not even that terrible, but incredibly expensive. I've done my best not speed since this happened.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 18:18
|
|
|
I got a 75 in a 65 9 months ago and it ended up costing close to $400 with traffic school. Most of that must be late fees.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 19:48
|
|
|
So when you got the new good job, you didn't think maybe you should pay outstanding small debts like the speeding ticket? I'm glad you've decided you should now, but, drat. E: and ticket cost lawls. $400 for a 11-20 over? That's nutty. My last 11-20 over was $140ish...
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 21:07
|
|
|
Bugamol posted:I got a 75 in a 65 9 months ago and it ended up costing close to $400 with traffic school. Most of that must be late fees. Most. I think it was $400 as well. SiGmA_X posted:So when you got the new good job, you didn't think maybe you should pay outstanding small debts like the speeding ticket? I'm glad you've decided you should now, but, drat. I've tried to get in touch with this county a few times now to take care of this---especially right when I got my job---and they can never get me to the right office. It's called Placer County in California, and more specifically their traffic division I think, if anyone knows the right number by chance. I've tried Googling and 411 and their own courthouse and they can never get me to the right place. We did pay off a ton of smaller debts actually (payday loans and such) right when I got the job. E: May have got the right number this time. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Dec 6, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 21:14
|
|
|
Alright I had to go through 3 different agencies to figure out who to pay but the ticket is now ready for installment payments. That'll start on the 5th of the month starting January. Ticket Balance: $991. They said I can write the judge via their website contact form to try to get the extra fees removed. Fees total $630 and it was due to financial hardship so I might have a case. I will do this. Credit Card: $1574.55. Wells Fargo said that if we pay it off in one lump sum this month we only have to pay $1,000. Should we budget $500 of our emergency fund now and then $500 next check cycle? That saves us almost $600! It will reflect as balance paid in full on her credit report. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Dec 6, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 22:02
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Credit Card: $1574.55. Wells Fargo said that if we pay it off in one lump sum this month we only have to pay $1,000. Should we budget $500 of our emergency fund now and then $500 next check cycle? That saves us almost $600! It will reflect as balance paid in full on her credit report. I say go for it, that's a 57% return on your "investment". It frees up the credit card to be used as springy debt as well so it doesn't hit your ability to withstand an emergency as much, assuming they don't close your account once you pay it off.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 22:23
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 08:02 |
|
|
Kilty Monroe posted:I say go for it, that's a 57% return on your "investment". It frees up the credit card to be used as springy debt as well so it doesn't hit your ability to withstand an emergency as much, assuming they don't close your account once you pay it off. Agreed. I cut some fat off of our spending cash budget and such and took the extra from not paying the ticket this month and we'll still have a few hundred dollars in case something really unexpected happens. The payment is scheduled for the 24th, and I told my wife to ask to keep the card account open. Edit: Argh alright they switched it on us; it's "settled" on the credit report if we pay the $1,000. Paid in full if we pay in full. Any new input? Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Dec 6, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2013 22:33
|
|