November 20, 2008
For the past two days, I’ve been mulling over the idea of selling the truck at a much lower price than I had originally expected. Months ago, the plan was to recoup the money I had to put into the loan out of my own pocket, which wasn’t an unreasonable amount, it was well in line with Kelley Blue Book value. Of course, that was before gas prices went insane, the entire economy bit the dust and unemployment reached a record high.
After months of listing the truck with so few nibbles, I had written it off as an expense for another several months: I’d pay it off and hold onto it until the market was in better shape. It required too much energy during a stressful time. My rationale was that I was responsible for the loan anyway and I preferred not to sell at a loss.
Now, though, my higher priority is to reduce monthly expenses further, and possessions to an absolute minimum. Holding onto an unused vehicle for more than a few months just doesn’t work for me. I don’t know where I’ll be located or relocating, or when, but the fewer loose ends left to tie up when I know, the better. This means I have to accept a certain amount of loss for the convenience of selling to a vehicle dealer instead of a private party, ending the monthly loan and minimal insurance payments, and striking another thing-to-take-care-of off the list.
The question is, how much loss am I willing to accept? It’s not like the truck is a commodity that will completely lose value over time, it’s a good vehicle with low mileage.
KBB value is only half of what it was six months ago, just to give you an idea of where the market value has dropped.
Even at half the once-estimated sale price (or should I say, if I get at least half that amount?), I should still be able to pay off the loan and have some left over, which reduces the sting a little. Not a whole lot, but a little.
By the way, looking at previous KBB values? I totally suck for being lazy and not selling earlier. š
November 10, 2008
Not when it comes to electronics.
A friend purchased a cheap laptop for a few hundred dollars over a year ago and is now struggling with it because it can’t load or run Vista properly on the amount of memory that came with the laptop. Since mine is over five years old and still runs Windows 2000, I had no helpful personal experience or advice.
I canvassed computer savvy friends on what to do about “shoddy Vista” which resulted in admonitions that Vista isn’t the problem, it simply requires at least 2 GB to run well. And sure enough, Q has less than 1 GB of RAM. Even better, Q called tech support and found out that the computer can only be upgraded to 1 GB, total. Uhhh…
She definitely cannot afford to simply replace the laptop because her personal finances, and that of her partner’s, are not especially stable. Bad enough that the economy’s so shaky, their household situation is such that she’s carrying most of the financial burden.
It’s a grim reminder not to lowball electronics. I’m not advocating buying first generation hardware, but if she’d spent a little more for a machine that could accept a few more GBs of RAM, it wouldn’t cost as much to upgrade memory as it would to replace the entire computer. Also, I’d much prefer upgrade existing equipment than replacing it entirely as you get more life out of the original machine and keep more junk out of the landfill. It’s not much, but preventing a habit of treating our electronics like they’re disposables can make a significant difference over the years.
My only really useful suggestion to date has been to replace Vista with an older OS with lower memory requirements. That way, she can actually use the machine. And that’s all you really need.
June 30, 2008
Creative funding for the summer weekend trips are not, repeat not, going well at all.
1. BF’s free United ticket only lets me fly out of Portland on the worst Sunday flights (7-9 hours of travel for a 3 hour trip) for any weekend we’ve searched. Friday through Monday is not an option here, I don’t think.
2. I can do a Friday night-Monday night weekend for the Phoenix trip, but we’re rapidly running out of open weekends this year. I’ll push that to September, but work is going to be a major scheduling obstacle.
3. My one way SW voucher that expires 8/14/08 isn’t good enough to get any of my return flights from Portland, so that’s not an option, either, but it must be used soon. There’s always the revival fee option, but I don’t plan to pay $50 for that; it’s nearly the cost of a one way ticket!
So, sadly, the trips BF wants me to take are either set, or nearly so. The trips I wanted to take to visit friends and play? Not so much. There’s got to be a way to be more creative about these trips.
June 9, 2008
Southwest is running a promotion for a $25 discount when you purchase a $100 southwest gift card.
There are a handful of restrictions, so I would be very careful when deciding whether or not to purchase it.
Purchase dates (for the gift card): June 1st-30th (still have time.)
Requirement: must use Visa. It can be any cobrand as long as it’s US-issued. (Great, I carry one Visa and one Mastercard at all times. It’s not my preferred points rewards card, but it’s still a rewards card.)
Limit: one per Visa cardmember and/or e-mail address. Visa cardmember will earn one $25 fare discount on a $100 or more single card transaction. Shipping and handling fees do not qualify towards the total transaction amount. The $25 fare discount will be sent via e-mail to the Visa cardmember’s account. A valid e-mail address is required to receive the discount. Allow four weeks after the conclusion of the promotion to receive the discount. (Wait, shipping and handling? Just pop the thing into an envelope and throw it in the mail! 42 cents! And BD and I can each buy one, if I have need of two round trip tickets in the near future.)
Discount Valid: Purchase must be made between July 1, 2008 and August 30, 2008 for travel August 18, 2008 through November 19, 2008.
This promotion does not include Business Select, Anytime, or Senior Fares. (Does that mean it’s only good for the Wanna Get Away fares?)
Despite the numerous caveats, I think that I will pick one up because as I look at upcoming travel, I was unexpectedly invited to a wedding in August, and have got a sporting event to attend in October. It’s only good for the event in October, and I’m looking at paying $100 for $125 purchasing power. As long as the flight prices hold until July 1st, or whenever I get that discount, I’ll be able to purchase a $149 ticket for $75 now, and an additional $24 later. Not bad, I say!
May 28, 2008
A colleague of mine has been jonesing for a home since her parents started pushing her to become a homeowner. I guess she got used to the idea, and decided to get serious about it. Her new declaration is that eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday will save her $250 a month on lunch.
Call me skeptical, or an insufferably curious pf blogger, but I do wonder if that’s the extent of her plan. It’s simple enough to save money by bringing lunch, but I feel like a few more contingencies should be considered to make sure that she’s really saving money. If I were to consult with her on the overall plan, some major points I’d make would be …..
Tracking expenses: I’d suggest that she check her spending habits as a whole. Is there going to be an area in which she increases spending because she feels deprived or restricted by eating PB&J all year? Is there really going to be an increase in savings from changing her lunch diet? She used to buy lunch half the week, and brought dinner leftovers the other half. Perhaps that was equally cost effective.
Health: Is she compensating for the rather limited nutrition in her lunches by adding fruits and veggies to her other meals? Is she doing this in a cost effective way so as not to negate her savings from lunch?
Appearances: Is she doing the PB&J lunch because it looks and feels like she’s doing something proactive about saving for a house? Are there alternatives that might save more for less effort or for the same amount of effort but be more worthwhile? I love my food, so I’d have to be sure that changing my diet solely to save money was really the best way to go.
Actionable: How is she ensuring that the money she “saves” really goes toward the house and doesn’t melt away into her general spending? Does she have a plan to pay an allowance to her house fund out of her grocery allowance?
Are there other issues you might bring up? Of course, I’m not going to have this talk with her because I don’t want to pry into her finances, we’re not that close, and I don’t want to reveal my preoccupation with PF, and accidentally out myself. š
March 16, 2008
I just found out that, in addition to the $500 deductible I’ve already put on a credit card for the sedan’s repairs, I need to come up with another $500 for getting my car fixed, AND MaDucky went out and destroyed another tire to the tune of $80. Unfortunately, the first deductible, and multiple other tire-related accidents, have already drained the car fund that was for this very purpose. *sigh*
In the spirit of not letting bad news drag me down, I’m looking for creative ways to recoup the losses, since I’m now limited in the hours I can put in at the job.