Snarkadoodledoo

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Jerry D. said:
:cool: Paid off my truck today.
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Congratulations. It's always a relief to get out from under a debt.

Now for some "frugal" advice.

Keep making your truck payment.... to yourself. The "mistake" many people make is to expand their lifestyle by the amount of their now defunct car payment. Down the road, when it becomes necessary to buy another vehicle, they struggle with "what to cut from the budget" because they are used to spending that amount on day-to-day stuff. Or splurging it on stuff every month or so.

I learned frugality at the knee of a Depression Era survivor. My father taught me this back in the early 60s when he bought a new truck. I asked him why he didn't have a "new truck" like everyone else. The following lesson resulted...

If you open a savings account and deposit your current vehicle payment amount into the account every month, you accomplish four things.

First, you DON'T inflate your lifestyle budget, therefore you don't have to cut your lifestyle budget down the road.

Second, when it comes time to buy a new vehicle, you can either pay for the vehicle in cash or make a substantial down payment, significantly decreasing the amount you need to finance.

Third, the account draws interest, which adds a small amount (at this time) to the balance over time. Back when savings accounts paid 5% to 7%, this was not insignificant.

Fourth, by paying yourself each month, you are paying the equivalent of the interest you would be paying to the finance institution (car finance, credit union, bank, etc) to YOURSELF. That's "free" money.

Caveats -
If you trade in vehicles every 2 or 3 years, you never see any real benefits to this. I've never had this problem. I drive vehicles until they "fall apart", i.e., over a 6 month period, I have repairs that equal or exceed a car payment 3 or 4 times (not including repairs due to a collision).

If you pull money out of the account for a new sofa, a boat. wave runner, etc, you defeat the purpose of the account.


Some people disagree with paying cash for a vehicle. Well, except in business purchases, interest paid on vehicles is not tax deductible (unlike the interest on homes, which is). So why waste money paying interest to corporations. Pay it to yourself.

You NEVER tell a car dealer you are paying cash until you have the final purchase price nailed down. If they believe you are gonna pay them interest for 3/4/5 years, they'll sweeten the deal by knocking off a few hundred. I wait until I get to the "finance officer" stage and when he/she asks "How many payments do you want spread this out over? 48? 60?" and you tell them "One." the look on their faces is priceless. Also never pay "dealer prep" fees. You are essentially paying big bucks (and extra interest accrues) for a car wash and to have them check the oil, window fluids and tire pressure. Which they should be doing anyway.

The only time I have "financed" a car since 1978 (the last time I HAD to finance one in some amount) was when they offered to knock $1000 and $2500 off the prices if I financed for 60 months. They were expecting to get interest for all or most of that time. I made sure that there was no penalty for early payoff first. Then I made the first month's payment and the next month went in and said "I won some bucks off the lottery. I wanna pay off my car."
 
zzyzzogeton said:
Congratulations. It's always a relief to get out from under a debt.

Now for some "frugal" advice.

Keep making your truck payment.... to yourself. The "mistake" many people make is to expand their lifestyle by the amount of their now defunct car payment. Down the road, when it becomes necessary to buy another vehicle, they struggle with "what to cut from the budget" because they are used to spending that amount on day-to-day stuff. Or splurging it on stuff every month or so.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Excellent advice! I agree with it wholeheartedly.... Which is why I already have changed the "truck payment" title in my budget to "truck saving" in order to earmark funds as such. They will be moved to savings regularly and used for major repairs or to buy another vehicle as needed down the road.

I bought..... I financed the truck when I had no business doing so. As I landed a better job I said to myself, "screw this." and decreased my X year term loan into an X-3 year loan.

I am treating my student loans similarly. As a smaller one is paid off, I do not change the monthly payment. It is rolled to the next lowest OR the highest interest loan sitting on my account.

zzyzzogeton said:
The only time I have "financed" a car since 1978 (the last time I HAD to finance one in some amount) was when they offered to knock $1000 and $2500 off the prices if I financed for 60 months. They were expecting to get interest for all or most of that time. I made sure that there was no penalty for early payoff first. Then I made the first month's payment and the next month went in and said "I won some bucks off the lottery. I wanna pay off my car."
Click to expand...
HAHA - I love it!
 
Last edited:
Jonny1280 said:
I must have taken a wrong turn.
I thought this was the Snark thread...
My apologies.
Click to expand...

Yeah... what the heck? :confused:

I'm not a mod in here, but just as friendly reminder... if you're looking to discuss politics or controversy, this ain't the place for it. There's been a bit too much of that lately and it's not doing anyone any good. Just my opinion, of course.

zzyzzogeton said:
Keep making your truck payment.... to yourself.
Click to expand...

:thumbup: A long time ago, I worked with a woman who had driven beaters for almost ten years, while working hard and quietly socking money away. Thereafter, she bought a brand new car, cash, and saved a ton of money. Last I heard, she was continuing that same pattern every 8 years or so. I'm hardly a financial genius, but as far as I'm concerned the only things worth going into debt for (meaning, paying a banker's salary)
are a home or a serious business venture.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
Congratulations. It's always a relief to get out from under a debt.

Now for some "frugal" advice.

Keep making your truck payment.... to yourself. The "mistake" many people make is to expand their lifestyle by the amount of their now defunct car payment. Down the road, when it becomes necessary to buy another vehicle, they struggle with "what to cut from the budget" because they are used to spending that amount on day-to-day stuff. Or splurging it on stuff every month or so.

I learned frugality at the knee of a Depression Era survivor. My father taught me this back in the early 60s when he bought a new truck. I asked him why he didn't have a "new truck" like everyone else. The following lesson resulted...

If you open a savings account and deposit your current vehicle payment amount into the account every month, you accomplish four things.

First, you DON'T inflate your lifestyle budget, therefore you don't have to cut your lifestyle budget down the road.

Second, when it comes time to buy a new vehicle, you can either pay for the vehicle in cash or make a substantial down payment, significantly decreasing the amount you need to finance.

Third, the account draws interest, which adds a small amount (at this time) to the balance over time. Back when savings accounts paid 5% to 7%, this was not insignificant.

Fourth, by paying yourself each month, you are paying the equivalent of the interest you would be paying to the finance institution (car finance, credit union, bank, etc) to YOURSELF. That's "free" money.

Caveats -
If you trade in vehicles every 2 or 3 years, you never see any real benefits to this. I've never had this problem. I drive vehicles until they "fall apart", i.e., over a 6 month period, I have repairs that equal or exceed a car payment 3 or 4 times (not including repairs due to a collision).

If you pull money out of the account for a new sofa, a boat. wave runner, etc, you defeat the purpose of the account.


Some people disagree with paying cash for a vehicle. Well, except in business purchases, interest paid on vehicles is not tax deductible (unlike the interest on homes, which is). So why waste money paying interest to corporations. Pay it to yourself.

You NEVER tell a car dealer you are paying cash until you have the final purchase price nailed down. If they believe you are gonna pay them interest for 3/4/5 years, they'll sweeten the deal by knocking off a few hundred. I wait until I get to the "finance officer" stage and when he/she asks "How many payments do you want spread this out over? 48? 60?" and you tell them "One." the look on their faces is priceless. Also never pay "dealer prep" fees. You are essentially paying big bucks (and extra interest accrues) for a car wash and to have them check the oil, window fluids and tire pressure. Which they should be doing anyway.

The only time I have "financed" a car since 1978 (the last time I HAD to finance one in some amount) was when they offered to knock $1000 and $2500 off the prices if I financed for 60 months. They were expecting to get interest for all or most of that time. I made sure that there was no penalty for early payoff first. Then I made the first month's payment and the next month went in and said "I won some bucks off the lottery. I wanna pay off my car."
Click to expand...

Zz that's some brilliant advice there mate. Love it. I've only owned 5 cars over my 35 years and I've paid cash for all of them (they were all beaters, excepting my current ride). I'm a lucky man as my Financial Director, the CEO of the Bank of SWMBO makes sure I never see a portion of my pay each and every week (she also moonlights as the Minister for War :D). We live humbly but happily. She never had much growing up so she learnt very hardy financial lessons from her wonderful mother. Advice like you just gave there, simple but clever advice, can sometimes be hard to swallow for some folks but man, it can prevent a world of hurt down the track. Onya Zz..
 
tradewater said:
And some states don't require a front license plate. I think he's good to go. :thumbup:
Click to expand...




Truth, dont ever back into a parking spot in Florida. The police dont like it (or maybe its because im Canadian :D). Mainly because they only have them on the rear there and they think you be hiding something.

Glad to hear you're doing good Gus! What is the weight limit on that wall? Would my large behind be able to climb it?
 
Well now ya tell me...I just picked this up today. For the past 2 years the world has been trying to stop me from getting a Jeep. Just when I thought I won....I went to pick it up last night, tore it all down and was ready to hit the road(about an hour from my house) ...wrong key, then they could find it. Foiled again!!!
Well, they dropped it off at work today, if I ever make it back to the office, I'm finally gonna get it home!
 
Im pretty sure she owns that one... At least the look on her face says "im the one driving this"

Congrats man, awesome looking jeep brother.
 
TBL said:
Truth, dont ever back into a parking spot in Florida. The police dont like it (or maybe its because im Canadian :D). Mainly because they only have them on the rear there and they think you be hiding something.
Click to expand...

I never worry about what the police think about it if I back in anywhere. Granted, Texas allegedly requires a front plate, but they only enforce it if they are stopping you for some other reason. That said, I have backed in or pulled all the way through to be nose out for 26 years. Old habits die hard.

A) - most low speed accidents happen due to 1 or more vehicles being operated in a reverse direction.
B) - as an emergency first responder for 20+ years, I didn't have time to slowly back out of a slot after waiting impatiently for some old granny to figure what they were doing when I was trying to get on the road to a fire, wreck, hazmat, cardiac, stroke, drowning, industrial accident, etc....
C) - backing in puts your trunk in a protected position which precludes you being side-swiped by an idiot driver coming down the parking lane not paying attention. I have been "kissed" twice by such idiots. It is not a fun feeling. Luckily, neither time was I seriously injured.
d) - backing in when traveling, say in Florida, :D puts your trunk to the sidewalk for most motels/hotels and makes it a lot easier to get your suitcase in/out of the trunk and you don't have to try to wiggle them between vehicles to get them to the sidewalk.
 
Thanks guys! Yeah, she's 3yrs away...when you daughter says "why would anyone not want to learn how to drive a stick? I want to do that before an automatic"... Ya gotta let her give it a go. So, yeah WW, I'm a sucker and I'm sure she will
 
Thats awesome NC!! Id let her too!!


So i got these 2 buckeye burl boards for a project. Id like to make a live edge shelf, and maybe have the 2nd piece as a backboard with a clock built in, or do 2 shelves... Or put them together and try and make a table... Or ???

First one is 33″ long 12″ at the widest/tallest and just over 1" thick
Second one is 27″ long 10" at the widest/tallest and just over 1" thick

18941659820_f5cfc5d5ee_o.jpg
18943239189_fc8d7daaf3_o.jpg
 
zzyzzogeton said:
I never worry about what the police think about it if I back in anywhere. Granted, Texas allegedly requires a front plate, but they only enforce it if they are stopping you for some other reason. That said, I have backed in or pulled all the way through to be nose out for 26 years. Old habits die hard.

A) - most low speed accidents happen due to 1 or more vehicles being operated in a reverse direction.
B) - as an emergency first responder for 20+ years, I didn't have time to slowly back out of a slot after waiting impatiently for some old granny to figure what they were doing when I was trying to get on the road to a fire, wreck, hazmat, cardiac, stroke, drowning, industrial accident, etc....
C) - backing in puts your trunk in a protected position which precludes you being side-swiped by an idiot driver coming down the parking lane not paying attention. I have been "kissed" twice by such idiots. It is not a fun feeling. Luckily, neither time was I seriously injured.
d) - backing in when traveling, say in Florida, :D puts your trunk to the sidewalk for most motels/hotels and makes it a lot easier to get your suitcase in/out of the trunk and you don't have to try to wiggle them between vehicles to get them to the sidewalk.
Click to expand...

My father taught me to back into all parking spots. Here it's no problem, and those are all great reasons to do so. At the time in question I was in a public beach area / coffee shop. I backed into the spot and thought nothing of it. As we were coming back out of the coffee shop there was an officer stopped there who politely asked us to turn our vehicle around. You are only required to have a plate on the back there, they require you to park frontwards into all spots in public areas so any passing officer can check for plates. We complied, but we have plates on both sides :D

Nice Jeep Slice!
 
,
worldwood said:
Thats awesome NC!! Id let her too!!


So i got these 2 buckeye burl boards for a project. Id like to make a live edge shelf, and maybe have the 2nd piece as a backboard with a clock built in, or do 2 shelves... Or put them together and try and make a table... Or ???
First one is 33″ long 12″ at the widest/tallest and just over 1" thick
Second one is 27″ long 10" at the widest/tallest and just over 1" thick

18941659820_f5cfc5d5ee_o.jpg
18943239189_fc8d7daaf3_o.jpg
Click to expand...

Those would make some great handle scales!
 
TBL said:
they require you to park frontwards into all spots in public areas so any passing officer can check for plates. We complied, but we have plates on both sides :D

Nice Jeep Slice!
Click to expand...

I backed into most spots in Florida when i wasnt being lazy. My father always does in public as well. Lots of people do.... I have never heard this.

I think they were messing with you because they seen the Canadian plates :D
 
Ray Settanta said:
,

Those would make some great handle scales!
Click to expand...

Yea maybe... But that wont be happening with these 2 LOL

I can get smaller pieces for handles cheaper. Mother nature did an amazing job creating this art, i want it on display in my home. Hell if i cant come up with a good project for in the house ill hang them up just like pictures in my shop. I love how they look.

But im thinking some shelves or something would be sweet. Im also thinking an "inlayed" clock would look great over our fireplace. The wall with the fireplace is stone, we already plan to rip the carpet out and put some of that vinyl plank fake wood flooring in the living room... I think doing the living room in in a wood and stone theme would look excellent. And the colors in these boards would go well with the stone colors and wood flooring IMO.
 
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