Budget issue rather than debt.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Budget issue rather than debt.
2
Fri, 07-17-2009 - 5:38pm

There's a little auto shop down the road from me called Pit Stop.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-17-2007
Fri, 07-17-2009 - 7:28pm

I will tell you what I do. I don't have a real budget because of when we get paid Tried several times to do a normal monthly budget just never could get the money to work out.


But this is what I do when it comes to the car. When we started to pay down the debt I really didn't have a lot of money to deal with because our credit card payments were really high to our income. But even then I set aside 10% of what we made bring home a month for the car. Out of that 10 % I took out gas which we use very little, auto insurance, what was left I put in our saving account figures and just put auto next to it. I have quicken.


If a car repair comes up I take that out of that fund. If the tags and

Avatar for sohappilyme
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 07-17-2009 - 8:08pm

My DH is a mechanic (on the side now - he's a service manager by day), and he HATES to change the transmission fluid on anything. HATES IT. Says every time he does it, the transmission goes. He did it on my car last spring (08) because we were moments away from taking it to a transmission shop, who would no doubt suggest a $3500 transmission job. We figured worst case, we'd change it and still need the repair. (DH doesn't like to get into automatic transmissions, particularly on a vehicle as new as mine, so that's why we were going to take the plunge on the shop). So far, so good. (Whew!) Might be worth the fluid change.

Some air filters require specialized tools. If yours doesn't, then you should be able to change it yourself. A parts store like Advance Auto Parts (DH HATES them) will help with simple stuff like that right there in the parking lot IF it's simple. If not, there goes your $19.

My 8-year-old DS did a four tire brake change for someone with DH's air gun and pocketed $40. I don't know how difficult or messy it is (and he's a pretty smart kid and spends hours a day with DH learning stuff) but I'm guessing it's not crazy hard. Still, DH usually says a DIY brake job isn't a great idea since it would be bad news to screw it up so I'm NOT suggesting that! Here's a tip, though. When they start squealing (b/c they're old, not when they're new b/c they'll squeal then, too) it's metal on metal. If you end up with grooves in the metal, you have to replace the whole assembly instead of the usual (cheaper) parts. In the case of pads, they won't seat properly if the surface below is all scratched up. So the moral of the story is don't put them off if they're squealing. Or find an 8 year old kid, LOL - I suspect he charges less than a shop!

Sarah


sahm, wahm, homeschooling mom to

Sarah