What I’m Reading: Getting the Car Serviced Edition

So far today, I’ve committed to paying over $2k for the 80k mile service on our car. This includes oil change, timing belt change, transmission service, and $50 to get some windshield chips repaired.

This, by the way, was supposed to be our first “no plans, nothing we have to get done” weekend of the summer. And, I still need to get some mowing done. And probably a trip to the dog park.

But tomorrow it is supposed to rain. My goal is to get up, go to my critique group, then come home and do nothing. Doesn’t that sound heavenly.

 

Given my own car issues, you should not be surprised that I am totally sympathetic to what Bog of Debt is going through with her car woes. For us, this was a planned service (we knew how much it would cost), and we’re getting everything done so that we don’t have a breakdown. Not so much for our friend. So I’m asking too, Karma (and anyone else who wants to), won’t you please go visit her.

Driving from dropping the car off for service, I saw the following license plate: SAM  R  I. Naturally, it made me think of Sam over at Financial Samurai. I came home to find him wondering Can You Blow Through $100,000 Like a Rock Star? And he tells us what he wishes he would have done had he gotten $100k before he was 21, and what he most likely would have done.

Speaking of Music and Money, Squirrelers has a post up about how it is apparently not cool to be frugal. I listen to the Pentatonix version of the Niki Minaj song he quotes all the time, and I have to agree, that line bugs me, too.

But many of us are frugal, even if it isn’t cool, because we want to get out of debt. My friend Joe over at Average Joe’s Money Blog reminds us this week that Getting Out of Debt Isn’t a Goal. (He’s got to be kidding, right?) No, he’s not. Getting out of debt is as much a goal as my weight loss goal- it’s something that can be measured, but the real goal is actually finding a new normal that doesn’t involve debt.

Staying out of debt is definitely a goal for C and I. But you know what I could go into debt for (okay, not real debt, I’m talking use credit cards that I’d have paid off in the next two months kind of debt)? This trip that Travel Whimsy is on- Lima and Peru. The Mayan ruins are on my must see list, but I think I may have to add Sillustani.

 

Carn Euny, England

We’re featuring two new Yakezie Challengers this week.

First up is Your Personal Finance Pro. I’m highlighting Why Borrowing From Your 401k is a Bad Idea, because I completely agree.

Second is Eyes on the Dollar. She’s an optometrist (some day I’ll write the post about working for ophthalmologists), so I love this post on Bartering for Health Care.