Friday, Bad car, good week!

No a front to people who sell cars. We have a person we deal with for cars at the Subaru and the Nissan place and we love them both and they need to make a living also, but I don't want to buy a car right now.Add caption

     Well here is the car situation.  We paid $106.00 to have the Subaru dealership tell us the car needed new gaskets, new spark plugs, wires, air filter, all belts to the tune of $2,619.00.  As I would never have a dealership fix my car that was not under warranty I took it to a mechanic that my neighbor recommended.

     The dealer ship started to fudge on the new gaskets, that are $2000.00 of the above bill because they were trying to get us to buy a new car.  And well.... maybe we could hold off on that....... and just trade the car in......blah, blah, blah.

     New mechanic saw the list of the dealership, and called back with.  You need new spark plugs, but your wires look brand new, you do not need belts.  I blew out your air filter is is fine. You do have a small leak in the front head gasket, but it could go like that for years.  They said they checked your brakes but I see that you are under 2% in the back and 4% in the front,  Your brakes need to be done now or you will be replacing the shoes.  So we trusted him and we had a bill of $450.32 yesterday for a tune up, new cabin filter, oil change and fill, and new brakes all around.  We will watch car for leak and I can tell you it is.  Drat!

     The problem with replacing a gasket is the labor, The part is only $35.00

You have to pull the water pump and the timing belt needs to be replaced, and if you put back old original parts they often muck up with the jimmy and you end up back replacing those parts.  So we are looking at about $700-1000 in future repairs.  But for now I will watch it and save and drive mom's car if I need another car.  It is hard for me to see almost $600.00 coming out of my emergency fund that I have to replace and then to think that I may have to do this again twice over.  I want to use my money to pay down debt.

     For those of you who have been following my journey for the past (forever) years, see how calm I am about this dilemma.  A few years ago I would have been crying, pulling my hair, and would have gone into a deep depression and probably gone out and spent $700-100.00 on crap to make myself feel better.  I am growing up.
 

     Although the car has been discouraging, the week I have spent with my Sissie has been lovely. I have been able to really put out the work in the shop and have seen mother rally some.  Today I have a couple of pairs of pants to hem and one dress to take in and a jump suit to revamp, then one more bridesmaid dress.  So if I get busy I may be able to get to a few projects I want to work on here.

• make new napkins for the kitchen.  Mine are several years old and gross and I have the material all ready.
• redo my wax cloths with a new recipe
• work on scrap car quilt if possible
• clean the fridge, Ugh

     Guess which one won't get done :)

Have a great and productive day, staying positive while you are in the negative.

Kim