Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

I was invited to go to CT this weekend with a friend. I convinced him to drive there instead of fly. Thus saving myself a boatload of money. We’re leaving early from DC to skip NYC traffic over the GW.

But the really cool thing is that my VA SmartTag/EZ-PASS/SmartPass thingamajig for the tolls is no longer limited to one car assignment. I double checked the website this week and all we have to do is take it with us. No extra pass needed for my friend’s car. I can even pick up extra mounting strips from their office in Northern VA. (But I am too lazy to do so. I can hold the pass up while he drives.)

WOO HOO!

If you don’t have a smart tag, you might want to think about getting one. I had to get one because I work off the Dulles Toll Road and it makes my daily commute faster. However, when I was going to Philly every week last year, it made a huge difference on I-95, and in some places, there is a discounted toll for using electronic payment.

I used to be all paranoid about Big Brother and the government tracking my movement and figuring out that I was speeding on the highway, but for the 3 tolls I pay every day to go to work, it’s completely worth it. Plus my paranoid security friends tell me this is the least of my worries in terms of government surveillance.

So this is the last post of the week. Happy Friday!

FMF is big on car dealerships. A lot of other PF bloggers are not. I’m in the dealership camp, but only begrudgingly. First off, you need to know that my pop ran a private garage while I was growing up, but started out as a dealer mechanic for Ford. I will try to pick a private garage if I feel I can trust them. Second, I don’t think I trust private garages around my area. I just don’t know them and feel like the one place I did try out didn’t serve me well. Third, ever since pop got out of the car fixing business, he takes his car to the dealership, even for an oil change. (But I can’t tell if that’s because he’s known the service manager for almost 30 years now from way back in the day.)

Observations about the experience this time:

1) I was offered a dirty rental car by the in-house rental agency. All I can say, is take the dirty car, but ask them if they will knock down the gas you have to put back in. I accepted a dirty car and they said I could return it with half a tank instead of the three-quarters that were in it. That was good.

2) What I would have really liked though is some wiper-fluid. There was road salt all over the car and windows. But no, that wasn’t the $850 car wash. There was also a really funky maple syrup odor in the car when I turned on the heat this morning. Made me gag. I also really hated the Aveo they gave me. I preferred the PT Cruiser the same agency gave me last year. The Aveo’s rear window was too small, and the lack of power mirrors made it a pain in the neck to adjust the driver’s side mirror to my satisfaction, causing a few near misses while I was changing lanes. I made my complaint to the rental agent who accepted the car and he wrote me a little free upgrade discount coupon for the next rental. I laughed. There’s a reason why I had the last car on the lot. Next time, there’s probably going to be nothing to upgrade to. (glaring dangling preposition!) BTW, this rental was free because the dealer gives you a courtesy rental if you spend more than $200.00 in services.

3) I took my car into the shop because I wanted to a routine oil change and to fix the brake pads, because my brakes were mushy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to total up to $200.00, but the nice service guy gave me a free rental anyway. The other thing I wanted done was to aim the wiper fluid pumps higher. While driving around last weekend during a short ice storm, I really needed the salt off the windows, but I couldn’t get any fluid to the top of the windshield. GRRR… I have told them twice there was a problem and they insist nothing is wrong. I made a special point of complaining that there is something wrong because all winter long I couldn’t get the top of the window clean.

4) I get a call during the day. Turns out my engine mounts are cracked, the valve gasket is leaking, needing repair, and I could use a ‘tune-up’. But the brakes are fine. I get the estimate and I tell him I’ll call him back.

THANK GOD FOR THE CAR BUFFS IN THE OFFICE.

I quickly consult them about the repairs being done. They tell me that my brake lines probably need flushing or the air bled out of them if they’re feeling mushy. They also tell me that engine mounts are small pieces of plastic that are sickeningly cheap, but the labor cost is the expensive part, but worth it when you figure that replacing them now for $400.00 of labor is cheaper than the thousands in damage I could pay later if I wait too long. The valve gasket damage? No big deal. I’d rather fix it than keep leaking oil. I knew I was leaking oil because when I topped off the oil the other week, I put in a lot more than I normally would so I was ok with that repair.

But here’s the kicker that really cheeses me off. What the heck is a ‘tune-up’? My pop always gave my car a tune-up before I went on a long road trip anywhere. I know this means checking the oil, topping off fluids, checking the belts for wear, etc. I did not know this meant replacing the spark plugs. Because you see, I did that last year at 90K miles. I’m at 107K and I don’t think I need new ones after 17K miles. Those suckers should last another 90K.

ARGH. I see them on the bill and I am not happy. If they had said the spark plugs needed changing on the phone, I would have stopped them right then and there. One of the car buffs told me later that it was possible they had been fouled up, but never did I once think that my car had no power and the plugs were misfiring. I say something about this at the dealership and they courteously removed the $44.00 charge for the parts.

So rather than pay $900.00, I paid about $850.00 in maintenance, which is far more than the original $200.00 I had planned. However, they did clean the outside of my car and vacuum the interior. The only bad thing was the orange chemical freshener I don’t care for. I had to open the windows while driving in the cold.

In the cost benefit analysis, the cost was only 2-3 months’ worth of car payments. If I only spend another $850 this year in maintenance, I think I’ll be ok. But yes, I’ve pulled money out of my emergency fund for this since it was quite unplanned.

I know a lot of PF bloggers are selling their books through Amazon or eBay. Great. Good luck to them. I’d rather not wait in a post office line.

Today, with a friend, I donated books to a non-profit literacy charity and used book store. It was awesome. They took every book I had. I made back $4.00 of value for every hardback book I bought on sale for $7.00. How’s that? I donated them to the charity and that’s the fair market value the clerk quoted to me. The paperbacks, trade and regular, were $2.00 a piece. I did include an audio book, which I also valued at $4.00, for lack of a better figure. (And to be rid of it completely.) The total donation was valued at $68 for a 5 minute errand. Well worth it.

1) I got rid of everything. Even at used book stores that give you credit or cash, they don’t take everything.

2) It was uber-efficient. It took 5 minutes! I didn’t even have to park the car, but leave it in the alley/loading zone with the blinkers on.

3) I didn’t incur a cost to do it. No posting an ad. No postage. No shipping materials. Nothing! It was a teeny diversion from our final destination.

4) I made a charitable donation, which is tax deductible.

If you’re living in the DC area, go to Books for America at 1417 22nd St, NW, Washington, DC 20037. It’s a few blocks west of Dupont Circle, just one block south of The Brickskeller. They also take audio books and CD’s. Take a look at their donation page for a full list of items they accept and pick-up services.

Consider donating your used books to your local library. They can sell them to raise funds for the library.

How did I do? Not very well. I overspent on my budget by ~$3000.00.

I was about $1000.00 off on my income due to my budgeting healthcare benefit expenses off my old employer and not adjusting it to actual costs with my current employer.

Specific category notes:

The rising price of gas definitely shows on my budget. I spent ~$300.00 more than planned.

My car repairs were a budget killer at ~$4000.00, because I track that as a separate item from fuel expenses. This single budget item explains away the entire budget deficit.

Buying a motorcycle was *VERY* unplanned and it shows. I could blame this as the budget killer, but it cost me less that the deficit total.

My entertainment budget was over by ~$300.00, but almost that entire amount represents pre-paid tickets for 8 adults to the once in a lifetime Tutankhamen show in Philadelphia for 2007. I hope to recoup most of that from my friends next year when the show takes place.

The ‘household’ category was over by ~$250.00, which is about what I spent on a home warranty service. It sounds crazy, but I renewed it since it’s a one-stop service for household applicance repair. I actually ended up using it to replace my garbage disposal in 2005. I found the convenience to be a worthwhile expense. I sleep better at night knowing I have a number to call. (I was a total wreck during my first home repair crisis, which is a buyer’s remorse story. I know that am a panicker in a crisis, which is why I obsess about being prepared for stuff. I freak out less.)

I am not sure what to make of this one. I overspent on mortgage interest in 2006 by ~$900.00. But since I capped my HELOC to a fixed rate and I can take almost all of mortgage interest amount as a deduction, I can’t call this all horrible since I’ll actually get back some of this category when I file my taxes.

I grossly under estimated my property taxes by ~$500.00. That represents what I paid for my condo and for my car. In VA, there is personal property tax on your vehicle. Now that I know what a full year of taxes are upon my car, I should be able to budget this better. But due to annual real estate reassessment in VA, I might still be way off again. Since markets are flattening, I should be alright. (This may require another post to explain.)

I have the good stuff in another post. Though the overall budget picture was that I overspent, I did a lot better on a few things which surprised me. Stay tuned.