Right now I’m driving a beater car and it is one of the best financial decisions I’ve ever made.
Why I’m Driving A Beater Car
I got the idea from Dave Ramsey’s show and then had some help from friends implementing it. I mentioned to everyone I knew that I needed a car to drive and eventually someone mentioned a car they weren’t using.
The car isn’t worth much. In fact, they couldn’t get anything for it when they tried to trade it in to buy a new car. They tried to sell it and no one would buy it. It was basically useless to them since no one wanted it. The sad little car was just sitting in their driveway unused.
I swooped in and got the car for myself. It’s a beauty with so many amazing features:
- runs fine
- missing a few details like working back windows
- no airbags (OMG!)
- painted three colors
- clearly been in multiple crashes
- dented and scratched in multiple places
- it’s an ugly car
It’s the ugliest, oldest, least safe car I’ve ever driven. I know many would draw the line at safety but in this case I’m willing to take a bit of risk. I know I won’t be driving this car forever and the lack of car payments is wonderful.
It’s also the best car because it runs fine and has had no problems so far. It gets me from point A to point B without any fuss. That’s what I need it for and that’s what it is giving me. It’s perfect!
Benefits of Driving A Beater Car
There are so many benefits of driving a beater car:
- you don’t have a monthly car payment
- it saves you money on insurance
- you don’t put extra money into keeping the car “nice”
- you can save more for a better car
- you stop caring about appearances
There are so many benefits to driving a beater that it makes sense for me to drive it at this point in my life.
My Plan For The Future
I’m planning to drive the car for the next few months and saving up to buy a replacement. I have no idea how much extra money I can pull from other things to go in a car fund, but I’m going to try. I’d like my next car to probably be in the range of $3-5k just to get something safer and with less miles.
However, this awesome beater is going to be my path to buying that new car without going into debt!
So that’s why I’m driving a beater right now. In a way it’s kind of an adventure. It’s definitely a means to an end. I’m excited to get out of the rest of my debt and eventually save up for my next car.
I’d like to save up for my next car and pay for it in cash completely. Even if I can’t hit that mark fully before this beater car bites the dust I know I’ll be a lot closer because I drove the beater for a while.
There’s an easy fix to the clothes problem. Go shopping! You don’t have to spend a fortune or get an entire new wardrobe, but you’ve made progress and you deserve something that fits properly. I’ve found thrift stores are great for jeans and trousers especially. It also really depends on the thrift store – some are great, some are not.
It was news to me that the stylish shops in the mall won’t kick you out for being frumpy – just stroll in there like you’re the queen of england, tell the shop girl you’re just browsing, and have at it. If they don’t carry your size, write them off as shallow jerks, and stroll back out. They won’t spit on you or laugh in your face or anything. Really. I promise.
Good luck. Hope it works out well for you. :-)
Ah, if only it was as easy as just going shopping. I did actually end up buying some shorts today (bringing my total of pairs of shorts owned to one, besides sleeping shorts). I’m not afraid of shopping or anything, not sure how you got that idea, it’s just that I haven’t bought clothes in a while because I can’t afford to when I’m spending money on other things. I dunno, it’s a problem that’s probably going to be an ongoing one.
Ah, okay. I was afraid of shopping and trying new stores for years, so I jumped to conclusions. Apologies for that. Good luck with your money/clothes balance. :-)
Go for an adventure and check out thrift stores. You’ll honestly be surprised at what you can get for the price of ONE new shirt or pair of pants at a new store. I used to go to thrift stores to find cheap boardgames and just look at fun stuff, but recently started a real office job after working at home for quite a while and needed a whole new office wardrobe. I was able to get everything I’ve worn for the last month for under $100 total. It can be frustrating because you have to sort through a lot of junk but pays off nicely when you get so much so affordably! It’s really worth the opportunity to feel better about what you wear (I’m usually a Walmart-jeans and t-shirt kinda gal, but it feels so nice to be able to wear nicer clothes).
Thanks Mel!
Meg – I usually shop at thirft store when I do go shopping, but lately I haven’t found anything worthwhile. It’s kinda hard at thrift stores sometimes.
I did end up buying some new things though, so I’m very excited about it! I guess sometimes you just have to suck it up and spend money!
Have you checked out consignment stores for clothing? It really can make all the difference in the world as to how you present yourself. Too often we wear ill-fitting clothing while losing weight because we figure “wait until I am x size” before buying something. I went through a lot of consignment clothing going down the scale because I couldn’t justify spending $$$ on new clothes, but I also could not justify going around with droopy pants.
.-= Lori (Finding Radiance)´s last blog ..Musings on cheat days =-.
If I do shop I do tend to go to thrift stores, but lately haven’t had much luck with those. When I go several times and find nothing I generally quite trying for a while. It’s way too time consuming and frustrating. I have a body shape that is almost impossible to fit clothes, especially pants, because they all end up too long or too tight in the hips but not other places. I should learn how to sew and make my own dang clothes!
I love weekly goals. What would I do without them? And most of the time, I don’t even get all of them in, but at least they’re in the back of my head.
As for clothes, I really need to get more clothes too, but I’m cheap and don’t want to spend the money. Yet.
I do need to get some make up too. Going to have my friend teach me when I go see her.
As for exercise, we’ll get some biking in in Venice and maybe some walking around Santa Monica! You’ll definitely get lots of walking in at Disneyland so don’t worry :)
.-= Jess´s last blog ..Take Me Out to the Ball Game =-.
I used to do weekly goals a lot but it kinda faded away (as does everything eventually with me).
At least you understand the clothes thing!
I absolutely know what you mean about clothes. I am at a point where all my clothes have gotten a bit too big, but not too big that I need the next size. They’re old (3, some 4 years old), and worn out. And I just feel frumpy 98% of the time.
I agree with everyone else, shopping is the antidote, especially if they’re a size too big now. With patience, thrift stores like good will or salvation army can reveal treasures. And it’s easy on the bank. What I’ve been reduced to is rotating through the 2-3 shirts and skirts that look good right now, and spicing it up with different jewelry or ribbons in my hair. It’s motivation to stick to what I’m doing so that I can get down a whole size. It took me a while to realize, people don’t notice that you rotate through the same things!
Rock out those weekly goals and have fun in Portland!
.-= Radiance and Sunshine´s last blog ..Hello healthy, fit, me =-.
I’m a big fan of the weekly goals. I’ve recently realised that the weekly weigh-in for me is not a good motivator but the goals are. Since I’m not trying to lose a huge amount of weight but more get back into the healthy lifestyle, the goals keep me focussed and motivated.
Good luck in getting more exercise in – there’s an ad on tv here at the moment with some sportsman (who I probably would know if I was a Kiwi) talking about how he needs exercise to keep from being depressed and it’s so true.
(P.S. from the photo you shared on twitter, it looks like you’re having a good day today!)
.-= Gemfit´s last blog ..It’ll all come tumbling down =-.
I think confidence is fleeting for all of us.
Some days I think I ROCK AS A WRITER and others Im pretty damn certain no one will ever wanna read another word I write.
.-= ThreeCheersFerTheGirlyPushups!!´s last blog ..Some Mamavation on this Father’s Day. =-.
Yay girly pushups!
I feel the same way about being a writer. It’s not just confidence in how I look, but about everything about me that’s fleeting. I wish I could catch it and hold on to it long enough to do great things.
I hate that nothing fits feeling!
.-= Lanine´s last blog ..sunday inspriration =-.
I’m getting a lot of inspiration from you! I need to work on all of those things too :)
.-= suzanne´s last blog ..Todays walk! =-.
Hehe, it’s nice to see that someone else does ‘girly’ pushups, I was starting to think I was the only one. I have enough trouble doing those I really don’t think I could manage a full ‘mans’ pushup!
.-= Sheryl ´s last blog ..13 Weeks Until The City To Bay Run =-.
Haha, I like girly pushups, but I am trying to get to doing actual pushups soon. I could manage one a few weeks ago, but I haven’t tried since then. I’m going to do a few weeks of girly pushups every day and see how that works out for me! :)
OK, I am with you clothes wise as I don’t have extra money so my $$ go to necessities & running shoes when needed. THX for the Dick’s Sporting Goods win as that got me a nw top to work out in!!!!
Make-up… never learned it & need to but right now the change of life is attacking my face & nothing seems to work on it so.. maybe leave it alone for now! :-)
Confidence… UGH! In the gym, great! Outside, not always so good… I really need to work on that too!
Mary, great list of stuff.. we can all learn from it!
I completely relate to the confidence issue and the only thing I can say is try doing affirmations in front of a mirror. Look yourself in the eye and tell yourself several great things about yourself. Find pieces of your body that you think are attractive and play them up to yourself and find the things that you hate and think of something positive to say. I have been doing this for months and I find it helpful. Its no overnight turn around or anything, but it does help a little bit everyday. I look myself in the mirror and describe the person I want to be as if I were that person now, and sometimes remembering saying it will make me act that way… I think that if I tell myself what an awesome person I am often enough, eventually I will actually feel that way. Just a suggestion.
I like doing push-ups on the ball because I feel like I’m working hard! You are doing so great setting goals for yourself in all areas. I only wear make-up if I’m going to see people I know – silly probably.
Sephora has a bunch of stations that show you how to do different makeup looks. I always pass by them when im in the store because I hate having other people do my makeup, but that might help. One time I DID let someone else do my makeup, and that was at the Fresh store. I loved their stuff and use a lot of it now. I don’t know if there is a fresh store there but the main ones are in boston and SF so maybe you would stop in for a free makeover here. The girl that did mine was SUPER nice and not condescending (I got one done once at clinique before college with my mom and they were really rude). Not to be an sf cheerleader or anything but we also have some very cheap thrift stores here…ive found some cute things before and some are only a few $. I had a friend who refused to wear thrift store clothes cuz she hated someone else had worn them but I say, if they look new, why not. Check out crossroads (castro and haight) or buffalo clothing exchange (mission and haight). Oh I guess other people mentioned that too.. :) I am SO bad at pushups. I need to work on that.
That’s the second recommendation for Sephora. I’m going to find one and go there. And maybe I’ll stop by Fresh when I’m in SF.
Hi Mary- I’m kind of a long-time lurker but I thought I’d post on this one.
I used to work at Macy’s a few years ago and they have a lot of good services if you have one near you. I was a lingerie fit specialist and you’d be surprised at the number of women who don’t wear their correct bra size (particularly if they’d lost weight). Nothing like a new bra for Operation Sexification!
They also have personal shoppers which can help you pick out the right clothes for your body type and there’s an amazing amount of really cute stuff on the clearance racks for under $10 (I came out of that job with waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more clothes than I had when I went in.) If you tell them you have a budget, they’ll work with you to find things in your price range and the girls in our store were really nice. I fit a lot of people in bras off the clearance rack too.
In terms of make-up, I’d suggest you try the philosophy counter or the Clinique counter if you want some ideas on correct colors for your coloring or the right skincare products for your skintype. The both offer a really natural look. I don’t wear make-up often but when I do, I go with one of those brands. Even if you don’t buy from them (I like Neutrogena as a drugstore brand) you can get some ideas from them and then pick out similar colors at the drugstore. The girls there work on commission (the personal shoppers and fit specialists don’t) so they might be a little more pushy but it’s totally ok to say “Sorry! Just trying things out today.”
Anyway, hope this helps and thanks for sharing on your blog!
Yay lurkers who comment! Thank you so much Nicola! :)
That’s a really good idea. I know for sure when I lose more weight I’ll definitely be needing a bra fit specialist to tell me what to do! And I never even thought about using a personal shopper at a store like that. Good idea! In the past I’ve bought almost all of my dresses at Macy’s. It’s true that you can get some good deals on clearance there.
One of the best ways I’ve figured out to get more confident and to FEEL the confidence is to get comfortable with your body. I have a couple full-length mirrors set up in my condo that I walk past all the time on my way out the door etc, and I find it really useful: I’m constantly forced to look at myself, and while sometimes I don’t like what I see, at least I’m getting to know my body better and appreciating parts of what I see. When I don’t like parts of what I see, I know what I should be working on more.
Yay Operation Sexification!
Hey Mary – thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment for me on my blog!
Great minds must think alike – I had a “moment” with my closet last week where I was frustrated with just about everything that I own. I ended up going thru everything this weekend and donated an obscene amount of stuff – a lot of it with the tags still on it! (For me though it was stuff from when I was in my early 20s and smaller than I know I’ll ever be again…and I’ll admit that even if I DO ever get to that size again the stuff would be SO out of style!). I struggle with shopping too – but I’m finding that I’m slowly figuring out what size I am now and what styles/cuts look good on me. I guess it’ll be a constant process!
And I’m 100% in agreement on the whole confidence issue too! I struggle every single day to be proud of me and the progress I’ve made so far. If only it were easier to feel good about ourselves ALL the time.