I must really hate my hands . . .
. . . because I keep cutting them on random things. Today it was a minor nick on my thumb that I received while replacing my car's wiper blades.
This is the same hand that is now revealing my "bagel scar" from last month. Heck, the scar is still tender and smarts when smacked (yes, I keep finding this out the hard way).
Speaking of my car, I re-assert that I am nearly too poor for a free car.
Last month, on the 23rd, I got off shift at my night-time job along with my two carpooling co-workers to find that my car would not start. The starter was going, the lights were fine, I had a full tank of gas, but the engine wouldn't budge. Much consternation later, all three of my usual carpool (myself included) piled into another co-workers car to get home, leaving Mother (yes, I named my car "Mother," for a variety of reasons. And Sneakers is a great movie, shut up.) in the employee parking lot.
Since I was leaving town on the 25th, I figured I would need to get my car looked at pronto. The next day, one train ride, two bus rides, two tow trucks, two service stations, and five hours later, I got someone who could actually fix my car, to the tune of $284.
Last Saturday, while driving to see the fabulous Danielle Corsetto (author of Girls With Slingshots, but more on that in another post), and conveying the ever-wonderful tscheese with me, I hit a spot of trouble in the snow and wrecked one of Mother's wheels. Not just the tire mind you, but the actual metal the tire is mounted on, including the hubcap. Fortunately, this was remedied within an hour by exchanging the tire with a spare.
Yesterday I drove down to the same service station who fixed my car last month and picked up a spare tire for a song. (Okay, not literally, but I did do karaoke on Wednesday night, which was kind of fun. But really, only one song by Blondie or Boston? Only three by the Police, and no later Beatles? Who compiled these "top 450 songs?")
And today I've already gotten the wiper blades ($12.00 after my mail-in rebate), and I still need to get the lug that sheared off on the same wheel that this happened to last time I had a flat tire replaced. That will probably set me back ~$40.
Also realized while talking to Annie about our next semester's budget that I should allow $200 for gas each month. Eek. That's more than any single one of my (three) paychecks.
So the running total, excluding gas, spent on keeping my car maintained within the last month is roughly $400, and it's doing well.
Oh crap, I forgot to factor in the oil change into that month's money. Oh well.
But to be forgiving and sound a lot less gripe-y, my mother in-law gave me the car for free, it has 240,000+ miles on it, and this is the most trouble I've had with it. And I am very, very, very grateful to have a car at all, so it's good that I can afford it, even if I do have to put out a few large expenditures for it every once in a while.
This is the same hand that is now revealing my "bagel scar" from last month. Heck, the scar is still tender and smarts when smacked (yes, I keep finding this out the hard way).
Speaking of my car, I re-assert that I am nearly too poor for a free car.
Last month, on the 23rd, I got off shift at my night-time job along with my two carpooling co-workers to find that my car would not start. The starter was going, the lights were fine, I had a full tank of gas, but the engine wouldn't budge. Much consternation later, all three of my usual carpool (myself included) piled into another co-workers car to get home, leaving Mother (yes, I named my car "Mother," for a variety of reasons. And Sneakers is a great movie, shut up.) in the employee parking lot.
Since I was leaving town on the 25th, I figured I would need to get my car looked at pronto. The next day, one train ride, two bus rides, two tow trucks, two service stations, and five hours later, I got someone who could actually fix my car, to the tune of $284.
Last Saturday, while driving to see the fabulous Danielle Corsetto (author of Girls With Slingshots, but more on that in another post), and conveying the ever-wonderful tscheese with me, I hit a spot of trouble in the snow and wrecked one of Mother's wheels. Not just the tire mind you, but the actual metal the tire is mounted on, including the hubcap. Fortunately, this was remedied within an hour by exchanging the tire with a spare.
Yesterday I drove down to the same service station who fixed my car last month and picked up a spare tire for a song. (Okay, not literally, but I did do karaoke on Wednesday night, which was kind of fun. But really, only one song by Blondie or Boston? Only three by the Police, and no later Beatles? Who compiled these "top 450 songs?")
And today I've already gotten the wiper blades ($12.00 after my mail-in rebate), and I still need to get the lug that sheared off on the same wheel that this happened to last time I had a flat tire replaced. That will probably set me back ~$40.
Also realized while talking to Annie about our next semester's budget that I should allow $200 for gas each month. Eek. That's more than any single one of my (three) paychecks.
So the running total, excluding gas, spent on keeping my car maintained within the last month is roughly $400, and it's doing well.
Oh crap, I forgot to factor in the oil change into that month's money. Oh well.
But to be forgiving and sound a lot less gripe-y, my mother in-law gave me the car for free, it has 240,000+ miles on it, and this is the most trouble I've had with it. And I am very, very, very grateful to have a car at all, so it's good that I can afford it, even if I do have to put out a few large expenditures for it every once in a while.