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Expensive holiday weekend
11 years ago
While it was nice to have the super long weekend, it got really expensive.
After the first big snow storm on Thursday, we didn't get our cars moved early enough on Friday. Tow and replace fines on 2 cars $300
We also had to purchase our city stickers for the 2 cars and 2 motorcycles. $375
I blew out my left front tire. I thought it was from the cold. But when I took it off to put on the spare, I discovered my strut was broken. The spring had chewed through my tire. Mechanic says we should replace both struts, so the car doesn't ride funny. Both tires should be replaced for the same reason. He said he'd also like to replace the ball joints since he's in there anyway. $1900 (w/o ball joints $1600)
And I lost 2 days of work due to the weather, the company was closed Thurs and Mon. Last Wed was a holiday, so no work, And I lost work yesterday due to the broken strut. $400.
In one weekend we went from having some savings, and being ok paying all our bills if we were careful, to holy crap how are we going to do this.
I asked the mechanic if he can get it down to $1k. It'd be tight, but we can manage that. He said he'd call around to junkyards to see if they have a used strut. If he uses a used one, it will be a closer balance match to the non-broken one on my car, so he wouldn't have to replace both.
This is *not* an "I'm having a money crisis so buy my crap" post. I'm a grown-ass long in the tooth adult, I can figure this out. I just needed a place to post all this so I can wrap my head around it.
It's also a cautionary tale. We have some savings. We budget our money. And still one unlucky weekend has sent us scrabbling.
Ugh.
After the first big snow storm on Thursday, we didn't get our cars moved early enough on Friday. Tow and replace fines on 2 cars $300
We also had to purchase our city stickers for the 2 cars and 2 motorcycles. $375
I blew out my left front tire. I thought it was from the cold. But when I took it off to put on the spare, I discovered my strut was broken. The spring had chewed through my tire. Mechanic says we should replace both struts, so the car doesn't ride funny. Both tires should be replaced for the same reason. He said he'd also like to replace the ball joints since he's in there anyway. $1900 (w/o ball joints $1600)
And I lost 2 days of work due to the weather, the company was closed Thurs and Mon. Last Wed was a holiday, so no work, And I lost work yesterday due to the broken strut. $400.
In one weekend we went from having some savings, and being ok paying all our bills if we were careful, to holy crap how are we going to do this.
I asked the mechanic if he can get it down to $1k. It'd be tight, but we can manage that. He said he'd call around to junkyards to see if they have a used strut. If he uses a used one, it will be a closer balance match to the non-broken one on my car, so he wouldn't have to replace both.
This is *not* an "I'm having a money crisis so buy my crap" post. I'm a grown-ass long in the tooth adult, I can figure this out. I just needed a place to post all this so I can wrap my head around it.
It's also a cautionary tale. We have some savings. We budget our money. And still one unlucky weekend has sent us scrabbling.
Ugh.
