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i am bossy

The Daily Poverty Post.

car-invoice

Cars. You can’t live with them and you can’t live with them. The above is an invoice from the latest yearly car inspection. As some of you may remember, Bossy and her husband have a His and Hers situation. This receipt belongs to His.

honda city

His is the older, black Honda CRV. It was driving perfectly fine but Christ on the cross, it turns out the car needed front brake pads and rotors — and also new tires, but Bossy’s husband will purchase them elsewhere.

Lucky thing Bossy and her husband are kind of in love with their mechanic and trust him implicitly, or else Bossy would be even more devastated by the bill, which came to $465.09

Readers reader? Bossy isn’t afraid to tell you: she’s disappointed by this bill, but she’s mostly disappointed in herself. Bossy thought by this point in her Poverty Party she would have made more sacrifices to get out of debt — and one of the sacrifices Bossy has contemplated is going down to only one car.

But every time Bossy and her husband talk about it, they can never reach an agreement about the logic of the decision, or which one of the fleet should be the one to go. Both of Bossy’s Hondas were bought used for a fair price, and both cars are a known quantity, and it seems scary to sell off a good car, only to maybe need a car again in the very near future and be back in the game of looking for something used, cheap, big enough for Bossy’s paint ladders, and reliable.

Unfortunately Bossy’s husband needs a car, every day, to deliver him to something just shy of hell and back for work. So realistically, becoming a one-car family means Bossy wouldn’t be able to leave her little town at all during the week, give or take a few hundred train rides into the city for free concerts.

The thought of being without a motorized escape panics Bossy a little. Sometimes a lot. But the question remains: is Bossy’s hovering debt a more emphatic panic? And finally: is Bossy running out of gas, heh, halfway through her year-long Poverty Party?

Bossy’s council? What say you?

honda-fleet

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Being without a means of escape would put me into a panic. I live in NYC, so I’m spoiled by having 24/7 public transportation. Also, what if there was an emergency? What would you do without a car?

    I hope you don’t give up on the poverty party. Perhaps, hearing what your readers did or are doing would inspire you.

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  2. Why not try an experiment where you use your car as little as possible for a month or more, really thinking twice before hopping in and going somewhere. See if you can walk, bike, or take public transportation instead. Keep a log of when and where you drive – and why. You’ll have the safety net of a car, but you can really see how badly you need (or don’t need) a car. If you don’t use it much, you may find that renting a car on the occasions you need it is cheaper than insurance and maintenance. Or not. Is there Zipcar anywhere near you? That’s a great option for people who need cars occasionally.

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  3. From experience I can tell you… nothing makes you want to go for a drive more…. than not having a car in the driveway.

    Besides….then we would no longer be CRV twinsies.

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  4. I have a black CRV and I heart it, heart it, heart it!

    The real question is…are they paid for? If you own them outright, then don’t sell.

    I have heard that the cheapest vehicle to own is the one you already have.

    I wouldn’t sell it.

    Nope.

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  6. Bossy should keep the car. Despite the the occassional maintenance heart attacks, it’s an asset that allows you to do your revenue-generating painting. It may be that the party has gotten a little sidetracked and needs a big old jumpstart. Maybe the better question for your posse is how to get the mojo back?

    All that said, you’re doing the Lord’s work here at iambossy, so don’t let the man get you down. Mwah!

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  8. As soon as you are down to one car – you will HAVE to have a car for something. Lock the keys away for a month and see how the experiment goes. Otherwise, be happy you have a vehicle you already know and keep it. My hubby hit a patch of ice and flipped the vehicle, and we were down to one mode of transportation. Of course 3 days in a 7 day week I ended up NOT needing the 2nd car, but man…those other 4…ugh.

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  10. I’m with the others who say keep the other car but try not to use it. This will save on wear & tear and other car expenses for the “extra” car, but you will have it in case of emergency (or if the other car breaks down and has to go to the car hospital).

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  11. I live in a city very well connected to public transportation, but still need a car because I live in the city and work in the ‘burbs. There’s really no way for me to get to work on public transportation. BUT, even if I did work in the city and could take the bus or the train, I still could not fathom life without two cars for the husband and I (matchy matchy used Saabs, by the way).

    KEEP THE HONDA!!

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  15. My mother doesn’t have a car, and she is stuck at home all day, and is completely miserable. She calls me constantly about it. I have a genuine fear that she is getting depressed (she’s an empty nester, but still . . .)

    Keep the car. Especially if it’s paid off. And even if it’s not.

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  16. Keep the car – give the keys away. To a friend. A friend who doesn’t live across the street. A friend who will give you a hard time before giving them back. See how long you can go without asking/begging for the keys back and you’ll have your answer.

    Also I’m thinking don’t you have a daughter who’s approaching the magical driving age in a few years? Maybe I’m off on how old she is. Even if you gave it up now, would you not be causing yourself future parenting hell if she doesn’t have something available to her so that she can flex her newly acquired independence?

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  17. I think you should consider selling one of the children instead. The savings in future tuition alone would be more than enough to justify keeping the car.

    I’m going to go way out on a limb here and guess that where you live they don’t have Zip cars.

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  18. You have children, You need a car for possible emergencies. I look at cars as evil necessities. They just suck the money right out of you. You are already driving reasonably priced cars. I think I would look for ways to save in other areas or ways to make a little more money to keep my car. I think it would one of those these where as soon as it is gone, you will need to go buy another one. Why don’t you try a test? Pretend you don’t have a car for a month and decide whether you really need it.

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  19. Agreed with those who suggest an experimental period without the car. Find your crankiest, tsk-iest neighbor to hold the keys, the one who will force you to listen to a half-hour lecture every time you go to get them. Then see how panicked you become.

    There’s a new-ish, fairly whiny poverty party post over at my house, should anyone need a moment to feel better about their own situation.

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  20. Monkey says do what you like but REMOVE the mean comment about Bossy’s husband’s hellish job PRONTO. This is not the time to see if one can be dooced once removed. Aka, canned because your hot wife said something bad about your work.

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  21. I think you answered your own question. You say you need your vehicle to carry your ladders. How will you do that if you don’t have your car? Keep the second one and use it as little as possible. The upkeep? That’s just part of life. We all need new shoes when our old ones are worn out. Although, I realize they don’t cost $400+. But, I really don’t think the $465 was a bad price for brakes and tires.

    I’ll hush now. 🙂

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  22. I think so much of the answer to that question has to do with where you live. I would KILL to only own one car, since I hate driving, but I live in a city where public transportation is a joke — there is no way to get around Houston without your own car.

    If public transportation is easily accessible for you, then by all means, hop on the one-car-greener-living bandwagon, I say — I suspect it will be easier than you think. But if your city is like mine, where you see one bus every few hours, and the cabbies don’t know where they’re going (and charge you an exorbitant price once you get there), then maybe you should just consider using the car only when ABSOLUTELY necessary (as I do now), and walk (or ride a bike) when doing so makes sense?

    And now I shall back my big ass out of your business.

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  23. I couldn’t live without my car. But I live in the burbs and have no public transporation to get me to my job 30 miles away.

    I say keep the car.

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  24. It wont work!! Unless you live in “in town” it wont work!! Since you dont have car payments, your savings would be minimal. Dont do it,

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  25. Does Bossy’s husband work along a SEPTA route? Or does he need his car to get to work because there is no SEPTA route? Or does he drive various places for his job?

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  26. I’ve been toying with the idea of downsizing to one car for years, but I just don’t know. We live in the city and neither of us needs the car for work, but Baltimore has nearly zero public transit and I’d just feel… paralyzed. I think I’ll experiement with being a one-car family when one of our cars dies, but for now it doesn’t seem to be worth it to sell a perfectly good, 10+ yr old car…. I’d keep both Hondas… it’s so much easier to keep a car than to have to buy a new one!

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  27. Keep both– way to suffocating to not be able to leave your town all week. And let’s face it… walking everywhere in the burbs is way overrated.

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  28. We only have one working vehicle right now – and have for most of the last year, with brief times when my vehicle would be fixed and run for about three weeks (total driving time would be in the neighborhood of six weeks in all of 2008). Honestly, it’s not fun. I have two young kids and it’s not easy to get them out and about. We can walk, but there isn’t any sidewalks for about 30 houses – just ruts and ruts to try and push a stroller through. Once I’m to sidewalks it’s not that bad and if things were closer I wouldn’t complain so much. But, the nearest grocery stores are not accessible with sidewalks (and some cross major highways) so to walk to the grocery store would be nearly three miles each way. And it’s not even my favorite store! Now, I could ride the bus, but it would cost $6 round trip and take two hours in each direction.

    I look forward to the day of a second car gracing our driveway again (that works, since mine is still in the driveway but dead).

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  29. Don’t you have a handy neighbor who can get the parts at normal cost and repair your vehicle for the low low price of, say, one lovely dinner prepared by Bossy? Or for the low low price of you doing something for them?

    Why not work out a trade system with other local people who have skills you don’t? I replaced the brakes etc in my Lincoln Aviator for $100 – the cost of the parts.

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  30. In the absence of reliable public transportation, within walking distance, you need that car. (See many of the comments above.) In today’s market, there’s a glut of used cars, so you probably can’t sell it for much, if anything.

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  32. You could drop him off in the morning, pick him up in the evening, and have the car to yourself all day. That’s how my mom and dad did it in the 70’s…

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  33. Keep the cars.

    You live in an area where other people drive also, yes? Should another car decide to fight with yours (and you both loose) you will need a backup vehicle. You will also need the backup vehicle to buy quantities of alcohol when you find out what the insurance company is *now* willing to pay for your fair-used-price-vehicle. (Did I fail to mention that I’ve ensured my ticket to Hell by being an insurance adjuster?)

    That & being trapped at home with no ride makes my skin crawl & my hair itch … I have to have an escape plan!

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  34. We are a one car family. Forced into it by a car that just DIED on us without warning. It is hard and often requires mad logistical gyrations of planning – but not impossible.

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  35. My husband WAS a bus/bike commuter (26 miles to Honolulu from our little town!) but for MONTHS he has had to drive to work for the project he’s been assigned to… so I am left without a car during the day. And Bossy? I HATE IT SO MUCH. Even though we have a great bus system with a stop a block from my house, I never realized how much I liked having mah own ride. My 80-year old papa lives with us, and HE likes to get out once in a while, too. So we are contemplating the purchase of a (very cheap very used) second vehicle.

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  36. I like the idea of not being a slave to THINGS, and making do without… things.

    That said, I like in a town of 600 people; the closest town to us is seven miles away, and has a population of 2,000. It is the nearest town with a grocery store, school, hardware store and other necessities.

    Public transportation is not available — except for the school bus.

    Husband and I both have a vehicle, but I would love to be able to downsize to one. I realize that is our decision to make, and it’s coming closer to a reality.

    There is sound advice here, though. Bossy’s readers are wise, indeed.

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  37. Bossy should PRACTICE being a free-swinging uber-hip-hippie without a car for one week. Embrace public transit and all things less than 2miles away where Bossy can walk. Does Bossy have a bicycle? Being a one car family requires planning. Big time. Planning errands, planning shopping trips so nothing is forgotten, etc.

    Bossy can teach Bossy Jr. to not be a slave to the big bad oil companies.

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  38. I don’t recommend becoming a 1 car family. Especially if you live the the Bermuda-triangle-of-Public-Transit like I do 🙂
    We are – and in order for me to have the car during the day, I have to drop my hubby off at work each morning, and pick him up at the end of the day. Not only does this restrict what we do and when we can do it, but I feel guilty each and every day because he’s the one working hard and yet I’m the one that gets to drive around in our 20-year-old car.
    We don’t have any debts (thanks again to him for working), but I would give anything for him to have his own (newer) car.
    I would recommend having your hubby drive the younger, safer and more reliable of your 2 cars, and then you can just be more selective about when and how much you drive the other one.

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  39. 1 car is totally doable. We have had one car most of our married life, and now we have THREE. I’m about to sell off two. Just save a chunk of money from the sale of one car, in the event that you find yourself in a desperate way. Your honda won’t let you down. You can easily get 300K out of them, so don’t worry about one of them crapping out on you. Save the difference in car payments, gas, and insurance. That money will snowball faster than you think.

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  40. We have one vehicle, but work about two minutes from one another, and our son’s preschool is right nearby too. We have considered, in the case of need or emergency, to have one of us take public transit should our son be sick and we felt he would have to go to the doctor or something, and we couldn’t walk (it’s a few blocks away)…but we do live in a small village that neighbors a big city and is connected by transit. If you don’t have this option…don’t sell. Especially if you own both outright. – – could you drop your husband off at work a couple of days a week so you could have the car to drive around?

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  41. Keep. You will probably spend more in therapy during the summer months when you are so depressed you cannot go anywhere. Wait, you won’t have a car, so you won’t be able to get to therapy. Definitely, keep.

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  42. My husband & I are currently debating about getting rid of my vehicle – I keep changing my mind about whether I can do it or not….so far, the car is still sitting in our driveway.

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  44. I like the idea of cutting down on your car usage to see how much you really need it. And if you discover you need it less than you thought, then you can make the decision to get rid of it.

    Stick with the Poverty Party! You can do it!

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  45. Bossy
    Don’t sell a car!! We have been down to one car for a year and a half and I’m going CRAZY!! I have started taking my hubby to work once a week and picking him up so I have a day to do errands, etc. but it’s HARD!! You can always drive less…combine trips, but it would be harder to buy another car…at least that’s the way I see it. Good luck!

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  46. OOOOOOOOOH! VESPA! i can totally see Bossy on a Vespa with cool helmet and motorcycle jacket. Of course, that’s probably more expensive than just keeping both cars 😛

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  47. My husband keeps looking at ads for teeny electric cars for a second car. Too small to put ladders in, that’s for sure. But cheap and cute.

    If you have only one car and it’s off on the Exciting Work Commute, how would Bossy Daughter then attend rehearsals that require tap and character shoes? And what are character shoes, again?

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  49. What about ZipCar? Or a Vespa? (Not so much for the ladders, but IMO, keeping a car because you MIGHT need it for something someday isn’t the way to get your debt paid down.) Pretend one car died completely — what would you do? Try doing that for a month and see what happens.

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  50. When I got laid off I thought about taking my car off the road until I got work again. I wimped out when the lady at the dmv (ok we don’t have dmv’s so it was the lady at bcaa but whatever) told me that I would have to relinquish my license plates and buy NEW ones when I reregistered it. And go through the whole inspection thing again too. Once was enough.

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  52. Worked for Honda for 10 years and owned my own black CRV. You got a deal on your repair bill, Bossy. That included an emissions inspection and oil change according to the bill. Not bad. CRVs are the perfect vehicle. All wheel drive, carry everything, easy on gas, last forever. Better to keep a known, well-maintained quantity than have to acquire an unknown one down the road. Plus, not counting little Bossy and your own need to foray out, what if Stella eats something large and sharp and not intended for dogs? Bossy is definitely not carrying that enormous creature to the vet under her own power. Keep the car.

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  54. Keep both cars. Seriously, this is a big deal. You should appeal to Saturn and convince them that you are the perfect “test” driver for their cars. I’m not kidding, it is worth a shot and it would provide good feedback and advertising for them. We trust you! I might even buy one if you were happy with it.

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  55. Keep the car. Just try to use it less. You will need it soon for one of the kids, if not yourself.
    Don”t LET THE POVERY PARTY POOP! It’s my favorite part, now that I have been laid off.

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  57. My husband and I shared one car for the past six years. I have a 14-minute walk to work, and he has a 25-minute drive. There’s no public transportation where we live. We managed, but it was a hassle to make arrangements when I had a medical appointment or needed to run errands. We recently bought a Prius to add to our fleet, and I have to say that it’s been great to have the second car. I vote for keeping both vehicles and trying to cut down on driving.

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  58. I don’t have a car, and I love it 90% of the time. But that’s because I can walk pretty much everywhere, — most importantly, including the liquor store. The other 10% is nothing but a nuisance because I’m always the one who needs to be picked up, if you catch my drift.

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  59. I’m going with the big crowd that says Keep The Car. A known entity is so valuable. I just put $2500 into my 1992 Volvo (new engine)–so now it’s worth approximately $2500. But I know (and more importantly, my awesome mechanic knows) all of its needs, desires and quirks. Priceless.

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  60. No advice from me, just a not-at-all-nostalgic trip down memory lane to when my husband and I had one car for both of us. Luckily (for me), he could take the bus to school, so I got the car for work. Of course, then I also had to do all the errands. And when that car was in the shop (hi, stupid-ass transmission that went out when we were at our brokest!) it was a NIGHTMARE.

    Good times.

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  61. I wonder some of the same things. I really wonder about it after a large car repair. I say keep the second car if it is good working order. It is all the kids activities I would not be able to do without a second car. The problem we have now is my sister gave us a car for my younger son to drive. Although we can not afford the up keep, the car was free and it actually lowered out insurance cost becasue we switched around who was covered on what car. So I am really in a delema! Do I keep a free car with lower insurance or do I get rid of a car we really can’t afford? Hmm, my answer is different daily. I guess I am not the person to give advise on this one! You can now delete my comment 🙂

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  62. Well, work out what you’d save on insurance, petrol etc and then work out how many trips on public transport you might take in a year and what they would cost and, er, damn this was going somewhere originally.

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  63. If it’s paid for, keep it. The cost to drive and maintain is going to significantly less than the cost to tax, license, and insure a new car if you find yourself needing a second car later. One thing you should do, though, is review your insurance coverage and make sure you’re not over-covered. If he car’s paid for you generally only have to carry liability which is much cheaper than full coverage; not sure if you’re comfortable with that but it’s something to consider.

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  67. I am on board the poverty party train!

    I’ll tell ya, Bossy, my darling husbish and I have three cars, all are pretty aged, just for the commute situation. If one isn’t faring as well as the others, we will usually have two somewhat-functional, paid-for vehicles. The cost of maintenance is far cheaper than a monthly loan payment, and in the Florida suburbs there really isn’t such a thing as mass transit. In times such as these, keeping the “big picture” in mind (someone said $1.27/day for freedom) might help you keep your sanity. If it’s paid for, keep it. Do maintenance as you can.

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  68. It would be relatively easy to buy another car if you find you just can’t live without yours. In the meantime, you could save a few months’ gas money. My prediction is you’d get used to the one car situation anyway, and possibly feel lighter, if not richer.

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  70. Along the lines of #2, you could park one of the vehicles and pull the insurance for a month or two and see how you do. If you pay more for train rides than you did for gas, you have your answer. This is also probably easier in spring rather than winter.

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  71. Oh, Bossy, keep it! My reasoning? If you use it to get yourself and your equipment to a few painting gigs, you’ve paid for that maintenance/inspection bill.

    Also? 1 car = far more use and wear and tear on that 1 car = more gas + more frequent repairs and maintenance that would add up to close to the same as the 2 cars’ expenses now.

    Or maybe not, but thinking about being carless in the suburbs makes my palms sweat!

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  72. I like the idea to try using it less. Not sure about giving the keys to a tsk-ing neighbor though, that’s just being mean to yourself.

    We live 3 blocks from a subway a stop and 2 blocks from bus stops and have one car that I’m trying to use less. When it was on the fritz 2 weeks ago ($600 and it’s still not quite right, thankyewverymuch), I took DuckyBoy to school on the bus and actually really enjoyed remembering that I still live in a city; with the car I feel very ‘burbish.

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  73. I just spent over $800 on front brake rotors & pads, plus a leaky axle and some other stuff, on my giant Suburban. But, it’s paid for, and gas is still half of what it was last summer, and so we continue to rationalize being a two SUV family. GAH.

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  75. I get that you need your big car for paint ladders etc. But why does your husband need his big car??

    Can’t you sell his, get something small, reliable and economical… better for travelling to and from work everyday.

    It doesn’t solve the two car issue… but it solves the price of ongoing cost such as gas and repairs.

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  76. Instead of the two “cars” you currently have, why not sell them both and replace them with real cars? You know, instead of chelsea tractors.

    Judging from the picture you don’t live on a farm so you don’t actually need those things, as for the ladders, haven’t you heard of roof racks? A smaller vehicle i.e. a proper car would be cheaper to run & you’d probably make money on the trade-in.

    And FYI – anyone with two 4x4s is nuts if they refer to their situation as poverty.

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  77. maybe since saturn is going out of business, they will donate a car to bossy? hey, it’s a thought…

    my car is a bottomless money pit. jeep repairs are RIDICULOUSLY expensive and i keep toying with the idea of getting something newer and in better shape…but ohhhh i don’t want a car payment!

    eternal dilemma

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