It's so frustrating sometime that I am not licensed yet. Iowa is one of those states where you have to be licensed to do almost anything in mental health. I get the reason why - don't want unlicensed people seeing your patients. But, if they have to have so much experience to get licensed - how are they going to do it?? So basically I get to see people who are on the sliding fee scale (Lee Co. funding), people with EAPs (free sessions through their work), and people who have Blue Cross Blue Shield (only because they are able to bill me under my boss's name basically). It's frustrating to know that I have way too much free time at work (and that it affects my salary) but I can't really do anything to control it. I have been seeing a lady for the past three months or so because she had free sessions with her husband's EAP. However, she has run out of free sessions and I am not able to bill under her insurance. So she will have to start over with someone else. It's frustrating for her and for me as well.
My truck is still running like a champ. Good news there at least.
I got a call from my credit card company recently that someone used my credit card number to try to buy something from a K-Mart in California and someone used it to withdrawl money from a bank in Pennsylvania. Needless to say, it was either me or Steve so somehow someone got the card information. So the credit card company shut down the account and will re-issue us new cards with a new account. It's our emergency credit card so we never use it. I have heard that it's common for card that rarely get used to somehow get stolen. I don't know how it works but whatever. At least it's taken care of and we aren't responsible for some jerk's use of our card.
I will be flying to Arizona next Wednesday (the 27th) to be with Jenn while she is undergoing some surgery. It's not exactly a major thing but she won't be feeling good and will need a driver and someone to take care of her. So I will be there until Monday the 1st which is Labor Day so I didn't have to work anyways. I am looking forward to a bit of a vacation though I am going to miss my hubby quite a bit. I won't really be available by phone so everyone will have to catch me online.
I woke up in really horrible pain on Saturday morning. After dealing with it for a few minutes and then having to throw up because I hurt so bad, I woke Steve up and told him I needed to go to the emergency room. Turns out, it was yet another kidney stone. They gave me some Demoral and did a urinalysis, Xray, and Sonagram of my kidneys. They think I have already passed it because they couldn't find it. I haven't had any more pain so I hope that I actually have passed it and it isn't just waiting around in my bladder to try to kill me. I do have good pain meds just in case though - that's a plus.
And lastly - Happy Birthday Wil!!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Why I am keeping my truck instead of trading...
After many hours of thinking and a long conversation with my grandpa, I have decided to keep my Explorer for at least another year or two and save up my money so that I can put a really good down payment or pay cash for a new vehicle when I am more financially solvent. Many people didn't seem to understand this concept so I will try to explain it because it could very well benefit someone else that is in my position. My truck broke down just about two weeks ago and I had to have it towed back to Keokuk ($123) but I consider the tow-bill my fault because I knew something was going on with it and I took it out of town anyways. Normally if it would have broken down at my house or in town, it would have cost me about $45 to have it towed to my shop. I was able to borrow my grandpa's truck for the two weeks to get back and forth to work so my cost of a rental was $0 thank goodness. Since I didn't know what was wrong with the truck, I had really considered trading it in for something newer. I found an Escape that I would love to have for $11,900 though I think I could have talked him down to at least 10K.
What I think some people fail to remember (and I was guilty of this until my grandpa set me straight), just because something is newer and off a car lot does not mean that it won't break down soon! Even if you get a warranty on it, that doesn't mean that it won't break down and leave you out of a vehicle, it just means that if the dealership is halfway decent, the cost of fixing it might be less. Often times, dealerships offer warranties on used vehicles that will pay for 50% of the cost of fixing it (if it falls in their guidelines of course). However, I have had car people tell me that they basically raise the cost of the procedure to double so that you are actually paying for the whole thing. The problem is, if you want them to fix it under warranty, they have to fix it - you can't take it to your own local garage that has (hopefully) more honest people. And if you do that, you void the warranty! Okay, so basically a warranty on a used car is pretty useless.
So, if I had gotten him down to $10,000 and he took a trade-in off my truck for $1,000, I would have a loan out for $9,000. That would likely make a car payment of $250 per month. Since I would have to carry full coverage on it, my insurance would also go up to approximately $60 (I only pay maybe $25 a month now for my portion of our insurance). So there is an addition of almost $300 a month that I hadn't been paying before.
I found out yesterday that the fuel pump was the problem with my truck. That is pretty basic when it gets down to it. Generally, fuel pumps last for about 100,000 miles and mine has over twice that on it. So I paid $327 for a new fuel pump and filter (very reasonable actually). My truck has never run better than it does now, it's amazing. So if I continued to drive my truck, hoping that nothing else will go wrong with it, I will have saved my self approximately $3600 over a year ($300 x 12) or $7200 over two years (300 x 24). This doesn't even include what would be saved from interest rates. Even if something else goes wrong with my truck, it would have to cost a whole hell of a lot of money for it to have been worth trading in. And if my truck broke down again, I could leave it sitting in the garage until I could save enough to get it fixed. It would only cost me the cheap insurance fee and nothing else because I own it.
Now, if I had gotten this new truck and had been paying a $300/mo for payment and insurance and it broke down and needed a new fuel pump (for instance) and the cost was the same. Then I would have to pay $627 in one month because I would be paying for repairs and the regular payment. If I decided to not get it fixed right away, I would still have to come up with that $300 every month no matter what.
This situation is obviously pretty personal to my own life but if you are thinking about getting rid of a vehicle for something newer and "better", it might be worth really stepping back and figuring the numbers up. This of course doesn't include all the money that you would be spending for interest rates so consider that too. I have lots of other things I would like to spend my money on than throwing it at a lender for interest. I could go into a lot of other things as well, including what paying cash for a vehicle would save in interest but I don't feel like going into the mathematics of it. I do know that by the time you pay interest on something, you basically pay for it twice. Nothing like throwing away nine grand right?
Some of you might be thinking, "but what about getting a vehicle that gets better mileage because gas is so high?". Well, I would say, have you figured out how long you would have to drive that car before it paid for itself with the better mileage? It would surprise you. Let's see about an example. My Explorer gets around 17 miles to the gallon in town (higher on the highway, but we will go with the worst to be safe) when it is running right. People generally drive about 15,000 miles a year. If gas is about $3.80/gallon, then I will spend about $3,352 a year (damn!). But if I got a vehicle that got 24 mpg in town (like my husband's Focus) and drove 15,000 miles a year, with gas at $3.80 - I would spend $2375 a year. That is a difference of $977 a year. So, in order for a $10,000 car that gets better mileage to pay for itself, I would have to drive it a little over 10 years (more than that if you consider the interest!). Of course, if you are buying a new vehicle you should get one with better gas mileage (duh). But you shouldn't necessarily trade in your vehicle for the purpose of getting better mileage - you won't notice the difference in what you are paying! Below are the calculations so you can see how I came up with my numbers (feel free to correct me if needed - sometimes my math skills suck).
Explorer
Miles per year = 15,000
Miles per gallon = 17
15,000/17 = 882 gallons per year used
price per gallon = $3.80 x 882 = 3352
cost of gas per year = $3352
Focus
Miles per year = 15,000
Miles per gallon = 24
15,000/24 = 625 gallons per year used
price per gallon = $3.80 x 625 = 2375
cost of gas per year = 2375
Difference in amount spent is 3352 - 2375 = 977
So, hopefully for anyone who doesn't understand why I made the choice that I did (and the choice others should consider), this explaination will give them information about the actual numbers involved. It's hard to believe that keeping my 95 Explorer (with 225,000 miles on it too!) with it's crappy gas mileage will save me money compared to something newer with potentially better mileage. Of course, if you buy something outright with cash and don't have payments to consider, a lot of this is a moot point. That's why I am saving up my money instead!
What I think some people fail to remember (and I was guilty of this until my grandpa set me straight), just because something is newer and off a car lot does not mean that it won't break down soon! Even if you get a warranty on it, that doesn't mean that it won't break down and leave you out of a vehicle, it just means that if the dealership is halfway decent, the cost of fixing it might be less. Often times, dealerships offer warranties on used vehicles that will pay for 50% of the cost of fixing it (if it falls in their guidelines of course). However, I have had car people tell me that they basically raise the cost of the procedure to double so that you are actually paying for the whole thing. The problem is, if you want them to fix it under warranty, they have to fix it - you can't take it to your own local garage that has (hopefully) more honest people. And if you do that, you void the warranty! Okay, so basically a warranty on a used car is pretty useless.
So, if I had gotten him down to $10,000 and he took a trade-in off my truck for $1,000, I would have a loan out for $9,000. That would likely make a car payment of $250 per month. Since I would have to carry full coverage on it, my insurance would also go up to approximately $60 (I only pay maybe $25 a month now for my portion of our insurance). So there is an addition of almost $300 a month that I hadn't been paying before.
I found out yesterday that the fuel pump was the problem with my truck. That is pretty basic when it gets down to it. Generally, fuel pumps last for about 100,000 miles and mine has over twice that on it. So I paid $327 for a new fuel pump and filter (very reasonable actually). My truck has never run better than it does now, it's amazing. So if I continued to drive my truck, hoping that nothing else will go wrong with it, I will have saved my self approximately $3600 over a year ($300 x 12) or $7200 over two years (300 x 24). This doesn't even include what would be saved from interest rates. Even if something else goes wrong with my truck, it would have to cost a whole hell of a lot of money for it to have been worth trading in. And if my truck broke down again, I could leave it sitting in the garage until I could save enough to get it fixed. It would only cost me the cheap insurance fee and nothing else because I own it.
Now, if I had gotten this new truck and had been paying a $300/mo for payment and insurance and it broke down and needed a new fuel pump (for instance) and the cost was the same. Then I would have to pay $627 in one month because I would be paying for repairs and the regular payment. If I decided to not get it fixed right away, I would still have to come up with that $300 every month no matter what.
This situation is obviously pretty personal to my own life but if you are thinking about getting rid of a vehicle for something newer and "better", it might be worth really stepping back and figuring the numbers up. This of course doesn't include all the money that you would be spending for interest rates so consider that too. I have lots of other things I would like to spend my money on than throwing it at a lender for interest. I could go into a lot of other things as well, including what paying cash for a vehicle would save in interest but I don't feel like going into the mathematics of it. I do know that by the time you pay interest on something, you basically pay for it twice. Nothing like throwing away nine grand right?
Some of you might be thinking, "but what about getting a vehicle that gets better mileage because gas is so high?". Well, I would say, have you figured out how long you would have to drive that car before it paid for itself with the better mileage? It would surprise you. Let's see about an example. My Explorer gets around 17 miles to the gallon in town (higher on the highway, but we will go with the worst to be safe) when it is running right. People generally drive about 15,000 miles a year. If gas is about $3.80/gallon, then I will spend about $3,352 a year (damn!). But if I got a vehicle that got 24 mpg in town (like my husband's Focus) and drove 15,000 miles a year, with gas at $3.80 - I would spend $2375 a year. That is a difference of $977 a year. So, in order for a $10,000 car that gets better mileage to pay for itself, I would have to drive it a little over 10 years (more than that if you consider the interest!). Of course, if you are buying a new vehicle you should get one with better gas mileage (duh). But you shouldn't necessarily trade in your vehicle for the purpose of getting better mileage - you won't notice the difference in what you are paying! Below are the calculations so you can see how I came up with my numbers (feel free to correct me if needed - sometimes my math skills suck).
Explorer
Miles per year = 15,000
Miles per gallon = 17
15,000/17 = 882 gallons per year used
price per gallon = $3.80 x 882 = 3352
cost of gas per year = $3352
Focus
Miles per year = 15,000
Miles per gallon = 24
15,000/24 = 625 gallons per year used
price per gallon = $3.80 x 625 = 2375
cost of gas per year = 2375
Difference in amount spent is 3352 - 2375 = 977
So, hopefully for anyone who doesn't understand why I made the choice that I did (and the choice others should consider), this explaination will give them information about the actual numbers involved. It's hard to believe that keeping my 95 Explorer (with 225,000 miles on it too!) with it's crappy gas mileage will save me money compared to something newer with potentially better mileage. Of course, if you buy something outright with cash and don't have payments to consider, a lot of this is a moot point. That's why I am saving up my money instead!
Monday, July 28, 2008
dates, cars, and husbands
Steve and I went on a date Friday night that was wonderful. We stayed at a hotel in a near-by town so we could get away a little and have a night just to ourselves. So we got a great suite with a huge bed and a two person whirlpool tub. There is a Bennigans right next door so we just walked over there to have a good dinner and brought cake back to the room with us for dessert. It was a wonderful, relaxing, and romantic date and I think we both needed that pretty badly. I wish we could have stayed all weekend!
Yesterday after church, we went through several car lots to get an idea of what was out there and how much it costs. We found a couple of real contenders, an 04 Dodge Stratus and an 03 Ford Escape. Of course I would love to have the Escape but we have to get a few more things figured out first. I have to know what's wrong with my truck and how expensive it will be to fix it. If it's too expensive, I think I will have to see if a junk yard will give me anything for it. If it's just a few hundred dollars, I should be able to sell it for trade it in. It just depends really. At this point, I just hope that they figure out what is wrong with it period! I have been driving my grandpa's truck for the last week or so. It's good to have a vehicle but I miss power steering! I think the construction guys next door that are building a garage laugh at me when I back out of my parking spot at home because it can be about a four point turn just to get going in the right direction, lol.
Well, I've covered the date and cars, now on to husband. :) I maybe not be an expert on husbands (he is my first after all, lol) but I happen to think that my husband is pretty great. He is incredibly intelligent, hard working, and of course handsome! All in all, he's just pretty stinking wonderful.
Yesterday after church, we went through several car lots to get an idea of what was out there and how much it costs. We found a couple of real contenders, an 04 Dodge Stratus and an 03 Ford Escape. Of course I would love to have the Escape but we have to get a few more things figured out first. I have to know what's wrong with my truck and how expensive it will be to fix it. If it's too expensive, I think I will have to see if a junk yard will give me anything for it. If it's just a few hundred dollars, I should be able to sell it for trade it in. It just depends really. At this point, I just hope that they figure out what is wrong with it period! I have been driving my grandpa's truck for the last week or so. It's good to have a vehicle but I miss power steering! I think the construction guys next door that are building a garage laugh at me when I back out of my parking spot at home because it can be about a four point turn just to get going in the right direction, lol.
Well, I've covered the date and cars, now on to husband. :) I maybe not be an expert on husbands (he is my first after all, lol) but I happen to think that my husband is pretty great. He is incredibly intelligent, hard working, and of course handsome! All in all, he's just pretty stinking wonderful.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Dead Truck
The explorer has died yet again. This time instead of being stuck in my garage, it left me and Steve stranded in Quincy. We took it because I wanted to go to the Salvation Army to look at furniture (that may seem cheap, but they have good stuff sometimes!) and I wanted to be able to take anything I found home with me. But unfortunately after we left my eye doc after my appointment, the truck wouldn't run. It would start but it wouldn't stay running for more than a few seconds. So I called my mom and tried to figure out what the heck to do because I didn't have any idea or a phonebook. Mom managed to get ahold of a towing company that would tow it back to Keokuk for $3/mile without any other charges so I thought that was a pretty good deal. The guy even offered to lest us ride back with him which was a huge plus and saved my mom time and gas money from coming to get us. It ended up costing $123 dollars and I was able to have it dropped off at my service shop. I took my keys down this morning and told them what was going on with it. So for now, I am driving my grandpa's big ol' dodge pick-up truck that drives like a tank. It's so freaking huge it barely fits in the garage. However, it runs and will get me wherever I need to go.
So I will be in the market for a newer car pretty soon I imagine. I hope to find something reasonable that will last me a long time and will provide all the stuff that I need. It will be neat to actually have a choice in what I drive. So, unless there is nothing major with the truck and maybe even then, we will likely be getting rid of it. It is just too much of a liability to have it not be trust worthy (I typed truck worthy first - more fitting!) to get me back home!
Steve started his new job today and it has been so strange not being able to talk to him all day. He has orientation during the day shift so at least he will be home when I get there. That's a huge plus!
So I will be in the market for a newer car pretty soon I imagine. I hope to find something reasonable that will last me a long time and will provide all the stuff that I need. It will be neat to actually have a choice in what I drive. So, unless there is nothing major with the truck and maybe even then, we will likely be getting rid of it. It is just too much of a liability to have it not be trust worthy (I typed truck worthy first - more fitting!) to get me back home!
Steve started his new job today and it has been so strange not being able to talk to him all day. He has orientation during the day shift so at least he will be home when I get there. That's a huge plus!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Jenn's Visit
Jenn arrived on Friday evening and we had a wonderful weekend. Saturday we went shopping for our BBQ that we were having that evening. The boys went and saw Hellboy that afternoon and said it was good. The BBQ started around five and we had quite a few (around 25 probably) people show up. We ended up having just the right amount of food to feed everyone firsts and seconds. The kids enjoyed running around the yard and watching the goldfish. Many of my family showed up and a few of Steve's family showed up. We didn't have a lot of clean-up to do and had quite a bit of help. Plus I got to see Trevor quite a bit and that was nice. Yesterday we didn't end up going to church because we were all exhausted. So we just relaxed most of the day. Then last night we ate pizza outside on the patio and then sat around the fire pit and roasted marshmallows and made smores. It was really nice and relaxing. Today we slept in a bit and then Jenn and I headed down to Quincy and did a couple of things before I had to drop her off for her train. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and it was so nice having another female around here. I tried talking her into staying but it didn't work. :) It was really nice having four days off work, too. I really needed it. I will go back tomorrow and have a nice short week of work.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Birthday!!
Happy 4th of July to you all and Happy Birthday to me! It's been a fantastic day so far. I got to wake up next to my wonderful husband today so that was a great start. Then I got my presents from him - a really pretty rain gauge and an awesome birdfeeder. He did a great job picking out things that are totally my style. He also made me a chocolate cake and sang happy birthday to me. We then met up with my dad and brother, Tori, and Trevor to have lunch at Pizza Hut. I got a book and three movies - Jumper, Fool's Gold, and Witless Protection. Mom came by this afternoon and brought me presents of two beautiful flower pots and stands to put on my front porch. They are perfect! Steve and I walked to the park and I got a funnel cake and a lemon shake-up. Both were wonderful. We are going to try watching fireworks from our house tonight so hopefully that will work well. I don't feel like going to the park again so I'm hoping I will be able to see them well or even sorta well from here.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Looking up
Things are definitely looking up right now. Things are going well in the job front for Steve so that is good news. Hopefully we will be hearing something solid soon. My job is slow but stable, like most summers. It gets pretty boring around here in the summer. Nobody wants to be here, they want to be outside enjoying the day. My birthday is on Friday and I am very much looking forward to that. My husband told me to bring a vase to work on Thursday so I am excited to see what is delivered to me. Today was payday but then I sat down at lunch and paid enough bills that it's like I didn't get paid at all. I would be very happy if Steve gets the job and gets paid more. My student loan payment will be going up in December so I want to have some other stuff taken care of first so that we can handle that. I always try to pay a little extra on all the bills that I can (ex. house, credit card, student loan etc.). The sooner we are out of debt, the happier I will be. I still can't believe that it took me one year to jack up that credit card and about four to pay it off. That is just crazy. The interest isn't high but it's still there. That should be paid off by December so that will be a nice thing. As much as I don't want to add a newer car to our list of bills, I am not sure I am going to be able to avoid it for much longer. My truck is still going but I fear it leaving me stuck somewhere. I told Eric that it would be really advantageous for me to cream a deer since I still carry comprehensive insurance on it. However, I have never hit a deer in my entire life and I am not sure I could do it on purpose - actually I know I couldn't - that would just be sad and stupid. I am feeling a bit sleepy today and I keep forgetting that it is Tuesday. I need to go home and clean incase people stop by the house this weekend. It has been too long since I did a thorough cleaning of the house. Anyways, on to my notes and stuff that I am backed up on.
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