The past few days I’ve been reflecting on how lucky I am.  A recent visitor to this site pointed out how it is clear from the little details I write about (saving for plane tickets, cheap Christmas gifts, etc.) that my family and I are not truly poor.  He’s right.  At least we were ABLE to see our extended family and give gifts at all.  We’ve gained quite a bit of ground since I started this site back in 04-05, when I stole condiments and toilet paper from fast food restaurants, worked 3 jobs, drove a car without heat or functional wiring and never had enough to pay the winter heating bills.  Yesterday I put in a full day at the corporate grind but was able to come home around 5, eat homemade soup and take a quick walk to the park with the family.  Sure, I had to put in extra work hours after the family went to bed.  Sure, we live paycheck to paycheck when business is slow, but things could be so much worse.

Some examples:

My uncle is a butcher.  This used to be a well-paid skilled trade but with the advent of Wal-marts and the like his hours/pay/benefits were increasingly cut.  When his father gifted him the rest of the money he needed to finally have hip replacement surgery (after 3 years of a painful limp) he was laid off, in part due to the time off he required to recover from surgery.  His daughter-in-law’s family of five lives in his basement since they can’t afford to live anywhere else while the household’s single earner looks for full-time work.  They pool resources for food and advise their son against borrowing money to go to college.

A friend inherited her mother’s home, the home she grew up in, but can’t afford to pay the mortgage.  She is trying to figure out how to create a makeshift kitchen upstairs so she can rent out the second story.  This way she could pool that money with what she makes in her minimum wage jobs and possibly stay in the house.  Single and without a working vehicle until her friend can fix it, she has to hitch rides to work and leave her 6 and 8 year old sons at home all day, compulsively checking in with them by phone when they’re not in school.  This is the only way she can put food on the table.

Sometimes what you learn to do when desperate becomes habit and continues to help save money: I stopped stealing toilet paper but still take home extra condiments and napkins.  I do my own car maintenance.  Friends know me to accept any free stuff I think I can use.

My uncle returns any clothing gifts if he knows they’re from somewhere he can buy food instead.  He figures that when he DESPERATELY needs new jeans instead of kind-of needing them, he’ll look for some at Goodwill or Salvation Army first.   He also only eats out about three times a year; I know one of those times is on his birthday.  I wish he didn’t need to do this.  At the same time, I admire his ability to plan ahead.  How would the world be different if everyone stopped eating out and sold or returned items they wouldn’t use?

One of my friend’s jobs is at a resale shop.  She looks for better work but never wants to leave entirely, in part because of the discounted and free clothes/furniture/household items she can get for her family.  She frequents the day-old produce and baked goods.  She haggles anytime she can.

For now, I can pay my mortgage and carefully scrape together money for extras.  If the time comes again where I can’t do either . . . I’m even more grateful to have family and friends.

I’m happy to report our family is still functioning on one paycheck, temporarily sharing one vehicle.  Junior and the Wife have limited appointments  and playdates to the same day each week and so far, my job hasn’t required me to visit multiple locations on Tuesdays.  We will hold out as long as we can in this state as I slowly start fixing the Benz.  Most of it is maintenance; hopefully the upcoming holiday will let me squeeze in some time in the garage. I’m asking Santa to bring me some Auto Zone gift cards this year.

We did end up spending a little of our savings in order to buy tickets for the holidays.  Junior is still under two so the three of us are traveling for about $550.  It could have been worse.  Now that Junior has more of a personality than last year, he’ll visit all the relatives and create some memories.  We have decided to warn family that this is our last visit for a while.  Next year, they can come see us for a change.

Another mildly debated spend this month was Junior’s first birthday.  We arranged a small party of about 20 people (most were our friends who also have kids) and had burgers, fajitas, chips, veggies, cake, ice cream and of course beer.  Note to Self for next time:  No one will eat two fajitas AND two burgers like we allocated when we bought supplies.  Maybe it was frivolous to have a party, but some of those friends hadn’t seen Junior in months.  He got a lot of great books and toys and we as parents got to breathe a sigh of relief: we made it, he’s healthy and happy, and we haven’t checked into a loony bin just yet . . .

The bill wasn’t THAT bad; we spent two weeks worth of grocery budget in one week and have plenty of leftovers.  We will be eating burgers and cake until Thanksgiving, then when the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone, it is Ramen until Christmas.  The wife thinks I’m joking with the Ramen bit but I am not.  Not even close to joking.  Even if we weren’t trying to save money, I’d do it to offset the holiday weight gain and make Christmas dinner taste that much better.

Since the day I paid cash for my 1984 diesel Mercedes 300SD, I’ve thought that with proper care it would never die.  I’ve believed that at the very least I’d drive it well into my own middle age.  Today I find myself wondering if it makes financial sense to keep fixing it.

Some history:

After moving to Texas and securing jobs, my wife and I made a plan.  I’d keep driving the Benz and do most maintenance myself, while she’d get a new car.  I researched the hell out of mid-size vehicles, and finally we decided on a Toyota RAV4.  We chose it because of its resale value, fuel economy, room for car seats, and trips to Lowe’s.  We’ve been paying about $125 more than the minimum payment every single month, and as a result we’re on track to have the car paid for in exactly 19 more months.  When my wife became a stay work-at-home mom, we smiled at the realization that only one car would be driven daily, saving us money on gas and repairs.

Sure, my car was needing more and more repairs, but I loved the cushy seats and the tank-like exterior.  Sure, I was having to prioritize crawling on the garage floor over freelancing at $75 an hour, but I didn’t mind.  The car rarely required complex diagnostics, was easily repaired, and was still more than capable of cross-country treks.  I didn’t need a new car … most certainly not until my wife’s car was paid off.

Now, the Benz sits in our driveway unable to start.  There’s an elusive vacuum leak, which makes the breaks hard and engine idle after shutoff.  The clear coat is almost completely gone thanks to the scorching Texas sun.  There’s 530 dents form the March 2009 hailstorm.  Two window motors are shot, so is the telescopic antenna.  Since we still need two cars — one for work, one for baby appointments — we are faced with a decision:

1. Spend a week and around $1,500 replacing all rotors, brake pads, housings, vacuum tubing, window motors.

2. Reduce the Toyota payment back down to the minimum, then up my freelancing gigs and trim the budget to put together $400 for a used car payment.

3. Slowly start working on the Benz, and get creative on the days the family needs the car — wife and junior drive me to work, etc.

I’m torn between paying off the Toyota fast and having that extra $125.  Number three seems to be the cheapest, smartest way to go, even though 19 months of that will get pretty annoying.  Another wrench in this plan is the fact that my job often requires me to visit multiple locations in the same day, sometimes not on a predictable schedule.  Soooo . . . that could mean I have to tell my wife the night before to reschedule a doctor’s appointment they’ve had planned for 3 months.  Ulgh.

It’s been almost four years since I purchased my awesome Mercedes-Benz 300SD off eBay (yes … I bought a car on eBay).

As a quick recap …

A friend recommended old diesel Mercs because of their reliability and low cost to own.  I didn’t quite know anything about those cars, but he owned a few of his own, and I trusted his opinion.  So before I bid $4,700 on a clean 1984 300SD, I went down to Detroit, met the seller, and test drove the car.

I purchased it straight cash, and put around $2,000 in maintenance and repairs over last 4 years.  The maintenance cost was somewhat reduced by the website I used to maintain (300sd.com), but then it got hacked (a lot) and I shut it down.

Well … It’s four years later, she has a few more dull spots lacking clear-coat, but she’s the same brown bomber I fell in love with :) A few major checks coming up — timing chain, front end, but nothing too critical.

Overall, the car has been a blessing.  Practically nothing to maintain, solid, reliable, comfortable, classy … you give her a little love, she pays back sevenfold.

And more importantly, I am now 29 years old, and I’ve never had a car payment in my life!

And you thought American cars were crappy … Here are some prime examples of the crappiness that some Ukrainians have to put up with. These cars represent the crappy legacy of the crappy Soviet automotive industry.

This one is called “Moskvitch” (The Moskovite). It’s a tiny compact designed in the 70′s in the USSR. Somehow, these little four-cylinder gremlins are still roaming the streets of the former USSR.

This next one is also a four-cylinder compact (what a surprise). It’s called “Lada”, Model 2105, or simply, “pyatyorka” (means “Number Five”). It was considered a pretty nice car back in the 80′s in the USSR, probably an equivalent of a Toyota. Needless to say, it’s crappy though it looks decent in its boxiness.

I wish I could give you more pics (I have tons), but I’m sitting on the crappy Ukrainian dial-up connection measuring a whopping 33.6 kbps on a good day. Oh, and I get disconnected a lot.

More about my vacation – later …