RANT warning: money problems suck.

[FSUpaintball]

Grrrrrrr.

I absolutely must buy a car right now, so that's what I'm doing. Found a '95 Acura Integra for $5,200 so that's looking good. But that is more than every penny I've got in the bank.

Of course, right when I need to buy a car, I get my first speeding ticket ever (been driving 6 years, $140), so I have to pay for a driving course to keep my insurance down. Also, my 19" monitor crapped out on me (I'm using a 17" loaner for now until I can choke up $200 for a 21"), my computer's power supply just crapped out on me tonight ($60 for a new one). On top of that, I had my wisdom teeth removed, so I haven't worked in a week and a half. That'll destroy my next paycheck. Classes also just started, so that means I'll have even less time to work, earning less money.....

I have a grand total of $3,080 in the bank right now. And I haven't bought the car, a new monitor, or payed the ticket off yet. My parents are actually gonna help me out with the car for now (they're loaning me about $1200), but I'm on my own after that. And I'm not getting much money anytime soon.

It's time to go on a ramen noodle diet, work my ass off, and keep the lights off. Ugh. I'd buy some headache medicine if I had the money. I'm in trouble.

Funny how the sh!t really seems to hit the fan at the worst time possible. Welcome to the real world, Matt!

Not really looking for sympathy. I know that some of you are in worse situations that I am right now. Just wanted to vent.

 

[Freejack2]

Do you really need an Acura Integra? Why not get a cheap $2000 domestic that will last you till well after you graduate then when you are earning the big bucks get yourself a nice new Acura? Nothing beats the value of a used domestic car. Nothing.

 

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
Do you really need an Acura Integra? Why not get a cheap $2000 domestic that will last you till well after you graduate then when you are earning the big bucks get yourself a nice new Acura? Nothing beats the value of a used domestic car. Nothing.

true, this is a better way to save some money.

 

[Evadman]

get this 400 watt pws for $18. I have it on a fews systems including ak7s5a and a tyan tiger dual athlon board.

 

[dakata24]

if it's a coupe, have you factored in insurance costs for the acura?

 

[PsychoAndy]

Hmm. 95 integra? I've been wanting to drop my 88. The a/c sucks and I've been looking around for a new ride.

Have you considered getting a loan to finance it?

-PAB

 

[compuwiz1]

Hmmm, might be a time to go cut a deal on an inexpensive new car, possibly getting 0% financing, with minimal down, leaving most of your cash intact.

 

[FSUpaintball]

Don't want any loans, no financing. I'm being a fool about this car, but I have a (bad) reason why.

For years, I always drove the crappiest cars you could possibly imagine. I hated going to high school, driving up in a POS that was so bad, you could see people's heads turn to see WTF it was I was driving.

Started off with a 1986 Plymouth Voyager minivan. What a POS. The van was 10 years old.

My main car, however, was a 1983 Crown Victoria LTD. Imagine one of the big boxy police cars from the Blues Brothers movie. Now imagine it colored gold, with a moldy cream vinyl top. That was my car. The rear decor was NAILED on because glue wouldn't hold it - the metal underneath had rusted away, letting water leak into the trunk. Power locks didn't work. The driver's side door lock was broken, too, so it never got locked. The automatic light sensor was broken. The gas pedal let out a LOUD whistling sound constantly. It was an 8 cylinder 5 liter engine - powerful, but the car was so heavy, it had little speed. The seats were fake velvet. I can't stand the feel of fake velvet, it's like scratching nails on a blackboard for me. The foam under the fabric roof had disentegrated, so the roof was hanging in on me. Air conditioning was broken (I live in Florida). Only one window worked. And it was the rear driver's side. The remainder of the foam (little tiny spore pieces) would come loose in the wind when I was driving, flying around, landing in your eye. The radio (not even a tape deck) would get this horrible whistling/whining/buzzing sound above 104FM, so I couldn't listen to half of the radio stations in town. Not that it mattered with the waterlogged speakers. The breaks leaked out all their fluid suddenly once in awhile, leaving me with no stopping power on a very heavy car. The car would just start cutting off every 2 months until I gave a certain engine piece a carbon cleaning. The car got 12.2 MPG. It was an old person car, and the makers figured whoever was going to buy it would be long dead before it reached this stage of deterioration. The car was utter crap.

Even though I always had a good personality and wasn't bad looking, when your ride looks like that, you get a reputation. I had it rough because of that damn car. I went to the "rich" publich high school. People always rolled in on Navigators, BMW Z3s, etc. At the least, everyone else had a brand new Civic.

Every morning, driving into school, I wished that I could just get low enough behind the wheel to not be recognized. Alas, they made the steering wheel low enough for a little old granny to be able to see, so I had no chance to hide.

And that is why I refuse to buy a crappy car. It pains me to drive another one after so many years of ridicule in such abominable rides. I just want to blend in, that's all. And if I can get a NICE car, well then, I'd give anything for that. And an Integra looks pretty nice to me.

 

[OutHouse]

dude i feel your pain...

this week my fridge started sounding like a machine on Dr. Suess. Sears will be out on the 5th of sept
My TV totally died yesterday. so the family is huddled around a 13"er i put in the gaping hole where my old one was until my 32"er gets out of the shop.
My lawn mower wont start as of last Sat.
my car started leaking oil (need to find where that is coming from sat morning)


Aug is going to be expensive for me...

 

[FSUpaintball]

w00t I just checked my bank account, my math was a bit off... I have $4200. That'll help some.


Oh yeah, there was also a '96 Civic DelSol there for $2900 (wow), so I might go for that one.

 

[boyRacer]

Yah just go for the DelSlow... girls just love it when you have a cute car. ... and do you really need a 21 inch monitor? You could go by with a 17... those are practically under $100.. but if you must have a 21 incher... here you go... it's refurbished but hey it's practically a Sony and it's $200! Good luck to you!

 

[Dragnov]

Originally posted by: FSUpaintball
Don't want any loans, no financing. I'm being a fool about this car, but I have a (bad) reason why.

For years, I always drove the crappiest cars you could possibly imagine. I hated going to high school, driving up in a POS that was so bad, you could see people's heads turn to see WTF it was I was driving.

Started off with a 1986 Plymouth Voyager minivan. What a POS. The van was 10 years old.

My main car, however, was a 1983 Crown Victoria LTD. Imagine one of the big boxy police cars from the Blues Brothers movie. Now imagine it colored gold, with a moldy cream vinyl top. That was my car. The rear decor was NAILED on because glue wouldn't hold it - the metal underneath had rusted away, letting water leak into the trunk. Power locks didn't work. The driver's side door lock was broken, too, so it never got locked. The automatic light sensor was broken. The gas pedal let out a LOUD whistling sound constantly. It was an 8 cylinder 5 liter engine - powerful, but the car was so heavy, it had little speed. The seats were fake velvet. I can't stand the feel of fake velvet, it's like scratching nails on a blackboard for me. The foam under the fabric roof had disentegrated, so the roof was hanging in on me. Air conditioning was broken (I live in Florida). Only one window worked. And it was the rear driver's side. The remainder of the foam (little tiny spore pieces) would come loose in the wind when I was driving, flying around, landing in your eye. The radio (not even a tape deck) would get this horrible whistling/whining/buzzing sound above 104FM, so I couldn't listen to half of the radio stations in town. Not that it mattered with the waterlogged speakers. The breaks leaked out all their fluid suddenly once in awhile, leaving me with no stopping power on a very heavy car. The car would just start cutting off every 2 months until I gave a certain engine piece a carbon cleaning. The car got 12.2 MPG. It was an old person car, and the makers figured whoever was going to buy it would be long dead before it reached this stage of deterioration. The car was utter crap.

Even though I always had a good personality and wasn't bad looking, when your ride looks like that, you get a reputation. I had it rough because of that damn car. I went to the "rich" publich high school. People always rolled in on Navigators, BMW Z3s, etc. At the least, everyone else had a brand new Civic.

Every morning, driving into school, I wished that I could just get low enough behind the wheel to not be recognized. Alas, they made the steering wheel low enough for a little old granny to be able to see, so I had no chance to hide.

And that is why I refuse to buy a crappy car. It pains me to drive another one after so many years of ridicule in such abominable rides. I just want to blend in, that's all. And if I can get a NICE car, well then, I'd give anything for that. And an Integra looks pretty nice to me.

Ouch. Thats gotta hurt.

 

[Rookie]

It Can ALWAYS be worse my friend believe me...

I was there...however, I made the mistake of turning to credit cards... BAD IDEA.

Best of luck, there are better times ahead!

 

[iamwiz82]

why not just buy a cheap car for $1000? I found a 1993 Jeep Cherokee 4.0L 4x4 for $1000 with 140,000 miles on it. I wish i would have picked it up, but someone snatched it out from under me . Anyways, not all domestics are unreliable. And repairs on a domestic are A HELL OF ALOT CHEAPER.

 

[AsukaStrikes]

if u buy a cheap/old/used car, u'll end up paying more for maintenance than the car. but it does come with full-lifetime self-serve warranty with 100% deductible and free labor if ur good with cars...

i also just got a speeding ticket, $300+ and i have to pay for classes +books + new apartment security deposit and 2 months rent ect...

but my power supply hasnt died, its antec. my monitors no longer die [cuz we no longer buy them from fry's]

 

[SyahM]

I feel you bro. However, I think $5200 for 95 Integra is too much, try shop around a bit more and I bet you can find a better deal. YOu dont have to go with 95, some 2nd gen integra are available for the amount of money you have and you actually will have extra
I have 90 integra and it now has 205k miles .. been using it for a year and I deliver newspaper, excellent car and very little maintainance. Also, i pay about $70/month liability only insurance. WOuld have been lower but I have 4 pts for speeding
Take it easy bro, hope everything works out for you.
-Syah.

 

[Que-TiP]

you do realize that a car is just a peice of metal?

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: FSUpaintball
Don't want any loans, no financing. I'm being a fool about this car, but I have a (bad) reason why.

For years, I always drove the crappiest cars you could possibly imagine. I hated going to high school, driving up in a POS that was so bad, you could see people's heads turn to see WTF it was I was driving.

Started off with a 1986 Plymouth Voyager minivan. What a POS. The van was 10 years old.

My main car, however, was a 1983 Crown Victoria LTD. Imagine one of the big boxy police cars from the Blues Brothers movie. Now imagine it colored gold, with a moldy cream vinyl top. That was my car. The rear decor was NAILED on because glue wouldn't hold it - the metal underneath had rusted away, letting water leak into the trunk. Power locks didn't work. The driver's side door lock was broken, too, so it never got locked. The automatic light sensor was broken. The gas pedal let out a LOUD whistling sound constantly. It was an 8 cylinder 5 liter engine - powerful, but the car was so heavy, it had little speed. The seats were fake velvet. I can't stand the feel of fake velvet, it's like scratching nails on a blackboard for me. The foam under the fabric roof had disentegrated, so the roof was hanging in on me. Air conditioning was broken (I live in Florida). Only one window worked. And it was the rear driver's side. The remainder of the foam (little tiny spore pieces) would come loose in the wind when I was driving, flying around, landing in your eye. The radio (not even a tape deck) would get this horrible whistling/whining/buzzing sound above 104FM, so I couldn't listen to half of the radio stations in town. Not that it mattered with the waterlogged speakers. The breaks leaked out all their fluid suddenly once in awhile, leaving me with no stopping power on a very heavy car. The car would just start cutting off every 2 months until I gave a certain engine piece a carbon cleaning. The car got 12.2 MPG. It was an old person car, and the makers figured whoever was going to buy it would be long dead before it reached this stage of deterioration. The car was utter crap.

Even though I always had a good personality and wasn't bad looking, when your ride looks like that, you get a reputation. I had it rough because of that damn car. I went to the "rich" publich high school. People always rolled in on Navigators, BMW Z3s, etc. At the least, everyone else had a brand new Civic.

Every morning, driving into school, I wished that I could just get low enough behind the wheel to not be recognized. Alas, they made the steering wheel low enough for a little old granny to be able to see, so I had no chance to hide.

And that is why I refuse to buy a crappy car. It pains me to drive another one after so many years of ridicule in such abominable rides. I just want to blend in, that's all. And if I can get a NICE car, well then, I'd give anything for that. And an Integra looks pretty nice to me.

That's all great and wonderful if you can AFFORD to buy a car that you deem "nice," but by the sounds of it you can't.

Buy what you can afford, popularity is highly overrated - Especially when it's dependant on the vehicle you're driving.

Viper GTS

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I hear ya man.

I've had to pump out $500 for my sister's wedding.
I gotta drop about $300 to get some rear tires for my car
I have to drop another $200 for registration
I'm estimating another $200 for a speeding ticket

I was keeping about $1000 in the bank but I think I dropped to about $400 and I still haven't done the tires, ticket, and registration yet.

(and I put $200 of the wedding costs on a credit card, as well as a CPU I ordered the day before I got the ticket)

I'm thinking about just selling my car and getting a used $2000 car on an annual basis. That way I can just use it up and dump it and I'll never be out more than $2500/yr on car payments and maintenance.

 

[wyvrn]

I just spent 1500 on school this semester, 1000 on mortgage, 600 on student loans, and over $1800 on house repairs this month. Plus, my accord needs new tires. I don't have a job, but a fledgling business. I feel ya

 

[FSUpaintball]

hmmmm I might consider the DelSol, I could probably deal with it. I also found out it's a '97, so that's not too bad! And it's red. I need to take a look at insurance, though.