Prioritize

My "check engine" light came on last night after a day of sitting in the underground parking garage. I've been waiting for this day for awhile now. You see, my car is a hand-me-down from my parents which was a hand-me-down from my sister which was a used car before it even made it to my family. The things I know the car has been through -- Connecticut winters, one big car accident, the DNA-given lead foot that my mother passed down to both my sister and me -- is enough to make me worry about the longevity of the car let alone the things that might have happened to it before it made it into my family's custody. And, as you may expect for a car with 130,000+ -miles and 13-years of wear and tear, I've been pouring anywhere between $500 - $1,000 into it on a yearly basis. After last year's $1,200 price tag, however, I needed to have a serious talk with my mechanic over the feasibility of keeping the car running. His advice was this: The car is a Jetta, one of the last years that the VWs were manufactured in Germany. Just about everything is replaceable and the car will continue to run in good working order as long as I take care of it. But, there will come a time when the parts get too expensive or when multiple systems will go down at once. The trick, according to him, was to drive it as long as I can, but trade it in before it goes down so I can get maximum worth out of it. Which, I mean, isn't that trick for every driver? Get out while the getting is good?

So, when the check engine light came on, I started to think that maybe I didn't get out while it was good. I mean, it was pretty good last year when I replaced every hose on the transmission. I should have sold then. But nooo. I couldn't see how I could possibly afford a new car then especially as I just spent over a thousand dollars on the current car and another on a stupid root canal. I waited. And possibly waited too long. I began to think that maybe this was going to be it. Finally, that sticky clutch had burned out the transmission or the fuel pump had rotted through. Dollar signs started to roll past my eyes, and I started to pre-panic. And pre-panic has a habit of splattering all over the place.

First, I posted my angst on Facebook because what's Facebook for than to solicit the sympathy of friends and family who can't do anything for you other than to post platitudes and maybe a sad face emoticon? Second, I started to search both Carmax and Cars.com for my next vehicle. I found a 2005 VW Beetle that would do and was in the right price range but made me a little anxious as it was Carmax and they have a habit of putting up and taking down cars with alarming speed. Third, I started to think about how I was going to scrap together an additional $300 a month because not only would I now be responsible for a car payment -- which I don't have now -- I would also have to pay a higher insurance premium because lord knows that a low-tech 1998 Jetta and 2005 Bug with power everything is going to be vastly different in the insurance race. Fourth, I started crying. OK, no, I didn't, but I totally wanted to. Instead, all I could do was come up with a reductionist budget. I was going to have to stop seeing my trainer. I was going to have to cut back on my groceries and keep my shopping strictly to Trader Joes and Vons. I would also have to stop putting money into my ING savings account and quite possibly stop investing in my 401(k). Not to mention that everything I wanted to do (movies and dinners out on the weekends) and everywhere I wanted to go (Sydney in June!) were impossibly out of my reach. So, yeah, I totally wanted to cry because suddenly I felt jailed...again. Why is it that money woes always make me feel like God hates me?

I dropped the car off this morning at the mechanic and within three hours we had a diagnosis: A pressure hose from the engine was rotting and needed to be replaced. With parts and labor: $200. Whew!

But! Now I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't make all those cost cutting measures anyway. Afterall, I do need to prepare. Not the 401(k) or ING Savings, but maybe the trainer and the food budget. Maybe keeping dinner and a movie to every other week instead of every week. Oh, not to pay for a new car mind you. No, no, no. I still want to go to Sydney in June. A girl has got to have her priorities...