Monday, May 19, 2014
I don't like journaling - short
Not sure why I keep doing it, I messed up the first week so I won't get the point for journaling anyways. But, here you go. Life sucks, but it also doesn't. I bought a car and I love it. No stress there, but I'm still depressed. I ate HORRIBLY (like, 5 donuts horribly) for two weeks for no other reason than we didn't cook and I kept eating out. I just couldn't get my life on track. I'm back on it, but I'm not weighing in this week. I don't need to know that I gained every bit I lost back.
Friday, May 16, 2014
CarMax - Thoughts
I want to write about my experience with CarMax because I got a lot of mixed reviews.
First, I started at a dealer. I figured out exactly what car I wanted (I was pretty sure, Honda Fit all the way!) and knew I wanted navigation. I could get a brand new Honda Fit Sport, no navigation for about $17,000 at both dealers. One had a gray car, one had a red car, both waiting to be sold to make room for the 2015 models coming out soon (btw, they skipped 2014, so 2013 was still the new car until 2015 comes out).
I talked some to both dealers, wasn't ready to pull the trigger. I was hoping to wait for a used with navigation, but I was starting to lean toward just getting a new one with zero miles to save me heartache in the long run. I would be the ONLY owner and if something fucked up, it would be my fault (or a defect) and it would be under warranty. I was still looking around, and needed to get my current car appraised. I looked up the value online several places, knew my car in the condition it was in was worth about $2000 to a dealer, $3500 to a private sale. I was willing to let it go for $2000 ONLY, and was hoping for something more. I was expecting to be utterly lowballed (remember, CarMax will A. buy your car even if you don't buy from them and B. has no haggle pricing. they can't up my price for my new car to make up for a good price on the trade in)
CarMax offered me $2500 and a certificate for 7 days that it would be valid for. I could go get it appraised elsewhere and come back. I'd also looked on their website and found an orange, 2011 Honda Fit with Navigation. I had to have it. It was one state over. I talked to my salesperson about it, and he said because it was only one state over they could ship it here for free. So they did. No fee, no contract, no obligation to buy and I still had my trade in certificate. Only problem? It would take 7-10 days. What happens to my trade in value? As long as nothing changes, they'll reappraise it and give me the same price. Yeah right. I was totally expecting them to try and knock $500 off because they knew they had me with the other car (except I already knew I would laugh at them and leave to never come back if they tried)
My new car comes in, we get my car appraised again (I'm totally in love while we're test driving) and get the price back.... Gave me the exact same value, and a new certificate. I was impressed to say the least. Made an appointment for the next day to come back and make everything official. I also purchased MaxCare, their warranty. I almost didn't, but decided that for a 5 year 75,000 mile warranty it was actually a good price (I won't say great) and gave me some peace of mind that if the AC shit out (like mine did a few months ago) that I wouldn't be out $1200. And if it never did, well, that's how insurance works. I never felt pressured by my salesperson, he switched my MaxCare around and showed me all the prices in a nice little matrix so I could pick what I wanted.
Now, on to financing. I'd heard that used car dealers really make their money on the interest for their loans. That may be true, but my freaking bank would barely give me a loan. Applied by myself, got $6,000 and a 5% interest rate. Cosigned with my mom (perfect credit, has purchased and paid off multiple cars, owns a home, between the two of us we make over $100,000 a year) wouldn't even cover the $17,000 I was asking for. Counter offered with 3.65% and $13,000. And we thought that must be as good as it would get, my mom was going to pay the difference as a downpayment. I was livid! I bank with these people, I give them my business. I understand that I myself may be a risk (I look WAAAAAAY over leveraged, but it's a numbers thing and school debt. I'm fine) but my mom has perfect credit and could walk into any bank where she is and get a $100,000 loan if she wanted. On a whim, I put in a cosign application at CarMax. Can't get any worse can it? (I didn't really want to keep hitting my credit report with requests, but fuck, I wanted to know!)
You wanna know?
Financed the whole thing (about $16000 with my downpayment, but adding back tax, fees, and MaxCare) for a 1.95% APR and don't even need income verification because her credit is so good! Are you SHITTING ME.
If CarMax is making money gouging interest rates (like I've read elsewhere) then I don't even care. I'm paying them almost HALF the interest rate and a lower monthly payment because of it.
My salesguy basically said my bank must have unusually stringent policies because we got a great rate.
Oh, and the best part? I was approved in 5 minutes. I started the bank process Friday afternoon. Got a call late Monday with my crappy counteroffer (the original) got my mom on the phone and applied again (on Monday) got a call yesterday (Wednesday) around 11 am with that new, also crappy counteroffer. Accepted it (tentatively, obviously) and she didn't have if they needed any paperwork so she had to send off AGAIN to their underwriters that I accepted and WAIT for them to get back to me before she could set a closing date. To her credit, she is VERY nice and helpful and understanding, but I don't even care at this point. I still haven't heard back from them about the paperwork (I'm calling her as soon as she's in this morning around 9 to tell her not to worry about it). Again, CarMax took 5 minutes. I'm trying to get my mom up here, make plans, buy a goddamn car and they take over a day each time to call me back. AND WITH A SHIT INTEREST RATE AND NOT GIVING US ALL THE MONEY WE REQUESTED. (okay, that sounds bad. I requested $17,000 for a $16,998 car)
Fuck my bank.
Tl;Dr - Love CarMax
Also, I love my Honda Fit and will probably post a review soon. It's zippy around town, but doesn't get to speed as satisfyingly fast as my 6 cylinder.
First, I started at a dealer. I figured out exactly what car I wanted (I was pretty sure, Honda Fit all the way!) and knew I wanted navigation. I could get a brand new Honda Fit Sport, no navigation for about $17,000 at both dealers. One had a gray car, one had a red car, both waiting to be sold to make room for the 2015 models coming out soon (btw, they skipped 2014, so 2013 was still the new car until 2015 comes out).
I talked some to both dealers, wasn't ready to pull the trigger. I was hoping to wait for a used with navigation, but I was starting to lean toward just getting a new one with zero miles to save me heartache in the long run. I would be the ONLY owner and if something fucked up, it would be my fault (or a defect) and it would be under warranty. I was still looking around, and needed to get my current car appraised. I looked up the value online several places, knew my car in the condition it was in was worth about $2000 to a dealer, $3500 to a private sale. I was willing to let it go for $2000 ONLY, and was hoping for something more. I was expecting to be utterly lowballed (remember, CarMax will A. buy your car even if you don't buy from them and B. has no haggle pricing. they can't up my price for my new car to make up for a good price on the trade in)
CarMax offered me $2500 and a certificate for 7 days that it would be valid for. I could go get it appraised elsewhere and come back. I'd also looked on their website and found an orange, 2011 Honda Fit with Navigation. I had to have it. It was one state over. I talked to my salesperson about it, and he said because it was only one state over they could ship it here for free. So they did. No fee, no contract, no obligation to buy and I still had my trade in certificate. Only problem? It would take 7-10 days. What happens to my trade in value? As long as nothing changes, they'll reappraise it and give me the same price. Yeah right. I was totally expecting them to try and knock $500 off because they knew they had me with the other car (except I already knew I would laugh at them and leave to never come back if they tried)
My new car comes in, we get my car appraised again (I'm totally in love while we're test driving) and get the price back.... Gave me the exact same value, and a new certificate. I was impressed to say the least. Made an appointment for the next day to come back and make everything official. I also purchased MaxCare, their warranty. I almost didn't, but decided that for a 5 year 75,000 mile warranty it was actually a good price (I won't say great) and gave me some peace of mind that if the AC shit out (like mine did a few months ago) that I wouldn't be out $1200. And if it never did, well, that's how insurance works. I never felt pressured by my salesperson, he switched my MaxCare around and showed me all the prices in a nice little matrix so I could pick what I wanted.
Now, on to financing. I'd heard that used car dealers really make their money on the interest for their loans. That may be true, but my freaking bank would barely give me a loan. Applied by myself, got $6,000 and a 5% interest rate. Cosigned with my mom (perfect credit, has purchased and paid off multiple cars, owns a home, between the two of us we make over $100,000 a year) wouldn't even cover the $17,000 I was asking for. Counter offered with 3.65% and $13,000. And we thought that must be as good as it would get, my mom was going to pay the difference as a downpayment. I was livid! I bank with these people, I give them my business. I understand that I myself may be a risk (I look WAAAAAAY over leveraged, but it's a numbers thing and school debt. I'm fine) but my mom has perfect credit and could walk into any bank where she is and get a $100,000 loan if she wanted. On a whim, I put in a cosign application at CarMax. Can't get any worse can it? (I didn't really want to keep hitting my credit report with requests, but fuck, I wanted to know!)
You wanna know?
Financed the whole thing (about $16000 with my downpayment, but adding back tax, fees, and MaxCare) for a 1.95% APR and don't even need income verification because her credit is so good! Are you SHITTING ME.
If CarMax is making money gouging interest rates (like I've read elsewhere) then I don't even care. I'm paying them almost HALF the interest rate and a lower monthly payment because of it.
My salesguy basically said my bank must have unusually stringent policies because we got a great rate.
Oh, and the best part? I was approved in 5 minutes. I started the bank process Friday afternoon. Got a call late Monday with my crappy counteroffer (the original) got my mom on the phone and applied again (on Monday) got a call yesterday (Wednesday) around 11 am with that new, also crappy counteroffer. Accepted it (tentatively, obviously) and she didn't have if they needed any paperwork so she had to send off AGAIN to their underwriters that I accepted and WAIT for them to get back to me before she could set a closing date. To her credit, she is VERY nice and helpful and understanding, but I don't even care at this point. I still haven't heard back from them about the paperwork (I'm calling her as soon as she's in this morning around 9 to tell her not to worry about it). Again, CarMax took 5 minutes. I'm trying to get my mom up here, make plans, buy a goddamn car and they take over a day each time to call me back. AND WITH A SHIT INTEREST RATE AND NOT GIVING US ALL THE MONEY WE REQUESTED. (okay, that sounds bad. I requested $17,000 for a $16,998 car)
Fuck my bank.
Tl;Dr - Love CarMax
Also, I love my Honda Fit and will probably post a review soon. It's zippy around town, but doesn't get to speed as satisfyingly fast as my 6 cylinder.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
.....FINANCING A CAR SUCKS
So, I tried to finance my new car through my current bank.
They counter offered me $6,350. Nowhere NEAR what I need for this car, but that was their MAX loan. I wanted to cry. No, scratch that, I did cry. My debt to income DOES look bad, so it's not like I don't understand, but $20,000 in school loans, plus $1200 on a credit card (I keep paying it off, then keep adding back to it, it's still interest free so, yeah) does make me look like I'm like, 90% leveraged. But, I make good money. I know exactly what I can pay per month.
Apparently, they think I can only pay $119 a month. I budgeted $300, with an extra $100 to pay it off sooner. With all my other payments, I will still have $100 a month to play with, until August, then it increases to $400 a month extra. I guess I should have added the hubs to my loan app, but, he makes less than me with more debt... he helps pay for food and rent though, so, yeah. That's probably where I screwed up. On paper it looks like I pay all of our $925 rent by myself.
ANYWAYS, my mom cosigned for me. We'll see what happens, they have to get a decision from their underwriters and I should hear back today or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow since it was so late when we got our application in.
I wish I didn't have to rely so much on my parents. I feel bad that mom has to drive all the way up here (one and a half hours for her) just to sign a loan for me. I'm supposed to be an adult.
EDIT:
Read the rest of this rant in my "CarMax - Thoughts" post. My bank just sucks.
They counter offered me $6,350. Nowhere NEAR what I need for this car, but that was their MAX loan. I wanted to cry. No, scratch that, I did cry. My debt to income DOES look bad, so it's not like I don't understand, but $20,000 in school loans, plus $1200 on a credit card (I keep paying it off, then keep adding back to it, it's still interest free so, yeah) does make me look like I'm like, 90% leveraged. But, I make good money. I know exactly what I can pay per month.
Apparently, they think I can only pay $119 a month. I budgeted $300, with an extra $100 to pay it off sooner. With all my other payments, I will still have $100 a month to play with, until August, then it increases to $400 a month extra. I guess I should have added the hubs to my loan app, but, he makes less than me with more debt... he helps pay for food and rent though, so, yeah. That's probably where I screwed up. On paper it looks like I pay all of our $925 rent by myself.
ANYWAYS, my mom cosigned for me. We'll see what happens, they have to get a decision from their underwriters and I should hear back today or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow since it was so late when we got our application in.
I wish I didn't have to rely so much on my parents. I feel bad that mom has to drive all the way up here (one and a half hours for her) just to sign a loan for me. I'm supposed to be an adult.
EDIT:
Read the rest of this rant in my "CarMax - Thoughts" post. My bank just sucks.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Monday Blues
I'm worn out, and stressed out. I don't like not having all my uncertainties, well, as NOT uncertainties and I seem to have filled my life up with them.
Car insurance
Car financing
Car itself
New job?
New insurance?
NEW EVERYTHING?
Oh, and the ONLY utility that has my name on it (needed for financing purposes) has my maiden name on it, and we can't figure out how to change. We keep getting the runaround. *sigh*
I'm also falling back into bad food habits. Had to put my "fat" pants back on today. :( I'm back on track, but it's so easy for me to fall off when my emotional state is in flux. And it's definitely in flux.
Car insurance
Car financing
Car itself
New job?
New insurance?
NEW EVERYTHING?
Oh, and the ONLY utility that has my name on it (needed for financing purposes) has my maiden name on it, and we can't figure out how to change. We keep getting the runaround. *sigh*
I'm also falling back into bad food habits. Had to put my "fat" pants back on today. :( I'm back on track, but it's so easy for me to fall off when my emotional state is in flux. And it's definitely in flux.
Friday, May 9, 2014
I just got a job offer? - short
It's not firm, but I am tempted and I'm conflicted and I just..... I don't know.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Housekeeping
I have to "journal" today for the Spring Challenge. I don't want to. I want to write about cross stitching or something, but have nothing really *new* to say.
I had a really bad day yesterday. I don't want to talk about it.
I am, however, buying a new car. It should be a good experience. I can stop juggling 2 different car dealers, and like 20 insurance places in my inbox. That is REALLY hard for someone with anxiety. (btw, never ask for a quote online from insurance comparison.org. I just wanted to ball park what I could expect, and ended up with multiple insurance places trying to call and email me. progressive is MUCH nicer and only one place.)
Anyways, I love the new car. it's a 2011 Honda Fit Sport with Navigation. It's orange. The Honda Fit is actually a subcompact with as much room for cargo (due to some cleverly designed seating) as the much larger Honda CR-V which is a crossover or small SUV. The back seats fold down completely flat, so the dogs can ride in the back and we can store crates/luggage/anything back there with them. It's not as roomy for people as the CR-V or something like a Nissan Murano or Ford Escape, those can easily fit 3 adults in the backseat. But because they are bigger and heavier they get worse gas mileage. The Fit has all the same features (except not quite as comfortable, especially for multiple people in the backseat, but no worse than a car) but comes with great gas mileage and a tiny parking area. I drive a Ford Taurus sedan, it's so long! And while the trunk IS huge (I can fit a 500 dog crate in there folded up, which not a lot of car trunks can do) I can't extend it for the dogs, and their paws will eventually ruin the cloth seats even though I have a waterproof lining for it. (one of my dogs actually panics and tries to burrow when in the car, so I have to stop him from digging it out of the way. every. single. time.) I'll still try to keep the back of the seats nice, but I really won't worry about it as much as I have to with the Taurus.
I had a really bad day yesterday. I don't want to talk about it.
I am, however, buying a new car. It should be a good experience. I can stop juggling 2 different car dealers, and like 20 insurance places in my inbox. That is REALLY hard for someone with anxiety. (btw, never ask for a quote online from insurance comparison.org. I just wanted to ball park what I could expect, and ended up with multiple insurance places trying to call and email me. progressive is MUCH nicer and only one place.)
Anyways, I love the new car. it's a 2011 Honda Fit Sport with Navigation. It's orange. The Honda Fit is actually a subcompact with as much room for cargo (due to some cleverly designed seating) as the much larger Honda CR-V which is a crossover or small SUV. The back seats fold down completely flat, so the dogs can ride in the back and we can store crates/luggage/anything back there with them. It's not as roomy for people as the CR-V or something like a Nissan Murano or Ford Escape, those can easily fit 3 adults in the backseat. But because they are bigger and heavier they get worse gas mileage. The Fit has all the same features (except not quite as comfortable, especially for multiple people in the backseat, but no worse than a car) but comes with great gas mileage and a tiny parking area. I drive a Ford Taurus sedan, it's so long! And while the trunk IS huge (I can fit a 500 dog crate in there folded up, which not a lot of car trunks can do) I can't extend it for the dogs, and their paws will eventually ruin the cloth seats even though I have a waterproof lining for it. (one of my dogs actually panics and tries to burrow when in the car, so I have to stop him from digging it out of the way. every. single. time.) I'll still try to keep the back of the seats nice, but I really won't worry about it as much as I have to with the Taurus.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Panic Attack
Today I had a panic attack so bad I was honestly in danger of passing out in my husband's car from lack of oxygen. I just couldn't breath and cry and breath at the same time. I've freaked out before, but never like this. Not even when things were really bad. Things are happening and I don't like it.
the end
the end
Locked in
So, I have this thing I do where I lock in on something and I obsess about it until I'm miserable.
Right now, it's a car. Basically I want a very specific car, but the new one is coming out, and they don't have it in stock except for one but they're giving me a GREAT price because they're trying to move inventory, but I need to sell my car and my mom has the title, and I'm on it but it may say AND 'me' not OR 'me' which would me she has to be PRESENT for me to sell the thing, but I don't even know if I can get a good price for the thing, and I feel stuck and................................................. I can't stop trying to figure out ways around it.
I know the fair value for this car, I know the depreciation, I know that my loan will never be under water if I get X amount of trade-in (or down payment). I KNOW EVERYTHING.
And I'm still trying to get more info. I need it all done instantly, not 3 days from now.
Right now, it's a car. Basically I want a very specific car, but the new one is coming out, and they don't have it in stock except for one but they're giving me a GREAT price because they're trying to move inventory, but I need to sell my car and my mom has the title, and I'm on it but it may say AND 'me' not OR 'me' which would me she has to be PRESENT for me to sell the thing, but I don't even know if I can get a good price for the thing, and I feel stuck and................................................. I can't stop trying to figure out ways around it.
I know the fair value for this car, I know the depreciation, I know that my loan will never be under water if I get X amount of trade-in (or down payment). I KNOW EVERYTHING.
And I'm still trying to get more info. I need it all done instantly, not 3 days from now.
Monday, May 5, 2014
More Money into my POS Car
This weekend I spent $80 more on my POS car. A cylinder coil went out, so I was running on 5 cylinders instead of 6 and it was obvious. It has been going out, but probably only noticable to someone who drives the car every single day. Then, while T was driving it it jerked and revved and didn't really shift right then the check engine light came on.
Two different Firestones wouldn't check the code. I've played the game with my car before where I turn it off and the light isn't on when I turn it back on, but there is still something wrong with the damn thing but they can't help me if there are no codes. So, I wanted them to check the codes before turning it off. They didn't have time. -.- yeah right. So I took it to O'Reilly and they said the third engine coil was going out, or had gone out. They priced the part at $68 and we left. T decided he could replace it and went back and bought it (with a lifetime warranty) for $80. (btw, I'm selling this car in just a few months. His reply was that someone would get to enjoy the warranty, and I asked him how he planned on giving them the receipt. boys). Then he basically unscrewed the old and screwed on the new. Fixed.
I'm going to call Firestone and see how much that would cost if they did it. I'm betting on twice the price. At least $120. I'm not knocking them, but it really made me mad that they wouldn't just pull codes on my car. It takes 5 minutes. They tried to tell me they have to run a full diagnostic blah blah it could take 30 minutes or it could take 3 hours, but O'Reilly did it in 2 minutes. I know they just don't want to pull codes for free for everyone that walks through the door that will then go buy parts at O'Reilly, but if they would have just pulled the damn codes I would have told them to fix it and left my car there! I have spent thousands of dollars at Firestone (JUST IN THE LAST 2 YEARS) but, it doesn't matter because I'm just a number in a computer. *sigh* Now I'm just getting dramatic. Can you tell it really upset me?
Anyways, it was *only* $80 more into my car. Can't wait to get rid of this thing.
Two different Firestones wouldn't check the code. I've played the game with my car before where I turn it off and the light isn't on when I turn it back on, but there is still something wrong with the damn thing but they can't help me if there are no codes. So, I wanted them to check the codes before turning it off. They didn't have time. -.- yeah right. So I took it to O'Reilly and they said the third engine coil was going out, or had gone out. They priced the part at $68 and we left. T decided he could replace it and went back and bought it (with a lifetime warranty) for $80. (btw, I'm selling this car in just a few months. His reply was that someone would get to enjoy the warranty, and I asked him how he planned on giving them the receipt. boys). Then he basically unscrewed the old and screwed on the new. Fixed.
I'm going to call Firestone and see how much that would cost if they did it. I'm betting on twice the price. At least $120. I'm not knocking them, but it really made me mad that they wouldn't just pull codes on my car. It takes 5 minutes. They tried to tell me they have to run a full diagnostic blah blah it could take 30 minutes or it could take 3 hours, but O'Reilly did it in 2 minutes. I know they just don't want to pull codes for free for everyone that walks through the door that will then go buy parts at O'Reilly, but if they would have just pulled the damn codes I would have told them to fix it and left my car there! I have spent thousands of dollars at Firestone (JUST IN THE LAST 2 YEARS) but, it doesn't matter because I'm just a number in a computer. *sigh* Now I'm just getting dramatic. Can you tell it really upset me?
Anyways, it was *only* $80 more into my car. Can't wait to get rid of this thing.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Only if I Track it First
Something that helped me today was saying "only if I track it first" in regards to food. I'd planned out my entire day (Thursday is lunch day with the hubby) but someone brought Krispy Kreme donut holes. I wanted some real real bad. Before I let myself go in there, I told myself I could only have them if I counted them. So, instead of feeling immensely guilty I looked it up and found out that 4 donut holes are 6 points. I took 3 for 4 points. I had to dip into my weekly allowance, which I'm trying not to do as much, but it was worth it. Now I'm not sitting in my office obsessing about the donut holes I wanted. I find that if I do that to myself, I end up doing something worse later because I'm mad. (and possibly hangry!)
"I didn't get a donut this morning. I'm getting dessert now" *angry face*
So, next time you're really wanting some food, tell yourself you HAVE to track it first. Then, it may be worth it and it may not be. And track those negative points! I tracked everything I ate for a week even though I wasn't really watching what I ate and was in the negative. Seeing that gave me the bump I needed the next week.
"I didn't get a donut this morning. I'm getting dessert now" *angry face*
So, next time you're really wanting some food, tell yourself you HAVE to track it first. Then, it may be worth it and it may not be. And track those negative points! I tracked everything I ate for a week even though I wasn't really watching what I ate and was in the negative. Seeing that gave me the bump I needed the next week.
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