Hurray for used things! For once I’m not talking about baby stuff. Recently we’ve saved a metric crap ton of money thanks to my people being awesome about giving us their cast offs.

First off, my parents brought down their old Rav4 to give to us when they came to visit Maggie. They knew they weren’t going to get much on a trade in for it, so they figured ‘why the heck not’ and gifted it to us. We did have to pay some taxes and fees on it (and $30 a month in insurance) but it’s well worth the price to have a second car for emergencies. Best of all, we know it’s in fabulous shape because my parents are obsessive about taking care of their vehicles.

Secondly, good ol’ Mom and Dad packed the car up with my old bedroom furniture, which they had refinished. It was chilling in their house and not getting used a whole lot. The whole set is solid oak and the current cost of a single piece of furniture of that quality was more expensive than getting the whole set (bed, two dressers, mirror, 2 nightstands) refinished. Now we have furniture for the guest room and it will be Maggie’s furniture when she eventually transitions out of the nursery. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Geek.

And finally, my mom sanded down, replaced the trim on and repainted the old dresser that our roommate gave us.  He didn’t want it because it was his ex-wife’s and she certainly wasn’t going to claim it (or any of the other crap she left behind which spent months in our basement). It came out really well, but I don’t have pictures yet because it’s still chilling in our garage until our friend comes over to get it up the stairs.

So yeah. We owe a lot to my parent and their generosity.

Have you ever gotten an awesome hand-me-down?

Popularity: 18% [?]

Come, February 11th, there will be a ‘new’ car in our household, thanks to my parents. A 1997 Rav4 in excellent condition, to be exact.

Our first thought was a long the lines of “SWEET!”, but  now that we’ve been really thinking about, we’re not even sure whether we’re going to put it on the road right away. Some people may think we’re crazy since we’re currently a one car family, but having a second car isn’t necessarily a good option for everyone.

Sure, there aren’t payments on it (technically I’ll be paying my parents a token amount so it’s not a ‘gift’, but they’ll give us the money back later) but there’s a lot of other expenses that go along with car ownership. There’s the taxes on it, title and registration fees, insurance, inspections, not to mention the more regular costs of maintenance and gas. Altogether, it looks like we’d be paying between $50-75 a month to keep this girl on the road.

Now, $50 hardly seems like much for a second vehicle, but again, there’s more to consider. After some careful planning, both Mr. and I work from home, which means neither  of us needs a vehicle for commuting, except for 2 days every bi-week (any 2 days) when Mr. has to go in for an hour. This leaves the car available the other 330 hours a bi-week for errands or whatever else I need to do.

There’s also the matter of safety. While the older Rav4′s are hardly death traps, they do have a tendency to roll and less of the modern safety features that the Matrix has. If I were going to drive with mini-me, I would be taking the Matrix. Unfortunately, that would leave Mr. with the Rav4.  I don’t know if you’ve ever been in the passenger compartment of one of the early Rav4′s, but they are tiny and Mr, well, isn’t. He absolutely hates driving it because he ends up with massive leg cramps.

Basically, the only time the Rav4 will be truly useful for us is those 6 hours of commuting and work every bi-week.

I think we’re going to end up registering the Rav4 anyway, just for a few months to see if it’s really worth it to us. Having the second car would allow me to get a part-time job once mini-me is partially weaned and I start pumping, but that won’t happen for at least 6 months or so. It would also allow me to take the Matrix for my conventions and not leave Mr. stranded, but, again, that won’t be happening for at least 6 months.

I thought having a second car would be awesome, but now I’m definitely not so sure.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Normally I’m a big proponent of junking older, unsafe, gas guzzling cars, so quite a few people were surprised to hear me ranting about how much I dislike the Car Allowance Rebate System (otherwise known as Cash For Clunkers).

So yes, I hate the program and here’s why.

• It doesn’t apply to used cars. This is my big reason. Most of us are well aware of how much value is lost from a new car by the simple act of driving it off the lot. I know a few  people in the market for a ‘new’ car who refuse to use the rebate simply because they can buy a 5 year old car with better mileage for $10,000 less than a new one.
• The price limit is way too high. $45,000? That was the cost of my college education. Who the hell can afford that kind of car? And if you can afford that kind of car, you’re probably making enough money that you should pass up the rebate in favor of someone who needs it. How about a limit of $30k. Still more than I would ever pay for a car, but sometimes you have to bump up a luxury level to get all the airbags and safety features.
• Possible $50k/$75k (single/joint) income limit. [Link] No, I’m not jealous that we wouldn’t qualify. I just think that we’re still encouraging people to spend more on a car than we should.  For every smart person buying a barebones Camry at $20k, there’s a moron buying a luxury $45k SUV, which would now represent 90% of their yearly income.

Obviously, my biggest beef is that it’s encouraging people to make stupid car decisions. In the long run, that’s going to do far more damage than positive effects of ‘stimulating’ the economy.

So what do you think? Greatest idea EVER!!!!1!! Dumbest idea in a long time? Something in between?

Popularity: 25% [?]

Let me just say up front that I’m not advocating buying (leasing) a new car every time a new model comes out. I am, however, saying that money shouldn’t be the ONLY factor in some decisions.

Part of the reason we decided to purchase my (late) Toyata Matrix was because our old Ford Explorer simply wasn’t as safe as newer cars. Sure, the excellent gas mileage and cheaper repairs were a nice bonus, but the truth was that the Explorer was a tipping hazard, had outdated airbags, the brakes kept going and it lacked the newer safety features like curtain airbags, side reinforcements, auto door locks, etc.

It’s kinda hard to tell from the picture I posted, but I used pretty much every single one of my shiny, new safety features.

The crash was 100% not my fault. Some d-bag didn’t attach the hitch to his car correctly, and the trailer (hitch and all) fell out of the back of the car while we  in the left-most lane, trying to merge onto I-95 around exit 169.  If you know Virginia, you know that this is a very busy road with 5 lanes of traffic at this point.  Sometimes it doesn’t matter how great a driver you are,  shit happens. I’m lucky I was able to steer the crash into the shoulder rather than back out into traffic.

Buying the Matrix was a strain on our budget. We ended up borrowing around $12k and making $275 payments. If we kept the old car, we could probably have put the hardwood floors in last month, but I wonder how much money we’d be paying on my long term medical bills if I had rolled the Explorer. My life insurance policy is only work about $44k, but I’m sure Mr. would rather have me than the money.

How much is your safety worth? Car payments aren’t fun and neither is scrimping to buy a used car in cash, but sometimes it’s worth it. Your 15 year old car may be all paid off, but you honestly need to think about more than just money when it comes to the safety of you and your loved ones.

Popularity: unranked [?]

My car

So how was your weekend?

Popularity: unranked [?]

I miss the days when it was free to park in my own driveway. Unfortunately for me, there are a lot of hidden costs with keeping a car in a city. If you don’t have a car but are thinking about buying one, consider all the costs before you jump in that new convertible.

• Parking – If you own a house, you may be lucky enough to have a driveway or have street parking privileges. I envy you. Apartment living can mean having to pay a monthly fee to park in the apartment parking lot or you may have to rent out a space in a commercial parking garage. To add insult to injury, many work places have limited parking, so you may have to pay them to park in their parking lot or rent out another spot in a nearby parking garage. The price for parking among my friends ranges from $10-1000 a month, so this is a big thing.
• Registration Fees – Aside from the DMV fees, you may get hit by a yearly county registration fee which are more common in urban areas. While some counties have set fees, Arlington bases yours on the model and year of your car. We went from $50 for the old car to $400 for the new one.
• Insurance Rates – Rates vary depending on location. Guess which locations have higher rates.
• Gas – Of course everyone needs to buy gas, but city driving gets much lower MPG. One tank of gas will get our little Matrix about 420 miles on the highway but only about 300 piddling around town.

Thankfully, urban areas are much more likely to have good, reliable public transportation systems. Mr. Frugal Urbanite rides the Metro to work everyday, avoiding the ridiculous parking fees, and his job actually reimburses him for it. Sweet, no?

There’s also is also ZipCar for those of you living in select cities. ZipCar allows you to rent a car for as little as a few hours with a convenient system, so if you just want to run a few errands, you have the freedom of a car without paying for the time you won’t use. If we didn’t visit friends and family in other states all the time, we’d probably forgo our car and use ZipCar (there’s one spot right across the street.)

Popularity: unranked [?]