My Money Pit Car

I am kind of annoyed with my car right now. I have a 2004 Toyota Corolla that I have had for the past 8 years. We got it the summer after my freshman year of college and it only had 24,000 miles on it (had just come off a lease). I loved it. Great on gas (31 miles to the gallon) and reliable. I was suppose to inherit the monthly payments for it once I graduated college but as my graduation gift, my mom paid it off for me. Nice mother!! :) I was originally suppose to get my brother Mark's old Corolla except my brother Brian totaled it one day going back to school. So I ended up with the better end of the deal, getting a newer car.

I was pretty lucky...I only had to pay gas myself, oil changes, registration fees, etc. There was only two times it had pretty bad damage to itself. Once when it was parked in the grocery store lot in town, a 93 year old man had a brain aneurysm that burst and he hit one car, hit the thing that holds the shopping carts, turned around, hit a Ford Explorer that went flying into my car and took off. They got him but the poor man didn't know what was going on.After all the work done on that car, I had to get more work done two years ago when I had my first accident and got side-swiped. 

Lately though, I feel like my car is becoming a money pit. In December, I spent over $800 on my car. Between new ball joints, an oil change, new brakes and all this other stuff, I was ready to just puke at the thought of how much $$$ I was spending. And yes, I get that it takes $$ to maintain a car. My mechanic is my brother's neighbor so it's a nice service to drop your car off at his house and he brings it back from his shop to your house. He told me a few other things I was going to have to have done later on.

Last month, my car had a vibration feel that it shook around 60mph. I had to get an oil change and inspection done this month so I also had him do the new struts I needed. $600+ later, I was set. A week after, my car starts SCREECHING when I make left turns. At first, I thought I was going nuts because I worry about every sound my car makes. I also thought it was odd it was only when I was making LEFT turns. Then this fell off (and I have no freaking clue what it is!!)

What the heck is that?! Tonight I was at the stop sign around the corner from my house and it screeched very loudly. It's okay when I am driving but I am wondering if its my brakes, the power steering (which is what people are saying online but that's just what came up in Google.....I wouldn't trust it based on Google reviews) or that thing in the picture above. 

I sent my mechanic a text message to see if he can take a look at my car tomorrow or Thursday or even Friday. Luckily my brother is working tomorrow night and Thursday night at the same time as I am so I can go with him (ironically he has to have his dropped off to have some work done too). The mechanic hasn't answered me back so I am going to try him again in the morning. 

But this makes me wonder...is it worth it to keep pouring $$ into the car if I keep having all these problems arise? Everyone says Toyotas are built to last (I swear my mom's Camry had 200,000 miles on it before she got her 2014 in October and her old one was a 2002) but if I am spending almost $2000 in a calendar year to fix huge problems, maybe I should just BUY a new car! I know I have the credit that I could get a good loan but this is a big decision I would have to make. Hopefully my mechanic can look at it tomorrow because I can't keep driving around with it making the noise.

Welcome to the real world!

I'm such a nerd. I am excited because I finally filed my taxes!! I know most of you are probably thinking "What?! Why so late?!" Part of the reason was due to my procrastination. Another part was my claim "I can't do this!" Well, I did it on TurboTax online. Paid the $75 to for both state & federal and was quite pleased with my refund! I think once I am living in my own house and have a more complicated tax return, I'd have someone do it for me, ha! Welcome to the real world!

I plan on trying to save that tax return money to use for shopping on the cruise. Because let's face it, stuff is expensive right now! And I so desperately need to find a teaching job, in a downgrading economy. It's so hard. One of my brother's "regulars" (and I mean, they request to sit with him every time they come in) at work was having dinner with her sister & husband and he was a teacher in one of the districts. He was telling me how many more teachers are actually getting laid off then the local newspaper was saying. Isn't that always the case? I know this is a common thing because a few of my college professors in grad school said they were "excessed" and then rehired. One can only hope that the job market for teachers in New York will turn around.

I often say how much I want to move to the South, specifically Georgia or even the Carolinas. It's a combination of being depressed about the job market in New York, a desire of warmer weather, and a desire of change. My heart feels like it belongs in the South. I honestly think this frightens my boyfriend John that I could move away. I think it does because I accidentally saw it in one of his text messages to his friends yesterday on his phone. Oops, didn't mean to snoop (lol) even though it kind of did hurt/make me think when I read it. I say I want to move...because I am deeply afraid of never finding a job up here. I want one, but they are so hard to come by. I know of people who have been looking for a teaching job for three years! Ideally, I'd love to have a leave replacement at first and then fall into a full-time job but I guess we will just have to see what is in the cards. I am at the point where I feel like I am ready top make that transition into the real world/being an adult yet it's hard to do so. If that means taking a pay cut and leaving my friends & family to move somewhere, then so be it. If John wanted to come with me, that would totally be okay. I would want to live with him first. Because there has never been a discussion of marriage between the two of us and when I brought this up the other night, he said he doesn't want to get married for a long time, which is totally okay and understandable. As much as I love weddings and say I have mine planned out, I have no clue when that time will come for me. Right now, I need to focus on what is more important- GETTING A JOB!

I'm sorry if that was just a whole bunch of nonsense. It helps getting it out there thinking "What if?" I have lots to look forward to now that the CST is behind me and I can apply for jobs. I hope something will come my way in due time.

7 weeks from today I will be on my way to cruising to the Bahamas. 7 WEEKS! Holy cow!! Both John & I are really excited. I cannot wait to go. Who does not want an excuse to kick back for 8 days in the sun (I will cry like a baby if it rains), relax with a margarita and get tan with your boyfriend? :)

Last night John and I watched "War Horse" because he said it was good (done by Steven Spielberg) and there was an underlying romance in it. He knows how much I love chick flicks. Well, there was none of that! I literally couldn't stop crying at one point and had to start playing with his iPad because the movie was depressing me! Did anyone else have that reaction?

Time to go do something productive before work!

{Student Loans-My Enemy}

Let's face it, college is NOT cheap. I think I was paying $900something A CREDIT on my grad school classes. I have no idea what it cost me in loans for undergrad. All I know is it's a lot. I don't come from a well-off family by any means. And by living in New York, nothing is cheap. I believe I paid $3.73 a gallon for gas yesterday. *Cries*

My mother helped each of her four kids that went to college out as best as she could. Being that she was a single parent, she knew she'd have loans out too. We all have loans out from undergrad. I would have probably had more out if I did not go to a state school for under grad (a state school in NY is called a SUNY or a CUNY). When it came time for grad school, we were on our own. I respect her in that instance because most grad schools think you, the student, are supporting yourself and will essentially give you more money in loans to help pay for it. That's evil because then you end up taking out more than you should and live off of it.


Well, when I started grad school, I deferred my undergrad loans. I think I received a paper awhile ago that stated they were deferred until 2018?! While that can be good, the amount of interest I would accrue is enough to send me into thinking I'll have a heart attack. I got a loan paper in the mail today that had loans disbursed on 12-24-2009..I'm thinking these are my grad school loans considering I started in January 2010. With interest, a $20K loan went to almost $45,000! HOLY CRAP. Apparently they have me set up on the 30-year repayment plan and by paying only the minimum, it would be paid off in...2042! And I'd be 55! As in my first kids would probably be in college or something by that point! HOLY CRAP!

I basically went into panic mode and then asked my brother to explain the letter to me to make sure I knew what on Earth it was explaining. He reassured me that it was because of interest and if I made more than the minimum monthly payment, I would pay it off quicker. It just sucks because I pay rent while living at home and my phone bill, and of course gas. I know it was something inevitably going to happen and I would have to pay it back eventually. The reality of it all is just setting in and makes me cringe.

I hope that I nail this certification test (which I should really go study for!) and get certified because then I will start applying for jobs. I feel like once I get an actual teaching job and feel somewhat more financially stable/secure, I can pay it off in bigger chunks.

Anyone else feel this way about student loans? Any advice on how to deal with it and/or stay organized while paying off loans? I am OPEN and a tad desperate for suggestions!

...rolling in the deep.....trouble

rolling in the deep...trouble. i almost typed poop pile, then realized that was inappropriate. and a ll gross.

can i just say that i hate/detest/despise growing up? seriously, it seems like adults have all the perks according to little kids. yet, that is somewhat far from reality! i mean sure, you look forward to the day you can legally drink at 21, drive a car, gamble, move out of your parent's house, etc. i have done pretty much only the first two (i don't gamble and i haven't moved out of my house...yet).

but seriously, i don't like it. i am the type of person that likes to pay my credit card bills all off in full, every month. sure, there have been some months where i'm like "crappppp, i forgot!" and then i get a late fee. boo. my "motto" has usually been i only charge it if i know i have the $$ to pay it off. i really only like to dip into my savings in emergencies. i thought i'd really be saving some $$ by living at home. and hey, it's not bad. i just wish i could live at home for free. i mean, if i only have to pay for my car insurance and my phone, that's fine. but if i had to pay for more than that, i might as well go move down south because i in no way make THAT much $$ to do so. my mom and i need to have a talk tomorrow and see if we can come to an agreement on me giving her money considered as "rent." $200 seems fine to me. $600...not so much. i might have to like win the lottery, plan a way to accrue 5820350293234543624 trillion dollars or get myself a sugar daddy, ha ha! say a prayer i can figure this all out. i know it sounds somewhat childish and STUPID to be whining about this, but i don't like owing $$ and i'm just frustrated.

and on top of that, i got a letter today saying that my student loans were granted another deferrment until 2018. i had myself a nice little laugh...since i graduated undergrad in 2009 and grad school this year. and did i apply for this? nope. i originally did when i went to grad school but i guess the schook told them i graduate in 2018. um, that's about 6.5 years away (now since we're already into july!) and i hope to have a dent in paying them off by then. maybe defer them for another year.....or two. ;)

oh! and how about that 16 lb BABY born in texas?! the mom apparently had gestational diabetes, which can result in babies being born weighing more than normal but holy cow! that's huge! it's like a toddler. i hope that none of my future children ever weigh that when they're born...quite ridiculous.

okay, time to go to bed. i know the time stamp will mess up on this but its 1232am on my computer clock and i'm wiped. i didn't go to bed until 2am this morning, got up at 730, went to zumba @ the gym, the beach and then swam and went to work. i'm WIPED.