My Car is Paid Off!!

Guess what today is?!?!

That's right - today is "Pay off the Car" day!! That's right - today I submitted my very last payment to Honda for my car. Hooray! My little buggy is now officially mine. I can tell you, it feels pretty good. I had been spending about $300 a month on my 5 year car loan and now it gone. Yeeeeessssss!

Now, the smart thing to do would be to take that $300 and just keep clipping right along and put that amount in a nice little savings account so when the time comes for me to get a new (used) car, I would be all set. I'm not going to do that, however, well, at least not yet...

This house painting thing is taking a lot out of me. I have two sides that are almost done, but it has been a significantly larger drain on my extra income than I planned. I had anticipated the labor costs, but the supply costs are getting me. My painter has been great, he has worked with me, showed me exactly what he is buying and why, and is going extra steps to help me keep the costs down. Still, I am not sure I am going to be able to afford the next two sides for a few months. I rather expected that, but I was hoping to possibly just keep going and get the whole thing done at once. No such luck.

So for now, (June, July and August,) the "extra" money from my auto payments are going to my general reserves. That will give me $900 - one month's income. Then hopefully once summer is done, I will be able to start that car fund up. I want to build up a reserve fund for both the purchase of a new (used) car and for unexpected car maintenance. Fortunately, my Honda is a great little car and I have no intention of getting rid of it anytime soon. In fact, as I have mentioned here before, I plan on driving it until it becomes a lawn ornament! I am assuming, at the very least, that will give me another 5 years - if not a whole lot more. So, waiting three months to set up my car fund doesn't worry me too much. I bought my current car brand new, but the next time I think I will go with a good condition, low mileage used car.

If you are wondering about how paying this off will effect my goal of getting nine hundred each month, it really won't - at least not until the house is painted. It is still going to take me quite a bit of work to earn enough to pay for the completion of the work. Not paying the car payment each month will give me a jump start on the nine hundred, but essentially, the goal doesn't change at all.

The great news is that I am now at less than $125 of unsecured consumer debt - and that will be paid off shortly as well! It looks like I am going to have to have a very frugal summer to get the house done, but once that is tackled, fall might be a little easier! (Let's hope!)



Vintage Honda ad photo by: gingerbeardman