Need Advice about Money Situation

[ConElite]

Well As of now Im working you know making ends meet alright. I did the worse and got a good amount of Credit Debt. About $6k worth (2 diff. Cards).
So Just recently since gas has gone up I have really felt it in my pocket. Costing me $200+ a month on gas when All I drive is 12 miles round trip to work 5 times a week. (I have a heavy foot) I have close to about $3k on my car both performance and mostly main. and things messing up. I have changed the clutch 3 times and 3 different times i had to change the slave and once the master. Now My slave is giving me problems once again. My transmission needs a rebuild and the car needs all new shocks b/c the ride is total dog Ish. Its not the most comfortable car as a daily driver by any means. And just recently it was hit. Plus the front needs to be repainted and the Dash is cracked and needs replacing. All in all the car needs work and Im starting to think if I should continue putting money into it or, Sell it, help pay my Cards and get a nice comfortable Economy car. Dont get me wrong, I am beyond in love with my car. I love the speed. The drive and the over-all feel of muscle, but At this point I dont know what I should do. I figue If I can get somewhere around:
$11,000 or so
I owe on it about $7-8k which leaves me with a couple K's left to put on my car. Then with my Income taxes Get a little beater for a couple months until I can save up for a down on a nice Accord or something of that nature. Not new. Something like $3-5k worth. Ill still have some card debt but it will be a lot total and the money saved would help put forward more for my cards.

And in the long run save save and save some more and with time keep a bucket and get a C5, but thats way down the road.

What do you guys think? Opinions anything would help.

[raroZ28]

don't sell your car bro. Everybody falls on tough times at one time or another.

To be honest, since I quit going out all the time, buying beer, bars, eating out, etc... I've saved so much money man.

That's why I got an xbox 360. This gives me something to do so I don't blow a ton of money.

Once I'd get paid, I'd be broke within a week, and struggle until the next check. Now, I always have a couple hundred in hte bank, and I'm all caught up on everything. I don't drive anymore than I really have to, etc...

You never realize how much 10 bucks here, 5 bucks there makes in a month until you stop spending it.

I'm a lot less stressed now too. I don't see my friends as much, but hey, it's only temporary until I get over this hump. I feel ya dude, and I thought about selling my car as well. But I decided I'd do what I had to do to make the situation better, not just something that will provide temporary relief of the stress. Selling your car might save you some money now, but it's not going to put you ahead, and where you need to be.

I know it sucks bro, but sometimes you gotta suck it up and chill inside.

[Joe 1320]

paying off my car was one of the best things in life.........you don't realize how much better off you really are without a car payment. All that extra dough goes right where it needs to. It's probably cheaper to keep what you have and just ride it out.

[wolfdogs]

ride it out. wev'e been there more than once. look at all the mods and time you have in that car.. you will lose too much selling it.

[Trash man]

keep the car and see if u can score up at 500$ beater that aint in bad shape(my focus was 500$ with working a/c) u can always take the t/a off the road and just drive the beater till u get some extra coin to fix it up and get ur self str8. i owe my dad 3K and my only credit card 600$, but everyweek i give my dad 80$ and when my credit bill comes i throw them 100 a month, i havent used my credit card in over 4 months.

[DHolmes]

I would keep the car,U dont understand how much I miss my firebird,I wish that I wouldnt have got rid of it, and tryed to fix it,Or maybe u can sell ur car and buy a cheap lt1

[96FirebirdFormula]

Get you a cheap 4 cylinder my bro got sunfire 5 speed it gets awesome gas mileage he payed 700$ for it runs like new then kept trans am for weekend

[Christopherrr]

I have 5 more months left on my car and I can't wait to pay it off...believe me, I went through some rough patches and thought about letting my car go. I'm sure glad I didn't...ride it out. Budget budget budget!

[96FirebirdFormula]

I have 5 more months left on my car and I can't wait to pay it off...believe me, I went through some rough patches and thought about letting my car go. I'm sure glad I didn't...ride it out. Budget budget budget!

How much you pay for yours is that 246k miles??

[Christopherrr]

Bought her in April 2003... $252 a month for 60 months @ 5.75%. Drove her out the lot for $14Kish. Can't remember exactly...but it was right on for a 1999 TA with 59,995 on the clock.

Yes, it's actually 254,108 on the clock now...haven't updated the sig in a few months.

As long as your car doesn't exceed 25% of your income...at least from what I've learned, you should ride it out. Besides, seeing someone else in your car, or mine if I sold it...well that would break my heart.

[Gary94Formula]

I agree ride it out if you can, but I don't agree with the 25% of your income... That's the range for a house, not a car.

[MN6WS6]

I've been in your boat man, and I would take everybody's advice and ride it out. But you've really got to prioritize. Pay as much as you can on the cards, but not so much that you have to sacrifice life to do it. If you get an offer for a 12 month low interest or no interest, flip the debt, but ONLY if the new card also includes a lower overall interest rate once it goes back up. I've flipped mine a couple of times and finally now have it all on one from the bank that is 8.5% which is killer.

The gaming system is a good idea, but an even better one would be talking to your friends about it and explaining the situation. They'll pick up the tab on some food, maybe come over and rent a movie instead of going to one, etc. Limit going out, make a lunch for work (that's $5 a day, at least 21 working days on average, $105 right there). Take it easy on the gasoline, and combine trips to save even more fuel. Do as much possible work on the car yourself to save money. If you really want to reduce your fuel bill, buy a motorcycle. My van and my bird get about 12-15MPG in town whereas my bike gets 30-35.

[ConElite]

Thanks guys. I think Im just going to keep it for now and try and get a beater with my taxes. Then the money I save from that Im going to put in on my debt. I only pay $250 a month for the car and $50 for insurence which is not bad. As for going out, Working graveyard keeps me from having a social life so its actually pretty hard spending money. I do the whole bringing my lunch to work thing. But on weekends do to the lack of a social life during the week, I go crazy on Saterdays and Sundays. I think all in all I need to get the hell out of working nights. I have never been so misurable in my life since I started working nights. So yeah I just applied for a new card so i can consolidate both cards and just make one large payment a month to one card instead of 2 average payments. The Interest is about 11% but its better than what I have right now which is like 16% (Im 22). On my car Im not paying interest b/c my parents let me barrow the money. I guess they figure this was a way they would have a steady monthly income considering my father just retired.

Either way Thank you guys so much for the advice. I just hope One day When I pay it off I can really have my way with her and Do all the things I was not able to do.

[Nightrage]

Costing me $200+ a month on gas when All I drive is 12 miles round trip to work 5 times a week. (I have a heavy foot)

Lighten up on the gas. Have you tried using the skip shift to your advantage? A while back, DJ Taso posted his results from experiments using the skip shift. He said that by actually going from 1st to 4th like it wants you to, his fuel economy improved dramatically. Maybe that would work for you.

Also, ask the other guys here, but I think you can run low octane gas without any ill effects. I always run premium (92-94, but I think I remember reading that it's safe to use a lower octane (I'm not sure of exactly how much lower). I know that at work, we run regular on all of the cars that are supposed to take premium, like the G35, and we've never had a problem.

[raroZ28]

Lighten up on the gas. Have you tried using the skip shift to your advantage? A while back, DJ Taso posted his results from experiments using the skip shift. He said that by actually going from 1st to 4th like it wants you to, his fuel economy improved dramatically. Maybe that would work for you.

Also, ask the other guys here, but I think you can run low octane gas without any ill effects. I always run premium (92-94, but I think I remember reading that it's safe to use a lower octane (I'm not sure of exactly how much lower). I know that at work, we run regular on all of the cars that are supposed to take premium, like the G35, and we've never had a problem.

I dunno, but when I go from first to 4th under 20 mph, my car doesn't go anywhere.