In defense of the beater. . . .

I drive a 15 year old car with almost 115,000 miles on it. Hey, it runs (mostly)! I did just replace the battery, it has regular oil changes, and it's definitely due for a tuneup, but it gets me where I want to go. In addition, it's basically free (minus the $80 or so a month for insurance and gas). And for someone who is bent on paying off old debt, that is a good thing!

I do go kind of crazy from time to time wondering about all of the knocks, creaks, and bumps that my car emits while driving. My mind immediately starts adding up the cost of a new alternator, or clutch, or brakes, or any number of crucial auto functions that might need to be fixed in the next few years (I do have the money in my emergency fund for these sorts of repairs, by the way, though I would love to have the extra room in my budget for a 'repair and maintenance fund').

This month, I was convinced that my gas gauge wasn't working. My speedometer and tachomoter haven't worked in years (you get used to it, believe me!) and I've always said that as long as I know how much gas I have left, I'm content to leave those issues alone, since the instrument cluster alone could cost up to $150 to replace, not including labor costs.

I usually spend about $35 to fill up my tank at the end of the month, and with normal driving to the transit station and the grocery store and to my teaching gigs (when the Max isn't convenient), I'm usually left with just a little more than an empty tank at the end of the month. Well, for the last two weeks my gas gauge has been on half-full. No matter where I drove, and for how long, that gauge didn't budge one little iota. Which freaked me out. I've only been stuck once with an empty gas tank, and I didn't like it one bit; I had no interest in repeating that particular fiasco!

So last Sunday, I went to the gas station and got a fill-up, although the gauge still sat at half full just as it has for weeks. And guess what? I only spent $20 and got 7 gallons of gas! Meaning that my gas gauge isn't actually broken, I've just (somehow) driven less this month than I thought I had! Eureka!

I mentally saved myself $400-500 dollars just by putting $20 into the tank! I do wish for a shiny new car now and then, but the value of getting by with my beater might be equal to $90,000 (my remaining debt) when all is said and done.