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This summer I splurged. Don’t worry, no debt involved.

And before anyone asks, since I started my corporate job, I paid extra toward taxes every pay check. I had no idea how the large corporate salary, bonus structure and then income from my business would affect my tax rate so I was overly cautious. As a result, I got a VERY LARGE tax return. I won’t do that again…but it did make getting Princess a car and me my…

Doable without taking on any debt! And I love, love, love it!

Build a life you love

I have spent decades now building a life I love. Choosing work that allowed me to focus on my kids and never miss a thing with them. But it wasn’t til now, til here…that I no longer seek an escape. I have a home I love. My dogs have free roam of the house and yard, thanks to the doggy door and fenced yard. Stable love and relatively secure finances. I have the love a good man. And now I have the “luxury” item I always wanted and sought when we traveled – my very own hot tub.

So my splurge, well, yes, I could have put it toward my debt and been all done with my medical debt. But this…this gives me a peace and fulfillment that I have been seeking for a really long time. And it has taken away that “itch” that has been constant in my life for longer than I can remember…to plan the next adventure. Now I’m content to just be here. I work longer hours, more contentedly than every before and then I end my day or even start it floating in the water. Pure bliss.

I highly encourage everyone build a life they love, work at something that doesn’t feel like work and more importantly know that when the darkest times come…there is light on the other side. I would never be able to appreciate everything in my life now without the dark times.

Hope

Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.

Are car warranties a wise investment?

by Hope

I mentioned recently that I purchased Princess a car. And I am very pleased with it. (She is too.) But boy, that experience was so stressful. Let me give you the short version.

Right around her 18th birthday, I found an AMAZING deal on a Honda Civic on Carvana. It wasn’t a “Carvana” car evidently but from one of their partners. (I’m not sure if this is the right terminology.) But they said they could deliver it on her birthday so I bit the bullet and purchased it.

I set up a birthday lunch with the family and some of her friends and was so excited to do this.

Her Birthday

HOURS before it was to be delivered. After over a month of waiting for the day to arrive. They sent me a message that it was delayed. So I printed some pictures to give her at the birthday lunch and as disappointed as I was, I figured another week’s wait was worth it.

Delivery Day

Then a day before the now rescheduled delivery date…they called again and said it would be delayed another MONTH! What!!! I was so mad. And she was so sad. Their explanation, well, frankly, it didn’t ring true to me at all. I cancelled the order.

The Perfect Car

I got online and started the search again. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to find another car. It was the killer deal that I thought we had found. But it is a great car.

Now the real question…care warranties? Thoughts?

I ended up purchasing a 5 year/100,000 mile extended warranty for the car from CarMax. Essentially if anything goes wrong mechanically during the warranty period, she just has to take it to a Honda certified mechanic (dealership, etc.) and pay a $50 “co-pay” for it to be fixed. It cost about $1,300. And Princess has been told that any repairs, etc. going forward are her responsibility.

And in this case, it has already paid for itself…her A/C condenser went out over the summer, around an $800 repair. (I know this because I had to replace mine this summer too and I didn’t have a warranty.) She paid $50.

So what do you think? Extended warranty or no? It was my first time ever doing it. And I really only did it because I wanted any repairs to be within reach for my “broke” college student over the next few years.