How do you deal with the a build-up of aggravations? I'd love to hear from you.
The 3-grand for the car repairs puts so many things in a new light. I thought I was making financial progress. I thought I would be able to whittle away the bills I racked up during the year I was sick and out of my mind after my life came crashing down and I was hardly employed for two years. I even dared to think I might be able to save money toward retirement.
I dreamed of having a few nice things. Might I be able to afford to have the moldy, outdated, 25-year-old bathroom redone? Was it possible I might be able to afford to travel in retirement or even before?
We are a materialistic society, and I confess my dreams were material in nature. Perhaps I could save money and have a really nice car, a car that wasn’t a compromise with what I can afford.
Now, reality has set in. I scrape by, like most Americans. Dreams crash up against the cold hard shape of a budget – one that is constantly squeezed by unexpected expenses. I know that this is not what gives life meaning and purpose, but I am feeling down about it.
1 comment:
The typical American would not have paid the three grand. The typical American does not have that kind of dough. The typical American would have traded in the car and gone deeper into debt. Pat yourself on the back for doing the smart thing. The NYTimes had an article a few years ago analysing car costs. If you hang onto a car for a long time, instead of trading it in every 3 years, you end up richer by tens of thousands of dollars. Maybe even hundreds of thousand. Those interest rates eat you alive.
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