buyers remorse?

So I haven't bought anything yet but the thought of shelling out 2k for repairs got to me. After doing extensive research and contacting a few friends, I decided to replace only the timing belt. The dealer where I bought my truck (in CA) is owned by my friend's parents, who now also work in the family business. I sent out a few emails the day I found out about the repairs and the answers I received matched what my research turned up. According to Honda 100k is roughly the magic number when you need to replace your timing belt. This goes double if you live in an area with extreme temps and/or tow somewhat regularly. I do, and have for the past three years, on both counts. Slam dunk!

What was also in the emails/my research was that I may not need to replace the catalytic converter yet. The extreme temps can affect the O2 sensors and misreport the status. Most everyone said that their check engine lights switched off when the weather warmed back up. I'm going to wait until May and see if this holds true. It will be sufficiently warm by then, and also get my next bonus check. I'll can replace then if need be, but am hoping to avoid it.

* Updated to add the following ..

This negates getting the loan since the amount is too small to make it worthwhile. I'm going to charge the repairs on my lowest limit CC instead. I've been charging small things and paying it off every month in hopes they'll raise the limit. I haven't looked into this yet, but could've sworn that I read that it's better to get a limit increase instead of a new credit card/loan. More research.

it's always something!

On the way back home from CA last month, I had the check engine light flick on. Fuck! This happened at night somewhere in the middle of nowhere New Mexico on I10. Ok, relax and take stock. There were no funny noises coming from the engine and it was driving smoothly as it always did. I took a chance by not pulling over right then and there and waited until I got to a gas station. As soon as I stopped I promptly ripped the owners manual out of the glove box and looked it up. Turned out there were a number of possible things that it could be with none of them being fatal to driving my truck home. The beagle and I unloaded our bladders, got the truck some gas, got myself coffee, got B some water, and got back on the road. When I got home there was less than 15% of oil life. I knew I had a few weeks before I had to take it in. The Honda maintenance minder informed me via it's obscure service codes that it was also time check and replace quite a few other fluids/parts on top of the oil change. I knew this one was going to cost more than just an oil change, but what was really worrying me was what would the cost be of whatever caused the check enging light to turn on.

Forever the procrastinater that I am, I finally took my baby in yesterday morning. A week and a half after the oil life expired. This is one of those slow tortures I think most people put themselves through. We know it's coming but we still put it off for as long as we can bare it. The service tech informed me later that afternoon what the problem was. Turns out the catalytic converter had died. To my relief this isn't a big deal and is something I could get away with not replacing for quite a while. However the onboard computer will compensate for it's lack by forcing a richer mixture causing me to burn more gas. Not good since I'll have to pay more at the pump. What's not great is that it'll cost me around 1k to replace. The worst news was that my timing belt will need to be replaced since it's coming up on it's end of life. This will cost me another 1k. The timing belt itself isn't the whole cost, and an entire host of other parts are being replaced along with it. This repair is one I can't ignore because the damage to an engine from a timing belt going out are catastrophic. I can't afford to procrastinate with either due to the associated costs so I scheduled an appointment to get them replaced.

The problem I have is in how to pay for it, and that it also means I won't be adding the amount of the repair costs to my savings. I'm due to pay off my final CC bill next month. I don't want to add to the balance so charging is out of the question. The CC is for emergencies only and this isn't one. I also have more than enough in my savings but it's meant to only be used when I don't have an income. I have one making the savings hands off. 

Here's the solution I'm thinking about. I want to take out a small loan via my credit union to pay for the repairs. The loan will be paid back in two to three months (max). Doing this allows me to do a few things that I can't if I charged or paid out of pocket. Under the conditions I just mentioned it adds something current to my credit history since I haven't taken out anything new in over a year. I'll also get to see what my current FICO score is. I'm curious to know what it is after doing all this work on my debt.

Since tomorrow is Presidents day I've gotta wait til Tuesday to start this. That sucks because I'd really like to get the ball rolling since loans can sometimes take a while to process. I'm also hoping that the fine folks at my CU might be able to suggest a more equitable solution to me. 

running in the family

This past weekend my sister and her baby boy came to visit me from California (by way of Dallas). The pressures of daily life had finally gotten to sissy so an impromptu vacation was needed and taken. They spent a few days in Dallas where the nephew got to visit his cousins before they made their way down to the heart of Texas. Once they arrived much fun, food, and allergy suffering was had by us all. The nephew and I did most of the suffering due to the high cedar and mold count at the time.

I am so nebulizing, man.

The poor little guy kind of suffered pretty badly his first night down here, but we managed to get him sorted out by the second day. They spent the first night at my apartment where we have two dogs and live next to a cedar forest. He was doing so badly by the next morning that we moved them to a hotel away from the forest and dogs. He still needed his breathing treatments but was doing much better there. Later that night we went out for an early Chinese New Years celebration dinner. The lil guy consumed several cups of jasmine tea after I told him it would help with his allergies.

gulp ... gulp ... gulp

On the third day before taking them to my favorite BBQ joint (The Salt Lick), we paid a brief visit to my future home. This is the first time I've had a family member visit me since I moved years ago. It was great being able to be able to show them everything they hear me talk about in person. Not that she doesn't have confidence in me, but seeing the trailer in person made a bit of difference in how she felt about my plans. Never underestimate the in-person factor when trying to explain stuff like this. It goes a long ways towards helping them understand the hows and whys.

Where's the BBQ you promised?!?

Proof, kids love bunk beds!

Even though we had just seen each other the prior month, it was nice being able to spend time together again. It also gave us a chance to carry on a discussion about some of our family issues as well as possible plans for future welfare of the family. Our phone convos tend to frequently get broken up by life. That and the toddler tends to be much more forgiving when he can see the grown ups talking in person than to a phone.

The food looked as good as it smelled

And we didn't regret eating every last bit

No meal is complete w/out ice cream!

On Sunday morning I (sadly) took them to the airport. The lil guy gave me a huge hug at the airport making me miss him all the more now. Sissy managed to shake loose most of the pressures that were dogging her and regained some needed perspective. I got to take a day off from work, play, and share it with some of the most important people in my life.