understandable if you aren't too mechanically inclined, however don't completely discount the idea. The starter solenoid is one of the easiest thing you can replace on a car, and can usually be had for 10 bucks. chiltons can be for found for free at the library, or online for the enterprising As for tools, just see which ones you need and buy them. crescent wrenches and screw drivers even sockets can be had for pretty low price at like walmart, or big lots, even sears has a cheap brand. repairing the tire is this easy (but check to see if there is a warranty 1st): Repair your tire's slow leak, cheap and easy - DIY Life btw, switch to dialup, high speed is a luxury, believe it or not
oh the side job thing is just doing computer jobs (geekpoint.com). but i only advertise on craigslist and word of mouth so nobody really knows about me. If I could do that for $300-$500 a month, I'd be thrilled. i understand about the bipolar thing. i can be real tough. most of the time, her bipolar isn't a problem. but when it is, it can be no fun. i think the depression part is actually harder in a way because it's all the time, while she only has bipolar outbursts every so often. i'll check into doing the work myself. I don't have much hope but everything is worth a try to look into. i'm going to take a look at the tires tonight. i haven't personally looked at them to see how worn down they are. if they look decent to me, i'm going to take it somewhwere else to get a second opinion. as far as dial-up goes, like i said before, that isn't an option as some of my g/f's school stuff won't work on slow connections. we tried it once before as we were trying to safe money but it just didn't work out too well.
i'm not that into saying it how it is. but the gym, go outside and run, situps pushups.... your car.... a busted ass old ass ford explorer that gets 10mpg... spend 2-4 grand and and buy economical car that gets good gas milage, will be cheaper on insurance. you have a brand new car??? ok, get rid of it, buy another 35mpg 4 door, ok insurance will drop to probably 125 a month for the two of you, save 200$ a month in gas and no 400$ car payment... ok i just saved you 625$ a month and solved all your problems
lol miller. ya i wish it was that easy. ok the gym...i'll give that one to you. although I doubt I'd get as good a work out that I do at the gym. number one: if i had $2-$4 grand to buy an econimical car, then I wouldn't be worried about $250 to fix a starter then would I? i literally have no savings...NONE. plus i've already been down that path where I bought $2k-$4k "economical" cars and they ended up costing me about the same amount of money and even more frustration of having down time. i also have an explorer because i'm 6'6". it's good for my back. my back was killing me when i had "economical" cars. number 2: how the hell do you get rid of a new car? it's in a 19% interest loan. even if I sold it, I bet I'd still owe $5k on the the remainder of the loan. if I had $5k to pull out of my ass, I wouldn't have money problems anyways. Plus even if I did have $5k to pull out of my ass, I'd need more money to go buy another car, which brings me back to my other point that it's pointless to buy $2-$4k cars because there is no gurantee that a Honda or Toyota will be any more reliable than my Ford (i should know, I've been through 3 hondas and an acura that all had problems). nice try, but none of that is practical. sounds good on paper but that's it.
you guys just need to leave him alone. he seems like he really does not want any help. as i agree with most of you its clear he is not going to make any significant changes so lets just leave it at this and not help him with his pitty party...
Agreed. Status quo = what is going on now. You want significant change you have to make significant changes.
ask sims how easy it is to change anything on his freakin' alltrac I can't even change my oil without putting my hand an inch for a 600C Downpipe :/ (its also a GT-Four! )
I'm not trying to offend you or piss you off, or rag on you. But from what I have read from you now and in the past, it sounds like you very quickly blame alot of stuff on outside circumstances, without expanding your horizons first. I make less than you and have the same expenses, and I can almost guarantee that the cost of living is higher where I am, by alot. Anyways- Rent: can't really do much about this. Car payment: please explain how and why you would be making payments on an Exploder. Unless you're talking about your girls car(Kia?). Simple solution to this. Sell the cars, buy one reliable sound car THAT IS NOT ON A LOAN. You can find reliable cars for cheap, I damn near specialize in this with my free time. I would take a Civic with 200,000 miles over a Kia with 20,000 miles; and no I'm not exaggerating, I'm serious. I also don't see how you can't find a better paying job. Well, with the economy the way it is, I guess I can. I think what you're trying to say is you can't find a better job in your area. 2 years ago I was having shit luck finding a decent paying job, so I grabbed my $500, packed my shit in my car and went to Chicago. Who would have guessed that bigger city = more opportunities? Surprise! It was real rough at first, but you adapt quick when you have to. It only gets easier. You might want to look into something like that as well. And I'm assuming you live in an apartment, so I don't see how a power bill could be $100. My apartment with 2 TV's and a computer & lights on all the time is between $25 and $30. I also know that the 2 power companies I've dealt with (ComEd in Chicago and WE Energies in Milwaukee) offer payment plans if you need them. Maybe look into that? $450 on gas? How far do you commute? Buy a different car and you could drop that to $200. About the gym- you should analyze how important it really is to you, remember- priorities. Why not do free exercises? This might sound shitty, but fuck the hospital bills for now. Blow them off as long as you can, and make a payment just before they say they're going to report to the collection agency. It'll take a while. How many people do you think owe the hospital money? Trust me, you're not the only one, and there's probably plenty of people in front of you that haven't paid shit. Do you not have health insurance, or good enough health insurance? If that's the case, I don't see why you'd be worried about sticking around at a job with no benefits and limited hours. Where's the room for self improvement and expansion? $100 is pretty cheap for 2 phones, but look harder. Look in places you wouldn't normally think to look, you'd be surprised. A friend of mine got his T-Mobile phone turned on & 1 month service for $25. Granted it wasn't in the "nicest" part of town, but he's paying less than I am for the same shit! When it comes to fixing your car, don't just sit there and say you can't do it. Do you think people were born knowing how to fix cars? Fuck no. Instead of complaining, apply yourself. When we're all sitting here telling you all you have to do is literally take 3 bolts and a nut off, instead of immediately crying about how hopeless it is, why not search on a forum and look for yourself? Did you try hitting it with a hammer at all yet? This works for anything. My uncle will call me every time he has some kind of issue. Car, computer, house, whatever. Am I a jack of all trades? Far from it. It's just he automatically gives up before even trying to figure out what the problem is; just doesn't even try to understand. This to me equals uselessness. But that's just the way I feel about it. I'm not trying to preach about life experiences because I'm just learning myself, in fact I'm younger than you. Just trying to offer a little bit of advice from what I know.
250 in repairs (lets say you truly do have shitty luck) every 4 months = 750 per year. If your car has a good year you can set that all aside for future repairs. Your current car payment = 4524 per year. You could afford to buy a replacement $4000 car every year if you weren't making that payment. Get in touch with a debt counselor, or at the very least buy a book on the subject. I mean no offense, but you're making a LOT of excuses. There are things that you're placing as "needs" but they're very much "wants". BTW, if you can fix a computer you can fix a car. Not disrespecting mechanics, but most of them aren't exactly fucking geniuses. Give yourself some credit and at least give it a shot.
wow some of you guys are being jerks (not all). I did not expect this from a group of guys that I've talked to for 10+ years. i've given good reasons for each way you all have said to save money. switch from comcast to dial-up: fantastic idea if my g/f doesn't want to get a college education anymore. we have tried her schooling on dial-up and it doesn't work half the time. and i don't know about you but our library's don't allow you to install software on their computers so she couldn't do her school work there. and quitting school altogether isn't a good idea either as it will eventually lead to a real career and higher paying jobs. all you guys that seem to think that she can just go out there and get a higher paying job are clueless. she can if she can finish college. how about every single one of you use your own advice and go get a higher paying job tomorrow if it's so fucking easy. so tell me why giving all that up to get dial-up is a good idea? no really, I want a good reason. I'll be happy to hear it. "drop" one car. great idea. obviously it would have to be the Explorer as like I said above, it is impossible to get rid of the Kia (i'm still waiting for someone to tell me how it's possible). If I'm missing something here about somehow selling a car and not having to pay the remainder of the loan off and they give you a couple thousand to buy another car, please tell me. hell, i'll even give this one to ya to be nice. so let's pretend i get rid of the explorer and I take the car. now my back gets to hurt again all the time (but that's ok as I'm saving money) and my g/f will be on a bus for half her life walking around in the dark. kent isn't a nice area. but that's okay though as we'll be saving money, it's ok to risk being killed. again i'll give you the gym membership. you got me on that one. so whoohoo, so far i've saved $42 a month. i'm rolling in money... drop one cell phone. that's a fanstastic idea to pay $175 to break the contract so we can save $10 a month. great idea guys... let's see what other brilliant ideas you all had. oh ya, breaking up with my g/f to save money. that was a good one. let's even pretend that I did that. i'll have to move out. $1400 a month on rent with utilities (if for some insane reason, some apartment forgot to check my credit score). $200 on food. $250 on gas. $20 on my hospital bill. $60ish for my phone. we're up to $1920. i bring home $2000. so as you can see, I wouldn't be ANY better off being by myself either. i know I'm coming off as an ass (partly because i'm being one right now lol) and I apologize but don't tell me all these brilliant ideas but have no way of backing them up. if you think them through, they just don't work. on paper, it looks easy to just "get rid" of a car but you can't just do that. and i never asked for significant change. some significant change would be fine. i would consider not going to the gym again to be a significant change as it's become a big part of my life. that's the only one that I can't really argue all that much because ya I could technically get a workout for free at my house. but that's only $42 a month. unless I'm missing something here, I don't see good ways to reduce my bills at all, even a little bit. if you see ways and can really back it up, please inform me. nidex, your reply just came in as I was about to reply so I'll respond to yours. i don't have payments on the ford. that would be ridiculous as it's a 92. it's on the kia. the kia was a $15k loan with 19% interest. right now, what maybe I could sell it for $12k (just a guess). ford explorers are selling around here for $1000 or less and there are TONS of them. so i can't just sell the kia as I'll be upside down in the loan that I wouldn't be able to pay off. i mean, let's just say for shits and giggles that i sold the kia and the ford total to pay off the kia. that's great except that now i need some money to buy another car. where is that going to come from? it's still a risk to even get a Honda. again, like I said, I've had 3 hondas and an acura and each one had a problem. i cannot fit in a civic at all anyways. an accord i can but not a civic. it took me 4 years out of college to finally get the job I have. i applied and applied and applied every single day and didn't ever get them. the market is saturated here. guys with MCSE's are taking the entry level computer jobs becuase of how bad it is here. all my friends have the same problems getting jobs so it isn't just me. so you say just to move? well that's great except I don't have any money to do that. if I had $500, then maybe i could. my credit isn't good enough to rent anything most likely anyways. and i live right outside a major city and it makes no difference. i live in a house, not an apartment so i'm sure it's more for electricity. $100 was like a high guess on the dead of winter. the local electricity company, PSE, sucks and likes to rape you. I've gotten it down to like $25 before, I was just saying that I have had it as much as $100. thanks for the tip about the payment plans, I will look into that. $450 in gas in my g/f to commute 25 miles a day. Mine ranges. my home office is only 5 miles away but at anytime, I may have to drive 100 miles to another location. my company pays for it of course. then you drive to the gym (only 3 miles away) and do grocery shopping and what not, it adds up. it may not be $450 anymore. I'll have to check this month to see for sure. a more fuel efficient car would help, yes, but hard to get. the gym, i'll give that one to you. i could get rid of that. i don't think not paying hospital bills are a good idea. i've worked so hard trying to get collections off my credit. my g/f's is co-signed with her parents (only way to get it down from $20k to $7k) so they would come after them if she didn't pay. i have good health insurance now with my new job. my hospital bill is only $20 a month because it was only a $500 hospital bill. this was back a couple jobs ago when my insurance wasn't as good. my hospital bill is actually almost paid off. my g/f's was so high because she didn't have insurance at the time and an ovary exploded so she had to go the ER and have sugery so she wouldn't die. i love my job. i am doing real computer work finally, unlike the previous 4 years after college where I was talking to assholes over the phone at a call center help desk. i don't see how 40 hours is limited hours. that's full time. they just don't want you to do more than that. again, if I could find a job that would pay me more and/or have more hours, I would happily take that job. but it took me 4 years to get this one, i don't see another opportunity coming along anytime soon (but I'm still looking all the time). heh nameless has posted a response so I'll respond to that. i was spending probably $500 on repairs for two cars PER MONTH. that sucks alone, let alone the constant down time of missing work and losing even more money. sure eventually, if i'm spending $500 a month the car would have everything fixed (you'd hope anyways) but I couldn't afford to continue to not know if I was going to go to work that day. i made the choice to try a newer car. I knew I'd be paying the same or more per month for it but I figured that at least I wouldn't have to worry about if I was gonig to work that day. I also know that having a car loan is a fast way to up your credit. indeed it is. it's gone up 50 points so far. that will help a lot of other things in my life get cheaper. i understand i'm arguing your points here but I don't see how they are excuses. is it really an excuse not to want to leave my g/f (which by the way wouldn't save me any more money anyways)? what needs do I have that are wants? i will make an honest effor to try and fix cars myself. i hear ya on that. i'm sure I could do it. my only problem is that I don't have the money or time to mess it up. with a computer, who cares if I mess it up and it's worse off than before and it's down. if I mess up my truck, i've spent money trying to fix it and then have to pay a professional to fix it again. i've read lots of debt books and talked to debt counselors. they don't seem to think i'm doing anything wrong at the moment. i understand some of the stuff that I do pay for can also be a negative (example the car) but it can also be a positive (credit will go up, have a reliable car, etc). the last time I spoke with a debt counselor, they were impressed at how much stuff I cut back on. I'm probably going to see a debt counselor again soon just to keep up to date.
well she's looking. the reason we had her leave her $13/hour job was because she was extremely unhappy and it put her in the hospital. she now works at a photography studio (one of her passions) and loves it. pay is shit obviously right now. ya she could find a minimum wage job around here flippin burgers but then she'd be unhappy again but making way less than the $13/hour that she was before. there just doesn't happen to be a photography studio that's real close to where we live. i'm currently looking for a solid part-time weekend job myself. it will suck to have no days off but if I can make some money to pad our account a bit for a few months, we should be better off. EDIT: 2000th post! and sorry guys, i read my long post above and I was getting a little heated. my apologies.
Since it's through a bank I'm assuming you have full coverage. Wouldn't it be a shame if one morning you woke up and your Kia had just vanished into thin air? Since you say you have a bottom of the line insurance company they wouldn't have the money to polygraph you. I kid, I kid. I do not condone any illegal activity. With cars, you're taking a risk no matter what. Every car will have problems here and there. It's just that some cars break less often, have less serious problems, and cost less to fix when they do break. And with your starter, honestly there really is not much you can mess up. Disconnect battery cables. Follow positive battery cable to starter, there should be 3 bolts (probably 1/2 inch wrench size on your Explorer), take them out. Pull starter away from flywheel, take the wire off of the starter (probably 10mm nut) If there's a shim(metal spacer piece), make sure to put it back. Installation is the reverse of removal, obviously. It's really that simple. As far as finding a new place, you'd really be surprised at what you can get with shitty ass credit. I know this from personal experience. Also it sounds like you're just slightly overexaggerating about your girlfriend taking the bus. According to this, it's got about an average crime rate for a city of that size, which by the way is pretty fucking small. For about 2 and a half weeks when I had no place to stay in Chicago, I stayed with a friend of mine in this neighborhood. I would get off the orange line train at 49th & Western, and walk to his house(actually his grandmas house) on 54th & Damen, which is 5 blocks south and 4 blocks east. I constantly had people asking me for money, if I wanted to buy shit, etc. But never once did I feel like my life was in danger. It's really all about how you handle yourself. But like MSP said, none of us really know shit about your daily life. We're not trying to argue with you, we're just trying to offer advice. You also have to realize that just because you don't have the lifestyle you wish you had, that doesn't mean you're doing horrible. Don't sweat it too much, it's only money. You'll live.
Flipping burgers is not a high stress job. Face it, no one is going to be "happy" in minimum wage jobs. She needs to take closest job that will hire her and stop being picky. It doesn't need to be forever, just until something better comes along. I really don't think trying to manage a side business a smart idea for you at this point. You need something consistent so you can count on a specific amount every month. You should be looking at a part-time job that basically matches up to your other one. You want to try to work 9-5 at your full-time job and then work 6-10 elsewhere. This way you still get your weekends (of whatever days you get off) and you don't kill yourself. You don't need to do it forever, but it's an extra 500+ a month. Also, you can take some vacation days at your full-time job and work full shifts at the other job. That way you can basically pull in 2 full paychecks occasionally. I also went on DSL reports and qwest is available in Kent, why aren't you using them? Oh, and I know they suck, but it's still faster than dial-up, and a a whole lot cheaper.
well i personally wouldn't care about walking in a crime area but having my g/f walk in not the best areas in the dark isn't a good idea, don't ya think. and ya, i'm exaggerating about the amount of time the bus would take. luckily her work is in seattle. it actually wouldn't take too long but the bus stop is like 3 miles from her work. not terrible and ok during the day but not the greatest at night. you also gotta remember that my g/f has clinical depression and bipolar so while flipping burgers might be ok for us for a little while, with my g/f's problem, she will be unhappy and have problems. qwest is available in Kent but not in our area unfortunately, unless something has changed recently. i'll shall check our address. that would be nice if it's available here now. edit: ya i just checked our address and qwest dsl isn't available for us. darn.
I don't want to sound like a dick but you've been wanting to buy stuff on the forums. Why not get rid of your cable payments and all that jazz. Do you have a cell phone and a house phone? Get rid of the house phone.
i didn't know i wanted to buy anything from these forums...i haven't bought anything on here, nor do I plan too. if there is anything i ask for, it's for a project for a customer so I'm getting paid to buy it. no i don't have cell phones and house phones. that would be dumb to have both. i'm looking into clearwire again. they are only $25 a month but the last time we tried them, they sucked in this area. it wasn't usable. i'm ok with slower internet but it would drop connection all the time. hopefully they are better now as that's quite a bit cheaper.
Yeah, I noticed the dslreports reviews were mostly negative. Although you generally see people complaining online, not praising. Anyway, I hope you don't think we're all attacking you. I just want better things for you, you're a good guy.
This made me lol. Don't know if this is news to you, but the only person that would actually be happy flipping burgers is this nigga: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/92utho4PjH0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/92utho4PjH0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> No offense, but from my observations thus far, your girl seems like a basket full of problems that's bringing you down with her. I had one like that for a while, and I'm extremely glad I got the fuck out of that mess. Always saying she couldn't do something because of [insert problem here]. Sometimes we all have to do things we don't like. It's called life.
92 Ford explorer starter solenoid should be located on the passenger side of the vehicle, behind the battery, on the side wall. Should not be too difficult to replace. Be sure to disconnect at least one of the battery cables before trying anything with the solenoid though, so ya don't get accidental sparks. Good luck...
...ehm. disconnect the neg [-]. I'm textbook when it comes to electrical on ecm powered vehicles. no offense fornik8her.
