Fortunes rise, fortunes fall. This fall I’m going to make sure my fortune rises. Specifically I have a goal to have $______ in my bank account by New Year’s Eve. “How much was that?” Let’s just say I hope to save up enough money to pay for a few months of rent as well as my car insurance and/or health care deductible. I have been very lucky in that I’ve never gotten into a car wreck or had to go to the hospital as an adult. My car (which I paid off in August!) has been reliable and I have never had a problem with it that couldn’t be attributed to user error.
My most recent mechanically-related reality check happened three weeks ago. I took my car in for its 80,000 mile check-up and found out that I needed new four new tires. Ouch. (This was largely due to the fact that I hadn’t rotated my tires once in the last two years.) I had anticipated the mechanic visit would cost about $150 (actual cost $170) but I did NOT anticipate buying four new tires (estimated cost $650). Some of you may be thinking, “I hope you didn’t buy the tires! The mechanic was just trying to rip you off!” but I was planning to take a day-long road trip four days later and I didn’t want to take any chances with blowing out a tire and messing up the undercarriage of my car. Plus, cars with minimal damage tend to explode in movies and I really didn’t want to have to deal with being blown up or having to look for a new car if I survived.
Thanks to a warrantee and an instant rebate at Costco, I was able to buy all four tires and have them installed for $550. I considered myself lucky. I would much rather learn a $700 lesson than a $7,000 lesson. What is the $700 lesson of the day? ROTATE YOUR TIRES EVERY 6,000 MILES. Got it!
