We dropped one of our cars off at a friend’s place today who is going to replace the brakes on it. I’ve known for a while now that the rotors would need to be replaced and not just the pads since they couldn’t be machined anymore. So why am I bringing this up?

Typically people are not excited when it comes to car repairs because just another thing they need to do and it’s going to cost money. Now, while I don’t enjoy car repairs myself, I don’t really get all that upset over them either. One of the reasons for this is because we own both of our cars outright. General maintenance is something to be expected, and it’s easier to pay for when we’re not having to make monthly car payments.

It also helps that we have built up a decent cash reserve and don’t have to worry about some maintenance problem throwing our finances out of whack. Having an emergency fund definitely helps with a financial peace of mind.

I’m also not tempted to go cheap on purchasing the new parts that need to be replaced. We plan on owning our cars for the foreseeable future, and I’d rather purchase quality parts that will increase the lifespan of the car instead of just trying to get by with something that will work for now. I understand this is a matter of opinion, but this is how I see it.

So working towards actually having your cars paid off and being comfortable driving them for a while, even though they may not be the most stylish, is certainly a goal worth pursuing. It increases your monthly free cash flow and allows you to pursue other options with your money. If paying off your cars and maintaining them isn’t a goal of yours currently, you may want to consider making it one.

About a year ago I wrote a post entitled, Living is Giving. With all of the focus that we put on our finances and trying to improve them, it’s important that we don’t forget what really matters: people.

In this spirit, I wanted to make everyone aware of an opportunity to give. JohnChow is asking for the help of his readers to support the Union Gospel Mission for their Easter meal. Apparently so far the support has been lacking and he has stepped up the incentive. He will personally match every donation 2 to 1 as well as recognize the readers who made a donation in a blog post some time today. You’ll want to check out his call to action so you can participate. It’s as simple as a PayPal transfer. Nothing complicated here.

As John says on his blog, the true measure of success is not how much you make but how much you give. Every little bit helps, and even just a donation of $2.59 is enough to feed one person. I’ve already made my donation and wanted to make you all aware of this opportunity as well.

As an added incentive, if you decide to make a donation, I will also provide a link to your site here at Fiscal Musings. I’ll be trusting and ask that you just leave a comment to this post, with your website address, stating that you donated. You don’t need to divulge the amount. Thanks in advance for your support.

Debt Kid is running an interesting contest over at his blog where you can win his Nintendo DS Lite, and all you have to do is write about your dumbest purchase ever. Since it instantly came to me, I figured I’d share mine with all of you.

When I was 21 and in college I bought my first car. It was a silver 2002 Hyundai Elantra, nothing too extravagant really. I still have this car and am planning on keeping it until it finally gives out on me; it’s also not my dumbest purchase ever. That would be what I bought for the car after a couple of months of owning the car.

I had just been approved for a credit card from Sears, which is where I worked at the time. The new card gave me zero percent interest for six months, I believe, and I figured that I could pay off my new purchase way before then. So, I went down to the Sears Auto Center and picked out some new wheels for the car. They were 17″ Motegi rims which also necessitated the purchase of four new low profile performance tires. I won’t say that the new wheels didn’t look great, but I definitely regretted the purchase afterwards. Total Cost: $1200

I remember getting a couple of flat tires that I couldn’t repair because the tires shredded themselves (low profiles don’t have much room until you’ve hit rim). Each time, a new tire cost me at least $120, and that’s just for one. So the cost of this purchase didn’t end with the initial purchase. I kept paying for it over and over.

I finally had enough of the rims since they were costing me more money than they were worth, and I sold them to someone else. Obviously, I didn’t recoup nearly what I payed for them, but just having them gone was enough for me. I’ve definitely learned my lesson and hopefully won’t make another dumb decision like that one. So what’s your dumbest purchase ever…?

When we think of money, investing, business or finance, we usually think of strategies, formulas, various account types, and the accounting of it all. While these are all important aspects of our finances, I sometimes think that the emotional side of money is too often forgotten. We have to remember that our finances impact almost every aspect of our lives in some way. Money has an effect on our emotions and our emotions effect how we handle our money.

I got to thinking about this subject as I was talking with my Mom about various things that are going on in my parents lives. Among other things they’re taking care of my Grandmother who has Alzheimer’s, and it can be very stressful and taxing at times. My Mom made the comment in the midst of all this that money and getting ahead didn’t really seem to matter all that much in the grand scheme of things, or something to that effect. It made me think a little (since I’m obviously interested in these things), but she had a point; you can’t exactly take it with you as they say.

It actually got me to thinking about one of the core concepts that I started this blog with, and that is to determine your Why to Wealth. Sure there are some people who may crave the attention and spotlight, the power and prestige, or the glamorous life, but there are so many other reasons as well to get your financial life in order. Things such as time freedom to spend with friends and family as well as the ability to pursue philanthropic and other interests.

There are many different reasons to want to be wealthy, and we all have to figure out our reason ourselves. We also need to realize that there may be things in life that are ultimately more important. I don’t want to give the impression that I have all of this figured out, but I think it’s important to think about. I enjoy money management, personal finance, investing, or whatever you want to call it, but it needs to be in line with the other softer/emotional sides of life.

Have you had any of these same thoughts, or what’s your take on it? What are some of your reasons for being interested in personal finance and wealth accumulation?

With so many people posting about Valentine’s Day yesterday, I figured I would post about it after the fact. Instead of writing about what I was going to do, I can write about what I actually did and not have to write two posts about the day. As you can probably imagine, things were kept pretty frugal (what else would you expect from Fiscal Musings). I figured that the best gift I could give would be my time and complete un-distracted attention. If you think about it, someone having an affair at work can just as easily buy some chocolates and flowers for his wife at home. So here’s how it went down.

I tried my best to leave work earlier than usual and be home by four o’clock. I was pretty close, but didn’t get home till about fifteen after (traffic wasn’t really cooperating). Once I got home, there wasn’t a real big hoopla, but we were able to just spend some time talking and hanging out together. As for dinner, we were originally going to make this curry dish that we had been saving, but seeing as how we were both pretty tired, we decided to fore-go having to make something and just went out and picked something up instead.

So this was our Valentine’s Day dinner. It was quick and easy and neither one of us had to worry about cooking anything. We also wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time to watch the movie that we picked up. My wife wanted to watch the movie, No Reservations, that just came out on video so we rented it from Redbox with a coupon code so it was free.

All in all, it was a nice evening that we were able to spend together, and in my mind that’s really what counts. So what are your thoughts about Valentine’s Day? What did you end up doing?

I’ve been quite busy recently with various things outside of work like the installation of a new floor and various other responsibilities. Last night, however, I decided to take some time to begin my tax preparation.

I used to do all my taxes by myself with the help of Turbo Tax, but I went to a CPA last year after having acquired a rental property. I wanted to make sure that everything was done right including depreciation, and I also wanted to make sure that I had some experience looking over all the deductions that I was going to take. The last thing I need is to get audited having done everything myself.

I got most everything entered into the tax organizer that I receive, but I still have a few outstanding questions that need to be answered before I can send everything off to the CPA and have it filed. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish up soon so I can move on to all the other things I need to get done before this summer comes around and I move off to school.

As most of you are already aware, the New York Giants managed to pull off the incredible upset over the New England Patriots yesterday in the Super Bowl. I’m not a fan of either team, but I was rooting for the Patriots to lose. I’m just glad they did. That’s all I’m going to say about the Super Bowl, so, switching topics…

Terrible Shopping Experience

Over the weekend, we went shopping for a few new items for the house to spruce up the place in order to better market it for sale or a possible rental. We decided to swing by the nearest Wal-Mart since they always have cheap prices and we were just looking for a couple rugs and maybe some bathroom hardware such as towel racks and the like.

It ended up being such an ordeal and taking much longer than any shopping trip needed to. The parking lot was poorly laid out and once inside, you could hardly get through any of the main isles since they were so narrow and packed with merchandise all through the middle. Many of the isles also didn’t go all the way through so your constantly back-tracking to try and find anything. Once we finally found what we were looking for we went up to the checkout which was a model case study of inefficiency. We stood in line at the express lane only to see person after person go up the lane next to us and cut in line at the next express register. Complete disregard for everyone who was actually waiting there, and none of the staff seemed to care.

Once we finally made it to the register, the cashier just mildly plodded along at her sweet pace and would put the items in the bags and then pull off the bag and take the time to tie the bag shut. I’ve never seen this before. There is a huge crowd of people waiting to be checked out, and she’s tying the plastic bags shut. Simply unbelievable.

Great Shopping Experience

On the other end of the customer service spectrum, we were picking a few things up at Lowe’s to finish our new floor in the front room. The guy the flooring department told me that I would need a brad gun because I wouldn’t want to just nail the quarter round trim all the way around the perimeter. I wasn’t really too sure about this since I don’t plan on putting in too many new floors, but I went up to the tool department to ask about it. After talking to one guy, I finally found a guy who took the time to understand what it was I was trying to do and just sold me some finishing nails and a nail set. Very simple and it got the job done. It was nice to talk to someone knowledgeable and who cared about what I wanted.

I know a lot of times here at Fiscal Musings I talk about getting the best deal possible and spending as little for something as possible, but I don’t want to lessen the importance of customer service. Repeat business is easier to come by when you treat customers the right way or at least don’t irritate them. And for this go-round, Wal-Mart irritated me.