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Nattering about finances and stuff
Well, there's nothing like a good financial crisis to give one the kick in the pants one needs to get one's life back in order.
Preliminary discussions with the Parental Units
I've spoken a few times with the Parental Units, who are still in France for another two weeks, but who call reasonably regularly to get news and stuff. They keep asking me about the Bell Canada thing, which I told them I wanted to discuss when they got back (it's a bit complicated to explain on the phone, and they insist on calling me at work, where I have bosses and co-workers around my desk all the time, which makes it a little awkward to discuss financial debacles), so I ended up sending them an email a few minutes ago with all the sordid details.
We shall see what they say after that.
Funnily enough, now that the worst of that crisis is over, I find I'm not nearly as worried anymore. It took that to smack me upside the head, but I'm glad it happened, in an odd way. It made me realise that I'm in a holding pattern, financially speaking, that isn't good for me.
Nattering about the car and CommunAuto
So step one in getting out of the holding pattern is getting rid of the car, come August. I can't tell you what a feeling of relief I had when I made that decision. I sat down and figured out just how much money I was spending on the hdfa, and realised that it was waaaay more than what I could realistically budget for (hey, t!, I found a good application for the word "realistic!" Would you look at that?). So, the car goes bye-bye, and good riddance to it. I'll be able to reclaim half my income. Yay!
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ai731 and baronscartop have introduced me to a nifty system called CommunAuto. I believe that it was silly_imp who introduced them to it first. See how all these things come around? It's great. Anyway, this nifty system allows you, for a yearly fee and a few extra costs, to reserve a car for when you need it. They maintain a fleet of cars specifically for this purpose, strategically-parked in various places in Montreal. I believe there's a number of cities that take part in this program, too, for those of you not in Montreal who might be interested. It turns out that there's a CommunAuto stand not too far from where we live, so it works out quite well.
I'm rather looking forward to that. Having reasonable access to a car for a lot less money means I can still go places in the evenings and weekends, especially places that are further out, like the Godforsaken Howling Wilderness when I want to visitfearsclave or looking4wings and wultabat. I can have my cake and eat it too. Yay!
See, I figure I can afford the one-time $500 membership fee, and then I think it's about $350 a year for the most expensive plan they've got, which I might not even need. Even factoring in all that plus gas, it will still be a fraction of what I'm paying now. Right now, the lease, insurance and gas cost me about $600 a month. Then when you factor in registering the car once a year ($255) as well as various tune-ups, oil changes, tire changes (twice a year), it all comes to a stupidly large amount of money that I don't have.
In conclusion, the whole CommunAuto thing makes a lot more sense for me than any other option right now.
What It All Means For The Future
All this should, in theory, free up a fair amount of cash for me once September rolls around. Until then I'm going to have to seriously tighten my belt and hang on for dear life, but it's only three months. I can get through three months even if I do have a financial Sword of Damocles hanging over me. Three months is nothing in the grand scheme of things, especially if my parents agree to co-sign a loan with me.
The loan will serve to catch up on everything that's gone to hell because of the Bell Canada debacle and give me a bit of breathing room until September. Once September comes and I no longer have to pay for the car, I will focus on repaying as much of the loan as I can, as quickly as I can. By this time next year, I would ideally like to be completely debt-free.
So the CommunAuto thing may have to wait for a few months until I've sorted out some of my larger obligations. I can live without a car for a few months. I will walk more and take public transportation and live like a whole lot of Montrealers who don't have wheels. I did it for twenty-three years, I can do it again. A car is, for me, a luxury and not a necessity. Just like cell phones and the internet. Mind you, the internet is not my main worry, and I get enough use and pleasure from that that I don't see the need to get rid of it yet. If push really comes to shove, I will of course cut off the service, but it hasn't come to that yet.
After all that's sorted itself out, then I can start focussing on the things that I wanted to do this summer. Yes, there was a moment of patting myself on the back about four weeks ago because I thought my finances were finally starting to come together, and I started making plans. Hubris, I know, and the Powers That Be let me know in no uncertain terms. Still, if I couldn't make plans for the future, then I'd probably go stark raving mad (and we all know that's a short trip for me, so why tempt fate?). I'll take my chances with the hubris.
Preliminary discussions with the Parental Units
I've spoken a few times with the Parental Units, who are still in France for another two weeks, but who call reasonably regularly to get news and stuff. They keep asking me about the Bell Canada thing, which I told them I wanted to discuss when they got back (it's a bit complicated to explain on the phone, and they insist on calling me at work, where I have bosses and co-workers around my desk all the time, which makes it a little awkward to discuss financial debacles), so I ended up sending them an email a few minutes ago with all the sordid details.
We shall see what they say after that.
Funnily enough, now that the worst of that crisis is over, I find I'm not nearly as worried anymore. It took that to smack me upside the head, but I'm glad it happened, in an odd way. It made me realise that I'm in a holding pattern, financially speaking, that isn't good for me.
Nattering about the car and CommunAuto
So step one in getting out of the holding pattern is getting rid of the car, come August. I can't tell you what a feeling of relief I had when I made that decision. I sat down and figured out just how much money I was spending on the hdfa, and realised that it was waaaay more than what I could realistically budget for (hey, t!, I found a good application for the word "realistic!" Would you look at that?). So, the car goes bye-bye, and good riddance to it. I'll be able to reclaim half my income. Yay!
ai731 and baronscartop have introduced me to a nifty system called CommunAuto. I believe that it was silly_imp who introduced them to it first. See how all these things come around? It's great. Anyway, this nifty system allows you, for a yearly fee and a few extra costs, to reserve a car for when you need it. They maintain a fleet of cars specifically for this purpose, strategically-parked in various places in Montreal. I believe there's a number of cities that take part in this program, too, for those of you not in Montreal who might be interested. It turns out that there's a CommunAuto stand not too far from where we live, so it works out quite well. I'm rather looking forward to that. Having reasonable access to a car for a lot less money means I can still go places in the evenings and weekends, especially places that are further out, like the Godforsaken Howling Wilderness when I want to visit
fearsclave or looking4wings and wultabat. I can have my cake and eat it too. Yay! See, I figure I can afford the one-time $500 membership fee, and then I think it's about $350 a year for the most expensive plan they've got, which I might not even need. Even factoring in all that plus gas, it will still be a fraction of what I'm paying now. Right now, the lease, insurance and gas cost me about $600 a month. Then when you factor in registering the car once a year ($255) as well as various tune-ups, oil changes, tire changes (twice a year), it all comes to a stupidly large amount of money that I don't have.
In conclusion, the whole CommunAuto thing makes a lot more sense for me than any other option right now.
What It All Means For The Future
All this should, in theory, free up a fair amount of cash for me once September rolls around. Until then I'm going to have to seriously tighten my belt and hang on for dear life, but it's only three months. I can get through three months even if I do have a financial Sword of Damocles hanging over me. Three months is nothing in the grand scheme of things, especially if my parents agree to co-sign a loan with me.
The loan will serve to catch up on everything that's gone to hell because of the Bell Canada debacle and give me a bit of breathing room until September. Once September comes and I no longer have to pay for the car, I will focus on repaying as much of the loan as I can, as quickly as I can. By this time next year, I would ideally like to be completely debt-free.
So the CommunAuto thing may have to wait for a few months until I've sorted out some of my larger obligations. I can live without a car for a few months. I will walk more and take public transportation and live like a whole lot of Montrealers who don't have wheels. I did it for twenty-three years, I can do it again. A car is, for me, a luxury and not a necessity. Just like cell phones and the internet. Mind you, the internet is not my main worry, and I get enough use and pleasure from that that I don't see the need to get rid of it yet. If push really comes to shove, I will of course cut off the service, but it hasn't come to that yet.
After all that's sorted itself out, then I can start focussing on the things that I wanted to do this summer. Yes, there was a moment of patting myself on the back about four weeks ago because I thought my finances were finally starting to come together, and I started making plans. Hubris, I know, and the Powers That Be let me know in no uncertain terms. Still, if I couldn't make plans for the future, then I'd probably go stark raving mad (and we all know that's a short trip for me, so why tempt fate?). I'll take my chances with the hubris.
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