I'm no splurger

I do not splurge. Splurging is outside of my zone of proximal development. But sometimes, when I feel light as air, no worries on my mind, I do something silly, like buy a plane ticket to Hawaii to see friends, or gather my girlfriends to see a movie at the $3 theater (!).

When is thrifty awesome, and when does it start to ruin your life, or take you away from your best possible life? When do decisions you make for the right reasons, become the wrong ending without your consent?

A few years ago, I decided to sell my car. It had bad juju. I went carless for a month or so, which was a huge pain because I lived far from everything. Then I bought a wonderful old VW Diesel Rabbit, and it was so awesome, for twelve hours. Then it was undriveable.

The last three years have been the same. It will be wonderful, then it will be $2000. I am in a financial pit because of my car. Well, not so much a pit, as a desert. But I don't have the capital to buy a new one, so I'm stuck. I'm stuck between changing who I am (i.e. not a person who goes into debt or a person who makes car payments) and being somewhat unhappy. My car is fully functional. Don't get me wrong. I love my car. Everyone who sees my car loves my car, but the upkeep on something of its age is unbelievable. So I'm stuck.

A fellow student bought a used hybrid at auction. She gave me the price tag of $6500 to shoot for. That seems manageable, not manageable for me, but not astronomical. So right now, I'm just sitting, and thinking, and fantasizing about air conditioning and power steering and NPR in the morning and taking road trips to San Francisco on a whim. The fantasy keeps me going sometimes. It's hope for a better tomorrow, when today is unmanageable.