Car Repaired (for now)

Remember from Monday how I said I would be making a big purchase this week? Okay, not really a purchase and I guess not all that big in the grand scheme of things.  Now a few months ago it would have been really big and I’d be in tears right now.  Okay maybe not tears but I would be so frustrated and grouchy.  And snippy—I am so very good at being snippy. I take it to the extreme.

What was the purchase? Brakes and rotors for the front part of the car.  Total cost: $210 (rounded up).  Which, I wasn’t able to find a coupon for the company but I did go to a great place that had high recommendations and were fairly cheap for the area.  I made mention of it to a coworker and learned that they spent a little over that for just front brakes alone.  And the shop they went to kept the car for 2 days.  Or something silly like that.  I waited in the waiting room for maybe an hour?  Well worth it to me.

I also got an estimated price for the back breaks and a time frame of when they need to be changed by.  Which by the way, will be a few months most likely.  Now a few months ago (I can’t even say a year yet….how sad is that!) I would have had no money saved for this and would have been stressed out.  I know this because I’m a worrier by nature and also, who wouldn’t be stressed out about having to pay $210 that they don’t have?

Instead, I called on Monday, had an estimated price and set up an appointment that day! Granted, it had to wait until Wednesday but that was because I was busy with work.  Not because I didn’t have the money.  Because I did—it was in an envelope clearly marked “car fund” and I felt so proud of myself for having that money.  I didn’t have to borrow it, didn’t have to drive an unsafe car or skip on buying groceries in order to repair that car. Plus, I didn’t have to pull from my meager emergency fund.  So WOO HOO!  (I will also admit to feeling a shameful sense of glee listening to the lady in front of me call her credit card to check out how much she had on that card and then splitting it between 2 credit cards and some cash—her total was less than mine! Like I said, it was shameful glee)

I really am ashamed of that glee I felt because I feel like a bad human but at the same time, I was happy that I wasn’t in that boat anymore.  Anyone else ever feel like this?

 

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