Author Topic: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"  (Read 5276 times)


marty998

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Re: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2016, 05:45:41 AM »
Wonderful how these simple concepts actually work in the real world and can be applied to anyone.

Good on em for figuring it out, dropping the second car and banking the $9,000 a year savings.

shelivesthedream

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Re: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2016, 07:28:29 AM »
Yep - I particularly like that they thought they were really frugal and not spending anything beyond absolute necessities before, but were completely blind to what a financial drain the second car was.

TheUniverseGuru.Com

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Re: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2016, 03:11:25 PM »
Absolutely loved this story!  Thanks for sharing.  We save 80% of our household income and are 4 years away from FI.  This story is making me reevaluate if there are things we may be overlooking. 

LadyStache in Baja

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Re: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2016, 10:22:15 AM »
Great article! They are just like us.... Super low income and very frugal, thinking there's nothing else to cut. How amazing that cutting the 2nd car was such a game changer.  When I first found MMM I wanted to sell a car but I couldn't figure out how to make it work.  But hearing her terms.... Inconvenience vs $9000 extra dollars per year, definitely drives the point home. 

My problem is that dh goes to work at 730 and school doesn't start til 830 and we have to take the kids.  I'm going to have to journal on this and talk to dh.  $9000!

rothwem

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Re: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2016, 05:55:17 AM »
I've got to give them props for making the commitment, but it seems like all they did was convert the car from a "thing" to cash.  It also raises my eyebrows when she says that they sold the truck for $5200, then ended up with an extra $9000, $1500 of which was in tires that they were going to buy some time that year.  They then took the $9000 and made an emergency fund and paid off $8000 of their mortgage? 

Seems like some fuzzy math to me. 

It wasn't a bad idea to sell the truck, but her "gains" seem a little short sighted.  Are they going to sell the other car next year, and maybe sell another car the year after that?

Metric Mouse

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Re: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2016, 09:39:17 PM »
I've got to give them props for making the commitment, but it seems like all they did was convert the car from a "thing" to cash.  It also raises my eyebrows when she says that they sold the truck for $5200, then ended up with an extra $9000, $1500 of which was in tires that they were going to buy some time that year.  They then took the $9000 and made an emergency fund and paid off $8000 of their mortgage? 

Seems like some fuzzy math to me. 

It wasn't a bad idea to sell the truck, but her "gains" seem a little short sighted.  Are they going to sell the other car next year, and maybe sell another car the year after that?

Mustachemath!

But good on them. Cashing out of a vehicle is a good way to free up some equity, and the emotional boost of seeing that couple of thousand dollars in the bank account must be huge. 

Not sure how they were paying $1200 a year for insurance on a $5200 vehicle, but that'll add up over a decade or two.

Mr. FI

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Re: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2016, 11:48:44 AM »
We sold our second vehicle a year ago and while our savings were quite as staggering, we look to have saved about $4500 this year. I just take the bus and ride my bike to work -- it can be a pain at times, but it's amazing how little it has effected our day to day lives but saved us so much money.

Reynold

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Re: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2016, 01:39:09 PM »
Not sure how they were paying $1200 a year for insurance on a $5200 vehicle, but that'll add up over a decade or two.

Oh, that is easy, we have had vehicles with no collision coverage and a perfect driving record where we would be paying that in the NE.  Most of the insurance is for liability in the U.S., unless you have a pretty expensive car.  Well, more expensive than any we have had, at least. . . :)

mwulff

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Re: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"
« Reply #9 on: December 09, 2016, 11:38:18 PM »
Great article! They are just like us.... Super low income and very frugal, thinking there's nothing else to cut. How amazing that cutting the 2nd car was such a game changer.  When I first found MMM I wanted to sell a car but I couldn't figure out how to make it work.  But hearing her terms.... Inconvenience vs $9000 extra dollars per year, definitely drives the point home. 

My problem is that dh goes to work at 730 and school doesn't start til 830 and we have to take the kids.  I'm going to have to journal on this and talk to dh.  $9000!

How about replacing your 2nd car with a Nissan Leaf. MMM just bought one of them and there are some great tax incentives plus the cost of fuel is almost zero.

You might not be able to eliminate all the cost, but it might get significantly cheaper.

talltexan

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Re: Becoming Peculiar: "How Selling Our Second Vehicle Changed Our Lives"
« Reply #10 on: December 12, 2016, 07:27:54 AM »
I do see how having an electric vehicle as a second vehicle makes sense, but it's a very different position than "no car", which ties up no money up front.