And all in the past two weeks! Some of this is less bad-ass and more stubborness, but I think there can often be some overlap between the two...
I have a 2005 Prius that had a problem with the Dash unit that would occasionally "disconnect." So about 10-5% of the time when I started the car, the dash would be completely black. It meant that the odometer was not actually reading, so the true mileage on the car is unknown. You also couldn't see how much gas you had (not such a big deal because...Prius) or how fast you were going.
Anyway, dealership quoted almost $1000 for parts and labor and that it would be about two weeks. This made me mad. So I went home, found a company on ebay that would repair the defective part and then watched a youtube video about how to completely tear my dashboard apart to get to said part. Shipped it on a Thursday to the company in California: $30 shipping, $112 repair with expedited return shipping included. Got the part back on a Monday. Reversed the tear apart process.
All in all, cost less than $150, maybe took 5 hours overall between researching the part and company on ebay, the youtube video and actual tear apart/build back time. Saved over $700. Heck yeah!
I recently switched jobs so am in between insurance (didn't sign up for COBRA because I rarely go to doctors.) My typical response to any kind of ailment is to search for home remedies that seem amenable to me and basically wait for it to fix itself. I began to notice some odd pangs in abdominal area. Pretty mild though annoying and seemed to come and go. Symptoms to vague and generic for me to determine possible cause.
Fast forward a few days when I'm working my graveyard shift. I had gone to sleep when I got home the morning prior, woke up just in time to do another job for six hours, then slept until time for the graveyard shift again. Realized when I got in to work that I hadn't eaten or drunk anything all day though I didn't feel particularly hunger or thirsty. Ate some food and started chugging water. Discomfort grows during shift and turns in to pain which begins to escalate rapidly. Drove myself to the ER because I couldn't get Google to tell me where an open Urgent Care was, and didn't want to spend extra time driving around looking for a place I was unfamiliar with, so Hospital ER it was!
Anyway, got to the ER, restless and in pain and VERY irritated to be there knowing I have no insurance and how expensive it's going to be in the middle of the night etc etc. Staff was very wonderful and friendly and empathetic though. Tried refusing IV (needles! yech! *shudder*) and offer of morphine while waiting for a urinalysis but quickly caved when told the cheaper pill form could take over an hour to kick in. Urinalysis shows infection, doc brings in CT tech. Ask how much a CT scan costs "retail." $1800. Promptly refused it. Dr OK with it as most likely scenario is acute kidney infection that will clear up with antibiotics in a few days. Did advise some less-likely scenarios with more dire consequences. I told him I'd come back if I got worse instead of better. He concurred.
Battle pain and nausea the rest of the night with bouts of light-headedness and general drugged stupor. Did manage to send a text to brothers after trying very hard to focus on typing on the tiny letters on a seemingly SUPER BRIGHT phone screen that was already dimmed all the way. I'm single and live alone, so I have to let SOMEBODY know in case I die or go into a coma or something. Apparently I was mildly sedated so breathing was slow and would occasionally cause some oxygen reader to beep at me. Nurse came in to put me on oxygen just so the machine wouldn't beep anymore so I could sleep. Seemed lame to get O2 for just that reason so refused the oxygen. Prepaid $450 for a 40% discount on services.
Long story short, survived and was in pretty good shape again about two days later after a lot of rest and liquids!
After that, paid off two CCs with proceeds from selling my "back up" car. Kept it because youngest bro (20yrs) was going to move back into area from out of state and would initially be broke and unemployed, so I was going to let him use the car but pay ins, gas, and maintenance before getting back on his feet. Right before he moved mom stupidly gave him a chunk of money. $11,000. Spent $5000 on a 1969 Ford Fairlane not street legal but with a little bit of work will "be worth $25,000 someday." smh.
Anyway, sold the car and paid off two cards both with relatively small balances (been chipping away at one for a while!) Felt so euphoric by having two cards paid off I paid a thousand dollars to the last CC which was more than what was technically left over from the sale. Good thing it's payday cuz I had $13 left in my account! Lol. Guess it IS possible to get a little too carried away with throwing money at CC debt!
Last of all I finally decided to give YNAB a try after most recent MMM article and resurfacing rabid fans in the comments and in forum. Still puzzling over some aspects of it but having breakthroughs in other areas.
I've had consistently high credit usage for so long, and was making such small progress, it's amazing to feel like there's light at the end of the CC tunnel now. The last CC was the highest amount and seemed pretty insurmountable at times. My calculations used to be that it would take at least 5 years to pay off while working on the other CCs but now think I can do it less than a year!
