Hello
I'm new to the forum and new to the FI community, I'm glad I found all this wonderful community!
While present me is learning, absorbing all this newfound FI stuff, and making important lifestyle changes, Past Me was kind of a doofus and made some stupid decisions for Present Me to deal with. I'd like some input....
So...Past Me decided, being fresh out of grad school with a decent middle-income job, to get a NEW CAR!!!! I got into a 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee, a 3year 30,000 mile lease. I have 13 months left on this lease and....I'm at 34,000 miles! I worked for a place for a year and did alright, but wasn't happy so I changed to a different agency. The downside to my current job is that I can be assigned anywhere in the region, which for me just so happens to be a 108 mile round trip commute to work every day (hence the mileage). Now, beginning in August (I work in public schools, so summers off) I'll be transferred and will only be 10 miles from home, Hooray!
I've talked with the dealer, and I'm $3,000 down in negative equity. I can pay this out cash, and get a new car after that, however I don't have a lot of money saved up and I'm trying to buy a house. Or, I can finance into a new vehicle. Now I know that financing a vehicle is very anti-mustachian, but I do require a good reliable car for work as I travel between buildings and sometimes decent distances between offices for various work-related activities.
My current financial state: I have 11,000 in cash savings (trying for a house, remember), and I just started maxing out my 403(b), my take home salary is 2000/mo.
My bills are 550 in Rent & Utilities, 105 insurance, 50 cell phone, 165 student loan payment, 353 lease payment. I don't have any credit card or other consumer debt.
Any advice about how I can improve my situation, or if I should just suck it up and deal with it, would be much appreciated.
Feel free to point and laugh =)