To Hell With Repossession, No More Car Notes
One Step Forward To Financial Freedom
It Was Just A Car
The truth is this. We couldn't afford that car. Well at first we could but then it became harder and harder due to having to relocate and change work. Then the icing on the cake was when I got fired back in early October. There was no way at that point we could live while trying to pay a $350 car note. Well that situation is out of the picture now.
When they took the car I wasn't even trippin because I knew it was only a car. It was not a life or death situation and it was no need to go panicking and worrying. So we just quickly adjusted and started looking for another car. It has taken us about 2 weeks or so to find this SUV. It is a 2006 but it does not have much wear and tear at all. That was one of the biggest reasons we bought it.
Lessons To Learn
- Live below your means, there is no need to try to live like a baller
- Remember these are just THINGS and they are only temporary
- Depending on the situation, be patient in making decisions that may impact your life in a big way
- Set your budget and stick with your gut
All in all we learned alot in these last 2 years. From losing jobs, business failure, to losing the car, losing my health, and the sky falling we are still standing. We are much stronger because of it. We have walked through the fire and then some. Our faith is stronger. Our patience has grown and we feel like we are making progress with the things we enjoy doing. All of us get into tough life situations. Hopefully this small example can give you some encouragement and power to push ahead when you hit a wall.
What does financial freedom look like to you?
Image 1
So inspiring....so touching...
You have walked through the fire and that why u can sense this moment with a lot of satisfaction and the person who has struggled in past, can only enjoy the happiness more.
My goal of 2018 is to make 2000 SP, my SP now is 447 and with my effort and hard work, one day I will achieve it as this is the source of my livelihood and to be honest your consideration and reciprocity has given me a hope to stay afloat.
Thank you @humanearl and Have a great day.
@shivohum You can accomplish that goal. You are already almost halfway there.
Great to see your vlog @humanearl
Bro,that's life things are not permanent you know it more better than me its all about keep moving but with that being gone you are now more financially free and what does that mean No high stress on you which will help you to discover more and more ...So i guess this is actually great for you at this time & not only this time keeps changing Everything happens for something good cause.
The new car model is actually looking really hot and its gets you around and in life you just got to keep moving from POINT A to POINT B ... each step forward is a way close to goal
So yeah have a great day bro keep inspiring all the steemians and keep sharing
Have a great fabulous day ahead.
Cheers
@mkmohit Great words. Stress caused so many problems in my life months ago. Now I do any and everything I can to remove myself from any negative stress. This is just the beginning and I am finding my flow.
I really appreciate your perspective.
Way to go @humanearl!
Have a car, don't owe anyone, car is yours. And so, you also end up with a car that makes sense for your budget and situation. Welcome to a simpler life, and a life with less worry. Because that's also what this is about... untangling yourself from the web of mainstream life.
You're a beautiful family, and you've chosen wisely!
Thanks for stopping by @denmarkguy. Man it feels like a burden off my shoulders now that we are free from those payments. I don't want to be in that situation again.
I (unfortunately or fortunately) now do not have a personal car. But at my age many people are trying to buy a good car. Many have been saving money on this for many years. Everything for that would stand out among the others.
Yes, it's nice to drive in a Mercedes, but in my opinion if you do not have enough money for a car, you should not go into debt or take a loan to buy. The joy of buying will quickly pass, and you will have to pay very long.
The interest under which the banks give money in my country (10-15% per year) I consider huge. As a result, people overpay an amount equal to more than half of the car.
We must live within our means. The consumer society teaches us to be wasteful and to commit rash acts.
The interest rates are what really kills you. And like you said, if you can't afford it then you shouldn't buy it. I didn't heed that advice when we got that car. Now I will stick to my gut and live within my means.
Congrats to you and your family..I agree with you,they are just things and temporary.Every individual should put that perception in life,But we cannot pls everyone.What is gold to us might be trash to someone or what is trash to us might be gold to others.let us value every lil things and all lil things we may handed will turn into treasure.people with that perception see all all as gold even others see it as metal.those experience will be way valueble than gold.
It's alot more freeing to not allow your life to be filled with the worry of these things. It can be cars, clothes, houses, etc they can enslave you. We just decided that there are more important things in this world than those things.
@humanearl,
Congratz bro! You learnt a good lesson and you shared it to us! Amazing and I also learn the lesson from you! Wish you a great success in future!
Hopefully this small example can give you some encouragement and power to push ahead when you hit a wall.Exactly, this is a good lesson and inspiration also there! Thanks for sharing friend!
Cheers~
@theguruasia Glad you stopped by here! Whn you get to a wall in life you can either let it force you to turn around and give up or you can find a way to either go through the wall or go around it.
Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it, or make a door on it, but certainly don't allow it to stop you.
@stellastella There you go!
I remember seeing a clip of John Oliver saying that sub prime lending has started again with car loans. That was at least a year ago, maybe longer. People just want a car, but lenders are giving them a sense that they can get bigger and better cars than they can afford in the long-term. The lenders don't care because they sell those loans to someone else and it's not their problem any more.
There's a bigger picture here than just losing a car and getting a new one. There are people who are trying to extract your wealth from you from every conceivable angle and we must all demand a better deal for ourselves. We deserve better!
This is so true. Very few people know of this, and hence spend the rest of their lives paying for loans they could have easily avoided. For example, you can buy a brand spanking new mid-size sedan for $25,000. Let's say you buy this sedan on a loan, to be repaid monthly over a span of 5 years, when you extrapolate that figure over 60 months, you'd pay $26,921.20 for that $25,000 car. The fact is, the first year you have a this new car, it loses 22 percent of its value. At the full 5 years? You're looking at a 55 percent loss on average. That means that $25,000 sedan that you paid $27,000 for, plus tax and associated fees, is worth maybe $11,500 on a good day. This shows you these people are out to manipulate you, and not to help you. Be wise, live within your means.
@stellastella What I hate too is that they make cars so expensive when they are cheap to make. It may cost $15,000 to build a $25,000 car. But they sell it to us for outrageous prices knowing most people can't afford it. So we're lured into debt and like you said we end up paying much more for the car than we should.
Yea it's not a good thing as far as responsibility goes. They are literally enabling people to not be responsible. Like I was. But I made my own decision and as I stated in another post it was surely my fault.
True we have to stop being pimped by the powers that be.
we are trying to save for like buying a cargo van and modding it out to live in
EXCELLENT idea.
There are an estimated several million other people that do that in the US..they live below the radar. I saw a lot of them when I was driving a truck.
Many of them had UToob channels with helpful hints and information ...dunno if the videos are still there...you know how UToob has been lately.
I'm remodeling a small houseboat that can double as a travel trailer...you might give that idea some thought.
Most of the time, life's best lessons come from hardships and the 'aware' people like yourself learn a little something from it. We spent years accumulating 'stuff', then my husband got sick with cancer and we got rid of everything when our expenses got too much (treatment etc). We moved in a RV (5th wheel travel trailer) and went off the grid so to speak. I'm with @everittdmickey on that one! Eventually we just said, "f#@* it" and moved to Mexico where it's so cheap to live and the Mexican people still have their priorities straight..family, love, life, beauty, NOT tv's , cars, houses etc. Life is all about priorities!
@lynncoyle1 "Family, love, life, beauty, NOT tv's , cars, houses" Mexico has the right idea. For the longest we've been wanting to just get the van and dip. Hopefully I can make it happen by becoming financially free through Steemit.
I sincerely hope it happens for you too:)
I remember you showed me your boat project. I also looked at that site you showed me about seasteading. I've also seen some people buy a boat and just travel around the world by sea. It's different for sure. Wonder what my wife would say about the idea.
How far are you on completing your boat project?
another year or two...I'm not in any big rush.
Wow you took the possession of SUV now and all your hard effort has been materialized and I am happy to see you smiling.
And I am sure you baby must have stopped crying :)
Thank you...steem on and stay blissful....
Well my baby still cries when her mom is out of the house but things are getting better. It was just very frustrating for me. My plan is to become financially free from Steemit so my wife can be around my little girl more.
I hope you post pics as you transform your cargo van into a home! Any area where you can become independent, or self sufficient in your life, means that you are paying yourself income that isn't taxable, and which can be used to invest in yourself and your own dreams ...not someone else's. Yay for you!
You've made a really great point here, although @humanearl has not told us if he is going to be living in the van temporarily or permanently.
But in addition to what you have said, one other good thing of living in a van is that living in a van means living without paying rent or a mortgage, at least for that period of time. The cost of living in a van is dependent on variables such as the type and condition of the van, your mechanical expertise, van maintenance, fuel prices, how far and often you drive, and additional expenses like food and personal expenses. But one of the expenses which is surely done away with is Rent
@stellastella We plan on permanently living in the van. But yes there are so many variables that determine cost of living in the van. I've heard some people say they pay just as much in the van as when they did paying rent. But then the majority of people have said that it's considerably less than having to pay rent and all the extra expenses.
I would love to show people the process of getting it built. I don't know if we will build most of it ourselves or hire a company to do it for us. We want to live a more minimal life and free ourselves from all this stuff.