Debt relief / alternate fuel cars
 

The points to ponder in this article all just sound like good common sense and fiscal discipline; maybe something that many in today's society are lacking in this 'I want it now and to heck with the consequences" attitude:

First Person: I Extinguished Almost $10,000 of Debt in One Year - Yahoo! Finance

USMCFLYR

My income went back up and I am planning on clearing out some old debts this year. I have always been proactive about debt management plus I live frugally too, I can easily get by on about $30k a year. The only debts I have now are the remnants of a school loan and a 2-year old car. It should all be paid off pretty soon- what a nice feeling! No need for guns and motorcycles!

My husband and I have been able to pay down about $10k in debt by living "cheap" and he only brought home $8k last year as a flight instructor! We gave up DirecTV and opted for an antenna ($70/month), I clip coupons and we don't spend more than $40-$70 every two weeks for groceries. We also use a "cash" system. We take cash out of the machine for gas, groceries, etc. We find it's a lot harder to spend cash than it is to just pop out a debit card.

What a great article, thanks! As a prospective CFI, I also took a hard look at what I absolutely need. With a car payment of ($6200 in the bank) $150 a month payment, plus insurance, a student loan of $4000, and a cell phone bill, I felt that I needed to do something, especially since I am closer to my CPL and will be looking at a CFI gig. I just sold my much beloved Camry with a $1600 profit. I immediately went to the bank and deposited the $1600 toward the $4000 student loan. Now all I have is a $2400 debt. I hope to save as much as possible and pay it off asap. Good news, I feel very much relieved, bad news, I need a car. I am looking at a good old Honda Civic, Corolla or somethng to get by for now...

A good cheap motorcycle will get you 50+ mpg.

My not so cheap electric car get either zero MPG, or infinite, depending on your point of view.


http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/63449fae.jpg


Cost to power the car from the sun, free (after expensive solar panels):


http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/s...s/5feb0f9a.jpg

Nice neighborhood!

Thanks, built it myself.... on regional FO pay.

Spiffy car Tony. I admire you for taking a chance on it. We need to get off oil and this car is a step in the right direction. When they make a pickup truck the size of a Tacoma/Frontier for not much more than the gas version I'll certainly go out and get one. That's a bit far off now, but in time it may happen.

Not sure how far off something like that is. Maybe 5 or 10 years. Although, if you're thinking the upfront cost is going to equal a gas burner... probably not for a LOOOooooong time, if ever.

The reason is simple. Folks will buy the electric car at a significant up front premium over the gas burner that costs beau coup dollars to operate per month. We're about there now at $4/gal gas in California.

My $35k car is driven 2000 miles per month, at about $0.0184 per mile, so about $36 in "fuel cost" per month (actually, I'm not paying anything, because I have solar).

Your equivalent $25k gas car at 35mpg, and $4/gal, is $228.57 for 2000 miles. Double that for a car with 17.5mpg, or about $450/month in "fuel".

That's real money, folks.

In today technology, you can go about 100 miles on a charge, and never go to a gas station (you charge at your home overnight). The number one question I get is along the lines of how far car it go. I love the guys who tell me they need to go 500 miles/day. Rent a gas car for those relative infrequent occasions (for 99% of the population).

The next question is how much is the battery. $0 for eight years, because it's fully warrantied. How much in 8 years? Don't know, about 1/2 or less than today, with 2 or 3 times the performance would be my guess.

We find that in the Prius, the batteries outlast the car. As will be the case in most future electric cars.

Since this is a money thread, I'll leave out the benefits of no emissions, no noise and virtually zero maintenance.