Walking the Talk: Saying “No” to Temptation

That is one nice ride there!

Wow, you’re a stronger man than I am. I bet a used Mini Cooper S sold from a friend would be several thousand under blue-book and you know if it’s sitting at a vacation house it was barely ever driven. Oh man, I would have soooo bought it.

But then I’m not very good with keeping savings around. I’d say the biggest mistake I made before I quit my job to start blogging was to buy a new house that was 2x as expensive as our starter home. Of course, in retrospect, we would have never found a great second home for the same price (the market spiked after and hasn’t come down much) and the new house had a home office that has become my basecamp ever since.

Well, it’s not quite “everything that the Ford Focus is not.” Assuming you meant “everything good” anyway. Despite its smaller size, it somehow manages to get worse gas mileage than the Focus, which of course would mean spending more money on gasoline. Also, I’m fairly certain they cost more to repair.

I just thought I’d point out a few more downsides to help strengthen your resolve :^)

Personally, I’d go for a Smart car, if I were looking to buy something small and zippy. There’s even a company around here (Seattle) that sells them. But for now my Saturn SL2 does just great.

Well done. I think that once your goals become clear and definite it’s much easier to avoid temptation.

I was just thinking about the topic of deferring purchases this morning as one of the tools in my financial management toolbox. For a car, there’s the added benefit of knowing that, from a “green” perspective, not buying a new car is far more green than buying, no matter how good the gas mileage is on the new one and how poor on the old one.

Even though you would be purchasing a used car, you would still be pumping money into the cascading purchase system that supports the new car industry. FAR more resources go into making a new car than are burned by the less-than-optimal gas mileage of an old Honda or Volvo.

The “deferring purchase” tool must be used judiciously though. Sometimes, like with home repair, deferring creates a bigger problem over time (a stitch in time saves nine). Also, the cost of building materials has been rising so fast recently that “making do” may not make sense in the long run.

if you did get the car though wouldn’t it be a reminder of all the hard work you have done so far. something tangible that you could look at and say “i deserve this car”.

i don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but life is way too short. i rather shell out the dough for that mini and at least get some enjoyment from it then not getting it and regretting it.

if you bought the mini you would stop writing about it (please), but that is a double edged sword as i’m sure people love to hear you wax on about buying the mini. the mini in prose is a nice prop.

Congrats! I want to buy a MINI too & (so far) I’ve held off. It’s tough & my car is paid off & getting older.

Stay Strong…

Well done! You are living proof that breaking out of our consumer culture is possible.

JD: congratulations on not giving in to temptation! Now you only need to realize that a Mini is really not that great for gas milage especially for a car that small (well, I hear the 2008′s get better milage).

I predict that when you do save up the money to buy one you’ll decide not to – why? Because that’s the way it’s worked for me. I saved up to buy a new car (not a Mini, per se, probably was going to be a Honda civic coupe) but then decided that that $20K I saved up represented a lot of work and I decided to stick with my old car instead. Funny how that works when you start paying cash for stuff: you tend to decide not to spend the money or you procrastinate when it comes to spending – and that’s a very good kind of procrastination.

So let the Mini-dreams go and replace them with dreams of a paid-off mortgage.

i’ve always wanted to drive a mini-coop since they came out with “the italian job”.. they look like a blast to drive

maybe you can wait a year and work on that emergency fund first.. then buy a used mini for cheaper later? i dunno just a thought =D

“If you pay for a car in cash, that’s a lot of money that is not invested. If you take out too big a loan, you can’t afford to invest.”

Guy, that’s why I’m still driving my 20 year old car. The key is to never spend much on cars: drive old ones that hold up well – In my case a Honda, but Toyotas also tend to hold up. You never really want to have more than about $8K of car on the road – and I figure that if I needed to I could find a decent used car for about $8K and pay cash for it.

When you get into the mindset of paying cash for your car you realize that you don’t want to have much of your money tied up in a car anyway.

Aaaaaaaaah, I’m so there with you. I want the one that is chili pepper red with white racing stripes.

I drive a 2000 Toyota Echo, that is in near perfect condition. This little thing will just keep going and going.

I used to have an almost 3 hour commute and I almost talked myself into a MINI. There’s a commercial and their tag line is “around here you have to love what you drive” presumably because Los Angeles traffic is so horrific. Anyway, I almost fell for the tag line (although I can’t remember what brand it sells)and bought a MINI.

However, I have a new job and my new commute is 16 minutes, 20 minutes when traffic is “bad”
So I really can’t justify over 20k when I spend so little time in my car now.

After longing for a Mini Cooper since the BMW Minis were launched, I finally got one last year as a company car. A Cooper Convertible in Hot Orange Metallic, specced up with 17in alloys, leather trim etc. etc.

And I have to tell you it’s the most disappointing car I’ve ever had. It’s noisy, uncomfortable, and poorly laid out. The fuel economy is appalling. I’m not sorry that it and I will be parting company soon.

Next car I get is going to be based on research, not emotion!

JD, I purchased a MINI two years ago (almost to the day) before I started my trip to freedom. My wife and I couldn’t stand to part with it. There are days I regret having it, and by the time I had worked up enough nerve to actually list it, I realized that I couldn’t buy a reliable car for the amount of money I have left to pay. It is now our only debt, and will be paid off in a few months. Used MINI Coopers are expensive, and it is generally just as cheap to buy new. I know I could sell it now for much more than I owe.

Here’s the same question I asked about installing new windows, before you explained why you chose to keep the original windows. Why not work just one more year and get the MINI, if you want it that badly? I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate here, I’m not saying you should, lol.

If you say, because there will ALWAYS be another reason to work “just one more year”, I’d agree with you.

But how does six more months sound? Or even three?

Actually I’m struggling with a similar issue, not a car, but a home renovation project I really want to do. We’re not big consumers, but we all have something that’s important to us.

I’m curious, do you have more house projects in mind? If so, how are you planning on paying for them?

By the way, my DH is DYING for the Clubman. But he’s really really frugal, so I don’t anticipate us getting one any time soon. If I won the lottery, I’d get him one for Xmas, lol.

“What if I bought myself a nice bicycle? A decade ago, biking was my #2 hobby (behind reading). I biked several thousand miles over a few years. But in the past five years, I haven’t done anything at all. What if I got a useful bike that I could ride around Portland for errands, etc?”

I’ve done this in the past too… problem is I never ended up riding the darn thing enough to justify the expense. And you have to consider the possiblilty of theft. At this point I’d rather just ride around on a decent used bike that I could pick up at a garage sale or on Craigslist for under $100. There’s not a whole lot of difference between a used $100 bike and a new $500 one and if the $100 bike gets stolen it’s not such a big deal.

“That sounds like an excellent compromise reward, and it’s one I’m looking into.”

Be strong. Don’t get into the “compromise reward” game.

I totally want a new or nused car but I wouldn’t feel the need to “buy it now” unless my old car died. The thing with cars is that there are so many of them out there that you will be able to find the Mini Cooper of your dreams if and when you are ready to buy it.

JD,
tell ton’ys mother-in-law I’ll buy the car from her for $8k in cash. I’ll then sell it to you for $12k which is $3k less than your low price you wrote above.

Trevor,
I use to be in a phase where my bike cost more than the car it road atop to races. I swore off bikes once I got lazy….now I own 5 bikes rather than the one.

My “compromise rewards” tend to be a season of a TV show on DVD… something that I can get for under $50-60. But then, I think I would choke pulling out the bucks for something over $200 unless it was a necessary expense (or something that I had saved for explicitly). That’s not to say that you shouldn’t buy your bike, only you know if you’ll make use out of it, and I count exercise equipment (which I bike would qualify for me) in a different category.

All that said, good on you for forgoing the mini… I look forward to the day that I can buy a car because I like it rather than because it’s a good deal (though the cars I’ve had have always been adequate), but I’ve never had the same draw that you have (though I have it on other things).

How about you put a fraction of your savings away for your “reward savings” for a few months, that way you can make the purchase on your terms.

Good move, J.D.! Strong, very very strong….

I too have coveted the MINI for years, ohhh adorable little car. But my not-so-adorable seven-year-old Toyota hasn’t even reached its adolescence yet, and I’m determined not to give it up until it crumbles into dust.

Friend of mine had a MINI. She said she liked driving it and in many respects it’s a good car, but as soon as the manufacturer’s warranty ran out (BMW has an amazing warranty), she planned to get rid of it. She said it took a lot of repairs and she didn’t think she could afford to keep it running & in good condition if she had to pay for all that out of pocket.

Something to consider: if you decide to get one when you’re Old and Rich, be sure to get it through a dealer & get a warranty with it.