SoapZone Community Message Board

Some of you may be thinking wait, didn't Wahoo already pay off her car loan? And you would technically be right...around this time last year, I asked the bank my car loan was through (Associated Bank--avoid doing business with them if at all possible) what my remaining balance was and when they told me, I had them take that amount out of my checking account and send me my title. But a couple weeks earlier, with Dad's permission (it was actually his suggestion), I transferred what I'd estimated the cost of paying off my car loan to be (wasn't sure if there would be a penalty--there wasn't) from the savings account he'd added my name to into my checking account. Although the savings account also has my name on it, I never pay into it; Dad only had my name added so I could access it with my ATM card if he wanted cash (he's never had an ATM card and doesn't want one).

Anyways...I made up a little "loan book" from scrap paper and divided the total borrowed from Dad's savings account by 10. The amount each month was a teeny bit higher than what I'd been paying but Dad kindly allowed me to miss one of the payments due to needing winter tires for the front of my car. This past weekend, after getting paid Friday, I transferred over the last of the 10 payments and now I'm completely (car loan) debt free!

This is a big deal for me. I'd gotten the new (to me) car only one month before quitting my previous job. In retrospect, I wish I'd spent at least another month or two at the old job but I quit when I did partly because of the physical toll on my body, partly to try to save someone else's job (there were layoffs before I quit; I asked them to take "S" back and let me be laid off in her place but they didn't go for it) and partly to avoid another scorching summer in a building with no windows and no a/c (it once got up to 90° INSIDE the factory and was almost always above 80° all through the summer). I had a respectable amount in my savings and checking account when I quit but not working for 15 months made that dwindle rapidly. When I first got hired for my current job, I was making money but I still had to tap the savings account every now and then (not nearly as much; I'd estimate I'd slowed the bleeding about 90%). And then last year when I got promoted to key holder and got an itty, bitty raise, I was able to pay all my bills without needing to transfer money over from my savings...but I wasn't able to save any money either.

Now? I'm SO happy to be able to save again! I'm also considering a couple purchases--maybe a new mattress, definitely some new white tennis shoes, and probably new black tennis shoes as well since mine are not even a little bit leak proof and walking outside on a rainy day = socks soaked in minutes. I'm even thinking maybe a vacation later this year. I've mentioned this before but...at the end of my time at the bindery, I had 4 weeks' paid vacation time. I would take off one week either at the beginning or end of summer (making sure I was available the entire time we were binding textbooks). I'd do a "staycation" week in October, going each day to a suburb in Cleveland or Akron that I'd never been to. The rest of my days, I either took 1-2 at a time or I'd not use and get paid for on my anniversary (but it was 1 day's pay for every 2 days not used). At my next job, I had 2 weeks' paid vacation, which you earned: 3 hours of PTO every two weeks, maxing out at 40 hours a year. This job? Nothing. It's also a double whammy: vacations would mean no pay while I'm off AND I'd be paying for everything as I don't really have anyone to split the cost of gas or a hotel or groceries upon arrival. But now I'm thinking if I'm still at my current job in September <sob>, I might take off a week and go somewhere for a few days. I have a number of possibilities swirling around in my mind, from local day trips to longer distances. It's nice to have possibilities again!