Thought of some wise words while commenting on my own blog:

Cutting back your lifestyle because you "have to" is nothing like cutting back because you "want to" in order to achieve a specific goal.

The two don't even compare!

How is that for some frugal wisdom?

Definitely the lesson learned in these times.

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Dh and I decided to be lazy. My van may be reasy tomorrow. Just a maybe. & we have to take his in for the AC. Well, we "choose" to. Hopefully Monday.

In the midst of no cars, I told dh that his tires probably need to replaced, and though it will be no doubt more expensive with our mechanic, we should probably just have him do it, for the convenience factor.

Dh can be pretty cheap, but he can also be pretty lazy. LOL. He agreed. I am kind of relieved to get it over with.

(I knew this was on the horizon - tires have hit 50k+ miles - I am sure they are only supposed to last 50k miles - though will ask mechanic opinion if it is time to change. He is very honest).

The Ford's AC and tire repairs will be nothing. Even if it turns out to be an expensive repair on the AC. We've gone most of 8 years not putting hardly any money into it. Cost under $8k in 2002, replaced tires at 50k, replaced battery last year, and a few minor things last year. I am pretty sure we had no other repairs/maintenance but oil change, from 2002-2007. (Maybe some air filters? I don't even remember replacing, like, a belt).

On one hand, I keep thinking, "They don't make them like they used to." With many typed of things (appliances and cars and such). But then again, with the Ford, it's like, "How do they make them these days???" Seems like we were always replacing batteries and brakes and spark plugs on our older (150k+-miled) cars. We don't drive much in traffic here, which apparently is awesome for brakes. IT's all I Could figure. Maybe I drive better with age? I keep asking the mechanic if it's almost time for the brakes or what - and he looks at me like I am crazy. Says they are just fine. Though I don't expect big repairs on old cars (never really had any - knock on wood...), I do expect more maintenance for a car that has run 100k miles on mostly original parts. The battery itself lasted nearly 100k miles. WOW! & yes - I said FORD!

No complaints on the Ford issues - it's just the timing sucks.

I know factory tires suck, so we may be able to squeeze out more miles on our current tires. Will see.

For the van? Thinking of pulling all its repairs out of the medical fund. Then I don't have to touch any of our other savings. Last year we used our medical (Deductible) fund for BM's cavities. We all got a clean bill of (Teeth) health this last month, so I guess it goes to the car for this year. I can stomach the expense much easier this way - assuming we have no medical bills through 2009. Lord knows, but makes it easier in the interim.

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I didn't have much on my To Do list last weekend but to get a haircut and get Thank Yous done for the kids.

Failed on both fronts!

That is my To Do list for the weekend.

Oh yeah, may get suckered into volunteering Saturday. Will see.

I am hoping we can finally go on our bike ride this weekend, and am glad we found the free parking. It's just been so crazed and busy. Look forward to a mostly slow weekend. & really forward to a REAL bike ride!!!

I raised BM's seat as far as it could go and he can keep up with my new bike a little better. We just bought LM a bike not so long ago, because BM seemed a LONG way off from upgrading. BUT, his bike is looking so tiny. I think it's about time - might get him something a little fancier so we can do some real riding together. Maybe for Christmas!