One thing I've noticed while out here in CA this summer is that most of my tops have a number of claw shaped holes in them, as well as some staining. I've seen Kari (my cat) in my closet before, but hadn't really realized how much damage she was inflicting on my clothing.

I decided that while I was in an area with an abundance of places to buy clothes, that I should try to replace a number of tops. So today my grandma and I went clothes shopping. I ended up buying 7 tops total - 3 from Walmart, 1 from Macy's, and 3 from Sears. The least expensive top was $5, and the most was $25. I'm very happy with all of them, and think they will help to upgrade my professional image. I was really hoping I could find a replica of this one particular top I bought at Lane Bryant 4 years ago which I absolutely love, but I didn't find anything close. (I've been looking ever since I realized how much I loved the top ...) It's at home (NM) so if I think about it I'll take a picture of it - maybe one of you have seen it somewhere ...

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***Please be advised, the following is a spewing of my thinking/thoughts arguing back and forth with myself ...

So in thinking about cars I took heed of the advice to look at certified cars. In my area (within 200 miles) there are 0 certified cars that are 2010 or newer AND less than $15k. There are 14 cars that are 2009 and newer AND less than $20k. So ... if I'm going to pay $14k+ for a car ... I'd rather get a brand new (last year model) with full warranty, etc., than a 2 - 4 year old car for the same $ or more.

When I get my next car, I want to be able to run it for a minimum of ten years. (My current car I've had since 1997 - bought new with 37 miles on it.) Since I live out in the boondocks (30+ miles to nearest town with more than two gas stations) I really cannot take many chances with the reliability of a vehcicle.

It would be great if I could find a car like my first one - a Hundayi Sonata that had sat in a grandma's garage and had 33k miles on it and was 4 years old .. in perfect condition. I paid $5k for it (in 1994) and drove it for 3 years, then sold it to my parents in 1997. My dad drove it for two more years (he put more miles on it in two years than it had on it when he bought it from me.)

I'm really looking at the Nissan Versa - mainly because it seems to get similar gas mileage to my Civic, it is a similar size/handling, and from my experiences riding in my co-workers Versa - seemed like a good car for the price range. I'd be open to other cars. Mostly what I'm lusting after is the ability to charge my phone via cig lighter and play my phone over the radio. Everything else I don't care about too much. (ok, I care a lot about gas mileage and size/handling - large part of why I ended up not taking on the Rogue.)

I could put $2 - 4k into my current car - change the timing belt, do whatever needs to be done to make sure the engine doesn't fall out, figure out how to get my cig lighter working again (was told $3-400), and install a radio (and just hope that it doesn't fry like my last radio fried ...), oh yeah, the shocks probably will need replacing soon and possibly the brakes within the next year or two .. Maybe I could get a new hood too ... My car might last another 4 years after all that, or .. the electrical system will go out or the a/c will fail and then my car'd be a goner or need a few thousand more dollars work ... Meanwhile my family would be getting more and more worked up about how unsafe my car is, and I'd be getting further and further behind on having the ability to get a new car with cash.

Or ... I could do all that and my car could keep going fine for another 4 or 5 years, and then I'd have more than enough time to save the funds needed to replace it.

Or .. I could buy a new car (last years model) for around $13-15k. Put down $4k in cash for it up front, and then use dealer financing for the other 8-11k. Depending on the dealer finance rate, either stick with it or borrow 10k from my grandma (5% finance rate) to pay it off. (I read in several places that you can work a better deal on the overall price if you go with dealer financing.) Then either way I went ... aggressively pay the car off within two years (any money left from dads estate after medical bills, using tax refunds and extra paychecks, plus whatever I can sell my Honda for.) Then have 7 - 8 years to save towards the next replacement car (while also having the ability to work on other financial goals.)

Whenever my family starts to chime in on how unsafe they think my car is, I tend to defend my car. But the reality is that every time I take a trip to ABQ (about a two-hour one-way) I do worry. I've kept up with the general maintenance and oil changes - but I've also had multiple minor accidents and mishaps over the years in it. The hood that is currently crumpled (due to me rear ending somoenone in Dec.) is actually the 4th hood my cars had (hail damage, running into a pipe sticking out the back of a truck and something else I can't remember ..) I was told before moving to NM that one of the things holding my engine in was completely corroded and that the other two were just a matter of time. My timing belt was last changed in 2003 or 4?? so it's probably on borrowed time. The computer in my car appears to be working fine right now - although it is the same one that was in my car when my radio fried... (it's the 4th computer in my car - 1st one died, replacement was stolen, 3rd one from junk yard was for a standard car and not automatic ..)

When I get back to NM in a week, I'm not really going to have time to do anything about this one way or the other. School starts on the 15th and I'm WAY behind in everything I feel like I need to have done. So ... maybe I'll wait till November when we have a week off for Thanksgiving. I'd have a lot more to put down by then, and my timing belt should *hopefully* hold out til then ...

(In doing further research about the best time to buy a car, it seems that there really is no consensus. So November might just be as good of a time as any other..)

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I finally made enough Swagbucks to redeem for a $5 AGC today. 1st one this summer!