Out With the Old, In With the New

So a little over a month ago I made the decision to put a new fuel pump in my car because I didn’t want to buy a new one right now. Two weeks after that my check engine light came on while I was at Bear Lake with my family. Since the car was still running, I drove it home but I was a nervous mess driving it through the canyon. I don’t ever want to do that again. LOL my brother followed me home but he just said at least it was mostly downhill so I could coast if I needed too. Yeah, never again. By the time I got it to the mechanic the light had gone off and they couldn’t tell me what was wrong. So I kept driving it and the light came back on. And then it did this little stutter thing on the way home from my mom’s and I was done. Just done.  I didn’t care what was wrong or what it cost to fix it. I worked from home so I didn’t have to drive it much and did a lot of research and then last Saturday bought a new (to me) car. I got a 2019 Rav4. I was pretty excited on Saturday.

 

Then the anxiety kicked in. LOL I had done my homework and I knew what I could afford and while this is on the high end of it, it is by no means too much. I just haven’t had a car payment for over 10 years and I used my entire car savings account for the down payment. I mean that’s what it was for. But I’m used to having that cushion. Now I have to save up again. And I will. It’s totally fine. It wasn’t my only savings. Just with my brand of anxiety I have to get used to my new normal. I do really like what I got but getting used to it is a little harder that I thought it would be. I feel HUGE in it and I’m not used to driving something bigger yet. And I got rid of my old little Mazda yesterday. One last drive and it was gone. It was a good little car most of the time and now I’m in a monster. I remember when I got my new phone and I hated it at first because it was too big and now it’s just normal. That will happen again. Maybe when it's dirty and smeared with bugs it will feel like mine. :)

I Bought What?!

I was laughing with some coworkers over bad Covid decisions that we’ve made over the past year. I must admit that I’ve made a few, mostly in the form of purchases. LOL There were those scratch off travel maps that I thought would be fun and then they just took up space and were actually not easy to scratch and just annoyed me. The giant outdoor connect four game that was fun once or twice and now sits in my garage and takes up space.  The little shade tent that I absolutely didn’t need and will be lucky if I use once a year. The Hallmark movie channel. I hate Hallmark Christmas movies and Covid didn’t change that. I watched most of the good mystery movies the first week during the trial. It was a total waste. I could go on…

 

"plant animals" I didn't need

Not all of the purchases have been bad. Early on in the pandemic I decided I suddenly couldn’t live without a stand mixer and bought myself a compact Bosch mixer. Mostly, it takes up space on the counter (especially now when it’s too hot to bake), but I have used it and will use it in the future. I definitely didn’t need it but I’m glad I have it. I now have 4 air plants in my house. Didn’t need those either but they are kind of fun to have.

 

The thing I’ve probably spent the most money on is subscription boxes. I used to look at them and think they might be fun but included a lot of junk and were a waste of money. I wasn’t wrong but not exactly right either. There are pretty much subscription boxes for anything you can think of. I’m kind of amazed. I’ve come to realize that yes, they are a waste of money, but they are still fun, and I can usually give away any of the stuff I won’t actually use. The trick is to get a box that you like and will use.

 

My first and still my favorite is the quarterly box from Margot Elena. It’s full of bath and body items, make up, perfume, and candles. Yes, there is always something I probably won’t use at all, but for the most part I love it. The products are so much fun to try and I can usually give the few things I don’t want to my nieces and they are happy to have it.

 

My second favorite is probably the chocolate subscription box I got from Jackie’s Chocolate. I did 3 months of that one for a birthday present to myself. It was so much fun getting chocolates in the mail. They were tasty! I will probably do that one again for a few more months in the winter. They say they pack for every weather but I’m not going to find out how well they pack for the summer heat.

 

I finally broke down and did the famous FabFitFun box. I’ve only had 1 so far and I got the annual subscription so that I could customize everything. It turned out to be a fun box and because I could choose what I wanted, there was very little I got rid of or won’t use. I probably won’t continue it after my year, but it should be fun while it lasts.

 

Let’s see, I did one from Cloth & Paper and that was a bust. Mostly because of me. I love paper products/notebooks, etc. but don’t have their brand of planners or anything and the pens from foreign countries were just ok, nothing to get excited about. That was canceled early.

 

I did the Candy Club box for 3 months and overall, I’d say that was not worth it because I don’t enjoy the types of candy they sell. It’s mostly gummy types in both sweet and sour flavors. I hate sour candy and am not a fan of licorice laces. I shared this box with my family and it was fun to try everything and pass around the little containers, but not worth the money.

 

And finally, the last one is the TokyoTreat box and I have nothing to say about it because I haven’t received it yet. My nephew really wants to go to Japan and we sometimes go to the local Asian market to buy fun things so I thought this would be fun for the family to try for a couple months. We’ll see.

 

There are other boxes I’ve looked at and said no, but I’m sure I will find others I decide to try. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been spending money on over the past 12 months.