You may wonder what patience has to do with being frugal. Actually it has a lot to do with it. We live in a world where it is possible to have things almost immediately even if you don’t have the cash to pay for them! Just put it on a credit card.
Patience is being willing to wait and save your money once you have decided you want something. Have some patience before you make your next purchase and compare prices before making your purchase. That way you will know you are getting the best deal.
Recently we had an issue with the muffler on our family car.
The car is over ten years old with high mileage but it’s been a good car. We’ve been thinking about replacing it but hadn’t done anything yet.
We dropped the car off at the dealership to have the muffler fixed. Imagine our surprise when they called and told us it would cost over $4,000 to have the car repaired. According to them we not only needed an entire new muffler system but the catalytic converter also needed to be replaced. They also said all four struts were shot and should be replaced. If we weren’t willing to do the work we should scrap the car.
We were shocked; we definitely weren’t about to spend over four thousand dollars to repair a car that had close to 200 thousand miles on it. We told them we needed a few days to make up our mind. Almost immediately the sales people started calling us, they’d be happy to loan us some money for the car, were we interested in purchasing a new or a used car?
We spent several days talking to other car dealers trying to decide what to do. Finally we just went and picked up the car and brought it to another mechanic. He looked at the car and said you have a dime size hole in you muffler, which could be fixed by welding in a new section of pipe. Struts look fine and the catalytic converter is fine. For $40.00 we had a new section of pipe welded on and the car is running fine. Now I realize the car will not last forever and eventually needs to be replaced.
However we don’t need to run out today and purchase a new car. Had we listened to the dealership and their salespeople we would have gone right in, signed the paperwork, taken out a car loan and driven home in a brand new car. By being patient, getting a second opinion and deciding to just fix the car we have bought ourselves some time. We can now try to sell our car as is, and take some time to look around for another reliable second hand car.
Remember a patient consumer is the winner!
Be sure to check out my Celebrate Spring giveaway – High Mowing Seeds has donated a seed packet with ten different varieties of seeds! Enter here!
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Nancy on the Home Front 