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I went on a firearm related spending freeze back when I was focusing on paying off all my debt. I have stayed debt free except for using my credit card here and there but have paid it off each month. I have decided it's going to be time to buy a new car in the near future and want to save up a for decent down payment on the new car.

That brings me to the new firearm related spending freeze. My plan is to start May 1st and continue the spending freeze until I purchase the new car. Once the spending freeze begins, I will not spend any of my employement income on anything firearm related (except, NWFA supporting membership and range membership).

I am hoping to be able to save close to $400 a month towards my down payment and I might have to do this through the end of 2022 or longer. I am leaning towards a base model Forester for the new purchase and they are currently running about 26k. I would like to keep my 0% interest payment, plus extra fuel and insurance cost around $400 month. I will have to do some estimated calculations to see how much down payment I will need to keep within my goal numbers.

I just dropped $370 between two NWFA members yesterday. That is only one of many purchases I have made here and elsewhere in the last year or so. I have done well avoiding debt but I have been spending way to much money on firearm related stuff. I have so many projects to do, I could probably keep myself busy for a decade or more without spending another cent. But I have done my part in keeping the economy going:)
 
I've paid "cash" for everything, including two relatively newish cars and two motorcycles, for the past 15 years since I paid off all debt - except for my mortgage (which including property taxes is about the same as I would be paying in rent, but the property has appreciated considerably).

It is great to be able to just write a check for a car and have no other payments per month except the mortgage, utilities and paying off the CC. It does wonders for my credit rating too (806). When emergencies come around (like a $15K roof repair), I have the cash. When a gun/ammo deal comes around that I can't resist, I have the cash - unfortunately, all too often (I've spent thousands here on NWFA every year) - it is hard to resist the spending when you have the cash.
 
I've paid "cash" for everything, including two relatively newish cars and two motorcycles, for the past 15 years since I paid off all debt - except for my mortgage (which including property taxes is about the same as I would be paying in rent, but the property has appreciated considerably).

It is great to be able to just write a check for a car and have no other payments per month except the mortgage, utilities and paying off the CC. It does wonders for my credit rating too (806). When emergencies come around (like a $15K roof repair), I have the cash. When a gun/ammo deal comes around that I can't resist, I have the cash - unfortunately, all too often (I've spent thousands here on NWFA every year) - it is hard to resist the spending when you have the cash.
I know I should wait and save up cash for the car but the zero interest loans are very tempting. If I can keep driving my 2006 corolla for another 6 years, I could probably pay cash for a base level Forester. I don't plan on investing a bunch of money in the corolla but I could drive it until the wheels fall off:)
 
I drive into town maybe twice a month now. I was thinking that at some point my 7 year old X1 (110K miles) would need to be replaced before I retired because my commute was 60 miles every day, but now, with only 100-200 miles per month, I am thinking I will just keep it. Another year or so I think I will just drop back to liability only and my insurance costs would be cut in half - I might do that come fall anyway, the value is way down now and I rarely drive it.

Worst case I give the X1 to the kids (who need a second car) and I use one of my trucks for twice monthly errands. I need to put a diesel in the pickup first though.

Yes, 0% interest is good, but you have to have full insurance - which most people would do on a new car anyway. Be careful about setting aside some $ just in case of income interruptions so that you have some for payments.
 
I drive into town maybe twice a month now. I was thinking that at some point my 7 year old X1 (110K miles) would need to be replaced before I retired because my commute was 60 miles every day, but now, with only 100-200 miles per month, I am thinking I will just keep it. Another year or so I think I will just drop back to liability only and my insurance costs would be cut in half - I might do that come fall anyway, the value is way down now and I rarely drive it.

Worst case I give the X1 to the kids (who need a second car) and I use one of my trucks for twice monthly errands. I need to put a diesel in the pickup first though.

Yes, 0% interest is good, but you have to have full insurance - which most people would do on a new car anyway. Be careful about setting aside some $ just in case of income interruptions so that you have some for payments.
"Be careful about setting aside some $ just in case of income interruptions so that you have some for payments."

Good advice.

Now I need to decide whether I should save this car money in my Roth IRA or in a standard savings account. I am leaning towards my Roth IRA as it will give me an opportunity to invest it and will make it a little harder to access. Worst case if I my investments go down in value I can put off car purchase for a little while longer.
 
"Be careful about setting aside some $ just in case of income interruptions so that you have some for payments."

Good advice.

Now I need to decide whether I should save this car money in my Roth IRA or in a standard savings account. I am leaning towards my Roth IRA as it will give me an opportunity to invest it and will make it a little harder to access. Worst case if I my investments go down in value I can put off car purchase for a little while longer.

If your Roth was started more than 5 years ago, then the Roth would be a better choice (you can't pull $ from the Roth without paying taxes if it is less than 5 years old) - depending on how it is setup; mine is setup mostly in bonds and has not earned much the last year, but still earns more than most savings accounts today. I've been thinking of going more aggressive with the Roth account. I also need to start a Solo 401K to put $ in from my self-employment earlier this year. My regular 401K from my ex-employer has earned 20% YTD.

I have almost as much in my interest earning checking account as I do in my Roth, I just let all my direct deposits go there and all my bills get paid from it - mostly automatically except my CC balance which I pay manually (except for an automatic minimum just in case I forget). I want enough in my checking to cover my mortgage for at least a year so that if I kick the bucket the mortgage will get paid until the kids can sell the property.
 
My Roth is more than 5 years old but I thought the amount you contributed could be pulled out anytime with no penalty regardless of acct age? I will probably invest it in some lower risk stock funds and hopefully make more than the tiny fraction of a percent the savings accts are paying these days.
 
My Roth is more than 5 years old but I thought the amount you contributed could be pulled out anytime with no penalty regardless of acct age? I will probably invest it in some lower risk stock funds and hopefully make more than the tiny fraction of a percent the savings accts are paying these days.

You have to separate earnings from contributions if it is less than 5 years of age. Which can be a hassle. But since yours is 5+ years old you are fine - as I am too. My Roth is for my kids to pull from if I kick the bucket and they need $ right away, ditto with my checking account. The rest - my regular IRA and 401K would be for long term, but they would need to do RMDs and pay taxes on any distributions - fortunately there is enough in there for them to set them up for quite a while if they are careful with their spending.

Next year I will be doing a backdoor contribution from my regular IRA to my Roth, paying taxes on that, but at a 10-12% tax rate - then when it comes time to do RMDs, my regular IRA will be a lower balance and the Roth balance will be tax free. Can't do that this as my income will be too high to make it work. I will do this until ~2026-2027 when I will need to make RMDs (if the law doesn't change again) at which point I will move the RMDs into the Roth (unless I need the $) - the RMDs should be a lesser amount than if I left the $ in IRA earlier, and therefore I will pay less in taxes on the RMDs. I think I can do that - not sure, but I think I can.

Which reminds me - I need to do my taxes.
 
I'm in an odd place myself. I made the decision last year to not only stop spending on gun stuff, but to actively work on getting rid of a bunch of stuff.

I've liquidated a lot of reloading gear and old surplus ammo in the last year, even a couple guns, though I really need to thin the herd more on guns.

The weird thing is, I've bought more guns recently than I had in a long time. Why? All this money coming in from selling off junk I've had for decades is really piling up, and there have been a few things that I've always kind of wanted but never bought, so I bought them. Nothing really special or fancy, vintage revolvers and such, not even expensive guns, just ones I've always looked at but never bought.

As to cars, I suppose I should eventually consider replacing my 24 year old truck. Raising four kids on a single income though, new cars don't exist in our world. Maybe some day...
 
BTW - I am trying to cut back on guns & ammo spending, but with the gun control legislation coming up I still need to buy a few things before they push something thru. I also need to get optics/accessories/etc. for the guns I have. But I need to cut down on what I spend - I have plenty of guns and ammo now.

I need to spend some $ on my trucks and tools/etc. for my shop so I can do some of the mods I want on my trucks.
 
Day 1 of firearm related spending freeze begins today. I paid off monthly balance on credit card and set up a $400 transfer to occur on the 1st of every month until I cancel. $400 went in savings today. I have decided to try and pay cash for the new car so unless there is a catastrophic failure in my 2006 Corolla or the economy, I should be able to wait until I have all cash for the new car.

I have some cash set aside for small firearm related purchases but I will have to be very selective about what I buy. Any major firearm related acquisitions will require selling off or trading existing firearm related items.


After watching the video in this thread, I think I am going to continue paying the membership fee for Tri County Gun Club.

 
I am relapsing - going to spend $600 on ammo today. But that should put me where I want to be with that caliber. So unless there is a good deal on some other calibers that should do it for me. Famous last words. I have over 20K centerfire defense rifle rounds - over half of that is in the primary first line "grab it" defensive caliber. For three people that should be adequate.
 
I know I should wait and save up cash for the car but the zero interest loans are very tempting. If I can keep driving my 2006 corolla for another 6 years, I could probably pay cash for a base level Forester. I don't plan on investing a bunch of money in the corolla but I could drive it until the wheels fall off
This is very funny to me! I can afford to buy, for cash, most any vehicle I want. I too have a Corolla as my daily driver. Its an 04 though same car. I stopped trying to impress people along time ago. I buy low mileage used highly reliable model vehicles for, usually, $,25 on the dollar. Now the used car market has changed dramatically in the last year or so. ALL my vehicles are worth more than when I bought them- a couple twice as much due to market changes. A wise friend of mine says "There are Two kinds of cars-those the run and those that don't!" That new car smell is overrate and ,most likely ,toxic fumes anyway!!!
 
This is very funny to me! I can afford to buy, for cash, most any vehicle I want. I too have a Corolla as my daily driver. Its an 04 though same car. I stopped trying to impress people along time ago. I buy low mileage used highly reliable model vehicles for, usually, $,25 on the dollar. Now the used car market has changed dramatically in the last year or so. ALL my vehicles are worth more than when I bought them- a couple twice as much due to market changes. A wise friend of mine says "There are Two kinds of cars-those the run and those that don't!" That new car smell is overrate and ,most likely ,toxic fumes anyway!!!
I gave up on the idea of a new car myself. Hopefully my 2006 goes for another 100k. Thinking I was going to be saving up for a new car was another ADHD moment. I still have $400 going in to savings once a month but I usually pull it out and spend it. I think I have about $1200 that I haven't spent yet. I could throw it at the $3500 credit card balance but.....


I may drive a beater but I have lots of projectiles piled up around the place. If my car breaks down, I hope the bus driver will take bullets to cover the fare.
 
I gave up on the idea of a new car myself. Hopefully my 2006 goes for another 100k. Thinking I was going to be saving up for a new car was another ADHD moment. I still have $400 going in to savings once a month but I usually pull it out and spend it. I think I have about $1200 that I haven't spent yet. I could throw it at the $3500 credit card balance but.....


I may drive a beater but I have lots of projectiles piled up around the place. If my car breaks down, I hope the bus driver will take bullets to cover the fare.
I LIKE driving my beater peeling clear coat and all. Your Corolla is good for 300K+ with scheduled maintenance. Most of the folks on my road, theres only 6 of us, have New/Newish vehicles. I see no status in an 80K Pickup! My 97 7.3 Ford, with only 100K miles, which I get asked all the time to sell, Is fine for me! The best kind of car/truck is one that's paid for!!! My 2c!
 
I typically drive a vehicle into the ground, sell it (or give it to my kids) and buy something better.

After moving up onto the mountain I quickly realized I needed a 4WD/AWD commuter, so I got my 2014 X1 back in 2015. Maintenance is not cheap on newer cars, especially with mice getting into them - but I got it for about $20K less than it sold for new with only 40K miles on it, and it has been pretty reliable since then (except for mice eating wires). It is a lot cheaper to throw $1K at it every couple of years for maintenance, than it is to spend that much in payments every quarter.

Now that I am retired I drive it about 5% as much as I did when working, so it should last another 5-10 years. By then I may be too old to keep my driver's license, or not - we'll see. Precluding catastrophes (I had a bad accident about 5 years ago where a van hit the car and caused $15K in damage, but insurance paid for the repairs), my next car may be electric and self-driving. *shrug* - we'll see. Stuff happens.

I plan to put some $$$$ into my trucks, and the one is a Toyota pickup, so if I keep it, and fix it up, and I keep my license, then I may fall back on that as a driver since I won't be driving much.

They are all paid for - so that is good.
 
I typically drive a vehicle into the ground, sell it (or give it to my kids) and buy something better.

After moving up onto the mountain I quickly realized I needed a 4WD/AWD commuter, so I got my 2014 X1 back in 2015. Maintenance is not cheap on newer cars, especially with mice getting into them - but I got it for about $20K less than it sold for new with only 40K miles on it, and it has been pretty reliable since then (except for mice eating wires). It is a lot cheaper to throw $1K at it every couple of years for maintenance, than it is to spend that much in payments every quarter.

Now that I am retired I drive it about 5% as much as I did when working, so it should last another 5-10 years. By then I may be too old to keep my driver's license, or not - we'll see. Precluding catastrophes (I had a bad accident about 5 years ago where a van hit the car and caused $15K in damage, but insurance paid for the repairs), my next car may be electric and self-driving. *shrug* - we'll see. Stuff happens.

I plan to put some $$$$ into my trucks, and the one is a Toyota pickup, so if I keep it, and fix it up, and I keep my license, then I may fall back on that as a driver since I won't be driving much.

They are all paid for - so that is good.
I have a mouse in car story. I went to check my air filter at my last oil change and there was a mouse nest on the dirty side of the filter housing. I drive my car daily so I am wondering if at any point the mouse was in the nest while I was out driving around. That would have to be an uncomfortable ride with all the air rushing by.
 
(except for mice eating wires)
I put those mouse bait boxes under the hood of my vehicles. I had a problem once with mice living IN the hood of my truck-in the voids. Did the mouse bait thing afew years back and no more problem. I use something called TOMCAT!I dont like using posions but war is war. You could always use a catch/release trap but they will come back-ask me how I know!!! I have, also, had a couple problems with certain birds wanting to nest in the engine bays of a couple vehicles I dont drive often. I had a local tell me to leave the hood on whatever vehicle is the issue UP just a bit.I often wondered ,out where I live in the boonies ,why a saw lots of vehicles parked with the hoods up.The birds nest in the engine bays for protection. Open hood NO protection! I put a short piece of wood about 1 foot long under the hood to leave a gap and strap it down for windy conditions.
 
I have a mouse in car story. I went to check my air filter at my last oil change and there was a mouse nest on the dirty side of the filter housing. I drive my car daily so I am wondering if at any point the mouse was in the nest while I was out driving around. That would have to be an uncomfortable ride with all the air rushing by.
I've had mice come out of the vehicles when I opened the door to get in.

I had a mouse come out from under the hood while I was driving in traffic.

I've put traps inside my car and caught mice (I caught two in the house last night).

I see where they build nests and eat food in the engine compartment.

I paid $1K+ to have wiring repaired in the passenger rear quarter panel - shop had to take the underside apart and remove a nest and repair the wiring.

Mice have done thousands in damage to my house and vehicles - I hate them with a passion.

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