Thanks everyone for your insights. Over the last 29 years, between DH & I, we've had 10 Fords. Every one has lasted 10+ years and the lowest mileage one we had when traded was 135,000. I think this 2002 Taurus is just a "dud" but I've had 3 other Taurus' since 1986 & had excellent records. I had a 1989 Ford Explorer that ran over 200K miles & 13 years. I sold it for $2,000 when I bought the current Taurus and some college kid is probably still delivering pizzas in it! And the love of my life was my 1983 red Thunderbird - DH and I traded it back and forth for 13 years, until our 2nd son was born and the back seat was way too small for 2 car seats. My mechanic gave me a good insight on the "gas guzzler" Crown Vic when I discussed with him what he would buy if he were looking for a used car and had less than $10K to spend. He said he'd go for a full size sedan becuase they still get around 20 mpg, and cost around &8 to $10K. If I kept the car for 6 years, and gas even went back to $4 a gallon, I'd still spend way less total than buying a small car for $14K or more. Plus with 3 unusually tall boys, a small car just won't fit us. He said his top pic for a used sedan would be a Nissan Maxima but it's just not big enough for us. I am very hard on cars - I only live 3 miles from work and most days drive 10 miles or less of 'stop at every corner' type driving. That's really hard on a car, so if my Fords have lasted 135,000 or miles or more, it's like double that in highway miles. I will most likely buy another Ford, mostly because of my good experience up to now, and also because Ford is in better financial condition and will be around to honor any warranty. I know intellectually that I should get rid of this car before it blows, but emotionally I'm just not sure I am ready to spend the $$ on a "new" car. Every time I say I'm going to look at cars, I come up with an excuse not to. I just took 2 weeks off work and had several days with no plans, but never managed to make it to look at cars. I live right in the city & near a major business corridor with 5 or 6 dealerships in a 5 mile stretch, but still can't seem to make it over there!

It all depends upon what you want. If it is just 'stuff', I'd get rid of it. If it's something you love or need, keep it. This is kind of rambling, but it's some general thoughts I have. One thing I'd look at is furniture. Are you moving stuff around and keeping it because you 'might' want it in the future? Or is it stuff you currently use? For instance, we have a 1950's "Dixie" brand bedroom set with double bed, dresser, nightstand, and mirror that dh bought at auction several years ago before he married me. It's a well built sturdy set of furniture and we hate to get rid of it, but it is just taking up space in our lives. We don't currently have a need for it. It would be great in guest bedroom, but we don't have a guest bedroom. It'd be great for the kids 10 years down the road when they get an apartment, but for right now it is 'stuff' and just taking up space. Another thing to consider is the scale of what you own. When I was starting out on my own several years back, I lived in in apartment. I was always amazed at the furniture people had in their apartment like huge overstuffed couches and big chairs and tables. It wasn't to scale for the size and the rooms always felt crowded. Are there a few things you could trade out or downsize? For instance, do you need a couch and a loveseat? Could you get rid of one or the other? Or you replace the couch with a loveseat and the loveseat with a comfortable chair? Do you need a coffee tables and end tables or are they just more horizontal places to put things? I see a lot of sideboards, hutches and cedar chests in people's homes. To me, they are space wasters and time killers because they have to be cleaned and don't offer much in return. That's my opinion only. If they adding value to the person who owns them, then great, but my impression usually is that someone had a space to fill so they filled it. I think it all comes down to what is a priority for you. Is the furniture, books, collections, etc., still important to you? Or do you think you could let go of some of it to free up time and space?

Keep advertising flyers printed only one side using typewriter paper to use to write notes, make calculations, etc. The ones written on both sides I save in a grocery bag to put in the recycle bin for fine paper. Got a heavy paper/card flyer, regular office size from a local deli in the mail today - will punch holes in it and use it for subject divider in ring binder. When I get their flyers half that size, glue a store flyer printed one side to them - then can use it to write material that I want to use frequently (e.g. phone numbers, listing of area codes, frequently used web site, e-mail addresses, etc.) on that blank sheet. Newspapers saved in different bundle. Use large sheet of scrap cardboard to build open-top box to organize magazines that I wish to save for future reference, to stand up on bookshelf. Cardboard pie boxes will do the job, as well - but they don't stand alone as well. Need to cover plastic window on inside so doesn't catch on mags with a sheet of (used) printer paper, held in place with a dollop or so of glue. We just had a shot of snow this morning - much earlier than usual. Brrr-r-r-r. With electric baseboard heating (and inadequate insulation in this rented townhouse), I can adjust heat room by room, so keep heat level low in kitchen, where I'm usually moving around. Turned heat up in bathroom yesterday. Keep it rather low in office, as well. Put on winter underwear this morning. When it gets cold I wear a sweater, batting-insulated vest and light jacket. Wear a hat to cover my head (only lightly insulated by hair). Get along O.K. until fingers get cold. My 22 year old Ford van has couple of leaks in roof, small holes in body and major hole in floor. Am getting some body metal, pop rivets to secure pieces that I've cut and shaped, tar to coat the outside under floorboard, fender, etc. and body paste to smooth over new metal to blend in with current body, then can sand and paint. Retrieved several spray cans with a dab of paint left from garbage, a couple of years ago. Several colours - but I plan to use only black and white, thank you. Not really a hard job. Should cost approximately $50. Better than scrapping the vehicle - which looks rather scruffy and some said that I should do four years ago when I did last body job. Takes a lot of materials and energy to build a new vehicle - so I say it's best to run the old ones into the ground. There are some rust spots on the hatch at the back of the 13 year old car, so need to use wire brush in electric drill to clean off rust, then smooth out with body paste, and paint with primer and finish coat. (Don't have right colour paint on hand). If I don't do it soon - I'll have rust holes to deal with. Much more effort required, then. Annual insurance (I don't carry collision coverage, of course) on both costs about 150% of what I paid for the van, 13 years ago. It had around 150,000 mi. on it then - about 190,000 now. Originally used it to deliver corn-fired heating stoves that I used to sell. Anyone know where I can find some hot air? Surely not produced by anyone around here! joyful guy

I can't spare you some of the agonizing, but it might help you to separate out one type of concern from another and so maybe whittle down to the real priorities. Since it sounds like you are buying the piano to really play it, and you have the ability to detect differences in pianos and what you like and don't, I would first focus on that--the piano you would most like to play ( that fits in your house, of course!). Holding value (monetary value) has some importance but maybe less for pianos than for cars, say, since most people go through several cars for themselves, kids, etc. and get future benefits from a good trade-in. You might not end up buying the piano that you most love to play if it in fact is so expensive it would hurt your finances in some way. Everyone has some price that is too high--though the number of OO's might vary a lot! Or you might determine that you simply don't VALUE the very best piano. I bought a guitar a while back and I knew I did not need or want the "best" guitar and did not need to impress anybody with how cool my guitar was. Also I am a beginner and knew I might not become a real expert. I did buy a better guitar than I expected, and maybe I should have bought one much cheaper until I learned more, but the price was okay for my finances so I made a "match". If I were actually a good guitar player, I would not hesitate to buy a much better one than I did but again, I think the focus would be on what played the best, felt the best, that I myself got the best sound from, and that might be different for me than for another musician. I am sure that must be true of pianos to some extent. So if there is one single piano you keep going back to because you love how it sounds/plays and you "can" afford it, buy that one. If there are a couple that are sort of equally good but in different ways--and I mean in terms of musical quality, not prestige or later value ( I had that dilemma with guitars) , that is where I would get some feedback from another musician/piano expert. The car price comparison is fine as long as you look at in the right way--you don't value European sedans (neither do I) so you drive something cheaper and buy pianos. For other people it is the opposite and that is perfectly fine. You might enjoy reading some things by Amy Dacyzn (The Tightwad Gazette). She is or has been an extreme saver and re-user and most people would not want to do as much of that as she does. But that was not her main point or her greatest strength. Her mantra was, save on everything that you can that really has no value or benefit to you if you were to spend more; don't let your money just slip away on this and that. Don't buy things just because other people do if you really want something else. Decide what is really important and don't whine that you can't afford it, because it is likely that if you really focus and avoid daily spending traps you can afford a lot of really nice things--just not EVERYTHING. Her deal was empowerment to be in control of spending. Several posters above gave good examples of that. Typical examples that have been used in some budget/happiness books is a person who wistfully says they would love to take a trip to Europe,it's their heart's desire, but just can't afford it--said while sitting on their new sofa that cost $2000. So your situation is an extension of that--there are people who have your same income who actually cannot afford a major piano purchase because they have a huge mortgage and have bought cars, and furniture, and jewelry instead. Which is perfectly fine unless all they really want is a piano!