" Is it nuts to hold onto an old car?" Not no but He@@ NO! Whats nuts is buying a new car. First off, the only time you ever get a chance to drive a "New Car" is that brief period at the dealership when they allow you a test drive. During the test drive the car is still registered under the dealers "In Transit Title" and it is legally a new car. The moment the title is put in your name and you sign the document it becomes a "Used Car" and the value instantly drops from the MSRP window sticker to the "Blue Book Price" even before you attach your license plates or start the motor the first time. What is really nuts is taking a cash rebate instead of demanding they take that number off the selling price. Consider the facts. They artificially inflate the price by $2,000 and offer you a $2k rebate which you are to receive after the sale. You negotiate your best price (which still contains that artificially inflated $2,000) and you sign the contract. You now have two choices, you can write them a check for the full amount or you have to finance the transaction. If you have to finance it, you are now paying interest for the full term of the note on that rebate, even though you will get the money back at closing. Not a bad deal for them, they hold your money for perhaps one day and you pay interest on it for 5 years. Now, when you get insurance you are also paying insurance on that $2,000 rebate that you took back immediately and went shopping for other stuff you probably didn't need. Oh yes, Did I mention that you also payed sales tax on the rebate money tooo. But then it is not all bad, hopefully you don't live in my state where you have to pay an excise tax on the value of your vehicle every year, including that $2,000 artificial markup. Personally, I wouldn't buy a new car if I won the lottery.

Cloth diapers were not practical for me. I was happy not to deal with the mess. I bought store brand disposables because they were the least expensive that worked for my kids. I did make the homemade baby wipes. They were cheaper than store bought. There are recipes on-line. Basically you cut a roll of paper towels in half. Heat some water, baby lotion, baby soap, and whatever else you want together and pour it over the towels. Keep it in a seal tight container. Molding could be a problem in warmer weather. It was also possible to keep some of the wipes in the fridge and only keep out a day or so's worth at a time. I don't recommend using the wipes cold. Also, I didn't want to dull one of my good knives for cutting through the cardboard roll so I bought kniveat a thrift store and used that.

Good luck on the test, Joyful, I'm sure you'll do fine. Accidents are a pain. Figuratively, and all too often literally. I'm going through my own vehicle woes. Several years ago I bought a van from a friend's son's estate. Since then I've put about $5,000 into it... (heavy sigh) Transmission & starter ($3k) and about $1500 in brakes several times and different parts and many same ones over and over. The brakes would drag and last summer finally got it cured (a brake line believe it or not). About a week ago the pedal was going to the floor. So I was hobbling home putting fluid in at several stops. Both wheel cylinders in the rear were bad and leaking and soaked the linings so my recent full brake job had to be done again to the tune of another $300. But then I think that I've gotten what 2 1/2 or 3 years out of it and so all things considered, it's not been as bad as it seems. The things that made me put the money into the transmission were: 1) It starts SO well in ANY weather, even sitting outside for days in sub-zero temps 2) It runs SO smooth 3) It drives great (when it goes!) Front end is tight, drives nice and straight down the road 4) Reasonable gas mileage and doesn't burn any oil 5) Quite comfortable and these days what's very important 6) Comfortable to get in and out of. Since getting busted up, that makes a big difference. It's got a few problems, a/c doesn't work and I won't spend $800 to fix it, the blower fan now only works on high, and the vacuum hoses must be leaking because it'll only work on defrost, gas gauge doesn't work, one of the speakers cuts out now and then... yeah a few other minor problems, but all of these I can live with. But I was kind of bummed out at the last expense. So I'm looking for a decent deal on something. I asked the owner of the shop if he knew anyone who had a good used vehicle for sale, preferably a mini van, SUV or a mini to mid sized pickup. Well he has a mini van that he might get from a customer. The oil light came on and they kept driving it and siezed the engine. He'd charge me nothing for the van, only what it would cost to put a rebuilt engine into it. It's a 2001, in very good shape from what I saw and I started thinking that a rebuilt engine, I'd have essentially a new engine, the biggest problem point could be the tranny, but would be worth thinking about. He said it'd run about $2700 for an engine. It's got many more bells & whistles on it than I have with mine. But I haven't heard from them whether they got it or not. Guess I need to call them or stop by and ask. I'm kind of leaning toward buying it and keep using the one I have until more problems develop. Then I'd have a spare and since I have to drive for an income, I need reliable transportation. I was even kicking around whether I could turn around and sell it for a little profit. The book value looked like it has some room. But that wouldn't make a lot of sense I guess. Argh! For me, a vehicle isn't a status symbol. It's to get me and my junk from point A to point B and back again, reliably and safely. So if anyone knows of a good used vehicle at a reasonable price, let me know. I was kicking around the idea of a new vehicle, with the Kia Sportage going for less than $12k... But there's extra costs in a new rig too. My head is spinning! Keep us posted OJ. Oh, btw, on the popup windows you're getting and especially on an older machine, if you use a browser like Opera or K-meleon, they have a built in popup stopper and both of them use far less resources than does Internet Explorer. Easier on your system, faster and stops the popups in their tracks!

cowboyind, Thank you for your thoughtful message, useful as usual. The Golf is efficient and the owners like it. Seems to last a long time, as well. Plus the price of used ones, as with a number of small, fuel-miser vehicles, holds up well in the used vehicle market. Actually, if fuel prices keep rising, possibly some owners could sell for more than they paid new! Some have been saying that this may well be tha last car that I'll need to buy - even when I'm talking the age of vehicle that I mentioned above. At age 76 - who knows - they might be right. But my Dad drove about 2,000 mi. to visit friends in this community where he'd grown up and farmed till in his mid-40s. He drove it alone, when he was 85 - and did it in 3 days, as he usually figured to do. And had done the year before, when I rode with him from the Canadian Prairies down here to my home in London, Ontario. ole joyful