Counting Cars!

[dkn1997]

So the ugliness of the economic downturn finally caught up with me.  Cutbacks at work and we were all forced to take a 1 day/week furlough till further notice.  Got the news on Jan 6.  I'm in a seasonal business, but very high end and paying a few of us through the winter when things aren't crazy has never been a problem.    I'm salaried so this is supposed to be the time or year where I reap the benefits of working 60+ hours a week but no overtime. by reaping I mean work 40 like a human being and it's less stress.  So that's now out the window.  Not to mention that when you are on salary, you shape your spending around that salary and now it's partially gone.   Anyway, I'm not the type to sit on my ass and do nothing about it so I started hittin up craigslist and other online sites looking for something part time since I seem to have an extra day on my hands.

I found out pretty quick that most part time is 20-30 a week and the most god awful stupid shifts you have ever heard of.   Well today I landed something that fits the bill for me.

I got a part time job working for a company that provides information to insurance companies to help them determin payout on wrecks.  What it means is that I have a route with a bunch of car dealers on it and I inventory their used cars.  I get a list of what my employer thinks they have (based on previous inventory) and I simply have to mark off the ones that are still there, note any cars from my list that arent, and write up info on any new ones that have shown up since last visit.  Vin, options, etc...  I visit each one twice a month and submit my results on certain days of the month.  I interviewe with the guy and he took me out to the parking lot and had me write down the info on his grand cherokee and mark off all the options. He said I was the only one who got them all correct the whole day lol..  for car guys like us, it's really not difficult at all.  It's outside work but I'm used to that and it's real flexible.  I can pretty much do it whenever I want and it will fill aprox 3 days per month.  It's piece work, so this time of year it's a bit light but I will make 5-700/month plus 50 cents a mile.  It won't make up for the pay cut but I'm goin to refin. the mortgage and that will more than cover it.  

Anyway, It's a shit sandwich, but honestly, this kind of job was the perfect answer.  flexible hours, no boss around, moving around, and I'm around cars all day.  If it goes as well as I hope, I'll keep it even after my hours and salary go back up. I'm surprised I found something so quick.  I wasn't going to do anything that wasn't hands on work and when it's 20 degrees out, those jobs aren't exacly laying around.

So I will be countin cars baby! lmao   I'm actually looking forward to a job with no stress.  I'm a manger at my job and it's stress fest from the moment I roll in till I leave.  

[Charger_Fan]

I'm glad to hear that you've found a stress reliever, and a part time income. I've been trying to do that for a while now & you're right, the shifts they want you to work are insane.

The economy caught up with me around October '08, and things slid down an icy slope from there. I knew it was gonna happen & I'm an idiot for staying. I'm currently making almost 50% what I was making in '08...employees have been laid off, others quit because they were being starved out of the place. Yet, the owner took his family to Hawaii for a family vacation last December.
Yeah, the overall morale around that place isn't exactly rosy these days.    There's always a feeling around there that the doors are gonna close tomorrow for good & anyone fool enough to hang in (me, so far) is gonna be out on their ass.

The only good thing is that in '05 ~ '07, I got myself out of debt. I was sick of paying all my paychecks out in payments & having nothing to show for it. I decided that if I was ever gonna restore my Charger & finish other things I want to do, it wasn't gonna happen while I was in debt.
So no more 2nd mortgage, no car payments, no credit cards, no loans, nada. I refinanced my house in '08 to a lower interest rate & a 15 year loan. Today, the mortgage & utilities (food, gas, etc) are my only bills. If I can't pay cash, I don't buy it. I don't go shopping anywhere, other than the grocery store...haven't been into a mall in years. If I hadn't had the foresight (more like dumb luck, really) to get out of debt, I am quite certain that I would have lost the house, be renting an apartment today & have no Charger...or most of the other stuff I've been able to hang onto.
Now (until I land a decent job) I just sell something from my garage when I need money to survive. I've sold two project cars (just as well, I wasn't probably going to finish them anyway), a bunch of car parts, a few guns, furniture, and the like. I just sold a rebuildable 383 last weekend, so now I have a few nickels to jingle in my pocket again.

I hope that 2011 will be the year that I find a real job again & things look better...look better for ALL of us.

[ITSA426]

Debt free living is the best stress reliever I've ever seen.

[PocketThunder]

Debt free living is the best stress reliever I've ever seen.

Amen brother!   

[twodko]

X2

                            "If I can't pay cash, I don't buy it."

Words to live by!

[7chargers]

I like reading posts like this, it shows that the American spirit is still alive and people are not willing to just sit by and collect the unemployment checks for years or until uncle sam stops funding it or just sitting idle waiting for a hand out. I my self have gotten better at budgetting my money,  I used to feel like money will always be there and even if living pay check to pay check had to be done as long as I was happy that was ok. The attitude of you can't take it to the grave or you never know when its your last day on earth so why save money still lingers at times but has gotten better. I bought my project cars 2 Chargers and to this day look at them and get excited thinking of what they can be but now think can I really afford to restore them with my gr-anger plans. I have a good paying job with decent job security but since buying my coronet that is more a project / driver where I can go out and enjoy actually driving my old car instead of looking at it sit there and dreaming has me back on the idea around of selling the projects and buying something nicer which will proably lead to another loan or do I stop being the old me; appreciate that I have a quality driver and two projects and roof over my head with a decent job. I give you guys that the economy has hit hard props for being proactive to your situations and realizing that theres more to life than having every little want, that being stress free from financial burdens or possible loss of property and still enjoying this hobby is satisfactory in its self.

[chargerboy69]

Debt free living is the best stress reliever I've ever seen.

It is nice.

Three years ago I had a second mortgage, and close to $30,000.00 in a car payment, credit cards and other stupid shit. And now the only bill I have left is my mortgage.  And to be honest,  we are hoping to have that done by the end of the year.  It takes a lot of self discipline, sacrificing, budgeting, paying for things with cash only and a good, smart wife who is a CPA. 

[dkn1997]

Debt free living is the best stress reliever I've ever seen.

That's one of the positives.  We have the mortgage and one car payment. That's it.  The mortgage has 12 years left and we owe way less than half what the current crappy market value is.  I'm going to refi it to a 30.  I'll get one point less than I pay now and it will cut the mortgage down by a lot.  Our lifestyle had me well prepped for this even if I wasn't reallly planning it that way and the refi will put me in an even better spot.  Property taxes alone here already cost almost 800 a month, then you gotta pay the principle and interest so it's not like I can pay the house off in 12 years and be out from under the monthly nut.  By that time, my taxes will probably be double what the are now.  they have more than doubled since we bought in 97. 

When I start really looking at it, it's so tempting to sell.  I could legitimately relocate and almost pay cash for a house with the equity in mine and probably pay almost nothing in property taxes in another state.  I could live in a kickass house in the boonies and not have to worry about how far I am from a really good job.....I could be a goddam dog walker and live like a king lol... yeah it's been a long day and I start the new J.O.B tomorrow! 

[Charger_Fan]

The mortgage has 12 years left and we owe way less than half what the current crappy market value is.  I'm going to refi it to a 30.  I'll get one point less than I pay now and it will cut the mortgage down by a lot. 

I wouldn't do that move...to me, that's at least 4 steps backwards. I'd either try to refinance at a lower interest rate on a 15 year loan, or just stay right there where I'm at. When I'm rapidly approaching 60, I sure as hell don't want to be facing another decade of mortgage ahead of me. I want to be smiling, knowing that my house is paid off & all I owe is annual property taxes.

I don't even give a damn if my Charger isn't restored by then...I just want to know that I don't owe anybody ANYTHING!

[Troy]

Debt free living is the best stress reliever I've ever seen.

Property taxes alone here already cost almost 800 a month, then you gotta pay the principle and interest so it's not like I can pay the house off in 12 years and be out from under the monthly nut.

Geesh! I knew stuff was expensive up there but I've been looking at houses recently and decided against one because the taxes were $1,800 every 6 months when houses just down the road were $700-800 per 6 months. Each city/township can vary by a lot but I'd have to buy a $425,000 house in the expensive neighborhood or an $853,000 house in the cheaper areas to get my taxes up around $800 per month. Around here those would be 6,000 sq. ft. house on about 10 acres. Farther out, my friend just sold a 6,000 sq ft house with 5 acres and a 40x60 pole barn for 325,000 (originally asking 450,000) but he qualified as a farm so his taxes were about 1/5th of the normal rate.

Troy

[PocketThunder]

Debt free living is the best stress reliever I've ever seen.

Property taxes alone here already cost almost 800 a month, then you gotta pay the principle and interest so it's not like I can pay the house off in 12 years and be out from under the monthly nut.

Geesh! I knew stuff was expensive up there but I've been looking at houses recently and decided against one because the taxes were $1,800 every 6 months when houses just down the road were $700-800 per 6 months. Each city/township can vary by a lot but I'd have to buy a $425,000 house in the expensive neighborhood or an $853,000 house in the cheaper areas to get my taxes up around $800 per month. Around here those would be 6,000 sq. ft. house on about 10 acres. Farther out, my friend just sold a 6,000 sq ft house with 5 acres and a 40x60 pole barn for 325,000 (originally asking 450,000) but he qualified as a farm so his taxes were about 1/5th of the normal rate.

Troy

Ya but Troy, just thing of all those extra services your tax dollars are providing for you!  !!   

[dkn1997]

Debt free living is the best stress reliever I've ever seen.

Property taxes alone here already cost almost 800 a month, then you gotta pay the principle and interest so it's not like I can pay the house off in 12 years and be out from under the monthly nut.

Geesh! I knew stuff was expensive up there but I've been looking at houses recently and decided against one because the taxes were $1,800 every 6 months when houses just down the road were $700-800 per 6 months. Each city/township can vary by a lot but I'd have to buy a $425,000 house in the expensive neighborhood or an $853,000 house in the cheaper areas to get my taxes up around $800 per month. Around here those would be 6,000 sq. ft. house on about 10 acres. Farther out, my friend just sold a 6,000 sq ft house with 5 acres and a 40x60 pole barn for 325,000 (originally asking 450,000) but he qualified as a farm so his taxes were about 1/5th of the normal rate.

Troy

9300 a year here and trust me, my house is fine, but it's a normal sized colonial on a half acre in suburbia. nothing special..

[dkn1997]

I was so busy planning to take a bottle of sleeping pills because I was thinking about my stupid taxes that I forgot to tell you mf's about my job.  I switched my furlough day from friday to weds this week and trained with my new boss. It's actually pretty interesting.  I have a route of 13 dealers and we did about 3/4 of my route.  It was a mess because the last guy got fired and the route hadn't be done since mid december and i't's supposed to be done 2x a month.  Good news is that it only takes one visit to each dealer to get the route manageable again.  So we wrote up about 80% of the cars on each lot.  write up is what takes the longest.  I went with him this morning for a couple of hours but had to get back to my regular job so he finished up the last 3 dealers himself.  So I am officially on my own.

Pretty good company.  It's piece work that's pretty much based on how many cars I see.  That amount is relatively steady so no matter who does it, they will make the same money.  for the first 3 months, they will give me an additional % over what I earn to make up for the fact that they realize I will be going slow because I'm new.  25% first month, 15% second month, 10% third month.  I think that's pretty decent of them.  I was a manager at Direct TV for a few months and those techs are paid piece work.  They had to suck it up and make next to nothing for a few months till they got better and fast enough to make good money. 

And they paid me to train too...even the mileage from my house to meet my boss.  I will be going slow for a while.  My boss writes up a car in about a minute and I do it in 5-7 minutes.  It's all about seeing more and more cars and doing it over and over...I'm sure I'll get it. 

For part time I couldn't have done better.  I'm pretty lucky.