How about a little bit of all three??

 

You're on the right track get out of debt and pay cash. I've been in debt with truck payments, credit cards, quads and stupid stuff. I saw the light and finally got smart and now,have no debt but my house payment for 15 more months. I built my house on 15 acres 12 years ago myself. My wife no longer works out of the home, she stays home with the kids. I don't make a lot of money $45,000 this year including side jobs. But when you are not paying on interest and stuff that is going down in value it seems like much more. I am really saving quite a bit now and am in pretty good shape for 40 years old. I have more than enough to go buy me a new truck if I wanted to and still not make payments. But why? 10 years from now it will be worth less than half what I paid for it.
Don't get caught up in the Jones's race! It ain't worth it.
I drive an old first gen that just rolled 200,000 my last truck was a 94 CTD with 370,000. Both are very cheap to drive, and very reliable I drive 70 miles per day to work.

Check this guy out. He really got me back on the right track. Good luck!

 

You got the right idea but dont forget one thing. Saving money and no toys will drive you nuts. I am paying on 2 trucks right now and it is killing me. But in 3 years they will both be payed for and I will be debt free with a huge chunk of change in the bank for a house. I do it by budget. I get payed and the bills and saving come first! Then my money. That is why it only took me 6 months to afford the minor bombs on the 95. Do what ya have to do but remember to enjoy life also. Living on a budget sucks but not as bad as being broke and hating life. I would watch the autotrader and the classifieds for a 12V but that is me. Good luck with your decisions.

 

Good point but it still doesn't mean that you have to use credit to get these things. We don't live without for sure. The wife and daughter both have horses, wife drives a 01 Tundra, we have a couple quads, good assortment of weapons, well stocked shop and a nice trail rig that me and the boy are building funding it with selling firewood. Toys are much more enjoyable when you don't have to make the payment every month.

I don't expect everyone to think as I do. But the pay as you go way is so seldom heard of in todays world of buy now pay later that it should be known that it does work. Getblown is thinking and has a feeling there is a better way, he is getting his priorities in order. I say way to go.

 

Well I don't see how leasing is "pay as you go". You get trapped into long term payments, just like taking out a loan...except you have nothing left after the payments are done.

Leasing is a poor man's way to get a more expensive vehicle than he can afford, but he will stay poor because the money is just tossed away with nothing in return. If you really MUST have that particular vehicle, then spend the extra money on payments and have a truck when you are done. Or if you are limited to a certain payment amount that you can afford, then purchase a lower cost vehicle that meets your payment requirements. And, if you really want a Cummins but can't afford the higher payments, then go look for a good used one. Warrantys aren't all they are cracked up to be anyway, and usually require long term fighting with the dealer and lots of headaches because they try to weasle their way out of things. Besides, if you bought a good used truck for $8000, it would leave you with a lot of extra money to pay for repairs or upgrades.

Jim

 

It looks even better now, 8" of lift and 38"s Pics to be up hopefully tomorrow!!!


~Nick

 

my recommendation is to get those lil chev/gmc's with a 4.3 v6 ...i have respect for those trucks and have never experienced trouble with them....thats prolly the best mileage ur gonna get out of a gasser too....they should be cheap to buy used...then come back! (and pray that we take u back )

 

when i step back into the game (if i even step out at all) it will be with a 12v that will be no slouch...i cant own a slow vehicle for a long period of time...not that i drive fast ALL the time...but the ability to pass nearly anyone i meet on a two lane road in the WV mountains will push me to get more fuel out of the p-pumped version of our trucks...and it will have stacks to help it exhale

i may not need to go to a gasser now as a change in my financial situation is going to allow me to hold onto the 02 until i find the right 12v

 

Ya'll could just do what I do and never buy anything new...

For instance, I drive a 1990 Dodge D-250. I bought it for 2650, skies the limit for performance upgrades, and it doesn't cost me much for upkeep. (Although since it has 300,000 miles on it I do spend just about every Sunday fixing something, but that's my hobby, so I don't care...) If I want a truck for a hobby, and I have $20,000 dollars, why would I buy a '00 that makes 260 HP stock when I can spend $5,000 on a 92 that makes 160 HP stock, and then spend $15,000 and get the thing making 100 HP and 400 FT LBS more than anything off the lot? Sure it will break more often, but part of the hobby is to fix the things, right?

Anyways, the mantra of buying used applies to more than just cars.

My last major purchase was a fridge. How much does your fridge cost? Do what I did and buy a 1960's IH model from an estates sale. International Harvester makes stupid engines, sure, but 40 years ago there fridge's were bulletproof (literally). Anyways, $50 and I got a fridge that works just as good as anything I could have spent $500 dollars on at Sears. And quite honestly I have more faith in products made in the the 60's and 70's then products made in 80's and 90's. It's nice to have stuff made out of steel, you know?

Anyways, I just wanted to show off my cool old fridge. But keep in mind that you can usually buy something 10, 20 or 30 years older than what you can get new, and often that something would be made better, work just as good and only cost 1/10 of the price of something new.

At the moment I'm combing estate sales looking for an old arc welder...

Another thing to keep in mind is networking. How many of you have old stuff hanging in your garage that works just fine, but it has either been replaced or you out grew it and now it is never used? Home theater equipment, for instance, hasn't gotten any better in the past couple decades. Smaller and better looking, but not functionally better (I'm talking stereo's, not televisions). You can get some crazy good deals on old amplifiers and speakers if you know the right people. Same thing for car audio. And tools; especially tools. A 40 year old wrench would be just as good as a 4 year old wrench, and a lot cheaper.

It is my firm belief that 9 out of 10 products people buy new are wastes of money.

 

well im not in such a rush to sell now, i got a job offer where im moving making the same amount of money i make now with the potential to earn much more...so i will get to keep the truck until i find a buyer who will pay asking price

 

My father in law has an old IH chest freezer in his basement, and has had it for aprox. 50 years. Yup, thats right...he got it soon after he got married, and his oldest son is 50. He brags that the freezer hasn't been shut off in all that time, and has never needed a repair. He offered to give it to us, but we just don't have room for it. Its too bad, since we could really save money if we were to drive 1.5 hours to Sam's Club to buy a load of frozen food and stock up the freezer every few weeks instead of buying locally (our Walmart isn't a Supercenter, so no real groceries there).

I always buy used as well. Well, I should clarify that. My feelings have always been that used was a better purchase than new, but I did cave in a few times...I have purchased 3 new vehicles. Here are their short (condensed) stories.

-1995 Chevy S-10. Major lemon, having charging issues since new, would burn up plug wires every couple months, and one of the brake calipers was frozen since new. By the time it was gone at 25,000 miles, it had a power steering leak, oil leak, defective ABS system, and other issues. I used to drive my old beater Jeep CJ on long trips because it was more reliable than my truck.

-1995 Honda XR600R motorcycle: Great bike, very reliable. Until it was stolen, vandalized, and recovered. No fault of the bike, but the insurance company gave me 1/2 the quoted repair price because the bike had been "abused". "Abused" to them was a few scratches on the plastic. Even the dealer told them it was in excellent mechanical condition, had been taken care of very well, and I had maintained it perfectly. So my 7 month old bike, which I paid $4000 for, required $1900 in repairs, and I was given a check for $950. I didn't have money to fix it, so I sold it for the best price I could, with a torn-down engine (ins. company paid to have it torn down, but wouldn't give enough to put it back together) for $1000. So i got $1950 for a bike i paid $4000 for 7 months earlier. If it had been a used bike, I would have been much better off, and wouldn't have lost as much money.

-2003 Yamaha RX-1 snowmobile. I love the sled, but it did come with a major problem. Soon after purchasing it, it began to use oil. I had to fight with Yamaha for 3 years before they finally replaced the motor (after a dealer tore the old one down and didn't fix it...most likely because they didn't know how to work on a high-performance 4-stroke). I had 1 good riding season, 1 limited one, and I only rode it twice last year because of the problem. If I would have bought it used for $6000 instead of new for $9200, I would have just pulled the engine apart and fixed it myself, and it would have been fixed 2 years ago. Now I very much vow that it will be the LAST new thing I ever buy.

Look at houses even. If you buy a fairly new second hand house, you might have to do a few minor repairs and maybe some remodelling to personalize it. But look at all the people who have a house built, and have to fight with the contractors over time and quality issues, then have to fight some more after the house is done because of problems that pop up and other defects. It saeems anyone I know who has a house built spends a year or more fighting to have problems dealt with.

Jim