Hey everyone! We are currently in St. Thomas. We love it here and this is definitely one of our favorite vacation spots.
Some of you have been wondering why we come here so often, and you will find out tomorrow. I have a post dedicated to our travel plans for the next 6 months which will be published tomorrow.
The truck is almost sold.
A few months ago, we brought our 1961 Chevy Apache to a classic car dealership to put it on consignment. We really did not want to sell it, and giving the key to the sales manager definitely made me flinch.
So, why are we getting rid of it?
We bought the Camaro (Read: Our New Camaro 2SS) earlier this year with the plan that we would have bought our “forever home” in time for the winter so that we could put both cars in our future garage (we don’t care about the Jeep being in a garage or not). Well, since we scrapped the plans to buy a new house since we are still undecided with what we want to do, we only have a one car garage. Neither the truck (it has a wooden truck bed) nor the Camaro can sit in hail or the snow, so we had to make the decision to get rid of the truck.
We tried selling it on our own but had absolutely no luck. Instead we just had a bunch of people trying to scam us on the phone.
We brought it to a dealership and they put a price tag of nearly double what we were asking on Craigslist. I went on the dealership’s website the other day, and it says that the truck is sold. They have some things they need to do to get the truck ready for transfer, and then we will have to go up to the dealership to sign the title over to the new owner.
I am glad that the truck sold but I am also sad because I have grown attached to it. Oh well, the truck will be going to someone better, and I have a little more money in the bank now. I also don’t have to worry about the truck getting damaged or breaking either.
We are now a 2 car family again, which is probably still more than we need but oh well.
Spending
Everyone is probably tired of hearing about this, but we FINALLY had our carpet installed. After this being on my things to do and goals list for the past few years, I am glad it is finally done. And it looks and feels awesome. I’m so glad that we finally stopped being lazy. We paid around $500 for it, and we paid for it back in November I believe.
We also did some work in the guest bathroom. We ripped out the sliding doors to the bathtub and replaced it with a shower curtain (the sliding doors were VERY old and a gross yellow color). We spent around $100 at Target buying a new rod, shower curtain, liner and matching towels.
The next thing on our list is to replace the garage door. We hope to do that before we leave for our long trip.
Business Income:
Self-employment has been amazing so far this month. The first week of December was a little slow, but it has since picked up considerable. I don’t think December will be a crazy busy month though. The holidays in December tend to make the month a rather slow one.
I have already started working on getting many things done before we leave on our long trip. However, I still have a ton more to do! It is nice knocking each thing out one by one. Knowing that I will be able to enjoy my trip more by knocking out all of these small things makes me super happy.
If anyone needs any help, check out my Hire Me page and let me know what services you are interested in. Lately, a few other website owners have asked me to help run their website while they are gone for just a month or two, so this is a new service that I am also offering. If you are starting a new job, about to have a baby, want to do some long-term travel or something else, please let me know.
Posts from Making Sense of Cents:
- $13,387 in November Business Income – This is my usual monthly update. However, November was my first full month of self-employment, which makes the newest income update the most exciting.
- Making The Decision To Leave Your Job – It was hard for me to make the decision to leave my job. After a lot of planning though, I did what was best for me and I haven’t looked back.
- Tips For A Better Work-Life Balance – I used to constantly find myself stressed out because of the amount of things on my plate. However, now I have a much better work-life balance and have found many ways to enjoy my new-found freedom.
- How Would Your Life Be If You Didn’t Have Debt? – After eliminating $40,000 in student loans, I can honestly say that life without student loan debt is amazing. We still have our mortgage though, and I can’t wait until we find our forever home and start attacking our mortgage.
- 3 Practical Steps to Launch Your Freelance Writing Career – If you want to become a writer, read this! Alexa is awesome and wrote a post for Making Sense of Cents.
Being healthy
I have been doing pretty well with working out. All last week I ran (okay, I walked a lot of it…) between 3 to 4 miles each day. I hope to continue this into the future!
Wedding Planning
A lot of wedding stuff is on my mind right now. I finally booked our wedding DJ as well. We are using Top Tier Entertainment, a St. Louis DJ, for our wedding! I met with him the other day and he was very nice, and he is exactly what we are looking for.
Have you been doing well with your extra income, spending and being healthy?
MMD says
Isn’t it funny how attached you can get to something like a truck? I felt the same way about selling my commuter car – you just get used to the thing since you’re around it so much.
Michelle says
I get attached to anything and everything. When we got rid of our REALLY bad Dodge Neon (literally ALL of the paint had flaked off) for $100, I was sad then too haha
Dee @ Color Me Frugal says
Oooh, jealous of St. Thomas. Looking forward to reading tomorrow’s update. Bummer that you had to sell the truck!
Michelle says
Thanks Dee 🙂
Allison says
I would love to be somewhere warm right now!!!
It’s funny that we get so attached to material things. It’s hard to give them up!
Michelle says
It’s definitely warm here!
FI Pilgrim says
I’d take the Camaro over the truck too, but still… that’s a sweet truck.
Michelle says
Ha it was a tough decision for me!
Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies says
Congrats on selling your truck and I’m glad you had good luck consigning it. We tried to consign our last car and it was a horrible experience.
Enjoy St Thomas! I loved that island =)
Michelle says
Aww I’m sorry! What went wrong?
Holly@ClubThrifty says
I hope you’re having fun in St. Thomas….I’m so jealous!
Michelle says
Thanks Holly 🙂
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Looking forward to hearing about why you go to St. Thomas so often – I was wondering that myself! Also quick question: when you took out the sliding glass door, how difficult was it to cover up the screw holes in the tile? I hope that makes sense. We have a sliding glass door on ours I want to take out but I’m worried it will look horrible from drill marks from the door and we’ll have to almost immediately re-tile the whole thing. I try to avoid opening up a can of worms unless I know what I’m getting myself into 😉
Michelle says
Haha yes, many people have been wondering, so I plan on talking about it tomorrow 🙂
Our sliding glass door was actually one of those that is attached to a bathtub. It was just caulked on there so all we had to do was rip it off pretty much and clean up the mess.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Hmmm ours is also attached to a bathtub/shower combo (I’m assuming that’s what you are talking about as well?) but it’s definitely screwed on. I may just give it my best shot in a few months here and hopefully my wife doesn’t get too upset if I create a disaster zone for a day or two : )
Michelle says
Ours wasn’t screwed in at all. It was a bad bathtub job so that may be why ours was easy to take off.
Laurie @thefrugalfarmer says
Great job on all of your goals, Michelle, and I can’t wait to hear more about St. Thomas. A tropical vacation is definitely on our list of goals after the debt is paid off. 🙂
Michelle says
Thanks Laurie!
Grayson @ Debt Roundup says
Nice truck and I would be sad to see it go, but I understand. You have to keep the Jeep 😉
Michelle says
haha I could never get rid of the Jeep!
MonicaOnMoney says
Have fun in St. Thomas, it’s so beautiful! Happy Holidays 🙂
Michelle says
Thank you 🙂 You too!
John S @ Frugal Rules says
Sorry you had to sell the truck, especially one like that…though a Camaro is a pretty sweet alternative. 🙂 Income for me has been pretty good, though things do definitely seem to be slowing down with the Holidays coming up. Enjoy St. Thomas!
Michelle says
I’m sad 🙁 But I’m happy about the extra cash!
Edgar @ Degrees and Debt says
So cool that you sold the truck! How did you come about owning it to begin with? Was it in the family or something?
Michelle says
We saw that it was for sale and swooped it up!
Debt and the Girl says
Congrats on the truck selling. Thats great! Have fun on your trip
Michelle says
Thanks!
Tonya@Budget and the Beach says
I’ve been attached to some cars that I’ve sold in the past. You have memories associated with them, so I think that’s why. Enjoy your trip!
Michelle says
Thanks Tonya!
The Warrior says
Sometimes it can be tough to let go of the things we love (i.e. your truck), but to move on to other things we might love more now, we have to let go.
This was a big challenge for me in my early 20’s. I later learned I inherited this from my parents. Once I taught myself to accept change and newer and better by letting go, I was able to come to peace with losing things I had the attachment to.
The Warrior
NetWorthWarrior.com
Michelle says
Yeah it’s hard for me to let go because it would be very hard for us to find another one! 🙁
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life says
Enjoy St Thomas! I just got back from an amazing vacation and got sick the next day :/ At least it didn’t happen DURING the vacation.
Michelle says
Aww that stinks! W is sick right now 🙁
Slight Incline says
That is one nice truck! We had the same issues with scammers trying to sell our boat a few months back. For every genuine buyer, we had four scammers. It makes finding someone else to list it for you very attractive.
Michelle says
Ugh, I hate scammers!
Ryan @ Impersonal Finance says
Congrats on selling the truck! I know what you mean, the logical parts of our brains can sometimes makes us do things our heart doesn’t really want to do. Way to go on the December income, also!
Michelle says
Thanks Ryan!
jackie says
that’s sad you had to get rid of your beloved truck, but good that it sold for more than you were expecting! and jealous about the st. Thomas trip 🙂
Michelle says
It actually sold for less than what we wanted. We priced it low because it’s the winter time and because something major broke RIGHT before we listed it 🙁
Michelle says
It actually sold for less than what we wanted. We priced it low because it’s the winter time and because something major broke RIGHT before we listed it 🙁
Tie the Money Knot says
It’s 8 degrees where I am now, so St. Thomas sounds pretty good!
Good work on all those fronts. For me, it’s been a great week being healthy. All home-cooked meals, healthy, with plenty of sleep. It’s remarkable how great one can feel with just a week of excellent choices, and it’s less expensive than the alternatives too!
Michelle says
I’m glad that we could escape the cold!
Michelle says
We just talked to the dealership and it’s sold. The person already took it home!
Michelle says
That truck is awesome! Have fun in St. Thomas for me!
Michelle says
Thanks Michelle!
jefferson @SeeDebtRun says
I am sooo looking forward to tomorrow’s post to hear about your travel bonanza.
My goals are to take the family to the beach next year.. Somehow, Some way.. It WILL happen.
Hope you guys are having a blast!
Michelle says
Haha I hope you enjoy the post Jefferson!
Jon@2-copper-coins.com says
Congrats on your self employment income, I clearly have a great deal to learn about being a successful financial blogger. Seeing how well some people are doing gives me motivation to keep working at it, congrats on the money you are making through your various endeavors.
Also to put in my two cents if you will I would never have sold the truth to get a Camaro, although given your living situation I can understand why you did.
Michelle says
Well, we didn’t exactly sell the truck to get the Camaro. We’ve had the Camaro for nearly a year now 🙂
Stephanie@Mrs.Debtfighter says
I just found your website and love it! I read in a previous post that you live in St. Louis, I do too! Once I saw this pic of the truck, I knew exactly where you sold the truck! We have taken our boys there to look at all the cars. We have enjoyed several car shows there too! Congrats on selling the truck! 🙂
Michelle S. says
Haha that is so funny Stephanie. We LOVE going up there also. I’m so glad that there is another St. Louis blogger 🙂