Sheesh - My Ridiculous $$$ Draining Week

• January 27, 2012

In the span of one week;

My ‘99 Galant has been in the shop to replace a windshield washer pump, headlight replaced, and an oil something-or-another replaced.

My ‘99 Galant’s stereo and left door speaker went out. So I replaced the receiver, the two front door speakers, and just for the crap of it, the rear deck 6x9’s. This wasn’t an easy process, to say the least. My entire back seat had to be removed (cushions and all), and the front doors taken apart to put in the new speakers. I discovered a short in the speaker wiring in my driver side door, so I had to snake new cable from the door to my car body as well. Not to mention, taking apart the dash to install the receiver. I started this process on Tuesday, and just finished today.

Then, on Thursday I took our ‘04 Prius in to the dealership for a recall that replaced the hybrid engine’s water pump. Only to be called an hour later to tell me the main gas engine’s water pump ALSO needed replaced, and that one wasn’t free, not even a little.

I’m telling you all this, to simply say that it’s been a rough week for our cars, and for our wallets. But, the upside is this… doing all this work to my Galant inspired me to actually clean it out, and fix a few things on the interior that were simple fixes but I just never cared about. A little effort, various cleaners and some Armor All later and that car looks like it’s ten years newer (on the inside, anyway). I’m in no where near as big of a rush to get it replaced now, and feel okay about putting a little more money in the mechanical side to keep it running for two-ish more years. Despite the short-term financial loss, I feel like this week has probably gained us some serious long-term funds.

So, all’s well that ends well I suppose.