I think that having fewer cards and payments might be a good feeling for you, so I would pay off the three cards. Then you can just concentrate on paying off the bigger one. Once you fill up the sinking funds that money can be added to the big card.
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I think that’s what I’ll do.
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Makes sense re the family splits! (And it makes me happy that y’all are there for each other.)
It seems like you have a good plan moving forward that should help you reduce that interest compounding.
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AGREE. Also if the fixture is too bright or the wrong warmth, you need to replace it, but with a normal fixture you just swap bulbs.
(Our house came with dumb LED lights in the bedrooms that were about 1000000 watts and blue)
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Interestingly some of the new fixtures can be adjusted! I like them all on the warmest setting. Also I changed a whole ton of switches to dimmers at our house and it was one of the best quality of life decisions I’ve made.
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I splurged on a motion sensor light that takes actual bulbs! It was way more than a cheap dawn to dusk LED but I don’t want it on all night confusing the birdies.
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We have a 15 ft wall at the end of our family room and I want to hang a big, white mantel kind of shelf there. I’m not much of a decorator, but I plan to put seasonal decorations up there, some knick knacks, etc. Imagine this with no fireplace:
How long should the shelf be? I’ve taped out the dimensions.
7 ft:
8 ft:
They don’t look that different, I guess, but I’m stuck!
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I like the 7’ better. The 8’ looks a tad too big.
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I like 7!
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I’m thinking about getting an air fryer. Is there a better brand to look for? I will want a small one.
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Agreed. I think that once you have stuff on the 8’ version it will look very busy/heavy.
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7 is the way to go. Rule of thumb is 1/3 to 1/2 for balance.
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Another option is to move the 7’ one over to the right and hang a second one slightly higher up that overlaps the lower one by ~1/3. That would fill the wall more and add some additional visual interest.
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Thanks everyone!
Very grateful to have this space where I can get advice from knowledgeable people, but also ask for advice for two forbidden words: “car loan.”
We are trying to buy a car in the $35-40K range, and could put $25K down without having to move things around/could do more with some moving and thinking. I would prefer to buy a car outright but the other adult who is making this decision with me would not, and if I were trying to change her mind, I’d need a lot of data to make the case.
I’ve been hearing from friends that it’s possible to get car loans in the under 4% range. I know to stay away from dealership financing.
- Has anyone used online calculators that let you play with money down/monthly payments/see time to pay off? I know this exists for mortgages, I feel like it must exist for cars?
- Where would you look for competitive loan rates? We have good credit but don’t want to do a bunch of hard pulls that we don’t need to do. Our bank won’t give us a rate until we’re ready to buy a car, which makes me think they won’t have the best rate.
My wife has asked that I not get into finance super specifics here, which is fair, so hopefully this is enough info to be helpful: I may not be able to answer other questions if people have them.
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I’m not able to help with your questions, but I can give you some solidarity. I have a car loan. I was comfortable buying a much better car with it than I would have gotten with cash. For me it was worth it.
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You can use this calculator. Just use your loan amount instead of money down, it’s the same calculation as a home mortgage.
I’ve always been told to look at a local credit union and that’s where I got the car loan for a former car. It’s not the end of the world to get a loan if it’s a good rate! For us it was a $15K loan for a used car and it meant that we had some flexibility with not having to come up with that money upfront. With a baby on the way, it might not be a bad idea for you to be able to have more cash on hand.
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Why stay away from dealership financing? I have gotten my best rates from the dealer.
Also, check whether your bank or credit union offers an incentive to transfer your loan. I financed my last car via the dealer, then a few months later I transferred the loan to my CU and got $100. Of course, compare the rates and terms.
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New or used? Someone just told me that new car loans are 1.9% but used ones are 7.9%! I’ve had no issue with getting loans from the dealership in the past for rates as good as my bank. When I got my current car I could have paid cash but didn’t want to use up that much of what I had available. I think I paid a total of $300 interest which was worth it to me.
ETA I have financed one used and one new both from dealerships and got great rates. Before that I financed one from my local bank.
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@Meowmalade thanks! Our friend who got a good deal recently also mentioned a local credit union, so it’s worth looking into for sure. Was it a credit union you already banked with, or did you shop around?
@Gdogg you are blowing my mind, I was under the impression that dealerships always had the highest APR. good to know.
@turtlegirl that’s a great rate! The used market is still so bananas that we’d been thinking new. We are looking into buying someone’s returned lease on the advice of my aunt and uncle too.
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