Good morning east coasters! I just got home from a party, where I was of the last group to leave. And drove a cute girl home and made out with her! Sadly, she's only in town for the weekend. Ah well.

But still-- cute girl! And making out!

I'm not nearly as awake as the exclamation points would lead one to believe. More coffee.

Anything I don't have on autopay is likely to be late. I consider that totally financially responsible. It's better than risking the a) late fees and b) hassle of having things reconnected.

This is me, in sum. Those to whom you owe money don't care how you pay it.

Gah. who turned on the pollen?

Sounds like you had a great evening Meara! Hi & hugs to everyone.

Cashmere - the box _is_ coming. Work ate my face this week, and I haven't really made it past my front door.

Also, for those as like this kind of thing,: [link]

Also, for those as like this kind of thing,: [link]

Those were cool! Some of them, anyway....

A Honda Accord or Toyota Camary would probably have the room, but used ones tend to be a lot more expensive than the domestics. Something to also remember with a Honda that has significant miles is that unless you have a record of the last timing belt change, you will probably need to replace it (and water pump) just in case and that can run $800-$1000. Still my top two choices, but there are a couple of others that come to mind.

A Ford Taurus would have the room and be cheap as hell to buy. Not as reliable, but the parts are cheap and widely available just do not get anything older than 1996. They were mechanical disasters before then.

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A Mitsubishi Galant might run less than a Honda or Toyota but will be hard to find and more expensive than a domestic. I think they have the same timing belt issue though.

[link]

A Ford Crown Vic would also have a lot of room and are very tough mechanically, but they suck down gas and are big. On the plus side, watch traffic slow down around you.

[link]

I think a Camary might be the pick of the crop, but used ones don't tend to come cheap.

I've known people who have had old GMs and had them hold up great, but the empirical data doesn't really look promising.

I use mycheckfree.com for a lot of bills because it's easier for me to manage my household bills all in one place electronically.

This is utterly weird to admit, but I miss paying all the household bills since I moved in with The Boy. Everything is in his name, and we have separate bank accounts, so I write him one check once a month. All I pay otherwise is my credit card (which is going to be paid off fully next week) and my car insurance every 6 months.

I just get a really anal-retentive thrill paying the bills and keeping all the finances in order.

I also balance my checkbook every month as soon as my statement is available online. I am a nerd.

I always used to balance my checkbook every month, because my mom drilled the importance into me. And then some time during the 7 years I lived alone, I just stopped doing it. And about 3-4 years' worth of bank statements piled up on my desk, and I just added to the pile every month and shrugged. Then for some reason, one day I decided to try to balance my checkbook. It was an utter mess, and I opted to go back about 2 years' worth of statements and straighten out the math and then move forward from there.

It turns out that 3-4 years' worth of my math mistakes in my checkbook register really added up. When I was finally finished balancing my checkbook, it turned out that I had about $300 MORE than I thought I had, because of how much I screwed up the math.

It was awesome -- like a tax return or something. But since then, thanks to first Microsoft Money (when I had a Compaq Presario), and then Quicken, I balance my checkbook every month, just to make sure everything is copacetic.

Yeah, I am a major, major nerd.

A Ford Crown Vic would also have a lot of room and are very tough mechanically, but they suck down gas and are big. On the plus side, watch traffic slow down around you.

Oh man, that drove me insane once when we had a Crown Vic as a rental. Every time you'd come up behind traffic on the freeway everyone would slow down and hold steady at or below the speed limit. So aggravating.

That's funny about the Crown Vic. I hadn't thought about that although I do the slowing down thing too.

My parents have a Taurus. DH isn't comfortable driving it, but Brendon isn't his size. I'll have him size check.

which is going to be paid off fully next week

Woo!

Right??? Like Patrick Stewart in Othello.

I saw that! And also Avery Brooks as Othello with, oh, shit, what's his name? Homicide: LOTS guy... as Iago. Andre Brauer. So much awesome.