Anyone need their garage cleaned out?

OK, so today I bought a used pickup truck. I needed a reliable truck to (hopefully) generate some income. How am I going to do that? Hmmmmm. Well, I know that I can rake leaves. I also know how to mow grass and paint and hammer a nail. I have put in windows, tiled floors, organized rooms and done some demo work (that's demolition, not demonstration). I am still putting in job applications all over the place, but I can no longer afford to wait for my ship to come in. I have to swim out and meet it. I may never be rich and famous, but I hope to be able to pay the bills and put food on the table.

I had to sell both my Escort and my full-sized pickup in order to do this. I also put a couple of my meager paychecks aside in savings in order to make this happen. I like talking about my vehicles, especially the Escort. The pickup was your garden variety Ford F150. 1988, with a straight 6 cylinder engine. They stopped making this engine several years ago. My belief is that it was too good a motor to continue to make them. A big, strong 6 cylinder engine with as much displacement as many modern day V8's, and more torque than many engines. This engine just never quit and could tow pretty much anything you chained to it. It was too big for me, though. I decided to get rid of it, because I knew that I wasn't going to be making as much money as I used to (at least for a while) and the truck simply used too much fuel to drive everyday. My thought was to get rid of both of the vehicles and buy one, thus saving us a few dollars per month on insurance.

The Escort I was a lot more attached to, emotionally. I bought it 4 years ago when I first got my orders to go to Richmond. I had just bought a home and my wife works here, and really enjoys her job, and my step-son had gone to school his whole life right here with the same kids. It's all he knew. Therefore, I decided that I could drive to Richmond everyday and I needed a car that got decent mileage in which to make the daily commute. I bought the car from the original owner, who had upgraded to a new Toyota. I paid her $500 for the Escort and immediately spent about $300 more getting it tuned up, new brakes and generally making sure it was road-worthy. I began driving it to Richmond everyday- about 100 miles each way- and spent a huge amount of time in it (thank God for Sirius and XM!). The car got about 36 miles per gallon on the interstate (going about 75-80 mph). The fuel tank was too small to make 2 trips to work, so I fueled up every day. After doing that for 7 months, the powers-that-be authorized us to move our office to Yorktown, VA (this was a mere 45 miles each way). Oh, happy day!!!! Well, after 6 months of that, I was nominated to go to Kuwait for 6 months (that's a story for another day). After being gone for 7 months, I thought I would be going back to my office, but the command had other ideas. So, from January of 2007 to November of 2008, I made the drive from Va Beach all the way to Petersburg, VA (85 miles each way). This trip, although shorter than the 100mile trip I was accustomed to making, took me the same amount of time to travel- 1:45 each direction. So, once again, I began spending 3+ hours each day driving my wonderful little car. I had an idea that one day I would want to sell the car, though, so I developed an Excel file to log my gas mileage every day. Because I travelled a 4 lane highway, and not an interstate, my mileage increased to almost 40mpg! I have it logged, if you don't believe me. (I have met others who drive a similar car that claim even better mileage). The Escort was not a beautiful car. I never tried to paint it, remove the surface rust, or even get any dents out of it. I simply put gas in it, changed the oil and rotated the tires regularly. In the four years I owned it I had a laundry list of mechanical things done to it: Tires (twice), new cylinder head (and a new radiator, belts, hoses and labor, totalling $1700), left side window glass (some wise guy decided to use them for target practice- never figured out who it was), windshield (twice), brakes (twice), throttle body sensor, oil pressure sensor, and, most recently, a timing belt (after 185,000 miles, I reckon it was about time to replace that little gem). I figure I invested about $3500 into that little machine over the years. I bet it saved me at least twice that in gas mileage. I had the idea that I would get top dollar for a car that got that great mileage, but I needed to get people to come look at it. I was getting no hits on my ad at $1500, so I lowered it to $1250. Again, no hits. $1000. Got some interest, but no real nibbles. Resubmitted the ad to read "I REALLY need to sell this car- $900" and the calls started. A young couple ended up buying it. They were realistic about the looks of a cheap car, and really appreciated the fact that I had taken such good care of the engine/ drive train. I showed them the fuel mileage log and offered to help replace the brake pads. They offered me $800 and I accepted it. Off they drove in my darling little car... :-(
But I am confident that they got a good car and will take good care of her....

So, now I had $1800 burning a hole in my pocket, so I knew I had to get another vehicle before I spent the money on something else. Afterall, my goal was to get a truck without generating any more debt. I looked at several small trucks online, and finally found one I could go look at just up the road. I saw this truck and immediately knew that I wanted it. I tried my best no to look too eager, but I think I failed miserably! I hate it when that happens! This is why I don't make a living playing poker. I had to take a few hundred out of savings to get the truck, but I am convinced that I got a good deal. Now the trick is going to be making a living with it. Wish me luck.