More Car Troubles!!

So after I spent around $600 a couple of weeks ago on my car (muffler, oil change, brake pads), it continues to die on me. My brother borrowed my car earlier this week and went to take it out again and it was dead. I get a boost to it, and it works fine. A couple days later this happens again when my dad wants to borrow the car. He gives it a boost and it works fine.

I have driven the car everyday and no problems! Must be those boys!

Until today. My mom and I go to a festival which is about 45 minutes away from my town. Fun festival by the way. Then we decide to leave and I try to start....and nothing!! I had to call my brother to come out and give me a boost. On the way home I stopped at Canadian Tire and bought a new car battery.

My dad installed it this evening and I'm hoping that is the end of my car troubles for a long, long time!

Car battery was $107, but when I return the old one I get a $10 refund. :)

In other news, D and I saw Red on Friday. It was really good, kind of like the old funny James Bond movies but with a team. I laughed out loud at some points, I would recommend it. Saturday D had to work so I worked more on my quilt. It's coming along. A LOT of cutting and sewing though. I'll update with some pictures hopefully this week. The cranberry festival today was good, we went on a tour of the marsh, did some wine tasting, and ate some cranberry crepes, mmmm. Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Car Issues

Had my car in for an oil change today. Total was $52 which is not too bad. However, he also told me that my brake pads need to be replaced and that my muffler has a hole in it. Blah! I asked what his estimate on those would be and he said approximately $200 for the brakes and $160 for the muffler. I made an appointment for next Friday. Ah cars are so expensive!!!

Still cheaper to get this car fixed than to buy a new one. However I'm not sure how much longer this one is going to last me. It's a 1999 Toyota and has a bit over 211,500km on it...

This and That

I worked today so I had to have my brother take in my car to get the new tires. It ended up costing $247, blah! I'm glad it is done though. The tires were only $69 each, and the rest was labour etc. It costs so much to have THEM change my tires. I really need to learn. Hopefully the equipment necessary isn't too expensive. But if I learn that will save me $140 per year!!! Just changing tires (once a year to change from winter tires and once a year to change back to winter tires)!!

I taught Grade 5 today and this kid who needs a computer to do his work printed 100 copies of another boys speech while I wasn't looking. Sneaky little devil!!

BF came this weekend which was nice. He is moving to a new apartment in Toronto for his placement (he will be there for 6 weeks) this weekend so I will be travelling there on Saturday once he is moved in. We're looking for some inexpensive ideas of things to do around Toronto. I'm thinking we might go to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Science Centre and Reptilia (just because I get in free as a teacher and can take a friend to Reptilia for free). He also wants to possibly go to Casa Loma. He's not very into art and I've been to ROM at least 6 times. Any suggestions?

I bought some books using gift cards I received for Christmas last week and spent about $25 extra. My roommate is getting married this summer and her birthday is in May, I got her this cute book called "How To Get Married, By Me The Bride." It's written from the perspective of a 6 year old, it's cute! I think she will like it. She is a supply teacher too so she can use it in the future.

I'm volunteering for a couple of hours tonight and need to get ready. I hope you have a great week and are able to enjoy some of the sunshine!!

New Tires

Yesterday I visited with my friend. Usually we end up going out for lunch or supper but since both of us are on a budget, we decided to make lunch and go for a walk. It was great! I love free/inexpensive activities!

After visiting her I loaded up my old tires and headed to the local tire service company. I showed them my two tires (the other two were discarded when I got my snow tires on). They looked at them and took some numbers and he booked an appointment for Monday for my car. I think if I understood everything correctly that they will take off my old snowtires and put on the two tires I still had, and two new tires for about $200. I hope I understood it correctly, I guess I will find out Monday!

Darn cars.

Cause of Car Problems

It was the brake line. Apparently there was a leak and so I ran out of brake fluid, Jason you were right! The one line had a visible hole in it, and the other was wet meaning it likely had a small not visible leak. So it was a bit of a process to get it fixed. My dad went to get it checked but now it's done and working again. Yay! They also fixed the holes in the exhaust. Total damage is $300. I know my dad won't ask for the money, he wouldn't even tell me what it was. I had to get it out of my mom today. I will pay him back soon. Instead of taking it out of my TFSA (E-fund) which is very minimal already, I'm going to make a smaller contribution to my family loan next month.

Brakes Failed

My brother was borrowing my car for the past two weeks as my parents are in Florida and I'm using their vehicle. He comes to me yesterday and says the brakes are shot. I ask what he did, he says nothing. He only drives to work and back and ocassionally the bank. 10 minutes of driving total. So I didn't believe him, I JUST got the car serviced last Monday. So I take it for a spin, and sure enough the brakes are VERY VERY slow at working, and the brake light is on.

I can press the brake pedal right to the floor, there are no squeaking sounds or anything it just slows down extremely slowly, and I was going about 10km/h. I am going to have my dad look at it when I pick them up tonight, hopefully it's just a basic problem like needing brake fluid or something. Somehow I'm thinking it's more than that though since I'm sure they would have checked for that when I got it serviced. Please be an inexpensive and easy fix!!!

Now I can joke about having a Toyota with failed brakes though. Although mine isn't on the recall list...it's 11 years old.

Cars are expensive!!

I just got an oil change at the beginning of the month ($56) and this weekend I just got snowtires for the first time. At first I was against them. They are so expensive! But since I am supplying quite a bit and often have to travel long distances I think they are a good thing to get. Some provinces even make snow tires mandatory to have (Quebec). The tires I had to get were just under $100 each. I got four put on for $420. Ouch. But my mom just won a draw last week and won almost $2000 and said she would pay for half. So that is very very helpful. However, when the guys were putting on the tires they had a look at my old tires and said that two of them are just terrible and need to be replaced. They discarded them there! So come spring I am going to have to buy two more tires....it's never ending. I also need new windshield wipers, please nothing other than gas until spring!!