June 11, 2010
Speaking of saving money tips, I accomplished a tremendous savings last week. It turns out that my car needed a new timing belt. I got two shop estimates. One came in at $485 and the other was $513. Ouch. Plus when am I going to find the time to take it in?  I got to pondering my money saving tips experiences and it turns out that my neighbor (the one who is a good mechanic) had some free time last saturday. He said just get the parts and he’d show me how to do it. So I actually did all the work. He actually instructed me to wash off the engine first with a pressure washer (which he had sitting around) and then proceeded to just instruct me as to what to do. In fact he was working on another project too. So I did all the work, and it only took a couple of hours. Fired her back up and there you have it. Actually, out of gratitude, I spent a couple more hours helping him change an engine in a Subaru. But I would have possibly spent some time waiting for the car in a commercial shop anyway, so not too much time lost there. So here’s the total cost: $53.00 for the cost of the timing belt, and the cost of a couple of cases of beer for my friend(little extra’s like this go a long ways, especially if they are unexpected. I’ll be posting saving money tips more frequently from now on.
Talk soon,

Hal