Using toothpaste to clean headlights

My headlights were all dull and oxidized so I gave them a quick spiffing up. Tools: old washcloth, cheap toothpaste (I used Colgate cavity control, just the travel size).

I think it worked just as well as one of those kits, and it cost me $.99 for the toothpaste and about five minutes of work. Sweet.

Results:

I refuse to buy a new car.

I have a 99 Chevy Cavalier.  Her name is THUNDERCOCK.  Yes, you have to spell it with all capital letters.  She was my first car, and I bought her for cash in 2007 for $5000.  She gets 28 MPG. She is very old, with 148,000 miles (most of which comes from a yearly or twice-yearly trip to Montana, 1000 miles one way).  Now, I absolutely refuse to buy a new car right now, mostly because I don't ever want a car payment.  I am of the opinion that even a hefty bill at the repair shop for a new A/C (which I got in 2010 for $900) or a new transmission is still cheaper than even an inexpensive car payment.  If I get a used $8000 car, with 6% APR and put down $1000, my payments will be about $200 per month.  That's $2400 that I'm obliged to pay for three years or more.  However, even if I have to pay $2000 for car repairs, it still i cheaper than having a car payment.


THUNDERCOCK is pretty sick, and I figure a few simple repairs will be able to extend her life a little longer.  I am slowly bringing the old girl back to life with some fixes.  Here is my list: 

1.) Sun visor:  a new visor is close to $130 new.  I found some on eBay for about $50, but it's still pricey for me at the moment for something purely cosmetic.  In the meantime, I got a cover/CD holder for $8.  It covers the parts that are shredded, and has a place to store my CDs and even has a slot for a pen.

2.) Glove box latch:  The glove box latch was always crappy, and would sometimes pop open if I would go over a big bump.  One day it just completely crapped out and broke, leaving the glove box permanently open and flinging my stuff out into my car.  I got a replacement latch on eBay for $15, which I will be able to install pretty easily.

3.) Tune-up:  The car likes to stall out at stop lights, and chug and thunk whenever I'm idling anywhere.  I did a bunch of research trying to figure out what's wrong with it.  I'm pretty cheap so I didn't want to pay for a repair that I didn't really need.  Luckily, I found that a lot of my problems can be solved with a general tune-up, which I had an estimate at around $150 for my car.  It's expensive, but hopefully it will take care of the engine problems.

That's all there is for right now.  I'm waiting to see if the tune up works in case I need to look into a fuel system cleaning or see what else they find.  I REFUSE TO BUY A NEW CAR!