So, the problem with my brain is that
1) it likes shiny things
2) it’s lousy at money management
3) it is endlessly optimistic about the ability of me to earn ‘more’ to pay back loans ‘quicker’.
To buy the EV – based on scratchy basic sums – would save us, potentially, around 2000 over 2 years (less the cost of servicing and assuming Kathryn commutes in it, oh and excluding the electricity cost – but then Nikki reckons £50 for 1400 miles in her Leaf).
If Kathryn doesn’t commute in it, it still, I think, works out around 1000 cheaper, based on the car-costs for last year.
But all of this is based on the cost of the Volvo not changing – but it’s had *lots* of work – so it could be that over the next two years it’s beautifully perfect and hassle free. On the other hand, it’s approaching an MOT. And last year’s wasn’t traumatic. So this one might be.
I hate sums where one of the figures is so potentially wrong. I hate it particularly because to replace the car with an EV is borrowing a scary quantity of money. It’s weird to spend that much money on a modern car. I know I’ve spent way more on Rebecca, but that was…different. Possibly foolish, but different. And I still adore the minor.
Of course, buying an EV means that Rebecca will essentially be retired except for long journeys, or when Kathryn’s out and about and I need to go somewhere further than cycle distance. Which is an odd thought. I would, as I’ve said before, love to complete her EV conversion. But the amount of money that would cost is prohibitive.
But because of the problems of my brain, and Kathryn having similar problems, we need to talk to someone to whom I can’t do the convincing. Which means that this evening we’ll be talking to Kathryn’s mom in the hopes that sanity might overwhelm my shiny desire. Ironically the company from whom I have the ‘consolidation and house improvement loan’ which I’ve been quietly paying off (although apparently not at the rate I thought I had been) offered me a “wouldn’t you like to owe us more money” loan which is, actually, about perfect for this purpose. And by extending the loan repayment period I can essentially get the car without spending any extra money each month – which hopefully means that we could pay off the loan quicker with the money saved by having an EV.
Of course, one financially easier solution would be for me to suck it up and start servicing the Volvo at home, but I don’t think that’s likely to happen in the near future.
It’s all far too complex for this little sleep.
Anyhow. Given the sleep deprivation I’ve piled on the small tasks – the tax return is done and ready to go, the bathroom’s cleaned, the stairs swept, the dishwasher’s loaded, I’ve varnished the wood for the kitchen lights (I wasn’t going to but the thought of how much oil will soak into that wood meant that we decided on a coat of my nice semi-matt varnish)
I think I need to have more frames / minute – but hey, it’s fun to play with.
Also, I’ve finally made my GPS Tracker work. It’s sat in the car, and after some playing, is reporting it’s position. I ring it and it texts me back with it’s position. In *theory* it’s meant to be able to use GPRS to actually feed back an address, but that doesn’t seem to be working… I suspect I’ve set it up wrong. But it does on ringing SMS back an accurate position, which is quite (very) cool. I may sneak the charger. Unfortunately, whilst it comes with a ‘car charger’ you’re not (I think) meant to leave it on charge for ever and ever. I’m unsure if it’s clever enough to switch the charger off when the battery is fully charged – and the manual is Engrish enough that I can’t actually work that out.
Still, it does what it says on the tin (or box, in this case), and it was much cheaper than a lot of the other ones on the webs, so hey.
Anyhow, my brain’s at that stage where it’s only sorta-kinda-working, so… I think this is probably enough for today :)
