Oops We Did It Again...
We are still getting used to the fact of having a mortgage and being in debt. From now till settlement date, it's gonna be save save save that every spare penny we've got. I thought i was the frugal one, but Michael is a nazi when it comes to saving $. He's SOO strict! I don't even get play $ anymore! But then even with all the pressure of trying to pay as much deposit as we can for the house, we just had to go and get a new(ish) car as well!!!!
Our existing car is a 1980's Toyota Corolla that Michael bought 5 years ago at a bargain price of AUD1000. It's old, small and DIIIIRRRRTY (how i miss my Wira) but it works fine and got us through Canberra & back and the many trips down the caravan. It has served us well and it's good enough for the 2 of us.
The original plan was to get a new bigger car when we have kiddies which we plan to have right about now, together with the house. So, new house, new car, new baby rite? But since there's no baby yet so we thought the car can wait lah..
But nope. Turns out that our Corolla did stick to the original plan whilst we're being slack :p Corolla was getting a lil bit too old & cranky and giving us grieve. Michael is having a very hard time with the clutch especially during peak time and it got to a point that it might get too expensive to maintain. It was time to let go....
So off we went with Tom, Michael's father (he's good with cars) to the car yards from the South to the West of Sydney, in search of a good CHEAP car. Cars in OZ are waaaaaaay cheaper than in Malaysia. You can get good new ones like a Toyota SUV for about AUD40,000 or less and even cheaper if it's seconds. As we couldnt afford to be more heavily in debt, we're happy to settle with used cars instead and with a meagre budget of AUD4000, i was crazily 'attracting' the right car for us. It was getting pretty impossible actually cos from what we've seen from one car yard to another, the cars at that price are either too old or just too unpretty for me. I admit that i know nothing about cars but i do want a nice looking one! :p We're so desperate we even went to the car yard for backpackers!
As dramatic as buying the house, when we're almost giving up, we stumbled upon this old small car yard with no fancy balloons and banners but just big price sign stickers on the cars with the right prices!! Most of them are priced below the AUD4000 mark - well, AUD3999 to be exact :p But most of them too old and also, tak sedap sungguh mata memandang....except of course, for this one white Toyota Camry Wagon.
It looks good inside and out - clean,nice and PRETTY! Tom checked the engine & all and everything's fine. Took it for a test drive, went pretty smoothly, all so good! Plus, it's got EVERYTHING that we wanted (by 'we' i meant Michael cos all i want is AIR COND and must look PRETTY). He wanted our car to have a tow bar, must be a wagon, must be manual, 4 cylinder and not 6 (which is a bit hard for a wagon) and he wants a Toyota.
The best part is, it was marked at AUD2999!!! That's 1k off our budget! How come so cheap? The only reason we could find is cos it's got lots of KMs in it. But considering all other things and the price, Tom thought it's still a pretty good buy, Michael's fine with it, i just don't really know or care. So the boys started haggling. Michael was getting a bit greedy at one point and wanted two cars (another VERY OLD red Toyota that he's eyeing as well with lower KMs) for cheap. Hang on, we DO NOT NEED two cars, we're already saving 1k as it is and potentially more, i do not want that red old thing and the salesman's getting a bit stand-offish. So i had to barge in. Took over the haggling, told him we're just interested in that one car. Didn't know that ive got it in me, but we got the white Camry at almost half the price that we budgeted for!!!!! woohooo! Well, i think the fact that he looked like Billy Bob Thornton helped me be a bit 'flirty'. :p
So this is our new car. Well, not new, it's just a teeny wee step up from an 80's Toyota to a 1994 one..hahaha...and for 2k plus, i thought it's just fantastic! Just hoping that the baby will come soon now!!
Btw, we celebrated Tom's birthday last weekend with family and his good friends. He is the coolest, i love him to bits!
Our existing car is a 1980's Toyota Corolla that Michael bought 5 years ago at a bargain price of AUD1000. It's old, small and DIIIIRRRRTY (how i miss my Wira) but it works fine and got us through Canberra & back and the many trips down the caravan. It has served us well and it's good enough for the 2 of us.
The original plan was to get a new bigger car when we have kiddies which we plan to have right about now, together with the house. So, new house, new car, new baby rite? But since there's no baby yet so we thought the car can wait lah..
But nope. Turns out that our Corolla did stick to the original plan whilst we're being slack :p Corolla was getting a lil bit too old & cranky and giving us grieve. Michael is having a very hard time with the clutch especially during peak time and it got to a point that it might get too expensive to maintain. It was time to let go....
So off we went with Tom, Michael's father (he's good with cars) to the car yards from the South to the West of Sydney, in search of a good CHEAP car. Cars in OZ are waaaaaaay cheaper than in Malaysia. You can get good new ones like a Toyota SUV for about AUD40,000 or less and even cheaper if it's seconds. As we couldnt afford to be more heavily in debt, we're happy to settle with used cars instead and with a meagre budget of AUD4000, i was crazily 'attracting' the right car for us. It was getting pretty impossible actually cos from what we've seen from one car yard to another, the cars at that price are either too old or just too unpretty for me. I admit that i know nothing about cars but i do want a nice looking one! :p We're so desperate we even went to the car yard for backpackers!
As dramatic as buying the house, when we're almost giving up, we stumbled upon this old small car yard with no fancy balloons and banners but just big price sign stickers on the cars with the right prices!! Most of them are priced below the AUD4000 mark - well, AUD3999 to be exact :p But most of them too old and also, tak sedap sungguh mata memandang....except of course, for this one white Toyota Camry Wagon.
It looks good inside and out - clean,nice and PRETTY! Tom checked the engine & all and everything's fine. Took it for a test drive, went pretty smoothly, all so good! Plus, it's got EVERYTHING that we wanted (by 'we' i meant Michael cos all i want is AIR COND and must look PRETTY). He wanted our car to have a tow bar, must be a wagon, must be manual, 4 cylinder and not 6 (which is a bit hard for a wagon) and he wants a Toyota.
The best part is, it was marked at AUD2999!!! That's 1k off our budget! How come so cheap? The only reason we could find is cos it's got lots of KMs in it. But considering all other things and the price, Tom thought it's still a pretty good buy, Michael's fine with it, i just don't really know or care. So the boys started haggling. Michael was getting a bit greedy at one point and wanted two cars (another VERY OLD red Toyota that he's eyeing as well with lower KMs) for cheap. Hang on, we DO NOT NEED two cars, we're already saving 1k as it is and potentially more, i do not want that red old thing and the salesman's getting a bit stand-offish. So i had to barge in. Took over the haggling, told him we're just interested in that one car. Didn't know that ive got it in me, but we got the white Camry at almost half the price that we budgeted for!!!!! woohooo! Well, i think the fact that he looked like Billy Bob Thornton helped me be a bit 'flirty'. :p
So this is our new car. Well, not new, it's just a teeny wee step up from an 80's Toyota to a 1994 one..hahaha...and for 2k plus, i thought it's just fantastic! Just hoping that the baby will come soon now!!
Btw, we celebrated Tom's birthday last weekend with family and his good friends. He is the coolest, i love him to bits!
Comments
And THAT beautiful thing at only 2K?? You're really having a lucky streak lah girl. Next up - beautiful babies!!
Congrats on your new bundle of joy; the car & house! Hope the stork will deliver the baby soon :)
Cheers!
Nice house, nice car I see :) Hope you'll get your baby soon too :) Well, they usually come in that order ;)
Will read more of your blog later.
Take care!
Ibu aka K.Ieja tesco yg cool tuh!! hehe..that's how i remember you! thanks so much :)
Ateen - always will..:p
ymy! jauhnya sampai ke melbourne!! caya ah! thanks sis, am loving the car!
leymah! alamak..hampeh le kite, NGV osso dunno..kena google..ahaks!
K.Spena - tenkiu tenkiu ;)
By the way, i'm planning to marry my aussie bf in Malaysia, since u are married to an aussie, perhaps you could advise me on the procedure and what to do on his part.cheers.