Car = $$$

I dropped my car off this morning to get a tune-up and check out where that annoying rattling noise is coming from. Also, my car is pretty old, so I wanted to make sure that it's not dangerous for me to be driving the thing.

The mechanic called me and gave me the bad news that I would need about $500 worth of stuff done. Bummer. I had already told him I knew I needed a new fuel pump, but that wasn't happening. That would have jacked the cost up to over $1,500 and I'm not up for spending that right now.

The mechanic says to me "this car sits around a lot, doesn't it?" Ummm, not a big leap on his part considering the car is over 9 years old and only has about 40,000 miles on it. Plus, it's totally covered in dust. : )

Also, he was telling me that I might have a small oil leak, but nothing that would show up underneath my car or anything. I say to him "yeah, I would probably notice if I had a leak because I hardly ever get the oil changed, so I would expect the light to come on if I had a leak". He laughed at that statement... yep, I just said I never get the oil changed - oops. I meant it as a good thing that the leak can't possibly be that bad. : ) I realized the other day I hadn't taken my car in for an oil change for about a year - terrible! Mainly because I hadn't driven it even 2,000 miles yet since the last oil change.

I really hope my car holds out until at least next summer without any other major expenses... fingers crossed!