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Here's An Idea For That Clunker: donating a car Saves You Money While Helping Others |
Article Submitted by: T. Ireland
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
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I turned 65 a few months ago and couldn't have picked a worse time to retire. I'm caught in the same economic crush that has hit so may other Americans, with my retirement savings taking such a wallop that the last time I looked it had lost over a third of its value. That's tough to take, but at least I wasn't laid off. According to the newspaper, it would seem that every other house on my street is in foreclosure proceedings and when I volunteer at the food bank, the hampers are gone long before the lineup is.
I sat down with my wife and our financial planner when we first started to realize what a mess the economy was in and we discussed whether I should consider remaining in the workforce a little longer to try to top up our retirement fund. Instead of going that route, we decided to cut back on our expenses. The first thing we did was sell our house and move into a condo. Yes, we took a bit of beating in the real estate market, but we also got a bargain with the new place, so things evened out. That switch helped top up our funds and the monthly costs like property taxes and utilities are also lower, so we were able to reduce our monthly budget. We had two cars, one of which was an old beater I used to drive to work. Now that we're both home, there's no need for multiple vehicles and that thing would only end up costing me for repairs, not to mention insurance and gas, so we decided that to donate a car to charity would be a good move. That's one less vehicle in our driveway and if it helps out someone else who's having a tough time of things, all the better.
So we got rid of one vehicle, but picked up another. I bought a second hand trailer and now, instead of sailing the Mediterranean, we're going the "staycation" route and visiting the historic sites around our state that we've never gotten around to until now. Camping is much less expensive than a hotel and we cook our own meals.
It's not quite the retirement that I'd envisioned, but then again, we never saw this coming. At least I was able to retire and in four or five years we might be back on track again. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
About The Author:
Ted Grisbane is a recently retiree who felt that donating a car was a good way to cut his expenses while helping out a charity. "The recession has hit charities pretty badly too," says Ted. "I may not be able to afford to donate money, but I can donate car, truck or other vehicle that saves me the trouble of getting rid of it, while actually doing some good." Ted contacted a service at 800-269-6814 to make his arrangements.
Ted Grisbane is a recently retiree who felt that donating a car was a good way to cut his expenses while helping out a charity. "The recession has hit charities pretty badly too," says Ted. "I may not be able to afford to donate money, but I can donate car, truck or other vehicle that saves me the trouble of getting rid of it, while actually doing some good." Ted contacted a service at 800-269-6814 to make his arrangements.
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