I will be downsizing my paycheck in about a years time. My paycheck will be going down to half of what it is when then. So I'm working on getting my complete budget under that amount. What I was counting on was the car loan being paid off and not having a car payment for two years. Unfortunately I have to purchase a new vehicle because the current one needs $2,800 of repairs and I've already put in $1,000.

So the current payment is $200 on the current vehicle. It will go up to about $220, but I plan on making payments of $250. So I need to get rid of approximately $2000. Approximately $1,020 is the rent and water (it may be a bit more than that), electricity is approximately $100, and my parents are paying off two of the bills. So I just need to get rid of $120 more and I can be good to go on living on less.

I'm currently living in a 1-bedroom home for $931. It's pretty small. It has a walk-in-closet and a stackable washer/dryer. I leased it during the mid-summer. By now I realized that I should have gotten a 6-month lease instead of for a year. For someone looking at this apartment complex right now for my same apartment is $817... Talk about being pissed-off...

Also I've been looking around and there are 2-bedrooms for less than what I'm currently renting at, so I'm going to be moving when this lease is up. And yes, I compared the prices of summer vs fall (preferably with a FULL SIZED washer/dryer).

The places that I've been looking at are lower than $900 a month and preferable below $800. I figured also that I'd rather have the extra bedroom for storage than anything else. I have a lot of gear and a closet isn't going to be the best option for that.

I was looking forward to paying off my vehicle early next year. Until I found out that I have $2,800 worth of repairs that need to be done after sinking $1,000 into it. I only have $1,200 left to pay on it.

So at this point I've decided to get a used "new to me" vehicle.

It's interesting to me that the first time I bought a vehicle I paid $600 for a '95 Altima (bought in 2009) and bought it outright. Then that one died and I got a car loan for a $9k '04 Sorento (bought 2012) that I had to get a co-signer for because my credit was so bad.

The reason that I'm getting a new vehicle is that I've had it for a little over four years. But I've only driven it a little over two years (I was in Afghanistan and Korea). I've already sunk about $2k into it during this whole time. The clutch is about to go out, I need new oil valves, and the carrier bearing is basically spinning in place. So I'm getting a newer vehicle.

So I've gone through the process of getting a new loan. Pre-approval from my bank so I have buying power. I've already walked away from one place which I never have an issue with. I have found that I dislike negotiating, so I'm getting my vehicle (2011) from CarMax. Did you know that it can take up to 28 days to request a vehicle from across the nation?...

Also you have have 5 days to return the vehicle in the same condition that you received it. So that's enough time to get a mechanic to look at it, and I suggest finding shops that do a pre-purchase vehicle inspection.

Thankfully, when this vehicle comes in, my payments will only go up less than 40%. But I'll do what I did last time I had a six-year loan. Send at least $5 extra a month but I actually paid it weekly to hit that interest. I would have paid off the current loan at less than five years. But I think I will throw a little bit more this time.

I'm hoping that this vehicle will check out and that I will not have any issues for several years.

Tip: even if you are pre-approved for a particular amount doesn't mean that you should use the whole amount. Just because you're approved for it, doesn't mean that you can actually afford it.