IMO It’s neither road condition nor having a garage that impacts how soon people get rid of their cars. Paint last a long time and suspension components rarely fail, and are mostly just pieces of shaped steel that can readily be interchanged and bolted on. The actual most important factor is that people don’t keep up with maintenance and then finally give up on the car because they have begun to conceive of it as a “piece of junk” due partly to their own neglect, then suddenly they get faced with what seems (but usually really isn’t) a large repair bill or series of repair bills.

Not all people find car maintenance “not fun”. My nearly 20 year old Honda Accord is going great because I maintain it regularly, and has never broken down on me (except once, about 5 years ago–a dead battery). The only reason it is in the shape it is in (besides the superb engineering and manufacturing quality) is that I know that car bolt by bolt, component by component. And know when I’ll need to replace the next thing and what it is.

By the time I get another car, in 5 to 10 years, it will probably be something completely different like the Chevy Volt.

Checking up on your possessions periodically (not just when they break) gives you a fantastic heads up on what kind of work will be or might be needed in the future and helps prevent catastrophic failure at the most inconvenient times. Personally, I find it relaxing, as long as I’m not doing it on a deadline. It is calming to know that I am ahead of the curve and am fixing something or planning ahead for replacement so there won’t be an inconvenient equipment failure in the future. Some (not all) of my “decompression time” is time spent doing maintenance tasks and projects around the house and car.

I may scream if I see one more helpful hint telling me to “brown-bag it once or twice a week” to save money, when I brown-bag it EVERY day. I’m lucky enough to be employed, but I’m thinking of those who aren’t. Is there information out there for them, super-cheap tips and the like?

You may cover this in another area, but shouldn’t “take care of your things” be extended to taking care of your body (since that is your ultimate “thing”)? This is another place where finances and health overlap. I may be wrong but given the choice between health and wealth, all other things being equal, wouldn’t most of us chose health?

A car is a much better example, it rusts and almost all people own their own car. But taking care is time consuming and not very fun, and things like road condition and having a garage or not might make more difference on your cars lifetime than anything you can do.

In short for any concrete example about taking care of your stuff, I can give you 10 reasons why that example is not valid. And finally all we REALLY want to do is not to take care of our stuff or our lives and just waste it away on the sofa in front of the television. We just need the financial freedom to do that first.

I had it to do all over again, I would set up a savings account just for home maintenance because you are always going to need it.

For the record, I was a single mom leaving an abusive marriage. It was leave with the shirt on my back, or eventually leave dead, and then my kids, too.

I had a BFA, and married a wealthy MIT grad/entrepeneur. Seemed like a prince. A good choice, no? Leaving when things changed completely, and I feared my kids would be next- good choice, no? Losing everything to a custody battle- absolutely necessary.

I was from a solidly middle class family, but I am not ignorant to the social phenomena called “the cycle of poverty” DeRuiter may want to do some research on that. Ignorance is a life choice, too.

Consider this: a hardworking, good character intelligent student is 14, and sitting in the Bronx at high school. A hardworking, good character intelligent student is 14, and sitting in high school in a blue ribbon school district on Long Island. They do the same work, they get the same grades. They will absolutely not have the same opportunities or life choices available upon graduation. What good or bad choices, exactly, did either child make to deserve their life-course opportunities, or lack thereof?

There are rise above examples everywhere. But one should not judge all by a standard of “outstanding achievement”. Most people are average intelligence, and average talent, and average temperment. You cannot expect everyone to be as ambitious or driven as an immigrant here for opportunity, especially in a culture that preaches entitlement.

I happen to be extremely lucky-I am smart-I joined Mensa after my divorce as a self-esteem builder. My kids have that too. But it’s just genetic lotto. I went on to get 2 masters degrees, and marry a wonderful professor. My artwork has been in the NY Times. But had I not the intellectual resources, and the middle class connections, I would be a welfare mom today, or just impoverished, and I know it. So I do not judge people in that position.

DeRuiter- volunteer in a soup kitchen. The best thing you will learn is that there is a story behind every beaten down face, some poor choices, but often, just insurmountable obstacles handed to very ordinary people, or, sadly, people so damaged by their youth that they will forever be the walking wounded and limp through life.

The other group doesn’t do maintenance for a reason. Lack of money, ill health, working 2 or more jobs, depression, mental illness, being elderly and frail, etc.

Of all the items mentioned, I think painting a house is the most difficult all around. It’s a lot of physical work to even prepare a house for painting. In order for the new paint to adhere properly you have to sand down all the areas where paint is peeling and then prime those areas. It’s hard work and much of it must be done on a ladder, not something a person who is elderly or not in good health can really do. Once the house is prepared you have to do the actual painting.

This isn’t like painting your living room. There, a gallon of paint, a roller kit, a paint brush and a day or two of your time will take care of it. You should be able to do it for under $50, even buying new brushes. House exteriors on the other hand, are extremely expensive. You need a lot of paint and most people are not really “up” for doing the work themselves. That’s an additional cost. Having your house painted costs thousands of dollars.

For many people, I suspect the cost is the deciding factor. Replace your car that’s falling apart or paint your house? Get your kid’s teeth taken care of or paint your house? Reshingle the roof to take care of the leaks or paint the house?

A very successful handyman in my area once told me that in his experience, people spend fortunes improving their homes with wood blinds, wood flooring, granite counter tops and the like–all components of “show”–while basic maintenance like caulking, replacing wood rot and dealing with water issues–all actually less expensive to perform–would go untended. He would finally be called in when the deterioration reached levels that could no longer be ignored.

And he said something else which I think is vitally important for all homeowners. When figuring the carrying cost of your house, you should add in $300-$500/month for maintenance. That’s what an average house would cost to maintain over any given 10 year period.

I’m not a big fan of wasting water and time on having a perfectly green lawn either, but my lawn is mowed and my yard is free of clutter, and these are decisions I’ve come to through thought! You might be suprised how litttle time folks spend thinking about the choices in their life. Thoughtless decisions are always bad decisions, and they lead to failure. DeRuiter’s post may not be nice, but his essential point about the cumulative effect of a thoughtless life is spot on!