Links: Car leasing vs. ownership – calculations and gotchas

Car Leasing FAQs from Automotive.com

Lease vs. Buy from LeaseGuide.com

How Car Leasing Works from LeaseGuide.com

 

Thoughts – 2nd April 2008

• During time on holiday and in the day since have had lots of mixed thoughts about plans for the future – what my target ‘looks like’ – and how to fund them
• Future … questions
  • Photography course
    • Cost
    • Accomodation
    • Are my photos good enough (or will I be wasting my time)?
    • How soon would I get a return on my investment (be able to sell pictures)?
  • Post-graduate study
    • How to fund?
    • Subject?
      • Social anthropology?
        • Will this prepare me for a PhD (research skills)?
      • Translation & interpretation?
• Meditation
  • Will I trust myself to let go completely? Just for twenty minutes a day?
• Mind map book / SRS (spaced repetition system)
• Cafe del Mar Vol 2
• free thoughts down on paper – seems to help relaxation

Things to do – 2nd April 2008

Car MOT – schedule

Pay NPower final bill done

Tai chi & Qi gong done, need to find way to successfully incorporate into daily schedule

Correspondence

Meditation

Painting & tidying

Electrician – call & schedule

Money – do budget!! done

Do blog post

Add kanji to Anki done

Mandarin notes

VISA card – another 0% card switch due this month done, detailed on to do 9th April

Mortgage – check what costs will be in summer

Move cd’s into more portable soft case (buy soft case from Maplin)  case bought

Money

This morning I totted up the costs that will be incurred in Jan/Feb time by attending the TEFL course I’d like to do:

Required 
Air fare (2 x one way) - £900
Cost of TEFL course - £1146
Cost of living while on TEFL course (accom & food) - £700
Mortgage while waiting for a tenant - £1000
Storage - £100 (should cover two months)
Buffer (for emergencies and unanticipated costs) – £500
Total: £4346
Minus £700 that could be saved in Dec & Jan: £3646

Divided by the next 8 months: £455

I do know that there’s no way right now I can afford £455 per month for the next 8 months. So this is a problem. I’ve not found the solution yet, but it is good to at least have identified the problem with enough time (perhaps) to do something about it.

One option is to go abroad without the TEFL cert. In fact, that would be by far the simplest and cheapest solution. But we’ve all seen what happened to Nova. I don’t want to find myself out on a limb a long way from home. And much as its tempting to trim any slack out of the figures, it will already be tough adjusting from a fairly comfortable budget down to a minimalistic one – its important to be realistic.

Argh. Radical solutions may be necessary. I’m glad I looked at this before I bought furniture and signed up for the next dance class.

Things to sort out – Tuesday 18th March

• Passport
• Shower installation
• Car MOT & insurance
• Money – pull something out of flexible benefits scheme? can’t be done until September
• Check how health insurance claims should be raised (no paperwork)
• Follow up on lack of pension paperwork
• Wish list ahead of next year:
  • Clothes: baggy combats, outdoor fleeces, base layer tops, office garb for teaching
  • iPod Nano 8Gb? 12Gb?
  • Laptop? Would it be cheaper to buy one in Japan?? items added to wishlist post
• Need money for:
  • Cost of TEFL course
  • Cost of living while on TEFL course
  • Buffer on arrival in Japan
  • Additional mortgage payments while seeking a tenant
  • finishing the renovation … cooker … fridge … detailed in a separate ‘money’ post
• Photojournalism course - accomodation/location?