Bought the Tesla back in late 2018 just because I wanted it.
Fast forward to today where I'm refinancing my LA condo:
Current Tesla loan: $869/month
New condo refi: $887/month
**bleep** near line item identical in terms of monthly debt. Sheesh. Oh well, going to avalanche some of my debt and said Tesla is the high mark currently. Go go Texas cash flow!
@Anonymous wrote:So that car payment is high! Hopefully you're at least saving on maintenance and "fuel" with theTesla as compared to your previous vehicle.
I don't really understand what you mean by avalanche some of your debt. Also $887 is that a second mortgage/ heloc-seems low for Los Angeles -but if it is your entire housing payment definitely sounds like you're winning on that one.
Oh that is just the mortgage payment and it's a refi, only like 195K to go and that's way below the typical mortgage size line here in LA to your point.
Total housing between that, taxes, insurance + HOA = $1768.
Avalanche vs. Snowball are two different ways of organizing and paying debt: Avalanche is highest APR and throw money at it till it's gone, Snowball is smallest balance and throw money at that till gone.
To be fair they're one and the same for me once I finish out the straggler revolver balance I have hanging out with this craziness.
As for the Tesla the big problem is I really haven't been driving much since working remote most of the time... but given the friendliness of LA County and the comparitively small numbers of EV's, I've basically only paid $2.79 in energy for 6200 miles. That'll change in Texas but I'll have a home charger there and not trying to leverage public charging facilities. To be clear I love the car and I can afford it, but it didn't make much when I stopped driving so much and previously when I was on a 15 year mortgage it didn't seem obscene.
Refi to a 30, and looking at that car payment, bleh. Ah well, easy cashflow optimization opportunity.
@Anonymous wrote:I'm hopefully going full time remote, which will cut my monthly living expenses by about $1500/month.
So of course the first thing I'm thinking is that I can get one of the new cars I want. But then I realize that without driving every day my old car's life expectancy is basically going to quadruple, so why spend the money? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That's exactly right.
In my case looking at the Tesla I was expecting to be doing a bunch of driving: I mean previously when at least fully employed I was at 15K+ miles per year in LA and Autopilot is such a massive quality of life improvement it's hard to argue with the cost at some level. If I could just get Webex on the center console life would be F'n perfect in that car TBH.
But when I did actually buy it, the first gig went a lot remote. OK no problem, but when I picked up a second LA gig I was expecting to be mostly onsite at the clients... and that, just didn't happen. Now I have two remote jobs and I'm spending an astonishing amount of time at home as a result (and typing on the forum when listening to two different conference calls of people just going on and on about nothing relevant).
If I'd just kept the old Acura which was still perfectably servicable, and PAID, it would've been in all ways a smarter financial decision.
Admittedly I'm going to get to Texas and just start hammering at the debt: if I can keep the two gigs for another 2 years I can get through a ton of the debt and that's just goodness. Did the cashflow analysis last night, and I was right: no California income tax = free home. Dumb, move, should've done this a year ago but it's here now.
It's never to late to do better for the rest of your life.
@Anonymous wrote:So TX is definitely going to happen, then ?!?
I'm blown away by my prospect of saving $1500/month and what I'll be able to accomplish with it. We live with my in-laws (to help them out - they are 82 and 92) in a great house which costs us nothing. But it's two hours from my work, and they currently require me in the office 4 days per week on average.
The first year I lived out there I would grab budget hotels each week Monday night to Thursday AM, but it gets old packing a suitcase every 3 days. A year ago I got a deal on an apartment share in the city near work, which is a steal at $800. But then my parking spot is $340. Then $100/month in tolls. Then I eat out too much because it's just me here during the week and it's hard to grocery shop and cook for 3 night stays.
The ridiculous part is that if I move 175+ miles away, I can automatically have my job be full time remote. They consider where I live now to be commutable even though it's 2 hours 15 mins by train or anywhere from 1.25 to 4.5 hours driving. Makes. No. Sense.
Yup, Texas be happenin'.
I know what you mean, I used to be a Hotel Tonight Hobo up in SF fairly regularly during 2018/2019... sleeping in a different hotel in the same city every night depending who had a fire sale on their rooms after I stumbled out of a bar.
Losing 4 hours a day, 4 days a week though: man, move. Hell move your in-laws with you 
@Revelate wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:So TX is definitely going to happen, then ?!?
I'm blown away by my prospect of saving $1500/month and what I'll be able to accomplish with it. We live with my in-laws (to help them out - they are 82 and 92) in a great house which costs us nothing. But it's two hours from my work, and they currently require me in the office 4 days per week on average.
The first year I lived out there I would grab budget hotels each week Monday night to Thursday AM, but it gets old packing a suitcase every 3 days. A year ago I got a deal on an apartment share in the city near work, which is a steal at $800. But then my parking spot is $340. Then $100/month in tolls. Then I eat out too much because it's just me here during the week and it's hard to grocery shop and cook for 3 night stays.
The ridiculous part is that if I move 175+ miles away, I can automatically have my job be full time remote. They consider where I live now to be commutable even though it's 2 hours 15 mins by train or anywhere from 1.25 to 4.5 hours driving. Makes. No. Sense.
Yup, Texas be happenin'.
I know what you mean, I used to be a Hotel Tonight Hobo up in SF fairly regularly during 2018/2019... sleeping in a different hotel in the same city every night depending who had a fire sale on their rooms after I stumbled out of a bar.
Losing 4 hours a day, 4 days a week though: man, move. Hell move your in-laws with you
Oh no I won't be making that commute every day. I'm only ditching my city apartment if work makes the exception I requested and lets me be full time remote 
Hotel Tonight Hobo . . .LOL
