In case you have never raised the hood of a car/ truck this is what it may look like. Trust me when I say every family member over the age of 16 needs to know how to pop the hood of the car to take care of things under there.
Now don't go freaking out about this! When things like the car break down this will cause a major stress on every family member. Think about it.
This is part three of my current series: Things Families Stress Over and Tips How to Fix it on a Shoestring Budget.
Most kids look forward to having more independence with getting their driver's licence to drive a car.With that privilege, not a right, comes responcibility to maintain the vehicle.
Tip #5 Practice preventative maintenance.
I grew up in Washington, Iowa; population 7,000. (Kind of Mayberry RFD if you are familiar with the old Andy Griffin TV shows.)
Every week my dad would drive in to Sam's DX for gas.
"Hi Sam. Give me a dollars worth of regular."
Sam would say, "Will I ever talk you into taking Ethyl?
"Not today, Sam. She's your wife. You keep her." I didn't get this running joke until I had to chose my own gas for the pump attendant to pump. For that matter, taking care of a car seemed simple. Well, it is not that simple.
"Sam would pull a rag out of his back pocket and ask, "Check under the hood, Ken?"
"Go ahead, Sam. I hope the motor is still under there."
"You're a quart low, Ken. Shall I had some?"
By the time I was 5 I had this conversation memorized. However, I had no idea what " add some" meant. Fortuanately when I got my driver's licence I was allowed to drive an extra 2 miles to the Standard Station out on the highway to where my childhood sweetheart worked as a pump attendant. I got very spoiled not having to learn out to care fo the car myself. I still no idea of what was under the hood and why I might need a quart or two.
Well, the rest is history and my point is this: most of us don't have the local Sam, the gas station man or the boyfriend who will take care of our cars, anymore. We have to spend some money to keep the car in good shape to drive or it will break down. Car repairs are expensive. NOT keeping the car in shape to take out on ther freeway is very dangerous for all family members including the innocent little passengers in their car seats. this can be a huge source of stress when you are not prepared to deal with it.
Ben Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." He turns out to be right when it comes to cars. The expense of repairing a car can send many families into debt increasing the stress load. It is not ever a good idea to put of preventative maintance on your vehicle. It will cost you more in the long run; more stress, agian. You can prevent a lot of car reated stress.
In part one I said, "Stress and life go hand in hand especially if you are trying to raise a healthy family on a budget. The word "budget" implies that one has an organized plan to tackle the problem of limited resources."
- Learn car care basics
Many car dealerships have "Ladies night" where the ladies in house learn the basics of caring for a car. Sign up for this course; be sure to get there and pay attention. Guys you can go, too.
- Road side assistance.
All states in the US require vehicles to be insured. Most insureance companies offer roadside assistance with this policy for a few extra dollars. Get it. Use it when you needed it. Try to avoid letting the car run out of gas and having to call for assistance too many times though becasue they will cancel that policy.
The last time I used my roadside assitance was when Tacks the service dog locked him self in the hot car.
For those who don't already know, my son has a service dog named AttacksWithLove or Tacks for short. I had taken the dog to visit my son who wasan in patient getting physical therapy for his MS. I had turned the motor on and started the air condioner to cool the car off. I put Tacks inside.
Tacks had accidentally learned to hit the auotmatic buttons to roll the windows up and own if he wanted to shortly before this happened. I locked that part so he could no longer do that. Otherwise I could have gotten him to roll down the windows himself.
On this day, Tacks hit the door locks. He had locked himself inside the car with it running. I called the roadside assistance number. since tacks was service dog, he got bumped to the top of the rescue. He was rescued in 10minutes. I had to prove that he really was a service dog, before he got the same priority as children do when they are locked inside the car.
WARNINING! Never ever leave you children, service dogs or pets alone in a vehicle, even for a few minutes! Have a spare set of keys in your pocket! This can proove deadly within minutes.
- Plan you car trips wisely.
Learn how to conserve fuel by consoldating your trips. Learn to read a map, not just rely on your GPS.
- Have a back up in case of emergency.
Have a cell phone with you.
Know emergncy phone numbers.
Carry a credit card with enough credit availabe for a taxi if you need one.
Do you know how to ride the city bus? Don't be rolling your eyes. I am serious about evey one needing to know the bus routes even if you have a car. Always keep change for the bus on you.
Not reinventing the wheel...
This is the part where I won't be copying someone elses hard work. I will be sending you to another blogger. Check out Shopaholic Mommy. She has a wonderful post titled Mom's Guide to Car Care.
As I have mentioned before, it is good form to thank the author of ablog when you have gotten some usefull information. PLease tell Shopaholic Mommy that No Non-cents Nanna sent you.(Yes, other bloggers do read and appreciate each other's work.)
http://www.shopaholicmommy.com/family-life-2/moms-guide-to-car-care/
I am Malika Bourne the No Non-cents Nanna saying, "make good choices."
Did you catch parts one and two?
http://nanna.teoe.com/b2evolution/blog1.php/things-families-stress-over-and
http://nanna.teoe.com/b2evolution/admin.php?ctrl=items&blog=1&p=427