In the week leading up to getting laid off, I knew it was coming. It was at this point my wife's car took a dump. I decided to just give her my car and buy myself a used vehicle I could pay cash for while maintaining my savings.
I found a 1988 Honda Prelude S for well under budget, and having only 67k miles on it. It needed some work, and I am not a mechanic, but I resolved to follow through to save money.
I do have a friend who has been helping me, he has been instrumental in getting this all done. Well, him and YouTube :). So far here's the list:
Today was to be the tranny flush, when I started the car to drive to my friend's house, the check oil light came on. When I checked the oil, the dipstick was clean: no oil in the engine. It was all on my driveway. The culprit was the plug in the oil pan. At some point in this car's life, it was replaced with an odd cap with a gasket instead of the crush washer and bolt Honda's print calls for. This cost me $4 and 4 quarts of oil. I also dumped a quart of Bars Stop Leak in my tranny as it has a leak, along with a quart of 10W30 (it is a manual transmission and 10W30 is called for in the manual). I hope this does the trick! The test drive went well, shifting was smooth.
Even after all this work, I am still under budget.