Fixing my Car, Precious Metals & Obtaining a Terrible Camper.

For the last two weeks I've been pretty busy with real life stuff. It was more of a preparation for summer while I took care of much needed things. A little over a year ago my car was in a crash. No one was hurt, thankfully, but I hadn't had the funds to fix it up until now. I first attempted to fix it myself but I found myself unable to. I was lacking in quite a few tools and even skillsets to finish the job. With one car to use for over a year, I was sick of it and thanks to taxes we were able to get it fixed. Including my joining the #fitnesschallenge and then judging the #comedyopenmic contest last week, I've been extremely preoccupied but I look forward on filling you in! In the mean time, if you haven't joined either of these contests/challenges yet you should!

Fixing My Car (finally)

It all started with a trip to the mechanic to find out what was wrong mechanically. The engine had a missfire on cylinder 8 which I was able to fix myself and an issue with the power steering pump and had to replace that. $300 later I got the car back (still with front end damage) and I went on a hunt for some parts.

Once I got the parts I took them to my friends house and tried to piece it together. At best, I figured I'd take the broken parts off and fanagle the new parts back on and let the body shop finish the job. We struggled taking it apart and were missing one tool and literally had to make the size we needed by sanding a bigger one down. Since I was lacking all the tools that I needed I gave up and left the rest to the pro's. I put it back together and the bumper literally had one screw on it.

The next morning I drove it to the body shop and let them fix it, and about 5 days later I brought it back to the mechanic to finalize it and get it aligned. Here's the finished product after a new upper and lower steering column, a new powerpack for cylinder 8, a few new fuses, new power steering pump, a new tensioner, and a trip to the body shop that put on the parts I found at the junk yard: Header panel, bumper cover, driverside fender, driverside headlight and driverside markerlight.

I was upset with myself when I tried to make the insurance claim and realized that I never put full coverage on it. The thing is that the car is financed, so I'm supposed to have full coverage. It'll be paid off in a month now and I am happy to have wheels again. With the wife constantly working, I was always stuck at home so this makes me very happy. Also why I've been AFK for so long. Having the freedom to get out there and take pictures or do what makes me happy has been great. The last few days Winter decided it wasn't time to go so I've been home more and have been putting a few posts together. $1200 later and I'm still short $700 for the paint job, I'm good with the multi-colored car for now. I'm just happy to have my freedom back! The first day I had my car back I went on an agate hunt!

Precious Metals

Now that I have wheels I focus more on a few things that I've taken interest in, which includes scrapping for precious metals and coin collecting. I've never really scrapped before until recently but I think I can make some decent money on the side with it. Especially with spring cleaning coming up at the end of April. When it comes to coin collecting, I've always enjoyed it but I never cared much about it until now. My Dad was always into it and tried to encourage me but I never found good coins as a kid. It makes me realize that I've missed out on a great bit of wealth throughout my life with all the coins I didn't take the time to check before I spent it. Here's a picture of my current coin collection, 2 silver coins, each 1 troy ounce. After purchasing my first two pieces of silver I got motivated to go through all my coins. I found one 1964 nickel (the last year they put silver in them) but the others aren't silver I just found them interesting in some way while I get re-educated on what coins to look for. The bag with pennies are all 1982 and below copper pennies including one wheat penny. There are obverse off center coins but for the most part, there aren't much errors.

I also want to show you pictures of a camper that I acquired. I've been doing a lot of research on rebuilding one of these and what it's going to take. I probably have the funds to do it, the question is will it be worth it? It might be, as I've priced a few of these out already and a good one will be a lot more expensive. It'll be a fun project that I look forward to doing this summer!

As you can see, it's in terrible condition but we basically got it for free. It'll basically need to be gutted completely and broken down to the frame. I'd say it's mostly all garbage, but after pricing out what it could cost to refurbish it would be cheaper then buying a used, livable one. The cheapest used livable one I found needed a new canvas anyways, so I'd rather rebuild to my liking. I look forward to this as I've been getting into Tiny Houses and would like to have one some day. This is a good start! It's my first camper and I've always wanted one. Sucks that it's not usable, but hopefully we can have it restored by summer time.

So now you have it, a small glimpse of what I've been up to the last week or two, on top of changing what is a normal day to include an exercise routine, it's been a little hard adjusting. I was able to even do a few agate hunting days, but now it's cold again and I'm no longer acclimated to the cold so I don't want to go outside.

Thanks for stopping by! @bitfiend

When I joined Steemit I made the decision to always Power-Up my earnings. For now, payouts are set to 50/50 but you bet I will convert & Power Up! Besides internal transfers, I have never cashed out and don't plan on it! Power-Up only!