Car wash conundrum: Recipe from The Cashflow Cookbook
Toronto author Gordon Stein’s new Cashflow Cookbook offers 60 financial “recipes” that, he says, can add up to $2 million in wealth if applied together over 10 years. This month, Smart Money is offering some of Stein’s recipes:
When Bruno worked at the bank, he would drive to work each day and park underneath the bank’s office tower. He loved that he could walk through his house to his attached garage, start his SUV, drive to his parking spot at the bank and take the elevator right up to his office. Very pleasing to do the whole trip without getting wet or dirty.
His car, however, did get wet and dirty. Bruno had a solution for this as well. There was a hand car wash in the underground that would do an inside and out car wash for just $120. He had the car done twice a month and enjoyed the feeling of climbing into his shining car every couple of weeks.
When Bruno lost his job at the bank and went to work at a credit union in the suburbs, lots of things changed. With a reduced salary, he had to recast their budget and the $240 monthly tab on car cleaning had to go. Bruno signed up for a points card at his gas retailer and was soon earning points that he used to get free car washes. The exterior of his car looked good as new. The interior, however, looked … well … used.
Jodi suggested paying their son, Thomas, $20 a week to do a thorough cleaning of the inside of the car. Thomas liked the idea, but negotiated it up to $25 and set up a savings account for university. Even paying Thomas, Bruno was still saving $140 a month. Compounding at 7 per cent, the idea would save him $24,080 over the next 10 years.
CAR WASH continued on B6
Thomas was learning some great life lessons that would set him up for a lifetime of prosperity. Mostly around how to negotiate with his dad.
Car washes are an easy expense to eliminate entirely. A gas retailer loyalty program will provide enough points to keep you in free car washes for a lifetime. If you drive a large vehicle, you may have enough credits to cover car washes for your friends — or at least snag a couple of those aromatic pine-tree-shaped air fresheners. Ingredients: Have a look at various gasoline retailers’ points programs online.
See if they have a nifty key-chain dongle that lets you tap the pump to pay. Saves fumbling for credit cards in a) searing heat, b) blowing snow or c) driving rain. The dongle routes the payment to your credit card, adds to your points to fund your car washes, saves the hassle of carrying and swiping a loyalty card and gets you back on the road faster.
Pick the one you like based on both the program and the chain that has handy locations near your home or office.
For interior cleaning, learn the techniques of how to detail your car on YouTube. You may have some modest onetime costs for tools like crevice vacuum cleaner attachments (a necessity to get the French fries out from that narrow, dark, too-skinny-for-your-hands place between your front seats), but you’ll save in the long run and have a better smelling ride.
Note that this pairs nicely with a rewards credit card of your choosing. By connecting your payment dongle to your rewards credit card, you can gather loyalty points on your card, while saving for free car washes with your fuel points. It’s like cheating.
Be careful to use your points to replace the car washes you were originally paying for. If you squander your points on ice cream bars, grape slushies and energy drinks, you will lose all of the financial benefits. Pro Chef Tip: If you have a points surplus, you may want to use them for windshield washer fluid, windshield wiper blades or other useful car parts. Hearty serving (for larger families): Two cars x $12 per wash x two washes per month = $48 monthly savings Yield (savings over time, if they were invested with a 7-per-cent return) $8,304 over 10 years, $25,008 over 20 years
Wow! Took you 15 minutes and you likely added at least a couple grand to your net worth 10 years out. Love it! But don’t gloat over this easy win. Lock in your savings or debt reduction!