Getting a jeep is never a downgrade!!! Haha. I had a Jeep back in high-school and I fell in love I ended up rolling it and buying my grandparents 01' ford Taurus with about 80k for 1300 had it for 6 months then turned around and traded it for my 91 limited with 4.5 in lift. 226k. Never looked back. Other than the gas... haha.

 

Traded my 96 Miata for my 89 Cherokee with no regrets!

 

I just bought a house and we have 2 jeeps. I drive my 98 XJ with a 4.5" lift daily to and from work. The lady has a Commander. I wish constantly that I had a truck and for a long time considered trading my xj for a truck. Then I realized I cant part with owning a cherokee. Id keep the truck like stated, buy a cheaper xj (I found mine stock for 1600 bucks) and then youll have a spare vehicle.

 

I would have two if you have the driveway space... just get a cheap one thats not rusty... how handy are you ?

 

I don't understand people who trade down. Why not sell the laptop for $800 on Ebay, and then buy the $400 guitar with the proceeds?

 

well Ebay you gotta pay fees and then list it on your taxes, go to the UPS store ship it off, etc. Or Craigslist you gotta gomeet somebody somewhere or risk having potential thieves come to your house and "case the joint out" for a later robbery, etc

Maybe the laptop was just what he wanted, it was convenient and he didn't really play that guitar or it had fret buzz, etc and it was "bluebook" 800 but street value maybe 550.00 or something.

So there could be lots of reasons why someone might "trade down". and besides "trading down" is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Now is a very good time to be paying off debts and living within your means. I've done the big car loan thing and I won't be doing it again!

I'd sell that truck and buy an XJ. Then I'd rip through that XJ replacing all the consumables (disks/pads/shoes/fluids/UJs/water pump/radiator/radiator cap/tyres/fanbelt etc) until I was sure it was really up to scratch.
Then I'd go round the house doing jobs now that will save bigger jobs later... gutters, drains, roof tiles, boiler service, smoke alarms and all that stuff.
Then I'd buy my wife a hell of a dinner and put anything left over in the bank.
You won't look like a guy with a big shiny truck, but you'll look like a guy who puts his family and home first.....
You're probably all up to date on that stuff anyway so there should be quite a bit left over

 

Give it another year and I bet that $800 laptop would be worth less than the guitar anyway!