Budgeting for a Tank |
20 Comments |
I have a confession to make. I have had a tank on my Amazon wish-list for over two and a half years now. As Lazy as I am, it’s time for me to make this a reality. No it’s not a hot water tank or a fish tank - it’s a drive-around-and-run-over-stuff tank
My friends had a lot of good fun when they discovered the Badonkadonk on my wish-list. If one them happened to win the lottery for a re-”Donk”-ulous amount of money, I think NAO Design would have an order in their in-box. Neither me, nor my friends play the lottery, so it’s going to take a little more planning for this to happen.
How am I going to make my dreams of tank ownership a reality? It comes down to budgeting. At a nickel shy of $20,000, it’s cheaper than the average car. NAO Design is clearly willing to take a loss on shipping as well. I live about ten miles from it’s Palo Alto headquarters, but I think it will still cost more than $14.99 in gas alone for them to ship it to me. However $20,000 is still not chump change (at least not for me). I need to have another plan.
I can see two viable ways of getting me in a Badonkadonk. The first would be to get those friends together and purchase it together. People buy timeshare vacations everyday - why not do that with tanks? We could be the pioneers of an entire “tank-share” industry. If I can convince 6 friends to give around $3500 we’d be there. That’s less than $300 a month. The downside is that each of us would only have the tank two months of the year. That’s still two months more of tank-time than I have today.
If I can’t convince my friends to join in, I have a plan B. I’ve got two words for you: tank rentals. I could rent the tank at the bargain price of $20/hr. At that price, I would nearly own the tank if I could have it rented for 1,000 hours of the year - just 20 hours a week. I could even rent it out for special occasions at a bulk rate of $250/day. I haven’t done extensive market research, but I believe this is a fair price for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. What makes a bigger impression at the prom - a limo or a tank? How about tailgating at Lambeau field before the Packers’ game? I think you know the answer.
If you see me posting less often in the upcoming months, it’s because I’m focusing on my efforts on making tank-ownership a reality. Once I complete that, I’ll be able to re-focus my goals on the journey of becoming financially independent.
This post deals with:amazon wish list, april fools, battle tank, budgeting
... and focuses on:Smart Purchases
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April 1st, 2008 at 7:08 am
Everyone needs a drive around and run over stuff tank, but I think you should get the “blow up junk” add-on because that totally just rounds the whole package out. The add-on will affect your projections is totally worth it.
I’ll go in with you on the Badonkadonk…
BTW, I can’t believe you can buy a tank through Amazon hahaha
April 1st, 2008 at 7:23 am
Man, talk about a way to get someone to click in from their RSS reader
I think you need one of those crazy PneumatiPak II potato guns to go with your tank. I would pay $20 to play with that.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:00 am
I’m sure you could get more than $20 /hr to rent out a tank. I bet people would pay more more like $50-100 an hour to drive around in a tank. You might need some *very* high liability insurance though.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:34 am
Please tell me you only want to buy a tank on Amazon because it’s the first of the month! Btw that tank needs some 20 inch chrome rims on it.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:26 am
absolutely hilarious!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:03 am
Best personal finance post I’ve seen today. Two thumbs up.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:05 am
I really wish this wasn’t a April 1 post…
I secretly really, really want a tank as well…what do you think about forming a tank co-op? (like they have for jets) We could ride around visiting banks, other PF bloggers, etc…
man that would be cool.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:18 am
I’d chip in, except that I believe DC traffic laws frown on tanks.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:52 am
Dude. Baby want.
*checks Sonic Screwdriver fund, notes it is about $19951.72 short.*
April 1st, 2008 at 1:05 pm
After driving a Bradley, that thing looks ten degrees beyond lame. Does it have an optional chain gun?
Good news: I found a site where they’ll pay YOU to drive a tank:
http://www.army.com/enlist/
$1340/month + a free helmet.
April 1st, 2008 at 2:21 pm
A tank on April 1st? I get it
April 1st, 2008 at 2:55 pm
I’ll chip in on the tank with you!
April 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Excellent post - nothing worse than an April fools post that tanks!
Mike
April 1st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
This must be a April Fool joke.
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:04 am
i’m thinking this isn’t an april fool’s joke, because i could see myself at least renting this thing for a manly getaway or friend’s birthday. Sad, but true!
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:43 am
Count me in when you decide that it was not an April Fools joke. We can share from 360 miles away, right?
April 4th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Hmmm…Looks suspisiously like a giant robot foot from those Japanese cartoons. I think I’ll wait for the arms or torso to come out. Then we can all join up and begin our bid for world domination.
Seems like a good deal though. I’ll be able to buy one in about 4 seconds with my pretend income stream
April 5th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Is this really serious? Is there really such as thing as a Badonkadonk?
April 7th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Hey, did you see this on slashdot?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/265790278/article.pl
hth,
mr. stupid
April 7th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I’m much too Lazy to spend two years making my own tank. I’m not skilled enough either.