How I spent my morning

Since we're going to trade in or otherwise sell the LazyMamaMobile if we get a new car, I thought I might be able to get more for it if it wasn't the inside wasn't a cesspool of old granola bars and rusty pennies. An hour and a half of cleaning and vacuuming later, I had a clean car interior and a gigundous pile of stuff that came out of my car.

Seriously - wtf? Okay, some of the stuff on the right includes clothes that need to go to the consignment shop and some library books to return, but the rest of it ... Maps of New Jersey? Explain to me why I waste gas toting those around all the time when it's not even contiguous with Ohio. And two maps of D.C.? Three umbrellas, two ice scrapers, two tire pressure gauges, and a flashlight that's had the same batteries since 2001? Yeah, not really necessary for my continued happiness.

Only the bare essentials went back into the car, just enough so the car is functional but still looks tidy. Of course, now I have to tote a huge pile of stuff back and forth to the car every time we use it (like hats and the picnic blanket and the Panera coupon I keep intending to use but forget about every time I'm near the restaurant). But hey - that car is clean! And worth $1,000, according to the low-balling bastards at the dealership I visited today. I'm onto you guys, you know.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of car buying, I found a rather long-winded but interesting article on edmunds.com, written by someone who worked "undercover" for two different car dealerships to see what really goes on in the sales department. You can find it here. I always enjoy reading these sorts of stories, seeing how the salesmen try to play their customers, seeing how I do or don't fall into their traps.

I've been to about five different dealerships so far this spring, and I saw a lot of this going on there. I've had every approach from "let your kindly grandpa sell you a car" to "clueless and desperate salesman needs your help." Today the salesman was practically running to get Liza a second helium balloon when her first one escaped into the rafters of the showroom ... I think she could have asked for a dozen balloons and a puppy, and this guy would have fetched them if it meant I was more amenable to handing over 20K to his dealership.

But now things are getting down to decision time, and I'm going to have to stop playing Little Miss Uninformed Consumer With Vague Needs And A Cute Kid and start playing Assertive Bitch Who Won't Pay Too Much For The Car No Matter How Pretty It Is.

I'd better start looking for a babysitter, becauseI think I've about used up the entertainment value of balloons and rolling swivel office chairs.

PS - thanks to MindFlush reader J for sending over the overly dramatic car ad ... the sale this weekend doesn't really cover the models I'm looking at, but it gave me an excuse to visit that dealership and see what they're like. Plus, helium balloons and rolling office chairs! Whoopee!