Car trouble & Life in general

I swear I fix something on my car and two more things break the next day. I won't take it to auto shops unless I absolutely have to. Most are a rip~off hard to find the honest ones. My truck isn't even that old either. But thats my luck. My last car was a beretta that kept stalling once out of park. I took it to a shop and A~hole was asking for $450 just to open it up. So I told him to go F himself but very politely and not in those words. Took it to a friend of a friend who had a small auto shop in his garage. He starts it up puts his hand over the exhaust and said " Clogged catalytic converter $25" I still upset with that other scamartist auto shop. OH WELL. Next on my list change thermostat and if my heater still doesn't work, I'll have unclog my heater core. Very time consuming but simple enough. Plus my dog has been pretty whiny lately I guess shes just getting old.