Despite living in Southern California, my husband and I own one car. We are lucky that he can work out of the house and I am walking distance to my part-time job. But even when that wasn't the case, we shared the car and did a lot of dropping-off and scheduling maneuvers to make it work. And I hated it. Absolutely, positively hated it.
You see, I'm 35 and a law school graduate. So I deserve a new car, dammit! After all, doesn't a stay-at-home-mom with a part-time job in her neighborhood need a shiny new car to haul groceries? And to show it off to people that I don't know? So, we made the smart decision: We were going to save up and LEASE a car. That's right, lease. Why buy something you don't need that loses value by the minute when you can rent something you don't need, watch it lose value, maintain it for the duration and be empty-handed at the end of the term? We're so smart!!!
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| See the wires on the trunk? That's where the spoiler fell from!! |
Then I read Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover." So much for being a smarty-pants. Instead of a brand new car, we've decided to keep the one we had. But the best part? I now love that car that I once despised. It used to be a symbol of my "failure"; that's right, I don't have a new car so I'm (obviously) a bad, unsuccessful, pathetic person. But now, our 2001 Honda with the broken spoiler is my medal of honor. She is proof that I am patient, responsible, and thoughtful of my family's future. I smile whenever I get in, knowing that she'll get me where I'm going. Not just my physical destination, but to my debt-free life. And our dream car? The one we had our eye on? We see it cruising around town occasionally. And we agree, it's a nice car. But having a plan and working it for our future makes our beat up Honda the best car on the road.
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