Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Not My Dream Car

When Jason and I first began discussing the possibility of having another child one thing was clear; we were going to need a bigger car!  Now before you get too excited, no, we are not pregnant.  After Aria was born we quickly realized that there was absolutely no way to fit more than one car seat in Jason’s car.  We had 1 requirement for purchasing a new car and that was to avoid a car payment at all cost.

In November Jason’s grandfather passed away and soon after we were approached about the possibility of purchasing his car for a very reasonable price.  When Jason told me that he was considering buying the car if we could get enough money for his Mazda 3 to cover the costs associated, excitement was not my first reaction.  I mean the car was a 2005 Cadillac Deville!  Surely we aren’t old enough to own a Cadillac Deville! 

I left the decision completely up to Jason because he would be the one giving up his “baby”.  When he made the comment “As much as I enjoy driving my car, I enjoy being a father more,” I knew the decision had been made.  So we sold the Mazda 3 and Jason flew to Michigan to drive the newest member of the Brinker family to Texas!
 

If you know me then you know that I put a lot of thought into our finanances, but in this instance I can honestly say that image tried to take over my logical reasoning.  I knew this was the right move for our family, but the thought of driving around a car that did not fit my idea of picture perfect really didn’t sound all that wonderful.

While reading my Dave Ramsey book, “Financial Peace Revisited” he helped put into perspective what I already knew.  Taking on an additional debt would not be worth the sacrifice just to make sure I got the car I “wanted”.  I truly believe that this is one of the best financial decisions we’ve made to date and I think we will really see it pay off for us in the future.
 

Although this is not my dream car, I know that it will help keep the dreams we have for our family alive.  The Cadillac has actually grown on me in the past few weeks.  I can’t complain about the spaciousness, the dual climate control and the fact that we got into this car with very little extra expense!  Now all that’s left is to fill that car with the very reason we bought it in the first place!