Not too terribly easy. Bonus came Thursday. We were all sick Friday, but Mark managed to contact Craig’s List users who posted Hondas. Saturday he put many, many miles on the Volvo to check out the cars and we ended up buying one in Hyde Park. It’s a 7 year old Civic with slightly less than 100,000 miles on it. A very basic car – 5 speed, nothing flashy. And it’s much smaller than the Buick, we are looking forward to better fuel efficiency.
Sunday we took the Civic to Turtle Wax for detailing. The car was fairly clean, it just had another family’s dirt in it and we wanted a fresh start. Unfortunately, Chicago was having a monsoon so there were no detailers at Turtle Wax. We have an appointment for Wednesday.
The rest of Sunday was a soul-killing big box store shopping kind of day. WalMart for floormats and other items. It always takes us longer in WalMart because we don’t know the store well. From there to Home Depot where we bought a dryer. After that I went to Costco on my own and managed to fill the Civic’s surprisingly big trunk.
It’s not that I mind hanging two loads of laundry a day, it’s just that it takes so much time. Our house isn’t quite in the same league as those that you see on the news when they take the kids away, but we are on that path. I suppose reducing my homeschooling, knitting and crafting time may have allowed for more housekeeping time, but that didn’t happen.
So, things are looking up. We can now get to all of our activities and classes, go to the gym and shop before 8 p.m. We did, truly, live like no one else. That’s a Dave Ramsey expression. Other people would have bought a newer car with a loan, put a dryer on the credit card and called it a day. We are focused on getting rid of all debt, intensely focused. We don’t like using money that isn’t ours – credit card and car loan companies’ money. They make a profit from our poor planning and preparation.
We like living this way, although it took a while to get the hang of it. If we don’t have the money for something, we don’t buy it. It’s that simple. Our parents and grandparents lived this way, but our society has changed and now it’s unusual. Throughout this bleak period, we reinforced the difference between want and need. We wanted a car, but waited five weeks for the cash to come in. We wanted a dryer, but wanted two months for the cash to come in. We needed to get the furnace fixed, and had the money to do so.
We are fortunate to have a good income that can support this lifestyle – when we understand the difference between want and need. We are also fortunate to have gotten on the same page with financial matters, to have the same goals and the willingness to discuss them. Mostly we are fortunate to have understood all of this before it was too late.
Sunday we took the Civic to Turtle Wax for detailing. The car was fairly clean, it just had another family’s dirt in it and we wanted a fresh start. Unfortunately, Chicago was having a monsoon so there were no detailers at Turtle Wax. We have an appointment for Wednesday.
The rest of Sunday was a soul-killing big box store shopping kind of day. WalMart for floormats and other items. It always takes us longer in WalMart because we don’t know the store well. From there to Home Depot where we bought a dryer. After that I went to Costco on my own and managed to fill the Civic’s surprisingly big trunk.
It’s not that I mind hanging two loads of laundry a day, it’s just that it takes so much time. Our house isn’t quite in the same league as those that you see on the news when they take the kids away, but we are on that path. I suppose reducing my homeschooling, knitting and crafting time may have allowed for more housekeeping time, but that didn’t happen.
So, things are looking up. We can now get to all of our activities and classes, go to the gym and shop before 8 p.m. We did, truly, live like no one else. That’s a Dave Ramsey expression. Other people would have bought a newer car with a loan, put a dryer on the credit card and called it a day. We are focused on getting rid of all debt, intensely focused. We don’t like using money that isn’t ours – credit card and car loan companies’ money. They make a profit from our poor planning and preparation.
We like living this way, although it took a while to get the hang of it. If we don’t have the money for something, we don’t buy it. It’s that simple. Our parents and grandparents lived this way, but our society has changed and now it’s unusual. Throughout this bleak period, we reinforced the difference between want and need. We wanted a car, but waited five weeks for the cash to come in. We wanted a dryer, but wanted two months for the cash to come in. We needed to get the furnace fixed, and had the money to do so.
We are fortunate to have a good income that can support this lifestyle – when we understand the difference between want and need. We are also fortunate to have gotten on the same page with financial matters, to have the same goals and the willingness to discuss them. Mostly we are fortunate to have understood all of this before it was too late.
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