Soccer Mom Transformation Complete
My husband and I took the Dave Ramsey course Financial Peace University a few years ago and we finally had enough cash to buy a new car.
We live within our means – period. We finance nothing, aside from a house (when we’ve saved enough of a down payment). If you find yourself going to sleep with a sick feeling in your stomach, or your prayers often include this sentence, “God, please find some way for us to make our payments,” then this class is for you. Follow this link and enter your zip code and find out when and where you can find some financial peace.
Anyway, we spent $2,400 on a bitchen mini-van. We’ve used our tax return to buy another vehicle (the first year since taking the class we didn’t have to pay debt off with the tax return). We’ve been driving a 1990 ’88 Oldsmobile for about three years and my husband’s irrational loathing of this car is beyond comprehension.
It started out okay, but when the windows wouldn’t roll down correctly he took the arm rests off and then didn’t put them all the way back on (easier when the windows had issues again – and they did). The fabric on the roof of the car fell down and the only solution I could come up with was a staple gun (effective but ugly), while I was painting the hall orange, my then two-year-old daughter got some on her hands and ran out and painted the driver’s side door, I backed into a pole causing trivial damage to the back bumper and then the 103 degree temperatures warped it to a giant crack, when my husband was trying to squeeze past my car into the driveway he caught the front bumper with his bumper and ripped it off, we got the drill and screwed it on but it is so tacky.
I wasn’t the least bit bothered because hey, my car is paid for and it runs and gets me where I need to go. But, my husband kept looking at all the other cars in parking lots and getting more and more self-conscious about it. He didn’t want anyone to see us in it, he’d park it on the wrong side of buildings he was so embarrassed about the atrocious thing. And to be honest, it’s been in the shop quite a bit lately with transmission problems and now it has no air conditioning. The air conditioning is the deal breaker for me. It is HOT in an East Texas summer, like the car will get to be 115 degrees on an average day. No way can I drive the kids around in that.
So we found a great 1995 Nissan Quest mini-van with leather seats and a sun roof and a radio that actually works for $2,595. I bartered him down to $2,400 and away we drove. I LOVE it. We look like normal people! Plus, we can take a friend somewhere, even if they have one or two car seats. We can even bring my Grandmother with us when we drive to Utah to see my parents.
Rebel to typical soccer mom transformation complete. Now don’t you see why I have pink hair? I have to avoid a complete and total cliché. I don’t smoke anymore, none of my friends can get a flipping babysitter so I never get to go out drinking, haven’t done drugs in years and years, take the kids to their practices, including soccer, and programs, go to church every Sunday and now I drive a mini-van. I NEED my pink hair!
Oh, do you know anyone who would like to buy a 1990 ’88 Olds?
Tags: blog fabulous, dave-ramsey, financial-peace-university, mini-van, pink-hair, rebel, so sioux me, soccer-mom, tracee siouxRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Fabulous Coffee Break
6 opinions for Soccer Mom Transformation Complete
Rebecca
May 21, 2007 at 12:55 pm
congratulations on the new car! I love the idea of paying cash. Can’t wait to do that!
Have you thought about donating the Olds?
Tracee
May 21, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Well, yeah we’ve donated several unsellable cars before. They are a great idea for cars that won’t sell and you can write them off on your taxes. However, the minivan needs air conditioning - of course there was a catch! So, we’ll try to sell the Olds to get the funds to pay for air conditioning in the new van.
Money Resolution?
Dec 31, 2007 at 4:01 am
[…] debt (except my student loan, which is next) - had a baby without accruing any debt, bought a used mini-van with cash, traded our gas-guzzling truck for an economy Nissan, we keep an emergency fund and […]
Ashley
May 6, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Tracee, this made me laugh - and nearly cry..nearly cry because we are driving a 92 buick century that has been wrecked, fixed with a bumper of a different color, wrecked again, has no air conditioner and it’s ceiling too is falling down (good tip about the staple gun by the way). But, my point is NOT poor me (or you) my point is YAHOO!! We’re going to be there soon - where ya’ll were last year. And I cannot wait. Although I believe our car came at just the right time from God and it has kept us safe and gotten us places, there is a part of me that shrinks a little at a stoplight and I want to roll down my window and shout “it’s just a temp” to the car next to me.. or hold up a sign that says “don’t you dare judge me! It could happen to you too Mrs. 30ft long shiny Tahoe lady w/ your big sunglasses and your air conditioner!” I’m ashamed to say, I also park as far as humanly possible from the ballfield, work/school functions and basically every social event ever. I can’t wait until we too travel like ‘normal people’..
Your finance posts are really inspiring to me - it’s nice to see people who’ve done it..
Tracee Sioux
May 7, 2008 at 6:49 am
Ashley next time look at the cars and think “Burden with Interest.”
Do you know how many people I talk to who are overwhelmed and burdened by their car payment? When you add up the cost of owning the SUV that looks so “successful” it’s $500-$800 (payment + insurance + gas) to do the exact same thing your car does - get you from one place to the next.
Of course there is the matter of perception. My “new” van is still from 1998. George Bush sent us an $1,800 check and we’re selling my husband’s ugly Nissan and upgrading to a “new” car of around $2,800, maybe we’ll make it to the year 2000?
But, it’s free of burden and free of interest. It’s ours. We OWN it.
It feels awesome. You’ll get there. Really. Plus, you’ll learn patience and that will help you build wealth later.
461,000 May Foreclosures
Jul 3, 2008 at 8:13 am
[…] Soccer Mom Transformation Complete Tags: blog fabulous, empowering women, housing meltdown, so sioux me, tracee siouxShare This Related StoriesNo related posts […]
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