The Day Hell Froze Over

I have a husband who pinches every penny twice. He is very frugal, which is a good thing. I'm sure he gets it from his mother who grew up during the depression and her family had to be creative in order to make ends meet. Nothing was wasted and nothing was discarded that could be re-purposed or used by someone. She hated wasting anything and didn't purchase anything that wasn't needed.

One way Alan saves money is by keeping a car FOREVER. That way, we really get our money's worth out of it. I see a lot of wisdom in that philosophy. However, there comes a point where, although the car may still be running, it is time to purchase a new one. 

Many people get new cars every few years because they want the newer model, they want a change, the car has too many miles on it, or they simply feel like they need to keep up with the Jones'.  This doesn't make sense financially, but people do it anyway.

Alan has been driving his 1999 Toyota Camry for probably 15 years. I have begged him for years to get a new car, but my pleadings always fell on deaf ears. I finally realized that we wouldn't get a new car until Hell froze over.  Well, yesterday Hell froze over! It is hard to believe that on a 98 degree October day in Moreno Valley, CA that Hell could freeze over, but it did. Alan parted with some of his hard earned cash for a new car for the first time in about 11 years. 

We ended up purchasing a Honda Odyssey Mini-van. Why a mini-van at our age, you ask? Because we wanted a car that could seat more people than a sedan or my Lexus can. I drive in a carpool to the temple each Wednesday and sometimes we have 5-6 people going down with us. One sister in our carpool does drive a mini-van, but it will be nice to have two vehicles that can accommodate those kinds of numbers. When we need to pick up a family from the airport, we now won't need to take two cars down to accommodate them and all of the luggage. Alan read somewhere that 50% of mini-van owners are empty nesters. I know a lot of other couples our age who drive mini-vans, so I guess we are in good company.

As it turns out, we found a 2016 Odyssey with less than 1,700 miles on it. Evidently, it was leased by someone who only kept it a month or two and then returned it. Their loss was our gain because we were able to get a brand new (almost) car at a used car price. We are extremely happy with it. It's like Christmas arrived early this year...because it actually did. We  won't be purchasing each other much if anything for Christmas or our Anniversary this year. A new car is plenty for us.

Here is a picture of the car we purchased.

Truthfully, I thought I'd never own another mini-van. I drove 2 mini-vans and a bigger conversion van for many years. When we got the Lexus, I thought I was done with vans. However, this van is so much nicer than the vans that I drove back when the kids were still at home. No comparison at all. It drives nice, looks nice, and is extremely comfortable. However, it is so high tech that I am having to read the owner's manual to know how to use the electronic parts of it, especially the touch screen computer, radio, bluetooth, hands-free phone, etc. Everything is electronically run now - even the push-button ignition.

 We are blessed to be able to afford this purchase. Never during our marriage have we ever had a car payment. We have always saved up and paid cash for our cars. When you finance a car, you end up paying a lot more for it. The cost escalates because of the high interest rates incurred. Life is good.....especially when you have no debt!