So we did something bad...
Not so much bad but a necessary evil, if you will.
So a little back story.
We have had two cars our entire marriage; A 2005 Ford escape and a 2011 Ford F-150.
The Escape, being 14 years old, had issues. These issues did not cause the car to be undriveable, rather, more "exciting" to drive. Shocks were worn at best and made the ride not-so-smooth sailing. The check engine and 4x4 ABS lights made the dashboard look like a Christmas tree year round, so that was cool. The sunroof worked... sometimes. On several occasions I would open the sunroof and then go to close it, it wouldn't close. So an intellectual person would think to themselves, "I probably shouldn't use the sunroof because the probability of it closing is not 100%", but I am not an intellectual person, all the time, so I used it. Over and over I got burnt by this dang sunroof. But I've never had a sunroof in all my years of driving, so I was gonna use the dang sunroof regardless of the consequences.
The worst encounter with this semi-inconsistent sunroof was on a night where a friend and I went to a car dealership to look for this very cars replacement. We test drove the car we went to look at, it got late and the dealership was closing, so we left to head home. I forget why i was even messing with the sunroof 'cause it was not sunroof weather, it was a chilly evening. Either way - I hit the button to just open the back back, you know what I'm talking about, not open it all the way but just the back side of it for a little air flow. Well i pressed the button the wrong way and it started auto-opening from the front. So Matt and I frantically attempted to stop if from opening, again, cause it was cold, to no avail. It opened all the way.
So I pressed the button to go ahead and close it, thinking it would work and it didn't. So poor Matt is freezing to death, I'm good cause I got that padding if you know what I'm sayin'.
Anyways, it's almost like the car knew what we were doing, go car shopping to replace it and it decided to punish me (unfortunately is was "us" 'cause Matt so graciously chose to ride along with me).
So that was the moment I realized we needed a newer car.
If i may divulge a little, we (Mal and I) decided it was in our best interest to get a newer car. Mal had been ready, it was me that needed convincing.
Ya see, Mal was driving my F-150 truck around because in most cases, she was toting around the kiddos and we wanted them to be in the safest environment possible; and although the truck was nicer, it still wasn't hers.
So what did we up and do? We bought a 2016 Chevrolet Suburban LTZ.
Was it necessary, probably not, was it wise, Dave would say NO, but it's what we wanted and we went into the purchase on a plan.
A plan to finance the car for 2 years or less. I'm sure you're wondering many things. Mainly, "How much was it?", and, "I know a Suburban 'ain't cheap, how you gonna pay that much off in two years?". And no, we didn't get a 2 year loan, we got a 75 month loan, and that worked right into our plan.
We had the mindset going into the whole deal knowing this would be the last thing that we use debt to pay for, besides a home of course, more on that in the coming months.
Back to paying off this beast in 2 years time...
Our total debt now is about $71,000 (no that is not all The Burb but most of it is - eek). We are on track, barring any emergencies that arise, to pay off all of that in 18 months or by December 2020. Check my other post here for how!
But how are we going to do it? 'Cause it's great to have a why, but a how is equally, if not more, important in the equation of financial peace.
Budget.
In our six years of marriage, five and a half of those were spent not on a budget. And in hindsight, for those first five and a half years, we thought we were fine, but we weren't. Relying on credit cards when there was too much month left at the end of the money. Or erratically impulse buying the day I got paid and then realizing, shoot, we still got bills that are due. We don't do that anymore, and it's a fantastic feeling.
Money fights and money problems are the number one cause of divorce in America today. Don't let that be you.
A budget is the number one reason people start winning with money and subsequently, in marital relationships. When you live on a budget, you tell your money what to do and where to go, rather than aimlessly wondering where it all went.
Sit down with your spouse (or yourself if you're single). Get on the same page about your financial goals. Download the Everydollar App. Write out your budget, it takes like 10 minutes. Devise a plan, and stick to it. Remember, a budget is a tool, not something to be looked at negatively. Approval to spend money rather than feeling guilty when you do.
So come with us on this Journey! I'll be posting more regularly as we document this process, our failures, our success, all of it!
Thanks for reading.
Strahl