A budget dilemma.

I was so excited to tell my grocery shopping story last night, that I didn’t have time or really the desire to talk about another budget hurdle we will soon be facing. Dh called right before heading home from work, to tell me that we need to start looking for a new car soon. UGH! My response, “Seriously?” Apparently so. He had the car into the shop because it hasn’t been driving well, and all the work they would need to do is gonna cost over $2000. So sorry, but we are not putting that kind of money into the car! It’s a 1995 and has close to $200,000 miles. It’s time to say goodbye. In my opinion, we already put too much money into this car, and needed to say goodbye about 6 months ago. (I know my sister is probably smiling at this comment, as she knows how many times we have conversed on this subject).

Anyway....this puts us in a slight budget dilemma. Okay, more than slight, we just don’t have the money to buy a car right now. We never buy new cars, only used, which I think is a wise move. But even a used car can be expensive. We have been working on several of Dave Ramsey’s principles from his Steps to Financial Freedom. But we skipped the first step…. And that would be “Start saving now for a $1000 Emergency Fund”. Uh, I guess that’s why he suggested that first huh? So we would be prepared when the unexpected happens. Sigh... we always seem to learn the hard way.

So, this evening I was online looking at cars on Autotrader. I found a truck for dh, and it’s used, but we both love it. Unfortunately we don’t love the price. We could always get a loan in a heart beat, but that would saddle us with another car payment….when we are almost done with those. So, we chose to step back and pray about it…. To not make any hasty decisions just because it’s exciting to get something “new”. We’ll see what doors the Lord opens for us, and how He directs. Our situation is not immediate, dh can still drive that car for a couple more months. In that time, we may find just the vehicle we need, while still adhering to our financial goals.

If you’d like to read more about Dave Ramsey and his financial wisdom click here, or on his name. Dave also has a really interesting video on how to purchase cars for the future without a car payment Dh and I watched this a few months ago....It's an interesting concept.... Click the link to take you to the video. Dave Ramsey Car Video.