I first wrote about our “one car season” in February here. While we borrowed a car for two of the past six months, our “one car season” wasn’t nearly as bad as we feared it would be. We found that we actually enjoyed being together more, often talking more as we ran errands together or drove together to different activities. We knew we could do one car at least for a little while and it truly saved us a ton of money.
But speaking season is upon me and we knew that we’d have to do something so I could be out of town speaking (often I drive) and Mark could be home.
Let me introduce you to my “new” car. It’s a 1992 Mitsubishi Mirage. Now the names of cars means absolutely nothing to me, but it might for some of you. The key here is the year. This baby is far from new. It’s also not fancy.
Notice the tape deck…
And the crank handle for the window…
But fancy isn’t what we were looking for. Functional was what we needed. And this baby gets us from point A to point B just fine.
And because of it’s age, we paid cash for it and…here’s the best part…it costs $20/month to insure!
Yep, I’m proud of my new ride. It’s not the newest or the best. But when you’re living with less, functional trumps fancy any day.
What about you? What do you use everyday that is functional but not fancy?
Oh Jill I feel for ya! We have been a one car family for as long as I can remember. We do have a van that's parked in the driveway that will usually make it the post office if necessary but typically one of us just has to wait till the other gets home before we can go anywhere. I'd show you a picture of the van but it might scare everyone back to the 7o's so it's probably better left to the imagination. And your red car is cute…at least the color suits you! LOL!
A 1995 Camry. It used to be fancy – lol. We bought it used from my husband's mom and paid cash for it over six years ago. It went from being my car to now my husband's commuter. It's a great car . . . . so great that when we needed a new rig, we got another Toyota.
I just moved into a 26 year old mobile home in the little town of Stanford so as soon as our house in Bloomington sells we can be mortgage free and save to build a house. Far from fancy, but it'll be worth it several years from now!
Shari, Cheri, and Lauren,
I love these function trumps fancy examples! You go, girls!
Wow! Way to go!! We were a one car family for years 2-6 of our marriage. Then we bought, with cash, a 7 year old truck for my hubby to drive. It's now a 14 year old truck that I (not so lovingly) refer to as "The Behemoth." Her paint is peeling, the cab leaks, the cd player has never worked and she is an eyesore in my driveway. But she keeps running so hubby keeps driving her.
I don't have a good example of something that big…but most everything I own is something I bought used. Except underwear. 😉 It's a good reminder that we can find good quality, functioning items without going full price and certainly not simply to get something fancy. But I don't do well with fancy stuff. Seems like the few times I bought something new and sort of fancy, I chipped, broke, snapped, tore, ripped or otherwise damaged it. We gave up and went back to purchasing Goodwill items.