The End of An Era: A One Car Household

The End of An Era: Can 15 months count as an era? I think so!

Not too long ago I shared with the world how my hubs and I were sharing a car to pinch pennies… you can read the reason behind moving to a one car home, here.

It’s true; I convinced myself that we only needed one car. Truth be told, we could afford two cars, but I was willing to sacrifice a car of my own in order to make it work for me to stay at home with Lincoln. And it almost became a game to see how long I could hold out so we could spend our money on other things… like an increased grocery budget. I told myself that we were being “earthy” by not polluting the air with a second car. I was convinced that we (me and Lincoln) didn’t need to leave our house to have fun and learn. You know what though? We made it work! It was hard at times and we spent extra money on gas since there were days I had to take hubs to work, drive back home, drive back into town for an appointment, drive back home, and drive back to get hubs from work, but still, we made it work… for 15 looooong months. There were days where hubs would work from home and I would use the day to accomplish all of my tasks. Yes, it’s difficult cramming in the grocery store, story time at Barnes and Noble, a doctor’s appointment here, doctor’s appointment there, getting gas, squeezing in nap times, and feeding my kid all in one day, but again, we made it work and made the most of it.

So………..

I gotta be honest, not having a car SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sure I convinced myself of a lot of things, but knowing that I was stifled to the house everyday unless scheduled with my husband otherwise, has to be one of the most difficult things for a family. Wesley would get annoyed when he didn’t have his car to be able to go grab a bite to eat while at work, I was annoyed that I was in a truck with a 4 inch lift… yes, I said 4 inches!, Vanessa would have to come pick me up and take me errand running from time to time so she was therefore annoyed, and all in all, Lincoln was suffering because the things that I was taking care of on the days that I did have the car were for our family and not necessarily Lincoln.

The beast of a truck that 5’4″ me had to climb in and out of…

So…………

Over the course of the last several months we’ve been talking about the need for 2 cars. Again, I continued to justify why we didn’t need 2 car payments. Regardless, Wesley told me to start looking for cars. He gave me some parameters and told me to let him know when I found one that I liked. I did some searching and finally came across one that was within the set guidelines from my hubs. Honestly, I didn’t think it was going to work out and figured when push came to shove, we would make the decision to stick with one car.

So…………

This past Saturday {my birthday weekend}, my husband, my amazing, wonderful, spoils me rotten husband bought me my very own car!!! After 15 months of riding in the ginormous truck with the 4 inch lift, having to step on the running bars to get Lincoln in and out of his car seat, trying to find space for groceries and his stroller, either having to drive all over Austin to have the car for 1 day a week or ending up sitting at home with no ability to leave, I finally have my own set of wheels! WOOOHOOOOOO!

So today, for me, the possibilities are endless. If I run out of milk… no more having to tell my hubs to grab some on his way home, if I want to go to story time… no more having to tell Wesley to work from home so I can make it happen, if there is a doctor’s appointment… no more hauling Wesley to work, to come home, to go to an appointment (they always seem to schedule them smack dab in the middle of the day), to go home, and back to get Wesley.

I told my girlfriend’s that there are three special days near and dear to my heart now; the day Lincoln was born, the day I got married, and the day the hubs bought me a car. I didn’t think a materialistic item could make me so happy, but when I woke up Monday morning and today knowing that I could do with the day as I pleased, I smiled from earlobe to earlobe. Life is good and I now know that I can never ever ever ever ever live without a car! For anyone who read my first blog and thought to yourself, “I can do that…”, RECONSIDER!!!!

PS. Her name is Beatrice {she’s the first car I’ve ever named} and she’s Alpine White 🙂

What is the one materialistic item that you just couldn’t live without?