by Hope
I am starting to think about summer. The warmer weather, hours on our back deck enjoying the sun and Princess being home for spring break make me think summer. And I’m beginning to think that I may need to break down and buy another car. Ugh!
Definitely not rushing into it. Lots going on this summer…
- Princess will be home and working full time. She is spending this week looking for a summer job.
- Gymnast will be working full time…hopefully. He’s got a great job at a restaurant that he loves so I’m hoping he can get pretty close to full time hours there. It’s about 2ish miles from the house.
- I am most likely going to need to go to Texas for a while to help care for my mom as my dad is going to need a knee replacement. He is her primary caretaker followed by my sister and then two of my brothers help out regularly too. I had thought 1-2 weeks, but my dad thinks I may be needed longer.
Depending on where Princess’ job is, we may be able to get by with one car. But we must be able to get everyone to their jobs. And I’ve had to pick up going to Atlanta again every once in a while. It’s a delicate balance.
My thought is that I would leave the car when I go to Texas and they would have to coordinate things. Which would be delicate but doable.
Ugh, I don’t know. We’ve got a small savings account set aside for a car but it’s not near enough especially with car prices these days.
Life would be so much easier on this front if we lived in a larger city where services like Uber or public transport were available. (We are just getting DoorDash service.)
I would much prefer to get through another year without a second car. Princess has done well with living on campus with occasional trips home. It’s been easy for me to get Gymnast to and from work (and he’s schooling virtually so no rides to school needed.)
I guess it’s better to be prepared and not need it rather than need it and not be prepared. Would love to know BAD’s thoughts on a good budget for a good, reliable used car these days…
Hope is a digital marketing manager and foster/adoptive single mom to five kids. She has run her own consulting company for over 15 years and took a leap of faith returning to the corporate world in 2021 to a job and team she loves! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally mastered the balance between family first and wise financial decisions.
