busy saturday

Finding a car is top priority on our list. With my husband having the morning off, as well as Sunday and Monday it was our goal to find something to take home with us before Tuesday.

My exact thoughts went something like, "let's get this over with sooner rather than later, because I really, really, don't want to spend your days off driving around and trying to make a deal at a car lots."

With TWO toddlers in tow mind you (oh how I wish for family nearby).

However, we are known to be picky, and most of the cars we wanted to look at were 50-60 miles away. Obviously always on opposite ends of the city. Not only would this take hours, but it would take a lot of gas.

So last night I saw a car at a dealership about 10 miles away. They just got it in. It seemed like a good deal, so this morning before work, we headed out to look at it. It was a Subaru Outback. I've never really been keen on these. It's not that I don't like them, in fact I know they are AMAZING on snow and ice, it's just that I never envisioned myself driving one. Mike's brother is a mechanic and works on these all the time and kept telling us to get one, so we kept it on our list. This was a nice car. Black with black leather. Higher miles, but that was to be expected with our budget. Mike drove it and really liked it and then called his brother to see what he thought.

We had $6,500 cash, but wanted to stay below $5,000 and throw that extra $1,500 at loans if we could. This car was listed for $4990. Mike's brother said that often on Subaru's the head gaskets blow around 100,000 miles. He said if these haven't blown they could at any time and that is an $800 fix without labor. He said he'd offer low like $3,500. He also said they'd never take it, but it would be an absolute steal if they did.

They took it. I was shocked. I think it was because we had the cash. Just such a clean deal.

So we walked out of there not only with the $1,500 we didn't want to spend but an additional $1,200 after taxes and licensing and fees etc. The $1,500 we'll throw at loans, the $1,200 we'll keep for repairs. Mike's brother is going to look it over and tell us if anything needs to be fixed. It's great having that buffer for repairs. We've always had newer cars so it wasn't as much of a gamble before.

The car does have heated side mirrors, a heated windshield, and heated leather seats. That kind of sold me. Because if I don't have to be chipping ice off my windshield this winter I'll be a happier camper.

The funniest part of the whole day? Mike paid in cash and they owed him a quarter in change. The lady said we don't have a cashier so she reached into her purse and gave mike a quarter. (He did say he didn't need it but she still gave it to him).

So that was our day. I now drive a station wagon. Don't laugh- I don't have a payment.