Stuck.

Tim and I like to discuss finances on our road trips while the kids are lose themselves in mind-numbing DVDs. No worries - this is not a subject of contention in our marriage - quite the contrary. In fact, I would venture to say that money is the one typical marriage sore spot about which we are perfect for each other. In other words, we are both cheapskates, or "parsimonious", as my dad would say. So, on January 1st, as we traveled home from San Diego, the conversation was no different: how thrilled we were that our trip had cost less than expected, our resolution to aggressively pay down mortgage debt, work on a Roth IRA, etc. It's terribly romantic, I tell you.

And then, a mile or so away from my parent's house in Utah, our car broke down. A heck of a lot of money to repair. Long story short, we came home with this:


A new, but old car. So much for our inexpensive Christmas. So here's the good news:
We were not in the middle of nowhere when our friendly minivan decided to go kaput.

My parents were generous enough to house, feed and cart us to and fro for two days while we purchased our new, old car.

The Relief Society activity I was in charge of went off without a hitch thanks to a reliable committee, a tireless neighbor and a bit of inspiration from me, who had 1. planned ahead enough that I needed only to make a couple of small assignments at the last minute and 2. had the foresight to give my neighbor a key to my house so she could access all the stuff I had already purchased for the activity. Brilliant.

We had an emergency fund (albeit a bit smaller now) to cover the costs of our new, old vehicle.

Note: Our kids asked us why we bought an old car, to which we responded, because if we bought a new one, you guys would make it look old in about two weeks! Sad, but true. Oh well, at least they can appreciate the fact that it's red.