one car family
It seems like I drive a lot these days.
Back last spring when Damon got this job offer in Boston we knew this was the opportunity we’d been waiting for, working for, to make a major life change. You already know we dramatically downsized our house and our possessions, (on purpose!!) so we could live a simpler lifestyle. Well, we also chose to ~gasp~ get rid of a vehicle and make do with just one. ONE car.
We specifically chose to live in Braintree for two reasons, the schools for Josh, and easy access to the train station for Damon. It’s like city life without being in the city. It’s a place where having one car is really possible.
You’re thinking well sure, lots of people make do with one car, or even no car! But not us. It’s just something we never even considered before. We both grew up in MAINE, and there is practically no such thing as public transportation in Maine. You certainly can’t walk – everywhere you need to go is like, 110 miles away, or more. Okay seriously, I pulled that number out of nowhere and then I looked up how far it is from my hometown to the Maine/NH border and it’s 113 miles! Not even kidding.
Anyway, our plan, and we all know how well plans go, was to keep our old crappy SUV right up until it was time to move and then quickly get rid of it. About 3 1/2 weeks before our closing date we made a decision to donate it to a good charity instead of trying to sell it. Believe me when I say it wasn’t worth much, certainly not even worth the hassle of a craigslist ad!
Three days after that, the dang truck died on the side of the road.
Sigh. I had three weeks of transfer station trips/school pickups/extraneous moving errands left to make. Gah.
Anyway, we gave up, donated it to the Epilepsy Foundation (hello tax break!) and we’ve only had one car ever since. That was four months ago, and I haven’t murdered anyone yet. Wahoo!
Every week day now, I drive Damon to the train station, drop Josh at school, then go home and work until it’s time to pick up Josh again at 3. (No he doesn’t ever take the school bus, but that’s another story of it’s own.) We come home and get homework done and dinner ready, then at 5 we go out yet again and pick Damon up at the train station.
You guys. I feel like I’m in the car ALL the time. But here’s the scary thing; I don’t mind it. Josh gets reading time, or we all actually get time to TALK to each other. It’s quite a nice novelty! One I hope doesn’t wear off. 
On weekends, we plan our time carefully, if one of us needs the car the other gets quiet time at home. We’ve been doing a lot more things together as a family too, even if it’s just errands. That’s a good thing!
The other really fabulous thing? Is how much money we’re saving. Think about this: no car payment, no car insurance, no registration fees, no tax, no maintenance, no extra gas. At MINIMUM we’ve estimated we’re saving around $5000 a year, but in reality, it’s probably 7 or 8. Um, yeah. I’m okay with that. I’ll just keep on doing all the driving, thanks.
Have you ever thought about downsizing to one family car or going car-less completely? Is it even doable where you live? Scary thought isn’t it?
We’re doing our best to make it work. We said we wanted try it for a year. I think we can, and if we get through the winter, maybe even longer!
snippets of the day
Since we were talking about TV anyway, I need to tell you something sad. I think my TiVo is dying. It randomly shuts down on it’s own at least a couple times a day. I’ve had this one for quite awhile, at least 4-5 years, so I’m guessing it’s not even possible to get it fixed for less than it’s worth. That means buying a new one. Eventually. It’s sad not just because of the money, but mostly because this particular box knows me so well. I love how it randomly tapes old episodes of Sex and the City, ER, Little House on the Prairie, and Star Trek because it know I like them. It alway, always, records bad disaster movies and tornado shows. ~Sigh~ Okay, and really it’s about the money.
In better news, I had to take my Explorer to my garage for what I thought was a bad coolant leak. Turns out it’s very minor and they couldn’t even figure out where it’s coming from it’s so small. I have a feeling when the weather gets colder again it may get worse but my mechanic is very good and I have no doubt he’ll figure it out next time. He probably would have today if we’d given him more time, but the boy and I were hanging out in the waiting room. I’ll leave it with him overnight soon so he can be more thorough. I’ll sleep better tonight now that I’m reassured the radiator is is in good shape and it’s not going to overheat on me. The very best part was that they didn’t even charge me for the hour they spent looking it over and giving it the pressure test. How cool is that?!
Aaaand, in the best news of all, the boy is going to my mil’s house for the weekend right after school tomorrow! Yay for me for a kid-free weekend! I desperately need it, if only to get a little extra sleep.
Now I’m off to give the boy a haircut and a bath, and pack his things!
skeered
I’m taking our other vehicle for it’s annual inspection this morning. (Yes, we’re just that dumb to have both vehicles requires inspections and registrations in the same month.) It’s old too, and I’m very very scared. After last week, nothing can surprise me, but I’m really hoping for no major system failures! Cross your fingers for me, k?
Updated to add: Four hours and $500 later it’s inspected. Phew. Best part – going for a walk with the boy to the closest Chinese restaurant for lunch and getting back before the thunderstorm hit. Or maybe that I didn’t have to buy another new car? Worst part – I can still smell the oily stink of the waiting room now that I’m home. I think it’s in my clothes. Blech.
the siphoning gas update
Okay, so many of you commented or otherwise questioned me on what happened next I thought it needed a quick new post!
Let me just clarify one thing. I didn’t specifically ask for them to fill up the tank as I apparently should have, however, I knew there was plenty of gas in it so I wasn’t concerned about the extra couple of gallons. Let that be a lesson to us all!
So yes, I called the salesperson this morning. I had to call anyway. The dumba$$ also forgot to give me my $100 gas card that was part of their current sales promotion. I should have made sure I had it but we wanted to get out of there so fast (we’d been there at least four hours, ugh) and I wrongly assumed it was in the packet with rest of our stuff. I probably wouldn’t have called just about the gas tank, only because the whole thing was SO ridiculous and I was SO done!
When I reached him I told him about the gas card – of course he wanted me to drive back there to get it. Only if you want me to smack you buddy. “No dude. Mail it. Today. And oh by the way….you might want to tell your service department they should leave enough gas in the car to get to the closest gas station.”
“Huh? Wha?”
Don’t huh me. “I know there was over 1/2 tank of gas when I test drove it.”
Here’s where it gets good. He actually told me it was his fault. That he wanted them to clean it up for me really good so they took out all the gas and he was supposed to put in fresh (!) and he forgot. HA HA HA!!!
Fresh gas. *snort*
Let’s just see how long it takes to get the gas card in the mail.
if you thought I was crazy before…
You should have seen me around 4:30 this afternoon. I was a complete psycho negotiating with a car salesman while DH sat back and let me. Oh my.
Let’s step back a moment and start from the beginning.
Yesterday I dropped off my car at my mechanic’s for my annual inspection. I knew that one of my tie rods was loose so I expected to spend a few bucks, but I hoped nothing else major was wrong. Kinda wishful thinking really, considering I drive a 1996 Taurus with 126,000 miles on it. Apparently I sucked every ounce of life outta that car, cause the the news this morning wasn’t good. Not good at all.
The worst of it:
- Leaking power steering fluid, causing need for a new power steering rack and both new tie rods: Fail inspection, cost $1050.00.
- Rear brakes shot, including one of the calipers: fail inspection, cost $510.00.
- One window won’t go down: fail inspection, cost unknown.
- Hazard lights completely out: fail inspection, cost unknown.
- Radiator shot, coolant leaking in the piping behind transmission. Doesn’t fail inspection but cost astronomical because transmission has to be removed to access leak, and car could implode at anytime if not fixed.
- Other minor things, frankly too numerous to relate here. Ugh.
Holy cannoli Batman. I was looking at repair bill of about $2000.00. Frankly, the car isn’t worth anywhere near that much.
DH and I agree it’s time to bite the bullet and car shop. Crap. So I say let’s just go tonight and get it over with. DH smartly gets out of work at 1:00pm giving us almost the entire day to deal with it. I didn’t really think we needed that long. Heh. I’m an idiot.
I pretty much knew I wanted another Taurus. I just like them. I’m used to them, they’re pretty reliable, and they last for quite a few miles. We head out to a local, but large, car dealership that we’ve dealt with before, in search of a slightly used one. Saw a few, blah, blah, test drove, blah blah, got financing set, etc. Before you say “Why did you get financing at a dealership? They always screw you over!” Not if you’re armed with other bank quotes at really good rates they don’t! Been there, done that!
Anyway. We get to the final negotiations. Bad trade in offer, and hmmm, the other numbers seem a little funny. Oops, we forgot to tell you about the $399 processing fee. I grabbed my purse and stood up to leave. Dealer panics. I’m livid. DH is good cop. You know what I am – psycho crayzee cop. I’m pretty sure I stood up at one point turned toward the manager’s desk and yelled that I wanted my keys back. Oh, yes I did. Manager panics. Runs over. Fixes deal. I get what I want. DH is happy. Boy is confused (and so very tired of waiting!) We get awesome 4.59 % interest rate!
Wanna see it? Here it is, but make sure you keep reading, you don’t want to miss the best part:
So, at the very end, we’re waiting next to our poor old clunker for the salesman to pull up with our shiny new (to me) 2006 Taurus. It was taking forever. I joke to DH “What are they doing, replacing the new tires with bald ones, or siphoning all the gas?!” Ha Ha.
The mofos siphoned the gas. I’m not kidding. It was over half a tank when I test drove it. Take a guess which warning light came on as soon as we drove off the lot?