Playing Catch up

Wow, it has been so LONG since I posted here. My last post was just a week before I found out I was pregnant, so I guess pregnant me wanted nothing to do with blogging.

But now I keep seeing things and wanting to share them, so I'm back online again!

Ever since Josh was born, all I want to do is share share share! But for today, I really want to talk about the new car we just got.

Joshua is about to outgrow his infant carseat, but is not yet heavy enough (or old enough) for a forward facing seat. Thus we move up to the larger sized car seat, but with it oriented in the most space-using way possible: rear-facing. Its not just turning the carseat around, but it also has to be tilted to be in a more 'lying down' position. Way way WAY to big for our car.

So we got a new one! This came up much sooner than we had expected, so we didn't have a down payment saved up at all (in fact, we had just spent our extra money on xmas gifts, knowing that I have a bonus coming) so we knew leasing was out. Besides, neither of us are good candidates for leasing. We ding cars, we drive them too far, and with a baby in tow, are likely to stain upholstery now too.

So we applied for a loan in a few places, and dear LORD! Would it kill car salesman to give a straight answer occasionally? It was like pulling teeth just trying to find out how much car we could afford and whether they could help us with that. Finally, we applied for a loan at carmax.com. Thirty minutes later we got a call from Jerry, who was able to tell us the loan terms offered (a range, since it depended on the car price and age) and, given our limits on what we could pay monthly, how much car we could afford. And then he told us a few that he had on the lot that we could test drive.

We drove some on Saturday, and liked them all, but they were just a bit steep. So we requested an older model Kia Sedona (yes, its a minivan) to be transfered from the next Carmax over in Ontario. The next day, we got to drive that one, and though it wasn't nearly as nice as the newer models, it was much more affordable for us. We were even able to afford the maximum extended warranty and GAP insurance (with 60K miles on it already, those HAD to be purchased for me to feel secure).

Jeremy and I were kind of sad to not get the purty new(er) cars, but we came up with a plan to save the money we aren't spending, because our car payment is low, and then take that money and upgrade in two years. We'll be more secure in our living situation (in Portland!) and in the meantime, we aren't gambling our future in the name of bling.