A sigh of relief

After several negotiations with my persuasive husband, the local dealership ended up giving us a great deal on another van. As much as we hate having to take on a payment at this point in time, we needed a warranty (which we had run out on the old van). Those little things - the tire, the battery - they were going to keep happening. It was inevitable, with a van that had 120,000 miles. Each trip to Chicago is hard on the car - traffic at rush hour is sometimes an hour and a half to two hours just to go from the hospital to the hotel 10 miles away. The mileage is hard on the car. We knew it was inevitable that we'd need something in the next year, and with the current promotions, we were able to get a great rate and low payments with our 05 trade-in paying a good portion of this van. So, while we only have one car again, we are in much better hands on the road. We have our bumper to bumper warranty again up to 100K and roadside assistance as well.

We decided it was just a necessity, and that we couldn't risk coming out of an operating room procedure to find that our alternator was dead in the parking lot of the hospital - or having our transmission go out on the highway halfway up there. All those things weighed so heavily on our minds, and I crunched and re-crunched numbers until we were able to figure it out. Our grocery budget will go down some, but we will survive there with some creativity, and we are going to cut some extras that we don't need to make it work. Having a reliable, warrantied vehicle for 24 trips (at 550 miles each - 12,900 miles or something) - it's just peace of mind. The good news is - we switched our old homeowners over to the same company that does it on this house and saved a chunk each month right there. I no longer have a cell, but we always have John's work phone with us and I don't go out by myself. We won't be able to eat out at all, but that's okay - it's not good for us anyway and it's not like I don't know how to cook ;). And, our basic needs are being met, then some. Right now our energy needs to be focused on the best possible situation for JACK - and this was important.

So, while I don't have that gleeful "I HAVE A NEW CAR!" feeling - it's a relief. We both said this weekend that even having to take on a small payment, we're just so glad to have one LESS thing to worry about.

Ahhh.

Thought I should share something POSITIVE for a change :) Thank you all for you continued thoughts and prayers.