Here’s a list of things that are more fun than car shopping for the third time in two years:
*A good punch in the nose.
*Watching golf on TV.
*A long drive with all 6 kids in the car.
Doing this much car shopping was never in my plans. But I don’t get to choose how the world moves.
And luckily, we’ve been getting better at car shopping! (I mean, after a while you kind of have to, right?)
What do you know? Planning ahead really does save money!
Not that it’s always easy to do. We’ve been in a season of life for months on end that made it very difficult for me to wrap my brain around meal planning and careful shopping.
I even hesitate to say that we’re “back” to planning ahead on a regular basis. We’re just taking it a paycheck at a time.
If you have a rough season of life and you feel guilty about not saving the maximum amount of money, remember that it’s ok. We all go through ups and downs.
One thing I’ve found to be true is that you can’t let yourself wallow in guilt. Believe me, I’ve tried it.
When I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself (not to mention letting go of the guilt of being a frugal blogger who couldn’t be perfectly frugal all the time), that gave me the permission I needed to try again.
Because here’s life in a nutshell:
This week I’m reading an amazing book that I think every mother should get her hands on. It’s called Cleaning House: A Mom’s 12 Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement.
There are so many good points to this book (especially the fact that giving kids meaningful work is the best gift you can give them).
But it made me aware of the fact that I might not be teaching my own kids enough about money.
Not just how to be responsible with it…but how to use it.
How to swipe the card at the gas station.
Comparing prices at the grocery store.
Having the courage to actually speak to a cashier while they make a purchase.
While driving home from a far away baseball game earlier this week, the dashboard of our 2005 Tahoe lit up like a Christmas tree.
This is one of those moments when you wonder if the savings of buying an older vehicle is worth it.
Our whole family was in the car, and all Google could tell me was that it could be as simple as a sensor…or as awful as the steering and brakes not working while you’re flying down the highway.
Lovely.
We made it home safely and now we’re waiting on word of how much this repair is going to cost us.
And I’ve decided to try to keep track of the amount of money in repairs (as well as the time we are without a vehicle) so we can see if driving an older car is truly worth the savings.
What do you think about driving older cars?
Ugh, setbacks.
This week we found out that we can’t install the cistern for rainwater that we were hoping for. So we’ll be looking for a different solution to bring water to our old home.
We still want to save money for whatever solution we come up with, so the big summer savings goal will definitely continue!
Well, we’re one week into our big savings challenge for this summer!
I hope you’ve decided to set a goal for yourself, too. We’ll do check ins each Friday to see how things are going and share ideas with each other.
And if you aren’t in a season of life that gives you enough breathing room for a challenge right now, no problem. Just check out what we’re doing so you can try it when life calms down a little!
(Believe me, I totally get it. That’s been our life all year… until school let out!)
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. Learn more. 
