Originally Posted By: CT8
Originally Posted By: exranger06
Wife and I are in our 30s, we both work full time, and we have two young daughters (2 year old and 5 month old). There's no way we could pay all of our bills with just one of us working. We used to have my wife's parents watching the girls full-time, but my father in law's health has been deteriorating recently, and my mother in law is recovering from a broken pelvis, so we had to put the girls in daycare. Daycare costs $532 per week. My in-laws pay half of the daycare bill since we can't afford it on our own.
2006 Ford Ranger Sport
1992 Honda Accord EX
2004 Honda CR-V LX
1994 Ford Bronco XLT (project)
2011 Cadillac Escalade ESV (wife's)
Yeah, and your point is? The Bronco is a project that has been sidelined for the last three years, since before I had any kids and since I bought my house. I haven't even driven it since last October. It'll get attention when I have time and money. As of right now, I don't spend a dime on it.
The Accord is worth a whopping $1,000 or so. Not worth selling, it's way more valuable as a good economical and practical car. Insurance is dirt cheap, it almost never needs any repairs or maintenance, and saves me lots of money on gas. I'd be stupid to get rid of it. It's what I drive to work most days. If/when it dies, I won't replace it with anything and drive the Ranger or CR-V instead, but until then, it stays. It ultimately makes the other cars last longer by keeping the mileage off them, thus saving me more money by not having to buy replacement vehicles.
The Ranger I use when I need a truck to haul or tow things, which is often enough to keep it. It gets about 5k miles a year.
The CR-V I bought because I needed a vehicle to carry the kids around in the winter because the Accord is horrible in the snow. I considered selling the Ranger and getting a crew cab truck instead, but since truck prices are ridiculous, it was cheaper to keep the Ranger and buy the CR-V. I paid $4k for the CR-V used.
The Escalade we bought used for a fraction of the cost of a new one, and we bought it because my wife's Subaru didn't have any interior room for 2 baby seats, stroller, and other stuff we need to carry around. We bought a vehicle big enough to carry three children, should we decide to have a third, we won't have to upgrade again.
It's not like I have 5 vehicles that are all worth $50k each that I'm making payments on. My four vehicles COMBINED are only worth about $16k (less than the cost of ONE 3 year old sedan) and insurance for them combined is probably less than one newer vehicle. And they're all paid for, except the Escalade.
Got any more judgements about me you care to share?