*The Family Car*

 Here is the new vehicle that is parked where the truck used to be!

So... for those of you who know us... you may know how many cars we have bought over the past couple of years. Since we got married 3.5 years ago, we have owned a 2008 Saturn Vue, 2007 Ford Five Hundred, 2005 F-150, and now today, we added to this list with a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu. Don't misunderstand me though, we have traded all of these vehicles for the next one listed. This is a bit difficult since new cars depreciate so quickly, but I think we are doing alright in the end. Our credit rating has skyrocketed in part since we don't default on payments, but also because we keep showing paid off loans. This is very exciting when it comes to us getting a mortgage. The business guy said that anything over 750 is great and above that is just bragging rights, you already qualify for the best interest rates at the 750 mark.This wonderful news because we are both over 750!

Back to the new car... so we (I) have been looking at the amount of money that we were spending in fuel for the truck. It was on average $300.00 a month. On top of the truck loan, this is a lot of money for a vehicle that is driven 10 miles everyday to and from work, and then some on the weekends as a family car. We then started taking the 99 Saturn more places in order to save on some of the fuel costs. This however, is not a safe option for us not only for the kids in the car, but Jake has to sit so close to the airbags that if one were to deploy, it could seriously harm him. We decided that looking into a new, more fuel efficient vehicle, would be a better option. Jake's car of choice is a Ford, but their new cars are not big enough for my 6'3 husband. We looked into the Chevy Cruise's for a while, but for the same payment as the cruise, we could get the Chevy Malibu and just sacrifice a few miles per gallon, but have more room and luxury interior. The car we ultimately got is gold mist in color, has two tone interior, gets 33 miles per gallon on the interstate, and about 26-27 combined. This is more than double what we were getting with the truck. I figured that with Jake's driving to work and our family driving, we would save on average $1700 per year with the car. Although we are sad to see the truck go, we didn't use it all that much for the purpose of owning a truck. We only used it to haul the garbage to the dump, and then on rare occasion when we needed to haul something. That convenience is nice to have, but I'd rather borrow a truck and fill it with gas than spend $1700 on something we don't utilize to the full capacity. I'm hoping though, that this new car will stick with us for much longer than the ones in the past have. We are hoping that in a few years this will be my car and Jake will get either a truck again, or another vehicle for going to and from work. We are happy with our new purchase and are excited to have a vehicle that seems to meet all of our needs at the time. Even the car seats fit in nicely with room to spare!

Note from the author: Hunter's reaction to the new car: Kept saying "Papa! Look at MY new car!" and I asked him who's car it was, and he said "Hunter's" I asked him if it could be dad's car and he said "No" I asked him if he was going to pay for it and he said "No", so I asked who was going to pay for it, and he said "Mom"... Oh boy...