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Reality Mom - Reality Mom: My New Found Reality
Okay, when it comes to learning about cars in America I’m not exactly the smartest person in the world. I’m an eager learner, but I’m constantly left scratching my head. You see, I already have an “idea” about the manufacturing of cars and so on . . . so, when things change or are not what I expect, I’m baffled.
This is also true for foreign cars. I don’t know why, but I’ve been lead to firmly believe the following impression: foreign cars all look the same in other countries, and are designed differently only for American consumers. Who taught me this? I had no idea, but it’s annoying . . . I do know that.
To further prove myself wrong, I decided to surf around. I mean, seriously, it’s a little (okay, a lot) strange for me to think this way. I immediately came across a ton of sites in my favorite search engine (we all have one, right?), but one seemed to stand out more than the others – the vauxhall dealer. Have you ever been to a site, particularly blog (like mine!) where you think, “yes, this is it; this is exactly what I was looking for.”? Surf through, you’ll see what I mean.
Now, back to my original point about how foreign cars all look the same blah, blah, blah, and my ambition to prove myself wrong. Take this car, the vauxhall insignia, for example. This is a great looking car . . . nothing AT ALL like the boxy Dotson-y looking things I was envisioning rolling through Europe. What is wrong with me? Do I live under a rock? I must. That’s the only explanation I can come up with! Then there’s this one, the vauxhall corsa, that reminds me a lot of a VW . . . not of a dumpy, boxy, icky brownish gray generic un-named vehicle.
My conclusion? I’m a busy working mom who barely has time to think about her own vehicle, let alone the vehicles in other countries. I like my vehicle, though the seatbelts could be spaced further apart so I don’t have to spend so much time fighting with car seats. In other news: my vehicle served me quite well when I was in an ice-slush accident a week and a half ago. I managed to walk away with only a few dents on the door…. And no dents on me!
Our family seems to be growing in leaps and bounds and I have to say, in all honesty, a compact car just would not work for this family. We have two teens in the household now, as well as three children who are all still in car seats. As a result, there just is not enough room for us all to fit in anything smaller than a mini-van or SUV.
Should we look for used autos? Good question. In these tough economic times, new cars seem to be growing further and further out of reach. However, there are a number of financial institutions that are working out better deals for those who prefer new autos over used ones. Like me, for example, I like the older models of the Dodge Durango over the new ones. It’s just my taste. If there were new Durangos that looked like the older ones, then I would certainly buy one!
The best thing to do is use your best judgment, create a budget, and figure out what will work best for your family. In our case, we’re a family of seven. Most of the vehicles we can afford at the moment are for six passengers. Eventually, we would like to purchase an eight-passenger mini-van. Those are beyond our budget right now, which is fine because we rarely all need to leave the house all at once. Most often, my fiancé is at work when I need to carpool the kids all over the place. So, this works best for us right now.
I’m both fearful and looking forward to when the older kids get their licenses and can drive themselves wherever they need to go. That will cut down on my “taxi-mom-ness” and it may alleviate the need to purchase a bigger vehicle. These teens will, of course, be earning their own vehicles just like my fiancé and I had to when we were their age. We think that’s the best way to teach them how to appreciate what they have.
What are your thoughts on buying new autos versus buying used autos?
When I first moved out on my own in 1992 (that seems SO long ago), I was an avid coupon clipper. The grocery stores I frequented had “double coupon day” once per week, so that was my day to shop. I loved raking in the savings.
In addition to that, I did a lot of brand comparisons (how many ounces of brand A is available for this price in comparison to brand B for this price, etc.) so I’d get the most bang for my buck. Back then; I was able to average $60.00 per week for an apartment filled with four adults.
Now, things are different. I can’t find good coupons, nor can I find anywhere that will double them. Those “savings cards” seem more like a marketing strategy allowing stores to sell consumer information more than anything else.
Where does this leave the thrifty consumer? I’m feeding a family of six now and, it seems, I can’t keep up without spending $200.00 per week! I rarely purchase brand names, I buy in bulk whenever I can save (meat, especially), and I take advantage of sales when I can find them (buy one get one free on vitamins – yes!).
I did a little hunting online and can see that coupons are still of interest to the consumer, but why can’t we find “good” ones in the Sunday paper anymore? Why can’t we double them in the popular stores anymore? There was one time, years ago; I remember a triple coupon day happening a couple of time per year, too! Where are those savings??
Now that money is being seriously crunched during the heating season, I’ll be digging deeper into the Internet and Sunday papers to find clip-able and printable coupons. I’ll share the printables in this blog, of course. We all need to save!
It’s that time of year again. Time to return to school, time to buy school clothes, and time to purge all the clothes that ….
1. will be good enough to play in
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I recently had to move my office (craft areas, workspace, studio - whatever you want to call this area) to another part of my home. I used to save EVERYTHING because I never knew if I would need something for a future project with the kids. I had coffee cans, boxes in assorted sizes, envelopes, junk mail, and so on.
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