Decisions, Decisions, and More Decisions
Well the time has come that my wife and I had to take a hard look at our life and decide what we could do to make it a little easier in our lives both spiritually and financially. You see if there is something that I have learned throughout my life and most recently my Journey is that these 2 things actually go hand in hand. Most couples in life that you see are financially straight and well off have a better overall spiritually strong relationship. I know that should not be the case, but in this day and age that is just the way it is. So we have decided to take a look at the things we have and start to downsize and determine the difference between what we want, and what we actually need. That transformation began yesterday with the purchase of a new car.
I know you look at this and say; well if you are trying to downsize why would you buy a new car? Well I can answer that for you. First off my wife and I already had 2 cars. We were financing a 2009 Mini Van and a 2003 Suburban. We love both cars because of the size and fact that each one could carry our family as a whole when they are in town. What we had to look at is this really a necessity and if not what could we do to save a little bit of money. Well as far as if it was a necessity we realized it truly wasn’t. The van gets about 23 MPG and the Suburban gets roughly 16 if I am lucky. So ATM with the price of gas and the location of my work, I find myself spending about 100 dollars if not more a week to get back and forth to work in the Suburban, sure it would have been a little cheaper if I had driven the van, but not much and anyhow I like the cool guy car. What I truly needed to realize is that it is not always about being cool you know. It should always be about what is best for my family not my own personal pride. Of the two vehicles we have the van has the higher monthly payment and money owed, not to mention it only fits 7 and when my kids and all are here we need more space.
So the first step in our downsizing was for me to go and trade the van in for a sedan that gets better gas mileage. So we prayed on this and yesterday I finally did it, and I believe we have made a good cost effective decision. So I went down to the dealership (which I hate to do) and started the process. I got pretty lucky, we knew going in we were upside down on the van but not by a lot. My wife had blue booked the van so we had a baseline of how much it was worth. Well the dealership gave me 18k for the van on trade in and started showing me some sedans. Our idea was to get a good used car but if you know me you already know what happened. Before I knew it they had a 2012 Nissan Altima in front of me, now I knew that the monthly payment on this was going to be right at or below what we pay on the van and that was my goal, not to go up in monthly payment but to save on gas. Well the Altima gets between 32 and 40 MPG so that was a plus. Then I got just about 3K in rebates off the vehicle and they dropped the sticker by a grand, so that just ate up my negative equity in the van so I believe the praying helped out. In addition we got our GAP insurance, 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, and a year of free oil changes thrown in on the deal. So in the end, we are paying the same as we paid for the van a month, and if we have done our numbers correctly I should save about 300 dollars a month on gas alone with this purchase which will definitely help out.
I credit all this success to God. My wife and I have put all of our decisions in God’s hand. We now pray about everything that we do and follow the guidance that is put in our heart by the Lord. He will always provide for us, that is something that we whole heartedly believe in. There is never going to be just a snap decision that we make again. We will continue to seek out His guidance and help and do everything that we do to glorify Him.
The Bible says “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your sons like young olive trees around your table. In this very way, the man who fears the Lord will be blessed. May the Lord bless you from Zion, so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life and will see your children’s children!” Psalm 128:3-6
Even though this is our first step in downsizing I know it is one in the right direction. As long as we keep our faith in the Lord we can never be led astray. I love God, my family, and all my brothers and sisters. Thank you and God Bless.
G.E.D.D.
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