this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

Last January, we took our car in for a small repair. A small repair that turned into potentially much larger repairs. We spent a few days seriously pursuing purchasing a new (to us) car. When we weren't finding what we wanted for the price we wanted to pay, we abandoned that idea.  We decided that we should pay to repair it and save the car search for another year. This year to be exact. Happily, the car ended up needed nothing more than a new set of tires to get us to this point. But we're ready for an upgrade.

Last summer, we took a seven hour drive to visit family and five people plus all of our travel necessities in the jeep was just too crowded. It feels silly to say that we "need" a new car when really we all fit just fine, but it sure would be nice to have more room!

So, we're starting the hunt for the perfect car for us. We don't want a car payment (we haven't had one for years, so why start now?) and if all goes well, we will be able to pay cash for a new car.

Deciding what to do last year was one we went back and forth on quite a bit, but it seems like we really made the right choice to put off purchasing a new car.