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Having one Car

CopenBCopenB
in Babies: 9 - 12 Months

Here is my situation. Right now we live with my sisters family and rent from them. We had an apartment but when I was pregnant she convinced us to move in with them to pay off our bills (I also take care of her 2 kids 8yrs & 11yrs. I get them on the bus, off the bus, do homework, cook dinner for everyone and do basic cleaning. My sister has also been going away a lot for work. Her husbands work schedule changes every week. We do have a lot of charges about $20,000. We are trying our best to pay them off. We would like to start trying again to have another baby. I really want to have a house before the baby comes. Right now Izzy is in the same room with us. My sister and her husband do not want us to move and don't like to talk about it.

I was thinking it would be a good idea to sell my husbands car. In car payments we pay $1000 a month. $500 for each car.  Then we could pay and extra 500-600 hundred a month on our chargers. My husband doesn't like the idea I would be home with out a car and I will have to stop taking Izzy to Gymboree 2x a week.

I know having one car would really suck. But is it that bad? Does anyone share one car. 

 

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Re: Having one Car

  • almost momma of twoalmost momma of two
    Could you drive your DH to work those two days that you have Gymboree? If I were in your situation, I'd sell a car. I could do without one right now if I needed to.
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  • lhuttlingerlhuttlinger member
    My boss does it and it is working out really great for them. Try it for a month, and see if you can avoid using your car. If it isn't possible, then keep it!
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  • LauraandMattLauraandMatt
    We just sold our 2 cars and bought one.  I am now a SAHM so I drive DH to work on the days I need the car.  It is working out really well.  We are saving on car payments and insurance.  The only problem was when we went to trade in DH's truck- we owed more that it was worth due to gas prices- truck prices have dropped off.  SO we ended up losing a few grand, which hurt initially.  Good luck!
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  • CopenBCopenB

    Thanks Ladies...

     

     LauraandMatt---we will be in the same boat. What happens if you owe more on your car then they give you? Do you have to pay the difference right there? Or can you still make payments?

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  • *speedracer**speedracer* member

    What kind of cars do you have for 500/month?  That's a lot of money...I'd get rid of BOTH cars for 1 or 2 much cheaper models. If you owe more than the difference I believe they will roll that $ into the financing for the new one.  You won't want to hear this but I would never consider TTCing if I didn't live under my own roof.

    Ask the girls on the Money Matters board for budget/debt payoff advice, they are really savvy.
     

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  • Trafty024Trafty024

    I agree with speedracer...now days you should be able to get a car for a lot less than $500 a month. I say sell both and get one car that is around $250/month - then you can have an additonal $750 for your debt.

    Also, this is totally unasked for advice since you were just asking about the car.... but I also don't understand why are you paying for things like gymboree classes if you have that much debt. In additon to the car thing, which is a great start, revaluate what else you can save money on. I also would not even consider TTC until I was out of debt and in my own house. 

    Good luck w/ whatever you decide to do! 

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  • LauraandMattLauraandMatt
    We actually traded my car and his truck in for a new car.  Forntunately I owed a lot less than my car was worth, so most of the difference was eaten there.  Then, the rest was rolled into our new car payment, so we basically financed more money than the car was worth, but it was what we had to do at the time. 
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  • JoyousJuliaJoyousJulia member

    We made it work with just one car for several years. I would take DH to the train in the morning and pick him up in the evening. It saved us a lot on car payments and insurance. Also, our car was an older ('94) Toyota. Dependable, but relatively inexpensive.

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  • KeenaBeenaKeenaBeena
    We only have one car, I'm a SAHM but my husband either takes the bus, rides his bike or walks places. As far as I remember Maryland has a pretty decent public transit system.?
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  • NYCredNYCred
    living with one car is absolutely doable.  although depending on how far out in the burbs you are, it might not be too enjoyable!  have you considered selling both cars and getting two less expensive cars? that way you'd be able to have your own car and put more money into savings each month.
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  • Marie TourvilleMarie Tourville
    We only have one car.  You adjust.  You plan better and you spend a lot less in gas!
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  • HeatherAAHeatherAA member
    Like pp said that's too much money to spend on a car especially if you're trying to pay off debt. Car payments are a bad debt...while something like school loans are a good debt. You're going to have a really tough time trying to get a house and keep it if you're not smart with your money. There's no need to have 2 cars that cost $500/month each. If you can't manage to do just one car, you can get two cheap cars for like 300/month total. I understand that you probably enjoy that time out of the house with DC but if you are serious about paying off debt, get rid of Gymboree to help save more money.
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  • ToBeMrsTToBeMrsT member
    we could do it and in your situation I would definitely do it.  I would also stop going to gymboree! that's really expensive for someone in your situation.
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  • C Bear EC Bear E member
    One of our cars broke down 5 months ago and we haven't bothered to get it fixed yet because we've found we really don't need it. We may get it fixed when I go back to work. It takes a little more planning on days when we both  need transportation, but that hasn't happened as often as we'd thought it would.
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  • tmp-240052000005102tmp-240052000005102

    We went from two cars to one car when a lease was up and at first it was a HUGE adjustment. It's been two years now and it's actually easier now- but we live in a city so I walk most places.

    It's nice to have a car paid off and no other bills other than the insurance- so I would say the trouble/inconvience has been worth it for us!

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  • jenifairiesjenifairies
    Dh and I have 2 90s model cars, both paid off. We spent probably 9 months with only one of them running at a time, and we made it ok. I had to get up in the morning to take him to work on days I wanted the car, which sucked after having the baby, but if there is no way in hell I would be paying $1,000 a month on car payments alone if I was living with relatives. I would get rid of both and buy one older car. It's really not that bad. You would save the money on insurance and some gas, too, because you would go out less probably, too.
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  • mom2llmom2ll member
    I would sell both cars and use any money you get to buy (in the words of Dave Ramsey) a beater (aka super cheap car) with cash.  If you find you really need a second car save for a few months and buy a second beater...  I'm talking like a $2000 car...  We sold DH's very reliable Honda Civic for about $2000, it wasn't pretty, but it worked and was reliable...  There is no way I would pay $1000 a month in car payments..  that's more than our house payment...  I love Dave Ramsey.. 
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