Yeah, I Have a Huge Car Payment- So What?

The tides are changing in my life. I am sick of always feeling frazzled, feeling bad about what I didn't get done and not being frugal enough. I used to always tell myself "if it won't matter in 10 years then why should it matter now". Of course, that was the 20 year old me- now I am the almost 28 year old me and the mother of two kids so there are things that I have to do even if they won't matter in ten years.

There are things that are the bare minimum that I want to accomplish in my life:

spend time enjoying my kids

be a good wife to my husband

have a decently clean house

cook healthy food for my family (or at least as healthy as they will tolerate)

Notice how being a crazy deal seeker, feeding my family on $40 a week or living like a miser to pay of my credit card debt are not on my list. All of the things I just mentioned may work for others but not for me. I want to enjoy life and those things are just not enjoyable.

Scoring free stuff is great but it is just not worth it to me to drag my poor kids to Rite Aid to get free toothpaste when I have tons of free toothpaste already. Times have also really changed in regards to deals- a few years ago they just fell on your lap and it was easy to get tons of free stuff; now you really have to work at it. I will still get in on deals but I will no longer get upset if I just can't make it to the store and I miss the hot deal. I can live vicariously though others by reading their blog posts.

Having a super low grocery budget was something I used to be proud of but now it is just unrealistic for me. I used to only have one child when I first got into super couponing but now I have two kids who really love milk, yogurt, string cheese, fruit and whole wheat bread. These things are expensive and no matter how much of a smart shopper I am they eat up a large part of my grocery bill. And like I said before- the deals on healthier foods just aren't there like they used to be a few years ago. I can feed my family crap for $40 a week or healthy(er) for $65 a week. I also hate the stress I put on myself to be under an unrealistic budget. My husband could care less how much I spent at the store and he would rather me raise our budget and be in a good mood then have a super low budget and be stressed out.

As far as the debt issue goes- I think it is important to pay off debt. Debt is not evil and God will not damn me to hell for having it so my only reason for wanting to not have it is because I don't like owing money. I hate having to remember to pay the bills each month- what a buzzkill. We have a new VW Routon that my husband decided we needed (he did get the deal of a lifetime on it) and a car payment on it that many frugal people would choke if they knew what it was. I know driving an older car is the financially smarter thing to do but I don't want an older car. I am just going to come out and say it- I like having new cars. I like having free maintenance, free oil changes, a warranty, heated leather seats and doors that automatically open when I press a button on my key. I have had piece of crap cars and believe me- new cars are the way to go. I also love my credit cards- especially my Gap Credit Card. You will have to pry it from my cold dead hands to get it away from me.

So I will focus on being a good mom and wife, feeding my family healthy meals (or at least trying to feed my family healthy meals) and keeping my house in order. The other things will be done but will no longer cause me stress unnecessarily.