Cars

So, I've been tinkering with my budget again (what I do every day). I realized that my car is not going to last me forever. It's a 2010, so I'm hoping it will last me another 4 years (at least). So, next year I will start putting aside money towards a new (to me) car. In 4 years I won't have a ton to spend on a car, but may have enough in my emergency fund to offset that (without making a huge impact on the emergency fund).

I have also modified my budget when it comes to money being set aside for my son's higher education. When he's 17 instead of putting all the money I would have put aside to the mortgage (paid off by then), I'll take half that money for a new (to us) car for either him or I. We have public transportation where we are, but it's not fantastic. So, I want to at least plan for him having his own car. By then he should have a job and be footing the bill for at least the gas and maintenance, if not the insurance (we'll cross that bridge when we come to it).

I was asked yesterday how I was doing since being on Gail's show. I think I'm finally doing pretty great. It took me a few years. I was on the show when my son was only a couple of months old and now he's 7 and I'm finally on track. It is so hard being a single mom sometimes. I had no idea there were subsidies for day care. That would have been a huge help to me for 3 years!!! But, I can't change the past, I can only look to the future and learn from my mistakes. I'm finally doing pretty well and will have my mortgage paid off in 27 years instead of 25 (and I put debt into the mortgage at least 3 times). So, thanks again to Gail for putting me on the right track.