We started our Total Money Makeover in October of 2007 when we realized we had no idea where our money was going every month. We had a mortgage, one car payment with a $1500 balance, and utilities, but where was the rest of our money going? We heard Dave Ramsey live at the Catalyst Conference that month and decided then and there that we were totally on board with his program. That month we completed Baby Step #1 and #2 and moved on to #3.
Baby Step #1: Save a $1,000 emergency fund (Already had that)
Baby Step #2: The Debt Snowball: Pay off all debt but the house (Paid off the car)
Baby Step #3: Save a fully funded emergency fund of 3-6 months of living expenses (2.5 year jouney)
Fast forward to April 2010 and we FINALLY completed Baby Step #3. Baby Step #2 (Pay of all debt but the house) is usually the hardest for most people, but with career changes and life happening, #3 proved to be really hard. So after 2.5 years, we finally completed it.
And wouldn't you know it, just as soon as we finished Baby Step #3, Murphy (Murphy's Law) moved in. At the end of May, one of our cars bit the dust. Out of nowhere the engine went caput and the car wasn't worth the money it was going to take to fix it. So we were/are faced with a few big decisions....how much of our recently fully funded emergency fund are we willing to put towards another car (because of course, we will be paying CASH) and how much additional money can we scrape together to lessen the blow to the emergency fund? Fortunately, my parents and another great friend were kind enough to loan us a car until this point so that we would have more time to figure out exactly what we needed to do.
Last Saturday evening Dusty and I sat down and went over every detail of our finances to see where the money would come from. After prayerful consideration and advise of some dear friends, we came to a mutual decision of what we were willing to spend. We went ahead and transferred that money from our emergency fund into our checking account so we would be able to pay for another car in cash.
Have you heard that saying "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"? Well keep reading. A couple of weeks ago after the car died, I posted a need on our church's website www.mycorkboard.org about wanting to buy a used car. I got a phone call Sunday evening from another member of our church who also happened to be a good friend and someone Dusty and I have done life with over the last few years. He called us saying that he had just bought his Father-in-Law's car and had his car that he would like to GIVE us!! Yes I said GIVE!! He said that he know's we've been working the Dave plan really hard the last few years and wanted to be a blessing to Dusty and I and give us this car so that we have more time to save up for a car we really want and be able to pay cash for it. Can you believe that??? I mean who GIVES AWAY cars??!!!
What kind of car is it you ask? It's a 1996 Burgundy Buick LaSabre with 130K miles on it. The engine is in good shape, the AC works and it's never given them any trouble. It's our "Dave" car and we certainly won't look cool driving it, but it's truly a blessing. Dusty and I have spent the last few weeks since our car died praying for another car and the Lord has truly answered our prayers. Maybe not in the way we were expecting, but you know what....we are PROUD to drive this car. Every time we get behind the wheel it's a reminder of God's faithfulness. He cared about our car issue! If he cares enough to bring us a car, how much more does he care about the more important things in our lives?!
Oh, and the title of this note came from the fact that my totally awesome husband has volunteered to drive it and we've named the car Rusty, "Russ" for short. Honestly, the car is in better shape than we were expecting it to be and Dusty actually likes the car. It's bigger and more spacious he says. Fine by me I say.
Thank you Jesus for caring about the little things!
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