About 3 1/2 years ago, my husband’s car broke down. It would have been cheaper to buy him a new car than to fix his, but it didn’t matter since we didn’t have the money to do either.

So my car went straight to the breadwinner (we’ll call him Honey) so that he could get to work. Honestly there wasn’t any other logical path to take. I was a stay-at-home mom and he went to work, open and shut.

Enter 3 1/2 years of absolute suckiness. I hated being stuck at home all the time and leaving my Honey on his days off to get all the household errands done, it sucked.

I stayed home and overtime started staying home even when I didn’t have to. It changed me into an antisocial, agoraphobic freak. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but it wasn’t healthy avoiding contact with the outside world as often as I did.

Finally at the beginning of this year I’d had it. No more 1 car family for us, nope…I was determined to buy a second car this year.

Of course I didn’t make things easy with my high expectations of a nice SUV with under 30,000 miles and great gas mileage. We had some cash saved up and a plan, I also had some cash reserves set aside for something else, but I figured those would probably end up helping out with the car.

I ended up getting antsy and starting my car search much sooner than a normal person would. Finding what I was looking for wasn’t going to be easy with the budget I set.

My 1-car-craziness quickly elevated into extreme madness. I was getting absolutely delirious and desperate for a second car. I couldn’t take it anymore.

One day I had my mom come pick me up to look at cars (for the 80th time). I told my honey that I wasn’t coming home without a car. He smiled and accepted it (because he thought I was joking I later found out).

Desperation will remove all reason from you if you let it. That day, I came home with the glamorized second car. I’m sure my husband must have crapped himself. lol

Did I make responsible, reasonable choices when buying our second car? Nope! I bought a brand-new 2013 Kia Soul (base model) and drove it home that day.

Poor savings accounts. Boy did they get purged that day, except of course for our Emergency Fund. No touching that bad boy.

My Mistakes

• I never intended to go out and purchase a brand-new car, I always feel sorry for the people that do. You lose so much money doing it that way. I guess I fooled myself into being okay with it because I wasn’t planning to sell or trade it in. The plan was to try to make it last forever, which seems sillier each time I say it.
• Another mistake I made was that a Kia Soul is nothing similar to an SUV, not even a little one. It’s just a little bit bigger than a standard car with much less room in the trunk area. I love the little car and am grateful each day that I have it, but it’s still not an SUV.
• I accepted the salesman’s word that because the car was brand-new there wasn’t any negotiating about the price. Really? Was I so desperate to have a car that I bought that load of horsesh*t? Apparently I was.

The Brightside

• Since I paid cash for the car, I wasn’t required to get the super expensive full coverage insurance for the car that is usually required with a loan.
• I don’t have a car loan.
• I’m no longer stuck at home and can go out whenever I want to. I’m getting out of the house more, saving money by couponing a bit more and just plain happier.

If I had to do it all over again???

I would chill out and save up even more cash. Take my time and test drive tons of SUVs until I found the one I really wanted. Then, when it was time to buy it, I would have dragged along my step-dad to help me negotiate a lower price. He’s really great at that stuff.

Any regrets?

Only when I look at our savings account.