So, here’s where we are at. We now need to buy not just one, but two new cars. When I say new, I actually mean new to us – not brand new from a dealer. Buying a family car is actually a really big decision. We’ve been testing several cars from Ford and except for one, I can see who / where / how they would work for most people. That in itself makes the decision even more difficult – not easier!
For Team Weston, buying a family car means us ticking kit and functionality off a checklist. I started to list what this would look like in 2015. No really, I did :)) Here’s the list:
In case you can’t see it – it says we are buying a family car that will have heated windscreens front and back, tinted window, a 12 volt outlet to charge ipads and kit, electric windows, will be automatic, have air con and climate control, a version of parrott and bluetooth, seven seats, leather interior and parking sensors.
Lovely Bloke, at the start of 2015, was very interested in the Hyundai Santa Fe. He still is, but he knows that I want to try the Edge from Ford as well. The Santa Fe comes in a five and seven seater version. The thing that’s really ‘got at me’ in recent months, is that we haven’t actually made enough progress towards saving for the car and now cars, that we want to buy. I’m not suggesting that buying a family car is something we’ll do on a whim once we have the money. I just really want us to have the money in the bank to do it!!! Like NOW!!!
So, with my Lucky Bitch and Denise Duffield Thomas mindset chanelling in mind, I’m working at this in a different way now. Starting with this post, I’m putting it out there that I’m saving, along with the rest of our house, to save £20,000.00 GBP which will allow us to buy a family car and also, a newer, small car for ‘running around in’. I believe that once we have the money, we’ll become much clearer on what we want to buy – that we should focus on that first of all.
I really wanted to find something that we could print out – to colour in how, like an old fashioned church fundraising target, each time we got closer to our goal. I couldn’t find anything, so I started out with making my own. I know, it’s very creative…..
As of today, Friday 22 January 2016, we have £7,640.14 GBP towards the £20,000.00 total. My intention, is that by setting this out and documenting it, I’ll be able to do more about making it happen. To help with working towards this, we started out this month, making domestic changes:
– Sunday lunch in the pub once a month, instead of every week. This will save us £120 a month.
– No more take outs from the curry house, where we only eat half of it and either eat left overs for breakfast or throw it away and waste it. This will save us £100 a month.
– Coffee and posh granola and toast stuff once a month, instead of every week. This will save us £60 a month.
– Working our way through the deep freezer and our cupboards. I’m notorious for hoarding food in them both, so I wanted to work my way through it all, using meal planning. This should save us £400 in January.
So. We’re at 22 January and I can report that we’ve done well with regards the pub lunches – we’ve not had one yet. That’s good news. Nor have we had any take out from the curry house. And last week was the first week where we ended up in the lovely coffee shop, and it did indeed cost £20. Lovely Bloke is desperate to go there tomorrow. I said this would be a difficult thing – that we should go cold turkey and not go at all, because it’s just too much of a reminder of the loveliness we are missing! The biggest save in my mind, is on the food. Yes, we are doing lots of dinners on repeat – chilli, spag bol, lasange, chicken dippers and potatoes / rice / pasta, pizza and shepherds pie and home made Sunday dinners and curry. But I don’t mind that. I don’t feel we’re eating much different to how we would have done before meal planning and eating through the freezer!
We did cave in last week and had lunch out. We were so excited to try a new chicken place in Cambridge, the Rottisserie, E says the slogan was ‘for chicken lovers’. We were so dissapointed by it. We were truly gutted – it was pants. And cost us £35 as well. Meh. We’ve also had to fork out nearly £60 on kit for E for his swimming – it’s likely to be a once a year, or bi annual cost and he does swim three times a week, so it’s going to get good use. But still. We also paid out for new school shoes for the boys and that’s come to £90. So all in all, I feel like we’ve not made much progress at all. Lovely Bloke says that we would have paid out for these things anyway, so it’s not as much of a loss as it feels like it is. I want to make more progress. I feel really strongly about it!!!
So, that’s us – Team Weston putting it out there, that we are buying a family car. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be re visiting what we want it to have, how it’s going to be used and what we need to prioritise in having it. But for now, new car – we’re coming for you!
Do you have any financial goals that you are working towards? Are you making changes to help them happen? I’d love to know what you are doing so that I can learn from your wins and anything that you wish you’d done differently / not done at all !! Thank you in advance for sharing your experiences!
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