Good-Bye DeathTrap, Hello Car Payment

Well, we did it.   We are now driving a grownup car.   No more deathtrap, stall-at-the-worst-times, dented up, gas guzzling, embarrassingly ugly car for us.   We tend to drive our cars until they can drive no more.   Our deathtrap probably could have taken us a few more miles, but it was iffy.   So, an early Saturday morning conversation went like this: 

Me:   Want to go car shopping?   Not to buy, but just to see what we might like.
Him:  Sure.   But I really want a sun roof.  
Me:   Whatever.  But we're not going to buy, right?  We're just going to look.  Go to all the places in town and drive a bunch of cars to see what we like.
Him:   Agreed.  We don't want to jump into anything.   We're just looking.   And when those car salesmen swarm, our mantra will be 'JUST SAY NO.'

So, we were kind of excited to go drive some cars and find one that we both would really like and that would be good for our needs.   We had a car payment in mind and didn't want to go over it, so we wanted to see what kind of car we could afford.  But we weren't going to buy it, we were just going to make a list and start crossing cars off until we had narrowed the list down to . . . one.

We got to the first lot (and, as it turned out, the only lot.  What can I say?  We're efficient shoppers).   One car salesman came out - not a swarm.   And he let us walk around on our own, like grownups - - and he didn't even slink behind us, hiding behind cars, trying not to be seen (at least I don't think he did - we didn't see him - maybe he was just a really good slinker!)   

Anyway, long story short . . . we bought a car.  So much for the JUST SAY NO mantra.  But, we weren't pressured (at least, I don't think we were pressured - maybe they were really good at pressuring and we didn't even realize it).   We got our car payment (well, sort of . . . ), and now we don't have to fear for our lives anymore every time we get behind the wheel. 

And . . . it has a sun roof!  Not a bad day!