It seems everyone in America has more than one car nowadays. In fact, according to this study, 35% of car-owning households have at least three. The national average is said to be 2.28 vehicles per household.
My husband and I used to be part of that crowd. We had 2 cars during most of our marriage. Then we moved across country, getting rid of one in the process. We were fine with 1 car, even after we had our first child. This was because we have always lived in-town and were walking distance to everything, so it worked out perfectly for us. We paid our car off - and that was even better.
Then we bought our first home – which happened to be far enough removed from everything that were suddenly car dependent. And it sucked. As a SAHM with no car, not only was I really going absolutely stir crazy, but we were jam packed in our Honda Civic, clown car style. We knew it was only going to get worse too – I was pregnant with our daughter. We decided it was time to really go through our finances and work a car payment in there somehow.
We were literally in the process of looking for a car when my husband called me from work one day (I just happened to be in early labor with our daughter too) and said his job was cutting his salary – and this pay cut would be significant enough to affect us financially. Needless to say I was panicked. Talk about a way to kick start your labor.
So, thanks to the shitty economy and some bad luck, we are now stuck with 1 car. And it is driving me crazy. Pun intended.
~Michele
