We Are Officially a Two Vehicle Family

There are times when the things we do in our day to day lives come up in conversation and elicit questions about how and why. Take for instance the time the guy from Dish came out to set up our TV and after getting it up and going he asked where the others were. I told him we just had the one and he laughed and said he had never seen that before and asked if I was sure I didn't want to put a couple in the bedrooms. I didn't realize until after the conversation that people thought it strange to have only one TV. After telling other people about the encounter they asked what we did when we wanted to watch different things or for the kids to watch their own shows. It seemed it wasn't just the Dish guy who found it strange that we watched it together or not at all, although to us it meant spending more time together and practicing compromise as well as limiting the amount of time we spent in front of the TV.

Similar conversations ensued after disclosing the fact that we had one vehicle. How do you get anything done? What if there were an emergency? Don't you ever just want to get up and go somewhere? Followed by many comments like, "I could never do that." I'm sure that at one time I felt the same way about it, but it happened as a turn of events and quickly just because our normal. When I had one child we would get up and go for the sake of getting out of the house. We would visit friends and family and go to lunch or to the store for something I had forgotten or suddenly wanted. It was our normal and probably very similar to what others were doing. After our second girl was born the outings slowed because it was more work taking two kids around and it wasn't very friendly to the budget to go out to eat and make extra runs to the store. (As a single income family of four I became more concerned with the budget because if the budget didn't balance I would have to return to work.) Once Andy's car was gone the luxury of those things were stripped away. We said it would be temporary and that we would just have to find another car but then weeks turned to months and the desire for the car gave way to a stronger desire for a house. We were diligent about savings and soon after giving up the second car we realized just how cost effective one vehicle was. 

I went through a somewhat tough transition, losing the freedom of having a car, but it gave way to a nice routine that our girls seemed to thrive in. There was consistency in the day to day that made life easier. There were few distractions taking away from my time with them, there was more time to maintain the house and cook meals at home and I became very focused on what I wanted our family structure to look like. It was our new normal. We did miss out on time with our friends and family at those lunch dates and a couple birthday parties as a result, but the money we were able to stash away for a house made the inconvenience of it worth it. We were saving money every month by choosing not to take on a car payment (averaging between $300-500), increase in car insurance ($50-100) and increase in gas consumption ($200+). 

Flash forward three years and we were still a one vehicle family, but we knew we were going to transition out of this stage of our lives. With a child starting school in the fall and work changes that could result in my needing to return to work we decided it was time for us to purchase a second vehicle. We waited until our other vehicle was paid for so we would not be taking on more than our budget would allow and my husband was diligent about his research before we purchased and as a result he has his long awaited pick up truck. 

The idea of transitioning back to a two vehicle family is harder for me than I thought it would be, partially because of the other big changes that are coinciding with it and partially out of fear that the new found freedom will come at a cost to our structure and budget. I'm ready to embrace the new season of life we are in but mostly I am very thankful for the time we spent as a one vehicle family. It was that time that afforded me so much more time with my family as a stay at home mother in a home of our very own.