The Car of Shame

We are currently a one-car family. I would like to say this is because we are also a "green" family and concerned about sending more pollution out into the world. I'd like to say we are trying to be economical. In reality, we haven't had the money to buy another car. We haven't taken out a loan for a car in more than a decade and I didn't want to have to now, but it's time — because the one car we do have has begun to slowly break apart, piece by piece.

The engine ticks, the electronics are wonky, only the back windows will  roll down (partly on account of the electronics), and now, to top it all off, the back air shocks have stopped working. Our car is now a low-rider and if I took a jar of cream with me as we drove to work, I could make butter. The window thing I can live with-- it keeps us from going through drive-thrus and has probably saved us money — but the whiplash is a bit much.

We've taken the car to the mechanic, and even he didn't think it was worth sinking money into. So, it's definitely time for a new car, which means a car payment, which means debt. As if our student loans weren't enough to worry about.

....   .....   ....   .....: This is me taking deep breaths and trying to envision driving to work in a car that doesn't prompt me to cross myself every three miles. (I'm not even Catholic, so you know it's bad.)