My Daily Dollars

So, a week away from the blog and guess what happens?

I buy a new car!

Eep!

Yesterday, my post about how blogging can help you improve your finances ran on Being Frugal.  Re-reading the post reminded me how much I do depend on the blog to keep me on the straight-and-narrow financial path.  I haven’t been blogging as regularly as I should, and I know that part of it was my fear of sharing my new purchase with readers.  Zipping out and financing a brand-new, 2009 Honda Civic doesn’t really align with the whole Ms. Sensible-Who-Paid-Off-Her-Debt persona that I’ve been cultivating over the last few months.

So, before you all rush to unsubscribe and delete me from your blogrolls, let me explain a little.  I’ve never bought a new car in my life; I’ve always bought my mom’s old cars.  When I lived in DC, I even went for a couple of years without a car.  I’ve never been much of a car person, and I got all nostalgic for Interurban trams on a recent trip to a local museum.  I’ve been driving my trusty 2000 Chevy Malibu since I moved to Ohio, even though my parents and my husband all wanted me to buy a new car.

OK, so, non-car-loving credentials established.  Now, why, in the midst of a giant fiscal crisis, did I go into debt for a car?

Well, I knew we could afford to buy a car in the next year or so, and my husband and I know we we’ll drive the car for 10-12 years.  When a dear family member’s car died, I knew that I could help him out by selling him mine.  So, last weekend, I uttered those famous last words, “we could just go test drive.”  And the rest is history.

Financially, on the plus side, we used savings to put down 1/4 of the price.  (You’ll notice my emergency fund pie chart had a big setback!).  Ideally, I would have liked to have more money in the bank when we bought the car, but I feel like a family emergency qualifies for raiding the funds.  And, because of these tough financial times, we were able to get a great deal, and we qualified for 1.9% financing for three years. 

I have to say, after years of dodgy credit, that it felt wonderful knowing my credit score has rebounded.  We decided to put the car and the loan in my name.  Since I paid off those credit cards, I qualified for the best rate.  Last time, when I bought my mom’s Malibu, I didn’t even qualify for a loan on my own!  I had to have my parents co-sign.  If you’re struggling to pay off debt, know that once you do, your score will change pretty quickly.

It was also pretty darn fun driving the car off the lot, awash in that new-car smell.  I soaked it up because I won’t be doing this again for at least a decade!  All in all, it might not have been a perfect decision, but I feel really good about it.  Yes, we have payments, but they’re on good terms.  As my husband reminded me, you can’t just hoard money mindlessly.  That’s as bad as spending mindlessly.  While the purchase happened pretty quickly, I’m happy that we did it.

Thanks for clicking over from my guest post today at Being Frugal.  I wrote the post a few weeks back to celebrate paying off my credit cards.  I blog about my finances and my new frugal pantry project.  Please look around and subscribe if you enjoy what you read.

Regular readers, I’ll be back tomorrow with a semi-frugal confession!  Stay tuned. 

I made these the other night and decided that they satisfy my craving for a hamburger nicely.  They are easy to make, inexpensive, and delicious – a perfect fit for my frugal pantry.  I used the last of this season’s eggplant for the dip, so you might want to file this away for next year.  However, a white bean dip might make a nice substitution for the winter.

• 3-4 medium eggplants, peeled and sliced into thick rounds
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of walnuts (or other nuts), toasted if you like
• 1 tsp garlic
• a little lemon juice, salt, pepper, and 3-4 tbs fresh herbs (I used Thai basil and parsley)
• 1 can of salmon, rinsed
• fresh spinach
• flat bread or pita bread

Preheat the broiler and peel and slice the eggplant.  Once sliced, set the rounds out on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Brush each side generously with oil.  Roast on one side for 10 minutes or so, flip and roast for 5-6 minutes more until nicely browned.

While the eggplant is roasting, combine the garlic and nuts in a food processor until finely chopped.  Add the eggplant and pulse until the mixture reaches a creamy consistency.  Finish with a splash of lemon juice, about 1/2 tsp of salt, pepper, and herbs.  I heated the salmon in the microwave for about a minute.

Spread one half of the bread with the dip, squish in 1/4 of the salmon, and add a big stack of spinach.  Enjoy!  I wanted to serve these with sweet potato chips, but ran out of time.  Next time, I think it will be a great combo!

The dip and salmon combine for a really lovely flavor and a nice “veggie burger” texture.  You should also have leftover dip for crackers or chips; I like to serve it warm.  I was never much of an eggplant fan, but this is one of my new favorite things.  Hope you like it!