I Bought a Car!

I did it! One of my 2013 goals is complete: I bought a car!

I became car-less after I sold my 2005 Toyota Corolla to my little sister and moved to South Korea to teach English. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be gone (One year? Two years?), which is why I decided to sell my car instead of keep it in storage and keep making payments on it.

Turns out, one year in Korea was enough for me, so I came home. I could have bought a car right when I moved back, but Chris wasn’t working at the time, so we just decided to share a car until he found a job. Seven months later, he finally found a job! However, I was super broke from supporting us for so long and in no position to buy a car at the moment, so we decided we would make the sharing-a-car-thing work as long as we could so I could save money.

We’d been sharing a car and making it work since October: he’d drop me off at my internship in the mornings on his way to work, and the days I didn’t have to be at work until the afternoon, I’d take the bus or lightrail. Chris would always pick me up from work at night, and the few times I needed the car during the day, I would drop him off/pick him up from his work. Then we discovered Chris’ work hours were going to change this week to 6:30am-3:30pm! After finding this out, Chris and I realized we weren’t going to be able to share a vehicle anymore and I would finally have to bite the bullet and buy my own car.

I wasn’t excited about having car payments again, but soon I began getting excited at the thought of having my own set of wheels. I wouldn’t have to use public transportation anymore! I wouldn’t have to rely on people for rides anymore! I could go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted! After pumping myself up and saving my pennies, I was finally ready to buy myself a car.

A couple days ago, I bought a used 2011 Toyota Corolla. I decided to stick with a Toyota Corolla because they’re reliable cars and they’re good on gas. I got lucky with the one I found because it was a great price for the year and the amount of miles on it. And not to mention it looks brand new!

I’m so happy I to have a car again. No more relying on Chris to chauffeur me around anymore. No more having to use Sacramento’s inefficient public transportation system. No more walking from my internship to my job in the cold and rain. I’m a mobile-y independent woman again! And it feels damn good.