I want to encourage you. Yesterday I cleaned out my van. It was a freak show. As I was crawling along the floorboard with a vacuum I thought of how grateful I was to have this van. (I’ve been focusing a lot on gratitude lately because I’m a complainer.) .

Paying cash for this van was a huge goal for us. We never thought we would find one in our price range and the temptation to just buy one and take on payments was strong! But we were stronger and once you go payment free you don’t want to go back.

So we waited. And we looked. And we prayed. And then we spotted her parked by someone’s mailbox! Pristine condition ran like a dream and priced to sell.

Brand new? No. Latest features? Nah. Fancy schmancy? Nope. But runs like a dream and I feel blessed every time I get behind the wheel.

So how did we do this?

We made a list of what we wanted.

I wasn't sure I wanted a van but I was certain that I was over, OVER, putting three car seats across the back of my tiny SUV.

So I wanted something with a third-row seat.

I also didn't want to have to climb over anything to get to the third-row seat, so captain's seats were a must.

We prayed. A lot.

God's provision isn't limited. So I prayed that He would bring the perfect vehicle to us in His time. And He did. We were leaving that morning to go on a trip, Jason just happened to be home that day when he spotted the van. He knew the questions to ask and he test drove it and it drove like a dream.

We set a savings goal

We knew as our kids got bigger it would be harder and harder to use our SUV. Not impossible, just harder. And we can do hard things, we do them all the time. But why not give ourselves the opportunity to not have to.

So we set a savings goal. We wanted to be in a new car before our baby was 9 months old.

Setting savings goals

We buckled down

We are not strangers to socking away money to cashflow big expenses.

We set a budget

We flat out could not spend more than $5,000 on a van. We ended up spending less than that. (Praise God!)

I have to say I never saw myself as a minivan mom. BUT I LOVE IT. It's so much easier to get the kids in and out, it drives so well, the AC is amazing. I love it.

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