Which reminds me, I answered on the forums that the most debt we ever had was $6k. (Outside mortgage). I actually borrowed money for 3 of my cars.

Anyway, it just occurred to me that I am the debt one in the family. Which is funny because I am pretty anti-debt. Dh has never had any sort of car loan. $0. I was thinking - hell - he paid cash for all his cars.

To be fair, his first car was GIVEN to him. I borrowed a good $1000 to pay for mine. (Worked an entire summer to pay for it. But bought it before I had the cash because I needed to drive to work).

So on that count I will consider him spoiled.

Likewise, he paid cash for his second car in college because he was living at home and had his college paid for. I can chalk that one up to spoiling too.

Likewise, I wasn't SAVING money in college. I was just trying to survive and get through. My car conveniently died about a month after I graduated. Actually, it really was good timing. I had just tripled my wage. But a few more months would have been nice. (I drove that car a good 7 years - certainly a good deal). So I borrowed around $6k to buy my second car. I paid it off within a few months though. It didn't take long to pay off $6k, with my new paycheck.

We replaced dh's crappy car after we moved here and had like a years' salary in the bank. So that was easy peasy. Paid cash.

When I had BM, I sold my convertible for $3k and bought an interim car for $1k cash. So that is the only car I have ever personally paid cash for. I was in STRONG denial. To be fair, we did not originally plan to have kids so soon. But I was determined to keep my convertible and didn't sell it until BM was 3 months old. I finally gave in that babies and tiny convertibles do not mix!!! But it took me a while. Likewise, if I had known at 22 that I Was going to have kids at 25... The thought hadn't crossed my mind. LOL. Likewise, my denial didn't put a better car in the financial plan. But it worked out.

Then we upgraded the interim car to a minivan 3 years later. We had the cash, but it would have drained most of our cash. So we borrowed $5k for about a year. To keep a nice $5k emergency fund.

So, looking back, I have borrowed on most my cars. Dh has borrowed on none. Just the way it worked out.

You could call him pretty darn spoiled too. I can't imagine I would have ever borrowed money for a car either, if I was GIVEN my first one, and I didn't have to pay for college and living expenses myself. So I guess that is how it goes.

Likewise, I don't mind these debts at all. They were small, manageable and no/low-interest. We always bought very modest cars, so it's not like we were borrowing beyond our means. I seriously expect both these cars to last a good 10 years longer. Plenty of time to save up a wad of cash to pay cash for some nice cars for a change. Plus cars are just getting so much cheaper. Dh would be thrilled with a brand new subcompact Toyota in the $12k range. Probably what our next move will be. If he can bring in some money we'll pay cash for a hybrid. Depends how long his car lasts too. If it lasts another 10 years, we can certainly swing a hybrid. 5 years? Then he'll get another subcompact. HE loves tiny cars and that's good for the pocketbook. We paid $8k for his little used Ford and these days you can get a new Toyota for $12k. That just boggles my mind. So I guess with age we have more means AND cars seem to be getting cheaper. win-win.

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Well, back to the topic at hand. I paid dh's auto registration renewal.

The California DMV is the only government agency I am aware of that takes credit card payment with No FEE or SERVICE CHARGE. The county and the IRS will definitely charge you for putting things on a credit card. Which is a bummer because I love to pile as much as I can on the card.

I don't know why I checked the DMV last year, but I Saw no fee!!! I think it mentioned on the bill. Sounded too good to be true.

Anyway, it was due in March, but I was just looking at the Feb. budget and we are WAY under. Mostly from being so sick.

So I popped it on the card for this month. Will be able to just pay it out of the budget instead of the escrow account.

We also had a $75 charge for a doctor visit. It "should" come out of our deductible fund. But we have the cash this month for that as well. So I think I will not take it out of the deductible fund. It will end up going to retirement or savings then. An extra $75.

We still have another $80 for a date night too.

I think our auto gas bill will be $100 this month. Being home sicked helped that much. But we have been doing so much DRIVING these past few months. We have been averaging more like $300/month on gas. So that really created a lot of wiggle room in the budget this month.

Yay for February!!!

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ETA: I wish I had my camera with me. The sky was just BEAUTIFUL this morning. Apparently a lot of snow was dumped in the Sierras. They were a brilliant white this morning, from the sun, and the sky above was cloudy and pink and blue. I was driving in at 10am and looked a little sun-setty, though it is clearly not sunrise or sunset at 10am!!! So I really wish I had my camera. I couldn't even find a good picture of the view online, just to give an idea. Bummer.

Gorgeous.

It's the calm before the storm. We are s'posed to have another brutal wind storm this weekend. It had been so nice while we were sick, I had looked forward to going outdoors. But I am guessing we will stay indoors all weekend. Not a weekend to leave the house. IT seems to me these storms are worse than usual. Not the norm...

Anyway, we were going to go to the snow last weekend, but were all too ill. Maybe we can make it up when the storms settle, in another weekend or 2.