Testimonial submitted by reader, April
When we found out we were expecting our 7th child, we knew we were going to outgrow our minivan (which seats 8).
Having resolved to be debt-free, we began to search online for a good deal. We had our emergency fund, as per Dave Ramsey, so we planned to use that and just make “car payments” back to the emergency fund.
What we found
After searching for a few months, we found a van on eBay that had previously been used by a carpeting company. It had 3 of the 4 benches (so it seats 12) and was in functional condition. It met our criteria of having enough seats and of working perfectly.
The only problem is that we live in Alabama and the van was in Denver, but I didn’t consider that much of a problem.
It was ours!
We won the eBay auction and paid $1950 for a 15-passenger van that runs perfectly. Granted, it is 15 years old and has 150,000 miles, but the pride of it being paid for more than compensates.
After flying to Denver by myself — which should really count as a vacation when you have 6 children — and driving the van home, along with taxes and tag, the total price came to $2400. We, of course, paid cash and made monthly payments back to our emergency fund for about 8 months.
For next time…
Now we have a special savings account called “Car Payment” where we make our car payment for the next time I get to vacation alone. I hope the next van is in Alaska!
P.S. The children have named the Big Van, Shakespeare. We still have the minivan, since it is also paid for, and use it whenever Dad is not home to lengthen Shakespeare’s life.
April Bracker is a homeschool mom to 7.