A recent discussion on debt free living got me to thinking. Well, that and the truck we just purchased. We want to live debt free, we're moving to it, but sometimes, in certain situations, debt such as a car payment is essential.

See, when we moved here, it was initially my intention to try to buy a car and "make payments in advance" and trade my way up. Big mistake. And one that cost us a lot in the long term. At the end of six months, I counted the costs, and we had spent over $2000 on cars and repairs. JUST cars and repairs. That's not counting gas, tires (which we went through FAST...WalMart tires are not worth it. Period.), and other related expenses. That means, in our quest to "save" money, we actually paid over $400 a month. So we came up with plan B. I would buy a car cheap and reserve enough money for repairs. We found a nice candidate at $800. $2000 in repairs later we've finally given up on it, and in the weeks to come, it will meet its end at the junk yard.

So I bit the bullet and shelled out $3000 (financed) for a 1994 Buick LeSabre. I didn't want to finance it, but we had to have transportation. We live 12 miles outside of town, and there are no rentals available for a family of our size in town, at least not at a rate approachig reasonable. One year later, the transmission went, but we had already notched close to 30,000 miles and the engine was still strong, so I didn't bat an eye at paying $750 to fix the tranny. So we have just under $4000 in the LeSabre, and have put over 50,000 miles on it in a year and a half. The car's still a good runner, but it's time for it to get a rest. My mileage needs are less now, but I still don't need a car that will leave me stranded halfway to town. And our family has grown since then by one (a CAR seat one as well, so extra space requirements), and there are only a handful of vehicles that will seat our family.

Experience has taught me to avoid the cheap rides. They're just not worth it. So when we went looking, we went KNOWING it would mean a substantial payment. We were fortunate to find a vehicle that both met our needs and, while it stretched, it didn't bust, our budget (and at an AMAZING 70% of Blue Book...this is the first car EVER I have bought that I owed LESS than what it is worth the day I drove it off the lot!). And that car payment is, to us, a necessity.

Through the first year here, we paid about $400 a month in vehicles and repairs. The next year and a half, while making payments on a car, we paid about $222. By making payments, we cut our transportation expenses in HALF because we were driving a better vehicle, one not in constant need of repair.

Now our payments are somewhere nestled between the two totals. While they're not attractive, they're not out of sight. And it is entirely conceivable that I could be driving this vehicle for the next ten years; I certainly see enough late 80's Suburbans out on the road to know that it is not a stretch at all. By the time I get done with this vehicle, it could be one of my best bargains ever. Because I learned that sometimes you pay more to pay less.

Incidentally, the same could be said of our washer. The more research I do, the more I realize we may have bought into a real bargain here.

So while living debt free is a good goal, sometimes, paradoxically, it is not unwise to accrue a little wisely managed debt to get there.