Money & Cars

 

So this morning I had a little bit of a panic attack. Every once in awhile, I get myself all worked up into a frenzy over things. Today's meltdown had to do with money.

Stupid car payment. Stupid student loans. Stupid, stupid, stupid bills.

I currently lease my car and because I had negative equity in the previous car, I had to roll that into my lease payments. It was the only option for me to get out from under that bubble I was in. Now, almost three years later, the $529 monthly payments are getting old.

Next month, my student loans kick up a couple hundred dollars, and my payments will be going up to $600.

This makes me want to throw up. On top of that, we obviously just took on a bigger mortgage payment, and we're talking about babies. So now we have to plan for that too -- saving for maternity leave, daycare costs and day-to-day necessities.

Yeah, my head was in a tailspin today and I was all over the map.

My goal is to get out of this car early and lease something else, with a lower monthly payment. I'm also hoping that I can renegotiate the terms of my student loans and keep the payments the same, or cap how much they increase by. The money we'll save by doing that, I want to toss into savings for future baby M.

On to the funner part of this post -- these are my top vehicle choices.

1. GMC Terrain

2. Chevy Equinox

3. Nissan Pathfinder

I currently have a Nissan and love it. The Pathfinder was what I always said my next car would be, but I feel like it's a little too big and pricey for our family right now. I don't need a third row when we have zero kids. And my payment would only be slightly less than what I'm paying now. So I don't think the Pathfinder is going to be the one for us just yet.

So then it's between the Terrain and the Equinox. Both are pretty comparable, but I think the pricing on the Equinox is more competitive. I'm hoping to make some phone calls tonight and get some better estimates so we can make a decision from there.

Thoughts? Anyone have any of these cars and can give me any tips or advice??