goodbye to "little tan"

We said Goodbye to "Little Tan" (aka: my 1999 Toyota Camry) this week and hello to a new (well...new to me!) car!  I mentioned this week that Little Tan left me somewhat stranded and that it might be time for a replacement car.  I have been resisting getting a new car because (1) I didn't want a car payment and (2) I really didn't to see our savings reduced if we chose to pay cash for it.

So, what did we do?  After much debate between New vs. Used, and Financing vs. Paying Cash, we decided to purchase a used Toyota Camry and pay cash for it!  We found a great pre-owned car -- a 2010 Camry XLE with 17k miles on it.  It's got so many "bells and whistles" on it and I LOVE it!  And best of all?  No car payment!  Dave Ramsey would be proud!

We had planned to put our tax refund in our Retirement Account, but decided to put it towards purchasing the car.  Then, we took money out of our Emergency Fund to pay the balance of it.  We had 6+ months of expenses saved in our Emergency Fund and the withdraw brought it down to around 5 months.  But...we'll get it replenished very soon.   We sold my '99 Camry a couple of days ago and that $$ has gone back into the EF.  Between that and our regular savings, we should have it replenished in a month!

I am disappointed that we won't be getting to "Baby Step 4" this year.  My goal for 2011 was to put 15% towards Retirement (we're at 6% now...).   Once we get our EF replenished, I'll take a look at the budget for the rest of the year and see what we can do that's at least more than 6%. 

My boys were home when Little Tan was sold and my oldest was in giddy when he saw the cash!  He looked like a King counting his money!