The time brunch fixed everything

Two weekends ago I went out to the Lyndale Tap House for brunch with two of my favorite friends. I had a Groupon from an old birthday present so that made it even sweeter. As we were brunching, we were talking about needing to buy cars, because both my friend and I were looking for a new one.

My friend, Jamie, is from Illinois and is not a great driver (self-proclaimed), especially in the MN snow. She has a 2008 Ford Focus and wanted something more heavy duty with all-wheel drive. As I listened, I had a light bulb moment. I should buy her car.

I asked her 20 questions and found that there's only 75,000 miles on it. It has remote-start. It has some cool stereo bells and whistles. It gets great gas mileage. And she was simply hoping to trade it in to the dealer for whatever they will give her. Even by paying more than the dealer, I was still going to get a great deal!

Jamie even took the car to a mechanic to make sure everything checked out. The brakes need some work and we agreed to split the cost. This deal couldn't have gone more smoothly!

Best of all, it was much closer to my comfort zone of a car payment. Yes, I would still need a loan but it would be much more affordable than something much newer. And car insurance would be more affordable too. What a huge sigh of relief!


Since I wasn't needing such a high loan, I was approved for the $6,500 I was looking to take out, despite my credit issues. Technically I paid $5750 for the car but I had to consider taxes and fees, fixing the brakes and few maintenance expenses. The dealer was willing to give her roughly $5,000 at best and the car values at up to $8,000.

So without further adieu,  I am pleased to introduce you to my new car!

Meet Lloyd Christmas! Fitting name, as he is my Christmas present to myself, he's red, and Dumb and Dumber is one of the funniest classics of all time :)

Now Jamie is thrilled with her brand new Chevy Equinox and I am loving Lloyd. You can even imagine us doing a happy dance, jumping around the Chevy parking lot when we both got new cars!

It really was the best deal I could have found and I plan to run this car for as long as it will last. Now to navigate selling my old car and continuing with the spending challenge!!