Oh, and in case you were wondering — yes, I did sell that sheitel, and I didn’t miss it for a minute

December 2016 

"I’ll just process your payment, then we’ll be done, and I’ll bring the keys,” said the salesman from across his polished wood desk. “I think this is the fastest and easiest sale I’ve ever made,” he added as he rose from his chair and headed to a back room in the dealership.

Nat and I broke into matching grins. It had been a fast sale.

“What are we going to name this one?” I asked.

“Hmm. Maxwell’s going to be a tough act to follow,” he mused, “Let’s think about it for a bit before we name this one.”

“Maxwell” was the 23-year-old Nissan that my husband had been driving until a few days ago. Maxwell had a long history in our family, being driven by my husband, then his two younger siblings, and then me as I got my own driver’s license. Maxwell had been in the family for 340,000 miles — at least, that’s what the odometer read before it broke for good.

Over the summer, it became obvious that Maxwell was getting close to driving his last mile, so we reviewed Dave Ramsey’s advice about buying cars and started preparing for the purchase. We decided on a firm price limit, then started saving money each month toward paying cash for a new (used) car. A friend tipped us off that car rental companies often sell their “older” cars at bargain prices — and “older” could be only a couple of years old with great service records. Once we were close to hitting our savings goal, we (miraculously) sold Maxwell, then headed to a rental company’s dealership for a new set of wheels.

“That’s fair,” I replied. “Today has been…” I trailed off as I thought.

“Fun?” offered Nat.

“Yeah, fun,” I said, surprised. “I never thought I’d say that about buying a car.”

“Well, I think it’s different when you’re using cash.”