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October Frugalistas 2021


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37 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

I hate fundraisers too.  I would rather just pay more money than try and sell things.  Currently we are not in anything that makes you do that, they just want your $$$$.  But I hate when kids come door to door to sell super overpriced things.  $20 for some cookie dough.  Nope.   I never buy that stuff.  I could see if you are family or something.  But we don't have family nearby and wouldn't ask them to do that anyhow.

We don’t get door to door where we live so far out, but we get hit up on Facebook from relatives. My answer is always, “we’re not interested in buying anything but if you want to come out, we’ll give Jimmy a cash donation.” We’ve had a couple take us up on it, one of them used the cash donation to buy one of the over priced things because they said they couldn’t “do” a cash donation. 🙄

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41 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

I hate fundraisers too.  I would rather just pay more money than try and sell things.  Currently we are not in anything that makes you do that, they just want your $$$$.  But I hate when kids come door to door to sell super overpriced things.  $20 for some cookie dough.  Nope.   I never buy that stuff.  I could see if you are family or something.  But we don't have family nearby and wouldn't ask them to do that anyhow.

 

43 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

A fundraiser for prom???  That is so odd.

I *think* it is to decorate for prom. Makes no sense to me. I think they should just raise the price of tickets to cover whatever is needed. Or better yet don't spend a bunch of money decorating for one night, what a waste. When I did Scouts we always had a buy out number, equal to what we would get. I wish they would have offered that instead. Typically they only take home about 40-50% of the profits anyway. He has just sold to grandparents and a few to kids at school. I'm hoping he can sell half of them then the rest I'll sell at half off (which is the normal price and should be able to move them that way). 

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

No, the siblings don’t exchange gifts in our family. We actually give very few gifts in terms of quantity. We keep a fairly minimalist household. Clothing is taken care of through the year when there is a need because we want our kids to have the mindset that basic needs are taken care of and that they are secure. Gifts are to bring delight. Therefore, like candy, it’s best served in small quantities.

We are much more likely to get a new board game and have a day eating treats and playing than we are to have a ton of gifts between everyone. The focus isn’t on the things—it’s on time together. That said, my kids usually end up with about three gifts each if they are little. Once they are older, it may be just one thing + stockings. Two of mine are getting phone upgrades this year (their choice of present). So, they will have that + stockings.

We always do a family game for Christmas and open it on Christmas Eve. It is probably my favorite Christmas thing. We don't do a large number of things either. I have done in the past- something to wear- read, useful, and then a bigger gift(or a few smaller things if they don't want 1 big thing). This year I will be probably changing that up- but I'm still thinking about it. 

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4 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Are you guys seeing empty shelves at the stores?   Is anyone else worried about supply chain issues and stocking up at all? 

Walmart shelves are empty any time I go in there but we don't normally shop at Walmart.  All the regular grocery stores are stocked well. I'm not worried at all because we keep our freezer stocked and have plenty of dry beans. So, we won't not be able to eat.  maybe some of our things won't be available but that isn't anything that I'd worry about

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6 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Are you guys seeing empty shelves at the stores?   Is anyone else worried about supply chain issues and stocking up at all? 

Yes, yes, kind of….

For things we need and can’t find easy substitutes for (hot tub chemicals, a particular tennis shoe), I am keeping a 3-6 month supply on hand. I think we will always have some sort of food to eat, so I am only stocking up a tiny bit on things that aren’t easily replaceable. I am still running a fuller than normal pantry, but I am not anxious. 
 

I don’t think the inflation we are seeing is a temporary bump. You can’t buy and prep your way through inflation. The logistics will eventually resolve, but I think that all of this further heightens my understanding that you can’t frugal your way out of a low income problem. We were right to move out of the Midwest several years ago. We’d be in a world of hurt if dh had remained at his old job. 

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On 10/22/2021 at 1:19 PM, EmilyGF said:

I'm thinking of doing something like that in November, except with an allowance for produce each week. Our local produce market, which has the best prices on produce but quite high prices on everything else, is offering a 10% discount on gift cards. I've thought of buying $200 of gift cards for November (or maybe $250) and limiting my November shopping to produce from there.  It would help with gas, too.

I've got so many beans to use up. 🙂

This is what I'm doing for November. No spend on everything that I can but am considering putting aside some money for produce as we eat a lot of it and I don't want to sacrifice health.

DH will be gone the whole month so it will be just me and the kiddos and I think it should be doable.

Exception would be Thanksgiving as we're going to a friends' house and I want to bring something. Will probably be a bread or side dish so shouldn't be too expensive to make.

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4 minutes ago, importswim said:

This is what I'm doing for November. No spend on everything that I can but am considering putting aside some money for produce as we eat a lot of it and I don't want to sacrifice health.

DH will be gone the whole month so it will be just me and the kiddos and I think it should be doable.

Exception would be Thanksgiving as we're going to a friends' house and I want to bring something. Will probably be a bread or side dish so shouldn't be too expensive to make.

I save so much when dh is gone!  

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On 10/26/2021 at 9:50 AM, prairiewindmomma said:

Yes, yes, kind of….

For things we need and can’t find easy substitutes for (hot tub chemicals, a particular tennis shoe), I am keeping a 3-6 month supply on hand. I think we will always have some sort of food to eat, so I am only stocking up a tiny bit on things that aren’t easily replaceable. I am still running a fuller than normal pantry, but I am not anxious. 
 

I don’t think the inflation we are seeing is a temporary bump. You can’t buy and prep your way through inflation. The logistics will eventually resolve, but I think that all of this further heightens my understanding that you can’t frugal your way out of a low income problem. We were right to move out of the Midwest several years ago. We’d be in a world of hurt if dh had remained at his old job. 

It is always interesting to me to read the financial groups. There are always those moving out of the high COL because of costs and then others moving to the high COL for the higher wages. We live in a lower COL but of course there are lower wages. I do agree there is only so much you can do budgeting. That is especially true now with so many things going up in price.

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Ok everyone, please bring me good financial vibes for the month of November because we just can't have another month like oct.  I've worked the meal plan to be bare bones spending but healthy foods.  Thankfully, we have tons of frozen chicken and dried beans so we can likely get by the entire month without buying any meat in nov, minus a turkey for thanksgiving. We'll see.

It of course will be a spendy month because we'll be finishing the christmas shopping but that has all been budgeted for.  My hope though is we can come under budget so we can sock some more money into savings since we only put money away for retirement in oct.

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- went over some on groceries- came from my slush fund- first time over in a very long time

-So, I temporarily considered buying a car now (getting a loan (blech) for the remainder of the cost as I don't have 100% saved yet).  I'm very annoyed by gas prices (mostly from dh and his college commute)

But after looking at dozens of cars and talking to half a dozen dealers over several states- I'm staying the course. Inventory is so tight they want so much over MSRP. One dealership called me back to tell me the car I had asked about had sold but there is another one coming in(the EXACT same car) but it will be another $2k more. It was already $3k over MSRP. Ya, nope. And their prices were in line with everyone else. They have it listed at "market' price- ie how much can they get out of you. And the used market is so tight the prices are up too of course. 

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Dh's payday and my VIPKID payday. Funded the rest of November. Still have 2 small Vipkid paychecks coming as I'm paid behind. 

Bumped car fund up to 61%- however this is going to be adjusted yet again after shopping. I'm hoping for prices to go down next year but still think I want more than originally planned. Still thinking on it. 

Today I have my last VIPKID classes, possibly forever (depending on how the global market launch goes). 

-dh bought batteries- smoke detectors, remotes

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We had unexpected *bike* repairs this month. DD14's brakes broke and she flew over the handles. Luckily she didn't break anything, but it was beyond what DH could do (he had "fixed" it before), so we had to take it into the shop. I'm going to ask my dad to start keeping an eye out for a used bike for her, as he lives in a good used-bike market.

Now that the high schoolers are going back to school and having social lives (!!!), we're spending a ton on public transportation. Who knew?

DH is continuing to work on his business idea. It turns out he has a small grant (4-digits) to pay for things needed for exploratory work. What I hadn't expected is that he told me he needs nicer clothes; he feels really grubby in his professorial clothes when he goes to business networking events. I spent an unexpected $50 on two packages of "the sort of masks you can wear with suits" for him this week. He also got a haircut!

I'm a few weeks into YNAB and loving it. DH is too busy to talk about things much, but I walked him through it. Looking forward to putting the paycheck in it this weekend.

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Oh, I think the volunteer work I've been doing this quarter (which is super minimal) can be changed into paid work next quarter. So I'm going to stop looking for a paid part-time job and focus on digging in and doing well at my volunteer work.

And, if it can't be paid next quarter, it can certainly start being paid come summer. It's all rather awkward. When I signed up, I thought it was volunteer and told the program director, "I'd like to volunteer for your program." Then, when I actually got my hours, I was asked if I would like to be paid. I felt like I needed to say no, as I had *volunteered*. But, since money's tight, next time I get scheduled, I won't. Also, I feel like I'm doing a good job. 🙂 So I'm adding value.

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Quote

3 paycheck month for me - means debt will get an extra payment since that's where the majority of my money goes.

Christmas shopping - goal is to be done by the end of the month. I have ideas for 90% of the stuff. I just want to say that I hate stocking stuffers.

Hopefully, we will hit 11% of big loan payoff. I was called for Jury Duty, and I don't get paid, other than the $15 a day, if I serve on the jury, so we will see how October's income goes.

0% card should go down nicely again due to child tax credit. 

Keep plugging away at medical bills. 

I plan to start listing ebay/FB sales again mid month in order to catch holiday shoppers. I have one big item to sell, a few little things, and a couple of sports things that we have for some reason or another. Kids have a lot of American Girl stuff. 

New funds to start thinking about: cats will need their annual vet visit in January - their fund is not ready for that, so I'll have to start channeling some money there. Driver's Ed for youngest is March of next year. Need to up Oldest's fund for books/travel to/from school - it's looking pretty sad and she'll be home in Dec with a return trip in January. I have to research German 4 options for Middle - we've been using CLRC and they don't have German 4. Then, I'll have to set aside $ to pay for it. Also decide if Youngest should start Spanish online or locally. 

Still need to look closely at my grocery budget - it's been uncomfortably tight since school meals ended.

 

My October goals are quoted above: Finished out October with no major hiccups.

Did have to slow down debt repayment in order to cover the cooling vest for middle DD, but I'm ok with that. 

Closing in on Christmas presents, but definitely not finished. Having difficulty with stocking ideas that don't cost more than their presents.

Ended at 10.3% for big loan repayment. 

2 kids need ultrasounds in November, but one has hit their deductible. One is simply their annual check (had kidney surgery as an infant) - one is totally terrifying me, but I'm attempting to be zen-like until the results come in. I need to call the hospital today to set up the appointment.

Ha! Still haven't listed anything for sale. The kidney stone slowed me down, maybe I can get on that this weekend.

New funds: Cats set up. Working on Driver's Ed. Do not know what to do about Oldest's travel expenses - we have some tuition reimbursement $ in the savings account from DH's degree (we had to return it if he left the company), which is available to us in December, so I'll snag that for her travel & books expenses. But she's also coming home for Thanksgiving, so another round trip needs to be factored in. Haven't even thought about German 4 haha.

Grocery & Gas fund continues to make me scream every week. Ugh.

 

Fingers crossed for a good review and raise for me. I do payroll and I saw that someone who started after me got a raise, so I know my boss isn't waiting until you've been there a year to give raises. She hasn't called me up for my review yet though, so I'm trying to be patient and not count my chickens yet even though the eggs are sitting right there LOL.

 

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On 9/29/2021 at 6:00 PM, Soror said:

October Goals:

-55.5% car fund (50% previous goal- currently at 45.7%)- *If* VipKid doesn't die at the end of this month I hope to get that to 58%+ but who the heck knows

-87.5%+ of home repair & maintenance fund (currently at 75%)

Still keeping an eye on job openings. If VIPKID goes under I hope I can move my new job earlier to get more hours in there. I am still considering a seasonal job locally. 

Dh has a pretty big item up on eBay that will cover half of what we need to fill the rest of the home fund and the medical fund. Fingers crossed and all that.

I only have a few more items to list around here. I might do that this month (not feeling overly motivated but we'll see)

I probably won't do any Christmas shopping until November (continuing to set money aside and grow the Crowdtap for some extra).

I have a bit set aside for Halloween. I'll likely take the girls trick or treating and to a pumpkin farm at some point.

No big expenses that I know of coming up (I keep saying that and things keep happening but maybe this month it will actually be true).

-car fund- 61% (although will be dropping when I decide what to increase the goal to)

- home repair- pfft- nearly wiped out buying a dishwasher

-dh's item still hasn't sold (expensive specialty item) we lowered the price a bit to see if we could get any takers

-upping hours at new job next month, still considering what to do

-haven't listed anything else for sale- just have some old scout items and things ds outgrew

- went to the pumpkin farm

-no Christmas shopping- hitting Crowdtap pretty heavily- almost to $100

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3 hours ago, Soror said:

Dh's payday and my VIPKID payday. Funded the rest of November. Still have 2 small Vipkid paychecks coming as I'm paid behind. 

Bumped car fund up to 61%- however this is going to be adjusted yet again after shopping. I'm hoping for prices to go down next year but still think I want more than originally planned. Still thinking on it. 

Today I have my last VIPKID classes, possibly forever (depending on how the global market launch goes). 

-dh bought batteries- smoke detectors, remotes

I hope these are not your last VIPKID classes.  Fingers crossed you hear some good news about that.

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1 hour ago, EmilyGF said:

We had unexpected *bike* repairs this month. DD14's brakes broke and she flew over the handles. Luckily she didn't break anything, but it was beyond what DH could do (he had "fixed" it before), so we had to take it into the shop. I'm going to ask my dad to start keeping an eye out for a used bike for her, as he lives in a good used-bike market.

Now that the high schoolers are going back to school and having social lives (!!!), we're spending a ton on public transportation. Who knew?

DH is continuing to work on his business idea. It turns out he has a small grant (4-digits) to pay for things needed for exploratory work. What I hadn't expected is that he told me he needs nicer clothes; he feels really grubby in his professorial clothes when he goes to business networking events. I spent an unexpected $50 on two packages of "the sort of masks you can wear with suits" for him this week. He also got a haircut!

I'm a few weeks into YNAB and loving it. DH is too busy to talk about things much, but I walked him through it. Looking forward to putting the paycheck in it this weekend.

Oh thank goodness your dd is ok.  How scary.  Hopefully you can find a new bike.  My son is looking to upgrade his mountain bike and we went to the bike store and they said if you order one now, we might have it by summer.  

It sounds like your dh's idea is gaining steam!  Good for him.

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1 hour ago, EmilyGF said:

Oh, I think the volunteer work I've been doing this quarter (which is super minimal) can be changed into paid work next quarter. So I'm going to stop looking for a paid part-time job and focus on digging in and doing well at my volunteer work.

And, if it can't be paid next quarter, it can certainly start being paid come summer. It's all rather awkward. When I signed up, I thought it was volunteer and told the program director, "I'd like to volunteer for your program." Then, when I actually got my hours, I was asked if I would like to be paid. I felt like I needed to say no, as I had *volunteered*. But, since money's tight, next time I get scheduled, I won't. Also, I feel like I'm doing a good job. 🙂 So I'm adding value.

That is great that you can turn the volunteer job into a paying one.  Glad everything worked out so you can stop looking.

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1 hour ago, historically accurate said:

My October goals are quoted above: Finished out October with no major hiccups.

Did have to slow down debt repayment in order to cover the cooling vest for middle DD, but I'm ok with that. 

Closing in on Christmas presents, but definitely not finished. Having difficulty with stocking ideas that don't cost more than their presents.

Ended at 10.3% for big loan repayment. 

2 kids need ultrasounds in November, but one has hit their deductible. One is simply their annual check (had kidney surgery as an infant) - one is totally terrifying me, but I'm attempting to be zen-like until the results come in. I need to call the hospital today to set up the appointment.

Ha! Still haven't listed anything for sale. The kidney stone slowed me down, maybe I can get on that this weekend.

New funds: Cats set up. Working on Driver's Ed. Do not know what to do about Oldest's travel expenses - we have some tuition reimbursement $ in the savings account from DH's degree (we had to return it if he left the company), which is available to us in December, so I'll snag that for her travel & books expenses. But she's also coming home for Thanksgiving, so another round trip needs to be factored in. Haven't even thought about German 4 haha.

Grocery & Gas fund continues to make me scream every week. Ugh.

 

Fingers crossed for a good review and raise for me. I do payroll and I saw that someone who started after me got a raise, so I know my boss isn't waiting until you've been there a year to give raises. She hasn't called me up for my review yet though, so I'm trying to be patient and not count my chickens yet even though the eggs are sitting right there LOL.

 

Oh fingers crossed for your raise!  It sounds like it will happen.

Sending so many good thoughts for the ultrasounds.  

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1 hour ago, historically accurate said:

My October goals are quoted above: Finished out October with no major hiccups.

Did have to slow down debt repayment in order to cover the cooling vest for middle DD, but I'm ok with that. 

Closing in on Christmas presents, but definitely not finished. Having difficulty with stocking ideas that don't cost more than their presents.

Ended at 10.3% for big loan repayment. 

2 kids need ultrasounds in November, but one has hit their deductible. One is simply their annual check (had kidney surgery as an infant) - one is totally terrifying me, but I'm attempting to be zen-like until the results come in. I need to call the hospital today to set up the appointment.

Ha! Still haven't listed anything for sale. The kidney stone slowed me down, maybe I can get on that this weekend.

New funds: Cats set up. Working on Driver's Ed. Do not know what to do about Oldest's travel expenses - we have some tuition reimbursement $ in the savings account from DH's degree (we had to return it if he left the company), which is available to us in December, so I'll snag that for her travel & books expenses. But she's also coming home for Thanksgiving, so another round trip needs to be factored in. Haven't even thought about German 4 haha.

Grocery & Gas fund continues to make me scream every week. Ugh.

Fingers crossed for a good review and raise for me. I do payroll and I saw that someone who started after me got a raise, so I know my boss isn't waiting until you've been there a year to give raises. She hasn't called me up for my review yet though, so I'm trying to be patient and not count my chickens yet even though the eggs are sitting right there LOL.

Great job on your goals! I hope you get that raise and the ultrasound turns out just fine.

2 hours ago, EmilyGF said:

We had unexpected *bike* repairs this month. DD14's brakes broke and she flew over the handles. Luckily she didn't break anything, but it was beyond what DH could do (he had "fixed" it before), so we had to take it into the shop. I'm going to ask my dad to start keeping an eye out for a used bike for her, as he lives in a good used-bike market.

Now that the high schoolers are going back to school and having social lives (!!!), we're spending a ton on public transportation. Who knew?

DH is continuing to work on his business idea. It turns out he has a small grant (4-digits) to pay for things needed for exploratory work. What I hadn't expected is that he told me he needs nicer clothes; he feels really grubby in his professorial clothes when he goes to business networking events. I spent an unexpected $50 on two packages of "the sort of masks you can wear with suits" for him this week. He also got a haircut!

I'm a few weeks into YNAB and loving it. DH is too busy to talk about things much, but I walked him through it. Looking forward to putting the paycheck in it this weekend.

1 hour ago, EmilyGF said:

Oh, I think the volunteer work I've been doing this quarter (which is super minimal) can be changed into paid work next quarter. So I'm going to stop looking for a paid part-time job and focus on digging in and doing well at my volunteer work.

And, if it can't be paid next quarter, it can certainly start being paid come summer. It's all rather awkward. When I signed up, I thought it was volunteer and told the program director, "I'd like to volunteer for your program." Then, when I actually got my hours, I was asked if I would like to be paid. I felt like I needed to say no, as I had *volunteered*. But, since money's tight, next time I get scheduled, I won't. Also, I feel like I'm doing a good job. 🙂 So I'm adding value.

That is awesome that your volunteer gig can turn into a paid job. Good luck to your husband.

I'm glad you are enjoying YNAB. I still love it and love it when pay day comes.

24 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

I hope these are not your last VIPKID classes.  Fingers crossed you hear some good news about that.

Thank you, we'll see!

Edited by Soror
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30 minutes ago, Soror said:

-car fund- 61% (although will be dropping when I decide what to increase the goal to)

- home repair- pfft- nearly wiped out buying a dishwasher

-dh's item still hasn't sold (expensive specialty item) we lowered the price a bit to see if we could get any takers

-upping hours at new job next month, still considering what to do

-haven't listed anything else for sale- just have some old scout items and things ds outgrew

- went to the pumpkin farm

-no Christmas shopping- hitting Crowdtap pretty heavily- almost to $100

Awesome on your car fund!

I hope your dh's item sells.

That is great you have the other job already set up. 

Awesome job doing Crowdtap.  Is that your earnings for the month?  

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On 10/2/2021 at 10:02 AM, Longtime Lurker said:

I was hoping to pay for our tree work out of the regular budget, but did end up needing to take $ out of savings for that. That is okay, as that savings account was intended for things like that; I was just hoping to leave it untouched. However, we are doing well otherwise! My goal for October is to start replacing the $ that came out for the tree stuff.

So I did not actually end up replacing any of what I took out of savings for the tree work, but we did cash flow the entire year's homeowners insurance renewal without dipping into the sinking fund intended for that. So I think I will call that a win overall for October.

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Not much going on.  

Spent sometime checking investments and accounts and then running calculators.  All the ones I am running say we don't need to save more for retirement, and that we will have more than what we need by a lot.   We are still maxing things out.  I don't know if that is the right call?  I guess I worry that if we stop saving something bad could happen.  Like dh would die, be disabled, or sick and it would effecting things.  Not that we don't have insurance for that, but there are so many twists that could happen.  But I also know that I am a complete worry wart.  So I know that is tinting things.  Then I worry that we are saving too much and not spending enough on things we want to do now.  I am really not sure what to do.

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Just ordered our new van.  We meant to do it a few weeks back, but life got kind of nuts.  Who knows how long it will be before we actually get it.  Dh's car is 7 years old and my van is 6.  We usually don't keep cars more than 5 ish years.  But with Covid we got a few more years out of it because he didn't have to commute.  I didn't either so that was nice.  But now we are going back to commuting a lot.  Hoping dh can work from home some.  But with the kids all growing into full sized people a sedan only really fits 4 of us plus all their gear for things.  So a 7 or 8 passenger vehicle made more sense for us while still having everyone at home.  We won't keep dh's car either because I wouldn't want the kids driving it unless in our little town.  It doesn't have all the newest safety features on it.  Although we could install a back up camera.  Anyway our kids don't do anything in our small town, everything is 1 hour away. 

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On 10/29/2021 at 9:37 AM, mommyoffive said:

Awesome on your car fund!

I hope your dh's item sells.

That is great you have the other job already set up. 

Awesome job doing Crowdtap.  Is that your earnings for the month?  

No, this month has been $40. Last month was about $55- but I had some built up because I hadn't done it in awhile.

20 hours ago, Longtime Lurker said:

So I did not actually end up replacing any of what I took out of savings for the tree work, but we did cash flow the entire year's homeowners insurance renewal without dipping into the sinking fund intended for that. So I think I will call that a win overall for October.

That is a big win!

13 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

We have a Honda Van and we are keeping that and getting a Hybrid Toyota Minivan.   I love Minivans.

Can't go wrong with a Toyota! I had a coworker years ago that continued driving minivans even after she didn't have kids at home. I couldn't comprehend it at 19. I get it now, sometimes the space is nice. I just don't like bigger vehicles, my favorite car ever was a Honda Civic.

Since ds got his license a bit over a year ago aside from family vaca we've only all been in the van maybe a couple of times. I'd originally planned on waiting until dd turned 16 to get a smaller car but considering how infrequently we all ride together I'm ok with doing it earlier. Since the older 2 are in school now 90% of the time it is just me and the younger 2 girls.  It isn't worth it for us to pay so much more for a vehicle that fits us all when we use it so rarely. I'm better off to just take 2 cars a few times a year.  

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I got DH to discuss some Christmas presents yesterday. I have 2 to pick up here in town sometime this week. I will need to mail my mother's present. Then all I have left is stockings - I did just get a coupon for a free Bath and Body Works, so I'll pick that up on Tuesday when I'm in the area. Yesterday, I got a bunch of craft paints with a rebate so I'll probably put some of those in a stocking as well. Two kids have birthdays shortly after Christmas, so I'll keep an eye out for gifts for those as well.

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1 hour ago, Soror said:

No, this month has been $40. Last month was about $55- but I had some built up because I hadn't done it in awhile.

That is a big win!

Can't go wrong with a Toyota! I had a coworker years ago that continued driving minivans even after she didn't have kids at home. I couldn't comprehend it at 19. I get it now, sometimes the space is nice. I just don't like bigger vehicles, my favorite car ever was a Honda Civic.

Since ds got his license a bit over a year ago aside from family vaca we've only all been in the van maybe a couple of times. I'd originally planned on waiting until dd turned 16 to get a smaller car but considering how infrequently we all ride together I'm ok with doing it earlier. Since the older 2 are in school now 90% of the time it is just me and the younger 2 girls.  It isn't worth it for us to pay so much more for a vehicle that fits us all when we use it so rarely. I'm better off to just take 2 cars a few times a year.  

Yep, I love Toyotas and Hondas.  We have had amazing luck with Nissan too.   Yeah we are all in the car together a lot.  My kids all are in one activity together that is super far from home and then they are picking up other activities.  When we put all of them plus their gear bags in the car it fills up fast.  We also have 2 large dogs.  Even in 5 years I know we will have 4 still at home.  And maybe our oldest too.  I hope to always drive a minivan or suv.  I hate driving small cars and love being higher and having space, although we don't have it now.   Driving bigger kids, friends, dogs, gear we need a big car.  And I don't think in the future we won't want or need one.  We are getting it with AWD and that makes me happy as I hope it makes driving in snow and ice a bit easier. 

Crowdtap sounds like a nice little income stream for you.  Perfect to just build up during the year and use for Christmas.

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