Time for a grown up car?

We’ve had our 3 door hatchback now for a few years, it even dates back to before our wedding. Back when all we had to worry about was the two of us and our new home we had bought together.

We knew that we wanted children fairly soon but I don’t think even we expected to have a baby quite as soon as we did. So certain factors that might have been good to consider when we bought the car quite frankly, weren’t considered as much as they should have been. We bought the car because it was a good make, good price, pretty powerful and basically because we liked the look of it.

Since Beastie and Baby Beastie have arrived the car has gradually become the opposite of what we would choose now, besides the make. I see other families putting their kids in their seats quickly and without practically breaking their necks to do so. I see them loading their pushchairs into their boots with relative ease, without any sign of having to wrestle with other items already in place. Although I manage at the moment, because I have to, it’s far from easy some days. As I usually make several short trips a day, I have become rather skilled at getting the boys in and out of the car but on those rainy days it can be particularly frustrating. Not to mention the squeeze that it is when we travel anywhere and need to load up with bags and other belongings.

We took out a personal loan to pay for our current car and it’s probably the one time (apart from the massive loan that is our mortgage!) that I actually felt ok about taking one out. Buying a car is quite a big chunk of money for most people and if you’re as good at saving as me, *cough* then you will more than likely need to look into one.

We also simply don’t have the disposable income that we once had so upgrading our car has been on the back burner for a while now. It’s one of those purchases that we know we need to make soon but have been putting off because of our financial situation. Of course with the cold weather here to stay, it usually spells problems with our car so we need to start looking at our options for a practical family car sooner rather than later really…