Cars, student loans, and growing up..

Well it's official, I must be growing up. At twenty four this shouldn't be too shocking or unexpected and yet it kind of was. I no longer look at life in terms of just right now, there is a lot of future focus happening right now. Maybe it has to do with getting my first real job (as in the career I plan to do forever), it might have to do with being one month away from paying for all my bills myself (yes it's embarrassing that my parents still help out but hey in this economy..), it might have something to do with the fact that next year by this time I will be married. Whatever it is, I am now a grown up and my mind is there.

I got in a car accident June 10th. It was bad (the accidents truly do not show how bad it really was). I turned left onto a residential street when a teenage boy going nearly twice the speed limit (45 in a 25 zone) swerved into my lane and took out my car. My car spun, my airbags deployed, the entire front of my car was gone. Apparently this man-child thought he was going to hit me so swerved into my lane to avoid me, but I was already established in my lane therefore all he did was hit me head on. Had he just kept going straight or God forbid just slammed on his breaks the accident would have been avoidable. I am quickly becoming a believer that children should not be able to drive, they are just not contentious enough. By some grace of God we were not seriously injured. My neck and back are still a month later in excruciating pain.
Following the accident I had to decide what kind of car I wanted to get. Let's just say that has been overwhelming, I want my car, unfortunately it is missing its front so I can't have it back. So new car or old car? This is where my adult mind kicked in. I have student loans, not a whole lot, but more than I wish I had. If I purchase a new car I am putting money towards a car that I could be paying towards my student loan. I also have light credit (I've only had it for four years). My goal is to rid myself of all my debt in a year and a half, paying off my student loans will strengthen my credit whereas adding another payment that I might not be able to afford could destroy it. The fiance and I have the goal, like many young couples, to buy a house. We are hoping that with all of our debt paid off and the amount we already have saved we may be able to afford a nice house in this area. Unfortunately we live in a very expensive area and two teacher salaries doesn't amount to the typical $200K salary that most people have. We will find a way to make it work though.

I started over with the blog for many reasons. One I felt my old blog was a bit negative, not that I don't have a right to feel negative sometimes. Battling a life-long autoimmune disease, losing a parent to cancer at 22, heck even the stress of going through a credential program can make you feel a big negative sometimes, but it's not me. Before my mom died I was a very optimistic, positive person. The stress of that year before she died and the year that followed in some ways tarnished me. I have been changed by the events in my life, they have matured me, they have made me realize who I was as a person, but in some ways I lost apart of me. So this is my attempt to regain that part of me, that overly positive-optimistic part of me that I used to love.

Love always
-L