KGirl - 7 months later...

[KGirl]

Exciting news update - I bought a car today! I found a cute little dark orange Honda Fit that was within my price range and qualifications, checked it out yesterday, and bought it today! The process was not bad at all. My dad is rather stingy with money, I guess you could say, and growing up he always talked about how car dealers were out to cheat you and scam you so I had this expectation that I had to be totally on my guard and assume they were bad people. But they weren't, it was great and easy and even a little fun! Well, until the loan prequalification thing.. once again my M status tripped us up because when I applied for individual credit, my income alone compared to my debts disqualified me. The finance person came running out and said "you're married?! I didn't know that." Apparently usually people who are married apply for joint credit so they were confused. They just added H's income as joint income, without needing him as a cosigner, and it all turned out. Still irked me, though. My dad also had some choice comments like "I don't know that I would have bought this until they buffed those scratches out," but I'm going to choose to not let him bring me down I need to keep in mind that my dad is the type of guy who will push so hard and be so rude that car dealers won't work with him in the future.

H knows I was looking at cars (because remember, he told me it "wasn't a good time," even though I'm only getting a car because we are S, because we had previously shared his car) but I did not inform him that I actually bought one. I don't know that I need to or care to let him know. He might find out through the facebook grapevine, which is fine.

I've got a cat, a car, a place to live.. all I need now is a kitchen table (I have a card table right now) and I think I'll feel fully settled I know I don't need "things" to be happy, but it's been hard for me to give up/lose a bunch of the things that H has kept (house, car, cat) that contributed to my day-to-day standard of living.