One of our monthly or annual household items and payments that we struggle with is owning two cars. I really wish (sometimes) that we didn’t live “out in the boonies” as they say, and that only owning one car was an option for us. I work from home which is nice. But I have to be out of the home just enough to make it necessary to have a car. And it’s not really feasible for me to take hubby to work and back each day, with 2 little boys and one that gets off the bus every afternoon. Wouldn’t exactly be fair to toss him in the car for a long car ride every afternoon. But still, we often daydream at having the extra money–from car payments to routine maintenance and all that stuff.

One thing we have learned is to buy a good car, do the routine maintenance–and then when you pay it off you can drive it for several years more. One thing we often run into is replacing the brakes. You should have your Pittsburgh brakes checked often and stay up to date with the maintenance. When you have one bad set of brakes (either front or back) it puts more wear and tear on the good ones and wears them out prematurely.