Per my last blog, I want to write about topic number 2 from 300 writing prompts. This time the topic is something that has been on my mind the past few days which is “what is the first thing you ever saved up your money for”? People save up for little things such as books, toy cars, toys, and crafting materials. In my case, I want to talk about my first ever big purchase that I have made. I have never had the inkling to say “I’m going to save my money to buy X item…” and I think still to this day that I am not that type of person. I do however have the inkling to say that I would save up money to buy two things: a car and a house. A car is needed for going to and from a location and I said to myself this is my dream car. The house is something I would love to own one day and like I tell myself sometimes it is a process. I also said to myself it would be really nice to have something I would be proud to call my own. I saved up my money almost a year ago and purchased (almost a year ago actually) a new Dodge Challenger.
A few months before the actual purchase, I started going over in my head what I needed to do to purchase my car. I said I needed to get rid of certain expenses such as cutting out eating out so much and only focus on saving up money for that final end goal. I also said in order to do this I needed to look at what I was spending my money on. Like any young adult, I usually pay for internet, rent, streaming services, gas, and food. I decided the two most important were gas and food. The gas was simple because of how much gas my car would guzzle throughout the week. I also figured that not eating out as much saved me so much money. As I went along in my process, I started thinking I really want this car because of how cool and niche the product was. As the months started progressing, I started seeing that I was getting close to my original goal of putting down a 7,000 dollar down payment. However, as I was getting close to my goal I realized that something was off. I had a weird feeling the weekend of March 5th as my brother asked me if he could borrow my older Toyota Corolla. I remember him, his wife, and his 3 kids were hauling off in my car as he needed it the next morning to go to work. I clearly remember walking towards Lowe’s as my brother called me and said he was sorry. I started thinking in my head what could have happened? He said he had crashed the car and he wasn’t sure what had happened. The first thing I asked him if he was ok and that’s all I cared about. Once again, he apologized and I said well time to get a new car. I saw what my account looked like and it was enough to cover the down payment (at least for what I wanted). As I started looking through the cars on the Dodge website from Fremont, I said I really wanted a car that will stand out. I remember driving a Yellow Mustang, in Florida and I said let’s go for Yellow. I also enjoy Yellow because it is the color of my favorite Baseball team the Oakland A’s and the color of some of the coolest things is Yellow (bees, leaves, zucchini, flowers, etc.). I saw it and headed down two weeks after to check it out with my family because I knew I wanted them there for that experiences .
I was determined to pick out this car and there were several other options. I also enjoyed this basic model they had of the challenger which was green and SXT but the one I wanted was a Challenger TA which was one of those special edition Challengers. After taking a few test drives, I realized this was the car that I wanted to settle on. Besides the usual paperwork and the talk between all the payments, I started thinking in my head about how much cooler and nicer this car would add to my everyday life. I always wanted to roll around in a sports car and now my life would be this. After a while of thinking about this, I also pictured what my life would be like if I didn’t have this car. I guess in a way I wondered about how the more expensive luxuries in my life would be exempt for a few years. I remember the conclusion to this argument in my head was that this is something I wanted and I worked hard to get the car. I also thought about the times I heard about parents buying their kids cars and how my parents had never sacrificed that kind of money on cars that were given to me. I always find a way to tie this back to my parents but in a sort of humbling way I’m glad I didn’t grow up with a car in the family. We would ask our neighbors or family for rides. If we didn’t have this luxury, we would take the bus to local places. Those experiences of never having to be indebted to a car was something I was very thankful as I grew up and I’ll never forget all those times we rode the bus.
Anyway, the two cars that were given to me as hand me downs were so great that I never forget the moments, memories, and the times I had in those cars. I also won’t forget that those kind of cars made me humble and thankful for what I had in my life. The last thought in my head during the whole purchasing process was that sometimes it’s ok to give yourself a little treat for the blood, sweat, and tears that you had sacrificed. Once I drove off the lot, I said this is new and exciting for you and enjoy this opportunity now. For the last year, that car and myself have taken quite the journey. We have been to Salinas, Watsonville, San Jose, Fresno, and Oakland. I’ve also noted how nice it is not to have to worry about my car breaking down in the middle of the road. The lesson here for me is that saving your money is not the easiest thing to do in the world but if it means that much to you to save up and buy that nice thing you’ve been itching for I feel you should go for it and be patient. I know that now with myself this car (appropriately named Dino), that we will continue to wreck the mean streets of the Bay Area and we still have many more adventures to take throughout the bay area. Till next time to see what I write about on ‘300 writing prompts’.
Just Another Day... 