Auto Loans

So after about a year of planning and debating, and one rather overwrought day, we are proud new owners of an auto loan. This loan comes with a very nice 2005 Toyota Sienna. We have been planning on getting a larger car for a long time - and the newer Siennas have 8 passengers, which was a big selling point. Ariel and I have never had a car loan before and aren't thrilled about it...but we basically discovered that we weren't going to get anything with less than 100,000 miles on it for a price that seemed reasonable to us, so we just went for it. There aren't that many cars out there that can handle a family of six, a bulldog and room for a Costco grocery shopping trip. At least the van has just about everything in it we could want and it gets 25 miles to the gallon. I am trying not to think too hard about the difficulty of maintaining a middle class lifestyle in America without going into debt.