Hey Love Muffins! I’ll let you in on a secret…well it’s really no secret but just in case this happens to be your first time hearing this from me. My beautiful amazing Infinite QX4 SUV died on me in March of 2018. You see I was on the way to an early morning event at Cobb Galleria and as I was cruising on Interstate 285 the car basically decided that this was the end of her life. I’ve had cars over the years but Lord knows that this baby held so many memories both good and bad. Seriously, I felt like I lost a family member. We’ll me being the sport that I am I made the executive decision to attend my event like nothing happened and I would deal with the BS afterwards. The event was great and then there was the issue of trying to get the car back to my house.
Whew! I had to move the car over to Cumberland Mall in order for the towing company to pick it up. Let me tell you that it doesn’t matter if you have roadside assistance or not those dang on extra fees when your far from home are the devil. The pure devil.
Forget coins this tow cost dollars! The next week after my car breaking I had to finally come to the realization that she was beyond repair. It’s at that moment that it finally sinks in that I’m officially carless. I’m an entrepreneur but that doesn’t equate a car note for me. Building a business takes time and trust me the money isn’t always there and even if it is there as a single mother I feel that making my mortgage payment is more important than going out getting a car note that could possible throw me steps behind where I am presently. Nah I haven’t hit that infamous “6 or 7 Figures mark YET” but with the Grace of God I’m on my way.
So how did I survive me first 3 months. Hmmm… let’s you have to plan, plan and plan more. Let’s see when my son isn’t off at school then we shared his car but that gets old pretty fast LOL! Seriously we literally shared his car for a while until….his car started giving us problems. I’m sure thats partly from both of us putting wear and tear on the car. You know I’m one of those people who prefers her own car because then I know exactly how it should sound, aware when it needs fixing and well just because I like having my own car.
So here’s where it gets tricky. I had to carefully plan out my schedules like attending church (especially since I serve in ministry), events, meetings, socials, PTA, JROTC practices & competitions, market runs and just about everything. Although I’m a planner by nature the first three months were some trying times. Especially when you plan out your time around other peoples time and things don’t always fall in place. Here are a few things that helped me during the initial carless transition.
- Plan out meals head of time to ensure when you finally get to the market you have everything that you need.
- Plan all of your meeting in blocks during the days that a vehicle is available.
- Cram all of your errands, meeting, shopping and etc into a your schedule in the event that you rent a car for a week or receive a car to test drive.
- Be prepared to turn down major events or things happening around town.
- Come to grips with being carless.
- Don’t expect all of the folks that you transported around when your car was working to all flock all at once to offer you a ride because they won’t.
- Mentally prepare yourself for the weeks, months or in my case year ahead of you. Trust me it took its toll.
- Don’t get upset because you can’t be in place or to places that you would normally be to because hey your carless.
- Plan all of your kids appointments around each other so you can knock them all out at once.
- Be happy because even in your storm there will be sunshine once it clears.
You know when I really realized that my SUV was dead I was freaking upset. I was pissed! Seriously? What the heck was I going to do now? Run out and get a car payment? Not likely. I took my chance during the first three months looking for cars but I haven’t had much luck in the past when I tried. The last car that I purchased off the lot died a few months after I paid it off. How’s that for a permanent scar. It also became apparent to me how shallow people are. Like seriously they base you off of rather you have a car or not and if you do to them it matters what type of car. Trust me even those in higher places fall into this category. It’s really sad because the reality is you too could find yourself in this same predicament.
So in a nutshell the first three months were hell filled with several bouts of sadness. Probably more than there should have been but hey its the truth. So in case your wondering how long its been…on July 3 it will mark 16 months CARLESS!