and this one was huge literally.
We just purchased a much needed 4X4, it's an Expedition which was not on my list but the price was right and the transaction from the previous owner was great.

It's our emergency vehicle for snow days and the run to the transfer station (that's the dump for those who don't know) so it won't see much action after my initial week of excitement of owning a new toy.
I'll have to retire the Honda and I'm trying my best to keep it in the family, donating it to NPR is second option for parting with it.

Hi DebtFreeCrusader

What list are you talking about? I don't mean to be rude but I think this would be more of a luxury item then necessity. How much did you pay for it? Will it be your primary vehicle?

the list is for the things we had sacrificed to get out of debt.

I leave in New England, so a good part of my commute consist of hills, and they get painful to negotiate on snowy days

here in the winter all 4X4, from sedans to SUVs on the roads are more for necessity than luxury.
we sat in the house for the past 2 years and waited for the plow guy to clear our driveway in order get out on heavy snow days, because 1, we didn't have our truck and 2, we have a sloped driveway. before that I've always had an SUV so we could leave if whenever we wanted and now we can.

How much did I pay? The point of this thread, the reason why I put it in the success stories is because I paid cash for this big item literally, well I gave the guy a check for $100 to show him that I was serious and he replaced all the breaks, kind of a "sweetening of the pot" from the seller. but the rest was an exchange of keys for crisp $100s and $50s. but to give you an idea of the value although it won't be close to what I got it for. it's 1999 and it has a rebuilt engine with 74K miles on it. and the price was right.

like I said above it's our emergency vehicle for snow days and the run to the transfer station (that's the dump for those who don't know) so it won't see much action after my initial week of excitement of owning a new toy plus it's a 30 gallons tanks with 15 mpg so the joy will wear off the second time I fill up that tank (nuff said)

When we got snowed in as a kid we had a Honda ATV that we built a plow for, it would help us get the driveway cleared out to the main road since those generally got cleared first. It was a good combo machine helping us get a lot of work done around the house as well, depending on how rural your property is it might be a better investment overall then the SUV in the future.

I have to say that it is not a luxury for myself to have a 4x4 SUV as well.

I live as far north as you can get in Ontario by road.... (well pretty close, and since it's winter, you can now get to Moose Factory) and when it snows, it snows....if you have a little cross over SUV, or a car.....good luck!!

Actually, one way I had been making extra cash on the side was offering my service in vehicle recovery....not much.....$40 here, $20 there... what ever they want to pay.....to be honest I have a good time at it...it's more fun than work sometimes.

Sometimes (by sometimes I mean, all times) family safety in the winter months is more important than what the gas prices are, or being snowed in at home.

Great work on the deal for the Ford...is it the deisel or the gas version?