I'm Having To Upgrade My Car For My Dogs

Brought to you by the EveryDollar App. Start budgeting for free today. I have added a new rescue dog to my household, which has now required me to get a larger vehicle. And I need to try and figure out what is a reasonable budget. What kind of dog did you get that requires a car? Well, this makes three, but he's an American Bulldog. He's 130 pounds. Goodness gracious. And how often do you haul him? Well, we do a lot. Our family, we live on the West Coast. Our family is East Coast, Midwest. So we do a lot of road trips. And I've had him for about six months. And him and the other two dogs just don't, there's not a firm in the back of the car. So I've been having to rent larger vehicles to go visit family. Like every once every couple months. Do you have children? I do not. I do not. These are basically my kids. Yeah, I can tell. I think you're the first person I ever talked to who bought a car for a dog. The dog's free. I don't think that's ever happened to me before. That's the funny part. The dog is free, but the car, that's going to cost you. So, okay. So you're thinking about buying a car. Okay. Now, so do you have the cash to pay for the car you're thinking about? I do. I have been saving. And how much is this car? Well, I don't, well, I was budgeting like 15 to 20, but I'm finding what he fits in with the other two and enough space for luggage. We're going to have to go, um, they're turning out to do like more close to 40, which hurts my heart to have to spend that much money. But, um, it's, it's, I think it's necessary, but I don't know. I'm so confused. Why? Okay. Anyway, it takes $40,000. You can buy a $15,000 version of that same exact car that you're looking at for 40. It's called older. Anyway, so do you have the cash? How much do you have cash to put down or to pay cash? Cash at like 80 in the bank. Okay. And what's your household income? Uh, I make one 80. And you're single and you want to buy a $40,000 car, regardless of the reason, if you have the cash and you want to buy a $40,000 car, do you have any of the debt? That's my mortgage. Okay. Good. If you're paying cash for a car and it's less than half your annual income, and it's not brand new, uh, unless you're a million, unless you're a millionaire, then you want to buy the car, buy the car. Hey, what's up guys. It's Jade. Listen, my husband and I drive used vehicles and we really do plan on keeping those running for a long time. So we trust Christian brothers automotive to take care of them. Their team is honest. Their shops are super clean. And what I love is they don't try to upsell us on things that we don't need. I personally feel really confident walking into Christian brothers because I know that no one's going to try to take advantage of me or scare me into unneeded repairs. Christian brothers gets it. So schedule a service today at cbac.com slash Ramsey and get 10% off your visit. That's up to a $250 value. See stores for details. By the car. Just by the money. You don't, it's not a dumb decision. I just don't want to put myself in a financial. It's not a dumb decision unless it's more than half your annual income and, and you're not paying cash for it and you have other debt and so on. Now, um, the, uh, the thing you keep in mind and the thing that's bothering you in the back of your mind is we all know that cars go down in value like crazy. And the car you're driving right now is worth what? Um, I drive a 2013 terrain. I've had it for 10 years. What's it worth? So it's worth like five grand. Yeah. Okay. So your $40,000 purchase in a few years is probably going to be worth five grand. That's what cars do. So just, you're turning 40 into five over time. You'll get some use out of it, some enjoyment out of it, but you make 180. You have 80 in the bank. You can afford to turn 40 into five and not go broke and really not severely limit or screw up your life in some way. It's not crazy. I would point out to you that your reason for doing this is sketchy. Okay. The fact that you want to spend $40,000 for a rescue dog to ride to your mama's in the Midwest is sketchy. Okay. You could rent a car a whole lot of times for that. And I love that you love animals. I'm an animal lover. George is an animal lover. We, we love our puppies. We, you know, me and Bella, the 12 pound bear dog. We, we walk every morning. I love my dog. And so all of this, we love our dogs. I'm with you on that. I get it. And, uh, um, but you know, I, I, I'll be honest. I hadn't spent $40,000 on Bella. Would you, would you recommend? So that's for like a 2022 Toyota Sequoia. I just want you to, I just want you to reframe this and go, I want the car and the dog can ride in it. It's just bothering me. $40,000 to ride a rescue dog. The dog could sit in a horse trailer in the back. It doesn't care. How you carry it in 50 pounds. She must work out on that guy. Lisa's got to be ripped to be able to carry 130 pound front of, you know, English bulldog. Great dogs too. So we love you kiddo. We're just, we're, we're, we're laughing with you. You have the money. If it's what you want to do with your money, you've worked hard. Go get the car. That's fine. I personally would have to reset the narrative in my head. Cause I couldn't. Just, I need a better car. My car's old. One of the things I do is I enjoyed loading the dogs up and going across the country. That's one of the things I enjoy doing and that's okay. But I, I'm, I can't, it started with, I got to buy a car for this dog. No, I can't go there. That one, the dog needs captain chairs with ventilated seats. It requested that homework bound. Yeah. That dog is living a good life. That dog was eaten like a King to be 130 pounds. Goodness gracious. That's impressive. I like it. That's fun. Talking to you, Lisa. Thank you. Enjoy the car. Pick out something you feel good about and buy it for you. And one, and a part of you is, is that you enjoy taking care of this rescue dog. And that's a good thing. That dog is living its best life with Lisa. I'll tell you that much. Got a brand new car out of the deal. When he goes back to the shelter and goes, Hey guys, look what I got. My previous owner had a much nicer car. I gotta say, Oh man, that's fun. Go back for a visit. Just wheel up in the Sequoia in the Sequoia. Look what I got guys. Oh man. Create your free every dollar budget today. The simplest way to budget for your life.