Buying the Family A Second Hand Car

Raising children can be a very busy and expensive time in ones life. My husband and I have two sons. We have wanted to give them as many experiences as possible growing up to help insure that they will lead a rich and full life. We have also tried to teach them the importance of budgeting money so that they will be able to afford the things that they need once they are on their own. We have done this by explaining the family finances to them and talking about the family budget as we pay bills each month. We openly talk about setting money aside for different things so that they realize that in order to have the things that they want they have to plan, save and cut down on impulsive spending. By having them understand the budget of the family we cut down on them asking for things we cannot afford. They know that we prioritize the budget so that all the necessities are covered and the bills come first over things that each of us in the family may want.

I think that we have done a good job of teaching this skill, which so many parents seem to ignore. We want our sons to be responsible with money so they can avoid the pitfall of huge credit card debts that come from purchasing things that you want but cannot afford. When our oldest son received his driverís license we knew that we would need to purchase a second hand car. We had two vehicles, but they were needed by my husband and I to get back and forth to work. We worked in opposite directions from each other so we could not car pool and we live in a rural area so public transportation was not an option. My husband and I started planning for a second hand car about six months prior to our son getting his license. We knew he wanted to get a part-time job after school and that he would need transportation to do this. He would be able to go to employment directly from school, but he would need a ride home when his shift was completed. If he worked on a weekend he would be able to use one of our cars, but this meant we would have to change our habits of being able to pick up and go whenever we needed to or wanted to.

We talked to our son about having a second hand car. We explained that we were going to look for a car that would be reliable and would also have cheaper license plate tags and insurance premiums. We told him that to start he would be asked to put gas in the car and also to pay for routine maintenance such as oil changes. When he worked more hours in the summer months he would also need to make a contribution towards the insurance premium. Helping out with the cost of a second hand car was another way for him to learn responsibility of budgeting money and setting priorities with the money he received from his job.

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