The Old Van Is Taking Us to Disney One Last Time

Our family minivan is 20 years old.

It’s a 2006 Honda Odyssey that has taken us pretty much everywhere we’ve needed to go for years.

We didn't own it for all 20 of those years. We bought it when it was already about 10 years old, right around the time our second child was born and our little family was starting to outgrow our previous vehicle.

Now, after all these years, she isn't exactly pretty anymore.

The paint is chipped on the hood and roof. The AC needs to be recharged with Freon at least once every summer. The power doors stopped opening with the push of a button a while ago, so now they have to be pulled open manually.

But she still runs.

And that's really the reason we haven't replaced her yet.

I'm lucky that my wife and I have pretty much the same mindset when it comes to money. It can be summed up by something she and I have both said in different ways:

“I don't want trying to look rich to keep us from reaching true financial freedom.”

I have no problem being seen driving the most busted-up vehicle in the parking lot.

My wife cares a little more about what the van looks like than I do.

But neither of us wants to spend money on a newer vehicle simply because our current one looks old.

That's why we started a van fund last year. We're saving to buy a newer Honda Odyssey, probably a 2021 or 2022 model, and we're planning to buy it with cash.

I don't want another car payment.

That's a personal decision for our family. I'd rather keep our monthly expenses lower and put that money toward other financial goals.

That doesn't mean I think every car payment is automatically a bad financial decision. However, I would need to hear some pretty special circumstances to get me to say that financing a vehicle makes sense.

But for us, keeping the payment at zero is worth a lot.

And this old van has helped us do that for a long time.

The van is sitting at about 170,000 miles now. Honda Odysseys can go a very long way when they're taken care of, and ours is still running well.

It isn't perfect, but it doesn't need to be.

It needs to start.

It needs to get us where we're going.

And it needs to keep doing its job.

So we've been slow to replace it.

And that decision has given us the ability to do a lot of other things with our money.

Not having a car payment helped us save up to buy our rental property.

It helped us build a comfortable emergency fund.

It helped us handle the expenses that came with welcoming two more children after we bought the van.

It helped us get through my salary being reduced without immediately having to make drastic changes to our lives.

And it has allowed us to spend money on other things that mattered to us without adding another large monthly obligation.

That's the thing about a paid-off vehicle that doesn't show up on the sticker price of a new car.

Every month you don't have a payment is money you can use somewhere else.

Despite the mindset I talk about above, there is still a temptation to replace the van right now, today.

Our van fund is about halfway to where we want it to be. I know that if we really wanted to, we could take the rest of the money out of our emergency fund and go buy a newer van tomorrow.

The temptation is definitely there.

But we decided that our emergency fund is for emergencies.

Replacing a fully functioning vehicle because we're tired of looking at it isn't an emergency.

So we keep driving the old van.

We were planning to have enough saved somewhere in the next six to twelve months to buy the new one.

And then Disney happened.

This December, we're taking the family to Disney World.

Which means the van fund has been temporarily closed while we finish funding the Disney trip.

So the new van is probably going to be delayed.

And you know what?

I'm okay with that.

Because this is actually one of the reasons I wanted financial freedom in the first place.

Financial freedom isn't about never buying anything.

It's not about always choosing the cheapest option.

And it's not about refusing to spend money on things your family enjoys.

Financial freedom is being able to decide what is worth buying — and when.

Right now, we could buy the van.

We could take money from our emergency fund, buy a newer Odyssey, and have the shiny new-to-us vehicle sitting in the driveway before the end of the year.

But we don't want that to be the priority.

Our son loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse right now.

He may not care about Mickey Mouse the same way a year from now.

Our kids are growing up whether we're ready for it or not.

So this year, we're choosing Disney.

The van can wait just a little bit longer...

And when we finally do buy the new one, the old Odyssey isn't going to the junkyard.

We're giving it to our oldest daughter.

She should be getting her driver's license next summer, which is right around the time I expect we'll finally have enough saved to buy the replacement.

So the old van still has some life left in her.

She carried our family through some pretty important years.

Two of our four kids were born after we bought her.

She's carried us on vacations, grocery runs, doctor appointments, school drop-offs, birthday parties, and all the completely unremarkable trips that somehow add up to a family's life.

And now she's going to take us to Disney one more time.

I think that's a pretty good final road trip.

One of the things I've learned about financial freedom is that you don't necessarily have to be able to afford everything at the same time.

You just need enough financial flexibility to make choices.

Right now, we can afford a newer van.

We can afford Disney.

We can maintain an emergency fund.

We can continue working toward our other financial goals.

We just can't — and don't want to — do all of those things at exactly the same time.

And that's okay.

Maybe that's what financial freedom looks like for a normal family.

Not having everything.

Not looking rich.

Not buying the newest thing the moment you can afford the payment.

Just having enough financial strength that you can look at your options and say:

“This is what we're choosing right now.”

And this December, we're choosing Disney.

The old girl will be taking us there one last time.

I'm just crossing my fingers that the AC doesn't decide to give up somewhere between Virginia and Orlando.

Because Orlando is still pretty hot in December.