It isn't easy being green...

The economic stimulus package has my mind in a tizzy. The prospect of no sales tax on new vehicle purchases in 2009 has me thinking I need to rethink my original plans for phasing out my beloved Neon, Nigel.

I bought Nigel in 2001 after a death-defying car accident involving my first Neon (a 1997 red coupe) and a tractor trailer. Nigel was 1 year old, a trade-in with less than 7000 miles on it. I believe I paid $10,000 - sticker price anyway. At this point, I've racked up over 100,000 miles. By the time Nigel and I have our 8 year anniversary in July, I expect to have surpassed the 125,000 milemark.

I've been fortunate to have avoided any major problems over this time with Nigel (the guy who backed onto the hood in a parking lot necessitating a new hood and bumper and the deer that ran into my driver's side wheel well necessitating bodywork don't count, as those incidents were neither mine nor Nigel's fault). This has left me hopeful that Nigel could hold out as my primary vehicle until 2010, at which time my eldest son would be getting a learner's permit. However, I suspect that driving 70 miles every day to and from work is probably going to begin to take a toll on Nigel. What if I manage to kill Nigel before I can hand him down?

I've gotten good gas mileage over the years - about 28 miles per gallon. This is especially important given my always in the car lifestyle. In the years since Nigel came into my life, so have many others - our dog, my husband, and then my twins. The reality is that Nigel's replacement needs to have a bit more room, for both people and stuff. On long family trips, we all pile into our Dodge Grand Caravan - affectionately known as Fudgey for its large size and propensity to moan like a whale around certain turns. The downside of Fudgey is the cost of running her - she only gets about 18 miles per gallon and she seems to need a lot more servicing than Nigel. So another van is really out of the question.

I've begun to cook up a scheme. We'll continue to scrimp and save for a few months, maybe we'll begin casually test driving a series of candidates, we'll finally purchase my dream car (sort of compact, great gas mileage, eco-friendly) before 2009 is out, my husband will begin driving Nigel since he commutes less than 20 miles every day and Fudgey will wait patiently at home for our semi-monthly visits to see the kids' Nana, Poppa, and Mema. Sounds great, right?

The problem is money. Right now, we exist on one salary - my teacher salary. DH works two days a week for a family business, but that doesn't even cover all of daycare. He's embarked on a new realty career in the rest of his time (one weekday and both weekend days), but it will be a while before we see any return from that. My salary ends in June and with daycare costs of over $1000 a month, I'm scratching my head as to what I am going to do this summer to pay the bills. If I stay home and watch the boys, then we risk losing their daycare spot for the fall, which we'll need. If the boys go to the nursery school 3 days a week like they do now, we'd need to be able to pay all our household bills plus daycare on what DH makes from the 2 days a week at the family business, which wouldn't happen. So I'd have to find employment. But I'm a little selfish. I have no desire to work 5 days a week over the summer. Summers off was supposed to be one of the perks of becoming a teacher, of throwing away my old life...

So what to do? I have about $13, 000 saved for a car at this point - I've been socking cash away for a couple of years now, worrying about Nigel's inevitable retirement. Part of me says, "Be bold and buy the new car before the summer is out", but most of me says I should wait because we might need to dip into those savings to pay bills over the summer. It's probably just as well that I've got this roadblock slowing me down. I've been practically paralyzed by weighing all the choices - I like hybrids for the potential positive impact on the environment but don't think I can handle the added cost, even after tax breaks of up to $3000; I like the idea of buying American to do my part to "save the auto industry" and "stimulate the economy" but I'm worried about buying from a company that may file Chapter 11; I want the room to fit my entire family in my car but I don't want to sacrafice gas mileage and on and on...

"Indecision is the graveyard of good intentions"