How we spent our tax refund

After weeks of procrastination, we finally completed our taxes last weekend and were overjoyed to learn that we would be getting an $850 refund. Woohoo! Like the model Americans we are, we promptly decided to spend the money, to "stimulate the economy." Knowing that our purchase would be a benefit to our fellow Americans made this decision feel very altruistic.

We have been planning a road trip for May, but weren't entirely sure how we would transport two adults, three kids in car seats, and luggage across the country. We have a hatchback Mazda3 that we can't put three car seats in, a three-row Mazda5 that fits three car seats and one stroller, and pretty much nothing else. I can't even get groceries in the Mazda5 if the kids are in the car with me. And we have an old Ford pickup truck that we can put all the car seats in, but not very safely. It is our emergency 4-wheel-drive vehicle, but not ideal for traveling across the country. So, we thought  about spending our $850 tax refund on some accessory that would help us take road trips. The thought process, which took place over several days, went something like this:

Maybe we could get a luggage rack for the Mazda5.

Of course, the Mazda5 doesn't have a roof rack, so we'd have to install that first, and the luggage racks don't really hold very much, so we'd have to pack really light.

Instead of a luggage rack, why don't we get a luggage box that goes on the hitch?

That's an interesting idea, but the Mazda5 doesn't have a hitch, so we'd have to get one installed. And we probably couldn't open the back of the car to get the babies in and out with the hitch luggage box installed. And it doesn't hold all that much more than a roof luggage rack, so we still have a luggage capacity problem.

Maybe we need to get both a roof luggage rack and a hitch luggage box.

That might work, but is it really worth spending all that money for those luggage accessories? The truck has lots of luggage space. If only the kids' car seats fit well in the truck we'd be set!

Hmmmm, maybe we should just trade in the truck for a newer truck with more space in the backseat.

Yeah! Let's get a Toyota Tacoma -- I've always wanted one!

(We went to a dealership and looked at Tacomas, tried to fit three car seats in the back seat and failed.)

The Tacoma is a pretty small truck. A full-size truck would be better. So let's get a Tundra instead of a Tacoma. The car seats would fit in the back and there is lots of space for luggage.

Wait, if we're going to spend over ten thousand dollars on a vehicle, we should probably get a vehicle that we're going to drive every day, rather than just a few times a year.

A minivan would fit all the car seats and would solve our luggage problems. And a used minivan costs about the same as a used truck. But minivans have worse gas mileage than the Mazda5, and we'd be spending a lot more in gas if we drove a minivan every day.

Oh look, the Honda Odysseys have Variable Cylinder Management, which turns off two cylinders when the car doesn't need extra power, so it is like a four-cylinder car in terms of gas mileage, with a six-cylinder engine when you really need it. That might be a solution. Let's look on Craigslist to see how much they are selling for . . .

Less than a week later, Dale and I became the proud (at least on my part) owners of a Honda Odyssey!


Of course, a Honda Odyssey costs a little more than our $850 tax refund . . . so here's a picture of what we bought with our tax refund!