Our U.S. mortgage payment hit, with $438 going to principal. (Our UK ones probably did too, but I'm still waiting for the security key I need for online access after losing my wallet and ordering a new one.) $1560 to go on the March debt repayment goal.
I tried calling NT's student loan company to escalate the issue of our October, November and December payments not being applied to his account yet. They said they would put me on hold to investigate, but instead I got disconnected (or they just hung up). It's beyond unbelievable at this point. Going on five months. I wonder if they'll hit a year and not have fixed this problem? I'll continue to call every month. I hate having it unresolved.
I talked over the car dilemma some more with NT at lunch, and later on the phone with AS. They're both very willing to look at all the options and price them out (in cost as well as time/convenience). I brought up MonkeyMama's suggestion that if we do buy a car, we only keep it for as long as the transportation issue with daycare remains, then sell it.
I also thought of a couple other options we should talk about/price out: taking a cab every day that it's unwalkable/dangerous, taking the car-share, and/or seeing if one of the other daycare parents would swing by to take AA to and from daycare every day during winter for a certain amount of money per month. (It's about 5 minutes away from daycare by car; wonder what would be a reasonable amount to offer.)
Then NT brought up that maybe there WERE sturdy double strollers and thermal covers that would fit over them, that we haven't really looked for. We'd never considered paying a ton for a stroller; most of our current ones are hand-me-downs (including our single jogging stroller, which we put a thermal cover on). The double jogging stroller alone, without front wheel or thermal cover, is $600 on Amazon. We don't even know if we could find a thermal cover to fit. But if we did, even if the total package cost $700 or $800, it would be way cheaper than getting a car. And if there were REALLY terrible days where we didn't think we could get through the snow, or where we'd feel in danger being exposed to the cold for a 20-minute walk, AS and I are capable of working from home. We did that a few days the first winter we had AA, before we found the thermal cover.
So, we're still thinking about it. We'll figure out what works best for our budget, lifestyle and ethos. It just might take a little discussion and research. 
Progress on March debt goal; more thoughts on commute conundrum
March 1st, 2012 at 11:13 pm
March 2nd, 2012 at 12:15 am 1330647321
March 2nd, 2012 at 02:58 pm 1330700315
I was trying to get you to think about it a little more outside the box. BUT, on the flip side we have had a lot of conversations here over the years if we really need a second car, or if we should even replace it when it dies. The conclusion? We find it cheaper to keep a car than any other option. Not the obvious conclusion, but running the numbers that is how it turns out. Replacing it eventually won't be *cheaper* but it will be similar in cost for infinitely more convenience. So, I think we will always be a 2-car family. At least as long as we have jobs and kids...
March 2nd, 2012 at 03:38 pm 1330702738
And, while our jobs (especially mine) discourage the working from home (not everything can be done remotely), we actually were very productive on days we had to stay home.
I was just feeling overwhelmed with my crappy few days of walking to work. But the other thing to remember is that normally AS is there to share the daycare burden; she just had to stop these last few months because she's getting very pregnant.
I mean, having a car would give us infinitely more convenience, as you say. But enough to give up the other stuff we use our money for? I'm not convinced yet. Still thinking everything through...
March 2nd, 2012 at 11:37 pm 1330731426