Patience and Faith Create a Happy Wallet For You!

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Patience and Faith Create a Happy Wallet For You! © 2005 Darlene Arechederra

It's hard to be patient at times, isn't it? It's even more difficult when things aren't going our way. Makes us want to jump right in there and *make things happen.*

But, is it a signal that perhaps we should do the very opposite instead? Should we just sit tight?

A few years back, I realized my car was getting tired. She had served me well. I had purchased her as a 'gently-used' car, and I'd had seven years without car payments. During those seven years, I had tucked away money for my next car, as if I were making payments.

I wasn't looking forward to giving up my comfortable, tired car. But my husband and I set out to find another.

We shopped around for several weeks until we came across a car that seemed just perfect for me. She was beautiful, not a scratch on her. White, four door, mid-size, blue interior (smile). The owner had kept every receipt for everything done to the car, and she was in good shape.

She was front-wheel drive, which is great to have when the bad weather hits in the winter here. She was also a 5-speed manual -- with manual windows (very important to me since dogs can accidentally unlock window locks or roll up a window around their necks).

She was the car for me. I wanted her!

So, we made an offer. The owner turned it down. Our offer wasn't anywhere near what he expected. He was asking another $2,000 more than our offer.

Of course, I was terribly disappointed. I felt our offer was fair. I can be very frugal at times, but I believe in being fair, frugal or not. Was I really that far off base on this? Was my offer unreasonable?

I gave it lots of thought. I wanted that car. But I also knew exactly how much I was willing to spend, and no more. A $2,000 difference was a lot of money to me...

I decided to wait it out. If this car was meant to be mine, it would be mine. It was now a matter of faith and patience.

We had time on our side because my car was still running, and still dependable. We were trying to be pro-active -- to deal with this before it became an emergency.

In the meantime, we continued to shop around, looking for a gently used, one-owner car.

On Sunday evenings we loaded up our Labradors and made it a family affair to go visit *my car.* Yes, that lovely white car with the beautiful blue interior, no scratches and no rust. She remained there, her For Sale sign visible in a side window.

Each time we visited, we took note. Had it been moved? Were others looking at it, too? Why hadn't he sold it yet? We were amazed as each week went by, and still she remained parked in that spot.

We called the gentleman a few weeks later. No answer, so we left our information again. We didn't hear back from him.

So, we shopped around some more, but found nothing that stood out in the crowd. And we continued to check in on my little white car on Sunday evenings.

Around the ninth week after we'd first found the car, we again called the owner. This time he answered. He remembered us, and thanked us profusely for calling.

You see, he had received our message, had written our information down, then promptly lost it while working out of town for a month.

He shared with us that he'd had several offers for the car. And each of them had offered him the *same* exact amount of money!

Since we had been the first to make the offer, he had decided to give us first choice. Did we still want the car?

That lovely white car was mine! Our patience had paid off! I was now the proud owner of a zippy little 5-speed I could drive, hopefully for another 100,000 miles.

Today, five years later, I still drive that car. And she's just as gorgeous as she was the day we found her. She's dependable, great in the snow, and still lugs around our two lovable Labradors.

I'm grateful that I haven't had to make car payments for the past five years. Tucking away a little bit of money each month (as if I were making car payments) is what made the difference. What a feeling of peace as a result!

It just goes to show that a bit of patience, a smidge of faith, and tucking away just a little bit each month can go a long way in getting our needs met. And at the *perfect* price!

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Darlene Arechederra is the creator of the Stay-at-Home Bootcamp -- a fun, interactive program for women who long to return home to their little ones. She invites you to take her FREE Quiz at AffordToStayHome.com/quiz.html Join her free, money-saving ezine at RatRaceRemedies.com -------------------------------------------------------