Dear Dave,
We’ve been following your Baby Steps plan, and we paid off two car loans a few months ago. That freed up almost $800 a month. We have two kids, and we love to go on family camping trips. We’ve been trying to decide on a destination for the next one, but to do this we would need a vehicle with more room. Luckily, we found a used van at a reasonable price, and we think we could have it paid off in no more than 12 months. Would this be okay, since we would still have more money left than before?
Sara

Dear Sara,
Okay, you’re telling me you just got out from under $800 worth of car payments each month, and you want to dive right back in by financing another one? I think you’ve missed the point of my plan. The point is to get out of debt, not just move it around or try to juggle smaller portions.

What you’re actually saying is you’re thinking about putting your family’s financial future in jeopardy, because you want to go on camping trips in a roomier car. That’s a bad plan! For you guys, something like this right now would be a luxury item. Did you know I went without a vacation for four years trying to get my life back together after I went broke? Four years! I’m not suggesting you live with this attitude for the rest of your life, but I’m pretty sure there are other ways to make family camping trips happen.

Long story short, you don’t need a different vehicle to go camping. And you definitely don’t need to go back into car debt to go camping. Buy a couple of tents, throw them in the back of the car and head for the woods. If your cars are really just too small to handle everything, then rent a bigger car for the weekend. I’d rather you spend a few bucks doing something like that once in a while than picking up another car payment.

Your mindset on this worries me, Sara. The reason for getting out of debt is to live a better life. Living debt-free is smart, less stressful and it makes everything else feel lighter and easier to manage. Live like no one else, so that later, you can live like no one else. Remember?

Please, don’t do it.
— Dave