Dreams to Reality?

As Marzz and I roll into our second holiday season in our new house, Christmas decorations are going up, the weather is cooling down, and joy is in the air. Christmas songs play nearly everywhere you go, the smell of pine and peppermint are never far away. We enjoy Christmas and are loving our new home. With the thought of gifts around the corner, we have some very large purchases on our mind for the future.

Nearly 3 months ago to the day, Marzz and I got engaged after almost 14 years of dating. So naturally the thought of a wedding rests on our minds. For many, planning a wedding is stressful and there are many choices to make. Although this is still true for us, it’s also somewhat different, because we already know a lot about what we want. Marzz and I are both the type of people that when we know what we want, we expect it and nothing less. The problem in this case is that we both want a Disney wedding and that ain’t cheap. We’ve begun some very early conversations with a Disney Fairytale Wedding’s representative and so we have some numbers to guide us, and in the words of Mickey Mouse, “Oh boy!” are they some big numbers. They’re not so big that we’re ruling anything out, but it does make me nervous and will be something we need to think long and hard about.

Beyond a wedding, we both want new cars. Now that in and of itself is an expensive statement, but we don’t want just any cars. We’ve both had our eyes on very specific cars that are not, or were not, out yet. Because these cars have been on our “wish list” for several years now, they are unlikely to be removed, therefore, I’m including them on our list of upcoming expenses.

My would-be future car was just released on November 30th from Tesla, their new Cyber Truck. There are three models to choose from and they range from $65-100K. The model I would choose based on cost and performance is the middle one and that comes in around $79K. It’s made of a special alloy developed by Tesla to be rust-proof and is cold rolled steel and pressed, and just happens to be bullet proof for 9mm and .45mm handguns and small rifles. The windows were supposed to be shatter proof, but are now shatter resistant and can supposedly take a baseball at 70 mph. Now, I don’t normally measure force by baseball mph, so I have no idea what the hell that means, but hopefully they can handle some force. The roof is glass, and it has a massive windshield, so when sitting inside, people say you have a huge field of view. It is also extremely quiet because it’s so heavy and because of the steel body. The high-performance model can go 0-60mph in 2.6 seconds! It can tow up to 11K lbs. and haul 2,500 lbs. It is meant to be a tough, working-class, truck. I want one!

Marzz has had her eyes on an electric vehicle as well, the all-new VW ID-Buzz. It’s a modern twist on the classic VW bus. Comes in two-toned paint jobs, can seat up to 7 passengers, and can also be converted into a camper. It’s designed for the beach and road trips and would be perfect for us to take cruising around Florida. The cost and specs for this are unknown as this is not available yet and will first come out in Europe. So, it may be a few years away from hitting the streets in the United States.

Time will tell if we can actually afford these luxury items, but it would be nice. I’ve never actually owned a new car. All of my vehicles have been used, even if only a couple years old. For both of us, the idea of owning these new vehicles is an exciting one, but we won’t be able to get them if we veer off course from our finance plan. These three large expenses make up the bulk of our finances over the next 18 months. The caveat of the VW ID Buzz’s release date is a large TBD, but assuming it is released over that time period, we have a lot to save up for.

Balancing our large wants list of these three items with our weekly budget and “fun money” will be difficult to say the least. As I’ve mentioned many times before in this blog, there are so many things to do in Central Florida, it would be easy to overspend on any budget, let alone a budget aiming to complete these three large purchases. Saving will be our key goal. Cut spending on extra things. What I mean by this, is, let’s say we go out to eat and have a drink. That’s fine, but no second drink, and no dessert or appetizer. Now I know some will laugh at that, saying that going out to eat in the first place is an over spend, and to a degree I won’t argue with that; however, I’m breaking it down this way because I just know we’re not going to cut out going out to eat altogether, that’s just not going to happen. So, I’m trying to play into our strengths (or weaknesses) a little and create a finance plan that is both realistic and will accomplish our goals.

Now a saving grace will be both vehicles. Although Tesla just released and began shipping the Cyber Truck. My reservation is far from the front of the line, and in some estimates, I may be somewhere between 4-5 millionth in line, therefore, potentially years away from having my order fulfilled. Of course, the part of me that wants to drive it now is sad, the finance side of me is gleaming, as this will be a perfect cushion for me to pay down current debt and upcoming wedding debt and get back on track again to purchase the truck. The exact same goes for the VW ID Buzz, since there is no release date for the US yet, and even if there was, chances are, if we join a waitlist, we’re probably still looking at a few years away. It is this logic and has me hopeful that we can accomplish this feat.

One thing is for sure, there’s no way we can cut out going out or traveling, even if it’s just local travel. We enjoy it too much, and we almost always find some event that we want to attend. I’m not willing to sacrifice so much that I feel like we’re not living any more. The point here is to live life. Yes, the vehicles are material items, and in the end won’t matter, but the driving and utilizing of them will be apart of our lives greatly, and therefore I argue become an accessory to our adventures and our lives. Not to get too deep here, but because we never know when our time will be up, we feel that we need to live as much as we can. For us that means traveling, going out, attending events, trying new things. As long as we can afford it, even if we’re pushing the envelope a bit, I say why not, and in fact, I say, let’s do it!

I guess that’s really the point of this blog. Not to brag about things we haven’t done, or talk more about our spending habits, but about taking advantage of life and how to accomplish that. As I’m approaching 40 years old, I can still recall turning 18, and then 21, and then 30. All were milestones of some degree, and all felt like they took a while to get there. Turning 40 will be no different, but what I’ve learned is, time marches on, regardless of any request from us, time continues, and will continue long after we’re gone. There are many sayings, cliches, credos, etc. about living your best life before you die, and I think all are true. I think it is easy to become distracted by things that may waste your time. But if you’re getting enjoyment from something, and it’s not harming anyone else, then it’s worth it. Some people fish, sew, cook, collect things, travel. All are great if you enjoy it. So, get out and do it. Because one day you won’t be able to.

The future is bright and full of possibilities. I choose to take a positive and optimistic outlook on the future for us. Yes, it’s easy to feel doom and gloom about the future, especially if you spend too much time on X or other social media platforms, ha-ha. But for our own lives, small and secluded from the larger picture, I think things are looking up, and there will be more good times than bad. We must put effort into this, they won’t just happen, but with some effort, a little luck, we’re headed for a bright future.