On the first of October, a little after 7 p.m., I moved $250 from our checking account into a new savings account and typed "VAN" in the nickname field. Then I sat there looking at it like it might do something. It didn't. That's the point of it.
We decided in June, after pricing newer minivans, that we didn't want a payment on the next one. Then in September we decided to keep the Sienna through this winter. Both decisions only make sense if we're actually saving for the replacement. So now we are.
The target
$15,000. Not enough for the $24,000 to $29,000 vans I priced in June, but that's not the plan. The plan is to buy a good used van a few years older than those, maybe a 2016 to 2018 with reasonable miles, for something in the mid-teens, plus tax and fees at the license office. Or, if the Sienna makes it longer than we think, to put $15,000 down on something newer and cover the rest from savings without borrowing. Either way, $15,000 in cash changes the conversation at any lot.
At $250 a month, $15,000 takes 60 months. Five years. The Sienna is not going to last five more years, and I know that. Which is why the $250 is the floor, not the plan.
Where the $250 comes from
I didn't want this to be money we just hope is left over at the end of the month, because there's never anything left over at the end of the month. So we found specific places:
- $41 from carpooling with Andre twice a week, which I've tracked since April
- $100 that used to go into the Garrett car fund before December, which we never stopped setting aside out of habit
- $65 from canceling two streaming subscriptions nobody watched and the satellite radio trial I forgot to cancel on the truck
- $44 from moving our phones to a cheaper plan in August
That's $250 even. Nothing heroic. All small things we weren't missing.
This is separate from the $80 a month repair fund we started in July after declining the warranty on the Silverado. That one is for the next starter or the next water pump. The van fund is not for repairs. If the Sienna needs a $600 repair this winter, it comes from the repair fund, and the van fund doesn't get touched. I put that in writing on the fridge so I'd have to look at it if I got tempted.
A plain savings account at the same bank as our checking, so the transfer happens automatically on the first of every month. Separate account, separate nickname, no debit card attached. It earns a little interest. I'm not doing anything clever with it, because I'm not qualified to and because I want it to be there in whole dollars the day the van needs it. I'm a dispatcher, not a financial planner, and I'm not recommending any particular way to save. This is just how we're doing it.
How to get there faster
Here's the part that makes the math look less depressing. We get a tax refund most years. If we put most of it in the van fund, say $1,200 a spring, the timeline drops from five years to a little over three and a half. Tina's shop sometimes pays a small bonus after Mother's Day if the season went well; that goes in too, when it happens.
Then there's the van itself. If the Sienna is still running when we replace it, it's worth something. Right now about $4,800, and probably less by then, but even $3,000 from a private sale knocks months off the plan.
Realistically, with refunds and the old van's value, I think we're two and a half to three years away from being able to buy the next one outright. That means the Sienna needs to make it to about 230,000 to 240,000 miles. It might. It might not. If it doesn't, we'll buy something cheaper with whatever's in the fund and do it again.
Garrett asked if the fund was for his next car. I said no. He asked if Lainey gets the Civic. I said we'll see. He said, "So it's a van fund for a van nobody wants." Correct. Every family needs one.