That is a solid plan. When we made that last payment on our 04, all those years ago, I told my wife to keep track of how much we were saving by not having a car payment. She didn't really understand, but when we did the timing belt a couple years later, she was crying about the bill. I asked her how much would she had spent doing car payments for those two years, then suddenly, the light came on.

I think she has actually been putting money aside for car repair, along with all those other things we need to get every so often.

We are both retired. Everything is paid for, all we need is to cover utility bills, food, and upkeep on the stuff we have. We each have an allowance to get stuff we want. I'm building a 49 Dodge pickup, and we just finished a kitchen update she has wanted for years, both paid for with money already saved for those purposes. Being debt free is a great place to be. Gene