Moose howled at the mail truck on Thursday the way he does every single afternoon. For once, the truck deserved it. Inside a plain white envelope was the title to my 2017 Honda CR-V, with the lien released. After three years of payments, the car is finally ours.
I held that piece of paper like it was a diploma. Then I put it in the fireproof box with our marriage license and the lease, because I'm me.
What I did the morning after
We bought the CR-V used in 2022, and the payment was $289 a month, due on the 20th. The last one came out on March 20.
I knew exactly what I was afraid of. Money that isn't spoken for doesn't stay in checking. If we'd waited until the end of the month to decide what to do with that extra $289, it would have turned into groceries, a Casey's pizza and a pair of work shoes, and I couldn't have told you where any of it went.
So the next morning, March 21, before work, I sat down with my coffee and set up a recurring transfer from checking to our house fund savings account. $289, on the 21st of every month, starting April 21. It moves on its own. Neither of us has to remember it, decide about it or feel noble about it.
I picked the 21st on purpose. For three years, our budget has been used to that money leaving on the 20th. Moving it the day after means the account never notices anything changed. We already learned to live without that $289. We just stopped mailing it to a lender.
Then I did the math, which is the part that made Tyler sit up a little.
- April through December 2025: 9 transfers, $2,601
- All of 2026: 12 transfers, $3,468
- Total by the end of 2026: 21 transfers, $6,069
Our goal is $25,000 in the house fund by the end of next year. $6,069 is about a quarter of that, from a payment we were already making. It costs us nothing new.
Right now the house fund sits at $7,050.66, thanks to our tax refund in March. The first $289 lands in about two weeks.
The rule we made
There are two regular ways money gets to the house fund now. The first is whatever's left in checking at the end of the month, above a small cushion. It's been $150 every month so far this year. The second is this transfer.
For April and May, there won't be any month-end leftover. We're in the middle of paying off a $2,140 credit card in ten weeks, and every spare dollar from our paychecks is going at that card until it's gone. I don't love skipping the house fund for two months, but I love paying credit card interest even less.
The car money is different. We made a rule: the $289 moves no matter what. Credit card or no credit card, tight month or easy month, it goes. If we ever need to stop it, we have to sit down together and agree on it out loud, not just let it slide.
We made a second rule while we were at it. If we ever get rid of another bill, whatever we stop paying gets added to this same transfer on the 21st. Right now it's only the car. I'm hoping it gets crowded.
Tyler said that sounded like a lot of ceremony for $289. I said that's the point.
What about the CR-V itself?
Paying off a car doesn't mean it stops costing money. It still needs oil changes, brakes and, as we found out last month, tires. We bought four new ones with part of our tax refund, so it should be in good shape for a while. Tyler does the oil changes and the small stuff himself in the carport, and regular maintenance comes out of our monthly budget, not the house fund.
We're also keeping full coverage on it for now. Our car insurance renewal is coming up this month, and I'm getting quotes before I decide anything. That's its own post once I have real numbers in front of me.
Our plan is to drive this car for a long time. It's paid for, it's reliable, and it fits Moose in the back if we fold the seats down. A newer car would mean a new payment, and a new payment would mean that $289 goes right back out the door.
If you're close to the end of a car loan, I don't have any advice except what worked for us: decide where the payment goes before the last one clears, and make it automatic. The morning after is a good time to do it. The month after is too late.
