And it is awesome. 

So funny, I wrote about how badly I wanted a Prius almost exactly a year ago. And I'd been dreaming of owning a Prius for a few years before that. I even found a dark grey one, like the picture in that post! Thank you for enduring all my posts about wanting a Prius and saving up!

I ended up buying a 2008 Prius with 85,000 miles for $15,500 from a colleague of Chris's. It's so nice, it feels like a spaceship compared to the Volvo! I think we got a good price and it was great buying from someone we know; he was able to provide all the service records and answer all the questions I had. I know that buying used cars can be unpleasant but in this scenario it was quite pleasant! To buy the car I used $7,000 of my own savings and borrowed $8,500. I hope to pay back the $8,500 within 2 years.

I've gone back and forth on what to do with the Volvo. One the one hand I could probably get $500+ for it and that would be helpful to pay back the money I've borrowed. But in the end I've decided to go with what I wanted to do all along, I'm going to donate it to my local NPR station! I love NPR so much and I'm so happy that they can benefit from my old car. I'm not sure when I'll next make a $500+ donation so I think I'll take the opportunity while I have it! I'm almost as excited about this as owning a Prius. Almost. ;)