I recently wrote a column about how my husband’s 1992 Toyota Camry is on its last legs. The photo posted with the story cracks me up because the shot was intended to show how the key is stuck in the ignition. But instead it just highlights how we’re total slobs. Thank god you can’t whiff the indescribable-but-I’ll-try motor oil/grease/hot Goldfish crackers smell too!

To recap. The car has a lot of problems, but it still runs. And it does not qualify for Cash for Clunkers. And its trade-in or charitable value is laughable.

I thought writing the column would help me to retire the household topic of whether we should buy a car now (answer: No) .  But all of this cash for clunker talk makes me envious.

Part of me wants to join the new car party. I know it’s expensive. I know my car can run longer. I know I can buy used. But buying a new car would help the economy. There are good deals out there. And frankly, we can afford it if we want to, Cash for Clunkers or not. It’s all a matter of priorities.

Our 2003 Ford Windstar with 93,000 miles on it does qualify for the program. The $3,500 government dough plus a $1,500 cash rebate and a discount I get because my father used to work for Ford would equal a pretty good deal on the Ford Flex, the grocery getter I think we’d buy to haul around the three kids and the pop-up camper. I’m all for fuel efficiency, but  you try fitting three car seats in a Focus.

So I played around on the Ford web site and got a quote. Picked up the phone to call Mr. Kablog. His response? “$20,000 is $20,000.”

How true.

Yes, it’s a good time to buy a car. But cars are expensive, even if you qualify for the rebates and incentives.

In the next weeks as Cash for Clunkers is in the news, I’ll try to think of Jason each time I have the urge to head to the dealer’s lot. He sent me the following email:

My clunker is a 1999 Grand Caravan. It has 140,000 miles on it. The value is $2,000 because it is in poor condition – lots of body rust. The Caravan is list at 18 MPG so I would qualify for the $4,500 cash for clunkers incentive.

Originally I wanted use the cash for clunkers to get a small high MPG car. However after much consideration I decided not to.

The Caravan should last another two years (another 15,000 to 20,000 miles). Based on the current economic situation and uncertain job market I decided to wait until the car dies and tow it to the junk yard.

Readers, any of you planning on taking advantage of CARS? If so, what made you pull the trigger? Any trouble finding a vehicle?

If you are considering a new car, check out this tip sheet from Americans Well-Informed on Auto Retailing Economics.

I’ll keep you posted on my car-waffling. As you know, it’s often the behavioral/psychological aspects of finance that trip us up. And my heart might just overrule my head on this one.

After three months at home with baby #3, a dreamy boy who eats well, puts himself to sleep and rarely cries, I am back in the saddle at the Strib. I’ll tell you about money and my maternity leave in Sunday’s paper.

Thanks to all of you who headed over to www.twitter.com/kablog to follow me. I’m still tweeting everything I spend with the exception of my regular fixed expenses. How many times does someone want to read:Mortgage $977 or Student loan $96.65?But if you want me to continue tweeting those expenses, let me know and I will.

While gone, I missed having the blog, especially when the urge struck to write something complicated, like the  explainer  on student loan changes from today’s paper.  Can’t do that in 140 characters!

In the weeks to come, I’ll write about car-shopping, credit card changes, savings and debt payoff.

But being a little sleep-deprived and new to juggling three, I’m hoping you’ll make my job easier.

What are the personal finance issues your family is facing? Any money matters or financial trends you’re seeing or reading about that drive you nuts? Questions about investing that you don’t want to pay an adviser to answer?  Know any inspiring folks who got out of debt? Live next to the most frugal family known to man?  Hankering to be a guest blogger for Ka-Blog?

I hope so!. Email kara.mcguire@startribune.com or comment on this blog post. Some of my best ideas come from nuggets delivered by readers like you.

It’s good to be back.

Happy New Year! I’m not much for New Year’s Resolutions. But I do try to take stock of what worked and what didn’t regarding my finances around this time of year.

And based on that assessment, here are three things I’m going to do:

#1: Track the amount of money I save using coupons and rewards programs to see whether it’s worth the time to clip and snip and go to more than one store for deals. In particular, I’m curious about how much I’m spending at CVS to receive ExtraBucks that can be spent in the store like cash. Along those lines, I wonder how many free tubes of toothpaste one linen closet can hold?

#2: Start using that gym membership or cancel it. I joined a new gym near my house for $42 per month a few weeks before I found out I was expecting a baby. I have the best intentions to use it and did so two or three times a week until November, when I fell so far off the wagon that I can probably count the number of times I’ve been in there on both hands since then.

If I use it a dozen times per month it would only cost $22, but I’ve yet to make that commitment. And no, I’m not going to go there just to shower so I can get my credit (although with my love of hot water showers, it would save some $$$).

Maybe I’m fooling myself, but I’m going to try to drag myself to the gym more in January.

#3:  Save even more for emergencies. Right now my family has three months of bare minimum living expenses. But I’d like to get that amount to six.

I’d also like to have some cash at the ready so that we can trade up to a bigger house if living in our current home starts driving us nuts with three kids. I also wish I’d had some more money to invest in stocks during this downturn. So I should start saving more cash now so I have no regrets if an opportunity presents itself in the future.

Share your financial to-dos too. Maybe yours are so good I’ll add them to my personal list.

Not sure I’m going to get that gift this year– or ever. But a group of Minnesotans is hoping to help. I attended Unity-Unitarian Church in St. Paul’s Black Friday at Church event this morning. Look for a story in the paper tomorrow.

The non-denominational group’s goal “is to launch the Christmas season as a time of spiritual reflection and renewal instead of frantic over-consumption.  This requires fighting back against an out-of-control consumer culture, clearing away the debris that Black Friday represents.”

I’ve long known about my tug-of-war between a simple, non-commercial Christmas and my desire for an over-the-top, gifts piled to the tree Christmas. But this event really made me think.

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What does it say about me that I’m already trying to plan for Christmas when it’s the tail end of summer?

So here’s the deal. My family is heading out east for Christmas this year. We’re looking forward to the large family Christmas, but the getting there part is frankly, a pain. And frighteningly expensive this year.

I’ve tapped away at an assortment of online travel sites. I’ve tried one-way tickets and multiple destination tickets. I’ve tried flying on off days and off hours (if there is such a thing around the holidays). I’ve tried flying into nearby airports. Nothing seems to get these plane tickets below $300. Yes, it’s a pipe dream probably to think I can get a flight for that price. But as a young family, paying $700 per ticket to fly nonstop into the most convenient airport when we used to do so for $279 per ticket is just not an option.

One question I have is whether it pays to plan ahead this year, or given uncertainty with gas prices, it pays to wait? Then again, if I wait, airlines might impose a ticketing fee for using the bathrooms if we don’t buy now.

And then there’s the train. Is it worth saving $800 to spend 27 hours each way en route on the rails? We could drive, but the cost of fuel added to the cost of hotel rooms would make it pricier than Amtrak.

Any advice from veteran travelers? Are you worried about the expense of your holiday travel plans this year?