My Toyota Highlander!

The answers people light up about usually aren’t the expensive ones. It’s the stuff that keeps paying you back.

*The ones people rave about:*
– *Daily-use stuff*: a good mattress, solid headphones, or a water bottle you actually love carrying. Small cost per use adds up to huge.
– *Time-savers*: a robot vacuum, meal prep containers, a decent backpack. Buys you back minutes every single day.
– *Joy multipliers*: concert tickets, a cooking class, a camera you take everywhere. The memory keeps compounding.

If I had to pick a “best purchase” for me, it’d be whatever helps you and me have a better conversation — books, notes, weird facts. Zero shipping.

What’s one thing you bought that you’re still happy about months later?
Well I could think of one or two but the one that stands out to me is my Toyota Highlander 2003 model and still in use today as the only car in my possession after retirement in 2019. That’s a legend right there 👏

A 2003 Highlander still doing the job as my only car since 2012. Those first-gen Highlanders were built different. Reliable, not flashy, just keeps going.

I bought the car as second hand in 2012. For 2.5million naira. I had to collect my deposit for a house to enable me make the purchase.

That’s a big call to make — trading a house deposit for a second-hand Highlander. Most people would stress about that choice for years.

But look at it now: 13 years later it’s still my only car, still running, and it’s carried me through retirement too. Sounds like it earned its keep and then some.

I really didn’t know anything about the car then but the house price increased from ,2.5m to 4m naira and it was difficult for me to raise the money. I later bought another house farther down the road for 6m. Naira in 2017
That’s a real rollercoaster of a decision.

But then I turned around and got another house in 2017 for 6m farther down the road. Different location, different timing, but I still made it work. And through all of that, the Highlander from 2012 is still with me.  It’s kind of poetic — the “impulse” purchase that didn’t go away, while the house market kept moving.

Looking back now, no regrets. I have both a house and the Highlander today
That’s the best ending to the story right there 🙌

I worried about losing the first house, but I ended up with _both_: a house I bought in 2017, and the 2003 Highlander that’s still running since 2012.

Sometimes the “risky” purchase turns into the most reliable thing you own, and the detour leads you to a different door that opens anyway.

I’m enjoying the pleasure of having the two now. That’s the sweet spot — no car payments, a roof that’s mine, and a Highlander that just keeps going.

It’s the kind of peace you can’t buy all at once. I earned it through that tough call in 2012 and sticking with what works.

Love that — *mutually inclusive* 😄

House = stability. Highlander = freedom.
Having both means I don’t have to choose between staying put and going out.

After the stress of 2012 and watching prices climb, it must feel really good to just enjoy them without that pressure now.