Difficult Decisions

As Michael and I have been putting our financial house in order, we've had to make some tough decisions.
Our van died late last fall, leaving us with two small cars, one of which is our son's. Most of the time, with the boys away at college, our small cars work just fine. But when we all, or even 5 of the 6 of us, want to go somewhere together, we run into problems.
We're planning a trip to Arkansas for spring break to visit my mom and to spend a couple of days in Hot Springs. We set aside money for the trip, knowing we'd have to rent a van. Our big mistake was not checking van rental prices earlier. The best deal we could get, from Hotwire.com, was for an SUV at a whopping $500 for the 9 days. Yikes! We anticipated spending more like $300, so it was a bit of shock.
Fortunately, we resisted the temptation to buy a van, though it was great. We don't want to take on any new debt until all our credit card debt is gone. We'll be sure to do more thorough research before our next trip.
Another painful decision was to eliminate our participation in all three of the CSAs we were to join. It is so important to me to support small, local farmers, but with both dogs needing surgery this spring ($1300) and fencing and roof repairs that can't be put off, we found ourselves too strapped for comfort.
Living within our means is certainly a lesson in choices; not all of them easy or fun.
A dear friend has offered a garden-sharing arrangement for the season. She'll provide the land, we'll provide half the labor and seed/plant costs, and we'll share the produce. A great arrangement for both of us, though I'm still sad about the CSAs.
I know I'll be able to find the produce I need from local farmer's market vendors.
It's the right decision for us financially, but certainly a loss with regards to community-building.