Did you all have a great weekend? I hope so! I didn’t accomplish as much as I’d hoped, but isn’t that the way it always goes. . .
One big task did get checked off the to-do list, though: I emptied out my car and took it for a hardcore cleaning. Why? Because I’m hoping to sell it by the end of the month.
While I love many things about my VW Passat Wagon (the “Waggin’ Wagon” as I liked to call it), it’s got over 115,000 miles on it and I have learned in the last few years that VWs are quite expensive to maintain, especially as you hit 100,000 miles.
Because I’m trying to save up as much money as possible in order to make a positive life change, I have been carefully running numbers and trying to figure out the most economical way for me to own a car. My dogs are old now, and don’t like to travel, so the wagon was no longer a necessity. When I recently learned that my car will need more than $2,000 in maintenance & repairs in the next few months, I spoke with a friend’s dad, I got a few opinions from older and wiser car pros whom I know. I came to the conclusion that the most economical move would be to buy a new Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla – or a barely used one. (Though get this: right now used cars are in lower supply, and facing higher demand, so it appears that with good negotiating I could score a brand new version for about the same price as a barely used one.)
First, I decided that I’d go ahead and sell my car, and put the money into savings. I’d take a few months to save up more, and figure out if I wanted to finance a new car with a hefty down payment, or buy an older with straight up cash. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I could make do living Car-Free in the Suburbs for a few months.
But the more I thought things through, the more I kept coming back to this one thought:
Cars are freakin’ expensive. The average American family spends something like 25% of their take-home pay on their vehicle. Why do we view being a two-car household as a necessity? Why have we stopped using public transportation?
If you rely on walking, biking, and public transportation, it’s true that you can’t be as impulsive. You can’t just run to Target on a whim. But you may save money, becuase how often do you see on Facebook a status like this: “I’m heading to Target. I only need toilet paper, but I never can leave there without spending $50.” What if you didn’t have that car? What if you had to bike or walk to the store for TP? I bet you’d find yourself saving a bunch of money, since you’d have to carry your loot home. 🙂
During all this thinking, I determined that I don’t WANT a new car. I don’t WANT to have car payments, I don’t WANT to plunk down thousands of dollars for a vehicle. And I don’t NEED to go to the store on a whim. I rather put that money in savings. And if I didn’t pay cash up front for a car, I’d be faced with a few years of car payments. And if I were to no longer be employed by a corporate job in the future, I wouldn’t want the responsibility of car payments.
So the new plan is to sell my car, put the money in the bank, and see how this car-free lifestyle works. I’m hoping to not have to buy a car at all. It’s considered a bit wacko these days to live car-free in the suburbs, but I’m thinking I can make it work.
What are the savings?
I ran the numbers. It appears that owning a car costs me about $600 a month. If I have a car payment, that’s about $300 a month. (If I have a used, older car, I should save $200 / month for the repair fund.) Gas? $200 / month. Insurance? $100 / month.
Add in the yearly taxes and fees, and that’s a couple hundred more.
So by not having a car, I’ll save $7,200. Of course, take about $1000 out for expected alternate transportation costs. Still, that’s a huge savings.
How will I get to work?
Ryan and I work for the same company. On the days that he and I work in the same building, we can carpool.
The W&OD Trail is an awesome paved bike trail that runs East/West across this part of the state. It passes right by my house, and if I can hop on it and bike 6 miles to the office. It literally passes right by the building. In the office gym there’s a shower, so I can get cleaned up and changed into work clothes. Sure, I’ll have to budget more time for commuting, but it’s free, and it’s good exercise.
This weekend I’m going to test the bike route to be sure I can do it. I’ve been biking around town and getting back in shape.
I’m also familiarizing myself with the bus routes. That’s good to know for the rainy days.
How will I get everywhere else?
I can bike around town. I can take the metro and the bus system, as well. I can borrow Ryan’s car, if need be, to run random errands on the weekends. I can take the train or bus to visit my BFFs in Richmond, and same for visiting my family in Delaware.
What does Ryan think?
I’m sure you can guess that Ryan was not loving this idea at first. My not having a car will definitely inconvenience him at least a little bit, some of the time. However, I asked him to view it this way. By agreeing to go along with this, and carpooling with me, it’s a way that he can help me build my emergency fund – with zero cost to himself.
I know that being car-free in the suburbs is not the American way, nor is it the easy way – but I am really excited to give it a shot. I’ll share the occasional update on how things are going.
And in the mean time, I’d love to know what you guys think. Have you ever considered being a one-car household? Or have you actually done it? Or do you think I’m nuts If so, that’s ok, I’m used to that reaction 😉
46 Comments
We are pretty much a one car household. We had 2 very OLD cars and recently traded in one of them for a new car. We have kept the second car, but rarely drive it. We both work for the same company and conveniently just live a block away from our office. We coordinate so we go to the gym at the same time or if separate, then when the other one won’t need the car. We try to save up our errands and spend Saturday or Sunday running them all together which also gives us some time to spend together, just hanging out. My BF has a second job that he works at one day each weekend and this is the only time we use our other car. He will drive it to work that day and leave me the newer car in case I have things to do, but usually it just stays parked. We’ve been doing this for almost 2 months now and it works great! Also, I spend less shopping because I have him with me (he doesn’t believe in browsing) and since we run all of our errands in one day I don’t have time to linger. I say give it a shot and good luck! I know you can do it.
hi Darbi,
Good point, men rarely believe in browsing 🙂 thanks so much for sharing
your experience…it’s nice to know I’m not alone!
HEYYY. I’m not much into browsing myself, unless for crafty paraphernalia or clothing. Otherwise I can’t stand lingering about and just grab what I went for and gtfo.
Almost all of my adult life, I’ve been car-free or we’ve been a one-car household. As of a year ago, we became a two car household for the first time – we are now living in a city where it’s not particularly public transportation friendly and we work on opposite ends of the city. Our kids are also learning to drive and we want a car for them. I would prefer to be a one car family and most likely we will be again once the kids have left.
We have always given up living space for a shorter commute. wherever we’ve lived, we’ve had a 30-40 min commute max. Most days, it’s been about 20 minutes. My husband rode his bike and if our schedules collided, I would either take the bus or walk. there were usually only a small handful of days per year when we could have used a second car so it wasn’t worth it. When we’ve been without a car, it’s bike, bus, tons of walking and taxis for groceries. And yes, we’ve managed with babies and kids. And winter and rain.
Hey Karen – awesome! Sounds like you’ve done things like I hope to on the
car front. I bet your kids have grown up with an appreciation for thrifty
living too 🙂 .
and just think – you’ll have a whole car space worth of storage for all those free things you like to pick up along the road when you walk!
(I’m assuming a 2 car garage… I have no idea) 🙂
Katie – I wish! No garage, just a driveway. Though one could store stuff
there , so I’d better not tell Ryan what you suggested 🙂
ahhh awesome! such a good idea! and the money you can save biking and getting fresh air/exercise — just awesome girl! you’re my hero!
We considered going down to one car, but with the Kate and Dan’s varied schedule, it was just not possible. However, you are determined, so I think you can make it work. Where we live seems bike friendly, so you have that going for you. Whatever you put your mind to, you can do! PS – I just got a new bike this weekend, and I would love love love to ride with you sometime 🙂
I have zero idea what it’s like to own a car, personally, but if you have all of those other options then you should totally take advantage of them. Even if it doesn’t work out ideally, you’ve got the experience under your belt. And just think of all the spontaneous exploring made possible just by being on a bike instead of cooped up in a big unwieldy vehicle!
Reading your blog and Ryan’s alleged reactions to your whim has taught me that he is way more boring than I thought. 😛
Ha!
I don’t want to say that Ryan is boring, per se . . . but for sure, he’s not
really spontaneous. That is a fact. I, however, am. Very much so. 🙂
We are a one car household and have been more often then not. We live in a small town with no public transportation and while it takes a bit of pre-planning for everything we do make it work. My parents never had two cars, EVER! I think you will do fine 🙂 Just remember, planning ahead makes it a lot less stressful.
I had a discussion recently with some friends about commuting methods and it seems that in many cities and towns it’s simply not possible to be car-less. For example: for me it’s 3.8 miles to the nearest grocery store, 7 miles to a decent grocery store, 15 miles to Target, 17.5 miles to Whole Foods. Not reasonably walkable, really not even reasonable for biking with groceries, and public transit isn’t an option.
Atlanta is a classic example of a city that makes getting around without a car well nigh impossible. It seems that in many cities the residential areas are so far removed from workplaces and are even a long ways away from most retail establishments that, unless you’ve got a really good public transportation system then it’s almost impossible to *not* drive. It’s unfortunate because I wish I could walk more places.
Becky – I can see how you couldn’t be car-less where you are. It is
frustrating to me how so much of America can not go car-free. And I had no
idea that Atlanta was lacking with public transportation. I would have
assumed otherwise…Sigh.
I wish I lived somewhere that driving less or not at all was an option. I think partially the geography of the US is to blame when it comes to the lack of decent public transit (i.e. we occupy a much larger space than, say, France or Germany and have much less dense population centers than somewhere like China or India), but I think we also (for the most part) do a really poor job of city planning. I remember seeing something recently that said Atlanta was the *worst* large city in the US for seniors to live in terms of getting around without driving. MARTA (Atlanta rapid transit) goes very few useful places unless you’re *right* downtown and Atlanta is so spread out that it’s well nigh impossible for most people to get to public transportation from their homes. My parents, for example, are something like 35 miles from Atlanta but are still considered “metro Atlanta.” It’s quite common for people who live that far out (or further) to drive into Atlanta for work every day, but they’d have to drive 20 miles or more to get to MARTA so why bother?
Between my car whisperer Father in Law and our ability to not give a crap what we drive, my husband and I have done great with two cars. My husband drives a 1985 Toyota with 300k miles and I drive a 2000 Accord with 156K. The nice thing about our vehicles is 1. They’re paid for and 2. No car payments = liability only insurance. Our cars aren’t worth enough to replace lol. We can’t do one car (I like getting all the errands done while my hubs is at work) because of my preferences, but we know we could if we had to. All summer while my husband’s not working we just share a car anyway.
Point being, more power to you! Our lives tend to get significantly better the more they revolve around life and not convenience.
I know people who used to commute on bike down W&OD – with traffic the way it is I dont’ think it really took them much longer than usual 🙂 I think it’s a great idea to go down to one car if you can!
Our four-person family has two cars. My husband bikes to work most days and I work at home. We are centrally located in our town, so I try to walk or bike to as many errands as possible. We can usually go car-free1-2 times a week.
Based on all that, we’ve thought about going down to one car. Unfortunately, our daughters’ extra-curricular activities on the weekends would make it really tough for us to go down to one. Still, we keep circling around the idea and trying to think of ways to make it work for us.
As for you, I just checked Zipcar to see if there are any in your area and there are, so that’s a good option for you too.
Hey, thanks for doing my homework for me…never even thought about Zipcar!
🙂
I can totally imagine that having kids to cart around would make the car
situation more complicated.
We are about to go down to 1 car here as well. You are right it is crazy to live almost anywhere nowadays with only 1 vehicle. How twisted of a convenience world have we become. I can’t argue that it is definitely very convenient to have a 2nd car around but in reality no it isn’t a necessity. I know there are going to be times when I’m going to miss my car. When the hubby is out or at work and its raining out and I want to go get something. But I came up with the same numbers as you. Even more actually. When I divide that by the amount of income I make, the amount of hours I have to work to afford this “convenience” is sickening. Obviously not everyone can be a 1 car family but hopefully you have inspired even one other person to give it a shot!
Hey Kelly! (Kellay?)
Thanks so much for sharing! Isn’t it crazy to see how much of your
take-home pay can be spent just by owning the car? I was seriously shocked
when I added it all up. I’m so excited to have partners in crime in this
adventure. 🙂
You know what – – we have 2 cars, but to be honest, one of them is kind of out of commission at the moment so we’ve been functioning as a 1 car household for the better part of a month and it has only been minorly inconvenient some of the time. Like dragging the kids out of bed super early to drive my husband to work one morning because he woke up too late to bike to work. Lucky for me he likes biking to work even though it’s on the other end of town (about 45 minutes on the bike each way), but it does mean he has to be up earlier. For us, it just means more planning since I have young kids and if we need to go somewhere in the day while he’s gone we have to work out a way for him to get to work. We do live in Michigan so it’s not entirely sustainable to be this way through the winter, and the public transportation system around here isn’t totally awesome like it is in some places . . . but through the bike-able months we do end up saving a lot on gas this way.
So no, I don’t think you’re crazy. I think it’s great. Way to live within your budget. 🙂
My husband & I did this last year…we had just one car from December 2009 thru the end of June 2010. We live in the suburbs as well & have 2 kiddos, so this meant I dropped off the oldest son & my hubby at school & work in the mornings; then I’d pick them both up in the afternoon. We got used to going everywhere together, whereas before we’d only be in the same car on Sunday mornings, for the most part. It was a good bonding experience 🙂 And it got easier with time. I’d love, love, love to live in a city or area that ran a good bus system b/c I actually enjoy taking city transportation & I’m not a huge fan of driving. I’m a terrible bike-rider & wouldn’t want to put my kids in harms way with me pedaling through town 🙂
Let us know how it works out. Oh yeah! We also saved enough cash to buy a great car on the spot, with no debt to our name. Yippee!
that is awesome! All you can do is try and it might be a totally freeing feeling! Keep us posted on how it goes! I would LOVE to be able to ride my bike to work, especially if there was a super convenient trail like yours!!! 🙂 ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!
Sounds like a great plan! I wish we could be a one car family, but it’s just not possible with our different work schedules, distance to our jobs, and lack of bus routes nearby. Our cost savings wouldn’t be nearly as much anyway. We keep our cars a long time so we only have a car payment for about 4 years and then enjoy at least 7 or 8 years of payment-free driving.
We have one car and bike most places. I put my 2 year old (and sometimes my 6 year old with her) in a trailer. The trailer is perfect for shopping when there are no kids in it. I highly recommend the trailer for shopping trips! You can often find them on sale on craigslist.
Laura – that is hilarious! I never would have thought of using a bike
trailer like that, but it’s a really great idea. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!
-j
My husband and I were car-free for several months, which worked really well, except that we were limited to high-end stores (or Wal-Mart, which I avoided for social-justice issues) for clothes and other non-grocery items. New Orleans has decent public transportation, and is getting better about the bike lanes, it’s not great. I wish we had such a lovely bike trail near our home!
We bought a used car, paid in full – which was the BEST decision. No debt! We consciously decided to live in a part of New Orleans where my husband can walk to work. Since our daughter arrived, a car has been a real boon, but we’re still really happy to just have the one. So I say, go for it! It definitely makes you know your community resources much more intimately.
My husband and I have had one car for almost 4 years. We both work in DC, commute via metro and mostly use our car to go to the farmer’s market once a week. Most of our married friends in Alexandria are one or zero car households. When you can take public transit or walk, why pay for all the upkeep plus a parking spot if you don’t have to?
I second zip car! We have a membership as a backup. If I really need a second car, I have access to any number of vehicles. Plus, for the Ikea trips, moving and group outings it is nice to be able to use something bigger than our compact car. Check with your office because they might have a corporate membership you can participate in. A membership group I belong to offers it as a perk and you don’t have to pay the yearly Zipcar fees.
Even worse, I remember what it was like trying to find parking after the big
snows in Alexandria! This would have been irrelevant if I didn’t have a car
🙂
I applaud your efforts!!! I’d love to do this. Funny thing is I just got a new jetta wagon back in september! It’s nearly paid off though, so that’s good. I’d love to someday live somewhere that I can do more alternate transportation to work. Just because it’s not the “American way” doesn’t mean it is crazy or anything. I am a new reader to your blog and I’m interested in seeing how this no car life works out for you!
Love this post! I recently sold my car, and am so much happier! Well, there’s more to it than that, but really I don’t miss having it at all. I finally found a job in my town (instead of having to commute to the city) and it’s a 5 minute walk from my house, or a two minute bike ride. We live in a part of town where everything, including the library, grocery store, schools, parks, etc are withing walking or biking distance.
So after selling my car, we decided to buy bikes and that is now my main method of transportation. My older daughter, 8, bikes with me, and my 3 year old girl rides in the chariot behind my bike. It’s so easy and we get tons of great exercise! The other bonus to not having a car is that I used the money to pay off my debt, and now I only work 16-20 hours a week, part-time, and am able to spend way more time with my girls! I’m lucky that my husband works fairly early so the latest he is home from work is 1 pm (he’s a baker) so if I need to use his (our) car then I don’t have to wait all day! It’s awesome!
The only this I’m not looking forward to is winter. We live near Calgary, Alberta, Canada and it gets SUPER cold here in the winter sometimes. I guess we will see how it goes, maybe just need to buy some warmer jackets, lol!
Man, I would give anything to be able to go without a car. Southern California is about the least friendly place for public transportation that I have ever been. Not only does the system suck, but the cost of living in many cities is high enough that it’s actually much cheaper (monetarily, anyway) to live outside of the area where you work and commute in. I dream of being able to walk or bike to work — but then there’s the fact that I don’t really want to live in the same district as I teach, because I’m also not down with my students seeing me in my yoga pants at Target 😉
We’re going to be down to 1 car soon here…mine, because it’s paid off. The Man is selling his car because we can no longer afford the payments on it. With whatever he makes from that, he’ll be buying a motorcycle. Not gonna lie, I’m terrified. Fortunately, he doesn’t really do all that much traveling, and he can carpool with friends for a lot of his social stuff.
My brother rode his bike to work when he lived in Palo Alto (near Stanford, during the dot-com years). He left a week of clothes at work and showered in the locker rooms by the gym. It was actually pretty common!
I don’t drive at all during the week and I love it!
Part of why I want to move to C-ville is how small and walkable / bikeable
it seems. Or else it sounds like I need to move to Cali!
I am in somewhat of a similar situation, although not by choice. My transmission died in mid-May and we haven’t yet replaced the car. We can’t find a good used car either, and since we didn’t have car parts it is hard to think about adding one now. It is a bit of an inconvenience since John works in MD and I have too much work materials to bike (and don’t want to). So we do a lot of schedule coordination so I can pick up/drop off at the metro.
We’re thinking about doing the same thing We have two cars, but we’ve been discussing whether we really need them. There’s an interesting book called Divorce Your Car that I loved. It’s about breaking free of the car chains. It’s not an easy thing to do!
Ok, I definitely need to check that book out. 🙂 Thanks for the
recommendation!!
Hi there,
I lived in Toronto (in the burbs) for the better part of 20 years and during those years I rarely, if ever, used my care in the evenings. Toronto has such a fabulous transit system (as well, bike lanes, bike paths, park system, etc.) there was really no need. (Also, $20/day for parking downtown was ridiculous!!)
On the other hand, I now live in London, Canada, where the entire transit system is ridiculous for a city this size. Granted, it is better than nothing – not much better, but better than nothing.
Good luck with your “one-car” experiment.
Cathy
I gave my car to my mom when I moved to Sydney in July 2009 – two years ago! And I have been car-free ever since. Best decision I ever made for my wallet and my health. I seriously can’t imagine owning a car again (I have a ZipCar membership if I should ever “need” one) but otherwise, its feet or bus. 🙂
I didn’t comment on this before, but now I can give some input on the situation because Stan the Man and I have been a one-car household for… drumroll… a whole week! Hahaha. I must say, the first day was a disaster. He was going to drop me off at work, as it’s on the way to his work. But then I remembered that I had a dentist appointment that day and would need to leave early. Needless to say, going all the way to his school to drop him off and then backtracking back to my work kind of defeated the purpose of carpooling, and to top it off, of course I didn’t bring my parking pass and I was late. Fail! HOWEVER, we have since been consciously planning out our commutes, and if we do that it’s a lot less stressful and really not too bad.
We still aren’t sure if we’ll make the switch to one car only, because my car is a little ’95 Saturn that is paid off, gets great gas mileage, and I only pay liability insurance, so it’s pretty darn cheap anyway. Who knows, though. Maybe I’ll do a post about it and weigh the pros and cons too.
One more thing- it has been fun to leave the house together every day, and to spend that extra time with my sweetheart in the car. 🙂
Amanda – Thanks for sharing!! That sounds like a little bit of a rough start to the one-car situation 🙂 It definitely takes some serious planning…we’ve been doing it for a week or two now and I’ve had some similar experience.
-j
I was just reading through your archives and saw this post. I’ve been doing the same thing- going car free in a the suburbs for 6 months now. You are going to love it and the surprising amount of structure it provides you. Good luck and I can’t wait to see how you like it!!!!!
It seems quite a lot of people are car pooling to work these days as the costs for running a car are getting out of control.
I imagine it’ll be daunting at first, but I bet after a few months you’ll wonder why you ever needed it.