Last year we decluttered the garage by one whole car. Now I know you thought this post was going to be about cleaning out the garage and in a way it is because we made a whole lot more space by getting rid of one of our cars.
Granted this car was only bought because my husband had to work 500km away from home for almost a whole year and only came home every other weekend but never the less we could have kept the car for the convenience when he came back but we didn’t.
The money we have saved not paying for insurance, licensing (rego to you Aussies) and maintenance alone never mind how much more we would have spent on petrol (gas) just because it was there and we could is insane. My husband rides a motorbike to work which is way cheaper to own and run than a car and I live about a 20 minute walk to my work so it is no effort to get there if my husband needs the car so it really hasn’t been difficult to manage without it.
I am sure we could even cope if my husband sold his motorbike too and maybe that is an option if I committed myself to using man power rather than horse power more often.
Choosing our home with a location convenient to shops and work has saved us a whole lot of cash because of the lack of the necessity for expensive travel costs.
ITEM 114 OF 365 LESS THINGS
Today’s item, a car sun shade was in the old car when we bought it and somehow managed to be left in the garage when we sold it I did attempt to find it useful at one point be kept forgetting to use it so out it goes
Low Income Lady says
Our family hasn’t owned a car since 1979. When we used to live in Sydney, we lived close to the shops and trains. The shops were just over the road actually! And now we have moved to a place where the shops are a half hour walk away. We do the bulk of our shopping with Woolies online and then I get a few other things in town and get the bus home every week. The money we have saved through not having a car must be quite high!
Colleen says
Hi Low Income Lady,
I would love to get to a point where I thought I could live without a car as it is we have a car and three motorbikes in this household. Overkill yes! One bike needs to go that’s for sure. I know I could live without personal transport but it is a personal choice not to. I could just imagine how much you have saved but I also think it is about time public transport became cheaper but that won’t happen until more people use it and that won’t happen until they make it better and around and around we go. It’s a vicious cycle.
maggie says
I live outside Washington, DC and we have bus service and Metro (subway) service but it is not really convenient to my office. I can walk about 3 blocks to take the bus to work and then have to get off about 3 blocks before the office and walk down. About a 30 min trip in the a.m. but in the evening an entirely different story. Because I work in an industrial park, there is not much activity here after businesses begin to close. There are no street lights at the stop where I get off in the morning so I won’t wait there in the afternoon. So then, I have to take a commuter bus to the transit station (runs every 10-15 min about 1 block from my office. Then wait anywhere from 20 min to 45 min to transfer to the bus that goes by my street however, because we are in a very busy area in the evening, the bus has to go through 2 malls and around and around in the traffic to get to all those stops. I miss that part of the ride in the morning because I get off before he starts that trip but in the evening, I am on the backend so have to make the extra ride. If there were street lights, I would be more than willing to walk the 3 blocks to the morning stop but after 4 pm in the winter, forget it. Too scary. So the evening commute is as much as 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours to get home. After I get off the bus, I still have to walk about 1/4 mile home from the bus stop since it is not at the same spot as the pick up. When my car broke down and we were saving for another, I did take the bus every day for a little over a year. We saved money but not time. And if the bus was late, more time. So now, I am driving. Driving to work – about 20 min. Driving home – about 30 -35 min. So, I drive. The best thing about riding the bus was that I got to read and I read about 3 – 4 books a week. 🙂
Colleen Madsen says
That is completely understandable Maggie. I wouldn’t want to put myself in a dangerous situation like that either. I don’t use public transport much where I live either simply because for the short trips I would take the price of the ticket is ridiculous. When I drop my car off for a service I walk the 3.5kms home an usually walk back again to pick it up. Most of the rest of the time I drive wherever I go. At the moment we are looking to buy a home and are only looking in areas that would save me having to use the car much at all.