Car-free for 3 Days Now

We did it! We sold our car last Friday! It took some time for me to convince my husband that we could do it, but after moving downtown I eventually won him over to my side. That being said we didn't do this "cold turkey". We've been trying to use the car as little as possible over the past several months leading up to this decision. How do you use the car less you ask? By using your legs!

We both have bikes (mine's a pink cruiser with a basket and a big pink flower attached), and we just started biking or walking more instead of driving. I'll usually walk to a place if it is about a mile or less away, otherwise I will bike. My bike has a light on the front and reflectors, so I feel pretty safe riding at night.
However, as long as we still owned a car, I was constantly tempted (and usually succumbed) to driving places that I could have biked to. But now it's gone, so I'll be forced to bike and walk everywhere. Hey - it will be good for me. It will build character (and muscles).

Do you really need to own a car? You may think you do, but there are so many other options out there. If you live in a central location, close to work, school, or shopping, then you could easily do away with your car. Even if you have to rent a car 6 times a month, it's still cheaper than owning a car. Plus, some car rental services (enterprise) will actually pick you up from your house. A few larger cities now have car sharing programs such as Zipcar, found here . With these, you can rent a car by the hour or by the day. They are parked in different locations throughout the city, so you are usually within walking distance to a rental car. Finally, almost every city has some form of public transportation system. I think my husband and I will get a bus pass soon and try it out. The ones here in Lexington have bike racks on the front of the bus which will extend the range that we can travel.

Even better than saving money, we are doing our part to save the environment by cutting down the carbon emissions that our car was producing, and it was an SUV so you know it was a lot.

Edmond's.com is a good place to get an idea of what you are really spending on your car. We would have spent about 33 thousand dollars over a period of 5 years on the car we owned. Personally, I can think of better ways to spend my money.