ONE MONTH IN
It’s been a month as a one car family and honestly, it’s been easier than expected. Here are the 3-reasons it’s worked well for us:
- I mostly work from home
- All of my necessary services/errands are within 2-miles
- I have 99% of my groceries and household supplies delivered
The main changes have been:
- Most days my little and I bike to her school (1.5-miles away) which is great because I’ve stopped “working out” and been getting more outdoors time bicycling.
- We’ve established that I get the car Monday and Wednesday and my husband the other days. He’s gotten a carpool together and so the days I get the car, he’s getting a ride with a coworker.
- I plan all of my meetings, errands, speaking engagements, etc. on the days when I have the car.
- Finally, #Uber has helped out twice. We spent $8 on Uber rides this past month.
The Benefits
- My husband is getting up earlier and home earlier because of the carpool which our little loves
- Bicycling is very meditative/therapeutic for me and gets my heart pumping!
- Bicycling to school has been an interesting growth opportunity for our little. She doesn’t love doing it in theory, although once she’s on the bike she enjoys it, but she’s also been learning to adjust her attitude about it and that’s been amazing to watch.
- We are saving a ton of money (a minimum of $500/month) and lowering our carbon footprint.
We agreed to give it 2-months before we caved in and bought a car. I’ve realized that having a car is just so “easy” that even though I live 6-minutes by bike from a Trader Joe’s, I had never biked there before. I’d like to believe that even if I got a car I would keep biking to places within my 2-mile-radius, but I’ll be honest…I’m as lazy as the next human. I kind of like “forcing” myself to bike by not always having a car. I hope my family agrees to an extension on the experiment! I’d love to go for a year without a second car.
Be a spark in the world!
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