Living Car Free - Laundry List: Without A Car I....

-I save 6K a year
-Lost 33lbs, BP is 140/66, Size 44 pants to size 36
-Stand up without gripping chair arms, laugh (silently) at people straining to get into their car
-Acne, depression, knee pain, back pain cleared up
-Meet people from around the world on tours
-Meet girls on the bike path (I like flats!)
-Bike to the airport (S&S couplers)
-Got carded for booze 3x this year (I was born under the Kennedy Administration)
-I have a killer tan
-I am comfortable at 55 degrees in winter (shorts), 100+ in summer, I don't use heat in my apartment
-Everyday I get a "Bikers High"
-I ride nearly exactly where I drove before minus highways
-My transportation is silent, (fixed gear and slicks) I can concentrate
-I expect my bike to be stolen, it is $300 and I'll gladly pay again
-I am a pioneer, other than this website, car free people have no support
-As a man, I am more self sufficient, I can explore, I am more self reliant
-My personal philosophy is more sympathetic, my hate for cars has evolved into sadness for those trapped in autos
-I have started downsizing my lifestyle, I enjoy it more than up-sizing
-I am attending school, I am more successful because I am relaxed, can now afford the tuition and am studying for a new career without regard to $.
-My priorities are now clear, hours on the bike trail in silence, picturing yourself as a different person, important things stand out
-I have no mileage limits, I have never gone past my capabilities to pedal, I have tried
-I have no status among bikers: I wear spandex shorts sometimes, sneak into pace lines, and don't have a speedometer, very liberating
-I am immune to advertising targeting me, anything status=$, (Beer doesn't get sex, and it's harder with a gut), houses, cars, clothes, jobs, computers.
-I am comfortable on a variety of bikes with different rides, I'm not tied to a brand or type of bicycle, I adapt physically and mentally
-Everyday I wake up, 7 days a week, and I can't wait to go someplace

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-My personal philosophy is more sympathetic, my hate for cars has evolved into sadness for those trapped in autos
-I am immune to advertising targeting me, anything status=$, (Beer doesn't get sex, and it's harder with a gut), houses, cars, clothes, jobs, computers.

Agreed.

My nephew (22 years old) spent 15K on a used car last week from his inheritance. It was the last money he received from the passing of his mother. I told him outright, he'll be my age before he sees that money in his bank account. I guess you can't blame youth for being young. I told him he had a beautiful car, and gave him my condolences.

Congratulations!

I agree that living car free is incredibly liberating. I've found an unexpected sense of satisfaction in not being tied down with so much "stuff." And, I enjoy the sense of psychological wellbeing I get by having time to think/reflect during my commutes.

Also, automobile advertisements now seem completely hilarious.

Agreed.

My nephew (22 years old) spent 15K on a used car last week from his inheritance. It was the last money he received from the passing of his mother. I told him outright, he'll be my age before he sees that money in his bank account. I guess you can't blame youth for being young. I told him he had a beautiful car, and gave him my condolences.
At least in your family, everybody must consider that "he (you) rides a bike" and wonder if it's so ridiculous.

Congratulations!

I agree that living car free is incredibly liberating. I've found an unexpected sense of satisfaction in not being tied down with so much "stuff." And, I enjoy the sense of psychological wellbeing I get by having time to think/reflect during my commutes.

Also, automobile advertisements now seem completely hilarious.
Recently there was discussion of living car-free being too political, but I wonder if it's many things to many people. Once you get over the initial shock, car-free crosses over in a unique way that no other forum addresses. Is it a religion that limits you? Is it a philosophy like being a vegetarian? Whats oil and Walmart got to do with it? I think society is built around cheap oil and cars but it is in the background, and complex, especially with our fast paced lives. Other than NYC and a few others, driving is independence and freedom without question. It's pure joy for a teenager with a new license and heartbreak for a senior who is told they can't drive.
I have said this before- I am the only professional person I have met in this city of 3 million who doesn't have a car. Yet I do exactly what everybody else does.

It's pure joy for a teenager with a new license

Yep, and when mom and dad stop paying for insurance, repairs and gas, it becomes hell to scrounge up the money to pay for it all, as any under-25 who just started living indepedently knows...

Personally, I started biking for one single reason: giving insurance companies the finger. I am from France, and had painfully and dearly accrued enough years without accident to make the cost of insuring my car reasonable, at a time when I could ill-afford it, then I went abroad for some years, and when I came back to France, no insurance company had me in their records (or so they said) and they "had" to insure me as a new driver despite certificates from my insurance companies abroad, at about EUR600 / yr for a subcompact car. Even if I could afford it then, I didn't want to be taken for a cash cow and I got me a bike on a whim. The result was that, yes, I could send a big FU to the insurance companies, but I also dropped 60lbs, quit smoking and rediscovered my city :)

Without a car I can afford to have a motorcycle
(smells smoke and tries to run from flames)

Seriously, I can buy a motorcycle AND insure in for just what car insurance would cost over the next 3 years. Repair bills don't even compare. I'll still bicycle when possible, but I'm tired of having to miss out on valuable opportunities (networking sessions, vacations, seminars, classes). Plus I've never owned a motor vehicle and would like to become a proficent driver. I think everyone should know how to ride a bike, drive a car, cook, and properly care for a gun. Yup, education over legislation for me.

Without a car - I can't haul my boys (dogs) around. :(

-don't have to get stuck in the snow (no tow trucks, shovels, etc.). I simply pick up my studded-tire fixie and put it somewhere on the road) or if the bus gets stuck that's thier problem, not mine!

don't have to spend mins/hrs, weekly/monthly playing the parking space game...wherein you have to move your car from place to place pending on which side of the street they choose to clean.

don't have to hate parking ticket enforcers (ie metermaids) for simply doing their jobs... some of my coworkers really hate these folks with a passion.

Don't have to worry about my car getting dinged by hail or shuffling it around on snow emergency days.

Without a car - I can't haul my boys (dogs) around. :(

Sounds like you need this: http://www.dogsledmontana.com/ ;)

Sounds like you need this: http://www.dogsledmontana.com/ ;)
Until the dog gets hurt and needs to go to the vet.

without a car I -
-never have to worry about parking
-always look for new places to go
-never complain about taking the scenic route
-have problems finding girls that can keep up on a bike
-feel like one of the goonies riding with a crew of bike kids
-am always asked if I just got back from vacation because of my tan
-think back to this time last year when I never would have imagined doing on a bike what I always have needed the train for

-have problems finding girls that can keep up on a bike

Get a pedicab and give them a ride :)

I think I'm much safer without a car. Auto accidents are so horrifying and destructive. I go against the Conventional Wisdom and say "Cycling is Safer."

I think I'm much safer without a car.... I go against the Conventional Wisdom and say "Cycling is Safer."

On a bicycle, I never have to get on an interstate highway -- which means that I don't have to deal with the insanity of massive vehicles moving at 80mph. On my bike, I still face auto traffic, but auto traffic that moves at considerably slower speeds. I'm like you, Roody. I really do feel safer on my bicycle.