Living Car Free - Car free at last!But what to do about kids?

But not by choice. My truck has been out of commission for about 3 months. The wife's van died on Friday.

I've been car pooling to work and have started commuting by bike a few days of the week as well. I have no problem with biking/carpooling/bussing. But the wife is stressing it because we have 5 kids. How are people with more than 3 kids getting by? Oldest is 14, youngest is 4. The 2 older kids bike to school, scouts, friends. But the 2 elementary age girls don't know how to ride and my wife doesn't want them riding on my street anyway. Very busy street. I throw the 4 yr old in the trailer once in a while, but he hates it.

Recommend you get the van fixed if possible, because your wife apparently hasn't voluntarily chosen a carfree lifestyle.

If you are financially unable to get the van fixed, that's a horse of a different color. If that's the case, maybe we can come up with some coping strategies.

Sounds like fix the van, or get the elementary kids some good walking shoes. This does not look like a good car free situation to me. Two kids that can't ride, one that is too young, and 2 older ones who can. Guess you could buy two tandems, and pull the four year old on one of them, but for that much money, you could get your van fixed.

Elementary school age kids should know how to ride. I taught myself at 5 1/2. That could help things a lot. They should know, no matter what.

But with that many, fixing the van may be the optimum solution.

Most school districts in the US offer free transportation in the form of a school bus. They generally pick up and deliver real close to your house.

For other transportation needs, using your 3 months of gas savings to fix the van seems like a good idea.

Thanks for the replies. Luckily we live within very short walking distance of the elementary, and the girls are able to walk to and from everyday. The jr. high aged boys are s.o.l. We are barely out of bus range by 2 houses. It's pretty lame. We've pleaded our case with the school a few times and been turned down every time.

Anywho, it looks like the biggest obstacle right now is groceries. Feeding a family of 7 takes a bit more groceries than can fit in the bike trailer or panniers. At the rate we go, we'd be shopping every night. My wife's biggest concern is medical emergenicies. I told her that's what 911 is for, but she's still a bit leary.

Fixing the van right now is not an option. 2-3k repair job on an $800 van. I've been doing repairs on the truck slowly, so I'm thinking it'll end up being the vehicle and we'll just have to change our lifestyle to not go anywere driving distance as a family. Yesterday I biked about 60 miles r/t to a family party while the wife limped the truck and kids. Worked well, but I definitely need a road bike if I'm going to keep that up.

So I guess I'm answering my own question. Getting the truck going is the best option. It can fit 6 and take care of the groceries. It drinks the gas though and has over 220,000 miles on it, so I'd like to not have it in use unless absolutely necessary.

But I'm still curious how people live car free with kids and take care of groceries. Shopping every night or every other night?

Fixing the van right now is not an option. 2-3k repair job on an $800 van.
We have some car hobbyists and do it yourselfers that hang around on this forum. They claim car maintenance can be done cheap. Time for them to step up to the plate and figure out how to fix your vehicles. Personally, I don't think they can do it. What needs fixing?

If the van is only worth $800, why not sell it and buy another $800 van than runs? Or sell both of your cars, get something somewhat decent, maybe a fuel-efficient four door sedan (think $4 gas soon), and become a one-car family.

If the van is only worth $800, why not sell it and buy another $800 van than runs? Or sell both of your cars, get something somewhat decent, maybe a fuel-efficient four door sedan (think $4 gas soon), and become a one-car family.

Working, the van is maybe worth $800. Not working it's maybe worth the $75 the junk yard offered. We are leaning towards being a one-car family. But it has to be big enough to hold all 7 of us. 4 door sedan ain't gonna cut it.

But as much as I hate to consider it, selling the truck might be the option once it's fixed. I can maybe get $2k for it.

We have some car hobbyists and do it yourselfers that hang around on this forum. They claim car maintenance can be done cheap. Time for them to step up to the plate and figure out how to fix your vehicles. Personally, I don't think they can do it. What needs fixing?

The van engine is blown. It had a pretty bad oil leak and my wife wasn't the best at keeping oil in it. Plus the starter was going out on it as well as a host of other problems. 85 dodge caravan with over 250,000 miles on it.

My truck just needs a new muffler, tail pipe, and tires to pass to safety/emmissions. Those should be fixed this next pay check.

If you need to just successfully pass an emissions inspection, I would obtain those parts from a junkyard. Your goal should be that little "approved" sticker on your windshield. A longer-lasting fix can come later. Good luck. Now would also be a very crucial time to prevent your wife from becoming pregnant again.

Working, the van is maybe worth $800. Not working it's maybe worth the $75 the junk yard offered. We are leaning towards being a one-car family. But it has to be big enough to hold all 7 of us. 4 door sedan ain't gonna cut it.

I'd definitely suggest being a one-car family and yes, using an automobile that seats 7 if you can get one. Either way, get as much as you can from a junkyard for your van. (here in philadelphia there are signs that claim that a junkyard will give you $100 (or $150?) for any old auto, no charge for towing.


Anywho, it looks like the biggest obstacle right now is groceries. Feeding a family of 7 takes a bit more groceries than can fit in the bike trailer or panniers.

If you want to do it on the cheap and on short notice, a bike-at-work trailer is not for you. But the biggest bikes-at-work trailer can handle 300 lbs, and on their front page (http://www.bikesatwork.com/) it is shown carrying plastic containers that would fill up the bed of a pickup truck.

With your current equipment, it might or might not be possible to shop for groceries with only a little inconvenience. Your post seems to imply you have panniers and a backpack. If you also have an overnight-camping backpack, so much the better. If there is a grocery store close to your route from work to home, you can ride to work with panniers and a backpack. Backpack can be inside the panniers or strapped to the top of your rack. Ride home and stop at the store to buy as much stuff as you can carry. Wear the backpack. Tie a full bag of groceries to the back of the backpack to increase capacity- it's on your back so you should be able to manage without it interfering with your legs or your spokes. It might hang off to the side or something, but don't worry. If you can get a milk crate and attach it to your rack without interfering with the panniers, that's another way to increase your capacity cheaply.

If it's not out of your way to stop at a grocery store on the way home from work, then it won't matter much whether you shop a little every day or a lot once per week. Maybe it would require switching from your current favorite grocery store to another one, but maybe it would be worth it to save effort on traveling to the grocery store?

Another option is to combine all of the grocery-carrying methods I mentioned already with your bike trailer and go less often, but go from home. (Or tow the trailer to work empty just so you can use it on the way home for groceries... which might in fact slow down your commute but save enough grocery store traveling time to be worth it.)

Maybe it would work for you to sell your truck and van, and buy an old but working van.


Elementary school age kids should know how to ride.

I agree. It's not a quick fix because kids don't learn to be competent transportation cyclists in a few days... but you should start them learning as soon as you have time. Tell them gently that for a person who can't drive herself, biking and walking are sometimes the only alternatives to simply not going where you want to.

A lot of places allow children (and maybe adults too) to ride legally on the sidewalks. If your roads are like the ones I grew up riding along then they have lots of cars driving around at 55mph next to deserted sidewalks. In that case, I would feel fine having small children ride their bikes carefully on the sidewalk but not in the street. In your area maybe there aren't sidewalks along those major streets, in which case you might be out of luck on having the kids ride a lot of places.

by the way, you might want to call the insurance company and tell them the van is undriveable, unrepairable, and please uninsured as well. If you haven't already.

by the way, you might want to call the insurance company and tell them the van is undriveable, unrepairable, and please uninsured as well. If you haven't already.

Oh yeah! Forgot about that one. Great suggestions overall, too. Thanks. Now to sell it to the wife. :rolleyes:

Sounds like it would be less work, and definitely less money, to go carfree than to spend all that time and money on car repairs. "Do it yourself" car repair always sounds like a good idea but the practice is different from the theory. JR97 has older kids who can help with hauling groceies, and car repair money would pay for a trailer too. Wen my best friend, his wife and 2 kids lived with me, we all went carfree shopping together every Monday morning. It was fun, I treated them to McDonalds and we got the stuff home just fine.

Try to make carfree living fun for your family, instead of letting it become a drudge. Picnics, family outings, shopping trips as a group, Saturday mornings out, all those kinds of things.

Being child-free as well as car-free, I can't help you on how to integrate a car-free lifestyle without it being objectionable to some of the kids. Being different isn't always bad. I remember in a period where much of the family furniture like my sister's desk was built from old fruit crates, that she reported that other kids thought it was neat because they had never seen anything like it. So I guess that part of success is being a good cheerleader to get everyone's enthusiasm up about it. Tell us more about it as you figure out what works. There could be a book deal in it.

That and work on your peloton skills so you can ride as a group. ;)