Living Car Free - Non-simple living...

You may someday put roots down and discover that cars can be extremely useful devices that don't automatically ruin the lives of anyone who owns them. Or not. Either way, the point remains that there is not one solution that fits all people.

...but they ruin the lives of everybody else. I guess not everyone is enlightened enough to be a total scumbag and pollute the air their neighbors are trying to breathe.

Unfortunately, when your making decisions which affect shared assets "different strokes for different folks" doesn't work. Asphyxiate yourself in your garage if you like, but if you do it outside then don't be surprised when your ideology can't protect you from retribution.

So, no, there's not one solution that fits all people, but some might leave you with your grandkids pinching your tube one day.

In the end it boils down to selfishness. Freedom is not a license to build yourself up at the expense of others and it's unfortunate that the only way some people will learn this is through revenge.

I'm sure you are quite correct in stating that you are not sure what "reasonable income in suitable neighborhoods" means. I also suspect that you have no idea what might be considered acceptable or "reasonable and suitable" by anybody but yourself.

Gwd may have said something but wth is "it" that only takes "small steps?"

Whereas, I-Like-To-Bike, your idea of a suitable neighborhood is almost certainly one where home prices are higher than 99% of the homes in the world. Of course a "reasonable" household income is also larger than the income of 99% of the world's people. At least you are clear on what you consider to be reasonable!

Honestly, for both those of us who have been car free for a long time and those who have always had a car, loss aversion is playing a strong role. Personally, my adult life has been car free and it would feel like a huge pain in the ass to switch to driving most of the time. But I recognize that the same is true for those who have always driven. The car light folks probably have the most realistic perspective.

Figured out more realistic numbers... it was very close to $600/ month that I was paying (Includes the cost of the vehicle(cash), repairs and upgrades I made to it, gas, insurance, registration averaged over the three years I owned it) I believe the latest study showed that American's spend around $8000 a year on cars.

When I figured out the cost for me to own, operate and maintain my Dodge Caravan, the total cost came to around $600/mo. And I had no car payments. Some people's cost are more than that, and some less.

So, the figure of $8,000.00/yr for average cost on cars seems about right. For me, cycling as my only transportation works out just fine. I just wish that I had gone car free many years ago .....

When I figured out the cost for me to own, operate and maintain my Dodge Caravan, the total cost came to around $600/mo. And I had no car payments. Some people's cost are more than that, and some less.

So, the figure of $8,000.00/yr for average cost on cars seems about right. For me, cycling as my only transportation works out just fine. I just wish that I had gone car free many years ago .....

And I would be willing to bet that a healthy percentage of the cars on the road today have a payment attached to them too, running the cost up substantially. One of our neighbors has an expensive SUV that his monthly payment every three months is about equal to my yearly property tax bill.:eek: To each their own, but somehow I think he is on the losing end of the deal.:innocent:

Aaron:)

Exactly ... And some people have two cars, doubling their cost of driving. I've known people with half a dozen cars or more even, all being driven everyday. Man, those families must be dishing out thousands every month for driving. And some of those people I know for sure could get along just fine with no car at all.


And I would be willing to bet that a healthy percentage of the cars on the road today have a payment attached to them too, running the cost up substantially. One of our neighbors has an expensive SUV that his monthly payment every three months is about equal to my yearly property tax bill.:eek: To each their own, but somehow I think he is on the losing end of the deal.:innocent:

Aaron:)

I don't get it completely. What kind of car does she have that costs her $1000.00 a month?

Not too hard. $150 insurance, $350 gas (probably more if she's driving an hour each way to work, every day), $400 car payment, plus spread out costs of maintenance (fluid changes, other consumables) over the year for $100 a month average... that's actually quite normal in parts of Canada, and our dollars aren't that different yet.

I just refuse to deal with the hassle of acquiring, insuring, and maintaining a car in Alberta. I left my car in BC when I moved, because it wouldn't have made it over the Rockies (poor old car; I donated it to the Kidney Foundation to scrap), and figured I'd work back to having a car later. Little did I know that by letting my car insurance lapse even briefly, I would suddenly count as a *brand new driver* in Alberta, and I'd be charged the same insurance rates as a sixteen year old with his first license. I have philosophical, moral and most of all financial objections to that; I'll take that $3000/year and spend it on a bus pass, lots of bike accessories, and a few weekend car rentals rather than hand it over to an insurance company!

(That said, my boyfriend does have a car, and I do drive it on occasion even though the insurance co. doesn't like me to. I don't *like* driving very much, while The Boy is the guy driving two blocks to the corner store and freaking out when I suggest taking the light rail downtown instead of circling the construction zones for an hour trying to find parking... sigh).