Originally Posted by
steve-in-kville
By this I mean.... do you see yourself giving up other non-essentials in life?? Maybe you are trying to simplify your life in other areas?? I went car-light a year ago this week. I had too. Lost my shirt financially. Lost my successful (up until last fall) business in real estate. The bank took back my new GMC truck that I was so proud of. Lost my house to foreclosure this past February. Thankfully I had a good job.
My perception of possessions has taken a big turn. I look at things a lot different. I see my co-workers buying new $30k cars and then complain why their cable TV bill is over $125/month. We still have the family van but I ride to work most days and most of my errands are done on bicycle. My pace of life has slowed down... a lot!!
I think your attitude change was caused more by the change in your financial situation, and the car-light lifestyle was one consequence of it.
For me personally things were sort of the other way around: I chose to never have a car in the first place precisely because of the sort of attitude I have toward material possessions. I would not call it noble or spiritually advanced or enlightened or anything of that sort. It's simply that too much stuff overwhelms me. It sucks energy out of you, having to maintain it, clean it, store it, organize it... ugh! I don't really like getting gifts anymore, since it's just going to be more junk cluttering my space... I'd rather give and get experiences (a gift certificate to a spa, a night out, a hot air balloon ride... you name it, whatever rocks your boat :-)) Simpler is better, so I don't have a car that would introduce another layer of unneeded complexity. If my circumstances ever change so that NOT having a car would cause more complexity, then I would get one, but I don't foresee that so long as I live in a major urban centre.