Look at it however you want. I've been car-free since 2004 when I moved from 20 miles from work to 4 miles from work. I have some bikes that are more like toys and some that are more like tools. My trailer is definitely a tool all the time.

My Pinarello I paid $400 for and could probably sell for about $600. I get a lot of thrift store and trash bikes, buy them for $5-20 and sell for $80-100. Only money loosing bike I have ATM is my Mongoose (bought for $600, could sell for about $120), but I've had it since 1997 so I got my money's worth out of it.

Auto insurance, gas, etc are stupid things to waste money on. Especially if you're under 25 years old and under-employed.