I've been on car-lite for a few weeks. My main issues have been 1) coordinate trips so you have all your 'have to' drives done together. My wife actually has been getting into helping me plan so she worries less about me on the road with a ton of stuff. 2) for safety/other stuff, AAA and rental cars should get you everywhere else. Rentals are actually quite cheap, I figure it would be less than what our second car payment was before we paid it off ( WAY less satisfaction on biking everywhere when the car is paid off. oh well ). Plus the insurance, maintenance, etc.
Also, I second what Artkansas said about being in shape. At first coming home from the grocery store with the trailer full seemed hard. Now I can do a Costco trip, 7 miles away no problem. In a higher gear even. With good bags / trailers and a little training, you'd be surprised at how much you can do on your bike. Pulling kids is a good weight-training exercise.
