Thing is commuting and hauling furniture home on your rear rack (I have) are totally different things.

Commuting can be easy, car-lite is a bit tougher, but you still have that security blanket...things get too big, use the car.

A car-free person either has to rent a vehicle (technically car-lite), or they tweak their bike to do what they want it to....in my case I have a plate I bolt onto the rack to hold oversized boxes, adjustable straps and bungies to hold htings in place, cargo netting to hold smaller objects on top of the boxes, and I've even learned how to dismount by swinging my leg over the handlebars....since there is so much stuff piled up on the back of the bike.

That's on a mountain bike with a "heavy duty" rear rack.

That's the difference....most carfree folks are trying to make a bike do car-like tasks. This requires a bit of work. The rest are just car-lite folks who need a little encouragement from time to time....it's hard to get on that bike somedays, but at the end of the day I'm grateful that I did.