Living with 1 car...an epiphany!
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| Tue, 09-15-2009 - 11:02am |
I'm starting to see the light here on being a 1 car family. There's definitely a few positive things that have come from my car breaking down. #1, my insurance went down a lot! And I didn't even discontinue the insurance entirely. I dropped the collision and just kept the liability and that brought my insurance from 94 dollars a month to 50 dollars a month for 2 cars (our 2nd car only has liability as well). #2, I definitely am not using as much gas as I was before. I find that we're putting more gas into DH's car, but I still don't think it equals what we were spending before. I should check quicken just to see if I'm saving. #3, I don't spend as much money because I don't have the option of going out during the day. Before, I may have taken a small trip to wal-mart just to get out of the house and then we would have ended up eating at Subway and maybe buying a few items.
I think I could definitely live with just one car, especially since I live in the city and I've been checking out the bus schedule. I could make it to library time on the bus if I wanted to. I could to to the children's museum as well. The bus is $1.50. So I'm guessing it would cost me $3 dollars if I wanted to go on a trip into the city. The other problem we would run into is that our current car is really not safe. It has a seatbelt in the back that doesn't work so we've been putting our 10 year old into the front seat and one of us sits in the back with no seatbelt. The front seat has an airbag. And our second son ends up in the middle with a lap belt. It's also very old and will probably be breaking down soon as well. But what if we bought a safer, more reliable car and got rid of the old one. I wonder if it would be worth it. My husband would probably resist. I do run into problems with my piano lessons when he is late getting home from work. ANd this weekend, my son is having a small birthday party and sleeping over grandma's house, but I'm not sure how I'm going to make it as DH is working. I could sleep over Grandma's house as well, I guess! It would definitely be a HUGE adjustment, but is the money we save worth changing our life so drastically?

Abbie -
Just your realizations are important to you decision making process.
I totally see where you're coming from! DH and I bought a second car last year, a beater (with cash) to replace one we turned in at the end of a "fleece". I was about two months from giving birth to our first child, and we really wanted to make sure we had secondary transportation should one of us be using the car and the other left at home.
I work in the city and take the train; the train station is half a block away. There is an express bus stop to the city a half block in the other direction. Our town is small, and so much is within walking distance. In the past year plus since we bought that car, it's spent most of the time sitting in the driveway, unused. We've had to jump it several times because we forget to start it every once in a while to charge the battery LOL. And if there is a true emergency (god forbid), the ambulance is two blocks away.
We're considering selling it to have some quick cash on hand. We also know that we would like to have a second child sooner rather than later, and our small Civic would not be ideal for two car seats - we'd like to be able to sell/trade that one for a bigger car when the time comes, and pay cash for the difference. We would save about $45 a month in insurance on the second car, and minimal for gas (since we don't use it), but I like Marie's idea to put that money away toward a "new" car.
Anyway, I guess my point is that it really is funny how you think you really need something, but with a little ingenuity and forethought, you realize that you really didn't need it nearly as much as you thought you did. :) :)
LOL you're right -- even a bigger car is more of a want than a true need! :) There is something to be said for the convenience factor, but if you really need to save the cash...you make do with what you've got.
Now to convince my DH of that...:):):)
We may have to live with one care for awhile.
It is surprising what we find we can do without. Friends of mine discovered that they saved money by getting rid of their car and started walking, biking, taking the bus, and for the occasional time they needed to get somewhere by car they would either take a taxi or rent a car for a couple of days.
Sharon
We became a one-car family three months ago.
Abbie-
Just from my personal experience having one car is very doable and even preferable IMO. For all the reasons you mentioned. I'm looking forward to the day when we can function with just one car. But with three drivers and one vehicle that can make things a bit of a challenge. So for now we are a two car family.
Start saving up now for a newer car if you can. We've been looking for ds and have seen several nice vehicles in good condition for under $3000. There are a lot of used Jeep Grand Cherokees out there in that price range. Saw one last weekend. They want $1200.. it needs new tires, belt tightening and a new windshield but other than that it seemed to run just fine.
Also have you considered having your students come to you? You could charge a little less to make it more appealing, and since you aren't paying out for gas to travel to them, it will even out. Just a thought.
stacy
If you have enough in savings to buy a car then go ahead and try one caring for a while. It does depend on where you live. For me right now without a car would mean an impossible life. It is far cheaper to buy cash!