One Vehicle Living – How to Make it Work for You (Part 2)

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Last time we talked about our history evolving from a multi-car house to a one-vehicle, one walker house.  (See Part 1: in our One Vehicle Living Series here).  The transition wasn’t easy or quick, but with planning and thought, we save hundreds of dollars every month.  

I’m sure you’d like to save some of that $7, 200 a year (that’s our annual savings estimate), so this week I’ve created a list of ideas that could, at a minimum, reduce the number of days you need to drive 2 cars.

This list runs the gamut, from quick and easy to life altering and effortful. Typically, more pain equals more gain, but even the easy ones can still create savings that add up.

Alright, the list. (By the way, while I’ve done my best, this list is not exhaustive. If you are doing something cool to get by with less car-time, please share it in the comments!)

Ways to drive less and save more:

• Buy yourself some good, all weather shoes.  
  • I define these as shoes that are stylish, comfortable, warm and waterproof.  You may not need to wear them every day, but they’ll be there when you need  them.  
  • Walking is easier if you don’t have a soaker.  Bringing a pair of indoor shoes to change into in the winter is a great idea, too.

•  Bikes/bike trailers/jog strollers/wagons. 
  • Your feet won’t get you everywhere and even if they do, you won’t want to carry kids or small shopping trip stuff home when you’re done.  
  • Having a way to tow your little people and stuff will open up more options for your one-car life.  It doesn’t mean you’ll always have to tow, but it will be there when you need it.

• Find childcare in walking distance of where you live.  
  • Being able to walk your children to childcare eliminates one step of complexity in the already complex life of a working parent.  
  • It will make future scheduling of car use infinitely easier too.  When your kids are school age, after-school care close to home is simple and good exercise for them. 
  • We have a great arrangement where our friend, Ruth, who has kids the same age as ours, walks her kids and ours to our house after school.  Both pairs of kids play while they wait for me to walk home from work.  It’s a great arrangement for all of us! 

• Learn about/try public transit in your area.  
  • It goes without saying that even expensive public transit is cheaper than owning a car. 
  • It can be much more interesting way to travel.  We all have a billion games/books/songs on our phones or whatever now, so you can even use your travel time to your advantage.  

• Sell your second car.  
  • Having two vehicles is a crutch; the final step is to get rid of one of them.  When you have tried enough of the above changes and feel comfortable that you can cope, your final step is to commit by going to one car.  
  • Not for the faint of heart, but survivable if you have done your homework.  

• If you can’t go that far, could you try taking one car off the road for awhile?  See if you can keep it parked for week.  Then a month?  Then 6 months?  

• Be ready to spend some money. 
  • What!?  Well, you will need to take extra-good care of your one remaining vehicle (regular maintenance, new tires, etc), take the occasional taxi and maybe even rent a car when you need to. 
  • One of Robin’s friends and her husband don’t own a car at all.  They have figured out it’s cheaper for them to take the bus in the week and rent a car every weekend, than own a car at all!  
  • Stay the course and know that these occasional expenses are a drop in the bucket compared to owning a second car outright.

Have I missed anything?  Do you have more ideas?  Leave a comment

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