I've Gone and Done it!

I had a lot of  possible titles for this post: like "Bye-bye Dougie Goodbye", "Going Car Free", or "Car Sharing- is it for me?" and so on.  Yes, Dougie is gone, sold and hopefully loved by his new owner. Unfortunately Dougie is just not the vehicle for me anymore. Sentiment is not a good reason to keep a car...or truck. 

I've debated for awhile now whether to try living car-free as Dougie can sit there in his space for a week or more before I drive him anywhere. The last time was a week ago when my friend Julie and I went to the beach. The steering seemed a bit stiffer than usual - I knew something was up.

So on Monday I took Dougie to my local mechanic. It was bad news - the steering column was seized up and would need an expensive repair. I had to decide whether to get it fixed or if this was the time to let Dougie go. One consideration I had was to donate it for a charitable receipt. But my mechanic knew someone looking for a small truck, took a couple of photos of Dougie and contacted him. We were able to work out a deal then and there - I pocketed a goodly sum of cash - more than I expected and walked home. 

It does hurt a little to give up Dougie but he was meant to live in PEI (along with me:) where having a pickup truck is standard. I kept driving Dougie for three more years after selling my house in PEI but knew I'd have to make a change at some point. So I finally did. And now on to the next adventure - seeing if I can manage with my feet, my bike, a car-share vehicle located a few blocks from me (a Prius), taxi, Uber, bus, train and car rentals (Kazi can give me really good deals!!)  She's already quoted me a price between $20-$30 for a day at the beach (24 hours) which includes insurance and gas!! Yes, I don't even have to pay for the gas! Dougie takes at least that much just in gas to get to the beach; so I've got that covered :) 

Bye bye Dougie!

I know I can manage without owning a vehicle for most of the year but then of course there's winter to consider! I'll have to be creative.  I am motivated by the fact that I will have two less budget lines in my monthly budget - car insurance (around $110/monthly) and gas, currently budgeted at

$80 per month. Yes, only $80 a month for a V8 truck! When I first retired I allotted $200 a month for gas and sometimes used more than that. I have gradually reduced that amount over the past three years by walking and biking more. Fortunately I have most of what I need in the immediate neighbourhood. I'm debating whether to add a "Transportation" line to my budget or whether to include it (Uber, car share etc) in my Misc budget. I'm leaning towards having a transportation line so that I can easily see how much I'm spending. 

I can say that I am feeling lighter. Being an environmentalist and owner of a V8 truck just don't go together well in my mind. Going car-free reduces my carbon footprint quite a bit. There was an article in the paper recently that listed BIG ways to help the environment: having one less child,  reducing travel by one international flight per year, don't eat meat and/or go car free. 

I'm working on the meat.

Let's see how I do without a car.

Dougie taking a beating from a hailstorm.

Dougie the Dodge

I want to thank those folks who commented on my previous post about going "car-free" for their well-thought out remarks. It's not an easy decision and no option is perfect. You've given me a lot to think about.

London has a transit system which I used when I was in university. I had sold my orange mini in order to cut back on expenses while in school. The reasons I disliked city transit then was because of grocery shopping and doing laundry. Those are no longer issues as I can walk/bike to several grocery stores and now I have a washer and dryer. I tend to shop several times a week once I decide what to have for supper. Within 20 minutes I can make my list, walk to the store, buy a few things and walk home. I would have to plan to buy all the heavy stuff (cat litter, laundry detergent etc) when I either rented a car or used Car Share or Zipcar.

To travel further I don't mind taking a bus or the train. In fact, I prefer either of those options to driving myself. And there's Robert Q if I'm going to the airport.

I've done the math as to how much I would save over the course of a year.  My insurance is going to change a bit as Kazi is buying a car and is going to get her own policy. But not sure how much my outlay would be for renting/sharing per year.

My biggest concern is "spontaneous" outings, convenience, visiting friends/family and getting to places across the city. I would have to plan everything out and I don't really like to do that. Trying to get to volleyball on Friday nights would take at least an hour, likely more as there is no direct route. And, if I take a notion to go somewhere I don't really want to take 2 buses just to get to the rental place.

Rats. I don't think I would really like being car-free. But I am going to continue to think about it. Most rental places will pick me up and drop me off after. There is a Zipcar location just a few blocks from me. For a good portion of the year I barely use Dougie the Dodge - instead I walk or cycle and pay very little for gas. Unfortunately I don't think you can get insurance on a part-time basis. Too bad. That would suit me very well - have insurance from November to April. Bike or walk the rest of the time.

There's a business idea for somebody!!

Can I Live Without a Car?

Good ol' Dougie - we've gone through a lot together!

Oops, was supposed to post about this and then forgot. I forget a lot of stuff these days. My head is much busier than my hands. Ideas galore - implementation not so good.

I've spent some time recently wondering if I could manage being car-free. The object of this "wondering" is to save more $$ for travel which is highly motivating for me. And then there's the environment and fossil fuels argument.

My options are:

• selling/giving Dougie the Dodge away for a tax receipt and renting a car from my daughter when I need one (she works for Enterprise now and tells me lots of people just rent a car occasionally when they need one; or a family has just one car and rents another as needed)
• use CarShare or Zipcar when I need a car (you can rent by the hour or longer as needed for a small monthly fee. Gas and insurance included.
• trade Dougie in on a smaller car (no $$ savings)
• Go completely car-free and use transit system (not thrilled with this idea)
• keep Dougie and maintain the status quo

Thoughts? 

Have you experienced living car-free? How did it go? Is it really cheaper having to use buses, trains, and taxis?