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I sold my car and am now car free/light. I share my house and the other person has a car and will lend it to me if I need one. I commute to work about 95% or more. I am doing this mostly to save money and because my car was getting little use and to help with the environent My LHT will be my constant companion along with my singlespeed. I hope this a fun adventure. Now when my students ask if I own a car I will have a new answer.
Congratulations!! Thanks for setting such a great example for your students.
Would love to hear your experiences (both good and bad) as you embark on this new endeavor.
CA
I will keep you posted. First I live in Norman Ok. I also live in the center of town so I am close to
a grocery store and close to my school. I think every mile helps in the quest for fitness. I'm not a racer I mostly ride by myself. When school let's out for the summer I will learn more about bus routes and put my bike on and play around in OKC. They will not let bikes on the train at the moment I heard but when they do I can take my bike to Dallas and play around in that area. Let the adventures begin.
Are you excited?
You should write a blog.
Zen is right - a blog would be great!!Quote:
Originally Posted by twin
You could think about treating yourself to a folding bike - long term. Many forms of mass transit that won't allow bikes will allow a folding bike in a bag (no one even has to know it's a bike!). Just a thought - so you won't be as limited in where you can go:)
CA
Congrats, Twin!!! I'm envious of your new found freedom! :) I'm thrilled to know someone in my area who is car-free. If you ever need anything that a truck is required for, just give me a shout as I'm only about 40 miles away.
If I can get a job within 5-10 miles of my house, I'm going to seriously consider going car-free. It's not possible now with my long commute, but you've inspired me to look a little harder at schools near my home.
I'm so proud and excited for you!!!!!
And yes- a blog would be so much fun to follow!
Does Norman have Flexcars or Zipcars or another car sharing program? That helps alot.
I was car-light for years in DC, which was mostly fine, but exacerbated difficulties in my marriage because we had conflicts over use of the car. But the car thing was not the main issue, just added to the problems. There was not a Zipcar near enough to my home to be useful. Otherwise, who knows, maybe I'd still be married :rolleyes:.
I am guessing Norman being rather large and having OU has plenty of rental car options, so you should be fine? Good luck, we eventually dream of going to one car as we only use 1 of 2 most days yet have two payments and insurance on two. :rolleyes:
Thanks for the ideas! I will look into a blog which I admit I am unfamilar with. In Oklahoma we do not have the zip cars yet. I am very fortunate to have close proximity to many things. Thanks Tri Girl for what you said. I am looking into a folding bike I think that is a great idea. Thanks for all the positive ideas.
blogger is a really easy blog program. I like it alot for both my work (internal company blog) and a personal blog about my house.
Happy 2000-th post, Tulip! If you ever want to share, I for one would love to ready your house blog:)Quote:
Originally Posted by tulip
CA
2000, holy moly! I gotta get back to work I guess. dreamseedo.blogspot.com. Inspired by GLCQuote:
Originally Posted by CA_in_NC
I hope you can find a job closer to where you live!!!!! Thanks again for the offer of the truck and the good wishes.
I vote for a nice folding bike. While bike Fridays are nice you can get some for much cheaper like a Dahon. Then you are easily mobile!
:eek:Finally Feb. 24th I am offically car free/light. Who knew it would take so much effort to sale a car? It finally happened today with buyer number 2. A time for celebration even though not much will change as far as day to day commuting to teach. The chain is clean and lubed and the tires aired so I am ready for Tuesday to happen. Have fun on your commutes this week!
I gave it 3 months and decided that I do need a car for some things. If Norman were closer to other areas outside of Norman I might have stayed with it. I enjoyed the 3 months and I learned that car insurance places are really odd about the whole process. They charged me because I no longer had the car and house discount and when I wanted to be insured again for a car they were going to charge me double. I had to leave Farmers after 20 years of being a good customer. I am now with State Farm. You learn things that you never think about when you become car free.
what a bummer! they dropped you because you didn't have a car for 3 months?
what loosers.
Tell us more about the kinds of things you couldn't do without a car, remember a lot of us are thinking of doing the same thing.
Congrats! Enjoy!
Twin- I'm so proud of you for doing it for 3 months. We're not in a part of the country where being car-free is easy. Our mass transit (only buses and not very many routes) is very sub-standard, and towns here are sooo spread out it's difficult to get around in a convenient manner.
Now that I have a job 2 miles from home I will be car-light, but I could never go car free. Lowe's/Home Depot is just too far and dangerous to get to by bike (as is PetSmart).
Good for you for giving it a true shot. Too bad about Farmers- that stinks. :(
For those who live in big cities (ie. I mean many people), consider car-sharing arrangements, where you pay a fee for a few hrs. to move around tons of home reno supplies or huge hunks of groceries.Quote:
Originally Posted by Biciclista
Or taxis for occasional rides..which for us works out to be around 5-6 times annually. We rent a car 1-2 times annually, usually when we are in a different region of Canada/U.S. And usually for 1-2 days.
As an example: I have 2 friends around my age, they each bought and own their own houses not far from public transit. Neither have a car, but they do use public transit and bike around. Yes, they are competent cyclists, etc. They live in a city of 2+ million people.
Yes, you do save a hunk of money. Enough for a house down payment if you have this lifestyle for a number of years.