Ok I really appreciate the advice and that is pretty much exactly what I plan to do except the ebike. I've been thinking about it a lot and it just doesn't make sense for me to not make my own ebike. I know that a lot of people think it is a bad idea and that you should bike everywhere to help train yourself to be more frugal. I think that in my specific situation, an ebike is much more cost effective than a regular bike. I've been comparing them and here is what I've come up with:
Bike:
Just to bike to work and back, without including going to classes, the store, or any other location would burn 1500 calories(using an online bike calorie calculator that factors in weight and speed) and take 105min(google maps 10mi speed) per workday. I also would have to shower before work every morning, which is an additional approx. 25min to bike to the gym, shower and then bike to work on days I am not working out. I could not go to work sweaty and gross and just towel off. I sweat a lot and I also do face-to-face sales and customer service. Not to mention the health effects of being sweat drenched for hours.
As far as the calories, even with a 30/30/30 split I would need to spend an extra $10(5lb) on chicken per week. It would be at least $10/week for an additional 1000 calories of carbs/fats and I would need to eat all of those on top of the 10lb of chicken I already eat. This really important because if I forget food before I leave home I would essentially have to call the entire day trashed. I cannot operate without food(hypoglycemic) and I'm already struggling to not go out to eat to cut down on that spending.
While some cardio would be good, that much cardio is unnecessary for the goals I am trying to accomplish right now and would actually hinder my progress.
So thats an additional $80/mon in food which I would need to consume or get lightheaded etc. Then there is the lost time, an additional 8-9hrs per week that I would be losing. That's basically an entire day of wasted time on my side business because it would cut into the time I could market and call clients. Even if we only include the ride home cutting an extra 30min from my sidebiz work time we are looking at 2 1/2hrs per week lost. Even if I only make $5/hr during that time thats a $50/mon loss(if we include the lost of renewals, this will increase by $50 every six months). If I use public transit it would take 2-3hrs each way because of where I live in(moving into town would cost more in rent). It also effectively eliminates any margin for error in terms of planning. If I forget lunch I have to either go hungry or get fast food. If I forget a textbook I can't study for that entire day. I would still need to use the car for groceries and leisure.
So we're looking at $130/mon minimum to bike around, not to mention more then double the exposure to rain and crazy people driving then the ebike.
Ebike:
So I am building my own and the cost will be: 200/motor, 350/battery, 125/special frame and wheels.
I can activate pedal assist to go faster if I want to do cardio but I don't have to if I'm going to meet people, going to work, or don't have a change of clothes.
There is no continuous cost for using it as I can plug it in at work or in the garage. I can completely eliminate the car by using the ebike for groceries, spend just $6.50 to go to the nearby large city where I will travel as fast or faster with an ebike then car. I can realistically park the car and only need it for things like camping and long drives that I shouldn't do anyway.
So we're looking at currently about $300/mon for the car(not including payments), $130/mon for the bike, or an initial $650 for ebike and then essentially the same minimal cost a regular bike would have. I'm sure for most people the smart choice is a bike but for me an ebike would be way smarter.
One thing that MMM and others have wrote about is the mental strength gained from biking. I have biked and even walked to work before, when I had no choice. I have plenty of experience doing things the hard way and I feel I was also doing it the dumb way also and that's why I haven't progressed. I've gotten up at 5am, made food, walked a mile to the bus stop, taken the bus to get to work at 7am and then started work at 8:30am. Then left work at 4:30pm and did it all in reverse, all for a min. wage job. When you look at the total time I was putting into the job, I was getting close to $5/hr. A lot of my success right now depends on how well I perform: at work, in the sidebiz, and at school. The ebike will still put stress on my body going through the winter, but the physical stress of biking and the mental stress of the extra time to do so will only make me worse at all the other things I'm trying to do. Hopefully I've dodged a lot of the worst facepunches but it really seems like an ebike can replace a car almost entirely where as, in my situation, a bike is just taking steps backwards.
Ben Kurtz
Overall, your posts give off the sense of someone feverishly moving to the next exciting thing, and to the next exciting thing after that. Plans that make sense if all the rosy projections and assumptions work out as stated... but since when did everything always line up just right each and every time? Perhaps this is just your personality, and it is pissing in the wind to urge you to change things, but I urge you to spend the next year slowing down, keeping focus, and working on the basics: Your full time job. Your 12 credits at school. Your after-hours gig. Lifting at the gym. Cooking and cleaning and minding you own home. Getting your finances right-side-up. Just listing everything out makes me bit tired. I bet you're spending $3,000 on fast food a year because you don't have a free moment each weekend to plan your meals and prepare basic foods in your own kitchen. Set aside your obsession with the next blockbuster move and just focus on execution in your core areas. When December 31, 2018 rolls around, take stock and then start dreaming about the blue skies again.
Yeah I really hope to pay things down faster than that but there is definitely some hunt for the "next big thing" going on. When I stop and think I can plan out very well but I also get excited and blow the plan out of the water and that's my biggest problem. If I can just stay relaxed and consistent, I'll do very well!