Author Topic: Single Car Family for a Year (almost)  (Read 879 times)

ThreeWheeler

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Single Car Family for a Year (almost)
« on: March 02, 2021, 12:30:32 PM »
TLDR: We sold our 2nd car a year ago and it's only made our lives better.

My wife and I have almost always owned 2 vehicles.

When we were first married we had one car as she was still in school and I was working we lived close to school so she could easily walk or bike. When she graduated and got her first job we immediately bough a second car because how could we survive with just 1?!

Fast forward a few years and we bought our first house only a few km from where I worked. I was on a health kick so I started biking into work just for exercise and our 2nd card went idle for several months until the winter weather arrived.

Fast forward again and we have 2 kids, a mini van and our 2nd vehicle (a 2006 sedan we bought second hand in 2006). Covid hits and I'm working from home, the 2nd car never gets used and sits and sits and sits. Eventually i go to drive it somewhere and it won't start, I get a boost but the battery isn't taking a charge. It's spring and I need to get the summer tiers put on anyway so I take the car to shop. I get a call later that day, they confirm the battery is dead and needs to be replaced but more seriously the break lines have rusted through and are leaking. All in we're looking at around $600 in repairs on a 14 year old car that hasn't been driven in 3-4 months.

After some discussion DW and I decide we don't need a 2nd car right now so we sell the car for scrap. We save 600+ in repairs, pocket 400 from the sale and move on with our life.

This winter I invested in studded winter tires for my commuter bike, with some appropriate clothing I've successfully biked my daughter to school several times each week with our trail-a-bike attached behind mine. It's fun, I get exercise, and we're saving money. We also get the occasional comment from other parents when we show up on bikes in our skiing helmets about how 'amazing't it is we can bike in the winter.

I can't imagine myself doing any of this without discovering this website 5 years ago. It is by far and away the most mustacian thing I have done so far.




cool7hand

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Re: Single Car Family for a Year (almost)
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2021, 01:04:18 PM »
Congratulations!

aetheldrea

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Re: Single Car Family for a Year (almost)
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2021, 08:23:56 PM »
Good work!

GreenToTheCore

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Re: Single Car Family for a Year (almost)
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2021, 07:23:42 PM »
TLDR: We sold our 2nd car a year ago and it's only made our lives better.

My wife and I have almost always owned 2 vehicles.

When we were first married we had one car as she was still in school and I was working we lived close to school so she could easily walk or bike. When she graduated and got her first job we immediately bough a second car because how could we survive with just 1?!

Fast forward a few years and we bought our first house only a few km from where I worked. I was on a health kick so I started biking into work just for exercise and our 2nd card went idle for several months until the winter weather arrived.

Fast forward again and we have 2 kids, a mini van and our 2nd vehicle (a 2006 sedan we bought second hand in 2006). Covid hits and I'm working from home, the 2nd car never gets used and sits and sits and sits. Eventually i go to drive it somewhere and it won't start, I get a boost but the battery isn't taking a charge. It's spring and I need to get the summer tiers put on anyway so I take the car to shop. I get a call later that day, they confirm the battery is dead and needs to be replaced but more seriously the break lines have rusted through and are leaking. All in we're looking at around $600 in repairs on a 14 year old car that hasn't been driven in 3-4 months.

After some discussion DW and I decide we don't need a 2nd car right now so we sell the car for scrap. We save 600+ in repairs, pocket 400 from the sale and move on with our life.

This winter I invested in studded winter tires for my commuter bike, with some appropriate clothing I've successfully biked my daughter to school several times each week with our trail-a-bike attached behind mine. It's fun, I get exercise, and we're saving money. We also get the occasional comment from other parents when we show up on bikes in our skiing helmets about how 'amazing't it is we can bike in the winter.

I can't imagine myself doing any of this without discovering this website 5 years ago. It is by far and away the most mustacian thing I have done so far.

Badass!
Welcome to the Biking in the Snow Club, badass x 10  :)

 

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