I'm trying to lower our monthly expenses, not increase them. So of course I don't want higher rent. But maybe it's worth it?
A house just came up for rent in the part of town I'd like to live in because it's a couple blocks from my kids' school, a couple blocks to the library, a few blocks to three different playgrounds, a few blocks from the pool, walking distance to a trail that can be biked on as well, walking and biking distance to the elevator that takes you to the downtown area for anything you might want there. I think if we lived there, we'd only need the cars to get ourselves to work, daughter's piano lessons, and the grocery store. Although of course I'm working on being badass enough to bike to the grocery store. At least in this part of town, there are bike lanes, unlike our current location.
Putting aside the fact that this walking/biking life sounds nice and in line with our lifestyle goals, does it make financial sense to spend $150 more in rent each month to use the cars less? I don't really know how to calculate it. We'd definitely use the cars less but I can't say we'd be ale to give them up completely, so maybe there's no savings after the increase in rent is factored in.