Sold my car yesterday

[merlin7676]

Was going to sell it in August or September but timetable to move got pushed to May so decided to just go and sell it now. So today I took the bus..took a bit of time.

Normally I'm out the door at 5:28am and drive to work by 6:00am. Today out the door at 5:12am and 3 buses later arrived to work at 6:25am....so I suppose not too bad...and I have no car payment, no car insurance, no car tabs, no gas, and no car maintainance now.....so just traded money for time.

When we move, I'll be a bit closer and can reduce from 3 buses to 2 and shave off an additional 18 minutes.

[Thinkum]

Aweseome! I love the rail system since the buses take so much longer. Funny thing is that a point just 7 miles north of us, one street, the whole way, in a car that takes 20 minutes, yet it takes 3 buses and about 1.5 hours via bus. Go figure. Glad it works for you though!

[bobechs]

Be aware (although you don't give enough numbers to model your situation to more than two significant digits) that giving up 80 minutes a day extra commuting time for eg. dollar savings of 20 miles of driving x $0.50/mile you are 'earning' $7.25/hr -less than Federal minimum wage- for your extra time on the bus every day.

Not trying to harsh your mellow and no doubt there will be a backlash here to this napkin-edge calculation.  You don't have to pay taxes on this imputed income for example plus the warm planet-saving feeling and won't someone please think of the dogs and cats no longer at risk from zoned-out car drivers?, etc...

It must be worth it to you, I suppose.  But it looks marginal to me, having commuted all over the world, usually by public transport.

[trammatic]

A lot of buses have bike racks on the front for free.  Is there any way you can eliminate 1 or 2 of the buses by riding to an intermediate stop?

[trix76]

Congrats! I sold mine about a month ago, and now my boyfriend and I are a single-car family. It was weird to see a stranger drive off in the car I've had for 5+ years, but after a couple of days, I didn't give it another thought! Except when I looked at my bank account :)

[PrinsKheldar]

Awesome that you sold your car! Congrats!
I remeber the feeling when I sold my own car (quite a while back). I was at first a bit scared about all the fuzz I thought it would bring into my life, living car-free. Almost at once after the car actual was sold I experienced a sort of overwhelming feeling of calmness. I felt that this decision was so right for me for so many reasons... Good for the environment and good for my personal economy but perhaps most importantly it was a great step in the direction of a more "slow-paced"/ "harmonical" life. My life has been far LESS stressfull without the car.

I'm curious though, have you told people around you? ...at work and such, about your change? I remember not telling anyone for a while and then just enjoying to walk around and feel pretty great, knowing how much I was saving, without anyone knowing. ;-)

[merlin7676]

Awesome that you sold your car! Congrats!
I remeber the feeling when I sold my own car (quite a while back). I was at first a bit scared about all the fuzz I thought it would bring into my life, living car-free. Almost at once after the car actual was sold I experienced a sort of overwhelming feeling of calmness. I felt that this decision was so right for me for so many reasons... Good for the environment and good for my personal economy but perhaps most importantly it was a great step in the direction of a more "slow-paced"/ "harmonical" life. My life has been far LESS stressfull without the car.

I'm curious though, have you told people around you? ...at work and such, about your change? I remember not telling anyone for a while and then just enjoying to walk around and feel pretty great, knowing how much I was saving, without anyone knowing. ;-)

It's been about 2 weeks and so far it's been painless. I've been busing and while it does make for a long day (over an hr to get to work and almost 2 hours to get home) it's still less stressful and cheaper than driving. We did keep one car so I've driven 2x now..once for a work meeting off site and once for a small out patient procedure.
I did tell people and most of my friends think it's great (live in the city) while all my co-workers think I'm nuts. I've already had 3 offers for rides from work to the bus stop (1 mile walk) but the weather has been nice so I've declined and I'd just have to wait at the stop for the next bus anyway so not worth rushing to get there.

[LouLou]

I plan to do the same thing in the fall. I would have one bus and one train to work, but I can work on public transportation. I will also live in a multi  generational household with two other cars. 97% of my car use is just for my work commute. Plus my employer will pay for the monthly pass, so I'm basically spending tons to go to work when I can do that for free.

I'm going to try it out this week. It's encouraging to see that it worked out for you.