One car with families

[big_slacker]

The e-bike thread got me thinking again about a one car situation, and I'm curious about the situations in your own lives that makes or breaks the decision to have one car.

My wife and I have opposing commute schedules so one car would technically work, especially if I had an e-bike for days when weather or just me needing recovery (old beat up athlete) would make biking to work a big effort.

OTOH we have 2 kids, and if one car 4 days a week it's me at home with them. I'm sure there are 1 car families out there in similar situations. When the other person is using the car and you're with kids what does that look like? Especially if you want to go somewhere that isn't walking distance?

I mean, we've got our gym, library and grocery stores all within a couple of miles sort of see it being workable but kind of a PITA? We live in the Seattle area, so I envision gearing up for weather for 20 minutes to take a 2 mile ride to the gym towing 70 lbs of kids in a trailer, strip off all the gear at the gym, do a hard ass workout and then repeat for the way back.

I guess what I'm getting at is do you think it makes sense to give up the flexibility of 2 cars if both of those cars are owned free and clear and the shared commuter one (honda fit) is fairly cheap to operate?

[smedleyb]

Towing two kids two miles to the gym, working out, then towing them back -- that's an incredibly badass workout regimen.   I think you got it. 

[KCM5]

Here are your options for when your spouse is at work and you/kids want to go somewhere:

1. Walk
2. Bike
3. Bus/Train
4. Cab/Uber
5. Drop spouse at work so you can have the car
6. Spouse does one of the first 4 options to get to work.

We mostly walk/bike but there are times when the bus is the better option. Or dropping the worker at work and using the car for the day then picking them up at the end of the day.

Things that make this work: I like to bike. We only have one kid. We live in a walkable neighborhood in a relatively small city. Job places are only 10/15 minutes from home, but in opposite directions. I don't like taking care of cars.

Things that work against us: We live in a place with real winter. The city doesn't have the greatest bike infrastructure, but its adequate. My kid hates riding on the bike when its cold (I'm hoping to mitigate that this year with a trailer rather than seat on the bike).

Really, we only have one car because we don't like cars. The fact that we save money is a bonus. And I love getting places under my own power. I see a car as more of a burden. So I don't want one, but tolerate it because it gets us places that would be challenging to get to otherwise.

Do what seems worth it to you. 

[CanuckExpat]

Do you have access to ZipCar et al?

[Shane]

DW and I have chosen to have only one vehicle since 2007. It's worked fine for us and has allowed us to save a lot more money and FIRE earlier than if we'd had to pay for 2 cars for the past 9 years.

Sometimes it would've been more convenient to have 2 vehicles, but we've managed to make it work. Since 2009 my wife has been a SAHM. On days when she and my daughter needed a vehicle for some reason, they had to drop me off and pick me up from work. Since that was kind of a PITA for them, they didn't do it that often. Usually they just stayed home while I was at work.

In 5 days we're selling our remaining car, moving to a big city, and going to experiment with going carless for awhile. I can't wait. I hate owning cars, but where we've lived for the past 20 years it would have been very difficult to get by without at least one vehicle.

[SimplyMarvie]

Once car for us works if and only if I had alternate transportation to work (car pooled with a neighbor, take a shuttle bus or public transportation) and Mr. Marvie has the car full-time while I'm working.

We have three kids, one of whom is still in a hefty car seat  so cabs and ubers generally don't work as transportation for him and there's not much bus access where we are, so that has limited our options to be a one car family. We'll be moving in the next year, and I'd really LOVE to get back down to one car, so we're looking for somewhere that I can take alternate transportation to work from.

[Cranky]

I don't drive, so we've always been a one car family, three kids and all, and my dh drove off in that car every morning.

Now, the key is that we always planned for that, and chose housing with that in mind. There have always been things we could walk to, but frankly - I am pretty happy staying home. I don't know about you, but there's plenty to do at my house!

We took walks, we made stuff, we read books, we played outside...

Now my kids are grown and I just walk to work. It's easy!

Having said that, if you live someplace really inaccessible, it's going to be trickier, but I do think you can get into a routine with it. People are used to just getting into the car and *going* but it's a heck of a luxury, and kind of a distraction.

[Thegoblinchief]

Without getting rid of the second car, make a trial run.

We got 18 months with 3 kids with 1 car but recently bought a second car and are much happier.

Plus, having 2 cars makes DIY repairs much less stressful because you don't need the car working RIGHT NOW.

[Crusader]

I doubt it would ever happen in my family. We are all going different places and no one wants to chaffeur anyone to get anywhere. The freedom to not have to worry about different people's schedules and where they are going to be is why we have three cars. We may be able to go down to two, but it goes up to the issue I stated earlier. Though realistically easily workable, but not conducive to good freedom. Again this is my case and I do not see it realistically changing. We are more than able to afford it so scaling back on it would realistically not make us happy.

[Prairie Stash]

Bus
Taxi
Wait till the car is available (plan ahead)

Even a paid for car has costs; insurance, maintenance, depreciation etc.  You have to decide if the PITA is worth the savings from giving up a second car. You can also adjust your life too; for example if getting to the Gym is the problem, can you make a home gym? How do other people in your area survive without cars? In every city there's people without cars and they somehow mange to live, try figuring out what they do.

[MayDay]

We used to have one car and a baby.  H road his bike or bussed to work.  I drove to work (~17 miles). 

We only needed the second car occasionally and when that happened we rented a car for the day.  This worked ok (they came and picked you up from the house and the price was reasonable).  It was a pain though because it took forever.  Now with the prevalence of Uber and car-share services, I am sure that would work.

The big thing is that carseats are a pain in the ass.  No way would I be Ubering with little kids.  Even now that they are in booster seats what the fuck do you do with the seats while you are at whereever you are?  Carry them along with you?  lol for days.  No. 

Now we live in a smaller town with no bus, no car rental places, etc. It is bike or nothing and it is not bike friendly.  The kids are right on the edge of being ok to stay home if I need to run H into work.  My definition of not fun= getting little kids into snow gear at 7 am to drive dad to work, then repeating right in the middle of dinner prep time. 

So, long story short, it depends on how much that at-home parent wants to get out and about, and how much is in walking/biking range.  I personally would go bonkers just staying home all day every day while H works.  So I would be having to run him to work 3 days a week to have the car during the day, which sucks.  For someone happy at home all day it is much easier. 

And since our second car is old, cheap, and no longer depreciating, eh, it isn't worth getting rid of.  Once the kids are older it will change to them needing to be driven more places, and you'll have a whole 'nother set of issues. 

That said, it is still my goal to eventually get down to one car.  It won't happen in our current town though, and it probably won't happen as long as we have kids in the house. 

[Aelias]

We have 2 careers, 2 kids, and 1 car.  Here's how it works:

1) Husband has the driving commute, and our daycare is out near his office.  So he has primary pick-up-drop-off responsibility

2) I commute via public transit. I usually have to drive at least 1-2 times per month for work, and I use Zipcar for that.  Work compensates me for the "mileage" just as they would if I were driving my own car.

3) On weekends, we typically either just go places together or plan who gets the car when.

Really, the key is that we live in an urban area with lots of stuff nearby (parks, groceries, drugstore, library, restaurants etc.) and all kinds of transportation options.  If we were living in the suburbs, it would be tough.

The only thing that's kind of annoying is that we cannot take anyone other than our family in the car.  When we have guests, we end up taking two cars wherever we're going.

[kanga1622]

DH and I have had one car since 2002. In the last 6 years since we've added kids to the mix, it makes things a bit more challenging but we are able to compensate. Yes, that sometimes means everyone gets to drive me to work on a day they need the car (DH doesn't work during the summer), but it isn't a big deal.

The saving grace for us is that DH and I both work less than a mile from our home. Our daycare is across town so that is the most difficult issue.

You just have to determine what you value and how you can manage. This year we will likely have to pay for the after school program for our oldest as DH's office got moved and his scheduled changed so he can't be there to pick up DS right after school. Do we love this, no! But is it a whole lot cheaper than having a second car and having me take a "lunch" break at 3 so I can shuttle one child from school to DH's office.

For us it is all in the planning. We don't have taxis, and would NOT use the public "buses" available in town (we know the drivers and don't trust our kids' lives with them).

[dilinger]

OTOH we have 2 kids, and if one car 4 days a week it's me at home with them. I'm sure there are 1 car families out there in similar situations. When the other person is using the car and you're with kids what does that look like? Especially if you want to go somewhere that isn't walking distance?

I mean, we've got our gym, library and grocery stores all within a couple of miles sort of see it being workable but kind of a PITA? We live in the Seattle area, so I envision gearing up for weather for 20 minutes to take a 2 mile ride to the gym towing 70 lbs of kids in a trailer, strip off all the gear at the gym, do a hard ass workout and then repeat for the way back.

You know about G+O Family Cyclery (in Greenwood) and Electric Lady (in Central District), right?  Head over there, test ride some cargo bikes.  Sell the second car, replace it with a cargo E-Bike that can haul kiddos.  Given Seattle's climate, I'd suggest one with a rain cover, especially if the kids are smaller; something like a Bullitt rather than an Xtracycle.  Or get a Haul-A-Day if you'll be riding to the bus and wanting to put the bike on the bus.  The electric assist will help with the additional weight/hills and extend your range quite a bit.  You're probably looking at $4-5k, or $2-4k without the E-assist.  It's a lot for a bike, but as long as you store it indoors it will retain its value and burn calories instead of gas.  I spent $3.5k on mine back in 2012 (a Cetma with a rain cover that I use to cart around 1 kid), and use it daily.  What normal people spend on a tank of gas, that's what I spend on the bike in a year (for maintenance).

Anyway, try either of those shops.  The people there can help you figure out what your needs are, and at least G+O (I haven't been to Electric Lady yet) won't try to pressure you to get something you don't need.

[big_slacker]

OTOH we have 2 kids, and if one car 4 days a week it's me at home with them. I'm sure there are 1 car families out there in similar situations. When the other person is using the car and you're with kids what does that look like? Especially if you want to go somewhere that isn't walking distance?

I mean, we've got our gym, library and grocery stores all within a couple of miles sort of see it being workable but kind of a PITA? We live in the Seattle area, so I envision gearing up for weather for 20 minutes to take a 2 mile ride to the gym towing 70 lbs of kids in a trailer, strip off all the gear at the gym, do a hard ass workout and then repeat for the way back.

You know about G+O Family Cyclery (in Greenwood) and Electric Lady (in Central District), right?  Head over there, test ride some cargo bikes.  Sell the second car, replace it with a cargo E-Bike that can haul kiddos.  Given Seattle's climate, I'd suggest one with a rain cover, especially if the kids are smaller; something like a Bullitt rather than an Xtracycle.  Or get a Haul-A-Day if you'll be riding to the bus and wanting to put the bike on the bus.  The electric assist will help with the additional weight/hills and extend your range quite a bit.  You're probably looking at $4-5k, or $2-4k without the E-assist.  It's a lot for a bike, but as long as you store it indoors it will retain its value and burn calories instead of gas.  I spent $3.5k on mine back in 2012 (a Cetma with a rain cover that I use to cart around 1 kid), and use it daily.  What normal people spend on a tank of gas, that's what I spend on the bike in a year (for maintenance).

Anyway, try either of those shops.  The people there can help you figure out what your needs are, and at least G+O (I haven't been to Electric Lady yet) won't try to pressure you to get something you don't need.

I live on the eastside and hadn't heard of either of those. I'm a huge bike dork and think something like that of course interests me!

OTOH buying a $5k bike to get ride of a $6k car (granted with operating costs) to make my life less convenient is kind of a tough sell, haha!

[rocketpj]

Wow. I sometimes think, when reading this forum, that I am not as mustachian as many on here.  Not on this thread.

We went up to one car (from none) in 2010 when we moved to a smaller town.  Neither of us ever use it to commute.  About 90% of the car usage is to take one or the other kid to an event, with another 10% our own socializing.  We buy groceries while the kid is on the ice/in the dojo/on the diamond etc.

I can't even imagine keeping a second car.  I don't think I could ever justify the cost to myself.  I'm not being smug, but seriously, how does it make sense to drive to the gym, then spend time on a cardio machine?

I live on the West Coast of BC, so I get the weather thing, but honestly - rain is easy to dress for.  A good set of cycling gear can last a really long time (I bought my now decrepit cycling jacket in 98).  And kids are kids, they will adapt.

[dilinger]

If it helps, you can think of it like this: in 5 years when you go to sell that $6k car, you'll get $1k for it.
In 5 years when you go to sell that $5k bike, you'll get $4k if you took good care of it.  You can look at the $5k expenditure (assuming you buy the fanciest one possible, use it for 5 years but keep it stored indoors and don't crash it, and then sell it for $4k) as $5k opportunity cost (let's say roughly $200/yr?) and $1k of actual cost, for a total of $2k.

Need an example?  Here's an xtracycle that G+O sells for $900: http://familycyclery.com/cargo-joe/.  Sold on ebay for $800: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Xtracycle-Cargo-Joe-Folding-Family-And-Utility-Bike-/252417153841?hash=item3ac53c1b31:g:M8wAAOSwMNxXVNpc

Here's another one; a clearly well-used Bullitt that's even got some rust on it but still sold for $2k: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Larry-Vs-Harry-Bullitt-Cargo-Bike-/122013753252?hash=item1c68961fa4:g:N-wAAOSwMNxXXa8n
I don't know what G+O sells them for, but SplendidCycles down in Portland sells them for around $3k: http://www.splendidcycles.com/products/bullitt-cargo-bikes/

Note that batteries may throw that cost equation out of whack.  I don't actually have any e-assist stuff; I don't know how expensive the batteries are, how long they last, etc.

[seattlecyclone]

Our family is two working adults and a seven-month-old baby. We live in Seattle. We own one car. My son's day care is a half mile away from our house. I push him over there in the stroller in the morning and take the bus to work from there. My wife works farther away so she commutes by car (often carpooling). She picks up my son at day care after work. All three of us get around pretty often by transit and on foot.

I think getting the daily routine sorted out is the most important part. For other things there's always a way to figure something out.

I agree with MayDay that car seats are a pain in the ass to move around. We haven't used services like Uber or Zipcar within the city for that reason, plus there just hasn't been a need. Even before we had a kid we very rarely found ourselves wanting to go to two separate places that both were inconvenient to access without a car. That hasn't changed since. You don't need a car seat on the bus!

[ambimammular]

We're one car, 2 kids, 2 adults. I'm SAHM for a little longer, but we've been making it work for 7 years now. Most days the car sits in the garage because DH bikes.

It used to worry me that there could be the small-child-accident-emergency on the rare day the car is gone, but my best friend lives across the street. She's in the same family set up as we are, so we think of each other's cars as the back up plan.

(We think of each other's kitchens as the Other Pantry as well. Super convenient for both houses. If we ever move, we're dragging the neighbors with us.)

[rocketpj]

I strongly recommend joining a car co-op, Zip car or Car2go as a viable second car option if it is really looking like you will need to be in 2 places at once on occasion.

That or work for an additional 5 years later in life I guess.

[big_slacker]

Wow. I sometimes think, when reading this forum, that I am not as mustachian as many on here.  Not on this thread.

I can't even imagine keeping a second car.  I don't think I could ever justify the cost to myself.  I'm not being smug, but seriously, how does it make sense to drive to the gym, then spend time on a cardio machine?

I live on the West Coast of BC, so I get the weather thing, but honestly - rain is easy to dress for.  A good set of cycling gear can last a really long time (I bought my now decrepit cycling jacket in 98).  And kids are kids, they will adapt.

I don't do cardio, I slang iron. :D

I do ride the hell out of some bikes though, sunday I did 15+ miles and 2000+ vert on the trails. Full rigid singlespeed BTW, so I skipped the monday bike commute due to some leg fatigue. Woulda done it on an e-bike if I had one, haha!

In terms of comparo, you've gotta consider starting point and progress. Not long ago I had $10k+ in watches, german family hauler, wasteful jeep I drove 5k miles a year and one year my wife spent $12k at nordstrom alone. Since getting on this train we've got a nice reliable subie wagon for family/outdoors stuff, a cheap honda fit we share for commutes, $120k+ saved up for retirement and a *LOT* less spending on meaningless junk. I'm happy others are further along, but we're getting there.

In your other post you mentioned working 5 more years to operate a 2nd car I'm assuming. I figure it costs around $2k a year to drive the Fit all in. Starting at $6k with $2k a year invested that's 36k or so over 10 years (being nice and assuming bikes cost nothing over the same time). $36k is not in any way adding 5 years to my working life unfortunately, I wish my costs were so low.

Now it's not nothing either and if we can make it work I'd love to give it a shot. I like the idea of doing a dry run for a week or two without just going all in and selling the car immediately. Summer is a great time to do it.

[daverobev]

Currently have one car. One sprog. One more sprog on the way.

Our lives shift quite a lot, but what with #2 sprog coming I think it'll be fine if I can make it to DW's maternity leave - I'll be SAHD for the next few months, for a few days a week. I work from home when I do work.

But when DW is at work - and she's going to be away at work more soon (she's been on one day in the office lately, but that's changing as she tries to get some hours in before mat leave!) - I really miss having a car.

Pros, we live in smallish town Canada, so I can walk everywhere. With one sprog and stroller it's ok.

Cons, in the winter it's just too much faff. On the hot humid summer days just walking to the grocery store or park is hard work (pushing stroller).

So yeah. I just have to make it through the next 4-ish months then we'll be fine with one car for another 6-8 til my DW starts working again, at which point I will get a car.

Were we to move to the city, one car would be plenty as there are buses. Light rail, even!

I will probably get a minivan and have it half set up so I can vandwell in it, half set up to haul sprogs to whatever one hauls sprogs to.

[CanuckExpat]

Obligatory link: How To Be A One Car Family

[dilinger]

Now it's not nothing either and if we can make it work I'd love to give it a shot. I like the idea of doing a dry run for a week or two without just going all in and selling the car immediately. Summer is a great time to do it.

Can you store it at someone else's house for a bit?  Or do you have a (car-free/car-lite) friend/co-worker/family member who could use it for an upcoming move/birth/shopping event/etc and keep it for a few weeks ?  That would give you a taste of what it's like, and hopefully allay any fears you might have about not having that car in your driveway.  That's kind of key - if it's sitting there, you'll use it.  At least, that's how it worked with me before I got rid of my car.