7 Reasons Why You Should Get Rid Of Your Car
Tuesday July 21st, 2009 // Written by Odum
One of the first things that came to my mind when Andrea and I decided to move towards a green lifestyle was ditching our car for some bikes and a carrier for the kids. After all, personal vehicles are responsible for 25% of all global warming pollutants entering our atmosphere and if we are going to go green we might as well tackle our biggest offender first.
So when I first suggest the idea of selling our car I was greeted with a quick and firm response of “never gonna happen”. Well, here we are, four months later, without a car and I can honestly say much happier because of it. At first even thinking about living without a car seemed practically impossible, especially with kids, but we found out quickly that it is quite the opposite.
Here are seven sure fire reasons to get you started thinking that you can live without your car.
- Save a ridiculous amount of money
- Guaranteed to shed off unwanted fat and get you in better shape
- Learn to do things and plan much more efficiently
- Often get to places just as fast as or even faster than you would by driving
- Significantly lower your carbon footprint
- Healthier grocery shopping
- Actually enjoy getting around
According to CAA’s 2009 Driving Costs Guide, the average annual cost of owning and operating a vehicle can range from just under $8000 to upwards of $14,000. Obviously these numbers will change based on factors like how much you drive, what kind of car you drive and if your vehicle is paid off. To determine how much your vehicle is costing you check out CAA’s guide and follow the formula given, you might be in for a real shocker.
After trading in that gas guzzler for some pedal power you can get used to the fact that you’ll be constantly burning up tons of calories. If you live a 15 minute bike ride from your work and you travel at a moderate pace of 20 km/h and weight in at a modest 160 pounds, you’ll be burning almost 1500 calories a week just from commuting to and from work. That’s shedding just under a pound a week! And you can be sure you’ll be doing much more cycling than just going to and from work. Check out this calorie counter to see how much you’d burn each week.
Unfortunately bicycles don’t have the capacity to transport large loads like trunks and back seats can. So often a little bit of thought needs to go into planning your weekend errand runs. Having to go from one part of town to another and then back again because you forgot that one thing you must have right now can be a real pain.
Sure you might be laughing thinking this can’t be true, but just think about it for a minute. If you live in a major urban centre (like a large portion of today’s population does), how many times driving home from work do you get stuck in rush hour traffic, traffic jams, construction, or a string of never ending red lights? Nothing brings a smile to my face more than cruising past car after car as they are all stuck in traffic while I get home 10 minutes after I shut down my computer at the office…every day.
The average car will pump out around 11,000 pounds of CO2 a year, yikes! This number increases significantly if you are driving a huge gas burner like an SUV or pick-up truck. I won’t even get into all the other pollutants that cars spew out into our atmosphere.
A nice habit that you just might find yourself picking up is limiting your groceries to only the essential (and healthy) foods. Because you are limited by the amount you can carry back with you, even with a nice pannier, often there is a choice to be made. Do I buy my milk, eggs and bread or do I leave them behind to make room for the tub of ice cream, cookies and frozen pizza?
Maybe one of the most underrated and least talked about point when it comes to getting a bike. Cycling is fun, really fun. And addictive. Once you get into it you’ll find yourself falling in love all over again. Say goodbye to traffic jams and parking frustrations and hello to fun, healthy commuting. Don’t be surprised if after a month of cycling you’ll be itching to get out there and challenge Lance for the title at the tour!
And remember, if you need to get to some place out of town or just want to go on a trip somewhere, renting a car is always a great option. Many rental places have low fixed rates for weekend car rentals and they’ll even pick you up and drop you off.
So what’s your excuse for keeping your car?
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Hi Andrea and Odum! Congratulations on already making big strides in becoming a green family. I wish you strength during the challenge of dealing with Tristan’s diagnosis.
Hello Lauren,
Thank you so much for the kind words, they really mean a lot to us!
A big HELLO to both of you.
Just wanted to take a few minutes to tell you what a wonderful job you are doing with your blog.
Your courage is inspiring and without a doubt will be of service to many.
Tristan is fortunate to have you both as his parents and I’m very proud to be his grandmaman.
Keep up the good work and take care – you are always cared for.
I’m findig already that we have saved money just because we are not “popping to the shop” every day for none essentials. buy a paper and a drink and some snacks and wow ! You can throw away the best part of £10 right there on really nothing.
Also we are learning to make do with what we have in the house…For example yesterday we ran low on juice, the kids grumbled and whined but by the end of the day they were DRINKING WATER!!! **shock! Horror! Gasp!** Also I had a “omg the pantries bare!” moment but still managed to cook a veggie chillie with paprika potatoes…which everyone said was yummy!
The benifits are already looking pretty darn good from here
x
That’s another great point. Its so easy to zip down to the store with a car and buy stuff you don’t really need. Over the course of a year I imagine that the money you’d save on cutting out those impulsive and unnecessary purchases would be considerable. Just another latte factor.
For example, if you take the $10 you spend each week on unnecessary items at the store (I bet people spend much more than that each week) and decide to invest it, in 25 years that $10 a week compounds to over $82 000 at 12% interest.