We bought a car!!!

We decided to purchase a budget subcompact car when we found out we would be expecting our first baby. It was a begrudging choice (I’m not a car person at all). It was elevated by the fact that we will be moving and buying another house in a secluded cul-de-sac near exceptional schools. Very safe and suitable for properly raising kids.

 Related Reads:

• The 4 Main Benefits of Car-Free Living
• Financial Pros and Cons of Autonomous Self Driving Car Technology
• 9 Big Reasons Why You Should Choose To Live Without a Car

Living in our neighborhood with literally 3 bustling highways right next to us was great for my Airbnb + getting to places without cars but not for the next phase of our life. I’ll miss the $300 dropped on gas and car insurance every month. The highway pollution, noise, and nutjob drivers will not be missed when we get our little baby to our new home.

Our car is an inexpensive, adorable little Honda. I’ve heard my share of cheap car nightmares so we went for a solid, boring little car. Even though our little sub-compact car is “inexpensive” (considering a Tesla is $80k)…cars are still probably one of the most expensive purchases out there.

A single automobile can cost more than the amount of student debt accumulated in a 4-year university. On the bright side, thanks to the Internet – we can buy, sell, and advertise cars online with ease.

The Rise Of Online Car Selling

The Internet made online shopping possible.  Of course, car shopping also joined the revolution, with more people finding their dream cars in places like Cars Direct, Auto List, Car Gurus, and Hemmings etc. Private sellers usually use social media sites or online listing sites such as Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. There are even car sellers that offer free car delivery nationwide (like Carvana). Traditional car dealerships seem like it was becoming out of date.

In addition to variety, online car selling eliminates the need to go lot by lot to look for potential cars. According to Autotrader, car buyers usually spent 59% of their car-buying time searching for car candidates online. JD Power’s 2016 study revealed that 22% of new-vehicle shoppers usually use social media sites to research. Most people who buy their cars online are usually looking for second-hand cars because of the financial benefits.

Advantages Of Buying Used Cars

One of the advantages of buying a used car is the lower price tag. Cars are one of the most easily depreciated properties because of moving parts and natural wear. In 2017, the average price of a new car is $36,113. On the other hand, the average price of a used car is $19,400, which means you can almost save half of the price by buying a used car.

Consumer Reports suggests that when buying a used car, look for three-year-old cars so you can get recent modern features for half the price of a new one. Our little Fit is 3 years old, used. Buying a used car, you can save money on the state sales tax too.

These days, cars are built to last, so even a car manufactured half a decade ago can still be reliable when properly maintained. Even manufacturers offer extended long-term car warranties, especially for high mileage vehicles. Extended warranty providers also sell their products at a very competitive price.

Private Seller VS Car Dealerships

Before you find your car, it is a good thing to know what budgeted numbers you’re working with and what features you’ll need. Factors such as gas mileage, exterior, security, safety features, and brand reliability play into it.

In our instance, we found 2 very comparable cars – one from a dealership and one from a private seller with an almost $750 price difference (private was cheaper). So our dilemma is now…should we buy from a reputable car dealership or from a private seller?

“That’s Interesting!“

• Panhandling: How Much Money Do Panhandlers REALLY Make?
• How To Make Money As An Instagram Influencer (Internet Fame That Pays?)
• 39 People Who Got Richer AFTER Quitting Their Day Jobs
• Can Being a “Friend-For-Rent” Really Make Extra Money?

Reasons To Buy Second-Hand Cars From Private Sellers

Private car sellers usually use indie, free means of advertising their cars. Craigslist is among the most used platform if a private owner wants to sell his or her car.

1. Save More Money

Buying a used car from a private seller is a good option for people who are knowledgeable in cars, as well as people under a tight budget. One of the advantages here is the fact that there is no “dealer fees”, which can cost up to $1,000 just because of dealership fees.  In addition, since private sellers don’t sell their cars for profit, they will abstain from selling you up upgrades. Buying and paying in full from a private seller is even better if you can afford it.

2. Private Sellers Are Flexible (= Chance For Negotiation)

Dealerships will usually have a “markup” in their products. The reason for this is because dealerships are businesses, which means that there should be a profit in every transaction to keep their business afloat. Whereas private sellers will usually sell their cars to get rid of it, and sometimes, as soon as possible for quick cash flow.

There are a variety of reasons why private sellers want to get rid of their cars, and you might get a good bargain out of it. One such example is when they need fast cash or planning to upgrade for a better car.

3. Meeting The Previous Owner

Last but not least is the chance to meet the actual owner. Everyone knows the fewer number of owners, typically also means less risk of a bad car. Having a single owner car history is a plus for sellers. Although dealerships have car histories, you never actually meet who the previous owner is. Meeting the original owner and understanding their lifestyle can tell you a lot of things – like how well it was handled and how the owner took care of it.

Things To Look Out For When Buying From Private Sellers

1. Compare Prices of Cars Online

This is really easy to do and there’s no reason not to check Kelly Blue Book. There are free available price checking services online such as KBB or True Car. If the car needs repairs or minor things here and there, you need to let the seller shoulder the damage or ask for a price reduction (which can be awkward.)

2. Seller’s Identity & Documentation

The seller’s identity is as important as the CarFax car documentation. You can verify if the car documentations are valid by checking government-issued IDs of their owners (e.g. seller’s name and address in the vehicle registration form).

3. Use Reliable & Traceable Payment Options

Don’t use cash to pay for your second-hand purchase. Instead, always use a traceable payment portal so you can file a dispute if ever there is a problem after the purchase. Avoid using wire transfers such as Western Union or MoneyGram.

4. Use Anti-Theft Car Tools Before Closing

Even if you pay money for it, a stolen car is still a stolen car, and chances are, you won’t have any good claim on it. One way to check if the car is stolen is to perform a VIN check. Be wary if the VIN is tampered or scratched. You can then check the VIN through the VINCheck database from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). 

5. You Must Inspect With a Trusted Mechanic

Last but not least, inspect the car thoroughly and don’t do it yourself for God’s sakes (unless you’re a mechanic yourself.) Request a test drive and permission to bring a mechanic. Cost to inspect a vehicle from a mechanic can cost $200 to $300 dollars. I know that sounds like a lot of money but your car is likely costing into the tens of thousands. Bring an expert and you’ll thank yourself down the road. This is to ensure that there are no hidden defects that the seller is trying to hide (or they themselves don’t even know about.) 

 Related Reads:

• How Much Money Does Our Frugality Save? (Spoiler: $56,000+/Year)
• Eat Ugly, Save Money? Imperfect Produce Review (+ FREE COUPON)
• Everything ‘Married…With Children’ Did That Kept Them Poor

Reasons To Buy Used From Car Dealerships

There are generally three main types of dealerships: the dealers that specialize in a specific brand (like a Honda or Audi), dealerships like Enterprise (selling retired rental fleets), and family own/totally independent small-time car dealerships. The general rule when I was doing research and talking among friends was to get a used car from single brand-authorized dealers since they specialize.

1. Cars Are Typically Certified

Dealership mechanics usually test their goods before letting making the product available for sale, especially in used items. There’s also a chance that the dealership already does the repair on their inventories which they do to raise the price of their products. There is also a guarantee that the car is not stolen.

Dealers get dibs on cars coming off car leases plus a good variety of trade-in from other car buyers. Dealers must thoroughly inspect all vehicles and repair parts before putting them up for sale. They will sometimes offer perks like free oil changes or free car wash for a year etc. You are not going to have any of these things buying from a private seller.

2. Available Warranties

Dealerships usually offer warranties and certain day no-question asked return policies. Dealerships are useful for people who don’t know a lot about cars. Once something goes wrong, he or she can just call and the dealership will do the rest within reason, especially if it’s an oversight on their end. They have a business and brand reputation to keep up unlike private sellers who have no real skin in the game.

3. Financing Options 

A lot of private sellers usually require a full payment because of the need for cash or other reasons. One-time payment also means less hassle for private sellers, but not for the buyer. Dealerships usually provide financing options to people who currently have tight budgets.

Things To Look Out For When Buying From Car Dealers

1. Watch Out for Money Traps

Because dealers will profit in order to stay afloat the market, most of sales representatives will try to sell you warranties and upgrades that you might not need (a.k.a. extras). Before being swayed by convincing arguments, you should ask yourself first if you really need the extra feature.

Dealerships will also prefer financing over a buyer with straight forward cash. That is because when a customer comes in and uses the dealer’s in-house financing, they actually receive a commission for closing the loan AND the whole profit from the vehicle sale. If you are financing, there are misc. document and loan origination fees so watch out.

2. Don’t Be Afraid to Say “Not Today” 

Dealerships have a certain…unsavory reputation due to the sales pressure they apply. Practice saying “no” to the purchases that you’re unsure of and bring someone who is experienced in car buying to come with you.

3. Scope Out Multiple Dealerships

Last but not least, don’t settle into just one dealership. Don’t be afraid to walk away. Make the time and effort to look for another dealer’s offers (super easy with the Internet). If you mention that you already made a visit from another dealer, you’ll come off as a savvier shopper.

Related Reads:

• 11+ Companies Offering Free (or Seriously Discounted) Internet At Home
• 40 Everyday Household Items You Should Buy Secondhand Instead of New

What We Ended Up Doing

I was very tempted by Carvana initially. The online-only dealership that delivers you a car and streamlines the entire process online. But it bothered me a bit that we were going to buy our first ever car sight unseen. The Carvana price was pretty good but I’m not much of a risk-taker.

Buying from a private seller was also risky because my husband and I are timid people. Craigslist just seemed sketchy for big purchases like this. Our options widdled down to nearby dealerships and we pay slightly more for it in the end for that return policy and condition guarantee.

We also paid more for a slightly newer car assembled in Japan. There’s a slight premium for cars coming out of Japanese plants vs plants in Mexico. I’m not conclusive on the validity of this of course, but the Honda fanatic forums were very pro-Japan in terms of assembly and quality.

TL;DR – For our growing family we chose a budget value, super safe, low-maintenance, no-frill, boring, reliable little car from a reputable dealership to get us from point A to B. The end

Do you think we made the right choice going with a dealer? Do you have any experience buying or selling with a private seller?

$1,405. That was the reported national average monthly rent in the US as of June last year. With property prices so high, it’s no wonder that so many people have to resort to living out of their cars to save money.

In fact, according to recent reports, the number of people living in their vehicles has ‘exploded’ in recent years as property prices have risen. Right now, hundreds of thousands of people are living in their car across the country to escape paying rent.

On our family’s long drive down the coast, we opted to sleep and live out of our car. We were unable to find proper accommodations last minute that accepted dogs. The only choice was $225 per night at a 2-star hotel. Living out of a car made me realize how super economical it was, especially if done right. We saved $450 by making our car our camping ground.

For some people, this is the last resort; it’s a make-shift solution to get by while in between housing. For others, it’s a way to avoid expensive price gouges, live a freer, more frugal life.

Whatever your own reasons are, living in your car can be a great way to save money, but it’s not without its own set of challenges. In this in-depth guide, I’m going to be showing you how to live in a car legally, safely, and cheaply. Just read on and you’ll have all the information you need. 

 Related Reads:

• 4 Profound Things I Wish I Knew Before Growing Up
• Effective But Semi Illegal Ways To Pay Off Student Loans
• Top 5 Financial Mistakes I’ve Made In My Early 20s

The Basics of Living in Your Car

Ok, let’s start with the basics. What are the essential things you need to get by living in your car? 

It’s tempting to think you only need those three basic living essentials: food, water, and shelter. However, in reality, most of us feel we need quite a bit more than that to have a decent quality of life. 

With that in mind, here’s what you really need to live in your car:

• A place to park
• Something comfortable to sleep on
• A place to shower (and use the toilet)
• Food (duh!)
• A permanent mailing address to receive mail (and for a bunch of other reasons too)
• Somewhere to store your stuff
• Power for your devices
• Gas and other vehicle-related things (like maintenance tools, access to tires in case you need to change yours, etc.)
• A way to stay safe

If you’re going to be living in your car for a prolonged period of time, you need to make sure that you can tick off all of these boxes. I’ll be touching on most of these things throughout this article.

Before we move on, though, here are three more basic principles to live by when you’re living in your car:

1. Be discreet – you don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to yourself
2. Change location often – for legal reasons and to stay safe.
3. Prioritize your own safety – don’t stay anywhere you feel unsafe, lock your doors, and have quick access to an alarm or another personal safety device.

Legalities Of Living in Your Car

If you’re living in your car, it’s important to be aware of what’s legal and what’s not. Unfortunately, living in a vehicle is a bit of a legal grey area, and laws differ from state to state.

Generally, though, here’s what you need to know:

• Sleeping in your car on private property that you don’t own (or have permission to be on) is illegal
• Sleeping in your car on property owned by cities is often illegal but it depends on local laws
• If you’re parking on a public street, you need to stay within the local parking time limits (this is often up to 72 hours) or risk getting a parking ticket.

As I said, some states are more lenient than others. For example, in LA, there’s a complete ban on sleeping in your car between 9 PM and 6 AM if you’re parked on neighborhood streets. It’s also illegal to sleep in your car at any time of day or night near places like schools and parks.

Even if you’re not in violation of local parking laws, some police offices may be suspicious and ask you to move on if they notice you sleeping in your car in a public area. That’s why it’s always advisable to be discreet and change location regularly.

So, we’ve covered where you can’t sleep, Now let’s talk about where you can sleep in your car.

? Related Reads:

• The Hefty Financials Costs Behind Owning a McMansion
• The Confessions of a Houseporn Addict
• 30 Tried-and-True Hacks To Lower Your Electricity Bill

Where to Park and Sleep in Your Car (Legally)

When it comes to picking somewhere you can legally park and sleep in your car, these are probably your best six options…

1. Public Land

Public land includes places like national parks and forests. You can find them in almost every state. You can usually park in these areas legally. You’ll be out in the sticks but, on the plus side, you’ll have access to the great outdoors and a lot of privacy. 

If you’re sleeping in a national park with a lot of space, it’s a good idea to bring a tent and an inflatable mattress. That way, you can camp instead to avoid sleeping on your cramped car seat. Your spine will thank you, trust me!

2. Your Own Land

If you own a piece of land, it’s legal to park and sleep there. If you don’t, you could consider asking a friend or relative if you can park up on their driveway/garden.

3. Campsites

You usually have to pay to stay on campsites, but they’re also usually safer than the alternatives. You get your own dedicated plot so you can pitch up a tent (if you have one). Plus, you have access to shower facilities and a water supply.

4. Highway Rest Areas

Highway rest areas are set up specifically for drivers to sleep in so, of course, it’s legal to park up here overnight. They also often have restrooms that you can use to freshen up.

5. Walmart Car Parks

I’m not sure about how legal this is, but I do know that many people living in their cars sleep in Walmart parking lots. It’s safe, secure, and there’s almost always a Walmart nearby, which makes them a good option if you need somewhere to park up in a pinch.

6. Trucker Stops

Truck stops can be another good option. Just make sure you choose somewhere in a safe area. Try to make sure it’s also big, busy, and well-lit. Some truck stops have WiFi and shower facilities too.

Related Reads:

• Debt and Suicide – Why I’m Proud To Be A Grown-Up Tattletale
• The 11 Perks of Growing Up Poor

Where to Shower When You’re Living in a Car 

Even if you’re living in your car, it’s important to maintain good personal hygiene. Therefore, after you’ve slept, you’re going to want to shower (and probably use the toilet too).

My recommendation would be to get a gym membership and use the gym’s facilities to shower and freshen up. Some gym memberships can be as cheap as $10-$20 so it’s a worthwhile investment.

Alternatively, you could also:

• Shower at your local recreation center
• Use the facilities at a truck stop or rest area
• Purchase a portable shower head and hook it up to a water supply if you have access to one

When you need to use the bathroom, you can use any public bathroom you can find, which is easy if you’re in the city center – just head to the nearest mall! 

If you’re somewhere more rural, you could consider investing in a portable chemical toilet if you have space to store it in your car. You could also just do it the old fashioned way – dig a hole, do your business, and cover it up! 

Costs of Living In a Car

You’re probably wondering how much money you can save by living in a car, so let’s talk about costs. Even though you’ll be saving money on accommodation, there are other costs that come with living in a car that you’ll need to account for.

Assuming you plan on living a frugal lifestyle and keeping costs as low as possible, here’s what your monthly expense sheet might look like:

• Gas: $100 – $300 (depending on how far you drive)
• Insurance: $100 – $200 
• Water: $10 – $30 
• Food: $200 – $300 (for basic groceries/convenience store food; probably a lot more if you dine out often)
• Gym membership: $10 – $20 
• Parking: $100 (if you utilize free parking spots frequently)
• Misc: $100 (for any car repairs, coffee shop trips, etc)
• Total: $620 – $,1050

So with that in mind, how much money can you save by living in your car?

The short answer is probably around $1,000. That’s around the figure that most people living in their cars tend to arrive at. The long answer is that it really depends on your lifestyle, how frugal you are, and the cost of accommodation in the area where you live.

Bonus frugal tip: To save money, buy staples like rice and peanut butter in bulk and store these in your car.

Of course, these monthly expenses don’t account for other one-off purchases that you’d have to make too, so let’s move on and talk about those.

What You Need to Buy

Obviously, you’ll need a car. Ideally, though, you’d have a van or other large converted vehicle with a spacious, well-insulated interior. This will make things much more liveable. 

However, I know that a lot of you reading this are probably living in your car out of necessity rather than choice, so you might have to work with what you’ve got. If so, there are still some things you should try to buy to make living in your car more bearable. 

Related Reads:

• 11+ Companies Offering Free (or Seriously Discounted) Internet At Home
• 40 Everyday Household Items You Should Buy Secondhand Instead of New

At a minimum, you’ll need some pillows and a blanket to sleep on at night. Ideally, you should also spend money on:

• A P.O. Box (to receive mail – you’ll likely need a mailing address to take out a gym membership)
• A good quality flashlight
• Storage bins or bags to separate your clothes, toiletries, and other possessions (you can use the trunk to store bedding)
• Electric cooking devices like a small hob to cook your meals if you’re camping
• A tent so that you can get out of your car and lay on flat ground once in a while
• A blow-up mattress to sleep on
• A combo backup battery and air compressor in case you need to jump-start your car
• A spare tire and some tire sealant
• A waterproof cooler to store any perishable food items you buy
• A chemical toilet (porta-potty)
• Reflective window shades for added privacy at night time
• A power inverter to charge your electricals that don’t come with a car charger adapter
• A low-voltage cut out device to protect your car battery

Phew – that’s a lot of stuff. If you can’t afford it all, don’t worry, just prioritize the items you think you’ll need most and try to get those.

Dangers of Living in a Car

Now, I want to talk about the dangers of living in a car and how to avoid them. This is probably the most important thing to know about if you plan on living out of your vehicle. 

The biggest danger is from break-ins. A car parked on public land is at a greater risk than it would be if you parked it on private property or somewhere out of sight. Of course, it’s still unlikely that anyone will ever try to break in, but it’s better to be safe than sorry and to take precautions. We’ll talk more about these precautions in a few moments.

Another thing to be aware of is law enforcement. The police are there to protect us and keep us safe, but they do tend to be suspicious of people sleeping in cars. They’ll never do you harm, but it can be intimidating to have to deal with police officers in the middle of the night, which is why you should try to avoid drawing attention to yourself.

Living in your car can also put your physical health at risk. Living in such cramped quarters all the time puts you at risk of developing back pain and other musculoskeletal problems. It can also be dangerous to your mental health. 

For all of the above reasons, living in a car really should be a last resort and you should always aim to get more suitable living arrangements as soon as possible.

How To Live in a Car Safely

Here are some tips for staying safe while living in your car:

• Pick your parking spots carefully and opt for busy spaces with lots of other people around before sleeping
• Don’t make it obvious you’re sleeping in your car by stuffing rags in the window or covering them with sheets for privacy. If possible, opt for tinted windows or reflective shades instead. These are less conspicuous.
• Make sure someone knows where you are at all times. Inform friends or relatives of where you’re staying each night.
• Store personal safety devices in your glove box but make sure you do this legally and responsibly. In many states, for example, you can legally carry pepper spray in case of emergencies.

Pros and Cons of Living in Your Car

Ok, that about covers everything you need to know about living in your car. If you follow the advice above, you should be able to save money by living in your car safely and in reasonable comfort.

However, living in a vehicle certainly isn’t for everyone. That’s why, before we finish up, I thought it would be useful to list a few pros and cons of living in your car. Here they are.

Pros:

• You can save up to $1000 per month
• You don’t have to be tied down to a mortgage or rental agreement
• It’s a great way to get out and explore
• It encourages you to live a more adventurous lifestyle
• It’s a minimalist way of living

Cons:

• It’s less safe
• It can be cramped and uncomfortable
• You have little storage space
• It’s less hygienic
• It might get too cold or hot depending on where you live

Alternatives to Living in Your Car

If living in a car isn’t right for you, but you still want to save money on accommodation, you could consider one of the following instead:

• Get a roommate (or two) to split your rental costs with
• Try Airbnbing
• Consider housesitting or using sites like Workaway and Couchsurfing to find free accommodation
• Stay with friends or family for free
• Invest in an RV, or refurbish a van for more living space
• Buy a plot of land and build your own tiny house

Living in a car should probably not be in anyone’s longterm plans but if you’re in a pinch, living in a car can save big money compared to renting or motel hopping. Hopefully, that provides some food of thought!

Our brand of frugality is pretty typical (to a little extra strength) in the accumulation phase. My general belief is if you optimize and cultivated self-introspection so that your inner lives and inner mind are rich then whatever is on the outside matters less and less. I have always tried to pride myself on trying to be resilient and that’s because I cultivated within because my reality was bleak for a long time. If you grew up like me then you will understand that one of the “perks” of that is learning how to entertain yourself and developing a very rich inner life by closing your eyes.

The rainbow bridge of frugality varies a lot to different degrees. Our brand works for us but not for others, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that.

Not everyone is going to understand saving or intentional frugality because a good sum of people grew up accustomed to the middle-class comfort and set that as a baseline.

Being foreign-born, I was put in a different reality. It kind of reminds me of that saying, “What is normal for the spider, is chaos for the fly.”

“That’s Interesting!“

• Panhandling: How Much Money Do Panhandlers REALLY Make?
• How To Make Money As An Instagram Influencer (Internet Fame That Pays?)
• 39 People Who Got Richer AFTER Quitting Their Day Jobs
• Can Being a “Friend-For-Rent” Really Make Extra Money?

Our Brand of Frugality

How we live our life is what I define as our brand of frugality, everyone has their own because everyone has their own comfort zone.

For us specifically,  you can check out all of our monthly budget expense and financial report here.

They say a penny saved is a penny earned, but so is a penny not spent. Then the other saying…” saving a dollar is worth more than a dollar earned.”

’cause eeek, TAXES! Especially if you’re higher on the income totem pole.

So I went back and did the rough AGI figures too which is about overall 25% for us. That represents the more realistic numbers I’m going to summarize. It is absolutely necessary to calculate the pre-tax number because…dude, there is no way anyone could fully escape the Tax Man.

Not sure if Slender Man is scarier or the Tax Man?

…well, one of them we know is definitely real so…

~

Moving onto the numbers, I went fairly conservative with my figures. I’m thinking of a good to fair case scenario using the national averages of what I can find.

Notice the first 3 highest and most flexible expenses are housing, transportation, and food. We are going to do the top down budget route!

Highest expenses first and smaller expenses for dessert, now let’s start hacking!

Housing

Our mortgage, home insurance, and extra utilities come in at about $25,000 a year. Since we host on Airbnb full-time that means we technically live for free and earn some extra money along the way too. Because we make a surplus on Airbnb from just long-term rentals, conservatively we are making more profit and covering more than mortgage etc. Like about $34,000 is the projection. That’s the most likely estimate I’m getting this year so far. But let’s just use $23,000 for simplicity sake and work from there. As a business owner with tax perks but also more taxes because I’m covering for my own FICA, SSI etc. It gets confusing fast.

It’s not all about the money, of course, we met some really cool people who love animals and Grace (our fearful dog) is much better with people now than being scared to death of them before from her crappy puppyhood.

One lovely multi-level house in picturesque Seattle pimped out to some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met from all around this blue planet:

Amount Saved = $23,000
Amount Needed to Earn = $28,750

? Related Reads:

• The Hefty Financials Costs Behind Owning a McMansion
• The Confessions of a Houseporn Addict
• 30 Tried-and-True Hacks To Lower Your Electricity Bill

Transportation

We don’t own a car.

My husband gets free public transit subsidies from his employer so it currently cost him zero dollars to go to work. He doesn’t have to sit in rush hour traffic and instead he’s using that time to read about the FX market or taking a nap.

There are 2 rental car companies within a 15-minute walk from our house which gives us ample wiggle room to choose from when we do need a car for a day trip. We pay a one-time $50 fee when we need it once a month. Everything else we need is nearby within walkable distance.

Every time I tell strangers that most people think it’s because we’re ultimately broke.

Pffft hahaha, hiding ‘broke’ in America is probably the easiest thing to do right now. People don’t see how damn cheap credit is these days. I’ve consistently wondered how banks keep giving people credit so irresponsibly.

No sweat off me, I’m not anyone’s financial fairy godmother.

I digress, I’ve done the car math ten times over. Too bad not enough people do! If we get a car “justifiable” to our income then we can get an electric car like Tesla for $90,000 that is cheaper to run and lower maintenance too.

But then there is also Washington’s high auto tax for luxury purchases like Tesla. Property and auto tax is pretty high in Washington because we don’t have state tax so our property and auto make up for it.

OH, then there’s parking!! Parking space is essentially an empty space of ground with 2 adjacent verticle lines…it’s highly coveted for off-shooting reasons. Finding parking close by work is preferred because it’s safer from the break-ins that are becoming more common as you move away from clustered parking centers. That comes with an optional price tag of about $200 a month.

Then there’s the question if I needed a car myself too…is it fair that hubby gets one and I’m sitting at home with nothing but all the liabilities of pets and an elderly person? What if there was a medical emergency with my dog or my dad?

But let’s say we’re frugal even when it comes to cars and buy just one used second-hand car. Include the purchase cost of a single, used, cheap, smaller sedan gasoline car in Seattle will cost us $600+ a month for 60 months going fair on the maintenance factor, not too $$$ car, and getting the cheap gas at Costco.

The scenario of one single cheap used car with a $200 monthly parking permit and lukewarm insurance bundled with the home because that’s how they like to sell to the masses:

Amount Saved = $9,600
Amount Needed to Earn = $12,000

Recommended Reads:

• How I Made Over $2,400 on MTurk With This Survival Guide
• 11 Real Ways You Can Make Money With Your Car?
• Can Being a Friend-For-Rent Really Make Extra Money? – Rent A Friend Review

Food

Hahaha, work in progress. Dining out is not something I’m uber frugal about when I know it’s possible to live off $300 and not dine out very much if at all. Groceries we have nailed under $200 but that’s because we have a biggggg budget for dining out.

Unlike many other things, I can understand how to rack up $1,000 in monthly dining out. We’ve probably done it before in our Pre-FIRE days. Sushi $65, three times a week and some pho here and chicken fried steak there…and poof the budgets gone.

If we were instructed to spend without revealing any price tags attached, trust you and me, I can pig out to double that very easily if you just let me unhinge my jaws.

Our dining out bill averages $350 a month which is not super frugal. We can make an effort to NOT dine out at all (ie. that month we lived on $300) except we don’t because it’s not worth it. The redeemable thing is we are financially sound.

I’ve made that decision before and I still stand by it fully understanding this: food is probably the biggest expense with zero possibility for future returns.

If you splurged on a nice big house in an expensive neighborhood, at least home prices pace up equally which means you’re getting some of your money back especially you owned it long enough.

If you let me free range dine out, the only thing I can turn that money into a trip is a trip to the bathroom

(Fun fact, my friend Soapy and I held a chicken nugget competitive eating contest last year in front of some of her friends. We each purchased 120 nuggets each and I ate about 60 to 70 nuggets. I don’t remember her count but I naturally killed her. Even her mom told her to never doubt a skinny bitch when it comes to eating a conspicuous amount of food.)

My guilty-food wish is to spend $1,000 a month on eating out someday. Maybe in the richest phrases of fat fire… In August, we spend about $350 on dining out so we’re “saving” $650.

I do feel a little bad about that…that’s me with self-control frugal brothers and sisters. Our grocery bill was under $200 because it was all spent on dining out haha.

I maintain eating out as the hobby…I wonder if I can talk my husband into setting tacos into entertainment…

Frugally I’m trying, seriously this is me trying, this could get a lot worse, don’t even doubt me for one single second I can eat circles around your humanly fragile appetites:

Amount Saved = $7,800
Amount Needed to Earn = $9,750

 Cheap Eats Reads:

• The Cheapest Asian Dish Ever: Made From Free Leftover Pho Garnishes
• 21 Cheap Pantry Staples List on a Limited Budget
• Unique Ways to Save Money on Groceries (Lessons After 6 Months of Receipts!)
• Eat Ugly, Save Money? Imperfect Produce Review (+ FREE COUPON)

Entertainment

Aha! My entire life prepared me for a low budget in finding the best frugal entertainment. All of my fun is going to thrift stores (hey big spender, NOT!)

After a lifetime of no money, you find very odd, unconventional obsessions…is what I’ve come to notice hah.

The average American family entertainment budget is $2,482 annually which is about $200 a month. I’m surprised it’s not more…the cable packages are pretty pricey at $100 per month for my in-law family, as I recall.

We came through with a lot of entertainment surpluses last year. In total, we spent $837 for 2017’s budgeted annual compared to an average American family at $2,482. That means we retained a $1,645 savings.

(P.S. Download Google opinion rewards so your survey credits can apply to buy whatever you want in the Google Play Store for free. That’s how we get shows, movies, books, and audiobooks in addition to the local library we use.)

If you have an odd personality, you don’t need to seek the outside world for entertainment because you KNOW you’re a true freak and not much the normies do interests you AMEN

Amount Saved = $1,645
Amount Needed to Earn = $2,056

 Recommended Reads:

• The Art of Making a Sh*t Ton of Money on Pornhub ?
• How to Make Money Sexting (aka Flirting, Chatting & Texting Online!)

Connectivity

Dealing with just internet and phone here. Targeting the smaller size expenses now might not be as worth it as the big three above (food, house, transportation) but it’s about being selective with what matters for the least effort. 

My husband work often enough that he qualified have a huge portion of our $60 monthly home Internet bill waived. For simplicity, we just consider it paid for. His phone and plan are provided by work if he promises to use it for work (which he does.)

We ignored switching our phone plan out of laziness and only started last month on a lower plan.

The normal individual’s cell phone bill is $71 per month which jumped from 2009 averages. I was paying $35 for my plan which I thought was good…nope. I ignored switching our phone plan out of laziness and only started last month on a lower plan. Going forward my plan will be ⅓ of my AT&T charge with Red Pocket. Overall, it is a $20 dollar per month savings, every month going forward from now on.

For us, it’s $60 (internet) + $20 (phone) = $80 x (12 months) saved annually.

You pray and pray and pray and pray and pray for Google Fiber to come to your stupid freaking city but nooooo, Comcast and AT&T is a monopoly and we will never be freed from their greedy clutches.

Amount Saved = $960
Amount Needed to Earn = $1,200

Related Reads:

• 11+ Companies Offering Free (or Seriously Discounted) Internet At Home
• 40 Everyday Household Items You Should Buy Secondhand Instead of New

Personal Care + Apparel

According to the 2016 BLS results, American households spend $1,803 on apparel and $707 on other misc personal products which both total $2,510 annually.

Our personal care budget in 2017 totaled only $425 for the entire year which means we spent approximately $2,085 LESS compared to the average American household.

Fairly often, our personal care budget has come in a $0. Last month in August, our personal care budget was -$8 because I ended up returning a pair of shoes to a department store.

We choose to forgo new clothes and instead opted in for heavily discounted ThredUP and thrift store clothing. Go the home haircut route for all 3 of us and just spending time researching how to cut a style properly. Doing our own manicures…if you recall that I give my husband manicures because he likes them haha.

In terms of a gym membership, my husband uses the free gym amenities at work three times a week. I walk and dance every single day, sometimes I work out up to 3 hours which totals about 20 to 25 hours a week I’m on my feet. It’s all YouTube sponsored content and besides the huge toll I’ve done to my worn down carpets from all the friction, it’s been all for free.

Being low-maintenance and pretty hot looking people by default is frugal because we don’t have that much ugly we have to hide (OH right, Internet, this is sarcasm!!!)

Amount Saved = $2,085
Amount Needed to Earn = $2,606

 Relevant Reads:

• 23 Ways Ladies Can Score Free Makeup Samples ? (2019)
• 23 Inexpensive Diet Tricks To Shed Those Vanity Pounds ?
• StitchFix Too Expensive? Meet ThredUP’s Goody Box Alternative ?

Health Care, Home Maintenance, Vacations, Vices, Pets, Utilities, Miscellaneous.

Uhhhhhh. Hm…well. Nearly every light bulb in our home is energy efficient. We have double paned windows. Our appliances are energy star efficient…blehhh nelly, OK, way too difficult to quantify what the amount we are saving here is…so let’s just brush ALL this off out of laziness.

I know we’re much much under the average for vacations, pets, vices and miscellaneous. Way, way under the average for our income level that’s for sure but useless without a solid benchmark.

*Healthcare…I have no clue. We have a good plan and hubby’s employer pays the lion share (woo~) but it’s a crapshoot to compare something like network, coverage, and copays.

*Home maintenance…uh, dude we try when we can but I don’t foresee my husband redoing our entire 3rd story roof anytime soon. I don’t think we’re super duper cost saving here when it comes to water heaters and the big scary things…so this is a wash.

*Vacation in 2017 for us was $1,035 while for the average American household spent anywhere between $1,457 to $4,000+ depending on size and where they went. We’re shaving a fat chunk off :).

*Pets…we might come very slightly under the average so it’s still a wash. Average single dog ownership is $1,500 for the first year…it was under $1,000 for us in our first year – including having Grace professionally trained by police. Then $500 is the average cost for the subsequent dog years…for us 2017 was $493 for Grace and my pet rabbit so we’re very slightly under. Still a wash.

Then there are the miscellaneous expenses…that’s a total crapshoot too for most Americans. For us, we track EVERY SINGLE PENNY and rarely use cash, so our misc are never crazy. I say we’re shaving at least $1,000 off here but no solid benchmark to put it against

The numbers of $$$ “saved” is already big enough for me to settle how much our brand of frugality can pinch even without any of these other ugly “math-y” expenses above so let’s just label it as all a wash.

 Related Reads:

• 3 Signs When Being Frugal Doesn’t Work & What To Do About It
• Why Rich People Penny Pinch When They Don’t Have To?
• At What Age Does Being Broke Stop Being Cute?

Summary + Results

So we’re saving $45,090+ a year in expenses by living our Brand of Frugality. In order for us to save that $45,090 net, we would need to bring in over $56,000 income because of the taxman.

Which is interesting because…

Category	Net	Gross
Housing	$23,000	$28,750
Transportation	$9,600	$12,000
Food	$7,800	$9,750
Entertainment	$1,645	$2,056
Connectivity	$960	$1,200
Personal Care	$2,085	$2,606
Health Care, Vacations, Vices, Pets, Utilities, Miscellaneous.	N/A	N/A	Too messy to quantify so N/A but probably $3,000 more shaved off.
Total Saved	$45,090+	$56,362+	Dude that's the MEDIAN U.S. income!!!

It’s interesting…because the overarching median household income in the United States is $56,516. That’s someone’s entire annual paycheck that we’re knocking not very far from.

HAHAHAHAHHAAH coincidence?! I love it.

It’s like we added another whole income stream by doing very little when that’s someone’s entire 9 to 5 annual salary.

What we do is what not many people can do and the majority of people don’t have the discipline or forethought to do. I’ll just point to them what was conserved, increased, sacrificed, and how we have structured our lives to streamlined financial independence to come quite a few years earlier.

[Ends post on maniacal laughter]

~

That was in 1989; 2 years before I was born. My husband tells fables of him having to use AltaVista before Google search engine blew everyone’s bums out of the water…remember Ask Jeeves?

Continuing off from the last post I mentioned my excitement towards the very palpable possibility of self-driving cars. This is happening in our lifetime guys! That’s pretty epic.

The first driverless car concept was simply a theorized possibility in the 1930s. The modern-day automobile as we know it today didn’t take shape until the mid-1920s.

Before the 1920s, it was more like buggies that closer resembled wagons than modern cars of today. In the 1930s, self-driving cars were considered a genre of science fiction. Like Star Trek! But in the 1980s, Carnegie created the first driverless car (and bus) on a test course.

 Related Reads:

• All You Need to Know About Becoming an Amazon Flex Driver (Starting $18 to $30/hr)
• 7+ Companies That Will Pay You To Lose Weight (Really!)
• How To Work From Home Creating a Profitable Doggy Day Care

Anyway, we are about 40 years “late” to the 1930s estimate that self-driving cars would be everywhere by the 1980s. I guess we were supposed to be working on brain rays any day now?

I sort of became addicted to this topic and binge read quite a bit of research on it. It’s clear to me that everyone is as excited as I am. Something so drastic as this will certainly change how human beings will work, play, and travel.

Autonomous cars will have so many ramifications in almost every way of life, including personal finance. Here are some of the strongly probable pros and cons of our future with autonomous vehicles.

Pros of Autonomous Cars

1. Self-driving cars can lower parking expenses

The cost of owning a car is very discouraging based on the price of the parking fee alone. With self-driving cars, the parking expenses is going to be reduced or erased once and for all.

This is because of the fact that owners would never need to park their own cars. The car will leave and return home alone or drive around until they can park itself.

According to the University of Toronto study done by M. Nourinejad, S. Bahrami, and M. Roorda, self-driving cars can decrease the parking space by an average of 62%.

2. Reduction of car ownership per US household

When it comes to owning cars, a household would save more if they only have one car or none at all. According to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics in 2017, the mean number of personal vehicles in is 1.9 while the drivers in each household averages to 1.8 drivers, which means that there are currently more vehicles than drivers. The more family member a household has, the more vehicles are likely in the family garage.

With self-driving cars, the number of vehicles a family needs to own would be fewer than before. According to The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, one of the potential impacts of self-driving vehicles on household vehicle demand and usage is the reduction of average ownership rates by 43%. This is because the lack of trip overlap means more individual usage for the vehicle.

 Related Reads:

• 9 Money Mistakes To Avoid For Debt-Free Living
• Don’t (Nicolas) Cage Yourself In Financially
• 4 Practical Budgets For People Bad With Money

3. Reduction to auto insurance

One of the possible benefits that everyone that owns cars would be happy about is the reduction of auto insurance premiums. According to USAGov, auto insurance is meant to protect someone from paying the full cost of vehicle repairs and/or medical expenses due to a collision.

With self-driving cars, the possibility that an accident could happen is reduced due to the safer nature of self-driving cars. In 2013, Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that over 30,000 people are killed in motor vehicle crashes each year in the United States alone; most of those due to human error.

We weren’t biologically programmed to handle 65 miles per hour of data processing or hold onto that attention 100% of the time.

Most of our biological systems are outdated, caveman style. Currently estimated, human error accounts for about 80% to 94% of all traffic accidents. That’s pretty statistically drastic!

Everybody has a blind spot in each eye where your eye stem connects to and your brain fills in that blind spot like nothing happened. The mind is a super powerful thing…at hiding and illusions.

Computers do not have human error, which is sweet because human makes a lot of it! Machines are better at human decision making. With self-driving cars, the risk of vehicle-related accidents is expected to go down along with auto insurance monthly premiums.

4. Save time and fuel by reducing traffic

Self-driving cars are expected to help people in American urban areas to save both fuel and time in the road by reducing traffic. A lot of traffic is caused by human actions such as overspeeding, accidents, and drivers who don’t know how to use road facilities.

In addition, traffic usually wastes gallons of fuel during a traffic jam. According to Gemalto, 7 billion hours worth of time and 3.1 billion gallons of fuel valued at $160 billion are lost because of traffic jams.

With self-driving cars equipped with sensors, traffic data, and more modern technology, it can decide the best route to follow to minimize traffic time and fuel loss.

Robots cars are able to drive closer together on the road and they drive more efficiently with each other. This can reduce traffic and pollution. We could experience less congestion and move faster overall.

5. Fewer auto thefts from new security measures

Biometric features have been successfully implemented in laptops and phones. These features are also coming in self-driving cars. In fact, there is already a physical example of a car that has biometric security measures so no one, other than the registered driver, could use the car.

IDEMIA, in partnership with Altran, implemented a smartphone-based digital key system that works with facial recognition. The mentioned car, known as “Columbia”, also has a camera-based system which monitors driver behavior, as well as return control to the human driver in case of unforeseen circumstances during the road.

Altran also partnered with the fingerprint sensor company called Fingerprints to develop a fingerprint-based smart car identity solution.

6. Smart controls via smartphone

There is no doubt that smartphones are the most used handheld computing device right now. Almost every individual has one or multiple smartphones that are used daily.

With the involvement of smartphones, owning a self-driving car is like owning your own Uber service. The only difference is that it is only used by you and your family. This is a big saving if you or your family often use ride-sharing services or constantly bothered to dough out rides for other family members.

7. Efficient fuel handling

Human drivers tend to have habits on the road that increases the consumption of the gas. Slamming the breaks, stepping on the accelerator, and other things affect fuel consumption. In addition, there are times when a human driver tries to figure out how to get in his or her location, especially if he or she is not familiar with the place. Because self-driving cars will be integrated with smart AIs and GPS, there is no need to drive “blindly”, as the AI will choose the shortest way to your destination every time.

Recommended Reads:

• How I Made Over $2,400 on MTurk With This Survival Guide
• 11 Real Ways You Can Make Money With Your Car?
• Can Being a Friend-For-Rent Really Make Extra Money? – Rent A Friend Review

8. Increase overall safety standards

Self-driving vehicles could free up law enforcement. They can also provide relief efforts during natural disasters in areas too dangerous for humans to attempt!

About 37,000 Americans die every year in car crashes. That’s more than 100 per day! –Accidental FIRE

Let’s say the mechanics behind self-driving cars do mess up occasionally in heavy weather or glitch. The lasers, sensors, GPS or trackers give in during hail and leads the unfortunate riders down a very wrong path. Statistically, malfunctions like that would probably still be much smaller in number than the guaranteed 100 deaths per day caused by being behind the wheel as humans.

Traffic accidents in the U.S. cost $871 billion each year. Technology can always be improved, whereas, no offense to humans but humans are slow to change.

The psychological fear behind letting a robot control your life and fate is probably a bigger safety concern for most Americans than cold statistics. Swedish carmaker, Volvo, has promised that their version of autonomous Volvos will be “death-proof.”

That’s a big promise to make but Volvos are famous for the safety so we’ll see about “death-proof.”

9. Affordability in autonomous upgrades

Autonomous cars work using extra fancy existing technology such as a souped-up GPS, 360 camera, lasers, sensors and an intricate secretive set of company formula for the software of the autonomous car.

Does that mean it will be too expensive for the Average Joe to afford?

If the economy of scale is applicable (which I think it will be), the cost will not likely be an issue. An economy of scale means cost savings in production can be made when there are high production levels. The technology should be affordable by 2023 if everything goes to plan.

The extra GPS system cost $100-$6,000. The high tech lasers and sensors would add on another couple of thousand on the highest price range. The priciest of all physical equipment would be the spinning camera which would cost around $8,000.

I don’t think the cost will be an issue. At least not for those willing to pay the price. The car companies heavily vested in the autonomous game like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have an edge on the competition simply because their car clientele is more affluent across the board. Fully autonomous cars would fetch $10,000+ more than traditional cars’ sticker price.

Considering the service that it provides, that’s not expensive at all.

10. Self driving cars can end car ownership

If they are self-driving, would we really need to own one?

Can’t we just call one up and it’ll pick us up? Wouldn’t that be much more cost-effective to rent only when you need one like a taxi?

The principle of a large, empty, fits 4 people, metal box sitting idle in the garage taking up space 85% of the time still and always will sound silly to me.

Good news is, most likely, self-driving car technology will be sold to ride-sharing programs first before becoming available to the public.

For autonomous cars to hit dealerships, we have a much longer wait, I feel. Which leads us to the cons of autonomous cars…

Cons of Autonomous Car Ownership

1. Loss of labor and working jobs

Speaking of labor, a lot of hardworking people (be they taxi, truck, or delivery drivers etc.) will play the high risk of losing their jobs when autonomous vehicles roll out into the mainstream.

Whenever there is innovation, there are “casualties.” 100 years ago, the invention of tractors made lots of farmhands lose their jobs. Back in the 1890s, the majority of Americans owned small time family farms. Now less than 2% of the American population are classified as farmers. We can’t exactly tell everyone to ban tractors and go back to farming.

Blacksmiths, farmers, and milkmen were all displaced at one point during the rapid development of America’s past. But other jobs can be created and new jobs can be made to serve and expedite the human progress.

The transition would be hasty for many. Autonomous vehicles is not a possibility but a simple matter of when, so make a tangible plan B now for those in harm’s way!

The math behind autonomous cars is a no-brainer for big companies like Wal-Mart and Uber/Lyft. Human labor is extremely expensive.

On the flipside, this technology could greatly boost the bottom line of companies in the sectors of transportation. Currently, roughly ⅓ of the budget of transportation goes to paying human drivers. Better bottom line, higher profits, more buyer confidence, stocks go up.

Recommendations for You

• Trash To Cash – How To Make Money Selling Scrap Metal
• 10 Ways to Make Money Flying Drones
• Make Money Recycling (Best Items to Recycle for Cash)

2. Maintenance for additional parts (e.g. sensors)

A self-driving car will have a lot of new parts in order to carry out its extra features. Most of these parts are sensors, lasers, and other things that help in motion sensing. There are even more cameras needed for face and landscape recognition. Maintaining your car and making sure that the sensors are all working will be one of the biggest setbacks of owning a self-driving car.

3. The additional cost to maintain cybersecurity

Another problem that future self-driving car owners will likely encounter is cybersecurity. Most likely, the car will be very dependent on the Internet. The car will be more prone to hacking, just like computers and mobile phones.

A decent cybersecurity service will be needed to ensure that no one can enter your car’s system and plant malicious codes in the process. Internet service providers will also need to up their games because self-driving cars will need real-time data if they’re using GPS or similar devices. As early as now, the UK Government already passed a standard for self-driving vehicles, and it is expected that the other governments will follow suit once more development is done for the self-driving AI technology.

4. You’ll be jobless (if your job is related to car services)

One of the most obvious setbacks in self-driving cars is the loss of jobs in the car service industry. According to Dr. Subhash Kak from Oklahoma University. Dr. Kak stated that at least one-third of the jobs are going to be taken by the AIs. However, this change is still expected to come in 2030, along with the transition of self-driving cars on the road. Taxi drivers, public transport operators, and truck delivery drivers are expected to be the major demography that will be affected. With the rise of the AIs, it is expected that more jobs for the creatives will be available.

5. Making the shift over will be pricey

Financially, the introduction of autonomous vehicles could possibly return $600 billion dollars back to the economy from the amount of labor, medical, and resources saved. The environmental impact is another factor that discerning consumers should consider.

One could just attach a super advance GPS, fancy 360-degree camera, lasers, sensors, and software etc…would you be able to soup up and “recycle” a traditional car and turn it autonomous to save a few thousand bucks. Because can you imagine the junkyards of non-autonomous cars that would pile up?

But I realized that was a dumb question before he even replied. This is a metal killer death machine. Any ‘self-souping’ would probably be highly illegal.

6. It is going to take a long time

This technology only works out well in large, well mapped, robust and well-developed areas. This could be a temporary weakness of autonomous vehicles in that it helps only a certain portion of the population directly – a lot more than others.

For people living car-free in large cities that are well mapped (San Francisco for example), car sharing sounds like a home run as a personal yet shareable, rental car but the rest of the United States – especially rural areas – have a long time to wait.

Common Unanswered Questions About Self Driving Cars

Take a stab at any & reply in the comments!

1. Can you hack these cars and assign them as assassins? Or will robots be harvesting our organs by the end of the century?

2. If it is driverless, why does it have to resemble a car? Couldn’t it be a bedroom? Or a living room? (I really hope one could put a bed in there. It would be pretty cool to ride around in a spare bedroom. And personally, I don’t care if you make it car shaped or hamburger shaped as long as there are naps to be had.)

3. What happens to car insurance? And DMVs? (Update: dump those auto insurance stocks?!)

4. Can an autonomous car get a virus? Can someone hack a car as easily as hacking into a toaster oven over WiFi?

5. What will happen to public transportation? Will car sharing become more popular?

6. Who will be responsible if a self-driving car gets into a fatal accident with another car or pedestrian that it failed to register?

7. Can self-driving cars give jack*** drivers the middle finger for me? This is important to my consumerist side.

I never really mentioned why we personally chose to live without a car. Not that it’s much of a mystery. We don’t even have frugal clunkers to brag about.

To be perfectly honest, I see the stats on my posts about living car-free and they’re never popular posts. Not surprisingly! Most Americans, up and down the socioeconomic class either rent, lease, or own and drive their own cars so us choosing to live car-free is not relevant to many readers.

Cars are a big deal in this country. We had mandatory driver education classes in my high school but not a single class about the basics of personal finance! My husband and I do not own a car for several reasons:

Recommended Reads:

• How I Made Over $2,400 on MTurk With This Survival Guide
• 11 Real Ways You Can Make Money With Your Car?
• Can Being a Friend-For-Rent Really Make Extra Money? – Rent A Friend Review

1. We hate driving

My husband and I are just waiting out the clock for on-demand mobile driverless cars. I watched a self-driving car documentary recently and it has me all fired up for the future. I hope they’re economical enough and they roll out the rental driverless cars as soon as possible! What a dream that would be!

Anyways, my husband uses cars as a last resort. He hates driving as much as I do. Sometimes when he’s coming home from work late and the buses are only running once every 30 minutes by then, I say to him, “Honey, just take a Car2Go and drive back home, it’s quicker.”

He would never do it.

Although it would cut his commute to a third of the time (it would also cost about $20.) He says it’s simply because he hates driving. He would rather choose to sit on a bus for 60 minutes and do nothing (which is to read comics and play video games on his phone) than focus on doing something he hates to do (which is driving downtown at night) for 20 minutes.

2. Car cost & savings

I bet you two monopoly donuts you’ve heard of a similar story to this before:

The first thing an (ex)-friend of mine did when she graduated high school was talk her mother into buying her a brand new Toyota for $24,000 for “college.” The mother folded and bought the car for her. She crashed it 3 months later.

Here’s another common tale:

My family never needed a car living in San Francisco. But my mother fell for the “we can’t let people think we’re poor, we need 2 cars” gimmick for a few years. She bought an used Lexus on a grocery vegetable cutter’s salary.

News flash mother, we ARE poor.

My family didn’t need a car. She worked a 15-minute walk away from the crappy basement we rented. That car was parked outside for appearances. I am more frugal than my mother. Even when I moved away for college, if I needed something, I’ll walk to it on foot. I never asked for rides unless people offered first.

I didn’t have issues walking along the side of the road next to big cars; it reminded me of where I came from. I came from a small Chinese village where if you were driving in anything with 4 wheels, people would turn their heads and whisper about you. It doesn’t matter if it was a 10-year-old Honda junk clunker, people would talk about seeing a car for days.

There is a huge cost difference between ownership and public transportation. We’re talking about saving around $500 every month, each month if you include the original purchase price of a used car. I remember taking out my own phone and opening the calculator app to double-check my math because I couldn’t believe the difference. Our bus transportation budget never runs over $40 dollars a month.

Frugality isn’t equal. You would have to kill 4-5 years worth of Amazon Prime memberships to save what we do in just 1 month. Car-free and house hacking will boost savings rates significantly faster than snapping receipts for Ibotta.

3. Lamely saving lives

This point is probably only applicable to me but…

YOU SHOULD NOT LET ME BEHIND THE WHEEL.

I’m sure there are a lot of great drivers out there who happens to be nubile 20-year-olds and Asian and a woman…but THIS partially blind, 20 something, Asian, woman driver right here SUCKS at driving. 

My attention span is short, motor controls are meh, and neuro-spatial processing (the brain function that tells you if you can fit into a parking spot by eyeballing) is pretty horrific.

I had my original driver ed instructor quit on me and the last instructor I almost drove off a cliff. Thankfully she had a brake pedal on her side because, man, I did not see that cliff…

I like to think keeping me off the road means I’m saving lives. 

 Relevant Reads:

• Frugality Is a Lifestyle That You Might Be Doing Wrong
• Facebook Bragging Can Be Annoying – And Ruin Your Finances Too
• Download Our Free Google Budget Sheet ?

4. We live in metro cities

I immigrated to San Francisco when I was little. As expensive as San Francisco is, it does pretty much spoil you in terms of most awesome cities to live in. It’s like your first-course meal was king crab, the rest of the meal courses tastes good too…but it ain’t no king crab.

San Francisco is super walkable, entertaining as hell, and the transportation system there was something I took for granted now having lived elsewhere.

Hubby grew up in the suburbs of Marin close to San Francisco. It was the ‘burbs so just picture the archetypical 3 car garage, all-American family. His brother loved cars and his big sister loved to drive. 

For some reason, my husband came out hating driving just as much as I did. After he got his license, he continued to avoid driving as much as he could. He has a large tight-knit family, lots of school pals, and he was never without a ride.

Today, we live in Seattle. Seattle is a pretty populated metropolitan city with decent public transportation as of late.

The public transportation system has become more robust with the incoming streams of young tech workers and other professional transplants. The sleepy, grunge-y Seattle is as unfamiliar as the skyline now (and we’ve only been living here 3-7 years!) Our transportation options here are fairly plentiful. We keep alive by bus, bike, rail, Lyft and various rental car programs.

Washington state has no state income tax. Washington have a very high sales tax, property tax, and auto taxes to raise funds in other ways. If you are a high-income earner (as our family is) – it’s a very clever idea to be minimalist and go car-free.

5. Parking anxiety

Parking anxiety is especially steep if you’re living in the city. Everything is so cramped. On the rare occasions that we do need a car to attend an event or party, we take a Lyft and not deal with parking. For all other occasions, we bus or walk to it, making cars and parking a non-issue.

I had a friend who would gladly drop $500 on a meal alone but would drive for an hour so she doesn’t have to pay for $8 parking.

In a cheapo to cheapo way, I can understand that. But the last time she came out with us, her and her husband spent 35 minutes looking for free parking, found it, parked and walked 12 blocks on foot back to the concert hall which took even more time.

The whole time I’m thinking, why didn’t you ditch your cars and Lyft here?!

They did this all the time, every single day. Both of them worked downtown and drove downtown to find parking every day. They were waitlisted on the company parking list for 2 years before finally securing a parking spot. THEN, they shell out an extra few hundred dollars every month to park in that empty plot of GROUND that kept them waiting for 2 years. It boggles my mind! Completely misplaced patience…

Legit Benefits of Having No Car

1. Navigate faster in nearer locations

Driving a car is very helpful when it comes to long distances, as it lets you have more comfort and more flexibility when you’re on the road. But what about navigating short distances, such as a trip at a store a couple of blocks away? If you live in a place where everything is in moderate distant, driving a car would be more of a hassle if you include the cost and maintenance. It also involves your health bill. Those few blocks of walking and jogging could help your overall health.

Walking, or preferably, biking your way when going in a moderately near place will not only save you time, it will also save you money for gas and parking.

2. No more tickets and parking problems

If you’re a car owner, you should know how hard it is to park your car, especially in places where a lot of people have their own vehicles. Parking illegally will also earn you a ticket when you’re caught. And last but not least, parking can consume a lot of time and patience and money. This is especially true when you’re parking in more populous cities.

According to Streets Blog USA, cities like New York will cost you more than $700 a month. That’s a lot of money just for parking your car. In more populous cities, it is better to live without a car, as one of its most underlying problems is parking. The average cost is about $200 while other states will only cost parking about $30 a month. Location is a big factor for car cost. If you want to avoid parking problems, consider other transportation methods such as commuting.

 Related Reads:

• How Much Money Does Our Frugality Save? (Spoiler: $56,000+/Year)
• Eat Ugly, Save Money? Imperfect Produce Review (+ FREE COUPON)
• Everything ‘Married…With Children’ Did That Kept Them Poor

3. Help in reducing pollution

Not owning a car will also help in reducing pollution in the air, which can cause a lot of health problems. According to UCS USA, nearly half of all Americans are not living and breathing in an air that was approved by the federal air quality standards. This means that the pollution in the country is one of its biggest problems. Poor air quality increases the risk of respiratory problems which can be life-threatening at times.

The culprit for pollution, especially in the cities where the population is denser, are passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks. The pollution that it brings in the atmosphere is from the particle matters which are produced in vehicle emissions. Cutting vehicle usage, as well as the number of vehicles in use,  can help in easing this problem. When you’re not using your car, you can help in the improvement of the environment.

4. Ease traffic congestion

There is nothing worse than running late in the morning (either for work or for school) and being caught by a heavy traffic jam. According to Brookings, the real causes of traffic congestion in the country is the millions of people with private vehicles who try to move at the same time of the day as everyone else. In addition, this load cannot be handled by the road system. One of the best ways to avoid traffic and to help in getting rid of this problem is by reducing private car usage.

Conclusion

So that sums up all the big reasons why we live without a car. It turned into a bigger rant than I thought but I’m too sleepy to edit this now.

I think it feels more freeing to forgo a car. I know I’m just a kooky girl online and my reasons might not be convincing to anybody but they make sense to me.

We both hate driving, parking, pumping gasoline and paying a few thousand dollars for metal boxes with wheels. We both like (hobby actually!) shoveling money into savings and watching the money jump month after month. Only a percentage of that lends itself to living car-free but month after month, year after year, it’s going to add and compound beautifully.

For me, there’s nothing more infuriating than being stuck in traffic. It’s not just the waiting or the concentration necessary to be a responsible driver but it’s also the nagging penny pincher in me knowing that every single minute I am idling there, it’s burning gasoline. I’m burning MAH MONEY. 

Public transportation might not be glamorous but I get to space out on the bus. In my previous life, I thought about my wage, after taxes, including the hour-long commute AND the money on gas (back when it was $4.50 per gallon in San Francisco). I end up feeling like my American Hero, Al Bundy from Married with Children.

Related Reads:

• 11+ Companies Offering Free (or Seriously Discounted) Internet At Home
• 40 Everyday Household Items You Should Buy Secondhand Instead of New

In all seriousness…happy Friday! We have a guest post for you today about the benefits of living car-free from Justin. Justin lives the atypical life pursuing financial independence by age 30 through extreme savings, expat living, and side hustles. He writes for Atypical Life, where he shares all of his tips, hacks, and experiences on how to reach financial freedom sooner. He is also an avid cyclist, international bike racer, cross-country cycle tourist, and promoter of bike commuting.

---

Are you tired of driving to work and getting stuck in traffic?

Wasting away hours and days of your life in a car just isn’t a great way to spend your life. Every day I could be wasting 45+ minutes each way on my commute to work which adds up to ~8 hours per week of commuting that could be cut out. Add in all the other activities that we all participate in, and we have 10+ hours of car time each week. I don’t know about you, but car time really isn’t very productive. It just seems like a waste of useful hours, especially if you are the driver.

As a passenger, you can read, work on the computer, check your phone, etc. but as the driver, all attention needs to be focused on driving. I have had enough close calls riding my bike to work to know that drivers need to be paying attention and not have their eyes and mind off the road.

You could be free of all of these the hassles of driving by getting rid of your car or downsizing your families fleet and have a simpler life.

The Benefits of Car-Free Living

There are so many benefits to living car-free that we only have time to scratch the surface on how great it can be. Here are just a few of the many benefits you can get from giving up the car.

• Better health
• Less wasted time
• Increased time outside
• Money savings

Better Health

We all want to be a little bit healthier. You are a rare breed indeed if you do not feel like you have some area for improvement in the health and wellness department. Living car-free will help you along the path to better health because the replacement for all of that car time is exercise time. Whether it is walking, biking, swimming, kayaking or other commuting styles you will see the benefits of a more active lifestyle when you give up the car.

Riding your bike for 20 miles per week can burn an extra 600-1000 calories depending on how hard you are going. If you ride ~100 miles per week, you will burn an extra ~3,500 calories which is equal to one pound of weight loss if you don’t eat more to compensate for the increased activity. Walking is the same. The more you walk, the more active you are the better your health will become. The health benefits do not stop simply at weight loss either. You will not become sick as often, your heart will become stronger and many other risk factors for diseases will decrease.

If you are a foodie and just love eating, then the extra activity will allow you to eat that much more without gaining additional weight. You may even be able to eat more and lose weight by giving up the car and exercising more. The car-free life can open up so many new doors to become healthier.

Less Wasted Time

I hate wasting time, and the biggest waste of time I currently have is the commute back and forth to work. In China, this 27-mile commute takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours on a bad day! This is a huge waste of time. When you replace that car ride with a bike or walk commute, it may take longer, but you reclaim those wasted hours of your day and made them yours by exercising.

I cannot even begin to explain how nice it feels to have a productive morning commuting by bike in comparison to wasting away in the steel cage of a car. A car-free lifestyle will lower the stress built up from commuting and working allowing you to arrive home refreshed and happier to see your family.

In every aspect, the wasted time of commuting by car is improved upon by commuting by bike or foot.

Increased Time Outside

Studies have shown that Vitamin D is required to reduce stress. Do you know where it comes from?

Exposure to the sun creates Vitamin D inside our bodies and helps to reduce stress. Natural air and the freedom afforded to you by the bike or walking really help to reduce stress levels to lower than they ever have been. The exercise also releases endorphins to give you a cyclist’s high (or runner’s, walker’s exerciser’s high).

If you are not already spending time outside, you should start now. It is a major benefit you will gain with car-free living.

 Related Reads:

• 3 Signs When Being Frugal Doesn’t Work & What To Do About It
• Why Rich People Penny Pinch When They Don’t Have To?
• At What Age Does Being Broke Stop Being Cute?

Money Savings

Last, but certainly not least, car-free living frees up tons of money to be put to much better purposes like investing in index funds. An average car is driven somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 miles per year. Even at 10,000 miles per year with great gas mileage (40 mpg), you are still looking at 250 gallons of gas or $600-750 depending on gas prices.

In addition to gas savings, you no longer need car insurance which was running $500+/year depending on your history and how many cars you have. Add to that savings on:

• maintenance costs on your vehicles
• registration tax
• property tax
• inspections
• depreciation costs on vehicles

You easily save $2000 or more per year by foregoing your car and living car-free.

The replacement to these costs of course if purchase and maintenance of bicycles, however, you can expect yearly maintenance of bicycles to cost $300 or less even if you are paying your local bike shop to do the maintenance for you. If you have the frugal gene though, you will be wrenching and be working on your bikes yourself saving even more money.

“But I Can’t Give Up My Car!”

I know it is hard to imagine a life without a car. They definitely have their uses, and long distance travel is the one that is most reasonable to me. You can get the majority of the benefits of a car-free lifestyle by just leaving your cars at home. Cars should only be used for long-distance travel anyways. The only benefit lost is lower gas usage. You still gain better health, lower stress, and less wasted time. You can talk to your insurance about lowering rates because you are a low mileage user.

Going car-free is hard, there is no doubt, but it can be done.

Conclusion

Cars are seen as convenient and as a status symbol. However, when you become frugal, you no longer view cars as so convenient. Cars can conveniently spend all of your money for you, create stress, and waste valuable time you could be using more productively. Biking and walking, on the other hand, are free activities that will help to keep you healthy and happy.

Ultimately, going car-free is a very personal decision, but one that is entirely possible. Think objectively about your life and see if you can go without a car. Even decreasing your family’s fleet is a good first step towards car-free living.

Public transit is a happy win-win for our wallet and the environment. The incentive to continue going car-free is there. The perk comes to a total savings of $1,500+ a year for my husband alone because his employer pre-pays for his bus fare! No pre-paid $1,500 voucher shouldn’t go to waste!

Now with that said, some city bus routes can be more dangerous than others and these are the things I tell my husband to do every day to make sure he returns home safely to me.

 Related Reads:

• All You Need to Know About Becoming an Amazon Flex Driver (Starting $18 to $30/hr)
• 7+ Companies That Will Pay You To Lose Weight (Really!)
• How To Work From Home Creating a Profitable Doggy Day Care

My Lifetime Experience

There are buses that cross over less reputable neighborhoods. Our suburban-esque residence is separated from the rest of Seattle by a bad stretch of road called Aurora. It’s both locally & historically known for being the breeding ground for hookers, druggies and the cops that follow them. We ride that line almost every day.

It is not a fun ride.

There are people you see who are truly down in the dumps. The other day, I sat next to a woman who’s angry, unstable conversation on the phone aired to the entire bus that she was likely going to lose custody of her children because she’s “using” again (I didn’t catch all of it, I was blasting heavy metal to drown it out).

The snippets I did catch was when she shouted at the top of her lungs. It was really awkward to have everyone stare over with critical and/or pitiful gazes.

The main bus line that connects us to everything in Seattle is a state-of-the-art new bus system that is timed like clockwork for every arrival between 10 to 15 minutes. It sounds amazing (and it is a nicely implemented) but during mid-day, that bus line is a super smelly gem. Summer has hit and there is enough sweaty B.O. that makes me wonder how the drivers handle these work conditions.

Despite the new state-of-the-art buses, the Aurora line is known locally as “the ride on the ferry to Hades” thanks to the high number of vagrants and a cohort of very run-down people who ride that route.

I’ve lived in San Francisco a large portion of my life. San Francisco is a pedestrian and car-less paradise…as well as the hobo capital of the world, probably. I don’t have a sensitive stomach to public buses because I grew up around the ghetto. I don’t claim to know it all but eh, I don’t think I’m off by much.

Bus knife fight? Seen it.

Bus phone theft? Seen it.

Grown adults kicking in the bus door just because they couldn’t make it in time before the doors closed? Oh, yes.

The vast majority (like 99%) of bus rides are uneventful and I feel safe; compare to traffic and vehicle accidents, I think it’s about even between a public bus and a personal vehicle.

Related Reads:

• 11+ Companies Offering Free (or Seriously Discounted) Internet At Home
• 40 Everyday Household Items You Should Buy Secondhand Instead of New

17 Practical Bus Riding Safety Tips

1. Use Your Resting B*tch Face

Do you not have an RBF? Maybe cultivate a small one. If they smell friendliness or naivety then you might have yourself a problem – or at least a very awkward conversation that will end in you being asked to “spare a couple of dollars” for a druggie or alcoholic for good measure. Happened to me a few times – not on the bus exactly but at the bus stops. Much less now that I started practicing my RBF. You have to be mindful of your surrounding at the bus stop just like on the bus.

I rather “spare” my dollars to the reading club at the public library, thank you very much.

2. Zen Mode

Is that man sitting 2 seats away from you screaming profanities to himself? Well, he’s actually not because you’re ignoring him. You are in zen mode. Your headphones are on (either pretending to listen or drowning out all else.)

3. No Eye Contact

If they don’t exist – there’s no need for eye contact. You see where I’m going with this? For the love of God, don’t make eye contact. I know it’s inhumane to ignore people but I was not born to save the world. I just need to get from point A to point B.

4. Do Not Wear Logos

Do you work for a locally despised tech giant that is even-handedly pushing affordability out the window? Has your employer been accused of pushing those on the cusps of homelessness, into homelessness? Yeah, awkward.

Does your company make so much money that they can shower their lucky employees with corporate swag with their logo stamped on everything? The swag Hubby gets is actually nicer than our own stuff.

On to my point: hide the logos. It’s going to be like putting a bull-eye on yourself. Stealth wealth is here to stay. If you want to go extreme, Hubby keeps his hands folded over his chest sometimes during the entire bus ride because that’s where the logo on his shirt is.

5. Pretend You Don’t Speak English

This one works pretty well if you can keep a poker face and know another language. I did all the time when I was a high schooler taking community college classes on the bad side of San Francisco. A shirtless man once came up to me and asked me if he could borrow my cellphone to call his girlfriend. Yes, of course, random shirtless man in the street – of course, I’ll let you use my cellphone to call whoever you want.

I responded to in Mandarin “我不懂英文” – I don’t speak English. He didn’t believe me but I kept at it and fiend ignorance. Eventually, he slinked away.

Which brings me to the next point...

6. Hold on Tight to Your Phone

Your smartphone is worth a pretty penny to desperadoes on their last dollar. If it’s an iPhone, you’re probably holding at least $500 in your hand. Imagine that. Just a stack of cash in your hand or next to your head – along with a lot of personal information and PayPal/credit card linked mobile accounts! It’s a goldmine.

I’m not sure why people are so freaking surprised when their phone gets jacked. Do not display an incredibly expensive gadget loosely in your hand or distracted on the bus! Logic!

 Related Reads:

• How Much Money Does Our Frugality Save? (Spoiler: $56,000+/Year)
• Eat Ugly, Save Money? Imperfect Produce Review (+ FREE COUPON)
• Everything ‘Married…With Children’ Did That Kept Them Poor

7. Watch The Load You’re Carrying

OK if you’re carrying something big in a crowded bus and there’s already a disgruntled person near you – that might cause some trouble. I’ve seen this happen, but just once.

A man who looked to be some sort of mountaineering expert was carrying a huge load of camping and climbing gear. He swung around and naturally his bag went with him. It knocked the already disgruntled guy behind him who instantly took it as a chance to defend himself and instigated a fight. Mountain man didn’t back up or hold off, he was just surprised. There was some shoving back and forth. The man who instigated the fight was kicked off the bus on the next stop but mountain man stuck on, although not without looking completely embarrassed.

8. Mind Your Surroundings

I’m really bad at this because I’m team drown everything out. Don’t be like me. Mind your surroundings! There are 2 exits on a standard bus. There are sometimes 3 exits on a long bus. Sitting near the exits seems like a natural thing to do to feel safe but might not always the case because the perpetrator wants a quick and fast getaway themselves.  If it’s a crowded bus then watch those nearest to you.

A few years ago, a classmate of mine had her phone stolen. Two other high school-aged guys just came up and swiped the phone from her hands. They immediately jumped up and OUT the bus window WHILE the bus was moving. I mean…wow the stupidity…this is what I mean by desperate people. They’re small-time petty criminals in the making.

9. Do Not Leave Anything Under Your Seat (Thinking You’ll Remember It)

Uh, yeah, basically what I just said. It’s not a life-threatening thing but I’ve lost a good few umbrellas thinking I would remember them.

10. Do Not Leave Wallets Exposed in an Unzipped Bag

2 months ago, I had my pretty neon pink handbag wide open and surprise, surprise my wallet went missing after I got off the crowded bus on Aurora. I had seen it just 3 minutes before and poof, stolen!

Needless to say, I was asking for it. I’ll admit to that. Goodbye wallet with my SS card, ID card and $250 in gift cards. Sigh :(!

11. Don’t Carry a Bright Pink Bag

Oh is this specific? My bag was also a bright neon pink too. Talk about attention catching. What in the world was I thinking…

12. The Bus Driver is Here to Help (Even If They Appear Standoff-ish)

They have to help you so don’t be shy. It’s their job and everything is tracked so you can give feedback anytime. There are unique bus ID numbers and each driver is clocked in at that bus, at that route, at that time. You don’t even need to know the bus ID number, just call the city operator with the number of the bus (like 45 or 3), direction and time. They can track it from there, easy peasy. I didn’t know this until 6 months ago, I wish I did before. More people should.

Honestly, public transportation workers are not going to win any service awards. In fact, most of them seem to hate their life. Especially the transit workers in San Francisco. I have never seen so much attitude and misery concentrated in an occupation before. Everyone has a chip on their shoulder. I would think it’s a pretty cushy government job!

 Related Reads:

• 7 Reasons You Shouldn’t Feel Embarrassed To Attend Community College
• How I Paid Off $20,000 In Student Loans Working Part-Time
• 15 Money Things Young Adults Overlook That Matter

13. Carry Personal Protection

Pepper spray is not a good idea. Someone on the bus I was on sprayed pepper spray (not sure at what or who) and everyone around in the crowded bus got a dose of it. Poor innocent bystanders. We had to evacuate. It’s potent stuff. I think a mini taser is better or at least a whistle.

14. Don’t Stand Out

I see some people sitting down on the bus and they use their hands to brush away invisible dirt. Yo, it’s the bus, you’re not wiping anything away. That seat has housed a million butts and it will house yours the same. Some people put newspapers down and sit on the newspaper instead. That just makes you seem like a total snob. Are you too good to ride the dirty bus with the rest of us dirty animals? Haha.

15. Have Patience

Remember the zen thing? You’re still doing that!

Sometimes I see women with baby strollers…oh my…the extreme awkwardness that comes with trying to push a jumbo stroller filled with the screaming baby onto the bus using the handicap ramp with several other onlookers and bystanders waiting right behind and then blocking the main walkway  on the bus some more before the bus driver could come over and push up the seats to make room for the stroller…now do it all over again on the way off the bus.

Have patience. We plan to live car-free as long as we can before we conjure up a baby. Buses and babies do not mix. I would freak out if a stranger reached out to touch my baby (which has happened before and the look on the mom’s faces was a mixture of total horror and false politeness.) I don’t blame them. Don’t touch other people’s kids, man. Another tip should be if you don’t want any trouble to keep your hands to yourself.

16. Buddy System

This is pretty popular for new riders who have never really been on the bus alone. There is definitely safety in numbers.

Sorry to be lame but I do feel safer with my husband around to hold. He’s this 6-foot tall guy and that’s probably more threatening in contrast to something like me.

17. Mommy Bonus Tip!

Miss Tarynkay’s ace-in-the-hole mommy & bus advice: if you have to ride the bus with a baby, put the baby in a sling. People aren’t as likely to get up in the baby’s face if the baby’s face is in your chest. Also, it’s much easier to maneuver without a stroller.

My friend has one of those baby slings and it was so expensive ($80 for fabric?) but she has used it for everything including transportation making it a frugal and wise choice.

Related Reads:

• Debt and Suicide – Why I’m Proud To Be A Grown-Up Tattletale
• The 11 Perks of Growing Up Poor

It’s Not That Bad

It’s not that bad! Or else I wouldn’t be a huge supporter for riding public transit! How many things in this life are win-wins? Bus safety and neighborhood concerns are largely dependent on geographic location but it’s always a frugal & convenient amenity to have around.

My leaning towards living in more dangerous neighborhoods is probably a lot worse than what you will experience.

An overwhelmingly large portion of bus riders keep to themselves and nothing bad really happens even in the worst of it. I know these tips work because I’ve seen and been the guinea pig on occasional of what happens when we’re not watching out for our surroundings.

~

{ Raggedly riches are the best riches! Rich looks different for everyone – and that’s why I want to share my experiences, passions, and tips and tricks with whoever wants to read about them. As an artist, I’m never going to be able to make a six-figure income but that doesn’t mean I can’t utilize the money I make and have in the best way possible. We all have different priorities and passions, and we’re all in different stages of our life – which is okay!

I think all you need to do to be happy is to be honest with yourself about what you want, why you want it, and what you need to do to get it. My blog’s all about Canadian finances, writing, and art – and there’s bound to be something for everyone there. Come on over, take a look, and drop me a line! }

Biking for Dummies

Adding a bike to your routine can be daunting. But it’s an excellent mode of transportation, and a great way to swap out your car every once in a while. Here’s a quick overview to hopefully make it seem more approachable and friendlier:

SAFETY FIRST

1. Always wear a helmet. I cannot stress this enough. You don’t need a $70 helmet, but you do need a certified helmet that fits well. Go to your local sporting store, and get someone to help you fit the cheapest helmet you can find. Your helmet won’t save your skull if it doesn’t stay on your skull.

2. Know your limits. Terrified of cars and traffic? Then don’t bike in busy car lanes. Most cities have bike lanes or bike streets that have a fraction of the traffic main routes do. Google has an option for mapping out

3. Be visible. The most places require a bell, and bike lights (or at least reflectors) by law, at night. I always have my reflectors on, I have a bell I rarely use, and cheap bike light. I paid less than $15 for my lights. You don’t need amazing lights, you just need lights.

4. Know the rules of the road. And don’t trust that other people do. I’ve been in one too many Canadian stand-offs in the middle of an intersection, where a car has the right of way but has been too worried about me darting out into the street to go through the intersection (even though I’m completely stopped at a stop sign). Don’t count on this happening to you. Assume that no one sees you, that no one will stop for you, and that no one will care about you.

If you’re aware of your surroundings, 9.8 times out of 10, you’ll be able to see someone who’s distracted or reckless before you encounter them, and be able to avoid them. I either slow down, or speed up, to make sure our paths won’t cross. Be careful of pedestrians too! Don’t trust them to look up before crossing the street. And remember:

In a battle between you and a car, the car will win even if you have the right of way.

And that’s not to scare you! As long as you’re careful, you can usually prevent an accident from happening. Taking the precautions above will help make sure you avoid any situations where you are in danger.

So now that you’re doing everything you can to give yourself a great shot at a safe and low-stress ride, here’s some tips:

Fair Weather Bike Gangs

You don’t have to be an intense cyclist if you don’t want to be. I biked to work rain or shine, mist or torrential downpour. If you’re going to be biking in wet weather, either invest in some rain gear, or bring an extra set of clothes. I had an extra set of pants at work, and had underwear and socks tucked into my backpack.

That being said, the second the sun started shining, I was no longer alone in my commute – the biker gangs came out in droves, and there was suddenly a dozen of us waiting for the light.

Don’t be afraid not take your bike. Especially if you’re not as confident as you could be; take your time, and do what feels right to you.

Bike Lanes

Know how to use them. Here’s a nifty video in Canada explaining how to use bike-lane turn boxes:

And just because you’re in a bike lane, don’t assume that drivers will respect or remember what they’re for. Keep an eye on any cars parked by the bike lane, try to look through the windows of the cars 10-15 feet in front of you. Is there someone whose brake lights are on, and whose wheels are starting to turn out? Someone whose hands are on the wheel and starting to turn it? Slow down and assume they don’t see you. They probably will, but you’ll be happy with your paranoia if they don’t, and you’re already slowing to a stop in anticipation when they pull out.

Hand Signals

They’re pretty simple. Just remember to use your left arm. My trick for remembering them is to ‘point’ where I want to turn. Extended left arm means I want to turn left. Pointing towards the sky like I’m about to do one of those yoga over-the-head arm bends, means I want to turn right. Pointing to the ground, means I’m stopping.

Stop Signs

Technically, cyclists follow the same rules of the road that cars do. This means no sneaking up along the curb when you’re stopped at a light to get to the front of the line, and you do need to stop at stop signs.

In practice, I find that these are the two rules people don’t follow. The one that drives me the craziest as the operator of a vehicle, is when cyclists sneak up along the curb after they’ve been painstakingly (and sometimes dangerously!!) passed by cars while there’s a lineup for a stoplight. There are exceptions, like when there’s space for this, but if there’s only two car lanes and that’s it, that isn’t enough space.

When you pass the four or five cars that have almost hit you, they’re going to do the exact same thing when the light turns green, and almost hit you again as they pass you, again. If there’s no dedicate lane for you, take up a good portion of the car lane so people can’t clip by you, and stay behind the car in front of you when you come up to a light. People may disagree with me, but I’ve never been close to getting hit when I take up the space I’m entitled to, and when I’m not a jerk and try to gain 40 feet at a stop light.

Safety

I usually scan the intersection and see if there are any oncoming cars before I get there. You usually CAN get a ticket while on a bicycle, if you don’t stop at a stop sign. I haven’t seen it happen often, but I have seen it happen. I usually try to match my speed with one of the cars that’s going past (on wide streets), so that I don’t have to stop, but I’m next to a car going the same direction I am, that does have the right of way. If you don’t trust your judgement of which way cars are turning, then come to the stop sign, stop, and proceed when it’s safe. Don’t rush it, it’s not worth it.

If there’s one thing I hope people get from this post, it’s:

Don’t rush it, it’s not worth it. It doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong, a car will win against a cyclist 99.9% of the time.

If it’s your first time, test out the route on your day off. Make sure you use streets and paths that aren’t busy. Don’t overwhelm yourself, and give yourself plenty of time. For the love of all good, wear a helmet. And have fun.

Editor’s Note

It’s becoming a luxury to be able to bike to work although I think most people who can bike would prefer it if they knew how much the savings would come down to. Sadly for us Americans over here it comes down to infrastructure (or a lack thereof.)

This reminds me of the time when one of my old flames brought a $800 dollar bike. I was like so shocked at the price tag! For a bike! But now I’m thinking, well, the average auto loan is about $30,032¹ so a $800 initial investment in exchange for incurring the otherwise cost of maintenance, insurance and gasoline is pretty darn frugal in comparison! He was also able to weave in between a lot of morning commuter traffic which means he got to the office faster as well.

He took all the safety precautions above and he wore of reflective clothing too. For the years he was biking, he had just one mishap. While biking on a nice sidewalk, he tripped on a fat pebble. Then he veered and fell onto the soft lawn with a scrapped knee. He told me while he was nursing his knee on the lawn, the entire sprinkler system on a timer went off and he was soaked from head to toe. He went into the office wet as a dog. “Still a money win!” I thought to myself