Or, How About NOT Driving?
April 18th, 2008
I’ve been kicking this idea around in my head for the past couple of months…
Gas is getting ridiculously expensive. Like… srsly. It doesn’t really look like it’s gonna be getting lower anytime soon either. My truck is getting expensive to keep drivable… the high mileage oil costs almost twice as much as the regular oil… my car insurance keeps going up (wtf? I can’t figure out why because I have no tickets and no accidents so it shouldn’t be getting more expensive...) uhhhhm, oh yeah and it’s doing this really cool stalling thing when I am braking. Yeaaaah. I can’t really afford to take it to the mechanic. I’m sure it just needs a tuneup but even those tend to be a couple hundred bucks that I simply don’t have budgeted to spend on the truck.
So according to the Kelley Blue Book, I could feasibly get $2-3k for my truck… that wouldn’t be bad. Then I can do one of two things…
I can either buy a (hopefully) more gas-economical little car with that money…
Or I can just not have a vehicle for a while and put that money in savings. Gain some interest on it and experience not having a car. I’ve been gathering lots of life-experiences lately, it’s pretty cool. Anyway, I’d save money on insurance and gas which will be cool, since my other bills seem to be getting bigger, and I’m getting paid less here. The monthly pass for the MAX and buses costs less than my insurance alone.
Down in L.A. I would have *never* even CONSIDERED not having a car. I almost feel like having that ingrained into me is why I haven’t already jumped ship and gotten rid of the truck. I love my truck but I kind of wonder if I actually NEED it. Hmmm. The MAX is really cool and runs often. It’s a 4 minute walk from my new home (I’m moving over the next couple weeks) to the stop there, and then a 4 minute walk from the MAX to my work, so that would mean I wouldn’t have to find parking here (it’s a nightmare). I already take the MAX to go to Downtown cause it’s faster most of the time and parking over there blows too. The buses seem to go pretty much everywhere that the train doesn’t go.... lots of people get around just fine without having a vehicle. My new roommate has a car so I can go grocery shopping with her, which is really the only time when you actually NEEEEEEEEEED a car no matter how close the public transportation is.
But I dunno. I can’t decide if I should go carless or not.
tagged: truck, public transportation, moving, max, gas, decision, car, buses
Everyday Life
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03:23 PM
