Driving 2008 w/o a Car

Jared Diamond's article today in the New York Times about the average US consumer consuming 32 times more than the average world citizen is another compelling and riveting reason to stay the course of not owning a vehicle another month at least. Our family has been involved in this on-going experiment to leave the car parked in the driveway since the end of August. Our comsumption has decreased and savings increased as a direct result better planning. For example, we eat out less often, because of the simple reason it's more difficult to pick up fast food and after a long day, the push is to get home and relax, not take extra time out to eat.
We've all been walking much more and during the holidays this extra walking helped us to keep off the extra pounds. We still have some way to go, but are moving in the right direction to keeping fit. And I'm thrilled I've been able to finish reading more books since I began the car free existence.

The coming months will be challenging however, as our 15 year old son pressures us to start driving. However, he has to achieve a minimumn grade point average to receive the reward of driver's education which may hold him off till summer. I hope for his sake he can do it, at which point we'll fire up the old volvo.

In the meantime I can't think of any reason to get a new car. The main obstacle is weekend and entertainment driving. We have not taken as many hikes as we did last year, but we've offset that with more frequent in- city walks. My stress level is way down not having to drive on a daily basis and I can't see any reason to ever enter the commuter frenzy again!

Imagine a City w/o Cars

I'm starting to envision a car-free society here in Seattle. It makes more and more economic sense with the merging of Zip andFlex, if you live in Seattle, why would you drive? Thursday I walked downtown to visit some First Thursday artshows: Jef Gunn at Traver; Catherine Cook at Lisa Harris Gallery; and Mark Webber at Trabant coffeehouse on 2nd and James, with a management professor. He's been commuting by foot to work from Queen Anne for many years. He is definitely a trend setter and one of our hardest working commentators for smart transportation choices at SU.

Get out of your cars, folks!

October Rain

There's talk that this will be another wet and windy winter. Better make sure to patch the holes in your roof and check the basement drainage. Last winter our sump pump broke and we had a flooded basement during October. After 90 straight days of rain, I was ready to get the hell out of Seattle to some sunshine and spent 5 days at my brother's place outside San Jose del Cabo. What does any of this have to do with not driving?

For over 30 years I've always managed to beat the winter blues by staying active and using the sauna, until last year. For some reason by February I had a very bad attitude. My friends and family gently nudged me to get some sunshine (or get away from them - please). This year, I'm hoping that by walking each day up and down the hill to work, from where the bus lets us off, I can somehow beat the winter blues. Of course, it means more exposure to the elements. This year I'm trying an experiment: by increasing my interaction with the elements perhaps I can improve my winter attitude. After the first week of October I can safely say it's working. The real test will be in January, and you'll have to ask my husband and kids for an honest answer.

One Month Car-free

At close to the end of September I can claim one month car-free in Seattle! Tomorrow we'll celebrate by taking a hike to Shriner's Peak on Mt. Rainier. Without thinking too much about the big picture we managed to make it one month. I'm not sure what October will bring, just taking it one day at a time and appreciating the help from kindly friends and family.
Stay tuned!

Do You Need to Talk?

Yesterday my son begged me for a new phone. What?? He just got his first phone about 6 months ago and now he's asking for a new one - with email - an IPhone? My first response was an absolute no, how wasteful. On second thought, I began to see it as a bargaining tool. Another no-car family I read about used this as a tool to entice their kids to go car-free. The financial rule of no new expenses without dropping old expenses may apply here.

How much have we saved so far going without a car? What if we could get through the entire winter without a car? Maybe it's time to keep track of savings. And our family is trying to be more world-centric, trying to get used to the idea of living in a global economy and traveling more. We 've talked about visiting our friends in Germany, using the money we've saved, if we can make it till Christmas. So the proposition of a new phone is not so out of order. What else should you be doing but checking your email and connecting with people on the way home, stuck in the traffic? At least on the bus, you can feel no guilt about multitasking...

I told my son this morning, we'd give it some more thought. My answer to everything lately!