Fewer Cars Than People

How many families do you know that have a car for each family member? How many have more cars than people? Well my husband and I have been testing the one car per family lifestyle and after two successful months, have decided it works perfectly fine for us! We started by not driving my 1996 Honda Civic. It was there if we needed it, but during most of the two months it has been blocked by mulch and we have never had a reason to free it.

Our system relies most heavily on public transportation. My husband drops me off at the bus stop or I ride my Strida to the stop and take the bus from there. Now that the weather is nicer, I have the option of riding my full size bike all the way into work. The one time that I drove to work, my husband was working from home. When making this decision we thought of scenarios where we would both need a car. We decided that if we run into one of those situations, it is just as easy to rent a car the few times that we will need an extra. We also discussed when we would need to own two cars again. For us, this would be when we decide to have kids, but this would hinge on if we really needed another vehicle. I don't subscribe to the belief that having one child requires that you get another car. This includes adding cars and getting a bigger vehicle. I completely understand the reasons where it is required, but there is still the opportunity to maintain a one car household with one kid. This will be one of those play it as we go situations to ensure that we make the right choice.

As of right now, my Honda is getting tuned up to be passed along to my brother and replace his less efficient S10. Hopefully we will make the hand off this weekend and gain a large area in our garage! The other nicety is that our car insurance will go down a little bit. It won't be a life changing amount since my car is old and we don't have full coverage on it, but it will still be more money that we can put to other, more exciting things.

So try out a new transportation style. Not everyone can give up a vehicle, but driving one less day a week or one less week a month will not only save you gas money, but open your eyes to changes you can make, or changes in transportation that your community could make to help out its citizens.

Couple of quick links

Green Construction Comes to Eastern Iowa:
KCRG.com Article

A link from my mom:
360 Electrical - These are neat outlets you can retrofit anywhere that can turn 360 degrees to allow you to plug in those awkward power blocks, though you should probably have them on a power strip so you can kill the vampire power suckers.

--JOsh