This is actually an annoying money saver for both us and our friends, but it’s still a money saver. When Andrew and I lived in NY we didn’t use a car. We left our 2001 Ford Escape parked at my parents in NJ. Occasionally we would pick up the car when we went on long weekends out of town or if we needed to transport a large item, but other than that we used public transportation.
It was easy because that is the culture of the city. You are “weird” if you have a car…because it isn’t considered “green”, parking and street sweeping are nearly impossible to find / keep track of, and it is actually more convenient to use public transportation (traffic and the whole parking thing again).
In San Diego, things are a bit different. Public transportation is not as reliable or widely used, parking isn’t usually an issue unless you’re downtown, and almost everyone has a car.
When we worked together at Amor the one car thing was perfect. Last year when I started going to school we thought about purchasing a used vehicle from savings. But then we thought about added gas, insurance, registration, etc, and realized with one income it just wasn’t doable. We mover close to school so I could walk / ride my bike / get picked up or dropped off easily. Another advantage to moving north is that several people that work with Andrew live nearby and have been so generous as to drive him around a few times a week.
As nice as it would be to have another car, right now we have to be frugal and if I’ve learned anything from my dad it’s this: “the more you have, the more you have to worry about…especially and including multiple cars.”
(Special thanks to Cristy, Blair & Erin, Ellen, and Clint for always getting us to and from work/school on time!!!)
