The Price of Necessity

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by Waldo

And WORD! about cars. I have my six year old Honda in the drive and have been thinking seriously about getting rid of it. I put more miles on it getting to and from the airport than I do the rest of the month. I live in an extremely walkable neighborhood and I ride my bike. But I've decided not to sell it because I'd hate to find myself in need of one and having to buy an unknown entity. I bought this one new and it's paid off. I know everything about it and (knock on wood) it's a perfectly good car.

Not having a car is a pretty big lifestyle choice. When I first got rid of the car (forever ago!) I was living a 2 hour bus commute from work - not such a great idea. But since then I've gotten smarter and have intentionally chosen apartments that are within reasonable distance of work, a grocery store, on the bus route, etc.

Even in the town where I now live (which is a far cry from Toronto, I tell you) where the bus stops running at 11 Monday-Friday and 6 on Saturdays and Sundays I'm doing more than fine. The money I save each month by not owning a vehicle can certainly afford me the luxury of taking a taxi once or twice a month if I'm going to be out real late and in an area of town that I can't walk home from.