Originally Posted by
jonescanada
I can't get over how many people mentioned that everyone in their school drives or they are the only ones who bike. I know I didn't grow up in the richest neighbourhood but not many people in my high school drove and almost none owned their own car. That was 8 years ago but still. The 4 people I can think of who owned their own car didn't go to University because they "didn't have the money". I should mention that in Southern Ontario you generally don't live more than a 45 minute walk away from your high school in an urban/suburban area. Where all these other kids got money to own a car at that age is beyond me. My insurance was about $4,500 a year when I got my own car at 20. My advice to anyone. Get your license right away because you might need it and the longer you have it the lower your insurance will be. ANd don't but a car until you have a career type job.
My thoughts nearly exactly.
I would like to add that car debt, like most debt, for a single person is a pretty foolish way to put your best foot forward. Cycling is a great way to leverage your meagre income to either be in less university debt later or start saving in early adulthood to buy other self-sustaining things for living that won't require your indebtedness, etc.
Dumpster diving, anyone else? Throughout university I didn't have paid work, but I strapped on a milk crate and would regularly bring home 2 weeks of food on the bicycle. So it was rent, salt and butter for me. I refused to buy looseleaf to write on when I could find piles of blank-side scrap paper in the library bins, and I found a lot of pens in the hallway, and didn't have wifi in my place because I lived in a rooming house.
A reliable, well-maintained bike with cosmetic anti-theft qualities is a good thing to have when you're worked for ete university and paying for it. Too anybody looking to cut costs and work less, I bring up bicycles, even though I'm not longer in that position.
I wish I was biking right now but I have a chronic crotch injury that flares up from cycling so that's a bit of an obstacle.