phx1973

I’ve always been fascinated by the car-free and car-lite stories in this forum. My wife and I have 3 kids ages 4 through 13. Getting rid of one our cars has always been tempting for me but just never felt doable until now. Now that we are both working from home due to Corona Virus, it seemed like the perfect time to give this a real try. I’m actually typing this as I prepare to leave the dealership, where I just sold back my car. My wife will keep hers for a bit.

I feel so free! Whoop whoop!!

now it’s time to go home and get some miles on my bike!

cooker

Sounds good!

wsgts

Do you plan on using the bike to move kids around at all, or just use the car whenever they need to be moved places? Not that there is a lot of places to move them at the moment!

Love Bloomington, BTW.

AlgarveCycling

Well done!

One car is what we're down to now as well - have been for the last 3 years.

Our main residence is in Portugal, the Southern touristic Algarve region, with 300 glorious Sunny days a year on average. It is ideal cycling country in many ways. Public transport is poor and lacking however in these parts and almost everyone has a car. Our second home is in Amsterdam, Netherlands and we are car-free there, as is most of the city's famously cycling population. The infrastructure in Amsterdam for cyclists is fantastic, a close second to the World's leader in this respect, Copenhagen, where my stepson lives.

I was someone who changed his car every 2 years - over a dozen BMW's, Porsches, large SUV's in the past. Two and sometimes three cars in the household where only my wife and I drove. My step-kids are 21 and 24 - neither has expressed any interest in learning to drive, both live in cities with an amazing cycling culture.

My wife and I live in an idyllic beach tourist hotspot, one of Europe's finest, and I work from home, my wife will from next year. Cycling is my sport, for my wife exercise and commuting. We use the car only for shopping and travel nowadays and it is a hybrid vehicle that next year we will replace with an EV. I don't see myself giving up owning a car completely in the near future - certainly not where I live. If I lived in Amsterdam or similar all the time, then yes, possibly. That home is not permanent though, it was cheaper to buy than to rent for 5 years while my wife is based there predominantly for work - she is here in Portugal full-time from next year and we'll rent it.

I just cannot see my region developing the infrastructure required any time soon for me to go car-free on my terms. Plus, I like cars and make no apologies for that, certainly no car-free evangelist, but happy to adapt to cleaner tech and reduce to one vehicle. The hybrid - and future EV - is fuelled mainly from our solar PV panels (with solar thermal panels providing our household hot water).

50PlusCycling

I often hear about how people in the old days had more money, and could afford to have a stay-at-home wife who raised the kids. Remembering the old days, I remember that we certainly didn't have more money. But we did have only one car, only one TV, only one telephone (used sparingly) and lived on a tight budget. My mom clip coupons on Thursdays to use at the grocery store, and she collected Green Stamps which she traded for gifts at the end of the year. When my jeans or shirts were ripped or got holes, they were sewn or patched. When my shoes got too small and worn down, they were re-soled and given to my younger brother. People in the old days didn't earn more money, they simply spent much less.

alloo

Lower your expenses! Invest more money! Explore a new place! Bikes are a great way to explore your community and meet cool people. A great book to read is "How to live well without a car." You now have $8-$10k to invest. Good luck!

Geepig

Yes, true, even today I do not go out and make purchases lightly. I had my first new bike this summer in 45 years, wifie bought it for my birthday, my other two bikes are old shopper bikes, and every purchase happens when something breaks or wears out, and is still considered. The world today runs on producing manufactured articles that allow us to purchase more, go further, both spouses to work, but we have to consider how much the desire to purchase more and do more that changes our lifestyles today, rather than having less money.

To drop to one car per family is a good move, but so is choosing that car to be smaller, to take less stuff when we travel. We have a 1 liter Toyota Yaris, we have driven it all over Poland and even down through the Alps to Italy. We have to take less stuff, but we don't do fewer things as a consequence.