Your mode of transportation is a huge expense and consideration when living the frugal lifestyle. There are a lot of ways to reduce cost and prevent unecesarry expense.
Your mode of transportation is a huge expense and consideration when living the frugal lifestyle. Depending on where you live there are certain modes of transportation that are more practical than others. If I lived in a small town where everything was close I might consider riding a bike, considering the weather is generally mild as well. What a save on insurance and gas. While I lived in San Francisco during my grad school years I bought a $30 bus pass every month as that mode of transportation was not only fast but efficient, (and I wasn’t spending hundreds on parking tickets which any San Franciscan knows are easy to acquire and accumulate)
Living in Colorado with a family one might find it necessary to have a car to grocery shop, transport family members to school, work, activities which may be multiple miles away from each other with a slight chance of rain, wind, sun and snow on any given day or all on one day (as any Coloradoan knows). In my younger years my considerations were practicality and cuteness when shopping for a car. I owned a Volkswagen “Thing” in high school which was a car shaped like one of those aluminum rectangle lunch boxes we all had in high school. This was made during war time and meant to float on water if needed. The doors and windows slipped off and the car was also a convertible. It was very cute and fun and my friends all loved getting rides in it. It did well on gas, not costly to repair, and oh did I mention I bought it for $600? This was back in 1990, but I was still quite happy with that transaction at the time. I then moved on to a 1973 Volkswagen Super beetle, which again, practical, cute,and quite inexpensive.
These days I have moved from cute and practical to pretty much just practical. If a car is safe, reliable, with good gas mileage and is easy to repair, I am quite happy. I would not be comfortable buying a luxury or sports car. I don’t want to have to worry about getting dinged or having a fender bender. I don’t plan to resell my car, when I purchased the car, there were some minor bumps and bruises and it has been in a hail storm since I’ve owned it so I honestly do not fret if someone accidentally hits it with their grocery cart at the store. The car gets me where I need to go, and quite effectively as again I live in Colorado and Subarus do quite well in snowy conditions. How does this equate to frugal living? Well, less accidents mean less money spent on repairs and medical bills and as I have an older car with visible wear and tear, I do not find it a priority to spend money on the aesthetics.
Having an older car, less aesthetically pleasing car also has its benefits with considering theft. A 2014 Subaru is usually not the first choice in a lot of cars to be stolen. For instance, I keep my car unlocked all the time but when our neighborhood received a visit from car thieves it was a nearby neighbor that got his newer and much more enticing car stolen. Unfortunately for him. He has a brand new dodge sports car, or had one anyway. So, I know what you’re wondering. Why do I leave my car unlocked? Well after years of having lived in the city, and having my car broken into multiple times and spending hundreds of dollars on replacing broken windows on my cars I finally figured out the solution. I leave my car unlocked for those who want to enter it. I never have anything more than some pocket change and a few juice boxes and canvas grocery bags. If someone is desperate enough for any of those items, they are more than welcome to them. I don’t know if there is anyone out there willing to risk a felony by stealing my older unsightly hail-beaten Forester.
I intend on having my Forester until it runs no longer. When that happens I am considering buying my first new car. The reason being is I would like to buy an EV or hybrid and would like to reap the benefit of having a brand new vs. used battery as they are quite expensive. For now I am quite happy with the Forester as it gets me where I need to be.
