Car Free Living

Car Free Living

One of the best ways to save a high percentage of your income is to adopt a car free lifestyle. Living in a walkable neighborhood and using a bicycle are key components of this lifestyle, as are public transit and car sharing services

Bicycles

First and foremost, you need a bike. The best way to get one is to look on Craigslist. People are always selling used bikes and it is possible to find high quality ones for less than $100. My old “get around town” bike cost $50 on Craigslist, and I later sold it for $60


Where Great Rides Begin!
For new bikes, Performance Bike has stores across the US and has great sales. I bought my last road bike at Performance Bike, and sold it on Craigslist when we started our travels.


Nashbar
Nashbar.com is a great resource for discounted bikes, bike components, and other bike gear.

Car Sharing Services

You can’t walk and bike everywhere; sometimes a car is more than a luxury. For those times, car sharing services get the job done at a fraction of the cost of car ownership

For big Costco trips or the occasional get together off the bus route, we had a Zipcar membership. For a low hourly rate, you get a car, gas, and insurance.

Car2Go is quickly becoming a strong option as well, with tiny Smart cars that you don’t need to return to the original pickup spot.

Uber has become my favorite motorized way to get around town. Using an app on your smartphone, you simply tell them to pick you up at your current GPS location and a few minutes later you are riding in style.  Try it and get your first ride free

Amazon

Amazon.com gets their own special mention. We don’t shop, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need things on occasion. Instead of advertising, Amazon.com subsidizes shipping costs so an order over $35 is shipped for free. Or they offer free 2-day shipping on all orders for members of Amazon Prime.

Now there is no reason to go to the store ever again


 

9 Comments

  1. Tristan

    I promise you car-free gets a lot tougher when you have junior :)

    Reply
    • Go Curry Cracker

      Maybe. He is 5 months old and not once have we wished we had a car

      Reply
  2. Lauren Bateman

    Very cool guys. Live just north of Boston. I’m thinking of selling my 2010 Camaro and having myself and my fiance share a car. I work for myself and my commute to work (a music school I own) is about a 2 minute walk. I think we could totally live off 1 car. During the warmer months I could use my motorcycle.

    I’m have been planning my retirement since I was 23. I used to work 40 hours a week with 10 hours of travel and knew it wasn’t for me. When I was 27 I quit my job to live life as a musician. I’m now down to about 10 hours of teaching/week and looking to completely get out within the next year so that I can fully “retire” and start travelling a bit more.

    Do you guys avoid more expensive countries? If you do visit more high end countries, do you stick to outskirts and countryside? I know Italy can be expensive, but some of the little town and villas are very beautiful and can be much cheaper.

    Reply
    • Go Curry Cracker

      Hi Lauren,

      Wow, it sounds like a pretty amazing life you have there in Boston!

      We consciously started our travels in lower cost of living countries so we could allow our portfolio to continue to grow. We will still go through all of the expensive places too. Being location independent, we can balance time between higher/lower cost of living places so the average is within budget

      Reply
  3. Perry

    GCC, reading through your blog after seeing it in FIREcracker’s blog roll. My work moved me from DC to Honolulu 2.5 years ago. Uncomfortable with the high COL here, I sold our car before the move and never bought a new one. Now we have a year old boy and I don’t miss a car at all. I wonder how many thousands we’ve saved? It’s like adding an extra rocket booster on our way up to the FI orbit ??

    Reply
  4. Ali

    Do you ever stay in places in other countries where you kind of need a car? I keep looking at Airbnb options in different countries that are away from public transportation. I’m not sure there’s a reliable life hack for that situation, but if you have some tips I’d love to hear them!

    Reply
    • Go Curry Cracker

      Sometimes. Ireland, for example.

      But in general I would opt for central location and easy walking / transit even if it cost more.

      Reply
  5. A Way to Less

    Love this approach.

    We walk/bike as much as possible but Miss Way’s job involves a lot of travelling between different schools, often with lots of stuff to carry! This is the main thing stopping us going totally car free. Any tips to help remove this need?

    How have you found the car thing since Julian was born? We would love to start a family in the near future so it’s another consideration for us!

    Reply
    • Go Curry Cracker

      It may not be possible to go car-free.

      These are our Uber stats for 2018:
      188 rides
      $1223.57 spent
      7 countries
      longest ride: 2 hr 29 min 57 sec ($38.97, Vietnam)
      Most expensive: $58.08 (to Seatac airport)
      Least expensive: $2.61 (Warsaw, Poland)
      Average: $6.54
      Median: $5.03

      It helps to have a compact portable car seat.

      Reply

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