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What type of things should we consider if we would like to do this? We have had one car before, but that was before our 2nd was born 6 years ago. Now we have 4 children (5 with foreign exchange student tho she will be leaving in a few months).

 

We recently bought a new 2007 Honda Accord but want to go "gazelle intense" with Dave Ramsey. We don't really *have* to have a 2nd car when we think about it. Hubby can work from home a few days (he already does on Friday) so I can schedule any stuff on those days. He is somewhat flexible there (unless a big meeting day). Our Honda is our only debt outside of the mortgage. We do need a bigger emergency fund tho.

 

Any things we should consider if we chose to do this? We aren't big social people so we don't have loads of commitments.

 

Thanks!

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We're putting our second car in storage for the next six months (storage only insurance, only $40 for the six months!) to see if we can go from 2 cars to one. We've got decent alternative options around (an OK public bus system & sidewalks for our bikes for the spots where the road's jsut too busy to ride on) for when we need to get anywhere and dh already carpools 1-2 days a week with another guy from work. If we can do it this summer without having to get the car back on road insurance, we plan to do it again over the winter to see if we can make it through the whole year without a 2nd car. If it just doesn't work in the winter (MI), but it does for the summers, then we'll just continue putting one of the cars on storage from May to October. But if it does... buh bye 2nd car.

 

If you message me privately, maybe we can set up a support link with each other. This is a big deal in our car-crazy country and I'm impressed with your decision to even consider it. Be forewarned: there'll be lots of people who will try to talk you out of it.

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Well, I'm not sure... We have had one car and two cars back and forth during our marriage. And in recent years, dh has been able to work from home approximately half the time.

 

Dh relies on public transportation a lot -- without it as at least a back-up for getting him to and from work, I don't know if we could manage. Things come up. Your husband needs to be at a long-planned meeting, and one of your kids gets very sick -- either he needs a back-up plan for getting to the meeting, or you need some other way of getting the child to the doctor / urgent care. Sometimes for us, this means getting everybody into the car, driving Daddy to work, going where we need to go, and picking him up afterward.

 

I'd say 90+ percent of the time, it's totally fine that we share a car. Then there are times when it can seem pretty inconvenient. We've actually rented a car on two or three occasions just to make it work. But while the expense of that is annoying, it's still much cheaper in the long run than payments, insurance, upkeep on a second car.

 

You'll also need to communicate really well about when each of you needs the car. For instance today, lol, there were two non-vital but good things that I had planned to take the kids to do today. Not a big deal, but if dh had let me know a little more in advance, I wouldn't have planned them.

 

Ask yourself if there's a way for your dh to get to work on public transportation if necessary. Ask yourself what you would do if there were places you both *needed* to be during a day -- especially if one of them was last minute. Ask yourself if it would be feasible to drive him to work from time to time so that you could have the car during the day. Ask who would have the car "by default" during the week, and who would need to be the one to say, "I'm going to need the car on Friday". Ask yourself how much you can walk to from your home...

 

Again, it works fine for us, and I know several other families locally who manage with one car as well. Like your family, generally the husband works from home at least part time (and in some cases the "away from home" part actually means travel, where transportation is provided for him)...

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Things come up. Your husband needs to be at a long-planned meeting, and one of your kids gets very sick -- either he needs a back-up plan for getting to the meeting, or you need some other way of getting the child to the doctor / urgent care. Sometimes for us, this means getting everybody into the car, driving Daddy to work, going where we need to go, and picking him up afterward.

 

I'd say 90+ percent of the time, it's totally fine that we share a car. Then there are times when it can seem pretty inconvenient. We've actually rented a car on two or three occasions just to make it work. But while the expense of that is annoying, it's still much cheaper in the long run than payments, insurance, upkeep on a second car.

 

You'll also need to communicate really well about when each of you needs the car. For instance today, lol, there were two non-vital but good things that I had planned to take the kids to do today. Not a big deal, but if dh had let me know a little more in advance, I wouldn't have planned them.

 

Ask yourself if there's a way for your dh to get to work on public transportation if necessary. Ask yourself what you would do if there were places you both *needed* to be during a day -- especially if one of them was last minute. Ask yourself if it would be feasible to drive him to work from time to time so that you could have the car during the day. Ask who would have the car "by default" during the week, and who would need to be the one to say, "I'm going to need the car on Friday". Ask yourself how much you can walk to from your home...

 

Again, it works fine for us, and I know several other families locally who manage with one car as well. Like your family, generally the husband works from home at least part time (and in some cases the "away from home" part actually means travel, where transportation is provided for him)...

 

I think Abbeyej said most of what I was going to write. Phew. Saved me 10 min. at the computer :lol:. We went from 2 vehicles to 1 a few years ago and have never looked back. Dh works out of the home 5 days a week. If I need the van (usually 2 days a week for dc classes etc), he takes public transportation or we all pile in the van in the morning and drive daddy to work. It's a minor inconvenience, but the kids are already up by that time so really, it's no big deal. If there's lots of complaining, we put a movie on for them in the van and the whining stops. Heck, we can even have a nice, private conversation together while driving him to work. :D

 

One vehicle works for us, but like Abbeyej said: be sure to have a back up plan in case something urgent comes up during the day. For us, if one of the kids has to go to the dr. (other than this, I can't say anything else that I had to classify as urgent has come up in the last 3 yrs) Dh will drive the van home to me so we can go out.- we have to drive him back to work in this case. We are lucky he doesn't have to go to big meetings etc. where he just wouldn't be able to leave.

 

Having only one vehicle has really cut back on our costs each month and has forced me to focus on my kids and spend more quality time with them rather than running around doing errands and being rushed and grouchy about it. There are a few drawbacks, and it took me a while to get adjusted to not being able to go out whenever I wanted to. This has become much less of an issue as the children get older and I have to be home to do school anyways. I've also just learned to discover the parks and things within walking distance and to just invite other families over to our house instead of going there.

 

I'm also much more organized because of it. I used to just head out whenever I needed to do something or get something. Now, I just run my errands on the days that dc have their classes and I have the van. With the price of gas these days, I'm sure I would be doing that w/2 vehicles. I my experience it's definitely worth the money you'll save.

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we have no public transportation and live a bit in a rural area. You can not walk to any store, the closest being a Lowes, a 5 minute drive away (otherwise it is 10-15 minutes anywhere else).

 

Dh's work is pretty flexible, so I am not worried about the occasional emergencies that might arise. If a kid get sick, he could effectively come home and do the rest of the day working from home (phone into any meetings). You can rarely get into the doctor's office quickly anyways.

 

I have thought that *if* we did this, we could then spend the next 5 months building up our emergency fund. After that, if we really need a car, we could save up for one and pay cash (or if really needed a car, spend some of the emergency fund and pay cash for a cheap, used one...then build up the emergency fund again).

 

I wish we did have public transportation as it would obviously make things a little easier. I think we could make it work. As you said, 90% of the time you are fine. The other 10% of the time you just need to figure out a plan beforehand.

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For about 3 years we only had one car and dh worked full time away from home. It is totally doable. You just have to plan when to do things like shopping, errands and appointments. Even without public transportation, with a little patience it can be done. If it means no debt for you....go for it! It is amazing the money you can save without a car payment. We just made sure we kept each other up to date with our schedule. I really think the storage insurance try is a great option. Very wise.

Take care,

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We did this for about six months. I would drive dh to work two or three days a week so that I could take dc to activities or such. Eventually, dh was tired of it and bought a car. We did save quite a bit for a while, though. I would do it again in a heart beat.

 

The only real catch was when the one vehicle we had needed work, and we had no vehicle and had to get a rental.

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I really don't mind driving dh to work, if this would be an option for you. We really do save a lot of money & your plan to build up an emergency fund then re-evaluate sounds smart. We had both our vehicles paid off but the extra money for other investments was worth it.

 

If you don't mind being home a bit more and won't resent it (I did for a while, I'll be honest) I'd say go for it.

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we have no public transportation and live a bit in a rural area. You can not walk to any store, the closest being a Lowes, a 5 minute drive away (otherwise it is 10-15 minutes anywhere else).

 

Dh's work is pretty flexible, so I am not worried about the occasional emergencies that might arise. If a kid get sick, he could effectively come home and do the rest of the day working from home (phone into any meetings). You can rarely get into the doctor's office quickly anyways.

 

I have thought that *if* we did this, we could then spend the next 5 months building up our emergency fund. After that, if we really need a car, we could save up for one and pay cash (or if really needed a car, spend some of the emergency fund and pay cash for a cheap, used one...then build up the emergency fund again).

 

I wish we did have public transportation as it would obviously make things a little easier. I think we could make it work. As you said, 90% of the time you are fine. The other 10% of the time you just need to figure out a plan beforehand.

 

Here is one thing to consider...Could you sell the Accord for what you owe? New cars drop significantly when you drive them off the lot and you end up upside down in your payments for quite some time. Just something to consider.

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We have been doing it for about 18 months, and it's working for us.

At first we found it to be a major inconvenience, and we almost replaced the dead vehicle a couple of times, but we never did. We have been Dave Ramseyites for about 10 months now, and we are choosing to remain a one car family until we have our 6-month emergency fund fully in place.

 

My dh doesn't work from home, but he does travel to work on a commuter train. Most days he drives our car to the train station and parks it in the lot. This means that we spend a lot of our days at home, which is usually fine with me. I keep the car a minimum of one day/week and as the weather gets nicer I'll probably keep it 2-3 times/week. When I need the car we either drop him off at the train station in the morning or he gets a ride from a friend.

 

As Abbey said, it's important to communicate about who scheduling. For instance, we once had an issue whereby I needed to take the children to something (non-essential, but planned in advance) and I didn't mention it to dh until the night before. He was frustrated because he actually needed to go in earlier than usual. On days when he has a meeting or something that requires him to go in early we don't want to drop him off because it is just way too early to wake the kids up. So that was an opportunity for creativity. :)

 

Also, it means that weekend errands turn into family events because if one of us needs to get a pair of shoes and the other one needs to get a drill bit we'll just all pile into the van and go. Not being able to head off in opposite directions has its benefits: more family time.

 

And yes, we may have to rent a car for a couple of days this summer out of necessity, but that is still cheaper than buying a second car.

 

Go for it. What's that about living like no one else?;)

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I wish we did have public transportation as it would obviously make things a little easier. I think we could make it work. As you said, 90% of the time you are fine. The other 10% of the time you just need to figure out a plan beforehand.

 

I'm afraid it *works* for us that 90% of the time *because* of public transportation. Frankly, I wouldn't do it without that option.

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We're putting our second car in storage for the next six months (storage only insurance, only $40 for the six months!) to see if we can go from 2 cars to one. We've got decent alternative options around (an OK public bus system & sidewalks for our bikes for the spots where the road's jsut too busy to ride on) for when we need to get anywhere and dh already carpools 1-2 days a week with another guy from work. If we can do it this summer without having to get the car back on road insurance, we plan to do it again over the winter to see if we can make it through the whole year without a 2nd car. If it just doesn't work in the winter (MI), but it does for the summers, then we'll just continue putting one of the cars on storage from May to October. But if it does... buh bye 2nd car.

 

If you message me privately, maybe we can set up a support link with each other. This is a big deal in our car-crazy country and I'm impressed with your decision to even consider it. Be forewarned: there'll be lots of people who will try to talk you out of it.

 

I never thought of storage! We've been considering this since dh started working at home. What a great way to try it out without selling one car.

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We have had only one car for 8 years now.

 

The way it works:

 

I have a schedule for grocery shopping on the weekend. Sometimes if I get a "free delivery" coupon I order groceries from the grocery store online. Sometimes if we need a loaf of bread we get it at night. On rare occasions we've walked the 30 min. (round trip) to the grocery store.

 

We do most field trips on the weekend.

 

I invite people to play at our house more than going there.

 

On occasion (if dh agrees to go in to work "late") we will take dh to work and will then pick him up after work. This is not a normal option since dh goes to work usually at 4:30 a.m.

 

When my in-laws are out of town (maybe once a year?) they will offer to let me use their car. I schedule a whole bunch of visits to people, errands etc. for that week! We have also borrowed my in-laws car on the few occasions our only car has been in the shop (they have more than one).

 

In the past 8 years I've hired a rental car twice. Once when there was a funeral I really needed/wanted to go to (and dh had meetings he needed the car for). Once when our in-laws were unable to loan us their car when our car was in the shop.

 

Our pediatrician is a 10 min. bus-ride away. But my dc are very healthy. The only time we see our dr. is their well-child check-ups once a year.

 

Neighbors have very graciously offered to drive us to the hospital if there is ever a non-ambulance requiring emergency. We've never had to take them up on it. All of our emergencies have been when dh is home or at night. Only one time did we have one when dh was out with the car - fortunately he was within 5 min. of home - I called him and jumped in the car with the kids as he pulled up.

 

We have not done homeschool co-ops. Not having a car has been a big factor. But I don't think it has hurt my kids. Occasionally we will walk to a near-by park for a homeschool park day on days that they meet there.

 

Recently my dh has switched to working 4 10-hour days. He is now home on Wed. This has been so nice to have another day (a week day no less!) with a car. I now schedule dr. appointments etc. for Wed.

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I found this book helpful and at our library:

 

 

How to Live Well Without Owning a Car : Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life by Balish, Chris

 

"Packed with realistic, economical alternatives to owning a car, including chapters on carsharing, carpooling, and even car-free dating, this text includes more than 100 real-world tips, strategies, and success stories."

 

The one thing I worried about was how were we going to keep doing the things we were doing and see our friends etc. This book suggested that you would find new carless things to do, as well as, make new carless friends. We have yet to downsize to one car, but we are serioiusly thinking about it or trading it in for an economy car. HTH

 

P.S. The book above has a lot of "car-lite" suggestions for those not ready to take the plunge.

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We've had 1 car since '91. But we've planned our lives around this, including buying homes only within walking distance to good public transit. When we were looking at real estate we got a map and made 1 km radius circles around each of the light rapid rail stations & that's where we looked for a home. Yes, it was harder to find a nice home in a nice neighbourhood but it is very doable in Vancouver and it just took time & patience & a commitment to making this work. DH's brisk walks in the morning & afternoon count as fresh air & exercise ...

 

Dh takes the train 99% of the time. The car we have is insured for pleasure use only which also saves $ over purchasing to & from work/school insurance.

 

The odd time he needs the car, well, that means the rest of us get to take the train to where we're going.

 

I don't know how keen I'd be on doing this in an area of poor transit but otoh, bikes work just fine & you can trailer the littles who can't ride on their own yet. Bike trailers also work well for small groceries & for larger stocking up, using a taxi every 2 weeks, while it seems extravagant, is way cheaper than running a car.....

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We've had 1 car since '91. But we've planned our lives around this, including buying homes only within walking distance to good public transit. When we were looking at real estate we got a map and made 1 km radius circles around each of the light rapid rail stations & that's where we looked for a home. Yes, it was harder to find a nice home in a nice neighbourhood but it is very doable in Vancouver and it just took time & patience & a commitment to making this work. DH's brisk walks in the morning & afternoon count as fresh air & exercise ...

 

Yes, we consciously bought our current house within a mile of the train station, and as we're looking for a new house now, this is a major concern again. What you said has really been our experience as well...

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DH only drives to work, and his medical/disability issues are making that more and more iffy. I know that at some point I'll have to drive him or arrange for someone to pick him up. We'd probably sell both vehicles and buy a newer van and make do with that. There's no public transportation, but the best local taxi service is based close by and we've used that in a pinch when DH had appointments that I couldn't drive him to. Depending on your lifestyle, a second car may not be a must IMHO, and a few taxi rides or rentals may still beat the cost of owning a vehicle.

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One more thing. Our car has broken down a couple of times. When you have two cars, this is a minor inconvenience. When you have one, it can be a huge pain. We've had to rent a car or borrow from friends (which makes me uncomfortable). And our car is only 4 years old with 50,000 miles on it -- if it were a less reliable car... Well, eek.

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Here is one thing to consider...Could you sell the Accord for what you owe? New cars drop significantly when you drive them off the lot and you end up upside down in your payments for quite some time. Just something to consider.

 

Actually, it is amazing when I look at Craigslist what people are asking for a 2007 Honda Accord. It is easily what we owe on the car (and our car has the extended warranty and such too). So I *think* we could sell it for what we owe, tho obviously I couldn't say positively. But it wouldn't hurt to try and see I guess.

 

If we could sell it and pay off what we owe on it, we would have one car and no insurance or gas for the 2nd car. Our other car has only 70,000 miles on it (a minivan). If for some reason it didn't work out and we had to have a 2nd car, we would do it the smart way and buy one for cash or pretty close to it.

 

I *think* I can convince dh of the idea ;)

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Not by choice, it was when one of our cars died en route when we were moving to Oregon.

 

We walked to certain things, a couple of miles with a stroller. Not too fun as it was extremely hot. Most things were too far to walk to. It was do-able for a few months until we got a new car. I actually felt pretty bad during that time because of the loss of the other car - just before its demise we had poured a ton of money into it, and it was (supposedly) our "better" car of the two we owned.

 

If we had gone to one car by choice, I think my attitude would have been a lot different! Now we have moved to a rural area and I would not want to be out here without a car. I suppose we could walk into town but the terrain is too rough for a stroller.

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