How Less is More
Saturday, September 24, 2011

In the past two months I have gone from this


[2001 Toyota Camry LE]


to this


[2010 Brodie Energy, my love]


to this


[Rebuilt 1988 Oldsmobile Firenza]


Let me explain.

In mid-August my Toyota Camry was in a fender-bender that resulted in a mangled hood. I say fender-bender, although the car was written off, because the other vehicle escaped unharmed and the force put upon my Camry for the hood to crumple was no more than 40km/h. However, regardless of how it happened, everyone was a-okay and the car was written off.

This all happened the day I flew to Ottawa for a two week vacation.

For two weeks I lived without a vehicle, taking the bus, a bicycle borrowed from my father, or walking. I didn't miss a thing because I wasn't used to life in Ottawa involving a vehicle. You see, my parents are "one car" kind of people, and that was simply the way it's always been. If both of my parents ever needed the vehicle at the same time, they would make do with the bus, a bicycle, or carpooling. My father bikes 12 months out of the year. In Ottawa.



Upon returning back to Victoria I was without a car.

Last time I was without a car I instantly purchased another (from the used classifieds). However, this time I decided to go without. Instead, I embraced my bicycle, public transit, and carpooling.

Until karma happened.

At least that's how I see it; you can only donate so much to the Salvation Army before something is bound to come back at you for free, right? Like 'ol moldy the moldsmobile, which was passed on to me for free by Ryan's best friend. You see, ol' moldy had been sitting, and molding, on his property for five years now. So he fixed her up to running order, I fixed her up to un-moldiness, and we now take longer journeys, the kind that were really tough to do on a bus in inclimate weather, together.


Lessons learned:
  • Embrace public transit: driving is stressful for me. I am not the kind of person who loves a good commute. Our property is located a 45 minute drive from my workplace. I do not enjoy these 45 minutes; infact, I drive as quickly as possible to get it over with, often becoming stressed out and agressive when other drivers are not equally speedy on the roads. I don't like driving.

    While taking the bus adds a significant amount of time to my daily commute, I read. I knit. I breathe. 45 minutes of agrivation, or 90 minutes of relaxation... difficult choice?

  • Localize: prior to giving up my car I was making multiple trips into Victoria; that's roughly 2 hours round-trip spent in the car. I would spend two hours in my car in order to take a one hour yoga class; two hours in my car to spend an hour at a restauraunt; two hours in my car for a fifteen minute doctor's appointment.

    It seems like an awful lot of time to spend in the car, aggressive and stressed.
    I've now begun to seek out local alternatives to all of this commuting; teaching and practicing at the yoga studio that is a 15 minute bike ride from my home, planning doctor's appointments for times when I am already in town or when I can make one trip to accomplish multiple tasks. Best of all? Biking or walking into town for local cuisine and markets!

  • Exercise!

  • Appreciate every moment. This is ridiculous, but the Moldsmobile is such a "junker" that I have come to appreciate every single time I arrive at my destination without a dramatic journey. I have written a little jingle about "making it to work again" and do a little moonwalk dance. I sing to ol' Moldy. I think this is why the car is holding up.

  • Carpooling: I am blessed with living only a five minute drive from one of my coworkers, so we alternate driving - this ends up saving me almost a tank of gas a week! Bonus: at 6am when we get off the night shift I don't have to worry about driving - I can kick back and relax, if not doze a little ;)

  • More together time with Ryan: Since I am going car-lite Ryan and I have been spending a lot more time together, performing errands together and choreographing our days around each other so as to use only one vehicle instead of two. I love him. I love it.

  • FREE CAR + Less expensive insurance + going car-lite = big savings. Plain and simple, we have more money this way.

    Up next: I remind you all that I don't know how to take anything in moderation by telling you that I am currently taking inventory of my worldly posessions. I shit you not. I have a list that includes every last sock and bottle of tylenol in the house...

    I finally get back to some knitting, eating, and running - because suddenly with less stuff to take care of and less places to be, I have more time for all of the above!

    Oh, and I run a marathon on Sunday... eeps!

    posted by Sarah-Mae @ 2:22 PM,

    1 Comments:

    At October 3, 2011 8:20 AM, Blogger nook. said...

    you know, there's a lot of people who prefer not to drive, i think! i'd have to say i'm one of them. we're also a one car family. it's a little easier for us, cause i'm a stay at home mom.. but there are still lots of errands.. grocery trips, blah blah etc... i'm really happy about our choice of being a one car family though. it does save so much! i wish i could bike more... but to be honest, i'm a little bit of a nervous biker in traffic. haha. just never grew up with it. always biked on country roads in small town ontario. also, owen is so much bigger now, that he wants to bike himself. thus making road biking not happen. hahaah. ah well. i love the challenge of adapting a greener life constantly though.
    good luck on sunday!!!

     

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