I think we are about to move to one of two metro areas and are planning ways to be frugal so we can buy a house. In both cases, for a least a few months, my husband is about to become a stay at home dad. We are moving for my job and I think it's going to put us in a better position financially and happily. We save quite a bit, eat out sparingly, and are homebodies who like to ride bikes.
The areas we are moving have transit and make bike commuting possible. Our goal is to locate me near my work to make bike commuting easy. That would leave the car for my husband and me if I needed it that day (and for him to be able to walk or bike with the toddler as needed).
We would like to get down to one car because:
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Lower upkeep. His car is relatively new but we put $3100.00 into it last year and it doesn't even have 100000 miles! It needed an engine replaced. It was a nightmare. We are not planning to move it across country, either. Too expensive. Lowball bluebook value is 6 grand private sale so we want to go for it and I want to be rid of it lest I light the damn thing on fire. The shop knows me by name and knows I hate the car. That's not good.
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Lower gas bills. My hybrid is almost paid off (I could not afford to buy a reliable car for a VERY long commute while a grad student without financing a bit of it) and gets twice the gas mileage of his.
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A challenge? We've been doing monthly challenges to see what we can do to save for a goal. It has made our marriage stronger. I think this could be good for us in the meantime.
Has anyone done this? Was it worth it for you? Can you save on insurance by taking one car off (I would leave him on as a driver)? I lived the first 23 years of my life car free but then moved to an area where commuting was impossible without one (here).
Depending on where husband would be commuting, we'd eventually go back to two cars if we needed to. We will be paying my car off after we move because we can definitely do it now but I want us to get settled first. My payment is ridiculously low and my rate is fantastic, so we'd only save like $75.00 in interest but it's still $75.00!
April 08, 2018 at 10:26PM
