living car free…

When sharing about my intentions to sell my sweet lil’ Subaru and purchase a VW Vanagon, I have been received with some defensive questions, raised eyebrows and a lot of laughter. 

The laughter I don’t mind :)  But everyone should know that yes, indeed…this is in fact an intelligent move for me to make. 

As a part of the lifestyle changes I have been making lately, I have decided that once I move to St. George,  I will no longer be depending upon my vehicle as a means of survival.  Currently (and for the past 6 years) that has been inevitable, seeing as how I have always needed to commute quite a distance for work.   In short though, my life has been richly blessed by having such a fantastic vehicle that has time and time again provided the means for late night discussions with friends, moving friends (and myself), acting as the activities committee closet, rescuing a few dogs here and there, existing as my home/office-on-wheels, transporting friends to/from the airport, transporting sneaky kids playing pranks, road trips, snow boarding trips, road trips home, all sorts of adventuring….you name it, Loretta Berenstein has done it (yes, my car’s name is Loretta Berenstein…long story). 

But now, it is coming time to live differently.  She has served me well, but soon we will bid our adieus and move on to other cars/families. 

There are two major reasons I am moving on without dear, sweet Loretta:

1) Emotional ties:  I have been living my life in a manner during the past six years that has allowed me to accomplish a lot…but within a very refined and boxed in setting.  This is my own fault.  I have learned that I am pretty good at a few things…but only a few things.  I need to expand my horizons and become a better person.  As a part of the move,  I will be removing myself from the lifestyle I have established here, and embarking in a new area that I hope will be accompanied by more unsurety, less stability and new adventures.  I need to be challenged to make new and unfamiliar decisions, and be faced with a little more adversity.  Getting a “new” vehicle that is not as dependable will force me to learn to be my own simple mechanic, rely less on my vehicle and take advantage of other opportunities.

2) Sustainability:  Subarus are fantastic cars.  Probably one of the top three lines on the market in my opinion (right after Nissan and Toyota).  I love mine, and if I were a rich little girl I would buy a newer one every 7 years.  They are efficient, have very high safety ratings, and prove to be increasingly versatile.  Mine, however…is getting a little old (sssshhhhh…don’t tell her I said that!).  Not an OLD sort of old, just the sort where she needs more TLC to become more efficient again…she is topping out at 22 MPGs right now, which is significantly less than the 30 MPGs she was running at when I first purchased her five years ago.  So, I will let someone else give her the love…and I will buy an old Vanagon to drive once a week or so, and ride my bikes the rest of the time.  I will save more money on fuel, insurance, repairs, etc.  I look forward to that…I can’t stand the thought of thinking my Subaru would be sitting in my driveway 25 days out of the month, costing me more money by just sitting there.  But a vanagon sitting there…now, that’s not so bad.  I don’t think they should be running everyday, anyway.  Besides, in a few years, I can do a Subaru conversion on the vanagon and have the best of both worlds :)

I found this article today by chance, in regards to living “car-free”…a fella has written an entire book about it.  He stresses the increased quality of life, environmental, and financial benefits that come from living in this manner, so if no one believes me about this being a reasonable decision for me, take a gander and check out his reasoning in addition to my own :) 

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/25609661/?GT1=43001

~ by KJ on July 16, 2008.