Eric posted an update on Cap City Savvy that details how much money you can put towards buying a home (or other things) by axing your commute and living within walking distance of where you work. Of course, this isn’t an easily doable option for everyone, but moving closer to work (or biking/busing distance) can at least help out of reducing those climbing transportation costs.
If you’re not sure exactly how much you spend on your commute from work to home and back, then try out this calculator that Eric posted a link to: Cost of Driving Calculator. You might be surprised when everything gets added up over the course of a year. Anyone care to share how much they spend?
[...] 21, 2008 at 1:17 pm (Uncategorized) Tags: COTA.Challenge Thanks to Walker and Cap City Savvy for the great information regarding the cost of a commute. According to the [...]
I have not done the calculation, but I just spent eight bucks to fill my gas tank!
AUGGGGGHHHHH!
v. cool.
I know we spent a ton on two cars. We went to one vehicle and it has been hard, but we are doing just fine. My kids are learning the bus and we are walking everywhere in Worthington.
Way to go Amy!
We’ve been a one car family (except when we lived in Portland, OR and were a no car family) for most of our family life. There was one year when Brett’s job moved and he bought a beater car for four hundred bucks but then his job moved AGAIN and he could ride his bike or take the one car, depending on what the kids were up to.
We stupidly bought a minivan, which made sense because we carpool with families for homeschool stuff but then didn’t make sense when gas prices skyrocketed. Plus freelancing means I can be driving all over town some days. Argh. We’re pricing another good bike (we have one) specifically the kind people use to do deliveries with baskets and stuff and are hoping that will get our van off the streets more.
How I wish public transportation is what it was in Portland — having no car there was never a hardship and we could rent a car for trips out of the city. Cheap, green and happy!
(Also in Portland — they used to have this yellow bike deal where a local group would buy up bikes from thrift stores and stuff and paint ‘em bright yellow. the deal was you could take a yellow bike anywhere and leave it and know that they were all free to use as needed. Portland is snazzy like that.)