Point #1 re spending on transportation — Used cars are a steal.
In May 2000, my wife and I purchased a 1991 Volvo with 100,000 miles on it. Only in the past month did we incur our first major repair expense for this car. The car now has close to 200,000 miles on it. We paid $7,000 for it.
Point #2 re spending on transportation — You should always have your eye out for your next used car.
My father died last year and my mother had been wondering what to do with his car. I didn’t need another car as the Volvo had been running fine (until problems came up last month). But I believe that the most important thing to know about a used car is its history. Since I know that my dad took good care of his cars, I thought it was worth buying his car as a back-up.
It turned out that the Volvo had its problems about two weeks after we purchased my dad’s car. Now we plan to use my dad’s car as our primary vehicle and use the Volvo (after repairs) as our back-up.
Point #3 re spending on transportation — Long drives can be fun.
Rush-hour driving is an obvious pain. Long highway drives are still fun, though. There were a few vacations that my wife and I went on that included long drives that facilitated deep conversations that we wouldn’t have enjoyed otherwise.
Conversations in cars can go on and on, moving from one topic to another. They’re like long walks in that way. You can find out a lot you didn’t know about both yourself and your spouse on a long drive.
Point #4 re spending on transportation — Cabs are cheap.
People think of cabs as a luxury. That causes them to resist paying for them. I think that’s frequently a mistake.
I used to have a carpool arrangement at work that sometimes fell through and left me without a ride. On those days, I would pay for a cab to get home. On an overall basis, spending on cabs produced a big savings because the few times I had to use cabs made the carpooling arrangement workable.
Point #5 re spending on transportation — Car rentals are cheap.
Like cabs, car rentals are a seeming luxury that can save you lots of money. It’s a lot cheaper to get by with one car, and occasionally rent a car for a few days, than it is to have two cars.
Point #6 re spending on transportation — Car upkeep is cheap.
The biggest transportation “cost” is the risk you take on of getting hurt or stranded.
Point #7 re spending on transportation — Walking is cheap.
I resist getting into the car. I walk everywhere it is possible to walk. I’ll even walk in the rain before I’ll get in the car to go to a destination within walking distance.
Walking is slower, of course. The payoff is that it puts you in a frame of mind that encourages thought. Modern society is not set up to encourage thought. There is a payoff for it, though. You need to make time for it. An easy way to do that is to elect to walk when you can.
Point #8 re spending on transportation — Buses are okay in small doses.
Many people will avoid taking buses if they can. When I needed to travel to work each day, I didn’t want to incur the expense of parking in town. So I took a bus to the office.
I didn’t like the idea of taking the bus two times a day. So I set up a carpool arrangement to get me home (the two other people participating drove to the office and I contributed money for their parking costs). The bus ride would have annoyed me if I had to take the bus two times a day. I enjoyed taking it once a day.
Point #9 re spending on transportation — Car pools can be okay if you work it and if you are lucky.
Most people see the sense of carpool arrangements. The problem is that different people leave the office at different times, and it is hard to make things work. I was able to pull it off in a way that worked well. There was some luck involved in being able to do so, though.
When they work, carpool arrangements are great because they permit you to form friendships with the other participants.
Point #10 re spending on transportation — A new car could serve as an effective incentive for achieving an important Life Goal.
I’ve never purchased a new car. I’m thinking of making plans to buy one when I meet a specified level of progress in building up my writing business. I think that would be a nice way to celebrate the achievement.
One of the pluses of not buying yourself things each time you feel a desire is that, when you do make a significant purchase, it has that “special” feeling to it that we enjoy when we are young and sometimes lose when we fall into the habit of buying ourselves everything we fancy.