greenUPGRADER » Cars+Tranportation

More Single Car Family Tips

Becky Striepe — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:00:44 +0000

We talked last week about some of the benefits of a single car family, and Jade shared her experiences as part of a one car household. She touched on some really great tips and benefits of sharing a car, and it got me thinking about my own car-sharing experience.

My husband and I have been a single car family since 2006. When we bought our house, we sold my car and used half of the money from the sale to buy a scooter and the other half to pay off credit card debt. Honestly, just paying off that debt made selling my car worth it to me! Not only do Dave and I share a car, but we have quite a few friends who do the same, so I thought I'd share some tips we've learned over the years.

Coordination is Key

Jade talked about this, and it sounds like she and her husband work a lot like Dave and I do, but another couple I know has a much more hectic schedule. For them, just communicating about the car won't cut it. Between his job and band practice and her job and side businesses, they are constantly on the go.

So, how does a super-busy family coordinate? This couple keeps a shared Google calendar, where they enter all of their appointments and whether they need the car. Since they can access the shared calendar from anywhere (including their smart phones), it's much easier to figure out when the car is free.

Alternative Transportation

Most of the folks I know who share a vehicle also own or rent homes that are near a bus stop or train station, and they prioritized that on purpose when they were house- and apartment-hunting. It's much easier to be mobile if you're just a short walk or bike ride from public transit.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, my husband and I also have a scooter. This is great for in town car-free trips where we can't walk or ride our bikes. We share a 50cc Honda Metropolitan. What's great about a 50cc scooter is that you don't need a motorcycle license to drive it, and you're not even required to get insurance (though sometimes I get a little nervous about not being insured).

Once you've paid for the machine, all you have to do is put gas in the thing once in a while and deal with occasional maintenance. To get an idea of how those little scoots do on gas, check out my pal Jo's piece about his Honda Metropolitan's stellar gas mileage. His experience is pretty typical - mine gets 90mpg, and 80-90mpg is what the folks I know who own 50cc scooters seem to report, too. Your mileage will depend on how well you maintain your scooter, how much you weigh, and how much heavy stuff you tote when you scoot around.

Sharing a car isn't without its frustrations and inconveniences, but honestly I love it. Even if you have to go as far as sharing a calendar to coordinate, you save so much money, and you're reducing your emissions to boot. It also really gets you thinking about whether you need the car for a particular errand, you know what I mean?

Car owners looking to insure your family car might check out car insurance quotes online.

3 Keys to Sharing a Car

Guest Contributor — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:00:45 +0000

by Jade Evans

One of the major incentives to becoming a one car household is not just that it greatly reduces your carbon footprint, but that it also saves you a huge amount of money - an estimated $60K over just 5 years, actually, which includes gas, insurance, maintenance and repair, among other factors.

But I've got to be honest, becoming a one car family is not for everyone. There are a lot of factors that you need to take into consideration when you're sharing a car, like the availability (and closeness) of public transport, what kind of commute you and your significant other have to take for work, and how compatible your schedules are. You also need to commit! Don't keep that second car around "for emergencies" - go whole hog, and sell the thing!

From friends that have become a one car household, one of the biggest (intangible) positives about only having one car is that you get to spend more time with your significant other - and your family, if that's applicable.

For those that are considering becoming a one car household, honestly, it is simply a new habit, and people are quite adaptable. Sharing a car isn't as difficult as it seems - it's mostly a matter of keeping organized and being open to asking others for help.

1. Organization and Communication

Now that we have cell phones, coordinating schedules on the fly is not nearly as difficult as it used to be. One of the key things with only having one car...is, well, you only have one car. So if the two of you work an unwalkable or unbikeable distance to work and prefer driving over any kind of public transportation, then you'll have to keep to a schedule. When are you both done with work? When do you start? If these are too disparate, it would probably be best to work out for one of you to carpool with co-workers.

It may seem daunting to schedule out your days so rigorously, but don't you do it already? We all (vaguely) plan when we will need to buy groceries, when we get dinner with our girlfriends, (hopefully) a date night...now it's just taking all of that into consideration a little bit more in advance so that your standard planning for the week can be balanced with more last minute plans that might require a car.

2. Accommodate

Does your partner want to grab drinks with friends after work? Offer to be the DD. Know that they want to have a guys night at a more out of the way restaurant? Let them have the car and make plans to do something at home, or invite some girlfriends over. With one car, a schedule is of much greater importance, and it's like you have a second marriage to your car - it's all about give and take.

And if you ask to carpool with friends or family - always be gracious and work around their schedule, not yours!

3. Simplify

Being a one car household might complicate things in the beginning, but in the long run, it simplifies your life and begins the process of allowing you to trim the unnecessary things out of your life in other ways. You may no longer see the worth of upgrading that computer that you only bought two years ago or question if you really need three TV's...reducing to a one car household gets your mind ticking in other ways as well.

You spend more time with each other, and find ways to enjoy your time without having to drive somewhere. The challenges that you may face are small in comparison to the benefits that you will reap from moving to a one-car lifestyle.

Jade Evans lives in a one car household (as it is only herself!) but makes every effort to walk or bike rather than drive. She is a freelance writer who works with an online shipping company that can work with you if you're moving cross country with their long distance movers and various other shipping services. She's been writing for years, but only recently started doing so professionally.

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by Joe Shlabotnik

Spotted: Super Simple Pallet Desk

Becky Striepe — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:00:23 +0000

What do you get when you combine inexpensive, IKEA table legs with a scavenged wood pallet? A super sweet desk, complete with storage!

To create your own pallet desk, you can leave the pallet as-is, or you can take it apart and add wood blocks in between the top and bottom to boost the storage potential even more. IKEA hacker Pierre Vedel created this helpful illustration, showing how he created the extra space:

How to Dismantle a Pallet

One of the tricks of working with wood pallets is taking them apart. It's easy to damage the wood if you're not careful. Luckily, we ran across this helpful video on how to dismantle a pallet:

Have you guys seen any other cool pallet projects lately? Share away in the comments!

h/t: IKEA Hacker

Gas Prices Are Rising: 6 Fuel-Saving Tips

Becky Striepe — Fri, 13 May 2011 12:00:09 +0000

Rising gas prices are all over the news lately, and we're not even at the point where prices typically peak each year. Of course, high gas prices are just one reason to want to maximize fuel efficiency or find alternatives to using that car. Cars are huge polluters. In fact, cars and trucks are the number one cause of air pollution here in the U.S.

So, what can we do to use less fuel, save some cash, and protect the planet?

Walk or bike for short errands instead of getting behind the wheel.
Take public transit. New to public transportation? Google Transit is an excellent tool for planning car-free trips.
Carpool when you can. Whether you're headed to work, school, or errands, see if you can find a buddy who's headed in the same direction.
Coast when possible. When you do have to drive, keep your foot off of that gas pedal when you can. If you're headed down a hill, coast instead of hitting the accelerator. You can also coast as you approach a red light. It's easier on your brakes if you're going more slowly when you apply them, and you'll save some fuel to boot.
Don't idle. That includes waiting in the car and even at long stop lights. If you don't drive a hybrid and are going to be stopped for more than 1 minute, turn the car off. In cold weather, it's not necessary to "warm up" the engine, and it's not even good for the engine to do so.
Turn off the A/C while you're driving around town, but roll up those windows when you hit the highway. The A/C saps your car's fuel, but when you hit highway speeds, the extra drag from open windows ends up being more of an energy suck.

What are some other ways that you can save on fuel to help the environment and beat rising gas prices?

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by carol.am

Great Idea: Congestion Charging

Becky Striepe — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:00:44 +0000

I was looking back through vacation photos from my husband's and my 2008 trip to London and ran across the picture above.

Congestion charging started in London back in 2003, and they extended the covered area in 2007. Basically, cars that want to drive in certain high-traffic areas have to pay a toll or face a fine. Since launching the program, London has seen a six percent increase in bus ridership.

The city invests the money raised from congestion charges in transit. Last year alone, that amounted to £148 million, which is over $239 million. Most of the money from the project goes directly to enhancing London's bus system. Their buses are in better shape and more reliable as a result.

A 2008 report (pdf) looked at the environmental impacts of congestion charging, and found reductions of:

8 percent in road traffic emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOX); 7 percent in emissions of fine particulate matter (PM10), and 16 percent in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2)

Pretty great, right? I think other cities could definitely take a lesson from London's congestion charging! Have you seen creative ways that cities have raised money for transit? I'd love to hear other examples in the comments!

Banned Four Loko…In Your Gas Tank?

Becky Striepe — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 09:30:53 +0000

Instead of helping college students make bad decisions, Four Loko is now going to power your car as biofuel.

Now that there's a ban on alcoholic energy drinks, retailers across the country have cans of the stuff that they can't sell. Rather than let all of that product head to the landfill, MXI Enterprises in Abingdon, VA is turning it into biofuel.

Soon, when you see "contains up to 10% ethanol" at the pump, you could be filling your tank with reclaimed alcohol from these popular caffeinated malt liquor drinks. MXI Enterprises is buying up all of those unsellable cans of Four Loko, distilling the alcohol into ethanol and recycling the water. They're even recycling the cans and cardboard from the drink's packaging.

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by House of Sims

Via: PopSci

Safety is Key to True Walkability

Becky Striepe — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 06:01:53 +0000

We can talk about urban density, city planning, and walkability all we want. If folks don't feel safe, it's going to be much harder to get them out of their cars.

The other day, I was walking through my neighborhood on the way to drop some new products off at a local, handmade boutique. I was carrying my purse and a shopping bag with some of my wares inside. As I turned off of my street, I could feel someone's eyes on me. A quick glance confirmed that two men were walking on the other side of the road staring.

When they saw me look over, I said hello, and they said hi back and then asked if they could carry my bags for me. It didn't feel like a neighborly hello - more like a creepy hello. Luckily, when I turned off of that street, they went the other way, but I was still shaken up.

It's been two years since I was mugged on my street, but that moment sticks with me, and every once in a while I get a reminder that walkability doesn't mean much if you don't feel safe walking places.

Bikes for Safety

One kind person read about my mugging and sent a really thoughtful email suggesting that she feels much safer riding her bike. On a bike you're moving faster, and you're in the road.

I totally agree. Sure, you're still somewhat exposed on a bike, but not nearly as much as when you're walking. If someone on foot were to approach you, it would be a lot easier to get away.

Walking and Safety

I love walking. Running and cycling are fun, but sometimes I feel like I could walk all day long. Still, I sometimes take the car or scooter to run errands that I could just as easily handle with my two feet, because I'm scared to carry my purse when walking alone.

If we're going to have truly walkable neighborhoods, we need them to be safe places too. In Atlanta, where I live, we don't have nearly enough police. Heck, on the day that I was mugged 911 put me on hold! Twice! How can we expect folks to get out of the safety of their cars if they feel like the police don't have their backs?

There are some measures you can take to be safer while on foot:

Be aware of your surroundings. That means ditching the cell phone and the iPod. This does double duty, helping you stay alert while making you look like a less easy target.
Carry a decoy. Wear clothing with pockets and stash your valuables there. That way, if someone does snatch you purse, they don't get any of the goods. If you don't carry a bag, you might consider a decoy wallet that you could give up if necessary.
Blend in. Flashy jewelry, large purses, and designer labels make you a more desirable target. Keep your nice things hidden until you get to your destination.
Safety in numbers. If you can, don't walk alone. You're much less likely to be attacked if you're with people.
Consider a personal alarm. There are lots of options out there. Look for something that's over 130 decibels and with a hidden off switch. I prefer this to something like pepper spray, because an attacker can't get your alarm away and turn it on you.
Choose your route carefully. If possible, walk on busier streets. You're often much safer when there are other folks around than on a secluded side street.

Do you guys have any tips for staying safe from crime while walking or cycling? I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by loungerie