coping without a car semi rural living

beingfrugal

I'll give you my take on it.

Firstly we have a family car that DH uses to go to work 6 days a week and fishing on a Sunday so effectively this stay at home mother of two living in a semi rural area has no real use of a car.

I walk 4 miles a day on the school run, a mile to the local stores, 2 miles to docs and chemists. I have every thing I need right here and can cope without wheels but it takes some getting used to. For a young woman I miss my independance and the choice to go whereever I please. My children suffer slightly as the car is not back home in time on an evening to take them to the clubs they would like to go to. Having no choice can be quite depressing and I feel isolated at times. I put up with it because I dont need a car but to have the choice I would love a car... but not the ridiculus costs involved in keeping one and that it what is the main thing. Cost over rules Want.

paulwf

beingfrugal wrote: »

I'll give you my take on it.

Firstly we have a family car that DH uses to go to work 6 days a week and fishing on a Sunday so effectively this stay at home mother of two living in a semi rural area has no real use of a car.

I walk 4 miles a day on the school run, a mile to the local stores, 2 miles to docs and chemists. I have every thing I need right here and can cope without wheels but it takes some getting used to. For a young woman I miss my independance and the choice to go whereever I please. My children suffer slightly as the car is not back home in time on an evening to take them to the clubs they would like to go to. Having no choice can be quite depressing and I feel isolated at times. I put up with it because I dont need a car but to have the choice I would love a car... but not the ridiculus costs involved in keeping one and that it what is the main thing. Cost over rules Want.

Sounds like your children are going to grow up fit and healthy with a lot of road sense and knowledge of nature and the real world Our in laws say their kids have no road sense whatsoever, no wonder when they don't walk anywhere.

Can you get a bike for your errands? A 2 mile trip by bike takes me 10 mins, it takes longer than that just to park in town then walk to the shopping area.

paulwf

MortgageMamma wrote: »

Yesterday I paid 95p for one red pepper!!

lol...they are a ridiculous price at the moment! They were 87p at Sainsburys today which is still very high, but 8p more against saving £426 is quite a good calculation. We get lots of frozen veg (sweetcorn, broad beans, french beans etc) with our home shopping delivery as our local shops are rubbish for veg, it means we always have something on hand and frozen is cheaper and better quality than our local shops.

You didn't include car parking charges in your calculations which can soon add up. Car costs can also be unpredictable if anything goes wrong whereas public transport costs are much easier to budget for.