One car family?

[Om Girl]

Tell me about being a one car family...

Why?
Do you and/or SO work OOH?
How do you figure out who has the car?

I am interested in hearing about 1 car families and seeing if it is something that we could make work.

[KellyAnnW]

Hubby and I have done this before. It should have worked because I am a homemaker. But not having the car made me crazy, I just need to know its there for my sanity!

[tinuviel_k]

We are a one car family. For the most part my husband runs, cycles, or takes the bus to work (5 miles). he prefers it that way. I usually have the car because I run more errands and such. In the summer I try to bike/bus/walk as much as I can. It works great, and we have zero desire to get another car.

[enkmom]

We are currently a 3 car family, but one car is with my son at college and another is used by our daughter to get around to her school/work. Dh and I are sharing the other. It works out just ok. Most of the time it is fine, but when conflicts arise, we are truly conflicted, and I am usually the one who has to give in and make the sacrifices. Most of the time it is easier to just stay home then to try to arrange something.

Most of the time I work nights and he works days, so there is little trouble there. Today though, I have to work the day shift and working around 3 different schedules (mine, dh's and my daughters) has been a real disaster. Also, because I work nights, I just *can't* get up to take him to work at 6 am, so I spend loooong stretches of time at home alone. I have all the freedom I want between 2 and 4 in the morning, but feel truly stuck at home most of the time.

We could buy another car, but it seem so wasteful when we have 3. I am near the breaking point, though.

[amyamanda]

Originally Posted by Om Girl

Tell me about being a one car family...

Why?
Do you and/or SO work OOH?
How do you figure out who has the car?

I am interested in hearing about 1 car families and seeing if it is something that we could make work.

We did it twice, once for a few months and once for nearly a year.

The first time it was because my sister needed a car. The second was because our car died and we couldn't afford to replace it yet.

Both times DH worked from home part-time, was unemployed, or had a schedule that he could adjust somewhat if I needed the car for an appointment or something major.

We homeschool and are generally happy staying home most of the time. For part of that time, I would plan to use the car one day a week for activities/playdates/errands and do it all on one day, or we'd do those things on the weekend or in the evenings (music lessons in the evenings, for example).

It helped that DH had some flexibility with his work and that we homeschool so we set our own schedule. With kids in school or lots of scheduled activities, it would be harder.

The first time, DH worked 20 minutes away and I could take him to work and use the car and then pick him up, if I really wanted to. He also worked out a little bit of carpooling with coworkers and biked sometimes (long bike ride). The second time he worked 45 minutes away, so that was not really an option.

We got bold and creative about being efficient in town, amusing ourselves at home, and asking friends to come to our house instead of the other way around.

HTH.

[yeahwhat]

We only have one car and don't see any need to get a second car. I do stay at home with the kids, which makes scheduling easier. Dh rides his bike or walks to some jobs, only driving when biking isn't practical due to weather or time constraints. I try to walk or bike ride to run as many errands as I can, so sometimes the van will sit in the driveway for 2-3 days in a row. Or there's days like today, where I currently need to get moving and get some groceries and get back before dh needs to drive 25 minutes north for a meeting. It's snowing currently and supposed to rain all afternoon, so he'll probably need to drive to work this afternoon too, while the kids and I slog it out back and forth to school in the rain.

[eirual]

I'm anxious to get back to having only 1 car!

DH works 30mins from home, and so do I (think triangle). For a while, we'd all get up at 6:00am, drive DH to work, then continue on to drop DS off, me go to work, then rewind for the drive home. It was busy, and was about to get especially ugly once I was to work only in the afternoons (but DH still needed to be at work for 7:00). My parents ended up giving us their old van. It's been very handy since DS and I can just do our thing, but we've been paying for it. When you add up gas, insurance, and oil changes (we've been lucky that's all it's been) it is a significant extra expense, and that's without a loan payment on top of it.

I can't wait to work where we live and simplify the vehicle arrangements. When I worked in town (at a daycare) and was a SAHM, DH took the car and I walked or cycled or took the bus around town.

[cschick]

For all practical purposes, we are a one-car family (we own a second, 10-year-old car, which has not run since it was in an accident over a year and a half ago and its repairs not covered).

Right now, we're pretty lucky--school is a mile from my work, and my work is a mile from my husband's work, so we leave home together, drop off the kid, drop off me, and then the husband goes to work. In the evening, we do the reverse. On weekends, we plan it so that mine and my husband's errands can be done together. The only disadvantage is that if the kid is sick, or the kid is off and one of us is at home, errands cannot be run and we're kind of trapped in the house (that's ok, there's plenty to do around our neighborhood).

We've actually been functioning as a one-car family though, for almost eight years at this point--back then I worked about 40 miles from home, and one possible route took me past my husband's work. Then, I dropped him off at work, and continued my way to work. Since he worked almost an additional hour each day over what I was working (it took me at least 30 minutes, often 45 to get from his office to mine) he worked 4x10 days, and I worked 5x8 days.

[KempsMama]

We have been a one car family since I was 20 wks with DS1 and hit a deer. So over two years. I SAH, I plan my errands very carefully so that DH can take the van to mass and to work at least 3/5 weekdays, and 4/5 if I have no appointments, like OB and such. I tried planning one day for errands and appointments, it was too much.

We live in town, and only a couple blocks away from a Walgreens, so if I really need something DS1 and I walk. I save the big grocery shopping for DH's days off, and we all go together as a family.

I sometimes get nervous about only having one vehicle, but DH is never all that far away, and we have a multitude of friends and family near by.

[Maela]

We've had one car for a year and a half now. We live close to Dh's work, so he usually bikes to work (takes him 8 minutes), and I get the car to run errands, keep my sanity, etc. About one day a week Dh will use the car if he needs to. We stay home and go on walks, clean, play, etc. The only time it gets tricky is when we want to meet somewhere after Dh gets off work. Like if the kids and I are spending the day at my parents and we plan to eat dinner there. I have to go pick up dh from our house to bring him over to my parents' cause it's too far away. This happens about twice a month. Or if we both have somewhere to go at the same time on the weekend. Sometimes we borrow dh's parents' extra car.

[laohaire]

I doubt this is helpful to you, but we are a one car family, and we also have the "low mileage" insurance on that one car because we drive it so little compared to typical Americans. But DH and I are both WAHPs, and we're hermits to boot. We actually don't restrict our car usage, if we need something at the store we go without a second thought, but our lifestyle is just very oriented toward home.

DH did try to stop using the car in summer 2008, relying on the bicycle instead, but last year he didn't bother and I don't know if he'll try again this year.

[ambersrose]

Why?
We traded in two cars for one last summer for financial reasons. It has saved us a lot of money on the upkeep costs and gas. We can go on average two weeks before filling up our car now where before we were filling each car up once a week! Not having a car always available makes me look to alternatives that I would not have otherwise.

Do you and/or SO work OOH?
I am a SAHM/ocassional WAHM and my husband works OOH.

How do you figure out who has the car?
My county has a free bus system so me and the kids can take that around town on most days but if I need to go somewhere far or on a tight schedule then I take the car. My husband can take the bus or ride his bike or I can take him to work on those days.

[DisplacedYooper]

We are a one car family, but we both "work" (we are graduate teaching assistants) at the same University. However, since we also tag-team care for our son, we aren't often traveling the 11 miles to school at the same time each day. Often, one of us will drive up in the morning, the other one will take the bus at lunchtime with DS, and then we will switch, with the person who drove taking the bus home and the other driving home in the evening. (our bus options are fairly limited - we can't make a connection that gets us to our house after 4:30 pm, which is a little early to leave work if you got there at noon!)

Before DS was born, my husband would sometimes bike up in good weather. We'd leave the bike overnight at school and he would bike home some other afternoon. That also worked out pretty well.

I'm not sure we could make the situation work without the bus. We ride for free since we're students.

[lyterae]

Why?
We were a one vehicle family from 2006 - 2008, our two "college" cars died and we bought our first car together. In fall of 2008 we bought a second vehicle, we were living in an area with very high snowfall (180") and our car simply couldn't handle that amount of snow. We drive one vehicle from March - November (depending on when the snow starts) and we suspend the insurance on the other and then switch off with the change of seasons.

Do you and/or SO work OOH? We currently both work at the same office, however we have worked in different locations and there are times when I wasn't working. Sometimes it takes some scheduling to make everything work.

How do you figure out who has the car?

This hasn't been an issue.. If my DH needs to travel/has plans than we revise our schedule.

Also, we have no public transportation in our area and we drive 35 miles to work everyday... So using public transportation/walking/biking is not available for us.

[sewingmommy]

We are a one car family ...I am a sahm and dh works downtown and takes public transportation to and from ....

[Carhootel]

We have one car and really love it! DS works about 45 minutes away and I am a sahm. I drive ds to the bus stop in the morning (about 5 minutes from our house) and he takes the bus to and from work. I pick him up at the end of the day (5:30pm). On the nights and weekends we don't do much without each other but when we do, one of us is usually home with ds or out with ds giving the other one some time off which usually takes place at home. It really doesn't cramp our styles in the least and getting a 2nd car is FAR down on our list of financial priorities.

I know our situation wouldn't work for everyone since not everyone has great (and free!) bus access like we do but DH loves taking the bus. Not only is it free, he doesn't have to deal with the morning commute and instead spends that 45 minutes listening to his ipod (he likes to listen to lectures about photography, history, npr, etc... ) and generally zoning out. Actually it has helped him quit his caffeine habit since he gets 45 minutes of 'alone time' to wake up in the morning before work and by the time he gets off the bus in the evenings he's had time to decompress from work so he can come right in and play with ds and be fully present with us without needing de-stress time. I don't know that we'll ever be a real 2 car family again but I could see us ending up with a pickup truck or something down the road - to haul stuff with or have in case of emergency.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

We've been a one car family for eight years.

DH takes the bus in to work everyday. I'm a SAHM and I have the car.

We bought our house in an urban area and can walk to schools, the library, the gym, grocery stores, post office, bank, public pool, parks, etc. BUT you pay for that...houses within walking distance of stuff tend to be pricier than living where you need to drive.

It's a tradeoff.

We save on car expenses, but have a much higher mortgage than we would have if we moved out a bit.

[Hannah32]

Why?

It's a financial issue. Having one car is much cheaper than having two. We had to have 2 while hubby attended school, but now he's done. It's a massive load off.

Do you and/or SO work OOH?

My hubby is job searching. However, he does have a seasonal gig that goes for most of the year (not winter). He rides his bike one day (16 miles each way) and then takes the car the next. I only live about 5 miles from my job, so I was biking home after he would drop me off in the morning. However, I'm currently very pregnant, so will probably get a ride for the next couple of months.

How do you figure out who has the car?

He's more of a biker than I am, but this seasonal gig is pretty physical, so he can't handle a day of outside work AND biking every day. I don't live as far from my job, but am not as much of a biker. We just work it out, using common sense and compromise. If hubby doesn't find a job by October, when I return to work, he'll be a SAHP and he can drop me off at work if he needs the car sometimes with our new son.

A final note....this is one of the best financial moves that one can make. It really is.

[_ktg_]

Why?
We were 2-car house until my car recently suffered a repair which was cost-prohibitive when compared with the value of the car. Thank you cracked head-gasket. With the winter season almost over, I will begin biking my commute in the morning.

Do you and/or SO work OOH?
DH is a SAHP and I OOH. My work is about 5 miles from our house.

How do you figure out who has the car?
Depends on the activities of the day, but DH wins everytime. Right now I get ferried to & from work. Once I begin biking, if its terrible weather I'll call DH to pick me up as we are looking to get a bike rack for our car, otherwise I'll have to pull off both wheels to load it in the car.

[SunshineJ]

If it can work I think depends largely upon where you live. When we were a 1 car family in the past it was terrible. Dh worked 40 min away and I was in the house with 2 kids for a couple years. There was NOTHING within close walking distance other than a convenience store, and the bus system was a joke. We went back to being a 1 car family a few weeks ago. The reason is really simple: we were behind on the car payments, we made an arrangement with the finance company to get caught up, we honored our side and they took the car anyway, refusing to give it back unless we came up with another large chunk of money to cover the repo fees that should never have been assessed. So we said screw it and decided to be a 1 car family again. We currently live in an area where MANY things are in walking distance and the bus system is really good. So far I've barely noticed an inconvenience in only having one car to be honest - and I love the extra space in the garage!