Life Without a Car
Just reading the above headline may have made some readers break out in a nervous sweat. We love our cars. We need our cars. Or do we? The Washington Post recently reviewed a new book, How to Live Well Without Owning a Car, written to challenge our assumptions that we need our cars. Author Chris Balish has been living car-free since 2003 when he sold his gas-guzzling SUV. He intended to buy a smaller car, but in the time between cars experienced such a powerful new level of financial freedom that he's been living without wheels ever since. His book profiles 100 people around the country who are living the car-free life and includes chapters on everything from carpooling to car-free dating. He isn't making a radical call for all to forego their Fords or bid adieu to their Audis; he just wants people to see that it is, indeed, possible for many to live just fine without a car or for two-car families to live well with only one.
Matt's View
With so many people finding it tough to save money, maybe Balish is on to something. So car-crazed has our culture become that there are now more registered vehicles in the U.S. than licensed drivers. Not surprisingly, 20 percent of new homes now come with garages build for three or more cars. Fueling, maintaining, insuring, cleaning, parking, and, oh yes, paying for a car, now costs the average car owner about $700 per month. So, for those wanting to improve their finances, maybe it's time to think about the previously unthinkable--life without a car.
Managing Money by The Book
- "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." - Matthew 7:24-25
Recommended Resources
- Money, Purpose, Joy - Discussion Guide
- If you want to take your relationship with money to a whole new level, bring the subject into your small group. It can be scary to open up about money, at least at first. But the "Money, Purpose, Joy Discussion...…Read the rest
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