Sold my car

And that means I now have no car at all.

Trying to eliminate debt, so I'm commuting by bike and train and sometimes working from home. Being doing this for about 3 weeks.

So far the only issue I had was with groceries (I had to ride one-handed while holding a gallon of milk).

My friends think it's a bit goofy but I don't really care. My main concern(?) is that I won't want to get another car at all...

Yes, although I like to think I've been as frugal as possible with my vehicles over the years, I look at all the money they've cost me and its still a crap ton of dough. My love of anything with 4 wheels is a passion as it is for many here so that makes the sting tolerable at least for me.

If you can make due without wheels to save dough, thats a good plan imo if you can survive.

As for grocery trips, keep your eyes open for a cheap pull behind bicycle cart or an old kids carrier (those usually are covered). Just male sure to secure your bike and/or cart good wherever you go.

old fashioned newspaper baskets work well too. They're big.

When I was a kid I had some "saddlebag" type baskets on my bike. Each one was just the right size for a paper (before plastic bags were invented) grocery bag. Made many "emergency" trips to the grocery store for my mother.

A large ruck sack and or backpack works well too.

I have a "saddlebag" basket on the back of an old Specialized hard-tail MTB. I'll frequently ride it 1.5-miles to the store & back during the spring/summer/fall, and have hauled about 60lbs on it(3-bags of cat litter). It works well and isn't bad on even moderate hills.

slowride wrote: My main concern(?) is that I won't want to get another car at all...

I don't think that's a problem I'd run into, but if it happens, there's plenty of other interesting stuff in the world, and a lot of it doesn't cost so darn much to play with...

If I could do that, I'd likely only have the track car.

But 15 miles each way with no way to avoid lots of highway, or a 5 mile trip to a bus stop that would then take 1+ hour to get to work, then back to the bus stop, then a 5 mile trip home.

Get something like this and you should be golden

Milk crate on a rack?

I wish I could ride back and forth to work right now.

One ultra-vibrating Miata with super heated shifter and one pain-in-the-ass clutch master cylinder equipped Ford Escort means I've had it for cars for the week. I miss my low-paying ride bicycle to work job in Erie...

If most of your life is spent in an urban setting, not owning a car is probably way cheaper. Tot up your gas, maintainence and insurance bills, add in a car payment, and you can take a metric buttload of taxirides to the grocery store. Add in a bus pass, and a car rental to go across the state to visit the folks a couple of times a year, and you are still probably ahead.

I'd shoot myself in the head first.

aye.. a rack with a bag works wonders. I do it all the time. If you can do without the packaging the groceries come in, you can squeeze a -lot- into the bag. Cereal is a real space killer, remove it from the box and leave in it's bag and it takes up a lot less space

i dont know how you guys do it without a car and i know many of you. i got my first car when i was 14 started to drive when i was 16 and never, ever have been without a car to drive not one day. 90% of the time i have had at least 4 cars sitting and i am 53 now. when i get too old to drive just shoot me my life will be over....i have never used public transportation. from 16 thru college the cars came first. eating and buying clothes or anything not car related was always second..........and bicycles when i turned 16 and got my license i laid my bicycle down in front of my car and ran it over and have never rode one again

slowride wrote: So far the only issue I had was with groceries (I had to ride one-handed while holding a gallon of milk).

Back when I was in college, I lived without a car except my senior year, and had one of these on my bike:

It clipped on to a luggage rack with a bungee cord, and fits one grocery bag. Maybe not the brand in the picture above, but it was very similar.

I wish I could bike to work - of course I bring two kiddies with me during the school year, so it would be SUPER tough.

When in college I did, and I once brought a steel longbed one piece driveshaft someplace to work on it on the bike. I, obviously, had a truck, but used the bike whenever possible. When male in college, that turned out to be a lot. Snow/rain/whatever, I'd easily ride the two miles to school rather than warm up the truck. So what if I was sweaty/wet/cold?

I have three cars.. I prefer the bike for most things. I would ride it to work, but then I would wind up a statistic on the side of the road. Speed limit is 50.. everyone seems to do 60ish and a few idiots like to do around 80

I'd ride to work if I could... but my normally 48 mile drive by car would be around 60 by bike since I couldn't use the more direct highways. Each way. While I can ride 120 miles in one day, I'm not sure about working an 8 hr day in the middle of it.

I commuted by car to college in west Philly for the first month or so. That got really old real fast. Taking the train was much faster and cheaper and that was back when gas was a buck-fifty a gallon... not to mention a crap-load less stressful.

If I was doing that kind of thing I'd get a "mountain moto" because physical effort sucks although they cost $3k-$5k so that doesn't really save money...

I've thought about doing that. I really wish I could, but playing hockey pretty much eliminates it. As does snow and rain.

Thank guys! I'm looking into some panniers now (got a rack already).

I also need some fenders, as I was semi-soaked when I got to work today.

I live in the middle of nowhere, so I have a fleet of things. I am looking at replacing a car with a motorcylce though. I lust after the new MV F3.....and I am afraid I cannot control that lust.

So, after a month, the experiment is mostly over. My sister, who bought the car from me, claimed she could not afford it and so I gave her the money back and got my car back. I considered selling it to a 3rd party (still am considering it) but for now I will keep it.

well, if you do it again, and want to carry groceries, nothing is as helpful as craigslist...soccermoms everywhere buy these things, and use em twice, then get sick of them being in the way. Find em on craigslist for $50 all day long...

Get bike, add trailer, buy groceries, carry them home in style, win at life....