My Second and Third Week Without A Car

I sold my car this week and as an added bonus, I got a ca$h refund back on my apartment parking spot.

More Learnin’

More Biking!
I bike to work (15km round trip) then walk all day at work (2-4km), then bike home. Another extra 2-5km a day was manageable even though I was a wee bit grumpy by Friday night. The weather was unusually warm so that made things easier, but twice I had to pickup/return a car in heavy winds and when you are tired at the end of the day (I have a physically demanding job), the last thing you want to do is battle heavy winds while riding up a hill. Unfortunately not all the cars in my area are easily accessible by public transit (I know, irony) so I am biking to pickup/return the car. Once I buy a monthly bus pass, things will be a lot easier as far as getting to a car. There are three cars right on my bus route and that is a major route and the buses run frequently.

Better Planning!
I consider myself a good planner but I didn’t take into account some of the expansion going on (for the next three years) with the transit system and the trip to pick up the cheque for my car took hours. And, the battery in my phone ran dry so I could not read my ebook.  I had no book to read while on public transit. The horror.

Despite a grocery list, I forgot a few items and had to go back again on my bike. I forgot to buy eggs so I had to be extra careful when I biked home this afternoon. I also managed to forget to buy tortillas, not once, but twice. I’ll get them on the way home from work on Monday.

It takes me about 90 minutes to buy two weeks worth of groceries. I never can get them all at the same store. Luckily, the three stores I shop at the most are near each other. It takes me about 15 minutes to get all the groceries upstairs to my apartment. Someone abandoned a shopping cart last night in the loading bay of my building and that made things much easier.

Spent Less!
Since getting to a store required more planning and effort, I didn’t go to the store much which saved me money. This week, a pair of pajamas fell apart and I was going to replace them but then I decided just out of plain laziness just to see if I can manage with the ones I had. If I had a car, I’d probably would have zipped by the store and bought another pair without thinking too much about it.

Final Thoughts
I learned it’s much easier to sign up to give away your money, usually one step, but getting rid of a service, seems to require many steps to get a refund.

Like any process, there will be mistakes learning opportunities, but I think all of the difficult challenges are behind me. If anything, I will be fitter and richer.