I’m starting an experiment (I love experiments!). My husband Serge and I have talked in the past about paring down to one car. We work nearly the same hours, in towns about 8 miles apart. We spend most of our free time together and aren’t usually running in different directions on the weekends (what can I say? We’re pretty contented homebodies!). We are both really interested in trying to lesson our carbon footprint. (Rate your carbon footprint HERE) Also, I’m very interested in working at home eventually, full or part-time and having one car at that point shouldn’t pose as much of a problem….but I’m getting ahead of myself.
The experiment consists of this: We will share our car for at least a three week period. No grabbing for the keys to Serge’s truck when things get rough-we have to pretend that we have just the one car, and one car only. Because we work about 9 and 18 miles respectively from home and have nearly no public transportation in our area, we will need to do some careful and creative planning. I see after work errands, lunch breaks at work, and getting to work too early to be my main obstacles. Also, as an introvert, I’m worried about having my alone time reduced from about ½ hour in the morning to zilch. On the positive side, the experiment will hopefully make us more aware of our driving habits, will save miles and gas for our car, and may save us some money.
I’m writing an article about our experience in the Nov/Dec issue of the Simple Living Network’s newsletter. Check out the network here. It’s a fabulous resource and there are tons of great people with helpful information on the message boards. I won’t be posting my actual article on this blog, but will keep you posted on the ups and downs of car sharing, and you can read the article on the Simple Living Network as soon as the newsletter is out.
The experiment consists of this: We will share our car for at least a three week period. No grabbing for the keys to Serge’s truck when things get rough-we have to pretend that we have just the one car, and one car only. Because we work about 9 and 18 miles respectively from home and have nearly no public transportation in our area, we will need to do some careful and creative planning. I see after work errands, lunch breaks at work, and getting to work too early to be my main obstacles. Also, as an introvert, I’m worried about having my alone time reduced from about ½ hour in the morning to zilch. On the positive side, the experiment will hopefully make us more aware of our driving habits, will save miles and gas for our car, and may save us some money.
I’m writing an article about our experience in the Nov/Dec issue of the Simple Living Network’s newsletter. Check out the network here. It’s a fabulous resource and there are tons of great people with helpful information on the message boards. I won’t be posting my actual article on this blog, but will keep you posted on the ups and downs of car sharing, and you can read the article on the Simple Living Network as soon as the newsletter is out.
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