WalletPop

Evaluate your transportation options

Does your family currently use two cars -- and are you making payments on either, or both, of them? If so, you should seriously ask yourself whether you could reduce or eliminate your car expenses. Could your working partner start commuting on public transit, or biking to work? Could you stay at home without a car? In Portland, Oregon, where I live, both my husband and I make do without any car, at all, and three young boys -- we bus, bike, walk and very occasionally catch a ride from a friend or family member, or use a car-share service. We figure we save $4000 or $5000 a year, and our car is all paid off. We save money, too, by not having the option of doing things as a family that would end up costing money -- like going to Costco on a Sunday afternoon and buying boxes of stuff we really could do without.

sarah gilbert

04/01/08