Could you be a 1 Car Household? (non-clicky)

mamaholmes2010 · April 2011

DH and I are looking at ways to start saving for a larger home (since we know we want to try for more children) so we were looking at reducing to 1 car. We both work outside the home.

If you are currently doing this, how do you make it work?

If you currently have 2+ cars at home, do you think you could ever live with just 1 car?

PGASTL · April 2011

I think I would cut back in other areas first... Here are some things we do to save money...

We cook 1 big meal on Sundays and eat it for the rest of the week - we only go out maybe once or twice a week - including lunches and DH brings his own coffee to work. This saves a LOT of money.

We cloth diaper - it's an investment up front but will pay off in the long run, especially when we have more kids.

You could go without cable & a home phone (we don't do this, but our friends go without cable and don't miss it at all - they get Netflix over the internet).

We really cut back on splurge spending - no random trips to Target, no shopping for new clothes at the mall, etc.

We also have 1 newer car and 1 clunker - could you trade down to 2 less expensive cars?

We shop at a less expensive grocery store.

OhSewCrafty · April 2011

We have been a one car household for about 2 years now. We make it work by keeping a detailed calendar of where we need to go so we can communicate a schedule. It was tough at first because you always assume you'll just have a car to do what you need to do. It can be tough, but it can be done!

Kristi221 · April 2011

I guess we could but it would be tough because we both work (him full time, me part time) but my job requires me to drive around to different child care centers. We have really bad public transportation in this area.

lilmgirl · April 2011

If we both worked outside of the home, no, we wouldn't be able to do it. If we lived in a city with great public transportation, I MIGHT entertain the idea.

chickaboo1974 · April 2011

No we couldn't be.

I am a SAHM and I am sorry I need to get out and there is no way that I would not have some kind of car.

heyitsme · April 2011

We could never do 1 car because currently DH works 2 jobs. He bikes to his first job, so there's only one car used during the day, but he leaves for his 2nd job before I'm home from mine.

CamilleJon · April 2011

We have 2 cars. One is our "good" car. it's a newer suburban.

The other is "the hot rod"... it is a 1992 Toyota Corrolla that FI bought for 2k from a buddy a few years ago. He drives it to work everyday. It is great on gas mileage and is super reliable, even with over 150k miles on it. He is all excited because he can antique plates for it next year.

I think that if we had to we could be a 1 car household, but I a SAHM. If I were working I think it would be tough.

xxbabycakesxx · April 2011

right now we only have 1 car registered for my DH because im still on mat leave. usually id have my car registered too. because of the location of where i work and where DH works, we cant be a 1 car household. it would be nice to just have DH drop me off to work and pick me up afterwards (i HATE driving, especially in winter) but our schedules also dont fit. in summer DH is going to bike to work so that'll save us a bit on gas. like pp though id try saving on other areas if having 2 cars is better for your family. also, use coupons and look for sales!

Kellina · April 2011

No way. Our jobs and daycare are way too spread out.

TBLilyRose · April 2011

We could but it would mean I'd either have to get up (and get DS up) to take DH to work at 6:30 a.m. and that I'd be stuck at home all day. It would just be inconvenient, but not impossible. As it is, I rarely use my car now so it's not really costing us much. I fill up the tank 1-2x a month depending on how far I go (or how many drives I need to go on to get LO to nap). My car is 12-years-old so the insurance on it is pretty low. A big repair would probably be where most of the $$ would go.

missliz01 · April 2011

We are currently a one car household since my lease just ended last month. I'm a SAHM and DH rides his bike to work most days because he only works 3 miles away. If it's bad enough out I usually just drive him to work and pick him up. So far it's been working out pretty well for us.

babyonthebrain2010 · April 2011

nope I think we will always be a 2+ car household, even if I became a stay at home mom. I drive 30+ miles to and from work, H only drives about a mile.. the convenience is worth the extra money for us.

Cheekers2010 · April 2011

We currently are a 1 car home. Although I'm not working at the moment, we've been a 1 car home for quite awhile. We are able to do this because my DH bikes and takes the bus to work. He considers it his workout and he completely loves it. This allows me to have the car during the day. We've been making this work for around 2 years. We're looking to get a bigger vehicle in the next year which will suck because we'll have car payments again, but at least we don't have 2.

janneann1127 · April 2011

chickaboo1974:
No we couldn't be.

I am a SAHM and I am sorry I need to get out and there is no way that I would not have some kind of car.

This. Though we live within walking distance of grocery stores, a mall, the park, etc, so technically we could walk most places we want to go. Also, my DH carpools with a guy at work 2-3 times a week so we could probably make it work if we really wanted to, I guess.

kat81 · April 2011

we only have 1 car. we both bike or bus to work and our car stays at home. I contend you can bike in pretty bad weather.

canthardlywait426 · April 2011

There's no way. I'm at home and need to be able to go to dr appts, physical therapy and also in case I have to take C somewhere. DH works over an hour away so I could drive there and back twice a day.

kat81 · April 2011

babyonthebrain2010:
nope I think we will always be a 2+ car household, even if I became a stay at home mom. I drive 30+ miles to and from work, H only drives about a mile.. the convenience is worth the extra money for us.

I am so thankful that we have sidewalks and bike lanes between home and work. We are both a bit more than a mile from work but we don't drive there. It would suck to be somewhere where we lived closer to work but would have to drive anyway.

babyonthebrain2010 · April 2011

kat81:
babyonthebrain2010:
nope I think we will always be a 2+ car household, even if I became a stay at home mom. I drive 30+ miles to and from work, H only drives about a mile.. the convenience is worth the extra money for us.
I am so thankful that we have sidewalks and bike lanes between home and work. We are both a bit more than a mile from work but we don't drive there. It would suck to be somewhere where we lived closer to work but would have to drive anyway.

yeah, if I lived within a mile or two from work I'd definitely walk or bike! H bikes/runs occasionally but usually he has to bring a trunk-load of equipment to and from with him so that's not an every day option.

thatgirl85 · April 2011

We could definitely do it, but DH won't. I lease my car, so we have it for 2 more years. He refuses to give up his car, which we own. I'm a SAHM. I make Monday morning grocery runs, otherwise I'm usually at home during the week. I could easily go grocery shopping on the weekend with DH's car instead. My SIL lives up the road, and we walk a lot. There are a few restaurants and parks nearby that we walk the kids to during the week. DH only works 20 minutes away. I could always take him and pick him up, but he is stubborn and loves his huge gas guzzling Suburban.

LovesMM · April 2011

Never. We are a 3 car household. Mr.MM has his during the week truck to drive to and from work because it gets good gas mileage. I have my car because I need to be able to get out and nothing is really within walking distance because we live near a busy part of town with no sidewalk and no shoulder of the road. Then we have the weekend truck. It gets 10miles to the gallon. A 1996 chevy silverado with a suspension lift and 35s.

KristieElizabeth · April 2011

We could never make it with one car. DH leaves for work 2 hours before me because he works 1-5 hours away (depending on which office/hospital he has to go to). I live 5 minutes away from my work, but I also have to go bring LO to my mom's before I go to work. We each depend on our cars too much to do without.

We are trying to save for a new house and car too. We are cutting back in other areas. We don't eat out as much. I cook larger meals and we bring lunch instead of buying. We only buy things that we need instead of just want. We created a budget and we stick to it.

abovewedding · April 2011

neither of us drive, but we have a really great transit system and dh rides his bike a lot. i could see if we had a car, each wanting our own for independance. its really not bad though...you could car pool and just might have to plan your weeks a bit more

jenvalet · April 2011

We have 2 cars, but one is a total junker and MH only drives it locally. We could really do without it, but only because at this point we both work at home. If we had to commute to work, we'd need 2 cars.

LaLaaaa · April 2011

We've been a one car house for over a year now. I never would have thought I could do it but it just made so much more sense financially. I work at home anyway and it was stupid for us to be making 2 car payments. We sold H's car for more than we owed on it and kept mine. We've been making it work really well. Grocery trips get planned out for weekends or after H gets home. We will look into getting another car in November when ours is paid off.

principessa81 · April 2011

We are a 1-car household, and we definitely make it work. I'm a SAHM, and DH works about 10 minutes away from our home, so it's never been an issue for us. Plus DH gets to use a company car during work hours, so it's not like he's stuck at the office all day. That being said, our living situation may change within the next year (we may be moving to Louisiana and DH is going to try and go back to school) so we may need to re-think things.

kj07 · April 2011

We've been a 1 car household for about 5 or 6 years now. We do live in a city, but it's a city with a ton of sprawl and not very good public transit and isn't necessarily bike friendly. One of the biggest reasons we went down to 1 car was that we both hate commuting so had moved to a neighborhood where we were about 2 miles from DH's work and 5 miles from my work.* I'm required to have transportation for my job so I get the car during the week. DH bikes or rides the bus and sometimes I'll take him in if the weather is nasty. As someone else said, we do have to coordinate with evening or weekend activities, but it's not that difficult once you make it a habit.

Once we had B it did get a bit more complicated. We only looked at day cares that were near a major bus line so that if I got held up at work, DH could bike or bus in and pick B up so we didn't get a late fee. Of course, at this point, he would have to sit and hold B until I or a friend got there with a car. A lot more options will open up once B can sit in a bike seat.

* in those 5 miles to my work I go through 32 traffic lights or stop signs. I counted on the way home today.

cupcakes710 · April 2011

We are a 1 car family... it just kind of happened. I just paid off my car - a 2004. DH bought his car 5 years ago free & clear but it's older than he is. Since I'm a SAHM now, he takes my car to work. The other one is a POS and we keep it around in case of an emergency. I'd like to be a 2 car family but this makes more sense financially right now, even though I'm in the burbs and can't just bike somewhere if I need to go do something. Also, this is totally selfish but I love and miss my car.

Hopefully we'll save on gas though.

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