With gas prices higher than ever (and steadily climbing), there’s no better time to park the car and get moving without it! Declare weekends “CAR FREE” and walk, bike, rollerblade, bus, or train your way to where you’re going. Of course we all have a million reasons why this is “simply impossible!” to fit into our busy lives, so help me address a few of the most common concerns:
I have too much to do – without a car, I’ll never get it all done!
Understandable, so perhaps it’s time to reevaluate that To Do list of
yours. Sure, it all needs to get done, but is Saturday afternoon really
the only time to do it? In our house grocery shopping is an absolute
must, so we do it one night a week after work when we have the car, and
meet each other at the store to knock it out efficiently. (On those
nights we heat up leftovers to save time on dinner prep, so we make
sure to cook a little extra the night before.) Kids can also be a part
of the grocery shopping adventure; they’re more likely to eat the
healthy snacks you give them if they’ve helped pick them out.
Also, we clump our errands geographically, which cuts down on zig-zagging across town. Sure, I pay $1.00 more for cat food at the store next to the dry cleaners than I would at Target, but the time and gas money I save is well worth it…
I’ve never taken the bus – how would I know which one to take? Don’t they take forever to get anywhere?
It’s time to acquaint yourself with your neighborhood’s public transit
– in Southern California, you can plan a trip from any two locations
(they can just be cross-streets and not even exact addresses) by going
to http://socaltransport.org/. Also, most buses have trip guides on
them for free, and some stops show you the route and stop times on a
placard. In our area, you can catch a bus on most major streets every
15 minutes or so, and surprisingly, it usually doesn’t take much longer
to get there than if I drove. Plus, I get to catch up on my reading and
don’t have to fuss with parking…
I can’t carry 7 bags of groceries and a tub of kitty litter all the way home!
In most other developed countries, buying in bulk is not the norm. Most
Europeans walk/bike their errands, so they buy what they need when they
need it. If this does not work for you, try a produce delivery service
(I’m a HUGE fan of beachgreens.com here in Long Beach), and you’ll have
less groceries to tote. Bring the family to the grocery store so
everyone can help lug a few items, or knock it out a weekday. Once a
month I buy the bulk items that weigh a ton on my way home from work,
making my weekend errands much lighter.
If we don’t drive to dinner, I won’t look my best when I arrive.
This is a question of priorities, I suppose. You’ll look your best when
your waistline is slimmer and your skin is healthier, so a few hairs
out of place at dinner, I believe, is a small price to pay. Plus, if
you leave yourself enough time to get there, you can make your stroll
more leisurely and less of a power-walk, which will keep you tidy. Ask
your dinner date to meet you closer to home, or better yet, meet at
your house and you can walk together. Then no one will mind your
slightly wind-blown look. =)
Most experts agree our oil production has already peaked, so it’s not going to get any cheaper to do things the way we’ve been used to doing them. The sooner we accept the need to change, the less traumatic it will be. I’m not promising this will be easy, but the benefits are tremendous if you have patience with the process of adjusting. Less time in the car means more exerc\ise, which in turn means a stronger heart, lower cholesterol, better circulation, and slimmer body. It also means lessened effects of stress on the body, and a little more time for chatting with your kids or catching up on quality day-dreaming. Without a car, you’ll gradually accept the fact that things take a little longer, and stop trying to pack a two-page To Do list into one poor Saturday afternoon…