You WIN! (Now please pay up)

Am I the only one who thinks winning a car is ironic?  Possibly, it seems that a vehicle is one of the most popular prizes these days.  From fast food restaurants to charity draws they all seem to tempt you with a shiny new vehicle (usually fancy and top of the line.)  Personally, this seems more of a punishment than a win.

Assuming that you actually take the prize instead of asking for the cash equivalent the "win" is probably going to cost you money.  Why?  In most cases I would assume that the car you win is bigger/fancier than the one the you currently have (otherwise why would you try and win it?)  As a result of winning you are going to:

-Pay more for insurance, the car is new and expensive and will cost more to replace hence the hike in your monthly payments.  Add extra if the car is sporty since the insurance company assumes that people who drive sporty cars are more dangerous drivers.

-Pay more for gas, I have yet to see a hybrid as a prize but I've seen lots SUV's and vans.  Needless to say your fuel efficiency is going down with these vehicles and your costs are going up.

-Pay more for your next car.  Let's be honest, when this car wears out are you going to be happy downgrading to what you had before?  Or have you adapted to your new normal?  If it's the later it's going to cost you.

-Pay more for maintenance (maybe).  Ok, I'll admit that this is fairly variable.  A new car may need less maintenance at the beginning (especially if you are driving an old car) but the more bells and whistles it has the more there is to break.

In other words why on earth would you want to win a car?  On the other hand I would love to win a TFSA or RRSP contribution, but I haven't seen any of those about.  What's up with that?

RQ: On not having a car

I recently had the following question from one of my readers: 

Do you enjoy not having a car beside the money you save?  (You can read about my decision to go car-less here.) 

The simple answer, YES!  For a number of reasons. 

1. I like taking the bus to work every morning, it gives me a chance to sit and read.  Sure I could shave 30-40 min off of my commute every day if I bought a car, however I’d spend that extra 30-40 min a day reading so might as well pay less for that small luxury and bus it. 

2. Whenever I start thinking about my chosen modes of transportation I get a warm and fuzzy feeling.  It’s nice to know that I’m doing my own little part for the planet and not burning fossil fuels.  This way I can hopefully make sure that my grandchildren have air that is as clean, or cleaner than, mine. 

3. It’s good exercise.  I walk every week to the grocery store.  It forces me to get out into the fresh air and get some exercise.  Again, it does take longer to get the chore done every week but I have learned to enjoy it.  Most of the time I’ll take it as an opportunity to enjoy the scenery and the solitude of my own thoughts.  Other times I’ll download a free lecture from iTunes U and give both my brain and my muscles a workout. 

4. It’s stylish.  When you arrive at the grocery store dragging a wagon, which matches your jacket (it was accidental, I swear) you’re sure to be noticed.  In fact I’ve had a lady comment on how “cute” it was and wished that she had thought of it first. 

5. I don’t have to take time out of my workweek to get oil changed, tires switched, and breakdown’s fixed. 

First I went car-less for the savings.  Now I’m staying car-less because I love the lifestyle that comes with out having a car.  Give it a try, I dare you!

Got a question?  I’d love to hear it!

A New Set of Wheels

It has arrived!  That special day in a young person's life when they get their first set of wheels.  I am very proud of mine, it's cobalt blue and handles wonderfully.   I'm even considering naming her.

TAADA!!!!!!

All joking aside I am glad to get my hands on some reliable transportation.  My grocery store is a good 20 min walk away and carrying a week's worth of groceries on my back really aggravates my knee.  Basically after standing for an hour (20 min there, 20 in the store, and 20 back) AND carrying several pounds of groceries for a third of that time I can't stand for the next 48 hours with out pain.  Investing in a wagon will help drastically reduce the load on my knee and make life a lot easier.  If you've missed my previous posts on why I've decided agains a car you can see them here and here.

I found the wagon on my local Kijiji for $45, new this would cost me in the area of $100.  Half price for a wagon who's colour hasn't even started to fade.  Not bad in my books.  Plus it is only 0.045% of what it would cost for one of these.

The Transportation Issue

So, no car was the decision (see yesterday's post for an explanation of the why.)  The question today is what to do about transportation.  Let's break it down by destination shall we?

Work

Got that covered already.  My monthly bus pass will get my to and from reliably.  Since I travel during rush hour it is even more convenient since I can catch the rush hour bus, which cuts my commute to 15 min.  The cost of my monthly bus pass is $68.25.

Parent's House

I greatly enjoy spending time with my parents.  Actually, since they've gotten back from overseas I've probably spent 95% of my weekend with them.  The freedom to pack a backpack and go see them is one of the things that I will miss most.  However, now that I've become a home owner I expect that I will see them less frequently and spend more time in my own home.  Still I will be wanting to see them.  Fortunately I can get a round trip to and from my parent's place on the local train for $51.98.  The cost of gas for the van there and back was about $50.  Hopefully any vehicle I get in the future will be a bit more fuel efficient then the van.  For now the train will suffice and is more economic then a car.

Groceries

This is the most problematic.  The closest grocery store is a 20 min walk away.  I did the walk today, with a relatively small load of groceries.  Let's just say that my bad knee was pretty achy by the time I was done.  I was lucky in that I didn't have any standing chores to do (like shovel the drive way or clean the house) because if I had, it wouldn't have gotten done.  There is no way that I can do the trip multiple times in a week and I dread the idea of a trip that has a number of heavy things (like milk, and potatoes, and flour . . . ).  The solution . . .

Yes, you are looking at a wagon!  I'm still shopping around for a deal since my brother will be in town next week and can drive me to the store.  What better way to get a big load of groceries home?  I can lock it up on the bike rack in front of the store when I shop and then drag it home.  Don't get me wrong, an hour on my feet will still hurt, but that's life.  The wagon will help with the worst of it.

Fun Stuff/Extracurriculars

I hope to be out of the house at least once a week.  The bus will get me to most of these events, unfortunately the bus system pretty much shuts down at 6pm not to start again until 6am.  So getting home is a bit of a challenge and all my destinations are too far to walk.  That means that I'll need to take a taxi.  The estimated cost for a taxi from downtown to my house is $20.10.

Summary

Transport budget - $538.20

Bus Pass - $68.25
Train (to my parents twice a month) - $103.96
Wagon - None (besides the initial investment)
Taxi - $80.40

Left over - $285.59

If I set the extra money from my transportation budget aside every month I'll have $9,000 cash to buy a car in a year's time.  At that point I can reassess the situation and decide if it makes more sense to buy or not.  Hopefully I'll prefer not to buy and that will free up almost $300 a month to use as I see fit.

Car?

It has arrived, that long awaited yet so sad day.  My parents are taking back their van, which was on loan to me for over three years while they were overseas.  Sob . . .  I will miss so many things about that van, like the turning radius and squeaking into parking spaces because my van is built more like a truck.  I'll never forget the warm feeling I got when I had to fill up it's tank from empty for a total bill of $120, knowing that it would guzzle it ever so quickly.  And oh that wonderful morning I got to spend with CAA because my sister ran down the battery.  Good times.

Ok maybe I'm laying it on a little bit thick.  It wasn't all bad.  I learned to drive in that van.  It let me get around for 3 whole years, vastly simplifying groceries.  With out it I wouldn't have been able to foster cats from the local humane society without it.  Not to mention a couple months ago I pretty much loaded my entire life into it so that I could move.  It's done a lot for me, I truly appreciate what it has done for me despite its difficulties.

So comes the question, should I replace it or not?  I've been waffling on the issue for a while.  So lets lay this out in a logical way.  15% of my budget is for transportation, which is about $538.20 a month.  $68.25 goes towards my bus pass.  That's not going to change, I need it to get to work and driving to work isn't an option.  The parking alone would be more expensive then my bus pass.  I would spend between $100 and $150 dollars a month on gas depending on if I go to see my parents once or twice a month.  That leaves me between $369.95 and $319.95 for all the expenses of a car.  Other expenses would be as follows:

Insurance (estimate) - $115 /month
Repairs, maintenance - $125/month

Which would leave $79.95 a month for payments.

I have savings set aside for a car to the tune of $5,692.79.  After speaking to my Grandfather I expect for a reliable used car, after taxes and registration the up front cost would be about $9,000.  Leaving me a deficit of $3,307.21.

I prefer to pay cash since I loath the idea of paying interest, and I'm not sure if I could get a payment plan that would make my payments less than $80 a month.  I could come up with the necessary cash up front, but that would mean pillaging the savings I have set aside to make extra payment on my mortgage, and it would take me 42 months to pay it back.

Pillaging my house savings account would mean that I couldn't double up my mortgage payments every month.  At least not until I start seeing whatever I will get from disability insurance and I have no idea when that will be.  The bottom line is that I want to pay off my mortgage as fast as possible and a dollar against it today is much more valuable then a dollar against tomorrow.  So for the moment a car is out of question.  So I'm just going to have to figure out the best way to get around without a car.

Any suggestions on cheap transport?