From the category archives:

Frugality

Actually, we can’t afford a car

by Dorea 02.02.2011

We actively choose to live our lives without a car.  When our truck died, way back in 2004, we probably could have found enough money to get another one if we’d really wanted to.  We wouldn’t have been happy about it, but we could have done it.  Really though, we were just happy to see [...]

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Not shopping with kids

by Angela 01.26.2010

One huge advantage of our carfree lifestyle is that we don’t shop very much. I believe being without a car means fewer shopping trips, but I don’t have any research to back me up. If you’ve seen any, please leave a comment! I did find a study today that shows shopping trips are the most [...]

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Retail Therapy

by Angela 05.18.2009

I’ve learned something about myself in the past couple of weeks — I’m not immune to retail therapy. Since Dorea got diagnosed with a semi-rare pregnancy complication, we’ve been bleeding money. Some of the spending is legit. She’s been having acupuncture appointments and we’ve spent money on medications of various sorts. But looking at my [...]

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Used Success

by Angela 03.31.2009

A while back I wrote about wanting to purchase more things used. I just wanted to report a major success, which was buying a used portable dishwasher. I found the dishwasher on Craigslist and was able to find someone who could deliver it as well. Even including the cost of delivery, we saved a few [...]

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The evening scramble

by Angela 03.25.2009

Rush from work to daycare and from daycare to home; cook dinner, eat dinner, put child(ren) to bed — do you recognize this scramble? In our house the whole routine starts when I leave work at 5-5:15 (I usually do daycare pickup) and ends when H is in bed at 7pm. H and I get [...]

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Small Living

by Angela 02.09.2009

We live in a small condo, about 660 square feet, 36 square feet of which is an unheated porch off of the master bedroom. We moved here from a 450-square-foot awkwardly-arranged apartment when our daughter was almost a year old. This condo with it’s open floorplan and 200 additional square feet felt like a palace. [...]

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Making Choices: Frugality, the Environment, or Social Justice

by Angela 01.30.2009

I stumbled into the carfree lifestyle because I’m a cheapskate. I’m allergic to spending money, and cars drink up a lot of money. I get to feel overly proud of not owning a car because I’m being environmentally responsible. Living without a car brings two of my core values together. But those values are often [...]

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Resolutions Part III: No Stumbling Block

by Angela 12.30.2008

In the past two posts, I’ve talked about tackling your new-years resolutions using the Floss-A-Tooth method, but not every resolution can be tackled by simply developing one new habit. What if you want to spend less money or become less dependent on your car? The Talmud interprets the commandment not to “place a stumbling block [...]

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Being frugal

by Angela 11.21.2008

Part of the reason that Dorea and I decided to become permanently car free is that we are cheapskates. I’ve always been a tightwad, but I wasn’t always good at budgeting and controlling impulse purchases. Dorea was always good at budgeting, but not as good at penny-pinching. We became big fans of Amy Dacyczyn (if [...]

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Costs of car ownership, part I

by Angela 08.27.2008

Those of us who go carfree or car-light often do so because of the high costs of car ownership. So I thought it would be a good idea to spend a some time detailing those costs, which look to me like they come in four broad categories: monetary costs, time costs, mental/emotional costs, and social [...]

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