It’s been one month since we handed back our leased mini van. It’s time to calculate what we've saved in the first month of our five month experiment in one-car suburban living.
- Car payment: $660. This is an approximation based one of the many auto finance calculators on the Web. I arrived at this figure assuming the purchase of a 2008
- Gas: $100. Now remember, my wife and I work out of the house, so our gas consumption compared to most suburbanites is going to be relatively low. A normal fill-up of our ’98 Subaru Outback would last about two weeks without business-related travel.
So, I’m pegging our savings at $760. Nothing to sneeze at.
But what about other costs, such as insurance? The nice folks at State Farm Insurance pro-rated our premium, yielding a $100 credit. They said they’ll happily apply the amount to our next car. Gosh, how thoughtful. For repairs, we’ll apply routine maintenance, such as oil changes and such, based on a three-month or 3,000-mile interval. As of this post, no cost has been incurred.
3 comments:
Way to go, Reed Family!
I like the fact that you are saving a ton of money on gas. I wish I had the same situation. I also work out of my house but Karen works 10 miles away in the city. My car stays parked all day. Matt, my 17 year old, is the gas hog. We started entertaining the notion of selling his car (Honda Passport) and let him use mine. I cringe at the thought that not only am I the one paying for his gas and his insurance (also with State Farm) but the fact that my car will get all dinged up at his High School. He has driven my wife's car to school already and there were new dents. Oh yea, the high school is only 3 miles from here.
I don't think we can do what you can do unless Karen became a consultant and she isn't ready for that yet. I would love to park the cars. I can cycle to anything nearby too. I just don't think the stores will want me around them for as much as I sweat in 90+ degree weather it gets down here in Greensboro.
Congrats on y'all's success. (a little southern slang for ya!). Can't wait to see how your summer will progress with the kids out of school.
Take Care
Doug Poehler
Thanks, Doug. I don't which is more frightening: teen-aged drivers or having to find activities for my kids... and then drive them there.
That's some nice savings, Bob. When you start looking at it like that, suddenly the apparent downside of not having that second car is instead an upside in terms of money in your pocket.
So...is the extra money going into a savings account for a MacBook Pro??
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