One of the thoughts I keep bouncing around is whether I can get by without a car. Cars can be expensive to keep, even if they are already paid off. We can’t ever get away from maintenance, repairs, insurance, and registration, at a minimum. Last week I read How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life
The book starts off with a look at the financial benefits to living car-free. It examines the various costs, including financial, environmental, and quality-of-life. It also gives a look at how and why the author came to live without a car. There is one problem I found in this section however; the book overstates the cost of car ownership by having you add in both the cost of the car and the depreciation. To correctly account for the cost, you need to add only one or the other. So, the true cost is double-counted and may distort the financial benefit of freeing yourself of your vehicle.
The next section of the book addresses the biggest concern most people will face: how to get to work. There are a variety of alternatives presented: walking, mass transit, ridesharing, motorcycles and bicycles. There is a discussion about the possible advantages of moving closer to work so that you can make use of one of the alternative modes of transportation. There is even a chapter that addresses some of the basic questions most of us would ask: how to dress, changing into “work” clothes, etc.
Another section looks at some of the non-work transportation needs most of us have. There is an acknowledgement that we may occasionally need to rent a car, and suggestions on how to maximize the use of the car when we do rent it. Other topics include online shopping, riding with friends, and even dating without a car.
Finally, there are discussions about taking a trial run before making the decision, selling your car, and families deciding to cut back to fewer cars. There is even a chapter dedicated to special situations where you’d normally need a car (taking an animal to the vet, a medical emergency, vacationing, etc.).
Throughout the book there are numerous quotes from “car-free” and “car-lite” people across the US. Many of these are inciteful and inspiring; I enjoyed reading how real people with real jobs manage some of the challenges of being without a car. Overall the book is a quick, fun, and easy read and gave me good food for thought. My only complaint (other than the inaccuracy in calculating the true cost of car ownership) might be that there is a bit too much “cheerleading” throughout. Clearly the author is enthusiastic about being car-free and wants to share that joy with others! But the material is presented clearly and is sure to give most of us some new ideas. I am not quite ready to give up my own vehicle, but what I read has given me something to ponder.
Tags: Frugality, money management, saving, simplicity, spending, thrift
Last week I had articles that appeared in the Carnival of Personal Finance and the Festival of Frugality. There are many insightful articles and I encourage you to check them out. Here are a few that I particularly enjoyed:
Don’t forget to check out the rest of the articles at:
Carnival of Personal Finance No. 177 at The Sun’s Financial Diary
Festival of Frugality 11/4 Election Day Edition at Bargain Briana
I took my car into the dealer for maintenance this morning, and it reminded me of an important cost-savings tactic I use: question expenses twice. By this I mean when you are getting ready to undertake a fairly major expense (such as a medical procedure, car repair, or home improvement), be sure you ask for a quote or even a written estimate, before you agree to purchase the goods or service. Then, when you receive your bill, double-check that it matches and question any discrepancies.
I didn’t always do this and often found myself frustrated when I received a bill that I thought was too high. At that point I could ask questions, but didn’t have much leverage. Eventually, I learned to question most expenses before they happened. This is sometimes a little uncomfortable, such as when I was scheduling oral surgery to remove my wisdom teeth. Uncomfortable or not, I asked what the expected cost would be. When I take my car into the dealer for any maintenance, I always ask them to break down the expected costs so I can make a good decision. I’ve learned to ask specific questions, like if there will be additional charges added (shop charges, disposal fees, etc.). This helps two ways: often, when they see that I am cautious with cost, they will offer a discount on some area of cost. I think it is actually a subtle form of negotiation. The second way it helps of course is that when I receive the bill, if there are any unpleasant surprises, I can go back to our original (hopefully written) list of costs. The last time I took my car in for scheduled maintenance, the bill came to $75 more than what I was quoted. I went back to the service advisor and asked (politely), and he promptly adjusted my bill, acknowledging that an error had been made. I am convinced that if I hadn’t asked before the service was performed, the bill would have been left with the extra $75. This morning I asked about the cost of the maintenance service I was considering, and the advisor knocked about $20 off the cost just because I asked.
Sometimes there are legitimate reasons why a cost my overrun the estimate, and that is OK as long as I understand what happened. When I had my wisdom teeth removed, the procedure became somewhat more complicated, with more surgery and less simple extraction and the bill ended up being about $200 higher than I was quoted. I didn’t question that bill because I understood what I was being charged for and why the cost had run higher.
FrugalBabe wrote recently about an unexpected medical bill she received for her husband’s surgery. It was unexpected because she had thoroughly researched what would be covered and how much, if any, her portion of the bill would be. In the end, she called and questioned the bill and it was resolved quickly, with no cost to her. I couldn’t help but think how this situation could have turned out differently if she hadn’t reviewed and researched the costs before her husband had the surgery.
The bottom line is this: sometimes by just questioning the cost of something, the other party will offer you a better price. And even if they don’t, when the bill does arrive and seems high to you, you’ll have much better leverage to fight the additional costs if you received a quote prior to having the work done.
Tags: money management, saving, shopping, spending, thrift
I recently had the opportunity to join the internet book-swapping site PaperBackSwap. I thought I’d take the opportunity to share my experience here and explain some of what I learned.
First, it is a free site and was established in 2004. I really like the concept: you list books you are willing to send off to others. For each book you send, you receive one credit that you may use to request a book someone else is offering. The site maintains the database of books currently being offered by other members. You can also keep a “wish list” of books you’d like to have if they should become available. When you send a book, you pay the postage. However, when you request a book, it is free to you.
What You Can Swap
Apparently when it originated it handled only paperbook books, but that has now been expanded to include hardbook and even audio books (note that audio books cost 2 credits). The books must be in good condition (there is an explanation on the site of what constitutes “good” condition). Furthermore, you can specify your own criteria in your profile; for example, you might state that you don’t want books that are currently in a smoking environment, or that you’d prefer not to receive books that have ex-library stickers on them.
How it Works
Listing books is a piece of cake: you simply enter the ISBN and the database finds your books with photo and other pertinent information. There is a good search facility that will allow you to look for books you want, including books that are not currently available but that you’d like to add to your wish list.
After you list your first 10 books you receive 2 credits from the system, meaning that theoretically you could receive two books before ever being asked to send one of yours. I had four books to list and was surprised that all four were requested by other members within 24 hours. You receive one credit per book you send off, with credit given to you when the recipient acknowledges receipt (alternatively, you can purchase your postage and tracking through PaperBackSwap, which costs a bit extra but gives credit to you as soon as you acknowledge sending the book).
So I quickly accumulated 4 credits and went looking for books to request. I found one I had been wanting right away and have already received it (in good, but not new, condition). Several other books I want are not available at the moment so I added them to my wish list. This is the only downside I found to using this service: popular or recently released books seem to have a long waiting list. There were a couple of books I looked for that currently have over 300 people waiting for them. I didn’t even bother adding them to my wishlist but imagine it would take a long time to see those books.
A Good Alternative to Selling Books
I didn’t initially go looking to swap books. I had a few books I was ready to part with and, being a long-time eBay seller, first listed them on eBay. It seems that either I hit a lull or business has really slowed down on eBay, because not only did none of the books sell, but there were very few people even looking at the listings. Rather than continue to throw listing fees away, I thought I’d try another avenue. I considered selling them on Amazon, but since I have never sold there I thought a lack of feedback might make it tough. So, I stumbled onto Paperback swap and figured I didn’t have much to lose.
Obviously you would not want to list your valuable books here as all books are treated equally. But if you have some books gathering dust, you’re willing to pay media mail postage (generally between $2 and $3 per book) and you’re game to find some books you’d like to receive, this is a fun, easy, and frugal way to swap books.
You Can Also Buy Books without Swapping
If you are looking for a good deal on a good used book but don’t have one to trade at the moment, there is even a way to purchase a credit. For $3.45 you can buy one credit, for $10.35 you can buy 3 credits. This could be a frugal way to buy used books. Remember that audio books take 2 credits, all other books just one credit.
Have You Used PaperBackSwap or Other Swapping Site?
Have you used PaperBackSwap or other sites like SwapTree? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts or experiences. Obviously I am still new to online book swapping so would be interested to hear what others have found, good or bad.
I’d like to highlight a few good articles I found during the week of October 27:
Master Your Card: Why I Rent Instead of Own a Home
Ask Mr. Credit Card: Bankruptcy Recovery: Lessons Learned
SavingAdvice.com:The Bliss of Ignorance
The Smarter Wallet:The Dangers of Online Bill Pay and Automatic Deductions
As always, there were many good articles to choose from in these Carnivals:
