Jessica Cave leads the way while Erick and their daughter Rachel follow as the family heads down Bristol St. on a recent shopping trip.
Photo: Michael Goulding / The OC Register
Tired of dumping money into car repairs, a Santa Ana, California family decided to take the plunge and ditched their car all together. The result? Much less stress and the family even recouped a third of their income in six months!
"It's taken a lot of stress out of our lives," Erick says. "We're not hurrying all the time. And we spend more time together as a family."
Within two months they paid off two credit cards. No car meant no car bills. It also meant no quick trips to Taco Bell. No morning jolt of Starbucks. No impulse buys of jeans or toys at Target.
Shopping on a bike, says Erick, prompts the question: "Do we really need an extra box of Crunch 'n Munch?"
One day Jess had a strange complaint: too much money in her wallet and no place to put it. Erick figured out they were recouping more than a third of their income.
"It's as if your boss came in," he says, "and asked if you wanted a 35 percent raise."
Link - Thanks Julie Anne I!
Update 9/25/07: Also check out Erick's website, where he has addressed many of the questions/comments below - Thanks Erick!
I read a lot of the comments here. Thanks for the positive responses. A lot of the criticisms that have been brought up I've answered on my web site at http://www.erickcave.com . Feel free to challenge them there.
Of course it's great that these people are doing this, for a number of reasons (health, environmental, financial, etc.). It's just that it isn't practical for most people. Naturally if you live in a big city with a subway system, etc. it would be easy. But in suburban or rural areas, there's too much sprawl to realistically get from one place to another safely or punctually. And in most areas, especially at nighttime, you're practically asking to be run over or mugged. It completely depends on the region you live in and your lifestyle.
I lived car-free in Silicon Valley for 6 years and it was great.
It's nice that they can do that, but yeah, I can't ride a bike 10 miles to the nearest grocery store and make it home with a lot of groceries. Especially in the winter.