A Lifestyle Experiment

I’ve had a car since I was 16 years old.

A purple Dodge Neon that I purchased for $2000 was my first. Working at McDonalds for minimum wage, it took me well over 4 months to save up that kind of money, but I knew that on my 16th birthday, I’d have enough to buy the car of my dreams.

Since then, different makes and models have come and gone, but cars have always been a constant in my life. I’ve just always had one. I’ve always “needed” one.

I recently found myself thinking; why am I so addicted to this object? Why is it so hard for me to fathom life without a car? I know other people living in the Twin Cities who do not own cars, why can’t I dump mine? This made me very uncomfortable.

So yesterday, I sold my car.

I’m hoping to learn about a different way of life, without even having to leave my city. I want to experience Minneapolis from a new perspective, from a different angle. What if a car is not necessary for me? What if I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time?

The plan: Go carless for 30 days. If it doesn’t work out for me, buy a new (used) car. If it does work out, enjoy the newfound freedom. I’ll report back in 30 days. I plan to rely on my motorcycle, public transportation, and my bicycle to get around.

Have you ever lived without a car? How did you get around? What were the biggest challenges?

Photo credit: ilker

  • http://marrina.tumblr.com/ Marrina

    I don’t own a car either. I take the bus to work, bike a ton around the city and when I go out, I call 24/7 car service. It’s totally doable.

  • http://twitter.com/todaytom tom

    I hardly drive anymore myself. In my town, everything I need is within 5 miles.  However, my car is paid off and the insurance in only $40 bucks a month, so it’s hard to get rid of something that doesn’t take much ti operate.
    Would you ever buy a used car from a police auction?

  • Anonymous

    Thanks for the comment Tom.

    1. What city do you live in?
    2. My car was also paid off and the insurance was only $58.00 month. So I’m in the same boat.
    3. Yes, I would. Why?

  • Anonymous

    Marrina, I remember you mentioning that a while ago. I feel like it’s definitely doable, I think it’ll take some getting used to though!

  • http://twitter.com/acbruhaha Amber Carter

    I’ve been thinking about doing this, also, for a while now. Especially now that I work mainly from home, and when I lived in Uptown, I rarely drove (and when I did, it was due to not having a bike in the city and not knowing the bus system). And think of how much better it is for you and your larger community…! I don’t think cars are evil, but I do think that the less we depend on them, the better off our entire world will be. I’m excited to hear your thoughts on it 30 days from now.

  • http://twitter.com/todaytom tom

    I live in a small city 80 miles north of Sacramento Ca. Once I moved out of San Diego my insurance dropped 50%..  Next time i need a vehicle, i was thinking about hitting up an auction. However I was told, cars don’t have warranties so I wasn’t sure how that factored 

  • Anonymous

    That’s awesome man. I love CA. I’ve purchased cars from auctions before. In fact, the aforementioned Dodge Neon was from an auction. Not sure what kind of cars you buy but usually mine are all under 8k.

  • Anonymous

    Yep. That’s kind of how I feel. I’ve been toying with the idea for a while now and when the opportunity arose to try it out I figured why not. So far it’s been okay. The only thing that bothers me is a can’t drive my dog to the dog park!

  • http://hennepinave.tumblr.com hennepinave

    I’m the same. Dependent on circumstances, it’s very doable and a great way to live. You do experience things differently and, at least for me, look at the city as more of an experience in total rather than as merely a conduit to get from place to place (though I’m sure some regular motorists share in this.)

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  • Marcos Lopez-Carlson

    How’s the car free month going for you?
    When I was 23 I decided to go car free for 1 year, ended up not having a car for over a decade.  We’re fortunate to live in a city which is quite accommodating to its car free citizens.

  • http://www.kareemahmed.com/ kareemahmed

    Dude its pretty great so far. I actually just wrote about it here: http://www.kareemahmed.com/experiments/lifestyle-experiment-30-day-car-update