How was your week, friends? My car rather unexpectedly shuffled off this mortal coil, forcing me to cancel the 2.5 week roadtrip I’ve been planning for months. Weep! Since I was planning to travel over the July 4th holiday, car rental prices are prohibitively expensive. Like, two-months-of-rent expensive.
I like to buy cars with cash (yes! really!) so I’ll be tweaking my saving/earning over the next few months while getting a looooot more familiar with my bike, Minneapolis’s public transport system, and my husband’s car. If any of you are a one-car family (with kids) or car-free, I’d love to hear your tips!
Links for you!
As we enter summer travel season, a loving reminder to OMG NOT USE UBER and use Lyft instead. Here’s a running list of all the horrible things Uber has done. Of course, Lyft isn’t perfect, but they’re much, much better. If you’ve never used them before, here’s a $5 credit towards your first ride!
My friend Nick talks about ‘passing’ as cisgender and that time he accidentally mansplained childbirth to a woman.
At one point I made a comment about how although the shoulders are also pretty wide, once you birth the head it’s all gravy from there. And let me tell you. The one other mom in the room (aside from my wife) was unimpressed with a man telling her how hard or easy any part of childbirth was. I got a very quick eye roll with a sassy, “Oh you found that did you, Nick?!?” with a look at Anna that communicated some sort of “get your man in check.”
Yes, adjusting our mindset is super important. As is monitoring our self-talk. BUT SOMETIMES WE JUST NEED TO BUY NEW JEANS. An epiphany from a master life coach.
Related: I’ll never stop recommending these jeans. Even my fancy, stylist friends swear by them!
I loved these you-probably-haven’t-thought-of-them budget ways to transform your home.
How to take a compliment even if it makes you uncomfortable.
Oh my goodness, YES. Stop postponing your life till you lose weight. Start doing things now.
As a Type-A human, I needed this reminder: The Problem With The ‘What Else?’ Mindset.
You could witness the most precious moment of someone’s life, or read a news story about a horrifying and terribly sad event, or complete one of the most impressive accomplishments of your creative career…. And somehow it’s never enough. Because there’s always something else to do, something else to accomplish, something else you might be missing out on… right. now.
Cute! 10 celebrities who are surprisingly good dancers. See also: I’m now into Sam Rockwell. So.
New hobby: ‘Volunteer location scouting for Wes Anderson.’
For my fellow freelancers: Don’t ‘wonder’ about your paycheck. Ask for it.
I love this! A site that’s devoted to rounding up clothing for women that has pockets! Because that meme is accurate.
Ahhhhh! Lorde had a secret Instagram account devoted to reviewing onion rings?!!
Hope you had a lovely weekend, friends!
Out of all the weekend links and whatnot from the blogs I follow, yours are always the best. I don’t think they have Lyft where I live! Though I’ve never used Uber anyway, haha!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
We were a one- car family for a few years& while it required a bit of planning/logistics, it wasnt too difficult. It was only a problem a few times when I had a late work meeting on a day when we had to pickup my stepson for karate or something& we had to ask a relative or friend to give my partner a ride. Overall, it made us be more efficient- things like “ok I’ll drop you off to get a haircut, then take car for oil change and when your haircut is done, I’ll come meet you at the market (in same plaza) where he’d be half done shopping by the time I got there.
Thanks! So helpful, Kristen!
I’ve been mostly car-free for about 4.5 years now. Granted, mostly in Europe where it’s a lot easier, but I’ve also done some US jaunting around.
Minneapolis was actually pretty easy to navigate without a car when we spent a week there last year. We did the bike share program and plenty of walking. I’m sure once winter comes that’s a lot harder, but summer it was totally doable, at least from where we were staying just south of downtown.
Last year I wanted to do a US and Canada road trip, so I actually did buy and own a car for about 8 months. Bought it in Flagstaff, AZ, for $2,200. A 10+ year-old little foreign-made hatchback car, drove it from AZ to NYC, then up to Canada and did Quebec City all the way to Vancouver. Then I sold it for $2k just across the border from Canada before we took a flight to Italy. Anyhoo, for anyone thinking about going car-free but who loves to road trip, that was SUCH a great option! Buying something cheap but in great condition (I had a mechanic check it with the road trip in mind before I bought) and then doing the road trip and selling it at the end. Obviously it wouldn’t work for everyone, but I love being car-free and just renting or even buying on a short-term basis.
Oh! And a friend of mine is currently trying to get down to being a one-car family and they’ve purchased an e-bike. She swears by it.
Yes! I think it’ll be pretty easy through October – we live three blocks from the lightrail/bus stop/bike paths/an Hourcar spot, Kenny rides his bike to work most days, and our neighborhood is quite walkable. Who knows?! Maybe we’ll end up not buying another car!
I haven’t had a car for years. Getting rid of it was one of the best thing I’ve ever done. They are such a money suck. I even managed when I lived in the outer suburbs with crappy public transport. I think it just takes a bit of planning. I’d either grocery shop online or do a few week’s shopping at a time then get a cab home with all the stuff.
I’ve never used a car share service but one of my friends swears by them.
Thanks so much for featuring Pockets Rock on your list! I read Web Time Wasters every week so it’s an honour for my site to be mentioned!
Maybe obvious but: Get pannier bags that pop on and off easily- backpacks make you sweaty :).
Enjoy! Moving around on a bike is such a joy!