Its been quite a week. Yesterday there must have been some disturbance in electro magnetic fields. I cannot give it another explanation. My alarm clock decided to start waking me up in the middle of the night although the dials quite clearly showed it was getting up time. That should have been a sign of things to come. I do believe this is the time to start addressing transport issues in earnest.
Yesterday I managed to pick up a parking ticket and end up with my car at the garage with another anticipated bill which is far more than I want and can afford to pay. Careless you might say. And yet, public transport in my area is non existent which leaves me with in reality very little choice about what I can do. The garage people are always very helpful and offer 5 star service with a similar price tag attached to it. I am not sure when exactly a car is not worth having, usually when it is costing you more than it is worth but my car is only 4 years old and I had hoped to have it available for at least another 6 years. It is serviced, oiled, pampered regularly and yet, another unexpected transport expense.
The AA provide a chart which shows the cost per mile of your car and ofcourse as standing charges are standard the cost of running a car when you travel less is on average going to be higher than if you travel a lot. In my case, the mileage has been drastically reduced from over 10,000 miles per year to less than 5000 and that would equate to a 33% increase in cost per mile. This puts the price of running my car at £ 277 per month which is a lot compared to the amount of car journeys I make. I already share transport with other people and yet that would be an average of about £ 9 per day sitting on my drive. The bus fare to town is £ 7.00 and takes a good 1 hour each way to go, so financially, responsibly the use of the car is a very expensive commodity. Yet hand on heart, I am reluctant to make such a change because it is hard to do. Any change you make has to be gradual and yet a saving of £ 277 seems worth it too. My reluctance stems from the fact that I am spoilt, ignorant and actually deep down feel that not having a car would be a depravation of some kind. I promise nothing at the moment apart from to sit with this dilemma, mull it over and maybe play with other scenarios in my head. Step 1 is knowing there is a problem, then seeing what I want to happen and then working out how I can make that a reality. It still remains a difficult choice to make and if I find this hard then other people will find it hard as well.
I have added a poll in the right hand bar so you can cast your vote as to how you would solve this dilemma. It might help give me some idea of what others would do.
Yesterday I managed to pick up a parking ticket and end up with my car at the garage with another anticipated bill which is far more than I want and can afford to pay. Careless you might say. And yet, public transport in my area is non existent which leaves me with in reality very little choice about what I can do. The garage people are always very helpful and offer 5 star service with a similar price tag attached to it. I am not sure when exactly a car is not worth having, usually when it is costing you more than it is worth but my car is only 4 years old and I had hoped to have it available for at least another 6 years. It is serviced, oiled, pampered regularly and yet, another unexpected transport expense.
The AA provide a chart which shows the cost per mile of your car and ofcourse as standing charges are standard the cost of running a car when you travel less is on average going to be higher than if you travel a lot. In my case, the mileage has been drastically reduced from over 10,000 miles per year to less than 5000 and that would equate to a 33% increase in cost per mile. This puts the price of running my car at £ 277 per month which is a lot compared to the amount of car journeys I make. I already share transport with other people and yet that would be an average of about £ 9 per day sitting on my drive. The bus fare to town is £ 7.00 and takes a good 1 hour each way to go, so financially, responsibly the use of the car is a very expensive commodity. Yet hand on heart, I am reluctant to make such a change because it is hard to do. Any change you make has to be gradual and yet a saving of £ 277 seems worth it too. My reluctance stems from the fact that I am spoilt, ignorant and actually deep down feel that not having a car would be a depravation of some kind. I promise nothing at the moment apart from to sit with this dilemma, mull it over and maybe play with other scenarios in my head. Step 1 is knowing there is a problem, then seeing what I want to happen and then working out how I can make that a reality. It still remains a difficult choice to make and if I find this hard then other people will find it hard as well.
I have added a poll in the right hand bar so you can cast your vote as to how you would solve this dilemma. It might help give me some idea of what others would do.
1 comment:
Hello - Before making a major decision about your transportation, I think putting the car aside for two or three months and living as if you did not have one would help you decide on its importance in your life.
I have been enjoying your posts very much!
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