Selling Your Car Can Save You Hundreds Each Month

It's been a while since I've written. That's surprising really because I've been thinking a lot about this blog and all the great information and ideas I want to share with you.

Recently, I finally got around to thinking about selling my car again. I've been toying with the idea for several years, but when living in the nation where the automobile was built, it is sometimes difficult to garner support for such a move from friends and loved ones. I know Americans are dependent on their cars because we're still buying gas like it's free-flowing tap water. It's nearly $5.00 a gallon, and many people have yet to break their stride or their dependency on oil and gasoline.

I have been dependent on my car for a long time, too, but I'm beginning to make more use of public transportation, car sharing, biking, and dozens of other alternatives to owning and driving my own car. If I think about it and remain honest with myself, the only time I use my car these days is when I'm feeling lazy or when I want to do something at the spur of the moment. Yet, as I continue to research alternatives to driving, I am beginning to find that there are even options available that can counter both my occassional laziness and the impromptu errand to the other side of town.

The next few posts will explore the journey I'm taking to sell my car and whether at the end of it all I'll actually do it. I think I will though, and I'll walk you through the process.

The most compelling reason for my considering the sale of my car, of course, is all the money I'll save. I am very excited about not having to pay $5.00 for a gallon of gas and not having to make car payments, insurance payments, parking storage fees, etc.

Now, as I go through this journey, I'd like to hear from you. Have you ever thought about selling your car? What was the defining factor for you that made you decide to keep it or sell it?

Evaluate Your Hobbies and Save

One step toward achieving a more simplified life is to examine your hobbies. If one of your major interests is something that requires expensive memberships, high-priced gadgets, or large amounts of time with little intrinsic return, then you may need to reevaluate how you spend both your money and your time. There is a saying that the best things in life are free. There may be some truth to that, and it could be, for many people, the key to living a simplified and prosperous life.

While many people may already be familiar with this concept, it is much harder to implement than preach because it requires thinking of and adapting to alternatives to things that you may have grown accustomed to doing in a certain way. Let’s take exercise, for example, and our hefty health club memberships.

The alternative to exercising at a gym is exercising at home or outdoors. The principle is simple enough, but why don’t more people do it?

One reason is that fitness machines make the work of exercise a lot easier than it is real life. People accustomed to jogging on a treadmill sometimes comment how much harder it is run on asphalt. The conveyer belt we run on in the gym gives us a little boost of speed that we don’t get when there’s nothing between us and the ground.

Another reason is that people feel like they’re not exercising alone when they exercise with others in a gym. Just being on the elliptical next someone makes people feel they are in a crowd even if they are exercising alone, isolated by the music blaring from their iPods.

Adapting to the alternatives to exercising in a gym requires more thought and effort. People who feel a little slow running on asphalt might try modifying their exercise program to develop their speed rather than giving up or going back to the gym. People who would like to exercise or run in the company of others can join a free outdoor running group, walking group, or yoga class.

Exercise and gym memberships are just one example, but people whose hobby it is to buy the latest techno-gadget, collect stamps, or download the latest novel to their reading device all have options and alternatives to excess spending. Perhaps a common theme to many of these alternatives is the power of collaborating with others.

The alternatives are out there, but it does take some time and effort to make them work.

About Debt

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend about finances. Essentially, I was trying to convince him that the whole mindset most people have about debt being “natural” and okay is hugely flawed. Even Shakespeare advises against it. In Hamlet, he writes:

Neither a borrower or lender be

For loan oft loses both himself and friend

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry

We all know how the stress of debt changes people. It eats away at them like a virus, especially when the amount they owe seems insurmountable. Debtors also risk losing their sense of self-sufficiency, of being able to save for things, of developing a dependency on a system that discourages the accumulation of wealth. Similarly, lenders of credit must be cautious against greed, against the loss of humanity, against the root of all evil.

So, this one friend I have says he’s content with debt. Of course, he’d rather not have it, but he accepts his condition and is working to get out of it. But getting out of it is not one of his biggest goals. When I confide that getting rid of my debt is crucial to me and that I think it should also be crucial to him, we end up arguing about it.

What is wrong with wanting to be debt free? What is wrong with wanting to keep the money you earn? This isn’t even about wanting to become a millionaire, but if it happens, what is so wrong with obtaining such a level of financial independence?

Part of simplifying your life includes getting rid of the shackles. Debt is a shackle, a hindrance. So, why on earth do people cling to it?! Why do people when made consciously aware of the dangers and limitations of having debt continue to hold on to it? Why don’t they fight for their lives back?!

My friend holds a belief that I am supposing many other people (and our government) subscribe to. Whether they voice it or not, their actions show that they are comfortable with debt and that in some cases, they have no intention of paying it off anytime soon. In fact, they would just as easily accumulate more debt than look for ways to pay it off faster or pay it off at all.

I don’t have a solution for them, but I do know that for me, controlling and conquering my debt is a top priority. I realize I will not have everyone’s support on this (and by “everyone,” I mean society and friends and family who believe that having debt is okay), but in an earlier post, I talked about how sometimes a person just has to be willing to go out on his or her own. It looks like I will have to do more agreeing to disagree in the miles still left in my journey.