I do not know if I would call having one working car an experiment, but more a necessity these days. Sadly, the engine finally busted on our car that did survive a lot of miles and trials.The Dodge Stratus I had since college finally died a few weeks ago leaving us with only our Ford Escape.
We should probably suck it up and buy another vehicle for my husband to drive to work. Even a beater would do the trick. I also tease my husband about biking to work or taking the bus. Like most though we dread car payments instead deciding to save some money first for a while.
This means our family is down to ONE car. You guessed the challenges this presents on our daily routine not to mention the looks we get from people when we say we are down to one car. I am hear to tell you that it can be done. And you will be surprised how many people are in the same situation.
With a little shuffling of the schedule, some help from others, and a whole lot of communication, we have survived the last few weeks with only ONE CAR.
Last week's schedule was the most challenging and the busiest thus far. Wednesday started by getting ready in the morning to take daddy to work before 8:00am just so we could have the car for the day. After dropping off daddy, Judah and I went to music class. From there we had to drive across town for a dentist appointment. This brought us up to lunch where we doubled up grocery shopping and lunch at the local grocery store deli. We managed to make it over to the church for two meetings back-to-back. Finally, Judah fell asleep for a late nap on the way home. I hurried to make a dinner for a friend and when Judah woke up, we got back in the car to run it over to their house.
Yesterday, was very similar. Get ready to take daddy to a meeting. From there run him over to the office and drop him off. Go downtown for story time at the local library and then back to pick daddy up before lunch. Daddy drives us home for lunch before his next meeting. Yes, a lot of run around.
We could not do this without some down days at home. Having no car also makes a good excuse to say no if we need to. In addition, we have be more efficient about writing down our grocery lists and using what we already have at home instead of making a last minute trip to the store.
The warmer weather helps too. We do not have to rely on outside activities for recreation.We can play more outside, ride the nearby bike trail, and go to the neighbors for eggs or a play date.
On the days we are out, we need to plan our schedule and communicate with each other on the day's calendar. Usually we take daddy to work and run our errands or participate in our activities during the morning before picking dad up for lunch at home.
We also save gas and save money (indirectly with less trips to the store). We have more room in garage for play and storage.
If you plan this out right, there are some benefits to not having an extra car. Not sure how long we can make this work as there are some disadvantages and extra challenges. It is what we have to do right now though, so we just have to make it work.
Since I have access to the car this afternoon, I better use it to run some errands! See you later.
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