My husband is in the military. His office is not too far from the duplex we live in. I have three children, two go to the school that is about a 15 minute walk... but only a 2 minute drive. Our van is on the fritz... it's an older model van, already paid for.. one of the windows won't go up so it's all wrapped in plastic. The automatic door in the back is not closing all the way and has came open while I was driving down the street. Also when you open it, it will close back up... it has squished my 4 year old son.
Anyway, that is my problem. My husband has a truck. We are still paying on it. It is not brand new... we have about 4k left on it, I think. With him just the only one working right now it is not possible to have two vehicle payments. I have been thinking about our situation and think we should sell the van to someone who has the money to fix it and to trade in the truck for a family vehicle... possibly an SUV or brand new mini-van. Then when we get that paid off, get my husband a truck or motorcycle or whatever he is wanting.
I know we could work it out, like he can come home for lunch and I can take him back to work if I needed the vehicle. But then I started thinking about having to take the kids to school everyday and picking them up. I would need a vehicle for that on snow days, stormy days, extremely hot days.... but on nice days, like I do now, I could just walk them to school.
So I want to hear your opinions. Is it feasible to be a one car family for a few years? I don't always plan to stay at home... not working. I love my occupation at the home but I will have to eventually find a career that will help me retire good. It was just in our best interest for me to stay home with our children until they all got to be school aged.
I would also like to hear from people who have made a one car family work for them. We do NOT have a bus system that runs by our home since we live down the street from the house. So that is not an option.
Thanks! Sorry so long!
We are a one car family. Now that I am home I thought it would be harder, but it's not. We decide weekly when each other needs the car and it has worked out. Blessedly my son's school is three blocks away so that is never a real issue. You just have to be more orgainized and schedule and you'll do fine.
We have two vehicles, but one is also in the fritz. My husband takes my car to work often if he will be driving around to appointments, and I can't drive his ca b/c it is a truck that wont fit cars seats (and I cant drive stick shift anyways!)
So, we do like you, he takes it on days only when I know I won't need it. But, we have had one car at a time, and I would take him to work on days I needed the car. But I always felt a little anxious at home without a vehicle, like what if there was an emergency, or those always seemed to be the days we got invited out on a last minute playdate or something. You could always do your plan, trade them in for a mini van, or trade in both your cars and get two used vehicles. You can get used cars that are in really great condition, for a pretty good price right now.
We've just started doing the 1 car thing. I take my son to daycare about 2 miles away by bike, then catch the bus to work. My husband needs the car because public transportation isn't convenient to his office. Is your husband's work close enough to home that he could bike? Perhaps that might be a good answer. Or see if there is someone he could carpool with. Hope that helps.
Before we made that decision we "tried" it for 3 months. AKA, took the keys to one of our vehicles and stashed them... treating it like we were a one car family.
It was very very difficult, but not impossible. Some things we just had to change around (like shopping for groceries at night), and dropping my husband off at work on days where I needed the car, or making sure on days he needed the car that I had everything I needed, etc.
One key piece of advice is to *always* have $50 stashed in case you need to call a cab to get to the hospital. For real emergencies one can always call 911... but for the sudden and stubborn fever, stitches, etc that can crop up... not being "trapped" is key.
We are doing it. It seems like since we went back down to one income when we moved to another state 2 years ago we can only mangae to have one car at a time. We have had nothing but car problems, and as soon as we get a good amount of maney saved to maybe get another one something happens to the old one. I do not want car payments either with just one income so we prefer to just buy for cash at this point.
We make it, having 4 year old with preschool and speech therapy appointments, I am a full time student (which really is less than 15 hours actually at school) and then stay at home with her, He works a job where the shifts are ever changing, we are also having a boy in about a month.
I think what makes it not too difficult (and what it sounds like you have) is that we are close to many of the things we have to drive to so there is not too much burnout if someone has to do a bit of running around to get everyone where they have to be for the day. It has rarely ever caused a problem.
I would go for it, it is SOOO nice to not have big car payments and is sounds like it is something that could work with the schedule you guys have right now.
We were in the same situation as what you are. We finally ended up keeping my car that's still financed and sold my hubby's truck that was an older crew cab that didn't have doors to easily access the back. We took the money we got from the truck and went and bought an older (an '03), yet very well cared for minivan that had ALL the perks that made the fact I was driving a dreaded minivan seem much easier to swallow. I personally would not trade in to get a NEW van or SUV--you're looking upwards of atleast $25,000 for that, PLUS adding on whatever you still owe on your hubby's truck.
We do it! Some punk kept stealing our license plates on our crappy Dodge Neon (that we own outright, and bought a few years back for cash,when gas was really expensive) after replacing it twice, we opted to not replace it and just go with out it for awhile and see how it works out...as it so happens, it has worked out just fine. Takes some getting used to and some definite organizational skills in planning for Dr. appointments, snow days, etc....but it can be done!
A tip: I get up super early and go to the grocery store before hubby leaves for work if I need something...this works really well, as most grocery stores open at 6am and usually the kids are still sleeping so I can be in and out in just a few minutes!
My husband & I only had one car a few years ago. I would drive him places if he needed it, otherwise he did a lot of walking. Plus he could sometimes get rides from friends.
I would think the best situation for a one-car family would be for you & the kids to have the car. Would it be possible for you to drive your husband to work & pick him up? Or, you said his office is close, he could walk sometimes (good exercise, right?)
It makes more sense for you to have the car with the kids, as you said rain & snow days. Plus, what if one of the kids is sick? Or even just has a doctor's checkup appointment? You would need a car to drive them.
Good luck!
We have 5 kids and live near the school, but not near my husband's work. We only have 1 car(paid for- hooray! and it's a mini-van). One day a week I have the car for errands and grocery shopping. Or if the weather is bad I will take my kids to school, drop my husband off at work, pick up the kids from school and then get my husband from work. It's a lot easier if he has the car!
We make it work, although sometimes it can be a real pain- like when he is working late and the kids have school the next day so I have to wake them up at 11:30pm to go get Daddy.
I don't have a lot of other things that I do throughout the week. We can walk to the school playground to play and play in our yard. It is do-able, but it is a sacrifice. We will be getting another vehicle when we have saved up for one- we don't want any more car payments.
Good luck!
~C.
