96. Get Rid of Your Cars

We have friends who live in San Francisco. Several years ago they sold their cars because they were just too much trouble. In a city like San Francisco, parking is always a problem as well as a major expense. And they didn’t really need even one car, let alone two of them. They live close enough to their offices so they can both walk to work. They love the forced exercise and the fresh air. They also love not having to fight big-city traffic. In a pinch or in inclement weather, they can catch a bus.

Now, rather than running all over town, they do all their shopping within walking distance of their home. The money they save on gas, parking, insurance, taxes, registration fees, and maintenance they can use to rent a car if they want to get away for the weekend or if they need a car for some other short-term purpose. After years of being psychologically dependent on cars, they feel a tremendous sense of freedom in not having to worry about the problems of owning a car. Now that they don’t have the “convenience” of a car, they spend a lot less time running around on unnecessary jaunts, and they can spend that time doing things they really want to do.

Obviously, if you live in the suburbs and work in the city, and if public transportation is unreliable or nonexistent, giving up your car probably wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. But if you could rearrange your life so that you didn’t need a car, it could be a major step in simplifying your life.