What I Hope to Achieve, Part 3: The Cash Factor

If you're a friend of mine, you've probably heard me jokingly say that my recent travels to Southeast Asia and the Bahamas have driven me into financial ruin.  While this is, for the most part, hyperbolic, everybody could stand to save a little money these days, and that's the third part of what this endeavor in carlessness has been about for me.

My 2002 Chevy Cavalier has an estimated combined MPG of 25.  Twenty-five miles is just about my daily trip from Silver Spring to Rockville and back, meaning that my commute to work costs as much as a gallon of gas does - which for purposes of this post, I'll estimate at $2.60.  Given that, I've tried to keep the costs of taking the bus to work under 2.60 per day.  Most days, I combine a RideOn trip with biking or running in both directions, meaning that my cost for commuting to work that day is free.  (County employees are fortunate enough to enjoy free RideOn service, which I am extremely grateful for.)  I've been keeping the chart below to make sure my busing costs are under what my cost of driving would be.  


***I exempted by PM metro cost on Sept 29 from this calculation because I took the subway
to Nationals Stadium - which I would have done whether I had use of my car or not.

Obviously, taking the Metro to work would shatter this goal, as the cost of getting from Silver Spring to Rockville is over FIVE DOLLARS ONE WAY and even going from my office to Jon's apartment in Van Ness is $4.40 one way at the peak-of-peak time when I would be traveling.  So after two weeks, I've saved $21.50 on commuting costs, which I think safely equates to $42 monthly.  That does not take into consideration the cost of driving other places.  As Jon, my boyfriend who has lived in the area without a car for over a year, explained to me, "you just stop going places you need a car to get to".  He's right - I've walked to the grocery store, walked to the hardware store, walked to the drug store, etc.  My cost of gas in previous months has been about $80, so I'm going to do some rounding, and since I'm projected to spend $9 commuting this month, I'll say I've saved $70 on the cost of gas.

If gas is a major cost of owning a car, the other is paying to insure it.  (I paid off my car several years ago, so I no longer have a car payment.)   I have a very helpful State Farm insurance agent, Armando Punsulan, who has helped me complete the appropriate paperwork to "withdraw my car from use", meaning that it still is minimally insured to meet the requirements of Maryland state law, but that's it.  I got my statement in the mail yesterday, and my insurance premium for the period I'm without my car is $23.  It normally costs about $93 (which does not include my renter's insurance which I also have through State Farm because they are the bomb) so on my car insurance I'm also saving $70 a month. 

That brings my grand total for cash money savings to $140.  Some people might think $140 is worth the getting up extra early, the biking and running in bad weather, the enduring late buses, and others might not.  Keep in mind that my other motivators were "The Fitness Factor" and a reduced carbon footprint, so if you combine these three things, I would say it is definitely worth doing.

What will I do with this extra $140?  That I haven't yet decided...