How to Live Well Without Owning a
Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and
Get More Mileage Out of Life by Chris
Balish
Great Book!
Between rising gas prices, endless car payments, and countless hours
spent in gridlocked traffic, do you ever get the feeling that you don’t own
your car, but rather your car owns you? Car-free convert Chris Balish
shows why kicking car dependency could be the soundest and sanest
lifestyle change you can make, and provides realistic strategies for making
the leap. From saving money to building a better world, even diehard
autoholics will find hundreds of reasons to set out on the (car-free) road
less traveled.

Personal Review: How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save
Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life by
Chris Balish
Both me and my fiance are coming from Los Angeles families with 4 cars
each - that makes it 8. I used my car quite intensively to get to school (27
miles away) and back and do a lot of unnecessary shopping. My fiance
worked as a delivery guy for more than 3 years. What I am trying to say is
that cars were a big part of our lives, and at that time, looking at a long
term future, we did plan to give them up.
Once I started to learn about how our lifestyles affect climate change, my
outlook on many issues including transportation has changed quite
drastically. Thanks to this book, I was able to realize that owning a car:
1. Has a significant financial burden, something that I never questioned.
2. Negatively affects person's quality of life and quality of life of city
populations. (Who would volunteer to live right next to a freeway? What
about sitting in traffic for 2 hours every day?)
3. Encourages us to make impulse or otherwise unnecessary purchases.
4. Has obvious effects on the environment.
As a result of reading this book and after moving to a different city, both of
us were able to sell our cars. We settled in a place that enables me to use
public transportation and him to use his bike to commute to work. We got
more than $10K of upfront income and a minimum of $12,000 annual
savings. So just as one of the other commentators mentioned: retiring
early has never been easier : )
It is much more relaxing to have someone else do the driving and even be
able to read on a bus. Also, you think big purchases through before you go
to the store.
I cannot say that we never used a car. During a year that we didn't have
our cars, we twice rented a car and used a taxi 3 times. My bus pass is
subsidized by my company, so I don't spend more than $200 on that. All
together $500 or $600 that we spend on other methods of transportation
does come near the amount of money that we would've spent on two or
even one car.
So if you are contemplating getting rid of your car or living a car-lite
lifestyle, I definitely recommend this book!
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How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More
Mileage Out of Life by Chris Balish 5 Star Customer Reviews and Lowest Price!