Danica Swanson
@danicaswanson
It's been about 20 years of car-free life for me. I love being a non-driver, and I'm glad I live in a place (Portland, OR) where I don't need to own a car. No need to deal with licensing, registration, insurance, repairs, maintenance, or parking. Saves me a lot of hassle and a lot of money too. It helps to have errand friends I can occasionally carpool with for grocery shopping, though.
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Blue Cockatoo
@bluecockatoo
Have you had kids or pets in that time? We used to have 2 cars when my kid was still living with us because we both had jobs to commute to and one of us had to be able to take our kid where he needed to be for after school activities. We also lived somewhere at the time that didn't have good public transportation and was sprawling. Since the empty nest and working from home is our norm now we are down to one car, but I can't imagine not having one because I have several dogs and a bird and couldn't get them to the vet in an Uber if there was an emergency. Also I like being able to take "hauls" of things to the dump or charity, or stock up at Costco, or get furniture from Ikea or a second hand store occasionally without having to arrange for delivery of everything. Even just getting to medical appointments would be tough without a car. The city I live in has decent public transportation downtown, but light rail hasn't made it out to the edges where I live. I can't imagine not having at least one car!
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Danica Swanson
@danicaswanson
I haven't had kids or pets at *any* time in my life. Never wanted to be a parent. (Here's where I must pause to thank my feminist foremothers for fighting for birth control options). I can't have any pets in my home ever, because I have fairly severe allergies to animal dander. You make a good point about hauling things though. When I need that I do have to arrange for pickup or get a friend to help. But I live a simple monastic life in a tiny live/work studio, so fortunately I don't have to do those things too often.
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