I have been living in the Midwest now for 5 years without a car and it’s been fantastic. Chicago has the infrastructure of an east coast city with the L and bus system. People out here have no idea how I survive but it’s not bad - I order grocery delivery which for a subscription costs 100$/year for unlimited deliveries. I’d much rather pay that than car maintenance. I also dress appropriately for the weather. Owning an expensive winter coat is a one time investment necessity that annually repays itself rather than a sunk cost.
I just wish we were more a country of public transit with cross country high speed trains and other modes of transportation. We are too spread out otherwise.
I also happen to be an eye doctor and telling people they can’t drive because their vision is too poor can be devastating but if we had better resources for transportation these individuals would not feel as limited by that diagnosis.
It took a lot of convincing, but my household has remained single car, and my partner is the primary user of the car. We don’t have reliable access to car sharing in our area, so I’ve had to get creative. I’ve been thinking a lot about building tolerance for inconvenience, without being a martyr about things & for me, this is one of those growth areas. What’s pleasantly surprised me about this exercise
- I have to ask my neighbor to borrow her car every once in a while, and now I’m going to drive her kids to school twice a month to make it to a dance class in a town 30min away. Win for me because I love car time with her kids.
- our local bus system is free, and the neighboring county just adopted free transit, too. the routes rarely make sense for my life (I bike instead) but the knowledge helps me feel safe.
- our local bus system operates a small “on-demand” bus that takes you anywhere in the county for $3 (!!!) I’ve used it twice & it was a delight.
- my pedal-assist bike helps me feel safe that should i need to get somewhere in bad weather/bad air quality/etc, I can get there.
I know for lots of folks these constraints wouldn’t work out, but I suggest it as a thought exercise if anyone is curious about prioritizing a less car-ful life even in a small town :)
I really like the “building tolerance for inconvenience” concept… I’ve thought about it as small discomforts that aren’t actually doing me harm… try to rewire the brain pathways a bit
yes!! totally — i’m not interested in suffering for suffering’s sake, or “discipline” per say, i’m interested in that space too — where can i stay curious and adaptable — where can it be fun, interesting, enjoyable? would love to hear what you discover, too!
I’m in NYC and I find my pedal assist e-bike to be the pinnacle of convenience! It’s amazing how much our choices and experiences are dictated by environment.
This is fascinating to read as a European who has never owned a car. I understand that for many people especially in the US or elsewhere in rural areas cars are prerequisites to freedom of movement. I also understand the wild convenience of having a private space in public.
But I don't get the attraction to big cars at all. It's funny, but in the Netherlands where I live, SUVs are synonymous with being out of touch and selfish. Our status symbols are nice bikes.
(Of course I agree with the systems thinking and yet I cannot help but blame individuals for wanting big cars, it seems so silly?)
Yep it’s cultural conditioning. You should see the big car commercials that air during every football (American) game ad nauseum. They don’t show commutes an shuttling kids around of course. They show FRREDOM and WILDERNESS and American exceptionalism. It’s so absurd.
Katie is a magnificent writer and insightful thinker (the two don't always go hand-in-hand) who almost always gets me pondering things I hadn't before. So reading her posts is a weekly ritual I enjoy.
That said, dot-dot-dot
Does anyone else feel the majority of her content can be summed up as: "Here's this indefensible luxury I indulge in, but I feel terrible about it, and it's not going away because #latestagecapitalism, so I'm going to blog to exorcise my guilt?"
Perhaps that's why she's so popular and compelling. She is us and we are her.
That's because problems Katie describes are structural. As much as we can admire self-righteous folk who abstain from things like car ownership, that won't do anything to solve the actual problem, except maybe inspire a couple more people to do the same.
The only answer is collective action, like voting in local and national elections.
Voting is an answer, but not the only one. Isn't what we choose to buy and not buy, in essence, a "vote?"
If not in the literal sense, at least in the structural sense.
This all feels like we're in a "rob the treasury" phase of national decline; i.e. "the world is screwed so I'm going to get my share."
I'm not making a Boomer "things were harder back in my day" rant. 1.) Because I'm not one. 2.) There are severe barriers and impediments that didn't exist before, at least not to the same degree. But we as individuals do have at least *some* autonomy: as voters and as consumers.
P.S. people who abstain from material wants are not self-righteous; they're commendable. Self-righteous people are those who draw attention to their virtues to gain social status.
One of the best things about living in nyc is not owning a car! Yes rent and other things are expensive here but not owning a car is a huge savings (instead I spend about $2,000/year on public transit)
I live in Wichita, Kansas, and it would be a special interest project to have any degree of economic stability without owning a vehicle. I worked for the workforce development office for 2 years, and the primary population we served was mostly made up of folks who had generational poverty. While our office was on the bus line, most of the city is not reachable by bus, and they stop service after 6:00 pm. Through surveys of the clients, it was found that not having reliable transportation was the number one barrier to employment.
I will soon be moving to living in a rural community to work in community mental health as an outpatient therapist, and the necessity of a vehicle ownership is paramount to economic stability. You can't get to the one grocery store or the emergency room without a personal vehicle. There aren't even ride-share options that people can utilize. People living in rural communities make up about 20% of the US population, and "rural" is somewhere between 71-97% of the United States landmass... that's a lot of ground to cover on foot for the 20% of the population that lives there.
Very timely as I am staring down a ~$1500 bill to fix the AC in my 7-year-old car. Owning outright skews the math on annual cost but the $11k number was alarming. Living in Wheat Ridge feels like a tease... there are some walkable restaurants, coffee, and bakery's (Hello Get Right) but not enough infrastructure to make that approach make more sense than the car.
Lastly noticed the Ineos Grenidiars around Denver? Beautiful way to spend $100k
First: As a huge fan of Girls, I can't stop laughing about Hanna Horvath. What are the chances that there is a real live writer with this name?
Our second car (a 2007 civic with 250k miles) was recently totaled. We replaced it out of necessity-- there is a bus system in Indianapolis, but it has never occurred to me to use it (can we talk about the racial issues of participating in public transit and the time loss involved?) We purchased a 2009 civic hybrid we found on FB Marketplace for $3900. But we're aware that nobody buys civics anymore as their family car, certainly not ones that are 17 years old. I wish we could normalize buying a used car... but I guess the fact remains that *someone* has to be the one to buy it new and sell it before its usefulness is gone.
I live in a rural area of far North Georgia and for us, as you state, a car if a necessity. But I will say that as a retired couple we have discussed whether we really need two cars anymore.
I haaaate driving and I absolutely despise having to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy a piece of equipment I find no joy in owning, and I hate the absurd advertisements this industry spews out, so this is perhaps th one post of money with Katie I related to the least. Having said that, the comments are 🔥
I hate that I love my car. I drive it regularly because the convenience is unparalleled. As you mentioned, there is an association of freedom with owning a car, with which I 100% agree. I have taken the time to compare driving to work vs. taking public transportation, and the biggest pro of the car is that I can more easily do things before/after work. It feels like using public transit (at least where I live in California) takes a huge amount of planning and time. I also regularly do activities after work that require a change of clothes and/or equipment, which means I'd have to carry multiple bags on my person if I took the bus or the subway. I'm definitely making excuses for myself, but I truly feel that I wouldn't be able to live my life the way that I want without a car.
A relative of mine who is now 90 years old and extremely independent, has taken public transportation most of her life. She asked me recently why everybody drives, when there's plenty of buses and the subway around. I told her that, in my case, I don't have three hours to get to, shop, and come back from the grocery store. When she asked me to drive her to UPS so she could mail something, we got back to her house within a half hour, and she remarked, "Wow, that was so fast!". Exactly, unfortunately.
In the end, I'm willing to pay the exorbitant costs for the convenience.
I'm a Gen X suburban girl from Massachusetts and the enormous SUV love totally passed me by. I still don't get it. Give me a nice looking sedan any day. I own my almost 10 year old car outright, and the repairs are getting expensive but it's still cheaper than a new one. Speaking of, I never buy new cars. Always used, by at least a year or two. I'm not paying for the depreciation that happens as soon as you drive off the lot. Call me a cheap Yankee if you must, I wear it proudly. I love the concept of a walkable city and not needing a car, but the price of living in Cambridge or Boston is outrageous, even without a car. The math is working for me better in suburban Western MA.
Yesterday my 4 year old, who has listened to a few animal related audio stories that talk about climate change and what we can do to help (they never mention anything beyond personal “choices” of course), told me that we need to stop driving our car so we can stop climate change. It immediately made me realize oh wow how much I haven’t even attempted to explain (because she’s 4!). So, I did my best to tell her why we need one. That we live in a city that doesn’t have adequate public transportation and isn’t walkable. I have no idea if these things were absorbed.
I have been living in the Midwest now for 5 years without a car and it’s been fantastic. Chicago has the infrastructure of an east coast city with the L and bus system. People out here have no idea how I survive but it’s not bad - I order grocery delivery which for a subscription costs 100$/year for unlimited deliveries. I’d much rather pay that than car maintenance. I also dress appropriately for the weather. Owning an expensive winter coat is a one time investment necessity that annually repays itself rather than a sunk cost.
I just wish we were more a country of public transit with cross country high speed trains and other modes of transportation. We are too spread out otherwise.
I also happen to be an eye doctor and telling people they can’t drive because their vision is too poor can be devastating but if we had better resources for transportation these individuals would not feel as limited by that diagnosis.
Building cities and places where people can age in place is so important!
You’re my kinda person!
It took a lot of convincing, but my household has remained single car, and my partner is the primary user of the car. We don’t have reliable access to car sharing in our area, so I’ve had to get creative. I’ve been thinking a lot about building tolerance for inconvenience, without being a martyr about things & for me, this is one of those growth areas. What’s pleasantly surprised me about this exercise
- I have to ask my neighbor to borrow her car every once in a while, and now I’m going to drive her kids to school twice a month to make it to a dance class in a town 30min away. Win for me because I love car time with her kids.
- our local bus system is free, and the neighboring county just adopted free transit, too. the routes rarely make sense for my life (I bike instead) but the knowledge helps me feel safe.
- our local bus system operates a small “on-demand” bus that takes you anywhere in the county for $3 (!!!) I’ve used it twice & it was a delight.
- my pedal-assist bike helps me feel safe that should i need to get somewhere in bad weather/bad air quality/etc, I can get there.
I know for lots of folks these constraints wouldn’t work out, but I suggest it as a thought exercise if anyone is curious about prioritizing a less car-ful life even in a small town :)
I really like the “building tolerance for inconvenience” concept… I’ve thought about it as small discomforts that aren’t actually doing me harm… try to rewire the brain pathways a bit
yes!! totally — i’m not interested in suffering for suffering’s sake, or “discipline” per say, i’m interested in that space too — where can i stay curious and adaptable — where can it be fun, interesting, enjoyable? would love to hear what you discover, too!
Building tolerance for inconveniences without being a martyr about is the most beautiful idea I’ve encountered all week! Thank you for this.
I’m in NYC and I find my pedal assist e-bike to be the pinnacle of convenience! It’s amazing how much our choices and experiences are dictated by environment.
totally! I feel similarly — it’s so speedy and fun & delightful!
This is fascinating to read as a European who has never owned a car. I understand that for many people especially in the US or elsewhere in rural areas cars are prerequisites to freedom of movement. I also understand the wild convenience of having a private space in public.
But I don't get the attraction to big cars at all. It's funny, but in the Netherlands where I live, SUVs are synonymous with being out of touch and selfish. Our status symbols are nice bikes.
(Of course I agree with the systems thinking and yet I cannot help but blame individuals for wanting big cars, it seems so silly?)
Yep it’s cultural conditioning. You should see the big car commercials that air during every football (American) game ad nauseum. They don’t show commutes an shuttling kids around of course. They show FRREDOM and WILDERNESS and American exceptionalism. It’s so absurd.
Katie is a magnificent writer and insightful thinker (the two don't always go hand-in-hand) who almost always gets me pondering things I hadn't before. So reading her posts is a weekly ritual I enjoy.
That said, dot-dot-dot
Does anyone else feel the majority of her content can be summed up as: "Here's this indefensible luxury I indulge in, but I feel terrible about it, and it's not going away because #latestagecapitalism, so I'm going to blog to exorcise my guilt?"
Perhaps that's why she's so popular and compelling. She is us and we are her.
That's because problems Katie describes are structural. As much as we can admire self-righteous folk who abstain from things like car ownership, that won't do anything to solve the actual problem, except maybe inspire a couple more people to do the same.
The only answer is collective action, like voting in local and national elections.
Voting is an answer, but not the only one. Isn't what we choose to buy and not buy, in essence, a "vote?"
If not in the literal sense, at least in the structural sense.
This all feels like we're in a "rob the treasury" phase of national decline; i.e. "the world is screwed so I'm going to get my share."
I'm not making a Boomer "things were harder back in my day" rant. 1.) Because I'm not one. 2.) There are severe barriers and impediments that didn't exist before, at least not to the same degree. But we as individuals do have at least *some* autonomy: as voters and as consumers.
P.S. people who abstain from material wants are not self-righteous; they're commendable. Self-righteous people are those who draw attention to their virtues to gain social status.
One of the best things about living in nyc is not owning a car! Yes rent and other things are expensive here but not owning a car is a huge savings (instead I spend about $2,000/year on public transit)
I live in Wichita, Kansas, and it would be a special interest project to have any degree of economic stability without owning a vehicle. I worked for the workforce development office for 2 years, and the primary population we served was mostly made up of folks who had generational poverty. While our office was on the bus line, most of the city is not reachable by bus, and they stop service after 6:00 pm. Through surveys of the clients, it was found that not having reliable transportation was the number one barrier to employment.
I will soon be moving to living in a rural community to work in community mental health as an outpatient therapist, and the necessity of a vehicle ownership is paramount to economic stability. You can't get to the one grocery store or the emergency room without a personal vehicle. There aren't even ride-share options that people can utilize. People living in rural communities make up about 20% of the US population, and "rural" is somewhere between 71-97% of the United States landmass... that's a lot of ground to cover on foot for the 20% of the population that lives there.
So much here, but omg that satire. OMG. !!!!!!
Very timely as I am staring down a ~$1500 bill to fix the AC in my 7-year-old car. Owning outright skews the math on annual cost but the $11k number was alarming. Living in Wheat Ridge feels like a tease... there are some walkable restaurants, coffee, and bakery's (Hello Get Right) but not enough infrastructure to make that approach make more sense than the car.
Lastly noticed the Ineos Grenidiars around Denver? Beautiful way to spend $100k
First: As a huge fan of Girls, I can't stop laughing about Hanna Horvath. What are the chances that there is a real live writer with this name?
Our second car (a 2007 civic with 250k miles) was recently totaled. We replaced it out of necessity-- there is a bus system in Indianapolis, but it has never occurred to me to use it (can we talk about the racial issues of participating in public transit and the time loss involved?) We purchased a 2009 civic hybrid we found on FB Marketplace for $3900. But we're aware that nobody buys civics anymore as their family car, certainly not ones that are 17 years old. I wish we could normalize buying a used car... but I guess the fact remains that *someone* has to be the one to buy it new and sell it before its usefulness is gone.
I was wondering what are the odds Money with Katie and Haley Nahman linked to the same piece of satire???? So funny.
I live in a rural area of far North Georgia and for us, as you state, a car if a necessity. But I will say that as a retired couple we have discussed whether we really need two cars anymore.
I haaaate driving and I absolutely despise having to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy a piece of equipment I find no joy in owning, and I hate the absurd advertisements this industry spews out, so this is perhaps th one post of money with Katie I related to the least. Having said that, the comments are 🔥
I hate that I love my car. I drive it regularly because the convenience is unparalleled. As you mentioned, there is an association of freedom with owning a car, with which I 100% agree. I have taken the time to compare driving to work vs. taking public transportation, and the biggest pro of the car is that I can more easily do things before/after work. It feels like using public transit (at least where I live in California) takes a huge amount of planning and time. I also regularly do activities after work that require a change of clothes and/or equipment, which means I'd have to carry multiple bags on my person if I took the bus or the subway. I'm definitely making excuses for myself, but I truly feel that I wouldn't be able to live my life the way that I want without a car.
A relative of mine who is now 90 years old and extremely independent, has taken public transportation most of her life. She asked me recently why everybody drives, when there's plenty of buses and the subway around. I told her that, in my case, I don't have three hours to get to, shop, and come back from the grocery store. When she asked me to drive her to UPS so she could mail something, we got back to her house within a half hour, and she remarked, "Wow, that was so fast!". Exactly, unfortunately.
In the end, I'm willing to pay the exorbitant costs for the convenience.
I'm a Gen X suburban girl from Massachusetts and the enormous SUV love totally passed me by. I still don't get it. Give me a nice looking sedan any day. I own my almost 10 year old car outright, and the repairs are getting expensive but it's still cheaper than a new one. Speaking of, I never buy new cars. Always used, by at least a year or two. I'm not paying for the depreciation that happens as soon as you drive off the lot. Call me a cheap Yankee if you must, I wear it proudly. I love the concept of a walkable city and not needing a car, but the price of living in Cambridge or Boston is outrageous, even without a car. The math is working for me better in suburban Western MA.
Hey! GenX-er from Cambridge here, now in Vermont and i think there is something in our Puritan-values-laced water supply that makes me agree.
“Like driving a Gucci belt” is one of the finest lines you’ve ever written 😂👏
co-signed!
Yesterday my 4 year old, who has listened to a few animal related audio stories that talk about climate change and what we can do to help (they never mention anything beyond personal “choices” of course), told me that we need to stop driving our car so we can stop climate change. It immediately made me realize oh wow how much I haven’t even attempted to explain (because she’s 4!). So, I did my best to tell her why we need one. That we live in a city that doesn’t have adequate public transportation and isn’t walkable. I have no idea if these things were absorbed.