L.A. girl de-cars, expects to save $85,000

De-car-ing seems to be THE popular eco-resolution for L.A. women this year. Monica Schenk of Low Impact Living, for one, is going car free!

And although she works for an eco-company, the reason she's de-car-ing isn't primarily an environmental one: "Simply spending less time driving around the Los Angeles metro area is reason enough.... I am saying goodbye to insurance payments, gas prices, service, repairs, DMV registration, and carwashes, along with my carbon emitting chariot."

Now, instead of driving everywhere, Monica gets around by walking, biking, Flexcar-ing, and, of course, taking the 720 bus down Wilshire. :)

De-car-ing means a lot of extra spending -- or saving -- cash for Monica: "The financial savings alone are reason enough to make the switch. My personal financial savings will be approximately $400 per month, which in the 10 years remaining on my car, would add up to $85,000 in an IRA savings account."

I wish I had that kind of saving discipline.... I de-car-ed awhile back, but my IRA hasn't seen a corresponding growth. :P

I ran into Monica at the Green Business Networking event last night, where I took that pic of her above. Her big task right now is actually getting rid of the car she doesn't need anymore. Anyone in the market for a 2002 Volvo?

Photo by Siel

Comments

[Nancy]

I'm curious if anyone here has de-carred without either living very close to work or working from home.

Most Westsiders I know are already de-carred - they don't go East of the 405, and try to convince me to drive to their neighborhood for weekend brunches. :-)

I'm in Sherman Oaks, and not only do we have no trains, but most bus lines make fewer stops where I'm at (many stop at Universal City or Burbank).

[sara]

I am also in the process of decar-ing, which I couldn't be more excited about! I'm planning on getting around using a combo of walking, biking, public trans, and flexcar. I've only encountered one snafu in this plan--flexcar just merged with zipcar but you are no longer able to join flexcar in LA, and zipcar does not have any cars in LA yet. Customer service seems to have little info on when there will be cars available here, and could only give me a tentative "sometime around the end of february". Very frustrating for those of us who want to jump on the bandwagon and get rid of a car ASAP. Anybody know about other car-sharing services or have creative solutions for those times when a car is needed?

[Dan W.]

Congratulations!

I've successfully de-carred and I'm never looking back!