change of pace

in august my husband, jake & i were absolutely giddy….our car was paid off!  hooray!  now we were down to only one car payment.  then one cloudless beautiful day – i turned on my car – and the engine light was on.   i was sure that it’s no big deal– the car is only 5 years old – so nothing “major” could be wrong with it, right? WRONG.  the dealer quoted us over $3500 in repairs to our car.  what?  seriously – we literally just paid the thing off.  so we shrunk the list down to what was most important – and managed to get the total below $3,000.  we considered this an investment – because this car is a VW and will last us “forever” right? WRONG.  not even a week later – the engine light came on again.  this time it was the fuel pump.   SERIOUSLY?!

so even though our life is a bit crazy with our 2 kids & 6 animals – we willingly decided to make it a little crazier by changing things up a bit.  after much prayer and discussion, jake & i decided to sell our car and downsize to a one car family [gasp].   in any other part of the world this probably isn’t that big of a deal, however to our southern california family it will be quite a change of pace.  jake and i determined that it would be a financially sound decision to downsize to one car (after almost 14 years of marriage – i guess there’s a first time for everything :) ).   thanks to my amazing sister-in-law allison for the use of her electric bike – this is how I now start my day in the morning:

things i like about riding my bike:

·         SAVING MONEY – yay!  Now I’m saving gas money + almost $1,000 a year on car insurance. 

·         i feel GREEN – ok i have to admit – i do enjoy not using a car for such  a short commute

·         OUTSIDE TIME!  after sitting at a desk for a good part of the day – some days not even stepping outside between the hours of 8am-4pm – it feels SOOOO good to just spend some time outside.  in fact i adjusted my route so i could enjoy the scenic ride instead of taking a slightly shorter route.

·         SLOW DOWN – i have the habit of rushing every time i’m in the car – i’m impatient around the slow drivers and always seem to be in a hurry.  riding a bike has forced me to slow down a bit and to enjoy my surroundings.

·         taking myself less seriously.  can i tell you that i still feel like a kid – totally embarrassed & self conscious wearing a helmet?  this morning however i took a look at myself in the mirror and had to laugh.  no need for jake to be concerned with someone “checking me out” – i was dressed in grandma sweats, a bright yellow sweatshirt and a huge helmet.  hmm – not the most attractive way to go to work – but my protecting my noggin is more important :)

realistically i know for the long term we will not be able to remain a 1 car family – but our goal is to try to make it for 1 year.  jake & i are fortunate to both work less than 5 miles away from home – so we thought that we might as well give it a try!  plus with riding 50 miles a week – i might even get into shape (that is if i don’t let the electric function of the bike take over J )!

happy riding!