They do have a (relatively new) type of pass that you put money on that doesn’t expire, however, there’s no discount at all for doing that.

Doesn’t anybody see the 800# gorilla in the room? How do you dispose of the used oil?

WHEW.. I feel better now!

Thanks

Stella, thanks for mentioning that not everybody is healthy. Almost all of Trent’s advice is based on the assumption that you have unlimited energy to do things yourself, as is most people’s on this blog. It is not necessarily laziness that has people buying convenience.

Many rental agencies are charged fees for being located at the airport, and they have no choice but to pass them on to their customers. I used to live in Atlanta and would rent cars for road trips. Renting off site from the airport saved me about 30-40%. They still allowed me to return the car to the airport, if I wanted. The ‘airport tax’ (just google ‘airport concession fee’ if you want to see more about this charge generally) is worth avoiding, unless you’re in an incredible hurry. If you’re staying somewhere for several days, catch a cab to an off-airport rental location where you’ve already reserved a car.

However, it’s still important to know how to do that kind of stuff, and to keep an eye on things.

We recently borrowed my mother’s car, and just out of force of habit I checked her oil while filling it with gas, and found it almost entirely empty. This was only 2,000 miles after paying someone else to change it. Luckily we caught it in time and were able to prevent damage, but not checking it would have lead to some SERIOUSLY expensive problems.

Like others have mentioned, if you are using your pass only for work, a montly pass might not be the cheapest. However, I found out that my bus system offers a 10 pass card. There isn’t any savings, but I’m not struggling to find fare money at the last minute twice a day.

“With such a varied CAETGORY …”

“In the comments, please let me know which of the tips you find most useful for trimming SHELTER costs”

Oh come on, Trent, that’s just lazy. You’re getting paid to write this stuff, show a little pride in your work, for crying out loud.

“Don’t buy cars on a payment plan. Instead of making a down payment and shelling out cash out of pocket for the payments, pay cash for the whole thing up front. ”

Do as I say, not as I do, eh? You had to know we would jump on this one.

I’m sure all the categories on that chart will come around sooner or later.

Since right now we’re talking about transportation, let me point out that many of these items are in odd categories or that we may think we know what’s included (for instance, how many realized that new car payments discussed recently did not include the interest paid on your car loan?). I went back to the source, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and hunted around until I found the glossary (which I then bookmarked, so I can go back to it easily).

So, when we talked about the average car payment being $300, that was actually the actual principal on the loan and the interest is tucked in here.

For people who buy automobiles, buying a cheaper car will lower the amount in the earlier category, paying cash or getting the best deal on the interest rate (look for those 0% offers) will assist in reducing their spending in this category (as will all advice on reducing maintenance costs).

On the other hand, not using a car eliminates spending in the previous category but probably will result in a net increase in this category. That is, they won’t be paying interest on a car loan or to change their oil, but they will be paying for cab fares, transit fares, membership in car sharing networks, paying for rentals, maintaining a bike, etc.

What you really want to look at is the total cost of owning, running and maintaining a car versus the total cost of all the other options you will use to get around in the absence of a car. Some of those costs may show up in yet other categories to be discussed later.

For example, we deal with the situation of having 4 adults in one house, with 2 cars between them. My son-in-law must take 1 to get to work 45 minutes drive away and not on transit lines. I take the other in order to get 2 adults to work, plus 2 to 3 children to school/preschool. That has left my husband cycling to work most days and very occasionally taking the bus partway and then having to walk the remainder of the way.

In addition to the cost of the bike and bike maintenance (already mentioned) he had to purchase special waterproof, reflective clothing (costing close to $300) in order to be able to bike to work in pouring rain. Considering that we live in Western Canada, that means an average of 3 or 4 days per week through the winter. The 2 or 3 days per *year* that it snows he either buses or the city comes to a screaming halt and everybody stays home. That happens maybe one day per year, if we have more than 6 or 8 inches snow because most people here have no clue how to drive in snow.

My tip for reducing transit fares is that I buy books of faresavers whenever I know I’ll be having to use the bus. They come in books of 10, don’t expire and there’s a discount on the per zone fare cost. It also means you don’t have to find or carry the correct change.

@29 Welcome back Henry.

FYI: You don’t have to be old to have health challenges that make it impossible to use public transportation. Sometimes you will only need cabs temporarily while recovering from an injury. For some, it’s more permanent.

Special rides are available for some folks but they are hard to schedule and very undependable.

Depending on where you are going, and if you can share a cab, you can sometimes NOT spend all that much more than public transportation.

And there are other considerations. I’ve had friends who were carrying a lot of stuff and insisted on taking public transportation. Two pulled their backs badly, another injured an arm. Not only did this seriously affect their ability to work and do things, but it cost them a lot in terms of missed work, and doctors and hospital bills.

Sometimes, depending on your physical condition, you need to take cabs. And you have to factor that into your budget. You have to cut back on something else.

Even using cabs, if you group your errands you can save money.

And consider having stuff delivered. Even with fees, it’s often less than public transportation, cabs or a car.

Cars in the city? It’s throwing money away as well as your time (to find parking spots; and if you’re paying for parking, in the city, that’s serious OOP money).

Cheaper to rent zip cars, find/share rides with others.

yea, it can be problematic to schedule, but it’s offset by so many other benefits of city living.