Plan Your Trips, and Ride the Bus

by Avery
(Chiswick, London, UK)

My wife and I find it necessary to own a car, as we have families that lives rather far away and we like to go visit them every time we can.

However, we make sure not to use the car during the week, except for the barest minimum use.

Once every week we make a detailed shopping list and go driving to the supermarket and stock up on what we need for that week. We take the car for those trips, as we're usually carrying several bags of groceries on our way back and it would be cumbersome to take them on the bus.

Apart from this weekly expedition, we try not to use the car at all, except for longer trips.

I ride the bus to work and my wife most often bicycles, weather permitting – or she takes the bus as well. This has cut our petrol budget dramatically, which is no small blessing in this day and age.