Car Free?

So I've been riding the bus quite a bit lately, for a number of reasons. The car is on its last legs, work is close to home, and I need the exercise....plus most of the time it's kind of fun. And let's not forget the $140 a month I'm saving in gas, which is a good thing. And as long as I'm a student, the bus and train are free.

The natural continuation of this is "why the hell do I have a car at all?" Why not just cancel the insurance and give ol' Bessie to KUT? Car 2 Go has a place not far from the house that I could use to rent a Smart car by the hour, which is pretty awesome. And for the semi-annual trips to the parents up in Oklahoma, wouldn't it be cool to rent a big ol' Cadillac for the drive?

Some problems: Smart cars don't carry two kids. There's some question about whether they should even carry one, come to think of it. Also, having two cars is convenient. I had to replace a dead battery for K recently, but she didn't miss work or have to do anything icky with her car because she was able to take mine. I suppose that might be remedied with a Car 2 Go setup, but it would be complicated. Car 2 Go charges by the hour, unless you drop it off in a recognized "zone." I don't know that there are any zones close enough to K's work to make that practical, and I'd still be looking at a pretty long walk if I chose to use it to commute from time to time. And I _did_ miss the bus the other day. I'd have been late without my car.

Then, not to get too far into my mother's line of reasoning, WHAT IF SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAPPENED TO THE KIDS WHEN KIMMIE WAS AWAY FROM HOME IN HER CAR?

And finally, as it stands now I have an alternative to driving a pink jeep with eyelashes. This alternative would really go away, unless I was able to utilize the Car 2 Go thing.

For now, getting rid of the car would only save me about $60 a month. But, since the car is dying, it would pretty soon mean saving me a car payment. And I can't see paying $400 a month to have a car that sits in the street 99% of the time. I'd probably be back to commuting, if only to justify the money spent.

Bah.