3 weeks done!!

My lovely Kona bike!

I have done 3 weeks of No Car!! This past weekend proved to be a bit long without my car - I went to Victoria. I took transit to the Tsawwassen Ferry terminal, which was smooth and no issues, but coming home was a gong show. As we piled into the bus, after waiting for a bit, I was thinking "sure wish I had driven to the terminal..." But I pulled out my book and survived.

As always, my daily commute to work and home is great.

I am still yet to use the Zip Car, which is silly since this whole thing is sponsored by Zip Car. So I plan to make an IKEA trip this weekend! I'll keep you posted on that adventure (talk about a gong show...) But I'll aim to check out a fun car and drag along some friends!!

almost 2 weeks

my new bike!

There are many reasons that I love my job and feel really fortunate to be there. One of the many is that they offer a great purchasing program. I got this awesome commuter hybrid bike, and then my work paid for it and takes small chunks out of my paycheck for the next year, without interest. This is fabulous!! Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to afford to put down the whole payment on such a nice bike.

Also, my work pays for 25% of my monthly transit pass!! It is such a great place!

Nearly another week down and I'm still loving my car-free lifestyle. I was out with some friends, and we all had a great discussion about who of us owns a car and why. And man, how much we pay for it! Someone wondered how much we actually pay for each time we each use our cars, and we all agreed that would likely be quite a shocking amount!

One week: No Car. Sweet.

Lady bug in action. Queen Mary Community Garden, North Vancouver, BC

One week without a car, and I hardly notice it! Awesome!!

today was the usual as far as transport: bus and walking.

I'll head to the candlelight yoga later tonight, which is an awesome class. The instructor explains things quite thoroughly and really shows you what you can accomplish in yoga. I leave quite inspired! Thanks Y Yoga!!

Today's expenses:
NADA!!
double boom.

the weekend

Commute home over Lions Gate near sunset, post-rain.

I seem to have taken the weekend off from my updates, which is funny because that is when I'm the laziest... with this weekend being no exception. Let's see.

I took the seabus home on Friday, walked from Waterfront Station, and stopped in H&M. I was circling, picked up a cute scarf but then said: Lisa, you don't need this $15 scarf. Put it down. Walk away. And I did! I nearly skipped out the store, so pleased with myself. I continued on my way, but somehow ended up at BCBG. There was the cutest dress. Ever. And it happened to look fabulous on me. So.

My Friday purchases:
$7 - lunch
$5 - pet store
$8 - laundry
And the dress - is my happiness really worth a monetary amount? Can I really say how much joy that dress will bring me in dollars? I think saying that it will bring me buckets of wonderfulness is sufficient.

I drove to a site visit with the work car, but other than that: walk, bus, seabus.


Saturday:
I woke up to the blissful feeling of knowing I now own the cutest dress ever.

And went to an awesome yoga class. I must say, my Y Yoga pass from the Zip Car Challenge might be the highlight of this process for me!

I won tickets to a great play at the Fringe Festival, then went to see Danny Michele at The Biltmore. A great night! (No, I didn't wear the dress - I thought about it though) The play was super awesome and totally want to see more at the Fringe Festival! PLUS, I took the aquabus to Granville Island. I freaking love the Aquabus!!

By the end of the night, it was pouring. So Tawny gave me a ride home - not ideal, I know. But it was really raining, and I was wearing non-rain shoes...

So today: walk, aquabus, and ride home.
My Saturday purchases:
$12 - Lunch

$17 - Biltmore
$3 - aquabus

And then Sunday: no yoga, decided to take the day off.

But did some grocery shopping, bought pannier bags for my bike off craigslist, and then went to a birthday party! it was a fun and productive day.

A birthday champagne and cake party! I didn't have champagne, but I enjoyed cake, cupcake, and moose turds!! Nom Nom, thanks Michael and Mari!

I walked and biked.

Oh, but I did want to go to a furniture flea market sale, but I didn't because of the car thing. Probably my first time of not doing something because of the car. And it seemed stupid to use the zip car because you pay by the hour, and I'd drive there to maybe buy a chair?? If I had use of my car, I would have gone - I'll admit it.

Sunday's purchases:
$65 - groceries
$40 - pannier bags

AND TODAY (finally):
another awesome yoga class.

Walked, bus, seabus.

And my purchases today:
NONE.
boom....

Day 3: The Rain

My commute home in the rain over the bridge. Look at downtown Vancouver!!

These are the days where the car becomes more desirable... the rain. But I took the bus, seabus, walked, and more bus today.

I did drive the shared work car for work. That counts as being 'car-free', right? Its the car coop of work-dom.

As an exciting side note, today was Cops for Cancer day and my co-worker shaved his hair for the cause. He raised well over $3,300!!! He looks fabulous and was totally overwhelmed by the incredible support he got. He had his head cleaned up at the same time that a 9 year old boy had his shaved as well. It was the boy's second time of doing this event! wow!! (He raised over $500, which is really impressive.)

Today's expenses included: $5 for lunch (BBQ fundraiser!)
and that's it!!
Yoga tonight: Candlelight Flow Yoga.
oh, and $6.50 on dessert on the way home from yoga

This yoga class was the best yet. I'm going to have to stick with this class. Felt like I was walking on butter on the way home (yummmm, butter. this is why I stopped for food.) I'm loving that we were given the pass to Y Yoga for this car-free month! Thanks!!

I'll try to snap a few photos of the facility - it is so nice. But I also don't want to be a creepy Chester taking photos of people.

Day 2: the first full day

Transformer. (robot in disguise.)

Day 2 of being car free and conscious of my spending habits, and nothing seems different. Well, ok - I'll admit that I am more thoughtful of how I spend my money because I really don't want to have to post some seriously lame impulse buys for anyone to know about... so I guess I'm better with my money when public humiliation is a possible outcome.

Yoga tonight was the best yet. Beyond priceless. I should really be paying big bucks for this!

And no car.

Transit and walking. (I actually ran for the bus home. seriously ran.)

Post office: $2
Office lottery pool: $4

Car Free: the beginning

this is an old photo, but one of my favorites. its of the protest at the beginning of the Olympics in Vancouver. The police ended the march, there was quickly more cameras capturing the event than there were protestors, and whoa - look to side: that's the bus scooting by to get its people on their way! Yes, go Translink!!

my intention for this blog was to post photos that I've taken, but I'd like to expand to include things / stories / comments of things that I'm up to.

today, I committed to not using my car for a month. I will be able to move around via transit, walking, cycling or car share. I already live a fairly car-free lifestyle, yet I own my car. So I thought this would be a good chance for me to really see how much and in what ways I use my car.

my prediction is that I'll see that I use it when I'm lazy. I already commute to work on the bus, I live downtown where I can walk, and I have a market just a few blocks away. Recently, I bought a fabulous new commuter bike (Jorge is his name!). Its now time to look at my habit of driving.

i thought since i was looking at my habits, i should go ahead and make the leap and look at how I spend my money as well. For the month, i'll chronicle my commuting and my expenditures. i suspect i spend a lot more on eating out than i hope. A girl's gotta eat...

So day 1: bus, walk, and seabus.
$2 laundry and $10 donated to cancer research (aren't I an angel?!)
evening yoga class: priceless.