With the unpredictability of fuel costs this day and age, it is no exaggeration to say that a household owning one car, let alone the trend for two, is no longer a given entitlement, but rather an expensive privilege.
The problem, however, is that for many, it remains a practical necessity.
Add to this that in many countries, there is a dire lack of facilities to enable other forms of transport, such as cycling, to get to work or perform other essential tasks.
And the result is that people are spending an extraordinarily high percentage of up to 20% of their monthly disposable income on travel costs.
Some sources have gone so far as to describe these people as suffering from “Transport Poverty”.
We received a good piece of advice from Gordon, a valued friend in his 80’s, back when we were pregnant with Her Majesty the Baby.
Now Gordon used to occupy a senior position in a Fuel sector and he perhaps knew what energy turmoil was round the corner, albeit he didn’t say it explicity – he is far too humble for that.
See our post entitled "Modes of Questioning to Stressbust™ for Loved Ones" for more on this diplomatic, sensitive use of language for stressbusting™ purposes.
Gordon commented that, with a baby in tow and working from home, provided we resided close enough to the Nursery, there ought to be no need for us to run a car.
This resonated at the time and was something we discussed further during Pregnancy – see "Leverage the Stressbusting™ Wisdom of Age".
Now in the end, we didn’t quite go so far as not having a car as we felt this was essential for emergencies if nothing else.
But we bought a second hand car outright, taking on no credit, and it serves the purposes we require of for.
It averages no more than 50km per week – nocturnal visits to McDonald’s for caffeine to help ease the process of Her Majesty’s impromptu pyjama parties included.
This makes the fuel cost manageable and a small engine means insurance costs are controllable too.
We determined off the back of Gordon’s comment that we would walk to Nursery on a daily basis, keeping ourselves fit in the process.
And now we advertise our businesses as being completely remote, a decision that is far more acceptable to the business community following covid related lockdowns.
See our post entitled "Break Time Quickie - 5 Stressbusting™ Pros & Cons of Remote Working" for more insights into this.
But cars have an emotional connotation for many.
For generations they have been a symbol of success, affluence and self, a phenomena largely fuelled (if you’ll excuse the pun) by car manufacturers having pumped more millions than any other sector into advertising campaigns bordering on hypnotic, selling the ultimate Lifestyle Dream.
But Lifestyle no longer automatically translates to Wellness.
A person could, for example, have an amazing Lifestyle but only be able to afford it for a few years before having their Wellness and Health shattered by poverty or worse.
So for us, it was about leaving our emotional connection with the car we drove behind, based as that was on other people’s perceptions of us, for the greater good of our household finances and Wellness.
Consequently, we no longer need to worry about the trauma of a lengthy commute or when we will fit a work out in.
The days ought to be long gone when a person’s status in life or their social or employment position carried with it the obligation to be seen in a luxuriously branded vehicle.
But given our established reliance on cars, it can take a step into the unknown to make the change.
And change of that magnitude is never easy.
This issue of the challenge but inevitability of change is explored in our previous posts entitled "Let go of the Past & Create a New Living Legacy to Stressbust™" & "Learn to Expect (and Accept) the Unexpected to Stressbust™ More Effectively".
Accepting a lower paid salaried position nearer to home, for example, that leaves a person no worse off when the saving in commute is calculated, can feel like a step backwards or a failure.
Even when the maths and economics prove that it isn’t.
But with the cost of fuel, tax and insurance only likely to go in one direction for the foreseeable future, it might we worth us all asking ourselves from a stressbusting™ perspective where our priorities now lie, per our post entitled "Break Time Quickie - Act on your Priorities".
The results may be very surprising indeed.
LOL, MikeyM™&LouLoU™🙃🤔😊💖🧡💛💙 xxxxx