How to Save Money and Strengthen Your Relationship

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One of the best things you can do to save money if you are a married couple, especially if you are without ankle biters, is share a car. The first thing you can save on is obviously the cost of the car and having to make car payments. But a couple with only one car saves money in several other ways as well:

1. Insurance: $500-$1,000 a year.

2. Oil Changes: $20-$30 every 2-3 months.

3. Other Maintenance (Tires, Stuff Breaking, Wipers, Ect.): $200-$600 every 1-5 yrs

So if we took a middling estimate of the cost of the extra car, not including its actual price, you’re looking at $1,000+ a year. That’s $5,000 bucks over five years.

You don’t save gas, although it seems that many assume this. But you actually have to drive more picking up the other person.

But there are other benefits even beyond the money saved. The main one is that it seems to be good for your relationship. Mr. FLS and I are both very busy. But the time I spend driving him to and picking him up from law school is consistent daily time for us to talk and catch up on our doings and thoughts. And sharing a car make you have to communicate more. It helps build togetherness. We certainly sometimes have pangs of car envy for those with two cars, but in some ways I will miss it when our lone car finally has a friend.

But the best reason of all is that sharing car is what separates the frugal men from the frugal boys. When people know you share a car, they know your frugalness is for real. It is like a frugal badge of honor.

So dump that second car ball and chain and share a ride, share a smile.

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17 Comments

1. JMG on 05.12.2006 at 20:38 (Reply)

   Frugal people don’t have cars. People trying to cut back a little have one. There’s a nice new book out about the staggering financial benefits of being car-free. (”How to Live Well Without a Car.”)

2. Mrs. FLS on 06.12.2006 at 12:19 (Reply)

   Ops, I was just trying to edit it, not delete it….

   JMG I think your comment depends on how you define frugal. There is a whole frugal spectrum, from thrifty to Spartan. And certainly there is no reason to debunk one man’s frugalness because you reside farther to the Spartan side. To me frugal people cut costs where they can. Now if you live in a big city with adequate mass transit, then yes, a frugal person would be wise to do away with even one car. But if you live in a city, like the one MR. FLS and I live in, that has almost no public transportation, that is massively sprawled out, and has almost no sidewalks or bike lanes, a frugal person must have a car. There is no bus that comes near where we live or where we work. Yes we could move closer to a bus stop, but right now we are living for free with my rents which saves boo-koo dollars. So it is a trade off. And right now a car makes frugal sense.

3. Anonymous on 24.12.2006 at 17:58 (Reply)

   There’s a bunch of good rideshare websites, including GishiGo. Easy as pie and doesn’t have “rules” nor “login/membership”. Just use it and GO. Great network design.

   Check it out: http://www.GishiGo.com

   GishiGo is based on PayPal. Does a good job at filtering out all the BS that’s so very common on free anonymous websites like Craigslist and MySpace, etc. People refuse to put up the 99 cents if they are “just BS kidding” (like half the time on some websites), and they refuse to do any identification/papertrail if they are pervs. Seems there are a lot of weird ones on the “anonymous and socially open & politically active” Craigslist (that site is great since it has the eyeballs = the traffic). GishiGo seems to be good tool to use side-by-side with it!

   Here’s a listing of many RideShare websites: http://rideshare-directory.com/

4. JMG on 11.03.2007 at 17:09 (Reply)

   I just finished entering all the records for our last (present) car into a spreadsheet so I could compute the cost/mile—

   it’s a 2002 Saturn wagon, purchased used for cash (privately) at a very good price (from an in-law) in excellent condition with low miles.

   We carry a high deductible ($1000) and perform all the scheduled maintenance but no extras.

   The Kelly Blue Book on it to a private buyer is $10k, we bought for $13.5k.

   Presuming that I could sell it for $10k, then the cost per mile has been $0.36. With the purchase price included, we’ve paid $0.71/mile (we don’t drive much–we’ve put 29k miles on it in four years).

   The average gas mileage has been 26.5.

5. Carnival of Personal Finance No. 91 - The Sun’s Financial Diary - Accumulating wealth is like building The Great Wall, one brick at a time on 12.03.2007 at 07:01

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6. ispf on 14.03.2007 at 08:47 (Reply)

   I wish we could do this. Unfortunately though, my work place would be a ~15 mile detour for the better half. The extra driving, twice a day, would definitely negate all the money we would save not owning the second car. And sitting in traffic longer would make the better half *very* cranky negating any relationship strenghtening effects Great idea though, for couples whose work places are close by. In addition to the benefits you mentioned, this makes you a little more environmentally friendly as well.

7. The Frugal Law Student on 14.03.2007 at 19:03 (Reply)

   ISPF- Good point. I can see how this would not work for several couples. My wife and I were fortunate enough to have school and work so close to each other.

8. Stephen on 15.03.2007 at 02:30 (Reply)

   I would love to do this, but my needs to leave for work (at her job) 1-1/2 hours earlier than I do. I go to work at 9:00 and don’t get done until 7:30, at which point the wife has been home for two hours. If I got a job “downtown” and could 9-to-5 it with her, it would work.

   Not that I am not trying, mind you.

9. karla(threadbndr) on 16.03.2007 at 10:36 (Reply)

   Before I was widowed, the hubby and I shared a car for many years. It was a bit of a hassle sometimes when the schedules didn’t jive perfectly and the ‘carless’ partner had less flexibility for lunch and errand running. But by and large it was great. We also talked a lot during our shared commute.

   Now that I’m single, I really miss having another driver to share errands and miles with - especially on long drives. I also wish our town had a decent public transportation system. With gas prices being what they are, I’d love to take a bus. (Too far to bike - 15 miles of heavy traffic with no sidewalks or bike lanes.)

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