Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazarus
Nice job Oval. How long have you been at it and have you have a chance to see how much money you have saved with the car-xtomy?
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Sorry about the repeat posts.
Carxtomy. Nice. That should be added to the official EM dictionary (do we have one?). This is my fourth month working at The Electric Vehicle Store.
In my previous life, lived on the Wisconsin border with my parents and drove a '98 Ford Torturous. "Angila" got an abysmal 25 mpg on a down-slope with a tailwind. She got 25 mpg driving up a mountain pulling a house. She got 25 mpg driving upside down through a pool of raspberry Jell-O.
Eventually I acquired a spaceframe Saturn. It would drive to the moon and back on nothing but a liter of the tears of angels. Then I crashed it. I took this as a sign and dove head first into hippy-ism.
When I drove the ford, I was burning two tanks a month, about 28 gallons. at an average of $3.50/gallon, thats nearly $1200/year. I spent probably another $1200/year keeping that tin can road worthy. That is 6.15 tons of Co2/year, btw.
I only drove SCarlett (the Saturn) for four months, but they were a blissful four months. I was only burning 20 gallons per month, but I was driving twice as far. Angel tears, they do the trick. That works out to a theoretical one year fuel cost of $840. In those four months, I probably spent $200 on maintenance, or a theoretical $600/year. Of course, after the crash, I had to use the Ford again. This really helped the economics of moving to Minneapolis.
If I had stayed at my parents house, I probably would have been responsible for the insurance, about $1200/year no mater what old thang I drive.
$3600 per year for car expenses, and $720 per year for parking... $4320. I pay $4800 per year for housing expenses, and given the extra hours I pick up because I am now closer to the shop than the other mechanic, I profit. Plus, I am no longer driving 35 miles home at night while tired, I save money by being able to run home for lunch, and I don't live with my parents. Take note: that last one is a biggie.
I moved two months ago, and so far, things are great. I've abandoned gasoline, I am vegetarian, I recycle everything, I never buy new things, and I help other people get off petroleum. I'm hippy to the max
As a conclusion, I guess I haven't really saved money, I simply transfered my expenses from something unpleasant into something wonderful.
~Jimbo