3091: Carfree For Life by A Purple Life

[00:00:00] Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep? That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep. Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily, is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's rest with some positive affirmations. And these affirmations aren't just comforting. They can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep.

[00:00:25] So press play on Good Sleep Tonight, because a good tomorrow starts with a good night's sleep. Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app, and be sure to pick the one from Optimal Living Daily. This is Optimal Finance Daily, car-free for life by A Purple Life of APurpleLife.com.

[00:00:49] Atlanta, the land of horrible traffic. So I was born and raised in Atlanta. Something that might surprise people is that Atlanta has horrendous traffic. We've been on the top 10 list of most congested cities since I was born. And while I was growing up, we were right behind New York and LA. We had the third worst traffic in the US. Cars equal the path to freedom.

[00:01:18] The way Atlanta works is that as soon as kids turn 16, they get their license. Why? So they can drive themselves to school. Or if they ride a school bus, so they can have some freedom and not be dropped off everywhere by their parents.

[00:01:33] We don't have public transit. We don't have public transit. We don't have public transit that is at all helpful unless you're going from the airport to downtown, or one part of downtown to another. Heads up, basically no one lives downtown. Driving yourself is the only path to freedom as a kid in Atlanta. Sleep driving.

[00:01:52] So when I turned 16, that's what I did. After getting my license from 16 to 17 when I graduated, I drove myself to school. This involved getting up at 5.30 a.m. to try and beat the traffic, only to be stuck in it for one to one and a half hours every morning and arrive at school an hour before it starts. Without traffic, which never happens, this commute would still have been 45 minutes.

[00:02:21] One time, I didn't remember how I got to school. I woke up in the parking lot. Is sleep driving a thing? It terrified me. I was so tired. I have issues going to sleep and usually read in high school until I passed out and was then awakened by my alarm before I took a bleary-eyed shower and threw on my uniform before stumbling out the door. Thank goodness I didn't have to make a real decision. No sarcasm there, guys.

[00:02:50] It was too early and fashion isn't my thing. A waste of life. After school, I would rush out of the building and hastily yell bye to my friends in the hopes of getting on the highway before most people. It never happened. 3.30 p.m. and I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Every single day. This is when I learned I never wanted to own a car or have a car commute again.

[00:03:19] It was stressful and felt like a huge waste of time. It was adding 10 to 15 hours of wasted time to every week. This was still when CDs existed instead of Spotify being readily available through smartphones. Before I knew what an audiobook was. Before podcasts were a big deal. I just sat there listening to the same Craig David album on repeat. Anyone remember Born to Do It?

[00:03:47] Because it soothed me during my commute. New York City. A public transit paradise? Nice. One reason we chose to move to New York City was its readily available public transit. My partner has never even had a driver's license and he's almost 30. Trains were tolerable when I lived in New York City. I hear that's not the case now. My first few apartments and jobs were a straight shot north to south.

[00:04:15] I got on a train, sometimes for an hour, and sat or stood there. I could journal or read a book on my phone or practice my Italian or French on Duolingo. I was fine with trains and really enjoyed the constant option of walking. Atlanta doesn't really have sidewalks outside of downtown. My parents have lived in their neighborhood almost my whole life and are getting sidewalks to the grocery store now. They might be ready by the time I retire.

[00:04:44] The option of walking home in New York City was an exciting one and I did it several times even though it was over 100 blocks home. It was fun trying to walk a block a minute. New York City doesn't do diagonal. Then my job and apartment changed and I ended up having to go across the city, which is not what New York City is set up for. I had to switch to three different trains over the course of 30 minutes,

[00:05:12] which meant I couldn't pay attention to anything else because the transit stops came up so quickly. The few times I tried reading a book, I missed my stop and was late to work. So I ended up staring out the window into the darkness of the subway for one to two hours a day. It felt like I was staring into the abyss of my commuting future. Seattle, an actual transit paradise.

[00:05:38] So when we were deciding where to live in Seattle, the ability to walk to work was a big factor. We drew a circle around our workplaces, which luckily we were on the same street, four blocks away from each other, to show what apartments were a 30 minute walk or less away from work. We were fortunate enough to find a great apartment within the circle. And despite me moving jobs, I'm still able to walk to work in 30 minutes.

[00:06:06] My new job was actually in my partner's building, which was hilarious. And then they moved downtown, which is still a 30 minute walk away. Imposing strategic limits. So I've been very fortunate, but I also intentionally limit myself in a good way. For example, when I was searching for a job, I did consider ones where I would have to take a bus, but didn't even apply for ones that would require me to get a car.

[00:06:35] My sanity and my wallet weren't worth it. When I would calculate the extra time and money needed, it seriously cut into the salary offered, which was already lower since it was outside of downtown and in a suburb. So I didn't even apply. This might've lengthened my time finding a job, but it was worth it to me. Seattle is a huge and growing city where I felt comfortable making that choice. It all worked out in the end.

[00:07:04] Car free for life. So I'm never planning to own a car. I may rent one for a road trip or get around a rural area when visiting family or friends, but it won't be a permanent arrangement. Not only for the reasons of stress I explained before, but the financial ones as well. I'll happily substitute owning a car with a mix of public transit, walking, and using the sharing economy like Uber, Zipcar, etc.

[00:07:32] We're planning to be car free for life. You just listened to the post titled Car Free for Life by A Purple Life of A Purple Life.com. ServiceNow unterstützt Ihre Business Transformation mit der KI-Plattform. Alle reden über KI, aber die KI ist nur so leistungsfähig wie die Plattform, auf der sie aufbaut. Lassen Sie die KI arbeiten, für alle. Beseitigen Sie Reibung und Frustration Ihrer Mitarbeiter

[00:08:02] und nutzen Sie das volle Potenzial Ihrer Entwickler. Mit intelligenten Tools für Ihren Service, um Kunden zu begeistern. All das auf einer einzigen Plattform. Deshalb funktioniert die Welt mit ServiceNow. Mehr auf ServiceNow.de slash AI for People As someone who spent most of their adult life living carless in New York City, I can certainly appreciate the aversion to vehicles. From my perspective, during Purple Life's horrendous commuting experience in Atlanta,

[00:08:32] it doesn't sound like the car was the main issue. It was more about the long commute, traffic, and lack of access to public transportation. I wonder if Purple Life would feel the same way if she lived in a city like Cincinnati, for example. This is actually one of the things I love about Cincinnati. While we don't have good public transportation, I rarely ever have to deal with traffic. And I usually can get anywhere I want to go in 20 minutes or less by car.

[00:09:02] Even in a denser city, a solve for a half commute could be to live as close as possible to where you work. Based on what you can afford, this may require you to live in a less desirable home or neighborhood. So you may need to decide what's more important to you. Minimal commute or more desirable living space. Like most decisions with our resources, everything is a trade-off.

[00:09:29] I think a unique opportunity in our current dynamic, where remote working options allow you to live anywhere you want, you can absolutely just move to a less congested city. I had a 45-minute commute in New York City, but I got to ride the subway and so could make the most of my time. Like Purple Life, during my time there, I found the trains tolerable, even borderline enjoyable.

[00:09:56] I read a lot, caught up on work, journaled, people watched, struck up conversations with strangers. It was actually pretty nice. And now that I think about it, I miss it a little bit. A long commute doesn't need to be a waste of time if you're able to utilize that time to get something else done or socialize. And that's a wrap for the Sunday show. Have a great rest of your day. And I'll be back tomorrow where your optimal life awaits. Have a great rest of your day.