I don't care to watch tv/shows online at all - I like to watch on the actual television- the screen is bigger and more enjoyable for me. I think there is some good stuff on TV. I tend to hear more negative comments about having/watching a TV as opposed to not having one. I've actually talked to people who tend to think they have a superior intellect if they don't watch TV. as in: "How can you stand to watch that thing? It turns my mind to drivel to watch all that nonsense.."
As far as car or no car- if I have to walk 45-60 mins to catch a bus, I'm going to drive. My kids school/doctors/vet/grocery etc are all easily 15 mins by car, too far to reasonably walk/ catch the bus. I'd love to not have upkeep on the car, or to pay insurance, it just is not an option. Plus, I like my Jeep. It's good safe reliable transportation and in the winter the 4wd is the best.
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Posted 1 year ago #
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@recycler - If I lived in a city or anyplace with public transportation, I'd certainly consider using the car a lot less year round. As it is I am retired, and usually don't use it 1-2 days a week, and we try to group our errands. And frankly I'm not interested in walking 3.5 miles (5+ km) each way to the grocery store and back when the temperature is -20C which like in Norway is very common in winter. In warmer weather I do ride my bike to town when I don't have something heavy/awkward to carry.
Posted 1 year ago # -
@SunshineR -- We shop for groceries every 2-3 days, on the way home from work, whenever we're out of something or need specific ingredients for a meal.
And yes, walking does help keep us in shape, as do the 3 flights of stairs leading up to our apartment... and since we both have very sedentary jobs, we still need to exercise vigorously to stay in any shape other than round :P
The only thing holding me back from signing up for the car-sharing service is that my parents have two cars and my mom hardly ever drives, so we can mooch off them when we need to. They live clear across town, so picking up the car and dropping it off (and then busing back home) is a hassle, but it's cheaper to fill up the tank on my mom's car once every 2 months than to pay monthly car-sharing fees. So the debate continues :)
Posted 1 year ago # -
cars depend absolutely upon where you live, and your lifestyle. Some cities have little or no public transportation, or it is such that it takes excrutiatingly long and circuitous routes from a to b.
And in the country or suburbs, forget it.
also, most European cities are dense, and normally have extensive mixed use planning.(i.e. apartment housing built above shops) There are outlying villages which the city has encompassed, each with its own original centre, church, butcher baker candle-stick maker, meaning you don't go too far before finding goods and services near your door, even if you are in the "European suburbs".
Most N.American cities have limited mixed-use zoning, therefore it is comical to suggest that because walking everywhere might work in a geographically small European city it would also work in sprawling cities/towns. Your activities would be very curtailed indeed. Certainly no after-school/work activities other than that TV:)
Fortunately now we are in a city with fantastic public transportation and we use it for commuting and social activities. On long weekends we often rent a car to get out of the city (cheaper than inter-city rail). On occasion we take taxis. Quite a bit cheaper than owning a car, for sure.
I would never judge someone for owning a car. I am happy not to have one now because we don't need one. I was very happy to have one when I needed it.Posted 1 year ago # -
Good heavens, I hope no-one interpreted my choice to be without a car and perhaps eventually a TV as a judgement of anyone else's lifestyle choices. What's right for one person might not be for someone else; no reproach was intended.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I've given some thought to the point where I will give up my car. I didn't drive until I was 26 -- between excellent public transportation and a bicycle, I got around just fine. Now, living in the suburbs, I checked out the bus schedules and figured that it would take me 2-3 hours to travel what would normally take me 20 minutes to drive (and I couldn't be out past about 8:30 pm.) So, for now, we'll continue to maintain 2 cars. When DH retires, I we may pare down to one.
My MIL, almost 90, still has her car although she hasn't driven in almost a year. Going by my friends' experiences, it usually takes about a year or two after the elder stops driving to make the next step and sell the car. I keep hoping, as it takes about 5% of her income to insure and maintain.
There are a lot of things in her house that she is not willing to release yet, as it would mean definitively that she will never do those things again. She has shoes -- probably 20 pairs -- that she can no longer safely wear. More than 300 pairs of pierced earrings that make her ears break out in a rash (and her arthritis would prevent her from inserting them.) Cookware she cannot use (I do her cooking now; she can't even LIFT the crockpot, let alone cook in it!) And so on. I don't know if it would be a good or a bad sign (of giving up) if she ever volunteered to give away or sell these things.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Anita: I like that idea of shopping a few times a week. Yes, I'm too round so maybe I should start walking to the grocery store (3 miles each way, very hilly and narrow road...mmm, maybe not).
dechmont: I'm not offended by your comment about not having a car. I think it would save me a lot of money, but we do not have public buses near here. Your situation, like others I've read about, sounds wonderful because most of your activities are within walking or bus distance.
Posted 1 year ago # -
i don't feel reproached about having a car.
certainly i have lived without a car for years on end....but my current situation means that i have to have one.
we live remotely and there is absolutely no public transport. none at all.
we have a business that requires us and our product to be mobile.
however.....we share a car between us.
and we drive a very small car.
anything that requires a truck, we are happy to pay a neighbour to collect for us.
and the neighbour is happy to have the cash to help offset the costs of running a truck.we've morphed in and out of tv-less-ness over the years.
right now, the main use it gets is as a screen to view dvds upon.
i know i could watch them on my laptop.....but sometimes we have friends over for dinner and a movie (you gotta make your own fun in the country!) and nobody round here will be thrilled at the idea of crouching around a laptop.
we've certainly never had cable....the day i pay for tv is the day hell freezeth over.Posted 1 year ago # -
When I didn't have a TV, I used to read TV Guide so I could still have conversations with my coworkers. And I like trashy magazines so I know all about stuff like Teen Mom.
We have a TV and as a person who grew up in a pretty broadcast-poor area, I'm still excited by the 4 PBS stations and like 10 other stations. We get Univision! But we never have time to watch it anymore - youall see me here a lot when I'm working, because I work all sorts of weird hours around the times my son's in school.
Posted 1 year ago #
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