Car repairs and cargo bikes

That is not my car in the above picture ~ my car isn't nearly that cool.

In THIS post, I wrote about bicycle commuting and talked about riding my bicycle due to car problems. Well, today I took my car to the dealership and had it looked at. I honestly have been putting this off for so ridiculously long that I should be ashamed, but I'm not!

My only regret in waiting so long is the stress that I caused myself by not knowing the extent or cost of necessary repairs. If I'd taken it in months ago, I could have made a plan to save for the repairs and not have it be a huge burden.

Seriously, I caused myself A LOT of stress just by putting off finding out the extent of my car's needed repairs!

Instead, I put it off and put it off. Now, I have a car needing $2k in repairs (I thought it was going to be so much more!) and I have a few things coming up where I do need a car (which is a rare need for me...).

I could sell or give up my car as I mentioned in the prior post, but I'm not going to. At least not yet.

I was expecting all sorts of things to be wrong and for them to say, "Well, if you'd come in sooner..." But, the repairs were not even half of what I expected and only one was related to needing routine maintenance (replacing my brake pads). The rest was all stuff that you would expect to happen when your car is 17 years old and has over 235,000 miles on it!


Yeah, repairs are sucky and expensive and time consuming, but the car still has a lot of good use for me so for now I'll keep it. And, frankly, I actually love this car too!

I hate the money I spend on my car, but soon my son will start college and the closest campus is too far to reasonably bicycle unless you are hardcore in bicycling and we don't have a bus anywhere near us. So, I'll keep the car and work on convincing my son that it's time to learn to drive (he's 17 1/2 and doesn't want to learn to drive...).

Even after repairs, I still plan to continue bicycling to and from work and to do some basic errands. I will still save money if I bicycle and my health will hopefully continue to improve (I'm not sickly or anything, but I do have asthma and have put on a few extra pounds I don't need).

I want to save up for a cargo bike even if I keep my car. I would love to ride around with my dogs, to be able pick up more than just a couple of bags of groceries, and more.

Check out this cargo bike I spotted in New York City:

After much searching online, I found that this cargo bike is from a company called Babboe. They have a wide variety of cargo bikes and accessories, including covers and such. I'd have to either get a cover or train my dogs super super super well to not jump out!

Love the cargo bike? Wanna help me with my dream to get one myself? Check out my Etsy shop HERE and consider purchasing a coloring or stationery page or two or three. All purchases are greatly appreciated! You can also find us HERE on Facebook ~ we (my son and I) post new work, sales, coupons, and more on our Facebook page.