Driving less

In follow up to Brian's recent posts about commuting to work on bicycle, I wanted to share my thoughts on one of our undertakings that I am really enjoying...driving less.

I'll start with a disclaimer: we no longer live in climates where we risk freezing our limbs, and our recent move into a very walkable city/neighborhood makes this undertaking much easier than it would be if, say, we were still living in Alberta, Minnesota, or even a suburb in greater Vancouver.

Driving less does come at the expense of convenience and requires the commitment of time and planning - and we have dedicated to doing it, rain, wind, cold, or "slushing" (since it doesn't really "snow" in Vancouver). However, the payoffs are much better than the sacrifices. We are consciously trying to get where we need and want to go WITHOUT getting into the car. Here's how:

Getting to and from work - Brian has already shared his strategy for his commute to work; cycling is great exercise for him, and far less stressful and frustrating than navigating through congested Vancouver traffic. I commute from Vancouver to Surrey via Skytrain, and have taken advantage of the work and tax subsidized transit pass. While the commute is much longer than I am used to and would prefer (45 minutes each way), I'm using this time as an opportunity to read (and can report that I have finished more books in the last 3 months than I did all of last year). We're saving on the cost of gas, toll bridge fees, and parking passes (and reducing carbon contributions). When I have to get between the corporate office, hospital, and ambulatory care center in Surrey, I take advantage of the health shuttle (again, reducing carbon imprint AND saving BC taxpayers by reducing my mileage expenditures). I try to take advantage of the working from home policy whenever I can and remotely commute into the office when I don't have meetings.

Getting groceries - We walk. We make frequent small trips together and carry our groceries home. For solo or larger/heavier shopping purchases, we bring along our hiking backpack.

Seeing friends and running errands - We walk, cycle, or run. It definitely requires us to plan out our schedules to leave extra time for getting to and from places, but we cherish this time to connect with one another, shake off the stiffness from sitting at our desks and computers all day, and burn off some of the calories from the decadent meals our friends have been treating us with!

On vacation - We recently made a trip down to Oregon and Coastal Washington to use the generous "mini-honeymoon" getaway that my coworkers gave us as a wedding present. While we did require the car to get to and from these destinations (we did investigate taking the train... unfortunately, it didn't stop where we had to go), we made a commitment that we would use the car as little as possible. While we were in Welches, OR - we did our best to walk and NOT take the car around town. While we were in Long Beach, WA, we stayed at the Inn at Discovery Coast and took advantage of the neighboring Adrift Hotel (www.adrifthotel.com) beach cruiser bike loans. I'm pretty sure that I had a perma grin on the entire time - I loved the one-speed, banana-seat, upright-handle nostalgic ride. We rode along the boardwalk and the paved trails all the way to the lighthouse. We stopped to enjoy the beach and explored the towns in search of a perfect spot to stop and get lunch. It was pure bliss!

The Adrift Hotel and Inn at Discovery Coast are noteworthy - using a lot of reused objects to finish, furnish, and decorate the rooms, and offering local, organic, vegetarian, and environmentally sound food and products, all at a great value. AND they are pet friendly - with some really loveable resident canines. Much to my dismay, I didn't manage to convince Brian to bring one home. But I think he's warming to the idea...

I estimate that I have gone from using the car 5-6 days a week to once every two weeks. Soon, we will be selling Brian's car (which has been parked for almost 5 months) and officially become a one car family! (Anyone who is in the market for a fantastic Honda Fit, stay tuned!)

The bike dilemma, part II

Of the four options I talked about in "The bike dilemma," I chose #2 (convert my mountain bike to a decent crossover).

#1 (keep mountain bike as is) sucks because it's a lot of work to ride on wide, knobby tires (and a cushy, energy-absorbing suspension).  #3 (buy a new but cheap bike) is clearly against our 2013 rules.  And #4 (buy a secondhand bike) didn't work out, simply because I found that even a used $500 bike is in many ways inferior to my existing bike, a >$1200 bike that I bought used for $400 in 1998 or so.  Even so, as I wandered around my bike shop of choice, I had to stop myself from rationalizing how great this or that $1000 bike would be.  Old habits die hard.

So here is a tally of my upgrade expenses:
$60.00 - Two puncture-proof commuter tires
$8.40 - Two tubes (I have loads of new spares, but they're all way too wide for my new skinny tires)
$2.24 - Wheel rim tape (the previous stuff was fifteen years old and almost worn through)
$2.80 - One pretty little red bell (to let pedestrians and other bikers know I'm about to pass them -- but not really, given that most commuters have sleeker/faster bikes than mine)

Also, I spent $32.48 on a pair of MEC shoe covers.  It rains a lot in Vancouver.  I've heard that these will do a decent job of ensuring that I arrive at work with dry feet.  On a related note, I already had some fenders that I could reinstall; these should keep me from showing up at work with a mud stripe down my back.

In all, it took me a few hours to tune my bike up and swap out the tires, but it was a fun activity to reconnect me with this old friend.  Gearing up for bicycle commuting set me back just over $100, a far cry from the several hundred dollars I would have been tempted to spend in any non-2013 year.  A great bonus was that Erin and I were able to take our bikes out of storage for a test ride downtown to drop in at our friends Kat/Liam & family on Sunday evening.

Anyway, here are some pics:

Taking beauty into my own hands

Beauty products consumed a considerable amount of cupboard and drawer space in our bathroom -- not because either of us are product junkies -- but because, as with so many things, over the years these products have simply collected. I consider my self relatively low maintenance in the beauty department; however, on counting the boxes marked "bathroom," there were three 30" by 30" containers that were full to the brim.

One objective for our year of living with less: simplify. So, I have taken to trying to consolidate bottles, make better choices about the products I do use, and whenever I can, I will attempt to do it myself. Now, the DIY component of this journey could aptly be named, "the good, the bad, and the ugly."

Let's start with the ugly. As a child, a DIY haircut often resulted in tears and a trip to the hairdresser. I have very vivid memories of the 1" haircut I requested from my mother...that turned into 4-5" in attempt to get things straight. Or the time I decided to cut my own bangs. Bad idea. But, many years older, and wiser, after having occasionally trimmed my own hair, I thought it might be a good time to try out cutting my own hair and avoid a trip to the hairdresser and the intrusive sticking of fingers into my ear after getting my hair washed...

My hair had grown quite long, past mid back, and was apt to get caught on a number of things. It was time for a big change. I braided my hair, headed into the bathroom with scissors, and SNIP -- started trimming away. I had been quite impressed with how even it was, until my loving husband entered the bathroom, took one look, and said, "let me get the camera."

Fortunately, he was quite willing (and skilled) at helping me fix things up. Oops.

The bad: self waxing. I'm not sure why I ever think this is a good idea. I'm going to need to put some more thought into natural and cost effective hair removal options.

The good: I had a container of epsom salt given to me by my dear friend, Meryll, oh some, 7 or 8 years ago. The gift was spot on -- I love soaking in the bath and would use the salts whenever I was particularly sore -- but we no longer have a bathtub in our condo -- only a shower, so I decided to put them to good use to make a body scrub. So I turned to Martha.

Taking her lead, I combined 1 cup epsom salt, 1 tbsp lavender buds, the zest from an orange, and just enough vegetable oil to make the mixture moist and sticky, but not runny. Both Brian and I love using it, and it further inspired a face scrub made from brown sugar and olive oil. My sensitive and breakout prone skin loves it!