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Could you explain what you mean here? I'm pretty reliant on my kettle for making coffee in the morning, it's not really a big deal to become adjusted to having

by throwaway22032 3y ago

Could you explain what you mean here? I'm pretty reliant on my kettle for making coffee in the morning, it's not really a big deal to become adjusted to having a certain standard of living. Do you mean that I might move home to somewhere where the car is more of a necessity and then feel it a burden that I can't walk to places? At this stage of my life I probably wouldn't move to a place that didn't have public transport, unless car use is heavily restricted in London (I'd rather have both, but if I had to choose, the car is far superior to public transport in my everyday life).

globular-toast 3y ago
A wise man once said "if you can't buy it twice, you can't afford it". Nobody allocates more than half their wealth to a kettle. Nor a toaster, oven, microwave or dishwasher. If any of them break down, you can afford to buy another one, if you still need it. There's really only one good thing to break the rule for and that's a house. But people regularly break the rule for cars. This is part of the car trap. It's one thing to build a lifestyle around a kettle, it's quite another to build it around a car. The dependence can start with moving somewhere. Or you could start building commitments and habits that require it, such as taking a job that is far away. That and you rapidly lose fitness and regress into a blob-like form that is no longer capable of locomotion. It's remarkable how differently people react to "walking a mile". To those who walk it's nothing. It can even be done with 20kg of baggage if necessary. To those who drive it's a long way. Cars are nice. But you can have too much of a good thing. It's important to stay aware of it, that's all.
- throwaway22032 3y ago
  Ah, fair enough. I don't really have issues with that stuff, if anything the car helps me keep fit. A recent example would be that I went to visit family and the gym where they live would have taken 3 hours round trip via public transport for me to get to, so the car allowed me to get a workout in. I also cycle a ton to get places. I just also use the car for like, all of the things that can't reasonably be done via bike/train, which are a lot. Just because I live in London doesn't mean I want to spend all of my time here. I pay maybe £2-3K a year on all car costs (excepting fuel) so it's not really a big deal. I don't get fancy new cars, to me it's a tool, it's gonna get dirty and scratched up. But then I totally see that for most people, the path of least resistance is always there.

globular-toast 3y ago

A wise man once said "if you can't buy it twice, you can't afford it". Nobody allocates more than half their wealth to a kettle. Nor a toaster, oven, microwave or dishwasher. If any of them break down, you can afford to buy another one, if you still need it. There's really only one good thing to break the rule for and that's a house. But people regularly break the rule for cars. This is part of the car trap. It's one thing to build a lifestyle around a kettle, it's quite another to build it around a car. The dependence can start with moving somewhere. Or you could start building commitments and habits that require it, such as taking a job that is far away. That and you rapidly lose fitness and regress into a blob-like form that is no longer capable of locomotion. It's remarkable how differently people react to "walking a mile". To those who walk it's nothing. It can even be done with 20kg of baggage if necessary. To those who drive it's a long way. Cars are nice. But you can have too much of a good thing. It's important to stay aware of it, that's all.

throwaway22032 3y ago
Ah, fair enough. I don't really have issues with that stuff, if anything the car helps me keep fit. A recent example would be that I went to visit family and the gym where they live would have taken 3 hours round trip via public transport for me to get to, so the car allowed me to get a workout in. I also cycle a ton to get places. I just also use the car for like, all of the things that can't reasonably be done via bike/train, which are a lot. Just because I live in London doesn't mean I want to spend all of my time here. I pay maybe £2-3K a year on all car costs (excepting fuel) so it's not really a big deal. I don't get fancy new cars, to me it's a tool, it's gonna get dirty and scratched up. But then I totally see that for most people, the path of least resistance is always there.