I’ve always been a car guy. It’s not that I’m mechanically inclined or that I get into the latest makes and models — neither of these is anywhere close to the truth — but that a car has always been my primary mode of transportation.
When I was a boy, my family lived in rural Oregon, six miles from the nearest town. Automobiles were our only real option for getting around. Even when I went away to college, I relied on a car for most of my mobility. And so it’s been for forty years. As I say, I’ve always been a car guy.
This summer, though, I’ve had a sort of epiphany, one prompted by your comments and suggestions. I’ve learned that I can save money and improve my fitness by leaving my car at home — by exploring alternate modes of transportation.
The bus
After my small adventure riding the bus in April, I’ve begun to view [...]

When I bought my used Mini Cooper in April, things didn’t go exactly as I’d planned. Part of this was because I hadn’t done enough research. But a lot of it was because the dealer had some tricks up its sleeve and I did not.
At Car and Driver, Jared Gall has compiled a list of car dealer tricks to watch for when buying a vehicle. He says that the following are common practices:

Juggling the foursquare. The “foursquare” is the worksheet on which the salesperson jots down the terms of the deal. It’s an easy way for her to manipulate one factor (purchase price, down payment, monthly payments, trade-in value) or another.

Profiting from rebates. Gall warns that salespeople often use the presence of a rebate to manipulate buyer psychology. Don’t let that happen to you.

Inflating payments. The more you’re willing to pay each month, the more room the salesperson has to work. The article recommends ignoring [...]

I keep telling myself I’ll share reader e-mail more often. You folks send me great stuff. For example, here’s Ruth’s story about her own millionaire next door.
I loved reading about J.D.’s “secret millionaire” neighbor. This is a story about my own “secret millionaire” neighbor. He actually lives in the next suburb.
This local middle-school math teacher retired about five years ago, and became a private tutor. Since retirement, he works seven days a week — literally. By choice. He is a widower, with three adult kids.
Anyway, he had an old wreck of a car ever since I’ve known him (about eight years). He tutored my oldest son very occasionally and my daughter and middle son very regularly. One day last year, he warned me that he didn’t know if he could make my daughter’s Tuesday appointment, because he wasn’t sure if his car would make it up the hill. “No problem,” I told him. “If it [...]

With gas prices rising, people are beginning to talk about fuel economy again. This year, there’s an added wrinkle to my own concerns. In April, I ditched my 2000 Ford Focus for a 2004 Mini Cooper. The old car used regular unleaded, but the new one uses premium. This is the first vehicle I’ve owned to use premium gasoline, and the price difference came as a shock to me.
But am I really paying more for fuel? Fortunately, there’s an easy way to check.
Last August, I began to use Fuelly, a single-purpose web application. All Fuelly does is let you track your fuel economy. That’s all it needs to do. I’ve been a devoted user for 10 months now, entering all of my stats at every fuel-up.
As a result, I have enough data to determine whether my Mini Cooper is picking my pocket for fuel. Here are the summaries for our three vehicles:

Note that [...]

I had a big day today, though I’m sure many of you will laugh: I rode the bus for the first time.
Actually, I’ve been on buses many times before. I rode a school bus as a child, and I’ve used public transportation in other towns. I’ve even used the light-rail trains here in Portland. But I had never used the city’s bus system until this afternoon.
Brave new world
I took my new-used Mini Cooper to the dealer this morning for the inspection I should have requested before I purchased it. Also, the car was due for its 60,000-mile service.
While it was in the shop, I walked around downtown Portland, taking a day to play hooky from the blog. I ran some errands. I shopped for my mom’s birthday presents. (She’s 61 today.) I had lunch with a friend.
After we finished eating, I called the dealer, crossing my fingers that there wouldn’t be any bad [...]

For the past two years, one of my top financial goals has been to save for a Mini Cooper. Just like a child with a toy catalog, I’ve spent hours on the Mini website playing with colors and options packages, building my own dream vehicle. Whenever I’m tempted to buy small indulgences, I ask myself, “Would I rather have this or a Mini?”
Until the beginning of last week, however, I thought I still had a long way to go before I could afford even a used Mini Cooper. Turns out I was wrong.
Savings success
Since the middle of last year, I’ve been saving like mad, attempting to accumulate enough money to buy a car. My progress has been outstanding:

After I built my emergency fund, I began to route my regular monthly savings to my Mini Cooper account. I’ve saved about $6,200 for a car during the past eighteen months.
I’ve also been putting “found” money into my [...]