Saving money and doing our part for the planet
Once the gas prices climbed to about $4 a gallon, I started to notice the size of vehicles around the parts of the city that I frequent go down - people were using smaller cars. And suddenly there were people everywhere on bike and on foot -- people of all shapes, sizes and ages. The car sizes have started to get bigger again, and I suspect that we will see just as many big vehicles this winter as last as many people seem to feel safer driving a monster-sized vehicle in the snow and ice.

I have been mostly car-less since last September -- nearly a year. I walk to work every day except Thursdays, when I go pick up my family's CSA order after work. Our car is a 1989 Honda Civic which gets about 23 miles to the gallon. We used to fill up about twice per month which would be costing us about $80, but we've reduced how often we fill up significantly. I've had friends who have larger vehicles and who commute much further to work talk about how the cost of gas almost equals another car payment for them. I'm glad to be out of the driving business for the most part when I hear how much money we could be forking out to gas companies if we hadn't made some changes.

We recently bought a rolling shopping cart so that we will be able to grocery shop at the nearby Whole Foods or Smith's Marketplace without using the car - but it will mean more frequent trips.

I got my bike up and running and have tried a couple of small trips -- sadly, riding a bike uses different muscles than walking and I can't ride many of the hills in SLC yet. I'm also still feeling a little nervous and out of control on the bike, since I hadn't ridden one since 1993 until this summer -- and of course I'm getting older, so it may take a while to adapt.

We make many of our entertainment decisions based on proximity to our house now. Anything past 2100 South is starting to feel "out there" and we rarely even go that far. We take the Trax instead to downtown venues. I bought a family pass to the planetarium and the children's museum, and there so many events happening around the city that there's no way we could every be bored just from keeping it local. I wish we had more movie theatre options, but I do enjoy going to the Salt Lake Film Society's Broadway Theatre.

UTA offered a summer youth pass this year for $87 which includes bus, Trax and Frontrunner all through June, July and August, so my teen has been getting used to getting herself around on public transportation rather than having to be chauffeured everywhere.

Right now my biggest worry is the availability of rental space in Salt Lake City. Many apartment buildings are turning condo, leaving fewer places to rent which could mean that rents will go up so high that we might not be able to afford living in the city any more, which is a huge priority for me. I've almost always lived close to where I work on purpose. I hate commuting and I love walking. I like living where I have just about everything I need without a car and where so many interesting things are happening.