A busy mum-of-four has ditched the family car - but instead of feeling restricted, she now feels liberated and enjoys working out how to get from A to B by bike, on foot and via public transport.
Ruth Cumming says that she has saved around £1,500 on fuel and running costs and that her family is fitter and healthier as a result of selling their car just before the January 2021 lockdown. In fact, she and husband Tom say they haven't looked back since, reports BirminghamLive.
"When the car broke down one day, it was going to cost any £2,000 to repair and we thought maybe this is the point where we’ll go car-free," said Ruth, from Bournville, Birmingham, whose children Andrew, Joel, Samuel and Naomi (twins) were nine, eight and three at the time.
"But there was an environmental element too. We try to make as little impact on the planet as we can. This is something new for us, I wasn’t really into being eco until we had the kids, it’s not something we’ve been into all our lives."
Now that fuel prices have risen, Ruth feels convinced they made the right decision. "My brother had spent nearly £100 on the tank of fuel the other day, I’m so glad I don’t have to do that, I don’t know where I’d find that money," added Ruth who launched her own sewing business called Sewn Down Purple Lane after quitting her job in academic research for a better work-life balance.
The Cumming family has an online shop delivered once a month for tins and packets and then Tom tends to pick up every day items on his cycle home from work at the university. Ruth is a member of Co-wheels car club and hires a car for a day when she wants to go to harder-to-reach places.
Ruth and the kids walk to school and cycle to church, unless it's really cold and then they will catch the bus. They take the train to Devon for family holidays.
"You do have to take entertainment. So when we go down to Devon, that’s three and a half hours on the train. The twins do cope with that at the age of four. I just have to take more entertainment for them but at least they can get up and walk around.
"We had some horrific journeys back from Devon in the car when they were toddlers because they didn’t want to be strapped into a car seat and they were whinging and whining. They’re far less likely to moan on a train than they were in the car."
It’s really liberating, I feel a real sense of freedom that we don’t have to worry about the admin of the car," said Ruth. "We don’t have to worry about repairs.
"The money saving is great, I mean ultimately, that’s why we didn’t want to be dependent on a car. It’s nice to say we do it for environmental reasons and that, of course, is part of it but we just have never had the budget to have a really reliable car. Now not having that worry of whether or not the car is going to start is great.
"We saved about £1,500 compared to what our old car was costing us. Our old car was costing us about £250 a month with repairs and petrol and everything else that goes with a car. Obviously we spend more money on things like buses and trains but we have a family railcard and overall I think we've saved around £1,500.
"We're not particularly sporty so I think having walking and cycling as our exercise really helps to keep us fit and active without even really thinking about it. It’s really helpful that we can just build that into our everyday lives.
Ruth's tips for going car-free
- Take it slowly, one step at a time. This wasn’t something that we just did overnight, I think it requires a lot of planning, a lot of thinking about lifestyle choices
- Don't think it has to be all or nothing, I'm not anti-car and still use hire cars
- Work out the easiest journeys first. For each journey, think what’s the best tool for the job? Is it walking, cycling, public transport or a car?
- Look for activities that are close to home, think how best to to fit in everyone’s needs
- Make choices and really kind of think about what you need and don’t need to do, what is absolutely necessary and what isn’t
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Discover more of Ruth's lifestyle tips via her blog here
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