This Is How I Save $1,500 to $5,000 Yearly
/My Daily Bike Commute
First Published Date: August 8, 2015
One of the easiest ways to money on an ongoing basis is to live near where you work. Living close to work, however, saves you something else more precious than money and can’t be measured or replaced by anything else: time. Today, I will only look at the monetary aspect of living close to work.
I live in downtown Toronto, very close to my work. I have the option to walk, bike, or take a streetcar to work. What I do, instead of walking 100 percent, is use Toronto’s city bike sharing system Bike Share Toronto to cover part of my commute and walk to cover the rest. When it rains or snows heavily, I either walk or take a TTC street car.
By living close to work, I save a staggering $1,500 to $5,000 annually. These costs are very conservative and the actual savings can be even higher than my estimates. Here are my breakdowns:
$1,500 – Assuming I am using TTC and buying a monthly pass, which is nearly $130 a month.
$5,000 – Assuming I am using my own car. $5,000 includes monthly payment for car, insurance. However, to keep things simple, I am not including other costs that are involved having a car such as gas, parking, maintenance, tickets, etc.
As you can see, my $1,500 to $5,000 yearly estimates are actually lower than real costs someone could have incurred by driving or taking public transit to work in Toronto.
Living close to work to save money and time is great, but I understand that this is not possible for everyone for various reasons. There is no need to be discouraged if you are one of those. There are various other practical and smart tips to save money in my book
Money Hacks: How Small Changes Can Save Big Money
And there is no reason why you can’t save at least $100 a month applying what I have discussed in this book. You can download this book from Amazon (the link is on the very top right) and start saving money today.
