How'd I do the first month?

I did well for the first month of my experiment in becoming carless. I used my car a total of 6 times during the month; 3 of these were trips in the last week of the month. Most of them involved trips to Lowe's to get construction materials. During the last week I went shopping twice with my father and we used my car as my mother was using their car. Clearly, we could have waited until she got back, however, this allowed us to shop for food and glass to fix a window when it was most convenient. My goal for October is to use my car even less than this. I could have used my parent's car for any of these trips and using it 6 times a month doesn't seem too much of an imposition on them. I'm reluctant to impose so that's why I still tend to use mine. I suppose this is part of the independence thing. It's also true that my car needs will decrease soon as I am within 2 weeks of completing construction (at least phase one!). All but one of my trips involved this one way or another.

The most positive aspect of the month for me is how easy it has been for me to quit the car using habit. I go 3-4 days now, not only without using a car, but, also even without thinking about using a car. I've lost the habit. I still use my car occasionally; when I do it's very deliberate. I make do more, I plan better, and I walk a lot more. I used to take walks for exercise. Now, I take walks to get places! I guess I thought it would be psychologically harder for me than it has been.

My parents have been out of town for several days so I haven't gone food shopping for over a week. On the bus home today I thought about needing food for dinner. I know 6 weeks ago I would have simply driven straight to a grocery store. Instead, I took the bus the rest of the way home, checked out what I had and realized that I have 3-4 meals I could make from the ingredients I have. It's just that I ran out of apples and I normally eat at least one a day. I had a carrot for lunch with my sandwich rather than an apple and I will cook myself something for dinner. I can wait another day or two to go food shopping. Or I could walk to the convenience store and buy an apple.

Right now, I'm off to walk to the bank and then back home for more painting!