105. Keep my car under 3,000 miles in one school year

Two or three years ago I began noticing a great decline in the number of miles I was putting onto my car.  A few key factors contributed to this.  First, the car only gets used if I am going somewhere by myself.  If I am taking kids anywhere we take the van.  Second, I ride my bike to school a lot more which means that I save 8 miles per trip to school each day.

Two years ago I tried to see how many miles I put on the car.  After a few months I wondered if I could make it through an entire school year by keeping the car under 3,000 miles. Back then I was really close.  I made it through a school year in about 3,200 miles.  With that in mind I really made the challenge to myself to try to make it through this past school year under that mark.  During that time I made sure that I wasn't changing my driving habits for which car I used in an effort to save miles.  If I had to go somewhere or Melissa had to go to a Dr. appointment my car needed to be used.  The only exception was if it was really hot (my car doesn't have air).

I made it. I began the school year at 113,667 miles and ended at 116,632 miles.  Forty-five miles to spare!

The biggest thing that I have learned is that taking a vehicle everywhere isn't always necessary.  Yesterday the kids and I walked over to the hardware store instead of driving.  I bike to the grocery store often when I am buying food.  One big plus for that is that you always get a really good parking spot.  Lastly, I filled my car up under 10 times for the whole school year.  The savings in ga

This isn't a written goal, but I am really glad that I was able to do it.