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yummymummy asked:


Remember, it’s only temporary. First decide how long you want to stay home. Until your kids are all in school? Only for the first year or 2? Think of all the things you pay for that aren’t necessities. Satellite tv, daily lattes, designer clothes, your cell phone, eating out. Your main expenses like food, clthing and shelter can’t be cut out but add up the things you can do without and figure out if that equals your current income. Also consider the money you would save on gas for your commute, your work wardrobe, having your hair styled, makeup. If you REALLY want to stay home with your kids you will find all of these things are suddenly unimportant. Quetions? I’m happy to help.

Ashley

freedom_rulz@sbcglobal.net asked:


I have a 2000 Chevy Malibu LS with about 153,000 miles on it that’s just now starting to get problems, so I’ll be shopping around for another car. Budget this time around is $15,000-$18,000 at the very most. What would be best for the long haul? I do a lot of highway driving on cruise control (60 miles a day, five days a week).

Timothy

avisfaye asked:


Between gas prices and a lengthy daily commute, my husband has been looking into the prospect of parking his ‘03 Dodge Ram and purchasing a much more fuel-efficient car. He has taken interest in a 2008 Chevy Cobalt, and I was curious to see what others may have to say (pros and cons) on this vehicle.

Other factors: This would be a first-time buy for my husband (the truck was a HS graduation gift many years ago), and we’re trying to keep monthly payments/maintenance costs low. My husband is also 6′4″, and has had issues sitting comfortably in several vehicles we have considered (the Cobalt WAS a good fit, however). Aside from the Cobalt, does anyone have any suggestions on some other vehicles we may look at, based on the criteria I’ve outlined - fuel efficiency, overall costs, and size? Thank you to all in advance for your suggestions!

Bryan

happy girl asked:


We are planning to move to Edison, New Jersey. But my office is at Bay Ridge -Brooklyn,New York. Which is the best way for daily commute?
Please help.

WILLIAM

Nae A. asked:


Is commute via BART unrealistic??
Would a daily commute from Concord/Martinez area to UCB on a daily basis be unrealistic? Are there a lot of people who do it and are the many people who miss the train due to capacity?
Thanks

Taylor

Steve P asked:


I recently accepted a job offer that is a 100 miles away making my daily commute 200 miles. Ironically i left my previous job because i was working to many hours, now i am commuting the difference. Any way i currently pay 1087 rent and if i move closer to work i am looking at approximately 1200 for rent in the immediate area. Luckily i have a Prius and am averaging 40 miles per gallon and currently gas is about 2.50 a gallon but the wear and tear on my vehicle is a concern i recently replaced all four tires and got a tune up which cost about 600 in another week i will need another check up with the mechanic so i expect to spend a couple hundred again on auto maintenance. I would move but my apt complex is charging me 2500 to break the lease that will not conclude until the end of March. When i do move i will move within 10 miles of work. I am not very good with math but need to know when would it be worth it to break the lease now or tough it out?
07 prius with 30,000 miles currently if i stay it will have 42,000

Ian

sugarplum88 asked:


i dont want a top notch one, just a junker kinda one ( i already have a top notch one). i want one to keep at school in my instrument locker…im worried about my current instrument’s daily commute back and forth to school. keep in mind, im kindof on a budget so.. u know, please and thank you.

Abigail

xenomorph_girl asked:


I have my second round of interviews coming up with a company in Chicago. I live in Merrillville, IN which is considered part of the greater Chicagoland region. If I get the job, I plan to probably take the South Shore to Millenium Station, and then the #20 (Madison, I think) bus over to where I work. I was looking into the CTA trains, but there aren’t any stops close to where I would be (near corner of W. Washinton Blvd. and N. Sangamon St.). Is this area considered the Loop? Or the west loop? I’m still learning more about the regions. What is crime like? Cost? What is it like commuting daily to Chicago? I’ve ridden the South Shore before, but only in the afternoon and evening. I’ve heard it can be very busy during rush hours. How is the bus system? Tips, suggestions, encouragements? I’m pretty excited. I find Chicago a bit intimidating but I really like the city and the few times I’ve been there over the past few years have been good. Plus, you can’t beat Gino’s East or Giordano’s!
Also, I forgot to mention… I would be driving to and parking at the East Chicago South Shore station.

Hunter

Tristan asked:


Some place cosmopolitan and well connected to Amsterdam. With rentals withing 700-800 euros/month. And with an affordable daily commute to Amsterdam.

Sebastian

Grassman asked:


I am fascinated by the Tesla roadster car. But some of the specifications don’t seem consistent.

Tesla claims 140 miles of range with “aggressive driving” and 220 miles using EPA city/highway estimates.

Their battery holds 53kWh of charge.

They claim 80% efficiency at peak power, and 90% average efficiency.

They claim maximum power of 185kW of power, or roughly 250 horsepower.

They claim $0.02 per mile for energy usage.

OK, so 53kWh of available energy times 80% worst case efficiency, I get a total of about 42.4kWh available to power the wheels. At 185kW of peak output, isn’t this only 13 minutes of driving before the battery is empty? This is a lot less than 140 miles of range. Am I calculating this correctly? Also, can a Lithium Ion battery really run at this rate (5C!)? I thought that the power tool industry did not like lithium batteries for precisely this reason: they could not provide high levels of discharge current.

Using the 90% efficiency figure, I have 47.7kWh of energy available to power the wheels. So if I drive 55 miles per hour, I should be able to drive 4 hours according to Tesla’s claim. This is an average of about 12 kW of continuous output, or 16 horsepower. I understand that the car is one of the more aerodynamic on the market, and I know that 16 horsepower may be enough to maintain speed. But what happens if I play my music loud or run my A/C or heater while on the freeway? Do I really get 220 miles? Is my calculation correct, will I only get about 16 horsepower of output before I wear out the battery assuming 55 miles per hour constant speed for 4 hours? Assuming that I will accelarate and decelerate routinely during the 4 hours (i.e., pass cars, etc),is 16 horsepower average output enough to drive with real-world creature comforts being powered inside the car? I am assuming zero charge from regenerative braking, since I am assuming that energy transfered will be very low relative to 53kWh battery.

As far as price, 2 cents per mile times 220 miles (?) is $4.40. So this means that a 53kWh recharge should cost me $4.40 according to Tesla. This is 8 cents a kWh. They say these calculations assume time of use meter and night time charging. If I drive 2200 miles per month at 55 miles per hour, using assumptions above I will need 530kWh of charge. Where I live, I get 240kWh of off-peak usage at 8 cents each before I go over my baseline in the Summer. Charging my car, alone would push me into the 4th tier at $0.27/kWh for night charging (weighted average of about $0.20). My day usage would also be billed partially at tier 4, so I’d end up spending about $150/month extra on my day electric bill in Summer, and I’d spend roughly $125 for the 2200 miles at night. This totals an extra $275 to charge my car for 2200 miles, or around $0.13/mile. My current car gets 27 miles to the gallon, or $0.15/mile. If gas goes to $3.50 a gallon, I end up paying $0.13/mile.

Lastly, the Telsa has a 70A charging kit. How do I get 70A through my 30A circuit breakers? Do I need to upgrade (and if so, where do I find 75A circuit breakers)? Is it safe to run 70A? At 70A, they say it needs 3.5 hours to fully charge. Assuming I use 25% of the battery’s charge, I should need under an hour to charge. The problem is that I don’t think I have 70A capability into any of my outlets, I believe I have 15A/30A breakers universally. This would mean that I would need over 2 hours to recoup the energy used to fuel my daily commute. This adds up to a lot of time spent “refueling” each week. I refuel my gas car every two weeks and it takes me under 10 minutes. I understand that the car charges at night just like my cell phone, but I REALLY don’t like the lack of ease towards getting my car refueled. Am I calculating these charge times correctly?

Brayden