Good Economic/Ecological Practices for Consumers

How would you like to be a millionaire? One way to help you get there is to save money. If you are a couple who is thinking of having 2 kids and 2 cars here are two big ways to reduce your costs. The USDA recently calculated that the average child in the US would cost $233,610 to raise from 0 to age 17. This does not include college costs. College costs can vary widely (community colleges are a great deal) but if you send your kid to a private college this can easily cost $50,000 to $70.000 a year or $200,000 to $280,000 for 4 years. So if a young couple chooses NOT to have two children, they could save roughly $1 million! Now on the car front, AAA recently calculated that the average cost of car ownership in the US is $9282 per year . That comes to $557,000 per car over a lifetime of car ownership (say about 60 years). So if a young couple decides to forgo owning two cars and use bicycles to get around instead they will save about $1.1 million! Combine the savings from deciding not t

We all like to accomplish more for less thus the popularity of “Kill 2 Birds With One Stone”. What if there was a simple action you could take to accomplish 34 things all at the same time  (and save dozens of birds)? Would you jump at the chance? I hope so! You can accomplish 34 beneficial things just by bicycling (instead of using a motor vehicle): Increase happiness - it’s fun! Reduce climate change from fossil fuel C02 AND fossil methane. Reduce road congestion. Reduce road repair. Reduce space needed for roads. Reduce space needed for parking. Reduce your taxes.  Reduce other people’s taxes. Reduce insurance costs. Reduce transportation purchase costs. Reduce transportation maintenance costs. Reduce transportation fuel costs. Reduce registration & licensing costs. Reduce obesity & waistlines. Reduce health care costs. Reduce health insurance costs. Reduce people dying from motor vehicle crashes. Reduce animals (and birds!) dying from motor vehicle cr