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We only have one car, but we live in the city and Dh takes public transportation or walks to work. In your situation you would be home without a car? That seems pretty difficult if there aren't many places you can go without a car.

But I have lived in cities with easy public transportation for the last 12 years so I might be imagining it as more difficult than it really is!

I lived in a similar kind of situation when I was home with my son, if I had to go anywhere, I needed to take public transportation because we only had one car and my husband took it to work. It worked out great for me, I didn't miss the car at all (in fact, I have only recently in my adult life owned a car).

Yup. I am pro 1 car as long as you have a place to walk to in order to have human contact. I didn't for the first 9 months and THAT was hard, but DH was done at 2 pm so we did a lot together. Now I live where I can walk if I get cabin fever.

DH just recently switched his shift at work to take public transit so technically I have the car but don't use it. I'd honestly rather walk!

We're currently a one car family, and it worked seamlessly while my husband was within biking distance, to work. He has recently accepted a position that requires a lengthy commute, so it's gotten more challenging, and we are car shopping, but not with urgency.

We live in a small town, but have quite a bit within a short walking distance - parks, library, restaurants, markets, drug store, beach, pool, museum, etc. The doctor is semi-walkable, but a quick cab ride away, if it's urgent. It's totally fine in the spring and summer months; I love to walk. However, unless we move closer to DH's work (which we're strongly considering), we need a second vehicle to get us through the colder seasons. I'd also feel more comfortable having unrestricted access to a car, going forward.

Is it doable? Absolutely. It just depends on where you live, and how realistic you feel it would be to walk/bus everywhere. Make sure you have a plan for potential emergencies. That aside, I will tell you getting a kid and their circus tent of necessities into a car > getting it all in a stroller. That part sucks, so be comfortable with minimalism.

we used to live in a walkable area, but not with easy public transportation and i couldn't do it without a car as a WAHM. DH's job was impossible to get to with public transportation, so 1 car would not have worked for us!

If I lived in the suburbs we would definitely get a second car. We are in the city so it's easy for me to do mostly everything walking or on public transportation but in the winter sometimes just waiting at the train station for 15 minutes was so miserable that I opted to not venture too far from the house. I would think about where you're going to be going on a weekly basis- shops, library or museum, play groups? And then think about how you could get there.

We have always had 2 cars. Our area doesn't have public transit and neither one of us can walk to work. Plus, I never want to be stuck without a car if there is an emergency. We wouldn't be able to get things done and both get to work with just 1 car.

2, but the 2nd car is not used often, only to get DH to work or if he needs to go somewhere and DD and I are already using the other car

2 and that is non-negotiable. I would definitely feel smothered and trapped if I was SAH with no car. I don't live in a walkable area, but even so, I'd like to have a car on hand, just in case.

We had one car for a long time, when i changed jobs we decided we really needed a second car for things like daycare pickups. Since it doesn't get nearly as much use we chose a pretty basic used car. The monthly payments are small and it gets the job done. Could you downgrade/downsize one of your cars to still have the option to drive but spend a little less?