Savings per year: $8,000, 16.6 tons CO2
Maximizing quality of life, the Richies choose a house in a location that is close to the places they visit every week: Work, grocery, a train or bus station, close family and friends, and all of the group gathering places that are important to them. Examples are church, pub, dance hall, park, community center, library, and school.
Bicycling is faster[1], lower impact[2], cheaper[3], healthier[4], and safer[5][6] than driving. For most of those things it is actually a factor of ten better. For maximum quality of life our travel radius and routes are based on the bicycle. Walking is also great if things are close enough.
Exactly how close? To maximize their quality of life they limit their commute time to 30 minutes each way. When they prefer to walk somewhere it is no more than 2 miles from their house. (1/2 hour * 4 mph = 2 miles) They bike to places up to 6 miles from the house. (1/2 hour * 12 mph = 6 miles) Expenses are about $600 per year for 3 bicycles. For times when they get sick at work or school or get caught by unexpected weather they budget $100 per year for carshare or taxi rides.
Long Distance TravelThey take the bus or train to visit family and friends that live in other cities. They only take their car to visit people in the countryside, with no bus station within 2 miles, and on the annual camping trip. Since their vehicles are just sitting in the driveway depreciating they sell all but one that's valued at less than $5000 and gets over 35 mpg. They drive it 5000 miles per year, so that adds $1,000 to expenses
If you live in a particularly human-unfriendly city, consider moving to a better place.[7] Smaller cities, population 50,000 - 200,000, are usually good for people. They're big enough to have all the amenities but still small enough to bike from one side to the other. Big cities can also work, as long as you can find housing within the budget. The key is to have everything you need in a small radius of from your house, and consider the rest of the metro area as a far off destination that you occasionally visit. Small towns can also work if you are willing to accept less amenities, less job opportunities, and don't plan to leave your town every week or even every month.
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