How To Save Money By Parking Further From Work
When I started working I lived in a 490 square foot condo with my girlfriend (now wife) and French bulldog Tyson. I couldn’t afford to park downtown so I walked 25 minutes each way back and forth to work. Fast forward a few years and we moved to suburbia and all of a sudden I had to take public transport. But I didn’t enjoy it one bit. So I decided I would drive, but I didn’t want to pay for parking and if I’m honest I missed the walk to start my day and to decompress at the end of the day.
Tyson, our French bulldog
So I made the decision to park outside downtown and walk every day. As Tony Robbins said “it’s easier to do something 100% of the time than 99% of the time.” I never figured out a good route into downtown during rush hour or a parking lot that had space. I just drove to outside downtown, parked where it was free and walked. Over the past decade this has saved about $34,000 (assuming eight years pre-pandemic at $350/month) and resulted in walking at least 10,000 steps every work day. I highly recommend it.
Now some people may be thinking “well what about the really cold/hot/rainy days?” Yup, those ones too. I’ve walked through rain and had to go home because I was soaked. I’ve walked every year in weather that was -30 Celsius before windchill. Yes it’s uncomfortable, but we’re made to move. Humans are built to travel long distances outdoors, we’re not designed to sit for 10 hours in front of a screen.
The best part is the ritual of it. If you live in a city like mine you can drive close to downtown (about 3km) without too much congestion and then walk past cars lined up in the street trying to get into parking garages and waiting for lights. On the way in it gives me time to prepare for the day and at the end of the day I can decompress and let go of the work stress before I get into my car.
Now I will admit that it does increase my commute. Overall I now commute about an hour each way vs. about 45 minutes if I drove the entire way. So every day I spend an extra 30 minutes commuting to avoid $20 in parking. So in essence I’m earning about $40/hour, which is good, but the benefit is really the walking.
To make your commute more enjoyable and productive I would also recommend queueing up a podcast list. Some of my favorites podcasts right now, in no particular order, are:
The Daily: A New York Times podcast covering a topic of interest every day, one of the most popular podcasts in the world
Planet Money: NPR podcast on random topics related to money
The VPZD Show: Two doctors having fun and chatting about what’s going on in the medical space
My First Million: Two entrepreneurs trading stories and ideas on how to make money
How I Built This: Guy Raz interviewing the most successful entrepreneurs of our day
The Side Hustle Show: Nick Loper talking to small business owners with a ton of great online success stories
Freakonomics Radio: Interesting podcast looking at the hidden side of everything
The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos: The science of happiness from a Yale professor
Huberman Lab: A Stanford neuroscientist explaining a ton of interesting topics with a focus on the neural mechanics and actionable insights
Odd Lots: Bloomberg podcast on relevant business topics (they also have an amazing daily email newsletter)
Peter Attia The Drive: A doctor going in-depth on a host of topics with experts, I only understand 10%, but that 10% is fascinating
Another way to make your walks productive is oddly enough to not listen to anything. In a day and age where we often have an earbud in or a screen in front of our face every waking moment it’s refreshing to take 10-15 minutes each day and just listen to your surroundings. Extra points if you do it in nature.
Tips for walking to work
Pack an umbrella: I suggest a sturdy one with the two layers to let wind escape at the top
Dress for the weather: the worst days are when I think it isn’t too cold and don’t wear long johns, the days where it’s -30 Celsius are fine because I’m dressed up like a toddler going to do snow angels
Leave a water bottle in your car: you can get thirsty on the walk home
Don’t forget your keys: there’s nothing like having to walk back to work and showing up home an hour late because you forgot your keys at work
Try different bags: I prefer a backpack in colder weather as it’s easier to carry, but a side bag in summer to avoid the back sweat
If you don’t want to walk to work try biking
2014 Ridley X Bow, still rolling in 2022
Eight years ago I picked up my Ridley X Bow cyclocross bike and started riding to work with my buddy from about 13 km away. We would drive there, park and then jump onto the bike path and ride in to work. It was awesome. You get two workouts in before you get home, the summer feels longer and if you can ride with a friend you get to chat on the way in and out.
Now biking to work is a big hurdle before you do it. Figuring out the shower (or baby wipe) situation, finding bike parking and then just getting into the saddle at 7am is not for the weak of heart, but just try it and you’ll be hooked. After a few years my friend and I even worked up to biking all the way from home, which is 25km from downtown. There’s nothing like burning over 1,000 calories by the time you walk through the door at the end of the day. You feel accomplished, you sleep better and it even led my friend and I to our first Fondo, which was a group ride and the first time I ever covered 100km in one go.
Some Tips For Biking To Work
Get a good bike – Fit makes a difference and if you’re just on paths try a road or gravel bike
28mm tires are the sweet spot for bike paths, they’re narrow enough to be fast and wide enough to give a little comfort
Park underground or in a cage if you can
Get a giant bike chain – they’re harder to get through with a portable grinder as the links bounce around
Leave your bike chain if you can where you park, it lightens your load and lets you use a larger chain
Get full finger gloves for cool days
Side bags are great for longer rides, backpacks are quicker for shorter rides
Your rear will hurt every year for the first week, but then it should be fine
If you’re showering you can use an oversized Turkish Towel, they’re lighter and dry quicker
Get a large water bottle
Only listen to music on bike paths, it’s dangerous on the roads
Be careful, I’ve almost been hit twice and I only have three blocks with traffic on my entire ride
Inflate your tires every week, we didn’t do this the first year and had no idea why our ride times weren’t improving, turns out we were getting fitter but our tires had deflated and had more rolling resistance
Don’t push hard every day, going 80% is fine somedays and you’ll be surprised that you’re not that much slower
Enjoy it, you’re now a biker and there’s an entire world that has just opened up to you
Don’t want to give up your parking? Check out other ways to save money, or how to make more money.