Carpooling

Housing, food and transportation are typically the big three expenses in one’s budget, and so finding ways and means to lower these can really boost your escape velocity into the land of the financially independent. There are several great ways to save money in your daily commute, with one of my favorites being biking that I wrote about earlier. Yet, biking may not be for everyone, and you may have to drive as part of your commute. Carpooling is a great way to save money here, essentially sharing the costs of gas and reducing the wear and tear on your car to increase its longevity and lower its maintenance costs.

Carpooling does however take some effort to successfully coordinate, and so what are the things to focus on when organizing carpool? Clearly, the most important is making the correct choice in who you carpool with. Colleagues at work that you get along well with or similarly neighbors that you are friendly with and work at a nearby location, are good choices, so long as you can maintain this cordial relationship! Hopefully, if you work for a larger company, it may have a carpooling infrastructure in place to make your job of organizing a carpool easier. If not, you could try social network sites, but this takes a lot more care as you are now dealing with strangers, and so where it’s best to meet up before the carpool to discuss the details, and go with a trial period at first to see if it is working for both parties. Carpooling with punctual, but accommodating personalities are likely to be easiest.

Key points to discuss when organizing your carpool, is who is driving, what is the schedule, pick up points, what happens when someone is sick or on vacation or how long to wait for a late comer. Minor points shouldn’t be ignored though, as they are small at first but can lead to stress and strain if ignored, and include such things as choice of music, the radio or eating and drinking in the car. How about you, do you have any tips for running a successful carpool?