Are you a one-car clan?

Right now, we have two cars parked in our garage: the 6-year-old SUV that we inherited from my in-laws and a 12-year-old Honda that’s a squeeze for all four of us to ride in but that still gets great gas mileage.

Every 6 months or so, we have a conversation about whether we should become a one-car family. Our town doesn’t have the world’s greatest public transportation, but we live in a fairly central area where it’s possible to bike or walk to at least some places. And we have fewer limits on our transportation options because of our work situations. My husband and I both work from home he’s a translator and I’m a writer so we’re lucky that commuting isn’t an issue for us. We do have the daily carpool run and a steady stream of errands the Tuesday and Friday farmers markets, my Monday night knitting group, Girl Scouts and Friday night bowling are always on the to-do list. There are definitely times when having two cars is convenient, but do we really need them?

Certainly we’re not the only people who have more than one car in the garage. A 2008 study conducted by Experian Automotive found that 35% of American households have three or more cars; the average household has 2.28 cars.

We all know cars are bad they make pollution, they make us lazy, they suck up resources. We also know that there’s no way to avoid them completely outside of major metropolitan areas with great public transportation systems. So for us, getting rid of a car completely isn’t even a question right now. But in our efforts to live a greener life, we wonder if having two cars is a little bit of consumerist overkill. (In addition to the potential eco benefits of giving up our second car, the American Automobile Association estimates that a second car costs an average of $8,100 a year, not exactly chump change.)

For now, our two cars sit together in the garage. For now, we’re a two-car family. But something about it nags me, and I find myself revisiting the question again and again.

What about you? Have you given up the second car? Would your life work with just one car? Any advice about making things work with one car?

- Lucy