Welcome to Thrift

Angie says-

A few friends of mine would define thrift as the ability to be incredibly cheap. I on the other hand prefer economical management as a better definition. My friend and I have decided that living on the cheap doesn't have to be an awful experience so we have built this FREE website to demonstrate that you can live in well and not spend a fortune. For my first posting I'd like to talk about one of the best ways that I save money. I take the bus. Now, for those of you who live or have lived in Alaska you know that this is no small feat. Our bus system is unreliable, and difficult to manage. Buses run late, buses don't run often, buses don't run where you need them to, and buses take too long because the routes are too complex. However, about a year ago I started riding the bus to work. I live in Eagle River, 19 miles away from my work. When our second car died permanently, I decided that we could do without it and looked at the bus schedule. The bus runs 1 block away from my house and goes almost to the doorstep of my work. All for $50 per month. It does take longer to ride this route (the 102) but not by much. I average an extra 20 or 30 minutes a day in my commute now, but I also don't have to drive the winter roads or fight traffic, or pay for oil changes as often, or pay for very much gas. Here are things that you will need to have if you are planning on riding the bus on this route.

1. A couple of books, you may as well get some reading done.

2. Some sort of music device and headphones that are noise canceling. This is because the bus is loud on the highway and to be honest, some people are loud on the bus and headphones keeps them from talking to you.

3. A sense of humor. You can't get angry at every little thing that people do on the bus. Just laugh and shake your head.

While the commute is longer I actually get so much more done in my day that I feel cheated on time if I have to drive. I read books and the paper, I embroider, I write letters, and I'm fortunate enough to own a portable DVD player that we got for our wedding. I have a Netflix account and have caught up on tons of movies and shows that I missed but wanted to watch. I see others doing Sudoku or the crossword every morning. Yesterday a woman commented to me that she had to drive into work last week for the first time in years and she was grouchy all day because she wasn't able to do her Sudoku puzzle that day. Morning habits are hard to break.

When I first started riding the bus I hated it, but then I bought some nice headphones that do some noise canceling (they were 30 bucks I think), and now I'm happy because I don't have to pay attention to the woman behind me telling another passenger about her cat's illness, or worry about the old letch in the aisle next to me try to talk to me. Now, it's just a calm ride in a sea of horrible morning and afternoon traffic. I fill up my car twice a month rather than twice a week.

Now, if I had to ride the bus to work in Anchorage, I'm still not sure that I would do it if I had more than one transfer. This is because a lot of the routes in Anchorage not only have more than one transfer but they run late so you miss your connecting bus. This wouldn't be a problem if the buses ran every 10 minutes but a lot of them run only once an hour. This being said, there are still a few nice, direct routes around town. You can check them out here. Keep in mind that in a week or so, the schedule is set to change.